Yay for long chapters! At least it's longer than the other one anyway...Sorry this took so long to put up here. My computer crashed. But now it's fixed and hopefully it'll stay that way. Anyway this is placed in Roswell again...the next chapter will be Danny, and by than he should be in Roswell so I can finally stop going back and fourth...sorry about that to, it must get annoying...anyway here's the chapter.

Chapter 6 Location: (Roswell, New Mexico)

Claire reached up and grabbed the key from the ledge above the door. She had too much on her mind and didn't even remember that she normally used her powers for this. She was even surprised that she had remembered where the key was since she hadn't used it in so long…

She absentmindedly stuck the key into the keyhole, but her eyes widened slightly as the door pushed open, despite the fact that she hadn't even turned the key.

"Okay that's weird…mom and dad would never leave this open if they weren't home yet…" she said to herself, shoving the key hastily back where it had been before.

She pushed the door open a little more and peered inside curiously but nervous. She didn't see anyone in the living room…so she stepped into the house, closing the door softly behind her before turning back around.

At first she thought that her parents might be home already, but than she remembered that both cars had been missing from the driveway.

"Gosh I'm going crazy over a stupid un-locked door! They probably forgot to lock it!" Claire hissed at herself. But she still had a feeling that that wasn't the case…

Just than she heard something…almost like footsteps…her heart rate quickened but she tried to ignore it as she walked further into the room. She hurried past the staircase, past the downstairs hallway, and past the TV and couch until finally she stepped through a push through door and into the kitchen.

"Empty…maybe I'm just imagining—"

"Claire?" a voice said.

"AHHH!!" Claire screamed and whipped around, holding her hand up slightly as she was about to use her powers. A million thoughts were rushing through her head at a mile a second, and none of them involved that voice being a good sign…

But after a moment the door opened and she quickly lowered her hand, seeing Nicole standing in the doorway of the kitchen; her hand on the doorframe as her head peered slightly into the kitchen, the rest of her in the living room.

"Claire it's okay, it's me!" She said.

Claire sighed in slight relief, trying to stop her heart from pounding so nervously. "Yeah…I noticed…" she muttered.

"I didn't mean to scare you like that…sorry…."

"Scare me? You didn't scare me…" Claire said quickly.

"Okay…so screaming like I was an ax murderer is what you call not scared?" Nicole asked doubtfully.

"Yeah…that wasn't my scared scream…that was my 'Yay Nicole's here!' scream." Claire said sarcastically, sitting down at the kitchen table.

Nicole pushed the door all the way open and walked into the kitchen, taking another seat at the table across from Claire.

The door flew back and fourth between rooms for a moment before slowing to a stop and closing again.

"I really am sorry I scared you though…you know I know where the key is, I figured if you thought anyone was in your house besides your parents, you'd know it was me…" Nicole said

"Yeah well you weren't who I was expecting was going to be in here…" Claire muttered under her breath.

"Why were you waiting in here for me?" she asked, turning to Nicole.

"My mom dropped me off a few minutes before you came here with Max and Michael. I figured you wouldn't mind if I came in and waited for you…I didn't know how long it would be before you got back." Nicole answered.

"Oh…I don't mind…I just wish you wouldn't have waited so long to let me know you were in here…" Claire said.

"So what did you come over for?" she added quickly.

"Oh…well we didn't really get a chance to talk or anything down at the Crash Down earlier, so I figured we could hang out this after noon." Nicole answered casually.

"Uh…well that sounds great and everything but…I kind of have all of this homework I need to—"

"What is with you and all of these excuses lately? It's like you're avoiding me!" Nicole said suddenly.

Claire stared at her, "I'm not avoiding you, I just don't want to flunk all of my classes!"

Nicole watched her for a moment and Claire tried to look at something else. She had already finished her homework, and she had a weird feeling that Nicole already knew that…

Nicole sighed and grabbed an apple from the bowl on the table, tossing it back and fourth from hand to hand, her eyes on Claire.

