Not Expecting To Fall Literally-(M/L,Teen) A/N 5/8/07[WIP]

[stardreamer323]

Hey guys! Believe it or not I am finally back with another part! Sorry it took so long but my e-mail was on the fritz so... Thank you all you feedbackers you are wonderful!

Special Thanks to:

Timelord31
frenchkiss70
Lizza
Empress_luci: Hey Empress! There's another part of '1 Girl, 5 Guys, and a Basement' just for you.
Behrsgirl1230: Mark - With Nanette Himmelfarb. The Rabbi's daughter at the Scarsdale Jewish Community Center. (I love Rent!)
And a Special Thanks to my beta: To_Kiss_A_Frog

Chapter 8a

[Maria POV]

“You guys, it is SO not funny! Uggghh! Stop laughing!” I yell trying to make them understand how horrible this truly is. But apparently my friends are unsympathetic because my yelling only elicits more laughter from them. Idiots. “I’m serious! She actually wants us to dress alike too!” If I thought this was going to get me sympathy, obviously I was horribly wrong because if anything they just laugh harder and longer.

“Oh…man…I…can’t breathe!” Alex chokes out between laughs. “I just…keep…trying…to pic…picture it!” I glare at him.

“There is no, I repeat NO way that I am going to dress up like my mom, let alone Kyle and his dad.” I spit out angry that they’re still laughing at my dilemma.

“Awww, come on ‘Ria,” Alex coos, using the nickname Liz came up with for me years ago; “It’ll be like you’re one big happy family.” Too late he notices the danger he’s in though because he gives a yelp as I kick his leg under the table.

“Yeah, come on Maria,” Michael joins in. “It is a fundraiser for the Roswell Police Department.”

“She. Wants. Me. To. Dress. Up. Like. A. Sheriff.” I enunciate slowly hoping to finally break through to them about the severity of this situation. “A sheriff!”

“Well, look on the bright side Maria; if you’re dressed like a sheriff they can’t arrest you this year. It’ll be like you’re one of their own.” Alex says with a smirk.

“What are you guys talking about? Maria, you got arrested?” Isabel asks confused.

“Actually it’s this thing they do every year at the fundraiser. They have this fake jail and you can pay the police department to arrest someone of your choosing and the person arrested has to spend some time in jail. And actually I think that’s what earns the most money at the fundraiser.” Michael explains trying to keep a straight face.

“That’s because you pay Kyle every year to arrest us!” I yell giving him a shove. “Last year he actually ambushed me and Liz and I was hauled off to that stupid little jail on Deputy Hanson’s shoulder!”
“Yeah, that was awesome!” Alex shouts breaking out into another fit of laughter over the memory.

“Yeah it was!” Michael agrees as Alex and him high five each other. At my glare he sobers and holds up his hands in defense. “Hey, I was just being a good citizen and supporting our local police department. I just wish everyone could be as generous as me.”

“Oh, I’m feeling very generous this year. In fact, I feel very giving right now.” I smile as I smack him hard on the back of the head.

“Owww! Hey! It wasn’t just me! Alex and Kyle pitched in money too!” At Michael’s admission Alex quickly swivels his head around from where he was staring at Isabel and slowly, his expression turned from one of confusion to one of fear.

“ALEX?!” I ask incredulously. “I understand Michael and Kyle doing it, but you too?” And really I can understand Michael and Kyle doing it, but Alex? “What is this? Some conspiracy you guys cooked up against us?”

“Come on Maria, don’t be mad.” Alex says a little less afraid since realizing he’s not within hitting distance.

“If you say ‘get glad’ I will hit you.” Alex immediately shuts up and pretends to find an ant on the table extremely interesting.

“Maria, it’s all for a good cause…” Isabel says. Oh no, they’ve gotten to her too. She’s gone over to the dark side.

“Isabel, not you too.” I groan leaning forward to rest my face in my hands exhausted over this entire conversation.

“No, Isabel’s got a point Maria. It is all for a good cause, besides, it won’t be only you. Now that Isabel’s here we’re going to have her arrested too.” Michael tells me in what I guess is supposed to be a comforting voice. One glance at Isabel and I see she hadn’t predicted this scenario and it was definitely not what she wanted to hear.
“You know, I really don’t think that’s necessary…”

“No, no, Isabel. You’re apart of our group now and you should be included in everything. Don’t you agree Alex?” I question staring intently at Alex waiting for an answer.

“Well, um…” Alex looks back and forth between Isabel and me not quite sure whose side to pick in this apparent argument. There’s my side; his best friend since third grade. And there’s Isabel’s side; the potential girlfriend. And I say potential girlfriend because I don’t think I’ve seen them apart once today. I have to admit its cute and all, but if he picks her side in this…after years of Liz, Serena, and I not being able to get out of it no matter what…

“Max!” Alex shouts noticing the dark haired brother of Isabel standing a few feet away from our table. “Max!” Alex shouts again desperately trying to flag the other guy over. And Max, noticing Alex’s antics, heads over to our table and sits down. If Alex thinks this is going to get him out of answering he’s got another thing coming.

“What’s got you so smug?” And at Isabel’s remark, I finally direct my attention to Max where he does in fact look smug.

“Nothing,” Max answers, his smile growing, and I have to admit I am a little intrigued to find out why he’s so smug. No Maria. Pay attention. You are trying to get out of being arrested this year…

“So Al-”

“Does this have to do with Liz again?” Isabel cuts me off, bringing her hand up to pinch the bridge of her nose. Hmmm? Liz? So Max told her that her that Liz was the one he bumped into last night and broke her cell phone. That must be what she means by again…but then why is Max so smug? Oh well, back to the more important matters. Pushing my curiosity aside I continue.

“Well, Al-.”

“Just please tell me you didn’t kiss her again.” Isabel continues her conversation with Max, interrupting me yet again. Jeez. Can a sister get a sentence out? Wait. What? Max? Liz? KISSED?! When did this happen? Michael must have been thinking the same thing I was because the next thing out of his mouth, besides the soda he’d just taken out
drink of was…

“What?!”

“Michael!” Kyle pants out of breath as he slows to a stop in front of our table and effectively interrupting a now wide-eyed Isabel who’s trying to explain. “There you are man. I’ve been looking for you all over!” For some reason he keeps stealing glances at a large bush in the quad and when he seems satisfied he continues. “Michael, we have to go- what’s going on here?” Kyle asks finally noticing the uncomfortable silence that has fallen over the table.

“Well apparently M-”

“Never mind, no time.” Kyle rushes out interrupting me and turning to Michael. What the heck? “Sorry man, but we gotta go. The pep rally starts in a few minutes and we’re supposed to help Serena get it started.”

“Pep rally?” Isabel questions thankful for a possible change of subject.

“No time for questions you silly woman!” Kyle shouts out loudly, grabbing Michael and dragging him off. Or should I say tried to drag him off. “What are you doing? Serena will have our heads if we’re not there on time!”

“I think Serena will forgive us in this case.” Michael answers tersely, never moving his eyes off Max and Isabel. “I think Max and Isabel have something to tell us.”

“What?” Kyle asks, seemingly confused and looking to the rest of us for an explanation.

“Don’t look at me. I have no idea what’s going on.” I tell him when he looks to me. It’s the truth I have no idea what’s going on. Liz wouldn’t just kiss Max and not tell me… right?

“Apparently; Max kissed Liz.” Michael answers, leaving the sentence hanging, waiting for someone else to fill him in.

“Oh that? Liz already told us about th..at.” Kyle trails off noticing everyone’s eyes on him. “He heh…was I not supposed to say anything?” He asks nervously.

“It’s true?!” I shout in disbelief. “This is unreal. My best friend kisses someone and she doesn’t even tell me. She tells Kyle, but she doesn’t tell me?” I rant pacing back and forth by our table.

“In all fairness Maria,” Kyle interjects. “Liz didn’t kiss him.” He says gesturing to Max. What? Then why are we having this convers-. Kyle interrupts my thoughts as he continues. “He kissed her.” That being said, with an amazing show of strength, Kyle drags off Michael and leaves the rest of us to stare at Max.

