[b] "Sometimes Ignorance Rings True"[/b]
~*~POV~*~
[b] LIZ [/b]
Suspicion and Guilt.
Two rather suffocating emotions on their own, but pull them together and it becomes down right exasperating to even just BREATHE, let alone get through each day.
And I have the privilege of the above listed sentimentalities meshed together and wrapped around my life.
Yay for me.
Hmm, not quite.
Why the suspicion? Well, I'm pretty sure you all can take a guess.
Maria is so totally up to something. I KNOW it. And it seems that she's recruiting poor, unwitting Kyle and Alex to help. Possibly even Michael and Isabel as well. I would have thought that maybe Kyle came up with it with the whole thing, but he doesn't have the same depth to deviousness that Maria has. And the birthday excuse?
Come ON.
I'd like to think that my intellect deserves a better excuse than that. It's sad really, that that's all he could come up with. But then he IS rather troubled right now with this prank business, which in my humble opinion is a cry for help, or a desperate journey to discover who the heck he is.
Yes, I know.
I really need to get Kyle off this Buddhism kick. It's rubbing off on me.
I've got to remember to tell all of them off next time I see them. For some reason I keep forgetting to. I've had so much on my mind with the Sean thing. God, what is WITH him lately? All three years, he's never given me so much as a hello. And now? What's changed? It's not like I grew a third breast or anything like that to make him come running. I mean, Sean? Me? Nuh uh. Not in this lifetime anyways.
Well, I guess you could say that I'm more disgusted than I am suspicious, but honestly. It's still quite "odd." Mix that in with trying to keep my grades up in all the madness and you could see why telling Maria and company off keeps slipping my mind.
But really, can you blame me for all else in which I've had to deal with? (Yes, yes, *groan* there's more)
Enter the guilt. For the past month (though it has seemed like a YEAR), I have fulfilled my duties as a best friend and helped Max with his disgusting pursuit of Tess.
Aww, hell, in my opinion, I went above and BEYOND the call of duty.
It sucked, to put it bluntly, and I was (AM) practically pulling my hair out. Every little plan he came up with was proofed by me, and tweaked to perfection. I was tempted to tell him some horrid little idea, in order to completely sabotage the operation (someone tell me when we got on army terms here) or even blow Max off all together (BLOW him..Oh muh gawd, get my mind out of the gutter) but the nasty little bugger known as CONCIENCE stepped in and prevented me from doing so.
But see, there's a silver lining in all this. Do you want to know what it is?
[I] None of it worked [/I]
I didn't have to do anything underhanded of the sorts at all! Tess remains either oblivious to Max's attempts or perhaps she still just doesn't care.
[I] Yesssss[/I]
Hmm, here's where the guilt comes to play.
I'm awful for thinking this way. AWFUL. Here's Max, completely obsessed and heart broken from the fact that Tess has yet to fall for his charms (personally, I think he has yet to recover from the garbage can incident), and all I can do is thank Big Guy up there that nothing's really changed.
Apart from the foolish feelings that is. But I'm dealing with them.
And hey now, what ever happened to me wanting to use this particular scenario to help me GET OVER these damn feelings. If Max's plan fails, than won't mine as well?
I don't know. All I know is that I hate living like this. And that my means of getting over Max just aren't working.
Maybe I just need a new tactic.
The question is.WHAT?
~*~Part Five~*~
"THAT'S your big stupendous plan?" Alex asked incredulously, while nursing an orange soda. He was sitting next to Isabel on a rickety picnic table on the quad, listening to Maria as she filled the gang in on the details of her famous scheme.
"I think the word you are searching for is "stupid" NOT "stupendous," Kyle quipped before letting out a huge belch, to which Isabel responded in throwing him a disgusted look. Why was she surrounded by gross pigs? WHY?
"Maria, you need help. Serious professional help." Alex stated matter-of- factly.
"Alex, all the money in the world couldn't pay for the amount of doctors Maria's mental state would require." Michael said gravely, taking a bite out of his leftover sandwich from lunch. "Ow!" He sputtered after Maria smacked him, accidentally spraying Kyle with the remains of his regurgitated food. "Maria! Violence is NOT the answer!"
Maria pierced him with an evil look. "Yes it is," she said darkly.
"Reason number nine, ladies and gentleman, why I will never vote Maria in for public office." Alex said, rolling his eyes.
"That is if I believed in politics in the first place." Maria protested irritatingly.
Kyle leaned closer to Michael, whispering loudly, "I'd blame her mother for the hippy like attitude, but sadly Maria's always been like this." Michael snorted, while Maria swelled in anger.
"Could we PLEASE get back to something resembling the former topic?" Isabel said loudly, trying to avoid yet another row between Maria and Michael. "I still can't believe Liz is finally admitting that she likes my brother," she added to herself. It was surreal. And sickening to say the least. She so did not need to listen to the details of her brother's love life. Especially when TESS was involved. But then, Liz was definitely a better pick than that she-devil.
"Well it's about time!" Maria sighed, clearly exasperated at her friends density.
"But it seemed to me that she was still deep in Denial-Ville," Alex pondered.
Isabel looked at her boyfriend dubiously. "You did NOT just quote Shania Twain at us." Just when she thought this day couldn't get any weirder. It was like entering the twilight zone.
Maria blew a strand of stray hair away from her face. "Well.she didn't exactly come right out and say it but.what!? Don't look at me like that! I could SO tell."
Isabel banged her perfectly groomed blonde mane upon the table. She was missing TRL for THIS? "So you're telling us that she STILL thinks that nothings going on between them!? MARIA! Your brilliant plan isn't going to work that way!"
