Chapter 9

"Show Me The Money"

Miley had met everyone at Lilly's locker again. Jake was there too.

"Let me remind you, Jake," she wanted to say pretty boy, "you promised to turn that ego off and be a normal person." Miley told Jake.

"Yes, Miley. I remember."

"Good. Don't forget that she has leukemia and is very sick."

"I know, I know. Relax Miley."

"Don't relax Miley me!" She turned and left in a huff.

"What'd I say." Jake looked at Lilly and Oliver.

Lilly and Oliver looked at each other, not knowing whether they should let him know what might be fueling Miley's out bursts.

It was almost four years ago that Miley's mom had passed away. Miley never got over it. Things had gotten worse as Miley got closer to finishing her fifth album. It was the one that Miley and her mom set up as a milestone for Miley's career. The nightmares she always had from her mom's passing intensified. It was at that time when Miley was at her lowest that Mrs. Truscott came to her rescue. Mrs. Truscott taught Miley how to deal with the pain of loss. The wound on her heart from losing her mom had closed. But the healing process was far from over. Events like Maggie getting worse could easily open the wound up again. Lilly and Oliver were starting to worry over Miley's mood swings and how over protective she was of Maggie. Lilly and Oliver decided that talking to Lilly's mom was a good course of action. The only problem was they decided this at school and hadn't been able to talk to Lilly's mom yet.

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Oliver and Jake walked together to Miley's house. Lilly ran ahead to catch up with Miley.

"Hey Miley……wait up!" Miley looked over her shoulder and stopped on only seeing Lilly.

"Are you okay?" Lilly asked.

"Yes, I'm fine." Miley tried to dismiss it.

Lilly caught Miley's arm and turn Miley to face her.

"Look me in the eyes and say that."

"Alright, I don't know. I'm so worried about Maggie, Lilly."

"You know my mom is free tonight."

"Thanks. Maybe I'll call her."

"Oliver and I have been worried about you lately. You've been very moody lately. Especially around Jake."

"Am I that bad?"

"Worse!"

Miley stopped walking and turned around. There was Oliver and Jake behind them. She decided to wait. When Oliver and Jake caught up, Miley turned to Jake.

"Look Jake, I'm really sorry about the way I've been acting lately. It's just that Maggie is very important to me and I'm worried."

"Worried that she might die?" Jake asked.

"YES! Now drop it." Miley turned wiping at the tears that were starting to follow with that admission and walked away fast. Lilly took off after Miley again.

"Sorry Jake. For Miley, that was a huge step."

"What are you talking about?"

"Well, Miley doesn't deal with death to well."

"Why's that?"

"Sorry, it's not my place to say. That's hers. But just remember that she is going to be all over the emotional spectrum."

"Thanks for the heads up, Oliver."

Miley and Lilly went straight into the house as soon as they got there. On seeing Maggie on the couch, Miley dropped everything inside of the door and went straight to her.

"MILEY!" Maggie greeted her. They hugged for a long time. Miley felt tears on her face again. She was mad with herself. She had to be strong for Maggie. Miley let go of Maggie when she heard Oliver and Jake come in the door. She turned so that Jake couldn't see her and wiped at the tears.

"I see your wearing the wig that Hannah Montana gave you." Miley said as she turned back to Maggie.

"Yeah, I still can't believe I got to meet her."

"Well, I have someone else that wants to meet you." Miley motioned for Jake to come over. When Jake got by Maggie, he squatted down to be on her level.

"Maggie, this is Jake Ryan. Jake Ryan, this my VERY good friend Maggie."

"Hi Maggie. I'm glad I got a chance to meet you. And from what I hear, we have something in common."

"What's that?"

"I got to meet Hannah too. She guest stared on my show. How did you meet Hannah?"

"Make A Wish."

"That's really cool."

Miley stood by Cody and he took her hand. She watched the exchange between Maggie and Jake. Miley has ready to jump in at a moments notice to protect Maggie. Cody, feeling her tension, pulled her down to sit on his lap. Still not distracted, he leaned forward.

"Relax Miley. He's not going to do anything dumb."

Miley turned her head and glared at Cody. Cody matched her hard stare with a soft stare. Cody won. Miley's expression softened and some of the tension left her body. A small smile played on her lips. The moment was interrupted by Lilly.

