operation: m.e.e.t.c.u.t.e.
a codename: kids next door collection of oneshots about all the ways lizzie and nigel could have met
themes: minor character pov, lizzie asks first, nizie aren't in this that much but i make up for it, hopefully, rewrite of ch 2
rating: K for depictions of bullying
A/N (4.11.2025): Last chapter! Let me know which of these two versions you like best. This one was actually written first, but I'm publishing it last since the Nizie focus is a byproduct.
when you've heard those lies
He's just happy he could be there.
Sarah and Andy hold hands and talk while they wait for the lunch line to move, and Marybeth seethes at the sight from where she stands in line behind them.
When the rumours that Andy liked Sarah came out, she was devastated. She's had a crush on him since the third grade when he got a book in the library that she couldn't reach down for her. He's so tall and kind, and she despaired over the idea that she lost him before she even got a chance with him. Then the Galla-Gab reported President McGarfield couldn't confirm those rumours, and hope sprang anew in her chest. She had resolved to make her move the next time she saw him, but it turned out she wasn't the only one who read the news. Sarah, who shared a period with Andy right before Marybeth did and harboured her own crush on the boy, told him how she felt and asked for her own confirmation via passed notes. They walked out of the class girlfriend-and-boyfriend, trampling all over Marybeth's heart in the process.
That was a month ago, and she is firmly in the anger stage of grief. Why does Sarah get the cute, nice boy and Marybeth doesn't even get the time of day? Marybeth is adorable! She's smart and a go-getter and could have had Andy Belmont if only dumb, snooty Sarah Olin didn't get in her way.
As the lunch line moves, her thoughts continue like this until she can't take it anymore. When her lunch tray is in hand, she purposefully looks for a seat in the lunchroom that won't let her see the couple enjoying their lunch break together. It hurts too much. Said seat ends up being at the table right next to theirs, but at least her back is to them.
She's just starting in on her dessert—orange Jell-O, her favourite—to make her feel better when someone taps on her shoulder.
"A-Andy?"
"Hey, Marybeth," he greets with a friendly grin, and wow she loves how much she has to tilt her head to look at him. "Could you watch our stuff for a sec?" He points over his shoulder to where Sarah is seated with their bags and lunch trays at the table behind her.
Her first instinct is to decline—she doesn't want to do anything that makes Sarah Olin's life easier, even ""for a sec""—but then a wicked idea comes to mind.
"Absolutely," she says, her smile revealing a few too many teeth.
"You're the best! Thanks so much." He waves as he heads back to Sarah.
Marybeth watches them leave the cafeteria before springing into action. After making sure everyone around is busy with their own lunches, she opens Sarah's bookbag, dumps her dessert all over the contents inside, and zips it up neatly. She throws out the empty dessert cup and returns to her lunch feeling accomplished. Andy and Sarah return not too long afterwards; and when they wave at her, she returns the gesture with genuine joy.
She figures Sarah wouldn't notice anything wrong until her next class, but she's rewarded with disgusted shrieks after just a few moments.
"My homework!" Sarah despairs loudly. "It's ruined!"
"Ew, what is that? It looks like orange Jell-O," Andy asks.
Marybeth takes a self-satisfied bite of her lunch. Orange Jell-O does make her feel better, after all.
"Who cares what it is! How did this happen!?" Sarah wails.
She expects the tap on her shoulder a few seconds later. "Andy, Sarah!" Marybeth greets cheerily. "What's up?"
Sarah shows her ruined bookbag with teary eyes. "Look! Someone got this orange goop all over my books! Andy asked you to look over our stuff, right? Did you see who did it?!"
"What?" she enunciates dramatically. "That's terrible! I'm sorry, but I didn't see anything. I was eating lunch."
Andy runs a frustrated hand through his hair. "Right, yeah. But I did ask you to look after our stuff."
Marybeth hesitates. She doesn't feel guilty, exactly, but she can't stand the idea that she failed him. "... Now that you mention it, I did notice someone passing by here while you were gone." She hastily glances around for an easy target and finds the new girl a few tables down. "Her!"
Sarah follows her pointed finger to her new target and stalks off, but Andy stays back a moment. "Lizzie Devine? Are you sure?"
She doesn't like that he knows her name. "Yeah, why?"
"Well, she's… kind of a loner. She doesn't really have friends, but she doesn't have enemies either. I'm just surprised she would do something like this."
She frowns, peeved that he wouldn't just take her word for it. "Well, she did. I practically saw her do it."
His face hardens instantly. "Well, that's that. Come on, Marybeth."
"Wait, what?"
He takes her hand and leads her to where Lizzie and Sarah have since begun arguing with each other, and she stumbles out of her seat to follow after him. It didn't even cross her mind to refuse; he's holding her hand.
When he lets go, her disappointment is quickly distracted by an outburst from Sarah. "Stop playing dumb! I know it was you!" she yells in Lizzie's face.
"Hel-lo," Lizzie says like Sarah's the dumb one. "I barely even know you! Why would I do that?"
