Roswell Fanatics

Chapter 11

“Hey, Maria”.
Maria released one ear of an headphone and smiled.
“Hey, Alex. Where have you been?”
“Coaching the guys”, he replied. “We finally got some auditions”.
“That’s great”, Maria said sincerely. “I’m really happy for you”.
“Thanks”, Alex smiled. He sat down next to her. “Whatcha listening to?”
“Oasis”, she replied.
“Good choice”, Alex said with a chuckle, and Maria, smiling, narrowed her eyes at him.
“How come you’re not with everybody else?”, Alex asked after a while.
Maria’s gaze darkened.
“I’ve been feeling like being by myself lately”.
“You’ve being alone far too many times lately”, Alex said wisely. He looked at her closely. “And I know something’s wrong with you, Maria. I asked Liz, but she hasn’t opened her mouth about it. And I figured you must have asked her not to, so I thought I should go find you. You know you can talk to us... to me, if you want to”.
Maria felt the tears moistening her eyes and blamed herself for thinking she couldn’t trust Alex. The fact was that she could, as much as Liz.
“Yes... in fact things... they aren’t going very well for me”.
“It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure that out”, Alex said gently. “C’mon, kiddo. Spill it out, if it makes you feel better”.
Maria looked at him unsurely.
“Alex, I—I don’t know...”
“You don’t have to tell me, if you don’t want to”, Alex said. “But I think it would be better for you, you know”.
As if Maria remained quiet, one headphone hanging from her fingers, Alex decided to speak again.
“It’s Michael, isn’t it?”, he asked quietly.
Maria nearly jumped up, her eyes wide open, and a faint flush of red warmed up her cheeks.
“Why would you say that?!”
“Because it’s getting pretty obvious”, Alex confessed gently. He took Maria’s hand and squeezed it lightly. “Maria, it’s nothing to be ashamed of. We all know it”.
Maria’s cheeks turned redder.
“What do you mean, ‘we all know it’?”
“We know of all the ups and downs your relationship has been having. And now that Nicole came...”, he added carefully. “We... at least I really thought she would be a, you know, nice girl and all, but she’s been way too close of Michael these days and she hasn’t talked to us again. I know it must be kinda painful”.
Maria looked up at him.
“That’s why you were about to cry the other day, wasn’t it?”, he went on. “Because Michael and Nicole haven’t let each other go for ages”.
“They’re dating, Alex”, Maria said quietly, trying to hide the pain and choke on her voice.
“What? Oh, um... that explains the…”, Alex waved his arms around. Maria smiled lightly and shook her head, as if to say “say no more”.
“I’m sorry, Maria”, he said heartily.
“You don’t even know if I still like him”, Maria said, slightly irritated.
“What if I said I do?”, Alex asked. “I, and the rest of the guys”.
Maria sighed and buried her face in her hands.
“Maria?”, Alex said. “I’m sorry”.
“You see, that’s why I didn’t want to tell anybody”, Maria suddenly said, raising her head. “Because I knew all of you would start saying ‘I’m sorry’ and ‘you’ll find someone else’ like my mom once said, because it’s too obvious Michael isn’t interested in me, isn’t it?!”
It felt terrible to say that out loud. She had never really thought about the possibility that Michael wasn’t in love with her. It was better not to think of it.
Alex shook his head.
“No”, he said. “Maria, did you think we were going to feel sorry for you?”
“Well, even if you guys didn’t want to, you’d end up feeling!”, she snapped. “’Poor Maria, feeling so sad and alone because she’s in love with a guy that doesn’t love her back...’ I already get the picture, Alex!”
“You don’t know if Michael doesn’t love you back”, Alex pointed out.
Maria shrugged.
“No. He’s too complicated for me to try to squeeze any feeling out of him”.
“That can be only a cover”, he said.
“You sound just like Liz”, Maria said bitterly.
“C’mon, Maria! We all know Michael, right?”
And Maria felt that it was true. They all knew the way Michael was.
“You know, I felt just like that when I fell in love with Isabel”, he said, with a light smile. “And I felt really devastated sometimes because all the signs – or almost all of them, anyway – were that she didn’t give a damn about me. And yet, when we finally got together, she told me she had been in love with me all along”.
Maria looked at Alex with a touched smile, tears pricking her eyes again.
“Oh, Alex, I’m—I’m glad”, she sttutered dumbly, even though it was true.
“So, I’m trying to give you some support in this”, Alex smiled at her. “I’m serious, Maria. Don’t you lose your hope. You never know what can happen. And you know that, if anything… wrong, ever happens, you can count on all of us. Don’t be afraid of relying on us anymore, Maria. You know you can trust us, as we know we can trust you”.
A small tear rolled down Maria’s cheek.
“Thanks, Alex”, she said. “But... it hurts so much to see him hanging with her everytime I lay eyes on him, you know. It just... it sucks all the hope right out of you”.
“I kind of know what it feels like”, Alex said sympathetically. “I felt the same way everytime I used to see Isabel hanging with all those guys and jocks that were six feet taller than me”.
Maria chuckled.
“But, I didn’t give up”, Alex went on. He smiled lightly. “And now, well, here we are”. He paused, then looked at Maria in the eyes. “And I’m meaning it, Maria. It’s not only to make you believe in something”.
“I know, Alex”, Maria smiled, and they hugged. “You’re a great friend”, she whispered. “I’m glad I have you”.
“Right back atcha, blondie”, Alex smiled.

