A Day in the Life of the B-Team (CC/UC,TEEN) (Complete)
Posted: Thu Sep 28, 2006 12:21 pm
Winner Round 12
Title: A Day in the Life of the B-Team
Author: Jenny
Disclaimer: Nothing is mine.
Pairings: CC/UC – who knows?
Rating: TEEN
Summary: A series of short scenes of our two favorite guys (Alex and Kyle, aka the B-Team) and their interactions with the Roswellian ladies. Takes place after Christmas of Season 2, on the first day back at school after Winter Break.
Author’s Note: This was written as a birthday present for the lovely Anniepoo98.
Author’s Note 2: I borrowed a line from an old episode of Saved by the Bell. Bonus cool points if you know which one it is. Also, this is un-beta’d, so please forgive any mistakes.
Scene 1: Morning, Before the First Bell
Liz & Alex
“Guess who?”
Liz jumped in surprise when she felt the warm hands come to rest over her eyes from behind, but then a wide smile crossed her face when she realized whom it was. Spinning around, she practically tackled her friend to the ground when she wrapped her arms around him in a tight embrace.
“Alex!” she exclaimed, and her feet lifted slightly off the ground when Alex returned her hug with vigor. She giggled and he put her down.
“When did you get back? How was Santa Fe? How’s your grandmother?” Liz fired off the questions in quick succession, earning a laugh from Alex.
“Hey, slow down!” he joked, holding up a hand to stop her. “One question at a time, please.”
Liz blushed and smiled. “Sorry,” she apologized. “I just missed you. Christmas wasn’t the same this year without you around.”
“Yeah, it wasn’t the same for me either. But Dad thinks Grandma is getting too old to travel, so he thinks we should start visiting her at the holidays.” He threw an arm around Liz’s shoulder as they began walking in the direction of their first period class. “It was a nice trip, though.”
Liz smiled and said, “I’m glad.”
“How were things here? Anything interesting happen?” he asked with a raise of his eyebrow.
Liz thought back to the events of the holiday season, smiling and shaking her head. “Same old, same old around here.”
Alex looked at her and asked warily, “Do I even want to know what that means?”
Liz laughed and responded, “I’ll tell you all about it later. Besides,” she said, giving him a gentle nudge with her elbow, “how interesting can things be without you around?”
Alex let out a hearty laugh and squeezed her tighter against his side. “Liz, you’re so full of it.”
Scene 2: Morning, Between Classes
Isabel & Kyle
“Phew. Hottie headed this way.”
Kyle turned in the direction that had drawn Paulie’s attention and saw the statuesque figure of Isabel Evans. She was wearing a snug sweater that hugged her curves in all the right places. Kyle couldn’t help but appreciate the view.
“What I wouldn’t give to hit that.”
But he didn’t want to hear things like that come out of Paulie’s mouth.
Kyle gave Paulie a warning glare, but it didn’t phase his friend one bit. As Isabel walked by, he let out a whistle and called out, “Isabel, looking good, babe!”
Like a reflex, Kyle’s hand shot out and hit Paulie squarely in the chest.
“Ow! What the fuck, man?” Paulie bit out at Kyle.
“You’re a moron,” Kyle said with disdain, before walking away and going to catch up with Isabel, not waiting for Paulie’s reaction.
“Hey,” Kyle said when he caught up to Isabel, “I’m sorry about him.”
Isabel gave a casual shrug of her shoulders. “Nothing I haven’t heard before,” she responded nonchalantly.
“But, still, you shouldn’t have to be subjected to idiots like him.”
“You do realize you’re talking about your friend, right?” Isabel asked with a wry smile.
“Paulie’s not a friend,” Kyle clarified. “He’s just…”
“Whatever, Kyle,” Isabel interrupted, stopping and facing him. “Look, I appreciate this little chivalry act you’ve got going on here, but I’m a big girl. I can take care of myself.”
“I know you can. But you know, one of the things that Buddha teaches us…”
“Kyle.” Isabel said his name in a tone of voice that told him he’d better stop before he lost valuable body parts.
“All right, all right.” He held up his hands in a gesture of defense. “Just trying to help is all.”
“I’m late for class,” Isabel said. She gave him a small smile to let him that she wasn’t really upset with him. “Bye, Kyle.”