"Marybeth said she saw you do it," Andy interjects.
Lizzie snaps her head to take in the newcomers, and the first thing she does is give Marybeth a once-over with narrowed eyes in a way that puts her on the defensive. "You 'saw' me?" Lizzie asks, a threat thinly veiled in her tone.
Marybeth juts her chin out. She can't grow a conscience now. "Yeah, I did."
"You're a liar," Lizzie accuses easily.
"Ex-cuse me?"
Lizzie directs her next statement to Sarah and Andy. "In fact, I bet she's the one who did it."
Marybeth scoffs. "And just where does the weirdo with no friends get off blaming me for this?"
"Well, if my friends were anything like you…" Lizzie starts in a falsey saccharine tone, but she screams the end. "... I'd rather have enemies!"
Sarah looks between them with paralysed frustration before stomping her foot. "I so don't have time for your stupid catfight! If I don't get answers soon, I'll tell on both of you to the teacher!"
"Now, now. Let's not involve adults in a kids' matter," a new voice cuts in.
Marybeth smirks inwardly. If Nigel Uno is getting himself involved, she has this in the bag. Hero types like him are such a sucker for a damsel in distress. "Oh, Nigel," she swoons dramatically. "Thank goodness you came. Lizzie messed up Sarah's bookbag with orange Jell-O, and she's trying to blame it all on me!"
"Yeah because I'm pretty sure Scary-Breath over here is the one who actually did it!"
She plays her cries up even further. "And now she's name-calling me! Stop her!"
Sarah shoves her open, squishy bookbag into Nigel's chest for his inspection as she angrily explains, "Andy and I left our bags here for a little bit; and when we came back, we found out Lizzie did this to my stuff!"
The accused girl whirls on her. "Why are you so sure it's me? Just 'cause Marybeth said so?"
"Yeah. Why would she lie?" Andy defends easily.
Marybeth had another dramatic outburst on the tip of her tongue, but his comment stops her. She looks over at him as much as she dares. He believes in her!
Sarah's demand brings her attention back to the pressing issue. "Well, whoever did it owes me! What about my homework? What about my glitter gel pens?" She speaks as though addressing the group at large, but her eyes keep training on Lizzie.
Lizzie notices. "I'm not doing your stinkin' homework because I didn't do it," she growls, teeth bared and eyes blazing. "This is not my problem; and if you guys don't leave me alone, I'll give you a real reason to tattletell on me," she threatens lowly.
Marybeth takes a step back. "Nigel, do something!"
The other boy looks over the group then down at the evidence with a discerning frown. She fights to keep the satisfaction off her face. There's no way it can be tied back to her, and he has no reason to take Lizzie's side on this, not when she still looks like she's half a step away from punching him instead of her.
When he finishes his appraisal, his eyes raise to meet hers.
Marybeth is so sure that he's about to proclaim her innocence that she thinks she misheard him, but the way everyone's eyes turn to her expectantly is how she knows she did not.
"Were you the one who did this to Sarah's bookbag?"
Lizzie figuring her out kind of made sense, but how could he tell? "No, of course n-not."
She doesn't mean to stumble over her words, but she makes the mistake of catching Andy's eyes. He's not looking at her the way she imagines in her daydreams.
"Then tell me, how did this happen?" Nigel presses. "If Lizzie did it, what did she do?"
"Well…" She makes it a point to stop looking at Andy, and she feels in control again. "She just came over, opened the bag, dumped the Jell-O in, and walked away."
"But I swear I didn't!" Lizzie interjects. "I don't even like Jell-O. I got the fruit cup for dessert!" She points at her lunch tray, where the unopened fruit cup stands up to quintuple-strength scrutiny.
Nigel continues his interrogation. "What did she do with the Jell-O cup afterwards?"
"She threw it away, obviously."
"And where is your dessert?"
She's taken aback, but only for a moment. "I didn't get one."
"Nonsense. No kid skips dessert on the lunch line."
"Well, I did!"
"But don't you really like Jell-O?" Andy speaks up for the first time in a while. "I remember your birthday party last year. Instead of cake, we each got to customise our own cups of Jell-O."
No way. "You remember that?" Marybeth couldn't help the heart in her voice even if she wanted to. Nothing else mattered but this.
He looks distinctly uncomfortable with her attention, however, and she realises her misstep immediately.
"Did you or did you not pour jelly into Sarah's bookbag?" Nigel asks again, and the attention is suddenly too much for her to bear. Three pairs of eyes look at her with various levels of antagonism, but the one pair that matters looks at her with something worse than anger.
She collapses under the weight of his disapproval. "FINE! I admit it! I was the one who ruined Sarah's bookbag!" she wails. "And why shouldn't I! She already has everything—shiny hair, pretty clothes, the cutest boyfriend—she doesn't need good grades, too!"
"HA!" Lizzie exclaims. "I knew it! I knew you were lying, you no-good, jelly-loving weirdo—hey!"
