Through The Silvered Glass – Chapter Seven
"Coffee Break"
Disclaimer: General plot, characters and some of the dialogue-not mine. Basically, if you recognize it, I didn't come up with it. I'm definitely having fun playing with it, though.
Not-the-Original-Author's Notes: So, I hope everyone is liking this so far. I'm sure everyone has noticed that I am trying to keep a lot of the first season's plotlines intact, though I am changing up the order a little. Soon there will be a bit more for me to juggle from a writer's point of view, so If I leave any plotlines dangling in the breeze, let me know so I clean them up. Also, I proof read myself cause I'm impatient, so forgive any typos.
Thank you so much all my reviewers, you really make my day, and everyone is right, having reviewers and being on people's favs list really does encourage me to update regularly. Next week may be a bit of a trial though, I'll be out of town, and I haven't quite figured out the internet/laptop dynamics of that little trip just yet. I haven't given up though….
Michael's POV
Michael slouched once more in the shadows across the street from the sheriff's station.
He had seen the look on Alex's face when he had come in. The guy was gonna try to stir up trouble, most likely with Maria. Max had warned him that Liz had said the two were exceptionally close, and even Liz had concerns about them regarding their secret.
She swore Maria had promised, but Michael knew that wouldn't stop the other boy from pressuring Maria. Too much pressure and she'd crack. Just look at Max and Liz, he thought. They both had.
So when Alex had followed Maria to the back room, Michael had grabbed the empty tobasco bottle off their table and headed towards the backroom doors. Max and Liz were so engrossed in each other they hadn't even noticed.
He had stood there at the door, listening shamelessly to Maria and Alex's conversation. He had felt his gut clench when he heard Alex mention the feds. He was worried he would be too late to get the files, and a part of him wanted to rush out of there right now and head to the police station. But another part of him knew he had to wait until later, or he'd get caught, so he continued to listen to Maria and Alex's conversation.
His frown had deepened when he realized Whitman was working her over pretty good. She kept refusing to tell Alex what was going on, but he was pulling out all the stops. The kid could give Isabel some tips on emotional blackmail. It just went to prove that caring about someone gave them power over you.
He could hear Maria getting more and more upset. Finally, the husky sound of her voice made Michael suspect she was about to start crying, if she wasn't already.
This conversation is over, he thought. He pushed the doors open, intentionally pushing hard enough that it would hit Whitman.
He had been right, there were tear tracks on Maria's face, drying even as she frowned at Michael and helped Alex stand back up.
He didn't completely understand where all his hostility towards the other boy was coming from. He scowled as he stood there, watching the two of them standing there. Alex had tried to push Maria behind him. As if he, Michael would hurt a girl. Like he had been the one making her cry a moment ago.
At last he decided his hostility was due to the other boy was trying to uncover their secret. His persistence was posing a threat to Michael, Max and Isabel. For some reason it bothered him that the other boy would push Maria that hard for information; push her to the point where she was crying. He had a nearly overwhelming urge to address the problem physically. It was his preferred method in situations where he didn't quite have his bearings, but after a moment he managed to suppress it. He couldn't afford a fight tonight; he had other business to attend to.
Maria had been watching him closely, and he had a suspicion that she had managed to follow his thoughts to some degree, because she stepped up to stand next to Whitman, as if she would be able to stop Michael from doing something.
Yeah right, Michael had thought. Maria was small enough that he could probably just pick her up and place her on the other side of the room before dealing with dodge-ball boy. Inwardly he had smiled at the thought.
When he had held up the empty tobasco bottle, he'd had an interesting moment when he thought Alex might actually try to start something with him. Unfortunately, Alex had decided not to make Michael's day, and had simply pushed past Michael, dragging Maria in his wake.
He gets pretty physical with her, Michael had thought. He was mildly surprised she had simply allowed Alex to drag her behind him, like a child. Eyes narrowed, he searched Maria's face, trying to decide how close she was to a total breakdown with Alex in attendance. She seemed to be pulling herself together though, for the moment.
