Mr. Normal

Chp.7

The One Where Oliver Gets a Clue

Diclaimer: Seems I need a clue, too. Cause I think I own Hannah Montana.

Pairing: Jake and Miley, Some Lily and Oliver.

Summary: Jake finally comes back after two years of trying to figure out what a normal kid is like


Oliver left class with a confused look on his face, Miley hadn't waited beside the door for him, and that was unusual. Seems the new guy had become a top priority on her list. She'd left with him, his arm around her, and hers around him. He just couldn't figure it all out, Miley hadn't liked a guy this much since Jake Ryan.

He walked in a daze all the way to the hallway where their lockers were at, he'd come around to the backside of the bank of lockers, and hadn't been prepared for the sight set before his eyes.

Miley was in Les's arms, and Lily was waving her around in the fashion that he'd come to know as Lily trying to explain something. The weird thing wasn't Miley being wrapped in some guy's arms, or even Lily waving her arms around like a flapping bird, it was the way Lily was talking to the two of them. She was speaking with them like she'd known them the whole of her life. Miles he could understand, she had known her since they were thirteen, but the guy that was hangin' all over Miley hadn't been around for even a day. But, there was Lily, his girlfriend, talking and laughing with him like they were the best of friends.

Oliver had no clue what was going on, but he was about to find out.

"Hey, what's going on," he askes as he continues around the corner, steps up beside Lily, and wraps his own arm around her waist.

He looks at the three of them, and no one seems to want to answer his question, basically all he got was another question.

"So, you guys really are together." Okay not so much a question as a matter of fact. "Miles told me that you two had finally taken the plunge, and hooked up, but I couldn't believe it, 'til I had seen for myself."

Oliver didn't know what to make of the new guy, and gave him a puzzled look. "Uh, dude." Les was still looking in his direction."I don't even know you." He couldn't decide if the other guy was delusional, or just completely insane. "We've never met. Well I guess we have now, but..."

"Uh, Ollie, sweetie," Lily cuts him off to keep him from digging himself any deeper, and before he could make an even bigger fool of himself than he usually did. There was a certain familiarity about the guy, he just couldn't place it.

Lily had looked up at him, and he looked down at her. "Take a good look at the guy, hun."

Oliver takes her advice and looks Les over, turning his head this way and that, trying to place where he'd seen him before, but he couldn't do it.

He'd studied him from every angle. The way he had his arms wrapped around Miley's neck, with his hands clasped, loosely in front of her, the blue eyes under dark hair, the lopsided smile, the way his chin was propped on Miley's shoulder. Darn it if the guy wasn't completely, yet not familiar to him, and it was driving him up the wall. He should know who this Les guy was, but it wasn't coming to him. Work brain WORK! He tried to coach himself into figuring it out.

Apparently Lily had taken pity on him, cause she so subtly leaned closer to him, and whispered," replace the dark hair with blonde." It took him a moment, but everything finally fell into place, he'd seen in his mind's eye the dark hair fading into the blonde hair of the one and only Jake Ryan.

"Oh, holy mother of Zeus!" Everything fell right into place.

"Shh! Oliver. Keep it down, we don't want everyone in the tri-state area to know." Miley warned, her eyes bugging out of her head, she'd turned to see half the people in the hallway looking in their direction. "That's great, just great, Oliver. Now everyone's looking at us."

"It's just. You an-and he and he and you an-"

"Yeah, Oliver, we know. Now quit with the fish out of water routine, okay."

Oliver stood there stunned that Jake would actually go so far just to be around Miley. He'd changed his look, his attitude, and he even seemed like an actual, likeable person now. Although, he was still hung up on Miley, even if Miley couldn't tell. Oliver Oken wasn't so blind that he didn't see the way Jake looked at Miley. It was the same goofy look he'd gotten when he realized he was in love with Lily. The dude had it bad, and the girl had no clue. Although, when Jake wasn't looking Miley was giving him the same look.

"So, you two are all hooked up, again?"

He watched as they looked at each other, couldn't they see it in each other's eyes, he shakes his own head at the defiance.

"No."

"Uh, no." Jake had gone with whatever Miley had said, not really wanting to say it, but not wanting to push the issue, and Oliver could tell by the dull look in Jake's eyes as he'd looked back up at him.

He didn't understand why they couldn't just tell each other how they felt about one another.

"Then what's with all the note passing, and ..." He waves a hand around them, indicating the way Jake had his arms around Miley.

"This?" Miley pats the two hands clasped over her breast bone. "This is keeping Derrick from hitting on me, nothing more," she'd explained it with a disappointed inflection in her voice. Oliver and Lily had caught it, but Jake had been busy looking around to make sure that Derrick wasn't within ear shot of what Miley was saying, and hadn't heard her.

Oliver and Lily had looked at each other, in an as if type of way, and shaken their heads at the couple that wasn't a couple. With the look they had a plan, also.

Lily grabbed Miley's arm and jerked her from Jake's arms. With an "we need to get to class." She pulled a stunned Miley away from the two boys, and headed down the hall towards their next class.


She'd looked back over her shoulder at Jake, just in time to see a confused look in his eyes. She'd raised her eyebrows at him in a 'I have no idea what's going on' look. He'd raised his hands in front of him with a shrug of his shoulder's, as Oliver started to talk to him, again.

Lily dragged her into a secluded corner, and gave her the 'I'm disappointed in you' look.

