She slid into her seat and glanced over at Max out of the corner of her eyes. God, he was hot! She still couldn’t believe how someone as gorgeous and wonderful as Max could fall for someone like her, much less risk his own life and that of the people closest to his just to save her, a girl who barely gave his the time of day outside of Biology. But, hey, who was complaining?

Max gazed at the divine creature sitting next to him. How had he gotten so lucky as to have Liz Parker, the girl of his dreams, fall in love with him? He had been infatuated with her from the moment he first laid eyes on her, in the third grade. But he never would’ve dreamed she could someday return those feelings.

“Ms. Parker, Mr. Evans, why aren’t the two of you taking notes about what’s gonna be on your finals next week?”

Max and Liz snapped out of their reverie and smiled at each other. This did not go unnoticed by Maria or Alex, or the rest of the class for that matter, who glanced at each other and rolled their eyes, amused at the couple’s sappiness. Geez! You’d think that after two long years they’d learn! But some things never change.

“’Cause they were too busy making goo-goo eyes at each other to concentrate on your lecture, Mr. McGregor!” an obnoxious kid from the back, Bobby Rodriguez, called out.

The class cracked up at his comment, even Maria and Alex. Liz turned about five shades darker than her normal face color and Max just grinned to himself, thinking once again how lucky he was. Liz Parker was his girlfriend and he didn’t care if the whole school knew it. Heck, he didn’t care if the whole universe knew it! He just thanked his lucky stars that Liz knew his deepest, darkest secret and still wanted to be with him. Where else in the galaxy could you find a girl who knew a guy was part of something her people feared, yet she still trusted and loved him?

Mr. McGregor frowned at the uproar in his normally orderly Biology class. “Enough!” he bellowed. The class quieted down. “Now Ms. Parker and Mr. Evans, if you would so kindly take out your notebooks, I shall continue with my lecture.”

The class snickered again, but was quickly silenced by a look from the teacher.

***********************************************************

“So how ‘bout that episode in Biology today, huh? Max? Liz?” Liz started to blush again and reached out to smack Alex for his comment.

“Why, what’s the matter, sweet pea? Are you ashamed to have little ole me as your boyfriend?” Maria, Alex, and Max all burst into laughter when they saw the expression on Liz’s face.

“Hey, whose side are you on, anyway, Max?”

“Yours, of course, baby.” He batted his eyelashes at her and put on his best puppy look. They cracked up again.

“What’s so funny?” They looked up to see Isabel Evans glaring at them from their usual table. They went over and sat down.

“Oh, just a little attention Max and Liz got in Biology today, that’s all,” Alex told her, as he took a seat next to her.

Liz blushed again.

“What’s everyone laughing about?” Michael Guerin asked as he joined them.

“Nothing!” they chorused.

Isabel changed the subject. “So has anyone else here thought about the upcoming prom at all? Or is it just me who actually plans?”

“Are you kidding? Why should I think about something that’s not until next month?” Everyone tried to suppress their grins. Typical Michael. Never plan ahead. Always thinking only about the here and now.

“What, you mean to say that you haven’t thought about what I would look like in a gorgeous prom dress?” Maria asked, wearing a mock hurt expression.

“Well...” Michael attempted to cover up.

“You’d better have something planned for us, Max,” Liz threatened.

“Oh, don’t worry, I’ve made all of the arrangements already,” he assured her.

Isabel turned to Alex “Ditto.”