[u]Part 2[/u]
"Liz, this is Will Spencer. He just moved to Roswell," Ms. Hardy said, causing Liz to break eye contact with the new guy. Her heart was still racing.
What on Earth was happening to her? She couldn't actually be interested in [I]another[/I] guy? She knew that it was impossible. After Max, there was just no way. No other boy could ever compare. And, yet, there was no denying that she was tingling from the top of her head to the tips of her toes.
Liz peeked at him again. She blushed when she realized that he was staring at her and quickly looked away. She attempted to tune in to what her biology teacher was saying. ".show Will to his locker and then he can join you and Max for the experiment today. We don't have any singles left in the class and he's going to need a partner, but for now it will be the three of you."
At the mention of Max's name on her teacher's lips Liz felt a flash of guilt so intense, she barely managed to suppress the tears that appeared unbidden in her eyes. She had just broken Max's heart and here she was thinking about another guy! What the heck was wrong with her?
She turned her head slightly to the right, glanced in Max's direction. He was watching her, no expression on his face. She sighed when Tess suddenly appeared at his elbow, distracting him. He turned his head to talk to the blonde, effectively shutting Liz out completely.
Suddenly getting out the classroom seemed like the best idea Liz had heard in a long time. She needed air - she was suffocating slowly in her own misery.
"Sure Ms. Hardy," she managed to mumble. She didn't look at Will again as she headed towards the door and out into the empty hallway, the final bell having rung. She instantly felt better.
It was the worst feeling in the world to know that she could breathe again because she was away from Max. At one time, she barely breathed unless she was [I]with[/I] him. It was killing her to know what her deception was doing to them. Everything was upside down and just plain [I]wrong[/I].
"I can probably find it myself, if it's a big pain."
Liz whipped her head around, stared at the new guy. His voice sent a shiver down her spine. It was soft, but confident, appealingly deep. "I." She stumbled over the words. Their eyes met again and she felt the same tingling sensation. But this time she recognized the feeling. Or maybe it was more accurate to say that she somehow recognized [I]him[/I]. Liz narrowed her eyes. "Do I know you?"
She saw something flare in his eyes. Was it pleasure? Liz felt her confusion grow. Because he didn't seem to think it was crazy that she might ask him that - even though she [I]knew[/I] she had never met this guy before. "I don't think so," he finally replied, sounding a little hesitant if Liz was not mistaken. "I just moved here. But maybe we knew each other in another life?" He quirked a lopsided grin in her direction.
Liz felt herself blush slightly, not sure if it was because of how stupid her question had sounded or because he was teasing her. Or maybe it was that smile. It was boyish and, yet, completely sexy.
And suddenly she just admitted it to herself. Will Spencer was hot. He was a damn good-looking guy and there was nothing wrong with the fact that she had noticed. It didn't mean she loved Max any less. It just meant she was a human female. Because anyone who [I]didn't[/I] notice his appeal would either be an alien - or dead.
"I'm sorry," Liz replied, more strongly this time. "I'm totally out of it this morning. You must think I'm a total flake." She held out her hand. "Do you have your locker number?"
"285," Will told her, making Liz pause for a moment and then just shake her head slightly. Apparently the cosmos were trying to make sure that Max was never far from her thoughts.
"Are you okay?" Will asked, sounding a little freaked. She didn't blame him. She was behaving like a total psycho.
Stupid cosmos. For one split second she had not felt horrible, had felt like a normal person again. Apparently that was over.
It wasn't fair. She had only done what she had to do to save the world. And she was going to suffer for it for the rest of her life while Max moved on without her - with Tess. The mere thought of it was enough to make her want to scream and pull out her hair, but she was a stronger person than that. The least she could do was enjoy a conversation with a good-looking guy! Liz tried again. "Where did you move from?"
"California," Will said promptly, "By way of Arizona."
Liz sighed. It was going to be a [I]long[/I] day - or at least a long walk to Locker 285. Every word that came out of Will's mouth reminded her of Max. "Arizona's nice," Liz returned. "I was there recently. We better hurry. Max'll need our help with the experiment."
"Whatever you want Liz." The way her name rolled off his tongue.It sent another shiver through her frame.
She needed to get a hold of herself. There was no way that she was going to be able to get through biology with Will and Max at the same table if she didn't. It was supremely ridiculous, but true. Her attraction to this new guy was enough that she was sure that Max would notice it.
