Okay, here's what I'll do, Isabel decided. If I get even a hint that Liz is going to open her fat mouth, I'll go into her dreams and find a way to drive her crazy. She can spend the rest of her life in an insane asylum, babbling about aliens. No one will pay any attention to her.
Isabel stretched out on her bed and smiled. Poor Liz. I can see her now. She might even have to get shock treatment.
Now that she had that little problem solved, it was time to decide something really important. What to wear to the homecoming dance. Isabel planned to be crowned homecoming queen, and she wanted to look good. Well, she always looked good. But she wanted to look good.
Isabel grabbed a magazine off her night table and started flipping through it. Definitely not that pink froufrou thing, she thought. The girl looks like she went shopping after an overdose of Prozac. Being that happy just wasn't attractive.
And not that red rag with the built-in push-up bra. No, no, no. "Somebody call 1-800-Go Ricki," she mumbled. "I have a candidate for the 'My Best Friend Went to the Homecoming Dance Dressed Like A Hoochie Mama' show."
She threw the magazine on the floor and picked up a movie magazine. She studied a photo of a British movie star going into some premiere wearing an ice blue slip dress. Simple. Sexy. And oh, so Isabel.
She would go shopping tomorrow. All she had to do was talk her dad out of his credit card. It had been a few months since the last time. And the homecoming dance was a very important event in a girl's life. He would understand that.
Isabel checked the clock-2 A. M. She'd already gotten in the two hours of sleep she needed, and there were hours and hours to go before she had to get ready for school. She reached for the remote, then changed her mind. Late-night TV sucked. She'd already seen every infomercial about a hundred times. If only humans didn't need so much sleep, there would be good stuff on all night.
She could go see what Max was doing or call up Michael. But they would probably end up arguing about Liz, and Isabel wasn't in the mood.
Isabel checked the clock again. All the guys in Roswell should be asleep by now. She could do some dream walking and make extra sure she would get the votes she needed to be elected homecoming queen. Not that there was any real doubt, but Isabel was a junior, and usually the homecoming queen was a senior. Besides, it was something to do.
She closed her eyes and allowed her breathing to become slow and even. Years of practice made it easy for her to slip into the state between sleep and wakefulness, the place where the shimmering dream orbs were visible.
She never got tired of watching the dream orbs swirl around her, like giant soap bubbles blown with an enchanted bubble wand. Each orb gave off one pure note of music, and Isabel had spent a lot of hours matching up the people she knew with the sound of their dream orb.
Who should I choose tonight? Hmmm. I think it's Alex Manes's turn, she decided. She listened for the sonorous sound of Alex's dream orb, a sound so rich, she could almost taste it. Yes, there it was.
Isabel stretched out her arms and began to hum, calling the orb to her. It spun into her hands and she peered into it, feeling like a gypsy with a crystal ball. Inside the orb she could see a miniature version of one of the halls of Ulysses F. Olsen High. Alex was dreaming about school. How fun.
She hummed louder, and the orb expanded. When it was large enough, she stepped through, the surface of the soap bubble soft against her skin.
Alex must have a good visual memory, she thought. His dream version of school was pretty accurate. She giggled as he ran down the hall past her.
"The calculus final can't be today," Alex cried. "It's only October. I didn't study."
"The final isn't today," Isabel said calmly.
Alex spun around to face her. His red hair was mussed, as if he'd been nervously running his fingers through it. "Are you sure? I just saw Mr. O'Brien, and he said the test had already started. He said he was taking off ten points for every second I was late."
"He was teasing you. The only thing you're late for is the homecoming dance." Isabel took Alex by the hand and led him toward the gym. He didn't ask one question. She loved how easy it was to convince people of stuff in dreams.
Isabel pushed open the gym's big double doors. A spotlight hit her and Alex, and crowns appeared on their heads.
"Can you believe we won?" Isabel asked. "We got elected homecoming queen and king! I think we're supposed to lead this dance."
"Oh. Really? You and me?" Alex blinked into the spotlight.
"You and me." Isabel wrapped her arms around Alex's neck and rested her head on his shoulder. Nice, she thought. Exactly the right height. And he smells good, too.
Isabel usually liked a few more muscles. Washboard abs and powerful legs. But Alex's lean body felt… mmmm.
You're here to work, not to have fun, she reminded herself. She raised her head and gazed up at him-the universal language for "kiss me."
Alex's gaze drifted to her lips. He pulled her closer. She could feel his warm breath against her cheeks, then…
She snapped herself out of the orb. Her lips curved into a satisfied smile. That's another vote for me, she thought. She loved playing with their minds.
"Smell this." Maria thrust a tiny vial of liquid under Liz's nose. "It's cedar. It's really soothing. You'll go into bio feeling at peace."
Liz obediently took a sniff, but she didn't think anything would make her feel less nervous about seeing Max. How was she going to face him after the way she bolted out of his house? What was she going to say to him?
"Feel better?" Maria asked.
"A little, I guess," Liz fibbed. If she said no, Maria would just make her smell something else. Maria was totally into aromatherapy, and she definitely wanted to convert Liz.
"Now that I know the truth about Max, I-" Liz stopped abruptly as Alex plopped down on the ground next to them with two slices of pizza, a brownie, a bag of fried pork rinds, and an orange soda balanced in his hands.
Alex glanced from Liz to Maria, then back to Liz. "Okay, what's going on? You two look guilty."
"Uh, uh, we were just-" Maria began.
"We were just saying how much we love that new box of tampons-the one where they put all the sizes together," Liz jumped in. Maria was such an awful liar. "They have the junior ones, for really light days, and-"
"Wait," Alex exclaimed. "I'm starting to feel really left out. If you don't stop, I'm going to get my feelings hurt."
"Just admit it," Liz answered. "You can't even take hearing the word tam-"
"Okay, okay. You're right," Alex said quickly. "If either of you ever want to break up with a guy but don't know how, just start talking about… that a lot."
"Sounds like the beginning of one of your lists," Liz said.
"Hey, yeah! I've been trying to figure out what the next one should be," he answered.
Alex had a web site filled with lists like "How to Know When to Bring a Barf Bag to a Movie" and "How to Guarantee Your Kid Will Grow Up to Be a Serial Killer or a Game Show Host." Once he got an idea for a list, he could talk about it for hours. And today that's exactly what Liz wanted him to do. She didn't want to get anywhere near the Max subject, not with Maria, the world's worst liar, sitting next to her.
"Okay, what else, what else?" Alex took a big bite of his pizza.
Maria rummaged around in her purse and pulled out a capsule filled with something green. She handed it to Alex. "Here. If you're going to eat that garbage, you need a little herbal boost. I blended this myself. It has great stuff in it."
Alex squinted at the capsule, then tossed it into his mouth and washed it down with a big swallow of the orange soda. "Okay, I got it. Here's another great way to get rid of a guy. Tell him you think it would be so cute if you started wearing matching outfits to school."
Liz took a little bite of her sandwich, then set it down. She was too anxious to eat.