Chapter 15
Practices and Rehearsals
"So how did it go with Miley?" Jackson asked Cooper when they met up again for trig.
"I think it's going to be harder than problem 31." Cooper told Jackson in a not to encouraging voice as he shook his head in a slow manner.
"Sweet nibblets! What am I going to do Coop?"
"I don't know J-man, I don't know."
Jackson couldn't concentrate on math for the whole period. All he could think about was the look on Miley's face when she heard his comment to Thor. What was worse was he would probably not get a chance to talk to Miley until he got home from practice tonight.
Practice started out in the weight room. It always did. Where Cooper did a whole body workout, Jackson could only do an upper body workout because of his ankle. After lifting the weights, it was time for the pool. When Jackson and Cooper first started this, strengthening routine, the swim in the pool was murder to their muscles. However, now with the practice routine in full force, the swim was just a matter of routine now.
"Okay, Cooper, I want you to work with the volleyball team." Coach Conn started. "Jackson, since you can stand pretty well now, I want you to practice your serving."
Cooper went and joined the volleyball team for this practice season and Jackson limped over to the other volleyball court where a ball cart was waiting for him. Coach Conn went to the other side of the court to gather the balls that Jackson was going to be hitting.
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He dodged to the left and step in behind the swing that missed him. Moving in behind the arm that missed, Jake brought up the enchanted weapon. It was all weapons and no weapons. It was a tool and an instrument. It was the magical object that bonded with him when he took up the mantel of Zombie Slayer. It was nothing and everything to him and it found its mark and the zombie it connected with faded from sight.
Okay, the zombie really didn't fade from sight, the actors all held their place as said zombie walked off the set. The cameras kept rolling. The fight scene ended and Roger called cut.
"That was great! Lets keep everything the same. We'll shot this scene tomorrow for the show so everyone be ready." Roger told everyone as they walked over to him.
"Okay, we have two more days to get this in the can and then do the script read for next week. And for all of you that have been REALLY following the story line, Hannah Montana will be making her first guest appearance next week. She will be back once a month for now on, so, lets try not to fall all over ourselves this time. Any questions? Good, see you all back here tomorrow at 4 pm, and Jake, get your homework done this time. You know if you don't keep your grades up then you can't be the star." Roger said.
Everyone got up and started to leave when Jake defended his self.
"It's not my fault Mr. Murray sprung that pop quiz on us."
"Just study Jake and remember, big fan big fan." Roger said as he started to head for his office.
Jake just shook his head and gathered up his books that were by his chair on set. Roger was right after all. If he didn't keep his grades up the industry won't let him work. Something about child labor laws for the industry or something or other. Besides that, the quiz was only to find out what they remembered from last year. Okay, so he didn't remember that much from last year. After all, he was in another country filming a movie and he couldn't get his mind off Miley either.
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"Hello?"
"Hey Miles." Oliver greeted Miley.
"What's up Oliver?"
"Do you have any backstage passes left for the concert this weekend?"
"For you Oliver the answer is always yes. How many do you need?"
"Just two." Oliver said quickly.
"Did you say two Oliver?" Miley pretending she did not hear Oliver.
"Yes Miley, I was wonder if you had two passes?" Oliver said more forcefully.
"Okay Oliver. I heard you the first time." Miley laughed.
"You taking Amy?" Miley singsong Amy's name.
"Yes if you have to know."
"Well of course I have to know, but what about that girl you were talking to at lunch and speaking of lunch, where were you after school?"
"You mean Gina?" Oliver asked.
"So she does have a first name. What about a last name?" Miley dug.
"Okay her name is Gina Kelley and she is on the speech club. I was just talking with her to find out about what happens in speech club was all."
"You still haven't answered my question about where you were after school."
"I had a doctor's appointment that I almost forgot about until mom came to school to pick me up." Oliver answered.
"Was that today?" Miley asked as she remember parts of that conversation.
"Yes it was."
"Oh, well you can come over and get the passes anytime Oliver."
"Thanks Miles."
"Your welcome Oliver."
"Well, I better get on the homework. Can you believe that? The second day and we already have homework."
"Good-bye Oliver."
"What? Right. Good-bye Miles."
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"So what do you think of the high school cheerleaders Lil?" Amy asked.
"I like them a lot Aim." Lilly answered back as they were walking home.
"Yeah, I do too. I can't believe they are taking time to teach us all the cheers now."
"Yeah, have you seen the sign up sheet for freshmen cheerleaders?"
"Sure have Lil. Everyone from last year has signed up and no one else." Amy answered with some relief in her voice at the thought the one of the old team may not make it this year.
"Hey Aim, you and Oliver going to hook up again this year?"
"I was hoping so Lil."
"You two do make an awesome couple."
"You think so?"
"Yeah I do."
"Well coming from his best friend, that means a lot to me." Amy smiled at Lilly.
