As Max made his way around school the next afternoon, as he was about to go home, he saw Alex watching him but it was something else he saw that shook him. The Principal was talking to the Sheriff. Before he could make an escape, the principal spotted him. “There he is.”
The two adults approached him and the principal said, “Max Parker, the Sheriff needs to ask you some questions.”
“Sure.” Max said. He knew that if he declined, it might rouse suspicion. He followed the Principal and Sheriff into the office and to a small room of it. The Principal left them alone then and Max watched as the Sheriff pulled out a file. “I apologize for showing these to you but I think it might be important.”
The Sheriff dropped some pictures in front of him and Max was surprised to see that they were of a dead man, a dead man with a silver handprint on his chest. He continued to study them as the Sheriff talked. “This man was found dead in one of the surrounding counties. His car was gone and it seemed like a simple robbery but there was no apparent cause of death. Except that print. What do you make of it?”
“I have never seen anything like that before.” Max said quietly. He tried to memorize it as much as possible so that he could tell Liz about later. He noticed that it was labeled 1959.
“Tess told me she saw a similar hand print on your stomach yesterday when she met you in the weight room.” Valenti explained to him. It had been an accident that his daughter had walked in to see him looking over the old files of his fathers. But when she saw the picture she had commented that she had seen the same thing on Max.
“She was wrong. I don’t know what she saw but she probably just saw my sweat.” Max stated.
“I'm sure.” The Sheriff said not sounding that convinced. “But I'm gonna need to see for myself.”
“Come on sheriff, I mean, why would I have a mark like that? This guy’s dead, I’m alive.” Max argued.
“Max,” The Sheriff said in a tone that was not to be argued with.
Max stood up and slowly pulled up the hem of his shirt. He held his breath as he waited for the Sheriff to say something. When he didn’t, Max looked down and was astonished to see that the handprint had disappeared. He tried to not let the relief show as he sat back down.
“The mark disappeared on the corpse too.” The Sheriff commented as Max settled into his chair. But he went rigid when asked, “What do you know about a girl named Liz Evans?”
“Liz Evans?” Max asked.
“Mmmm Hmmm.” The Sheriff said.
“Um.... I don't really know her all that well. I see her here at school. We’re lab partners and she comes into the café sometimes.” Max rambled.
“Was she one of the kids at the CrashDown on the day of the shooting? One of the ones the tourists saw?” The Sheriff asked.
“No.” Max answered a little too quickly. He knew he needed to get out of there before he let anything more slip. “Can I go now sheriff? I’ve got a ton of homework to get done before the festival.”
“Yeah, just one more thing. Tess brought this home last night, and said that you left it behind after your chat yesterday. I thought that since I had to come by to talk to you and she forgot it, I’d bring it to you.”
Max recognized the gym bag that the Sheriff set on the desk. It was the same one he had put his bloody, ketchup stained shirt from the shooting in the other day. “Thanks. See you later.”
He hurried out of the office; he needed to talk to Liz.
(*(*(*(*(*(**)*)*)*)*)*)
Max found Liz exactly where he knew she’d be the biology lab. He had heard her talking to their teacher earlier about wanting to use the lab for extra credit after school. As he rushed into the room, Liz looked up surprised and dropped the test tube she’d been holding. “Max!”
“Sorry to scare you but I need to know everything, the whole truth. Or I'll… I'm just gonna go to back to the Sheriff tell him everything I know.”
“Okay.” Liz said knowing he just needed some answers. She would feel the same way in his situation, hell she’d probably have a whole list of questions by now. She just didn’t know what had set him off that he had to know right now. He had strange timing; she’d give him that.
“Okay.” Max said surprised by how little fight he had to put into the argument. “Okay. All right. What planet do you come from?”
“I don't know. I wasn't born yet when the ship crashed.” Liz answered simply.
“So there was a crash?” Max asked surprised.
“Yes. The crazies are right; it wasn't a weather balloon that fell that night. At least not the only thing.” Liz said.
“But the ship crashed in 1947. Are you really 52 and look like you’re sixteen? Or were your parents in the crash and had you later?” Max asked.
“I’m sixteen. And as for parents, I don’t know anything about them not my real ones. I haven’t seen any sign of them since we came out of our incubation pods.”
“We?” Max asked surprised.
“Um…my sister Isabel and Michael are also...uh...aliens.” Liz said unable to find the words.
