Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Lizzie McGuire characters.

Chapter 5-The Banquet, Party, & More News

Dr. Kessler allowed Gordo to return home New Year's Day. Gordo was to remain on chemo for another week, then go off treatment for two weeks, then begin the process all over again.

Jo: "The school can get you tutors so that you can stay on grade level."

Lizzie heard her mom, who had brought a casserole to Gordo's house for dinner that night, tell him.

Gordo: "I might want a tutor. I'd really like to stay caught up with my classes."

Until then, it hadn't occurred to Lizzie that Gordo might not go back to school. The semester started the next day and she had to return.

Lizzie: "You should come to school. Everybody's asking about you. You'll feel better seeing the gang." she said once her mom left the room.

Gordo: "I don't know. I look pretty grim."

He wore his baseball cap all the time to hide his bald head.

Lizzie: "Not to me."

Gordo: "Then you'd better get glasses."

He sighed and flopped back against the couch.

Gordo: "I look like a freak, Lizzie. And I feel like one too."

He pulled the neck of his sweater up higher, making certain it covered the catheter near his collarbone.

Lizzie: "You can't stay out the entire semester." she insisted.

Gordo: "When I'm off chemo, I might consider going back. But once I start treatment again, I'll have to drop out. I don't want to start barfing in the classroom."

Lizzie: "Not even Ms. Tyler's?" she named the most formidable English teacher at the high school.

He ignored her attempt to be funny.

Gordo: "Don't pressure me. This isn't something I can decide now. Will you come over tomorrow and tell me about your day?"

Lizzie: "Sure." she said, but she was disappointed.

Somehow, she'd assumed that once he got out of the hospital, he'd act more like his old self.

Lizzie returned to Hillridge High and was bombarded with questions about Gordo all day long. Students, teachers, even the principal and the office secretaries questioned her. In the cafeteria with Miranda, she could hardly get her lunch down for the interruptions.

Miranda: "Larry says that the guys on the team want to do something special for Gordo, but they don't know what."

She said after the crowd momentarily cleared away form the table.

Miranda: "Some of the guys are weirded out about it. They think Gordo hung the moon and they can't imagine him being sick this way."

Lizzie: "Then fire up your imagination-he really is."

Miranda: "But cancer! It….it's so unfair!"

Lizzie: "Please Miranda don't talk about it. I know it's unfair, and I get mad whenever I think about it. So why don't we just change the subject, all right?"

A couple of days later Gordo had started to work out again with the help of Lizzie and her father. Rather then sitting around and doing nothing.

Eventually Gordo decided to return to school. Lizzie was proud of him, she knew it wasn't easy. He'd always been admired at Hillirdge High and looked up to by both students and faculty. He was handsome, the star quarterback, a good student, and an all around nice guy. But cancer and chemotherapy had left their mark.

There were those who whispered about the change in him. The girls were the worst. Lizzie would walk into the bathroom between classes and conversations would stop as all eyes turned toward her. She'd know they'd been discussing Gordo, and she disliked them for it. She would glare at them, daring them to continue with their gossip. Gordo would always wear his baseball hat everyday and so would the guys on the team. She would always see him walking in between classes.

By April, the flowers had begun to bloom. Lizzie often found Gordo after school sitting in the old bleachers over looking the football field. She would climb up the and always sit beside him.

Lizzie: "So what are you thinking about?" she asked as she settled next to him on afternoon.

A cool breeze was blowing. She hugged the letterman jacket he had given her when they were freshman tightly to her body.

Gordo: "I'm thinking that spring is my favorite time of year." he told her.

He was gazing thoughtfully out across the field. The grass looked hopelessly brown, but a few hardy dandelions had begun to dot the ground like bright yellow exclamation points.

Lizzie: "I don't believe it. You love football, and that's in autumn."

Gordo: "Yeah but before now, I took spring for granted. Everybody does, you know. They figure that it'll just wander in. But this year, it's extra special to me. And extra pretty."

Lizzie: "Why Gordo! You almost sound like a poet." she said as she linked her arm through is.

