AN: READ THE NEW ENGING TO CHAPTER 2. It is very important before you read
this chapter. With that said I just want to tell you that school started
this week, can you believe that, so I will be updating even slower than
usual. Anyways, I hope you like this chapter, I do. I have really changed
the characters, hence the title. For all you Kate fans, I have added a new
bully set on destroying Lizzie and Miranda's freshman year. Hope you like
it. BTW, I have decided to remove my little quiz at the end. Nobody was
answering.
Chapter 4: Changes
"Remember the first test is this Friday. It will cover the home keys." Lizzie's typing teacher yelled as the student's frantically put their books into their bags and headed to their next class.
Lizzie was slow to put her things away. It had been a week since Gordo had asked her out, and with each passing day the pain grew worse in her stomach. Ever since that day her stomach would tie itself in knots every time she knew she was going to see him, and continued until he was no longer in site. She knew that had not take her answer well. He had not come over to her house since that day and the trio had only been together once outside school, and then for only about a half hour. When they were together in school Gordo had become extremely quiet, despite the attempts by Lizzie and Miranda to make him talk.
"Do you want to skip Geometry today?" Lizzie asked Miranda on their way to the class.
Miranda's jaw dropped at the shock of what she just heard. She had tried to skip classes a couple of times in junior high, but Lizzie had talked her out of it. Knowing that Lizzie could never deal with conflict, or breaking the rules, she knew that something was going on. "You just don't want to see Gordo, do you?" She asked.
Lizzie thought about lying to Miranda, but she knew that Miranda would be able to see right through it. It was times like this that Lizzie wished she was able to lye. "I just can't stand him looking so sad."
"You DID reject him," Miranda added to Lizzie's displeasure
"I just never thought that he would take it so badly. I mean it's Gordo we are talking about, he never lets stuff get to him." Lizzie tried to rationalize her thoughts.
"Lizzie," Miranda said sounding like he mother, "you and I both know that some things get to him, and when they do it really affects him." Miranda looked at Lizzie and smiled. "Besides you love Geometry," Miranda said in a cheerful voice before bolting down the hallway.
Lizzie let out a small laugh before hurrying to catch up with Miranda.
It was true she had begun to enjoy her math class. It was not because the material was easy, it was because the class was so small. It turned out that Honors Geometry was only scheduled during third and sixth period. Almost everyone who was taking the class had a conflict during sixth period, thus it was only the eleven of them. Because of the smaller class, Mrs. Bell could teach faster, and pay more attention to those who were falling behind.
As Lizzie tried to fill her head with all the things she liked about sixth period, a frantic voice pulled her back. "Lizzie, Miranda," the voice shouted. The two turned around to see Ethan running towards them, knocking over three juniors on his way. "Have you seen Kate?!" he was breathing heavy, and was having a hard time getting out the words.
"No, not since this morning," Miranda answered.
"What's wrong?" Lizzie asked.
Ethan took a second to regain his breath before giving his answer. "We were just down by the gym checking the results of the cheerleader tryouts, she didn't make varsity. She just ran away, and I have been trying to find her."
"She's not a cheerleader?" Lizzie asked with great joy in her voice. She was so happy that she almost broke out into a song before she realized that Kate had changed, and did not deserve such an insult, yet. Lizzie took a deep breath and calmed herself before continuing. "I thought that she had a position locked up."
Ethan, in his immortal clueless ness, did not pick up on Lizzie's enjoyment of the situation and continued. "Naw, she is on the JV squad. Yeah see it turns out that Clair went to cheer camp this summer where the varsity captain was working, she was the only freshman to make varsity. I gota find Kate and cheer her up."
"Good luck," Miranda said as Ethan cut between the two girls and continued his quest.
Both Lizzie and Miranda giggled as they watched Ethan's head sweep back and forth frantically looking for any sign of Kate. "WOW, he is acting like he actually has a clue," Lizzie joked. She had finally got over her crush on him, and as such had become more critical of Ethan's stupidity.
"Hay," Miranda shot back at Lizzie, "that's my future husband you are talking about!" Miranda stared at Lizzie for a moment before the two broke into laughter. "But it is funny how a girl can change a guy," Miranda spoke before she realized what she was saying.
"Miranda!" Lizzie exclaimed.
"Sorry," Miranda apologized to Lizzie. The two started walking towards their next class. "You never did tell him why you turned him down did you?"
"No," Lizzie replied, "I wanted to, but I just haven't been able to talk to him since then." Lizzie's stomach was really starting to twist now. She was feeling so guilty about not telling her best friend why she said no to him. Last year she was so sad because she finally asked Ethan out and was rejected much in the same way. It wasn't until after he told her that there was no chemistry between them was she able to finally get over her feelings. She knew exactly what Gordo was going through, and she couldn't believe it was her fault.
