Life and Death are Strange

A/N:- Just wanna start by saying thanks to all those who take the time to read this, it means a lot. I've had this idea in my head for a long time and with help from "Nothing You Can Prove" (you guys should check her out, her LiS stories are amazing!) I decided to go with it and upload. The first chapter will be confusing but the second one is almost done and obviously, the more chapters you read, the more sense it'll make. Enough of my bleagh and enjoy!

Chapter 1: Aaron

-"No Victoria, excuse us. I'd never let one of photography's future starts avoid handing in her picture!" Mr Jefferson said as he turned to Max.

-"I'm on top of it. I think it was John Lennon who once said 'Life is what happens when you're busy making other plans'" Max replied. She had heard Mr Jefferson use that one before when she was walking the halls of Blackwell.

-"Max, you're on fire today, all the right answers. Good. Make sure you finish working on it by today, I have faith in you"

Mark Jefferson was one of the main reasons Max Caulfield returned to Arcadia bay in the first place. He was something of a pop icon that played a hand in indirectly inspiring Max to become a photographer in the first place.

Max smiled back at him and hurried out the door. She had made plans to meet Chloe at the junkyard after class to have some downtime after the stressful annoyance that is Monday. This left only Mr Jefferson, Victoria, Kate and Aaron Heartfield left in the room.

Aaron was a relatively new student who had been at Blackwell for about two weeks now. He moved to Arcadia from Portland after his dad got a new job that paid more money. He was a skinny boy who had long,(For a boy) straight hair that crawled across the side of his head like it was trying to escape the top of his ears, which were also covered by hair, aswell as his fringe covering his right eye, leaving only one large, dark blue eye left. The rest of his hair wasn't very thick; it just matched in length, what it did thickness so it wasn't bushy and had started to ever so slightly cover the top of his collar on the back of his neck. He wore a black jacket with a white zip and white pull strings around the hood, a black t-shirt with a faded, cryptic picture of a hooded grim reaper with a scythe that was white to match the black that was the t-shirts base colour, black skinny jeans with a spider-man belt and black converse with white laces and rubber soles. He had his sleeves rolled up to reveal a black Rolex watch on his left hand.

He sat opposite to Max, at the other end of the table but had his chair turned around to listen to the lecture

Seconds after Max left, Aaron turned his attention to Kate who sat with her back to Mr Jefferson and had her face in her drawings, as usual. Aaron pulled his char up so that he was on Kate's right and bent over and picked up the ball of paper that Taylor had thrown at her and studied it in its spherical form. It had tweaked his interest and who knows, his intellectual mind might be able to make something positive out of something so negative.

-"Aren't you gonna open it?!" Kate asked without turning her head; she wasn't in the mood for this today so she just gave a blunt answer and carried on drawing.

-"No, just thinking about something-Hey, Mr Jefferson, do you mind if I light this on fire so I can take a pic of it?" Aaron asked as he turned twards his teacher and held the ball up "I'll put it straight out, I swear" he spoke in a soft voice and when he asked the question, he said it as if it was perfectly normal to just light shit on fire in the middle of a classroom.

-"Go ahead Aaron, just be careful" Mr Jefferson replied before turning back to Victoria. He seemed delighted to get away from the conversation he was just having, and devastated to return to it, even if he didn't really give much thought into his answer, hell, he just said it was ok for a student to light fire to something.

Happy with the answer, Aaron placed the ball on the table in front of him, took a black Zippo out of his pocket and lit the top of the ball on fire. The top third of the ball had a flame on it and had turned black. Aaron took out his Canon EOS 750D DSLR and took a picture of the flaming ball, turned the camera left, took another photo and then a third and final one back in the landscape position.

Kate took a small glance to her right side to see what was happening. Her view was clouded with a redish-orange colour when she realised this kid had literally just lit the ball of paper on fire!

After taking the photos, Aaron grabbed his glass of water off his desk and dropped the flaming ball of paper in it which quickly reduced it to a wet ball of paper. He liked to capture moments like this because he could use them to describe meanings and feelings plus he liked the challenge of coming up with a good backdrop to draw behind it.

-"There, now whatever was on that piece of paper will remain a mystery, just like death" Aaron said before looking at Kate with his one eye "You look as if you've cried a thousand waterless tears, you ok?"

