Star of David

June 10th, 2005. Nobody saw it coming. Graduation came and went, Gordo, Miranda and I sat in the back yard of my Hillridge house for the last time. Gordo was going to be leaving for New York Film School. Miranda was heading to some prestigious school in California for young aspiring singers. And me; I wasn't so sure of my future. I knew the thought of being without my two best friends was going to be hard, but no one said it would be this hard.

"Schrodinger's cat; dead or alive?" Gordo asked, trying to break the tension a little bit.

"Who is that?" Miranda asked.

"I don't even remember going to school with anyone named Schrodinger." I couldn't even think of what they were talking about. Right now my thoughts were all focused on one single thought. Where was I going to go? I already got three acceptance letters, so I could choose between those schools. Gordo; he'd gotten at least six responses. I guess that's what happens when you're top three of your graduating class. Gordo had helped both of us with our entries for school. He'd filmed Miranda singing, and myself acting, and labled both of the tapes clearly and mailed them for us. It was the least he could do, he'd said.

"Schrodinger proposed an experiment. Say you've got a cat. He proposed that you put this cat in a box. You're not to open the box under any condition. Inside the box, with the cat, is food. However, there's also poison, so if you open the box, the cat dies. But if you leave the box closed, it also dies." Gordo spoke calmly. I always liked that about him.

Miranda looked shocked. "That's terrible! Who would do that with a cat? That poor kitten."

"Miranda, relax, it never happened. It was a thought experiment. The idea is to make you think about consequences. Say you come to a road, you know you'll die if you go down one, but the other, you're not so sure of. So you take the other road and die anyway. It wouldn't matter because you still tried." Gordo thought about it a moment, his blue eyes staring skyward. "I think that's what life is like. You need to take th chances while they're presented to you. That's why you chose to go to California."

"Are you saying I'm not a risk taker?" I asked, glaring daggers at my best friend of a lifetime.

"No, not exactly. I'm just saying that if you stay here your whole life, what are you going to experience out there? You need to feel the rush of the wind in your hair. The feel of the ocean on your toes. Lizzie, if you spend your whole life living in a box, you never get to see what life has to offer. Think outside the box while you can, one day you'll be spending the rest of your life in one."

"How philosophical of you," I murmured, laying down in the grass and staring at the clouds. Hanging on the line next to the fence were my old tyedye sheets. All these memories rushed back to me at once and I felt like I was overwhelmed. Gordo's parents had suggested spending our last day together doing whatever we couldn't do before. I didn't much feel like doing anything. "What do we do for the next five hours until Miranda's plane arrives?"

Miranda looked between Lizzie and Gordo. "Can we just sit here and reminisce? You're not going to be where I'm going, and I want to remember every moment. Saying goodbye is the hardest thing to do."

"Don't say goodbye, say see you later," Gordo corrected. "Goodbye is forever."

"You've been watching too much Casper." Miranda murmured.

Both of us erupted into a fit of giggles. So much had changed, and yet so little. Miranda was a bit darker now. I'm positive she wound up getting pulled into the gothic phase of life. Gordo; well, he was still the same guy I knew back then, only now he was slightly taller and smiled more. He still wore uniform shirts constantly, today's was a black uniform shirt that had a nametag scrawled in big bright red letters – Toby.

"Toby, you know what? Let's make a day of this. We should do what we never got to do." I suggested, wondering when someone was going to ask me who Toby was. "Am I the only one who noticed Gordo's nametag?"

"Ohhh." Miranda answered, smiling with a laugh. "What do you mean never got to do?"

Gordo knew what he wanted to do, he just didn't want to say it to me. Those knowing blue eyes gave away everything and yet nothing at all. His eyes betrayed nothing about what he really wanted. "Remember that time when we went to Kate's party and she fell into the cake?"

"She didn't fall, she was shoved, but yeah, it was hilarious." Miranda answered through giggles. "Cake is one accessory that always looks good on her."

"Kate Craft…can you believe that? Of all of the people in the world, Kate managed to get with Ethan." I laughed quietly, feebly. "Can you believe I ever had a crush on him?"

"Ugh, what did you guys see in him?" Gordo inquired, looking between us casually. "Was it his suave looks? His debonair style? His blue eyes?" He paused and blinked. "Brown eyes. I don't pay attention to guys often."

"I'm not entirely sure what I saw in him. I guess I was just jumping on the bandwagon." I replied, then jabbed Miranda in the ribs. "How about you, future Mrs. Tudgman? You and Larry…who knew!"

"Hey, now, Larry's actually a pretty decent guy." Miranda commented carefully, smiling softly when she thought about it. Larry hadn't proposed yet, not until his feet were on the ground at work. Then he'd marry Miranda and make sure she never had to work a day of her life.

"I dated him for a day, remember? I know all about it." I answered, seeing a small note of sadness in her eyes. "Are you sad that I didn't find someone special?"

"Well, not everyone has to get married after graduation. I'm just sad you never saw what anyone else did in you. It's your turn to feel beautiful, Lizzie." Miranda answered, changing the subject. "I want you to remember that no matter what, you'll always be beautiful. Even if you don't feel that way. And that dream you had told me about six years ago? That may not be as farfetched as you think."

"Dream? What dream?" Gordo inquired skeptically, staring between the two of us.

"I had a dream about Ronnie Jacobs." I mumbled under my breath, lying to avoid conflict. I don't know why I brought up Ronnie, it just seemed fitting at the time. When I saw the look of horror in Gordo's eyes, I knew I'd made a mistake. I don't know why the thought of Ronnie bothered him so much.

"You mean the guy who asked you out, then threw you into the gutter because he was too good for you?" Gordo folded his arms, scoffing under his breath. "Ronnie Jerk-obs, is more like it."

"Okay, you know what? How old are you, Gordo?" I shouted.

"Seventeen, but that doesn't change the fact that I still hate the man who stepped all over your heart!"

"Woah! Where did that come from?" I shouted back, closing my eyes tightly. "Ronnie was a jerk. I know. And I fell for it because I wanted a boyfriend. It isn't my fault that no one in the school liked me!"

Miranda knew how Gordo felt. He'd confided in her only once, telling her the exact feelings on his heart. She'd pieced it together on her own and he confirmed it. Her look of sadness made it all more worse. Even as Gordo walked away from us, I knew I'd said something terribly wrong when he didn't even stop to say syonara. "Lizzie…if nobody liked you…does that mean you think Gordo is a nobody?"

And just like that, I'd managed to alienate all of my friends into hating me.

And what I hadn't known…was that night was the last time I'd see Gordo as I remembered him.

Short chapter, sorry. Umm, so, give it a chance and you might enjoy it. Please read and review. I know I have a habit of never finishing anything, but I might go and finish the others sometime this year lol. Most of it is in Lizzie's point of view, but some chapters are in third person. It will make sense when I get to that chapter.