AN: Hey! Thanks for hanging in here with me
. I’m sorry I was MIA for so long. Most of my best friends are abroad this semester, but we were all together in January and I wanted to maximize our time together before they left the country. I’ve got a more writing/reading-intensive workload this semester, so I don’t know how often I’ll be able to update, but writing this story is a really nice break
and I figure, since I'm not able to stop by very often, I should bring longer updates when I do
.
The nominations in the last round of the awards took me by complete surprise, especially for
Best Challenge Response for this story.
Thanks so much, guys!!
Earth2 Mamma – I don’t want to give away too much, but I loved reading your speculations! You’ll definitely learn more about what happened in M/M’s past soon-ish, and see what’s in store for them
. As for Liz, she’s the only one with all the answers and she’ll only open up when she’s ready. Maybe she needs a little push, though?
Thanks!
Keepsmiling7 –
I love it when you have a break in school and can update this.......
Me too! Thanks so much!
Valentinebaby – Hi
welcome! Oh he’s a very smart cookie
but then, so is she. I know, I’d be too! I’m trying to tap into that as much as possible. Thanks!
Natalie36 – Thanks!
Begonia9508 – Yeah, me too! Thanks!
Chanks_girl – It’s always good to be back! The latter is what’s going to happen…*cough* uh, I didn’t say anything lol M/M will talk in due time, as for now, I think they’re enjoying the tension for the most part. Thanks!
Zaneri1 – I think he will be too
Thanks!
Mary mary – Yes, yes! Lol Thanks!
Abbs007 – I love the improvement you made with the little devil haha. Thanks!
Kismet – He definitely will, and believe it or not, though she’s pretty depressed now, she’ll do the same for him. Yes, interesting indeed. LOL Here I am, and well, here he is… Thanks!
Tequathisy – Yes, yes. Here’s to them fixing that pronto! Thanks!
Killjoy – Ouch! I’ve never had a serious injury like Liz’s but I’ve been like intense bedrest sick a few times in the past 2 years, so I definitely relate to the cabin fever bit. Michael just has a knack for that here
Thanks!
Nibbles2 – And what a distraction he'll be.
Thanks!
PS: where’s the next update of Frog Prince/Maxevanssucks? It was one of the first things I looked for when I came back. Can I CC your muse about it? lol.
And of course,
Hannah.
Chapter 9
With his iced coffee in one hand and his physics textbook tucked under his other arm, Michael made his way over to the atrium on the other side of the coffee cart to find a good seat. He hated studying in the library because it felt like the very silence it encouraged made every small sound louder than normal until it was a distraction itself. And his cramped double room wasn’t always his first choice. Instead he preferred having his iPod in hand while he studied in a populated place like the atrium in front of the student center.
As soon as Michael entered the atrium, he spotted a couple of familiar faces from his classes and his dorm building, but there wasn’t anyone that he felt like sitting with. He was about to turn around and sit on one of the ledges alone when he noticed Isabel Evans seated in the center of the room, which was nothing out of the ordinary for her.
Though they hadn’t had any classes together in high school, they were taking their third class together this semester, an eighteenth and nineteenth century British fiction class. Despite his tendencies to sit at the back of a classroom and occasionally take notes, she always waved him over when he showed up, having saved a seat for him right in the center of the room and often in the second to fifth row region. Her rapt attention and intense note taking was starting to rub off on him.
She was sipping from her coffee mug and thumbing in a text message when he first spotted her. Apart from her jeans, she was dressed to the nines as usual. She was wearing one of those terrible ratty boyfriend jeans his youngest sister was currently obsessed with.
Michael was slightly annoyed that he actually knew what they were called, and for a second, he was about to question his own masculinity, then he frowned as the faces of Tess, his Mom, Liz, and Maria came to mind. Due to their combined influences he probably had enough fashion knowledge to scour a mall store for cheap bargains with one of them, which would absolutely never ever happen, Michael decided firmly.
As he started making his way over from the other side of the room, Isabel put down her phone and picked up a fashion magazine.
He already had the words he’d tease her with on the tip of his tongue when he was just mere inches away from her, but he faltered as the name of the magazine, GQ, registered.
“Doing some research?” he asked inquiringly.
Isabel’s cheeks heated when she looked up to see Michael Parker smirking at her. Then she replied defensively, “I’m just checking which men’s watches are the sexiest before I buy one.”