“Oh.” Max stated. “Have you always looked like you do? I mean…”
“Did I look like the aliens in the movies?” Liz asked for him. He nodded and she answered. “No, we never looked like that. When we came out of the pods we looked like ordinary six-year-olds. But we knew we were different. I’ve studied our blood and other samples and compared them to normal human ones at least the diagrams that I’ve found in books. They’re not the same. Ours are green. I’ll show you.”
Max was surprised as he watched Liz pull out a swab and started running it along the inside of her cheek. He observed her going through the process of making a slide before she turned back to him. “You remember at the beginning of the year when Ms. Hardy had us look at samples of human tissue?”
Max nodded. “Remember what you saw and look at this.”
Max closed one eye and peeked through the eyepiece of the microscope. The difference from what he remembered and what he was seeing was immediately obvious. They were like Liz said they were, green. He pulled back and stared at her, “This is amazing.”
“That’s what I thought the first time I saw it.” Liz said.
“Is this why you’re into science so much? So that you might be able to find something to tell you who you are?” Max couldn’t help asking.
“Kind of.” Liz said biting her lip like she always did. “That’s how it started out. Now it’s more like because I can’t find out anything.”
Liz knew she needed to explain better and thought about how to do it. “ Our lives are surrounded by the unknown. But my past isn’t the only thing I want to know about. And when I study science, it helps me feel better by knowing that I’m at least solving part of the mysteries that fascinate me.”
Max watched as she took the slide that she had made and slipped it into her pocket. It snapped him back to reality. And reminded him that she had to keep things secret. At least until the day in the café. Which reminded him of another question he wanted to ask, “What kind of powers do you have?”
“I can heal people as you’re familiar with.” Liz said. “Isabel and Michael can too but it doesn’t seem like they can do much beyond a bruise or a cut. Nothing like what I did with you. We can connect with people, like you and I did last night…as well as manipulate molecular structures....”
“Wait a minute, what does that mean? Manipulating molecular structures?” Max asked.
Liz looked around for something to demonstrate what she meant when her eye caught the broken test tube she had dropped when Max came in. She knelt down, picked up the pieces and held them in her hands. Max saw a faint glow in them until she opened her hands again to display a whole test tube. “That’s a small part of what manipulating means.”
She handed him the test tube and he ran the smooth glass against his hand. After he studied it he looked back at her and asked, “Liz, who else knows about this?”
“No one.”
“What about your parents? The Evans.” Max asked.
“No, they don’t know, they have no idea. They just think that we were abused and forgot what our lives were like before they found us. No one knows the truth. We sort of believe our safety depend on it. We’ve never told anyone except that now I’ve told you.” Liz stated.
“So when you saved me you risked all of this getting out didn't you?” Max asked.
Liz only nodded before Max asked, “Why?”
“It was you.” Liz answered then blushed. “I couldn’t let you just die.”
Max smiled at her. But the smile faltered when he remembered why he had sought her out. “Um the Sheriff called me in to ask questions and also showed me this photo of a corpse. A victim of a car jacking but they couldn’t figure out how he died. Completely ordinary except that he had the same silver handprint on its chest.”
Liz’s eyes widen in surprise and horror. “That can't be.”
“It’s true. The photo was marked 1959.” Max explained. “And it gets worse. Tess saw my handprint and told her dad about it. I think he knows something happened that day. He has my shirt I wearing when you healed me. And he knows you were in the café. I think he knows you did something to me and I think he is trying to gather more evidence against you.”
“I have to go.” Liz said as she quickly grabbed her bag and started heading out of the room. But before she could Max grabbed her arm. “Liz, wait. Go where? Where are you going?”
“Don’t you get it? If the Sheriff suspects me then it won’t be long before he links Isabel and Michael to me. It’s not safe for us to be here anymore, I have to go find them.”
“Then what are you going to do?” Max asked concerned.
“I’m going to get my family safely away,” Liz stated. “Even if it means leaving Roswell.”
Liz pulled out of his grasp and ran out the door. It took him a minute before he could react, by the time he reached the door she was at the other end of the hallway and out the door. He hurried out and started to leave. But found his progress blocked by a very upset looking Alex. “I know that something happened with you and Liz at the café. And something now just happened or Liz wouldn’t have torn out of here like she had dogs after her. And I’m not leaving until you tell me.”
