How Far?

Chapter Eighteen: Unity

Disclaimer: I do not own Lizzie McGuire.

"I feel like such a whore in this outfit," Rita St. Claire sighed as she got out of her friend Taylor Campbell's sister's jeep. "Remind me why I wore this," Rita complained about her pink shirt with a scarf like neck and a keyhole front and her denim studded jeans.

Taylor rolled her eyes at her friend's complaining and ignorance, "Look, I'm only trying to help you get a date for homecoming this Friday. You want to go with Matt McGuire and he will notice you."

"What if he's going with Melina," Rita asked as they walked towards the school steps.

"Well, if they are going they're probably going as just friends. Melina will understand and she won't even care, she's obsessed with that senior, David, anyways," Taylor assured her friend.

The two were completely oblivious to the fact that the third member of their trio was dead. They were up in Monterey for the field hockey semi-finals. They had always put field hockey before everything because field hockey was their lives.

"I still can not believe she didn't try out," Rita pointed out as they walked towards the steps of the school.

"Everyone is all cluster-like, well the freshmen anyway, hmm maybe they're forming a plan to kidnap Mr. Pinker," Taylor chuckled sinisterly.

As the two proceeded towards the steps, Matt came up to them. It was a surprise that he even came to school two days after the death of his best friend that weekend.

"So, how are you guys taking the news," Matt said solemnly.

The two friends stood there looking at each other in confusion. They had no clue what possibly Matt was talking about or implying.

"Hi Matt," Rita squealed flirtatiously.

"You guys don't even care that Melina is dead," Matt asked bitterly.

Rita and Taylor felt like a pile of bricks hit them in the head. Rita's only concern for the day was trying to flirt with Matt and try to get him to be her date for homecoming. Taylor's only concern for the day was a possible pop quiz in Algebra.

"M-Melina is dead," Taylor asked in disbelief.

"Yes dumb and dumber, she is. If you were her real friends you would have known," he snapped sarcastically at the two girls who just stood there like mindless yuppies.

Taylor sighed, "How did she die?"

A tear trickled down Matt's cheek, "She killed herself because Gordo didn't love her. She probably thought life wasn't living because of that. I hate him! That bastard practically killed her."

"Holy shit," was all Rita could say. "Matt, I'm sorry."

"Thanks I guess," he said as he shook his. "I got to go."

Matt scampered off, leaving Rita and Taylor in dismay.

"What just happened," Rita asked as she looked up at Taylor.

"I honestly don't know," she said as they walked inside the school.

~*~

Larry Tudgeman sat in Mr. Smith's homeroom with his head. It had been a long night. He was tossing and turning with a lot on his mind. He was always an anxious guy who probably over analyzed anything and everything. It was his nature to do that and he just didn't know why.

Gordo then walked into the homeroom with dark circles under his eyes and his curly hair in a mess. His face was pale and his eyes were tired. He sat down at a desk and started to doze off.

The public address system screeched. On came the voice of Principal Reynolds.

"Good morning students of Hill Ridge High. Today is Monday, October 9th 2006 and today is an "A" day. Normally on Mondays, I tell you guys jokes about my ex-wives and how I could be a Ben Stiller clone to wake you guys up. Unfortunately I can't be funny because of something that happened this weekend."

There was a pause and all of the students who were actually listening to the announcements became more alert then they were. Gordo knew exactly what Principal Reynolds was about to talk about, while Larry was completely oblivious and was still divulged in his thoughts.

"This weekend we lost a student. The student committed suicide on Saturday, October 7th, 2006. This student was someone I knew somewhat personally. She complained when I was telling her my jokes and being my giddy self. I knew there was great potential in this student because of her determination. A freshman, named Melina Bianco shot herself on Saturday."

Gordo looked up at the ceiling in desperation. Why did everyone want to torture him? Did they all want to make him guilty and feel like he wanted to dig a hole and bury himself in it until this all blew over?

