I Remember You, A/I, Teen, Complete, 8/17/2007

[Sternbetrachter]

I Remember You



By Trude
Rating: Teen (for now)
Disclaimer: of course, I own nothing related to Roswell, the idea behind the books/show, the characters, etc. are all not made up by me
Summary: Response to the following challenge by killjoy:
Challenge:
In junior high Isabel Evans was a geeky tomboy with braces. Other than her brother and her cousin Michael her only true friend at all was fellow geek outcast and best friend Alex Whitman.
The two were inseparable for years.
That is until the summer before their first year of high school. While Alex was away for the summer Isabel hit a growth spurt.
She lost her geeky side when the braces came off, her curves filled out and her breast came out....really came out.
So much to her surprise when she hit high school her looks catapulted Isabel into the popular crowd. But sadly this new experience of being popular went to Isabel's head and she quickly forgot her true best friend.
Now years later high school is almost over but Isabel is in trouble. She's failing a class and without it she won't graduate. So who does the teacher get to be Isabel's tutor?
Yep you guessed it old Alex.
REQUIREMENTS
Maria and Liz took Alex under their wing at the beginning of high school after Isabel dumped him. So therefore starting the friendship trio than.
Michael is Max and Isabel's cousin.
When someone in the popular crowd is mean to Alex, Maria stands up for him.

Author’s Note: Thanks to KaraGail for beta-reading the story.
The title is also a song by the Irish group “U2”.
killjoy, I hope it is slightly like you expected it to be even though I honestly doubt it will turn out like you wanted it to
The lovely banner is made by the amazing To Kiss A Frog




Part One

“I don’t know Alex, this might not be such a good idea after all.” Isabel Evans doubtfully said, chewing on her lower lip nervously.

“Oh come on, Iz. There’s nothing bad about making a blood oath, Indians always do that.” Alex Whitman replied confidently.

“Alex, in case you forgot, we aren’t Indians.” Isabel replied, running her tongue over her braces, another thing she did when she was nervous.

“I know that Isabel, I’m twelve after all.” Alex replied with a huff. Both kids were sitting in Alex’s tree house where they often spent their afternoons. It was always just the two of them – the fate of being the geeky outcasts in their class. Sometimes, Isabel’s brother Max and her cousin Michael would join them but often they were busy with sports or other friends.

“But okay, Iz, we don’t have to do it when you are scared.”

“I’m not scared!” the blonde girl immediately exclaimed.

“Yes, you are!”

“Am not!”

“You are SOOOO scared!”

“Give me that stupid knife, Whitman.” Isabel grounded out, grabbing the offending object and carefully making a small cut on her thumb, only wincing slightly at the pain before handing the small knife back to her friend. “Your turn, unless you are too chicken.”

Grumbling about girls underneath his breath, Alex took the knife and after a second’s hesitation also made a small cut, immediately looking away when he saw his own blood.

“Okay, lets do this then.” Alex said, holding his thumb up. With a nod, Isabel did the same and the two pressed their bloody thumbs together.

“Best friends for life.” Alex said seriously, looking into Isabel’s brown eyes.

“Best friends for life.” Isabel repeated just as seriously as she looked into Alex’s green eyes.

After a few seconds, they put their hands down again, satisfied grins on their faces.



Years Later

Hoisting his school bag over his shoulder, Alex walked up towards the West Roswell High building, anxious about his first day here. He had spent the summer in band camp, away from his family and friends. Well, family and friend since Isabel Evans was actually the only person he’d classify as ‘friend’.

He’d only come home one week ago and hadn’t heard from Isabel but put it down to the excitement of the new school and was confident that they’d get to talk about their summer experiences soon enough.

Feeling slightly lost in the mass of students, Alex leaned against one of the few trees at the entrance of the school property, looking around for familiar faces. His face lit up when his eyes landed on Isabel.

“Wow!” He muttered quietly when he took in her appearance. His best friend had certainly changed in the two months he was away. Gone was the skinny tomboy and got replaced by a curvy young woman. Seeing her laugh, Alex grinned. ‘Looks like she finally got rid of the braces.’

Glad to have found her, Alex made his way over to her, finding it a bit odd that she was hanging out with Stacy Scheinin, a girl who always had made fun of Isabel and him. ‘Oh well, not important right now.’ Alex thought.

“Hey Isabel!” Alex called out cheerfully as he approached the group of young girls and boys. They all turned around at that, staring at him, surprised that he dared talk to them. Not a big surprise for Alex, he’d never mingled with those kids and hadn’t thought he’d be doing so anytime soon but he really wanted to talk to Isabel after such a long time.

Surprisingly, Isabel turned her back to him after looking at him for a few seconds with indifference on her face and continued her talk with Stacy and Tish, acting as if he hadn’t called out her name.
“Isabel, what …” Alex started again, confused by his friend’s behavior when one of the boys of the group, Brian Calen who was almost twice Alex’s size, stepped in front of Alex.

“Hey geek, what do you think you are doing? This is the popular crowd, not the one for losers like you.”

“I just want to talk to Isabel and …” Alex stammered confused by what was going on. Since when was it a crime to talk to his friends?

“Does it look like she wants to talk to you?” Steve Jones asked, standing next to Brian and pointing towards Isabel who was laughing about something Tish said, totally ignoring what was going on five feet away from her.

Before Alex could say anything, Brian forcefully pushed him backwards, causing Alex to fall down on his butt which caused the whole group and some kids around them to laugh. “What a loser.” Someone said but Alex didn’t really hear it, too shocked to see that Isabel was one of the kids that was laughing at him. A second later, Isabel and the other girls turned around and walked towards the school building, still laughing and joking around, leaving Alex to stare after them in shocked silence.

“Stay away from her, Whitless, if not then this will seem like a butterfly touch to you.” Steve threatened as he hit Alex on the head.

“What is your problem, jerk?” A voice from behind the two standing jocks asked.

“What did you call me?” Steve asked the small brunette behind him, more surprised than angry.

“What? You also having problems with your ears?” the second girl – a short blonde – asked as she stepped up to the much taller boy. “She asked what your problem is, jerk.” She repeated her friends words, hitting Steve’s chest with her index finger when saying *problem* and *jerk*.

“You okay?” the brunette meanwhile asked Alex who was still sitting on the floor, holding his head and tears glistening in his eyes.

“No, not really.” Alex replied thickly, more hurt by Isabel’s behavior then the beating he had taken.

“Hey, that’s between the loser and us! Oh look, the wimp starts crying now too!” Brian said, overcoming the surprise of being interrupted by the two girls faster than his friend.

“Loser? Wimp?” the blonde commented doubtfully, “and yet it takes two of you to deal with him? You must be quite scared of him.”

“What?” “Are you crazy?” the two jocks cried out surprised.

“Why don’t you just leave?” the brunette, who was now kneeling next to Alex, asked quietly.

Glancing back at the obviously angry blonde, both guys shrugged and headed towards the school building too. “See you, Whitless!” They called over their shoulders before being gone, leaving the three kids alone.

“Can you stand up?” the girl next to Alex asked as the blonde kneeled down on the other side of him.

“I’m Maria, this is Liz.” She introduced them, “We better get up before the warning bell rings.” She said as she and Liz helped Alex up and picked his schoolbag. “What happened and who are you?”

“Alex. Alex Whitman.” Alex replied absently, still staring at the place where Isabel disappeared minutes ago.

“You okay to go to school?” Liz asked concerned by the boy’s dazed expression.

“And what happened?” Maria asked again curiously.

“I … I don’t know.” Alex replied truthfully. “I just went to say hello to Isabel. She’s my best friend you know and …”

“Best friend?” Maria echoed? She had no idea who Isabel was but none of the girls acted very friendly towards the lanky boy. “Does she know that you two are friends?”

“Maria!” Liz cried out.

“What?” Maria asked back defensively.

“Yeah, she does.” Alex replied as they slowly moved into the school. “We’ve been best friends for years, always sitting together in class and during lunch period.” Alex trailed off when he spotted Isabel talking to Steve and Brian, laughing at something they told her.

“Looks like she found new friends.” Maria said gently, putting a hand on Alex’s shoulder as she looked down at the smaller boy.

“Yeah.” Alex replied hollowly, feeling like he had stepped into Twilight Zone.

“You wanna sit with us during lunch period?” Liz asked, stepping in front of Alex so his view of Isabel was blocked which seemed to bring him out of his daze.

“Uh sure, that would be nice.” Alex said with a sad and hesitant smile. “I’d like that.”

“Awesome.” Maria commented as she slung her arm around Alex’s shoulders and steered him away from the blonde girl who she assumed was Isabel, Liz immediately on the other side of Alex as they walked along the hallway. “And if those jerks bother you again, just tell me, I’ll show them how to behave."[/img]

[Sternbetrachter]

chanksgirl - thank you!
KaraGail - thanks Kara
To_Kiss_A_Frog - thanks once more for the fantastic banner I'm glad you like Maria and Liz's protective streak
cassie - yeah, Alex was extremely confused; luckily he has Maria and Liz on his side
DreamerLaure - I'm glad you like the start and about your hope ... only time can tell
killjoy - sorry for not informing you about the start of this
Stargazer's Delight - sorry, it will be a very normal class Isabel is failing


Part Two

Four Years Later

“How are my two favourite ladies doing?” Alex asked cheerfully as he plopped down besides his best friends Liz Parker and Maria Deluca.

“Lonely my dear, very lonely.” Maria replied before asking, “Where have you been? Liz and I started to get worried and believe me, three months before graduation, the only thing I wanna worry about is my math exam.”

“Sorry girls but I bring peace offers.” Alex replied, holding up two bars of chocolate. “White chocolate for Ms. Deluca and nuts for Ms. Parker” he said as he handed the candy to the two eager girls. “And to answer your question, Mr. Saunders asked me to stay a few minutes after my AP English class. He asked me if I could tutor one of his students from another class who has problems in English lit.”

“Did you agree”? Liz asked as she licked some melted chocolate off of her fingers.

“Please, tell me you didn’t.” Maria pleaded. At Liz’s surprised look, she shrugged, “What, he has his own finals to worry about and it is bad enough to have one over achieving friend.” She told her friend pointedly which earned her an eye roll from said over achiever.

“Very funny.” Liz commented dryly.

“Uh ladies?” Alex asked with a small wave of his hand, suppressing a grin at the girls’ antics. “Can we go back to me again?”

“Of course Alex, please, tell us all about your adventures with Mr. Saunders.” Maria replied innocently before screwing her face up, “Eww, that sounded dirty.”

Rolling his eyes at her, Alex continued, “I wasn’t too ecstatic about it myself but Mr. Saunders said it would look good in college applications so I agreed in the end.”

“Who is the student you’ll have to tutor?” Liz asked, finishing her chocolate with delight.

