Authors Note: To get a better description of Max in your head, imagine Zan without the beard and his hair is more like Max on the show.  That's what my Max looks like.  Part 3

Liz sat up in her bed, turning off the alarm clock, which was blaring loudly; in it's usual alarm clock sound.

She stretched her arms and yawned, noticing the fresh scars that were on her arm from the corner of her eyes.

She had met the guy of her dreams the other night, shook hands, locked eyes and they seemed to of breathed the same breath. 


But it had changed the minute she entered back in the apartment.

Her father had been waiting…apparently he had been looking out the peephole at Liz and Max.

He was drunk too.

After screaming at her the vicious insults, Liz once again ran to the bathroom, the words repeating in her head that she was a slut, that she wasn't good enough, and that she was like a whore on the street that advertised herself to guys.

Liz looked at the clock again noticing that she only had a half hour to get ready for school.  She got out of bed and took a quick shower and dressed.  After getting dressed she wore a sweater over her outfit.

As she left to leave her room, like every morning, she silently prayed that she wouldn't come in contact with her father.

She breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that he wasn't there.

Liz ran outside and waited for the familiar roar of a motorcycle. 

Michael, her best friend since before her mother died, had been getting her to school everyday since he got his motorcycle.

She sat down on the curb and looked at the ground.  She lifted her head when she heard Michael's motorcycle pull up.

She smiled and climbed on the back of the cycle.

"How's it going?" Michael asked.

"It's going fine," Liz lied.  Even though Michael was her best friend, he knew nothing of the abuse from her father and the fact that she cut the shit out of her arms.

"Cool." Michael said reluctantly before roaring out of the apartment complexes.

He wasn't stupid.  He knew that something was wrong with Liz, but she had never confided in him.

And it hurt.

She was his best friend.  And she was hiding from him.

* * * *

Max and Maria stood in front of West Roswell High School, ten minutes before homeroom was to start.

Max reached in his pocket and pulled out a document.

"School transcripts" Max said to Maria as he handed her, her transcripts.

"How the hell did you get this?" Maria asked him.

Max shrugged his shoulders.  "I have my ways." He said before pulling the door open and they walked in.

Max and Maria walked in the hall; aware of the sudden stares they were getting from the other students.

Maria wasn't surprised as she started at the girls' preppy outfits.  She thought she and Max stood out with their baggy clothes, dyed hair and pierced bodies.

"They're staring at us," Maria whispered to Max.

"Yea, I've noticed" Max said dryly.  He hated being started at…like he was under some sort of microscope.

"I guess we should go to the office," Maria said to him.

"Yea, we should." Max replied.  They headed toward the main office, which was luckily right in front of them.

They entered the office and stood in front of the front desk.

The woman at the front desk looked up, taking in their appearance.  "Names?" she said to the two.

"Max DeLuca and Maria DeLuca." Max said to the woman.

The woman quickly typed up something on her computer.  "Alright…" she muttered as she pressed print.  She got up to go the printer and returned seconds later to hand them their schedules.

"Here you go." The woman said as she handed them the schedules. 

"Thanks." Max and Maria said before walking out of the office into the deserted hallways.

"What you got first?" Max asked.

"Uh…I got Trig first, then English 11, then Physiology," Maria rolled her eyes.  "After that I have Drama, then lunch, then Spanish—easy one.  And then I have Chemistry." Maria told him.

Max nodded his head.  "I got Spanish, Physics, English 12, Pre-Cal, lunch, Art, and last but not least I got a free period."  Max finished with a smile.

"Not fair!" Maria cried she looked at his schedule to confirm it.  "Why do you have a free period?"

"Feels great to be a senior." Max answered.

Maria pouted slightly.  "Whatever.  I'm going to find my way to class now.  See you at lunch" She said with a fake smile.

Max laughed.  "Me too."

They parted ways and Max looked at the Spanish class number.  "E131" he muttered.  He looked up at the hallway sign and saw that he was already in the 'E' wing.  He walked down the hall until he saw class 131.

"Here goes nothing." He said to himself before knocking on the door.

