Disclaimer: I don't own the cast of Lizzie McGuire, I only own Anthony, which is a pretty good thing to own. (lol). So, don't sue me!

A/N: Another chapter in my new story...

Anyways, here goes. ¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤

Chapter 2: Balloons Always Deflate

A ray of sun shone through Liz's window and reflected against the ball- shaped crystals. A small, glimmering ray hit Liz in the eye and it fluttered open. The blonde smiled and looked out the window onto the familiar California view. The light blue sky has a hint of orange as the sun arose from behind the mountains. The whole view was perfectly serene.

*Nothing can dampen my mood today, everything's perfect * thought Liz as she escaped from the warm comfort of her bed. She was still floating on air from the previous day. It's weird how you can know a person for such a little time and still feel such a strong connection to him. Liz couldn't get Anthony off her mind.

Liz walked over to her closet to get dressed. As she walked by, she noticed the picture that stood on her dresser. A picture that was taken during the summer between 8th and 9th grade; a picture that showed the boy she has had feelings towards for so long. A picture of her and Gordo. She pushed the thoughts and emotions that started to come back up to the back of her head and started changing. She picked out a dark blue pair of low-rise jeans and a small white tee with a butterfly on it. She tied her hair in a loose braid and walked downstairs.

" 'Morning Mom." Called Liz as she made her way down the stairs.

"Hi honey. Excited for your first day of school?"

In her head, Liz chuckled. It amazed her how her mom hadn't changed a bit from when Liz was still in junior high. "Yeah Mom. I'm bubbling over with joy" she said laughing. Liz took the keys to her car and headed towards the door, "Bye mom".

Jo smiled and her eyes got teary as she thought about how her 'baby' was growing up.

Liz headed out the door and drove off in her blue Toyota. As she took the familiar route to school, she thought back at everything that school had meant in her life. The chaos with her school picture, the fights with Kate in the halls, hanging out with her two best friends. *As much as we hated it, school has played a huge role in out lives. And it's the last year we have together. * she thought as she stopped in front of the white, two story house. A tall, curly haired boy came running out the door.

"Hey Liz."

"Hey Gordo. Hop in"

Gordo opened the passenger side door and got in. The ride to school was a awkward and silent one. It was as though neither one wanted to say anything. Breaking the awful silence Liz said, "So. how are things with you and Steph?"

"Um," Gordo said almost nervously, "Everything's great." * Yeah, everything would be great if it was the girl I really loved * he thought as he glanced at his best friend.

Liz noticed something was wrong, but decided not to push it. They finally reached the school and Liz took in the sight of the redbrick building where she had spent so many days of her life. As she contemplated, she parked the car in the student parking lot and got out. She walked towards the entrance of the school, where a group of seniors were hanging around. Liz found Anthony talking with Ethan and a bunch of his friends. He turned and smiled at her, but shot her a questioning look when he saw her walking next to Gordo. When Liz reached the spot where Anthony was (Gordo still trailing behind her), Anthony protectively put his arm around Liz's waist and whispered "Who is he?" into her ear, in a hurt voice.

"Oh, I guess you haven't officially met." Liz mentioned as she turned to Gordo. "Gordo, this is Anthony. Anthony, this is my friend Gordo." She emphasized the word friend but she didn't only do it for Anthony.

Each of the guys greeted each other. Gordo looked hurt, but Liz didn't notice. He didn't even have time to think about it, since Steph ran up to him and kissed him.

When they parted, Steph warmly greeted everyone else. "So, the start of another year in the hell-hole some people like to call school." Everyone laughed at the comment.

There was no more time for conversation, since the bell rang. Everyone headed inside. The halls were bustling, everything was a mess. But it was a sort of comfort, like a "Home Sweet Home" type of thing.

As she walked through the halls, towards her homeroom Liz laughed at all the poor confused freshman. She remembered when she was a freshman, confused and totally lost. *It's a tough year, but everyone goes through it *

She was so lost in her thoughts that she ran into Miranda. "Sorry Mir," she laughed.

"No worries, Liz. Do you have Ms. Stebbel for homeroom too?"

"Yeah," she replied as the two walked into the classroom. In it, were Gordo, Ethan, Anthony, Kate, Claire, and a bunch of other people.

"Bleh." Said Miranda as she, too, noticed everyone in the class.

"Yeah, but it could be worse," whispered Liz as she took her seat in behind Gordo and next to Anthony. Liz kept on talking to Miranda and Gordo, but in the corner of her eye she noticed Claire talking and obviously flirting with Anthony.

Liz winced as she saw Claire put her hand on Anthony's arm and whisper something in his ear. The both laughed. Tears welled up in Liz's eyes as she saw a small piece of paper with Claire's phone number appear on Anthony's desk. * I can't compete with that, I never could. *

Meanwhile, Claire smiled at herself in congratulations for her success. Anthony would be hers in a small matter of time. She laughed to herself when she saw the tears in Liz's eyes. *McGuire doesn't stand a chance. *

¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤ ¤

A/N: Finally! I finished. It took me such a long time to get over the writer's block! Please review, the next chapter will be up as soon as I can.

P.S. Special thanks to Trillian for her help, and to keeponwritin for being the first person to review.