AN: I am such a lire. I said I would not have time to update, then I go
and spend the entire weekend righting a new chapter. Anyways, I hope you
enjoy, but please don't get mad at me if you don't, and please don't stop
reading because of this chapter.
Chapter 5: Black Monday
David's eyes shot open, as he quickly sat up in his bed. A sharp pain pierced his ears with every beep from his alarm clock. He slapped his hand down onto the clock, turning it off. Slowly he looked around at his empty room before getting out of bed. David was always slow to get up on Mondays.
As David proceeded to get ready for the day, he tried hard to not look out his window. With every passing moment his desire became more and more overwhelming. Just as he was ready to head downstairs he finally looked.
Just a block over, David could see the corner of Lizzie's house. It was not her room, but just the ability to see it had helped him through many long nights. It would have only taken him three and a half minutes to reach her house. Just a quick walk through some back yards, through a gate, and across two roads was all it took for him to reach her. With the events of the past week her house now seemed to be a million miles away. A point that he could never reach no matter how long he walked.
The two had not spoken to each other in four days. David was now tired of making excuses, and just started to ignore her. He sat with the seniors at lunch and with Eric during math. Every time she called he would just hang up. He had blocked her on his IM list, and deleted all her emails immediately. Slowly the calls and emails slowed, and he had not heard anything from her since Saturday night.
Since he befriended the seniors last Wednesday, David had been spending most of his time with them. Bryan was fun, he reminded David of an older Matt, but the two never hung out together. Instead David usually spent his free time with JB and Greg.
David just stared out the window at her house thinking about the turn his life had taken. "Snap out of it Gordo," he said to himself. The moment he said the word Gordo, his eyes filled once more with rage. "It's DAVID now you idiot," he yelled as he grabbed the elevator passes off the desk and ran downstairs.
_________________________
In the next block over from David's house Lizzie McGuire was also getting ready for school. She had just put on the outfit that she and Miranda had picked out over the phone, and was now brushing her hair. "Lizzie, you are going to be late," her mother yelled from downstairs. Lizzie quickly finished her hair and ran downstairs.
Lizzie walked into the kitchen to see her breakfast was already prepared. As she approached a dark thought crossed her mind. "Wait, who made this?" she asked.
"Matt did honey," her mom replied from the kitchen sink.
Lizzie's eyes shot towards her little brother who was enjoying his meal. "Ok monster dork," Lizzie had changed her pet name for Matt after hearing that Mrs. Bell calls her son monster child, "what did you do to my food?"
"Nothing," Matt replied acting as though he was shocked at the accusation that he would do anything bad.
Lizzie knew something was going on. Matt was always playing pranks on her. Now that he had a contract saying it was ok for Matt to prank Mr. Dig, she had become a good practice target. "Listen worm if you don't undo whatever you did to my food, I will crush you. GOT IT!"
"Matt," Lizzie's mom shouted, "you are allowed to prank Mr. Dig ONLY. Look at what you have already done to your dad."
A grown came from the family room. Lizzie turned to see her father lying on the couch with a steak over his eye.
"Alright," Matt reluctantly said as he got down from his stool. He headed over to Lizzie's place at the counter and started untying hidden wires. Lizzie watched closely as Matt striped the stool of the apparatus that was supposed to.... Lizzie wasn't sure what the thing was supposed to do.
With the threat from Matt resolved Lizzie ate her breakfast and finished preparing for the day. As she was about to leave her mom cornered her for another advise session.
"If those seniors give you any more problems, go directly to Miss Ungermeyer, ok." Her mom said.
"Ok mom," Lizzie replied as she looked for a way out of the situation. She liked her mom giving her advice, but when she repeated the same advice every morning, it just became overkill.
Lizzie escaped her moms' lecture and headed for the bus stop. As she walked she felt so bad about what she was doing. She was lying to her mom. The seniors were not harassing her, in fact they seamed kind of nice. It was the only thing she could thing of after returning from the first day of school in tears. She was never able to talk to her mom about boys the way she talked to her about other things so she lied. "I wonder if she knows?" Lizzie asked out loud.
"Know what?"
Lizzie looked up and realized she was already at the bus stop. "I wonder if my mom knows about Gordo," she told Miranda.
"Probably," Miranda shrugged as if it were now big deal. "I mean if I could figure it out, heck even Kate figured it out, I am sure you mom has."
Lizzie smiled at the thought of her mom knowing. Even though she could not tell her mom, the thought of her mom knowing was comforting.
