-Max-

"I can... " I sighed internally, bored out of my mind. Mr. Jefferson classes were normally interesting but today felt a bit weird, something wasn't quite right, Mr. Jefferson kept glancing at me, Once I might've been extatic but there was something off today, I couldn't quite place it. My thoughts were interrupted by the soft splat of something hitting Kate Marsh in the face. Someone had shot her with a spitball, I looked around and noticed none other than Victoria Chase hastily tucking something under her desk. A spark of anger flared within me, "Will you leave Kate alone already Victoria? Seriously, where the fuck do you get off tormenting people?"

"Max! Watch your tongue please!" Mr. Jefferson barked, he was clearly annoyed at my interruption but I don't care, I was too busy glaring at Victoria who was returning the gesture, she seemed to be challenging me to defy her, to reveal what she had done. 'I'm not afraid of you Victoria, you're on.'

"Care to share something you two?" Mr. Jefferson had moved over to stand between their tables, the rest of the class was watching intently, all except Kate who seemed to be trying to make herself invisible.

"She's been harassing Kate relentlessly, and shooting her with spitballs-" I started to speak but was almost immediately cut off by Victoria.

"Do you honestly think I would do something like that Sir?" Victoria interrupted. She twisted in her seat slightly to pose somewhat suggestively and flashed him an innocent smile, I internally groaned and rolled my eyes.

"Kate?" Mr. Jefferson turned towards the visibly shaking girl, 'Man what is up with her? I've never seen her looked this scared before.'

"Is this true? Did Victoria hit you with a spitball?"

Kates head barely moved at all but you could still just barely make out the tiniest of nods, Mr. Jefferson didn't seem to notice however and turned back to face me.

"Ms. Caulfield I don['t like interruptions in my class, especially false accusations. I expect better of you in the future."

I was annoyed 'How can that bitch continue to get away with treating Kate like this? It's evil.'I

A measly "Sorry" was all I could muster without letting my anger loose so instead I let my mind wander to what I should do that afternoon. I didn't have any homework for the week and didn't really have much to do otherwise.

'I could just practice my guitar... but then what?' I racked her brain, completely oblivious to Mr. Jefferson's lecture. Suddenly the image of a strawberry blonde girl entered my thoughts.

'Maybe I should finally go see Chloe. I've put it off for far too long as it is but... She probably hates me and wont want anything to do with me. Serves me right, I completely abandoned her when she needed me most. I tried to keep in touch with her but... I just kept getting nervous and never knew what to say. Maybe-"

BRRIINNGG!

My brooding was brought to an abrupt halt as the sell rang signaling the end of class. Everyone started packing their bags as Mr. Jefferson spoke over the commotion

"Okay everyone, don't forget the deadline for the everyday hero's contest is in three days so Stella, Alyssa get it together and yes Max, I see you trying not to see me."

I rushed out of the school, eager to get away from Victoria and her goons. I walked over to the fountain and sat down to calm down, 'Well so much for keeping your nose clean nice job Max.' A soft autumn breeze swept across the grounds which were littered with at least a dozen students lounging in the afternoon sun. Trevor and Justin were rolling around with their friends as usual, Daniel was propped up against a tree doodling away in his sketchbook. A figure over by the parking lot caught her attention, a rather tall woman was climbing up the stairs, the bright blue hair was what snagged my attention but I saw she was wearing a low-cut shirt, a black blazer, jeans and combat boots. My stomach seemed to flip in my stomach as I watched her swagger over to Justin and his skater friends.

'Wowsers, she looks really cool. I wonder why I've never seen her here before.'

"Hey! Max!" A familiar voice called out to me from the direction of the school, the girl Max had been watching paused and looked around, I turned hoping that she hadn't noticed her staring and saw Kate rushing over towards me.

"Hey Kate, what's up?" I asked, Kate had been avoiding everyone including her for the last week and I'm glad she was talking to me again.

"I just wanted to thank you for standing up for me in class today, I needed that."

"Of course Kate, I'm sick of the way she treats you,

"Aren't you worried about what shell do to get back at you?" Kate asked, there was a hint of fear in her voice and Max could tell that she was also afraid of Victoria's retaliation against her.

"Not really, I mean what's the worst she can do anyway?"

"I hope you never have to find out." Kate muttered, pulling out a book from her Backpack and turning to a seemingly random page.

I looked back over to the cute blue-haired girl and saw she was still looking at me, I felt a little warm and I swear I could hear my heartbeat but I managed to smile and give her a friendly wave. She quickly turned around and started walking very fast to the parking lot. 'Did I do something wrong?'

