Disclaimer: no one mentioned belongs to me, I guarantee it.
~Animal Attraction~
Chapter Four: Purple Giraffe
~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~
Miranda settled back onto her bed. Red turtle...who was a red turtle?
Maybe if she looked it up in the book, she could figure it out.
But as she reached for her backpack, Miranda realized that she'd left the book on the floor of the McGuires' living room. Fantastic. She should call Lizzie up, but what good would it do? Either she would have to go over there to retrieve it, or Lizzie would have to come over here, and to be honest, she didn't really want to face Lizzie right now. Besides, more likely than not, she would bring it to school tomorrow to return to Miranda.
Miranda loved Lizzie, she really did. But sometimes the girl was completely useless as a human being.
Here was Gordo. Wonderful, perfect, smart, funny, cute, caring Gordo. And he liked Lizzie. And Lizzie was completely oblivious.
It just wasn't fair!
Why couldn't she have been born a magenta tiger?
~~~~~
The next morning, Miranda was incredibly late to school. She'd planned it that way, hoping to avoid Lizzie and Gordo at all costs. Suddenly the thought of being around either of them made her feel nauseous.
She ducked into her first period class a few seconds after the bell and slid into her seat, to be greeted instantly by a pop quiz. In a sick way she was grateful for it. Pop quizzes meant no chance talking to either of her best friends.
The rest of the morning went fairly well, she thought. Through some stroke of luck, she managed to avoid the both of them until lunchtime. As it turned out, Lizzie and Gordo were avoiding each other.
They all sat down simultaneously at their usual table, a move that certainly wasn't planned. "Hey, Miranda," Gordo said, his tone light, but with a subtle dramatic hint. Normally she got annoyed when Gordo, easily the most mature of their trio, got like this, whiny and very Matt-like in his mental level. But this time, she felt it was justified, and therefore only half-smiled at him instead of making a degrading comment about how stupid he was being.
"Hey, Miranda," Lizzie echoed, a lot less subtle in her silent treatment, as she flashed Gordo a pointed glare before smiling at Miranda.
"Um, hi," Miranda said, and found herself staring at her tray after glancing at Lizzie only a few seconds.
Suddenly, Gordo's silent treatment towards Lizzie annoyed her more than ever. He was going out of his way to prove to Lizzie that he didn't need her. Which only made it all the more obvious how much he wanted her.
It was like a dagger in Miranda's chest. Or her back. She wasn't entirely sure anymore.
"Pop quiz today, huh," Gordo said, digging into his sandwich.
"Yep," Miranda agreed, tracing the edge of her orange plastic tray, where the rim was breaking off.
"I think I aced it," he continued easily, as if this was any normal lunch period, and he wasn't ignoring Lizzie and Miranda was actually giving polysyllabic answers.
"Cool."
"Yeah, quizzes are really Gordo's thing," Lizzie said dryly. "And speaking of quizzes," she dug in her backpack and produced the dreaded Animology book, "I have your book, Miranda. You left it at my house last night."
Miranda smiled weakly and stuffed the book in her backpack, desperate to get it out of her sight.
Gordo glared at Lizzie. "Sleep with it under your pillow, did you?"
Lizzie huffed indignantly. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"Well, I figured you were probably keeping it so you could erase my name from the soul mate section and put in Ethan's," Gordo said bitingly.
"Ex-*cuse* me?" Lizzie said, her voice raising an octave or two. "FYI, Gordo, this wasn't my idea in the first place. And just so you know, I don't--"
Miranda couldn't take it anymore. Why didn't they just admit the truth and start making out in front of her? Even that would be less painful than this flirting-disguised-as-fighting crap. She slung her backpack over one shoulder, grabbed her tray, and almost ran out of there.
~Animal Attraction~
Chapter Four: Purple Giraffe
~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~
Miranda settled back onto her bed. Red turtle...who was a red turtle?
Maybe if she looked it up in the book, she could figure it out.
But as she reached for her backpack, Miranda realized that she'd left the book on the floor of the McGuires' living room. Fantastic. She should call Lizzie up, but what good would it do? Either she would have to go over there to retrieve it, or Lizzie would have to come over here, and to be honest, she didn't really want to face Lizzie right now. Besides, more likely than not, she would bring it to school tomorrow to return to Miranda.
Miranda loved Lizzie, she really did. But sometimes the girl was completely useless as a human being.
Here was Gordo. Wonderful, perfect, smart, funny, cute, caring Gordo. And he liked Lizzie. And Lizzie was completely oblivious.
It just wasn't fair!
Why couldn't she have been born a magenta tiger?
~~~~~
The next morning, Miranda was incredibly late to school. She'd planned it that way, hoping to avoid Lizzie and Gordo at all costs. Suddenly the thought of being around either of them made her feel nauseous.
She ducked into her first period class a few seconds after the bell and slid into her seat, to be greeted instantly by a pop quiz. In a sick way she was grateful for it. Pop quizzes meant no chance talking to either of her best friends.
The rest of the morning went fairly well, she thought. Through some stroke of luck, she managed to avoid the both of them until lunchtime. As it turned out, Lizzie and Gordo were avoiding each other.
They all sat down simultaneously at their usual table, a move that certainly wasn't planned. "Hey, Miranda," Gordo said, his tone light, but with a subtle dramatic hint. Normally she got annoyed when Gordo, easily the most mature of their trio, got like this, whiny and very Matt-like in his mental level. But this time, she felt it was justified, and therefore only half-smiled at him instead of making a degrading comment about how stupid he was being.
"Hey, Miranda," Lizzie echoed, a lot less subtle in her silent treatment, as she flashed Gordo a pointed glare before smiling at Miranda.
"Um, hi," Miranda said, and found herself staring at her tray after glancing at Lizzie only a few seconds.
Suddenly, Gordo's silent treatment towards Lizzie annoyed her more than ever. He was going out of his way to prove to Lizzie that he didn't need her. Which only made it all the more obvious how much he wanted her.
It was like a dagger in Miranda's chest. Or her back. She wasn't entirely sure anymore.
"Pop quiz today, huh," Gordo said, digging into his sandwich.
"Yep," Miranda agreed, tracing the edge of her orange plastic tray, where the rim was breaking off.
"I think I aced it," he continued easily, as if this was any normal lunch period, and he wasn't ignoring Lizzie and Miranda was actually giving polysyllabic answers.
"Cool."
"Yeah, quizzes are really Gordo's thing," Lizzie said dryly. "And speaking of quizzes," she dug in her backpack and produced the dreaded Animology book, "I have your book, Miranda. You left it at my house last night."
Miranda smiled weakly and stuffed the book in her backpack, desperate to get it out of her sight.
Gordo glared at Lizzie. "Sleep with it under your pillow, did you?"
Lizzie huffed indignantly. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"Well, I figured you were probably keeping it so you could erase my name from the soul mate section and put in Ethan's," Gordo said bitingly.
"Ex-*cuse* me?" Lizzie said, her voice raising an octave or two. "FYI, Gordo, this wasn't my idea in the first place. And just so you know, I don't--"
Miranda couldn't take it anymore. Why didn't they just admit the truth and start making out in front of her? Even that would be less painful than this flirting-disguised-as-fighting crap. She slung her backpack over one shoulder, grabbed her tray, and almost ran out of there.