Okay, feel the need to warn you...there is a cliff hanger at the end of this chapter...I don't usually like to write like this, but this one just kinda worked.


Chapter 11 - Beautiful Nightmare

Malibu California; March 24, 2006

Hannah Montana's wardrobe designer Fermein had just walked out of the Stewart's living room when the Stewart's house phone rang.

Miley pressed the speaker phone button. "Hello." she called out.

"Hey its me. Landing in twenty seconds." Lilly yelled in a rushed voice before hanging up quickly.

"Great." Miley shouted, pressed the button again then quickly turned to her brother and father and shouted at them. "Lilly alert in 18 seconds!" she said, ripping the blonde wig off her head and throwing it at her father.

Jackson rushed over with a zip-up hoodie that Miley could put on over her concert outfit. "She's your best friend Miley. Sooner or later your gonna have to tell her that you're Hannah Montana." he explained then went over to close the ottoman filed filled concert outfits.

"I pick later." she said defiantly as she fumbled with the zipper while heading towards the kitchen.

"9 seconds. Get the juice." Robbie yelled from the piano.

"Got it." Miley answered as she closed the refrigerator and finished straightening her top.

"Good. 3." Robbie counted as he sat on the step with his guitar.

"2." Jackson yelled as he ran to open the front doors.

"1." Miley finished as she watched her best friend ollie into their living room and then do a 360 to a stop in front of the her.

Lilly reached out and grabbed both of Miley's shoulders and gently started to shake them. "Guess who just landed two tickets to the hottest concert in town!"

All three Stewarts held their breath as Lilly continued her excited explanation.

"Miley, you and I, I being your best friend…are going to see…the one…the only…Hannah Montana!!! WHOO!!!" she finished, pumping her fist in the air at her accomplishment.

Miley's face was a ghostly white as she stared blankly off into space. She could not believe the words had just come out of Lilly's mouth. Miley felt like her world was slowly crumbling down around her.

After a few seconds, Lilly realized that Miley was not nearly as excited as she thought she would be. "You're not screaming. Why aren't you screaming?" she demanded.

Jackson, who was now sitting next to Robbie on the step spoke up. "Oh believe me, she's screaming on the inside." she said with a smug grin. Robbie grabbed him and put him in a headlock to shut him up.

Miley blinked twice and finally found her ability to speak. "Come on, let's go upstairs." she said, grabbing her best friend's hand and dragging her up the stairs to her room.

Once inside, Miley shut the door and shyly stared at the floor. "I just…don't like Hannah Montana." she mumbled lamely.

Lilly looked at her best friend like she had just lost her mind. "Since when? I know you know all of her songs and I've seen the album here in this very room." Lilly narrowed her eyes and examined the brunette closely. "Why are you lying to me?" she demanded.

Miley looked up from the floor and saw the pain the Lilly's blue eyes at the words she had just uttered. "Alright, the truth is…that…that…I can't tell you the truth." she stuttered. How much worse could this situation get? Miley had decided that she wouldn't tell anyone about being Hannah Montana. The only people that knew were her brother and father. The same two people that knew her 'other' secret.

Lilly crossed her arms over her chest and glared at Miley accusingly. "What does that mean?"

Miley's mind with racing on how to get through this conversation without damaging their friendship. "Lilly, be totally honest with me…do I know every single detail about your life?" she asked, trying if possible to turn the tables on Lilly.

Lilly's eyes went wide at Miley's question. There were quite a few things that Miley didn't know about her. "No." muttered softly as she turned her head away from the brunette.

Miley took a calming breath and stepped towards Lilly. She took both of the smaller girl's hands into her own as she pleaded with the blonde. "Well, not telling a person about something and lying to them is two different things." she explained. "Look how long it took you to tell me how you learned to surf?"

Miley then released Lilly's right hand and brought it up to her chin to lift her head, so that she could look in her beautiful blue eyes. "I don't ever want to lie to you." she whispered.

Lilly stared mesmerized by the kindness in the eyes staring at her. "I don't want to lie to you either." she answered, even though she had already done so on many occasions. Lilly always felt horrible when she had to come up with some stupid lie to hide her abilities from the brunette.

Miley nodded in agreement. "Okay, then all you need to know is that I love you dearly, but I can't go to the Hannah Montana concert with you." she said as she wrapped the smaller girl in her arms and hugged her tightly. "I'm sorry for disappointing you." she whispered.

