Disclaimer: no one mentioned belongs to me, I guarantee it.

~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~

Gordo felt cold panic seize his body. Fortunately for them, most of the partygoers were too lost in the music and the food to notice the drama that was unfolding around the guest of honor. But unfortunately, the four people that mattered most in this equation all saw (or partook in).

Miranda pulled back from Matt-Gordo, looking confused, horrified, and yet, intrigued, all at once. Gordo saw his own face twist up with Matt's own scared confusion. Gordo knew that Matt's face, under his control, was pure shock, and slowly giving way to fury. But the most torturous look was the one on Lizzie's face, as she watched her best friend kiss her other best friend, ranging from fear to confusion to shock to anger to complete horror to sadness and embarrassment.

It was on the last look, the one of embarrassment, that she fled into the house, roughly shutting the glass door behind her with a dull thud. Like a bolt of lightning Gordo chased after her, glad for a few seconds to be in Matt's body because it got more use and was therefore faster than his own. in his mad dash, he also managed to grab the arms of Miranda and Matt-Gordo, pulling them into the house after him.

Lizzie was gone from sight, but it didn't take a genius to figure out where she'd gone, and Gordo had the aide of his own instincts as her best friend, so he tugged Miranda and Matt upstairs and pounded on the door.

"Go away," Lizzie said, tears already evident in her voice, and while Lizzie crying tore his heart in two, like it always did, Gordo couldn't help but feel a surge of hope that maybe Lizzie's anguish was partly caused by the fact that it was Gordo kissing Miranda, and maybe, just maybe, she wanted Gordo kissing *her*.

Gordo ignored her plea, and dragged his two companions with him, shutting the door and barring the four of them inside. "You're not going to like this," he said, directing it to all three of them, "and you're probably not going to believe it," that was directed at the girls. "But it's time for the truth. And you're just going to have to trust me -- trust the both of us," he amended, knowing that they still thought that Gordo was Gordo, and wouldn't be terribly likely to believe anything Matt said.

"I don't want to hear it, whatever it is," Lizzie said sourly, fighting back sobs, but all the same, she looked confusedly at who she believed to be her brother, clearly wondering why he was interfering.

"Lizzie, Miranda, remember when you came home Sunday afternoon, and there was that blender on the table that we told you not to drink from?" Gordo started carefully. Miranda stared at him, nonplussed, then slowly nodded. Lizzie stared at her hands.

"Well, in that blender was this concoction that Matt and I made. Normal smoothies, until of course we added those jalapeno peppers...anyway, we drank it at the same time, and somehow, we ended up being each other."

Miranda blinked, like she didn't believe she'd heard him correctly or didn't understand what he'd said. Gordo noted the almost imperceptible way that Lizzie stiffened, a motion hidden from anyone but him, because she was his everything and he knew every move she made.

"So you're saying..?" Miranda said.

"I'm Gordo," Gordo finished. He waved his hand at his own body. "And that's Matt."

Miranda shook her head. "This is absolutely ludicrous," she said, starting for the door.

Lizzie stood up, and said, "No it isn't," with such clarity in her voice that they all stared at her. "I believe them, Miranda. It sounds absolutely nutty, but believe it or not, earlier in the year I switched bodies with Matt, so I believe them absolutely." She turned and favored Gordo with a look of understanding, and one that was laden with the fact that she *knew* who he was and wasn't fooled by his disguise.

"But you can't just *switch bodies* with a person," Miranda said.

"C'mon, it all makes sense when you put it together. Gordo being unusually quiet these days, failing a pop quiz, *not caring* about it...that's not Gordo. And Matt, suddenly being helpful and considerate? There's definitely something up with that one."

"So..." Miranda said, comprehension finally dawning in her eyes, although a bit reluctantly. She looked at Matt. "So that was *Matt* kissing me, not Gordo."

"Yes," the boys chorused.

"I wouldn't kiss you like that," Gordo added hastily, realizing a second too late that maybe that sounded mean, but Miranda nodded like she understood completely. "Because you like Lizzie."

"*What*!?" he and Lizzie both spat, eyes widening. Gordo caught a glimpse of them in Lizzie's full length mirror, and the two McGuires looked ridiculously alike, with panicked expressions. If he wasn't so scared, he would've laughed.

Miranda jerked a thumb at Matt-Gordo. "He told me."

"You *told* her?" Gordo said accusingly.

Matt-Gordo shrugged. "She figured it out for herself, just like I did." He glared almost contemptuously at his sister. "Too bad *you* could never figure it out."

"I...I..." Lizzie stammered, and she kept shooting glances at Gordo, so much so that they both were beet red. "So all those things...that was really...that was Gordo talking...and..." She collapsed backwards on her bed, and for a second Gordo's --Matt's-- heart stopped as he feared she'd passed out, but she let out a strangled sound, and he realized she was just overcome with emotion. Good, bad, he didn't know.

"Listen, Miranda, it's not Gordo, it's Matt, it's me, that really likes you," Matt said quietly. "This has gotta be hard to take coming from Gordo, clearly, but I had to say it. And I'm sorry I kissed you, because I know you're confused, on more level than one."

"You can say that again," Miranda said. "I've gotta say, this knocks the birthday party where my dad accidentally stabbed the bounce house with prongs to shame." She shook her head. "I gotta think this over. I'm going back out to the party."

"You're going to do deep thinking at a party?" Gordo said skeptically.

"Don't question my methods," Miranda said, and exited stage right.

"If anyone needs me, I'll be in my room," Matt said, and Gordo almost shouted at him to stay, because suddenly, being alone with Lizzie was the last thing he wanted.

But it was too late, Matt was gone, and Gordo was stuck here, with Lizzie. Lizzie, who knew that he loved her, and he was still stuck in this damned body.