The two soon arrived at school and proceeded to their lockers. Lizzie opened her locker and watched a folded up piece of yellow paper fall to the floor. As she bend down to picked it up she noticed that Miranda was holding one two. "What's this?" Miranda asked.
Lizzie opened hers up and began reading.
Dear Lizzie
We hope you enjoyed your first week and a half at Hillridge High School.
Last year we told you that this school has rules, and what they are.
Starting at 8:15 these rules will take effect. Enjoy the last few
minutes before your life at Hillridge High becomes your worst
nightmare.
THE SENIORS
Lizzie was shocked at the contents of the letter. Other than when she was talking to her mom, the thought of being hazed by the senior did not enter her mind. She looked at Miranda, who was still reading her letter. Lizzie took a closer look and noticed that the seniors had been nice enough to include a copy of the rules since she had never seen them before.
Miranda looked up with terror in her eyes. "Are they really going to enforce this?"
Lizzie was a little shocked to see Miranda scared. She was really counting on Miranda to help her get past the bullies like she did in junior high. Lizzie looked at the clock. "I don't know, but in one minute we will find out."
"Lizzie, Miranda" said David. The two girls had been fixated on the letters and did not notice him walk up.
"Look who has decided to talk to us." Miranda said harshly.
"Listen," David started, "I am sorry for not talking to you. I just needed some time to think. Here I got these for you." David held out his hand with two pieces of paper in it.
Lizzie and Miranda each took a piece of paper and examined it. "Elevator passes?" Lizzie questioned his gift. "Gordo, we used the elevator all last week without passes."
"That was last week. Starting today you have to buy passes to use the elevators. Luckily for you, I was able to get some cheep from some football players." Gordo knew the girls all to well and was ready for anything they might say or do.
Miranda was also weary about accepting the gift. "What do football players and elevator passes have to do with each other?" she asked.
Again David was prepared. "Everybody on the football team gets a free elevator pass. Most of the guys prefer to use the stairs to help stay in shape, thus they sell their passes at half price."
This second explanation won the girls' confidence. "Thanks Gordo," said Lizzie.
"That's another thing," David said. "I have decided to use my real name. Gordo was kinda childish."
"You want us to call you David?" Miranda seemed sad to have to stop using the name Gordo.
David avoided Miranda's question. "I have to get to class. See you in Geometry." David turned and walked down the hall leaving a confused Lizzie and Miranda standing by their lockers.
The two girls also hurried off to their first class. Afterwards they decided to take the elevator on their way to history. They waited for what seemed to be a hour until the elevator doors finally opened. They waited for everybody to leave the elevator before the two, along with about ten others, squeezed inside the tinny box. As the elevator doors closed a hand was suddenly shoved into the doors causing them to reopen.
"Not so fast," Miss Ungermeyer said as she got onto the elevator.
Lizzie and Miranda looked around for somebody to give their elevator pass to. Seeing nobody, Lizzie turned to Miss Ungermeyer. "Miss Ungermeyer, who do we give our elevator passes to?"
As soon as she said this, everybody in the elevator began laughing, even Miss Ungermeyer was trying to hold back her chuckles. "Ah Miss McGuire, it seems your ability to be fooled has not diminished since this summer. I hate to inform you that you do not need a pass to ride the elevator."
"But when Gordo, I mean David gave these to us he said...." Lizzie started, but was interrupted my Miss Ungermeyer.
"Mr. Gordon gave these to you?" she asked as she took the passes from the two girls.
The elevator doors opened to the third floor. Miss Ungermeyer, Lizzie, and Miranda exited the elevator. The conversation continued as they walked the halls.
"Mr. Gordon?" Miranda asked.
"Yes David Gordon, short boy with dark curly hair. Hangs out with Miss Diva." Miss Ungermeyer pointed to Lizzie.
"I know who he is," Miranda abruptly stated.
"Oh you do, do you. Now the question is, who are you." Miss Ungermeyer was not happy at Miranda's outburst.
Lizzie sensed that things were going to get heated very fast if she did not intervene. "This is my best friend Miranda. She and I are best friends with David." Lizzie tried to make her voice as happy as possible to help Miss Ungermeyer and Miranda to calm down.
Miss Ungermeyer backed off. She turned to Lizzie to say her farewell. "Well, when you see Mr. Gordon, please find out who sold this to him and let me know, ok." She left the girls outside of their history class.
Through history and science Lizzie wondered if Gordo had known the elevator passes were fake. He had mentioned them to her after his day in high school, but only said he could get them cheap. "Had he ever used one?" she kept asking herself. She had no proof of her suspicions, so she never told Miranda about them.
