No Time to Waste
by TheRealXenocide

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Note: In this story, the trio are 16, and Matt is 13. You can do the math for the rest.

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters, settings, or anything else you recognize from the show Lizzie McGuire. The plot, at it's base, has been around since Homer, and this variant since Henry Ford. However, this is the first I've seen it applied to Lizzie.
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A/N: There is a new R-rated Aside up. Getting it to sound right to me was what took so long. If you want to read it, click on my author name, and you'll see it as Excerpt 2. It takes place during the planning for Kate's announcement party in during Epilog Two. It will answer some questions I've been getting, including:

What happened with Ethan and his band.
How Larry and Parker got together.
What Ethan meant when he spoke of "an old debt" with Larry.
How are Larry and Parker doing.
Why Gordo and Lizzie ride in Miranda's car to and from school.
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Epilog Three
Through the Looking Glass
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For a while after the Clair campaign, nearly all of Matt and Miranda's fellow students wanted to avoid upsetting either of them. And most of them decided that the simplest way to do that was by avoiding them. This wasn't a grand plot, but a simple case of the throng thinking alike.

While this situation was somewhat disheartening to both of them, their friends stuck to them, and they had each other. That made the situation, while not ideal, easier to deal with than might have been expected.

With time, the other students slowly began to start coming around them again. While neither was ever the kind to have masses of people around , they welcomed the return to something approaching normal. It won't be until years later that either knew that the return had been due, in part, to the subtle efforts of their friends, led in the High School by Kate, and in the Junior High by Reggie.
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The other consequence of the Clair campaign was a bigger hassle for them. Detentions. While there wasn't enough evidence connecting Matt to the Clair campaign to meet the requirements from the school board for removing him from the school, or even the football team, they felt they had enough for a long series of detentions. Matt knew that, even if he could turn back time, he wouldn't undo anything he did to her. But he also knew that if he fought the detentions, they might look closer at other people who might have been in on it with him, and that would probably be hardest on Miranda. Even though he had gone out of his way to keep her hands clean, he didn't want to take a chance with her, so he accepted the detentions without argument. While he only had one day a week during football season, he picked up two more days a week after the season. This was to go on until at least spring break. All this added to their already tight schedules.

Even before the detentions, they knew their schedules would be tight, and arranged what parts of their schedules they had control over to try to have their free time together. Miranda arranged for her violin lessons on Monday, when the football team had a longer practice during which they studied film from their previous game. Matt arranged it so that when he finished with his anger management program in mid-November, he would continue with his judo in the same class Miranda had begun. He needed to keep his grades up to keep him eligible for the team, so they made so he had enough time for that. Miranda and Jo both insisted on going over his work, something that could cause some . . . interesting moments. And on top of all that, Miranda had begun a part-time job just before the Clair campaign, and Matt was going to look for one after football season. The detentions, however, were an unwelcome addition. They made due, and managed to find SOME time for each other each week, but it was a strain. It might have been worse on them if not for Gordo.

Both Matt and Miranda's computers had cheap, but functional, webcams. Gordo set them up with two freeware programs that made them very useful. One was a simple video-phone program. The second was a third-party addition to the first program that made it so only computers running those programs AND had the private encryption key could hear or see anything. The original purpose was so Matt and Miranda could check on each other at night without running up the phone bill. And even when they eventually began using them to help abate their physical needs, they most often used them just to keep in touch when they didn't have enough time otherwise.

They were also working on getting to know each other in the way Daniella had suggested, and for the most part it was working. They were having fun introducing each other to new things, like their favorite music. There were the inevitable disagreements, but they knew to expect that. Matt slowly got Miranda into some of the novelty music he enjoyed, like 'Weird' Al Yankavic. Although she came to like some of it, she couldn't take to it in the same way he did. Miranda introduced Matt to the classical music she was learning on the violin, and while Matt liked some of it, he admitted that he had a hard time staying awake for some of it. This might have upset her if she hadn't remembered feeling the same way when she started a few years ago.

