Chapter 6.
Miley.

I walked back over to Demi, not even caring what his expression was. I couldn't believe he would actually compare me to that fake Barbie of a girlfriend he has. We were nothing alike. See, for one, I knew that I could never be perfect no matter how hard I tried, and I didn't push the sweetest girl in the entire world away. Oh, and then I'm actually myself in public while she just tries to be perfect. I swear, she changes every month.

That actually felt good.

I wrapped my arms around Demi, giving her a hug once I walked over.

"What'd you do?" she whispered.

"Set him in his place," I told her quietly, giving Joe a hug next. Then, finally came a small one to Kevin.

"Nicky!" Selena suddenly squealed. I sighed, looking back at him with everyone else. Our eyes met before he smiled back at his girlfriend, wrapping her in a tight hug, pulling away to kiss her - much longer than necessary, then simply looking over at her head... Directly at me.

"Hey, Sel."

"You okay?" she asked confused.

"Yeah, babe," he nodded, kissing her forehead. He swiveled to me again, doing his stupid lopsided grin.

"Careful, Nick," I shot him the same smug look back. "Your cheek is getting a little red."

That confident look fell quicker than ever, feeling everyone stare at the red mark that was appearing. The red mark that was appearing because a girl slapped him. And we both knew that it could've been so much harder.

Selena suddenly inspected it, carefully running her hand across it one she saw.

"Baby, what happened?" she was so concerned over it – as if he was about to die. He's a big boy, he'd be okay. I'm his ex-girlfriend who has absolutely no muscle. I wanted to go over and slap her as she interlaced their hands, whisking him away from us. She completely over-reacted. "C'mon, let's go find some ice."

"He doesn't need any ice, it was just a slap," I rolled my eyes, turning back to the other three.

"You slapped him!?" Demi asked me.

All three of them looked shocked, as if I'd never slapped anyone before. Well, I guess that could be because I haven't, but still. They had to know it would happen some day with how much Nick and I hate each other.

"Miley!" Demi yelled. I snapped back into the real world, facing them directly. That's when I saw it – they were all upset that I had slapped him. "Did you hit him?"

"Well," I began to play with my fingers, focusing on them instead. All that confidence that I had had thirty seconds ago slowly drained my body. "I didn't exactly hit him. It was more of a..."

"Miley, that isn't you," Joe sounded the most disappointed in me that I had ever heard him. More disappointed then when my pictures were released, more disappointed than when Nick and I broke up, even more disappointed than when I told the world about us or came out with 7 Things for the first time.

"You guys don't know what's going on," I tried to sound defensive but in the end it came out in a quiet, meek voice.

"I do, and I must've missed the part where there was a good reason to slap him," Demi spoke. I took a chance and glanced at Kevin... I could tell that I was about to welcome 2008 all over again. That same expression was there as the day I broke up with Nick for the first time. That same expression of him being pissed at me and the glint in his eyes that showed he was about to take Nick's side again and give me the silent treatment.

I knew my reason wouldn't change his mind either, because thinking it over, it sounded stupid in my head, so once I said it out loud that would only make it seem stupider.

"Miley?" Joe called out. "Why did you do it?"

"He, uh..." I bit my lip. "He compared me to Selena?"

That's all it took for Kevin to walk away. I sighed, running my hands through my hair. "You guys don't know how much I don't like her. I don't like how she always has to suck up to the company, I don't like how she ditched Demi, I don't like how she stole my boyfriend, and I don't like how she has to change so that she's perfect all the time," I ranted. "If I ever turn into her – well, I'd rather be dead than feel the constant need to be perfect. To not know that people make mistakes. So when he sat there telling me with all his stupid little cockiness that I was exactly like her in every way, just testing my limits, I..."

I had no idea what to even say after that. I didn't know what the hell I was thinking or what was going through my head... In fact, I wasn't thinking.

"I wish I could say that it's all okay, but it isn't," Joe pursed his lips, shoving his hands in his pockets. "What if he had forgotten to take his insulin and had been light headed. He could've passed out."

"He would've lived," I murmured softly. But I knew it was still a risk. I had to be careful. Especially after he used so much energy performing.

"That's not the point. The point is he could've been hurt," Joe yelled.

I took a deep breath. "Look... I know my limits with him. And I love how you and Kev are so protective, but, honestly, this isn't your fight. You need to let me and Nick handle this ourselves."

"I don't blame her," Demi backed me up. I grinned. She was one of the few people who I knew if I ever needed her she'd back me up whether she agreed or not. Even better, though, she was one of the few people who Joe would listen to no matter what. "If he started comparing me to Selena he'd be smacked with all I have."

Joe shook his head. "It's different-"

"It's not," she told him sternly. "It may have been awhile ago, and it may not have been as long, but you need to remember that Sel was her best-friend too."

Nick.

"She what!?" Selena snapped her head over to look at me as she suddenly stopped walking. Her eyes looked way too concerned. It was as if she was slapped instead of me. No offense, but it was just Miley. I could handle her fine.

"It's nothing."

"Miley hit you?" she laughed, and suddenly it seemed as if her entire body relaxed. "Wow, you must really know how to piss girls off."

"Please, Miley just hates me in general. She's probably been looking for a reason to smack me-"

"Miley's never hit anything in her life. She probably hasn't even punched her pillow."

"Well, then I guess I'm the first."

She shook her head, turning back around and squeezing my hand. "That kind of pisses me off. I mean, what you said couldn't have been that bad. No need to get violent."

I cringed. Thinking back it was. I compared her to my current girlfriend after completely leading her on for the past year. I'm pretty sure that's on the How-To-Be-a-Douche list.

"It really wasn't... I just tried to show her that she's not always right."

"She can be stupid sometimes," Selena looked over at me as I agreed.

"I still remember when we were thirteen and I just met her she wanted to see if she had a magic fish so she took it out of the water to see if it would survive," I chuckled. "Then, when it died, she called me sobbing."

"What'd she say?"

"That she was a fish murderer."

She started laughing. "You still love her?"

"Nah, we kinda hate each other right now... which would be why she slapped me."

"But what if she wasn't mad at you? And you weren't fighting-"

"She slapped me because I told her that you were better," I suddenly interrupted.

My heartbeat got quicker as I watched her face light up. She smiled, not biting her lip like Miley would, and kept walking. Gee, too bad that was a lie. I sighed, running my hand through my hair.

"I love you," she told me softly.

I looked around for people listening. For some reason, I didn't want anyone to hear me say those words back. "I love you too."

Lies in a day: Four.

Because deep down, in that same place that I deep down knew that I still loved Miley, I knew she was nothing like Selena.... Nothing at all. She wasn't even close.

Miley may not know it; but she's so much better and she doesn't even try.

kay. so i suck at remembering to put things in authors notes. but HOPEFULLY ill get them all this time.

FIRST: Some of you may read reallifetragedy's stories. if you don't – they're amazing. well her computer is Stuplamen (Stupid & Lame with an n at the end to make it sound coooler) & broke... again. so she wont be posting for awhile :((

SECOND: my twitter - meliiissa

THIRD: thank you so much for reading :D what did you think? Would YOU ever act like this if you were Nick/Miley? reviews are lovely(:

oh, & i have the next TWO chapters allll ready :D