CHAPTER
2- SCHOOL:
"Cuz
it's all coming back to me now. . .do de dum" Maria sang to herself as she
stood in front of Liz's homeroom and waited for her. "da da da, Cuz it's all
coming back to me now!"
"Maria, Hun, Celine Dion is a no no on the
first day of school, I simply can not take that woman's drama."
"The
biggest sap in the world and she doesn't like Celine Dion. Isn't that, like, an
oxymoron?"
"Maria."
"Yes?"
"It
is not even 7 in the morning."
"So?"
"Humor
is not allowed until lunch."
"Gotcha."
"Someone
isn't too thrilled to be back in school." A voice behind them said. Liz and Maria
turned around to find Michael standing behind them. He turned to face Maria, "Hey, Gorgeous."
"Hey."
Maria replied happily. She reached up and kissed him. When the PDA hit the
PG-13 level Liz jumped in.
"Guys,
I know you've been dating a while now and all, but it still doesn't excuse
public displays of affection."
Michael
made a noise low in his throat and turned away from Maria to face Liz. "Hey, Liz."
"Hi,
Michael."
"Got
a boyfriend yet?"
"Nope."
"How
about this, when you have to ignore your sexual urges eight hours a day we can
talk."
"Hmm,
sounds like I'm not the only one who would rather be anywhere but school."
Michael
laughed, "You got me there."
"I have to admit guys," Maria said "You two
have a strange relationship."
"What isn't strange about Michael?"
"Watch
it, Parker."
When
Maria first started dating Michael she was worried that her long time best
friend and new boyfriend wouldn't hit it off. But it turned out that they had
the same sharp sense of humor that ran on the mean side. It might look like
they hated each other, but it was actually some strange form of bonding. Maria
thought it was weird, but why question something good?
"Hey,
All." Isabel said, filling the semicircle that the three friends had formed.
"Hi,
Isabel." Liz said, giving her friend a half hug. "How are you doing?"
"Good.
I have Mrs. Steinman first period for English."
"Oh,
you're lucky." Liz said, "She's the best English teacher here. Too bad she only
teaches freshmen and sophomores. Juniors and Seniors get all the evil
teachers."
"Lucky
me. Good luck, you old fogies."
"Maria
and I better get going, math and all." Michael said, pulling Maria away.
"See
you at lunch, Liz!" Maria called over her shoulder.
"Where
is that brother of mine?" Isabel asked, looking around for the first time. "He
wanted to find Alex, but it shouldn't have taken him this long."
Just
then Alex rounded the corner with Max in tow. Alex had the best walk, Isabel
noticed for the millionth time. He was so confidant and his aura shone with
assurance. He never stopped smiling, always seemed honestly pleased to see you.
Isabel was never good at that. She didn't have the energy to smile all the
time. She really only got popular after Liz took Isabel under her wing. Liz
wasn't exactly the heart of the school, but she was a lung or a liver. Seniors
and Juniors liked her and sophomores and freshmen wanted to be her. And she
liked Isabel.
Max
walked up to them a bit uneasily. Max was pretty cool too, Isabel had to admit
it. It was easy to find fault, he was her brother after all, but he was OK. Isabel
knew that he was on every girls "wish list" and was respected by almost
everyone. She honestly had no idea how. She had been lucky to win the
favor of the older class, but she still had to work hard at staying liked. A
task that was trying to say the least. But Max managed to do nothing and still
be appealing. Every morning before school he got up, jumped in the shower,
threw on whatever was handy and grabbed a Pop Tart. And yet he looked good. She
heard girls whispering about him as he passed through the halls. Honestly,
sometimes it grossed her out. She didn't want to think of her brother as sexy.
But she could appreciate the respect he called up.
At
the moment, Max was blatantly staring at Liz. Really openly staring. She was
talking about some book she read recently. Obviously Alex couldn't care less
and Isabel had drifted off, but Max seemed interested. Isabel highly doubted he
was thinking about books. Alex nudged
her and winked. Isabel giggled and bumped him softly. Then he pushed her and
she pushed him back. Alex pinched her arm and Isabel shoved him hard enough for
him to fall against a locker.
