Liz (confused): Okay…so what you’re saying…What are you saying?

Maria: There is no Tess Russell.

Liz: Except for the fact that I have 3 classes with her.

Alex: Liz…her real name isn’t Tess.

Liz (looking at Alex and motioning to Maria): So she’s gotten to you to.

Maria: Look, this is so not a joke Liz. We got her social security number from her school record and when Alex did his computer magic…well no one has that number.

Liz: What?

Alex: It’s true…she’s right. I fought it as long as I could but the computer doesn’t lie. And, yes, Maria DeLuca was right.

Maria (hitting Alex): I told you.

Liz: But…who is she?

Maria: We don’t know.

Alex: Yea, and I’m all out of ideas on how to figure that one out.

Liz (thinking out loud): Max said that it wasn’t what I was thinking…that he couldn’t really explain it. (Looking up at Maria and Alex) You don’t think she’s…

Maria: What?

Liz: You know, (whispering) Nasedo.

Alex: Wouldn’t he be like 50ish and…a he?

Liz: Maybe they can change.

Maria: Eeeeww.

Liz: We have no idea what they can really do – you know when they’re older.

Maria (in true Maria paranoid fashion): Or maybe there’s more of them…maybe they’re all around us…

Liz: Maria focus, before you get all space-invasion-panicky on us…we need to focus.

Maria: Fine, but if she’s one of them why wouldn’t they tell us?

Liz: Maybe they don’t know…

Alex: Yea, but you’d think with all the time Max spends with her, he’d know by now.

Liz (shooting Alex and evil glare): Well it’s not that hard to find out…we just need some cells.

Alex: Okay, I’ll go hold her down and you can scrap some of her skin off – or better yet we let Maria pummel her until she bleeds.

Maria (looking at Alex): How ‘bout we hold you down…

Liz: Her pen. (Both Maria and Alex look at her)

Maria: What?

Liz: That’s how I figured Max out. He chews on his pencil…I scraped some cells off it and under the microscope they were…well, not normal. She chews on her pen…I’ve seen her…a million times I’ve wanted to shove it down her throat.

Alex: Now isn’t that a pretty picture …

Liz: No seriously, if we can get her pen…we can tell. (Maria and Alex look at Liz and they huddle in a little closer together)

(Scene cuts to Max, Michael, and Isabel)

Max: What are you saying Michael…That you’ve seen him?

Michael: No. I haven’t seen him…but he’s close…too close.

Isabel: What are you talking about?

Michael: A couple of times I’ve been around Maria and I’ve…I’ve felt him – it’s almost like he’s watching her.

Max: Are you sure…that it’s him.

Michael: I’m telling you Max…what else could it be?

Isabel (starting to get panicky): He’s watching them…

Max (trying to calm her down): We don’t know if it’s him.

Michael (getting defensive): I know what I feel Maxwell…and it’s him.

Isabel: What do we do?

Max: But why wouldn’t we be able to feel him Michael?

Michael: Maybe because you’re to busy making eyes with what’s-her-name.

Max: There’s something about her Michael…if you’d spend more than two seconds in the same room with her…you’d feel it too.

Michael: I don’t need to.

Max: What’s that supposed to mean?

Isabel: Stop it! Fighting isn’t going to get us anywhere. You both are feeling things – so what do we do about them.

Max: I just need more time with her.

Isabel: What do we do if Michael’s right…if he’s watching them.

Michael (absentmindedly): River Dog…(He looks at Max and Isabel) he’s the only one who’s known this guy…he’s are only clue.

Isabel: And in the mean time…what about them (motioning to the table that Alex, Maria, and Liz are sitting at)

Max: We have to stay away…maybe it wasn’t Maria, Michael, maybe it was you he was following.

Michael: Maybe…but I’m not letting her out of my sight. (He looks over at Maria)

Isabel: From a distance, Michael.

Max: We’ll just have to watch all of them…from a distance. (The three of them look over to the table that Alex, Maria and Liz are sitting at with worried faces.)

(Scene: Tess’s House, nighttime. Tess is sitting at her computer talking on the phone to someone.)

Tess: No, nothing yet. Uh uh……I know…….No. Michael’s a suspicious one. He won’t talk to me. He stares at me from a distance but nothing…….Yes…I can try. Uh uh…….uh uh. No – only Liz. The kid’s got a helluva crush…all he thinks about is her. I don’t get anything else. No. Not yet……..I know…you’ll get my report. I’ll e-mail everything so far…

(Scene: School, next day. Tess is standing at her locker. Isabel walks up behind her – she reaches out and touches her on the arm. When she does, she has a fuzzy “flash” and let’s go. Tess startled turns around and Isabel quickly tries to recover from what she thinks just happened.)

