CHAPTER 7- THE INQUISTION

CHAPTER 7- THE INQUISTION

"Tell me every single word." Maria demanded without pretense. Liz was eating lunch when Isabel and Maria had attacked her, demanding information.

"Isabel this isn't even your lunch period!" Liz said.

"Oh, yea," Isabel snorted, "That's the point."

"Now you sound like Liz!" Maria said, happily. She couldn't believe Isabel had used on of Liz's trademark phrases! She turned her attention back to Liz, "Spill, Girl!"

"You guys I'm sitting here trying to enjoy some egg salad, can't you two just chill?"

They looked at each other and back at Liz, "No," They replied simultaneously. Liz rolled her eyes and took a big bite of egg salad.

"Tell us something!" Isabel begged.

"This is really good egg salad," Liz said, her mouth full.

"Something about the date!" Maria instructed.

"It was…Nice." Liz finally said.

"Nice? Nice?" Isabel squealed. "Ok, what did my brother do?"

"No, no, that's not a Liz-hating-to say-anything-mean nice, that's a I-had-so-much-fun-but-I'm-too-stuck-up-to-tell-my-friends-nice!" Maria explained.

"Are you sure?" Isabel asked curiously.

"Trust me, I've known her for a long time." Liz shot a furious glance at her friends. "See that? That's an I-hate-my-friends glance. But she doesn't hate us, don't worry."

"Are you trying to weasel the facts out of my by annoying me to death?" Liz asked

"Oh, crap! Isabel, she's caught on to our major plan." Maria cried.

"Fine!" Liz said, throwing her hands in the air in defeat. "What do you want to know?"

"Where did he take you?" Maria asked

"Sweet Tomato. Next!"

"What did you have?" Isabel asked.

"Duh, lasagna!"

"Oh, no," Maria said, pained, "Did you eat like you normally eat it?"

"Of course!" Liz responded, "I'm not going to change for some guy no matter who he is! No offense, Isabel."

"None taken," Isabel assured her friend.

"OK, I have another question," Maria teased, "Did he dump you?"

"Maria!" Liz said, "Where's the faith? Of course not."

"No, he wouldn't" Isabel said, "He lo-oves her!"

"Isabel!" Liz said.

"Ok, we're approaching the end of her nerve. We can probably only ask one more question before that egg salad ends up in our hair." Maria said. She and Isabel huddled together, discussing what their last question should be.

"Ok," Isabel finally said, "We have our final question ready."

"Shoot."

Isabel and Maria exchanged evil looks before Isabel asked, "Did you kiss him?"

Liz blushed slightly, "Maybe."

"Ooooooooohhhhhhhhhhhh!" The girls sighed together.

"You guys!"

"Is he a good kisser?" Maria wondered.

"Nope, that was your final question. That's all I'm gonna say!"

"Fine!" Maria said, "Don't worry, Isabel, we'll get the details out of her somehow!"

"Actually, I have a question for you." Liz said.

"No, I am not wearing panties." Maria informed them.

"Oh, gross, Maria!" Liz said, she dropped her half eaten egg salad on the table, "There goes my appetite!" Maria rolled her eyes. "Isabel," Liz said pointedly, "Where was Max first period?"

"Oh, mom had a doctors appointment. Max had to drive her and wanted to be there." Isabel explained.

"Oh." Isabel said it in a friendly way, but something about her had a don't go there tone.

Isabel smiled, "Don't worry, he'll be back by before the day is over, he wouldn't miss science with you!" Liz laughed with her and blushed slightly.

Isabel was right. Come science Max was impatiently fidgeting in his seat, waiting for Liz to arrive. She walked into the classroom absently. Hair stuck to her face, sweaty from the hot early afternoon sun. She was wearing shorts and a light blue tank top. She was literally a sight for sore eyes. It had been a trying morning with his mother and he felt the tension drain away and the worries fade into nothingness at the mere sight of her. How did she do that to him?