It was finally lunchtime. The two girls made their way through the lunch line and looked for a seat. It did not take long for the two to realize that the cafeteria was a lot emptier that usual. "Rule number one, freshmen must eat in the hallway." Lizzie reminded Miranda.
"Looks like the rules don't apply to everyone." Miranda pointed to a table full of seniors. Sitting with his back turned was David. "Lets get this pass thing straitened out."
Lizzie and Miranda made their way to David's table. "Gordo," Miranda yelled as they got closer, but there was no response.
"Ah, GORDO," Lizzie tried. But there still was no response.
Bryan looked up from the table. "Anybody know a Gordo?"
"Hay David," Lizzie said in anguish.
"Yes," David replied as he turned around on the bench. "Greg here told me you had quite a fun time using your elevator pass today." David along with the rest of the senior broke into laughter.
"Wait these are the people you gave those passes to? Alright David." Brian stuck out a closed fist and David did the same. The two thrust their fist towards each other until they collided.
"You knew about this?" Miranda asked angrily.
Lizzie felt betrayed, even though she had a hunch he knew. "Why would you do such a thing David?"
"Sounded like a good idea to me." David had a devilish smile on his face as he spoke.
Brian stood up to address the girls. "Now ladies, as much fun as it has been talking to you, I must remind you of the rules. In the rules it states that a freshman may not talk to a senior unless spoken to first."
"We were not speaking to a senior, we were speaking to a freshman," Miranda argued.
Brian took a quick look at Miranda before turning to his attention to the table. "Ladies and gentlemen of the senior table. Do we allow anyone who is not a senior to sit at our table?" Everyone at the table replied with varying word and gestures, all meaning no. "And is David allowed to sit at this table?" The table responded with a yes. Bryan again turned his attention to Lizzie and Miranda. "Well if we only allow seniors to sit at this table, and David is sitting at this table, then that would make him a" Bryan waited for one of the girls to reply.
"A senior?" Lizzie questioned.
"Correct," Bryan shouted, "Ken, Dan please tell our lovely contestants what they have won."
"Well Bryan," Ken said as he and Dan stood up, "along with spending the rest of lunch out in the hall with the rest of the freshmen, these two lovely ladies have the privilege of donating their lunch to the senior table." The boys yanked the trays out of Lizzie and Miranda's hands.
"David," Lizzie pleaded for an ounce of mercy from her friend.
"Sorry Lizzie, now if you don't mind leaving so we can get back to our meal." David replied in a smug voice.
The girls walked out of the cafeteria with their arms around each other and both very confused at the day's events. "What just happened?" Lizzie asked.
"I don't know Lizzie," Miranda softly replied.
The rest of Lizzie's day was blur. She could only focus on how her best friend had betrayed Miranda and herself. The two did not say anything to David during math, but waited until afterwards.
"David WAIT!" Miranda demanded as she blocked the doorway.
David had no feelings for Miranda or Lizzie left. "If they want to talk to me, lets talk," he thought. "Need another elevator pass?" he joked.
Lizzie just stood a few feet away while she let Miranda confront David. "Gordo, or David, or whatever, what has gotten in to you?"
"Nothing," David replied.
"Nothing! David, why did you give us those passes when you knew they were fake." Miranda was shouting so loud that everyone in the hall was staring into the classroom.
"David," Lizzie paused as she realized she had just joined the argument, "friends don't do that to each other."
David smiled as his head turned to Lizzie. "You haven't figured it out yet have you?" David was chuckling as he asked the question, but his voice went cold as he continued. "We're not friends."
Miranda and Lizzie froze. Lizzie felt like every part of her body weighed a ton, how she was still standing she did not know. The three had their share of arguments, but this was the first time anyone said that they were no longer friends. The look on Miranda's face told Lizzie that she felt the same way. The two did not move again until David had left the room. "Are you alright Lizzie," Miranda asked.
Lizzie's thoughts were swimming through her head so fast that she did not hear her only best friend speak. She collapsed into the nearest desk and began to cry. Miranda pulled up a desk next to her and sat down.
The two sat together for fifteen minutes before Miranda noticed the time. Lizzie had already missed her buss, and she was late for Glee Club. "Lizzie," Miranda said gently, "you've missed the buss, do you want me to call your mom?" Miranda was just able to make out a yes through Lizzie's sobs. "Should I tell her what happened, or do you want to?"
Again Lizzie struggled to get the words out, but finally said, "no, I'll tell her." Lizzie placed her arm on the desk and rested her cheek upon it.
