I nodded, my eyes tearing now at just the thought. Oliver comforted in his arms, as my dad stood close by telling me that it was going to be alright and that Lily was strong – basically, what I'd been told for the past few hours.

"Explain to me," I turned to my dad still tearful. "Explain exactly what's going on with Lily."

My dad and Oliver both looked at me in surprise; though I'm sure Oliver wanted to know the same thing. I waited for my dad to give me the answer patiently, as he probably thought of a good way to break it to me. As my dad started to talk, he took put one arm around me, and pulled me close.

"Lily's brain tumour is affecting the way Lily slips in and out of consciousness," my dad explained to me and Oliver. "And the doctors want to keep a close eye on her, because the brain tumour is growing more rapidly than they expected." My dad sighed, and I nodded for him to go on, "They think it might be a matter of time before Lily starts losing her senses."

All of a sudden I was a bit angry, "Aren't they going to do anything about that?" I asked my dad, quite loudly.

Dad nodded his head, and moved in front of me with his arms on my shoulders to calm me down. "Listen to me Miley," My dad told me, "The doctors are going to do all they can. I'm not taking Lily off of Chemotherapy yet – I promise you that. But remember, we want to make Lily as comfortable as we can, and in the end it might be her choice."

I nodded my head, analysing every word my dad said in my mind. Like what was the meaning of his 'yet', and 'it might be her choice'? Was it that, no matter what we did, Lily was going to die? I turned to Oliver, more tears in my eyes and walked slowly to the chairs that we'd been sitting on earlier.

"You can go and see her you know," My dad told me as he followed Oliver and I. I looked up, "But make it a short visit okay? We don't want Lily too stressed out." I nodded my head, and Oliver grabbed my hand as I figured out that my legs weren't working too well at the moment. Oliver pulled me towards the room that my dad had pointed us towards, while dad walked into Dr. Chow's office. Oliver stopped me at the door, putting his hands on my shoulders, and asked me if I was okay. I slowly nodded my head, and Oliver opened the door for me, walking in behind as I made my way towards the bed where Lily was asleep. I gasped at the sight of my best friend hooked up to IV's and machines that I didn't know the names of. There was a simple, thin tube placed up one nostril of Lily's nose, coming across her cheek and looping around Lily's ear – kept in place by a long and wide piece of medical tape. Immediately, I sat down on the bed, and held Lily's limp hand in mine as I sobbed even harder.

Oliver came over, and sat down next to me. "Lily's going to be fine," He told me quietly, rubbing my back as he did so.

I nodded slowly, looking down at the hospital bed, unable to look up. "How do you know that Oliver?" I asked through tears, "How do you know what's going to happen?"

Oliver sighed, and lifted my head up so that I was looking at him. "Truth is, that I don't," Oliver told me, his face clearly tear stained as well. "But maybe, if you believe it, it might happen."

I looked down again, and turned my head to look at Lily. I took her hand in both of mine, and squeezed it as I closed my eyes and hoped that she would be okay. When I opened my eyes, my dad had entered the room with Dr. Chow and they motioned for me and Oliver to take a seat at the table close to the window. Reluctantly we moved and sat, waiting for my dad and Dr. Chow to tell us what was going on.

Dr. Chow started by flipping through the papers on his clipboard, and then leaning back on his chair. "Luckily Lily's condition, at this moment, is manageable at home," Dr. Chow told us. "But we'll have to keep her under observation for the night." The two of us nodded, and quickly smiled to each other. I looked over at Lily, just the thought of her being able to come home made her look better already.

The three of us had to leave soon after our conversation with Dr. Chow. Not only because Oliver and I had to go to school the next day, but because the doctors were starting to run a few more tests on Lily. Oliver and my dad had to convince me to come out of the room with them. Eventually it took chocolate, and going out for dinner at my favourite restaurant Famous Pizza on the way home.

But when we got to the restaurant I didn't really feel like eating, so I shared a salad with Oliver while my dad got the waiter to pack up the large cheese pizza he'd ordered. I didn't know whether my loss of appetite was because I was exciting about Lily coming home, or nervous – my thoughts were racing, and I couldn't organize them.

"Are we ready to go then?" My dad asked, bringing me out of my own thoughts. I noticed that he had a box in his hands, the pizza, and realized it must have come when I wasn't paying attention. I nodded my head, and got out of the booth with Oliver right behind me. As we got into the car, everyone was quiet, it was quite late and I figured that everyone was just tired – so I looked out the window the entire way home.

I could hear Oliver waking up as we pulled into our driveway, and from the reflection in the window I could tell that he looked over at me to make sure that I was okay, but I still didn't move. "Miley?" Oliver asked quietly, asking if I was asleep or just ignoring him. I nodded my head, "Are you okay?"

Finally, I turned my head, and gave Oliver a genuine smile – which I hadn't done it ages. He smiled back and I opened the car door. "Do you want to go sit on the beach for a little while?" I asked Oliver as we approached the door to the house. Oliver nodded and we led each other in silence to the sandy stairs that brought us to the beach. We walked down to where the waves were breaking, but just far enough to keep our feet dry. I sat down on the wet sand first, not caring what happened to my jeans, and looked up at the stars. Oliver struggled to join, as normal, but eventually sat right next to me putting his coat around my shoulders.

"It's a beautiful night," I whispered to Oliver, and he nodded.

We sat there for a little more than an hour, saying nothing – deciding to go in when the tide had accidentally run over our feet and half way up our thighs. Oliver and I ran into the house soaking wet, ignoring the yells from my dad in the kitchen, and racing into the bathroom screaming at each other to determine who got to change first. I had trouble getting in because Oliver was so strong that he was just about to win. I was smaller than he was, and much easier to move around – so therefore, Oliver ended up changing before I did, and I walked around the top floor of the house and eventually found myself in Lily's room.

I looked around at the walls, that Lily, my dad and I had painted the colour orange a couple of weeks ago. Lily had covered half of the room in posters and pictures, so that you could hardly see the wall anymore. But, what was unusual was the fact that Lily had cleaned the floor and everything was neat and tidy in their own place. I sat on Lily's bed, hanging my feet over the side so that I wouldn't make her covers wet. I leaned back so that my head was touching the pillows, and waited for the sound in the bathroom to die down indicating that I could now change.

"Miley?" I heard Oliver ask in the hallway. I could hear him going down the hall to my room and checking inside. "Miley?" I heard Oliver ask again, and to spare him the torture, I made a noise. "Are you in Lily's room?" Oliver asked when he heard me. I yelled yes, and Oliver walked in and sat down next to me, "What you doing?" I shrugged my shoulders and sat up next to Oliver. "You can have the bathroom now,' Oliver told me. I nodded my head, and got up to leave.

When I came back out, I looked back in Lily's room and found it empty. I called out his name, and got an answer from downstairs where, now that I paid attention, I could hear the quiet strumming of a guitar. I smiled, and walked down the stairs in two's, to find my dad and Oliver sitting on the couch. The source of the guitar was my dad; of course, he was singing one of my favourites – Stand. I joined them on the couch, and sang along, when we stopped my dad turned to me.

"How you doing Bud?" He asked placing the guitar on the ground next to him. I shrugged my shoulders, and my dad started again. "Your record company wants you to play a show in Washington this weekend," dad told me, "Do you feel up to it?"