Wednesday, September 10

French One went by slowly since Gordo was so antsy about talking to Pastor during Activity Period, or 'AP' as it was called by many. But, finally, class ended as they always do, and the minute it did Gordo headed down the stairs to Pastor's room. Miranda followed him and asked, "Where are you going? Aren't you gonna stop at your locker?"

"I need to talk to Pastor," Gordo replied.

"Wait a sec… Gordo, hold up." Miranda worked to catch up to her friend. "Hey, let's go see a movie this weekend with Lizzie."

"What?"

"A movie. We used to do it, like, every other week."

Gordo shook his head quickly and refused to look her in the eye. "I don't know if I can."

"Why not?"

"Luke wanted to do something. But… well, I don't know if he still does. Because, you know, I read some of the Bible." He took on a sarcastic tone.

"We could do it Friday, Saturday, or Sunday. Whenever you and Luke aren't getting together."

"I still don't know."

Miranda stopped walking and watched Gordo rush down the hallway. Why was he being so distant? The last time he was like this was when he had dated Kelsey Raymond. He wouldn't do anything unless it was with her. Now… now he just wouldn't do anything at all. Miranda understood a little bit of what he was going through. This religious stuff was important to him. But still, he needed some downtime. He needed to stop thinking about it and relax. A movie would be good for him.

"Hey, Miranda," Lizzie said, walking up to her. "Wish me luck."

"For what?"

"I think I'm gonna go ask Joel to the Homecoming dance."

"Oh… good luck." Her response was half-hearted, still thinking about Gordo.

"Then we can track down Ethan if you want," Lizzie offered, trying to cheer her friend.

"Sure."

"What's wrong?"

The two girls started back up the stairs. As they walked, Miranda replied, "I'll tell you later."

Joel's locker was almost right next to the end of the stairway. He was there, putting his books away.

"Hey, Joel," Lizzie greeted. He looked over at them.

"Hey, guys. What's up?"

"Not much. Are you going to the Homecoming dance?"

Joel nodded. "Yeah, I think so. I heard a lot of the juniors complaining about how this school has bad dances, but I guess a lot of freshmen and sophomores are going… and, after all, it is the first dance of the year."

"So… are you gonna ask anyone?"

Joel shrugged. "I'll probably be going with my girlfriend, unless something bad happens between now and then."

Lizzie could feel her spirits sink, but she worked hard not to show it. "Oh, you have a girlfriend?"

Joel nodded. "Her name's Joelle. Isn't that funny? Will got a kick out of it."

Lizzie forced a smile. "That is funny."

"What about you? Do you have your eye on someone?"

"I…" Lizzie didn't know what to tell him.

"You do, don't you? Who is it?"

"Um… no one."

Joel was persistent. "Come on, tell me. I'll hook you up."

"I couldn't-"

"Come on."

"I…"

"It's Gordo," Miranda blurted. Joel and Lizzie both looked at her in surprise. "I mean, come on Lizzie, you've liked him for awhile, haven't you?" Miranda widened her eyes at Lizzie, hoping she would get the hint to play along. Gordo was the safest person to claim for a crush. He would understand.

"Y-yeah," Lizzie said hesitantly. "Gordo." She became even more nervous at the mention of Gordo than she had been when she planned on asking Joel. The mention of her liking Gordo put her in a naturally defensive position, but she didn't completely understand why. Or, she just didn't like to admit it.

"Do you want me to get him to ask you? I can be subtle." Joel winked.

"No thanks. Gordo and I are just friends. I mean, so we… we'd go as friends. It's not a big deal."

"But, Miranda just said-"

"Miranda's such a gossiper." Lizzie smirked in uneasiness and hit Miranda lightly on the shoulder. "Aren't you?"

Miranda played her part. "Yeah, I guess I kind of am."

"Did I miss something?" Joel asked. He could tell that the two girls were acting very strangely, but didn't know why. He hadn't known them for very long, so it was possible they were just strange girls. But he could tell that something wasn't quite right.

"Nope. Didn't miss anything. Excuse us." Lizzie grabbed Miranda's arm and dragged her all the way down the hallway and into the girls' bathroom.

"He has a girlfriend?!" Lizzie demanded. "Why did I never know this?!"

Miranda stood near the wall and let Lizzie pace in fury. "Sorry about that Gordo thing," Miranda apologized. "I was trying to save your butt, and it ended up, well, awkward."

"I don't care about that. He has a girlfriend, Miranda! I feel so stupid. I'm never going to ask a guy out again. It's a good thing he told me before I made an idiot out of myself."

