Finally, a new chapter! This chapter is super long so it should make up for the month I've been procrastinating. School is over (YES!) so now I should be able to write more. Here's the next chapter and make sure you read the AN at the bottom.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"I think so!"

Miley turned towards Hannah excitedly, "Okay, all we have to do is somehow get Lola to confess her love for Oliver out loud. Then Oliver will just happen to walk by. And then he'll be like, 'you like me?' and she'll be like, 'you heard me?' and we'll be like, 'aw, we're seeing a great couple here!' and everything will be great."

Hannah rolled her eyes, "You always make things sound so easy…but you're never wrong. Things always do end up being that easy…how curious…"

"That's just how I roll," Miley laughed.

"How will we get Oliver and Lola in the same place with out causing suspicion?" Hannah asked.

"We'll just throw a party or something," Miley shrugged. "That way everyone will be there partying and then we subtly guide Lola to Oliver."

"Where should this party be?"

Miley's phone beeped and she checked her new text message, "Apparently at the beach tonight at 6."

"Huh?"

"Looks like Jake and Oliver beat us to it," Miley showed Hannah the text she just received.

"Well that works, I guess," Hannah said. "But why would they just throw a party? I wonder what they're planning."

"Here they come now," Oliver pointed to the girls as they walked to the beach from Miley's house.

"Why do girls always go everywhere together?" Jake asked.

Oliver shrugged, "Beats me. You should know by now to not ask me any big life questions."

Jake laughed and put his hand in his right pocket. He rubbed the small velvet box with his thumb. "Oliver, I'm really nervous."

"Just relax, man. Everything will be okay. And even if you do screw up and make a complete idiot of yourself, Miley will probably still love you. Even if somehow your hat got knocked off and everyone saw that it was you, Jake Ryan, even if your proposal ended up on the front cover of a magazine, and if Miley said no…Not that it will happen, but if it did…I'm not really helping am I?"

"No."

"Do you have everything?"

"Yep, everything is set. You're in charge of distracting all the other people while I take Miley. Plan goes into action at seven."

"Wait, how do I distract the crowd?"

"I don't know. You're smart…sort of. You'll think of something."

"Alright. Well good luck, buddy!"

"So we are here, and there is Oliver," Hannah said to Miley after they arrived at the small beach party.

"Great! So I will talk to Lola and on my signal, you will lead Oliver over. But we have to get the timing just right or else I might have to get Lola to repeat herself a few times."

"Okay."

"Oh, and fix your hat," Miley reached over and pulled the hat down lower on Hannah's head, "we wouldn't want to cause a scene if everyone saw that Hannah Montana was at the party."

"Got it. Plan goes into action at seven?"

Miley nodded, "7 o'clock on the dot."

6:56

The rest of the party were dancing and laughing the night away, completely unaware that four people were intently staring at their watches.

6:57

Jake stood on a rock and tried to search the crowd for Miley.

Oliver made his way to the DJ and racked his brain for possible things to say that would distract everyone long enough for Jake to do his getting-down-on-one-knee thing.

Hannah spotted Oliver and tried to catch up to him.

Miley looked for her pink-haired friend but there were just so many people at the party and the beach was so small and she did not wear her heels.

6:58

Even when jumping up and down on the rock, Jake still could not find Miley anywhere. Why didn't she wear her heels today?

The current song ended so Oliver tapped the DJ's shoulder and asked for the microphone. Here goes nothing.

It was hard to run on a beach filled with dancing teenagers. Hannah squeezed and pushed, all the while keeping one secure hand on her hat. There's Oliver. But why is he taking the microphone from the DJ?

Miley called and texted and searched but no Lola in sight. She grabbed Nick and forced him to help look for Lola too. Where is that girl?

6:59

And then Jake found her. Miley was walking around with Nick near the side. He quickly hopped off the rock and walked towards them. In his pocket, the small velvet box was starting to weigh a lot heavier, or maybe that was just him.

"Uh, hello? May I have everyone's attention please? Hi, it's Oliver," Oliver coughed and soon the crowd got quiet. "Um…hey guys. How do you like the party?"

Everyone erupted into cheers while Hannah finally made it to the DJ stand. "Oliver!" she whispered, "What are you doing? Can't this wait? I need to show you something!"

