Chapter Three (The start of something new)

Alex and Maria both sat on her bed with their backs against the headboard and their legs out stretched. "Liz told me everything, are you okay?"

Maria nodded. "Yeah I'm fine, I mean I'm sad yeah, he was my father after all but I guess that's it. I don't really feel anything else anymore."

"What about his funeral? Are you going to go?" Maria shook her head. "Why?"

She shrugged. "I don't know, I don't think I want to. I talked to Mom and she said that I could if I wanted to but for some reason I don't. Does that make me a bad person? Not wanting to go to my own father's funeral?"

Alex slung his arm over Maria's shoulders and she relaxed herself into his arms. "No I don't think so. He hasn't been there for you your entire life so no one would expect you to want to go to his funeral, to be honest I would have been very surprised if you did want to go. Not wanting to go doesn't make you a bad person Maria. It's how you feel and if you don't want to go, then no one is going to make you."

Maria smiled. "Thanks Alex."

"So what's staying here like? If you don't like it you can always come and stay with me. I'm sorry I couldn't be reached before but my Dad wanted some father/son bonding time, which meant no phone interruptions. He turned all the cell phones off and disconnected the house phone." Alex said with a shake of the head.

Maria laughed. "It's fine Alex, and staying here is pretty cool. Diane and Phillip seem cool and Isabel has been making me feel really welcome. Max is okay too, but I hardly talk to him because Michael is always there."

The two were interrupted when Isabel walked into the room holding up two skirts, one red the other dark blue. She held them high so she couldn't see that Alex was also in the room. "Which one looks better?" she asked and waited.

"The red one," Alex said after a moment.

Isabel's eyes widened behind the skirts and she brought them down slowly. "Hi Alex, what are you doing here?" she asked and Maria could see a faint blush rise up on her cheeks.

Smiling shyly, Alex nodded towards Maria. "Just seeing how she is. Now I have to go, my Mom wants me home for dinner." Maria hopped off the bed and gave Alex a hug. "Call me if you need anything okay?" Maria nodded and before Alex walked out the door he addressed Isabel again. "Red suits you." With that he headed out of the room telling Maria that he could find his own way out.

Maria faced Isabel with a knowing smile and giggled. "You like Alex," she singsonged.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Isabel lied and started to walk away. It was true, she did sort of like Alex, he wasn't like any guy she had ever met before and she knew that it was exactly what she wanted but didn't think that Alex could ever like her.

"Don't lie to me Isabel Evans," Maria said, pointing a finger at the taller blonde. "Besides, I saw the way you were looking at him with that blush," she said with a smile. "I could help you get him."

Isabel rolled her eyes. "Okay so what if I do like him… and what do you mean you could help me get him?"

"Just that, I can help you get a date with him, trust me he likes you back so it won't be that hard anyway. Leave it to me, you two will have a date by the end of the week, heck by the end of tomorrow if I have anything to do with it," Maria said matter-of-factly.

"Really?" Maria nodded and she smiled. "Okay fine, but this stays between you and me, okay? I don't want the whole world knowing."

"Don't worry, I won't tell a soul," Maria promised. Isabel stared at the smaller girl before grabbing her hand and dragging her into the room. "Isabel, what?" Maria started to say then Isabel pushed her back until she was sitting on the stool in front of Isabel's dressing tale.

"Just shush, since you're going to help me with Alex, I want to do something for you. Now close your eyes." Maria looked at Isabel with hesitant eyes. "Just do it," Isabel demanded and Maria did so. Isabel ran her hands through Maria's hair and watched before her eyes, as it grew longer and curlier. She had wondered what Maria looked like with long hair and just knew that it would look a whole lot better than the pixie cut she had now. A moment later it was done. "Open your eyes," she commanded and Maria slowly did so.

She then gasped at the sight that greeted her. She brought her hand up to touch her hair that was now longer and went down past her shoulders. "Oh my," she whispered. "How did you know?"

Isabel shrugged. "I didn't, I just thought it would look good, and it does.  You like it?"

"Like it? I love it," Maria squealed and jumped into Isabel's arms. "Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you."

Max and Michael came barging in the room slightly out of breath. They had heard a scream and thought that one of the girls was in trouble. "What? What's going on? Are you okay?" Max asked in a rush.

Maria turned to face the boys and Michael suddenly felt as though the wind had been knocked out of him. He thought she was beautiful before but now… now she was breathtaking. Maria unconsciously touched her hair and blushed at the looks that Michael was giving her. Isabel glanced between the two and smirked. Maria wasn't the only one who was going to play matchmaker.

*~*~*~*

The next day, Liz watched with a pained look on her face as Maria and Isabel entered the Crashdown laughing. Alex noticed this and asked her what was wrong. "I know it's selfish," she began. "But I kind of wish that Isabel had never offered Maria a place to stay.  Now it seems as though the two are becoming great friends and… and… I feel left out."

"Liz, Maria would never stop being your best friend, you know her and she would never do that. All she's doing is making a new friend." Alex told her and took a sip of his drink.

She sighed. "I know it's just, I don't want to lose her as a friend."

Alex smiled and grabbed her hand. "You won't Liz, and anyway, you still have me, or have we forgotten?" he said jokingly and Liz laughed.

"What's going on here?" Maria asked as she joined her two best friends in the whole world. She gave Liz a hug. "I can work today if you want me to babe."

Liz shook her head. "No way Maria, my dad gave you the week off. Absolutely no working for you," she said with a smile.

