"This is getting kind of boring, guys," Hannah said. Everyone agreed and the epic game of Monopoly was put away.

"Well, it's 9 o' clock and you guys still have school tomorrow," Kevin said, turning parental.

Nick sighed, "Alright, I guess we should go soon."

Oliver suddenly looked around the room and noticed the absence of two people. "Hey, where did Joe and Lola go?"

"Didn't they leave, like, an hour ago? And they're still not back yet?" Miley asked. She scanned the neighboring dining room and saw no sign of Lilly or Joe.

Hannah stood up and walked into the kitchen, only to find it empty. "Where are they?"

The group split up into mini search parties and started looking. "Joe?! Lola?!"

It was Jake who found them first. He tapped Miley's shoulder and pointed out the window towards the backyard. Miley gasped. There stood Lilly. And Joe. Hugging. And not like a just-friends-nothing-more-what-the-heck-I'm-bored-let's-hug kind of hug, but a hold-me-tight-and-don't-let-go kind of hug. After what seemed to be forever, they finally pulled apart. Joe said something Miley and Jake couldn't hear from inside. Then Lilly smiled and started walking inside.

"Aw," Miley rested her head on Jake's shoulder, "Would you look at that?"

Lilly entered the house then, "Look at what?"

Jake and Miley gave each other a look, turned and glanced at Joe (who was still outside staring at the back of Lilly's head like a lovesick puppy), then turned to face Lilly. Simultaneously, they replied, "Nothing."

"Hey Lola," Miley greeted as they sat down for their calculus class the next morning. "How was the movie date with Jackson?"

Lola stuck a finger in her mouth and pretended to barf.

Miley laughed, "That bad, huh?"

"I don't know what to do, Miley," she said. "I try to scare him away and gross him away but nothing is working! I think all my work only got him more in love with me. I'm going in the opposite direction here."

"That's exactly what you should do."

"What?"

"Go the other direction. Instead of being nasty and gory to Jackson, why don't you become the girliest chick ever?"

"So, you're saying I should start wearing all that pink stuff I bought and start freaking out about zits and nail beds?"

"Basically, yeah."

"Miley, you are a genius!"

Miley smiled and gave Lola a high five, "Thank you."

"I'll put our new plan in action right after school…yeah. This will be good! Eeep!" Lola screeched.

"Okay, that was so like Lilly, it was freaky," Miley said.

Nick and Oliver walked into the classroom then. They saw the two girls and Nick started walking towards Miley and Lola's direction but Oliver yanked Nick's arm back and pulled him to another empty desk. Oliver held his other hand over his face, as if that would prevent Lola from noticing him.

"I'm guessing that your Oliver Plan is working?" Miley laughed.

"Oh yeah," Lola bragged. "Any moment now and he'll crack."

"What exactly do you do to him?"

"Complain, whine, go on and on about my life, eat his lunch, insult his hair, whine some more, drag him to do manicures, stuff like that."

"Wow."

The teacher, Miss Jones, called the class to order. "Okay class. Since this is the last week of school before break and you only have two more days left, I've decided that you won't have any more homework for the next two days."

Cheers erupted around the classroom.

"But you will be working on a project due on Friday instead."

All the cheering stopped.

"The project goes like this," Miss Jones explained. "I will assign you a partner, then you and your partner need to go out and find twenty people. Family, friends, neighbors, random strangers, it doesn't matter. You will ask the twenty people what their favorite color is and why. Record all twenty answers word for word and type it up to hand in on Friday. Also, pick one response out of the twenty that stands out to you and share it on Friday. Any questions?"

Oliver raised his hand, "What does favorite colors have to do with calculus?"

"It doesn't," Miss Jones said. "It's a cool project I did in college and I figured this is better than calculus homework. But if you want calculus, I could—"

"NO!!!" We all yelled.

Miss Jones chuckled then picked up her class roster, pairing up students for this project. The ones whose names she already called got together and started discussing.

"…Jonas and Stewart…" the teacher's voice could be made out over the chatter.

"Cool," Miley said, gathering her stuff and walking over to Nick.

Lola followed, "You're so lucky, Miley. You got paired up with your best friend and watch, I'll probably get paired up with that fat smelly guy in the back row."

"That's not very nice," Miley scolded. "And you never know, your partner might be—"

"…Truscott and Oken…" Miss Jones called out.

"—Oliver," Miley finished her sentence.

"Wow, did you hear that Oliver?" Lola smiled, plopping down beside him at the desk, "we're going to be project buddies. Doesn't this sound like fun?!"

"Yeah…" Oliver grumbled. Nick patted his back while stifling a laugh.

"Okay, Oliver and I are meeting at Rico's in thirty minutes to work on our project, so you guys meet me there in ten, alright?" Lola said when Miley dropped her off at Lilly's house.

"Wait, why are we doing this again?" Nick asked.

"My Joe Plan worked, my Oliver Plan is working, and I'm going to put my new Jackson Plan into action," Lola smiled. "You're just going to be there to help."

"Cool."

Two minutes later, Miley parked her car and she and Nick walked through the front door of her house. They walked pass Jackson and Lilly on the couch and headed to the kitchen counter…

…Miley and Nick took a double take at the blue-haired girl sitting on the couch playing video games with Jackson.

"Lilly?" Nick exclaimed. Miley smacked his head, "Ouch…oh, I mean, Lola?" Jackson didn't seem to notice.

"Hey guys," Lilly waved before turning her attention back to the TV screen.

"Um, what are you doing here?" Nick asked.

Lilly shrugged, "I got bored. The internet and cable is down at the house, so I was left with nothing to do, sitting in my room like an idiot. Hannah was off recording for her new album, so I came here. You guys were still in school, so I started playing video games with Jackson."

