A/N: Welcome to my first fanfiction. I have already wrote the "prologue" in advance, consisting of six chapter, which were beta-read by spebonne, who's critic and tips were invaluable to me. Please, check out his stories, especially "Life has No Meaning Without You".

I plan to release this prologue in a weekly stretch. After that, unfortunately, all bets are off on an update schedule, seeing that the new year will be insanely busy for me. But I will do my best and hope you enjoy reading this as much as I enjoy writing it.

Chapter 1 – Smell the coffee

'Another shitty day in Arcadia Bay'

With these thoughts, Chloe Price slowly rose out of bed. Normally she wouldn't think of waking up at such an ungodly hour. But she had to. After all, today was the first day of a new school year. Or rather, new OLD school year. Not that the newly self declared punk showed any emotions about it.

'7th Grade... again. Great...'

This meant not only new people in class, but a lot of questions about her age. Not that she could be bothered. A 14 Year old in this grade is not usual, but nothing about her WAS usual. Her room was a testament to that. A wall full of posters from Punk Rock Bands, Clothes littered the ground. Most childhood memories stuffed away in some drawers in the corner. Only her glass snow doe on the upper drawer and a box with pictures below her bed could be spotted. Next to her bed, the wall still displayed the chart which documented height while growing up.

'Only thing missing are the smell and butts of cigarettes to complete the picture.'

How often was she told that she was wasting her potential...

How often teacher tried to play the "understanding" act. In the end, they still gave her detention or extra homework.

'Everyone pretends to care, until they don't.'

"CHLOE! Wake up, you need breakfast before catching the bus!"

Chloe's thoughts were interrupted by her mother, Joyce. Any other day, she would just turn around in bed and go back to sleep. But she did not want to draw flak that early in the new school year.

She stood up, took one of her "newly" acquired Hoodies (a black one with one of the many bands she listens to, the inscription already faded since it is second hand) , a pair of dark jeans and walked into the bathroom for a quick shower and brush of teeth. Inside the bathroom, she couldn't help but notice how devoid the cupboards looked. Something she still couldn't get used to.

'Surprising how much stuff Dad used in the bathroom. And they say that woman use all the space.'

Any thoughts of her father brought with it a sudden wave of sadness.

'All because of a drunk truck driver... And that girl...'

A quick check in the mirror. Emotionless azure blue eyes, shoulder length strawberry blonde hair. Boring...

'Maybe I should cut it even more. And dye it. Blue? Yeah, that would be awesome!'

Quickly doing her chores, she got dressed and headed downstairs. A plate of waffles already waiting for her. She sat down and started to eat without exchanging any words with her mom, who stood nearby at the kitchen sink. Her mother was already dressed in her waitress uniform. Her dark blonde hair is tied in a bun, she rarely wears it open.

"Excited about the new year?"

"As excited as waiting for a colonoscopy..."

"Chloe..." There it was again, that tone of disappointment. She should have gotten used to it by now. But she doesn't. It's either about her choice of words, her choice of clothing or her choice of skipping school.

Silently, the strawberry blonde girl stood up, grabbed her stuff and walked out without exchanging any other words with her mother. Only a faint "Have fun!" could be heard from the kitchen as the door closed.

She had to take the bus now. Back when her father was still around, he would gladly give her a lift on his way to work. Not an option anymore. And her mother's work was at the other end of town. Not that she would drive her anyway.

The Bus Station was devoid of other students. At least she was left alone. Plugging in her MP-3 Player, she choose some random track of music, sat down on the bench, and waited.

Around her, people were doing their morning routines. A mailman delivering letters, the gardener doing his work. Small children playing around at the kindergarten across the station.

About 5 Minutes later, the bus arrived. Inside were only a few other students, all minding their own business. Not that she had any interest in talking to anyone. Especially in a bus reeking of stale air and body spray.

"Male body spray... I'm ready to gag!"

Taking her seat in an empty row of seats, her gaze wandered out of the window. Houses and landscape flew past while she listened to some more music. Before she knew it, they arrived at there destination.

Arcadia Bay Junior High School

Hands in her pockets, Chloe walked towards the entrance. She drew the hood over her head, to remain as inconspicuous as possible. Going inside through the rather large double oak doors she entered the main corridor. The stairs towards the upper floors directly in front of her, she took a right turn down the hall, towards the classroom. All the while trying to ignore her surroundings. The school year has started just yet and a jock was already pinning a younger student against the lockers, probably demanding his lunch money or something. They tried that with her too, once. A swift kick towards the sensitive southern region and a visit at the Principal's office later she never got bothered again. Deciding against intervening to not get too much heat on her first day, she moved on.

Arriving at the class room of her first period, Chloe choose a desk at the window side, about halfway down the room, making sure that no one else sat at the two chair desk. She only briefly looked around the class room, but not noticing anyone she was very familiar with. A few, like Drew, Mickey, Nathan and Victoria she knew the name of, but that is all. She waited silently while the rest of her classmates were slowly trickling in. A few greet her, she just nodded back. Socializing wasn't something she excelled in since the accident.

As the teacher walked in, the noise and commotion settled down. Mrs. Enfield was a familiar sight for Chloe, often hosting the detention classes she had to participate. She was a bit older, in her early fifty's. Blonde hair, shoulder length. And of course black rimmed glasses. Dressed in the stereotypical Teachers Clothes: White blouse, a brown knee-length, plated skirt . The typical teacher look. But she was also fair and nice to everyone who didn't deserve her anger. Even Chloe, ending in detention more then once, was always treated nicely.