Liz
looked at them perplexed, then laughed. "OK, so I guess my so-called summary of
my summer reading is only interesting to me."
"In a word, Yes." Isabel agreed with a grin.
"I
have to go with Isabel on this one."
"I was interested." Max said defensively.
Liz
cracked up. That was obviously not the reaction Max was looking for. He
looked put out till Liz calmed down and said apologetically, "I'm sorry. It was
nice of you to defend me, but I accept that I am boring. On occasion." She
added pointedly. "Anyway, I'm terrible when I get going on books and it was
just funny. No one finds it interesting. I just get involved."
"I
get involved in books." Isabel protested.
"Romance
novels don't count, Sweetie."
"Dammit."
Just then the warning bell rang.
"Crap, only a minute to get across the school." Isabel complained.
"That's where I'm headed." Alex
said, "Let's walk very fast."
"Bye!" Liz called after them. To Max she said "This is me. You're here
too, right?"
"Yea. Let's go." They walked in and when they
entered the mostly full classroom Liz spotted two empty seats in the back of
the classroom. She tugged at Max's shirt and pulled him in that direction. He
looked fine with that arrangement.
They
sat down and Liz started taking out pencils, notebooks and highlighters. One
thing Max liked about Liz was her ability to stay completely focused on
something for long periods of time. He had seen her over the years at lunch or
in the library with a mountain of books surrounding her and papers spread out.
And the amazing part is that she always seemed content like that. A mountain of work with a slim chance of
survival and she was at her best. Max couldn't stay focused on anything.
Responsibility was always calling to him. He was so comfortable doing five things at once or working for
15-minute increments all day he wasn't sure he could do anything else. But
looking at Liz as she admired her new notebook and flip lazily through the
pages absently made him want to try.
Max hadn't even realized that he
was staring at Liz until she turned her head sideways to face him. "What's up, Max?"
She asked.
"Um, I was just, uh, noticing
your notebook." He gestured to the brilliantly colored item.
"Oh, yea. It's Lisa Frank.
Everyone gives me a hard time. They're all cool and conformist with their
boring black notebooks. School is a necessary evil. I accept that. I even enjoy
it on occasion. But if I I have to sit through it I'm gonna do it with pretty
notebooks." She winked at him. He smiled, then she leaned into whisper
something to him and he felt his heart rate speed up. "I have to admit
something."
"Um, what?" What was she doing
to him? She leaned in so he could smell the cinnamon apple scent of her hair
and the strong perfume she was wearing and he was lost. He hated losing
control. But it was almost a nice feeling. He wanted to sink deeper.
"I love the first day of
school!" She laughed and leaned back into her own chair. "I know I always say I
hate school, and sometimes I do, I know I could be spending my time a little
more wisely. But I love the first day of school. You get to dress up, " She
gestured to her black miniskirt which Max had already noticed and silk top,
"You get new textbooks that crack when you open them, and you get all new
supplies. I hate it when the pencils are all used up and you have to use those
sorry tips until you can get to the store. It's just great. Exciting." She
laughed again "Of course, by tomorrow I'll deny I said anything. And don't tell
that sister of yours, OK? She'd never let me hear the end of it."
"I won't tell Isabel." Max said
sincerely.
Liz smiled at him and Max felt
that confused feeling again. "Thanks. Uh-oh, teacher." She quickly turned to
face the front and Max stifled a laugh. Liz was such a good person. She was
always the teacher's pet- a lot like Isabel. He slipped his schedule onto her desk casually. She looked at it and put
a little star next to 5th period, math and 6th period
science. They probably had different electives,
so that was a bust, and they had two different lunch periods, that was too bad.
He did have lunch with Alex, so he didn't have to be alone, but he would have
preferred Liz's company. Still, 3 classes a day was pretty good. He was really
lucky. Last year he only had one and
lunch. But he had been too shy to sit with her, so he sat a few tables away and
stared. 3 classes really was good.