The girls walked the rest of the way to Geometry in silence. It was not until they rounded the final corner that Miranda spoke. "I've got an idea. You have tryouts for that play next week right." Lizzie nodded her head. "Ask Gordo if he will help you rehearse."
"What good will that do?" Lizzie asked.
Miranda took a breath before beginning her explanation. "It will show Gordo that you still want to be friends with him. Plus it will get you some scheduled time to be alone with him."
"What if he says no," Lizzie nervously asked.
"Lizzie, if there is one thing that Gordo would do, it would be to make you into an actress. Come on, how many times has he asked you to be in one of his movies?" Miranda's answer was not very reassuring to Lizzie, so she decided to make one more. "But if that doesn't work, you are just going to have to go out with him." With that Miranda slipped into the classroom.
Lizzie groaned at the idea that she go out with Gordo. She would like to, but she had already made up her mind that she wouldn't. She brushed her hair back and walked into the room. To Lizzie's surprise Gordo was not in his usual seat, he was sitting at the front of the room next to Eric.
"Hi, Lizzie," came a voice behind her.
Lizzie turned to see David walking into the classroom. "Hay David, did you get the homework done today?" she asked.
"Just finished it last period," David replied just before he took his seat next to his best friends Wes and Jason.
Lizzie smiled as she took her seat next to Miranda. The other thing she liked about the small class was that even though the students had many different interests, everybody got along, and knew about everybody else. Lizzie knew that David always waited to do his homework till the last minute, thus he almost never finished it. He also hung around Wes and Jason, and the three were in the schools marching band the "Hillridge Regiment", which Eric was the drum major. Melissa and Lindsey were two other friends that were in the class. Both were already competing for Valedictorian even though they were only freshmen. The last person that was attending the class was Danny. He was quiet and usually kept to himself, but it was obvious that he had classes with some of the kids.
Gordo got up from his seat and walked towards the back of the room. "Where were you during lunch today?" Miranda asked
"I was helping Eric. I am going to be tutoring him this semester, so I will be sitting next to him during class and at lunch."
"I thought you were going to be tutoring us?" Lizzie forcefully asked.
"You two are doing just fine," he replied before returning to his seat.
Lizzie and Miranda stared at each other with a confused look on their faces. "Talk to him," Miranda demanded.
"Ok, ok, I will talk to him after class."
"Hay Eric," Danny yelled from across the room, "are you going to be academically eligible in time for the State Championships? We don't want the Pride to win like last year."
"Here we go again," Miranda quietly said to Lizzie while she rolled her eyes.
Band was not popular at Hillridge High, but they were respected, as well they should be. They had more State Championships than anybody else in the state, and were the only ones to make it to the final round at Nationals.
Unfortunately when you are the one who causes the schools rival to win, you don't go unpunished. That's what happened to Eric. He was one of the drum majors that was off to the side of the field, and during their final performance at the State Championships he somehow got off tempo, and caused the band their fifth straight title.
"We don't need him," Wes said, "we've got Jason."
Jason stood up and raised his arms, "One, Two, One, Two, Three, Four." He continued to waive his arms, and Lizzie was sure he was imitating a Drum Major. As he continued, he started changing the tempo, obviously imitating Eric's legendary performance.
"You know," Eric said while he turned to face the three, "I can't do anything about him, but you three, you three are just freshmen. I am a four-year senior, not to mention Drum Major. If you keep it up, I think you should do, I don't know, lets say three hundred pushups EACH, during tomorrow's practice."
Jason froze, his arms stuck in the air. The blood was draining from his face, and the face of his friends. Soon he resumed his seat, and just sat quietly staring into space.
Lizzie and Miranda, along with the rest of the class laughed at the three. "Glad I'm not in the band," Lizzie chucked.
"What's so funny?" Asked Mrs. Bell as she entered the room.
"We were just discussing Eric's performance at last years State Championships," Danny's answered.
"I would have expected more from you Danny," Mrs. Bell's disappointment was reinstated in her town. "I don't want to hear any more about that day ok." She sent an 'I mean it' look towards Danny, Wes, David, and Jason.
Everybody in the class knew why she did not like talking about that day. Her daughter was also in the band. She had experienced her daughters' disappointment, and was determined to help the band rebuild their confidence.
After making sure that the situation had been resolved, Mrs. Bell started class as usual. "Looks like we are missing only one student, as usual."
"Not today."
Lizzie along with the rest of the class looked at the door to see the new student. "Larry?" Lizzie exclaimed.
Standing in the doorway was Larry Tudgeman, the school nerd, or a shadow of him. During the previous spring Lizzie had given him a make over so that she could sneak him into a party. It appeared that over the summer he had allowed the make over to stick. This made the third time that he had appeared, well, cool.
As he entered the room, Mrs. Bell engaged the new student. "So you are the elusive Larry Tudgeman."
"Yes mam I am," he replied. Out of his backpack, he pulled out several sheets of paper and handed the to Mrs. Bell. "Here are all the homework assignments I missed."
