***I don't own Lizzie, yadda yadda yadda****
"No way! Miranda?" Michelle asked astonished.
"Shelley!" Oh my gosh, how are you? I haven't seen you forever!" Miranda jumped up and gave Michelle a huge hug.
"It's been so long! Hi!" Michelle dropped her bag and hugged Miranda.
"Hey!"
"Um, so I guess you two know each other?" Lizzie asked with a confused look on her face. She glanced at Gordo, who looked as confused as she felt.
"Yeah! Remember that summer camp I used to go to every year? Ya know, the one that I stopped going to two years ago because I'd finally discovered the curling iron and there was no where to plug it in down there?"
"Oh, I remember," Said Gordo. 'The one in New Mexico or something right?"
"Yeah!" Said Miranda excitedly. "This is the girl I always told you about!"
"Oh! That Shelley girl that you wouldn't stop talking about until you'd been home for at least three weeks." Said Lizzie as she finally realized who and what Miranda was talking about.
"Only three weeks? It took me at least a month to tell my friends all of our camp stories each year." Shelley said as she turned back to Miranda.
"Well, you know how fast I talk." Miranda said, defending herself.
"Right, I almost forgot." Shelley replied as she hit her forehead. "I should have remembered. Like that time we were doing the play."
"And the only reason I didn't get the lead role was I said my lines to fast and no one had enough time to do their quick changes." The two began to crack up. Lizzie and Gordo just looked at each other sideways. They had no idea what they were talking about.
Just then Mr. Diggs walked into the room. He asked everyone to sit down in their seats. Lizzie headed for her usual seat next to Miranda, but saw Miranda telling Shelley she could sit there instead. She turned around and took the seat next to Gordo and behind Miranda instead.
"First of all I'd like to announce to everyone that we have a new student today. Her name is Michelle Cummings and she moved here from Rio Rancho New Mexico. Michelle, will you please stand up and tell us what brings you to California.
She reluctantly stood up. "Hi, I'm Michelle, but you can call me Shelley if you want. My family moved here a couple days ago because my dad got transferred here. I think that's about it." She quickly sat down.
"Now on to the lesson. As you all remember, or at least should remember, at the end of yesterday's class I announced that we'd be starting a partner project today where you can actually pick your partners." The class began to cheer at this announcement. "You all have one minute to pick your partner, go!" The classroom erupted in noise as students hurried around to find a partner.
"Hey, partner!" Shelley said to Miranda as she stood up.
"Hi!" She said in response.
"Miranda!" Lizzie interrupted. "You promised me yesterday we could be partners, remember?"
"She's right." Miranda said reluctantly to Shelley. "But next time I we can be partners, I promise."
"Oh, that's ok." Shelley said as she looked around. "You just have to tell me who would be a good partner so I don't get stuck with someone creepy."
"Well, you can be partners with Gordo, he usually just partners with whoever asks because he's the smartest in the class. Gordo, you want to partner with Shelley?" Miranda asked as she looked at Gordo who was still sitting in his seat.
"Sure, as long as I don't have to be with Kate again, all she did was file her nails the hole time during our early civilization project. The poor Egyptians were covered in finger nail clippings, ugh."
"Alright, cool. And I promise I won't do my nails while we work." Shelley said as she used her finger to draw a cross over her heart.
"Good," Gordo said as he stood up. "So, where do you want to sit?"
"Excuse me,' Said Kate as she pushed Shelley away and linked her arm with Gordo's. 'Gordo is my partner. You're just going to have to find someone else."
"You must be Kate." Shelley said as she rolled her eyes.
'Yeah and I'm sure you've heard a lot about me. I am the most popular girl in school you know."
"Actually, all I've heard about you is you have a fingernail fetish."
"Excuse me?" She asked as she put her hands on her hips.
"Never mind," Shelley said, annoyed. "The point is, I'm partnering with Gordo, so you better hurry and find another partner, there's only 15 seconds left."
"Is that true Gordo?" Kate asked as she snottily turned to him.
