A/N: Sorry that I took so long to write the chapter after a cliffhanger!
Won't happen again, I promise! (I don't intend on writing too many
cliffhangers, anyway.) Well, I think you'll like this chapter. It's
basically just a continuation of "The Storm". Enjoy!
Chapter 6: Storytellers
It didn't take long for the silence to disappear just as quickly as it had come. Lizzie let out a tiny cry, and pretty soon, everyone was screaming at the tops of their lungs. 'Was this what the people felt like on that plane on September 11th?' I wondered. One thing's for sure - there was probably the same amount of panic on that plane then as their was on our plane now.
Lizzie's POV
I don't particularly recall screaming, or clutching Gordo's arm, or what everyone else on that airplane was doing. What I do remember is sheer and utter terror; I felt like a snail about to be stepped on, but too slow to run away. It was hell, and I had to get out of it.
Suddenly, I stopped screaming and clutching and squeezing my eyes shut, and sat bolt upright. Gently letting go of Gordo, I felt myself also letting go of all the fear inside me, but there was also this odd feeling, like... like I was dropping something I should've kept holding onto. But what?
I opened my eyes and finally noticed my surroundings: every single passenger seemed to be feeling just what I had moments ago. They were just as scared as I'd been! I turned my head to the left and saw each and every one of my classmates either screeching like owls or crying like babies.
Then I turned to the right.
And I saw Gordo.
Looking at me.
Quiet.
Calm.
It felt so...
right.
For a minute we shared this special connection, and for a minute, it felt as though nobody else was there, and nobody else mattered. It was as if our souls were merging...
"Your attention please, you attention please," a male voice blared into our ears. Gordo and I continued to stare at each other for a second, then snapped out of it. "Must be the pilot," Gordo said slowly.
What had just happened? What was that startling sensation that had come over me? I had a sinking feeling that I knew exactly what it was, but I dared not let myself think of it. I banished the thought from my head and strained my ears to listen to the loudspeaker. It was hard to hear over the still noisy crowd of passengers.
"Your attention please, your attention please!" The pilot spoke more loudly this time, evidently trying to make the crowd shut up. Aggravation was in his voice, but I heard him sigh as he tried to calm himself. After all, if he himself wasn't calm, how would he ever calm the passengers?
"We are experiencing some minor turbulence due to the storm outside," the pilot said. I leaned in and whispered to Gordo, "Like we didn't know *that* already!"
"This turbulence is *not* a great danger," the pilot continued. However, we have had to turn off the lights in the main passenger areas of the aircraft, so we may use that power for controlling the aircraft throughout the storm. Remain calm. Once we get past the storm the lights will come back on. I repeat, remain calm. We thank you for your understanding."
Everyone seemed to relax as the flight attendants came out, trying to quiet any crying children. I breathed a heavy sigh of relief, knowing that everything was going to be OK.
Gordo's voice suddenly penetrated my mind, and before I could try to stop it, it began echoing in my head, louder than any shouts I'd heard on the plane in the past five minutes.
"It's OK, Lizzie. Everything will be alright. This plane's gonna take us to Rome and we'll have a great time, and you'll be saying 'I can't believe I was afraid to get on that flight, it didn't hurt a bit!'"
"It's OK Lizzie,"...
How is it that Gordo's *always* right?
Maybe his words had come back to me when I stopped being afraid. But not the words alone. The fact that they came from him... that made all the difference.
By now, it was completely obvious what I was feeling, but I couldn't allow myself to accept those emotions. 'I can *not* like Gordo!' I thought.
Looking back, I now realize how blind I was during junior high. There were so many times when I should have seen that Gordo had a crush on me: when he was playing poker with me that time I was mad at Miranda when she went to the pool party... when he got me all those shirts for picture day, even though he thought that I was being shallow... when he called me "very pretty" and "a great person" after Ethan turned me down...
And then, there was *the week* . That's what I've started calling the week during which Ronny ruled my life. Within that one week, I met Ronny, realized that Ronny was cute, started to like Ronny, completely fell in love with Ronny, became totally obsessed with Ronny, forgot about everything but Ronny, and...
Got my first kiss. That moment was so amazing and luscious and beautiful, but yet, it was as if something was missing.
Well, after Ronny broke up with me, I knew that there was something funny going on with Gordo. After he told me that there was nobody prettier than me or more fun to be with, I told him that he was a good friend, and he replied with...
