It was lunchtime, and Lizzie was very hungry. She had been so nervous the night before, that she practically stayed up the entire night before baking, so her lunchbox was packed with peanut butter cookies, fudge brownies, and lemon tarts. Lizzie wasn't planning on eating it by herself though, she brought it all to share with her friends.

She saw Brynn in the distance chatting on her cell phone. Brynn was usually attached to her cell phone, talking with her boyfriend of the moment, but today something was different. She looked somber, and Lizzie knew that it was that time. Time to move on to a different boyfriend.

Brynn folded her cell phone shut, and walked up to Lizzie.

"That was Chris. We are now officially over," she said, without even a tinge of sadness.

"You poor thing. Have a cookie," she said, handing her a peanut butter cookie. "What happened?"

"I'll tell everyone at lunch," she said very businesslike. "Where is everyone, anyways?"

"Madison told me she was going to go find Jay somewhere, but she will be here, Gordo doesn't have this lunch, I haven't talked to Allie and Shana since this morning, but I think they have this lunch, and Miranda just went to buy her lunch."

"Great! Let's go pick a table."

The two went into the lunchroom, and sat down at an empty table. They were soon joined by Miranda. She was extremely happy about Lizzie's baked goods, because her lunch did not even remotely look like food.

Madison soon sat down at the table, and Jay followed.

"Am I going to be the only guy at this table?" he asked.

"Looks like it," Madison said. "So, girls...let's talk about secret girl things."

"Let's do," Miranda said. "Let's start with the inside of a girl's purse."

"And about 'that time of the month'," Lizzie suggested.

"I'm out of here," Jay said, as he got up from the table. "See you at band practice, Maddie."

Allie and Shana sat down at the table as he got up, still laughing about their encounter.

"What's so funny?" Miranda asked.

"You will never guess what happened to us before third hour," Shana said, adding a twist of suspense.

"Shana and I were on our way to freshman health, and we got kind of lost...so, we thought that this one door was a hallway, and we opened it, and guess who we saw going at it?" Allie said innocently.

"Teachers?" Brynn guessed. "You saw teachers making out?"

"No, even better. We saw Gordo and a new girl ALL OVER EACH OTHER," Shana said. She and Allie were delighted in the other girls' shock.

Lizzie's heart sank in her stomach. "You saw...Gordo? With who?"

Allie and Shana looked all over the lunchroom. Shana pointed Amber out to Lizzie, and Lizzie could hardly breath. Amber flipped her long, brown hair in the trademark Kate way, and looked over her shoulder. She saw Lizzie, and flashed a fake smile and wave.

"Ugh...I hate that girl. She's my lab partner," Miranda said. "She was like 'oh my gosh...I just met the cutest boy in the school, and now we are dating....oh my gosh, they're dating?"

"Well, in my household, my mom would say that they should be married," Allie said matter-of-factly. "I'm just glad they were in a closet."

"Ditto," Lizzie said, and sighed loudly. "I just can't imagine Gordo with a girlfriend, you know?"

"He did go out with Brooke Baker, remember?" Allie said.

"When I was Mirando," Miranda said, laughing at the memory.

"But this girl is different...she just seems like really social climbing, and I think she wants to dethrone Kate," Lizzie said.

"I think she already has," Brynn stated, as they watched what was going on at the popular table.

Amber had already claimed the "most popular girl spot" at the table, so by the time Kate, Claire, and Nora got there, there were no seats left. Amber flashed them an apolegetic smile, and then went back to talking to Ethan and James, Nora's best friend.

Ethan and Kate were going steady, and even though Nora and James were not going out, they had some sort of complicated friendship, where nobody dated anyone else. This apparently enraged Kate and Nora, who with Claire, took off in a huff.

They looked around, and saw that all of the tables were full.

"Oh no...this Amber is beginning to be sort of a problem," Miranda whispered.

Kate looked like she was going to cry, and Nora nudged her in the arm, gesturing towards Lizzie's table.

The once rulers of the school came up to the table, and Kate said in a sweet little voice, "Lizzie, can we sit here?"

"Sure!" Lizzie said pleasantly, while the other girls gave her death glares. "Pull up a chair."

They all grabbed a chair from another table, and squeezed in. Nora was in the chair next to Madison, and they both smiled uncomfortably.

The rest of the girls looked very uncomfortable and awkward, as Lizzie was the only one who really accepted those three. Most of the other girls still held a grudge for when they were dumped, besides Brynn, who moved there after all the damage was done, and was pretty good friends with Kate.

"So, what were we talking about?" Lizzie said, trying to instigate conversation. She looked around at all the blank faces.

"I have something to say. Chris and I broke up. Actually, I dumped him," Brynn announced.

"Why did you DUMP him?" Shana asked, emphasizing the word dump.

