Yay! New story! This one has been brewing in my head for the past couple of weeks, which made it really hard to finish "Through Their Eyes" because I wanted to start this one right away.
This one is partially inspired by DavidArchuletaLove15 "I'm In Love With My CoStar!" and partially by Camp Rock and High School Musical, as well as a couple of other things that I can't remember right now…
Disclaimer: I don't own the Jonas Brothers or Hannah Montana, which is, of course tres tragique.
JLJLJLJLJL
Chapter 1
Heat engulfed her like a cloak as she stepped out of the limo and onto the northern California film set, and she felt like she was going to faint.
"I'm dying," 16 year-old Lilly Truscott groaned to her two best friends. Oliver Oken merely rolled his eyes at her.
"The sooner we get inside the sooner we stop roasting," her other best friend, Miley Stewart, comforted her. "And at least we don't have to wear those stupid wigs anymore…"
"Yeah, well you weren't the one wearing armpit hair on your face…" Oliver retorted. The heat was making him very cranky, and the fact that they were making him carry a small duffle bag of clothes and makeup (for the girls to change into later) didn't help.
For years, Miley had lived a double life as the normal, everyday, brunette Miley and the blonde superstar pop singer Hannah Montana, and Lilly and Oliver had come along for the ride with her as Lola Luftnagle and Mike Standley III. It was a secret that had been carefully guarded until the Hannah wig had gotten loose during a quick change and had fallen off during a concert. It was a huge story, but people loved the fact that she had wanted to live a normal life and that she didn't want to use her celebrity to get whatever she wanted, so they forgave her relatively easily. These days she was going by Miley more often than Hannah, but still answered to both, and she was still as popular as ever.
The three friends were in Northern California because of Miley, since she was filming a new Disney movie with the Jonas Brothers. Some kind of new Romeo and Juliet type story, with Miley and Nick Jonas as Ramona and Julian, two high school kids from separate cliques whose family and friends were keeping them apart. Filming was set to go all summer, so Miley decided to invite Oliver and Lilly along with her so that they could spend the summer together.
The three trudged into the high school building where most of the filming was taking place and they all sighed in relief as they felt the cool air from the air-conditioning wash over them. The director swooped down on them the minute they stepped into the building.
"Miley, darling!" he cried enthusiastically, wrapping her up in a huge bear hug. "How was the trip?"
Miley grinned. "Hey, Kenny! The trip was great, and I'm ready to get to work. Oh! And these are my friends, Lilly and Oliver. Thanks so much for letting them come and hang out."
Kenny smiled and greeted the two teens warmly. "It's no problem at all! Why don't we show you your trailer, and in about an hour we'll have a little read through with everyone, alright?"
Miley nodded and the group made their way back to the trailers, which were all parked behind the school.
"Air-conditioning!" Lilly sighed in contentment, holding her arms out and reveling in the cool air as soon as they entered the trailer.
"This is definitely the life," Oliver sighed, plopping himself down on the couch. "Dude, you even have a Wii in here!"
"That's so awesome!" Lilly exclaimed, looking around the trailer. Her entire house wasn't even this nice. She walked over to the little kitchen and looked around. Even the cupboards were stocked with everything she could ever want.
"And you guys can hang out here while we're filming, if you want," Miley told them.
Lilly giggled. "Please…and miss out on watching the Jonas Brothers in action?"
"They're so cute!" the girls squealed in unison.
With a groan, Oliver covered his ears. "Must you do that?"
Lilly and Miley exchanged looks. "Yes!"
"Girls," he muttered sourly.
"Fine, you can just sit there and be a grump," the brunette said dismissively. "I need to freshen up so I can look good when I see Joe!"
Lilly resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Miley always had celebrity crushes, which usually lasted for a week or two before she moved on to the next one. "You look fine, Miles," she reassured her friend.
"I don't want to look fine, I want to look perfect. How else is he going to fall for me?" Miley pouted.
"Just be yourself! I'm sure he'll love you just the way you are." The lines felt tired and rehearsed, though they were no less sincere. It just seemed like they had this conversation all the time.
Miley straightened her shoulders determinedly. "Well, I'm not taking any chances. You'll help me, right? You'll help me catch Joe?"
It occurred to Lilly that maybe she should tell Miley that Joe might not want to be caught, but she shrugged it off. Slipping into that old familiar role of sidekick, she nodded. "Of course. When am I ever not part of your hare-brained ideas?"
"Thanks—hey!" Lilly laughed as Miley hit her with her purse in mock indignation. "Anyway, we need to get ready! We only have an hour!"
By the time the girls were finished (Oliver had taken a nap on the couch), Miley looked her sparkly and glamorous best.
"Oliver! Oliver wake up!" Miley hissed, attacking him with a pillow.
"Gah-whaaa?" he responded sleepily.
"How do I look?" Miley demanded, holding her arms out. She was dressed in a denim skirt studded with pink rhinestones, a pink tank top with silver sequins and a light pink glittery belt. She paired that with a glittery pink purse and rhinestone studded pink heels. Her hair was down and straight and she was wearing a head band.
