Kate pulled her Escalade into the closest parking spot to the school and gave Lizzie a hug.
"You can do this," she told Lizzie. Lizzie wiped away a tear.
"I'm just terrified of seeing him," she said quietly. "God, Kate. I'm so lucky to have you. You have no idea how much it means to me to have your support." Kate smiled.
"I swear to God, I'm going to kick Ethan's ass," she said. Lizzie took a deep breath and walked into the double doors of Hillridge High. She greeted her friends and acquaintances in the hall, smiling like nothing was wrong. Where's Gordo? She wondered. She looked around and saw Miranda staring at her, clearly infuriated.
"You little bitch," Miranda hissed coldly. Lizzie bit the inside of her cheek to keep from saying something she would regret.
"What is it now?" she asked flatly. Miranda laughed.
"Don't act like you don't know." Rage flashed in Lizzie's eyes.
"Miranda, you don't know. You have no idea what you're talking about. I know what you think you saw. But you don't know anything about that either, and frankly I don't feel like talking about it. So just stop running your God damned mouth," Lizzie hissed. She took a deep breath and walked away. As she slid into her desk in English Lit, she felt tears fill her eyes. Everything was so messed up. She just wanted to talk to Gordo. After class, Lizzie saw a familiar mop of dark curly hair amidst the crowd in the hallway. She ran up to Gordo and put her hands over his eyes. "Guess who?" she said, laughing. But to her surprise, Gordo wasn't amused. He angrily removed her hands.
"Please, just leave me alone." His eyes were bloodshot and his face was flushed.
"What's wrong? Are you sick?" Lizzie looked at him, concerned. Gordo was never mean to her. When Lizzie saw his tearstained cheeks, her eyes widened. "Gordo, you've been crying. What's going on? You can tell me." Gordo looked furious.
"Miranda told me what happened," he answered. Lizzie tried to protest but Gordo wouldn't give her a chance to talk. "You make a big deal out of telling me that you want to save yourself, but then you sleep with Ethan?" Lizzie started to cry.
"Gordo, it's not like that. I didn't mean -- " Gordo snorted.
"Lizzie, please. You don't have to say it. You didn't want to sleep with me. I get it."
"No! Please just listen!" Gordo narrowed his eyes and frowned.
"We're OVER." He announced, turning around. Miranda strolled up to Lizzie, a satisfied grin on her face.
"I guess you're finally learning that your actions have consequences," she said. "You trick me into leaving the party by telling me that my boyfriend is cheating on me, and then you fuck Ethan behind my back and Gordo's back. I knew it all along. You're just a conniving slut like Kate. All of your holier than thou crap about saving yourself is such garbage. You're nothing but a whore just like all the rest of your cheerleader friends. Oh but don't worry. You can fuck all the guys you want now. I've spread the word. I told them all about your little stunt at the party, so I hate to break it you, but your cover is blown. The whole school knows that you're easy." Miranda pulled a flier out of her notebook. It had a picture of Lizzie's face photocopied onto the front of it with the words "Easy McGuire" typed across the bottom. "I've taken the liberty of distributing a few of these to students. I hope you don't mind," Miranda said sweetly. Lizzie grabbed the poster out of Miranda's hand and ripped it up.
"Does the word 'rape' mean anything to you?" Lizzie sobbed. She turned around and ran down the stairs. Gordo stared at Miranda for a minute, incredulous. Then he followed Lizzie. By the time he caught up with her, she was getting into her car.
"Lizzie! Wait!" he called. Lizzie took the key out of the door and looked at him.
"What do you want? You made it pretty clear how you feel about me," she said. Gordo shook his head.
"What happened at that party?" Gordo asked. He put his hand gently on Lizzie's shoulder. "Talk to me." Lizzie shook her head.
"Just forget it," she said. "You didn't want to hear it earlier." Gordo wrapped her in a hug and looked at her sincerely.
"Lizzie if what Miranda told me isn't true, I need to know," he said. Lizzie explained everything to Gordo, crying quietly. She felt ashamed to be having this conversation with Gordo, but she was glad that she had his support.
"He didn't actually rape me," she clarified. "But he would have, if I hadn't gotten away from him. And now the whole school thinks that I'm a slut. I just want to get the hell out of here for a while." She leaned against Gordo sobbing.
"It's okay," he said soothingly. He stroked her hair. "We'll figure everything out. And I'm sorry I didn't listen to you. When Miranda told me, I was just so hurt." Lizzie smiled weakly.
"I understand," she whispered.
"I'll take you home," Gordo offered.
"But won't you get in trouble for skipping?" Gordo took her keys and got into the drivers seat of Lizzie's Jetta.
"It's fine. This is a lot more important than any detention I could get." When Gordo pulled into Lizzie's driveway, they saw that Jo's minivan was there.
"How do I explain this to her?" Lizzie asked nervously. She really didn't want to talk to her parents about what had happened.
"Maybe you should tell her," Gordo said. "You and your mom have always been close. She'll understand that you didn't do anything wrong. And she might be able to do something about it." Gordo walked Lizzie to the door.
"I'm going to go back up to school and take care of a few things," he said. He kissed Lizzie and waved goodbye as he got back into the car.