**

“Look at them”, Isabel said with a disgusted look.
“Isabel”, Max said with a warning look.
“What?”, Isabel snapped. “It’s true. I mean, just look at them”.
“I don’t know why you’re feeling like that, you know. I mean, Nicole is the kind of girl you could find out you had things in common with”., Max said.
Isabel looked at him as if he was a worm that she had found out in the middle of her salad.
“Max, I’ll forgive you just because you’re my brother”.
Max chuckled, then his face got serious.
“You’re worried about something, aren’t you?”
Isabel looked at him.
“You aren’t?...”
Max sighed and looked at the far spot where Michael and Nicole were together.
“Yes. I am”.
“And so”.
“I don’t know. Michael’s getting pretty attached to her and not even himself can explain why. Things are kind of getting out of hand”.
“Not good, is it?”, Isabel asked softly.
Max remained quiet.
“I don’t know why, but there was something strange that linked me to her as well, since the first moment I saw her. But that doesn’t mean I liked the feeling. It was like I was totally vulnerable to her”.
“That’s why I’m not liking this”, Isabel said. She and Max exchanged looks. “I felt the same way too, Max. She connected to everyone of us... I mean, you, Michael and me. And that just makes me think that something’s going on, or will, in a matter of time. And I just don’t like her. You know how I am when I feel something’s wrong about someone. I hardly ever am wrong”.
Max smiled lightly.
“But what’s going on with Michael after all?”, Isabel wanted to know.
Max shrugged helplessly.
“I don’t really know, and that’s the worst. It’s so confusing. Especially for him”.
“That Nicole girl is turning his mind upside down, I just feel it”, Isabel said bitterly. She sighed. “I wish I could dreamwalk her, but we don’t have any picture of her. If we did, and if I tried dreamwalking her, then I could figure out something, and what is she... planning to do”. She looked away, her gaze saddened.
“I’ll try and take care of that, alright?”, Max said, to Isabel’s surprise.
“Oh... um, okay”, Isabel said, still puzzled.
“Michael thinks she’s one of us”, Max said quietly, after a while in silence.
“I had already figured that out”, Isabel replied. “I mean, no one connects that strongly with us, making us feel that way, if he or she isn’t... like us”. She looked at Max. “I know Liz in an exception for you, Max, but you know what I mean. The feelings just aren’t the same”.
Max smiled, but nodded.
“And I think that story of her landing in Roswell because of her dad’s work is just bluff”, Isabel continued, her gaze locked on the couple away from them. “This can all be a plot. And if she really is like us, and if her plans aren’t good... a lot of people may end up getting hurt”. She looked at Max. “I know you, Max. You have thought about it, haven’t you? You do realize that”.
Max nodded miserably.
“I should be protecting everyone. And I just can’t, because this is too confusing, and without knowing what this is about, what’s left for me to do?”
Isabel smiled symphathetically at him, covering his hand with hers.
“We’ll figure this out, Max”, she whispered. “I just know we will”. She sighed. “But until then, we have to be careful. And if Michael was the one who was closer to Nicole, who knows what he isn’t spilling out by now? And Michael’s really not the talkative type”.
“I know”, Max said simply. “Michael usually has a pretty sharp mind. But the last time I talked to him, he looked so... powerless, you know. We was just subjugated to Nicole and couldn’t even figure out why. He just has flashes of her and they get more intense the closer they are. And I know this has to mean something, but none of us knows what yet”. He paused, looked away, then looked at his lap again. “He’s getting more and more drawn to her each day and now they hang out together and look like they’re having a steady date, but I know Michael. I know that this may not be what he wants. That he may be only following Nicole, for God knows what”.
Isabel nodded in agreement, worry darkening her light chestnut eyes.
“I wish we could do something, Max”, she said in a chocked voice, squeezing his hand. And as Max looked at her, he saw her vulnerability, her true personality, that she always hid, except when she was with Alex. And he saw how much she could get insecure sometimes, having the need of someone to tell her that everything was going to be okay. Sure, she could be brave and determined, and he was sure she would have a great part on figuring out Nicole’s true intentions, but deep down, she was just as scared as he was. And maybe even just as Michael.
“We will”, he assured her, squeezing her hand back. “I promise”.

