He turned around and saw Liz. Beautiful Liz. He loved her silky looking chocolate colored hair. He really wanted to touch it. He blushed as he realized what he'd been thinking. If Michael knew what he'd been thinking, he would have been mad at Max. He would tell Max that a relationship with Liz wasn't possible because he was popular and she most certainly wasn't. And secondly, there was the whole thing with the difference in species. Michael had always said that none of them could have a serious relationship with humans. That was easy for Michael to say, he had the good fortune of having a relationship with another alien. (Or as close to a relationship as Michael could come by…he had a tendency to make the relationship go off and on over and over again.) Max knew that Michael didn't want Isabel to go out with Alex more than once, and so he wouldn't approve of Max going out with Liz.

"Max? Are you even listening to me?"

Max snapped out of his thoughts and looked at Liz. "I'm so sorry. I was just thinking about something. Could you repeat what you said?" Max blushed again and thought to himself, 'Smooth, Evans. That's a great way to get her to go out with you…ignore her!'

Liz sighed. "I just said that I was wondering why you want to go out with me so badly. I'm the most unpopular girl in the school…I don't want you to ruin your 'cool reputation' for my sake. Don't get me wrong, I'll go out with you…hell, it'll help my reputation, but I just want to know why. If you're just trying to play me or get in my pants, I swear I will get Alex to kill you."

Max smiled at the thought of scrawny little Alex trying to beat him up. "Liz, I honestly like you. No, I'm not trying to play you, and no, I'm not trying to get in your pants. I just want to go on a date, and if it doesn't work out, I'd like to be your friend. Why are you so suspicious?"

"Well, it's just totally weird that Alex and I have never been asked out before and then magically yesterday we were both asked out. And not just by anyone. By two of the most popular people in West Roswell High."

Max laughed nervously. "Yeah, that must be kind of weird for you…"

"Ok," said Liz. "In my message last night I said I'd go out with you."

"Great," said Max, stifling the urge to jump and down like a little kid at Christmas. "When do you want to go?"

"How about Friday? I don't have to work that night."

"Ok, Friday it is. I'll come by the Crashdown at 9:00?"

"Sure," said Liz. "Well, I should go now, I don't want to be late for geometry. Triangles and stuff…" Liz walked down the hallway towards her class. Max stared after her, wishing it was Friday instead of just Tuesday.

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

Maria was scoping the hallways and finally spotted Michael's spikey hair in the mosh pit more commonly known as the hallways of West Roswell High.

She slowly made her way over to him. "Hey," she said. "We need to talk."

Michael gave her a look as if to say, 'Damn, what did I do wrong this time?' He reluctantly followed Maria to the eraser room…the site of some of their most passionate moments, but also the sight of some of their worst fights and countless breakups.

"What's up?" asked Michael, looking at his shoelaces as if they were the most fascinating things he'd ever seen.

"Don't worry, Michael," said Maria, knowing he thought he was in trouble. "It's not about us or the odd beginning of this weird relationship between us."

"Oh. Well then…what?"

"Max and his new obsession with geek #2, Liz Parker. I mean, what if she's alien? Most specifically I mean a Skin. These flashes or fantasies Max has been having…they HAVE to be alien-related! Nothing unalien-related has ever caused anything like this in the rest of us."

Michael thought for a moment and then responded, "I don't think Liz is an alien. But I still don't want those two going out. I mean, doesn't Max care at all about reputation? If he starts something with her, we all get dragged down with him!"

Maria rolled her eyes. "Gee, Michael," she said sarcastically, "You sure aren't a selfish person."

"What? You want them to go out?"

"It's not my decision, it's Max's. Sure, Liz is a total geek, but if it makes Max happy, he should go for it. As long as we're all certain she's not an enemy."

"She's not an enemy."

"I'm going to make sure," said Maria, turning to leave.

"What do you mean, you're going to make sure? What are you going to do?"

"Chill. I'm just going to ask some questions." Before Michael could respond, Maria had left.

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

After lunch Alex finally saw Isabel again. He'd been looking for her all day. He was going to ask her to go out with him again this weekend. That is, if he didn't lose his nerve.

He walked up to her. "Hey Isabel," he said. "How's it going?"

"Good," she said, looking uncomfortable.

"That's good, yeah, that's good." Alex took a deep breath and asked, "What are you doing this weekend? Cause last night was fun, I was thinking we should go out again. If you want to, that is."

Isabel started to freak out. She knew that one date was supposed to be it, but she was starting to like Alex. He was so sweet.

"Sure," she said. She decided that her friends couldn't control her forever. "I have to go now. We can make plans later."