Miranda walked to the back of the room and pulled out her cell phone. She dialed Lizzie's number. "Hello, Mrs. McGuire, it's Miranda.......I know, she is still here at school with me.......No, she's fine, just upset. I think you should come pick her up.......No, she would rather tell you herself.......Ok, we will meet you out front." Miranda put her phone back into her purse.
Miranda returned to Lizzie's side and knelt down. "Lizzie, your mom is going to meet us out front, ok."
Lizzie nodded her head up and down, and slowly stood up. Miranda helped Lizzie collect her belongings, and the two headed towards the front of the building. Although they had slowed, tears were still falling down Lizzie's face. Miranda had to help her walk down the hall. About half way through their trip, Lizzie and Miranda passed the elevator. As soon as Lizzie saw the doors, she collapsed and her tears began to flow vigorously again.
Miranda, who had fallen with Lizzie, let a few tears fall as she moved Lizzie to the side of the hall. Miranda leaned against some lockers and placed Lizzie's head on her shoulder. There she waited for Lizzie to regain enough strength to finish the journey. A few students, who were still in the school, stared at the two girls as they passed. Moments latter, Ronny walked down the hall and saw the crying duo.
Ronny rushed over to the two girls to find out what was going on. "Lizzie, are you two ok?"
"I'm ok," Miranda said as she wiped the tears from her eyes, "but it's Lizzie I am worried about. We need to get her to the front doors where her mom is waiting for her."
"Here let me help." Ronny and Miranda picked up Lizzie and placed one of her arms over each of their shoulders. They then placed their own arms around her waist to support her weight.
Although Miranda and Ronny were supporting her, Lizzie still needed to move her feet in order to continue. She did this extremely slowly, and her mom was already at the school by the time the trio had arrived at the doors.
Mrs. McGuire helped Ronny and Miranda place Lizzie in the front seat of her father's minivan. "Are you alright, do you need a ride too?" Jo asked Miranda.
"No, I'm fine," Miranda replied, "I'm late for Glee Club, and my mom is picking me up after that."
Jo gave Miranda a hug before leaving the school. The ride home was quit. Lizzie no longer had the strength to cry, or to do anything at all. She sat in the front seat as if she was a statue, not even her eyes were moving. What energy she had left was focused on keeping her thoughts from overwhelming her. The strange thing was that David had left the classroom, she had not once thought about him leaving her. Instead she thought about the large part of her life, of herself, had left her when he did.
Lizzie remained in a trance until her mom and dad had placed her in her bed. Her father soon retreated back to the family room, but her mom staid to try and help her daughter. She kept asking questions, but Lizzie still refused to talk. She decided to go downstairs and make her daughter some soup when Lizzie finally said something. "I lied to you mom." Tears returned to Lizzie's puffy eyes.
Jo, who was half way out of the room, returned to Lizzie's bed and sat down. "What about honey?"
Lizzie's voice was extremely high pitched, as it usually was when she was crying. "The seniors were never harassing me, well not until today, it was David."
"David?" her mother was not used to hearing her call her best friend by his real name, so it confused her when she did.
Lizzie began crying even more, "Gordo mom."
Whenever Lizzie was crying it did not take long before her mom was crying too. Tears began building up in Jo's eyes, "Well why don't you tell me the whole story."
Lizzie wiped a few tears away from her face before starting her usual ramble. "Last spring I discovered that David and I like each other, then in Rome we kissed. I didn't see him again, and he never mentioned anything about it in his letters, until the last one when he wrote some stupid line about us going out. He asked me out during the first day of school, but I didn't want to loose him as a best friend so I said no. He started acting weird, but when I tried to tell him why he got mad at me and didn't speak to me since. Then today he pretended to apologize, and gave me and Miranda some fake elevator passes. Everybody laughed at us when we tried to give them to Miss Ungermeyer. We tried to talk to him at lunch, but the seniors he was sitting with took our food. We did talk to him after math and he said we were no longer friends."
Lizzie was talking extremely fast, and with her crying Jo had a hard time understanding her daughter. She staid with her and was able to get Lizzie explain the situation in more detail. Mrs. McGuire was just as shocked when she found out that Gordo had broken their friendship. The two talked for hours, breaking just long enough for Jo to make them that soup she had promised.
Lizzie's mom was having a hard time helping her daughter. For the first time she had not had an experience of this magnitude. Over the years she had lost touch with her friends, but never in such a dramatic manner. The only experiences she had was breaking up with her old boyfriends, but still it was different. This was Gordo and Lizzie, not Jo and some boy she knew for the past six months. Finally she decided to offer what little advice she could, which when put together sounded something like 'people change, you just have to deal with it, everything will be alright,' but she mostly let her daughter talk herself through this crisis.