He wasn't really paying
attention to the class. Just daydreaming and staring at Liz. Luckily the teacher
was pretty laid back and never assigned seating. They just came in the first
day and told them to move to the seats they wanted for the semester. A few kids
moved, but Liz just grinned at him and mouthed 'you staying here?' He nodded
and she mouthed 'me, too.'
School would start tomorrow.
Right now all the teachers just had to explain and plan and have parents sign
permission slips for anything they might get grief for. He would have to work
and study and pay attention soon. Tomorrow he would work, today he would stare
at Liz.
When the bell rang Max quickly
gathered his books, but hung out for a few anxious seconds while Liz wrote a
last note and put her things into her book bag. He hoped he could walk her partway to class. She walked beside
him and acknowledged his presence, but didn't know what to say. Neither did he,
Max didn't say anything, but he looked really uncomfortable. "So, sorry I didn't get a chance to e-mail
you this summer." Crap! He thought, that was probably on the top 10 dumb
things to say.
"Oh, that's OK, I know what it's
like. My parents kept me so busy working for the bookstore. I barely had
time to breathe!"
"You never work in the
bookstore! I go there all the time, you're never there."
"Well, I never work there during
the school year. My dad went to Brown and my grandfather went to Brown. They
never forced me or anything, but I know my dad would be thrilled out of his
mind if I went to Brown, too. He knows that I need to work really hard for that
to happen."
"Oh." Max didn't know what to
say.
"I completely changed the
subject. And to me. I do that, sorry. OK, only some weekends from September to
June, but June to August I live in that store!"
Max mentally kicked himself for
not hanging out there more. "That's cool."
"Eh, not really. They usually
stick me in the back, or I take calls and run errands. At first I work at the
counter and walk around to shelve books, but I always get distracted. I talk to
people from school or flirt with guys." Max cringed when she said 'flirt' but
forced himself to ignore it. She was a teen girl. She did flirt with guys. "So
they punish me and throw me in the back. . . .Oh, this is my class. Music."
"Yea, violin, right?"
"Yea, I love it." She thought
for a minute "I'm in room 409 4th period. You're in 400. Why don't
you meet me outside the class and we'll walk to 5th together? You
can tell me about your summer. I already bored you with mine."
"Sure!"
The bell rang and Liz slipped
inside the band room and only caught a stern glance from the teacher, Mr.
Mullany. She smiled and he shook his head. She took a seat in the big circle of chairs. There would be auditions
for different chairs, she was always in the first. Luckily she had been practicing
as hard as ever the past few weeks. She knew she was gifted, as did Mr.
Mullany, and he made sure she was as good as she could be.
Liz
didn't remember the conversation she had with Isabel until she had started
warming up. "You're mean! How's that brother of yours? Trying to get up the
guts to email you. Isabel, you teaser. No he isn't." She wondered for a
brief moment if all the rumors were true. Max is just quiet, I brought him a
bit out of his shell is all, and teens love gossip. Still. . .She wondered. But
before she could put any more thought into it Mr. Mullany snapped her back to
Earth. "Liz!"
"Yes
sir?"
"Any
reason you're not warming up with the class."
"Um,
no, Sir." She felt her face flush and she rapidly went up the scale. Eyes were
still on her and they noticed the professional way she held her bow, they saw
her deep love for the violin. The second she had walked in the other violinists
noticed the deep bruise under her chin. All good violinists had a bruise under
their chin from hours of practicing. Liz noticed with satisfaction that she was
getting stares. She had also noticed how many of the school's top players had
let their bruises lighten dramatically over the summer.
"Summer
is over, everybody. Get your mind in class."
The
next two periods dragged on forever to Max. He couldn't wait for the end of 4th
period so he could see Liz. He could not believe that she had invited him to
walk her to class. He had to remind himself that it was just a friend thing to
her. She only thought of him as a friend. He was surprised, actually, how
friendly she was. They were more casual last year. Probably Isabel, he told
himself. Liz and Isabel had become much better friends, and she probably
carried that friendship over to him. That's it, he told himself, that's all it
is.
