Disclaimer: no one mentioned belongs to me, I guarantee it.
Disclaimer 2: I don't know the first thing about Grease, seeing as how I've seen it once. So if you were expecting to see lots of big musical numbers and lots of quoted dialogue, you probably won't. My apologies to any Grease-afficiandos that might be reading this.
Author's note: This is wicked late, isn't it? God, I'm sorry. I went on vacation, one of my pets just died, and I just started my third semester at college, so as you can imagine, it's been hard trying to keep up with my fics. But I promise I'll do better in the future.
~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~
You're The One That I Want
~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~
Lizzie stared at her notebook through blurry eyes. She'd written things down, she knew she had, but they all seemed to be in hieroglyphics. Which was odd, seeing as how she didn't know hieroglyphics. And this was math class, anyway.
"It's test day, everybody," Mrs. Wortman announced. "Clear off your desks, please."
She was met by a unanimous groan, one that Lizzie took full participation in. She wasn't fully awake enough for a test, never mind the fact that it was third period and by all rights, she should be injected with life.
But she was just so *tired*! Never mind Gordo not getting any sleep, he hadn't been at the school all afternoon yesterday, dancing. Lizzie had.
"Miss McGuire, could you please clear your desk?" Mrs. Wortman said, standing over Lizzie's desk with a scolding expression. "The rest of us want to get this test over with, if you please, and I'm sure the class doesn't want to wait on you."
"Looks like our little *star* is getting a case of the primadonnas," Claire said snottily.
"Looks like you're contagious then, huh, Claire?" Miranda said from the seat in front of Lizzie. "Better quarantine yourself." She smiled sweetly while the class giggled.
"Girls, please," Mrs. Wortman said, handing Lizzie a copy of the quiz. "This is an exam, quiet down."
Claire, very maturely, stuck her tongue out at Miranda. Miranda returned the favor. Claire then, for some reason, looked over her shoulder at Lizzie, and muttered, "You'll get yours."
Lizzie would have puzzled that over, but was far too tired to deal with both algebra and Claire Miller's weird inner workings. She frowned over the pages in front of her, but the letter may well have been more hieroglyphics, for all the sense it was making. "X equals...three...no, three point five..." she muttered to herself as she scribbled things out. She was positive she was going to fail, but she finished every last question all the same.
When the bell rang, signaling the end of the horror that was math class, she shoved her books in her bag, thrust her quiz at Mrs. Wortman, and joined Miranda and Gordo out in the hall. "That test was total murder," she moaned.
"It's just one test, Lizzie," Miranda said soothingly.
"Coming from the girl who's barely pushing seventy," Gordo said.
Miranda and Lizzie both glared at him, and he sighed and put his hands up in a surrendering gesture. "I know, I know," he said. "'Not helping, Gordo.'"
"Got that right," Miranda said. "Anyway, Lizzie, it's no biggie, not like it's a midterm or anything. And doesn't Mrs. Wortman grade on a curve? It's not going to kill you if you failed."
But the next day in math class, Mrs. Wortman called Lizzie and Kate to her desk at the final bell. Lizzie frowned. Anything involving Kate was wrong off the bat. "What's up?" she asked.
Mrs. Wortman surveyed them both with a grim expression. "Girls, I was grading yesterday's exam, and came across something very disturbing." She pulled from a drawer in her desk two papers, which she lay on the desk and pushed forward. "Look at these two test papers. Notice anything?"
Lizzie peered at them. "They have the same answers..." she said slowly, then it dawned on her. "And the exact same formulas."
"Yes," Mrs. Wortman said, sounding tired. "These two papers are identical in every way except for the handwriting and the names at the top of the page. And if you'll notice, the two names belong to you two."
"Wait...you don't think one of us *cheated*, did you?" Lizzie said, horrified.
"Mrs. Wortman, I for one am *deeply* upset that you would consider me dishonest," Kate said self-importantly. Lizzie rolled her eyes at the usual tone.
