Tess was also satisfied that she had once again succeeded in destructing Max's relationship with Liz. All in all, Tess was very pleased with herself. *Job well done. And now I'm finally through with that jerk. If he won't accept our destiny, why should I? * Tess thought. *I'm perfectly content with my darling Buddha Boy. *

AT SCHOOL THE DAY AFTER THE BIG FIGHT

Tess was impatiently waiting by her locker for Kyle. *Why is he always late? * She thought, annoyed. *Who's that? * Tess asked herself when she saw a girl walking down the hallway. The girl looked to be the same age as Tess. The girl was obviously looking for something.

Tess decided to see if she could help. She was in a good mood that day, and besides, there was nothing better to do while waiting for Kyle.

"Hi. My name's Tess. Are you new here?" Tess asked the girl.

"Yeah, is it really that obvious?"

"Kinda. Do you need help with something?"

"Umm, well now that you ask, could you help me find locker number." The girl shuffled through her book bag. Then she triumphantly pulled out a piece of paper. "314?" She asked.

"Sure, that's right by mine." Tess pointed to her locker.

"My name is Maggie. Did I tell you that?"

"No, no you didn't. So where did you move here from? Was there any particular reason you picked Roswell?"

"Ummmmmm, no not really. I was having problems with my parents so I moved out. They gave me some money to start out with, and here I am."

"Oh. I'm sorry."

"About what?"

"You and your parents."

"Don't be. They don't give a damn about me."

"Anyway, do you like it here in Roswell so far?"

"Yeah it's really nice."

"I'm glad you think so."

"Hey babe." Kyle said as he came up behind Tess. Tess startled.

"OMG Kyle! Don't do that! You scared me!"

"Sorry, I didn't mean to."

"It's fine, don't worry about it. Kyle, I want you to meet my new friend Maggie. Maggie, this is my boyfriend Kyle."

"Hi Kyle. Nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too."

(To Tess:)"Are you ready to go?"

"Yeah."

(To Maggie:)"Bye Maggie!"

"See ya Tess!"

*Well, I didn't know the Royal Four were so friendly. This could be easier than I thought. *

(A/N: Maggie is a shape shifter. She is working for Nicholas. Together they are trying to find the granilith.)

"So now I'm your boyfriend huh?" Kyle asked Tess when they were out of Maggie's hearing range.

"Well what was I supposed to say? Yeah this is a friend of mine who I live with and we sleep together occasionally?" Tess asked.

"No.I mean, I'm just getting used to the idea of being your boyfriend, that's all. The last time I was a boyfriend, it was with...well, you know."

"Yeah I know. But it's different now. Now you're MY boyfriend, and I won't hurt you like she did." Tess said cheerily. Then she reached up and kissed Kyle.

He loved that she was so possessive. He liked that quality in a girl. He couldn't believe he finally had the girl of his dreams. Max walked down the hall towards Liz's locker. He needed to try and explain things to her. He was pretty sure she'd tell him to leave her alone, but he had to at least try.

"Hi Liz. Can we talk?"

"Max, I don't really think we have anything to discuss."

"But Liz I..."

"Maybe I should make myself more clear. Go away, leave me alone. I'm not speaking to you!"

Max had realized it was going to be difficult to get Liz to hear him out, but he hadn't expected to hear such anger in her voice.

*God Liz, why do you have to be so damn stubborn? * Max wondered. However, he respected her wishes, he always had, and he left.

*Where's Maria? I have to find Maria! I can't keep doing this to myself! I feel horrible about what I said to Max, but I had to say it. I need to stay away from Max for a while. I need to figure things out. I need Maria! Where is that girl? * Liz felt like screaming. She needed to let her feelings out. And the best way to do that was to vent to your best friend.

Maria made her way into the school and started scanning the crowds for Liz. She wasn't anywhere to be found. Maria walked towards her locker with her head down looking at her watch. When she reached her locker she looked up and whom did she find staring back at her but Michael Guerin.

"Michael!" Maria exclaimed. "I'm surprised to see you so early in the morning."

"Yeah. Listen Maria, we need to talk."

