Liz's heart pounded in anticipation as she sat in the passenger seat of the jetta, staring up at the front of the school.
"Are you ready for this, babe?" Maria asked her friend, studying her carefully.
"Yeah…I am." Liz replied a little too lightly, causing Maria to smirk at her friend.
"Come on, Liz…it's okay. How are you really feeling?"
Liz turned to look at her friend, smiling softly.
"How do you always know exactly when I'm nervous?"
"Because you're my best friend…now spill, girl…what's up?"
"I'm just…I don't know. I have this feeling, like something is going to happen to me today. I'm not sure what, though."
"What could possibly happen to you?" Maria asked with a laugh, giving her friend a playful push. "Now come on, girl. Let's go in there and show the school how strong you are."
Following her friend's lead, Liz slung her backpack over her shoulder as she climbed out of the jetta. Liz froze, staring up at the school nervously while Maria fussed over the jetta, making sure it was locked, before linking elbows with Liz and leading her towards the front of the school.
Liz was in full scientist mode as she entered the school, carefully studying her surroundings. Littering the hallway was clique after clique of friends, standing in a tight knit circle talking intimately among themselves…although more than one set of eyes turned to stare at her as she walked in…it appeared that her story had gotten around.
The thing that bothered Liz the most was the feeling of being surrounded by complete and total strangers. She thought she'd be used to it by now…but she had only experienced it in small doses. Now she was standing among hundreds of unfamiliar faces. Here at school, the only faces she knew were the ones that Maria had introduced her to…Maria's boyfriend Michael, Kyle Valenti…that was about it.
"Hey Maria, is that Michael over there?" Liz asked, pointing to where he stood with another guy far down the hallway.
Maria glanced to where Liz pointed, and Liz was surprised when Maria's face hardened. "Yeah…we'll talk to him later though." Maria tried to turn Liz down a side hallway…but she didn't move quite fast enough.
The guy standing with Michael turned and glanced in her direction, and suddenly Liz's heart jumped. He took her breath away…he was tall, dark, handsome…and in the brief second that their eyes met, Liz felt her whole world spin.
There was something about his eyes…they spoke volumes with just a single glance…there was a sadness in them, one that Liz mirrored in her own heart…and what struck Liz as the most odd…there was a familiarity…a familiarity that she hadn't felt with anyone else she had met over the past few weeks.
Suddenly Liz felt an overwhelming need to find out all there was to know about her tall, dark, handsome friend of Michael's.
"Maria…who's that guy with Michael?" Liz asked insistently, stopping her friend in her path.
Maria's eyes widened at Liz's question. "Why do you ask?"
"Just curious…who is he?"
"Liz…you don't want to be curious about him, trust me."
Liz stared at Maria in surprise. It was the first time her friend had avoided answering a question of Liz's. Usually people were beyond willing to answer anything she wanted to know, hoping to jar a memory or something.
"Why don't I want to know him?" Liz wondered. "He's a friend of Michael's so he can't be that bad. Why don't you just tell me his name?"
"His name is Max Evans." Maria sighed. "And he's scum, Liz. The worst kind of guy…the kind of guy you don't want to get involved with…trust me. Hey, here's your first period." Maria announced, trying to change the subject. "Do you want me to come in with you?"
"No…that's okay." Liz insisted. "Go to your own class…I'll be fine. My parents have talked to the school already."
"Okay…well I'll see you later."
"Bye Maria."
Liz pushed open the door to the classroom, and stepped inside, suddenly finding herself surrounded by a whirlwind of activity as her teacher instantly approached her.
"Liz Parker? Hi, I'm Mrs. McLaughlin."
"Hi." Liz greeted softly.
"They updated me on your situation…I was your US History teacher last semester as well, but you probably don't know that. You've always been such a joy to have in class, so I just want you to know that if you need anything, any extra help, don't hesitate to ask. I'll do whatever I can to help you through all that you're going through right now."
"Uh…thanks." Liz replied shyly. "What I really want though is to just be treated normal. I've been trying to get my memory back for weeks now, and nothing is happening…so I'm just trying to accept the fact that this could be permanent and move on with my life."
"Oh, all right. Whatever you want, Liz."
"Thanks…I'm just going to…" Liz gestured towards a desk and took a seat, watching and waiting as the rest of the students filed in and took their seats…many avoiding her like the plague. It didn't really bother her though. If they didn't care enough to even talk to her, then they probably weren't even her friends.
Sighing, Liz's eyes glanced towards the clock, waiting as the time began to slowly pass, her thoughts drifting to the mysterious, dark-haired 'scum' she saw in the hallway, and wondering if she would see him again today. She had only seen him for a second, and already he consumed all of her thoughts.
~~~~~~~~~~~
Max grinned at Michael as he went off on some story about Maria's latest quirk. Michael was always talking about his girlfriend like that, like she was the biggest pain in the ass in the world…but Max couldn't help noticing the glow in Michael's eyes as he complained about her, knowing how much good she must be doing for his friend.
Max hadn't gotten to meet Maria yet, but he was hoping to sometime today at school…see if she was every bit as amusing as Michael's stories about her were.
As Michael spoke, Max glanced around him, studying the groups of students around them, as he leaned back against the lockers.
So far Max thought he was putting on a stellar performance of acting normal. It wasn't too hard to do, Max had already discovered. Because of his secret, acting normal meant being quiet and pensive…and that was already how he felt like acting, since he was so lost inside of himself.
Suddenly Max froze, as his eyes met those of a girl turning down a side hallway. The world seemed to go into slow motion, as for those few, brief seconds, the rest of the world disappeared, and there was nothing, except this tiny, dark-haired girl and him.
There was something about her…something that Max couldn't quite place his finger on. It was like he was supposed to know who she was, that whoever she was, she was the most important person in the world, the one thing he had been missing all of these weeks. He felt an overwhelming anger inside of himself for not knowing who she was…and a desperation to find out.
Quickly, before the moment was gone, Max grabbed Michael's arm and pointed to the two girls walking away.
"Michael…who is that girl."
Michael looked at him curiously, and followed his gaze to where Liz and Maria were disappearing around the corner, before breaking out into a huge grin of amusement.
"I can't believe you." Michael chuckled.
"What?" Max asked. "I just want to know who that is."
"I just can't believe that out of every single unfamiliar face in this hallway, you picked out her face."
"Whose face?" Max asked again, getting frustrated.
"Liz Parker." Michael answered with a chuckle, before patting Max on the shoulder. "Go to class, Maxwell."
Max sighed and watched Michael turn and head off into the crowd of students, before he turned and headed on the path to his first class that he had memorized the night before.
But even as he went through his carefully planned out movements to his first class, sitting down in the back corner, and slouching down to avoid notice…his mind was somewhere else completely.
His mind was completely wrapped up in the mysterious brunette from the hallway, and praying that he could see her later…even if he had no idea how he should act around her.
