A.N. This story was one of three idea's I had for Liley's so I asked My Personal Rose which one I should write first and after her predicted response of "all of them" lol this one won out. So as it's that festive time of year again and this was her favourite idea, I'm gonna make this her Christmas present :) Thanks Cole I owe ya one :) Happy Christmas!
Now this story is pretty much AU as Lilly never found out Miley was Hannah but I don't think they're OOC.
Originally this was supposed to be a oneshot but the idea's kept coming and the length snowballed so My Personal Rose suggested I split it in two but it kept growing still so now it's in three parts lol.
Disclaimer – I own nothing except my iPhone and my car :P
This is from Rite Rose Publishing.
The Valentine Void
Chapter One – Of Birthday's, Valentine's, Secrets and Friends.
Lilly Truscott was six years old when her hatred of Valentine's Day started. She had just had one of the best mornings of her short life. She had been woken up by her Mom who had sung happy birthday (that part hadn't been so great, her singing skills had come from somewhere) and then she had gone downstairs where she found a stack of presents and her Mom had made pancakes (her favourite) for breakfast. Then she had opened her presents. Her Mom had finally relented and had bought her very skateboard, of course the rest of the presents were the knee and elbow pads and a helmet that her Mom had insisted that she wear whenever she was on it, but she didn't care, in fact, having fallen off Oliver's skateboard two months earlier she was actually really happy to have them. She smiled as she walked into school with her new board was sticking out of the top of her bag and she smiled as Oliver beckoned her over.
"Happy Birthday Lilly!" he grinned and shoved a handmade birthday card into her hand. She smiled and thanked him but before either friend could say anything else a voice from behind Lilly made her scowl.
"Ooh it's the tom girl's birthday Ashley," Amber sneered. Lilly was about to retort when the bell rang and they all quickly made their way to their seats, Lilly still upset over how horrible Amber was and she had no idea why she always had to pick on her. Mrs Conner stepped into the room and started excitedly telling the class what they were going to be doing that morning.
"Good morning class, well in case you don't know, today is Valentine's day. This is usually the day where you tell the people who you care about that you love them. It's the most romantic day of the year, so in celebration of that, this morning we are going to be making cards. Each person can make a card and then we will collect them up and deliver them to the person the card is for. You can put your name on it or you can sign it with a question mark" she smiled, looking around the class clearly thinking she had given them a great treat. Lilly hated this sort of thing. There wasn't even anyone she would want to send a card to in this class ... except maybe Oliver but only because he was her friend. She sighed, Oliver it was then. She quickly drew what looked like a skateboard on the front of a folded piece of paper before carefully writing 'To Oliver from Lilly' inside. Half an hour later, Mrs Conner collected the card and then called people up to the front of the class one by one. Only Lilly was never called. No one had written her a card. She shrugged to herself, 'ah well' she thought, 'I've had lots of card today'. She was happily doodling on a spare piece of paper and Mrs Conner handed the last card to Mat when Amber spoke up.
"Loser Truscott doesn't have a Valentine card and it's her birthday too!" she called across the room. Lilly's face instantly turned bright red at this and she slouched down in her seat, barely noticing Mrs Conner admonishment of Amber's statement. Stupid Valentine's day. Why did she have to be born on this stupid day and why did Amber hate her so much.
Stupid Valentine's.
-LILEY-
Ten year old Lilly Truscott was barely paying attention to the teacher. They were in science class and talking about space and stars and planets but all Lilly wanted was for this day to be over. She had to be the only child alive that hated her birthday. Every year the teachers had made them make each other Valentine's day cards and every year she didn't get one. Not that she really cared about receiving a card from someone who didn't want to give it anyway but it was the fact that Amber had to make her feel like such a loser. Last year she had come up with the nickname Loveless Lilly for her as she had picked up on the lack of cards every year not to mention that she had never had a boyfriend. Not that the one boy who had held Amber's hand every lunch period for a week could actually be called a boyfriend but Amber obviously thought he could. She tuned back into what the teacher was saying in time for him to explain what space was.
