Hello ppl. Sorry it's been so long since my last update but due to some dropping grades and minor health issues I was forced to put my stories on hold. Well, anyway, here's the next part. Enjoy. : )

Part 9B

Maria POV

"I bet ten bucks Michael jumps him within five minutes."

"Twenty says Liz jumps him first." I answer Alex confidently pulling my wallet out of my purse fully prepared to back up my bet. I sneak another look at Liz and cringe. Max is definitely not going to come out of this unscathed. Liz is like literally foaming at the mouth like a mad woman. Alex arches an eyebrow at me in confusion and then turns to look at Liz.

"Can I change my bet?" Alex asks a second later. Fat chance of that happening, Mama needs a new pair of shoes.

"Nope, then it wouldn't be a bet, we'd both be voting for the same person."

"So?" Alex responds, finding nothing at all wrong with his answer.

"So," I continue, "Neither. Of. Us. Would. Make. Any. Money." I enunciate slowly as if speaking to a child. He takes a moment to process my answer and then looks at me confused.

"Does that mean I can't change my choice?" Didn't I just….? Huh? Oh never mind.

"No Alex you cannot change your bet."

"Damn."

"Ha ha, serves you right for not thinking through your options." I answer smugly as I silently subtract ten dollars from the amount still needed to buy my shoes. I feel bad for betting against my boyfriend, but Liz has got a lot of rage and let's face it, shoes don't buy themselves. I hear Alex mutter a string of curses beside me over his choice and smiling I settle down onto the bleacher and wait for the outcome that will make me ten dollars richer.

"I can't BELIEVE you two!" Turning my head in surprise I notice Isabel angrily glaring at the two of us, her arms folded stiffly across her chest.

"What? Do I have something in my teeth? ALEX! I had something in my teeth and you didn't tell me!" I shriek subconsciously rubbing my tongue frantically over my teeth searching for the offending piece of food. "Do y-oo-u… s-see ith?" I ask worriedly through clenched teeth as I turn back to face Isabel. Though instead of helping me out she gives me a blank incredulous stare. "What is everyone against me?" When neither of them answers I dig through my purse looking for a mirror. "Pfft. Some friends you are." I mutter sarcastically finally finding my small compact buried at the bottom of my purse. I'm pulled from my inspection though when I feel my compact being yanked out of my hands and suddenly the reflection of my bright green eyes are replaced with the view of two ice blue eyes filled with annoyance and anger.

"Maria! You do NOT have anything in your teeth!"

"What? Well then wh-"

"I was talking about the fact that both of you are betting over who is going to beat up my brother first!" She shouts furiously causing at least three students to look on in fear and look for an escape route.

"OH. Is that all?" I question calmly. If anything though my question only serves to enrage her further as her blue eyes blaze fiercely in response.

"Is that ALL!"

"Isabel, we're not betting over who's going to beat up your brother first." I replied evenly and she gives me this look of utter disbelief. "We're betting," I continue, "over who is going to jump your brother first. I'm pretty sure someone will break up the fight if anything serious starts to happen. You don't think the teachers or the principal will let it just happen do you?" I tell her mischievously. And just when I was expecting her to explode with another angry remark, she surprises me. Her stiff posture loosens as she relaxes and sits back to inspect the scene below us.

"So then how much is the bet on Liz? If anyone is going to jump my brother first it'll be her. She's practically burning holes into his head right now or at least plotting some form of bodily injury." I like her. I can tell we are going to get along just fine. Though all of my thoughts are interrupted when a strange ringing fills my ears. Looking around for the source, I have to laugh when I discover where it is coming from.

"Uh Alex? I-I think your pants are ringing." I tell him amused. Only he's not listening to me. In fact he seems pretty engrossed in trying to persuade Isabel to bet on Michael, not Liz. Nice try. "ALEX." I say a bit louder this time, waving a hand in front of his face. Finally attracting his attention, I continue. "Alex, your pants are ringing." He shoots me a confused look and then, noticing where I gestured, pulls the ringing device from his pocket. Fumbling to open it, he mouths the words silently to himself.

