Chapter 1

The Difference between Cute and Pretty

A/N an' Disclaimers: As always, I don't own any rights to Lizzie McGuire, nor to I Own any rights to 'Crazy' by Britney Spears. Tanya Kuene is a character of my own creation.

The events in this chapter occur six months prior to the events in the prologue, almost to the day, towards the end of their sophomore year,

 This one and Chapter two (Which was going to be part of Chapter one, but I decided it would be too long) are the 'set up' chapters, I tried to make them interesting and readable. 

Six Months Earlier...April 16

"Explain to me again, McGuire..." Gordo enquired between bites of an Egg McMuffin. "Exactly why we're awake, dressed, and on the way to school aaaat..." He gave the stereo's digital clock a long, exaggerated, squint-eyed glance "...Eight minutes to seven..."  He then reached for his large coke, taking a long drag through his straw as he awaited a reply.

"Think it could be because she promised to feed you?" Miranda Sanchez asked lightly from the back seat of Lizzie's passed down Jeep Grand Cherokee, where she was slouched down comfortably in a funky lavender, purple and white top and a pair of jeans. She finished off a chicken biscuit, washing it down with a swallow of her own drink.

"Ok, that's one reason..." Gordo agreed, glancing back at the pretty, dark haired girl, who had been one of his best friends since a year or so before the beginning of time.

"...And, beings you were far too busy stuffing your face to say it yourself...Thank you for feeding us. Lizzie..." Miranda continued cheerfully.

"My enthusiasm should be thanks enough..." Gordo replied, to be met with near-simultaneous eye rolls from both girls.

"Hey..." Lizzie chirped from behind the SUV's wheel as she angled into the left turn lane at Hillridge Parkway and Hillridge Place and eased to a stop at the light. "What about the warm, fuzzy feeling you get from helping you fellow man, an' all..."

"Fellow man..." Gordo noted, looking adoringly at his long time best friend and girlfriend of about six months. "...Is not exactly the term I'd use."

 Lizzie's outfit was not exactly standard issue for a school day. Brief white track shorts and a white tube top beneath a dark blue tank top with "Clearly Fabulous' emblazoned there on, while more than likely greatly appreciated by the male contingent of the Hillridge High School student body, and definitely appreciated by one David 'Gordo' Gordon, would not cut it in the long haul with the school administration.

"Oh..." Lizzie turned to face him, an impish and mischievous smirk on her face, her hazel eyes dancing with merriment. "And exactly what term would you use..."

"Let's seeee..." Gordo squinted, rubbing his chin with the thumb of his right hand. "...Creature came to mind...then there's apparition..." She stuck her tongue out at him,  giggled, and crinkled her nose, bouncing a spatter of freckles around adorably, a gesture that had just about the same effect on Gordo's heart that a blow torch would have on a stick of butter..

"Ah, guys..." From the back seat. "Lizzie? Light..."

"Huh..." Lizzie snapped her head back around and saw the turn arrow that was now glowing green at her. "Oops..." She chortled at the same time pulling off and swinging left onto Hillridge Place. "We got everything?" She asked Gordo and Miranda.

"Yes, dear..." Gordo replied, deadpan. "Battery's charged, it's got a blank tape in it..." He twisted around to see Miranda hold up a set of Pom-poms, somewhat worse for the wear, from her little league cheering days. "...'Rand has the pom poms..."

"Know how long it took me to find these things...Our attic should be declared a major archeological dig..." Miranda threw in as Lizzie hung yet another left into the HHS student parking lot.

"Sounds like Matt's room..." Lizzie noted as they rolled across the nearly empty expanse of asphalt. "There could be entire civilizations buried under all the junk..."

"Like yours is a pinnacle of neatness..." From Miranda.

"I can put my hands on everything I need...Lizzie countered cheerfully, to be met with 'Uh huh' from Miranda and 'Right, McGuire' from Gordo. Lizzie cut a large 'C' in the parking lot, aiming for her assigned parking space. Ahead, and then to their right as they turned, the early morning sun painted the school's brick work and white painted trim orange, kicking back fireballs from the building's dozens of windows.

Hillridge High was an architectural gem. The three story main building, with it's ornate millwork, picturesque clock tower, and steeply pitched, multi-dormered slate roof topped by an octagonal cupola, had actually been featured, twice, on the cover of Alexandria Drafting's 'Metro Atlantis and Vicinity' map book.