"... is a vacuum or a void. This means that it's basically an empty space, no air, no dust, just nothingness." He explained.
"Like Lilly's love life." Ashley, Amber's best friend spoke up, causing the class to giggle but before the teacher could say anything Amber spoke up as Lilly was expecting her to.
"Ooh Loveless Lilly, the Valentine Void!" Amber called scathingly across the room. Lilly rolled her eyes and internally berated herself for turning the red she could feel on her cheeks.
She hated Valentine's day.
-LILEY-
Later that same day, Lilly was walking into the canteen as she noticed a young girl she had never seen before walking into the principal's office with Mr Fisher and a tall man with hair that fell to his jaw bone. The girl happened to look down the corridor as Lilly looked that way and she smiled at her, Lilly smiled back as she closed the door of the office behind her. Lilly stood still for a few seconds and stared at the closed door. Did she know that girl, she felt like she knew her. Lilly shook this off and finished walking into the canteen before joining the line to get her dinner. Ten minutes later she was eating her spaghetti as Oliver was whispering to the rest of their friends, but she wasn't paying attention. Sometimes having a bunch of boys as friends had its downsides but there was something that he said that caught her attention.
"... Yeah that's right. The new girl. I swear!" he laughed. Lilly quickly swallowed her mouthful of pasta and shot back a response.
"Who? The new girl? You know her?" she asked.
"No, I just now that about her," he grinned.
"Know what?" she asked, frowning slightly. She knew all Oliver's friends and all his family, how could he know something about someone she had never even seen.
"She's called Milly, I saw her earlier, she's from Tennessee and she said she eats possum! I swear Lils!" Oliver told her, nodding his head enthusiastically. Lilly snorted in amusement, how the heck did he come up with these things? Their conversation was cut short as someone cleared their voice next to Lilly. She spun around in her seat and came face to face with the girl she had seen entering Mr Fisher's office a while ago.
"Hi" she smiled, "Can I sit with you?" she asked, her accent obvious in the few words she had spoken.
"Yeah 'course," she smiled back and moved her bag from the seat next to her to allow the girl to sit down, "I'm Lilly," she smiled and stuck her hand out as the girl sat down.
"Miley." Miley smiled back as she shook the hand Lilly offered.
"So where you from?" Lilly asked as she started eating her spaghetti again, this time at a slower pace so she could keep talking to Miley. She noticed the boys whispering to each other behind their hands. Suddenly Matt jumped up and ran over to the next table and started animatedly talking to them.
"Crowley Corners in Tennessee." Miley said, nervously as she watched Matt go.
"Whereabouts is that in Tennessee?" Lilly asked, interested.
"It's less than an hour outside of Nashville." Miley told her and just as Lilly was about to ask more, Amber and Ashley suddenly appeared on either side of Miley.
"Look Ashley, it's a hillbilly fresh off the plantation." Amber sneered with a fake accent. Ashley giggled at this.
"Ya think she's lost?" Ashley asked.
"She's not having lunch; you think she's picky about what she eats?" Amber asked mockingly.
"I don't know Amber what do you think?"
"I think there's no possum so ..." Amber started.
"She's not hungry!" they finished together before looking at each other, "Ooh tsss," they said as they touched their fingers together. Miley blushed and seemed to sink further down into her seat, she looked so unhappy at the teasing in the first few minutes of talking to people at her new school that Lilly felt inexplicably angry at them and protective over Miley.
"You guys really need to shut up and go away, it's her first day!" Lilly told them angrily as she stood up to face them.
"Ooh the Hillbilly and Valentine Void are possum buddies." Amber smirked and they both laughed as they walked away. Lilly fumed to herself as she sat down and turned to Miley.
"Sorry about them, they love making other people miserable," Lilly told Miley, "Here do you want my apple?" Lilly offered. Miley smiled and took the apple.
"Thanks." Miley smiled back.
Valentine's day sucked for everyone. Not just her.
