A/N: Apologies for the lack of updates. No excuse really other than I
haven't had time =S Meh. . .here's the next instalment (and the next few
should come thick and fast).
--Gordo--
She brushed past him without a care. It was as if he wasn't there at all. Normally, he'd let it go, putting it down to 'teenage-girl-syndrome' or whatever they had- and continued on without much afterthought. But it was different now. The whole plan had been *her* idea and if she wanted it to succeed, he was going to have to make a stand.
"Lizzie!" he proclaimed, rising in the one motion, "we've got to talk".
It was an anti-climax of sorts and from her expression, slightly amusing, but he wasn't phased.
"Seriously, we need to lay down a few rules," he continued.
"Hold that thought," she chimed, waving a little and bopping off toward Miranda, standing stoutly at the door with a smile plastered ear to ear.
He'd heard Miranda bubbling with joy over some 'big news' but that, as always, meant it was not news for him. Not that it saddened him, he just felt out of the loop. But he cheered up; Miranda's news was of little importance, he figured, if it were really important, they would surely tell him.
Mr. Dig raised an eyebrow from the front of the class, examining David Gordon subtly and then watching Lizzie McGuire for moment. It didn't take a genius to understand what kind of connection the pair had going.
"Mr. Gordon. . .I believe you have some- explaining?" Mr. Dig piped up, slipping into scolding-teacher mode.
Gordo had foreseen this moment only in his dreams. Typically, he had a plan and a response ready for the scenario.
"You see-"
"No I don't. Lieing, Mr. Gordon, is beneath you," Mr. Dig interrupted, not as harshly as Gordo had expected.
For an instant, things weren't going to plan, but he decided the only course of action was to 'go with it' and pick up where he left off.
"But that-"
"No, don't lie Gordon, it just doesn't work for you," Mr. Dig interrupted again, smiling all the while.
"You're not exactly giving me a chance to speak the truth, sir," Gordo replied. Being interrupted frequently was starting to get on his nerves.
"No, I'm not. That way you can't lie," Mr. Dig continued, smiling in a very odd way.
"But by that logic, I shouldn't be speaking. . .at all," Gordo answered, confounded by Mr. Dig's tomfoolery.
"Exactly- wait. . .no, I was supposed to punish you- hmmm, don't do it again," Mr. Dig added, continuing to smile oddly.
"Don't do my homework again?" Gordo spluttered, further confused by the already bewildering conversation.
"No! Always do your homework, just don't lie about not doing it- when in actual fact you did do it, but you only lied about not doing so your friend didn't cop any of the flak for having really not done it," Mr. Dig answered quickly, sighing heavily at the end of his little spiel.
Surprising, Mr. Dig wasn't as particularly mystifying as he made himself out to be, "thankyou sir, I'll- uhhh- I'll be more careful next time," Gordo replied awkwardly. He didn't exactly give Mr. Dig much credit in the intelligence department, but obviously there was more to the guy, than a few quirky exteriors.
"Oh and Mr. Gordon, good luck with Ms. McGuire," Mr. Dig added, tapping the end of his nose and collecting a suitcase in one motion. He walked out the door casually, smiling in the same way he had before.
Gordo stood for a moment, absorbing Mr. Dig's peculiar remark.
'. . .good luck with Ms. McGuire,' he remembered. What the *hell* did that mean?
And then it made sense. The realisation was immense. Not a shock, but it started to make sense. He had a good feeling he knew exactly what the 'big news' Miranda had all of a sudden. Not that the thought scared him, it just meant the lie was about to get bigger.
"Lizzie!" Gordo snapped, "we need to talk, right now!"
Miranda and Lizzie weren't around.
A second realisation. Gordo sighed; life was getting that little bit more difficult every minute it seemed.
He walked out of the room and clung onto the doorframe as an old train conductor would, shouting the last call to board, at the passengers assembled on the station. Unfortunately, Hillridge Junior High didn't exactly react to another one of their own, in the same way passengers at a station would to a conductor.
Lizzie wasn't in sight; calling would be in vain. He headed out of the classroom and into the hall, strolling through crowd.
A third realisation. He'd left his books back in the classroom, backpack and all. Of course, it would have been smarter and most probably safer to have returned to collect his equipment as soon as possible, but the crowd in the hall had grown larger. It was lunchtime and no one particularly payed any attention to those whom they were not talking to.
That and Gordo wasn't the tallest, most imposing of guys in the school. Pushing through the crowd was a task in itself; going back would be difficult, if not more so, than it originally had been.
