Author's notes:
It's come to my attention that I really should specify the two genre tags for this fic, but I'm honestly not sure what classification it should have. If anyone has suggestions, perhaps consider PMing me. Also please consider leaving reviews and/or criticism. It means a lot that people are prepared to donate their time and thoughts, even when they are not entirely complementary.
Cielstian Michaelhive: Thanks for your support. I always try to update as quickly as possible. It's not always easy when you're trying to maintain a certain (admittedly low) standard, or feel a certain scene isn't working and needs changes. I'm so jealous of writers who are faster (and better) than me.
Sortasubnova: That's an overwhelmingly generous review. Thank you. And Warren's going to have some proper appearances in the future, which (disturbingly enough) I'm rather looking forward to writing. In fact that very scenario may eventually come up. I think I should insert the warning I gave last time, that die-hard Warren fans may need a stiff drink on hand.
Guardian of Azarath: Yeah, handing in the photo of with Chloe and Nathan together would have been far stronger evidence, and probably resulted in attempted murder charges. At the same time, Max was trying to keep Victoria on-side, so she chose the lesser option. Future Max seems to be going to rather extreme lengths to ensure Victoria's friendship for some reason, so maybe present Max was right to placate her.
MadReader: I'm sure we'll see Victoria getting "comforted" eventually. I mean her name is in square brackets and I think we all know what that means. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) Though bear in mind this is still a T rated fic, at least for the moment… Also thanks for your rec posting on reddit.
Random Useless Info: Sorry, I wrote an even longer chapter this time. I'm going to have to greatly improve my ability at estimating the word count for my scenes, and better divide them in the future
HouseOfSeekers: Thanks for being number 100. For a while, I wasn't sure I'd ever get there.
SquidWithRedInk, Aaron Leach, wbrendon89: Thanks for your support.
A despondent figure slowly shuffled her feet along the concrete path, which linked the main academic complex of Blackwell Academy with the Dormitory buildings. The sight of her, downcast and pathetic, nearly broke Max's heart. Max never imagined feeling that way about Victoria Chase. But Max never imagined Victoria Chase in such a sorry state.
Victoria was supposed to carry herself with a certain majestic arrogance. Yes they'd occasionally (or perhaps rather more frequently than that) traded barbs, but she had always bounced back from them with little more than a transient angered expression or temporary flush to the face; both of which, truth be told, Max rather enjoyed provoking. But seeing her skulk around all hunched over and dishevelled was just wrong, somehow; not like her Victoria at all. When it was clear Victoria planned on walking past Max without any acknowledgement whatsoever, Max stepped in front of her, and gently seized her by the upper arms. She drooped backward in response, wishing escape but in too feeble a mood to really force it. God, how do you snap Victoria of all people out of a depression?
"Max, don't-"
There was an almost pleading tone in her voice. It seemed so incredibly weak and broken.
"Tori, I can't stand to see you like this."
Max thought she saw Victoria's spine straighten in an instant of reflex indignation, the incredulity at being called "Tori" asserting itself. It was all too fleeting though, she quickly reverted back to her twinned states of mental depression and postural vandalism. Victoria tried once again to move away, but found doing so impossible. Her eyes briefly focused on each of Max's hands, pinning her with surprisingly vice-like grip-strength, and an expression of contempt briefly passed over her before reverting once more. Finally deciding escape was impossible, at least with the effort she was prepared to expend, she relented and began to speak.
"I suppose you've seen it then?"
"Victoria I really don't think it's that bad, just a bunch of entirely innocent physical interactions, that have been badly misconstrued. Anyone with a brain can work out they've been cut together out of context. It's not like we're ripping each other's clothes off on top of Jefferson's desk."
"I might have preferred that." Victoria mumbled.
What?!
Max let go of Victoria in shock. Victoria's eyes suddenly grew to the size that Max's had become moments earlier, and she realised she probably needed to elaborate on that.
"I mean it would almost be preferable." She quickly clarified, stepping past Max as not to face her. Part of Max was actually relieved at Victoria's verbal slipup: the resulting 'flustered Victoria' was a vast improvement to 'depressed Victoria'. "Rather than looking like a dork I'd have at least appeared decisive, empowered, and-"
"-And have an excuse for walking everywhere hunched over?"
Max was expecting a particularly pithy reply, but instead was met only with a pause, as if Victoria's mind had unexpectedly become engrossed in something, and was too busy to think of a comeback. Growing tired with the unexpected delay, Max pressed on.
"Victoria is this really just about the video?"
"The video was pretty bad Max, but it was just an opening gambit designed to rattle me before an important meeting. It seems I've upset a few people."
Max raised her hand over an open mouth, looking in no way genuinely shocked.
"No…"
"Fuck your sarcasm, Caulfield. It's rather obvious you don't actually care. You've even had to write a reminder on your hand just to be nice to me."
A pale hue suddenly shot across Max's face. But she'd erased that incriminating message scribbled on her hand! Hadn't she? She looked down at her hand. A message was definitely written there in red pen, in her hand writing.
"Consult notes in journal, and be nice to Victoria, take care of her problems."
It was a completely new message from the future. When had this happened? When had future Max 'assumed direct control' and left the message for her. Max found her mind drawn back to the events following the car crash at the stairs. Her recollection of the accident clean up was, in hindsight, rather blurry. She'd assumed it was just stress at the time, but she may well have been 'possessed' by her future self. That meant it was time to make a decision: last time Max had followed a seemingly innocuous instruction from the future, Victoria was grievously injured, and only saved by way of subsequent time rewinding. Still, this seemed just about the least likely thing imaginable to lead to harm. How could trying to 'be nice' to someone cause harm to anyone? In any case, Max felt she'd better come up with some sort of excuse for the note. As much as things had improved between Victoria and herself, they just weren't at the stage of a friendship where you could explain being fed information from your future self, who was intent on manipulating everything for god knows what endgame. Failing that, she supposed she could always just rewind time again.
"Victoria", Max began, "I know you're really a good person. You injured your hand helping me save Chloe. It's just I'm used to seeing you acting in such a, well, a mean way. I thought I'd better write myself a reminder. The consequences of me acting on a momentary spiteful thought seem so much greater now, since-"
"-since 'you're a wizard, Harry'."
"You're going to hold that whole 'Evil Hermione' thing over me forever, aren't you?"
"Yes. Though I guess I should be slightly grateful. At the very least, all these awkward moments, and little slipups show you haven't been winding back time to manipulate conversations. I'm sure it wouldn't be that difficult to use your foreknowledge of a conversation as the ultimate confidence trick."
