Chapter 4c
Max POV
"Hey guys." I say walking towards the spot where Michael, Isabel, and another blonde are sitting.
"Max, where have you been?" Isabel asks. I guess I did take longer than I told her, but what started with me looking for Michael's sister and her friend turned into me looking for that girl I bumped into. She's really cute when she's pissed off. I mean I'm usually not like that and I definitely don't ask out random girls but she's just…I don't know…different.
"I…uh…met someone." I tell them.
"You met someone?" Isabel asks shocked. I mean I can understand where she's coming from, I really haven't gone out with a lot of girls.
"Yeah, I bumped into her, literally."
"So what's her name?" This question comes from Michael.
"I…uh…don't know. I kinda pissed her off because when I bumped into her she broke her phone."
"Wow, so you don't know her name, and you defaced her personal property? She must love you already." I hear the blonde sitting by Michael say sarcastically. "You must be Max. Maria Deluca, nice to meet ya." Ahhh, so this is Maria. "So Max, do you usually break girls cell phones when you like them or is this a one time thing?" She asks hopping off her stool and walking over to me. You know I'm beginning to see why Michael and Kyle are afraid of her. Hoping to get all the attention off of me I have to think fast. Should I? It's Kyle's fault anyway.
"So Maria, is it true that you-."
"Hey guys." Kyle says walking out from the crowd. "It's crazy out there. Hey Maria, where've you been?"
"Hold on a minute Kyle, Max was just going to ask me something." She says turning back to face me.
"Well I just wanted to know if it was true that during freshman year you- what the heck Kyle!" I yell as I'm shoved back into the crowd.
"Max, what do you think you're doing? If you value your life you'll just pretend that you never heard that story. Do you know what Maria will do to me if she finds out I told you about that?" He says fearfully, looking over his shoulder to make sure no one's listening in. I glance back over his shoulder to take another look at Maria. She doesn't look dangerous… But then again, looks can be deceiving.
"Okay Kyle, I won't tell her, but if you don't get her off my back I can't make any guarantees." I tell him.
"Thanks man." Kyle says dusting himself off and walking back over to where the group is standing there staring at us.
"So, what was that all about?" Maria asks looking at us suspiciously.
"Max was just informing me that he's attracted to men and was trying to ask me out. Sorry man, I don't swing that way." What! How does get her off my back translate in to telling her I'm gay? Everyone's eyes got wide and they all turned to look at me.
"Wow, Max I didn't know, uh…" Maria stammers out. Come on, I just told you I met a girl!
"That's not true, you can't honestly believe him!" I shout gesturing to Kyle.
"Max, I know you're just embarrassed that I turned you down, but honestly, it's nothing to be ashamed of."
"There's nothing to be ashamed of because it's not true!" I yell out. I turn around to look at Isabel who is just shocked at what has happened and a glance at Michael tells me I won't get any help from him. He's too busy laughing at my expense. Okay, this means war.
"Max, Max, it's okay, really." Shut up Kyle!
"Maria, I didn't ask Kyle out, and I'm not gay. Kyle dragged me over there because he didn't want you to know that he told me and Isabel about that time freshman year when you-."
"Kyle!" Maria yells turning her now angry gaze on the football player trying to sneak away. "I told you that you were to take that to your grave." She yells out. Okay, I'm beginning to see why Michael and Kyle are so afraid of her.
"Maria, he he umm… you see the thing is…"
"I don't want to hear it Kyle!" Owww. That has got to hurt. I wince as I see Maria hit Kyle upside the head painfully. Michael is no longer laughing at my expense anymore but at the sight of the smaller blonde girl hitting his friend.
"And you!" Maria turns her blazing green eyes on Michael's laughing form. The surprise and fear that registers on Michael's face as he realizes her anger is directed towards him now, is priceless.
"Owww!" Michael yells as she smacks him on the head too.
"Why didn't you stop him!" She shouts.
"I tried to stop him, but he doesn't listen to me-." Michael tries to explain. From behind me I hear the Kyle mutter something like 'that's the second time today' before he sits down on a stool and sulks. Suddenly the sound of a phone ringing stops Maria's tirade and she rushes to her bag to answer it. The relief is visible on Michael's face. We all listen in to hear who Michael's savior is.
"Hey Serena are you here already-. Liz? What are you doing calling on Serena's cell phone? What?" Maria sends a glare my way. What? What'd I do? She starts to move out into the crowd and everyone looks at me confused.
"Hey I'm in the dark as much as you guys are." I tell them all quickly. And with the attention finally off me, I turn my thoughts back to the girl I met earlier.