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They were not without their problems, however. Their first major blow-up helped set the rules they would use in the future. It happened just before Christmas. Matt thought Miranda looked like she was coming down with something, and kept checking on her and asking her about it. Miranda was, in fact, in the beginning stages of a mild case of the flu. While it was mild enough yet she didn't yet have any of the more obvious symptoms, it was affecting her sleep and energy levels enough to put her in a particularly bad mood, and she tore into him about being overprotective. Matt was shocked at first, and his replay was not as well thought out as it should have been.

Lizzie was there, and the explosion that followed was the kind of thing she had been afraid of when they started seeing each other. Miranda stormed off when she was done, leaving a stunned Matt and Lizzie behind her.

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Late that night, Miranda fell into her worst nightmare in months, only to be forced awake by the all too familiar pain at the back of her head. Both unnerved by her nightmare and concerned by the obvious implication of that pain, she decided to call Matt. Or rather, to call Lizzie to check on Matt.

Lizzie answered on the sixth ring. "Hello?"

"Lizzie, it's Miranda. You need to check on Matt."

Lizzie wasn't awake enough yet to register much of what Miranda had said, and only half caught the concern in her voice. "Huh? What's going on?"

"LIZZIE! WAKE UP!"

"Okay, okay."

"You NEED to check on Matt!"

Lizzie was awake enough for things to start coming together for her. "Oh. OH. Okay, hang on."

She got as far as Matt's door when it flew open, revealing a worried looking Matt. "Wha . . ." Matt only just stopped before colliding with her. "Lizzie, I've got to . . ."

"Call Miranda? She's right here." She handed the phone to him.

After a confused look, he took it. "Miranda?" A pause. "Yeah, did you?" Another pause. "Listen, can we do this on the webphones?" Brief pause. "Okay, I'll be just a minute. Bye." He hit the off button and handed it back to Lizzie. "Thanks, sis."

They spent most of the night talking, and when they both signed off and went to bed at 3:00 in the morning, they had made up. They also came to an agreement that they wouldn't go to sleep angry with each other. They had intended it to be a temporary solution. However, while it did undergo some minor modifications, they ended up trying to follow that policy for their whole lives.

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Matt development as a punter during the season was better than expected. This was largely due to the complete ineptitude of the offense. Ranked last in the conference in every offensive category except turnovers committed, they gave Matt several chances per game to improve.

The High School's Head Coach, Jeffery Park, was at the Junior High's last game of the season, and he told Matt after the game that he'd be surprised if Matt couldn't make varsity punter as a freshman.

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Mr. Craft offered to pay for Kate to attend a special school while still living with Ethan, and Susan had offered to home school her, but Kate wanted to stay in her school as long as she possibly could. She reluctantly agreed that after the baby was born, it would probably be a good idea to accept Susan's offer.

As luck would have it, the baby was two weeks late. This meant that when Kate went into labor, it was the Wednesday of spring break.

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Mr. and Mrs. Ethan and Kate Craft are proud to announce the birth of their daughter.

Krystal Madison Craft

She was born on March 22, 2006. Her weight at birth was 7 lb. 11 oz.

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Throughout the school year, both Matt and Miranda had been writing and receiving letters from Lanny and Melina. At first, it was mostly the expected complaining about various school rules. It was during this period that Miranda realized just how impressive Melina's vulgarity vocabulary was. As the year wore on, the two began to settle in. While Lanny still didn't like speaking, he was getting used to it, and he found a place for himself on the silent drill team. Melina surprised herself by finding the military history class very interesting, which she attributed to the style of the class. The instructor focused on discussing the strategies, tactics and decision making involved, instead of the 'root memory name game' public school's seem to prefer.

Then came the Summer Social.

The school's rules were very strict about when and how male and female students could interact. Of the few things that weren't directly class related, most, like the drill team, were part of the overall military program. The two big exceptions were the two dances each year, the Winter Social and Summer Social.