Of course, while he'd been distracted, Max and Liz had been caught up in another one of their Romeo and Juliet moments. Someone really ought to tell them that those two died at the end. As Alex and Maria came through the doors, Max and Liz jumped apart. Michael swore silently to himself. He couldn't keep his eyes on all of them all the time. And with Max and Liz, it was like they had their own center of gravity or something.
The four stood clustered together at the counter, the girls and Max now looked apprehensive, Alex looked pissed. Michael was just happy now one was kissing or crying.
However, when Alex said he was leaving, Michael couldn't prevent himself from trying to make the guy sweat a little. After all, he didn't have to hurt the guy to make his point. He could just follow him for a few moments. That would get Whitman's heart rate up. He must not have been too subtle, though, because both girls had jumped in at that point. He had watched as Maria had practically forced Alex up the stairs ahead of her, to what he assumed was Liz's bedroom.
So much for helping her out, he thought. Ungrateful brat.
He turned his thoughts back to the building ahead of him. It had been almost two hours since he had left the crashdown. No time like the present. Making sure there were no cars or pedestrians in sight, he quickly jogged across the street to the alley that ran beside the police station. He flattened himself against the building, watching to see if anyone had noticed anything. After another beat of silence, he continued edging himself down the alley until he reached the pipe running down the wall from the gutter. The pipe that just conveniently happened to run right next to Valenti's office window. He waited in the dark another moment, gathering his nerve. He slowly but steadily started climbing up the pipe. He was glad it was anchored securely. It wasn't as easy as he had hoped, but he'd had some practice at this sort of thing. He had to keep from swearing every time his knuckles scraped against the brick of the wall. Finally, he reached Valenti's window. Still holding onto the pipe with one hand, he reached his other hand out to the lock securing the grill over the window. This time he did curse a little under his breath. The metal was welded, and it was harder to take care of than he had expected.
Finally, he managed to wrest it open. The latch on the actual window was next, but first, Michael crouched on the window sill and placed his hands lightly against the glass, sensing the light current that was the security system. He closed his eyes to focus, he always used to much power when he tried to do this and that would…
BeepBeep.
With a grin, he eased up the window. He would never admit that he had wished Max was with him to do that part.
He climbed in as silently as he could. He crouched near the open window, listening, trying to determine if his presence had been detected. After a few moments, he grinned to himself in the dark. He moved towards the file cabinet, pulling on latex gloves. Luckily, the latex did nothing to disrupt his powers. With another wave of his hand he had the locked popped, but it did him no good. Neither did the next cabinet. Nothing but what you would normally expect to find in a small town sheriff's office. Files on drunken drivers, vandalism, court appearances. Nothing like what Maria had been shown. When he opened the third drawer, he'd closed his eyes and leaned his head against the file cabinet in frustration.
It was completely empty.
It had all been here. He knew it. The files, the photos, everything… And now it was gone. He wanted to throw things, break stuff, scream and kick. Everything. Everything he had ever lain in bed wondering about at night. It had been here, and now it was gone. Someone had come and stolen his answers.
And not just any some ones, but dangerous some ones. Government agents, probably. As Alex had so aptly put it, Feds. And Michael had no idea, really of just how much information there been there, or just how accurate it had been.
He moved to the desk, still looking, still hoping. He pulled open the left hand drawer, various bits and pieces of paper, pens and pencils, loose paperclips. A school photo of Kyle in his football uniform. He checked the next drawer, but nothing in there seemed unusual either. He sat down in the chair and placed his head in his hand. Was it all gonna be for nothing?
If he hadn't been looking down, he probably wouldn't have noticed anything. But he was, and so he did. It was almost totally underneath the sheriff's desk. Only a corner stuck out. Michael had to stick his head completely underneath the desk to reach it. He had trouble picking it up, so he used his fingernail to drag it closer. Finally he was able to grasp it, holding it closer to his face for inspection. Either the feds had dropped it while cleaning out the sheriff's office, or they hadn't noticed it. Or they had but hadn't realized its significance.
He studied the photo of Maria Deluca. It was recent, probably the one taken only a few weeks ago at school. Her pixie cut blond hair framed her face, and the green top she wore accented the green of her eyes. She was smiling, the kind of smiling that looked like any minute it might turn into laughter, and he wondered how she had pulled that off. In front of a camera, his face always felt wooden and unnatural. Of course, that was assuming he had even shown up on picture day. The rest of the time it didn't matter. Hank wasn't exactly a scrap-booker.