"Michael Guerin, talk? About serious relationship related problems?" Maria asked with mock amazement.

"Look, I know our relationship hasn't been.well it's."

"Michael as of the last time we spoke, a.k.a. two weeks ago or so.we have been relationship-less."

"I know. I wanted to say I'm sorry. For the way I've treated you before and for everything. I love you Maria. I really do. I know you envy Max and Liz. But look at them. Half the time their relationship is worse then ours!"

"And the other half they're head over heels, fresh as a daisy, over the top, wonderfully, amazingly, beautifully in love."

"The point is, Maria I don't want to be in a relationship like Max and Liz's. I'm not intense like that, and you know it. We need a normal relationship, one where we fight and have make-up sex. I mean it may not be perfect, but it's us. That's all we need."

Maria looked up at him, tears forming in her eyes. "I love you Michael."

"I love you too." He said. He pulled her into his arms and she let herself be held.

"Thank you." She whispered. She leaned up and kissed him, hugged him one last time and ran off to class.

As Liz was looking for Maria, Alex walked up behind her.

"Hey, you look stressed. Are you okay?" He asked.

"Yeah, no, I really need to talk." Liz answered.

"I'm here for you." Alex said.

"Thanks Alex." Liz said. She hugged him. "It's so hard, I mean.me and Max."

"What happened?"

"Well, we had a fight, sort of. I mean, well.okay. So he forgot our anniversary. I was ready to forgive him for that. So I go over to his house, and I have this really romantic evening planned, and I see Tess and Max on Max's bed, holding hands! God Alex, I made me so mad! And I know Max loves me. I don't know why he'd do that to me! I'm so confused."

"Wow. Liz, I feel your pain. But maybe it wasn't what you thought. Maybe it was totally innocent and you happened to walk in at the wrong time. Maybe Max wanted Tess's advice on alien stuff or something. I know it will hurt you to hear me say this, but maybe you need to talk to Max. And then if you still think he's evil or whatever, at least you'll know."

"Yeah, maybe you're right, Alex. Maybe I should talk to Max. But I can't. Not right now. I have to cool off. Then I'll be able to deal with it rationally, sensibly."

"That's my Liz, the beautiful scientist." Alex said in a fatherly tone. Liz giggled.

"Thanks Alex. I love you."

"I love you too." Liz hugged Alex again and dissapeared into the crowd of people.

Finally Liz saw Maria. "Maria! Maria, over here!" Liz waved.

"Sorry Liz, I didn't see you."

"I've been looking for you everywhere. I need to talk. It's about Max."

*Of course it's about Max. When is it not about Max? Will we ever be able to talk about me? Did it ever occur to you that I have problems too? Grrrrrrr.*

"Talk to me chica."

"Well, you remember last night? When I called you?"

"Mmmmmmmhhhhhhhhhmmmmmm."

"Well, I took your advice. I got together a wonderful picnic. I snuck over to Max's house. All I had to do was apologize for being so stupid about our anniversary, and then I imagined it would be this stupendous night. I got up to Max's window, and I heard voices. So I peeked through the curtains. Maria, Max was sitting on his bed with Tess. They were holding hands and Tess was giggling. I didn't know what to do. I felt so betrayed. So I ran. I ran out of there as fast as I could. I probably made a lot more noise than I intended to because Max saw me running. He called me back, but I didn't stop. I'm not gonna be able to stand anymore excuses Maria. I feel like maybe Future Max is getting ready to come back. He wants to warn me. It's like everything that has been going on with me and Max lately has been some sort of sign. You're not meant for each other, destiny rules over all. I talked to Alex, and he's really a great listener, and he made me feel so much better, but I think I need a girl's advice. What should I do Maria? I can't take many more of these guessing games."

"WOW. That sure is a lot to take in. Your problems so take preference over mine! I think we should go to the library. It'll be easier to talk there."

"What about English?"

"Liz, honey, we're already late. We totally missed homeroom. We are on the absentee list. Let's just go to the library and stay there till we sort all this out. Then we can write each other notes and go ton the office. Don't worry about it."

