"I swear to God, if you throw one more piece of popcorn at my head I'm going to -"
"You're going to what?" Derek asked with a coy smile, raising his eyebrows.
Lilly glanced around her living room, looking for something – anything – that could be used to her advantage right now. "I'll.. Well, you know the kitchen is just the next room over. And kitchen's contain very large knives." She smirked.
Derek rolled his eyes, reaching into the popcorn bag and throwing another piece at Lilly's head.
"DEREK!"
"Okay, okay, I'll stop." He surrendered, "There's none left anyways."
Lilly extended her arms, looking around the living room. "Yeah, cause it's all over my floor!"
"Stop complaining, Lillian. You're not the one who has to wake up at 5 a.m. tomorrow for hockey practice."
Lilly sighed, "Yeah, that does suck." Then she glared at her friend, letting go of her only-for-a-second mellow persona, "And never call me Lillian again."
Noticing her hateful stare, Derek nodding understandingly.
"You got it."
"Good." Lilly smiled. "But hey. Serious topic of conversation. Not that you can hold one, but it's worth a try. Um. Have you talked to Miley this past week.. like, at all?"
Derek contemplated this is head, then turned back to Lilly. "You know, now that I think of it.. not really. I mean, occassionally in Geometry but then Mr.White yells a lot and he's a scary dude. And he just goes on and on about how we're wasting our future by talking and not paying attention so then we stop talking and.."
"Okay! I get it!" Lilly cut him off, putting her hands up. "I get it." She suddenly went silent, looking deep in thought. It seemed like an eternity until Derek said something.
"Hey, Lilly, are you okay?"
She jumped up, lightly pushing Derek's waving hand out of her face.
"Yeah, I'm fine. It's just.. don't you think that's a little weird?" She asked, "This whole week I've asked her to hang out after school, it's always excuse after excuse."
"Yeah." Derek agreed, "You're right. And where is she at lunch?"
Lilly shrugged, "She says that she's practicing for the school play during lunch. Did you know Miley was into theater?"
Derek shook his head, "Miley can't sing!" He laughed, "Atleast.. I don't think she can."
Lilly sighed, shaking her head as if shaking the problem away. She shrugged, "Whatever. She'll come around. Anyways, homecoming's coming up! Who are you planning on asking this year?" Lilly grinned, nudging her best friend.
He shrugged, examining a popcorn currnel. "No one."
"No one!?" Lilly gaped, "Why not!? I know you don't like the school, but I mean, it's homecoming!"
Derek looked at Lilly expectantly, "You would say that. You're a girl."
Lilly looked offended, "And? Don't pull the gender card on me! Boys get just as excited."
Derek raised his eyebrows, "Yeah, I know. Trust me. You should hear the locker room talk."
"Locker room talk?" Lilly asked curiously.
"You don't wanna know." Derek shook his head, "Just don't go to homecoming with anyone from the hockey team. They have a lot more then just dancing on their minds."
"Oh." Lilly nodding, understanding. "No worries." She smiled, "I'm hoping Chris Randall will ask me. And he's on the swim team. Boys on swim team seem nice, right?" Lilly asked hopefully.
Derek smiled, "Yeah. They do. Don't worry about it." He said reassuringly.
Lilly smiled, and turned to watch the movie that had been playing the entire time. She was trying to get back into it, since she missed some crucial parts, until Derek stood up and broke her concentration.
"I'm gonna go make more popcorn." He said, ushering towards the kitchen.
Lilly widened her eyes, jumping up from the couch and going after him. She could hear his laughter coming from the kitchen.
"This is my house, Derek! You are not wasting anymore popcorn on my head! DEREK!"
--
"Ohmygod!" Kristined gasped, holding one perfectly manicured hand up to her mouth. "You. Look. Amazing!" She exclaimed, setting apart each word.
Miley smiled shyly, "You really think so?" She asked, looking in the mirror and examining her Kristine-inspiried outfit. She was clad in a grey Hollister button-down sweater (it was low-cut, and the fact that she wasn't wearing a tank-top underneath made Miley feel a little more then uncomfortable), a jean mini-skirt and sandy Uggs. Her hair was the only thing Miley felt was real about herself. It was curled, and her bangs were pulled back. Simple and cute. You're supposed to breaking out of 'simple and cute', Miles! She scolded herself, smiling at the mirror and then turning to face Kristine.
"I love it!" She exclaimed, giving the blond girl a light hug. "Thanks for letting me borrow your stuff."
Krisitine smiled, "No problem! Look at you! She looks great, doesn't she, Colleen?" She turned to the bright pink tank-top clad girl and smiled.
