The Sweatshirt

"Lizzie, time to wake up," Jo McGuire said as she gently woke her daughter.

"Ok mom. What's for breakfast?" Lizzie replied as if eager to go to school.

"Lizzie are you okay? You aren't complaining about waking up, and you seem like you aren't nervous to go to high school. I don't know what happened to you but I like it!" Jo said surprised at her daughter's behavior.

"Yeah mom I'm great! I'm actually looking forward to going to school today," Lizzie said.

The conversation she had with Gordo last night made her realize that no matter what happened Gordo would be there for her, to help her, comfort her. Knowing this made all her fears about high school disappear. She wasn't afraid to go to school anymore, she was excited to explore the school with Gordo. 'I'm going to talk to Gordo today. I swear I will.' She thought to herself as she finished getting ready.

Gordo walked up to the McGuire's front door. 'I have to talk to Lizzie today. I'm going insane not knowing how she feels. I'll ask her to come to the park with me today after school, and I'll tell her then.' Gordo said to himself before he knocked on the front door.

"Hey Gordo, what's up?" Matt asked as he let Gordo in.

"Oh the usual, how about you?" Gordo asked, not really interested in what Matt was saying. He was looking around for Lizzie.

"Lizzie's still getting ready," Matt said knowing that Gordo was looking for her. "As for me, I'm starting my own band with Lanny and Milana. We're trying to decide on names. Do you like the Blood Sucking Caterpillars or the Fighting Tomatoes?" Matt asked waiting for a response.

"Um, well they're .great. Which one do you like better Matt?" Gordo said trying to escape the conversation.

"Well, actually I don't like either. I thought we should be called Matt and Company, but Lanny and Milana thought that I just wanted my name to be in the band name. Isn't that ridiculous? I just want a name that the people will like," Matt said.

"Yeah that is ridiculous. I like your name for the band better than the other two." Gordo said trying to go along with Matt's idea so he could get out of the conversation.

"Thanks," Matt said. "Hey Gordo do you want to be our manager?" Matt asked.

"Um, no way Matt! Can you please leave my friends alone for once? Just let them in and don't, by any means, talk to them. Understand?" Lizzie said as she walked down the stairs.
Lizzie and Gordo walked over to the kitchen as Matt stood were he had just been talking to Gordo and shrugged his shoulders.

"That's all right I already have a manager," Matt said in retaliation to Lizzie.

Back in the kitchen Lizzie and Gordo sat down at the table as they watched Jo finish making breakfast.

"Sorry about that Gordo," Lizzie said.

"You know Matt's okay sometimes but he was being annoying. He could see I didn't really want to talk. Thanks for saving me," Gordo said jokingly as Jo placed a plate of food in front of him.

"You're welcome," Lizzie said smiling at Gordo. "Thanks for breakfast mom, it looks delicious!" Lizzie said as she began to eat her pancakes and bacon.

"Yeah Mrs. McGuire, thanks. The food is great!" Gordo said as he shoved more food into his face.

"Your welcome Gordo. I thought it might be good when you started inhaling the food as soon as I set it down," Jo said laughing as Gordo blushed slightly.

"Sorry, I'm just really hungry," Gordo said and continued to inhale his food.

"So Gordo," Lizzie said giggling as she watched Gordo finish his food, "I guess we should get going. We should get there early so we can explore," Lizzie said with a mischievous look in her eyes.

"Explore?" Jo said looking curiously at Lizzie.

"You know, check out the new school! Find out where everything is," Lizzie replied.

"Yeah, let's go," Gordo said looking at the exchange between his best friend and her mother.

"All right, bye mom," Lizzie said as she waved to her mother.

"Bye Mrs. McGuire! Thanks for breakfast!" Gordo said as he walked out the door right behind Lizzie.

Lizzie and Gordo walked out of the McGuire's front door at started to walk. They walked down the driveway and down the sidewalk for about 5 minutes until Lizzie started to talk.