"You're right. I have to talk to you about last night Let's go."

"Speaking of last night, why didn't you call me? You know I would have been over there in a second."

"I know. But I also know what a pain I've been to you lately. Me and all my problems. Maria, you've been the greatest friend to me. I feel like I owe it to you not to trouble you so much. Besides, you have problems too. We oughta talk about those once in a while too. I don't want you to feel like this is a one sided relationship."

"You know I'd never think that Liz. I do have problems, and we do need to talk about them too, but I don't blame you for having problems of your own. Right now your problems are way more complicated then mine."

Maria leaned over and hugged her friend. By this time the two were seated comfortably on their secret couch that nobody, not even the librarian knew about. They talked for what seemed like hours. Liz went first. She told Maria all her feelings about Max. She told her all her secrets everything she had been holding back from the others. Then Maria went. She told Liz about her and Michael. How she was afraid Michael hadn't wanted to make a commitment to her, how she really was getting sick of Liz's problems. The girls finally felt like they were on the same level again. They had always been best friends. They had no secrets. Everything one knew, the other knew too. Now the girls felt like they had that back. It was a good feeling. They both knew they could count on each other in a time of need. That was always a good thing to know.

The girls finished chatting and wrote their notes.

Maria headed out the back way and went around to the front. Liz took the shortcut and waited for Maria to finish. Ten minutes later Liz walked into the office and gave in her note.

*It worked! * Liz thought, relieved. But then again, it always had.

MAX AND TESS'S GEOMETRY CLASS

THE NEW GIRL WALKS IN

"Maggie! Over here!"

"Who's that?" Max asked Tess.

"Oh, just the new girl. She's a friend of mine. We met this morning."

"I wouldn't get too close Tess. You don't know who this girl really is. We have rules about this sort of stuff you know."

"Jeez Max. Don't get so uptight. You can't choose my friends for me. Maggie isn't an alien, she doesn't know I am. I just want to have a normal friend, ok?"

"Just be careful. Don't let her catch on. She could be a FBI spy, or a secret agent, or a skin, possibly a shape shifter. We can't trust everyone as if we were human Tess!"

"Shut up Max! You're not my boyfriend! Why don't you go and protect Liz? She needs your help more than me! I've got Kyle now."

"Liz is not a possession that needs protecting! And since when are you and Kyle together?"

"Since last night. After you rejected your destiny again, I decided to give up on you. There is no point in us being together if one of us doesn't want it right? And now neither of us wants it. So leave me alone!" Today obviously wasn't his best day with women.

"Tess, I'm warning you, I don't like the idea of you becoming friends with that girl. The rest of us won't either."

"Well that's just too bad isn't it Max?"

(To Maggie:) "Hi. This is Max, Max this is my new friend Maggie." With that, Tess shot Max a look that seemed to say, and there's nothing you can do about it.

"So Tess, you certainly seem to be very popular, seeing as you were new just a few months ago."

"Yeah well, I have connections here. Hey, how did you know I was new..."

"Oh, Mr. Banks told me. He said I could sit next to you because you were pretty good in geometry."

"Well that was nice of him."

"So what's up with you and that guy?"

"Oh, you mean Max? Well, me and him sort of used to go out and our parents set us up, you know. Well he couldn't accept his destiny, I mean that his parents wanted him with me because he says he loves this other girl. Sometimes I think he'd do anything for her. I mean, he'd give his life for Liz Parker. I can't understand it sometimes. God, I must be babbling. I'm sorry. You wouldn't understand."

*Oh but I understand perfectly Queen Ava. This girl has broken your destiny with the king. You say he'd do anything for her...I wonder...*

"Sorry, I daydream a lot. What did you say?"

"Oh, nothing important."

"Miss Harding, Miss Boyle, please quiet down. Class, we have a new student. This is Magdalene Boyle. Stand up Miss Boyle." Maggie stood. "Please, call me Maggie."

"As you wish--Maggie." Maggie sat. "If you please Miss Harding, no more talking while I'm attempting to teach."

"Yes Sir, sorry Sir."

"Now that we are interruption free, let's begin..."