Chapter Eleven

Read

Read: v. tr. ; To utter or render aloud; To have the ability to examine and grasp the meaning of; and To determine the intent or mood of

Today was the day.

And the slightly better demon asked,

Nervous?

No.

Worried?

Nah.

Afraid of reaction?

You could say so.

Especially Miley's?

Yeah.

Okay.

Yes.

- the demon had gotten better, a lot better, actually. It was very nice and it liked to keep Lilly company when she needed it. Which was a lot some days and almost nothing other days. But it was nice to have someone to talk to, share your worries with.

But today was the day, and Lilly couldn't change that. Even if she wanted to.

She wasn't sure if she did.

--

"Do you want a bite of my pizza, Lilly?"

It was nice, pepperoni, cheese, bacon. Yum-yum.

Replying, grinning, very much from ear to ear, "I'd like a bite of your pizza, Miley."

"It's pepperoni, cheese and bacon."

"Yum-yum."

She took a bite of Miley's pizza. The taste of cheese was wonderful at the tip of her tongue, but not as much as the taste of Miley was, and it had burned itself permanently onto her tongue since they shared their first kiss.

She chewed, "Yum-yum."

Grinning, not so much from ear to ear, "Can I have a bite of your pizza, Lillian?"

Swallowing, "You can have a bite of my pizza, Mileyan."

It was pepperoni, cheese and bacon.

They always shared.

--

"So today's the day, then."

Ms. Scribo placed a stack of papers on her desk and Lilly felt the nervousness in her stomach, but the excitement in her heart. Today was the day. They'd get their assignments back; with grade, and they'd read them aloud in class. She had feared, dreaded, feared it.

But today was the day.

She glanced at Miley next to her, happy to have her back with support. Ms. Scribo knew she needed to be there. Therefore today was the day. After Miley started school again.

Ms. Scribo continued, smiling, wonderfully, happy, "I've really enjoyed reading your poems this time. They were all very different, some were better than others, and I even fell in love."

Lilly felt her heart skip a beat.

"No one failed, quite a lot got an A+ - you should be proud."

Lilly almost felt like she was talking especially to her, but she wasn't. She was talking to the entire class – but Lilly was a part of that. She wrote her soul into her lyrics, and Ms. Scribo knew how vulnerable she felt. Yet, she still couldn't wait until she'd read her poem aloud in class.

Miley was there.

Ms. Scribo smiled, eyes locked shortly with Lilly's, "So who wants to start? Lillian?"

Yes, of course.

"I'd like to start."

Ms. Scribo moved away from her desk and reached for the paper on the top, "Yours is on the top – what a coincident."

Lilly pushed her chair back, happy, very happy, for once, "What a coincidink!"

Miley giggled. Ms. Scribo smiled. And handed her the paper. Lilly took it. Breathed slowly in. Turned to the class. "It's called… Lingerer." She said,

And I often wonder,
what exactly happens when we die?
Do our souls fly away,
or do we stick around a while?

Do we see an old head,
poking through the clouds,
telling us to hurry,
us to enter his Heaven House?

(The rhythm of the poem, the lyrics made her safe, made feel invincible, alright, good. It made her feel like nothing was ever too hard for her to overcome; they had gotten this far, they could get further. It was perfect, it was her and Miley, it was poetry and wheels that mend, creates the perfect A. It was everything, and it was nothing, it was all she could wish for.)

Does he,
with a smile on his face,
tell us time is done,
and that we have to leave this place?

Or what about the ones,
who aren't quite there?
Will he force them to the sky
or let them try to live here?

(A pause. Slightly. Looking at Miley, locking eyes with her.

Teary Miley Blue Eyes – not so good; moved, saddened, worried about the future.

Lillian – reading, moving people, reading people, seeing Miley's pain.)

"Lingerer," he will say,
"Hurry to my side
You shouldn't linger in the past
The present will skip you by."

"Lingerer," he will say,
"Come get your halo and your wings
Come listen to Maria,
Hallelujahs, as she sings."

"Lingerer," he will say,
"The slow will get a scratchy robe
My side is free for all,
a saint, a sinner and a for hope."