The Winter Social was held just before the students who went home for winter break left. Lanny and Melina didn't stay for all of it, as their bus home left early the next morning, but they spent most of the time they were there dancing together. They couldn't dance too close to each other for two reasons. The first was because the teachers weren't shy about breaking up any couple they deemed as too close. The second was because they, like all students, were required to were their 'Class A' dress uniforms. Between the stiffness of the fabric and the various buttons, snaps, and pins they had to wear on them, they were uncomfortable to wear, and potentially painful to be pressed against. A fact Lanny had no doubt was the single biggest reason those uniforms were required.

The Summer Social was held on the Friday of finals week, giving the students roughly 24 hours after their last final to un-rattle their nerves and make themselves presentable. In the letters the month leading up to finals, Miranda noticed an undercurrent of tension on Melina's letters, but Lanny's didn't seem any different. The two of them returned home from school that weekend.

When Matt went to visit Melina that Tuesday, he was abruptly told that she wasn't going to speak to him, and that he should try her EX-boyfriend. After recovering from his shock, he went to visit Lanny. Matt learned from him that Melina had erupted at him at the Summer Social, breaking up with him for reasons he still couldn't figure out. She'd said a bunch of stuff at the time, but none of it made any sense, and he had been shocked enough that he couldn't remember most of it in any detail.

When Matt saw Miranda later that day, she knew he was troubled by something before he could say a word. After he told her, Miranda gently reminded him that finding what they had, at their ages, was not typical, and that they'd both have many more friends' break-ups to live through. But she also promised to ask about it when she accepted the invitation that Melina had included in her last letter, which had clearly been written before the break-up.

A little past noon the next day, Miranda rang the doorbell at the Bianco home. After a couple of moments, Melina answered. Despite not having seen her in almost a year, she remembered her. "Miranda. Did Matt send you?"

Her tone was combative, but Miranda had somewhat expected that. "You invited me in your last letter, remember?"

Melina closed her eyes in a habit Miranda recognized from Matt when he silently kicked himself for something he considered stupid. "Sorry. Come on in."

Miranda walked into the home to find it surprisingly quiet. "Are you alone?"

"Mom's at work."

As she sat on the couch, Miranda was about to ask about the girl's father, but then remembered what Matt had told her. Melina and her mom came to Hillridge after her parents' divorce, and the subject of Melina's father was still something best avoided. So she tried another subject. "Glad to be home?"

Melina, however, was not somebody who took to small talk easily. "I know Matt told you what I said."

Miranda withheld her sharp return. "Yes, he told me you broke up with Lanny. And before you ask, I'm here as YOUR friend." They had agreed during their year of letters that they could be, then were, friends. "How are you doing?"

Melina flopped into the chair nearest the couch. "I'm still pissed with him. I mean, I know it shouldn't have surprised me. He's a guy, they do that. But I'd thought he was better than that."

"What did he do?"

Melina looked surprised. "Hasn't Matt seen Lanny yet?"

"Yeah, but it sounds like Lanny's got no idea what happened, either."

"Oh, please! How could he NOT know? HE'S the one that did it!"

Miranda looked sympathetic. "Boys are stupid. I thought you knew that." Melina looked at her for a moment, than had to smile in acknowledgment. "Feel like telling me about it."

Melina thought for a moment. "What the hell, why not?" Melina launched into the story with little preamble.

When she finished, Miranda shook her head in sympathy. "Sounds a lot like what happened with my first serious boyfriend, Larry."

Melina nodded politely at first, then the name clicked. "Larry? The guy from the park?"

"Yeah, that's him. And smart as he is, he didn't know what I was mad about until I spelled it out for him. Like I said . . ."

"Boys are stupid." Melina finished. "You think I should go and spell it out for him, don't you?"

"He's not just a boyfriend, he was your friend first. I think that you owe it to your friend to tell him why you're mad, and give him a chance to explain himself."

"Explain himself?!? What possible . . ."

"Do you think you know him well enough to tell if he lies to you?" Miranda interrupted.

"Hell yeah, that boy's an easier read than Matt."

"THAT'S why you should let him explain. If he lies, that's one thing. But if he tells you the truth, and begs you to forgive him, then maybe your friend/boyfriend would be worth a second chance."

"Maybe."

