Isabel turns on her heels and watches Alex running towards her. "What do you want Alex? I'm going to be late." She says in a cool, calm tone, her purse dangling from her wrist.

"This'll be fast. Maria, Liz and I wanted your opinion on which movie to watch Saturday, you know our hang out night. So we were wondering, which movie would be better to rent, Final Fantasy or A Knight's Tale?" Alex asked, still panting for breath.

"Oh, how quaint, a hang out night. Well, then, I'd say.neither." Isabel said, in a teasing sort of tone.

"Neither? Oh.okay, thanks for your vote." Alex said, slowly backing away.

"No problem. And tell Liz I said 'hi'. I know how she must be feeling, with my brother and all." Isabel informs Alex in a suddenly, caring and concerning tone.

"Uh, no problem." Alex chokes out, watching Isabel walk down the hall, her heels echoing in the almost empty hallway. The tardy bell rings and Alex races down the other direction to class.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"Max!" Tess calls out in the parking lot, sitting on the hood of his jeep, waiting.

"Hey, Tess." Max says, surprised and smiles, hesitantly.

"I didn't see you all afternoon." Tess began saying, getting off the jeep.

"Yeah, probably because all of my classes are on the other side of the school than yours." Max walks over to the driver's side, squinting through the sunlight.

"I hate that, don't you?" Tess says, getting in the passenger side. "I mean, I can hardly see you, besides lunch, that is."

"Well, then, that gives us an excuse to see each other more after school." Max smiles and puts the keys in the ignition, engine roaring. Tess smiles back and puts on her sunglasses.

At that moment, Alex and Maria walk out from the main doors busy chatting to one another. Where's Liz? Max asks himself. Then, right behind them, Liz appears through the doors, but Max's smile fades when Damion comes out right behind her. What's he doing there? Tess could see Max's hurt expression as he saw Liz laugh at something that Damion had said.

"You're still in, love with her, aren't you?" Tess asks, watching Liz carefully, jealousy, surging through her.

Max, quickly shakes his head, as if trying to get the feeling to leave, "Want to go to McDonald's first?" He asks, quickly changing the subject.

"Sure, but we usually go to the Crash Down." Tess comments.

"Yeah, but, I'm in the mood for fast food." He speeds out of the lot and drives down the road, not looking back.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"Is that what she said?" Maria asked, looking up and down the shelves in Blockbuster.

"Yeah, she neither, so, I guess we could rent both, right?" Alex said picking up a movie and reading the back of it.

"Yeah, sure, whatever you want." Maria sees A Knight's Tale and reaches for it when a hand takes it before her. Maria looks up and sees Michael reading the back summary of the video. "Michael? Great, do you always follow me around?" Maria said, getting agitated.

Michael looks up, "Excuse me, but I came here for a movie, not to stalk you." He says, defending himself.

"Sure, whatever. But you can't take that movie." Maria says pointing to the video in his hands.

"And why not?" Michael asks, coldly.

"Because we're renting it," Maria said looking at Alex and then back at Michael, angrily.

"Hey, don't put me in the middle of this." Alex raises his hands, as a warning to back off.

" Besides, I had the video first." Maria added.

"Um...no. I did. See." Michael waves the tape in front of Maria's face, deliberately trying to piss her off.

"Yeah, but I saw it first, it's the last one and I say that the first to see it, gets it." Maria said, taking a step forward so her face was only a few inches away from his. Her eyes full of anger and Michael could tell that she wasn't going to back down.