"You have a video message! From who!"

"HOW on earth do you DO that?" He looks at me incredulously over my amazing ability at lip reading. Hey, what can I say, I picked up a few tricks back in my babysitting days.

"That's not important. Who's it from and what's it a video of?" I exclaim nosily peeking over his shoulder.

"I don't know what it is…hold on, just let me open it…" He mumbles out while opening the file. Isabel, now intrigued also peeks her head over his shoulder. Then we all watch slowly as the small screen of his cell phone fills up with the opening frames of a video. A very familiar video…wait…Oh. My. Gosh.

'Yeah, sure Jay…I'll dance with you…mmm haha…yeah.'

Alex squints closely at the screen trying to accurately decipher who the owner of the voice is.

"Is…is that Liz?" Alex asks echoing the very same words I had said earlier.

'…look hottie! Just cuz you're cute and asked me out does not mean I'm going to forget that you broke my cell phone.'

Okay, let's all count it…1, 2- And I don't even make it to three before a large high pitched gasp reaches my ears. Yep, Liz is definitely going to kill Serena…

Serena POV

I watch as Max grudgingly makes his way down from the bleachers towards me as jocks are cheering him on and girls are whistling at him. I kind of feel bad for just picking on him like that when it's obvious he wasn't volunteering himself…but not bad enough to actually pick someone else. I gotta admit, he is easy on the eyes. No wonder my cousin is so warm for his form, no matter how much she denies it. Speaking of his form…it's a very nice one…I'm interrupted in my inspection by the clearing of a throat. His throat. How did he get over here so fast? Oh well, time to go to work. Setting down the microphone carefully I stand at my full height ready to greet him.

"Hi Max! So how's your first day of school going so far?" I ask brightly, taking on the cliché traits of a cheerleader.

"H-how do you know my name?" He asks me startled, and a little freaked out. OH, right. He hasn't met you yet Serena. You've only seen him through some bushes when your cousin was plotting his downfall. Which I still don't understand by the way...if he'd kissed me, I'd be jumping for joy. "Excuse me." Max continues, breaking me from my thoughts.

"Yeah?" I question embarrassed at having been caught spacing out.

"Have we met before or something? How do you know my name?" He asks genuinely stumped as to how I could've known. I really contemplated telling him the truth right away, really I did; but I couldn't resist having a little fun with him first.

"It's magic." I answer seriously. "In fact," I continue ominously, "I know everything about you Max Evans."

"Y-you do?" He asks taking a quick step away from me as I move to get closer to him.

"Yep, the benefits of selling your soul to Satan. Didn't you know that all cheerleaders are the Dark One's followers?"

"N-no…"

"How do you think we are able to do all those flips and lifts? Practice? Yeah right!" I scoff. He just stares at me blankly. "Max, I'm just kidding, relax. Besides no one here follows the Dark One, except for maybe Tess. You should probably watch out for her. You want to know how I really knew who you were?" He nods his head and I motion for him to lean in closer as if it were a secret. Then I whisper the truth quietly in his ear. "The aliens. They speak to me and tell me things." I whisper conspiratorially. Okay so maybe it wasn't REALLY the truth. Max shoots me an incredulous look and suddenly I can't take it anymore. The look on his face is so priceless that I break out laughing. "Max, I'm just kidding." He doesn't look too sure and makes sure to keep his distance looking at me like I had just escaped from Bedlam. "No seriously." Calming down and straightening myself I stick out my hand. "Serena Cohen." I introduce myself. He looks hesitantly at my hand and then reaches out to shake it. "I'm Michael and Liz's cousin." Recognition breaks out on his face and he visibly relaxes a little. "I've heard a lot about you Max."

"You have? What did you hear?" He asks suspiciously while eying the spot on the bleachers where his sister is seated.

"Well…I heard you might be gay, you were a stupid smug little something or other, and…I heard you were swapping spit with my cousin in the hallway…did I miss anything?" I ask innocently. Max looks dumbfounded and when he finally gets over his stupor he mutters something out that sounds a lot like 'I'm going to kill Kyle.' But it's hard to hear over the crowd who is getting restless. "So, shall we get started?" Looking back at Liz's furious face I try to stifle my laughter. THIS is going to be interesting.

