Chapter 12

Soon, Liz started liking Max more and more each day. And along with that, Isabel, Maria, and Tess' anxiety grew as well. They noticed the talks those two had, the look Max gave Liz, and more significantly, the look that Liz gave back.

They knew that Max was beginning to win Liz over. Max was overly pouring his attention to their friend and the added fact that Liz didn't mind was causing their fears to increase. Unfortunately, their words of warning weren't doing much, for Liz was being shown a different side of Max. How could they make her see the real Max when he was doing everything in his power to make him look good in her eyes? It was a dilemma, and the girls knew they had to do something fast before Liz falls.

The girls decided to form a plan to keep Liz away from Max. Isabel would keep Liz with her for hours to study. Maria also did the same getting her further away by inviting Isabel and Liz often at her house. Tess would always ask Liz to keep her company while doing her chores. Weekend hangouts were always planned ahead of time to make sure that Max doesn't get the chance to ask Liz out.

All those plans worked for a couple of weeks, but still Max and Liz managed to become friends. Whenever Liz would be cleaning the rooms, Max would make it a point to be there. Since Liz always does this whenever Isabel wasn't around, Max knew that no one can interrupt them. He even moved to a different seat in the classes he shared with her so they were beside each other. This somehow worked to Max's advantage when their professor told the class to partner up with the person beside them. Max was jumping for joy when this was announced because he knew that it would give him more time with Liz no matter how much Isabel objects.

One weeknight at home, Liz was in Max's bedroom, working on a Physics project. Isabel tried to coerce Liz to doing some tutoring, but Liz had to decline because she had to finish her homework too. As Liz went into the room, Isabel had a scowl on her face, and Max smugly snickered at her.

"Hey, thanks for doing the project with me than hanging out with Isabel again," Max said as he closed the door.

"What? What are you talking about? This is OUR project, Max."

"I know that, but I thought maybe you want to hang out with her than me."

Liz placed her hand on his arm, "Max, all of you are my friends. It's really flattering that you're all treating me so well."

Max covered her hand with his. "That's only because you deserve it." He beamed at her.

Liz looked at their hands and smiled back at Max.

They began to work side by side, talking about a lot of things, their project, how Liz was coping at school. At one point, Max tried to bring up the topic as to why Nancy brought her to his house as a way to get her to open up to him, but she went silent. Max didn't push again, getting a little concerned that he might come upon a setback if he tried to bring up the subject once more. So he changed the topic back to their project.

After a few more minutes he tested the waters again, asking about the weekend that she spent at Maria's place.

"Hey, I forgot to tell you that I saw the pics of you at Maria's," Max began.

"What pictures?" Liz asked still staring at her work.

"Oh, you know, the one where you had a pool party I think." Max peered at Liz judging her reaction.

"What? Ohmygod! Those pictures?" Liz blushed frantically.

Max smirked. "Yeah, those pictures."

"That was about two weeks ago."

"Yup."

"Um, what pictures did you see exactly?" Liz started fidgeting.

"The one of the pool party…where you were in your swimsuits."

"Oh no." Liz bowed her head, trying to sink in her chair.

Max shifted his seat closer to her. He was so close to her, he can smell the strawberry scent of her hair. He couldn't help himself and sifted his fingers through her hair, feeling the soft silky strands. "Don't be embarrassed, I think you looked wonderful."

Liz was getting nervous and excited both at the same time, but she couldn't meet Max's eyes. She was worried that she'd begin to stutter again so her eyes stayed glued to the books in front of her. "I don't think I looked good in those. I mean, I thought I looked fat, and Maria and Iz insisted that I wear that bikini."

"I'm not only talking about that day, Liz." Max tucked a strand of her brown tresses behind her ear.

And Liz could only smile.

Back in Isabel's room, she was furiously talking on the phone with Maria as Tess was seated on the loveseat watching Isabel move back and forth.

"Oooh, that arrogant jerk!" Isabel fumed.

"Why didn't you stop them?" Maria questioned.

"I tried, okay. But they were partnered in that damn AP Physics class, and now they have to work on projects together, much to Max's satisfaction." Isabel was pacing her room.

"I'll bet," Maria muttered.

"What was that?"

"Nothing, it's nothing, Isabel."

"You're hiding something," Isabel said, suspicious of Maria's previous comment.

"No, I'm not," Maria replied in a firm tone. "Look, can't you think up of anything?"

"I'm at a loss. I actually have Tess here with me, trying to come up with something to get Liz out of that room."

All three girls fell silent for a few minutes.

"Argh! I hate this!" Isabel screamed.

Maria quickly moved the phone away from her ear and placed the receiver in front of her face. "Ow! Cut it out! I know how you feel, okay?"

"I'm sorry. It's just, you know how I hate feeling helpless and not in control."

"Yeah, yeah. Look, has Tess come up with anything?"

Isabel looked at Tess, and the shorter blonde just shook her head.