Chapter 5: Black Monday
David's eyes shot open, as he quickly sat up in his bed. A sharp pain pierced his ears with every beep from his alarm clock. He slapped his hand down onto the clock, turning it off. Slowly he looked around at his empty room before getting out of bed. David was always slow to get up on Mondays.
As David proceeded to get ready for the day, he tried hard to not look out his window. With every passing moment his desire became more and more overwhelming. Just as he was ready to head downstairs he finally looked.
Just a block over, David could see the corner of Lizzie's house. It was not her room, but just the ability to see it had helped him through many long nights. It would have only taken him three and a half minutes to reach her house. Just a quick walk through some back yards, through a gate, and across two roads was all it took for him to reach her. With the events of the past week her house now seemed to be a million miles away. A point that he could never reach no matter how long he walked.
The two had not spoken to each other in four days. David was now tired of making excuses, and just started to ignore her. He sat with the seniors at lunch and with Eric during math. Every time she called he would just hang up. He had blocked her on his IM list, and deleted all her emails immediately. Slowly the calls and emails slowed, and he had not heard anything from her since Saturday night.
Since he befriended the seniors last Wednesday, David had been spending most of his time with them. Bryan was fun, he reminded David of an older Matt, but the two never hung out together. Instead David usually spent his free time with JB and Greg.
David just stared out the window at her house thinking about the turn his life had taken. "Snap out of it Gordo," he said to himself. The moment he said the word Gordo, his eyes filled once more with rage. "It's DAVID now you idiot," he yelled as he grabbed the elevator passes off the desk and ran downstairs.
_________________________
In the next block over from David's house Lizzie McGuire was also getting ready for school. She had just put on the outfit that she and Miranda had picked out over the phone, and was now brushing her hair. "Lizzie, you are going to be late," her mother yelled from downstairs. Lizzie quickly finished her hair and ran downstairs.
Lizzie walked into the kitchen to see her breakfast was already prepared. As she approached a dark thought crossed her mind. "Wait, who made this?" she asked.
"Matt did honey," her mom replied from the kitchen sink.
Lizzie's eyes shot towards her little brother who was enjoying his meal. "Ok monster dork," Lizzie had changed her pet name for Matt after hearing that Mrs. Bell calls her son monster child, "what did you do to my food?"
"Nothing," Matt replied acting as though he was shocked at the accusation that he would do anything bad.
Lizzie knew something was going on. Matt was always playing pranks on her. Now that he had a contract saying it was ok for Matt to prank Mr. Dig, she had become a good practice target. "Listen worm if you don't undo whatever you did to my food, I will crush you. GOT IT!"
"Matt," Lizzie's mom shouted, "you are allowed to prank Mr. Dig ONLY. Look at what you have already done to your dad."
A grown came from the family room. Lizzie turned to see her father lying on the couch with a steak over his eye.
"Alright," Matt reluctantly said as he got down from his stool. He headed over to Lizzie's place at the counter and started untying hidden wires. Lizzie watched closely as Matt striped the stool of the apparatus that was supposed to.... Lizzie wasn't sure what the thing was supposed to do.
With the threat from Matt resolved Lizzie ate her breakfast and finished preparing for the day. As she was about to leave her mom cornered her for another advise session.
"If those seniors give you any more problems, go directly to Miss Ungermeyer, ok." Her mom said.
"Ok mom," Lizzie replied as she looked for a way out of the situation. She liked her mom giving her advice, but when she repeated the same advice every morning, it just became overkill.
Lizzie escaped her moms' lecture and headed for the bus stop. As she walked she felt so bad about what she was doing. She was lying to her mom. The seniors were not harassing her, in fact they seamed kind of nice. It was the only thing she could thing of after returning from the first day of school in tears. She was never able to talk to her mom about boys the way she talked to her about other things so she lied. "I wonder if she knows?" Lizzie asked out loud.
"Know what?"
Lizzie looked up and realized she was already at the bus stop. "I wonder if my mom knows about Gordo," she told Miranda.
"Probably," Miranda shrugged as if it were now big deal. "I mean if I could figure it out, heck even Kate figured it out, I am sure you mom has."
Lizzie smiled at the thought of her mom knowing. Even though she could not tell her mom, the thought of her mom knowing was comforting.
The two soon arrived at school and proceeded to their lockers. Lizzie opened her locker and watched a folded up piece of yellow paper fall to the floor. As she bend down to picked it up she noticed that Miranda was holding one two. "What's this?" Miranda asked.
