Rollercoaster

by

Domino

Part Six

The weekend passed in much of the same way. Maria rehearsed, sang and buried herself in things to do to prevent thinking. On Sunday she even helped the Enterprise when one of their waitresses called in sick. She was dreading Monday but when it finally came, she dressed to kill and left for school determined to avoid all 7 of them.

Surprisingly, it was really easy to do that. As much as she didn't want to talk to them they didn't want to talk to her. She got through the morning without having to speak to anyone at all. Even lunch went well. She sat by herself for the first time in a long time. Being in a group of eight meant that there was always someone to sit with. She no longer had that but instead within minutes a couple of guys on the basketball team she had said less than two words to before sat down next to her and before she knew it the rest of the team followed suit. Even the cheerleaders sat down. And for once Maria was too occupied to think about why.

Across the quad, 6 people watched as she appeared to laugh and joke surrounded by Roswell High's popular. Michael was no where to be seen. He had been avoiding them all since the last confrontation. And the others, although they sat together barely said anything. Max and Liz resumed their relationship but there were no soulmate looks exchanged. In fact they hardly looked at each other, memories too painful. Everyone was depressed. Even spending the weekend totally apart did little to help. Kyle and Alex after the first few failed attempts at small talk lapsed into silence. Her absence was noticeable. Her laughter was missed. Her smile was longed for. But no one brought her up. She was a subject too painful to discuss, to think about. They sat and watched instead.

A phrase Alex had read once passed through his mind, 'Distance is salve to the betrayer's guilt.' The only problem Alex thought was, he couldn't figure out which of them was the guilty party. Maria or them. Both kept their distance. No one discussed the subject, anger and guilt competing for attention - both to be avoided at all costs. And no one thought about anything else.

Isabel had similar thoughts in her head. A few days ago, she was happy on a double date with her best friends and boyfriend and now she sat in a group of silent teens. The group was falling apart. This was the one thing they couldn't survive - the loss of her and Isabel knew there was nothing she could do and worse, if she wanted to do anything, her anger at points consuming her and at others her disbelief. Maybe all they could do was wait.

And that was how the week passed in school. Everyday Maria would sit somewhere and immediately be surrounded by people. Michael spent little time at school as possible and when he was there Maria avoided him completely and he her. It was the same with the others. At the CD, life was a bit different. Alex, and Kyle showed up everyday to support Liz in case Maria was there. And Isabel and Tess came with them. Maria never showed up. Michael kept to the kitchen and grilled burgers without saying a word to anyone.

There were too many memories of her everywhere, with them. It hurt too much to think about her so he tried not too. He avoided all of them so he wouldn't see the look of pain in their eyes that reflected his, so he wouldn't see their pity in their glances. It took them until the end of the week to try and find out where she was. Liz refused to ask her father. Eventually Tess sneaked into the breakroom to do what Liz wouldn't and stole the month schedule of the CD waitresses.

Unfortunately for her she got caught looking at it when Mr Parker walked in.
"Hello, Tess. What are you doing with the schedule?"

"I was just looking at it.." Tess said nervously but Mr Parker didn't seem to think anything was wrong with that so she continued and asked what she had been meaning to, " Maria isn't on it."

"Yes I know. Its sad. The place seems different without her. I wonder why she hasn't been in all week."

"She must be busy. I'll…I'll um…go now." With those last words Tess ran into the front and collapsed into the booth the five of them were siting.

"Well?" Isabel questioned.

"She's not on the schedule," Tess replied. The others looked shocked.

"Do you think Liz had her fired?" Kyle asked in a disbelieving voice.

"I did not," Liz replied from behind them, their orders in her hand.

"Mr Parker knew she wasn't going to be here, " Tess added.

"Do you think she quit?" max asked.

"No way. She wouldn't. She needs this job," Alex said.

"Its her life. She can do whatever she wants with it," Liz said coldly.