She sat down next to him and slipped the book bag off her shoulders and let it drop lightly to the floor. Her eyes met his for the first time. "Hey" he said, softly.

"Hey." She whispered back. She turned her gaze away, suddenly shy. Then lifted her head slightly and looked up at him out of the corner of her eyes.

Then Maria and Isabel started making retching noises. Max and Liz turned around to find the girls sticking their fingers down their throats, pretending to gag. When they realized they had gotten the nauseating couple's attention they burst out laughing.

"Very nice, guys," Liz scolded.

"Sorry," Isabel said, sounding very pleased with herself, "But we can only take so much."

The teacher walked in and greeted the class. As soon as he got behind his desk he started his lecture and the class was forced to pay attention. When the teacher wasn't looking Liz nudged Max and whispered "Don't worry about it, we'll get them back." And she was happy when Max grinned.

After class both Liz and Max were a little uncomfortable. They had been on a date, but Max was unsure of what Liz wanted. Should Max walk her to class? If he did should he hold her hand? And he was dying to kiss her, would that be ok? All the questions were making his head hurt. He looked at Liz, she looked just as clueless as he felt. Ok, he thought, compromise. He kissed her on the cheek, "Want me to walk you to class?"

"Yea," she said, smiling, "That sounds good." The nervous feeling hadn't ebbed completely, but it was a little better. Liz made a mental note to ask Isabel what Max had told her about their date. The silence that hung between them as Max walked Liz to class was a little uncomfortable, but they both did their best to make peace with it. They assured themselves that it would be Ok. They would figure out what the other person wanted and deal with that. The looked at eachother and smiled shyly. Max and Liz tried to assure themselves that it would be ok.

That afternoon Isabel was hanging out at Maria's house. They had eaten dinner, worked on a little homework and talked about everything from boys to English class. Isabel confessed her hopes for her new relationship with Alex and Maria told secrets about her relationship with Michael. They had shared fears, the favorite things about their guys and how great they were. Finally Isabel brought up Liz and Max. She laughed how blind Liz was to Max's affection. Maria agreed that Liz had it bad for Isabel's brother. It was so sad they couldn't seem to get it together.

After an hour of talking they signed online, searching the web for deals on the books they had to buy for classes. A little window popped up, signaling Maria had gotten an instant message. "Who is it?" Isabel asked curiously, putting down the magazine she was flipping through and turned her attention to the computer.

"It's Liz." Maria said.

"Oh, my God!" Isabel screeched, "I have the best, best idea!"

"What is it?" Maria asked eagerly.

"Um, well, let me ask this, is Max on your buddy list?"

A few minutes later Maria and Isabel were having conversations with Max and Liz. It was pure luck that they were both on. But Isabel knew this was about the time they signed on most every day. Isabel and Maria were dragging every detail out of their friends.

"So, what do you think about Max?" Maria typed

"Boyfriend wise or just Max?" Liz asked

"Both," Isabel wrote

"I like him a lot. I mean, I like him a lot as a person. As a boyfriend…I don't know yet. But sometimes, when he smiles at me my knees get all weak and my heart flips over and my stomach tightens up. And it's nice, in a weird way."

Isabel and brought up Max's IM. "So you think you and Liz will become an item?"

"I hope so." Max responded quickly.

"Why?" Maria typed, winking at Isabel.

"Because…I don't know."

"Yes, you do!" Isabel accused. "You just don't want to say it."

"Exactly." Max replied.

"Tell us," Isabel begged. "Come on, I'm your sister."

"Fine," Max relented. "Just…sometimes, when things get hard or complicated or scary, Liz keeps me sane. I'm sure she doesn't know it. But if I see her in school, or run into her somewhere, just being with her, just breathing the same air she is, makes it a little better."

"Wow," Maria breathed. "Good luck topping that, Liz."

