Disclaimer: I don't own Hannah Montana.
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A/N: I'll try to post this regularly once a week or two. Please make sure to leave a review, they keep me motivated and if I won't get any, I probably stop posting. I need to know if you like this story or not. Hope you enjoy this chapter!
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The Joys and Pains of Camping with an Oken
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Chapter 2:
Heather and Lilly Truscott arrived about an hour later. Apparently, Heather got lost on the way and their GPS device didn't work right.
Oliver now felt a bit uneasy with Lilly's presence there. It's not like they were fighting, it wasn't the case at all. She was still his best friend. He just thought he was going to spend this week along with his family and the Stewarts. He wasn't expecting Lilly to be there as well.
It was half past five on the afternoon. The parents were all making dinner (Robby Ray was desperately trying to avoid Heather in conversation. It seems that Miley forgot to update him on the Truscotts arrival as well, and Oliver was starting to think she did that on purpose). So while the adults worked inside, the kids were hanging out outside on the porch. Miley was playing on her guitar and they all joined her in the song.
"Wow, Miley, you sound just like Hannah Montana!" little Owen said, full of admiration. The rest of the kids laughed.
"Yeah, Miley is well known at her ability to mimic celebrities," Jackson said jokingly, only Owen didn't get that.
"Miley, I can't believe my mum actually allowed me to come with you to Europe!" Lilly said as she clapped her hands excitedly. "EEP! I don't know what is wrong with her, and I'm not going to find out."
"Hey, Oliver, why aren't you going to Europe?" asked Owen.
Oliver's face turned red. He ran his hand through his thick hair. "Well, I guess Europe just doesn't do it for me," he said.
Owen rolled his eyes. "Right... You could've said that mum didn't let you, you know." Oliver scowled distastefully while the girls smiled at the little boy; of course they found him adorable.
"Yeah, besides, it's more like a girls-only trip," Miley added to the nine year-old.
Owen looked confused. "Then why is Jackson going?"
"Like I said, it's more like a girls-only trip," Miley said again and everyone laughed, except Jackson who pouted and called "Hey!" in protest.
Soon after that, Owen got bored and left to watch TV, so the four of them stayed outside. There was a warm breeze and the sun was slowly setting, covering the porch in its golden glow. Mr. Stewart came outside a few minutes later, carrying a tray with four mugs of his famous Loco Hot Cocoa. Even though Oliver couldn't complain about that, he knew that Robby only went outside as an excuse to avoid Lilly's mum, even if it was just for a minute.
"I'm bored," Oliver said after they were all done and sugar-high from their drinks. He felt a little too hyper-active and made a mental note to check his sugar level afterwards because right now all he wanted to do was to pump up some adrenaline.
He jumped up from his seat and took a deep breath before his hands grabbed the ham of his t-shirt and pulled it over his head.
"Oliver, what are you doing?" Miley asked incredulously, taken aback by his sudden behavior. She watched him throw his shirt aside, but tried not to stare directly at his bare torso.
He flashed her a wide smile in return as he kicked his sandals at Miley and Lilly's direction, making both girls look at him questioningly while they ducked his flying shoes. "I'm going for a swim," he simply said and ran down the stairs to the grassy ground.
"You're crazy!" Miley exclaimed. She stood up, ran to the railings and watched him take off his capri shorts next, leaving him in only his boxers.
"Why? My brother and I used to do it all the time," he explained. He was facing her, but slowly walked backwards towards the shore of the lake. "Come on, it'd be fun!"
"No, it'd be cold!" Miley objected.
"And dark soon!" Lilly added as she came to stand beside Miley.
Oliver leered at Lilly. "Aww! Are you afraid, Truscott?" he sneered in a faked baby voice.
Lilly's face immediately turned red and her eyes narrowed. The best thing about knowing Lilly since the age of three was that he knew which of her buttons he had to push to make her mad, and the easiest way was to call her a chicken. He watched her carefully, seeing her slightly shake with anger, and he could swear he saw smoke coming out of her ears.
"I'm in," Jackson then said excitedly, took off his shirt and shoes as well and went to join Oliver.
"Wha – Jackson!" Miley called in protest after her brother, but Jackson only stuck out his tongue childishly in return.
Oliver and Jackson met with a high-five and both turned around laughing, running to the nearby dock and jumping into the water.
Miley's mouth hung open in shock. "Can you believe them?" she turned to her right, where Lilly was standing, but found her blonde friend wasn't there anymore. She turned around on the porch and saw that Lilly had entered the cabin. She followed her into their shared room, and watched as Lilly grabbed her bathing suit and ran to the bathroom with it.
"Lilly, you can't be serious," Miley said to her through the door. Lilly came out a minute later wearing her green bathing suit and she was rearranging her hair back into a ponytail.
"How dare he say I'm afraid? I'll show him!" she muttered under her breath with annoyance. She then let out an angry huff and turned to Miley. "You're coming?"
Miley debated it for a second and then sighed. "Fine. Wait for me," she said in a low voice and went to grab her own bathing suit.