The others stared at her in shock. Liz had changed since the event. She didn't smile anymore and hardly spoke to anyone. Max and Michael were the same. The others didn't quite agree with Liz's assessment but there was nothing else they could do. None of them were talking to Maria so they couldn't ask what was going on, but despite the circumstances they were worried. Alex looked up and saw Michael staring at them, his face a mask. He heard as well.

End Part Six

Part Seven

As for Maria, not working at the CD left her with a lot of free time on her hands. It was the last thing she wanted so she filled it up hanging around with her new friends, always keeping herself at a distance. Once a week she had a rehearsal with Marc but by Wednesday, Maria decided to increase her extra curricular activities. She tried out for the school play. Without much effort on her part, to the disgust of other contenders, her acting and singing abilities won her the lead role and it seemed in minutes Maria was engrossed in learning lines, practising. Her new circle of friends widened even further to include the drama students. Yet none of them knew her at all. If they did they would see the smiles she gave never reached her eyes or the subtle looks she sent in the way of her former friends.

What made her even busier was the cheerleaders. With the big game coming up they decided they needed something special and she was it. They were using her but Mara didn't mind. She wanted to be busy and she was using them as well. The plan was simple. Maria would sing a song and lead while the cheerleaders followed. They chose Madison Avenue's Who the Hell are You? As the song they were going to use was fast, between the lot of them with Maria's input, they choreographed a dance routine worthy of Britney or Christina. If it wasn't for Maria's hurt it would have actually been a lot of fun even though it was hard work. Still the routine did cheer her up immensely and the cheerleaders and her spent every spare moment they had practising. They even kicked the team away a few times so that they could have what they termed a private discussions with Maria.

Some of the girls were actually quite nice and after a the first couple attempts they made to find out what made Maria separate from her friends and being shot down, they got the hint, and the subject was left alone. Instead she and the other girls did girl things, discussed guys and planned their routine. It made Maria miss Liz, Isabel and Tess a lot but she refused to give in to her tears.

Maria passed probation that first week and was now a permanent member of the staff. She spent all of Friday and most of Saturday there, her face in the kitchen now a familiar one and her doing her homework in the breakroom a regular occurrence. Marc even joined her there sometimes with his homework, while the chefs brought in a variety of foods for her to taste and eat.

By the time, the 10th day since the break up - but who was counting - had passed life had changed little. Alex and Kyle finally decided, after spending the weekend deciding whether or not to interfere, to ask Maria why she wasn't working at the CD anymore. They were not stupid and were aware that Maria would probably not talk to them, judging by her avoidance tactics of late but they had a plan. It was a simple plan.

Alex and Kyle, with Isabel and Tess's help would record a cassette for Maria asking what they wanted to know. They decided against leaving a message on her phone to prevent Amy hearing it. Phoning her was also out of the question since she would probably hang up on them. Isabel would unlock Maria's car door at school and they would place it in her radio ready to play when she got it. It was for this reason Alex brought his dad's voice activated tape recorder to the Crashdown. He stored it in the breakroom in Liz's locker till the place was almost empty and they could come up with a good message.

That evening, it was almost closing time. Liz and Courtney were the only ones on duty when Alex went to get the recorder finally. He switched it on and was about to begin the message they had decided on when Liz called him into the kitchen to help lift something. Leaving the recorder on the table he left the breakroom and headed into the kitchen. Michael had a box and was trying to pick it up when Alex showed up and lifted the other half. Together they moved it out the way, and carried it down to the basement under Liz's directions.

In the breakroom, however Courtney was making her weekly phonecall to her superiors on the status of the group. Unbeknownst to her the voice activated recorder began recording the second a sound was heard and her entire conversation was recorded.

"4523 reporting in."

"Yes, sir. Things are going splendidly here sir."

"Yes sir. I realise that they are still together but they barely speak. Michael is almost never there and Maria hasn't been seen anywhere but school since the mission was accomplished. Right now they aren't talking to her, thinking she betrayed them and they aren't talking to each other."

