F a l l i n g I n L o v e . . .

"Miley, seriously. You're worrying me. What's wrong?" Nick stared her down, waiting for an answer. She was down lately and he knew it, so why wouldn't she just admit it. She always had before and now definitely wouldn't be any difference.

"Nothing," she whined, faking yet another smile. He wasn't sure which hurt most, knowing that she was down about something or knowing she felt like she had to fake those stupid little smiles around him. "Now please lay off."

"Fine, but I'm gonna find out."

She giggled, picking up the remainder of her lunch which consisted of three-fourths of her PB&J along with the full mini bag of pretzels she'd packed. "Okay. Sure."

She got up ready to walk away when someone stopped her. She looked back seeing who it was. Nick. Again. She rolled her eyes. She really did think he finally got the memo that nothing was bothering her. Or at least nothing she would tell him. He gently pulled her to the end of the table by the wall where no one was really sitting. The rest of them all turned to watch for a second before turning away, all of them pretending not to listen.

"What's going on with you, Mi?" he asked her softly.

Miley looked down, afraid of both their tears. She should have known that he would notice if she just stopped eating out of the blue. "Nothing."

"You need to eat."

"I do," she protested.

"The past four days you've eaten a fourth of your sandwich before throwing it away," he told her. "At first I figured you just weren't hungry that day, but now it's almost been a school week. What is going on?"

She scrambled to think of a reason, only coming up with the lamest one she'd ever even tried to tell him. "Nothing. Just not as hungry lately."

"Are you starving yourself?" he asked bluntly. At this point he didn't care how rude that sounded, this was about his best friend. Not only that, his best-friend since he was born practically. She shook her head fiercely, surprised he would ask something like that. "What've you eaten?"

"My sandwich! And then I've never ate breakfast and you know that."

"A fourth of your sandwich," he corrected.

She glared at him, suddenly getting mad at him for even bringing this up. "Did I eat?"

Nick scoffed. "Barely."

"Look, I don't see how this concerns you."

"I do!" he exclaimed. "My best friend suddenly stopped eating. I think that concerns me!"

She got up. She didn't have to listen to any of this. "Well I don't."

Nick ran his hand through his hair while he watched her walk away, obviously angry. Once she threw away her bag of food Miley quickly walked out of the cafeteria. He traveled back over to his previous spot, looking all of them over before zoning out. What the hell happened to them?

Selena was already grabbing Demi's arm, not wanting her to go chase after Miley, yet again. Demi struggled to pull her arm out while glancing at the door multiple times nervously. Miley couldn't control her feelings. She was strong, but she also was sensitive. She couldn't leave her out there. She needed somebody - and for some reason she knew that she didn't want Mandy, or anyone else at the table for that matter, other than herself.

"Selena, please let me go," she whispered hoarsely, closing her eyes.

"Why?" she glared.

"Because Miley needs me!" she exclaimed exasperated. She was "Why is me leaving such a big deal to you?"

"You always chase her. And I thought you were my best friend."

"I am!"

"Well to me it's pretty obvious I'm not yours," she snarled, walking out the opposite doors that Miley had just exited. Demi's hand ran through her hair, trying to pick before she abruptly followed Miley. She was the one who needed her first, and she was the one who needed her the most.

"What did you do?" Joe asked his brother, popping another grape into his mouth.

"Miley, shh. Calm down, Honey. It's okay," Demi soothed her, wrapping her arms around the girl's body from behind. She was leaning against the lockers in the middle of the hallway, her head faced down with her hair covering the puffy pink cheeks.

"I'm fine, Demi. Really. Just getting some things from my locker," she twisted herself out of Demi's arms, walking forward in the hallway. She didn't want anyone to see her like this. She looked disgusting, and weak - pathetic, even.

Demi sighed, following her. "You're fine?" Miley nodded, no desire to look back. "Then why won't you look at me?"

Suddenly she stopped, finally letting the tears slip down her face freely. Her voice quivered too much to convince anyone with hearing she was okay. "Because you'll think I'm not."

"Maybe you aren't."

"I have to be," Miley said with certainty, no hesitation involved. "I have to be, Demi." she whispered, trying to get herself to stop.

Demi shook her head. "Not around me."

And that's all it took for the tears to become a waterfall, unable to stop.

Selena punched the bathroom wall with all her might, wanting to break something. She didn't know why she ran, it only made their friendship worse. She'd chosen Miley over her and Selena couldn't help but get even more pissed than she was before. It didn't help anything.

The bathroom door creaked open, causing her to turn. Once she saw that it was just Mandy she sighed of relief. If anyone else were to see her in this condition she might have thrown a punch at them.

"She didn't follow me, did she?" she wanted to sound tough and okay, but she only sounded depressed.

Mandy carefully shook her head, looking down. "You okay?"

"Other than the fact that I hate my supposed best friend – yeah," she gave off a weak smile.

"Well I hate your supposed best friend too, so don't worry," Mandy smiled a little bit. She couldn't help but not like the idea of Miley becoming closer to Demi. Miley was hers first, and she didn't want to share her.

Selena swallowed the lump in her throat, "Demi went after Miley?"

"She always does," Mandy whispered.

"Yeah..." Selena sighed, looking up and letting off a slight grin. "That's why it's our job to stick together."

Sorry for not updating. Like super duper duper duper duper duper duper duper duper sorry. Honestly, i kinda gave im back now thanks to a certain persons request =) review please?