Rachel opened her mouth, but she had nothing to offer. Her brain was still processing what just happened. Chloe showing up like that... it gave her tingles in a silly place. This was perfect, just feeling the wind in her hair and being next to someone who made her feel warm inside meant everything. "I'm so happy," she suddenly let out as some punk song played on the radio. Rachel didn't even think it through.

"Same." Chloe reached out for her hand and laid it on top of the gear lever. "Ever since I met you—" She glanced at Rachel and burst out laughing. "Oh, Lord, I'm gonna stop. You're so red!"

"Shut up!" Rachel squealed. "You're the one being all cheesy and shit!"

"Don't act like you don't love each second!" Chloe winked at her.

The blonde resisted the need to cover her face with a pillow to scream and took out her water bottle to take a sip. A gulp. The whole bottle.

"Damn, if I knew my girl was going to have gay panic when we started dating..."

"You had it before, so don't make fun of me!" Rachel punched her shoulder playfully, pulling away her hand from Chloe's. "Miss Nice Rachel We're Having!"

"You're never gonna let that one go."

"Uh-huh, it's too good. It's the epic start to my favourite love story!"

Chloe smiled, feeling Rachel's starting to loosen up.

Rachel tilted her head to the side with those sparkling cat eyes. "What's got you so lovey-dovey today?"

"First things first, Rachel Amber is my girlfriend!" Chloe yelled out the window and the blonde laughed. "Second, I really wanted to see you."

"Me too," Rachel sighed. "I'd been missing you all day. School hours are too long."

"Seriously!" Chloe agreed, letting go of the wheel for a second, amazed that she was understood. "That's why I avoided it all the time. Now, it avoids me."

"Hey," Rachel said softly, putting her hand on top of Chloe's, which was laying on the gear shift. "You're coming back, remember?"

"Can't believe I'm gonna say this, but I actually can't wait?" Chloe said. "I just wanna be with you all the time. I never had something to look forward to until I met you."

Rachel tried hard not to squeal, her cheeks hot instead. She took a deep breath in attempt to recompose herself and squeezed Chloe's hand. Rachel suddenly smirked in her train of thought. "Well, I had something to look forward to for a while."

"And what is that?" Chloe took a moment to gaze at her before looking back at the road.

Rachel scoffed. "Seeing someone trip in soccer."

Chloe almost stopped the car. "You bitch!"

Her girlfriend held her giggles in and put her fingers up to her chin as if she were thinking. "I also looked forward to basketball. This tall chick kept snatching the ball from me and scored. It was annoyingly hot."

"Oh, Lord..." Chloe trailed off, at this point just slowly going in circles around Rachel's block, thinking about all the sweaty times she'd been that close to Rachel, who unsurprisingly always had the ball. "I should've realized I was gay by then."

The blonde let out her laughter, remembering too. But then her face went dead-serious, almost intimidating Chloe a little. "That was so hot."

Chloe finally parked in front of the Amber's house and rushed forward to kiss her, one hand cupping her cheek and the other interlacing with Rachel's.

Rachel responded immediately, like she had been planning to the same thing. Having no separation between the seat seemed really convenient right now as Rachel's body was suddenly hovering on top of Chloe's.

Chloe swore her heart was about to jump right out of her chest. She'd never felt anything like this while making out with any guy. Well, duh, she's a lesbian. But damn, her girl is good at this.

Rachel pulled away for breath, both resting their foreheads against the other's. "I should go..."

"Yeah, you should." Chloe kissed her neck and made her way up to her ear. "But you don't want to."

"Oh, God—" Rachel could barely let out as Chloe continued. It felt so good. But what if her Mom was looking out the window? She'd never let Chloe in again. Okay, maybe she was exaggerating a little, but... Um... What was she thinking again? Oh, yeah! "Someone might see us."

"Nah," Chloe dismissed and went for a kiss on the lips for reassurance. But as she landed her fingers on Rachel's side, the blonde suddenly giggled, making her body shoot up and bump the horn. "Well, they definitely will now!"

They both straightened their clothes and hair. Rachel quickly gathered her bag and was out of the car. "Bye!"

"No goodbye kiss?" Chloe pouted as her girlfriend walked towards her house.

Rachel turned around and grinned. "I think I gave you enough for today."

When Rachel entered her house, she was immediately greeted by the smell of garlic bread. She happily walked over to her mother, who was in the kitchen, and kissed her cheek. "Hi, Mom!"

"Hi, Rachel." Rose smiled. "You're in a cheery mood today."

Her daughter danced through the kitchen and dramatically swivelled around. "Chloe picked me up today!"

"Aw, that's sweet of her."

Rachel took a spoon and tasted what was in the cooking pot. "I was completely swept off my feet." Yeah, and don't miss the fact that she felt like ninety hundred degrees!

Rose scoffed, her mind going places she didn't want to revisit, back when James used to do the same. But she took a hold of herself by watching her daughter adding oregano to the sauce. "Not too much!"

Rachel stopped and smiled at her innocently. "I'm going to freshen up."

"Alright, but don't take too long. Dinner's gonna be ready any minute!"

Chloe climbed her way up to the roof and then went in through her window, it was always more fun this way. She tried her best to not kick anything off her desk, before grabbing some random clothes and heading straight to the shower. She was sweating all over, trying to calm herself with the cold water dropping on her skin. Chloe had never been that bold before, at least in the romantic sense. She didn't really know what came over her, but she just wanted to surprise Rachel and make her smile somehow. It seemed like her unplanned plan worked out.