Max could see that he had pushed Alex to his limit and wasn’t going to give up. He couldn’t push him away again. If he did he would loose his friend and Valenti might get another damning piece of evidence against Liz if Alex talked to him.
Max placed his hands on Alex’s shoulders and looked him straight in the eye, “You have to believe that I’m not crazy and have an open mind.”
“Of course.” Alex said simply. “It’s me.”
PART 7
Max was worried that Alex was going to pass out, he didn’t look too good. He was pale and Max wasn’t sure if he was breathing. But all in all he appeared to be taking the story that Max just told him okay. After all he just found out that the girl of his dreams was an alien and that his best friend had almost died, Max was surprised he hadn’t run screaming from the building. “Alex, man are you okay?”
“Yeah…I’m fine…I mean why wouldn’t I be? I just found out that three of my classmates that I’ve known for years are aliens. Why should I be anything but okay?” Alex stuttered. He looked at Max and asked, “Are you sure about this? I mean she’s not just playing some elaborate joke on you or anything?”
“If this is a joke, it’s not funny for me or Liz. As a matter of fact it’s very dangerous for Liz.” Max admitted.
“What do you mean?” Alex asked.
“She exposed herself when she healed me and now the Sheriff is on to her. She doesn’t think that it’s safe for her and the others to stay in Roswell. That’s why she ran out of here like she did. She went to get them so they could leave.” Max stated. He stood up quickly from where he had been leaning against the desk. “And I can’t let her. It’s my fault that they’re in the situation, and I’m going to do what I can to get them out of it.”
He started to leave when Alex grabbed his arm, “How can I help?”
Max smiled at him, Alex was a great friend and always there when you needed him. “Do you have your car?”
(*(*(*(*(*(**)*)*)*)*)*)
“So this picture that Max saw just proves what I’ve been saying, there’s more of us.” Michael said unable to keep the excitement out of his voice.
“No, the picture says that there possibly more, at least in 1959.” Liz clarified. She watched as Isabel rushed around the room trying to pack as much stuff as she could for their flight out of Roswell. When Liz had returned home from her meeting with Max in a panic, Michael and Isabel had instantly known why. Michael had hurried out to his apartment while Liz grabbed her prepacked bag and headed for her sister’s room. When she got there the scene almost broke her heart. Isabel was sitting on her bed holding a picture of both of them with their parents. It had taken a few minutes but Liz had finally convinced Isabel that they had to leave. So now Michael and her were waiting on Isabel before they skipped town. “I didn’t see the picture myself so I don’t know anything for sure.”
“But it’s a lead. I mean if we can find him, he can tell us where we came from, what happened to everyone, hell even what we are…” Michael said but Isabel interrupted.
“Michael, you might not want to get too excited about this. All it shows is that we might have had a relative forty years ago. We don’t know if he knew anything, he might have been as clueless as us. All we know for sure is he was criminal.” Isabel criticized. “That doesn’t help us now.”
The conversation was halted when the sound of the doorbell rang. The three froze in fear, not knowing if it was the Sheriff there to pick up Liz. Michael looked at the two girls and said, “Expecting anyone?”
They both shook there heads as the doorbell went off again. Their parents were gone so no one had answered it yet. The doorbell was replaced with loud banging as the teens moved to the top of the stairs. It was then they heard a loud male voice, “LIZ! Open up it’s Max!”
Liz blew out all the air out of her lungs and hurried down the stairs to answer the door. She didn’t think it’d be a good idea for the neighbors to see Max standing outside yelling and pounding on her door. They might call the Sheriff. She heard Michael and Isabel come up behind her as she swung the door open. On the other side was Max with Alex Whitman behind him. Max just looked at her as he said, “Alex knows.”
“Unbelievable.” Michael grumbled behind her as he ran his hand through his hair.
“I promise I won't tell anyone.” Alex muttered not sure how to act.
Max kept looking at Liz as he said, “I’m sorry, but I had to tell him. He knew a few things that might have tipped the Sheriff off and I couldn’t lie to him anymore.”
Michael didn’t give Liz a chance to say anything before he stepped up between her and Max. He stood tall and did his best to look threatening as he glared at Max and said, “We don’t have to worry about him because we’re leaving this dusty excuse for a town. Leave now.”
“I don’t think it’s a good idea if you leave now. It only proves to Valenti that you are what he thinks you are, and look guilty.” Max stated not backing down an inch although he was pretty sure that Michael could do serious damage to him, powers or not. He was feeling threatened and there was nothing worse than a caged animal.
