Muscle to muscle,

Victoria groaned, flailing an arm out at her nightstand to find her phone.

And toe to toe,

My fear has gripped me,

The phone fell to the floor with a soft thud, only causing Victoria to feel even more agitated. She didn't think that was possible at such an early hour considering it was when she was already at her grouchiest.

But here I go.

My heart sinks as-

She swiped at the screen to unlock it, and stared dismally at the abrasively bright device blinking back at her with the image of Beyoncé.

5:45AM. Time to get back in to her routine. She sighed, dreading the morning before it even started.

She had stayed out later than she had intended to last night, hanging out and blazing with a few members of the Vortex Club to kick off the beginning of the school year. She didn't really want to go, but she had an appearance to uphold, even though they had already shot the shit in the courtyard together most of the day and skipped orientation. It became a tradition for them after her first year at Blackwell. Nathan had snagged her by the arm in the hallway on her way to homeroom, only offering her a snide remark of, "Seriously?" before leading her off and introducing her to the rest of the crew. She had met him prior to the beginning of the year, and he had instantly decided she was Vortex material.

When they first settled in to their new home (one of many, albeit,) over the summer, a neighbouring estate belonging to the prestigious Prescrott family had invited her family over for dinner. Apparently they had known each other and met through previous galleries her parents had exhibited and were excited at the prospect of finally getting some "Sophisticated and refined company" settling in their small town. At first, Nathan and her had been rather stand-offish. Then they settled in to quipping at each other and after his initial shock, he garnered an appreciation for her gusto to butt heads with him. It felt like eons ago.

The blonde tossed back the glass of water sitting on her nightstand with her daily supplementation, which was neatly tucked away in a little pink container with individually marked compartments; MTWTFSS.

She thrust herself out of her covers and hopped upright out of bed, reaching skywards to take a long deep stretch before bringing it back down to touch her toes and sway from side to side. Joints and muscles strained in response. She felt hella old for a soon to be 18 year old.

Her heather-gray running tights and a thin black pullover were already neatly folded and draped over the back of her chair waiting for her, and a pair of peach colored Swike's runners sat just beside her door in anticipation.

After promptly changing and swiping her headphones off of a hangar, she opened her door only to pause for a moment to laugh silently to herself at the display across from her.

It appeared that Max fancied herself as some sort of artist. A half-hazard interpretation of Totoro sheltering a dorky mini-Max with a leaf stared back at her from the brunette's whiteboard posted just outside her door.

Of course she'd be the type to think herself so special and artsy to draw some cutesy Miyazaki crap.

/

Max yawned loudly, blinking the sleep from her eyes. The lingering memory of the strange dreams she had quickly receded away into nothingness as she became more aware of her surroundings. Gentle light filtered in through the drapes, and motes of dust danced about lazily in the still morning air.

She glanced over at her alarm clock, 7:12AM. She fist pumped in to empty space, smiling aloofly.

Alarm boss defeated. +50 EXP.

She turned it off before it could start chiming the Final Fantasy boss theme obnoxiously at 7:20, and curled herself upright in a wad of blankets.

Yesterday had seemed awfully uneventful. It was only a half-day, and mostly just a whirlwind introduction to all her classes. Introductions were made and syllabuses were passed around, and in homeroom at the start of the day they were given a brief tour of the campus.

Victoria was supposed to be in Max's homeroom, but didn't bother to show up. The teacher, an older man with a receding hairline and comically large gut protruding from his thin frame, didn't seem surprised in the least, crossing her name off before he even finished calling it out.

Max had somehow managed to make a fool of herself again. She had put her hand up at the end of attendance claiming she was missed, just to find that she had spaced out and didn't respond when her name was called. Some heads turned and students sniggered at her, and at that point she knew for sure popularity just wasn't going to be for her.

Should've taken a crash course on how not to be a total social ditz over the summer.

Most of the students after that seemed to slowly filter out of the group, subtly finding ways to escape the orientation tour and go goof off with their friends. It was either a fairly commonplace procedure that the teachers were used to, or they just didn't care. Probably the latter.

At least she had met one person who went out of their way to make her feel welcome. They shared chemistry class together, which she had taken as her science elective hoping that it'd be at least somewhat interesting and more importantly, passable. He insisted on trading numbers with her so that they could help each other in case they missed out on any classes, but so far he only seemed to text her a barrage of questions she barely took the time to answer.

The campus was fairly easy to navigate as it was small compared to schools back in Seattle, and the rustic red bricks giving it a homey appeal made it feel even more cozy and petite. The only stark oddity she really found were the missing posters plastered everywhere.

"Who's Rachel Amber?"

Warren, her new supposed study buddy, shrugged solemnly after his initial surprise, "Oh, huh, I didn't know someone was still putting posters up. It's been a long time with no leads and most people kinda gave up on her... Which is pretty sad, she was super popular and nice to everybody unlike the remaining Vortex jerk-offs. Everyone liked her, but then she just kind of poofed early last year with zero explanation."

She didn't think of it too much at the time, but had taken a copy of the poster off the bulletin board and had it sitting on her desk to peer over later.