"So explain to me again why we're walking to school this year?" Lizzie asked, looking kind of tired from walking with her heavy book bag.

"Well there are many reasons. The main one was to make you sweaty before you get to school so you can complain to me the whole day," Gordo said jokingly.

He looked at the expression on Lizzie's face and knew that she was irritated at the thought of walking to school every day.

"Ha ha ha very funny Gordo," Lizzie said while trying to look upset but couldn't suppress a smile. "Seriously Gordo, why?" she said as if suddenly remembering that she had asked him a question.

"Well because it's good exercise and it's only a 10 minute walk from your house. We both hate the bus, and neither of us can drive yet, so I saw it as a good thing. But if you don't like it we can always ride the bus," Gordo said jokingly. He knew that Lizzie would rather suffer public humiliation than ride the bus.

"Ok, good point. So we're here where do you want to start?" she asked suggesting the front entrance with her hand.

"How about the front entrance," Gordo said laughing. She wasn't really asking she was just checking with Gordo to see if that was the front entrance. "Oh, hey I was wondering, would you like to go to the park after school. It's really nice out and there won't be many more days like this because summer's almost over," Gordo said hoping she would say yes.

"Sure, I wanted to go to the park today, it's so beautiful out. If we don't have the same class 8th period just meet me right out front here," Lizzie said as they walked through the front doors.

Gordo showed Lizzie all around the school. After all, he had been there before. He pointed out all the teachers and showed her where the cafeteria and office were. They went to their homerooms to get their schedules and compared.

"First period?" Lizzie asked anxiously

"Science," Gordo replied waiting for a smile or a frown.

Lizzie frowned, "SCIENCE!" she yelled. They both started to laugh.

"You almost got me!" Gordo said as he continued to laugh. "Alright second period?" Lizzie asked

"Oral Communications," Gordo said.

"Me too!" She squealed excitedly."Ok, let's just get this done. I have Leadership Lab, Gym, Spanish, English, Exploring Technology, Advanced Reading, World Cultures, and Algebra. Except days 2, 3, and 4 period 3 I have study hall. What about you?" Lizzie asked hoping they would have at least a couple more classes together. She really wanted to have all of them the same but she figured they wouldn't.

"Well we don't have Leadership Lab together, or Spanish. I have Spanish and then Leadership Lab. We have English together. Exploring Technology together, whatever that is, we have Advanced Reading together, and we have Algebra together but not World Cultures. Well we have gym the same period, but I don't know if it's coed anymore. We have study halls the same periods but in different rooms. Overall the schedules aren't that bad. We only have a couple different classes. And during our study halls we can get privilege passes or go to the library to see each other," Gordo said relieved they had a lot of the same classes.

"Wow, that's cool that we have so many of the same classes. Oh no! I have to go to Leadership Lab alone? I heard the teacher, Ms. Thoman, was a real witch!" Lizzie exclaimed.

"Calm down, you can't judge someone just by something you hear. Give her a chance," Gordo said.

"I will, but I'm not putting up with her if she is," Lizzie said determined.

"Okay well I guess we better get going to our first period class, science isn't it?" Gordo asked unsure of what they had.

"Yeah, some teacher named Ms. Stock. This should be fun," Lizzie said sarcastically as they walked into the room.

They saw a woman about 5'5" with the worst bowl cut in the history of the world. She had bleached blond hair, and narrow pointed glasses. She wore strait leg jeans and an old navy sweatshirt.

"I pity the person that has the same sweatshirt as her," Lizzie whispered to Gordo as they sat down.

"Yeah, and there will be that one person. I can't wait to see it. The girl that walks in and wears the same sweatshirt as her teacher will be so humiliated. Let the fun begin," Gordo said as he smiled.

They didn't have to wait long. As soon as they had finished talking in walked Kate and her posse. Kate was wearing the exact same sweatshirt as . Lizzie and Gordo burst into fits of laughter.