4
Wednesday night at the Los Angeles Astrodome was another loud concert with a reverb shattering across the galaxy. The week before, Kelly Clarkson had honored Hannah by singing "The Best of Both Worlds," and this week, Hannah returned the recognition by singing "A Moment Like This." Ashley Simpson and Alyson Michalka were back stage to say their hellos to Hannah, and as her alter ego, Lola Luvnagle, Lily was sure she recognized the Jonas Brothers as well. Her true identity hidden behind make-up and a bright green cartoon wig, Lily looked like she could from another planet or a reject from a kids TV show from the Disney Channel. From backstage, she danced and sang along with Miley as she played Hannah for a packed house. The reverb was a sonic hurricane with screaming fans, three story tall amplifiers and controlled fireworks going off. At the end, Hannah did her signature song again for the night, blew several kisses to her fans and waved goodbye as her band played the closing chords. The escape to her dressing room had to be quick. It was a sea of people crushing her in and Lily was often squeezed to the end, but Robby was there to catch her and squeeze her into the dressing room behind Hannah and ahead of himself. A breath of relief and Lily and Miley were back in the same room where Lily learned Miley's secret identity the year before. Craft services had left Hannah a table of food and designers left a rack of dresses ready for costume changes between acts. Lily helped herself to the shrimp and sushi as Hannah collapsed to her sofa.
"I don't know how Madonna did seventeen songs a concert…." She gasped for breath. "I can barely handle eight!"
"I think I saw Johnny Collins and Cassie Osment from our history class in the third role." Lily had a hot dog in one hand and a handful of sushi in the other. "Want one?" She offered Hannah some sushi, but her friend waved it away to drink from a water bottle. Her father was pacing back and forth as he talked on a cell phone to security. The limo was running late due to fans crowding the back exit.
"Bud…" Robby wore a fake mustache as Hannah's manager. He knelt down to her eye level on the couch "I've got some bad news for you. Jesse's here backstage."
"What?!!!" Hannah and Lily screeched in unison.
"His mother the recording executive promised him he could interview Hannah Montana for your school newspaper." Robby realized the young con was now getting on his nerves! "This boy's getting to be a busy bee under my saddle, and I ain't going to stand for it." He paused a second to catch his breath. "Look, sending him away could be bad publicity, but then, after that photo, I doubt he's going to think you're Miley, but he could recognize Lily or me. I think she ought to hide in the bathroom while I go off and check on your limo."
"Can't I just tell him I'm sick?" Hannah faked some coughs.
"I doubt even that would get rid of him." Lily stood with her arms crossed.
"Just let him in and then let him out fast!" Robby cracked the door to have Roxy to give Hannah and him a minute before sending the young con artist into the dressing room. Waving Lily into the restroom, he was soon out the back way and phoning the signal to let Jesse in the room. Shooing Lily out of sight, Hannah nervously and fretfully with anxiety prone apprehension composed herself, pulled her blonde wig on tight and looked around for her sunglasses. Where were they?! Her nerves were acting up more than that horrible walk-on she did for the "Corey in the House" TV series. Behind her, Jesse slipped through the door in his suede jacket, black Hannah shirt, blue jeans and steel-toe boots. He was suspiciously complacent for someone who had never met her before. Roxy started to come in behind him, but one of Hannah's fans snatched her hat and she was racing to go get it.
"Well, hey there…. Fan…." Hannah quickly caught herself then looked around for Lily, hoping she was smart enough not to come out. "Uh, I hope you liked the concert."
"I sure did…" Jesse was smiling knowingly. Had he figured out she was really Miley? "You were incredible." He paused. "You know, I'm from Nashville just like you."
"You are?" Hannah noticed Lily's head emergence from the small bathroom and waved her back in. By time Jesse turned round, all he saw was an empty room. In the restroom, Lily pressed her back to the wall out of sight and clutched at her bright green Lola wig and listened scared to death that he didn't come in here.
"So, you want to interview me. Let's make this fast!" She pushed Jesse hard to her sofa and popped down next to him. Groaning from the unexpected push, Jesse blinked and chuckled a bit to Hannah and reached for his recorder in his interior jacket pocket and pointed it to Hanna.
"So…" He smirked a bit connivingly. "What part of Nashville?"
"Uh…." Hanna could not tell him she was from the community of Ridgetop; that response would link her back to her life as Miley. "Oh, you know, the part near the river…"
"Where Reese Witherspoon lived?" Jesse continued smirking at her. "Did you know her?"
"No…" Hanna confessed. "She had moved on by that point. Moving along…." She tried to speed him along before her father returned and was recognized by him.
"Do you have a real name?" Jesse asked.
"Why would you ask that?" Hanna's eyes went wide.
"Oh…" Jesse smiled knowingly as she scooted away from him. "Because some stars like Sting or Cher tend to change their names or like you, Lily Trus…." He grabbed and pulled off her wig before she knew it. He stopped and realized he was wrong; Lily wasn't Hanna Montana, it was Miley!!!
"Miley?????!!!!!" He was as caught unprepared as she was. She could only screech in shock and surprise and caught the edge of her long blonde wig on her shoulder by her fingertips. Feelings of fear and shock the young pop star as she dropped her jaw prepared to scream, but just as Oliver had done when he heard the truth, Jesse stared in surprise at her for all of a second then rolled his eyes toward each other as his mind tried to comprehend the situation and he fell backward with the sound of a squeaky old gate swinging shut.
"Oh my god!!!" Lily finally came out of hiding after peeking. "He thought I was Hannah?"
"Lily," Miley hurriedly and awkwardly tried to fix her wig. "He pulled my wig off! He knows I'm Hannah. He's the worst possible person to have figured it out." She fretted too scared to think. "That creep's going to tell everyone in school!"
"Hey," Lily took offense. "That creep's my boyfriend!"
"What am I going to do?" Miley was Hannah again, wig intact but slightly obvious. "My secret is out."
"Wait a second…." Lily bent down over Jesse, pulled him up by the cuffs of his jacket and then dropped him, his head hitting the floor like a bowling ball on a stained wood floor. "Whoops!!" She stroked his head out of love. "Uhhh…. I got nothing…" She picked up his recorder to stick it in his jacket and turned upon hearing the back door of the dressing room. It was Robby Ray coming back in the back way. He closed the door behind ready to announce the limo was ready and then noticed the two girls standing over Jesse's unconscious body on the floor.
"Oh, sweet niblets, you girls killed him, didn't you" He prepared for the worse.
"He jerked my wig off!" Miley was more upset than before. "He thought Lily was Hannah Montana!!!"
"Well," Robby looked confused toward Lily rubbing Jesse's head. "I never expected that outcome!"
"What kind of magic trick do you have to fix this?!!!" Hannah was upset and screaming. "I hope it involves hypnotism cause that's the only thing that's going to work!!"
"Sweetheart…" Robby Ray had another idea. "I think I got some more tricks up my sleeve. After all, I never told Aunt Pearl that Cousin Bo drove his car into the lake while we was trying to jump it."
"Cousin Bo lost his car trying to jump Beaver Lake?"
"Dang it!!" Robby was spilling family secrets left and right. He caught his composure and looked to his daughter. "Okay, here's the plan. You two switch clothes again."
"There's more to this, I hope." Lily sat on the floor with Jesse's head in her lap as she stroked his hair.
"There sure is…" Robby replied. "As long as this time Jesse sticks to the script…."