A/N: I have a confession to make. Up until now, all of the chapters have been pre-written. I actually haven't written this story in awhile. But I couldn't decide what was going to happen so I waited till the last chapter was posted to see what people said. Well, only one person really casted his/her vote, so I'm just gonna wing it. Don't expect such fast updates from now on, though. I'm making this up as I go along.

LIZZIE

Gordo, Matt, and I all jumped when the door opened. Not because we were surprised or startled, but because we were anxious. We rushed to the front to greet my parents.

"Hey," I said. "What'd you decide?"

My mom sighed. "Well, we're going to call him and ask for some money. But if after a little talking we can't get it out of him, we decided not to sue."

"Why not?" Gordo demanded.

"Different reasons," mom replied. "The main one being Sanchezs didn't feel comfortable with the idea. Would you like a ride home?"

"I drove, but thanks." Gordo turned to me. "I'll see you later, OK? We can maybe get together before school starts."

I winced. "Don't say that. You make it sound like it's only a week away or something."

"It almost is. Let's face it: we don't get a summer this year." He smiled. "It's cool, though. I mean… it wasn't the best summer, but at least this didn't happen in the middle of the school year. Can you imagine the make-up work?" I smiled back. "Well, see ya." He left.

"Who's calling him?" I asked.

"Gordons."

"Why them? Why aren't we calling? Or Sanchezs?"

"Because Sanchezs didn't want to and Mr. Gordon offered."

"When are they calling?"

Mom sighed. "I don't know, Lizzie, whenever they find time, I suppose."

I knew that she was getting frustrated with my questions by her tone, but I didn't know exactly why. She knew that I was going to want to know what they decided, and she told me that she'd tell me everything. Maybe something happened while they were there.

Anyway, I couldn't press her anymore about this. I'd ask her later when she was in a better mood.

"OK. Well, maybe I'll go to the mall or something. I need to get out."

"Oh-" Dad pulled out his wallet. "Is 20 enough?"

"It's OK," I said. "I'll window shop or something. I don't need money. What should I take?"

He handed me the keys to our Taurus. "Be back for supper."

I nodded. "Thanks. Love you, bye!"

I walked into the driveway and was about to get in the car when I heard my name called. I turned and across the street was Madison Avior.

"Hi!" I called back.

She smiled and walked across the street to me. Madison and her family had just moved here last year, 2 years after we had. She was nice, but we didn't really hang out much.

"How are you?" she asked me. Her long strawberry-blond hair blew with the light breeze.

"How am I supposed to be?" I answered. "You heard about the crash, right?"

"Are you kidding? It's pretty big. It was on the news and everything. And not just "there was a crash, expect delays," but like a real actual section on your crash. The guy that hit you was interviewed."

"Really?" I asked, purely interested. I hadn't known that.

She nodded. "Yeah. My mom taped it. You might wanna borrow it sometime. Actually…" She paused. "Do you have a minute? We could watch it now, unless you were going to somewhere you can be late to." She sent me a small smile.

I returned it. "No, I have a minute."

"Cool." We headed back over to her house. I'd been in it before the Aviors had moved there, but not since. Madison had been adopted by a newly wed couple who were 24 and had a thing for bright colors, so I wondered what they could have done to the inside of the house. Her mom was an interior decorator, so it was probably pretty cool.

I thought it would be kinda weird having parents who were only 8 years older than I was. Madison was 16… how strange! Her dad had to have an operation, so now he couldn't have kids. They wanted to adopt, and "fell in love" with Madison.

I was right, the house was… bright. When I walked in, hot orange walls shocked my eyes. It was almost brighter than looking at the sun!

"Wow," I said without thinking as I took off my sandals. She looked at me.

"What?"

"Um… the walls. They're… bright."

She smiled. "Aren't they sweet? I love this house. And it was so much fun to paint. C'mon." She led me downstairs, where the colors were a little duller, but no less drastic. It was a deep blue. Not a dark blue, in fact it was still a little bright, but just deep. Really really blue.

"What a cool color," I said. I didn't add that I didn't exactly like it for a wall color.

"I wanted my room this color, but my mom didn't want 2 rooms to be the same color," she told me as she put a tape into the VCR.

Madison's parents are definitely one of a kind, I thought. At my house, each room is white. If you didn't like it, too bad. Each room is white, anyway.

She grabbed the remote and sat down next to me on the bright yellow leather couch and pressed play.

The interview wasn't as interesting as I thought it would be. Jared looked about 22, 23, and he had been an honor student in high school, and worked hard to maintain his 4.0. He said that that day was his first time drinking, and he and his friends went overboard. And he promised never to do it again.

He sounded genuinely sorry. He looked genuinely sorry. And something inside me told me that he was genuinely sorry. So for a small, tiny split second, I forgave him. But then I remembered that his being sorry didn't bring Miranda back. It didn't matter if he would do this again or not. Miranda was still gone.

I was bitter all over again. How dare he kill her! This was all his fault! If he was stupid enough to get drunk, he shouldn't have been stupid enough to get in a car when he was! What gave him the right to take my friend's life? What gave him the right to cause me and Gordo and Sanchezs all this pain? What?

"Thanks, Madison," I said when I found my voice. "I appreciate it. I have to go now." I stood and started up the stairs.

"Do you wanna hang out sometime?" she asked, following me. " 'Cause, if you ever need a girlfriend to hang out with, I'm here."

Miranda used to be the girlfriend I hung out with, I thought. Used to be, but not anymore.

"Thanks," I said as I slipped on my sandals. "Gordo is practically my girlfriend, but if I do need some real girl time, I know where you live." I flashed her a hard, forced smile as I left. I rushed into my house and ignored the confused looks on my parent's faces and went up to my room. I slammed the door and laid on my bed. I cried forever.

First I cried for Miranda, that I'd never see her again. Then I cried for myself, pitying myself that I had to go through this. Then I cried for Jared, and how his future was messed up now. Then I cried for myself once again, because I was just beginning to think I was over Miranda's death, beginning to think that it was in the past, and now I was in tears yet again.

I failed both myself and her.