Gordo: "I'd write a poem if I could."

He tossed back his head and breathed in deeply.

Gordo: "Everybody's always rushing around, Lizzie. They never stop and look around. They never see the new green color of the trees. Have you ever noticed how bright that shade of green is? And the flowers….flowers always seem to know when it's time to start growing. One day the ground is flat, and the next day little green stems are poking up. I've watched them for week, so I know. They're asleep under the ground all through winter. Then they pop up."

She'd never heard him be so contemplative.

Gordo: "I guess we all take such things for granted. We figure, 'Spring cam last year, it will this year too,'"

His gaze swept the area.

Gordo: "I'll never take it for granted again. I'll always be grateful to see every spring that ever comes along."

She shivered, not form the cold, but from the tone of melancholy in his voice.

Lizzie: "I will too."

He looked down at her.

Gordo: "So maybe this whole experience has made me more sensitive. What do you think?"

Lizzie: "I'd rather you not have had the experience and be less sensitive."

He laughed, and the sound thrilled her. He was beginning to seem so much more like his old self.

Gordo: "I start the final round of chemo next week. I didn't think I'd ever get to this point."

Lizzie: "And don't forget the sports banquet next Saturday." she reminded him.

His expression clouded.

Gordo: "Lizzie, I don't know how I'll be feeling…"

She interrupted him before he finished his sentence.

Lizzie: "Poor excuse. We missed the Christmas dance and the Valentine's dance. We have to go to the banquet. I won't take no for an answer."

He was quiet.

Lizzie: "Gordo, what's wrong? Why don't you want to go?"

Gordo: "It's hard to be around the team, that's all."

Lizzie: "You see the guys everyday at school. What's the difference?"

Gordo: "The difference is I'll be on display. At school, I can just blend into the crowd. But the banquet will be full of parents and news people. I hate people staring at me, Lizzie…feeling sorry for me."

Lizzie: "People can't help but feel sorry for you. What happened to you stinks. But look how far you've come! People want to be happy for you too. They want to see you be the winner that you are."

He cocked his head.

Gordo: "Do you really believe I'm a winner?"

Lizzie: "I don't hang with losers." she joked.

Gordo: "I love you Lizzie."

She grinned.

Lizzie: "Then I'll take that as a yes. You'll take me to the banquet?"

He slumped, feigning defeat.

Gordo: "Do you always get your way?"

Lizzie: "Of course. I'm the coaches daughter."

She looked at her watch.

Lizzie: "Now let's get you home. It's time to begin your workout."

Hand in hand, they descended the bleachers and headed for the parking lot.

THE BANQUET:

The players received awards, especially Gordo. The coach presented the new stadium to everyone. The players gave the coach a present. And one more thing the team did that surprised everyone.

Larry: "And one more thing." he said into the mike.

In unison, the players stood. Mystified, Lizzie gave Gordo a questioning look. Equally baffled, he shrugged.

Larry: "This is for you, Gordo. It's a little present that the guys and Coach want to give you."

One by one, the team members removed their baseball caps to expose heads shaved perfectly bald. Every one of them, even her father, had shaved his head clean. People gasped, then began to applaud. Then they stood and looked toward Gordo.

Lizzie rose to her feet, her gaze locked on Gordo's face, a lump the size of a fist lodged in her throat. She saw tears shimmering in his eyes. Then he stood, swept off his hat from his smooth head, and bowed in tribute to the sacrifice his coach and friends had made in his honor.

Lizzie celebrated the completion of Gordo's chemo by throwing a party at her house, and she gave it the night her parents were to go out and use their banquet gift certificate. Everyone was having fun, dancing and talking to one another but Lizzie and Gordo decided to take a walk.

They strolled down the sloping backyard, through the tender green shoot of new grass, until they reached the huge oak tree at the far end of the yard. He leaned against the tree and pulled her against him. She felt his hands smooth her hair and heard him breahte in its fragrance.

Gordo: "Oh Lizzie….I'm so glad it's all over with."

She knew he was referring to his cancer treatments.

