Room 311, Tuesday Evening

[its_theclimb]

Miley hadn't had any classes today, and Lilly was at school (dang time difference between Fandom and home!) and therefore untextable, so today had been something of an introspective day. She'd watched some of her old music videos on her iPod and gone through old AIM chat logs that she'd saved of her and Lilly and Oliver goofing off together, back in eighth and ninth grade. Everything had been so easy then. 

And now she was going through a scrapbook. Mamaw had made it for her -- actually, it was one of the few real-grandmotherly things Mamaw ever did, scrapbooking. It was filled with clippings and cutouts of Hannah Montana in magazines and newspapers, photos, old concert tickets. Most of it made her smile, but a few things (like the snapshots of performing for the queen, and Lilly's sixteenth birthday, god what a train wreck) just made her feel a little sad. 

This week? Hadn't been the greatest.

[[Door closed, post is for the Fandom BFF, and it's NFB for secretage.]]

Comments

[puppywithatutu.livejournal.com]

Talk about not great weeks. Caroline was attempting to stay as far from her room as possible, which meant a lot of laundry had been done and a lot of unnecessary shopping, and now she was wandering the dorm and couldn't stop herself from knocking on Miley's door despite how annoyed she still was about her one-sided secret-sharing ways.

And if her knock was too strong and rattled the door, well, that was just her strength getting the best of her!

[its-theclimb.livejournal.com]

Wow, Miley hadn't been expecting that.

There went all of Mamaw's hard work as she inadvertently knocked over the scrapbook in her haste to hide it. "Dangflabbit," she muttered, hurrying to pick it up and hide it none-too-surreptitiously under her blanket.

"Uh, who is it?" she called.

[puppywithatutu.livejournal.com]

"Um, Caroline," she called through the door, somehow managing to keep her voice as sweet as syrup. "Sorry, my fist is a little overwhelmed by shut doors today." Or she was just cranky and trying to hide it till she got let in.

[its-theclimb.livejournal.com]

Oh.

And that would be Miley's face kind of falling a little bit.

Then she opened the door, hands covered with glitter (really, Mamaw?) and a sheepish look on her face. "Hi?"

[puppywithatutu.livejournal.com]

"Hi," she replied, glancing between Miley and the room beyond. "Can I come in, or is there a secret-keeper test to pass?"

[its-theclimb.livejournal.com]

Okay. She'd deserved that.

"Yeah, come on in," Miley said, awkwardly extending an arm to indicate the rest of the room. "Um. Hey."

Yeah, Miley. You said that already.

[puppywithatutu.livejournal.com]

"Thanks," Caroline breezed past her, taking a quick look around before having a bouncy seat on Miley's bed. "So, is your real name Miley or Hannah. You know, just so I'm sure I'm addressing the right person."

Yeah okay, maybe she was taking out some of her issues here. Hopefully Miley would understand!

[its-theclimb.livejournal.com]

Well, she didn't, but she knew from talking to Lilly that Caroline couldn't be feeling particularly good now (though she grasped only the tiniest fraction of why), so she was willing to put up with it.

"It's Miley," she said, closing the door behind Caroline and lingering awkwardly near the doorway. Taking a deep breath, she said, "Miley Ray Stewart, born on November 23rd, 1994 in Crowley Corners, Tennessee. Sagittarius, 5'5", owner of the world's most awkward driver's license picture... was there anything else you wanted to know?"

Breathe, Miley. Really, now.

[puppywithatutu.livejournal.com]

"No," she groused, frowning down at her hands and noticing she'd totally failed at touching up her nails since Friday. "I just didn't think I'd find out you were lying about who you were from someone else. God, was my oversharing driving you insane, or what?"

[its-theclimb.livejournal.com]

"No!" Miley blurted out, eyes going Disney-wide. "I -- look, I wanted to tell you! But it's not the kind of thing you can just say. Like, 'oh, by the way, I'm a pop star. Please don't tell anyone, 'cause if you do my life will be over!'"

Well, this was Fandom, so... kinda not.

[puppywithatutu.livejournal.com]

"No? I mean, I guess I'm just overly open with my own life-ruining secret," Caroline pouted. "But please, like a pop star could have it rough in Fandom."

[its-theclimb.livejournal.com]

"You sure about that?" Miley asked, crossing her arms over her chest. "Because a few months ago, someone broke into my room and blackmailed me."

A bit of a dramatic interpretation of events, Miley. But sure.

[puppywithatutu.livejournal.com]

Well that had her curiosity getting the best of her attitude problem and Caroline glanced over at Miley. "Blackmailed you? How?"

[its-theclimb.livejournal.com]

"Well, it looks like I'll be giving her concert tickets for life."

Dumb Kenzi.

[puppywithatutu.livejournal.com]

"In exchange for keeping your secret?" Caroline was offended by this due to the problem where she still felt Miley was her friend. "Well, obviously she's no friend. Not that I'd mind getting to go to a concert."

[its-theclimb.livejournal.com]

"You mean you still want to?" Miley asked hopefully, taking a seat next to Caroline on the bed.

Yeah, the defensive thing wasn't working, not when Caroline was her best friend at this school. Admitting how important she was to her felt lame, but it was true.

[puppywithatutu.livejournal.com]

"Um, duh," Caroline eyed Miley carefully, wondering just how lame it was to give in so fast. "Assuming you'd trust some vampire girl hanging around your concert. And don't worry about hurting my feelings, I'm seriously used to not being on the most trusted list."

Play that tiny violin a little more, Caroline.

[its-theclimb.livejournal.com]

"It's not like that, okay?" Miley ran a hand through her bangs, trying to think of how to phrase it. "If everyone knew, I could never have a normal life, and neither could any of my friends. I didn't want to put you through that."

Making it sound a lot less selfish than it actually was, Miley.

[puppywithatutu.livejournal.com]

"Oh please, how is my life normal? I couldn't even spit on normal from here!" Caroline argued, crossing her arms over her chest a little huffily. "But fine, you wanted to be normal. I can't actually blame you for that."

[its-theclimb.livejournal.com]

"Yeah. I -- you're not the first person I've wanted to tell, even." Miley frowned, glancing at her nails. "But -- god, my nails need an extra coat, like, stat."

A moment of staring at her fingers.

"Wait, what was I saying?"

[puppywithatutu.livejournal.com]

"That if you were going to tell someone here about your super secret double life, it would be me!" Caroline supplied. "And not just because I have this really amazing crackle top coat that I would totally loan you."

[its-theclimb.livejournal.com]

"Yes!" Miley exclaimed gratefully. "To both of those! Yes. Exactly." Sometimes having a Disney attention span wasn't the worst thing.

Pause, then sincerely -- "I'm sorry."

[puppywithatutu.livejournal.com]

Caroline nodded, appreciating the sentiment as she opened her arms, a little bit desperate for a hug. "I'm sorry I got all violent with your door."

[its-theclimb.livejournal.com]

"It's okay," Miley said, and no her voice didn't crack there, what are you talking about? She did, however, move to pull Caroline into a tight hug. "Thanks for getting it," she murmured into Caroline's shoulder. "Not everyone would."

Hey, even Lilly hadn't. Then again, she had been twelve at the time.

[puppywithatutu.livejournal.com]

"If I didn't have to pretend to be a real teen girl, I might not," Caroline admitted, taking the comfort of her friend's arms for the moment. "Any other day and my extreme jealousy would've ruined this sappy little moment, too."