A/N: Okay, I'm totally hesitant to write this chapter. The reviews I got for the last chapter were really discouraging, but nonetheless, I would still like to thank the people that did give comments and suggestions. It's for you guys that I'm writing this update. Also, I've been losing a lot of interest in Nick and Miley lately, and fan fiction in general, so the lack of inspiration may be reflected in the future chapters, but I promise you, I really am trying my best to make it good. I also looked over the previous chapter, and I found some typos, so I'm really sorry about that too. So, without further ado, I give you the next chapter. As always, please, read and review. I really look forward to reading what you think.

DISCLAIMER: This piece of work is entirely FICTIONAL and is not being published for infringement purposes. I am in no way connected to Miley Cyrus, the Jonas Brothers, their families or the Disney Channel. Please don't sue. I do this for the sake of writing only.

The Other Side

CHAPTER SEVEN

: Jonas Residence :

It was eight in the morning when Joe Jonas was jolted from his deep sleep by the insistent beeping of his alarm clock. Habit dictated that he set it every morning after waking up, knowing that he would forget it before going to bed. However, he did not account for the long day he had before, not to mention his conversation with Nick and the long thinking he had done afterwards. Needless to say, it was pretty late when he finally got some sleep. He barely had time to strip down to his boxers and undershirt before collapsing onto his bed and pulling the covers over his head.

He burrowed further into his pillow, determinedly blocking out the rays of light streaming into his window and praying that the snooze function will soon kick in so he could go back to sleep. When that didn't happen, a blind hand shot out from under the covers, attempting to grab the offending object currently sitting on the bedside table, much to the amusement of a standing spectator.

Kevin made his way to his brother's side, getting directly on the path of Joe's grabs, receiving some blows to his arms. "Um, Joe, would you please stop hitting me and wake up so I can tell you about my wonderful plan?" The alarm clock stopped beeping, and so did the bed's occupants attempts to toss it to the side, but the younger Jonas still did not respond to his brother's wake-up call. After a few minutes of waiting, Kevin grabbed the sheets and, with much resistance, pulled them off Joe, who kept his eyes tightly shut.

"You can't ignore me for the entire morning, Joseph."

"No, but I can lie here and try to fall asleep again," Joe whined to his brother whom had taken to poking his arm in the hopes of getting him awake. "Come on, Kev. Have some mercy. I haven't been sleeping that long."

Although Kevin pitied his brother, knowing the day he had previously, he was really excited about his plan and needed somebody to help him. "Seriously, you'll like what I'm going to propose, Joe."

The middle brother's voice came muffled from underneath his pillow, but nonetheless said, "I know I'm the hottest brother, Kevin, and I'm flattered, really, but I think we're nowhere near that in our relationship."

"You're sick, bro. Come on, get up! I really need your help." Hearing the emphasis in his brother's voice, and never being one to refuse his family, Joe reluctantly removed the pillow from his head and sat up, revealing his dishevelled head of hair and bleary eyes.

"Fine, fine, I'm up anyway. This better be good. I'm skipping out on beauty sleep for this."

"It is, I promise." He spoke eagerly, tripping over some of his words in his rush to get them all out. "You know how Nick's been pretty moody lately? I was thinking that the three of us could maybe go out today. I mean, all the time we've been spending together lately has been work stuff, and we never get to do anything fun. I thought it would be cool if we could just hang out, go to the new amusement park or whatever. I already asked permission from mom and dad, and they said it was a good idea. They even volunteered to take Frankie to the mall today so it could just be us guys."

Even with his sleep addled brain, Joe could see how much thought his older brother had put into his plan, and he had to admit that it was a perfect of way of distracting Nick from his situation for a while, if only to give him more time to figure out how to help his younger brother and friend from this mess they now found themselves in. "You're right, Kevin. It's a great plan. Have you told Nick already?"

"Um, yeah, that's kind of the part that I need your help with. We both know that there's no getting Nicholas out of the house when he gets into these moods of his, but I really think it'll be good for him. I figure with the two of us, it'll be easier to convince him. That or it'll be easier to haul him into the car."

Joe found himself laughing at this. "Okay, okay. You've convinced me. Give me half an hour to get ready, then we can go and ask Nick together." Kevin slapped him on the back before he walked out of the door and could be heard walking down the stairs. Joe ran his hands over his face. It was going to be another long day.

: Two Hours Later, Boardwalk Carnival :

Surprisingly enough, Nick had been easy to convince to get out of the house. He had taken a look around of his room and realized that almost everything in his room reminded him of something of Miley and was beginning to feel suffocated. He welcomed the idea of going out with his brothers, admitting that it really has been too long since they all last hung out without shop talk.