The sun popped up high enough to turn the windows in the cupola orange against a cloudless blue sky. Lizzie just shook her head, saying "Man I wish we weren't stuck in school today...it's gonna be gorgeous..."

"Enjoy it, supposed to rain tonight..." Gordo told them matter of factly as Lizzie pulled into her space.

"Jus' so it leaves the weekend be..." From the back seat, to be answered by 'Amen to that' from Lizzie as she threw it into park, stepped down on the parking brake, and shut down. "Let's bail, guys..." Lizzie told them as she unbuckled her seat belt, and opened her door. "Coach Lee told me I could have the auxiliary gym for thirty minutes, an I gotta get a shower an' change before homeroom."

"Sure the gym's unlocked?" Gordo asked his girlfriend as they climbed from the autumn mist gold Grand Cherokee.

"Mmmm-hmmmm" Lizzie nodded as she stuck the key in the liftgate's latch. "She promised me she'd unlock both the gym and the auxiliary gym..." Lizzie reached in and pulled out a Pac Sun backpack containing her books and her school clothes. Gordo dragged a big, black and silver Sony boom box  out and handed it to Miranda, then reached back in to drag a Halliburton camera case containing a professional grade video camera out, saying 'Ya know Liz, we could almost do this in the parking lot..."

Yeah, but I wanted to do it in the auxiliary gym because that's where tryouts are gonna be, that way I know how much room an' stuff I'll have..."

"Oh Ma GOD, what are they doin' here already?!"  Miranda snarled from behind them, contempt dripping from her voice and splattering on the blacktop like raindrops.

"What are wh...? Oh, crap!" Lizzie exclaimed as she followed Miranda's gaze and spotted a pearl white Chrysler Sebring convertible with the top up flanked by a smoke gray, two year old BMW 328I drop-top, and a bright blue Mitsubishi Eclipse, all parked hard by the courtyard entrance, near the gym, nowhere near their assigned spaces. Lizzie shot the three cars looks that, by all rights, should have turned their gas tanks into fireballs. "Apparently the entire coven...or craven...or hoven...or what ever a group of witches calls themselves is here..."

"How wonderful for us..." Miranda noted, her words heavy with sarcasm, as the three of them started walking towards the same entrance that Kate Saunders and two of her lieutenants in attitude, Claire Miller and Tanya Kuene, had obviously used.

"So, I wonder just what possessed the entire unholy alliance to drag themselves out of bed even before we did...?"

"Who know..." Lizzie's eyes snapped open wide with sudden realization. "Oh, crap, guys, come on!"  She exclaimed, suddenly switching directions and breaking into a run towards the double smoked glass doors on this end of the long hallway known as the 'Back Road', the soles of her Sketchers slapping asphalt.

"What!" Miranda asked, breaking into a run to keep up with her best friend. Gordo also kicked it into high gear, saying 'Yeah, McGuire, let us in..."

"She's trying to get the sign-up sheets down before anyone else, meaning yours truly, can sign up..." Lizzie informed them, then said, almost to herself, 'Hope this door's unlocked..." as they hopped over the low curb fronting the parking lot, crossed the sidewalk, angled across a manicured patch of  lawn and ran up to the entrance. Gordo grabbed one door and Miranda the other, yanking them open so hard they banged hard against their stops, bouncing closed behind them as they ran inside the building. Lizzie leaned  down just long enough to let the straps of her back pack go, sending it to bounce, then slide down the hallway as she picked up speed, shoes smacking asphalt tiles like snare-drum beats, blond hair bouncing and trailing behind her. Behind her Gordo and Miranda just looked at each other as Gordo, closest to the abandoned backpack, scooped it up by the straps. Lizzie place-jogged just long enough to glance at a bulletin board as she passed it, chirped a fairly dirty word, then really kicked in the afterburners.

 Gordo and Miranda, loaded down as they were, had given up all attempts to keep up with Lizzie, instead falling into a quick jog. They heard another familiar voice yelp something unintelligible, and had the exact same thought at the exact same instant. Kate, Claire, and Tonya had heard the doors slam open, then Lizzie running and one of them had ducked into an open classroom fronting the parking lot and seen Lizzie's Grand Cherokee. And clear as a bell, both heard Kate Saunders yell 'Anyone get the one next to the 'Back Road', then two less than audible replies, then Kate scream an angry 'Claire!!', then another less than charitable word, and more quick foot falls as the three cheerleaders  broke into an unseen run themselves

Lizzie managed the near impossible, and picked up even more speed, her legs all but blurs. She was a good hundred feet ahead of her two best friends by now, and pulling away like a dragster. The cafeteria hall crossed the 'Back road' maybe thirty feet ahead of her, and she'd almost reached it when Kate, Claire, and Tanya all crossed at a dead run, and both Gordo and Miranda saw the venomous look Kate shot Lizzie, even from here.

