A/N: This is sort of a prologue to the story. Italics are in flashbacks and non-italics is present time. In this story, Miley, Oliver, and Lilly are all seventeen-year-old juniors.

"I hate that movie," Thirteen-year-old Oliver Oken muttered as the credits of 'A Walk to Remember' began to scroll. "Remind me why I just wasted two hours of my life watching it?"

Lilly Truscott, who sat next to him on the couch, laughed and linked her arm through his. "Because you just got to enjoy two hours with the two most amazing girls on the planet!"

"Wait, are Amber and Ashley here?"

Miley Stewart, the host of this particular movie night, gaped and threw a pillow. "Puh-lease, Oliver," she said from her spot on the floor, "You would kill to spend time with me and Lilly, you would kill yourself if you had to spend time with Amber and Ashley."

Oliver rolled his eyes. "I need male friendship."

"Oooo," Lilly squealed, "Does Ollie want a boyfriend?"

"NO!" Oliver replied quickly, jerking his arm away from Lilly. "I just need to get away from you two more often!"

"Oliver," Lilly soothed, nudging him playfully, "I'm just kidding."

Oliver responded by flashing Lilly a death glare and crossing his arms across his chest, scooting to the opposite end of the couch.

"I'm sorry, Oliver!" Lilly said. "I was joking!"

"Fine," he sighed, his arms still crossed tightly.

"Are we friends again?" Lilly questioned, a smile grazing her lips.

"Nope," Oliver said. Before Lilly could protest, he smacked her across the head with a pillow. "Okay," he smiled. "Now we are." Before he knew it, Lilly had returned the hit and soon Miley had grabbed a pillow and a full on pillow war had begun.

A few minutes later, the three fell on the floor, laughing hysterically.

Miley sighed. "Promise me something."

"What?" Lilly asked, turning to face her friend.

"Promise me that the three of us will be friends forever."

Lilly smiled. "Well, of course!"

"This is so cheesy," Oliver groaned, scratching his head.

Lilly punched him in the shoulder. "Just do it!"

He rubbed his shoulder and reluctantly mumbled a quick "fine" and an "I promise."

Miley smiled. "Friends forever."

---

Fifteen-year-old Lilly glanced impatiently at the clock which read 7:52. "Fifty-two minutes late," she sighed, staring at the coffee table in front of her. She reached out slowly and pushed the popcorn slightly to the left. She had rearranged the DVDs, popcorn, and candy too many times to count.

Attempting to keep herself from looking at the clock again, her gaze fell to the mirror. Suddenly, she felt ridiculous. She had spent at least an hour getting ready: curling her hair, putting on make-up, picking out the perfect outfit. She had never spent that kind of time getting ready for anything, much less movie night with Oliver, her best friend. But her feelings toward him were beginning to grow stronger and she couldn't help but hope that his feelings were changing in the same way.

She tucked a frosty blonde hair behind her ear, willing herself not to cry. "He wouldn't have blown me off," she reassured herself. "He's my best friend. Something must have come up."

She began to worry. Oliver had never missed a movie night except for the one time he had broken his arm in the seventh grade. "Something must be wrong," she whispered.

Normally, Lilly would have consulted Miley, but since Miley had been away all summer for a 'Hannah' thing, Lilly had no one to consult. Sighing, she grabbed her jacket and her skateboard and began to make her way towards Oliver's house.

After completing the short trip, she reluctantly knocked on the door.

"Lilly!" his mother squealed delightedly as she opened the door. "Oh, hello, dear, how are you?"

Lilly smiled. "I'm fine, Mrs. Oken. Is Oliver here?"

"Oh, no, dear," Mrs. Oken said, a warm smile plastered on her features. "He's at someone's house… oh, dear, what was her name? Maybe it was… Allison? No, that wasn't it… Amy! No, no, not that. It wasn't Amber…"

Lilly gritted her teeth and clenched her fists. "Ashley."

Mrs. Oken smiled, "Ashley! Yes, of course! There was some small get-together at Ashley's."

Lilly forced a smile. "I should go."

"Oh, well, sure, dear," Mrs. Oken said unsurely. "I'll tell Oliver you stopped by."

Lilly responded with a fake smile. She angrily began to make her way home, but halfway there, stopped and turned around.

After what seemed like an eternity, she found herself standing on Ashley's doorstep. For a split-second, she thought about turning around, running home, and crying herself to sleep, but she quickly pushed that thought out of her mind and pressed her finger against the doorbell.

A few seconds later, Ashley appeared in the doorway. "What are you doing here?" she said, cocking an eyebrow.

"Where's Oliver?" Lilly asked, crossing her arms across her chest.

Ashley scoffed. "Did I ask you to come here?"

Lilly narrowed her eyes. "No, Ashley, you didn't. And, I hate to burst your bubble, but I'm not here to beg your acceptance and hope that I can hang out with you. I'm here to talk to Oliver."

Ashley eyed Lilly before smiling and replying, "No."

"Who was at the door?" a voice came from behind Ashley. Lilly knew who it was.

"It's me, Oliver," she said.