Liz POV
Grrrrr… Who does that guy think he is! Wait, did I just grrrr? That lunkhead. Ooh if I ever see his cute butt again… I fume as I stomp off into the ever raging crowd of dancing bodies.
"I thought I told you to leave me alone!" I yell as someone grabs on to my arm from behind.
"You did? Sorry, I thought… I'll just go then." Huh? I turn swiftly around to see Jay walking away.
"Jay! Oh no, I thought you were someone else. Don't leave." I tell him quickly and I smile when he turns around and closes the distance between us.
"I was beginning to think I'd never find you."
"Same here, but I'm really glad you did." I say grabbing his hand and pulling over to somewhere we can talk. I pull him over towards the door where there are less people and I lean against the edge of a table. I start to blush as I realize that I'm still holding his hand, but he doesn't make any move to pull away so I don't either.
"So, I heard you were sent to the principal's office." He says breaking the silence.
"You uh… heard about that did you?" I ask starting to turn an even darker shade of scarlet. I wonder if he also heard how excited I was to get that note from him. "Well, it wasn't really my fault…" I begin when I'm bumped from behind by a familiar annoying gerbil.
"Jay, there you are." Tess says sweetly and then her eyes fall on me. "What are you doing with her?" She asks glaring at me distastefully. Witch.
"We're on a date." My heart beats faster at his admission. When she doesn't immediately walk away he continues. "What do you want Tess?"
"We need to go home." She answers. "Mom and Dad are coming back tonight, or have you forgotten?" She asks smugly. A look of recognition crosses Jay's face and he turns to look at me.
"Sorry Liz, my parents are getting back from New York tonight and we're supposed to go have a late dinner with them." He tells me apologetically. At Tess's sneer, he pulls me aside. "I'm sorry; I really wanted tonight to happen-."
"Me too." I agree quickly.
"Maybe another time?" He asks hopefully.
"Yeah, sure. Go see your parents." I say giving him a little nudge and a smile.
"Thanks, I'll see you tomorrow." He says quickly pecking me on the cheek and walking over to where Tess was standing. He stops at the door and gives a final wave and he's gone. As soon as he disappears from my sight I allow myself to drop the fake smile. This night just sucks. I look down at the broken pieces of my cell phone in my hand and remember Tess's smug look as her and Jay left and before I know it I am forcing my way through the crowd desperate to find Maria. I need to leave. With my luck, if I stay any longer, something worse will happen. This time as I bump into people I don't apologize, I think I have every right to be rude. I search for not just Maria but any familiar face now. I breathe a heavy sigh of relief as I see the familiar form of Alex ten feet in front of me.
"Alex!" He turns around at the sound of my voice and as soon as he sees me he waves someone else in my direction as well. I almost cry as I see my cousin emerge from the crowd behind Alex. I watch as they quickly make their way towards me, well as quick as you can when you're surrounded by hundreds of dancing teenagers.
"Serena, I-." The sentence catches in my throat as I fight the urge to cry over my sucky night. No, I won't cry over this I tell myself and soon I feel my depression turn into anger. I just want to get out of here.
"Liz, are you okay?" Serena asks concerned looking back and forth between me and Alex. "How was your date-."
"Can we just go home, I really want to leave." I cut her off pulling the keys to Bambi out of my pocket and heading for the door.
"Liz!" Serena yells catching up with me. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing's wrong." I counter not wanting to hash out all my personal crap in front of an extremely large group of my peers. "Can I use your cell phone? I need to call Maria."
"Why can't you use yours?" She asks curiously. I hold up the mangled pieces of plastic in front of her face in explanation.
"Oh." She hands over her phone and as I dial Maria's number she tries to fill in a confused Alex. I tap my foot as I wait for Maria pick up. The sooner I get out of here the better. After the seventh ring I'm about to hang up when I hear Maria answer.
"Hey Maria." I say greeting the voice on the other end. "No, this is Liz." I rush to tell her when she calls me Serena. "Well, my phone is broken." I answer her. "Yeah, some idiot bumped into me and made me drop my phone and then someone stepped on it." I conveniently leave out the part that he was really cute and that he asked me out. Now's just not the time for this. All I wanna do is go home, watch a chick flick and eat some ice cream. I tune back into Maria's voice in time to hear her ask if I was okay. I wish everyone would stop asking me that. "No, I'm not okay, can we just go home?" I ask softly. I smile as Maria offers to beat a certain blonde to a pulp and says she'll meet me at the car. "Thanks 'Ria." I say using her nickname and hang up feeling a little better. I can taste that ice cream already. I turn back to Serena and Alex who are ready to leave with me as soon as Maria gets here.
