CHAPTER FOUR
Flyers and Skate parks.
Nick's Point of View.
We have been walking around for what seems like hours looking for this stupid concert hall. Miley is so heart driven to get these tickets that I know she won't stop until they are in her hands.
"I swear it's around here somewhere," She stopped in the middle of the sidewalk, causing a lady behind her to mumble in frustration as she almost ran her stroller into Miley's ankles.
"Um well maybe we its actually right in front of us and we can't see it. You know like that one time you dragged me around for hours looking for that one ride at the amusement park, when all we had to do was turn around," I stifled a laugh as she shot me a glare. Fine, she doesn't want to laugh then I won't make her.
"Look there's a poster," She pointed to a sheet or paper hanging in the window of a local fruit store.
She placed her hands on the window and started reading the poster, her warm breath fogging up the window. I shoved my hands in my pockets and tried to wait patiently for her to finish. Something bright and flashy caught my eye; it was taped up at the bottom of the window.
Curiously I bent down and read the poster, Miley was hovering over me.
Local Battle of the Bands.
9:00pm Cup of Joe.
November 17th, 2007
$500 first prize
$300 second prize
$100 third prize
Raising my eyebrows, a small smile appeared as I stood up. Miley was staring at me, her eyebrows raised.
"What's so funny?"
I pointed down the street. "That guy down there's shoe is untied."
Lame, lame, lame.
"Ohh kaayy, whatever floats your boat," She shot me a confused look. "But come on, there was an address on the sheet it's not that far away."
Grabbing onto my wrist she continued to pull me down the street at an extremely fast speed for Miley. As we passed a round corkboard in the middle of the sidewalk, I noticed the add once again and ripped it off, shoving it into my pocket.
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We reached the, huge, stadium five minutes later and out of breath. Who knew weaving in and out of people took so much work, especially when you had a small girl attached to your wrist, dragging you against your will.
"So what now?" I asked, once I caught my breath. I swear we just ran five blocks, I don't know what Miley considers 'not that far away' but I sure don't want to know what she thinks is far away.
"We go get tickets, duh," She said it as if it were such an obvious thing.
Miley started walking up the stairs to the front door when she stopped to turn around and face me. Her arms were crossed across her chest, and the slight breeze was causing her long brown hair to blow gently in the wind. Her usual tan cheeks were tinted a light pink, and her jeans were coming out of her boots.
"Are you coming?" She called, and I just shook my head.
"No, I'll stay here." With that I sat down on one of the many metal benches and watched as she disappeared into the stadium. Reaching into my front pocket I pulled out the flyer I had grabbed earlier. Re-reading it two more times I ran a hand through my curly hair, I had to go. I wanted to go, I needed to go.
It was tonight, so that didn't really leave much time – plus I didn't even have a guitar. Well I did, but never did I plan that I would be sneaking out of the hotel at 9:00 to perform in some coffee shop talent show. Even without practicing I knew I could probably place third, guitar and singing were my strong points.
Looking up when a dark shadow took over I noticed Miley standing over me. Wow, that was fast. Quickly I stood up, causing her to step back a foot, and shoved the paper back into my back pocket, not even bothering to fold it.
She smirked at me. "What was that?"
I gaped, I couldn't tell her. "Nothing, just a napkin Oliver gave me," Jeeze, what was with my lame excuses? Usually I wasn't this bad.
Her smirk turned into a sly smile as she took a step closer. Since the back of my knees were against the bench I couldn't back away from her. She leaned forward and reached around my waist, trying to grab the paper, but I turned to my side.
"Just give it here!" She laughed, continuing to grab at the paper sticking out of my jeans.
I shook my head, and grabbed her arms that were around my waist and spun her around so she wasn't facing me anymore.
"No," I grabbed the paper from my pocket, holding it in my hand. Miley pulled away from my grip and put on her pout face. "No sorry," I smiled and started walking down the sidewalk. Pretty soon I heard Miley run up behind me, her UGGS slapping against the pavement.
"Fine, apparently you're not my best friend if you can't tell me," She turned her head away, causing her long hair to flip off her shoulder.
I sighed; there was really no point in keeping it from her. I mean, I didn't have to tell her that I was performing right? Just that I wanted to check it out. Plus, if I told her she would come along. Pulling the paper out of my front pocket I handed it over.
Her pout turned into a large grin as she opened it up, her brown eyes scanning the paper.
Once she was finished she looked up. "We are so going!" She squealed, folding the paper up nicely and handing it over. "Oliver, Lilly, and Hannah can come too!"
I swallowed, looking away from my best friend. She wanted everyone to come – they were going to see me on stage. I had only wanted Miley to see, not everyone else!
"Maybe it's not such a good idea; I mean Mr. Paul is always patrolling the halls. Last night I left the room to get a water and he spotted me instantly," I warned, hoping this would change her mind – even though I knew perfectly well that it wouldn't.
She scoffed and rolled her eyes at me. "Puh-lease! Nick, this is awesome! What better way to kick off our trip than watching some English bands?"
Miley smiled and nodded her head, as if to confirm that we all would indeed be going. She looked over at me, and looped her arm through mine as we continued down the street.
Lilly's Point of View.
"Sucks we didn't bring our skate stuff," I sighed, and readjusted the yellow hat on top of my head. Hannah had given it to me, but it was starting to itch.