Kyle murmured a goodbye and couldn’t help but check out her ass as she walked away.
Hell, he might be chivalrous, but he was still only human.
Scene 3: Morning, Study Hall
Maria & Alex
“Hey, listen to this and tell me what you think.”
Maria looked up from her math homework to see Alex holding out a pair of headphones to her. Wordlessly, she took them and placed them on her head, her ears immediately assaulted with loud rock music.
“It’s good. What is it?” she asked Alex as she bopped her head to the music.
“It’s The Whits’ newest song. I think we’ll play it at our gig on Friday night.”
“I like it. Good beat. The vocals are a little weak, but you know who could help you with that,” she added with a wink.
A throat cleared behind them. “Miss DeLuca. Mr. Whitman.”
Maria and Alex both turned to find Mr. Collins, their teacher, holding out his hand. “What did I tell you two about this?”
Maria sheepishly removed the headphones and handed them over to the teacher. “I believe your exact words were, ‘This is study hall, not Soul Train.’”
Alex sniggered as he remembered Mr. Collins’ outdated remark, and Mr. Collins glared at them as he took the headphones from Maria. “You can have it back at the end of the day,” he scolded. “And don’t let this happen again, or it’ll be the end of the year.”
They both held in their giggles until the teacher was out of earshot. Alex wasn’t worried about it. He’d lost count of how many times Mr. Collins had threatened to keep his stuff until the end of the year.
“So do you need a singer for Friday night?” Maria asked.
Alex tried to bite back a groan. “Maria, didn’t you learn anything from the Blind Date Concert fiasco last year? You and The Whits don’t exactly mesh.”
“Please, Alex?” Maria begged. “I promise I’ll be on my best behavior. You won’t hear a peep out of me. Other than to sing, of course.”
Alex considered it. There was no denying that Maria was extremely talented, and she was right, their vocals were weak. But he knew the guys wouldn’t be crazy about having Control Freak Maria performing with them again.
“Fine,” he relented. “I’ll talk to the guys. But you realize that gives you less than a week to learn the music?”
“I can do it,” Maria said with confidence.
“All right. You’re in,” Alex said with some trepidation.
Maria let out a little squeal and wrapped her arms around her best friend. “Thank you, thank you, thank you! You won’t regret it, Alex. I swear.”
He hoped she was right.
Scene 4: Morning, 4th Period
Kyle & Tess
Kyle walked slowly down the empty hallway, trying to take as long as possible to get back to class. Fourth period would be over soon, and he was trying to avoid the tail end of his Chemistry class.
“Young man, do you have a hall pass?”
Kyle jerked and spun around at the sound of the voice, breathing a sigh of relief when he was greeted with a familiar face. “Jesus, Tess!” he scolded. “You sounded just like Ms. Wiggins.”
Tess giggled and asked, “What are you doing out here?”
“Bathroom,” Kyle explained, holding up the hall pass that he did indeed have. “You?”
“My class let out early.” She leaned casually against the lockers as she said, “Did you know that your dad is taking Amy out on a real date tonight?”
Kyle raised an eyebrow. “No kidding,” he said. “You seem mighty pleased with yourself.”
Tess smiled smugly and nodded. “I like seeing them happy together.”
Kyle leaned against the lockers next to her, their bodies close enough that Kyle could feel the heat radiating off of her. Turning serious, Kyle looked into Tess’ blue eyes. “What about you, Tess? Are you happy?”
Tess seemed caught off guard by Kyle’s sudden change in demeanor, but she locked gazes with him. “Am I…?” she faltered.
“I… uh…” Kyle cleared his throat, not really sure what he wanted to say. Her face was dangerously close to his now. All he needed to do was move a few inches and he could be…
RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING!!!
The ringing of the bell sent hordes of students flowing out into the halls, effectively ruining the moment between them. They abruptly pulled apart, and Kyle realized through the fog in his brain that he had achieved his plan of missing the last of Chem class.
Tess cleared her throat and began heading in the direction of the quad. “We’ll, uh, continue this talk later?”
“Yeah.” Kyle nodded, nervously running a hand through his hair as he watched her walk away. “Story of my life,” he mumbled under his breath.
