I was 16, a sophomore in high school. I had blonde hair with honey colored highlights; it was pretty long and fixed fashionably. After all, I did come from California. I had pretty ivory skin. I was 5'5, and thin in all the right places. I had an ample bust line. A firm tummy, that had taken me months to get that way. Muscular yet slim legs, the only feature on my body that was too much was my ass. Yes, I had an ass that seemed to be in a parallel universe from the rest of my body. It was not huge, but you know that song, "Back that thing up"? Well that was written about my ass. I never really saw myself as beautiful; I only saw my faults. The fine, blonde hair that caused me to be perceived as a ditz. My blowjob lips, as they were once referred by a late boyfriend of mine, late meaning after he said that I did away with him. (Not really I am just kidding) Oh, and my utterly enormous ass, but we already discussed that. The bus arrived in Roswell, NM, on a Sunday evening. I had planned on leaving for a while, and had saved up a lot of money in a secret bank account. I had $1,012, which I figured would last me a while. I stepped off the bus and onto the hot pavement below me.

Smelling the air, I swung my backpack over my shoulder and grabbed my old suitcase from beneath the bus. I was dressed in a knee length khaki skirt made of linen that was fitted and flared out as it went to my knees. At the knee, there were three horizontal stripes that slanted up a little as they winded around the skirt, they were red, blue, and yellow. I was wearing a fitted red tank top. I had on slip on black sandals with a moderately high heel. My waist length leather jacket finished the outfit. It was one my more average outfits, but it was comfortable and looked fairly suitable for the occasion.

I walked away from the bus stop. I was walking slowly because I was hungry. I hadn't eaten since Vegas. My stomach growled at the thought of going another step without eating something, anything I felt it saying, just give me food. So, I looked a little up the road. There was a restaurant called the Crashdown Cafe. How ironic I thought to myself as I walked towards the little Alien themed joint.

I pushed open the door to find it buzzing with people. I must have hit the dinner rush. Noticing the "seat yourself sign" at the door I walked to an empty booth on the far wall. I looked at the menu. Reading it, I suddenly became disgusted with the place I was sitting in. Men in Black burger? Alien chicken fingers? I laughed a little, then remembered I was appalled and stopped myself. Just then a pretty brunette waitress came up to take my order. She seemed sweet, but tired.

"Hi, what can I get for you?"

"Diet Coke, do u like have a salad or something that is not fried or cooked in butter?" I did not mean to sound snotty, but she obviously looked offended. "I'm sorry," I said. "I just got off a long bus ride and I am a little cranky. I will take an order of Alien chicken fingers." She smiled, seeming relieved that I was not the super bitch that I seemed to be.

"Ok, I will get your order right out to you." She turned on her heels and walked away briskly.

I sat there watching the people eating and discussing their days with their loved ones, or their companions. I found myself smiling at a little family. The mother was wiping her son's face off with a napkin. The father was holding his little daughter's hand and keeping her from running off. It hurt to see it though, such an outpour of love. It made me wince when I remembered my own family. The one I had escaped; the one that had fallen apart.

The waitress returned, ripping me from my thoughts. She put a glass filled with Diet Coke on the table in front of me. I smiled and took a sip with thanks.

"Do you mind if I ask where you got off a bus from?" She inquired. "California, I'm Kate." I said, purposely leaving off my last name.

"Really? That is really cool, I'm Liz Parker by the way." She said.

"Hi, Liz. Do you go to West Roswell?" I asked, sipping my drink.

"Yeah, are you gonna go there?"

"I am planning on it. Is it a good school? I mean as far as schools go." I said, like I really cared about the school.

"Umm, yeah I like it. What year are you?"

"Sophomore, you?"

"Sophomore also. You don't look like a sophomore."

"Well, I am."

"I should probably get going, I am sure all my orders have come up." She walked away. I was instantly friends with Liz. She had this heir about her, this sense of the supernatural or something. And it gave me a hint of hope.

****

The next morning I awoke in the tiny apartment I had gotten, the alarm on my clock going off. I looked at it restlessly, and then I shut it off and slowly edged out of the bed. Today was my first day at that horrible new school. You must be wondering why I would wanna go to school. I mean I was already a runaway, why not be a high school dropout too. It was absurd to me also. But high school was where I was gonna find the other's from the crash. So I reluctantly got ready to go.

I walked into the school very alertly looking around. As I walked through the halls every hormonally primed boy turned and looked at me. I ignored their looks. Just as I ignored the whispers and dirty looks I got from the girls. I found my locker and unlocked it; I shoved my school supplies into it and shut it briskly. Just as I turned to leave, Liz and a pixie looking girl walked up to me with their arms linked in each other's. I smiled at seeing someone I relatively knew.

