HI AGAIN!!! :) Sorry for the really, really, REALLY long delay on updating this! I kinda had a little scare when someone wrote to me that they were going to have this story deleted so that's one of the reasons that I didn't update. SORRY!!!! But then today I got a review out of the blue (thanks ladumdum) and I was like oh... I think I'll update. So this is for you all :) and expect more updates soon. This girl is back on her game!

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CHAPTER 10

"So, you wanted to kiss me?" Lilly asked.

He looked up to meet her eyes. "Yeah," He laughed. 'Ever since we met.' He thought.

Lilly smiled. "I wanted to kiss you too."

Lilly leaned in pressed her lips against his. It was another gentle kiss, but this time, when they broke apart Joe pulled on Lilly's lower lip playfully and she giggled. Their foreheads were pressed together and they stared into each other's eyes.

"So…what does this mean?" Lilly whispered. Joe laughed, and instead of answering, he kissed her again. They were so entranced in the moment that they didn't hear the door open.

"Hey Lilly, I think its time…" As Oliver trailed off his eyes widened and he felt his heart sink. They immediately broke apart and looked at him.

"Sorry…I…I'm gonna…go now." Oliver said not taking his eyes off of them. He tried reaching for the doorknob, but kept missing. He finally looked away and walked, shutting the door behind him.

'How can I be that stupid?!' He thought angrily as he leaned against the back door. Oliver sighed in frustration before he walked back into the room. Miley and Nick were still cleaning up the popcorn and Carly had Kevin's head in her lap and she was running her fingers through his hair as they talked. Oliver slumped down in one of the chairs in the front row. He looked like a sad little puppy that had just been kicked.

"You okay?" Miley asked as she looked up at him.

"Yeah," He grunted. 'Oh yeah, I'm great! I just walked in on the girl I like, kissing another guy! Of course I'm fine. I'm just perfect!' He thought with a snarl on his face.

"Okay…someone's not very happy." Miley whispered to Nick. "I wonder what happened."

"So do I. Where are Joe and Lilly?" Nick whispered back.

"I don't know. Should we go find them?" Miley asked.

"If they aren't back in a couple minutes we will." Nick said. They got up off the floor after being finished with picking up the popcorn.

"Bye Nick! Bye Miley! I hope I'll see you around again!" Carly said as she and Kevin walked out the door holding hands. Nick and Miley waved to her as they walked out the door.

"They're so cute together." Miley said.

"Yeah, and now they can see each other all the time." Nick said.

"How long have they been together?" Miley asked.

"Almost a year. When we used to live in New Jersey, they would spend one weekend each month with each other. One would fly out one month and the other would fly out the next. And they talk on the phone every night." Nick said.

"That's so sweet." Miley said with a smile.

"Yeah, I'm happy for him." Nick said. Oliver grunted again to make his presence known. Just then, Lilly walked into the room with Joe. Oliver looked away from them.

"So where have you too been?" Nick asked curiously.

"Just getting some fresh air," Joe said as he looked over at Oliver pouting on the couch. 'What's his problem?'

"Yup," Lilly said as she checked her watch. "Oh, look at the time. Oliver, let's go!" Lilly said. "Thanks for everything, guys!" Oliver got up off the couch without meeting anyone's eyes and followed Lilly out of the room.

Joe stared at him as he walked out and saw him go up the stairs. "What's his problem?" He asked as he pointed over his shoulder.

Miley shrugged. "Who knows?" Miley then checked her watch. It was 10:07. 'Shoot…I'm late!'

"I would love to stay, but I'm late, and my dad's going to kill me! Thank you so much. I had a lot of fun!" Miley said as she started to walk away.

"Do you want me to walk you home?" Nick asked. Joe snorted, but neither of them noticed.

Miley stopped. "Yeah, sure." She said calmly. Inside her head she was screaming. 'He just asked to walk me home! AHHHH!!!!' She smiled as he caught up to her.

"Thank you for inviting us over tonight Mrs. Jonas," Miley said when they were on the main floor.

"Oh not a problem, I hope you all can come over again sometime." Denise said as she looked at the two of them. Nick caught his dad staring at the two of them curiously.

