A/N: Over a month and a half, sooo not gonna happen again. Way to long of a wait and I am so sorry. Just job searching crap, (I think I'm just gonna give up on trying to make the impossible, possible). Then reading, writing, writer's block and all that junk. But the good news is I'm back to writing now. Just something I can't seem to stay away from. Anywho, I hope the length of this chapter makes up for a little.
Oh, there is just a bit of tragedy in a later chapter. I've never really liked them myself, so I haven't read much of them, so I can't guarantee the greatest writing in the few upcoming chapters. But I hope I did my part justice at least. And just an insight- the chapter later about it, is quick and not that big of a deal. That's why I decided it wasn't such a necessity to change half the subject to tragedy.
Online chatting, buddies...life is actually worth living. Thanks.
Miley's POV
"Actually I moved right away from him when he tried to kiss me, so I never really got around to talking with him much." She chuckled.
"He tried to kiss you on your first day here? I figured he'd flirt with you, but that? Hell no, I wanna kill that boy." I said and started to get up from my bed, but Lilly stopped me by holding my shoulders back.
"Whoa, whoa Miles, it's ok really I'm fine."
"You sure? Cause according to me, Jackson's still dead."
"What's gotten into you anyway? You're sounding a little over protective…" Lilly looked at me curiously. "And of…me?" Lilly wondered.
"No, he's just a jerk for making a move like that on you, on your first day here," I backed away so she wasn't touching my shoulders anymore. "Why would I want to protect you though? You seem like you can handle anything on your own anyway."
"Yeah you're right. And I'm glad we're back to square one then," She folded her arms and sighed, then walked back over to her bed, started clearing off the clothes and putting them into the drawers. Once that was finished, she walked into my bathroom. "Look I'm gonna get ready to go to sleep now. What about you?"
"Yea you're right, it's getting late. Alright you can change in there and I'll change out here then, bye."
It was incredibly hard for me to sleep that night, knowing there was a complete stranger laying right in my room and next to my bed. Also thinking about the fact that we hardly get along well at all.
------
Once the morning came, I thought I was still in a nightmare. I heard a distant voice calling my name. I cracked an eye open and saw a hand waving in front of my face. Both my eyes snapped open when the hands clapped. "Miley, wake up!" Lilly shouted.
"Whoa ok, ok I'm up," I said, as I quickly sat up in my bed and rubbed my eyes so I could see a bit more clearly. "What's wrong, did I sleep through my alarm or something?" I asked. Then reached for my phone on my nightstand to see the time.
"Well no…not yet anyway." Lilly said cautiously and sat back on her bed.
"Lilly, what the hell?!" I slammed my phone down on my bed. "It's 5am! Do you get up at this time every morning?" I stood up and turned to face her. "I don't usually wake up for another two hours and breakfast doesn't start for another three hours." Lilly could tell I was beginning to fume now.
"Really? When does school start?"
"It starts at 8:30 and…ugh, screw it Lilly, I'm going back to sleep," I sat down on my bed then looked at her again. "Why'd you wake me up anyway?"
"Because I was bored and I had nothing to do. And yes, I normally do wake up this early."
"Oh, so you wanted to pick another fight with me? Brilliant idea!" I said sarcastically, as I lay down and pulled my covers back up. "Go…go get on my computer or something. I'll let you do that."
"Oh cool, thanks." Lilly said with a smile and walked over to it as I pulled the covers over my head and tried to go back to sleep.
It was impossible though; the sun was starting to shine brightly through my window and I could hear Lilly typing at my computer. I scrunched up my nose in anger, then flipped the covers off my head.
"Ah fuck, I can't fall asleep. The sun is already coming up and you're being loud. Thanks a lot I only got like five hours of sleep now."
"Calm down, I'm sorry ok. And hey, it wasn't my fault you went to bed late. I know I did too, but I'm used to it."
"Used to getting only five hours of sleep each night? Wow, you are one weird girl." I rolled my eyes and then swung my legs out of my bed and just sat on there. "Great, now I'm gonna be bored outta my mind for the next few hours."
"Well how about this? I ask you a question about you or your life, and then you ask me one. That way we can get to know more about each other." Lilly said with a simple shrug of her shoulders.
