Disclaimer: I don't own Lizzie McGuire, people, places, etc…don't sue me. And I forgot to mention this earlier…I do own characters you don't recognize…i.e. Brenna, Carissa, and Ethan's family.
I'm not entirely sure I like this chapter cause it took on a life of it's own halfway through and ended up completely different than I wanted. So now I'm not sure where my story is headed. But let me know what you think and if you have any suggestions.
Lizzie had made plans the following day to meet with Carissa, another friend from high school. Carissa and Lizzie had worked on the newspaper staff together, but she didn't know Miranda and Gordo very well, so Lizzie told them she'd catch up with them later.
Lizzie got to the Digital Bean early, ordered a smoothie and grabbed a small table. Waiting for Carissa, she sat looking around. The computers were obviously newer and she didn't recognize any of the kids, but everything was pretty much just as she remembered.
"Lizzie!"
Lizzie turned around at the familiar voice and smiled at Carissa. She looked the same as she did in high school, with her bright eyes and simple sense of style, except her dark hair was shorter by several inches, now falling just above her shoulders. Carissa gave Lizzie a hug and said, "Let me grab some coffee real quick. I'll be right back." She hurried to the counter with her order.
When Carissa came back, they spent nearly half an hour catching up on each other's lives. They emailed each other occasionally, usually a couple times a semester, but didn't often have the chance to talk a lot. Lizzie found out that Carissa was going to school in San Francisco. She had started out majoring in journalism, switched to theater midway through her first semester and had just switched her major back to journalism. Lizzie filled Carissa in on her life in Colorado.
"And are you still friends with Miranda and Gordo?" Carissa asked her, finishing her cup of coffee.
"Yeah, I talk to them a lot." Lizzie answered. "Miranda's studying vocal music at USC and Gordo's going to film school in New York."
"Really?" Carissa looked surprised. "I always thought he'd end up going to school where ever you went."
Lizzie frowned, but before she could ask her why, Carissa changed the subject to Ethan's funeral.
The two chatted about Ethan for a few minutes, both trying to keep the conversation from getting to heavy, and in a few minutes their conversation fell into an uneasy silence. Lizzie racked her brain for a new topic but found nothing. She thought back to high school, what did they talk about then? Most of it seemed to have focused on newspaper, discussing new ideas for features and complaining about the junior staffers.
"Well," Carissa stood up, breaking the silence. "It was great to see you again, Lizzie, but I've got to run. We'll have to get together again though."
"Yeah." Lizzie murmured in agreement, but not really meaning it. "See you later." She tried to shake off the guilt of knowing she probably wouldn't see Carissa again. Carissa most likely didn't mean what she said about getting together again.
Lizzie walked out of the Digital Bean and waved half-heartedly at Carissa car pulling out of the parking lot. She didn't feel like walking home, as her car was in Colorado, so she called Miranda.
"Hey, it's me." She said after she heard Miranda's voice. "What are you guys up to?"
"Gordo brought over some of his movies and we were waiting for you before we watched them." Miranda told her.
"Awesome." Lizzie responded. "So you wanna come get me? I'm at the Digital Bean."
"Be there in a few."
Lizzie sat on a bench in front of the Digital Bean, wondering at her meeting with Carissa. She was amazed they had fun out of things to talk about. Had they both really changed so much in a year and a half? She thought about her conversations with Miranda and Gordo and realized they talked about much more than just what was going on in their lives at the moment. They talked about their pasts and their futures, what they wanted to happen and what they would do if it did. She and Miranda spend hours on end imagining their wedding days and discussing the perfect guy. She and Gordo had intellectual conversations, talking about ideas and society, brainstorming ideas for his next documentary. She was even able to talk about most of this stuff with Brenna, who was her closest friend in Colorado. Lizzie wasn't sure she would be comfortable talking about the flaws in society with Carissa, and then she realized just how much she had changed. Lizzie didn't talk about societal impacts in high school; she didn't even think about that in high school. The only one who did was Gordo.
