Hey guys,

Sorry that it took so long to update! My cousin got married and I was the bridesmaid so I was really really busy! Please review!

Zang: I know that other authors have done this idea before but this actually is different! Promise! Keep reading anyways and you'll be surprised!

Peaches n Pears

That's Why It's Called Romance

Chapter 2 – From my heart

A shrill beeping was more than enough to wake Lizzie up on Monday morning. Buried in layers of pink blanket, she almost didn't hear the persistent sound. Lizzie groaned and reached a small hand to turn the alarm off before uncovering her face with the pillow.

(Monday! Ewww!) Throwing the coverlet off of her body, Lizzie swung her legs over the side of her mattress. The pink plush carpet warmed her toes and Lizzie took a long moment to stretch her arms above her head.

"Lizzie, are you awake? It's 6:45!" Jo McGuire's motherly tone floated up the stairs and under the crack in Lizzie's door.

"Yeah Mom!" the girl hollered back, stumbling to her closet and yanking open the paneled door.

(what to wear. . .) she thought, running her fingers along the skirts she had hung there. She paused and pulled two short skirts off of hangers and tried to choose between them. Lizzie moved towards her mirror and held both skirts up against her waist. Wrinkling her nose, Lizzie threw her black, three tiered skirt behind her and smiled at the short denim one left. Three snaps held it together with a short a-line bit at the top which pleated at the bottom. Lizzie slipped it on and pulled a tight, three quarter sleeve, brown shirt over her head and tied the small knot in front. Pulling all off her straight, blonde hair over her right shoulder, Lizzie made a loose ponytail. Smiling, she slipped on her blue vans and rushed down the stairs.

Having grown up in an old fashioned household, Jo McGuire was accustomed to always slaving over the stove and carrying stacks of pancakes to the table and dousing them with maple syrup. Twelve-year-old Matt still sat at the table before catching the bus with Lanny and Melina, his best friends. Two algebra sheets lay on the table in front of him and the young boy hastily scribbled down the answers to last nights homework while expertly shoving hot pancakes into the black hole of his mouth.

Slipping past her mom, Lizzie snagged the honey nut cheerios and shoved her hand into the bag. She gobbled down two handfuls of the dry cereal before slurping down the milk her mother was carrying to the table for Matt. Reapplying her lip gloss, she snuck to the door, hollering a few goodbyes before grabbing her book bag and slamming the door shut behind her.

The bus arrived on time and Lizzie casually walked down the aisle until she found Miranda Sanchez. Lizzie shoved over the red LL Bean back pack and took the seat smiling at the girl next to her.

"Hola Chika!" Miranda said quietly, hugging her best girl friend. "How was your weekend? Last time I talked to you was on IM and you kinda blew me off!" a worried expression creased her face as she peered into Lizzie's eyes.

Lizzie stared fixedly at the bus floor, "It was okay, I had tons of homework and I really practiced for the auditions today!" she was lying through her teeth but Miranda didn't seem to notice.

She nodded as though she understood and rummaged through her book bag till she found her i-pod, then flipped through the songs, lip-syncing and dancing in her seat. Lizzie giggled at her friend and pulled out a book.

The bus wound it's was through high class neighborhoods before stopping in front of a huge white house. Lizzie pretended not to notice the girl who clambered up the steps in a tight, leather skirt and a leopard print tank top. High, black boots clicked down the aisle to stop in front of the blonde girl's seat.

"Hello there Lizzie, how's your head feeling today? Your precious Gordo isn't around to make excuses for you this time!" Kate Saunders's had a sneer plastered across her heavily made up face that made Lizzie slightly nauseous in the morning.

"It's fine," she mumbled, keeping her eyes fixed on TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD but stopped reading. Kate Saunders didn't move.

"Are you sure? I would hate to trip again with a nasty bump already showing the world what a Loser I am!" she laughed as if she had said something funny, and waited for her victim to respond.

Lizzie opened her mouth to tell her tormenter to go away when a familiar male voice answered for her.

"Leave her alone Kate!" Gordo spat the name out as though it burned his tongue, and took the seat across the aisle from Lizzie and Miranda.

"Hey Gordo!" Kate simpered, batting her false eyelashes provocatively at him. Gordo grimaced.

"Sorry Katarina Alicia Saunders," he chuckled maliciously, "Only my friends can call me Gordo!"

Finally Kate stomped off towards the back off the bus, her cheerleading posse following behind her, sadistic smirks painted on all their faces. They kicked some freshmen out of the back seats and bunched together giggling and viciously gossiping about the clothing choices of girls in hearing range.