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[Liz POV]

“Ouch Serena, jeez, my arm hurts now.” I say rubbing my shoulder where there is now a dull ache.

“I’m sorry, but did you really want to be late and have to listen to the gerbil go on and on about how we should know better?” She asks turning around to face me. She’s got a point. I wouldn’t want to give Tess another reason to gloat over me.

“No.” I answer softly. “But did you have to yank so hard?”

“Aww…Liz, I’m sorry. Here, let me see it.” Sniffling once for effect, I offer her my injured arm. She massages the joints in my elbow and shoulder and immediately the pain begins to ebb. “So Liz, it appears we’re here a few minutes early, why don’t you tell me more about this Max situation.” She continues moving to stand in front of me. She guides me over to the bottom of the bleachers and sits me down.

“Yeah the only reason we’re here early is because you nearly ripped my arm off running to get here. Besides, I already told you about Max.”

“Uh uh; no you didn’t, as I recall you only told me that he kissed you-”

“Exactly, there’s nothing else to tell.” I finish quickly.

“Well, there’s the fact that you met him last night…and you didn’t tell us about it…”

“He bumped into me, broke my cell phone. What’s to tell?”

“Umm, I don’t know, maybe that he asked you out.” She counters.

“Well, last night he was just some random guy whose name I didn’t even know. I didn’t think it was that important.” I answer honestly.

“That’s fair. Well, how about what led up to the kiss. What happened?”

“What makes you think anything happened?” I ask blushing hotly and hoping she doesn’t notice.

“Well the fact that your face is about the same color as a cherry tomato tells me otherwise.” When I refuse to volunteer any extra information, she continues. “Liz, we’re family.”

“Since when does family blackmail?” I ask referring to this morning.

“Okay, okay, if I delete the video will you tell me?” She pulls her phone out of her purse, pulls up the aforementioned video and I watch as her finger hovers over the delete button waiting for my answer.

“Why do you want to know so badly?” I ask, bewildered.

“Liz, I know you, you wouldn’t just kiss some guy you just met, especially since you’ve like been in love with Jay for years.” If anything, I feel my face get even redder. “Would you?!” Serena asks at my obvious silence and embarrassment. I watch her hand still hovering over the button.

“You better delete that video.” I tell her seriously. She scrambles to delete the video and when she has she turns back to me. “Good. Now hurry up we better get ready, here come Michael and Kyle.” I tell her impishly. It serves her right for trying to blackmail me. Smiling, I watch as Michael, Kyle and a few other football players and cheerleaders walk in. Then…

“I guess it’s a good thing I sent that video to Alex before I deleted it then.” Serena tells me smugly, walking to the locker rooms to get changed. W-what? What just happened? I had total control of the situation and then-

“Liz, why didn’t you tell me Max kissed you?!” Michael’s voice echoes in the auditorium. I feel my face immediately drain of color. I look over to Michael’s right to see Kyle who won’t meet my eyes.

“Sorry Michael, I gotta go get changed for the pep rally.” I rush out quickly making my way towards the girls’ locker rooms. And as I make my way swiftly towards my destination and safe haven, I look back and my eyes fall on Jay’s sad eyes looking right back at me. I feel my stomach drop to my feet; I break eye contact and continue walking. Well, Ladies and Gentlemen, when it rains, it pours.

***********************************************************************

1 Girl, 5 Guys, and a Basement: Part 8

Last time:

(Whimpering heard from behind them)

Erik: Come on fop, suck it up!

Raoul: No…more…girl power!

Brandon: Come on Raoul, it’ll be okay…Hey, Raoul, who’s your favorite Spice girl anyways?

Raoul: Scary spice.

(This gets everyone else’s attention.)

Erik: What? Why Scary Spice?!

Raoul: I don’t know, I guess it’s because she reminds me of Christine…

Max: What?! How does Scary Spice remind you of Christine?!

Raoul: You’ve obviously never seen her during that time of month.

Jay: She can’t be that bad…

Erik: No…the fop’s got a point…
************************************************************************
(Back in the Basement)

Brandon: Hey Max, do you think pink is my color?

Max: What? (Turns to look at him and sees Brandon holding something up to his ears.) Brandon what are you talking about and what’s that in your ha- Brandon! I told you to leave those earrings alone!

Brandon: Well, technically. You told me to leave them alone because if Sariah noticed anything was missing she’d flip out…so I figured that since she caught us anyways, it wouldn’t matter. Besides, they were shiny! They were calling to me! AND they have little pink feathers dangling from them! (He says excitedly waving them in front of Max’s face)

Max: (Mumbling to himself) I’m surrounded by morons.

Jay: What’s that?

Max: Nothing. (Snickers) I can’t believe you’re afraid of spiders.

Jay: Hey! It’s a perfectly normal and common phobia!

Raoul: (In the background) Colors of the world…

Max: (sarcastic)I’m sure it’s very common.

Raoul: Spice up your life!

Jay: Hey! It is common! Sariah was afraid of the spider too!
Raoul: Every boy and every girl…

Max: (Smugly) I know. She kissed me for killing the spider.

Raoul: Spice up your life!

Jay: Only on the cheek! I bet you she would’ve kissed anyone of us for killing that spider!

Max: Well, she wouldn’t have kissed you. We know that…

Raoul: People of the world…

Max & Jay: (To Raoul) SHUT UP! (Raoul quiets and moves over to a deserted corner)

Erik: ALL of you stop your infernal racket! (Erik’s hand hovers above his Punjab lasso threateningly) I’m trying to read here! (Turns back to where he’s sitting reading the diary.)

Max: Did you find anything? (Max asks curiously looking over Erik’s shoulder.)

Erik: Well, if everyone would just shut up…

(Raoul and Brandon are off talking)

Brandon: Do YOU think pink is my color?

Raoul: Of course. YOU like the spice girls, right?

Brandon: Sure.

Erik: FOPS! BE QUIET! (Raoul and Brandon finally turn around to notice everyone glaring at them.) Finally. Now, as I was say-(sounds of the basement door opening)

Max: Someone’s coming! Hide the diary! (Everyone scrambles around looking for a place to hide it.)

Jay: Over here! He removes a loose brick and they quickly shove the diary behind it and replace the brick and turn around just as Sariah comes down the stairs.)

Sariah: All right guys, lunch is served. (Notices the guys huddled together at the back of the basement.) What are you guys doing?

Max: Well, you see…we were just…um…

Jay: Practicing our own rendition of Rent! (Guys glare at Jay.)

Sariah: Really? (Sariah asks raising an eyebrow skeptically)

Max: (Deciding to go along with it.) Yeah, we were.

Sariah: I LOVE Rent! So…who’s who?

Max: (Before anyone else can answer.) Well, I’m Roger, Jay’s Mark, Raoul’s Collins, and Brandon is Angel.

Sariah: Cool! So who are you Erik?

Erik: (To himself) I can’t believe she’s buying this…
Sariah: What was that?

Max: He says he’s Benny.

Sariah: Oh, cool. Can I hear a song?

(Guys all glare at Jay again.)

Jay: He heh…well we’re not really ready…besides, we don’t have any girls to sing with us…

Sariah: Well, I can sing a few songs…I know Mimi’s part for ‘Light My Candle’. What do you say Max? You up for it?

Max: Well, I guess I could.

Jay: NO! (Sariah and Max look back to Jay in confusion.) I mean we really aren’t ready yet!

Sariah: Oh. Okay, well let me know when you guys are ready.

Jay: Sure!

Sariah: Well, anyways, here’s your lunch. Oh, Jay, I brought you some bandages for your arm.

Jay: Thanks. (Turns around to smile smugly back at the other guys)

Sariah: So I guess I’ll just go now. See you guys- BRANDON! Are those my earrings?! (She shouts noticing her earrings on his ears)

Max: He was just borrowing them for our practice. He is Angel after all. (He says quickly.)

Sariah: Oh, right. Well, next time ask first.

Brandon: S-sure.

Sariah: Okay, well I’ll be back later. Bye guys. (Leaves)

Erik: That was close.

Max: ‘Our own rendition of Rent?’ What were you thinking?!