A car horn interrupted Lizzie's thoughts as Miranda's old Honda Civic raced into the parking lot. Lizzie slid into the backseat behind Gordo and buckled herself in.
"How's Carissa?" Gordo asked.
"She's doing well." Lizzie replied slowly. "It was weird though. We didn't really have a whole lot to talk about. She told me about her school and I told her about mine, but after that there wasn't much there.
Miranda nodded, knowing exactly what Lizzie was talking about. "You guys remember Ryan Adams, right?
Lizzie and Gordo nodded. Ryan ended up being smarter than Lizzie and Miranda realized in middle school and he and Miranda dated for a few months in high school. After they broke up, they stayed fairly good friends.
"Same thing happened." Miranda told Lizzie. "I went off to USC and he stayed here and went to community college. I saw him last summer and we had nothing to talk about. It's weird how people change like that." She mused.
At Miranda's house, Gordo popped in his first video and joined Lizzie and Miranda on the floor in front of the TV. In high school, Gordo had become famous for his honest and straightforward documentaries and this video was no exception. This one interviewed people about the changes going from high school to college.
"I interviewed about three hundred people for this thing." Gordo groaned. "What a hassle. I guess it was worth it though, they put parts of it on a video the school sends to prospective students."
"Gordo, that's awesome." Miranda said in awe.
"Very cool." Lizzie agreed as the tape ended.
"Ok, I'm gonna warn you guys, this one is completely different than the other stuff I've done." Gordo informed them, holding a tape. "I had to make a movie for one of my classes this semester, not a documentary, but a movie with an actual plot and characters and stuff. I don't think it's very good 'cause I never done this before, but here it goes."
The movie was short, maybe half an hour long, but Lizzie thought it was one of the best things Gordo had ever done. It was about a couple their age that had broken up in high school and ran into each other a few years later. The movie itself was very simple; set in a coffee house and had only a few actors, but it was the kind of film that made you think. Neither of the couple was quite sure about the rationale behind their break up, and as the movie went on pieces of it began to fall into place. By the end of the movie, the couple realized their break up was because of a simple miscommunication that was intensified under different circumstances. They both realized neither was really to blame for the break up, but instead of reconciling and getting back together, each went their separate ways. The movie questioned the appearance of certain occurrences and how society observes them. Lizzie was amazed that Gordo was able to bring across ideas like that with such a simple movie.
"Gordo, that was amazing." Lizzie told him as the credits rolled.
"You think so?" His face echoed the uncertainty in his voice.
"Yeah!" Miranda was also clearly surprised by Gordo's video. "Did you write that?" she asked.
"Yeah. That's what the project was. We had to create an entire movie on our own. The idea, the script, the camera work, all had to be ours. Anyone could act in it, as long as we were responsible for everything else."
"Wow." Lizzie couldn't imagine conceiving an idea like that, let along turning it into a movie. "What did you professor think?"
"She loved it." Gordo said. "She even wanted me to send it in to a short film contest."
"Did you?" Miranda asked.
"Yeah." Gordo shrugged. "That was a couple months ago. I haven't heard anything, so it probably didn't do very well."
"But still, why didn't you tell us?" Lizzie questioned him.
"I dunno, it just didn't seem important." He tried, but Miranda and Lizzie looked at him skeptically. "I guess I just wanted to keep it to myself for a while. I mean, I've never made an actual movie before…what if everyone hated it? I'm not sure what I'd do if that happened."
"Gordo," Miranda started exasperatedly, "we're your best friends. It doesn't matter what everyone else thinks of your movies or if you make it as a director or not. We're still gonna be there for you. How many times do we have to tell you that?!"
"She's right." Lizzie agreed and Gordo smiled at his friends. "Now come on," Lizzie rubbed her stomach. "All this thinking you've made me do is making me hungry. Let's go grab a pizza."