But still. He felt like an eight year old being told to go to his room. The least his Dad could have done was told him what was going on: gave him some kind of hint. But he had told Kyle nothing. He had just given Kyle a quick speech about "staying home" because the situation he would he dealing with would be "really dangerous" and he didn't want Kyle "getting hurt".

"What a crock!" Kyle said discusted as he threw the channel changer in exasperation.

"I'm not 4 years old anymore. It's not like I can't take care of myself. I mean, true, there was the whole me getting shot incident, but that was different. I'm different now. I can handle myself," Kyle continued talking aloud to himself. Kyle thought more about the issue.

"And if Max Evans can handle himself, I think I can too!" At that moment, he decided what he was going to do.

"I'm going to follow them!" Kyle said proudly to himself. Now, where would they have gone? Kyle threw his head back on the couch and thought. He had not even the slighest idea where they would have gone. Tess had left even before his Dad with Maria, Michael, and Isabel, which had automatically tipped Kyle off that something wasn't right.

"Think, Kyle, think." He was completely devoid of ideas.

~~~~~

Alex hung up the phone. Something was going on. He had just got off the phone with Ms. Deluca, who had said that Maria had gone out with Michael and Isabel. Minutes before, he had talked to Mr. Parker, who had said that Liz had gone out with Max. Something was by far not right.

Maybe Max and Liz hanging out wasn't that weird, even if it did seem they had been a little distant lately. But since when did Maria have group bonding time with Michael and Isabel? Alex laid back in his bed.

'Now, do I really even want to know where they are and what they're doing?' Alex pondered his own question. Getting involved in the whole alien stuff was fun, but it wasn't exactly Alex's favorite thing in the whole world. At first it had been a weird kind of adventure, but now it was serious. Things were happening. It wasn't a game anymore and Alex was still in the process of trying to figure out if risking his own life for three people who really hadn't given him any reason to was worth it. As far as he could see, it wasn't.

But, he had kept on going to the meetings they called regularly, and only for one reason. Isabel. He loved her. And for a while, he was almost sure that she loved him. But she had drawn back and never really given a reason why. So, Alex was still holding on, praying that one day she would love him again. It seemed hopeless, but Alex couldn't stop himself from caring about her.

So now, Alex was laying on his bed, trying to decide whether or not to care about where and what his friends were doing.

"Ah, hell..." Alex mumbled. He sat up and picked up the phone. He called everyone he could think of that might know what was happening. Isabel and Max, Michael. No one was home. Mrs. Evans said that Max had gone out to meet Liz, and that Isabel was with Michael and Maria.

"Tess!" Alex suddenly remembered. He picked up the phone and dialed the Sherrif's number. He couldn't help but think how pathetic it was of him to have the whole alien bunches' phone numbers on speed dial. Oh well.

Kyle answered. "Hello?" he said in his usual non-emotional voice.

"Kyle, hi, it's Alex," Alex tried to sound friendly.

"Okay..." Kyle mumbled.

"Um, is Tess there?"

"Nope. She went out with Maria, Michael, and Isabel." Alex thought for a moment.

"Do you know where they went?" Alex asked, confused.

"Nope, not a clue. They're all meeting somewhere. The whole bunch of them," Kyle said crankily.

"You mean, Liz and Maria, too?"

"Yeah I guess. I don't know. I don't know where they went!" Alex could tell Kyle was irritated that he had been left at home. "Maybe they're all having one of their little alien meetings at the Crashdown," Kyle continued mumbling.

"No, they aren't there. I've called around everywhere. No one's home," Alex mentally tried to peice the puzzle together. Kyle's ears perked up at his comment. Maybe Alex could figure out where they were.

"Well, um, do you know where else they meet?" Kyle suddenly sounded curious.

"Well, there's the caves. And the compound maybe," Alex trailed off.

"Then what are we waiting for??" Kyle jumped off the couch in excitement.

"What? What are you talking about?" Alex was confused with Kyle's sudden enthusiasm.

"Well, don't you want to find them? Help them out or whatever?"

"Not necessarily. In situations like these, I think mine and your help aren't needed. Hence them not calling us!" Alex said in an annoyed tone. Kyle sank back down in the chair.

"Okay, okay. So helping the aliens isn't exactly my goal in this. But obviously it isn't yours either!"

"Kyle, what's your point?" Alex was still trying to figure out what he was getting at.

"My point is that I just want to know what's going on. They might not like it but we're involved in this, too. They can't just leave us out," Kyle continued.

"Well, Kyle, they did, and I can't say I'm all that upset about it..." Alex half said to himself.

"Come on, Alex. You wouldn't have called looking for Tess if you didn't want to know where they are going!" Alex thought for a moment.

"Okay, you're right," Alex admitted.

"Thank you..." Kyle breathed out.

"So, what do you want to do? Go charging after them? Help them??"

"No, I just want to know where they are and what's going on," Kyle said a little too non-chalantly.

"So basically you just want to spy on them rather than risk your own life helping them?" Alex pryed.

"Basically....yes."

"Sounds good to me, I'll pick you up in fifteen minutes," Alex said quickly and hung up the phone.