Chapter 10

My life had finally started to look up. I had real friends, my sister was happier than I'd ever seen her, I had a job that I loved most of the time, and school was getting better. With Serena and Alex talking to me again, school was a lot better. I still sat at the elms at lunch, I just had company. Normally Serena, Alex, and Michael joined me. Michael some times got caught up in his painting and would stay through lunch. Serena said that's why he has art right before it.

Isabel and Ava seam to have let up on me. I can go to school and get into my locker without having to read about Max and Maria's latest outing. It seems Max had finally stopped trying to get me to talk. His emails had finally stopped and he looked happy in the tabloids. Of course, I know from experience that you can't believe what's in those. If I did then I had either died, ran away, or Mom had killed me for the money. No one seemed to notice that Sarah was missing with me as well.

There was one story I laughed at and had to show Sarah. In the Sun, it said that I had killed Maria, had plastic surgery to look just like her, and then assumed her life. All because I had caught them in their affair and wanted Max back. I was so over the friendship and relationship that I could finally laugh at it. I knew who their source had to be. Something like that could only come from the mind of Maria.

It had been 3 weeks since I started work at the Crash. Pauly seemed to walk by at least a dozen times just to glare. It was funny the next day when he tried to just walk in as if nothing happened. Grandpa came out, stood right in front of him, and pointed to the door. Pauly gave him a dirty look and stormed out the door.

Ava's dad did come in but after talking to Grandpa for about 15 minutes, he left vowing to talk to her. He never even said hi to Tess as he walked by her. Tess didn't even flinch as he left. Ava was much quieter at school the next day. Tess told us that their dad must have taken something away from her for her to act like she was. Later we noticed she wasn't driving her BMW. Isabel was the one driving.

As I said, they had started to leave me alone. That doesn't include teasing but it was a lot better. The only time I really had to listen to them was at lunch. Then my friends were with me and normally blocked everything out. Over the 3 weeks, I learned that Serena had a wicked since of humor, Alex loved making lists like "Worst things to say to your boyfriend's mother" or "What not to mention on the first date."

Michael, while he puts up this tuff guy persona is really just a scared boy inside. You would never notice unless you looked really hard for it. It was the way he watched over the girls, or how even though Grandpa didn't trust him he helped him any way he could. You saw it when someone would make a joke or offhanded remark about him. He acted as if it didn't sink in but if you were looking in his eyes you saw that it did.

Ihadn't had very many chances to go to the lake because of work but I still tried to go at least once a week. Grandpa still didn't seem to notice that I had gone somewhere else to study. He also had stopped telling me how bad Michael was for me. Now he just gave me looks whenever I would hang out with him. Serena thought it was funny that Grandma seemed to want us together and Grandpa wanted Michael in another state. I was somewhere in the middle. The more I hung out with him the more I was convinced that there was no way he could kill anyone.

This morning I was going to school with Serena. We both had to work that night. I was up early because Grandma and Grandpa were leaving for a trip. They had to go to a restaurant convention in Phoenix. Serena and I were going to run the restaurant tomorrow night and Faith was running it tonight. Michael was the cook closing with us so we knew it would be fun. Then next weekend is Grandma and Grandpa 35th wedding anniversary, it's also the same weekend we're having our camp out. So, my grandparents decided to just close that weekend.

After seeing them off, we all headed to school. We dropped Sarah and Tess off first since they road with us. Once we pulled in, I noticed Michael's bike. He was normally the last one there out of us so it was a little strange. Serena even commented on seeing his bike. We met Alex out in the courtyard and started eating our breakfast. All of us hate cereal so we brought what we liked and ate together. After a couple of minutes, Michael walked up and I noticed he had paint smeared on his cheek.

So, that's what he was here for. I laughed when I saw him, which caused the others to look and laugh as well.

"What?" He asked as he sat down.

"What are you doing here so early?" Serena asked instead of answering.

"I had something to finish in art. Why, can I not come to school early?" He huffed.

"No you can, it's just you normally don't and you also have on a brilliant shade of blush today. Don't let anyone say red is not your color Michael. Of course when I wear make-up I normally put it on all around, not on just one side." Serena and Alex were cracking up by the time I was done. Michael reached for my mirror that was on the table and looked quickly. He paled a little, then just shrugged. Typical Michael, he really didn't care what some people thought of him.

"Whatever." Was his response before he started to eat, he also pulled out his latest book, Finding Ulysses by Faulkner. I shook my head; he saw this and looked up.

"What now?"

"I just could never understand that book. I don't see how anyone can, but you've read it like 10 times."

"It's easy to get, I don't see how people don't get it." He looked down at my science homework that I had was working on. "See I don't get science, it just goes in and gets lost." I looked at him and had a quick thought.

"What if I help you with science and you help me with Faulkner"?

"You mean, Michael study"? That had Serena in tears. Michael just looked from her to me.

"Sounds good, how about we start tonight at the Crash after our shifts?"

"Sure, that works for me." The first bell rang and we all headed inside. Serena leaned over and wrapped her arm around my shoulder.

"You just did something no one has ever been able to do." I just looked at her funny. "You got him to do homework and to study. You are a saint."

"He hasn't done it yet." She just nodded as we walked into first hour. By lunch, the whole school was talking about the big English project. Apparently, we were being put into teams of 4 and had to pretty much learn as much about each other as we could. Then write on how different we lived our lives.

At the end, we also had to do pros and cons on the differences and there would be a debate. The debate would be over stuff like religion, college, family, etc. Since I have English as a first hour, I already found out who was on my team. As I sat down, I started to complain.

