When Kate answered her door, it had been something of a shock to find Chloe Price standing on the other side. "Um, Chloe, hello! Is there anything I can do for you?"
She started to adjust her hat, looking a little bit awkward. But finally she seemed to find a comfortable stance and cocked her hip out, crossing her arms. "Hey, I was here bugging Max, but I also wanted to come by and see how you were doing. I know sometimes people can be... weird about shit when mental health is involved. Also I'm maybe a tiny bit guilty because I was a little clingy with Max when we first started hanging out. And maybe I kinda said some bitchy stuff about you."
She didn't know much about Chloe, but she at least knew enough to expect this. Chloe didn't bother holding much back. It was her strength as well as her weakness. "Thank you, that's sweet of you. And I really appreciate the honesty. But Max is a wonderful person and I can't begrudge you being 'clingy'." That all being said, she hadn't exactly responded to the question yet, and she didn't want to get accused of being evasive. "I'm getting better. Everyone has been pretty wonderful. But it's... a hike."
She had her usual easy smile, but tinged with a bit more warmth. She'd seen Chloe look at Max the same way. Were they actually becoming friends, and not just acquaintances? It would be nice to feel like she had more people on her side. After the roof incident, people were certainly nicer to her. But her list of friends wasn't exactly any longer.
"So look. I've been trying to think of how to do something nice for you. And I finally figured it out. Kate Marsh? I'm going to teach you how to fight."
Again, her bluntness could sometimes be a curse. "Chloe, I'm a pacifist. Why in the world would I want to learn something like that?"
She huffed softly, rolling her eyes. "I'm not expecting you to turn into a badass. I-I just figured... it would be a way to boost your confidence that nobody else would think to offer you. Plus, it's a great way to let out all that bottled up shit, ya know?"
She hummed and hawed for a few moments as she let it roll around in her mind. This was obviously her way of being sweet and presenting a gift. And Kate hated being ungrateful. Even if it proved to be an awful experience, it would be nice to get to know Chloe better. "Um, well... O-Okay! I guess it's worth a shot."
"Great!" Woah. She seemed legitimately happy about that. This was unexpected. "Great. I'll pick you up Friday after classes. Wear something comfy. I'll... see you then!" She was already gone before Kate could really conjure up a proper farewell.
Closing the door, she leaned forward and rested her forehead against the wood with a light thunk. "Yeah. Great."
At the end of classes, Kate went swiftly back to her room. She tried not to dally, but naturally she ended up running into Max in the hallway. "Hey, I hear you're stealing Chloe away for the afternoon."
Her face instantly went red with extreme embarrassment. Unless she was mistaken, the two of them were dating, and she had no interest in 'stealing' her. She threw up her hands defensively and shook her head. "No no! Of course not. She just wanted to show me a few self-defense techniques. That's all."
Of course, Max just started giggling. "Yeah, she ran the idea past me a few days ago. I wasn't too sure, but it sounds like everything worked out! Honestly, she's a big softie, so pull your punches, okay?"
That got Kate to laugh a little, releasing a raggedy breath. "Hah, thanks. My arms have the tensile strength of over-cooked spaghetti. So no need for concern. Um, I should get changed, she'll be here soon. Bye!" She quickly scurried into her room to get changed.
Having donned shorts, a t-shirt, and some ratty sneakers, she made her way out to the parking lot. True to her word, Chloe was waiting there for her, leaning up against her battered truck. "Hey there, Marshmallow." She was also appropriately attired – sweatpants, tank, trainers, hair pulled back out of her face – and gave her another cocky smile. "Ready to rumble?"
Marshmallow? Was that a nickname? Maybe they really were going to be friends! "Yeah, I'm all set. I mean, I'm terrified, but I'm ready." She awkwardly clambered up into the passenger seat and buckled in.
"No need to be terrified. I know this whole thing seems a little wacky, but I did at least manage to secure some proper safety gear. It's gonna be epic."
"Where are we going, anyway?" Kate glanced over at Chloe, only to catch herself staring and quickly looking out the window instead.
She chuckled and turned down the thumping punk music. "Are you familiar with American Rust?"
Kate pulled her hair out of its usual bun and into a more manageable ponytail, then slipped the training gloves over her hand. "I have to admit, putting these on, I already feel a little tougher."
"See? I knew you'd get into it!" Without any gear of her own, Chloe stepped over and stood in front of her. "Now, we need a baseline. I want you to throw a punch at me. Don't hold anything back. I promise, it's fine."
