"Hey Liz."

Liz closed her locker and saw Tess standing by.

"Hey Tess." Liz said coldly.

"Here`s your book." Tess said as she handed the book to Liz. "You have great taste in literature."

"Thanks." Liz said. "Hey what the hell is this stain on my book?"

"Oh that`s some ketchup. I was reading it while eating some French fries."

Liz just glared at Tess without saying a word.

"I`m sorry about your book." Tess said. "I cleaned it as best as i could."

"Evidently you didn`t try hard enough." Liz said bitterly.

"Look i said i was sorry." Tess said animatedly. "I didn`t know you would make such a fuss about the stupid book."

"First of all this book is one of my favorite books." Liz said, pointing the book in Tess` face. "And second, next time you want to borrow any of my books for a report, ask someone else."

"I will."

"Did i miss something here?" Maria said as she approached Liz and Tess.

"No Maria. we`re just leaving." Liz said as she grabbed Maria by her arm and walked away from Tess.

"Was that argument Max related?" Maria asked.

"Technically no." Liz replied as she quickly turned around to give Tess a parting glare, to which Tess replied by giving Liz "The finger." It was apparent that tensions were extremely high between the two rivals.

*****

"I can`t believe that they broke up." Maria said as she and Liz walked through the hall.

"Yeah me neither." Liz said. "They seemed like such a great couple."

"I guest another supercouple bites the dust." Maria said as she got the books for her last two classes out of her locker. Then she saw Tess quickly approaching Liz and Maria.

"Looks like someone wants to talk to you very badly."

"I`ll see what she wants." Liz said as Tess stopped in front of them.

"Look at this!" Tess said as she hastily handed Liz her report.

"It`s C."

"It would`ve been a lot better if you gave me a better book."

"Excuse me! you were the one who wanted to borrow it." Liz said animatedly. "So you have no one to blame but yourself."

"Besides it`s only a C Tess." Maria said.

"I needed at least a B- to increase my average." Tess said. "Now it`s all for nothing thanks to Liz who intentionally sabotaged it because she isn`t destined to be with Max."

"Look Tess. I think you`re being paranoid." Liz said. "You should worry about doing better in English, instead of wasting my time with your bullshit accusations."

"You know what just give me back my report."

"Okay." Liz said as she threw Tess` report on the floor.

"Pick it up." Tess said.

"Your report so you pick it up." Liz said, laughing at Tess.

"Fucking bitch!" Tess said as she pushed Liz.

Liz responded by slapping Tess in the face. Tess quickly retaliated by slapping Liz in the face. Then Liz grabbed Tess by her hair and the two wrestled each other to the floor with a crowd cheering them on. Maria struggled to make her way through the crowd to break up the fight. Liz and Tess fought for another minute before a couple of teachers, Isabel and Maria finally made their way through the crowd to break up the fight. Then Liz pushed Maria away, ran toward Tess and gave her a left hook to her nose, which caused a loud roar to come from the crowd. the teachers immediately separated the two and took them to the principal`s office.

"Okay folks the show`s over." a teacher said.

The crowd quickly went back the normal movement between classes, but everyone was buzzing about the fight between Liz and Tess.

*****

"Okay ladies have a seat." the principal said.

Liz and Tess both obliged and sat down.

"Now ladies I want to know what cause this altercation between the two of you."

Neither Liz nor Tess said anything.

"Ms. Harding do you have an explanation?"

"Yes I do." Tess said, holding a piece of tissue in her nose to stop the bleeding from it. "Liz started it by sabotaging my book report."

"I did not." Liz said animatedly.

"Quiet Ms. Parker." the principal said. "Now go on."

"Okay Liz sabotaged my book report because of her personal feelings towards me. She`s been very hostile toward me because she thinks I`m trying to take Max Evans away from her."

"Is this true Ms. Parker?" the principal asked.

"I guess." Liz replied.

"Where`s Max Evans?"

"He`s on that field trip to the Indian burial sites for Mrs. Johnston`s classes." said Mr. Thompson, the vice principal.

"I`m going to talk to him as soon as he gets back." the principal said. "In the meantime i`m going to give you two ladies both a nice four day vacation and i want you both to apologize to each other right now."

Liz and Tess got up out of the chairs and looked each other in the eye.

"I`m sorry that I fought you in the hall Liz," Tess said reluctantly.

"I`m sorry about the fight." Liz said, rolling her eyes.

"Okay you two can go back to class and I don`t want any further trouble from both of you." The principal said as he gave Liz and Tess their suspension notices. "Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes sir." Liz and Tess said simultaneously. Then they left the office to head back to their classes. As they went headed off their separate ways, Liz and Tess gave each other a parting looking without saying anything to each other. Tess didn`t show any emotion, but Liz smirked at her as she walked away.

*****

The Crashdown Cafe was bustling with the usual early evening rush. Maria and Liz, evidently in a bad mood, got the customers` orders, while Isabel and Max entered the cafe and took their usual tables where Alex was sitting.

