Author: X_tremeroswellian
Email: [email protected]
Disclaimer: Not mine. Don't sue.
Rating: R for language, violence, adult content.
Spoilers: Up through "Blood Brothers" of the show, book 5 of "Roswell High," and possible minor spoilers for my "Before I Knew You" series.
Author's Note: This is a sequel to my fic, "Matters of Trust." I would definitely read that before you read this one, otherwise you'll probably be confused.
Other Stuff: Sorry it took me so long to get this chapter out, I've been busy with school. :)
Thanks: To all the people who have kept me sane during the end of this awful semester with their wonderful fanfic, especially Linda, Mel, Ash, Liz, and Addie! Write on! :) And thanks to everyone who has sent me feedback on this fic!
Dedication: To my friend Sarah Behr :) Love you girl!
As always, feedback is appreciated, the good, the bad, and the ugly!
Ghosts (Part 11)
Isabel Evans was furious. She'd done a good job of keeping her mouth shut around the others about what had happened with Alan that weekend, but now they were all at dinner. And now she was going to make sure Alan Freedman knew just how much of a bitch Isabel could be when she had to be.
She had told her friends she was going to stay behind and catch up on homework and do some unpacking. Alex had looked worried. Sometimes he knew her as well as he knew himself. She had a feeling he knew that she was going to be paying Freedman a visit. But knowing her as well as he did, he probably also figured that trying to talk her out of it would be useless. Because one way or another, Isabel always got her way. Especially when it came to protecting those she loved.
Isabel took a deep breath and reached up and knocked on Freedman's door, North Hall room 121. She hated this dorm, but she hated the person who lived on the other side of the door even more. She waited impatiently until the door opened.
Alan gave her the once over, twice. "Well, hello."
She narrowed her eyes and took a step forward, pointing at him. "You're an idiot, Alan," she said, glaring at him with cold, angry eyes. "You know why you're an idiot?" She took another step towards him, and he immediatly backed away. "You're an idiot because this weekend you made the stupid mistake of messing with some friends of mine."
A look of recognition crossed over his face. "Why do you hang out with those losers?"
Though he thought it was impossible, her eyes grew colder, darker. "The only loser on this campus is you. And I'm here to warn you that if you ever go near any of them ever again, I am going to make you sorry."
Alan smirked. She might look mean, but she was still a girl, and he was bigger than she was. "Why don't you lose the attitude and maybe we can have some fun?" he suggested. Then he made another mistake. He reached out and touched her arm.
Isabel lost it. She grabbed his arm and twisted it behind his back, hard, and then shoved him up against the wall so his face was smashed up against it. "I'd rather break your arm," she snarled. "Now I want to hear you say you're going to leave my friends alone."
He mumbled something incoherent. She twisted his arm a bit harder. "I can't hear you!" she said angrily.
"I'll leave them alone! Shit! Let me go!"
Isabel shoved him hard and released his arm. She headed towards the door. She looked over her shoulder, and he was staring at her, and rubbing his arm, his face a mixture of shock and pain. "Have a nice day!" she called.
Max watched them during dinner at Ding that night. Liz was quiet, as she had been the past few weeks, and even Alex and Michael only made occasional comments on how much the food sucked, instead of talking like they usually did. Maria, however, was the one who worried him. Usually she talked non-stop, and now she hadn't said more than two words all evening.
He sighed and leaned back in his seat, studying each of them. Maria was staring at her salad bowl, bringing each bite to her mouth quietly, not even talking about how the lettuce she was eating was starting to turn brown.
Alex kept his eyes on his plate, with an occasional glance at Liz, and to the empty seat where Isabel would have been sitting if she'd come to dinner. A flicker of worry remained ever-present on his face.
Michael looked a cross between angry and worried, and he too, kept glancing at Isabel's empty chair and then at Liz and then Maria, and occasionally at Alex, but avoiding Max's eyes the whole time.
And Liz. Liz didn't look up even once during dinner. She kept her head down, focused on eating the watered-down chicken soup that set before her. It didn't appear as if she was even aware that anyone was around her. She looked lost in her thoughts, a troubled expression on her face.
What the hell was going on? Something seemed to be bothering everyone, but no one was letting him onto the big secret. He remembered a few years ago, when they were back in Roswell. How everyone had known about what happened to Liz except for him until she broke down and told him what her uncle had done to her. But after that, the six of them had gotten so close. They went everywhere together, did everything together, and they never kept secrets from one another.
Max felt like he was back in high school, and the only one without a clue was him. He didn't like it. If something was bothering his friends, if something was wrong, he needed to know so he could help. But right now he just felt frustrated.
"What's going on?" he asked, glancing around the table. No one would look at him. He set his jaw. "Look, none of you is ever this quiet. I know something's wrong, and I want to know what it is."
Maria shot Michael a nervous look across the table, and Alex glanced at Liz again. She didn't look up. "We're all just tired from the weekend," Maria said quickly, avoiding his eyes. She turned her attention right back to her salad.
Max looked at Michael expectantly. "Michael?"
Michael shrugged. "It was a long trip back from Roswell."
Max stood up and grabbed his tray. "Look, I don't know what's going on here, but it seems like I'm the only one being left out. What happened to 'no more secrets?'" he asked, starting to get angry. "You know, I know when something's wrong. How long are you all going to keep on denying it?"
When no one answered him, Max took his tray to the kitchen and stormed out of the cafeteria.
The remaining four finished dinner in complete silence. Finally, Maria stood up, picking up her tray. "I have to get to work."
"I'll walk with you," Michael voluteered, rising to his feet. He glanced down at Alex, who just nodded his head. Michael followed Maria out of the cafeteria.
Alex waited patiently as Liz finished her chicken soup. Then wordlessly, they both got up, turned in their trays and walked outside. Alex glanced up at the darkened sky. It was ominious, with low-hanging greenish-gray clouds that looked like they could open up at any given second and drown them.
For a moment they walked in silence. Then he looked over at her. "Liz."
"Yeah?" She looked straight ahead of her.
"Have you mentioned to anyone else about the nightmares?"
Liz looked over at him, a stricken expression on her face. "No."
"Why not?" he asked quietly.
"Because what's the point?" she asked rhetorically.
"The point is you're having nightmares, and it's effecting what you do." He stopped and faced her. "Liz, I'm saying this because you're my friend, okay? You haven't been yourself for a long time now. We're all worried about you. Everyone knows that something's wrong. It's only a matter of time before--"
Liz cut him off. "Before what, Alex? Before I have a nervous breakdown? Is that what you're worried about?" Before he had a chance to respond, she glared at him. "Don't worry. I won't waste anymore of your time, okay? I can deal with this alone." She turned on heel and walked away from him.
Alex stared after her in shock. Not once had Liz ever yelled at him. Never in their entire friendship. And she'd never walked out on him during a conversation, either. And now, within seconds, she'd done both.
He sighed as it started to rain and he hurried so he could keep an eye on Liz and make sure she made it back to Jewell Hall safely. But as he headed back towards his dorm, he had the distinct feeling that he was being watched.