My computer restarted. I didn't save. I had to retype this chapter. Ugh.

"So you guys want to just call the whole thing off?" Hannah asked.

Lilly and Lola looked at each other and nodded at the same time.

"But no one's even won the contest yet," Hannah said.

Lilly sighed, "That's exactly why. I want to choose my destiny, not let my destiny choose me. Because he might choose wrong."

The three of them were sitting on Lola's bed, discussing the great results of The Plan. Lola had just told them what happened with Oliver.

"You originally gave them a week," Hannah pointed out. "A week ends this Saturday. Can't you wait another two days?"

"No," Lola whispered, "After what Oliver said tonight…I want my old life back."

Lilly nodded, "Me too."

"So you call the contest off and switch back. But are you going to tell Oliver, Joe, and Jackson about it?" Hannah said.

"Yeah. It would only be fair," Lilly said.

"And are you going to choose one of them?" Hannah asked.

"I want to," Lilly said softly.

"Okay, who'd you fall for?" Hannah interrogated.

"…Jackson."

Hannah sighed, then turned to Lola, "And you?"

"…Oliver."

"Well isn't this just peachy," Hannah said sarcastically. "Joe is in love with Lola (who is really Lilly), Lilly is in love with Jackson (who thinks she is Lola), Jackson is in love with the "new Lilly" (the real Lola) and Lola is in love with Oliver (the stupid boy that left her tonight.) Could there be a longer love chain?"

Yes, Hannah thought, answering her own question. Because I'm in love with Nick, Nick's in love with Miley, and Miley's in love with Jake.

A loud door slam could be heard from downstairs. The three girls walked out into the hall way to see Jake angrily walk up the stairs towards his room. He seemed to take no notice of the girls and walked right past them.

"Whoa!" Hannah and Lola each grabbed one of his arms and pulled him back. "What's wrong, Jake?"

"I don't want to talk."

"Jake, come on."

"Leave me alone!"

"Jake…"

He stayed silent for a minute then whispered, "It's Miley."

"What's wrong with Miley?" Lilly asked.

"Nothing's wrong with her…she just…she…"

"What?" Lola was getting impatient.

"She broke my heart."

"What happened?"

"Oliver."

"What does Oliver have to do with this?"

"…"

"Jake!"

"…"

"What is it?!"

"Oliver kissed Miley, that's what!" Jake turned and stalked off to his room and slammed the door behind him.

Hannah, Lilly, and Lola stood there with matching looks of shock. Oliver kissed Miley?

"So now Oliver has a sudden liking to Miley?" Lola said, confused (and kind of jealous.) "What is this, some giant love triangle? A love heptagon?"

"This is so messed up," Lilly said. "Life is so complicated."

"Tell me about it," Hannah muttered.

Oliver tossed and turned in his bed. It was about 2 in the morning but he was still wide awake.

But could you blame him? He kissed his best friend, after confessing he was in love with his other best friend. Miley probably hates him now. And Nick probably hates him too, since Nick always agrees with Miley. And Jake hates Oliver too, since he's Miley's boyfriend. And Jackson also hates him, since he's her brother. And Lilly and Lola and Hannah and probably Joe and Kevin as well.

Why did he even kiss Miley in the first place?

Stupid.

Oliver sighed and got out of bed, because sleeping was obviously hopeless. He walked to his bookshelf and tried to find a book to read to keep his mind off the fact that all his friends were against him. Instead, Oliver's eyes landed on his old photo album.

Pulling the giant album off the shelf, he turned on a light and opened it. It was his friendship album. It told the story of Oliver's life.

The first picture was taken 13 years ago. It was of Oliver and Lilly after their first day of preschool. Oliver will never forget how he and Lilly became friends. He had the 64 pack of crayons. Plus the sharpener. She wanted to use it. So she held his hand. And they were best friends ever since.

Oliver looked at picture and smiled. They were only four in that picture. It was probably the oldest photo he had, so old that it was already turning yellow. In the picture, little Lilly had her arm around little Oliver's shoulder and he had his arm around her little waist.

Standing frozen in the memories.

How Oliver wished he was four again. A time when it was just the two of them, Lilly Truscott and Ollie Oken. A time when life revolved around naps and snacks. A time when love didn't get in the way.

He turned the pages. The following pictures were all in similar fashion: Oliver on the left, Lilly on the right, their arms around each other. But the pictures were in chronological order, and if you looked close enough, you can see the two kids slowly growing up. For seven years, Lilly and Oliver stood by each other's side, claiming the other as his/hers and only his/hers.

But in the eighth year, that's when all things changed. That's when they entered middle school. That's when Miley Stewart came into the picture.

The first day of sixth grade was a memorable day. Oliver and Lilly had every class together, except for English. Oliver was so used to his best friend's witty remarks and whispered comments in school that it felt so weird to sit through the lesson without her there next to him. So when the bell rang, he dashed out of the room and waited outside Lilly's classroom.

He thought she was suffering too. He thought she would walk out frowning and then smile when she saw him. He thought wrong. Because that day Lilly walked out of English laughing with her arm linked with a curly-haired girl and they went right past Oliver, not even noticing him. The duo became a trio.

