Part Seven:

Miranda pretended not to be upset about Brenda's decision to go to the dance with Tudgeman. In fact, she had managed to get a date with Cody, the guy she'd gone to the spring dance with the year before.

But Brenda could tell that Miranda was not okay with this. In an attempt to make up for it, she offered to go dress shopping with her. "Maybe we'll find something that looks halfway decent on you!" she joked. Miranda gave her a weak smile.

At the mall, Miranda was hauling a few more dresses to the dressing room of the fifth store they'd been to. Brenda, of course, had found her "perfect" dress right away: a one-shoulder black dress with a slanted bottom. But Miranda just couldn't find the one that was right for her.

She tried on a midnight-blue dress with a high neckline and a long skirt. Sorta plain, but I could always play it up with accessories, she thought. She went out to show Brenda, but she wasn't there.

Lizzie was.

As it turns out, Lizzie and her mom were shopping for dresses, too. Lizzie had just stepped out of her dressing room, wearing a sparkling pale pink dress that screamed "Lizzie". When she saw Miranda, she smiled nervously.

"Oh, hey Miranda. I was just, um, getting my dress."

"Wow, Lizzie, that dress is perfect for you."

"Really?" Lizzie spun around to reveal the low dip in the back.

"Yeah, it's adorable."

Lizzie examined her ex-best friend. "I really like that one on you, too."

Miranda looked thoughtful. "Yeah, it's okay. But there's this other one I like better. Want me to show you?"

"Sure!" Lizzie said, almost too eagerly. We're shopping together...sorta, Lizzie thought happily.

Miranda came out in a strapeless, short, red dress with black polka dots. When she'd picked it off the rack, she'd thought, this is so hip, I have to have it! Now that she had it on, she thought: ick.

Lizzie seemed to agree, but said so more politely. "Um...it's very...I think you should go with the other one."

Miranda grinned. "I totally agree."

"Miranda?"

Lizzie's heart sank as Brenda appeared. "Oh, hey, Lizzie," she said with a smile, but then turned her attention to her girlfriend. "Urg, you're not getting that mess, are you?"

"It's unanimous. The blue one it is."

"Wait, I didn't get to see it!" Brenda protested as Miranda went back into her dressing room.

Lizzie mustered up her courage. "Don't worry, the blue one is cute."

Brenda smiled. "Well, if you say so, I trust her. Oh, your dress is so cute!" With that, Brenda left the dressing room area.

Lizzie was taken back. Was that a diss? Come on, Maguire, you're getting paranoid. She was trying to be nice! Lizzie sighed and went back to the dressing room. It didn't matter. For too short of a time, she and Miranda had felt like best friends again. But now, they were back to where they had been...

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