Lizzie: "Me too."

Gordo: "Of course I still have to go for blood work every six weeks for a while. And Dr. Kessler wants another CT scan the first of June."

Lizzie: "I'll go with you."

Gordo: "I'll never forget the way you've stood up for me."

She pulled away and realized he was being sincere.

Lizzie: "Gordo, I could have never left you alone in all this."

Doubt flicked across his face.

Gordo: "Sometimes, I was afraid you would. It couldn't have been much fun skipping stuff at school like the dances. Guys would line up if they thought you were free of me, Lizzie."

Lizzie: "Line up for what? A rejection slip?"

She reached dup and traced her fingertips along the carving in the tree.

Lizzie: "Remember doing this?"

He glanced over his shoulder and read.

Gordo: "DG plus LM. I remember. I saw you kissing that Ronnie guy and then late at night I sneaked into your yard and carved this into your tree, knowing we'd be together one day."

Lizzie: "Then on my birthday you showed up on my porch holding the wad of flowers and you looked at me with those big blue eyes and I melted."

He grinned broadly.

Gordo: "Once I discovered your weak spot, I never forgot."

She snuggled close again.

Lizzie: "Lucky for you, I'm not allergic to flowers."

She heard him sigh, heard the rumble of his heart against her ear, and thought she hadn't been so content since before Christmas.

Gordo: "Did I tell you my Uncle Steve called me?"

Lizzie: "When?"

Gordo: "Last night?"

Lizzie: "All the way from New York?"

Gordo: "He was checking on me and mom. He's a nice guy. He invited me out to visit him this summer."

Lizzie: "Really? What did you tell him?" she said half glad, half sorry.

Gordo: "I said I wasn't sure. But mom wants me to go."

Lizzie: "You should go." she said half heartedly.

Gordo: "I don't want to leave you."

Lizzie: "You couldn't stay long anyway, dad will expect you to show up on time for fall practice." she said not wanting him to pass up a great opportunity.

Gordo: "What are you going to do this summer?"

Lizzie: "Mom got me a job at the public library." she said wrinkling her nose.

Gordo: "It's not a hard job."

Lizzie: "I guess not. Anyway, if you can go visit your uncle, you should."

Gordo: "Will your write me?"

Lizzie: "Every day."

He lowered his head and skimmed her mouth with his lips. Her knees went weak.

Gordo: "I love you, Lizzie."

Lizzie: "Talk is cheap." she whispered.

He reached into his jeans and pulled out a pocket knife and got up.

Gordo: "Then let me spell it out for you."

He dug the tip of the knife into the bark of the old tree, and soon, under their initials, symbols emerged…the letter I, a lopsided heart, and the letter U. He stepped back and looked at it.

Gordo: "Now it's in writing for the whole world to see."

She draped her arms around his neck, rose in her tiptoes, and kissed the end of his nose.

Lizzie: "For the whole world to see. The whole entire world." she echoed.

Lizzie, Gordo, and his mother were once again at the hospital on the first Friday of June for testing. Lizzie waited with Roberta while Gordo went into the radiology department for the test. She tried to read the magazine but couldn't concentrate.

Gordo finally came back.

Gordo: "Dr. Kessler wants us to wait while the radiologist reads the scan so we won't have ot come back."

They waited another hour, until the Dr. Kessler's nurse called them up to his office on the seventh floor. They rode the elevator, Lizzie feeling as if her stomach were twisted in a knot. Perhaps it was just being back in the hospital that was making her nervous, she wasn't sure. All she knew was that she wanted to see a smile in Dr. Kessler's face and hear him give Gordo a clean bill of health.

Roberta: "The last time your scans were negative. No reason they shouldn't be the same now."

But when they walked into Dr. Kessler's office, he wasn't smiling. Behind him, X rays were mounted on the light board so that they glowed clearly in dull gray and white.

Gordo: "Is that me?"

Dr. Kessler: "That's you. And I'm afraid there's a problem. There's a mass in your chest."

A/N: "Thanks for all the reviewers, I'm glad you guys like this story! Please review more!