-LILEY-
Fifteen year old Lilly was happy for the first time she could remember for Valentine's day. She had a date with Lucas tonight and he was so cute. Maybe this year she won't be the Valentine Void for once. She grinned as she walked into school and saw her best friend at her locker, brushing her hair whilst looking in the small mirror she had tacked to the inside of her locker door.
"Hey Miles." she greeted as she opened the locker next to Miley's and started sorting her books out for the day. Miley turned to look at Lilly as she said this and her face broke out into a warm smile.
"Hey birthday girl!" Miley greeted and pulled her friend into a quick hug before passing her a card, "You'll get the gift tomorrow on movie night" Miley told her. Thursday night had somehow become their movie night as Miley usually had family things on Friday and Saturday nights.
"Thanks Miley." Lilly grinned as she opened her card and read the inside. Miley always signed her cards to Lilly the same, 'love always, Miley xoxo". Lilly gave Miley another quick hug just as the bell rang. The day was filled with all the usual Valentine's day things, there were more couple's hanging out in the corridors, the usual Valentine's day card drop and, of course, the usual Valentine Void comments from Amber and Ashley. Only this year she had a date that evening. As the last bell rang, she and Miley jumped out of their seats and started to make their way to their lockers as Miley started questioning her friend about the upcoming date.
"So Lil, did you decide what you were gonna wear?" she asked as they stopped at their lockers to grab all their books.
"Yeah I'm gonna go with the blue outfit, you know the one with the Capri's?" Lilly told her, smiling.
"Yeah that's a great outfit! What are you gonna do with your hair? Ponytail or ...?" Miley started but she trailed off as they turned a corner and stopped short at the sight that greeted them. Miley's jaw dropped in shock and Lilly dropped the bag that she had been trying to close.
"Lucas?" she gasped. The guy and girl in front of them quickly separated from the intense kiss they had been sharing for Lucas to turn to look at Lilly and Miley. The girl, who Miley briefly recognised from her world history class, quickly walked down the corridor and disappeared out of the door.
"Lilly ..." Lucas started and stepped forward to try and take her hand but Lilly stepped back shaking her head and closing her eyes against the pain of what she had just witnessed.
"You ... you ... you jerk!" Lilly spat out before she swung back her fist and let her fist connect solidly with his jaw causing him to stumbled backwards, his foot catching in the strap of Lilly's fallen back and then him falling onto his backside. After she saw this, she smirked and turned on her heel to walk quickly to the other exit. Miley quickly grabbed her bag from the floor before glaring at Lucas.
"Don't you dare come near her again or I swear I'll do more than call you a jerk and make you look like the fool you are." Miley ground out between clenched teeth and ran after her friend. It didn't take long to catch up with Lilly with Miley running as fast as she could and when she reached her she took Lilly's hand in her free hand and doubled over, gasping for breath. "... Li ... Lilly ... you ... ok?" she panted as she righted herself to stand up and look Lilly in the eye. Miley's heart nearly broke to see the tears brimming in her eyes and stumbled back a step as Lilly threw herself in Miley's arms. Miley dropped Lilly's bag again and quickly brought up both arms to hug her friend closely. "It's ok Lil, he didn't deserve you anyway." Miley soothed.
"I'm always gonna be Loveless Lilly, the Valentine Void, aren't I?" Lilly croaked out between her sobs. Miley pushed Lilly away slightly so she could look her friend in the eyes.
"No!" she stated adamantly, "Absolutely not! I don't want to hear you ever say that again, ok?" Miley waited for a few moments and when Lilly didn't respond but looked away, she continued, "Lillian you listen to me, I know you're gonna find the right person for you one day and Amber and Ashley will eat their words, I promise you." Miley said sincerely.
"But how can you possibly promise that?" Lilly asked, sadly.
"Because best friends know all," Miley smiled before pulling Lilly back into the hug, "You're staying at mine tonight, I'm sure your Mom won't mind, in fact we'll invite her over for dinner as well, I'm sure Daddy would love to make you a birthday dinner!" she exclaimed excitedly. Lilly couldn't help the soft laugh that escaped her.
"Ok," she agreed.
