Secrets

Chapter Three

Today was the day Lilly had been dreading the entire weekend - the first day of school. She was sitting on the steps of the front porch, a sandwich in one hand, a piece of paper in the other. The paper was a note from Robbie Ray wishing her a good morning, letting her know that he and Jackson were working on the farm. Lilly let her gaze drift beyond the wooden fence and she could see the two of them from where she was sitting. Robbie Ray was feeding the horses and Jackson was sitting astride one, galloping over the grass, leaving a path behind him as the blades of grass snapped. Lilly watched with awe as he flicked the reins and the horse turned around so fast she thought Jackson was going to fall off, but he tightened the grip on the reins, sending the horse in the other direction. Two days ago she hadn't liked the idea of living on a farm, but since Miley had shown her the animals and she'd seen the beauty of the farm and nature around her, she'd changed her mind a little. Life here seemed so much more relaxing than in the city.

Lilly looked behind her as a loud clattering reached her ears and Miley stumbled through the door, not bothering to close it before she ran down the steps. "Why didn't you wake me up?" she panted. Her cheeks were flushed and her hair was pulled back into an untidy bun.

"Sorry, I tried." Lilly had nudged Miley over and over again but she'd refused to get up and Miley's voice had been angry when she'd finally told her to get lost. Lilly had panicked and decided it was better to wait outside.

"Okay, whatever." Miley struggled with putting on her backpack. "It's not your fault. I sleep like a stone. I'm not much of a mornin' person, y'know."

Lilly sighed. I already gathered as much. She stood up and slung the strap of her backpack over her shoulder and tried to catch up with Miley, who was already dashing toward the road, her shoes creating a nearly unnoticeable stir of sand in her wake. "You don't have to run like that."

"I'm not runnin'."

"Then why do I have the feeling like my lungs are bur-" Lilly stopped abruptly, noticing the shirt Miley was wearing for the first time. It was not only a terrible color and way too big for her slim body, but there were also various pictures of sushi, hamburgers and sweets printed on it. "Wow. You wear different clothes here than in Malibu," she said, trying again to catch up with Miley.

"What?" Miley's voice was dripping with annoyance.

"Nothing." Miley was in a terrible mood and Lilly didn't want to be the one to make it worse.

They almost ran the entire way to school, only occasionally taking a break to walk, and by the time the school building came into sight, Lilly wanted nothing more than to fall down on the floor and never stand up again. A glance to her side told her that Miley was in an even worse condition, her breath coming in irregular gasps, and the panicked look on her face was even more evident than it was back at the house. Lilly felt her heartbeat quicken even more as they climbed up the steps to the main entrance of the school. What was she supposed to do if she had to introduce herself in front of the whole class? She remembered the first day of high school in her hometown. She'd stuttered in front of everyone and the kids had started to laugh, causing her to run to her seat and trip in the process. The entire first period had been accompanied by occasional glances and snickers. It had been one hell of a day.

Miley paused abruptly when they passed the doors that lead to the bathroom. "I wanna quickly fix my hair. Is that okay?"

"Sure. I'll wait in front of the classroom."

Miley smiled shyly and vanished behind the door as Lilly began to head in the direction she thought the classroom should be. But she soon started to silently curse, scolding herself for thinking that she would be able to find the classroom by herself. It felt like an hour had gone by, though she knew that was impossible, before she finally found the right room. The school was like a labyrinth.

Lilly waited next to the door as laughter and chattering sounded from the room. She glanced at her wrist watch and noticed there were only three minutes left until class would start. What's taking Miley so long? She took in her surroundings. Beams of sunlight poured through the big windows, illuminating the hallway and the lockers in a bright, nearly white glimmer. Lilly recognized a boy, whose tall body was slammed against one of the lockers - one hand was tangled into his blonde hair, the other one clutching a cell phone. At the sight, Lilly felt a slight tingle in her stomach and she couldn't help but continue to stare. The bell rang and the boy removed his eyes from the display of his cell phone, catching her stare, and a bright smile formed on his lips. Lilly thought it was the cutest smile she'd ever seen. He pushed his body of the locker and strolled in her direction, causing Lilly to take a sharp intake of breath and clutch the strap of her bag tighter, suddenly not knowing what to do with her hands.

"You new?" he asked as he stood in front of her. Lilly nodded as an answer. "I'm Jake Ryan." He extended a hand. Lilly took a moment before accepting it, knowing that hers were always clammy whenever she was nervous. Jake arched one eyebrow and looked at her questioningly. Lilly didn't know why he was staring at her like that and let her hair fall down in front of her face. "And you are?"

Oh, of course. My name! That's what he wants. She knew this boy for less than a minute and had already managed to make a fool out of herself. How could she forget something so common as introducing herself?

"Who's that?" A girl with a cute rather than pretty face, and wearing tight jeans – which looked like she'd had to struggle to get into - approached Jake from behind and slung her arms around his waist, before Lilly was able to answer him. She felt her heart sink. So he already has a girlfriend.

"Hey, 'Kayla. I don't know. She doesn't want to tell me," Jake said.

"Lilly Truscott!" Lilly shot out and regretted it immediately. "That's umm, my name."

Mikayla sent her a fake smile, her arms still slung around Jake's waist. Lilly was able to catch a glimpse of a big scar running down her temple before a few of her long, black strands fell over it as she cocked her head slightly to one side.