Gordo let out his usual "ha, ha, ha, Tudgeman," as Larry handed in his homework.
Mrs. Bell was surprised as well to see as student so prepared. "Well thank you Larry, now if you will take your seat we can begin."
Larry walked towards the back of the room and sat down in front of Miranda.
"Did the National Star Flip convention get out late?" Miranda asked as Larry sat down.
"You are never going to say it correctly are you?" Larry replied.
This response sparked a smile to appear on Miranda's face.
Lizzie dismissed the smile to inquire about Larry's new look. "I thought you weren't going to stick to the new look I gave you!"
"Well I meet somebody over the summer who really likes it when I dress this way. I think she is blind though."
Larry's response caused Miranda's smile to grow even bigger. Lizzie also noticed that she was slightly blushing. "Why is Miranda acting so weird," Lizzie thought to herself. Suddenly the answer came into her head. "It couldn't be. Could it?" Lizzie lightly slapped Miranda's arm gaining her attention. "What was that?" she mouthed while pointing to Larry.
Miranda threw her hands palm up and mouthed back, "What?"
Mrs. Bell had started the day's lecture, and Lizzie would rather discuss the matter when Larry was not around, just in case. She turned back to the front and began copping the notes from the board.
As usual the period seemed to fly buy. Before anybody noticed the final bell had rung, and everybody was hurrying to get out of the school. Lizzie and Miranda picked up their books. "Eight days down, only like a billion more to go!" Said Lizzie as she walked towards the front of the room.
"I know who knows exactly how many days are left," Miranda hinted back at Lizzie.
"Real subtle, Miranda!"
"Hay, if I made it to subtle, it would never get past your blond hair," Miranda joked. She looked at the door over Lizzie's shoulder before continuing. "I'm outtie, I have to go get ourselves a new tutor." With a quick goodbye to Gordo, Miranda rushed out the door.
Gordo closely followed Miranda out the door. "Gordo," Lizzie exclaimed as she ran out of the classroom. "Gordo, wait up."
Gordo stopped in the hall and waited for Lizzie to catch up with him. "What's up?" he asked Lizzie.
"My drama class is having auditions for 'Twelve Angry Citizens' in a coupe of weeks and I was wondering if you would be able to help me rehearse?" Lizzie's stomach was twisted in knots as she asked the question. She was really hoping that he would say yes and things would return to the way they use to be.
A confused look came over Gordo's face. "Twelve angry CITIZENS?" he asked.
"Yeah," Lizzie replied hoping that his inquiry meant that he was willing to help. "It is a re-write of 'Twelve Angry Men,' but it has women in some of the roles because we don't have 12 guys.
"Sorry Lizzie I would love to help you but I am too busy," Gordo replied as the two walked down the hall.
"What do you mean, you are too busy?" Lizzie was trying hard not to shout at Gordo. She knew that there was probably a reasonable explanation, but she wanted the old Gordo to return. The one that would drop everything to help Miranda or herself with anything, the Gordo she still had a crush on. "You just agreed to tutor Eric, but you can't come over and help me with a stupid audition?"
Gordo noticed the small amount of anger in Lizzie's voice, which caused him to become angry as well. "I'm sorry Lizzie, I am taking six upper level classes, many of which Larry and myself are the only freshmen. I have the directors club, and now that I have agreed to tutor Eric, I have no free time left. I am sorry Lizzie, but you are just to late."
Gordo started walking faster, indicating that the conversation was now over. "Wait a sec. Gordo," Lizzie yelled as she grabbed his arm and causing him to turn back towards Lizzie. "I know why you don't want to hang around me," She said in a quiet voice."
"Of course you do. I just told you, I don't have time," Gordo Screamed back at her.
"No the real reason," Lizzie replied. She was trying as hard a she could to keep from crying. Lizzie never liked fighting with Gordo, but this was the first time she felt that it was her fault. "I know that you don't want to be around me anymore because I said no to you." Lizzie finished as a tear began rolling down her face.
"What are you talking about?" Gordo asked angrily.
"I just never told you why, and I think if you understood......"
"I do understand. You don't feel the same way about me that I feel about you. I GET IT." With that said, Gordo quickly walked around the corner.
Lizzie had no idea what to do now. She was tired of fighting with Gordo, so she decided not to pursue him. "But I do," was the only thing she could think of saying.
"Yeah right," Gordo quietly said to himself as he walked to his locker. "If you like me so much why did you say no."
Gordo was still angry when he arrived at his locker. After opening it, which he had now mastered, he pulled out the note that he had kept in his wallet. Gordo opened the piece of paper and set it on top of his books. As fast as he could he turned the picture that he kept inside the note over so that he could not see the person in it. He stared at the letter, but did not read it. He had the entire note memorized. As he thought about the words in the note, he heard a familiar voice. He looked around and saw a tall black fellow walking down the hall surrounded by what Gordo suspected were senior. He quickly returned the note into his wallet, shut his locker, and walked towards the seniors.