Jay: Hey! It worked didn’t it?! She believed us and she didn’t ask anymore questions. (Moves over to get the bandages)

Max: Yeah except now she expects us to actually perform this for her sometime!

Jay: Yeah, well what about you? You seemed pretty eager to sing ‘Light My Candle’ with her!

Max: Hey, I was just going along with YOUR plan. And what was up with you stopping us?

Jay: Yeah, like I’m gonna let you sing a romantic song with her.

Erik: Guys shut up! Now that she’s gone, I want to show you what I found. (Guys head back to where they hid the diary.)

Raoul: Did anyone else notice that she was strangely nice to us considering we just broke into her room and went through her stuff like 30 minutes ago?
(Guys all stop and think about it.)

Jay: Yeah, she was pretty nice…why?

Erik: I don’t know, maybe she felt bad because Jay was hurt, or maybe she was feeling nice because she was thankful that Max killed that spider for her. WHO CARES?! The point is she’s nicer and now that she’s gone you have to listen to what I found!

Max: Fine, fine. What did you find?

(Guys head over to where the diary is)

(Erik takes out the diary and flips to the second to last entry)

Erik: Well, I didn’t really find anything really interesting until I got to the second to the last entry…

Jay: Well come on and tell us!

Erik: Well it says… ‘Dear Diary, lately I’ve been having these strong feelings for someone and I don’t know what to do. I don’t know if I should tell him or not. It’s so hard…I don’t know if I can even tell you diary…

Guys: Come on! Tell us!

Erik: Well, I guess I can tell you Diary…it’s not like you’re going to tell anyone…Silly me to be worried about that. Oh no. Here comes my Mom. I guess I’ll have to tell you tomorrow. Bye for now.
Love, SARIAH

Guys: NO! Now we’ll never find out!

Erik: Guys…(Guys still not paying attention) GUYS! That’s not the last entry. (Guys quiet down. Erik flips to the last entry and starts to read.) Dear Diary, I know the guys in the basement are dying to know who all the love notes are for. It drives them crazy that I won’t tell them. I know eventually they’ll probably go to desperate measures to find out. That’s why I wrote this fake- (Erik slows as he realizes the diary’s fake) fake diary…

Max: I knew it was too good to be true.

**************************************************************************************
Ominous Voice: Why is Sariah being so nice now? Will the guys ever find Sariah’s real diary? Will they ever find out who the love notes are for? Are they really going to perform their own rendition of Rent? Is pink really Brandon’s color? Find out next time on ‘1 Girl, 5 Guys, and a Basement.

***********************************************************************
Well that's it for now guys.

See ya later!
~Sariah~

[stardreamer323]

Hello ppls! Heh heh...sorry it took me SO long to come back with a new part but I was suffering from major writing block where I knew what I wanted to happen...just not HOW to write it...but as you see I have returned! AHHHH! Don't throw fruit! (Cowers in fear)

I'd just like to thank all of you who have feedbacked my story, you guys are great and your questions and comments mean so much to me! Keep it up please! (Plus when I am procrastinating it reminds me that I need to work on a new part...) So...bug me please!!! LOL.

Special Thanks to:

Emz80m
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Timelord31
frenchkiss70
roswell3053
Lizza: I promise I will post another part of '1 Guy, 5 Guys, and a Basement with the next part. Glad you like it.
Believer
clueless
POM
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Chapter 9: Cheerleaders, Football Players, and Spirit…Oh my.

[Kyle POV]

“You’ve GOT to be kidding me. You want us to WHAT?! I’m sorry. I know I said I’d help out but…really…this?!” I whisper loudly gesturing to the pile of supplies stacked off to the side. She can’t be serious. I am not I repeat NOT going to go through that kind of humiliation-

“Kyle! You can’t just back out of this! People are already coming in for the pep rally.” She tries to reason pointing to the crowds of students filing into the gym and sitting down of the bleachers. If she thinks that is going to make me rethink my answer…

“I don’t care Serena; I didn’t sign up for this-”

“Uh, yes you did…remember? Last week when I ask you and you said ‘sure’…I’m pretty sure that was an agreement.” She retorts angrily crossing her arms over her chest. She’s cute when she’s angry…NO Kyle. No. That kind of thinking is going to get you in trouble. It doesn’t matter that she’s looking at me with her big green eyes…or that she’s doing that cute thing she does by biting her lip when she’s trying to get what she wants. Oh Buddha, this isn’t working. Concentrate Kyle.

“Kyle? KYLE. Are you even listening to me? Hello?” She asks waving a hand in front of my face trying to get my attention.

“W-What?” I start embarrassed at being caught spacing out while silently thanking Buddha that Liz’s problem with thinking out loud wasn’t contagious.

“I said you HAVE to help out. It’s too late to back out.” She says frustrated. “You are SO stubborn Kyle! Come on…can’t you just do it…for me? Please?” She begs, her hands clasped together in front of her. “Please? I’ll love you forever…” No…don’t fall for it Kyle…

“Nope; sorry.” As my answer sinks in she stomps her foot in frustration and turns to Michael who seems intent on sending death glares into the crowd of students. Who is he looking at?

“Michael, back me up here. YOU don’t mind doing this do you? Could you kindly tell Kyle here that this is no big deal?” She exasperatingly breathes out. But she gets no answer as Michael continues his plot of death to whomever it is he’s staring at. Which I have yet to determine…Let’s see…there’s Courtney…it could be her…she’s always continually throwing herself at him and I know that annoys him…nope. That theory goes down the drain as soon she moves out of his line of sight…who could it be? Let’s see…there’s Maria, but I know it’s not her…and Tess is no where in sight. That’s when my eyes land on the person behind Maria…Max. “HELL-O! Are EITHER of you two listening to me?! What is this? National ignore Serena day?!” Angrily she stalks over to stand in front of Michael cutting of his view of Max.

“What are you doing?!” He asks angrily having lost sight of Max.

“NO. What are YOU doing?” She counters.

“Nothing.”

“Really…Why don’t I believe you?” She queries raising an eyebrow in suspicion.

“I don’t know cousin; you’re the one with the trust issues…why don’t you tell me.” He quips not backing down.

“Well you must have been DOING something,” she continues while pacing back and forth. “I mean you obviously weren’t listening to me…but I’ll let that slide…for now.” Coming to a stop she turns to face him again. “Now that I have your attention, would you please remind Kyle that he promised to help me?” And almost automatically he responds.

“Kyle, you promised to help her.” What?! Thanks for the help traitor.

“Do you even KNOW what they have planned for us to do?” At his blank stare I can tell I am not the only one Serena kept in the dark. Yeah well he’ll be singin’ another tune once he figures it out. “She’s going to pair us up with one of the cheerleaders and the cheerleader has to make us over using those supplies over there.” I tell him seriously pointing to the offending pile of objects.

“So?”

“They’re making us over…as GIRLS.” I whisper horrified.

“Come on Kyle. It’s all for school spirit." She pleads yet again. MUST. NOT. GIVE. IN.

“How is making us over as GIRLS supposed to generate school spirit?” Good Kyle, good. Let's see her try to explain this...

“They find it amusing…they see that our guys are good sports…they show up to the game…” She answers slowly.

“That’s total crap and you know it-”

“Besides, you let us do it before…” Serena interjects.

“HEY! That was different! We were ten!” I yell out a little too loudly and I have now gained the attention of several other people. “Besides,” I continue lowering my voice, “the answer is no. And nothing you can say is going to change my mind! And don’t even THINK of using any of your feminine wiles on me either!”

“Wait…are you implying that her feminine wiles would work on you?” Michael asks confused.

“NO!” I deny quickly berating myself for my slip up and causing me to wonder if Liz’s problem WAS contagious…I really hope for my sake it isn’t.

“Fine then; I’ll just ask someone else!” She huffs out stomping away.

“Me thinks thou dost protest too much.” Michael whispers to me from behind.

“What’s that supposed to mean? And why didn’t you back me up?! Do you really want to be turned into a girl?”

“What it’s supposed to mean is I think you like Serena.”

“WHAT?! I...I don’t LIKE her!” I sputter out helplessly. “W-what would make you think that?” Smooth Kyle, smooth. He sends me a look telling me he doesn’t believe a word I say…not that I blame him…the way I handled that I wouldn’t believe me.

