RATING: PG-13
DISCLAIMER, NOTES: See part 1.
Journal entry #2. March 3, 2001.
My name is Liz Parker, and I am beyond pissed off. Yeah, I'm pissed off, and I haven't even talked to Isabel yet. I know, I know, Max gave me the spiel already, but I think he understands why I have to do it this way. I need time to think… Max accused me of doing research. Yeah, I said, so what if I am? If he wants this talk to amount to anything more than Isabel laughing in my face, I need to do a little more homework. Michael was right; I don't know the first thing about Isabel. I know what she is, but I don't know who she is. Max got kind of mad then. I've noticed that it's very hard to tell when Max is mad. Of course you know who she is, he told me. She's Isabel. Like that made anything clearer to me. I didn't say anything back, because I wondered if it was possible that Max didn't know Isabel any better than I do. He seemed disturbed by my silence and said he had to get to class, and left.
You know what? I kinda hope he is. I hope he is mad, and disturbed.
I'm not even sure why I feel the need to defend Isabel to people all of a sudden. Maybe it's just because I've been thinking about her a lot more than I used to. Maybe it's because I always root for the underdog. Maybe it's because I finally noticed what everyone thinks of her. I guess nobody really knows Isabel… with the possible exception of Michael, but I don't know enough about Michael or Isabel to speculate on what they share or don't share. But you know, that's really sad, that maybe one person in the world knows Isabel. She's a good person, and she cares a lot for people. She tries so hard to hide that, but it's obvious to anyone who looks hard enough.
Apparently no one does.
And it's not fair that nobody has tried to get through to her without an ulterior motive, or whatever. I guess that's why I think that they're all wrong, that Isabel will talk to me. I'm not Alex; I don't want romance or love in return. I'm not Maria; I don't need respect and for her to stay the hell away from my boyfriend. I'm not Kyle; I care. Okay, that was harsh. I'm certainly not Max and Michael; I don't need her to be anything static to keep my own life in some kind of balance. This is why I'm pissed off. They don't think I can do this. They don't think that Isabel is capable of being more or less than an Ice Queen, they don't think I can actually be a friend to Isabel.
They're wrong.
"Liz! You got an order up, chica," Maria called out to her fellow Crashdown employee, who turned a withering look on her.
"Maria," Liz replied wearily. Maria looked up from the newspaper she was reading at the counter.
"What?" Liz sighed, and looked pointedly at the mostly empty restaurant. Maria just smiled sweetly and went back to reading. Kyle and Tess were drinking sodas at the counter, and Jeff Velasquez and Sarah Chamberlain were coming pretty close to making out at one of the booths, their shared ice cream sundae melting. Other than that, the Crashdown at 3:45 PM was empty. Liz rolled her eyes and plucked the two plates out of the window, plunking them down again in front of Tess and Kyle.
"Hey, thanks Liz, maybe you could do that with a little less enthusiasm next time," Kyle jibed, and Liz smiled.
"Sorry," she answered, leaning over the counter and resting her chin in one hand. "Hey, have any of you seen Isabel around lately?" she asked offhandedly and didn't notice for a while when nobody answered her. After a minute, she turned an expectant expression on Tess and Kyle and nearly burst out laughing. They had the exact same expression on their faces. The question had caught them in mid-bite, and they were looking at her like she was nuts, forks emptied of their usual strawberry Belgian waffles.
"What?" she asked, turning around to see the same sort of expression on Maria's face. "What?!"
"Why would you be looking for Isabel?" Kyle asked, laughing a little, and Liz frowned.
"Well… why wouldn't I be?"
"Okay, okay, okay," Maria stood up and put her hands on Liz's shoulders, turning her around to look into her face. "I know you meant to say you were looking for Max there, Liz, but it's gonna be okay-"
"No, I meant Isabel. I just wondered… if anybody had seen her lately," Liz shrugged Maria's hands off and tried not to look interested in their responses.
"Um, Liz I hope you'll excuse me when I say that the thought of you talking to Isabel is a little out of the ordinary, wouldn't you agree?" Tess ventured, gesturing to the bottle of Tabasco sauce next to Kyle's left hand, and he slid it down the counter to her as she giggled.
"So? I mean, why should it matter if I don't… usually talk to her-"
"Talk to who?" Alex called out as he caught Liz's last sentence and made himself comfortable on one of the counter stools.
"Whom!" Liz exclaimed with exasperation.
"Huh?" Alex, Maria, and Kyle all answered, turning to her in confusion. Tess just chewed, raising her eyebrows.