Tess: Hey.

Isabel: Hey…Um…Max wanted me to give these to you. Said you needed them for the test today.

Tess (taking the papers): Yea, thanks. Your brothers a great guy. I couldn’t get through these midterms without him.

Isabel (wanting to retreat): Yea, he’s unique that way…you know, considerate and so unlike most guys our age…sometimes too much.

Tess: Yea, I’ve noticed...

Isabel: Well the bells gonna ring.

Tess: Right. Tell Max thank you for me.

Isabel: I will. (She turns away and has a confused look on her face as she walks away. Tess watches her go with a curious look on her face.)

(Scene: School, same day. Liz and Alex are outside Alex, Maria, Tess and Max’s English classroom. The tardy bell is about to ring.)

Liz (handing him a plastic bag): You know the plan.

Alex: Yes ma’am.

Liz: Whatever you do…make sure you put it in the bag….

Alex: Consider it done.

Liz: Give me some time after the Lunch bell rings – to make sure Ms. Hardy leaves.

Alex: Got it.

(Alex goes into the classroom and sits down at his desk – sharing a quick glance with Maria. The class is watching Laurence Olivier’s movie version of Hamlet and taking notes as it goes. Alex keeps a close eye on Tess, waiting for her to take her pen out of her mouth. She finally does setting it on her desk. Alex makes a couple of fake sneezes and slowly gets out of his seat to walk up to the teacher’s desk for a Kleenex. Maria hears his sneezing and starts pretending to fight with her bag resting under her desk – like it’s caught. She pulls so hard that her desk bumps into Tess’s desk – Tess turns around to look at Maria and just as Alex walks by her desk he catches the pen before it falls and drops a pen from his sleeve to the floor. Alex bends down to pick up the pen he dropped and hides Tess’s pen up his sleeve.)

Maria (playing ignorant and pulling out a pack of gum from her bag): Sorry…Gum?

Tess (slightly annoyed): No thank you.

Alex (as he stands up and putting the pen in front of Tess’s face): Your pen?

Tess: Thanks Alex.

Alex: Not a problem.

(Alex walks back to his seat and quietly puts Tess’s pen in the plastic bag Liz gave him. Maria glances over and Alex gives her a thumbs up.)

(Scene: Biology Class, same day. It’s toward the end of the class period. They are dissecting a pigeon – without microscopes. Ms. Hardy, the teacher, is walking around the room helping out students.)

Liz (making eye contact with her teacher from across the room and raising her hand): Ms. Hardy. (Max looks over at Liz and Ms. Hardy approaches their table.)

Ms. Hardy: Liz.

Liz: I was wondering if I could stay through lunch. I’d really like to look at some of these things under the microscope.

Ms. Hardy: Well we’re planning on doing that tomorrow.

Liz: I’m just really eager to compare these cells with the fish we dissected a couple of weeks ago.

Ms. Hardy (pausing and nodding her head): Alright Liz. Just make sure you put everything away when you’re done.

Liz: I will. (Ms. Hardy leaves and Max looks at Liz)

Max: Do you want me to stay?

Liz (curtly and not looking at him): No.

Max: Liz we’re lab partners if you’re doing something for class don’t you think I should be involved. (The bell rings and students start leaving class.)

Liz: Max, it’s for my own curiosity and…

Tess (interrupting Liz and putting her hand on Max’s shoulder): You coming? (Max looks up at her and over at Liz, who is already starting to take out the microscope.)

Max: Are you sure Liz?

Liz (continuing to get equipment out): Positive.

Max (reluctantly): Alright. (He packs up his stuff and follows Tess out of the room. Liz watches them go and then lets out a sigh. She gets up from the desk to get some slides and chemicals out of the cabinet.)

Ms. Hardy: You have everything you need?

Liz: Yea, thanks for letting me stay.

Ms. Hardy: I’ll be in the teacher’s lounge if you need anything.

Liz: Okay. (Ms. Hardy leaves. Liz sets up the microscope, cleans a slide and sits and waits for Alex and Maria. She goes into a little daydream about Max and some of their more “tender” moments they’ve had in labs. She’s startled as Maria and Alex enter the room.) Did you get it?