"I see Lola!" Nick exclaimed and tapped Miley's arm. "She's over there by Jake."

7:00

Jake was walking towards Miley when Lola grabbed his arm. "Hey Jake, have you seen Miley? She called me like 12 times." He nodded and pointed to where she was.

"Yeah…so…uhh…" Oliver caught Jake's eye and gestured for him to hurry it up. "I just wanted to thank you all for coming! And break is going to be so much fun, right? No more school!" The crowd cheered again and Oliver wondered how much longer he could keep this up.

Hannah impatiently waited besides Oliver, "Would you hurry?"

Miley charged towards Lola. So maybe Hannah wasn't going to be able to bring Oliver over, but that's okay. Miley will just bring Lola to over to Oliver. She was about to reach her when Jake stepped in and stopped her, "Miley, could I talk to you for a sec?"

"Um, could you hold on to that thought for just a moment? I kinda have to do something first," Miley tried to back away.

Jake frowned, "But this is kinda urgent."

Miley looked back and forth between Jake and Lola, then Hannah, then Oliver, and back to Lola, and then she finally rested on Jake again. She sighed, "Okay fine."

The crowd was cheering again to something Oliver said and Jake took Miley's hand and led her away. When they passed Lola, Miley said, "Go to Hannah and tell her I'm a little busy, so she'll have to do it herself."

"What?" Lola asked, confused.

"Just go!"

Still with no idea what is going on, Lola followed Miley's instructions and found Hannah. "Uh, I'm supposed to tell you that Miley is busy so you have to do it yourself? Whatever 'it' is?"

"Busy?! What?" Hannah turned and spotted Miley and Jake walking down the beach towards the ocean.

Oliver looked too, and sighed, "Sure took him long enough."

"What? What is going on?" Lola asked, frustrated.

Hannah turned to Oliver suspiciously, "Do you know about this?"

"…um…"

"Oliver, why are Jake and Miley walking off?"

The last sentence echoed through the sound system. Hannah looked down and saw that the microphone was closer to her mouth than she thought. "…oops."

"Jake who?" one of the party people asked.

"Jake Ryan!" Kevin called out from the back. Then he realized his mistake. Only just a tad bit too late.

Girls shrieked and the whole crowd ran towards the beach. Hannah's eyes widened. She yelled at Oliver, "DO SOMETHING!"

Oliver scratched his head and spoke into the mike, "Wait, guys! I just saw them walking to the north side of the beach!"

The mob halted, then started running the other direction. Stupid fools.

"Phew!" Oliver pretended to wipe the sweat off his face. "That was a close one. But I did pretty good at distracting people, huh?"

"Wait, why did you even invite all these people if you were just going to distract them?" Lola pointed out.

Oliver thought about it for a minute, "You know, that's a very good point."

"Yeah, sorry about that guys," Kevin said. He was walking over with Joe, Lilly, Nick, and Jackson.

"So what's happening?" Lilly asked.

"That's what I want to know!" Hannah said.

"Okay so…what's the point in explaining? Let's just go see for ourselves!" Oliver led the way after Miley and Jake.

"So you wanted to talk to me?"

"Yeah…" Jake looked to the ground nervously.

"Well, what is it?"

"You know you can tell me the truth, right?"

"Right."

"You know I can handle whatever you say, right?"

"Uh huh."

"You know I want you to say exactly what you're thinking with complete honesty, right?"

"Where are you going with this, Jake?"

Jake ignored her and continued, "Okay, maybe this is a little too much, but tell me the truth."

Miley raised her eyebrows and waited. Jake reached into his pocket and pulled out the small velvet box. Miley jumped about ten feet in the air.

"I would get down on one knee," Jake said, "but I'm afraid you'll have a heart attack."

"Jake…please tell me that's not—"

But before she could finish, their friends appeared. Hannah, Lola, Oliver, Lilly, Joe, Nick, Kevin, and Jackson all surrounded them.

"Oliver! What is this?" Jake yelled.

"Sorry man, our plan didn't really work out."

"I don't want an audience!"

"Too bad," the girls squealed when they saw the box, "now carry on! We want to see this!"

Jake groaned and turned back to Miley, only to find her with a deer-in-headlights expression. "Miley?"