“I don’t know.” Alex answered with a shrug. “Another teacher wanted something from Mr. Saunders before he could tell me. I’m supposed to meet up with Saunders and the other student after my last period. I’ll tell you who it is afterwards. I just hope it won’t be one of the Neanderthals of the football team.”

“Hey, Max is in the football team.” Liz piped up.

“No one would call your boyfriend a Neanderthal, Liz. He’s too smart like that – unless most of his team mates.” Maria teased before turning back to Alex. “I’m sure it won’t be that bad Alex, life can’t be that bitchy after all.”


Later that day, Alex found himself alone in Mr. Saunders classroom, neither the teacher nor the other student being present yet. Tapping his fingers impatiently against the table where he was sitting, Alex hoped the others would be here soon so he could leave school and go on with his day.

“Ah Mr. Whitman, thanks for being on time.” Mr. Saunders said as he walked into this room and sat down behind his desk. “I’m sure we won’t have to wait much longer, she will certainly be here soon.”

“She? So it’s a girl?” Alex asked, thankful that it won’t be one of the jocks who love to make his life unpleasant.

“Yes. I forgot to tell you about that earlier, didn’t I?” Mr. Saunders said more to himself than to his student. “I was talking about Isabel Evans earlier? Do you know her?”

Alex said up straighter at that. ‘Isabel Evans? Just when I started to think it can’t be that bad?’ Noticing that the teacher was looking at him curiously, Alex put on a fake smile. “Yes, I know Isabel … we used to have a few classes together in junior high.”

“Excellent, it won’t be too awkward then when you already know each other.” Mr. Saunders commented happily, completely missing the unhappy look on Alex’s face.

“I’m really sorry for being late, Mr. Saunders.” The cheerful voice of Isabel Evans could be heard just then as she walked into the classroom and with an inward sigh, Alex looked over at her.

“There was some problem with my locker and I …” it was then that Isabel spotted Alex and she came to an immediate halt, obviously just as surprised about who her tutor was going to be as Alex was as he learned who he had to tutor.

“That’s okay, Ms. Evans. Mr. Whitman and me weren’t waiting for so long anyway, right Mr. Whitman?”

“Right.” Alex replied politely, turning his attention to the chalk board behind Mr. Saunders head, refusing to look at Isabel for any longer.

“Why don’t you take a seat, Ms. Evans so we can talk about this arrangement?”

With another uncertain glance at Alex, Isabel sat down two rows away from Alex, not looking at him either. It was the first time in years that the two of them were alone in a room again and the silence was more than uncomfortable.

Mr. Saunders seemed oblivious to the awkwardness between the two seniors as he continued talking. “Okay, we all know why we are here – Ms. Evans has some … problems in English while you Mr. Whitman are doing very well in your AP English class, so I thought it might be a good idea if you two could look into some of Ms. Evans problems and work on them before finals begin.”

“You do know that I have to study for my own finals too, don’t you Mr. Saunders?” Alex spoke up. “Maybe someone else would be better suited?”

“Of course, Mr. Whitman and I don’t expect you to be spending all your time on Ms. Evans studying. Just one or two sessions a week for the next months or so. And I have been thinking for a long time about who would be best for the job, Mr. Whitman, it wasn’t just a spur of the moment decision to pick you.” The teacher explained before turning to Isabel. “Ms. Evans, I expect you to be fully behind studying so you won’t be wasting Mr. Whitman’s time at all, is that clear?”

“Yes sir.” Isabel replied tightly, not liking how it sounded like she wouldn’t be interested in studying so she wouldn’t fail this class which would mean she couldn’t graduate. Just because she hadn’t shown much interest in the subject so far, didn’t mean that she wanted to fail.

“Mr. Whitman, if there are any problems arising during your tutoring sessions you can feel free to tell me anytime.” Mr. Saunders then said to Alex, wanting to make sure that the young man knew that he didn’t have to put up with any tardiness from Isabel.

“Okay.”

“Excellent. I already learned from Mr. Whitman that you two know each other, so I am sure you two can work out a schedule for your tutoring yourselves.”

Realizing that they were dismissed, Alex and Isabel got up and left the room, Alex putting as much distance as he could between them. When he closed the door to the classroom behind him, he paused for a moment to calm himself down before facing Isabel who stood besides him.

“When do you want to start this?” he asked, looking at a point above Isabel’s left shoulder.

“I don’t really know.” Isabel admitted with a shrug, feeling very uncomfortable around Alex after such a long time. ‘God, why did it have to be Alex Charles Whitman of all the people in this school?’ she thought to herself.

“How about we start Wednesday afternoon after school?” Alex asked with a sigh, knowing that this would end badly.

“I can’t.” Isabel immediately said. “How about Thursdays instead.”

“I can’t.” Alex echoed dully, wanting to hit his head against the nearest locker in frustration. “How about Friday?”

“You want to study on a Friday afternoon?” Isabel exclaimed.

“No, Isabel. I do not *want* to study on Friday afternoons with you but I obviously don’t have much choice in this matter, do I?” Alex snapped back angrily.

“Sorry.” Isabel replied surprised, not being able to remember a moment when Alex ever raised his voice around her. ‘But that was all before, wasn’t it?’ she bitterly thought to herself. “Friday afternoon is fine.”

Alex started to feel bad about his outburst but then he thought back on all the years where Isabel had ignored him and how her behavior had hurt him and decided that she deserved his outburst and that he wouldn’t apologize for it.

“Alright and where? Your place? Mine? The Crashdown? The …” Alex asked, deciding that he’d be polite but nothing else from now on.

“My house.” Isabel immediately said. “My parents work till the evening and Max has football practice, so we can study without interruptions.”

‘And no one will see you with the geek.’ Alex thought bitterly to himself but out loud he said, “Fine, I’ll see you on Friday then. 4 pm okay?”

“Sure.”

“Fine.” With that, Alex turned and walked out of the building, not glancing back at Isabel as he made his way to his car, wondering what he’d done to deserve this kind of punishment.

[Sternbetrachter]

chanks_girl
thanks for the feedback and well ... I couldn't imagine the two being estatic about being paired up

killjoy
glad you liked the last part and Alex won't be desperate here

KaraGail
glad you like the Alex-with-a-backbone

cassie
thanks for the feedback and I guess everyone seems to improve of my "I don't take shit" Alex

To Kiss A Frog
oh well, we'll see how them working together will be soon thanks for the feedback

erinkatie
thanks - I'm very glad you 'likey' it

Allie Xie
thanks for the feedback
hm, have you ever seen Isabel Evans beg? Ever? Alex telling her he doesn't care whether she fails or not? hmmmm ... we'll see


thanks again, guys and girls and I hope you like this part too



Part Three

“Isabel Evans?” Maria exclaimed shocked as she stood behind the counter of the Crashdown next to Liz who was just as surprised.

“Yes. God really loves me, huh?” Alex replied as he took another sip of his orange soda.

“Will you be okay?” Liz asked concerned, remembering very well how much Alex had suffered the first weeks after Isabel’s public rejection on the first day of high school and the other times Alex had – in vain – tried to talk to her, always being harassed by one of Isabel’s new friends and/or totally ignored by the blonde girl.

“Yeah, I’ll be fine, no need to worry.” Alex told his girls with a small smile.

“Well, if she thinks she can mess around with you so you do all the work …” Maria threatened.

Sporting a real smile now, Alex reached forward to pat Maria’s hand, ”I know Maria, you’ll kick her butt for me but don’t worry … do you really think I’d let her push me around after everything? I do have some self esteem left.”

“When you want to whine about the whole experience, you know where to find us.” Liz told her tall friend.

“Yeah, I know.” Alex said but then frowned, “Hey, I don’t whine!”




“Whitless the Geek? Wow, your life really sucks, Isabel.” Stacy Scheinin told Isabel over the phone at the same time Alex was talking to Liz and Maria.

“Yeah.” Isabel replied dully. She knew that she had hurt Alex a lot four years ago and that this topic might come up during their studying sessions. Not that she could blame Alex for being angry with her, she knew that she had been a total bitch to him.

She had often regretted how she handled things between them but with Maria and Liz constantly around Alex and her new friends hanging out with her all the time, she didn’t dare talk to Alex when everyone was watching and after awhile, she feared that too much time had passed and that it was too late for damage control.

“I’m sure that Brian wouldn’t mind hanging around when Whitless is at your place to make sure that he behaves.” Stacy commented.

“Yeah, that would really help me studying when Brian is there, threatening Alex the whole time.” Isabel replied, not thrilled at the thought of Brian being there.

If it weren’t for prom coming up, she would have already broken up with the jerk who needed to be told ‘No’ more than once to really get it but breaking up now might ruin her chances of becoming Prom Queen. ‘Stupid high school rules.’ Isabel thought to herself.

“He won’t be happy about it.” Stacy said confidently, knowing that the jock got jealous easily.

“Brian’s not happy about a lot of things.” Isabel replied airily.

“I know.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Isabel asked sharply.

“Oh you know Isabel,” Stacy said, “Brian complained to Jeff that you … uh, weren’t the most … lets say ‘friendliest’ girlfriend he ever he had.”

Isabel silently counted to ten so she wouldn’t start screaming before she answered, “Well, excuse me for not wanting to be another story Brian can brag about.” ‘Like you’ she thought to herself.

“Hey, s’okay. I know the first time can be scary but you don’t know what you’re missing. Oh well, you can tell Brian that prom’s coming soon if he gets touchy again – I mean, who wants to leave high school a virgin.”

“Yeah.” Isabel replied, thinking that breaking up before prom might not be such a bad idea after all. “Listen Stacy, I have to go, my mom wants something from me. See you tomorrow.” Hanging up, Isabel sunk back onto her back, blindly reaching for Toby, the blue teddy bear Alex had bought her for her tenth birthday and which was still having its fix place on her bed.

“This won’t be easy, will it?” She asked the bear as she thought of the coming weeks. “God must really hate me!”




Two days later it was Friday, the day of Alex’s and Isabel’s first study meeting. Alex was walking towards his car after school when out of nowhere, Brian Calen appeared in front of him.

“We need to talk Whitless.” He sneered at Alex with a menacing stare. The effect of the stare was ruined by the fact that Alex was actually taller than Brian but Alex was weary anyway.

“About?” he asked, already used to being called ‘Whitless’.

“You and my girlfriend meeting up later. Don’t you dare getting any ideas when you are alone with her, otherwise …” Brian trailed off, sure that the other boy got the message.

Alex sighed, thinking to himself that this constantly getting threatened by the jocks was slowly but surely getting old. “Didn’t you call me a fag last week?” he asked Brian.

“Probably. Why?” Brian asked suspiciously.

“Well, last week you seemed so sure I was gay so why do you now think that I might go after Isabel? She’s not that special, you know.” Alex replied nonchalantly, clearly confusing Brian who had expected Alex to be covering in fear.

