Chapter 2: The Mall

It was a short drive to the mall, so they got there in no time. Pulling up, Robbie parked the car in a handicap spot close to the entrance. He then hopped out to pull Lilly's wheelchair out of the trunk. While he did that, Miley got out and opened Lilly's door. Instead of moving so Miley could help her out, Lilly remained still, staring out the windshield.

"Sweetie what's wrong?" Miley asked worried.

"I don't know if I can do this Miley," she replied.

"What do you mean?" Miley asked, squatting down to be at the same level as Lilly.

"People will stare Miles. I don't wanna be the freak on wheels that everybody stares at and gives that stupid sympathetic smile to."

"No one is gonna think you're a freak Lil. And no one is gonna stare, well, I might just because you so darned cute." This rewarded her with a smile from the blond. "No matter what, just remember that you are my hero. My love. My life."

Lilly's mouth transformed into a huge smile just as Robbie Ray pushed the wheelchair up to the girls.

"Why do I always feel like I'm missin' somethin' between you two?" he asked looking from girl to girl. They both just shrugged their shoulders and continued smiling. "Whatever. Here ya go buds." Miley stood up and helped Lilly to sit in the chair. "Okay, just call me when you're ready for a ride home."

"Will do Mr. S. Cya!" Lilly waved as Miley pushed her towards the automatic doors.

"Where to first my dear?" Miley asked.

Where ever you want. I'm just along for the ride. Literally!" Lilly giggled at her own joke.

"How about we go check out some new shirts at Aero?" Miley asked heading off in that direction.

"Sure."

When they entered the store, Lilly's fear of being treated like a freak came back full force and she cringed at what the greeting clerk was about to say.

"Welcome. Hope you're having a great day today! Just so you know all of our polos are buy one get one half off as are our lady's tees," he said with a big smile on his face.

Lilly smiled back another one of her huge smiles. "Thank you sir." Her attention was quickly pulled away from him to Miley.

"Lilly look!" she said holding up a bright light blue polo. "This would look great on you and the color goes spectacular with your eyes," she exclaimed. "Oh and this one too!" she said holding up another polo, this one a bright orange color.

"Whatever you say Miles."

Miley went on babbling about clothes. What went with what and what style is best on what body shape.

"What's the best style for a chick on wheels?" Lilly piped up.

"You look good in anything babe," Miley said causing Lilly to blush. Smiling at the color of Lilly's face, Miley dumped some clothes in her lap and pushed her up to the check-out counter.

"Will this be all?" the cashier asked Miley who was pulling out her wallet.

"No. Can I have that plaid hat behind you too? Thanks." She waited for the total to come up and then handed the woman her money.

"Have a pleasant day," the woman said handing her the change and their bag of clothes.

"Thank you, you too ma'am," Lilly said as she was rolled out of the store. "Now what?"

"I thought we would go down to that new skateboard shop and look around a bit."

"Really? Cool!" Lilly said excitedly.

"Hey hey! Nice wheels! What can I do for you ladies today?" a young man about Jackson's age asked them as they entered the store.

"We're just looking thanks," Lilly said sweetly. "Check it out! The new Element boards are in!" Lilly basically screamed at Miley, pointing.

Miley pushed Lilly over to look at the new skateboards.

"Well my name is TJ if you need anything," the guy hollered as they rolled away. Miley turned her head to acknowledge the statement when something on the wall caught her eye.

"I'll be right back okay?" Miley said walking away from Lilly to look at something else. She stood, looking up at the wall covered with different colored light sticks.

"See something you like?" TJ asked.

"What are those?" she pointed at the lights.

"Those are special board lights. You snap them on the long edges of your skateboards."

"Would they snap onto the spokes of that wheelchair?" she motioned over to Lilly who was still drooling over the new skateboards in front of her.

"I'm sure they would."

"Well I would like ten of them please."

TJ nodded and began gathering the boxes of lights.

As Miley waited for the lights, Lilly contemplated which new board was the coolest. When she finally picked one, she reached out to grab it but it was just out of her reach. Determined to get it herself, she reached down to the wheels of her chair. She gripped the right wheel just fine but when she tried to grip the left, she found that once again her fingers wouldn't cooperate. Frustrated, she decided to use the palm of her hand to turn the wheel, but as she did so pain shot through her entire arm. Ignoring it, she continued with the wheel propelling herself forward. When she felt that she was close enough she extended her arm and pulled the skateboard off the shelf and into her lap. She then managed to get herself turned around and began heading in the direction of Miley. Just as Miley turned to check on her Lilly rolled to a stop at her side.

"Lilly! When did you? But how did you? I left you over, and now you're," Miley said clearly flabbergasted.

"I know," Lilly said beaming.

She placed the skateboard up on the counter and began rummaging around for her wallet. Miley stopped Lilly's actions as she regained her wits.

"I got this Lilly," she said handing TJ a credit card.

"You don't have to do that Miley."

"I know. I wanna buy nice things for my girl though," Miley replied, signing the receipt.

"You two make a really cute couple you know," TJ said as Miley pushed Lilly out of the store.

"I know right," she shot over her shoulder to him. Turning her attention back to Lilly she said, "you wanna just sit and talk for awhile? I've got a special present for ya."

"Sure. There's some chairs you can sit in. I don't need one, I brought my own," Lilly said patting the armrests of her wheelchair.

Moving over to the chairs, Miley plopped down into one of them and pulled Lilly close to her.

"So what's this special present for me Ms. Stewart?" Lilly asked, folding her hands in her lap.

"This," Miley said showing her one of the light sticks.

"A board light? For what?"

"Not just a board light, ten board lights!"

"I ask again, for what?" Lilly asked.

"To do this," she snapped a light on one of Lilly's spokes and turned it on.