"Hi, Kate. This is my best friend Maria." Liz said, introducing us.

"Hey, I'm Kate. So, you guys must know where you are going. Would you mind informing me where I am supposed to find my first class?" I said, looking a little confused. Maria giggled a little and grabbed my schedule from my hands. She seemed very outgoing and I liked that she was, at least she did not beat around the bush like most people. "Ok, Blah, Blah, Blah. Yeah, we have a class together, Spanish. And you have a class with Liz and Max, and one with Isabel, and one with Alex, oh and one with Michael." She said the last part with a hint of contempt in her voice. I could not help but smiling. "Never mind, you have two with Max. But you have one with Kyle. Grrr!" She finished, on an animalistic note. "Well, thanks for analyzing my schedule. Now, tell me where all those classes are and who those people are." I said, smiling. Maria laughed, a little embarrassed at how ditzy she could be. "Oh, right. Well, we will explain it on the way to your first class…Biology. The one you have with Liz and Maxy-pooh." She said, smiling at Liz. And with that Liz put her arm in the crook of mine and we all sauntered off. In Biology, I was seated at the station next to Liz and Max. After the bell rang the teacher got the classes attention by wrapping her ruler on the chalkboard.

"Class, we have a new student with us; Kate Hunter." She said, gesturing for me to stand. I did as I was told, blushing a little. It felt weird not being called by my real name, but I had to maintain the secret identity thing. I sat back down and looked at Liz smiling. She leaned over and whispered that the guy next to her was Max. I looked at him and smiled. He was shy and extremely cute, made me have a dirty thought for about 2 seconds before remembering that I was not there to form crushes on soulful young men. But there was something about him that was familiar to me. I couldn't quite put my finger on it, but it was there. The next class I had with Maria, who made sure that I sat next to her. She was rambling about how Mr. Vasquez was heinous and to not push his buttons. I could not help but laugh at her impression of him. She could not cease to amuse me. Finally class started, and I was thrown into a large amount of boredom listening to him jazz on about the language of love. When the bell rang it was not soon enough. We left the class and Maria walked me to my next class, which I had with Alex.

He was a goofy looking kid, who seemed funny, outgoing, but at the same time not too sure of himself. Kinda the male version of Maria. He was very nice and welcomed me with an invitation to sit next to him, and he promised Maria he would walk me to lunch. I could not understand why they were so nice and seemed to welcome me, without any questions. But I was glad they had.

After class, we walked out into the hall and ran into Isabel. She was so pretty that I almost choked on my breath. She looked at me and smiled as she unbuttoned the top button of Alex's shirt. Which, by the way, I was extremely glad she did.

"Isabel, this is Kate Hunter. She just moved here from California." Alex said, looking adoringly at her.

"Hi, I'm Isabel Evans." She looked me up and down, then smiled. There was something about her that was, once again, familiar.

"Are you Max's sister?" I asked.

"Yeah, you've met Max?"

"Yeah, he seems kinda…quiet." I said, hesitantly. She laughed a little and began to walk, as did we.

"You could say that." She said, pulling her hair into a loose ponytail. As we walked out the doors to the outside quad, Alex chimed in.

"She's met Maria and Liz also. And as I am told she has a class with both you and Michael." He said in an excited tone.

"Cool." She said as we approached Max and Michael sitting at a shaded table.

Max looked up, a little shyly. "Hi." I said to them both.

"Hey." Max said, looking at me.

"Hi." Michael said, seeming very uninterested. But he was very bad at hiding things; his face showed all. He looked at me curiously, but it wasn't an average curious. It was like he didn't wanna take his eyes off me for fear he would miss something that I would do. I noticed and tried to hide my smile. On most occasions I would have shrugged it off to hormones. But I couldn't do that with him. I wanted to look at him also, but I knew I had to keep cool. No feelings, I told myself. I snapped out of my thoughts, and looked over to where Liz and Maria were sitting. I had been so deep in thought that I had not even noticed that Alex had left and was now approaching Liz and Maria. "Look, I'll be right back. I told Liz I was gonna eat with her and Maria." I stood up and Michael's gaze followed me. I smiled a little at him as I walked away. I had this strange feeling when I was sitting there with all of them. I felt this suffocating need to get away, like I was too close to something. Something that I was maybe not as ready for as I had thought. I approached the others that I had been hanging with.

"Hey guys, what's up?" I said.

"We are eating lunch, and yourself?" Maria said.

"Meeting and greeting."

"I see you met Michael and Isabel."

"Yes, I did." I said sitting down. "Can I ask you guys something?" They nodded, and leaned closer.

"Ok, is there something with that Michael guy, besides the fact that he is totally intense." I asked, trying not to sound too anxious.

