Wait? Did I lose any time after I saw Liz in the mall? She had no idea. But she'd been alone in her room, so maybe she just hadn't noticed.
I wonder what happens to me during the missing time? It was kind of a creepy thing to think about. It can't be anything too bad, she told herself. I feel fine. Better than fine.
A slow smile spread across her face. I am definitely psychic, she thought. And that means I am most definitely not just your basic, ordinary human chick.
The Major stepped into Alex's doorway. "What's going on with the ROTC?"
Alex's dad was obsessed with having Alex coordinate starting up an ROTC program at school. He wouldn't be happy until every kid in Roswell spent every free moment doing push-ups and learning how to clean rifles or something. Alex wasn't exactly sure what you actually did in the ROTC. His dad had given him a ton of material on the program, and Alex had dutifully filed it away-in the circular file.
Of course he stuck it in a paper bag before he put it in the garbage. Alex didn't want to see the kind of meltdown his dad would have if he found the ROTC info in the trash.
"The Royal Orangutan Telepathic Committee?" Alex asked, keeping his voice all innocent.
"Time is a precious commodity," his dad answered. "When you waste my time, it's like stealing my wallet."
Alex sighed. The gods must have gotten a phone call or something right when they were about to give the Major a sense of humor. Either that or it was surgically removed when he joined the military.
Alex knew his dad. If he pushed his father too hard, the guy would suddenly remember that the garage needed cleaning or that the dog poop needed to be scooped up from the backyard. But Alex wanted every step of getting the ROTC running to be hard for his dad. He wanted to make his dad wish that he'd never come up with the idea in the first place. Although Alex knew that no matter what he did, eventually there would be an ROTC program at school. And he'd probably be in it.
"Alex, telephone," his mom called from the kitchen.
A distraction! Yes. "I'll give you an update later," Alex said, then bolted to the kitchen. He grabbed the phone from his mom. "I don't care who this is-you're my very best friend."
"Um, thanks."
Isabel. Her voice sounded funny, kind of cracked and husky. Which made total sense. She hadn't been using her voice for much lately. Alex had gone to visit her every day for the last three days and spent the whole time basically talking to himself outside her door. Yesterday he had gotten so desperate he actually told her how he'd been terrified of Big Bird when he was two.
"How're you doing?" he asked. He was totally blown away that she'd called him.
"Okay… I guess. Actually, I wanted to ask you a favor. Like you haven't done enough for me already," she said.
Alex didn't like the tone in her voice. It was timid. So not Isabel. Yeah, she could be a pain in the butt when she got all arrogant, like she was the hottest thing ever and he should be grateful for a moment in her presence. But he hated hearing her sound so beaten down.
"You got it," he answered.
Isabel gave a half laugh. "Don't you even want to know what it is?" she asked.
"Hey, the way I see it, you've got me where you want me," he told her. "If I don't do what you want, you could tell everyone about, you know, the bird. I'd be listening to all my so-called friends sing the Sesame Street theme song for the rest of my pitiful life."
Isabel gave a real laugh that time. "My mom is absolutely refusing to let me stay home from school tomorrow. At least unless I agree to go to the doctor. So I was wondering if you could pick me up on your way," she said.
Alex didn't bother asking why she couldn't just ride with Max. He didn't care. "I'll be there," he promised.
"Great," she said.
So was the conversation over? Did she want him to talk more? Or would she just be like, "I call to ask him one thing and he doesn't let me off the phone"?
"So, uh, I'll see you in the morning," Isabel said.
She didn't say it in that way that made it clear it was time to say good-bye and hang up. He got the feeling she wasn't quite done, like there was something else she wanted to say.
"Thank you for choosing Alex's Taxi Service," he joked. "Do you want to get to school early or anything? Or-"
"Alex, I don't know how to say this. But I've got to say it. Max says I'm really bad at it. But I have to do it, anyway," she blurted.
"Um, I have no idea what you're talking about," Alex told her.
He heard Isabel take a shaky breath. "I want to apologize. But it's hard to know where to start. If I start back at that night we went miniature golfing, we'll be on the phone forever."
Alex remembered that night. He remembered the way Isabel looked him right in the eye, told him she knew exactly what she wanted, and kissed him. She then proceeded to basically forget he was alive because the next day she met Nikolas.
"Let me just give you the highlights," Isabel continued. "I'm really sorry for the way I acted when I was with Nikolas. Even after he hurt you, I still thought… I don't know what I thought. I guess I wasn't thinking, at least not about anyone but myself."
"Isabel, you don't have-"
"Please just let me finish, okay?" she interrupted. "I was having so much fun that I didn't want to hear you telling me that I was putting myself-and everybody else-in danger. I should have listened to you. If I had, maybe…"
He could hear her fighting not to cry. But he didn't say anything this time. He figured it was better to let her get it out. "Anyway, I'm sorry. Especially for going off on you and saying you were just jealous of Nikolas. I know you were really trying to protect me," she said. "I-I have to go, okay? I'll see you tomorrow."
She hung up before he could accept her apology or say good-bye. Maybe that was a good thing. This way he didn't have to decide if he should tell her the truth. Yes, he told her to stay away from Nikolas because he was sure the guy was going to end up getting Isabel hurt.
But that didn't mean Isabel was wrong about Alex being jealous of Nikolas. Because he was. Pathologically jealous.
Alex reached into his pocket and pulled out a strip of photos that he'd found at a booth in the mall. He and the others had been trying to find Isabel and Nikolas before Valenti found them. Instead he'd come across these pictures of Isabel and Nikolas in the middle of a way too uninhibited make-out session.
He knew he should throw the pictures away. Especially the one where Nikolas was holding a sign that said, Hi, Alex. But he kept carrying them around with him.
Just looking at the pictures set off an explosion of jealousy inside him, which was so totally pathetic. How could he be jealous of a dead guy?
Alex gave a growl of frustration and threw the photos in the kitchen sink. He grabbed a box of matches from the junk drawer and set the pictures on fire.
If only he could burn Isabel's memory of Nikolas.
Isabel grabbed her lunch out of her locker and hurried down the hall, head lowered, eyes focused on her feet. All she wanted to do was get out to the quad. Alex would be there. And Max, Michael, Liz, and Maria.
She could feel people staring at her as she scurried along. She used to like being looked at. But not anymore. Now people were looking at her and whispering about Nikolas. She kept hearing his name-Nikolas, Nikolas, Nikolas. Everyone was gossiping about him… and her. Wondering what really happened to him. Trying to guess what the fight he and Isabel had the night he disappeared was about-somehow everyone had heard that lie she told Valenti.