With a final yawn, snapped herself out of her reverie and grabbed her shower bag hanging on her doorknob, quickly collecting a few stray articles of clothing that were strewn about her room to change in to.

On her way out, she glanced at Victoria's whiteboard across from her door. There was a quote written in delicately loopy and precise cursive that looked like it belonged on greeting cards, "Success is loving life and daring to live it."

It seemed oddly inspirational and optimistic for someone who was so outwardly bitchy to her peers.

The shared showers were surprisingly unkempt for only the third day on campus. Sharpie graffiti already adorned the walls in the form of crude digs and memes, and abandoned toiletries and garbage laid strewn about the floor. Teenaged girls were pretty gross creatures.

Max noticed Victoria standing at the far end of the bathroom in front of a mirror, perfecting her hair and make-up down to the finest of details of course. She quickly shuffled in to the shower stall farthest from her, hoping she wouldn't be noticed.

/

She felt more drained than usual after her morning run. Her calves burned from acid build-up and she felt a headache coming on from a lack of sleep and probably a little dehydration too. Dark circles hung underneath her eyes, staring back at her through the mirror mockingly. She only ran just under 7 kilometers out of her usual benchmark of 10 every morning.

Sighing, she combed her bangs in to deliberate soft peaks across her forehead resting just above her eyebrows, which were manicured to perfection. She tilted her head to different angles of light, checking her face over. She smiled to herself, remembering a brief comment Courtney made the other day about how her new short hairstyle suited her so well and made her look "Sooo mature, and like, a total classy bitch".

Sure, they were higher than a breeze, but Victoria remembered it crystal clear. She normally didn't give a shit about the trivial crap that constantly spewed from Courtney's mouth, but something about how she said it just seemed so genuine.

"More like a total Dyke-zilla. Girls are way hotter when they have longer hair. I hate this fucking trendy 'andro' look that's in."

She elbowed Nathan hard in the ribs at that. She knew to never take anything he said too seriously, but that time it stung a bit more than she should have allowed it to.

"Yeah, too bad hot girls don't want to date you Nate." She had retorted. Everyone just laughed both comments off. The two of them were often like that to one another; a special sibling-like bond that gave them the lenience to lip each other off. Nobody else really dared to without expecting serious consequences.

Victoria cast a sidelong glance at the sound of flip-flops scuffing across the mis-matched tiled floor. Of course it was Max, who appeared to have just rolled out of bed like a total slob. Her signature shaggy hair was sticking upright at the back comically. She sneered. That girl was incredibly hopeless.

Appearances are everything, she could practically hear her mother saying to her in the back of her mind, like she had many times before during her adolescence.

Fixing her attention back on the mirror, she began applying concealer under her eyes to mask her current zombie-like state. Normally she didn't like to wear too much as her face already had well defined features, thankfully. Her focus was mostly accentuating as naturally as she could what she already possessed to the finest of details, evening out any mishaps or flaws, sometimes finishing with a red lip if she was feeling particularly empowered. As she was blending and setting it in, the shower at the other end of the room had started running and she could hear faint humming between the pitter-patter of water battering the floor.

/

Sleeplessly embracing

Butterflies and needles

Line my seamed-up join

Encased in case I need it

"Is that Alt-J?"

Max's eyes bolted open and almost slipped in surprise, glad that she was tucked away in her stall so she could hide in her embarrassment. She didn't think that anyone would hear her over the sound of the shower, being as quiet as she was. Apparently Victoria just happened to have some kind of supernatural hearing ability.

"Yeah," She managed, before adding as an afterthought, "I didn't picture you to be the type to listen to Alt-J."

"What the fuck is that supposed to mean?"

Shit.

"I, uh, I dunno. I just didn't expect you to have a taste for good alternative music. I mean, not that you'd have bad taste, but-" She stopped her stammering before she let herself dig her hole any deeper.

"Yeah, because you obviously set the standard for good taste. Look at me, I'm special fucking snowflake Maxine, I watch classic anime films and dress like a thirteen year old. "

Silence rang out between them in chorus with the steady rhythm of descending water. Max dropped her forehead against the wall, groaning internally. It was a wonder she was allowed in public.

Why does she have to be so fucking bitchy? And she's a bit of a nerd too if she recognizes Totoro as an anime classic, hypocrite.

She finished her shower in sullen contemplation, turning off the faucet and running her towel back and forth over her hair to give it a quick dry and muss it up.

Pausing at the curtain, she deliberated on whether or not to wait for the blonde to leave.

"Hunger of the Pine, right? I prefer An Awesome Wave, personally."

Max caught herself smiling at that. Not entirely sure why, but she did regardless.

"Yeah, me too, but This is All Yours has its merits. I like to enjoy them quite separately rather than trying to compare though. If every album an artist released held the same weight, it'd get stale pretty fast."

"Whatever, nerd."

A zipper echoed through the room, and a purse's clasp snapped shut. Hard heels clicked away on the tiles before Max could even come up with a response.

She was getting some serious whiplash. She couldn't wrap her mind around Victoria at all.

\\\

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AN: Decided to upload this early since I got some nice messages back :).

All music belongs to Alt-J and I take no credit for their musical genius.