There was no way she was going to let [I]that[/I] happen. Not after all she had already done to hurt him. Liz glanced at Will and suddenly had a brilliant idea. It was going to get them both in trouble from Ms. Hardy, but the idea of facing Max again was just too, too exhausting. Plus she needed to spend some time with this guy, make herself see that there was nothing special about him, that he was just a regular teenage boy. "I know that this might seem like sort of a strange question." Liz trailed off, unsure if she could really go through with it.
"What?" Will inquired, sounding interested. His eyes were warm on her face. Liz stared into their blue depths, literally felt herself getting lost.
"Have you had breakfast?" She blurted, blinking to break the spell. "Because I know this [I]great[/I] restaurant that has the best omelettes in the world."
*****************************************************************
Liz never came back to Bio.
Max Evans managed to somehow sleepwalk his way through the experiment they had been assigned for the day, but his eyes spent more time on the door than on his microscope, waiting impatiently for Liz to return. By the time the bell finally rang and she had never reappeared, he wasn't sure whether he was worried or furious.
Well, both emotions were better than nothing. Because nothing was what he had managed to feel for the past week - ever since they had returned from Copper Summit. Ever since he had finally accepted that what he had seen with his own two eyes - Liz in bed with Kyle Valenti - had [I]really[/I] happened.
He had known it was only a matter of time until he [I]felt[/I] the complete and utter pain of what he had seen - until his heart finally caught up with his head. He just wanted it over with. The dull ache wasn't enough. He wanted the agony, wanted the complete despair.
He wanted to be able to move on. And he knew that he was going to have to grieve first, that he was going to have to mourn the loss of the dream that had been Liz Parker.
But fury and worry were [I]not[/I] better than nothing he realized suddenly. Because they meant that he was still inextricably tied to Liz - that he still cared and had not, in any way, started to let her go.
Could his life suck any more?
He tried not to reflect on the main reason he was so potentially angry and worried at the same time.
Max had not missed the way Liz had stared at the guy Ms. Hardy had introduced her to. She had looked at him like she used to look at Max - in fact, the way she had looked at Max just this morning. Because he could not deny that she had seemed miserable, practically drowning in her guilt and sorrow when he had first seen her this morning. And underneath the guilt and sorrow he had, without a doubt, seen love.
He knew that Liz Parker still loved him. Which was what made what had happened even more unbelievable and inexplicable.
Apparently he was a glutton for punishment because he had actually felt horrible for her. He had felt [I]her[/I] emotions coming off of her in waves as she had joined him at their table - her pain so deep it had almost drowned out his own. In spite of it all, their connection was still as strong as ever. It had taken all of his strength not to talk to her, to comfort her.
Whatever had happened with Kyle, there was no doubting that she felt terrible about it, that she maybe even regretted it. But it had still happened and Max knew that he would never understand [I]why[/I]. Had she really been so desperate to be rid of him? When she had told him that night in his room that she wanted normal boys and that she didn't want to die for him, he hadn't believed her. The way she had looked at him this morning had told him that he had been [I]right[/I] not to believe her.
None of it was the Liz he had fallen in love with. She could not have changed that much over the summer. It was just impossible. Yet, it had happened. She had given herself to Kyle Valenti, someone Max [I]knew[/I] she wasn't in love with. And she regretted it. There was no doubt.
Obviously she didn't want [I]his[/I] comfort though. If she did she wouldn't have done what she had, wouldn't have tried so hard to drive a permanent wedge between them. And, yet, she loved him. He knew she did.
But, then, she had gone to the front of the room and everything had changed. Max had actually [I]felt[/I] the charge that had run through Liz as she was introduced to the new guy. It had taken all of his strength not to jump to his feet and to haul her away from him. They had disappeared into the hallway and had never come back and he had sat at his table and stewed, making a cursory attempt at his work.
Which was why he had spent the entire period trying to decide if he was supposed to be worried or angry. Because he really didn't understand what his role was supposed to be in the farce that his life had become.
"Max, are you coming?" Tess' voice snapped him out of his stupor. He turned his head, looked at her and sighed. He really did appreciate how Tess had been there for him over the past week, but the way she was becoming his shadow was a little overwhelming. Every time he turned around she was beside him. Sometimes it got to be a bit much, even though he knew she was only feeling a little protective of him.