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"Well, look who decided to show up," Jackson said mockingly as Miley and Lilly swam towards him. "I could hear all the way here your screams from the coast. 'Ahh! It's so cold! It's so cold!'" he mimicked in a high, pitchy voice and chuckled while doing exaggerated hand movements.
"Ha ha, very funny," Miley said in a low voice, slightly shivering.
"Where is Oken?" Lilly asked, her voice hard.
Jackson looked puzzled. "What are you talking about? He's right her–" he turned to his left but saw there was no one there. He turned the other way, then spun around in a full circle, his head shooting from left to right and back again, slowly starting to panic. "Oliver?" he called out, his voice weak.
It was almost completely dark by now. The sky was a mixture of deep purple and dark blue and a few stars were shining bright. The only light was the nearly full moon from above and a golden line on the horizon. The lake was still and the water almost black. There was no sign of Oliver anywhere.
"Jackson...?" Miley asked in a strained voice, afraid to finish her question.
"I – I..." Jackson mumbled, his eyes looking around frantically.
"I can't believe you lost him!" Miley yelled at her brother and she checked the dark surface of the water. "OLIVER!"
"Are you sure he didn't swim further out the lake?" Lilly asked, her eyes wide and face stone-white with fear. Then suddenly she let out an ear-deafening shriek and disappeared into the deep blackness of the water, as if there was something in there that pulled her under.
"LILLY!" Miley screamed in panic, but Jackson began laughing and she turned to look at him, afraid he had gone crazy.
Suddenly, Lilly resurfaced and was kicking and hitting a dark figure which came out with her. Water was splashing everywhere and Jackson was laughing even harder at the scene, while Miley watched completely out of speech and Lilly was screaming and cursing at the dark figure, who tried to grab a hold of her while chuckling and trying to catch their breath at the same time.
"You idiot! I'll never forgive you for that!" Lilly screamed at the top of her lungs at the person she was fighting with. Miley quickly realized that it was Oliver.
"Lilly, stop! Stop! I'm sorry!" Oliver said in between chuckles while he fought to restrain Lilly.
Miley turned to her brother, her eyes full of rage. She smacked him on the shoulder. "You played along with this?"
"Bozos! The both of you! Idiots!" Lilly yelled, now fully held in Oliver's arms from behind, unable to move.
"That's so cruel!" Miley cried out at the two boys, but they both kept chuckling.
"Evil!" Lilly screamed, trying unsuccessfully to free herself from Oliver's grasp.
"You should have seen your faces! I so nailed it!" Jackson said smugly. "Drama club, here comes the Jacksonator."
Oliver chuckled at that, but stopped abruptly when Lilly wouldn't stop fussing and he wondered how and when she became so strong. He could barely hold her still. "Lilly, will you stop it?" he complained.
"Will you let me go already?" she shot back.
"If I let you go, you have to promise me that you won't hit me!" he warned.
"Go to hell!" she yelled and kept kicking his shin under the water.
Oliver weaved their legs together to stop her kicking and pressed her firmly against his chest. He was glad it was dark enough by now, so that Miley and Jackson couldn't see how flushed his face had suddenly become. He glanced at them, and was annoyed by the amused looks they both had on their faces.
Rolling his eyes, he tightened his grip on the struggling girl in his arms and said, "Lilly, you have to stop squirming, or else you will drown and I won't dive after you and get you back up." He was only half joking, but his voice held a fake warning tone in it.
Lilly huffed angrily, but finally stilled. Oliver was glad that she was much shorter than him. He took the advantage that her feet couldn't reach the bottom of the lake, whilst his did, but he thought she didn't need to know that minor detail. He knew that even though she fought to put on a brave façade, she was afraid of drowning, just like she'd been afraid he had drowned only a few minutes ago. He also knew better not to cross her again; an even more furious Lilly would definitely cause both of them to somehow get hurt.
"I'm letting you go now," he said cautiously, but held her a moment longer to make sure she would hold still. When she did, Oliver finally released her, but quickly jumped back and kept his distance away from her, just in case she would pounce on him again.
Luckily for him, she didn't, but she turned around with a sour face and swam back to the shore.
"Lilly!" Miley called out, but received no answer from the blonde and so she swam after her.
Oliver could feel a tight hold around his heart. "Lilly, I said I was sorry," he tried to apologize. He sighed and followed Miley, leaving Jackson behind.
Oliver watched as Lilly climbed up the ladder to the deck, her body quivering madly from the cold; or was it from anger? He wasn't quite sure. "Come on, Lilly, don't be like that. You can ask Jackson; I didn't even mean to get you, I was actually going after Miley."
Miley, who was midway up the ladder stopped at that and shot him a glare.
"What?" he asked her innocently. "You would have taken it better than her," he tried to reason, but to no avail.
"You're a moron," Miley snapped and climbed up the rest of the way to the deck and went back into the cabin after Lilly.
It took a minute for all of it to sink in. When it did, Oliver shook his head and sighed sadly. I am a moron.
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A/N: Done reading? You like and want more? Leave a review please! :)