"Hey Miley, I think we should go." He said as he lightly grabbed her hand and walked away. Miley gave her final wave goodbye and Nick glanced over his shoulder to see his parents laughing. The walk to her house wasn't that far, but Miley was glad for the company.

"So did you have fun?" Miley asked.

"Yeah…I mean, the movie was good." He replied. In truth, he had no clue what really happened during the movie.

"Oh yeah, I loved the last scene. It was hilarious." She said. Nick got butterflies in his stomach again as he heard her laugh. He made a note to himself to actually watch the movie sometime.

When they finally got to Miley's doorstep, they both stopped. Miley turned to face Nick and smiled. "Well, I had a great time tonight. Thanks for inviting me." Miley said.

"Yeah, but you would have to thank my mom, I mean, she was the one who invited you." Nick said as he saw Miley's face drop slightly. He suddenly got embarrassed and turned bright red. "NO! It's not that I didn't want you to come. You know, I would have invited you myself but my mom got there first." He finished as he ran his hand through his hair and looked at his feet. 'Well you just screwed that up.'

To his surprise, Miley started to laugh. "You know, you're adorable when you get embarrassed." Nick looked up at her and let out a small chuckle.

"Thanks for walking me home." Miley said as she leaned in and kissed him on the cheek. Just then, the door opened wide and Robby was standing there glaring at Nick.

They both pulled away from each other with wide eyes. "Hi…daddy." Miley said with a phony smile. Robby looked at her with narrow eyes and then slowly turned his head to look at Nick. He tilted his chin up and crossed his arms over his chest. If it was possible, Nick turned an even brighter red.

"Goodnight Miley." Nick said quickly and then paused. "Goodnight…sir." Nick said as he turned to walk back to his house.

"That's right boy…keep walking." Robby said as he watched him walk down the driveway. He turned back to Miley but she just rolled her eyes and walked past him. As soon as she shut the door behind him, Miley let out a frustrated scream.

"UGHHH! Why do have to be so…so…UGHHH!" Miley let out another frustrated scream and turned to look at Robby. "You were a teenager once! And I bet YOU didn't like it when YOUR parents walked in on YOU!"

Robby checked his watch. "Miley Ray Stewart, it is now 10:15. I believe that's fifteen minutes after I said for you to be home, and fifteen minutes after you promised to be!"

Jackson walked down the stairs and started to speak, but after he saw what was going on he decided that he could wait and turned around to go back to his room.

"Dad? Are you even listening to yourself?! It's fifteen minutes!" Miley said.

"But who knows what could have happened to my baby girl in those fifteen minutes." Robby said. Miley's look softened as she saw the look on his face. Yes, it had only been fifteen minutes, and yes, she was only next door, but she was out later than she planned to and she didn't call him.

"I'm sorry daddy." She said as she gave him a hug. He hugged her back tightly.

"Okay, I may have gone a little mamaw on you, but you're special to me, and I was worried. I am the cute, protective one." He said as he kissed her the top of her head.

Miley smiled. "Thanks daddy. You're special to me too."

"Okay, now get to bed. You've got a long day tomorrow bud." Robby said. Miley rolled her eyes and smiled. Yup, tomorrow was going to be a long day…a very long day.

After Nick had walked past the hedges between their two yards, he booked it to his house and slammed the door shut behind him. He was breathing heavily as he leaned against the door. Miley's dad scared him… a lot.

After Nick got his breathing under control, he walked up the stairs to find Kevin. Kevin was always good to go to for advice. Especially advice on girls. Yeah, Joe was good with the ladies. Okay, he was great with the ladies, but Joe's style just wasn't his. He knocked on Kevin's door, and heard a muffled "come in."

"Hey, Kev." Nick said as he sat on the bed across from him. Kevin was playing the guitar when he came in, but he stopped.

"So…how's Carly doing?" Nick asked as he scratched the back of his neck.

"She's doing great. She had fun tonight, but I know that's not the reason you came in here." Kevin said with a smirk.

"How do you know that's not the reason?" Nick asked defensively. 'Am I really that easy to read?'

"Please, Nick. You're easier to read than these lyrics I just wrote. And my handwriting's awful, so that's saying something." Kevin said.