"And besides, you haven't had your pressie yet," Miley said as if that settled things. Miley reached down again to pick up Lilly's bag and threw it over her shoulder with her own before wrapping her arm around Lilly's shoulders and starting for her house with her best friend in tow.
Lilly quickly wiped her eyes as she thought about what had happened and gave a soft sigh. She shouldn't have been surprised, she thought to herself, after all Valentine's day sucked.
-LILEY-
Today was the last day of school before the holiday vacation started for Seaview High and sixteen year old Lilly couldn't wait for the day to be over. Her mom wanted her to spend the whole Christmas with her dad because she had to go up to her Mom's and there wasn't room for all of them, Heather would have to sleep on the sofa as it was. She sighed and made her way into the dining room to meet up with Miley and Oliver for lunch. When she arrived she grabbed her food from the lunch ladies and walked quickly over to her friends before slamming down the tray and plonking herself down in a definitely unladylike manner.
"Whoa Lil," Oliver said, his eyebrows disappearing under his two long fringe. "Who died?" Lilly didn't particularly find this funny so she settled for glaring at him. He seemed to realise he had said the wrong thing and quickly looked down at the mashed potatoes he had on his plate. Miley shook her head at her friend's behaviour before turning to face Lilly and gently resting her hand on her arm.
"What's up Lil?" she smiled kindly.
"Stupid Mother wants me to spend Christmas with Dad but I hate it there and we have nothing to talk about" she complained.
"Is there nowhere else you can stay?" Miley asked.
"No." Lilly answered forlornly. There was silence until Miley spoke again, this time with a very excited smile.
"How about my place?" she asked, "I'm sure daddy won't mind!" she enthused. Lilly looked at Miley happily.
"You sure?" she asked cautiously, not wanting to get her hopes up.
"'Course! Daddy loves you almost as much as I do." Miley grinned. Lilly couldn't help the slight blush that flooded her cheeks but she grinned back at her friend. Lilly had tried very hard to push down her feelings for her best friend but it was a losing battle. Every time she saw Miley smile she's just ... melted. She knew Miley was completely guy obsessed though and she knew that there were major differences between them. She was sporty and loved surfing and skateboarding whereas Miley loved to sing and write songs but Lilly had rarely heard her sing, she was really self conscious about her voice despite how absolutely wonderful it was. She cherished the times that she had, mostly times where she had come over to her friends and Miley had been singing softly to music she had written for her guitar. The difference between them was that she loved Hannah Montana but Miley didn't. She always said that her music was ok but she just didn't like her so every time Lilly had gone to see her favourite singer it had always been with Oliver. She had often pleaded with Miley to go to her concert with her but Miley had always refused.
Lilly shook off her musings and smiled at her friend, "Awesome!"
-LILEY-
Later that day, Lilly and Miley walked into Miley's house laughing and joking as normal to find a cooking Robbie Ray in the kitchen.
"Hey Daddy" Miley smiled.
"Hey Mr S!" Lilly greeted.
"Good afternoon girls, how was school?" Robbie Ray asked as he stirred whatever he was making for their dinner.
"It was ok Daddy," Miley supplied as they both stood at the breakfast bar, "Daddy can I ask you something?"
"Of course bud, what's up?" He asked, turning his attention to them.
"Can Lilly stay for Christmas?" Miley asked before rushing on to explain, "Mrs Truscott is spending the Christmas holidays with her Mom and there isn't anywhere other than her Dads". Robbie Ray looked between the two girls, torn between wanting to make happy and knowing the Mr Truscott loved to see his daughter.
"If Lilly's Mom and Dad don't mind her staying here instead of with her Dad then I don't mind having the extra company." he smiled at them, essentially leaving the decision to Lilly's parents.
"Yes!" Lilly yelled as she pumped her fist in the air before pulling Miley into a quick hug. "I'm gonna go ask my Mom, be back in about 30 minutes Miles."
"Ok," Miley yelled after Lilly as she was already half way out of the door. After the door had closed, Miley turned to her Dad. "Thanks Daddy" she smiled at him.
