A/N Hey everybody! This is One Tough Cookie speaking (I know, a lot of you know me as HomeSkillettBisket, but I changed my name to match a top I bought). Ok, I think I might take you guys up on that idea of Oliver liking someone in the pageant, but I'm not completely sure… And I don't know who yet either… Ok, so, any who, thanks to MileyCyrus1015, angryeyes, ruthie-camden-Brewer, carlita, amylovestakuya, skyfast, luckyducky93, Supergirrl, Moonshine101, Butterfly215, babyquint, lilerin91, Miley-Cyrus Fan -or- sNoWpUpZ, KrazieChikadee, Garden Spade, and kimberly7ox for reviewing! Love ya'll!
"Oh my gosh! We're there! We're there!" Lilly screamed, jumping out of Jackson's car into The Club's parking lot. She was followed by Miley.
"I know! I'm so excited!" Miley yelled, hugging Lilly. They jumped up and down while hugging.
"I know! I'm just so excited!" Jackson mimicked Miley and Lilly and held his arms out for a hug. Miley and Lilly gave him "The Hand" and walked into the theatre.
"Ok, so, uh, where do we go?" Lilly asked Miley. Both girls looked around. Miley saw a door on the far wall that said: DRESSING ROOM in big letters over top of it. On the door was a piece of pink paper that said: PAGEANT CONTESTANTS ENTER HERE in black lettering.
"I'm guessing over there." Miley said and pointed to the door. Lilly looked and smiled.
"Ooooo… Ok, let's go!" Lilly said and pulled Miley's arm towards the door. There were tons of people in the lobby. The long tables at sign-up were gone and the refreshment tables were back. Many young boys were tugging on their parents sleeves asking for something from the tables. There were a lot of people milling around waiting for the show to start. There were also a lot of excited and nervous-looking girls about Miley and Lilly's age looking around to find where they were supposed to go. Most of them were accompanied by older siblings or parents, all of which looked apprehensive of their daughter's choice to be in a pageant. "Oh my gosh!" Lilly gasped as she and Miley walked into the dressing room. It was a long, white room with brown wooden floors. It was really bright; there were about 30 mirrors with 4 bright light bulbs above every one. The mirrors were lined up on the wall closest to Miley and Lilly. At the end of the room on the wall opposite the mirrors, was a long, red curtain. Miley and Lilly found two free mirrors next to each other and started to rummage through a bag they brought. Lilly looked at the bag and gasped. "Miley!" She said, and pointed to the letters HM on the bag. In small, printed letters above that were the words PROPERTY OF. "They're gonna know!"
"Oh my gosh! I have, like, the exact same bag! Isn't that funny?" A girl that looked to be about 13 came up to Miley and started laughing. She held up her bag. It was black, like Miley's, and had the letters HM on the front. But this bag did not bear the words PROPERTY OF; instead it bore the words #1 FAN OF.
Miley and Lilly let out a sigh. "Yea… how funny." Miley said, and let out a faint laugh as the girl turned away.
"Whew! That was close! They almost got you that time!" Lilly said, wiping her forehead.
"Ya think?" Miley asked sarcastically.
The girls smiled and started to fix their hair and make-up. In about 15 minutes, a tall woman of about 40 called to the girls to hurry and finish. "You're on in about 5 minutes, girls! You'll go on according to your first name. Five at a time! First is Amber Matthews! Then Ashley Christianson! (A/N I totally made those last names up ;p;)
At the sound of Amber and Ashley's names, Lilly and Miley winced. "They're in this pageant, too?" Lilly asked in disgust.
"Oh no! Not them!" The girls said simultaneously. "Oooo.. ssss." They imitated Amber and Ashley's trademark.
"Eh, I'm not worried." Lilly said with a wave of her hand.
"Well, what are you then?" Miley asked, stepping away from Lilly and surveying her.
"Me? I'm ready to crush the competition!" Lilly said through gritted teeth. She looked over at Amber and Ashley and made fists with her hands. Miley laughed.
"That's the spirit!" Miley said. She looked up at the middle-aged woman yelling into the sea of awaiting girls.
