Liz looked down at her workbook and then back at her paper. She chewed on her pencil, checking her answers once again and said, "Um...well, I think...I'm not sure I did it right but..."

"Wouldn't surprise me," Tess muttered and Liz whipped her head towards the girl. Tess shrugged and smirked. "It's just that you can't seem to do anything else right, like pleasing your man, make that ex-man. Isn't that right honey?" she said to Max wrapping her arm around him and nuzzling at his neck.

"Knock it off Tess," Max said moving away from her a little. He tried to meet Liz's eyes, wanting her to know that he didn't feel that way at all but she wouldn't even look at him.

Gage intervened before things got ugly again as they had all day. He sighed. "Liz? What was your answer?"

Liz took a deep breath, trying to clear her head. "I chose A. Inference. Only because, it never really says whether or not the man actually lived the rest of his life in sorrow, just that he was devastated because of his wife's death and spent many years in sadness. You never really know if he spent the rest of his life that way. You just have to assume so."

Gage smiled. "Very impressive, Liz. Most people don't even know the meaning of inference. How about the rest of you? Did any of the rest of you get inference?"

He was met with a bunch of blank stares and mumbles. Only one hand went up. "I did," Max said.

"Good. Now, for the last part of the verbal section, I'm going to break you up into groups of two. Let's see. How about Max and Liz, Isabel and Alex, Michael and Maria and Tess, you will work with me."

Cries of outrage came from every member of the room with the exception of Liz and Max.

"You've got to be kidding!" Maria screamed. "I refuse to work with that jerk!"

"No way!" Isabel cried. "That ain't gonna happen!"

"Can't we pick our own groups?" Tess whined.

Gage had had enough. "Jesus! ENOUGH!!! Look, I'm the one in charge here and you will do the groups as I say! Break up into the groups I've given you and follow the instructions on the paper. If you have any problems with that, tough! We're only in here for one more half-hour so just cooperate, please!"

*****

"Hey Liz! Wait up!" Max called as he left the cabin. The two of them had finished their group work quickly and Gage had told them to go ahead and leave.

Liz stopped but didn't turn around. He caught up with her and asked her where she was going. "I'm gonna go to the soda machine and get something to drink. Why?"

"Do you mind if I come with?" he asked. He really wanted to talk to her.

"What would Tess think?" she asked, still not looking at him.

"I don't care what she thinks," he replied, a bit of bitterness in his voice.

"You can come if you want. It's a free country," she sighed and began to walk again.

Max walked along side her wondering how he should start. He had been trying to talk to her for the last few weeks but every time he approached her, she would ignore him. "Liz?"

"Hmm?"

"I...I miss you."

"Good for you, Max," she retorted.

"Liz?"

Liz turned on him and he had never seen such hurt or fury in her eyes. "You can't have it both ways Max! You made your choice and it wasn't me! You lied to me! You told me you felt all these things about me, that you loved me, but it was Tess you really wanted. You used me! You said that it was me you wanted to be with but you only wanted me because I gave you visions and when the visions stopped you didn't care anymore! I'm right aren't I? And then Tess comes to town and you have visions with her and all of the sudden you're in love with her. You can miss me all you want but it won't repair all the hurt, all the damage you have caused me. I wish you had just let me die instead of saving me because since then, you have done nothing but cause me pain. Go to hell, Max Evans!" With that, she broke out into tears and ran away.

But Max refused to let her go. He sprinted after her, finally catching up with her when she reached the girl's cabin. "Liz!" he cried, grabbing on to her arm and pulling her back. "Please, listen to me."

"No!" she shoved him, trying to pull away but he wouldn't let her.

Max felt his own eyes mist. "Please, Liz. I want you back! I need you. My life is miserable without you! I thought that because of the visions that Tess and I were meant to be together but she's not the one I want, she's not the one I love. I love you, I always have! We belong together!"

"I wish I could believe you Max, but it's too late."

"No! I refuse to believe that! Don't you see that you can run all you want but you're my destiny and I may have been stupid once and let you get away but I won't make that mistake again!"

He released her arm only to cup her face and drop his mouth to hers. There lips met for only a few seconds but when he pulled away, Liz looked shocked. "What was that?" she asked.

"I...I thought that...I love you, Liz. I'm showing you that I love you."

She shook her head and looked down at the ground as her tears fell. "It's too late, Max," she repeated in a whisper. "Go back to Tess."

She turned and walked up the stairs to the cabin, collapsed on her bed and cried in her hands.

*****

When Maria appeared in the cabin, she saw her friend crying and ran over to her. "Liz? What's wrong?"

Liz told her the entire story. "I told him it was too late and that he should go back to Tess, Maria. Why? I want to be with him more than anything and I told him to go back to Tess!"

Maria hugged her, petting her hair and said, "Because you're scared of getting hurt again, and with good reason. But I hope you didn't do this because of me. You know, I'm always telling you to move on, but it really has to be your choice."

"I know, Maria. It was my choice."