"Hey Kate?"

"hmm?"

"do you know that blue-haired girl over there?" Kate looked up from her book, to see the mysterious girl I was indicating and wrinkled her nose a bit. "Yea, shes some punk that used to go here, I'm pretty sure she got expelled... or just stopped showing up, she was kind of a jerk really."

"huh." I watched the girl as she reached the stairs, she glanced over her shoulder then disappeared down the stairs.

"I think her name was Clara or Chloe or something." Kate added as she turned back to her book.

I froze, the entire world seemed to stop as she attempted to process what she had just heard. Chloe Price, her childhood best friend had just been standing only yards away, her strange behavior suddenly made sense.

'Oh gods, she must've recognized me. I've gotta catch up to her.' My thoughts were interrupted as I realized something was wrong, it was quiet, too quiet, especially for Blackwell. I looked around feeling dread creep through my body, the air was thick and impossibly still, no sign of the light Autumn breeze. Kate was staring with unmoving eyes at her book. At the far end of the yard a boy was frozen in mid air with a skateboard hovering just under his feet. A few people were frozen Mid-stride, while the rest remained impossibly still either sitting or standing.

'Its as though someone just hit the pause button on the world.'

I stood up and tried to move but it felt like I was trying to move through molasses. I felt pressure rapidly grow in my head causing an involuntary grunt of pain to escape my lips. "What the fuck? Am I somehow causing this?"

The words had barely come out of my mouth when everything resumed, the pressure evaporated almost immediately. 'Did no one else notice that? What the hell just happened?'

I shook myself out of my daze and started running towards the parking lot after the blue-haired girl.

"Max?" Kate called out, noticing the sudden hast of her friend, but I ignored her. 'I need to catch her, it's now or never Max.'

My feet pounded against the soft grass as I sprinted over towards the parking lot, I leapt over Trevor who was curled up on the ground grunting in pain. I made a mental note to check up on him later as I reached the stairs to the parking lot, taking them three at a time. I dashed into the parking lot and stopped in the middle of the road, looking around for Chloe. I had barely begun scanning when I heard the blaring sound of a horn and squealing tires, out of the corner of my eye I saw a large brown truck barreling towards me moving to fast to stop in time.

I suddenly felt pain all across my body and I realized I was on the ground, and yet feeling impossibly light. 'I'm sorry Chloe...' and with that final thought, the world faded into darkness.

"I could take any of you..." Mr. Jefferson's voice filled her ears, Max jerked up from her desk, breathing hard. 'What the fuck? I'm back in Jefferson's class? Was it all a dream?'

On a hunch she looked over at Victoria to see her holding a small tube to her mouth, aiming at Kate. Her eyes widened in surprise, 'It's happening again?' "Knock it off Victoria, Kate doesn't need any more shit from you."

Victoria jumped, surprised that Max had noticed her, the tube flew out of her hands and she struggled to grab it and hold onto it. Mr. Jefferson turned around at the sound of Max's voice and saw Victoria fumbling with the spitball shooter.

"Victoria, please throw that away and do not torment your fellow students. Max since you seem so interested in joining the conversation, could You you please give us an example of a photographer who managed to perfectly capture the human condition in black and white?"

"Oh, erm..." Max felt her face grow hot with embarrassment, she hated being put on the spot like that and Mr. Jefferson knew it, this was clearly supposed to be punishment for interrupting his lecture. "I don't know." Max mumbled earning her the stink eye from her teacher.

"Dianne Arbus?" Victoria instantly offered. "Thank you Victoria, why Arbus?"

Max sighed internally and tried to wrap her head around what just happened.

'Okay so I caught Victoria in the act, so was that all just a dream? A premonition? It felt more... substantial though, as though I had really lived it... and then I froze time? What the hell is going on? Do I really have the power to control time? Chloe... I need to find her again, I need to find her and fix things. before-'

BRRIINNGG!

the sudden and shrill sound of the school bell caused max to jump in her seat, she had been so immersed in her thoughts that she hadn't noticed how much time had passed.

"We'll pick this up next class, and guys don't forget the deadline for the Everyday Hero's contest, I'll be flying out with the winner to San Francisco where you'll be feted by the art world. It's great exposure and it can kick start your career in photography so Stella, Alyssa, Taylor get it together, and yes Max I can see you pretending not to see me. Victoria, my desk now please."