"I know, and the skate park is awesome!" Oliver scratched his head, and extended his legs. We were sitting on top of the highest ramp at the park. There weren't any kids here, probably because they would all be in school. We were basically just staring at what we can't have.
"They need a little shop, and then we could get some pads and a board," I pulled my knees up to my chest and turned to face Oliver.
"Wanna get out of here? Maybe hit the mall?" He asked, standing up and extending his hand for me to take.
Smiling up at him, I grasped his hand and he pulled me off the ramp and we slid down on our feet, jumping off when we hit the bottom. Once Oliver let go of my hand I instantly missed the warmth and shoved it into my coat pocket, just as a shiver went through my body.
"Cold?" He asked, and I just shook my head no. I wasn't a baby like other girls. I knew at this point they would have said yes, he would have taken me under my arm and we would fall in love, yadda yadda. I wasn't like that – I was just like a guy, well besides the fact that I wasn't. But I acted like a guy… well Hannah said I did.
I looked over at him; he had his eyes fixed in front of him and a faint smile on his face.
For some strange reason I couldn't take my eyes off him. He was getting taller by the day, probably already at 5'8. He was wearing a pair of regular baggy jeans, and underneath his winter coat I could see a blue shirt with the AE sign peeking out. His coat was brown and hung down below his waist, and along with that he was wearing a ratty old pair of black and white converse shoes.
"Lilly," I thought I heard someone say my name, but I ignored that thought and pretended to look through the windows, you know… just in case Oliver turned and saw me staring.
"Lilly!" Someone shouted, and as I turned to look in front of me I saw a bike coming right at me. Oliver grabbed my hand and pulled me aside so I was leaning into his side. The bike stopped and I saw a boy who looked to be a little on the emo side, with his long hair, and even longer bangs. And… Hannah?!
"You should watch where you're going!" Oliver said as I pulled away from his grip, and fixed my coat sleeve that he had pulled on.
"Me?! No, they should watch where they are going! This is a sidewalk, for walking," I pointed at the boy and Hannah just as she jumped off the pegs sticking out near the back tire.
"Nice to see you too Lilly," She rolled her eyes and looked at the boy she was with. I was so confused, I mean back home she would have never hung out with this type of boy. He must be giving her something, like a free shirt or something. Oh I know! He must work at some coffee shop, and gave her some free coffee and she had to agree to hang out with him for awhile.
"Oh I almost forgot," She giggled and pulled on the boys' sleeve, causing him to step off the bike and lean it against the wall. I looked down at his bag filled with newspapers, then back up at Oliver who must have been thinking the same thing as I was. "This is Peter, he's from here and he agreed to show me around."
She smiled over at the boy, causing him to return it. His smile was cute, and his front teeth had a huge gap in the middle.
"Peter, this is Lilly and Oliver, my closest friends. They're also on the trip from Malibu," I smiled and shook his extended hand. Oliver just nodded and said hey.
"Where were you guys going?" I asked, pulling my coat tighter around my body and zipping it up to my neck.
"I just have to drop these papers off around town, and then I am going to show her around," He replied, his English accent was so strong I think I only caught like three words.
"Do you guys wanna come?" Hannah asked, her smile wide and flashing her pearly white teeth.
Oliver shifted his weight from foot to foot, and I looked up at him. It was his call I didn't care either way. Though we would probably have a hard time running alongside a bike.
"Nick!" Oliver shouted, raising his hand in the air and waving at someone down the street. I squinted my eyes, trying to get a better look. Sure enough, there was Miley and Nick walking toward us.
Miley turned to Nick and said something to him, then took off running toward us. Nick followed suit and arrived where we were standing the same time she did.
"Hey!" Hannah turned to her sister and smiled.
"Hey guys, what are you doing standing in the middle of the sidewalk?" She asked, raising her eyebrows at me when she took a look at Peter. I just shrugged.
"Lilly wasn't paying attention and we almost ran into her," Hannah giggled, and flipped her long blonde hair over her shoulder.
"Sorry about that love," He looked over at me. He didn't actually mean love did he?
"It's fine."
"Hey Oliver, wanna go check out the music store just down the road?" Nick asked, as he left Miley's side and walked over beside me. Oliver nodded, and the two set off, leaving us three girls and Peter.
"So this is Miley, my sister," She said, wrapping a skinny arm around her sisters shoulders.
"Peter," He stated, shaking her hand again. For some reason, I expected him to be a jerk. I expected him to not talk to us at all because of the way we look – I mean it's not to often that a boy with eyeliner talks to a girl in pink, with blonde highlights.
"Soo, Miley how about we go look around for some flyers? We need to get those tickets right?" I stifled a laugh, and pulled Miley by the arm, dragging her down the street and away form Peter and Hannah.
I didn't like the guy, I know it's not fair to judge him but there is something about him that is just strange. Hopefully I'm wrong, because the last thing I want to see on this trip is for Hannah to get hurt.
A/N: So here is chapter four! Hopefully you all are enjoying the story so far, because this is by far the best one to write haha. It sucks I'm not getting all that much reviews, but at least a few people are reading, and that's good enough for me haha. But if you are reading this and haven't reviewed yet, please do! You don't even have to log in, or have an account so that's always a plus, come on don't be shy. Thank you to the people that have reviewed, they all made my day! An update should come either Monday or Tuesday so be on the lookout!