They had driven around for half an hour before Kevin's stomach and Joe's desire to go on some rides led them to this carnival. They wandered around for a bit, eating their fill of candied corn and funnel cakes, occasionally stopping to sign an autograph or two for some fan that had recognized them which, thankfully, were not many.

Joe had convinced them to get on the Ferris wheel, but after one ride, all of them decided it was too hot to go again. Nick and Kevin had put their foot down and outright refused to ride the carousel with Joe, choosing instead to laugh at their brother as he made a fool of himself amongst all the children waving to their parents. However, when the three of them spotted the sign for the bump cars, they all immediately fell in line. They were all taunting one another as they buckled into the small compartments and started the mechanical engines. All three spent their entire ten minutes attempting to knock into one another and laughing loudly at their antics.

"I am so the king of bump cars," Nick declared, holding his hands up in triumph as the three of them exited the arena.

"Whatever, dude. We were obviously letting you win," Joe scoffed at him in return.

"Sure, Joe, because we all know you meant to ram your car into the wall in the first five minutes you were in the car." Kevin snickered at his brother, giving Nick a high-five in congratulations before sharing a meaningful look with his other brother. Neither of the older Jonas boys were really arguing with the fifteen-year old, just glad that he seemed to be genuinely enjoying himself.

"Hey guys, wait a minute. I'm going to get a hotdog." Before either of his brothers could say anything, Nick was already making his way to the vendor a couple of meters away. Both Kevin and Joe were relieved that he was willingly eating something, after having to force cereal on him earlier in the morning at home.

"Yeah, could I get that with ketchup and relish please? Thanks." As the youngest Jonas Brother paid and waited for his food, he let his eyes wander around his surrounding, smiling as he caught sight of his brothers talking to one another. He knew that their little trip was mainly for his benefit, and he was glad that he had agreed to join them on this outing. It was turning out to be a really fun day so far, something he really needed after the past events.

As he continued to scour the place, something caught his eye. He walked over to the benches where a couple of middle-aged women sat, reading the tabloids, ignoring the calls of the vendor to him.

"Um, excuse me, ladies. I was wondering if maybe I could borrow your newspaper for a bit." He smiled at them, maintaining his calm and polite composure.

"Not at all, sweetheart. In fact, you can have it. I was done reading it anyway." The woman gave him a smile and he murmured his thanks before scanning the article he saw, focusing particularly on the pictures accompanying the article. He felt a pit at the bottom of his stomach as he stalked his way over to where his brothers were waiting for him to get back.

"Hey, Nick. It took you long enough. Where's your hotdog?" Joe asked him innocently, as he saw his brother walking up to them, slightly upset.

"How could you, Joe? After everything I told you last night, you didn't think to share this information with me?"

"What are talking about?" The other boy asked him, genuinely confused at his brother's actions. Kevin looked on, also puzzled at Nick's sudden change of mood.

"This," the youngest of the three said, roughly pushing the tabloid in front of his brother's face. "I can't believe you would do this. I'm going home." He immediately turned and his bewildered brothers watched him hail a taxi by the exit of the carnival before turning their attention to the publication.

'JOE JONAS' NIGHT OUT WITH MILEY CYRUS', the front cover read in bold letters, along with it a couple of snapshots of Joe grabbing Miley's hand and both of them ducking out of the ice cream shop. "Oh dear," Kevin muttered.

"Yeah, this is bad." Joe looked over at the spot where Nick was, trying to figure out what to do next.

: A Couple of Days Later :

It had been a while since that scene in the park, and Nick was yet to say a word to Joe. The older of the two, despite being frustrated at his brother's childish behavior, resisted the urge to tell him so only because his anger seemed to give Nick something to think about other than Miley. The three of them were now in their home studio, wanting to get to work on some tracks for their new album, and the youngest just stared his brothers, holding his guitar in stony silence.

"I thought we were going to rehearse some songs." Nick said in a hostile tone.

Kevin had finally had enough of his brother's attitude, and said, "Look, Nick. I know you're feeling hurt and betrayed and whatever right now, but the way your acting really isn't helping anything."

"You're right, I do feel betrayed. By my own brother who knew what I've been going through, and yet, still chose to do what he did."

"How many times do I have to tell you?" Joe finally responded, unable to keep quiet any longer. "It was nothing. She needed a friend, and I wanted to be there for her. You think you're the only one hurting? Well, you're not. She is too, and although I'm your brother, I'm her friend too."