"Do the teachers enjoy torturing us? I mean Isabel, Ava, Serena, and me. Not that I'm not happy that I get to do this with you Serena, but did they look at the list and go, 'Lets see who hates each other more. Oh I know we'll stick these four together.' Come on." Michael and Alex started to laugh until I turned and glared at them.

"Laugh it up boys just think about who you could get." They both stopped immediately.

"Yeah think about who's in your class," Serena threw in.

Michael shrugged. "Not anyone as bad as yours."

"Really, like Pauly, Kyle, Sean, oh and Pam Troy." Twin looks of terror came over their faces and they were oddly quiet the rest of lunch. The only good thing about this is it wasn't due until right before we left for winter break. So, we had time. We all agreed to meet at the Crash after school, since everyone but Alex had to work. As I was walking to Serena's car, she came up behind me laughing so hard she was crying. As we were getting in she'd calmed down enough that she could talk.

"What's so funny?"

"I found out who's in Michael and Alex's group."

"So they are together?"

"Oh yeah, get this, there was an odd number so there's five in their group." Once that clicked, my hand went straight to my mouth.

"Tell me it's not who I think it is?" She started nodding.

"Yeah, Pauly, Michael, Pam, Kyle, and Alex. I'd say that's just rewards for laughing at who we got, don't you think?"

"I have to agree, I sort of feel sorry for them." We looked at each other, shook our heads, and started to crack up again. We laughed all the way home. Once we calmed down, we started talking about the next weekend. It was time for the camp out and we all were going. I was really excited because I had never been before. I was already warned about the boys and the huge pranks they pull. As we walked in and saw Michael and Alex's faces we, cracked up all over again.

"Ha-ha, it's not that funny." Michael said as he scooted over for me to sit. Alex did the same for Serena.

"Oh little brother I have to say it is." Michael just flipped her off.

"You're only older than me by 4 minutes, so shut up." Serena gave him a smile that any actress would kill for, and batted her eyes.

"Come on you know you love me."

"I may love you but that doesn't mean I have to like you." Alex and I were trying to not laugh but the looks they keep sending each other finally broke us up. After we calmed down, we started studying. Since it was Friday, Michael was staying later so we could start on the book and his science. The time seemed to fly, over the next two hours Tess and Sarah joined the study group.

When I looked up and noticed that we had 30 minutes, we broke it up. Us girls headed up stairs to change, while the boys decided to stay, seeing as Michael didn't need to change. When we got down and started to work, it was still somewhat slow. Around nine the football game apparently had ended and everyone had decided hamburgers sounded delicious. Add to the fact that we won and it was mayhem.

I was helping three tables and seating a couple, when Ava and Isabel walked in. Ava walked right up to me and demanded that I seat them right that instant. I looked from her to the couple and sat the couple in Ava and Isabel's normal booth, without even acknowledging Ava.
When I turned back around, they were standing right next to each other and sending me twin glares. I walked over to them like I had never seen them come in.

"Thank you for choosing the Crashdown, my name is Liz. Do you prefer a table or booth?" Ava just gave me a look and pointed at a booth. I moved so they could go sit and asked what they wanted. Just as Ava was about to say something Faith walked up,

"It's time for your break Liz, let me take over for you." I nodded and headed to the back. When I got to the couch, I took a big deep breath, pulled my feet up, and started rubbing them. When I looked up there was drink in my face. Michael had gotten me lemonade.

"Thank you. I was just thinking about going and getting something but my body just didn't want to listen." Michael raised his eyebrow.

"I've noticed when you work you seem to forget to eat and watch out for your self. So I figured I'd do that for you." I blushed when he said that, knowing it was completely true.
I whispered a thank you and blushed even more when after he walked off he came right back with food.

The rest of the night was better than I expected. Since Faith was there Ava and her little group stayed in check. The only commotion we had was when Kyle walked in. Everyone started to cheer for him. Serena told me later that he had thrown four touchdowns and ran for two in the game. As everyone started to clear out Isabel walked up to Serena and me.

"When do you want to start the project? We can tomorrow after 3."

"We have to work from 3 to close so I guess on Sunday then. Why can't you do it before 3?" Serena rolled her eyes at my question.

"They have monthly appointments at the mall in the next town. You know they need to make sure that their roots aren't showing, and that the claws are on straight."

If they could have I think Isabel and Ava would have beat the living crap out of Serena right then but knew they couldn't. So they just did their twin glares and left. As they walked out all I could think was this project was going to be hell. It took about an hour to get everything cleaned up. After we locked up, Michael and I headed up stairs.

He'd grabbed our bags and sat them on the couch. We decided to try science first since he at least got part of it. 30 minutes later and I wanted to hurt him, seriously hurt him. He had some way to counter everything I tried to teach him. I was going to have to come up with something completely different to help him. So, we decided to go over the book. He started with how far I got and what made it hard to get through. I was amazed he was better at tutoring than I was. In the same amount of time, he had me understanding at least the first four chapters.

I looked up at him at one point and had to stare, he was talking about what made it a great book. From the look on his face, you could see just how much he loved it. For the first time in my life, I was jealous, and it was over a book. I wanted him to look at me that way or at least be the reason why he has that look. He looked over my shoulder and realized it was nearing 1 am and said he better leave.

I had another realization; I didn't want him to leave. He of course did, but as I shut the door, I had to think to my self. Why did I want that look and was I even ready for it? Part of me screamed yes but the other part kept saying I'd get hurt again and this time it would hurt ten times worse.