Miranda knew from Matt that that was as good a concession as she'd get from her, so she moved the conversation to safer topics.

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Because their discussion wasn't something they wanted a lot of witnesses for, public places were ruled out. Neither was willing to give to other home advantage, so a compromise location was chosen . . .
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As they walked into the McGuire's living room, Melina saw the two boys standing next to each other. That's when she realized how much Matt had grown in the year since she'd seen last. Well, she saw him a couple of days ago, but she hadn't payed any attention to anything but getting rid of him. Now, as he stood next to Lanny, she could see the changes. The year before, he'd been about an inch shorter than she was, and a good three inches shorter than Lanny. While she and Lanny had grown about an inch, Matt had sprouted. Now, he was her height, maybe a little taller. That would give him two inches in just that year. His figure had changed some as well. While still slender, he'd filled out enough for her to notice the difference.

She was brought back to earth by Lanny's voice. "Well, I think we know why we're here. I really have no idea why you mad at me. What happened?"

Matt winced, and Miranda just shook her head. "Hello to you too, Lanny." Melina answered acidly.

Lanny refused to be chastened. "Look, you seem to think I know what's going on. Well, I don't. Now please tell me what I could have done to have to this mad at me."

"Oh, you don't think cheating on me is reason enough."

That clearly surprised him. "What are you thinking about?!? I never cheated on you."

"Oh really? Then what were you doing with that Jasmine girl."

Now his surprised look included disbelief. "Jasmine?!? From the drill team?!?"

"Yeah, her, your cute little Korean teammate. From almost the moment the Winter Social was over, you spent more and more time with her. And not just at practice. At the library, during meals, all the times we could have been together and not gotten in trouble, you were as often with her as with me. Then at the Summer Social, you disappeared almost as soon as we got there. When I went to find you, you were with her again. I watched you for a while, Lanny. Wherever she went, you went, like you two were glued at the hips! What in the world do you find so funny?!?"

Indeed, during her tired, Lanny's disbelief had grown to where he was barely holding back his laughter. "I'm sorry, but I can't believe you're jealous of Jasmine."

"Why the hell wouldn't I be?!?"

"You really don't know?!?" The look on her face said it all. "You have no reason to be jealous of her. She couldn't possibly be interested in me."

"Oh, really? Why, 'cause you're black."

"No, 'cause I'm a boy." Melina looked confused. "Jasmine's a lesbian!"

That was met by a moment of stunned silence, which was broke when Matt burst into a half-contained fit of laughter. Everyone turned to him. "I'm sorry, but a lesbian?!?"

Melina recovered enough to question Lanny. "Then why were you spending so much time with her?"

"Because after she saw you at the Winter Social, she started asking about YOU!"

"WHAT!?"

"Yeah. She wanted to know if we were serious, if we were exclusive, if you'd ever been with a girl, all kinds of stuff."

"Are you serious?"

He nodded. "Jasmine's that one rare lesbian that actually acts like some of the negative stereotypes. And she was hot for you and wouldn't mind breaking us up to have you. I knew you don't swing that way, but I also know how you react to unwanted advances. So to keep her from doing something that might get you expelled, I kept as close a track on her as possible. I think the only reason she didn't try it after you slapped me was she was too afraid of you."

"And why didn't you just WARN me?!?"

Lanny's expression made it clear that he hadn't thought of that. Miranda slap her forehead in frustration, turned to Matt, and said. "Boys are really stupid."

"Yeah," Matt agreed, "but I don't remember hearing the part when she asked him what was going on before she slapped him." Melina's glare was all the answer he needed. "Seems like you both messed up this time."

Eventually, they agreed with that.

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A/N: Family reasons, including problems with a newborn niece, disrupted my writing for a couple of months. When I got the time to write, I'd lost my drive for this story. I believe I can finish this now in good time, but it won't be my only focus. Following a discussion with another Harry Potter fan, I've decided to try my hand at a Harry Potter fanfic. I'll post more information in my Yahoo! group, but one of the things that intrigued me was a long road to a Harry pairing that's not one of the two normally argued over.