AN: This one uses Busted's That's What I Go To School For - It's not in the text or anything because I'm finding it way to hard to base a chapter on a song or work the lyrics in... I just thought the title of this track summed up the chapter but no way does it mean either of the girls have a thing for Mrs Stevens - ugh, and double ugh considering she's based on my own Psychology teacher - bleugh. Anyway, enjoy x

Chapter Seven: That's What I Go To School For

"Essay deadline is today class, leave it on my desk before you leave," said Mrs Stevens as we all entered the classroom and I took my usual seat in the back corner. "Today we're moving on from sexual selection and …"

Damn her voice is annoying, I thought as I put my feet up on the chair next to me. I took out my notebook and placed it on my desk making sure it was perfectly straight and parallel to the end of the desk. Damn it Lilly, OCD much? I scoffed at myself and pushed the book so it was on an angle.

"Did I say something amusing?" I heard Mrs Stevens say and looking up I noticed everyone staring at me. I shook my head. "I didn't think so either. Get your feet off of that chair this instant,"

I put my feet solidly on the floor and mumbled an apology. "Now that everybody is listening," she said continuing with her drivel. Why did I carry on coming to this class when I could just as easily teach myself out of the text book? When her gaze was diverted, I put my feet back up on the seat.

"As I was saying, we are going to partner up for this week's class and each pair is going to come up with a presentation to show the rest of the class next Monday on what we've learnt so far. What are you all waiting for? Partner up,"

With that there was a screeching of chairs as people began swapping places and moving around the class to join up. I'd barely had time to blink before I felt the chair disappear from under my feet causing them to flop heavily onto the floor.

"Hey!"I protested before turning to face whoever had removed the chair. Miley was sat there grinning.

"Hey yourself," she chuckled. "Bad day?"

"It's a Monday – Monday's are always bad days because it means the weekend is over,"

"Yeah… although the weekend was totally above average," she smiled.

"Totally," I echoed, returning the smile.

"Well this is a partnership I didn't expect," said a voice, breaking the silence Miley and I had slipped into whilst simply gazing at each other; sad and cliché I know but I couldn't help myself. I looked up to see Mrs Stevens standing in front of our desk, distaste clearly visible upon her face. "Miss Stewart, are you sure you want to partner up with… with…"

"Lilly," I spat at her – I knew that she knew my name and was simply doing it to undermine me and severely piss me off – why did she hate me so much?

"Yes, I'm completely sure," said Miley.

"You do realize that your grade on this project will be noted and will be used in the reports that will be sent home to your parents…"

"I'm aware," she said simply, her tone and facial expression indifferent as she looked up at our psychology teacher.

"Okay, it's your grade you're jeopardizing," sneered Mrs Stevens.

"I think I've made the right decision," defended Miley, clearly not wanting the teacher to have the last word.

"Humph," mumbled Mrs Stevens before going along to the next group.

"You know, she'll probably hate you too now?" I told Miley, concerned that she would get the shit I get from Mrs Stevens simply because she chose to partner with me.

"I'm hated by a lot of people, one more isn't going to hurt," she shrugged. It was true; lots of people did hate Miley. Hell, I hated Miley before the whole 'I might be gay' thing. But the truth is, before that, I saw her just like everyone else saw her – school royalty, the Queenbitch, the Head Cheerbitch… but that so wasn't the Miley I know now. This Miley was kind and sweet and so not worthy of being hated.

"I don't hate you," I told her softly and I saw how much that meant to her when she grinned and her eyes grew wider.

"I don't hate you either," she said still grinning.

At the end of class I pulled out my essay and placed it on Mrs Stevens' desk. I sidestepped around the small crowd of people who were waiting to get close enough to the desk to put their own essays on the pile and headed out of the door.

"Lilly! Wait up," I heard a voice say behind me in the corridor as I headed towards my locker. I turned to see Miley heading towards me. "How are you getting home?"

"Walking – my board's still broken,"

"I can give you a lift," she offered as I shoved my textbook in my locker.

"It'd kinda attract attention – you know, the whole cheerleaders hate skaters and vice versa thing," I told her. I'd even noticed the odd glances from passing people as we stood talking at the lockers. God, high school was so pathetic – one slight difference in the status quo and everyone acted like it was gonna turn into World War Three!

"Well if we give it ten minutes they'll be no one to see," she surmised.

"True, but what are we gonna do for ten minutes?" I asked. I watched, rather shocked, as a scarlet blush spread across Miley's face. "Your mind Miles," I chuckled and took her arm and dragged her off of the main hallway and into one of the smaller corridors which led to the art department and the stairs up to the viewing gallery.

