XXVII - ... On the Slippery Slope...

"Hey! Caulfield! We got to talk!"

Max stopped pushing on the wheels and stared up at the blonde standing in front of her.

I don't wanna deal with that bitch right now!

"What do you want?" She snapped back her fingers clenching hard on the rings of her wheelchair's wheel.

Victoria took a step back at her comment, making Max' lips twitch in a slight curve.

The blonde seems to regain her composure quickly and looked down at her, crossing her arms. "I want to know what is happening in the new dorm. Why is it you and Kate look like zombies?"

Max growled. "Why do you care? It's not your business!"

Victoria shook her head and snapped back. "Get of your pedestal, hipster! I don't fucking care about you and your overinflated ego! I'm worried about Kate!"

Max felt the anger rising in her as she remembered the broken expression of her friend standing on the dormitory roof as she prepared to jump, driven into desperation by the same girl now claiming to be worried about her. Max probably could have dealt with it any other day, but the frustration of feeling weak, the pain of Chloe's threat, the lack of sleep just made her snap.

"YOU? Worried about KATE?" She started to scream. "Were YOU worried about HER when you posted that fucking video of HER, being roofied on the net? Were you fucking worried about her when YOU and YOUR Sycophants bullied KATE again and again? Were you fucking worried about her when she didn't want to leave her bedroom in the morning? Or when she fucking started to think about killing herself because of YOU!"

With each accusation Victoria took a step back, and each time Max spinned her chair's wheels to close on her again, pressuring the girl toward one of the benches.

"Were you fucking worried when your boyfriend and your teacher crush drugged her and raped her? Were you fucking worried when your fucking boyfriend showed up at school with a fucking gun and shot at my best friend! Were you fucking worried when your boy toy put me in this wheelchair! You never worried about no one Victoria! You always just worried about YOUR FUCKING EGOTISTICAL SELF!"

The blonde looked in shock at the small brunette shouting. She recoiled again and again until her legs hit the wooden seat of the bench and she collapsed on it her face crumbling, tears starting to fill her eyes.

"I'M SORRY OKAY!" The blonde let go as she started to cry. "I didn't know! I didn't know what had happened to her! I didn't know I was hurting her so much!"

Max felt an animalistic rush seeing the girl collapsing on the bench as she finally found the courage to put her down a peg or two.

"Oh what! You thought a girl like Kate would simply get wasted and be a slut around like that? You think bullying someone doesn't hurt them? In what fucking world do you live Victoria!" She scoffed. "Oh, I know, in your own little shitty world where everything is about you, you and YOU! Well guess what Bitchtoria? I don't live into your shitty world! I don't care about you and you goddamn..."

"Leave her alone!" Max growled and looked at the origin of the voice, expecting to see Taylor or Courtney. They did get closer to try and help their friend, but it was not the one who had spoken up. The sight of the petite blonde girl panting like she had rushed to them, her face flushed, and her small fist clenched stunned the brunette. "Max! What are you doing to her?"

What the hell? Did I jump to another timeline?

Max didn't know what to say as the blonde started to scold her and hurried to wrap her arms around the crying girl. She started to feel like the whole world was against her now for doing the right thing. She cried out in frustration and just started to roll her chair away passing by the two other girls staring at her with both scared and questioning eyes. She went back to her room slamming the door and screamed out. "FUUUCK!"


Kate had been taking a stroll, enjoying the simple fact of walking to change her mind from homework. She was walking back to the dorms when she heard the screaming. As she recognized the voice, she started to run worried something had happened to Max. She was surprised when she realized that Max was in fact coming down on Victoria. As she got closer, she felt her heart sink at the sight of Victoria collapsed and crying on the bed.

Oh Lord, No!

She started to run seeing the sitting brunette leaning forward as she kept pouring hatred at the crying girl. She rushed to put herself between both her classmate and cried. "Leave her alone!"

The brunette's eyes suddenly moved to her, burning with so much anger that Kate couldn't even recognize her friend. "Max! What are you doing to her?" She asked reaching to hug the crying blonde looking at the stunned brunette her own voice raw as she started to argue. "Don't you see what you doing Max? You're doing what you accuse her of-"

Before she even finished, Max had started to move toward the dorm, pushing angrily on the wheels of her chair, seething as she passed Courtney and Taylor who stood there, mouth gapping with shock.

Victoria kept crying and sobbing pressing her head in the smaller blonde embrace. "I'm so sorry Kate! I'm so sorry... She is right... I don't deserve your kindness... I'm so sorry..."

