I own the rights to none of the characters in this story, even the characters that I created. If Disney wants to film this story and show it every year at Christmas, they have my permission.
Previous chapters edited to add disclaimer. No other changes.
Chapter rated R for language, violence, nudity, and sexual situations
Knight in Shining Armor
Chapter 9
They say that life isn't fair. And Kate and her minions were about to learn some very important lessons about life.
Things didn't get any easier for Lizzie for the next few weeks. It took time, you see.
It's amazing, the things that the human mind can overlook. You know when you're walking on downtown sidewalks, and you have to walk around all the homeless people, but they don't even register as people in your mind, just objects in an obstacle course? That's what Kate was like. Leaving her house to drive to school in the morning, and she doesn't notice the Comcast van parked on the curb in front of her next door neighbor's house. Arriving at school, and hitting the button on her keychain that makes the horn beep to alert her that the doors are locked, and she doesn't notice the Comcast van in the self-serve lane at the Exxon station, across the street. Entering the tanning boutique in the fashionable East Side of town, and she doesn't notice the Comcast van huddled near an open manhole.
It was near the end of September, late on a Monday afternoon, when I met with Miranda and Lizzie at the Sanchez house. Miranda and I were in the dining room, waiting on Lizzie to get out of the shower upstairs. "It's her second shower since she got here," Miranda confided. "She was talking about finger paint." Lizzie descended the stairs, her hair still wet, and joined us at the table.
"It worked like a charm," she said. "She sent me into the kitchen to make her lunch, and I plugged it in, behind the refrigerator. Green light came on."
"I guess this means that Friday is LL Day," I told them. Friday was Homecoming, and school would be out all day. I reported on what I knew to Lizzie. "Kate and the girls are planning to spend the day producing a movie, starring you. A movie which they will be putting up on a porn server out of Bulgaria. Your co-stars will be the brothers of Lambda Chi Alpha. Of course, the guys' faces will be digitized. They haven't decided whether to protect you or not."
"There's no server, right?" Miranda asked, concerned.
"Of course not," I assured her. "It's handled."
At that moment, all three of the cell phones that we had just purchased went off, alerting us to text messages. My screen read [72%].
Lizzie had invited me over for dinner with her family that night.
It was almost like old times. In fact, if you didn't know better, you'd swear it was old times. Lizzie's mom chopping vegetables, Matt practicing magic tricks, Lizzie's dad trying to light the pilot light on the grill and looking clueless, Lizzie complaining that Matt left chewing gum on her toothbrush. Was she just hiding it well, or was Lizzie coming back to us?
After dinner, I offered to help wash the dishes, but Lizzie took my hand and dragged me up to her room before her parents could accept the offer. She closed the door behind us, then sat on the edge of her bed. My eyes drifted to the wall behind her TV, which, until recently, had showcased photos of Miranda, and I, and all three of us together. She patted a spot on the bed beside her. "Here." I sat next to her. "Tell me again, it's going to work," she asked me breathlessly.
I smiled. "It's going to work, Lizzie. I'm sure of it."
"You won't leave me? You'll be with me, right?"
I couldn't believe I was doing it, but I lightly placed my hand over the center of her chest. She didn't pull away. "I'll be right in here," I promised her, then removed my hand.
"You're my hero," she confided in me. "You've always been my hero. You know that, right?"
I chuckled softly. "Don't feel like a hero."
She smiled warmly at me. "Heroes rarely do." She looked down at her hands, and seemed eternally captivated by her watchband. Behind her, on the headboard of her bed, sat a lone videotape. "Gordo?" she asked tentatively.
"Yeah?"
"Tell me something. Do you think, if we hadn't always known each other since, like, forever, and we only met in high school, and had some classes together, do you think we could have been...." She looked up at me from her watch only briefly, then returned to it. "...I dunno...something else? Maybe?"
"We'll never know, I guess," I told her, unsure of where she was going with this.
"Yeah," she laughed self-consciously. "I guess you're right."
Our phones chirped simultaneously. My screen read [78%].
Later that night, I was on the cell phone with Miranda, and I told her of the odd conversation that Lizzie and I had had earlier. Miranda gave me one of those long, ironic sighs. "What!?" I said, juggling a couple of tennis balls in one hand, a nervous habit I thought I had abandoned in junior high. "What now?"
"Forget it, Daredevil."
"Why do you keep calling me that?"
"Did you get another update tonight?" she asked, ignoring my question.
"Yeah, we're getting them at the same time."
"Are we gonna make it?"
"They'll get faster," I assured her.
When I woke up Tuesday morning, I noticed I had received a text message during the night, at 4:03 a.m. [81%].