"Actually, I didn't think it would work period," Kyle muttered underneath his breath.
Maria tugged on the ends of her blonde strands in frustration. "Argh! NO! You guys! LISTEN to the words that are coming out of my mouth! Liz hasn't 'admitted' anything yet.YET Michael, don't shake your head at me.but she DEFINITELY knows that something's.changed, for lack of better terms. Hello! Why else would she try and HELP Max with his random act of lunacy? And despite what you all think, my plan is PERFECT,"
Michael wisely chose not to comment on that last phrase. Instead, he said, "I still don't know why we just don't leave it alone. It's none of our business. Plus, Max and Liz would KILL us if they found out. KILL US. And you all are horrible liars."
Kyle scoffed. "Hey now! We are EXCELLENT liars, thank you very much."
Isabel arched an eyebrow at him. "Birthday party?"
"OK, fine, I slipped up once. But STILL." Kyle protested loudly.
Alex was still mulling over Michael's words. He shook his head. "I think you underestimate Max and Liz, Mickey. They would blackmail us, torture us, and THEN kill us. But I see your point about letting them figure it out themselves."
"NO! No, no, no, no, no.Don't you see!! They'll THANK us later when they're all happy go lucky in love. And besides. There is no way that they will be able to figure this mess out by themselves. They NEED our help."
Isabel sighed loudly. "I still don't know how your 'plan'," throwing air quotes above her head, "is going to help with this. I mean, it's no different than we usually do doing the school year!"
Maria groaned. "Honestly, am I the only smart one here?"
"Define "smart"," Alex muttered underneath his breath.
"ANYWAYS." Shooting daggers at Alex, she continued. "I KNOW we always do a annual movie night get together fun thingy on Friday's during the school year, but don't you see? Now that Liz is realizing she has all these "feeling thingys" the air is going to be positively CHARGED with sexual tension! And even though Max is a dumb-ass right now, there's like NO WAY in which he could miss the signs, if we get them alone in a darken room together with a romantic movie on the screen. See!? Tell me I'm not brilliant."
Alex snorted. "Why don't we just lock them in a supply closet with condoms strewn all over the floor. A classic sign of HINT HINT!"
"Because that's just tacky," was Maria's [b]brilliant[/b] reply.
The rest of the gang shared exasperated looks. Finally Isabel stood up. "Fine. We'll try your idea. And ONLY because I am getting desperate here. If I have to hear about Tess one more time at home, sibling love, or no sibling love, I am tossing Max out the window." God, every day, without fail, Tess this, and Tess that, and oh Isabel, what should I do about this, what should I do about that? She was about ready to scream at the top of her lungs. Normally she wouldn't mind giving her brother relationship advice, but it was TESS. Eww.
"Think about how LIZ feels. She's the one getting most of it," Maria said quietly. "And if you think I'm imagining the spasms of pain that flit across her face when I bring it up, you're sorely mistaken."
Everyone sobered up to some degree.
"Man this sucks," Kyle blurted out suddenly.
"Quite," Alex agreed.
Michael heaved a sigh, and glanced at Maria's expectant face. "All right," he growled. "But the first sign of EITHER of them getting hurt, or pissed at us, we pull out. Agreed?"
Maria squealed and jumped into Michael's lap. "Yay! Ok, guys, my house, this Friday night, come at six so we can set up, and tell Max and Liz.."
She broke off abruptly. Isabel was about to open her mouth and ask why when a shadow fell on the table, blocking the mid afternoon sun. She gulped, and began to turn, already knowing who was behind her.
Sure enough, the narrowed suspicious eyes of Liz Parker bore into her own. Isabel smiled slightly. "Hey Liz. What are you still doing here? I thought you were giving Max a ride home?" Inwardly, she was giving off a familiar mantra. 'Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit.'
"I could ask you guys the same question," came Liz's reply. "What are ALL of you still doing here at school? Usually, you are all bolting out of here the instant the bell rings, grumbling to yourselves about the horrific things you had to 'endure while residing in these grimy halls.' A direct quote, I believe."
Why did Liz have to be so smart? And her memory.Good Lord, she was like an elephant. Isabel groaned silently. Well, it could be worse. She could be like Tess. Suddenly, Isabel was liking Liz's intellect a whole lot better now.
Maria smiled brightly at Liz. Isabel smirked, wondering what type of excuse she would come up with. Anything was better than the birthday excuse. Anything.
"We were just enjoying a little snack here on the quad. You know, soaking up them rays, talking, enjoying one another's company."
Isabel had to resist the urge to snort. For one, because that seriously damaged your nose. For two, it was really revolting looking, and three? Three, because Maria's excuse topped the chart, pushing Kyle's out of the "lamest" excuse slot.
Liz's eyes got narrower, if that were possible. But to everyone's utter relief, she turned to walk away. They were about to exhale their held breath when suddenly, as if she made a decision, Liz whirled back around and plopped down next to Kyle.
"You guys wouldn't be.plotting anything.would you?" She said it slowly, letting them know how seriously skeptical she was.
"Like what?" Came Maria's automatic overly cheerful response. Then she grew slyer. "There isn't anything to plot against.is there Liz?"
The air reeked of tension. Isabel longed for a bird, an inane joke, SOMETHING, anything at all to break the silence.
Liz glared pointedly at Maria, turning her gaze on everyone. "No," she said adamantly, and icily. "There isn't." She stood up again. "I'll see you guys later."