Scene 5: After Lunch
Isabel & Alex
After lunch, Alex finally caught a glimpse of the person he’d been hoping to see all morning. His heart fluttered in his chest like it always did when she was around. Now, how to bump into her casually? Even though he was pining, he certainly didn’t want her to know that. Yep, he was a glutton for punishment all right.
Discreetly, he walked in her direction, pretending to be engrossed in one of the books he was holding, and “accidentally” bumped into her.
“Alex!” She seemed surprised to see him.
“Oh, hey, Isabel,” Alex replied as coolly as possible.
“I haven’t seen you around much lately,” Isabel noted.
Ah, so she had noticed.
“Yeah, I was out of town for the holidays,” Alex answered vaguely. “How was your Christmas?”
“Busy, but good,” Isabel said, hugging her books against her chest. “Yours?”
“Good. It was good.” An awkward silence filled the air, and Alex wasn’t sure what to say now.
“Well, I have to get to class,” Isabel finally said, gesturing down the hall. “It was good seeing you, Alex.”
“Yeah,” Alex responded dumbly, and Isabel began walking away. Say something else, you fool! he inwardly chided himself. “Isabel!” he called after her.
She turned around. “Yeah?”
“Um… are you doing anything this weekend?”
“Alex…”
“It’s just… The Whits have a gig at UFOnics on Friday night… you know, if you wanted to come by.” God, did that sound as pathetic as he thought it did?
It seemed like an eternity before she finally smiled and said, “Okay. I’ll see what I’ve got going on Friday.”
Alex could only smile and say, “Cool.”
“Bye, Alex.”
“Bye, Iz.”
Hey, it was better than nothing.
Scene 6: Afternoon, 5th Period
Liz & Kyle
“Okay, I want you to divide into partners and quiz each other on the words on page 137. Remember the vocabulary portion of your test is tomorrow.”
“Liz.” Kyle tapped on the brunette’s shoulder and she turned around. “Be my partner.”
Liz turned her desk around to face Kyle’s, opening her Spanish book to the assigned page. “Did you actually study the vocabulary words this time?” she asked teasingly.
“Try me,” Kyle answered.
“Okay…” Liz answered, skimming the list of verbs. “To think.”
“Pensar,” Kyle answered.
Liz looked surprised by his quick answer, and went to the next word on the list. “To dance.”
“Bailar.”
“To sing.”
“Cantar.”
“To speak.”
“Hablar.”
“To listen.”
“Escuchar.”
“Okay, I’m suitably impressed!” Liz said with a laugh.
Kyle grinned. “See, I’m more than just a dumb jock.”
They quizzed each other back and forth on the assigned lists for a while, until they both felt confident that they were well prepared for tomorrow’s test.
“So you and Evans looked pretty cozy at church the other night,” Kyle said out of the blue, and Liz looked at him in surprise. “Are you two…?”
“No,” Liz answered before he finished the question. “We’re just friends.”
Kyle didn’t know why he was suddenly so interested in Liz’s relationship with Max, but he found himself asking, “Did you ever tell him the truth about…”
“Kyle.” Liz used the same tone that Isabel had used on him earlier that morning.
“Fine. Dropping it.” Kyle held up his hands in defense. How was it that women could always get their way with one simple word?
“I’m sorry,” Liz apologized. “It’s just… it’s complicated.”
“It always is,” Kyle said. The bell rang then, effectively ending their conversation.
As Liz gathered her things together, she said, “You’re a good friend, Kyle. Thank you.”
Her remark caught him by surprise, but he smiled and said, “You’re welcome.”
“Good luck on the test tomorrow.”
“Yeah, you, too, Liz.”
Scene 7: Afternoon, 6th Period
Alex & Tess
Alex sat in his afternoon Film Appreciation class, listening intently as the teacher explained the details for their Spring research project.
“This project counts for half of your semester grade, so I want you to be thorough. Character analyses, themes, structure and form, etc. You can find all the details in the sheets that I passed around.” Mr. Perry paused before picking up a list of the students in the class. “This is a team project, and I’ll be separating you into partners. I used to let my students pick their own partners, but that has backfired on me in the past, so this year I’ll be picking the teams.”
Alex listened as Mr. Perry called out students’ names, listening for his name and who his partner would be. He hoped and prayed that he would get someone who took this class as seriously as he did, and not some idiot who was taking it in the hopes of an easy A.
