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Title: Breathing

Summary: Because Max wasn’t there that day of the shooting at the Crashdown Liz was shot. Instead of dying Liz is paralyzed from the waste down and confined to a wheelchair. With help from Max, Liz learns to feel, love and walk all over again.

Rating: PG- PG-13

Disclaimer: Yes, I own everything. The writers are rebelling and giving you shit on the television. Don’t worry, they’re going to uh…camp

Song is "Breathing" by Lifehouse

Authors Note: I originally read a story like this at the Roswellian Fanfiction Space but the author hasn’t updated in MONTHS, so I’ve decided to take things into my own hands. And my story is gonna be very different from his/hers. NO GERBIL IN MY STORY!!

* * * * *

I’m finding my way back to sanity again
Though I don’t really know what
I am gonna do when I get there
Take a breath and hold on tight
Spin around one more time
And gracefully fall back to the arms of grace

Cause I am hanging on every word you say
And even if you don’t wanna speak tonight
That’s all right, all right with me
Cause I want nothing more than to sit
Outside Heaven’s door and listen to you breathing
Is where I want to be

I am looking past the shadows
Of my mind into the truth
And trying to identify the voices in my head
God, which one’s you
Let me feel one more time
What it feels like to feel
And break these calluses off me
One more time

I don’t want a thing from you
Bet you’re tired of me waiting
For the straps to fall
Off your table to the ground
I just want to be here now

* * * * *

Its amazing how your life can change in a single instant.

One day I was Liz Parker, a waitress, and a honors student with a promising future ahead of me.

Now, today, I’m Liz Parker, a cripple in a wheelchair.

A single gunshot changed my life forever.

It’s changed the way I look at the world. In my eyes everything used to be black and white. Simple. As a teenager you go to school, you date, you fall in love, and you become an adult.

But now, I see everything in color.

I’ve learned that everything isn’t so simple.

There are challenges and feelings that you don’t want to deal with, but you realize that you have too.

I’ve spent the last two months living in a hospital and suffering through physical therapy. In two days I’m finally going back home, and back to school. I don’t want to go to school but I can’t hide from the world forever.

* * * * *

Liz closed her journal when a nurse came in.

“So Liz sweetie, you ready to go home and back to school?” Nurse Cortez asked.

Liz shrugged. “I don’t know.”

The nurse nodded and proceeded to pack some of her stuff. She knew that when Liz got into one of her moods that talking to her would be nearly impossible.

Liz sighed and picked up the single white rose that was next to her bed. White roses were her absolute favorite. Everyone else had given her daisies and lilies, which were beautiful, but one anonymous person gave her a beautiful white rose. She had her parents frost it so she could keep it forever.

Liz set her flower down and picked up her journal once again.

Kyle broke up with me today. Now that I was coming back to school he probably didn’t want to deal with a wheelchair bound girlfriend.

I guess I should be hurt, but I’m not.

I’m glad Kyle dumped me. At least now I won’t have to do it.

My parents, Maria and Alex are the only ones who visited me constantly

Sometimes I liked that, and sometimes I didn’t.

They look at me differently now. They look at me with pity flowing through their eyes. And I don’t need they’re pity.

I pity myself enough.

--Liz

****Part 1****

They threw me a party when I came home yesterday.

It was hardly a party.

Instead of having a good time, people stared…almost as if they were waiting for me to make a mistake. For me to break down and cry.

I would never cry in front of them, instead I smile and wave and pretend that I don’t notice that I’m in a wheelchair. Pretend that I don’t feel like crying every second of the day.

I wonder when things will get better for me. When I won’t mind that I can’t walk again, when I won’t mind the stares that follow me where ever I go.

I hate feeling dependent on everyone around me. No one will give me space. Maria talks to me constantly. I love Maria dearly, but sometimes…sometimes she won’t let me breath. Alex is being okay, he gives me space and doesn’t question when I say I want to be alone most of the time.

Sometimes I think my friends and I are drifting apart…maybe because I let them. Maybe because I don’t want friends.

Maybe I want to be alone.

