Liz held her biology book protectively in front of herself. What am I doing? She asked herself. I have a boyfriend. A nice boyfriend who's athletic and nice and sweet and right in front of me!

"Kyle! What are you doing?!"

Kyle put his book bag over his shoulder and shut his locker door. "Getting my books out of my locker," he said.

Liz nodded. "Right…your-your locker is right here," she stammered.

Kyle eyed her. "Are you ok?"

Liz nodded. "Yeah, oh yeah, I'm just…just…" she looked over his shoulder and spotted Max coming out of the bathroom and heading toward them.

Liz looked back at Kyle and shifted, hoping Max would pass and not see her. But her luck wasn't that good.

"Hey buddy!" Kyle called out, making Max turn and looked their way. He noticed her and held her gaze a few seconds, but Liz chickened out and looked away.

"Hey," Max said back, not moving any closer. He shifted his backpack and scanned the halls.

Liz finally looked back at him and noticed he was looking at her out of the corner of her eye. She smiled at him.

Max looked fully at her and smiled back. Liz stole a glance at Kyle and saw he was looking down the hall past them.

"Valenti! You coming!" Tommy yelled.

Kyle nodded and looked back at Liz. "Catch ya later?" he asked.

Liz stole another look at Max. He was looking past her a little. "Um…yeah," Liz told Kyle.

He nodded and kissed her on the cheek before walking off. Liz watched him go before looking back at Max.

Max shifted on his heels a minute before walking up to Liz. "So…you and Kyle?"

Liz was taken back by his question. "Um…no-well, yes. It's…it's just this really…casual…thing."

Max nodded and pointed down the hall. "I gotta get to my locker. Um, you wanna…walk with me?"

Liz smiled. "Sure…I have nothing else to do," she joked.

Max faked being shock. "And here I thought you said I was good company."

Liz smiled. "Well…for me to find out for sure, I'd have to do more…research."

Max smiled back at her. "Research?"

Liz nodded. They reached Max's locker and he put in the combination. "So…we could do more research?"

Liz nodded and leaned against the next locker. "Yeah…I mean, if we want to get an accurate answer."

"Acurate's good," Max said with a grin as he opened his locker. He looked inside and groaned. Liz peeked in and laughed.

"And I take making sure you hair is ok is good too?"

Max shot her a look. "Isabel's taken over my locker," he said as he pulled out his books. He then slammed it shut.

"You guys have to share a locker?"

"No…apparently my locker is close to the 'nice' girls bathroom," Max said sarcastically.

Liz nodded. "It does have the big mirror," she commented.

Max sighed. "I just don't get girls. If the bathroom has a…big mirror, then why does she have to put one in my locker?"

Liz smiled. "We like to be assured we look good."

Max looked at her. "And me telling you that you look great wouldn't work?" Liz shrugged. "'Cause you do," Max added a little lower.

Liz looked up at him and opened her mouth to only hear Alex's voice come out.

"Max! Liz, I've been looking all over," Alex said as he ran up.

"Alex, what's wrong?"

Alex looked at Max. "Isabel…she um."

"Isabel? What happened?" Max asked, suddenly taking his eyes off of Liz.

"She collapsed in the hallway-"

"Collapsed?!" Liz exclaimed.

"She fainted or something," Alex explained. "She's at the nurses office."

Max took off down the hallway. Alex followed. Liz watched them for a second before going too.

***

Maria walked into 5th period and looked around. The only one there was Michael. She slowly walked in and took her seat, right beside him. "So, where is everybody?"

Michael shrugged. "Hell if I know."

Maria nodded and watched a couple more people pile into the class. "They should've beat us here."

"Ever heard of the bathroom?" Michael asked with a sigh.

Maria ignored him and said, "maybe Max and Liz ran into each other and decided to skip class."

"Yeah, like Max would skip class."

Maria and Michael sat together in silence until the bell rung. "Maybe they got lost? It is his and Isabel's first day," Maria commented.

"And what for Alex and Liz? Think they decided to skip?"

Maria shook her head. "No…Liz loves science."

"As does Max. So, if he's late, there's gotta be a reason," Michael said.

"So what are you suggesting?"

"I'm suggesting," Michael stated, "that something happened."

Just then the door opened again, and Ms. Leery walked in.

"Like what?" Maria hissed.

Michael looked her straight in the eye. "I don't know…"

Maria looked back and found herself getting lost in his eyes. They were a deep brown.

"Maria?"

She snapped back a little and took a deep breath. Michael's cologne was making her dizzy. "Um…what did you say?"

"I said they're here."

Maria looked up to see Alex and Liz walk through the door. They waited a beat, but Isabel and Max didn't come in.

"Sorry we're late," Liz said as she and Alex took their seats in front of Maria and Michael.

"Yeah," Alex replied.

Ms. Leery nodded and went back to writing on the board. Liz turned around and faced Michael. "Max and Isabel are in the nurse's office."

Michael sat up straighter. "What happened?" Maria asked.

"She fainted," Alex informed them, looking at Michael. "The nurse said her blood pressure was high and told her to go home and rest."

"Where's Max?"

"He took her home," Liz said.

Michael looked up at the teacher. "Can I go to the bathroom?"

Ms. Leery nodded and Michael stood up. He grabbed his coat and walked past Maria to get to the door.

As he passed, Maria felt his hand touch her back. Maria closed her eyes and sighed. A shiver went down her spine as she heard him speak.

"If she asks, I'm not feeling well," Michael whispered in her ear.

Maria nodded and watched him walk out of the room. She heard a stifle of laughter and looked to see Liz and Alex smiling at her. "What?"

Liz just shrugged. "Nothing." She reached back and put her book bag on Michael's empty desk space.

Alex leaned his chair back and propped his arms up in front of Maria. "So…what did we miss?"