I had been wrong. They were getting slower. My phone alerted me with a message of [83%] at six thirty-eight Tuesday evening. Lizzie was on a "date" with Ted that night. She knocked on my door at nine thirty. When I opened the door, she only said, "I can't do this any more," and led the way to the rec room. I followed her, and she began pacing. "I want to end it tomorrow."
"We're not ready, Lizzie," I tried reasoning with her. "I think everything will be in place by Friday."
"You think?" she stopped pacing to look at me. "Gordo, I'm going to be starring in my own porno movie Friday. Please tell me you more than think."
"It's...taking more time than I thought," I admitted.
"Well, speed it up!" she ordered.
"I can't. It has to be done right, or it won't work at all." I tried changing the subject. "We got into Lambda Chi tonight."
"Really?"
I nodded. She ran her fingers through her hair, then massaged the back of her neck. "Oh, God," she moaned. "I need a shower. Can I--" she pointed to the stairs.
I shrugged. "Sure. But...you didn't bring anything else."
"I'll think of something," she assured me, and quietly moved upstairs. While she was in the shower, my phone displayed a new text message: [86%]. We were back on schedule. She came back downstairs, wearing one of my mother's robes, and trying to press her hair dry with a towel. She sat down next to me on the couch, and took my hands in hers. "Gordo," she said. "I need to ask you a favor."
"You got it," I promised.
"I...haven't been able to get much sleep since Saturday."
"Nightmares?"
She looked at me in confusion, then laughed sadly. "God, no. I've had nightmares for three months, but you eventually learn to sleep through those, anyway. It's amazing, the things you learn to just accept. No, I mean I've been so keyed up, thinking this may finally be over, that I can't...unwind, I can't get to sleep. I don't want to go home. Can you help me sleep?"
"You want to call your parents?"
She shook her head. "They think I'm at Miranda's. I don't think they'd understand."
I shrugged. "Neither will mine." I stood up. "Come on, let's go," I told her, and led her to my room. I helped her climb under the covers of my bed. She still wore the robe, but had draped the towel over the back of the rocking chair in the corner. I turned on a bedside lamp and turned off the overhead light, then sat in the rocking chair.
She lay on her side and faced me. "Talk to me," she whispered.
"What do you want me to say?"
"Tell me everything will be okay."
"Everything will be okay," I assured her, quietly and slowly. "Come Friday, we'll spring our trap at Kate's house. Their overconfidence will be their downfall. Miranda and I will be right beside you, and by the time we've played our hand, the roles will be reversed, and Kate will be doing anything you say."
"The only thing I want her to do," Lizzie mumbled, "is to get completely out of my life."
"Then she'll be completely out of your life. And the sun will come up on Saturday, and you'll be free. There'll be no more guilt, no more shame, no more fear. You'll be our sweet Lizzie again, my Princess, and I'll be your knight."
"I wish.... I wish I could feel like this, every night."
"You will," I promised.
"I love you, Gordo," she told me.
"I love you," I returned, and it was the first time I had said anything like that, with no disclaimers, and moments later, she was asleep.
I pulled the cell phone from my pocket. [89%].
Lizzie ate lunch with us at school Wednesday, for the first time in weeks. Kate stopped by. "Lizzie? Won't you be sitting with us, today?"
Lizzie held up one hand with the palm facing toward Kate, in the international "stop" position, not bothering to look directly at her. "Buzz off, Kate," she said. "I'm with friends."
Kate's eyebrows shot up, as if she couldn't believe what she was hearing. "What?"
Lizzie gave Kate a tired glance. "Are you deaf, or stupid?" she asked. "I said, I'm not eating with you; I'm eating with friends."
Kate glared at Lizzie. "Fine. We'll discuss it when you come over Friday." Then she amended it. "No, call me this afternoon."
"If I get the time," Lizzie sighed dramatically.
"You. Call. Me." That spoken through gritted teeth, and Kate turned away, toward her own table.
"Aaaaaa," she squealed at us, leaning forward, with her tongue excitedly peeking between her teeth. And I thought, That's it. She's definitely coming back to us. "I can't believe I did that."
"Feels good, doesn't it?" Miranda prodded her happily.
"It feels...liberating," she agreed.
That afternoon, we listened on extensions in Lizzie's house while she talked to Kate. "What the fuck was that all about?" Kate spat venomously.
"What I do on my time is my business," Lizzie shot back. "You back off."
"On your time?" Kate repeated. "I own your time, bitch, just like I own your body, and your soul, and everything else. You don't have anything, unless I give it to you. Come Friday, you're gonna pay for that little show of backbone today. I bet you'll look pretty good, on your hands and knees, turning tricks for Lambda Chi."
