Here's the second chapter, hopefully I didn't keep you all waiting too long, as I was busy this past week studying for exams. Enjoy, and leave Kudos, a comment, and follow if you enjoy!
Max and Victoria pushed their way through the heavy double doors that led into the dormitories, side by side as they traversed up the stairs to the second floor to where the girls' rooms where. As they reached the top and began making their way down the hall, they were interrupted by Juliet, who stepped in front of them.
"Hey Maxine," She greeted the shorter girl with a weak smile before turning to Victoria. "Turns out Zachary has been sexting someone," she nearly spat her words out, her eyes narrowed at the blonde. "You wouldn't happen to know anything about that, would you?"
Victoria immediately opened her mouth to retaliate against Juliet's accusatory question, but hesitated when she caught the disappointed look from Max. instead of spitting fire back at the "X-treme Reporter", she let out a heavy sigh before she reluctantly nodded her head. "Actually, I do," she said, guilt sinking in.
Juliet looked taken aback, clearly not having expected such an admission to actually come from Victoria. After a moment she recomposed herself, donning her scrutinizing glare once again. "Care to elaborate?" She asked, though her stare was that of a demanding nature.
Casting her eyes to the floor, Victoria began to speak. "I thought it would an interesting thing to do, maybe cause a little drama." She could feel Juliet's gaze boring into her, drawing the words out from her. "So I asked Zachary to help out, he thought it would be hilarious; I don't think it occurred to him that it meant he would be blamed for sexting." She felt Max gently nudge her, urging her on. "I'm… I'm sorry. It was a stupid, Awful thing to do,"
Juliet's face flared with anger suddenly, but then it almost immediately fell into disappointed, almost sad look. "I forgive you," she said quietly.
Victoria blinked rapidly, her face clearly displaying her shock. "You do?" she asked incredulously.
"I do," The reporter nodded. "Listen, I know you're a total bitch sometimes," she began, crossing her arms as she shifted her weight against a wall. "But I can tell that you're trying to change, and trying hard, which can't be easy. Besides, Zachary is my boyfriend, who agreed to the entire stupid idea!" She growled the last part and quickly withdrew her phone from her pocket, examining something on the screen. "Speaking of which, I plan on giving him and piece of my mind!" she said, shoving her phone back into her pocket. Her gaze softened ever so slightly when she looked back at Victoria and max. "We'll talk more about this later in a civilized matter, got it?"
Victoria nodded meekly as Juliet stepped past them and towards the exit, no likely on her way to find Zachary. Max almost felt bad for him; it was no secret that Juliet was practically a force of nature; no telling what she might do to him, though a swift kick where it counts was definitely on the table, after much scolding, of course.
Max gently tugged on Victoria's sleeve, and the two continued their way down the hall. "I can't believe she forgave me…" she murmured as they entered her room.
"She's still upset with you, though," max nodded. "It's going to take some doing to earn back the trust that you lost." Thought she had no doubt that Victoria was capable of mending the broken friendship, as long as she set her mind to it.
"I know," nodded in agreement, sitting down with a thud on the edge of her bed. After a pause she spoke again. "Thanks, Maxine, you're like my conscious lately." She let out a halfhearted laugh. It was no secret that her actions were beginning to weigh heavily on her. "Dammit, why do I have to be such a colossal bitch?" she asked no one in particular.
Max sat down next to Victoria, setting a hand gently on her shoulder. "that doesn't make you a bad person," she comforted her gently. "It just means-"
"I know, I know, something about how I'm not 'in tune' with my emotions." The blonde immediately winced at her own words. "I'm sorry, you didn't deserve that."
"It's okay," Max replied, unfazed by the snide comment. The two of them sat there in silence for a while, until Victoria straightened herself up, turning to Max.
"Look at me, being all needy when you are the one who needs a shoulder to lean on."
"We can talk about it some other time, if you need me to just listen to you for now," Max offered patting Victoria's shoulder reassuringly. She didn't really mind putting her own problems aside for the time being let Victoria vent about whatever it was that was bothering her. As a matter of fact, even though Max knew she would have to tell Victoria what her own problems were eventually, she was by no means eager to do so. Any distraction was welcomed by her with open arms.
"No, Maxine," Victoria put on her trademark serious face, her voice stern. "You said you wanted to talk, so I won't steal the spotlight; what's been bothering you? Besides Chloe being in an accident, I mean." Victoria winced slightly, worried her words may have been a been insensitive given the situation, but Max didn't seem to mind.
Max let out a deep sigh, shifting on the bed so she was properly facing Victoria. "I told you earlier today about what happened to Chloe, but… It wasn't the entire truth; I left some pretty big details out…"
It was Victoria's turn to comfort Max, so she placed her hand on the other girl's arm, squeezing gently to let her know that she was there for her. Max swallowed nervously, her palms becoming sweaty, her entire body anticipating the admission of what she was about to say.
"I lied," Max began to say, wringing her hands nervously. "about not having contacted Chloe while I was in Seattle. While it was true that we did… drift apart, we sent letters to each other from time to time. She never told me that she had been injured; I think she was worried I would be just another person to give her pity, which was the last thing she wanted."
Victoria didn't interrupt as Max spoke, waiting for the girl to continue after she had taken a long, shaky breath. "When we were catching up…" Tears started to well up in her eyes, prompting Victoria to gently pull Max into her arms, Max's head nestled in the crook of her shoulder, her tears staining the expensive cashmere sweater. Normally any damage to her cashmere would earn the perpetrator the full wrath of Victoria, but right now she only held the other girl close, gently rubbing her back. "It's okay, Maxine, you don't have to continue if it's too hard."