He decided he'd better take the wallet sized photograph with him. He didn't want the feds to get it if they came back, and he liked the idea of Valenti having it even less. He flipped it over. M. Delucca was written on the back in a man's handwriting. Like she was a criminal or something. He frowned.
He straightened, for a moment forgetting that he was under the desk, and he banged his head on the bottom on the desk. He swore quietly, and went to try it a second time when he felt something sticky pulling at his hair. He grimaced in pain, and ran his hand between his hair and the desk until he discovered the source of annoyance. Carefully, he pulled his head out, and used his hand to pull off the item taped to the underside of the desk. He was surprised the feds hadn't found it. He was even more intrigued that the sheriff had thought to hide it.
The key looked perfectly ordinary. He closed his had around it-
(flash) a white curve, smaller splashes of color, a feeling of heat (flash)
Suddenly a hand clamped on Michaels shoulder, and a small cry escaped him.
Shhh! Max said, whispering in Michaels ear. "We gotta move Michael, Maria's keeping watch, Valenti's in the lobby now."
Michael nodded, still shaken by what he had seen. What had that been? Did it have to do with their past? Had it belonged to the man who had died? Could it have been the ship?
Suddenly, they could here footsteps in the hall outside the door. They both climbed out onto the ledge as Max closed the window and reset the alarm. Michael didn't try to help, he knew Max would be faster. Max had just managed to shut the grill when the lights in the office flickered on. Immediately both boys flattened themselves against the wall on either side of the window. The alley loomed two stories below them, but Michael at least would have to cross in front of the lit window to get to the pipe. He was stuck.
"Max, get out of here!" He whispered. There was no reason for both of them to get caught.
"Wait for it!" Max whispered, pointing to the dumpster below them.
"What?" Michael whispered.
Suddenly, from the other side of the building Michael could hear one car alarm and then another, and then yet another go off.
"Now!" Max mouthed, gesturing down.
Michael closed his eyes and they jumped at the same time. Michael grimaced when he landed with a thump in the dumpster, Max landing a split second later beside him.
By now it sounded like four or five car alarms were going off on the other side off the building, and suddenly a small form in blue ran up to the dumpster.
"Come on!" she hissed, waving them out. The two boys climbed hurriedly out of the dumpster, following Maria as she sped down the darkened ally. They took a left, then a right, cutting between buildings, sticking to the shadows.
Michael hoped someone knew where they were going because for once his mental compass was not keeping up. He wondered if the flash he had gotten in the sheriff's office had upset it or something. As he thought of the flash he realized he still had a grip on the key in one hand, and Maria's photo in the other. He shoved both in his pockets and continued to follow the other two.
At one tight corner Maria lost her footing, nearly falling into the building, and both Michael and Max reached out to grab her. She regained her footing, panting, as they all were by that point. They crouched in the darkest shadow they could find.
"That sucked." Maria said after a moment of quiet panting.
Then she hit Michael on the shoulder.
"That was for hitting Alex with the door earlier, because I know it wasn't an accident"
She smacked him again. "And that was for making me be your stupid distraction at the sheriff's station. No means no, buddy."
Michael glared at her. "I didn't ask you to do anything, you ungrateful…"
"Ungrateful?" She hissed, eyes widening.
"Guys, flirt later!" Max said.
"Flirt!" they said in incredulous unison.
"Shhh!" Max said. They continued down the darkened street.
"We're only a block from the Crashdown now, let's get to my jeep and I'll get you guys home." Max said after a moment.
It was only then that Michael noticed Maria had a messenger style purse slung over her shoulder. The weight of it shifting was probably what almost sent her into that wall earlier. But why was she getting a ride with Max too?
"Where's your car?" Michael asked. She turned around to glare at him.
"Still in the shop, Alex was gonna be my ride but..." She shrugged.
"He just left you?" Michael scowled. "I thought he was your friend or something. Doesn't he watch the news?"
