The first few weeks of Junior High passed quickly for Max, as did her initial anxiety and concerns about how she would fit in at the new school. She shared most of her classes with people that she knew, which helped. However, she was in many split-classes, which meant she often found herself surrounded by people in their sophomore year; one of those people ended up being Chloe, the girl Max had met in the library during orientation.
Following their first meeting in the library, Michelle seemed to Max to have developed an intense dislike for Chloe; it was rare for them to leave one of the classes the three of them shared without her making a whispered remark to Max; usually one of disgust or exasperation. Max wasn't quite sure what to make of Chloe yet, but it didn't take her long to find out why some people might dislike her. She tended to keep herself, it appeared, and when she did speak to someone it was often to correct them in some way, usually with some sarcastic remark.
If you're trying not to get caught chewing gum in class, you might want to not do it with your mouth open.
But the thing Michelle complained the most about Chloe is how well she seemed to do in school, despite her attitude. This was something that even Max picked up on early in the year. Max felt like she was a decent enough student, all things considered. She tried to listen to the instructors, take notes, and even hand her homework assignments in before the due date. Chloe, on the other hand, always sat at the rear - usually in a corner of the room - and looked bored or disinterested in what was going on around her. She thought she saw Chloe taking notes during one of their classes, but it ended up a picture of a pirate fighting a robot. By her sheer lack of attention, the teachers seemed to constantly call on her to answer questions and, somehow, she always had the correct answer. Moreover, even though Max couldn't recall Chloe ever handing in her homework early, she got a better grade on assignments and tests more often than Max did.
Her abrasive, in-your-face personality seemed in stark contrast to Max's own; however rather than make her shy away, Max found herself casting quick glances behind her at Chloe when she felt like nobody was watching. One time during math, she got up to sharpen her pencil and found her eyes glancing over at Chloe, who was sitting in the back of the room and tracing a drawing. Before she realized it, the sharpener made a loud grinding noise and she discovered she had sharpened her pencil down to the eraser. She walked meekly back to her desk with her face burning red.
As much as Chloe seemed to excel in academics despite her lack of effort, Max discovered that those lapses didn't seem to help her much in Gym class. Chloe stood nearly a full head taller than Max, and in the white T-shirt and grey shorts that they all wore, Max saw none of the usual snark from her. Her too-long legs, knobby knees and pointy chest suddenly became evident without the hoodies and sweatshirts. Who Max saw then suddenly seemed insecure, quiet and uncharacteristically shy.
"It's so unfair that we have to change in the locker room in front of everybody! The teachers here must be a bunch of pervs!" Max would often hear Chloe muttering to herself as she attempted to change clothes as quickly as possible in the emptiest corner of the locker room; she made sure she was as far away from everybody else as possible and her white skin glowed red as Max probably imagined Chloe felt everybody staring at her.
Things didn't appear to get easier for Chloe once class started either. The younger girl noticed Chloe seemed to have difficulty reaching her feet during the warm-up hamstring stretches, her arms apparently hadn't grown as fast as her legs. Chloe tripped over her feet when they played floor hockey or basketball, and she was more likely to hit the tennis ball with her face than the racquet, letting out a yelp of pain and stomping her feet in anger. Max was glad that she wasn't nearly as gawky or uncoordinated as Chloe and some of the other taller kids, but she still wasn't very good at running, jumping, or stretching either. One day, as they both found themselves the last two to complete the circuits around the track, Max noticed that Chloe was running beside her and she turned to her congenially. "Hey." she said between breaths, "I guess we're the last two to finish, huh?"
Chloe looked at her, face red with exertion, and managed a half-smile. She puffed, "Yeah, I guess. But gym class fucking sucks anyway."
Max's eyes opened wide with surprise at the curse, and couldn't stop herself from giggling, "Shh! You'll get in trouble!"
"You think I care what people think?" she said, although her voice's volume had lowered to an angry near-whisper, then added, "Fuck shit piss bastard damn crap! See?"
Max's smile grew, "You're crazy, Pirate Chloe!" she laughed.
Chloe's eyes wickedly, " Arrrr Not!"
"Yes. You arrr!" Max said, with a giggle and a playful shove of Chloe's shoulder.
Max was disappointed to see that Chloe went back to her usual aloof self after gym was over, but she felt like something had changed. She couldn't quite figure out what it was, but she definitely found herself looking over at Chloe in class more often than she had before. She wasn't even as shy about whether Chloe saw her doing it or not anymore. The times when Chloe did meet her gaze, they ended up exchanging a nod and a smile that made Max feel good, but also feel kind of strange.
