Chapter 01
An obnoxiously loud beeping cuts through the gloomy silence of the room.
Chloe blearily blink open her eyes then lets out a groan realizing she had been pulled out of her dreams. Rolling over onto her side, she pounds a fist onto the alarm clock adding to the considerable damage she already did to it before.
Forcing herself onto all fours on her bed, she then flips into a sitting position where she stares blankly at the edge of her bed waiting for the vestiges of sleep to float away. Coughing a bit, she scratches her sides as her eyes roam her room.
Mindlessly, she makes a mental note to straighten out her manga lying haphazardly in a pile on her desk, to clean up the clothes that had piled up on the other side of the room, and to pick up some of the paper balls she threw out of boredom off the floor.
It wouldn't be the first time she made the same mental note. As before, it likely wouldn't get done. What would really be the point?
The sunlight filters through her closed blinds forcing the shadows in the room to recede. In the process, it reveals the discolored walls and dust. Her dad, William, did say he intended to repaint her room one day, but work always got in the way. Honestly, she didn't really mind at all.
Yawning, Chloe forces herself off the bed. Sleep hadn't fully left her but she couldn't delay any longer. Her mom would chew her head off if she is late to school again.
Grabbing a slightly wrinkled white t-shirt and jeans, she stumbles out her room into the bathroom where she begins stripping throwing her old clothes onto the floor. Chloe picks up her toothbrush, carelessly squeeze toothpaste onto her, and brushes her jaw in front of the mirror.
Staring at her reflection, she twists her body a bit scowling a little at her gangly appearance. She had been a scrawny girl for as long as she can remember, but when she hit a growth spurt shortly after she turned 11-years-old, it became so much more pronounced. Now she towers over nearly all the other girls at her school and even some of the boys. This has the effect of making her already thin appearance look even thinner.
Her parents used to joke about 'their little giant' and how she would have a future in the NBA once she fills up a little more. They've since stopped when she took it badly just once on a day she was feeling really shitty and now they think she's sensitive about her appearance when she really doesn't care at all.
Rinsing her mouth to spit out the toothpaste, she climbs into the bathroom and begins the morning shower. She runs the bar soap over her body and hair then rinses it out staring as soapy liquid goes down the drain.
When her skin started wrinkling, she figures enough is enough and got out to dry herself. The hot water had felt good and she hadn't wanted to leave, especially not for school. Not that there wasn't a lot of things she would have happily given up school for.
Throwing on her t-shirt and jeans, Chloe grabs her old clothes and leaves. Opening the door to her room, she quickly tosses her clothes next to the rest on the floor, grabs her backpack, then trudges downstairs slumping onto a chair where her father is already seated. In the kitchen, her mother is humming to herself making what smells like sausage and eggs.
"Well, morning there, sunshine." William greets smiling. Chloe grumbles an incoherent reply. "Whoa, looks like someone is still in dreamland."
"It'll be at least noon before she gets her head out of sleep." Joyce shouts from the kitchen. "After that, it'll be another three or four hours until she's ready to get the day started."
William mocks a thoughtful look. "So…after school is finished and done with?" Joyce gives an affirmative causing her husband to laugh.
"God, you are so cheerful that it's giving me a headache." Chloe groans. "You know you made this same joke last week?"
"If it's worth hearing once, it's worth hearing again."
She didn't respond that it wasn't worth hearing the first time either. She gets the feeling that it wouldn't be appreciated. She genuinely loves her father, but his unlimited enthusiasm galls her at the best of times and gives her a fit at other times.
Joyce walks into the living room placing three plates of sausage and eggs down. "Now chin up, honey. There's no point in moping, especially this early in the morn."
"Your mother's right, kid. You know, it's not often we get to be together like this. We should enjoy it whenever we can. Who knows when the next time might be?"
Chloe bites into a piece of sausage recalling perfectly that the last time they were together like this was twelve days ago and she is apt to think the next time wouldn't be too much shorter.
She doesn't have the right to blame them. Their lack of time together is the direct result of her parents' jobs. Both work a ridiculous amount of overtime and, as a result, they never have much time to be a family.
William is understandably busy considering he's pretty high up at his place and he's been talking about the possibility of a promotion recently. Her mother, though, is a waitress at a diner and she still gets overloaded with work because they're understaffed.
On a good day, her mother might work perhaps only ten hours. On a bad day, thirteen hours. At a diner that is supposed to be opened only twelve hours a day. Her mother explained several times that she sometimes has to come in early to start the kitchen and open the doors, though Chloe never got why she is the one who has to do it.
Regardless of why, the end result is the same. Some days she would be lucky enough to see both her parents and, other days, she might only see Joyce. Yet other days, she might see neither.
Joyce clears her throat and begins slowly, "So Chloe, how is school going?"
"Pretty good." She mumbles. "I'm getting good grades and stuff."
That wasn't what Joyce really wanted to know and Chloe knew it. She had always gotten good grades and did her homework, even if she's often inattentive. So her parents usually trust her to keep up with school. What they really wanted to know is her social life.
Most days, Joyce is first the come home and she would find Chloe watching TV or reading comic books. Both of them sometimes say that they wish she would introduce them to some friends. She can read underneath their words, though, and know what they really mean is that they wish she let them know she has friends at all.
"Oh, that's good. Your father and I are very proud of you, dear." Joyce says softly.
She throws a pointed glance towards William. He gets the hint and inserts himself into the conversation trying to sound casual.
"Say, kiddo, I'm glad to hear you're not having trouble with schoolwork, but how's, uh, things with your friends? Everything good? No problems?" She nods silently hoping he lets it go. "I've said it before, but your friends are always welcomed here, Chloe. Any time you want to bring them, you can."
She nods again not saying anything choosing to finish off one of the sausages on her plate. From the periphery of her eyes, though, she can see the disappointment in both of her parents' eyes. She fights back the urge to jump up and defend herself knowing how useless it is.
She does have friends. Plenty of them. They just hang together in school only. She could ask one of them to come to her house to finally get her parents off her back, but she didn't see the point. She could also tell them about her friends, but then they'll want her to bring them over and she doesn't want to.
Besides, what business is it of theirs what's happening in her life? So long as she gets good grades, they should leave her alone.
Another pointed look from Joyce tells William to say something else.
"Chloe, uh, we both know your birthday is coming up…" She stops eating and looks up at him trying to keep her face blank. "and we were talking about what to do for you. We have good news too! The good news is that you're going to have your birthday early. We're thinking of holding it today."
She swallows down a lump in her throat. "Where? When?"
"At the Two Whales diner. At six." William quickly adds, "Now we know you don't really like the diner for heaven knows what reason, but, well, your mother couldn't get the time to get away from work. I'm just barely making it myself – I'm getting an hour's break to attend then I have to get back."
There is a slight feeling of a sting somewhere in her chest, but Chloe has long since become numb to that. So once again, her parents' job gets in the way of them being a family. No surprise there.
She nods emotionlessly. "Sure, sounds good to me. I'll stop there about six. Will there be a cake?"