Colleen, though forced, smiled. "Yeah. Wonderful." She said through gritted teeth.
"Okay." Kristine said, putting out her hands as if to stop everything that was happening. She walked into the middle of her bedroom and gave a little twirl. "On a scale of one to ten."
Colleen put a manicured finger up to her chin and taped it lightly, "Definitely a ten. I just love your shoes. Flats are so in right now."
"I know, right?" Kristine smiled, "They're Coach." She turned to Miley expectantly, raising her eyebrows.
Miley bit her lip. "Um. I agree with Colleen, definitely a ten. You really know how to pull off skinny jeans."
Kristine smiled modestly, "Aw! You're so sweet."
She walked over towards her vanity, adding one more coat of sparkling lip-gloss and grabbed her Louis Vuitton purse off her dresser. "Now that we're all ready, lets head out. Miley, what time is it?"
"Oh, um." Miley quickly pulled out her faux Chanel purse and riffled through it, pulling out her sleek pink Razr. "It's 8:41. We're late." Miley stated, placing her phone back inside her purse.
Kristine bared a toothy grin, "Perfect." She opened the door and stuck her head out. "Kate! We're ready!"
"Your sister doesn't mind driving you around everywhere?" Miley asked, raising her eyebrows. She couldn't believe that, considering her older brother barely gets off the couch long enough to drive himself places.
Kristine shared a secretive glance with Colleen, then smirked. "I got some dirt on her. Let's just leave it at that."
"Wait!" Colleen exclaimed, and Kristine looked back at her friend, annoyed. "What about me? How do I look?"
Kristine took one glance at Colleen's too-bright-pink tank and didn't even throw on a smile. "You'll definitely stand out. Now let's go! I'm not getting any younger!"
"Yeah, but you are getting bitchier." Colleen mumbled, following Kristine out the door, who didn't hear her.
Miley, on the otherhead, did.
--
The party was huge.
The party was loud.
The party was .. not Miley's style.
Normally right now, Miley Stewart would be sitting at Lilly Trustcott's house, attempting to watch a movie while Derek Canavan threw popcorn at her and Lilly's heads. There would be fighting and yelling, more popcorn, and another rented movie never watched. She would be in her pajamas, sitting on Lilly's out-this-world comfortable couch and snuggling up with a heated blanket.
But not tonight.
Tonight she was at this huge, loud, party with pretty people and alcohol. She wasn't wearing comfortable pajamas, she was wearing Kristine Mullen's clothes and felt anything but beautiful. She felt like slut of the year. But this is what she wanted, right?
"Miley! Come on girl, go mingle! Find a homecoming date or something!" Kristine said, giving Miley a little shove into the crowd of teenagers as she wandered off, lached on to the arm of Jake Ryan. She caught a brief glance of them walking up the stairs together, hand-in-hand, and only knew of one reason why they might be doing that.
She tried not to think about it.
She walked in the crowd aimlessly, not knowing what to do with herself. Miley Stewart was not used to these kinds of events. She wasn't used to watching Oliver Oken and Colleen Crifto make-out on couches, or walk-in on Michael Davis while he was puking his brains out when all she wanted do was use the bathroom.
"Stewartttttt" Someone sang from behind Miley, who was now standing by the refreshment table. The voice sounded oh-so familiar and by closing her eyes tightly, Miley thought maybe she would go away. She turned around slowly, opening one eye. Nope. She was still there. Miley then let her other eye open and sighed.
"Hi, Colleen." She said in a monotone, stirring the straw around in her drink.
Colleen hiccuped, then giggled and wouldn't take her hands off of Oliver, who was standing beside her. She was obviously drunk. Miley groaned, not wanting to deal with this.
"Why are you just standing there? You look stupid!" Colleen spat, continuing to giggle as Oliver pushed her hands off of his arm. He gave Miley a sympathetic look.
"Colleen, why do always do that?" He asked her while struggling to keep her hands off of him. Oliver didn't seem drunk. He seemed perfectly sober. Miley was thankful for this.
Colleen was now getting annoyed and glared hard at Oliver. "No. Why do you always do that? You don't even like me! Do you? God, Oliver! Get the – the -" She stuttered, right before running out of site, clutching her hand over her mouth.
Oliver just stared after her, not even bothering to help. "Puking." He said, keeping his focus forward but directing his comment towards Miley.
"Yeah," Miley nodded, "I figured that."
"I'm sorry about her. She can be, well, she's alright once you get to know her." He said, pouring himself a cup of Pepsi.
Miley gave a small smile, knowing not to believe what Oliver was saying. "Why?" She asked out of nowhere, and suddenly widened her eyes. Shit, shit, shit!