'Apparently so…' Nick thought. "Alright, so it's not the reason…" Nick said.

"It's about Miley isn't it?" Kevin asked. The tips of Nick's ears turned red.

"NO...maybe…yes…how did you know?" Nick asked.

"Well, first off, your ears turn red whenever someone says her name." Kevin said as he stood up.

Nick covered his ears. "No they don't!"

"You bonehead!" Kevin said as he smacked him on the head and started laughing. "It's so obvious that you're into each other, but there are only two people who don't see it."

"Who?" Nick asked curiously leaning away so Kevin wouldn't smack him again.

"You and Miley." Kevin said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, and well, it was. Nick was silent as he thought about it.

"No…she doesn't like me. We're just friends. That's all we're ever going to be." Nick said.

"Do I need to smack some sense into you Fro Bro?" Kevin asked as he held up his hand and smiled.

"No…I think I've had enough today." Nick said as he got up from Kevin's bed and started to walk towards the door.

"My name is Mufasa, I'm the King of the Land. I'll come and smack you with the back of my hand!" Kevin started to sing as he chased after Nick. Kevin swatted, but missed and Nick started to walk towards his room.

"Hey Nick," Kevin shouted down the hallway. Nick stopped to look at him.

"Yeah?" He asked.

"You're gonna do fine. Just wait until the right time comes. You'll know what to do." Kevin said as he walked back into his room.

Nick smiled. Kevin was definitely the best big brother, even if Nick's head still hurt from where Kevin smacked him.

Many hours later, the wind picked up and it started to rain heavily. Joe laid in bed staring at the ceiling, watching as the flashes of lightning lit up his room. He was wide awake and he was pretty sure he wasn't going to get any sleep that night.

Things with Lilly were complicated. Yeah, they kissed, but what did that mean? Are they suddenly dating now? When Lilly asked him earlier, he just avoided the question and kissed her again. He didn't want to admit it, but he was scared for some reason.

"What am I so scared of?" He whispered quietly as another flash of lightning lit up the room. Joe rolled over and tried to shut his eyes. He started humming, but that didn't work, so then he tried counting sheep jumping over a fence.

The sheep stopped and eventually it was Lilly running through his mind. Literally. He laughed to himself. This girl was going to make him go crazy, but crazy in a good kind of way. He heard his phone vibrate, and he picked it up with a confused look on his face. It was 1:45 in the morning. Who would text him at 1:45?

When he checked his phone, his face lit up when he realized it was Lilly.

'Are you still awake?'

Joe sat up and texted her back.

'Yeah, can't sleep'

'Me either'

'Did you have fun tonight?'

Lilly's reply came almost instantly.

'Yeah, I had a lot of fun.'

'Me too.'

By this time, Joe was pacing in his room staring at his phone waiting for her to reply. He decided that he needed to get out of his room, so he quietly opened the door and peeked his head out. Everyone else was asleep, so he quietly padded out in his socks. Well, Nick's socks to be exact. Who knew that his socks were this comfortable?

As Joe got to the bottom of the stairs, his phone vibrated again, and he threw it up in surprise. It hit the hardwood floor and a loud bang echoed throughout the house. 'Someone's gonna wake up…' Joe thought as he held his breath and listened for any movement within the house. There was nothing and he let out a sigh of relief as he reached for his phone lying on the ground.

'So how are you?'

'Tired. Is it raining at your house?'

Joe looked back on what he wrote. He was grabbing a water bottle out of the refrigerator and wasn't thinking about what he was writing. 'Is it raining at your house? You MUST be tired if you couldn't think of anything better than that.' He thought as he shook his head.

'Yeah. I love the rain. It's just so relaxing, you know?'

Joe smiled. Lilly was beautiful, inside and out. She was one of those rare finds, one in a million. He thought she was perfect, but even if she wasn't, she was pretty darn close. Then, another text came in from Lilly.

'It was fun talking to you, but I have finals tomorrow, and I need my sleep. I'll see you later.'

'Sweet Dreams Lilly' Joe paused before he sent it, but clicked the send button before he chickened out.