Larry looked somewhat shocked. He had always thought Melina would do something like this, but he didn't know when. He didn't know it would be so soon. His emotions were mixed; part of him blamed himself while the other part blamed no one. As knowledgeable as he was, he didn't know about love or anguish, he only listened to it and nodded his head and offered soothing comments that he hoped would work. He knew how to offer false hope.

Principal Reynolds' voice trailed on, "There will be an assembly first period today. You will see a side of me you never knew existed. Have a nice day."

Larry tapped Gordo on the shoulder. Gordo turned around; he looked like he was stoned.

"Gordo, do you know any dirt about this," Larry asked.

Gordo scoffed, "Yeah, I know lots of dirt."

The bell rang. Gordo and Larry got up from their seats as a whole bunch of students lined the hallways.

"So, how do you know," Larry asked curiously.

"I was there," Gordo replied coldly.

~*~

The students filed into the auditorium. Even though a death had happened over the weekend and most of them didn't know who Melina was, they were most likely happy that she did herself in because they got first period off. Someone might have missed the rope climb in gym class or a biology exam and that's what was on there minds, not the real reason they were all gathered there.

Matt sat next to Lanny in the front. Gordo sat in the back corner, trying to get away from it all. Taylor and Rita sat in the middle among the confused freshman. Lizzie sat with her lemmings, Caitlin and Ashley. Miranda didn't care who she was sitting next to, along as it wasn't Lizzie or Gordo. Larry sat next to Parker whose head was currently resting on his shoulder as she dozed off.

Principal Reynolds grabbed the hand held microphone and went on stage.

"Students, rise and shine! I don't care how tired you are from last night's raging party because you're all going to listen to me whether you like it or not," he snapped angrily.

"Dude, who cares? Some psycho killed themselves, big whoop," a random student yelled from the back with a snicker.

"Guess what? You're going to listen and you are going to be stunned as you see my goofy side go into the closet."

There was a silence that overcame the auditorium. The upperclassmen who had been punished by him in the past when they were measly freshmen were dumbfounded by the way their loveable principal was acting.

"According to a Canadian study done in 1999, teen suicide is the second leading cause of death in teens. Now, you may be thinking 'Oh, who cares about Canada?' Well, Canada is our neighbor to the North and they are pretty similar to us, they aren't aliens from some Sci-Fi movie. Teenagers are reverting to suicide to take their problems away. Prodigies are lost, family members are lost, friends are lost, significant others are lost, and it's something that is preventable. You may feel locked up in a cage with nowhere to turn. You may feel as though there is no way out of your problems that choke you. You may feel lonely or lost or scared, but that is no reason to take your life."

Principal Reynolds paused and looked across the auditorium for reactions. Most of the students were sitting in their seats attentively.

"Miss Bianco was one of my favorite students I've ever seen. She was determined and she had a mind of her own. She questioned everything I said and made me question everything I said, yet she became a statistic. I may sound like a walking billboard but I don't want to be up here ever again. I know you guys got to get out of classes and what not, but you would be crying if it was your best friend. You would be crying if it was your brother, sister, girlfriend, boyfriend, or team mate. Just because it doesn't affect you, doesn't mean it doesn't affect others. I am honestly sorry for the loss of Melina Bianco. My heart goes out to people who were close to her and knew her. This was a terrible tragedy that I wish that it didn't happen, but it did."

With that Principal Reynolds walked off the stage of the auditorium and the students sat there in awe. Gordo felt worse than he had before, Matt looked like he was going to explode with emotion, Miranda's face was solemn, Larry just shook his head and looked at Parker who was still asleep on his shoulder, and Lizzie sighed. Larry looked at Parker who was resting on his shoulder and looked over at Matt. He wished that Melina was resting on Matt's shoulder and that Principal Reynolds was talking about someone else or not even talking about anyone at all.

[A/N: Hmmm, did you like this chapter? Was it bad or good? Please review with your thoughts; you'll probably only going to be that four more times.]