"Nice to meet you. Jake seems to like you. Maybe we become best friends, who knows?" She averted her eyes, looking at something behind Lilly, her brows suddenly furrowing. "What the heck is she doing here?" She sneered. "And oh my God. She's still wearing her nightclothes. Seriously, I've told you that girl has issues."

Curious about who they were talking about, Lilly threw a look over her shoulder. Miley was standing at the end of the hallway, staring nervously back at them and pulling at the bunch of keys that hung on a string around her neck. Lilly felt a hand grasp her shoulder and her eyes met with Mikayla's again. "Just some advice 'cause I like you - stay away from that girl. She is dangerous." The last word was said so quietly, Lilly wasn't sure if she'd understood her right.

Dangerous? Lilly frowned. She had a hard time believing that. But before she was able to question her, Mikayla and Jake turned away and vanished into the classroom.

Lilly heard the sound of soft footsteps approaching her and then a familiar voice with a thick southern drawl. "What did they want? Did they talk about me?" When Lilly turned around, Miley was staring at her, her eyes wide open and frowning. She looked like a cute little puppy, Lilly thought. Could someone so innocent looking be dangerous?

Lilly contemplated for a moment about telling her what Mikayla had said, but decided against it. She wasn't even sure if she'd just heard Mikayla correctly and she didn't want to hurt Miley under any circumstances. "They were talking about your... umm, shirt."

"Why? What's wrong with my -" Miley looked down. "Oh my God," she shrieked, slinging her arms around her upper body. "You shoulda told me I was still wearin' my pajama top!"

"I didn't know. I thought people maybe wore stuff like that in Tennessee."

"Right! And you still think we all play fiddle and do rodeo in our front yards, yeah! I don't believe it!" Annoyance laced her voice once again. Then she turned on her heels and broke into a run.

Lilly watched her quickly retreating form, completely lost. She didn't understand what she'd done wrong this time.


The classroom door opened witha screech, and a head appeared through the crack. The noises of pencils scratching over paper stopped abruptly and all heads shot up.

"You are late," the teacher said, not even bothering to look away from the chalkboard he was scribbling on.

Miley closed the door behind her, her eyes fixed on the floor. "Sorry, won't happen again."

Lilly recognized the yellow shirt that Miley now wore as the one they were supposed to wear in gym class. She also noticed the stares people were giving her. All eyes were glued on Miley as she made her way to the free desk in the last row, next to Lilly. A few people were throwing Miley disapproving glances, others were shaking their heads, and only a few seemed to be truly interested. Miley crashed on the seat next to her and heaved her backpack on the desk, not once looking at Lilly.

Lilly didn't know Mikayla, so why should she believe her? But on the other hand, Miley was also a stranger to her. She knew practically nothing about her, only a few of her hobbies. She liked playing guitar and singing - just the basic stuff they'd talked about via e-mail before she'd decided to do the student exchange. Lilly started to chew on the end of her pen. It tasted gross, but she was too absorbed in her thoughts to really mind. Those people were practically throwing daggers at Miley for no apparent reason.

"Taste good?" Lilly looked in the direction the voice came from. Miley had her elbows resting on the desk and her head was propped up on her hands. She sent her a smile, the tip of her tongue poking out between her teeth.

Miley didn't seem to be angry anymore and Lilly felt a weight lift from her chest. She didn't like it when Miley was annoyed with her. "Actually, yes. Kinda like my favorite flavor of ice cream."

Miley giggled. "Really? Let me see." She leaned over to Lilly and snatched the pen out of her hand, bringing it up to her mouth. Her lips closed around it as she started sucking. "Mmm, you're right. It tastes like pineapples. Your lip gloss?"

Lilly was frozen in shock for a moment, and then she gulped. "Y-yes."

Miley giggled again, waving the hand that held the pencil in front of Lilly's face. "Can I borrow it?"

Lilly only had one pen but nodded anyway before averting her gaze to the chalkboard. Maybe Mikayla was right. Miley did seem pretty strange and she didn't really know what to think of her yet.

As Miley and Lilly walked along the hallway after the class had ended, Oliver appeared among the tangle of students. Lilly waved to him and expected him to come over or at least greet her back. But instead, he came to an abrupt halt and stared at her for a moment with his eyes wide open, before turning around and walking back the way he'd come.

"Is it just my imagination or was Oliver ignoring me?" Lilly asked, adjusting the books in her arms.

"It's definitely your imagination."

Lilly hoped Miley was right. Maybe he'd forgotten something in the classroom and was heading back to get it.

Back in the hallway after math class, Lilly rested her right side against her locker as she watched Miley stuff her books into her own locker, tossing her gym clothes at her feet. "I'm so not looking forward to PE. You can't imagine," she groaned.

At that moment, Oliver sauntered past them and Lilly met his eyes again. Oliver's steps faltered and he seemed to tense before he jerked his head away, avoiding Lilly's gaze. "Did you see that? Oliver was ignoring me again. I wonder if I did something wrong." Her gaze tracked him until he vanished among the crowd.

"You clearly didn't. You shouldn't care about him." Miley slammed the locker door shut. "That's just how he is."

"How he is? What's that supposed to mean?"

Miley shrugged and leaned down to gather up her gym clothes. "Nothin'. I'm just saying you should get used to it 'cause he won't change."

Lilly couldn't believe that this was supposed to be the same sweet boy she'd met yesterday. But Miley had made it obvious. He was - there was no doubt about it - ignoring them on purpose. The question was: Why?