'Goodnight Joe'

Joe yawned and stretched his arms above his head. Maybe he would get to sleep. Talking to her really calmed him down. He would have fallen asleep right there on the kitchen floor, but he decided that he would rather sleep in his nice, soft bed than wake up with back pain. He trudged up the stairs, and once he crashed on his bed, he instantly fell asleep.

Miley was sitting at the kitchen table eating her breakfast when Lilly walked in the next morning.

"Hey! You're finally off crutches?" Miley asked.

"Yeah, my ankle's feeling a lot better now. But there's a wrap on it so it's not completely healed yet." Lilly replied.

"Where's Oliver?" Miley asked. Normally they walked to Miley's house together and then the three of them would walk to school.

Lilly shrugged. "He told me last night that he wanted to go in early."

"Okay, so are you ready to go now?" Miley asked.

"But we normally don't leave for ten minutes." Lilly added.

"I know, but I wanted to talk to you anyway." Miley said as they grabbed their bags and walked out the door. When they walked by the Jonas house, Lilly squealed.

"So, Lilly…what really happened last night between you and Joe? Nick and I were getting kinda suspicious last night." Miley asked.

Lilly looked around before replying. "Well, last night when we were on the patio, he kissed me! And not only once…but three times!"

Miley's eyes widened in surprise. "Say what?" She said slowly. That was about the only thing she could think of to say.

"I know! He kissed me!" Lilly said as she threw her arms up in the air and spun around. "But then Oliver walked outside and ruined it." Miley stopped walking. It suddenly dawned on her what was wrong with Oliver. Oh, she was so going to have a little chat with him once they got there.

"You know, you look really cute today." Lilly said, drawing Miley out of her thoughts.

"Oh, you like?" Miley said. She was wearing a light blue shirt with a red belt and a flowy, white mini skirt with silver leggings and red flats. She had thrown on a couple colorful bracelets at the last minute, but they completed the outfit.

"I wish I could put outfits together like that." Lilly said.

"Lilly, you pick out cute outfits all the time! I mean, you look gorgeous today." Miley said. Lilly was wearing a dark blue zip up jacket over a green striped tank top and she also wore jean capris. Her hair was in a ponytail and she put a white headband in.

"Aww, thanks Miles." Lilly said. They were about a block away from their school then Lilly remembered something. "Umm, Miley. What do you think Amber and Ashley are going to do to us?"

"Oh yeah, I totally forgot about that. Just don't worry about it." Miley said.

"I don't know; I have a bad feeling about this." Lilly said.

"Come on, Lilly, they can't do anything that bad. We're still in school." Miley replied.

"Yeah, just make sure you stay in a public place at all times. Then at least we'll have witnesses." Lilly said and Miley rolled her eyes. "What? You know it's true."

They stopped at their lockers to get their books and heard giggling behind them. When they turned around, they saw Amber and Ashley walking behind them with their posse. Lilly heard one girl whisper "Perfect."

"I told you this isn't going to be good." Lilly said worriedly.

"Oh Lilly, you worry too much." Miley said. "Let's go find Oliver." They found Oliver sitting at a table in the courtyard with a couple of his guy friends.

"Hey Oliver." Lilly said as she sat down next to him. He apparently didn't see them because he continued talking to his friends.

"Oliver…Oliver…" Miley said as she waved her hand in front of him. "OLIVER!"

"What?" He asked turning towards them.

"Oh, you know us, we just wanted to say hello. Why didn't you come in with us earlier?" Miley asked.

"I wanted to talk to the guys…" He said.

"Oh, okay." Lilly said.

"Uh huh," Miley said. She knew that there was something that was bothering him. "Well, we'll see you later." She said with a phony smile pulling Lilly back towards their lockers. "What's wrong with Oliver?" She whispered to Lilly.

"Nothing… he seemed fine to me." Lilly said with a confused look on her face.

Miley smacked herself on the forehead. "Sweet niblets girl, you're hopeless."

"Hey!" Lilly replied.

"Umm… I have to go talk to… Sarah! Yeah, it's about our P.E. final." Miley said.

"Oh, okay. I'll see you later then." Lilly said as she walked off to her next class.