"You have all after noon for homework, can't we just hang out until your parents get home later or something?" she asked.

"Nicole…" Claire glanced at the clock, noticing that it was in fact, still pretty early in the afternoon.

"Claire I just don't understand it…you used to hang out with me all the time…but for the past couple of weeks you've been sort of distant…like you're trying to stay away me." Nicole said.

"I'm not trying to stay away from you, I've just been busy—"

"Yeah, that's what you always say. You're busy. But you're only busy because you're always hanging around Max and Michael. I mean, I know you guys have been friends a lot longer than you and I have, but still…it just seems like you're spending a lot more time with them lately than you used to, and forgetting all about me." Nicole said.

Claire looked down at the table for a moment, feeling guilty. She knew that she had been trying to avoid Nicole, but not because she wanted to. It was because she knew if she hung out with her, it would just make her want to tell her about her powers…

And Max, Michael, and she had promised each other that they wouldn't tell anyone, not even their parents. But when she had become friends with Nicole everything had changed…

None of them had really had best friends at school besides each other…they had friends sure, but not ones they would ever think of telling their secret to…

But Claire wanted more than anything to tell Nicole…to just have one person besides Max and Michael that she could talk to…one that would listen to her, and not think she was some sort of freak…she knew Nicole would never think that, that she would be friends with her no matter what.

But obviously Max and Michael thought other wise. They trusted no one, and so did she. But Nicole was her best friend and she was sick of keeping this from her…it was eating her inside every time she had to make an excuse, and she was tired of it…

"Claire? Claire!"

"Huh?" Claire snapped out of her thoughts and glanced up to see Nicole staring at her.

"I asked you if you're still my friend. Because I figured if you were, you wouldn't be trying to avoid me. Either that or you're keeping something from me—"

"Nicole wait…I have to tell you something…" Claire said, interrupting her and looking up from the surface of the table.

Nicole gave a slight nod and put the apple back into the bowl, listening intently.

"It's—It's about why I've been avoiding you all this time…why I've been making excuses…it's not because I don't want to be your friend, because I do! And I'm not avoiding you on purpose, or because I want to…it's because I—I have pow—"

"Claire honey we're home!" Claire gasped, her head snapping up at the sound of her father's voice.

"Because you have what?" Nicole asked, obviously not caring about Claire's parents' arrival.

Claire turned back to her, already knowing she wouldn't be able to tell her now that her parents were home.

"Well, I didn't know you had company over…nice to see you again Nicole!" Claire's father said, as he came into the kitchen carrying two large brown paper bags.

"Thanks Mr. Davis." Nicole said, glancing at him momentarily with a warm smile and than turning back to Claire.

"So, what were you two talking about?" he set the bags on the counter as he spoke, reaching in and taking out some canned food, putting it away in the cabinets.

"Claire was just about to tell me something." Nicole said, turning back to Claire, who smiled innocently and stood up, pushing in her chair.

"Uh…dad, I bet you could use help over there…unpacking…uh…whatever you're unpacking..." Claire said nervously, hurrying past Nicole and putting some of the groceries away.

Nicole rolled her eyes and sighed irritably, tapping the table with her fingers. "Steve…I could use a little help here…" a woman's voice said.

Claire's dad turned towards the living room, his eyes widening slightly as he hurried past Claire. She stared after him, along with Nicole to see Claire's mother struggling to carry three large brown paper grocery bags.

She had one under each arm, and was trying to carry the third with her left arm as well, but it was slipping from her grasp. Steve grabbed it right as it was about to fall and Claire's mother sighed in relief.

"Carol, I told you I'd come back to help with these! You didn't have to carry them all at once…" he said, taking another grocery bag from her and carrying both into the kitchen.

Carol shifted the bag she had left into one arm and followed him. "Yes well when you said you were going to come out I figured you would come out after you brought the other bags into the kitchen, not after you unpacked them…" she said.

