Disclaimer: I don't own Hannah Montana.

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A/N: Thank you for the reviews! Please keep commenting, I want to know how I'm doing and what you think. Here's the chapter 4. Hope you enjoy!

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The Joys and Pains of Camping with an Oken

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Chapter 4:

Two hours later, they went back. Robby Ray highly praised himself about the only fish he had caught. Even Oliver and Jackson managed to catch some fish on their own. After they talked, Oliver seemed to get luckier. It didn't take them long to fill their bucket with no less than three Brook Trouts. Sure, they were small, but it was more than what their dads caught.

Miley and Lilly rushed over to see and Lilly seemed to be impressed that Oliver had actually managed to catch three fish. Oliver blushed when she praised him and apologized for doubting his fishing skills. He tried to ignore it when Jackson elbowed him lightly and gave him a wink.

Oliver's mum couldn't have been more ecstatic about the fish and suggested they would grill them for dinner. Oliver's dad agreed excitedly and went with Robby Ray to start the grill. The kids were all called to help inside. As they all made their way to the cabin, Jackson grabbed Miley's arm and stopped her.

"Hey, I need to talk to you for a second," he said in a low voice, but Oliver could still hear him. They exchanged looks, and Oliver watched as Jackson pulled a confused Miley around the side of the cabin. Oliver made sure Lilly had returned inside and stayed on the porch, so he could hear what Jackson was saying, while still keeping one eye on Lilly through the half-open door. He hoped it would work and that Jackson would act accordingly to plan. Lilly could not find out about this in any way.

"What's up?" Miley asked.

"I'm going to ask you something, and I need you to agree to it," Jackson said carefully.

"Is this about the time that I caught you on camera trying on my Hannah wig? Because I told you that I'm keeping those pictures for blackmail."

Oliver tried his best not to laugh. He didn't want Miley to know he was eavesdropping.

"No!" Jackson said, sounding embarrassed. "And you said you weren't going to mention it again. I was going to ask you to tell Lilly she can't come to Europe with us."

"Brother-Trying-Blonde-Wigs say what?"

"Please, Miles, this is important!" Jackson said pleadingly. Oliver couldn't believe how sincere Jackson sounded. He didn't know why he wanted him to get together with Lilly so badly, but he needed to thank him in case his plan would work out.

"Jackson, if you think you can kick Lilly out of this trip, then you better step back now before I kick you out!" Miley said angrily and Oliver could see her approaching shadow on the ground as she stomped back to the cabin. Jackson grabbed her hand again and pulled her back. "Jackson!"

"Please, Miley, you don't understand! Lilly has to stay here!"

"No, you're right, I don't understand. I don't understand why you want me so bad to keep Lilly out of this trip! Her mum finally agreed to let her come and we've been planning it all morning, so please tell me what is so important that she has to stay here instead of touring Europe with her best friend!"

There was a short moment of silence. "I can't tell you," Jackson finally said quietly. Oliver was glad he had kept his promise and didn't tell her the actual reason.

"Then I'm leaving," Miley said and she made her way to the stairs in front of the cabin. This time Jackson didn't stop her. She noticed Oliver was standing there, watching her and she huffed angrily and shook her head.

"But I can," Oliver then said. It was out of the blue, but he already slipped once today, and he wanted this so badly that he had to do anything in order to get his way.

"What?" Miley asked, confused.

"I can tell you why Jackson asked you that. It's because I asked him to. I want Lilly to stay here," Oliver explained.

"Y'all are both out of your minds!" Miley exclaimed and made her way up the stairs.

Oliver took a deep breath and whispered to her, "I am. I'm so out of my mind, crazy, falling for her."

Miley froze in place at that. She slowly turned to Oliver and stared at him. "Say that again?"

He looked uncomfortably at the ground and shuffled his foot on the wooden floor. "You heard me, Miley. There's no need for a repeat."

"You? You like Lilly?" Miley asked in disbelief.

Oliver nodded. "And I want to tell her. Soon. And I won't be able to wait as long as six more weeks until she'd be back from Europe. I need her to stay here, so we can be alone. This could be my only chance. Please."

Miley turned around to look at Jackson, as though she needed a confirmation on the information she just received, or to tell if they were both pranking her again. When Jackson stood at the bottom of the stairs, his hands in his pockets and his face straight, she let out a shriek and ran back down to Jackson and started to hit his shoulder. "Why didn't you tell me that before?"