"Oh Liz?" Maria asked sweetly, sounding perfectly like her normal self. Well as normal as Maria was anyways. "I was wondering if you would want to come to my house, Friday? At seven. We need to start up the movie night thingy again."
Liz titled her head to the side thinking. "I'm pretty sure I wont be doing anything that night. My dad's going out of town again. Do you think I could spent the night?"
Maria had to hide her devious grin. "Sure Liz. That'd be perfect. K, talk to you later chica!"
After Liz was out of earshot, Michael rounded on Maria. "You told her to come at seven. What are we going to be doing for a whole hour?" He demanded.
"Helping me set up of course! And you'll help clean up too, don't forget."
"What!? What do you have to 'set up' for!? It's a frickin movie!!" Michael ceased his rant at Maria's penetrating glare. He sighed. "Just for the record, your plan had better work Maria. Or I am going to be one pissed off person."
Maria patted his arm. "Michael, you are always a pissed off person. But never fear. I haven't told you guys the half of it yet." Another evil grin cracked on her usually (and falsely looking) angelic face.
Isabel had to smile. Things would definitely get.interesting to say the least. Friday night madness, here they come!
~*~
Max wandered aimlessly around the parking lot, not ready to go sit in Liz's stifling car while he waited for her to come out. She was working on some scholarship thingy and needed a teachers help with it.
No matter, though. It wasn't like he had anywhere to go. He wasn't working this week, he wasn't doing a sport, he had no date.
Sigh. Of COURSE he didn't have a date.
His thoughts took another melancholy turn (possibly the fifth time in the span of one minute).
This whole thing with Tess?
It was severely screwed up. He had messed up from the beginning with the whole garbage can thingy, and everything had gone downhill from there.
Not that he didn't lack for trying. No, no, he had even taken to running his ideas by Liz or Isabel, trying to get a female input. He had tried to ask Maria's opinion, but every time he mentioned the name "Tess" she would go all matrix like on him, or take to giving his ridiculous suggestions, such as taking Tess back to where she was born (i.e. A stripper bar). Not exactly what he was looking for. It seemed to him that Maria was trying to become the male version of Kyle.
Now there was a scary thought.
Max exhaled loudly again, resisting the urge to kick the nearest hubcap. Things weren't looking so great right now. And he had been kind of blowing off his friends. Maybe it was time they did something like they used to do. Maybe it was time he just.
"Hey Evans!"
Max turned his head to the left. Jock incoming. Whoo, here we go.
He was so shocked that Sean Williams knew his name, that he sort of forgot something. That something being a response to someone shouting your name across the parking lot. Etiquette Maxwell, etiquette!
"Your name's Evans, right? Aw, I'm going to kill Jordan," Sean muttered.
Max fought the urge to laugh. "Naw, man. That's me." He said, waiting politely, though he felt like turning around and walking away. He had never really liked Sean, and the feeling had always seemed reciprocated. Max shifted slightly, feeling it would kind of rude to demand what Sean wanted.
"So. I hear you're after the unattainable Tess Harding," Sean said suddenly.
Max opened his mouth to protest, shocked that Sean just came out of blue with that, but Sean chuckled, stopping him. "Don't even try and deny it Evans. Tess is my cousin."
Why did he have to flush now? WHY!?
"So?" Max scoffed, inwardly cringing. Someone please tell him when he returned to the age of twelve.
Sean smirked at him. "Soo. I can help you."
"Help me? Why the heck would I want your help?" Max demanded, not liking the way Sean's lips were curling. Freaky.
"You didn't let me finish. I'll help you.on one condition." Max froze, contemplating whether or not he wanted to discover Sean's motives. Sean wasn't exactly the poster boy for morale.
"Oh yea? And what's that?" He finally asked, steeling himself for any embarrassing prank he had to pull upon Sean's orders, or milk money that he would have to supply Sean with for the rest of his life.
But what Sean said was the absolute LAST thing Max expected.
"That you help me obtain the affection of Liz."
For a minute, all Max could do was stare disbelievingly. Now, he knew there was a reason his mother insisted he clean out his ears. For surely, Sean couldn't possibly.
Sean's brow wrinkled in confusion. "Liz Po- uh, Parker. You know her, right?"
Know her? KNOW her? Hell, he probably knew Liz better than she knew herself! And he knew for a FACT, a set in stone FACT that Liz would rather streak the school than let Sean "obtain her affection."
Once he found his voice again, Max sputtered. "Yea, I KNOW her. She's one of my best friends." He paused for a minute, not wanting the next words to come out of his mouth. "What did you mean about the affection part?" He cringed, awaiting the answer.
Smiling indolently, Sean answered, "I'll help you get with Tess, if you help me with Liz. It was really simple actually. Man, and here I thought you were an honor student Maxie."
Whole-heartedly resenting the jab and being called "Maxie", Max narrowed his eyes and stared thoroughly at Sean. "Why?" he demanded sharply.
Sean's light colored eyes widened in surprise. "Why?" he echoed.
Max knew what kind of reputation Sean had. There was NO WAY in hell he was letting scum like that near Liz. Aww, hell, there was no way he was letting ANY guy near her, not until she was thirty. Either that, or until Max himself had scrutinized the guy's every aspect.
Whoa there Maxwell. Where the hell was all this overprotective junk coming from? Probably because Liz hadn't really dated that much. For the first time, Max wondered why.
"Yea, WHY?" Max said. "It's not really that difficult of question Sean. And here I thought you had a decent grade point." Take THAT jerk-off.
