White Houses

Chapter 1

crashed on the floor when I moved in

this little bungalow with some strange new friends

stay up too late and I'm too thin

we promise each other it's till the end

"Smile!"

Seventeen-year-old Lilly Truscott rolled her eyes before plastering a grin on her face for what seemed like the millionth time that afternoon. She was, in fact, quite certain that her cheeks were beginning to freeze. "Ow," she murmured, her teeth clenched, as her mother snapped another picture.

Heather Truscott let the camera fall and hang from the strap around her neck as she clasped her perfectly manicured hands together. "Oh, you just look so beautiful!" she sighed. "Rosie!" she snapped, her tone of voice suddenly changing as she pushed the fourteen-year-old forward. "Get in a picture with your sister!"

"God, Mom, could you be any more lame?" Rosie groaned, flicking a strand of perfectly straight hair over her shoulder.

"Oh, come here, cutie," Lilly grinned, pinching her sister's cheeks. She knew that under all the teenage angst that Rosie pretended that she possessed, Rosie actually enjoyed being a member of the Truscott family, no matter the quirks it might come with. "Just think, one more summer and you're an only child!"

Rosie rolled her eyes as Lilly threw an arm around her shoulders, hugging her tightly to her side. "Thank God," she said exasperatedly.

A few (hundred) shots later, Lilly put her foot down. "Mom," she said gently, placing her hands on her mother's shoulders, "I have to go. It isn't going to be any fun to have a ton of pictures in me in my graduation outfit it I don't actually make it to the graduation ceremony, now is it?"

Heather sighed and kissed her daughter on the cheek. "Alright, fine," she said, pushing Lilly toward the door. "We'll see you afterward before we go to the Oken's house."

"Lillyyyyyyyyy!" Miley squealed as she ran (more like stumbled, she was wearing spiky heels), one hand holding up the skirt of her graduation gown, the other holding her cap securely on her head. She wrapped her arms tightly around Lilly's neck as soon as she reached her. "Oh my God, we're about to graduate! Can you believe it?"

Lilly laughed and linked her arm through Miley's as they walked back toward the school together. "Not at all," she admitted, a hint of sadness in her voice. "It's so weird. Next year we're all going to be spread across the world. Me in Berkley, Oliver in Boston, Jake in New York, and you… God knows where you'll be-" she lowered her voice and poked her friend in the ribs, "Hannah Montana."

Miley slapped Lilly's arm. "Shut up, someone might hear you! And, God, Lilly it's not like we're never going to see each other again! Don't go getting all depressed on me, babe… this is graduation. It's supposed to be fun!"

Lilly sighed. "I know, I know," she said. Then she took a deep, calming breath and, although her stomach was in a million tiny knots, she plastered a smile on her face. "I can't believe we're graduating!"

Miley grinned and hugged her friend once more. "See?" she said. "Everything's going to be great."

Lilly wasn't as reassured as Miley wanted her to be, especially when, a few moments later, Miley ran back toward the parking lot when she saw Jake's black Range Rover pull up. (The two were still pulling the "hey, we're just friends" act, but, in Lilly and Oliver's opinions, it was only a matter of time before the confessed their undying love for each other and sickened everyone with a very public make-out session.)

Suddenly, Lilly felt a pair of arms wrap around her waist from behind. "What's crack-a-lackin, Lill-ay?"

Lilly rolled her eyes, but kept a grin on her face as she turned around and threw her arms around Oliver's neck. "Ollie! I'm so glad you're here!"

"Me too," he sighed, slinging his arm casually around Lilly's shoulder. Lilly rested her head on his shoulder as they began to walk toward the football field, where the ceremony would be taking place. "God, did your mom take like, six billion pictures?"

Lilly laughed. "Yes. And you know that they're going to take more when we all get to your house afterward."

Lilly pulled away from Oliver as soon as they reached the edge of the football field, her face suddenly paling. She stared at the rows of chairs that had been set out for them, at the parents laughing and shaking hands, at the principal standing on the stage going over last minute details with the school board members. She placed her hands on her stomach subconsciously.

"Hey," Oliver murmured, placing his hand on the small of her back and rubbing it gently. "You okay, Lil?"

