Part Eight
Jim Valenti and Amy Deluca were on a date. As always, and common for single parents their conversation always led back to their kids. Recently in particular, the subjects of their parents thoughts were causing more problems than usual. The kids were acting strange. Strange for teenagers was normal one might say but this was different – stranger than normal and the parents were worried.
"I don't know what's going on. She won't tell me. All I know is that I never see Michael, Liz, Alex or any of the others anymore."
"Kyle and Tess seem depressed. I don't think they have broken up but they barely talk to each other. None of them smile anymore and Maria hasn't been over to visit Tess in ages. I'm worried," Jim said.
"Its worse than that. Strange kids phone all the time. Maria says that they are friends but I've never met them. When she's home she stays in her room all the time strumming her guitar and writing in a little notebook."
"I haven't seen her at the CD at all lately," Jim put in.
"That's another thing. She quit her job there and didn't even tell me. I don't get it."
"She quit? But…"
"Exactly. Something happened that's split them up and I don't know what it is."
"I don't know what we should do. Maybe if we wait it out they will fix it on their own."
"I hope so. I really hope so. I want to see my daughter laugh again."
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Isabel was waiting for Alex with Tess, Max and Kyle. Now that they had a plan they all seemed a little lighter and they were all eager to start. It had been a few minutes already. Courtney, the last person besides them walked past and left.
"How long does it take to fetch something?" Kyle asked, more to break the silence than anything.
"I'll go get him," Isabel stated and squeezed out the booth and walked into the back, still holding her soda in her hand.
She didn't see anyone around and was going to try the kitchen when she spotted the recorder. Noticing it was on she rewinded to see what her boyfriend recorded.
The recording began with Alex answering Liz. 'That's explains where he is," Isabel thought to herself and was about to press stop when Courtney's conversation began.
The sound of the glass falling crashed into the silence of the closed café and had everyone immediately running into the backroom. Liz, Alex and Michael on the way up the steps from the basement ran the rest the way and Max, Tess and Kyle came rushing in from the front of the room. The sight that met them was one none of them had ever seen, not even Max and Michael.
Isabel stood in the centre of the breakroom, glass all around her, clutching the recorder tightly in her hand but the thing that shocked all of them was the expression on her face and the tears running down her face. When Isabel cried she did it alone where no one could see her momentary lapse of weakness. The others stared in shock before Alex ran to his girlfriend, "Iz are you hurt. Did you get cut?" he said worriedly.
Max pulled her away from where she was standing in the middle of the cut glass to the side and Tess with one swipe of her hand had the glass repaired. Isabel didn't say a word. She grabbed Alex tightly and buried her head in his shoulder, sobs escaping. The others stood worriedly while Alex patted her on the back and made soothing noises.
"Isabel?" Michael asked gently, worry for her making him forget his pain for a second. And at the sound of his voice Isabel burst into fresh tears. She didn't know how to tell them, how they would take it. The guilt she felt was so bad, for them it would be so much worse. It made her cry even harder. The others waited for her to calm down and tell them what was wrong. In the end she didn't know how to say it so she released Alex and pressed play.
The recording began again and Isabel saw the understanding dawn on their faces as they realised what it meant she saw the tortured expression on Michael's as he took in the words, the guilt on all their faces, the sorrow, the fear, the pain. Liz collapsed to the couch her legs buckling beneath her. Her face broke, through the cold expression she had worn for days as it occurred to her what she had done to her best friend, as it occurred to them all. Isabel wasn't the only one crying now.
"Oh my God. What did we do? What did we do?" Liz cried. And no one could answer. Michael looked like he was about to run again but it was like he didn't have the energy. He collapsed next to Liz and Max beside him.
"I said such mean things to her. I told her to get out of my life. Man, this is bad."
"Bad was watching that skin kiss you. We are way beyond bad here. What we did was…we broke every rule of friendship there was. This is a catastrophe," Liz said her voice breaking into tears.
"She'll never forgive us for this. We walked out on her." Michael said his voice so soft you could barely hear.
"I should have listened to my instincts. Why didn't I let her explain?" Alex said.
"That's why she looked so confused when we just ganged up on her." Tess added
"We didn't even listen to her. Oh god she quit because of us." Kyle said.
"No she quit because of me. I did this to her. Its all my fault. I made you'll believe me."
"We're all at fault here. She would have never done this to any of us. She would have searched until she found an explanation that made sense and we just gave her up. Just like that," Isabel said.
"She's never going to want to speak to us again." Michael said and everyone of them knew he was right. What they did was unforgivable.