“Uh well …” Brian stammered, unsure what to do till he spotted Isabel standing near them and watching what they were doing and he realized that it would earn him points if he defended his girlfriend. “Hey, watch what you are saying! What do you know about Isabel anyway?”

Looking at Isabel himself, Alex replied bitterly, “Yeah, you are right, what do I know about her?” He turned his attention back to Brian when Isabel averted her eyes. “Don’t worry, I won’t touch her or try anything.”

“Good for you.” Brian said and walked past Alex, making sure to bump into his shoulder as he headed to Isabel and his other friends.

“You okay?” Maria asked when her and Liz walked up to Alex.

“Yeah, don’t worry, the jocks used to be more threatening years ago.” Alex commented with a chuckle as he put an arm around each of his girls. “I’m pretty sure that I caught Brian off guard and that he would still be standing there like a fool if his friends hadn’t appeared.”

“Yeah, he looked like a little lost kid for a moment. A dumb little lost kid.” Maria laughed, putting an arm around Alex’s waist herself.

“You ready for your big study date?” Liz asked after waving to Max who she spotted waiting for her at his car.

“It is so not something I’d call a date.” Alex immediately said, “but yes, I’m ready.”

“That’s good.” Maria commented. “And you really will be okay when you are all alone with your little crush.”

“Yes, of course I’ll be … wait, what did you say?” Alex asked panicked as he looked from one girl to the other.

Trading a glance with Maria, Liz turned to her tall friend with a reassuring smile. “Alex, we’ve been best friends for four years, did you really think we wouldn’t notice that you have a crush on Isabel?”

“But … I … I don’t …” Realizing that it would be useless to lie, Alex let his shoulders hang down. “How long did you know and why didn’t you say anything?”

“We suspected it for about a year and for us not saying anything … well, you didn’t mention it either and we decided to wait till you bring it up.” Maria explained, “You aren’t mad at us, are you?”

Alex had to laugh at that. “Why would I be mad at you two? I’m only mad at myself.” At the confused looks he received, he explained, “I mean … why did it have to be *her*? After all the crap she put me through I have to fall in love with Isabel Evans who made it more than clear that she thinks I’m underneath her. You’d think I’m smarter than that.”

“Alex, don’t be so hard on you. You can’t control who you like.” Liz said, rubbing Alex’s arm comfortingly.

“That’s true. I mean, you know I wasn’t happy myself when I started liking Michael Guerin of all people.” Maria got a chuckle out of Alex at that. It was no secret that Maria and Michael couldn’t stand each other at first and that even know that they were together, they argued almost as much as they did when they first met.

“To come back to our earlier question: will you be okay when you two are alone?” Liz asked gently.

Sighing, Alex gave his best friends a smile, “Yeah, I’ll be fine. I might have romantic feelings for Isabel but I also still remember the pain she put me through. I won’t be a puppy in heat around her.”

“Good for you, give her hell!” Maria exclaimed, throwing her fist in the air for emphasis.

Alex laughed at his friend’s behavior. “As lovely as that sounds, I don’t think so Maria. I’ll just act like I’d do around any other student. No special treatment for Ms. Evans, I fear.”

[Sternbetrachter]

KaraGail
glad you liked it!

Gamma Rho Girl
Stacy won't be in this very often but she'll appear one or two more times

chanks_girl
glad you like Maria and Alex's way of dealing with the jocks

killjoy
yeah, Isabel is regretting how she treated Alex but if she ever admits it to him ... who knows? (aside from me?)

Allie Xie, cassie
I hope you two forgive me that I don't answer you seperately but since you pointed out pretty much the same:
yes, the popular crowd isn't the smartest one in school
about telling Alex he 'doesn't know Isabel' - I wanted to say that Brian meant "he doesn't know her *now*" - and don't forget (even though I didn't pay much attention to this in the story line myself) - Isabel used to be a huge geek too ... the popular crowd only noticed her when her body changed from a child's to a young woman's ... the in-crowd never really knew how close A/I were when they were younger - they never gave them that much attention
besides ... I dislike jocks so ... the chances of me writing them as smart, sensitive people who aren't shallow are not very high hmmmm ... I'm not really praising myself here, am I?


thanks for the feedback, everyone!




Part Four

At 4:01 pm Alex knocked on the Evans’ door, getting a weird feeling of déjà vu, remembering how he used to knock on the same door years ago on a regular basis. Luckily, the door opened before he could start taking a trip down memory lane and Alex looked up at Isabel.

She had changed from the clothes she wore at school to comfortable jeans and a red t-shirt and appeared to feel uncomfortable about the whole situation too which actually made Alex feel a bit better.

“Can I come in?” he asked after a few seconds of silence.

“Uh sure, sorry.” Isabel replied blushing. Opening the door she waited for Alex to come in before closing it again. She knew that it would get weird but didn’t think it would be that bad.

“Nice paint job.” Alex commented as the two made their way towards the hall, heading towards the living room as far as Alex could remember.

“What?” Isabel asked surprised as she looked first at Alex and then at the walls. “Oh yes, Mom did that about two years ago when Dad refused to call someone to do it, saying he’d do it himself someday but never to around to do it.”

Alex chuckled at that, remembering that Mrs. Evans never minded doing the dirty work herself.

Stepping into the living room, Isabel motioned for Alex to take a seat on the couch. “Can I get you something to drink?”

“Uh, just water please.” Alex replied as he sat down and put some books onto the table in front of him.

“Okay, I’ll be right back.” With that, Isabel went into the kitchen to fetch them something to drink. She felt unexpectedly saddened by Alex’s comment about the walls’ colors. It reminded her once again of what great friends her and Alex used to be so long ago.

In the last four years, there had been moments where Isabel had wished she could still call Alex and tell him about her problems, knowing he’d listen to whatever she had to say without being judgmental.

Sure, Tish and Stacy were her friends now and she could talk to them about a lot of things but she was also aware that the two could be real bitches and talk behind her back about her and what she said.

Isabel knew that many classified her as bitch too and that they weren’t that wrong but at least she didn’t tell other people someone else’s innermost thoughts. She also never said something rude about Alex when the others were teasing about ‘Whitless the Geek’.

‘But you didn’t stop them either, did you?’ she thought as she walked back into the living room with their drinks.

“Where do you want to get started?” Alex asked as Isabel sat down on the other end of the couch. Not getting a response, he looked up to find her looking at him. “What?”

Startled, Isabel sat up straight, “Nothing. Uh, let’s start with Frost and Shakespeare?”

Reaching for her English book, she busied herself, embarrassed at being caught staring. It had been the first time in years that her and Alex were alone again and so she had looked at her tutor, noticing how he’d changed since they stopped being friends.

He had certainly grown a lot in the last years, now being taller than Isabel who herself wasn’t small and he lost his baby fat. If he were hanging out with the popular crowd, he’d be one of the ‘cute’ guys and not just one of the ‘geeks and losers’, Isabel thought.

Realizing that these kind of thoughts were totally freaky and not helping her in the least with her English problems, Isabel pushed them aside, intent on fully concentrating on the studying. The last thing she needed was Alex to complain about her in front of Mr. Saunders.

“Frost and Shakespeare?” Alex echoed, before shrugging. “Sure, why not. Lets start with Shakespeare then …”



Two hours later, they were still studying, both already feeling fatigue creeping up on them. By an unspoken agreement, they both had avoided any topic that did not involve English Literature, knowing that it would not be good if they started talking about the past and what had happened.

The two got interrupted when someone opened the door and foot steps coming towards them could be heard.

“Isabel honey, I’m home.” They heard Mrs. Evans say mere seconds before she appeared in the living room. She had seen the unfamiliar car in the driveway when she came home from work and was curious who was with her daughter.

Looking at the slightly familiar boy, her eyes lit up after a few seconds. “Oh my, Alex Whitman, is it really you?”

“Good afternoon, Mrs. Evans.” Alex said politely, getting up to shake the woman’s hand.

“Look at how you have grown. Amazing.” Mrs. Evans gushed as she looked at the young man in front of her. “It has been really long since you last visited us …” she trailed off, waiting for Alex to say something.

Isabel never really told her or Phillip why Alex suddenly stopped coming over in their first year in high school, always changing the topic when they had asked her about. It had been Max who told them that Isabel and Alex both got new friends and didn’t really talk to each other any more but he didn’t say much more either when they had pressed him for more details, always saying that they should ask Isabel about it.

“Uh yeah, I guess it was.” Alex said after a moment, glancing down at his shoes. “I should get going anyway. I don’t want to intrude and …”

“Nonsense, you aren’t intruding at all, Alex.” Diane immediately said, “Why don’t you stay for dinner?”

“Mom!” Isabel cried, looking down when her mother looked over at her disapprovingly.

“Thanks for the offer, Mrs. Evans but I really need to go. My parents are expecting me and I can’t keep them waiting much longer anyway.” Alex lied, knowing that his parents were away for the weekend.

“Oh alright then, maybe some other time then.” Diane smiled at Alex.

“Maybe.” Alex replied and started to gather his books.

“Okay, I’ll leave you two alone then. Isabel, could you help me in the kitchen later?” Diane asked her daughter with a pointed look which Isabel knew left her with no chance to deny.

“Sure. I’ll be there in a few minutes.” Isabel said as she got up to walk Alex to the door.

All the awkwardness that could be mostly avoided in the last two hours was now fully back and was looming above the two teens. “Okay, I guess I’ll see you next week then and don’t forget to look over the topics I told you about. Bye.”

With that, Alex was gone, not bothering to check if Isabel wanted to say something and all she could do was watch him as he got into his car before she closed the door with a sigh.

“Isabel? You coming?” her mother called out then.

“Yes!” Isabel called back as she headed into the kitchen, leaning against the doorframe as she watched her mother prepare dinner. “Here I am!”

“Good.” Diane said as she turned to look at her daughter, “Was there a reason why you so impolite to Alex earlier when I mentioned dinner? What was up with Alex being here all of sudden anyway? He suddenly stopped coming by four years ago and now, he’s here again. Care to explain, Isabel?”

Shifting uncomfortably from one foot to the other, Isabel avoided her mother’s eyes. “Well, when high school started we made new friends and lost contact. That happens everywhere and everyday, mom.”

Her mother didn’t seem convinced but decided to not press the matter for now. “And why was he here then?”

“He’s helping me out in English. That’s all.”

“Are you failing English?” Diane asked shocked.

“What? No!” Isabel lied. “I just have a slight problem with the topic we are discussing currently – that’s all. No need to worry, mom.”

“If you say so …” Diane murmured doubtfully.

“Yes, really mom! Nothing mysterious going on. Alex and I just grew apart years ago and now he helps me with English. That’s all.” Isabel said cheerfully, hoping that the interrogation was over soon.

“Okay, I believe you, Izzy.” Diane smiled. “It’s very kind of Alex to help you now, even though you two aren’t best friends anymore. I still remember how you two would always run around in the backyard, playing princess and knight and …”

“Yeah, I remember it too.” Isabel replied slowly, trying to think of a way to get another topic started. “Oh mom, what are you cooking for dinner?”