“Alex,” he heard the teacher say, “you’ll be with… Tess.”
Alex glanced to the other side of the classroom. He’d almost forgotten Tess was in this class. He wasn’t sure whether he was relieved or disappointed to be paired with her. Despite their involvement in the same “extracurricular activities,” they didn’t really interact much.
As Alex gathered his books and headed to the other side of the classroom to join Tess, Mr. Perry continued discussing the project. “Now, no two teams can analyze the same movie,” he said. “So as soon as you and your partner decide which movie you want to research, you need to let me know so you can claim it.”
Alex took a seat in a desk next to Tess and gave her a timid smile.
“Hey, partner,” she greeted him with a smile.
“Hey,” Alex responded. “So I guess we need to decide on a movie. Any ideas?”
“Well,” Tess started, “I’m not exactly a movie buff – I guess that’s part of the reason I signed up for this class. But I was thinking…”
Alex held his breath. He hoped she didn’t want to research some chick flick or cheesy classic. Not that there was anything wrong with those kinds of movies, but he wanted to do something cool for this project.
“…how about Star Wars?”
Alex’s eyes nearly bugged out of his head at her suggestion. “What, like, one of the new ones?” he asked. She probably just thought that Hayden guy was cute or whatever.
“No, the original,” she clarified. “You know, the good one.”
Alex was afraid he might be hearing things. Was she seriously suggesting that they research one of his all-time favorite movies?
“What do you think?” Tess asked.
Alex shook himself out of his stupor and gave her a smile. “I think that’s a great idea.”
“Cool,” Tess responded with a smile. “I’ll go tell Mr. Perry to put us down for Star Wars.”
Alex watched her walk to the head of the classroom, smiling and shaking his head to himself. He had a feeling that this project was going to turn out to be a very pleasant surprise.
Scene 8: Afternoon, After the Last Bell
Maria & Kyle
“Kyle! Kyle, wait up!”
Kyle turned at the familiar voice to find Maria running across the parking lot in his direction. She was nearly out of breath by the time she reached him. “Geez, Maria, I know I’m a catch, but you didn’t have to nearly kill yourself chasing after me,” he joked.
She punched his arm playfully. “Shut up, jerk,” she panted. “Can I get a ride?”
“You call me a jerk and then ask for a ride? Charming.”
“Kyle, please!” Maria begged. “My car won’t start, and I have a shift at the Crashdown in an hour.”
“All right, all right. No need to resort to whining.”
Maria gave Kyle a death glare, and he knew he was starting to push her buttons. He wasn’t doing so well with the ladies today. He quickly shut up and unlocked the doors of his car and they got inside.
“So did you know that my dad and your mom are going out on a date tonight?” Kyle asked.
“I heard,” Maria responded, and Kyle couldn’t tell if she thought it was a good thing or not.
“I think he really likes her.”
“What?”
“My dad. I think he really likes your mom.”
Maria nodded. “Yeah. I think she really likes him too.”
Maria and Kyle looked at each other for a moment, as if both suddenly coming to the realization of what that could mean.
And then, for some inexplicable reason, they both burst into fits of laughter.
Epilogue: After School at the Crashdown
Alex & Kyle
After having a brief talk with his band mates after school, in which he got them to reluctantly agree to having Maria perform with them on Friday, Alex headed to the Crashdown for a late afternoon snack and to tell Maria the good news. When he entered the café, he saw Kyle sitting alone at a booth, his nose in a book (probably about Buddhism), and decided to go join him.
“Hey,” Alex greeted as he slid in the booth opposite Kyle.
Kyle glanced up from his book. “Hey, man,” he responded.
Maria came over then to see if they wanted anything to eat, and squealed with delight when Alex gave her the good news. He gave her the music for their set list and their rehearsal schedule for the week, and she swore up and down that she’d be ready by Friday.
After Maria left to put in their orders, Kyle asked Alex, “So how was your first day back?”
Alex glanced up when he heard the jingle of the front door, his attention momentarily distracted when he saw Isabel and Tess enter. “It was, uh… it was interesting. How was yours?”
Kyle’s attention was drawn to the new arrivals as well, and he watched as the two blondes stopped by the counter and exchanged a few words with Liz and Maria before coming in the direction of their booth. “Yeah,” he said with a little chuckle. “Definitely interesting.”
