"Suspended for two days, detention for a month and community service for 2 hours for a week! Can you believe what she did to me? And my parents didn't even believe me! They don't trust me anymore, my privileges have been taken away and I'm also grounded for THREE months!" Miranda said furiously the next day, after her parents had had an interview with the principal, Ms Ungermeyer.
"I know! My punishment isn't as bad but now my grades have dropped and my teachers don't trust me anymore! I gotta big fat zero on all my exams and a bad report! Also detention for two weeks and my parents are as angry as ever! How could this be happening?!?!" Gordo wailed.
"I told you not to trust Lizzie but you had to go right ahead and make things worse, didn't you?" Miranda boomed.
"So all this is my fault now? I haven't done anything wrong!" Gordo said.
"Yeah, I know. Sorry Gordo, all I need is losing you as a best friend as well. Sorry." Miranda said gloomily. "But there is no way I'm ever going to forgive Lizzie for this! Never! I specifically told Mrs. McGuire that I don't want to be Lizzie's friend anymore!" Miranda all of a sudden became furious again. Gordo couldn't blame her.
"Same! I can't believe I even thought of trusting her again. Our parents even called Lizzie Mom who asked Lizzie about it but she denied everything and there's no proof that she did it! She's gone way too far this time, way too far!"
It was Saturday morning and Lizzie was eating her breakfast when the phone rang and Lizzie answered it.
"Lizzie, is zat you? It's me Isabella!"
"Huh? What's up with your voice? And since when did you call yourself Isabella, you hate that name!" Lizzie said, thinking it was her best friend Isabel from school. Jo knew who it was and grabbed the phone from Lizzie.
"Hey! Wha-,"
"Lizzie, maybe you should go upstairs and find something to wear to your party tonight!" Jo said quickly so she could get her out of the room.
"Oh yeah! I totally forgot!" Lizzie said as she dashed upstairs with her bowl of cereal. Then Jo began to tell Isabel about what happened to Lizzie since she didn't know. Isabella was shocked and didn't know what to say, so she ended up not talking to Lizzie at all.
Lizzie was up in her room and couldn't think about what to wear. She was so excited that she couldn't stop smiling. For weeks she was dying to try some alcohol but Jo and Sam wouldn't let her. Now she could drink as much as she wanted at the party and smoke without hiding in an alleyway or something. She also wanted to try the Ecstasy that Isabel had because she just wanted to clear everything out of her mind and be happy.
Lizzie only had a couple of cigarettes left as she used most of them to pull the prank on Miranda, but she thought it was definitely worth it.
Lizzie arrived at Isabel's house at seven and knocked on the front door. She could hear the sound of booming music and voices. Isabel opened the door and was relieved to see Lizzie here.
"Hey! I thought you weren't gonna turn up for a sec! Come on in and have some fun!" Isabel yelled out over the noise. Lizzie stepped in and saw heaps of people dancing around that she didn't know, but she thought it would still be a blast. She followed Isabel to a table full of drinks and she shoved a glass of brown liquid into Lizzie hands.
"Here, try some! It's nice, you wanted to try beer remember? Well you can have as much as you want!" Isabel shouted. Lizzie smiled gulped the whole glass down in a few seconds.
"Well, what do you think?" Isabel asked as she blew a smoke ring in her face.
"Great! Better than I expected." Lizzie said as she lit up a cigarette for herself.
"C'mon, let's go dance with the guys. You might find someone hot there!" Isabel said. Lizzie agreed, but spent most of her time checking out some of the guys. One hot guy walked up to Lizzie and asked her to dance.
"Okay, sure." She answered. Lizzie didn't even know this guy but she was feeling very tipsy from all the alcohol she drank and ended up pashing this stranger.
"Oi Lizzie, come over here!" Isabel called out.
"Um, Ben, Isabel wants me for a sec. Can you hold on?" Lizzie asked. He nodded and went over to the table to grab a drink.
"Hey Iz, what's up?" She asked.
"You wanted to take the Ecstasy didn't you?"
Lizzie nodded eagerly. "Okay, I gotta new packet after I got my pocket money so I'm loaded with them! Come on, let's go grab some beer to wash it down with and then we'll just go up to my room to take it. We don't really want anyone to see." Isabel said.
"I saw you making out with Ben Lawson! You guys look so cute together! Ben went to Junior High with me and we dated for a couple of weeks. But then he kinda broke it off and we decided to just be friends. And we still are. He also kinda has a 'bad boy reputation' which would be perfect for you." Isabel said while she took out a bottle of beer from the esky and the two made their way upstairs.