Kate rubbed the taller girl's back, shushing soothingly. "It's okay Victoria. I know you are sorry, I know you didn't mean for it to be so bad... It's okay..."

Taylor and Courtney walked closer frowning at her. "What's all this about?" The brunette asked shocked by Max' behavior.

"Yeah, what is the matter with that girl?" Taylor asked waving a girl at the dorm's door Max had just passed.

Kate looked up and hesitated. "I dunno. Max been having a rough time since she came back." She said frowning as she started to wonder what had been going in her friend's mind.

Courtney scoffed. "Yeah sure, that girl is just a drama queen!"

Kate was about to take Max' defense but Victoria interrupted. "Stop it!" Her broken voice raw and pained. "It's our fault! It's all our fault!" She raised her head looking at her friends. "Don't you understand? We are the bad here! We're the one who bullied Kate instead of asking ourselves if something was wrong! We're the one who ... No... I'm the one who kept supporting Nathan even if I saw he was losing his mind!" She shook her head crying. "I even defended that scum of Jefferson all the time!"

Taylor and Courtney stood there looking at her half stunned by their friend's sudden change and half guilty as they were reminded of their faults.

"Victoria, it's..." Taylor started but the blonde stopped her.

"No! You don't understand! Had we stopped and thought about it we should have known something had happened to Kate! Had we paid attention to him, we could have stopped Nathan from shooting Max! Had we actually acted differently than heartless bitches... We could have done something and ... And I wouldn't have ended a victim of that nightmare too!"

Both the other girls looked confused a moment. "Victoria, what are you..." Taylor started then stopped putting a hand on her mouth as realization struck her. "Oh my God! Please Tori, tell me it's not what I think it is!"

Victoria broke into tears again pressing her face to Kate's small body as she cried again, all the tension of hiding her shame breaking lose.

Courtney looked at Taylor a moment. "What do you mean? What's happening there?"

Kate bit her lip, she could explain it, but she wasn't sure Victoria wanted the secret to be out.

Taylor looked down. "Courtney, you remember the papers never told who the victims of Jefferson's and Nathan's… bullshit were?"

The black-haired girl nodded then frowned. "No! You mean... Kate! Oh, my fucking God!"

Taylor nodded softly feeling ashamed. "Yes... and Tori too..."

Courtney shook her head in denial. "No! Oh god shit I can't believe it!" She started to pace around and then stopped looking at the sitting blondes. "Oh, shit Kate! I'm so sorry! I... I can't believe we did this!"

Kate shook her head. "It doesn't matter anymore. I ... I'm over it now..." She pondered a moment and started to raise to her feet, reaching to coerce Victoria to stand. "Come on, let's take her to her room... No need for others to see her like this." She said as both other girls nodded somberly.


It had taken a while to calm the tall blonde. Kate had felt embarrassed as Victoria had clung to her, not wanting to let her go even after she had been brought back to her room. The small girl had felt the questioning eyes of Victoria's friends on her and she had to fight off the questions about how she felt, and what was going on about Max. She did answer part of those. Well she answered those about herself, but she had deflected the those about Max. It was not her call to make and she just said that she would not talk about it just like she had not talked about Victoria's issues when the blonde didn't want it to be public.

In the end Victoria had drifted into sleep and Kate had softly tucked her in bed before excusing herself. Courtney and Taylor had asked to go see Max with her, but Kate had refused. Before they could argue she had asked them to watch over Victoria and both girls couldn't refuse.

After leaving the girl's floor of the dorms, she slowly headed to the new wing thinking about the events. More than all, she kept thinking about how Victoria kept apologizing for making her want to kill herself. Kate had been surprised and she had asked how the taller girl had learned about that. In the end the girls had recounted the conversation and Kate had felt even more confused.

How did she know? I never told anyone! I never...

Still wondering how Max could have known about the darkest moment of her life, she reached the brunette's room and knocked on the door.

"Max? It's Kate." she called softly.

The voice responding was alien to her, raw with pain and anger it seemed. "Leave me alone!"

Kate frowned feeling confused. She reached to the door knob. "Max, I need to talk with you please."

"I don't want to please!" the girl responded through the door and Kate could hear the sobs in the girl's voice.

Kate took a deep breath before she slowly pushed the door open. "Max please, I'm worried."

The girl inside didn't return any words, she just screamed in a frustrated way that scared Kate.

"Max! please!" She said pushing the door further only to stop at the sight of the room.

The place had been tossed. Clothes were strewn around, some of them ripped apart. Books, pictures and drawers and their content had been thrown down. In the corner of the room, Max sat on her chair holding her head with her hands, pulling on her hair. Kate hurried to her reaching carefully to her friend.

