*5*

Iron 2 Sulfide. Plus Hydrochloric acid. Two.

Two Hydrochloric Acid.

"Are you okay?"

"Hold on, I'm thinking."

Two Two Two. Iron 2 Chloride.

Hydrogen sulf.....

I wonder why Tess came to me.

"More coffee?" Tess asks, smiling sweetly at Max.

I push my mug to the edge of the table and she fills it up before swaggering away.

"That's your third cup." Says Max.

"Fourth."

When I get nervous I drink coffee. When I drink coffee I get nervous.

Fifteen minutes ago I met Max in the Crashdown as planned. He wants me to look over his homework before we get started on our project. It doesn't surprise me that he knows I'm good at Bio.

I have a couple claims to fame: I'm president of the science club, I work with Tess.

You'd think he'd have to look me in the eye at least once, sitting across from me like this.

Nope.

He does this thing where he looks at your forehead, at the tip of your nose. Never the eyes. It's okay, I don't look at his either.

Too weird.

Ammonium Phosphate plus Barium Hydroxide.

"Liz?"

Six. Six Barium Hydroxide.

Did he just say Liz?

"Huh?"

"Is it too loud in here?"

I think he just said my name.

I shove some more coffee down my throat.

I hate watching Max try to act normal. I hate watching him act like he doesn't care Tess is strutting around in front of us.

I hate watching Tess try to act normal. I hate watching her act like she doesn't care she wants to kill somebody or that she has a bruise on her cheek. I know she cares. I'd care.

She's on the phone now. I think she's yelling at it.

I push Max his homework back, "It looks fine to me."

He's not paying too much attention to me now. He's trying to hear her conversation.

I wonder if he worries about her.

I wonder if he wants to be her knight in shining armor, carry her away to another place, live happily ever after.

He's got these arms, these perfect arms. When he leans against the table, his arms push more out of his shirt.

His hair is always itching his forehead.

Who cares?

This is the thing about coffee. You can never keep your mind on one topic. You notice stupid details that you never noticed before.

He's been walking around without a jacket. He probably doesn't want to admit he left it here because the last time he tried to get it, he hit his love interest with his car.

"You left your jacket here."

"I did?"

When he talks to you, you just know he's thinking about something else.

"Yea."

"Cool, I was looking for it."

Bet you were, Max.

Tess slams down the phone and starts walking around with the pot of coffee like a zombie.

I want to help Tess. I don't want to help her kill somebody. I just want to help her.

She came to me. I have no idea why she came to me. She knows she can't use her influence on me. It must be something else. Maybe she just thinks I can help.

I gesture to her and she walks over and slumps down next to me. Max's eyes narrow when she leans her head my shoulder. I like that Max thinks me and Tess are good friends. He'll probably pay more attention to me.

Not that I want him to pay more attention to me, I just want him to remember my name.

I wonder if me and Tess are good friends.

"You wanna spend the night at my house?" I ask her.

Truth is, I was gonna ask if she wanted to stay with me before Johnny Football Hero said anything. I just didn't want to give him the satisfaction.

"No." she says.

I can tell when no means yes.

"The Breakfast Club is on TV tonight."

I know what she's going to do now. She's going to pretend that she really likes The Breakfast Club, so much that she has no other choice than to spend the night at my house.

If we were alone, she would probably just say yes. But Max is here, so she has to play it cool.

"I love that movie."

"I know."

"I don't know if my parents will let me."

"So don't ask."

She smiles. She likes when I appeal to her rebellious side.

'Cause little Lizzy Parker doesn't usually have a rebellious side. Not one that she knows of, at least. Not one that she knew of until I covered up those bloodstains like a pro.

"I'll come by later," She says as she gets up and walks away.

"You guys are pretty good friends, aren't you?" Max asks.

"Apparently so."

---------------------------

Max and I decided to work some more on our project tomorrow. He says that we should go somewhere else; that we should go to his house. It doesn't surprise me because Tess isn't working tomorrow.

He probably has her schedule written down somewhere.

Why does that make me sick?

It's a rhetorical question.

I can just imagine those two. Living the American Dream. A white picket fence and two kids. Max, with his trophy wife and alien powers that are oh so handy around the house.

I bet their drains would never get clogged.

I bet their grass would never turn yellow.

I wish I could just go to sleep and quit thinking about this.

TBC....