"I'll be there," Lizzie promised. "But I'm through being your little fucktoy."
"We'll see," Kate said threateningly. "Better bring plenty of condoms." Then she hung up.
Lizzie was sitting on her bed, breathing deeply when I got to her bedroom from the phone in the kitchen. Miranda gave me a high five. Lizzie pointed at me. "You had better be there to back me up, Mr. Gordon."
Lizzie stayed with Miranda Thursday, neither of them going to school. They would probably face detention the next week, but....
At lunch, Kate studied me as I ate alone. She kept chewing on one fingernail. As I left the lunchroom for Chemistry, I checked my phone. [96%].
We both spent Thursday night at Miranda's. I looked at my phone compulsively throughout the evening, but it seemed stuck on ninety-eight percent. I even replaced the battery, but got no better results.
We watched Twilight Zone, and Simpsons, and Sabrina the Teenage Bitch, and none of us said anything through them all. It seemed as if we'd only been treading water for the last week, not drawing any closer to the shore, only trying not to drown. I discretely hit the night light button on the phone. [98%].
I had slept in the basement, while Lizzie and Miranda had spent the night in Miranda's room. It was nine o'clock when I climbed the stairs to the ground floor. The girls were at the kitchen table, eating Captain Crunch straight from the box. "You know," I warned them, "that's been proven to cause cancer, unless you share." Miranda shook the box and passed it to me. Lizzie looked glum.
"Phones say ninety-nine percent," Miranda said.
"We still have time," I assured them.
"No," Lizzie told us. "I have to go. I'm supposed to be there before ten. Just, um, come when you can."
"Lizzie," Miranda said, placing a hand on Lizzie's forearm. "After your confrontation with Kate, she'll be vicious."
Lizzie slipped her arm out from under Miranda's hand, and picked up her purse. "Come when you can." And with that, she left us.
At 10:07 a.m., my and Miranda's phones beeped. [100%]. Miranda and I raced to her bedroom and burned a new dvd on a very special recorder. By the time we were finished and jumping in my car for the ride to Kate's, my phone went off again. [411? no princess?]
I read the message aloud as I backed out of Miranda's driveway. "Does that mean anything to you?"
"I think they're asking, where's Lizzie?" Miranda suggested.
"That's crazy. They know where she is. She's at Kate's." We were halfway there, when my phone beeped yet again. This time it read, [911! where r u]
I punched the star on the cell phone, and received an answer before it ever rang. "They've flown the coop, partner. No one's at the house."
"Where are they?" I asked in a panic. Now which of us had been overconfident?
"Hold on," I was told. "GPS indicates...Cox Arena?"
SDSU. "They're going to the Lambda Chi Alpha house." Fuck! That was another forty-five minutes away.
"Stand by.... Yep. Looks like a change of plans. They're at the house."
"Try to monitor it," I instructed them.
"You're the boss." My phone went dead.
We were flying down I-15 thirty minutes later, approaching I-8, when my phone rang. I didn't get a chance to say anything when I pressed the talk button. "Listen, partner, you better light a fire under your ass. Things are getting way too intense down there, and we didn't sign on to hear her going through this. We're about ready to call in the Marines from Camp Pendleton."
"No!" I shouted. "We're five minutes away. Cut the power!"
"You got it," came the instant reply, as if he'd had his finger on the switch all along.
"And kill the phones."
The barest pause, then, "Done. They are dead in the water. I can activate the sprinklers, too. That oughtta cool 'em down."
"No," I cautioned them. "They might be tied into the fire department."
Another pause, followed by, "Partner, they're not tied into anything right now."
"Oh, yeah. Right. Is Miranda's wire working? Will you hear me?"
"We can hear the girl's heartbeat. We should be able to hear you talk, big mouth."
"We're coming up on SDSU now," I informed them as I took the exit, then pressed the off button on the phone, and tossed it on the seat between Miranda and me.
I drove down fraternity row, and Miranda spotted the house first, the Greek letters hanging below a second floor balcony. It was smaller than the surrounding fraternity houses, but well maintained, quiet. There was a small parking lot behind the building, and I pulled into an empty spot. I reached into the back seat, grasped the DVD case and we both exited the car and almost ran to the front door.
Miranda and I pounded on the huge, oak double doors. After a moment, a fullback-sized, barrel-chested guy opened the door. "Yeah?" It sounded like "Bear", from Kate's house. Behind him, the house was lit only by sunshine piercing the windows. We could hear muted conversation from some other room nearby.
