After almost two years, and a university degree later, I have finally managed to write a new chapter of this story! I am so sorry to everyone who has been kept waiting for so long, and so grateful to everyone who has continued to message me about this fic. For anyone still reading after all this time, thanks you so much for your dedication and I hope it lives up to your expectations.

School started back the next day, I was a sophomore now, and unlike my first day as a freshman, I let myself enjoy every minute of it, from the yelling of the teachers to rowdy students who didn't want to sit through lessons after months of freedom, to the hustle and bustle of the corridors between classes. I had only seen Gordo for a few minutes, on the ride to school this morning, but the reassuring smile he gave me as he sat down and the feeling of his hand griping mine comfortably, made me feel a lot calmer about having spilled everything I had been holding onto for the past year. He called out to me as we clambered between students that we could talk about everything after school, before the tide of returning students had carried us away from each other, to our separate home-rooms.

I hadn't spoken to Miranda in several weeks and couldn't help but feel it was my fault that we had drifted so far apart when we used to be so close. I pulled a chair up next to her as I sat down and received only a glare in response. Taken aback, I moved closer to try and ask what was wrong, but before I had the chance, the teacher swept into the room and demanded silence. As soon as homeroom was over, I reached out to grab Miranda's arm but she immediately shrugged me off and headed for the door- pushing through the crowd to get away from me as quickly as possible. Hurt and confused, I slowly made my way through the halls to my first class and tried to understand why she seemed so angry with me. I knew I hadn't been myself for a long time and we weren't as close anymore because of it, but I had done my best to keep in contact with her over the break, however she had seemed as unwilling to hang out with me, as I had been with everyone else. I didn't understand what had gone so wrong, but before I could worry about it any more, the warning bell sounded, warning me to hurry up before I was late to my first class of sophomore year!

By the time lunch came around, I had discovered I was no longer in any of my morning classes with either Gordo or Miranda, and hoped I at least had lunch with them both. I found Gordo sitting at a table with a girl I had seen in several of my classes last year, but had never spoken to. I wondered how Gordo knew her, as talking to girls wasn't exactly his strongest trait, but not wanting to be rude, I quickly sat down and smiled at them both, introducing myself to the girl whose name I learned was Sarah. Lunch passed quickly and I zoned out for most of it, searching the nearby tables for any sign of Miranda. It was only when Gordo tapped my arm towards the end of the hour that I finally began paying attention to the conversation going on at our table. Another girl joined us just as I attempted to rejoin the conversation, and I was shocked to see her lean over as she sat down and peck sarah lightly on the lips. As she drew back and settled into her own seat, her eyes met mine and I quickly looked away to cover my surprise at seeing such an easy display of affection in the middle of school. Looking around, I saw a couple of other looking our way but hardly anyone else seemed to have noticed, or be bothered by two girls kissing. My stomach rolled as a pang of jealousy shot through me at their easy affection, and I wished I was able to do the same.

Tuning back into the conversation for the second time, I heard Sarah happily introducing the older girl to us both "Zoe is the head of the gay -straight alliance at school this year, it's how we met!"

I glanced up in shock and met the serious eyes of the older girl once more as I blurted out the first thing in my head- typical lizzie style "there are gay people at this school, and people are okay with it?!"

Zoe's eyes hardened as they bored into mine and I could already feel myself reddening as I realised how I sounded. I quickly tried to fix my mistake "I didn't mean it like that! ….I just didn't know people around here were so accepting of that kind of thing…" I trailed off uselessly as I felt myself sinking further and further down in my seat, realising I was only making things worse for myself. Glancing around, I saw Gordo staring at me in confusion and Sarah looking lost and a little hurt at my outburst. Zoe was still staring at me with her hard eyes, but just as I was about to give up and leave in shame, her eyes softened slightly and she burst out laughing. My face reddened even more and the little voice in my head screamed at me to run, but I was rooted to the spot in confusion and Zoe continued to laugh loudly, drawing stares from nearby tables. Eventually she stopped, just before the bell rang to signal the end of lunch, and grabbing her and Sarah's empty trays in one hand, and Sarah's hand in the other, she stood up and went to walk away, stopping only briefly to drop a flyer onto the table in front of me, laughing again as she did so.

"You should stop by, see if we can help you dislodge that giant foot from your mouth! You might even find you like 'that kind of thing.'"

Once they were a safe distance away, I let my flaming face drop heavily onto the table In front of me and let out a loud groan, causing Gordo, who had been silent during the whole embarrassing episode, to burst out laughing. He stood up, taking both our trays from the table and began walking inside. I snatched the flyer from the table as I stood and quickly slipped it into my backpack before following him inside. Thankfully, we had this period together, the thought of possibly facing Sarah alone after making such a fool of myself was too much to handle! It wasn't until we were halfway there that it suddenly hit me what had just happened! Turning to Gordo I exclaimed loudly "you set that whole thing up!" as I swatted at him with my books. Glancing at me with fearful eyes, he began backing away from me, ignoring all the people he backed into as he kept his eyes firmly fixed on me and my raised textbooks.

"Now lizzie, calm down… I didn't tell them anything! I just knew Sarah was gay and thought maybe if you got to know some people who have gone through similar things to you, it might make you feel a little better. So I started talking to her in class, just being friendly and asked her to have lunch with us…."

My heart melted as he rambled on and I quickly tucked my textbook under my arm as I lunged towards him and wrapped him in a hug. I felt him stiffen at first, thinking I was angry, until he realised what was happening, his own arms coming around me tightly as we came to a standstill in the quickly emptying corridors.

"You're the best Gordo" I mumbled into his shoulder, pulling back as we finally reached our classroom. He gave me a wink and bumped my shoulder with his own as we found seats together, grinning back at me with an "Anytime McGuire."