[Disclaimer: Oops, I forgot a disclaimer on the last chapter. Oh well. I don't own "Lizzie McGuire" or "The Lizzie McGuire Movie" or Hilary Duff or Adam Lamberg or Rome or the world. Unfortunately.

Speaking of Adam Lamberglove the fro. HE GOT GIPPED! Stupid rigged KCA's. Frankie is aokay, I won't say it, as to not upset anyone who reads this story who might like Frankie Muniz. Though I really can't see how you could like that*stops*. Onto the story]

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Let's get one thing straight

I've never been on an airplane before.

So when they called rows 1-10 over the PA, my initial thought was, Hey. First class. Being a first-time flier, the extra bit of comfort might do me some good.'

But as we boarded the giant plane, it was then that I realized that first class was only the first five rows. Lizzie and I were in row 6.

"I call window seat!" Lizzie yelled excitedly. I didn't care what seat I was in, as long as what seat you were in didn't determine who would die first in a crash. As we took our seats and put our carry-on bags underneath our chairs (more like stuffed, in Lizzie's case), she whispered, "We're really lucky we have these two seats all to ourselves, so we can have a little privacy."

Privacy?

"Why would we need privacy?" I asked bluntly.

She blushed a little before answering, "Well, I don't know. I've just been thinking a lot lately"

"Ladies and gentleman, the pilot asks that you all sit tight for a minute. We will be taking off momentarily," announced a tall, toothpick-thin blonde flight attendant with overly enthusiastic smile. "In the meantime, let's get to know each other!" Her smile grew wider. It was like a plague over her face. "My name is Andrea and I'm originally from Encino! Do we have any first-time fliers on our flight here?" Raised hands were few and far between.

Meekly, I joined them, raising my hand not even above my head. But the curse of the front row: she saw me first.

"Yes, you sir, what's your name?" she practically yelled at me while pointing one of her bony fingers in my face.

This is one reason why I hated meeting new people. David or Gordo? I could always say, David Gordon, but my friends call me Gordo.' But not only did that take too long, but it sparked way too many "funny" comments, like But you're not fat!" followed by my own forced laughter and then yet another explanation. Saying "David" would make all my classmates laugh, and then Lizzie would tease me endlessly for having a name that I didn't even choose myself.

Looking towards Lizzie, Andrea scoffed, "Is he a mute, or something?"

"No," Lizzie said firmly. "He just doesn't want to associate with people like you."

Andrea's face turned sour, but as she turned to face the rest of the people on the flight, her face returned to the scary grin from before. Fake people. There was nothing I detested more than fake people.

"Thanks," I whispered to Lizzie while the flight attendant went off to bother someone else.

"All in a day's work," she smiled. "Soyou've really never flown before?"

For some stupid reason, this angered me. Sorry I'm not as privileged as you are, Lizzie, with your caring family and your yearly vacations.' Like it was preposterous that anyone our age could possibly never have been on an airplane before.

It was ironic that I had never flown before, but my parents did it practically monthly. They never thought to take me along. No, they'd rather leave me home with my grandma. Not that I didn't like my grandma, but I still haven't gotten used to this whole spicy clothing' and feng shui' phase she's going through.

My parents preferred to take me places by car. Which is really great, since I can't stay in a car for more than 5 hours without getting carsick. We drove to Death Valley once. It was so interesting. (Note my sarcasm.) Let's face it, take away its extreme heat and Death Valley is just another stupid southwestern desert. The only thing even slightly worth remembering from that trip was the fact that my dad almost had a heat stroke. I laughed, and my mom yelled at me.

"Gordo?" Lizzie waved a hand in my face.. "Gordooo, Earth to Gordo!"

"Sorry, sorry," I responded. "I just blanked for a second."

"Here," she said, getting up. "Since you've never been on a plane before, you can have the window seat." I didn't understand why being in the window seat was so great, but we switched seats anyway. "Soyou've been doing that a lot, I see," she laughed.

