Aftermath

Sera pulled the Pathfinder into the parking lot at school. Grabbing her bag she started in when she

noticed Kyle's Mustang pull in the lot.

Her first instinct was to run to him, as she always did the days they drove to school separately.

She checked herself when the events of the weekend came rocketing back to her.

Their eyes met as he exited the car, He set his jaw and looked away from her. Sera dropped her

head and turned toward the school

"Ouch! That was harsh." Pam's voice sounded behind Sera.

"What do you want Pam?" Serena asked without turning around.

"I wanted to thank you. I don't know if it was your lack of experience in the bedroom; or

the fact that he woke up and realized he wants a woman instead of a girl; but, whatever you

did that made Kyle finally dump you, you couldn't have picked a better time. Rachel's

party is next weekend and now I have the perfect date."

Sera turned to face Pam. "You just can't wait to make an ill-fated pass at him can you?"

"Jealous?"

"Of you? Are you kidding?"

"Just know this Sera.I've wanted Kyle for awhile now, and I'm going to make the most of

this opportunity. So while you're sitting at home ALONE Saturday night, I'll have Kyle all

to myself. Thank God the Forrester's are going out of town, their king- sized waterbed will

be the perfect playground for us."

Sera fought the urge to slap the sneer right off Pam's face.

//Probably not a good idea, my luck one wave of my hand and she'd be a dust pile. Explaining

that to Principal Forrester would be fun.//

Taking a deep breath, Sera was about to tell Pam where she could go when she heard Kayla's

voice.

"Hey Pam, Sera. Listen Pam I heard they're having auditions for Jerry Springer in the

auditorium. I think the topic is over zealous teen tramps, I couldn't help but think of you."

She twisted her pretty features into a cruel smile before putting an arm around Sera's shoulders

"Come on Sera, let's get out of here."

Once inside, Sera leaned her head against Kayla's shoulder. "Thank you! I was just about to hit

her and I think that would have been pretty bad."

"Hey. No one messes with my friend. But I'm sorry I stopped you that would have been

cool!" Kayla pulled Sera closer to her. "So.why didn't you call me?"



"Oh Kayla, I was just."

"Its OK. I just want you to know that I'm here. If you ever need me for anything."

Sera wrapped her arms around her friend. "Thank you!"

"Hey what are roomies for?"

Sera smiled her first genuine smile in three days. ***************************** Kyle entered Spanish class and sat next to Liz

She half smiled at him and patted his back when he sat down next to her.

"Hey."

"Hey." He didn't look at her.

"You OK?"

"Why wouldn't I be?"

"Well, I left you messages, but..."

"Yeah I was a little busy, Its not everyday you find out your girlfriend is a freaking ET."

"Kyle!"

"What! You want me to sugar coat it Liz, we're way beyond that."

"No, I'm.I'm just worried about you."

"Well don't I'm fine."



"Kyle."

I'm fine Liz. I don't want to talk about it anymore."

Liz opened her mouth to say something but quickly closed it when Kyle finally looked at her. The

circles under his eyes and the hurt expression on his face broke her heart. She grabbed his hand

and gave it a squeeze, pleased that he didn't pull away. ***************************** Maria sat next to Sera and glanced sideways at her.

Neither girl spoke for a moment, each unsure what to say.

Finally Sera mustered her courage.

"Hey."

"Hey."

They both quickly looked away as they realized that they had nothing more to say. *****************************

Sera left Drama in a separate direction from Maria. She took the long way around and came up

the back staircase. Max and Liz were walking into English just as she arrived at the door. Sera

dropped her head and waited for them to enter.



"What? Are you going to ignore us all day?"

Sera's head snapped up at the sound of Liz's voice.

"I.um no."

"Sera. I meant what I said Saturday. I'm here if you want to talk, and I'm still your friend."

Sera's eyes misted over as she looked at the petite brunette.

"Thank you."

"Come on. If we're lucky Mr. York will forget about the quiz on The Iliad."

"We can dream right?"

The girls smiled at each other as they entered the classroom. *****************************

After English, Max walked Sera and Liz to Trig. He kissed Liz and nodded at Sera before

meeting Maria at the end of the hall. Pam and her cronies were already in the classroom and

snickered when the girls entered.

"Think they could be a bit more childish?" Liz asked, turning to face Sera.

"She jumped on me first thing this morning and delighted in telling me she was going to

snap Kyle up ASAP."

"Ugh! She's a real piece of work isn't she?"

"Do you really think.I mean would he, never mind."

As they reached their seats, Liz placed her hand on Sera's shoulder.

"NO, and Sera if he did, it wouldn't be half the connection that the two of you had."

"Had, Liz see that's the problem. I screwed up really bad with Kyle and I don't know if I

can ever repair that damage."