"Oh, right." Max replied, glad Victoria still had her back to her as she lowered her right hand, having deemed a rewind unnecessary. "So continuing with the shocking revelation that you'd pissed some people off…"
"Look Max, certain disgruntled members of the Vortex Club have been manipulated by a traitorous slut into passing a no-confidence vote on my leadership and ejecting me from the club."
"Wait, they completely kicked you out? Not just removed you from leadership and threw you back into the Vortex Club's proletariat?"
"Actually they tried to make me the new club's secretary. I guess they thought it'd be funny to get me to do all the menial work as an added punishment. At the time, and with that video circulating, I was so angry with the lot of them that I just up and quit. Probably a mistake on my part. The secretary is still a powerful position within the club, and I might have managed a counter-coup somewhere down the line. Of course normally if someone tried to pull this, I'd just remind them that Nathan finances a lot of the club's activities, he and I are good friends, and to shut the fuck up or the only spirits they'll be able to afford for the next vortex event's bar will be of the methylated variety."
"But we just had Nathan busted."
"Yes, and with that a lot of my leverage evaporated. At the same time, I've been having a strong difference of opinion with two of the Vortex Club committee. As I said, with Nathan on my side it wouldn't have been an issue, but he just had to go try to commit a murder."
Wowser, a committee and no-confidence votes. Max had thought the Vortex Club was little more than a pass for rich assholes to drink while underage and use drugs on campus. Apparently they were a 'proper' incorporated society. Maybe that was why its members were always declaring how good it looked on a CV.
"Victoria," Max began slowly, about to propose something the now former Vortex Queen might find difficult to go through. She was glad that she'd somehow snapped Tori out of a momentary depression, apparently by doing nothing more than flustering her then pissing her off. Though based on her previous experience, that seemed to almost be a panacea for any Victoria related aliment, as well as their normal pattern of conversation. Perhaps the most important thing was just trying to be there for someone in a way they were comfortable with. It would be a shame to make Victoria relive the event that had put her in that state, but at the same time doing so could get Victoria her club back. "Do you think you'd be able to do better, if given a second chance?"
Victoria was momentarily rendered speechless. A strange expression crept over her, a bizarre mix of fear, hope and possibly even reverence. When finally spoke again, it was in a surprisingly hushed tone.
"Are you talking about taking me back in time with you? Can you do that?"
"I did manage it on my first rewind. I think it's just a matter of grabbing onto you tightly. All the other things I'm carrying seem to stay with me when I go back in time so, I guess it's just a matter of convincing the universe that you're, um…"
"Go on…", Victoria responded, a slight hint of vitriol in her voice. It seemed Victoria already knew what Max was about to say.
"One of my possessions?" Victoria's eyes narrowed. "Like a coat! Not anything weird."
Victoria sighed, deciding she should shift the topic back to something more relevant.
"Max, I'll admit it's a difficult offer. On one side I'd risk reliving one of the most humiliating experiences in my life. On the other, I'd potentially erase it from existence. The other thing is that you'd be using your powers for something, shall we say, not immediately life threatening. I think someone both smart and beautiful warned you against that, given how your powers seem to take a physical toll. I'm sure they'd hate to appear too hypocritical, and might even feel a touch guilty, if something bad was to happen as a result of you overtaxing your powers for their personal gain."
Wait a minute, had Max actually detected some concern for her wellbeing from Victoria? Still, there was the extra matter of her future self's endorsement: "be nice to Victoria, take care of her problems." Clearly her biggest problem at the moment was losing control of the Vortex Club. Still, she couldn't exactly spell out to Victoria that she'd had a tip from the future. She'd have to come up with an eminently reasonable excuse instead.
"I think this is a special case. My time senses are tingling." She smiled rather stupidly and idly glanced at the writing on her hand. Victoria, meanwhile, still wasn't sure what to think. Max's reasoning sounded utterly moronic, and she'd made a big show about Max saving her powers for an emergency. At the same time, it was a chance to expunge a humiliation from the timeline, and it was rather gratifying – even humbling, that Max would apparently use her powers to help her.
"And I really have to test whether I can reproduce pulling someone back in time with me, just in case I need it for a life and death situation in the future."
At last a non-moronic reason. Victoria finally nodded for Max to proceed.
"Victoria, how long ago did the committee meeting take place?"
"Around ten minutes, but-"
Ten minutes? Probably further than she'd tried to date. Damn, this was going to be painful. Well, they had made testing Max's powers the excuse for this rewind, so they might as well see how far back she could go...
"Don't let go of me."
Victoria suddenly found herself caught in a bear hug, everything turned a sickening red colour, and disembodied voices ghosted around her. Victoria looked into Max's face, and watched it slowly contort in anguish, as the stress of unwinding time took its toll. They reached a moment where Max grabbed at her head with one hand, as if it had just smacked against some sort of invisible wall. Was this the limit to her power? But Max grit her teeth and refused to stop. Suddenly the two of them jolted into motion. They now barrelled through both space as well as time, sucked toward positions that their previous selves occupied. Initially they were pulled in different directions, but they clung together, and ultimately the pull on Max proved dominant. Still holding one another, they past straight through several students like ghosts, before surging toward a tree in Blackwell Academy's front lawn. Normal time reasserted itself, and in that instant they noticed a crowd gathered round a tow truck, which was busy extricating a wrecked vehicle from the front entrance stairs. Clearly, they'd travelled back to the cleanup of Alyssa's car crash.
Both Max and Victoria found themselves moving at some speed when rejoining the timeline proper. They immediately stumbled, and began a rather short trip toward the ground. Fortunately for Victoria, something was already there to break her fall. Unfortunately, it was rather thin and bony.
"Victoria", Max began softly, "can you please get off me?"
"In a minute", Victoria replied nursing her head, "I think I've got concussion."
"Well then I've got concussion and time rewind migraines," Max shot back. It seemed that they'd had something of a head clash on falling. Max mused between throbbing sensations in her skull that real life could be nasty; things were so much simpler in those Japanese romantic comedies, where the shy yet plucky main character was practically guaranteed a soft landing on collision with the schoolyard queen.
Max gave Victoria a gentle shove, rolling her off the waif and onto her back. They both stared upward for a minute, blue sky and white clouds dancing around the tree's canopy of foliage. A brief pause later, their vision ceased spinning and Max felt confident enough to pull herself into an upright position. There were still students loitering around the grounds, however the mangled car wreck on the stairs seemed to have captured the sum total of their attention. None had noticed Max and Victoria snap into existence in an equally dishevelled pile under a tree. It was just as well too: with that video about to be released, the last thing they needed was another easily misinterpreted public sighting.
"Honestly, if you have to rewind time like that again, I'm wearing a crash helmet."
Victoria brought her left arm up to check the time on her Swiss watch, decried it as "worthless", then withdrew her Smartphone.