The next picture in Oliver's album was taken at Lilly's Halloween party that year. Oliver was still on the left and Lilly was still on the right like always, but now Miley stood on Lilly's other side. And this time, Lilly's arm was around Miley's shoulders and Miley's arm was around Lilly's waist. The two girls were wearing matching bumblebee costumes while Oliver didn't get the memo and wore a ninja costume.

The five photos after that showed the same thing: Lilly and Miley getting closer and closer while Oliver got pushed further and further away… He really despised Miley back then.

What you're taking is still lingering.

But it turns out Oliver wasn't the only jealous one. Turns out Oliver wasn't the only one with his best friend stolen from him. Turns out Nick Jonas hated Lilly just as much as Oliver hated Miley.

The next picture was of Miley's twelfth birthday party. There, Oliver befriended Nick. And after a night of movies, whipped cream wars, and a game Monopoly; all traces of hatred was gone and the trio became a foursome.

The ten photos after that were all of them together. The four of them on the beach, the four of them at the mall, the four of them canonballing into the pool, the four of them collapsed on the ground after running three 4X100 relay races in a row, etc.

Oliver smiled as he reminiscenced the good old days. Sure, it wasn't as great as when it was just him and Lilly, but four was better than three. At least four is an even number.

Every promise,
Every whispering,

"We'll be best friends forever." Oliver clearly remembered thirteen-year-old Miley promising that one summer day.

"Yeah," Nick agreed. "And no matter what happens…"

"…we'll always stick together," Oliver finished.

Lilly smiled, "It will be just the four of us. Forever."

It stayed a group of four for about three years. Then one day, Miley and Nick's older brothers decided to hang out with them and suddenly, Joe Jonas and Jackson Stewart started appearing in the pictures too.

Oliver flipped through the last few pages of his album. For the next two years, it remained a content group of six. Then came that fateful summer last year with the whole Miley/Hannah fiasco. After the drama was all over, Hannah Montana and Lola Ryan quickly joined the friendship clique too.

The final picture in Oliver's album was taken a few months ago. Nick and Joe threw a little get-together at their house and Oliver insisted on a group picture to end his album. After some brainstorming, they duct taped the camera to the ceiling and set the self timer. Then everyone jumped onto the bed in a giant heap and smiled as the camera flashed.

It turned out really good, actually. Everyone had great expressions and arms and legs were everywhere. Oliver put his finger to the photo and counted all the people. Eight. A group of eight. It was still an even number. 4 girls and 4 guys, which means technically, everyone could couple off evenly. Technically.

But that's not counting Jake Ryan.

No one could really stand Jake without Miley, so he never officially joined the group. But he did steal away Miley. Which means there are 3 girls left for 4 guys. Even if Nick and Hannah did get back together and even if both Lilly and Lola ended up with someone…it still means one guy will be left behind.

And Oliver really did not want to be that guy.

He stared at that last picture until he memorized every detail of it. Every single smile of his friends was etched into his brain. They were so happy then. Everyone got along. Yet in the past week, everything had fallen apart. Suddenly, it wasn't a group of eight anymore. It was eight groups of one.

So much for sticking together. So much for forever.

In my head.
In my head.

And at 2:30 in the morning, after he reviewed his life story, Oliver decided that he was going to fix this. He was going to fix his friendship. He was going to fix everything.

He just didn't know how yet.

School that day was…well, what did you expect?

Miley avoided Oliver like he was the plague. Like he was a three headed monster. Like he was a plate of rotting sardines. Lovely, eh?

Nick picked Miley over Oliver (surprise, surprise) and he had his arm around her all day whispering comforting words whenever she started tearing up, which happened every time she saw Oliver. Miley must really love Jake…but Oliver could have sworn that she kissed him back last night.

Lola was a no show at school. Probably ran back to Hollywood.

Oliver sat with his other friends at lunch, which was weird because he always sat with Lilly, Miley, and Nick. His friends didn't say anything. No one said anything. But they were all thinking it.

Lilly gasped. The pool of water at her feet was blue. Shower water is not supposed to be blue. She put her hands up to her hair and when she brought it back down, it was covered in blue.

She quickly turned off the water and stepped out of the shower. Clearing the condensation of the mirror, Lilly inspected her hair.

For the most part, it was still blue. For the most part. There was a nice sized blotch of blonde showing through at the top of her head. Someone was definitely going to notice. And if they didn't, well, Lilly must be surrounded by idiots.

Maybe drying her hair would help. Lilly got dressed and started blow drying her hair. Unfortunately, that made it worse.

Lola had stayed the night in her own house instead of returning to Malibu. Lilly shook her awake and pointed to her hair.

"What are you—oh," Lola exclaimed, "that's not good."

"Stupid hair dye was supposed to last a week! It's been five days!" Lilly shouted, frustrated.

"Maybe they meant a business week."

Lilly rolled her eyes, "What am I going to do? Your hair is still perfect. We can't have two blonde Lilly's."

"Well, you were going to tell the guys this afternoon anyways. It doesn't really matter."

"I guess…"

"LOLA!" Jake called from downstairs. "JOE IS HERE!"

Lilly looked at Lola and froze.

"In this case," Lola said, "I suggest you wear a hat."

I'm not very fond of this chapter's ending, but whatever. :)

So what do you think? Can Oliver be a super hero and save their friendship?