Oliver shot a look at Lilly that seemed to ask, "What am I supposed to say?" Lilly just shook her head and smiled apologetically. "I couldn't stop her!" Lilly mouthed to the boy.
"You look very…pink," Oliver supplied lamely. This was apparently not the answer Miley wanted as she let out a huff.
"Let's go, Lilly!" Miley snatched up her script, grabbed Lilly's arm and left. As soon as Lilly stepped out of the trailer, she was glad that she had changed clothes, too. It wasn't anything as shiny as Miley's outfit, but it was definitely more comfortable. She was just wearing a pair of plain green tank top, and although she didn't usually wear shorts, the heat dictated that she give in and do it. She wore flip-flops and her hair was in a loose ponytail, with a few unruly tendrils escaping and framing her face. Lilly didn't have a purse, only a light sweatshirt just in case it got cold inside.
The read-through was in the high school cafeteria, and when the girls arrived the Jonas Brothers were already there, sitting around a cafeteria table. Miley tugged on Lilly's arm. "Please don't scream," she begged.
Lilly looked affronted. "Excuse me, but I got over that a looooong time ago! I haven't done it in a couple of years!" Miley raised an eyebrow at her friend. "Okay, that one time last month did not count! It was Johnny Depp! How can you not freak out over Johnny Depp? Geez, fine. I won't scream."
The two girls walked up to the brothers and waved cheerily. The boys looked up and smiled.
"Hi Miley," Nick said brightly. "Hi Miley's friend."
Lilly suppressed the urge to squeal and grinned at him. "I'm Lilly. Nice to meet you."
Nick stuck out his hand and shook hers. "Nice to meet you, too."
"Hi, Joe," Miley said breathlessly, staring at the middle brother.
"Uh, hi Miley," Joe responded with an awkward smile. She didn't say anything else, just stared at him. Joe looked at his brothers in bewilderment, wondering if he was supposed to say something else. "Um…you look very…shiny today."
Miley let out a squeal. Not just a regular squeal, but a patented Lilly-just-met-a-celebrity squeal that even made Lilly wince.
There was a bit of an awkward silence, which Kevin broke. "Nice to see you again, Miley. And hi Lilly, I'm Kevin. Are you in the movie, too?"
"Oh no," Lilly laughed. "Not me. Miley's my best friend and she let me come along."
"Well then I guess we'll have to make it the best summer ever for you, then, won't we?" Joe proclaimed with a smile.
"Oh, that won't be too hard. I'll be with my friends, I've got my skateboard and I'm on a movie set with the Jonas Brothers. What else could a girl want?"
Joe looked intrigued. "You skateboard?"
Before Lilly could answer, Miley groaned and tugged on her arm. "Look who's here!" she whispered fiercely.
Lilly looked in the direction Miley pointed and ducked her head. "Oh my God!" It was Mikayla walking in with Kenny. This was definitely not good…While Mikayla had initially decided that she and the unfamous Miley would be friends when they were fourteen, when she found out that Miley was Hannah she saw it as some sort of betrayal, like Miley had been doing it to humiliate her and now she hated Hannah, and Miley, even more.
Miley frowned. "I know! What is she doing here?"
"I don't know!" Lilly replied quietly.
"Um…she's in the movie with us. Didn't you know?" Kevin interjected. Obviously, the girls had forgotten that the brothers were still there, and that they could hear them.
"No, I thought it was going to be Demi Lovato. I just talked to her about it last week!" Miley cried. She suddenly realized that her voice was raised and she quickly lowered it.
"She had to drop out suddenly, and Mikayla stepped in at the last minute," Nick explained.
"Gaaaaaah!" Miley yelled.
Joe tilted his head. "Is there a problem between you and Mikayla?"
Miley plastered a big, fake smile on her face. "No, not at all. Hi, Mikayla," she said as the other pop star approached the group.
"Mikey! How nice to see you!" Mikayla exclaimed with an equally fake smile.
"Actually it's Miley," she said through gritted teeth.
"Oh I'm so sorry! It's just with all the identity stuff it's just so easy to get confused."
"Hmm, and it's easy enough to confuse you, anyway," Miley muttered.
"What was that?" Mikayla asked.
"Nothing! I'm so excited we'll be working together all summer!"
Joe looked at Lilly, his expression questioning but the blond just shrugged ruefully. Kenny, who had been waiting at the cafeteria entrance, interrupted as he approached with teen actress Olivia Towers and a few other actors who had minor roles in the movie.
"Alright, everyone! Are you ready to get started?" Kenny asked excitedly. He had everyone sat in a circle, Miley in between Nick and Joe, while Lilly hung back and sat on one of the cafeteria tables and watched.