“And as for why I didn’t back you up…do you really think that I am going to refuse and incur the wrath of Serena…when she is living under the same roof as me? I’d have to be a MORON to do that. Besides, it’s for what, an hour tops…” At my silence he continues. “You DO know you’re in trouble now, right? She’s not just going to let this go.” He’s right but how bad could it be? My thoughts are interrupted as Serena taps the microphone to get the attention of the crowd to start the assembly.

“Hey! Is everybody ready for a pep rally?” She starts off immediately exciting the audience as they cheer madly for her. “Alright, we have a great pep rally lined up for you guys today! As you all know, I am Serena Cohen, captain of the cheerleading team and I am going to get us started off…but first…I am going to need a guy to volunteer…You see, one of our football players backed out of an event I had planned for the pep rally at the last minute…so I’m in a bind…guys could you help me out?” She asks smiling sweetly at the crowd while twirling a strand of her red hair around a finger, successfully charming them. Immediately every guy has his hand raised. Well, look on the bright side Kyle; at least she didn’t mention you by name…Making a show of looking around the crowd she takes a few steps when a loud cry breaks out.

“OUCH ISABEL!” I hear Max before I see him jump from his seat. Looking around he tries to sit back down before he is noticed. But it’s too late. Poor fool. The smile breaks out on Serena’s face and she immediately takes advantage of the situation. Whether he meant to or not…Max has just volunteered himself.

“You! Right there,” She speaks brightly into the microphone pointing directly at Max. “Thank you for volunteering! Come on down.” Max looks around helplessly at the crowd and realizing she’s talking to him turns and glares at Isabel and grudgingly makes his way down to the floor from the bleachers. “See Kyle Valenti! Some people are willing to participate!” She speaks loudly while turning around to send a glare my way. Crap. Trying unsuccessfully to sink into the floor the crowd turns to stare at me. Expecting Michael to say something smart like ‘I told you so’ I am confused when he says nothing…turning to look at him I see him once again glaring daggers at Max.

“Uh oh Serena, what did you do?” I mutter silently to myself. Taking a chance I look over at Liz who looks just as likely to kill him…something tells me this is going to get ugly really fast…
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That's it for now ppl...sorry it's so short but I promise to update again in a few days with a longer chapter. SCOUTS HONOR! (Holds up fingers) Okay...so I was never a scout...but I still promise.

[stardreamer323]

PLEASE READ:

Okay guys, here's the situation...for the past 3 weeks I have been grounded from my laptop. For those of you who know me, you know that I don't pay attention AT ALL in physics and usually spend my time writing parts for my stories in there. Well, apparently that was not the best thing to do since my Mom found out that I failed a physics test and a Government test and took my laptop away. I was able a few times to get on the computer at my friends house and our main computer here but the new part for my story was on my laptop and I wasn't able to get it back until today. Even now I am still on restriction and my mom is going to take it away again unless I bring my grades up. So what's going on is I am going to have to only be able to update once a month. I REALLY need to bring my grades up but I DO have the new part for you guys. Please bear with me guys and don't desert me.


Special Thanks to:

begonia9508
POM
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Lizza
Believer
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Chapter 10

[Maria POV]

“I bet ten bucks Michael jumps him within five minutes.”

“Twenty says Liz jumps him first.” I answer Alex confidently pulling my wallet out of my purse fully prepared to back up my bet. I sneak another look at Liz and cringe. Max is definitely not going to come out of this unscathed. Liz is like literally foaming at the mouth like a mad woman. Alex arches an eyebrow at me in confusion and then turns to look at Liz.

“Can I change my bet?” Alex asks a second later. Fat chance of that happening, Mama needs a new pair of shoes.

“Nope, then it wouldn’t be a bet, we’d both be voting for the same person.”

“So?” Alex responds, finding nothing at all wrong with his answer.

“So,” I continue, “Neither. Of. Us. Would. Make. Any. Money.” I enunciate slowly as if speaking to a child. He takes a moment to process my answer and then looks at me confused.

“Does that mean I can’t change my choice?” Didn’t I just….? Huh? Oh never mind.

“No Alex you cannot change your bet.”

“Damn.”

“Ha ha, serves you right for not thinking through your options.” I answer smugly as I silently subtract ten dollars from the amount still needed to buy my shoes. I feel bad for betting against my boyfriend, but Liz has got a lot of rage and let’s face it, shoes don’t buy themselves. I hear Alex mutter a string of curses beside me over his choice and smiling I settle down onto the bleacher and wait for the outcome that will make me ten dollars richer.

“I can’t BELIEVE you two!” Turning my head in surprise I notice Isabel angrily glaring at the two of us, her arms folded stiffly across her chest.

“What? Do I have something in my teeth? ALEX! I had something in my teeth and you didn’t tell me?!” I shriek subconsciously rubbing my tongue frantically over my teeth searching for the offending piece of food. “Do y-oo-u… s-see ith?” I ask worriedly through clenched teeth as I turn back to face Isabel. Though instead of helping me out she gives me a blank incredulous stare. “What is everyone against me?” When neither of them answers I dig through my purse looking for a mirror. “Pfft. Some friends you are.” I mutter sarcastically finally finding my small compact buried at the bottom of my purse. I’m pulled from my inspection though when I feel my compact being yanked out of my hands and suddenly the reflection of my bright green eyes are replaced with the view of two ice blue eyes filled with annoyance and anger.

“Maria! You do NOT have anything in your teeth!”

“What? Well then wh-”

“I was talking about the fact that both of you are betting over who is going to beat up my brother first!” She shouts furiously causing at least three students to look on in fear and look for an escape route.

“OH. Is that all?” I question calmly. If anything though my question only serves to enrage her further as her blue eyes blaze fiercely in response.

“Is that ALL?!”

“Isabel, we’re not betting over who’s going to beat up your brother first.” I replied evenly and she gives me this look of utter disbelief. “We’re betting,” I continue, “over who is going to jump your brother first. I’m pretty sure someone will break up the fight if anything serious starts to happen. You don’t think the teachers or the principal will let it just happen do you?” I tell her mischievously. And just when I was expecting her to explode with another angry remark, she surprises me. Her stiff posture loosens as she relaxes and sits back to inspect the scene below us.

“So then how much is the bet on Liz? If anyone is going to jump my brother first it’ll be her. She’s practically burning holes into his head right now or at least plotting some form of bodily injury.” I like her. I can tell we are going to get along just fine. Though all of my thoughts are interrupted when a strange ringing fills my ears. Looking around for the source, I have to laugh when I discover where it is coming from.

“Uh Alex? I-I think your pants are ringing.” I tell him amused. Only he’s not listening to me. In fact he seems pretty engrossed in trying to persuade Isabel to bet on Michael, not Liz. Nice try. “ALEX.” I say a bit louder this time, waving a hand in front of his face. Finally attracting his attention, I continue. “Alex, your pants are ringing.” He shoots me a confused look and then, noticing where I gestured, pulls the ringing device from his pocket. Fumbling to open it, he mouths the words silently to himself.

“You have a video message?! From who?!”

“HOW on earth do you DO that?” He looks at me incredulously over my amazing ability at lip reading. Hey, what can I say, I picked up a few tricks back in my babysitting days.

“That’s not important. Who’s it from and what’s it a video of?” I exclaim nosily peeking over his shoulder.

“I don’t know what it is…hold on, just let me open it…” He mumbles out while opening the file. Isabel, now intrigued also peeks her head over his shoulder. Then we all watch slowly as the small screen of his cell phone fills up with the opening frames of a video. A very familiar video…wait…Oh. My. Gosh.

‘Yeah, sure Jay…I’ll dance with you…mmm haha…yeah.

Alex squints closely at the screen trying to accurately decipher who the owner of the voice is.

“Is…is that Liz?” Alex asks echoing the very same words I had said earlier.

‘…look hottie! Just cuz you’re cute and asked me out does not mean I’m going to forget that you broke my cell phone.’