"Don't even think about it Kate!!" They heard Lizzie yell, just an instant before she leaned into the turn, disappearing around the corner.

"We better get up there..." Miranda noted, and she broke into a run, cradling the boom box like a newborn, the orange and white pom poms bouncing and swaying and swinging in front of her..

"Give it, Kate!" They heard Lizzie yell, her words bouncing and echoing through the empty halls.

Gordo and Miranda skidded around the corner just in time to see Kate holding the cheering tryout sign-up sheet aloft in her right hand and Claire and Tanya flanking her, arms crossed, like a pop star's bodyguards.

"We don't let little loser girls on our cheering squad." Kate spat at Lizzie nastily.

"Give it too me, Kate..."

 "Not a chance, loser!" Kate was a good head taller than Lizzie, putting the precious sheet of paper well out of Lizzie's reach, unless...

"Like hell..." Lizzie shot back about a quarter second before she took two back steps, bent her knees, then jumped for it, both arms up and hands outstretched, as if she was going for a last-chance rebound. Kate back stepped, stretching up on her tip-toes, Claire just stood, watching with interest, as if she actually was watching a closely fought basketball game...

And Tanya yelled a really dirty word, turned, reached, and gave Lizzie a hard open handed shove to the chest. Kate's head spun towards Tanya so fast that her long, blond hair twirled, Miranda shot the same word Tanya had yelled back at her. Lizzie yelped a surprised little 'ERP!., stopped in mid air, then tumbled backwards, arms wind milling as her feet hit the hallway floor and went out from under her, an open mouthed look of shocked rage on her face. Miranda let the pompoms go, allowing them to skitter along the floor, Lizzie breathed out a painful 'Oomph' as she hit the floor on her butt and slid backwards a foot or so. She stopped, right leg flat on the floor, left knee bent, leaning back on her arms, shaking her head and obviously trying to regain the breath that had just gotten knocked out of her.

"Don't you even do it!!" Miranda yelled as Tanya turned and drew her right leg back. Miranda slid in between her best friend and Tanya, lifting 325 dollars worth of boom box and holding it over her shoulder like a Louisville slugger. "Even think about it and I'll make your braces look like a chain link fence after an earth quake!!!"

Tanya glared at Miranda, then down at Lizzie, then at Miranda again. Miranda's lips were pressed thin, her eyes snapping like a pair of downed power lines. "You Ok Liz..." Miranda asked, never taking her eyes off of Tanya.

"Yeah..." She heard Lizzie say from behind her. Gordo shot an evil look at Tanya, then reached down, grabbed both of Lizzie's hands as she reached up, and pulled her to her feet.

Tanya put both hands on her hips, spitting out 'What's your problem...I was gonna help her u..."

"Yeah, right!" Miranda shot back at her. Kate was shooting a look at them, glaring at Miranda, the expression on her face venomous.

 "I think both of you guys need to calm down...I don't need you getting me suspended or kicked off the squad..." Kate barked at them, and Miranda thought 'As usual, Kate's biggest concern is her butt...' as Kate reached up and pulled Tanya back by her shoulder. Mirada finally lowered the boom box, stepped back, and looked over at Lizzie, saying 'Sure you're ok', Lizzie nodded, still obviously a little dazed, then said 'Yeah, 'Rand'... thanks for the back-up.' She then glared daggers at Tanya and said 'You have some serious issues, Tanya...one of these days someone's gonna beat your..."

"She came real close about ten seconds ago, and I'd've enjoyed it, believe me..." Miranda interrupted, glaring at Tanya icily.

"What!" Tanya barked, leaning her head forward. "You little nobody, I'da kicked your..."

"Cool it, Tanya, she's not worth it..." Claire growled at her, the first words she'd so much as uttered throughout the entire incident. Kate was now standing with her left arm dangling, right hand resting on a cocked hip, the sign-up sheet dangling towards the floor.

"Yeah, loser-girl, none of this would've even happened if it hadn't been for you, so why don't you just go with your loser-friends..."