Tess was the only one who knew the truth of what had happened between he and Liz. He couldn't bring himself to tell Michael and Isabel - not yet. He had the bad feeling that he was putting it off so that he could still pretend that it had never happened, in spite of the fact that Liz had demanded that he accept it in Copper Summit.
It was just that [I]none[/I] of it made sense. Nothing Liz Parker had done over the past two weeks did - including ditching Biology with some new guy Ms. Hardy had just introduced her to.
"Yeah." He stood, followed Tess into the hallway.
Max was staring at his feet, trailing behind Tess, which is why it happened. He wasn't watching where he was going and, before he knew it, he had rammed right into someone and he had not only dropped [I]his[/I] books, but the other person's had gone flying as well.
"Max!" Tess exclaimed, sounding concerned. Always worried about him was Tess. It was driving him bananas. He was almost beginning to wish he hadn't said yes when she had asked him if he wanted her to stay that night in the park.
"Oh my God! I'm so sorry!" The melodic female voice made him look up abruptly from where he was already gathering together the other person's stuff.
He blinked as his eyes met the soft blue gaze of a girl he had never laid eyes on before. She was slender with delicate features and pitch-black hair that tumbled down her back in a riot of curls. She was exquisitely beautiful, almost ethereal. Max knew that he was staring, but he could not tear his gaze away from her.
And it appeared that she felt exactly the same way.
They locked eyes for a full minute. He watched in fascination as her face paled. Her eyes narrowed for a split second before she pasted a smile on her face. "Sorry 'bout that," she repeated, practically grabbing her books from his hands. She jumped to her feet and almost sprinted past him down the hall.
Max climbed slowly to his feet, perplexed.
"What was [I]that[/I] all about?" Tess asked, sounding equally as confused. "Was she weird or what?"
Max continued to stare down the crowded hallway in the direction the strange girl had disappeared so abruptly. He brought a hand up behind his neck and rubbed, frowning slightly, trying to understand what had just happened here.
And, yet, he somehow knew. Because the feeling was extremely familiar. After all, hadn't he experienced it just six months before with the girl standing beside him now, a worried look on her face?
"Tess, I [I]know[/I] that girl."
"What do you mean Max? I've never seen her before in my life."
"I." He paused, felt a frisson of fear descend his spine. "Tess, this is going to sound absolutely crazy, but I think that girl is one of us."
********************************************************************
Alex Whitman followed Maria Deluca out of their biology class and towards the doors leading out of the school. It had definitely been the longest hour of his life. He had had to sit there listening to Maria's absolutely panicked chatter about Liz while trying to calm his own fear.
There was something [I]very[/I] wrong with his best friend, obviously. The Liz he knew would not only [I]not[/I] announce that she had been caught in bed with her ex-boyfriend by her soulmate, announce it in a public place yet, just about the most insane thing Alex had ever heard, but she would not then disappear completely off the face of the planet, ditching class in the process, with a complete stranger.
"I still think we should check around here first Maria. Liz wouldn't just skip. We should have talked to Max." But instead they had come barreling out into the hallway and Max was likely gone by now.
Although how Alex was supposed to have asked Max Evans if what Liz had said was true - that he had caught her in bed with Kyle Valenti - well, it was a mystery for the ages. Max was a brooder at the best of times - and he was obsessed with Liz at the best [I]and[/I] worst of times. If this was all real, than the guy had to be about ready to have a nervous breakdown - or kill himself. Alex would not put anything past Max when it came to Liz. He had seen his whacko behavior over Liz all summer after all. Max gave new definition to the term "lovesick."
Alex had witnessed the way that Max had frozen Liz out during their brief interaction in Biology, knew that something was incredibly wrong between them - knew that what Liz had blurted out had to be true.
But how? Why? It didn't make any sense. Things didn't often make sense in the alien abyss, but this was just loony-tunes!
"Alex, she was a basketcase. I'll bet she went home." Alex could hear the tears in Maria's voice. She was barely holding it together. Alex understood why. Maria depended on Liz to be the sane one, the normal one.
This was [I]not[/I] Liz behavior. Something was incredible wrong.