A pondering look on his face?
I should have known...
The truth is, no matter how much I didn't want to admit that Gordo liked me, I knew that he did...
But was it possible that I could like him back?
Gordo's POV
For a minute, I wasn't really sure of what to do next. Lizzie seemed a bit puzzled, and frankly, so was I. Why was Lizzie still acting so strangely when we'd just found out that everything was going to be OK? Now *I* was confused. 'Should I say something to her or not?' I wondered. Finally something came out:
"Umm... good news, huh?"
"Uhhh... yeah. Sure. Right," she replied slowly. I could tell that she was in another dimension, so I decided to leave her there.
"Hey, let's tell ghost stories!" Ethan suddenly shouted. Before Icould process the fact that *Ethan* thought he had the brain capacity to tell a good ghost story, everybody on the airplane was crowding around Ethan in a big circle. After a moment more of confusion, I noticed that Lizzie was joining the circle. I shrugged off the puzzlement and dashed out of my seat, following her to the circle.
As Ethan told his story, and the other passengers told theirs, too, I couldn't help but gaze at Lizzie. I tired to pull my eyes off of her once or twice. No such luck. That special something about her that I'd always thought was cute was hitting me hard; she was like a really, really big planet or space rock, and I had been pulled into an orbit around her by her great, strong force.
Lizzie's POV
"And then the king heard a scream, and as he and his steed galloped closer to the courtyard, a series of shrill laughs rang out into the silence of the night. He knew only one person evil enough to cause such havoc. Sure enough, there in the courtyard was his older brother standing over the queen's dead body."
'Well, I sure do tell a mighty mean ghost story,' I thought to myself. My tale of a king's evil brother had always received rave reviews at campfires, and I was sure that the plane passengers would like it, too.
Sure enough, every single one of them was suddenly patting me on the back and saying things like "Awesome story!" and "Great job, Lizzie!"
But suddenly, I found myself being cornered by Kate. "Nice story and all Lizzie," she said sarcastically, "but just thought you should know, Gordo's been staring at you for the past half hour."
I'd completely forgotten about the Gordo situation by now, but suddenly, it all came flooding back to me. I couldn't think of a time when I'd been so scared of him! I mean, he was one of my best friends. 'I shouldn't be afraid of him!' I thought. But somehow, I was.
'Am I crazy?'
Chapter 6: Storytellers
It didn't take long for the silence to disappear just as quickly as it had come. Lizzie let out a tiny cry, and pretty soon, everyone was screaming at the tops of their lungs. 'Was this what the people felt like on that plane on September 11th?' I wondered. One thing's for sure - there was probably the same amount of panic on that plane then as their was on our plane now.
Lizzie's POV
I don't particularly recall screaming, or clutching Gordo's arm, or what everyone else on that airplane was doing. What I do remember is sheer and utter terror; I felt like a snail about to be stepped on, but too slow to run away. It was hell, and I had to get out of it.
Suddenly, I stopped screaming and clutching and squeezing my eyes shut, and sat bolt upright. Gently letting go of Gordo, I felt myself also letting go of all the fear inside me, but there was also this odd feeling, like... like I was dropping something I should've kept holding onto. But what?
I opened my eyes and finally noticed my surroundings: every single passenger seemed to be feeling just what I had moments ago. They were just as scared as I'd been! I turned my head to the left and saw each and every one of my classmates either screeching like owls or crying like babies.
Then I turned to the right.
And I saw Gordo.
Looking at me.
Quiet.
Calm.
It felt so...
right.
For a minute we shared this special connection, and for a minute, it felt as though nobody else was there, and nobody else mattered. It was as if our souls were merging...
"Your attention please, you attention please," a male voice blared into our ears. Gordo and I continued to stare at each other for a second, then snapped out of it. "Must be the pilot," Gordo said slowly.
What had just happened? What was that startling sensation that had come over me? I had a sinking feeling that I knew exactly what it was, but I dared not let myself think of it. I banished the thought from my head and strained my ears to listen to the loudspeaker. It was hard to hear over the still noisy crowd of passengers.
"Your attention please, your attention please!" The pilot spoke more loudly this time, evidently trying to make the crowd shut up. Aggravation was in his voice, but I heard him sigh as he tried to calm himself. After all, if he himself wasn't calm, how would he ever calm the passengers?
