Sorry this took me so long. But, I was on vacation. I just got back from a cruise! I went to the Carribean - it was AMAZING. But, still, I'm glad to be home. I missed all my friends, and of course writing for you guys :)

Hopefully you didn't think I disappeared and forgot about me. Haha.

Chapter 9.

--

Nothing actually worked out the way Lilly would of liked it too. Jake thought everything was just perfect again, she needed a freakin' tutor, and the whole situation with Oliver was, well.. awkward. She walked through the halls as the end of the day approached. She needed to find Kyle before he ran off to his comic book store, or where ever it was he worked at.

She sighed in relief when she saw him. He was by his locker. She mentally kicked herself - obviously he'd be at his locker. "Kyle, hey." She greeted him as she leaned against the locker next to his.

He froze, with a book in his hand. He looked at her with a confused expression. "Lilly.. hi." He slowly put the book into his backpack.

"Have you talked to Mr. Fuller yet?" She asked, getting straight to the point.

His furrowed his eyebrows and expression let her know the answer before he even responded. "No, why?" He seemed nervous, like he didn't really want to know why he needed to talk to Mr. Fuller.

Lilly smiled, thankful. At least now she had time to convince him to be her tutor. "Because he's going to ask you to be -" She paused, and glanced around to make sure no one was listening in. "- my tutor." She whispered.

"You need tutoring?" He raised his eyebrows, as if he didn't believe her.

She widened her eyes and held a finger to his lips. "Shh!" She sighed. "Yes.. I've been getting a little behind. So, when he asks you; You're going to say yes, right?"

He bit his lip, and shut his locker. "Well, I mean.. I have work.. and my own homework.."

She rolled her eyes. "I'll pay you double of what that stupid job pays you. Triple if you keep your mouth shut."

His interest sparked a little more. "Triple?"

"Triple." She nodded.

He sighed. "Alright. I'll tell Mr. Fuller yes when I talk to him."

Lilly jumped slightly and squealed. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" She exclaimed, while giving him a tight hug.

"You're welcome." He said uneasily, while awkwardly patting her back.

She let go and sighed. "You have no idea how much you just saved me. I'll talk to you - Shit." She cut herself off as her gaze moved from Kyle to the man walking through the hallway, in their direction.

Kyle raised his eyebrows. "You'll what?" He asked, completely oblivious.

She quickly moved away to behind one of the doors. Kyle watched her, confused. "Lilly.. what -"

"Shut up!" She told him.

Mr. Fuller approached Kyle. His confused expression suddenly dropped. He understood now. Lilly sighed relief and figured that Mr. Fuller asked Kyle to go talk in private considering she saw them walk away.

She slowly walked from her hiding spot from behind the door, not paying attention and bumping straight into someone. She jumped back, and was relieved when she saw who it was. "Oh, Miley." She chuckled. "It's just you."

Miley grinned. "Yup. So.."

"So..?" Lilly pestered. She knew exactly what Miley wanted to hear, but making her ask was too much fun.

Miley sighed. "Oh, come on. What happened with Jake?!"

It was at that exact time that Kyle returned from his talk with Mr. Fuller. "So, I said yes.. all we need to do is - Oh." He smiled nervously. "Hi, Miley." He greeted, not realizing she was there at first.

Lilly inwardly groaned. Miley furrowed her eyebrows. "Hey. What were you saying?"

Kyle took one glance at Lilly's narrowed eyes and shook his head. "Nothing.. it's nothing. Unimportant. Useless. Waste of your time." He rambled, while Lilly was holding in everything she had not to scream at him.

Miley nodded slowly, looking almost fearful of him. "Um, okay." She mustered a smile, and turned to Lilly. "I'll call you later."

Lilly smiled. "Alright, bye!"

Miley waved as she walked off. Once she was gone, Kyle hit himself in the head with his notebook. "Stupid!" He complained.