“Oh something very special, Izzy.” Diane smiled happily, “Your father will be surprised!”

[Sternbetrachter]

chanks_girl
thanks for the feedback, I'm glad you like it so far

killjoy
thanks for the feedback, maybe Isabel will stop being a chicken in a few parts?

cassie
sure, you can call me Stern ... or Trude, whatever you prefer
thanks for the feedback and I'm glad you liked the updated, awkwardness and all


Part Five

“And then?”

“And then what?” Alex asked confused as he looked at Maria. “Then I left.”

“You just left?” Maria asked disappointed.

“Yeah, did you expect me to really stay for dinner? It might have been years since I last ate with the Evans but I still remember Mrs. Evans … eh, dedication to trying new dishes.”

“No, I didn’t expect you to stay for dinner but … you just left without telling Isabel how rude she was to you and how she should be kissing your feet because you are helping her out and …”

“Maria, I think Alex got it.” Liz smiled at her friend as she put a burger in front of Alex. “Was it very awkward to be there?”

“Actually yeah.” Alex admitted after swallowing his first bite. “We both tried to only talk about English Lit. the whole time, knowing it would be weird if I commented on new pictures on the wall or some new furniture and stuff.”

“You could probably tell me some stories about the Evans house which I don’t know yet.” Liz smiled at Alex.

“Well, next time you walk into Max’s room, remember that I lost a tooth thanks to his door.” Alex told Liz with a smirk.

“You what?” Maria exclaimed. “Do we even want to know how Max’s door is responsible for that?”

“I do.” Liz stated resolutely.

“Oh it’s nothing tragic, girls.” Alex said with a shrug. “One day, one of my milk teeth’ was loose and I was too chicken to pull it out myself so Isabel suggested to do it like she saw in a cartoon – use some thin cord which you attach on both the loose tooth and the door knob and then you slam the door shut.”

“Ouch!” Liz commented with a pained expression.

“Yeah, it wasn’t that funny.” Alex admitted. “Mrs. Evans must have gotten a big shock when I suddenly started crying like crazy.”

“Why am I not surprised that Isabel had this idea.” Maria said darkly.

“What? Oh no, Maria!” Alex told his friend. “Don’t blame her for that! I was moaning the whole day about my tooth and was all for trying it out myself.”

“If you say so.” Maria replied unconvinced. “So, when is the next session?”

“Next Friday, I guess.” Alex shrugged, “I left in a hurry and I doubt I’ll get to talk much to Isabel in the next days so I’ll be at her place at the same time again.”

“I actually could ask Max if Isabel told him something,” Liz started, “but really, if Isabel wants to change plans, she should tell you herself.”

“You might still get a chance to tell her what you think of her behavior!” Maria said with a grin. “What?” she asked when both her friends looked at her with raised eyebrows. “She deserves to know.”





The next week passed without anything out of the ordinary happening. Isabel Evans lived in her world and Alex Whitman lived in his without the two different worlds colliding. Before they knew it, it was Friday again.

“What’s wrong?” Max asked his sister as he passed her in the hallway in school after the last class.

“Alex Whitman is coming over again to help me out with English.” Isabel sighed. “Things were really awkward last week.”

“What a surprise.” Max commented. Seeing his sister’s dark look, he chuckled. “What did you expect Isabel? You made him one of the biggest geeks here in school with your little stunt.”

“I know that I … was mean to him and that of course the mood between us isn’t like it used to be when we were friends but does it have to be this awkward?”

“Maybe you should only concentrate on English then.” Max suggested with a shrug.

“Duh! Really, Max?” Isabel rolled her eyes in true Ice Queen fashion at her brother.

“Or you could try to stir conversation only to the good old times in case you happen to talk about something else. Make sure you don’t talk about high school but only about the time you were younger. I don’t really know, Iz.” Max admitted. “Well, I have to go – practice, you know. See you!”

“Have fun!” Isabel absently called after him before she walked outside to the parking lot, wondering if there was any chance that this afternoon could end better than the one last week.

Like last week, Alex was again on time as he knocked at the Evans’ door. Like last week, he was again lead into the living room and put his books onto the table while Isabel got them something to drink.

Things went by smoothly for the first hour but then Isabel would start dropping hints about various adventures the two of them had as children, causing Alex to first frown in confusion and then become annoyed.

After yet another not so subtle comment about one of their childhood experiences, Alex slowly put his pen down, keeping his gaze fixed on it. “Isabel, don’t!”

Confused, the girl looked up from her book, “Alex?”

“Don’t try to act as if the last four years didn’t happen and we’re still friends, alright?” Alex said, still not looking at Isabel. “Don’t worry, I’ll help you with your English and you don’t have to be nice all of sudden again. Let us just do this and then we can forget this assignment ever happened.”

“I just thought …” Isabel started but got interrupted by Alex.

“I don’t care, Isabel.” Alex finally looked up and directly at Isabel. “Isabel, I stopped caring about what you think or want four years ago. Let’s just get this done.” With that he picked up his pen and looked at the text they were working on again.

“Alright.” Isabel said after a moment before she got up. “I uh, I’ll be right back.” She then quickly hurried out of the room and Alex could hear her run up the stairs.

Exhaling loudly in frustration, Alex threw his pen onto the table again as he leaned back in his chair. He guessed that Isabel either was in her room or in the bathroom upstairs.

Alex suspected that he had upset Isabel with his words but really, what did she expect? That he’d play along with her little ‘lets be friends and pretend nothing ever happened’ charade? He just couldn’t imagine that she had made all those comments about the time of their friendship without realizing it.

Hearing the door open, Alex sat up straighter, wondering if it was Mrs. Evans again who came home from work. A few moments later, Max appeared in the doorway, nodding at Alex, “Hey.”

“Hello.” Alex greeted back, awaiting the obvious question which was promptly asked.

“Where’s Isabel?”

Before Alex could reply though, Isabel appeared behind Max, tapping him lightly on the shoulder. She grinned slightly when Max jumped up startled. “Here I am. Anything you need, Max?”

Giving his sister a dirty look, Max shook his head, “No, just curious.” Max glanced from his sister to Alex and back to Isabel again before he gave them both a smile. “Enjoy the studying. See you Alex!”

After Max left, Isabel sat down calmly. “Okay, shall we continue?” she asked with fake cheerfulness as she grabbed her open book. “I think we left off with …”

Alex was more than surprised by Isabel’s behavior but certainly wasn’t going to complain about her not wanting to talk about his earlier outburst. With both teens pretending that everything was perfect, the rest of the afternoon passed quickly and they managed to work on more topics this afternoon than Alex thought possible.

Like the week before, Alex left quickly, none of the teens saying more than an awkward “Goodbye, see you next week.”



“Hey, how did it go today?” Max asked as he looked into Isabel’s room a few minutes after Alex had left.

“Worse than last week.” Isabel admitted with a sigh, toying around with Toby nervously. “I did comment on our friendship a few times which resulted in Alex snapping at me that I should stop acting like we’re still friends. He was really pissed off.”

“Well, can you blame him?” Max asked. “You were a heartless bitch after all.”

“Thanks, Max. That really helps a lot.”

“What? You were.” Max defended himself. “Maybe you should apologize to Alex.”

“For what?” Isabel asked. “For how crappy this afternoon went? For how I tossed a great friendship aside so I can be in the popular crowd? For how I was too scared to apologize for my bitchiness four years ago?”

“You were too scared to talk to Alex?” Max asked surprised.

“Yeah.” Isabel shrugged self-consciously. “I knew that I hurt him a lot and that he deserved better than that – better than me but … at first, I was too overwhelmed by being accepted by Stacy and the others that I almost completely forgot about Alex and then, when I did realize how horrible I acted, I was too worried that it was too late, that too much time had passed and that Alex wouldn’t give a damn anymore. The more I waited with apologizing, the more time passed of course and one day, I decided that it was too late anyway and that I better not stir something up that has been unmentioned for so long.”

“Maybe you could start apologizing for this afternoon then when you see Alex the next time.” Max suggested, “You’ll see what happens then and maybe you’ll get an opportunity to apologize for everything else too.”

[Sternbetrachter]

chanks_girl, I'm glad you like Alex with a backbone and Maria being so protective of him

killjoy, yeah well ... Mrs. Evans and her cooking ... slowly turning into a running gag, huh?

KaraGail, thanks - I'm glad you liked the last two parts and we'll see how apologizing will go

Grace, I'm glad you enjoy the story and I'm sure, if school systems were the same in Austria as in the US, I'd be labelled a geek too




Part Six

“Thank God I’m not working today.” Maria sighed as she looked around the crowd. Sunday afternoon, the Crashdown was usually packed full with Roswell’s high school students and today was no different.

“But if you were working, we’d already have our orders taken.” Michael grumbled.

“It’s not my fault that no one else works as fast as I do.” Maria replied airily with a grin.

Laughing, Alex got up, “Why don’t I get us some drinks? The usual?”

Michael and Maria nodded at Alex and he made his way towards the counter, hoping to catch Liz who was working behind it. Before he could reach the counter, his path was blocked by Stacy and Steve, two from the popular crowd who loved to make fun of him.

“Hey Whitless, how’s it going in geek city?”

“Very original, Stacy.” Alex commented with a roll of his eyes and tried to move past the two.

“Hey, where do you think you’re going?” Steve asked as he pulled on Alex’s arm to get him from moving away. “I think we need to talk about your study sessions with Isabel a bit!”

“Oh really? Why?” Alex asked, already very annoyed by the whole encounter.

“I hope you don’t think that helping Isabel out gives you some … privileges now.”

“Privileges?” Alex echoed.

“Yeah, don’t believe that you have the right to talk to her or one of us now in the hallways or something.” Stacy said.

“You do realize that it was the two of you who started talking to me now, don’t you?” Alex asked, wondering how much more stupid this whole thing could get.

“Hey, don’t try to be funny here, Whitless.” Steve said angrily, taking a step closer to Alex and pushing the boy backwards. “And don’t even dream of starting to harass Isabel now.”

“Wow, harass! That’s a big word for an airhead like you.” Maria said as she suddenly appeared next to Alex and glared at the taller football player.

“Awesome Whitless, you have chicks defending you now.” Steve said sarcastically. “Why don’t you leave, Deluca.”

“What if she doesn’t?” Michael asked as he stood now behind Maria. “Why don’t you two leave?” he asked as he glared at both Steve and Stacy.

Knowing that it wouldn’t be good if he got into a fight with a teammate, Steve took Stacy’s hand and with a “Whatever!” the two left the café.

“You okay?” Michael asked Alex as he put his hand around Maria’s shoulders.

“Yeah, don’t worry, I’m fine. I’ve been through worse.” Alex replied with an easy smile. “Why don’t you two head back to our table before someone else sits down and I go and get us our drinks?”