"But the guy Hardy introduced her to never came back either," Alex argued. "Maybe they're together."
"Why would Liz go off with a complete stranger?" Maria demanded.
"Why would Liz sleep with Kyle?" Alex shot back.
Maria stared at him. "Maybe she's been possessed?" And, then, her eyes widened. "Alex, you don't think that guy was an alien? Maybe he was mindwarping her! Oh my God! We do need Max. And Michael." She turned abruptly on her heel and headed in the other direction. "Max is in English right now. Michael's in shop."
"Maria, stop!" Alex called after her. "Could we please formulate a plan here? Shouldn't we at least try to find Liz ourselves!"
But she was already gone.
Alex gripped the straps on his backpack, frowned after her. He knew he should follow her, but, for some reason, he didn't. Instead he proceeded out the doors into the bright New Mexican sunshine, blinking against the glare. He would just head over to the Crashdown, make sure that Maria had not been right, that Liz wasn't there.
He almost tripped over someone huddled on the stoop leading into the school. "Jeez! Sorry! I didn't see you!" He glanced down at the girl sitting there, frowned again.
She was staring up at him, an absolutely unmistakable expression on her face. He had only ever seen the like once before - on both Liz and Isabel when Pierce had held Max in the White Room.
This was sheer, unadulterated, paralyzed terror. She was afraid. "Hey! Are you okay?"
The girl blinked, shook her head. Alex watched in amazement as she entire expression changed, as the fear he had seen disappeared more quickly than he could even comprehend. "Doesn't anyone in this school ever watch where they're going?" The girl muttered, standing up and tossing her head in a gesture that reminded Alex of someone. He followed the tumble of her dark curls with his eyes, fascinated in spite of himself.
It took him but a moment to realize who she made him think of. It was in her height, in her stance, even in the way her blue eyes had frozen over abruptly. Her every mannerism was reflective of someone Alex had spent many years watching with admiration. She reminded him of Isabel Evans.
"Seriously," Alex repeated. "My name's Alex Whitman. Are you okay? Can I help?"
The girl stared at him, her eyes narrowing. "I doubt it," she replied frostily. "No one can help me. No one can help any of us."
And with that, she turned on her heel and stalked away.
"Liz, this is Will Spencer. He just moved to Roswell," Ms. Hardy said, causing Liz to break eye contact with the new guy. Her heart was still racing.
What on Earth was happening to her? She couldn't actually be interested in [I]another[/I] guy? She knew that it was impossible. After Max, there was just no way. No other boy could ever compare. And, yet, there was no denying that she was tingling from the top of her head to the tips of her toes.
Liz peeked at him again. She blushed when she realized that he was staring at her and quickly looked away. She attempted to tune in to what her biology teacher was saying. ".show Will to his locker and then he can join you and Max for the experiment today. We don't have any singles left in the class and he's going to need a partner, but for now it will be the three of you."
At the mention of Max's name on her teacher's lips Liz felt a flash of guilt so intense, she barely managed to suppress the tears that appeared unbidden in her eyes. She had just broken Max's heart and here she was thinking about another guy! What the heck was wrong with her?
She turned her head slightly to the right, glanced in Max's direction. He was watching her, no expression on his face. She sighed when Tess suddenly appeared at his elbow, distracting him. He turned his head to talk to the blonde, effectively shutting Liz out completely.
Suddenly getting out the classroom seemed like the best idea Liz had heard in a long time. She needed air - she was suffocating slowly in her own misery.
"Sure Ms. Hardy," she managed to mumble. She didn't look at Will again as she headed towards the door and out into the empty hallway, the final bell having rung. She instantly felt better.
It was the worst feeling in the world to know that she could breathe again because she was away from Max. At one time, she barely breathed unless she was [I]with[/I] him. It was killing her to know what her deception was doing to them. Everything was upside down and just plain [I]wrong[/I].
"I can probably find it myself, if it's a big pain."
Liz whipped her head around, stared at the new guy. His voice sent a shiver down her spine. It was soft, but confident, appealingly deep. "I." She stumbled over the words. Their eyes met again and she felt the same tingling sensation. But this time she recognized the feeling. Or maybe it was more accurate to say that she somehow recognized [I]him[/I]. Liz narrowed her eyes. "Do I know you?"