A/N.- Um... So I was just glancing at the summary while posting this chapter and I noticed that I had said M&M's relationship had been non-strings-attached? Well, they did date. So sorry about that. As serious as a date with an-always-pushing-away Michael can be sometimes, lol, but they dated, until Michael, for no reason, just broke up. (Though, of course, he still likes her, and deep down just wants her to be protected, so that's the reason. Yadda yadda). Again, sorry about that. I can't give too much away when I don't know how my chapters are going to turn out... Silly me... Anyway, let's get to Chappie 12 then!!


Chapter 12

Isabel was walking back and forth, sometimes looking at her watch. She couldn’t understand why Alex was so late. 20 minutes had gone by ever since they had settled the date. He didn’t use to be late. Sighing, she raised her hand and touched her hair, but she didn’t feel the hair-pin that was holding it up. And yet, her hair was held up, looking perfect as always. Isabel felt all her head up, but nothing. She was starting to panic, not for the loss of the hair-pin, but because that just wasn’t normal. What has happening? And why was her hair still up without anything holding it?!
“Looking for this?”
Isabel looked sideways and, for her amazement, she saw Nicole. She was holding her hair-pin.
“It’s nice”, she said, studying it. “I’m needing one too”.
“Nicole, what are you doing here?”. Her voice came out more vulnerable that she wanted to. She wanted to give that brave, harsh vibe she gave everytime she faced a problem or someone she didn’t particularly like. It wasn’t happening this time.
“Here”, without answering her question, Nicole handed her the hair-pin, sending it flying in Isabel’s direction with her powers. Isabel almost dropped her jaw. So it was it. It was true. Nicole was an alien. Just like Max, Michael and her.
“What are you doing here?”, she managed to choke out again, after taking the hair-pin.
“I came to get us home”, Nicole explained matter-of-factly.
Isabel’s eyes widened.
“W-what do you mean?”
“We have to go home”, Nicole insisted softly. “Michael, Max, you and I. We have to go”.
“Go where?”, Isabel squealed.
“We don’t belong here”, Nicole said. “We have our own planet. We have to go...”