Miley waited before Lilly was out of sight before turning on her heel and walking towards Oliver. She tapped him on the shoulder.

"Hello, Oliver," She said batting her eyelashes. "We need to talk." Miley said as she grabbed his arm.

"Umm… okay." Oliver said as he got up. Oliver heard one of the guys say "whipped" quietly and the guys at the table burst out in laughter. Oliver turned back around to glare at them, but Miley pulled on his arm and they walked away.

"Okay, what happened last night?" Miley asked.

"We went to the Jonas Brothers' house to watch a movie?" Oliver was really confused. What was this about?

"Haha… ya think?" Miley replied sarcastically. "I meant what happened between you and Lilly?"

"Nothing." Oliver said. 'Was it that obvious?'

"Come on Oliver, I'm your best friend. I know something's going on between you two." Miley replied.

"Why would I tell you what happened between us? Not that anything did or… anything." Oliver said. "Besides, even if I did, you would just tell Lilly."

"Ah-ha… so something did happen between you two." Miley said as she lightly hit his arm. He opened his mouth to speak, but Miley interrupted. "And before you say anything, I promise I won't tell Lilly anything." Miley spit into her hand and held it out for him.

"Oh no…last time we did the whole spit shake thing I got sick for an entire week. And I don't want to spend the first week of summer in bed when I could be working on my tan. The ladies like Smokin' Oken…EWWW!" He said as Miley grabbed his hand. He immediately let go after the shake and wiped his hand on his shorts repeatedly.

"You're such a baby." Miley said as she rolled her eyes.

"I am not!" Oliver said defensively.

"Okay, whatever. Now seriously, what happened?" Miley asked.

Oliver looked around before replying. "Well, you see… I guess I just got jealous that Lilly was spending so much time with Joe."

"Why were you jealous?" She asked.

Oliver could feel his face burning. "I kinda have a crush on her." He said quietly.

"Huh?" Miley didn't hear him.

"I kinda have a crush on her." He said a little louder.

"What? I didn't hear what you said." Miley said as she leaned in closer.

"I kinda have a crush on her!" Oliver practically yelled.

"Lover boy say what?!" Miley squeaked with a shocked look on her face. When she put everything together, she just thought that Oliver was mad because Lilly was spending more time with Joe than she was spending with him. But Oliver actually having a crush on Lilly? That was something she never expected to hear.

"I should have never told you anything!" Oliver said as he turned to walk away, but stopped when Miley grabbed his arm and pulled him back.

"I'm sorry, please forgive me Oliver, it was just a little… shocking I guess." Miley said. "So… exactly how long have you liked her?"

"A while…" Oliver said as he turned away bashfully.

"Aww… you're adorable Oliver." Miley said with a smile. "You know, it all comes together now. When I talked to Lilly this morning she said that he kissed her and it was the best night of her life, oh my gosh… you saw them kiss didn't you?" Miley said.

Oliver's face dropped. "Yeah, but she would never be interested in me. I mean, I'm no competition for Joe Jonas."

"Oliver…" Miley started. She gave him a hug. "What ever happened to Smokin' Oken?"

"It's more like Broken Oken now." Oliver replied with a frown.

"Come on, you can't let this ruin your summer. You'll find someone." Miley said.

"I thought I already found someone though." He said. "You know, maybe I should just move on."

"Hey! That's exactly what you have to do!" Miley started to sing. "With a new attitude, everything can change. Make it how you want it to be. Staying sad, why do that? Give yourself a break. Laugh about it and you'll see!" Miley stopped singing."Come on, Oliver."

"Life's what you make it… so let's make it rock." He replied in a monotone.

"There you go!" Miley said as she ruffled his hair. Then, the warning bell rang. "Now I gotta go. See ya!" She said as she motioned for him to smile.

"I'm never going to get over her." Oliver said to himself as he walked to his class.

Miley walked into the classroom and sat in her desk, right behind Lilly.

"Hey, so did you meet up with Sarah?" Lilly asked.

"No, I couldn't find her anywhere." Miley replied. She felt bad for telling Lilly that she was going to talk to Sarah, when she was actually talking to Oliver. She also felt bad for not telling Lilly what Oliver told her. She really wanted to tell her though! Sometimes it was hard being the best friend in the middle. Miley sighed without noticing that she did.

