For starters…let me just say that I loved writing this story, and I'm both happy and sad that it was done.

I'd personally like to thank…

KTJ, Kaylee, leftsidedown, jojolookalike1220, Hermione781, LyG4ever, zero, Kristy, Abuhin, LizzieGordo4Life, OhYeah100, subgirl, Nick, Green Aura, Tears4Chris, benjisevilqueen1979, and the new jp1987 for your consistent reviews. If I'm forgetting anyone else, thanks you and I'm very sorry. Now that that's over with…

The Epilogue

It was a blissful summer. I looked upon Gordo's death with sadness, of course, and I thought about him every day, but life moved quickly and the days no longer drifted away. Eric and I spent a perfect eight months together, living off of each other, loving each other, before life forced us to go our separate ways. It was an emotional parting, something neither of us wanted to do, but sometimes life moves far too fast to hold on to the things that matter. We had fallen out of love, and a simple friendship grew between us. I felt bitter for some time, angry that God had taken away still another part of me, but as fall slid smoothly into winter I healed and threw myself into senior year.

I made the cheerleading squad by the lack of agile freshmen and a few (ok a lot) of strings pulled on the behalf of Kate and Bethany. Gordo would have frowned but I needed something to keep me distracted from Eric and his new girlfriend. As much as I resented him for our breakup, if it hadn't been for him I might never have been able to go through the metamorphosis that surged through my life in January of junior year.

Kate and I remained friends, not best friends, but friendly. She had been there to talk to on a number of occasions, and though we were never especially close, if one needed the other, we were there without fail.

As for Miranda, a much sadder story came about as a result of David Gordon's death and her sudden loneliness in the world. She stayed in rehab for the better part of junior year, and when she was released during the summer she was in therapy almost every day. I rarely saw her except for the occasional passing wave and phone call. She didn't want to see anyone, and instead she sat in her room staring at her wall. Shortly after homecoming she took her dad's gun off the rack in his closet, took it down to the basement, and shot herself in the head. We were in shock, I cried for three days straight. The funeral was short and simple as Miranda's parents didn't want a lavish affair. I couldn't blame them. After all, who wanted to hear happy stories about a girl who had killed herself? It was too tragic for words. Miranda was buried in a plot near Gordo, a simple Miranda Isabella Sanchez carved into the grey stone. Her parents didn't put her dates of birth and death on her headstone; they were too close for anyone to stand.

And so Elizabeth Brooke McGuire graduated Hillridge High School.

Now I'm in California, a sophomore at the University of California, studying music in the hopes of being able to get a record deal someday. It's morning, and the sun is just barely shining through the clouds as I stand on the beach. The water is warm against my feet, the sand soft and white. The beach is deserted and silent, even the seagulls aren't crying today. If someone had told me five years ago that my life would have taken this turn I would have pronounced them crazy. But I'm wide awake, and it's morning on the fourth anniversary of David Zephyr Gordon's death and I'm alive. Really, truly alive.

I saw the Gordon's last month when I visited Florida. They are happy and were sorry to hear about Miranda's death. It's hard to believe that the people I grew up with are so far away, and the people I was so distant from are such a large part of my life. Kate ended up marrying Ethan (just like we all knew she would) and she's the happy mother of one- a boy with the name of David Sanders Craft.

I don't think about high school very much- the memories have drifted into a blurry picture of football games and movies and tears. I still think about Lizzie McGuire, and how she came to be Beth McGuire. I miss Lizzie, and I wish I could be the same ditzy girl that Gordo loved and Eric longed for. It's not as simple as that though.

I am whole now. The pieces of me have come together to form a jagged puzzle- maybe not the one I started out as- but a finished work just the same. The journey was long, the road was twisted, and somehow I know that the beach I stand on is the finish line.

My blonde hair flies free of its braid and blows across my cheeks, covering my eyes with strands of golden light. A young man running down the beach smiles at me, and waves. To my surprise I wave back before watching him disappear around a corner. The water steadily grows warmer, the sun rising higher in the pink and gold sky.

Lizzie…someone calls me, their voice echoing. I wait, listening.

Lizzie, I love you. Be happy, please. I want you to be happy forever

And the voice is gone. I smile and wade a little deeper into the water, my heart singing. People are coming out of their condos now, dogs are barking, and mothers are dragging tired teenagers by the hand. They all stare briefly at the college girl with long blonde hair, wading into the ocean with her white nightgown blowing about her thighs.

They all move their chairs and coolers a little away from me and I laugh to myself again.

Lizzie, I want you to be happy forever.

The runner has come back, and he's walking toward me, a shy smile on his lips. I step out of the ocean and he asks my name. He's Mark, twenty six, going to the same college as I am.

It's Beth. I tell him. And he asks me for my phone number.

I want you to be happy. Happy forever…

I will. I know I will.

Author's Note: I hope you enjoyed this story. Please, Simon says review. Please? I'll give youa pudding cup.