"Yeah I really like him. He's also a good kisser!" Lizzie responded. Isabel laughed loudly as she shut the door to her room. Isabel flopped down on her bed and reached into her pocket and pulled out the Ecstasy.
"Maybe you shouldn't take one hole one since this is your first time. I'll give you half and I'll take the other half." Lizzie sat next to Isabel as she struggled to break the tablet in half.
"Here, give it to me." Lizzie took it and tried and there wasn't even a crack.
"Oh what the heck! I'll just take the whole thing!" Lizzie said as she opened the bottle of beer. "Okay Iz, here goes." Lizzie slid the tablet onto her tongue and drank the beer. It was gone.
"Well, you okay Liz?" Isabel asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine, for now! I do feel kinda strange though. Oh well, let's go back down, Ben is waiting for me." Lizzie said as she clenched her throat. It felt like the tablet was stuck there.
"Okay, just let me take one first and I'll meet you downstairs." Lizzie nodded. She was halfway downstairs when she felt her head spinning. She began to feel dizzy and she massaged her temples slowly, then shook her head. She didn't feel happy at all, instead she felt pretty sick. Lizzie tried to ignore the feeling and went to meet Ben.
"Hey Lizzie, where'd you go? I thought you left without saying goodbye!" Ben said as he kissed her. "Are you okay? You don't look so good!" He said, inspecting her.
"I'm fine. Really. Let's go dance." Lizzie said and pulled Ben over to the dance floor. Lizzie definitely didn't feel fine.
"Lizzie, do you reckon I could have your phone number? Maybe I can ring you and we can go out sometime." Ben Suggested. Lizzie nodded quickly.
"Ok, cool. What's your number?" He asked as he pulled out his cell phone.
"Um, I-I don't k-know." Lizzie stuttered and Ben gave her an odd look. She felt so giddy that she could even remember her own number. She felt sicker, like she was going to throw up but she tried her best to keep herself together.
All of a sudden, Lizzie's legs felt like jelly and they gave way. She collapsed into Ben's arms.
"Whoa! Lizzie, I don't think you're fine babe. Let's just go sit down and relax for a while. You don't look so good." Lizzie nodded while Ben put his arm around her and lead her to the couch in the living room where everyone was eating. As she looked around and saw people eating, Lizzie knew she was going to puke. She bolted to the bathroom and came back five minutes later looking paler than ever.
"Lizzie, you really don't look so good. C'mon, I'll walk you home. Maybe you need some fresh air." Ben said worriedly and touched her arm.
"No I'm fine. Really. I just gotta get another drink to cool me off. I'm feeling really hot and sweaty." She said as she shrugged Ben off and went to get another beer. Isabel came over to her and it didn't seem like the Ecstasy had affected her at all.
"You've had enough to drink Lizzie! You'll feel even worse and Ben's right, you should go home!" Isabel said while she tried to get the bottle out of Lizzie grip.
"No! Let go, I'm thirsty!" Lizzie pulled away from Isabel. She felt very irritated and dizzy, like the whole world was spinning about 180km/h and she couldn't walk properly. Lizzie, once again collapsed into Isabel arms.
"Come on Lizzie! We're taking you home whether you like it or not!" Isabel said as she forced Lizzie to her feet. She was leaning over Isabel's shoulder and then threw up all over the floor.
"Oh gross! Let's get her home!" Ben said as he scrunched his face up.
Isabel and Ben lead Lizzie slowly to the front door.
"Do you think you can walk without my support Liz?" Isabel asked. Lizzie nodded drunkenly as Isabel let go of her. She swayed on the spot for a moment and then her knees gave way and she collapsed to the ground again. But this time she didn't get up, she just laid there.
"Lizzie, are you okay?" Ben asked.
"I hope she's not dead!" Isabel said worriedly.
Isabel and Ben's voice rang in Lizzie's ears. She could hear them, and faintly see their blurred faces. But she couldn't get up, she felt like she was paralysed.
All of a sudden, the blurred outline of Ben and Isabel disappeared and many thoughts and memories were spinning around in her mind.
Firstly, she saw pictures of Miranda and Gordo and all the happy times they had together in her mind. She also saw images of her and Kate together and a few of Ethan Craft. Then she saw her Mom, Dad and little brother Matt. Those memories changed into her, standing on stage at the IMVA's with Isabella and they were singing together. She also saw Paolo.
All those happy memories began to fade away and disappeared. Then everything went black.