He rolled his eyes. “That’s the kind of thing you should nick from your boyfriend.”
She huffed, “As soon as I pull one of those out of thin air, I’ll take his. But for now, a little research won’t hurt.”
“Or your brother,” Michael added. “Liz steals my old t-shirts all the time. So, there’s boyfriend jeans, boyfriend watch, boyfriend shirts…what’s going to be the next thing?” Michael demanded.
“It’s trendy to rock the grudge chic look right now, and these boyfriend ‘things’ are just slightly form-fitting, and much less constricting than my other clothes.”
He blinked. “I don’t get it.” He shook his head. “Why are you really reading GQ?”
“For research purposes,” Isabel said impatiently.
Michael was watching her with amusement when she raised her eyes so she added reluctantly, “I got it for my brother.”
He handed her the coat she had draped over the other chair and sat down across from her.
Isabel ground out, “I was saving that seat.”
“And I’m leaving soon,” Michael said simply before plucking the magazine out of her grasp.
He started thumbing through the magazine so Isabel relaxed and sipped the last of her coffee.
“As educational as this is, I don’t think this will really interest him,” Michael informed her, thinking of Isabel’s younger brother, Kyle, who had yet to last two minutes talking to him without mentioning the stats of a game that had just taken place.
Isabel grumbled defensively, “Some of it might.”
“I thought he was more into action movies than cuddly chick flicks,” Michael said, pointing to an article that suggested a few date movies that would actually be bearable for their readers. “Or going to games and screaming his lungs hoarse for his team than knowing what his beer really means,” Michael added, flipping to another article that described the beer brands that would be most likely to impress.
Perplexed, she cocked her head and said, “Wait, I thought you guys didn’t know each other…”
Michael frowned. “Huh? Why wouldn’t I? He’s dating Tess, remember? My Dad and I trade off playing good cop bad cop just to make him sweat a little.”
Understanding dawned on her, and a grin spread across Isabel’s face as she imagined the interrogation.
She laughed, “Oh, you’re talking about Kyle.”
Michael leaned back and sported a cocky grin. “I am,” then he arched an eyebrow. “Wait. Who are you talking about?”
“My other brother, Max. He’s older than me and Kyle, so some of that stuff is very relevant.”
“Oh, yeah,” Michael said, as he pulled out his straw and peeled off the cover of his iced coffee. “When did he graduate from West Roswell?”
“2004,” Isabel informed him and she smiled back at Michael. “Yeah, he’s practically ancient compared to us!”
Michael chuckled. “Well, you said it, not me.”
She sighed. “He’s just had the worst round of bad luck lately. The restaurant he works at is closing so he doesn’t have a job anymore, his car insurance just went up, and he got turned down for some big scholarship...it’s just been one thing after another. So he and I are going to hang out today, just as soon as he gets here.”
“And where does GQ fit in to this?”
“I got the magazine to cheer him up,” she told him proudly.
Michael snorted. “Oh, Pollyanna, how shallow thou art.”
She rolled her eyes, and turned her gaze to the coffee bar to see how long the line was. To her surprise, Max was standing just a few feet away, and he spotted her at the same time. He started sporting a warm smile as he headed over, which she returned enthusiastically.
“Max is here,” she told Michael. “So behave,” she jokingly scolded.
He swiveled around to see a tall, dark haired guy headed towards them. The similarities between Isabel and Max were pretty easy to find. He could tell Isabel was probably just a few inches shorter than Max, unlike his own sisters who were almost a foot shorter than he was. Max and Isabel also had similar facial features and their eyes were the same shad of brown as far as he could tell. Though Michael noticed Max’s were lighter and more cheerful as he approached, while Isabel’s were warmer colored and more assessing. He’d received enough of her glares to know just how fired up she could get.
Although Max’s face was also pretty youthful and friendly, there was something about the way he moved and the way he dressed that struck Michael as more mature. That morning Michael had just thrown on the cleanest clothes he could lay his hands on: an old, ratty Beatles movie t-shirt one of his uncles bought him a few years ago, and a pair of jeans and sneakers. To hide the fact that his shirt had seen better days, he was wearing his brown leather jacket over it. Max was wearing jeans and sneakers, too, but the addition of a suit jacket over a collared shirt made him look more pulled together.