Sean, instead of getting offended like Max thought, just smirked even wider. "I would think that it would be obvious. Even to YOU Evans." Seeing that Max was clearly not cottoning on, Sean continued, a hint of exasperated amusement in his voice. "She's a babe man! You mean to tell me that you've never seen how hot Liz is?"
Sean had meant it as a rhetorical question (though he most likely wasn't aware of the meaning of 'rhetorical'), but he was amazed at the pondering look on Max's face.
Max was slightly stunned, feeling a jolt in his stomach. No, actually, he HADNT thought about that before.weird, how Sean was actually right about something for once.
'Stop it!' Max told himself. 'She's your BEST FRIEND for God's sakes.' Oh, ok. So she was pretty. He thought Isabel was pretty but he didn't want to.oh God.eww.ew ew.
Blinking hard to clear his wayward and psycho thoughts, Max focused on Sean again.
"So.do we have a deal? Buddy?" Sean looked.SMUG somehow, like he just expected Max to go with his every whim and way.
Max took a deep breath, feeling a burning in his stomach at the sight of Sean's overly sure of himself attitude. He quickly brushed it off, thinking.
On one hand, having inside help with Tess would aid him IMMENSELY in getting her attention. Scratch that, make that POSITIVE attention. He had negative attention right now, with the whole garbage, 'you're a dork, get away from me' thing and he didn't want that. He was floundering at this whole Tess thing, and it was obvious that Sean knew that.
But this was LIZ.
Apart from the fact that she would KILL him, literally rip him limb from limb, if she found out he was pulling something like this behind her back, with SEAN of all people.
It was Liz. He couldn't. Not even for Tess. He wasn't that desperate. Yet.
He shook his head, effectively wiping off the smirk from Sean's face. Seeing Liz approaching from the corner of his eye, he quickly rushed out, "Sorry Sean. I'm not your guy for that. You're on your own."
And with that, he spun around and jumped in Liz's car, just as she was walking up to it. Seeing Max's hastily retreat from the left side of the parking lot, she glanced over to see the retreating form of Sean Williams. Wrinkling her nose, she turned to Max. "What did HE want?" She asked.
"Nothing," Max answered, ignoring Liz's puzzled face.
Absolutely nothing at all.
~*~POV~*~
[b] MAX [/b]
Confusion.
What is confusion really?
Bewilderment, perplexity, misunderstanding, puzzlement, .(Yes, Liz is right. My friend, the Thesaurus helps me out yet again. Yay)
You could say that I'm confused over the meaning of the word confused.
I lost you didn't I?
Yup? Well good, then I won't be alone.
I guess I'm just nostalgic for a month ago. A month ago, when I had everything figured out. A month ago, when I knew exactly what I was going to do.
What happened to a month ago?
I'll tell you what happened. All my meticulous planning and my rock hard certainty went down the crapper with the rest of the shit.
[I]Flush.[/I]
Now? Now things are all messed up. Tess is disturbed at the sight of psycho can killer me, Maria I think is mad at me, Michael, Isabel, Alex and Kyle think I am sick in the head for going after Tess, and Liz.?
Something's up with her. I don't know WHAT exactly, but something's weird.
But I digress. She has been standing by me the entire way with this Tess thing. Thing. Why do I call it a thing? Probably because, hell, what else am I going to call it? Its just.there.not a relationship, not really.it's a.it's a.
It's a thing.
Well, as long as we got that cleared up.
Anyways, back to Liz. One of the sources of confusion. She's been helping me wonderfully (so much, I think I need to buy her a chocolate bar again, or something) but it seems.
It seems like she's well.
Forcing herself to do so?
Naw. Why would she do that? She has made it very clear that on no occasion does Liz Parker do something that she doesn't want to do. It's like a world known fact. Well, that, and the fact that I am pathetically after Tess. I swear, no one in high school has their own life. Why else would they be so preoccupied with MY love life (read between the lines: lack of) when they should be worrying about their own?
But whatever. I'm probably just sleep deprived or something. If something were going on, Liz would TELL me.
Right?
But there's more. Hoo boy, is there more.
Something happened today. Very **strange**
Sean Williams came up to me (no that is not the strange thing. Albeit it was very weird, that's not what I'm getting at here). He wanted to make a little deal with me. I help him get with Liz, and he helps me with Tess.
Simple pimple, right?
NOT.
For one, it's Sean. Lord knows the boy always has ulterior motives. I'm still waiting for them to be revealed, like it was a dare, a prank, or something equally as horrifying that belongs in one of those Teen Movies that Maria adores so much.
But that didn't really confuse me. No, what I'm talking about is what Sean pointed out while asking for my help (in a roundabout way mind you).
What he pointed out to me is that Liz is a GIRL. (I see you all rolling your eyes, and I kindly ask you to stop and read on before you completely shun me for my apparent redundancy).
See, the confusing thing is, I never really thought about her like that before. I just accepted the fact that she was pretty and got on with it. But now?
But now what Maxwell? So what? So some jock wants in Liz's pants. What does that have to do with anything regarding your plans with Tess?
Oh God. If Sean wants in Liz's pants, I may just have to kill him. SLOWLY.
Argh. Maybe Tess has the right idea. [b]I'm[/b] getting disturbed at the sight of my psychotic thoughts. What is WRONG with me?
Aha! I know. I've got it all figured out now. I'm just getting all big brother-ish on Liz, because this type of thing hasn't really ever happened before. It's like the way I got with Alex, when he started dating Izzy.
Yea. That's it.
Well good. Now I can rot in peace now that I've got that all figured out.
Great.