Still
just a friend thing! He
told himself angrily as he stood outside room 409 and waited anxiously for Liz
to walk out. He couldn't believe how nervous he was. His palms were sweating
and his heart was beating a mile a
minute. If this was love he wanted no part in it. The side affects were
exciting, but annoying. There was no reason to believe that this meant anything
to Liz and he was acting as if they were on a date. Oh, God, he didn't even
want to THINK about how he would act on a date. He would probably be a complete
idiot. Well, it's not as if you have to worry about going on a date with Liz.
As long as we're talking about things
that will never happen, I'd like to add Hell freezing over to the list.
Then, Liz walked out. Was it his imagination or had she gotten even more
amazing since 1st period? She smiled at him. No, she had gotten even
worse since 1st period. Or better, depending on how you look at it.
"Hey, Max!" Better. "I hope I didn't keep you waiting. First day obligations."
Just then two girls walked out. Max didn't know them but recognized them as
reporters for the school newspaper.
"Hey,
Liz! Good to see you!" The first one said.
"Yea,
it's great to see you! Let me know what I can do for the newspaper this year,
ok?" Liz called.
"Will
do!" The second one replied.
"Catch
ya later!" Liz waved. She turned to Max and made a face "See? First day duties.
I like the people, but it gets tiring."
Max
laughed "I could never do what you do!"
Liz
seemed puzzled "And what is that?"
"Act
so nice all the time."
"I
don't act that nice. I act busy. And In between my busy events I tell people
what they want to hear. It's pretty easy. Most of it is superficial, though.
You're too sincere for it." Max blushed slightly. "Oh, you were gonna tell me
about your summer! I'm all ears!"
"Um,
let me see. . .It wasn't that great. I worked almost full time at the restaurant."
"Which
one was that again?"
"Olive
Garden."
"Oh,
right! I knew Isabel mentioned it."
Max
smiled uncomfortably "You guys talk
about me?'
"Just
here and there. She mentioned how you sometimes bring home leftovers. And she
complains how you hog the computer. Sibling stuff."
"Right."
"Do
you like working at Olive Garden?"
"It's
work."
"Yea"
Liz agreed, even though she didn't know what he meant.
"And
I was doing a little work at Mr. Whitman's law office."
"Alex's
father?"
"Yea,
Alex hooked me up. Just filing and working in the mailroom, but it paid well."
"Wow,
Max, did you rest at all?"
"I'm
not big on resting. Anyway, I quit at the law office. Now it's just Olive
Garden and school." And taking care of my family, he added to himself.
"Okay."
Just then they arrived at the classroom. Liz slipped inside and Max followed.
"This is Mrs. Ballard. She's gonna assign seating, I just know it. I hate
assigned seating."
"A
real rebel, huh?" Max teased
Liz
laughed "That's me, rebel without a clue!" Max laughed with her.
The
bell rang and Mrs. Ballard came in and pointed to the front desk in the far
left corner. "Billy Aaron?" She went
through the class roster and assigned seats to all 30 kids. The benefit of this
was Liz got to see who was in her class and match some faces to names. The
downside was everyone was separated. Liz ended up in the first seat of the
third row. Obvious seat, right in the teacher's line of sight, so passing notes
wasn't an option. It didn't really matter, she wasn't friends with anyone in
the class anyway, except Max. And the teacher would call on her a lot, but that
was okay, too. Liz would never admit it, but school didn't bother her as much
as she told people. She could handle it and sometimes, sometimes, it was
decent.
Max
was seated in the fourth row, third seat. Not a bad seat, really. Far enough
removed he could do his own thing but close enough he could take advantage of
notes and lectures. Plus, it was a great view of Liz. Somehow he didn't think he would be paying that much attention to
class with Liz so close. Oh, well, how important was math? Max groaned quietly
to himself. This was going to be a trying year, he could tell already.