"What?" She had no clue as to what Lily was being so stern about. "What did I do, now? You look like dad when Jackson's done something really stupid. I didn't do anything stupid."

"Oh, I don't know about that Miles."

She looked at her best friend, having no clue what she was on about. "You say what girl that looks like my best friend?"

"I said you did something back there that was really stupid."

Miley couldn't believe that Lily was calling her out about something she had no clue as to what kind of stupidity that she'd committed. "So tell me what was so stupid that you had to pull me away from our friend's and into a deep, dark hole."

"I can't believe you don't already know, Miley. It was plain as day to the rest of us."

Miley thought back over the whole conversation she'd had with Oliver, Lily, and Jake. She couldn't find anything that could be considered stupid in it.

She heard a sigh from beside of her and looks over at her best friend. "What was so stupid? I've gone over the whole conversation, Lily, and I can't find any fault with what was said."

She watches Lily roll her eyes, and shake her head. "It wasn't so much what we were talking about, as to what was actually going on."

She gives Lily that 'you say what' look, again. She just couldn't understand what the other girl was all about.

"Miley? Could you not see the way Jake was looking at you?"

"What, that's the way he always looked at me."

"Yeah, like you're the center of his world."

She gets a blank stare on her face. "No, I don't think so. That's the way he looks at everybody, isn't it?"

"If he'd looked at me like that, I'm sure Oliver would've been ready to fight him, Miley. The boy is completely in love with you."

"No he isn't. We're just friends, that's all. He doesn't like me in that way any more." She was disappointed at that matter of fact. Jake had only offered her his friendship last night, and she'd agreed, and she could kick herself for it.

"Pshh, that's a lot of Oscar Mayer, Jake's still totally into you. When Oliver asked if you guys were together again, he just went along with you, if you'd have been paying attention you'd have seen it in his eyes that he wanted to say yes, but waited for you to answer, before he said anything."

Miley couldn't believe what Lily was saying, if it were true, she didn't know what would happen. Yeah, she could admit it to herself that she still loved him, but could she admit it to someone, heck anyone else.

"We really do need to get to class, Lily." She took off at break neck speed, not knowing what to think. Jake still liked her, maybe, and if so why didn't he just tell her last night?


Oliver had started talking again, but he'd been watching Lily drag Miley down the hallway. When they'd gotten out of sight he'd turned his attention back to the guy in front of him.

"... class do you have next?" He hated when he missed part of the question, it made him feel like he was A.D.D. or something.

"Drama."

"The actor taking a drama class?"

"Yeah, thought I might be able to show them how to act." He'd said sarcastically.

"Oh, please do." Oliver mock pleaded with him.

"You do know that Miley and Lily are in that class too."

"Nope, Miley and me haven't discussed our schedules."

"So you and Miley, what's going on there? I mean you seemed like you wanted to say that you were back together, but went with her answer, what was that all about?"

Jake didn't want to have this conversation, he'd already had his hopes dashed enough in the last two days, he didn't want to relive that.

"It's all just a big act, man. We're acting like we're together so that Derrick will leave her alone." He sounded like his whole world was falling apart.

"Dude, that's harsh." Oliver seemed genuinely sympathetic, even gave him a pat on the shoulder.

He could tell that Oliver was trying to figure out how to broach a subject, 'cause he was kind of gnawing on his lip.

"Is there something going on, dude," he finally asked the other boy, if he didn't do something Oliver was going to bring blood then he'd be taking him to the school nurse, instead of walking to class with him.

Oliver quits with the lip thing, and turns to look him in the eye. "You're still into her aren't you, man?"

He closed his eyes, "I've never not been into her, Oliver, but I don't think she's still into me in that way."

Oliver laughs in his face at that little tidbit of information. "Dude, did you see how she was looking at you, that girl doesn't know what to do when you're around. I'm telling you I've never seen Miley look at another guy the way she looks at you. She still likes you in more than that way."

He looks at Oliver as if he's just grown a second head. "No, man, she really doesn't. I mean I brought her flowers and all last night, and she thanked me for them, but it wasn't the welcome I'd hoped for."

"What she didn't throw herself into your arms, and let you carry her off into the sunset? Dude, you gotta realize, you came back completely different. Let me guess, she probably thought you were a delivery boy at first, right?"

Okay, so Oliver Oken had gotten smarter, or Miley had been talking to him. But Miley hadn't talked to anyone about him, so it had to be the other, and he didn't know what to do with that one. "Yeah. How'd you know?"

"Lets see, you don't look too much like yourself, and you had a package for her, plus she's been waiting on a pair of boots to be delivered. I just put two and two together."

He couldn't argue with that explaination, "so you really think she's still into me, like I am her?"

"If the look she gave you just a few minutes ago is any indication..." Oliver scratches his chin, "dude, she never quit with the still into you, like that. I can tell you that she hasn't had a serious boyfriend, since you left. I think she was waiting to see if you came back, again."

He now had some food for thought, and he chewed on it, on his way into his class after Oliver had turned off into a hallway to go to his own class. Miley still liked him as a boyfriend, she'd waited for him to come back to her. He couldn't believe it, but if it were true, then his plan had just been stepped up. He'd ask her out Friday, and see what would come of it. God, he hoped she'd say yes, if not, he'd blame Oliver Oken for it.


A/N: Goodness that was a little longer than usual. Hope you guys enjoyed. Be kind Review