"Seems once I push back past a certain point, things sort of go out of control", Max explained. "We seemed to get pulled back to my old position in space as well as time, and lost fine control in selecting the time. That must have been what happened the first time we travelled back in time from the toilets to the classroom. I think that's about as far back as I can go in any case."
"Well, looks like your 'Maximum' is a twenty one minute rewind," Victoria noted while checking her phone. " Oh, and any regular clock you're carrying doesn't seem to be affected by your rewinds. Fortunately, phones synchronise their clock based on a GPS satellite, so should display the time you've travelled back to."
They both staggered to their feet, and once again began making their way to the Prescott dorm.
"Victoria?"
"Hm?"
"Before the rewind you were saying something about a 'traitorous slut'?"
"Oh. Courtney Wagner, the Vortex Club Secretary. A position I, in my infinite benevolence, gifted her. She really is quite competent in her role, but has been attempting to assume control through a series of laughably bad coup attempts ever since. She doesn't seem to have realised that so far, I've quietly had each and every one of them thwarted either, she just thinks circumstances conspired against her. "
"So she's basically the Starscream to your Megatron?"
"I'm sure I have no clue about your geek subculture references Caulfield."
A familiar tapping of shoe soles began to ring out, as Max and Victoria reached the concrete path leading to the Prescott Dorm.
"Alright then, who's in the committee?"
Max found herself surprisingly intrigued. The whole idea of the Vortex club actually being some sort of weirdly influential organisation, like the 'student council' in half the anime she and Chloe used to watch, was strangely fascinating.
"There are three main officers: Naturally, I hold, or used to hold, the chair position. Courtney held the position of 'secretary', mostly so I could farm off all the tedious administrative work to her. Nathan was the treasurer, since on the odd occasion that we blew out a budget, he could just shove a bunch of Prescott money in the till to make the books balance. Below that, there's Taylor, Dana, Juliet and Hayden. They're also considered part of the committee but their roles are far less well defined. Basically, busywork gets farmed off to them, should it fit their skill set, and in exchange they each get to make up their own impressive sounding and official (but meaningless) title to go on their résumés in future. The whole committee showed up, except for Nathan and the vote was 4-2 in favour of ejecting me: Taylor was the only one who took my side. Oh, I suppose the committee also includes the member of Blackwell Faculty nominally in charge as staff supervisor, but he didn't show up either. Come to think of it, he rarely gets involved in any part of the Vortex Club beyond suggesting we farm out part-time work at parties to various less fortunate students."
"Does this supervisor have a name?" Max asked, trying to imagine a teacher prepared to supervise and take responsibility for a club dedicated to school-aged vice. She imagined some aging loser, suffering from a midlife crisis and desperate to remain cool in the eyes of the current youth, which frankly did cover a lot of teachers.
"Why, Mark Jefferson, of course."
Oh of course, and another reason Victoria was so passionate about the Vortex Club.
"I'm actually surprised he hasn't offered you a job. I guess you might not have the physique to make a popular bar wench, but at least you could mop the floor or collect coats or something."
God, what was it about Victoria, and having to bring up Max's body constantly? This had gotten to the point where some mild retaliation was in order.
"I'm sure 'Mark' thinks I already have enough money, thanks to that scholarship he judged my photos worthy of."
The sight of Victoria bristle, first at the mention of Max's scholarship and doubly so at her use of Mr Jefferson's given name, brought a smile to Max's face. It was actually the first time she'd ever called him that, and it felt so deeply wrong doing so. But at the same time, seeing Victoria's reaction to it felt so right.
On reaching the Prescott Dorm, Max and Victoria Immediately took up positions behind the side of the building, peering around the corner toward the building's main entrance. Max imagined they must look pathetic, like a couple of perverts intent on covertly glimpsing something through a girl's dorm window. There really weren't that many students there, just Logan and Zachery throwing a football to one another, and Kate Marsh sitting alone to the world on the most distant and isolated bench she could find. Samuel the slightly creepy caretaker had erected a scaffold in preparation for repainting a portion of the dorm building near the stairs, and was presently stirring a few cans of paint. A handful of Blackwell rent-a-cops were just leaving, apparently having searched the Dorm for some reason. Max wondered if it was a surprise drug inspection – it was quite unusual to see so many Blackwell security guards patrolling together, particularly so early after school. The only guard regularly seen during the day was their chief, David Madsen. Courtney Wagner and her rebellious cabal were nowhere to be seen: the twenty one minute rewind had given them some extra time to work with.
A pair of decidedly feminine figures suddenly emerged from the Dorm entrance, distracting Logan enough that he completely forgot about catching the football, which instead caught him squarely in the head. For some reason Zachery had almost the opposite reaction, refusing to make eye-contact with the new arrivals and excusing himself from the scene while mumbling "fuck this shit".
"Oh look, its team cleavage." Victoria commented snidely, and Max quickly recognised the two new arrivals as Dana and Juliet.
"Team cleavage?" Max wondered. Well it did sort of fit. Max had, during the occasional outbreak of cattiness that seemed endemic to high school, made certain uncomplimentary judgements about how Dana and Juliet dressed. Juliet, no matter how Victoria chose to disparage her journalistic skills, certainly lived up to her role as reporter for the school newspaper in one way: she was very good at showcasing recent developments in her own body. And Dana was even worse, or perhaps better? Max supposed it depended on your point of view. With so much of her upper torso on display, Max had difficulty understanding how she was able to walk around without escaping the confines of her shirt. She also clearly enjoyed male attention, and was rarely seen without a boyfriend, usually not the same one too many times in a row either. The only trouble was, Dana was actually a very nice person, probably second only to Kate Marsh as according to Max's 'Blackwell niceness index'. She and Kate were the only people in the dorm who really went out of their way to be friendly with Max, and any temporary bout of jealousy toward Dana was always followed by a burst of self-recrimination.
Max supposed Victoria's lack of charity was understandable: 'Team Cleavage' were about to vote for her removal as chair of the Vortex Club.
"Well well, it looks like there's some trouble in exhibitionist paradise. What a shame."
Victoria was right: there was something very much amiss with their behaviour. Normally Dana and Juliet were thick as thieves, huddling together to exchange all manner of inane gossip, launching barrages of "OMG" and giggles between updating their social media via Smartphone. Today they stood apart, arms crossed, barely prepared to make direct eye contact with each other.
"I've never seen them that cold toward each other. Victoria, did something happen?"
"Oh, that. Well someone may have sent a few tastefully erotic texts to Juliet's boyfriend, then erroneously told her they had been sent by her 'BFF' Dana. Can't imagine who. Anyway Juliet took the bait without bothering to confirm anything she's been told. Real reporter material there, right up there with the best whores Fox News has to offer. Then she got into a fight with Dana over it, and they un-LGBFF or whatever. Don't give me that look, Max, I know both of them are going to vote to eject me as soon as the meeting comes to order."
