Meanwhile, back on the Hannah tour, Miley was trying to think of how to confront her father. This situation with her sister needed to end, and it needed to end now. She was sick of walking on eggshells and worrying about things she shouldn’t be having to worry about. She was fifteen for crying aloud, not forty! Though, at this rate, she was already amazed she hadn’t aged ten years with all the worrying she’d been doing lately.
“Miles, you back here?” Robbie called out; wanting to be sure he hadn’t lost yet another child. Seemed every time he turned around lately, they were running off on him. The lack of appreciation was highly frustrating.
“I’m here, Daddy!” Miley called back, stuffing the note her brother had left her, back under her pillow for the time being. The last thing she needed was for their father to know that Jackson had found Riley, and had gone to fetch her and being her home – hopefully.
Robbie appeared moments later, looking almost relieved to find her actually there in the flesh. “That was a good rehearsal today,” he praised. “Keep it up, and Hannah just might be able to get some extra shows into her tour.”
“Really? You think so?” Miley asked, feeling excited at just the mere prospect of it.
“I know so,” Robbie nodded. “The world is in love with Hannah Montana.”
“That’s great!” Miley smiled. “I can’t wait for the show tonight!”
“Neither can the fans,” Robbie stated. “They’re already lined up around the block!”
“Wow, I can’t believe they like me enough to do that,” Miley said, looking and sounding surprised.
“Believe it, Baby! We’ve made it to the big time!” Robbie cheered.
“Yeah, the big time,” Miley replied, forcing a smile upon her face. She was suddenly thinking of her sister, and how it’d really be the big time if they were both allowed to sing.
“Hey, don’t you go moping around over that sister of yours now,” Robbie told her, knowing just what she was thinking. “She ain’t worth your tears. If she doesn’t care enough to stick around and tough things out, then she ain’t worth a thought at all.”
“Daddy, how can you say!?” Miley demanded. “She’s my sister! And she only left me behind, because she didn’t want the world to lose your precious Hannah Montana!”
“Either way, she still left you behind, now didn’t she?”
“So what if she did? Do you not realize just how many times we’ve left her behind?” Miley exclaimed. “All she’s ever wanted was to be out on that stage, and yet you force her to stay hidden in the shadows. And why? Because you blame her for something that wasn’t her fault!”
“I’m not getting into this with you again, Miley Rae, so just drop it,” Robbie retorted, starting to become angry. “That sister of yours has done enough damage already.”
“Daddy, you’re the one causing all the damage to this family!” Miley argued. “You can’t keep blaming Riley for something that wasn’t her fault! She didn’t know Mom was gonna get killed if they went to that audition!”
“I told them not to go!” Robbie snapped. “Now, leave it be, Miley!”
“You told us no so often, Mom usually just went ahead and took us anyway,” Miley reminded him. “You said no about the one I wanted to go to the week before, and yet we still went.”
“That is not the point!” Robbie growled. “You didn’t whine over that one anyway!”
“I did so!” Miley stated flatly. “And if you must know, it wasn’t Riley who went to that audition that day. It was me! I went instead of Riley!”
“You did not!” Robbie roared. “You went with Lily to see Sharon and Bram!”
“No, Daddy, I didn’t,” Miley shook her head. “I went to Riley’s audition for her, because I knew how badly she wanted to go and see Sharon and Bram. She’d been talking about the show for months, and the audition for two weeks. She didn’t know they were on the same day, so she asked me if I wanted to audition instead.”
“You’re lying,” Robbie declared, staring at her in disbelief. “I saw her walk out that door with your mother.”
Miley shook her head once more. “It wasn’t her, Daddy. It was me. I wanted her to be happy, and knew how badly she wanted both, so I went for her. Mom didn’t know she had the wrong twin – she was sure I was Riles. She didn’t know Riles was hidden upstairs, waiting for us to leave, so she could pretend to be me and go with Lily.”
“No,” Robbie denied. “It wasn’t you there that day. You didn’t even want to go to that audition.”
“You’re right, I didn’t want to go,” Miley nodded. “But I did – because my sister wanted to do two things at once, and I wanted for her to be happy. I could’ve told Mom the truth, and told her I didn’t want to go. But I knew how badly Riley wanted to try-out for that part.”
“Then she should’ve sucked it up and went herself! Robbie fumed. “She was a selfish Brat even then! I’d told her it could only be one or the other! I told her I didn’t think it was a good idea for them to go, because I’d a bad feeling. But your mother – your mother just laughed it off and told me not to worry about a thing. That they’d be fine, just like always.”
“So, now that you know who really went that day, are you going to hate me and forbid me to sing now?” Miley remarked, her eyes narrowing as she watched his each reaction closely.
“No, because it’s still all her fault!” Robbie said angrily. “It was her who convinced your mother to go! It was her who decided to be selfish and make you go for her, instead of just saying she wanted to go to the show instead! So it’s still all her fault that your mother is dead!
“Daddy, I don’t think it’s Riley you’re really mad at,” Miley stated softly, remembering what he’d said just previously. “I think who you’re really mad at is Mom.”
“Why in the world would I be mad at your mother?” Robbie queried. “Hmm?”
“Because,” Miley began quietly, her eyes filled with tears, “she didn’t believe you about your bad feeling. She laughed it off instead, and went on ahead and did what you were against. She thought you were just mad about the fact you’d have to miss some of your recording session to watch Jackson, since he was the only one home. She thought that was why you were trying to deprive Riley of that audition. She didn’t know you really had an honestly bad feeling about them going. She thought that you were being the selfish one, not Riley.”
Robbie eyed his youngest warily for a few moments, before finally managing to get any words out. “End of discussion. I do not want to ever discuss this with any of you again, Miley Rae!”
Miley shook her head sadly, as she watched her father storm off the tour bus. She knew she’d triggered something inside of him, for him to even mention the fact that their mother had just laughed off his bad feeling. It wasn’t every day he mentioned her, and when he did, it usually had a very profound meaning behind it. And right now, she could sense that it wasn’t Riley – or even her – whom he was really mad at, it was their mother. He just chose to blame Riley, because he couldn’t full-out blame their mother for not listening to him. He needed to yell at someone, and sadly, Riley just happened to be the not-so-lucky candidate.
“Please God,” Miley pleaded, as she crawled into her bunk. “Please let things go back to the way they used to be soon. I don’t know how much more of this, any of us can take.”
She curled up in the corner of her bunk, and clutched Beary tightly to her chest, as she let her unwanted tears fall. She wished more than anything right then, that she had told their mother it was really her she had with her that day, and not Riley. Maybe – maybe if she had told her the truth, then maybe she’d still be here, because they would’ve turned around and went home. If only she hadn’t promised to help her sister out. If only she had told the truth. If only…
“It’s not my fault!” Miley shouted to the roof of her bunk. “It’s not! I was six! I didn’t know our deception would cause her to die! I didn’t know! God, I didn’t know…”
She buried her face into Beary as she began to sob. If only she had known how that day would end way back when, she never would’ve agreed to help her sister out. Heck, she never would’ve even gotten out of bed. She would’ve made their mother stay home, and play games and tell stories – just like they always did.
