Well, this chapter ends in a stupid place, I know, I know. Read and review!
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I rolled over in my bed. I ran my arms up and down the sheets and blankets on either side of me, but it was as I'd expected; there was no one there. I'd just been dreaming. I propped myself up on my elbows, disappointed to the verge of tears. I had always hated dreaming, because I always woke up disappointed with reality. But this one was particularly a letdown.
I swung my legs over the edge of my bed, steadying myself and rubbing my eyes, wiping away the unshed tears. Pulling myself off the bed, I stumbled over to my dresser, grabbing whatever clothes I thought would look good. Slowly, very slowly, I made my way to my bathroom. Getting ready in the morning was always a long process, it was best to start as soon as I could.
When I stepped out of the bathroom I was met by a rush of cool air. While brushing my hair with one hand I put on mascara with the other. I quickly put mousse in my hair, scrunching it with my free hand. Amber and Ashley would be here soon, and I needed to look good today. I quickly straightened my bangs and hurried downstairs with my bag.
"Well look who decided to come downstairs. I was wondering if you were intending on going to school, or just using hot water all day."
"Good morning to you too Daddy." I hugged him, hopping up on a stool. He put some eggs and a few pieces of bacon on it, passing me a fork. "Thanks."
"Just doing my job. Well, getting ready to. I want to finish that new song today if I can."
"That would be great." I quickly ate between words.
"Slow down bud, the food's not going anywhere!"
"Dad," I moaned, disgruntled. "My friend's coming to give me a ride, and will probably be here soon.
"Could this be the Lilly girl from across the street?"
"What? Why? Why would I be getting a ride with her?"
"Calm down Miles. Jackson was telling me about her. He said you met her yesterday."
"Oh. Well, it's these two girls in my grade, Amber and Ashley." I finished my sentence, and a horn honked out front. "That's them. Gotta go!" I grabbed my bag and hurried out the door, eager to get to school.
"Have a nice day darlin'!"
I shut the door behind me and got in to the back seat of Amber's car. "Hey Miley!" She said in that all-too-perky voice.
"Yea, hey." Ashley echoed.
"Hi girls." Amber put the car in drive and burned rubber off of my street.
"So," Amber said, "We're getting tickets to the Hannah Montana concert next month. You want to come?"
"What day is that?" I asked, already knowing the date.
"I think it's the 13th." Ashley said.
She was wrong, it was the fourteenth. "I can't. The 13th and 14th of next month my Dad's mom is coming to visit us at the new house."
"Oh." Amber said, obviously not used to hearing someone turn them down. "Fine. She looked in the rearview mirror, and at first I thought she was studying me. "Damn it. Here come the town losers."
Ashley burst into uncontrollable giggles. I looked behind us, and saw Oliver and Lilly pulling even with us in a cherry red Mustang with the top down. I fought the urge to wave enthusiastically to her. After last night I should probably think twice about her. My window was up, and they were all tinted, but I imagined Lilly was staring straight through it into my soul.
Ashley rolled up her window and Amber continued to drive as if they weren't there anymore. The Mustang kept pace with us, then, suddenly zoomed ahead into the school parking lot. Amber pulled into the parking lot, taking a space as close as she could to the school. We all got out, and they flanked me, Amber hooking her arm through my left, and Ashley through my right. We went right to the front of the school, just as Jake got out of his limo.
"Oh Jake, hi." Ashley simpered.
"Ashley, shut up. Jake, we've got a party going on at Matt's house tomorrow. You want to come?" She batted her eyes at him.
"Ladies, ladies, don't worry. I'll be there. See you?" He winked at her.
They both took their hands off me and giggled to each other. He sauntered away. Oliver and Lilly walked by, he with his arm around her shoulders. That burned me on the inside. Amber and Ashley watched them both walk by. "Ugh. I always knew they'd end up together." Amber said. Lilly looked over her shoulder at me, and dropped her arm from Oliver's waist.
"What do you mean together?"
"Like together together." Ashley said as if I was stupid. It was starting to get on my nerves the way they finished each other's thoughts.
"Oh. I didn't think they were together." Lilly had said they weren't.
"You'll learn Miley." Amber said.
"Yea, you will." They both turned to walk into the school as if on cue, and I followed them like I was a lost dog. We walked slowly through the halls. The warning bell rang. "Ok, we have to go to homeroom. See you during lunch." They left me in the hall.
I walked quickly to my locker. I had just opened it when a familiar voice called out softly to me. "Hey Miley."