"How about this? I said you can use my computer, so go ahead and use it," I told her as I slipped back into my bed. "I'm gonna try and rest my eyes at least." I said and closed my eyes.
"Damn Miley, what the hell is your problem?!" Lilly slightly shouted. That startled the heck out of me, causing me to sit back up in my bed again. "I was trying to be nice by making a suggestion on how we could pass the time. In the meantime we'd get to know each other. And I'm sorry for waking you up." Lilly said to me.
"It's ok, it's fine. I'm sorry too; I'm just not used to getting up this early, so I guess I'm just cranky." I sighed, rubbing my eyes. "Alright, so what do you wanna do now?" I asked calmly.
"Get to know each other better if you want. After all we will be spending about three months together." Lilly simply replied.
"Didn't we get along enough yesterday? Wasn't yesterday good enough at getting to know some things?" I asked sleepily.
"I can see you're upset, but I'm putting forth some effort in making a little friendship at least here. Can't you try too?" Lilly asked nervously.
"Yea, you're right, I guess I'm just not thinking properly right now. Still half asleep."
"Well here's a start, I know not to wake you up when I get up, cause you'll get cranky really early in the morning." Lilly smiled.
"Oh very funny. Alright and now I know something new then, you wake up at about 5 every morning. Why is that anyway?" I asked curiously.
"Cause back home I've got several pets, so I had to get up early a lot to do my chores before school. I'm just used to it now."
"Oh ok, well I'm just used to my normal routine I guess. Getting up in plenty of time to get ready for school, then eating breakfast just before and then walking right over. It's just a few minutes away, so I usually walk. And then of course you've met my family, my dad Robbie Ray who loves to take care of our farm. We do it to sometimes, just so he has chores for us too. Oh and the horses are really fun. You'll get to ride on one someday if you want. Then there's my mom Susan, who's a little over worried at times, but she and my dad love to cook. Oh and there's also Jerkson, well Jackson, but I like to call him that sometimes. Whom you met face to face, literally, last night." I smiled as Lilly chuckled. "Sorry about him."
"Yea, don't worry about that."
"Alright. So uh, what about you? What about your family?"
"Well it's just me and my Mom...basically as far as family goes." Lilly said, a little hesitantly.
Lilly's POV-
"You, you don't sound too happy about that. Can I ask you if anything's wrong?" Miley asked, a bit concerned.
"And you sound like you care…" I said to her suspiciously. "Can I ask if anything's wrong with you?" I said sarcastically.
"Alright fine Lilly, you caught me. Yea I do a little, so I was just trying to be serious. If you don't mind me asking then, what's wrong?" She tried asking again.
I sighed deeply and paused for a moment. Should I tell her yet or not? It shouldn't be a touchy subject, but it is at times. She isn't my friend, although she isn't a stranger anymore, so I suppose it wouldn't hurt.
"Nope, you can ask away. It's just me and my Mom, cause my dad died just before I started junior high. And I'm an only child." I said quickly. That was the least I told her, but I'm sure she would urge me on for more details.
"Gosh Lilly, I'm sorry, that must be so lonely." Miley said quietly.
"It's ok, it's not your fault." I simply shrugged my shoulders.
"Well I know, but it's just what people say you know, I mean I'm saying that I feel sorry for you and I can't imagine what it must have been like."
"Yea thanks, I guess."
"So how…how'd it happen?" She asked slowly and carefully.
I knew the question was coming, so I prepared myself with an answer. I might as well tell her sooner rather then later. "Well, he had a great job as a photographer for a real famous magazine in Australia. He would take pictures of nature, sunsets and wildlife, mostly stuff like that. Which involved some real hard work sometimes. I mean he would come home telling my mom and I stories, sometimes about how he got bit by a spider after taking several pictures of it. Or one of my favorites was that he was just sitting in the jungle all day, behind lot's of branches and leaves, but with just enough room for his camera to take a picture. And he would have to stay completely still, even let bugs crawl on him without moving until finally, kangaroos, hyenas, or lions will show up in the deserted part. And that's when he would get his best shots of the wild life."
"Wow that does sound cool. Yea I've heard about photographers getting paid for jobs like that. And even just sitting all day?" Miley asked in awe.
