Chapter 24

The Envelope Please

The next day came and things looked worse for Maggie. Her fever went up another degree. The blood cultures came back with a positive result for bacteria that normally doesn't do anything in the human body. But then again, that's only when the human body was healthy. Now there was nothing to hold back the little bugger and it was doing what nature designed it to do. Reproducing. The race was on. Dr. Ryan needed to find the right combination of drugs and antibiotics to kill off the bacteria before it could overwhelm Maggie's body. Just another way of saying killing her. But that was what all those years of medical school were for. She didn't torture herself just to give up and lose patients. No, this was her war and she was going to win it. You see, unlike other doctors in this line of work that kept track of the ones they saved, she kept track of both. She called it her batting average. It was still below five hundred, but it was coming up nicely. That was because she worked herself to death to kill this killer of children. Medical advances were really starting to make headway in this area. Ten or twenty more years and everyone's batting average would be in the nine hundreds. Dr. Ryan prayed for that day everyday. She looked at Maggie's chart again.

Dr. Ryan called the nurse over and gave her some new orders for Maggie. The order also included update notifications every three hours. Just like Babe Ruth who was supposed to have called his shot, so did she. This one is going home Dr. Ryan promised herself.

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Miley woke with a smile on her face. She had a great night with everyone last night. Especially at the teen dance club they ended the night at. Slow dancing and kissing. One of the best combinations in the world. At least in her book. She got up and got ready for the beach. On top of her suit she had a tank and running shorts. Miley decide to French braid her hair. Teeth brushed and she was downstairs to start the day.

That was strange. Dad was not up. But Jackson was and was eating cereal in front of the TV. He was watching cartoons. Okay.

"Jackson, where's dad?"

"He got back late last night."

"Hot date with Carey?"

"No."

"Didn't he and Carey go out last night?"

"Yes."

"Then what did they do last night?"

A pained looked passed over Jackson's face. Miley's happy day came crashing down. Something was wrong. She went and sat down on the chair.

"Spill Jackson. What's wrong?"

"Dad and Carey spent most of the night at the hospital. Maggie's running a fever."

Miley felt a sudden chill of fear run up her spine.

"Is it bad?"

"Not yet."

"Well it must be if dad and Carey spent most of the night with Sara! Don't lie to me, Jackson!" Miley was getting worked up.

"Keep it down, Miles. You're going to wake dad."

"FINE!" Miley turned and went back up stairs. She came back down later with her beach bag and stormed out of the house.

Miley found her favorite spot on the beach. Not too hard at this time of day. But still the beach was filling up fast. After setting up and putting lotion on her body, she lay down with her tank top off, shorts still on and sunglasses to hide her teary eyes. After about twenty minutes of worst case scenarios, her cell rang out to her. She turned to her bag and pulled out her phone. Wrong one. It was her other phone. She knew she should have left them at home.

She looked around and then answered the phone.

"Talk to me." She had an 'I don't want to be disturbed' sound in her voice.

"Sorry, Hannah. If you're not up to talking right now, I can call back."

Miley recognized Jake's voice.

"That's okay, Jake. Just a bad start to my day, is all. What's up?" Miley sat up and crossed her legs.

"Well, I just wanted to talk to you about Miley again. But if you're having a bad day, then maybe it can wait for later. Do you want to talk to me about your bad start?"

"I don't know. There's nothing you can do to help anyways."

"Well, why don't you just dump on me like you let me do the last time."

"I don't know."

"Come on, what are friends for?"

"So we're friends?"

"I'd like to think so."

"Okay. We're friends."

"Good. Now why are you having a bad morning?"

Miley wasn't thinking straight because she was upset about Maggie and just started right in on what was going on.

"When I got up this morning, my brother told me that Maggie was running a fever."

"Maggie's your friend that has leukemia, right?"

"Yeah. She's getting a bone marrow transplant this week. And if the fever doesn't break then they can't do the transplant and she might die."

"I can see where that would put a downer on your morning. But don't go putting the cart before the horse, Hannah."

"And just how am I doing that?"

"Well believe it or not, Miley has a friend going through the same thing right now too."

OOPS!

"And if I remember right, she said that there was a week, I think, before they do the transplant. So don't get too worried too fast, and let the doctors do their thing."

"Okay, I guess your right about going off at the handle. I'll try to keep it in perspective. Thanks."

"You're welcome."

"So what's up with you and this Miley girl?"

"Well, I really like her, you know."

"I got that feeling from the last time we talked about her."

"But Miley likes this boy from Boston. I mean she really likes him very much. And at first I thought about stealing her away from him."

"YOU WHAT?"

"Chill. I'm not going to do that."

"And what changed your mind?"

"Lilly and Oliver."

"Who are they?"

"Her best friends. And she seems to trust them with this huge big secret that she has."

"She does?"

"Yeah. And no matter how hard I try, they just won't tell me what it is."

"Isn't that what friends are suppose to do when it comes to secrets?"

"Well, yes. And they always tell me that I have to ask her about it or prove myself to be trustworthy to her."

"Do they tell you how to prove yourself?"