With a gasping sound, Isabel woke up, her eyes round with fear and confusion. She felt her forehead, feeling it wet with sweat. She took a deep breath, trying to calm down. ‘It was only a dream’, she told herself. ‘Only a dream’.
But was it really? She said she wanted to dreamwalk Nicole, but it had looked like Nicole had dreamwalked her instead. Why was she suddenly appearing in her dreams, when she never had? Not with a flash, not with anything? Could that be some kind of sign?
‘We have our own planet. We have to go.’
What had Nicole meant with that? Max, Michael and her had gotten used to life in Earth. Actually, they kind of liked it. She talked for Max and her. She knew he agreed with her. They had found love there, a loving family and a relatively happy life. She felt she wouldn’t trade that for anything else. She didn’t know if Michael would agree though... he had had a pretty hard life with Hank, and still today it looked like he wasn't totally happy. It had seemed to her that he had only felt totally happy when he was involved with Maria. But that had been months ago... and now it looked like everything had gone back to the beginning, and Isabel didn’t understand why. Why had Michael pushed away the only thing that had made him feel complete? She always saw Maria’s look after that day. Only a blind wouldn’t realize the pain she was still going through. The question was, what Michael was feeling. Even though Isabel was like a sister to him, she admitted that sometimes he could be pretty hard to figure out.
Maybe that was the reason he was the one who was more drawn to Nicole, more vulnerable. Because his life in earth, of all the three aliens, was the most miserable. Maybe that made him weak, easier for Nicole to penetrate in his mind. She couldn’t think of anything else for it.
Feeling tired and helpless, Isabel fell backwards on her bed, her eyes glued to the ceiling. She knew she wouldn’t be able get any more sleep tonight.

**

“Max”.
Isabel gave her brother a stern look, as Max poured Tabasco into a piece of toast and stuffed it inside his mouth. When he swallowed, he asked: “What?”
“I gotta talk to you”, Isabel said.
“Well, you can tell me”, Max said.
Isabel shook her head.
“No, not in here. Outside the house. Mom and dad can’t hear us”.
“Have you eaten anything yet?”, Max asked.
Isabel shook her head again.
“No, I can’t eat anything right now. Let’s get going. This is really important”.
Max finally nodded, and grabbing his backpack, he walked towards their parents to say goodbye.
“Bye, honey, have a good day”, Diane said, kissing Max’s cheek, and then Isabel’s. Isabel made an effort to smile at her mother’s caress, but her insides were burning with hurry and antecipation. She needed to get out of there.
When they finally stepped outside, Isabel grabbed Max’s arm, before he could open his mouth to speak.
“I couldn’t hold it anymore. Max, I had a dream”.
Max looked at her, looking aprehensive.
“A dream? About what?”
“Nicole”, she breathed. “I dreamed about her. It was so freaky”.
“H-how did it went?”, Max asked.
“It just didn’t make sense”, Isabel said. “First I was supposed to be waiting for Alex, but he just didn’t show up. Then I started feeling my hair up but I didn’t feel the hair-pin that was holding it and still, my hair was just like it was being held up, and then, out of nowhere, Nicole shows up, holding my hair-pin”.
Max looked at her as if Isabel had two antennae sticking out of her headband.
“Nice”.
“Max, I am serious!”, Isabel pleaded. And she did sound serious, almost desperate. He pulled himself together.
“You’re right. I’m sorry. Go on”.
“Then she shows up asking if I’m looking for the hair-pin and she hands me it over with alien powers”.
Max swallowed. That was definitely other story.
“And what happened?”, he asked carefully.
“Then she started going on some weird talk about how she came to get us back home, because we didn’t belong here. All of us. Michael, her, you and I. That we had our own planet, and that we had to go away”.
Max’s expression immediatly became concerned, but he was as clueless as Isabel.
“Was that all?”, he asked.
Isabel nodded.
“What if that was a premonition?”, Isabel asked. “Telling us what’s about to happen. I mean, we already suspected Nicole was an alien, and that she was here for some reason – everything in my dream seemed to fit”.
Max nodded quickly, but he still seemed absent thinking.
“We gotta talk to Michael”, he said. “He has to know”.
“What if Nicole has already told him, if what she said in my dream was true?”, Isabel suggested.
“This is something that is concerning to us all, so I don’t think he would keep it a secret”, Max replied.
Isabel nodded.
“Yeah, you’re right”.
Max looked at his watch.
“We’re late”, he said. “We have to go. We’ll try and talk later, alright?”
Isabel nodded quickly, but the worry and fear didn’t leave her eyes.