"Nope, nada," Isabel informed Maria.

"Look Iz, I think I should you should know about this, but I'm not sure if I should tell you," Maria started.

"What? What are you talking about?"

"Well, there's something going on, but…oh, never mind, forget I said anything."

"Great, first you start off with this 'I think you should know, but I'm not sure if I should tell you' bit, then you totally dismiss it. Uh-uh, no way girl. You know how I hate that, so spill."

"Okay, I have a feeling that Max has something up his sleeve."

"Maria, we all know that already."

"No, I mean, like a real plan. I saw him staring at Liz during lunch the other day."

"Girl, I saw him do the same thing out at the porch when Liz started tutoring me, that's nothing new. He even questioned Tess about her that very same day."

"No Izzy, I saw the way he looked at her. In all the time I have been friends with your brother, I've never seen that look in his eyes."

Isabel was silent for a moment. Maria was always correct with sensing vibes from other people, and if she thought that there was something more going on here, Isabel would believe her completely.

"What do you think it is?" Isabel asked worriedly.

"I don't know, but I'm definitely going to find out."

"How?"

"Just look and listen. That's all we can really do at this point."

"How would we know what to look for?"

"Anything that he does and says that concerns Liz will be the proof we need that he's definitely up to something. Until then, there's nothing else we can do."

"What do you plan on doing once we do get proof?"

"We lay it on him. He's going to be sorry he chose Liz this time."

As Liz stepped out of Max's room, she could hear Isabel speaking loudly in her bedroom. She knocked on the door and peeked her head in.

Isabel was still talking to Maria and rambling on and on. Tess had already left to get back to her chores.

"Hey," Liz started.

Isabel abruptly stopped her pacing and ranting on the phone. She was surprised to see Liz.

"Hey, Liz. Um, what can I do for you?"

Liz looked confused for a moment. "I thought you said you needed help with your homework a while ago. Max and I are done for the day so if you still need help, I'm here now."

"Oh yeah…right." Isabel looked around. "Well, uh… I'm done actually, turned out I could do it by myself."

Then both girls could hear a series of 'hello's' on the other end of the line.

"Ohmygosh, sorry about that Maria," Isabel quickly spoke on the receiver. "Liz is here now, and she was just asking if I needed help with school stuff."

"Well, ask her how it went," Maria ordered.

"No way, I can't ask that?"

"Ask me what?" Liz inquired.

Isabel turned to face Liz, seemingly forgetting that she was in the same room.

"Look, why don't I put you on speaker then you can ask her yourself." Isabel moved to her bedside table to switch on the speaker phone.

"Okay, you're on."

"Hi, Liz! How are you?"

Liz giggled, "We were just together in school a few hours ago Maria." Liz rolled her eyes at Isabel.

"Oh, yeah, yeah. Well, okay, might as well get to it. How did your studying with Max go?"

"Well…it was okay…I guess."

"Just okay?"

"Yeah, what else is there?" Liz questioning eyes met Isabel's.

"Okay…well I guess I was just wondering if Max was hitting on you or something?"

"What?" Liz immediately blushed.

"Um, Maria and I were wondering if Max was coming on to you?" Isabel asked softly.

"No, I don't think so," Liz replied.

"It's just that we've seen the way he looks at you and how he's trying to get close to you all the time," Isabel said.

"He's just being friendly. We are in the same class and assigned to each other as lab partners no less. So of course we'll be working together, talking and stuff."

"No chica, I don't think you understand. Max always, always has a hidden agenda. And I've seen it in his eyes that he was most definitely up to something," Maria told her.

"Look, we know how he works. We're just worried. He's not popular for nothing, you know. I think Tess has told you how he has had a lot of girlfriends. Well, that's what he does, he sweet talks his way into their skirts. And we don't want you to be added to his long list of…trophies," Isabel informed Liz.

"Trophies?"

"Yup, that's what he calls them."

"Oh…" Liz nodded.

The three fell silent once more. Then Liz looked straight at Isabel.

"Look, I think I can take care of myself. If anything like what you're asking happens, I'll inform you guys right away. But so far, Max has treated me with nothing but kindness. So you're right, Maria, I don't really understand. But that doesn't mean that I'll stop being friends with him because of what you've told me. I thank you guys for your concern, but didn't you ever think that maybe he has changed? You don't hang out with him anymore, and you all try to stay as far away from him as possible, how could you ever know if he has turned back into the Max that you obviously loved and miss? And at this moment, I think that's the Max I've been seeing. Maybe you guys just have to look deeper than trying to find something to warn me with. Please don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to sound mean. I actually am grateful. But maybe you should stop speculating and see for yourself that Max isn't what you're all claiming him to be, at least, I think he's not. It's pretty transparent from your comments that you were all very close once. Don't you want to have that back again? Just give him a chance, okay?"

And with that, Liz left Isabel's room, leaving the two girls to ponder her words.