"Sorry honey, I was distracted…" he replied, sitting the bags onto the counter next to the other two.

Carol put hers down as well, panting slightly and her cheeks rosy from carrying all of the groceries. She turned around to see Nicole sitting at the table, looking agitated and glaring in Claire's direction.

"Oh! Nicole honey…I didn't even realize you were here…" she said, giving her a warm smile.

"Yeah…sorry mom…I wasn't expecting you guys to be home this early…Nicole just came over so we could hang out…" Claire said, putting away the milk in the refrigerator.

"Well we weren't planning on it, but your father wanted to stop and get some dinner and we ended up going shopping. We'll be going back to work soon, we're just on our lunch break." Carol said.

"Mom…it's almost 2:30 in the afternoon…" Claire said, staring at her.

"Yes well I was very busy and my boss let me have a late lunch today. And your father always has lunch right now, he just never comes home." She answered.

"Uh huh…" Claire said, not really interested.

Carol glanced at her watch and sighed, "I'd better get going though…I have to finish up a bunch of reports by tomorrow, and I don't really have time for lunch now that we've driven back home…come on Steve." She said, grabbing his arm and pulling him after her.

He had a sandwich that he had been making during the conversation Carol had been having with Claire, and he had just bitten into it when his wife had grabbed his arm.

But Carol didn't seem to notice as she dragged him from the kitchen. "Uh…can't I stay here and eat?" he asked, holding up the sandwich and sending his wife an innocent smile.

"You're my ride remember? You picked me up, my car is still at the office." Carol said, pushing him out the door.

She followed but suddenly turned back around and reopened the door. "Bye honey, we'll be home around eight!" she called, "And please put the rest of the groceries away for us!" she added, the door closing behind her.

Claire sighed and rolled her eyes. 'I knew I'd be stuck unpacking all of this…' she thought, trying to put away the groceries away as slowly as possible so Nicole wouldn't ask anything. Not that she wouldn't anyway…

"So…you were going to tell me something?" Nicole asked, sitting up in the chair and looking at her.

Claire bit her bottom lip as she put away the food from the last bag. 'Well…so much for that plan…' she thought. "Uh…I was?" she asked stupidly.

"Claire…this is serious! You were serious! Until your parents came in…what's so secret that you won't even tell me? I'm your best friend!" Nicole yelled.

Claire folded up the bags and shoved them into the pantry, turning to face Nicole for a moment. "It's…it's nothing…really…I was just—"

"Save it." Nicole said suddenly, cutting her off in mid sentence and standing up, pushing her chair in.

"What?"

"Never mind okay?! It's obvious you don't want to tell me, so just forget it." Nicole said coldly.

She walked off into the living room and Claire hurried after her. "Nicole wait! Where are you going?" she asked.

Nicole stopped and turned around, a few feet from the front door. She crossed her arms and glared up at Claire, who just stood there staring at her.

"I'm leaving, what does it look like?" she asked.

"Nicole you—don't go! You don't have to leave! We can still hang out—"

"No we can't! Not until you tell me what's going on!" Nicole said.

Claire put her attention on the couch, trying to think about it instead of what Nicole was asking.

"I…I can't…" she said after a few minutes.

"Yeah, that's what I thought." Nicole said, turning back and continuing towards the door.

"Nicole…" Claire took a few steps after her but Nicole opened the door, turning back for a moment.

"Until you can tell me what's going on, I don't want to talk to you." She said, leaving and closing the door rather hard behind her.

Claire stared after her for a minute before collapsing on the couch. She laid back and put her hands under her head, her feet hanging off the side.

"Great…this is just what I need…my best friend hates me, a new family is moving in, and I'm bored out of my mind!" She yelled, her voice echoing through out the empty house.

She rolled her eyes and sat up, walking over to the staircase and staring up it.