"Yeah, well" I sighed. "There's a lot on my mind."

"Oh really?" she questioned quizzically. "Care to share?"

"Uhhh." I thought about this one. Should I share with her? It wasn't anything too personal. And I could just conveniently "leave out" those extra details. Then again, this wasn't 1st grade, where the trials and tribulations of boys and girls were basically the same. If I told her what I was thinking, she'd probably feel obliged to tell me what she was thinking. And with Miranda being gone and all, she'd probably have lots of details that I just didn't want to know about in that head of hers. "No thanks."

"Suit yourself," she said, and turned back to her magazine.

"Flight attendants, please prepare for lift-off," the pilot said over the PA. Andrea and the other fake flight attendants took their seats.

I held on to the ends of my armrests with a death grip before the plane had even accelerated. Lizzie noticed this and smiled knowingly.

"Don't worry, Gordo," she reassured me. "It's not that bad."

I was amazed at how a statement so brief helped me so much. Although I was still scared, my grip loosened a bit and I felt a bit more comfort. Before I knew it, we were off the ground.

I looked out my window as we went higher into the sky, and I realized why Lizzie wanted me to have the window seat. The view was beautiful and everything looked so small. It put things in perspective, just how small we really were, in comparison to the rest of the universe. Suddenly, though, my ears popped, and I rubbed my ears and winced.

"Here," Lizzie said, laughing at my lack of experience while holding out a stick of gum. "It'll help."

I took it graciously, and it did help. A random thought suddenly sprung into my mind.

"Hey, Lizzie," I said while chewing my Juicy Fruit, "How come you haven't mentioned Ethan in a long time?"

"Why?" she asked. "Do you want me to?"

This was true. Why did I want her to start talking about Ethan Craft, after all the times I'd told her to shut up about the guy?

"I've had things on my mind that are a lot more important than Ethan Craft," she said matter-of-factly. I faked a gasp.

"What's more important than Ethan Craft?!" I said, feigning shock.

"Lots of things." She sighed

So we were finally on the same wavelength about something. She'd finally realized how unimportant her little crush really was. I smiled at this.

"God, I haven't slept in 5 days," she said as she rubbed her eyes and yawned.

"You didn't sleep last night?" I questioned of her.

"How could I sleep knowing that we were leaving for Rome, Italy in the morning?" she declared emphatically. "I've never even been out of the continental United States before, and now I'm going to Europe. It's kindalife-changing."

"Whoa, okay, no need to tire yourself out talking about how tired you are. I'm probably going out to sleep in a bit, too."

She got up and opened up our overhead storage before letting out a frustrated sigh.

"We don't have any pillows. Or blankets," she muttered under her breath.

"Looks like we'll just have to survive without them," I stated confidently.

I chuckled as Lizzie fidgeted around, trying to make herself comfortable. First, she tried lying her head on the back of her chair. Then she tried to lie it on her armrest. She grunted, but I could tell she was too sleepy to find a cozy resting place for her head. Before I knew it, her head rested upon my shoulder. Her warmth emerged with mine and kept us both warm in the frigid cabin we were in. Her blonde hair spread out across my shoulder and down my chest, and I could smell its light strawberry scent. Her face was so serene, almost angelic, as she slept.

My stomach was in a giant knot as I gazed down at my best friend lying on my shoulder. Why did I feel this way?

I was too tired to think. I nuzzled up against the top of Lizzie's head, and fell asleep.

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[A/N: Okay, I know I said I wouldn't be using any moments from the trailer or the "Why Not?" video or commercials or anything, but how could I leave that out? In my mind, it was pivotal.

Here's an extra long one just for youuuu lovely reviewers, you.

But hey, you know what? In the words of Gordo, I am "too tired to think." I am seriously about to fall asleep on my keyboard in a minute, so I must leave you now. I still need to print out my science paper, blahhh!

Lemme know what you think: please review. Thanks!]