Chapter 2

Lilly's POV

Around noon the next day, I eat popcorn on the living room couch watching TV when Oliver and Miley walk in. Miley sits next to me, while Oliver steps over my leg, which is propped up on the coffee table, and plops down on my other side. "Oh, Lilly! I'm so sorry!" Miley tells me.

"It's not that bad, just a sprained ankle," I reassure her. I don't even have to use crutches; just one of those casts that you can walk on. "It does suck that for the next six weeks I'm not going to be able to surf or skate or--" I freeze.

"What?" Miley asks.

"Oh, Lilly," Oliver says, and at the same time, we both exclaim, "The skate competition!"

"Huh?"

"The skateboard competition against Heather, Miley," I groan. I hadn't even thought about it once since I fell. After that, my mind had basically been on the pain in my foot, and I went straight to sleep when I got home last night. "I've been talking about it for weeks. It's on Friday."

Oliver puts an arm around my neck. "God, Lils, this sucks. I know how hard you've been practicing." Turning to Miley, he says, "That's why we were at the skate park yesterday. We were practicing."

"Heather's going to take it as a forfeit. Bitch," I add, under my breath.

"What the hell?" Oliver says, pulling his arm away. "I was only trying to help--"

I cut him off, rolling my eyes. "Not you! Heather! Idiot."

"I know, I mean, if she thinks that will stop you from wanting a rematch, then..."

"I was talking about you this time." I'm tempted to hit him, but then I think better of it. The chances that Oliver will want to go out with me will be very slim if he is afraid of me.

Oliver blinks. "Oh. I knew that." He grabs the bowl of popcorn that's sitting in my lap and stuffs a handful in his mouth.

Miley and I both laugh. "Of course you did," Miley tells him, and she reaches across me to take the bowl form Oliver.

They stay for another hour. Most of the time, we just flip through the channels. Then we find a movie on TV that sounds okay and we watch a few minutes of it. It turns out to be a football movie from about ten years ago, so Oliver and I are absorbed in it.

Miley, of course, is bored, since she doesn't understand anything about any kind of sport, much less football. "Please turn the channel. This is so boring!" When neither Oliver nor I answer her, she gets up, "You know what, I have to go anyway. He-uge history report due tomorrow. See you."

We tell her goodbye, and the movie ends five minutes later. "That was good, but I wish I knew what happened in the first 120 minutes," I say.

"Yeah," Oliver replies, and stands. "I've got to go, too. My little brother's birthday is today. Eight years old."

"Already?" I say. I love Oliver's little brother. It didn't seem that long ago we were helping change his diapers! "Well, wish Bobby happy birthday for me!"

"Sure," he says, walking towards the door, and then turns around. "Why don't you come over?" When I look doubtful, he adds, "There'll be ice cream cake!" My favorite.

I think about it. "Hmmm, no thanks, Oliver. Wait, when do you have to get back?" I ask.

"Not til two."

I look at the digital clock on the cable box above the TV. 1:35.

I grin. "I've got an idea."


Fifteen minutes later, we are back at my house with SpiderMoose. Bobby loves Make-a-Moose, and Spiderman, so we went to the one in the mall and got SpiderMoose as my gift to him.

"Are you sure you don't want to come over?" Oliver asks yet again.

"Nah. I have geometry homework, so I think I'll stay home and do that while feeling sorry for myself."

He laughs. I love it. Every time I hear him laugh, I feel as if I might melt.

"Oka-ay," Oliver says, then starts humming the theme to Make-a-Moose. He knows it drives me crazy! I start throwing pillows from the living room couch at him, and he runs out the front door with the moose. One of the pillows flies outside and lands on the sidewalk.

"Oliver, while you're there, could you grab that for me?"

He snorts. "You'll just throw it at me again." He's standing next to the pillow now. "Come and get it yourself."

"Fine." I hobble down the steps and toward Oliver. I bend down to grab the pillow, and just as I reach for it, he snatches it from me.

He hands it over. "Here." He grins.

"Hey!" I say, laughing. "What was the point of that?"

Oliver shrugs. "I don't know."

Out of nowhere, I reach up and kiss him. I'm thinking, for some reason, that he will return it, like it's the perfect moment or something.

Obviously, it's not. He doesn't kiss me back, nor does he push me away.


So what did you guys think of it? Reviews please!