"Oh good, now I'm a freak with lights," Lilly said sarcastically.

"C'mon babe, I told you you're not a freak." She leaned in and placed a soft kiss on Lilly's forehead. "And trust me, these lights will look so awesome."

Lilly smiled as Miley pulled away. She grabbed another light from Miley and looked it over.

"I guess they are pretty cool."

Just then, they were interrupted by a voice they had learned to hate over the years.

"Miley? Lilly?"

They jerked their heads to the side to see Ashley walking towards them.

"What do we do" Lilly whispered.

"I don't know."

Before they could come up with anything Ashley stopped right next to them, looking down into their faces.

"Hey. How are you doing?" Ashley asked standing awkwardly.

"We're doing alright," Miley answered.

"That's good," Ashley said, not knowing what else to say.

"So, ah, how come you're not with Amber?" Lilly asked what both her and Miley were thinking.

"Well, we kinda had a little fight and now we're not speaking," she explained.

"Wow, it musta been some fight to make you two stop talking. You guys are usually all but glued together."

"Yeah, well she goes too far sometimes," Ashley said staring at the ground.

"Why don't you pull up a chair and join us," Miley said, feeling the girl needed a couple of friends at the time.

Happy to be accepted by the two girls she had spent so much time terrorizing, Ashley set her purse down next to Lilly and pulled a chair up to them, plopping down in the same manner as Miley had.

"So what are you doing at the mall today?" she asked.

"You know, just shopping around, getting Lilly out and about. I was afraid she was becoming a hermit," Miley joked.

"Yeah, being laid up in a hospital bed for a week and a half can be a bit of a downer," Lilly laughed.

"How are you after all of that?" Ashley asked, lowering her voice.

"As good as can be expected after getting kidnapped and tortured. Broken leg, crushed hand, and a gash I'm sure will leave a lovely scar," she answered, running her fingers unconsciously over the healing gash on her face.

Ashley cringed at her. But then her features grew soft and she grasped Lilly's good hand.

"If you ask me, you're a hero."

Lilly was shocked by this new side of Ashley.

"She's my hero," Miley said, staring into Lilly's eyes.

"Okay Ms. Googley eyes, you gonna snap those lights on my wheels or what?" Lilly laughed.

Miley laughed with her as she snapped on the rest of the lights.

"Oh I know where I wanna go next!" Miley said, suddenly struck by an idea.

"Where" Lilly asked.

"I can't tell you. In fact, I can't even bring you. Here," she said handing some cash to Lilly, "go with Ashley down to American Eagle and get something to go with your new polos and hat. In twenty minutes, come over to," she whispered something in Ashley's ear. "Okay?" she asked both girls.

Ashley just nodded while Lilly put up a fuss.

"Why are you keeping girlfriend out of the loop here?" she asked Miley, who was already walking away.

"C'mon Lilly. Don't worry about it." Ashley said getting behind Lilly to push her.

When they got to American Eagle Ashley brought her straight over to the girls jeans.

"Okay now, which style jeans do you like the best?" she asked rummaging through the stacks of folded jeans.

"Actually, I think I just wanna get some new board shorts, they're easier to pull over my cast."

"Sure, let's check them out."

The two girls looked around through the many pairs of shorts folded and stacked on the shelves. Ashley made sure to stall Lilly a bit before they actually found some and brought them up to pay for them. It took a few moments to get the shorts rung up and paid for because the cashier was new, or at least that's what his name tag said. When they finally got their bag, Ashley pushed Lilly out of the store and into the mall.

"To the secret batcave Batman!" Lilly shouted, pumping her fist in the air.

"You're crazy! Hey I've got an idea. Hang on tight," Ashley said.

Just as Lilly was about to ask why, Ashley took off running, pushing the chair as fast as she could go. She then jumped onto the metal bars on the back and the wheelchair zoomed through the mall, carrying both girls giggling and shouting their 'whees'. As they slowed down, Ashley hopped off and began pushing the chair casually like before.

"Hey!" Miley leaped out in front of them causing Lilly to practically jump out of her chair.

"Not funny!" she yelled fixing herself. "So what were you doing, oh secret one?"

"Well, I got us a present," she answered holding out a small bag.

"us?"

"Yes for us," Miley emptied the bag into her hand.

She held out her palm to Lilly revealing two shiny silver rings, one with 'Miley Ray Stewart' engraved on the inside and the other with 'Lilly Jaymes Truscott.'

"Miley," Lilly whispered.

"This one is yours," she said putting the one with Miley's name on the inside onto Lilly's good hand. "Just so you never forget who's yours."

Lilly examined the ring for a moment before looking up to Miley with tears in her eyes.

"Aww, well aren't you two just the cutest!" Ashley cooed.

"Shut-up," Lilly laughed, wiping her tears away.

"I'm glad you like it Lil," Miley said, slipping her own ring on. "Now how about we go grab some lunch somewhere, my stomach is rumbling something fierce."

"Do you guys wanna come over to my house? We can eat there." Ashley offered.

"Sounds great Ash," Lilly answered for Miley.

"Awesome! My car is parked out those doors," she pointed down a hallway in front of them.

"I'll just call my dad and tell him where we're goin'," Miley said pushing Lilly with one hand and flipping out her cell phone with her other.

The conversation was short and by the time she hung up they were standing next to Ashley's car. Like before, Miley rolled Lilly to the passenger door and helped her get in. She then folded the wheelchair up and set it in Ashley's trunk. Once everyone was buckled in Ashley started up the car and paulled out of the parking space.

"So Ashley, I don't mean to pry, but what are you and Amber fighting about that makes you two stop talking?" Miley asked from the backseat.

"Well, actually, we are fighting about you and Lilly," she answered glancing at Miley in the review mirror.

"Really-mean-girl-turned-nice say what?" Miley asked jumping forward.