**

Maria was sitting on her usual place at school, hanging with all the gang. Michael, of course, was nowhere to be seen, but she almost had gotten used to it by now. She didn’t know if Alex had mentioned anything to all the guys after their talk, but everybody seemed to be even more considerate to her. She had laughed and had a good time with all of them, and she almost had forgotten her present problems.
But now something was worrying her. Spanish was her afternoon class and Shannon was nowhere to be seen. She was other of her best friends, and they always had a good time together. Granted, she didn’t spend as much of time with her as with Liz, Alex and Kyle, for example, that she knew ever since they were kids. But Shannon was a very good person. She was caring, quirky, outgoing and had a terrific sense of humor. Maria couldn’t feel bad everytime she was near her.
But now, she was late. Pontuality wasn’t one of Shannon’s best qualities, but she usually used to get to school a little while before class. And today, nothing. She sighed, shifting umconfortably on the place where she was sitting. Suddenly, she saw a mass of black curls far away and sighed with relief. It had to be Shannon. For some strange reason, it looked like she was covering her face, but it was her. She knew those curls, all elastic and awesome, unlike hers, that sometimes would just bounce lamely and be all messy. However, Shannon always told her how awesome her hair was. It always looked like she really meant it.
“Um, I’m gonna go meet Shannon, she’s my partner in Spanish, I think you guys already know that – I’ll see you guys later, then?”, Maria cleared her throat and said.
“Um, yeah, sure. Have a good class”, Liz and Alex said, and Kyle gave her the thumbs up. Max and Isabel hadn’t been around for the day. Something must be happening to them too, and Liz couldn’t hide her worry anymore. It really must be some alien thing.
“Shannon, about time you’re—”, Maria slowly broke away when she walked closer and closer to her friend and saw a bit of a purple spot above her eyelid. Shannon was still covering her face. “Here...”, Maria finally finished her sentence, an atonished look on her face. “Shannon, what’s the matter?”
She heard a chocked sob behind Shannon’s hands. She was about to cry.
“Shannon... Shannon, sweetie, what’s the matter?”. Maria gently tried to pull away one of Shannon’s hands to see what was going on, but she tightened her hand, yanking it away of Maria’s.
“You know you can tell me whatever’s happening”, Maria insisted tenderly. She saw that Shannon’s hand had trembled and she was able to see the ugly purple spot extending.
After another sob, Shannon hesitantly uncovered her face. Maria had to swallow back a scream. Half of Shannon’s face was bruised, in an ugly mix of red and purple. It looked like someone had punched her. Her left eye was barely open.
“He was drunk”, she finally sobbed, out of nowhere. Shannon’s usually cheerful voice was now broken, terrified. “He came home drunk... I was walking by and he yanked the door open and he didn’t know what he was doing anymore”, she sobbed, covering her face again, the tears now rolling freely down her face.
Maria knew what she was talking about. It was her dad. For the years she had known Shannon, she knew she had a problematic father, sometimes she had had problems at home, but never anything this serious. And Shannon had never been hit by her father. Threatned, yes, but it was only the alcohol talking. Not horribly, seriously hurt like this.
“He didn’t know what he was doing”, Shannon sobbed again. “Then my mom just let go of what she was doing and got in the middle of us and she got beaten up and knocked down again”.
Maria held back the tears, the palm of her hand pressed hard against her mouth. She had never seen signs of such violence this close. And lived by a close friend of hers, it just made things worse, more terrible.
“Were you and your mom home alone?”, she managed to choke out.
Shannon shook her head, letting out another broken sob, her face still covered with her hands. “Juan and Robert were home too. Juan was about to get out. He was gonna go to work”. She took a shaky breath. “He has the evening shift. It was pretty unusual that my dad had come home so early that day”.
“Did he beat your brothers up too?”, Maria asked, feeling anxious.
“No”, she chocked. “We told Bobby to get in his room, immediatly, we always do when stuff like this happens. But my dad saw him first. My mom got in his way though, she begged him not to hurt him, that he was only 7 years old...” Shannon looked up at Maria, hurt spread all over her good, dark eye. “We have to beg him not to knock down his children! We have to crawl for him to leave us!”