Authors Note: For Ernie.;)
~*~POV~*~
[b] LIZ [/b]
Suspicion and Guilt.
Two rather suffocating emotions on their own, but pull them together and it becomes down right exasperating to even just BREATHE, let alone get through each day.
And I have the privilege of the above listed sentimentalities meshed together and wrapped around my life.
Yay for me.
Hmm, not quite.
Why the suspicion? Well, I'm pretty sure you all can take a guess.
Maria is so totally up to something. I KNOW it. And it seems that she's recruiting poor, unwitting Kyle and Alex to help. Possibly even Michael and Isabel as well. I would have thought that maybe Kyle came up with it with the whole thing, but he doesn't have the same depth to deviousness that Maria has. And the birthday excuse?
Come ON.
I'd like to think that my intellect deserves a better excuse than that. It's sad really, that that's all he could come up with. But then he IS rather troubled right now with this prank business, which in my humble opinion is a cry for help, or a desperate journey to discover who the heck he is.
Yes, I know.
I really need to get Kyle off this Buddhism kick. It's rubbing off on me.
I've got to remember to tell all of them off next time I see them. For some reason I keep forgetting to. I've had so much on my mind with the Sean thing. God, what is WITH him lately? All three years, he's never given me so much as a hello. And now? What's changed? It's not like I grew a third breast or anything like that to make him come running. I mean, Sean? Me? Nuh uh. Not in this lifetime anyways.
Well, I guess you could say that I'm more disgusted than I am suspicious, but honestly. It's still quite "odd." Mix that in with trying to keep my grades up in all the madness and you could see why telling Maria and company off keeps slipping my mind.
But really, can you blame me for all else in which I've had to deal with? (Yes, yes, *groan* there's more)
Enter the guilt. For the past month (though it has seemed like a YEAR), I have fulfilled my duties as a best friend and helped Max with his disgusting pursuit of Tess.
Aww, hell, in my opinion, I went above and BEYOND the call of duty.
It sucked, to put it bluntly, and I was (AM) practically pulling my hair out. Every little plan he came up with was proofed by me, and tweaked to perfection. I was tempted to tell him some horrid little idea, in order to completely sabotage the operation (someone tell me when we got on army terms here) or even blow Max off all together (BLOW him..Oh muh gawd, get my mind out of the gutter) but the nasty little bugger known as CONCIENCE stepped in and prevented me from doing so.
But see, there's a silver lining in all this. Do you want to know what it is?
[I] None of it worked [/I]
I didn't have to do anything underhanded of the sorts at all! Tess remains either oblivious to Max's attempts or perhaps she still just doesn't care.
[I] Yesssss[/I]
Hmm, here's where the guilt comes to play.
I'm awful for thinking this way. AWFUL. Here's Max, completely obsessed and heart broken from the fact that Tess has yet to fall for his charms (personally, I think he has yet to recover from the garbage can incident), and all I can do is thank Big Guy up there that nothing's really changed.
Apart from the foolish feelings that is. But I'm dealing with them.
And hey now, what ever happened to me wanting to use this particular scenario to help me GET OVER these damn feelings. If Max's plan fails, than won't mine as well?
I don't know. All I know is that I hate living like this. And that my means of getting over Max just aren't working.
Maybe I just need a new tactic.
The question is.WHAT?
~*~Part Five~*~
"THAT'S your big stupendous plan?" Alex asked incredulously, while nursing an orange soda. He was sitting next to Isabel on a rickety picnic table on the quad, listening to Maria as she filled the gang in on the details of her famous scheme.
"I think the word you are searching for is "stupid" NOT "stupendous," Kyle quipped before letting out a huge belch, to which Isabel responded in throwing him a disgusted look. Why was she surrounded by gross pigs? WHY?
"Maria, you need help. Serious professional help." Alex stated matter-of- factly.
"Alex, all the money in the world couldn't pay for the amount of doctors Maria's mental state would require." Michael said gravely, taking a bite out of his leftover sandwich from lunch. "Ow!" He sputtered after Maria smacked him, accidentally spraying Kyle with the remains of his regurgitated food. "Maria! Violence is NOT the answer!"
Maria pierced him with an evil look. "Yes it is," she said darkly.
"Reason number nine, ladies and gentleman, why I will never vote Maria in for public office." Alex said, rolling his eyes.
"That is if I believed in politics in the first place." Maria protested irritatingly.
Kyle leaned closer to Michael, whispering loudly, "I'd blame her mother for the hippy like attitude, but sadly Maria's always been like this." Michael snorted, while Maria swelled in anger.
"Could we PLEASE get back to something resembling the former topic?" Isabel said loudly, trying to avoid yet another row between Maria and Michael. "I still can't believe Liz is finally admitting that she likes my brother," she added to herself. It was surreal. And sickening to say the least. She so did not need to listen to the details of her brother's love life. Especially when TESS was involved. But then, Liz was definitely a better pick than that she-devil.
"Well it's about time!" Maria sighed, clearly exasperated at her friends density.
"But it seemed to me that she was still deep in Denial-Ville," Alex pondered.
Isabel looked at her boyfriend dubiously. "You did NOT just quote Shania Twain at us." Just when she thought this day couldn't get any weirder. It was like entering the twilight zone.
Maria blew a strand of stray hair away from her face. "Well.she didn't exactly come right out and say it but.what!? Don't look at me like that! I could SO tell."
Isabel banged her perfectly groomed blonde mane upon the table. She was missing TRL for THIS? "So you're telling us that she STILL thinks that nothings going on between them!? MARIA! Your brilliant plan isn't going to work that way!"
