Haha. So I did write this from Miley's point of view. Makin' sure you got a heads up before you start reading and can only think...what? Anyways, also, later in this I say something about The song by the Jonas Brothers called Turn Right. If you don't get the reference, the lyrics are 'Turn Right, into my arms, Turn right, and you won't be alone, you might, fall off this track sometime, but I'll see you at the finish line." So that's all you really need to know to get it. K? Read and Review!
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I shut the door behind me as I took off my shoes inside the house. "Hey Dad, I'm home!" I shouted, hoping he could hear me from wherever he happened to be in the house.
"Hey Darlin'! How'd your gig go?" He asked, as he came down the stairs.
"Oh, it was great!" I gushed. "You know Trace and Mason, they're so funny."
"That's good. I'm sorry I wasn't there, I got carried away writing you this new song. Wait until you hear it." He walked into the kitchen and I pulled a chair up to our island.
"What's it called?" I asked curiously. I loved getting new songs.
"I'm not completely sure, but I'm favoring 'Let's Do This.' I'll play it for you later ok?"
"Yea, no problem."
"So how was your first day?"
I was hoping we wouldn't make it to this subject. "It was…first day-ish." I said, completely avoiding the question.
"Ok then…Well, I'm going to start dinner. Anything in particular you want?"
"I'm sure anything you make will be great Dad. I'll go get a start on my homework."
"Alright Darlin', I'll call you down when it's ready."
I grabbed my bag and took the stairs two at a time until I was at the top. I opened my door and threw myself down onto my bed.
"So, did you get the numbers of any cute girls?" A voice said as someone strode into my room.
"What?" I sat up, panicked.
"Did you get any girls numbers?" Jackson asked again.
I looked into his eyes, trying to see if he was joking. He looked serious. "Why would I have gotten any girls numbers?" I asked defensively.
"Uh…for me!" He said loudly, as if I was the stupidest person on the planet.
"Oh for you. No, no I didn't. I'm not hitting on girls for you. It's weird."
"Awww. Come on Miles, how many times have I helped you out?"
"Never?"
"No there was that one time…" He paused. "No that ended terribly. Well that one day…" He stopped again. "Actually, never." He shrugged. "Whatever. Did you see the girl across the street? Soooo hot! I can't wait to meet her." A fire coursed through my veins. "I wonder what her name is."
"It's Lilly." I managed through my teeth.
"So you already know her?"
"Kind of…"
He looked excited. "Will you introduce me?"
"No." I said shortly.
He looked taken back. "What? Why not?"
"Well, you know…" I struggled for an answer. "I don't think it's good for you to hit on the neighbor. We have to live by her forever. What if you make a fool of yourself, or you-god forbid-go out and screw up? We'd be miserable forever."
"True." He seemed to have bought it. "Well…I'm gonna go figure out how to find myself a girl. Bye!" He strode out of my room.
I rolled over, pushing my face into my pillow. I took big steadying breaths, trying to slow the beating of my heart. I almost let slip…Nothing. There was nothing to let slip. I remembered my old school. My old best friend. She would have known what to do.
Miley, what are you thinking about? She would've asked.
Nothing, why? I would have answered her, turning my face away.
I can just see your gears turning. Tell me what's up. You know you can tell me anything.
Of course I know that. I would have said, refusing to look at her.
Ok. I'm here if you need to talk.
And I wouldn't have told her, Erica, anything. But it would have been a comfort to know that she cared, and that she would have recognized something was up. But now she lived half a country away.
I let my head hang off my bed and looked around at my upside-down room. I had already unpacked most of my room, aside from the small piles of boxes in the corner. I had set everything up almost exactly like my room at home, except for the glass doors out to my balcony. The walls had been a beige color when we got here, but I repainted the room with blackboard paint, so that I could write on it with chalk whenever I wanted. It made my room look dark and depressing, but it didn't affect me at all. I got up off of my bed, and pulled some of the chalk out of the bucket on my dresser. I wasn't sure what I wanted to draw, but there had to be something.
I looked at the wall, seeing the black canvas spread before me. I started to draw, letting the chalk flow where it would. My arm seemed to work by itself, dragging from my subconscious whatever images flowed. I watched, and suddenly, stopped myself. The beginning of my drawing had taken an unexpected turn. A long swath of blonde hair, a perfect, smooth face…I quickly used my hand as an eraser, smudging the entire picture until nothing was distinguishable. I ran to the bathroom, wetting a cloth so I could permanently erase the drawing. I looked towards my door, making sure no one had seen the drawing I had made. I sat there staring at my wall, watching it slowly dry.