"It's ok bud," he smiled but then looked seriously at his daughter, "What are you going to do and the concert on the 27th?" he asked gently. He knew his daughter wanted to tell Lilly the truth but Lilly was such a huge fan of Hannah Montana that Miley felt she couldn't possibly measure up, in Lilly's eyes, to the person Lilly had put so high on that pedestal. There had been a few times where Miley had been in tears because of the guilt she felt over continually lying to her best friend about her double life but no matter how many times he told her that she could trust Lilly, she always said the same thing, 'I trust her with my life, it's myself I can't trust' but she never elaborated on what she meant by this and he never pushed the issue.
"Well I was kinda hoping we could tell her I have to go to a my Aunt Dolly's for dinner, she's in town because she's coming to the concert." Miley smiled.
"Ok bud, but just remember, this'll catch up t'ya eventually," he smiled and pulled her into a half hug.
"Yeah Daddy, I know," Miley sighed, "Sometimes I wish she had just ... I don't know, broken into my dressing room years ago or something like that and knew all this so I didn't have to pretend but the longer it's gone on the harder it is to tell her."
"I understand Miles," he kissed her on the head and cleared his throat, "Right enough about that; I need you to set the table please."
Miley and Robbie Ray stood talking about this and that for the next twenty minutes until the front door banged open and Lilly came running in.
"They said yes! They said yes! Dad was supposed to be going to his brothers in New York anyway but because Mom had to go to Florida he changed his plans." Lilly happily told them. Miley rushed forward and took both of Lilly's hands and they started jumping around the room.
"YAY! YAY! YAY!" they yelled in unison as Jackson walked down the stairs, no doubt having been drawn downstairs by the delicious smell of Robbie Ray's cooking.
"What's with the happy dancing?" Jackson asked as he grabbed a hot roll from the plate and tore into it.
"Lilly's gonna be joining us for Christmas Jackson so I hope you've been practicing your southern hospitality." Robbie Ray smiled at his son before turning back to watch the two excited girls jumping around.
"Oh please," Jackson snorted, "It's Lilly, she practically lives here anyway."
-LILEY-
The next day Lilly's Mom was finishing packing up the things she would need and picked her passport up off the side.
Lilly!" she yelled up the stairs, "Are you ready?" Lilly rushed out of her room carrying the small suitcase that she had put a week's worth of clothes in and ran down the stairs.
"I'm here, I'm here," Lilly smiled, "Are you all set for Grandma's?" she asked.
"Yeah ... wish I was staying here with you though," Heather told her, "Christmas at the Stewart's will be a blast! I'm so jealous" Lilly's Mom had a stormy relationship with her grandma but always tried her best to be there for her despite her living in Florida. "Do you have your keys as well just in case?" Lilly patted her pocket and smiled, "Good let's go then, I'll drop you at Miley's on the way".
Ten minutes later, Lilly was walking through the Stewarts door. "Ho Ho Ho Stewarts, Merry Christmas!" she yelled cheerfully. Miley looked up from what she was doing in the kitchen to smile at her best friend.
"Lils!" she smiled, "Your Mom get away ok?" she asked as she walked around the central kitchen unit and to Lilly to pull her into a hug and then grabbed one of the bags she had.
"Yeah," Lilly grinned and started to follow Miley up the stairs. "She was sulking because she wanted to be here for Christmas with us. She said, and I quote 'Christmas at the Stewart's will be a blast! I'm so jealous'." Lilly laughed and Miley soon followed.
-LILEY-
The next few days flashed by and before either girl knew it, Christmas Eve had arrived. It was just after six and Miley and Lilly walked into the house, giggling, after the day they had spent at the beach before watching the sun set together.