"That's only because you pissed them both off." God, Victoria could be such an asshole. She couldn't help but feel the Vortex Queen might actually deserve being kicked off her own club, that she'd brought this on herself. At the same time, Courtney seemed little better, and had directly attacked Max with the whole Max-Victoria video leak. Victoria also had a couple of mitigating factors going for her: the whole reveal of Max's supernatural powers seemed to have rendered Victoria a little easier to handle. Then there was the matter of the most recent future message insisting Max help Victoria out.
"I'll try to talk to them before the meeting", Max finally declared. "Maybe I can get them to change their minds somehow. You'd better make yourself scarce so they don't realise we're in league."
Max left Victoria and made a bee-line for the dorm's main entrance. A tired yet sincere smile came across Dana's face as she saw Max approach. Juliet remained guarded and impassive.
"Dana, Juliet. You two look like you're waiting for something."
"We just got a text from Courtney about some emergency Vortex Club meeting. She wouldn't say what it's about, just to come to the stairs."
Courtney probably didn't want the nature of the meeting being leaked to Victoria ahead of time. Though it seemed someone figured it out and tipped off Victoria anyway.
"Is that all, I mean you both seem so upset."
Of course, Max knew exactly why they were upset, Victoria sexting Juliet's boyfriend and accusing Dana of having done it. But asking them directly felt like a chance to segue into a discussion on the relative merits of Victoria versus Courtney, and somehow make them think the later was worse than the one who'd publicly humiliated them.
"Oh. We're a bit messed up because-"
Dana was suddenly cut off by an outburst from Juliet.
"-Um, why do you care? You've never really talked to us before. You just sit weirdly in the corner with your camera, then ferret through people's things when you think they're not looking."
Max felt this was something of an exaggeration. She didn't really "ferret" through other peoples' things. It was more that she couldn't help but notice things that had been left out in the open. And it wasn't entirely her fault she just sat in the corner. She was shy damn it!
"But now you hear there's some gossip at our expense, you jump in. Honestly, you probably don't even know our full names."
"Juliet, be nice. Max is just-"
"What are our full names?! Come on, prove me wrong, Max Caulfield."
Max felt Juliet was on the verge of flipping her shit. And Dana looked to be at her most protective, ready to drive her boot down the throat of her friend to defend Max from an act of bullying. Max didn't want to provoke a meaningless fight. She automatically gave the correct answer.
"Dana Ward and Juliet Watson."
Jeeze, as if she'd get that wrong. She'd memorised the names of everyone in the girl's dorm on her first day, in a desperate, angst driven attempt to seem less of a shy cliché geek. Sadly, it hadn't helped much. Knowing people's names meant nothing if you lacked the confidence to try talking to them. Still, it seemed to save the day this time. Why, for a second there, the two members of 'Team Cleavage', both previously resolute in their hatred for Victoria, and all but guaranteed to vote for her expulsion from the Vortex Club, had looked like they were about to turn on each other... Oh.
Max slowly raised her right hand.
"What are our full names?! Come on, prove me wrong, Max Caulfield."
Rather than answer immediately, Max paused, and tried to look as shy and bewildered as possible. This seemed to only increase Dana's protective instinct and Juliet's frustration.
"Um, well she's Dana Ward." Max finally answered. Dana gave Max a kind maternal nod, making Max feel like a timid preschool student who'd just been praised for counting to five for the first time. "And you're Juliet… Patterson?"
Dana's face collapsed into an anguish riddled smile. Juliet completely lost it.
"Watson. Juliet Watson. Maybe you should stay out of other people's business and belongings and fuck off back into the corner."
"Juliet! Don't be so horrible!" Dana snapped, utterly horrified at the vitriol behind her friend's attack on Max. She practically leapt into action and immediately interposed herself between them. "You blamed me for some stupid text Victoria sent your boyfriend, and now you're attacking Max for being shy, after she finally gets the courage to try to talk to you. If you're going to act this immaturely, I think you should take your own last piece of advice."
Juliet looked stunned for a moment, scarcely able to believe her best friend Dana had sided against her, in spite of how obviously strained their friendship was. Shocked at having lost her boyfriend, then apparently her best friend, she spun around and walked away in tears.
Damn it. Max felt incredibly guilty. She had just broken up the strongest friendship in the school, just by unleashing her limitless stockpile of weapons-grade awkward. Max had promised herself that she'd rewind and put everything back the way it was, if the spat she provoked had no practical benefit. But Juliet had outright up and left, and that meant one less vote against Victoria. Now they'd only needed to convince one Vortex Club member, and Victoria's position was secured.
Max's Machiavellian considerations were cut short by Dana pulling her into a friendly embrace, leaving Max feeling painfully smothered by guilt and exposed skin.
"Oh Max, I'm so sorry. Juliet's normally better than this, but she's bitter over being made to look like a fool. Now she's managing to look that way all by herself."
"Not entirely by herself, Dana." Max's conscience whispered in the back of her head. She tried to rationalise what she'd just done. Yes she'd pressed the proverbial detonator, but Juliet had put on the suicide vest, wired everything up and handed said detonator to her. She had to take some responsibility for blowing up too!
"Dana, why is the Vortex Club so messed up? I mean I know you're in it and you're one of the nicest people in the school. But some of the other members…"
"Oh thank you, Max. And I guess by other members, you mean Victoria? Well, what can I say, she just framed me for slutting it up with Juliet's boyfriend, when it was her trying to grab his football."
So, the first thing that came to Dana's mind when prompted with "messed up" and "Vortex Club" was Victoria. Things aren't looking good Tori. Max decided to see how the competition compared.
"What about Courtney?"
"The Vortex Club Secretary? As far as I know, she mostly hangs around Victoria, sort of does her best to imitate her which is bad enough. Hasn't done anything overwhelmingly nasty though, like accusing you of sexting your BFF's BF."
Max had no doubt that opinion would change in a few minutes, when Courtney leaked that video.
"So what are you up to Max? Just decided to come over and have a random chat on the stairs."
"Actually I'm supposed to be returning Warren's flash drive to him."
Dana's eyes suddenly lit up, detecting the chance for 'boy gossip'. And after driving a stake through Dana's and Juliet's friendship, Max kind of felt she owed her. Even if it meant talking about...
"Warren huh? So are you planning to reel that bitch in and put a leash on him?"
Max tried desperately not to visualise that.