Alex (pulling the pen out of his bag and handing it to Liz): Too easy.

Maria: You should have seen the look on her face when I bumped into her desk. She’s gotta be evil.

Liz (laughing at Maria’s last comment as she puts the pen in some chemicals and then puts a drop of liquid on the microscope slide): Well, let’s see if she is. (Liz puts the slide under the microscope and looks in the eyepiece. What she sees are normal human cheek cells. She lets out a disappointed sigh and looks over at Alex and Maria) What’s plan ‘B’?

Maria: Their normal?

Liz: Like yours and mine.

Alex: Well, at least we don’t have to worry about an alien invasion or a 50-year-old alien transvestite. (Both Maria and Liz look at Alex and can’t help but laugh.)

(Scene: After School. Michael is painting in the art room. It’s a picture of the cave – not of the drawings but of the inside. He has his headphones on and is really into what he’s doing. All of a sudden he stops painting, furrows his brow and looks around the room with his eyes. He turns his head over his shoulder to look out the window and Tess is standing off to the side staring at him, intently. She’s startled when he makes eye contact with her, smiles at him, waves and then leaves. Michael watches her go with a puzzled look on his face.)

(Scene: Crashdown, after closing. Maria and Liz are both cleaning up. Alex walks in)

Alex: I’ve got plan ‘B’.

Maria: What?

Alex: Okay, I haven’t figured out any of the details but I know what we need.

Liz: What?

Alex: Her fingerprints.

Maria: Fingerprints?

Alex: If she’s working for the government she’d be printed. (Getting excited) They’d have her on file.

Liz: Yea, but fingerprints? Alex how are we gonna get those, ask nicely?

Alex: I didn’t say I had any details. That’s what you guys are for. I do the hacking, you get me the goods.

Maria (sitting down at a booth): Fingerprints – that’s like impossible. Can’t we just tie her down and beat it out of her.

Alex (sitting down across from her): Hey, I’ve already offered that…

Liz (joining them at the table): There’s gotta be a way.

Alex: All we need is one good print.

Maria: Liz, there’s no way.

Liz (looking at Maria): There has to be…we just need to think.

Alex: Maybe we should watch the Cartoon Network’s Scooby Do-athon – you know for research. (Maria and Liz just look at him) Just a suggestion. (The three of them sit there shaking their heads and trying to come up with something)

----- fast forward an hour or so ------

(Liz picks up the cleaning towels lying on the counter top and goes in the back. Alex leaves through the front door and Maria goes over and locks it behind him. As she turns to leave she sees a shadow of a figure standing off in the distance across the street. She steps toward the café door to get a better look and sees that it’s Michael – he doesn’t see her. A questioning look crosses her face as she turns and walks toward the back of the café.)

(Scene: Mescalero Reservation cave, next day. Michael has skipped school. He is sitting in the middle of the cave staring at the wall. River Dog enters the cave and approaches him.)

River Dog: You have questions.

Michael (looking up at him): You have answers.

River Dog: Some maybe, but not the ones you’re searching for (motioning to the wall of images). (After a pause) You are troubled.

Michael: What was he like?

River Dog: Nasedo?

Michael: Did he frighten you…threaten you.

River Dog: No. I was only a child when I first met him.

Michael: What about Atherton? You saw what happened…

River Dog: I was too far away to see.

Michael: Are you afraid…that he’s so close…that he’s back.

River Dog (thinking for a moment): No…a life for a life…and I saved his. (Pausing and looking intently at Michael) You are worried for your friends.

Michael (frustrated): We weren’t supposed to get attached…it weakens us.

River Dog: It is a choice…it can weaken or strengthen…that is up to you. (Michael just looks at him confused) You’re afraid he will hurt them. (Michael nods) They saved your life like I saved his.

Michael: But why won’t he show himself to us…why follow them?

River Dog: He doesn’t know them…trust them like you…

Michael (looking up at him): I don’t know him like you and I don’t trust him.

(Scene: School, a different day – let’s say it’s Thursday. Before classes begin. Liz, Maria and Alex are sitting in Maria’s car. Maria and Liz in the front with Alex leaning in from the back.)

Maria: Are you sure?

Liz: Like clockwork…the past two days she’s asked for a bathroom pass about half-way through biology.

Alex: What she can’t wait until lunch?

Maria: Hey, some of us like our privacy. (Looking nervously at Liz) You’re sure?

Liz: It doesn’t matter if I’m not Maria – I mean it’ll just look like a practical joke anyway. But if she doesn’t go today we’ll have to come up with another plan.

