Author's Note: This is my first fan fiction. Enjoy!
"Gordo! Hurry up! You're slowing us down!" Lizzie cried.
"You don't want to be late on your first day of high school, do you?" Miranda added in distress.
Lizzie and Miranda practically danced up the tall steps of Hillridge High. Their longtime friend David Gordon casually meandered along behind, hands stuck deep in the pockets of his baggy pants. He was calm, he was cool; he was nobody's fool.
"We've got plenty of time," Gordo said. "Homeroom doesn't start till eight o'clock."
"Who cares about Homeroom!" Miranda exclaimed. "We're here to check out all the cute new guys!"
"Let's go!" Lizzie cried.
Gordo sighed as he trudged up the steps. Lizzie and Miranda had always been a little boy-crazy, it's true, but something had changed over the summer. Now they seemed worse than ever.
After a whirlwind tour of Italy in which Lizzie had an amazing adventure with an Italian singing star, she had reunited with Miranda almost immediately upon returning home, and the two girls set off for a month-long "Dance Camp" where, in addition to perfecting their dance moves (Modern, Jazz and Ballet), they had also been instructed in how to "exude feminine charm, grace and confidence."
At least that's what Lizzie wrote on the postcard she had sent Gordo. He kept that postcard folded up in his wallet. And folded up in his heart was the memory of one brief kiss he and Lizzie had shared on the hotel rooftop in Italy.
He would never forget that. He would never forget how stupid he's been, saying "…thanks" after she kissed him. Uh…thanks? What was that? What a doofus! He spent the whole summer hoping for the opportunity to share another kiss with Lizzie, and this time do it properly. This time he would kiss her back, and he would tell her how he really felt.
His greatest hope had been that he and Lizzie might walk up these steps today hand in hand, beginning high school as boyfriend and girlfriend. But between Dance Camp in July, and Gordo being shipped off to spend August with his Uncle Martin, Aunt Suzie and cousin Adam in New York, that opportunity had never arisen.
So here he was, walking up the steps alone, while Lizzie and Miranda, newly infused with feminine charm, grace and confidence, disappeared into the crowd at the top of the stairs, in search of cute boys.
-
Adam had warned Gordo that things might change in high school. "Been there, done that" Adam was newly graduated from high school and packing his bags for college as he doled out wisdom and advise to his younger cousin.
"I know you like this girl Lizzie," Adam said. "But believe me, Davey, she's not the only fish in the sea. If it doesn't work out, don't be afraid to go for other girls."
"Davey" leaned back on the bed, watching Adam fill his suitcase with CD's. "You're wrong," he lamented. "There are no other girls."
"There are!" Adam insisted. "And you'll find them. And they'll find you. I'm sure of it."
David Gordon smirked. "I've never been less sure of anything in my life. Most girls just aren't ready for what I've got to offer."
"And this Lizzie sounds like she's on the top of that list!"
"Hey! I'm not going to let you trash-talk Lizzie."
"It's not trash-talk, Davey. It's an honest observation. From what you've told me---"
"Stop! I don't want to hear any more."
"I can see that you don't," Adam said gently. "That's okay. Just do me a favor, kid. Keep an open mind, and let me know from time to time how you're doing. I'll be right up the road from you, UC at Berkeley. We should get together some time, you think?"
"That would be cool," Gordo said. "Actually, I'd like to come to Berkeley with you. I'd like to skip high school altogether. If I were in college already, I might be six inches taller, and I'd be surrounded by people who were at least half as intelligent as me, rather than only one-quarter. Or one-eighth. I think I'd fit in a lot better."
"Davey," Adam said, "I've always seen you as a very confident and independent person. Since when are you so concerned about 'fitting in'?"
Gordo sighed deeply. "Since realizing that somehow I have got to make it through four years of high school. Ugh!"