She nodded and stared at the box.

"Just tell me exactly what's going on in your mind right now. If I were to propose, then would you marry me?"

Lilly and Lola squealed. Hannah slapped a hand on each of their mouths. The guys rolled their eyes.

"I…Jake…this is so spontaneous…oh I don't know…I…" Miley rambled on, "I'm sorry…I just…I can't."

Lilly and Lola groaned. Hannah shushed them. The guys rolled their eyes again.

"I'm so sorry Jake!" Miley buried her head on his shoulder and he automatically wrapped his arms around her. "It's just too soon, I'm sorry!"

"Miley, it's okay, really," Jake replied. He patted her back and chuckled, "You didn't think I was actually asking you to marry me now, did you?"

Miley pulled back and stared at him. Lilly and Lola and Hannah turned to stare at him. Joe and Nick and Kevin and Jackson turned to stare at him. Oliver was doubling over in laughter.

"What? But you've got the case and everything!" Lilly said.

"How stupid do you guys think I am?" Jake laughed. "Why would I propose to Miley if I knew she wasn't ready yet and would say no? It was all hypothetical."

"So…what's in the box then?" Nick asked.

Jake smiled and opened the small velvet box. The ring was still there, but now, a small, silver chain lay through it. He took the necklace by the chain and fastened it around Miley's neck. The ring was left dangling from her neck and rested against her collarbone. It sparkled in the moonlight in the most subtle, yet beautiful way.

"Aww!" Lilly and Lola cooed. Hannah didn't even stop them this time, she sighed happily along with them. And the boys, yet again, rolled their eyes.

"Oh my god, it's gorgeous!" Miley exclaimed.

"Yeah," Jake nodded. "I realize it's a bit early to even consider marriage, but I just want to give you something to let you know that I really love you. After this hectic week, I think we ended up close than before."

Miley smiled and touched the ring. The light reflected through the diamond to create tons of mini-rainbows on the beach sand. As she moved it, the lights danced and sparkled.

"You don't have to wear it around your finger yet," Jake said. "But just wearing it around your neck will let all the guys know your mine. And that's enough for me."

"All the guys will be jealous," Miley said.

"Oh yeah."

The newly-semi-engaged couple leaned in for a kiss and all their friends went wild with whoops and cheers.

"Jake is so romantic," Hannah said. "He just always knows what to say."

"I'm romantic too!" Nick defended, "Did I not write you a song?"

"That's true," Hannah agreed.

Lilly pouted, "Aw, I wish my boyfriend was corny and sweet like your guys!"

"Hey!" Joe put his arms around her, "I bought us matching bracelets, which has to count for something!"

Lilly adjusted her bracelet and shrugged, "I guess that'll do for now."

Lola over-dramatically sighed. Hannah's eyes widened as she suddenly remembered her and Miley's 'mission'. She thought about pulling Miley away, but then she saw how Miley and Jake were sucking each other's faces off, so she figured she'd just do this one on her own.

Oliver was talking to Jackson, conveniently off to the side. Hannah took the chance and pulled Lola away. She cleverly positioned them so that their backs were to Oliver, but close enough that he could easily hear what Lola has to say.

"Are you okay, Lola? I realize how bad this might make you feel right now," Hannah said. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Jackson and Oliver walking back towards everyone else, but Oliver stopped and turned to the two girls. Hannah smiled, he must have heard them.

Lola shrugged, "I'm fine. All this mushy gushy couple stuff doesn't really bother me. I'm used to it by now."

Hannah saw right through her words, "Maybe you're used to seeing us with our boyfriends…but are you used to the sad feeling you get when you see us?"

That one hit a little too close to home. Lola looked at the ocean and tried to blink the coming tears away. Oliver was only hearing snippets of the conversation, so he slowly inched closer.

"I'm really sorry, Lola. I shouldn't have said anything. I probably just made you feel ten times worse."

"No, it's okay Hannah. And it's true. I mean, it's getting better, but whenever I see you and Nick or Miley and Jake or even Lilly and Joe now…I don't know, I get this weird feeling in my gut. I guess it's part jealousy, part yearning."