Lilly sighed deeply as she returned the hug. Lilly could never stay mad at Miley for anything. It just wasn't possible. Miley meant everything to her. Lilly released the hug, but lowered her hands to the taller girl's hips, not wanting to release the contact entirely. "Alright. I guess I can get Oliver to go with me. He thinks she's hot." she said, desperately trying to keep the disappointment she was feeling inside from reaching her voice.

Miley winked at her. "See? Everything will work out just fine." she said, as she leaned back in for another hug.

About an hour later, after Lilly had left to go talk to Oliver, Miley joined her father on the back deck. She sat down next to him on the steps and leaned her head against his shoulder.

Robbie Ray frowned at his daughter's actions. It was always easy to tell when Miley was upset about something. "What's up Bud?" he inquired.

Miley sighed, then began explaining her dilemma. "Daddy, Lilly and I talked earlier about this whole Hannah thing." she began.

Robbie's eyes widened in surprise. "Did you tell her?" he asked in a surprised voice, thinking that they had fought over the secret.

Miley shook her head. "No.......but there's a lot about me she doesn't know." Miley pointed out.

"What're you saying darling?" he gently prodded.

Miley lifted her head and looked her father in the eye. "Daddy…I want to tell her." A pause. "About my power."

Robbie was surprised that Miley wanted to share the secret of her ability when she didn't even want to tell Lilly that she was Hannah Montana. It was clear that not telling Lilly the truth about everything was starting to eat Miley from the inside. "Darlin, why don't you start by telling her your Hannah Montana first, if that goes well, then you can tell her the other thing." he suggested.

Miley shook her head in surprise. "Wait, you'd be okay with me telling her?" she asked, not quite believing what she had just heard her father say.

Robbie smiled softly at his only daughter. "Darlin, it's your life. Not mine. You have to make your own decisions. I may try and give you my opinions from time to time, but as far as your power goes, that has nothing to do with me. If you make the wrong decision, you're only gonna hurt yourself." he told her, not happy with what he was saying, but knowing that it was the truth.

Miley considered what her father had said. "I…I'll tell her after the concert tonight. That I'm Hannah Montana."

Robbie smiled and gave his daughter a one armed hug. "Good choice bud."

Miley returned the hug with vigor. Her father was the best. "Thanks daddy." she said as she stood up.

Robbie Ray winked at her. "Anytime darlin."

As Miley walked back into the house, she pulled her cell phone out of her pocket and quickly typed out a text message to Lilly. Super important that I talk to you after the concert. Call you tonight as soon as I'm free. She finished typing, then hit send. 'I hope I'm doing the right thing.' she thought as she headed back upstairs to get ready for her concert.

Tonight's concert was in Los Angeles. It was the last stop on her "Meet Hannah Montana" Tour, which was a 12 city tour across the western states. They had started the tour Easter week-end. And had done a different city every week-end since. The plan was that at the conclusion of this tour, Miley would be going back into the studio and working on her second album while school was out.

The show went off without a hitch. Miley had amazed the crowd with her enthusiasm and her incredible talent. The stage was pretty basic and Miley only did a few choreographed moves in a few of her songs. For the most part, she sang. She sang every song from her first album and covered two classics. After an hour and a half, the show was over and a very tired pop star was heading to her dressing room.

Miley grabbed a towel and sat down on the couch. It was amazing how hot it got on stage under all those bright lights. Miley was opening a bottle of water when her father opened her dressing room door and slipped inside.

Robbie walked over to her wearing his fedora and fake mustache. "Darlin, we have a huge problem." he softly said.

Miley smiled good naturedly as she took a swig from her water bottle. She was supposed to do a meet and greet with some back stage pass winners after the concert. "What's wrong? Did the backstage pass winners pass out again?" she asked with a giggle. It had happened a few weeks ago in Sacramento.

Robbie Ray chuckled nervously as he had to give his daughter the bad news. "No…but you might." he told her. "Its Lilly and Oliver." he said cringing, waiting for the verbal freak out that was sure to follow his revelation.

Miley didn't disappoint his expectations in the least. The singer spit out the water in her mouth, then jumped up from the couch and began running around the dressing room frantically. "Oh my god! Oh my god! OH. MY. GOD. Daddy, what am I gonna do?" she asked, pleaded for his help.

Robbie shrugged his shoulders. He did have a few ideas in his head, but he didn't think his daughter was going to go for anything of them. "That's up to you...Hannah Montana could tell them no visitors tonight." he offered as his first suggestion.

Miley stared at him liked he had just grown a second head. "Heck no! That would make me seem like some kind of stuck up diva." she said, sounding appalled that he would even suggest such a thing.

