Many of the characters within this story, and the universe they inhabit, are the intellectual property of Jason Katims Productions.
Roswell: Re-Imagined
Written by Horatio Jaxx
Chapter 20: Obsession
Liz Parker was convinced that she had reached the apex of her existence. She could not imagine anything in her future that could rival her fascination for Max Evans. She spent the bulk of her time at school thinking of ways to insinuate herself into his life only to renege on the plan out of fear of embarrassing herself. This preoccupation was having a negative effect on her grades. That did not miss the notice of her teachers, who were accustomed to seeing only A's from Liz. They, in turn, brought it to the attention of Liz's parents.
"Honey, I know you've been through a lot," Nancy Parker supplicated softly. "But your grades are important, and you need to try and get back to where you were scholastically."
"I know, Mom," Liz responded with a nod of her head. "I'll try."
"Your teachers say that you seem distracted," Nancy continued. "Is there something you want to talk about?"
"No, Mom," Liz quickly denied. "I'm fine, really."
"Because you can talk to me about anything," Nancy continued to encourage. "I'm always here for you."
"I'm fine, Mom, really," Liz continued to insist.
Nancy and Jeff Parker had both noted only one difference of any significance in their daughter since the shooting, and that was her loss of interest in Kyle Valenti. They had always known that she was not overly infatuated with him, but they were accustomed to seeing her content with the relationship while holding an A average. Since her return home from the hospital, her interest seemed to be about avoiding Kyle and her grades appeared to be suffering for the effort.
Jeff and Nancy Parker did not know how to feel about Liz's break up with Kyle. They had never in the past given any importance to her having a boyfriend. Helping Liz fulfill her future ambitions was their primary concern. They asked what had happen between her and Kyle, more so out of curiosity than concern. She told them that being shot caused her to rethink her priorities. This was enough to satisfy their interest on the matter in the past. In the back of their minds, Kyle was always perceived, by them, as a distraction and possibly a threat to their daughter's future.
Mr. and Mrs. Parker did not become seriously concerned about Liz's disposition until the school contacted them about her declining grade point average. Before they chose not to overreact to an occasional test score that was less than spectacular. It had been their belief that she would return to her usual academic excellence when she was back to full health. The call from Liz's home room teacher changed all of that. For the first time since her return to school, Jeff and Nancy were making a serious study of their daughter's emotional state of mine.
Liz's emotional state was under study by one other person, Kyle Valenti. Since their break-up Kyle kept a steady watch on Liz. He always suspected that there was some external event that was responsible for her decision to separate from him. The fact that he could find no clear evidence of this made him even more suspicious. He expected Max Evans to replace him immediately after the split, but the relationship between him and Liz continued to be distant and awkward, very much to Kyle's surprise. He still believed that Max was at the core of Liz's sudden change in behavior, but the confusion about their relationship gave the situation a sinister feel. That supposition was supported, in Kyle's mind, by the fact that the two of them could not keep their eyes off one another.
There was only one person, outside of Liz herself, who knew all of what was going on with her, and that was Maria De Luca. As Liz's oldest and closest friend, Maria held her confidence in most things happening in her life. Outside of school, they spent much of their waking time together, and during most of that time they spoke about one thing.
"I don't know why he insists on avoiding me," Liz complained more than inquired. "I mean it's not like we don't have a history."
"You know, Liz," Maria began tactfully. "I really think this might be a good thing."
"There's nothing good about this," Liz rifled back with barely a thought. "It's awkward and silly and it's rude. That's what it is, it's rude. It's not like he has any secrets from me. You'd think he would have the courtesy to just talking to me once and while, instead of acting like I'm not even there."
Maria took no offense from the rebuke. She could see that Liz was simply thinking out loud. She waited patiently for Liz to finish her tirade and then tried again to back Liz away from her position.
"You know, Liz," Maria spoke up softly. "I don't think it's healthy for you to be this preoccupied about Max. I mean after all he is an illegal alien. He might get deported one of these days."