THE END
Title: A Day in the Life of the B-Team
Author: Jenny
Disclaimer: Nothing is mine.
Pairings: CC/UC – who knows?
Rating: TEEN
Summary: A series of short scenes of our two favorite guys (Alex and Kyle, aka the B-Team) and their interactions with the Roswellian ladies. Takes place after Christmas of Season 2, on the first day back at school after Winter Break.
Author’s Note: This was written as a birthday present for the lovely Anniepoo98.
Author’s Note 2: I borrowed a line from an old episode of Saved by the Bell. Bonus cool points if you know which one it is.
Also, this is un-beta’d, so please forgive any mistakes.Scene 1: Morning, Before the First Bell
Liz & Alex
“Guess who?”
Liz jumped in surprise when she felt the warm hands come to rest over her eyes from behind, but then a wide smile crossed her face when she realized whom it was. Spinning around, she practically tackled her friend to the ground when she wrapped her arms around him in a tight embrace.
“Alex!” she exclaimed, and her feet lifted slightly off the ground when Alex returned her hug with vigor. She giggled and he put her down.
“When did you get back? How was Santa Fe? How’s your grandmother?” Liz fired off the questions in quick succession, earning a laugh from Alex.
“Hey, slow down!” he joked, holding up a hand to stop her. “One question at a time, please.”
Liz blushed and smiled. “Sorry,” she apologized. “I just missed you. Christmas wasn’t the same this year without you around.”
“Yeah, it wasn’t the same for me either. But Dad thinks Grandma is getting too old to travel, so he thinks we should start visiting her at the holidays.” He threw an arm around Liz’s shoulder as they began walking in the direction of their first period class. “It was a nice trip, though.”
Liz smiled and said, “I’m glad.”
“How were things here? Anything interesting happen?” he asked with a raise of his eyebrow.
Liz thought back to the events of the holiday season, smiling and shaking her head. “Same old, same old around here.”
Alex looked at her and asked warily, “Do I even want to know what that means?”
Liz laughed and responded, “I’ll tell you all about it later. Besides,” she said, giving him a gentle nudge with her elbow, “how interesting can things be without you around?”
Alex let out a hearty laugh and squeezed her tighter against his side. “Liz, you’re so full of it.”
Scene 2: Morning, Between Classes
Isabel & Kyle
“Phew. Hottie headed this way.”
Kyle turned in the direction that had drawn Paulie’s attention and saw the statuesque figure of Isabel Evans. She was wearing a snug sweater that hugged her curves in all the right places. Kyle couldn’t help but appreciate the view.
“What I wouldn’t give to hit that.”
But he didn’t want to hear things like that come out of Paulie’s mouth.
Kyle gave Paulie a warning glare, but it didn’t phase his friend one bit. As Isabel walked by, he let out a whistle and called out, “Isabel, looking good, babe!”
Like a reflex, Kyle’s hand shot out and hit Paulie squarely in the chest.
“Ow! What the fuck, man?” Paulie bit out at Kyle.
“You’re a moron,” Kyle said with disdain, before walking away and going to catch up with Isabel, not waiting for Paulie’s reaction.
“Hey,” Kyle said when he caught up to Isabel, “I’m sorry about him.”
Isabel gave a casual shrug of her shoulders. “Nothing I haven’t heard before,” she responded nonchalantly.
“But, still, you shouldn’t have to be subjected to idiots like him.”
“You do realize you’re talking about your friend, right?” Isabel asked with a wry smile.
“Paulie’s not a friend,” Kyle clarified. “He’s just…”
“Whatever, Kyle,” Isabel interrupted, stopping and facing him. “Look, I appreciate this little chivalry act you’ve got going on here, but I’m a big girl. I can take care of myself.”
“I know you can. But you know, one of the things that Buddha teaches us…”
“Kyle.” Isabel said his name in a tone of voice that told him he’d better stop before he lost valuable body parts.
“All right, all right.” He held up his hands in a gesture of defense. “Just trying to help is all.”
“I’m late for class,” Isabel said. She gave him a small smile to let him that she wasn’t really upset with him. “Bye, Kyle.”
Kyle murmured a goodbye and couldn’t help but check out her ass as she walked away.