"We're here to see Ted," I told the guard dog.
"Fuck off," he responded casually and started to close the door.
"We're here to show a movie," Miranda piped up, and at the mention of a movie, the door stopped, then opened again. From behind Bear, I could see Ted approaching from a back room, joined by Kate.
"Gordo, right?" Ted asked.
"Ted!" I said excitedly, hands out to my side. "I'm here for my tour. Remember?"
Kate, her hand locked around Ted's arm, glared at us.
"Not a good time, my man," he said humorlessly. "Turn around and go home."
"No," Kate interceded. "Let them in. This'll be fun. It's just what she deserves."
"Bad idea, Kate," Ted warned her.
"Bite me," Kate returned, letting go of Ted. "I'll take her, and we'll leave."
Ted shook his head in frustration, but let Kate have her way. We entered the house, and Miranda said, "Gee, Kate. It's really good to see you. What are you doing here?"
"Well, see, Miranda," Kate responded, warming to the part. "My best friend, Lizzie, has a teensy little crush on, oh, four or five of the guys here, and she asked me if I could give her a ride, so she could express just how appreciative she is of all the attention they give her. Would you like me to show her to you?"
"As a matter of fact, we would," I agreed, then turned to Ted. "Then Ted, we'll have something to show you." I waved the DVD case in my hand.
"Well, you've got a problem," Ted replied smugly. "No power."
I nodded, looking around, and said, "I need power." Almost instantly, the lights came on, the air conditioner hummed, and the stereo cranked slowly up. Gradually, we were joined by others. The girls I recognized. Claire, and Brooke, and Joanna. Not all of the cheerleaders, but enough. There were about half a dozen fraternity guys in the room now, including Ted and Bear. Ted and Kate both lost just a little of their smarmy self-confidence, but Kate recovered quickly.
"All right," Ted said. "Nice trick. What do you want?"
"Lizzie first," Miranda answered for me.
"Are you sure?" Kate asked, smiling wickedly.
"Actually, I wasn't talking to you," Miranda retorted.
"Lizzie was putting on a little show for everyone," Kate said, ignoring Miranda. "But when the power went out, we had to leave her alone in the basement. Now that the lights are back up, let me introduce you to the new Lizzie McGuire."
Kate opened the door to the basement, and flicked on the light switch. They had been thoughtful enough to turn the lights off, even after the power went out. She led the way down the steps, followed by me, then Miranda. Ted was behind Miranda.
"Lizzie!" Kate called out as we neared the landing. "Guess what? You have company!" When we reached the landing, I briefly took in the scene before me.
I had silently prayed on the race here that I could still keep my promise to protect her from any more abuse and humiliation, but we had...I had failed her. Along one wall of the basement was a fully stocked bar. At one end of the bar was stationed a sink in the cabinet. The door in the cabinet under the sink was open, and attached to the drain pipe in that cabinet was one end of a dog leash, and the other end of the leash was attached to a collar around Lizzie's neck. She was kneeling on the floor, because the leash wouldn't allow her to stand. They had dressed her in a harem girl costume, like the one worn by the genie in the old "I Dream of Jeannie" shows. Except they had neglected to provide her with a top. She tried to turn to face away from us, and I could see her hands were tied behind her. It only took me a moment to take it all in, and when I realized what I was seeing, I turned away. Miranda rushed to Lizzie's side and hugged her.
Kate came up to me and whispered, "If the power had gone out ten minutes later, you'd get to see what she looks like with cum in her hair."
I reacted without thinking, reaching out and violently shoving her back. She tumbled off the landing and fell the extra two steps to the basement floor, landing on her ass. She could have broken her neck, but I was lucky.
"You bastard!" she cried in shock, then looked to Ted. "I want him dead!"
"Shut up, Kate," Ted responded. I think he was beginning to realize how much trouble he might be in.
Kate was actually growling as she struggled to her feet. At the same time, Miranda looked to me and said, "Gordo?" She had unclipped the leash and freed Lizzie's hands, but she still had no way to hide Lizzie's nudity. I peeled off my shirt and tossed it to her, and she draped it around Lizzie and began to help feed her arms through the sleeves.
Kate pointed at Lizzie, and said, "Don't you dare, slut!" She took two steps toward Lizzie and Miranda, then stopped. "Tell them," she ordered. "Tell them you're a whore, and you want to stay."
Lizzie looked up at Kate from the floor, then, with Miranda's help, rose to her feet. "Kate, get fucked," she said.
"You don't get it, do you, Kate?" I asked. "I think Ted gets it, but you don't. It's over."