-
And now here he was, at the top of the steps, in a crowd of people who were almost all taller than him. Even most of the girls were taller than him. He had hoped over the summer to add at least four inches to his height and was disappointed to gain only two. He had hoped he and Lizzie might be "an item" by this time, but instead she and Miranda were standing in the center of the large courtyard, whispering together and pointing out all the cute boys to each other.
Four middle schools fed into this high school, so three-quarters of the freshmen were fresh faces, never mind all the sophomores, juniors and seniors. The seniors looked so mature! And so tall, thought Gordo. He worked his way through the crowd and joined Lizzie and Miranda.
"See anything you like?" Gordo quipped.
Lizzie squealed. "I see so much. I don't know where to start! This is it, this is it, can't you feel it?"
She grabbed Gordo's arm, looked him in the eye and said, "This is the year when we are going to overcome all the embarrassing stupidity of middle school and really start to shine. Nobody knows us here. Well, almost nobody. We can be anybody we want to be. We can re-invent ourselves."
"Yeah," he said. "I'm going to re-invent myself as 'Dave.' No more 'Gordo,' remember?"
"Oh, I'm sorry! Am I forgetting already?"
"Just a few times…"
"No, really! Do you know what I mean? We can be better than we really are. It's going to happen! Can't you feel it, Gordo?"
He looked at her, his heart suddenly bursting with joy, despite her calling him Gordo yet again. Lizzie's enthusiasm was contagious. "I feel something," he had to admit, acutely aware of her hand squeezing his arm.
"Somewhere here, " Lizzie said, "there is the perfect boyfriend for me. And the perfect boyfriend for you too, Miranda."
"I'm ready!" Miranda exclaimed.
"And even for you," Lizzie said to Gordo.
"I---I don't want a perfect boyfriend…" Gordo replied.
"Silly! I mean there's a girl for you! Look around. See anybody you like?"
Gordo gazed at Lizzie.
"How about her?" Lizzie exclaimed, pointing. "That cute tiny girl with the braids. Do you think she's a freshman?"
"I don't know," Gordo said, still gazing at Lizzie.
A bell rang.
"Oh my God!" Miranda shrieked. "Now we're going to be late!"
"No," Gordo explained calmly. "That's only the first bell. It means we have five minutes to get to Homeroom."
"Then we'd better get going!"
With their last names spread throughout the alphabet---Gordon, McGuire and Sanchez---the three friends were not in the same Homeroom class, though their classrooms were lined up next to each other down the same hallway. As they entered the hallway, Lizzie stopped short by a hot pink flyer on the wall.
"Look at this!" she exclaimed. "Student Government: Meetings on Tuesdays at 3pm."
"We so should go," Miranda said. "We should get involved in our new school."
"We should be part of the solution," Lizzie agreed. "Not part of the problem."
"We should take this opportunity to make lots of new friends," Miranda nodded.
"And," Lizzie added in a whisper, "meet lots of cute boys!"
Gordo rolled his eyes.
"Oh, come on, Gordo!"
"I told you. I'm not interested in meeting cute boys."
"You have to come with us," Lizzie said. "Please, please, please! You love being political, don't you? You'll have a blast. Come on! We have to stick together."
"I---I want to stick with you," Gordo said, "but Tuesdays at three, that's the same time as the AV Club."
"What's the AV Club?" Miranda wondered.
"Audio Visual," Gordo explained. "Making videos. Morning announcements. Handling the sound system as special events."
"Oh, that's so you!" Miranda exclaimed. "You are going to be so good at that, Gordo."
"Dave," he reminded.
"But what about sticking together?" Lizzie pouted.
"We'll find another club we can all be in," Gordo suggested.
"We have to," Lizzie insisted. "We can't let high school tear us apart. We have to stick together. We're coming in as the Three Muskateers, we have to graduate as the Three Muskateers. No matter what happens, friends to the end. Agreed?"
"Agreed!" Gordo and Miranda said in unison, piling their hands on top of Lizzie's, holding tight to this knot of friendship.
Then the second bell rang, they all took back their hands and went into their separate classrooms.