"Another week, sir and they will completely fall apart."

"You picked the right person to appear as a betrayal. Maria kissing Max was act of genius on your part and a genius act on Santia's part."

"No, sir, no-one suspects it wasn't really Maria."

"Yes sir. Tomorrow sir."

The recording stopped as Courtney stopped speaking.

End Part Seven

Part Eight

Jim Valenti and Amy Deluca were on a date. As always, and common for single parents their conversation always led back to their kids. Recently in particular, the subjects of their parents thoughts were causing more problems than usual. The kids were acting strange. Strange for teenagers was normal one might say but this was different - stranger than normal and the parents were worried.

"I don't know what's going on. She won't tell me. All I know is that I never see Michael, Liz, Alex or any of the others anymore."

"Kyle and Tess seem depressed. I don't think they have broken up but they barely talk to each other. None of them smile anymore and Maria hasn't been over to visit Tess in ages. I'm worried," Jim said.

"Its worse than that. Strange kids phone all the time. Maria says that they are friends but I've never met them. When she's home she stays in her room all the time strumming her guitar and writing in a little notebook."

"I haven't seen her at the CD at all lately," Jim put in.

"That's another thing. She quit her job there and didn't even tell me. I don't get it."

"She quit? But…"

"Exactly. Something happened that's split them up and I don't know what it is."

"I don't know what we should do. Maybe if we wait it out they will fix it on their own."

"I hope so. I really hope so. I want to see my daughter laugh again."


@@@@@@@@@@@@

Isabel was waiting for Alex with Tess, Max and Kyle. Now that they had a plan they all seemed a little lighter and they were all eager to start. It had been a few minutes already. Courtney, the last person besides them walked past and left.

"How long does it take to fetch something?" Kyle asked, more to break the silence than anything.

"I'll go get him," Isabel stated and squeezed out the booth and walked into the back, still holding her soda in her hand.

She didn't see anyone around and was going to try the kitchen when she spotted the recorder. Noticing it was on she rewinded to see what her boyfriend recorded.

The recording began with Alex answering Liz. 'That's explains where he is," Isabel thought to herself and was about to press stop when Courtney's conversation began.

The sound of the glass falling crashed into the silence of the closed café and had everyone immediately running into the backroom. Liz, Alex and Michael on the way up the steps from the basement ran the rest the way and Max, Tess and Kyle came rushing in from the front of the room. The sight that met them was one none of them had ever seen, not even Max and Michael.

Isabel stood in the centre of the breakroom, glass all around her, clutching the recorder tightly in her hand but the thing that shocked all of them was the expression on her face and the tears running down her face. When Isabel cried she did it alone where no one could see her momentary lapse of weakness. The others stared in shock before Alex ran to his girlfriend, "Iz are you hurt. Did you get cut?" he said worriedly.

Max pulled her away from where she was standing in the middle of the cut glass to the side and Tess with one swipe of her hand had the glass repaired. Isabel didn't say a word. She grabbed Alex tightly and buried her head in his shoulder, sobs escaping. The others stood worriedly while Alex patted her on the back and made soothing noises.

"Isabel?" Michael asked gently, worry for her making him forget his pain for a second. And at the sound of his voice Isabel burst into fresh tears. She didn't know how to tell them, how they would take it. The guilt she felt was so bad, for them it would be so much worse. It made her cry even harder. The others waited for her to calm down and tell them what was wrong. In the end she didn't know how to say it so she released Alex and pressed play.

The recording began again and Isabel saw the understanding dawn on their faces as they realised what it meant she saw the tortured expression on Michael's as he took in the words, the guilt on all their faces, the sorrow, the fear, the pain. Liz collapsed to the couch her legs buckling beneath her. Her face broke, through the cold expression she had worn for days as it occurred to her what she had done to her best friend, as it occurred to them all. Isabel wasn't the only one crying now.