“Guilty of saving your ass.” Michael grumbled.
Liz finally pushed her way past him and said warningly, “Michael.... It’s not his fault, he didn’t ask to be shot. Now everyone come into the house. We’re making a scene.”
The three aliens stepped aside and let Max and Alex in the house. As Liz shut the door Max said, “I think I might know of a way to throw the Sheriff off. But we need to do it together.”
“We're not together. It’s our lives that are at stake.” Michael stated.
Max looked pointedly at Michael and Isabel and said, “I can't change what happened but I’m not going to just sit by and let Liz pay for saving me. I want to do whatever I can to help you. But if you run, Valenti’s going to be believed and then you’ll have a lot more people looking for you.”
Liz spoke up then to say, “He’s right you know.”
“I should've known you'd side with him.” Isabel huffed.
“Isabel there is no sides here.” Liz said. She looked at Alex and Max before saying in a very serious tone, “You two should go, I’m going to handle Valenti.”
“Liz, we said we were leaving.” Michael protested.
“Valenti doesn’t suspect the two of you, so you can stay here and be safe while I leave. Valenti and whoever else involved will follow me.” Liz explained.
“No, we always said that no matter what, we would stick together.” Isabel said. She straightened her shoulders and looked at Max, “What’s your plan?”
Max tried not to smile as he started to explain, “We going to need your powers.”
(*(*(*(*(*(**)*)*)*)*)*)
Ring Ring
Tess Valenti grabbed her phone quickly, almost dropping it before she said, “Hello?”
“Tess? It’s Max. I’m sorry but the café got swamped with customers and I’m going to be late to meet you for the Crash Festival.” Max lied.
“Oh… that’s okay. I can wait.” Tess said sounding disappointed.
“Why don’t you go on and I’ll meet you there?”
“But Max…I wanted to show you those pictures I took the other day at the festival’s opening ceremonies at the park. I just picked them up” Tess whined.
“You can show them to me later.” Max said.
“Well I got doubles, I’ll just grab one set and bring them with me.” Tess said cheerfully.
“Fine.” Max said rolling his eyes. “I’ll meet you at the podium in a half an hour.”
“Bye.” Tess said happily before she hung up.
Max hit the end button before redialing. He heard the other end pick up. “She’s on her way.”
“We’ll be looking for her.” Isabel said.
Max hung up the phone and looked at Liz. “Now we wait.”
Liz nodded before turning her attention to the binoculars she was holding. The other end was trained on the front door of the Valenti house, waiting for when Tess would emerge. Within five minutes, the door opened and Tess came out. Liz watched her jump into her SUV and take off in the direction of the Crash Festival. “Let’s go.”
Liz and Max made their way carefully across the street to Valenti’s house, not letting the neighbors see them as they walked up to the front door. Liz placed her hand over the doorknob and Max watched in awe as it glowed slightly. The loud click of the lock disengaging could be heard and Liz opened the door. The two snuck inside quickly. Max then led Liz in the direction of Tess’s room.
“How did you come up with this idea Max?” Liz asked as they reached Tess’s room. She watched as Max started searching through Tess’s stuff.
“The Sheriff is so big on photographic proof that I figured we’d give him some. I’ve told him over and over that you weren’t there, so if we can give him more photographic proof then he won’t think you had anything to do with the shooting. Tess told me that she took a bunch of pictures at the opening ceremonies in the park on the day of the shooting.” Max explained giving her all the details.
“So you thought if I could use my powers to change them, and he saw me in his daughter’s photos, he wouldn’t think that I was there. And I could prove I was.” Liz confirmed.
“Right. So we’ll get the extra set, you can change them as well as make an extra set. Then we’ll take one of them and replace them with the ones that Tess has.” Max said
“You were putting a lot of faith in my powers.” Liz said under her breath.
Max shrugged, “I believed in you.”
Liz blushed and cast her eyes down. When she did, she saw what they were looking for. “Got them.”
The two sorted through the pictures, finding the ones she would need. She waved her hand over them and presto, super imposed pictures of herself. She picked an envelope out of the waste can and waved her hand over it in the same fashion. The empty envelope transformed into a duplicate copy of the pictures and their wrapper. “Done.”
“I don’t think I’m going to get used to that.” Max said.