"Of course there will be, honey." Joyce says keeping up a small smile. "Made personally by me. It'll be your favorite."
"It sure will be, trooper! The best strawberry-"
He lets out a pained yelp when Joyce quickly elbows him in the side.
"Your favorite of cherry-flavored cake. I also decided to add some banana toppings and sprinkles too." Joyce says. William blushes realizing his mistake. "We got you presents, but we've hidden it at the Two Whales already, so don't bother trying to find it."
Chloe gives them a smile. She had no intention of trying to search for her presents. She would have been just as happy not having this birthday at all, really.
"I promise I won't." She assures them. "I think I better go now, but I'll be at the Two Whales around six."
William frowns looking at her plate. "Honey, you only ate one sausage and half of another. You're going to die of malnutrition at this rate."
"Don't be ridiculous." She gets up shouldering her backpack and walks towards the front door. "Anyway, talk to you later."
Outside, Chloe feels a chill passes through her and she lets out a shuddering breath. Placing her hands inside her pockets and huddling to herself, she begins the trek towards her school.
Arcadia Bay lies silent and lonely as it does most days. The transition from Winter to Spring has been like a rollercoaster going from cold to warm to freezing to hot then back again refusing to settle on one or the other.
The flora of the town should be flourishing already, but they mostly remain lifeless and seem as if they're still caught in the dead of winter at times. During her walk, Chloe would glance at one house or another and, sometimes, there would be people out destroying the branches off trees or killing the little grass growing in their lawns by mowing it down.
She grunts in disgust seeing even the lack of insects. In this place barren of beautiful flowers to feast upon, even they don't want to be around.
Though Chloe left home a bit earlier than usual, she arrives at Arcadia Junior High just as the bell rings letting students in. She's glad for the timing, however. As she reaches the school, she already saw several people she detested and didn't want to even see. She is almost glad to go inside the school and avoid them.
Well, she was glad until her homeroom teacher finishes roll call, they make their pledge of allegiance, and then they're shuffled to their first class. At that point, she could already imagine the tedium of her teacher going on about so-and-so subject that has no meaning whatsoever.
She could predict with certainty how the class will end. Shortly before the bell will ring ending the class, the teacher will assign everyone chapters in their textbook emphasizing their importance in upcoming tests. These chapters – which will have portions bolded to indicate the important parts – will be all Chloe needs to pass the upcoming tests.
So knowing this, she, of course, doesn't bother to pay attention to the lecture and lessons. She instead daydreams about the comics and manga she's been reading, the TV shows she's been watching, her upcoming birthday celebration at the Two Whales, her parents, and whatever else pops into her mind. This continues until the bell rings and things happen exactly as she predicted.
The next class is exactly the same. As is the class after that. Just as Chloe loses steam for daydreaming and started staring out the window, lunch arrives to provide a bit of relief.
She begins walking towards the study hall intending to pass lunch playing games on her phone. She rarely feels hungry during school, but she wouldn't have gone for lunch even if she did. The school's lunches were awful even at its best.
The study hall is on the second level in an old room that used to be for the school music orchestra before it got disbanded by lack of funding. Chloe went to the stairwell intending to head right up but stops when sees two girls halfway up rudely blocking the entire stairwell between the two of them. She recognizes them too. Elly and Julie.
Elly is a fairly decent looking blonde with short curls. She thinks of herself as the more intelligent of the two girls and a sort of 'fashionista'. She certainly tries to present herself as one.
On an average day, she has on enough make-up to make herself unrecognizable to her own parents. Her clothing is always a unique blend of stylish, attention grabbing, and vaguely foreign, but they all share one thing in common: they're disgustingly expensive. The cost of the blouse she's wearing today must be enough to feed a family for a month.
Even her wealth and knowledge of make-up application can't hide her face, though. Chloe caught it a few times after a P.E. swimming class. Elly's face is slightly pocked and it causes her great stress.
Thing is it doesn't really diminish her appearance. She still looks sweetly cute and pretty. She doesn't think so, though, and her heavy usage of make-up is, in part, to hide her own face.
Now Julie…Julie is plain…wow. She is the real 'bombshell' of the two, so to speak.
Julie is also a blonde with curls like Elly, but her hair flows past her shoulders. Her eyes are naturally narrow and slanted giving her a sort of sultry look. Her clothes are equally expensive and stylish as Elly's – likely because the latter purchased it for her – though she seem to prefer a simple stylish sweater and her normal wear of a short skirt.
To add to this look, Julie is also gifted physically. She's well endowed enough to have every boy within viewing distance gaping. She's also tall, though not as much as Chloe, and this allows her to have long, enticing legs to show off, which may actually be why she often wears skirts. So that she could show off her legs.
Or possibly her butt. Her height combined with the short length of her skirt makes seeing up her skirt fairly easy, especially when she's standing halfway up a stairwell as she is doing now. This is normal behavior for her. The shameless girl once wore an equally short skirt to school during a blistering cold day in winter.
Elly and Julie have been friends for perhaps a year only, but the two stuck together like glue. Chloe passes them every now and then and she had always been of the mind that they're together because Elly is rich and wants a minion while Julie is poor(er) and needs a master. Like two peas in a pod.
Though they normally ignore each other, they have encounters every now and then in which the two girls would sneer at Chloe and she would return it with her own.
Knowing this, she pre-emptively puts on a sneer before addressing them, "Ladies, do you mind?"
They had been the only ones there and Chloe wasn't exactly silent when walking towards them. They knew she had been standing there, yet ignored her until she said something. Afterwards, Elly looks aggravatingly down her nose as if wondering what insect is trying to talk to her. Julie had her back to Chloe and she looks over her shoulder with a raised eyebrow seeming equally haughty as her friend.
"What the hell do you want?" Elly tries to put as much disdain in her voice as possible.
"To get to study hall. Can you let me pass?"
"We were here first. You want to get pass? Wait until we leave."
"All you have to do is move aside for a moment, Elly. You're seriously going to block me just to be a bitch?"
Elly's eyes turn cold. "Who the hell are you to talk to me like that? Who the hell are you to tell me to move aside?"
Chloe clenches her teeth. "Who the hell am I? I'm the girl that sat beside you in class for months now."
"I don't remember. I guess you're just unremarkable."
"Fine. Whatever. Just let me through."
"Unremarkable people don't get to demand anything from me. Go use another stairwell."
"No!" Chloe shouts. "Why should I have to go somewhere else when you can move a few feet for less than ten seconds? What makes you so remarkable? You're not any different than me."
"I'm completely different from you!" Elly sneers.
Signaling to her friend, she and Julie walks down a few steps encircling Chloe who tries to back away only to suddenly find herself trapped. She raises her arms a little wary of what they plan to do.
"See this?" Elly says pointing to her blouse. "This is what makes me remarkable. Your clothes disgust me. Where did you get them? At the discount section of Walmart?"
She flushes in anger partially because Elly guessed correctly. The t-shirt she has on now was bought by Joyce and she even bragged about what a great deal she got for it from Walmart.
"Shut up! You may have expensive clothes, but that doesn't mean anything. All the clothes and make-up in the world won't hide that fucked up face of yours."