Okay, let’s all count it…1, 2- And I don’t even make it to three before a large high pitched gasp reaches my ears. Yep, Liz is definitely going to kill Serena…

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[Serena POV]

I watch as Max grudgingly makes his way down from the bleachers towards me as jocks are cheering him on and girls are whistling at him. I kind of feel bad for just picking on him like that when it’s obvious he wasn’t volunteering himself…but not bad enough to actually pick someone else. I gotta admit, he is easy on the eyes. No wonder my cousin is so warm for his form, no matter how much she denies it. Speaking of his form…it’s a very nice one…I’m interrupted in my inspection by the clearing of a throat. His throat. How did he get over here so fast? Oh well, time to go to work. Setting down the microphone carefully I stand at my full height ready to greet him.

“Hi Max! So how’s your first day of school going so far?” I ask brightly, taking on the cliché traits of a cheerleader.

“H-how do you know my name?” He asks me startled, and a little freaked out. OH, right. He hasn’t met you yet Serena. You’ve only seen him through some bushes when your cousin was plotting his downfall. Which I still don’t understand by the way...if he’d kissed me, I’d be jumping for joy. “Excuse me.” Max continues, breaking me from my thoughts.

“Yeah?” I question embarrassed at having been caught spacing out.

“Have we met before or something? How do you know my name?” He asks genuinely stumped as to how I could’ve known. I really contemplated telling him the truth right away, really I did; but I couldn’t resist having a little fun with him first.

“It’s magic.” I answer seriously. “In fact,” I continue ominously, “I know everything about you Max Evans.”

“Y-you do?” He asks taking a quick step away from me as I move to get closer to him.

“Yep, the benefits of selling your soul to Satan. Didn’t you know that all cheerleaders are the Dark One’s followers?”

“N-no…”

“How do you think we are able to do all those flips and lifts? Practice? Yeah right!” I scoff. He just stares at me blankly. “Max, I’m just kidding, relax. Besides no one here follows the Dark One, except for maybe Tess. You should probably watch out for her. You want to know how I really knew who you were?” He nods his head and I motion for him to lean in closer as if it were a secret. Then I whisper the truth quietly in his ear. “The aliens. They speak to me and tell me things.” I whisper conspiratorially. Okay so maybe it wasn’t REALLY the truth. Max shoots me an incredulous look and suddenly I can’t take it anymore. The look on his face is so priceless that I break out laughing. “Max, I’m just kidding.” He doesn’t look too sure and makes sure to keep his distance looking at me like I had just escaped from Bedlam. “No seriously.” Calming down and straightening myself I stick out my hand. “Serena Cohen.” I introduce myself. He looks hesitantly at my hand and then reaches out to shake it. “I’m Michael and Liz’s cousin.” Recognition breaks out on his face and he visibly relaxes a little. “I’ve heard a lot about you Max.”

“You have? What did you hear?” He asks suspiciously while eying the spot on the bleachers where his sister is seated.

“Well…I heard you might be gay, you were a stupid smug little something or other, and…I heard you were swapping spit with my cousin in the hallway…did I miss anything?” I ask innocently. Max looks dumbfounded and when he finally gets over his stupor he mutters something out that sounds a lot like ‘I’m going to kill Kyle.’ But it’s hard to hear over the crowd who is getting restless. “So, shall we get started?” Looking back at Liz’s furious face I try to stifle my laughter. THIS is going to be interesting.

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[Liz POV]

Oh. No. Oh HELL NO! I watch in horror as Max makes his way slowly down the bleachers towards my cousin. What does my deranged cousin think she’s doing?! And I say deranged because she must know what she’s doing, but even as I see it, I don’t believe it. This is NOT happening. Almost involuntarily I feel my hands tighten into fists at my sides as I fight to keep the scream caught in my throat from breaking free. Still seething from our last encounter I attempt to burn wholes through his head with my glare. Unfortunately only moments later he steps down onto the floor safely and burn-free and it’s all I can do not to jump him right there on the spot.

Eww! Get your minds out of the gutter! Not like that! I mean it in the sense of causing him physical pain. I’m broken out of my trance and plots of hurting Max by Serena’s laughter and I look up just in time to her punch him playfully on the shoulder. What. The. Heck. Why is my cousin getting all friendly with the enemy? This is SO not happening. Trying to calm down so I don’t make an idiot out of myself in front of the entire student body I busy myself looking anywhere else but the sight of my cousin LAUGHING with HIM. It doesn’t take long though for my eyes to find Kyle and I notice that he’s about as pleased as I am at the proximity between my cousin and Max but for a completely different reason. His right eye starts to twitch and wait a minute-did he just growl? Following his narrowed gaze I look back just in time to see Max lean in close to Serena and see her whisper something in his ear.

Poor Kyle. Thinking about it now, I don’t know why I never noticed it before. How could I not have noticed how much Kyle liked Serena? I mean it seems like it’s so obvious now. It makes me wonder how my cousin can be so oblivious to it all. Then almost as if she knows what I’m thinking Serena turns abruptly around to face us and WHY IS SHE WINKING AT ME?! What plan could she be concocting now-OH crap! Suddenly I remember the conversation we had in the locker room before the pep rally and then the reason for her winking becomes perfectly clear. Uggh! Why does today SUCK?! Why did I ask Serena to trade partners with me again? Oh yeah, cause you didn’t want to be caught in awkward conversation with Jay…but now-yep. My suspicions are confirmed as after another moment of conversation Max sidesteps Serena and makes his way towards me. Now I am paired up with Mr. ‘I’m a jerk and just because I’m hot I think I can get away with everything’ Evans instead of Kyle like it was supposed to be. Could today get any worse? I don’t have to wait long for my answer though.

“Hey Partner.” Max whispers giving me a wink and a grin. Ugh. Gag.

“Jerk.” I greet him in an even tone. Clutching at his chest he pretends to stumble back.

“Liz, that hurts.” I don’t give him the satisfaction of a response. Its bad enough I have to spend another twenty minutes talking to him. I don’t have to start now.

Suddenly I have no more sympathy for Kyle. He got me into this mess. All because he just doesn’t want to be dressed up like a girl. Seriously, he used to let us do that to him all the time. But I will give him what he wants. It’s time to put operation ‘Buddha Love’ into motion. It’s time to get Serena to butt out of my love life and hopefully get her more focused on one of her own.

“Ladies and gentlemen! Thanks to our volunteer we can now get our pep rally underway!” Serena yells excitedly into the microphone, and just as she said, the pep rally begins as the Senior class president joins her out on the floor. Tuning them out I glance once more around the gym in hopes of finding some way to escape, but all I find are the angry and tense eyes of Jay. He glares openly at an oblivious Max and it doesn’t take a genius to figure out that he recognizes Max as the guy who was kissing me this morning…but is he jealous? Filing away that information for later I continue my perusal while trying inconspicuously to move closer to Max. Hey, if it’s making Jay jealous I am willing to bear it. At least it shows he still cares enough to be jealous. Maybe he’ll finally realize that it’s stupid for us to be apart- “Alright, everybody join your partners. It’s time to see if our men here have what it takes to be a woman.” Handing her microphone over to the Class President Serena makes her way over to Jay at the same time that Courtney moves towards my brother. Then, getting my first good look at the supplies we have to work with I let a real grin break out on my face. If I have to spend with Max, I might as well make the most of it…
-------------------------------------------------------

See you guys later.

[stardreamer323]

I have returned! Ugh, sorry it took me so long, but this last month of school has been crazy. I had to study for finals like crazy. Especially for Physics. I went to prom as well, with the guy I had a crush on...I asked him and he said yes! He's totally sweet and totally adorable, but I digress. I have now officially graduated from high school and now I will have more time to write. So as promised, here is the new part...but first, I just want to say thank you SO much to all my readers! If it hadn't been for you, I probably would've given up a while ago. You guys rock!