* * * * *

Liz silently rolled down the quiet halls of West Roswell High School. Class started five minutes ago, but she didn’t quite feeling like going just yet.

It took forever to ditch Maria and Alex. They were a constant shadow to her. Liz knew she should be grateful for friends who would stick with her no matter how low things got, but right now Liz wanted to be alone.

The only bad thing about being alone was that when she finally decided to walk inside the classroom people would probably stare at her through the whole class…not like they weren’t gonna do it before.

Liz headed toward her first period biology class. They hadn’t changed her classes since the beginning of the school year. Liz was glad about that, at least she still knew all her classes.

Liz idly wondered if they changed lab partners too. Last time she had had Max Evans as a partner. She hadn’t seen him in months. He wasn’t even at the party that they had at the Crashdown for her. She guessed like everyone else, he was just afraid of her now.

Liz rounded the corner and bumped into a person and effectively spilled her book bag from the back of her chair to the ground and next to her. She turned to the side to pick it up when a hand stopped her. She looked up and saw that it was the one and only Max Evans.

* * * *

Max was pissed.

After Isabel had finally decided what to wear they were now nearly 15 minutes late for class. He didn’t understand why Isabel took so long to change clothes…everything she had had cleavage sticking out of it anyways. And as her brother, that just made him even angrier.

Max angrily stalked to his locker for his first hour books. He then began quickly walk towards his first hour biology class. When he turned the corner he bumped into Liz Parker.

He hadn’t seen Liz since the shooting in September. Ever since he heard that Liz had been paralyzed he wished that he would have been there to help her. He would have risked his life…but it didn’t matter.

When he saw here reach down to pick up her book bag he shook his head and then stopped her so he could pick it up.

“I am so sorry Max, I didn’t see where I was going.” He heard Liz say.

Max handed her, her books. “No…no it was my fault.” He couldn’t keep his eyes off of her. Liz was still as beautiful as she was the last time he saw her…although, she had lost a little weight. Being in a wheelchair did nothing to mar her beauty. Max began rocking on the heels of his foot.

“So…do you still have Bio first period?” he asked her. Liz graced him with a small smile. She then tucked her hair behind her hair. He wanted nothing more at that moment then to touch her hair.

“Yeah…I do.” Liz replied.

Max gave her a mega-watt smile and then chastised himself for looking like a dumb ass.

“So do I…I could walk you there…if you want.” Liz smiled.

“I would like that.” Max began walking while Liz began rolling herself to class. When they got there Liz abruptly stopped at the door.

“What’s wrong Liz?” Max asked her. He looked at her face and seen that she had gotten pale.

Liz looked up at his face and only saw warmth and concern shinning in his eyes. In all the eyes she had ever seen since the accident they were the first that didn’t have pity in them. Already she would confide in him. She didn’t necessarily want to but she couldn’t stop herself.

It was like…destiny.

“I’m-I’m scared to go in,” she told him honestly.

Max took her hand in his. He didn’t remember being so bold with her. He’d always been to shy to even catch her eye.

“You don’t have to be,” he told her. “You have me.” He added in a barely audible voice.

He hoped that she hadn’t heard him.

But Liz did here him.

She granted him with a beautiful smile.

“Thank you Max.”

--Part 2--

Max opened the door for Liz and she quietly rolled inside the room. The once semi-noisy class was now overlapped in silence.

Liz silently followed Max towards their lab table. She tried to ignore the eyes that followed her around the room. When she got to the table her eyes started to water.

There was no way in hell she would be able to get up there.

The class was eerily silent and she felt hundreds of eyes on her, watching each little movement that she made.

This couldn’t get any worse.

As if sensing her dilemma Max lifted her out of her chair and put her on the lab stool. He then glared at the people who were staring at Liz as if she were a puppy doing amazing tricks.

Liz didn’t know weather to be embarrassed or grateful for what Max did. So she just took the easy way out and kept silent.

She could barley hold in her tears. Everything was so hard now. She couldn’t even enjoy her favorite class now. Liz thoughts were shaken when Ms. Hardy began to talk.

“Welcome back Liz,” Ms. Hardy said. Liz nodded her head in acknowledgment to her welcome.