It was a low blow but it was also the only weapon Chloe knew against Elly. As expected, when she brought it up, the other girl turns purple with anger.
"An oversized amazon with the body of a little boy shouldn't talk shit about other people's looks." Elly hisses eyes narrowed. "I have a boyfriend. What kind of guy are you going to pick up? Some creepy old man who has a thing for young boys?"
A return insult about her own body is only to be expected and she tells herself that Elly is just pissed off and doesn't know anything, but she still couldn't stop herself from feeling heated.
"She'll be lucky to even get that." Julie remarks casually joining in for the first time. "Elly's right. You have no right to be talking shit about her looks."
"I didn't start this. You-"
Chloe's defense is interrupted by Elly. "You tried to be pushy and get your way when we were just minding our own business talking to each other. Don't blame us for the things you did."
With a last sneer, the two girls walk off down the hallways leaving Chloe a shaken mess. Her eyes burn a little and she feels shame knowing those two assholes were able to do that to her. Angrily wiping away at her eyes, she walks up the stairs continuing on her way to study hall. Inside, she heads straight for an empty corner table ignoring the few other kids already there.
A bone deep exhaustion overtakes her and she lays her head down intending to sleep away her worries. Hardly a few minutes after she sits down, though, the bell suddenly rings letting everyone know lunch period has ended. Chloe groans feeling the heaviness of her eyelids going into her shoulders making it harder to get back up. The argument with Elly and Julie took so long that she ending up missing most of the lunch period which wasn't long to begin with.
She lies still for another minute or so listening to the other students shuffle out. When the sound began to die down, she knew she couldn't delay any longer and puts a great effort into rising up. Feeling a little unsteady from exhaustion, she slowly trudges to the next class.
Making it in just as the bell rings again indicating class starting, she sits back her normal seat at the far rear. Ms. Richards, their English teacher, is surprisingly the last to get in. Normally, she would have been here already but, today, she is a little late and her features are upset and her face is flushed. Her eyes harden a little and she straightens herself when she turns towards them.
"Today, we are going to talk about how to properly write a paper that requires citation. I recently had all of you chose a subject to write about – namely your dreams – and, as I told all of you, a paper needs to be written on the steps needed to be taken to achieve them."
A small yawn earns the offending student a sharp look from her which quickly cuts off the yawn. She pauses a moment running her eyes along the rest of the class as if daring them to try to interrupt her.
"We already went through how to research, how to look up information, but now you need to learn how to properly cite your sources." She continues as if never stopped. "Telling me what your parents say or what you saw on TV is not acceptable. You have to look up first or second hand sources regarding information about your dreams and you need to cite from whom and where you got the information."
Ms. Richards' eyes land on one of the boys sitting in the middle row. His eyes widen seeing her look at him and the air in the class changes a little knowing what's coming next.
English as operated by Ms. Richards is a class that demands excellence more from those that seems unwilling than from those that are. Early in the year, after allowing them all to choose their seats, she stood at the front of the class giving a sardonic smile.
She stated plainly that she is hopeful to see good work from the students in the rows closest to the front. As for the students in the middle and especially the last rows, she will be calling on them and calling often expecting to receive answers to her questions.
She has held up her promise ever since and her punishment for failed questions is either homework for the entire class earning the student who answered incorrectly hostility from his classmates or personal humiliation from Ms. Richards.
This 'Rule By Fear' culture she nurtured has, of course, made her a figure to be despised by almost all students who has taken her class and many ill-mannered nicknames whispered by students to their friends. If she knows, she doesn't care.
"Dennis." Ms. Richards stands in front of the boy's desk looking directly into his eyes. "I believe your dream was to become a race car driver, am I right?"
"Yes, ma'am." He says quietly.
"Say I am a professional racer who has won multiple championships. I wrote a book informing others how to become a race car driver too and I say that everyone has to get a college degree in 'racing'. How do you tell your teacher this?"
He swallows. "That you, uh, the professional racer told me I have to get a college degree?"
"That's good." She nods. "What if you need to tell your teacher in written form?"
"I say the same thing, just…write it out."
"No!"
She slams her hands on his desk making him and several nearby students jump in their seats. To their surprise – and Dennis' relief – she doesn't remain to inform him why he is wrong, though. Instead, she moves back to the front of the class.
"Dennis is not completely incorrect, but that's understandable. I have not taught him yet. I have not taught any of you yet. To tell me in written form, what he should do is quote me, then beside that quote, include information on who and where he got it from. Just a small note, really."
On the blackboard, she writes the words 'Go to college' and, beside it in parenthesis, she writes her name plus a random number.
"A small note that is taken from the final page at the end of the paper that contains a full listing of all your citations."
Then she writes another line containing her name and a series of other words that seems like jargon to most of the students.
"This-" Ms. Richards pause for dramatic effect. "-is known as the MLA style."
Thus begins her lecture on how to cite the sources they will be using for their paper. This paper, which is supposed to be about their dreams, is due in a little over a week and their teacher have been drilling information on how to write it in every class even as they're already supposed to start on it.
This is another method of hers. She often says that, in writing as with anything else, most errors come from students refusing to double and triple check their work rather than actual lack of knowledge. To demonstrates this and demand 'excellence', she would assign work then make new demands as they go along.
Most of the students bear this in misery turning angry when the new assignment requirements inevitably come. The more clever students would get around this simply by writing a skeleton of their papers then slowly filling it out with more information.
Chloe yawns looking out the window at a tree branch swaying lightly. She belong to another group – the type to wait until Ms. Richards finishes adding requirements, which is typically three days before the assignment is due, then start writing.
For most of the students, this is thought to be impossible because their English papers are usually five to six pages long and this new assignment already has the demand of being minimum seven pages. It still seems like a joke to Chloe.
Their new assignment – like all the others – is supposed to be in a 12-point Times New Roman font, 1" margins, and double spaced. So a seven page paper only needs to be about 1,500 words long. To Chloe, that is mind bogglingly easy, especially if they're going to be adding quotes. A few quotes by themselves will probably be one whole page.
That MLA citation thing is new and she isn't exactly sure how to do it. That problem is resolved, though, by the fact that she won't have to. She is willing to bet that she could find a website that will do the citations for her and all she has to do is input the information.
Vaguely, she wonders if Ms. Richards knows this, but doubts it. The woman is older and seems a bit of traditional type. What are the chances that she's familiar with computers? Even if she is, why would it matter whether Chloe does it by hand or if a website formats the information for her?
So it seems Chloe is completely covered. She'll finish the paper in no time and the Internet has her covered for doing that citation thing.
Checking the clock noting that class will only last another twenty minutes, she continues staring at the tree branch. She might have laughed at herself for staring at it for so long, but there was nothing else.
Her English class is located on the second level of their school and it faces the school stadium where baseball games are held. There's no baseball game now, so she has a choice of either staring at the empty stadium or watching the tree branch near the window. The tree branch won because at least it moves.