"Okay," Maria sighed then her expression brightened. "So, you ready to go break some hearts in our new suits?" She smirked and wiggled her eyebrows. "There's a lot of cute guys here from school and you know we look absolutely marvelous in these suits.

Liz laughed and nodded, not able to stay sad any longer. Maria had that affect on her. She could always put her in a better mood.

*****

"Aren't you guys ready, yet?" Alex called in annoyance as he waited outside of the girl's cabin.

"Almost! Give us a few more secs!" Maria called and Alex rolled his eyes. He'd been waiting for them for fifteen minutes already and every five minutes, they said they were almost ready but they never came out. He didn't even want to go to this stupid swimming party so it only annoyed him more that he had to wait.

"Okay, we're ready Alex," Liz said and the girls finally appeared at the entrance wearing T-shirts and jean- shorts.

"Excuse us," an annoyed voice said and Tess and Isabel appeared behind Maria and Liz.

Maria pretended not to know that they were there, stretching her arms and yawning, completely blocking the way and Tess pushed her out of the way. Maria's smirked. "Oh, didn't see you there girls."

"Yeah, whatever, Maria." Isabel said and the aliens began to walk away.

Maria called after them. "Have fun tonight, girls. We wouldn't want you to drown or anything!"

Tess and Isabel kept on walking, pretending that they didn't hear her.

"So, ya ready?" she smiled to Liz and Alex and they both nodded.

They all walked out to the lake together, jabbering about nothing important. When they reached the grassy shoreline, they put their bags down and both Maria and Liz stripped down to their bikinis while Alex sat down and got comfortable.

"Aren't you gonna go in the water, Alex?" Liz asked and he shook his head.

"Nah, I don't think so. I'm just gonna hang out for a while and then I'll go to bed, I think."

Maria grabbed his arm and tugged on it but to no avail. "Come on, Alex. That's not what we had in mind when we asked you to come with us tonight. You have to have some fun."

"Maybe later," he said and laid on his back.

"Party pooper," Maria grumbled as she stuffed her clothes in her bag. "Oh, Liz, look! There's Gage. Let's go say hello."

Liz smirked. "Whatever you say Maria."

"What's that supposed to mean and why are you smiling?"

Alex answered for Liz. "It means, that you don't care one way about that guy, you're just trying to make Michael jealous."

"I am not," Maria replied, her voice ringing hollow to her own ears. "Michael can go to hell!"

Liz wasn't going to argue with her stubborn friend so she just sighed and said, "Let's go say hi then."

"See ya Alex," Maria grumbled as she and Liz left to go to the dock.

"Bye ladies. Have fun and try to stay out of trouble."

Maria laughed. "I don't see that happening."

"Neither do I," Liz sighed, knowing that all Maria wanted to do was to start trouble.

When they reached to dock, they both began to walk towards Gage who was at the end. Liz groaned when she saw Tess and Isabel standing on the dock talking to Max and Michael who were in the water, praying that Maria would just keep walking.

"Come in, girls. The water is great," Michael urged the two alien girls but they both shook their heads.

"Not yet. Maybe later," Isabel said tossing her head back and Maria smiled.

"Yeah, I think you should go in," Maria said and shoved an infuriated Isabel in the water as she walked by. "Oops, did I do that?" she laughed, looking at Liz.

"That's it!" Isabel screamed, slapping her hand on the water as she crawled back on to the dock.

Both Maria and Liz turned to look at the seething girls and Maria smirked. "Oh, I'm sorry Isabel, it was a total accident, I swear."

"Accident my ass!" Isabel growled and shoved Maria.

Maria stumbled backwards but caught her balance before she fell in the water. She straightened herself and her eyes flashed. "Oh, is that the way you want to play?" She charged Isabel and they both went flying in the water, screaming in anger.

Maria reached out with both her hands and grabbed Isabel by the hair as they approached the surface and shoved her head back under the water. "Bitch! I'm gonna kill you!" she screamed.

Isabel came up to the surface gasping and then her face twisted in anger and she whipped a hand out, connecting with Maria's face. She turned towards Maria and grabbed her by the hair and threw her under.

Maria struggled under the surface, taking in a lungful of water. She pushed off the sandy ground with her feet and broke the surface. Isabel didn't break her grip but Maria turned on her and landed a punch right in Isabel's perfect face. "You goddamn slut!"

"I hate you!" Isabel cried as one hand reflexively flew to her eye and the other reached for Maria again but never connected. Max had grabbed Izzy from behind and Michael had pulled Maria away so that the girls were far apart from each other.

"Let me go Max!" Isabel warned but Max held on tight.

"Get your fucking hands off of me!" Maria screamed at Michael, struggling against his strong arms as she glared at Isabel. She wasn't done with that girl yet.

"That isn't gonna happen until you calm down!" he replied and his grip tightened on her.

Maria screamed in frustration. "I hate you Michael!" She whipped her head back, hitting him in the face and he let her go as his hands flew to his face. She turned on him and smacked him hard. "Don't you ever touch me again," she growled and spat in his face before climbing out of the water and walking away.