"Ohh, yes, there is definitely something with him, he's a slacker." Maria said. I again sensed a hint of contempt in her voice. It made me wonder if there had been something between them before, and if she still felt something for him.

"I see, that's what I thought." I said, looking over at him.

Back over at the table where Max, Michael, and Isabel were sitting. They were whispering.

"Max, I get this feeling from her. Like a vibe, a very familiar feeling." Michael said, looking over at me.

"Me too, but it is probably nothing." Max said, ignoring his true thoughts on the subject. Isabel just nodded, and hushed them as I walked back to the table.

"Hey, sorry about rushing off like that. I just did not wanna be rude to them." I said sitting next to Isabel and Max and across from Michael.

"So, did you move here with your family?" Isabel asked, taking a drink of Max's soda. I hesitated to answer, I had not thought anyone would ask about my family.

"Uhh, yeah-yeah. We moved here this weekend." It wasn't a total lie, but it still garnered glances from the Evans'. Just then the bell rang for lunch to end. I was relieved.

"So, what is your next class?" Isabel asked.

"Art." I said, looking towards the doors to the school. Michael smiled to himself, but I noticed it. "Michael has art next," She said. "He can walk you there." I looked up, trying not to show my panic and at the same time my happiness. He nodded in the direction we were to go and we began to walk.

"I never asked where you are from?" He said, looking directly at me, which kinda made me nervous.

"I moved here from California, but I am originally from Roswell." I said, not thinking anything of the comment. "Really, when did you live here?"

"Until I was about seven. Then I got adopted out of state, so I moved to California where my parents lived." I said, looking up at him. His eyes were so intense that it made me have butterflies in my stomach just looking into them. So I looked away. He suddenly became quiet, which was kind of a relief. I liked looking at him, but talking to him felt dangerous. A little later while we were in class, he motioned me to meet him out in the hall. At first I did not realize how I was gonna get out of there. Then I turned and looked at the teacher, he was talking to a student and seemed very deep into what he was doing. So I lay my paintbrush down and slowly walked out of there. Once I got out into the hall, I gasped for breath, because I had held it while I was escaping my art class.

"Come on!" He said, grabbing my hand and pulling me along with him. When we touched I felt this spark. He looked at me and smiled. We ran through the halls, passing a class with Max in it. We stopped at the closed door and looked into the window. Once we got Max's attention we made faces at him. He held back a chuckle. We waved and ran off. "Where are we going?" I said, gasping for air as we continued running.

"Just come on, don't you trust me?" Michael said. I knew that I did not know him, I knew that it made no sense, but I also knew that I trusted him. So I nodded assuring him. He pushed me into a little room. I looked around breathing heavily. "Where are we?" I asked.

"The eraser room." He said bluntly.

"Why?"

"I needed to ask you something." He said, I waited for him to continue. But he walked close to me and lifted my hand. He laced his fingers between mine. I couldn't breathe, I couldn't move. I did not want to move. He then put his other hand on my face, rubbing my cheek. I shuddered as he did so. It felt too good. It felt like something I had never felt before. Then all of a sudden, I got a flash.

~I saw him walk out of a pod, the same kind of pod I had been in.

~I saw him standing alone on a rock, naked.

~I saw two other children approaching him.

~I felt all of his fear. ~I saw him run when a car approached. ~I felt him getting hurt by his foster father.

~I heard all his cries.

When the connection was over, I found myself crying. I looked up into his eyes. Eyes that showed soo much pain and now seemed so much more beautiful. I reached up and touched his face, as he had done to mine. I did not believe I was doing this. In a second I made a connection with him.

~I showed him me getting out of my pod, all alone. ~How I roamed down the highway naked and scared.

~I showed him when the kind police officer found me and took me to a hospital.

~I showed him when I got adopted.

~I showed him my father's cheating habits.

~I showed him the way my mother abused her alcohol.

~I showed him my two little brothers that the state had taken away from my parents.

~I showed him all my hurt.

When I opened my eyes to see him crying, I leaned in and hugged him. He lifted my chin up to his face. Our lips met and we kissed. At first softly, just a meek brush against each other's lips. Then we kissed more passionately, pulling as close to each other as we could. We stayed in the eraser room for a long time, without speaking. Finally he broke the silence.

"Kate, did you move here with your family?" I looked up at him. He pushed the hair away from my eyes.

"No," I said. "I ran away. I had to find you, Michael. I couldn't survive there by myself anymore. Who are the others I saw in your past?" He smiled at me a little, and pulled me closer.

"That was Max and Isabel." He answered me. I sat up a little and looked at him, very excited.