The branch taps against the windowsill bringing Chloe's attention to the small crack visible there. Her school isn't in top shape nor has it been for a very long time. This lack of care is visible in the various cracks, broken cement sidewalks, and the very dilapidated stadium her window is facing.
It might not be the school's fault. From what she heard, they're barely keeping up teacher salaries as it is and they already had to shut down numerous programs. The music-
A hand slamming onto her table startles Chloe so badly that she tries to jump backward forgetting that she's sitting in a chair. Her feet catches on the chair's legs making her topple over along with the chair. Frightened, she looks up into the cold face of Ms. Richards, and loses her breath.
Her teacher sighs exasperatedly. "Get up, Chloe."
Swallowing, Chloe twists her body to lift herself back up. As she does so, she hears the snickering of her classmates making her cheeks burn. Putting her chair upright, she takes a seat hesitantly staring up at her teacher who returns the stare emotionlessly.
"If you're finished making a spectacle of yourself, Chloe, lets get back to class, shall we? Or was my lecture boring you?"
"No, ma'am." She says quietly.
"It wasn't more interesting than whatever you were staring at outside the window, apparently." She glances out the window. "Which means you either found the empty stadium or that tree more worthwhile to pay attention to."
More snickering. She hated whoever is laughing and wanted to glare at them and let them know they could easily be in her position too.
She is too afraid to look away, however. Her chest tightens painfully as she looks into Ms. Richards' eyes and her teacher returns an unsympathetic look fully intent on forcing her to go through the next few moments as slowly as possible.
"Or maybe you believe you know what I'm talking about already?" Ms. Richards continues. "I think now is a good time for a question, class. Chloe, what are you supposed to do with the titles of the works you cite?"
She didn't know the answer exactly, but there were any number of responses she could have given. Even if it was wrong, she wanted to at least take a guess and maybe get it right.
Her breath catches in her throat and she couldn't seem to get any words out, though. The tightness in her chest constricts so badly that she feels like she could barely breathe let alone speak. At that point, even if she could get herself to speak, Chloe doesn't think she would have been able to think of even the simplest response.
The school bell rings indicating class ends. Chloe remains frozen in place, though, and the other students continue staring without moving either.
Ms. Richards sighs in disgust taking a few steps back. "The answer, Chloe, is capitalization. You capitalize every word in the titles of the works you cite." She turns away and walks to the front. "We will continue the discussion on the MLA format tomorrow. For now, I will just remind you that it is only nine more days until your assignment is due. If you haven't already, get started on it. Dismissed."
The students rapidly gather up their things and makes for the door. Chloe sits paralyzed watching them do this until she is able to force her hands into moving again. Throwing her books into her backpack, she walks out the room keeping her head down as she goes to her next class.
There. She sits quietly keeping her eyes forward though her look is unfocused and she doesn't hear what the next teacher is saying. Even if she did, she wouldn't be able to make sense of it anyway as her mind is so jumbled up with differing thoughts.
All she could think about is Ms. Richards, her cold eyes, her classmates' laughing, and her utter failure before. Her stomach roils inside of her channeling her feelings.
What makes it hurt so much more is that she didn't deserve it at all. Yeah, she didn't pay attention but why does that matter? She always turned in her homework. When she got them back, they were A's and B's too. On her tests, the lowest she ever got was 87%. Why did her not paying attention for a few minutes make all of that meaningless? Did she deserve to get embarrassed and laughed at for that?
At that moment, she feels a great sense of hatred well up inside of her. For Ms. Richards, English class, her classmates, Arcadia Junior High, Arcadia Bay, the entire world. The hatred is intense and the adrenaline that floods her makes her want to jump up and start throwing fists in an attempt to fight anything and everything that makes her feel that way.
It passes, though. It passes and it leaves her feeling dizzy and exhausted. She wanted to crawl into a hole somewhere, lie still, and just fall asleep forgetting everything else about her life.
The class passes by in a blur without her hearing a word or, by the end, even knowing if the teacher talked about anything new. She only learned that they had homework at all when the teacher made the front row pass back sheet containing problems that they're to finish and return the next day.
She throws the sheet in her backpack and, still numb, walks to her final class of the day. Thankfully, it is also, by far, the easiest class and one which hardly anyone needed to pay attention to.
The teacher, Mr. Haydock, was already inside when they filed in writing a message on the board. When the bell rings indicating class start, he turns to them smiling pointing to his message which simply asks 'what makes a book a classic?'
Mr. Haydock teaches social studies. This gives him leeway to talk about a wide variety of subjects and he takes full advantage of that by rarely ever covering the subjects most other social studies teachers speak about. The rare times he speaks of classic subjects, he rarely ever talks about them normally.
One time, he brought up the American Revolution and didn't talk about a single battle. Instead, he asked the class why the war happened, what would have happened if there was no war, then proceeded to spend the following three days painting a picture of what the present would look like if the Confederacy had won without every bothering to talk about the war itself.
When one student angrily asked why he didn't talk at least talk about Abraham Lincoln, he responded saying they knew him already so why bother bringing him up?
That is one reason why most never try to ask him why he does things.
Today, Mr. Haydock got it into his mind to discuss with his students why some books are considered classics of literature while others aren't. He asks whether dime store romance novels can be considered classics. He tries to argue that many books considered classics today were considered trash when they were released.
Aside from the brief mention of some risqué magazines which he didn't dwell on, most of the students listened with the same dull eyes they give any of their other teachers.
Chloe keeps her eyes forward though she didn't listen anymore than the other students. Every now and then, she glances at the clock wishing it would move a little quicker. When it doesn't, she tries to keep her mind off the day's events and stare at the words on the blackboard without really comprehending it.
When the school bell rings indicating it's finally time to be let out, she heaves a huge sigh internally glad to be able to go. She picks up her backpack and gets up stumbling a bit.
The intense hatred she felt earlier has now long dissipated and is just a memory, but the result exhaustion is still felt heavily inside of her. She groups in with the last remaining students and heads for the door.
"Say, Chloe, do you mind if we chat a bit?"
She stops and turns towards Mr. Haydock as frustration increases her exhaustion. She knows she didn't do anything this time. Besides, he is not the type to punish students anyway. He is more the type to assign what he terms 'fun' homework which involves doing something utterly ridiculous in an attempt to awaken personal intrigue.
Despite knowing that she isn't in trouble, Chloe didn't really want to talk to him. He reminds her of her dad at times and, like her dad, his enthusiasm grates on her.
"Chloe," He begins after the other students all left. "I'm sorry for stopping you when you're probably eager to get home, but I was just a little concerned. See, I noticed you were a little quiet today. Plus, you weren't daydreaming like usual. You just sort of stare ahead like a zombie. It's creepy." He shudders for effect.
This is the other thing she didn't like about him. Also like her dad, he has a habit of prying if he senses trouble. She is not the first he approached like this. She has heard him approaching other students about similar things too and all reacted about as well as she's reacting now.
On some level, she is impressed he is not only familiar enough with her to know what she normally does and paid enough attention to know she isn't doing it, but what should she tell him? That Ms. Richards is a bitch? That her classmates are assholes? That she feels hurt and angry and just wants to sleep the rest of the day away?