Maria motioned for Michael to go back to their table and when he was a few feet away, she turned back to Alex. “You aren’t mad, are you?”

“What? Maria, why would I be mad?” Alex asked confused as the two reached the counter.

“I know it’s not very cool for a guy to be defended by a girl, especially when the girl’s a head smaller than the guy.”

“No, don’t worry. I’m not mad because you wanted to help me out in a tight situation.” Alex laughed, putting a hand on Maria’s shoulder. “I’d be mad if you suddenly stopped defending me and my honor.”

Maria sighed in relief and helped Alex carry the drinks to her boyfriend, the three of them spending another hour in each other’s company before they parted, having different plans for the rest of the evening.




“Hey!”

Surprised, Maria turned around when she heard her boyfriend’s cousin call out to her after the end of her last class. “Yeah?” Maria asked dubiously, wondering what Isabel Evans might want from her.

“Uh, I heard what happened in the Crashdown on Sunday between Stacy, Steve and Alex.” Isabel said, pushing a strand of blonde hair behind her ear.

“So? You here to tell me that I should apologize to your friends?” Maria challenged.

“What? No, not at all!” Isabel quickly said. “I wanted to thank you for standing up for Alex, that’s all.”

“You want to what?” Maria asked surprised. “After years of ignoring Alex, Liz and me you …? Wow! You could have stood up for Alex yourself, you know!”

“I wasn’t in the Crashdown, Maria.” Isabel said confused, not sure what the blonde meant.

“I don’t mean Sunday, Isabel. Your friends – and probably you too – surely made fun of Alex before Sunday. I bet you never told them to stop, did you?”

Isabel blinked in surprise of the turn of events. She only wanted to come over and tell Alex’s friend that she was glad she helped Alex out and then leave again. Obviously, this wasn’t going to happen as smooth as she imagined it to.

Realizing that the other girl was waiting for a reply, Isabel cleared her throat, glad that almost no student was in the building anymore, observing what was going on. “You are right, the others made fun of Alex before and yes, I never told them to stop but I never participated!”

“Which makes it all okay, doesn’t it?” Maria asked sarcastically.

“No, it doesn’t and … look, I didn’t come here to start a fight with you or to explain myself to you. I just wanted to say thanks for standing up for Alex, I’m sorry if that annoys you so much.” Isabel replied defensively.

The two girls stared at each other for a few moments before Maria said, “Fine!”

“Fine!” Isabel replied before asking, “What class does Alex have fourth period tomorrow?”

“Why do you ask?” Maria questioned with raised eyebrows.

“Because I want to talk to Alex too and figure that after fourth period is as good as any other time.” Isabel replied, not wanting to admit that she had no class tomorrow in fourth period and wanted to prepare herself for her confrontation with Alex then.

Eyeing Isabel for a moment, Maria decided that there was no harm in telling Isabel. “He has History in Mrs. Myers class.”

“Thank you.” Isabel smiled gratefully at the smaller girl. “Okay, uhm, bye then.”

“Isabel!” Maria called after her, “You better not hurt him any more than you already did.”

Not waiting if Isabel wanted to say anything to that, Maria herself turned around walked away from Isabel who watched her retreating form thoughtfully before she herself continued walking towards her car.





yep, I know ... stupid and dumb jocks/cheerleaders again

[Sternbetrachter]

chanks_girl, glad you like M/M playing the heroes
killjoy, would you dare to annoy one Michael Guerin?


Part Seven

The next day at the end of fourth period, Isabel was waiting outside Alex’s History class, going over the things she wanted to say in her mind again. When the bell rang, signaling the end of class, Isabel took a deep breath as she leaned against a locker near the class room casually.

Seeing a few people she sometimes hung out with leaving the room, she smiled at them briefly before returning her gaze back to the door again. Her earlier nervousness came back full force when the lanky young man finally left the classroom, luckily heading into her direction so he spotted her on his own and stopped a few feet away from her.

“Hey, Alex.” Isabel started softly, cautiously glancing around at the students mingling besides them. “Could we talk for a moment?”

“Sure, but if you just want to cancel the next study session then …”

“No, that’s not it.” Isabel interrupted Alex, “I … it’s about last Friday and … other stuff.”

Alex glanced down at his watch before he looked up at Isabel again, “Sorry but I have to meet Mrs. Scrobin before class starts. I need to talk to her about my last test … can we do this after school, please?”

Feeling slightly disappointed, Isabel nodded quickly. “Yeah, sure. Lets meet in the parking lot?”

“Okay, cool. I’ll see you then.” Alex said, already moving away and gave Isabel a small wave before he walked around the next corner.

Isabel leaned against the wall with her eyes closed. She had hoped to get this all over with now, when they had to head to class so it wouldn’t take too long and not get too intense. ’Looks like fate doesn’t want to give me an easy out.’ Isabel thought frustrated.



“You okay, Alex?” Maria asked her friend who was staring into space.

“Huh? Oh yeah, yeah, I’m fine.” Alex replied distractedly before letting out a sigh. “It’s just … after History, Isabel was waiting outside class and wanted to talk but I had an appointment with Mrs. Scrobin so we said we’d meet after school in the parking lot.” He gave his best friends a rueful smile, “I guess I’m a bit … nervous about what she wants.”

The three friends were standing at Liz’s locker before their last class like they did each day.

“I’m sure it won’t be anything bad, Alex.” Liz said with a smile while Maria just let out a low “Hmmm.”

“I’m pretty sure of that too.” Alex replied, “It’s just weird that after four years of no contact she suddenly needs to talk to me, knowing that we’ll have to meet up on Friday anyway.”

“You want us to come with you and protect you?” Maria asked teasingly, curious what the tall blonde wanted to say to Alex.

“Thanks but … no, not this time.” Alex grinned at Maria, shaking his head. “I’ll see you two in the Crashdown later, bye!” With that, Alex went to his last class, leaving the girls alone.

“I assume she wants to make this a proper apology about her friends’ behavior then.” Liz said with a frown. “She could have said a simple ‘Sorry about Sunday’ in the hallway too, after all.”

Earlier, during PE, Maria had filled Liz in about her encounter with Isabel and what had been said. Liz had also been surprised about Isabel approaching Maria to apologize for her friends. Sure, she was dating Isabel’s brother but barely had any contact with Isabel, therefore only knowing her from what she observed at school so the apology had come as a big surprise.

“I guess working in the hospital has some positive effects on Ms. Evans.” Maria remarked. Thanks to Liz dating Max, the girls knew that Isabel worked in the local hospital once a week for a few hours. At first, both girls didn’t believe it but one day when Liz was over at the Evans’, she’d spotted Isabel leaving for work in her uniform, talking to her mother about a patient’s condition.

“Hopefully you are right.” Liz replied before looking at her watch. “C’mon, we have to head to class too or we’ll be late again.”




“Hey!”

Isabel turned around when she heard Alex call out. Seeing him walk towards her, she took a deep breath and put a smile on her face. “Thanks for coming, Alex.”

“No problem.” Alex shrugged. “What did you want to talk about?”

Isabel was silent for a moment. Every word she’d thought about to say had fled her mind and she had no idea how to start. As Alex’s expecting expression turned slowly to a confused one, Isabel decided to just spit it out.

“I’m sorry.”

Alex blinked, not having expected Isabel to say that. “For?”

“Well, for what happened on Sunday in the Crashdown. I heard what Stacy and Steve did and I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay. I’ve been put through worse.” Alex replied with a shrug.

“Yeah about that …” Isabel started, thinking that now that she had started, she could as well continue, “I … I’m sorry for treating you the way I did four years ago and since then. I know ‘sorry’ isn’t enough but … I really am sorry.”

“It’s okay. I forgive you.”

“You what?”

“I said “I forgive you’.” Alex repeated slowly.

“I … I heard you but … how can you just forgive me?” Isabel asked incredulously. How could he be so easy going about this? She had been an utter bitch and Alex just … forgave her? What the hell?

“I said I forgive you, not that I have forgotten how it felt or that I trust you.” Alex said, harsher than he had intended to. Sighing, he leaned against Isabel’s car and looked over at her.

“Look Iz, it has been four years … I forgave you for what you did long ago. I probably should even be thanking you.” Alex said with a humorless laugh.

“Thank me?” Isabel repeated, wondering if she had hit her head and was dreaming this all up.

“Yeah, after all, who knows … if you hadn’t dumped me the way you did, I might never have started a friendship with Liz and Maria and I wouldn’t want to miss out on that.” Alex smiled at the thought of his two friends but quickly turned serious again. “But like I said, there’s a difference between forgiving and forgetting and trusting. Believe me, I didn’t forgot how you tossed our friendship aside as if it was meaningless.”

“It wasn’t meaningless.” Isabel said, shrugging when Alex looked at her. “I might have turned shallow but certainly not stupid. I did miss our friendship, Alex but … it was such an overwhelming feeling to suddenly have so many new friends and people who want to spend time with you without making fun of you and all the attention …”

Isabel trailed off momentarily as she thought about how to continue, “I know, that’s not an excuse for my behavior but … it got to my head and I … I didn’t want to go back to being the outsider again, the one people make fun of. I was almost scared of that happening again. Scarifying you for that was cruel, I know but … back then, it seemed like the best option.”

Isabel looked back at Alex again, “Trust me, I regretted that decision very often in the last four years. Stacy, Pam, Steve … all of them thrown together still are lousy friends compared to you.”

Alex regarded Isabel silently before he replied, “So what? Do you expect me to be all ‘Oh poor Isabel, not having great friends anymore. Lets just forget it ever happened.’?”

“No!” Isabel cried shakily, “I don’t expect you to do anything. I just … I just wanted to finally come clean about it. We’ll graduate in a few months …. Well, I hope I’ll graduate and then, I might have not gotten a chance to apologize anymore. That’s all.”

“Sure, I would like it if we tried to be friends again … if that’s still possible after everything but it’s up to you, Alex. We can just get this whole studying thing over with and then forget this talk here ever happened. Whatever you want.”

Both teens were silent as they thought of what had been said and what to do now. It was Alex who broke the silence. “I don’t want to lie to you, Isabel. It hurt a lot when you just … forgot me but I also missed our friendship … I just … I doubt we can continue as if nothing happened and be best friends again.”

“I know that.” Isabel agreed sadly, “And you have no idea how sorry I am for that but … we can try to be friends again, or try to become friends again, can’t we?”

Alex looked down at his shoes as he thought about an answer. True, he did want to be friends again, he wasn’t a vengeful person after all but still … he was worried that she’d hurt him again and that it would look like he had no backbone if he just let her become his friend again this easily. He also knew decisions based on pride were seldom the best ones.

The longer Alex was silent, the more nervous Isabel got. When he did look back up at her again, she subconsciously held her breath, preparing herself for a crushing reply. ’Not that I’d deserve much else.’ she thought to herself.