The script, surprisingly, was a lot better than Lilly thought it would be. It was witty, at times deep, and just a lot of fun. The characters that Mikayla and Joe played reminded her a lot of Kat Stratford and Patrick Verona from "10 Things I Hate About You." They played Miley and Nick's best friends in the movie and they totally hated each other, but had to come together to help their friends find time to spend together and their banter was snappy, funny and clever. The plot was simple. Miley and Nick, or rather, Ramona and Julian, met at a masquerade dance at their school and really liked each other. The problem was that Ramona and Julian's families hated each other, plus the two moved in completely separate social spheres. Ramona was the popular head cheerleader while Nick was a troublemaking musician. Lilly had initially thought that Nick as a troublemaker would be hard to buy, but, at least when he was reading his lines, he was really good. Mikayla and Joe were the best friends who were trying to keep the other two together, while Kevin, who played Miley's older brother and a football player in the movie, and another cheerleader, Olivia, were trying to keep the two apart. In the end, Ramona and Julian ended up together, as did Kevin and Mikayla and there were hints of an Olivia and Joe romance.
Despite herself, when the readthrough was finished Lilly clapped enthusiastically. "This is going to be an amazing movie!" she gushed as Nick, Joe and Kevin approached the table she was sitting on. She was waiting for Miley, but she seemed to be involved in a very heated discussion with Mikayla over something.
"Yeah," Joe agreed, coming over and sitting on one of the benches, to Lilly's right, leaning back on the table near her legs. Nick sat down on the bench, on Lilly's left, while Kevin stood. "I'm really excited about it!' He glanced over at Miley and Mikayla. "Do they always do that?"
Lilly grinned at him. "Yes. But maybe they'll play nice when they have to film together?"
"I just think it's hilarious that they're playing best friends," Nick admitted. Lilly had to agree.
"So have you been to the compound yet?" Kevin asked, changing the subject.
Kenny had rented out this huge estate, both for filming purposes and as a place to house the main stars of the movie. There was a huge house in the center, where a lot of filming would take place and three smaller houses where the actors, their managers, the director and much of the production crew, (as well as Lilly and Oliver) would be staying. There was also a lake and a stream on the grounds and a wooded area as well as some hiking trails. The place was huge.
"We saw it for, like, a second when we dropped our stuff off, but what we saw of it was amazing," Lilly gushed. She couldn't wait to explore.
It was like Joe could read her mind. "We should definitely explore soon!" he suggested. "I want to see what else is around!"
"That sounds like a great idea!" Lilly agreed excitedly.
"You know, I think there's a stable on the grounds, too!" Kevin pointed out.
"Dude, that would be amazing!" Nick cried.
Lilly thought so, too. "I've never been horseback riding, but it sounds fun. Miley's pretty good at it, too," she continued, trying to put in a good word for her friend.
"We can go swimming in the lake, too!" Joe was really getting into the whole planning-of-activities thing.
"And we can go hiking!" Lilly added, getting into the spirit of things as well.
"This is going to be awesome!" Nick exclaimed.
"Just remember we're here to film a movie, too. And we're going to need to rehearse at some point," Kevin reminded them.
"Well I guess I'll get to do all that stuff without you guys…" Lilly joked. It was really fun hanging with them. They were just so friendly and it was all very natural.
"You can't," Joe informed her haughtily. "It's against the rules."
"What rules?" Nick asked, curious. "Ow!" Joe had hit him on the arm.
"The Joe Jonas Rules for Summer. Duh! Rule #1 is no doing fun stuff without the Jonases, especially Joe."
Lilly laughed. "Since when was that a rule?"
"Since now," Joe said with a grin.
"Don't listen to Joe," Kevin teased, ruffling Joe's hair playfully. "He doesn't know what he's saying half the time."
Joe pouted. "Hey! And don't mess up my hair!"
Kevin just rolled his eyes at him. Just then the argument between Mikayla and Miley reached fever pitch and the group could hear their voices, although they couldn't make out what the girls were saying. Kenny nervously approached the girls and tried to smooth things over. It didn't appear to be working. Mikayla shouted something and pointed forcefully at Miley. Miley in return yelled something back and made a sweeping hand gesture towards the door.
Lilly, Kevin, Joe and Nick all watched in fascination as the yelling escalated and the two girls traded shots back and forth like in a tennis match. Finally, Mikayla threw up her hands and stomped off in one direction while Miley stormed off in the other direction leaving Kenny looking hopeless and confused.
Lilly sighed. "I'd better go find her and see if I can calm her down."
Joe got up and helped Lilly off the table. "Well it was really nice meeting you."
"It was nice meeting you guys, too," Lilly replied.
"How about we have dinner later tonight, you know, everyone except maybe Mikayla…" Nick suggested.
"That sounds good. Let me give you my number and just give me a call later." Nick handed Lilly his phone and she quickly typed it in.
"I'll see you guys later!" she called back to them as she left the cafeteria in search of Miley. She found her pacing like a caged tiger in the trailer, railing to Oliver about how impossible Mikayla was. "Oh boy…" Lilly muttered to herself. "This is gonna be fun."
JLJLJLJLJL
So there's chapter one! I have a very clear idea where I want to go with this story, and hopefully it'll be nice and long…So I'm really excited! I hope you guys liked it so far!
I'd love it if you guys left reviews to let me know what you thought, if you liked it or if you didn't, and any suggestions you have for me to improve my writing. Constructive criticism rocks my socks!
Thanks for reading!
-v