"I'm okay."
He nods smiling. "I suppose that's the best answer I could expect. I just wanted to check up on you, Chloe. If you ever need to talk about anything, know that you have a support system in place. Your teachers, the school administration, and our counselors are all readily available."
Chloe nods and leaves. His words roll in her mind a bit but she had no intention of saying anything. What could they really do anyway? Especially when it's a teacher that she had a problem with?
Outside, dark clouds dot the skies and the air smells a little different. Perhaps not too much longer until it begin pouring. Figures this would happen on her birthday when she intends to walk to the Two Whales.
The threat of getting wet didn't bother any of the other students in front of the school. Most had already started trekking home and those remaining were waiting for a ride or simply to chat with their friends. On the lawn near the road, Chloe spots Elly and Julie standing in the arms of their boyfriends Jason and Kenny.
Jason is a fairly good looking blond who hooked up with Elly a few months ago. Maybe he plays baseball or whatever but he definitely never made a team as Chloe never saw him in any of the school's games. He seems nice enough from the few times she heard him talk or pass him in the hallways.
Julie's boyfriend, Kenny, is the opposite. A defining symbol of 'gross'. Julie could have nearly anyone she wanted, so why did she choose him? To begin, he is huge and it shows even in his puffy face. Chloe initially thought that maybe he's a really nice or funny guy, but that was promptly proven wrong when she once saw him shove another kid against a locker while passing in the hallway.
He is also disgustingly grabby being known for getting too personal with girls who had nothing to do with him. After he got together with Julie, he backed off on that simply because he now had a willing target for his hands. He's taking full advantage of that allowance even now keeping one of his hands under Julie's skirt and grinning like a stupid animal.
Turning away in disgust, she eyes the other areas hoping to forget the scene. She pauses when her eyes land on Justin. Putting on a smile, she walks over hoping they could chat a bit.
She knew of Justin since she started attending school here, but they only started speaking to each other after working on a project together a year ago and maintained the friendship after it ended. He's always been a bit of a weirdo and he wears large geeky bottle glasses which he said is meant to cover as much of his eyes as possible.
"Hey, Justin, what's up?"
He looks up at her giving a mournful look. "Nothing, really. Just waiting for my mom to come get me."
Justin really doesn't live that far from school. Maybe only a little over a mile. After he almost got into a traffic accident walking out into the streets, his mom has insisted on driving him home everyday. However, she works for nearly an hour longer after school ends so the result is that Justin has to sit around waiting for an extra hour.
He complained of this only to have her cuff him on the head saying to use that extra hour to study or read a book. Having no interest in either, he spends his time watching traffic and other students getting to walk home.
"That sucks." Chloe sympathizes. She struggles briefly trying to think of something to talk about to keep up the conversation. "How was school?"
It is a lame topic and one she didn't want to talk about, but it was all she knew to bring up that they could share mutually.
Before this, she tried talking to him about comics but it turns out he has little interest in it. The few TV shows she watches aren't ones he's interested in either. Chloe doesn't even have hobbies she could use to chat about. By comparison, Justin has one hobby and she knows as little about it as he does about comics.
"Stupid like always. I did like P.E. because I got to talk to Mick a bit, though. I've been learning how to skateboard, right? And he's showing me how to modify the truck so that I could do corners and flips easier."
This was the one hobby. She tried to keep up but is immediately confused. She didn't know what trucks had to do with a skateboard or what kind of trick a 'corner' is. He did say before that he's been getting into skateboard which looks kind of weird for a kid like Justin, but he says he enjoys it.
Problem is that she never did understand much of what he talks about and this is a problem because his conversation drifts more and more frequently to it. Instead, she has to settle for listening to him and hoping he doesn't ask questions that she couldn't answer.
"That's cool." She responds. "Are you going to try it here while waiting for your mom?"
"I think so. I have nothing else to do anyway."
The conversation dies off again. Chloe thinks about her birthday and how her parents might be a bit happy if Justin comes.
Only thing is that he never accepts her invitations. She asked him if he wanted to hang out several times, but each time, he either describes himself as too lazy or more interested in skateboarding. This is strange because the one time she followed him to the park to see it and he actually spent more time tweaking parts of his skateboard than actually skateboarding.
She also wonders what kind of birthday parties Justin has. Is it the normal kind where he is at his house surrounded by families and friends? It would make sense as this is the kind everybody has. She alone would sit alone in a diner booth surrounded by strangers who wouldn't know or care that it's her birthday.
No, perhaps it simply wouldn't work out to ask him to come.
"Oh, that's cool. Maybe I'll come check out your moves sometimes." Chloe says smiling lightly. "Anyway, I gotta go now. Talk to you later, alright?"
He nods. "See ya."
Only a few feet ahead, she suddenly feels a few droplets of rain land on her head. Behind her, Justin groans audibly and he gets up running inside the school to wait there. She didn't think he really had to. It was only a few drops and it might be a while before it really starts pouring.
Chloe continues along the sidewalk in the direction of town. When she reaches a familiar area, she steps off and follows a grassy path eventually disappearing in-between a cluster of trees.
Arcadia Bay is a fairly urbanized place, but it also has a large natural aspect to it. In-between roads, stoplights, houses, and stores, there are small sections of trees which are remnants of what Arcadia Bay must have looked like before people got here. Other areas had streams, overreaching hills, and, sometimes, just large open fields that would be full of tall grass and flowers during summer.
The local government turned some of the better looking places into public parks and the larger places into designated hunting or fishing areas. The places in-between those, though, are ignored and left to the whims of the public.
Kids would sometimes explore and play in them, which is how Chloe found this particularly special place she's heading towards. Snaking and twisting around the trees surrounding the area, she quickly arrives at a clearing containing the object of her search: Her home away from home.
Most wouldn't really think of it as special. After all, it's just a cave nestled in a small hill.
A small cave at that. It is so small that you can see the entirety of it even from the edge of the clearing, which is understandable as the hill it is in is barely half as tall as the trees around her. Any bigger and the hill might collapse into itself due to lack of foundation.
Chloe throws her backpack in, gets on her hands and knees, and crawl inside. The cave is supposed to be big enough for a child to fit inside without too much trouble, but Chloe is unusually tall and she has to lie down on her back to avoid craning her neck.
This special place has been named 'Hillside Home' by her.
There are probably dozens of places just like this one, but she likes the Hillside Home because it's hers. She likes the solace it offers. During greener times, the trees surrounding the clearing would be so thick with fresh growth that it would block the entirety of Arcadia Bay. The sky would be so thoroughly blocked that, even during the height of the afternoon, only a few slim lines of sunlight would make it through.
Right now, as with much of the rest of the town, the trees are still lifeless and she is able to see bits and pieces of the town through them. Due to the dark clouds overhead, it isn't as bright as it could be but it is still far brighter than it would be at other times.
She turns onto her side getting comfortable. She stares ahead allowing the silence of the place to foster random thoughts through her mind. It's therapeutic in a way. Here, she would think her most troubling thoughts and remain numb to them. Hillside Home never helped, not even once, in solving her problems but it allows her to think about them and deaden herself to them. At least while she's there.