-"You mean to tell me you don't know?!" Kate asked as she turned to face him. She found this new kid a little weird, considering he just lit a ball of paper on fire, on her desk, like it was nothing.

-"Know what?" Aaron replied; his voice with a sentient, charismatic tone which screamed of authority that wasn't wanted. He wanted to see what had caused a girl like Kate to be full of hostility.

-"The humiliating video someone took of me while I was at a Vortex Club party"

-"So you're Kate Marsh"? Aaron asked once again. He kind of felt bad for how he said his last words, it made him seem like an asshole.

-"See, that video!" Kate spat back as she turned her head to back to her drawings

-"...Doesn't mean I watched it" Aaron said after a pause as he looked at the photo on his camera.

-"How could you not?! It's 'absolutely hilarious' (!)" Kate replied, still not looking away from her drawings. She didn't know this new boy but from what she could tell, he was just a liiittle insensitive.

Aaron didn't mean harm, he could kind of see why she was pissed off at him but had he intentionally provoked her? No, he just wanted to know an answer to a question. Then again, from what he had heard, she had every right to be pissed at him. How was she supposed to know what kindness was when all she has probably had for the past few weeks is un-thought abuse.

Aaron thought of his next moves carefully; he knew that this could end in two ways. Kate gets the message of positivity he's trying to get across to her, or she takes it the wrong way and hates him. Fuck it, why not?!

-"Let me put it like this; You have a symbol" Aaron said as he pointed to Kate's cross around her neck "Now I'm just guessing but I'm gonna say that you don't believe in doing anything outside of love or y'know, for a cheap hook up. So the only logical explanation is that you weren't yourself, therefore, why would I watch something you clearly don't want people seeing?! I wouldn't want it done too me" Aaron stated, in the same, chilled out tone he'd been using all morning "I'm not gonna judge you on some sleazy video that was taken of you; I'd much rather get to know you for myself and see what type of person you are. So please, a little less hostility would be nice next time" Aaron said as he chuckled at the last part of his sentence.

-"Well, you're not wrong" Kate said, finally turning away from her drawing "What makes you say that?" Kate said in her normal soft, gentle tone. It was nice to hear Kate talk to him as if she wasn't afraid of someone. And who knows, maybe she was gonna give him a chance...seeing as he was the first person to not make some sick crude joke against her.

Aaron realised if he wanted to back out, now would be the time. He knew that Kate might take it the wrong way or just feel kind of stupid, as if she was being played, he then realised he might get it out of the way now because if they did become friends, it would be hard to explain later. He still felt like sweating though.

-"Because I have a symbol of my own" Aaron said as he pulled a sliver pentagram necklace out from over his shirt and dangled it infront of Kate. "I believe what I believe just as you believe what you believe. They may be complete opposites but, I don't know, just trust me on this" Aaron said with a smile which was hiding how bad he felt he fucked up before dropping his necklace and flicking his hair to the right, finally revealing his other eye. It was just as big and blue as the other. "I'm gonna go before you unleash the wrath of God on me for worshipping his greatest enemy. See ya later, Marsh" Aaron said as he stood up and headed for the door; seconds later, the fire alarm went off. "It wasn't me" Mr Jefferson heard as the door closed behind Aaron.

Aaron was what could be considered as that one kid who you just couldn't hate; he saw things in a practical way, for example, he wouldn't want someone to take the piss out of him, so he doesn't do it to anyone else. Also, he wasn't a Satanist, he just liked the Pentagram necklace and used it as a catalyst to speak to Kate.

He saw Kate as a victim of something she had no control over; she was clearly alone. He figured to be friendly with her because she needed just that, a friend. At least Aaron could say he knew her if he didn't like who she was. But this video, was not her and dispite not actually seeing it, he knew one thing for certain, that girl wasn't the true Kate Marsh.

After leaving class, Aaron made his way down the hall to his locker, realising he had no more lessons today, he took his books out and placed them there to make room in his bag for whatever and proceeded to make his way outside after closing his locker. He turned a few heads as he walked by as many people, both boys and girls were intrigued by him, he was something new in Blackwell. He'd made a few friends in his time there, or at least he knew who some people were and what they're names are.

An example of this was Daniel Da Costa, Aaron had never spoken to him but knew who he was and knew he could draw, knew he could draw very well. Aaron walked over to the spot where Daniel was sitting under the tree and sat down in front of him.

