The Rebound

- - - - -

"Lizzie!" Miranda cried, "I cannot believe you would say that about me behind my back! I thought you were my friend!"

Lizzie glared at Miranda with her hands on her hips, "Well it was true, wasn't it?"

"No, you twisted every word I said and you know it!" Miranda shouted.

"Guys," I said nervously, scared to get between my two best friends, about to kill each other, "This is stupid. Lizzie, just apologise."

"Why should I apologise? This isn't my fault!"

"That's it!" Miranda said, giving Lizzie a cold stare, "It's over."

"What?" Lizzie gave her a confused look.

"We're over Lizzie. I am so sick and tired of being your friend. You've changed so much, and I can't take it anymore. I don't need friends like you."

"Yeah? So go! But don't come crawling back to me when you realise how wrong you are!" Lizzie snapped back. "You think you're so damn good Miranda, but you aren't any better than anyone else in this whole school."

"Um, hello? Going now."

And that was it. Then Miranda turned, and walked out of our lives forever.

- - - - -

It was six months later. Miranda had moved on and become friends with Parker McKenzie and hadn't returned from the dark side since. Lizzie and her still weren't talking, but I spoke to Miranda every now and then in home group.

It was just me and Lizzie now. Since Miranda left, we hadn't gone and found anyone to replace her. We were happy as just the two of us. I'd even developed a little crush on Lizzie over the last two months. But Lizzie didn't know how I felt, and she definitely didn't feel the same. It was like she was with someone new every two weeks. She'd hook up with some guy at a party, they'd go out, break up a week or two later, then she'd be right back where she started. And how did she deal with each of these break-ups? She'd come to me.

It all started when she started seeing this guy called Deon. She'd met him at one of the many parties she was attending these days. Before I knew it, she'd totally gone against all the morals she'd been sticking to since we started high school and started doing most of what she'd bitch about Kate and Claire for doing.

"You did WHAT?" I choked after I spat out my mouthful of orange juice.

"It's no big deal," Lizzie shrugged, "Everyone does stuff like this Gordo, and besides, it was kinda fun." She gave me a mischievous smile that sent chills down my spine.

"Yeah.. sure, no big deal..." I replied, realising how fidgety I was getting. This wasn't a topic we usually discussed. We were sitting on front steps of school. Most the other students had cleared off, but we'd stayed a bit longer after our first Drama Rehearsal.

"Gordo, chill. It's not like I went and fucked him, okay? It was just the excitement I needed at the moment. Hey, maybe you should try it with that Nicole chick you seem to be after."

I raised my eyebrows and prayed I wouldn't start going red, "I don't like Nicole." I stated.

"Really? That's not what I heard. You know, maybe you should ask her out or something—"

"Lizzie." I said, getting annoyed, "Drop it, okay?"

Lizzie rolled her eyes and continued with her story, "So anyway, me and Deon are going out now. Cool, huh? He is so hot."

I don't know completely know what she said after that. I tuned out, but caught words every now and then like 'kissing' and 'he thinks I'm so funny'.

"Gordo, are you listening?" I looked up to see Lizzie with an impatient look on her face.

"Yeah, you said he thought you were funny."

Lizzie sighed, obviously getting irritated, "That was like, five minutes ago."

"Oh, well sorry." I looked my watch and realised I was meant to be home ten minutes ago. "I gotta go, I'll see you tomorrow."

"Okay, fine. Bye."

That was the last talk about her and Deon. They broke up three nights later, and Lizzie turned up on my doorstep, her face stained with tears.

"He.. said..." Lizzie tried to say through sobs after we'd gone up to my room, "I'm not... moving.. fast enough."

"What? But you.. at that party.. and you..."

"He wanted to have sex." Lizzie burst out in tears. "I told him I wasn't ready."

"That dickhead." Was all I could think of saying. I was usually good to go to when help was needed, but for some reason, words were failing me this time.

"I'm just a lame fridget." Lizzie said so quietly it was almost a whisper.

"No, you're not." I tried to console her. It wasn't going as well as I hoped, but an hour later she'd stopped crying.

"I better get going," Lizzie said, and I walked her to her house. It was a cool night and the street was silent, except for the sound of the crickets chirping and the occasional car driving past.

"Thanks Gordo, you're the best friend ever." Lizzie gave me a smile that looked overly forced.

"You're welcome. Anytime you need help, I'm here for you."

She gave me a genuine smile, and then hugged me. She pulled back her head but her arms were still around my neck. "Gordo?"

"Yeah?" I asked, feeling kind of awkward. This is what I wanted, her arms around me, but it felt so weird.

"Can I kiss you?"

My eyes went wide and I almost laughed in her face. But for some reason, I was only finding it funny inside. My face was frozen.

"What?!" I searched her eyes for an answer but found nothing. She took this as a 'Yeah, go for it!' and kissed me softly. Then she stepped back, smiled at me and waved.

"See you at school," She said, and went inside.

I stood on her front porch, not believing what had just happened. She kissed me, she actually kissed me... and she ASKED too. I smiled to myself as I walked home. Life was good.

- - - - -

"I hate my life." I muttered to myself as I walked to the library at recess the next day.

Not only had Lizzie totally acted as though the kiss didn't happen the night before, but she was on the arm of another guy.

"Gordo, this is Ben." Lizzie said that morning before school, walking up to me with a guy who looked like he modelled for Calvin Klein.

"So, you're the famous Gordo, huh?" He gave me a huge grin, "Lizzie's told me about you. Good to meet you, man."

"Yeah? So I guess she told you about how she got dumped yesterday and then came and cried to me last night, and THEN kissed me, right?" I wanted to say, but all that came out was a "She has, huh?"

And to top it all off, even when straight-out-the-magazine Ben left, Lizzie STILL didn't mention the night before. "He's great, isn't he?"

"Yeah, he's all that and a bowl of party mix." I replied sarcastically.

Lizzie laughed and hit me playfully, "Gordo! He is! He's so.. deep, you know? Like he has something to say about everything.. AND his own opinion, AND he's a model! Can you believe it?" Oh, I could.

"No kidding." I replied, and then the bell went, giving me the perfect reason to get the hell away from my best friend and latest pash. Oh the wonders of home group.

And so it began. My life as the rebound.