"If you two are done giving each other an eye exam, then we need to get our donation jars passed out and do some door to door."

"That's right, show me the money!" Oliver said trying to say it the way it was said in Jerry Maguire

"Oliver, leave the acting to me." Jake laughed at his impersonation.

"Thanks, thanks a lot."

"Hey Maggie, where's your mom?"

"She's with your dad and their mom on the patio."

Miley got up and went out to say hi to Sara.

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"Hi Daddy, Carey. Hi Mrs. Baker. How are you doing?" She walked up to Sara and hugged her.

"Well, your dad here seems to have everything covered. So I have no complaints."

"Well, I came out to say hi. We have to get our donation pails out."

"Does that mean Jake Ryan is here?"

"Yes," Miley answered with a sigh.

"Can I meet him?"

Miley walked to the door.

"Jake, can you come out here please."

Jake excused himself and went to join Miley on the patio. There, Miley took him to Sara's mom.

"Ms. Martin, Mrs. Baker, this is Jake Ryan. Ms. Martin is Zack and Cody's mom and Mrs. Baker is Maggie's mom."

"Please to met you Ms. Martin. Mrs. Baker."

"Okay. I hate to cut this short, but we have to get moving if we want to win the contest."

"Good luck, bud."

Once back inside, the final arrangements were made.

"Okay, Oliver and Jake take the north end of the beach. Zack and Lilly take the south end of the beach. Cody and I will take the middle part of the beach. Remember the more stores that we can get our pails into, the more we can make. Don't forget to ask people along the way too. Any questions?"

Maddie raised her hand.

"Yes, Maddie?"

"What about me? I want to help too."

"I thought you would want to be here when Jackson got home." Miley smiled at Maddie.

"Well, that would be nice, but this is important too."

"I know. If you take your phone with you Miley, then Jackson can call you and make arrangements to meet up with Maddie." Maggie suggested.

"I like that idea Maggie. Would you tell Jackson to call me?"

"Yes."

"Miley?"

"Okay, you're with me."

"Great!"

"Now, let's make Oliver happy and show him the money!"

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They spent the next two hours hitting the beach shacks along the beach. Every business took a pail for their counter. They had no problem getting donations along the way too. One hour into the gathering of donations, Jackson called and met up with Maddie at Rico's. Miley and Cody continued without her. At the end of the two hours, they all met back at Miley's house.

Maggie had gone to sleep on the couch so it was decided to go to Miley's room to count the money they had gathered so far. It was decided that each group would count their own bucket. Miley and Cody ended with $237.65.

Lilly and Zack had gone to the south end of the beach. The skating park was in that area, so Lilly was able to call in a few favors. They ended the day with $252.75. But the winner of the groups turned out to be Oliver and Jake. Miley figured it was because he was a TV star and people recognized him. That was not the truth. When Oliver was not looking, he threw some of his money into the pail. They ended the day with $324.40. Miley was impressed. Jake took that as a good sign his plan was working.

"We had a good day today. Hopefully this will get us off to a good start."

Miley started.

"Congrats go to Oliver and Jake for bringing in the most for today."

Oliver and Jake high fived each other.

"Don't forget we have the pails at the beach shacks too." Lilly reminded everyone.

"This is going to be so cool." Oliver was getting excited. "Just think, if our school wins, we could win a night with Hannah Montana."

"Hey, this isn't fair then." Zack pointed out. "We helped too."

"I'll make it up to you Zack." With that, Lilly kissed his cheek.

"Well, that's a start."

"I helped too." Cody added tilting his head to Miley. She smiled and kissed his cheek too. Jake was jealous.

"Who should take this money to school tomorrow?" Miley asked.

"I'll do it." Jake offered.

Lilly and Oliver nodded agreement and Miley made to give the money to Jake, but at the last moment she pulled it back. Jake looked puzzled.

"Say the line." She smiled sweetly.

"Okay. Dude! I slayed you once…."

"Not that line. The other line."

"Oh. Show me the money."

"What?"

"SHOW ME THE MONEY!"

"That's better." Miley smiled as she gave the money to Jake.

"It's getting late and I have to get home. See you guys tomorrow."