He continued down the hall, shaking his head at his mistake. He wanted to talk to Lizzie. It was more important, as far as he was concerned, than his school supplies.
And then a stroke of luck, Lizzie was sitting on the stairs, not unhappily, but with an air of anxiousness. She fiddled with something in her backpack that Gordo couldn't make out.
In the hustle and bustle of the hall, she stood out like a diamond in the rough. He stood there for a moment, taking her into his eyes.
She stopped for a moment and clasped her hands, looking around. Obviously, he had been detected.
"Let me guess," she said from across the hall, "you want to talk?"
He stifled a laugh and walked around a small congregation of students, towards her.
"News travels fast, huh?" she questioned again, attempting to read his thoughts.
Gordo stopped next to her and crouched, taking a seat on the, surprisingly empty, staircase, "I'm not sure what we're talking about," he said, vaguely knowing where the conversation was going, but not entirely.
"About. . .you know- us?" she asked awkwardly, "everyone's. . .talking. . ."
"What do you mean?" he returned casually, playing dumb.
"Gor-do!" she moaned, "don't make this anymore difficult than it already is".
"Hey, I'm just trying to find out what the deal is," he answered, semi- honestly.
"Well, rumours are flying around that- that we're. . .you know, we're a little more than friends," she said uneasily.
"So?" he asked quietly, moving a little closer to her, "isn't that what you want?"
"Yeah- but- I- you know-"
"Stop saying that!" Gordo interrupted a little too loudly. Some of the other students turned their heads towards the commotion.
"Saying what?" Lizzie whispered, looking around and scowling at the few that had decided to observe the pair.
"Stop saying 'you know' 'cause I really don't know what you're taking about!" Gordo continued.
More students turned to watch, pretending to go about their business; eating lunch, engaging in petty conversation, but really, listening in to Gordo and Lizzie.
"Keep it down!" Lizzie shushed, "you're making a scene".
"Then tell me what's going on. I have a right to know, you kn- just tell me," Gordo retorted.
"Alright, but can we go elsewhere?" she questioned, nodding subtly to Gordo, towards the crowd that had assembled.
"No!" someone called from the back, "this whole trouble in paradise scoop is the bomb!"
Lizzie grabbed Gordo's hand and dragged him out of the hallway. The crowd stood silently, baffled by the goings on of the pair, but strangely intrigued. Lizzie and Gordo walked outside, into the main eatery.
"Well, well!" Kate boomed, "looks like the rumours *are* true!"
Gordo had a funny feeling he was about to find out the *hard* way, just what the news Lizzie had to tell him.
"Lizzie and Gordo?" Kate pointed, attracting the attention of the students eating the lunch, "are a couple. . .how cute err quaint? I'm not sure how we should view *this* one".
"Just mind your own business Kate," Lizzie piped up, rolling her eyes and continuing to drag Gordo away from the commotion.
"Fine, fine," Kate lied, taking a step back, "let's just let the newlyweds have *their* time," and she walked over to her cheerleading table, laughing semi-evilly.
Lizzie shook her head and Gordo stood bemused; that insult was one of the better of Kate's, that he could remember.
"That's one of the better insults Kate has used, that I can remember," he said mindlessly.
"Gordo, this is neither the time or place," Lizzie replied, frustrated and continued to pull him away from the eatery and around a corner to a 'safer' area. Fortunately, few people were around.
"Alright, you want the news? You got it. Everyone thinks we're an item and- and now it's as if we're celebrities- it's a big thing for everyone all of a sudden, so-"
"So it's like we're on a soap-opera?" Gordo interrupted.
"Be serious, just for this one moment, while I try and figure out what our next move is," Lizzie stressed.
"Okay," he replied, "take it easy. Everything you wanted is going to plan. Kate is obviously jealous out of her mind, everyone else wants in on what we talk about, Miranda is playing this out to be 'big news' and hell- even the teachers know," Gordo spoke quickly.
"The teacher's know?" Lizzie asked confusedly.
"Yeah, I think," Gordo replied, remembering what Mr. Dig had said, "look, our next move is the Ball- we just show up and have a good time and no one else is the wiser".
Lizzie threw her arms around his neck and hugged him, "thank you *so* much for this. I knew I could count on you!"
Gordo blushed a little, taken aback from her emotion, "that's- that's ok- ay. . .Lizzie".
"Gordo. . ." Lizzie asked slowly, feeling his back with her hands, "where's your knapsack?"