Just then Liz's IM box began to flash. "Sometimes," She wrote, "just being around Max makes me feel a little better. I mean, like, if I got in a fight with mom, or I feel lonely or really just anything, if I'm sad he'll make it a little better. It's weird, cuz he won't do anything. Like you guys will hug me or talk me through it or pig out on junk food with me. And I appreciate that. But Max…Lately I've just gotten the feeling that he's watching over me. These past few weeks I've felt eyes on me, or a presence. And I'm starting to think that's Max. Like he's watching me. But not in a weird way. It feels like when our moms used to sit on our bed till we feel asleep. It's nice."

"I gotta hand it to the girl," Maria said, "She topped him."

"Yea." Isabel agreed.

"Do you…" Maria started, then stopped.

"Do I what?" Isabel asked tenderly

"Do you ever wonder if you'll find that?"

"What? That?" She asked, pointing to the screen.

"Well, yea. I mean, God, do you ever wonder what that's like?"

"Well, you have that with Michael, right?"

"I love Michael." Maria said, flatly. "But I don't think I love him like that." Maria turned away, an unrecognizable expression on her face.

"Come on," Isabel said brightly, changing the subject. "Let's reel them in." She typed "Do you think you could ever love Max?"

Liz sent out a smiley face "I don't know. Maybe. Probably. Sometimes I feel like I know something, but I have no idea what it is. Like it's a fortune cookie waiting to be broken open and you know the fortune will tell you something real. Max's real."

Isabel smiled and typed the same question for Max. "Could I?" He typed back. "I'm already there."

They said their goodbyes and Maria saved the chats to her hard drive. "I'll tell Liz it's a poem I wrote. She's always so tolerant about reading poems I wrote and stuff."

"Great," Isabel said, "I'll tell Max it's information on—" She suddenly stopped.

"What?" Maria asked, curious.

"Nothing," Isabel stammered, "Nothing. I'll tell him it's a website on tips for college acceptance or something. You know perfect Max."

"Sounds good." Maria pulled up her yahoo mail account and sent the letter to Liz she changed the name of the chat to "beautiful", thinking that was a decent name for a poem. She wrote a quick message and sent it out into cyberspace.

Isabel squealed in delight when Maria hit the send button. She quickly accessed her own e-mail account and, like Maria, wrote a cryptic message, attached the file and hit the send button. "It's done. Now we just have to wait and see what happens."

The radio was tuned to Liz's favorite station and she was singing along to the lyrics. She turned on the computer that was on the desk in the corner of her room and typed in the familiar address of her e-mail account. She deleted some junk mail, quickly read an e-mail from a friend. Then she opened the letter from Maria. It said something about writing; it didn't really make sense. But she downloaded the file anyway.

Liz gasped when she saw what the file was. It was a conversation between Maria and Max. A conversation about her. This must be a mistake. Maria probably sent the wrong file. Sometimes if Maria got hyper she could be a ditz, Liz was sure it was a mistake. She should just close it and delete it, pretend she never saw it.

She couldn't see much of the conversations, just greetings and Maria' question: how did the date go with Liz? Liz knew Max had a good time on the date; she should close the window and delete this. Maybe, she thought, maybe I should just scroll down a little and see what he thought. I mean, if he didn't like something I can know for next time. I'll just scroll down a little, then it'll go in the recycle bun.

Max had just kicked Isabel off the computer. It was 11:30 and she had been on for over two hours and they both had a big science lab due tomorrow, he knew she had barely started it. She complained a little and went off to the kitchen, hopefully to work, and Max signed on. He logged onto his e-mail account and checked his messages. One new message from Maria. He hoped she wasn't giving him a hard time about pouring his heart out about Liz. He felt was wave of embarrassment; maybe he shouldn't have said anything. Despite his fears he opened it up. Max sighed with relief when it turned out to be some website on tips for charming college recruiters. He had been spending hours almost every day looking for scholarships and facts about colleges.