That felt like kind of an insane starting point, but Kate also had to admit that she was completely out of her element here. She curved her fingers tight around her thumb, reeled back, and launched an attack on the other girl. It whiffed completely. Chloe was no martial artist, but she was more than able to get out of the way. "O-Oh jeez... That was miserable, huh?"
She rolled her eyes and gave her a gentle pat on the back. "It's okay! You said it yourself, you're a pacifist. I would be way more upset if you actually landed a punch. It'd say something pretty fucked up about me." Showing absolutely no self-consciousness, Chloe reached out for Kate's right hand. "We gotta start with your form first."
Kate could feel her face growing warm. This contact was strangely intimate. She started by adjusting the way she formed her fist – as it turned out, it was more than just balling up your fingers and going at it.
"You can't tuck the thumb inside. That's a quick trip to a nasty injury. I made that mistake when I was sixteen. It may not seem like a big deal, but tiny problems have a way of turning into huge problems. Feel me?"
She nodded dumbly, only really able to focus on the light skin contact they were sharing. Which... was insane, of course. Chloe was obviously with Max, and... Kate didn't even swing that way! Probably! It was just that Chloe had a certain boyishness that confused her senses. Of course. "I mean, that makes sense..."
It didn't stop there, though. She carefully angled the rest of her fingers so that her fist was in more of a pointed shape rather than flat. "This'll do more damage because you're putting that force into a finer point. Also, less likely to break a finger this way. You... might be sensing a pattern here." That tiny joke managed to actually get a laugh out of her, and Chloe looked almost proud about that. With the first few basics in place, she grabbed up some training pads and started fitting them over her hands. "Now, the tough part..."
The assumption was that this would be a one-time thing. Once Chloe had shown Kate a few things about fighting, she would feel more confident and that would be the end of it. Only, when it was over and she was being given a ride back to campus, she heard herself asking the unthinkable. "Could we... do this again sometime?"
So they did. Every week, after classes were over, Kate would hurry to get changed, and then go with her new friend to the junkyard. Over time, she really did start to learn things. How to keep her guard up. How to 'stick and move'. How to use her hips rather than sheer strength. Before long, they were starting to even have a few actual fights. Never in a million years did she imagine this would be the sort of thing she'd enjoy. But the first time Chloe got a hit in on her and connected with her jaw, she felt a kind of bizarre joy she'd never known before.
People may not have known exactly what the two of them were up to, but word was getting around that she and Chloe were chummy, if nothing else. She expected something might come of it eventually. But she couldn't have expected exactly how it would go.
She was walking out of one of her classes on a normal Wednesday morning when she heard Nathan Prescott's snide voice. "Hey, Marsh. Rumor has it you've been palling around with that burnout Price lately. You thinking about dropping out of school and becoming a loser like her?"
Kate sighed deeply and turned around to look at him. His face was as insufferable as she expected it to be. "You're right, she is a friend. And I don't appreciate you talking about her like that, Nathan."
He had the gall to look impressed. "She speaks! Well, unfortunately, I'm just saying what everyone already knows. She's a jobless pothead who, despite hating this place, keeps fucking showing up." Kate could feel her body tensing up. Nathan was really digging in at the moment, and she just couldn't understand why. What did he get out of this? What was the goal? "Besides, what's a Jesus freak doing hanging out with a dyke like her?"
Kate saw red, and next thing she knew Nathan was laid out on the floor, clutching at his nose as it dribbled blood down his chin.
"Holy shit. He got a bloody nose and a heaping helping of humble pie. And you didn't get in trouble?" The story of Kate's afternoon was giving Chloe no end of delight, though she herself still wasn't totally feeling the joy yet.
She shrugged, not ready to look over at her. "Well, Principal Wells and David have been kinda walking on egg shells since I got back. I guess they figured something might happen. But I'm sure they'll also be watching me like hawks for the foreseeable future. So that's wonderful. At least this won't get back to my mother."
The truck came to a slow stop outside the junkyard. It was actually kind of strange for Kate to be here on a day other than Friday, not gearing up for a fight. But she also kind of liked it. Because it was another reminder that Chloe actually was her friend. She called her in a moment of crisis, and now they were hanging out. "Pfft, I feel that. Be glad you don't have your own personal David lurking around all the time."
"Hah, yeah, I guess that's true."
