Title: Surviving Exile
Author: Anisky
Summary: Based on my little "Finding Solace" vignette. Lizzie and Miranda enter high school, and
change isn't always good.
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: Miranda, Gordo, Lizzie, Kate, etc all, do not belong to me. They are the property of Disney Channel.
Reviews: Yes please. All flames will be
put towards my annual campfire where I roast yummy marshmallows.
Chapter 1: First Impressions
I checked the mirror. It was the first
day of High School, and I couldn't wait! After all these years of waiting, it
was finally here. I was a Freshman at High School. I'd gotten up extra-early today to make sure that I looked
great. I know that this waking-up thing
wouldn't last, but it wasn't old yet!
I remember I was wearing plaid pants and a shirt that says, "I see dumb
people." I'd dyed my hair in rainbow
colors, and pulled it back into a messy bun.
I decided that just maybe the leather bondage pants should wait
until a little further into the school year and I'm not new anymore. After all, I didn't want to give a bad first
impression to my teachers. I'm in mostly
Honors this year, and hoping to start getting some higher grades.
Checking to make sure that my foundation was on evenly, and my lipstick wasn't
smudged, I was finally satisfied with my appearance. I turned and grabbed my backpack, which was lighter than usual
due to lack of books. I knew that
before long, though, it would be so heavy I'd be hunched over. Gordo had told Lizzie and me all sort of
horror stories about the amount of books you needed for each of your classes at
high school.
"I'm off to the bus stop, Mom," I called, swinging the backpack lightly onto my
back.
My mother was just getting up from bed.
She stuck her head out of her bedroom door. Her hair was sticking straight up, and her eyes were barely
opened. "Alright, dear. Did you have breakfast?" she yelled back.
"Yeah," I lied, rushing for the door and grabbing some money for lunch. It's never a bad idea to limit your calorie
intake a little bit. "I'll see you
after school!"
"Alright dear! Tell me how it goes!" My mom called one last time before I left.
She shut her bedroom door again, presumably to go back to sleep.
…And I was out the door, ready to charge right into the first day of the rest
of my life. If only I'd known, I might
not have been so excited.
Oh well. No use regretting now.
***
High school was definitely a lot bigger than middle school. All around me were people whom I didn't
know, from different middle schools all over.
Okay, well, technically only three middle schools fed into this one, but
it felt like a lot more.
I searched for that familiar blonde-and-red flash of hair that was trademark
Lizzie, feeling increasingly lost by the moment. Finally, I heard her voice pipe up from behind me.
"Oh, yeah, I am so psyched. This
year is going to be awesome."
I spin around and there are Gordo and Lizzie, speaking to a strange girl whom
I'd never seen before. Gordo's arms
were around Lizzie, and I suddenly felt my heart drop in my chest. I mean, I known they'd gotten together, but
it still felt weird to see them standing there, looking so…well,
couple-ish.
Trying to tell myself that the sick feeling in my stomach was just because it
was strange to see my two best friends dating, I made my way over to them. "Hey Lizzie, Gordo! I was looking for you guys!"
"Oh, hey Miranda!" said Lizzie.
"Miranda, meet Jenna…I just ran into her and we started talking. She's really cool. Jenna, this is Miranda, one of my best friends." Lizzie flashed her friendly smile and
suddenly that pit in my stomach was gone.
This was just the same old Lizzie, my best friend forever.
"Hey Jenna," I said, looking her over.
Her hair was what was described as "hair-colored hair" in a Madeleine
L'Engle novel I'd read over the summer: too light to be brown, too dark to be
blonde. She was dressed pretty
typically for a teenage girl: jeans, a nice sweater, straight hair, and a
little too much makeup.
"Hello," she said, eyeing me, looking a bit disapproving. "Nice shirt," she added in a snobbish
tone. I shrugged it off; who really
cared what she thought? I liked
my shirt, I didn't care what anybody thought.
"It is a bit mean, Miranda," agreed Lizzie.
"Oh, come on," I rolled my eyes. "It's
just a shirt. Let's drop it." (OK, make
that I didn't care what ALMOST anybody thought. Maybe I should have chosen a different outfit? Maybe it wasn't
the best choice?) I looked for a
different subject. "What classes do you
have?"
Lizzie took out her schedule, handing it to me. I took out mine too and my shoulders sagged. "We don't have anything together!" I
exclaimed. "Not even the same lunch!
This is so not fair!"
"That stinks," agreed Lizzie, taking back her schedule and snuggling a little
into Gordo's arms.
Why did I suddenly feel like strangling Gordo?
Oh…I'm just bummed about the classes thing.
Yeah. That's it.
"Oh, hey, Miranda, I almost forgot," exclaimed Lizzie suddenly. She dug into her bag and pulled out a bag of
home made chocolate chip cookies. "My
mom made these for me to celebrate my first day of high school. Want one?"
"Sure! I love you mom's cookies," I replied, taking one and nibbling it
slightly, then grinned. "I like to make
them last."
The bell rang, and we all scattered to our various classes. On my way to the room I threw out Lizzie's cookie
into the trash, spitting out that part that I'd nibbled.
My first class was Honors English, and I uncomfortably settled between a
complete stranger (female) and some girl I vaguely knew from the middle
school. To my dismay, Kate sat with a
smirk at the back of the class, Claire to one side of her and several drooling
guys sitting around her.
"Hey, Miranda," Kate called with a vicious smile. "Why are you here? This is supposed to be a Loser-free
zone."
"Shut up, Kate," I called back.
"Oh!" she said dramatically, putting a hand to her forehead. "Shut up! How original! I'm so crushed! I'll
never get over it, Miranda Loser-chez told me to shut up!"
The class laughed. I turned red and
turned forward in my seat, trying not to notice the way both girls next to me
were trying to edge away from me, hoping that the teacher would come in soon,
hearing the laughing voices of the Beautiful People behind me.
It was just about then that I realized that it was going to be a very
long year.