"I…" she said softly. "I'm scared, Ollie." She felt tears threatening and it took all of her strength to keep them from falling.

"Everything's going to be fine," Oliver reassured, reaching up and pushing some of her blonde hair behind her ear. "Nothing is going to change, Lilly, I promise you." He paused and then flashed her a grin, "Well, except for the fact that we never have to see Kunkle, Amber, or Ashley again which, in my opinion, is nothing to be worried about."

Lilly couldn't help it; she let out a giggle.

Oliver's grin grew wider as he pulled her tightly to him. "There you go," he said soothingly. He pulled away and grabbed her hand, yanking her toward their seats. "Now, hurry up, would you? The sooner we graduate, the sooner I can forget about Amber and Ashley forever!"

"I promise, just one more!" Rachel Oken cried, putting her camera to her eye. "Now, hug each other," she commanded and the four new high school graduates did as they were told. "Oh, they are so adorable," she cooed and the other mothers quickly echoed their agreement.

"So adorable," Heather Truscott agreed.

"They are too grown up!" Justine Ryan cried, placing a hand on her heart. "Where does the time go?"

"Speaking of time," Jake butted in, one hand around Miley's waist, the other around Lilly's shoulders, "I think that it has probably been about three hours since the three of you started taking pictures. Can we go now?"

Justine rolled her eyes. "Fine," she sighed. "We'll call you when dinner is ready."

Jake smiled and pressed a quick kiss to his mother's cheek. "I love you, Mom," he said cheekily before loosening his tie and flopping onto the porch swing.

Miley quickly followed, scooting close to him. "So, this is it," she said. "We're free!"

Lilly sighed sadly, sitting down on the porch step. Oliver was quickly at her side, his arm around her. "Do you guys feel any different?" he asked.

There was a moment of silence before Jake laughed. "Not at all."

"I feel different," Lilly muttered. "Everything is about to change. You say that we're all going to stay best friends, but we're not. Everything is going to fall apart."

"Lil," Oliver sighed, rubbing her arm gently. "Come on."

"It is kind of weird though, isn't it?" Miley said. "We've always been like… the four musketeers and then next year… next year we'll all be separated. No more of Oliver's donut jokes everyday, no more slapping Jake across the head when he gets all egotistical, Lilly won't have anyone to patch up her skateboarding injuries… everything will just be… different."

"Let's do something about it, then," Oliver said.

Lilly sighed. "What? Keep going to Seaview for the rest of our lives?"

"No, let's go somewhere, just the four of us. All summer."

"All summer?" Miley repeated. "But we can't… our parents-"

"Aren't really in charge of us anymore," Jake finished, warming up to Oliver's idea. "We're free, like you've been saying all day!"

Miley smiled a little. "Where would we go? What would we do? How would we get there? I mean, this all has to be planned. I'm not just wandering off with you donuts-" she motioned to Jake and Oliver, "without a slight since of what is going on."

There was a moment of silence before Jake snapped his fingers. "My family has this place on the beach in Adairsville," he said. "It's this tiny town right out side of San Francisco. We barely ever use it, but it's awesome."

"Do you think your mom would let us use it?" Oliver asked, excitement creeping into his voice. This could totally work.

"I'm an actor, dude," Jake laughed. "I can sweet talk the woman into anything."

"When could we go?" Miley asked.

"Soon," Jake said. "Like tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?!" Miley squealed. "That's crazy. Tomorrow?"

"Come on," Jake urged, nudging her. "This is an adventure, a spontaneous thing. One last hoorah for the four musketeers!" He put his arm around her shoulder and pulled her tightly to him. "You know you want to say yes," he murmured into her hair.

Miley felt a blush creep up her neck. "I… well…" she sighed, the boy was right, he could sweet talk anyone into anything. "Okay. Fine."

"Yes!" Oliver laughed, pumping a fist into the air. "Lilly, you in?" he said, pinching Lilly's shoulder.

Lilly looked around at her three best friends. Everything was going to change soon. And she wasn't about to let that happen without one "last big hoorah."

She smiled and nodded, letting her head fall onto Oliver's shoulder. "I'm in."

A/N: I hope that you enjoyed this! I can't tell you how frequent updates will be, but I will try to update fairly regularly. Thank you so much for reviews!