-"Daniel Da Vinci, what you drawing?" Aaron asked as Daniel looked up to face him. Daniel looked confused at what Aaron said and even more confused due to the fact that someone was talking to him instead of picking on him. Aaron knew that he had peaceful intentions but failed to see how awkward he had the atmosphere.

-"Eh, what did you call me?" was all Daniel could say as he adjusted the glasses on his face.

-"Daniel Da Vinci; y'know cus your last names Da Costa which is similar to Da Vinci who was also a great artist" Aaron replied in his casual tone as he picked some of the grass in front of where he was sitting

Daniel was taken aback by this, some kid who he's never spoken to properly just called him an artist.

-"I think you have me confused with someone else, I'm no artist, my photo's show that" Daniel sounded disheartened and the way he looked down at the floor proved this.

Aaron realised that nobody must have told Daniel how good his sketches were; he knew everyone told each other, but he figured no one told Daniel.

-"Dude, have you seen what you draw? You don't need to take pictures to be an artist because when you put pen to paper, you create art. In my short time here, that's one thing I hear a lot is how good you can draw and I'm telling you now, it's amazing!"

Daniel smiled at what Aaron had said, he needed to hear something like that and his spirits were lifted. Daniel smiling made Aaron smile because he felt good about making someone else feel good.

-"Wow, thank you, you've really opened my eyes, uh, what was your name again, Adam?" Daniel said, trying to remember Aaron's name.

-"It's Aaron, and don't mention it dude, I'm just telling you what you should've been told by know" Aaron said as he stood up "Keep drawing and don't let anyone tell you any different" Aaron walked off to his dorm room, feeling glad that he made Daniel aware of his talent.

This was how Aaron made himself known to the other students of Blackwell; he would literally talk to anyone. This didn't mean his words to Daniel we hollow to any standard, he genuinely wanted him to know how good of a drawer he was. There were some people who Aaron hadn't spoken to yet, nor did he plan to. Some people he figured he'd get on with, others were just simply different people whose personality wouldn't match his own and Aaron didn't want himself to be considered fake as he wasn't about that. This is what he thought on the small journey to his dorm room; who he was friends with.

Well, he figured Kate would be, if she didn't hate him after their first meeting. There was Warren, who he'd spoken to a few times since he'd started Blackwell. They both had a lot in common and got on well which was confirmed when they both Agreed "Aliens" was the best move in the saga. He'd spoken to Luke a few times and though not for very long, they seemed to get on fine-well, Luke offered him some gum and he doesn't really talk to anyone. He sat by Max in photography so when Jefferson wasn't talking, they would chat idly and seemed to be cool with each other.

Finally there were the skaters like Trevor and Justin; They were the first friends Aaron had made when he started Blackwell. When he walked up the steps for the first time and saw them popping grinds and landing steezy heelfilps, Aaron felt like Blackwell would be a cool place after all. They talked about tricks they could do and tricks that were beyond their leagues, at least for now. There was also the banter about what skate company was the best as they all skated different brands, as do many skaters. Whether it was Plan B, Girl or Baker, they all laughed and joked for a good half hour and Aaron knew he could talk to those dudes about anything. What they actually understood was a different matter.

When Aaron finally reached his room, his bed was a welcomed sight which he crashed hard and relaxed, taking in the day. Aaron's room layout was as follows: bed in the top left corner with black bedding, a window in the centre of the back wall, a silver desk with a computer set up on it and a pink flower next to it, a brown, three shelved book case at the foot of the bed with various books, DVDs, and games on them, a black Ibanez RC320 guitar next to it, a closed wardrobe on the back wall, to the left of the door, a black HDTV on the right wall, opposite the bed and a big, black stereo system in the bottom right with wires running to the laptop and a small chrome trash can next to it. The walls were white with various band posters on them, such as Iron Maiden, Black Sabbeth and Behemoth a well as T.V posters like Game of thrones and there was a dark blue carpet fitted.

So far, Aaron had could see things had started off good and steady at Blackwell. His dad's new job made his parents income even bigger, he'd made a few friends and was doing well in class. Not bad for the first day of the second week, however, there's always the negative that is inevitably gonna catch up with you and Aaron knew it was coming but tried to avoid it for as long as possible...Victoria Chase.