"Why don't you hang out with Jake?" Miley suggested.

Lilly laughed, as if that was the funniest thing she's ever heard. "Um, no offense or anything…but Jake is the most conceited person in the continental U.S. And maybe China."

Nick and Jackson burst out laughing, but Miley found this very hard to believe, "No he's not."

"Maybe not to you," Lilly continued, "but that's because you're you. He's so in love with you, Miley, he loses his self-centeredness around you."

"That's…nice," Miley said.

"He's so mean to me," Lilly complained to her best friend, all the while hitting buttons rapidly on her controller to the video game, "and really annoying too. He keeps quoting himself from movies and thinking highly of himself. It was pretty funny at first, but now it's just irritating. And he keeps dissing my outfits, my hair, my food; he never thanks me for cooking his meals. And I'm his…sister!"

"Oh, I know how you feel," Miley agreed, giving Jackson a glare.

"Yeah, that's why I decided to only hang out with Jake when you're around, Miley," Lilly said.

"Lola's right," Jackson agreed. "Jake is a cool kid at first, but then his ego takes over."

Miley got a text message from the real Lola then: Where are you? "Hey Jackson," she said, "isn't it time for your shift?"

He looked at the time on the clock, "Oh shit."

Jackson quickly dashed to his room to change into his Rico's shirt. Miley and Nick put their backpacks down and took out their notebooks and pens.

"What are you doing?" Lilly asked half-heartedly, still engrossed in the game.

"Project," Nick explained. "We have to ask twenty people what their favorite color is and why. Speaking of which, what is your favorite color, Lilly?"

"Blue."

"Why?"

"Because it's the color of my new hair. Thanks to my switch with Lola, I don't have to do that project! Ha!"

A few minutes later, Miley, Nick, and Jackson all left for the beach. Only when she was alone did Lilly turn off the game and think over what exactly happened that afternoon.

Like a photo,
Like a second thought,
Always silent,
I just think a lot.

She had come to the Stewart's house looking for Miley, but she forgot the fact that Miley was still at school. Jackson was there playing video games, so Lilly joined him figuring it was better than sitting in her room staring blankly at the wall.

That's the clear part that Lilly remembers. The rest, she's not so sure. Because somewhere between the video games, the chats, the sodas, the laughter, and the lazy afternoon, something happened.

Lilly doesn't know how. She doesn't know exactly why. And she doesn't know why now. But she does know one thing.

She likes Jackson.


I still wonder:
Am I still stuck in your head?
In your head?

It could work out, right? It was Jackson who fell in love with Lilly first, right? Isn't Jackson one third of the reason why Lilly is sitting here with bright blue hair? So she can just call the contest off then. She can call Lola right now and tell her there's no need to wait for the end of the week. Lilly already knows who she'll pick. Since Joe isn't in love with her anymore, and she highly doubts Oliver is still…then she can be with Jackson and no one will have a broken heart, right? Because if Jackson likes her, and she likes him back now, everything works out.

Jackson still likes her, right?

"There you are!" Lola shouted. She motioned for Nick and Miley to come to her hiding spot behind the trees.

"Are you all set?" Miley asked, glancing down and Lola's outfit.

"Totally," Lola squealed. "Okay, Miley, you go out by Jackson and makes sure he sees me approaching. Then I'lll come out and hopefully with one glance at my pinkness, Jackson will run for the curb."

"Well what do I do?" Nick asked.

"Stay quiet."

Miley went out and assumed the position. She gave Lola a thumbs up and the plan was in action.

"Hey Jackson, Lilly's coming over. And she's thirsty," Miley said casually.

"Okay, I'll get the water for…her…" Jackson's jaw dropped when he say Lola with her perfectly curled hair and her flawless makeup with her pink blouse, shiny belt, denim skirt, pink leggings, and black boots.

"Hi Jackson," she said, flipping her hair. "I need a bottle of water, please."

"Lilly?" he asked, still shocked.

"Yeah…?"

"You…you're…I mean…you look…amazing!"

"Thanks."

"What's the occasion?"

"Oh I'm really a girly girl on the inside. You know, I love dress up and fashion and shopping and all that girly stuff. I'm not all macho like you thought, huh?" Lola prayed this would work.

Jackson shook his head. "No you are not…"

"So I would understand if you decided you didn't like me anymore, since I'm all peppy now."

"Of course…not." Lola groaned. Miley dropped her head. Dang it, it didn't work!

"Here's your water," Jackson said, handing her a bottle.

Lola paid and walked away, defeated.

Miley sat down at the snack bar and shook her head at Jackson.

"What?" he asked.

"Oh, nothing," she opened up the notebook she was carrying and clicked open her pen. "So Jackson, what is your favorite color?"

He glanced in the direction Lola left in, "Pink."

Miley didn't like where this was going, "…why?"

Jackson ignore his sister's question, "You know, Miley, I think I like this new side of Lilly. She's still the funny skater-chick I love, but now she's also a prankster, she likes scary movies, and now I find out that with a little makeup, she becomes the hottest girl in town. Yes, I like this new Lilly a lot better."

Miley's eyes widened, "Oh boy."

Ooooh, drama!

I decided to use Katelyn Tarver's "Chasing Echoes" as my multichapter songfic thingy. It's not the perfect song for this story, but I don't think there is a song out there about a guy who likes a girl who likes another guy who likes another girl who will like a third guy who will fall for a third girl who loves this fourth guy, but a fifth guy also likes the third girl and what he doesn't know is that this other girl is in love with him.

5 Romeos and 4 Juliets.:)