“Thank you,” Liz replied

Ms. Hardy began talking again. “Okay students today we are going to start a new project. Your partner is the person you are sitting next to right now.”

A few groans escaped in the classroom and Max and Liz shared a small smile.

“You are going to do a wonderful project on the body outline of a frog.”

Ms. Hardy explained the assignment in length and left them time to discuss the assignment before the bell rang.

Max turned in his seat so that he was facing Liz. “So, do you want to meet up after school to start on the assignment?”

“Maybe we should start a lunch and meet up around 7:00 tonight…I have physical therapy.”

Max nodded in agreement. “Can we meet at the Crashdown?”

Liz smiled. “That would be fine.”

Max couldn’t help but notice that every time she smiled, the smile wouldn’t reach her eyes.

Max wished he could tell her that he, in some way, understood how she felt about being different.

People weren’t able to see his differences, but they were there. It was horrible waking up every morning knowing that you were different from the other kids…other humans. It also felt horrible that if people knew the truth of him they wouldn’t be accepting, they would probably run as far as possible.

Max broke out of his thoughts when the bell rang. He got out of his seat and helped Liz into her wheelchair. He flinched when he saw the pink tinge in her cheeks. He never meant to embarrass her.

He walked beside her as she went out of the classroom where Maria and Alex were waiting for her.

He gave her a tiny smile.

“So, I’ll see you in the quad.”

Liz nodded her head.

“Yeah…see ya”

They then both turned toward their other classes, each, secretly thinking about the other.

* * * * *

Liz sat down at the lunch table with Alex and Maria, while waiting for Max to arrive. They were talking about some new gossip and trying to include Liz into the conversation.

“…So Kyle asked Isabel Evans out and she looked him straight in the eye and said ‘no’ in front of everyone…it was classic! Kyle Valenti getting turned down!” Maria and Alex burst into fits of laughter and Liz let her self laugh some. Even though she wasn’t angry with Kyle for dumping her, it was fun to see him get a taste of his own medicine.

“Oh and Lizzie, wait to you hear this,” Maria said. Liz looked up at her and gave her an encouraging look.

“Pam Troy got a nose job.” Liz let out an even bigger laugh. “The girl had the nose the size of a unsharpened pencil.

Liz looked up when she felt a presence at the end of the table. It was Max. Max had always been the hottie of the school since the ninth grade, but she looked in Max’s eyes and began to understand the true beauty of Max Evans.

His amber eyes showed beauty, honesty, love, and surprisingly, fear. Liz began to wonder if Max was afraid of her. But deep down inside her heart she knew that that wasn’t the case. Max Evans was hiding something. Liz hoped that he would one day be able to confide in someone.

Maybe even her.

They soon broke out of their staring match when Liz cleared her throat. “Oh hey Max. Sit down.” Max sat down in the seat that was right across from Liz.

“Um Max, you know Maria DeLuca and Alex Whitman right?”

Max gave them both a small smile. “Yeah, I do…hey.” Maria and Alex both said hey and gave him a small wave.

Liz and Max both took out their bio books out of their book bags and flipped to the page that they needed. They began talking about the project and Maria and Alex left saying that they couldn’t think about dead frogs during lunch.

Max looked up from the book and let out a big sigh.

Liz smirked at him. “Bored?”

“No, more like brain fried…and sick.” Max replied.

“Really? I could do this for hours.” Liz told him with a dreamy voice.

Max gave her a full-blown smile. “Smart and beautiful.” He began to blush when he realized he said his thoughts out loud.

He dared himself to look up at Liz again and when he did he saw that Liz was smiling at him.

He looked closer and noticed that for the first time, this smile actually reached her eyes.

And he made it happen.

Part 3

Max, Isabel, and Mr. And Mrs. Evans were eating a quiet dinner later that night. Max still had a half an hour before he had to go meet with Liz.

Ever since lunch this afternoon he couldn’t stop thinking about her. He wondered if he could possibly make her smile like that again. It made him shine to think that he could possibly bring some kind of sunshine in her life.

Isabel interrupted Max’s thoughts. “What’s with you Max?”