Hell, he might be chivalrous, but he was still only human.
Scene 3: Morning, Study Hall
Maria & Alex
“Hey, listen to this and tell me what you think.”
Maria looked up from her math homework to see Alex holding out a pair of headphones to her. Wordlessly, she took them and placed them on her head, her ears immediately assaulted with loud rock music.
“It’s good. What is it?” she asked Alex as she bopped her head to the music.
“It’s The Whits’ newest song. I think we’ll play it at our gig on Friday night.”
“I like it. Good beat. The vocals are a little weak, but you know who could help you with that,” she added with a wink.
A throat cleared behind them. “Miss DeLuca. Mr. Whitman.”
Maria and Alex both turned to find Mr. Collins, their teacher, holding out his hand. “What did I tell you two about this?”
Maria sheepishly removed the headphones and handed them over to the teacher. “I believe your exact words were, ‘This is study hall, not Soul Train.’”
Alex sniggered as he remembered Mr. Collins’ outdated remark, and Mr. Collins glared at them as he took the headphones from Maria. “You can have it back at the end of the day,” he scolded. “And don’t let this happen again, or it’ll be the end of the year.”
They both held in their giggles until the teacher was out of earshot. Alex wasn’t worried about it. He’d lost count of how many times Mr. Collins had threatened to keep his stuff until the end of the year.
“So do you need a singer for Friday night?” Maria asked.
Alex tried to bite back a groan. “Maria, didn’t you learn anything from the Blind Date Concert fiasco last year? You and The Whits don’t exactly mesh.”
“Please, Alex?” Maria begged. “I promise I’ll be on my best behavior. You won’t hear a peep out of me. Other than to sing, of course.”
Alex considered it. There was no denying that Maria was extremely talented, and she was right, their vocals were weak. But he knew the guys wouldn’t be crazy about having Control Freak Maria performing with them again.
“Fine,” he relented. “I’ll talk to the guys. But you realize that gives you less than a week to learn the music?”
“I can do it,” Maria said with confidence.
“All right. You’re in,” Alex said with some trepidation.
Maria let out a little squeal and wrapped her arms around her best friend. “Thank you, thank you, thank you! You won’t regret it, Alex. I swear.”
He hoped she was right.
Scene 4: Morning, 4th Period
Kyle & Tess
Kyle walked slowly down the empty hallway, trying to take as long as possible to get back to class. Fourth period would be over soon, and he was trying to avoid the tail end of his Chemistry class.
“Young man, do you have a hall pass?”
Kyle jerked and spun around at the sound of the voice, breathing a sigh of relief when he was greeted with a familiar face. “Jesus, Tess!” he scolded. “You sounded just like Ms. Wiggins.”
Tess giggled and asked, “What are you doing out here?”
“Bathroom,” Kyle explained, holding up the hall pass that he did indeed have. “You?”
“My class let out early.” She leaned casually against the lockers as she said, “Did you know that your dad is taking Amy out on a real date tonight?”
Kyle raised an eyebrow. “No kidding,” he said. “You seem mighty pleased with yourself.”
Tess smiled smugly and nodded. “I like seeing them happy together.”
Kyle leaned against the lockers next to her, their bodies close enough that Kyle could feel the heat radiating off of her. Turning serious, Kyle looked into Tess’ blue eyes. “What about you, Tess? Are you happy?”
Tess seemed caught off guard by Kyle’s sudden change in demeanor, but she locked gazes with him. “Am I…?” she faltered.
“I… uh…” Kyle cleared his throat, not really sure what he wanted to say. Her face was dangerously close to his now. All he needed to do was move a few inches and he could be…
RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING!!!
The ringing of the bell sent hordes of students flowing out into the halls, effectively ruining the moment between them. They abruptly pulled apart, and Kyle realized through the fog in his brain that he had achieved his plan of missing the last of Chem class.
Tess cleared her throat and began heading in the direction of the quad. “We’ll, uh, continue this talk later?”
“Yeah.” Kyle nodded, nervously running a hand through his hair as he watched her walk away. “Story of my life,” he mumbled under his breath.
Scene 5: After Lunch
Isabel & Alex
After lunch, Alex finally caught a glimpse of the person he’d been hoping to see all morning. His heart fluttered in his chest like it always did when she was around. Now, how to bump into her casually? Even though he was pining, he certainly didn’t want her to know that. Yep, he was a glutton for punishment all right.