Special Thanks to:

roswell3053
begonia9508
Empress_luci
clueless
Timelord31
Believer
LairaBehr4

Thanks for not giving up on me guys. Oh, and if any of you want to see some pictures from prom...and my totally cute date...I have pictures posted here. http://s34.photobucket.com/albums/d103/ ... s/?start=0

Now...onto the story

Chapter 11: Miniature Disasters

[Liz POV]


“Hey! Watch it!” Max yells covering his now injured eye protectively and leaning away from my approaching hand, never taking his other eye off of the offending weapon I hold. Jeez, it was just an accident…if he’d held still it probably wouldn’t- nope, it still would’ve happened…yeah, he shouldn’t have pissed me off earlier. Putting the mascara wand back into its bottle, I stand waiting for him to calm down.

“There, I put it away. Now calm down. Jeez, you’re such a baby.” I say with a huff. “Aren’t men supposed to be tough?” He looks at me indignantly and a second later, he removes his hand from his eye.

“Well what do you expect when you mercilessly attack me with that-that thing?!” He points childishly at the mascara in my hand.

“It was an ACCIDENT! Get over it already, besides, if you had just held still then we wouldn’t be having this conversation right now!” I yell back at him feeling the twinge of a headache forming at my temples. Does he always have to be so exhausting? I move my free hand up to my temple to rub small circles in an attempt to relieve the pain. Okay Liz, you can get through this. You only have one more period after this and then you’re out. Thank God for free periods. Taking a deep breath I look up to see him still eyeing me warily. “WHAT?!” I shriek out causing him to flinch even farther away from me. It came out more harshly than I intended it to and I look around noticing that our little spat has garnered more attention than before. A better inspection finds me falling under the gaze of my cousin who is currently glaring at me and the scene I am making and I have to literally fight the urge to roll my eyes. She’s got to be kidding me. Well, what does she expect? She’s the one who put me in this situation, it’s not like pairing Max and I together in a pep rally is suddenly going to turn us into best friends, let alone make us be civil. I have to admit, I started this out confident that I could make Jay jealous, maybe even jealous enough to want to be with me again and see how stupid it is for us to be apart. He LOOKED angry enough to begin with…but now I’m starting to wonder if this all was even worth the effort. All this time Jay looked like he could care less and instead busies himself talking to Serena, and Max is seriously starting to give me a headache. Tuning back into Serena’s glare I steel myself to turn my attention back to Max, but not before catching Jay turning to look in my direction, his eyes looking murderously at Max and our close proximity, or at least that’s what I hope it is. A second later, I watch his gaze move over to me but as soon as his eyes meet mine he turns away. But with renewed hope and feeling my headache begin to ebb I turn back to Max. “Okay, come on. I want to win this thing. There is NO way, and I mean NO way that I am going to lose to my cousin, let alone Courtney.” And pass up this opportunity to make Jay see what a fool he’s being…I add silently to myself. Heck, after that glare Jay just sent Max’s way I’d willingly kiss Max again if I thought that would get Jay to come back to me.

Yeah, like that’s the ONLY reason you’d willingly kiss Max again…

Oh shut up you. Can’t you just leave me alone? It was a good kiss okay? But even if it was a great kiss that does not mean that I am going to kiss him all the time or forget about Jay.

You just said it was a GREAT kiss…

Yeah whatever; look, I got a contest to win so can you just you know…poof? Or whatever it is you do when you go away?

Fine.

Thank you.

“Liz?” Max asks shaking me out of my mental argument.

“Yeah, what? Sorry, what was that?” I say tuning back into the situation. Come on Liz, you want to win don’t you?

“I said, sure, we can keep going as long as you keep that offending instrument of pain away from me.” He says gesturing to the mascara.

“But I’ve only done one eye; I need to do the other one.” I state already unscrewing the lid to said mascara. At my action Max backs up two steps and holds his hands up in defense.

“NO! I want to keep my other eye! Keep that thing away!” He yells fearfully dodging my approaching hand once again. “No! Keep it away! It only causes pain!”

“Yeah, well beauty is pain, so deal with it! Now you know what women go through to look beautiful.” At my words, a look of sheer horror crosses his face.

“You actually DO this?! WILLINGLY?! You’re a masochist!”

“Well, usually when I DO this, I am sitting STILL so it doesn’t poke me is the EYE! So stand STILL!” Grabbing him by the arm forcefully, I apply mascara to his other eye, but not before-

“OUCH! You poked me in the eye! AGAIN! I think you’re doing this on purpose!” He announces sulkily jutting out his bottom lip. It’s completely adorable and I almost want to ki- I mean, it’s completely annoying! When I realize he’s not going to cooperate I take a step back from him and fold my arms across my chest in annoyance.

“Of course I’m doing this on purpose! It’s part of the pep rally! And I REALLY want to win-”

“I don’t think injuring me is part of the pep rally…” He says as if stating a point I have overlooked.

“Yeah, well, like I said, beauty is pain; and the object of this pep rally is to makeover you guys into some pretty ladies. If you didn’t want to do this then you shouldn’t have volunteered.”

“I didn’t! My sister pinched me and when I stood up, your cousin so kindly picked on me!” He shouts loudly and I know my cousin has heard because when I turn around to glare at her she has the grace to look embarrassed if not nervous. Hmm…what are you playing at Serena? Don’t think I won’t get you back for this. Almost as if she can hear what I am thinking she immediately busies herself with making over Jay, which reminds me-

“Oh well, you’re here now so let’s just deal with this and get it over with. Now come here. The worst part is over. Now let me do your blush.” I say calming down a little and once again grabbing him by the arm to bring him closer to me. I start applying the blush to his skin and Max quietly complies and just when I think this might even work out and we might win he opens his big mouth.

“Should you really be putting this much make-up on me? I’ve seen my sister do this hundreds of times and I don’t remember seeing her ever put this much on. You’re not making me look like a slut are you?!” He asks worriedly as his eyes get as wide as saucers. “Whoa, there’s a vein popping out in your forehead-”

“SHUT UP! Just be quiet. Don’t talk unless you can improve the silence. And hold still, unless, you want to look like Marilyn Manson.” Ah, silence. At my threat he settles down into a pout. I finish applying his blush and then make a grab for the lipsticks provided. Hmm…iced mocha, plum, or peach blossom…

“Okay Max, which one do you want? Iced mocha, plum, or peach blossom?” I ask holding up the three options for him to choose from.

“Uh, I don’t know, you’re the make-up expert, you choose.”

“Yeah, but just a second ago you were criticizing my techniques. Aren’t you concerned I’m going to make you look like a slut?” I ask smugly.

“Fine, fine. I’m sorry. I’m sure you’re doing a fine job. Just pick whatever you want.”

“Thank you. Now, I think with your skin tone you’re more an iced mocha than anything.” I say thinking out loud. Putting down the other two tubes of lipstick I move his face down so I can get a good look at his lips. Wow he has nice lips. Whoa, focus Liz, focus. “Okay, now relax your lips and hold your mouth open a little bit like this.” I tell him showing him how I want him to put his lips by doing the same with mine. Max looks down at my lips and suddenly I feel the heat rise to my cheeks because I realize that he’s staring at them fixatedly. He finally allows his eyes to flicker up to my face to look into my eyes and for a second I stop breathing. He looks like he wants to kiss me senseless. I close my eyes to clear my mind. It’s only in your head Liz, when you open your eyes again, Max will just be waiting there for you to put the lipstick on him. Yet as I open my eyes it’s only to see that Max has lowered his face dangerously close to mine. His mouth hovers only inches away from mine and the memory from this morning’s kiss only makes me want to close that distance all the more. I want to taste him again. Wait, Liz, what are you thinking?! Breaking myself out of the fog I’m in, I push Max away quickly before it goes any further and take a few steps back. This is NOT good.

“What are you DOING?!” I whisper harshly to him hoping to snap him out of whatever he was just thinking. I can’t believe I almost kissed him, AGAIN. In front of Jay- and oh crap. Looking around to see if anyone had noticed our near-kiss, because if anyone had been watching that’s what they would have seen. There is no other reason why Max’s face would be so close to mine. I am surprised though to see that everyone’s attention is on my brother and Courtney who, from where I’m standing appear to be in a heated argument. Breathing a sigh of relief, I take this opportunity to grab Max by the collar of his shirt and apply the lipstick to his soft lips.

Soft? Now how do you know they’re soft?

You? I thought you were gone.

Silence…

Thank you now let me get back to winning this.

