Chapter 23

The Welcome Speech for the new pupils of the Hillridge High School was over and now the kids together with their parents were taking a guided tour through the building. They had just reached the second stop of the tour, as Miranda spotted someone in the crowd that she really didn't expect to see here at all: Ryan Fisher that one guy, where her legs instantly become jelly the first time that met each other even if she wasn't so sure why that exactly had happened. Being unsure what to do at this very moment and not wanting to make a fool out of herself again, she quickly made her way to the position where Lizzie, Gordo and Lizzie's parents were standing right now but tried her very best to not show that much how nervous she was right at this very moment.

But it didn't go by her mother unnoticed that her daughter was worried about something and so she asked discretely because she didn't want to disturb any of the other participants of the tour: "Hey Miranda is everything alright? I could be wrong but it seems to me that you're a little off right now." Miranda took a while to think about how much she should tell her mother and after finally having chosen her words wisely she replied: "I have to talk to Lizzie right now in an urgent matter but I promise that it won't take very long okay?" She looked a little bit pleading at her mother hoping that she would approve this as she patiently waited for her response and also kind of hoped that Ryan would keep focusing on the tour and hadn't spotted her in the crowd already.

Miranda's mother thought about what to say for a moment, because she was kind of unsure what to do for a quite a while but then she finally had made a decision: "Okay but don't disturb anyone of the others that are taking the guided tour because I don't want the Principal to get a bad first impression of you."

"I will and thanks mom." Miranda replied, gave her mother a quick kiss on her right cheek and then discretely made her way over to Lizzie. Meanwhile Lizzie and Gordo where busy with looking at the room where all the pupils of Hillridge High School would be eating their lunch, of course Lizzie's hand was walking hand in hand with Gordo the entire time because she enjoyed this close contact with him very much. Right as they were all making their way to the next stop of their little tour through the building someone tipped her on her shoulder and as she turned around to see who it was, she saw Miranda standing right behind her and of course Lizzie immediately asked herself what her best friend wanted to speak about with her during the tour.

Trying her best to keep her voice down so that she wouldn't disturb anyone else in hearing range Miranda said: "The guy I told you recently about is here right now in the same building as we are and because of that I need an advice what to do now from you."

Of course Lizzie immediately saw what Miranda's problem was, because of the way the last meeting between them went down she feared that she maybe was going to embarrass herself again this time around. She certainly wanted to help her best friend in any way she could and so after thinking about that matter for a short time she replied: "First wait till the tour is over and then you have to try to make some casual small talk. Don't forget just be yourself instead of pretending to be someone that you're not and then everything should be alright, so don't sweat it Miranda because I know that you can do this."

"Okay thanks for the kind words and I hope that you are right at the end." Miranda said and she was indeed very thankful for the little pep talk from her best friend and also glad that there was still time to have some girls talk in those kinds of emergencies for example.

Later the Tour was finally finished, the parents and their children had now gathered outside for a big lunch in front of the building as a big finale for this day at the Hillridge High School. Miranda had been busy with mentally preparing for her talk with Ryan and as she could she tried to hide her nervousness as she repeated Lizzie's encouragement over and over again in her head.

She took one final deep breath as she approached the table where Ryan sat along with his parents and as she stood directly behind him just shortly tipped him on his right shoulder and waited for his reaction. It didn't take long for Ryan to around to face her and then he said: "Miranda what a nice surprise it is to see you here and that must mean that we will go to the same High School soon I guess." She couldn't help but a little bit hypnotized by his smile for a short amount of time before she replied: "It's nice to see you too Ryan and I wanted to ask if we could walk a little to talk in private."

Ryan thought about that question for a short moment before he replied: "Yes of course we can do that, because I really felt that our last talk was over too quickly in my opinion." Then the two started to walk away from the tables a little bit, sat down on a bench not far away from the main entrance of the building and just looked at each other for a few minutes as Miranda wasn't so sure how to start. Then she took one deep breath and said: "So with you being so new here in Hillridge, I was wondering if you would like to have a little tour of the city because I would love to show you around in the city where I lived in for so long." Miranda smiled at him, Ryan had a smile on his face too and he had been attracted to her from the start and that was kind of strange to him because he never had been that kind of guy that believed in love at first sight.

"I would love to have a little guided tour around Hillridge and I'm glad to see that we will be going to the same High School." Mranda was very glad to hear that and then she said: "I would like you to meet my two best friends Lizzie and Gordo."

AN: Thanks to- Seahawk 51 for reviewing this story. Next up: Lizzie and Gordo talk to some future classmates while Miranda and Ryan get to know each other a little bit better….

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