Part Three

February 16th 1999

Okay, so it had been a whole year and in all that time, Liz hadn't yet plucked up the courage to ask Scott Wilkinson out. Although they had become somewhat tentative friends over the past few months, every time Liz thought she was ready to approach him, she found herself backing out at the last minute, still unsure of whether to finally take the plunge. She'd never been any good around boys she liked and whenever she was in Scott's presence, the old shyness always came back in full force. Until today, that was.

It had all changed this year; it was their first year at West Roswell High and when Liz had found another Valentine's card in her mailbox on Saturday, written in the same handwriting as the year before, again signed Love, Your Secret Admirer, she was certain that it had to be from Scott. So today, she'd finally managed to overcome her shyness and at the end of fourth period, she'd caught up with Scott and asked him on a date.

He'd said yes and now they were going to the movies on Friday night. Liz spent the rest of the day wandering around in a daze, a huge grin plastered on her face. She had a date with Scott Wilkinson! Life was great!

Max looked out for Liz during school today. Despite his better judgement, he hadn't been able to stop himself from sending her another card this year. He knew it was silly, and probably a stupid idea, since the possibility of actually being able to date her was pretty much zero, but he'd seen the perfect card and hadn't been able to resist.

He wondered if she'd realised yet that he was the one who'd sent it and couldn't help imagining her reaction if she had. Unfortunately, by the end of the day, his hopes of her discovering that fact and approaching him about it were dashed. News travelled fast around the school and it wasn't long before it reached Max's ears that Liz Parker and Scott Wilkinson had a date for Friday night. He tried not to show his disappointment at the fact that Liz had obviously received more than one Valentine's card, although he should have known that other people would find her attractive too; after all, it wasn't like any of his friends actually knew about his little crush on studious Liz Parker.

Fleetingly, he thought back to the anonymous Valentine's card he'd received on Saturday. It was from the same girl who'd sent one last year. He was sure of that because it was written in the same indistinguishable handwriting. For a moment on that day, he'd briefly wondered if there was any possibility that it could have been from Liz Parker, but that thought was completely dismissed today, when he'd heard the news about her and Scott; especially the part where she'd been the one to ask him out.

Man, life certainly was depressing right now.

September 22nd 1999

Liz had been dating Scott for more than seven months now and she truly was having the time of her life. Soon after they started going out, Scott had confessed to her that he'd liked her for a long time, practically since the beginning of junior high, but he'd been too chicken to say anything. Liz never actually got around to asking him straight out about the Valentine's Day cards that she'd assumed were from him. She was positive that they were, though. After all, who else could have sent her those cards?

Well anyway, hopefully they would still be together come next February (that is, if the world didn't end on January 1st 2000) and then there would be no guessing about cards and presents.

Max was miserable. He hadn't had a serious girlfriend (or even a casual one) in months and his friends were starting to worry that he was losing his touch, but the truth was, he couldn't seem to find anyone that could hold his attention for more than a week. He also had to admit that it was still strange for him to see Liz and Scott walking around school together, hand-in-hand. He'd never really seen her with a guy before Scott and he actually felt it was unfair that she should be so happy when he couldn't be.

What he needed was a girl, one that he actually liked, to take his mind off Liz and her perfect relationship.

But who?

His prayers were answered a few weeks later, when a new girl arrived at the school. Her name was Amanda Thomas and she was tall and blonde and every guy's fantasy. Being one of the 'in-crowd', Max practically had first pick (mainly because the rest of the guys were getting worried about the lack of action in Max's love life and therefore, stood back to make way for him) and by the end of November, he and Amanda were an item.

Despite outward appearances, Max actually found her fun and interesting. They could talk for hours about TV and films and books and for once, it didn't feel like a forced relationship. He could just be himself around her and in the process, he could almost forget about his growing feelings for Liz Parker.

February 14th 2000

Well, the world didn't end like the Y2K enthusiasts had predicted, and Liz and Scott's relationship had made it to Valentine's Day. It was the moment of truth, the one where she found out once and for all that it indeed had been Scott who sent those cards to her the past two years. Liz heard the postman arrive and with a thumping heart, she crept downstairs to check the mail. Sure enough, there was a red envelope with the now familiar, but still disguised handwriting on the front. Liz smiled to herself. Obviously, Scott had decided to stick with tradition. She just hoped he'd written a special message for her inside and finally decided to sign his name.

With excited fingers, she tore at the envelope and pulled out the card, smiling at the cute bear on the front – another tradition, although this time it was holding a heart-shaped box of chocolates to its chest. Eagerly anticipating the message inside, she opened it up. Her smile vanished. It was the definitely the same handwriting as the last two cards – the ones she'd thought were from her from her soon-to-be boyfriend – but it was still anonymously signed and even contained a small apology for sending it even though she was currently involved with someone.

Liz couldn't breathe. The cards weren't from Scott Wilkinson, not even close. She'd made a mistake in believing that he was being romantic and had sent them before they were going out. God, it suddenly felt like their entire relationship was a lie. Liz ran upstairs and dug out the previous cards from under her bed. They were definitely from the same person.

So if Scott, her boyfriend, hadn't sent them, then who had?

February 14th 2000

Max was practically kicking himself the morning of Valentine's Day. He'd given into temptation and send yet another card to Liz. How could he have been so stupid? Who on earth would send someone a Valentine when they already had a boyfriend? God, what would Scott think if he saw it? Max hated the thought that Liz's boyfriend might assume she was cheating on him or something.