Liz POV

Oh. No. Oh HELL NO! I watch in horror as Max makes his way slowly down the bleachers towards my cousin. What does my deranged cousin think she's doing! And I say deranged because she must know what she's doing, but even as I see it, I don't believe it. This is NOT happening. Almost involuntarily I feel my hands tighten into fists at my sides as I fight to keep the scream caught in my throat from breaking free. Still seething from our last encounter I attempt to burn wholes through his head with my glare. Unfortunately only moments later he steps down onto the floor safely and burn-free and it's all I can do not to jump him right there on the spot.

Eww! Get your minds out of the gutter! Not like that! I mean it in the sense of causing him physical pain. I'm broken out of my trance and plots of hurting Max by Serena's laughter and I look up just in time to her punch him playfully on the shoulder. What. The. Heck. Why is my cousin getting all friendly with the enemy? This is SO not happening. Trying to calm down so I don't make an idiot out of myself in front of the entire student body I busy myself looking anywhere else but the sight of my cousin LAUGHING with HIM. It doesn't take long though for my eyes to find Kyle and I notice that he's about as pleased as I am at the proximity between my cousin and Max but for a completely different reason. His right eye starts to twitch and wait a minute-did he just growl? Following his narrowed gaze I look back just in time to see Max lean in close to Serena and see her whisper something in his ear. Poor Kyle. Thinking about it now, I don't know why I never noticed it before. How could I not have noticed how much Kyle liked Serena? I mean it seems like it's so obvious now. It makes me wonder how my cousin can be so oblivious to it all. Then almost as if she knows what I'm thinking Serena turns abruptly around to face us and WHY IS SHE WINKING AT ME! What plan could she be concocting now-OH crap! Suddenly I remember the conversation we had in the locker room before the pep rally and then the reason for her winking becomes perfectly clear. Uggh! Why does today SUCK! Why did I ask Serena to trade partners with me again? Oh yeah, cause you didn't want to be caught in awkward conversation with Jay…but now-yep. My suspicions are confirmed as after another moment of conversation Max sidesteps Serena and makes his way towards me. Now I am paired up with Mr. 'I'm a jerk and just because I'm hot I think I can get away with everything' Evans instead of Kyle like it was supposed to be. Could today get any worse? I don't have to wait long for my answer though.

"Hey Partner." Max whispers giving me a wink and a grin. Ugh. Gag.

"Jerk." I greet him in an even tone. Clutching at his chest he pretends to stumble back.

"Liz, that hurts." I don't give him the satisfaction of a response. Its bad enough I have to spend another twenty minutes talking to him. I don't have to start now.

Suddenly I have no more sympathy for Kyle. He got me into this mess. All because he just doesn't want to be dressed up like a girl. Seriously, he used to let us do that to him all the time. But I will give him what he wants. It's time to put operation 'Buddha Love' into motion. It's time to get Serena to butt out of my love life and hopefully get her more focused on one of her own.

"Ladies and gentlemen! Thanks to our volunteer we can now get our pep rally underway!" Serena yells excitedly into the microphone, and just as she said, the pep rally begins as the Senior class president joins her out on the floor. Tuning them out I glance once more around the gym in hopes of finding some way to escape, but all I find are the angry and tense eyes of Jay. He glares openly at an oblivious Max and it doesn't take a genius to figure out that he recognizes Max as the guy who was kissing me this morning…but is he jealous? Filing away that information for later I continue my perusal while trying inconspicuously to move closer to Max. Hey, if it's making Jay jealous I am willing to bear it. At least it shows he still cares enough to be jealous. Maybe he'll finally realize that it's stupid for us to be apart- "Alright, everybody join your partners. It's time to see if our men here have what it takes to be a woman." Handing her microphone over to the Class President Serena makes her way over to Jay at the same time that Courtney moves towards my brother. Then, getting my first good look at the supplies we have to work with I let a real grin break out on my face. If I have to spend time with Max, I might as well make the most of it…