Discreetly, he walked in her direction, pretending to be engrossed in one of the books he was holding, and “accidentally” bumped into her.
“Alex!” She seemed surprised to see him.
“Oh, hey, Isabel,” Alex replied as coolly as possible.
“I haven’t seen you around much lately,” Isabel noted.
Ah, so she had noticed.
“Yeah, I was out of town for the holidays,” Alex answered vaguely. “How was your Christmas?”
“Busy, but good,” Isabel said, hugging her books against her chest. “Yours?”
“Good. It was good.” An awkward silence filled the air, and Alex wasn’t sure what to say now.
“Well, I have to get to class,” Isabel finally said, gesturing down the hall. “It was good seeing you, Alex.”
“Yeah,” Alex responded dumbly, and Isabel began walking away. Say something else, you fool! he inwardly chided himself. “Isabel!” he called after her.
She turned around. “Yeah?”
“Um… are you doing anything this weekend?”
“Alex…”
“It’s just… The Whits have a gig at UFOnics on Friday night… you know, if you wanted to come by.” God, did that sound as pathetic as he thought it did?
It seemed like an eternity before she finally smiled and said, “Okay. I’ll see what I’ve got going on Friday.”
Alex could only smile and say, “Cool.”
“Bye, Alex.”
“Bye, Iz.”
Hey, it was better than nothing.
Scene 6: Afternoon, 5th Period
Liz & Kyle
“Okay, I want you to divide into partners and quiz each other on the words on page 137. Remember the vocabulary portion of your test is tomorrow.”
“Liz.” Kyle tapped on the brunette’s shoulder and she turned around. “Be my partner.”
Liz turned her desk around to face Kyle’s, opening her Spanish book to the assigned page. “Did you actually study the vocabulary words this time?” she asked teasingly.
“Try me,” Kyle answered.
“Okay…” Liz answered, skimming the list of verbs. “To think.”
“Pensar,” Kyle answered.
Liz looked surprised by his quick answer, and went to the next word on the list. “To dance.”
“Bailar.”
“To sing.”
“Cantar.”
“To speak.”
“Hablar.”
“To listen.”
“Escuchar.”
“Okay, I’m suitably impressed!” Liz said with a laugh.
Kyle grinned. “See, I’m more than just a dumb jock.”
They quizzed each other back and forth on the assigned lists for a while, until they both felt confident that they were well prepared for tomorrow’s test.
“So you and Evans looked pretty cozy at church the other night,” Kyle said out of the blue, and Liz looked at him in surprise. “Are you two…?”
“No,” Liz answered before he finished the question. “We’re just friends.”
Kyle didn’t know why he was suddenly so interested in Liz’s relationship with Max, but he found himself asking, “Did you ever tell him the truth about…”
“Kyle.” Liz used the same tone that Isabel had used on him earlier that morning.
“Fine. Dropping it.” Kyle held up his hands in defense. How was it that women could always get their way with one simple word?
“I’m sorry,” Liz apologized. “It’s just… it’s complicated.”
“It always is,” Kyle said. The bell rang then, effectively ending their conversation.
As Liz gathered her things together, she said, “You’re a good friend, Kyle. Thank you.”
Her remark caught him by surprise, but he smiled and said, “You’re welcome.”
“Good luck on the test tomorrow.”
“Yeah, you, too, Liz.”
Scene 7: Afternoon, 6th Period
Alex & Tess
Alex sat in his afternoon Film Appreciation class, listening intently as the teacher explained the details for their Spring research project.
“This project counts for half of your semester grade, so I want you to be thorough. Character analyses, themes, structure and form, etc. You can find all the details in the sheets that I passed around.” Mr. Perry paused before picking up a list of the students in the class. “This is a team project, and I’ll be separating you into partners. I used to let my students pick their own partners, but that has backfired on me in the past, so this year I’ll be picking the teams.”
Alex listened as Mr. Perry called out students’ names, listening for his name and who his partner would be. He hoped and prayed that he would get someone who took this class as seriously as he did, and not some idiot who was taking it in the hopes of an easy A.
“Alex,” he heard the teacher say, “you’ll be with… Tess.”
