LUCKY CHARMS

by

Crescent Dreamweaver

email: catz4dog1@aol.com

Disclaimer: I don't own Lizzie McGuire or Luck of the Irish. They both belong to Disney. But I wish I owned Seamus McTiernan. My god, that man is good-looking!

Synopsis: Lizzie, Miranda, and Gordo sign up for an Irish step-dancing class at their school, but the teacher turns out to have ulterior motives.

Note: Has anyone out there seen the movie "Luck of the Irish"? It's pretty good for a Disney Channel Original Movie. Also, I know that most people start taking step-dancing lessons when they're really young, because it takes years of training before they'll ever consider someone for something like Lord of the Dance. However, this is a fanfic, so I'm bending the rules of reality a bit. Of course, when you're dealing with Fir Darrigs and leprechauns, that sort of thing is to be expected. *winks*

* *= indicates emphasized words

** **= indicates a person's thoughts

[ ]= indicates when Toon Lizzie is speaking

Let the story begin!

* * *

Chapter 1

"Please, Gordo!" Lizzie McGuire begged.

"Pretty please!" added Miranda Sanchez.

David Gordon, more commonly known as Gordo, ignored them, continuing down the hallway.

Somehow the two girls managed to get in front of him, cutting him off. Gordo glared at the two of them, his patience growing thin.

"Will you two please get out of my way?" he snapped. Lizzie and Miranda crossed their arms over their chests, and Gordo sighed. "What kind of dancing did you say it was?"

"Irish step-dancing," Lizzie replied promptly. "It's going to be a ton of fun, I promise."

[Totally! Irish step-dancing is so cool! At least, if you know what you're doing. *dances around and trips over her own two feet* Which I don't. But it still looks like a lot of fun!]

Gordo gave her a knowing look. "Could it be that your decision was based upon--"

"The fact that my parents got a phone call about it and decided that it was a great opportunity for me to get in touch with my Irish roots."

"Gordo, nobody knows if the teacher's male or female," Miranda added. Gordo let out a sigh.

"I don't have a choice about this, do I?"

"Of course not!" Lizzie said, looking horrified that Gordo might even consider that. "But you do have a choice about one thing."

"What?"

"If you go willingly, you can wear a t-shirt and sweatpants. And if you go kicking and screaming, tights and a leotard."

Gordo blanched. He shouldn't have asked. "All right, I'll go. When's the first lesson?"

"This afternoon at 3:45."

* * *

Fifteen year old Kyle Johnson walked into his house, and stopped dead. The sight that greeted him was that of his mother, Kathleen Johnson, and his grandfather, Reilly O'Reilly, in the living room, surrounded by newspapers.

"Uh, Mom, Grandda? What are you doing?"

Kathleen looked up and smiled at her teenage son. "Oh, hello, Kyle." Though her voice sounded cheerful, there were strained undertones to it.

Kyle looked over at his grandfather, whose mouth was set in a grim line. Something was wrong. Very wrong.

"What happened?" Kyle demanded.

"It's Seamus McTiernan," Reilly answered bluntly. "He's out and about again, boyo."

Kyle's mouth fell open, and his hand instinctively went to the cord around his neck. He let out a sigh of relief when he felt that his lucky coin was still there. Then he looked back at Kathleen and Reilly.

"But I thought he had been banished to the shores of Erie for the rest of his life!"

"That's the trouble with Fir Darrigs. They never know when to give up." Reilly handed his grandson a newspaper. "Start reading, boyo. Perhaps your young eyes will find something that ours have overlooked."

Kyle glanced down at the paper he now held, and opened it. His eyes scanned over the page until he saw very familiar words near the bottom.

"Mom, Grandda, I found something." Kyle showed them. "You weren't there when it happened, Mom, so you probably overlooked it. Grandda, do you remember what Seamus called himself?"

"Aye, he called himself the 'Saint of the Step'. Why?"

Kyle read his findings aloud. " 'The Saint of the Step to teach basic Irish step-dancing at Hillridge Middle School.' "

Reilly's face turned as white as his hair. "Cushlamachree! He's goin' after the McGuire's coin!"

Kathleen gasped, her face going nearly as pale as her father's. "Saints preserve us, if he gets his hand on the McGuire's coin, he'll have more than enough power to return the world to the old days!"

Kyle stared at his mother and grandfather in horror.

Suddenly, the front door opened, and Bobby Johnson, Kyle's father, walked inside. "I'm home," he called, and stopped dead when he saw the living room and the people in it. "What happened?"