"Yes."

"And?"

"They said I need to by myself and not Jake Ryan the Zombie Slayer."

"Is that so hard to do?"

"I don't know."

"Is she worth it?"

"YES!"

"Well, there's your answer. Hey Jake, I have to go. I've got to get ready for the meeting with the Leukemia Foundation."

"So, who won?"

"That's what the meeting's for, silly. And if I did know, I wouldn't tell you."

"Thanks, Hannah. Bye."

"Bye, Jake."

Miley packed her stuff up in a much better mood. Jake was right. It was still early. She needed to wait and see what was happening before 'losing it' like she was. She also owed Lilly and Oliver big time. But she always knew that she could trust them. When Miley got back to the house, everyone was there except for her dad. He should be getting done with the meeting and be back soon.

"Hi everyone." Miley walked over to Oliver and kissed him on the cheek.

"Thanks for being such a good friend Oliver."

"Anytime." A confused Oliver replied.

She then walked over to Lilly and gave her a big hug.

"Thanks for being such a good friend too, Lilly."

Then she hugged and kissed Cody and headed upstairs to change.

"That didn't look like the Miley you described leaving the house, Jackson." Lilly told him.

"Maybe some alien body snatcher came and switched Mileys?"

Everyone just looked at him.

"It could have happened."

Lilly got up and went after Miley.

-

"Come in," Miley told the person knocking on the door. She figured it was Lilly. She was right.

"Jackson said you left in a huff this morning."

"I found out about Maggie and kind of lost it. But you'll never believe who helped me."

"Okay, spill."

"Jake Ryan called me on the Hannah phone."

"Wait. Did he call you Miley or you Hannah?"

"Me Hannah."

"And he wanted to talk to you Hannah about?"

"Me Miley."

"And what did he want to ask you Hannah about you Miley. Wait a minute. This is just way to weird."

"Well, first he wanted to steal me Miley away from Cody. But then with the way you and Oliver protect my secret, he wanted that type of trust from me Miley. He was asking Hannah how he could do that. But then he realized that you and Oliver already told him how to do it and was going to try following your guys' advice."

"Nothing is ever simple with you is it?"

"What can I say? I'm not a normal teenager. I'm Hannah Montana."

"MILEY…."

"COMING DADDY."

Miley and Lilly came downstairs to find her dad in the kitchen.

"Spill Daddy. Who won?"

"Well, since I need to tell you so you don't freak out when you read it, the winning school was Seaview Middle School and the winning group was yours."

Miley, Lilly and Oliver celebrated the victory over Amber and Ashley.

"YES! Jake did it!" Miley yelled.

"Jake did what bud?"

"He over heard Amber and Ashley planning on buying the win with their Daddy's money. They just wanted the night on the town. They didn't care about helping others. So Jake got his studio to make a nice donation."

"Well, just remember, you don't know them or go to that school."

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The rest of the day passed with questions about Maggie and what was being done. Miley handled the news pretty well, remembering Jake's advice to her on the wait and see what the doctors can do first. After lunch, Oliver headed home so Jake could pick him up. Jake did have backstage passes after all. It would be up to Oliver to send word when they where coming backstage. Miley and Lilly went up to the Hannah closet so Miley and Lilly could get ready. After they change, Hannah and Lola came out to do their make-up. Shortly after they got started, there was a knock on the door.

"Come in."

"Wow! It's really something watching you change into Hannah. It's really amazing how much you don't look like you, if you know what I mean."

"Thanks, Maddie. I really worked hard at it," Hannah told her.

"What do you think of this outfit, Maddie?" Lola asked as she came out of the bathroom.

"That's great, Lola."

With that they headed downstairs to leave for the concert hall.

"Wow! When did Hannah and Lola get here?" Zack asked.

"That's Miley and Lilly, Zack." Cody rolled his eyes.

"I knew that. I was just testing you."

-

The concert started on time and was very loud with the excitement of the up coming announcement. After singing half of the songs on the play list, Hannah stopped to make the first announcement.

"Okay. Everyone having a good time?" This was followed by screams and whistles.

"Are you ready for the winner of the Leukemia Foundation Dance Contest?" This was followed by more screams and whistles.

"The envelope, please." Hannah looked off stage as she said this.

"I always wanted to say that."

One of her dancers brought out an envelope and handed it to her. Hannah opened the envelope and pulled out the piece of paper. The crowd got quiet.

"The winning school is………Seaview Middle School!" The kids from Seaview that where there want wild. Others clapped politely.

"Now can I have the envelope of the student or group of students that collected the most donations?"

Another dancer brought out an envelope and handed it to her. Hannah opened the envelope and pulled out the paper.

"Ah. It's a group of four students at Seaview that has won. They are Oliver Oken, Jake Ryan, Miley Stewart, and Lilly Truscott. Congratulations."

The crowd cheered for the winners, but got louder as the next song started.

Hannah sang the rest of the play list and ended the concert as she always did with Best of Both Worlds.

"THANK YOU LOS ANGELES AND GOODNIGHT!"

Hannah bowed and walked off stage.