I have an ulterior motive for writing this story which I will reveal at the end, but I will also try to make it as entertaining as possible. This is the K rated version; I have also written an M rated one. They are essentially the same plot, so pick the one suited to your age and taste and read it.
Miley watched as Don raised his hand time after time, with the right answer each time. After school she told Lilly "Don can be so annoying. He doesn't need to show off how smart he is all the time."
"Tell me about it," Lilly said. "If he was less of a showoff he might get picked on less."
"Have you seen him in gym class though?" Miley asked. "What a klutz! He can't do anything right there."
As they walked along the beach, they noticed Don in the surf, trying to swim and mostly failing. They also noticed Amber and Ashley taunting his clumsy efforts, along with some others. "I wish they would stop," said Miley.
"So do I," said Oliver, joining the conversation. "But he just sets himself up for being picked on, and sometimes I think it is deliberate."
"I don't know if it is deliberate," Lilly said. "He is strange, though. Does he have any friends?"
"Not that I know of," answered Oliver. "But if you think we should, do we really want to give Amber and Ashley that kind of ammunition?"
"I guess not," said Lilly. "I do feel bad for him sometimes though."
The next day they listened to Don give a presentation in history class. At the end the teacher told him "That was an excellent presentation on one of the lesser known aspects of World War Two, the resistance movement in what was then Yugoslavia. Well worth an A."
"Thanks," said Don.
"I only have one criticism, which will not affect your grade. When you make a presentation, it is more effective if you look at the audience instead of staring at the ceiling the way you were."
"Hadn't thought of that. I guess I was, wasn't I? Thanks again."
Next day at lunch, Don sat with the three of them. After some awkward silence, he said "You know something? I really hate this shirt."
Miley said "Why? It looks good on you.":
"I don't like the way it feels. Ick."
"Well, if you don't like it, why not wear something else?" Miley asked.
"This is my Thursday shirt. I have a shirt for each day of the week."
"A shirt for each day of the week?" Miley asked a little incredulously.
"Sure. Why not?"
"Well, if you don't like this shirt, why not make a different one your Thursday shirt?" she asked.
"A different one? I hadn't thought of that. Maybe. Well, thanks for talking to me," he said, and left.
"A shirt for each day of the week, and he didn't think of changing the shirt for Thursday if he didn't like the current one?" Lilly said. "We knew that he is kind of strange, but this is officially going beyond strange. I don't know where, but beyond strange."
"Agreed," said Oliver.
Later on in class, Don announced "Mr. Picker, you spelled appreciate wrong. It should have two p's."
While Mr. Picker was erasing and correcting his blackboard, Amber and Ashley spoke up together "GEEK GEEK GEEK What a nerd!" then "Ooh, sst." and touched fingers.
"Amber and Ashley, that will be enough of that," said Mr. Picker. "But Don, they are right in a way. You don't need to correct every little mistake."
"Sorry," said Don.
After school, they came across Don reading a book on the beach. Amber and Ashley walked up to him and Amber said "Reading again? What is it, more of your World War Two books? Why don't you stop being such a nerd?"
Ashley said "Yeah, what is so great about reading about some stupid war? Geek!"
Miley walked up and said "Leave him alone, will you?"
"What is this, a meeting of the geek club?" Amber and Ashley said together, then "Ooh, sst." while touching fingers.
"Come on Ashley, let's go," said Amber.
After they had left, Don said "Thanks for sticking up for me. I really appreciate it."
"Think nothing of it," said Miley. "I must say that your comment about the shirts was not just strange, it was out of the ballpark strange."
"What does a ballpark have to do with my shirts?" he asked, obviously confused.
"Come on, it was just a saying, it means that something is out of the ordinary, like when a batter hits a ball out of the park, it is not an ordinary hit."
"Oh, guess that makes sense," he said nodding.
A few days later, Miley sat staring at her computer screen in shock. Then she called Lilly and Oliver and asked them to come over. After hanging up, she printed out two copies of several sheets.
When they arrived she handed each of them a copy and said "You know about my theme paper on autism. I've been doing research on it, and I just found out about a form of it called Asperger's Syndrome. Read this description of it and tell me if it reminds you of someone."
Lilly finished first and said "Whoever wrote this knows Don personally. Most of it is spot on, and the rest we don't know about but could be true, like preferring soft, thick clothing."
Oliver shortly said "It's Don all right. Blindly adhering to routines and rituals, like that shirt thing, above average intelligence, taking your ballpark remark literally, uncoordinated, obsessed with a certain subject such as reading about World War Two, and all the rest, Lilly is right. I bet his Thursday shirt is the wrong material for him, too."