"Yup, all day long. I thought it would be pretty cool too. But once he came home one day and told me everything that happened around him when he actually had to do it, I had second thoughts on that and also thought they should be paid more for that part of the work."
Miley chuckled. "Yea, that's true…So, what happened to him then?"
"Well it was a day on his job, where he was doing this one thing again. Sitting all day long with his camera positioned and just waiting for the perfect shot of some wild animal. Then the sun started setting and that meant his work day was almost over. So he slowly stood up from the ground. But at that moment a few wild hyena's walked right in front of him and he accidentally spooked them as he was moving. Then he got…attacked." I took a deep breath and continued. "I tried to stop myself from imagining what it would look like. But some part of me couldn't, so I had nightmares for years after that. Eventually I finally caught a hold onto reality and forgot about it."
Miley looked thoughtful for a moment. At a loss for words. Then gained expression back in her face to try and be of comfort for me. "Wow, that's quite the story. I didn't know, sorry about all that." She said gently.
"S'okay, I'm over it. And since when did you learn to care so much?" I gave her a half smile.
"Hey, I have a heart you know. And there's plenty of room in it for you." She mumbled, but I heard her.
I raised an eyebrow at her, giving her a curious look. "J-just so you know you can come to me if you ever want to talk, or let anything out. Y-you know I can give you advice too if you ever want it." Miley stumbled on her words.
"Ok, uh yea same here. Advice and I'll listen, you know." I said, with a curious look on my face, at the odd behavior Miley suddenly had. "So uh, what time is it?" I asked, abandoning that awkward subject and moving to a different one.
Miley looked at her phone. "Oh uh, 6:30. Wow already? Time flies." Miley said, a bit surprised at the time.
"Yup, sure does when you're talking to someone. It's actually nice when you have someone to talk with." I mumbled. Miley obviously heard though.
"Wait, what do-"
I cut her off, "So I guess you're gonna start getting ready in a half hour, right?"
"Right." Miley responded slowly.
"So what do you wanna do till then?"
"Actually I just remembered something. Did you ever say anything to Jackson, after he tried to hit on you again?" Miley asked with a raised eyebrow. Looking curiously like she knew something about it.
Miley's POV -
"Well yea, like I said to you last night, we talked a little and then he hit on me."
"I know, I remember, but I asked what did you tell him after that? Didn't you say anything?" I asked again, but knowing full well what it was.
"Well he was caught off guard when I turned away and he kissed me on the cheek instead. So of course he wanted to know why I did that."
"K, so what'd you tell him?" I was very awake by now; wanting to know if she would be honest with me.
"Well first off, I turned away because you're right, he is a jerk for making a move like that. And I'm guessing he won't be hitting on me anymore, cause I told Jackson that…" Lilly paused and took a deep breath. "I'm gay, Miley." Lilly finished, with some frustration left in her voice.
"Ok." I said simply, and casually shrugged my shoulders. I probably acted a little too casual about it, because something seemed to upset her.
"That's it? Just 'Ok'?" She asked in a confused voice. "What happened to what you said earlier yesterday? That you're not used to things being different around here?" Lilly was still confused.
"Oh that? I meant the different changes around me, but not people specifically. Look, I don't care if you're gay or not. It's just the sudden change in what's going on around me, that's all. Sorry if you got the wrong impression about what I said." I spoke to her seriously.
"You're right I guess I did. I was just paranoid, that's all." She paused for a moment. "But uh, thanks for…" She trailed off, but I continued.
"Yeah no problem." I said quickly. Relieving her of what she didn't seem to want to say. "Well I'm uh, I'm gonna go start getting ready. Dinner should probably be ready in about a half hour."
"Miley." Lilly simply stated my name.
"Breakfast! Breakfast is what I meant to say! Yeah, breakfast should be ready soon, so I'm gonna start getting ready." I said and smiled like a goof as I walked into my bathroom.
"God, what is the matter with me? I knew she was gay last night. Why am I acting like a total idiot now?" I mumbled to myself as I began getting ready for school. "Maybe it's because she said it straight to my face, and that made it more real for me. No not her though, I wasn't falling for anyone before she got here and I still won't fall for anyone now." I finished getting ready and walked back out to my room.
"I like your outfit." Lilly said suddenly, as soon as I walked out of the bathroom door. Just to a pair of dark jeans, flip flops and a dark pink, logo t-shirt.
