I hope you all enjoy this fic. I've always thought Matt and Melina would make a cute couple and decided to write a story about it. I won't update this one as often as my others, because I have a lot of ideas for those and only a couple for this, but I will not abandon this story. This will be the only chapter I write until sometime in mid July, because this week is the last week I'll be here, then I'm going on vacation...but I'll write out the next chapter when I'm gone and update when I get back. I'll continue if people like this fic. Please read and review.

Disclaimer: I do not own Lizzie McGuire.

Summary: Matt and Melina have been friends for a while, but they still go through problems all friends go through. They get into arguments but always stay friends, pulling pranks and having fun. But what if you start to develop feelings for this friend, and you've never felt them before? Now Melina is realizing that maybe she considers Matt as more then a friend...but what will she do about it?

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Why do we pretend?

Chapter one: Pulling pranks and realizing the truth

It was a beautiful morning. The sun was shining and the birds were chirping. Children gathered on the playground outside school, waiting (unhappily) for the bell to ring where they would begin to learn. Two children were not there though. Two children were in the school, in their classroom in fact, making some small adjustments to the lesson.

A girl with blond hair quickly glanced at the door and pushed a small piece of hair behind her ear. Silently she grabbed the glue and poured the sticky substance on a page in the lesson planner that belonged to their teacher. One after the other, she glued the pages together and made the once neat, organized lesson plan a sticky mess.

She glanced at the clock and saw the bell would ring in five minutes, and the teacher would be there any second. "Hurry up!" she said to a boy who was spreading whip cream on the floor by his teacher's chair.

"Give me a second," he said, now pouring honey on the floor.

"Let's go!" She grabbed him and pulled him out of the classroom. They snuck onto the playground unnoticed just as the bell rang.

The teacher was standing by the door when the students filed in. Mrs. Chaftmen (I don't know how to spell it. If anyone does please tell me in a review) watched as the kids came in, and her eyes narrowed as Matt and Melina came in. Those two...

She stopped from shaking her head and went to sit at her desk. After she sat she scooted up, but her chair slipped on the honey and her chair slipped backwards. Laughter erupted from the class as she stood up. Grabbing the lesson plan, Mrs. Chaftmen started to open it as she told Matt to go to the principal office. When it was discovered the lesson plan wouldn't open without tearing she exploded.

"Matt! Melina! Get to the principals office! NOW!"

The two friends quickly got up and dodged out of the classroom. No one clapped, the teacher was seething. As they made their way to the principal's office they smiled. "Great job Matt," Melina said.

"Likewise."

The principal did the usual, yell a bit, talk a bit, yelled a bit, and called their parents. Luckily neither of them were home so he had to leave a message.

Later that day the two were walking home together. As they walked down the street a group of girls were gathered on the street gossiping and laughing loudly. Melina rolled her eyes. She was never going to be like that, asking other girls for advice on how to get a boy or anything like that. As they passed them one girl say," aren't those two a cute couple?"

Melina's cheeks turned red and she looked at the ground. The rest of the walk home was spent in silence.

When they arrived at Melina's house Matt walked her to the door. "I'll call you later ok?"

"Ok."

As Matt waved goodbye, Melina suddenly got this feeling inside of her. She didn't want him to leave. The feeling was strange; she had never experienced it before. Why had she blushed when those girls thought they were a couple? Why didn't she want him to leave?

Melina tried to ignore the questions as she went inside, deciding to just ignore the questions running through her mind.

As soon as Matt came over he got a call from Lanny. After talking a few minutes Matt invited Lanny over. Soon he was there and they were having a serious conversation.

Lanny stared straight at Matt. Matt nodded. "Yeah, I know Melina and I spend a lot of time together. So what?"

Lanny began moving his hands around, trying to get the point across to Matt quicker. "What? You think Melina likes me? That's crazy Lanny."

Lanny shook his head and started explaining why he thought so. "So your saying Melina looks at me in class sometimes?"

He nodded.

"I don't think she likes me. We're friends Lanny, nothing more then that."

He shook his head now and looked at the time. He jumped up and looked at Matt before hurrying to the door.

"Enjoy supper Lanny!" Matt called as his friend disappeared through the door.

Slowly Matt picked up the phone. Was what Lanny said true? Did Melina like him? I doubted it, but he'd remember that. He quickly dialed Melina's number and waited, listening to the ringing as he looked outside. Lizzie and Gordo were laughing together. They had been going out for three months now.

Suddenly a voice broke the endless stream of ringing. "Hello?"

"Hi Melina!"

"Hi Matt! What's up?"

Matt looks straight up and sees his ceiling and a sticky hand stuck to it. 'I remember that. Melina and I were hanging out and I threw the sticky hand and it got stuck. He grinned before telling Melina, "Nothing. You?"

"Just watching my door and waiting for my parents to come home."

"That must be exciting," Matt said in a sarcastic voice.

After another half hour of talking, Matt brought up the topic that Lanny was talking about. Melina froze and laughed, though it sounded force. "He-he thought that? I mean, ye- yeah right!"

Matt noticed her voice stuttering a little and questioned her. "Are you okay?"

"Fine," she said hurriedly. "My parents just got home, I got to go Matt. I'll talk to you tommorow." She quickly hung up and stared at the now closed door, wondering why she felt so nervous when he brought the subject up. Matt was thinking similar things at home.

Sometime that night, Lizzie was on the phone talking to Gordo. Matt quietly came up to the door and quickly knocked. Lizzie opened her door and saw Matt. "What do you want?"

Matt grabbed the phone from Lizzie. "Gordo? Lizzie will call you back." He hung up the phone.

"MATT!" Lizzie screamed.

"I need to talk to you," Matt said. "How can you tell if a girl likes you?"

Lizzie stared at her little brother. 'He's getting into girls now?' "Miranda doesn't like you Matt," she said.

"It's not about Miranda."

"Oh...well. If a girl tried to talk to you a lot or gets nervous around you. Another way to know is if the girl looks at you a lot." Lizzie kept talking, but Matt didn't hear anymore. He was thinking about how that related to Melina.

The next day Melina walked out the door and saw Matt waiting for her. He was standing right by her steps. When she left the house and stepped into the bright sunlight he smiled.

She smiled too, but as she walked down the steps she tripped. Matt abruptly caught her. Melina could feel herself blushing. He held her hand as she straightened. It was then that she realized it.

I like Matt McGuire!

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