Good Intentions:
A life is strange fanfiction
Disclaimer:Hello! This is just a little note to make readers aware that I do not own these characters, I do not own the setting, I don't own their background stories. I am in no way affiliated with the game this is based on- Life is you haven't played this game, I highly recommend it if you enjoy immersive choose-your-own adventure games. I don't make money off of these fanfics and they are purely for enjoyment.
The gaggle of high school girls that hung out by the volleyball net was nothing new to Blackwell Academy's 4th-period gym class.
It was a trio composed of lip-glossed juniors; all wearing slightly rolled gym shorts and their hair up high on their heads. Unless they were on their phones, they were seen chatting away between popping bubblegum and dodging the occasional stray volleyball.
One of the girls, April Jordan, shifted her weight to one foot with one of her braids weaved through her fingers.
"I'm thinking about writing a new collection. There's been a lot going on and I could use the stuff for actual, good material."
Aimee Kent weighed in, reaching down to pull the tongue of her sneaker to a straighter position.
"Your last book was so sad! You definitely need something happier."
Almost as though the three had an unspoken tendency to take turns remarking upon one another, the two turned to the last girl.
The blonde crossed her arms.
"Poems are supposed to be sad. Or angry, or, even, yeah, stupidly happy. It's about molding words into stories or analogies that make a person feel something."
She spoke with a sense of conviction, her words concise and her mannerism thoughtful in the delivery of her response. Rachel Amber was good at that; along with science, theater, and convincing the school cafeteria that she needed fresh items due to an (alleged) allergy.
The gravitational pull she gave out was not lost. There was something exciting about a person who seemingly soaked in all of what most would consider being almost perfect.
Even those who preferred to keep people at an arm's length could feel the magnetic presence of Rachel.
Chloe Price was seated not far from the three, an open sketchpad across her thighs. She had the end of her pencil in her mouth, gnawing gently in thought. Guitar riffs wafted from the headphones that hung around her neck. Her gym teacher told her that she couldn't wear headphones over her ears because it was dangerous in the sense that if a ball was whipped at her head, she would not hear any warnings.
The teenager figured that a) the headphones weren't actually 'on' if worn around her neck, and b) music or no music, she had taken many volley, basket, and rubber balls to the face, so, it did not seem to matter whether the last thing she could hear was Kurt Cobain vocals.
Chloe carefully shaded in some of what would be the shadow of the signature she had created. Always a master of tagging- bathroom stalls, trains, old buildings, people's faces when they were passed out drunk- she grew tired of her simple scribbles and juvenile dick drawings.
This time, she was opting for a signature that would not give away her identity but would at the same time identify it as her work. She wanted people to see it and say,
'that was the Arcadia Bay Tagger!'
The thought caused a smile to form on Chloe's lips, and the movement of her pencil intensified with her shading.
'your birthday is this weekend, Rach!'
Chloe looked up from her sketchpad, Rachel Amber's nickname successfully pulling her from her state of drawing hypnosis.
Blue eyes scanned over the teen's blonde hair, the back of her neck, and, well, she was checking out her ass. She was grateful that she didn't get boners as guys did or else she would never get to steal glances so effortlessly. She, of course, was polite enough to tear her gaze away and to continue sketching. The thought that Rachel's birthday was coming up was intriguing to Chloe and she found herself listening to learn more.
She couldn't make out much due to the echoing sounds of volleyballs hitting the floor or the walls and people shouting and whistles occasionally being blown.
Chloe turned the music on her phone off to avoid adding any further complications to hearing the conversation, and her ears were able to filter out:
'aw, Rachel! C'mon. That's lame.'
Rachel responded Chloe knew her voice. But what she said was lost to her because-
a sudden SMACK, accompanied by a pain that spread over her entire face caused her to drop her sketch pad and instinctively cover her face with her hands.
"OW! What the fuck?!" Chloe dropped her hands, the gym lights pouring into her eyes and causing them to burn. She knew she should sit down, but. She rarely did the things she should do. She could see through squinted eyes that the ball must have come from Andrew North who headed the football team and one of the top names on Chloe's shit list, and, Elliot Hampden, someone she copied biology notes off of and who filled Chloe's phone with texts that she sometimes forgot to answer.
Drew laughed. "My bad, Chloe! Maybe you should actually do, yanno, gym things during gym class instead of that tortured artist stuff."
Elliot's face was twisted in concern, his brows furrowed. "My bad, Chloe! Volleyball isn't really my sport."
"Nothing is your sport, dude," Drew retorted with a snort.
"Cool, ladies, I don't care. Watch where you throw that damn thing," Chloe rubbed the side of her head, then reached below her bleacher seat to grope for her pencil. She couldn't feel it anywhere.
Elliot cocked his head slightly, "did you lose something, Chloe?"
"My pencil," she groaned in mild frustration.
"At least it's just a pencil," Drew said with a shrug.
Chloe sighed heavily. "Gee, thanks, Drew. Not really the point, though. Whatever."
A slight pain behind her eyes from the impact caused Chloe to touch her fingers to her temple with a wince.
"Chloe, be careful! You got hit in the head, you could be concussed or something. We should get you to the nurse-" Elliot reached out and took a hold of Chloe's arm.
Chloe pulled her arm away from him, the frown that followed causing her to wince more from the pain it produced.
"Elliot, seriously, I'm fine. This Douche doesn't throw THAT hard."
Drew stuck his middle finger up at Chloe, who returned the gesture with both hands.