* * *

"I wonder when the teacher's going to get here?" asked Miranda.

"Don't know, don't care, just as I long as I don't have to dance," Gordo replied, and yelped as Lizzie and Miranda both whapped him on the head. "Ow!"

"Well, look who it is," came Kate Sanders' snotty voice from nearby. She was followed by her best friend and fellow cheerleader, Claire Miller. "Dorky and the Dorkettes."

"Dorky and the Dorkettes?" Gordo repeated. "How very original. Did your twenty-five watt brain short out today?"

"Eat dirt and die!" Claire snapped.

"That's enough!" Kate turned around to deliver a scathing remark to the person who dared interrupt her and Claire, but quickly changed her mind.

Standing behind them was a handsome man with thick black hair and pale hazel eyes, wearing a pair of black sweatpants and a black t-shirt.

Gordo took one look at him and quickly stuffed his fingers into his ears, knowing what was about to happen. Four boy-crazy teenage girls in the same room as a guy whose looks put Ethan Craft to shame...**I wonder if he knows what he's gotten into?**

As one, Lizzie, Miranda, Kate, and Claire all squealed. Loudly.

The man immediately clapped his hands over his ears, and Gordo flinched; his eardrums weren't completely protected.

Fortunately, the squealing didn't last for very long. All four girls stopped to take a breath, but they didn't get a chance to start again. Gordo tackled Lizzie and Miranda, and the teacher tackled Kate and Claire.

"Gordo, get off!" Miranda shouted angrily. "I can't breathe!"

Beside Miranda, Lizzie tried to squirm out from under Gordo, and found that she couldn't. Letting out a snort of anger, she looked over at Kate and Claire, and saw that the dance teacher was sitting on them, as calmly as you please.

He looked over at Gordo and grinned. "Do you suppose we should let them up now, boyo?" His voice had a rich Irish brogue to it, and his eyes twinkled with mischief.

"Well, I can only speak for Lizzie and Miranda," Gordo replied. "The two that you're sitting on look very happy."

Kate and Claire had their eyes closed, and were grinning like idiots. The teacher shook his head slightly, and then stood up, looking over at Gordo. "Help me carry them over to the bleachers."

Gordo got off of Lizzie and Miranda and helped him carry Kate over to the bleachers. Lizzie and Miranda carried Claire.

As soon as they were done, the teacher turned to the three of them. "Well, I guess it's just the four of us today," he said cheerfully. "My name is Seamus McTiernan." He waited for them to say something, and his face fell slightly when they didn't. "I take it none of you have ever heard of me."

[*wearing purple robes and a wizard's hat* Oh, great. He's another Gilderoy Lockhart. Wonder who he had to Obliviate to get this job? *waves magic wand and disappears in smoke*]

"Well, a couple of years ago, I was known as the Saint of the Step," Mr. McTiernan continued. He grinned. "Very similar to Michael Flatley's 'Lord of the Dance', except that myself and the rest of my troupe were with a small traveling carnival."

[Okay, so maybe he isn't another Gilderoy Lockhart. I think.]

"Now, class, let's go around and introduce ourselves to one another. I've already told you three who I am; now I'd like for all of you to introduce yourselves to each other and me."

"But Gordo and Lizzie and I have been best friends since we were little," Miranda replied. "We already know each other."

"Well, you still need to introduce yourselves to me. Also, I'd like for you three to each tell me why you decided to take this class."

Miranda introduced herself first. "My name is Miranda Sanchez, and I decided to take this class because I love dancing."

"That's one of the best reasons to take Irish step-dancing," Mr. McTiernan said, looking satisfied with Miranda's answer.

Gordo went next. "My name is David Zephyr Gordon, but everyone calls me Gordo, and I'm taking this class because these two threatened to make me wear tights and a tutu if I didn't come with them willingly."

"Gordo, you weren't supposed to tell!" Miranda scolded, though she was grinning.

Mr. McTiernan started laughing. "Good for you, ladies! Make him learn new things!"

Lizzie went last. "My name is Lizzie McGuire, and I decided to take this class because my parents decided that it was a great way for me to get in touch with my Irish roots. And for the record, I completely agree with them." She, Miranda, and Gordo didn't notice the way Mr. McTiernan's ears pricked up when she said her name.

"That's another one of the best reasons to take step-dancing," he replied, flashing the three of them a grin.

"Also, the two smiley-faces over on the bleachers are Kate Sanders and Claire Miller," Gordo added. "And I have no idea why they wanted to take this class."

"Well, that's not important right now. It's time for us to begin. We'll begin with a few simple stretches to get loosened up.