"Hay, you sold me an elevator pass last year," he said with an unusually stern voice.
"Sorry man, but no refunds." The senior replied and then returned to his previous conversation.
"I don't want a refund, I want two more!" Gordo demanded
The senior's attention was again broken away from his friends. A confused look fell upon his face as he asked, "You want to buy more?"
"When did I say I wanted to buy anything?" Gordo's brain was boiling. By this time he was no longer sure of what he was saying. All he knew was that he felt extremely confident, and knew that this senior could not stand in the way of his ultimate goal, the passes.
"Ah, you think that I am going to hand over two elevator passes to a sophomore." The senior took a few steps closer towards Gordo. His hands motioned for his friends to follow him. "I don't think that you figured out how this school works last year. Why don't me and my friends from the football team give you a little review."
For the first time during this conversation Gordo realized the severity of the situation. The senior he had been talking to, along with three rather large and muscular guys, and one extremely fat fellow, were walking towards him. Gordo slowly raised his foot, preparing to back away from the approaching mob. Although his leg was moving slowly, his brain was moving faster than ever trying to figure out a way out of it. By the time his foot was a few inches above the ground a plan formed in his mind. It was risky, he knew some facts, but with a bit of creative lying and some good acting he might be able to pull it off.
His foot was moving backwards now, but suddenly changed directions, and Gordo took a large step towards the five seniors. This action caused the five to start laughing. Gordo stood no chance against any one of them, let alone all five. His act of bravery, just made the seniors want to hurt him more.
"I will give you two options," Gordo sternly told the seniors.
"Oh, and what are they?" one of them asked.
"One, you can give me the passes....."
"That's not going to happen," another senior replied.
"Or two, I tell Miss Ungermeyer that you are the ones distributing the elevator passes." Gordo only knew that she was looking hard for the source, he was hoping that it was them. His plan was working, the head senior motioned to the others to stop. Gordo took this opportunity to continue. "I also know that you organized last years attacks on the freshmen. I bet she would love to hear about that."
The head senior looked at Gordo and started laughing. "Man, you really want to die this year don't you? If you tell that to Miss Ungermeyer, you won't live to see Christmas."
Gordo took another step towards the black senior. "I heard you did a really good gob. So good in fact, you made the seniors look like fools. It would be a shame if Joey Emerson found out that you did it. I walked by his house the other day, overheard him tell his girlfriend how much he would like to 'crush the person responsible for that.' And by the way, I am only a freshman." This second speech was again a combination of truth and lies.
The head senior looked at the rest of the group, then back to Gordo. "You've got guts kid, talking to us like that. I respect that. What's your name?"
Unsure if he had succeeded or not, Gordo simply replied, "Gordo."
The group of seniors broke into laughter. "Gordo? Where your parents hippies or something?" the head senior asked.
"No, my name is David Gordon, but everybody calls me Gordo."
"What kind of fourth grade nickname is Gordo?" One of the seniors asked. The ironic part was that Kate had given him that name in the fourth grade.
"David huh," the senior replied. "It isn't the best name in the world, but it's better than Gordo. Come on David let's talk." The group started walking down the hallway as the head senior introduced himself. "My name is Bryan, this is Greg," he pointed to a tall blond guy that looked like he could be the Quarterback. "This is Ken and Dan," David knew who they where, they were the wide receivers on the football team. "And finally this is JB," Bryan pointed to the fat guy, who was most defiantly on the offensive line.
After Bryan introduced David to the rest of the group the conversation returned to the elevator passes. "We normally start tormenting the freshmen on the first day of school. But as you said Miss Ungermeyer is keeping a close eye on us, so we are waiting a while. She has really started to ease up on us so starting Monday the freshman are toast." Bryan slammed his fist into his hand. The others let out a villainous laugh. "I will give you the two passes then."
David was relived to hear that he was going to receive the passes, but something that Bryan said made him nervous. "Are all the freshman toast?" He asked.
Bryan laughed. "No, there is a small list of freshman that we will leave alone. I think your actions today just got you on the list. Actually it is nice to have one of the enemy on our side, so you could help us if you want."
"Cool," he replied to Bryan. After engaging Bryan, David had been full of energy, something that he had never felt before in his life. He was now on the other side of the fence, and he was beginning to like it.
Greg, the Quarterback, turned to David, "So David, if you are a freshman, how did Bryan sell you an elevator pass last year?"
David did not want to go into the story, but knew he would have to. "The school wanted me to skip 8th grade so I came here. I did not want to end up like the guys in my classes that worked all day and never had any fun. So I decided to go back to junior high to be with my friends." Actually he was now rethinking that decision.
To David's surprise nobody cared that he was smart enough to skip a grade, or that he had elected to return to junior high. They just kept walking talking about everything from football and cheerleaders, to freshmen and Miss Ungermeyer.
