Chapter Ten

Inside the cafeteria, the room was raucous and teeming but Elizabeth spotted Conner slouched at a table with Tia, Andy and the rest of his friends. It was as if an alert had gone off on her radar screen.

Of course, if he dissed her now in front of everyone that might throw her kiss plan off for the rest of the day. Plus she knew Maria would never go over there.

Tia stood up and waved to her, inviting them both to sit with her. Elizabeth waved back with a smile.

"We can sit with them if you want to," Maria said.

"No, it's OK," Elizabeth said without delay. "We can find another table to sit at."

She knew Maria might be uncomfortable hanging around with Conner and she didn't blame her.

Maria glanced at Conner and then squared her shoulders. "No, there's no reason to let him keep us from sitting with your friends right? Besides, I wouldn't mind hanging out with Tia and Andy a little more…since you like them so much."

Elizabeth smiled. "Good."

"And maybe it's time to show Conner that I'm over him once and for all," Maria said.

Right and he has most likely moved on from you anyway, Elizabeth thought. Hopefully onto me...

Elizabeth followed Maria through the maze of tables. Things were looking up. She hoped.

If Maria considered herself over Conner, maybe she wouldn't freak if she knew about Elizabeth's feelings. Maybe she could even talk to Maria about it.

Right, Elizabeth thought. And maybe you'll outgrow your unrealistic, Little Miss Sunshine optimism.

Conner's friend Evan Plummer was sitting with Andy on one side of the table across from Tia and Conner. Maria sat down in the empty seat next to Andy while Elizabeth saw Conner glance to Maria and then looked down at his food in front of him.

Elizabeth piously groaned as she approached. She could also walk around the table to sit next to Tia or she could sit next to Conner, in the nearest vacant chair—the one that had Conner's bag on it.

Conner looked up and saw her, pulling his backpack to the floor.

"Thanks," she said, trying not to smile too optimistically. It wasn't exactly a carved provocation but he wouldn't have done it if he didn't want her to sit there.

"We were just talking about how Tia whipped Melissa's butt," Evan said who seemed to be in a garrulous mood. He grabbed Tia's hand and raised her arm up in the air. "Winner and still champion!"

Tia giggled and pulled her arm free. "You're next if you don't stop making a big deal out of the whole thing. It was nothing. She had it coming."

Evan clutched his chest, pulling at his tie-dyed t-shirt. "I'm real scared!"

"You should be," Conner said with a small smile. "Friday night," he snapped his fingers. "Guess who's opening for Silver Chair at the coliseum."

"Cosmic Thrush," Andy answered.

Conner shook his head. "They cancelled. The lead singer checked into rehab."

"Again?" Tia asked. "Hasn't he already been detoxed of everything there is?"

"Making millions of dollars and having beautiful women chase you all over the country is highly stressful Tia," Andy said sardonically as he rubbed an apple against his sleeve. "Conner will explain it to you one day when he gets there."

"Yeah, right," Conner said, grinning.

Elizabeth felt herself go red. She so loved his smile.

"Anyway," Conner continued, "Parallax is taking their place for the rest of the tour."

"You're kidding!" Tia said, dropping her chocolate chip cookie on her tray. "Gavin must be so psyched."

"That's too cool, man," Evan said. He tossed his head back to get his long, black bangs out of his eyes.

"What's Parallax?" Elizabeth asked.

"The lead guitarist is Conner's music teacher," Tia clarified.

"Wow," Elizabeth said. "Are you going to the concert Conner?"

He turned to her and smiled. Her heart began to beat loudly.

"We all are," he said. "Free tickets and backstage passes too."

Elizabeth's mind went into overdrive. She glanced at Maria who shot her a startling stare as if pleading for advice. Elizabeth shrugged. "Count me in," she said."

"Me too. It sounds like fun," Maria said.

Suddenly Elizabeth realised that there was no way she could try to kiss Conner with Maria around.

Elizabeth ran her fingers through her hair, remembering she was rostered on to work the night shift on Friday. Maybe she should skip out the concert and go to work instead. After all, she wasn't going to be able to have her moment alone with Conner so she could kiss him. Tia's plan was ridiculous and Maria so obviously wanted him back.

"Actually…I'm not sure if I'll be able to make it…I've got to work at HOJ.

"You should come," Tia insisted with a smile. "It'll be worth skipping out on a shift."

Tia turned to Conner. "I'm inviting Taylor too. She could do with some fun in her life plus she's a music freak. She absolutely adores live bands."

Tia was suddenly shortened by Conner opened his mouth as if to object but Tia caught him off guard and pouted, showing puppy dog eyes that she meant business. "She's coming. She'd never speak to me again if she knew I didn't ask her to a concert."

Conner bit into an apple with a moan. He didn't dare deviate with Tia. He wouldn't come out winning the discussion anyway. No one did when it came to arguing with Tia. Somehow Tia always managed to put her point across in a way that was simply the best and there was no reasoning with the girl who stood at 5''4. For what she lacked in size, she made up with her gift of persuasion.