The stairs were carpeted blue like the rest of the living room, and blocked off on either side by a wall, except for the three that led up to the staircase from the living room floor.

Claire ran her hand along the oak railing as she headed up stairs, trying to take her mind off of the day, which just seemed to be getting worse by the minute. She half thought about calling Max or Michael, but she wasn't sure either of them would make her feel better…

As she reached the top of the stairs she sighed. To the left was her parents' room and the bathroom. And to the right lay her room and a guest room.

The upstairs was carpeted blue as well, fluffy to the touch. All of the doors were open with the exception of her parent's room, which was closed and most likely locked.

Claire wandered down the hall and into her bedroom, throwing herself onto her bed and groaning into her pillow, her voice muffled. She flipped herself over after a few minutes and stared at the ceiling.

"Why does my life have to suck…" she said.

She reached over and turned on her stereo, turning the volume down to low as she sat up. She glanced around her room, trying to figure out what to do.

Her room was pretty big, a little bigger than her parent's room anyway. Her bed was in the center, the head of it pushed against the left wall.

She had a nightstand to the right of it, an alarm clock resting upon the surface along with her phone and a few pieces of scrap paper. There was a bay window to the left of her bed, stretched out almost all the way across the wall with a place to sit in front of it.

Other than that there was a bookcase on the right side of her room, her dresser, and her closet. Her carpet was white, fluffy like the rest in the rest of house. As for her walls they were painted a sort of creamy light blue color.

She had a bulletin board up on the wall to the right of her bed. It had photos on it of her parents, Michael, Max, and herself. A Calendar was tacked up, along with notices for school stuff or homework reminders. Besides that there wasn't much on her walls besides a few posters.

"Okay Claire think…there has to be something to do besides sit here…" she said, standing up and walking the length of her room to the window. She pulled each one open, the bay window being made of three separate windows, the largest in the middle; and sat down on the seat in front of it, staring out the window at the rest of the neighborhood.

Despite the fact that it was a weekend, almost all of the adults were at work, and almost all of the teens were at the mall or the movies, leaving the neighborhood pretty empty.

Claire glanced over at her phone, suddenly walking over and sitting on the edge of her bed, picking it up and starting to dial a number.

About half way through dialing she stopped and hung up, putting the phone back and throwing herself back down on her bed. She had been about to call Nicole, but thought better of it.

It wasn't like Nicole would talk to her after what happened…and even though she was dying to tell her she just couldn't…not after everything the three of them had promised about not telling anyone their secret…

Claire sighed deeply and sat up yet again, walking over to her door and back out into the hallway. She hurried down the stairs and walked back out into the living room.

"Okay as much as I just want to sit in my room and not think about how much my life sucks I have to do this…" she said to herself, pulling on her sneakers and opening the door.

She locked it again as she left and headed down her driveway. "I have to talk to Max about this whole 'swear to tell no one about our secret' thing. Nicole is my friend…she has a right to know…and it's only one person…" she said.

"And maybe they have said no every other time I've asked, but this time I can just 'tell' them I'm going to tell her…I mean, I don't have to ask their permission just because they're a year older than me." She continued, heading down the street.

She picked up her pace and finally made it to Max's house, hurrying down the driveway. His house looked mostly like hers did. Two stories, with a basement below, painted white (While hers had a bluish tint to it.) Lots of windows, and a big front door.

She lifted her hand, hesitating before knocking a few times on the door. After a few minutes of no one answering she knocked again.

"Max it's me!" she yelled. She growled, lifting her arm up and pressing her hand against the doorknob. The lock glowed slightly and there was a clicking noise as it turned and opened.

Claire grinned and opened the door, "Sometimes having powers comes in handy…" she muttered, closing it behind her as she stepped into the room.

"Max? Are you in here?" she called, walking around. 'Well at least it doesn't look like his parents are home…' she thought.

She headed up the stairs and down the hallway to his room, hearing music before she even reached the door. "Should've guessed…" she said to herself, opening the door.