"Come here, everybody! Come here girls! Come here!" The woman shouted. Everyone walked towards the red curtain Lilly had seen the other day. "Please quiet down, girls! Quiet down!" All of the girls obeyed as she began to talk again. "Alright, ladies, the pageant will begin in just a few short moments. Are you all ready?" Everyone nodded. "Alright, then I will go and tell the judges." She disappeared for a minute. Upon her return, she rubbed her hands together and sighed. "Alright, girls, this is it! I will read off the names of who is to go on, and those five people will go onto the stage through this curtain." She indicated a slit in the curtain behind her. "You will sit in the five chairs set up on stage. The judges will ask you each a few questions, and when all five girls are finished answering, you smile at the judges and return backstage through this same curtain. Everybody got it?" She looked around the room and saw most girls nodding their heads. "Okay! Let's go then!" She began to read off of a clipboard as the girls heard the host on stage. The two adults spoke almost in unison. The announcer was a bit behind, since he drew his words out.) "Amber Matthews, Ashley Christianson, Beverly Smith, Carey Jones, and Cecilia Bonika: you're on stage!" The girls filed out in that order; a smile spread wide on each girl's face.
"Man, there sure are a lot of girls here." Lilly said, looking around at the huddled masses.
"Well, the paper said 20. " Miley actually sounded… nervous. Lilly picked up the anxiety in her voice.
"Are you okay, Miley? You sound nervous. Kinda like when you went on that talk show and forgot the words to your own… Yea, I'll stop talking now." Lilly said, looking down.
"Good idea." Miley said, patting Lilly on the back. Five more girls went next, including a girl named Elizabeth Montgomery and Fredrika Kimbaler.
In the Crowd
"Whew! That Elizabeth is fine!" Jackson said to Oliver, who was sitting right next to him.
"No kidding! She'd be the best looking person in this room if I wasn't here." Oliver said, looking around then at Jackson.
"Oh, come on! We all know I'm the best looking guy in this room." Jackson said, pulling up his shirt collar. Oliver scoffed.
"You just keep telling yourself that." He said and patted him on the back.
Backstage
"Kimberly Gier, Lilly Truscott, Miley Stewart, Narcissa Serga, and Olivia Johnson: You're on stage!" The announcing woman called as the girls heard the host shout their names at the same time.
"That's us! Remember: World Peace!" Miley whispered to Lilly as they began to file onstage. Lilly gave her a thumbs-up.
"Hello ladies!" The host, Jacinda Livingston, said with a smile. She was a very tall woman with long, brown, very straight hair. She was wearing a short, tight bright pink dress and black high-heels. She had a British accent. "I'm Jacinda Livingston, the host of The Sparkly Spirits Beauty Pageant. Let me introduce these girls properly!" Jacinda said as they sat down. The girls sat in the very middle of the stage on black chairs. The chairs had soft cushions on the seat. The judges sat in the very front of the stage behind a table. There was a young smiling lady with curly blond hair, an old, stern-looking man with short brown hair, and another young smiling lady with curly blond hair. The two women looked as if they were twins. "Kimberly Gier," Jacinda began, indicating Kimberly, "is a 12-year-old horse-lover! She owns two horses named Mindy and Lucy! Lilly Truscott is 14-years-old and loves to skateboard and go to the beach! She is also a cheerleader at her school!" Lilly blushed. "Miley Stewart is fourteen-years-old and loves singing and dancing. She is her school's very own- err- mascot!" Jackson and Oliver snickered. Jacinda frowned, but quickly regained her cheeriness and moved on. "Narcissa Serga is a fifteen-year-old dancer! She enjoys salsa dancing at parties and even dances on a neighborhood dance team!" Jacinda pretended to dance and Miley and Lilly rolled their eyes. The crowd laughed. "Finally, we have Olivia Johnson! She is 13-years-old and loves to write! She has written many stories and poems! She even has a few stories published on websites across America! Let's give them all a hand!" She finished, clapping. The audience clapped along. "Now let's introduce our judges to the girls, shall we? Girls, this is Tracey Mason, Keith Harvey, and Lacey Mason! They're going to be judging you girls for each portion of the pageant! Now we are in the first portion, the Q and A! in this competition, each of the judges will ask you a question, and you must answer how you think Miss Sparkly Spirit would answer!" When Lilly hears "Miss Sparkly Spirit" she looked over at Miley questioningly. She didn't remember Miley saying anything about being Miss Sparkly Spirit. I wonder why Miley didn't say anything. I mean, did she think I wouldn't want to be in this pageant anymore? She wouldn't keep that from me. I don't get it. Miley, Miley, Miley… Why are you keeping things from me? Oh well. I guess I'll just ask her later. Lilly thought. "Lilly Truscott? Lilly Truscott? Tracey asked you a question. Lilly Truscott?" The first contestant had already gone and Jacinda tried to get Lilly to pay attention, but she was lost in thought. Miley poked her in the arm.
"Hey! Lilly!" Miley whispered. Lilly seemed to snap out of it..
"Oh, I'm sorry. Could you please repeat the question?" Lilly asked, smiling sweetly at the judges. It'll be hard to make up for that one. She thought.