Being the optimist that he was, Aaron always saw the good in everybody (even if that person was somebody like Hitler) and he knew it would be no different with Victoria. He knew that the source of her bitchy-ness was down to insecurities, it always is with people who have practically everything. He could tell she would be a sound person to talk to, he just didn't wanna have to deal with the drama and hostility because he knew that it wasn't the true her. He was smarter than he knew but hey, he was able to read everybody so must be used to it by now.

Then his mind shifted to Nathan Prescott which made him roll his eyes in their sockets. Again, he could see this rich spoiled brat was just that, yet there was more to him as there would have to be to cause him to act the way he does. Aaron was yet to figure out what but knew he would in time, he just didn't wanna deal with the kids asshole personality that he gives off because, yet again, he knew that's not what he's truly like.

Aaron started thinking of a little joke that he'd started thinking to himself: if he managed to make friends with "Mr Rich and Entitled" by April, he'd be able to have a killer birthday party. He chuckled at this thought and rested his hands behind his head. The start of the week and no homework...yet. this posed all sorts of opportunities for friendship or arguments. He'd have to wait and see what the week brings, who knows, he may be able to tame King and Queen bitch or get trampled like poor Kate Marsh.

She was a topic he hated to think about. Aaron could tell that she was a lovely, sweet, innocent girl and she'd been exposed to the horror of bullying. Shame it didn't happen when she was 13 he thought. It would have been easier to understand as Blackwell was an Academy, a place for adults. People should be better than that and this caused Aaron to think of the reason he never bullied anyone. He wouldn't like it done to himself. Maybe he should tell Victoria that-for her to imagine what it would be like to go through that. Then he realised that would be a good way to get her to hate him.

He liked helping people and Kate was no exception, that fact that he found her really pretty made him blush at the thought. That was his incentive for helping her feel accepted, even if he didn't know it. He then shook the image out of his head as he realised he'd only spoke to her once. He knew better than that, to be smitten with someone he doesn't even know, however, he had to admit, he wish he knew her a bit better...

The birds chirping and the late autumn afternoon was a peaceful setting; one Aaron found himself waking up from his daydreaming to take several photos of. True, these types of photos weren't his specific area, but he had a passion for photography that he'd had since he was a little kid. It was something he couldn't help, the true beauty he saw in things which lead to his current place at Blackwell Academy. He could never pass up the opportunity to take the shot...no matter how awkward it would be.

Aaron was a completely different entity; people could even concider him a male Rachel Amber. Cool headed, kind and you couldn't hate him if you tried. He didn't give you a reason to. It was clear that he would have a big impact on Blackwell as time will pass. He was far from perfect but he was just something else and despite being relatively unknown, it wouldn't stay that way for long. Then again, he was gonna deal with Victoria Chase so yeah, people would know who he is.

Aaron's afternoon had gone the opisite of the girl in question. While he relaxed and chatted to people, Victoria tried her best to win the everyday hero's competition because to her, if there was something to win, she wanted to win it.

Victoria didn't actually 'like' Mark Jefferson, she was just trying to use what tools she had to try and shake the Everyday Heroes contest to go in her favour. Granted she would rather flirt with him that some of the other teachers at Blackwell and she knew she was doing this all in the name of victory.

-"Mr Jefferson, why do you care whether Max Caulfield enters into this contest anyway? Wouldn't it just make your job harder on deciding who to pick as the winner?" Victoria said, still bent over his desk with her ass sticking out for him to see, which he was taking no notice of. She had planned all this and it wasn't going her way.

-"Not exactly, Victoria; Max is one of the best photographers at Blackwell, even you saw her today-all the right answers to all the right questions. I wouldn't be surprised if she entered and won!" Mr Jefferson said as he looked back at the photos Victoria had placed in front of him.

-"Urgh, but surly all of my photos are better than anything she can hand in, right?" Victoria asked in a nervous tone as she extended her rear end out more. things took a turn and she realised she was struggling. Damn, it wasn't as easy as she thought but she wasn't gonna give up that easily.

-"Like I said, that's why she should enter because we'll never know until we find out" Mr Jefferson said in reply to what Victoria said, still taking no notice of her ass. "You have potential, Victoria. Some of your photos amazing but Max Caulfield could produce something better than them at the competition. See where I'm coming from?" Mr Jefferson was trying to tell her that it all comes down to what you hand in. That's pretty much what life will be like. It's how good you do on the day and if you're ready and have prepared enough for it. If you wanted it the most, you'd put in the effort and win on your own merits.