(And then there was a tear.)

And he will pull his head back up,
his smile stiff with the unspoken
And then I wonder for awhile,
what happens with the broken?

(It slipped down her pale cheek.)

The broken souls of Earth,
ruined with despair
Who puts them back together,
Who combs their fairy hair?

(Teary Miley Blue Eyes – the broken – was crying.)

Those souls, they are somewhere,
between their death and life
Ingenious, they are pierced,
between wrong and right

(And more slipped away, ran for their escape. Lilly felt scared, felt frightened, what wouldn't happen next?)

Their bodies might be whole,
and their hearts might be pumping,
but their souls have fled away
Through the heart's thump-thump-thumping

(The rhythm, it made her safe. Miley's tears made her worried, but the smile on her face made her proud, surer, sure that maybe it was alright, and that maybe they would be good. And maybe Miley could really see it.)

The broken with wounds,
and scars for life
Not quite ready to leave,
but just lingering by

The broken who have almost,
given up their fights
How do we fix them,
make them alright?

The class applauded her as Lilly let her hand fall to her side, paper falling with it. She locked eyes with Ms. Scribo; encouraging, proud: Locked eyes with Miley; sad, but happy.

She opened her mouth to speak, "For Miley." She finished.

Ms. Scribo moved to take in her desk, her domain, and said to Lilly, just to let her know, "It was perfect Ms. Truscott. The choice of words, the emotion. And I liked the change of rhythm by the end, it made it final. No surprise you got an A+."

--

"Did you like the movie, Mileyan?"

Breathing on her lip, her cheek, her nose, "I really liked to movie, Lillian, I did."

The night was clear, almost cold, brushing against the bare arms, "Do you wanna go to the beach with me? Before I drive you home? And we say goodnight?"

She took her hand, squeezed it, made it tingle. They turned down the street, could see the wonderful Casper by the end of the road, "Tryin' to lure me to the beach on the first date? You're a real wild child! How come I ended up here with ya?"

Stopping, pausing, pushing, nose against nose, "What did you think was going to happen on the beach, Mileyan?"

Locking eyes, holding breaths, thinking, opening mouth, beautiful lips; moving, whispers in the starry night, "I don't know. Something amazing, I guess."

--

There was a knock on the door.

Heather said, "Lillian, it's for you."

Miley was at the door. The sun was in her hair and behind her, lit her; the fire. She was wearing jeans, a top, flip-flops; she had never been more beautiful with spiky hair and a light makeup. Lilly felt her heart thump. It was a great feeling.

"Lilly."

Breathing, soft breathing.

"Do you wanna go for a walk with me on the beach? A walk? Do you?"

"Do I?"

"I dunno, do you?"

A smile, "Yeah, I do."

She reached for Miley's hand, and she did not pull away.

There was a silence between them as they walked the short path to the beach, there was a silence between them as they walked on the beach. But it was comfortable. It was nice, it was Miley and Lilly. Lilly could feel Miley's fingers against her own; wonderfully recognizable. She could hear her breathing; calming. Her steps; reassuring. It was all she could ask for; really.

She wondered; wondered about them, about Miley and about their first date; dinner and a movie. She had thought so much about it, remembered stuff she hadn't remembered before. The good memories and what had happened between them that night, in the pizza place, in the movie theatre, and on this beach; this exact beach.

Miley had gotten better, a lot better. And maybe it was time to let her know that she was remembering; that she could see it all so clearly in her head, and sometimes outside her head too, when she really squeezed her eyes together, small slits, and imagined, made it happen before her eyes. She remembered how they had teased each other, caressed each other, and loved each other, right that evening.

Perfection.

Miley's voice cut through her thoughts, fingers playing playfully, "Lilly, I've been thinking…"

Eager, much too eager; face lighting up, eyes going big, eager, "Yes?"

She giggled, her cute, amazing giggling giggle, "I've been thinking about The Talent Show…"

Oh, alright. So it wasn't exactly what she wanted to hear, but still something wonderful; if she said yes, of course, "Oh alright." A pause, a swallow, a voice, a continuation, "What have you decided?"