"Not only that, but this OASIS site says that the behaviors are only tendencies, and can be consciously controlled and overridden. People with this disorder can fit in much better when they know what to look out for," said Miley.
"So now what?" asked Lilly.
"So we tell him," said Miley. "I'll talk to him tomorrow, see if we can come over after school to talk to him and his parents, and show them this. You with me?" while printing out another copy of what she had, along with three copies of the part about conscious control of behaviors.
"Count me in," said Oliver.
"Me too," said Lilly.
The next day at lunch, they sat with Don, who was sitting alone. Miley said "The three of us would like to come over to your place after school, and talk to you and your parents. Will they be home?"
"Sorry, this is Wednesday," he said. "I always go swimming after school on Wednesday."
Miley rolled her eyes and then said "Look, I understand how you have certain routines set up. In fact, what I want to talk about is related to them. But trust me when I say that breaking your routine today is going to be worth it. Ok?"
"Well, I don't know..." he said hesitantly.
"I do know," Miley said. "It won't take all that long, and you can swim a few minutes later than usual. Can you handle that?"
"I guess."
As they walked to his house together after school, Don said "You're not going to tell my parents that kids pick on me, are you? I haven't told them about that."
"Ok, good thing you mentioned that," said Miley. "I won't. This is related to that, but I'll let you handle whether and how to tell them about it."
"How is it related?" he asked.
"It's kind of complicated," she said. "Just trust me, they won't find out that you are picked on, and what I tell you may stop it, or at least most of it."
"I don't think that will happen until I graduate. Well, we're here." He led them in and said "Mom, this is Oliver, Lilly and Miley. I know them from school."
"That's good, dear," said his mother. "I guess you want to change then go to the beach with them?"
"Not quite," said Miley. "I want you and Don to read about something I found online, also his dad if he's here."
"What is it?" she asked.
"Look, it will be easier to just have you read this," Miley said. "Can we sit down?"
"Sure, come on into the family room. I think my husband is there."
When everyone found seats, Miley handed out her copies of the description of Asperger's Syndrome from the OASIS site. "Just read it, and tell me if any of it sounds familiar."
"My word," said Don's father softly a few minutes later.
His mother added "Seconded."
"Doesn't everyone do things this way?" asked Don.
"I remember something about that," said Miley. "Let me have it back." She looked then gave it back while pointing to a section. "See here? One of the behaviors is thinking everyone is like you."
"Oh."
"Now, let me show you something else from OASIS. That's Online Asperger's Syndrome Information and Support, by the way." She handed them the printouts describing how the behaviors could be consciously controlled and overridden.
"This...might make a difference," said Don's mother.
"Ok, you are going to have to take it from here," said Miley. "There are a lot of sites out there in addition to this OASIS one. OASIS publishes a book about it, and I think there are other books. I don't know if seeing a doctor or psychologist or something like that would be a good idea. It might."
"I'm going to have to think about this," said Don.
"You do that," said Miley. "The three of us can probably help out around school, letting you know when you do things that will annoy the other kids and suggesting ways to improve, and such, but mostly I think you have to research it."
Fast forward several years. Graduation is approaching.
Don called Miley and said "I'm holding my graduation party at my place the Saturday afternoon after the ceremony. Can you make it?"
"I sure can," she replied. "How is the valedictorian speech coming?"
"I'm going to drop out so that someone else has to do it."
"Now come on, it can't be that bad. You've made speeches before."
"Yeah, but I can't figure out anything to say."
"I might have something for you," she said. "Can you come over?"
"What is it?"
"It'll be easier to show you, and you probably wouldn't believe me over the phone," she said. "Like I said, can you come over?"
"Ok, be there in a few."
While he was on his way, she put on a Hannah Montana outfit, along with wig, makeup and sunglasses, and sat on the couch. When he rang the doorbell, she answered it and said "Come in. Does this look like someone you've seen before?"
"I didn't know you could look that much like Hannah Montana," he said.
She laughed a little. "I don't look like her. I am her."
"Now wait a minute..." he said hesitantly. "I don't want to doubt you, but a little gullibility is part of Asperger's. Are you trying to fool me?"
"Not at all," she said. "I really am Hannah Montana. But maybe this will convince you." She then sang Best Of Both Worlds for him.
"But, how, why?" he asked.
"As for why, I wanted to live the life of an ordinary, normal teenager, and I did," she replied. "As for how, very carefully at times. Anyway, now that we're graduating, there isn't any reason to keep it up. So I'm thinking that you can announce my secret during your speech. Interested?"