"Your welcome. By the way, you have any plans for the weekend?" Lilly asked.
"I was hoping to get tickets for the Hannah concert, but we haven't had much luck this time. They were sold out by the time we went to get tickets."
"To bad, but on the bright side they were going to do a live broadcast if it was sold out." Lilly realized that she goofed and let slip out some non-public information about the concert.
"Really! Where did you hear that at?" Amy asked getting excited.
"I think I read it in one of the show biz magazines I'm always reading." Lilly thought quickly. She was always reading them, but it was to find out who was with whom and who was not with whom.
"Well, then I guess I'll be watching Hannah then. Hey, do you want to come over and watch her together?" Amy asked Lilly.
"That would be great, but I have a mini family reunion. I thought vacations were for relaxing. But no, not my family. Any time there is a national holiday it's like there has to be a big family get together. I mean they act like they hadn't seen each other in over a year when it was only just…What?" Lilly asked as she turn her head to Amy because Amy had pushed her.
"You're running off at the mouth again Lil."
"Oh sorry, I forget…"
Lilly's sentence was cut off by Amy's cell phone ringing.
"IT'S Oliver!" Amy squealed.
"Well answer it." Lilly laughed.
"Hello…Yes, I'm free Oliver. Why…I LOVE TOO…Okay. Talk to you tomorrow. Bye." Amy hang up the phone and turned to Lilly.
"Oliver has two backstage passes for the Hannah concert and he asked me to go with him." Amy had grabbed Lilly's arms and was happy dancing as she told Lilly.
"That's great!" Lilly smiled.
"I don't know how he does it Lil." Amy commented.
"Does what?" Lilly asked as Amy let go of Lilly's arms.
"Oliver can always get backstage passes for any Hannah Montana concert not matter how sold out they are or when the concert is." Amy said with awe in her voice.
"That is amazing." Lilly agreed with a secret smile on her face.
"What a minute, I know." Amy sounded like she was on to something.
"You do? What do you know?" Lilly let her self worry a little.
"Well, didn't Jackson and Hannah pretend to date?"
"Yeah." Lilly was getting a little more nervous.
"And Jackson said he loved her like a sister." Amy trailed off as she thought. Lilly got more nervous.
"Lilly is there something you're not telling me?" Amy asked in a sly voice. Lilly turned white and tried to think of something to change the subject.
"I mean if Jackson knows Hannah Montana personally, then does that mean Miley knows Hannah too. And if Miley knows Hannah, you and Oliver know Hannah also?"
"Aaaaaaaaaaaa……"
"Well Lilly answer me!"
"Yes, Jackson diffidently knows Hannah and she is like a sister to him."
"Boy is she ever like a sister to him." Lilly said under her breath.
"What?" Amy asked.
"I mean, no. Jackson won't even let us get close to her."
"Figures. He's probably afraid that you guys would go all fan crazy on her."
"Yeah, that's it." Lilly agreed. "And Jackson throws us bones like the backstage passes every once in awhile." Lilly said with relief in her voice.
"That's what I thought. To bad Jackson won't introduce you guys to Hannah." Amy said a little down.
"Yeah! I would just die if I could be her best friend." Lilly said with a straight face.
"Well, you have to fight Lola for that spot Lil." Amy laughed.
"Yeah, I guess I would, wouldn't I." Lilly laughed too.
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Miley was upstairs studying when her dad came home.
"Miley! Are you upstairs?" Robbie called.
"Yeah daddy." Miley called back.
"Could you come down her for a minute?"
Miley got up from her desk and headed downstairs. As she was going down the stairs, Miley tried to think what this could be about.
"Hi daddy. What's up?"
"I was just over at the studios and they give Hannah her script for next week's show." Robbie said handing the script to Miley.
"YES!" Miley exclaimed as she move to take the script from her dad. Miley planted herself on the couch and started to read.
"Just don't forget to finish your homework bud."
Miley made shooing motions with her hand towards your dad. Robbie shook his head, smiled and went to his office with the other Hannah paperwork that he had.
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"Well Cooper, here goes nothing." Jackson said as he got out of the car to head into the house.
"Good luck J-man." Cooper said as he head off to his house. Jackson had thought about this conversation that he was going to have with Miley when he got home. He had even talked to Cooper about it too, but all Cooper told him was that she would resent his point of view. Jackson hoped Cooper was wrong. Jackson took a deep breath, put his hand on the doorknob and entered the house.
Jackson looked around and found Miley sitting on the couch reading something. He was hoping Miley was in her room so he could put off the conversation a little longer. His ankle had other ideas though. He needed to ice it down and to do that he had to walk by Miley. Oh well, here goes, Jackson thought. He took a deep breath and started to limp to the kitchen. Just as he reach the point behind Miley on the couch, she heard him and turned her head to see who it was. She quickly took the picture in.