The brunette looked pained from her perceived rejection of his kindness, and his words turned into more of a mumble.
"I guess. You should really get it checked out, Chloe."
Chloe waved him off without another word, tucking her sketchbook beneath her arm as she trailed off for the gym's double doors.
"She's probably going to go hang out with that Chad guy from Costa Rica," Elliot scowled.
"The new guy with the brown skin that can bench close to 200 pounds? Shit, I would too. Don't worry, though, I don't think anyone with actual amibition is that girl's type," Drew replied.
Chloe careened the halls, her headphones over her ears. Even if it didn't help her volleyball-induced-headache, she would rather listen to rock over the chaos of the hallway. It was especially busy given the gallery of digital art that was taking place outside of the Art Appreciation classroom. Although this normally piqued her interest, she was at this point just ready to go back to the junkyard and abandon the constant reminders of how much she hated her school and her current life.
A hand took her shoulder and she quickly spun around, pulling her headphones from over her ears.
"What?!" She snapped.
It was none other than Rachel Amber.
The blonde smiled kindly, "Sorry. I didn't mean to freak you out."
She raised up her hand. Rachel found her pencil!
"I saw it on the floor. It probably rolled off the seat after the ball hit you."
Chloe accepted the pencil, her eyes widening and her tone much softer.
"Uhh, thanks." She tucked the pencil away into one of her pockets, setting it alongside the tin case she had of colored pencils. "Sorry for, uh, biting your head off. I thought you were someone else."
"It's okay. I would sure hate to be them, you've got a knack for sounding scary when you want to," Rachel chortled with a playful glint in her eyes.
Chloe shrugged some, her cheeks flushed.
Rachel tried again, pointing at Chloe's pants with a polished finger.
"Wow, you have deep pockets. Is that a whole tin of colored pencils you fit in one?"
Chloe raised her brows some, a little confused by the observation.
"Uhh, yeah. Pants. With pockets, you know. Crazy concept, I guess," The blue-haired girl stretched open the acknowledged pocket. "My messenger bag ripped and I used to carry my pencils in there. So, yeah. I keep them in pockets now."
Rachel giggled, a wind-chime like noise that made Chloe's cheek flush travel to her ears.
"I just mean that the pants I buy either have fake pockets or, well, crap ones. Where do you get your pants?"
Chloe avoided Rachel's gaze for a split second- however green, however piercing- and wondered if she should even tell her the truth.
"Some of these are pants that I took from my dad's closet. I am smaller around the waist so I have to keep them up with my belt, but, my shirt usually covers it. I like them because the pockets are super deep. I don't- carry purses or anything, so."
Rachel giggled again.
Chloe's blush intensified, her defenses rising slightly. "What? You asked me. Did I say something weird?"
"Doesn't really answer my question," The blonde responded, closing in on Chloe's space a little more. "Where does he get them?"
Chloe thought for a moment. It was difficult to think when some cute stranger was dangerously close.
"I don't really know. I was never with him on days he decided to go buy pants."
Rachel's previous giggles were replaced with full-bellied laughter. She straightened her posture again, wiping a small tear from her eye.
"You're too cute, Chloe."
Chloe felt her nerves grating and hugged her sketchbook a little closer to her side. She needed some sort of shield from herself and the girl who kept laughing at her.
"Um. I don't know about that. But, thanks," a fresh shade of red bloomed over her cheeks. Chloe figured at least she could blame the volleyball if Rachel noticed her blushing.
The other girl stepped closer to Chloe, the further invasion of her space coming with a cloud of what smelled like vanilla and roses. She reached a hand up to the side of Chloe's face, slender fingers weaving around a stray lock of blue hair.
"I like your look. Everyone here is so boring."
Chloe became still, finding breathing to be nearly impossible until Rachel released her hair.
"Thanks. I was just going crazy with the same old shit. So, blue it is." Chloe shrugged.
Rachel beamed, "cool."
She appeared flustered then, averting her eyes.
"What is it?" Chloe pressed gently, wondering what a girl like Rachel Amber could be nervous about. Though, she felt it was nice that the other was nervous for a change and not just her.
"I'm having a party. This weekend. I only invited a few friends, so, please keep it under wraps, but..." She reached out and took Chloe's hand, using her free hand to grab Chloe's official tagging marker that had been poking out of one of her pockets.
Chloe stiffened in posture, her ears hot as Rachel wrote out her number on her hand.
"I was hoping you'd go. I'm like you. Tired of the 'same old shit'," Rachel winked.
Chloe looked at her hand, noting the way Rachel wrote strikes across her 7's. She opened her mouth to give her her answer, when-
"RACHEL!" Aimee called out. "Are you coming?"
"Shit!" Rachel swore in mild frustration, surprising Chloe. "I forgot that I had a meeting for French Club. Text me at that number, Chloe. Bye!"
As quickly as she had appeared, Rachel turned on her heel and left. Chloe watched her walk away, lowering her eyes to her hand with the tidy handwriting of Rachel's phone number.
Steph was never going to believe this.
Chloe figured she had better get going before her attempt to ditch the rest of the day got intercepted by Skip, the security guard, coming back from his lunch break. Although Rachel's back was turned to her and she was several feet away by now, she said: "Bye, I guess."
As she exited the school, her small smile that formed after the conversation only seemed to intensify the more she psyched herself up over the fact that a girl she has liked since she was a freshman had just invited her to her birthday party.
Author's Note: Chapter One. :) xo My chapter ones tend to be kind of on the short side. The next chapters are longer. I will be posting them once a week. xo - k.