“I’d like for us to try and become friends again.” Alex started hesitantly. “I only want us to move slowly, not glacier-slow but … slow.”

Isabel looked at Alex surprised. Sure, she’d hoped for an answer like this but not expected to actually get it. Slowly, a grin spread across her face and before she could think twice about it, she engulfed Alex in a hug.

Startled, Alex moved his arms up around Isabel’s lower back on reflex, being used to hugs from Maria and Liz. When Isabel stepped away again, both teens avoided eye contact and felt a bit weird.

“Sorry.” Isabel said meekly, staring at her car.

“It’s okay.” Alex replied quietly, studying his shoes again. “I guess I’ll see you on Friday then?”

“Yeah, Friday.” Isabel confirmed, walking over to the driver’s door of the car before she looked back at Alex. “Maybe … maybe we’ll meet up in school too?”

“Possibly.” Alex said as he took a few steps away from the car. “Yeah, I guess we’ll see each other in school too.” He stuffed his hands into the pockets of his jacket and nodded at Isabel, “Okay, I’ll … see you around then. Bye.”

“Goodbye!” Isabel called after Alex with a small smile before she got into the car, feeling like a huge weight had been lifted off of her shoulders.

[Sternbetrachter]

chanks_girl, glad you like the update ... not sure if I'm gonna dissappoint you with L/M's reactions or not

KaraGail, glad that you liked the update and that you think I did well -means a lot

Allie Xie and killjoy, I'm afraid we won't get to see that much from the 'stupid crowd' anymore


I admit, I'm a bit nervous about this part - especially about the last scene between Diane and Isabel

Part Eight

“Wouldn’t it be easier if we just watched the movie?” Isabel asked Alex after half an hour of trying (and failing) to understand the underlying meanings of ‘Tristan and Isolde’.

“Seriously?” Alex asked, not even bothering to look up at his ‘student’. “You won’t get the meaning and feelings of the character by watching some movie, Isabel. Besides, it’s not that complicated. Look …”

This was now the second study session since their talk in the parking lot after school. Things were still a bit uneasy between them but they were getting more and more comfortable around each other again.

Sure, Liz and Maria were skeptical about it all, not convinced that it wasn’t just another plot by the popular crowd to play a joke on Alex and had decided to ‘keep an eye on the ice princess’. Alex knew that they only meant well and therefore hadn’t protested too much when the girls had informed him about this.

After her first surprise, Isabel had said that she understood them too when Alex told her about it. She wasn’t very happy about the two girls distrusting her and watching over Alex like two overbearing hawks but she couldn’t blame them.

“What college will you most likely attend?” Isabel asked another twenty minutes later, finally having managed to mostly grasp every possible meaning of the novel.

“The Itt Technical Institute in San Diego.” Alex replied as he stood up to get a refill for his glass. “What about you? Found the perfect one for you yet?”

“Sure.” Isabel replied after a moment. “The Design Institute of San Diego. Weird that we’ll both be studying in the same city.”

“Yeah.” Alex chuckled as he sat down again. “Not to forget that both colleges are extremely close – I think it’s only a 20 minutes drive from one to the other, Iz.”

Alex expected Isabel to say something but she just looked at him with a small smile on her face. “What? Do I have some juice on my chin or something?” he asked self-consciously.

“No, no, not at all.” Isabel reassured him. “It’s just …” she giggled nervously, “it’s really silly but … I haven’t been called ‘Iz’ in years. With my family it’s always ‘Izzy’”

“Which you still hate.” Alex commented with a knowing grin. He had once made the mistake of calling her ‘Izzy’ when they were kids and five seconds later, his head had hurt a lot and he had had 7 hairs less.

“Of course.” Isabel nodded seriously. “I do think my family is calling me ‘Izzy’ just because they know I don’t like it. Okay, maybe not my mom but Max for sure. Anyway, the others call me Isabel all the time … you were the only one who ever used ‘Iz’.”

“Do you mind?” Alex asked, unsure if he had made a mistake when he let the old nickname slip from his lips.

“No, no, not at all.” Isabel reassured Alex with a smile before checking her watch. “Wow, I can’t believe that yesterday at this time, I was cleaning up toilets.”

“You what?”

Isabel looked up at Alex surprised face and smirked slightly. “Not what you expect me to do in my free time, is it? I’m working in the hospital once every week and do various stuff – cleaning, helping to prepare the meals, such stuff most of the time.”

“And, do you like it?” Alex asked as he put his pen away, giving Isabel his full attention.

“Yes, I actually do. Of course, I don’t have to clean toilets every week which is a big plus in my opinion.” Isabel admitted with a laugh, making Alex grin too. “I don’t save lives or anything like that but … I know that I’m helping others with what I do and that’s a pretty satisfying feeling.”

“I can imagine.” Alex said. “But isn’t also … depressing when someone you know dies?”

“Of course it is. I don’t really have contact with the patients – it’s against the hospital’s rules, it has something to do with them being worried that they get sued when someone’s condition gets worse and they want to blame the hospital because they didn’t use qualified personal – but even though I don’t have much contact, you feel it within the nurses and doctors around you. Well, not so much the doctors, it’s more the nurses who have the close contact with the patients.”

“You don’t have to clean up the rooms then where … someone just died in then?” Alex asked.

Isabel fidgeted a bit in her seat. “Well, no one ever told me to do so but I’m pretty sure that I was already sent to clean up a room after someone had just died in it. I am not blind after all, I do notice when there are many nurses and doctors rushing to a room and then, when I’m sent to it and it’s empty … Luckily, that has only happened once or twice.”

Before another word could be said, Mrs. Evans came into the room, smiling at both Alex and Isabel. “Hello, you two. Are you getting along well?”

Isabel looked at Alex. “You’re the tutor, that’s something you have to answer.”

“Geez, thanks.” Alex told her with a fake frown. Turning to Mrs. Evans, he smiled, “Yes, we are doing very well, thank you for asking. Isabel won’t have any problems with the exam.”

“That’s great to hear, Alex.” Mrs. Evans replied. “Do you want to stay for dinner?”

Alex looked surprised at the question and before he answered, he looked over at Isabel who merely looked back at him curiously. “Uh, sure, if it’s not causing any problems …”

“Of course it isn’t, right mom?” Isabel said immediately.

“No, it is no problem at all.” Diane also said, smiling warmly at Isabel before turning to Alex. “I hope you are hungry. I have something special in mind.”

With that, Diane left the two teens alone again. Alex made sure that she was really gone before he leaned closer to Isabel over the table. “Say, what does your mom mean when she says ‘special’?”

Alex remembered the meals he had in the Evans household years ago and while Mrs. Evans was actually a very good cook, whenever she tried something new, the results were something to get used to.

Isabel had to grin at Alex’s question, knowing very well what he was thinking about. “Don’t worry, I heard her telling my father what we’ll have for dinner earlier and it’s something she already made a couple of times. It’s really tasty, believe me.”

“Okay.” Alex sighed as he leaned back. “How about we continue a bit before dinner?”

Groaning, Isabel opened her textbook again before glancing up at Alex. “You are worse than Mr. Saunders!”

The only response she got was an evil snicker from the boy opposite her.




“So, you both will be in San Diego then? That’s nice, Izzy will have someone she already knows then.” Mr. Evans said as he and Alex and Max waited for their dessert to be brought to them by Mrs. Evans and Isabel.

“Dad!” Isabel moaned as she came into the room. “Alex will attend another college and won’t have time to babysit me. Besides, I don’t need a babysitter.”

“You sure?” Max asked his sister and ducked away from the hand that tried to slap him.

“I didn’t mean for Alex to babysit you. I just thought it would be nice that someone else from your class will be in San Diego too.” Mr. Evans told his daughter.

After the first five awkward minutes had passed, where Mr. Evans had asked Alex why he hadn’t been around in so long, the meal had progressed nicely. Everyone had told about their day and joked around. It was as if the last four years never happened and Alex had been over for dinner regularly.

“Oh Alex, before I forget, could you tell your father that I won’t be able to golf this Saturday?” Mr. Evans asked Alex after his first few spoons of Tira Mi Su. “I wasn’t able to reach him on the phone today.”

“Of course, sir.” Alex immediately replied. “I’ll also ask him if something’s wrong with his phone.”

“Good boy!” Isabel teased from her seat next to Alex. “What?” she asked innocently when he looked at her. “I was only complimenting you.”

“Complimenting?” Alex repeated slowly. “Of course, if you say so …”

“Why? What would you call it?” Isabel asked in return.

“Nothing, I didn’t say that I’d call it differently, did I?” Alex asked back instead of answering.

Isabel opened her mouth to reply but before she could utter a word, her mother spoke up, “Isabel, no more teasing! Don’t forget Alex is our guest.”

“Yes, mom.” Isabel replied before glaring at Alex when he quickly stuck his tongue out at her.



After Isabel had walked Alex to the door an hour later, she stuck her head into the kitchen where her parents were. “I’ll be upstairs then.”

“Isabel! Wait, I’d like to talk with you!” Diane called after her daughter, motioning for her husband to leave them alone.

Isabel leaned against the doorframe as she watched her father gather the newspaper he’d been reading and his cup of tea, wondering what this was about. When they were alone, she turned to her mother. “What do you want to talk about, mom?”

“I think it’s time that we two sit down and have a serious talk about you, Alex and what happened four years ago.” Diane said resolutely as she sat down at the kitchen table.

’Oh crap!’ Isabel thought as she also sat down, knowing that her mother was serious and that she couldn’t talk herself out of this with some petty excuses or half truths. This didn’t mean that she couldn’t try to weasel herself out of this talk.

“Why mom? It was years ago.”

Diane gave her daughter a disapproving look. “Why? Hm, maybe because four years ago, your best friend suddenly stopped visiting and you only gave us some flimsy excuses and a few weeks ago, Alex is suddenly helping you out in English. The tension between the two of you is extremely high and you two act as polite as if you just met; now, you two are almost acting like friends again. So, excuse me if this baffles me slightly.”

“Okay, um … “ Isabel began, hoping that she could get a few more precious seconds to think of a cover story. Looking at her mother again, Isabel realized that she wouldn’t get out of this without telling the truth.

“You remember how Alex left for summer camp before we started high school and how depressed I was at first because I was all alone?” Isabel asked, waiting for her mother to confirm that she indeed remembered. “Well, during the summer, I lost my braces, my body began to change from a girl’s body to a woman’s one – especially above the waist and …” Isabel stopped briefly, remembering the embarrassing talk about sex that she had had with her mother that summer.

“… one day, I was in the mall and Stacy and some of her friends, who always made fun of me, came over and complimented me on my outfit and hair. At first, I thought they were making fun of me – after all, they did that for years but I slowly realized that they weren’t. They even invited me to a party the next day in the park. I accepted the invitation and the next day, I was an hour early in the park, so I could check if they were only planning to pull a big joke on me or not. Turned out that they weren’t and the whole afternoon was amazing.”