"You guys don't have to leave just because I am. Maria's going to go home with me."
"Nope, this party's old anyways." Serena says and links her arm with mine. Then I quickly remember about Maria's and mine plan to get Kyle and Serena together. I guess operation 'Buddha love' will have to wait. I smile gratefully at my cousin and turn to face Alex. I notice he also moves to link his arm with mine.
"Alex, you really don't have to go. The rest of the guys are here you can call Michael and ask him where they are-." I'm cut off when he links his arm with mine anyway and I look meaningfully at him.
"Well, since we're all going to the same place, why don't you give Kyle the keys to Bambi and we'll all just go in my car." Alex offers and before I even ask Serena's forcing her cell phone into my hand. I quickly dial Michael's number and when I hear him grunt a 'hey' I ask to speak with Kyle. There's silence over the line except for the pulsing beat of the music in the background until I hear Kyle's voice answer.
"Hey Kyle, Maria, Serena, Alex and I are going to leave so meet me at the front and I'll give you the keys to Bambi-." I'm cut off as Kyle quickly agrees and hangs up after telling me he'll be there in a few minutes. I don't doubt that he will be, he couldn't have sounded more excited if you told him Barbie and Ken were getting back together. I laugh softly at the thought and once again hand Serena's phone to her. Now, all we have to do is wait.
Max POV
Michael's cell phone rings and breaks the silence that had fallen over us since Maria left and he quickly answers it, probably hoping to find out the reason for Maria's sudden exit. I look around to once again survey the group. Kyle is still sulking alone on his stool and Isabel moves to stand next to me. I watch Michael just after he's answered his cell phone move over to Kyle and hand it to him mouthing the name 'Liz'. Kyle grabs the phone from him and brings it to his ear.
"Yeah," He speaks into the phone. "Hey Liz." I watch as he listens to what she says and see his face brighten. "Yeah, I'll be there in a few minutes." He says giddily and hangs up. We all look expectantly at him when he hands back Michael's phone looking like a little kid on Christmas day.
"What?" He asks confused seeing all our curious stares.
"What's going on and why are you so chipper all of a sudden?" Michael asks bluntly.
"Liz, Maria, Serena and Alex are leaving so Liz wants me to meet her out front so she can give me the keys to Bambi." Kyle says excitedly. At our silence he continues, "Come on, let's go. I told Liz I'd meet her in a few minutes." We all follow Kyle towards the entrance all for different reasons. Kyle over the sheer glee of getting Bambi back, Isabel and Michael to find out the reason for Maria's sudden exit and the reason Liz, Maria are leaving, and me; because I can't fight this strong urge to find out who this girl I've heard so much about is.
Before I know it we're stepping out into the cool desert air and I see at least twenty people standing outside talking. I look all around trying to catch a glimpse of Liz and almost don't notice the tall lanky kid walking towards us.
"Hey guys." He greets us with a smile. "Here are your keys Kyle." He says handing them over to a delighted Kyle. He finally notices Isabel and I and looks questioningly at Michael.
"Oh, sorry; Alex, this is Max and Isabel. Isabel, Max, this is Alex." Michael says making the introductions. "Max and Isabel just moved to Roswell."
"Oh, nice to meet you two," he said shaking my hand. Then turned to Isabel taking her hand, "My Lady," he said kissing the back of Isabel's hand. It takes Isabel by surprise and she starts to blush. But as quick as it happens Alex straightens and turns to leave. "Well, it was nice meeting you guys. I'll see you at school tomorrow?" Isabel nods emphatically to assure him and I begin to wonder if she likes him. But before I can give it anymore thought I'm shocked by the sight of the girl I bumped into earlier heading toward a black Toyota. Michael notices my staring and before he can ask I tell him.
"That's her." I whisper pointing to the girl. I didn't think I'd see her again tonight.
"Who?" Michael asked confused trying again to see where I was pointing.
"The girl I bumped into earlier. That's her. Now she's leaving and I still don't know her name." Michael finally notices who I'm pointing at and breaks out laughing. At my incredulous look he turns to me and answers my silent question.
"I don't think finding out who she is, is going to be a problem." He says trying to stifle his laughter seeing that I'm not amused. Wait a minute, it won't be a problem? Does he know her?
"Why? Do you know who she is?" I ask eagerly excited to find out.
"Yeah I know who she is. That's my sister." It's then I notice Alex get in the front seat of the Toyota.