"Don't go there," Gordo replied coolly.
--Gordo--
She brushed past him without a care. It was as if he wasn't there at all. Normally, he'd let it go, putting it down to 'teenage-girl-syndrome' or whatever they had- and continued on without much afterthought. But it was different now. The whole plan had been *her* idea and if she wanted it to succeed, he was going to have to make a stand.
"Lizzie!" he proclaimed, rising in the one motion, "we've got to talk".
It was an anti-climax of sorts and from her expression, slightly amusing, but he wasn't phased.
"Seriously, we need to lay down a few rules," he continued.
"Hold that thought," she chimed, waving a little and bopping off toward Miranda, standing stoutly at the door with a smile plastered ear to ear.
He'd heard Miranda bubbling with joy over some 'big news' but that, as always, meant it was not news for him. Not that it saddened him, he just felt out of the loop. But he cheered up; Miranda's news was of little importance, he figured, if it were really important, they would surely tell him.
Mr. Dig raised an eyebrow from the front of the class, examining David Gordon subtly and then watching Lizzie McGuire for moment. It didn't take a genius to understand what kind of connection the pair had going.
"Mr. Gordon. . .I believe you have some- explaining?" Mr. Dig piped up, slipping into scolding-teacher mode.
Gordo had foreseen this moment only in his dreams. Typically, he had a plan and a response ready for the scenario.
"You see-"
"No I don't. Lieing, Mr. Gordon, is beneath you," Mr. Dig interrupted, not as harshly as Gordo had expected.
For an instant, things weren't going to plan, but he decided the only course of action was to 'go with it' and pick up where he left off.
"But that-"
"No, don't lie Gordon, it just doesn't work for you," Mr. Dig interrupted again, smiling all the while.
"You're not exactly giving me a chance to speak the truth, sir," Gordo replied. Being interrupted frequently was starting to get on his nerves.
"No, I'm not. That way you can't lie," Mr. Dig continued, smiling in a very odd way.
"But by that logic, I shouldn't be speaking. . .at all," Gordo answered, confounded by Mr. Dig's tomfoolery.
"Exactly- wait. . .no, I was supposed to punish you- hmmm, don't do it again," Mr. Dig added, continuing to smile oddly.
"Don't do my homework again?" Gordo spluttered, further confused by the already bewildering conversation.
"No! Always do your homework, just don't lie about not doing it- when in actual fact you did do it, but you only lied about not doing so your friend didn't cop any of the flak for having really not done it," Mr. Dig answered quickly, sighing heavily at the end of his little spiel.
Surprising, Mr. Dig wasn't as particularly mystifying as he made himself out to be, "thankyou sir, I'll- uhhh- I'll be more careful next time," Gordo replied awkwardly. He didn't exactly give Mr. Dig much credit in the intelligence department, but obviously there was more to the guy, than a few quirky exteriors.
"Oh and Mr. Gordon, good luck with Ms. McGuire," Mr. Dig added, tapping the end of his nose and collecting a suitcase in one motion. He walked out the door casually, smiling in the same way he had before.
Gordo stood for a moment, absorbing Mr. Dig's peculiar remark.
'. . .good luck with Ms. McGuire,' he remembered. What the *hell* did that mean?
And then it made sense. The realisation was immense. Not a shock, but it started to make sense. He had a good feeling he knew exactly what the 'big news' Miranda had all of a sudden. Not that the thought scared him, it just meant the lie was about to get bigger.
"Lizzie!" Gordo snapped, "we need to talk, right now!"
Miranda and Lizzie weren't around.
A second realisation. Gordo sighed; life was getting that little bit more difficult every minute it seemed.
He walked out of the room and clung onto the doorframe as an old train conductor would, shouting the last call to board, at the passengers assembled on the station. Unfortunately, Hillridge Junior High didn't exactly react to another one of their own, in the same way passengers at a station would to a conductor.
Lizzie wasn't in sight; calling would be in vain. He headed out of the classroom and into the hall, strolling through crowd.
A third realisation. He'd left his books back in the classroom, backpack and all. Of course, it would have been smarter and most probably safer to have returned to collect his equipment as soon as possible, but the crowd in the hall had grown larger. It was lunchtime and no one particularly payed any attention to those whom they were not talking to.
That and Gordo wasn't the tallest, most imposing of guys in the school. Pushing through the crowd was a task in itself; going back would be difficult, if not more so, than it originally had been.