Kate glanced at me, then returned her glare to Lizzie. "It isn't over. In fact, it's just starting for sweet little Lizzie."
"Let's watch the DVD first," I reminded her. "Upstairs."
"Fuck you!" Kate spat. "I don't follow your orders, you little toad."
"Kate," Ted said through gritted teeth. "Stick a dick in your mouth, and get upstairs."
Kate's eyes grew big, then narrowed and shot lasers at me, but she started pounding up the steps, still thinking she held all the cards. The only problem was, she thought the game was poker, and we were about to deal a hand of crazy eights.
I turned to Ted. "Her clothes."
He pointed to a shelf at the other end of the bar. "Behind there," he instructed, and Miranda reached for Lizzie's clothes, and gathered them in her arms. Ted and I climbed the stairs back to the main floor, and I approached the giant screen TV lining one wall of the rec room. By the time I had placed the disk in the DVD player, Miranda and Lizzie had joined the dozen or so people already there, most of them Lizzie's tormenters for the previous four months. Lizzie was back in her street clothes, and Miranda returned my shirt to me.
There was no introduction to the video that played on the monitor, a shot of Kate, taken in her bedroom.
"Is this running?" she asked the camera.
"Yes, we're recording," came a male voice from offscreen. It might have been my voice. Then again, maybe not.
"What the hell is this?" the live Kate asked me, but before I could respond, Ted warned her to shut up.
"Okay," the video Kate said, sitting on her bed and lighting a cigarette. "I'm doing this to protect me. This was all Ted's idea."
"What?" Ted asked the monitor, then turned to Kate. "What was my idea?"
Kate shook her head in confusion. "That's.... I'm not--"
The DVD played on, interrupting them. "Ted and all of his friends are sick psychos. Last year, Ted got me pregnant, and I had to have an abortion. Then he threatened to tell not only my parents, but everyone at school."
"What the f--?" Ted was stuttering, and Kate was just shaking her head, not saying anything.
"It would have ruined me, destroyed my life. But he said he'd keep my secret, if I could find someone else for him. He was looking for what he called a mascot for the fraternity, someone he and his buddies could fuck anytime they wanted. When he saw a picture of Lizzie in my yearbook, he pointed her out, and told me that if I could find some way to blackmail Lizzie into being his slave, then he would protect me." The video Kate took a long drag on the cigarette and then smashed it into an ashtray on the nightstand. "I don't give a fuck about Lizzie. In fact, if he hadn't named her, I probably would have suggested her. But I only did it cause he made me. So I got something on her. What it is doesn't matter. But what does matter is that the guys are starting to get bored with Lizzie, and now they want me to trap Claire."
Now it was Claire's turn to drop her jaw. "What is this?" she kept turning between Kate and Ted.
"You fucking...bitch!" Ted shouted at Kate, livid.
Kate couldn't take her eyes off the screen. "This isn't right!" was all she could say.
The video continued unabated. "I've tried to convince them that Claire isn't sexy enough for them, and they'd have more fun with Brooke, but I've come to realize that Ted isn't being rational." By now, Brooke had entered the shouting contest. "I don't think any of the other cheerleaders would mind. I think they got off on watching Lizzie being abused. Most of them are closet lesbians, anyway. Yesterday was the final straw. Ted says that it's gone too far with Lizzie for anyone to back out, that they'll probably have to kill her. He says he can probably trick Bear into it, since the big ox isn't too bright."
Bear slowly turned to face Ted, who held his hands up in defense. "Bear, I swear, man, this bitch is lying through her teeth!"
"Now the McGuire slut can live or die, for all I care," video Kate continued. "And Ted and his little fag suck-buddies can wear out all the other cheerleaders, for all I care, but this video is designed to shine the light of day on their little roach motel, just in case anything ever happens to me."
At this point, everyone in the room was shouting at each other, threatening one another. There was more on the video, but I couldn't hear it.
"I ought to kill you!" Ted yelled at Kate. "And if you ever show your fucking face around here again, I will kill you!"
"I never said those things!" Kate protested in vain. "That's not me, you fucking pig!"
"Don't tell me that's not you!" he shouted back, pointing at the screen, the veins on the side of his neck popping out. "I'm looking at you!"
And he was right. That was no actress. That was Kate. In Kate's bedroom. Smoking Kate's cigarettes, the cigarettes that previously, only Claire was aware Kate used.
I moved to stand next to Lizzie and Miranda. "Hold on," I warned them. "This might hurt a little." Then I said, "Give me an arc," and a low thrum pounded dully through the room, shaking my fillings and making my head hurt, and the DVD/monitor instantly shut down. The ring on my finger grew warm, then all was quiet. There was no more shouting, and several of them were holding their hands to their heads.
