The bell rang. Students began filing out of the classroom. Breathing in deeply, Lizzie exited the classroom and made her way to Photography. Never her favorite class, for obvious reasons, but today was different. She was hyped, and she couldn't wait for class to begin. Walking down the hallway, she saw Kate and Ethan talking near the lockers. Kate took notice of her and stared daggers at Lizzie's head. Ethan, obviously intrigued by Lizzie's new choice of wardrobe, looked past Kate and continued to watch Lizzie as she walked by them.
"Daaamn, Lizzie is smokin today!"
"Ugh shut up Ethan! She is not. She's so ugly. She really tries too hard, don't ya think babe? I mean…You think I'm sexier right Ethan?" Kate narrowed her eyes and looked expectantly at Ethan. "Right Ethan!" She barked a little louder.
"Totally babe, no one even touches your beauty. Now how's we go outside and see if we can get a hold of some green?"
"Fine, but you're paying this time"
Lizzie stopped in front of her class door. She peeked inside the little window in the door, and noticed that no one was there yet, except for Mrs. Allen who was arranging new bottles of photo developer. Turning the knob quietly, she entered the classroom and made her way to her seat. She quickly glanced towards Jamez's seat, to make sure that he didn't just magically appear. Settling herself down and placing her book bag on top of the long table, she nervously clasped and unclasped her hands in her lap. She noticed in the hallway that Ethan had watched her walk by, her new clothes obviously had some good affect. The truth was, that these clothes weren't even new. The tank top, was actually pretty old. It didn't look it, but it did look small on her…which was why Lizzie chose to wear it. The jeans were given to her as a birthday present from Miranda. Lizzie loved the pants, but never wore them much because they slung too low and whenever she bent down, her crack would show, or worse…Her white cotton underwear. So, she had decided that it would be best to wear a thong underneath. Not for anyone to see of course, but to make sure that her underwear was hidden, incase she had to bend over. And even if anyone did see it, then it wouldn't be a big deal because most girls showed their thongs.
She felt powerful. Never before had she caught Ethan's attentions like that. They were always friends, but Lizzie used to have a major childish crush on him. She never built up the courage to tell him, but she had asked him out a couple of times. But unfortunately, it was always Kate that won over Ethan. But at least now he knew what he was missing out on, because there was no way in hell that Lizzie would ever go back to crushing on that one celled buffoon. Years of rejection taught Lizzie a great deal of lessons. One: Never cry over a boy, because they just aren't worth the tears and pain. Two: Never change yourself for a boy. And Three: Never take them back if and when they screw up royally.
Lizzie heard the front door open quietly, and watched as Miranda silently made her way towards her seat beside Lizzie.
"Hey Lizzie" Miranda said cautiously.
"Oh hey Miranda"
"We're cool right? No hard feelings?" Miranda asked, silently slipping into her seat.
"Oh yah, sure…don't worry about it Miranda"
"You alright? You seem distracted."
"What? Oh…um no, haha I'm just eager to get started"
Miranda sighed and looked towards the door, where Lizzie's gaze was fixed. She knew Lizzie was looking out for Jamez.
"So Lizzie" Miranda turned in her seat and faced her best friend. "Wanna eat out on the lawn today? Just the two of us?"
"Hmm well actually, I'm supposed to help Miss. Lipski organize those donated books…You know the ones we got the town to donate? Sorry…she asked me to help this morning, and I couldn't say no."
"Oh, don't worry about it. How about tomorrow then?" Miranda noticed that Lizzie was no longer looking at her, but was steadily eyeing Jamez as he swiftly made his way to his seat.
"Lizzie? How about tomorrow" Miranda repeated.
"Oh yeah, sure whatever Miranda." Lizzie replied, obviously distracted.
As other kids began to fill the class room, Mrs. Allen wrote on the board a list of small projects that were still due. She quickly told the class to finish all projects by next month at least and hand them in to be marked. After finishing her speech, she went off to help a student in the dark room, leaving Miranda, Lizzie, Jamez, and a few other students alone in the class room.
"So which photographer do you want to pick for our project? I was thinking Cindy Sherman. I was looking at some of her photos online and they are so creepy and … "
"Hey Miranda…I'll be right back okay?"
"But Lizzie…I was in the middle of… " Before Miranda could finish, Lizzie slipped out of her seat and slowly and silently walked over to Jamez's desk.
Miranda watched in silence as she saw Lizzie quietly slip a small piece of paper on his desk. She then pretended to go get a Kleenex before making her way back to her seat. When she sat down beside Miranda again, she pulled out a novel and opened it in front of her face.
From behind her novel, she whispered to Miranda.
"Is he reading it!"
"Ugh yeah, he is…he's looking over here" Miranda replied to the novel
"Oh my gosh…Is he smiling? Or does he look disgusted? Tell me…" Lizzie asked nervously.
"Umm…well I don't know…it looks like he's smiling."
"wow! Oh my gosh, my heart is racing." Lizzie said, removing the novel from in front of her face.
Seeing her face, Miranda realized that her best friends face was flushed pink and her eyes were sparkling. Maybe Lizzie really does like this guy…and being a good friend, I really should be more supportive. But…ugh there's something about him that doesn't seem normal…
Pushing her bad thoughts away, Miranda forced a smile and turned her attention towards Lizzie.
"So what did that little piece of paper say?" Miranda asked, trying to sound interested and non-judgemental.
"It just asked if he wanted…" Lizzie quickly remembered her lie to Miranda. "If he wanted to um add me to his MSN…So I could chat to him after school." Lizzie felt terrible for lying to Miranda…but she knew her best friend wouldn't understand or accept the truth.
"Oh cool" Replied Miranda
Asking if he wants to add her to MSN? That seems a bit weird, Miranda thought. But then again, it is Lizzie…She likes to take things extremely slow. Oh well, there's no harm in chatting over MSN.
"So you were saying about our project?" Lizzie beamed at Miranda.
Forcing another smile, Miranda saw how happy Lizzie was.
"Well I was thinking we could do it on Cindy Sherman. Most of her photos are creepy."
"Sounds good" Lizzie replied.
It was so obvious to Miranda that Lizzie was in another world.
As Lizzie tuned in and out of her conversation with Miranda, she silently counted the minutes until lunch time. God…why does time seem to slow down when you want it to speed up, Thought Lizzie. Sigh…If only lunch were sooner.
Sorry for such a short chapter. Thanks for all the reviews, I love them.