"Oh my God. What did we do? What did we do?" Liz cried. And no one could answer. Michael looked like he was about to run again but it was like he didn't have the energy. He collapsed next to Liz and Max beside him.

"I said such mean things to her. I told her to get out of my life. Man, this is bad."

"Bad was watching that skin kiss you. We are way beyond bad here. What we did was…we broke every rule of friendship there was. This is a catastrophe," Liz said her voice breaking into tears.

"She'll never forgive us for this. We walked out on her." Michael said his voice so soft you could barely hear.

"I should have listened to my instincts. Why didn't I let her explain?" Alex said.

"That's why she looked so confused when we just ganged up on her." Tess added

"We didn't even listen to her. Oh god she quit because of us." Kyle said.

"No she quit because of me. I did this to her. Its all my fault. I made you'll believe me."

"We're all at fault here. She would have never done this to any of us. She would have searched until she found an explanation that made sense and we just gave her up. Just like that," Isabel said.

"She's never going to want to speak to us again." Michael said and everyone of them knew he was right. What they did was unforgivable.

"We have to fix this, "Alex said determinedly, "We have to."

"We'll make her talk to us." Kyle added.

"I don't think so, Alex. You saw her face when I walked away from her. She looked so hurt. Like I had stabbed her," Michael told him. Alex felt himself lose some of hope because he knew Michael was right. He had seen Maria's face when they all walked out on her.

"We cant just give up like that. Maria is the most giving person I know, the most generous and loving. She'll forgive us. She will. I know she will." Tess yelled at them.

"After we threw her love back in her face, her trust. Without even a question we just threw her away." Liz said. "Over a decade of friendship and I just let my best friend go."

"Stop feeling sorry for yourselves. You'll don't deserve it . None of us do," Tess stated, "We have to go and fix this. Its gone on long enough," and when the others just stared at her she added, "Are you just going to let them win. Let Courtney win."

It was enough to get them moving. They left the CD and headed to the Maria's house. The cars parked outside, they got out slowly and stood at the front door. All of them were nervous. To a house all of them had spent time in, Liz and Alex practically living there at some points - it was difficult to go in. Who knows how long they would have stood there, gathering up the courage to face their friend whom they had wronged so badly if Isabel hadn't finally wrung the bell.

Tess who had pushed them to this point lost some of her bravado at the thought of facing a girl that had accepted her and was her first ever human girlfriend. Michael didn't know how he could fix this. He had many screw-up in their long relationship but this… it was beyond bad. He was terrified that he couldn't fix it, that he had lost her forever because of something so unbelievable. Under the fear was the guilt and with that anger. He was furious at himself. It was a sentiment they all shared. They all should have known better. Him, Liz, Alex, all of them.

For Liz, up to now the hardest thing she ever had to do was to convince Max to fall out of love with her by acting out a betrayal. Watching his face as he caught sight of her and Kyle was the worst thing she had to do until now. Through all of that, Liz at least knew that the fate of the world was dependent on it and that gave her strength. That and the fact that at least she would always have Maria to support her when she found out. What she did to Maria was worse, way worse. She destroyed her best friend for no reason, nothing that could explain any of this or forgive her actions. She didn't deserve to have a friend like Maria. None of them did. Maria deserved friends that trusted her, that believed her, treated her like Maria always treated them.

The door opened.

End Part 8

Part Nine

Maria took one look at them, all seven standing on the doorstep and her mouth fell open in shock. They were the last people she had expected to see here, especially under the circumstances. 'What were they doing here. Maybe they came to have that long overdue talk. Whatever it was it was too bad because she wasn't going to talk to them,' her jumbled thoughts ran through her head.

Acting purely on instinct and an anger she never was given a chance to express, she immediately shut the door in their faces. For them, whatever they were expecting it wasn't that. They stared at each other for a few minutes deciding what to do when Max reached up and rang the bell again. Maria ignored it and the next one. She was glad her mum wasn't home to hear this. When the bell didn't appear to be stopping any time soon, Maria opened the door, glared at her former friends and in her coldest voice, "You are not welcome here. Get out," she said before shutting the door again.