"Oww! Oww! I couldn't!" Jackson cried, flinching. "He threatened to throw me into the lake if I did!"

Oliver rushed over to them and pressed his finger to his lips, motioning for them to be quiet. The door was still open and the last thing he needed now was Lilly coming out to ask questions. "Miley, you can't say anything to Lilly."

"Well, of course I won't. I don't want to ruin the surprise."

Oliver's eyes suddenly lightened up at what she said. "So you mean you will do it?"

She sighed and rolled her eyes. "Yes, I will, but it doesn't mean that I'm happy about it. Well, I'm happy to hear that you like her. I told you countless of times that you guys are perfect for each other," she said and Oliver grinned. "But I'm not happy that I now have to tell her she can't come with me. I mean, what am I going to say to her? She'll be crushed!"

"Well, that's why Oliver is going to be here, comforting her," Jackson said as he slipped between them and wrapped his arms around their shoulders. "You'll figure something out, Miles."

"I hope I'm not going to regret this," Miley muttered. "I swear, Oken, if you won't be able to sum up the courage and do it, I'm going to hunt. You. Down!"

Oliver gulped hard but nodded in agreement. He was glad that Jackson was standing between them and keeping them apart. Miley could be scary sometimes...

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Oliver shut his eyes as tight as he could, his elbows on his knees while he pressed his palms to his ears. He sat in the living room, cringing at the sounds coming from the next room. Lilly was there, crying, and she was being pretty loud. Oliver did not expect that to happen; Lilly rarely cried. The last time he remembered seeing her cry like this was on the first day of second grade, when they came home after school and Lilly found out from her mum that her cat got run over by a car. Now Oliver felt bad because he was the reason for making her cry in the first place. Only Lilly didn't know that. There was a heavy feeling at the pit of his stomach and he felt as though her cat got killed all over again, but this time he was the one who did it.

He rubbed his temples, trying to make some of the tension go away. "Tell me I did the right thing," he muttered to Jackson, who sat on the other couch and played with the PlayStation.

"You did the right thing," Jackson said automatically, his tongue sticking out as he moved from side to side while playing a car race game.

Oliver frowned at his friend's robotic tone. "Really?"

Jackson sighed, annoyed being interrupted during his game. "Probably not," he said half-distracted, his eyes still glued to the Plasma screen. "But you had to do something."

"Right."

"Although, you could have just waited patiently and let her go to Europe and tell her when she got back," Jackson added. "It could probably have been best that way, too, because then she'd be in a good mood. Oh well..."

Oliver shot him a deadly glare. "But you said –" he started to argue, but stopped when he saw Jackson was way into the game and there was no point complaining to a zombie right now about how he had convinced him to make this move in the first place.

Oliver sank in thought once again. He hated himself right now, and mostly he hated hearing Lilly's wails. He was listening carefully and could distinctly hear Miley's soothing voice, obviously comforting Lilly. He felt awful, knowing he had caused it all.

Feeling the need to be close to her and stop her from hurting, he automatically pushed himself up from his seat and walked over to stand outside the closed door of Miley's and Lilly's room. He hesitated, but gulped hard and gathered up the courage to knock. He heard another soft sob from Lilly, then Miley's whispers and some shuffling. The key in the lock rustled, the door opened slightly and Miley's head poked out. When she set her eyes on Oliver, they narrowed menacingly and she groaned.

"What do you want?" she snapped at him, making Oliver take a step back and look at her with fearful eyes. He certainly didn't expect her sudden change of attitude. It was less than an hour ago that she was ecstatic about finding out about Oliver's feelings towards Lilly. Now she turned 180 degrees. She was no longer Smiley Miley, but more like Scary Miley.

"Uh..." he said, becoming speechless all of the sudden. Miley had never scared him this much before.

"Oh, just come in," she said impatiently, stepping aside and giving him access to the room.

He walked in slowly, finding the room lightly dimmed with the sunlight barely illuminating it through the half-closed shades.

Miley locked the door after him and then rushed over to the lump on the large bed that stood in the middle of the room. There could be no mistaking that it was Lilly underneath the large comforter. The same said lump sniffed softly.