Max looked at her quizzically. “What do you mean?” he asked her.

“You’re cheesing like you just seen chocolate.”

Max blushed a little. “Nothing is up with me.” He then turned to his parents.

“Uh, mom, dad, I have to leave at 6:45 to go to Liz’s house.”

“Liz Parker?” his mom asked him. Max nodded. “How is she? I heard the poor girl is in a wheelchair now.”

Max nodded. “Yea she is…I guess she’s doing as well as you could expect.”

Diane nodded and took note of the flash of admire in his eyes.

"Thats fine Max, just don't be gone to late."

"Okay Mom," Max agreeded.

Soon dinner was over and Max had gone to his room to change his shirt. Supposedly Isabel had thought it would be funny to use her powers and will him to spill Pepsi on his shirt.

While he was changing Isabel had barged in his room.

“That’s a nice shirt Max. Why are you trying to look so…up?” Isabel asked with a hint of annoyance in her voice.

“Well since you messed up my last shirt I needed to change. Besides, why do you even care how nice my shirt is?”

Isabel sighed in anger and regret. She didn’t really want to do this but she had a feeling that she had to.

“Max a lot of girls are chasing after you and wanting you and you choose to hang around a paraplegic, its pathetic.”

Max couldn’t believe what was coming out of Isabel’s mouth. He had never known her to be so cruel.

“Why are you saying this Isabel?” Max asked her.

“Look Max, you’ve always had this crush on Liz Parker and it’s not safe. And I know Michael agrees with me.

Michael chose that moment to climb inside Max’s room.

“She’s right. I do.”

Max shook his head in disbelief. This was not happening. They were not trying to gang up on him.

“Maxwell, you are getting to close to her.” Michael told him.

“What the hell are you talking about? I’ve barely even talked to her!” Max shouted with barely contained anger. This was going way to far.

“So what! You go there, do your work, and come back. No extra’s, not chitchatting, no socializing.”

Max just stared at Michael and Isabel. He angrily grabbed his leather jacket and quickly left the room. He didn’t have to listen to a damn word they said.

He got in his jeep and tried to calm down a bit before he attempted to start driving. He didn’t want to cause any accidents.

Michael, Isabel, and him always kept their distance from other people or any other emotional attachments. And honestly, he’d always felt lonely. It was nice having them and his parents but sometimes it wasn’t enough. Just them weren’t enough for him to live.

Max shifted his gear and drove down to Liz’s house. When he got their Mrs. Parker answered the door for him.

Mrs. Parker smiled warmly at Max. “Hi Max, Liz is in her room. Third door on the right.”

Even in his current anger he managed to give Mrs. Parker a nice smile back. “Thank you.”

He walked to her room. He noticed that she had already had her supplies ready and waiting. She was bent over her desk reading something very intently.

“Hey Liz,” Max said, trying to catch her attention.

Liz snapped her head up startled and Max immediately apologized.

“I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.” He hated when other people seemed afraid of him. It just made him think of what he really was.

Liz let out a small laugh and Max caught a glimpse of the book she was reading.

“Harry Potter?” Max asked, amusement clear in his voice.

Liz began to laugh again. “Yeah, um, he sort of became an addiction of mine while I was in the hospital.”

“Lucky guy,” Max said without thinking. He let out a silent groan. He really needed to control himself.

“So lets get to work,” Liz said after a small moment of silence.

Max pulled up a chair and sat at the side of the desk. Liz smiled when she noticed how queasy Max was getting.

“So…do you want to identify the rectum?” She let out laugh when she saw how pale he got. “Okay Max, why don’t you do the word problems, and I’ll do the nasty part.”

Max let out a sigh of relief. “Thanks. I didn’t think I could handle this anymore.”

The two got to work on the project. After a half hour they finished that part of the project.

They sat down facing each other.

“So Liz, what do you want to be when you get out of high school?” Max asked her.

“I want to be head of the Molecular Biology department at UCLA.” Liz told him. “What about you?”

Max shrugged. He honestly hadn’t made a choice yet. “Maybe a doctor, or an architect.”

