Life According to Maria De Luca
Rating: TEEN
Disclaimer: Roswell belongs to first to Melinda Metz, then to Jason Katims and 20th Century Fox. I’m just borrowing them.
Author’s Note: So this so didn’t go the way I intended it to go. I was trying for something that would describe the tentative friendship we saw form between Maria and Isabel in Monsters and Leaving Normal. That is not what I got. Instead, I got, well, something reminiscent of Maria’s chalkboard scenes in S3 Oh well, live and learn.
** * **
I had always hated Isabel Evans. Well, maybe hate was too strong a word. Resentment comes a little closer to what I felt every time I saw her walk down the halls of West Roswell High. The crowds would just part for her like she was Moses, and they were the Red Sea. It was really rather nauseating.
But still, I tried not to hate her. Hate wasn’t good for either my karma, or my complexion, and I needed to watch out for both. Then one day, everything changed. I moved on from resentment that bordered on hate to outright fear and loathing. I used to resent Isabel for how she looked. No human had the right to be so beautiful. I didn’t know how right I was.
See, the thing is, Isabel isn’t human, well, not completely human. She, along with her brother Max Evans, and my sometimes on, sometimes off boyfriend Michael Guerin are aliens; alien human hybrids to be exact. But I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s go back to the beginning. It all started with a boy, a girl, and a silver handprint.
Let’s go back to the beginning. It was a Saturday in September, and Liz and I were both working at the CrashDown, the alien themed café her parents owned. Of course, since this is Roswell, pretty much everything in town is alien theme, including the gazillions of people in town for the Crash festival.
Yes, the crash festival. See, in July of 1947, an alien spacecraft supposedly crashed in Roswell, New Mexico. Why you ask, are we having a crash festival in September if the crash happened in July? It’s simple, really. Finances. Whenever the town funds run a bit low, the town fathers host a crash festival and bring in the freak seeking masses.
Like I said, Liz and I were working, slaving actually; wearing our hideous polyester uniforms and revolting alien antenna deelie boppers when it happened. These two guys were fighting, and one of them pulled out a gun, and Liz got shot. I didn’t realize she was hurt, but Max did, and he healed her. That’s right, he healed her, not that I knew it. I was so far out of the loop back then, it wasn’t even funny.
The only thing I did know was that Liz Parker, my best friend was doing everything in her power to avoid me for days after. It was bizarre, really. Liz finally took me into her confidence, and told me what happened. The fact that Max, Michael and Isabel were aliens made perfect sense. I mean, it explained so much, really it did.
You want to know what really annoyed me though? Did any of them even seem the slightest bit grateful for our silence? Nope. Michael went out of his way to be as rude as possible to me, uh, us, and Isabel, man, if anything, she went even more ice princess than ever before. I wasn’t quite as resentful towards Isabel and her beauty anymore. Truth be told, I was scared to death. I mean, who knew what lurked under that beautiful façade.
Then something funny happened, I found out what was underneath that façade. A person. A person with doubts and fears and insecurities. Someone just like me. There was a tiny crack in Isabel’s shell. It wasn’t a huge one, and we didn’t become best buddies, but I did understand a little better. Isabel let me see inside of her, just a little, and I realized that she had to deal with a lot of the same stuff I had to. Okay, yeah, she did have that whole alien thing to cope with, but besides that, we weren’t too different.
Liz’s Grandma Claudia came for a visit, and Liz and I were like so excited. I mean Grandma Claudia has got to be the coolest person on this planet. But she got really sick. Liz and her family were at the hospital of course, and I was doing my best to keep the CrashDown running. Not that it was going well, the only person I had helping me was Agnes, and help from Agnes is worse than no help at all.
I was so totally stressed out, a thousand bottles of cypress oil wouldn’t have helped. I was just about ready to pull my hair out when I saw her walking down the street with some of her friends. By her I mean Isabel of course. She was walking down the street like some queen being trailed by her royal procession. I don’t know what came over me, but I went outside and asked – no I begged for help. And after a few minutes of grief, she actually helped. Yes, that’s right, Isabel Evans donned one of our lovely polyester uniforms, complete with alien deelie boppers. Now that I think about it, that’s kind of ironic, isn’t it?
Anyhow, Isabel just completely pitched in and helped, and the crack widened just a bit more. But after that, she did everything possible to close that crack up. She became more aloof, and colder, if that’s possible. And she was so possessive of Michael. I mean, like that time he got sick. She didn’t even want me near him. And then there was the whole baby thing. That freaked me out let me tell you! What baby you ask, well I’ll tell you.
