Hey everyone! Sorry it took so long. My computer had a virus, and was completely and totally disfunctional for a week or so. I'm on my dad's laptop now. Special thanks to the two people who reviewed my last chapter.
Did you all like the last chapter? It was a bit unnerving that almost no one reviewed, I'm so sorry. This chapter will be better. Throughout the rest of the story I'll be using the house next door, and probably Lizzie's backyard, and I changed it from the show, so if you forgot, it's in the 3rd chapter. But here it is...
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Chapter 6: Between Us Girls
"Hey, I'm Lizzie."
"Miranda."
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The two teenage girls stood stock-still, mouths open, and eyes wide.
"L-Lizzie McGuire?" Miranda asked, finally finding words after five minutes of gaping and stuttering.
"Miranda? Oh my gosh is that really you?" Lizzie was smiling uncontrollably, and tears slowly began to stream down her face.
Miranda was also crying. Her mother had never stopped telling her stories about when she was a baby. She always liked to bring up memories about the three best friends and how close they were. Miranda was so glad to see Lizzie after all these years; it was like a dream come true.
The girls looked at each other, laughing, crying, and sniffling back tears, but neither could say a word. Miranda flung her arms around her old best friend and they hugged each other close. Miranda buried her head in Lizzie's shoulder.
"I missed you so much."
Lizzie hugged her back and brushed a tear from her own cheek.
"I missed you too."
The two girls stood there silently, crying and laughing until a young girl tapped them.
"Can we go swimming now?"
The girls laughed and replied in the affirmative, and the campers squealed in delight and took off towards the pool like horses out of a starting gate.
While the children were having a swim lesson, Lizzie and Miranda sat on the side and talked. They talked about everything, as if they were desperate to know every detail about the other. They talked about school, friends, clothes, hobbies, and of course, boys. The pair reminisced about the golden years of their childhood when they could have been considered inseparable.
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Lizzie and Miranda walked to Lizzie's house and quietly opened the front door.
"I think I remember it here," Miranda whispered.
"Shh. My mom's going to die when she sees you! Oh my little girls, you grow up so fast," Lizzie said, mocking her mother's probable future statement.
Both girls erupted into a fit of giggles, and stopped themselves quickly, not wanting to give their presence away.
Behind the stifled laughter their eyes pranced with excitement, awaiting an ecstatic Jo McGuire.
"Mom! I'm home!" Lizzie called from the doorway.
Jo appeared in the hallway from the direction of the kitchen, drying her hands with a towel.
"Hey, sweetie, I just walked in a half-hour ago and I was jus- oh hello," she saw the dark-haired girl standing next to her daughter. "Who's your friend, Lizzie?" she asked cheerfully.
"Oh, mom, you remember Miranda, right?"
"Miranda?" Jo's cheery smile turned into a grin and she ran over to Miranda and starting talking a mile a minute. She had asked her several thousand questions before Lizzie cut in to give Miranda so very much appreciated breathing room.
Jo clasped her hands and wiped her watery eyes.
"Oh my little girls, you grow up so fast."
Lizzie and Miranda ran up the stairs to hide their mouths that were gushing laughter.
Jo yelled up the stairs to Miranda that she could stay as long as she liked, then returned to the kitchen to prepare dinner.
The girls knew that the next day was the director's birthday, and his wife was taking him to Vegas for the day, so camp was cancelled, and the girls decided to make the best of it.
Miranda called her mother and asked her to bring a sleeping bag and clothes for her, because she was sleeping at a friend's.
Mrs. Sanchez smiled and proceeded to go into her child's room to pick out her clothes.
"Whose house are you at, Miranda?" she asked, finding her daughters pajamas and putting them in a bag.
"Lizzie McGuire's," Miranda replied, grinning. She had said it so nonchalantly, so 'la-de-da,' that she was sure her mother was frozen still with shock.
And indeed she was.
"You-what-Lizzie-Lizzie McGuire?-you-how-what-when?-"
Miranda figured that her mother would go on stuttering for an hour, so she decided to cut her off; in a loving way, of course. She laughed lightly and shook her head. Miranda caught Lizzie's eye from across the room. Both girls' eyes gleamed in delight and satisfaction.
"Don't worry, mom, I'll explain it all later, can you bring my stuff, I'm sleeping over! If that's all right..." Miranda asked in a very hopeful voice, eager to spend some timg with her 'new' friend.
"Of course it is, sweetie, I'll be right there, I remember where it is, " Mrs. Sanchez told her daughter.
Miranda said goodbye and hung up the phone and the two girls hugged again. Both were so inexplainably happy that there were just no words to describe their emotions. The chasms that were forced into their lives at such a tender age were finally beginning to fill.
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The doorbell rang, and Sam answered it. He and a very bubbly Mrs. Sanchez quickly engaged in conversation.