It was at that moment Amy Deluca returned from her date with the sheriff and caught sight of the large number of people on her porch. It was the expressions on their faces, total dejection that got to her first. The sheriff got out of the truck as well and stared at the 7 with Amy. In their guilt-ridden states, the teens barely noticed other people in the area. The mother in Amy couldn't let them go like that. She took hold of Liz's arm gently and pulled her round the back. The others followed almost unconsciously, with the sheriff bringing up the rear.

They entered the house through the back door and Amy dragged them into the living room. There at the end, by the entrance to the front Maria sat on the floor against the front door, her arms wrapped around her knees her eyes dry and unseeing as she stared into space. She didn't notice them come in but the second they entered they saw her, and under Amy's and the sheriff's strict and worried observing eyes, the expressions they thought couldn't get any worse immediately worsened.
Whatever it was that caused Maria to look up, a sound, a feeling, when she did she stood up in a hurry and her face blanked over as she glared at her former friends.

"Maria, honey, your friends are here," Amy said when there was merely an uncomfortable silence. A cold smile crossed Maria's face.

"Friends are someone who trust and believe in each other, Mum," she said, her tone even colder than the ice in her eyes, "They are no friends of mine."

The teens visibly flinched, although Maria took no satisfaction from that. Amy and Jim exchanged shocked looks.

Facing the sorrowful line of teens that stood there Maria continued to them, "My mother may have let you into my house so I cant kick you out, this time. But far as I am concerned, you are not welcome here EVER." With that she turned around and left.

Amy watched, as the others did, her daughter's exit from the room. "Maybe it would be best if you leave," she said and followed Maria out, giving the sheriff an apologetic look. He gave an understanding one in return, before herding his charges out the Deluca home.

Looking totally crushed, none of them objected as they were practically pushed out. Outside, they stood unsure of what to do next. The sheriff ordered them to follow him home, and so they did.

Inside, Amy rushed up the steps to her daughter's room. The door was shut, reminiscent of the way Maria just shut out her friends a few minutes previously. Tapping lightly on the door to announce her presence, Amy opened it to find Maria sitting on the bed, staring blankly at the mirror containing her refection.

"Maria?" her mother questioned gently.

"Mum, I'm… not really in the mood to speak now."

"Okay, honey," Amy replied.

She sat next to her daughter and in slow movements pulled her daughter into her arms. Maria resisted at first for a second before burying her head in Amy's chest like she used to when she was younger. And they sat like that for a while. Eventually Maria began to cry, soft tears falling down her face onto Amy's shirt, soaking it. Still she didn't say anything and from an instinct natural to a mother, Amy didn't force her to and instead just held her, singing soft lullabies until her baby girl, once so innocent and trusting, fell asleep.

End Part 9

Part Ten

"Alright," the sheriff said to his young charges as they all filed into the living room, "Someone explain. What the hell did you do to Maria?"

No one replied.

"I know you did something. Maria Deluca is one of the sweetest people I know, like her mother and what I saw in there - that ice princess act was wrong. Now which one of you is going to tell me?"

Still, no one spoke.

"Look, if you tell me maybe I can help you fix it. You need her - all of you and you know that," he said.

"We cant fix this. Its too late. What we did? You'd hate us if you knew, dad," Kyle said sounding as dejected as Jim had ever heard him sound.

"Nothing's ever too late, son. You'll need her. She's your centre. Even I know that. She's the glue."

"You're not the only one that knew that. They did too," Max said bitterly, showing the first signs of anger.

"They who? What did they do?"

"They…," and he stopped unable to say it. Michael and Liz looked away, the memory, the pain too fresh.

"They manipulated us into believing… that Maria kissed Max," Tess told him when the others wouldn't say anything.