“Do you want to? Get used to it?” Liz couldn’t help but ask.
Max only smiled as he picked up the phone again. He called Isabel to tell her that they were on their way. From the answers she gave him, he could tell she was doing her job, keeping Tess busy. He hung up and the two took off.
**There are a few lines from the pilot mixed into this next part, I don't own them.**
PART 8
Isabel thought that if she had to talk to Tess much longer, she was going to scream. The blonde just kept going on and on about things that Isabel could give less about but she knew she had to keep her busy so that she could keep track of her. That was her and Alex’s assignment. Since Isabel was one of the most popular girls at school and Alex was one of Max’s friends, they were the best ones for the job.
Isabel felt Alex brush her with his elbow and knew it was a signal that she had been waiting for. Over the top of Tess’s head, she saw Max and Liz had arrived only to split up and go in different directions. Max headed straight for them and came up behind Tess. “Hey guys.”
“You made it!” Tess said happily before reaching up to hug him.
Max tried to relax as best he could when she did it and hoped she couldn’t tell. By her reaction, she didn’t. The four of them chatting about the silly tourists. Max asked Tess if he could see her pictures and she handed them over. Alex did his best to distract her by telling her a joke. It worked; she took her attention off of Max long enough that he could replace the pictures with the ones he already had.
Alex had just delivered the punch line of the joke when he heard Isabel’s breath catch. He followed her line of site and saw the Sheriff approaching Liz and Michael.
Liz had just been telling Michael what had happened at the Valenti house when the owner of the house walked up to them. He looked straight at Liz and said, “I have some questions for you.”
“What kind of questions?” Liz managed to ask in an even voice.
“Mr. Guerin, this is a private conversation.” The Sheriff stated.
Liz nodded slightly to show Michael it was okay to leave. Although it was against his better judgement he left to go do his task. When Michael was out of earshot, the Sheriff asked, “Where you at the CrashDown Cafe the day of the shooting?”
“No.”
“I’ve got several people that said you were there.” He informed her. “What did you do to Max Parker that day?”
“I didn't do anything to him, I wasn’t even there.” Liz argued.
“I don't believe that.”
“I was at the park, watching the opening of the Crash Festival. There were a bunch of people there that could swear that I was there.” Liz claimed. “Your daughter was there.”
“Really?” The Sheriff asked. It was then that he noticed a crowd was gathering around them. Max, Isabel, Alex, Tess, and Michael to be exact. He looked at Tess and asked, “Did you go to the park for the opening?”
Tess’s face wore an expression of confusion but nodded to her Dad’s question. “I told you all about it, remember? I told you about all of the pictures I took of the alien fanatics.”
“Where are they? The pictures?” The Sheriff asked.
“Right here.” Tess said pulling them out of her bag. Her dad took them and started going through them. He thought his eyes were going to pop out of his head when he saw Liz Evans in several of them. There it was, proof that she wasn’t at the café. He looked at Liz and said, “I guess you were telling the truth, sorry for the misunderstanding.”
“Don’t worry about.” Liz said evenly. Isabel came up beside her and the two girls as well as Michael headed off. Maria had arrived and was flagging down Max and Alex so they also left and the Sheriff and his daughter was left alone. He handed her back her pictures and said, “Thanks honey.”
“You’re welcome Dad.” Tess said taking them back. As she headed away from her dad he heard her say, “You know it’s funny, I don’t remember seeing Liz there that day.”
The Sheriff watched as Liz Evans disappeared with her friends and knew he wasn’t done with her yet. He knew there was something off about her. And he was going to find out what it was.
(*(*(*(*(*(**)*)*)*)*)*)
There were no more run ins with the law for the aliens for the rest of the festival. The three just did their best to relax and enjoy the partying. The three aliens stayed away from their human ‘friends’ for the night, thinking it was best. The Sheriff was still hanging around and knew that it might raise some suspicions. Isabel disappeared with her popular cliché for a while but returned when the finale was about to be launched.
They took their positions next to the fence and listened to the announcer, “Is everybody ready!”
“YES!” The crowd yelled.
“Then, 8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1. Blastoff!”
The three watched in horror as the crash that brought them to Earth was recreated. The miniature spaceship flew through the air until it fell to the ground and exploded. A small fire erupted and several alien dummies were thrown out and onto the ground. For Liz, Isabel, and Michael, it hit too close to home. In their eyes those bodies could have been real. They could have been their parents or another relative or just people like them.