Lizzie heard them comment on Miranda's orange pants and blue cammo shirt. She rolled her eyes but didn't hear her name mentioned in the conversation. No longer interested in her book and still having twenty more minutes left in the bus ride, Lizzie decided to talk to Gordo.

Shoving her book in her bag, she turned to her best friend and was startled to notice that butterflies were taking over her stomach and internal organs. His head was bent and he was shuffling through a Physics paper and muttering to himself, making small marks here and there with a red bic pen. Swallowing around a lump in her throat, Lizzie opened her mouth to speak.

"Hey Liz," Gordo beat her to the hellos and glanced up from his paper, letting his gorgeous eyes linger on hers.

"oh Hi!" she stuttered, taken by surprise. "How was your weekend?" she gave him a quiet smile.

Smiling back he turned her paper over, "It would have been better if my best friend returned my calls." His voice was deep and low and Lizzie shivered at his tone but quickly gave him an apologetic look.

"Oh Gordo, I know and I am so sorry!" sending a glance at the oblivious Miranda, she slipped across the aisle and sat in a surprised Gordo's lap and gave him a huge hug. "Will you ever forgive me?" she teased, burying her head into his neck and giggling slightly.

"Can I ever stay mad at you?" Gordo laughed and hugged her back.

"Nope!" Lizzie giggled and slid onto the seat as the bus pulled up in front of the Hill Ridge High School.

Playfully grabbing Lizzie's bag along with his, Gordo escorted her down the steep steps of the bus and across the quad and up a flight of hard, cement stairs. The large, oak doors were propped open to allow the students easier access to the school hall and would close at 8:00; in half an hour. Teenagers piled everywhere as the three best friends made their way through the hall towards their adjacent lockers. Larry Tudgeman greeted them near the stainless steel water fountain, his eyes never leaving Miranda's face. She, however, was too busy dancing around to realize that he was staring, or that her back pack was still on the green, plastic bus seat.

"What was that with you and the Viper Bitch?" Gordo whispered when Miranda and Larry had run out of the double doors shouting for the bus to come back. Lizzie's smile faltered and terror sprinted through her brown orb eyes. Gordo almost kicked himself and mentally groaned. This was the same look she had gotten after their accidental kiss on Friday. It was only accidental; Gordo had convinced himself of this through the heartbreak of her running away.

Avoiding his glance, Lizzie stared intently at her watch and stuttered an excuse.

"I have homeroom in English Lit in two minutes. I'll see you at lunch! Bye" Lizzie grabbed her bag from his large hand and darted away like a frightened deer. Gordo stared wistfully after her, his eyes glazing over, remembering their 'accidental' kiss. The hall was almost completely empty and the bell rang sharply, causing Gordo to be late for AP Bio.

"Earth to Gordo. Come back from Mars Chico!" a disgruntled, bagless, Miranda was standing at his side with a flushed Tudgeman standing a few feet behind them. Larry started to step forward but Miranda noticed. "six feet Tudge!"

Gordo chuckled; Larry had been infatuated with Miranda almost as long as he himself had loved Lizzie. However, Larry had never gotten a kiss. The tall Latino girl glanced at the overhead clock and shrieked.

"World History! Oh My God I'm LATE!!!!!!!!!" she ran in a small panic circle before Larry kindly turned her down the correct hall. The two boys watched her knock on two wrong doors before slipping into the right one, and then wandered down the hall towards their AP Bio class.

Lizzie spent a long time gathering up her books before lunch, giving Kate and Claire a long time to leave the room. She watched their retreating backs and scribbled the assignment down before hastily shoving her binder and novel into her bag and scrambling for the door. Before making her way to the cafeteria, Lizzie stopped at the bathroom to wipe the dried saliva off of her neck with a wet paper towel. Her tormenters had spent the last hour chucking spit balls at her neck, and although Lizzie hated to admit it, their aim was pretty accurate.

She grabbed her wallet from her locker and shoved it into her bag before scurrying off towards the lunch room. It was sunny, and most of the students were sitting on the lawn next to the quad to eat, or at the scattered pick nick tables. Lizzie stared at the menu before grabbing a small bowl of French fries and a diet coke. She gave the lunch lady her last three dollars before pushing open the glass doors with her back, to find her friends.