"You know he really seems to like you. He texts you how many times a day? And he's always trying to organise dates with you, right? Oh, you could definitely come to the school's Halloween party with him as a cute geek couple. Borrow one of my old Halloween costumes."
They'd have to be very old costumes of Dana's if Max was going to fit them. And Dana was getting far to cereal about Max and Warren. Max felt it critical to nix this line of conversation as quickly as possible.
"I've already got a bitch to deal with, unfortunately."
"Oh?"
"Mr Jefferson assigned Victoria Chase to work with me on a special photography project for extra credit, so I'm not sure I'll have the time, or be in the mood for any romantic rendezvous."
"Oh my god Max, that's awful. I mean its great Mr Jefferson is giving you extra credit, but having to work with Victoria? No thanks. Probably best to avoid Warren then, if you two were an item, Victoria might try sexting him as well."
Max couldn't help but crack a smile. The idea of the Vortex Queen sexting Warren Graham was so far out there it almost defied imagination.
"Well I'd better get that flash drive anyway."
"Um, Max. This drive didn't happen to have a bunch of old movies on it, did it? I might have borrowed it to watch while I studied. Just pick it up from my room. I didn't bother to lock up since I'm going back up there after this meeting."
"Right, thanks Dana." Max replied, before ascending the dorm's staircase.
As befitting a cheerleader, Dana Ward's room oozed 'Blackwell Spirit'. Pennants and posters of their football team 'The Bigfoots', swim team 'The Otters' and cheer squad (which Dana was easily the most prominent member of) adorned its walls. Max would have honestly made a straight line for the USB flash drive (still plugged into Dana's laptop), but found herself having to detour around several conspicuous items that, all things considered, it might have been best if she hadn't seen. First there was a family planning book, then a home pregnancy test which indicated positive, then a note from a clinic specialising in women's health advising Dana of an appointment for "a procedure"; finally she saw a note from that loser from the football team, Logan, explaining how pathetic he had been in not supporting her (in Max's opinion it didn't go far enough). Geeze, having to go through all that must have taken its toll. Max found it incredible that Dana had stayed so calm and in control dealing with both an unplanned pregnancy, and the idiot drama involving Juliet. And then Max had gone and made things worse, stirring things up between her and Juliet as a cynical exercise in Vortex Club politics.
Deciding she'd already seen too much, Max quickly set about retrieving the flash drive. She repeatedly tried the "safely remove hardware" option, and was met with the usual "device is in use but I won't tell you which program is using it" windows dialogue box. Fucking Microsoft. Afire momentarily with righteous indignation, Max simply yanked the drive out. After all, if the files corrupted or the drive stopped working, maybe Warren would be upset enough to leave her alone for a while.
Max rushed to her own room, plugged the flash drive into her own laptop (it was still working, damn), and started copying the movies as Warren had suggested. While the transfer proceeded, Max busied herself with two tasks. Firstly, now she was finally in private, she could safely read the notes Future Max had entered into her journal. Secondly, she needed give Victoria any last minute information relevant to swaying the Vortex Club vote.
Flicking through her journal, Max quickly found what she was looking for: a letter she had never seen before, written in her own handwriting.
Dear Us.
I know you must have questions about some of the things that happened today. You've probably been questioning whether to outright ignore any 'future correspondence'.
There is a conspiracy centred within Arcadia Bay, orchestrated by completely amoral and sociopathic individuals. I wish I could identify them for you, but it is critical that you remain ignorant of their identities, at least for the moment. Any strange or questioning behaviour on our part may tip them off prematurely.
I know you had particular concerns about Victoria, and certain instructions I gave that almost led to her injury. I do not wish her harm, quite the opposite in fact. Through a number of trying experiences, I discovered that we needed her advice, friendship and loyalty as quickly as possible, and that required we demonstrate emphatically that we weren't a threat. Saving her life seemed like a good place to start, even if we had to put her in danger in the first place. She's really not that bad a person, once you get to know her. Especially when you keep her on a tight leash.
There is one more matter. We'll need to buy a cheap cell phone before the end of today. We should have enough in your bank from that birthday money your parents sent. Somewhere lying at the bottom of our bag, is a sim card. After installing the card in your new phone, you'll find contacts labelled 'one' through 'eight' stored on the card. Text 'three' through 'seven' with the following message:
"Plans have been put on hold. Do not attempt further contact directly or by phone until contacted again from this number. Do not visit dark room."
Don't message the others for now. Don't message 'one' under any circumstances! Set the phone to completely silent operation, put the microphone on zero volume and don't answer any incoming call. Seriously, keep it locked and in your bag so you don't butt-dial accidentally. Them catching on to us will have fatal results. And on that note, destroy this letter after reading it.
Realising that she hadn't inhaled once while reading the letter, Max quickly took a deep breath. This was like some crazy James Bond act. Well, except that she had to use her own birthday money to pay for spying accessories. That in mind, it was probably closer to how the actual British Secret Service operated than the fictional world of Ian Fleming. Working quickly, she tore the letter from her journal, saved the portion detailing the message she had been instructed to text, ripped the remainder of the message to shreds, and dropped the resulting confetti in her rubbish bin. Wowser, she really was playing spies.
Oddly, Max found it easier to think about the content of the letter after she'd destroyed it. Her future self certainly seemed quite the piece of work, apparently having orchestrated Victoria's demise, just so her present self could rush in, save her and become friends. Honestly, what sort of fucked up plan was that? It was fine to call others amoral sociopaths, but from the sound of things, Max's future self was scarcely any better. Just how far into the future was "future Max" anyway? How long did it take to transform into a cynical ends-justify-the-means manipulator? She thought of the spat between Dana and Juliet that she'd triggered. Perhaps she'd already begun that journey.
Conspicuous in its absence was any mention of the probable stabbing Future Max had conducted in Mr Jefferson's class. There was no direct mention anyway. But where else would this sim card have come from? She must have stuck the conspirator, then casually stolen the sim while they lay bleeding to death in front of the entire class, then rewound. That meant someone in Mr Jefferson's class was one of these conspirators. Damn, she'd have to pretend she hadn't figured that out, and act completely normally in front of that class, as to avoid drawing any suspicion. A new appreciation of why Future Max was so guarded with information dawned upon her present counterpart. If Max knew for sure a given person was some psycho murderer, she doubted she'd be able to conceal it from them.
Glancing out her window, Max watched as Hayden, Taylor and Courtney had arrived together. Both Taylor and Courtney were busy texting, while Hayden didn't seem to have anything on his mind but looking around and enjoying the scenery. Max could appreciate that: the Blackwell Grounds and Arcadia Bay in general were certainly picturesque, though she did find it somewhat suspect that he biased toward appreciating the scenery in Dana's general direction. As they approached the stairs, Max realised the meeting was moments away from starting. If she was going to supply Victoria with any last minute advice, it'd need to be now. She quickly began working on a text.
