Miranda's Journal [Lizzie McGuire] ✔️

Chapter Two

Gordo stretched out in his bed, opening his eyes directly at a window in his room, where the morning sunlight partly blinded him for a second. He rubbed his eyes and swung his arm across the bed, knocking Miranda's journal to the floor. Gordo forgot about it and was eager to read another page so he bent over the edge of the bed, reaching for the black book. As he lay on his back, he held the book up in the air, staring at the name Miranda must have etched herself in the corner. Although he'd already read a page, Gordo fought with himself to read another. Her first two entries seemed to hint something Gordo couldn't pinpoint yet, but he had a feeling reading more would lead to answers.

A rush of nerves and excitement flowed through Gordo while his fingers shook as he flipped to the second page. He scanned the page and grinned. The first time he had read it, he never noticed Miranda's neat handwriting. Gordo realized he had a book filled with memories of her, all to himself. For some reason that made him feel special.

"Okay, here we go," Gordo whispered to himself. "October eighth, two thousand and two," he read the heading aloud.

October 8th, 2002

The Sadie Hawkins dance aftermath: Yesterday I ended up dancing with Matt at the McGuire's. Gordo danced with Lizzie, of course! Today was okay I guess. I mean, at school Gordo and Lizzie couldn't stop talking to each other. Them dancing must have sparked something in them, because they wouldn't stop talking. I kept trying to ask Gordo stuff, but he ignored me. Maybe today wasn't a good day after all. Oh well. That's life. You can't always have good days. Definitely not in Miranda's world where you constantly seem to have bad days. Wow, how did I get so unlucky?

Gordo sighed after he read the last sentence. Reading Miranda's personal thoughts and feelings made him wonder, did he really know his best friend as much as he thought? He continued to read to find out more.

October 9th, 2002

All three of us hung out at the Digital Bean today so it's all good! Gordo was the first to arrive after me and I got excited. We were actually alone, but it only lasted five minutes before Lizzie walked in and Gordo ran up to her. Gordo wore his light pink sweater, which made everything worse. Not to mention his curls!

Gordo finished the second page wishing the entries weren't so short. He wanted to read more, but he remembered his summer job at the movie theater in town and he couldn't stay in bed all day reading Miranda's journal that he probably shouldn't be reading in the first place. So Gordo dragged his body out of bed, took a hot shower, dressed in his work clothes and while he ate breakfast, called Lizzie.

"Come hang with me at the mall after work. I need to ask you something," Gordo said.

"Is everything okay?" Lizzie noticed heavy breathing through the phone.

"Just meet me at the mall at two okay?"

"Sure Gordo. Love you."

"Love you too."

Gordo hung up and took one last bite of cereal before unhooking his car keys off the rack. He went to his bedroom and decided to bring Miranda's journal with him, hiding it in the pocket of his jacket. He planned on reading another entry during break, if he could convince himself to read it in public for his shift.

Gordo chose a job at the movie theater because of his interest in filming and movies. A great perk was getting money off the concessions and occasional free tickets. He'd get word on new movies showing and got to put up the posters. All those were great reasons to love the job, but something else made it worthwhile. The theater Gordo worked at was the same theater he snuck in with Lizzie and Miranda to see and R rated movie. The same theater where he spent hours trying to beat Miranda at the arcade games and the theater where he saw his first Spielberg film. To say the least, that theater held cherished memories.