I held open the door to the stairs and Miley headed up. It was dark in the staircase but some light streamed in from the gallery above allowing me to see where I was going. It also allowed me to look upon the girl who walked in front of me. She was wearing a rather short plaid skirt in the schools colours of blue and gold. The short length of the skirt meant that my eyes could roam across her toned thighs all the way down her muscular claves and to the cute heels she was wearing. Wait, what the hell? Am I checking her out? Lilly, we're still in that 'friend' stage you wanted – checking her out is not a friendly gesture… oh who cares, I want to and what she can't see won't hurt her.

"Truscott, are you looking at my ass?" she said interrupting my thoughts and that's when I noticed she was no longer climbing the stairs and instead looking over her shoulder at me.

"Um…I…" I stammered; my brain not functioning quick enough to come up with a lie to get me out of it.

"I'll take that as a yes then?" she smirked.

"More like a 'hell yeah'," I said without thinking then smacked my hand over my mouth to prevent any other words coming out before my brain could analyse whether they could actually be said aloud. "Sorry, it just slipped out," I apologised from behind my hand, my face growing hotter and I was glad for the lack of light to allow my blush to be somewhat dulled.

Miley chuckled. "Come on you," she said taking my hand and leading me up the rest of the steps. It was much brighter up here than the stairs but it was still pretty dark. The gallery had art work from students, well the art work that was actually any good. It was a long thin room and had a huge window on one wall which looked down into the school gym. When there's a game or something on, the art is removed and seats were put in here for the important guests… and by important I mean people like the Mayor and his wife and occasionally we had the odd scout looking for new players.

"Some of this stuff is really good – this one is brilliant," she said pointing at one of the big canvases on the back wall. I smiled, it was a brilliant piece; the many different shades of blues and purples were flawless and the texture of the acrylic paint made the stormy ocean look alive and jump from the page. The canvas was about the same height as me and my arms could only just touch each corner… I knew this because I had to carry the damn thing up here. This huge ocean scene with the lighthouse in the background and the huge milky moon was awarded first place in the school art competition and had been viewed by some top artists from New York and Los Angeles, each offering the painter a summer internship next year after she finished school.

"It's Mik's," I said smiling. I felt proud that my best friend was finally having her talent noticed after all the years of her constant doodling and paintings.

"Get out!" exclaimed Miley and I chuckled, "Seriously?"

I nodded. "Yep, took her about a month and a half to do,"

"It's amazing," she said staring at the canvas as if she were suddenly seeing it in a new light because she knew the artist. "I didn't know she could paint,"

"Paint, draw, sculpt, sketch, photograph – you name it and she can do it," I said smiling when I realised we were still holding hands. It just seemed so natural for our hands to be joined… it was an odd feeling, odd but nice.

"Wow," she breathed, still staring at the painting.

"Quite a few of Mik's pieces are up here," I said pulling her attention away and pointing to several of the art works. "That black and white image of the half-pipe at the skate park up on East, that's another painting of the ocean, oh and that one is supposed to be a sketch of me,"

"Of you?" she said and I nodded. "Let's get a closer look," she grinned and pulled me over to the piece. "Okay, stand just there," she said as she positioned me next to the sketch. I watched amused as she placed her finger on her chin as if deep in thought, her eyes flicking from me to the sketch and back again.

"I can see the resemblance but it's missing something," she smirked.

"Oh really? And what would that be?" I asked, a grin playing across my lips as I tried and failed to keep my face serious. The sketch was done in a cubist style, you know like that Picasso's Weeping Woman… except this one wasn't coloured in. I didn't even think the sketch looked human let alone looked like me – but on its own it was a very good piece, just like the rest of Mik's work.

"Well the basic shape is fine… with the angle of the jaw line," she smirked as she ran her fingers down my jaw and I resisted the urge to shiver at the touch of her cool fingers, "but the lips don't look quite right," she continued as her thumb brushed across my bottom lip. This time I couldn't help but quiver slightly at the contact and I saw her smile satisfied with the effect she was having on me. This certainly wasn't a friendly encounter and we both knew it. Even though it pained me to do it, I knew I wasn't ready for anything more and I lifted my own hands to take her wrists in my grasp.

"Miles…" I breathed, my eyes closing when her skin brushed against mine as I pulled her hands away from my face.

"I know…" she said just as softly. "Sorry,"

"It's okay… just too soon,"

"I know," she said, exhaling deeply and I opened my eyes to see hers were closed, her face soft but there were lines in her forehead which gave away that she was having her own mental battle with herself. "Just got carried away, that's all,"

"Yeah…" I said before realising I was still gripping her wrists. I released them and she opened her eyes, those big blue ocean eyes that I loved.

