The Typical Disclaimer that Must Be Put in Every FanFiction: I don't own Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide.

Hello fellow readers and writers! This story takes place after the "Field Trip" episode, although that is pretty obvious if you read through this :D. I didn't really like how Field Trip wrapped up everything so things established in that episode will change and be explained. I'm sorry if you don't like it, but, hey, maybe this will give you inspiration for your own fanfiction .

Summary: Freshman year is on the agenda for the newly Polk graduates, but all Suzie Crabgrass is concerned with is figuring out where she stands with Ned and Moze. When Moze misinterprets Suzie's feelings, this new school year is about to talk a wild turn.

"Oh my god, can you believe it? In five sweet short days, we're going to be freshman! We're going to be in high school! We're finally going to be among older teenagers, holding our heads up high on our own! This is so incredibly exciting; I don't know how I'm going to wait a few more days!"

An agreeable murmur of cliquish proportions broke out into giggles and glee around their fellow leader Missy Meanie as the group of five or six girls flipped through clothes racks at an incredibly fast rate, needing only a few seconds to determine if the shirt or jeans would be deemed "in" or "out" by their fellow classmates in a few short days, when school would reopen for a new year. This wouldn't be just any old school year, though. For these girls - and hundreds of other bubbling fourteen-year-olds - this year would be their newbie year of high school, the beginning of the best or worse years of your life. Missy Meanie - and therefore her group of loyal followers - took this as a joyous occasion instead of grumbling over going back to school, like the lonely brunette eying the gossiping group from a so-so distance.

"Well, girls, I think I'm set. How about you?" Missy's cheery voice broke the mini conversations among the girls, and the latter all shook their heads as they held their about-to-be purchased attire tight in their hands, as if they were afraid someone would pop out of no where and snatch their fashionable tank tops and denim jeans. Missy's face broke out in a triumphant grin of victory and began to march out of the clothing display and to the nearest register. Meanwhile, the brunette girl peeked her head out from behind a jeans display and watched the girls walk on by and began to walk to the section they had previously occupied.

"Do you think in these clothes he'll notice me?" Missy seemed to lack an indoor voice, or at least one that was reserved for private conversation, for the petite brown eyed girl could hear quite loudly and clearly - and she was sure the rest of the store could too.

"Oh, definitely, Missy, how could he not?" a follower replied eagerly, and the rest of the group voiced a giggly, "Oh, yeah!" Apparently, "he" didn't need a name to be identified to the group; Missy probably talked about her dream guy non-stop to the point no one had to even guess who she was talking about.

"Hey, Missy, when did you stop liking Ned Bigby?" one of the girls asked, and Missy let out a loudly chuckle.

"Oh, a few months ago! I don't know what I was thinking anyway; I could do so much better than Ned," Missy reasoned, making up lies and excuses to ease her pain of not being chosen as Ned Bigby's girlfriend.

"What ever happened to him, anyway?" another crony asked in a somber tone, as if they were discussing someone who had passed away.

"Eh, Suzie Crabgrass moved back, and he dated her for like three days until he conveniently forget to tell her he dumped her. Why? So he could start dating Jennifer Mosely!" An enormous cackle rose from the group, as if Missy had just delievered the perfect punchline to an incredibly humorous joke. After this slight pause, Missy continued on with her opinion. "I don't know whether to feel bad for Suzie for being dumped in such a manner, or to laugh at how pathetic she is for being dumped after three days - and for Mosely, of all people!"

As if it was on cue, the group gave their mandatory snickering and giggling to stay on Missy Meanie's good side, even if it meant hurting someone's feelings at their expense - and if their target was in hearing distance. The petite brunette girl, who had finally managed to walk herself over to the clothing display, fought back the desire to cry herself a pity party and walk up and punch Missy in the face as hard as she could. Instead, Suzie Crabgrass sighed to herself as she watched Missy and her group walk out of sight and hearing distance and began to whisk herself through the hangers, taking her frustration out in her head.

She remembered how it had only been a few years ago that she had been part of Missy's assembly, where she was only concerned about the minor things in life that consumed many students nowadays: popularity, reputation, and relationships. Now she had come a ways, down the road of learning and experience. During the past year and a half, Suzie figured out who her true friends were and the ones she used to climb the social ladder (Missy didn't make the cut), popularity and reputation weren't built on simple things and destroyed by complicated ones (doing the lunch program didn't make her uncool; acting like she was better than it did), and the best way to enjoy yourself was to have fun with life. Considering it all, Suzie should have felt proud of the road she went down and how she grew into a better person by the end of it.

Of course, she would have if there hadn't been the little incident that threw her whole world off course, leaving her unsure of herself and everyone else.

Suzie flipped through the clothes racks, picking out the occasional shirt or top she found cute and laced it over her arm. Her mom had sent her out to do her back-to-school shopping, though she was hoping Suzie would go with someone else to keep her company as she had noticed her daughter's change of moods lately. Suzie brushed it off, saying that moving back and forth between the last few months left her with poorly built friendships at one school and broken ones at another.