Maria nodded silently, her green eyes starting to sting with tears.
“And Juan?”, she asked, after having to clear her throat.
“He’s almost as tall as my dad, so he took care of him”, Shannon said. “He put himself in our way and that gave time for me and my mom to get lost in time. But we’re both like this now”, Shannon said. She didn’t need to point her bruised face. Maria heard her voice going sobby again:
“I just wonder how’s it gonna be with us when Juan leaves home!”, Shannon cried. “He’s 20, he’s got a job, he’s got a goddamn girlfriend, someday he’ll eventually move out, he’ll want to move out! He’ll want to get married, to have his house and his kids! And right now he can’t, because he feels he has to protect us! He doesn’t say a thing, but I know he does. I know he’ll feel guilty if he leaves Bobby and my mom and I. He knows how it’ll be. He was the first one to deal with this. My dad has never touched him. Sometimes he pushed him away, like he did to me. Sometimes he slapped me, but never did anything serious like... like... yesterday. But he never laid a finger on Juan. Fear, maybe. I don’t know. But Juan knows of it all, he saw my mom getting beaten up sooner than us, I don’t think he’ll ever forget how it was, being a 4-year-old hearing all the yelling and crashing and... ” Shannon broke down to tears again.
“Why have you gone to school then?”, Maria asked with a desperate tone. She knew Shannon most certainly wouldn’t expose that to everybody.
“I had to”, she sobbed. “He’s home. He was so drunk he’s been sleeping til now. My mom pratically begged me to go. I went for a walk to make time pass by but nothing has been working. If he knew I had stayed home because of this he might have spanked me again”.
“How’s your mom?”, Maria asked.
Shannon shrugged helplessly.
“She’s going. I hate to say this, but she is kind of used to it by now”.
Maria shook her head, her hand squeezing Shannon’s shoulder lightly. “That looks pretty bad”, she said. “Have you even gone to a hospital to check that?”
“No”, she said. “I just tried to clean the bruises the best way I could”.
“We have to see this”, Maria said firmly. “You must. If you carry that that way you may even get an infection. We’ll go over to the school nurse. We’ll say that you fell, it doesn’t matter. But we have to see that”.
“I can’t”, Shannon said, immediatly raising her head. “I can’t. What if she tells someone my family I’ve gone to her to see my bruises? If my dad knew he would definitely kill me”.
“But we have to get that checked!”, Maria exclaimed desperately. She took a deep breath, trying to think. If only Shannon knew about the alien thing, she would ask for Max’s help. He would definitely heal her. But she didn’t, and Maria didn’t think they would like to get the group’s security in some kind of risk just because of a bruised friend of hers. But this was serious as well. Maria sighed, holding back the tears of frustration.
“We’ll go to the hospital then”, she said. “We have to. It’s our only chance. Is there any doctor there that knows you?”
“One”, Shannon said hesitantly. “He used to... to check on my mom sometimes. You know. Whenever this... happened”.
“Excellent”, Maria said. “So he knows what is going through your family, doesn’t he?”
Shannon nodded.
“And he has never told anyone?”
Shannon shrugged.
“What can he do. Everytime she goes there my mom pleads him to keep his mouth shut. She almost grabs the man’s feet.”
Maria tried not to laugh. Even in horrible situations Shannon could manage to let out some kind of joke. Even though this wasn’t really one.
“Then we’ll go find him. He’s there at this hour?”
Shannon nodded unsurely.
“I think so”.
“Then we’ll go. I skip school this afternoon and I’ll tell that I had been feeling sick of my stomach. Comes in handy, sort of, I’ve had my period some days ago. And I’ll go with you”.
“No”, Shannon shook her head firmly. “No, I can’t let you do that. I can’t let you skip classes because of me”.
“Well, and maybe I wouldn’t do this in other situation either, but this time you really, really need someone to be with you and I want to go, Shannon!”
“I can’t let you”, Shannon said stubbornly, her black curls bouncing around her head. She looked at Maria in the eyes for the first time. “God, Maria, I can’t even thank you for the things you’ve done for me”.
Maria felt two soft tears rolling down her cheek. She hugged Shannon as tightly as she could, as if she wanted to pass all her friendship to her throughout that hug. Shannon broke down in tears again and they stood there, hugging each other, in the deserted school’s patio.