I began the drawing again, this time putting a load of thought into what I wanted to do. I drew my name on the wall, in swirling letters surrounded by stars. It took up most of the wall, and was a beautiful swirl of yellow, pink, red and orange chalk. I loved it. I was going to do a smaller 'Hannah Montana' under it, but Dad called me down for dinner.
"Hey Miles! Come on down!" I dropped the chalk and jumped down the stairs.
"I'm here."
"Good. Let's eat."
Jackson came over from where he was sitting in front of the TV and pulled up a chair with the rest of us to the kitchen table. "You want to say it tonight Jackson?"
"I said it last night!"
"Miles?"
"Yea I got it." I paused. "God, we thank you for the food you've set before us." I paused, feeling the guilt flood me again, as it does every time I pray. "Thank you for helping us get to where we are today, and for the many blessings you've given us. Amen."
We all started scooping food onto our plates. Dad had made catfish stew tonight, and a fight began between Jackson and Dad who would get the eyeball. They finally decided there were two of them, so they both could get an eyeball. Boys. We all ate in silence. The stew was so good, I felt like I could do nothing but eat. "So Miles, what all did you do at school today?"
"You know, nothing much. Attempted to get to the same place everyone else is in their lessons, meet people, all that. Oh…Jake Ryan goes here."
"What?" He coughed, choking on his food. Jackson thumped him on the back. "Who?"
"Jake Ryan."
"That boy. I can't stand him." Ever since I'd been in that show with Jake, and he'd pretended to like me to make Tracy jealous, my dad went crazy even at the mention of his name.
"Man," Jackson added, "I can not believe that Jake Ryan goes to your school."
"Trust me Jackson, he is not as cool as you make him sound like he is."
Dad cut in again. "Did you meet any boys?" He was completely serious, but Jackson burst out laughing.
"Yes. I met boys."
"And…?"
"And what?" I rolled my eyes. "Dad, it's not like everyday I wander around looking for a new boy.
"I know, I know. Just making sure you're not going for some crazy Jake Ryan like boy."
"Of course not." I finished eating my food, and left the table.
"Miles, don't you want some boysenberry pie?"
"Maybe later. I think I'm gonna go for a walk, and get to know the neighborhood."
"Ok. Don't get lost."
I went out the front door, heading slowly down the porch steps. Where to go? I thought to myself. I decided to turn right, because, according to the Jonas Brothers, that's the best way to find love. At the corner of my street I decided to Turn Right again, and ran into a person jogging in my direction, who was thrown back onto her butt.
An apology formed in my throat, but was lost as the person shouted at me. "Watch where you're going, dumb ass!" I took a step back, shocked at being spoken to like that.
"Well I'm not the one who's obviously running with my eyes closed, now am I?" The girl wiped herself off, then turned to face me. My heart stopped. I backtracked shamelessly. "Oh, Lilly, I'm so sorry, I didn't know it was you."
She looked stunned. "No, no. It was totally my fault. Like you said, you weren't the one running with your eyes closed."
"Like you said, I should watch where I'm going, dumb ass." I blushed, but, to my surprise, so did she.
"So…" She said after a moment. "What are you doing out here?"
"You know, just trying to get my bearings in the neighborhood. Figured I'd walk around and see what was close."
As I said that, Lilly's eyes lit up. "You want me to show you around?"
"I'd love that. So where to first?"
"Let's go to the beach. It's the best place to walk to."
"Lead the way." Secretly I thought to myself, I knew it. Turn right.
"Well it's about a block this way." I followed her down the road she turned, matching her steps. "So…" she said.
"So." I echoed.
"How'd you like your first day?"
"You sound like my Dad."
"Is that a bad thing?"
"No, I love my Dad." She looked at me with a funny smile on her face. "I didn't mean it that way. Anyways, I had a fine first day. Or as fine as I could. I mean, new school, new teachers, new everything. It'll take some getting used to."
"I can imagine. I was new once, in like, the second grade. My mom and I moved here after my Dad left my mom."
"I'm sorry."
"Don't worry about it."
"Ok." We fell into an awkward silence. "So what's with that Oliver kid?"
"Huh? What about him?"
"Why do you hang out with him?"
"You know how I was new? He was the first kid to share his crayons. We've been inseparable ever since."
"How inseparable?"
"Excuse me?"
"You know, do you guys…" I wiggled my eyebrows, hoping she would get it.
"No! Never! Oliver's a little horn dog, and he's always got a girl waiting around to keep him happy."
"Hmm. Awkward."
"Yea, yea, I know. Why you so curious?"
