Max on the other hand, had a million things that he wanted to say to Liz, but she had been late to class, walking in right at the bell, so it all had to wait until lunch.

Max’s eyes followed her every move, as she attentively listened to every word their teacher said, making occasional scribbles in her notebook. She absolutely fascinated him! Every little movement of hers, the way she wrinkled her eyes ever so slightly as she thought about something she was learning, the way her hair fell over her face, and the way that she kept pushing it back into place. She was incredible. And Max loved that about her.

Although to Max’s eyes, Liz’s attention was fully on their teacher, in reality all she noticed was Max’s eyes following her. She was feeling slightly insecure as he studied her. Did he really like what he saw? Or had she failed the test, and wasn’t quite good enough. Would he regret asking her out? Maybe that was why he ran out of the Crashdown the day before…because she wasn’t good enough.

It seemed as though the class period dragged on for years, as the two waited for class to end, Max impatiently, Liz nervously. When the bell finally rang, they both breathed huge sighs.

“I really need to talk to you, Liz.” Max announced to her immediately. “Can we go somewhere private?”

“Um, sure…no problem, Max.” Liz replied nervously. This was it, he was going to break up with her.

Max and Liz made their way to the edge of the campus, where there were trees lining the field. They stood there uncomfortably for a moment, before Max finally gestured for Liz to have a seat. He sat beside her, close enough that he could smell the soft scent of vanilla and strawberries streaming out of her hair. He breathed it in eagerly, basking in it for a few moments.

Liz couldn’t take the silence anymore. It was driving her nuts. Since he wasn’t making any move to start, she said it for him.

“Listen, Max. I know what this is about. I understand if you want to break up with me, so lets just get it over with.”

Her words shook Max back into reality, as he stared at her in shock.

“What?” He asked her incredulously.

“You don’t need to break it to me easily or whatever, Max. Just get it over with, so I can get on with my life.”

“Liz, you’ve got it all wrong. I don’t want to break up with you!” Max laughed softly.

“What?”

“I don’t want to break up with you. In fact it’s the exact opposite.”

“It is? But what about you running off in the Crashdown yesterday. I thought I had done something wrong or something.”

“No, not at all. That wasn’t you. It was all me. I was scared, insecure. Isabel was being all ice-queen Isabel-like, and I began to think that maybe I wasn’t good enough for you or something. I got scared and ran off.”

“You were scared? Of me?”

“Yeah…” Max admitted softly. “But then I did some thinking, and I realized that if I don’t take this chance with you, I’ll regret it for the rest of my life.”

He met her eyes gently, and smiled softly at her. Max smiling was something new to, Liz. It occurred to her that he never really smiled around school. She found herself wondering why. Was his life that unhappy?

“There’s something I need to tell you, Liz, before we take this anywhere, something about me that you need to know. I have adored you since the moment I first laid my eyes on you, all the way back in the third grade. Ever since then, all I’ve wanted is to hold you, kiss you, talk to you, and just be with you. I guess you could say you're almost an obsession of mine. I’ve wanted this forever, Liz. And now that we have this chance, I just…I don’t want to ruin it. I want to make this work, Liz. I’ll do anything.”

“Really?” Liz asked him, barely believing her ears. Maria had always thought that Max had a crush on Liz. She just had no idea how deeply it ran.

“Really, Liz.”

“Thank you, Max.”

“For what?” “For making me feel special. No one else has ever made me feel the way you do. It’s incredible. I want to make this work too.”

“You don’t need to thank me, Liz. I may make you feel special, but with every breath you make me feel alive. It’s not just you.”

“I guess we just work well together, don’t we Max?”

“I guess.” Max breathed.

“So what’s this ice-queen Isabel thing?” Liz asked curiously as she changed the subject.

“Oh, it’s just a joke of Michael’s and mine. We call Isabel the ice-queen when she pulls that whole ‘I’m greater than thou’ popular girl thing. Don’t be surprised if she turns it on you now that we’re dating. Isabel’s really protective of me. I’m the same with her though.”

“She hasn’t done anything like that to me yet. She’s been kind of friendly actually. We’re actually going shopping after school today.”

“You’re what?” Max asked in shock.

“We’re going shopping together. She called me up last night and asked.”

“I’m not sure that’s a good idea.” Max stammered.

“Why? She said that she wanted to get to know me or something. It’ll be fine, Max. Don’t worry about it.”

“Just be careful with her, okay. She’s not all for us being together yet.”

“Well, who knows, maybe I’ll change her mind.”

“I don’t know…” Max trailed off, a worried look plastered all over his face. What was his sister up to.

“Isabel!” Max called her name as he rushed up to her in the hallway between classes.

“Hey Max. Wow, you’re talking to me again. What happened? Did you break up with your little girlfriend.”

“Don’t start this Isabel. Liz told me that you’re taking her shopping today. What’s this about?”

“What?” Isabel asked innocently. “Can’t I just try and get to know your new girlfriend.”

Max snorted softly in contentment. “That is not something that my sister would do. Unless the world suddenly came to an end, you’re up to something, and I want to know what it is. You’d better not screw this up for me Isabel. It’s too important to me.”

Isabel stopped and looked at him gently. “It is, isn’t it? She really means a lot to you.”

“The whole world.”

“I’m not going to let you risk our lives for her, Max.”

“And I don’t intend to either. You don’t know her though, Iz. She’s not an FBI spy or anything. She won’t suspect anything about us.”

Isabel sighed as she gave in to him.

“Okay, I’ll tell you what? I’ll go shopping with her, and I’ll stop trying to sabotage this, and just try to get to know the girl, okay? Once I’ve spent some time with her, then I’ll make up my mind about her. But if I still don’t like this after today, then I’m not making any promises about anything with her, okay?”

“Thank you, Isabel!” Max hugged her gratefully.