When Chloe goes to therapy today, she is almost bouncing on her heels. Ever since the issue with her mom and David, he has officially moved out since yesterday night and it makes Chloe more than happy to watch him take boxes upon boxes of his items inside his car and move the fuck out of the house. Now that her mother finally sees how much of a monster David was to her, Chloe feels like she can trust her mom again. She can surely get her life back on track without David bringing her down.
However, she knows David hasn't lost his job at Blackwell yet. She may not be there anymore, but Rachel is, and a bunch of other students who may not deserve his wrath. School starts in August, but she can't ruin his life further by making him lose his job. But she won't let him take his anger out on people that don't deserve it because, to be honest, David seems like the type to take his anger out on people.
She was talking to Rachel about it yesterday after David left the house, and Rachel assures Chloe that he won't touch her. He's still gonna be in training when school starts. It still makes Chloe hella uneasy.
"My mom broke up with David," Chloe tells her psychologist to start off things.
Chris can at least contain some of her relief but Chloe can definitely see it. "What happened?"
"David admitted that he used to hit me and she did not react well to it," Chloe replies, scratching her neck a little. "Nature took its course right after that. But, he ripped up a picture that had me, my mom, and my dad on it, so he was really insecure about my previous family. He knows no matter what, he will never be able to replace my dad, even if he doesn't want to." She relaxes more on the chaise, thinking about how much turmoil David has caused since she was fourteen. She never liked him, and it showed. However, her mom never listened and continued to see him and that's when she started getting more angry, like she couldn't trust anyone anymore.
Then the fights began. Chloe often butted heads with David, to the point where he would get physical. The first time it happened, Chloe cried for what seemed like an eternity and started scratching her wrists. She kept on until her mom found out, but David never stopped fighting her. She often got bruises and other marks on other parts of the body, places she can easily hide, but when David punched her on the face, it left a large mark, and it's the first time he ever hit her anywhere above the neck. "So where is he now?"
Chloe smirks. "He's gone now. He moved out yesterday."
"And I already know how that makes you feel."
"So much relief," Chloe chuckles. "It feels like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders. But then, I started to remember that he's gonna start working at my former school, and as much as I hate that place, there's some good kids there and they don't really need to be exposed to that kind of shit, in my opinion. I know David, he's not good with kids, myself included."
"If you really feel he might endanger some of the kids at your school, you should tell them just to make sure they watch their backs and not get into too much trouble, unless they're troublemakers."
Chloe scoffs a little. Most of the kids at Blackhell are little hellraisers. The Vortex Club used to be one club that accepted everyone but now it looks like Nathan and Victoria are gonna acquire the club and change it to an elitist club for popular students and those associated. Also, everyone has their own little vices, Chloe included. It was pot and alcohol for her. Finding out other people's vices is the real mystery.
For some people who knew the principal, he's a heavy drinker, thanks to the stressful job of being a principal. Chloe didn't feel an ounce of pity for him because he does nothing to solve anything for the sake of his students, and she surely doesn't feel pity now, now that she's no longer a student.
Then there was the shady shit between the principal and the entirety of the Prescotts. It's no secret that Sean Prescott had something to do with Nathan being on the football team, whether Nathan wanted to join or not, or whether Nathan can play. Nathan was way more artistic and apparently his father isn't a fan, or maybe he wants his son to do stupid shit. Whatever it is. Ever since his father donated to the school so that they can build the dormitory, he thinks he owns the school.
Speaking of the football team, they do drugs constantly, and Drew was their supplier. Everyone basically sucked and had their own shit to deal with, and when Chloe thought Rachel Amber was immune to this shit, she thought wrong - a cheating father, a mysterious biological mother, and an affinity to control fire. "Everyone's a fucking troublemaker. Most of them do a shitton of drugs at parties and sporting events. That dickhole's gonna have a ball at that school...he might just propose surveillance cameras everywhere, invading people's privacy or some shit. I know i'm not supposed to care, but my girlfriend still goes there. He might just do some real crazy shit and the students have to pay for it."
Chloe realizes her time is up after she hears a familiar buzzer. Shit. This was definitely a time consuming topic. "Same time next week?" Chris questions.
"Yeah, maybe I might revisit this topic."
When Chloe wakes up the next morning, she looks around her room and sighs upon looking at how bad her room is. When has it been cleaned, and stayed clean? It isn't as bad as people would make it seem but it's still terrible. Chloe always knew that the room isn't really kept to its best but she lacked the energy to clean it every week like she did every Saturday, because her father would remind her.
Nevertheless, she tries to make it as organized as possible. There's too many posters around but she keeps the ones of her favorite bands, like Firewalk. There are also things that she keeps, like her rainbow middle finger statue...which was something her mother didn't like but represented Chloe at best - gay and unbothered. She figures she can find some paint inside the garage to paint over the height chart since it's not going to be easily washable, or maybe she can paint the room to something that isn't white. A black room doesn't sound bad in her opinion.
Shit, a black room actually looks hella rad. Chloe might look into that.
