Disclaimer: I don't own Lizzie McGuire, people, places, etc…don't sue me. I do own characters you don't recognize…i.e. Brenna, Carissa, Ethan's family, Kate's family and all medical personnel mentioned in the articles. And I don't own Peter Weir.
TheRealXenocide: Did you really smack yourself in the head? Just curious… And I chose Australia, cause it had to be far enough away, and plus Peter Weir is from Australia, so I figured, why not? I was going to go with India, but you have to get vaccines in advance and then Gordo wouldn't have been able to leave as soon as I needed him to. I am such a scientist…I base character's actions around vaccines! Wow…
Keeponwritin: Exactly. He can't just come back…but will he really go? Hmmm…I dunno! A sequel, huh? Hmmm…I haven't really thought that much about it…it depends on how I decide to end the story. You may even decide the ending is so awful you don't want a sequel! So I'll cross that bridge when I run into it.
Lara: You have no idea how thrilled I was to read your review. Not about your friend, of course, that's so awful. But I like that I'm getting the emotions right. I've never been in this particular situation before. When I was in high school, a kid I knew and had talked with a bit was killed in a car accident. I knew him well enough to be shaken up by his death, but I didn't experience the emotions of being a close friend, which I needed for this. So a lot of it is coming from thinking, what if's. But I'm elated to know that the emotions I'm writing are consistent with the event. And I'm so sorry about your friend. It's hard to hear about anyone being murdered, I can't even imagine that happening to someone I know. Thanks so much for reading!
And to everyone else who reviewed: You guys all made my stupid, crappy Friday so much better. Thanks for all the reviews!
Ok, so I personally thought this chapter sucked, so I've revised it. It was way too short and what was supposed to come across, didn't. So I decided to spend some time today working on it. Yay Mental Health Day! Not that I have any mental health at all, I'm sitting in front of my computer singing Christmas carols…but that's not the point. So if you read the first version, read this and hopefully it'll be ten times better! If you didn't read the old version, then don't worry about it and read this one!!!
Now Playing…Chapter 16!
Lizzie stood in the parking lot, confused by Gordo's words and action, for a moment or two and then turned back to the Digital Bean, only to find Miranda standing behind her, a shadow of worry cast across her face.
"Did you hear that?" Lizzie asked her.
Miranda nodded. "Only the last part. I just got a call from my mom, she needs me to come home, so I'll drop you off at your house, okay?" Lizzie nodded and ran back inside to grab her purse.
After dropping Lizzie off, Miranda headed towards Gordo's house. She hated lying to Lizzie like that, but she needed to talk to Gordo. She had a pretty good idea of what he was trying to do, but it was obvious Lizzie had no clue, so now Miranda had to stop Gordo before he really did leave for good.
Miranda parked on the curb in front of Gordo's house and ran across the lawn to the door. Mrs. Gordon let her in and told her Gordo was in his room, she could go on up. When she reached Gordo's open door, she found him digging through his closet, an open suitcase on his bed.
"Gordo, what are you doing?" she asked, sitting on his desk chair.
Gordo mumbled something unintelligible and continued rummaging through his closet.
"What?"
Gordo pulled his head out of the closet. "If she wants me to leave, I'm leaving!" he said angrily, throwing a pair of sneakers in the suitcase.
"Gordo, she doesn't want you to leave." Miranda told him. Gordo began to protest, but she interrupted him.
"You didn't give her any time to think about this." Miranda continued. "All she though about was how great an opportunity this was for you. Which by the way, it is. She hasn't had time to think about what it would be like if you weren't there."
"Well, when's she gonna figure it out?" Gordo asked impatiently. "I'm set to leave the day after tomorrow. All she has to do is tell me she doesn't want me to go and I won't."'
Miranda's eyes widened. She hasn't realized he would be leaving so soon; this didn't give her much time to work with. But she knew her friends belonged together.
"Gordo, would you really give this whole thing up?" she asked.
Gordo considered her question. "Yeah. If she asked me not to go, I'd stay here."
Miranda grinned at that. "You know, you really should tell her how you feel."
"It's not for lack of trying." Gordo told her. "But something always gets in the way or comes up or I can't figure out how to put exactly what I'm feeling into words."
Miranda raised her eyebrows in question.
Gordo sighed and sat down on his bed, still holding the sweatshirt he'd been trying to fold. "Well, I'm not going to tell her I love her, 'cause I don't know if I do. But what I'm feeling for her is much more than just friendship; I've known that for years. I'm just not sure how to get that across to her."
"Why don't you tell her what you just told me?" Miranda asked.
Gordo shrugged. "I've tried to tell her so many times and hinted so many times, but she's never shown any sign of feeling anything besides friendship. And part of me doesn't want to risk our friendship. I mean, what if she doesn't feel the same way, things get all awkward and we can't handle being friends."
"Or she could feel the same way." Miranda suggested.
"Exactly. She could feel the same way," Gordo echoed, "and then what if it doesn't work out? What if we can't go back to being just friends? I'd rather have her as my best friend. I don't want us to end up being like all the strained relationships we've been seeing. I want to be able, even if we haven't seen each other for years, to talk to her like a friend and not like someone I used to know but have nothing in common with now. But I don't want to spend all my time waiting for her, not knowing what she's going to do. I'm willing to give up this opportunity, but only if I know I've got something to stay here for."
Miranda nodded. If only she could get Gordo to actually say all this to Lizzie. She'd have to get through to Lizzie on her own. She stood up. "Look, I'll talk to her Gordo. She'll come around, I know she will."
When she reached Gordo's doorway she turned around. "Would you really…?" she trailed off.
"Yeah," said Gordo quietly, "I'd stay for her."
Miranda was in her car, headed back to Lizzie's house when her cell phone rang. It was her mother. Miranda looked at her watch, it was 5:30. They probably needed her to baby-sit her little sister. Her mother said something about having dinner with some family friends tonight. She'd have to talk to Lizzie tomorrow.