Chapter 12
Over the next few weeks Lilly was surprised at how quickly the school went back to treating Miley as Miley. The first few days were the worst, Amber and Ashley led groups trying to make Hannah 'see sense' and dumb Lilly, but Miley ignored them guessing correctly that if she ignored them in the end they'd get fed of trying. After a week Amber and Ashley gave up and went back to talking about Miley and Lilly as the school's biggest dorks.
"I never thought I'd be glad to be seen as the school's biggest dork." Miley told Lilly and Oliver one lunchtime as everything started to settle back into normality.
"Joint biggest," Oliver corrected her. "Can't be forgetting my girlfriend."
Lilly rolled her eyes, hiding a smile under fake annoyance "Thanks for that really feeling the love here."
Miley laughed slightly and Oliver looked at Lilly, a sorry expression on his face, "My apologies, milady" he picked up a fry and offered it to Lilly, "I give you this token and beg your forgiveness."
Lilly couldn't help but laugh. "And we're the dorks?" she commented taking the fry and eating it.
"I'm too cool to be a dork," Oliver replied smugly, leaning his chair back on two legs.
Lilly smirked and nodded to Miley. A moment late Miley pushed Oliver's chair back, leaving him on the floor looking mortified. Miley and Lilly shared a high-five, as Oliver stood back up glaring at them both. He didn't miss the odd look that passed between his girlfriend and friend. They both desperately wanted everything to go back to how it had been before but both still found it strange when things were normal. Still it was the starting steps they were both hoping for.
OG
"I wrote a new song." Lilly listened as Miley continued, her voice buzzing with excitement over the phone. "It's a duet for Hannah and Lola."
Lilly went into shock for a moment, sure she had heard Miley wrong, but Miley continued before she had a chance to comment on it.
"You're leaving with Oliver at the end of the year and I'm going to miss you like hell and I hate the fact that I messed up our friendship for so long. And I wanna make sure you know that I'll miss you but I'll always be on the end of the phone" Miley explained, "And the song's about that, it's called 'Wherever I go'. Come 'round and here it?"
Lilly managed to pull herself out of her shock, "I'll be there in 10 minutes." She replied, hung up and grabbed her skateboard, heading to the Stewart's house.
"Lilly! Lilly! Lilly!" Miley grabbed Lilly's arm the second she arrived, dragging her into the house and making her sit on the couch. "Here! Here! Here!" She passed Lilly a sheet of paper with the song lyrics on. "The pink is my parts and the purple is yours, the blue is both of us."
Lilly read the lyrics silently, giving them her full attention. A couple of tears fell down her cheeks as she did so.
Miley looked at her, worry written across her face, "Hey? Are you ok?"
Lilly nodded, "It's beautiful, Miles."
Miley smiled, "You think? Brilliant. Think you can sing it?"
"I'll give it a try." Lilly replied.
Miley picked up her guitar from beside the couch and ran through it with Lilly. The pair spent the next couple of hours practising and perfecting it. Once it was right, Miley looked at Lilly.
"I want Lola to sing with Hannah." She said, watching the shock set in on Lilly's voice. "I want you and me to go on that stage as best friends and just show they world what we've got. Both of us."
Lilly didn't answer for a while, not sure whether to tell Miley she was crazy or to agree.
"Please say yes," Miley added when she saw Lilly wasn't going to answer, "It'll be brilliant."
"I've never sung in front of a large audience," Lilly reasoned, "The Homecoming dance was nothing compared to one of your dances. And your fans won't want me on the stage with you."
"My fans will be stoked to have another great singer on the stage with me," Miley disagreed. "And you'd be fine. Just do what I did when I was new to it and terrified, find someone in the audience, either someone you know or someone who's near the front of something, and just focus on them, pretend you're just singing to that one person as if everyone else isn't there."
"I'm not sure." Lilly replied, the uncertainty and fear written on her face.
"I'm not going to force you into it, but I can guarantee it would be amazing."
"When?" Lilly asked.
"Tomorrow." Miley replied.
Lilly gaped at her, "Tomorrow?"
"Means you don't have much time to talk yourself out of it if you say yes now?" Miley pointed her, her expression the picture of innocence. Lilly rolled her eyes and Miley continued "I was thinking about not telling you until tomorrow morning but I didn't think you'd appreciate that much short notice."
"No, not really," Lilly agreed. "If I stuff up I'll look like a complete idiot."
"You won't stuff up, you're an amazing singer and you know how to present yourself on the stage, you'll be fine. You'll be more than fine, you'll be amazing."
Lilly sighed and smiled, "All right, but if this goes wrong I'm blaming you."
"I can live with that," Miley responded, grinning all over her face.
OG
"Here we are now
Everything is about to change
We face tomorrow as we say goodbye to yesterday
A chapter ending but the stories only just begun
A page is turning for everyone"
The first verse was Lilly's, and she sung it flawlessly, on stage next to Miley as Hannah, in the bright blue wig which showed her to be Lola. She had meant what she said, she thought the lyrics were beautiful and even from the beginning them explained what was going on in her and Miley's lives. She continued singing feeling Miley singing along beside her for the chorus
So I'm moving on
Letting go
Holding on to tomorrow
I've always got the memories while I'm finding out who I'm gonna be
We might be apart but I hope you always know
You'll be with me wherever I go
Wherever I go
There was great comfort in this chorus for both Miley and Lilly. They knew that the majority of people listening to it would probably never think about the words and the meaning behind them but it had a great meaning to them and they knew, really, that was all that mattered.
Lilly kept a smile on her face as Miley took away the second verse
So excited I can barely even catch my breath
WE have each other to lean on for the road ahead
This happy ending is the start of all our dreams
And I know your heart is with me
Lilly couldn't help but think those words summed up the mixed emotions about change, it was exciting but often the familiarity of old friends was still needed to make it all ok and worthwhile. She sung her heart out with Miley for the second chorus, almost forgetting that she was on stage in front of thousands of Hannah Montana fans.
So I'm moving on
Letting go
Holding on to tomorrow
I've always got the memories while I'm finding out who I'm gonna be
We might be apart but I hope you always know
You'll be with me wherever I go
They continued together for the third, final and what Lilly believed was the most powerful verse:
It's time to show the world we've got something to say
A song to sing out loud we'll never fade away
I know I'll miss you but we'll meet again someday
We'll never fade away
It spoke of the way a song never really ended and how, in many ways, their friendship was like that. And it spoke of Miley standing up against Amber and Ashley and choosing her friendship with Lilly instead.
Lilly swallowed, stopping the lump in her throat from affecting her voice as her and Miley repeated the chorus twice to end the song. The second they finished the audience erupted into applause and cheers, Miley pulls Lilly into a quick hug and whispered "Told you they'd love it."
Lilly looked back out over the audience, mesmerised by the number and the positive feedback they were giving and smiled broadly.
A/N: It's been forever before this update, sorry. I had Doctor Who fanfics on the go which I had more inspiration for and this sort of got pushed to the back. I know the way I've written Miley and Lilly singing Wherever I Go isn't how they actually sing it but it was easier for the purpose of this chapter. Hope you like it, please R&R? Ly'all.