"What the fuck was that?" Bear asked in awe.
"That," I replied, "was a low frequency magnetic pulse. In addition to any computers in the house being turned into giant paperweights, all the magnetic media--videotapes, audiotapes, computer diskettes--have all been nuked. Satellite receiver has been fried. Oh, and don't expect much from your coffee maker, either." I shrugged. "DVD's still in good shape, though." I glanced at my watch. "And, Kate, right about now, the same thing is happening at your house. I think you know what that means." I turned to Miranda and Lizzie. I can't tell you how badly I wanted to sweep Lizzie into my arms, but I didn't dare. I felt like I had failed her. "When you're ready," I told them quietly, and Miranda started to lead Lizzie toward the front door.
Miranda stopped before they reached the exit and turned back to the room. "Ladies?" she called to Claire, and Brooke, and Joanna. "We've hidden copies of the DVD in your houses. Good luck finding them, before your parents do."
I held the door open for them, then followed them out, but before I could shut it behind us, Kate was pushing her way through onto the porch. "You bastard!" she glared. "You played me! I don't know how you did it. I don't know how you did any of that, but this isn't over!"
"Yes, it is, Kate," I told her. "It's finally over. Because what you saw today is just the barest minimum of what we can do, of what we're prepared to do, to protect Lizzie. To protect each other. That's what friends do, Kate. They protect each other." I turned my back to her and walked past Lizzie and Miranda, toward the parking lot.
Behind my back, I heard Miranda say, "Hey, Kate? Don't fuck with the eagles, 'til you learn how to fly." I had to smile. Miranda was pretty keen on getting in the last word.
Around the corner of the house waited my car in the parking lot. Next to my car was a Comcast van. We walked around my car to the back of the van. The rear door to the van popped open. Inside it, we could see a wide array of computer equipment.
I should take a moment to explain. Bear with me. I believe that there are three institutions in all the world, which, given enough time and enough money, can do anything they set their mind to. Of these three institutions, if you were to say to me, "Would you believe that those guys can..." and follow it with anything you can imagine, I would ponder the question for a moment, and then say "Yeah. I can believe that."
For example. One of the three is the Pentagon.
Would you believe the Pentagon can see through walls? Yeah, I can believe that.
Would you believe the Pentagon can track every individual on Earth? Yeah, I can believe that.
Would you believe the Pentagon can transport equipment using what we would call Star Trek transporters? Yeah, I can believe that (although, I will admit there would be a longer pause for that one, but the point is, I can believe they can do it).
Three institutions who I believe suffer no technological limitations.
One, as I said, is the Pentagon.
Two would be AT&T Bell Laboratories.
And three would be the psychedelic whiz kids of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. There were eleven whiz kids, all told.
Would you believe that the JPL whiz kids could design a remote control unit that allowed them to take over all of a building's electrical systems from a nearby van? Yeah, I can believe that.
Would you believe that the JPL whiz kids could activate the microphones inside the phones, allowing them to hear all conversations in a house, even though the handsets are all on the phones, in effect "hung up"? Yeah, I can believe that.
Would you believe that the JPL whiz kids could send a low frequency electromagnetic pulse from a remote van, that would slag every computer and magnetic media in its way? Yeah, I can believe that.
Would you believe that the JPL whiz kids could write a computer program that could create a video that would emulate a real person, down to their voice, and the hair on their arms, so that everything in the video, the actors, the sets, the sound effects, existed only in the computer program? I'd have to pause a little bit longer for that one, but given enough time and money, yes, I believe they can.
And so, several weeks earlier, when Lizzie had lamented the fact that she didn't have any older siblings who could look after her, I thought of the eleven computer geniuses who, over the course of the previous summer, had gotten to know Lizzie McGuire through her cards and letters to me, and had come to think of her as their little sister.
When I had asked for their help, they had relished the opportunity, and the challenge. And they did not disappoint. There were three of them in the van now. Eric Skorvald peered through the length of the van from the driver's seat. In the back was Gary Parker, with perpetual acne on his chin. Across from him, manipulating three computer consoles simultaneously, was Fat Sam. I didn't know Fat Sam's real name, but he was big, garrulous, with a beard. He had been confined to a wheelchair since his early teens.
"Looks like you kids pulled it off," Fat Sam observed.
"Thanks to you," Lizzie told him, brushing back her hair, which had been whipped across her face by the wind.
Fat Sam looked flustered. "We didn't do much," he protested, then nodded toward me. "This one's the guy you need to thank."