Chloe imagines Hillside Home as a sort of euphemism of her. Here, the cave represents her own heart and the hill around it is her body. The hill and cave bears all the beating – from the rain, snow, rocks, sun – while she remains safely caged inside protected and merely watching. Here, she is just an observer. Not quite a dead object but not a living one either. She lying there and looking nowhere.
There, her mind turns, and the memories come back. It is unsurprising that the first thing she thinks of is her English class. Whereas the memory stings and made her bitter before, she now thinks of it with detachment. Burying the angry face of Ms. Richards and the laughing caricatures of her classmates, Chloe instead thinks of the assignment.
Her paper about her dreams still seems as simple as ever. For her paper, she chose the subject to be 'astronaut'. It seems like an easy choice to make and she already knew how to write it. She will look up Neil Armstrong's history, note his credentials, and basically use it as backdrop for what she needs to do to achieve the same thing. For her citations, she will look up random quotes from NASA or whatever.
It's all nonsense, really. She has utterly no desire to be an astronaut. She simply picked it because it seems like an easy thing to write about and a common dream.
Chloe might have really picked her dream to write about, but the thing is that she didn't really have one. She didn't know what she wanted to be when she grew up or what she wants to achieve.
Sure, she sometimes likes to imagine herself in certain ways during her daydreams. A few times, she imagines herself as an author writing a book that everyone loves and gush about. Other times, she would be a comic book author who just completed her magnum opus that changed the entire comic industry for the better. Things like that. That's all they were, though – just daydreams.
Her parents sometimes talk to her about her future and how she should nurture her 'prospects' as they call it. Her mom would insist she finds a job doing what she's good at while her dad would say she should learn to do what there are jobs for.
She would like to draw. Not be a painter or anything like that, but maybe draw comics? Or maybe the pictures for books? Something like that. Only problem is that she's terrible at drawing. Stick figures are about the best she can pull off. She took an art class once but the teacher was more interested in explaining the intricacies and beauty of art rather than teaching how to do it.
Well, if drawing doesn't work out, she can always work in a diner like her mom, though maybe not one that wants her to be there for so long and so often. She doesn't want to spend her entire life working, though the thought of not working also terrifies her. It seems better to be overworked than to live a meaningless life.
Trailing off that line of thinking, Elly and Julie appears in her head and she thinks of their features robotically. Their phantom faces smirks at her.
She sees Elly – make up and nice clothes – looking at her and flipping her hair showing off. Julie is swaying her hips lightly making her skirt sway along as if in mockery of Chloe's less pronounced curves.
Kenny appears behind Julie and his hands are suddenly all over her. Chloe feels mild revulsion even knowing that all this is merely a result of her overactive imagination…but it is her imagination using real life as an inspiration.
He would hurt her one day. Chloe can tell just from his sheer sleaziness. Maybe he's secretly a girl beater type or he's a cheater or both. Whatever it is, he'll hurt her one day and, heaven forbid, she might cry her eyes out over that animal.
Chloe can see herself walking up and laughing at Julie only to feel pity for her and perhaps give her a helping hand. The two of them might come to understand each other and even become friends like something from a cartoon show. Chloe would show her great comic books and games while Julie would make her wear skirts so that they'd have matching clothes.
The fall of a few droplets interrupts her flow of thought. Then several more. As if opening a faucet, the clearing becomes drench with the onslaught of millions of droplets of water. The long threatened rain has finally arrived.
Hillside Home provides a capable shelter from the weather. Chloe is able to lie comfortably inside protected by at least a foot from getting hit by the rain. She stares silently as the surrounding trees turn dark from being soaked. Arcadia Bay, peeking in-between the trees, is silent with no cars passing by. The rain has taken over the town.
Despite the exhaustion she felt for a good part of the day, she finds she couldn't get to sleep. Instead, she lies there using her arms as a pillow watching the rain as it lulls her into a sort of trance where she simply stares without any thought.
Some time later when the rain lets off into a sort of light mist, she takes out her phone and glances at the screen seeing it's nearly time to go to the Two Whales. Getting up on her legs while keeping low to avoid bumping her head, she grabs her backpack and slowly hobbles out. The ground is damp and a little muddy. She sinks a little into the ground just standing still.
Dusting herself off, she shoves her hands in her pockets and walks through the trees heading to the Two Whales.
The roads are mostly empty, though a car quietly passes by every now and then. Chloe didn't have a jacket with her but uses her backpack as a sort of umbrella. It didn't really stop her from getting wet but it seems better than nothing. It's a good thing it's no longer raining as badly otherwise Joyce would tear her to pieces if she goes to the Two Whales soaked from head to toe, though she will probably still get a tongue lashing anyway.
Hillside Home resides between her school and the main part of town where the Two Whales is so she didn't really have to walk that far to get there. The length of her walk came more from her sluggish gait than from distance and, despite that, she is still a quarter of an hour early when she arrived.
Inside, there were only a small set of customers totaling only six. Three of them – familiar faces – were sitting at the counter stools, three not so familiar faces were sitting at a window seat. Perhaps the rain had dwindled the number of people down a little bit. Chloe is grateful, really. She didn't really want many people to witness this spectacle she's about to go through.
To the right of the entrance at the far end, there is a window tablet that is lightly decorated with some colorful ties and even a floating balloon wishing happy birthday. Going over, she sees a card on the table with fancy cursive saying 'Happy Birthday, Chloe'.
She sits down at her designated table quietly placing her backpack down on the floor. Resting her head on her palms, she stares out the window seeing rain slide down the glass and wishing a little that she was still doing this at Hillside Home instead.
"Chloe!" Joyce had come out and noticed her now damp form. "You're wet! Why didn't you use an umbrella to come here? You know we keep one in the closet."
She didn't want to tell her mom that she hadn't actually gone home at all. Her parents already think she has problems making friends when she really doesn't. What would they think if they find out she sometimes goes and sit alone in a cave?
"I forgot." She mumbles.
Joyce sighs exasperatedly. "Well, you came a little early. Why don't you take some time to dry yourself in the bathroom with the towels before you father arrives?"
Her mom walks back into the kitchen area. Chloe drags herself off her seat and walks towards the bathroom in the other end. Some of the patrons at the counters glance at her, though the few at the window tables didn't care.
As she passes, the sound of a hushed argument gets her attention. A woman – long dark brown hair, sleek pretty face that has light make up, and beautiful curved eyes – is muttering something rapidly to a man – short light brown hair and a slight 5 o'clock shadow – who tries to return some words.
Chloe didn't really hear what they were saying nor did she really want to. They only got her attention at all because the diner is so quiet and the other patrons were eating in silence while they argued leaving their plates nearly untouched.
She continues around the counter end to go into the bathroom. Just as she push open the door and walks inside, though, another person comes out of the last stall carrying some kind of stuffed animal. Startled, Chloe stops and stares at her. Her own stare causes the other to return the gaze.
