At lunch Isabel was still mulling over her discovery when Max and Michael confronted her.

"All right Iz, what was with the whole coughing thing in geometry?" Leave it to Michael to not beat around the bush, she thought to herself. Fortunately Isabel had already thought through this particular inevitable discussion.

"I was falling asleep. I thought if I could get up for a second and walk around I could stay awake but I knew I couldn't just ask 'Hey, can I go walk around? Your lecture is putting me to sleep!' so I had to think of something. I know it was lame but it was the best I could do. The last thing any of us needs is to get extra attention because our school performances suddenly change. And I knew that falling asleep would be a red flag so I tried to make it seem normal."

"I'm sorry Iz, it's just that it seemed a little weird," Max said as he and Michael sat down across from her.

"Was it that obvious? Do you think anyone else noticed I was faking it?" Isabel asked.

"I doubt it," Michael replied. "Except maybe Maria but she didn't say anything or look at you so I don't think she even noticed." As he mentioned her name he looked over to the table where she, Liz, and Alex were sitting.

Isabel thought about Michael and Maria's relationship. What was the difference that made Maria at least appear to be part of this plane of existence, when compared to Liz?

Then it hit her. It was hope. Maria knew that Michael and Isabel had no intention of being together as their destinies had foretold, and besides that Michael had no interest in anyone but Maria. He was only keeping her at arm's length so he could feel like she was safe and that he could try to prepare himself for whatever lay waiting in the future. So Maria may be thinking that it's only a matter of time before Michael came back to her, Isabel thought. But Liz was a different story. Liz knew that Tess had feelings for Max. And she had been there when the vision had appeared, telling the four aliens of their destinies. She had walked away from Max, telling him to be with Tess.

It was obvious that the decision had cost her part of her soul, but what about her sanity? What would make her give up so completely on Max that she would sleep with Kyle?

Isabel pursued this line of thought as she ate an apple. "Maybe I should put myself in her shoes," she mused. "Okay, I have just heard that the love of my life has a wife from a past life who is here on Earth. I know that said wife wants to be with my soulmate. It is not looking good, but I do know that he wants to be with me, not her."

Isabel knew that was true. She knew Max wanted to be with Liz more than he wanted to take his next breath. And Liz knew that Max wanted to be with her, not Tess. So why would she do that? Why would she do something that would completely push Max away? Isabel hadn't heard the details of the rumor but she knew alcohol had not been mentioned, so maybe it wasn't a mistake. Maybe Liz did it on purpose to get Max to accept his destiny.

But wasn't that a bit extreme? Having sex to make Max… a thought hit her with such force that Isabel choked on her apple for real as she contemplated it.

"Iz, are you okay? What's wrong?" Max and Michael were frantic as they pounded her back.

"No, no, I'm fine…"she whispered as she struggled to regain control of her breathing, "I just swallowed wrong. I guess that coughing stunt made me more susceptible than I am usually. I'm okay, really."

But Isabel was not okay. She looked over at Liz as she saw the pieces come together.

What if Liz had pretended to sleep with Kyle? That would make more sense than actually sleeping with him, Isabel decided.

It was so out of character for Liz to hurt Max like this that there must be an explanation besides the obvious. And Isabel was going to find out what it was.

The only question was how to go about it. Isabel cringed as she recognized that although this very morning she had been thinking about what a good friend Liz was, she herself had not been a very good friend to Liz, especially since the whole destiny thing.

"Well it's time to change all that," Isabel said aloud, forgetting that she wasn't alone.

"Time to change what?" Max asked.

"The way I have my sweaters organized. Right now they are by color. I think I want them by material, and then color."

Max and Michael just looked at each other and shook their heads. Isabel was known for arranging and rearranging things, and so the lie was accepted without question.

Isabel took a deep breath and started down the hall toward Liz's locker. She had thought about approaching her at lunch but Liz and Maria ate lunch with Alex, and approaching Alex was out of the question. At least for the moment, her inner voice amended.

"Hey Liz." Did she really sound that nervous? Isabel wondered. She was that nervous but hated to think she sounded like it.

Liz jumped and her eyes widened slightly as she noticed who it was. Her gaze flicked over Isabel's shoulder as if to see if anyone else was there, a move Isabel noticed. At the knowing look in Isabel's eyes Liz felt the heat rise in her cheeks.

"What's up, Isabel?" A sudden though struck. "Nothing's wrong is it? No one's in trouble are they?"

Isabel hadn't even considered that her appearance would trigger such a response, and it was her turn to blush. "Further evidence of my lack of friendship skills," she told herself. She shook her head as she answered.

"No, everything's okay. Well actually, there is something I wanted to talk to you about."

Liz's heart sank. Please don't let her ask me about Kyle or Max oh please Liz thought as she buried her head in her locker pretending to look for a notebook. Actually she had half expected Isabel to approach her sooner or later, after all Max was her brother and she probably felt like she needed to defend him or something.

"Um sure, what is it?" She asked, not wanting to meet Isabel's gaze in case she was going to ask about either guy.

"Wow, this is harder than I thought it was going to be."

Hearing that Liz kept rummaging in her locker, her stomach doing flip-flops. Finally she couldn't stand waiting and she turned to face Isabel.

At the look of resigned apprehension on Liz's face Isabel started to laugh, surprising them both.

"Liz, it's not that bad!"

Still unsure where this was going Liz allowed herself to smile slightly.

"Then what is it?"

I really should have thought this through before coming over here, Isabel mused. Then inspiration struck.

"Do you remember that day we sat outside and painted our toenails together?"

Now it was Liz's turn to laugh.

"What made you think of that? Wow, that seems like a million years ago!" The reality of her statement caused both girls to become somber again.

"I've been thinking about us being friends, or rather about how we aren't friends, really. And especially since this whole destiny thing…" Isabel faltered as she saw Liz's face pale at the mention of the word "destiny." "I've realized that there are so few people to count on. Remember when we were painting our nails we talked about how hard it was to let someone in? Well I felt that day and I still do feel that you and I started to become real friends. But then all of this stuff complicated everything and I didn't stop to think that we hadn't continued trying to be friends. Well we're the kind of friends who share a life-threatening secret. But we aren't friends based on anything else. And I recently realized that I have been taking for granted the fact that you'll be there to support me, all of us, no matter what. I feel like you'll always be there out of loyalty. And I guess what I am trying to say is I want to change that so you'll be there for me out of friendship. So what do you think? Can we try to be friends again and start hanging out?"

A huge smile broke out on Liz's face, due in part to relief, she acknowledged to herself.

"Yeah, that'd be great." Her smile widened even further as she realized that she was really glad Isabel had come up to her. She knew how hard it was for Isabel to open up like that and was pleased to have been able to coax it out of her, albeit unknowingly.

Isabel smiled too, and a much larger part was due to relief. Suddenly Isabel felt like things were going to be better, and she found herself in a hurry to start building her and Liz's friendship.

Sensing Isabel's mood Liz smiled and asked her, "So, when do you want to hang out?"