"Oh uh, thanks. Yeah I like yours too." I complimented right back to her. Wearing a black t-shirt, khaki cargo shorts and flip flops. "Well we should get downstairs about now. It's almost 8, so I bet breakfast is ready." I said, breaking a small silence as I picked up my backpack and put a few things in it and then headed for the door.
"Hold on, I'm almost there." Lilly said, as she just zipped her backpack up, while running towards me. "K, ready."
Just as we walked out in the hall, I heard Dad call up that breakfast was ready. Suddenly, within the blink of an eye, Jackson shot past my bedroom door and ran downstairs.
"Ya might wanna get used to that. It happens every morning." I mentioned to Lilly as we began walking towards the stairs.
"Seriously noted, thanks." Lilly chuckled.
Once downstairs, we were greeted by the smell of pancakes, bacon and eggs. The sight of Jackson shoving several pancakes into very few bites, not a very sightly greeting.
"Well good morning girls." My Mom suddenly said as we appeared in the kitchen and sat down at the bar. "Lilly I hope you're hungry. And don't worry, there's plenty more." She said as she put a hand on her hip and looked down at Jackson with an annoyed look.
"Wow, Mrs. S this looks amazing. Do you cook like this every morning?" Lilly asked, eying the food with a look of hunger.
"No actually, just on special occasions. And we figured you might like a nice warm meal, to help you start off your first day, at a new school." My Mom said, as she got some eggs ready on plates.
"Thank you so much, I really appreciate it." Lilly said sweetly.
I simply glared at her as she took her plate full of food. She caught my eye and mouthed the word 'What'. I simply help up one hand and mouthed back. '5 hours'. She just rolled her eyes and started eating.
In no time, we were off to school. The walking only took about a minute. And we were gonna be there about ten minutes early anyway.
"5 hour's Lilly. Do you realize how many more classes I'm gonna sleep through today? I already doze off during History. So I'm guessing it's gonna be math and English. Possibly science, but we pick new lab partners today, so that'll be interesting." I spoke on the walk to school.
"I said I was sorry and I won't do it again ok?"
"Yeah I know, I guess, I guess I'm just thinking out loud. That's all." I finished as we suddenly faced the school.
"Well, it looks like we're here. Let's go."
I gulped hard, a bit nervous at what my friends might say.
"Uh huh..." I trailed off as we began walking closer.
"What? Something wrong?" Lilly noticed the nervous look I had on my face and in my tone of voice.
"N-no I'm good, I'm fine, I'll be fine. I mean it's just school right?" I mumbled loudly as I walked inside quickly.
"Riight..." Lilly trailed off, with a non believing tone in me. I couldn't blame her. I wasn't a great actress when it comes down to friends and stuff like this.
"Well I am fine. It's just school."
"Uh yeah, keep telling yourself that Miley. Why are you nervous anyway? There must be something wrong, right?" Lilly asked, smiling at the thought that she knew she was right.
I stopped at my locker and held my forehead for a second, then I looked up at her. "Alright, it's just that..."
"Hey there she is!" I was suddenly cut off by a loud and obnoxious voice. A voice I didn't need to hear right now. I turned around and faced the voice. It came from the food court, along with the rest of his group of friends sitting on a table. Once again I had to face Jake Ryan, the cockiest kid in this high school. I walked up to the table and Lilly followed. Jake leaned against the table, put on his cocky little smile, then made his insult. "Lookie here guys, if it isn't the loneliest lesbian. What up Stewart?" He shouted and nodded his head at me.
I just rolled my eyes and looked down in embarrassment. I felt Lilly's eye's on me and knew what she just heard must be shocking, at least since I hadn't said anything yet. "Jake shut up." I said back lamely, with a glare.
"What? Is that all you got?" He chuckled and then turned his attention to Lilly. "Well hey there, you must be the foreign exchange student we've all been hearing about. It's Lizzie right? I was so excited when I heard you were coming. I mean I couldn't wait to meet someone from Africa." Jake smiled and talked in a high voice, acting a bit over excited. His friends behind him, all nodded in agreement.
