Something good, oh something good, oh something good,
Oh something good tonight will make me forget about you for now
Max sat in her dorm room at her desk, staring blankly at the Word document open on her laptop as the soft, melancholy sounds of Alt-J's 'Something Good' drifted from the speaker. For what must be the fortieth time, she re-read her English essay question. 'Explain how Animal Farm represents the totalitarian state of the USSR'. It was a simple enough question, and Max had read the book at least three times (she loved Orwell), but for some reason her brain was taking a major shit that day. And the day before, in fact. She had no clue why.
Well, that was kind of a lie. It had been two days since Max had met Chloe, and she hadn't seen her since. Every time she turned a corner, entered a classroom, strolled through the school grounds, she hoped- no, longed- that she would look and there Chloe would be, standing there with her self-assured smirk and her cyan-blue hair. It was a ridiculous thought; Chloe didn't even go to Blackwell, so there would be no possible reason for her to be around campus…yet Max still held onto it anyhow.
Chloe had said that they would see each other again, but when? How would they find each other? Last night, in an extremely desperate state, Max had even Facebook searched her to see if there were any results, but it looked like Chloe didn't use social media. Which Max should have probably guessed- she didn't seem like the type.
"Ugh, fuck this." Max groaned in exasperation, slamming her laptop shut and pushing away from her desk, glancing at the clock on her wall. 4:30pm on a Friday afternoon, and she had the whole evening ahead with nothing to do and no one to see. There was a Vortex Club party tonight; she'd overheard Victoria and her two equally bitchy minions, Taylor and Courtney, discussing it in the bathroom this morning as she was taking a shower. Like Max would go, though- firstly, she would never be invited, and secondly, spending an evening drinking cheap beer, getting high and listening to trashy techno music with Nathan, Victoria and their ilk seemed like the worst idea since genocide. Although, it would be kind of fun to see what Vortex Club parties were like- were they as wild and out of control as everyone at Blackwell made them out to be? Max sighed; it was unlikely that she would ever find out.
Suddenly, her phone beeped, and she glanced down at the screen to see a text from her friend, Warren Graham.
'Yo yo Max! You still have my flash drive with all my movie booty on, right? Can you meet me in the parking lot and bring it? I have this mad desire to watch The Godfather tonight'
Max smiled, typing a quick 'Sure. See u in 10' response back to him. Warren was one of her only friends at Blackwell- she had met him in her science class a couple of weeks ago and they'd become friends pretty quick. He was an ultra-geek, but also kind and witty. They'd discussed their favourite things- Warren made Max look like a total noob when it came to film and science, but she had him down as far as photography and literature were concerned. She was glad that she had a true friend at Blackwell, especially one who shared the same distaste for the Vortex Club as she did.
Max quickly grabbed Warren's flash drive off her desk and headed out of her room into the corridor. But, to her instant dismay, Victoria was heading down the hall with Taylor and Courtney towards her room, which was- of course- directly opposite Max's. She was wearing a gray cashmere sweater, a mini skirt and suede, dove gray boots. Her signature string of pearls hung around her neck, glinting ostentatiously. The entire outfit probably cost more than a year's tuition fee at Blackwell; Victoria looked uber-polished, prissy and stuck up, as usual. Beside her, Taylor and Courtney were dressed in similarly stylish ensembles that were equally way too over the top for school and probably equally as expensive.
"Well look who it is. Max Selfie," Victoria sniggered nastily, surveying Max with a look of disdain. "How many selfies have you taken today, Max? Ten? Twenty? I'm surprised you ever have any film left in that shitty Polaroid."
Taylor and Courtney cackled with laughter as Max's cheeks inevitably flushed red, as they did every time she felt embarrassed or nervous. She felt her veins pump with seething anger; Victoria was such a bitch. What had Max ever done to her? "You're hilarious, Victoria." She hissed, attempting to move past.
Victoria quickly stepped to the side and blocked Max's path, placing her skinny manicured hands on her hips and raising an eyebrow. "Oh and just where do you think you're going?"
"Yeah, we're talking to you Max." Taylor sneered.
Max sighed heavily, glaring up at Victoria and her annoying fucking pixie haircut and misleadingly innocent doe-eyed face. Max would never be able to comprehend why someone as rich and pretty and popular as Victoria would take time out of her day solely to tear other people like Max down. Honestly, what was the fucking point?
"Can you get out of my way?" she asked, trying to keep the nerves out of her voice. As much as she hated to admit it, Max was a little bit scared of Victoria. Taylor and Courtney not so much, they were just mindless slaves who wouldn't say shit if they were by themselves, but Victoria...she had a lot of power at Blackwell. She could make Max's life a living hell if she wanted to. It was pretty scary.
