I looked at the front door for a long time before I finally came up with the courage to walk in. As I did so, I adjusted my hat – so that it was further down on my head and folded my arms around myself self-consciously. I was waiting for the shock, the sudden questions but when Mr. Stewart and I walked in Miley and Jackson weren't in the room. I looked up at Mr. Stewart, who had walked up next to me, and he shrugged his shoulders and walked towards the kitchen to look for a note. I sighed, considering myself lucky that either Miley or Jackson were here.
As I sat down on the couch, Mr. Stewart came back to me and stood in front of the couch. I looked up again, "What am I going to say?" I asked him frustrated.

Mr. Stewart understood exactly what I was talking about, and sat down next to me, "The truth hopefully." He told me – which didn't help me at all. I sighed, frustrated again and flopped back on the couch. Mr. Stewart tried again, "I'm sure Miley would understand. Would you like me to tell her – or be with you when you do?"

I nodded, and curled up in my corner of the couch, and ignored everything else around me. I guess Mr. Stewart understood, because he put a blanket over me and walked away.

I never actually feel asleep, more like pretended to. I heard when Miley and Jackson walked back into the house from the beach, and I could hear Oliver arrive to work on homework. I hid more underneath the covers, and tried to get my head to the point where it wouldn't be noticeable.

"Is Lily asleep dad?" Miley asked, moving a stool in the kitchen and sitting down on it.

I guessed Mr. Stewart looked at me during the silence, "Yep." He told Miley and Oliver – who I also heard sit down. "She's been asleep for a while now, but leave her be – I think we've got something important to tell you and Lily needs time to herself."

I shook, just at the thought of telling Miley about the cancer, and Oliver the diagnosis. And so I decided that I was actually going to fall asleep – which I did, but only to wake up an hour later to find Oliver, and Mr. Stewart in the kitchen.

"Good afternoon Lily," Mr. Stewart smiled when I poked my head over the side of the couch. Oliver pointed to my head, and I reached up to my hat to find it half off. I smiled weakly, and put my head back on the pillows so that neither Mr. Stewart nor Oliver could see me.

But I couldn't get away, because Oliver came up and sat down next to me on the couch, getting me to sit up. Oliver pulled me up with both my arms, and brought me so that I was facing him. "Shave it today at the hospital?" Oliver asked me, when I brought my head up to look at him. I nodded adjusting my hat again, "I think it looks cute." Oliver told me, putting my hat the way it had been before.

I rolled my eyes, and shook my head pulling my hat down again so that it was completely covering my head. I pulled the blanket over me, and sighed, "Yeah right." I mumbled to Oliver, "You have a warped definition of cute."

Oliver laughed, and shook his head. "It doesn't matter what you look like on the outside," he told me. "It's the inside that counts."

"Oh yeah," I countered. "Is that what everyone at school will think as well?"

Oliver said nothing, so I already knew what his answer was going to be. The kids at Seaview wouldn't be as accepting as Oliver was being. I sighed, and attempted to get up from the couch so that I could get to the bathroom as nausea took control – but my stomach calmed down and I sat back. Oliver rubbed my back, and I looked up at him. If there were any time to tell Oliver about the diagnosis, now might be the time.

"We went to see Dr. Chow today," I whispered to Oliver, avoiding eye contact. "Oliver," I cried, "It doesn't look good." I could feel Oliver tense as I said that, but he continued to say nothing, "Dr. Chow's planning on finishing the – the chemo in a couple of weeks." I told him, "and give me the decision to continue, or…"

I couldn't finish the sentence, so I leaned on the arm rest, and sobbed silently without tears, I could hear Oliver trying to hold his back and to brave for me.

"I'll be with you through everything," Oliver whispered to me. I sighed, and looked at Oliver with a small smile, "Everything," Oliver repeated.

I was about to say something back, when Miley, and Jackson walked into the kitchen from wherever they were. I avoided turning around, and hid underneath my covers more – which Oliver noticed me doing and got up from the couch to join Jackson and Miley in the kitchen.

"Hey guys," I heard Oliver say as he sat down on a stool. "Did you guys go to the grocery store?" From the sounds the paper bags were making, I guessed that they had, "Do you need help unloading?" Oliver asked – and I could hear him ruffle through the bag.

The kitchen was silent for quite a while as the three went through the grocery bags. But then, Mr. Stewart came into the room, looked over at me and sighed. "Hey guys," He said to the crew in the kitchen, "We all have to talk later, when Lily's awake." I groaned silently as all three agreed to the meeting. Though, I wasn't planning on waking up anytime soon.

Unfortunately, that wasn't my option. Mr. Stewart woke me up only half an hour later, without warning, and with Oliver, Jackson and Miley already sitting on the chairs surrounding the couch. I groaned, and threw my best death glare at Mr. Stewart as I tried to cover my head with the blankets once again. But he pulled them off again and brought my up like Oliver had earlier. The faces on Miley and Jackson's faces were indescribable, so I only looked up once as Mr. Stewart started the news.

"Miley, Jackson," He started seriously. "Lily has something to tell you both – and I want you to hear it out before you say anything." Both nodded, and I continued to look down at my lap. "Lily, are you going to tell them or am I?"

I nodded my head, and looked up. "I'm sorry Miley," I cried before I said anything else. "I never knew when was the right time to tell you, whether I was going to tell you at all," Miley looked sad and confused as I continued. "A couple of months ago I got sick, and when I didn't get better my mom took me to the doctors – who took a lot of blood, and ran a lot of tests," Mr. Stewart rubbed my back helpfully and told me to go on, even though I thought that Miley had already figured everything out. "We found out – I found out that I had a tumour… in my brain, a cancerous tumour." I wasn't finished, of course – but I realized I couldn't go on at that moment, so Mr. Stewart took over.

"We're sorry to break the news to you know Miley," He told his daughter, who when I looked at her, was already starting to cry. "But we found out from Lily's doctor, Dr. Chow, today that he'll be finishing off chemotherapy in a couple of weeks," Miley cried more, but Mr. Stewart continued. "The doctor didn't think that the chemo was working, and that Lily's tumour was growing too fast."

A/N I'm back from Wagga Wagga, and with so many ideas!
But first of all, I'm sorry about not posting this sooner! I wanted to make the scene between Lily and Miley and the brain tumour, believable - which I hope I did. I figure I'll have Miley get mad at Mr. Stewart and Lily for not telling her earlier - but then she'll realize that she needs to be there for her friend, build a bridge and get over it. But if you have any suggestions about any other ideas about how Miley could go about taking the news, do suggest! Otherwise, I'll go with some of my ideas and there will be a lot of dramatic scenes from now to the next few chapters.
Talk to you laters! - Rosie