Later that day, Miley was back home, sitting at the kitchen table with her friend Oliver. They had just finished listening to Lilly’s recording.
Oliver appeared just as horrified by what he had heard as Miley had been at the recording studio.
“You’re not actually going to give this to her, are you?” he asked with concern.
“Of course not,” Miley replied. “I’m going to give her this one.”
She popped another CD into the stereo and hit a button. Lilly’s voice filled the room once more . . . but this time it sounded great!
“Wow,” Oliver commented, his eyes widening in surprise. “A little reverb, some overlay. Nice!”
Miley smiled with satisfaction. “Daddy called it ‘Extreme Mix-Over: Lilly Edition.’ Now she’ll never know how unbelievably—” Just then, Lilly bounded into the living room, dressed in the athletic clothes she usually wore. “Hi, hi,” she called out.
“Wonderful she is!” Miley finished, thinking fast. She beamed at Lilly. “Listen to you, you singer, you!”
She hit the PLAY button again. Lilly’s mouth dropped open in amazement.
“Oh, my gosh!” she exclaimed. “I’m fantastic!”
“Almost too good to believe,” Oliver said pointedly. Miley stomped on his foot. Wincing, he added quickly, “But not!”
“My mom is going to be so blown away,” Lilly said happily. “I have to tell you, I was a little nervous. Nobody in my family can really sing,” she confessed to Miley.
Miley handed Lilly the headphones. “Hey, why don’t you just, uh, listen through the headphones? You know, get the full effect.”
As Lilly listened to herself on the CD, she got so carried away that she started singing along. Loudly. In a voice that was almost screeching and definitely, horribly off-key.
Lilly glanced at her friends to see their reaction. They both smiled and waved at her. Unaware of the pain she was causing her audience, Lilly kept singing and swaying to the music, a blissful look on her face.
Seeing how happy her friend was, Miley knew she had done the right thing. And she had done it so well that Lilly would never, ever find out . . . or so Miley hoped.