"We have to fix this, "Alex said determinedly, "We have to."
"We'll make her talk to us." Kyle added.
"I don't think so, Alex. You saw her face when I walked away from her. She looked so hurt. Like I had stabbed her," Michael told him. Alex felt himself lose some of hope because he knew Michael was right. He had seen Maria's face when they all walked out on her.
"We cant just give up like that. Maria is the most giving person I know, the most generous and loving. She'll forgive us. She will. I know she will." Tess yelled at them.
"After we threw her love back in her face, her trust. Without even a question we just threw her away." Liz said. "Over a decade of friendship and I just let my best friend go."
"Stop feeling sorry for yourselves. You'll don't deserve it . None of us do," Tess stated, "We have to go and fix this. Its gone on long enough," and when the others just stared at her she added, "Are you just going to let them win. Let Courtney win."
It was enough to get them moving. They left the CD and headed to the Maria's house. The cars parked outside, they got out slowly and stood at the front door. All of them were nervous. To a house all of them had spent time in, Liz and Alex practically living there at some points – it was difficult to go in. Who knows how long they would have stood there, gathering up the courage to face their friend whom they had wronged so badly if Isabel hadn't finally wrung the bell.
Tess who had pushed them to this point lost some of her bravado at the thought of facing a girl that had accepted her and was her first ever human girlfriend. Michael didn't know how he could fix this. He had many screw-up in their long relationship but this… it was beyond bad. He was terrified that he couldn't fix it, that he had lost her forever because of something so unbelievable. Under the fear was the guilt and with that anger. He was furious at himself. It was a sentiment they all shared. They all should have known better. Him, Liz, Alex, all of them.
For Liz, up to now the hardest thing she ever had to do was to convince Max to fall out of love with her by acting out a betrayal. Watching his face as he caught sight of her and Kyle was the worst thing she had to do until now. Through all of that, Liz at least knew that the fate of the world was dependent on it and that gave her strength. That and the fact that at least she would always have Maria to support her when she found out. What she did to Maria was worse, way worse. She destroyed her best friend for no reason, nothing that could explain any of this or forgive her actions. She didn't deserve to have a friend like Maria. None of them did. Maria deserved friends that trusted her, that believed her, treated her like Maria always treated them.
The door opened.
End Part 8
Jim Valenti and Amy Deluca were on a date. As always, and common for single parents their conversation always led back to their kids. Recently in particular, the subjects of their parents thoughts were causing more problems than usual. The kids were acting strange. Strange for teenagers was normal one might say but this was different – stranger than normal and the parents were worried.
"I don't know what's going on. She won't tell me. All I know is that I never see Michael, Liz, Alex or any of the others anymore."
"Kyle and Tess seem depressed. I don't think they have broken up but they barely talk to each other. None of them smile anymore and Maria hasn't been over to visit Tess in ages. I'm worried," Jim said.
"Its worse than that. Strange kids phone all the time. Maria says that they are friends but I've never met them. When she's home she stays in her room all the time strumming her guitar and writing in a little notebook."
"I haven't seen her at the CD at all lately," Jim put in.
"That's another thing. She quit her job there and didn't even tell me. I don't get it."
"She quit? But…"
"Exactly. Something happened that's split them up and I don't know what it is."
"I don't know what we should do. Maybe if we wait it out they will fix it on their own."
"I hope so. I really hope so. I want to see my daughter laugh again."
@@@@@@@@@@@@
Isabel was waiting for Alex with Tess, Max and Kyle. Now that they had a plan they all seemed a little lighter and they were all eager to start. It had been a few minutes already. Courtney, the last person besides them walked past and left.
"How long does it take to fetch something?" Kyle asked, more to break the silence than anything.
"I'll go get him," Isabel stated and squeezed out the booth and walked into the back, still holding her soda in her hand.
She didn't see anyone around and was going to try the kitchen when she spotted the recorder. Noticing it was on she rewinded to see what her boyfriend recorded.
The recording began with Alex answering Liz. 'That's explains where he is," Isabel thought to herself and was about to press stop when Courtney's conversation began.
The sound of the glass falling crashed into the silence of the closed café and had everyone immediately running into the backroom. Liz, Alex and Michael on the way up the steps from the basement ran the rest the way and Max, Tess and Kyle came rushing in from the front of the room. The sight that met them was one none of them had ever seen, not even Max and Michael.
Isabel stood in the centre of the breakroom, glass all around her, clutching the recorder tightly in her hand but the thing that shocked all of them was the expression on her face and the tears running down her face. When Isabel cried she did it alone where no one could see her momentary lapse of weakness. The others stared in shock before Alex ran to his girlfriend, "Iz are you hurt. Did you get cut?" he said worriedly.