See apparently there was a fourth alien. Tess, that was her name, and she came to town with this guy named Nescado who was supposed to be their protector. Ha, some protector. Michael and Isabel started having these totally freaked out dreams about them standing around like they were a couple, and they had a baby. Max checked with Tess, which was a big mistake if you ask me, and she said it was just like their biological alarm clocks had just gone off. Though, I’d been with Michael for a while now, and it didn’t seem to me like he needed any help with biology if you know what I mean. Anyhow, according to Tess, she was destined to be with Max, and Michael and Isabel belonged together.
Oh, and Alex. I can’t begin to tell you about Isabel if I don’t tell you about Alex. Alex Whitman, my other best friend. Alex had it so bad for Isabel. No, bad doesn’t even begin to cover how Alex felt about Isabel. It would be kind of funny if it weren’t so pitiful. Alex lived and breathed Isabel Evans.
Alex was even further out of the loop than I was when all of this began. Liz begged Max to let her tell him what was going on, but he kept saying no. We couldn’t let anybody else in, that it was too dangerous for us, as well as whoever else got involved. Too bad we didn’t know how right Max was. Too bad Liz didn’t listen.
Eventually, Alex found his way into our alien quilting circle, and everything was good. He and Isabel had formed, well not a relationship, but at least a friendship. At the time, I just thought Isabel was being a heartless bitch, jerking Alex’s chain like that, but now I know that wasn’t it at all. It was simply a form of self-preservation.
Eventually, our circle widened some more to include Sheriff Valenti, and his son Kyle. Max saved him too. Pretty profound, huh, saving the ex-boyfriend of the girl you stole from him. Well, anyhow, things were good for a while. The eight of us had formed a pretty tight group. We weren’t the best of friends – I couldn’t stand Tess, and I was still pretty pissed at Isabel for the way she treated Alex, but we survived a lot of alien adventures together. That kind of stuff has a way of bringing you closer together, you know.
Alex had resigned himself to the thought of him and Isabel being only friends. In fact, he took himself off to Sweden on an exchange program. He even found himself a Swedish girlfriend. Life was going along pretty good. I should have known then that it wasn’t going to last.
Prom had arrived, and let me tell you, the stress involved with that is a book in itself. Suffice to say, not too many people were happy. Liz and Max decided to go together, but just as friends – don’t ask it’s too confusing. Kyle and Tess were going together as well. Michael refused to go hands down, but I wasn’t going to let him deprive me of my prom. No way, no how! The shocker was that Isabel didn’t have a date. Yes, you heard me. Drop dead gorgeous; don’t hate me because I’m beautiful Isabel Evans did not have a date.
Alex had finally decided to grow a set and stand firm. He wasn’t going to fall for her manipulations, and he even told her so. Well, Alex being Alex, he probably put it in a nicer way, but the end result was the same. He was not going to the prom with Isabel Evans. If only he had remained firm. Maybe things would have been different. Maybe not.
Alex finally asked Isabel to prom, and there we were all dressed in our beautiful clothes ready to set the world on fire. Even Michael. Yes, my Michael decided to surprise me and take dance lessons so he wouldn’t embarrass me at the prom. It was probably the sweetest thing he had ever done in his life. Looking back, it was probably the last time any of us were happy – really and truly happy.
Isabel had finally decided there was room in her life for all the alien secrets and Alex. I have never seen two people who were more in love than the two of them. Their night was perfect. It was a dream come true for the two of them. But from the dream, came a nightmare.
Alex died.
Alex Charles Whitman died in a head on collision. Max tried to heal him, but it was too late. A piece of Isabel died that night too. She became different – distant. It was if Alex was her light, and when he died, her light was extinguished.
I stood on the crest of the cemetery, looking down in the murky twilight and looked down the hill to Alex’s grave. I needed one last chance to say goodbye to my friend. I moved closer through the deepening darkness and saw Isabel on her knees, shoulders shaking.
“Come on, Isabelle,” I said, my hand resting gently on her shoulder. “Let me take you home.”
“He’s gone, Maria, he’s really gone,” she whispered.
My heart went out to her then. Yes, I hurt, and Liz hurt. We all hurt wit a pain I hope nobody ever experiences ever again. But I don’t think anybody hurt as much as Isabel did.
I had always hated Isabel Evans, but not any more.