Maria (re-assuring herself): Right – practical joke. (Looking at Alex) Did you bring it?

Alex (pulling out a tube of printing ink and handing it to Maria): Here you go.

Liz (holds up a pair of latex gloves): Use these too. (Maria takes them and looks at Liz funny) Are you sure you can do this Maria?

Maria: I’ll be fine…if he (motioning to Alex) can break state and federal laws then I can play a little practical joke…right?

Liz: Just remember not to be in there when she is.

Maria: Why?

Liz: I don’t know, just in case.

Maria (starting to get paranoid): What do you mean, in case?

Alex: In case you spaz out and flush the toilet by accident. (They hear the school bell ring in the parking lot and start to get out of the car. Liz walks up to Maria and puts her arm around her.)

Liz: You’re gonna be fine…you can do this Maria.

Maria (leaning her head on Liz’s shoulder): We really need new friends.

(Scene: Biology Class. The class is continuing to dissect their pigeons. Liz keeps looking at the clock and around the room to wherever Ms. Hardy is at. She is obviously distracted from the lab. She looks up when the clock reads 11:45 and over at Ms. Hardy, who is giving Tess a bathroom pass. Tess leaves the classroom and heads to the nearest bathroom. While she’s in the bathroom we see Maria in an empty classroom just down the hall with the door cracked open a tad. She’s eyeing the bathroom. Back in the bathroom. Tess flushes the toilet and goes to wash her hands. When she pushes the soap handle down with her thumb it gets covered in ink.)

Tess: What the…(She puts her thumb under the water but the ink isn’t water soluble. She grabs a white paper towel and rolls her thumb on it to try and get the ink off. She keeps doing this until she can’t get anymore off and throws the towel away. She looks at the rest of the soap handles closely and then laughs) Teenagers. (She washes her hands without soap and leaves the bathroom. When Maria sees her going back into the biology class she heads for the bathroom. Looking in the two garbage cans she pulls out the towel with several perfect thumbprints on it.)

Maria: Gotcha.

(Scene: Crashdown. Early evening. Liz is in the back room, getting a bag of trash ready to take to the dumpster in the alleyway. She goes through the back door and walks toward the dumpster – near the main road. As she’s putting the bag in it she turns her head in the direction of the UFO Center and sees Max and Tess standing by Max’s Jeep – very closely. Liz stands there watching them – not quite breathing. Tess leans in closer to Max and they kiss. Liz’s face drops, she steady’s herself against the dumpster and looks away. She takes a couple of hurried breaths and then turns and goes back into the Crashdown.)

(Scene: School, the next day before classes. Liz and Maria are standing at their lockers. Liz is very distracted and Maria is very excited about the fingerprint.)

Maria: I can’t believe we have to wait until tonight…I think I’m gonna pee my pants…(Looking at Liz who’s obviously distracted) Liz?

Liz (shaking her self out of her thoughts): What?

Maria: Liz, is everything okay?

Liz: Fine.

Maria (looking at her suspiciously): Alright – the bells gonna ring, we’ll talk at lunch, okay?

Liz (looking at her) Yea…lunch. (Maria walks off and Liz walks to class, a little zoned out)

(Scene: Various Scenes of Liz watching Max and/or Tess. One in Geometry, in Biology, at lunch, in history, and a couple in the hallways between classes.)

Voice Over (while we see the above scenes): You think you know a person…but can you ever really “know” someone? The day after the shooting, when Max touched me…he told me he wanted to show me that he was the same Max – the Max I had always known. But I didn’t really know him did I? Cause the Max he showed me was this…this beautiful person that I had no idea sat beside me everyday. I thought I was seeing Max Evans for the first time…knowing him – what he thought, what he felt, who he was. But maybe I wasn’t…maybe all I saw was what he wanted me to see. Maybe I felt what he wanted me to. And maybe I don’t really know Max Evans at all anymore – if I ever did.

(Scene: Alex’s Bedroom, same day, nighttime. Alex is sitting at the computer and Maria and Liz are huddled around either side of him. Maria and Liz look nervous while Alex attempts composer. Michael is once again, under a tree outside watching Alex’s house.)

Maria: I don’t know about this Alex…Roswell High is one thing, but this is like…the police. We’re talking serious shit if we get caught.

Alex: Look, I went to the library this afternoon and tested it out.

Liz: You what?