She narrowed her eyes at him "I told him I was gonna stay with Liz, cause my mom's gone again." She said, defending Alex.
They reached the diner. "So, are you staying here?" Max asked.
"Nah, I'm going home. No clean clothes here." Maria replied.
"So?" Michael asked. She just rolled her eyes at him.
"Well, get in." Max said. "It's after curfew, and you shouldn't be walking alone anyway. Michael's right, Alex shouldn't have just left you."
"He didn't…ooohhh!" She threw her hands in the air.
She didn't want to be alone with Alex, Michael realized. She got rid of him because she was afraid Alex would put the pressure on her again on the ride home.
"Shut up and get in the jeep, Deluca." Michael said.
She made a face at him and then climbed in the jeep. On the passenger side.
"That's my seat!" He hissed.
"Shut up and get in the jeep, Guerin" She mouthed back.
"Michael!" Max said, sounding like a put-out parent on an overlong trip to the park.
He scowled and jumped in the back.
They reached Maria's house first and waited while she went up the walk. After a moment she had the door opened, and closed behind her.
They started down the road, and then Michael said "Lemme out here, I'll walk the rest of the way."
"It's three miles, Michael, and we have school tomorrow."
"You have school tomorrow" Michael corrected. "It's cool. I need to think, anyway."
"Don't think you're getting out of this, Michael." Max said from the jeep. "The only reason I haven't started in on this is because I'm gonna let Izzy do it."
Then I'm really not coming, Michael thought.
Michael had only gone about a block when he sighed and turned back.
This is not going to become a habit, he told himself. This is only because her mom's not there tonight. It's not part of the routine. She's not even one of us….
Fifteen minutes later he had checked the locks on the windows of not just Maria's bedroom, but her whole house. Her mom's window had been unlatched too. Didn't any of them watch the news? He wondered. He pulled up short when he saw the jeep parked in front of Maria's house again.
"Adding another stop to the route?" Max asked casually. Michael scowled at him, and didn't answer.
"You could've just told me to wait, Michael." Was all that Max said.
Maria POV
Maria hated Mondays.
She sat in home room, yawning, wishing she had a second cup of coffee. Or that she had had time that morning for a first cup of coffee, for that matter. She had overslept again. She noticed Michael, predictably, wasn't there. The bell rang and she and Liz shuffled out the door together. She had already filled Liz in on last night's escapades on the drive to school. Liz had just shaken her head at Michael's irresponsible behavior.
"He could have really gotten Max into trouble!" Liz said.
"Not to mention, yours truly." Maria added.
Even with both girls trying to get him to stay, Alex had been too restless to remain for long. He left after only another hour or so. Maria had sat talking to Liz for a little longer before she left. As she did, she saw Max's jeep in the alley. She guessed Max would go on up now that she had left. They should have just asked her to leave sooner.
She had been walking home when she had seen Michael climbing the pipe to the sheriff's office. She hadn't really believed he would do something so moronic. Though why she had thought that, she wasn't sure in hindsight. She had considered, for a moment, just walking on like she hadn't seen anything. Then she had seen Valenti pull up, and she had hid instinctively. The last thing she wanted was another conversation with the man. When she realized Michael was gonna be caught by Valenti, she had frantically called up the diner with her cell phone, and had Liz put Max on the line.
Within moments, Max had been climbing the pipe after Michael, while Maria had made her way over to the parking lot next to the police station. Still counting silently to one hundred in her head, she had picked out the likeliest (a.k.a., most expensive looking) targets. When she reached one hundred, she ran down the line, giving each a swift kick, setting off the alarms like so many noisy dominos. She had raced into the ally just in time to see the boys take their leap of faith into the dumpster.
She had nearly vibrating with nerves as she urged them out, then led them through the labyrinth of allies that linked the buildings of old downtown Roswell. Her mother's shop was only a few blocks away, so she was familiar with the area. Eventually, she wound back towards the Crashdown, but not before she nearly fell into a building after she had lost her balance on some gunk on the ground. If it hadn't been for Max (and Michael), she probably would have brained herself good. By the time they reached the Crashdown, where Max's jeep was still parked, the lights were all off in the diner. She considered climbing the fire escape up to Liz's room, Liz wouldn't mind, but then she decided against it. Sometimes she liked to be alone for a little while. This was definitely one of those times.