Everything felt surreal: Rachel, her good relationship with her mom, another chance at school... Did she actually die that night before the concert and was this some weird, twisted gay heaven? No, it couldn't be, her dad would be here and not that dipshit Moustache.

Chloe took her pirate towel and wrapped it around her body. She cleared the foggy mirror with her forearm, something she hasn't done in forever. She normally skipped some showers, probably because her depression made her stay and overthink for long, and she knew her mother wouldn't be able to pay that kind of water bill. But yeah, things have changed. Besides wanting to smell good for Rachel, her psychologist told her it was good to maintain a routine, yet here she was, showering for the second time today.

She looked at her reflection. Surprisingly, she was smiling too.

Chloe put on some clothes and released she had picked one of her father's T-Shirts, this one was black with a red dragon spitting fire. It fit a little big on her thin body, but she didn't mind, considering not wearing pants around the house, but then she remembered it wasn't just her mom and her here. Ugh, when will he just go?

She exited the bathroom after putting on sweatpants and headed to her room, where she laid flat on her bed. She turned on the radio and lit a cigarette, taking a paused puff to fully relax. Some acoustic ambient song was playing and for a change, Chloe let it play. She'd been so frustrated these past few days that she needed to let it out with hard rock, now she felt a moment of calm. Chloe didn't even hear the door open.

David had let himself in. "I thought I'd smelled smoke!" he yelled.

Chloe put out her cigarette. "How can you smell anything with that thing under your nose?"

He growled and he looked like he was about to launch himself at her. She retreated to the far edge of her bed, against the wall. She suddenly felt small, too small, her breathing started speeding up. She got up in an attempt to feel taller, but he just got closer, inches away from her. "What have I told you about smoking? I don't want it in my house!"

"This is not your house!" Chloe backfired, but not before feeling a hand hitting her face.

"Yes, it is!" David continued. "I've had just enough of your attitude!"

Chloe stood still, one hand on her cheek, for the first time genuinely scared of the man in front of her.

"No snarky comeback?" He scoffed. "You're all talk. When it comes down to it, you just quit." At seeing her quiet, he decided she was no threat anymore, turning around and going towards the exit. Chloe almost let out a breath, but then he stopped right at the doorway, his back to her. "Think again the next time you smoke in here." Then he closed the door.

She was still in shock, not even realizing the flow of never-ending tears down her face. Her breathing was agitated and in a flash, her loose hands became clenched fists. You think again. Her feet took her downstairs and she heard David close the sliding yard door. She went the opposite way, towards the garage. She locked the door and trashed around the space for a set of keys. She found them at the top of a high shelve that only someone her height could reach. Lucky she wasn't a kid anymore and she would show him.

Chloe opened the gun's cabinet and took out a pistol. She struggled to put on the bullets as her hands were shaking inevitably. She didn't notice until her phone in her back pocket shook her back to reality, someone was calling. If David heard she was in here... Chloe was barely able to take out her cellphone and through her blurry vision, she was able to see Rachel's name and answer.

"Hey, Chloe. What's up? I was wondering—" Sob. "Chloe?"

"Rachel," her crying voice echoes. "I'm not—" Highcup. "He..." Sob. "My face."

"Chloe, breathe," Rachel coached as she got off her bed and ran out of her house. "Hey, it's okay, I'm here. Just listen to my voice." More sobbing. "Remember when we first spoke?"

"At the concert?" Chloe asked unsurely.

"No, silly. It was waaay back." Rachel isn't sure how many streets she has crossed, but they feel endless. "Right when I moved to Oregon, my first day school."

"U-uh? That long ago?"

"Yeah. Everyone wanted to talk to me. Everyone but you."

"I guess I didn't care... Nothing mattered after my dad died."

"That's what they'd told me, that they'd just left you alone because they didn't know how to talk to you."

"Assholes..."

Rachel scoffed a little, there was some of her Chloe in there. What had happened? Everything was fine just hours ago. "Right? That's when I tried speaking to you."

"I can't really remember it..."

"That's alright, it was really short." One more block. "I'd said..."

"Chloe, right?" a fourteen-year-old Rachel asked.

Sat under the farthest tree from school, Chloe was looking down at nothing, wearing a black hoodie in plain sunlight.

"I'm Rachel Amber. I'm new and I thought we could be friends."

"You know what you said to me?" Rachel looked around Chloe's house for an open window. The kitchen's was open.

"W-what?"

Rachel was extra careful to not make any noise, being able to see David on the yard through the glass door. "You said..."

"Fuck off."

Rachel tip-toed all the way to the entrance. She was about to head upstairs until she heard Chloe on the room to her right. The garage.

Chloe giggled, but instead of sounding cute, it sounded more like a choke.

Rachel opened the door slowly and Chloe almost jumped, but quickly recognize her scent, her face, her everything. She broke down at her sight, and her girlfriend was scared at the scene, a gun and a couple of bullets on the floor. Chloe's face red and completely wet. She rushed to her side and pulled her in her arms.

"He hit me," was all Chloe could manage to say, clearing all doubts that this wasn't a suicide attempt.

"And he never will again," Rachel reassured her, not entirely sure what she meant. She just knew she would protect Chloe at any cost.