Robbie rolled his eyes. "You could be honest." he offered as an alternative.

Miley scoffed at that idea as well. "I don't really want to tell Oliver!" she said. Yeah they were friends, but he wasn't exactly like a brother to her.

Robbie threw his hands up in surrender. "Well, it's your decision…You tell me what you want to do." Robbie waited as he watched his daughter stare blankly at the wall. "Shall I send them in?" he asked, trying to get her to decide something.

Miley nodded slowly. "Yeah. Let's get this over with." she told her father.

"Be back in a minute." he said, and slipped back out the dressing room.

Miley went over and checked her wig in the dressing table mirror, making sure that absolutely no brown hairs were sticking out. She grabbed a pair of dark sunglasses and put them on. Granted, she was wearing blue contacts, but Miley was certain that if Lilly looked in her eyes, the jig would be up.

Miley was startled when there was a loud knock at her door. She took a deep breath and called out in a shaky voice. "Come in."

Lilly and Oliver walked in the door. Oliver stood as still as a statue and simply stared at Miley.

Lilly could at least manage some conversation. "Wow. Hannah Montana!" she said as she slowly walked over to the pop star.

"Hi, nice to meet you both." Hannah said in the thickest southern accent she could manage.

Lilly noticed that Oliver had yet to same anything. She rolled her eyes in annoyance. Boys could be such morons. "My name's Lilly Truscott and this freak of nature standing next to me is Oliver Oken." she told the pop star, pointing towards the dark haired boy.

After another ten seconds of Oliver's blank stare, Lilly could stand it no longer and slapped his shoulder hard. "Stop staring!" she hissed.

Oliver rubbed his shoulder, but still looked at the pop star with glazed eyes. "But she's so pretty!" he insisted.

Lilly slapped her forehead. "Seriously Oliver, you need to stop the stalker stare." she said shaking her head, embarrassed at her best friend's actions. "I apologize the actions of the doughnut." she told the pop star.

Miley couldn't help it. She giggled. When she did, a strange look crossed Lilly's face. Miley mentally cursed herself. 'You can not tell me she figured it out from my giggle of all things. There is no way.' she thought.

Miley regained her composure and tried to move along their visit. "Well, did you want me to sign anything for you?" she asked, trying to be a nice pop star.

Lilly handed Hannah the two programs she was carrying. Miley walked over to the coffee table, sat down briefly, and with a flourish signed each program. She could feel Lilly's eyes examining her.

As Hannah stood and handed her fans their programs back, Miley quickly realized her mistake. She had pulled the dark sunglasses down slightly while she wrote the autographs and when she stood up, she looked directly in Lilly's eyes. She chuckled nervously and pushed the sunglasses back on her face. "Anything you want to ask me?" she asked, putting a lot of emphasis on her accent once more.

Before Lilly could open her mouth, Oliver shouted at her. "Can we get married?"

Hannah's eyes went wide.

Lilly's eyes on the other hand narrowed in anger. "Alright, that's it. Out!" she grabbed his shirt collar and dragged the smaller boy to the door and pushed him out of it and into the hallway. As she closed the door, she took a deep breath before slowly turning around and crossing her arms over her chest. "Now, let's try this one more time…Miley."

Miley tried to keep the shock she felt from appearing on her face. Her name had always sounded musical when Lilly said it. She never wanted to hear her say it again with such disgust. Miley made one last effort at trying to avoid the argument she knew was coming. "Excuse me?" she said softly.

Lilly stalked towards her best friend. "Miley, I'm not blind. You can pull it off from television or even a concert stage, but not when I am standing right here!" she said, gesturing to the lack of distance between them.

Miley slowly removed the glasses from her face and stared at the floor as she spoke. "It wasn't supposed to happen like this…" she began.

Lilly didn't want to hear this from Hannah Montana. "Please take off the wig." she insisted. Miley nodded and did as was asked. "What did you hope that I was so star struck that I wouldn't notice?" Lilly questioned, her anger rising with every passing moment.

Miley finally looked up to see the anger and disappointment in Lilly's beautiful blue eyes. "No, I had no idea that you had won backstage passes!! I was going to tell you tonight! I swear! Didn't you get my text message before the concert?" she said, trying to point out that she truly did have every intention of telling her tonight.

Lilly nodded her head. She did get a text message saying she wanted to talk to her after the concert. "I did. But still, why haven't you told me anything about this for…how long have you been doing this?" Lilly demanded. Miley certainly hadn't become Hannah Montana overnight.

