A/N: thanks for all the reviews, except for the fact that they contain MASSIVE connor hate and when i said "go review now connor hate" i meant to say "go review NO connor hate." so i'll say it again: please no connor hate (: but for all of you connor haters (and im assuming that's most of you) you will be very happy next chapter. i have the rest of the story planned so it should be up soon. now go read and review (:

Chapter 8

I stood up quickly, my arm covering my face to quiet my sobs. I turn and ran out of the hospital, but I couldn't resist the urge to glance at Oliver's room. We locked eyes, two former friends with tears flowing down our faces.

And it was all my fault.

I ran down the hallway, frantically pushing the elevator button as I tried to stop the flow of silent tears down my cheeks. Luckily, the elevator quickly opened to reveal an empty space, and I jumped in and soon was downstairs in the lobby when my phone started to vibrate.

I opened it without even checking the caller I.D. first. "Hello?"

"Lilly, honey, it's Mom. Is their something wrong?" She asked, concerned.

"No, no, I'm fine," I said as I tried to disguise the sadness in my voice. "What's up?" I chirped.

"Well, I'm stuck here in San Francisco for the weekend," she told me. I wasn't surprised, for something like this came up almost every other week. "Are you ok with that?"

"Yeah, yeah, of course," I lied. "I'll see you on Monday?"

"I'll see you then. And remember, if you need anything, just head over to Miley's, ok? And don't hesitate to call," she said, as she did during every single of these conversations we had.

"Mom, I know. I'm not five. I'll see you later," I quickly hung up the phone. Where was I supposed to go now? I couldn't stand staying in that huge house by myself, but going over to Miley just meant rehashing what had just happened over and over. I couldn't take either right now.

I quickly looked around the lobby, and decided the best option would be to go get something to eat. Quickly arriving at the cafeteria, I decided on a slice of oily cheese pizza and vanilla frozen yogurt to eat my sorrows away.

After paying for the treats, I found an open booth near the corner of the cafeteria and started on my pizza. All too quickly it was gone, though, and I was simply left with my thoughts.

I pulled out my Ipod and put it on shuffle, hoping that it would distract me from my thoughts. The drum beat of Viva la Vida quickly started playing though, and the tears returned.

Coldplay was his favorite.

It was like losing a song from your Top 25 playlist. Once we had been inseparable, but now it was just a distant memory fading away…But unlike a song, I couldn't just press rewind.

Over the next month, we talked exactly 4 times. I cried exactly 32 times, crying myself to sleep every night for 4 weeks, plus each time after we talked.

I was done, though. It had gone on long enough, and I was tired of mourning what could have been. I wanted to start living, start enjoying myself, before it was too late.

Every year, someone decided to hold a huge back to school party on the beach for all the returning high schoolers. I went last year, but this year I decided I would rather just go out somewhere with Connor.

Miley was not pleased when she heard my decision. "Lilly!" She screamed. "You have to go!"

"Why?" I asked.

"Because! Everyone goes. It's like missing out on prom! Come on, it's the last Friday before school. You can see everyone that you haven't seen since June!" She tried to convince me.

"Miley, there isn't anyone I want to see that badly that I haven't seen from June," I rebuffed.

"Come on, Lilly! When we got out of school you were a complete mess. People were talking about you, nasty things Lilly. Don't you think this would be a good way to--" she said and I cut her off as soon as I processed what she had said.

"Wait, what?" I yelled. "They said nasty things about me?"

She turned red and looked around, trying to think of an answer. "Well, there were some rumors…But it doesn't really matter now, anyways."

"What rumors? Why didn't you tell me this before?!"

"I didn't want to hurt you, Lilly. You were already hurt enough," she said quietly. "It's not going to make any difference whether or not you know them. They were said, and they were out there. But if you go to the party, it says something. That you don't care about the rumors, and that you're better now."

"Fine," I gave in. "But don't expect me to have fun."