"Over here!" we both span around startled. There was no one here but us. "I'm open!" came the voice again. Then it dawned on me – the gym. I wandered over to the big window and saw the basketball team practicing, in shirts and skins I might add. Many a time Mik and I had stood up here and watched the guys play as they ran up and down the court, their shirts discarded and sweat shining on their muscular chests. Looking down on them now, I didn't feel that same girly fascination that I used too… I was more interested in the girl at my side. Who knew that whilst Mik and I were gushing over the fit basketball players that I'd end up turning gay for the Queen of the school – not me, that's for sure.

"I don't get basketball… it's just a bunch sweaty guys tossing a ball around and patting each other on the ass when they score. Imagine if we did that in the hallways – pat someone on the ass each time they do something good, can you imagine the reactions you'd get from people?"

"Well it'd certainly making walking to class a more amusing experience," I chuckled.

"More disturbing," she corrected with a smile on her face.

"Yeah… don't you still cheer them on though?" I smirked.

"Well I kinda have to being a cheerleader and all," she laughed, "Doesn't mean that I actually like the sports- I think they're actually rather boring and most of them I don't even understand,"

"Which is why I've never been to a school game before – I couldn't imagine a worse way to spend my day," I said before we slipped into silence for a few moments, simply watching the guys below play a game neither of us were actually interested in.

"Reckon people will have left yet?" she said breaking the comfortable silence. She took my hand in hers and led me back towards the stairs before I could even answer. We went out into the bright corridor and back into the main hallway of the school, no other person in sight except for the janitor who stood with his mop at the opposite end of the hall.

Miley kept a firm grip of my hand as we walked towards the doors. I felt on edge as I held her hand, scared someone would come out from one of the classrooms or corridors and see us, and then go shout from the rooftops that I was a lesbian... was I? Sure, I liked Miley in a more than friendly way but did that really make me gay, I mean I haven't looked at another girl that way before… maybe it was only Miley? Did that mean I was bi? Or was I just weird… shut up Lilly and get in the damn car.

[Miley]

I could tell something was on her mind as I led her around the building to where I'd parked. Her forehead was creased in concentration and confusion and irritation seemed to be coming off her in waves which is why kept quiet, allowing her to work out whatever she was thinking on her own. I released her hand reluctantly when we reached my car. I loved the feel of her hand in mine but I also knew how much it would cost if we were seen; I'd planned on letting go if I'd seen anyone but the school and parking lot were empty of people and only the teachers cars and my own remained. Still, I couldn't help but think that Lilly's intense internal thoughts were partially to do with just that.

I put the car into drive and headed out of the parking lot and onto the street. Once again we were stopped at the traffic lights. I took the time to look upon the blonde beauty who sat next to me. The sun was shining brightly like every other day and it made her blonde hair look like spun gold and it lit up the confusion on her face for all to see. My heart squeezed when I saw how troubled she looked. I couldn't keep my silence any longer and I reached across and put my hand on her thigh gently and asked her what was on her mind.

"Us…" she replied simply. "How we have to hide our friendship let alone if it developed into anything else."

"I know," I said unable to think of much else to say about it. She was right; it was awful that we even had to hide the fact that we were friends because it would disrupt the stupid high school hierarchy. "Look at it this way, the longer it's a secret the more time we have without stupid comments or you know, the whole school going into disrepute because a cheerleader and a skater joined forces,"

She grinned then, "Joined forces? Are we fighting against something?"

"Yeah, we're fighting the stupid status quo," I laughed lightly and pushed my hand through my hair. The breeze just caused it to go back to where it was before. I pushed it back again and kept my hand nestled in the dark locks to keep it from returning to its original position. The light turned green and I put the car in gear and turned left; I'd only driven to her house a couple of times but it just felt so natural for me to turn left instead of right. Her side of town may be classed as where the 'normal' people live but it even though it lacked the palm trees flanking the street and the swimming pools and huge iron fences… this side of town felt like a town should, not like some heavily manicured place that was more about appearance than the actual necessity of having a home. Don't get me wrong, I loved living in a mansion with a pool and having limousine escorts and my own tennis court – that I never used – but sometimes I wished I could experience what its like to live in the 'real' Malibu where the neighbours would actually talk to each other without an ulterior motive behind it.

"What are you thinking about?" asked Lilly, interrupting my thoughts.

"About how much nicer this side of town is,"

"Are you freaking kidding me? You're a Kensington girl; surely you can't see the appeal of this side of town?"