Liz nodded and their eyes locked for a second. Liz chose that moment to get a closer look at Max. She noticed that the light in his eyes from earlier was slightly dimmed.

“So what’s got you down Max?” Liz asked. Max looked at her in surprise.

“Nothings got me down.”

Liz narrowed her eyes. “Seriously…what’s wrong?”

Max let out a tortured sigh. “Isabel and Michael were giving me a hard time.”

“Why?”

Max looked at her for a minute. “They were just being idiots.”

“It was about me, wasn’t it?” Liz said after a minute of silence.

“No it wasn’t” Max tried to convince her.

“You don’t have to protect my feelings Max,” Liz told him.

Max nodded when he knew that he couldn’t lie to her. “Don’t worry about Michael and Isabel. They’re just sometimes…harsh.”

Liz nodded but couldn’t stop her eyes from getting teary.

This was how it is, and how it’s always going to be.

Unfortunately, this was her life.

Part 4

Max had seen the tears in Liz’s eyes and immediately felt horrible about the words that Isabel and Michael had said. He didn’t say those horrible things but it killed him that Isabel and Michael would. He didn’t understand why they had to be so harsh and cruel about everything. If anyone, them three knew what it was like to be different.

He glanced at Liz and saw her discreetly wipe away a few tears. Just another chop at his heart.

‘Damn them,’ he thought to himself. Why couldn’t they understand how much words hurt?

“So Liz,” he spoke up. “I’m gonna be here for awhile since we finished our work earlier than intended. So why don’t we watch a movie?” he asked her.

Liz looked at him before giving him a tiny smile.

“Have you seen Meet the Parents yet?” Liz asked him.

Max shook his head. “Nope not yet, I meant to get it at Blockbuster.”

“Then we’ll watch that right now.” Liz told him.

Liz rolled to her cabinet and pulled out a videocassette of Meet the Parents. She popped it in the VCR and her and Max began watching the movie. After about an hour in the movie they were doubled over in laughter.

“God this has got to be the funniest movie I’ve ever seen!” Max exclaimed. Liz nodded her head in agreement. She looked at him and asked a question that had been in her mind for awhile.

“Max, how come you’re not like this in school…I mean, now you’re laughing and having a good time, but when you’re at school you’re the complete opposite?” Liz asked him. She was determined to understand why Max Evans was Max Evans.

Max shrugged. He didn’t expect Liz to ask him that question. “I don’t know. I guess I never felt like I belonged. I was always uncomfortable.” Max said hoping to close the subject. He wanted to tell Liz everything about him and he knew that he couldn’t do that.

Liz nodded her head in acceptance of his answer and turned back to the movie and they sat in uncomfortable silence for a minute. Soon the uncomfortableness was over and they returned to laughing their heads off.

In the middle of their laughing fit Maria and Alex walked in her room. They widened their eyes in shock at the sight of Max and Liz laughing like crazy. Mostly they zoned in on Liz. They haven’t seen her this happy, or having this much fun since the shooting. Alex cleared his throat and Max and Liz looked up in surprise.

“So what’s so funny?” Alex asked. Liz reached for the remote control and switched off the television.

“Oh we were just watching Meet the Parents,” Liz told them. She glanced back at Max and saw that he had went back into his quiet mode. ‘He really wasn’t lying about being uncomfortable,’ Liz thought to herself.

As much as Max wanted to open up more, the only person in the room that he was really comfortable with was Liz. And he couldn’t understand why. Liz was always somebody that he couldn’t know because of who he was.

Alex nodded his head. “Yeah, that has got to be the funniest movie.”

Maria spoke up and jumped into the conversation. “Uh huh, especially at the end where he-“

“No!” Liz interrupted. “Don’t say anymore Maria, Max hasn’t seen the movie yet,” Liz told them.

“You haven’t Max?” Alex asked in feigned shock.

Max shook his head. “Nope, this is my first time watching the movie.”

“Well, if you don’t mind, could we join in on the fun?” Maria asked.

“Sure,” Liz told them. “Make your selves comfortable.”

Maria and Alex nodded and found a place to sit facing the TV in Liz’s room. When the movie was over, there wasn’t a dry eye in the room and everyone was hysterically laughing.