Jo ran down the stairs and the two women threw their arms around each other, sobbing hysterically.
When they finally broke apart, both had tears of happiness trickling down their cheeks.
Sam chuckled to himself and turned to go to the computer in the next room muttering, "women," before exiting the room.
Miranda came running down the stairs to greet her mother, followed by Lizzie, who was inching her way down the stairs; nervous perhaps, or shy to see Miranda's mom after such a long time.
After a considerable amount of time of crying (mostly on the mothers' part), hugging, and the typical questions; How's school? What classes are you taking?... (A/N: we've all been there, haven't we? lol) Mrs. Sanchez left and the girls went back up to Lizzie's room, bringing Miranda's stuff with them.
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Lizzie and Miranda were both lying on their backs looking at Lizzie's ceiling, splattered with pink glow-in-the-dark stars. They had completely caught up with each other, and now knew just about everything there was to know about the other. They had shared every detail of their childhoods, crushes, complete bios of their friends, teachers, classes, favorite colors, foods, clothes, everything. There was only one thing left.
Lizzie rolled onto her side and propped her head up with her her hand. She looked down at Miranda on the floor who in turn looked back up at her. It was time. Finally, the one person who she could relate to, and share her every thought, wh owould understand everything about her, and know what she was thinking before she said it, as she had been doing all day.
"Do you ever think about Gordo?" Lizzie whispered, barely daring to make her voice audible.
"Not really, I mean sometimes, sure, but I never thought about it seriously," Miranda answered sleepily, smiling up at her friend. "Do you?"
"All the time," Lizzie began, "I even remember some of it. Not much, just a little. Like when we'd play in the sandboxes, or down at the beach. I remember the day we found out they had moved though. I remember that perfectly."
Lizzie's eyes filled with tears, and unlike the ones from earlier that day, they were tears of sorrow. Tears of sadness, hurt, and betrayal. Tears of heartbreak.
Even in the darkness, Miranda could see her friend's pain. She slid out her sleeping bag and sat down next to Lizzie, who had resumed her position stargazing on her ceiling. Miranda rubbed Lizzie's arm soothingly, and wiped away her tears.
"Do you want to talk about it, Liz?" she asked softly five minutes later, in case the girl had cried herself to sleep.
Lizzie opened her eyes and smiled half-heartedly at her friend. She turned her head and looked out the window, like she had the other night, at the house next door. As always, no lights were on in that room. That room a foot away from her window. That room where nobody ever went.
"Yeah," she said, "I never have before."
"Tell me, sweetie," Miranda said gently, "tell me everything."
Lizzie took a deep breath and began to share what she had never shared before.
"We found out on my third birthday. My mom woke me up, we did the usual birthday deal, you know presents and what not," Miranda nodded to show she understood. Lizzie continued, "then we got into the car and drove to the Gordon's. My mom carried me up to the front steps and an old, crabby woman answered the door and told us that they were gone. Miranda, it was so horrible."
Lizzie's eyes welled up again, and Miranda reached to her nightstand for a tissue. She gave it to Lizzie, who thanked her and began talking again.
"I don't think I stopped cryin for a week. It was so terrible. I know I was so small, but it hurt me so badly. It felt like my heart was torn out and ripped to shreds in front of my face. I couldn't breathe. When he left, a piece of me went with him. It's so irreplaceable and it still hurts."
Miranda wiped a tear from her own cheek and tried to comfort her friend silently, for she was absolutely speechless.
"Shh, Lizzie," she cooed. Lizzie had sitten up in the middle of her story and Miranda had pulled her into and embrace and was now rocking her gently. "It's ok, Liz, I'm here for you. Don't worry, it'll be okay, you'll be okay."
Lizzie closed her eyes and let Miranda comfort her. Miranda softly laid Lizzie back down on the bed and pulled the covers over her.
"It'll turn out great, Lizzie, you'll see."
"Lizzie gave Miranda a thankful smile.
"Do you really think so?" she asked, hoping to hear a good answer.
"Yes," Miranda said.
"Isn't it sad how I only remember the bad memories?" Lizzie asked, slightly ashamed.
"Don't worry," Miranda reassured her, "when we see him again, it'll be just like old times."
"When we see him? Don't you mean if we see him?" Lizzie asked, slightly confused.
"No," her friend answered, "we'll definitely see him again. Even if it's the last thing we do."
And with that, Miranda stood up and went to her sleeping bag. She crawled in and looked at Lizzie.
"Good night, Liz, don't worry, we'll think of something."
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I'll get the next chapter up as soon as I can. I have a couple questions for you all. This is a bit embarrassing, but what's an AU? What was that stand for? lol. Also, I need to know Miranda's mother's first name, I never knew what it was.
And an opinion question, should I set Miranda up with someone? Tell me what you think, the next chapter will be up shortly. Thanks!!!