Oliver poked his head around Ashley. "Lilly? What are you doing here?"

"We need to talk."

"Um… can it wait?"

"No, Oliver, no it can't."

"I'll be right back," Oliver said to Ashley, as he stepped onto the porch, closing the door behind him. "What?" he hissed.

"You're mad at me?!" Lilly shrieked, throwing her hands into the air. "Oliver Oscar Oken, you have no right to be mad at me."

"What's your problem, Lilly?" Oliver asked in a hostile tone.

"My 'problem' Oliver is that I sat at home for an hour waiting for you to show up!"

Oliver looked confused for a moment, but suddenly his face fell. "Movie night," he murmured.

"Yes, movie night," Lilly seethed. "And I was worried sick! I thought you were dead or something!"

"I'm sorry, Lil, but its not that big of a deal!"

"Yes it is, Oliver! The only other time you've ever missed movie night is when you broke your arm in seventh grade! What was I supposed to think?"

"That I had something else to do…"

Lilly sighed. "This isn't you."

"What do you mean?"

"This-" she gestured around her. "You're not the type of guy who would completely blow off his best friend to hang out with the most superficial girl on the face of the planet!"

"Don't talk about her that way!"

"What, do you like her, or something?"

He nodded. "I do, Lilly. I like her. And you wanna know what else? She likes me, too."

"You like her popularity, Oliver," Lilly whispered, turning around so that her back was facing him.

"What did you want me to do, Lils?" Oliver sighed, scratching his head exhaustedly. "She called and invited me over."

Lilly turned around and met his gaze, tears forming in her eyes. "You did what I wanted you to do, Oliver," she said. "You made a choice." She stepped down the stairs to the sidewalk before turning around and adding, "I'm just disappointed in the one you made."

---

A year later, sixteen-year-old Miley Stewart sat on her bed, absentmindedly strumming her guitar.

Miley and Oliver were no longer friends. When she returned from her tour the summer before, Miley instantly sided with Lilly while Oliver moved onto Amber and Ashley's crowd.

Miley sighed and glanced at a picture of her, Lilly, and Oliver, from their fifth grade graduation. "Friends forever," she said sarcastically, as her cellphone began to ring.

"Hello?" she said.

"Hey, its me," Lilly's voice came from the other end. "I'm just calling to make sure you're coming to my competition tonight."

Miley cringed. She had forgotten all about the competition and had made plans with Jake.

"Miley?" Lilly said. "You are coming, aren't you?"

"Um…" Miley hesitated. "I'm sorry, Lilly, I totally forgot and made plans with Jake. I'll see if he wants to swing by, though."

Lilly sighed. "Don't worry about it."

There was a long silence.

"Are you coming to my concert on Saturday?" Miley asked, drumming her fingers on the guitar in her lap.

"Is Jake going to be there?"

Miley sighed. "Yes."

"I've got plans."

"Oh, um, okay."

There was another long silence before Miley said, "I should probably go."

"Yeah, me too."

---

She had always hated Wednesdays.

"Seriously," she would say over and over, "What's good about a Wednesday? On Monday and Tuesday you're close to the past weekend. On Thursday and Friday you're close to the next weekend. And on Wednesday, you're right in the middle."

She was convinced that Wednesdays were created by God only to spite her. "I think they should just get over it and call it 'Wehatelillytruscottday,'" she'd once said.

As seventeen-year-old Lilly Truscott awoke on that fateful Wednesday morning, she knew that this Wednesday was going to be no different than the awful ones in the past. She opened her eyes and peered at her alarm clock. "10:28," she mumbled, reading off the numbers. The time settled into her head and she then realized that school had started two and a half hours ago.

"Damn it," she yelled, bolting out of bed. Grumbling something about 'Wednesdays' and the 'spawn of Satin', she pulled a clean t-shirt over her head, threw on a blue jean skirt she found laying on the floor, grabbed a granola bar, and grabbed her backpack before sprinting to the garage.

"Bye!" she yelled as she stepped out of the house. It wasn't like it mattered, anyway. The Truscotts were rarely home: they were constantly on business trips or at cocktail parties. They had been at a charity event the night before and Lilly wasn't even sure if they had come home afterward.

Sighing, she locked the door and hopped into her car. Turning the key in the ignition, she flew out of the garage and headed toward school. She groaned when Hannah Montana's new single came blaring through her speakers. "Can't they play a different song? Just once, I'd like to hear something else!"

Suddenly, however, the song was cut short. "We're sorry to interrupt, but we've just received some breaking news." Though Lilly had parked and was getting ready to exit her car, she was intrigued and instead opted to turn up the volume slightly. "We have just been informed that teen sensation Hannah Montana-" Lilly groaned when she heard the news was about Hannah. It seemed everything was about Hannah. Sighing she reached for the keys as the radio announcer finished, "Was killed in a plane crash early this morning. Her father and longtime friend Jackson were also killed in the crash."

"Oh my god," Lilly whispered, her hands trembling. "Oh my god."

A/N: Review, please? (I'll be your best friend!) I'll try to have the next chapter up soon, if you like it.