Max: Alright Tori, I somehow enraged Juliet enough that she just up and left, so won't be around for the meeting. I guess that means you win if you can turn one person. Dana is understandably upset after you accused her of sexting; she doesn't think much of Courtney either, but she hasn't pissed her off to the same extent as you yet. I think she'd just value people acting sensitively and maturely toward one another. I don't know what Hayden's deal is.
As Max's finger hovered over the send button, she had an awful thought, regarding an addendum to her message. Something she suspected both Victoria and her future self would approve of. Knowledge of Dana's appointment at the "women's clinic" would give Victoria all the ammunition she needed to compel a favourable vote from the cheerleader. But it would also destroy Dana if it became public knowledge, a humiliation well beyond some idiotic comedy video. Just the spectre of it's release when used as blackmail material would be horrible enough. Was it really so critical that Victoria stay in charge of some rich prick's "get high" club? Of course, Max had already outright eliminated Juliet, one of the people guaranteed to vote against Victoria. That represented a significant shift in the odds. She'd already hurt both Dana and Juliet in doing so, but that was infinitesimal compared with the damage this could cause. Were decisions like this what slowly transformed her into her manipulative future self?
After mulling it over for what seemed to be an eternity, Max decided to hit send, without any addition to her message. She wasn't "Future Max" yet, and she just couldn't bring herself to do something so hurtful, regardless of the possible consequences down the line. Victoria quickly sent a response.
Victoria: Thanx, only one traitor needs to be turned ftw then. BTW It's good to see you frustrate others as much as me, Max.
Max glanced at the transfer status on Warren's movies: 54%? Are you cereal? The flash drive was slow as shit. The vortex club's meeting would be over long before this damn thing was done. Max's thought stream of expletives regarding the quality of Warren's drive was interrupted shortly thereafter, as Max's phone began receiving a decidedly unwelcome text for the second time that day:
Unknown: Check out the latest romantic comedy courtesy of Victoria Chase and Max Caulfield!
Unknown: blackwellVids-dot-com/MaximumVictory
It seemed the opening gambit in the Vortex Club power struggle had been made.
Outside on the ground level, Victoria waited for Courtney to convene the Vortex Committee. She'd walked all the way around the back of the Prescott Dorm; the idea of being caught peeking around the corner of the building by people about to vote on her integrity was one she did not wish to entertain. Max had done surprisingly well in removing Juliet from the equation. Her insights into Dana were not entirely useless, but she'd have preferred some trump card guaranteed to turn her, over a vague description of her mental state. Still, no one gets that lucky, right?
A brief vibration ran through Victoria's phone once more, as her one other ally sent her last minute warnings about the meeting. In the last iteration, Victoria had shown up at the meeting early in hopes of dissuading it's continuance, so she'd never received these texts.
Taylor: Courtney's got to Hayden. I overheard them discuss the plan to oust you together. I don't think he'll support you, regardless of what you say or promise.
Taylor: Victoria, you totally need to get here now, or sooner. Or your last words as chair will be, like, et tu, Courtney.
A classical studies reference? Victoria reflected that perhaps she occasionally underestimated Taylor. But maybe that wasn't such a bad thing, it did lead to being pleasantly surprised. Still, the earlier message made for grim reading. If Hayden had completely sold out, then Victoria's survival as chair relied on that cheerleader slut Dana Ward, and she presently despised Victoria. That fictitious trump card was really sounding like her only chance.
Victoria discarded the stub of a cigarette, her 'excuse' for skulking around the back of the dorm if anyone bothered to ask, and began sucking a pair of breath mints. Now came an awkward moment: because she'd moved to the far corner of the dorm, the fastest way back to the entrance was to walk past Kate Marsh. No doubt the religious puritan would enjoy the irony that Victoria was now the subject of her own video, so soon after Victoria had leaked that video of Kate hooking up with half the attendance at the last Vortex Club party.
Chin up and chest thrust out, Victoria tried to march straight past Kate in her usual imperious manner. She almost froze when one of Kate's petite hands reached out and gently touched her arm. She braced for the inevitable barrage of spite and vengeance.
"Stay strong, Victoria. No one deserves to be publicly mocked."
For the second time that day, Victoria decided that the bloody wind must have blown something in her eye, as she brought a tissue up to remedy the situation. And damn Kate and her total sincerity. To Victoria, being the object of pity cut worse than any insult might have. Still, that meant she'd taken the worst she was likely to face. She'd been pitied, she'd already seen the video, she'd been viciously mocked by the rest of the Vortex Committee, and knew what the worst case scenario of the meeting was. They could do nothing to ambush her anymore. No, now it was her turn to surprise them.
On the other side of the building, Courtney's emergency meeting was off to a rough start. Victoria's apparent no-show had slowed things down, and while she could start the meeting without her, it seemed the video that she'd just had leaked was proving a hindrance to proceedings rather than a help.
"Where is Victoria, the meeting should have started by now."
"Probably in Max's room, did you see the video link someone just texted"
"OhMyGod."
"Damn, that hipster got some game."
"Come on, they probably just wanted to discuss the extra credit work Mr Jefferson assigned them."
"Oh you mean like a threesome?"
"Look. Can we just start the meeting without the chair?"
"Yes, if we come to the determination that she's otherwise engaged and can't attend the emergency meeting."
"I'd say she's engaged, did you see the thirst as Max dragged her into the bathroom"
"She just looked pissed off to me."
"Well, for Victoria, pissed off and aroused are almost interchangeable-"
Courtney had had it. The video was supposed to make Victoria appear embarrassing to the rest of the vortex club, and demoralise Victoria if she dared to show up. Instead the entire meeting was threatening to derail with inane commentary on Victoria and the resident hipster's new (probably) fictitious relationship.
"Alright that's enough! Victoria is clearly unable to attend, so I'll act as chair for the first motion: 'The Vortex Club committee has lost confidence in Victoria Chase as permanent chair, and resolves to replace her with the criminally underappreciated current secretary, Courtney-"
The mouth of Courtney Wagner hung open midsentence, completely taken aback at the appearance of the most vicious and merciless looking person she'd ever seen clad in gold jewellery and a cashmere sweater. Victoria looked like she was ready to kill someone. No, on closer inspection she looked like she already had killed someone. One of her fists was bandaged, as if she'd beaten something until her knuckles bled, and a myriad of small stains were visible on her sweater, all of which looked an awful lot like dried blood.
"Courtney Wagner chair the Vortex Club for even a single motion?" Victoria's voice bellowed. "That is bad comedy. The currently elected chair will handle proceedings."