Every day, Arcadia Bay Junior High offered a cafeteria-provided lunch, but students also had the option of bringing something to eat from home. There was also some that went outside of the school to one of the local coffee shops nearby. Max's mother nearly always made her a bag lunch to take with her to school, and while it wasn't always something she liked, Max never had the heart to tell her otherwise. One day in mid-October, Max and Michelle were sitting across from each other at one of the tables, talking about how lame Halloween was, but surreptiously asking what they planned to go as if they "had nothing better to do but go trick-or-tricking."
Her eyes wandered over to the clock on the wall, trying to see if she had enough time to finish her lunch and still be able to grab some photos down by the football field; as they went to look back at Michelle, Max caught a glimpse of Chloe working her way through the crowd. As someone shoved her aside, Chloe turned and seemed to mutter a few choice words to them before continuing over.
Michelle saw her too and whispered to Max, "Oh God, it's that bitchy know-it-all! Let's pretend like we're busy and maybe she'll go away!"
Max shrugged, "I don't get why people give Chloe such a hard-time; she doesn't seem...that bad, really."
The girl gave Max a look like she just confessed to liking the smell of dirty gym socks, "Are you kidding? She's rude, she's sarcastic, she's...ugh! She's just so weird!"
"That's not fair!" Max felt herself retort louder than she intended, then added in a lower tone, "Have you ever thought that maybe people just judge her without knowing her?"
"Why would I want to know her?" Michelle added with a shrug of her own.
"Hey, Max." Chloe said in greeting as she walked up next to the table, then looked over at Michelle and narrowed her eyes at her behind a curtain of blonde hair that hung haphazardly in her face. Michelle responded in kind and aggressively opened up a pudding cup.
Chloe had her hands in the double pockets of a purple "Arcadia Bay, OR" hoodie, and her eyes were cast downward giving a look of nonchalance, "So...I didn't feel like taking lunch from home this morning, but this day is, like, dragging on forever; I was going to go grab something to eat somewhere." When she finished talking, she looked up at Max with blue, inquiring eyes.
"Well, I kinda already brought a lunch," Max slowly started, looking back at the cloth bag on the table, but added with a smile, "But I could eat again, I suppose."
Michelle rolled her eyes at her pudding cup. The blonde girl took her hands out of her pocket, and tied her long hair back with an elastic; "Sure, if you wanted to come with, that'd be cool."
Max started gathering her things up, saying: "I'm just going to toss my bag in my locker, so...I guess I'll meet you out front?"
"K. Sure." Chloe said simply and, turning on her heels so quickly that her messy ponytail snapped around like a whip, she shoved her way through the cafeteria crowd.
Several minutes later Max stood outside, watching several boys playing round-robin with a football. On a whim, she pulled out her disposable camera and took a photo of them as the ball twirled in the middle of the group. Something about the freedom of the ball's flight framed by the red and orange autumn leaves struck Max as beautiful in a way that she couldn't quite describe; beautiful in some inexplicable way that made Max grin.
Max had just taken her second picture of the group from a different angle when Chloe came down the walkway with a crooked smirk and her hands in her pockets, thumbs sticking out. "Max the photographer is at it again!" she said in a deep, hammy voice like she was narrating a story.
Max laughed and opened her mouth to make a sarcastic remark back, but there was something about the way Chloe's cheeks glowed red in the crisp autumn breeze and her blue eyes shone wickedly as she giggled at her own humor. Max felt like the words - and her breath - was sucked out of her parted lips. It was a similar feeling as the one she got from the football flying through the air, and she stopped herself from taking a picture. Instead, she looked away and started walking off the school grounds, "We don't have long so we should go someplace close by."
Chloe jogged up beside her and give her a gentle shove, "Hey, don't go so fast!"
"Sorry." Max mumbled, then added, "So, where do you wanna go?"
"I'm starving." Chloe said, tapping her belly for effect, "Mom works at the Two Whales and I know she'd get us free food, but that's clear across town!"
Max shrugged and pointed in front of them, "There's a donut shop or something over there, I think."
"As long as they have cheap food, I'm game!" Chloe grinned.
They walked together in silence the rest of the way, Max feeling too awkward to think of anything to say, and Chloe appearing to be looking around casually and humming Beyonce's "Irreplaceable" while flicking bits of pocket lint from her hoodie.