"Lilly." I said, half relieved and half worried. "Hey." I turned around and leaned against my locker. "How's it going?"
"Oh, pretty good." She said, in that same soft voice. She reached slowly towards me, and for a moment, I froze, sure I knew what was going to happen next. Then her arm reached past my shoulder, and she opened her locker. I breathed a sigh of relief, and stepped a little farther from her.
"I didn't know your locker was here."
"Me either." She smirked at me. "I mean yours." She indicated my opened locker.
"Yea. It was the only empty locker."
"Well, poor you. Now you'll have to see me a few times everyday. You're my neighbor, you're my locker neighbor. Sorry." She sounded as if she was offering up a sincere apology.
I scoffed. "Yea, like I mind seeing you a lot." I said sarcastically.
She looked at me, smiling a crooked smile that melted my heart. "I've got to go to class." She smiled at me one more time, before turning and walking away. I watched her figure leave. The bell rang, signaling I was late for homeroom. I slammed my locker shut, running in the opposite direction.
It seemed like the day dragged on far too long. The few hours before lunch felt like days. When the bell rang I quickly gathered my books, and dropped them off at my locker. I hung around for a while, hoping to see Lilly, but it seemed like she'd beaten me. By the time I got to the lunch room it was packed, most tables were full, and Jake was already surrounded by a large group of people. I remembered the first time I'd met him. Well, the first time Hannah met him. We hadn't been formally introduced, and he had decided it would be sufficient to walk up and say, "I'm Jake Ryan. I'd like you to date me so that we can become the nation's hottest couple. What do you say?" Needless to say, Hannah had turned him down with a few well chosen words, including 'Hell' and 'No.'
I was on my way to the lunch line when he caught me by my arm. "Hey Miley." He said in what I'm sure he thought was a seductive voice. "You look really familiar."
"Let me guess, you've seen me in your dreams?"
"No no." He paused. "Have you heard that one before?"
"Yes."
"Well I really do recognize you. You look like this girl I know…" I took his moment of indecision to sneak away from him and get in the lunch line.
I slowly walked through the line, looking for something I wanted to eat. There wasn't really anything. I walked through, just getting a soda again. When I came out of the line I looked in the direction of Lilly and Oliver. They were sitting across the table from each other. Oliver had his back to me and was talking animatedly, waving his hands while he looked down towards his food. He didn't seem to notice that Lilly was no longer looking at him, but was staring directly at me. I started to make my way over to their table, and was about halfway there when Amber and Ashley intercepted me.
"Miley where are you going? We sit over here." They left me no choice but to follow them. I looked longingly at Lilly before turning to follow them. When we sat down Amber and Ashley had their backs to Lilly, and I could see her between the two of them. They talked to me, but it was just meaningless banter, and they didn't actually require me to answer, or even pay attention. Lilly got up from her table, and I watched her leave the cafeteria. She looked at me as she got to the doorway. Then, she pushed it open and was gone. Oliver went to talk to one of his friends.
"I have to go to the bathroom." I muttered to Amber and Ashley, and before either of them could follow me, I hurried past them towards the cafeteria door. As the door shut click behind me I looked around to see if I could find Lilly. She was nowhere in sight, so I turned right to head towards the nearest bathroom.
"You following me Stewart?" She said in a low silky voice. I jumped back, and my back hit the wall.
"Come on Truscott, why would I follow you?" If she wanted to play games, I could play back.
"I don't know…Miley." She leaned forward, lessening the space between us and putting her hand on the wall beside my head. "Why don't you tell me?" She looked down at me.
I put my face closer to hers, until they were almost touching. "I just had to go to the bathroom." I gently pushed her back from me and walked the rest of the way to the girl's room. As the door swung shut I quickly looked back to where I'd left Lilly. She was still standing there, looking stunned. I breathed out quickly, and my hand felt like it was burning from where I'd touched Lilly. I held in a laugh that was trying to escape me, and, to pass time, washed my hands, once, twice, three times. The door opened, and the empty bathroom was no longer empty. Lilly walked in. She washed her hands too.
"So…" She said nervously. "How do you like that Amber and Ashley?"
I followed her lead and didn't speak of what had just happened in the hallway. "I'm not sure that I do." She looked heartened by the idea. "They're just..you know."
"Yea." We both reached for paper towels at the same time, and our hands brushed. An awkward silence followed. "Sorry."
"Naw, my fault. Sorry." She grabbed them first and we both dried our hands. We walked out, and she held the door open for me. "Thanks." We walked side by side down the hallway. I stopped in front of the cafeteria door, and so did she. "So what game are you playing?"