The rest of the club committee exhibited a wide spectrum of reactions. Dana Ward found herself slightly dumbstruck, the only one completely unaware that the emergency meeting was an attempted Vortex Club coup, but quickly found her enthusiasm for events rising. It seemed that after all the shit she'd pulled, Victoria might actually get what was coming to her. Taylor, on the other hand cheered Victoria's arrival, while her eyes shot daggers at Courtney and Hayden for their disloyalty in plotting the coup. Hayden stood with Courtney but didn't seem to have much of a definite facial expression, possibly due to his recent partaking in what he referred to as "dank OG bud".
Victoria stopped less than a foot from Courtney, and for the moment completely ignored the other attendants. Her voice was quieter now, but no less menacing, an impossible combination of sharp and sweet.
"Nice striped shirt, Courtney; it makes you look like a zebra crossing, which is both the most and least appropriate thing imaginable. On one hand, I am about to walk all over you. On the other, next time I see you on the street, I'm not breaking."
She circled the smaller girl, intent that regardless of the meeting's outcome, Courtney Wagner would know fear. It worked to some extent, but Courtney clearly felt she was holding all the cards. She fixed Victoria with her own glare and retaliated.
"Victoria. You know, we were just watching a little amateur video of you. I'm sure Mr Jefferson was heartbroken when you found a newer model of hipster to replace him."
"Funny how the link to that video was transmitted moments before this meeting", Victoria shot back. "Exactly when doing so would be most beneficial to you. It's almost as if you ordered its release yourself, just to influence proceedings."
"And so what if I encouraged the leak of that video. You can't say you don't deserve it, or haven't done far worse to others."
Victoria could tell Dana shared that opinion. She needed something to turn that around, quickly. Victoria cast her eyes skyward, as if looking for some inspiration from on high. Instead she saw a tiny figure peering down at her from Max's dorm window. Her brain apparently deemed that an adequate substitute though, furnishing her with an idea. And why not: with her newfound powers, Max was probably the closest thing to a divine source of inspiration anyone was likely to come across.
"What about the other party in the video?" Victoria quickly asked, surprised that her voice seemed to have some genuine feeling behind it.
"You mean your new crush, the zero-fashion hipster Max?"
"I understand she's rather shy and utterly reviles being in the spotlight. You dragged her through the mud just to get at me. Lovely."
Courtney and Hayden were completely unaffected, but a look of guilt worked its way across Dana's face. Well, well. Perhaps she just pulled something out of the bag. Courtney seemed to realise as much as well, and attempted to rush proceedings.
"Enough time wasting" She quickly announced, "The motion is that Victoria be removed as Vortex Club chair, and either placed in the position of Secretary, so she can learn some humility doing her own work for once, and won't have enough free time to embarrass the club by failing at hitting on hipsters of all ages and genders; or removed from the club's register entirely."
Victoria sighed. She didn't really have anything else to try. Might as well get things over with while Dana was feeling emotionally messed up.
"The motion is… no confidence in the chair. I'm not saying the rest of that shit. Is there a second?"
Hayden raised his hand.
" Those opposed will raise their hands now."
Both Taylor and Victoria raised their arms. Victoria glanced at Dana, who looked deeply conflicted. For a second it seemed she was going to join them, but her hand remained down. A triumphant smirk spread across Courtney's face.
"And those in favour?"
Courtney and Hayden voted. Dana's hand remained uncommitted.
"Dana, you have to vote!" Courtney insisted.
"I'm abstaining." Clearly Dana had decided they were both as bad as each other.
"Well, there's a first time for everything." Courtney quipped, searing with anger.
A smile slowly worked its way across Victoria's face. Partially because it seemed she'd won, partially because she'd also immediately seen the irony in Dana's use of the term 'abstain' when she was widely regarded as the anti-Kate Marsh, and partially because Courtney was dumb enough to utter it out loud while the matter of leadership had not been conclusively resolved. Now was not the time for making new enemies. Utterly destroying your current ones had to come first.
"So that's a tie. Two votes for and against. I believe in these circumstances the chair has a casting vote-" Victoria began.
"Not so fast." Courtney shot back. "Our constitution allows for absent members to provide written votes."
This was not how things had gone last time. There'd been no absentee voting. On the other hand, Juliet hadn't lost it and run off before the start of proceedings, and Dana hadn't 'abstained' from voting either. That meant there was no reason for Courtney to reveal her own trump card. Damn. There were only two possibilities as to the identity of this voter. The first, and by far the most likely in Victoria's opinion, was that Juliet had left a written vote when she stormed off.
Courtney presented a piece of paper. The writing, if you could stretch the term broadly enough to encompass the barely legible scrawl on the paper, was not Juliet's. In fact there was only one person it could belong to. Courtney seemed to take a certain perverse pleasure in reading it aloud, for rather obvious reasons.
"Nathan Prescott wishes to cast a vote against the current chair, whom he decries as having fallen in league with and most likely been despoiled by, a rabid feminazi."
Well it certainly sounded like authentic Nathan Prescott, or at least parts of it did. No doubt Courtney had suggested some of the wording. On sighting his signature in the corner, the note's legitimacy was beyond doubt. But Nathan's vote against them revealed a situation that made Vortex Club politics insignificant by comparison. Nathan and Victoria were supposed to be the closest of friends. For him to suddenly turn on her like that, meant he must have figured out Victoria had reported him for his antics in the girl's bathroom. That meant the 'feminazi' that had 'despoiled' her was probably Max. Victoria snorted at the stupidity of that statement. In spite of what Courtney's video had tried to imply, she doubted Max Caulfield had ever 'despoiled' anything other than her selfie.
Suddenly, at the thought of that fucking video, it all came together. The video showed Max dragging Victoria into the bathroom just before the 'almost shooting'. It was quite possible the unedited footage had actually caught Nathan and Chloe entering the toilets straight afterwards. If Nathan had seen that, he'd have known exactly who had seen and reported him. That stupid bitch Courtney had probably gone to Nathan with the footage, completely unaware of his imminent suspension and confused as to why Victoria, Max, Nathan and Chloe Price had all entered the bathroom together. She probably couldn't believe her luck when Nathan suddenly turned on Victoria, and practically handed out the keys to the Vortex Club.
"Three for and two against. Seems you were pipped at the post, 'Secretary Victoria'. I think you'd better get started writing the minutes of this meeting. I expect a detailed account."
Rage exploded behind Victoria's eyes. She tried to look away, think of something other than defeat. Unfortunately, there was very little to distract her. Just Samuel 'probably not a paedophile' the Caretaker, ascending his scaffold with a second can of paint to finish up painting the wall. It was no use, her mind kept being drawn back to Courtney and the instruction she'd just given. Type the fucking minutes of her own ousting? She'd throttle that backstabber! Victoria advanced on the smaller girl, causing her to back away cautiously. The deposed Queen prepared to put her one un-bandaged fist to its best use, confident that Courtney Wagner had significantly worse odds in a fight than a certain blue haired monstrosity.