The group left the school and David headed for his bus. As he walked Bryan asked him one final question. "So David, what is so important that you blackmail a group of seniors for a measly two elevator passes."
David's blood was still hot from the argument the two had. He stared strait into Bryan's eyes and with a stern voice said, "Revenge!"
Chapter 4: Changes
"Remember the first test is this Friday. It will cover the home keys." Lizzie's typing teacher yelled as the student's frantically put their books into their bags and headed to their next class.
Lizzie was slow to put her things away. It had been a week since Gordo had asked her out, and with each passing day the pain grew worse in her stomach. Ever since that day her stomach would tie itself in knots every time she knew she was going to see him, and continued until he was no longer in site. She knew that had not take her answer well. He had not come over to her house since that day and the trio had only been together once outside school, and then for only about a half hour. When they were together in school Gordo had become extremely quiet, despite the attempts by Lizzie and Miranda to make him talk.
"Do you want to skip Geometry today?" Lizzie asked Miranda on their way to the class.
Miranda's jaw dropped at the shock of what she just heard. She had tried to skip classes a couple of times in junior high, but Lizzie had talked her out of it. Knowing that Lizzie could never deal with conflict, or breaking the rules, she knew that something was going on. "You just don't want to see Gordo, do you?" She asked.
Lizzie thought about lying to Miranda, but she knew that Miranda would be able to see right through it. It was times like this that Lizzie wished she was able to lye. "I just can't stand him looking so sad."
"You DID reject him," Miranda added to Lizzie's displeasure
"I just never thought that he would take it so badly. I mean it's Gordo we are talking about, he never lets stuff get to him." Lizzie tried to rationalize her thoughts.
"Lizzie," Miranda said sounding like he mother, "you and I both know that some things get to him, and when they do it really affects him." Miranda looked at Lizzie and smiled. "Besides you love Geometry," Miranda said in a cheerful voice before bolting down the hallway.
Lizzie let out a small laugh before hurrying to catch up with Miranda.
It was true she had begun to enjoy her math class. It was not because the material was easy, it was because the class was so small. It turned out that Honors Geometry was only scheduled during third and sixth period. Almost everyone who was taking the class had a conflict during sixth period, thus it was only the eleven of them. Because of the smaller class, Mrs. Bell could teach faster, and pay more attention to those who were falling behind.
As Lizzie tried to fill her head with all the things she liked about sixth period, a frantic voice pulled her back. "Lizzie, Miranda," the voice shouted. The two turned around to see Ethan running towards them, knocking over three juniors on his way. "Have you seen Kate?!" he was breathing heavy, and was having a hard time getting out the words.
"No, not since this morning," Miranda answered.
"What's wrong?" Lizzie asked.
Ethan took a second to regain his breath before giving his answer. "We were just down by the gym checking the results of the cheerleader tryouts, she didn't make varsity. She just ran away, and I have been trying to find her."
"She's not a cheerleader?" Lizzie asked with great joy in her voice. She was so happy that she almost broke out into a song before she realized that Kate had changed, and did not deserve such an insult, yet. Lizzie took a deep breath and calmed herself before continuing. "I thought that she had a position locked up."
Ethan, in his immortal clueless ness, did not pick up on Lizzie's enjoyment of the situation and continued. "Naw, she is on the JV squad. Yeah see it turns out that Clair went to cheer camp this summer where the varsity captain was working, she was the only freshman to make varsity. I gota find Kate and cheer her up."
"Good luck," Miranda said as Ethan cut between the two girls and continued his quest.
Both Lizzie and Miranda giggled as they watched Ethan's head sweep back and forth frantically looking for any sign of Kate. "WOW, he is acting like he actually has a clue," Lizzie joked. She had finally got over her crush on him, and as such had become more critical of Ethan's stupidity.
"Hay," Miranda shot back at Lizzie, "that's my future husband you are talking about!" Miranda stared at Lizzie for a moment before the two broke into laughter. "But it is funny how a girl can change a guy," Miranda spoke before she realized what she was saying.
"Miranda!" Lizzie exclaimed.
"Sorry," Miranda apologized to Lizzie. The two started walking towards their next class. "You never did tell him why you turned him down did you?"
"No," Lizzie replied, "I wanted to, but I just haven't been able to talk to him since then." Lizzie's stomach was really starting to twist now. She was feeling so guilty about not telling her best friend why she said no to him. Last year she was so sad because she finally asked Ethan out and was rejected much in the same way. It wasn't until after he told her that there was no chemistry between them was she able to finally get over her feelings. She knew exactly what Gordo was going through, and she couldn't believe it was her fault.
The girls walked the rest of the way to Geometry in silence. It was not until they rounded the final corner that Miranda spoke. "I've got an idea. You have tryouts for that play next week right." Lizzie nodded her head. "Ask Gordo if he will help you rehearse."
"What good will that do?" Lizzie asked.