When she's done cleaning her room for the first time in probably years, she extracts a large bag of trash and sends it downstairs. The sounds of plastic hitting wooden stairs startles her mother downstairs. "Chloe? What are you doing up there?"
"Taking out the trash, of course," Chloe replies.
"What trash?"
Chloe shakes her head. "From my room?" She opens the front door and puts the trash bag in the bin, then heads back inside. She ignores the surprised look on her mom's face and goes back upstairs, noticing how more...organized her room looks. She feels terrible that she messed up her height chart instead of painting it over but her dad and her ex-best friend are gone, never to be seen again, and was she more than depressed about it? Of course she was.
But she's not gonna keep dwelling on it. That wouldn't solve anything but to get Chloe upset again.
When her mom tells her she's going to do a couple hours, Chloe gets immensely bored within an hour of staying inside the house. She already threw away her shitty weed after quitting cold turkey and she surely isn't going to do anything else so she leaves the house hoping that her mom would keep her busy at the Two Whales Diner.
She decides to walk, of course, because her mother doesn't know about the truck and she's not explaining why she has an old ass pickup truck, plus she still needs to fix it because it's only temporarily fixed for what she constitutes to a few weeks. And also the walk isn't so bad to her. Nobody walks in this town anymore, especially with public transportation and everyone getting a license by age 16. But Chloe's sixteen and she still hasn't gotten her license, or her permit really, but those come with time...and driving isn't that hard for her, thanks to her dad teaching her how to drive.
The diner has its usual customers as usual, and Chloe just sits at her usual booth until her mom comes up to her. "You're that bored at the house? Where's Rachel?"
"I don't always have to be with my girlfriend, mom," Chloe replies. "But if you must know, she's busy with her parents."
"I'm just asking is all."
Chloe hears the door open and close, and watches as a familiar face approach the front table. "I should get that." Her mother goes back to the counter and Chloe hopes to god that they won't be able to see her sitting there. However, she knows luck is not on her side when the person glances at her, and glares at her. "Shit."
It takes them a while, but they get there with whatever strength and speed crutches can allow them to and sit down opposite from Chloe. "Funny seeing you here, Price."
"Joyce Price is my mother," Chloe quips. "Listen, Drew—"
"I already heard enough from you," Drew growls. "You had no right to go inside my room and take something that isn't yours."
"And you have no right getting yourself involved with shitty drug dealers either," Chloe argues back. "You may not like me for the shit I did, and trust me, I don't like myself for it either, but both of us got people we owe. Both our drug dealers know each other and we definitely know how shitty they are, but you shouldn't have kept that money. You would've died."
"And you don't think I would have rather died, so that my brother and my dad have a place to rest?"
"Your dealer would've came for your brother next!" Chloe defends. "Drug dealers do not care about you, or your family, or your well being. They care about supply and demand. You know this, because he just broke your knee. The football team only cared about what you were giving them because it boosts up their performance and makes them invincible, but they don't give a shit about you. You can stay mad at me all you want, and trust me, that is the least of my problems, but I'm not about to let you blame me entirely for shit you did."
"You...are still a fucking trip," Drew laughs bitterly. "You don't think this is all your fault?"
"Oh no, it is my fault, but pointing fingers isn't gonna solve anything! None of us are happy with the actions we did in the past. There are other ways to—"
"Other ways to what? I can't get a job in this town, I lost my athletic scholarship, and my brother can't attend Blackwell without tuition. He's gonna have to go to a local school, but he can't go home to a house, because we don't have a house. We're homeless, Chloe. That's what you're not understanding. Nathan's dad made it impossible for my dad to get a basic job, and you took the only other alternative route I had to get up outta here with my family just to pay off some stupid debt."
Chloe furrows her eyebrows in confusion. "You have no other family members?"
Drew sighs a little, his face softening. Finally, Chloe thinks for a moment. "My dad's siblings don't talk to each other. Apparently they don't like each other...never liked each other. It's a big contrast to the way I treat Mikey. I love him more than anything, and yet my dad can't even speak about his siblings like that."
"That's tough," Chloe frowns.
"Plus, they live far away...somewhere in Canada, last time I checked."
"Canada is a lot better than Arcadia Bay," Chloe says. "I think you should talk to them. They can't hate you or Mikey, no matter how much beef they have with your dad. They still gotta make up though."
"I got friends here though."
"That doesn't mean you have to seize all contact with them. You have their numbers right?" Drew nods quickly. "Good. You make sure you call or text them everyday or every week so that they don't feel like you ghosted on them, and unless your dad's siblings live on the east side, a trip from Canada to here isn't that far."
"They are on the east side, but it's probably my only other alternative. I just wanna get the fuck out of this town. There's too much shit going on here. It wouldn't surprise me if some supernatural tornado just came in and wiped this town to nothing at the end."
"Me neither." No matter how much she had to stay here for her mom and for other factors preventing her on leaving Arcadia Bay, she still wants to leave this place. "Just consider it, Drew. You never know what could happen unless you try."
"I guess. I gotta go, my brother's gonna throw a fit if I don't come back."
Chloe smirks. "Tell him I said hi."
"Will do," Drew smiles back and goes back to the counter to pick up his order and leave.