She heard them before she saw them, sitting at a black table under a large maple tree. People's heads were turned towards the three sitting there, specifically at the tall, geeky boy and the Mexican girl. Their bickering was not uncommon, but when the teachers were around and music couldn't be blasted for entertainment, the couple served just as well. Miranda was dangerously threatening Larry with a rather long fry when Lizzie started to make her way down the slight hill towards them.

All three saw their best friend fall, but only Gordo noticed the foot that had tripped her. A large, black boot pulled quickly under a large table and a chorus of 'klutz' was heard from Kate and her posse. Lizzie carefully picked herself up and surveyed the damage. All the fries were on the ground and her coke had rolled away to sit at a senior's feet. Gordo waited for Lizzie to unload on Kate, but she didn't. Head down, Liz slid into the seat next to him.

"Geez Chika, no offense but you aren't the most coordinated of the bunch, judging by that fall!" She giggled slightly until Gordo gently kicked her under the table and sent her a death glare.

Gordo waited for Lizzie to complain about Kate, or at least set Miranda straight, but she just sat there, quiet as the grave. She reached out a hand and snatched a French fry from his tray and popped it into her mouth, chewed and swallowed. Glancing up, she noticed Gordo staring at her questioningly and she smiled, stealing another fry.

"Sorry I was late! I had to go to the bathroom, emergency!" Gordo still looked doubtful so Lizzie added a hasty "female problems," to the end of her answer only to have the question now come from Miranda.

"Lizzie your probs are at the same time as mine! Specifically Not Now!" The blonde girl blushed and shoved another greasy potato into her small, glossed mouth and didn't answer. Gordo glared at Miranda again.

"you still haven't answered my question!" Larry huffed, poking Miranda gently in the side.

Lizzie grinned, "what question?"

Gordo and Miranda started at the same time.

"Tudge asked her out,"

"About the geometry homework,"

Gordo chuckled as Miranda glared fire at him and kicked his shin hard under the table. Lizzie giggled at her friends but stopped when she saw Gordo swear under his breath and drop a hand to his leg.

"well?" Larry continued, trying to steal a sip of Miranda's root beer as he did so. She noticed however, and sent a hard slap to his right shoulder, causing Larry to wince like Gordo.

"I said 'NO' Larry," she said sweetly then added an afterthought, "SO GET OVER IT!" Lizzie and Gordo burst out laughing but Larry just tried again.

"Please?" growling, Miranda grabbed the cold soda can and slowly poured it over Larry's head before leaning close to whisper in his ear.

"sorry larry," she purred, "but my answer is," she changed her tone and she drenched boy jumped at her next word, "NO!" Miranda stomped away, muttering something about waterfowl, Canada, and libraries.

"I'm gonna call my dad for a change of clothes!" Larry laughed before leaving Gordo and Lizzie at the table.

"I better go too!" Lizzie mumbled, nervous at being around him and ashamed of wanting to hug him very badly, "I have a paper-thingy-thing due next and I want to proof read it one last time!" she clamored away and Gordo got up to throw his lunch away wondering why Lizzie didn't mention Kate's attack.

The rest of the day was uneventful, Lizzie and Kate had no more classes together and by the time the last bell rang, Lizzie was nervous about auditions. Gordo wanted the part of Mercutio, and Miranda had begged off saying 'remember eighth grade?' and Lizzie had had to agree with her. Miranda had found that acting wasn't her thing during the drama club production of Greaseyear a few years prior. She knocked almost everything over and made Lizzie look very poised.

It seemed as though the whole school was gathered in the auditorium for auditions. Mr. Escobar and Mr. Dig were standing on the stage while the students took seats all over the room. One by one, the kids got up on stage and recited a monologue by the character they were auditioning for. Lizzie counted 23 girls, including Kate, who auditioned for Juliet before it was her turn.

Lizzie walked up to the stage and took a deep breath before placing Gordo's face in her mind. Swallowing she stepped up to the mic and began her recitation.

"Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thought Romeo? Deny thy father and refuse thy name, or, if thou wilt not but be sworn my love and I'll no longer be a Capulet. 'Tis thy name that is my enemy. Thou art thyself, though not a montague. What's montague? It is nor hand, nor foot, nor arm, nor face, nor any other part belonging to a man. . ." Lizzie spoke with passion she didn't even know existed. The words came from her heart and three people were greatly moved, Mr. Escobar, Mr. Dig, and Gordo.

Trust me, the more reviews, the faster I update! Read all my stories Please!

P.S. the "audition" is actually from Romeo and Juliet.

surprise next chapter.

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