She saw something flare in his eyes. Was it pleasure? Liz felt her confusion grow. Because he didn't seem to think it was crazy that she might ask him that - even though she [I]knew[/I] she had never met this guy before. "I don't think so," he finally replied, sounding a little hesitant if Liz was not mistaken. "I just moved here. But maybe we knew each other in another life?" He quirked a lopsided grin in her direction.
Liz felt herself blush slightly, not sure if it was because of how stupid her question had sounded or because he was teasing her. Or maybe it was that smile. It was boyish and, yet, completely sexy.
And suddenly she just admitted it to herself. Will Spencer was hot. He was a damn good-looking guy and there was nothing wrong with the fact that she had noticed. It didn't mean she loved Max any less. It just meant she was a human female. Because anyone who [I]didn't[/I] notice his appeal would either be an alien - or dead.
"I'm sorry," Liz replied, more strongly this time. "I'm totally out of it this morning. You must think I'm a total flake." She held out her hand. "Do you have your locker number?"
"285," Will told her, making Liz pause for a moment and then just shake her head slightly. Apparently the cosmos were trying to make sure that Max was never far from her thoughts.
"Are you okay?" Will asked, sounding a little freaked. She didn't blame him. She was behaving like a total psycho.
Stupid cosmos. For one split second she had not felt horrible, had felt like a normal person again. Apparently that was over.
It wasn't fair. She had only done what she had to do to save the world. And she was going to suffer for it for the rest of her life while Max moved on without her - with Tess. The mere thought of it was enough to make her want to scream and pull out her hair, but she was a stronger person than that. The least she could do was enjoy a conversation with a good-looking guy! Liz tried again. "Where did you move from?"
"California," Will said promptly, "By way of Arizona."
Liz sighed. It was going to be a [I]long[/I] day - or at least a long walk to Locker 285. Every word that came out of Will's mouth reminded her of Max. "Arizona's nice," Liz returned. "I was there recently. We better hurry. Max'll need our help with the experiment."
"Whatever you want Liz." The way her name rolled off his tongue.It sent another shiver through her frame.
She needed to get a hold of herself. There was no way that she was going to be able to get through biology with Will and Max at the same table if she didn't. It was supremely ridiculous, but true. Her attraction to this new guy was enough that she was sure that Max would notice it.
There was no way she was going to let [I]that[/I] happen. Not after all she had already done to hurt him. Liz glanced at Will and suddenly had a brilliant idea. It was going to get them both in trouble from Ms. Hardy, but the idea of facing Max again was just too, too exhausting. Plus she needed to spend some time with this guy, make herself see that there was nothing special about him, that he was just a regular teenage boy. "I know that this might seem like sort of a strange question." Liz trailed off, unsure if she could really go through with it.
"What?" Will inquired, sounding interested. His eyes were warm on her face. Liz stared into their blue depths, literally felt herself getting lost.
"Have you had breakfast?" She blurted, blinking to break the spell. "Because I know this [I]great[/I] restaurant that has the best omelettes in the world."
*****************************************************************
Liz never came back to Bio.
Max Evans managed to somehow sleepwalk his way through the experiment they had been assigned for the day, but his eyes spent more time on the door than on his microscope, waiting impatiently for Liz to return. By the time the bell finally rang and she had never reappeared, he wasn't sure whether he was worried or furious.
Well, both emotions were better than nothing. Because nothing was what he had managed to feel for the past week - ever since they had returned from Copper Summit. Ever since he had finally accepted that what he had seen with his own two eyes - Liz in bed with Kyle Valenti - had [I]really[/I] happened.
He had known it was only a matter of time until he [I]felt[/I] the complete and utter pain of what he had seen - until his heart finally caught up with his head. He just wanted it over with. The dull ache wasn't enough. He wanted the agony, wanted the complete despair.
He wanted to be able to move on. And he knew that he was going to have to grieve first, that he was going to have to mourn the loss of the dream that had been Liz Parker.
But fury and worry were [I]not[/I] better than nothing he realized suddenly. Because they meant that he was still inextricably tied to Liz - that he still cared and had not, in any way, started to let her go.
Could his life suck any more?
He tried not to reflect on the main reason he was so potentially angry and worried at the same time.
