Maria sat down next to Liz and nudged her with her shoulder. "You ever think of saying to your dad what you just said to me?"
"Are you kidding?" Liz pressed her hands between her knees, trying to get her fingers warm. It didn't help. "How could I when no one in my house ever says the name Rosa? We don't even have any pictures of her anywhere. Not in the albums, not on the fridge, not in the hall. They all disappeared the day after she died. I don't know where they are. I've looked for them a bunch of times, but-"
A sharp knock on the door interrupted her. "Are you two working today, or should I be giving Evie and Jose overtime?" Liz's papa demanded.
"One minute," Maria called back. She jumped up and pulled her uniform down from the little clothes rack. Then she grabbed Liz's and held it out to her.
Liz just stared at it.
Maria gave it a shake. "Please? For me?"
"You know what I just realized?" Liz asked. "He's my father. We live in the same house. I work at his restaurant. And he doesn't even know me."
"I want to know all about you," Michael told Trevor. It came out sounding a lot dorkier than it had in his mind. He was just stupid with happiness right now. He actually had a brother!
"Like what?" Trevor asked. His head swiveled back and forth as they walked down Roswell's main street. He obviously wanted to see everything.
"Like the Kindred. Is it all people who wanted the right to have more than one birthing cycle?" Michael asked.
"Some of them are," Trevor answered. "But they aren't the only ones who have to go into hiding to live the kind of life they choose."
"Really?" Michael had always pictured his home planet as this totally perfect place, a place where Michael would have this totally perfect life if he could just find his parents' ship and get there.
He realized now that was totally childish. Why would earth be the only planet in the universe where things were messed up?
"That kind of looks like your friend Alex," Trevor said, pointing at the plastic Ronald in front of McDonald's.
Alex again. This was about the fifth time Trevor had brought up Alex today.
Michael gave the plastic Ronald a fast look. "Maybe the hair, a little. Why else do people join the Kindred?" he asked, trying to change the subject.
"Some because-"
Trevor was interrupted by the toot of a car horn. Michael glanced over and saw Mrs. Pascal hanging out the window. "Michael, I want you to come over for dinner some night. We miss you. And I know Dylan would love to see you."
"Okay, I will," he called back. And he actually meant it. Mrs. Pascal seemed much less annoying when he didn't have to live with her.
"Who was that?" Trevor asked after Mrs. Pascal had driven on.
"She was one of my foster moms," Michael answered.
"How many did you have?" Trevor stopped in front of the car wash and studied the painting of a cat that was getting its spaceship polished up. "That thing could never fly," he said.
"That thing could never fly it," Michael said, nodding toward the cat.
"So how many foster moms?" Trevor asked as they continued down the street.
"Too many. I tried not to count," Michael admitted. "Did you stay with one family when you were with the Kindred?"
"No. I sort of belonged to everyone," Trevor said.
Basically the opposite of me, Michael thought. He hadn't belonged to anyone.
Michael felt a stab of disgust. Get over yourself. Like Trevor had it easy. His parents told him they would come back for him, and then he never saw them again.
"I bet Alex's parents were concerned when he disappeared," Trevor commented.
And we're back to Alex again, Michael thought. "They were completely freaked."
"There were definitely people on our planet who were concerned when he arrived." Trevor shoved his fingers through his hair, and Michael was struck by the fact that his hands and Trevors were almost exactly the same shape and size. He wondered if that meant he and Trevor would look sort of alike in all their bodies' adaptive forms.
"Max kept trying to send the beings of the consciousness info about Alex to try to keep the freaking to a minimum," Michael said.
"What kind of stuff?" Trevor asked.
"Like how Alex helped save our butts when Sheriff Valenti, the Clean Slate agent I told you about, was zeroing in on me and Max and Isabel," Michael answered. "And how he sat with Isabel practically every second for days after the sheriff killed her boyfriend."
"Alex sounds like a good guy," Trevor commented.
"The best," Michael answered. He noticed that his mouth felt really watery, and he laughed. "I start salivating as soon as I get on this block," he told Trevor. "Come on. It's way past time for you to have your first cruller."
Michael led the way into the doughnut shop and ordered four crullers. He shoved two of them at Trevor after they sat down at one of the little tables in the back. Trevor picked one up and started to take a bite.
"Wait! Not like that!" Michael exclaimed. He jerked Trevor's hand away from his mouth. "You've got to have hot sauce," he explained. He pulled out a handful of packets from his pocket, then he ripped a couple open and squirted them on Trevor's cruller. "Okay, now you can eat it."
Michael watched Trevor as he chewed. He smiled when he saw the awe appear on Trevor's face. "Good?"
"Amazing. Fantastic. Phenomenal," Trevor answered.
"I guess we must have the same taste buds," Michael said. He felt the little pop of pleasure he got every time he discovered a similarity between him and Trevor.
"Definitely," Trevor mumbled, his mouth full with a massive bite of cruller. "I guess Alex wouldn't go for this combo, huh?"
What's with all the questions about Alex? Michael wondered. He gave a mental shrug. He really didn't care what they talked about. He was hanging out with his brother.
SIX
"I got the most brilliant idea last night!" Stacey Scheinin cried. "At halftime we should spell out our team's name with our bodies! Can I hear a yeah?"
All the Stacey wanna-bes immediately screamed, "Yeah."
"Sounds fabulous," Isabel added.
Everyone on the cheerleading squad stared at her. It took Isabel a moment to figure out why. Oh, she realized. It's the first time I ever agreed with Stacey about anything.
That just showed what an incredible mood she was in. She had fuzzy-wuzzy feelings toward everyone in the whole world, even look-at-how-cute-I-am aren't-I-the-best-little-head-cheerleader-ever Stacey.
"Are you feeling okay? Because I'm suddenly in need of a barf bag," Isabel's friend Tish Okabe whispered in Isabel's ear.
"I'm feeling spectacular," Isabel answered.
Alex was back! Michael had a brother! And Sheriff Valenti was still dead!
Yeah, Elsevan DuPris was out there somewhere, but she wasn't going to ruin one of her best days ever thinking about that.
"You're awfully happy today," Stacey said, sounding suspicious, or at least as suspicious as someone with a Minnie Mouse voice could sound. She shot a sly look over at the bleachers. "The new boy must be good for you."
Isabel followed Stacey's gaze and saw Kyle Valenti staring at her. As she watched, he pulled out a lighter and flicked it on and off, on and off.
What a loser, Isabel thought. Does he think he's at a concert or something? She felt a tiny bit of her joy drain away. Little Kyle clearly had something on his mind. Something vicious.
Deliberately she turned her back on him. Kyle was an insect. When he became annoying enough, she would deal with him. "Some of my fans do get a little overadoring," Isabel told Stacey.
"I bet you're sorry you jettisoned Alex," Lucinda Baker called out. "I saw him bending over the drinking fountain. He's been doing his butt-building exercises, that's all I can say."
"Uh-huh," one of the Stacey wanna-bes added. "I can't believe I never noticed how yummy he is."