He never knew it was possible for him to be so happy, but somehow it had happened, and he owed it all to his angel, Liz Parker. She and Izzy were out shopping at that exact moment, and he knew that Liz would win Isabel over. She was amazing like that.

Max headed up to his front door, a slight bounce in his step, as he unlocked the door, and headed into his home.

“Maxwell.” Max spun around at the sound of his name, surprised to find anyone home. He breathed a sigh of relief at the sight of his best friend standing there.

“Hey Michael.” He greeted his friend. “Jeez, you scared me half to death. Did you come in through the window?”

“Yeah, thanks for leaving it unlocked.”

“No problem.”

“So what’s going on with you and Liz Parker?” Michael demanded, following Max back to his bedroom.

Max sighed a frustrated sigh. There went his good mood. Michael wasn’t going to be as easy to turn as he hoped Isabel would be. Michael was such a loner. He didn’t have anyone at all except for Isabel and Max, and he liked it that way. Max didn’t think that Michael even once wished for anyone else.

“What about us?” Max asked vaguely in response.

“Isabel said you’re hooking up with her, Max. Is that true?”

“So what if it is.”

“So, we swore to never get involved Max. So it’s against every rule we’ve ever made. We can’t risk ourselves Max, and we can’t get involved. Trust me, Max. If you get into a relationship with her, you won’t be able to leave when the time comes, and we always have to be able to leave, Maxwell. It’s a part of who we are.”

“Don’t you think I know all of that Michael?” Max shot back his temper rising.

“If you know that then why are you doing it?”

“Because for the first time in my life I’m actually happy, Michael! For the first time ever, I feel like I belong somewhere, and that’s with Liz.” Max shouted angrily at his friend. He collapsed on his bed, and in a tired voice emphasized. “I’m happy Michael…”

Michael froze at Max’s words. Happy? That was something that Michael had never even known. Even when he hung out with Max and Isabel, he was never really happy. He spent his whole life hiding from the world, wishing he were somewhere else, with other people like him. He never once stopped to think that it was possible to be happy here.

Michael shook his head, and looked back up at his friend.

“I don’t like it, Max.”

“Please, just leave it alone, Michael.”

Michael turned and headed out Max’s window again, leaving his friend staring after him, wondering what he was going to do.

Max leapt from his bed a few hours later when he heard the jeep pull into the driveway. Isabel was home! He was dying to hear about the mall trip.

He swung open his bedroom door just in time to hear the front door shut, and Isabel call his name.

“Max? You home?”

“How did the mall go?” He called out, rushing into the hallway.

Max stopped dead in his tracks, when he saw Liz standing there too, in his house.

“Liz…hi.” He greeted his girlfriend softly.

“Max!” She smiled when she saw him.

“I think you could say that the mall went rather well for you, Max.” Isabel told him with a smile.

“Yeah, we totally hit it off.” Liz exclaimed, smiling at her new friend.

Max breathed a sigh of relief. “God, I’m so glad.”

“So anyway, Liz is going to stay for dinner.” Isabel told her brother. “We’re going to go in back and do some girl stuff until then.”

“I guess we’ll talk later, Max.” Liz smiled and winked at him, before following Isabel back to her bedroom.

Max slumped against the wall in shock. Apparently things had gone better than he had ever imagined…

“So, Liz. How do you know Max and Izzy?” Mrs. Evans asked her, while passing her the mashed potatoes.

“Well, we’ve been going to school together since the 3rd grade.”

“Really? That’s great.”

“And you just became friends now?” Mr. Evans asked curiously.

“Yeah, well, I don’t know, we never saw that much of each other before now.”

“Well, I think it’s great that Max and Isabel are making some more mutual friends.” Diane replied cheerfully. “You’re welcome to stop by anytime you like.”

“Oh, I think you’ll be seeing a lot of Liz, mom. She’s Max’s girlfriend.”

The table suddenly went dead silent as both Mr and Mrs Evans stopped what they were doing and turned to stare at Max. He swallowed his food, while looking back and forth between the two uncomfortably.

“Really?” Mrs. Evans asked.

“Since when?” Mr. Evans questioned his son.

“Since yesterday.” Max told them. Both parents breathed a sigh of relief.

“You had us worried Max. For a second we thought you were keeping secrets from us.” Mrs Evans laughed.

“I hadn’t been able to tell you yet.” He explained.

“We understand.” His dad responded. “So, what do your parents do, Liz?”

“They run the Crashdown Café.”

“Oh, your Jeff Parker’s girl. That’s great. I like your dad a lot, Liz.” Philip told her. Liz smiled in response.

“So, how did you two hook up?” Philip asked.

“Well, Max is my lab partner in science class, so we see a lot of each other, and one day we ate lunch together, and I guess we just hit it off. So Max asked me to the Freshman Formal dance next week, and it’s just gone from there.”

Liz smiled brightly at Max, who was sitting beside her, and reached under the table and took his hand. He squeezed hers in response.

“Your son is an amazing person.” She told his parents.

They smiled knowingly at each other, as they watched the interaction between the couple.