Lizzie opened hers up and began reading.
Dear Lizzie
We hope you enjoyed your first week and a half at Hillridge High School.
Last year we told you that this school has rules, and what they are.
Starting at 8:15 these rules will take effect. Enjoy the last few
minutes before your life at Hillridge High becomes your worst
nightmare.
THE SENIORS
Lizzie was shocked at the contents of the letter. Other than when she was talking to her mom, the thought of being hazed by the senior did not enter her mind. She looked at Miranda, who was still reading her letter. Lizzie took a closer look and noticed that the seniors had been nice enough to include a copy of the rules since she had never seen them before.
Miranda looked up with terror in her eyes. "Are they really going to enforce this?"
Lizzie was a little shocked to see Miranda scared. She was really counting on Miranda to help her get past the bullies like she did in junior high. Lizzie looked at the clock. "I don't know, but in one minute we will find out."
"Lizzie, Miranda" said David. The two girls had been fixated on the letters and did not notice him walk up.
"Look who has decided to talk to us." Miranda said harshly.
"Listen," David started, "I am sorry for not talking to you. I just needed some time to think. Here I got these for you." David held out his hand with two pieces of paper in it.
Lizzie and Miranda each took a piece of paper and examined it. "Elevator passes?" Lizzie questioned his gift. "Gordo, we used the elevator all last week without passes."
"That was last week. Starting today you have to buy passes to use the elevators. Luckily for you, I was able to get some cheep from some football players." Gordo knew the girls all to well and was ready for anything they might say or do.
Miranda was also weary about accepting the gift. "What do football players and elevator passes have to do with each other?" she asked.
Again David was prepared. "Everybody on the football team gets a free elevator pass. Most of the guys prefer to use the stairs to help stay in shape, thus they sell their passes at half price."
This second explanation won the girls' confidence. "Thanks Gordo," said Lizzie.
"That's another thing," David said. "I have decided to use my real name. Gordo was kinda childish."
"You want us to call you David?" Miranda seemed sad to have to stop using the name Gordo.
David avoided Miranda's question. "I have to get to class. See you in Geometry." David turned and walked down the hall leaving a confused Lizzie and Miranda standing by their lockers.
The two girls also hurried off to their first class. Afterwards they decided to take the elevator on their way to history. They waited for what seemed to be a hour until the elevator doors finally opened. They waited for everybody to leave the elevator before the two, along with about ten others, squeezed inside the tinny box. As the elevator doors closed a hand was suddenly shoved into the doors causing them to reopen.
"Not so fast," Miss Ungermeyer said as she got onto the elevator.
Lizzie and Miranda looked around for somebody to give their elevator pass to. Seeing nobody, Lizzie turned to Miss Ungermeyer. "Miss Ungermeyer, who do we give our elevator passes to?"
As soon as she said this, everybody in the elevator began laughing, even Miss Ungermeyer was trying to hold back her chuckles. "Ah Miss McGuire, it seems your ability to be fooled has not diminished since this summer. I hate to inform you that you do not need a pass to ride the elevator."
"But when Gordo, I mean David gave these to us he said...." Lizzie started, but was interrupted my Miss Ungermeyer.
"Mr. Gordon gave these to you?" she asked as she took the passes from the two girls.
The elevator doors opened to the third floor. Miss Ungermeyer, Lizzie, and Miranda exited the elevator. The conversation continued as they walked the halls.
"Mr. Gordon?" Miranda asked.
"Yes David Gordon, short boy with dark curly hair. Hangs out with Miss Diva." Miss Ungermeyer pointed to Lizzie.
"I know who he is," Miranda abruptly stated.
"Oh you do, do you. Now the question is, who are you." Miss Ungermeyer was not happy at Miranda's outburst.
Lizzie sensed that things were going to get heated very fast if she did not intervene. "This is my best friend Miranda. She and I are best friends with David." Lizzie tried to make her voice as happy as possible to help Miss Ungermeyer and Miranda to calm down.
Miss Ungermeyer backed off. She turned to Lizzie to say her farewell. "Well, when you see Mr. Gordon, please find out who sold this to him and let me know, ok." She left the girls outside of their history class.
Through history and science Lizzie wondered if Gordo had known the elevator passes were fake. He had mentioned them to her after his day in high school, but only said he could get them cheap. "Had he ever used one?" she kept asking herself. She had no proof of her suspicions, so she never told Miranda about them.
It was finally lunchtime. The two girls made their way through the lunch line and looked for a seat. It did not take long for the two to realize that the cafeteria was a lot emptier that usual. "Rule number one, freshmen must eat in the hallway." Lizzie reminded Miranda.