"I may be a Kensington girl but I haven't always been. I used to live on a ranch in Tennessee; we had horses, chickens, everything. We had a leaky roof and every so often we had a little woodland critter run havoc in the kitchen," I told her, remembering the time I woke up to find the kitchen trashed and a squirrel sitting amongst the food which had spilled from the refrigerator – to this day I still don't know how it managed to even open the door to the fridge let alone get to the food.

"Oh. So you're not totally superficial,"

"It's took you this long to realise that?" I asked and she smirked, obviously she'd been joking with me. I turned the last corner and headed down Old Rocky Drive, spying Lilly's house. I pulled up onto her driveway. "Do you want a lift to school in the morning? I could come by early so no one would see us? Saves you having to walk?"

"Sure," she smiled. She collected her bag which she'd stowed in the foot well and moved to get out. Her hand was on the handle when she stopped and turned. I was about to ask her if something was wrong when she smiled shyly before leaning over and kissing my cheek. I think my heart actually stopped beating at that moment. "I'll see you in the morning then," she said, her cheeks flushing red as she got out the car and closed the door. "Thanks for the ride,"

"Er yeah… n-no problem," I stammered as my heart finally started beating again and blood started returning to my brain. She grinned, her face still red before she went towards her door. Just before she went in she smiled and waved and I waved back. I waited a few moments before backing off her driveway, afraid my brain function still wasn't enough to be safe to drive. I could still feel the tingling from where her lips and touched my cheek. I felt like a giddy schoolgirl… I suppose I was.

"Maurice, it's me," I said into the intercom outside the gates to my house. We really should get some kind of remote for these things; it would save so much time. The big iron gates swung open and I drove my car around to the garage and parked up. I got out and squeezed myself around Jackson's truck to get to the door into the house.

I headed straight for the kitchen and grabbed a glass out of the cupboard and poured myself some apple juice, still thinking about how Lilly had kissed my cheek and how I'd almost kissed her in the gallery; I'd actually had to close my eyes to stop myself from kissing her despite her holding my wrists.

"Miley," said a voice and I turned to see Jake stood there. Maurice rushed in behind him.

"I told you to stay out until I'd spoken to her," said Maurice, raising his voice at my ex-boyfriend.

"And I told you that wasn't going to happen," Jake snapped back at him.

"Hey, don't talk to him like that," I told him angrily, finding my voice. "What the hell is he doing here?" I asked Maurice.

"I wasn't going to let him in but your father said it was okay," supplied Maurice. I interrupted him before he could continue his explanation.

"I told you Jake and I were over so why didn't you insist that he stayed the hell out of my house?"

"I'm still in the room you know?" said Jake but we both ignored him.

"I didn't know whether your father knew and I didn't think it was my place to say," justified Maurice. "I was going to warn you first but you drove through the gate before I had chance to say it through the intercom. I can get someone to remove him from the premises, if you wish,"

"Can we just talk about this Miley?" said Jake taking a step forward, obviously not wanting to be forcibly removed from the grounds.

"Talk about what Jake? About how you shagged someone else? Did you think that girl was me, huh? Did you Jake? Did you think that that orange skinned, peroxide-blonde bimbo was me? Is that why you fucked her? Is that why you fucking fucked her?" I yelled at the Zombie-Slayer.

"I uh… think I'll… just go," stammered Maurice before quickly exiting the room. If it were a cartoon there'd have been a little 'shoom' noise and a billow of dust where he had been stood, but this wasn't a cartoon – this was real life, a life where my cheating ex-boyfriend was stood in my kitchen asking to 'talk'.

"Miley, I know I was a dick and I can't apologise enough. I was wasted and she was all over me, I mean come on, how could I resist when I was drunk?"

"As if that covers any of it! So what if you were drunk! You should have been all over me not allowing some slag to be all over you! It was my fucking birthday party and I hardly even saw you and when I did I walked in to find you fucking some dumb chick in my fucking house! And you think because you were drunk that should get you off the hook?"

"Are you telling me that you've never done something you regret when you were drunk? Something where you didn't actually know you were doing it until you remembered the day after? Are you seriously telling me that's never happened to you?" he questioned and that stopped me in my tracks. I took a moment to think it through and then took a deep breath before responding.

"I can honestly say that anything I've done whilst drunk – I don't regret it,"

"Okay fine, whatever. But I'm sorry baby, please forgive me, I know you still love me," he said as he wrapped his arms around me. I protested the whole time and managed to slip out of his embrace.

"First of all, I am nobody's 'baby' and second of all – I do not love you, I never have!"

"Oh don't be like that, you know that's not true," he said as he tried to hold me again.

