The next day at school, Lizzie was standing outside of her Economics classroom when Miranda walked up and stood next to her.
"Hey, Lizzie," Miranda said. Lizzie looked over at her, wondering what Miranda's motives for talking to her were. Oh well. As much as she hated to admit it, she did kind of miss Miranda.
"Hi," she replied. "What's up?" Miranda looked just as uncomfortable as Lizzie was.
"I got into Pepperdine," Miranda confessed. "I just wanted to let you know." Lizzie smiled, remembering when she had made Gordo and Miranda apply ridiculously early so that the three musketeers could go to college together.
"Really! Me too. So did Gordo!" Lizzie looked down at Miranda's black nail polish and frowned. If Kate were here right now, they would have made fun of it as soon as Miranda left.
"Listen, Lizzie. I'm really sorry about what happened after the pep rally. I shouldn't have said those things to you," Miranda said. "I just miss you. Ever since cheerleading camp, you've been hanging out with Kate, and it's like you never have time for me anymore." Lizzie didn't know what to say. The truth was, once she and Kate had become friends, she had realized that she and Miranda just didn't have that much in common. But she did miss Miranda.
"It's okay, Miranda. And I'm sorry that you felt humiliated." Suddenly, Kate and Gordo walked up to them. Kate frowned, obviously disgusted that Miranda was there.
"Lizzie, I need to talk to you," Kate said, sneering at Miranda. "In private." Unfortunately for Kate, as soon as the words left her mouth, the bell rang to signal that class was starting. "Dammit! If I'm late to English one more time, I get a detention. And that means I sit out of the Homecoming game," Kate shrieked as she took off running down the hallway. Lizzie, Gordo, and Miranda walked into Eco together, and it looked like the Three Musketeers might be together again.
Miranda and Kate weren't in the same lunch period as Lizzie and Gordo, and when the lunch bell rang, Lizzie was relieved that she and Gordo would have some time to themselves. They walked down to the cafeteria and took their seats at the cheerleaders table.
"I hate to admit it, but I actually kind of missed Miranda," Gordo said. Lizzie raised her eyebrows.
"You? Missed Miranda?" she laughed. "Gordo, I thouht that you just pretended to like her because she's my best friend." Gordo shrugged his shoulders.
"I guess I just never realized that I actually do like hanging out with her and talking to her. I was just getting so tired of her constant bitching," he explained. Lizzie nodded. She understood that completely.
"Yea, Miranda told me that it's just been hard for her to adjust to Kate." Suddenly, Ethan Craft came into the cafeteria with a guitar. He strolled over to Claire Miller, who was sitting on the other end of the cheerleaders table and got down on one knee in front of her. Then he began to play "Brown Eyed Girl" on his guitar. When he was finished he took Claire's hand.
"Claire, will you go to Homecoming with me?" he asked. The entire cafeteria erupted into applause as she accepted. Lizzie made a mental note to cross Ethan off of her possible dates list. When am I going to get asked? She wondered. Suddenly, Molly Parker slid herself into the seat next to Gordo.
"Gordo! I didn't know you had this lunch," Molly exclaimed. She was a sophomore, and Gordo's next door neighbor. Lizzie had never really liked her.
"Yeah," Gordo said. Molly tossed her long, white blonde hair and giggled.
"So, that was totally cute how Ethan asked Claire to Homecoming," she said. "I hope I get asked in a creative way like that." She flashed Gordo a smile and then gave him a peck on the cheek. "Well, I'm outie!" Molly exclaimed, standing up quickly. As she did, her arm brushed against Lizzie's coke, accidentally knocking it over. Lizzie watched in horror as the coke spilled into her lap, ruining her brand new white eyelet skirt.
"Oh, my God! I'm so sorry!" Molly cried out, grabbing napkins and paper towels off of the table and throwing them into Lizzie's lap. Lizzie's face felt like it was on fire as she heard her classmates snickering at her.
"Gordo! DO something!" Lizzie yelled. "God!" she jumped up and hurried to the parking lot, eager to get the hell out of there. As Lizzie got into her Volkswagen Jetta, she felt overwhelmed with anger and confusion. Who does Molly Parker think she is! She fumed, turning on her favorite Britney Spears CD. Suddenly a more disturbing thought came to her mind. What if Gordo asks Molly to Homecoming?