"Max? Are you okay?"


"FUCK!"

Max screamed her lungs out as soon as she slammed her room's door. She turned and looked around her eyes full of tears and frustration screaming again and again, letting rage and hatred pour out. Hatred for Nathan and Jefferson and the memories that kept haunting her. Hatred for Victoria who, in another timeline, had destroyed the soul of the sweetest person she ever knew. Frustration from Chloe who kept her distance with her. Rage against her own brain which kept insisting that she and Chloe were meant to be together, that the last kiss she exchanged with the punk, and which kept replaying again and again in her mind, was proof that they were more than friends. Hatred for herself for being so weak, unable to control her own mind and nightmares to the point she had to use her power again. Hatred for her shyness that prevents her from explaining the depth of her feeling for the blue-haired girl.

Her eyes crossed her reflection in the mirror on the wall and she felt her angers bubbling in her, hear head burning as she saw the shy face, the delicate freckles framed by the shoulder long brown hair.

You are too fragile! Even in the way you look! No style, no personality!

Without thinking she wheeled her chair around the room frantically searching for scissors, opening every drawer and overturning them on the floor, tossing books, pictures, everything from her shelves and cupboard ended up on the floor. She finally realized the scissors were on her desk, sitting beside her computer and pens. She quickly grabbed them and rushed back to the mirror, grabbing hair from the side of her head and starting to cut them, letting the lose strands fall to the floor as she maniacally sliced them again and again. She was halfway through her mane when she suddenly stopped, looking at her reflection before dropping the blades down. She slowly retreated a corner of the room holding her head and crying.

I'm so losing it!

She didn't know how long she had been there when she heard the knock on the door and the soft voice calling through the door. "Max? It's Kate."

Kate? Shit no... please I can't...

"Leave me alone!" she called back leaning forward, her face in her hands.

"Max, I need to talk with you please."

I know what you want Kate... But I can't... I can't take it... I can't see you telling me I messed up please.

She couldn't hold her tears, her sobs as she responded, "I don't want to, please!" hoping her friend would let it go for now.

She heard the door clicking open and the clearer voice of her friend. "Max please, I'm worried."

She kept her head down, gripping her head with her hands as she cried, trying to hide her face, her embarrassment at being seen so weak. She felt the girl getting closer, her arms reaching around her as the soft voice asked.

"Max? Are you okay?"

No Kate I'm not okay, not okay at all!

Max tried to shrink to retreat further and avoid the embrace. "Yeah... I'm ...fine..."

Kate pulled back a little and reached to pull Max's face up. "Max! I know you aren't fine!"

Max tried to resist, moving her hands to try and pry Kate's hands away only to stop when she saw the horrified look on her friend's face.

"Max! What have you done to your hair?"

Max shook her head trying to move away. "I dunno! I... I just couldn't bear to see ... I just... needed to change."

Kate reached to brush Max' hair. "It's okay Max... You are already great! You don't need to..."

Max shook her head sobbing. "I keep messing things up..."

Kate smiled softly. "You are human, Max! It's normal to have issues and to make mistakes..."

Max remained silent, looking down while Kate brushed the messily cut hair examining them. It took her a while to finally be able to wipe her eyes and look up.

Kate smiled. "You will need some help with that." The girl said pointing at Max' hair.

Max winced. "Yeah... I ... dunno what I'll do..."

Kate pondered a moment. "I may have an idea." She said clapping her hands. She stood up and walked toward the door. "I'll be right back."

Max remained there, eyes turning to the window, trying to avoid the mess she made in her room as the girl bounced out of her room.


A/N:

Here is Chapter 27!

Yeah Max is starting to snap but in my mind it is normal. Max been through very traumatic events, even in the case she managed to save everyone she would have lived a very stressful week. She would also be the only one with the memories making it hard if not impossible for her to talk about them. With both those points, I'd think Max would break down little by little.

Now I probably built up some inconsistancies here and there. If you saw some please forgive me. I'm trying hard to reread and stay consistant with the chapters I already published but well sometimes when I write I just let the flow take over and never know what could slip into it.

Enjoy the chapter anyway. As one review mentioned the story will keep spiraling down for a few more chapters. Not because I'm expecting a bad ending. Quite the opposite in fact. I do plan on good and happy endings. But I think a story is much more catchy when you get some difficult moments to build. This way the happy moments gets much more soothing and intense!

Feel free to send more reviews and cya soon for Chapter 28!