"Are you okay?" Lilly asked.

"Oh who? Me? Yeah, I'm totally fine." Miley said with a wave of her hand.

"Okay, so are you ready for this final? Because I know I'm not. I couldn't sleep last night." Lilly said.

"That doesn't surprise me." Miley replied.

"Yeah, I texted Joe and we talked for a while." Lilly said excitedly.

"No way! What did you talk about?" Miley replied.

"Ms. Stewart, Ms. Truscott, would you mind sharing with the class?" Their teacher said as she walked into the room.

"Sorry, Ms. Espinosa." They said.

"I want to hear all about it later." Miley whispered to Lilly.

"Ms. Stewart! Did you hear me?" Ms. Espinosa said with a raised voice.

"Yes ma'am." Miley said as she leaned back into the desk. She didn't need a reason to get in trouble. If she got in trouble at school, she couldn't imagine the trouble she would be in when she got home.

Ms. Espinosa passed out the tests and they started to work. Studying with Lilly actually paid off because the test seemed really easy. Or at least it did until the essay came up at the end. Miley tapped the pencil against her forehead in thought. She looked around the room and spotted Amber staring at her in the desk next to her. Amber rolled her eyes and smirked before looking away.

'Okay, what was that?' Miley thought. A thought for the essay popped into her head and she wrote it down quickly. If all of her finals were this easy, she was in good shape. When Miley got up to turn in her paper Amber reached into her bag and threw something on Miley's seat before returning to her test.

As soon as Miley returned to her desk, she sat down. Her eyes widened when she heard a pop underneath her and she stood up to see what it was. She saw something red all over the back of her skirt, and it looked like…ketchup. 'Oh I did NOT just sit on a ketchup packet!!!' Amber started laughing out loud and everyone looked up from their tests and at Miley.

"Looks like Miley had a little accident." Amber said as the entire classroom burst out into laughter. Miley felt her face begin to burn. "Aww…did you forget something Miley?" Amber said in mock sympathy. Miley realized that it must have been Amber who put it on her seat.

She could feel her eyes start to water and she felt like she couldn't breathe. Miley didn't know what to do, so she ran for the door. On her way, she tripped over someone's backpack and this caused everyone to laugh. She tried her best not to cry, but by that time, tears were streaming down Miley's face, and she ran straight for the bathroom.

Lilly turned around to face Amber and Ashley who were dying of laughter. "Why did you do that?!" Lilly asked angrily.

"Me? You're accusing me of doing that? I may be mean, but I would never stoop that low!" Amber said pretending to be shocked.

"Why are you such a jerk?! You always act like you're better than everyone else! Well… you're not! All you are is a mean jerk that no one ever wants to be like!" Lilly screamed.

Amber got up from her desk and stood right in front of Lilly. "No one wants to be like me? It's more like no one wants to be like you." Ashley stood up next to her and added, "Yeah!" but Amber gave her a look that said, 'Stay out of my battle.'

"I don't know why everyone always believes you! All you ever do is lie about everything, and if I'm the only one who's realized that… well, at least someone does. You're a fake, Amber! Only a FAKE!" Lilly yelled angrily.

Amber's nostrils flared and her eyes widened in anger. The people in the room quieted down to see what would happen. Amber stood there; she couldn't think of anything to say and looked at Ashley for help. Ashley shrugged and Amber looked flustered.

"Ugh!" She said as she slammed her heel down repeatedly on the ground and sat back down in her desk. Lilly smirked slightly and turned to walk out of the room.

"Ms. Truscott! What do you think you're doing?" Ms. Espinosa screamed as she stood up from her desk, after she watched the entire exchange.

"Being a good friend." Lilly said with one last glare in Amber's general direction before slamming the door behind her.

BAM! Girl power courtesy of Lilly Truscott. Enjoy the cheesiness of this chapter :) Haha

Read and Review!

XOXO Always

Taira

PS... feel free to add me on twitter :) xoxohellolovely and you can keep bugging me to update sooner! or we can just talk. or whatever works :)