sThe telephone's discordant brrring vibrated through Gordo's mind. Without looking up, his hand groped along the bedside table. Finally, he reached the ringing phone, grasped it with his tired fingers, and brought it up to his ear.

"Hello?" he said, still tucked underneath his light bed sheets, lying face down. His eyes might've been open, but he definitely wasn't awake.

"HeyGordo."

It was Lizzie on the end of that telephone wire. Her voice seemed flat and monotonous. It's just like Lizzie to be like that. Like a closed book.

"Hey" it hurt him inside to say her name, "what are you doing up so early? It's only"

"6 AM, I know. I---I was just wondering if um, you"

"I?"

"Youare coming to school today?" she said, all in one breath. Gordo chuckled.

"You, Lizzie McGuire, are very strange." He heard the smile in her voice.

"So I guess that's a yes?"

"Yeah, why wouldn't I go? It's the second day of school. I don't want people to forget about me already." Lizzie laughed, but her voice quickly turned serious.

"I have something I need to tell you. Soon." Of course. I might've avoided it last night, but Lizzie wasn't the type of girl to give up that quickly. Gordo just rolled his eyes.

"Butcan't you justtell Miranda?"

"I already did." I should've known. "But I don't think she really cares. She's been kind of distant lately."

It was true. Miranda still talked to them, but she had another group of friends she met over the summer, and she was beginning to allot much more time on her already-busy schedule to them. Lizzie called them the artsy, drama club type. Gordo called them losers in denial.

"Gordo, I really hope we don't lose her. like we lost Kate."

It was hard to image Miranda being a snob. Even I'll admit that out of the three of us, she is the friendliest. The day Miranda turns into a regular Kate, is the day that the world stops turning. But wait, what did she say?

"Lizzie, do I sense a bit of regret in regards to, dare I say itKate?"

She scoffed.

"N-no, I just" she stumbled. "It's just thisyou know" Gordo shook his head disapprovingly.

"You do. You miss Ms. Kate "I'm-So-Popular-It-Hurts" Sanders."

"Gordo, you never know. Things might be different this year." Has Lizzie gone insane, or am I just hallucinating? After 20 seconds of dumbfounded shock on Gordo's part, Lizzie spoke up again.

"I mean, this year, we're in high school"

"Oh, no. I already went over this with Miranda. I refuse"

"GORDO! Will you please just shut up and let me FINISH?" He hushed up. "We're freshmen. And you know how they say that seniors treat the freshmen like dirt. I thinkI think that's what's going to happen. Cheerleading tryouts are next week, right? Kate's obviously going to try out, but the thing is, she might not make it."

"Because we're so low on the socioeconomic ladder?"

"Well, yeah. And because the seniors don't know what went on with us in junior high. So as frightening as it might seem, to them, we're all equal."

"Yeah, equally scum of the earth," Gordo stated, which made Lizzie laugh. "I get what you're saying, Lizzie, but I still don't think things will change. Kate may not be the most popular girl in the school, but she'll settle with ruler of the 9th grade.'

"Gordo, you are so pessimistic."

"I know, and don't you love me for it?" A noticeable pause. "UhLizzie?"

She sighed.

"I know you're not a big fan of change, but you know, things might get a little crazy this year."

"That's what I was afraid of."

~~~~~~~

Gordo walked sleepily into school, hoping to bump into Lizzie. But no sign of her by her locked or in the hallway. He budged his way past the "drama club" types. Miranda was there, talking to some tall brunette girl in sunglasses, who looked like she'd never smiled before. He had nothing else to do, so.

"Hey, Miranda," he said, standing next to her and the scary-looking friend.

"Um, hey," she said. Um, hey. Not even a lousy Hey, Gordo'. Just Um, hey'.

"Who's your friend?" the other girl giggled. What a way to start off my day. Being ogled by some girl I've never seen before in my life.

"Him?!" Miranda said, incredulously. It was like she couldn't believe anyone could ever think Gordo was cute. "He's just Gordo." There we go again. "Just Gordo."

"Well. Nice to meet you, Just Gordo. I'm Samantha." For an almost-popular girl, she's prettynice. "Hope to see you soon, cutie," she said, then proceeded to walk down the hallway.

When she was out of sight, Miranda's jaw dropped.

"WHATwas THAT?" she squeaked. Lizzie then magically appeared at Miranda's side. How does she keep doing that?

"What was what?" she inquired. That was her normal morning curiosity talking, which wore off as the day went by.

"My new fr----I mean, this new girl, Samanthashe was just practically droolingover Gordo."

"Oh," she said, scratching the back of her head. "Wellit's not like she was drooling over Larry, or someone equally weird."

Was that a compliment? Okay, maybe not. But she doesn't think I'm as weird as Larry. That's a start.

--------------------------------

[A/N: Heyyy, happy late Thanksgiving, people. I've been having a major writer's block on this story. I'll let you in a little secret: I don't know WHERE I'm going with this story. How sad, eh? But I like where I'm going so far. There are so many new stories that I'm going crazy trying to read them all. My brother is watching "Problem Child" downstairs. I think I might join him. I haven't seen that move in a while. I think I might understand more of the jokes now.

You know what I realized? Carly is a lot like me. I'm very shy, believe it or not, but I warm up to certain people. She's actually a little bit like my friend Megan, too. Just thought I'd put that on the record.

I got a few negative reviews on other stories in the past few days. How depressing. Oh well, I'll address them on those stories.

Now that Thanksgiving is done and over with, it is now officially Christmas season. Yahoo!

Next story to be updated is Obituaries, of course. Pleaseeee review, and let me know what you think. Thanks!]