"And I, for one, am deeply upset that I would have to consider either of you cheaters," Mrs. Wortman said. "You've both been exemplary students in the past, very attentive, very hard-working." Lizzie was surprised to hear the phrase 'hard-working' referring to Kate Sanders. "Your grades aren't exactly stellar, neither of you, but that's not cause for cheating."
"I didn't cheat, Mrs. Wortman," Lizzie said.
"Neither did I," Kate said.
Their teacher sighed. "Unfortunately, I cannot take either of you at your word. I'm going to ask that you both take a makeup test now, so that we can determine what to do. Take seats on opposite sides of the room."
"But...fourth period!" Lizzie stammered.
"I've had you both excused from your fourth period classes," Mrs. Wortman said, and handed Lizzie and Kate copies of the makeup test. "You have fifty minutes, girls."
Lizzie gaped at Mrs. Wortman in complete disbelief. Kate was already bent over her page, scribbling away, so Lizzie blinked down at her paper. She'd barely gotten through the first test, and that she'd studied for (although not for long).
But this she was completely unprepared for. She was running on only a few hours of sleep, she'd only had a slice of toast and a gulp of orange juice for breakfast, opening day was in a little over a week, she had a huge oral presentation for English to deliver after lunch, and now she was being accused of cheating. That, and she was having trouble in math anyway. These were *not* test-taking conditions.
Lizzie handed in her paper when the bell rang, but she'd been stressed out and hadn't been able to finish a question or two. She hoped that Kate had done much, much worse. Judging by her smug smile, however, she hadn't.
Lizzie's heart sank.
~~~~~
"It was completely unfair," Lizzie said. "You know me. I don't cheat."
Neither of them said anything. Lizzie paled. "Guys?"
"Well..." Miranda glanced guiltily at Gordo. "Remember when you were hanging out with Angel Lieberman last year?"
"What? I didn't cheat! Angel did, but I..." Lizzie gulped. "Okay, once. But only once! And I felt *so* guilty about it, guys, really, I did, and I swore to myself that I'd never do it again, and I *haven't*. Honestly. I didn't cheat."
"So Kate did?"
Lizzie sighed. "I don't *know*. It doesn't seem like Kate, does it? I don't know. But if I didn't --*and I didn't*-- then she must have."
"You can't prove anything," Gordo said.
"No," she admitted.
"This isn't good," he admitted, saying what all of them were thinking. "This isn't good at all."
~~~~~
At the end of eighth period, the last class of the day, Lizzie received a summons from the principal's office. She cast a worried look at Miranda and Gordo, who looked alarmed in return. When she got to the office, she wasn't surprised to see Mrs. Wortman there. Kate, however, was absent.
"Miss McGuire, I have some unfortunate news," Principal Tweedy said. "Mrs. Wortman has informed me of the circumstances regarding yesterday's math test. She said that she gave you and Miss Sanders makeup tests. She says that while Miss Sanders passed, you, on the other hand, did not. Now, I have to ask you, Miss McGuire...did you cheat on yesterday's exam?"
"No, I didn't," Lizzie said, trying to mentally force the beads of sweat that were popping out on her forehead back into her body.
"Miss Sanders has made the same claim," Principal Tweedy said gravely, "and unfortunately, the test results indicate that Miss Sanders is the one with the firm grasp of the material."
"Mr. Tweedy," Lizzie said, nervousness and panic edging her voice, "I swear I didn't cheat. I'm not a cheater! Honestly, I didn't. I haven't been getting much sleep lately, that's why I didn't do so well on the makeup test, but I know the material! Please, Mr. Tweedy, I didn't cheat!"
"Miss McGuire," Mrs. Wortman said sadly from the seat next to Lizzie, "no one would like to believe you more than I. But I'm afraid the results speak for themselves. We're going to have to take action."
Lizzie's eyes grew wide and she abandoned all pretense of being calm. "You're not going to suspend me, are you?" she asked desperately.
"Considering this is your first offense of this matter, no, Miss McGuire, we won't suspend you. But your after school activities are restricted."
Horror gripped at Lizzie. "You don't mean..."