"Looks like the rules don't apply to everyone." Miranda pointed to a table full of seniors. Sitting with his back turned was David. "Lets get this pass thing straitened out."
Lizzie and Miranda made their way to David's table. "Gordo," Miranda yelled as they got closer, but there was no response.
"Ah, GORDO," Lizzie tried. But there still was no response.
Bryan looked up from the table. "Anybody know a Gordo?"
"Hay David," Lizzie said in anguish.
"Yes," David replied as he turned around on the bench. "Greg here told me you had quite a fun time using your elevator pass today." David along with the rest of the senior broke into laughter.
"Wait these are the people you gave those passes to? Alright David." Brian stuck out a closed fist and David did the same. The two thrust their fist towards each other until they collided.
"You knew about this?" Miranda asked angrily.
Lizzie felt betrayed, even though she had a hunch he knew. "Why would you do such a thing David?"
"Sounded like a good idea to me." David had a devilish smile on his face as he spoke.
Brian stood up to address the girls. "Now ladies, as much fun as it has been talking to you, I must remind you of the rules. In the rules it states that a freshman may not talk to a senior unless spoken to first."
"We were not speaking to a senior, we were speaking to a freshman," Miranda argued.
Brian took a quick look at Miranda before turning to his attention to the table. "Ladies and gentlemen of the senior table. Do we allow anyone who is not a senior to sit at our table?" Everyone at the table replied with varying word and gestures, all meaning no. "And is David allowed to sit at this table?" The table responded with a yes. Bryan again turned his attention to Lizzie and Miranda. "Well if we only allow seniors to sit at this table, and David is sitting at this table, then that would make him a" Bryan waited for one of the girls to reply.
"A senior?" Lizzie questioned.
"Correct," Bryan shouted, "Ken, Dan please tell our lovely contestants what they have won."
"Well Bryan," Ken said as he and Dan stood up, "along with spending the rest of lunch out in the hall with the rest of the freshmen, these two lovely ladies have the privilege of donating their lunch to the senior table." The boys yanked the trays out of Lizzie and Miranda's hands.
"David," Lizzie pleaded for an ounce of mercy from her friend.
"Sorry Lizzie, now if you don't mind leaving so we can get back to our meal." David replied in a smug voice.
The girls walked out of the cafeteria with their arms around each other and both very confused at the day's events. "What just happened?" Lizzie asked.
"I don't know Lizzie," Miranda softly replied.
The rest of Lizzie's day was blur. She could only focus on how her best friend had betrayed Miranda and herself. The two did not say anything to David during math, but waited until afterwards.
"David WAIT!" Miranda demanded as she blocked the doorway.
David had no feelings for Miranda or Lizzie left. "If they want to talk to me, lets talk," he thought. "Need another elevator pass?" he joked.
Lizzie just stood a few feet away while she let Miranda confront David. "Gordo, or David, or whatever, what has gotten in to you?"
"Nothing," David replied.
"Nothing! David, why did you give us those passes when you knew they were fake." Miranda was shouting so loud that everyone in the hall was staring into the classroom.
"David," Lizzie paused as she realized she had just joined the argument, "friends don't do that to each other."
David smiled as his head turned to Lizzie. "You haven't figured it out yet have you?" David was chuckling as he asked the question, but his voice went cold as he continued. "We're not friends."
Miranda and Lizzie froze. Lizzie felt like every part of her body weighed a ton, how she was still standing she did not know. The three had their share of arguments, but this was the first time anyone said that they were no longer friends. The look on Miranda's face told Lizzie that she felt the same way. The two did not move again until David had left the room. "Are you alright Lizzie," Miranda asked.
Lizzie's thoughts were swimming through her head so fast that she did not hear her only best friend speak. She collapsed into the nearest desk and began to cry. Miranda pulled up a desk next to her and sat down.
The two sat together for fifteen minutes before Miranda noticed the time. Lizzie had already missed her buss, and she was late for Glee Club. "Lizzie," Miranda said gently, "you've missed the buss, do you want me to call your mom?" Miranda was just able to make out a yes through Lizzie's sobs. "Should I tell her what happened, or do you want to?"
Again Lizzie struggled to get the words out, but finally said, "no, I'll tell her." Lizzie placed her arm on the desk and rested her cheek upon it.
Miranda walked to the back of the room and pulled out her cell phone. She dialed Lizzie's number. "Hello, Mrs. McGuire, it's Miranda.......I know, she is still here at school with me.......No, she's fine, just upset. I think you should come pick her up.......No, she would rather tell you herself.......Ok, we will meet you out front." Miranda put her phone back into her purse.