"I wanna do that show, Lilly."

They paused, turned to look at each other. It was late, but it was Friday. And it was nice, definitely nice, and Lilly felt good. Miley was beautiful, stunning; Lilly felt good, really good.

Moved, "You wanna do The Talent Show?"

Sighing, "Yes, I do. It's gonna be tough, Lilly. But I wanna try. So I've been playing every day after school, I've been really trying." She stared at the water, then stared at the eyes, "So I'm getting better. And I'm gonna try to write something for the show. If I can't write something, I'm gonna pick one of my songs."

"Really? You wanna do that for me?"

Squeezing the hand, reassuring through the hand, "Yes, I really wanna try. Because I know I can't live without music. And this seems great. Maybe once Hannah is forgotten I can start to sing in school, take music classes, and so people won't hear the similarity."

Lilly reached a hand up, cupped her cheek, it was cold, but it was beautiful, pale even. She stared her in the eye, "You're so brave, Miley. I admire you so much."

A swallow, "Can we… can we sit here for a while? Just the two of us? Can I rest with you?"

"Yeah, of course you can."

--

"It's too cold to go in the water, Lilly! I'm getting the chills here!"

A teasing grin in her direction, slipping off her converse, "C'mon, it's just the feet, that's nothing!"

Objecting, typically Miley, but so wonderfully anyway, "We're gonna get sick down here at the beach, Lillian!"

Hands in sides, looking stern, turning to her, not doing such a good job with the acting, "Mileyan! If we weren't gonna go in the water at the beach, what did you think was gonna happen?"

She made a kissy face, "A little bit of this, a little bit of that."

Grinning, so much from ear to ear, "That could happen too."

--

Back at Lilly's place. Heather wasn't there, she was out; on a date, perhaps. It didn't really matter that much. The two girls sat on the couch, maybe Miley should really sleep over. She had some stuff lying around here anyway. She called home. Robbie said okay. It was good.

Perfection.

Needs just a little more for complete perfection, Lilly decided. She didn't wanna say anything, though. Didn't wanna scare Miley away if she was pushy.

"Feed the horse, yum-yum."

"What?"

Smiling, typical Lilly-smile, "It's just this song I've been addicted to lately. No biggie."

A confused Miley, "Alright…"

"Hey there Miley?"

"Yeah?"

Pausing, "I know you, don't I?"

Breathing, getting closer, "And I know you…"

Agreeing, "We know each other, Miley. Therefore I can read you like an open book, I just know you." Swallowing, moving on, getting closer, going for the gold, "I know that you feel the same as me. And that you're getting better. I can read you."

Getting even closer now, centimeters from each other, breathing, beating, loving, "Lilly, I've been thinking…"

"Yeah?"

"At the beach, I…"

Cutting her off, mischievous grin, knowing it now, knowing it's okay, knowing she can say it, mention it, do it, let her know, "What did you think was going to happen on the beach, Mileyan?"

There, she said it. Done. Now she knows, Lilly remembers. Miley does remember, she has always remembered.

Nose against nose. Breaths mixing, lips touching; love.

"I don't know. Something amazing, I guess."

Whispers in the night, lips exploring, hands moving.

Feed the horse, yum-yum.

Thank you so much for the reviews for the last chapter, they mean the world to me. I hope you know that. And I hope you enjoyed this chapter as well. I tried to write faster this time, but I only think it happened because we have a week off right now (:

Please drop me off a comment? I will try to update soon.

Oh, and the lyrics, even if they weren't used much in this chapter, are by Fagget Fairys, and they're called "Feed the Horse" – you should check out their MySpace, it's an awesome song, and of course the meaning is perfect ;b

And one more thing actually! The poem Lilly read in this chapter, is one of the things that first got this fic started. I couldn't resist, after the poem was there, everything sort of just came together, it fitted one of my other ideas, the idea about Miley losing a leg, and then I sort of just went for it, and tried to make it fit. I really hope you liked the poem.

Disclaimer; I don't own Hannah Montana.