"Umm… All right. Lilly Truscott?" Tracey began apprehensively. "Your first question is: Why did you decide to be in the Sparkly Spirits pageant?" She had a valley girl accent.
"Well," Lilly began. "To tell you the truth, I didn't want to be in it at first. My friend, Miley Stewart, this is her here, as you all know, made me be in it. She came up to me at school and begged me to be in this beauty pageant. Blah, blah, blah. She even brought out her puppy-dog pout. And, I mean, no one can say no to that, so I was forced to say yes. And I mean, I'm actually kind of glad that I did because we got together a lot to talk about it and all that stuff and we've spent a lot more time together. So I'm really glad I signed up for it." Lilly started to ramble. "You know, actually, I didn't sign up for it, Miley signed me up. I was too busy looking at the ugly receptionist." Oliver and Jackson snickered at that last remark.
"What an… interesting… answer." Tracey said slowly. Lilly's face fell. She thought the answer was good. Maybe it was a bit lengthy, but otherwise, I thought it was good. What did Miley say to include in my answer? Oh, yes… World Peace! Ok, I'll try to put that in my next answer. Lilly's confidence boosted as she thought about future answers.
"Alright… Lilly Truscott." Keith read off a clipboard. "What is your very favorite thing to do?" He spoke in an extremely bored voice.
"Well," Lilly thought for a moment. Bring everyone peace? That sounds like something Amber or Ashley would say. I guess I've only got one choice. "That would be skateboarding or checking out hotties, Keith." Lilly said with newfound confidence.
"I'm sure that's completely true, Lilly." Keith said. He actually smiled at her honesty. Lilly smiled back.
"Umm, ok, well, Lilly," Lacey shared her sister's valley girl accent. "What do you hope to accomplish in the future?"
This is it! I can totally use Miley's advice! Lilly thought as she looked over to Miley. Miley looked back and smiled. Lilly smiled too. She said. "That would be World Peace!" Lilly smiled sweetly. The crowd applauded loudly and Jacinda was smiling broadly.
"Great answer! Great answer!" Jacinda said, clapping. "Now, moving on to our third contestant, Miley Stewart." Miley smiled. "Judges,"
"Ok, Miley Stewart, if you were to go to a deserted island, what one thing would you take with you?" Tracey asked.
Miley thought for a minute. "I would take my best friend, Lilly, because she makes the best company ever." Miley smiled at Lilly and Lilly smiled back. They squeezed each other's hands. What would I do without her? Miley and Lilly thought simultaneously.
"Yes. Alright, Miley Stewart, what is your very favorite thing to do?" Keith asked.
This is easy. "My favorite thing to do is singing. I love to brighten the world with my voice. I like making people happy." Miley smiled sweetly. "Awwws" were heard throughout the audience and all three judges, even Keith, smiled.
"Ok, Miley Stewart, tell us, are there two sides to you?" Lacey asked with a mischievous smile.
"This should be good." Jackson whispered to Oliver.
Miley automatically freaked out. Oh my gosh! Does she know? No! She can't know that I'm Hannah Montana! It's not possible! No! It's just a question, Miley, just a question! Just make sure you don't mention anything about Hannah in your answer. Okay. Yeah. That's fine. Miley looked at Lilly. Lilly looked a bit freaked out, too..
"It's ok. She doesn't know anything. Calm down." Lilly whispered, seeing Miley's alarmed expression. Miley nodded.
"Umm… I- I don't really think so." Miley stammered uncertainly. "I mean, yeah, every girl acts differently around different people, right? I- I guess I do have another side." Miley was gaining confidence as she went on. "Yeah, I mean, around boys I'm all shy and sweet, kinda like when I want something from my dad." Like, Lilly, she began to ramble. "And then around my friends, I'm all loud and crazy. And then around my teachers, I'm all innocent and "brainy". And then around like, really obnoxious people, like this one guy from my class named Chad, I'm all "Oh no you didn't. And then they're all "Oh yes I did. And then I'm all "Oh no you didn't. And then it gets into a tussle and everyone is everywhere and everything is a total mess. But most of the time I'm pretty normal!" Miley finished. The audience was silent, as were the judges. Then Jacinda spoke up.
"Wow! What an interesting life you lead, Miley!" She said, trying to recover from her daze. "Let's give her a round of applause!" Jacinda began clapping and soon everyone followed suit. Miley breathed a sigh of relief.
That cut it a bit close. Miley thought.
The next two girls' questions were a bit easier than Miley's, such as "What is your favorite color and why?" and "What makes you smile the most?" After the pageant, Miley and Lilly met up in the backstage dressing room.
"Stick around, girls! The judging is up next!"