"Yes, Miss McGuire. I'm taking you out of the play."
Disclaimer 2: I don't know the first thing about Grease, seeing as how I've seen it once. So if you were expecting to see lots of big musical numbers and lots of quoted dialogue, you probably won't. My apologies to any Grease-afficiandos that might be reading this.
Author's note: This is wicked late, isn't it? God, I'm sorry. I went on vacation, one of my pets just died, and I just started my third semester at college, so as you can imagine, it's been hard trying to keep up with my fics. But I promise I'll do better in the future.
~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~
You're The One That I Want
~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~
Lizzie stared at her notebook through blurry eyes. She'd written things down, she knew she had, but they all seemed to be in hieroglyphics. Which was odd, seeing as how she didn't know hieroglyphics. And this was math class, anyway.
"It's test day, everybody," Mrs. Wortman announced. "Clear off your desks, please."
She was met by a unanimous groan, one that Lizzie took full participation in. She wasn't fully awake enough for a test, never mind the fact that it was third period and by all rights, she should be injected with life.
But she was just so *tired*! Never mind Gordo not getting any sleep, he hadn't been at the school all afternoon yesterday, dancing. Lizzie had.
"Miss McGuire, could you please clear your desk?" Mrs. Wortman said, standing over Lizzie's desk with a scolding expression. "The rest of us want to get this test over with, if you please, and I'm sure the class doesn't want to wait on you."
"Looks like our little *star* is getting a case of the primadonnas," Claire said snottily.
"Looks like you're contagious then, huh, Claire?" Miranda said from the seat in front of Lizzie. "Better quarantine yourself." She smiled sweetly while the class giggled.
"Girls, please," Mrs. Wortman said, handing Lizzie a copy of the quiz. "This is an exam, quiet down."
Claire, very maturely, stuck her tongue out at Miranda. Miranda returned the favor. Claire then, for some reason, looked over her shoulder at Lizzie, and muttered, "You'll get yours."
Lizzie would have puzzled that over, but was far too tired to deal with both algebra and Claire Miller's weird inner workings. She frowned over the pages in front of her, but the letter may well have been more hieroglyphics, for all the sense it was making. "X equals...three...no, three point five..." she muttered to herself as she scribbled things out. She was positive she was going to fail, but she finished every last question all the same.
When the bell rang, signaling the end of the horror that was math class, she shoved her books in her bag, thrust her quiz at Mrs. Wortman, and joined Miranda and Gordo out in the hall. "That test was total murder," she moaned.
"It's just one test, Lizzie," Miranda said soothingly.
"Coming from the girl who's barely pushing seventy," Gordo said.
Miranda and Lizzie both glared at him, and he sighed and put his hands up in a surrendering gesture. "I know, I know," he said. "'Not helping, Gordo.'"
"Got that right," Miranda said. "Anyway, Lizzie, it's no biggie, not like it's a midterm or anything. And doesn't Mrs. Wortman grade on a curve? It's not going to kill you if you failed."
But the next day in math class, Mrs. Wortman called Lizzie and Kate to her desk at the final bell. Lizzie frowned. Anything involving Kate was wrong off the bat. "What's up?" she asked.
Mrs. Wortman surveyed them both with a grim expression. "Girls, I was grading yesterday's exam, and came across something very disturbing." She pulled from a drawer in her desk two papers, which she lay on the desk and pushed forward. "Look at these two test papers. Notice anything?"
Lizzie peered at them. "They have the same answers..." she said slowly, then it dawned on her. "And the exact same formulas."
"Yes," Mrs. Wortman said, sounding tired. "These two papers are identical in every way except for the handwriting and the names at the top of the page. And if you'll notice, the two names belong to you two."
"Wait...you don't think one of us *cheated*, did you?" Lizzie said, horrified.
"Mrs. Wortman, I for one am *deeply* upset that you would consider me dishonest," Kate said self-importantly. Lizzie rolled her eyes at the usual tone.