After several minutes of cursing his incredibly stupid decision, he let his body fall back onto his mattress with a sigh. What could he do now? It was too late to go and take it back; most likely, Liz had already opened it.

It seemed he was back to square one again. He'd split up with Amanda a few weeks previously, when they both realised that although they had fun together, in the end they just weren't all that attracted to one another. If he was honest, Max wasn't particularly cut up about it. He and Amanda had stayed friends, and partly due to her relationship with him, she had been readily accepted into their popular group. A couple of weeks ago, she'd even pulled him to one side and admitted that she liked his friend Kyle Valenti a lot and would he mind terribly if she went out with him. Luckily, Max felt no jealousy towards Kyle and assured her that he didn't mind at all if they got together.

Only problem was, now Max was back to his original dilemma: growing feelings for Liz Parker and no girlfriend of his own to distract him and take his mind off them. Max was so caught up in thoughts of how he was going to survive seeing Liz and Scott looking so loved-up every day at school, that when his sister handed him his usual pile of Valentine's cards, it barely even registered that this year his anonymous admirer had not sent one.

Liz was at a loss. Last night, Scott had taken her out for a lovely romantic dinner at a popular Italian restaurant in town. He'd wined (well, not technically, since they were still only fifteen years old) and dined her, and at the end of the evening, he had produced a large card and brightly wrapped present – a dainty silver necklace with a heart-shaped pendant, and although under any other circumstances, Liz would have found the whole thing incredibly romantic, her thoughts were just not with Scott last night, but rather with her secret admirer.

She rushed into school, frantic to speak to Maria about her discovery. She found her at her locker, an annoyed expression on her usually smiling face, but before Liz could open her mouth, Maria opened hers and a slew of insults came out.

"The little bastard! Just who does he think he is? Sending me a Valentine as if he gives a damn! I mean, honestly, Liz!" she cried, her arms gesturing wildly.

"Uh…Maria, what are you talking about?"

"What am I talking about? Don't you mean who?" Liz shrugged and Maria carried on regardless. "Well, I'll tell you – the bane of my existence, Michael 'I'm so cool' Guerin – that's who!"

Liz's eyes widened. "Wait, Michael Guerin sent you a Valentine? As in practically the most popular guy in school, bar only Max Evans, Michael Guerin?"

Liz was suddenly thankful that Maria didn't know about her strange infatuation with Max Evans. To her, he was just another one of those stuck-up, 'cool' kids. Hence, Maria's disgust at the fact that Michael Guerin, one of Max's best friends, had sent her a card. Liz wasn't quite so surprised though; everyone had noticed, well everyone except Maria it seemed, that Michael could often be found looking in her friend's direction. Unfortunately, Maria had been so adamant about her hatred of popular kids that no one had ever dared suggest to her that Michael might be interested in her.

"Yes! I mean, my God! He didn't even bother to stay anonymous – he signed it with a great big fat Michael Guerin at the end!" she exclaimed. "Liz, what am I going to do?"

"Well, I might suggest that you go and find him and thank him for the card," Liz reasoned. "It's obvious that he wants you to know how he feels, Maria; otherwise he wouldn't have signed it."

"How he feels? Oh God, Liz. I'm gonna have to talk to him face-to-face, aren't I?" Maria pulled a disgusted face to cover up the nervous butterflies that were suddenly going on a rampage in her stomach. "So, what did you and Scotty-boy get up to for Valentine's then? He buy you something expensive?" she changed the subject.

Liz's face fell at the mention of her boyfriend. "See, that's the thing, Maria, I found out something new yesterday and now I don't know what to do."

"Liz?" Maria watched her friend with a troubled frown.

"You know the Valentine's cards that I've been getting from Scott the last couple of years? The ones that convinced me to finally ask him out?"

"Yeah?" Maria asked, unsure of where the conversation was going.

"Well, I got another one yesterday…obviously, since it was Valentine's Day; but there was a problem."

"Which was…?"

"It wasn't from Scott," Liz confessed quietly. "And it was written in the same handwriting as the others. Which means that those weren't from Scott either."

There was a slight pause from Maria as the words sunk in, before, "You mean…?"

Liz nodded. "It was all just a misunderstanding. I asked out Scott because of someone else's card. What do I do now? Do I tell him the truth, the real reason we're together? Or do I just keep on pretending that this other guy doesn't exist?"

"Liz, do you love Scott? Because if you do, it shouldn't make a difference whether he sent you those cards or not."

Liz shook her head in frustration. "I don't know, Maria. I care for him, I really do, but I just don't know if I'm in love with him."

"Look," Maria started kindly. "If I were you, I wouldn't do anything drastic just yet. Spend some time with Scott and see how you feel for now. I mean, just because he didn't send those cards, doesn't mean that he doesn't care about you."

Liz sighed, "You're right, I shouldn't do anything just yet. But, Maria…if it wasn't Scott that sent them, who did?"

"I don't know, Liz; but maybe you shouldn't dwell on it too much, okay?"

She rolled her eyes, "Okay, fine; I'll concentrate on things with Scott for now." There was a pause as she considered her decision. "So, Michael Guerin, huh? Do you think you two will…?"

"Liz!" Maria admonished, but then a smile broke across her face. "I guess we'll just have to wait and see, won't we?"

TBC...