The Outsider

"Max, no!" Liz screamed.

But he wasn't stopping now. Kyle was going to pay for every word he'd said to Liz. Max drew back his fist and brought it down on Kyle's mouth. Then he felt hands on the back of his shirt, yanking him away.

Alex hauled him off Kyle. He grabbed Max by the shoulders and pi

Max jerked his head to the side and saw Kyle wiping the blood off his face with his sleeve. "This isn't over," Kyle said. Then he turned and started to walk away.

"You're right," Max shouted. "It's not over." He tried to shove Alex away. He was going after Kyle. He was going to pound the guy into the ground.

Alex jabbed his knee into Max's chest. "You're staying here. If you go after him, you're going to end up in the principal's office and both your parents are going to get called in. Do you really want to be sitting in a room with Sheriff Valenti right now? Don't you think he'd be a little curious what this fight was about?"

Max still wanted to go after Kyle, but Alex was making sense.

"Can I let you up now? Have you regrown a brain?" Alex asked. He stared down at Max, waiting for an answer.

"Yeah, okay," Max muttered. Alex let him sit up. Max rubbed his arm and studied Alex's face. "Man, how did you do that? I didn't even see you coming-then I was on the ground."

"Three older brothers," Alex answered. "Big ones."

"About what you said? You were right," Max told him. "Thanks."

"We have to stand together against the Kyles of the world," Alex answered.

I need some cedar, Maria thought. She opened her purse and rooted around until she felt one of the tiny vials. She pulled it out. Eucalyptus. She tossed it back inside. Eucalyptus was for invigoration, and Maria already felt ready to jump out of her skin.

Where was Max? The last bell had rung more than half an hour ago, and he still hadn't come out. She could see his Jeep from here, so she knew she hadn't missed him.

Maria peered into her purse, searching for the vial of cedar. Ah, there it was. She jerked it out and twisted off the tiny top. She brought the vial to her nose and closed her eyes. Think of a forest filled with ancient cedar trees, she told herself. See yourself in the forest and feel at peace.

It wasn't working. Maybe Liz was right about aromatherapy. Or maybe some problems were just way too big for the smell of cedar and an imaginary forest. Maria opened her eyes-and saw Max climbing into his Jeep.

"Max, wait," she called. She trotted over. "Um, can I talk to you?" She climbed into the Jeep next to him before he could answer. She didn't want him to say no.

"What's up?" Max did a little drum solo on the steering wheel. It was totally obvious he wanted to get out of there, out of there and away from her.

"Are guys, like, born with the ability to play those drum riffs?" she asked. "Because whenever I try it, it just sounds like an elephant stampede or something. And air guitar? Forget about it."

Max glanced over at her, his lips curving in a crooked smile. "I'm living proof that it's not genetic."

"I forgot. Duh. For one second I forgot," Maria said. "And you know why? It's because you're not this creature out of a bad movie."

"That's a relief," Max answered.

"I'm sorry. I'm making it worse," Maria cried. "What I came out here to say was that I've been afraid of you ever since I found out… you know. I just kept thinking that you must see me as a gnat or a pea pod or something."

"Wait. A pea pod?" Max stared at her.

"Something-other," Maria explained. "Something that wouldn't seem like a life-form in the same, what do you call it, genus or species. You know how people eat animals and plants? They can do that because they see them as something-other. If they didn't-"

"Wait. You were afraid I was going to eat you?" Max cracked up.

Maria stared at him-his shoulders were shaking, his mouth was stretched open, his face was turning red.

"Well, not really, but sort of, yeah, I was sort of afraid you'd eat me." Maria broke into giggles. She giggled until her stomach hurt and tears filled her eyes. When they both started to get a grip, Max snorted, and that set them both off again.

"Okay, we have to stop," Maria gasped. She squeezed her lips shut with her fingers until she got control of herself. "Okay, okay, I'm okay. What I wanted to tell you-"

Max gave a choked laugh. Maria pointed her finger at him. "No, we're not doing that again. I just wanted to tell you that it became totally clear to me at lunch how much you care about Liz. I realized I was wrong about you, and I'm sorry."

"It's okay," Max answered. "I was totally flipped out when I first found out… what I was. I felt like a monster, like I should stay away from everyone but Michael and Isabel."

Maria felt a rush of tenderness and protectiveness. "You're not a monster." She reached out and brushed his hair away from his forehead, then she looked away. She felt embarrassed suddenly. She and Max had never had a single conversation that wasn't totally lightweight, and now they'd both sort of spilled their guts.

"We need to figure out what to do about Valenti," she said briskly. "Kyle's going to make him even more suspicious of you and Liz. And he won't give up until he finds out the truth-about all of us."

"I think I have an idea about what to do first," Max said. "Let me give you a ride home, and I'll tell you about it. Okay, pea pod?"

Maria smiled at him, an all-out, I'll-be-your-best-friend smile. "Okay."

"Max, you are aware that we live in Roswell, not LA?" Isabel asked. "This is a little touchy-feely woo-woo, isn't it?"

"Let's just start," Liz said.

Max glanced around at Isabel, Michael, Alex, Maria, and Liz. They stood in a circle in the center of the cave, all of them looking uncomfortable.

"I think we should all hold hands," Max said.

"Oh, please," Isabel muttered.

"Tell me again why we're doing this?" Michael asked. He sounded like a five-year-old who needed a nap.

"We're doing this because before we can come up with a plan to deal with Valenti, we have to know we can trust one another," Max explained. "It's like we're going into battle-and we have to know who is covering our backs."

Alex looped his arm around Michael's shoulders. "I already have complete faith in this Power Ranger." Michael shoved him away, but Max noticed that Michael couldn't stop a grin from breaking across his face.

Max shook his head. Michael and Alex had discovered they shared the same sense of humor. Spending much time around them could get ugly. "If we hold hands, I think I might be able to form a co

Isabel sighed loudly. "He's never going to shut up until we do it." She grabbed Max's fingers and squeezed them as tight as she could. His sister was not a happy camper. But she was a big reason Max wanted to try to make the group co

Max reached for Alex's hand. He was kind of glad Liz wasn't on his other side. Touching her might make it hard to concentrate on the whole group. When he was around her, it was hard for him to focus on anything or anyone else.

He took a deep breath and began searching for a way in, a way to co

Liz could hardly believe they were all in one room-well, sort of a room, a cave room-together. When she first showed up, she almost wished she had a metal detector so she could check everyone for weapons. Although that wouldn't really work for aliens because they basically carried their weapons around in their heads.