Lizzie did that head snap, hair swing thing that 16 year old girls have down to an art when they need to show anger." What is your problem, Kate?"

"The problem is we don't want fat, ugly..."

"She asked me!" Kate spat at Tanya, cutting her off. Tanya's round, pretty face, already ugly with contempt, knotted up in anger. Her bright blue eyes were narrowed in anger as she shot a look at Kate, the continued to glare at Lizzie, Gordo, and Miranda.

 "The problem is, loser-girl, you're a klutz, you're a loser, and no one likes you, other than..." She shot Gordo and Miranda her trademark look of disgust. "These two..."

"Kate...just shut up, and give me the sigh up sheet..." Lizzie huffed, glaring defiance at her, again reaching for it. Kate twisted away, the sheet fluttering as it was yanked out of Lizzie's reach. Lizzie again glared at her, then put her hands on her hips and nodded at the sign-up sheet.

 "Correct me if I'm wrong, Kate, but weren't the sign-up sheets supposed to be up until the end of last period today?"

"She's right, Kate..." Gordo informed her, earning himself a homicidal look. "And I know that, according to you at any rate, you are far superior to any and all creatures on this, and any other planet, but don't ya think some inferior type's less than developed brain might just figure out that the things disappeared seven hours too soon..."

"They'll just have to deal with it..." She spat back.

"I'd bet Coach Lee would just love to know that...tell me, do you consider her one of us lowlifes, too, 'cause I bet she doesn't know you're taking them down early..."

If the look Kate shot Gordo had been a laser, Gordo would have been vaporized, along with a couple of lockers, and several courses of concrete block.

"That sounds like a threat...you becoming a snitch and a loser...oh, excuse me, they're one and the same..." Kate shot back, All Gordo did is lift an eyebrow in reply. The two of them stared at each other for several seconds before Kate, faltering reluctantly, her eyes still snapping blue fire, turned towards Lizzie, snapping the sign-up sheet as she handed it to her.

 "So go ahead, then! I was trying to do you a favor, but if you want to humiliate yourself, knock yourself out..." Gordo handed Lizzie a pen, uncapping it for her first, Lizzie turned around and held the sheet against a royal blue locker as she wrote her name on it. "I have final say on who gets on, anyway..."

"I thought Coach Lee had final say..." Gordo told her  sarcastically

"Officially, unofficially, cute rules..." Kate told them haughtily, Lizzie stage whispered 'Oh give me a break!" then turned and handed the sheet back to Kate, who snatched it out of her hand rudely. "That's why I'm popular, I'm cute...cute people are popular, loser people are.....well, losers..." Kate continued, at first starting to fold the sheet and put it in her purse. She shot a side-long glance at Gordo, turned, and replaced it on the board.

"That's where you're wrong, Kate..." Gordo told her. "You are not 'cute."

"Ex,,, "Kate huffed a disgusted breath "...Excuse me!" She turned to face Gordo, glaring down at him.

"I didn't say you weren't pretty...ยด Gordo told her in that maddening rational tone that sounded like it should be coming from a forty year old. "I said you weren't cute."  He nodded at all three of the girls in turn, saying "Oh, all of you are pretty, but there's a big difference between 'cute' and 'pretty'. All pretty is what you look like...a coral snake's pretty, but I wouldn't want to spend time with one... "

"Are you comparing us to snakes...?" Claire asked him, one dark eyebrow raised, luminous black hair shifting and fanning against her right shoulder as she tilted her head.

"No Claire, that's just an example, though I can see where some people might make the connection." Miranda told her in that sweet tone that's anything but sweet. Claire just shot her a look, Gordo didn't miss a beat.

"Cute's the kind of person you are..." He put one arm around Lizzie, then put the other hand on Miranda's shoulder. "If I have to explain it to you..." He continued as Kate's face turned redder with every passing second. "...It's already a lost cause, but I'll tell ya this...either one of these two are cuter than all three of you together will ever be..."

Tanya parodied sticking a finger down her throat as Kate huffed 'Give me a break!"

"Come on guys, we gotta go..." Lizzie told Miranda and Gordo, the three of them collected their stuff, Miranda and Lizzie shooting death-stares at the three cheerleaders as the passed, and moved towards the gym, in the rear of the building. Kate stood there, simmering slowly, her face scarlet with rage, for several seconds, until Claire said 'Are you gonna let them get by with that?!'