He opened it to find it wasn't a website at all. It was a text message between Maria, Isabel and...Liz. And they were talking about him. He couldn't see much, he would have to scroll down to read what she thought of him. He knew he should delete it, but he just couldn't. He held his breath and started to read…

"Wow," Liz breathed. She had no idea Max felt this way about her! It was like a bad romance novel or something. "No, not a bad romance novel," She corrected herself, "It's way to good." She didn't want anyone to overhear her, so she didn't say the next words out loud, but in her head she was screaming them with joy Max Evanst is in love with me! She scrolled to the top and re-read the conversation, And not just in love with me, head over heels for me. She read over the part when Max confessed he was in love with her. She smiled I never thought anyone would feel that way about me. I thought that was only in books. I didn't think it would happen to me.

Then she felt a wave of nausea. If she had Max's chat, that meant he…Oh, no!

Max's face was a bright pink when Isabel interrupted him at the computer.

"Hey, Bro," Isabel said, holding an empty jar of peanut butter and a plate with the makings of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. "Do we have any more peanut butter?"

"Did you try the pantry?" Max asked, annoyed

"Yes," Isabel said, wondering about her brother's blush. "There wasn't any."

Max made a show of checking his pockets before saying irritably, "Nope, I don't have any on me."

"You're mean today," Isabel said, slightly hurt.

"Come on, Isabel! Don't be dumb! If there's no peanut butter in the pantry do you think I would have any?"

"Fine, whatever, bye." She stormed out. Max sighed deeply and followed her.

"Isabel! Isabel, I'm sorry. I'm in a bad mood." He smiled sweetly at her, "Come on, forgive me?"

She was silent for a moment before giving in, "All right. You're forgiven. But next time you're acting like an asshole give me notice, ok?"

Max bit back a reply and forced a grin, "Sure, I'll make a sign or something. If you want I'll go to the store tomorrow and get peanut butter. Do you wanna make a list for the week for me?"

"Ok. How much do we have?"

"Fifty bucks." Max answered.

"That's all? How are we gonna get groceries on that?" Isabel demanded.

"I don't know. Look, I'll try and scrape some more together. Just get us through the next few days on fifty."

"Can you get me more in a few days?"

"I'll try." Max made himself put on a pleasant face. "I'll try."

"Max, Isabel!" Their mother called from the bedroom.

They looked at eachother for a long moment. "I was making the sandwich for mom." Isabel explained.

"Fine, I'll go and see what she wants." Max turned to go.

Isabel put the plain slice of bread on top of the slice covered in grape jelly. "Here," She said, handing him the sandwich. "Take this."

Max rolled his eyes, making Isabel laugh. "Great, Isabel."

"Are you done with the computer? I'll look online for some coupons to print."

"The printers busted." Max said.

"I'll save the links and print them out somewhere else."

"Um, ok, don't go on the computer right now."

"Why not?" Isabel asked, surprised. "Your completely full backpack is in the kitchen. What are you working on?"

"Nothing," Max stammered and got a little red again, "I was just reading…something."

"Something?" Isabel asked, a playful grin on her face. "Something like…porn?"

"Oh, come on, Isabel! Grow up!"

"Then what is it?"

"It's um, an e-mail. It's a, uh, personal e-mail."

Isabel smiled in understanding. So Max finally got his hands on the e-mail, huh? "An e-mail from Maria by any chance?" And she laughed when Max looked down at the floor, embarrassed. She took the sandwich back and started to walk out. "Fine, I'll take the sandwich to mom and do whatever she needs. You go ahead and, ahem, finish" She said the last word, pointedly, which earned a scowl from Max.

"It's not like that—" He protested.

Isabel shrugged it off breezily, "Uh-huh, it never is. Goodnight" And she winked at him before walking out and closing the door on an angry Max.

The next day Maria and Liz were standing by Max's locker, waiting for him to come by. "Are you still nervous?" Maria asked, gently.

"A little. How do you greet a guy who is in love with you and knows how you feel for him, but you haven't told eachother yet?"

"I don't know," Maria admitted, soothingly.

"Ok," Liz said, "Bring the old Maria back. I know you're afraid I'm gonna blow up and you but I'm over it. I was pissed last night and your answering machine is probably seeking therapy, but I'm over it. And you are not helping at all like this."