As they got to the coffee shop, Max checked her jeans pocket and pulled out a few singles and some change. She found herself suddenly hungry again, even though she had finished her lunch back at the school already. She held the door open for Chloe, who bowed her head and, grinning, added, "Why, thank you, my good Maxine!"
Max giggled and replied, "You're too welcome, my fine Chloe!"
When it was their turn to order, Max got a Montreal-style smoked meat sandwich on a kaiser roll, with a double chocolate donut and a Coke. Chloe ordered the same thing, only roast beef. They quickly found a seat and Chloe began tearing into her sandwich like she'd be starved for days. Max watched her eat, amused and thinking to herself that this too would make a good photo. This time, she took out her camera and put it on the table in front of her.
"Can I take your picture?"
Chloe looked up; Max saw mustard on her lips and suppressed a giggle. Chloe mumbled something with a shrug, which Max was pretty sure was, "I don't care." so picked up the camera and snapped the shutter quickly.
"Did you have that picture you took in the library on the first day?" Chloe asked, and wiped her face with a napkin.
Max looked at the back of her camera and then back to Chloe, "You don't get the pictures developed until the roll is done, so...still five clicks left, I think."
"Oh." Chloe said with a frown, then added before filling her mouth with soda, "Oh well, sure! I knew that! Dad's always taking pictures of us at home. He's almost as obsessed with his camera as you are!"
"Neat." Max said. They still had about fifteen minutes left, and Max hadn't yet finished her second lunch, so she stuffed the donut in her mouth and tried to push it down with a mouthful of Coke.
"So, when you're not taking pictures of people eating, what else do you like to do?" Chloe asked, gathering her trash onto the tray and getting up.
Max quickly wolfed down the rest of her lunch and got her garbage together as well, joining Chloe in tossing it out. They headed toward the door as she finally answered, "Um...I watch movies, I guess. Mostly sci-fi and fantasy stuff. I play some video games on my PC or PS2. I read a lot, and...I...can crochet, but not much lately."
Chloe smirked, "So, you're a nerd, then?" and held the door open for Max as she laughed.
"Yeah, I guess? I never thought of myself as a nerd...but then, I suppose most people wouldn't. So, what about you? Do you do anything but draw and play pirate then?"
Chloe pursed her lips in an imitation of offense, "Who's playing? I am a pirate!"
Now it was Max's turn to smirk, "You are, huh? I suppose you have your very own pirate ship tied up at the marina next to the fishing boats and yachts?"
Chloe grinned, "Maaaaaybe..."
"And you sail the seven seas on weekends and search for buried treasure between doing your homework?" Max continued, her smirk turning into a grin.
Chloe stopped walking and clenched her fists, placing them on her hips, "Arrr! That I do!"
Max stopped too and regarded Chloe's gleaming blue eyes with an amused look, "You're so full of it!"
"Am I? Am I really, nerd?" Chloe said, beginning to walk back to school again.
"Yes, Chloe." Max said, "You are F-U-L-L full of it, and I don't mean meat and donuts!"
The taller girl looked down her nose at her and sniffed, "Why...if I didn't know better, I'd say you were looking for proof of my piracy!"
Max furrowed her brow and snorted, "Are you cereal? You don't have any proof that you're a pirate!"
They stopped in front of the school and Chloe turned to look at Max with a curious expression. There were still some older kids playing outside the school, but they quickly ran in as the end-of-lunch bell rang. Chloe reached into her pocket and pulled out a sheet of loose-leaf paper and a felt-tip marker; she put the paper up against a nearby tree and wrote something down, then handed it to Max. When Max went to tentatively pull it out of her hand, Chloe's grip tightened and she bent down and leaned in close to Max's ear. She whispered something and then, with a grin and a whip of her ponytail, she turned around and jogged down the path toward the school.
Max remained standing in place, her cheeks and ears burning red, and watched Chloe as she opened the door and went inside the school without a glance back. She unfolded the paper and found a street address written on it, along with "This Saturday, noon! Be there!" underneath it. She slowly folded the paper back up and stuck it in her pocket, then made her own way back into the school.
A/N: Life is Strange, but it's also busy. Sorry about for being slow to update. Lots going on in my personal life, but I'll try to be more diligent about updating. This chapter is a bit shorter than the last one, but I hope it's still interesting. As always, comments and follows are amazing.