"Fine, so do you two want to join me and Isabel for lunch?" Maria asked and motioned towards the booth that Isabel had claimed.

"I can't," Liz said and grabbed her order pad. "Unlike you I actually do have to work, but I'll call you later?" Maria nodded and Liz grinned then headed over to the man who was trying to gain her attention.

Maria looked expectedly at Alex. "What about you?" She hoped he would say yes so she could start her plans to get him and Isabel together. She sighed in relief when he nodded and stood. The two walked over to the table and sat down. Maris sat next to Isabel while Alex sat across from them. They all sat in silence, no one knowing what to say in the awkward moment until Maria spoke. "You know what? I just remembered that I had something to do, so I'll go and do it and you two have lunch. Isabel I'll see you later, bye Alex."

Without giving the two any time to comment, Maria ran out of the Crashdown and then into the ally, going back into the Crashdown though the back door. She wanted to be there to watch her plan to get the two together unfold.

Isabel smiled at Alex who chuckled. "You do know what she's trying to do right?" Isabel laughed and nodded. Alex then moved to get out of the booth. "Umm, I think that I'll just go, I have some things to do for my Dad."

Isabel nodded solemnly and looked at the table in disappointment. So he didn't like her after all.

Alex was about to walk away when he thought better of it and turned back around. "Do you want to… I don't know, go out with me tonight? Like as in a date? It's okay if you don't want to, I mean--" He stopped talking when he saw her nod slowly.

"I'd love to go out with you Alex," she said with a smile she didn't think could get any bigger.

Alex almost jumped for joy right then and there but concealed it. "Great, great so I'll pick you up around 7?" She nodded and he said bye then left. When he had gotten into his car, Maria skipped back into the café and sat back in the seat he had vacated.

Isabel glared at her. "How could you do that?" she asked but couldn't stop the smile from gracing her features so the glare really didn't have the effect it should have.

Maria shrugged. "Hey it was probably a good thing I left by the look on your face. So how'd it go?" she asked giddily.

Isabel let out a girly giggle feeling really excited. "We have a date, for tonight actually." She looked at her watch then looked at Maria in horror. "Oh my god, Maria we only have 5 hours until he picks me up." She grabbed Maria's hand and pulled her out of the booth. "We have to get home and pick out what I'm going to wear."

*~*~*~*

Maria ducked from the onslaught of flying clothes. Isabel was rifling through her closet and throwing things out left, right and centre. "What am I going to wear?" She heard Isabel ask then watched another article of clothing come flying out. By now Isabel's room looked like a disaster area. "What about this?" she asked, coming out and holding up a black boob-tube dress.

Scrunching her nose in distaste, Maria stood. "No I don't think so, let me see what you have," she said pushing Isabel out of the way. She started to sift through the dresses on the hangers, going through them one by one. "No, no, no, no, hell no," she said, holding up a green dress. "Why did you buy this?" she asked in disgust.

Isabel grimaced as she took the offending dress off Maria. It was lime green with ruffles on the hem and collar. "I think it was a bridesmaids dress for my aunts wedding," she said, throwing on the bed.

"I feel sorry for you," Maria said, going back into the closet. "No, no, no, no, no…wait…no, no, no, no, yes!" she exclaimed holding out the perfect dress. It was made out of red satin like material that went to mid shin with a slit up the left leg and spaghetti straps. "Alex will die when he sees you wearing this."

Isabel took the dress off her and realised she had never worn it before. "You think?"

Maria nodded. "Definitely, he did say that red suited you." Isabel smiled and hung the dress on the hook on the back of her door. "Now that we have the dress, we have to decide what shoes and purse will go with it.

As Maria was going through Isabel's wide selection of footwear, Isabel sat on her bed and started to feel nervous. "Maybe I should cancel," she suddenly announced.

Stopping what she was doing, Maria poked her head out of the closet. "Why on earth would you want to do that?" she asked and headed over to the bed, sitting beside Isabel.

She shrugged. "I'm not sure, I mean I don't want to but it's probably not a good idea for Alex to get involved with me when he can't even get to know the real me."

Maria sighed. "Why can't you just tell him about you? Why can't you tell your parents about who you are?"

"Max, Michael and I all made a pact when we were younger not to let anyone in, well Max kind of broke it but it still stands. We can't let anyone else in. It's too dangerous. That and well… I guess I'm afraid, I'm afraid of the rejection that will follow if I tell Alex or my parents. Look how you acted when you found out."

Nodding, Maria bit her lip. "Admittedly I could have gone about it another way but I didn't really know you when I found out. Your parents do know you and they love you and Alex likes you. They'd never reject you Isabel."

"I want to tell them, I do, it's just that I can't, not now anyway. Not until we know that everything is okay, that it's safe enough to let more people in," Isabel said while playing with the hem of her shirt.

Maria smiled. "I understand, but don't cancel on Alex, he's a great guy and even if he doesn't ever find out about you, he's still great boyfriend material."

Isabel laughed and nodded. "Yeah he is isn't he?" She shook her head clear of all the reasons not to go out with him and concentrated on all the reasons to go out with him instead. She walked over to her dressing table and picked up two different shades of lipstick. "Which matches the dress better?"

TBC…

AN: Thank you all so much for your kind reviews, I really appreciate it, it means a lot to me. I'm glad that you are all enjoying the story and the friendship between the two girls as well as the Candy and Stargazer moments. There will be plenty of both in the next chapter. -Sarah