The teacher instructed them all to hand in the questions they had answered about their partners in the exercise he had assigned. Everyone got up to toss the answered questions and his desk. When Maria handed hers in the teacher said “You were able to track down Mr.Guerin?”

Maria nodded wordlessly, not mentioning of course that she had tracked him down by being abducted in his mission to get to Texas.

Maria slid back into her desk, wondering where the hell Michael was. After seeing Ms.Topolski, the supposed guidance counselor knock out Sheriff Valenti, they had grabbed the papers they had found in the secret room and made a run for it. Nobody in the group new whether or not Ms.Topolski or anyone had actually seen them, they just left.

They had made in back to Roswell, barely in time for school this morning. They had all gone home to change clothes, but everyone except Michael seemed to have made it back in time. Maybe he was doing what he had suggested in the first place, skip school. Maria had assumed Max and Isabel had talked him out of it. It would look too suspicious, if Ms Topolski really hadn’t seen them. They had all agreed to meet at the library later tonight to look over the papers they had found, and see if they meant anything.

As Maria was thinking all this, Michael skidded into class.

“Nice of you to actually join us Mr.Guerin,” the teacher said dryly.

“Sorry I’m late,” Michael said, not very apologetically, sliding into the desk beside Maria.

As the teacher started on a little spiel about the world domination of Hitler, Maria stared over at Michael. After the trip, she was seeing him in a different light. In spite of herself, Maria was actually finding herself attracted to him. She kept telling herself it was insane, but the feelings were still there below the surface. Not that it mattered. Hadn’t he himself said, ‘Not if you were the last woman on earth.’

The class flew by, Maria not hearing a word of the teachers lecture. When the bell rang the signal the end of class, Maria said to Michael, “Where were you this morning.”

Michael shrugged, “I got called into Ms Topolski’s office.”

With that he walked out the door. Maria followed him , “You what? Why? Does she know anything?” “Not so loud.” Michael admonished, turning back to her.

“How can you be so calm,” she shrieked, earning her glances from the students walking in the halls. “What did she say to you?”

Michael noticed the curious glances directed at them. He grabbed Maria’s arm and pulled her into the empty science classroom across the hall.

He shut the door and turned to Maria, “Calm down,” he hissed, “Are you trying to get us caught?”

Maria shook her head and he continued, “Yes, she called me in this morning, but she said nothing about yesterday. All she said was that I seemed like a bright boy and could probably go far if I just applied myself a little more.”

“That’s it?” Maria asked dubiously, “I mean, she didn’t even act suspicious. For crying out loud, we saw her bean the sheriff over the head.”

Michael shrugged, “She must not know we saw her. I mean, it’s pretty obvious that she isn’t your average guidance counselor, but she sure is doing a good job of acting like one. A nosy one maybe, but if we hadn’t seen her yesterday we would never suspect her of being anything else.”

Maria leaned back against one of the desks, “She must know about you guys. I mean, how else could she have known about the dome, or why else why would she have called you in this morning. I mean, she’s been paying pretty close attention to the five of us, and Alex as we. My god, she’s probably just playing with us, waiting for us to trip up. What if she......?”

Michael did something without thinking at all. He leaned over and kissed her, cutting her off in mid speech. He was surprised as anything, he had never actually kissed a girl before, but he just kissed Maria, a girl he hadn’t known well at all for very long.

Maria was as surprised as he was, but that didn’t stop her from returning his kiss. The sexual tension that had been present yesterday in the motel room exploded in the kiss they were sharing right now. This was nothing like any other kisses she had shared before, the feelings she was having were equivalent to fireworks. She didn’t know if it was because he was an alien, or because she was more attracted to Michael than she had been to any other guy.

Michael pulled away first. They were both breathing heavily.

“That was just to clam you down,” he said, for lack of something better to say.

Maria on the other hand said nothing at all. What could she say? That that was the most explosive kiss of her life, that she wanted to do it again? Michael probably didn’t want to hear any of it.

When she didn’t say anything, Michael just picked up his books and walked out of the room. Maria stayed there a minute longer. What had just happened?

*************************************

Maria walked into work after school, wearing the ugly bluish green uniforms. Liz was already serving tables.

“Table 6 needs their order taken,” Liz said to her as Maria tossed her stuff in the back.

Maria nodded wordlessly. She grabbed a pad of paper and a pen and went to wait on table 6.

The after-school crown didn’t clear out until nearly half past four. Liz and Maria sat at an empty table, taking a break until the supper crowd came in.

Maria, who hadn’t said anything to Liz all day, fiddled with a piece of thread she had pulled from her uniform. Liz watched her silently for a couple minutes, then said, “Okay, what’s eating you? You haven’t talked to me since we got back into town.”

Maria shrugged, then replied without preamble, “Michael kissed me.”

“What?” Liz was surprised. “When.”

“After history,” Maria replied. “I was stressing about him being called into Ms.Topolski’s office, and well, he just kissed me.”

Liz leaned back, “Did anything happen? I mean, different because he’s a...Czechoslovakian?”

Maria shrugged, “It was the best kiss of my life, but I don’t think that was simply because he’s a Czech.”

“Well, did he say anything to you after?” Liz asked.

Maria put her head in her hands, “All he said was, ‘That was to calm you down’. Then I couldn’t think of something appropriate to say, so I didn’t say anything. Then, he just left and I haven’t talked to him since.”

Maria sighed, “Liz, I don’t know what to do. I mean, I think I really like the guy, but I don’t think he feels the same way.”

“He kissed you, didn’t he?” Liz asked rhetorically.

Maria shook her head, “That doesn’t mean anything, I mean all we’ve really done is fight. Kissing me was probably just the most effective way to shut me up.”

Liz smiled at the despairing note in her friends voice, “Maria, Michael doesn’t strike me as a guy that just kisses any old girl. I’m sure he feels at least some of what you do.”

Maria sat up straighter, “I hope so. Because I’ve decided to tell him how I feel. Tonight.”

Liz sighed, “I hope you know what you’re doing. If they have to leave because they are found out, you’ll have to deal with losing him.”

Maria shrugged, “I’ll deal with that, when and if, I have to.”

*************************************