"Good Morning, class. I hope you are all excited for the new school year." The teacher asked, a subtle hint of sarcasm in her voice. The silence in the room was enough of an answer.

"Good, good. My Name is Mrs. Enfield, I will be your new teacher. We will have a few periods together, so I think we should get to know each other quite well." She proceeds her introduction while writing down her name on the board. "I want all of you to know that you can approach me with any problem or question you have. This is important to me."

She went on and told a bit about herself. Just a short CV. How she became a teacher because she got inspired by her mother. How she found interested in English Literature as well History. So on and so forth.

The teacher wouldn't talk too long about a topic, probably to not risk boring her students to death. She finished in about 5 minutes.

"Now, before we start roll call, we will have a new student joining the class later. She will introduce herself to you, and you all behave. You will see why, and I expect your best behavior, understood?"

Again, the class remained silent, only a few people nodding or "mhm" as a response.

During lunch-break, Chloe sat in the cafeteria, choosing a table in the far corner where she wont be disturbed. The cafeteria was unusually empty.

'Probably because everyone is either too busy searching their new class rooms or meeting their new classmates. Maybe even too busy with tormenting some of them.'

"Hey Chloe!" A voice interrupted the punk during her somewhat unappetizing meal. She looked up and saw the auburn haired girl, with her trademark white beanie.

"Hi Steph." She greeted her friend. Steph was one of the few people Chloe would call a friend. Although they didn't hung out every day, she was nice and they do play some DnD now and then.

"Have you heard about the new arrival?" Steph started as she sat down with her tray of whatever they call food here.

Great! Gossip! Yay...

"No."

"Well, I met her this morning. Isn't she joining your class?" Steph inquired while biting down on something barely resembling a sandwich.

"I guess so..."

A smirk developed on Steph's face. "Well, this is gonna be interesting. Tell me how it went."

Without answering, Chloe went back to eating what the kitchen chef had the nerve to call food.

"We plan on doing another DnD evening next week. Are you interested to come?"

Chloe just shrug her shoulder. Enough of an answer for Steph.

"Great! I have a really awesome campaign planned!"

And on she went. Chloe became pretty good at starting to zone out and just nod along the lines of 'I hear you' while her friend talked on and on about a topic. As long as no questions were asked that needed anything but a shrug or nod, she was save.

After a few minutes of her talking on and "eating", the auburn haired girl then looked at her watch. "Oh! Next classes start soon. Got to go. See you later."

And gone she is. But what did she mean with 'interesting' when she mentioned the new classmate?

After finishing her meal, she got up and headed out. Only to be interrupted again.

"Oh, look who is here. Mrs. Roundabout." Victoria Chase's voice called her out. Chloe turned around and spotted the blonde haired girl sitting with a few of her friends, who chuckled at her joke obediently.

"What do you want, Mrs. Snob?" The agitation in Chloe's voice was as clear as the blue arctic sea.

"How thoughtful. Do they hand these returns out at charity?" Again, the group of friends laughed dutifully.

"How about I show you some charity outside?" The punk returned, balling her fists.

"Oh, be careful? You don't want me to go to the Principal and tell her you threatened me? Maybe you get detention?" A devious smile followed. "Or expelled? Everyone knows how much trouble you are. Bad enough that you are in my class now."

"Go ahead, you would actually do me a favor. Won't have to see your sorry face again, bitch." With this, Chloe walked out of the cafeteria, leaving behind a sort of stunned Victoria.

After the exchange, Chloe went down the corridor towards the next period. Of course, in another class room. At least it was Chemistry, something she was not only good at, but also interested in. The teacher, Mr. Groovers, was a bit younger then most other Teachers and a bit relaxed. He usually wore his white shirt with black jeans and gave some sort of "I don't give a fuck" aura. At least he didn't wore any of those half-assed beards like a goatee or something. But he knew his stuff.

After about 5 minutes of introduction, a knock interrupted Mr. Groovers. Mrs. Enfield walked in, greeted her colleague and then addressed the class.

"Okay, as promised, I want to introduce your new classmate. Please pay attention, this is important."

With this, she signed at the door for someone to come in. Slowly, a small girl, about the height of Chloe's shoulder, walked in. Short, shoulder length brown hair. Wearing a plain, gray hoodie without any inscription and some run of the mill blue jeans. She was clutching a notebook as well as a messenger bag strapped over her shoulder and looked down, probably in embarrassment.

Something about her rubbed Chloe the wrong way. As if they met before.

"Class, this is your new classmate. She will introduce herself shortly. Please keep in mind that she has hearing problems and you are therefore required to write down anything you want to say to her."

A small murmur could be heard next to and behind her. It ranged from thoughtful comments like "Wow, deaf? Poor girl." over "Wonder how this affects the class?" to more vindictive comments like "Wonder if she gets a disabled parking space later in life?" and so on.

At first, there was no reaction from the girl. But a nasty comment in the likes of "Are we a special needs school now? What does she want here?", probably spoken by Victoria from the sound of it, did seem to to get a reaction out of her. It was short and quickly over, but one could have sworn she looked hurt.

Again, something stirred in Chloe. This was getting uncomfortable. But she couldn't remember where she might have met the girl.

Deaf girl in a junior high school class? This is cruel.

With a closer inspections, Chloe noticed her blue eyes and freckles.

Talk about being a target. She looks like a lab made nerd.

Chloe couldn't help but feel sorry for the girl already. This will be a difficult time for her.

The brown haired girl stepped forward, wrote something on her notebook, and showed it to class.

'Hi, my name is Max Caulfield!'

Chloe snapped out of her thoughts reading those words.

This got to be a joke... This can't be... That girl?!