“Now Max, rub your lips together like this.” And still slightly confused at what just happened complies easily.

“Like this?” He asks massaging both lips together.

“Yeah, like that.”

“Okay, now what?”

“Now…”*smack*. The sound of skin hitting skin resounds in the air around us as I smack him soundly on the arm.

“OUCH! First you poke me in the eyes probably in an attempt to blind me and now you SMACK me! What the heck?! I haven’t done anything to anger you have I?” He questions sarcastically, clutching at his now red arm; but due to the attention Michael and Courtney are attracting I doubt anyone paid attention to his words.

“Hmm…let’s see, you broke my phone, insulted me, pretty much brought about the destruction of my relationship with that kiss this morning-”

“Oh really, it was that good huh?” He interrupts now smiling smugly down at me and I feel my anger start to boil over. That little…

“NO you jerk! My boyfriend saw you kiss me and got the wrong idea about us-”

“What about US?” He asked, his smile growing wider.

“Are you LISTENING? There IS no us. And thanks to that kiss this morning, my boyfriend wants nothing to do with me.” Don’t punch him Liz, DON’T punch him…

“If there is no us, then why’d we almost kiss a minute ago?”

“WE didn’t almost kiss a minute ago. YOU almost kissed me a minute ago.” I tell him, the venom dripping from every word just daring him to say otherwise. He’s silent for a minute and as his gaze studies my face I expect him to come back at me with another sarcastic or insulting remark. The last thing I expected was an apology.

“You’re right, I’m sorry. Look, I didn’t mean to mess up things between you and your boyfriend. I thought that there was something between us, but I was wrong and I’m sorry.” At my silence he continues nervously. “You know, I’m not usually such a jerk, I guess you just bring it out in me. Whoa, don’t get angry, I didn’t mean it like that.” He says quickly noticing my fists clenching at my sides. At my still skeptic look he continues. “Look, for what it’s worth, he’s a jerk if he doesn’t trust you. Isn’t trust important in relationships?” I fight the feeling rising within me but it soon overtakes me and I can’t help what’s going to happen next. I burst out laughing so hard that I think my sides are going to split. “What? What’s so funny?” Max asks looking genuinely confused.

“Y-you…” I manage to get out between my fit of giggles.

“What? Why?”

“I can’t believe I am having a serious conversation with you…dressed like that.” Looking down at himself dressed in a makeshift dress made out of a plastic tablecloth and wearing make-up he begins to laugh as well.

“I see what you mean.” Then suddenly getting serious he continues. “I meant what I said though, if he doesn’t trust you then maybe he’s not worth it.” He tells me seriously, which I find very strange considering most of our previous conversations consisted of arguing and insults.

“Would YOU trust a girl kissing another guy, right before your eyes, especially after years of your sister bad-mouthing you?!” At the tone of my voice he visibly cringes. “Yeah, that’s what I thought. So forgive me if I’m a little hesitant to take relationship advice from someone who tried to break up me and my boyfriend just this morning.” I bite out bitterly dwelling on the dismal situation of my relationship right now.

“Liz…” At my indignant silence he tries to get my attention and when I won’t look at him he lifts my chin up to look at him. “Liz, I’m sorry, really.” He looks sincere and part of me wants to believe him. Probably the crazy part, I mean this IS the same guy who just tried to kiss me. Fine, I’ll play along with his game. “Look, who’s your boyfriend-”

“EX-boyfriend you mean?” I correct him. “Oh that would be that guy over there with my cousin, you know, the one that’s been glaring at you for the last five minutes.” I add in with a smile. I know it’s not true, but maybe it’ll scare Max a little. And just as I’d hoped, Max winces a little letting me know my words have indeed affected him. Thankfully and to my delight, when Max looks over to where Jay and Serena are standing, Jay is in fact glaring at Max, and it takes all my self-control to keep a straight face. As I look back up at Max, he turns back to me and his eyes meet mine. Does he actually look remorseful? Could he really be serious about the apology? Whoa, okay, I have got to stop thinking like this. I don’t want to think that there’s more to Max Evans than what I’ve met. It’s just too…too-

“Here, wait here, and I’ll just go and explain it to him, you know, tell him I made a mistake.” He says motioning over to Jay and trying to move around me to get to him. Is he serious? If he goes over there now he’ll just make it worse. Jay looks pissed off as it is, ever since Max looked his way. This won’t be pretty, and as much as I want to see Max get taken down a notch, that annoying little voice inside my head that claims to be my conscience is telling me to stop him; that and the fact that if this goes badly, any chance of a relationship between me and Jay is basically over. Before I even realize what I’m doing then, I grab onto Max’s arm, effectively stopping him. He turns a questioning glance down to my hand on his arm and looks back up at me confused. “What?”

“Look, I believe you’re sorry.” I rush out hurriedly. “Don’t do this now; you’ll just make things worse.”

“Oh, come on. It won’t be that bad, just chill out. Go practice a cheerleader routine or something, I’ll be right back.” His sarcasm, to my annoyance has returned. And with that said he takes hold of my hand around his arm to release its grip on the appendage. He starts to move away from me and towards Jay and my mind frantically searches for a solution. Later I’ll regret my next action but in desperation, I latch my arms strongly around his waist trying to stop his escaping form. He stops and I realize the extremely awkward position we are both in. Him, standing mid-step with his back turned to me, and me bent forward, my shoulder resting on his back and my arms latched firmly around his waist. Turning his head to look down at me where I’m frozen he smiles amused.

“Wow, you just can’t keep your hands off of me, can you?” He asks smugly. Finally looking back up at him I say only one word.

“Don’t.” I growl out. If kindly asking doesn’t work with this man, maybe fear of being beaten will stop him…Suddenly without warning, he turns in my arms so now my face is in his chest and my arms wrapped around his torso. The awkward turn causing me in the confusion to stand to my full height. It still hadn’t crossed my mind to release my arms from their current position which if it had, it would’ve saved us quite a bit of trouble since right about now it looks like we’re locked in an intimate embrace and this time, we don’t have the arguing voices of Michael and Courtney to take the attention off of us. Then, before I have time to form a coherent thought, Max begins to whisper softly against my ear. I never noticed him leaning down…

Probably, because you were too distracted by the feel of being in his arms…

Shut up! What are you talking about?! I am not in his arms! His arms aren’t ar-around me…It’s then I notice that his arms are indeed around me.

See?

Just go away, would you?

“I think you’ve probably just made things worse on your own.” I shiver involuntarily at the sensation of his warm breath against my ear. Then as his words register I lean to see around Max to look at Jay who looks more ready than ever to kill Max. Then Jays gaze drops lower and he lets out a growl. I follow to where he’s looking to still see my arms wrapped firmly around Max’s torso. I immediately drop my arms as if burned, but the damage has already been done, and it’s made even worse when Max raises his hand to my cheek in a soft caress and moves an errant strand of my hair behind my ear. The realization that this is not only happening in front of Jay this time but the whole school hasn’t officially hit me yet. In fact, the only thought running through my mind is that I’ve got to get to Jay. I’ve got to make him realize that this is all a big misunderstanding. Jay looks away from me in disgust and with a little help from Serena, who looks at me disapprovingly, ignores me. Panicking, I immediately try to sidestep Max to get to Jay; all that matters right now is making him understand. But apparently my body had other plans for me when instead of by stepping Max; I feel the ground drop out from under me and in my desperate attempt to prevent my face from totally eating the gym floor, I grab onto the very thing which tripped me in the first place: that stupid plastic tablecloth that we used to make Max’s dress. Unfortunately, the dress was still ON Max when I grabbed for it.

How could this get worse you ask? Well, the student body president, who has the microphone by the way, picks this very opportune time to narrate what’s going on. Or, at least what she thinks is going on.

“Well, it looks like one of our teams is “cozying” up to each other.” She speaks into the microphone conspiratorially as if the rest of the school couldn’t already see Max and I locked up in a tangle of limbs on the floor of the gym. Max’s body on top of mine in a VERY compromising position, and of course, in the shock, an attempt to move wasn’t made right away. To everyone else in that gym we looked more like a hormonally driven couple than the victims of a klutz attack. And by everyone, I mean EVERYONE. If I was wondering how Jay would react, I didn’t have to wait very long.

