She was so lovely, charming and magnificant. He wished he could just touch her soft hand, or smell her silky hair. It was all he ever wanted.

As long as Max could remember, he had loved Liz. There was not a time when he wasn't thinking about her, at least in partial. She was always there, at the back of his mind. A constant reminder of what he could not have, and that he was not just like everybody else.

When she would pass him in the halls, as he watched her, it hurt him to know she didn't even know he existed.

He loved her, and yet, Max was nothing to her. Less than nothing. It hurt so much sometimes he just wanted to cry.

But he didn't. He wouldn't. He remained the way he always was. Quiet. Serious. Forgotten.

It wasn't like Max was alone. He had his friends. He had Isabel and Michael. His only real family through all this.

But something was missing. Ever since he had first laid eyes on his Liz, and even before then.

When he had been younger, Max had convinced himself that he and Liz would someday marry, buy a house, have children, and live happily ever after.

But that dream faded, and Max was left watching Liz live her happy life, while he stayed in the shadows.

As Max thought, Liz gathered the remainder of her neccessary books. She closed her locker, and turned to go to her next class.

He was so deep in thought, that Max did not even notice bumping into Liz until he had already done it.

He apologized profusely, and so did Liz. She was always so polite. It hadn't been her fault, and yet she was still being so kind.

As they both knelt to pick up the books Liz had dropped, their hands touched briefly.

The electricity Max felt was unreal. Soon he found himself somewhere else, experiencing things that had never happened to him.

He saw Liz, as a young child, playing with whom Max knew to be her mother.

He also saw her on her first day at midle school, and how nervous she was, as well as the excitement of her first kiss.

The final image Max saw before he rushed back to reality was of himself. He was sitting alone, under a tree, watching everyone else around him.

Max remembered that that had been the day both Isabel and Michael had been away from school, he couldn't remember why. But he had spent the entire day alone, feeling miserable.

With the image, Max felt the urge Liz had felt, to sit down beside him. The need from her to talk to him, learn about him, and understand him. But she had been pulled away by her friend Alex, and had never gotten the chance.

It was as if she cared for him.

And then it ended, as abrubtly as it had began. Liz gave him an odd look, gathered the rest of her books up, smiled her brilliant smile at him, and walked away.

He watched her strole down the hallway, and turn into a classroom. He watched the door close, and then heard the bell ring.