Of course, then the boys had started their macho protector routine. As she stood there arguing with them she wondered if her life could get any more bizarre? She was catching a ride home with an alien, for Pete's sake.
She was still pre-speech (i.e. pre-coffee), so she just waved a little at Liz as Liz headed towards the library. Normally they had gym together, but Liz had special permission to skip for the rest of the week while she and the rest of the science club got ready for some big state competition. She was walking along the hall towards the gym when she turned a corner only to run into someone. The other women had been walking quite a bit faster than Maria, subsequently; she lost a hold of everything she had been holding, whereas Maria only dropped a notebook. After reaching down to snag her notebook, she automatically reached out to help the older women gather up her paperwork. The lady was obviously some kind of staff; the files she had dropped were student records.
"I'm so sorry…." Maria's voice trailed off as she studied the file she was holding. The picture looked like it was slightly out of date. Most likely, he had missed photo day this year.
But the smirk at least was undeniable. It was Michael Guerin's file.
"Don't worry about it, I should have been watching where I was going." The woman was saying as Maria turned to study her. Mid to late twenties, blond, attractive, dressed expensively.
"…suppose you could point me to Mr. Singer's classroom, could you?" The woman was asking.
"Oh, uuuhhh, yeah, sure." Maria explained how to get to the classroom.
"Thanks, so much, I'm sorry; I never caught your name?" The women smiled, and for some reason, unease shivered down Maria's spine. Relax, she told herself. Yes, the alien thing is weird, but your whole entire life has not become the twilight zone or something. Nosy teachers are just bored, nosy teachers.
"Maria. Maria Deluca." She said hesitantly. Why did this woman put her on edge?
"Maria, it was really nice to meet you. You better get to class."
Maria watched as the blond women turned and walked away. Who was she?
Maria and Liz were walking towards the quad where Maria usually hung out with Alex during their "Study Hall". Liz should've been on her way to class, but something had wound her up tight.
"Ok, spill." Maria said, once they'd reached the quad.
"Ok, so today, in geometry we had a sub, right, Ms. Tupolski?" Liz said and Maria nodded.
"Yeah, I think I met her earlier." Maria said.
Liz's eyes widened. "What did you think of her?" She asked.
Maria answered honestly. "Killer shoes. Way to perky for first period."
Liz rolled her eyes at Maria.
"What?" Maria said.
"Ok, so first, she takes roll call, right? But, no sub cares that much!" Liz explained.
"Agreed." Maria replied.
"And she comes to Michael's name." Liz paused, taking a breath. They were leaning against the stone wall of the school.
"Michael's not here today." Maria said, without thinking. Now, just why did she know that, she wondered. She wasn't watching for Michael Guerin, was she?
Liz was nodding. "Yeah, I know. She got to his name, and then made a big deal about his absence, and then she asks if anyone knows where he is."
Maria was one step ahead of her.
"Isn't Max…?"
"Exactly! Everyone in class pretty much turned around and pointed to Max. So she goes right up to him, and asks him if he knows where Michael is." Liz said indignantly.
"Oh, crap. What he'd say?" Maria breathed.
"Sleeping." Liz cried.
Maria choked on a nervous giggle. Wasn't geometry bad enough? Couldn't it have been shop? She could live without shop. She hadn't figured out how to get out of Math. Yet.
Maria slid down the wall until her knees were against her chest, and then she let her body fall a little sideways until her shoulder and head were leaning against her back pack. She covered her face with her hands. She was never coming to school on less than one cup of coffee again. Ever.
"This whole thing is just so…Roswellian." She said from behind her hands. She wondered if Liz could even understand her muffled complaint.
With a small thump Liz sat down next to her.
"Explain." Liz said simply.
"I mean, that's what the government does, right? Send in secret little spies…Alien hunters."
"Maria..." Liz was shaking her head. "That's just ridiculous."
Maria just stared at her with one eyebrow raised.
"No, I changed my mind, go on." Liz relented.