"Max I never thought i would see Liz go off like she did today." Isabel said.

"I still can`t believe she and Tess got into a fight." Max said as he got a menu. "Now everybody knows they were fighting over me."

"Hey Evans I heard about your girlfriends` fight today." Kyle said as he and his teammates rushed toward the table. "What the hell did you do to cause it?"

"Nothing." Max replied.

"You had to do something man." Jeff Ritz said. "I`ve never seen Liz so pissed off."

"Yeah usually she`s all goody goody, but she really turned into a badass when she kicked Tess` ass today." George Williams said.

"Look i don`t see what the big deal is." Max said. "It was just a stupid fight."

"Come on Evans." Kyle said. "I bet you get off on your two ladies fighting over you."

"Yeah man." George said. "Hey we`re running late already."

"Oh yeah." Kyle said. "See you around stud."

"Thanks guys." Max said as Kyle and the guys left the cafe. "See what I mean."

"Max don`t you realize that what this would do for you?" Alex said. "A lot of guys would love to have a couple of girls fight over them."

"Yeah Max go with it." Michael said as he sat down at the table.

"Shut up both of you." Isabel snapped.

"Come on Iz this is a big moment for Max." Michael said. "By the way why don`t you and Maria get into a fight. It`ll do wonders for Alex and me."

"Fuck you assholes." Isabel said as she punched Alex and Michael in the arm. Then Liz came over to their table to take their order.

"Hey Liz are you okay?" Alex asked.

"No I`m not." Liz replied animatedly. "My parents just grounded me for a couple of weeks because of the fight."

"That must`ve sucked."

"That fucking Tess. I hope she`s happy."

"Liz you have no one to blame for it, but yourself." Isabel said. "You could`ve just walked away. Instead you got into trouble and have a bunch of guys running around like they just fucked a Playmate."

"Spare me the lectures Isabel." Liz said as she snatched the menus from Isabel. "You want the usual?"

"Yeah."

Liz quickly dashed off to get their orders.

"So where is Tess hiding?" Alex asked.

"Yeah i want to talk to her about the fight."

"Back at my place." Michael replied. "She wanted be alone for a while so I wouldn`t bother her right now."

"Fine I`ll talk to Liz first." Max said as he went to the back room with Liz.

"Okay what the hell were you thinking getting into a fight today?" Max said.

"Look I lost my cool ok," Liz said. "But you should be talking to Tess because she started it by taunting me about not being destined to be with you."

"That was very immature what you and Tess did today." Max said. "Plus it could bring unnecessary attention to us."

"You know what I don`t give a shit." Liz snapped. "I`m not in the mood to hear your fucking speech about wrong and right Max."

"Okay fine." Max said as he walked out of the room. Liz quickly kicked the table in disgust and went back to work.

*****

Liz finished cleaning off the counters and started turning off the lights when she heard a knock on the door.

"We`re closed." Liz yelled, but the knocking continued. "Dammit."

Liz quickly went to see who was knocking on the door and saw Tess, which heightened her ire.

"What do you want?" Liz asked.

"I want to talk to you." Tess replied.

"I have nothing to say to you. So fuck off."

"Look i didn`t come here to fight." Tess said. "I just wanted to talk to you."

Liz hesitated for a moment, but she unlocked the door and let Tess in.

"Say what you have to say and get the hell out."

"Look I know that you hate me because of I`m destined to be with Max, but I never intended to hurt you. It is the way things are for us."

"I don`t give a flying fuck about how things suppose to be between you and Max." Liz said. "You don`t love Max. you`re just doing what you`re told to do."

"Liz I never-"

"Just shut the fuck up!" Liz yelled, interrupting Tess. "I`m just sick to death of hearing about how you`re destined to be with Max. You know what Max would never be happy with you, because you`re a cold, manipulate little bitch. Things were going well between me and Max until you came here."

"I didn`t know about the bond between you two." Tess said.

"That`s your excuse for everything." Liz said. "You don`t care about how Max feels about it. You just want him to be a good robotic mate. You know what he feels human emotions and doesn`t consider us humans a weakness like you."

Tess was speechless as Liz walked away from her.

"You may destined to be with Max, but you could never love him like I do." Liz said with tears streaming down her face. "Things were going well until you ruined everything. For that I feel nothing but hate toward you."

"Liz I`m so sorry about this-"

"Just get out."

"Please Liz just listen to me." Tess pleaded.

"I`ve listened to you enough now get the fuck out." Liz said as she started pushing Tess toward the door, but Tess grabbed her arms and struggled with her. Then without warning, Tess kissed Liz on the lips, which caused Liz to push her down to the floor. Tess quickly got up and ran away out the door. Liz just stood in stunned disbelief over what had just transpired.

"Liz are you finished down there?" Nancy Parker said.