"So, we are all together now?" I asked, and he nodded. I couldn't believe it; I had finally found them. "Michael, how did you know I was like you?" "I could sense it. I felt it when I first looked into your eyes. I just knew Kate." Michael answered. "Did you feel it?"

"Yes, I felt it. But I did not wanna believe it. I did not wanna admit that I may have actually found you. I was so afraid I was not ready. I was afraid that you would not believe me, or even worse, you would not really be them." I finished my speech.

****

That night I was sitting in my apartment, kind of in a daze about what had happened that day. So many things were going through my head. I wanted to scream, and cry, and jump around. My mind kept wandering back to Michael's kiss earlier. The way we held each other, it was so right. Just as I was happily reminiscing about the eraser room, I heard a knock at my door. I got up and opened it. On the other side were the three humans. They all looked happy.

"Hey, guys." I said, confused why they were there. They invited themselves in. "Come on in." I said as they walked inside. "OK!" Liz said. " I have to say something." I was still very confused at how they got my address and more important what they were doing. "I knew that you were different, I knew that there was something about you. But I did not realize that you were 'not of this earth'." She finished abruptly. I laughed.

"What are you talking about?" I said, why was she accusing me of being an alien, even though I was one.

"Max, Michael, and Isabel told us." Alex said, looking at me very confused.

"Oh." Was all I could say. "So you know about them being aliens?" I asked, startled and shocked, and very much afraid.

"Yes," Maria said, in a more perky tone than Liz and Alex. "We do know, and I personally think that it's great that you are, ya know, from up north." She said, using term very lightly. They all began to smile and Liz walked over to me. She put her arms around me and gave me a big hug.

"Welcome to the family!" She said, as Maria and Alex got up and joined in the hug. I felt like I was gonna cry. Not only had they welcomed me when I was new; they accepted me even though I was an alien

A little later that night I heard someone climb through my opened window. I opened my eyes to see a tall figure standing in front of me. I jumped back and held the covers in place, because I slept in the buff. "Michael?" I asked, a little scared.

"Yeah." He replied, stepping out of the shadows. The moonlight hit his face in streaks. His brown eyes gleamed in the light. He walked towards me, and bent down to kiss me. Our lips touched softly. His hands moved to my face, caressing the soft skin on my face. I put my hands on his chest, feeling the muscles beneath his shirt. He moved onto the bed while he kissed me. His lips moving over my neck and face. I lifted the covers and he got beneath them. He put his hands on my bare back and pulled me to him. We looked into each others eyes, we looked into each other's souls.

****

Maybe it sounds crazy. But in those quiet moments in the dark, we saw each other the clearest. We lay in an embrace. Just holding onto one another. Michael and I never really talked about that night, except when we were completely alone. We shared many nights like that, just holding each other. Any little kiss or touch we could give without being seen by our friends. In those little seen moments we shared, there was nothing that could tear us apart. Nothing that would dare try to tear us apart. We promised that we would never tell anyone that we were in love. Then one day it happened…

We were sitting outside on the quad. All of us were, except for Michael. Liz was quietly looking at Max. Alex was staring dreamy eyed at Isabel. Isabel was pretending she did not notice he existed, like always. Maria and I were discussing the drawbacks and pluses of dating a football player. (She was considering it.) Then across the quad came the sound of Michael's voice. We all turned and looked in the direction of the voice. He was standing in the middle of the fountain, (It was in the middle of the quad.) and music began to play. He beautifully began to sing the words to the song "I knew I loved you", by Savage Garden. I was shocked, Michael could sing. He began to walk towards us, singing the entire way. I smiled and felt tears rushing to my eyes. He had worked out an entire routine to the song; I could barely breathe.

When he reached me, he stuck out his hand for me to grab it. Max and Isabel looked at each other with shocked expressions on their faces. Liz was smiling widely. Maria and Alex were cheering. Michael wrapped his arms around me. I was soo embarrassed; I was blushing madly. But I was so shocked that he was doing this. After the last words of the song were sang, Michael kissed me softly on the lips. The entire school had opened their windows at the sound of the singing, they had been watching. Now they all let out an encore of cheers. "Wait, Wait!" Michael said, hushing them. "I wanna tell you all something. You see this girl in my arms? I love her; I knew it the moment I saw her. We have been keeping it a secret for a long while now. I couldn't do it anymore, because I love her too much to keep it inside." He looked at me and we put our foreheads together. Screeches let out across the quad, from the windows of the school, they all cheered us on. And there at our small table, where our best friends sat, the girls were crying tears of happiness, and the guys were hooting. I just stood there in Michael's public embrace, feeling finally home. And I knew home wasn't on some far off planet or galaxy, it was right there where I was. The saying is true; home is where the heart is. My heart was forever with the family that I found in Roswell, NM.