The teacher opened the door and welcomed him in.  "Hola!" the teacher called.  "Me nombre es Senorita Lopez." The teacher introduced her self brightly.  "Como se llama?"

"Me llamo Max DeLuca." Max responded easily.

Senora Lopez smiled brightly before presenting him to the class.  "Class, this Max DeLuca." She turned to Max.  "Where are you from?"

"I'm from Miami." He responded uncomfortably.  He didn't like the way the students stared at him, presumably looking at his attire.

"In Spanish." The teacher stated.

"Soy de Miami." Max responded.

The teacher nodded and pointed to the vacant seat beside a big guy with Jesus like hair in the back.  "Go sit beside Michael Guerin." She ordered.

Max nodded and headed towards his new seat.  "Hey." He said to Michael as he sat down.

Michael looked up.  "Hey." He grunted, not really caring to make any new friends.

Max shook his head and faced the teacher.

It was going to be a long day.

* * * * *

At lunchtime Maria sat with Liz, who happened to be in her Drama class and offered to let Maria eat with her.

"Who do you usually lunch with?" Maria asked brightly, happy to of made a new friend.

Liz swallowed the salad that was in her mouth.  "Well, I usually eat with Michael Guerin, Isabel Evans, and Alex Whitman." She blushed slightly.  "Is your brother coming?" she asked, hoping she didn't sound like a lovesick fool.

Maria smiled to herself; Liz had it bad for Max.  "Uh, yea, as soon as I see him, I'll call him over." Maria responded.

Maria watched as a group of people walked toward their table, she focused on the guy with the long hair.  

"Hey guys." She heard Liz say.

"Maria.  This is Michael." Liz said while pointing to the guy with the Jesus do.  "This is Alex," she pointed to the guy with the short hair.  "And this is Isabel." She pointed to the tall, beautiful, blonde.

"Hey." Maria said shyly.  Liz looked over at her in surprise. 

She didn't know the girl that well, but she knew enough to know that Maria wasn't shy.

Seconds later, Max strolled into the quad and looked around for his sister.  Maria smiled and stood in her seat.  "Max, idioto!  Estoy aquí!"  Maria blushed as she realized the whole quad was looking at her.  She slowly sank down to her seat to the puzzled stares of her tablemates.

Max walked over to her and smirked.  "Soy el idioto?"

Maria covered her face.  "Cierre para arriba."

The siblings looked up and saw the whole table looking at them.

"Sorry…" they muttered.

"It's okay," Liz responded with a smile.  Max smiled back at her.

"So," Alex said loudly, interrupting their staring match.  "Where are you guys from?" he asked.

"We're from Miami-." Maria began to answer.

"Where's your lunch?" Max asked Maria abruptly.

"I forgot it at home." Maria answered quietly.

Max nodded slowly, not wanting to cause a scene.  "Okay."

"Anyways." Maria continued brightly.  "Like I said, we're from Miami."

"Why'd you leave?" Isabel asked them.

"We had our reasons." Maria explained.  "You know, we just, uh, wanted to tour the country." She said seconds later.

"And your parents let you?" Alex asked in awe.

"Man, I'd kill to have your parents." Isabel said with a small laugh, the whole table, excluding Max and Maria followed her.

Max crumpled up his food and stood up.  "I wouldn't wish those parents on anyone," he said, before walking away.

The table stared at him in question.  Maria stood up, ready to go after him, but stopped as Liz put her hand on her arm.

"Can I go?" Liz asked quietly, fearfully.

Maria nodded slowly.  "Yea, sure…" she responded, her voice full of pain, her heart heavy.

She watched as Liz ran after her brothers retreating figure, waiting till they were both gone before turning back to the rest of the table.

"I'm-I'm sorry…"Isabel said quietly.  "I didn't mean to make him upset."

Maria tried to smile.  "It's okay."

"So what was that about?" Michael asked, his voice, calmer than it had ever been before.

Maria shook her head.  "Nothing, nothing!" she exclaimed as she put on a bright smile.  "Now, anyways, anyone want to go see Orange County with Max and me?" She said brightly.

Falsely.

The rest of the table smiled and let her go on with her charade.  Hopefully she would learn to confide in them one day…when that day was, they didn't know.

TBC