Alex glanced to the other side of the classroom. He’d almost forgotten Tess was in this class. He wasn’t sure whether he was relieved or disappointed to be paired with her. Despite their involvement in the same “extracurricular activities,” they didn’t really interact much.
As Alex gathered his books and headed to the other side of the classroom to join Tess, Mr. Perry continued discussing the project. “Now, no two teams can analyze the same movie,” he said. “So as soon as you and your partner decide which movie you want to research, you need to let me know so you can claim it.”
Alex took a seat in a desk next to Tess and gave her a timid smile.
“Hey, partner,” she greeted him with a smile.
“Hey,” Alex responded. “So I guess we need to decide on a movie. Any ideas?”
“Well,” Tess started, “I’m not exactly a movie buff – I guess that’s part of the reason I signed up for this class. But I was thinking…”
Alex held his breath. He hoped she didn’t want to research some chick flick or cheesy classic. Not that there was anything wrong with those kinds of movies, but he wanted to do something cool for this project.
“…how about Star Wars?”
Alex’s eyes nearly bugged out of his head at her suggestion. “What, like, one of the new ones?” he asked. She probably just thought that Hayden guy was cute or whatever.
“No, the original,” she clarified. “You know, the good one.”
Alex was afraid he might be hearing things. Was she seriously suggesting that they research one of his all-time favorite movies?
“What do you think?” Tess asked.
Alex shook himself out of his stupor and gave her a smile. “I think that’s a great idea.”
“Cool,” Tess responded with a smile. “I’ll go tell Mr. Perry to put us down for Star Wars.”
Alex watched her walk to the head of the classroom, smiling and shaking his head to himself. He had a feeling that this project was going to turn out to be a very pleasant surprise.
Scene 8: Afternoon, After the Last Bell
Maria & Kyle
“Kyle! Kyle, wait up!”
Kyle turned at the familiar voice to find Maria running across the parking lot in his direction. She was nearly out of breath by the time she reached him. “Geez, Maria, I know I’m a catch, but you didn’t have to nearly kill yourself chasing after me,” he joked.
She punched his arm playfully. “Shut up, jerk,” she panted. “Can I get a ride?”
“You call me a jerk and then ask for a ride? Charming.”
“Kyle, please!” Maria begged. “My car won’t start, and I have a shift at the Crashdown in an hour.”
“All right, all right. No need to resort to whining.”
Maria gave Kyle a death glare, and he knew he was starting to push her buttons. He wasn’t doing so well with the ladies today. He quickly shut up and unlocked the doors of his car and they got inside.
“So did you know that my dad and your mom are going out on a date tonight?” Kyle asked.
“I heard,” Maria responded, and Kyle couldn’t tell if she thought it was a good thing or not.
“I think he really likes her.”
“What?”
“My dad. I think he really likes your mom.”
Maria nodded. “Yeah. I think she really likes him too.”
Maria and Kyle looked at each other for a moment, as if both suddenly coming to the realization of what that could mean.
And then, for some inexplicable reason, they both burst into fits of laughter.
Epilogue: After School at the Crashdown
Alex & Kyle
After having a brief talk with his band mates after school, in which he got them to reluctantly agree to having Maria perform with them on Friday, Alex headed to the Crashdown for a late afternoon snack and to tell Maria the good news. When he entered the café, he saw Kyle sitting alone at a booth, his nose in a book (probably about Buddhism), and decided to go join him.
“Hey,” Alex greeted as he slid in the booth opposite Kyle.
Kyle glanced up from his book. “Hey, man,” he responded.
Maria came over then to see if they wanted anything to eat, and squealed with delight when Alex gave her the good news. He gave her the music for their set list and their rehearsal schedule for the week, and she swore up and down that she’d be ready by Friday.
After Maria left to put in their orders, Kyle asked Alex, “So how was your first day back?”
Alex glanced up when he heard the jingle of the front door, his attention momentarily distracted when he saw Isabel and Tess enter. “It was, uh… it was interesting. How was yours?”
Kyle’s attention was drawn to the new arrivals as well, and he watched as the two blondes stopped by the counter and exchanged a few words with Liz and Maria before coming in the direction of their booth. “Yeah,” he said with a little chuckle. “Definitely interesting.”
THE END