"The life of an ordinary, normal teenager," he said slowly. "I lived one of those, thanks to you."
"Think nothing of it."
"I think a lot of it," he said. "I think I know what my speech will be. I'm going to talk about Asperger's, and what kind of hell I went through before you found out about it, and how good my life has been because you clued me in about it. Then I will announce who you really are."
"You don't need to do that."
"Oh yes I do. I'm so desperate for a topic that I'm considering dropping out in order to get out of this speech, remember?"
She laughed and said "Ok, do it that way. Do you know that you are now part of a very small club, the people I have made a command performance for? Two other members are the queen of England and America's Angel, Sophie Martinez. Well, sort of with her, long story, don't worry about it ."
He concluded his speech with "And so, thanks to Miley Stewart, my life has been drastically better than it ever would have been otherwise. And now, she has authorized me to reveal a secret that very few people have known about until now. She only revealed it to me a few days ago. Hannah, come out here!"
She came out, with wig, makeup, clothing and sunglasses as Hannah Montana, and bowed. Then she took off the wig and sunglasses. She took the microphone and said "If you are wondering if this is just dressup, listen to this." Then she sang Best Of Both Worlds. "Now how many high school graduations get a live performance from a pop superstar?"
Later, she was not surprised when many people who had never been interested in having a Miley Stewart signature in their yearbooks suddenly became very interested in getting one from Hannah Montana. When Amber and Ashley presented theirs, Ashley said "Our big graduation bash is this Saturday afternoon. Can you come?"
"Amber and Ashley, I will sign any autograph for any fan, including your yearbooks," she said in a thick southern accent. Switching to a flawless midwestern one, she continued "But you were never Miley's friend and didn't invite her to your big bash, so don't expect Hannah Montana to be your friend. She isn't. Have fun at your bash without me."
When Don came up, she said "Want me to sign your yearbook as Hannah Montana? You already have Miley's signature."
"I suppose," he said. "But it doesn't matter. I already have the signature that matters. Miley is the one who made a huge difference in my life. As Hannah Montana, you're just another celebrity."
She laughed. "Just another celebrity? Only you could have said that, Don. I've been called a lot of things, but this is the first time I have ever been called just another celebrity."
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean..."
"Don't worry about it," she broke in. "Actually, I feel complimented. When I come to your party Saturday, do you want me to sing a few songs?"
"Well, I mean, I guess...only if you want to."
"Ok, you talked me into it," she said. "How many people do you expect?"
"A few," he said. "Thanks to you I do have friends, but I'll never be Mr. Popularity. But more than I ever would have expected without you telling me about Asperger's. Since we don't exactly move in the same groups, I figured there was no reason to worry about it being on the same afternoon as Amber and Ashley's party."
"Would you like it to be a really huge bash, with a lot of people?" she asked.
"I guess, but I don't see how..." he said.
"Just leave that to me," she said. She raised her voice "LISTEN UP, EVERYONE. DON HERE IS HAVING HIS BIG GRADUATION BASH THIS SATURDAY AFTERNOON AT HIS PLACE, AND A LITTLE BIRDIE TELLS ME THAT HANNAH MONTANA WILL PERFORM LIVE AND SIGN AUTOGRAPHS." She lowered her voice. "Think that one might get a few people there?"
"I think I better buy more snacks and sodas than I originally planned on," he said.
"You do that," she said. "Wait a minute...you don't have any poison oak growing on your place, do you?"
"Well, no," he answered. "But why do you ask?"
"Long story," she said. "Don't worry about it. Just lay in the extra snacks and sodas."
Amber and Ashley said together "I think we might have goofed," then "Ooh...never mind."
The end
A/N Now for my ulterior motive. Asperger's Syndrome really is an autism spectrum disorder. OASIS (Online Asperger Syndrome Information and Support) is a real site. People really can turn their lives around when they know that they have Asperger's. A link to OASIS is in my profile.
This was partially an author insertion story. Don (my real life name) is me as a teenager, or at least as I might have been if someone such as Miley had told me about Asperger's.
Now I am on a quest to spread the word about about Asperger's as widely as possible, ESPECIALLY to those who have extensive contact with children. This show is aimed at children and teens, and who has more contact with children than other children? So if anyone reading this recognizes someone you know, PLEASE do what Miley did. I can't offer advice as to how to go about it, but find a way. Contact a favorite teacher, a guidance counselor, your own parents, or anyone else for advice, BUT DO WHAT MILEY DID IF ANYONE YOU KNOW IS ACTING THE WAY DON DOES.