If this was how he dressed to see his sister, then the world really didn’t need any more guys like him, Michael decided before huffing and turning back around to hide his disappointment, feeling momentarily threatened.
He had a feeling he wasn’t going to like this Evans brother either.
“Hey, Izzie,” Max said warmly as he bent to give her a hug.
“Nice of you to finally get here,” Isabel scolded when the hug ended. Over her brother’s shoulder she could see Michael scowling.
“I came straight from the airport and I ran into some traffic.”
“The airport? Why were you there?”
“Well, Jesse had to fly home for his sister’s wedding and I gave him a ride so he wouldn’t have to pay for parking his car there,” Max clarified.
Isabel cleared her throat meaningfully and Michael’s gaze snapped to hers. “Max, I don’t think you’ve met my friend, Michael, yet.”
Max tilted his head in his direction. “Nope, we haven’t. I’m Max,” he said, offering his hand, which Michael shook. “Hey,” he said gruffly.
Max pulled up an empty chair from a nearby table and sat down between them. “How do you two know each other?”
“We went to high school together, and he’s a year ahead of me. Michael was on the soccer team,” Isabel told Max.
Max chuckled. “You were with Coach O’Brien right? She made you guys cry, right?”
Michael winced jokingly. “Man, our secret’s out. Yeah, she was hard on us.” Then his eyes lit up, “You played, too?”
“Yeah, I was a fullback….” Max said, referring to the defensive position he had held.
Michael told him proudly. “I played sweeper,” which was the position that covered the goal if the ball got past the defense. They smiled at each other because though the years separated them, they had both defended the same goal.
“We went to State my sophomore year, which was our first time back in six years and the same year she started coaching us,” he said with a smile. “Definitely not a coincidence.”
“I believe you, man,” Michael said, regarding the other Evans with some measure of respect.
Isabel suddenly clasped Max’s hand and she asked in a concerned tone, “How have you been doing, Max?”
Max hesitated, and then he answered honestly. “Better. I’m not face planted on the couch anymore, right? So I’ll call that progress, and I have an interview at a couple of other restaurants starting next Thursday. In this economy though…”
“But you hate waiting tables…” Isabel murmured in a slightly surprised voice.
“Can’t let the lights go out,” he joked, referring to his electric and rent bills.
“Have you told them yet?” Isabel blurted out.
Max’s eyes twinkled. “No, not yet…someone’s cracking under the pressure…”
Michael’s eyes flitted between the two of them. They were talking in code, the kind of practiced code and shorthand that he had with his own family. Although he knew the right thing to do was to keep out of it, he was dying to be included. “What kind of pressure?” he finally asked.
Max broke eye contact with his sister, startled by Michael’s intrusion, but he quickly welcomed it.
“The worst kind: parental pressure,” Max said wearily. “My parents have been bugging her every day for the past couple of days trying to find out what she knows about what’s going on with me.”
“Your job, right?” Michael offered.
Max nodded grimly. “Among other things. I used to wait tables at Bon Appétit, that French Bistro over on Grand Street. The owner is moving to Montreal to be with her family because of an emergency, which is something I totally respect, but she decided to close down the restaurant for good.”
“Well, good riddance.” Isabel said suddenly, folding her arms over her chest and raising her chin slightly. “Pattie was so unreasonable about hours and scheduling.”
“She pretty much refused to give me the extra hours that would make a full-time employee. And if I were full-time, I would have earned much more.” Max explained grumpily. “Anyway the real problem is that I’m out of work now and I have to pay my rent for the next six months of my lease.”
“You have your own apartment?” Michael asked, impressed.
Max nodded. “Yeah, I live with two of my college buddies who moved back to New Mexico after we graduated from UCLA, though one of them is from Texas, actually.”
“I already see your first mistake,” Michael joked. “Why did you leave California?”
Max smiled back at him. “Well, coming back home to Roswell was always the fallback option. I finished all my credits and graduated a year early. Then I realized that I wanted to take that year off, so I did research for a few months in France, and I came back home to study for the MCAT’s and apply to medical schools.
“It was only supposed to take me a year to sort of get all of that stuff sorted out, which it has. I lived with my parents and Izzie and Kyle for a little while. After going to school out in L. A. and spending my summers in research programs all over the country, it was nice to really be at home. That nice, fuzzy feeling quickly got old, though, and I moved out a few months after I got back from France. I knew I was capable of living anywhere on my own so I didn’t need to live at home anymore.”
