Chapter Eleven: No Ordinary Project
A/N: One hundred reviews!? Already?? This must be a hit. It's not even half over yet! Planned everything out, and there are approximately 24 chapters. Haha, you guys seem *very* fond of Nicole. LOL... you haven't seen the end of her! I'm glad everyone likes this, because I don't think it's that good. Here's a goal for this story: 200 reviews. And not all of the same people. Yup.
I know that Gordo doesn't know about Lizzie's crush in "The Untitled Stan Jansen Project", but pretend as if he were acting. He could have been, right...?
Stacey's mom has got it going on... Stacey's mom has got it going on... Stacey do you remember when I mowed your lawn...? Your mom came out with just a towel on... LOL I love that song!!! It's one of my favorites. :)
LONG CHAPPIE, REVIEWS APPRECIATED! This is about fifth grade. I think you guys will enjoy this. Two more chapters until it gets L/G! You can't contain your enthusiasm, eh? ^_^
***
Gordo's POV
Fifth grade was a good year for me. I got really good grades, my teacher was nice, and I hadn't gotten into a fight with Lizzie, Kate, or Miranda all year. It seemed great until this terrifying project.
Out teacher, Mrs. Wonder, was just about the wackiest teacher on the face of the earth, and she was cool... but the project... THE project, was something kids who were in college still remembered. They remembered the pain and sheer torture they had to go through. Let me tell you, a week is *much* longer than it seems.
I didn't believe the stupid rumors about the project, and thought it would be no problem. Just breeze through it. Easy as American Pie.
But it wasn't.
I learned a lot... especially about my best friend.
***
"I'm sorry, Lizzie, Gordo... there's an odd number of boys and girls. I hoped that because you are such great friends, it wouldn't be much of a problem." Mrs. Wonder looked at both of us sympathetically.
"Oh, it's no problem!" I exclaimed, hoping I sounded convincing.
Lizzie looked at me with a 'what-are-you-doing-it-is-not-no-problem' face. "Yeah, just swell." She muttered under her breath.
"Oh, good." Mrs. Wonder let out a sigh of relief, and walked away.
Lizzie turned to me with her mouth open. "Are you insane? You know what you just did? I have to be *you* for a whole entire week!"
"Sorry." I looked at the ground. "It's not like I'm looking forward to spending a week being you, either."
Yeah, that was Mrs. Wonder's terrifying project. You had to spend a whole week as someone else. It didn't seem to bad... at first. Until you heard the rules. You have to sleep in their bed, eat their favorite cereal, watch their favorite TV shows, hang out with their friends, chew the ends of their pencils if they do that, and you couldn't change a single one of their habits or else you'd get a bad grade. It was her way of studying habitats.
She scoffed. "Have fun."
***
I woke up the next morning, drowsy as ever. "Ugh..." I moaned, and reached under the pillow to get my watch out from underneath it. But it wasn't there. My hand hit something hard and square instead.
I looked around and was confused for a moment, then remembered. I was in Lizzie's house, in Lizzie's room, in Lizzie's bed, feeling under Lizzie's pillow, and feeling Lizzie's...
I pulled the rectangle-shaped object from under the pillow. It was a book, with little hearts and little swirly designs on the front like most fifth grade girls' notebooks were like. I opened it, despite the pangs of guilt I was feeling.
LIZZIE'S DIARY
It was written in big bold letters on the first page. I smiled. So this was Lizzie's diary. I had been waiting for this to show up. I turned the page and read to myself what she had written, not even noticing, let alone *caring* about school.
*October 15th, 1997
Crushes, crushes. So sick of hearing about them. I don't have a crush. Gordo doesn't have a crush. We are the only ones. Miranda has that Shawn Miller guy, and Kate has Daniel what-his-last-name. Is it a crime that I don't know anybody worth crushing on?
We're too young to be thinking about that stuff anyway. What's the point of crushing if you can't date and stuff? And I don't get the point of dating, anyway. I mean, maybe when we're old enough to marry and junk, but now... we're too young. I guess Gordo and I are the only mature ones around here.
But enough boring stuff. You wouldn't believe how weird mom and dad are acting today. I mean, I come home from school, and they are chatting away, and as soon as I get through the door, they shut up and change the subject. They were saying something about 'taxes' and 'six million dollars'...doesn't sound strange to me. Grown-ups always talk about the stock market and taxes. Snooze city. But it was so weird how they said it, like...
"six million dollars...but that's outrageous! How on earth could we owe...." then I come in. "Oh, and Amanda said she would LOVE to have us over for dinner."
I don't know, but I think something fishy is going on around here, and it's not just that everyone is obsessed with finding a crush.*
"GORDO!" I heard Mrs. McGuire's voice echo through the halls. "Are you ready for school?"
I gasped and snapped shut the diary. I was so absorbed in it that I had totally forgotten about school! I slid it underneath the pillow again, and started getting ready. I couldn't wait to get home from school and start reading again.
I guess there was one perk to this project.
***
School was very odd, seeing everyone as everyone else. We had to call them by the person that they were representing's name, and I got sick of people making fun of me by calling me Lizzie. But I didn't care. Lizzie's diary was still waiting at 'home', under the pillow.
