A/N: Sorry about taking so long. College apps + summer reading + filming my movie + writers block --> delay in updating. But now it's here, so yay!

Now, as I'm sure most of you have noticed, I referenced thunder in the 2nd chapter. This is going to happen in every chapter, just to tie back into the title of the story and also the song in chapter 1. Try and look out for them!

I've got to admit, though, that I had hoped that more people would review this story. Those of you who did review - you are amazing and you truly made my day when you reviewed this story. I'm just confused, because people say that they really like this story, or that it's one of the best one's out there, but then I only get 3 reviews for the 2nd chapter. Oh well. Hope you guys like this chapter, and another one should be coming shortly.

Miley stuffed her books inside her locker, humming lightly. A small smile was plastered on her face, even at seven in the morning. She glanced over and noticed Lily coming over with dark circles under her eyes, slumped shoulders, and her poor book bag dragging behind her. Miley raised an eyebrow at her friend, silently asking her what happened. Lily groaned.

"Next time you have a Hannah concert, make sure your dad doesn't schedule it for a Sunday. I was bouncing around all night, until my mom reminded me about school today," she pointed a finger at herself, "Me, plus three hours of sleep, equals this hideous beast. So, how'd you sleep? You seem a little perky today."

Miley smiled wistfully as she remembered her dream about Jake last night.

"I slept like a baby. A warm, soft, loved baby."

Miley's mind started drifting off, daydreaming about her zombie-slaying boyfriend. Lily just looked at her like she was crazy.

"Right...baby...gotchya. Miley, am I missing something? Because that's twice now that you've had that dreamy look on your face."

Miley immediately sobered up. Now was not the best time to tell Lily about her relationship with Jake. God knows that she'd squeal louder than a pig in a slaughter house when she told her, and Miley wasn't exactly ready to have the whole school know she was dating Jake Ryan. So Miley lied. Again.

"Lily, I don't know what you're talking about - I always look like this!" Miley saw that Lily wasn't buying it, so she quickly changed the subject. "Hey, have you seen Oliver? I haven't talked to that boy in a while."

Right on cue, Oliver burst through the doors, earning stares from the student population. He popped his collar and proceeded to strut down the hallway, nodding cockily at every female he passed. One girl caught his eye and his gaze followed her as she walked past him. Of course, with his eyes on her and not in front, he didn't have a chance to see the open locker blocking him. He slammed into the locker, lost his balance, and crashed onto the floor, causing the whole school to erupt into laughter. Miley cringed while Lily smacked her forehead, muttering curses.

"God, the boy can't even last one minute without making a complete fool of himself."

The two girls rushed to Oliver's side, pulling him up before he embarrassed himself any further. He just brushed off his shoulders.

"Morning, ladies," he glanced at Lily and wrinkled his nose. "You look horrible."

Lily smacked his arm, causing him to clutch it in pain. Miley tried to contain her giggles, but failed miserably. Soon she was clutching her stomach, laughing so much that tears leaked from her eyes. Oliver looked at Lily and cocked an eyebrow.

"Uh, is she ok? She seems a bit...off...today," Lily only shrugged her shoulders in response.

After taking a few deep breaths to calm down, Miley went back to her locker to get her lab notebook, opening it up to her assignments page. Lily and Oliver had begun bickering about something or another and were too busy to see what their friend was doing. Miley felt a presence behind her and she grinned when she heard a soft whisper in her ear.

"I missed you this weekend."

She whipped around and faced Jake with a huge smile on her face. She saw his sparkling eyes staring right into hers and she felt a warm heat flow through her body.

"I missed you too," she whispered back. A grin lit up his face and her insides turned to mashed potatoes. And to think, that grin used to make her want to punch him in the face.

Miley once again grabbed her notebook and started checking off assignments she'd completed. She heard Jake clear his throat and she glanced up at him again.

"Listen, I know I already asked you, but I never got a real answer. So, Miley, would you like to go out on a date with me this Saturday?"

It seemed like the whole school stopped functioning as soon as the words left his mouth. About 300 pairs of eyes landed on the couple, creating a huge traffic jam in the hallway. Even Oliver and Lily stopped what they were doing and stared at them. Everyone was waiting with hitched breaths and the silence was deafening. Miley only went back to her notebook, jotting down tiny notes and reminders. She answered him like it was the most obvious answer in the world.

"No."

A collective gasp sounded throughout the hallway. To say that everyone was shocked would be an understatement. Oliver was floored, Lily was baffled, and Jake was confused. Miley only continued writing in her notebook, oblivious to all the stares she was receiving. Jake looked completely heartbroken.

"But, Miley...I thought that -" he was cut off by the first period bell, warning them to get to class.

It seemed to have snapped the school out of its shock and the students quickly made their way to their classes. Lily and Oliver looked like zombies as they dragged themselves to their class, still dazed about the incident in the hallway. Miley, too, made her way to her first period, but not before kissing Jake on the cheek and slipping a small note into his hand. He looked at her, confused, but she just winked at him. He watched her turn the corner before he glanced at the note in his hand. Quickly making sure he was alone, he carefully unfolded the note and grinned at its contents.

'I wouldn't like to go on a date; I'd love to go on a date. Pick me up at 7?'

Jake realized that he was going to be late for class, so he folded up the note, stuffed it in his pocket, and bolted into his classroom.

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Four periods later, it was lunch-time. Miley was back at her locker, grabbing her books for her afternoon classes. A small note fluttered out of her locker and she bent down to get it. She noticed Jake's scrawl and looked around trying to find him. She caught his gaze and he nodded at her, telling her to read the note. She unfolded the paper.

'Meet me at my locker in ten minutes?'