* * *

As soon as the lesson was over, the three of them headed towards the locker rooms to change.

"I never thought that Irish step-dancing would be such a workout," Miranda said, breathing heavily. She looked exhausted. "They make it look so easy in 'Lord of the Dance'."

"I knew dancing would be hard, I just knew it," Gordo complained. He was breathing even harder than Miranda.

"Gordo, don't be such a baby," Lizzie said, grinning at her two best friends. She wasn't breathing heavily at all.

"Oh, sure, just because Mr. McTiernan said that you were a natural..."

"Gordo, zip it."

"You have to admit, Lizzie, it *was* pretty amazing that you were able to do everything that Mr. McTiernan showed us," Miranda said, and Lizzie sighed.

[Can't argue with that. Look out, world! Here comes Lizzie of the Dance!]

A few minutes later, they came out of the locker rooms, and Gordo immediately clapped his hands over Lizzie and Miranda's mouths before they could squeal at the sight of Mr. McTiernan walking out of the boys locker room. He'd changed into a pair of black pants, a black ribbed shirt, black shoes, and a black leather jacket.

"Ordo, oo erk, et ee o!" Lizzie screamed, her voice muffled by Gordo's hand. (Gordo, you jerk, let me go!)

"Do you promise not to shriek like a couple of teenyboppers at an *N'Sync concert?" Gordo asked sternly.

Lizzie and Miranda nodded, and he pulled his hands away.

"The three of you did very well for the first lesson," Mr. McTiernan said as he walked over to them, a proud look on his face. Then he looked away, and rolled his eyes. "Too bad there weren't five of you during the lesson."

Kate and Claire scowled. Halfway through the lesson they'd woken up and had been extremely furious that they'd missed it.

"Well, if you hadn't sat on us, we wouldn't have been completely comatose," Kate said angrily.

"And if you two hadn't been acting like a couple of boy-crazy teenyboppers--"

"Hey!" Lizzie and Miranda protested.

"What?"

"*We're* boy-crazy teenyboppers!"

Mr. McTiernan blinked and then turned back to the two cheerleaders. "Well, anyway, if you and Claire hadn't reacted the way you did, I wouldn't have had to sit on you, and you wouldn't have spent half the class period completely comatose." He glared at them. "Next time, I'm just going to dump the two of you outside and let you figure it out."

Scowling even more darkly than ever, Kate and Claire stomped outside.

Grabbing her backpack, Lizzie left the gym, feeling as though she could do almost anything. But as she went outside, she bumped into someone who had just walked up to the doorway.

"Sorry about that," the person said apologetically. "I didn't see you coming. I was more worried about avoiding those two girls that just went stomping down the block."

"Can't really blame you for wanting to avoid them," Lizzie replied, grinning. Kate and Claire had been so angry, they'd probably walked past the guy without noticing him. He was a teenage boy a couple of years older than her, with dark brown hair and brown eyes. And he was *majorly* cute.

[*wearing glasses and a lab coat* Hmm...I wonder what the scientific name of this fascinating specimen is?]

"My name's Kyle Johnson," the boy said, holding out his hand. "And you are?"

[*throws off the glasses and lab coat* All yours!]

"Lizzie McGuire." They shook hands. "Do you go to school here?"

[Is it my imagination, or do I sound desperate for a boyfriend?]

"No, I go to Jefferson High School. I was just coming by here to see if an old friend was here. But I didn't see him, so I guess he isn't." Kyle grinned at her. "I'd better be going. Bye."

"Bye," Lizzie called after him. She headed down the street, not noticing that Gordo was standing in the doorway of the school entrance, watching her walk away.

"You like her, don't you?" came Mr. McTiernan's voice from behind him. Gordo spun around, staring at him in shock.

"I-I don't know what you're talking about," he replied defensively. Mr. McTiernan started to say something else, but before he could, a car pulled up in front of the school. "That's my ride. See you tomorrow, Mr. McTiernan."

* * *

Seamus watched Gordo walk away, and sighed. It was obvious that the boyo liked Lizzie more than just a friend.

"He's a bright young lad," he muttered. "I hope Lizzie realizes how lucky she is to have someone like him in her life." Seamus grinned. "That could be of use to me when I go after the McGuire's coin. Especially if Kyle Johnson tries to stop me."

Slinging his satchel over his shoulder, Seamus set off towards his car.

to be continued...

* * *

A/N: I'll have the second chapter up soon. Please R&R, but no flames. I have a roll of duct tape, a shovel, and a big backyard. You do the math.