-"Oh, totally Mr Jefferson, you always know how to word things. I guess...being a big, famous artist and all, you would know what you're talking about" Victoria said as she blew a bubble, trying to butter him up even more.

Mr Jefferson was aware of Victoria's flirtirous attempts to try and win his favour, hoping to win the Everyday Heroes contest but he just ignored it. He was too professional to do something so stupid. He respected her for the work she did because of how amazing it was but that was where he drew the line, her work.

Victoria, on the other hand was sure that she would get what she wanted in the end. She was used to getting what she wanted due to growing up a spoilt little rich girl but was unable to see that Mark Jefferson was aware of what she was doing. Victoria also relished in the fact that, to her, she was doing something that was 'unique'. She was, or at least trying to, have a relationship with a teacher. As taboo as it seemed, she saw it as a popularity stunt. The only other person who was able to do that was the one person considered cooler than her, Rachel Amber. That's another thing Victoria had to do, step up everyone and stand out.

-"Huh, Victoria, there's more to it than that, a lot more in fa-Go ahead, Aaron, just be careful" Mr Jefferson said, cutting himself off to speak to Aaron.

-"Rude!" Victoria said as she gestured her head to Aaron.

-"Actually, Aaron Heartfield has some of the best potential I have ever seen in a student. His work is so original and sends powerful messages to whoever views them" Mr Jefferson said as he looked over at Aaron and smiled as he saw him enthusiastically taking photos of the ball of fire. Mark felt proud to be a teacher to such talented kids.

-"What does that little emo do, anyway?" Victoria said in disgust because Mark Jefferson was focused on someone else other than her.

-"He takes photos and completely voids the picture of all colour, save the black and white shades, then goes and draws a background related to the photo. In this instance, if he were to use that photo, the background might possibly be flames or something of that nature and he draws them himself. They're really quite good, you should look at them. And you shouldn't judge a book by its cover, Victoria. Just because he has that type of dress sense, doesn't mean he's an emo. Do you know what that word means?"

-"Fag" Victoria said in a very sarcastic tone. She wasn't interested in this nobody and just wanted to get everything over with.

-"It means EMOtional; kids who were over emotional or caused a scene were referred to as emo's. Trust me, I grew up in the eighty's, It was full of them. Anyway, Aaron is a genially happy guy and doesn't seem to be anything that fits the stereotype. You should talk to him, you'll see what I mean. He's pretty, well, shy, as if the last thing he wants to do is cause a scene" Mark said, just happy to be talking about something other than whatever Victoria was willing to talk about to sway his decision into winning the contest.

-"Urgh, whatever" Victoria grunted "Now, what would you say I should do to-." Victoria was cut off by the sound of the fire alarm going off if that little bastard messed this up for me-. Victoria thought before Mr Jefferson said:

-"Right, it was nice talking to you Victoria, as always but you should get outside to be safe"

-"OK, talk to you later Mr J" Victoria said in an upbeat voice with a big smile, turned around and headed twards the door.

As soon as she knew Mr Jefferson couldn't see her, she dropped the smile and pulled a silent grunt as she closed the door behind her. Why does everyone have to make this so difficult for me?! Just let me win for fuck sakes. Seducing a teacher is almost as hard as being as beautiful as me. Victoria thought to herself as she left the classroom and went to do what she normally did. Be a top class bitch. It's what she usually did when things didn't go her way, it's how she vented anger and no one would want to run into her when she was in that mood. Funny enough, she'd be meeting Aaron sooner than she expected.

A/N:- Sorry about the switch in time but I just felt it would be better this way. There's no rewind powers making it an ever so slight AU. No dark room stuff or any of that. If you liked it, follow the story, review if you wanna voice your opinion on anything (or to tell me how shit it is) and if you wanna know anything, PM me, I's be more than happy to help.

I just wanna say Aaron was placed as an opposite to Kate and the decision to make him look like an emo but not actually be one is part of his characterisation, more than meets the eye if you get me? The emo fashion sense could be seen as the black to Kate's white, hence why he always wears black, with some small white detail. I won't go too much into it as I've babbled enough and you're all not stupid but if you are curious about anything, PM me and I'll try to help.

Thanks again and I hope you stick around, it's just gonna get more interesting...