"Actually, I didn't think it would work period," Kyle muttered underneath his breath.
Maria tugged on the ends of her blonde strands in frustration. "Argh! NO! You guys! LISTEN to the words that are coming out of my mouth! Liz hasn't 'admitted' anything yet.YET Michael, don't shake your head at me.but she DEFINITELY knows that something's.changed, for lack of better terms. Hello! Why else would she try and HELP Max with his random act of lunacy? And despite what you all think, my plan is PERFECT,"
Michael wisely chose not to comment on that last phrase. Instead, he said, "I still don't know why we just don't leave it alone. It's none of our business. Plus, Max and Liz would KILL us if they found out. KILL US. And you all are horrible liars."
Kyle scoffed. "Hey now! We are EXCELLENT liars, thank you very much."
Isabel arched an eyebrow at him. "Birthday party?"
"OK, fine, I slipped up once. But STILL." Kyle protested loudly.
Alex was still mulling over Michael's words. He shook his head. "I think you underestimate Max and Liz, Mickey. They would blackmail us, torture us, and THEN kill us. But I see your point about letting them figure it out themselves."
"NO! No, no, no, no, no.Don't you see!! They'll THANK us later when they're all happy go lucky in love. And besides. There is no way that they will be able to figure this mess out by themselves. They NEED our help."
Isabel sighed loudly. "I still don't know how your 'plan'," throwing air quotes above her head, "is going to help with this. I mean, it's no different than we usually do doing the school year!"
Maria groaned. "Honestly, am I the only smart one here?"
"Define "smart"," Alex muttered underneath his breath.
"ANYWAYS." Shooting daggers at Alex, she continued. "I KNOW we always do a annual movie night get together fun thingy on Friday's during the school year, but don't you see? Now that Liz is realizing she has all these "feeling thingys" the air is going to be positively CHARGED with sexual tension! And even though Max is a dumb-ass right now, there's like NO WAY in which he could miss the signs, if we get them alone in a darken room together with a romantic movie on the screen. See!? Tell me I'm not brilliant."
Alex snorted. "Why don't we just lock them in a supply closet with condoms strewn all over the floor. A classic sign of HINT HINT!"
"Because that's just tacky," was Maria's [b]brilliant[/b] reply.
The rest of the gang shared exasperated looks. Finally Isabel stood up. "Fine. We'll try your idea. And ONLY because I am getting desperate here. If I have to hear about Tess one more time at home, sibling love, or no sibling love, I am tossing Max out the window." God, every day, without fail, Tess this, and Tess that, and oh Isabel, what should I do about this, what should I do about that? She was about ready to scream at the top of her lungs. Normally she wouldn't mind giving her brother relationship advice, but it was TESS. Eww.
"Think about how LIZ feels. She's the one getting most of it," Maria said quietly. "And if you think I'm imagining the spasms of pain that flit across her face when I bring it up, you're sorely mistaken."
Everyone sobered up to some degree.
"Man this sucks," Kyle blurted out suddenly.
"Quite," Alex agreed.
Michael heaved a sigh, and glanced at Maria's expectant face. "All right," he growled. "But the first sign of EITHER of them getting hurt, or pissed at us, we pull out. Agreed?"
Maria squealed and jumped into Michael's lap. "Yay! Ok, guys, my house, this Friday night, come at six so we can set up, and tell Max and Liz.."
She broke off abruptly. Isabel was about to open her mouth and ask why when a shadow fell on the table, blocking the mid afternoon sun. She gulped, and began to turn, already knowing who was behind her.
Sure enough, the narrowed suspicious eyes of Liz Parker bore into her own. Isabel smiled slightly. "Hey Liz. What are you still doing here? I thought you were giving Max a ride home?" Inwardly, she was giving off a familiar mantra. 'Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit.'
"I could ask you guys the same question," came Liz's reply. "What are ALL of you still doing here at school? Usually, you are all bolting out of here the instant the bell rings, grumbling to yourselves about the horrific things you had to 'endure while residing in these grimy halls.' A direct quote, I believe."
Why did Liz have to be so smart? And her memory.Good Lord, she was like an elephant. Isabel groaned silently. Well, it could be worse. She could be like Tess. Suddenly, Isabel was liking Liz's intellect a whole lot better now.
Maria smiled brightly at Liz. Isabel smirked, wondering what type of excuse she would come up with. Anything was better than the birthday excuse. Anything.
"We were just enjoying a little snack here on the quad. You know, soaking up them rays, talking, enjoying one another's company."
Isabel had to resist the urge to snort. For one, because that seriously damaged your nose. For two, it was really revolting looking, and three? Three, because Maria's excuse topped the chart, pushing Kyle's out of the "lamest" excuse slot.
Liz's eyes got narrower, if that were possible. But to everyone's utter relief, she turned to walk away. They were about to exhale their held breath when suddenly, as if she made a decision, Liz whirled back around and plopped down next to Kyle.
"You guys wouldn't be.plotting anything.would you?" She said it slowly, letting them know how seriously skeptical she was.
"Like what?" Came Maria's automatic overly cheerful response. Then she grew slyer. "There isn't anything to plot against.is there Liz?"
The air reeked of tension. Isabel longed for a bird, an inane joke, SOMETHING, anything at all to break the silence.
Liz glared pointedly at Maria, turning her gaze on everyone. "No," she said adamantly, and icily. "There isn't." She stood up again. "I'll see you guys later."