Max's head shot up and he stood up instantly, hand raised. "Whoa it's me!" Claire said, pushing the door open more. Max lowered his hand and turned off his stereo, sitting back on his bed.

"What are you doing here?" he asked, pulling his biology book onto his lap along with a few sheets of notebook paper.

"I came to talk to you about something." Claire said, closing the door and taking a seat in Max's computer chair.

Max jotted down a few sentences for his homework and than turned to look at her momentarily. "And that would be…?" he asked.

"I'm telling Nicole about our powers." She blurted out. Max froze, staring down at his book for a minute.

He than turned to her, becoming serious, "You're not telling anyone." He said, going back to his homework.

Claire scowled, "I've made up my mind and I'm telling her Max! You're not the boss of me, I don't need your permission." She snapped.

"Claire this isn't a game, this is serious!" Max yelled, looking at her. "If the wrong people find out about us it's over! We promised each other that we wouldn't tell anyone, and we're not going to!"

"This is one person Max!"

"That's how it starts! We tell one person, and than it's only a matter of time before she goes and slips in front of the wrong people!"

"Max she's my best friend! She knows I've been acting weird, and she's not even talking to me now because I can't tell her about us!"

"Good, maybe now things can get back to normal." A voice said.

Claire and Max turned to see Michael in the doorway. "How long have you been here?" Claire asked angrily.

"Let's see…right after you asked Maxwell if you could expose us." Michael replied, stepping into the room.

"I came to talk to Max about homework assignments and instead I walk in on the two of you yelling at each other…"

"Grrr…Will you guys just hear me out?!" Claire yelled angrily.

"There's nothing to say! You're not telling anyone." Michael said, walking over and leaning up against Max's dresser.

"What, did you two get together and plan what you were going to say before I even asked this?" Claire asked, noticing that Michael had just said pretty much the same thing Max did.

"No, we just both agree on this Claire." Max said.

"Wow, that's a first. Especially since you two never agree on anything!"

"Well we agree on this, end of discussion!" Michael snapped.

"No, not end of discussion Michael! I know Nicole, and I know that she wouldn't tell anyone! She'd understand all of this! Why won't you just trust me?!"

"Because—"

"Because you think that I'm stupid right? Just because you're older than me it means that you're always right about everything?! Sorry to break it to you, but you're wrong!" Claire yelled, interrupting Max before he could finish his sentence.

Everyone was silent for a moment, none of them looking at each other. Max stared at his biology book and acted as if he was reading it, and Michael pretended to be interested in a nest of birds in the tree outside of one of Max's windows.

"Claire, this is for the best. We're not telling anyone about our powers. Ever. It's the three of us, it always has been, and that's the way we're going to keep it." Max said finally, breaking the silence.

Claire sighed angrily, glaring at him. "You know, I was going to tell her earlier. I would have to, if my parents hadn't walked in right when I was about to speak." She said.

Max and Michael exchanged worried glances, looking back to her. "Did you tell her already?!" Michael snapped.

"No." Claire stated simply.

"Good." Michael snapped.

"You guys are something you know that? I finally get a friend and now I might loose her because I can't even tell her what's going on." Claire said.

"Everyone has secrets Claire. Just tell Nicole to get used to it." Michael said.

"Michael…" Max started.

"Oh. So you're telling me that she's not my friend because she knows I'm keeping something from her, and she wants to know what it is?" Claire said.

"Yeah, that's exactly what I'm saying." Michael said, crossing his arms and looking at her.

Claire stood up and walked past them both and over to the door. "I can still tell her if I want to." She said, heading into the hallway and knowing one of them would follow.

"Claire, you better not…" Michael warned, hurrying into the hallway.

Claire stopped and turned, glaring at him. "Don't worry Michael, I won't tell her. I'll just loose another friend instead." She said, storming out of the house.

Michael cringed slightly as he heard the front door slam, and he turned and headed back into Max's room.