"God, Miranda's insane," Kate said later that night as she flipped through Lizzie's new issue of Cosmopolitan. "She seriously needs to get help. Lizzie, you need to get over this. Don't feel bad for her. You always get screwed over because you're so worried about being nice to everyone." Kate picked up a framed picture on Lizzie's desk of the two of them at cheer camp. "This is cute," she said. "Make me a copy of it." Lizzie nodded absentmindedly, thinking about Miranda. When did she become so freaking weird? Lizzie wondered. "Honestly, Lizzie, you need to ditch her. If you keep being nice to her, people are going to think you're like… her girlfriend or something. Being friends with her will destroy your reputation," Kate said. Lizzie thought about it for a minute. Miranda or Kate and the cheerleaders?

"You're so right. That's it. I'm through with Miranda," she asserted. "I tried to do a nice thing for her by letting her be in that race, and she goes apeshit on me." Kate nodded approvingly. "And she's never been that good of a friend to me," Lizzie confided. "Like, she's always so bossy and she's like weirdly jealous of me."

"Oh, I know," Kate responded. "You know she's the reason I had to stop hanging out with y'all right?" Lizzie looked at her questioningly. "It was because my mom wouldn't let me play with Miranda anymore. Because Miranda was always so bossy and her family was so poor that they never paid their own way for anything. We would like, have to pay for Miranda all the time because they'd send her over for dinner and for the weekend when they got low on cash." Lizzie snorted.

"That's so pathetic," she said, feeling a twinge of guilt as the words came out of her mouth. "She's just so weird all of a sudden. I don't want to be associated with her. I shouldn't have to be," Lizzie found herself saying. Kate smiled. She pointed to the Mickey Mouse phone on Lizzie's desk that had been there since Lizzie was 10 years old and had demanded her own private phone line.

"You should call her and tell her how you feel," Kate suggested. Lizzie bit her bottom lip and chewed on it nervously.

"Do you really think so?" she asked. Kate nodded supportively and handed Lizzie the phone. Suddenly they were interrupted by a knock at the door. Jo McGuire stepped into the room looking concerned.

"Hi girls," she said brightly. "Sorry to interrupt, but I have something I need to talk to you about." Lizzie and Kate glanced at each other, wondering if it was what they thought it was. "Matt told me what happened at the pep rally today," Jo continued. "He saw the whole confrontation outside. Lizzie, I know that you think Miranda is your friend, but honestly, I can't allow you to be bullied by her anymore. I've spoken to Kate's mom and I've done some thinking. You need to just stop hanging out with Miranda." Lizzie looked relieved.

"I know, Mom. I was just telling Kate that I'm through with Miranda's BS," she told Jo. Jo was clearly impressed.

"Well, I'm glad you made the right choice, honey. I'm so proud of you." Kate and Lizzie watched Jo leave the room, and then Kate thrust the phone into Lizzie's hand again.

"Do it!" Kate said, clearly excited. She loved drama. Lizzie shook her head.

"No," she said. "I don't want to call her. She might think I'm hitting on her or something!" Lizzie secretly wondered why Kate seemed to think that Miranda was a dyke. She knew that it wasn't true. Miranda had been in love with Ethan Craft since elementary school. But if it would help her stay friends with Kate and ensure that she didn't have to call Miranda, Lizzie decided to pretend that she also thought Miranda was gay.

"So, how will she know that you hate her?" Kate asked, puzzled.

"Well, we'll all just ignore her at school. Eventually, she'll get the picture," Lizzie said. "Hey Kate?" she asked. Kate looked up at her.

"Hmm?"

"Um, why do you think that Miranda is a dyke?" Lizzie asked. Kate laughed.

"Oh, I know she's not really one. I just call her that because, I mean, look at her! I know it pisses her off. But everyone knows she's like obsessed with Ethan." Lizzie laughed.

"Like THAT'S going to happen," she joked. The two girls sat in Lizzie's room for the rest of the night making fun of Miranda.