Miranda took a breath before beginning her explanation. "It will show Gordo that you still want to be friends with him. Plus it will get you some scheduled time to be alone with him."
"What if he says no," Lizzie nervously asked.
"Lizzie, if there is one thing that Gordo would do, it would be to make you into an actress. Come on, how many times has he asked you to be in one of his movies?" Miranda's answer was not very reassuring to Lizzie, so she decided to make one more. "But if that doesn't work, you are just going to have to go out with him." With that Miranda slipped into the classroom.
Lizzie groaned at the idea that she go out with Gordo. She would like to, but she had already made up her mind that she wouldn't. She brushed her hair back and walked into the room. To Lizzie's surprise Gordo was not in his usual seat, he was sitting at the front of the room next to Eric.
"Hi, Lizzie," came a voice behind her.
Lizzie turned to see David walking into the classroom. "Hay David, did you get the homework done today?" she asked.
"Just finished it last period," David replied just before he took his seat next to his best friends Wes and Jason.
Lizzie smiled as she took her seat next to Miranda. The other thing she liked about the small class was that even though the students had many different interests, everybody got along, and knew about everybody else. Lizzie knew that David always waited to do his homework till the last minute, thus he almost never finished it. He also hung around Wes and Jason, and the three were in the schools marching band the "Hillridge Regiment", which Eric was the drum major. Melissa and Lindsey were two other friends that were in the class. Both were already competing for Valedictorian even though they were only freshmen. The last person that was attending the class was Danny. He was quiet and usually kept to himself, but it was obvious that he had classes with some of the kids.
Gordo got up from his seat and walked towards the back of the room. "Where were you during lunch today?" Miranda asked
"I was helping Eric. I am going to be tutoring him this semester, so I will be sitting next to him during class and at lunch."
"I thought you were going to be tutoring us?" Lizzie forcefully asked.
"You two are doing just fine," he replied before returning to his seat.
Lizzie and Miranda stared at each other with a confused look on their faces. "Talk to him," Miranda demanded.
"Ok, ok, I will talk to him after class."
"Hay Eric," Danny yelled from across the room, "are you going to be academically eligible in time for the State Championships? We don't want the Pride to win like last year."
"Here we go again," Miranda quietly said to Lizzie while she rolled her eyes.
Band was not popular at Hillridge High, but they were respected, as well they should be. They had more State Championships than anybody else in the state, and were the only ones to make it to the final round at Nationals.
Unfortunately when you are the one who causes the schools rival to win, you don't go unpunished. That's what happened to Eric. He was one of the drum majors that was off to the side of the field, and during their final performance at the State Championships he somehow got off tempo, and caused the band their fifth straight title.
"We don't need him," Wes said, "we've got Jason."
Jason stood up and raised his arms, "One, Two, One, Two, Three, Four." He continued to waive his arms, and Lizzie was sure he was imitating a Drum Major. As he continued, he started changing the tempo, obviously imitating Eric's legendary performance.
"You know," Eric said while he turned to face the three, "I can't do anything about him, but you three, you three are just freshmen. I am a four-year senior, not to mention Drum Major. If you keep it up, I think you should do, I don't know, lets say three hundred pushups EACH, during tomorrow's practice."
Jason froze, his arms stuck in the air. The blood was draining from his face, and the face of his friends. Soon he resumed his seat, and just sat quietly staring into space.
Lizzie and Miranda, along with the rest of the class laughed at the three. "Glad I'm not in the band," Lizzie chucked.
"What's so funny?" Asked Mrs. Bell as she entered the room.
"We were just discussing Eric's performance at last years State Championships," Danny's answered.
"I would have expected more from you Danny," Mrs. Bell's disappointment was reinstated in her town. "I don't want to hear any more about that day ok." She sent an 'I mean it' look towards Danny, Wes, David, and Jason.
Everybody in the class knew why she did not like talking about that day. Her daughter was also in the band. She had experienced her daughters' disappointment, and was determined to help the band rebuild their confidence.
After making sure that the situation had been resolved, Mrs. Bell started class as usual. "Looks like we are missing only one student, as usual."
"Not today."
Lizzie along with the rest of the class looked at the door to see the new student. "Larry?" Lizzie exclaimed.
Standing in the doorway was Larry Tudgeman, the school nerd, or a shadow of him. During the previous spring Lizzie had given him a make over so that she could sneak him into a party. It appeared that over the summer he had allowed the make over to stick. This made the third time that he had appeared, well, cool.
As he entered the room, Mrs. Bell engaged the new student. "So you are the elusive Larry Tudgeman."
"Yes mam I am," he replied. Out of his backpack, he pulled out several sheets of paper and handed the to Mrs. Bell. "Here are all the homework assignments I missed."
Gordo let out his usual "ha, ha, ha, Tudgeman," as Larry handed in his homework.
Mrs. Bell was surprised as well to see as student so prepared. "Well thank you Larry, now if you will take your seat we can begin."