He continued down the hall, shaking his head at his mistake. He wanted to talk to Lizzie. It was more important, as far as he was concerned, than his school supplies.
And then a stroke of luck, Lizzie was sitting on the stairs, not unhappily, but with an air of anxiousness. She fiddled with something in her backpack that Gordo couldn't make out.
In the hustle and bustle of the hall, she stood out like a diamond in the rough. He stood there for a moment, taking her into his eyes.
She stopped for a moment and clasped her hands, looking around. Obviously, he had been detected.
"Let me guess," she said from across the hall, "you want to talk?"
He stifled a laugh and walked around a small congregation of students, towards her.
"News travels fast, huh?" she questioned again, attempting to read his thoughts.
Gordo stopped next to her and crouched, taking a seat on the, surprisingly empty, staircase, "I'm not sure what we're talking about," he said, vaguely knowing where the conversation was going, but not entirely.
"About. . .you know- us?" she asked awkwardly, "everyone's. . .talking. . ."
"What do you mean?" he returned casually, playing dumb.
"Gor-do!" she moaned, "don't make this anymore difficult than it already is".
"Hey, I'm just trying to find out what the deal is," he answered, semi- honestly.
"Well, rumours are flying around that- that we're. . .you know, we're a little more than friends," she said uneasily.
"So?" he asked quietly, moving a little closer to her, "isn't that what you want?"
"Yeah- but- I- you know-"
"Stop saying that!" Gordo interrupted a little too loudly. Some of the other students turned their heads towards the commotion.
"Saying what?" Lizzie whispered, looking around and scowling at the few that had decided to observe the pair.
"Stop saying 'you know' 'cause I really don't know what you're taking about!" Gordo continued.
More students turned to watch, pretending to go about their business; eating lunch, engaging in petty conversation, but really, listening in to Gordo and Lizzie.
"Keep it down!" Lizzie shushed, "you're making a scene".
"Then tell me what's going on. I have a right to know, you kn- just tell me," Gordo retorted.
"Alright, but can we go elsewhere?" she questioned, nodding subtly to Gordo, towards the crowd that had assembled.
"No!" someone called from the back, "this whole trouble in paradise scoop is the bomb!"
Lizzie grabbed Gordo's hand and dragged him out of the hallway. The crowd stood silently, baffled by the goings on of the pair, but strangely intrigued. Lizzie and Gordo walked outside, into the main eatery.
"Well, well!" Kate boomed, "looks like the rumours *are* true!"
Gordo had a funny feeling he was about to find out the *hard* way, just what the news Lizzie had to tell him.
"Lizzie and Gordo?" Kate pointed, attracting the attention of the students eating the lunch, "are a couple. . .how cute err quaint? I'm not sure how we should view *this* one".
"Just mind your own business Kate," Lizzie piped up, rolling her eyes and continuing to drag Gordo away from the commotion.
"Fine, fine," Kate lied, taking a step back, "let's just let the newlyweds have *their* time," and she walked over to her cheerleading table, laughing semi-evilly.
Lizzie shook her head and Gordo stood bemused; that insult was one of the better of Kate's, that he could remember.
"That's one of the better insults Kate has used, that I can remember," he said mindlessly.
"Gordo, this is neither the time or place," Lizzie replied, frustrated and continued to pull him away from the eatery and around a corner to a 'safer' area. Fortunately, few people were around.
"Alright, you want the news? You got it. Everyone thinks we're an item and- and now it's as if we're celebrities- it's a big thing for everyone all of a sudden, so-"
"So it's like we're on a soap-opera?" Gordo interrupted.
"Be serious, just for this one moment, while I try and figure out what our next move is," Lizzie stressed.
"Okay," he replied, "take it easy. Everything you wanted is going to plan. Kate is obviously jealous out of her mind, everyone else wants in on what we talk about, Miranda is playing this out to be 'big news' and hell- even the teachers know," Gordo spoke quickly.
"The teacher's know?" Lizzie asked confusedly.
"Yeah, I think," Gordo replied, remembering what Mr. Dig had said, "look, our next move is the Ball- we just show up and have a good time and no one else is the wiser".
Lizzie threw her arms around his neck and hugged him, "thank you *so* much for this. I knew I could count on you!"
Gordo blushed a little, taken aback from her emotion, "that's- that's ok- ay. . .Lizzie".
"Gordo. . ." Lizzie asked slowly, feeling his back with her hands, "where's your knapsack?"
"Don't go there," Gordo replied coolly.