"Oh Liz?" Maria asked sweetly, sounding perfectly like her normal self. Well as normal as Maria was anyways. "I was wondering if you would want to come to my house, Friday? At seven. We need to start up the movie night thingy again."
Liz titled her head to the side thinking. "I'm pretty sure I wont be doing anything that night. My dad's going out of town again. Do you think I could spent the night?"
Maria had to hide her devious grin. "Sure Liz. That'd be perfect. K, talk to you later chica!"
After Liz was out of earshot, Michael rounded on Maria. "You told her to come at seven. What are we going to be doing for a whole hour?" He demanded.
"Helping me set up of course! And you'll help clean up too, don't forget."
"What!? What do you have to 'set up' for!? It's a frickin movie!!" Michael ceased his rant at Maria's penetrating glare. He sighed. "Just for the record, your plan had better work Maria. Or I am going to be one pissed off person."
Maria patted his arm. "Michael, you are always a pissed off person. But never fear. I haven't told you guys the half of it yet." Another evil grin cracked on her usually (and falsely looking) angelic face.
Isabel had to smile. Things would definitely get.interesting to say the least. Friday night madness, here they come!
~*~
Max wandered aimlessly around the parking lot, not ready to go sit in Liz's stifling car while he waited for her to come out. She was working on some scholarship thingy and needed a teachers help with it.
No matter, though. It wasn't like he had anywhere to go. He wasn't working this week, he wasn't doing a sport, he had no date.
Sigh. Of COURSE he didn't have a date.
His thoughts took another melancholy turn (possibly the fifth time in the span of one minute).
This whole thing with Tess?
It was severely screwed up. He had messed up from the beginning with the whole garbage can thingy, and everything had gone downhill from there.
Not that he didn't lack for trying. No, no, he had even taken to running his ideas by Liz or Isabel, trying to get a female input. He had tried to ask Maria's opinion, but every time he mentioned the name "Tess" she would go all matrix like on him, or take to giving his ridiculous suggestions, such as taking Tess back to where she was born (i.e. A stripper bar). Not exactly what he was looking for. It seemed to him that Maria was trying to become the male version of Kyle.
Now there was a scary thought.
Max exhaled loudly again, resisting the urge to kick the nearest hubcap. Things weren't looking so great right now. And he had been kind of blowing off his friends. Maybe it was time they did something like they used to do. Maybe it was time he just.
"Hey Evans!"
Max turned his head to the left. Jock incoming. Whoo, here we go.
He was so shocked that Sean Williams knew his name, that he sort of forgot something. That something being a response to someone shouting your name across the parking lot. Etiquette Maxwell, etiquette!
"Your name's Evans, right? Aw, I'm going to kill Jordan," Sean muttered.
Max fought the urge to laugh. "Naw, man. That's me." He said, waiting politely, though he felt like turning around and walking away. He had never really liked Sean, and the feeling had always seemed reciprocated. Max shifted slightly, feeling it would kind of rude to demand what Sean wanted.
"So. I hear you're after the unattainable Tess Harding," Sean said suddenly.
Max opened his mouth to protest, shocked that Sean just came out of blue with that, but Sean chuckled, stopping him. "Don't even try and deny it Evans. Tess is my cousin."
Why did he have to flush now? WHY!?
"So?" Max scoffed, inwardly cringing. Someone please tell him when he returned to the age of twelve.
Sean smirked at him. "Soo. I can help you."
"Help me? Why the heck would I want your help?" Max demanded, not liking the way Sean's lips were curling. Freaky.
"You didn't let me finish. I'll help you.on one condition." Max froze, contemplating whether or not he wanted to discover Sean's motives. Sean wasn't exactly the poster boy for morale.
"Oh yea? And what's that?" He finally asked, steeling himself for any embarrassing prank he had to pull upon Sean's orders, or milk money that he would have to supply Sean with for the rest of his life.
But what Sean said was the absolute LAST thing Max expected.
"That you help me obtain the affection of Liz."
For a minute, all Max could do was stare disbelievingly. Now, he knew there was a reason his mother insisted he clean out his ears. For surely, Sean couldn't possibly.
Sean's brow wrinkled in confusion. "Liz Po- uh, Parker. You know her, right?"
Know her? KNOW her? Hell, he probably knew Liz better than she knew herself! And he knew for a FACT, a set in stone FACT that Liz would rather streak the school than let Sean "obtain her affection."
Once he found his voice again, Max sputtered. "Yea, I KNOW her. She's one of my best friends." He paused for a minute, not wanting the next words to come out of his mouth. "What did you mean about the affection part?" He cringed, awaiting the answer.
Smiling indolently, Sean answered, "I'll help you get with Tess, if you help me with Liz. It was really simple actually. Man, and here I thought you were an honor student Maxie."
Whole-heartedly resenting the jab and being called "Maxie", Max narrowed his eyes and stared thoroughly at Sean. "Why?" he demanded sharply.
Sean's light colored eyes widened in surprise. "Why?" he echoed.
Max knew what kind of reputation Sean had. There was NO WAY in hell he was letting scum like that near Liz. Aww, hell, there was no way he was letting ANY guy near her, not until she was thirty. Either that, or until Max himself had scrutinized the guy's every aspect.
Whoa there Maxwell. Where the hell was all this overprotective junk coming from? Probably because Liz hadn't really dated that much. For the first time, Max wondered why.
"Yea, WHY?" Max said. "It's not really that difficult of question Sean. And here I thought you had a decent grade point." Take THAT jerk-off.
