| Liz Parker waited impatiently by her best friend's locker. Maria was late, again. This was completely out of character for Maria, but then, Maria's character had undergone quite a dramatic transformation lately so she supposed that nothing should surprise her now. She looked up to see Maria walking towards her. The sight of her best friend never ceased to shock her these days. She was dressed all in black; a long black skirt brushed the toes of her ever-present black combat boots, topped by a black short-sleeve tee. She was wearing her hair in dreads this week, it seemed to be something new, and ever more drastic, every time Liz looked these days. The mass of blond locks was pulled back into a thick ponytail, only drawing further attention to her face, lined deeply with shades of dark makeup. He eyes were rimmed with black eyeliner, her lashes heavy with mascara. Lipstick, such a deep shade of purple that Liz swore it was black as well, emphasized her lips. Silver jewellery around her neck, wrists, and fingers completed the outfit. "Yo," Maria said to Liz as she opened her locker. Liz struggled to hide the look that crossed her face as she repeated, "Yo." Maria grabbed her books from her locker and slammed it shut. Turning to walk away again she was stopped by the sound of Liz's voice, "Maria, wait." She stopped, not turning around, and waited for her friend to catch up with her. Maria sighed inwardly; Liz had been on her case ever since she got back two weeks ago. She had spent the summer in L.A., things had changed, no big deal. But to Liz, Maria was "different" and she wouldn't let up until she understood why. "Are you working today?" Liz asked breathlessly, catching up to walk beside Maria. "Uh, yeah I think so," Maria replied. "Oh, well, maybe we can get together after, have a girls night?" Maria glanced at her best friend, the look of hope on Liz's face turned her stomach. She knew Liz was only trying to be nice, but desperation was just not attractive. Maria shrugged, "I don't know, I might have plans." Picking up her pace to move away from her friend she called back over her shoulder, "We'll talk later, okay?" Liz slowed to a stop, staring after Maria as the swift moving current of students crowding the hallway engulfed her. She shook her head and turned around to go to her next class when she felt a familiar hand on her shoulder. "No luck again?" Liz looked up and smiled at the voice, Alex, her other best friend. The three of them had grown up together and always seemed to be able to share anything with each other, but lately� Liz shook her head and looked at Alex sadly, "I just don't get what's up with her." Alex shook his head as well, his eyes mirroring Liz's concern, "I know Lizzie. Just give her some space." "She does not need space; she needs a friend." Alex wrapped his arm around Liz's shoulders, "I know that, and you know that, but Maria doesn't know that, and until she's ready, we can't push, okay?" Liz nodded, and gulped as she felt her face flushing hot with emotions. She moved out of Alex's grasp and shook her head to clear it, "Okay, we'll leave it, but I swear Alex, if she doesn't fess up soon we're going to hold an intervention or something." Alex smiled after his friend as she walked down the hallway. He was worried too but he was more concerned with pushing Maria even further away from them. They had always been close, ever since the three of them walked out of their pods at the age of six; at least that was the age the social workers placed them at. Although they were adopted into three different families, they had shared almost everything growing up, including a birthday. Their parents basically treated them as three siblings and tried to keep them together as much as possible. As close as they were, they were also vastly different from each other. They had always each had their distinct roles in their relationship, fuelled by their inherently different natures. Liz had always been the responsible one, sensible, levelheaded. She was a "geek" according to the student classification at West Roswell High. Actually Alex thought she was pretty well rounded, but if you got straight A's around here a certain label was going to be applied no matter what extra curricular activities you took part in. Where Liz was the geek, Alex was the dork, he guessed. He was smart too, but more into computers than science and math. And music, music was his passion. He played bass guitar and had finally managed to start a semi-successful garage band called "The Whits". Maria was their lead singer, something he wasn't sure if she'd be into anymore. She had always been an entity unto herself. She was totally aware of the latest trends and usually paired them with something vintage, creating her own unique look. She was semi-popular, held back from cheerleader status only because she refused to give in to the ways of the masses. This year though, everything was different. Maria had gone to stay with her father in Los Angeles for the summer. He hadn't been in the picture since she was seven, but suddenly, last May, he had called her and sent a plane ticket for her to come and live with him for a few months. She had gone, more than willingly, she hadn't seen him in almost 10 years so the obsession with wanting to find out everything about him was understandable. Then, two months later, just two weeks ago, she had returned to Roswell, looking all gothic. At first Liz and Alex had laughed at her, thinking it was a joke, but they quickly realized that she was dead serious about her new look and that her attitude had taken on a serious edginess during her time away. Things had been tense between them ever since. Alex shook his head to clear it from the depressing thoughts and quickened his pace to get to his next class. Things with Maria would work themselves out in time; she was fine. She was always fine, right? TBC |
| Part 1 |
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