"Fine, she can come," he granted before turning his interest to Elizabeth. "You should come."

"OK," Elizabeth replied with a small smile. She glanced at Tia's eager face. "I'm there." So, maybe she wouldn't get her chance to kiss Conner but an evening with Conner was better than nothing.

Wednesday afternoon, school had finished for the day and Taylor was busy standing at her locker as she piled text books into her bag that she needed in order to do her homework. Slamming her locker door shut, she whipped her bag over her shoulder and began walking down the hallway towards Annie's own locker so she could get a lift home with her. Taylor had her learner's permit—she had had them for a little over four months now, getting them a few days before the earthquake happened—but neither her mother nor father had been inclined to take her out for a drive.

They were still wary of Taylor's lack of ability of muscle movement in her legs despite her doctor's encouragement and her own enthusiasm to drive. She knew her parents were just cautious to protect their daughter but sometimes life was just inequitable.

Rounding the corner, she fixed sight of Conner walking her way in the opposite direction to where she was going and she smiled. She had been meaning to find him and thank him for allowing her to go to the concert too. Tia had text her during fifth period and so now she was psyched to go out and have fun with her friends. She hadn't been out with friends since before the earthquake happened and so she anticipated the moment when she was actually cornered with plans to go out. Only, she hadn't anticipated fun involving the socially undermined yet gorgeous boy named Conner whom she only knew of his first name.

"Hey!" She said when she neared closer to him. His intense green eyes seemed to be focused on something a thousand miles away and when he did look to her; he gave more of a startled expression.

"Hey!" He grumbled back without so much of a smile.

Taylor pulled a strand of hair behind her ear and stalled for a moment before broke the silence. "Tia told me about the concert. Thanks for inviting me."

"Yeah, well, I didn't have a choice," he said, making small talk.

Taylor felt like he didn't want to be there talking to her, like he was going out of his way. Had she done something wrong? Last time she checked, they left on good terms so she couldn't understand the reason behind his strangeness then again, she did remember Tia telling her of his brooding ways the other day when she came by to round up her younger brothers from Taylor's own younger brothers who were always getting up to waywardness together.

"So, Tia got to you did she?"

"Something like that," Conner garbled with lack of fervour which gave Taylor more reason to believe that something was definitely up with the guy. And she couldn't let it pass her by. She needed to know what his deal was. She needed to know if she was the problem. After all, she somewhat felt an attraction to him and even though she had already been through enough drama to last her a life time or at least until the end of the school year, she just couldn't help herself. It was an illness she had. She liked to let people inside their heads so she could help them.

"Well, bye," he added strongly, shoving his hand into the pocket of his loose-fitting jeans. He took a few steps forward ahead of Taylor but Taylor stopped him gradually.

"Is something wrong?" she asked him. He seemed more distant than he had been earlier.

"I don't know," Conner sneered hastily. "Maybe you should talk to your cousin. She seems to know an awful lot about your life."

Taylor was officially confused. What did Melissa have to do with any of his problems?

"I don't get it…" Taylor began, studying his face for some kind of expression but with no luck, she came out second guessing him. Either, he showed no emotion or he hid it extremely well. "What's Melissa got to do with your bad mood?"

"Look, Taylor, you seem nice enough but save the self help crap for someone else, like your boyfriend. I don't want to hear it," his eyes flashed and he continued down the hall leaving an open mouthed Taylor speechless from hearing his last comment. Did she really hear those words come out of his mouth? Did he use the word boyfriend? She figured she had made herself clear enough when she had said she used to date Josh.

There was no way she was going to give in so easily to Josh and take him back after the heartbreak she had caused her and she knew her dad would have something to say if she came home and told him she was going out with Josh again—not that she confessed to her dad about the boys she liked. Sure, she was close to her parents and she rarely hid secrets from them but she also knew that there were some things that were meant to be hidden from her father so he wouldn't feel the need to protect her every chance he got.

Snapping out of her thoughts that began to puzzle her, she suddenly realised there was only person that came to mind who could have possibly filled Conner in on her marital status. She should have known Melissa would pull her chains to get her own way—whether she had the right to interfere or not. Melissa didn't care whether she was making the wrong act of gesture. In her eyes, she made out to have everything the way she intended it to be.

Since hearing of her cousin's wayward ways towards Jessica, she hadn't been looking forward to playing favourites with her friends whom she cherished or Melissa who was her cousin and therefore played an initial part of her family. She never wanted to go against family but often Melissa would need to pay the price for her actions and Taylor knew better than anyone how rivalling Melissa would soon pay its price.

Only Melissa didn't know that Taylor too shared the genetic mechanism for getting even, she merely preferred to act in a way that went beyond her maturity. But for the sake of her own sanity and control on life, Taylor knew she needed to lay the law down with her cousin—before she saw no control of her life.