Victoria's vengeance was forestalled by the appearance of a small figure, standing next to Kate and waving rather enthusiastically. It was Max Caulfield. But wasn't she still in the dorm? No one had seen her come out the front door, so she'd either taken the fire escape and somehow avoided setting off the alarm, or there was time manipulation afoot. Whatever the case, she seemed to be gesturing frantically that Victoria not advance any further, and in fact maybe take a step back. Victoria acquiesced to Max's instruction, and Courtney Wagner luxuriated in what she believed to be a final triumph, Victoria having apparently backed down on any physical retaliation. A second later, there was a snapping noise as the handle to Samuel's paint can broke.
A Cheshire grin spread across Victoria Chase's face as Courtney Wagner stood before her humiliated. The paint can landed just over a foot from Courtney, spraying her with a thick uneven coat of all-weather acrylic gloss. Thick rivulets of the white paint ran down her, saturating her designer clothing, face and hair.
"Hold that pose." Victoria instructed, extracting her Smartphone and snapping several high resolution shots. Courtney was so stunned that she just acquiesced, trapped in what Victoria was sure Mr Jefferson would consider a 'moment of desperation'. She'd been humiliated in front of the current Vortex Club committee on the first day of her rule as Chair, and that humiliation could spread across the entire school, depending on what Victoria did or didn't do with those photos.
"Now I think we should discuss that video you just put up." Victoria began, her voice at its most sadistic. "I expect it to be down within the hour, or I'll post these shots all over social medias. It'll be a rough start for a new Vortex Club chair, though in your case it's admittedly no worse than a typical Friday night. Oh, and your new Secretary does look forward to writing those minutes. Be assured that this incident in particular will be covered in all the detail it warrants."
Courtney said nothing in response, instead gingerly making her way into the dorm in search of a shower a change of clothes, and the ego she'd just had stripped from her and launched into the upper atmosphere. Victoria watched her go with a perverse enjoyment, before turning back to the remainder of the group. She wasn't done yet, and Courtney had just made a rookie mistake.
"You know, I don't believe she concluded the meeting. I guess the Secretary will have to temporarily take over the chair. Is there any new business?" A series of bemused shrugs emanated from Taylor, Dana and Hayden.
"Well I happen to have one. Max!" Victoria yelled, beckoning her waif-like saviour over. "I know you've repeatedly expressed how much entry into the Vortex Club means to you."
That much was true, though the answer was generally zero.
"I'm sure we're all aware that any officer of the club is empowered to grant general entry, which for clarification, I have just done. However, it takes a vote of the committee to elevate a new member into the committee. Therefore, I move that Max Caulfield be elevated into the committee immediately. Do I hear a second?"
Taylor immediately raised her hand. Her most important role within the Vortex Club was to second anything Victoria moved.
"Hold on, the chair isn't even here. And all the positions in the committee are taken. You can't-" Hayden tried to interrupt, but was immediately shutdown.
"The chair chose to leave without closing the meeting, which allows for another member of the committee to fill in – the Secretary or Treasurer, if available. I assure you everything is consistent with the Vortex Club constitution. And as for committee positions, we'll just make a new one up. After all, the only positions with actual relevance are the Chair, Treasurer and Secretary. Perhaps we could use a new 'Cultural Attaché?'"
That was, no doubt, in reference to the most nebulous position in a diplomatic embassy, and often used as a cover for the resident spymaster. Apparently it sailed over everyone's heads.
"No, wait, we can't have a hipster representing the Vortex Club's culture, or anything mainstream. 'Counter-cultural Attaché' then. Now, I take it you're opposing this motion. Is everybody else in favour?"
Taylor automatically voted in the affirmative. Dana also voted in favour, as she had nothing against Max and was still thoroughly embarrassed about Juliet blowing up at her. She was somewhat bemused as to why Victoria would first defend her favourite victim and artistic nemesis, and then make them a senior Vortex Club member. Could there be some truth behind that stupid video after all?
Victoria raised her own hand, making the vote three to one. Max was now somehow one of the Vortex Club inner circle. Not one to have her own trick used against her, Victoria quickly declared the meeting over.
Taylor rushed over and announced she couldn't wait to give Max an official vortex club makeover. Apparently, she was going to be Taylor's "greatest challenge to date!" How very charming. The group quickly dispersed leaving Max standing bemused alongside Victoria.
"Victoria…" Max began, still trying to process recent events. "What the hell just happened?"
"Congratulations. You're in the Vortex Club committee."
Max felt this was a nightmare on par with any tornado.
"Look Max, when it gets out Nathan was suspended, he won't be able to keep his position. That means Courtney will be down to Hayden as a supporter. Now, with you and Taylor voting for me, I'll only need one more vote to outright restore myself to my rightful place. Why, I'll probably end up back in charge before the end of the week." Victoria paused for a minute, and when she continued her voice was almost unbearably sweet. "You'll vote for me, won't you Mad Max? After all, I did help save your friend today."
Max made a show of appearing to give the matter a lot of thought before finally answering. So much so that Victoria became genuinely worried.
"Well of course I will, Tori."
Concluding Author's notes:
So this is the longest chapter to date (over 10000 words, and therefore also over 9000 words!), and it was almost all based on Vortex club politics! I'll have to make this up to everyone with something shorter and decidedly more lower brow next time. I apologise for it taking so long to come out, I was originally intending it to be much shorter, and will have to endeavour to break up my story into easier to write and digest pieces in the future. It's also rather depressing that certain amazing fic authors are able to produce this much every day. I clearly have a long way to go.
You might have also noticed that there were eight contacts on… Whoever's Sim card that was that Future Max stole (I'm sure you all know who it belonged to). You might infer from that, that they have a considerably greater support base than in the canon game, so Max must be playing on new game+/hard mode. Hopefully that means she can get an ending with more "imagination ;)"
You might also have noticed (since it's a bloody plot point) that I've tweaked Max's power, so if she rewinds back too far, the rewind pulls her back to whatever previous position she occupied. That's a little attempt to bring consistency what's seen in the canon game, where Max's first rewind takes her back to the class room from the toilets for some reason, but subsequent rewinds don't. Since the start of the game is closely duplicated in this fic, I thought I'd better close the plot hole.
So tune in next time (hopefully with a shorter wait) for the appearance of a character I know everyone has been desperately wanting to see a lot more of… Warren Graham!
( Oh, and Chloe might show up too. )