A/N Okay, before you ask: Yes, I was a bit busy this first half of a year. Between having three big exams infront of the Industrial and Commercial Chambers (All work related, not school.) and starting a new job... Let's just say I dont have as much space in my head for writing right now. This does not mean this story was abandoned. Far from it. I do plan on writing more. Just don't expect regular, weekly updates.

And I am in two awesome discord groups.

One with my friend Hoshitsuki (spebonne), the writer of "Life Has No Meaning Without You":

discord .gg /8SztgV

and one with Blackadder, LazyLazers and co. I dont have an invite link for that, so just check their stories out to see it. :P

Chapter 10 – Preparations

06:30 am. A beeping phone. A tired Punk. What a great combination to start the day. Usually, Chloe would only get up at the last possible second, with just enough time to grab a shower and some quick food before making her way toward hell/school.

Not this time, though. Since she would not leave anything to chance, she decided to rise on the mark. Picking out some of her more neutral clothing, or as neutral as a Punk style could get, Chloe decided on a white t-shirt with a black raven on it. Since the weather was reportedly pretty warm today, this and a pair of blue jeans, without holes, would suffice. Only her boots would be the same as every day, of course.

Quickly showering and brushing her teeth, she could already hear the loud steps of David leaving his and Joyce's bedroom. When she exited the bathroom, he was crossing the corner towards the stairs. Spotting her, David was stunned for a few short seconds.

'Fuck you too. You are not the only one who can rise early.'

Deciding to just walk past him, the blonde haired girl stepped down the stairs. David composed himself pretty quickly.

"What are you up to so early? Why in such a rush, missy?"

'Oh my god. Is he really that paranoid? Wait... If he doesn't know... Hehe...'

Without even turning around, she continued down the stairs.

"That's strange, Sarge. Didn't they tell you, over at Blackwell? I thought you are always so well informed?"

Without even looking at him, she could feel his anger rising up. If there was one thing David hated, it was not being informed.

'Probably the side effects of being a paranoid fucker...'

"Trust me, I will find out what this is all about. And when you inevitably screw up again, I will make sure you..."

Interrupting his rant with a quick "Yeah yeah, later, dick." over her shoulder, Chloe left the house and closed the door, effectively cutting him off. Walking towards her truck, she stopped for a second.

'Fuck! Forgot to get some food. And I have no interest in walking into Captain America again... So Two Whales it is. Let's see how much we can add to my tab today.'

Parking next to the Diner, Chloe exited her truck and entered through the front door. She immediately spotted her mother, talking to a trucker at the counter. Joyce finished serving a plate of food before turning around towards her daughter.

"Good morning, Chloe. You're up early? Anything planned before school?"

'Yeah, keep the accusatory tone down at least a bit, mom...'

"Yes, if you must know. I was asked to help a new student. Showing her around and stuff..." Chloe explained while approaching the counter.

"And now you want to get another 'free meal' before you get on over there?" Joyce quirked an eyebrow. "Why didn't you tell me about helping the new student?"

'Wait, I can use this... Mastermind Price is here.'

The younger Price scratched the back of her neck. "Well... I kinda wanted it to be a surprise? It is actually why I am here. I wanted to get some take-out breakfast to make her morning as comfortable as possible, ya know?"

"Well, I can say I am surprised. It's very sweet of you. What's the new student name?"

This alerted Chloe. Her mother was bound to remember the name of the girl involved in her husband's... passing.

Composing herself, she quickly turned away from Joyce, resting one arm on the counter while looking through the door outside.

"I don't really recall her name. Lucky I have a talk with the Principal before I see her."

Chloe couldn't tell if her mother bought her quick explanation, especially since she didn't trust herself to turn around.

"Okay... So what do you want to take with you?"

'Phew... Dodged a bullet... Okay, but the new problem: What do I take for Max?'

"Ehh... Let's do something simple? Belgian Waffles... I think everyone likes them. And I take my usual."

Sighing, Joyce made her way towards the kitchen. "B&E and Belgian Waffles coming right up..."