Miranda returned to Lizzie's side and knelt down. "Lizzie, your mom is going to meet us out front, ok."
Lizzie nodded her head up and down, and slowly stood up. Miranda helped Lizzie collect her belongings, and the two headed towards the front of the building. Although they had slowed, tears were still falling down Lizzie's face. Miranda had to help her walk down the hall. About half way through their trip, Lizzie and Miranda passed the elevator. As soon as Lizzie saw the doors, she collapsed and her tears began to flow vigorously again.
Miranda, who had fallen with Lizzie, let a few tears fall as she moved Lizzie to the side of the hall. Miranda leaned against some lockers and placed Lizzie's head on her shoulder. There she waited for Lizzie to regain enough strength to finish the journey. A few students, who were still in the school, stared at the two girls as they passed. Moments latter, Ronny walked down the hall and saw the crying duo.
Ronny rushed over to the two girls to find out what was going on. "Lizzie, are you two ok?"
"I'm ok," Miranda said as she wiped the tears from her eyes, "but it's Lizzie I am worried about. We need to get her to the front doors where her mom is waiting for her."
"Here let me help." Ronny and Miranda picked up Lizzie and placed one of her arms over each of their shoulders. They then placed their own arms around her waist to support her weight.
Although Miranda and Ronny were supporting her, Lizzie still needed to move her feet in order to continue. She did this extremely slowly, and her mom was already at the school by the time the trio had arrived at the doors.
Mrs. McGuire helped Ronny and Miranda place Lizzie in the front seat of her father's minivan. "Are you alright, do you need a ride too?" Jo asked Miranda.
"No, I'm fine," Miranda replied, "I'm late for Glee Club, and my mom is picking me up after that."
Jo gave Miranda a hug before leaving the school. The ride home was quit. Lizzie no longer had the strength to cry, or to do anything at all. She sat in the front seat as if she was a statue, not even her eyes were moving. What energy she had left was focused on keeping her thoughts from overwhelming her. The strange thing was that David had left the classroom, she had not once thought about him leaving her. Instead she thought about the large part of her life, of herself, had left her when he did.
Lizzie remained in a trance until her mom and dad had placed her in her bed. Her father soon retreated back to the family room, but her mom staid to try and help her daughter. She kept asking questions, but Lizzie still refused to talk. She decided to go downstairs and make her daughter some soup when Lizzie finally said something. "I lied to you mom." Tears returned to Lizzie's puffy eyes.
Jo, who was half way out of the room, returned to Lizzie's bed and sat down. "What about honey?"
Lizzie's voice was extremely high pitched, as it usually was when she was crying. "The seniors were never harassing me, well not until today, it was David."
"David?" her mother was not used to hearing her call her best friend by his real name, so it confused her when she did.
Lizzie began crying even more, "Gordo mom."
Whenever Lizzie was crying it did not take long before her mom was crying too. Tears began building up in Jo's eyes, "Well why don't you tell me the whole story."
Lizzie wiped a few tears away from her face before starting her usual ramble. "Last spring I discovered that David and I like each other, then in Rome we kissed. I didn't see him again, and he never mentioned anything about it in his letters, until the last one when he wrote some stupid line about us going out. He asked me out during the first day of school, but I didn't want to loose him as a best friend so I said no. He started acting weird, but when I tried to tell him why he got mad at me and didn't speak to me since. Then today he pretended to apologize, and gave me and Miranda some fake elevator passes. Everybody laughed at us when we tried to give them to Miss Ungermeyer. We tried to talk to him at lunch, but the seniors he was sitting with took our food. We did talk to him after math and he said we were no longer friends."
Lizzie was talking extremely fast, and with her crying Jo had a hard time understanding her daughter. She staid with her and was able to get Lizzie explain the situation in more detail. Mrs. McGuire was just as shocked when she found out that Gordo had broken their friendship. The two talked for hours, breaking just long enough for Jo to make them that soup she had promised.
Lizzie's mom was having a hard time helping her daughter. For the first time she had not had an experience of this magnitude. Over the years she had lost touch with her friends, but never in such a dramatic manner. The only experiences she had was breaking up with her old boyfriends, but still it was different. This was Gordo and Lizzie, not Jo and some boy she knew for the past six months. Finally she decided to offer what little advice she could, which when put together sounded something like 'people change, you just have to deal with it, everything will be alright,' but she mostly let her daughter talk herself through this crisis.