Max couldn’t believe it, but he was actually starting to feel comfortable around Maria and Alex. They were both fun and energetic. He could understand why Liz, Maria, and Alex were best friends.

Max looked at his watch. He yelped in surprise. “Um, I really gotta go. Its already 11 and I wasn’t supposed to be gone to long.”

Liz looked up at Max. “Okay, I’ll see you tomorrow Max,” she told him in a soft a voice. She didn’t want him to leave but she didn’t think that their parents would take it to kindly that he was still here.

Max began gathering his stuff together when he stopped in shock. He never noticed it before but on Liz’s window pane there was a white rose…the one that he had given to her. He’d recognize that rose from anywhere. He couldn’t believe that she had kept it.

“Is there something wrong Max?” Liz asked. Max snapped out of his trance.

“No, no, nothings wrong.” He gave Liz a smile and touched her hand. "See ya tomorrow."

He then turned to leave the room. “Bye.” He told everyone. He left room with a smile permanently etched on his face.

He left after he heard the chorus of goodbyes.

As soon as they heard the apartment door close Maria and Alex pounced on her.

“Ohhh…Lizzie has a crush!” Maria exclaimed.

“And if my readings are correct, the feelings are mutual.” Alex added.

“You guys, I don’t have a crush and Max, and Max doesn’t have a crush on me.” Liz stated.

Maria began to tickle Liz to try and get the truth out of her. “Come on Lizzie, admit! You like him!” When Liz wouldn’t reply Alex began tickling her too. Liz burst into fits of giggles. “Come on guys, stop it!” she exclaimed.

“Not until you admit you have a crush on him.” Alex told her.

“Fine! Fine! I have a crush on Max Evans? Happy now?” Liz asked. When she finally admitted it Maria and Alex stopped their tickling fit.

Maria and Alex smiled in triumph.

“Very Happy” Alex told her.

“Okay, now to hooking you and Max up,” Maria said.

“No!” Liz shouted. “You can’t do that.”

“Why not? You like him, he likes you.” Maria told her like it was the simplest thing in the world.

“Max doesn’t like me,” Liz said quietly. “Max probably wants someone who is more prettier, more bustier and can actually walk on her own two feet,” Liz said, her voice thick with tears.

“Oh Lizzie,” Maria said. She and Alex enveloped her in a hug.

“Max Evans would be a fool not to fall in love with someone like you,” Alex told her. “Anyone would.”

Liz wiped away the stray tears that fell on her cheeks.

“Thank you so much. I don’t know what I’d do if I didn’t have any of you here. I love you guys so much.”

“We love you too Liz,” Maria and Alex said together.

Max looked around the quad for somewhere to sit. He saw Isabel and Michael near the back of the quad obviously waiting for him to sit down with them. He glanced at them one more time before turning his head away and heading for an empty table. He was still angry at them for being so horrible about Liz and trying to forbid him from associating with her.

He sat his stuff on the top of the table and began silently eating his lunch when Tara Gaines approached him. Tara was pretty with long blond hair and sparkling blue eyes and defiantly busty. To most of the guys at West Roswell Tara was a real catch but to Max she wasn’t that nice looking. She didn’t have long chestnut hair or brown doe eyes.

Tara leaned over the table and nearly shoved her cleavage in Max’s face.

“So Max,” she said seductively. “How about we go to a movie on Friday?” she asked him.

“No thanks,” Max told her, trying not to sound like a jerk. Unfortunately for Max, “No thanks” meant “Maybe” in Tara’s dictionary.

“Oh come on Max, I’ll make it very worth your while,” Tara said while making a little motion with her mouth. Obviously she wasn’t just talking about kissing. It looked like not all rumors were false.

Across the quad Maria, Alex, and Liz were headed towards Max when they saw him eating lunch alone.

“I wonder why he’s not eating with Michael and Isabel,” Maria thought out loud. Both Alex and Liz shrugged. Liz stopped moving when she saw the biggest slut in the school, Tara, talking to Max. Tara was beautiful and that made all of Liz’s insecurities come back full force. It was foolish of her to think that Max Evans would ever love her.

