"So you're part alien," Liz teased. "Anything else you've been hiding?"

"You already know I'm really a man, so I guess not," Maria answered. She picked up the sugar box and started refilling the bowls.

"Just checking," Liz said. "Keeping secrets from me is a serious violation. I don't want to have to bring you up in front of the best friend review board." She ducked behind the counter and headed into the kitchen.

Maria shot a glance after her. Liz was doing that kind of joking around that has a little truth lurking somewhere in the background. And the truth was that Maria hadn't been totally up front with her best friend lately.

Liz returned to the counter with a big plastic jug of ketchup and a funnel. "Okay, okay. I wore these shoes because I was hoping Michael would come by," Maria blurted. "And yes, I have a totally hopeless, pathetic thing for him."

Liz laughed. "I knew that already. I was actually talking about the whole psychic powers episode. How could you not tell me about something so big?" She unscrewed the top on the closest ketchup bottle and stuck in the funnel.

Maria felt a blush creeping up her neck. In a second her whole face would be red. "I still feel like such a loser. I can't believe I actually thought I was psychic. You should have seen me. I was so jazzed, thinking I had this amazing gift. It was so incredible to hold something that belonged to a person and then be able to see exactly what they were doing. And healing Sassy. That was awesome."

"You shouldn't feel like a loser. How could you have known?" Liz asked. "Like you were supposed to think, 'Hey maybe that ring I found at the mall has an alien power stone in it.'"

Liz pushed the ketchup bottle away and turned to face Maria. "What I want to know is why you didn't tell me what was going on," she said, her dark brown eyes serious and watchful.

I really hurt her feelings, Maria realized. Duh. Like I wouldn't have been hurt if I found out Liz had been keeping some big secret from me.

"I wasn't trying to shut you out or anything," Maria explained. "It's just that you weren't doing too well. You were so messed up over the Max sitch. There didn't seem to be a good time to bring it up."

"Maria, no matter what's going on with me, I still want to know what's going on with you," Liz said. "If you'd told me, maybe I could have-"

"Stop," Maria interrupted. "You and Max act like you're responsible for everybody else's problems. It's so not true."

She gave a long sigh. "You know what, if I told you, there is a chance you would have stopped me before…"

"Before you almost died," Liz filled in.

"Yeah. And that's probably why I didn't say anything to you. I didn't want to be stopped. I told myself I wasn't clueing you in to what was going on because you were devastated by the whole Max thing. But that's only partly true. I basically knew I was playing with something dangerous. I kept getting blackouts, even a nasty nosebleed."

Maria heard Liz give a sharp intake of breath, but she didn't stop talking. She had to get this out. "But I didn't want to stop using the powers-or be stopped by you-until I found out where Michael's parents' ship was being kept."

"So this was all about Michael," Liz said.

"I had some stupid idea that if I could do that for him…" Maria shook her head hard. "Forget it. It's too stupid to even say."

"It's not stupid," Liz told her. "Well, okay, it's stupid. But understandable stupid. Not just stupid stupid."

"That makes me feel better," Maria mumbled. Then she met Liz's gaze directly. "It does. It feels good to have told you the total truth."

"So, we're agreed. No more secrets," Liz said.

"No more secrets," Maria promised. She pushed up the hinged section of the counter and stepped through, then grabbed a couple of the sugar bowls and headed toward the closest row of tables.

"Maria," Liz called.

Maria turned to face her. She should have known Liz wouldn't let her off the hook without more of a lecture on putting her life in jeopardy.

"Why don't you tell Michael how you feel?" Liz asked.

"Why?" Maria repeated. She blushed, then hugged the sugar bowls more tightly to her chest. "Because if I do that, he might laugh. Or he might start acting all weird around me. Or he might just avoid me." Maria could hear her voice shaking with emotion, but she kept going. "He might stop climbing through my window late at night… and I don't think I could stand that."

"You know what else might happen?" Liz asked gently. "He might tell you he feels the same way about you."

"All right, so I'm thinking, for this week's list, 'Bills That I'd Rather Be Than Me.' Number one: Bill Gates. Number two: Billy Baldwin. Number three: Mr. Bill. What do you guys think? Is that stupid?"

Same spot in the quad as at lunch yesterday. Same people. Practically the same conversation, with Alex going on about ideas for the lists he put on his web site, Liz thought. Then she smiled. She wouldn't want it any other way.

"How about terms for guys who spend way too much time thinking about their web page?" Michael suggested. "Number one-wedgie boy."

"Hey, you know how many hits I get? My lists have a following. It's practically a cult thing," Alex protested.

"Number two-big goober," Maria suggested.

Liz noticed that Isabel wasn't jumping in to defend her man. She wasn't sure what she thought about the Alex-Isabel hookup. It's not that she didn't like Isabel. Liz was actually feeling closer to her all the time. But she and Alex… they just weren't an obvious couple. They had some of that I'm-a-little-bit-country / I'm-a-little-bit-rock-and-roll deal going on.

Isabel was the ultimate It girl. The girl who got noticed and envied, lusted after, hated, or some combination thereof by pretty much everyone.

Alex was, well-

"Or how about geek child," Maria volunteered, snickering.

No, Alex wasn't exactly geeky. But he didn't stand out of the crowd the way Isabel did. You had to get to know him before you realized how totally cool he was. He had this great, wacked sense of humor, and when he believed in something, he absolutely would not back down. Plus he had amazing green eyes, rich reddish brown hair, and a lean, muscular body.

It wasn't hard for Liz to see why a girl would want to be with him. Lots of girls, actually. But Isabel? Liz shook her head. Hey, if it worked, it worked. And it seemed to be working.

"Come on, Liz, Max. Join the fun. Take your best shot," Alex told her. He slammed his fists into his chest. "I can take it."

"Uh, cyberweenie?" Liz offered.

"Does anyone want the rest of this sandwich?" Max asked.

"I'll take it," Alex and Michael said together.

Liz shot a sharp look at Max. He'd pretty much fainted last week, out of the blue. Since then she'd asked him a few times if he was feeling okay, and he kept insisting that he was. But she believed in going by the facts-the fact that he seemed lethargic a lot of the time, the fact that he wasn't eating much, the fact that his skin had a slightly grayish tone. And the facts made her doubt him.

She didn't want a repeat of the Maria situation. If there was something wrong with Max, she needed to know about it.

The bell rang. Isabel and Maria slowly headed to their English class. Michael and Alex took off in opposite directions. Leaving her alone with Max.

"Ready for another adventure in the wonderful world of science?" he asked her as he shoved himself to his feet.

He sounded normal. Except that his voice was a little too bright, like he was straining for his usual tone and overshooting it.

"Always," Liz answered. She heard that same quality in her voice, that see-there's-really-nothing-wrong sound.