Sean, instead of getting offended like Max thought, just smirked even wider. "I would think that it would be obvious. Even to YOU Evans." Seeing that Max was clearly not cottoning on, Sean continued, a hint of exasperated amusement in his voice. "She's a babe man! You mean to tell me that you've never seen how hot Liz is?"
Sean had meant it as a rhetorical question (though he most likely wasn't aware of the meaning of 'rhetorical'), but he was amazed at the pondering look on Max's face.
Max was slightly stunned, feeling a jolt in his stomach. No, actually, he HADNT thought about that before.weird, how Sean was actually right about something for once.
'Stop it!' Max told himself. 'She's your BEST FRIEND for God's sakes.' Oh, ok. So she was pretty. He thought Isabel was pretty but he didn't want to.oh God.eww.ew ew.
Blinking hard to clear his wayward and psycho thoughts, Max focused on Sean again.
"So.do we have a deal? Buddy?" Sean looked.SMUG somehow, like he just expected Max to go with his every whim and way.
Max took a deep breath, feeling a burning in his stomach at the sight of Sean's overly sure of himself attitude. He quickly brushed it off, thinking.
On one hand, having inside help with Tess would aid him IMMENSELY in getting her attention. Scratch that, make that POSITIVE attention. He had negative attention right now, with the whole garbage, 'you're a dork, get away from me' thing and he didn't want that. He was floundering at this whole Tess thing, and it was obvious that Sean knew that.
But this was LIZ.
Apart from the fact that she would KILL him, literally rip him limb from limb, if she found out he was pulling something like this behind her back, with SEAN of all people.
It was Liz. He couldn't. Not even for Tess. He wasn't that desperate. Yet.
He shook his head, effectively wiping off the smirk from Sean's face. Seeing Liz approaching from the corner of his eye, he quickly rushed out, "Sorry Sean. I'm not your guy for that. You're on your own."
And with that, he spun around and jumped in Liz's car, just as she was walking up to it. Seeing Max's hastily retreat from the left side of the parking lot, she glanced over to see the retreating form of Sean Williams. Wrinkling her nose, she turned to Max. "What did HE want?" She asked.
"Nothing," Max answered, ignoring Liz's puzzled face.
Absolutely nothing at all.
~*~POV~*~
[b] MAX [/b]
Confusion.
What is confusion really?
Bewilderment, perplexity, misunderstanding, puzzlement, .(Yes, Liz is right. My friend, the Thesaurus helps me out yet again. Yay)
You could say that I'm confused over the meaning of the word confused.
I lost you didn't I?
Yup? Well good, then I won't be alone.
I guess I'm just nostalgic for a month ago. A month ago, when I had everything figured out. A month ago, when I knew exactly what I was going to do.
What happened to a month ago?
I'll tell you what happened. All my meticulous planning and my rock hard certainty went down the crapper with the rest of the shit.
[I]Flush.[/I]
Now? Now things are all messed up. Tess is disturbed at the sight of psycho can killer me, Maria I think is mad at me, Michael, Isabel, Alex and Kyle think I am sick in the head for going after Tess, and Liz.?
Something's up with her. I don't know WHAT exactly, but something's weird.
But I digress. She has been standing by me the entire way with this Tess thing. Thing. Why do I call it a thing? Probably because, hell, what else am I going to call it? Its just.there.not a relationship, not really.it's a.it's a.
It's a thing.
Well, as long as we got that cleared up.
Anyways, back to Liz. One of the sources of confusion. She's been helping me wonderfully (so much, I think I need to buy her a chocolate bar again, or something) but it seems.
It seems like she's well.
Forcing herself to do so?
Naw. Why would she do that? She has made it very clear that on no occasion does Liz Parker do something that she doesn't want to do. It's like a world known fact. Well, that, and the fact that I am pathetically after Tess. I swear, no one in high school has their own life. Why else would they be so preoccupied with MY love life (read between the lines: lack of) when they should be worrying about their own?
But whatever. I'm probably just sleep deprived or something. If something were going on, Liz would TELL me.
Right?
But there's more. Hoo boy, is there more.
Something happened today. Very **strange**
Sean Williams came up to me (no that is not the strange thing. Albeit it was very weird, that's not what I'm getting at here). He wanted to make a little deal with me. I help him get with Liz, and he helps me with Tess.
Simple pimple, right?
NOT.
For one, it's Sean. Lord knows the boy always has ulterior motives. I'm still waiting for them to be revealed, like it was a dare, a prank, or something equally as horrifying that belongs in one of those Teen Movies that Maria adores so much.
But that didn't really confuse me. No, what I'm talking about is what Sean pointed out while asking for my help (in a roundabout way mind you).
What he pointed out to me is that Liz is a GIRL. (I see you all rolling your eyes, and I kindly ask you to stop and read on before you completely shun me for my apparent redundancy).
See, the confusing thing is, I never really thought about her like that before. I just accepted the fact that she was pretty and got on with it. But now?
But now what Maxwell? So what? So some jock wants in Liz's pants. What does that have to do with anything regarding your plans with Tess?
Oh God. If Sean wants in Liz's pants, I may just have to kill him. SLOWLY.
Argh. Maybe Tess has the right idea. [b]I'm[/b] getting disturbed at the sight of my psychotic thoughts. What is WRONG with me?
Aha! I know. I've got it all figured out now. I'm just getting all big brother-ish on Liz, because this type of thing hasn't really ever happened before. It's like the way I got with Alex, when he started dating Izzy.
Yea. That's it.
Well good. Now I can rot in peace now that I've got that all figured out.
Great.
Authors Note: For Ernie.;)