"And you believed that. About Maria. But she's…"

"We know. We were stupid," Alex said, "And we didn't think."

"I said some horrible things," Max told the flabbergasted sheriff.

"I sent her all the stuff she left in my room. Everything she ever gave me and I just dropped it on her porch without saying a word," Liz said and began to weep again.

Michael clenched his fists and muttered, "I got to get out of here."

The sheriff stopped him at the door. "No, Michael. We have to talk about this," and Michael too dispirited to fight him allowed himself to be pushed into a seat.

"This is bad. I can't believe you guys would think that about Maria. Anyone else…possible but Maria," Jim stated.

"I don't know what I was thinking. It doesn't seem real," Isabel said.

"I didn't fight for her. She would have fought for me. She always fought for me," Alex added his shoulders slumped.

"She would fight for all of you," the sheriff said, "Okay tell me from the beginning."

And so they did. Everyone added their bit in except Michael who just sat there. It took a while. All the teens were highly upset and there were many pauses along the way. Jim didn't interrupt.

At the end he stood up and with his back facing them began to speak, "Only three times in my life have I ever felt real shame. The first time was when I discovered you and I realised that all this time my father was right and the way I treated him was contemptible. It took some time but I fixed that. I was lucky I had the opportunity to fix it before it was too late," the sheriff paused and turned around to face them before continuing.

"The second time was one of the worst I have ever behaved. I was obsessed and somehow in my zest to discover the truth I forgot the way I was supposed to act. It was the first time I ever had a real conversation with Maria. And I wasted it with scare tactics and strong arming an innocent teenage girl who was terrified. All I did was scare her more. The more scared she got, the more I pushed and just when I thought I had her she looked me directly in the eye and said 'We wouldn't want to break up any more families' and left. I felt like a monster that day. And then I started to date her mother and things got serious. Here was the girl I threatened and the very strong possibility of her becoming my future stepdaughter. I didn't know how to apologise or fix it but she came up the me one day and told me I made her mother happy and that was all that mattered. Of course, if I screw up again, she would make me pay. I believed her and that was it… she forgave me."

"You all know the third time with Hubble - I like to think that was repairable as well," the sheriff paused again and looked at each one of them in the eye before saying to them, his tone as serious as they had ever heard it, "Not once did I ever feel anything less than proud of any of you. The way you all behaved in the face of dangerous and definitely unusual circumstances has always been a sense of pride for me - for all of you, not just Kyle. Until today. What you did was almost unforgivable but if there is anything I have learnt its that you can't just give up on relationships that matter. And sometimes, love is enough to help forgive. And I know despite your despicable behaviour Maria always loved and protected you - even when she was scared of you."

His seven charges sat there, their faces showing their emotions, changing with each word. He saw the determination and the little hope, almost afraid to appear, show as the heard his last words.

"You will fix this. Because you love her. Because you need her. Because she needs you. Because she loves you. Because they can't win. Is that understood?"

They all nodded.

"Good. Now you need a way to get her to talk to you and for you to apologise and explain." The sheriff said.

"We're beyond apologies here - we're on to major grovelling," Alex said.

"The on the your knees begging kind," Kyle clarified, "She made me get down on mine and beg once. She said and I quote, that my stalker-like behaviour and total idiocy tendencies warranted an apology of the highest order," and then he smiled a slight smile, "But she forgave me. Maybe she will again."

"I don't know," Liz said, her voice still tearful, "But we're going to try."

"And if we have to we wont stop until she listens," Michael said, his voice full of purpose again, "She's the most important thing in my life and I will not let some skin and my own stupidity drive her away again."

"We'll fight for her - like she always fights for us," Max said, "I want my best friend back."

"We need a plan," Isabel said.

The sheriff left unnoticed as the kids began to plan. They all looked animated again as they thought up ideas to get their friend back. He only hoped one of them worked.

End Part Ten

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