"What about your friend Jennifer Mosely back at Polk? You two were really close by the end of seventh grade," her mom suggested.

"Jennifer's been busy, and we haven't had a chance to talk then," Suzie informed her mother, although it was at best a half-truth/half-lie. Since summer had began, Suzie and Jennifer never did talk on the phone for hours or email/IM each other back and forth like they used to after the one-time rivals discovered that they made better friends than enemies toward the middle half of seventh grade. However, it was never because Jennifer made an attempt to reconcile; actually, there were about ten messages on Suzie's cell phone and fifteen read-but-never-replied-to emails in her inbox - all from Jennifer, with each basically saying, "Hey, I miss you! Call/write back?" Suzie never did - she either hung up or signed off with a sigh.

"What about that nice boy that you were always hanging around - Ned, I think it was?" her mom then countered.

"I don't know, I think he's on vacation," Suzie simply shrugged, not bothering to tell her mother the full truth. It was again like Jennifer - ever since the last day of school, Ned and Suzie had not bothered to talk to each other, not because they didn't want to but because they didn't know how to react around each other. Neither had made an attempt to contact the other one, and Suzie was perfectly fine with the situation, mostly because she couldn't figure out how she felt toward him.

After scourging through various piles and racks, Suzie had a decent pile of clothing to her name and figured that would be enough to get her through the school year, or at least the first half. She decided to follow Missy's tracks in order to find the closest register, and afterwards planned hit another store to pick up the basic school necessities: pen, pencils, notebooks, etc. She would get it all done today, even though there was no need to. Her calendar was literally begging to have something on it's agenda, but Suzie preferred the days to herself currently.

"Suzie? Suzie Crabgrass?"

Freezing in her tracks, Suzie shuddered a bit, leaning back and forth in her place. She knew that voice all-too well, the voice that would be the simple-yet-envious girl-next-door glee if personified. She wasn't sure if she liked or hated it now, but Suzie knew she didn't want to deal with it.

"Hey Jennifer," Suzie answered unusually sweet as she turned around to face the tall, athletic brown-eyed Jennifer Mosely, covering up any growing detestation or current confusion Suzie had in her mind. Jennifer then eased from the "Hurry-up-and-catch-her-before-she-leaves" attitude and into the typical relief mode, walking carefully as if she was timing each step. Suzie noted that Jennifer was dressed in her usual attire - jeans and a t-shirt - but this time her shirt was the graduation one the eight graders had recieved as a token of congraluations from James K. Polk Middle School around the last week. Like most kids, Jennifer had allowed hers to be covered in Sharpied and markered messages from her friends, ranging from the serious to the silly. Suzie saw hers crawled across the front, right below the nearlty printed "2007 graduate" statement.

"Wow, funny running into you here! Shopping for new clothes? My mom dropped me off with the same mission. She didn't want to be subjected to my groaning and disgust at the pant sizes. Wanna join me? I would love if you do!" Jennifer had always had an extremely sweet and caring nature, and today her offering felt like it was laced in pure sugar as she bore a welcoming smile, putting her hands in her pockets and rocking slightly back and forth.

"Oh, I'd love too, I just finished!" Suzie quickly answered, holding up a pile of various articles of clothing. It seemed lately Suzie was aiming to major in a field of telling half-truths/half-lies. She had conquered this store but had still planned on hitting various other ones, as would Jennifer, Suzie suspected. "So thanks, but no thanks. I'm just gonna go check out now-"

"Suzie," Jennifer interrupted softly, holding her arm out as though she was going to reach out and hold her best friend in place. "I've been trying to get in contact with you all summer. actually. Have you gotten any of my messages?"

Yes, and I didn't feel like answering any of them. "No, I've just been extremely busy, running around and stuff. You know me, Jennifer, I would have gotten right back to you," Suzie replied with a chirp, relying on her past experiences to help bail her out of trouble.

"Oh, I know, I was just wondering if everything was okay."

Maybe. "Of course, why wouldn't it be?"

"Oh, well, you know, I was wondering if you were mad at...Ned and I for...well, you know...," Jennifer trailed off, and her glance lowered with each passing second, to the point where her head was almost completely downwards with her staring at the ground.

Yeah, for stealing - no, no, no! Jennifer did not steal my boyfriend! Ned was practically hers from the get-go away! Gah! So why am I getting so angry, anyway? "No, no, no. I understand completely. Really. I do," Suzie sympathized, biting her lip as she knew each word was building a perfectly aligned delicate lie.

Jennifer seemed to ease up slightly and gently smiled at Suzie. "Great. So everything is clear between us?"

I don't know. "Crystal!"

"And we're still friends?"

Sure, let's just say that. "Always have been!"

"Awesome," Jennifer concluded with a quiet giggle. "So, are you sure you're completely done? We have a lot of catching up to do, and I'm all by myself here at the mall. Maybe we could finish our shopping together? I mean, if you want to anyway. It's just that, well, you know, Cookie and Ned have always been my two best friends, and they're boys so there is no way they understand more than half the stuff I want to talk about. That's when I realized I missed you, and I do want my best friend back..."

