Chapter 3 – Planning

After dinner Miley and Jackson helped clear away the dishes and then headed to their rooms.

Once in her room Miley went into her bathroom and looked at her reflection in her mirror. Miley knew that she had to call Lilly before 8pm but she couldn't take herself away from her thoughts.

Pulling herself away from her mirror Miley grabbed her song book she was writing from this morning and began to add some new lines to her song.

"We were strangers on a crazy adventure,

Now here I stand afraid of the future..."

"Great what am I going to write now?" She thought. Miley had been having trouble writing her newest hit. She said she wanted to write this song herself but now she was wishing she hadn't.

HMHMHMHMHMHMHMHMHMHMHMHMHMHMHMHMHMHMHMHMHM

Several blocks away Nick Lucas was lying on his bed thinking about the day's events. He didn't know what it was but something about that Miley girl that made him feel alive. She seemed to be the kind of person who could bring out the best in others, must be her bubbly personality he thought. Maybe moving to a new town wasn't such a bad idea after all; he only hoped that the excitement of their arrival at the school would calm down long enough for him to enjoy his time there. Just as he was about to get up and go have a shower, his bedroom door opened and in walked his older brothers.

"If you guys don't mind I was about to take a shower."

"We'll only take a minute." Kevin told him as he sat on his brother's bed.

"Kevin and I have been thinking about our next album and we're stuck on ideas. I know we are here to get away from the spotlight for a bit but we still have a contract to up hold." Joe laughed at the thought of their plan to get away from the spotlight, so much for that idea.

"We have 6 months to write and record this album, and we haven't even got a theme yet." Kevin seemed a little sad at that.

"Actually I have been working on something but it's a little rough, its over their on my desk if you want to have a look. Now if you guys don't mind I'm going to have my shower now." With that Nick got up and left his brothers to it as he closed the door behind him.

Joe was the first one to read Nicks latest song, upon reading it a bucket load of ideas came to him. If they did this right they could have some great hits, not to mention that they could also prove to their parents that they could be normal teens as well as recording artists. They may have only been in town for a day but coming to stay with their aunt and uncle may have been just the thing they needed. When Joe had finished going over Nick's song he turned to give it to his older brother only to find him playing with a couple of toy robots off the bookshelf. It amazed him how despite Kevin being the oldest he could act the most childish but yet when on stage he acted like the older brother he was meant to be. "When you're done playing with the robots do you actually want to be of some use?" Kevin at least had the common sense to look wounded at that statement. "Do you want to read it or not?" Joe tried again.

"All you had to say was 'I've finished, your turn', there was no need to be so mean." Before taking the sheet from Joe and going over it.

Joe only shook his head as he sat down at Nick's desk and grabbed a pen and some paper. He began writing down all his ideas and brainstorming even more, no doubt Nick would shoot most of them down. As Joe was writing down his 8th idea Nick walked back into his room with a towel in hand attempting to dry is soaked head. Nick walked over to were Joe was sitting took one look at his handy work before moving to sit on his bed with a sceptical look on his face.

Without missing a bet Joe got straight to the point. "Ok, I know that look. What's wrong with my ideas?"

"Which ones, are you referring to?"

"By the look on your face I bet your going to say all of them."

"You're about 99.9% correct about that statement."

"So what do you think about the other 0.1%?"

"For once I'd have to say that you're on the right track. I like your theme choose and I think a duet or two could work with the right artist. As for your cover art, that has to go. There is no way we are going to have a circus, an amazon adventure, by dressed in togas or look like monkeys from out of space, what are we planet of the apes? Don't answer that." Nick finished as Joe was about to make a smart comment about Kevin.

The guys continued to talk about their different ideas for the album and possible name chooses. They still hadn't come up with a name when their Aunt Jacqui came in 2 hours later to tell them it was getting late and since they had school the next day they should all be heading to bed. The brothers bid their Aunt and Uncle goodnight before going to their separate rooms. As Nick was getting into bed he saw his current song sitting on his night stand, as he read them over he saw where he went wrong. Nick quickly got out of bed and grabbed a pen to write down the words before he forgot them. It wasn't until he was back in bed with his light off that he discovered the tune and begun quietly singing "No one told me I was going to find you, Unexpected what you did to my heart, When I lost hope you were there to remind me, This is the start…"

Nick woke up the following morning in a sweat, yet he couldn't remember what it was that caused it. He got up and took a quick shower before getting ready for the day. Once he reached the bottom of the staircase his aunt grabbed him and shoved him lightly into a seat and began piling pancake after pancake onto his plate. Roughly 10 minutes later Joe and Kevin descended from the stairs as their aunt complained about their lateness, seeing as Kevin was still in his pyjamas. Nick said goodbye to his aunt and uncle and left the house before anyone could stop him. Nick wanted to get to school early so he could go to the music room to compose some music before he forgot it, and with the off chance that he might get to see Miley before school started.

When he got to school Nick made a bee line for the music room and then to one of the pianos, though there was only two to choose from. It wasn't until the bell rang that Nick stopped writing and headed to home room, which he found was easy to find from the music suite. He was surprised when he didn't see Miley, Lily or even Oliver in home room which he was a little disappointed about seeing as he didn't really know anyone else. It was then when a short boy which a weird accent came up to him.