"And I, for one, am deeply upset that I would have to consider either of you cheaters," Mrs. Wortman said. "You've both been exemplary students in the past, very attentive, very hard-working." Lizzie was surprised to hear the phrase 'hard-working' referring to Kate Sanders. "Your grades aren't exactly stellar, neither of you, but that's not cause for cheating."
"I didn't cheat, Mrs. Wortman," Lizzie said.
"Neither did I," Kate said.
Their teacher sighed. "Unfortunately, I cannot take either of you at your word. I'm going to ask that you both take a makeup test now, so that we can determine what to do. Take seats on opposite sides of the room."
"But...fourth period!" Lizzie stammered.
"I've had you both excused from your fourth period classes," Mrs. Wortman said, and handed Lizzie and Kate copies of the makeup test. "You have fifty minutes, girls."
Lizzie gaped at Mrs. Wortman in complete disbelief. Kate was already bent over her page, scribbling away, so Lizzie blinked down at her paper. She'd barely gotten through the first test, and that she'd studied for (although not for long).
But this she was completely unprepared for. She was running on only a few hours of sleep, she'd only had a slice of toast and a gulp of orange juice for breakfast, opening day was in a little over a week, she had a huge oral presentation for English to deliver after lunch, and now she was being accused of cheating. That, and she was having trouble in math anyway. These were *not* test-taking conditions.
Lizzie handed in her paper when the bell rang, but she'd been stressed out and hadn't been able to finish a question or two. She hoped that Kate had done much, much worse. Judging by her smug smile, however, she hadn't.
Lizzie's heart sank.
~~~~~
"It was completely unfair," Lizzie said. "You know me. I don't cheat."
Neither of them said anything. Lizzie paled. "Guys?"
"Well..." Miranda glanced guiltily at Gordo. "Remember when you were hanging out with Angel Lieberman last year?"
"What? I didn't cheat! Angel did, but I..." Lizzie gulped. "Okay, once. But only once! And I felt *so* guilty about it, guys, really, I did, and I swore to myself that I'd never do it again, and I *haven't*. Honestly. I didn't cheat."
"So Kate did?"
Lizzie sighed. "I don't *know*. It doesn't seem like Kate, does it? I don't know. But if I didn't --*and I didn't*-- then she must have."
"You can't prove anything," Gordo said.
"No," she admitted.
"This isn't good," he admitted, saying what all of them were thinking. "This isn't good at all."
~~~~~
At the end of eighth period, the last class of the day, Lizzie received a summons from the principal's office. She cast a worried look at Miranda and Gordo, who looked alarmed in return. When she got to the office, she wasn't surprised to see Mrs. Wortman there. Kate, however, was absent.
"Miss McGuire, I have some unfortunate news," Principal Tweedy said. "Mrs. Wortman has informed me of the circumstances regarding yesterday's math test. She said that she gave you and Miss Sanders makeup tests. She says that while Miss Sanders passed, you, on the other hand, did not. Now, I have to ask you, Miss McGuire...did you cheat on yesterday's exam?"
"No, I didn't," Lizzie said, trying to mentally force the beads of sweat that were popping out on her forehead back into her body.
"Miss Sanders has made the same claim," Principal Tweedy said gravely, "and unfortunately, the test results indicate that Miss Sanders is the one with the firm grasp of the material."
"Mr. Tweedy," Lizzie said, nervousness and panic edging her voice, "I swear I didn't cheat. I'm not a cheater! Honestly, I didn't. I haven't been getting much sleep lately, that's why I didn't do so well on the makeup test, but I know the material! Please, Mr. Tweedy, I didn't cheat!"
"Miss McGuire," Mrs. Wortman said sadly from the seat next to Lizzie, "no one would like to believe you more than I. But I'm afraid the results speak for themselves. We're going to have to take action."
Lizzie's eyes grew wide and she abandoned all pretense of being calm. "You're not going to suspend me, are you?" she asked desperately.
"Considering this is your first offense of this matter, no, Miss McGuire, we won't suspend you. But your after school activities are restricted."
Horror gripped at Lizzie. "You don't mean..."
"Yes, Miss McGuire. I'm taking you out of the play."