"For Oliver?" Hannah took a step to her right so that she was facing Lola and Oliver who was a few feet behind her. She purposely emphasized his name to catch his attention and it worked. Oliver gave her a weird look and came even closer to listen to Lola's response.

Lola sighed, "Of course for Oliver, who else is there?"

Hannah smiled and winked at Oliver over Lola's shoulder. "So you like Oliver. Why on earth haven't you told him yet?"

"Because he doesn't feel the same! He never will."

"But maybe if you just tell him, he'll have a change of heart." Hannah looked back at Oliver to see that he was smiling. And that was a good sign.

"You might be right, but I'm too big of a coward to ever find the courage to tell Oliver I like him face to face."

"Which is why I had you tell him back to face," Hannah grinned in success.

"…what?" Lola slowly turned around. When she saw Oliver standing an arm's length away, she blushed like crazy. "Oh…uh, hi."

"Hi," Oliver smiled and walked up to her.

"Well my work here is done!" Hannah 'accidentally' bumped into Lola, making her fall into Oliver's arms and then ran back to the rest of her friends.

"Are Oliver and Lola…kissing?" Lilly gasped when Hannah got back.

"WHAT?!!" Everyone turned to look in their direction.

"Oi," Jackson groaned, "I think I've had enough kissy-kissies tonight."

"Aww!" Miley said, "You got them together, Hannah?"

Hannah nodded and Miley gave her a high five. "Success!"

"So we're like, all paired up now," Joe concluded. "Me and Lilly, Hannah and Nick, Jake and Miley, Oliver and Lilly. Kevin and Jackson just have to turn gay for each other and it'll all work out."

"WHAT???!!!!" Kevin and Jackson screamed.

Silence fell over the friends--Lilly smacked Joe. Nick coughed. Jake mumbled, "Awkward!". Hannah and Miley nearly died trying to hold in their laughter.

"…Okay, so I have to admit, that was a really bad joke," Joe apologized. "Sorry about that guys, I'm sure you aren't gay."

The weirdness passed and Miley and Hannah were doubled over in laughter. Soon everyone was laughing too. Lola and Oliver rejoined the group and were retold the joke and started laughing as well.

Then it was decided that they would all sleepover at Hannah's house. After settling in at the Montana mansion, everyone was debating over which movie to watch, and which type of cookie to bake. While the argument continued, Jackson silently took off and went outside.

Are you really gone?
I sing you this song.
Will you tell me
Where did we go wrong?
I can't let go,
I can't let go.
Now I'm left here chasing echoes.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Kevin asked as he stepped out the door. "I saw you leave."

"I lost, man," Jackson said. "I nearly had Lilly, but now I've lost her. And Lola."

"Do you still love them?"

"Yeah," Jackson sighed, "And maybe that's the problem. I can't love both of them."

"It's going to be okay. So what if we're single? Personally, I'm not so eager to get into this love business. Too much drama," Kevin said.

"I guess you're right. But this could have ended so differently. Maybe I would be with Lola, Oliver would be with Lilly, Nick would be with Miley, and maybe Hannah would be with you."

"You don't get an alternate ending in real life, Jackson."

"I know. It sounds good though."


Now I'm left here chasing echoes.

And that's that. I guess the story ended a lot sadder than I planned. But that's what happens when you write stories. This is the last 'official chapter'. I will write an epilogue and then, sniffle sniffle, that's the end to Love Me Not. What next?

Part of the reason why I haven't updated in a month is because I've started writing Around the Campfire and Chasing Fate. Campfire is one of the most voted stories on my poll, but only 7 people have voted so that doesn't say much. Still, it's a fun idea, so I think I'll write it. :) Chasing Fate is a story not on the poll, because I'm defintely writing it. All I can say is it's a Jiley songfic.

And another thing, while I was writing this, I also created a Twitter account. There is a link on my profile. I will give you updates on new story info and stuff like that. You should follow me, and then tell me your Twitter username in a comment so I can follow you and we can be Twitter buddies! And I was trying to find all these celebrities the other day. Do you know how many Miley Cyrus's and Selena Gomez's there are? They all say 'official' or 'real'. Can someone please tell me which one is the actual Twitter for Miley, Selena, Demi, Vanessa, and all those famous people? Just give me a list of all the celebrities you have.

So...comment and, oh yeah, vote on my poll!:)