Gordo sighed as he clicked on the small 'x' at the corner of the screen. He would have been embarrassed to admit to his friends that on most afternoons he frequented a teen chat room. They wouldn't understand him at all, but it gave him some peace. Especially since some times he could go there and discuss the things he couldn't talk about with Lizzie or Miranda.

Logging off he checked his watch. Five thirty. Around this time Lizzie and Miranda would finish their conversation and Gordo would be free to call either one of them. He climbed onto his bed and felt around the floor for his telephone. Once located he dialed Lizzie's phone number. He both loved and hated the sensation he got when he waited for her to answer. His heart would start pounding and his stomach would fill up with either butterflies or gas.

Then he'd hear her perfect voice and feel his heart rise up to his throat and he promised himself, as he had a million times before, that this would be the time. This time he would tell her how he felt. He would tell her that she was the last thing he thought about at night and the first thing he thought about in the morning. Though... she might not appreciate being called a 'thing'.

On the third ring Lizzie picked up, sounding a bit breathless.

"Hello?"

Gordo felt his face flush as blood sped up to his cheeks. "Hey Liz."

"Oh. Hey Gordo. Where have you been? I tried calling you before but the phone was busy."

Gordo scanned his brain for an excuse to give Lizzie for about ten seconds before realizing that he had no reason to lie. He simply wouldn't tell her ablout the chat room.

"I was online. Sorry."

"Oh?" Lizzie's voice was quizzical. "Really? I logged on but you weren't on instant message."

"Oh?" Gordo's voice was a high pitched squeak. "I must have forgotten to log on or something... Anyway, what are you doing?"

He could hear Lizzie sigh gently on the other line and felt his heart leap.

"Struggling with math," she announced with a giggle.

Gordo smiled. He loved that about Lizzie. Her ability to laugh just about anything off. Not to mention how she struggled with math. For some inexplicable reason he found it incredibly cute. But then he found just about everything about her amazing. He laugh, her smile, her keen fashion sense (not that he really got that whole fashion thing, anyway) how much she loved her friends, how she would do just about anything to help her friends. Even her defects. The fact that she would butt into her friends business, her stubbornness, her love for Ethan Craft. Actually, scratch that last one. He hated that.

"Gordo?"

"Oh, sorry. What?"

"Gordoo!" Lizzie whined.

"Sorry Liz. I was lost in thought."

"Mmmm... Who were you thinking about, eh?" she asked with a giggle.

Gordo's heart started to race at an impossible pace. How did she know he had been thing about someone? Had she possibly read his thoughts and discovered his feelings? Found out that she was the someone he dreamed about each day?

"Why do you say that?" His voice was pitchy and insecure, and he knew it.

"Oh my gosh! I hit a nerve! I am so right! Who is she, Gordo?"

"No one!"

Lizzie laughed once more. "Sure, sure! I'll find out eventually, you know?"

Gordo nodded. Yes, she would. If it were the last thing he were to do, Elizabeth McGuire would know how much he loved her.