Max sniffed loudly and rubbed her eyes before struggling to continue. "She… she asked me to… Kill her, so that her last memories would be of us. They would be of us being reunited."
Victoria's surprise was hidden from Max, since the brunette's face was buried in her shoulder. She simply kept soothingly rubbing Max's back. "I'm sorry, max," She said quietly, the story bringing a few tears to her own eyes. "I can't imagine what that must be like…"
Max nodded ever so slightly, and her crying slowed somewhat as she pulled away to look at Victoria. "I didn't… I didn't do it," Max explained, a pang of worry entering her eyes.
"I never thought you did," Victoria assured her, not forcing her back into a hug, but letting her sit there. If she needed another hug, Victoria was sure she would take one on her own.
Max's tears seemed to have stopped flowing, at least for now, and she was no longer clinging to her friend. She hated when she cried in front of others, it always made her feel so vulnerable and weak, as if she was just some frail kid without any backbone.
"I'm sorry," she said, seeing the state of Victoria's cashmere. "I hope I didn't ruin it…"
"Don't worry about it, Maxine," Victoria waved her hand dismissively before placing it on max's knee, giving it a comforting squeeze. "are you going to be okay?"
"I think so," Max nodded, still sniffling ever so slightly as she did so. "I can't tell you how much this means to me," she said, gesturing meekly around her at their surroundings. "I really appreciate you letting me just vent to you like this."
"Hey," Victoria nudged her softly, getting Max to look up at her. "It's what friends are for, right?" in all honesty, Victoria was glad Max had come to her about this. She knew first-hand how keeping emotions buried inside could affect someone, and it wasn't pretty, at all.
"Can I have another hug?" Max asked sheepishly, holding her arms out very slowly, her entire body language asking for contact.
Victoria rolled her eyes, but couldn't help a smile that tugged at the corner of her lips. "I mean, if you must," She shrugged nonchalantly.
Max smiled, which caused Victoria to lose the struggle of keeping her indifferent attitude, as a smile of her of finally broke through and showed itself. Max scooted towards her and slipped her arms around her friend as Victoria did the same. They sat there in each other's embrace, for some reason neither of them pulling away.
It was only when the door to the room was thrust open that the two broke apart. Max was blushing slightly as she looked towards the door to see who had entered. Taylor stood in the doorway, looking surprised at first, but then her expression changed to a devilish smirk. She leaned nonchalantly against the doorframe. "Oh, I'm sorry," she said, her voice practically dripping with sarcasm.
"Hardly," Victoria waved her hand dismissively as she stood, straightening herself out as she approached Taylor. "Maxine and I were simply discussing this week's photography assignment, weren't we, Maxine?" Victoria asked over her shoulder at Max, who was still looking embarrassed.
"Uh huh," Taylor narrowed her eyes, crossing her arms as Victoria walked up to her, not shying away from the Queen of Blackwell's Infamous glare. "I'm sure that's exactly what you were up to, Victoria,"
"Was there a reason you had for barging in without knocking?" Victoria snapped back, a little less venom in her voice than usual. She continued to stare down Taylor, knowing that eventually it would start to break down her resolve. Not even she could stand against Victoria's stare forever, and, sure enough, Victoria could swear that she saw Taylor's defense start to crumble.
"I was just coming to let you know that Courtney and I are going into town to go shopping, since it is Friday, after all," Taylor explained, finally averting her eyes from Victoria's stare, unable to stand firm against it any longer. She remained in her firm posture, however, determined not to wilt completely before Victoria. She had enough will power for the appearance of being able to stand up to Victoria, at least. "Want to come along?" she glanced over Victoria's shoulder at max, who was still sitting on the bed awkwardly. "You're invited too, Maxine." She added. Anything to get these two to spend time together, she thought. Besides, Taylor enjoyed Max's company.
"You just want me to drive you, don't you?" Victoria said accusingly, narrowing her eyes at her friend, who stood there with a guilty look on her face.
"That's only a small part of it," Taylor admitted, giving a sheepish smile. "But it will also be so much more fun if you came along! The both of you!"
Victoria hesitated, then let out a resigned sigh, "What do you think, Maxine?"
There was a short pause before Max appeared by Victoria's side. "I think that sounds like fun, and I have a free block this afternoon, so it's not like I'll by missing Class." Max agreed, smiling warmly. She had finally managed to compose herself after the embarrassment of being caught hugging Victoria. "Besides, I think it will help to get my mind off things." She admitted, her smiled fading slightly before she managed to bring it back to her face.
"All right," Victoria sighed again, though this one was obviously forced. Taylor could tell that there wasn't a chance that Victoria was going to back out if Max wanted to go. "Let me grab my purse and coat, then I'll be right out, okay?"
"Yay!" Taylor gave an excited clap before skittering out of the room. "See you in the parking lot, and don't keep us waiting too long," She gave a sly wink before shutting the door behind her, earning a shout from Victoria.
"Taylor!" she objected loudly as her friend left. Taylor could be hear laughing loudly as she scurried down the hallway towards the exit.
"I've already got my bag with me, so I'm ready to go," Max explained, standing by the door.
"Okay, one second," Victoria quickly grabbed her coat and purse, eager to find Taylor as fast as possible so the girl didn't come up with any wild ideas as to why she and max may have taken so long. "Alright, Maxine, let's go!"
Hope you enjoyed, don't forget to give kudos and follow if you enjoyed it, and please let me know what you thought!