“Yeah, I remember how you were changing during the summer.” Diane said softly as she thought back.

“I became a member of their group and when school began again …” Isabel trailed off, wishing she didn’t have to continue, “well, Alex was back of course. Unlike me, he was still his nice and goofy old self but …”

“But nice and goofy wasn’t really in then, was it?” Diane asked, already having an idea where this was going.

Looking down at the floor, Isabel shook her head. “No, it certainly wasn’t. The moment the others spotted Alex – way before I did – they started making fun of him. I felt bad for Alex, really, I did but … I was so scared of losing my new friends again and … just ignored Alex when he came over to greet me. Pretended that I didn’t know him or that I even noticed him standing there next to me.”

“Oh Isabel!” Diane said disapprovingly.

“I’m not proud of it, mom!” Isabel defended herself weakly. “I knew it was wrong but … I had all these new friends and … I don’t know … “

“I get what you want to say, Isabel.” Diane cut in. “And I’m glad that you realize how wrong your actions were. But, what happened after you ignored him? Did you continue to ignore him for years?”

“Well … that wasn’t all that happened that day.” Isabel admitted, licking her lips. “Brian and Steve, two morons from the football team, ganged up on Alex and pushed him around till Maria Deluca and Liz Parker came to Alex’s rescue.”

“Max’ and Michael’s girlfriends?” Diane asked surprised, deciding to filter the information of Isabel calling her current boyfriend a 'moron' away for later questionings.

“Yes, the two kinda ‘adopted’ Alex afterwards and the three became inseparable. I must admit, I was always a bit jealous of their strong friendship, after all, I soon learned that my new friends can be mean backstabbers.” Isabel admitted with a humorless laugh. “I think I felt less guilty about … kicking Alex aside because he had Liz and Maria and wasn’t all alone.”

“That doesn’t make what you did right, Isabel.”

“I know mom but … that’s how it was.” Isabel said with an embarrassed shrug. “I apologized and while there was some yelling involved, Alex forgave me, said he forgave me years ago and now, we’re trying to be friends again or act like friends again, which is why you saw us joking around earlier.”

“I see.” Diane commented with a nod before her eyes widened slightly. “Wait a minute, does that mean you only apologized recently? When you needed something from him?”

“Uh well, technically … yes.”

“Isabel Amanda Evans! I don’t believe this! Alex was your best friend and you … I’m very disappointed, Isabel. If you’d told me this years ago then …” Diane trailed off, knowing that what if’s weren’t of use for anyone.

Isabel ducked her head slightly, knowing she deserved that outburst and that her mom had every right to be angry and disappointed.

“Isabel, why didn’t you talk to Alex the same day all this originally happened? Or the day afterwards? I’m sure you and Alex would have talked it all out and there wouldn’t have been any bad blood between the two of you.”

“Because when this all happened, I had been very happy with my new friends and my new life as member of the in crowd.” Isabel said. “At least at first I was. Then, when all the … ‘glamour’ of it faded slightly and I wished I could still go over to Alex whenever I wanted, I thought it was too late to try and apologize. He seemed so happy whenever he and Liz and Maria were hanging out, I thought it was too late.”

Mother and daughter were silent for a few minutes, each lost in thought about what had all been said. “And even after all this, Alex still helped you out in English?” Diane asked.

“Mr. Saunders didn’t leave him any other choice.” Isabel admitted. “Neither Alex and I were thrilled about it at first but …” she shrugged, “… it did give us another chance, I guess.”

“One you better not ruin.” Diane said sternly.

Isabel smiled weakly at her mother. “I don’t intend to mom, I really don’t.”

[Sternbetrachter]

chanks_girl, I'm glad you liked the mother/daughter talk - parents are difficult for me to write
killjoy, most of the time, I had A's or B's but if I didn't, then I didn't tell my parents about not so great grades if possible and Isabel being jealous? I don't think she'd agree with that
katrina, I'm very happy that mine is one of the few stargazer stories you read and even more, that you like it - thank you

AN: okay, I'll be leaving for a two weeks vacation to Ireland and London on Monday, so you won't get update till around the 19th July - sorry



Part Nine

“Isabel! Really, we’ve been over this for half an hour and you’ve known every question. You’ll easily pass the exam, trust me!” Alex exclaimed as he sat opposite the blonde in the Whitman’s living room.

“I don’t know Alex.” Isabel replied doubtfully. “Those were the easy questions after all and …”

“Isabel!” Alex interrupted her sternly. “As your tutor, I have to say … you know it! Really! Those weren’t the easy questions, there were some pretty difficult ones too and still you managed them with ease.”

Reaching over, he put his hand over hers and looked into her eyes. “Believe me, Iz, you’ll manage this test without any problems. I firmly believe that.”

“Yeah?” Isabel asked, still doubtful but also knowing that Alex wouldn’t lie to her.

“Yes, you will. I have faith in you.” Alex waited for Isabel to nod in agreement before leaning back in his seat again. Two hours ago, a frantic Isabel had called him, telling him that she’d forgotten everything they’d learned in the last weeks and certain that she’d totally fail her test.

After fifteen minutes, Alex had realized that he couldn’t talk Isabel out of her insecurities and told her to come over to his place so they could do a quick study session.

The whole time, Alex had glanced at the clock, slightly worried. He knew that Maria and Liz would come over later to pick him up for a “movie-threesome” and while he certainly didn’t mind having three beautiful girls in his home, he was a bit apprehensive about how a meeting between his two best friends and his former best friends might end.

There was no way he could kick Isabel out, so his only hope was that their study session ended soon and that the girls weren’t too early. Of course, just as he yet again glanced at the clock, the doorbell rang.

“That will be Liz and Maria,” Alex told Isabel, “we are going to the movies soon and they are picking me up. I’ll be right back.”

With that, Alex dashed to the door, opening it with an over enthusiastic “Hey girls! Awesome to see you! You’re early!”

“Everything okay, Alex?” Liz asked at the unusual greeting.

“Yeah, you look a bit green as if you’re sick.” Maria added with a frown.

“Oh no, everything’s fine I just … have a visitor.” Alex said nervously.

“Yes, that’s what we thought.” Maria replied. “Why is Isabel Evans here?”

“How …” Alex started to ask before shutting up in confusion.

“I’ve been at the Evans’ house before, Alex. I know what her car looks like.” Liz said, motioning to Isabel’s car in the driveway.

“Oh. Right.” Alex nodded as he glanced back into the house, checking if Isabel was to be seen. “She panicked a bit because of finals so we did a quick study session, that’s why she’s here.”

“Aren’t you normally doing that at the Evans’?” Maria asked.

“Yes, we are but since I insisted on this, I couldn’t really ask Alex to drive over to my house, could I?” Isabel answered as she came to the front door too. “Hey Liz, Maria!” She greeted the other two girls with a smile.

“Hello Isabel.” Liz greeted her boyfriend’s sister with a smile while Maria only nodded at her.

“Hm, okay … why don’t you two wait inside while I take a quick shower and get ready.” Alex told his two friends before turning to Isabel. “Is it okay if we continue this tomorrow? I guess I forgot the time and …”

“Really, Alex, it’s okay. Don’t worry. I’m the one who appeared all of sudden after all. I’m just glad you had any time at all.” Isabel interrupted Alex with a smile. “I’ll just go now and … great! I forgot the keys in the living room. I just go and get them and then I’ll find my way out on my own, you don’t have to wait up for me and can get ready.”

“We’re here too after all.” Maria cut in. “We’ll make sure that Isabel won’t get lost.”

Looking at all three girls, Alex nodded slowly, hoping that he wasn’t making a mistake by leaving them alone. “Okay. I’ll be back in ten minutes then. Drive home safely, Iz.”

With that, Alex cast all three one last look before he made his way upstairs to get ready, missing Liz’s raised eyebrows at the nickname he had used.

The three girls looked at each other for a moment, before Isabel spoke up, “I’ll get my keys then and leave you three alone. Sorry for making Alex late.”

After a look, Liz and Maria went after Isabel, closing the door behind them. “So, things are going well between you and Alex?” Maria asked when they were in the living room too.

Isabel frowned at the question, wondering if Maria wanted to give her another warning about hurting Alex. “Yes, we talked and … things are fine as far as I know.”

“Good to know.” Liz said with a smile.

There was again silence between them which Isabel again broke. “I’ll see you two at school then and Max and Michael told you about the limo sharing?”

“Yes, we three plus Max, Michael and Brian will share one limo for prom.” Maria nodded. “They told us this week. Should be interesting to be in a car with four people who try to win the title of Prom King and Queen.”

“Oh please, you know I’m not gonna win, Maria.” Liz commented with a role of her eyes. “Isabel probably wins – along with Brian.”

“Thanks Liz but Brian …” Isabel shuddered slightly.

“Problems in paradise?” Maria asked curiously.

Isabel regarded the other blonde for a moment before answering. “Paradise? I don’t think so. If it weren’t for prom coming up …” Isabel sighed. “… well, if I break up with him now, my chances of becoming Prom Queen are minimal anymore and no matter if there are only a few weeks of school left … before I might have to endure Stacy bragging about winning the title …”

“So you’re only with Brian so you can become Prom Queen and not Stacy?” Maria asked slowly. Sure, she didn’t like Stacy but still …

“What can I say, I’m an airhead.” Isabel replied, not wanting to start a discussion about morals. “Besides, since I’m sharing a limo with Michael and Max, I can be mostly certain that Brian won’t get too touchy feely if he knows what’s good for him.”

“I’ll make sure that Max will keep an eye on Brian.” Liz immediately said.

“Same for Michael.” Maria added. She might not be Isabel’s friend but there had to be solidarity between girls.

“Okay ladies, here I am! Lets …” Alex came down the stairs, stopping in surprise when he saw Isabel. “Oh hey, everything okay?”

“Sure, we just had a small girl talk, that’s all.” Liz smiled at her tall friend.

“That’s true and I’ll really go now! Have fun you three, I’ll see you at school tomorrow.” Isabel said before quickly moving past them and out of the house.

“Bye!” Alex called after her and then turned to Maria and Liz after Isabel was outside. “A girl talk? You three? What could you three possibly talk about?” At least there was no bloodshed, he was thankful for that.

“Well darling, you of course.” Maria grinned impishly and pinched his cheeks before laughingly walking towards the door.

“What?” Alex asked panicked. “Liz, really … what were you talking about?”

“Alex, girls don’t reveal the topics of their girl talks to others – especially not boys.” Liz told him sweetly as she linked her arm with his and led him outside.

“Oh come on! Don’t tell me you are suddenly taking Isabel’s side over mine? You’ve got to be kidding me.” Alex cried frustrated.

