Before The Storm...

Fire And Rain

Nick..

I walked into school. It was Monday morning. Seven o'six to be exact. Thirty more minutes to first bell. I glanced around the different students to see if I could spot Miley. No luck.

I kept walking untill I saw Joe and Selena standing together, by Miley's favorite tree. I walked up to them.

"Have you guys heard anything yet?" I asked them.

"No." Selena said.

"Sorry Bro." Joe put his hand on my shoulder.

"Did you sleep at all last night? You look tired." Selena asked

"No. I had to help my brother move. And I wanted to stay up incase, you know Miley showed

up."

"You guys think she's in trouble?" Selena asked.

"Well," Joe said, "Why else would she leave your sleepover in the middle of the night, walk over to Nick's house to take Frankie without answering any questions or telling any information. Then go the whole weekend with contact with us?"

"Gee, thanks Joe." Selena said sarcastically. "I sure feel alot better, about Miley being missing."

"Come on guys, stop it." I snapped. "Miley is not missing, okay? She's fine."

"Guys!" a voice said behind us. We turned to see Demi running towards us.

"Dem, did you hear anything?" Selena asked.

"Yeah." She took a deep breath. "Miley got pulled out of school. I was in the front office, when Principal Brooks walked in and order release forms for Miley."

My eyes widen. "Why is she leaving?"

"I don't know."

Selena covered her mouth. "Oh my gosh, poor Miley. I hope she isn't moving. But My Mom said when she picked up the phone is wasn't her mother asking for her, but a man."

Demi shrugged. "Who knows. Miley's Mom is super busy, and Miley has no phone. There's no way to try and reach her."

"Maybe there's someone close to her we could get info out of." Joe suggested.

Then an idea popped in my head. There is someone, Mr. Shuester.

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Nick..

"Hello Nicholas." Mr. Shuester said, while going through papers and not looking up at me.

"Mr. Shue, I don't know if you noticed. But Miley wasn't in school today."

He stopped.

"And I kinda over heard, the office staff, file her release forms."

"Yeah, I know." He went back to going through his paper work. Still not looking at me.

"Well," I started to get irritated. "Do you know where she is? And why she's dropping out of school?"

He tooka a deep breath, then finally looked up at me. "Nick, I can't release that information."

"Mr. Shue, I can't get a hold of her. I need to know if she is alright. I need to know why she left. What's wrong with her?"

"Nick. Her Mother died." He ran his hand through his hair, then looked up at me. "And because she is still seventeen, she is being sent to a Safe House, and Frankie..." He put his head, in his hands, to rub his hair. Then looked up again. "Frankie is being sent to McDermott Foster Care."

My heart sunk. Miley's Mother was dead, like her Father. She's an orphan. She got separated from her little brother. How much more could she take in her life? I looked at Mr. Shuester. "There isn't anything you could do?"

"I tried, but Elizabeth, my wife, doesn't think having them in our house would be a good thing, our house is to small, and we're trying to start a family ourselves. Trish put me as a legal guardian, so I have the right to take them, but don't have the right environment."

I thought for a minute. "What if you did have the right environment?" He raised an eyebrow at me. "Hold on," I pulled out my cell phone. "I have to make a few phone calls."

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Miley..

I pulled my knees up to my chest, as I looked out the window to the outside world. The grass, and the trees. Birds flying by, happy without a care in the world. It made me sick. I got off the bed, backed away from the window and sat on the floor in the corner.

I didn't want to cry again, but I couldn't help it when I started to think about Frankie. I wonder what he's doing. How he's handling things. What if the kids there are mean to him. What if he's crying himself to sleep every night like me? God, why did this have to happen? Just when I thought life was looking up for me, I become an orphan and lose my baby brother. All I want to do is be with Frankie, I don't have anyone here. I have no one.

I wiped my eyes, and crawled over to the opposite side of the room, where my bags were and grabbed my guitar case. I opened it and pulled out my guitar. I began strumming. Just strumming. AcD, F#, Cc, D#... "I've seen fire, and I've seen rain. I've seen sunny days that I thought would never end. I've seen lonely times when I could not find a friend but I always thought I'd see you again.."

The door opened. "Miley Cyrus." A male's voice said behind the door.

"Back your bags. Your outta here."

What? I threw my guitar in it's case, I grabbed my bags. I wiped my eyes, and walked into the hallway. The man who called after me, was leaned against the wall, he signaled for me to follow him. He led me down the hallway I entered, and into the sign in room.

"Miley!" I froze at the sound of Frankie's voice. I turned around to see Frankie running towards me.

I dropped my bags when he ran into my arms, and wrapped his arms around my neck. I squeezed his waist, and kissed his soft, perfect face. I buried my head into his neck.

"I missed you so much Buddy." I said to him.

"I missed you too." He pulled back. "I thought I never see you again."

I smiled at him. "Nothing will ever separate us again."

"Promise?" He looked me in my eyes.

"Promise." I kissed his cheek. He again wrapped his arms around my neck in a tight hug. In the distance I saw Nick. He stood there smiling at me. I smiled back at him. I was glad to see Nick. I know I shouldn't have left without giving him and his parents an explanation. I thought I wouldn't see him again. I really missed him.

Then I saw Mr. Shue walk up to Nick. He smiled at me with a small wave. I let go of Frankie, and rushed towards Mr. Shue. "Mr. Shuester.." I squeezed him.

"I'm so sorry kiddo." He hugged back. "I should have done something sooner."

"It's okay." I let go and threw myself in Nick's arms. "I missed you so much." The words slipped out of me.

"I missed you too." He whispered. "I was so scared."

We pulled apart and stared at eachother. Then I looked at Mr. Shue, "What are we suppose to do now?" I ask him, clueless on what Frankie and I are suppose to do.

"Don't worry." He chuckled. "That's all tooken care of."