** Here's the next chapter! It might take a while for number ten, cus I'm starting school next week, but I'll do my best! Hope you like it!**

Lizzie and Miranda had chosen a table near the middle of the floor at the Digital Bean when they arrived. "So, what are you going to get?" Miranda asked Lizzie as she looked at the large list of choices on the menu sitting at their table.

"Nothing, my money was in my purse and I left that at school, remember?" She replied.

"I'll buy you something." Miranda said as she shrugged her shoulders. "But you have to pay me back."

Lizzie laughed a little. "Ok, sounds like a plan." She looked at the menu and the two girls decided on strawberry smoothies.

After ordering, Miranda started a conversation by saying, "So you really don't have a crush on Gordo?"

"Miranda!" Lizzie yelled, "I old you! No!"

"Ok, ok," she said. "I was just making sure you didn't change your mind."

"Well, I didn't, so will you please drop it?"

"Yeah, I will."

"Thank you." Even though she had told Lizzie that she believed her, Miranda was still skeptical. She had always had the feeling that Lizzie might have a thing for Gordo, and after Lizzie got so defensive about Shelley, she was sure that it was true. She couldn't abandon a feeling this strong.

Miranda's thoughts were interrupted by Shelley walking through the door of the teen-age hang out. She walked in, stopped, and looked around. She spotted Miranda and Lizzie sitting at a nearby table. Although pleased to see Miranda, Shelley was reluctant to say hello because of what she had overheard her saying earlier. She almost turned around to leave, but decided against it since she was carrying the purse. She sighed heavily, then began to walk toward the table. 'This should be interesting' she thought. She plastered a fake smile on her face and said, "Hey Miranda!" in a fake, perky voice as she approached their table.

"Oh, uh, Shelley, hey, what's up?"

"Nothing, I was just walking home and somehow ended up here. You know how it is in a new place."

"Yeah, I totally get it." Miranda agreed.

The two girls laughed a little before Shelley sucked in a deep breath of air and turned to Lizzie. 'I was actually looking for you, I found your purse in that classroom and thought I'd bring it to you." She held out the bag to Lizzie.

"Oh, thanks," she said as she grabbed it away from her.

Then Shelley got a great idea to get Lizzie back for what she'd said. "You know, you should really put an I.D. or something in there. I had to look through all of your pictures to find your name on anything." She slightly grinned.

"You looked through all of the pictures in here?" Lizzie asked with a bit of urgency.

"Well, not all of them. I stopped after I saw Gordo's picture."

As Lizzie's eyes grew, their conversation was interrupted by a familiar voice saying, "What picture?" The three girls quickly turned to find Gordo walking up to them. Shelley and Gordo locked eyes, but he turned quickly to look at Lizzie instead. She was confused by his avoidence of her gaze. She thought that they'd had something, hadn't they?

"Gordo," Miranda said. "Well this is getting interesting, isn't it."

"I'm out," Lizzie said as she stood up and collected her things.

"Wait," Gordo said as he grabbed her arm. "I was looking for you. I think we need to talk."

"I don't want to talk." She replied coldly as she pulled her arm away.

"You don't have to, just listen." He pleaded.

"Fine," she reluctantly agreed.

"Uh, can we go somewhere more private?" Gordo said as he looked around at the other two girls at the table.

"Anything you need to say can be said in front of Miranda, and I'm sure Shelley already knows it all." Lizzie sat back down in her chair, demonstrating that she wasn't going to move.

"Actually, I better show Shelley the way back to her house." Miranda said as she grabbed Shelley and began to walk. "Oh, and Gordo, you can have my smoothie." Miranda and Shelley made their way to the exit and disappeared outside.

"So," Gordo trailed off.

"I need to be home for dinner, so get on with it," Lizzie was very annoyed that she had to be sitting there.

He took a deep breath and began. "What you saw in there was nothing. I can see how it could be miss-interpreted, but really, nothing happened or was going to happen." Even though Gordo knew the last part was a lie, he thought it needed to be said.

"What I saw was my best friend sitting a room, about to kiss a girl, when he had obviously been spying on me. Does that sound about right?"

"No, we were only in there because I was helping her dodge Tudgeman, and we weren't about to kiss."

"Well that sure is what it looked like. Besides, even if you were going to kiss, what makes you think I would care?" She asked coldly.

"I just know that if I saw you kiss another guy, I would be pretty hurt." In fact, Gordo had seen her kiss another boy, and he had been very hurt by it, but Lizzie didn't know about that, and he figured it was a bad idea to tell her now.

"Well," Lizzie slightly hesitated. "I wouldn't be. I don't really care what or who you do. Hell, you could have been screwing her for all I care. I really have to go, bye." She stood up and left as fast as she could so Gordo didn't have a chance of stopping her, or seeing the tears that had begun to stream down her face.

The truth was, Gordo couldn't have stopped her even if he'd had the chance. He was so taken aback from Lizzie's comments that he was in shock. Not only was he surprised to hear her say that she didn't care, but he had never heard her talk like that to anyone. He felt like a knife had been stabbed right through his heart. His first instinct was to just cry because of the hurt that he felt, but then he realized how much Lizzie had really helped him. Not even an hour ago he had been trying to decide between Lizzie and Shelley, but Lizzie had just made the decision for him. He felt stupid for even falling for someone that really cared so little about him. Even though he'd known Shelley for less then twenty for hours, he could tell she was the kind of person who would never do that. He sat and thought for a while as he finished off Miranda's smoothie. He decided that he wouldn't tell anyone how he felt just yet. He decided to wait until he got to know Shelley a little better before pouring his heart out to her. He knew his feelings wouldn't change, but he wanted to see if she felt something as well. He looked down and noticed that his cup was empty, so he stood up and began the short walk home.

***Meanwhile***

As Lizzie walked down the street, she decided that she'd have to go somewhere else before going home. She couldn't let her mom catch her crying like this. She headed for the park. As she walked on the sidewalk, she thought about all of the feelings inside of her. She was angry at Shelley for looking through her purse, angry at Shelley and Gordo for eaves dropping, hurt that Gordo would be with Shelley behind her back, and angry at herself for reacting like a child. Gordo had given her the perfect chance to express her true feelings, but she had thrown that away with one stupid comment. 'How could I have told him I don't care,' she thought. 'Of course I care.' She found a bench and sat down. She covered her face with her hands as she began to sob. She was so hurt and so angry at the same time. There were no words to describe how she felt. On top of all these horrible feelings she felt Lizzie couldn't help but think about the fact that Shelley knew her secret. Of all the people in the world to know, Shelley had to be the one to find that stupid picture she'd drawn on a week before. 'I knew I should have taken it out of there,' she said to herself. 'Stupid Lizzie, if only you could be as smart as Gordo sometimes!' Again her thoughts had trailed back to the boy, and she continued to sob until she noticed the street lights beginning to turn on. She stood up and reluctantly began her trek home.

~~ Tell me what you think! ~~