It is a girl maybe around Chloe's age. She has light brown, messy bob hairstyle which matches poorly with her dull, blue eyes and pale skin. Her face is small and contains a bit of babyfat which actually works in her favor to make her look cute. The girl is short reaching up to about Chloe's chest, but that may be more because Chloe is tall.
Her attire is tan slacks and a hilariously oversized light blue puffy coat that manages to hide her entire midsection, a part of her neck, and even stretches down to a little past her butt.
The strangest part of the girl is her stuffed animal. It appears to be some kind of panda bear doll which is nearly as large as her entire upper body. She hugs it closely looking at Chloe from behind the stuffed bear.
Chloe stares into her eyes and she returns the look. Her pink lips are pursed a bit and it gives her face a sort of nervous appearance. Realizing that she may, in fact, be scaring her, Chloe clears her throat wanting to say something.
"Sorry." She says not even knowing why she's apologizing. "I just wanted to use the bathroom."
The other girl nods. "I'm…I'm done. I was j-just going to wash my hands."
She turns slowly going to the sink and turning on the faucet. Even the vibes she gives off shows how nervous she is. Trying to look as if she's really just going about her business, Chloe goes to the towel dispenser and pulls the handle rapidly getting as much towel as she could. Then she uses it to dry herself starting with her.
Hearing a little giggle, Chloe looks at the other girl who blushes. "S-sorry. I didn't mean to laugh."
Looking at the towels in her hands, Chloe smiles. "It's okay. It is kind of funny. I stupidly walk through the rain and my mom got mad. She told me to dry myself in here." She glances at the towel dispenser. "Oh, did you need a towel?"
She nods. "Yes, please."
Chloe pulls the handle and tears a towel out handing it to her. As she dries her hand silently, Chloe takes the initiative to introduce herself.
"I'm Chloe Price, by the way."
The other girl stares up at her and her eyes lightens a little as if the introduction means Chloe is no longer a scary stranger. She gives a smile which makes her face a little prettier.
"My name is Maxine Caulfield."
Chloe tries to give a sincere smile. "Are you just passing by here, Maxine? I live here."
She had expected to hear the other girl is just making a stop to eat in Arcadia Bay and was going to maybe Portland, Seattle, or somewhere in California. To her surprise, Maxine shakes her head 'no'.
"I live here too. My mom didn't want to cook today so we came here to eat dinner."
"Oh, that's cool." Chloe nods. "I'm here for my, uh, well, my birthday. I'm turning twelve in a few days, but I'm celebrating my birthday early. I know it's a little silly to have it here, but I guess I'm a little silly."
She laughs nervously wondering if the other girl will think she's a loser now, but Maxine didn't seem to care that she's having her birthday here. Instead, she looks at Chloe with wide eyes.
"You're twelve? Wow, you're really big!"
She stiffens a bit, but Chloe couldn't find it in her to really get upset when Maxine is looking at her so innocently. She does decide to return the favor, though.
Smiling, she says playfully, "Yeah, I am. You're pretty small yourself, shortcake. When you're near my age, though, who knows? You might be just as big."
"But I'm already near your age. I'm ten."
"Ten?" Chloe reels in surprise. "You're ten and you live here? But then you would be in my school. Do you go to Arcadia Junior High?"
"No, I go to Hoover Middle School."
Chloe had never heard of Hoover Middle School. Is Arcadia Bay actually a lot bigger than she thought it was and Maxine lives so far away that she has to go to a different school altogether? That would also explain why Chloe has never seen her before despite living here all her life.
"Huh, that's weird. I guess that's why we've never seen each other." Chloe turns her attention to the stuffed animal. "Say, what's with the bear you're holding?"
Maxine holds up the animal. "This is Panda Bear. I take him a lot of places with me. My mom doesn't like him, but my dad lets me keep him." Her smile slips a bit. "My mom says stuffed animals are for little kids and I guess she's right. Still, I like him because he makes me feel better."
"He's cute." Chloe says. "I like him too."
"Thanks, Chloe. I like you." Maxine says making her blush. "I have to get back to my parents now, but I hope I see you again."
"Same here, Maxine."
She leaves. Chloe watches her go feeling a bit sad. In the short time they've met, she grew to like the other girl a little. She's a bit strange and childish, but she's nice.
Feeling dry enough, she throws the towels she's been using into the trash bin and leaves the bathroom. Outside, she passes by the couple arguing before and pauses just slightly when she sees Maxine sitting beside the woman. So it turns out those two were her parents which make sense when Chloe compares Max's hair with theirs. Maxine meets her eyes smiling and Chloe smiles in turn before passing.
She returns to her table and slumps down sighing. She struggles internally wishing someone she knew was here so that they could talk about something but also simultaneously happy that they aren't here to see this.
She wishes her dad would get here already so that they can get this all over with.
"Now birthday girl." Her mom comes back out the kitchen carrying a small cake with twelve, unlit candles on it. "Here's your cake. Your dad just called me and says he'll be here in a few minutes. Do not touch this cake until he gets here, hear?"
She nods as Joyce places down the cake in front of her along with several clean plates then leaves again. She looks at the cake. It is mostly white frosting, but on top were cherries and slices of banana. The candles were aligned in a circle around colorful words that spells out 'Happy Birthday, Chloe!'
William comes in through the diner doors a few minutes later carrying a wrapped box. Spotting her, he puts on a big smile and comes over plopping himself across from her. He stares at the cake with exaggerated wide eyes.
"Oh my goodness, look at this beautiful cake!" He sneaks a bit of frosting with his pinky and licks it. "Delish!"
"I saw that!" Joyce says coming out of the back carrying another wrapped box. "It is Chloe's day so she gets the first bite, William."
"Oh right, right, my bad. Lets get this party started then, eh?"
Her mom pulls out a lighter and lights each candle up. Once finished, William scoots over allowing her to sit down by him. The two stare at Chloe smiling waiting for her.
Chloe puts on a small smile. "Do I blow it out right away?"
"Well, of course- oh, wait, wait." William palms himself. "Joyce, we almost forgot the song. We have to sing her happy birthday."
She immediately regrets saying anything. "No, wait, I think it's better if I just blow it out right away."
"Actually, I think your father is right. This is a special day." Joyce says. "It wouldn't feel complete if we didn't at least sing to our little girl. You're not going to have a second 12th birthday so we have to make sure it's right, Chloe."
"We may not have the best singing voices." William says. "But we'll do our damndest. Now then."
He clears his throat and leads the song starting with a slow, precise 'happy' as Joyce joins in. Chloe feels her face heats up and she can sense the stares of the other customers on her. She keeps her eyes on the candles on the cake.
When her parents finish the last part of the song, they drag out the 'you' and increase their volume. Hearing the song end, Chloe smiles up shakily at them, then leans in to blow out the candles. Only afterwards did she remember that she was supposed to make a wish too, but she didn't mind too much. There's no point to it anyway.
"Chloe, open my present first." Joyce says.
Her mom hands her a small simple box wrapped in red paper. She slowly unwrap it at the easier part then opts to tear it when it becomes too difficult to unwrap. Opening the brown box inside, Chloe finds a battery operated lava lamp and a pack of AAA batteries.
