[Disclaimer: I don't own Lizzie McGuire. I own the feelings that lie deep inside the souls of the silent, who linger and taste the bittersweet rhapsody of a love lost. (Damn, I'm poetic!).

This story is exactly 367 days old. 17 chapters in one year. How pathetic is that. I need to get to stepping. Am I right or am I right?

Last chapter recap: Veruca contemplates her feelings for Larry; Ethan contemplates his feelings for Miranda and Kate; Miranda (also) contemplates her feelings for Larry.]

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One small step for Gordo. One giant leap for mankind.

He began his somber procession towards the front entrance of the gym. This was it. This was doomsday. On his long drive there, he'd gotten horrid mental images of his best friends shunning him and declaring how they completely and utterly abhorred him, and wished he was dead. While Gordo never really cared to be accepted by most of his peers, he did care deeply about what his friends thought. He often took their opinions of him to heart. If Lizzie and Miranda told him they didn't care if he were alive or dead, they might as well just plainly state that he should go commit suicide.

He'd forgiven Lizzie years ago for leaving without as much as a goodbye. In fact, the resentment only lasted maybe a year or two. He just wished he could've forgiven her sooner, so he hadn't ruined his high school years dwelling on her absence. Because if he hadn't dwelled on her absence, then he never would've done what he did to ruin his friends with Miranda forever.

He took deep, calming breaths as he trudged up the small flight of stairs. His mind was filled to the brim with doubts and second thoughts, but at the same time, his subconscious was carrying him towards the party. He took that final step up, and here he was. Gordo was finally at the reunion.

Maybe it was the mental imagery he'd built up in his head of this being a life-shattering event that he felt disappointed, walking into a place and absolutely no one taking notice of him. But he was obviously not aware of the night before him, and the events in the near future. These here were only the first few seconds.

It didn't take long before drama began to unfold itself. He was simply standing there, watching his former classmates chat and dance, and soaking in the atmosphere surrounding him. But then, to his far right, came a high, unmistakable voice.

Slowly but surely, he turned to his right to stare back into the face of a girl he really hadn't seen in 10 years. Parker McKenzie.

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Lizzie still sat at her table, contemplating leaving. She'd already inflicted further damage upon her friendship with Miranda, been ditched completely by Kate, and hadn't even seen him yet. The whole night. There just didn't seem to be a point to staying anymore. She couldn't possibly ruin things more than she already had. Everything tonight was supposed to be perfect. She was supposed to forgive everyone, forget everything, and sat her life anew. Not screw everything up beyond recognition.

But these thoughts ceased soon after.

It was when she was searching the room for someone she knew, didn't hate, and wasn't busy talking to someone else at the moment. There seemed to be no one. Miranda was talking to Larry, Kate with Brooke, Parker with...hmm, who is that guy? From the angle she was watching, she could only see the back of his head, which was simply a mass of dark curls. But...nah, couldn't be. He wouldn't talk to Parker...would he? No way, it just couldn't be...

For a split second, the guy turned his head around to look out past Lizzie towards the band. And she instaneously recognized that face, even from afar. Her heart skipped a beat. It was Gordo.

This overpowering feeling of joy was the best feeling she'd had all day. All week. All month. Maybe even in years. Her feet bounced, itching to just run to him and hug him, and never let go, so she could never run away from her life again. She wanted to be his friend again, she wanted to talk to him, she wanted to ask him about his work, she wanted so much, but everything came crashing down when she remembered how she'd left. He'd still hate her, and she knew it. To do something so selfishly as she had was something unforgivable.

She heaved out a sigh. Why was Gordo talking to Parker before he talked to her? It was obvious. He did hate her. Or maybe he came there with Parker. Which definitely meant he liked Parker more than he liked her. Or maybe he was married to Parker. This seemed so unlikely, since what happened in 8th grade, and how she moved away before high school began. But still, Lizzie was digging the hole of her depression deeper and deeper.

She continued to observe the conversation between Parker and Gordo. They both looked so happy, like they were reminiscing about the good days. If he could reminisce that much with Parker, it was intangible how much reminiscing he and Lizzie could do. Hours upon hours of stories of every moment of their childhood, from when they were just babies, all the way up to...well, when everything fell apart.

Nothing hurt more than being presented with something you want so badly, and being told you're not allowed to go near it. And that was just how Lizzie felt about her friendship with Gordo. It didn't matter how much she wanted to be friends again. If Gordo didn't want to, then that was that. No questions asked.

But that didn't make it any easier to deal with.

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Mysteryboy moped around, disbelieving that no one could recognize him. He still had the same hair, the same face, the same smile. It wasn't like he'd gotten some major plastic surgery done. Then, maybe it would be reasonable. He didn't realize he was so forgettable.

Then, right near the entrance to the reunion, by the double gym doors, he spotted a girl and a boy, chatting away rather happily. Surely, these two would remember him. He recalled talking to them at one point or another, so he was certain that he knew them. In fact, he actually wasn't too fond of one them, but didn't realize this until much later.

He nearly sprinted over to them, desperate for someone to just realize it was him, someone to simply mention his name, and make coming to this reunion worth it. He just wanted to know that he had made some sort of impact on his classmates.

Parker! Gordo! he said, puffing out small breaths as they looked on, worriedly. Please, please, please tell me you know who I am.

Ummm, did you graduate with us? Parker asked, cluelessly.

Gordo said, quite confused, I...can't...say I do?

I give UP, Mysteryboy yelled, simply throwing his hands up in a huff. It was all too much. Would any notice him this evening?

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[A/N: Oh yes, bebeh. Someone will. Don't expect Mysteryboy for MANY, MANY chapters, I don't think. But you just don't know with me! So yeah, I was glad to get back to basics here in this chapter, with Gordo and Lizzie and Mysteryboy, since they're pretty much the foundations of this story. I love writing from Gordo's POV, squee!

So I let you in a little teensy bit of Mysteryboy's personality. But of course, I being the tease that I am, left it just ambiguous enough to not tell you straight out who it is. Don'tcha you just love me for that?

Yeah, I've been working on this for two hours now, and it's 2 AM and I'm going on my 9th grade retreat later today. Should be a boatload of fun, indeed. *cough*

Lemme know what you think: please review. Shanks bunches!]