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.
"What about Rick Surmacz and Maggie McMahon?" Maria asked. "Maggie makes him wear the same colors as her practically every day, and they've been together since the seventh grade."
"Yeah, but everyone knows Maggie gave Rick a lobotomy," Alex shot back. "He has all the signs. Right, Liz?"
"Huh? Oh yeah," she mumbled. She had kind of stopped paying attention once she was sure Alex was on a safe topic.
"Is something-" Alex began. Then his expression turned grim. "Kyle Valenti at four o'clock."
Oh, great, Liz thought. This is exactly what I need right now.
Kyle plopped down next to her on the grass-without waiting for an invitation. "So, Liz, when are we going out again?" he asked.
He's like a deranged Energizer Bunny, Liz thought. How many times am I going to have to tell him no before his batteries run out?
"That would be never. I told you that, Kyle," Liz said firmly. She reached across Maria and grabbed one of Alex's pork rinds. She didn't want one-she thought they were pretty disgusting, actually-but she hoped maybe if she ignored Kyle, he'd just go away.
"Am I missing something? Are you, like, the hottest girl in school? What makes you think you're so special?" Kyle demanded.
Maria nudged Liz. She's probably madder than I am, Liz thought.
"Kyle, get a clue, get some therapy, get a life," Liz said. "Just get over it."
Maria nudged Liz again. "Your shirt," she whispered.
Liz glanced down and saw that her baby tee had ridden up-revealing one of the silver handprints on her stomach. When I reached for the pork rind, she thought.
Did Kyle notice? Probably not, she decided. The prints had begun to fade, and Kyle was pretty distracted by the sound of his own voice. Liz slid the shirt-back down, trying to make the movement look casual.
"You should get rid of your attitude," Kyle was saying. "You-"
"That's it, Valenti," Alex interrupted. "Get lost."
Kyle pushed himself to his feet and stared down at Alex. "What-are you going to make me?" Kyle demanded.
Alex stood up and faced off with him. Alex was shorter than Kyle, and he probably weighed twenty-five pounds less. But he didn't back down. He took a step closer.
Wonderful, Liz thought, rolling her eyes. Now I have to be nice to Kyle so that he doesn't kill Alex.
"Look, Kyle," she said in her sweetest voice. "I didn't mean to-"
"Forget it, okay? Don't even bother." Kyle moved away from Alex and glanced around the quad. He jerked his chin toward Isabel Evans. "Who cares about you? If she didn't want to go out with me, then I'd have to be upset." He stalked off.
Alex sat back down. "What a total and complete jerk."
"Yeah, Liz is much, much prettier than Isabel," Maria added.
Liz cracked up. "I don't think that's what he meant," she told Maria.
Maria turned to Alex. "Oh, come on. Liz is way more gorgeous than Isabel, right?"
"Different types," Alex muttered.
"Yeah. Liz treats guys like human beings. Isabel treats guys like dirt," Maria answered. "I don't know why any guy would want to go out with her."
Alex looked over at Isabel. "Yeah. Blond hair, blue eyes, curvy body. Who would want to get close to that?"
Maria whacked him on the shoulder. "I will never understand guys. Just because you like how she looks, you don't care that she has the personality of a taxidermist."
"I had a dream about her the other night, and it had nothing to do with dead animals," Alex protested.
"It's hard to believe she and Max are brother and sister," Liz said. "I mean, yeah, they have the same hair and eyes."
"But not the same curvy body," Alex joked. Liz ignored him. "But Max's personality is totally different. Max is nice to everyone."
Maria grabbed Liz by the arm. "I just realized. Isabel is Max's sister. Does that mean she's also a-"
Liz slapped her hand over Maria's mouth. She couldn't believe Maria had almost blurted out Max's secret. She was going to have to sit her down and remind her how serious it would be for Max if the truth about him got out.
"A what?" Alex asked.
"Oh no," Liz said. "Don't try to weasel out of it. You have to tell us your dream. You brought it up-that means you have to tell."
Maria pulled Liz's hand off her mouth. She gave Liz a little nod to show she understood. "Yeah. I'll analyze it for you. I've read every dream book there is."
"There's not much to analyze," Alex said.
Another save by Liz Ortecho, Liz thought. She glanced over at Isabel Evans. She looked so, well, normal. But Maria had a good point. Could Isabel be an alien, too? She must be-she was Max's sister. Liz knew they were both adopted, and they looked practically like twins. Liz stared around the quad. Were Max and Isabel the only two aliens at school? Or were there aliens everywhere, and she just hadn't known about it?