"Well, she did ask first." He said.
"Fine," Kate said as she turned around. "I'll find someone else." She said as she huffed off.
"You're just mad because he likes me better!" Shelley yelled to the back of her head, then turned to Gordo and said, "I don't like her very much."
"Yeah, me either. And thanks for saving me. I don't think I could take another weeks worth of fingernails and boy bands."
"No prob." Shelley said as the two sat down in a couple nearby desks. 'I love telling off popular annoying snobs."
"And that's definitely a good description of Kate." Gordo laughed.
"Times up!" Mr. Diggs announced. "Everyone sit down with their partners so I can explain this weeks project." The sound of people shuffling around and moving chairs filled the room. Since Gordo and Shelley we already sitting, they just watched as people fought for seats. "Ok, now that everyone is sitting, I'll explain the project. I'm going to assign each pair a different country. You must then plan a week long trip and create an itinerary for the week including meals and where you will be staying and trips to museums, historical landmarks, and other entertaining places. There will not be any budget for the trip and all of this is due next Wednesday, which gives you a week to complete it. Are there any questions?"
"Can we pick our own country?" Asked a girl near the back of the room who was wearing a cheerleading uniform the same as the one Kate had on.
"As I said,' Mr. Diggs answered. "I will assign the countries to each group."
"Can we have America?" Asked a boy in the back of the class. Even his voice sounded unintelligent to Shelley.
"First of all Ethan, YOU DO NOT GET TO PICK YOUR COUNTRY," Mr. Diggs said slightly annoyed and stressing the last part of his answer. "And secondly, no one will be getting the United States, that would be a little too easy for everyone."
"Not for Ethan," mumbled Gordo under his breath. I started laughing.
"Are there any more questions?" Mr. Diggs asked. There was no response from the class. "In that case," he continued. "I'll start assigning countries. I'm going to go around with this cup and one member from each group will randomly pull out a country. I'll write down the people in your group and which country you get, so no trading!"
"But what if we get a country we've never heard of?" Asked Ethan.
"Then you better do a lot of research." Mr. Diggs answered nonchalantly as he began to walk around the room with the cup and a legal pad in his hand. The class began talking again.
"This project's going to be tough for Ethan, he probably hasn't heard of half the countries in that cup."
I laughed again, "So I guess he's not the brightest candle on the cake?"
"That's putting it nicely. Let's just say his IQ is smaller then my height, and I'm one of the shortest people in school."
"You're taller then me," Shelley replied. It was the truth. Although Gordo was short for his age at 5'3", Shelley was even shorter at 5'2".
"Yeah, I guess you're right about that. I just don't know what Lizzie and Miranda see in him. He's so stupid, you can't even have a conversation with him about himself without him getting confused."
"That's the Ethan that Miranda's liked all these years?" Shelley asked surprised. "I always pictured him a little more, well, a little more like you I guess."
"You pictured Ethan like me? Oh, god help me!"
"She never had a picture, and we both know Miranda's not the greatest at describing people."
"I guess you're right. I suppose I'll forgive you, for now anyway.' Shelley laughed.
***Meanwhile***
"I can't believe you asked Shelley to be your partner before me!" Lizzie said after Mr. Diggs had started assigning countries. "I thought we were best friends."
"We are best friends, it's just I haven't seen Shelley in almost three years, dang, I didn't know you'd overreact so much." Miranda defended herself.
"Overreact? I'm not overreacting! You promised me yesterday that we'd be partners and you were about to break that promise just so you could partner with some girl you haven't seen for two years from camp. You wouldn't have even seen she was here if it weren't for me."
"Ok, ok, I'm sorry." Miranda apologized. 'I guess I just got caught up in seeing Shelley. I won't do it again, I promise."
"Alright, I guess you're forgiven."
"Good. Now doesn't Ethan look so good in that new shirt of his?" The problem seemed to be resolved for now, but there was something still bugging Lizzie, she just didn't know what…
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