Spy Among Us

In the beginning of October, paranoia loomed large in West Roswell High. Max, Michael and Isabel had always been careful about keeping their otherworldly existence hidden but when Liz and Maria found out about them, they were openly paranoid. 

Kathleen Topolsky is a Math teacher who doesn't know Math very well, she takes attendance (even though she's a simple substitute teacher) and she carries a lot of students' files – including Michael's. Liz naturally becomes suspicious about her. Maria all the more so.

Max and Liz finally talk about their suspicions when Miss Topolsky gets a basic Math problem wrong Max hears what she has to say, not wanting to jump to conclusions about the whole 'spy among us' theory.

Despite the danger, it's a tender moment between Max and Liz, as the boy realizes just how much she wants to protect them all from danger.

This moment set the tone as being the first moment in which Liz turns out to be right about a theory.

Disclaimer: Written for love, not for profit. The characters do not legally belong to me. They belong to: Melinda Metz and Laura Burns who created them, Jason Katims who developed them, 20th Century Fox Television and Regency Television who produced them and the WB and UPN who broadcasted them.

Images taken from Google search.

After class, Max and Liz stayed behind, in the hallway, to talk about what had happened. Liz told him everything she had witnessed with Miss Topolsky, regarding Michael’s file. “But she pulled other students’ records,” he said, trying to understand what was going on. “Well, yeah, but the point is that she pulled Michael’s.” Liz insisted. “How many others were there?” “I don’t know, maybe 10.” “Well, 10’s a lot,” he replied. Maybe it’s not so strange after all. It’s not like she’s singling him out, Max thought. “OK it might have only been 5. I’m not sure how many there were,” Liz said. She wanted to be thorough: if Michael’s life was at stake, they couldn’t afford any mistakes. “You can’t just show up at Michael’s and get him riled up like that. You don’t know him. He’s not big into "let’s go over our options." He acts on things.” Max said. He knew that her heart was in the right place, but there was still a lot that Liz didn’t know about them... “Look, I’m sorry, I just thought that Michael was in danger and that I’d better tell him.” “In danger of what,” Max asked, wondering if Liz really had something on Topolsky, or if she was just being overly cautious. Her answer didn’t convince him. “I don’t know. I have no idea.” Liz caught a glance at one of the students walking through the hall and lowered her voice. Reacting to Liz’s cue, Max also spotted the student. His heart jumped. What did that guy hear? Was he watching them? It’s just a student going about his day. Not threatening to anybody, he told himself. “Look, I am just saying that if there is a spy among us, don’t you think it behooves us to do something about it?” “Spy?” “Well yeah-” “Liz-” “No, Max, that sort of thing exists, doesn’t it? There’s like special branches of the government... alien hunters, you know, that sort of thing,” she said, giving some credence to Maria’s hypothesis. “So you think Miss Topolsky is an alien hunter,” Max asked. His tone barely masked his disbelief. “When you say it like that, it sounds ridiculous,” she said. She hoped it was as ridiculous as it sounded, but she was afraid for Max and the others. Something that Max understood perfectly. He had lived all his life looking over his shoulder, suspicious of his own shadow, fearing everyone. Everyone, but Liz, of course. And here she was proving to him, yet again, why he had trusted her with his secret. “Liz, thank you, you know, for looking out for us,” he said, moved by her concern. “But we have to go on with life as it was before this happened. And we have to be careful now. All of us. You, too.” Liz nodded. There was something reassuring about Max’s tone that soothed her heart. 

     Max and Liz went their separate ways. Something caught his attention while he was walking through the hallway. There she was. Miss Topolsky shaking hands and sharing smiles with Sheriff Valenti. Why would a substitute teacher be so friendly with the Sheriff?! Max turned around, before they could see him staring at them. He had to talk to Liz about this as soon as possible.

WE WANTTO BELIEVE!