Liz finally tore her eyes away and saw Max standing up hill from the wreckage, staring at her. Deciding to risk it, Liz walked away from the others and headed up to meet him. But as soon as she got up there she felt nervous and jittery. As she approached she said, “Hey.”
“Hey.” He said back. He leaned forward and pushed a stray piece of hair behind her ear, like she always did when she was nervous. She could have sworn that he blushed as he said, “You had a, uh....”
“Hair thing, right.” Liz answered for him. “Thanks for everything tonight.”
“I didn’t want anything to happen to you.” Max said.
Liz could see the yearning in his eyes and said, “Max, I know that things have been intense the last few days and it brought us together. And you probably saw and felt some feelings of mine. But it's not safe. I mean, for you and me to.... It’s just not safe.”
“I don't care.” Max said forcefully. He moved forward so that their lips were only a hair’s breath away from each other.
It would be so easy for her to move the small space between them and kiss him. But she held back. “Max, you don’t know how much I really…really wish that this could be something, you know more. But it can't…We're just too...”
“Different.” Max answered for her. He stepped back so there was some space.
“Yeah.” Liz said disappointed. She turned to go back to Isabel and Michael. “I’ll see you around.”
“Liz?”
“Yeah?” Liz asked.
“I never got a chance to thank you for what you did for me. For healing me.” Max said appreciatively.
“You don’t have to thank me.” Liz said.
She walked down the hill and met up with Isabel and Michael. As she walked away, she glanced back at Max. She couldn’t help but wonder what would happen next.
I have a confession to make, I said before that after the pilot was over, things would be different. That's not completely true. I'm going to have a few events from other episodes in this story but with a different twist. I hope you like them.
PART 9
In the days that followed the Crash Festival, the group of five tried their best to go back to the way their lives were before the shooting at the Crashdown but it was hard. After all Max and Alex had just found out that aliens did indeed exist on Earth and Max had found out that the girl he had a crush on had deep feelings for him. And because of those feelings she had put her life on the line to save him. That wasn’t something a person just forgot. He went out of his way to see her. When they were in school, he would take different routes so he would see her in the hall and during the classes they shared, especially biology, he would talk and flirt with her. But despite his forwardness, things remained the same.
Max became aware of the fact that Maria began to notice that things seemed a little off with her two friends. He couldn’t blame her. Maria was very quick to picking up things particularly when it had to do with the way people acted. She had seen Alex and Max on not the best of terms one minute then back to being close the next. Not to mention she saw them hanging out with Isabel Evans on the night of the Crashdown Festival. Max knew that Maria would find that suspicious. She had tried to talk to him about it during work but he had just blew it off as nothing and busied himself with work. Whenever Max and Alex were speaking of their other worldly friends they would conveniently drop the subject whenever Maria came around.
As for the three aliens, they did whatever possible to appear completely normal. They went to school, hung out around the house or in Michael’s case, went to work. Liz and Isabel’s parents noticed that their daughters seemed a little edgier but when asked they just said it was nothing. Liz stayed casual friends with Max, although she found it harder and harder to do. Ever since she had healed him then reversed the connection, something deeper had evolved between the two of them. She had always had a certain awareness when it came to sensing Max was near but now it was increased ten fold. It seemed like part of the connection they had made was still active. All in all Liz wished she could give in to what she wanted and been with Max. But they had to stay apart, it was safer. Especially since he was still technically dating Tess and Liz was sure that the Sheriff had not completely stopped investigating her.
A week after the shooting Liz and Michael were in her room, Liz lying on her bed, Michael pacing back and forth. Liz looked at Michael and said, “You know, we’re supposed to be studying.”
“How can you just sit there?” Michael asked anxiously.
“Because I find it’s hard to read when I’m walking back and forth, wearing a path into my carpeting.” Liz stated although she knew that wasn’t want he was talking about.
“You know I’m not talking about studying.” Michael said exasperated. “I’m talking about how you can just sit there and read all this school crap when there is stuff in the Sheriff’s office that might lead up to some answers.”
“Think of what you just said Michael, it’s locked up in the Sheriff’s office. ” Liz said putting her book down. “If we want to get the attention off of us, we can’t go breaking into the office. I want to see what’s in his files as much as you do but we have to act normal.”