When
class finally ended Max patiently waited for Liz to greet everyone and pack up
her book bag. "Liz, do you want me to walk you to class?"
She
frowned slightly, "I'm sorry, I was going to meet Maria. We have 6th
together, so she was going to meet me outside class."
"Oh,
ok, forget it."
"What
do you have next?"
"Science,
with you."
"Oh,
right! Sorry! Ok, you can come with us. That would be cool."
"No,
that's all right, I should see Isabel, she's across the hall. She has science
next, too."
"Wow,
full class. We're gonna party!" Max laughed despite himself. "So, I'll see you
there."
"Yea—"
Maria stomped inside before he could finish his sentence.
"Liz
you take too damn long!"
"Maria,
I swear I was just coming. Really, I was."
"Bull!"
But Maria was smiling broadly. They walked out as Max watched them go.
He
wandered out to the hall where Isabel snuck up behind him "Boo!"
Max jumped slightly "Isabel!"
She
shrugged slightly "I couldn't resist." Max glanced at Liz's retreating back
before focusing his attention on his sister "Feeling a little love sick, big
bro?"
"Shut
up, Isabel."
She
slung her arm over his shoulders and started towards class, "Come on, Max,
spill. Have you talked to her yet?"
"Yea,
a lot, actually, she's been really friendly. We're even picked seats together
first period. "
"Wow,
you must have charmed her."
"Doubtful"
Max smirked
"You're
right, it's all me. I talked you up nonstop this summer."
"That's
bull, Isabel. Liz told me that you complained about how I hog the computer."
She
colored slightly, but put it off. "Come on, Max. How am I to convince her that
you're a catch if I only tell her good things about you."
They
walked into class and sat down at a lab table together. "Isabel, that might
make sense up there," he pointed to her head," But out here," he indicated the
rest of the world "It's not that easy. Please explain."
"If
I tell her all these wonderful things about you nonstop she's going to know
it's a setup and she won't give you the time of day. When I talk to her I talk
about you like any younger sister would."
"Oh,
great!"
"Chill,
Casanova. Then I tell her something good about you before I sign off. Hopefully
the last impression will stick. Trust me, it's gonna work."
"It
better." Max warned.
"It
will," Isabel promised. Just then the teacher walked in.
"Everyone
get seated!" Mrs. Metzger the young science teacher instructed. There was a
collective shuffle as everyone took their seats.
Isabel
leaned over and tapped Maria, who was seated next to Liz in the table in front
of her and Max, "Maria, I need to talk to you! Switch with Max real quick!" Maria
shot a questioning look at Liz who nodded. Maria quickly jumped out of her seat
and landed in Max's.
"All
right," Mrs. Metzger said "Everyone stays where they are for a month. That is
how long it will take us to cover the first chapter. Then we can discuss
changes." The four friends looked at each other and shrugged. Mrs. Metzger
wrote out some notes on the blackboard about scoring and rules. Everyone
started copying the information down. Liz was chewing absently on her pencil
and Max was watching her. Maria and Isabel winked at each other and grinned. Liz
dropped her pencil and Max quickly reached down to get it, and handed it back
to her. She mouthed a thank you. "It's just like Lady and The Tramp!" Maria
exclaimed when Liz chewed on her pencil again. "Max, grab on and you'll meet in
the middle!" They both turned behind them and glared at Maria who merely
smiled.
After
class Max grabbed Isabel's arm and pulled her to a corner of the hall "Don't
tell me you expect sitting me next to Liz will work! If this is your plan,
forget it!"
Isabel
tsked him "It already has worked, Max. I was invited to the bookstore's café
after it closes. I managed to get you invited, too. And Alex."
"Why
Alex?"
"Why
not? Anyway, don't I get a thank you for bringing you one step closer to the
love of your life?"
"Thank
you," Max grumbled.
"You're welcome! Now let's get outside before we miss the bus!"