Maria was silent for a moment. What if she was wrong? What if she was just fanning the flames of this Czechoslovakian madness? She sighed.
"Maria…" She could hear the impatience in Liz's voice.
"I ran into Ms. Tupolski, IF that's even her name. And she dropped all these papers she was carrying. They were, like, student files, pictures, the works…."
"Whose…" Liz let the question trail off.
"There were a bunch, but I'm not sure how many." Maria sighed again. "Michael's landed open. I even saw his photo."
"She had pulled his file even before class! She was looking for him!" Liz exclaimed.
"We don't know that." Maria said, playing devil's advocate.
"You have to go out there and warn him." Liz said.
"Say what? Where!" Maria exclaimed.
"His house. You gotta go tell him this woman is digging around for information about him." Liz said, like it was the simplest thing in the world.
"Can't we just call him?" Maria whined.
"What if the lines are bugged?" Liz pointed out.
"Liz this is crazy, I'm not going out to his house, and I don't even know where he lives."
"Lone Cactus Trailer Park." Liz said promptly. Maria stared at her.
"Liz, that's all the way across town." Maria was shaking her head.
"That's why you have to go, I'm already late for class, and you're free and you have lunch next." Liz explained.
"I thought this was over, Liz." Maria said.
"Maria, we can't just let him walk into a trap." Maria was seriously considering it though. It was like the cosmos had somehow decided that keeping Michael Guerin out of trouble was her job, and if that was the case, she definitely wanted a raise. A big one.
"We don't know anything for sure. Except that we should definitely, definitely tell Alex, because now we are actively aiding and abetting Czechoslovakians." Maria tried one last ditch argument.
"Maria, you'd better go, or you'll miss all of lunch." Liz smiled.
Maria scowled at her. "You suck."
Liz smiled broader. "I love you too, chica. Oh, by the way, Grandma Claudia's coming in tonight or tomorrow."
"Bribery will only get you so far, sweetie." Maria sighed.
She made it to the parking lot without incident, no undercover agents or aliens in sight. She was seriously considering running away to Fiji. Or anywhere that wasn't the alien capital of the world.
She drove towards the Lone Cactus Trailer Park with the radio blaring. One of the things she hated the most about school was the lack of music. Inside her head there was almost always some kind of music playing. Alex called it her internal soundtrack. Sometimes it got pretty loud too. Like, in geometry.
And right now, as she stood looking at number 127, it was playing that stupid "End of the World" song, and she did not feel fine, in fact, she felt so nervous she was practically sick to her stomach.
What was she doing here? Michael wasn't exactly gonna be happy to see her.
Slowly she walked up to the screen door and knocked. She had too knock another two times before it was opened by a mean looking, half dressed man. He stood leaning against the door frame, shirt unbuttoned, and blinking bleary eyes at her.
"What ya want?" He mumbled.
"Is…" she started, and then cleared her throat. Somewhat louder this time she said "I need to speak with Michael."
The man just looked at her. "Michael? Michael Guerin? Maybe I have the wrong…" She stopped when the man turned his back to her, door hanging open in his wake.
"Yo, Mickey, company!" He hollered from the old recliner he had settled into. Maria could hear the noise of a baseball game on from the small TV in the corner. She stepped inside warily.
Michael POV
The only thing more surprising to Michael than the fact that his new geometry teacher was actually an alien hunting spy was the sight of Maria Deluca in his living room. He'd been listening to Metallica on his walkman, and had almost ignored Hank when he called for him. But for some reason he decided to check on what was going on, so he stuck his head around the corner.
He'd done a double take when he saw Maria standing there, looking more than a little nervous. He thrown a quick glance at Hank, the first order of business was getting Maria away from him. He seemed like he was in a good mood now, but Michael new better than to count on it for long.
He walked towards her, stepping in between her and Hank.
"Let's go outside. Come on." He tipped his head in the direction of the door.
He gingerly placed his hand on her back to usher her out. He wondered if he would get a flash, but nothing happened. He filed that fact away for later scrutiny. He followed her into the late morning sunshine, his stomach telling him it was almost lunch time. What the hell was she doing here? Had Max sent her for some bizarre reason?