Larry walked towards the back of the room and sat down in front of Miranda.
"Did the National Star Flip convention get out late?" Miranda asked as Larry sat down.
"You are never going to say it correctly are you?" Larry replied.
This response sparked a smile to appear on Miranda's face.
Lizzie dismissed the smile to inquire about Larry's new look. "I thought you weren't going to stick to the new look I gave you!"
"Well I meet somebody over the summer who really likes it when I dress this way. I think she is blind though."
Larry's response caused Miranda's smile to grow even bigger. Lizzie also noticed that she was slightly blushing. "Why is Miranda acting so weird," Lizzie thought to herself. Suddenly the answer came into her head. "It couldn't be. Could it?" Lizzie lightly slapped Miranda's arm gaining her attention. "What was that?" she mouthed while pointing to Larry.
Miranda threw her hands palm up and mouthed back, "What?"
Mrs. Bell had started the day's lecture, and Lizzie would rather discuss the matter when Larry was not around, just in case. She turned back to the front and began copping the notes from the board.
As usual the period seemed to fly buy. Before anybody noticed the final bell had rung, and everybody was hurrying to get out of the school. Lizzie and Miranda picked up their books. "Eight days down, only like a billion more to go!" Said Lizzie as she walked towards the front of the room.
"I know who knows exactly how many days are left," Miranda hinted back at Lizzie.
"Real subtle, Miranda!"
"Hay, if I made it to subtle, it would never get past your blond hair," Miranda joked. She looked at the door over Lizzie's shoulder before continuing. "I'm outtie, I have to go get ourselves a new tutor." With a quick goodbye to Gordo, Miranda rushed out the door.
Gordo closely followed Miranda out the door. "Gordo," Lizzie exclaimed as she ran out of the classroom. "Gordo, wait up."
Gordo stopped in the hall and waited for Lizzie to catch up with him. "What's up?" he asked Lizzie.
"My drama class is having auditions for 'Twelve Angry Citizens' in a coupe of weeks and I was wondering if you would be able to help me rehearse?" Lizzie's stomach was twisted in knots as she asked the question. She was really hoping that he would say yes and things would return to the way they use to be.
A confused look came over Gordo's face. "Twelve angry CITIZENS?" he asked.
"Yeah," Lizzie replied hoping that his inquiry meant that he was willing to help. "It is a re-write of 'Twelve Angry Men,' but it has women in some of the roles because we don't have 12 guys.
"Sorry Lizzie I would love to help you but I am too busy," Gordo replied as the two walked down the hall.
"What do you mean, you are too busy?" Lizzie was trying hard not to shout at Gordo. She knew that there was probably a reasonable explanation, but she wanted the old Gordo to return. The one that would drop everything to help Miranda or herself with anything, the Gordo she still had a crush on. "You just agreed to tutor Eric, but you can't come over and help me with a stupid audition?"
Gordo noticed the small amount of anger in Lizzie's voice, which caused him to become angry as well. "I'm sorry Lizzie, I am taking six upper level classes, many of which Larry and myself are the only freshmen. I have the directors club, and now that I have agreed to tutor Eric, I have no free time left. I am sorry Lizzie, but you are just to late."
Gordo started walking faster, indicating that the conversation was now over. "Wait a sec. Gordo," Lizzie yelled as she grabbed his arm and causing him to turn back towards Lizzie. "I know why you don't want to hang around me," She said in a quiet voice."
"Of course you do. I just told you, I don't have time," Gordo Screamed back at her.
"No the real reason," Lizzie replied. She was trying as hard a she could to keep from crying. Lizzie never liked fighting with Gordo, but this was the first time she felt that it was her fault. "I know that you don't want to be around me anymore because I said no to you." Lizzie finished as a tear began rolling down her face.
"What are you talking about?" Gordo asked angrily.
"I just never told you why, and I think if you understood......"
"I do understand. You don't feel the same way about me that I feel about you. I GET IT." With that said, Gordo quickly walked around the corner.
Lizzie had no idea what to do now. She was tired of fighting with Gordo, so she decided not to pursue him. "But I do," was the only thing she could think of saying.
"Yeah right," Gordo quietly said to himself as he walked to his locker. "If you like me so much why did you say no."
Gordo was still angry when he arrived at his locker. After opening it, which he had now mastered, he pulled out the note that he had kept in his wallet. Gordo opened the piece of paper and set it on top of his books. As fast as he could he turned the picture that he kept inside the note over so that he could not see the person in it. He stared at the letter, but did not read it. He had the entire note memorized. As he thought about the words in the note, he heard a familiar voice. He looked around and saw a tall black fellow walking down the hall surrounded by what Gordo suspected were senior. He quickly returned the note into his wallet, shut his locker, and walked towards the seniors.
"Hay, you sold me an elevator pass last year," he said with an unusually stern voice.
"Sorry man, but no refunds." The senior replied and then returned to his previous conversation.
