Chapter 15: Jealousy
Today is Thursday, the day before the party. Lilly and I had just bought some ice cream from Rico's. I was glaring at Jake and the actress I saw him with last night. Her name is Holly.
"Wow, you got it bad," Lilly says. I look over to her to see what she's talking about. She gestures to my hand, with was now covered in ice cream because I crumbled the cone. I wiped my hand off with a napkin.
"I'm going to go get a pretzel," I announce and walk over to Jake and Holly.
"Oh, hi Jacob. I didn't notice you here on the beach," I said.
"Oh, hey Miley. I didn't notice you here on the beach either," he said. "This is Holly, she's an actress."
"Oh yeah, I saw you in that commercial. You know, the one were you have to have the really uncomfortable talk with your mom. I hope everything worked out."
"That wasn't really my mom, okay?" Holly said in a stuck-up voice. I keep my grin.
"Well, as long as the toe fungus is gone." I grabbed my pretzel and left without saying goodbye.
That night was 'Lola's' birthday party. She went off to find her favorite pirate, Orlando Bloom, and I watched Jake spin little Ms. Toe-Fungus around the dance floor. Dad booked the biggest club in Malibu. The room was not lit by regular lights, but instead, blue, purple, red, and green lights.
"Come on, Hannah!" Lola said.
She grabbed my wrist and pulled me to a large table where many people were surrounding. A chef brought out a huge cake lit with fourteen candles. It had five layers; it was a vanilla cake with vanilla icing. Each layer was round and had strawberries going around the edge. The strawberries were drizzled with chocolate syrup. Lilly's favorite.
We all sang happy birthday and had cake. Then she was going to open presents. Lilly opened mine first. It was a prepaid mall gift card so she could spend it at any store. She hugged me and went on to the other presents.
"Hey Hannah, wanna dance?" Jake asked. I looked around to see were Holly was. She was across the room talking to Kelly Clarkson. Oh, why not?
"Sure," I replied. We danced for a little bit, then fungus girl cut in. I went to find Lilly.
The next day, Saturday, I was down by the beach a Rico's. I was sitting on a stool talking to Jackson while he worked his shift.
"Hey Jackson," Jake said as he came up to Rico's.
"Hey," Jackson replied and started cleaning the counter.
"Miley," Jake started. "I was wondering… do you wanna go catch a movie or something?"
"Aww, what? Holly can't come?" I said in mock sadness. I got up from my seat and walked away. I could see Jackson giving Jake a 'what did you do this time look.'
"Holly?" he asked, confused, as if she had nothing to do with this.
"Yeah, ya know, your girlfriend," I said, stressing the word 'girlfriend.'
"She's not my girlfriend. We have a movie coming out, so we've been hanging out- as a publicity thing," Jake said. I was growing frustrated.
"Why didn't you tell me that before??" I exclaim.
"Uhh, well… I-I think I," Jake stutters.
"Wait a minute, I know why," I said. "Because you were trying to make me jealous."
"Was not," Jake said. "And even if I was… you do look pretty jealous."
"I am so not jealous."
"Are too," Jake disagreed.
"Are not."
"Are too."
"Are not," I exclaim one last time before he pulls me into a kiss.
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"So, I guess this means we're together," I said to Jake happily as he walks me home with his arm wrapped around my shoulder.
"I guess it does," Jake said equally as happy. A photographer jumps out of the bushes and takes a few shots of Jake and I before running off.
"Paulie," we both mutter at the same time.
"Wait, how do you know him?" Jake asks confused.
What am I suppose to say? He took a picture of me at Kelly Clarkson's birthday party and I attacked him? Oh sure, that would work. Not. So I settle for, "he tried to snagged information from me about you."
"Oh," Jake says. We continued with a moment of silence. "You know, this is kinda like déjà vu."
"How?"
"Remember the day we got together in Tennessee?"
"Oh yeah," I said, smiling brightly.
Flashback"Alright, what's going on?" he asked.
"Nothing," I said.
"Well, I think you're jealous because you saw me talking to Jennifer this morning."
I didn't respond.
"You are jealous!" he said. I still didn't say anything.
"Newsflash Miley Stewart, I don't like Jennifer. She was asking me about last night's homework assignment… and…"
"And what?" I asked. By now my cheeks were bright pink with embarrassment.
"I like you!" Jacob said as loud as he could without disturbing the classes.
"Me?" I asked in shock.
"Yeah," Jacob says softly. Before I knew it, I grabbed his shirt collar and pulled him into a short kiss. We pulled apart, this time, both blushing.
End Flashback
We reached the front door of my house without realizing it.
"Wanna hangout tomorrow?" Jake asks.
"Sure," I said. "Rico's at 1?"
"Alright," Jake replied. He gave me a peck on the cheek and walked home.
"Hey mom and dad," Jake said as he entered the kitchen of his house.
"Hey Jake," Mr. Ryan said, not looking up from his newspaper. He, like most everyone else, called him Jake.
"Hey sweetie, you better get packing," Mrs. Ryan said.
"Why…?" Jake questioned confusedly.
"Okay, brace yourself," Mrs. Ryan says. "You remember that movie Frankie Muniz was in and you and Hannah Montana presented an award to?"
"Yeah…"
"And remember how he couldn't except the award because he was doing a movie in Romania?"
"Yeah…"
"Well, he dropped out!" Mrs. Ryan exclaims happily.
"And…?" Jake asked
"I got you the part!!!"
On the inside, Jake was a combination of sad and mad. Sad, because he would have to leave Miley again. Mad, because his mom didn't ask him if he wanted the part. On the outside, Jake acted excited. He knew his mom probably worked hard to get the part for him, and he didn't want to disappoint her.
After he thanked his mom, Jake went to his room to pack for Romania. After he was done packing, he called a friend…
"Jackson, I have some bad news, but don't tell Miley, I will tomorrow… before I leave…"