"We are experiencing some minor turbulence due to the storm outside," the pilot said. I leaned in and whispered to Gordo, "Like we didn't know *that* already!"
"This turbulence is *not* a great danger," the pilot continued. However, we have had to turn off the lights in the main passenger areas of the aircraft, so we may use that power for controlling the aircraft throughout the storm. Remain calm. Once we get past the storm the lights will come back on. I repeat, remain calm. We thank you for your understanding."
Everyone seemed to relax as the flight attendants came out, trying to quiet any crying children. I breathed a heavy sigh of relief, knowing that everything was going to be OK.
Gordo's voice suddenly penetrated my mind, and before I could try to stop it, it began echoing in my head, louder than any shouts I'd heard on the plane in the past five minutes.
"It's OK, Lizzie. Everything will be alright. This plane's gonna take us to Rome and we'll have a great time, and you'll be saying 'I can't believe I was afraid to get on that flight, it didn't hurt a bit!'"
"It's OK Lizzie,"...
How is it that Gordo's *always* right?
Maybe his words had come back to me when I stopped being afraid. But not the words alone. The fact that they came from him... that made all the difference.
By now, it was completely obvious what I was feeling, but I couldn't allow myself to accept those emotions. 'I can *not* like Gordo!' I thought.
Looking back, I now realize how blind I was during junior high. There were so many times when I should have seen that Gordo had a crush on me: when he was playing poker with me that time I was mad at Miranda when she went to the pool party... when he got me all those shirts for picture day, even though he thought that I was being shallow... when he called me "very pretty" and "a great person" after Ethan turned me down...
And then, there was *the week* . That's what I've started calling the week during which Ronny ruled my life. Within that one week, I met Ronny, realized that Ronny was cute, started to like Ronny, completely fell in love with Ronny, became totally obsessed with Ronny, forgot about everything but Ronny, and...
Got my first kiss. That moment was so amazing and luscious and beautiful, but yet, it was as if something was missing.
Well, after Ronny broke up with me, I knew that there was something funny going on with Gordo. After he told me that there was nobody prettier than me or more fun to be with, I told him that he was a good friend, and he replied with...
A pondering look on his face?
I should have known...
The truth is, no matter how much I didn't want to admit that Gordo liked me, I knew that he did...
But was it possible that I could like him back?
Gordo's POV
For a minute, I wasn't really sure of what to do next. Lizzie seemed a bit puzzled, and frankly, so was I. Why was Lizzie still acting so strangely when we'd just found out that everything was going to be OK? Now *I* was confused. 'Should I say something to her or not?' I wondered. Finally something came out:
"Umm... good news, huh?"
"Uhhh... yeah. Sure. Right," she replied slowly. I could tell that she was in another dimension, so I decided to leave her there.
"Hey, let's tell ghost stories!" Ethan suddenly shouted. Before Icould process the fact that *Ethan* thought he had the brain capacity to tell a good ghost story, everybody on the airplane was crowding around Ethan in a big circle. After a moment more of confusion, I noticed that Lizzie was joining the circle. I shrugged off the puzzlement and dashed out of my seat, following her to the circle.
As Ethan told his story, and the other passengers told theirs, too, I couldn't help but gaze at Lizzie. I tired to pull my eyes off of her once or twice. No such luck. That special something about her that I'd always thought was cute was hitting me hard; she was like a really, really big planet or space rock, and I had been pulled into an orbit around her by her great, strong force.
Lizzie's POV
"And then the king heard a scream, and as he and his steed galloped closer to the courtyard, a series of shrill laughs rang out into the silence of the night. He knew only one person evil enough to cause such havoc. Sure enough, there in the courtyard was his older brother standing over the queen's dead body."
'Well, I sure do tell a mighty mean ghost story,' I thought to myself. My tale of a king's evil brother had always received rave reviews at campfires, and I was sure that the plane passengers would like it, too.
Sure enough, every single one of them was suddenly patting me on the back and saying things like "Awesome story!" and "Great job, Lizzie!"
But suddenly, I found myself being cornered by Kate. "Nice story and all Lizzie," she said sarcastically, "but just thought you should know, Gordo's been staring at you for the past half hour."
I'd completely forgotten about the Gordo situation by now, but suddenly, it all came flooding back to me. I couldn't think of a time when I'd been so scared of him! I mean, he was one of my best friends. 'I shouldn't be afraid of him!' I thought. But somehow, I was.
'Am I crazy?'