“Get of my girlfriend!” Jay yells making his way towards us.

“JAY! JAY!” Serena yells rushing after him. “Jay! Jay, stop!” But before she can stop him, he reaches where we lay. And before I can utter out a word in explanation, he throws the first punch.

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And, the next installment of '1 Girl, 5 Guys, and a Basement'

1 Girl, 5 Guys, and a Basement: Part 10

Last time on ‘1 Girl, 5 Guys, and a Basement’ :

Amy: Hey Sariah, I’ll be right back; I’m going to go get a drink okay?

Sariah: Yeah sure. Just grab me a soda okay?

Amy: Yeah sure. (Heads quickly in the direction of the kitchen)

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Amy: (Runs down the hall to the kitchen, snatches the basement key off of the fridge, and unlocks the door to the basement and sneaks down.) (Hears strange music playing and fearing the worst; looks around the basement. Sees Jay looking like he’s almost convulsing in front of the mirror.) Oh no, it’s worse than I thought. (Rushes down the stairs towards Jay.) Jay. Jay! What are you doing?! Are you okay?! Someone call a doctor or something! Can’t you see he’s having some sort of seizure?! (She screams at the others guys)

Jay: Huh? What are you talking about? I’m fine. (Jay says turning to look at her.)

Amy: Oh thank goodness, I thought you were going to injure yourself or something…so how long have you been having those weird seizures?

Jay: Seizures?! What are you TALKING about?! I was just practicing the tango for the song ‘Tango: Maureen’

Amy: Ha ha that’s funny, you ARE joking right?

Jay: NO! I am NOT joking. (He crosses his arms angrily.)

Amy: That is THE worst tango I have EVER seen.

Jay: Hey! I happen to think I am really good at the tango!

Max: Um, sorry dude, but I have to agree with Amy here, that WAS the saddest tango I’ve ever seen.

Jay: You’re just jealous because I’m so good. Isn’t that right guys? (Looks around the room for support)

Raoul: Um, well you see….

Erik: Just come out and say it fop, he just plain sucks.

Brandon (From his spot huddled in the corner): He does present a valid point…

Jay: Wow, do I really suck THAT badly?

(Everyone nods and agrees)

Amy: Don’t worry Jay, I’m sure you’ll get better…maybe…eventually…

Jay: Well, it’s kind of hard to practice by myself and none of the other guys will dance with me!

Raoul: You kept stepping on my toes!

Amy: Well, what about you Max?

Max: I don’t know; something about two men dancing together…it just isn’t right. (Cringes)

*********************************Meanwhile******************************
[In Sariah’s Room]

Sariah: Jeez, how long does it take to grab a soda; the movie’s about to start. (Looks at the clock by the bed, then gets distracted by the glorious picture of Mr. Darcy from ‘Pride & Prejudice’ that’s next to the clock and doesn’t hear the knock at her window)

Jordan: Hello? (knocks again) Hello?

Sariah: (Still entranced by the photo, starts to sing) Oh Mr. Darcy, you’re so sexy. I want to kiss you. You’ve basically ruined every other guy for me…except my true love…

Jordan: What is GOING on? (Looking incredibly confused and slightly freaked out.)

Sariah: (Finally hears Jordan at the window and falls off the bed in shock and embarrassment) JORDAN! Holy Crap! You scared the bejeezus out of me!

Jordan: Uh…Sariah? What are you doing?

Sariah: Uh, nothing! Nothing at all! Ha ha…(Stands up and brushes clothes off)

Jordan: Right….have you seen Amy? I went to her house and her mom said she was over here.

Sariah: Uh, yeah. Actually she just went to grab us some sodas, why don’t you come on in?

Jordan: Okay. (Climbs in through the window and looks around) Sariah, what happened to your room?! Why is it covered in feathers and why is there blood on the carpet? Did you kill a chicken as some part of weird voodoo ritual?

Sariah: NO! Why does everyone ASSUME that I was doing voodoo again?! I told you, it was ONE do you hear me? ONE TIME! Besides, I never killed a chicken for any voodoo ritual; do you honestly think I would? Me, who can’t even put a worm on a hook when we go fishing, or gets squeamish whenever I see a dead animal?

Jordan: Well…

Sariah: HEY!

Jordan: Fine, fine….I don’t think you did it…but then why is your room covered in feathers and WHY is there blood in your carpet?

Sariah: It’s a LONG story; one that I don’t feel like repeating at the present moment. Here, why don’t we go find your girlfriend, she’s been gone for quite awhile. AMY! (yells and moves towards the door.)

Jordan: Wait, Sariah. (She stops and turns around)

Sariah: What?

Jordan: How’d the field trip go?

Sariah: Don’t get me started on that. Let’s just say that Amy and I were arrested more than once…

******************************Meanwhile*********************************
Amy: Okay Jay, when I put my left foot back, you put your right foot forward…and-(“AMY!” Is heard being yelled from upstairs) Oh Crap. Sariah. I forgot, I was only supposed to be getting sodas. Guys, I gotta go before Sariah catches me down here and figures out what I came to tell you. (Starts to run up the stairs)

Erik: Wait. What’d you come down here to tell us?

Max: Duh, that Jay dances like a moron.

Erik: No, she came down here to tell us something before she saw Jay convulsing and deduced he danced like a moron. Isn’t that right?

Amy: Yeah it is. But I don’t have much time. I just came to tell you that the diary you pilfered from Sariah’s room was a fake. She knows you took it also.

Max: What? Well that explains why she was so nice. She had nothing to worry about, we weren’t even close to finding who the letters were for!

Amy: Yes, yes. Now I don’t have time! I know where the REAL diary is-(“AMY!” is heard being yelled again and it’s getting closer) I gotta go! (Runs up the stairs and through the door and reaches the refrigerator panting) Man, I gotta start working out.

(Sariah and Jordan walk around the corner to the kitchen)

Sariah: Amy, what’s taking you so long? Jeez, you left like 5 minutes ago. (Sees Amy panting) Amy? Are you okay?

Amy: Y-yeah *pant* of *huff* course *puff* w-why do you a-ask?

Sariah: Well, for starters, you’re panting like you just ran a mile…second, your boyfriend is standing like 2 feet away from you and you haven’t made any move to run and jump into his arms or whatever sickeningly sweet couple-y thing you guys do…

Amy: First-off, I was only panting because it’s so hot in here. Jeez, it’s almost summertime and your house is freakishly hot so I reserve the right to pant if I want to. Secondly, you’re just jealous because you don’t have a boyfriend to do couple-y things with. (Sticks tongue out)

Sariah: EXCUSE ME! I do have a legion of men under my house…

Jordan: Legion of men? What is going on here-

(Doorbell rings)

Sariah: Was that the doorbell?

Jordan: That’s what it sounded like…

Amy: Who can THAT be? Are you expecting anybody?

Sariah: No…

Amy: Ooh! Have you met a guy and you’re just not telling me about him?

Sariah: Well-

Amy: I KNEW it! I’ll answer the door! I want to meet this guy! (Rushes to the door; Amy yells back on her way to the door) Is he the guy you’ve been writing those love notes for?

Jordan: Love notes? (Looks at her questioningly)

Sariah: It’s a long story…Don’t ask.

Jordan: You know, I’ve been hearing that a lot from you two lately…one of these days you’re going to have to tell me what’s really going on.

Sariah: Yeah, one of these days…but not today. Come on, let’s go see who’s at the-

Amy: Oh. My. Gosh. (Thud)

************************************************************************
Ominous voice:

Did Sariah in fact meet some guy? Is HE the one she’s writing all those love notes for? Is that who is at the door? Why is Amy so freaked out to see who it is? What was that giant thud? Will Jordan ever be told the whole story by Amy and Sariah? Will the guys ever find Sariah’s REAL diary? Will Jay ever learn to tango correctly? Find out next time in the next installment of ‘1 Girl, 5 Guys, and a Basement’.


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Well, that's it for today guys, I should hopefully have the next part for 'Finding A Safe Haven' sometime within the next week. Hope you enjoyed the new chapter!