She was led to a small shack in the middle of the junkyard where several seats were scattered around. The two of them settled in together on an old van chair. "Honestly it's just as well I wasn't there or that asshole would have gotten a lot worse than a bloody nose. I mean, what kind of dickhead talks shit to survivor of suicide?"
Kate wanted to simply appreciate Chloe's defensiveness, and the way she didn't dance around awkward topics. But she couldn't help the need to correct her. "I'm used to Nathan being mean to me. I can deal with that. But he was saying some really awful stuff about you and I just-"
"Woah, what? What the fuck did he say?"
She cleared her throat gently. "The uh... He called you the... The d-word." Kate already wasn't super great with cursing. But this was even worse. To repeat a slur like that?
But then Chloe cut the tension beautifully. "He called me a dumbass? I mean hell, I kinda am a dumbass, but still, how dare he?"
Kate broke out in loud laughter, louder than she had perhaps ever before in her life. She laughed until her belly ached and there were tears in the corners of her eyes. Of course. "Oh my goodness, no. No, Chloe, he um. He called you a... dyke."
Her face fell a little bit there, though she didn't grow as dark or angry as Kate was expecting. "Hmph. Well, he was right about that too. But that sure as fuck isn't his word to say." The gears in her head seemed to be turning a little, and she glanced back at her. "Was he... insinuating things? Shit, I'm sorry, I know that's like a whole... thing for religious people. You don't deserve to have rumors like that about you."
She wanted to simply agree and forgive her. But that wasn't the real issue here, and she knew it, even if she was terrified of admitting it. "C-Chloe... I don't want you to feel bad. I already knew you were dating Max when you showed up to talk to me. If that was a problem for me, I wouldn't have agreed to come along."
Suddenly, her eyes went wide, her cheeks tinged pink. Somewhere deep within herself, Kate felt pretty good about getting someone like Chloe to blush. "Uh, we're not dating. I mean, god knows I tried. But things are still a little too... weird between us. A lot of history, not all of it perfect. But either way, I'm glad you aren't one of those bigoted assholes."
A feeling of intense relief washed over Kate, one she hadn't really been expecting. There were so many things she wanted to say in response. To say that she was far more than simply 'not bigoted'. To admit that maybe they had more in common. To confess that she'd been having some confusing feelings lately. But all of that seemed impossible to put into words. And since she had been learning lately to use her body instead of her words, it felt natural to lean in closer. It felt simple to rest a hand against Chloe's cheek, admiring the fading shiner she'd given her the week before. She experienced no fear, adjusting her posture so that she could gently kiss her on the corner of her mouth.
"...gonna be honest, didn't see that one coming..."
Kate giggled softly, this time kissing her more directly. Though it was still fairly chaste, all things considered. There were other things she needed experience in besides fighting. "Me neither..."
Chloe danced back a few steps on the balls of her feet, spitting onto the ground and wiping a small bit of blood from where her lip was split. It was the most strangely attractive thing Kate had ever seen. But she was getting used to that. Getting used to liking someone, a girl, and enjoying the fact that they occasionally beat each other up for fun. "Holy shit, I've created a monster."
"Your fault for showing me all those MMA fights on YouTube. I keep seeing stuff I wanna try! Just wait until I get brave enough to try some kicks..." She took her cue and bounced back a little as well, wiping at her forehead. "Oof, we should probably call it there. Max wants to meet us at Two Whales with Vic."
"Pft, go figure she'd hook up with the queen bee. Now I know why it never worked out between us. Wouldn't have expected that to be her type."
Kate laughed softly as she removed her gloves and reached for her rag to wipe down her face. "Be nice. Victoria has really been working on herself lately. Besides, you keep talking about Max like that, I'm gonna get jealous..."
She closed the distance between them, tugging Kate's hair out of its ponytail and playing with her many layers of floofy locks. "Don't you dare, Angel. Everyone knows you're the cutest girl at Blackwell. And that makes me the luckiest girl in Arcadia Bay. Plus, you're sexy as hell."
That shut her up pretty fast, her face exploding in a deep blush. Two could play that game. So she pressed their lips together in a passionate kiss. Kate was definitely starting to learn more, and she held it for a while before breaking away just as suddenly. "Now come on, Blue. With all this fighting, I feel like I could eat one of Joyce's patented Trucker's Delights by myself." She talked big, but they both knew Chloe would have to help her finish it.