"Hell no, I'm not!" She snapped, then spun around, her hair twirling. "Lizzie McGuire!!" Lizzie turned as Kate yelled her name. then stood, weight on her left leg. She tilted her head, and raised both eyebrows, her lips formed a little bow as she pursed them. "You can sign up all you want to! Sign up on all of them! It doesn't mean anything. Talk about not understanding! What you don't understand is just how much I really despise you!

Just for an instant...so quick that Kate would wonder for ages whether she actually saw it... the cold glare in Lizzie's hazel eyes became a glimmer of hurt. She could've sworn she saw her lip tremble. But for just an instant. Lizzie snapped her head and rolled her eyes, and huffed, 'I don't have time for your dramatics, Kate', said it in a way that almost made it seem she had thought it out loud. And Kate knew she felt a tiny, tiny pinprick, from a long ago memory, so tiny she all but ignored it.

"Loser!..." She huffed, all three of her friends nodded and spoke agreement. "Come on, let's put these others back on the bulletin boards before snitch-boy turns us in." Kate huffed as the three cheerleaders started in the same direction as Lizzie and her crew. They saw them turn the corner at the far end of the hall, beyond the cafeteria, where this hall 'T'ed into the gym-auditorium hall, just short of where that hall emptied into the big commons area.  Miranda turned and shot them a look that Kate could read from almost two hundred feet away.

Tanya fired a similar look up the now empty hallway, spitting "I shoulda kicked her..."

"Miranda would've fed you that boom box..." Claire informed her.. "You should probably thank Kate for breaking it up before you got broken up..."

"Hey...I thought you two were my friends..." Tanya exclaimed, sounding a little hurt. Tanya, like her two friends, was dressed expensively, her outfit being black jeans and a top from Express. She was shorter than either of the other girls, but with the same dancer's figure and glow of good health. Her brown hair was wavy, and hung to just past her shoulders. She was round faced, with big blue eyes...bluer even that Kate's...and a small, pouty mouth., A quick spatter of freckles across a rounded little button nose completed the  misleading image of 'sweet girl next door'. Tanya Kuene was about as sweet as a bad lemon

"And that's why we're telling you not to mess with Miranda, shell mop the floor up with you..." Kate noted matter of factly.

"Wonder where they were going anyway..." Claire asked.

Kate...by far the least air headed of the trio despite the image she often portrayed, rolled her eyes. "Considering the way she was dressed, my bet's she was heading for the gym..." By now they were in front of the cafeteria, Kate turned towards a bulletin board, reached in a hip pocket of her jeans, and pulled out a folded sign up sheet, straightened ir, and replaced it on the bulletin board. "Probably going to practice what ever lame routine she's planning to humiliate herself with tomorrow afternoon," She turned back around, the fluorescents picking out details in her pale rose colored Charlotte Russe top.  "Any luck she'll fall on her butt, or, if I'm real lucky, break a leg or something an' I won't have to deal with her..." Kate mused. Claire nodded agreement. Tanya just said 'Yeah..." in an off-hand way. "I gotta go, I gotta move my car" Tanya exclaimed, then said 'See you later..." as she turned and headed across the Commons area, and towards the courtyard entrance, Kate and Claire both saying 'see ya, Tanya', Claire gave it a few seconds, then looked at Kate, an eyebrow raised in puzzlement.

"Since when's she a stickler for the parking rules..." Claire asked, to be answered by an off-handed 'probably threatened to take her privileges away' from Kate, who then turned towards Claire.

 "You think she was really gonna kick her"

"Naaaa..." Claire answered, shaking her head. "She just looked like she was."

Kate just pursed her lips, nodding. They could hear the murmur of voices, and the clanging slam of locker doors. Music...Britney Spears' 'Crazy' drifted faintly from the direction of the gym.

"Wanna go humiliate loser girl some more?" Kate asked, snapping back into character.

"This should be hilarious."

"Oh, she pisses me off!" Lizzie huffed, at the same time smacking her backpack down hard onto the auxiliary gym floor, eliciting an explosive 'THWACK!' that echoed throughout the huge, high-ceilinged room. "I mean, who does she think she is!!"

"Which one?" Miranda asked from a few feet away, where she was setting up the boom box. As she spoke, she took a copy of  'Britney's CD, 'Oops I Did it Again'  (Rescued from Lizzie's back-pack only minutes before she body-slammed it), and popped the case open.

"Pick one, they're all alike!" Lizzie barked. "And did you see what that Tanya wench did...!"