Lizzie looked at me and smiled. "I know." I felt uncomfortable.
Fat Sam cleared his throat, then turned back to his computers. "Power is restored," He was talking to us, but his eyes were glued to his computer screens. "But the phones are still disabled, sprinklers disabled, and their cell phone services are being scrambled. We can set off the fires from here, and the firefighters will never know until it's too late." He turned to Lizzie. "Or, we can pack it in, call it mission accomplished. It's your call."
Lizzie looked back over her shoulder at the Lambda Chi Alpha house, the mini-mansion that had been the scene of too many horrible nights that she would be fighting to forget for the rest of her life. "Let it burn," she whispered.
"They started this fire," Fat Sam mused as his fingers flew over the keyboards. "We're here to extinguish it." From inside the house, there came several loud pops and pows, followed by yells and screams, then frat boys and cheerleaders spewing out of the front door, being chased by a reed of smoke.
"That sound, boys and girls, is what internal wiring sounds like, when it overloads. Faulty wiring's what we call that. Below code, don't you know? Probably been like that since it was built, right?" I nodded. There was nothing wrong with the wiring in that house. At least, not before Labor Day.
"We shouldn't be hanging around here too much longer," Miranda warned everyone.
"Oh, no, indeedy," Fat Sam said, rubbing his hands together. "Wouldn't do to draw attention to this innocuous little cable TV van." Miranda and Lizzie walked back around to my car. I remained behind, looking at all the computer and satellite equipment crammed into the van, knowing there had been two more just like it following Kate the last few weeks. I marveled at it all. One of the guys told me later that they had funneled about 17 million dollars from JPL's operating budget, in order to bring Lizzie back to us. I couldn't think of a better use for the government's money. So it would push back the search for life on other planets by a week. I didn't care. That day, I only cared about life on my street.
"Hey," Fat Sam winked at me. "I put in a good word for you there, right? What do you think?"
I bit my lip and said, "I don't know how to say thanks, guys," I told them.
Eric shrugged from the driver's seat. "Just say thanks."
"Thanks."
"We didn't do it for you, dickweed," Fat Sam chortled. "We did it for the little girl."
"I know," I acknowledged, and started to close the van's back door, when Fat Sam called to me.
"Hey!" he said, and I stopped and looked. "Don't let us hear that you broke her heart, kid."
"It's not like that," I pointed out. "We're just friends."
Fat Sam and Gary studied me for a moment, then looked at each other. Then all three of them burst out in laughter. "Yeah, right," Fat Sam nodded knowingly. "Get outta here!"
I slammed the door shut, and the van immediately backed out of its parking space. Lizzie and Miranda were already in my car, Lizzie in the back seat. Great streamers of smoke were pouring from the most of the first floor windows of the frat house by now, and you could hear sirens approaching from the west. They would be too late. I climbed in the car beside Miranda and turned the key in the ignition.
It was two o'clock on Homecoming afternoon when we arrived safely back at Lizzie's house. Lizzie's parents were at work, of course, and Matt was in the back yard, digging a big hole. *Sigh* Lizzie hadn't said much on the ride back. Thinking about how I had let her down, probably. She was standing at the big window in the kitchen, looking out into the back yard. "I...um...I should probably be going," I said from behind her, and she turned to face me. "I mean, I should make dubs. Of the dvd."
Lizzie crossed the room to stand in front of me, and reached out, and clasped my hands in hers. "You have always been, and will always be, my knight in shining armor," she told me, and with that, she turned her head to the side, and kissed me gently on the cheek. She looked at me for a moment, with glistening eyes, and tilted her head and kissed me again, this time on the lips. "Thank you, Gordo," she whispered.
I nodded, then said, "Get some rest, okay?"
She smiled through her tears, but this time, they were tears of joy. "I think I'll sleep until Thanksgiving."
I exited as gracefully as I could. Miranda walked me to the front door, and out onto the porch. We closed the door behind us. Miranda looked deeply into my eyes, and said, "Lizzie and Gordo, sittin' in a tree, K-I-S-S--"
I laughed ruefully. "Cut it out, 'randa," I warned her. I studied her for a moment, then said, "Daredevil. Cause he's the blind one." I looked back to the closed front door, considering. "You don't really think...she.... Nah. She just got a little emotional." I looked to Miranda for support, for confirmation. Miranda only shrugged. Why is it that normally you can't shut her up, but when you're looking for advice, she can't give you just one little word...?
"You did good today, Gordo," she told me. "I'm so proud of you."
I shuffled my feet. "Um, I should go."