"I don't know girls, can we?" Victoria taunted, exchanging pitying looks with her minions. "Maybe we will…if you beg."
No fucking way. Max was afraid of Victoria, but nowhere near enough for her to beg to be let past. "I'm not doing that, Victoria."
Victoria raised an eyebrow. "Oh? Well, looks like we're going to be standing here an awfully long time then."
Max's phone vibrated twice in her pockets; she didn't have to check it to know that it was Warren, wondering where she was. If this was any other day, she would've meekly retreated back into her room and ignored Victoria. However, it appeared that today she would have to give into her stupid fucking games.
"Victoria, can you please move out of the way? Please?" she asked, trying to sound as non-desperate as possible.
"Pretty please." Victoria said, holding up her phone. Was she recording? Fuck. Max would never be able to live this down.
"Pretty please." Max repeated, praying that this ridiculous charade would come to an end now.
"With a cherry on top." Victoria giggled maliciously, as Taylor and Courtney tittered beside her.
"With a cherry on top." Max uttered through gritted teeth, her fists clenching at her sides. How she longed to punch Victoria straight in her smug, supercilious face. Yet once again, she couldn't do anything. If she did, she had no doubt that Victoria would use her power and prestige at Blackwell to make sure Max's scholarship ended up down the toilet.
"Excellent work, Max. Don't worry, I'll put a vintage filter on it before I post it all over social media." Victoria sneered, tapping away at her expensive smartphone. Max pushed past her angrily, gritting her teeth so hard that it was a miracle they didn't disintegrate.
"Hey Max! Why don't you go fuck your selfie?!" Victoria called down the corridor, before the three girls burst into delighted, merciless laughter.
"Bitches." Max hissed under her breath, storming out of the dorm into the pleasantly refreshing crisp autumn air. She stopped for a few seconds to catch her breath, counting to ten several times in her head to calm herself down. She couldn't fucking believe this. Why was Victoria so horrible to her? Ever since Max had started at Blackwell a month ago it was like she'd made it her mission to destroy her. Max's mom had always said that people only picked on other people because they were jealous of them, but she didn't believe that. What could Victoria be jealous of? She had everything. Beautiful clothes, tons of friends, a fancy camera that cost about two grand and took the most gorgeous photos…Max, on the other hand, wasn't exactly the object of envy. No, Victoria had to be insecure. Those who were confident in themselves never felt the need to act superior. Yet what was she insecure about? Max just didn't fucking understand people sometimes.
Her phone buzzed for the third time, snapping her out of her brooding. Max began jogging to the parking lot, not wanting to keep Warren waiting any longer. As she ran, she enjoyed the feeling of the sun on her cheeks and the cool breeze on the back of her neck. Fall was her favourite season, she loved everything about it; the burnt orange, gold and crimson leaves that cluttered the campus ground, the way the sticky humidity of summer faded to a cosy, ever so slightly nippy autumnal breeze, and yes, even the pumpkin spice lattes at Starbucks. She made a mental note to go out the next day and take some pictures of the sunrise- it was always at its most beautiful in the fall.
Finally, Max reached the parking lot. She looked around for Warren, her heart pumping in her ears from the sudden exertion, and spotted him leant against his old-school, rusty yet loveable blue car, tapping on his phone- probably typing another text to Max asking where she was. Hurrying over to him, she passed a huge, beat-up brown pick up truck parked obnoxiously over two handicapped spots. That sort of shit really pissed Max off. People could be so selfish. 'Sorry handicapped folks, my truck needs these two spots more than you do'. What an asshole.
"Hey, super Max!" Warren looked up as Max reached him, his face bursting into an adorable goofy smile. "I was beginning to think you'd been sucked up by a tornado or something."
Max rolled her eyes good-naturedly. "I wish."
"Rough day?"
"Don't even go there. Here, I have your flash drive." Max reached into her pocket and handed over the small gadget to Warren. Their fingers brushed against each other momentarily, and Warren quickly jerked his hand back, blushing. Max was instantly self-conscious- he didn't think she had cooties, did he?
"S-so, you watched the movies on there?" Warren asked, rubbing his hand against the back of his neck.
Max nodded enthusiastically. "Totally! You have good taste."
The blush on Warren's cheeks deepened. "Thanks. What was your favourite?"
"I wish I could say something intellectual and artsy, but honestly? 'Stand by Me'.' Hands down. I cried like a baby."
"I love that film! River Phoenix is an incredible actor." Warren agreed, his voice rising in pitch excitedly. It was so sweet how he got all worked up talking about film. Max was exactly the same with photography.
"Although I have to say, I was kinda disturbed by the amount of emo vampire movies. I mean, Twilight, seriously?" Max teased.