"No games." She stepped around me into the cafeteria. I wondered if she was serious, or if it was another game. I had no choice but to follow her in and go back to Amber and Ashley. But, I decided, if she wanted to play, I was going to show her what games really were.
After school that day I was dragged to the Escalade by Amber and Ashley. "We're going shopping!" They had both shouted excitedly. Now I was following them around the mall, pretending to be excited about all the great things they were buying. I swear, not even Hannah bought this much at once. Or spent this much at once. It was like they were drawn to every expensive thing at the store. And they're meaningless banter was killing me. They flirted with everyone they met, stared at boys like they were blind and could finally see, and paraded me around like I was their newest conquest. They also insisted on buying me things, which I couldn't pretend I didn't enjoy. Like the American Eagle sunglasses. Amazing. I was wishing they would just take me home when my phone rang.
Hold On, Hold On, Hold On, Hold On. When you love someone and they break your heart don't give up on love, have faith restart.
I opened the text message, and was met by an unknown number and a simple 'I see you.'
I looked around to see if anyone near me was texting. There were at least ten people within fifty feet of me who were, and none of them were looking at me. Amber and Ashley were arguing over whether or not a Latte was fat free in the food court, completely ignoring me. I answered the text. 'I can't see you.'
'I know. You having fun with Amber and Ashley?'
'Nope.'
'I know.'
'That obvious?'
'Yea. So why don't you ditch them?'
'That'd be rude. They're trying to be my friends.'
'No, they're trying to add the new girl to their group.'
'And I'm the new girl.' It wasn't a question, as I'd already suspected as much.
'Yes. You are.'
'Huh. Well, that's fun.'
'Ok then. Let me know when you want to dump the bitches and actually have fun.'
'Who is this?'
'Lilly.' I looked around quickly, and could have sworn I'd seen a flash of blonde hair disappearing from the second floor balcony.
'How'd you get my number?' I asked quickly.
'You know. I asked around.' I shut my phone, looking back up to the balcony. I'd underestimated her. She was very good at games.
"Hey Miley." They snapped me out of my thoughts. "Let's go. We can't get anything fat free here." I loyally followed them out of the mall, to the car, and they dropped me off at home. "Bye!" Ashley said. "We'll pick you up tomorrow before school!"
"You know guys, I think I'll drive ok? I'll meet you there." Amber gave me a look right before I shut the door that plainly said it wasn't ok.
I carried my bags upstairs to my room. The clock said six, which seemed to be in sharp contrast with how exhausted I was. I briefly considered just dropping onto my bed, but went downstairs to get something to eat. Jackson was at the table.
"Hey Jackson." He grunted in acknowledgement. "Where's Dad?"
"I don't know. I think he went to go see a man about a full summer Hannah Tour."
"Oh ok." He must have been out to dinner with my manager. I warmed myself up some of what Jackson was having, leftover spaghetti. We didn't speak much, so I was surprised when he broke the silence.
"I met that Lilly girl today after school."
"You did?"
"Yea. I turned on the Jackson charm. I think she digs me." He smiled down to himself.
"Did she ask about me?"
"Oh yea she did. She wanted your cell phone number, so I gave her it."
That explained how she'd gotten my number. She said she'd asked around, but I knew no one at school but Amber and Ashley had it. I finished my food, leaving Jackson at the table and going back upstairs to my room. My phone rang from where it was on the charger. I groaned. What could Amber and Ashley want now?
'…have faith restart, just hold on…'
But, when I opened my phone, I saw the message wasn't from either of them. It was from Lilly.
'Want to go for an evening walk?'
I considered saying no, because so far, I was losing this game. But then I remembered, it'd only just begun. 'Sure. Where are you?'
'Outside your house.'
'Alright. I'm coming out.' I shut the phone, hurrying down the stairs. Jackson was still at the table. "I'm going out. I'll be back soon."
"Whatever." He said, probably not really listening.
I opened the door, and there was Lilly, leaning against my car on the sidewalk. "Hey." She smiled at me.
"So you just can't get enough of me, can you Lilly?"
"You know it." She smiled wider. "I figured we'd go down to the boardwalk and go through the stores. Unless you're totally shopped out for the day." She smirked.
"Me? Shopped out? You afraid you can't keep up?"
"Me? Afraid? You're crazy. Come on."
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Haha, there were a lot of awkward moments in that now that I reread it...I might need to rewrite it too...Tell me what you thought.