“What do you mean you didn’t need to?” asked Michael when Max paused. “What about home cooked meals, seeing your parents and friends, staying in your old room…”
Max shook his head firmly. “Those are all things you want, they’re not what you need. I learned to cook a few years ago, I do my own laundry and pay my bills on time. As for my family and friends, I can see them anytime I’d like to,” Max added as he glanced Isabel’s way. “And my old room was completely taken over by everyone in my family. My little brother uses it as a trophy room, my Dad stores his bowling gear in there, and my Mom turned part of it into a workout room. It was hard trying to convince them that I wanted it back the way it was, so I ended up living in our guest room that’s wall flowered with sunflowers and daisies.”
Michael snickered. “What a tragedy.”
Isabel jumped in. “Yeah!”
Max frowned. “You were using my room as extra closet space.”
She blushed. “Well, you still had most of your clothes in boxes down in the garage,” she mumbled. “It’s not like you needed it.”
Max sighed and cast a weary look Michael’s way. “See what I mean,” and Michael nodded.
An unreadable look passed over Max’s face as he said, “Coming home again is like trying to pass through the same round hole you used to fit into, and finding it shaped like a diamond too narrow to squeeze through. Then as it turns out, home isn’t the only thing that’s changed. You’ve changed, too, and you and your home don’t belong together anymore. You really belong somewhere else.”
A few quiet seconds passed over the trio, and then Isabel murmured, “Isn’t he so deep?”
Michael smirked and she continued, “He can say stuff like that so easily because he was an English major, too.”
Her words seeped into Michael’s subconscious and he scratched his head, puzzled over what it was he should be remembering. Her words had tickled something, reminding him of some prior event or conversation, but what was it?
Isabel was saying, “You have money in your savings account right?”
“I do, but…” Max said haltingly, “I’m not as confident about it as I used to be. Since the economy’s taken a downturn, I’ve had to dip into it more than I liked. Little extra expenses kept popping up – our cable and Internet bills became more expensive, and don’t even get me started on how gas prices have been ricocheting the past couple of months…”
He sighed and leaned forward, cupping his chin in his hands. “I’ve made cutbacks where I could. My buddy and I cut out our landline phone completely. I got my car insurance lowered for a couple of months, and stopped using my credit card.”
“Has that helped?” Michael asked.
“To some extent. There are two things I couldn’t cutback on though. I applied to a couple of medical schools in the fall, and their application fees were between $50 and $120 each.”
Michael let out a low whistle and Isabel cringed. “And that’s why I’m not going to medical school,” she announced loftily.
Max poked her shoulder. “That’s not it. You can’t be around blood.”
She visibly shuddered, and said haltingly, “That’s not entirely true.”
Max shook his head. “Anyway, uh, a few of the schools also asked me to fly out for interviews, and all of those expenses added up in a big way.”
Michael grinned. “Just checking…the interviews are a good sign, right?”
Max smiled. “Yeah, they’re a good opportunity to tell the schools more about myself and prove I deserve a spot in their program. The other thing I couldn’t cutback on was my rent, which is a little overpriced.”
Max looked sheepish when Isabel narrowed her eyes at him, and Michael almost laughed out loud.
“That’s the understatement of the year,” she huffed. “His landlady could buy a used car every couple of months with the extra rent money she charges them.”
“Not a car,” Max said firmly. “Though two tickets to the Bahamas every three months wouldn’t be out of her reach.”
Michael started laughing, and as he regained his composure, Isabel said grimly, “There’s only one option, Max.”
He frowned. “I’m going to have to ask Mom and Dad for some help,” he said, hating the words as soon as he said them out loud.
Michael piped in, “You make it sound like it’s the worst thing in the world.”
Isabel rolled her eyes. “He’s got a complex about being the big brother with expensive tuition tags at an out of state college and pretty soon, medical school. So to make up for that, Max works so he doesn’t have to ask for money.”
Max glared at Isabel, causing Michael to chuckle again. “What my little sister is trying to say is I’ve liked being independent the past two years. It’s going to be hard to go back to asking for help to pay for the little things like car insurance, grocery money, the phone, electric, gas, and water bills, and anything else that comes up.”