"Why what?" Oliver asked, now looking at her. His eyebrows were furrowed together, but for some reason Miley knew that he knew what she was about to ask.
She took a deep breath, "Well. I'm not stupid, and I can tell that you don't really like her. But yet you're with her, well, kind of." She stopped briefly to see Oliver's reaction, but he didn't look angry. Just anxious for her to go on. "And you were just blantly making out with her on your couch, and isn't that kind of.. well, using her?"
She was ready for an outburst. She was ready for him to yell at her and tell her that she knew nothing and that he wasn't that type of guy, that he didn't use Colleen and that he really, truly, liked her.
It never came.
All he did was sigh, take a sip of his alcohol-induced Pepsi and shrug, "I'm a sixteen-year-old boy. What do you expect?"
He didn't move from the refreshment table, he just stood and drank. Miley could tell that he was deep in thought, but had no idea what about.
"MILEY!"
Miley's head shot in the direction of her name being called, and she saw a fuming Kristine rushing over towards her.
Oliver stood straight up, placing his drink down. "And that's my cue to leave." He said, walking away without even glancing back. Miley wished he wouldn't go, because facing an angry Kristine Mullen alone was not on her to-do list.
"Y-yeah?" Miley stuttered, trying to act as if she couldn't notice how mad Kristine was.
Kristine let out a frustrated sigh, "Colleen just barged in on me and Jake and puked everywhere!"
Miley sighed relief, happy to know that the anger wasn't directed towards her. She would have had sympathy for Colleen if she wasn't a little, 4-foot-nothing bitch.
"It was disgusting!" Kristine complained, then pointed down to her jeans. "Look at that! It's PUKE! On my jeans! And she got it all over Jake. But lucky for him, he can just borrow some of Oliver's clothes. But we have to go. I already called Kate, she's meeting us out front."
Miley nodded understandingly, actually excited to be getting out of this party. Following Kristine to the front door, she noticed Colleen wasn't with them. "What about Colleen?" Miley asked suddenly, feeling a little guilty about leaving a drunk girl with no ride home alone at a party.
Kristine rolled her eyes, "Let Oliver take care of her. Cause I'm done. You wanna sleep over tonight?"
Miley bit her lip, reluctant about leaving Colleen but decided not to go against Kristine. She nodded, "Yeah, I'll call my dad."
--
"Hey Miley, I know someone who wants to ask you to Homecoming."
Monday morning. Six days before Homecoming. Those were the first words that Miley heard. She'd be lying if she said that they didn't excite her.
"Who?" She asked anxiously, a smile on her face as she sat in Homeroom next to Kristine. Somehow she got the teacher to move her seat. Miley thought it was flattering, but Derek was also in their homeroom, and he just thought that it was a little suspicious.
Derek listened in carefully, pretending to be doodling in his notebook.
Kristine glanced around to make sure no one was listening, and then turned her focus back to Miley. She smiled brightly, "Chris Randall!" She squealed.
That did not excite Miley.
Nor did it Derek, who choked on his own saliva when he heard it.
"Um, Kristine.." She trailed, her happy expression fading out.
Kristine frowned, "What? Don't tell me you think he's ugly, because then I'd have to send you to a pyscho institute."
"No, no. That's not it. I think he's really cute, but.. remember how I told you that," She dropped her voice to an even lower whisper then she had before, "Lilly liked him?"
Kristine nodded slowly, understanding. "Oh, yeah. But Miley. Would Lilly really mind that much? Because I mean, she should just be happy for you. He's so hot and he likes you. I should know, I talked to him."
"You did!? Why would you do that?" Miley asked, eyes wide.
Kristine sighed, "Because all the other good ones are taken, Miles. And it's absolutely crucial for you to have a date. And right now, Chris Randall is the only acceptable one left. So, today at lunch, when he asks you to be his date, you better say yes." She stated it firmly, ignoring anything else Miley had to say as she turned around in her desk and pretended to be entranced in her Geometry homework that was supposed to be done over the weekend.
Miley sighed, leaning back in her chair. Now what is she supposed to do. She looked up, and noticed Derek looking at her with an expression she couldn't quite put her finger on. Maybe it was sadness, or dissapointment. She didn't know. But then she saw him look away, and she suddenly felt distance.
She really didn't like that feeling.
--
Author's Note: I was going to go on and continue more with this chapter, but I didn't want to cram too much into one. I had a huge inspiration yesterday, and now I have a ton of ideas that just need to be written down. And considering the fact that I'm on February vacation right now, you guys are going to be getting Updates more frequently from me )
Leave your thoughts!
xoxo,
Cass.