"Sit down. I'll get you some ice." Miley said curtly. The tone of voice was not a good sign. Jackson move to the couch, sat down and put his foot up on the coffee table. All the time he watched Miley trying to figure out where to start. With an ice pack from the freezer, Miley came back.
"Here." Miley said as she tossed the ice pack to him and picked up the script she was reading.
"What you reading?" Jackson started.
"The script for the next episode of Zombie High." Miley replied shortly. Jackson sighed.
"Miles can we talk?"
"I thought you did all your talking this morning." Miley snapped back and turned to leave.
"Miles please." Miley turned back and looked at Jackson. The look on his face made her pause.
"Please Miles. Let me explain." Jackson begged. Miley sighed and returned to the couch.
"Start explaining." Miley demanded.
"First of all Miley, I don't hate Hannah." Jackson started.
"Oh yeah, you could have fooled me!" Miley interrupted.
"Miles, you don't know what it's like to be your brother. I mean…"
"OH! You hate being my brother! I thought our relationship was getting very close! But I guess the truth is out now." Miley started to raise her voice.
"No Miles it's not like that at all." Jackson tried to defend himself.
"Oh, it's not is it?" Miley was getting close to yelling.
"Do you know what it's like listening to all of these guys talking about you? And I don't mean in a nice way either. And I can't say don't talk that way about my sister." Jackson started to raise his voice.
"Yes I can. What do you think I have to put up with when the girls start talking about you?" Miley countered.
"Well at less you can say that you are my sister! I can't say Hannah is my sister now can I."
"That's beside the point. You still said you hated me." Miley started to yell and cry.
"I didn't mean it that way Miles!" Jackson pleaded.
"I don't…"
"What are you two going on about?" Robbie asked as he came out to find out what all the noise was about.
"Why don't you ask Jackson?" Miley said as she took her script and run up stairs wiping at her eyes.
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Miley slammed the door to her room closed and launched herself at her bed. As soon as she landed, Miley had her head buried in her pillow. The day was catching up to her. She had a hard time in school and was missing Oliver and Lilly. They seemed to have deserted her. Even Jake Ryan with his super crush was nowhere around either. Add Jackson's attitude to the mix and it was just too much. The only bright spot of the day was meeting Brian. Thinking about Brian let Miley get control of her self.
"Ha. Look at me Beary." Miley said as she gathered Beary Bear into her arms.
"Stupid Jackson." Miley nodded Beary's head.
"And what is up with Lilly and Oliver?" Miley shrugged Beary's shoulders.
"Although, that Brian was really cute and I'm going to meet him again tomorrow." Miley paused as she thought for a bit.
"Do you think I should get him and his family back stage passes for Brian and his family?" She asked Beary again. This time she made Beary rub his chin with his paw to make it look like he was thinking his answer over and then nodded his head yes.
"Yeah, I think so too." Smiling now, Miley got up with Beary in her arms and walked to her closet. Moving her normal clothes aside, Miley opened the doors to her Hannah closet and walked over to the small desk that was in it. She sat Beary down on the desk as she opened the small draw that held the envelope that held the backstage passes for the Labor Day concert. Her dad always gave her a small handful of backstage passes to give out for almost every concert for her to give out to friends. Not that Lilly or Oliver needed backstage passes since everyone knew who they were, but there were times they needed passes when they were taking friends or a date in Oliver's case. Miley open the envelope and counted out four passes. That left two. Miley put the envelope back in the draw and closed it.
"Now how do I get these passes to Brian Beary?" Miley asked looking at her trusted friend.
"I've got nothing either." Miley said after a few seconds of silence.
She got another envelope out and put the passes into it. Standing up with the envelope in one hand, she picked Beary up with the other hand and walked back into her bedroom.
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"What was all that about Jackson?" Robbie asked after hearing the door to Miley's room slam close.
"It was another 'I'm crushing on Hannah Montana' conversions that Miles over heard." Jackson started to explain.
"And what happen boy?"
"She caught the end of it when I said I didn't like Hannah Montana that much."
"Good job son. Besides, you really can't use that one anymore with the hold Jackannah business." Robbie reminded him.
"Well it was Thor and he didn't know anything about it that."
"Well, you know you are going to have to be more careful now that your sister is going to the same school now."
"I know dad. Can you smooth things over for me?" Jackson asked hopefully.
"No can do son." Robbie told him as he started to get up and head back to his office.
"Why not?"
"It's your mess. You need to clean it up."
"But dad…"
"No butts Jackson. If you want to stay as close to you sister as you are now, you're going to have to fix this yourself."
"Thanks dad." Jackson said looking at the back of his dad leaving the room.
"I'll just get right on that…tomorrow. Yeah tomorrow." With that, Jackson reached down to get his backpack to start on his homework.