Max hurriedly packed her things in her bag and rushed out of the room, the last thing she wanted right now was to get caught up talking to Mr. Jefferson about her entry. She Walked out of the school and found herself sitting at the fountain. She was suddenly struck with awe as she realized that everything in front of her looked exactly as it had before, she looked at the parking lot and saw her, the girl from before, Chloe. Max took a deep breath, bracing herself for what was to come and started walking over to her old best friend.

"OI CAULFIELD!" Max whipped around to see where the angry bellow had come from. Nathan barged out of the school, he looked furious. "You are going to pay for that!"

Max got to her feet and started backing away as quickly as she dared Nathan continued to advance on her walking quickly. Max turned and started to run, towards the last person in the planet who wanted to see her.

-Chloe-

"OI! CAULFIELD!" I looked up at the sudden outburst, 'Uh-oh, Nathans pissed, better bail on our meeting.' I looked up and saw Nathan Prescott marching towards a skinny girl in a grey hoodie and jeans with brown hair. She was turning towards Nathan and started backing away from him, something about her seemed familiar. 'Wait didn't he say Caulfield? No... it can't be her, she wouldn't come back not here... not to me.'

Nathan continued to advance on her, picking up his pace, she turned and started running, towards me of all people. As she drew closer Chloe felt a mixture of dread, anger and fear creep into her heart. 'It is her, after all this time she's back.'

Max stumbled a few feet away from Chloe, she seemed to look surprised and... a little relived? "Chloe?!" she gasped.

I shook off my surprise and turned my attention to Nathan who had caught up to us.

"Hey dick-wad, the fuck do you want with her?" I felt a slight brushing at my side as Max moved besides me.

"Keep out of this Price, it doesn't involve you!" Nathan snapped.

"Your threatening one of my friends so yea it does actually." I shot back. 'Why the hell am I defending her, why did I even call her my friend? What if I just walk away and let him deal with her?

"She ratted on my girl and landed her in detention for the rest of the week!" Nathan growled. "Aw... did your widdle icky Vicky get in trouble? Seriously dude overact much?" I smirked and glanced at Max who looked absolutely mortified.

"Don't you fucking go there Price!"

"Seriously dude take a chill pill, detention is hardly the worst thing that Vicky could have gotten herself into."

"You know what? Forget our meeting Price it's off! I don't care what you wanted its bullshit anyways. Just like your little friend here."

"Forget this shit were outta here." I grabbed Max's hand and pulled her towards the parking lot eager to get away from Nathan. Surprisingly he didn't follow us and I let out a sigh of relief.

I was torn, I wanted to be mad at Max I mean after all this time away she comes back without even telling me and then expected me to protect her? Even so, after seeing her face again the anger I had been building up against her started fading away. 'She better have a damn good explanation.' "Get in." Max obeys without a word and I start my truck. Not sure where to go.

I fought the urge to pounce on Max unsure if it would be out of excitement or frustration so I decided to go with frustration to try and get her to tell me why she abandoned me.

"Why Max?" I snapped, "Why did you leave me when I needed you most, why the fuck did you stop talking to me and why, why did you decide to come back after what you did to me?"

I glanced at Max, she looked sad and a little scared, I felt bad but I needed to know why.

"Chloe, you know I didn't want to move away, I bitched about it to my parents for days trying to convince them to change their minds. I even tried to get them to let me stay here with you and Joyce. But they would hear any of it!" Max protested. I let out a grunt hoping it sounded annoyed. I didn't trust myself to speak, I didn't want to lose my angry edge and get emotional too.

I'm s-so sorry Chloe, what I did was inexcusable and I don't expect you to forgive me. I don't really think I quite know why I let us d-drift apart. Even though I suck at showing it I missed you loads. Y-you have no idea how badly I wanted to run to your house and beg for mercy the second I got back but..." Max's voice faltered a bit as she struggled to find the words to express her feelings.

"But?"

"But I was s-scared, mostly because of how you would react, I was af-fraid that you would turn me away and h-hate me. I thought it would be easier if I settled in and got u-used to my surroundings but I guess I was really just st-stalling." Max's stutter got worse as she slowly dissolved into tears. 'Dammit Max why you gotta make this so hard for me?'

I managed to keep silent composure, unsure of what to say, Max's sobs turned to sniffles and eventually stopped all together but I could tell that she was still upset. I sighed as I made the last turn into my neighborhood, 'Of course we end up here, why the fuck not.'

I parked the truck in the driveway of the half painted house of our childhood and immediately jumped out, relived that step-asses car wasn't there, hopefully we can just avoid him all afternoon. Just as I was about to open the door I looked over to see that Max hadn't moved so I called out to her. "Hey! You coming in or what?"