Alex: You know the computer in the back…I figured they couldn’t prove who did it (giving them a smile) I wore gloves…

Maria: And…

Alex: Piece of cake…you’d be surprised what you can do if you know what you’re doing.

Liz: How do you know what you’re doing?

Alex (looking at Liz): The less you know the better. (Alex turns his attention back to his computer and starts doing what he does.)

Maria: So what exactly are you looking for.

Alex: Well, I’ve scanned the fingerprint onto my computer. Once I’m into the police computer I’ll load it up and do a search…if she’s working for somebody she’ll be in there.

Liz: What do we do if she’s not?

Maria: Then I suggest plan ‘C’ – tie her up and force it out of her. (Liz just looks over at Maria) You got anything better?

Liz: At the moment, no.

Alex: Here we go. (They all turn their attention to the computer screen. It looks like it’s “thinking” and then a screen appears that has a few head shots of a younger “Tess” and a rap sheet.) Holy shit…she’s been arrested.

Liz (pointing to the screen): Is that her name?

Alex: Yea, wait a minute and I’ll print this out. (He fiddles some more and his printer starts)

Maria: She’s a felon, who would have guessed?

Liz (looking closely at the screen): She was 13 Maria. (Alex continues to fiddle with the computer – disconnecting from the police computer system. He reaches over and grabs the sheets from the printer.)

Alex: Let’s see what we’ve got (He divvies up the papers between the three of them.)

Liz: Well, her real name is Annie Robinson. She was arrested in 1989 – wait, that makes her 23 years old.

Maria: Yea, and she’s along way from home. (Liz and Alex look over at her) Her address listed here is a Rachelle Ramsey House – in New York City.

Liz: What?

Maria: Yea, doesn’t say what it is?

Alex: Only one way to find out. How do you spell it? (Maria hands him the paper and he types the name into a search engine and hits return. What comes up is a nice homepage for The Rachelle Ramsey House. It’s the only “school”/”center” for children/youth who experience psychic phenomena in the country.) What’s (he fumbles trying to pronounce it) “parapsychology”?

Liz: It’s the study of psychic phenomena…you know – e.s.p., psychokinesis…stuff like that.

Maria (looking at Liz funny): I don’t wanna know how you know that.

Liz (to Alex): Can you get into their system and get her file?

Alex: I can try…if they trace us – at least it’ll take ‘em a while to get here. (He starts fiddling again) What’s her name?

Liz: Annie Robinson.

Alex (after a moment): Here it is. (He double clicks the mouse and the printer starts again. He looks over at Liz) So what exactly is psychokinesis?

Liz: It’s the ability to interact with objects – with your mind. You know, moving a fork across a table just by thinking about it.

Alex: Can’t Max do that?

Liz (thinking for a moment): Yea…actually, a lot of their powers could be called “psychic”.

Maria (reading through some of the papers that printed out): They call them “gifts.”

Liz: What?

Maria: Instead of “powers” they call them “gifts”…look. (She hands Liz and Alex a couple of sheets. They all just sit there for a bit reading through her file.) Get this…a bunch of kids from the house were arrested for braking and entering. They all wanted to test their “gifts”. They kept them in jail overnight – to teach ‘em a lesson…nice place.

Alex: It says here she left to go to Princeton.

Maria: Princeton? There you go Liz, if she can get arrested and make it into Princeton – you’re set for Harvard.

Alex: Yea, she’s studying at the Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research center…whatever that is.

Liz (not listening to them): Oh my god. (She looks up from the paper she’s reading) She can interact with living organisms – it’s called bio-psychokinesis.

Maria: English, please.

Liz: It’s like psychokinesis but with plants and animals…and people. It says that she can touch someone – something – and get visions from it…that’s her “gift”.

Alex: What do you mean, visions?

Liz (getting a little panicky): Like visions. She can touch you and get a vision from you – what you’re thinking, feeling…maybe something you’ve done…

Maria (knowing exactly what she’s thinking and getting a little panicky herself): The shooting. What if she sees the shooting? Max, and Michael, and Isabel….

Liz: But it doesn’t make sense. Parapsychologists don’t study “aliens”…psychic stuff happens all the time, it’s legitimate science…well in most scientific communities…why would she be here – after aliens.

Alex: Maybe she doesn’t know what she’s looking for.

Maria: Maybe she’s working for someone.

Alex (looking at Liz): What now?

Liz: Now we tell Max, Michael, and Isabel (looking at Alex and Maria and under her breath)…and hope it’s not too late.