Sharing a knowing look, the girls just shrugged their shoulders as they walked to Maria’s car, ignoring Alex’s whining about how unfair they were being and that it wasn’t fair to worry their best friend in the whole world like this.

[Sternbetrachter]

cassie, thanks, the trip was nice and I hope you don't mind much that Maria is so forgiving
chanks_girl, thanks and you'll see what happens at prom in a few moments
killjoy, yes I know ... when girls talk ...
LovinGuerin2Much, thank you very much, I'm glad you're liking this



Part Ten

A few weeks later, it was the night of prom. Students were mingling around the gym, all dressed to impress. The chaperones were walking around the room, trying to have an eye on all the activities and knowing that they were failing miserably.

“I bet no one has spiked the punch yet.” Kyle Valenti commented as he eyed the pink liquid.

“Don’t even think about it!” His girlfriend Tess Harding said as she slapped his arm.

“Hey, relax Tess.” Kyle turned to his girlfriend of two years with an innocent smile. “If I had planned to do that, the punch would have been spiked long ago. I was just trying to point out the incompetence of the others.”

Trying to find logic in this statement, Tess shook her head and refrained from replying to it when she spotted someone behind her boyfriend. “Isabel!” she yelled, waving at the taller blonde who came over to them.

“Hey Tess! Kyle!” Isabel greeted the two as she poured herself a cup of punch. “How long are you two here yet.”

“Oh, about ten minutes, I’d say.” Kyle replied, not minding that he was sandwiched between the two beautiful girls.

“Isabel, you look awesome in the dress.” Tess gushed as she took in the other girl’s appearance without being intimidated by her. “Uh, where’s Brian?” she asked when she realized that Isabel was obviously alone.

“Somewhere outside, getting drunk with Steve and the others.” Isabel replied with a shrug, hoping the evening would be over soon so she could end her ‘relationship’ with the football player.

There was a slightly between the three, each of them not knowing how to continue the discussion after this information. When they saw Isabel wave at someone, both Tess and Kyle looked around, curious who Isabel was greeting.

“You and Whitman get along well.” Kyle commented when he realized who Isabel had waved at, only to be slapped again by Tess. “Hey! What was that for?”

“Considering that without him, you’d have failed English last year, you could at least call him Alex instead of Whitman.” Tess told Kyle with a disapproving look on his face.

“What? Whitman is his name too!” Kyle defended himself and then glanced at Isabel when she giggled.

“Sorry.” Isabel said when she had herself under control again. “It’s just that Alex kept me from failing in English this year, that’s all.”

“Who’s the girl with Alex?” Tess asked, knowing that the brown haired girl also went to their high school but not remembering her name.

“Carol Myers, she has Biology with Alex.” Isabel told them, having gotten the information from Alex earlier this week. Both he and Carol didn’t have a date then so they had decided to go together to prom.

“You think you’ll win later?” Kyle asked, referring to the title of Prom Queen.

Isabel shrugged. “I don’t know and to be honest, as long as Stacy doesn’t win, I don’t care who does.”

“I so understand what you mean.” Tess muttered. Her and Stacy had never been friends but things had gotten worse when Stacy had unsuccessfully tried to get her and Kyle to break up. Since then, there had been nothing but hostility between the two girls.

“Oh, I love this song!” Tess exclaimed suddenly, already dragging a surprised Kyle towards the dance floor. “See you later Isabel and best of luck!”



Two hours later, the principal walked up on the small stage that had been created for prom and went to the microphone. “Ladies and Gentlemen,” he starts, getting the attention of everyone in the room, “it is now time for our Prom King and Queen. As usual, we’ll start with our Queen.”

“Our nominees are Tara Bauer, Isabel Evans, Nicole Holden and Stacy Scheinin.” There was the usual polite applause after each name and most of the students tried to seek our where the four girls were standing.

“I’m sure you are going to win.” Maria whispered to Isabel who was standing with her, Liz, their boyfriends and Alex. Carol had left half an hour ago to chat with a few of her friends so it was only the six of them standing not too far away from the stage.

“And the winner is …” the principal said, pausing for dramatic effort before he opened the envelope and said, “… Isabel Evans!”

“Oh my God!” Isabel said shocked as a grin slowly spread over her face.

The three boys next to her were clapping and laughing while Liz and Maria instantly hugged Isabel before they glanced towards Stacy who wasn’t looking happy at all.

“C’mon, they are waiting for you, Iz.” Alex told her, gently pushing her towards the stage. “Go!”

Grinning at him, Isabel nodded and quickly walked up to the principal who was handing her a cheesy silver tiara before he motioned her to the micro.

“Thank you!” Isabel grinned at the students who were all staring up at her. “This is really … awesome – thank you so much!” With a last grin at Stacy, Isabel took a step back so that the principal could announce her king.

’Please God, don’t let it be Brian.’ Isabel silently prayed as she grinned into the crowd.

“Now to our Prom King. The nominees are Brian Calen, Max Evans, Tom Nolan and Kyle Valenti.” The principle said as again people were applauding. “And our King this year is …interesting” the principal glanced down at the envelope in his hand before he briefly looked over at Isabel, “applause for your King Max Evans!”

There were a few seconds of stunned silence before the whole gym started applauding and laughing.

After receiving a quick kiss from Liz, Max walked up the stage and moved to stand beside his sister, sharing an amused grin with her. When he was wearing his own cheesy crown, he walked to the microphone. “Uh, thanks. I know Isabel and I shared a lot of things growing up but this is certainly the most unusual thing we are sharing.”

The students laughed at that and the principle moved to the microphone again. “All right, because of this unusual result, I think it would be okay for our King and Queen to decide for another dancing partner to share the traditional dance with.”

There was again applause and some yelled agreements with this as the two siblings made their way down the stage again, both already knowing with whom they’d dance.


“Looks like you do get to have the first dance with the king.” Alex grinned at Liz as the principal announced that Max and Isabel could have their first dance as royals with someone else.

“Yes, it certainly does appear that way.” Liz grinned back at her tall friend, immensely proud that her boyfriend had won.

“Oh Alex look!” Maria commented innocently. “Isabel’s also heading towards us and I think she knows better than to steal my boyfriend away for a dance.”

“So?” Alex frowned. “She’s probably heading for Brian.”

“Brian is at the other side of the gym, near the refreshments.” Maria told him.

“Then why is she coming this way?” Alex asked confused, not getting what Maria was hinting at.

“Care to dance Mr. Whitman?” Isabel suddenly asked from next to Alex.

“What? Me? You want to dance with me?” Alex stuttered surprised as he glanced around nervously, noticing that everyone was looking at him. Well, him, Isabel, Max and Liz.

He could hear some people whispering things like “Whitman? But he’s such a geek! Why him? What’s up with Isabel?”

“Yes!” Isabel laughed. “Why not?”

“But … but … why not Brian or Steve or …”

“Because I don’t want to dance with them, I want to dance with *you*! They are going to play the song your mother used to give us dancing lessons to, so we just have to dance, Alex.” When the boy still didn’t react, Isabel shook her head at him. “Alex, do you want me to go down on my knees and beg? In this dress? I don’t think so!”

“Go man!” Michael laughed as he gave Alex a friendly shove.

Finally coming out of his stupor, Alex gave Isabel an embarrassed smile. “Sorry you just caught me off guard. Shall we your highness?” he asked as he held his arm out to Isabel.

“About time.” She teased as she gracefully accepted the offered arm and the two followed Max and Liz to the dance floor.

Swaying softly to the music in silence for a few moments, Alex was acutely aware of all the pairs of eyes watching him dance with the Prom Queen. “This is slightly surreal.” He admitted with a small chuckle.

Isabel drew back a bit to look at her dance partner. “Do you mind?”

“No, not at all.” Alex assured her. “Brian won’t be happy though.”

“Brian is a jerk who knew that I wouldn’t be happy with him getting drunk tonight but that didn’t stop him either, did it?” Isabel replied with a shrug. “Besides, as soon as this dance is over, I’ll finally break up with him.”

Alex simply nodded at then, deciding to not pry about the ‘finally’ bit. He just wanted to enjoy the moment. “You were right, this really is the song my mom forced us to dance to.”

“Yeah, it brings back memories of stumbling around your living room.” Isabel laughed.

“We didn’t stumble, we were very graceful.” Alex protested with a grin before laughing himself. Sobering up, he told Isabel seriously, “Congratulations by the way. You really deserve the title and if I dare say so, you look like a princess out of a fairy tale tonight too. Red really is your color.”

Isabel smiled gently at Alex, blushing slightly at his compliment. “Thank you, Alex. You do look very handsome yourself too.”

The two danced in silence for a few moments, both enjoying the moment before Isabel asked, “Can you believe that in three months, we’ll be living together in San Diego?”

“Actually, no.” Alex admitted. “I’m still very surprised that our parents – especially yours – are okay with us living in the same apartment.”

“I can be very convincing if I want to, Alex.” Isabel told him with a grin. “No seriously, I know my dad had a few doubts at first but I think in the end, he’s happier with me living with someone he’s known for years than someone he doesn’t know at all. Besides, our parents know each other so you can bet on them exchanging any information they get about our time in San Diego.”

“Yeah, I bet they’ll be very watchful of us. Hopefully, that will change with time, otherwise, I doubt college will be as much fun as I always thought it would be.” Alex commented as the song came to an end.

Soon, there were other couples on the dance floor too and Alex and Isabel had to push through the masses as they left the dance floor again.

“Oh, what kind of fun do you have in mind for college, Mr. Whitman?” Isabel asked wiggling her eyebrows. “Do I have to keep an eye on you, so I can protect the innocent girls of San Diego?”

“You have a very dirty mind, Isabel Evans.” Alex said with a shake of his head. “Very very dirty.”

Isabel laughed as she slapped his arm playfully. “Watch it, I won’t tolerate such audaciousness from you in my apartment.”

“Your apartment?” Alex echoed. “Oh please, woman! Don’t you have a boyfriend to break up with instead of annoying me?”

“Yeah, you are right, I do.” Isabel said, looking around to find Brian, now on her mission again. “Ah, there he is! If you’d excuse me. I’ll see you later!”

“Have fun!” Alex called after her.

“I will, don’t worry!” Isabel called over her shoulder before she made her way over to Brian, constantly being stopped by people who wanted to congratulate her.

“Enjoying yourself?” A voice asked next to Alex. Turning towards the sound, Alex felt very guilty when he saw that it was his date Carol, who he had totally forgotten about.

“Hey, eh yes …” he stammered surprised.

“You and Isabel looked very cute together on the dance floor.” Carol observed, laughing when she saw Alex’s deer-in-the-headlight look. “Relax, I am not angry or anything. I ditched you first after all.”

“Oh, thank God.” Alex sighed in relief before straightening up. “Isabel and I are only friends.”

“So? You still looked cute together.” Carol shrugged. “Come on, the night is young and we still have to get our pictures.”