He relaxed a little once they were outside and the door was closed behind them.
"What are you doing here?" Now that potential disaster had been averted, he could hear the hostility in his voice.
He didn't like anyone coming to the trailer; he always met Max and Isabel at the entrance to the trailer park. And he couldn't count how many times he had stressed to Max that Isabel was never to come here by herself. And now Maria was showing up. The little waitress was popping up everywhere he turned around these days. Hell, it was practically raining waitresses.
Maria frowned at the tone of his face. "I knew this was pointless, but does anyone ever listen to Maria? No!" She turned and started for her car.
He swore. She wasn't just gonna up and leave after that little stunt.
He ran after her a grabbed her arm. "What's going on? Did Max send you?" He asked.
She looked at him for a second and sighed. "No. Liz did."
"Liz?" he asked.
"Max thought she was just over reacting, but he didn't know about Tupolski pulling your file. Hopefully she's told him by now. I'm the only one with third period free, so I drew the short straw." Maria said.
He wished for just once he knew what she was talking about.
Seeing the confusion on his face, she started again. They were still walking towards her car, but slower now. He realized he was still holding her arm (again) and dropped it quickly.
"There's a new sub, in your geometry class. Ms. Tupolski." She began.
"You're not in my geometry class." He interjected.
"Shut it, Guerin, or find out for yourself!" She replied.
He scowled but remained silent.
"So…Liz and Max are in geometry, and in comes Ms. Tupolski, and she starts taking roll."
He frowned. "Subs don't…"
"Take roll, I know, freaky, right? So, anyway, she gets to your name, and there-you-aren't. So then she starts questioning the class on whether anyone knows where you are, at which everyone does a not-so subtle look at Max."
Michael frowned, he didn't like where this was going.
"How do you know all this?" He said.
"Liz told me, after Max tried to convince her everything was A-ok. But it was still bugging her, so she came and asked me if I thought it was weird, which, it totally was."
She studied him for a moment, and his stomach knotted, something else was going on.
"And…" he let the sentence trail off.
She let out a sight. "I had already met Ms. Tupolski before first period. We ran into each other, and I was helping her pick up these files. Your files, Michael. There were others, but yours was the one I saw for sure. It had your picture and everything." Maria said quietly.
"Your sure it was mine?" he asked quickly, his mind racing.
"Yeah, it had last year's photo and everything. She had others too, but yours was the only one that opened, soooo." She shrugged helplessly.
"How many others?" He asked.
"Maybe five, maybe ten." His mind raced. Ten would be good, ten was a lot. But five would be bad…
"Five could mean…" She started, following his train of thought.
"Ssshhh. I'm thinking." He snapped.
Five could mean she had pulled the files on the five of them, he thought.
Without meaning to, he thought of the photo of Maria tucked into his wallet. He ought to give it back to her, but would it freak her out even more knowing the sheriff had had it? She was already scared to death of the man. He decided to keep it for the time being.
"Don't hurt yourself." She muttered. She started to get into her car.
"Where are you going?" He asked, annoyed.
"Us earthlings do have to graduate, you know." She said sarcastically.
She closed the door and started the engine. She turned back to face him, eyebrows raised.
"Well?" She said impatiently.
He frowned at her in confusion.
"Are you coming, or do you wanna be a sophomore forever? I doubt it gets any better." She said drolly.
"You just told me my geometry teacher is out to get me!" He replied.
"So's mine. Are you coming?" She asked.
"Lemme get my jacket." He jogged to the trailer.
And the key, he thought. Originally he had planned on skipping school the whole day. As much as he had wanted to discuss the key and the flash it had given him, he had thought it better to wait until Max and Isabel's tempers had cooled. But evil geometry teachers kinda changed the game plan.
He watched Maria as she drove them back to the school.
"I'm, uh, sorry if Hank said anything rude or…" He trailed off, uncertain as to what he was trying to do. He didn't exactly make a lot of apologies. And he didn't care about what she thought anyway. Right?
She just looked at him out of the corner of her eye.
"Its fine, Michael." She said.