"Did you even have a reason?" Madison asked coldly, glaring at Nora.

"Well...he called me during class, and left a message that he needed to talk. I just called him back, and he told me he met someone else when we were in Florida."

"How incredibly selfish of him!" Miranda said, making a big deal of the word selfish.

"Did you know the girl that he met?" Lizzie asked.

"It actually wasn't a girl," Brynn stated, and the other girls all looked disgusted.

"That was so mean to leave you out in the cold when something happened to you for a new group of popular friends," Madison said angrily.

"Are we even talking about the same thing?" Brynn asked, with a confused look on her face.

"You know what I'm talking about...Nora," she said, as she got up out of her chair. "I can't sit here and pretend like there is nothing wrong, like you Lizzie. I'm gonna go find Jay. See you guys."

Madison stormed off from the table in a hurry, and everyone knew what it was about.

In sixth grade, the entire table (with the exception of Brynn, who hadn't moved there yet) was the best of friends. Madison and Nora had been best friends since birth, as with Miranda and Lizzie, and Shana and Allie. Kate was Lizzie and Miranda's best friend (who also were best friends with Gordo), and Claire, who went to ballet with Allie, was part of their group. Madison and Nora, who were always far more mature than the others, preferred hanging out with guys as well, so they usually hung around with Jay and James.

The summer after, everything changed. Madison's father died in a car accident, and she withdrew from basically everyone but Jay. Allie and Shana constantly tried to help her, but Nora did nothing, abandoning her. Kate and Claire left them in the cold, and Nora, Kate, and Claire became the unstoppable popular group. Lizzie and Miranda did not really start hanging out with Allie and Shana again until Madison began to involve herself more, and Brynn moved there, sort of uniting the group.

"Ummm...I have to go to class, or something," Allie stuttered.

"I have to go get my library card," Shana said.

Miranda looked at the table with now consisted of Brynn, Lizzie, Kate, Nora, and Claire.

"I have to go do something," she said, hurrying off to join the others.

Lizzie looked like she wanted to burst into tears.

"I thought everything would be okay," she said, and Brynn put her hand on her shoulder.

"I was a bitch in seventh grade," Nora said. "I totally regret everything that happened."

"I am really sorry about everything," Kate said, shaking her head. "But, I don't think they will ever forgive us."

"Ditto," Claire stated, raising her hand. "Maybe they will feel better, once they learn that there is a new queen to this school."

"I'm worried," Lizzie said.

"About the fact that your friends hate us...or about her?" Nora asked.

"About her, definitely. She's a schemer, and she is determined to take everything for herself," Lizzie said. "She taking over the cheerleading squad, and now she has taken over Gordo."

The bell had rung, and Gordo was dismissed from his class so he had joined Amber at her table. Lizzie tried to wave him over, but he acknowledged her, and went back to Amber.

"He's all goo-goo eyed over her," Lizzie said. "It's sickening, and they have only been going out for what....two hours?"

"Why would you care?" Nora said, and Kate kicked her under the table. Kate, not having the values of Allie, told Nora and Claire everything. "I mean...yeah, they should get a hotel room."

"They already got a broom closet," Brynn snickered.

"You know what, I have to go to class," Lizzie said, picking up her books. "See you after school."

A chrous of "byes", and "see ya laters", rang from the table, and Lizzie rushed to her next class.

"I can't believe Gordo is wasting his time with that skank," Nora said. "He really needs to get rid of her, when he can have Lizzie."

"Wait...Lizzie and Gordo are just friends, right?" Brynn asked.

"Are you blind, Matthews? Gordo's had a crush on her for like...ever," Claire stated.

"Then why is he skanking it up with Amber?" Brynn asked.

"He obviously is trying to say something to Lizzie," Kate said while filing her fingernails. "Like...hello! Lizzie! Other girls like me!"

"She doesn't like him though. She's just trying to get to Lizzie," Claire deduced. "I'm really going to feel sorry for Lizzie, when Lizzie beats her."

"You know she will. Lizzie is awesome at gymnastics," Nora said. "I can't wait to see the look on her face."

"Me too," Kate said. "I just can't believe she was trying to move in on James and Ethan when she has Gordo."

"You know, there is nothing really holding me back from fighting in school," Nora said. "If she tries one of her little numbers on James like she did on Gordo, I will kill her."

"But you two aren't even dating," Brynn said. "Wait, this is probably something else I don't know."

"No, we're just friends," Nora replied with a sly smile. "With benefits."

"But Ethan and Claire are going steady," Claire said. "So she will have all of us up on her case if she so much even tries anything with him."

The bell rang again, and the four realized that they were going to be late to class.

"Crap, we better go," Nora said. "See ya later."