"Nevermind. Look, Alex, have you seen Isabel around? I wanted to talk to her." Alex shot her a strange look.
"Uh… why would you want to talk to Isabel?" Alex asked, looking uncomfortable. He'd told Liz on a number of occasions that he was over Isabel, but Liz wasn't so sure. She knew that he was on his way to being over her, but not so positive that Isabel wasn't still a sore spot with him.
"Look, why is it so weird that I want to talk to Isabel? Maybe I just want to ask her a question," Liz snapped, and Kyle looked a little worried.
"Liz, forgive me for saying so, but wouldn't you usually go to Evans with something like this? I mean, you know… the other one."
"Max," Tess whispered loudly in his direction and he smacked her shoulder lightly, making her giggle again.
"I mean, you and Isabel… you're just not the types to… click. For any reason. She's… Isabel. The 'Ice Queen.'" Kyle made exaggerated quotation marks with his fingers in the air, and shrugged.
"Yeah, but that's just the way she is at school," Liz said hesitantly, starting a little when Alex laughed.
"Liz, I hate to burst your bubble, but… Isabel's more or less the Ice Queen no matter what forum." He nodded at Maria when she brought him over his usual orange soda. Liz looked like she'd been slapped.
"Alex… how can you say something like that?" Liz exclaimed, looking at him incredulously. Alex just shrugged.
"Liz, it's no big. I mean, I think Isabel would agree with that statement. Thought I wouldn't suggest wording it quite like that," he added thoughtfully, swigging his drink. Liz pursed her lips in aggravation, wondering why what her friends were saying was affecting her so much.
"Look, Liz, I really gotta go with Kyle on this one. If you need this question answered so badly, ask Max. He'll ask Isabel for you, and you get a buffer zone to boot," Maria responded, snagging a french fry off of Alex's plate before giving it to him.
"Wha – buffer zone? Maria, make sense," Liz entreated wearily, running her fingers through her hair and slapping the silver antennae headband down on the counter.
"What Maria is trying to say is that if you get Max to ask Isabel a question, you don't have the… unique experience of Isabel answering you directly. Take it from someone who knows, Liz, talking to Isabel is, like, a science." Alex replied patiently. "Any number of things can unleash her wrath… she may not like the question, how the question was phrased, the tone of voice in which you asked the question, what you're wearing when you ask the question, where you are when you ask the question, who else might have overheard the question, whether or not-"
"Alex! I get the picture!" Liz exploded, and Alex sighed.
"Liz, I'm just saying. Isabel's a… what's the word I'm looking for…" he trailed off thoughtfully.
"I have a word, but it's not polite to say in front of the ladies," Kyle offered, and Liz's eyes widened. Maria cackled from her seat by the kitchen window.
"I really don't think that's funny," Liz said quietly, and Maria stopped laughing and made her way over to sit next to her friend.
"Oh, come on Liz, it's just friendly banter. Besides, it's not like Isabel's ever gone out of her way to be nice to you," she reasoned, making Liz pause for a moment.
"Extreme?" Alex mused to himself, earning him a strange look from Tess.
"Yeah, but I don't… I mean, I just don't think that this, this reputation she has is warranted," Liz tried to explain.
"Sharp isn't really accurate…" Alex continued to think aloud.
"Look, Liz. We don't dislike Isabel, okay? I don't see why you're getting your panties all in a bunch over this," Kyle clarified, and Tess giggled once again.
"What?" he queried.
"The word 'panties' sounds really funny coming out of your mouth," Tess replied. Kyle rolled his eyes.
"Picky?"
"I'm not… I'm not, like, upset or anything, I just don't think Isabel's as mean as you all think she is," Liz sighed, seating herself at the counter once again.
"I got it!!" Alex yelled, and his friends all looked at him expectantly. "Volatile."
"Volatile?" came the four-time echoed reply.
"Yes, volatile. She's a volatile personality… she can be very nice and caring, but all that can change in the blink of an eye. And you may never figure out what you did wrong, if you indeed did anything wrong, to deserve such a shift in her attentions. By the by, what is this question that you must have the answer to?" Liz rolled her eyes and stalked over to Jeff and Sarah's booth, slapping their check down hard on the tabletop and whisking away their unfinished sundae as they jumped apart, wiping their mouths.
"Did I say something wrong?" Alex asked, befuddled, as Liz marched by him to set the dirty dish down on the food window. She met Michael's smirk with as much grace as she could muster before returning to her seat and wondered why he didn't say anything in Isabel's defense.
end part 2