Lilly rolled her eyes and took the notebook away from him before he caused any serious damage to himself. "Don't stress too much about it, okay? Miley doesn't take things too seriously." She sighed. "But, back to my problems. You can't tell anyone, and I mean, anyone about this. Not even Oliver."

"Why?" He questioned. "Really, I don't see the big deal."

"Just because." She sighed impatiently. "No explanation needed." When he said nothing, she figured he got the hint. She turned to him and bit her lip, unsure of what she was about to ask. "Hey, um.." She took a breath. "Do you know why Oliver wasn't in today?"

He shrugged. "Nope. I was wondering the same thing."

"Oh." She was disappointed. She hoped that Kyle would of known. "Why don't you call him?"

"I don't know." He shrugged once again. "I figured I'll just talk to him tomorrow."

"Oh."

"Yeah.."

"So," Lilly swung her arms back-and-fourth. "When do we start?"

"Oh.. Well. I don't know. You can decide." He obviously wasn't good with decisions.

She sighed. "It would make more sense if you did. How am I supposed to know your work schedule?"

"Right." She had a good point. "Fine. There's a test on Monday. So how about Sunday .. at, let's say, five o'clock?"

She nodded. She usually did nothing important on Sunday's anyways. "Sounds good. I'll see you then." She shot him a smile before walking off, "Thanks, Kyle."

"It's no problem." He reassured her, waving her good-bye.

--

Lilly held her cellphone in her hands for about twenty minutes, going over what would happen if she clicked one little button and called Oliver. Would he be mad? Would he even answer? Would he be glad that she called?

The talk with Jake wasn't exactly what she had planned, and she couldn't help but regret. If she could just suck it up and tell him flat out, "Jake, I don't love you." everything would be so much easier.

It was Friday now. She avoided Jake in school. She couldn't see him now.. not when she was this confused. She's never been so happy not to have any classes with him. Oliver still wasn't in school, and she was getting extremely paranoid. She asked Kyle again if he knew anything about Oliver's where-a-bouts, but he knew nothing. She took a mental note to not ask him anymore - the kid was smart, and he was getting a little suspicious.

It was four-thirty, and Miley was going to be at her house at any minute with Jacqueline and Caroline. They going to get mani-pedi's. She only agreed so she could get her mind off of everything. She needed something to relax her.

Her cellphone, still in hand, started to ring. She was startled for a moment, but took a deep breath. She figured it was Miley, telling her she was outside. But, when she looked at the screen her heart sped up. It was Oliver.

She was panicking. But, he was calling her. So, obviously he wanted to talk. And Oliver wasn't the type to yell.. especially on the phone. She braced herself, and clicked the 'answer' button.

"..Hello?" She answered quietly.

"Lilly!" He sounded relieved, nervous, and a little surprised. "I didn't think you were going to answer."

He sounded different, like he had a sore throat or a snuffed nose or something. "Hi." She said. She was at a loss for words.

"Hi." He replied - in a much more upbeat tone then Lilly's.

She bit her lip. "So.. what's um.. up?"

"Nothing. Sick." He replied nonchalantly.

"You're sick?" She asked. "Is that why you haven't been in school?"

"Yeah." He chuckled. "I got caught in the rain."

She felt her cheeks heat up, and she was thankful he wasn't there to see her. He was sick from being kicked out in the rain by her. She played along and giggled. It was obvious that it was forced. "Sorry.."

"Nah," He dismissed her apology. "I deserved it."

There was a block of silence for a minute before anyone spoke again. Lilly sighed. "No, it wasn't -"

She was cut short by a loud beep from outside. It was Miley, here to pick her up. Lilly cursed her best friend inside her head. Couldn't she just be a little late? For once?

"Lilly?" Oliver asked, probably wondering why she just stopped talking.

"Sorry, Oliver. I have to go." She said, and regretted it immediately.

"But -"

"I'm really sorry. Bye."

dial tone.

--

Okay. Short. Definitely a filler. But, there's a lot more to come in the next few chapters.

Review!

-Steph