"Sera, you'd be amazed at how easily we can forgive people we care about." ***************************** Physics class past with little event. Tonya, on strict orders from Kayla, made sure that Sera had

no time to dwell on Kyle. She made goofy faces as they worked on their experiments and kept

telling bad jokes that elicited groans, not only from Sera, but Max and Liz as well. ***************************** Downstairs, Kyle sat in silence with Maria and Michael as Mr. Kulick ticked off the contents of

the following week's quiz.

Maria had attempted to engage Kyle in conversation, to no avail. He'd offered the occasional

grunt to all her overtures.

"Please talk to me."

*Grunt*

"Kyle."

*Silence*

"Kyle James Valenti, I am your almost-sister and you will talk to me right now or I will use

my Amy voice on you." Maria hissed loud enough for Kyle to hear, but quite enough that the rest

of the class could not.

"M, I just don't feel like chatting. Can't I just wallow?"

"No, you're aren't properly equipped to wallow. Lizzie isn't here, there is no sad music, and

most importantly there's no ice cream. How can you wallow without ice cream?"

Kyle wasn't sure if it was her words or the completely serious expression on her face that caused

him to laugh more. ***************************** Sera chose to sit with Kayla, Tonya and Rachel during lunch. She spent a better part of the half-

hour sneaking glances at Kyle, who was sandwiched between Liz and Maria.

"You know he doesn't look real happy about this breakup either." Kayla said as she picked

up Sera's VitaminWater bottle and tossed it in the garbage.

"It was the right thing."

"How can you say that when both of you are so miserable."

"It's complicated. But for now, as much as it hurts, I think Kyle was right to pull away."

Kayla shook her head and tossed a look at Tonya as if to say 'They're both crazy!' ***************************** Study Hall was a lesson in uncomfortable. Since there was a seating chart, Max, Kyle and Sera

were together in the back of the room. None of them had spoken since they took their seats. Max

gave each of them a curt nod, before busying himself in his Trig homework. Kyle stuck his nose

in his Spanish book and Sera grabbed the INSTYLE magazine from her bag and opened it to the

feature on Kate Hudson.

Sera didn't react the first time Max called her name. She jumped slightly when he repeated it and

touched her shoulder to attract her attention.

"God! Sorry Max, I got distracted."

"Its OK, Sorry I scared you. Seating Chart?"

Sera looked down and noticed Max holding the seating chart out for her to sign.

"Thanks."

She took it and jotted her name in the appropriate spot, then hesitantly held it toward Kyle. He too

was engrossed in his Spanish text. She looked at Max for a moment. He took the hint and plucked

the paper from her grasp.

"Kyle." Max said, placing the chart on his desk.

Kyle grunted and quickly scribbled his name on the chart before passing it to the front of the

room. ***************************** Kyle left the classroom first. Sera took her time gathering her things so he could get up the stairs

and into Government before she did. Max hesitated at the door, watching her slow progress.

"There's a seating chart in Government too, avoiding him in the hall is kind of pointless

don't you think?"

Sera finished loading her bag and popped it on her shoulder.

"The less contact we have the better it will be. For him at least. It's killing me."

She smiled sadly and walked past Max into the hall.

"He just needs to take a step back from it all, not everyone can readily accept this new

development like Liz."

"I know that. And she.you.all of you have accepted more than I would have thought

possible given your history."

Max nodded but remained silent.

"I can issue a thousand apologies to all of you and beg for forgiveness until I'm blue in the

face, but the only thing that's going to make you trust me, or even be comfortable around

me again is time. And as much as it pains me to be distanced from Kyle and Maria and all

of you, I understand why its necessary."

They had reached their classroom, Max nodded Sera in ahead of him, as she passed he lightly

grazed her shoulder. Serena took a deep breath and offered a weak smile at his gesture.

Liz, already seated, noticed this, and smiled warmly at her boyfriend as he took his seat next to

her. ***************************** When the bell rang for seventh period Sera waved a quick goodbye to the group and bolted for

the stairs. Kayla, Tonya and Rachel were waiting at the gym entrance for her. She threw the best

smile she could muster on her face and walked into the gym with them. Pam entered not to far

behind them and snickered loudly to Amber. Before she could open her mouth Kayla spun on her

heel and issued her a threatening look. Pam rolled her eyes but pushed past the trio without a

word.

The girls dressed quickly and made their way to the football field to practice.

Cheering was a way for Serena to work out her frustrations. Her movements were performed with

sharp precision. Ms. Cannon pulled her to the front of the line. "Watch Sera's kicks here. She's

nailed it. Pam, legs up!"

"That's usually not a problem!" Kayla snarked to Tonya.

Sera's concentration broke for a split second as she smirked at Kayla's comment.

"Kayla.take a lap around the field." Ms. Cannon was not sporting a happy expression.

"The truth hurts!" Kayla said taking off.

"Make it two." Ms. Cannon yelled at her retreating back.

TBC