"We had front row seats..." Gordo told her as he readied the video camera so he could tape Lizzie's whirlwind practice session so they could critique it that night

"I had you back, Liz..."

"You always have..." Lizzie noted with a little smile. "...Thanks again for the back-up, guys..." Lizzie told them as she did some quick stretching exercises. She then  looked up at her two best friends, her eyes wide with incredulity. "The wench was gonna kick me!"

 "Na, she wouldn't have, because I was planning on pounding her. She'd've been able to play CDs with her teeth..."

"Ouch..." From Gordo.

"Then she'd've been able to tickle her tonsils with her right foot...from the inside..."

"Yeeesh...now there's a visual image..." Gordo made a face, and gave his head a couple of exaggerated shakes as Lizzie looked at him, and giggled, despite her anger.

"Alright, my own hit team..." Lizzie exclaimed as Miranda punched a button on the boom box, opening the CD tray.

"Know what's sad..." Miranda asked, looking over towards her best friend as she inserted the CD and closed the tray.

"What's that, 'Rand?"

"There was a time Kate would've been all over that little witch  for pushing you like that..."

"Yeah.." Lizzie agreed, looking distant for a second or so. "That was a loooong time ago, though..." She snapped out of her funk, glancing up at a wall clock." I've got time to go through it a couple of times...ready, guys?"

"Have at it, McGuire..." Gordo told her enthusiastically, holding the camera to his eye.

"Ok..." Lizzie grabbed the pom-poms, and took her start position, legs slightly apart, hands on her hips, pom poms dangling.

Ok..." She looked at Miranda, a serious expression now on her face. "Hit it..."

Miranda hit 'PLAY', Gordo hit 'RECORD'...

"BAAAYBEEE...I'M SO INTO YOUUUUU...!"

"EVERY TIME YOU LOOOOK AT MEEEE..."

"Oh My God, Kate..." Claire said quietly as the two of them stood at the opening in the folding wall separating the auxiliary gym from the main gym.

"MY HEART IS JUMPIN  IT'S EASY TO SEEEE!"

"You can't do a toe spin in Sketchers!" Kate said, her eyes huge, as she watched Lizzie's performance.

"OhOhOH, CRAAAAAZEEEE...I JUST CAN'T SLEEP...!

"Whoa..."

"I'M SO EXITED, I'M IN TOO DEEP"

"Wow..."

"...CRAAAAAZEEEE...BUT IT FEEELS ALRIIIIIGHT..."

"Where'd our little loser-klutz go?"

"BAYBEE, THINKIN OF YA KEEPS ME UP ALL NIGHT!

The two cheerleaders turned and made their way out of the gym, the music fading behind them as they walked into the hallway, which was quickly filling up with teenage humanity, and towards the commons area.

"She was good Kate..." Claire said, in the same tone of voice a six year old might use if she found out Santa Claus and Dad was indeed one and the same.

"That doesn't change anything..." Kate barked at her, then looked over at her." It really doesn't"

"That was great, Liz..."

Still needs a little work, but it's gettin' there..." Lizzie noted as the three of them collected gear and headed out of the auxiliary gym.

"Getting there?! " Gordo exclaimed, walking over to his girlfriend and encircling her waist with his right arm. "You..." He kissed her on the cheek. "...Were awesome..."

Lizzie tilted her head towards him, smiled, pecked him on the lips, giggled, then turned her head, and jerked it in the general direction of the front of he building, saying 'Now all I've got to do is get past the pug-nosed witch an' I've got it made..."

"An' that. McGuire, is whet we're gonna help you do...we're going to meet at your house, after school, right?" Gordo asked her.

"Indeed...Mom's cooking..."

"Ahhh...more free food." Gordo sighed, a dreamy look on his face. "Life is good!

Lizzie and Miranda just shook their heads at him, then Lizzie gave her boyfriend another quick lip-peck, said  "Gotta get changed", and headed for the gym entrance to the girl's locker room. "See you guys in class"

"I could always give you a hand..." Gordo called after her, grinning impishly.

"No, Gordo..." Lizzie giggled at him, turning just before she went in the locker room to return his impish grin, shake her head, giggle again, then disappear through the door.

"Darn..." Gordo mugged comically, snapping his fingers, never vaguely suspecting that, in twenty-four hours, he would have a lump the size of the Goodyear Blimp in his throat as he wondered if he'd ever hear that little giggle he adored so much again.