**

Michael couldn’t actually believe he had been alone for the day. Nicole had told him she had had to stay home. She didn’t even bother to make up excuses, and he was sure she wasn’t sick. He sensed a feeling of freedom he didn’t feel for quite some time. He had been hanging with Nicole for weeks and weeks.
And he had, almost inexplicably, locked his gaze on Maria now that he felt free. For the time he had started looking more attentively, she had been talking to a girl with dark hair with half of her face in what looked like shades of purple. Geez. The girl must have been beaten up pretty badly, or whatever had happened to her. Maria obviously was a friend of the injured girl, he saw the way Maria’s hand was placed on her shoulder, and how she would stroke the good side of her face softly. Suddenly, seeing Maria being so tender and compassionate to the bruised girl warmed him up inside. Maria actually looked like she was sharing the girl’s pain. She was such a good friend, he couldn’t help thinking. He had always noticed that. And he started feeling things he couldn’t control. Seeing Maria stroking the girl’s cheek made him think of what it would feel like if Maria caressed his own cheek. God, he hadn’t felt her touch for months... he almost didn’t remember how it felt like. But if he tried really hard, he would be able to feel, Maria’s hands caressing his face. Running through his once-spiky hair. Her lips joining his...
Whoa, whoa. Refocus.
But it didn’t help much. This time Maria was hugging the girl. Tight. That just brought more... incovenient thoughts. Like all the times they used to hug like that… it was impossible not to think of it. Maria’s eyes were shut, and she had a truly sad expression on her face. He felt the curiosity boiling inside him, dying to know what had happened and was affecting Maria so much. She looked like she was nearly in tears, he couldn’t quite figure it out. The punched girl, well, it was even harder to check, but he was almost positively sure she was about to cry – or crying – as well.
He saw the brunette girl gently breaking away the hug, pointing the school’s entry. Maria stepped closer to her, and they talked for a while. The injured girl nodded and they hugged again, this time shortly. Then she walked away, and Maria stood there, watching her go. Then, like magic, her gaze turned to him. He was sure she hadn’t noticed he had been there all along. He could almost feel her shivering. Their gazes remained locked for two or three seconds. Then Michael looked away. If he kept on looking at Maria, he would lose track of time. Maria was still looking, he could feel it, and he felt satisfaction inside. He glanced at her again, and Maria did the same, but this time she was the one who looked away. Then she walked off, probably to go to her classes. And he watched her go.
Those feelings were getting too much complicated, too much alive, too much... familiar inside of him. But what about Nicole?
She wasn’t in his mind right now. She just wasn’t.
And all he could see now was Maria hugging her bruised friend. And then, another brief thought of them hugging when they had dated, months ago. Then he realized. They hadn’t made out a couple of times in the eraser room. They had dated. They had been each other’s firsts, and they had shared a connection deeper than he could ever explain. And he felt that connection slowly opening inside him again, like a badly-healed wound. But it didn’t necessarily mean a bad thing.
He was slowly starting to figure it out.

A/N.- This was a pretty deep chapter, but I loved it. I decided to write a more dramatic scene using Shannon. I got kind of attached to the character by now, who was supposed to appear only once, but now I'm not so sure of it. I hope you liked it.