Miley once again dropped her head to the ground in shame. "About a year and a half." Miley quietly mumbled.

"YEAR AND A HALF?" Lilly roared as she repeatedly clenched and unclenched her fists. She was suddenly glad she was standing the middle of a relatively empty room. If she had been close to a piece of furniture or a wall, she had no doubt that her anger would have manifested itself in the form of property damage.

Miley had seen Lilly angry at other people before, but this is the first time that she had ever had Lilly's anger directed towards her. It was kind of frightening. Miley approached the blonde slowly and carefully, closing the distance between them. Once Lilly was just out of arm's reach, Miley began talking again. "I was scared okay? You obviously don't trust me completely, so how was I supposed to trust you like that?" she reasoned.

Lilly could not believe that Miley was trying to make this about her. Disbelief was written all over the blonde's face.

Miley took another step forward until she was close enough to reach out and touch the blonde. "There are so many things that you haven't told me about you." she softly told the shorter girl, trying to make her understand why she had made the decision not to tell her.

Lilly was like a deer in headlights at this point. Her righteous anger was quickly being replaced by shame. "Like what?" she softly questioned, but pretty much knew exactly what Miley was going to say.

Miley eyed the blonde carefully. "Do you really want me to list them off?" she asked hesitantly.

Lilly just nodded.

Miley tried to keep her voice calm and even as she listed off everything she thought Lilly was keeping secret from her. "Handprints on your dining room table. Disappearing out of rooms without using the door. Carrying things that weigh twice as much as you do. Manhandling boys almost twice your size. And that was just from first few times we were together!"

Now Lilly was panicked. "It's not the same thing!" she insisted, softly shaking her head.

Miley didn't want to hurt her best friend, but if they were going to have their biggest fight ever, she was going to throw EVERYTHING on the table. "And you NEVER mention your dad." she added quietly. She had told the blonde all the details of her mother's passing, but Lilly had never once spoke of her father's departure.

Lilly could feel the tears forming in her eyes. Everything that Miley was talking about was because of her ability. Her father left when he found out. How was she supposed to explain to Miley that her father left because he was afraid of his own daughter? This secret was going to cost her everything. Even Miley. "What do you want from me?" she whispered.

Miley took the last step forward and took a hold of Lilly's hands and stared into her eyes intently. "Be honest with me." she said in a hushed voice.

Lilly looked back to the floor, gently squeezed Miley's hands once and released them. "I'm sorry. I can't do this." she said, running for the door.

As Lilly reached for the door, Miley shot her hand up to keep the door from opening.

"Lilly don't go." Miley called out.

As Miley said her name, the tears started falling faster from the blonde's eyes. Lilly reached down to open the door, but it wouldn't budge. She shook the handle in frustration. "Why won't the door open?" she said out loud.

Miley gritted her teeth, "Because I won't let it." Miley didn't want to lose Lilly. And the brunette was terrified that if she let the blonde open the door, that was exactly what was going to happen.

Lilly felt trapped. She was determined that she was getting out of this room one way or another. Lilly thought about being strong enough to open the door, but STILL the door wouldn't open. Lilly concentrated a little harder, but all she managed to do was crush the door knob. She quickly released it and turned back around. Now she was going to have to lie to Miley…again.

Lilly watched as Miley's out stretched arm dropped to her side. She looked like she had just run a marathon. She was panting, sweating profusely, and her complexion was snow white. She heard Miley swear softly. "Damn." And then watched as the singer's legs buckled and she dropped to the floor in a heap.

Lilly immediately went rushing to her best friend's side. "Miles?" she said, kneeling down and cradling the weak girl in her arms. Lilly easily picked the singer up and carried her over to the couch. Lilly gently laid her best friend down and began stroking her face lovingly. "Miley, please wake up." she begged softly.

Miley could barely open her eyes, but had enough energy to mutter, "Did you have to pull so hard?" she asked, trying to ignore the pounding in her head.

Lilly was freaking out for so many reasons at this point, she really wasn't grasping what was happening. "What're you talking about?" she asked, pulling Miley's cell phone out of her pocket. Lilly flipped it open so that she could call Mr. Stewart.

Miley finally managed to open her eyes and looked at Lilly with wonder. "God, you're strong." After she finished speaking, her eyes rolled back in her head as she lost consciousness.

Lilly gently shook the brunette. "Miley!? Miley?!!?"


Please don't be mad...you'll love the next chapter....I promise. - Jess