"I don't want a refund, I want two more!" Gordo demanded
The senior's attention was again broken away from his friends. A confused look fell upon his face as he asked, "You want to buy more?"
"When did I say I wanted to buy anything?" Gordo's brain was boiling. By this time he was no longer sure of what he was saying. All he knew was that he felt extremely confident, and knew that this senior could not stand in the way of his ultimate goal, the passes.
"Ah, you think that I am going to hand over two elevator passes to a sophomore." The senior took a few steps closer towards Gordo. His hands motioned for his friends to follow him. "I don't think that you figured out how this school works last year. Why don't me and my friends from the football team give you a little review."
For the first time during this conversation Gordo realized the severity of the situation. The senior he had been talking to, along with three rather large and muscular guys, and one extremely fat fellow, were walking towards him. Gordo slowly raised his foot, preparing to back away from the approaching mob. Although his leg was moving slowly, his brain was moving faster than ever trying to figure out a way out of it. By the time his foot was a few inches above the ground a plan formed in his mind. It was risky, he knew some facts, but with a bit of creative lying and some good acting he might be able to pull it off.
His foot was moving backwards now, but suddenly changed directions, and Gordo took a large step towards the five seniors. This action caused the five to start laughing. Gordo stood no chance against any one of them, let alone all five. His act of bravery, just made the seniors want to hurt him more.
"I will give you two options," Gordo sternly told the seniors.
"Oh, and what are they?" one of them asked.
"One, you can give me the passes....."
"That's not going to happen," another senior replied.
"Or two, I tell Miss Ungermeyer that you are the ones distributing the elevator passes." Gordo only knew that she was looking hard for the source, he was hoping that it was them. His plan was working, the head senior motioned to the others to stop. Gordo took this opportunity to continue. "I also know that you organized last years attacks on the freshmen. I bet she would love to hear about that."
The head senior looked at Gordo and started laughing. "Man, you really want to die this year don't you? If you tell that to Miss Ungermeyer, you won't live to see Christmas."
Gordo took another step towards the black senior. "I heard you did a really good gob. So good in fact, you made the seniors look like fools. It would be a shame if Joey Emerson found out that you did it. I walked by his house the other day, overheard him tell his girlfriend how much he would like to 'crush the person responsible for that.' And by the way, I am only a freshman." This second speech was again a combination of truth and lies.
The head senior looked at the rest of the group, then back to Gordo. "You've got guts kid, talking to us like that. I respect that. What's your name?"
Unsure if he had succeeded or not, Gordo simply replied, "Gordo."
The group of seniors broke into laughter. "Gordo? Where your parents hippies or something?" the head senior asked.
"No, my name is David Gordon, but everybody calls me Gordo."
"What kind of fourth grade nickname is Gordo?" One of the seniors asked. The ironic part was that Kate had given him that name in the fourth grade.
"David huh," the senior replied. "It isn't the best name in the world, but it's better than Gordo. Come on David let's talk." The group started walking down the hallway as the head senior introduced himself. "My name is Bryan, this is Greg," he pointed to a tall blond guy that looked like he could be the Quarterback. "This is Ken and Dan," David knew who they where, they were the wide receivers on the football team. "And finally this is JB," Bryan pointed to the fat guy, who was most defiantly on the offensive line.
After Bryan introduced David to the rest of the group the conversation returned to the elevator passes. "We normally start tormenting the freshmen on the first day of school. But as you said Miss Ungermeyer is keeping a close eye on us, so we are waiting a while. She has really started to ease up on us so starting Monday the freshman are toast." Bryan slammed his fist into his hand. The others let out a villainous laugh. "I will give you the two passes then."
David was relived to hear that he was going to receive the passes, but something that Bryan said made him nervous. "Are all the freshman toast?" He asked.
Bryan laughed. "No, there is a small list of freshman that we will leave alone. I think your actions today just got you on the list. Actually it is nice to have one of the enemy on our side, so you could help us if you want."
"Cool," he replied to Bryan. After engaging Bryan, David had been full of energy, something that he had never felt before in his life. He was now on the other side of the fence, and he was beginning to like it.
Greg, the Quarterback, turned to David, "So David, if you are a freshman, how did Bryan sell you an elevator pass last year?"
David did not want to go into the story, but knew he would have to. "The school wanted me to skip 8th grade so I came here. I did not want to end up like the guys in my classes that worked all day and never had any fun. So I decided to go back to junior high to be with my friends." Actually he was now rethinking that decision.
To David's surprise nobody cared that he was smart enough to skip a grade, or that he had elected to return to junior high. They just kept walking talking about everything from football and cheerleaders, to freshmen and Miss Ungermeyer.
The group left the school and David headed for his bus. As he walked Bryan asked him one final question. "So David, what is so important that you blackmail a group of seniors for a measly two elevator passes."
David's blood was still hot from the argument the two had. He stared strait into Bryan's eyes and with a stern voice said, "Revenge!"