"Jake, what the fuck? Get off me! It's over! C'est fini! Se acabó! E 'finita! Comprendre?"

"What are you talking about baby?"

"I'm saying that I don't love you, I never have and we will never be together again so get that thought out of your brain right now,"

"Miles-" he started and I interrupted him straight away.

"No! No! Don't you even call me 'Miles' – you think that by calling me that you can weasel your way back into my life? Hell no, don't even think about it,"

"What the Sam-Heck is going on in here?" exclaimed my dad as he entered the kitchen, Maurice hiding behind him. "I hear shouting and cursing in my house and I come down and Maurice tells me that we need to escort Jake here off of the grounds… what is going on?"

"Nothing Mr Stewart, I assure you – we've just hit a rough patch that's all, I'm just here trying to rectify it," said Jake acting like the perfect boyfriend. "Are you using new shampoo? Your hair looks positively marvellous today,"

"Actually yes-" started my dad.

"Dad!" I yelled, interrupting him. "Pay attention!"

"What? Okay, so what's this problem – maybe I can help," offered my dad and I just groaned – my dad had turned into a softie because someone complimented his hair!

"Nothing that we can't sort out between ourselves, isn't that right Miley?" Jake said, his eyes burning into mine in desperation for me not to tell my dad what he'd done.

"He shagged another girl." I said simply, my arms crossed as I watched Jake's expression grew extremely fearful. "On my birthday. In this house," I added and saw my dad grow angry… no, furious; it was if he were turning into the Hulk before my very eyes.

"You. Did. What?" he said through gritted teeth as he turned to Jake.

"I uh, I-I – See ya!" he said before bolting out of the door and across the lawns. My dad gave chase. I didn't try and stop him; my dad was angry but he wouldn't physically hurt Jake, just scare him.

Ten minutes later I was sat in my room on my leather sofa, hugging my fluffy red cushion wondering how my good day had turned so sour so quickly. I'd had a brilliant day with Lilly and she'd even kissed my cheek and then Jake turned up and ruined it all. I put my hand to the spot where Lilly's lips had touched it… nope, I couldn't even remember the sensation; all I could think of was Jake and his fucking bad timing.

There was a knock at the door and my dad poked his head around, "Alright if I come in?" he asked and I nodded. He proceeded to come and sit next to me, "So how you holding up bud?"

"Fine," I told him. It was true, sure I was pissed off but I no longer cared for Jake and today I realised that I don't think I ever did.

"You sure? I could knock up so Cocoa Hot Loco if you want," he smiled and I smiled back.

"Thanks but I don't need its magical properties this time," I grinned.

"You know I've never really liked that Jake boy, he was always looking out for number one and when you date someone as special as my daughter – you are the priority, hands down," he said putting his arm around me and I snuggled into his embrace.

"Thanks dad. I'll be fine; I'm so over Jake that being with him seems like a different lifetime,"

"Well that's good to hear. I have to ask… you said he um, he slept with another girl…" he left the question unasked but I knew what he meant.

"I never slept with him, dad."

"Thank the heavens. I really didn't want to have that conversation with you," he said relieved.

"Dad, I'm 18 now – I'm well aware of the 'birds and the bees'," I smirked before hurriedly continuing after seeing the panic on his face, "Not that I've had experience or anything,"

"It's times like these when your mom would take charge and tell me to bugger off while she spoke to you…" he sighed, "I could always ask Claire if you need a woman to talk to,"

"No thanks dad, I'm fine, honest," I said, grimacing at the thought of discussing anything with Johnny's mom.

"I know you're not keen on the idea of me dating again but it has been seven years Miley. I'm not saying that we forget about your mom because that's impossible, I still love your mom and always will but…"

"You don't have to explain dad, I understand," I told him. My mom would want him to find someone else… and I guess I did too; it was just weird to think of him with someone other than my mother.

He kissed my forehead and squeezed my shoulder lightly, "As long as you're okay?"

"Dad, honestly, no matter how many times you ask – I'm fine," I laughed although I was comforted by his insistent concern.

"Good," he said getting up. "And you'll stop the swearing? At least in my house,"

"No problem," I told him giving him my biggest smile. He laughed and left the room, closing the door behind him.

AN: Please review and tell me what you think, next update will be up real soon :)

Oh and who saw Miley on Britain's Got Talent last night? That 'fake lesbian kiss' which everyone's talking about in the papers - my jaw quite literally dropped when I saw it - I was like 'YES!' lol. If you saw it, mention in your review what you thought of it. And I'm listening to Can't Be Tamed as I type right now, its on repeat :) Stay tuned x