She smiles up at Joyce, "Thanks, mom. I like it."
"I had hoped you would. I used to love those things when I was a kid." Joyce smiles in turn. "How about you two spend some time together and enjoy the cake. I'll have to do some work around here, but I'll stop by every now and then."
Joyce departs heading behind the counter and picking up a pot of coffee. She says some things to one of the men at the counter stools and refills his mug before disappearing into the kitchen again. Chloe watches her leave.
"Hey, don't forget me, kiddo." William grins. "Your mom's gift is going to be hard to beat, but I have something pretty cool too."
He holds out his box which is wrapped in a teal color. She doesn't even bother to properly unwrap this one instead choosing to tear it apart from the onset. Inside is a branded box labeled 'bluetooth speakers' which Chloe reads in a bit of confusion.
"Bluetooth speakers? I didn't expect this." She says giving William a small smile. She says playfully. "I can't wait to use it. Do you think Joyce would mind if I deafen everyone in here?"
"Yes, she would, young lady." William says laughing. "Besides, that thing uses a rechargeable battery. I think you'll have to charge it up first before using it."
"Then the ears of everyone here have been saved. For the time being."
"Thank you for your kindness, your majesty." William bows then holds out a knife. "Now would you like to have some cake?"
She places Joyce's and William's gifts to the side, then takes the knife. She cuts out a slice placing it on one of the plates Joyce gave and hands it to her father. Then she cuts out a slice for herself too.
William eats out a large piece with a fork then moans exaggeratedly while chewing it as if it's the best thing he ever ate. Chloe takes a small bite and chews more slowly not really feeling hungry.
Swallowing, her father turns to her, "I can't believe it's your birthday already. You're twelve now. Well, in a few days really, but…you know what I mean." He sighs a little. "You're growing so fast. Before we know it, you'll be going off to college, seeing the world, and eventually celebrating the 12th birthday of your daughter too."
She listens silently wondering what her father is getting at.
"Chloe, I really love you, kid." He says ruffling her head. "I wish we could spend more time together before you're an adult, but, you know, life sometimes doesn't work that way. I'm just happy we get any time together at all."
She didn't understand why life has to work the way it does instead of the way they want, but she didn't verbalize her thoughts. William smiles down at her then takes another large bite of his cake nearly finished already and tries to discretely glance at his watch.
Chloe knew he is going to have to get back to work soon. Glancing outside, she sees the rain diminished a lot though it is still going. She decides now is a good a time as any to bring this night to an end.
"Say, dad, I walked here and got pretty wet, so mom got mad at me." She begins. "I was wondering if you could drive me home before going back to work?"
"I'll be more than happy to. When did you…?"
"Now is best, I think."
"Then thy chariot doth await!" He smiles. "Just let me tell your mother."
Her request means he gets to go back to work earlier so he is all too happy to comply not caring about the details. She knew this when she asked figuring they'll both be done a favor.
William goes into the back of the diner. Chloe shoves her gifts into her backpack and gets off the seat. He returns a minute later with her mom in tow carrying a box with her.
She picks up the cake and the unfinished slices and slips them into the box. Taping it closed, she hands it to Chloe.
"Your dad tells me he's driving you home to avoid the rain. That's a good idea." Joyce leans over a bit kissing her cheek. "Have a safe trip home and happy birthday, Chloe."
"Thanks, mom. Don't work too hard, alright?"
"No promises there."
Joyce kisses William on the cheek too before leaving. Her father nods at her and leads the way to the door as she follows. He holds open the exit door for her while electronically unlocking his car for her to run to. Chloe gets ready to dash out.
"Wait, Chloe!"
She stops in her tracks and turns around. Maxine runs up to her smiling a shyly. Behind her, her parents are watching silently eyeing Chloe and William with confusion. Her own father is equally confused by Maxine's appearance. The small girl holds up a simple pencil case with a few pens and pencils inside.
"I wanted to give you this. For your birthday." She clarifies. "Happy 12th birthday."
Chloe stands there a little surprised. Gathering herself, she takes the pencil case slowly feeling a mixture of elation and warmth from the gift even if it's something so simple. She smiles at the other girl.
"Thanks, Maxine. I'll…I'll be sure to use it."
Maxine smiles taking a few steps back before turning to go back to her table. Chloe looks down at the pencil case in her hands again before tucking it into her pockets to ensure it doesn't get wet. Then she dashes for the car jumping in. Her father comes in a few minutes later, starts up the vehicle, and they leave.
Even by foot, going back to their house didn't take very long. By car, they get there within minutes. Just as he stops in front of their door, though, her dad calls out to her.
"So Maxine, huh?" He says with a grin. "If you had a friend there, why didn't you invite her to sit at the table with you and offered her some cake?"
Chloe swallows. "We just met today. In the diner. We talked a bit and stuff and I told her I was having my birthday. I guess she decided to give me a gift."
He nods. "It's small, but it's the thought that counts."
"No, I like it." Chloe says. "I really do, dad."
And she means it. She hadn't expected anything from anyone beside her parents, so when a girl she just met decides to stop her just to give her a present, it feels…nice. Like someone is thinking of her.
"That's good, sweetheart. Well, we're here now, so off you go."
She nods and makes to open the door. She pauses, though, and looks thoughtful.
"Say, dad, do you know Hoover Middle School?"
He blinks. Looking thoughtful, he says, "I heard the name somewhere before but I'm not familiar with it. Why's that?"
"Nothing, really. I just heard the name somewhere and got curious."
She opens the door and dashes out before William got too questioning. He watches her from the car to make sure she gets inside the house fine and drives off just as she gets the door opened. Inside, she puts the cake in the fridge and runs upstairs to her room.
Taking the gifts out of backpack, she places them inside her closet then sits her backpack near the door to her room. Grabbing a manga, she flops onto her bed and flips to the first page. She had actually finished reading this volume already, but the next one isn't slated for a few more months so she has to keep re-reading until then.
Not that it matters either way as her mind wasn't really on the manga. A lot of other things were. Her birthday, her parents, Elly and Julie, Ms. Richards, and…Maxine. When she and the other girl parted, Chloe had thought that would be it. To think that she would stop her on the way out just to give a present for her birthday.
Still, nothing has really changed. She thought their departure would be it simply for the fact that their lives must move in such a way that they're not likely to ever meet again. She knows they don't go to the same school. They must not even live in the same area of Arcadia Bay if they managed to not see each other for so long. Regardless of the reason, they're not likely to see each other again.
Chloe felt sad at the thought for a moment, but didn't dwell on it too much. No point in doing so for a one time meeting that lasted maybe only twenty minutes. She tries to take her mind off things and refocus on her manga.
When, ten minutes later, she still has not turned a page and Maxine's face pops in her mind again, Chloe sighs irritably and throws the manga onto the floor. She turns the lights off and nestles into her bed figuring that she's been awake too damn long. It's a miracle she remained up as long as she did considering all that happened today.
Soon, everything will return to normal. Dull, boring, but normal.