She looked back up at him and nodded, smiling at him lightly. She closed her locker and made her way into the lunchroom, where she found Lily and Oliver bickering again. She just rolled her eyes at the two of them and sat down. This drew their attention and they turned from each other to look at Miley. They stayed in awkward silence for a bit, before Lily spoke up.

"I can't believe you turned him down!" She always did get straight to the point, "He's so hot! Why would you say no?!"

Oliver, of course, had to put his two cents in.

"Yeah, seriously, I mean, he's a celebrity! And if you date him, then you're famous by association! You'd get all the perks of being a celebrity. Who wouldn't want that!?"

Miley looked at him like he was an idiot while Lily shook her head sadly.

"Oliver, did you forget who I am?" Miley asked him plainly. He just gave her a blank stare and blinked a few times.

"A girl?"

Lily smacked herself at his stupidity. This kid could be so thick at times – sometimes she wondered why he was her best friend.

"God, Oliver, you're such a donut! Miley is a celebrity too, stupid!" she whispered harshly to him. Oliver's mouth formed a silent 'o' and he blushed lightly. They once again started bickering, this time over Oliver's tendency to be incredibly slow.

Miley glanced at the clock above the doorway in the cafeteria and saw that it was time to meet Jake. She quickly excused herself, telling them that she had to go get some help from a teacher, and made her way to Jake's locker. The hallway was deserted, and for that, she was happy. She wanted to have some private time with her boyfriend – if only her boyfriend was there. Miley frowned when she realized that Jake was nowhere to be seen and glanced around to make sure she didn't miss him. She felt a pair of hands encircle her waist and a pair of lips kiss her neck lightly. She smiled and turned around in the arms, looking into sea-green eyes. She lifted her arms and slipped them around his neck gently before brushing her lips against his softly, giving him a chaste kiss. She whispered against his lips.

"Hi."

Jake smiled and kissed her softly.

"Hi."

Miley giggled; that happy gas returning to her system. Being so close to him caused her breath to leave her body, and if his arms weren't wrapped around her, she'd probably crash to the ground. She wanted him to know what he did to her – what he does to her every time she's around him.

"When I'm with you, I feel like I can't breathe – you've taken my breath away, Jake Ryan."

Jake smiled so widely that it reached his eyes. He, Jake Ryan, had swept Miley Stewart off her feet – not something every person can do. He thought it was only fair to return to her what he had taken.

"Well then, let me give you some of mine. It is the law to perform CPR on those who need it."

He grinned and brought his lips down upon hers, giving her the kiss of life. They soon pulled away breathing heavily, trying to get air back into their lungs. Miley looked up at Jake's bright green eyes and smirked.

"Looks like your CPR did more damage than good," she looked at him slyly. He caught on to her game and smirked back at her.

"I guess, but wouldn't you say it was worth it? I know I do."

He leaned in to kiss her again, but the bell rang and students poured out of the cafeteria. Miley softly pushed him away, not wanting the school to see the two lovebirds together. She blew him a kiss and became lost in the crowd, only looking back to see Jake catch her flying kiss and bring his hand to his lips. She smiled at him and made her way to fifth period.

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Jake was on his way home when he decided to call Miley. Unfortunately, he was going to be out the rest of the week at school due to a special double episode of Zombie High that he had to finish for next week. The directors wanted to film both parts of the episode at the same time, thinking it would be more time efficient if they got it done quickly. Therefore, he was going to be at the set from Tuesday morning to Friday afternoon for filming, leaving no time for classes. Jake didn't want to be away from Miley that long, but he had no choice – besides, it would make their date on Saturday all the more special.

He had everything planned out to the tee and was not going to let anything ruin the perfect evening. He was shocked when Miley turned him down, however, and thought that his whole plan was ruined. He thought that she had thought it over last night and decided that she couldn't deal with his fame. But when he read her note, his heart swelled at the underlined 'love' and nearly jumped around in excitement. Miley finally picked up the phone after a couple of rings.

"Hey, Miley. I was just calling to tell you that I won't be at school for the rest of the week, so I probably won't see you until Saturday," he could hear her disappointed sigh and his heart tore a little.

"It's ok, I understand. Is it that new double episode? I hear it's supposed to be good."

He chuckled at his girlfriend. She always knew how to look on the bright side of things – it was one of the things that he found incredibly attractive of her.

"Yup, that's the one. So I just wanted to say that I'll miss you and I can't wait for our date. Feel free to wear whatever you want – it's pretty casual, but I don't mind if you dress up for me," he smirked. He heard her laugh on the other end and he smiled. He loved hearing her laugh.

"Sounds good, Ego-boy," he chuckled at his old nickname, "Oh, and Jake? Listen, I'm sorry about today, it's just that…do you think we could keep our relationship low-key for a while? I know that sounds horrible, but I just don't want to have people stalking us, trying to get a glimpse of Jake Ryan and his new girlfriend, just so they can tell the press and get a few seconds of fame. I want to be with you. Just you. I hope that's ok…" she trailed off, clearly embarrassed of her favor. He wished he could see her right now, knowing that she looked adorable when she was nervous.

"Of course it's ok. I totally understand, and I also want to be with just you. I could really use a break from the fame. So I'll see you Saturday, seven o'clock," she quickly confirmed the date and they said their goodbyes.

After a few minutes, Jake finally arrived at his house and dropped his back pack off in the kitchen. Mrs. Ryan greeted him and tossed him the script for the new episode. He skimmed through it, liking the plot the more he read. He came across a scene where the zombie slayer would be in the middle of a thunderstorm, crying out for the heavens to bring him his true love so that he could find the strength to kill the Zombie King. He smiled widely, earning a curious glance from his mother. He knew that when he heard that thunder, he'd be thinking of Miley the whole time.