Suzie froze in her tracks, trying not to let a single emotion drip into her face. She had literally pigeonholed herself into a problem that she could not quickly mend. She had just assured Jennifer that they was no bad blood between them, that she had not been purposely avoiding her and ignoring her messages, and they had always been best friends. Making up any excuse would probably seem out-of-the-blue, forced, or convenient on Suzie's behalf, which would probably lead Jennifer to doubt Suzie's little lying speech.

But why was she even worrying? For all of the emotional drama going on in Suzie's head, she did miss her best friend too. They both reached out to each other for different reasons - Jennifer, because she had spent her life building best friend relationships with boys and needed someone to relate to her girl issues; Suzie, because she had spent her life putting true friendships aside to excel in practically everything life had to offer. And since they were each other's first "real" best girl friend, it began a weirdly matched friendship as the once-competing rivals tried to learn basic girl-relationship steps at the age of thirteen. However, maybe that's why it worked out so well for the two girls, as then Jennifer and Suzie spent the next year and a half acting as if they had been best friends all of their life instead of newly scripted ones. It was the classic best friend forever detail: movies on weekends, spilling secrets until dawn, shopping while giving critiques on their weekly visit to the mall, etc. Even with Suzie moving for a while in eight grade didn't totally break up the friendship - a sign that everything would be fine, right?

It was pretty common knowledge that Jennifer's best friend Ned Bigby had a school-long crush on Suzie as well; more people knew that their time tables. Suzie noted the affection but didn't bother to return it romantically. She had always been interested in the local cute boys (Seth Powers) or the wild ones (Billy Loomer) and thought of Ned of as a good friend, the boy-next-door, if you will - never dating material. Until she had been burned by each relationship for various reasons, Suzie then began to look at dating in a whole new light. What was missing? She wanted a kind, sweet boy who made her laugh and feel on top of the world, one that she could trust and feel secure with. Seth was too consumed with his love of basketball to notice anyone else, and Loomer refused to give up his bullying ways and cheated on Suzie with Missy for a free pool. Ned? Ned was the one who picked her up after Seth chose his basketball at the school dance and the one who tried to tell her about Loomer's wandering ways. Ned had always been there, for better or for worse, and he definitely was that guy Suzie was looking for. After a few piercings and whatnot, Suzie gathered up her courage and asked Ned out, and to her relief he said yes.

Still, it was pretty apparent to everyone - except the two involved - that Jennifer had a crush on her best friend, and it didn't take a genius to figure out that Ned returned the feeling. The Suzie and Ned relationship wasn't stable at all; Ned was either panicking he would lose Suzie to another guy, or Suzie was worried over some of Ned's embarrassing behavior. So was it any surprise that when Suzie moved away that seeds of romance were beginning to be planted between Moze and Ned? Most best friends would call it
"boyfriend stealing," but Suzie didn't exactly have that inclination. Naturally, when Ned did dump her by asking out Jennifer, Suzie immediately laid the blame on him, calling him the "worst boyfriend ever!" After a few days of solitude, Suzie slowly began to look at herself. She hadn't been the perfect girlfriend either, nor could she ever pretend that she had been. She had been too impatient, too pushy, too judgmental, too picky, too embarrassed, too misunderstanding. With a girlfriend like that at their side, who wouldn't run off to the comforting best friend? Perhaps Suzie had held too high expectations for Ned. She thought he would be the perfect boyfriend and was in dismay when he failed to live up to it, not realizing that no one could ever reach the highest level of perfection.

With Jennifer, most girls would be eager to yell at their best friend, "You stole my boyfriend!" Suzie knew better. Jennifer didn't steal Ned at all; Suzie practically handed him over, forced him into Jennifer's open arms, and Suzie was perfectly aware of that. Maybe she was a bit angry that appeared Jennifer waltzed in and grabbed Ned swiftly away from her corner, but most of her emotion stemmed from when Suzie remembered Ned and Moze sneaking smiles throughout the remainder of the school year or pictured them hanging out in various spots holding each others' hands. Was she jealous? Probably, but she couldn't tell why. Was she jealous because the Ned-and-Moze relationship seemed like such a fairytale engulfed in a never-ending flow of happiness, something Suzie always dreamed about but was too out of reach? The other side would be was Suzie was jealous of Moze's boyfriend being Ned, and this Suzie kept firmly denied to herself for no apparent reason.

Suzie glanced up at Jennifer, who was potentially waiting for an answer. She didn't hate Jennifer at all, Suzie believed; when it came to her best friend, Suzie was just overwhelmed. She was jealous of her best friend's relationship, plain and simple, though Suzie didn't want to give it much thought over why nor did she ever want to explore that aspect.

"Sure," Suzie meekly agreed, forcing a smile onto her face. What was she getting herself into?

"Great! I have to look around here first, if you don't mind..."

Aha, if you guys like this story, I shall continue on with it. So please read and review! I'll love you forever, I promise xD