MirandaxGinger drabble. Also contains a little Courtney because if you wanna get to the core of Miranda, you have to get past that important piece of the puzzle. :) Contains slash, obviously. First drabble out of...however many I have to do! Hope you enjoy~

By the way, did I ever mention how much i LOVE drabbles? :3

Miranda hated Ginger Foutley.

To Miranda, that seemed like an understatement. Ginger was constantly growing more and more popular, faster than she ever had. Come to think of it, was Miranda even popular? The only reason she even had a name at the school was because of Courtney. Courtney, something she was losing more, every second of the day.

Because of that stupid Ginger Foutley.

Sure, she loved Courtney. She cared for the girls' well being and wished the best for her. But Courtney was only a walking social class; Miss Popularity herself. Ever since she met Courtney, she somehow managed to worm herself into become the girls' best friend (Her 'right hand', as Courtney would say). Being best friends with Courtney only meant one thing:

Instead of 'Popularityville' having a population of one...it was a population of two.

Yes, being friends with Courtney had its perks. But, at the end of the day, Courtney was nothing but an object of popularity. She was nothing that someone else couldn't replace. However, at the moment, she was Miranda's best friend; someone who allowed Miranda that lime light. While she was an object that could be replaced, no one had replaced her just yet (though, Hope proved Miranda's point quite nicely), so she was valuable enough that Miranda couldn't let go. So it was only natural that she stand her ground to that Foutley girl who just wouldn't go away.

If Miranda were completely honest with herself, she would realize that 'popularity' didn't even matter to her. She didn't have a steady reason to do all of these things to Ginger Foutley, or at least, none that she could think of. She was just a mean spirited person who enjoyed making a certain person's life a living Hell. Maybe Courtney wasn't the reason; maybe she just enjoyed seeing Ginger's pain.

Well, that wasn't right, either. It wasn't that she liked seeing Ginger's pain; no, that wasn't it at all. She doesn't enjoy it like she says she does. In fact, every time Ginger looks at her, she stares at her with a torn look. It seems like she can't decided whether to be afraid of Miranda or just shoot her a nasty look. But when Ginger looked at Miranda with that expression (Which was every time), Miranda felt something inside of her break. She didn't know what it was, and to be perfectly honest, she couldn't care in the least.

...well, maybe she cared a little. But only a teeny tiny bit, and nothing more than that. Her heart hadn't completely iced over, ya know.

But if she went even deeper, something Miranda hated doing (Just as much as she hated Ginger Foutley), she could only think of one reason she hated her so much:

It had to be Ginger's relationship with her mother. Even Ginger's lousy relationship with her dad made her jealous. At least her dad didn't run a military camp, that was for sure.

Why could Ginger have those things, a family, but Miranda couldn't? It wasn't fair, none of it. Miranda's mom had died when she was younger. They were in a car accident, Miranda almost joining her mother in death. After the accident, her father cracked down on rules and became incredibly cold. All pictures and belongings of her mother's were removed from the house immediately. There was no time for mourning and she and her dad fell apart. He put work in front of her, spending virtually no time with Miranda.

It was only a matter of time before Miranda grew cold and hateful like her father. If her mother were still alive, she would shake her head at Miranda's mean spiritedness and teach her to be kind. Her mom was the peace keeper of the family, the one you turned to when you needed something as complicated as advice or something as simple as a hug.

If her mother were still alive, Miranda probably wouldn't be friends with Courtney. In fact, she would probably be friends with Ginger and Darren and those other two. And she would be happy with something as simple as that.

If her mother was still alive, Miranda would know the difference between 'love' and 'hate'.

And how there's only a thin line between them, even when it regards Ginger Foutley.