"Hi, you must be Nick Lucas, I'm Rico." Without waiting for a reply he continued. "I saw you hanging with Miley and co yesterday, if I were you I'd ditch them before you hit rock bottom."

"I'm sorry rock bottom?"

"Everyone knows that Miley and her friends are complete losers and hanging out with them will only ruin your reputation."

"Thanks for the warning but as far as I'm concerned their pretty cool, much nicer than the rest of the school as they're the only ones who were willing to help me instead of staring and shouting at me."

It was then that Miley walked into the room followed closely by Lily and Oliver who were all glad that Mrs Hayes wasn't there yet. "And we'll be happy to do it again." She said as she walked up to Nick and Rico smiling. She grabbed Nick by the arm and led him to where Lily and Oliver had taken their seats. They had just sat down when Mrs Hayes walked into the room and proceed to tell Ricco off for not being seated all ready.

"Good morning class."

"Good morning Mrs Hayes." They chorused.

"We have 15 minutes to go over a very important announcement. As you all know the annual school dance is coming up and we've been selected to organise it this year. Therefore I will be need volunteers to be on the dance committee, those who are it will be added to their extra activities for the year. I will put a box on my desk and throughout the day I'd like you all to write someone's name on a slip of paper and pop it into the box, then tomorrow we'll see who's been elected to be in charge. I will also put up a sign sheet for those who wish to participate." They spent the rest of the time going over some of the conditions that the principle had set until the bell rang and they all filed out into the hall and went to their respected classes. Miley and Lily headed for the art room while Oliver showed Nick the way to his maths class from homeroom before making his way to his woodwork class.

Miley, Lily and Oliver took turns in showing Nick to each of his classes and other areas of the school. Nick's 4th class had been music followed by lunch and study so he had spent roughly 3 hours working on his songs list. It wasn't until the last class of the day that any of them had seen each other for more than 5 minutes. Unfortunately for Miley they had History with Mr Williams, and History wasn't exactly her favourite subject.

It wasn't until later that night that Miley realised how easily Nick fitted into her group of friends. Once she had completed her homework she got out her song book and wrote down a few more lines for her song. She then set about going through her Hannah wardrobe in search for an outfit for Saturday night. Earlier that evening her father handed her an invitation for Hannah to attend a party on Saturday night being held by Traci Van Horn. She had tossed several outfits aside to try on only to discover that she had put together the wrong combos and her peach lace skirt didn't match her purple boots, and neither didn't her pink heels and her sparkly gold top. It had taken her a further 2 hours to find the right outfit before she called Lily and told her their Saturday night plans that she would then have to pass on to Oliver. That night Miley had very pleasant dreams, ones that may or may not have included one Nick Lucas.

Thursday morning started like every other morning, Miley woke up and took a shower followed by 20 minutes of changing her mind on what to wear and how to do her hair. When she was finished ran down the stairs and it her breakfast that her dad had only just finished making. "Morning darling," Robbie Ray said as his daughter sat down. He informed both Miley and Jackson that he would be late home that night and they had to get their own dinner, which didn't include pizza. Instead of answering their questions of what he was doing and where he'd be Robbie Ray told them to hurry up and finish eating before ushering them out the door saying they were going to be late for school.

The siblings made it to school just as the final bell rang; they parted ways as if they didn't know each other and headed to their respected classes. Miley had just managed to slip into her seat in home room just as Mrs Hayes entered the room. "Good morning class, I have tallied the votes and the class has spoken." She sat at her desk facing the class with several papers in front of her. "Due to the number of votes the person in charge of this year's dance committee is Miley Stewart." There were several groans made, mainly be Ashley and Amber, as well as a few cheers. "Congratulations Miley, you are in charge of organising the dance. Helping you with themes & decorations will be Lily Truscott, and with the music/DJ will be Oliver Oken." More loud groans were made by Ashley, Amber and a few others. "All food and drinks will be organised by Rico, however all final decisions must be made by Miley and everything must come within the school budget of $500."

Just then the bell rang indicating that students had 5 minutes to get to their next class. As the students piled out of the classroom Mrs Hayes stopped Miley and gave her several papers indicating the dance requirements and rules along with permission forms as well as parent voluntary forms. Mrs Hayes informed Miley that the date for the dance was set for two weeks' time and she had until then to get everything done, if the dance was a success then it would go on her school record as her extra activity as well as school contribution. As Miley made to catch up with Lily and Oliver so they could walk into Maths class with Mrs Rae together, she realised several things. The first thing she realised was that she was going to be really busy this coming weekend with Tracy's party, all her homework, song writing as well as her chores, and now organising the school dance. The second thing was the next two weeks were either going to go by really fast or incredible slow. The first thing she was going to have to do was do a Maths test she hadn't studied for followed by an hours' worth of dull English with Mrs Duff.

What theme idea do you think Miley should choose? Any song ideas for the boys CD? I look forward to any reviews good or bad.