Maria looked back at Liz in confusion. “Why did you stop?” Maria asked her.

“No reason,” Liz said. She held her head up high and continued with Alex and Maria down to Max’s table. They arrived just in time to hear Tara’s offer to Max. They watched as Max chocked on the bread that he was eating.

“Uh, No thanks,” he replied to Tara. Max looked over and saw Liz, Maria, and Alex. He let out a sigh of relief.

“Hey,” Max said to them. He smiled in Liz’s direction.

Tara grimaced when she saw Max smile towards Liz. She put on a fake chipper smile. “Well Max, the offer still stands.”

Max shook his head. “No,” he said bluntly, almost rudely.

Tara looked at him, shocked. Sure he had turned down her offer, but he never been so adamant about it. ‘It must have something to do with that crippled Liz Parker.’ She thought to herself.

Tara slowly got up and brushed past Liz’s chair. “Freak,” she muttered. She hadn’t meant for anyone to hear her, but everyone at the table did.

Max looked ready to blow his top. Not to mention Maria and Alex. Liz didn’t know whether to cry or slap the shit out of Tara. Maria was the first to jump into action.

“You know Tara, don’t try to blame other people for Max turning your sorry ass down, he probably didn’t want one of your many STD’s,”

Tara turned red and hurriedly stormed from the area. The others watched her leave before turning to each other. Almost immediately, they broke out in laughter.

“Good one Maria,” Alex told her while trying to calm his laughing fit. They all laughed for a few minutes before calming down again. They began silently eating before starting to talk again.

“So, Max, how come you’re not eating with your sister or Michael today?” Maria asked him.

Max shifted on the bench. “They were just being stupid about something, that’s it,” Max said.

Maria nodded and they all began to absently chat about school and such when Michael and Isabel approached their table.

“Maxwell, can we talk to you for a few minutes?” Michael asked him.

“No,” Max told them bluntly.

Michael and Isabel looked at each other briefly before Isabel began to talk. “Look Max, unless you want us to say everything in front of your little friends, you better come with us,” she said in her ice princess voice.

Max glared at Isabel briefly before getting up to follow them.

“What the hell was that about?” Maria asked with anger seeping in her voice. “No wonder Max said they were stupid.”

They all turned to the direction that Max, Michael, and Isabel went off to. It wasn’t to far. Just enough to not be heard by anyone but seen.

They watched as they talked and Michael and Isabel seemed to be yelling at Max. They saw Michael roughly brush past Max and Isabel follow after him. Max stood there for a few minutes before going back to the table.

“What happened?” Liz asked in a quiet voice. Obviously whatever they said made Max upset. Both Maria and Alex noticed that if Max mentioned anything, he would only want to talk about it with Liz. The way they were gazing at each other was a dead giveaway.

Maria grabbed Alex’s hand and made some excuse about buying some pop before dragging him with her. When they were gone Max and Liz began talking.

“What did they say?” Liz asked.

“They just don’t really like when I don’t hang out with them, ya know?” Max said. He didn’t want to tell her that they basically threatened him to make him cut off all ties with Liz. He didn’t care; he wasn’t going to be led around like some puppy that still needed to be trained.

Liz nodded her head. “Well, they’re your best friends Max, maybe you need to hang with them even more.” Liz told him.

Max shook his head. “Not when they are being stupid.”

Liz nodded again before letting the discussion drop. She looked over at one of Max’s notebooks and saw some writing that kind of looked like a song.

“Hey Max, what is this?” she asked him.

Max looked over to what she was reading and nearly snatched the notebook out of her hand. “Nothing…its nothing,” he said nervously. He silently hoped she hadn’t read too much of what was written.

“It looked like a song,” Liz told him. She had read some of it, and so far she had liked it. “Do you sing?” When Max didn’t answer she caught his obviously embarrassed expression.

“That’s okay Max, you don’t have to tell me,” Liz told him, a little upset that he wouldn’t respond to her.

Max looked up and into her eyes. And felt the need to share his every secret with her. Even the fact that he was an alien. Maybe, Isabel and Michael were right, maybe he was getting in to far.

