The rest of the week at the cabin went by quickly. Each sunny day feeling much like the previous. Gordo and Lizzie had taken to escaping once a day to their island. Some days were repeats of what had happened that first day and others weren't. But, none of the days went any further than that first one had. Gordo and Lizzie both understood that things couldn't continue to progress at the same rapid pace they had been, or soon they'd find themselves in trouble. So, they backed off and let things cool down a little bit.

The day before they were planning to return home they were all eating a pancake breakfast in silence. Everyone was thinking about how wonderful their week had been and how they weren't ready to return to the real world again. The weather matched their moods. It was the first day it had rained since they'd been there and it was some storm. Mr. Gordon broke the silence and said, "We have decided to stay at the cabin for an additional week. This morning we called Lizzie and Miranda's parents and got permission for them to join us."

"Excellent!" Lizzie said excitedly, "I was just sitting here thinking about how much I didn't want to go back home tomorrow."

"Me too!" Miranda said.

"Next week is the fourth of July," Mrs. Gordon said, "It will be so fun to have you girls here with us for the holiday."

After breakfast Gordo led Brad, Miranda and Lizzie up to the attic. "This is where I always spend rainy days," Gordo said, "I like listening to the rain on the roof, and it's kind of cozy."

It was rather cozy. It wasn't a musty old attic. It had some big old armchairs, a stack of blankets and an enormous shelf of games. The four played some games, but after a while tired of them.

"What should we do? I'm bored," Miranda moaned.

"Me too," Lizzie added.

"Truth or Dare?" Gordo asked.

"Have you guys ever played 'Have you ever'?" Brad asked. The others shook their heads and he continued, "It's actually a drinking game, I think, but we can improvise."

Gordo, Lizzie and Miranda nodded and Brad continued. "In this game you take turns asking have you ever questions. For example, if I asked, have you ever been to France, everyone who has takes a drink."

"How do you know who wins?" Miranda asked.

"I guess whoever is least drunk at the end? I'm not really sure that people are all that concerned about winning when they play this game," Brad said.

"Well, like you said, we can improvise," Gordo said, "We'll come up with a points system." Gordo looked around the room and spied a jar or marbles, "These marbles will represent points. We'll split them up. If you've done whatever, you put a marble in the jar. At the end the last person with marbles left, wins."

"Okay, but remember everyone has to be honest," Brad said.

Because Brad thought of the game he started. He thought for a moment then said, "Have you ever been to another country?" All of them dropped in a marble.

Miranda asked, "Have you ever wished on a star?" Again they all dropped in a marble.

Lizzie thought for a minute and asked, "Have you ever been in love?" Gordo and Lizzie both dropped in a marble.

Brad said, "I'm not sure yet."

And Miranda added, "Me neither."

"Have you ever been arrested?" Gordo asked. Everyone laughed and no marbles were added to the jar.

The game went on like this for a while; silly, run of the mill questions. Closer to the end of the game the questions became more personal, and that's when things got interesting.

"Have you ever seen someone of the opposite sex, who you are not related to, naked?" Miranda asked. Gordo and Lizzie both dropped in a marble and shared a secret smile and Miranda raised her eyebrows at them.

Gordo and Lizzie had considerably fewer marbles left than he and Miranda; in fact, they were both down to one apiece. Unaware of what he was starting and thinking he would knock Gordo and Lizzie out of the game he asked, "Have you ever made out with your best friend?" Gordo and Lizzie both dropped in a marble, then after a moment's hesitation, Miranda did too. It did not at first register with Lizzie what it meant that Miranda had dropped a marble in the jar. Gordo and Miranda both looked away and waited for Lizzie to understand.

"Hmmm," Lizzie thought to herself, "That's weird. Gordo and I are her best friends. Who else could she have made out with that she'd consider to be a best friend? Unless.... no, that couldn't be."

Lizzie stood up and asked, "Did you two make out?" Neither looked at her and she said, "Oh my gosh, you did! Why didn't anyone ever tell me about this?"

"Because we thought you'd be mad!" Miranda said, "And we were right."

"When did this happen?" Lizzie asked angrily.

"Last summer when you and your family went on vacation," Gordo said.

"I don't understand why no one told me about this," Lizzie said.

Neither Gordo nor Miranda knew what to say, so they remained silent. Lizzie felt like she'd been betrayed. It was one thing that it had happened, but for them to hide it from her was unforgivable. Lizzie could feel her eyes welling up with tears; hating to let people see her cry she ran down the attic stairs and into the bedroom she was sharing with Miranda. Knowing that Gordo would come after her she found her purse and her car keys. She needed to escape for a little while and think this new information over.