"Yeah," she agreed. "I'll stick around for a while, look after her. I think she's gonna be okay, though. She's our Lizzie." I stepped off the porch, and Miranda opened the door and returned to the McGuire home. I started to my car, then changed my mind. I felt like walking home. I could return later that evening to pick up my car, or maybe even Saturday. It wouldn't be the first time, and the McGuire's would be accommodating.
And so, my story draws to a close.
There were some loose ends, and I know you have questions.
Did Lizzie eventually gather up the courage to confess to Cody's family what happened to her that Memorial Day night? You knew she would, right? I mean, I cautioned you at the beginning. She always ends up doing the right thing. Cody's parents remembered all the time that Lizzie had spent with the recuperating young boy--Cody had in fact developed a pretty big crush on Lizzie--and they assured Lizzie that she had done nothing that needed to be forgiven. As for any legal action, Kate was right. The family's attorney followed the money, and filed suit against Kate's parents. The case was settled out of court, and Kate was sent to military school.
It may have seemed that some of the others got off a little easy, after the way they treated Lizzie. Keep in mind that our legal options were limited, that any kind of action that involved the authorities would have meant revealing to everyone what Lizzie went through, something that Lizzie wasn't willing to do, even with...especially with...her family. That doesn't mean we didn't have extra-legal options, which we took advantage of, in what we like to call The Case of the Sterile Staircase...but in all fairness, that's Lizzie's tale to tell, if she ever decides to tell it.
Did Lizzie eventually come back to us? Lizzie was able to find a counselor at a free clinic that helped her through the trauma without anyone knowing, except Miranda and me, of course. It took several months, but she.... Well, no, I guess that's not being honest with myself. I guess it'll never completely go away. A part of her will always be affected. She'll have trust issues, intimacy issues, perhaps for the rest of her life. It's all we can do to try to minimize that, to bring back most of the very most typical Lizzie McGuire. And I think we're getting there. She's strong. She's my hero, you know.
She still looks at me as her hero, but that's not the case. You understand, don't you? You understand who in my story truly laid the groundwork for saving Lizzie, right? If you think it was me, or Miranda, you're wrong. If you think it was the psychedelic whiz kids of JPL, you haven't been paying attention. The one most responsible for coming to Lizzie's rescue? Lizzie. Because, you see, if it weren't for the cards and letters that she wrote to me during my internship, missives filled with care and concern and compassion and beauty and love for most everyone she met, she would have had no big brothers to look after her.
Miranda became lead singer in her own band, and was soon--get this--dating a drummer.
I know there's one more question that most of you have, perhaps the biggest question of all, the question that some people just can't seem to get on with their lives, without knowing the answer. The question? Did Lizzie and I ever hook up, get together? Did we dare to try to expand our friendship into...something more?
And the answer? That, my friends, is another story.
They say that life is a journey, and when..... Aw, to hell with what they say. Do you want to know what I say?
When I look back on my life, and remember the days when friends stood by friends, always faithful, never abandoning, and with love, and support, and respect, saved one another's souls, and freed them from spiritual bondage, I say Life...is...GOOD!
THE END
Author's notes:
In deference to Euir, I've withheld Author comments until the end, but before I go any further, I do need to respond to one of your observations, Euir. You said, "who say that romance can make a reader bored?" That's a little bit of a straw man, because I never said that. What I said was that the audience will grow bored with the characters, not with the romance. I know that there are well-written romances that aren't boring. Hell, I think I've written some. I just think that when you give the main character her heart's desire--which, in Lizzie's case would be (a) popularity and (b) a happy romantic relationship--there's no more story there; you've reached the end of the journey. If I as a writer ever consummate the relationship between Lizzie and Gordo, I will have said everything I intend to say about the couple by that point, and that will be the end of my story.
This has been an exciting experiment for me: my first venture into fan fiction.
I had only two goals in mind, and your reviews can help me understand where I hit the mark, and where I might have shot a little wide.
The first goal was to keep the characters in character. Can you believe, or accept, that the characters you know from the series, might be these characters, a couple of years later?
The second goal was to avoid the cliche. Did we go where you expected from the beginning, or did I throw any curve balls? And were those curve balls fair, in the overall context of the story, or did I cheat? It would probably involve going back and reading the entire story, from the beginning, before you can honestly answer the second question, but hey, that's your job as a reviewer. If you guessed correctly about anything that eventually came to pass in this story, was it because you picked up on foreshadowing, or was it because you've seen it done many times before?
The answers to these questions will help me, in any future fanfics. If any of these guys ever feel the urge to tell their stories, that is. Thanks, guys. It's been a wild ride.
Dr. Strange