Lilly moved next to me and closer to him, putting a fake smile on. "You know...Jake, I really couldn't wait to meet you too." Lilly said, in her fake, yet innocently sweet voice. Damn, now she was a good actress. "But a few corrections though; it's Lilly and I'm from Australia, K?" She added in a high pitched voice and gave him a pat on the head.
Jake's smug smile was swept right off his face at this, And then he spoke with some more attitude now then before, directed towards Lilly. "Fine then, so you're a true Australian. Sure sounds like it." Jake chuckled referring to Lilly's accent. "Well tell us all bout it then mate. What's the life of a Australian like?" Jake said the last few sentences, with a terrible mocking, Australian accent.
"Lilly come on let's go, let me show you your locker before class starts."
"You two huh? Wow you really know how to pick 'em Stewart." Jake chuckled.
Lilly suddenly threw down her backpack and walked up to him. "Ok what is your problem you Jake? Say more stuff like that and you'll wish you'd kept your mouth shut."
"Feisty. I didn't know you liked feisty, Miley." Jake said, immediately after Lilly's sudden outburst.
"Ugh, Jake just go to hell!" I said in a small yell. Then I grabbed Lilly's backpack, shoved it in her hands and tugged her by the arm. "And Lilly, let's go now. The bell should ring any minute and you need to know where your locker is." I said, and finally pulled her away from the long lasting glare between the two. Then we were finally walking on our way to Lilly's locker. "Ok, it looks like your locker is just a few away from mine. So I guess that won't be too bad." It was a lame attempt at changing the subject, but it was worth a shot.
"Whoa wait, before the major subject change, what just happened back there? Miley I thought you said you had great friends. I also recall you saying you were popular." Lilly said as she started putting things into her locker.
"You-you're right I-I did. And, and technically, in a way that's true, I am popular." I stumbled over my words. Then Lilly slammed her locker door shut and faced me.
"Oh really? And how's that? Enlighten me, please." She said sarcastically, with a hint of anger.
"Well you asked me if I'm popular, and I am, but I never said it was in a good way..." I trailed off, looking at the floor as Lilly started to glare at me.
"Miley, you also said you hang out and go to the movies and stuff. Did you lie about that too?"
"Well I happen to be there when they are sometimes, so not technically-"
"Ugh, give up that 'technical' bullshit already. Those kids are treating you like crap Miles. And you know why right?"
I looked up and over at some lockers, keeping my eye contact away from Lilly. "Y-yeah, yeah I do." I let out a deep sigh. "Listen, I was gonna tell you. I didn't want you to find out like this, especially from Jake."
"It's ok Miles, don't worry about it." Lilly said to me as the warning bell rang. "And you know, you're not lonely anymore. Well for awhile at least." She said with a small smile. I smiled shyly, and like an idiot, right back at her. Then showed her to her first class, within the next minute we had.
After the next few classes, we met up for lunch in the food court. "Hey Lilly, so how were your classes?" I asked.
"They weren't that bad actually."
"Cool. And I looked at the rest of your schedule and the rest of the classes after lunch, you have with me. See it's really not that hard to find-" I was suddenly cut short from my sentence when I heard mine and Lilly's name being shouted.
"Yo Truscott, Stewart! Get those couple asses over here!" Jake shouted from clear across the court.
"And right on cue." I grumbled, then walked to stand in the lunch line. But I was stopped by Lilly's hand on my arm. Goosebumps to the small touch?
"Hold it. How did he find out my last name?"
"Well I think he's in one of your first classes. And since you're new here for awhile, you probably had to stand up and say your name and where you're from right?" I simply said.
"Oh right, I forgot about that. Ok." Lilly said, and then walked off towards Jake's table. But this time I grabbed her arm to stop her.
"Lilly where are you going? Lunch is this way." I pointed to the shortening line.
"Well Jake yelled for us to get over there, so I'm going."
"You're obeying that simply? I usually just ignore him, he doesn't care. Then when he gets ignored, I just take what comes." I said with a simple shrug.
"Pfst, well I'm not going to wait and take it later. I'm gonna give it to him right now." Lilly said, then slipped her arm out of my grasp and walked off. I ran after her.
"Lilly, wait! No don't." I could tell my calls were distant to her, as she walked further away and faster too.
A/N: Was that good? Yeah well I hope it was worth the wait at least. Please leave your thoughts anyway and let me know....