"Oh my gosh, I did so horribly! I so spaced out." Lilly said, looking at herself in the mirror. Suddenly she remembered what she was thinking about. She hesitated. "Hey Miley, why didn't you tell me the winner becomes Miss Sparkly Spirit?"
"Well, I don't know, I guess I forgot. I'm really sorry, Lilly." Miley said, looking at her. She did look sorry.
"Well, it's ok, Miley. I just, I don't know, I don't think I'd make a very good Miss Sparkly Spirit, that's all. But, hey, that was some competition, wasn't it?" Lilly changed the subject fast. She didn't want to make Miley feel uncomfortable.
"Oh, my gosh! I know!" Miley whined, fixing her hair as well. "I totally freaked out when she asked that question about the other side of me."
"Yea, I know! It made me think about that song of Hannah's: The Other Side of Me. The other side, the other side, I wish you could see. The other side, the other side, the other side of meeeeeeeee!" Lilly sang one of Hannah Montana's songs.
"I should do that song tonight." Miley said, laughing.
"Yea that would be-" Lilly was cut off by Amber and Ashley, who had walked up behind Miley. They were wearing matching outfits. Both had on dark pink miniskirts and jackets overtop of light pink short-sleeve shirts.
"What?" Miley asked. She didn't see Amber or Ashley. Lilly pointed. "Oh. What do you guys want?"
"We'd like to speak to Miley." Amber said.
"In private." Ashley put in. Lilly looked at Miley. Miley shrugged and Lilly nodded to let Miley know she approved.
"Ok." Miley said, and walked off with the girls. Lilly was left standing at the mirror when a girl came up to her.
"Is that your friend?" She asked Lilly. Lilly looked at her.
"Umm, yea. Sorry, but, do I know you?" Lilly asked the girl. She was a little shorter than Lilly, with long, black hair. She was wearing a cut-off jean skirt with small jewels in the bottom corner that formed the picture of a flower. She had a cute pink tee on with a picture of a mean-looking chocolate chip cookie and the words: One Tough Cookie. (A/N LOL I have that exact shirt.) She was wearing black flip-flops and was smiling at Lilly, revealing a pair of perfectly straight, white teeth.
"My name's Elizabeth. Your friend, she reminds me of someone." Elizabeth said, putting her hand up to her chin.
"Hey, I'm Lilly. Umm… Miley reminds you of someone? Who?"
"Hmm… She looks like that singer, Hannah Montana." Elizabeth smiled.
"Hannah Montana? I don't know what you're talking about. I don't know who Hannah Montana is! I didn't say anything! I wasn't even here!" Lilly cried and ran away towards the curtain.
Meanwhile, Miley had been talking to Amber and Ashley by the mirrors they had been preparing at.
"Miley, we have something to tell you." Ashley said, frowning.
"You're not gonna like this." Amber told her, also frowning.
"Umm, what is it?" Miley asked uncertainly.
"You like to work with your friends, right?" Amber asked her.
"Yea, of course." Miley said, smiling.
"And you like to help your friends, right?" Ashley asked her.
"Yes." Miley said.
"But what if that help turned against you?" Amber asked slyly.
"Uhh… What?" Miley had no idea where they were going with this.
Amber sighed. "She doesn't get it, Ashley! Let's just tell her already!" She whined.
"Okay, fine. Go ahead!" Ashley told her.
"Miley, Lilly's bringing you down! We heard her talking with this other girl about how she's just using you to get ahead. When she makes it to the last portion of the pageant, she's gonna drop you on your face." Amber said. She gave Miley a sad look.
"She said… what?" Miley looked around to find Lilly talking to a girl with bouncy red curls. Lilly looked happy.
"We're really sorry." Ashley said.
"We just didn't want you to get hurt." Amber put in.
"I- I have to go." Miley said and went back over to her mirror. She worked hard to keep the tears from falling. Just then, Lilly came over.
"Hey, they're gonna do the judging in a few minutes." Lilly said to Miley.
"Yea, I know. I was listening." Miley snapped at her. She still couldn't believe Lilly was using her to get on top. I didn't think Lilly could ever do something like that. I- I just- I can't believe it.
"Are you okay?" Lilly asked. She was concerned about her friend.
"Just leave me alone. I can't talk to you." Miley said, wiping her eyes.
"Miley," Lilly called, but she was already lining up to get back on stage for the judging. "Miley… I… What happened?"
A/N Finally! Finished! lol Thanks again to my reviewers! I'm so happy with all the reviews I'm getting! Tell me what you think of my story so far and give me tips and ideas if possible! Thanks guys! Oh, and if you caught it, tell me the quote I put in here. Lol thx!