"Hey, don't hate! Edward kind of reminds me of myself, you know, all brooding and tortured and mysterious." Warren winked, the sarcasm evident in his voice.
"Oh, you're such a wounded soul aren't you?" Max laughed.
Warren chuckled. "You know me well. Can't a sensitive high school boy enjoy sensitive vampires too? Besides, Bella is a total hottie."
"If you like your women insipid and expressionless, then sure, I guess?"
"Meow! Hey, speaking of movies, we should check out the drive-in theatre. It's like fifty miles from here, and now I actually have a car to get us there." Warren suggested, his tone slightly more shy than it was a second ago.
"Yeah, that's definitely a better plan than when you suggested we go on your bike with me on the back. Or when you tried to hire a Vespa."
"Hey, those were both two perfectly reasonable plans!" Warren protested.
"And how exactly did you think the seating arrangements would work when we got to the drive in? Me perched on one handlebar and you on the other?" Max laughed.
"We could have turned the bike upside down and sat on the tyres?" Warren sniggered. The mental image of that scenario caused the two of them to double over in hysterics, clutching onto each other for support as they snorted with laughter. Max loved how Warren could always make her laugh so easily and restore her to a good mood no matter what. She was suddenly really glad she knew him; out of all the posers and assholes at Blackwell, Warren was one of the few really genuine people she'd met since being back here.
Once they'd recovered from their laughing fit and caught their breath, Warren repeated his question. "So, the drive in? Should I get us tickets? Plane of the Apes is showing next weekend." He was clearly trying to sound nonchalant, but the hope in his voice was apparent- Max could tell that he really wanted to go. Why he wanted to take her so badly, she had no idea; Warren had a couple other film-buff friends he could go with, but for some reason he chose Max- the complete amateur.
"Okay, but I'm warning you, I have a tendency to zone out during movies. Especially at crucial plot moments. It's kind of a problem." Max joked.
Warren didn't seem to mind at all. His face lit up in pure child-like joy, and something else-relief? Max was kind of astonished at his reaction- was he really that worried that she'd say no? Warren was her friend, of course she'd go with him.
"That's great! Awesome! I'll get the tickets tomorrow then!" Warren exclaimed, reaching forward like he was going to hug Max but then pausing, seemingly thinking better of it. "So, I'll see you around. You are going to be around campus this weekend, right?"
Max hesitated, the thought of Chloe popping into her mind for the millionth time today, nagging at her. She didn't know why she was so unreasonably obsessed with this girl; they barely knew each other. The whole thing was stupid. Max couldn't explain it, but she felt…drawn towards Chloe, like there was some magnetic force between them. She had hoped to run into her this weekend- maybe Chloe would turn up at campus looking for Max?
Suddenly, Max realised the absurdity of her thoughts. Just because Chloe had casually said that her and Max would see each other again, didn't mean they would. She was probably just saying it to be polite. But then, Chloe didn't strike Max as the 'polite' type- she seemed blunt and upfront, like she wouldn't say something she didn't mean. Even if she had meant it, though, it didn't mean that she would go out of her way to try and see Max. She didn't even go to Blackwell, so why was Max hoping she'd turn up at campus?
Oh, this was fucking ridiculous. Max felt instantly stupid and pathetic. Why did she have to overanalyse everything?! She'd replayed the conversation with Chloe on Wednesday multiple times in her mind since then, cursing herself for not being more witty, more interesting, more mysterious.
"Max? Hello?" Warren's voice suddenly snapped Max out of her reverie. She really needed to stop zoning out.
"U-uh yeah, yeah, sorry! Apart from going out to take photos, I'll probably be on campus."
"Cool. See you, Max." Warren smiled, touching Max's shoulder lightly before walking past her and towards the school building.
"See you." Max murmured. She closed her eyes for a second, letting the cool evening breeze envelop her, the hum of the cicadas in the bushes and the distant sound of laughter from the main campus lingering in the background.
"Man, that dude is so fucking in love with you." Came a familiar, teasing voice from behind her.
Max whipped around. In front of her stood a tall, slender figure, shadowed by the glare of the sun. Max put her hand up to her eyes, blocking the sun, and suddenly the figure snapped into focus. It was a girl. A girl with chunky black boots, torn jeans, a black leather jacket, and hair the colour of aquamarine, of the sky on a hot summer's day, of the ocean…
Chloe.
A/N: Sorry about the lack of action in this chapter! It's just that whenever I read a fanfiction where the relationships move too fast, I get super annoyed. Don't worry- there will be plenty of Pricefield in the next chapter! This is my first fanfic, so any tips/comments are appreciated. I'm planning on uploading once a week or more. Thanks for reading!