Nick was silenced by this, and it could be seen that he was really taking in what had been said. After a while, he looked down at the guitar he was holding, as if thoroughly ashamed of the way he had been acting around his brothers. However, pride prevented him from apologizing right away, and he chose instead to speak quietly, "Let's just not talk about this right now, okay? We need to rehearse."

For the rest of their studio time, none of the brothers spoke a word other than those having to do with the song, and as much as possible, not to one another. They remained wrapped up in their own thoughts, relieved when they went their own ways a couple of hours later.

: A Week Later, Disney Studios, Hannah Montana Set :

Miley was currently on her break while Emily Osment and Mitchel Musso were shooting a scene without her in it. She was going over some things on her laptop, and anybody could see the grim line her mouth was set on and the furrowed eyebrow that warned everybody not to talk to her just then.

Her stupor had been broken when her father came up behind her and put his hand on her shoulder, his mouth also set into a thin line, the family resemblance of which would have been funny if it had been in different circumstances.

"Anything you want to tell me, Destiny Hope?" Miley cringed at her father's use of her complete name. Judging by his tone alone, she would say that he had already seen what she had been dreading him to.

"It is what it is, Dad. There's nothing more we can do about it." She stood up, attempting to brush it off, holding out the slim hope that her dad will just let it go.

Billy Ray could proudly say that he knew his daughter well enough to tell when she was clearly pretending to not be bothered by things, and sometimes it scared him how good Miley seemed to be at putting up a strong façade. He only wished he could say the same thing about the pictures he was currently holding. "You promised me there wouldn't be anything like this anymore, Miley."

She was sadder at his disappointed tone of voice, and almost wished he was angry instead. She didn't know how to justify the pictures showing her with some friends, acting in a way that wasn't really befitting a teenage role model. It had seemed like such a good idea at the time, when all she wanted to do was have fun and forget. Those people were her friends, and it had been good to feel like she wasn't being judged, if only for a short amount of time.

"Well, at least it's not me with a Jonas brother, right Dad?" Miley got defensive, really just tired of being watched all the time and rated for how she was being the next wild child of Hollywood. She was tired even of her father's words that although had good intentions, only furthered her feelings of insecurity and isolation. She stomped her way to her dressing room, ignoring her father's calls for her to come back and talk to him, finally slamming the door behind her.

She threw herself onto her couch, finally letting her tears flow, both emotionally and physically drained. This was how Billy Ray found her when he softly opened the door minutes later. "Sweetie, are you okay?" She sat up and moved a bit, giving him space to sit next to her.

"I'm sorry for walking out like that, Daddy. I just couldn't take it anymore."

"I understand how you're feeling right now, but you have to remember that when I talk to you, you have to listen, okay? I am still your father, and you have to respect that." He took Miley's bowed head as a sign of admittance, and he spoke in a softer tone. "Now, about those pictures that were published; you know that there are going to be things said about it…"

"It's nothing, Dad. I mean, it's just regular teenagers wanting to have some fun. There's nothing wrong with that."

"You of all people should know that you just aren't any teenager, Miley."

"And what if I said that I just wanted to be normal for a while, Dad?" The man's heart broke a little at the pain he could hear in his daughter's voice. He really wished that he could tell her that it was okay, but he knew it was the price she had to pay for wanting to live her supposed dream.

"Honey, we both know that's just not possible right now." Billy Ray told her gently, wrapping his arms around her in a hug. "I warned you coming into this that they would act like this all the time. You have to be the one responsible enough for what they're going to say about you."

"Sometimes I just get so tired, Daddy." He felt her tears start to seep into his shirt as she burrowed further into his arms. He didn't say anything more after that, simply holding her until her trembling sobs calmed into deep and even breathing as she fell asleep after everything. They could deal with the issues later for all that mattered right now, was that she was okay.

END CHAPTER

A/N: I'm sorry this chapter was shorter than usual. I'm used to the updates getting progressively longer, but as I previously mentioned, the reviews were really disheartening and somewhat inversely proportional to the amount of time I was poring into the chapters. Sorry, that sounds geeky and egotistical at the same time. Also, it felt like a good place to leave off, rather than risk the entire instalment being really disjointed because of the next scene that I had planned, and I know that sounds weird, but you'll get it when you read the next one. I apologize also that the drama seems to be really heightened in this chapter, but I felt that it was necessary because of everything that had been going on around them. Please tell me what you think by a review, and I promise I will update as soon as inspiration strikes me in the head with the continuation of the next chapter. I love my faithful reviewers, and I hope this chapter meets your expectations. I'm really looking forward to hearing what you think.