I cracked it open to the page I had stopped at before. I had been reading about the previous year, fourth grade. I knew I should've been feeling guilty, but I wasn't. I felt because I was playing Lizzie's role, I could read her diary. And anyway, curiosity would've overpowered guilt any day.
November 2nd, 1997
LM loves DG
Mrs. Elizabeth Gordon
Lizzie & Gordo 4ever
My jaw dropped open and I flushed about eight shades of beet red. Me? Lizzie and me? She had written this with some other intention, for sure. But who else has the initials DG and has Gordon for a last name, and GORDO for a first name. That sure wasn't common.
It couldn't be...
Lizzie had a crush on me.
I couldn't stand it anymore. I looked at the next page, itching for details and an explanation. Lizzie was my best friend. Nothing more. She couldn't be! I liked Nicole... so therefore, Lizzie couldn't like me! Friends weren't supposed to like friends!
But there was the evidence, encircled in large hearts. Mrs. Elizabeth Gordon?? Did she think I was going to marry her or something? Were these hormones going crazy? We were just fifth graders... no, wait, in this case, fourth graders!
*Yay! I have my first crush. I don't know how it happened. Just... today I noticed how... amazing Gordo's eyes were. They absorbed me... and I couldn't help but think what it would feel like to hold his hand, walk side by side and drown in his eyes. It seems so... right.
I know he's my best friend and all... but that's the great thing about it! He knows and understands me. He's cute, nice, funny... what more could a girl need? He takes my breath away. It's been only one day, but it feels like I've ached for him for all eternity.
Wow. Look at that. Now I know where Shakespeare got his wacko words and stuff. Love does stuff to people. It's poetic. Ached for all eternity? I would have never thought of saying that any day before. But the words fit so well...
Hey, now I get it! That one thing: A rose by any other name would smell as sweet. I get it now! It means that even if Gordo's name was... I don't know.... Jeffery or Donald or something, he would still be my sweet little Gordo.
He is *so* dreamy.
And even if we don't get together until eleventh grade, that's fine, because the very thought of being his girlfriend sends shivers up my spine and makes me tingle in excitement. I can just imagine us... seven years from now, him driving me around town in his little car, I clutching his shoulder and running my hand through his amazing chocolate hair... wow, I can't wait!*
This time I dropped the diary flat on the ground. Lizzie was insane! Running her fingers through my hair! Where did she come up with this stuff!? I couldn't believe my best friend had written this! It was uncalled for!
I took the diary and placed it where it belonged, still trying to get over the shock.
Maybe I had taken this project a little *too* far.
A/N: One hundred reviews!? Already?? This must be a hit. It's not even half over yet! Planned everything out, and there are approximately 24 chapters. Haha, you guys seem *very* fond of Nicole. LOL... you haven't seen the end of her! I'm glad everyone likes this, because I don't think it's that good. Here's a goal for this story: 200 reviews. And not all of the same people. Yup.
I know that Gordo doesn't know about Lizzie's crush in "The Untitled Stan Jansen Project", but pretend as if he were acting. He could have been, right...?
Stacey's mom has got it going on... Stacey's mom has got it going on... Stacey do you remember when I mowed your lawn...? Your mom came out with just a towel on... LOL I love that song!!! It's one of my favorites. :)
LONG CHAPPIE, REVIEWS APPRECIATED! This is about fifth grade. I think you guys will enjoy this. Two more chapters until it gets L/G! You can't contain your enthusiasm, eh? ^_^
***
Gordo's POV
Fifth grade was a good year for me. I got really good grades, my teacher was nice, and I hadn't gotten into a fight with Lizzie, Kate, or Miranda all year. It seemed great until this terrifying project.
Out teacher, Mrs. Wonder, was just about the wackiest teacher on the face of the earth, and she was cool... but the project... THE project, was something kids who were in college still remembered. They remembered the pain and sheer torture they had to go through. Let me tell you, a week is *much* longer than it seems.
I didn't believe the stupid rumors about the project, and thought it would be no problem. Just breeze through it. Easy as American Pie.
But it wasn't.
I learned a lot... especially about my best friend.
***
"I'm sorry, Lizzie, Gordo... there's an odd number of boys and girls. I hoped that because you are such great friends, it wouldn't be much of a problem." Mrs. Wonder looked at both of us sympathetically.
"Oh, it's no problem!" I exclaimed, hoping I sounded convincing.
Lizzie looked at me with a 'what-are-you-doing-it-is-not-no-problem' face. "Yeah, just swell." She muttered under her breath.
"Oh, good." Mrs. Wonder let out a sigh of relief, and walked away.
Lizzie turned to me with her mouth open. "Are you insane? You know what you just did? I have to be *you* for a whole entire week!"
"Sorry." I looked at the ground. "It's not like I'm looking forward to spending a week being you, either."
Yeah, that was Mrs. Wonder's terrifying project. You had to spend a whole week as someone else. It didn't seem to bad... at first. Until you heard the rules. You have to sleep in their bed, eat their favorite cereal, watch their favorite TV shows, hang out with their friends, chew the ends of their pencils if they do that, and you couldn't change a single one of their habits or else you'd get a bad grade. It was her way of studying habitats.