"That's enough. This is between them, now," Nigel says as he drags her away.
"But I'm not done with her yet!"
The rest of Lizzie's affronted spiel is drowned out in the buzz of the cafeteria, leaving only Marybeth and the mess she made.
Sarah regards her with cold eyes. "You can either come with me when I tell on you to Mrs. Thompson, or you can wait until later to find out you have detention." She punctuates her statement with a spin on her heel and beelines for the cafeteria door, ruined bookbag swinging from her hand beside her.
Marybeth can't do anything but look after her, knowing she was defeated but deliriously, desperately hopeful it doesn't have to end like this for her.
Then Andy says something. "That wasn't cool, but you knew that already." He waits until she meets his eyes to give her a meaningful, disappointed stare, then he jogs after his girlfriend.
Tears bead at the corner of her eyes, but there is no audience around to feel sympathy for her. She feels sorry for herself for just a moment longer before she trudges after them, sniffling to herself as she goes.
"But I'm not done with her yet!" Lizzie Devine rages against Nigel's hold as he drags her away. "She called me a liar and almost ruined my already-bad reputation, and you want me to leave her alone? No way!"
"I have a feeling that whatever Andy says to her will do more damage than your words ever will."
"Huh?"
He brings her to a lunch table with only a couple of other students and points at a free spot. "You sit here. I'll get your lunch tray for you. I don't think it's a good idea for you to go back there just yet."
He leaves before she could argue with him again. When he returns with her tray, her head is propped up with the palm of one hand; the fingers of her other hand impatiently drill against the lunch table.
"Thanks," she mutters as he sets her food down in front of her. It kind of makes him feel like a waiter, but he shakes that off quickly.
He opens his mouth to acknowledge her mood, but he finds he has nothing substantial to say. He should quit while he's ahead. "Well, enjoy your lunch," he prefaces before he departs, and the waiter feeling comes back with a vengeance.
He turns to scurry back to his original lunch seat, but—"Wait!"
When he looks back, Lizzie is biting her lip with a blush. If he hadn't just seen her capably cross tempers with two other irate classmates, he would have called the look on her face apprehensive. In general, she looks smaller to him now, more like a damsel out of distress than a warrior princess.
He raises his eyebrows at her, and she points to the chair next to her. "Sit with me."
He does. He can't even say it was against his better judgement, either; he has no idea how to judge this situation.
She plays with the food on her tray for a little bit, gathering her thoughts, then looks up to meet his eyes. "I just wanted to say… Thanks. You really helped me out there. I don't have a problem with sticking up for myself, but it was hard since I didn't have proof. If you hadn't questioned Marybeth, too, it would probably be me getting detention right now. Thank you, really."
He would typically give a proud, assuring speech at this point, something about how even the strongest kid needs a little help now and then; how it's his job to protect all kids, even from other kids; and how justice always prevails…
… but a thought he didn't have time to entertain before suddenly takes up every corner of his mind.
Her eyes are kind of pretty.
He chuckles awkwardly, not used to feeling like this. "Y-Yeah, well. I'm, um, I'm just happy I could be there."
She smiles at him, and that's pretty, too.
Lizzie starts on her lunch after that, and he thinks that's his cue. He doesn't mind an unspoken send off; he's grateful for a chance to excuse himself and recover from the weirdness in his chest.
"So, how did you know it was her?"
Nevermind.
"I mean, I knew it right away when I found out she was the one who was blaming me, but you?" she continues, her tone conversational, if inquisitive.
Nigel tilts his head side to side, wondering how to explain it. "I didn't know it was her, exactly…" he starts. "But I knew it couldn't have been you."
Her eyebrows perk up at that. "How?"
When I looked into your eyes, I could tell you're not a jerk, but he can't exactly say that. His mouth can't come up with anything else to take its place, though. His brain feels like the Jell-O that started this whole thing. "Well… You… It's that… I mean…"
She scoffs at his stammering, but there's no annoyance in it. "Alright, alright. Whatever it was, I'm glad you helped."
"Anytime," he says awkwardly, but his commitment to his duty helpfully chooses that moment to make him normal again. "I mean it. Any time you're in trouble, come find me. I'll help however I can."
Her eyes take on a certain gleam when she asks, "Is that so?"
"It is," he affirms despite the distraction she poses.
She hmms. "In that case… It would really trouble me to eat lunch all by my lonesome today. Is that something you could help with?"
"I-I…" He gulps. "Yes, of course. It would be my honour."
He winces internally at how clumsy that sounds, and he knows she noticed it too. The gleam in her eyes turns into a full on shimmer, and he can just tell.
"Your 'honour'? Oh, Nigel."
His brain turning to Jell-O will be a regular occurrence around this girl.
A/N (4.11.2025): That's all, folks! Thanks so much for indulging me as I read too deeply into The silly kinda doomed sandbox romance (as deemed by kalliopi on ao3) from our childhoods. Hopefully these didn't seem too repetitive.