'Score again.' The punk smirked to herself.

Takeout-bag resting on the passenger seat beside her, Chloe turned into the parking lot of Blackwell. She was still a bit early, so she decided to take a second to sneak a quick smoke in her truck, since almost no one else was there yet.

Exhaling the smoke, resting one arm on the open window, she began to ponder over her next move.

'Okay Chloe, you have one chance to unfuck this situation. A situation which wouldn't be necessary if you hadn't blown up in her face all those years ago. I just hope she won't run away, like she did yesterday...'

Pulling on the cigarette one last time, exhaling through her nose, she threw the butt out of the window and checked herself over one last time in the mirror.

After being satisfied with her look, she grabbed the takeout-bag and stepped off the truck before making her way towards the school entrance, already spotting the large figure of Principal Wells.

"Good morning Ms. Price. I am glad to see you arriving on schedule."

His voice boomed when Chloe arrived at the large doors.

'In other words: I am surprised you made it on time. Screw you, too.'

"Yeah yeah... Can we get to the point of this... thing?" She replied, already a bit jittery.

Mr. Wells raised an eyebrow-

'Whats with all the raised eyebrows lately?' -

and motioned for her to get inside.

"After you, Ms. Price. Let's go to my office and take care of everything there."

Stepping through the entrance and taking the door to her right, she waited for the Principal to unlock his office's door before entering it.

"I see you took some food with you. No time for breakfast?" He asked with a hint of suspicion in his voice.

'Yep, definitely go screw yourself.'

"Well, I thought it would be a bit less stressful for the new student to start the day with a nice breakfast before I show her around. Can use it to explain some things to her." The Punk answered, clearly taking him off guard with her explanation.

After a few seconds, he recovered. "That is some good thinking. I appreciate you taking this seriously. Let me explain some things about the new student to you." He walked around his large, overcompensating table, to sit down behind it.

"Now, before we start. There are a few things I want to make you aware of. The student I would like you to take care of is called..." He shuffled a bit with the papers in front of him and put on his reading glasses. "Maxine Caulfield. She is Arcadia born, but moved to Seattle a couple of years ago because of... unfortunate circumstances." This made Chloe shrink into herself a bit. The principal didn't seem to notice, busy with reading something in front of him.

"Hmm, yes. Now..." He took his reading glasses off and looked at the younger girl. "Here is the complicated part. Ms. Caulfield is reliant on a hearing-aid. Obviously, this poses some difficulties. But nothing we can't deal with. That is where you come into play."

He pulled out what looked like a schedule for Chloe. "I took the liberty of comparing both of your schedules. It seems you have a few lessons together. Math, English Literature, PE and Science. That should be useful, considering you need to show her the ropes a bit. Here is the schedule, you can hand it to her." He held the piece of paper out, Chloe hesitantly taking it.

"That should be about it. I would like you to accompany her as much as possible today. It should be good since you both have the first few lessons together. After lunch, you do need to part ways, she has..." He thought for a second, before looking at his copy of today's schedule. "... Ahh, yes. Photography. You have... History?" A nod from Chloe confirmed this. "Well, if possible, I would like you to accompany her to her class. This will probably make you late, but I already gave Mrs. Henrikson the heads up. Don't think of this as a free pass, obviously." He raised his voice just a bit. Chloe had to give it all to not roll her eyes.

'And that had to be said, didn't it?'

"Now, shall we go see your new fellow student?" He stood up, gesturing towards the door. The Punk followed him out of the office, out of the building towards the dorms.

Arriving at the door of the girls dorm, Principal Well already stepped inside and held the door open for Chloe. The dorm was unusually quiet this morning, maybe because it was so early.

"Okay, her room is..." He stopped, putting on his reading glasses again and taking out a small note from his suit pocket. "... two-nineteen. Over there, to the right."

He approached the door with the number 219 on it. As he cleared his throat and raised his hand to knock, Chloe took a deep breath.

'Ok... Here goes nothing...'