"Aren't you going to go after her?" Miranda said roughly to Gordo.

"I'm going to give her a minute," Gordo said.

When Gordo walked downstairs to look for Lizzie, he was just in time to see her taillights at the end of the driveway. He ran out into the pouring rain and tried to catch her. Gordo was sure she saw him, but she didn't stop. He guessed that he couldn't really blame her. Gordo went back inside and up to the attic.

"I'm sorry," Brad said, when Gordo appeared at the top of the stairs, "I had no idea."

"It's not your fault Brad. It's Miranda's and my fault for not just telling her when it happened," Gordo said.

"We should have just told her then. You guys weren't together then and she wouldn't even admit that she liked you then, so she couldn't have been mad at us. Now is a whole different area. If I was her, I'd be mad too," Miranda said.

"So, what happened?" Brad asked.

Uncomfortably Gordo and Miranda looked at one another. Miranda cleared her throat and began, "Last summer Lizzie went on vacation with her family. It was weird because Gordo and I almost never hang out together without Lizzie. But, since neither of us had other people to hang out with we continued to hang out everyday."

"As inexperienced as we both are with relationships we mistook the weirdness we were feeling for something more. One day we went to a movie and we ended up making out," Gordo said.

Miranda nodded and continued, "As soon as we first kissed I knew that it was wrong. I didn't feel that way about you and all I could think of was that it should be Lizzie kissing you and not me."

Embarrassed Gordo said, "I think that's why I didn't end it right away, I was pretending you were Lizzie. Sorry."

"That's okay. We agreed that it would be best if we didn't tell Lizzie at all," Miranda said, "Looking back, that was a big mistake."

"Where do you think she went?" Brad asked.

"I don't know," Gordo said.

Lizzie wasn't sure where she was going at first. She just wanted to escape and be able to cry in private. She realized that she didn't know the whole story and that she might feel different once she heard it. For now she wanted to be alone and to let go of some of the anger she was feeling. Lizzie drove for a while then spotted the gas station she, Miranda and Mrs. Gordon had stopped at the day they went to the Farmer's Market. Lizzie pulled in and parked on the side of the building. Lizzie went into the store and bought herself a soda and some nachos. She sat at one of the small tables they had at the front of the store and ate her snack. When she had finished she decided that she really just wanted to talk to someone. Lizzie used the phone card in her wallet to call home on the payphone in the back of the store.

"Hello?" Jo answered the phone.

"Hi Mom," Lizzie said.

"Hi Honey, how is the cabin?" Jo asked.

"Good. I've been having a great time," Lizzie answered.

"Why do you sound so sad then?" Jo asked.

"Well, that's why I'm calling, I need your insight on something," Lizzie said.

"Sure Honey," Jo said.

Lizzie explained the whole situation to her mom. She told her that she didn't think she knew the whole story yet, but that she felt so betrayed and she wasn't sure what to do. Jo listened patiently then told Lizzie that she needed to hear the whole story but that it was her right to feel upset about it. Jo told her that she could take her time about it, but that eventually she needed to forgive her friends and forget about it. Lizzie knew this was what her mom would tell her, but it still made her feel better to hear it.

When Lizzie hung up the phone and walked outside, Gordo was sitting on the hood of her car. "Hey," he said, "We need to talk."

"Yeah," she agreed quietly, "How did you know I was here?"

"After you'd been gone for a little while I had my Dad drive me in the direction I saw you leave. When I spotted your car I just had him drop me off," Gordo explained.

"How long have you been out here?" Lizzie asked.

"About 10 minutes," Gordo said, "I am so sorry Lizzie. We should have told you back when it happened."

"Yes, you should have," Lizzie said, "It hurt to hear it because you've been keeping it from me. I didn't think we had any secrets between us. And Miranda has been flat out lying about it. I don't like to be lied to by my best friend and my boyfriend."

"I know. I was a stupid thing that happened and we both regretted it as soon as it happened. We just thought it would be easier not to tell you about it. But, it is obvious that we should have just told you from the start. Things like this have a way of coming back to haunt you," Gordo said.

"Well, I forgive you," Lizzie said and softly kissed him on the cheek. "So, who do you think is a better kisser?"

Gordo laughed and said, "Do you even have to ask?"