A/N: Well, after a very long hiatus in which I wrote at least twenty different endings for this story, this is it. The end. I know that it's short and a bit rushed, but it's 2 AM and I have school. I just really wanted to finish this story because I hate to leave a story unfinished. I hope that you all enjoy it, and, as always, please R&R.

I'd talked to Lilly a few times since she'd gotten suspended. Nothing serious, just keeping in touch with each other and making sure we were okay. I'd told her about my dad, and she'd spent almost an hour telling me how proud she was of me. I was becoming more comfortable with myself, but I still hadn't figured out my feelings for Lilly quite yet. The more time that went by, though, the more I felt like I was in love.

Detention with Jake had been more than awkward. The beat-down that Lilly had given him seemed to get him to back off of me a little. The first few days of our detention, he barely spoke to me at all. After that, he started making small talk, and I mostly ignored it. Finally, he couldn't hold it in anymore.

"Why are you still hanging around her?" he asked me. "She's just bringing you down."

"Jake, I really, really don't wanna do this again. I don't like you. Lilly's my friend. Get over it."

"I just don't get it," he said again. "Every girl wants me. I've never had to try, and now I find myself getting lunged at for doing absolutely nothing."

I snapped to look at Jake so fast I thought my neck might break. "Did you just have the nerve to say you didn't do anything? Jake, you outed her and insulted me! You've been tormenting and stalking us for ages! How can you be such an idiot!" I turned to face forward when the teacher looking over us came back into the room. Jake leaned over to me.

"Okay, I messed up, but I didn't deserve to get jumped," he whispered.

"I didn't say you did." I thought he deserved it, but I was trying to be the bigger person. "Still, you need to back off, Jake."

He got quiet and I thought that he was done with me, but as detention came to a close, he followed me out of the room.

"Just tell me why you don't like me," he said.

"Besides the fact that you're an insensitive jerk?" I glared at him as he walked beside me.

"Haha, very funny. Just tell me the truth. Is it because you think Lilly would be jealous or something? You shouldn't worry about her so much."

"Jake, you don't know anything about Lilly...or me, for that matter. If we have to have this conversation again, I might just mess your face up more than Lilly did, got me?"

I saw my dad pull up, and Jake did, too, so he ran off. I got into my dad's car.

"Was he giving you trouble again, bud?" my dad asked.

"Yeah, but it's fine. He's just not used to the word no."

My dad glared out the window at where Jake had been sitting. "Sometimes I wish I could teach him not to mouth off to my daughter."

I laughed. "Daddy, it's okay. I think he's starting to get it...I think...I hope." I shook my head. "It doesn't matter. Once Lilly's back, he won't say anything else."

"You think so?" he asked.

"Did you see his face?" I said, still laughing.

"So...how are things with you and Lilly?" I'd told my about my feelings for Lilly not too long after I came out to him. He'd pretty much figured it out, anyways.

"They're good. Stagnant, but good." I sighed. "I don't know...I guess I'd just like to know what she wants so I can figure out what I want."

"I think you need to figure out what you want on your own, Miles. You can't base your decisions off of her."

"I know, but I'd just...it's just that every time we're about to talk about it, one of us will change the subject. I feel like we're only going to get around to 'the talk' when we have absolutely nothing else to say."

He laughed. "Don't worry. You guys will figure something out. I promise. In the mean time, just keep trying to have that talk."

I nodded. I really did want to figure things out. I was pretty sure that I was ready to be with her after everything we'd gone through together, but I needed to know that she wanted that, too. I was afraid that her feelings may have changed after the fight, so I had to find out what she wanted before I drove myself crazy.

I tried to call her, but she wasn't answering her phone, so I decided to walk over to her place. I knocked on the door and waited for her to answer. When she didn't, I just figured she was at Oliver's. I couldn't have this talk in front of him, so I turned around, ready to go back home, when I heard the door open behind me.

"Miley?" she said. "Sorry, I was asleep. What's up?" She got a look of concern on her face. "Is everything okay?"

I nodded. "Everything's fine. I just...wanted to sort some things out...figure out where we stand."

"We're friends, Miley. There's nothing to sort out." She smiled at me. "Do you wanna come inside and eat or something?"

"No," I said. I needed to do this. Right now. "Look, I...I really like you, and I'd like to be more than friends with you. If you wanna stay the way you are, that's okay, but if you want more, just know I'm here." She just stared at me, so I kept talking. "That probably sounded stupid. No, that really sounded stupid. I didn't mean to freak you out, Lilly. I promise, things won't get weird after this. We can stay the way we are, and-"

"Miley!" Lilly yelled, stopping me from talking. She took a couple steps forward, and the next thing I knew, she was kissing me. It was quick and chaste, but it was still amazing. "I'd love to be your girlfriend, if that's what you were asking." All I could do was nod and kiss her again.

The next day at school, I felt nervous. In all the talking and kissing I'd one with Lilly the night before, we hadn't talked about what we were going to do when we went to school. Would we hide? Would we just act like a couple and let people figure it out on their own? Would we make a point to come out to everyone? I figured we'd just have to play it by ear.

I walked to school with Oliver, who was excited that we'd finally officially gotten together. He could tell I was nervous.

"Don't worry about it, Miley," he said. "Sure, you'll be the talk of the school for about a week, but something else will happen, and nobody will care about you anymore. Besides, you're, like, the queen of our school. People will adjust."

"I don't know, Ollie. There aren't any other gay kids at our school."

"Correction: there aren't any out gay kids at our school." He put his arm around me. "Maybe seeing you come out will help some other kid in our school or something."

I took a deep breath. "I can do this. I can play this by ear, and I can be with Lilly." I was really trying to calm myself down, but it wasn't really working. "What if I screw something up?"

"You will be fine! Just chill out!" It felt like we'd just left my house, but we were already at the school, and Lilly was waiting for me in the front.

"Hey," she said as we got closer.

"Hi!" I said, a little too loudly. We stood there, looking at each other and smiling.

"Okay," Oliver said. "I'm gonna go away before I barf. I'll see you guys around, yeah?" We both nodded, and Oliver went off.

"So..." she said.

"So..." I said back. We stayed silent for a second more before bursting into nervous giggles.

"We really need to pull ourselves together. It's not like anything's that different. We'll just talk and walk to class like we usually do."

I nodded. "Except...would you mind if I held your hand?" I asked.

She smiled even bigger, and I couldn't help but giggle a little more. Before she got to say anything, though, we were interrupted.

"Hey, Dyke. You've got some nerve showing up here after what you did to me." That did it. Before I could stop myself, I slapped Jake across the face. He clutched his cheek in his hand "What the hell was that for!"

"I'm not letting you call my girlfriend a dyke anymore!" I hadn't even noticed that I'd called her my girlfriend in front of everyone until Jake spoke up again.

"No," he said. "You can't be...it's not...you're too pretty! You have a guy that wants you! You don't need to do this!"

"I know I don't need to, but I want to. This is who I am." I turned to Lilly and took her hand. "I'm gay."

A collective gasp was heard around us, but I could barely hear it, because all I could focus on was Lilly and that grin that was becoming ever wider on her face.

"Now," she said, "if you'll excuse us, we have a class to get to." With that we walked off. In that moment, I knew that I was in love with her, and that everything that we'd through to get to this point was worth it. I knew that I was still different (hell, we're all different), but I finally felt like I was myself. I finally felt like I belonged.