“Nothing. They probably hate each other now, but they know that doing anything will only upset you. Look on the bright side—everyone knows about this, since the fight this morning was very public, and if anything else happens, someone will probably find you.” Maria couldn’t come up with anything comforting, so she tried to be optimistic.

“Right,” Liz agreed sarcastically.

“The topic is Max and David, I assume?” Alex walked up as Liz put her head in her hands.

“Assumption correct,” Maria stated. “What did Max do after everyone left? You should know, after helping to hold him down and all.”

“Oh, nothing, just calmed him down, though he was mumbling incoherently about David being a ‘fucking asshole’ and how he knew he ‘didn’t like the bastard,’” Alex declared, making quotations in the air with his fingers. “I never knew the guy could swear or punch so well. I guess jealousy is one of his weaknesses. Man, David was asking for it when he kissed you in front of Max like that, Liz.”

“That was no excuse for what Max did,” Liz looked up, fuming. “That was so, so, so . . . he shouldn’t have done it!”

“Calm down, sweetie,” David said, walking up to the group. “I don’t care that Max is jealous. I mean, I can understand why he would get jealous. You’re incredible, I wouldn’t want to give you up, either. Besides, I got a few punches in there anyway.”

“Hey, honey. Oh, you have a black eye, does it hurt?” Liz got up and kissed his eye.

“Feels better,” David said, smiling.

Maria and Alex rolled their eyes. “Get a room,” they said together.

David got a devilish look. “How ‘bout the Eraser Room? I heard it’s a great place to be alone,” David said mischievously.

“Sure. I think you earned it,” Liz giggled.

As they left, Maria complained, “They are so cute together it depresses me.”

Alex laughed. “He makes her really happy. I don’t like him, though.”

“Yeah. He’s sort of impish, like he has a secret. And his eyes are full of, I don’t know, evil. I’m afraid he might hurt Liz,” Maria said.

“Right,” Alex said, a faraway look on his face. He was thinking about the “message” that the four aliens got before the kiss and fight. *David is really dangerous.*

“What?” Maria questioned. She saw the little trip to La-La Land he just took.

“Um, nothing,” he stuttered, knowing he was caught.

“Oh, no. I know you better than that. What do you know about David?” Maria argued. He wasn’t getting away that easily.

“Okay, okay. When Liz left, Michael explained why he blew up. It wasn’t just the kiss. Before David kissed Liz, Max and the rest of the Pod Squad were sitting in the jeep, and he sent Max a message to the aliens about killing them after he killed Liz,” Alex admitted. Maria gasped, and Alex rushed on before she could say anything. “I know, and Michael set up a meeting with the eight of us, including Kyle and Tess to the original group of six, at his house at 8.”

“Oh, I am so there. But Liz has a date at 8:30,” Maria exclaimed.

“Crap. Well, I’ll just drag her out of her house at 8, like there’s a big emergency, and she’ll have to cancel. That way, we can also keep her away from David. He won’t do anything dangerous to her during the day. He thinks he has the night with her, so he was probably planning to do it tonight,” Alex stated.

“Very strategic, Alex,” Maria said, amused.

“Well, friends in danger bring it out of me,” he said simply.

*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*

In the fourth hour, Liz had class with Max. Since it was the first day, the seats went alphabetically, so they weren’t near each other at all. They spent the hour sneaking glances at each other, but never looking at the same time. In between them was Tess, and she just sat there, disgusted by the whole scene. *If Liz has moved on, what is this?*

Liz’s fifth and sixth hour didn’t have Max or David at all, but did have Michael and Alex in one, and Maria and Isabel in the other. They were relieved to find out that Liz made it out of the Eraser Room alive, but didn’t let her know that something was wrong with David.

Liz heard the bell for dismissal from sixth hour, and sighed. *One more hour to go, and the school day is over.* She could barely handle all the stares she got and whispers she heard about her, David, and Max the entire day. As she walked to her last class, chemistry, David appeared next to her.

“How does ‘What Lies Beneath’ sound?” he asked.

“Great. I heard it got good ratings,” Liz said. “What do you have next?” She hoped he had chemistry, too. She knew he would make a good partner.

“Chemistry,” he said, beaming as he saw the satisfaction on Liz’s face. “I heard that the teacher is really awesome, and she lets us choose our partners after a week. Want to be my partner?”

“Of course,” she said happily.

They walked into the chemistry room, hand in hand.