Max pulled her away from where she was standing in the middle of the cut glass to the side and Tess with one swipe of her hand had the glass repaired. Isabel didn't say a word. She grabbed Alex tightly and buried her head in his shoulder, sobs escaping. The others stood worriedly while Alex patted her on the back and made soothing noises.
"Isabel?" Michael asked gently, worry for her making him forget his pain for a second. And at the sound of his voice Isabel burst into fresh tears. She didn't know how to tell them, how they would take it. The guilt she felt was so bad, for them it would be so much worse. It made her cry even harder. The others waited for her to calm down and tell them what was wrong. In the end she didn't know how to say it so she released Alex and pressed play.
The recording began again and Isabel saw the understanding dawn on their faces as they realised what it meant she saw the tortured expression on Michael's as he took in the words, the guilt on all their faces, the sorrow, the fear, the pain. Liz collapsed to the couch her legs buckling beneath her. Her face broke, through the cold expression she had worn for days as it occurred to her what she had done to her best friend, as it occurred to them all. Isabel wasn't the only one crying now.
"Oh my God. What did we do? What did we do?" Liz cried. And no one could answer. Michael looked like he was about to run again but it was like he didn't have the energy. He collapsed next to Liz and Max beside him.
"I said such mean things to her. I told her to get out of my life. Man, this is bad."
"Bad was watching that skin kiss you. We are way beyond bad here. What we did was…we broke every rule of friendship there was. This is a catastrophe," Liz said her voice breaking into tears.
"She'll never forgive us for this. We walked out on her." Michael said his voice so soft you could barely hear.
"I should have listened to my instincts. Why didn't I let her explain?" Alex said.
"That's why she looked so confused when we just ganged up on her." Tess added
"We didn't even listen to her. Oh god she quit because of us." Kyle said.
"No she quit because of me. I did this to her. Its all my fault. I made you'll believe me."
"We're all at fault here. She would have never done this to any of us. She would have searched until she found an explanation that made sense and we just gave her up. Just like that," Isabel said.
"She's never going to want to speak to us again." Michael said and everyone of them knew he was right. What they did was unforgivable.
"We have to fix this, "Alex said determinedly, "We have to."
"We'll make her talk to us." Kyle added.
"I don't think so, Alex. You saw her face when I walked away from her. She looked so hurt. Like I had stabbed her," Michael told him. Alex felt himself lose some of hope because he knew Michael was right. He had seen Maria's face when they all walked out on her.
"We cant just give up like that. Maria is the most giving person I know, the most generous and loving. She'll forgive us. She will. I know she will." Tess yelled at them.
"After we threw her love back in her face, her trust. Without even a question we just threw her away." Liz said. "Over a decade of friendship and I just let my best friend go."
"Stop feeling sorry for yourselves. You'll don't deserve it . None of us do," Tess stated, "We have to go and fix this. Its gone on long enough," and when the others just stared at her she added, "Are you just going to let them win. Let Courtney win."
It was enough to get them moving. They left the CD and headed to the Maria's house. The cars parked outside, they got out slowly and stood at the front door. All of them were nervous. To a house all of them had spent time in, Liz and Alex practically living there at some points – it was difficult to go in. Who knows how long they would have stood there, gathering up the courage to face their friend whom they had wronged so badly if Isabel hadn't finally wrung the bell.
Tess who had pushed them to this point lost some of her bravado at the thought of facing a girl that had accepted her and was her first ever human girlfriend. Michael didn't know how he could fix this. He had many screw-up in their long relationship but this… it was beyond bad. He was terrified that he couldn't fix it, that he had lost her forever because of something so unbelievable. Under the fear was the guilt and with that anger. He was furious at himself. It was a sentiment they all shared. They all should have known better. Him, Liz, Alex, all of them.
For Liz, up to now the hardest thing she ever had to do was to convince Max to fall out of love with her by acting out a betrayal. Watching his face as he caught sight of her and Kyle was the worst thing she had to do until now. Through all of that, Liz at least knew that the fate of the world was dependent on it and that gave her strength. That and the fact that at least she would always have Maria to support her when she found out. What she did to Maria was worse, way worse. She destroyed her best friend for no reason, nothing that could explain any of this or forgive her actions. She didn't deserve to have a friend like Maria. None of them did. Maria deserved friends that trusted her, that believed her, treated her like Maria always treated them.
The door opened.
End Part 8