"I know, I know," Liz conceded with a shake of her head.
Liz thought about it for a few seconds more and then rationalized a different perspective from the one that Maria was suggesting.
"But I'm not preoccupied. I'm interested. There's a difference."
"Come on, Liz," Maria responded with sarcasm. "You spend almost every afternoon in the library searching through pictures of rocks just so you can find something to talk to him about."
"I'm just trying to help him find that rock formation that he keeps dreaming about," Liz defended with a hint of desperation.
"And that's not being preoccupied?" Maria questioned sarcastically.
"No … it's … it's … okay, maybe I'm a little preoccupied," Liz admitted reluctantly.
"Thank you," Maria responded in an exasperated tone of voice. "Progress at last."
"Okay," Liz relented. "I'll try to put the illegal alien out of my mind. I promised my parents that I'd get my grades back up anyway."
"You mean the perfect Liz Evans is no longer a straight A-student?" Maria questioned mockingly.
"It just that it all seems so unimportant now," Liz suggested somberly.
"What, you think your space boy is going to whisk you away in his flying saucer?" Maria jokingly asked.
"No," Liz responded with a grin. After a few seconds of reflection, she added an addendum to that response. "Well, maybe a little."
Both she and Maria got a good laugh out of that idea.
"I know," Liz continued when her laughing began to wane. "The whole thing is so ridiculous. But I can't stop wondering, what if."
"Yeah, well what you should be wondering about is how you're going to like flipping burgers next to your dad for the next forty years," Maria teased with a large smile.
Again, Maria and Liz laughed out loud for several seconds.
"You're mean," Liz grinned back.
"Hey, I'm just doing my job as your best friend," Maria retorted with a grin. "You need to keep your eyes on the prize."
"Which prize is that?" Liz asked with a hint of sarcasm.
"Oh, no you don't," Maria reacted sternly. "Don't go there. Just because he's good looking and mysterious, way mysterious, that doesn't mean he can't be a creep. You need to keep things in perspective."
"I've been in his head, Maria," Liz retaliated excitedly. "He's not a creep," she continued fondly. "He's nice."
"Okay, Liz," Maria responded with both hands waving out in front of her. "You're creeping me out here. I can't even imagine being in some boys head."
"It was interesting," Liz began to explain softly. "It wasn't like I was in his head, or he was in mine. We became one person, a new person."
"Ooh!" Maria responded with a look of disgust on her face. "I don't want to hear anymore. You can tell Max for me if I ever get shot just let me go."
"You're being silly, Maria," Liz responded with a laugh.
"Yeah, well I don't know how you can be around any of them," Maria responded with a shocked expression. "They can poke around in your mind and move things with their thoughts. I have a hard enough time just being in the same room with them. Sometimes, I think I can feel them moving around in my head."
"Max swore to me they would never do that," Liz defended resolutely.
"Maybe he did, but what about Isabel and Michael," Maria complained with exaggerated panic. "Every time I see either one of them, they're giving me the evil eye."
"That's just the way they are," Liz explained nonchalantly. "They don't mean anything by it."
"And you know this because you were in Max's head," Maria mocked.
"Yes," Liz confirmed.
"Okay, but if I find out that either one of us is under some kind of spell…"
"We're not under a spell," Liz quickly refuted.
"I'm just saying," Maria continued. "All promises are revoked."
"If we were being manipulated," Liz explained with a look of exasperation. "Then we wouldn't even be having this conversation."
"Okay," Maria conceded. "So, we have our own minds?"
"Yes," Liz responded decisively.
"And we have our own thoughts?" Maria questioned confidently.
"Yes," Liz confirmed sternly.
"And we're not going to obsess over Max anymore?" Maria questioned with a look.
"Absolutely not," Liz agreed stoutly.
"Okay then," Maria began in an upbeat tone. "What's the plan for this afternoon?"
Liz hesitated to answer just long enough to transition her demeanor from one of confidence to an expression of regret.
"Ah, I was planning to spend a couple of hours at the library today."
"Aw, Liz…!"