“So you admit that you’re as curious about this whole thing as I am.” Michael pointed out.
“But we need to stay in the background, and not draw attention to ourselves.”
“Like you and Max are?” Michael asked.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Liz said not able to look him in the eyes. “There’s nothing going on between Max and I except for being lab partners.”
“You’re not fooling me or anyone else for that matter. Everyone sees the way you two act around each other, like you’re about to jump on top of the other one.” Michael stated.
“Michael!” Liz said exasperated. “We don’t act like that.”
“Whatever. Just don’t get too close. It’s bad enough him and Alex Whitman knows. We don’t need them anymore involved especially after what I’ve been hearing from their friend, you know that noisy blonde chick.”
“Maria?” Liz asked and Michael nodded. “Max said it was no big deal, she was just curious as to what the two were always talking about.”
“Max said huh? Well it’s good thing that Max feels so confident about something that could endanger our lives.” Michael said sarcastically. “Just remember, no attachments.” Michael said. He saw Liz nodded half heartedly before motioning him to get back to his reading, which he did reluctantly. He probably would have dropped out a long time ago if Isabel and Liz especially hadn’t forced him to go. At first they said that he had to go because if he didn’t he could get in trouble for truancy and being taken to Juvenile lockup, then later they pointed out that part of his emapation insisted on it. Granted he still skipped quite a bit, but his test scores made up for his lack of homework. The two studied in silence for a little while before Michael felt he needed a break and put his energy to more constructive uses. “Hey I’m out of here.”
“I thought you wanted my help.” Liz asked.
“My brain’s fried, need to take a ride to clear it.” Michael said as he hoped up and shoved his book in his bag. “See you in the morning.”
Before Liz could say any more, Michael was out her door that led to the balcony her and Isabel shared. Her mom had planted a trellis in her garden that they had strengthened with their powers so they could use it as a later to sneak out. Their parents were none the wiser.
Liz finished up her homework and decided to go see if Isabel was home yet. She had mentioned something earlier about not needing a ride home because she was going shopping with her popular friends. Liz didn’t know how she could hang out with them so much, she knew she didn’t really like them. She just did it for image purposes, to appear to be a normal teenager. Those girls didn’t know her, not the real her. She found her sister putting the contents of several shopping bags away into her massive closet. Liz plopped down on the bed and started rummaging through them; “Get anything good?”
“No, Liz. I bought bags and bags of crap.” Isabel joked. She grabbed a nearby bag and tossed it to Liz, “Got you something.”
Liz looked inside the bag and smiled. Her sister had bought her a top that she knew must be the latest fashion. “Um, Iz. Isn’t it a little short?”
“No, that’s the way it’s supposed to be.” Isabel informed her. “I swear if it wasn’t for me, you and Michael would be messes. Michael is self-explanatory; he’s a guy. You always go for the most basic outfits, never one to branch out. I always have people asking me about that too.”
“The opinions of your friends on my fashion sense is not one of my bigger concerns.” Liz said offhandedly. “I’m more concerned about more life threatening things.”
“Did something new come up?” Isabel asked sounding slightly panicked.
“No, just Michael talking about wanting to break into the Sheriff’s office to try and get those files.” Liz stated.
“You’re not serious?”
“Think about who we’re talking about here Isabel. It’s Michael.” Liz said. “Out of all of us he’s the one who wanted to know the most about who we are.”
“You don’t think he’s going to do anything stupid do you?” Isabel asked.
“Truthfully, I don’t know. I want to think that he wouldn’t but you never know.” Liz stated.
“Michael has always been one to act now, deal with the consequences later.” Isabel said. “Although he’s not the only one who’s guilty of that in this group.”
Liz picked up the double meaning of her statement but chose to ignore it. Instead she said, “I think I’m going to go out and get something to eat. I didn’t eat much at dinner.”
“More like couldn’t find much to eat. Mom make one of her recipes again?” Isabel asked.
Liz rolled her eyes; “I couldn’t even recognize what was in it. I thought about keeping a sample and analyzing it later but didn’t get a chance.”
“Going to the Crashdown?” Isabel asked.
“Don’t know, maybe.” Liz said although they both knew that she would indeed end up there. She just didn’t feel like getting into another argument like she did with Michael.
Isabel watched her sister go and wanted to say something about watching herself with Max but held back. Instead she decided that maybe she should get an idea on how things were with the humans that knew their secret.
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