Mikayla enjoyed her quiet night in with Cody, London and Zack. Unfortunately the evening couldn't last very long, as the singer had to get to bed early. She had many interviews and appearances scheduled to promote her album.

"I'm never going to have any free time until the damn thing comes out," she complained to Cody as he escorted her back to her suite.

"It's just for a little while longer," he replied.

"Would you come with me to all the interviews?" she asked. "I know it'll be boring, just sitting off to the side. But…we haven't been able to spend much time together. I miss you."

Cody knew she wasn't kidding when she said how boring it would be. But he was too much of a devoted boyfriend to even think about turning her down.

"Of course, I'll come with you."

Miley was in her room, packing for a short trip to New York. Lily was with her.

"You know, they should do all this stuff via satellite," the blonde commented. "Why do they make you fly across the country just for one appearance?"

"Pop Hits Live takes the 'live' part of their show seriously," Miley replied. "They want Hannah there in front of their studio audience…and the show is too popular for me to turn down. I need good publicity." She managed a weak smile to Lily. "We'll try and have a little fun afterwards. We'll go shopping before we have to fly back."

The blonde girl nodded and tired to look excited. But truthfully she would have been more than willing to give up countless shopping trips if doing so could somehow end Miley's current problems.

Cody had not enjoyed his first day accompanying Mikayla to all her media appearances. But she had been grateful. And he did take comfort in the fact that his girlfriend wanted him near. In any case, he was hopeful that her schedule for the next day would be much less of a hassle. It might even be fun since Zack and London would be going with them. Mikayla only had one appearance scheduled for that day, although it was a big one.

All four teens, along with Carey were down in the lobby bright and early when Jim arrived. He and Carey greeted each other with a kiss, which caused two different reactions from the others. Although the twins had no objection to the new romance, any public displays of affection inevitably caused Zack and Cody to groan or make sarcastic comments. Mikayla and London on the other hand thought that Carey and Jim were unbelievably cute together. The girls would always let out an "Awww" whenever they saw the two kiss.

"Okay everyone," Jim said after he and Carey had finished their hello. "It's time to head out. Next stop New York City and Pop Hits Live.

Hannah was in her dressing room backstage at Pop Hits Live when her father and Lola entered. It was obvious from the looks on their faces that something was wrong.

"Change of plans," Robbie Ray announced. "These weasels were trying to pull a fast one on us."

The pop star was outraged as her Dad explained what was going on. The show had booked both Mikayla and Hannah without telling each other. The idea had been for both girls to be brought out at the same time for a surprise confrontation. It may well have happened if Lola hadn't overheard a couple of assistant producers talking about it. She had quickly informed Robbie Ray, and then had stopped him from punching anyone when he'd approached the men and confirmed the truth.

"I am so glad you came along," Hannah said as she looked to her best friend.

Lola shrugged. "Hey, you can always count on me to save you from some embarrassment…and your dad from criminal charges."

"Well, there's no way we're going along with this," Robbie Ray said. "Let's get out of here."

The girls knew they'd attract less attention if they left as themselves, but they didn't want anyone to see Miley and Lily leaving Hannah's dressing room. So they snuck off to an empty restroom to change. Meanwhile, Robbie Ray went to arrange for a car to pick them up at the building's back entrance.

But when Miley and Lily stepped out of the restroom, they ran into two other girls.

"Hey…I know you," a surprised Mikayla said. "Miley!"

The next thing that Miley knew, she was being pulled into a hug by her unsuspecting rival.

"It's so good to see you again," the dark-haired singer gushed. She then went on to introduce Miley to London before turning to Lily. She apologized to the blonde girl for not remembering her name, and also for being rude to her the last time they'd met.

"Umm…don't mention it," Lily replied. She and Miley were both taken off guard by Mikayla's genuine happiness at seeing them. But despite the strangeness of the situation, they did manage to think fast when they were asked how they came to be there.

"We decided to take a trip to New York before summer vacation ended," Miley said. "And we thought we'd try to get tickets for today's Pop Hits taping…but there weren't any left. So we were just leaving."