He pondered that for a moment. 'That's fine, he didn't do anything?' or "That's fine, I'm not mad about what he said?'. What did she mean? He decided to change the subject. An understanding Maria freaked him out a little.
"So, do you do everything Liz and Alex tell you to do?" He asked, purposefully baiting her.
"Do you do everything Max and Isabel tell you not to?" She asked in response.
Touché, he thought. He studied her expression; she was worrying at her bottom lip.
"You can't tell him." He said, making his voice as hard as he could. Once again, she had kept up with his thoughts, she didn't even look confused.
"He knows something's wrong. He's too smart to hide this from. He'll find out one way or another. It's only a matter of time. You don't know Alex. He's ten times worse than me. He's completely laid back about 98 percent of just about everything. But if something falls into that two percent…." She shrugged as they pulled into the parking lot.
She turned off the car and turned to face him.
"Liz and I definitely fall into that two percent. Eventually, he will find out. Or worse, he won't". She said, looking worried.
"Worse?" Michael asked, scowling.
"Worse." she agreed. "Worse is him deciding that he needs to do something, and because he doesn't know the situation, he does the wrong thing." She looked at him.
"Then you better make sure he doesn't do the wrong thing." Michael said coldly.
"I'm not scared of you. You won't hurt me, not intentionally anyway." She said.
"Sure of that, huh?" He asked, staring back at her.
"You are who you are." She said, shrugging.
Michael scowled at her. The most annoying thing was, she was right. Barring unexpected outcomes, such as her intentionally trying to hurt him, Max or Isabel, he wouldn't intentionally harm her. And he already knew she wasn't going to turn on them. So basically, she was right. She was as safe from him as Isabel or Max was.
But Whitman wasn't.
She was watching him with narrowed eyes. Again, he had the disconcerting feeling she had managed to follow his train of thought with great accuracy.
"Hurting Alex is the same as hurting Liz. It's the same as hurting me." She said quietly, with force.
"I'll do what I have to do to protect my family" He said tightly.
"So will I." She shot back.
They stared at each other heatedly.
Michael marveled that someone who could look downright angelic could be such a holy terror. Her short blond hair shone in the light slanting in through the window, making a corona of gold around her head, and the earrings she wore sparkled, shooting little darts of light into his eyes. He wondered if her hair would feel as soft as it looked. She wore it so short; few other girls that he knew of had hair so short. Her eyes looked enormous and liquid. For a moment he just let himself look at her. So often when he was around her, he didn't allow himself to actually see her. He'd always preferred her type of blond beauty to Liz's darker coloring. Granted, Liz was pretty, too, but somehow, Maria always just seemed to glow, to be just a little more alive than everyone else around her. And the sheer amount of emotion she displayed exhausted him just to watch. When she was sad, you knew it, when she was mad, you really knew it. And when she was happy, her eyes seemed to laugh.
Michael's biggest goal was not to let anyone see his emotions, unless it was his old standby-anger. Maria's emotional openness was foreign to him, and sometimes he couldn't help but stare at her, the way a small child would stare at something shiny, like the star on the top of a Christmas tree. He thought maybe that was as good a way to describe her as anything else. Something shiny.
But shiny things were easily broken.
"Keep Alex out of this, Maria. Don't make me have to get into it. It would be bad."
He'd meant to sound hard, but somehow his voice had sounded almost like he was asking for help. Which was ridiculous. He didn't take help from anyone. He didn't need it.
"Hey, Maria." Out of nowhere, Alex's head popped into her window. They both jumped.
"Where'd you go...?" Alex's eyes narrowed as he took in the sight of Michael still in Maria's passenger seat.
"Michael. Out of tobasco again?" he asked, frowning.
"Just stop it, ok, Alex?" Maria said, surprising both of them and ending their glaring contest.
"Michael slept in, he needed a ride and I wanted to get a coffee anyway." Maria said.
Alex frowned. "Come on, I grabbed your lunch out of your locker." He backed up as she opened her door and got out. On the other side of the car Michael was doing the same.
Alex and Maria started towards the quad.
"Michael." she called over her shoulder. He looked at her.
"I think Max and Isabel are looking for you." She said sweetly.