He chose to answer her question anyway. “Uh, yeah, I sing a little,” he told her, embarrassment clear in his voice.

Just then Alex and Maria returned and the conversation was stopped. They all talked for the rest of the lunch period before they separated. Maria and Alex walked towards the Math wing, while Liz and Max headed towards the English wing.

“So, when do you think we could get together again?” Liz asked him while they moved through the halls.

“How about today after school around 5 at my house?” Max said. Normally, he wouldn’t offer his house but he knew for a fact that Isabel was going to be over a friend’s house until 8.

Liz nodded her head. “Okay, I’ll see you then.” They parted ways at the entrance of Liz’s English class with a small smile.

“See ya Max,” Liz told him.

“Bye Liz,”

****Part 6****

Liz entered her room and closed the door behind her. She needed to be alone. Liz placed her chair by the window and looked outside.

Ever since English, the rest of the day had gone straight to hell. There was a substitute teacher in that class and he had basically stared at her throughout the class period. And he had made no reservations about hiding the fact, and in her 6th period American Lit. Class she distinctly heard Tara, who was sitting right next to her calling her a freak whenever she had the chance.

Liz put her head in her hands. In her head she constantly heard the words,

"Freak," and "cripple," repeating in her head.

Freak. Freak. Freak.

Cripple. Cripple. Cripple.

No matter how hard she tried to shut it out she couldn't. It was like people were standing in her facing screaming at her for being different.

Freak.

Cripple.

And the pain in her heart kept on getting deeper and deeper.

She angrily went to her CD player and pushed in a CD.

Crawling in my skin
Consuming all I feel
Fear is how I fall
Confusing what is real

The words of the song spoke to her. She usually wasn't into heavy metal but the words seemed to be speaking to her directly. Sometimes this kind of music could be deep.

She looked at the big red clock numbers on the small desk next to her bed. She had to be at Max's house in an hour. She moved towards the mirror and just began to look at herself.

Really look at herself.

There's something inside me that pulls beneath the surface
Consuming, confusing
This lack of self-control I fear is never ending
Controlling, I can't seem
To find myself again
My walls are closing in

Without a sense of confidence
And I'm convinced
That there's just too much pressure to take

I've felt this way before
So insecure

Liz began playing with her hair, pulling it in a ponytail, then taking it down, brushing it up, leaving a bang, a wisp of hair.

Finally she settled on leaving her hair down. She picked up her lipstick and applied it, then added some gloss.

She looked at herself in the mirror. She tried focusing on her face but no matter how hard she tried nothing could mar the fact that she was in a wheelchair.

Crawling in my skin
Consuming all I feel
Fear is how I fall
Confusing what is real

Liz continued to stare at herself as the tears being falling down her face. She just wanted to be normal again.

She didn't want to be looked down at. She didn't want to be thought as a freak, she didn't want this at all.

She wanted to be able to walk around the mall with her friends. She wanted to be able to work, she wanted to able to get up stairs. She wanted to be at eye length with people.

She wanted to be normal.

Discomfort endlessly has pulled its self upon me
Distracting, reacting
Against my will I stand, beside my reflection
It's haunting I can't seem

To find myself again
My walls are closing in

Without a sense of confidence
And I'm convinced
That there's just too much pressure to take

I've felt this way before
So insecure

"Liz honey! Its time to go!" Liz heard her mother call out to her.

Liz hurriedly wiped the tears away from her face to hide the fact that she was hurting. Her parents avoided the fact of her emotions. They cared about her, but they liked to pretend that nothing was really wrong.

When in fact, everything was wrong.

Liz glanced at herself one more time before grabbing a tissue and wiping the lipstick off. She just put the gloss on and checked her face to make sure there were no tear tracks.

There was no point in trying to look nice for Max. Max could have any girl who wants who goes to that school.

What are the chances of choosing someone like her?

None.

She checked herself again, just because.

Crawling in my skin
Consuming all I feel
Fear is how I fall
Confusing what is real

Sometimes it's easier to live in an illusion.

TBC....

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