"I love Malibu sun sets," Miley grinned as they walked to the fridge. "I loved sun sets back in Tennessee too but watching the sun disappear behind the ocean is a whole 'nother deal." Miley opened the door and grabbed two bottles of water before handing one to Lilly and taking a swig of hers. Miley watched Lilly as she opened her bottle of water and quickly drank just about half of the bottle before stopping to catch her breath, and in that moment Miley realised something. Lilly was always Lilly, no matter what the situation she could pretty much always guess how she was going to react. Just like with the water, she knew that Lilly never sipped water (unless she was ill) she always drank it like they were running out and when they went shopping she always let Miley do what she wanted first before they went to any of the shops she wanted to go to. When they were having a sleepover she always slept on the same side of the bed and she would never betray a friend. Miley knew what she had to do; she had to tell Lilly the truth. She was still watching Lilly as she looked towards Miley to catch her watching.
"What?" she asked a little self consciously at the attention.
"Nothing," Miley shook her head, "It's just ... well I've been wanting to tell you something for a long time but I just ..." Miley started but was interrupted by Robbie Ray jogging into the kitchen from the side door.
"Good evening ladies, are we ready for the traditional Christmas Eve games night!" he asked enthusiastically. Miley's face fell at the interruption but she quickly plastered a smile on her face and turned to face her Dad.
"Sure Daddy, me and Lilly just got in, we were about to go and get ready," she smiled, the smile a little strained. Miley wanted to scream, she had finally decided to go through with telling Lilly then got interrupted! Maybe she should leave it until tomorrow anyway ... if it was Christmas and the confession was masked as a present maybe she wouldn't be as mad at her for keeping the secret.
"Ok Darlin' be sure to be ready for seven, it's your brother's turn to pick the first game this year," he reminded as he grabbed his own bottle of water from the fridge and walked upstairs. There was a moment of silence as Lilly and Miley stared at each other, finally Lilly cleared her.
"Erm ... Miles? ... You were saying?" she asked. Miley shook her head and smiled broadly.
"Never mind," Miley brushed off, "We have to get ready for tonight anyways, it's nothing important" Lilly looked like she was about to object at this but seemed to shake off the abrupt change in subject, "Come on, we need to have showers and change ... I'm getting the first shower!" she laughed and ran up the stairs with Lilly chasing after her.
"Hey! No fair, I'm supposed to be a guest!" she yelled, laughing. Miley won the first shower after an intense best out of three game of rock, paper, scissors so whilst she was in the shower, Lilly decided to figure out what she was going to wear. She had thrown her bag in the bottom of Miley's closet that morning as they had rushed out to spend the day on the beach so Lilly dropped down to her knees to reach for it however Miley's closet was a little deeper than most so she had to crawl forward a bit, under the vast amount of clothes that Miley had. She grabbed her bag and pulled it away from the back wall only to glance at the spot it had occupied. There was what looked like a slightly open door instead of a wall?
Lilly was confused so she stood up and pushed the clothes aside so she then realised she was looking at another set of double doors but what confused her even more was the Hannah Montanan HM on the doors. She pushed the doors fully open and as she did, lights burst into life and her jaw dropped. She walked into the new closet she had found and looked around. Everywhere she looked there were designer shoes and clothes and then she turned around to look at the wall with the door in it and gasped. There were framed Hannah Montana gold and platinum albums and certificates up on the wall and a shelving unit full of the various awards Hannah had won. Why would Miley have a room like this behind her closet? Then she looked at the framed concert picture and the truth finally hit her as she looked into the eyes she knew so well. Miley was Hannah Montana. Why had she never told her the truth? Did she not trust her? Was she not important enough?
Lilly stumbled backwards and fell onto the dressing table's chair. Miley didn't tell her? Her eyes filled with tears and she closed her eyes against the pain as she felt the tears stream down her face. She trusted Miley with everything, every little detail about her life so why the hell did she not trust her back. She roughly wiped the tears from her face and got to her feet just as Miley's voice floated in from the bedroom.
"Lilly, shower's free ... Lil! ... Lils?" Miley shouted her voice getting closer. Lilly didn't speak, she just faced the door waiting for Miley to appear.
TBC
A.N. I know I'm evil :P however the other two parts of this story have been written and I can assure you that all three parts will be posted by Christmas Eve. Please review! Thanks guys Nicki xoxo