Oliver stood uncomfortably in a dark corner, watching as Miley whispered to Lilly, "It's just Oliver..."

Then, as if a button was pressed, Lilly snapped up from underneath the blanket and sat up straight in bed. Her eyes were red, swollen and had dark circles underneath them. They looked around the room frantically until they landed on Oliver. He looked back at her, giving her a shy smile. He studied the intense stare of her blue eyes, and how her cheeks were streaked by mascara stains, or how her hair was tousled crazily as if a whirlwind had just passed through the room. Nevertheless, he couldn't help but blush at the thought of her looking beautiful.

"Lills, I'm sorry," Oliver said apologetically.

She sniffled again and her cheeks turned pink. "Sorry for what? It's not your fault –" Lilly started, but Miley cut her off and before Oliver had the chance to respond.

"Yes, Oliver. It's not your fault the airline didn't book her a ticket," Miley said, looking at him pointedly.

"What...?" Oliver said, not quite following.

Miley rolled her eyes and turned back to Lilly. "I swear Lilly, I will not keep quiet about this! I will sue!" she exclaimed rather dramatically. "They can't do that to Hannah Montana... or her best friend! If only the private jet wasn't broken..."

"Miley, it doesn't matter anymore, I can't go," Lilly said in a small voice and Oliver felt sorry for her. "You did everything you could. It's just so weird that every other scheduled flight is already full. Are you sure you checked right?" she asked, looking confused.

Miley shrugged. "What can I say? It's summer break. People like Europe in the summer."

Lilly seemed to believe everything she was told. Oliver was starting to believe Miley as well, but it quickly dawned on him that Miley wasn't that great of an actress. Once he realized that Miley was telling Lilly pure lies and that he was a part of it, Oliver let up a sudden hiccup and his eyes widened in horror. Both girls immediately turned to him. He saw Miley's murdering gaze and pressed both of his palms over his mouth at once, and paced quickly over to the window, praying that Lilly would not pick up on the true meaning behind his sudden hiccup. Luckily, she looked like she didn't put any thought into it, so he stood silently by the window and peered though the shades to view the lake. He was listening to the girls' conversation, but didn't have anything to say. If he did, he would probably let out another hiccup and ruin Miley's cover story. Damn his reflexes! Why did he have to hiccup every time he lied?

"Well, at least you won't be alone," Miley said, rubbing Lilly's shoulder soothingly. She handed her a Kleenex. Oliver flinched when she blew her nose in it loudly. "You still have Oliver. And Oliver's cool, right?" Miley added suggestively and Oliver turned around, surprised to see her looking at him with a raised eyebrow and a kind smile on her face. Man, that girl's mood could change rapidly!

"Uh-huh," Lilly nodded and rubbed her nose with her tissue.

"Oliver will show you great time here. Won't you, Oliver?"

Oliver nodded, still afraid to speak up, in case another hiccup would escape his mouth.

Miley smiled in satisfaction and turned back to Lilly. "Now, I know Lake Tahoe isn't Europe, but I promise I will make it up to you. Okay?"

Lilly wiped her face clean with a fresh tissue. "Okay." Miley smiled, moved closer and gave her a warm hug. Oliver felt a small pang of jealousy. He wanted Lilly to hug him too, but he didn't want to make things awkward because he had nothing to do with their conversation.

"Now let's get you cleaned up. You look like a raccoon," Miley said jokingly and Lilly chuckled. Oliver couldn't help but let out a snigger as well, but immediately regretted it when he received yet another glare from Miley. He guessed some jokes weren't meant to be laughed at by guys.

Miley took Lilly to the bathroom that was next to their room and shut the door in front of Oliver's face when he followed. He was only trying to make sure Lilly was doing alright. He knew Miley was slightly mad at him for making her do this to Lilly, making her look like the bad guy while he was being the hero. Then again, he shouldn't care. The hero always got the girl.

Right?

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A/N: I want to get at least 5 reviews on this, so please tell me what you think. Feel free to make suggestions and ask questions, I do read them all and take great consideration including your ideas. You can even post anonymous reviews, so you don't have to sign up. I just want to know what you think and if I should continue. There's much more planned to happen and chapter 5 is already done, but I only post it if you review. So please do, don't be shy, I don't bite :) Thank you!