“How much longer do you have on your lease?” Isabel asked.
He scratched his forehead and leaned in towards her. “Six months, the contract ends in June,” Max said.
Slumped in his chair, the thought fleetingly passed through Michael’s mind that in six months time it’d be June and the start of another summer vacation. Maria’s face came to mind and he tried to shake it off. By then she would probably be in the midst of shipping her boxes off to some east coast school anyway, so what did it matter?
“I think no matter what, I’m going to have to ask for their help,” Max was telling Isabel. “But it’d be nice to find something temporary to cover the things in between.”
Michael turned suddenly, and he stared at Max though he was still talking somewhat privately to Isabel.
Why was this starting to sound so familiar? Michael mused.
Was it what he had said about needing help?
He couldn’t think of anyone he knew who needed help quite in the same way Max did. His friends were fine; no one had come to him lately with any kind of crisis that seemed relevant. His thoughts turned to his family, and a comfortable feeling passed over him as he thought of their last family portrait which depicted his parents and sisters, the way he remembered them best as securely happy and healthy.
Then that image dissolved in his mind as he remembered that dreadful first night in the hospital. His Dad had offered to stay overnight until Liz woke up after her surgery, so his Mom had drove them home in the family van. She had waited to cry until they were in the car, and it was at that moment that the impact of the accident hit him the most.
“So long as it’s not waiting tables again,” Isabel huffed.
“I don’t want to go back to that. There has to be something more interesting I can find…” Max said thoughtfully. “Something more exciting…at times like this, I almost miss school,” he admitted jokingly to Isabel.
Michael frowned at Max as his words resonated more with him. Liz’s face loomed in his mind, too. His sister, who he had always imagined he would protect from any damn thing that came her way to hurt her. He hadn’t told anyone about this yet, but he still had awful nightmares about the accident where he was outside of the car watching the whole thing unfold, and he was absolutely powerless to stop the careening cars that slammed into Liz’s side of the vehicle. There wasn’t anything he wouldn’t give to be able to go back and change that day, Michael thought sadly.
Echoes of her conversation with Maria that he had overheard the week before came back to him, and Michael’s look turned thoughtful and pensive. His sister really needed a tutor, and if that was the thing he could do for her, he wasn’t about to fail her now. He’d do anything to make it work.
Isabel’s giggle faded away after Max’s glib joke when she caught Michael staring at her brother.
Suddenly, he blurted out, “How about tutoring? Uh, have you ever done any tutoring?”
Max nodded. “Yeah, sure. During college I used to tutor at an elementary school, and I did a volunteer middle school math program when I moved back here for a few months. To be honest, the chances of finding something stable out here that pays decently is like next to –”
“I have something,” Michael said quickly, cutting off Max’s words. “If you’re, uh, interested.”
The rapt looks on both Max’s and Isabel’s faces encouraged Michael to continue. “We need a tutor for my younger sister,” he explained. “She’s a, uh, she was a high school senior, but she withdrew from the term because she was in a car accident about a month ago and came away with a few serious injuries.”
“I’m so sorry, that’s terrible,” Max said. “I can’t even imagine…” he glanced at Isabel and his voice trailed off.
“Thanks,” Michael replied thickly, and he looked away uncomfortably. “Even though she has to take the time off to do physical therapy and recover, my parents really want her to graduate on time and possibly go to college next fall. They’ve been looking for a full-time tutor who can help her finish the rest of her credits, but they’re having a hard time finding someone who can tutor her for the minimum number of hours the school is requiring.”
“What’s the minimum number of hours?” Isabel asked when she noticed Max was hesitating.
“Just a few hours shy of how much time she’d spend in school. 25.”
Max licked his lips and waited. It sounded like a really interesting job, the perfect one in all honesty, however he didn’t want to seem too eager, especially in light of the situation. This was Michael’s sister, she had just survived a car accident, and she obviously meant a lot to him.
He was counting silently to five when Isabel nudged his knee under the table so he stammered, “Uh, what would her tutor help her with?”
“Biology, Calculus, English, French and World History.”
Taken aback, Max’s shock immediately registered on his face, and Michael smirked. “Yeah, she needs help with just about everything.”
Max tried to take stock of the situation. He bit his lip thoughtfully. “Biology and Calculus... Is she taking Calculus AB?”