Mikayla laughed. "Don't worry about it. You can stay as my guests." She took hold of Miley's arm and started to lead her down the hall. "Come on, I want you to meet my boyfriend."

London began to lead Lily in the same direction. "And you come too. Any friends of Mikayla's are friends of mine."

Miley and Lily could only look at each other helplessly as they were dragged off by the very enthusiastic girls.

It was downright bizarre.

That was Miley's take on things as she and Lily found themselves in Mikayla's dressing room. All of her rival's companions were being so freaking nice to them. And what was worse, every time Miley tried to think up an excuse to leave, someone would have an answer and urge them to stay.

What do I have to do? Miley thought. Lily and I can't just run out the door. That would be way too suspicious.

The southern girl did think she had an opportunity to escape when all of Mikayla's people left the room to go take their seats for the show. Miley and Lily lingered in the dressing room, thinking that it would be easier to slip away from just Mikayla rather than the whole group.

"I can't get over running into you here," the cheerful singer said. "What are the odds?"

"Yeah, it's odd alright," Miley muttered.

"What was that?"

"She was just saying you're right," Lily said quickly, covering for her friend. "Boy, the odds of us meeting here." She faked some laughter.

"I'm glad you're here," Mikayla said as she turned her attention back to Miley. "I hope you're not mad that I never kept in touch."

"Of course not," she answered while wondering if her father was back inside the building and searching for her. "I didn't actually expect you to. A big star like you must be way too busy for a nobody like me."

"Yeah, that's us," Lily put in. "Just a couple of nobodies. Not famous…at all."

Miley managed to give her friend a quick kick to the ankle without Mikayla noticing. In fact, Miley's rival seemed to have something else on her mind.

"I was busy," the singer said in a somber voice. "But not how you might think. You see back when I first met you, I didn't really have any friends. Not real ones anyway. And I'd sort of hoped that you could have become one."

Miley noted the seriousness of Mikayla's tone and then let her mind turn back to the past. Mikayla and Hannah had already strongly disliked each other by the time that Mikayla had first encountered the 'real' Miley Stewart. It had been the first time Miley had seen another side of her foe, for while Mikayla had still been a bit arrogant, she had also been legitimately friendly and pleasant.

"If you wanted to be friends, what stopped you from calling Miley?" Lily asked. She was just as curious as her best friend.

Mikayla proceeded to explain what had happened with her parents and how she'd ended up on her own and nearly bankrupt. She admitted that she was too ashamed to try and call Miley during that time because she didn't want to be an object of pity.

"That's so sad," Lily commented.

"I had no idea," Miley said quietly. Now she understood why the girl didn't want to give up her second chance at success.

"I'm sorry for bringing you guys down," Mikayla said. Her eyes brightened and she smiled. "Things are much better now. "My friends turned everything around for me. London, Cody and his family…they saved my life. If it wasn't for all this crap in the news about Hannah, everything would be perfect."

"That's…great," Miley said.

Mikayla then suggested that the two girls go and take their seats with the others. Finally the duo had the perfect opportunity to escape. But before they left, Miley looked back to her rival.

"I'm…I'm really happy things are working out for you now."

Once they were by themselves, Miley and Lily were quickly found by Robbie Ray.

"What has been keeping you two?" he asked. "I tried calling you but I just kept getting your blasted voicemail."

Miley hadn't realized that she'd had her cell phone off, but she had more important things on her mind now.

"We ran into some complications," Lily said to Robbie Ray. "But we can leave now."

"No," Miley spoke up, surprising her two companions.

"What?" they both asked at once.

The young singer took a deep breath before looking her father in the eyes.

"I'm going to do the show. I want to go out there live…with Mikayla."

To be continued...

author's note: Hope you liked that chapter. Please review. If you're following this story and haven't bookmarked it or put it on your alert list yet, be aware that I will most likely be moving it out of the main Suite Life section and into the crossover section soon. Also, a number of readers have commented about how it might be good for Mikayla to meet with Miley as Miley, not Hannah. But when Riana Kaiba suggested it happen at a certain point in the story, it gave me an idea…which I decided not to use…but it did get me thinking…which led to the development in this chapter. :)