Max had not missed the way Liz had stared at the guy Ms. Hardy had introduced her to. She had looked at him like she used to look at Max - in fact, the way she had looked at Max just this morning. Because he could not deny that she had seemed miserable, practically drowning in her guilt and sorrow when he had first seen her this morning. And underneath the guilt and sorrow he had, without a doubt, seen love.
He knew that Liz Parker still loved him. Which was what made what had happened even more unbelievable and inexplicable.
Apparently he was a glutton for punishment because he had actually felt horrible for her. He had felt [I]her[/I] emotions coming off of her in waves as she had joined him at their table - her pain so deep it had almost drowned out his own. In spite of it all, their connection was still as strong as ever. It had taken all of his strength not to talk to her, to comfort her.
Whatever had happened with Kyle, there was no doubting that she felt terrible about it, that she maybe even regretted it. But it had still happened and Max knew that he would never understand [I]why[/I]. Had she really been so desperate to be rid of him? When she had told him that night in his room that she wanted normal boys and that she didn't want to die for him, he hadn't believed her. The way she had looked at him this morning had told him that he had been [I]right[/I] not to believe her.
None of it was the Liz he had fallen in love with. She could not have changed that much over the summer. It was just impossible. Yet, it had happened. She had given herself to Kyle Valenti, someone Max [I]knew[/I] she wasn't in love with. And she regretted it. There was no doubt.
Obviously she didn't want [I]his[/I] comfort though. If she did she wouldn't have done what she had, wouldn't have tried so hard to drive a permanent wedge between them. And, yet, she loved him. He knew she did.
But, then, she had gone to the front of the room and everything had changed. Max had actually [I]felt[/I] the charge that had run through Liz as she was introduced to the new guy. It had taken all of his strength not to jump to his feet and to haul her away from him. They had disappeared into the hallway and had never come back and he had sat at his table and stewed, making a cursory attempt at his work.
Which was why he had spent the entire period trying to decide if he was supposed to be worried or angry. Because he really didn't understand what his role was supposed to be in the farce that his life had become.
"Max, are you coming?" Tess' voice snapped him out of his stupor. He turned his head, looked at her and sighed. He really did appreciate how Tess had been there for him over the past week, but the way she was becoming his shadow was a little overwhelming. Every time he turned around she was beside him. Sometimes it got to be a bit much, even though he knew she was only feeling a little protective of him.
Tess was the only one who knew the truth of what had happened between he and Liz. He couldn't bring himself to tell Michael and Isabel - not yet. He had the bad feeling that he was putting it off so that he could still pretend that it had never happened, in spite of the fact that Liz had demanded that he accept it in Copper Summit.
It was just that [I]none[/I] of it made sense. Nothing Liz Parker had done over the past two weeks did - including ditching Biology with some new guy Ms. Hardy had just introduced her to.
"Yeah." He stood, followed Tess into the hallway.
Max was staring at his feet, trailing behind Tess, which is why it happened. He wasn't watching where he was going and, before he knew it, he had rammed right into someone and he had not only dropped [I]his[/I] books, but the other person's had gone flying as well.
"Max!" Tess exclaimed, sounding concerned. Always worried about him was Tess. It was driving him bananas. He was almost beginning to wish he hadn't said yes when she had asked him if he wanted her to stay that night in the park.
"Oh my God! I'm so sorry!" The melodic female voice made him look up abruptly from where he was already gathering together the other person's stuff.
He blinked as his eyes met the soft blue gaze of a girl he had never laid eyes on before. She was slender with delicate features and pitch-black hair that tumbled down her back in a riot of curls. She was exquisitely beautiful, almost ethereal. Max knew that he was staring, but he could not tear his gaze away from her.
And it appeared that she felt exactly the same way.
They locked eyes for a full minute. He watched in fascination as her face paled. Her eyes narrowed for a split second before she pasted a smile on her face. "Sorry 'bout that," she repeated, practically grabbing her books from his hands. She jumped to her feet and almost sprinted past him down the hall.
Max climbed slowly to his feet, perplexed.
"What was [I]that[/I] all about?" Tess asked, sounding equally as confused. "Was she weird or what?"
Max continued to stare down the crowded hallway in the direction the strange girl had disappeared so abruptly. He brought a hand up behind his neck and rubbed, frowning slightly, trying to understand what had just happened here.