At Michael’s nod, Max said, “That’s fine. I got a 5 on my AP in both, and I was a Bio major in college, too. Although the most recent math I’ve had are upper level classes, I’m sure I can lay my hands on my old Calculus notebook if my groundwork is shaky.”
Max looked at Michael speculatively. “Also English probably wouldn’t be too hard to help her with either…maybe her teacher won’t mind giving her a booklist to work on…”
Michael mischievously asked, “But how’s your French?”
Isabel remind him proudly, “Max spent a few months over there after college, remember?”
“
Après des études à l’université, j’ai également passé trois mois à Paris faire des recherches dans un laboratoire de génétique,” said Max smoothly.
“OK, now you’re just showing off,” Michael scoffed a few seconds later, which made Max smile. “I think I picked up, ‘Paree,’ a laboratory and genetics?”
“Not bad. I said I spent 3 months working in a genetics research lab in Paris after graduating from college,” Max explained. Then his smile wore off as he admitted, “But I don’t think I can help her with World History at all…”
“You didn’t take it senior year?”
Max shook his head firmly and explained, “I got my Mom to convince Principal Anderson that I could handle AP Chemistry
and AP Bio at the same time instead of World History.”
“You, overachiever,” Michael replied in a deadpan voice. “I guess since it’s only 4 out of the 5, we’re going to have to go with someone else…”
“What?” Max blurted out, and an incredulous look passed over his face. “I may not be able to help her with World History, but you can’t just…”
He crossed his arms over his chest and a challenging glint surfaced in his eyes. “I’m practically fluent in French, and not only am I going to med school in the fall, but I was a Bio and English double major in college with a 4.0, and I graduated with honors. I can help her write better analysis papers, the kind that will put her ahead when she goes to college in a couple of months. And I have tutoring experience! I know Liz is older than the kids I used to work with, but I know I can do this!”
When Max finished rambling, he was breathing hard and waiting for Michael to respond. Isabel was mouthing an apology to Michael over her brother’s shoulder and she was also gesturing that he probably hadn’t gotten enough sleep.
Then Michael said casually, “Okay.”
“Okay, what?” Max ground out. Isabel was a little taken aback by how worked up Max was getting so she motioned for Michael to finish his thought and put him out of his misery.
“Okay, you’ve convinced me. I was just kidding, but it is nice to see you really want to do this.”
Max started smiling from ear to ear, and Isabel scolded, “You rat! Max was about to turn red.”
Michael leaned over and clapped Max on the shoulder. “Congrats, man. As far as I’m concerned, you’re perfect for this. I’ll arrange a meeting with my parents so you can convince them, too, and talk rates, hours, and all that stuff. I just hope the next six months are temporary enough for you, man, because my sister is quite a hand…”
Michael’s voice trailed off for Max, and he completely missed the sight of Isabel silencing Michael and preventing him from warning Max any further.
Although Isabel had barely met Liz herself, the stories Michael had told her and the few memories she had had conjured up an energetic, funny, upbeat brunette in her mind. From what Isabel could tell, Liz was Max’s opposite in every which way, and under any other circumstances, that alone might give him pause. Max could be pretty shy sometimes, and he tended to avoid people with such big personalities. She knew how much he needed this job though, and from the sound of it, Liz, Michael and her parents needed Max just as much.
Max’s grin had yet to disappear. For whatever reason, he was excited. It would be fun to relive his school days. He hadn’t really expected to miss college this much when he graduated. When he was handed his diploma, he had been so relieved that he was finished, and so excited about his future. But spending night after night waiting tables hadn’t really been what he’d imagined he’d be doing. This would be different. Tutoring Michael’s sister was a worthwhile thing for him to do. It not only represented an opportunity to engage his mind in something interesting and educational for the first time in a long time – well, apart from his MCAT’s – but it was a chance to really help someone and make a difference.
He couldn’t wait to get started tutoring…
her.
He concentrated hard, trying to remember her name, or any name that might have come up during their conversation, and nothing came to mind as even remotely familiar.
“Hey Michael, what’s her name?” Max asked, frowning.
Michael was caught off guard, being in the middle of teasing Isabel. He shook his head at his own forgetfulness. “Oh, uh, Liz…”
Max quietly tested the name out loud. “
Liz…her name is Liz.”
* * * * *
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