She got up and ran to catch James, who was waiting for her. They linked arms, and ran to their next class.

"Bye guys," Kate said, and she met up with Ethan.

Brynn and Claire smiled at each other.

"What do you have next?" Brynn asked politely. "I have biology."

Claire checked her schedule.

"So do I!"

The two ran off to the biology class together, trying to not be tardy on their first day of school.

"Last class of the day!"

Lizzie and Shana were walking down the hallway, at the same time as they were celebrating their survival of the first day.

"Where's Allie?" Lizzie asked Shana, because she usually knew.

"She has advanced dance for dance team right now, and then she has practice until four," Shana said.

"Why don't we all go to Pop's after school today?" Lizzie suggested. Pop's was an old-fashioned ice cream shop that was pretty much the unofficial hang-out of their group. It was also where Madison worked, so she got an employee discount for everyone in the group.

"Well, I'm in, but Allie will probably be there after four. Brynn has practice before school, so she'll be there. Madison can probably make it, Jay can too...what about Gordo and Miranda?"

"It was Miranda's idea last hour, so she'll be there....but I don't know about Gordo, you know, he might be sucking face with Amber," Lizzie said.

The two walked into their last class, geometry, and Amber and Gordo were both sitting there together.

"Great," Lizzie muttered to Shana. "Hi, Gordo!" she said in a cheery voice to her best friend.

"Hey, Lizzie," he quickly said to her, and turned back to Amber.

The door swung open again, and in walked Nora and James.

"Hey guys," they both said, and Lizzie replied.

Shana looked increasingly uncomfortable, and at that moment, none other than Simon Alexander walked in.

"Gordo," he said loudly. "Where were you at lunch?"

"Amber and I were talking. What lunch did you have?"

"B. I didn't see you there," Simon said, looking rather dejected.

Simon took the seat behind Gordo, and looked over to his side, where Shana was sitting.

"Oh...it's you again," he said reluctantly, and sighed.

Shana flashed a smile, and went back to talking to Lizzie.

Nora and James sat far back, and watched the whole scene.

"I think Simon and Shana know each other, and they hate each other," James observed, and Nora nodded. Nora also went to the same synagogue as Simon and Gordo, so she knew everything about Simon.

"I can feel the tension between Amber and Simon," she said. "They had a really long relationship before she cheated on him."

The teacher came into the classroom and called the class to order, as the aide handed syllabi to everyone. But Lizzie could hardly care, as she had Gordo's love life to deal with. Lizzie pulled out a piece of paper, and wrote:

Gordo-Do you wanna come to Pop's after school today? Everyone, but Allie, in our group is going to be there.
Lizzie

But the note did not get to Gordo, instead Lizzie accidently kicked it underneath Amber's desk. Amber smiled sweetly at Lizzie, and made an 'awwww...how juvenile' look, as she picked it up.

She read the note quickly, and wrote her own reply in her fuzzy pink pen, with a feather on top. She placed it on Lizzie's desk, and Lizzie opened it.

Underneath Lizzie's note read:

Sorry, honey, but Gordo and I are going to go over some homework at the library after school. But, after class, I wanna go over a few things with you....kay? That would be fab!
Amber

Lizzie sighed and laughed at the same time. Only Gordo would take a date to the library.

After class, Lizzie and Shana walked out the door, complaining about the first and only homework assignment of the first day. Lizzie felt a tap on her back, and when she turned around, Amber was standing right behind her.

"Lizzie, we need to talk."

"Okay," Lizzie said unsurely. She thought for a brief second, Amber would talk to her about some of the animosity they had between them, but Lizzie was completely wrong.

"I'm not very comfortable with your friendship with Gordo," she said coldly. "I would prefer if you two did not hang out together anymore."

Lizzie nodded, still not quite hearing the whole thing.

"I mean, you two could totally go behind my back and go out together, so I think that you should dump him as a friend."

Lizzie stopped nodding, and got the full impact of what she just heard.

"You want us to quit being friends?"

"It's for the best, Liz," she said. "Can I call you Liz?"

"No," Lizzie said, and now she was angry. "Gordo and I have known each other since birth."

"Yes, and it's only natural sometimes to develop feelings for each other as more than friends."

"But, he is my best friend!"

"Yes I know," she said. "And, I think it would be really unselfish of you just to 'let him fly', on his own."

With that, the devil known as Amber clicked away in her high heels.

"I cannot believe her," said Amber, who had remained silent. "You just have to let him fly on his own...Liz...can I call you Liz?"

Lizzie laughed at her imitation.

"She is a total witch," Lizzie said. "I am not going to give up my friendship with Gordo for her."

Amber looked at her watch, and started to guide Lizzie to the door.

"C'mon, we can talk about this later. We're going to be late."