And, yet, he somehow knew. Because the feeling was extremely familiar. After all, hadn't he experienced it just six months before with the girl standing beside him now, a worried look on her face?
"Tess, I [I]know[/I] that girl."
"What do you mean Max? I've never seen her before in my life."
"I." He paused, felt a frisson of fear descend his spine. "Tess, this is going to sound absolutely crazy, but I think that girl is one of us."
********************************************************************
Alex Whitman followed Maria Deluca out of their biology class and towards the doors leading out of the school. It had definitely been the longest hour of his life. He had had to sit there listening to Maria's absolutely panicked chatter about Liz while trying to calm his own fear.
There was something [I]very[/I] wrong with his best friend, obviously. The Liz he knew would not only [I]not[/I] announce that she had been caught in bed with her ex-boyfriend by her soulmate, announce it in a public place yet, just about the most insane thing Alex had ever heard, but she would not then disappear completely off the face of the planet, ditching class in the process, with a complete stranger.
"I still think we should check around here first Maria. Liz wouldn't just skip. We should have talked to Max." But instead they had come barreling out into the hallway and Max was likely gone by now.
Although how Alex was supposed to have asked Max Evans if what Liz had said was true - that he had caught her in bed with Kyle Valenti - well, it was a mystery for the ages. Max was a brooder at the best of times - and he was obsessed with Liz at the best [I]and[/I] worst of times. If this was all real, than the guy had to be about ready to have a nervous breakdown - or kill himself. Alex would not put anything past Max when it came to Liz. He had seen his whacko behavior over Liz all summer after all. Max gave new definition to the term "lovesick."
Alex had witnessed the way that Max had frozen Liz out during their brief interaction in Biology, knew that something was incredibly wrong between them - knew that what Liz had blurted out had to be true.
But how? Why? It didn't make any sense. Things didn't often make sense in the alien abyss, but this was just loony-tunes!
"Alex, she was a basketcase. I'll bet she went home." Alex could hear the tears in Maria's voice. She was barely holding it together. Alex understood why. Maria depended on Liz to be the sane one, the normal one.
This was [I]not[/I] Liz behavior. Something was incredible wrong.
"But the guy Hardy introduced her to never came back either," Alex argued. "Maybe they're together."
"Why would Liz go off with a complete stranger?" Maria demanded.
"Why would Liz sleep with Kyle?" Alex shot back.
Maria stared at him. "Maybe she's been possessed?" And, then, her eyes widened. "Alex, you don't think that guy was an alien? Maybe he was mindwarping her! Oh my God! We do need Max. And Michael." She turned abruptly on her heel and headed in the other direction. "Max is in English right now. Michael's in shop."
"Maria, stop!" Alex called after her. "Could we please formulate a plan here? Shouldn't we at least try to find Liz ourselves!"
But she was already gone.
Alex gripped the straps on his backpack, frowned after her. He knew he should follow her, but, for some reason, he didn't. Instead he proceeded out the doors into the bright New Mexican sunshine, blinking against the glare. He would just head over to the Crashdown, make sure that Maria had not been right, that Liz wasn't there.
He almost tripped over someone huddled on the stoop leading into the school. "Jeez! Sorry! I didn't see you!" He glanced down at the girl sitting there, frowned again.
She was staring up at him, an absolutely unmistakable expression on her face. He had only ever seen the like once before - on both Liz and Isabel when Pierce had held Max in the White Room.
This was sheer, unadulterated, paralyzed terror. She was afraid. "Hey! Are you okay?"
The girl blinked, shook her head. Alex watched in amazement as she entire expression changed, as the fear he had seen disappeared more quickly than he could even comprehend. "Doesn't anyone in this school ever watch where they're going?" The girl muttered, standing up and tossing her head in a gesture that reminded Alex of someone. He followed the tumble of her dark curls with his eyes, fascinated in spite of himself.
It took him but a moment to realize who she made him think of. It was in her height, in her stance, even in the way her blue eyes had frozen over abruptly. Her every mannerism was reflective of someone Alex had spent many years watching with admiration. She reminded him of Isabel Evans.
"Seriously," Alex repeated. "My name's Alex Whitman. Are you okay? Can I help?"
The girl stared at him, her eyes narrowing. "I doubt it," she replied frostily. "No one can help me. No one can help any of us."
And with that, she turned on her heel and stalked away.