"Lizzie…"

The blonde opened her backpack and pulled out some makeup. She did her makeup when she was frustrated or angry.

"Aw, c'mon, Lizzie. It's no big deal," Miranda insisted. "Really. Nothing happened. We're clear, huh? You can ask Ethan if you want."

"Ethan won't go with me," Lizzie replied, putting mascara on. "He didn't go with me before and he won't go with me now. Joel won't go with me. Probably no one ever will. You have a better chance with Ethan than I do."

"Don't say that, Lizzie. You've had a couple boyfriends and I haven't had one. You-"

"You never wanted one," Lizzie replied.

"That doesn't matter. I've never been asked out before. Ronnie really liked you."

"Number one, Cody asked you to a dance. And two, Ronnie dumped me for someone else."

"What about Frankie?"

Lizzie stared back at her own wet eyes in the mirror. "I've never been enough. I wasn't enough for Ronnie and I'm not enough for Joel."

"Quit talking like that. Joel will be free within a week, trust me. Relationships don't last long."

"Why is he dating her and not me?"

Miranda knew there was no right answer to the question, so she put her hand on Lizzie's shoulder and slid it to her back, then giving her a hug.

Lizzie sniffed and she began to cry. "It's the third day of school and he already has a girlfriend. I should have known. Cute guy like him probably has girls all over him. He could have his pick. And, well, it wasn't me."

Miranda pulled her away and held her shoulders, looking into her eyes reassuringly. "I'm sure he'll save you a dance."

"Yeah, if Joelle lets him."

Miranda hugged the crying Lizzie once more. "Hey, what about Chris? He's cool. I'll bet he'd love to go with you."

"Even if he did save me a dance," Lizzie continued, still stuck on the comment about Joel. "I'd just be licking up her leftovers."

"It's okay."

"I wonder if Gordo knew. He should have told me. We just talked to him last night. Why didn't he say something?"

"Gordo didn't know." Those were the only words of comfort Miranda felt that she could offer.

"I bet he did."

"No, he didn't."

Lizzie sniffed and wriggled out of Miranda's arms. She put her hair behind her ears and bent down to grab her backpack. "Forget it. Do I look bad?"

Miranda bit her lip. "You look like you've been crying."

Lizzie sighed and threw her backpack down in frustration, but her voice was still broken. "I'll never be able to leave this bathroom."

Just then a girl came in. She took a look at Lizzie and gave her a sympathetic smile. "Girl, whatever it is, you're gonna be fine," she said.

"Thanks," Lizzie replied.

"Guy troubles?" Lizzie nodded. "Well, unless he's the hottest senior in this school, he doesn't deserve you." She pulled some eyeshadow out of her purse and began applying it.

"Thanks again," Lizzie repeated.

"Hey, it's okay. Everyone has guy stuff to worry about. Funny thing is, the guys never go to their bathrooms to cry about us."

"No, they don't."

Then another girl came in and grabbed the first girl's arm. "Joelle, your boyfriend's waiting for you."

Lizzie and Miranda both looked at Joelle, surprised. How many Joelles could there be in the world?

"Are… are you a freshman?" Lizzie asked.

"Yeah," Joelle replied.

"Are you dating Joel?"

"Yeah."

"Oh." Lizzie looked away and spoke quietly, trying to hide her anger. She felt as though this girl had betrayed her, being friendly at the beginning and then revealing that she was actually the enemy. "I know him. I sit with him at lunch."

"Really? Wow, I didn't even realize who I was talking to. Are you Lizzie?" Lizzie nodded. "He's told me about you. You and someone named Gordo."

"Gordo's my friend."

"Funny. So, we can all just be one big happy family. And, hey, if you're looking for a date, snatch up that Chris Van Morgan. He's a nice guy." She winked and left the bathroom with the other girl. Lizzie turned to look at Miranda.

"I hate her," were her first words.

"Why? She was so nice…"

"She was ugly, and… snotty."

"She was not," Miranda insisted.

"I think she was," Lizzie said with a pout.

"And she wasn't ugly."

"Yes she was."

Miranda shook her head. She knew well that Lizzie only didn't like her because she was Joel's girlfriend, and Lizzie knew that Miranda knew. The only reason Lizzie didn't admit it was because then it would be finalizing the whole thing too much. She was trying to convince herself that she didn't like this girl, and if she was going to do that she couldn't say the opposite. I need to take Joelle out, she thought to herself. I just met the Kate Sanders of the next four years.