She scoffed. "Have fun."
***
I woke up the next morning, drowsy as ever. "Ugh..." I moaned, and reached under the pillow to get my watch out from underneath it. But it wasn't there. My hand hit something hard and square instead.
I looked around and was confused for a moment, then remembered. I was in Lizzie's house, in Lizzie's room, in Lizzie's bed, feeling under Lizzie's pillow, and feeling Lizzie's...
I pulled the rectangle-shaped object from under the pillow. It was a book, with little hearts and little swirly designs on the front like most fifth grade girls' notebooks were like. I opened it, despite the pangs of guilt I was feeling.
LIZZIE'S DIARY
It was written in big bold letters on the first page. I smiled. So this was Lizzie's diary. I had been waiting for this to show up. I turned the page and read to myself what she had written, not even noticing, let alone *caring* about school.
*October 15th, 1997
Crushes, crushes. So sick of hearing about them. I don't have a crush. Gordo doesn't have a crush. We are the only ones. Miranda has that Shawn Miller guy, and Kate has Daniel what-his-last-name. Is it a crime that I don't know anybody worth crushing on?
We're too young to be thinking about that stuff anyway. What's the point of crushing if you can't date and stuff? And I don't get the point of dating, anyway. I mean, maybe when we're old enough to marry and junk, but now... we're too young. I guess Gordo and I are the only mature ones around here.
But enough boring stuff. You wouldn't believe how weird mom and dad are acting today. I mean, I come home from school, and they are chatting away, and as soon as I get through the door, they shut up and change the subject. They were saying something about 'taxes' and 'six million dollars'...doesn't sound strange to me. Grown-ups always talk about the stock market and taxes. Snooze city. But it was so weird how they said it, like...
"six million dollars...but that's outrageous! How on earth could we owe...." then I come in. "Oh, and Amanda said she would LOVE to have us over for dinner."
I don't know, but I think something fishy is going on around here, and it's not just that everyone is obsessed with finding a crush.*
"GORDO!" I heard Mrs. McGuire's voice echo through the halls. "Are you ready for school?"
I gasped and snapped shut the diary. I was so absorbed in it that I had totally forgotten about school! I slid it underneath the pillow again, and started getting ready. I couldn't wait to get home from school and start reading again.
I guess there was one perk to this project.
***
School was very odd, seeing everyone as everyone else. We had to call them by the person that they were representing's name, and I got sick of people making fun of me by calling me Lizzie. But I didn't care. Lizzie's diary was still waiting at 'home', under the pillow.
I cracked it open to the page I had stopped at before. I had been reading about the previous year, fourth grade. I knew I should've been feeling guilty, but I wasn't. I felt because I was playing Lizzie's role, I could read her diary. And anyway, curiosity would've overpowered guilt any day.
November 2nd, 1997
LM loves DG
Mrs. Elizabeth Gordon
Lizzie & Gordo 4ever
My jaw dropped open and I flushed about eight shades of beet red. Me? Lizzie and me? She had written this with some other intention, for sure. But who else has the initials DG and has Gordon for a last name, and GORDO for a first name. That sure wasn't common.
It couldn't be...
Lizzie had a crush on me.
I couldn't stand it anymore. I looked at the next page, itching for details and an explanation. Lizzie was my best friend. Nothing more. She couldn't be! I liked Nicole... so therefore, Lizzie couldn't like me! Friends weren't supposed to like friends!
But there was the evidence, encircled in large hearts. Mrs. Elizabeth Gordon?? Did she think I was going to marry her or something? Were these hormones going crazy? We were just fifth graders... no, wait, in this case, fourth graders!
*Yay! I have my first crush. I don't know how it happened. Just... today I noticed how... amazing Gordo's eyes were. They absorbed me... and I couldn't help but think what it would feel like to hold his hand, walk side by side and drown in his eyes. It seems so... right.
I know he's my best friend and all... but that's the great thing about it! He knows and understands me. He's cute, nice, funny... what more could a girl need? He takes my breath away. It's been only one day, but it feels like I've ached for him for all eternity.
Wow. Look at that. Now I know where Shakespeare got his wacko words and stuff. Love does stuff to people. It's poetic. Ached for all eternity? I would have never thought of saying that any day before. But the words fit so well...
Hey, now I get it! That one thing: A rose by any other name would smell as sweet. I get it now! It means that even if Gordo's name was... I don't know.... Jeffery or Donald or something, he would still be my sweet little Gordo.
He is *so* dreamy.
And even if we don't get together until eleventh grade, that's fine, because the very thought of being his girlfriend sends shivers up my spine and makes me tingle in excitement. I can just imagine us... seven years from now, him driving me around town in his little car, I clutching his shoulder and running my hand through his amazing chocolate hair... wow, I can't wait!*
This time I dropped the diary flat on the ground. Lizzie was insane! Running her fingers through my hair! Where did she come up with this stuff!? I couldn't believe my best friend had written this! It was uncalled for!
I took the diary and placed it where it belonged, still trying to get over the shock.
Maybe I had taken this project a little *too* far.