"Thank God!" Maria exclaimed wearily, "I didn't know how much longer I could keep that up! Ok, where were we?"

"What do I say? I mean, seriously, good morning hardly seems right. And screaming out—" She stopped herself from finishing that thought, "screaming out some of my more personal thoughts doesn't seem right either," Maria laughed at her friends obvious discomfort.

"How about grabbing him, throwing him against a locker and making out with him for a few minutes?"

"You think that is the best course of action?" Liz asked.

"Absolutely. He'd love it." Maria said.

"That sounds like a bit much." Liz said, only half kidding.

"Look, the guy just expressed his deepest, darkest feelings about you and every single one was mushy and romantic and all about how beautiful you are. I figure the guy deserves at least a little nookie."

"Well, when you put it like that, ew." Maria laughed. "You know what I need?" Liz asked.

"What?"

"A rewind/erase button. Like, let me give the spontaneous making out thing a try and if it doesn't work I can rewind and erase—"

"Hence the need for a rewind/erase button," Maria teased.

Liz glare at her and continued, "and it's forgotten. And I can try all coy and feminine. And if that doesn't work—"

"Yea, I get it, rewind/erase. I'm a lot smarter that you give me credit for." Maria said.

"Right."

"Oh, here he is!" Maria squealed, she was so excited for Liz. "OK, look, I dare you."

"You dare me?" Liz snorted, "Aren't we above dares?" Then she blushed, remembering a similar conversation during her date with Max and she suppressed a small smile.

"Are we?" Maria asked evily.

"No," Liz muttered. "Fine, Ok? I'll do it. But let the record show it's only because you dared me!"

"Right, only because I dared you." Maria pretended to write it down.

"I don't like your sarcastic tone." Liz started.

"Hey, Liz," Max said, shyly, walking up to them with Isabel in tow.

"Hey," Liz said.

Maria grabbed Isabel's arm, "We're outta here!" She cried, dragging a confused Isabel along.

"So, did you—" Max started, but then Liz grabbed him and shoved him up against the locker, "Liz, what—" But he didn't get to ask his question, because Liz was already kissing him.

"So?" Maria asked, poking Liz with a pencil, "how did it go?"

"Well, he liked it, I guess."

"You guess?"

"I hit his head kinda hard against the locker." Liz admitted, embarrassed. Maria burst out laughing, causing a few people to stare at them. "Shut up, Maria! Cut me some slack, I'm new at this."

"Some things are inexcusable." Maria stated flatly.

"Yea, well, excuse me. I forgot how adept you were at making out. By the way, how is Michael?"

"You mean my walking, talking practice dummy? He's fine." Liz crossed her eyes and stuck out her tongue, something that always grossed Maria out.

"Here's my class." Maria said sadly. "I gotta go. I'll see you at lunch, OK?"

"You bet!" Liz said, "Bye!"

Maria waved and took off towards her class. Liz walked absently to her own class, allowing a silly smile on her face. The morning had been fun, Max had barely been able to speak for 5 minutes. It was nice, he was a good kisser, he slid his hands in to her hair and held her head in place, keeping it close. She had always loved that.

Of course, then Michael walked up to them and started in on Liz. Something about her being a hypocrite and ignoring sexual urges and how disgusting public displays were until Max and Liz reluctantly pulled apart.

Michael would probably brag to Maria about getting Liz so good and then Maria would get him. Liz figured she would yell at him for a while about ruining her plan. Maybe not, she mused, Michael had a way of calming Maria. A skill Liz had never mastered.

The warning bell rang and Liz shook her head to clear the fog, she had to pay attention. She turned her head and saw Max hurrying down the hall and she smiled. He smiled back with the smile he reserved just for her and she felt a wave of satisfaction so she didn't even notice when she arrived to class late and the teacher yelled at her. Actually, she was in a daze until she saw Max again. It seemed only he could get her undivided attention.