"I… um…" I panicked, sure that my questions had seemed nonchalant. "I was just….wondering…"
"Oh no." She stopped walking, looking at me. "Tell me you're not another Oliver-chaser!"
I breathed out a sigh of relief; she so had the wrong idea. "Ha! I barely even know him. I've said like, two words to the kid."
"Just making sure."
"Why? Are you an Oliver chaser?"
"Yea, right. There are better fish in the sea."
"Like who?"
"Like….Hey! This isn't interrogate Lilly day! You're the new kid. You see anyone you like?"
"Trust me, I do." I mumbled.
"What?"
"Oh…you know."
"Who? Who is it?"
"You wouldn't tell me, I'm not telling you." I stuck my tongue out at her.
"Ugh. Of course." She sounded disgruntled. "We're almost here." She turned onto this wooden walkway that led us right to the sand. She pointed at a little shack. "This is Rico's. He's a conniving little boy, so avoid him if you can." We kept walking on the beach, which was still full of people even though it was getting dark. She pointed to a small building on the sand. "This is the surfboard renting shop. You can tell that by the sign out front that says surfboard rental shop." I laughed. "It does wakeboards too."
"I can't surf."
"Well don't worry about that. I can teach you." She said as if it was obvious.
"You don't really want to teach me, you're just dying to spend more time together." I don't know what possessed me to say that, except for I was sure she would blush if I did. And, sure enough, she did. "Well you're cute when you blush aren't you?" And she was.
"Um…thanks. You too."
"I'm cute when I blush?"
"Nope. You're cute when I blush." We both laughed.
"Yea, you're real clever Lilly."
"I know." She smirked.
Yea. I'll get you. You watch."
"Try. I dare you." She taunted me.
I laughed. "Fine." I took a step towards her, and for a moment she looked panicked. My foot went in a hole, and I fell towards her. She caught me.
"Aww, look. You're already throwing yourself at me."
I straightened myself up. "I am not."
I must have had a huffy look on my face, because she just laughed. Then, my phone started to ring. I pulled it out quickly. "Hello?" I asked breathlessly, sounding as if I'd run a marathon.
"Miley!" Two voices chorused at me.
"Yea?"
"It's Amber." One voice echoed. "And Ashley!" The other one said.
"Hi…" I wondered if they had called for any particular reason, other than to demonstrate their perfectly choreographed way of speech.
"So, we've decided we want you to ride to school with us tomorrow, ok?"
"Ok."
"Well, we'll see you tomorrow!" They both yelled. They'd hung up before I could answer.
"And that was Amber and Ashley, ready to indoctrinate you into their society." She hung over the railing of some building we were now by. We had walked across most of the beach, and were now completely alone in the semi-darkness.
"They seem like nice girls." Annoying, and a little crazy, but…maybe nice. Actually, they didn't really strike me as nice at all. But I liked the way they obviously drove Lilly crazy.
"Ugh. They probably don't even know what nice is. They're the craziest people in the world, and they're so mean, that if they donated blood, the person who got it would immediately become Cruella Devil." She started to turn red, and I could feel the pressure building up behind her. I kind of liked it. "I mean, how could you even want to be friends with them? They're stupid, and ignorant, and mean, and totally not worth your time. You should be friends with…" She stopped, looking like she'd said too much.
"Friends with who?" I leaned against the back of a bench across from her railing. "Friends with you?" I said nonchalantly. She didn't answer, and the waves crashed in the background. "Serious. Who should I be friends with?" She looked like she was going to throw up. "I'm waiting." I said playfully.
"Yea, I guess. Friends with me."
"That's what I thought." I smiled, glad she'd admitted I should be friends with her. Because if she thought that, it meant she wanted to be friends with me. And God, did I want her to be my friend. I laughed.
"What's so funny?" She demanded, but I chose not to answer. If she only knew. "Ugh." You're driving me crazy, woman." She looked away from me. "Come on, it's dark. Let's go home.
"Oh, are you going to be so sweet as to walk me?"
"No…" She drawled. "You're just going to be so creepy as to follow me." She teased back at me.
"I don't know what you're talking about." We both laughed at how stupid we were being. We lapsed into silence. Soon we were at our houses, and the walk ended far too soon for my taste. "Hey Lilly," I said, right before turning away. "It looks like you got your wish."
"And what was that?" She asked coyly.
"It looks like we're friends."
"Oh trust me. That was your wish." I laughed, jumping up the few steps to my house. I'd thought about arguing back, but what was the point? She was right.
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So, what do you think? This is heating up ain't it? Reviewss are alwayssss welcome.
