The birds chirped around Blackwell Academy. The sun was slowly rising and Dana sat on the grass, laying her back against a tree with orange fall foliage. In the last semester, the school's curriculum had implemented workshops for senior students to give them extra credit for college. Dana heard that the new professors were well known among their mediums and that's why the school had built dorms. There were more students than normal, they'd come from all over the country just to take these classes. It was everyone's first day and Dana had gotten up early. She was sure something spicy would happen and she needed to be here to see it.

In the distance, a truck parked in the school's lot and its owner Chloe Price got out after turning off the engine. Shockingly enough, the punk was wearing a backpack and it seemed to have at least one book in it. Dana had seen the full-blown blue hair in Chloe's girlfriend's social media, but it looked even cooler in person. Not to mention her new badass tattoo.

Chloe walked to the path towards the school and waited by the fountain, as if she was meeting someone. Of course, that someone was no other than her girlfriend and Dana's friend Rachel Amber, who was now living in the dorms. Unlike Chloe, Rachel hadn't gone through a huge visual change, except for that cool dragon tattoo on her leg. They were both glowing and Dana couldn't help but smile at them.

Dana walked up to the girls to make her presence known, putting her arms around them. "So how is my favorite power couple doing?"

"Good morning, Dana," Rachel said, not surprised one bit over her friend's needy tendencies.

On the other hand, Chloe was stunned by the physical contact. She hasn't had a friend (that she wasn't fucking) in a while. "Alright?"

Dana turned to the blonde. "Rach, I thought you said she wasn't shy."

"Oh, she's not. You're just too overwhelming."

"Sorry." Dana paused and put her arms off the girls. "So Chloe are you joining a club this semester? You weren't in one before you got expelled."

Chloe started walking inside the school with them. "I haven't thought about it yet."

"Oh my god, you should totally join the Drama Club. Your improv for The Tempest was incredible!"

"Um... I don't know." Chloe rubbed the back of her neck. "I'm more of a science girl."

"Don't worry about it, Chloe," Rachel said. "You can always join the Vegan Club."

"Oh, Chloe, are you vegan?" Dana asked.

"You missed the joke," Chloe answered. "No one wants to be in the Vegan Club."

Rachel had noticed Chloe not eating meat since they practically met. She'd only started teasing her about it on their trip to Cali though. She hadn't really known how to approach Chloe with it yet, but...

"When did you become a vegetarian?" Rachel had dared to ask once.

"Uh, since Bongo died... You know how I make jokes at the worst times? That wasn't the exception. I remember saying, 'Now that he's dead, we'll have to eat it'. Then it hit me and got me disgusted."

So Chloe's humor two years ago had been way darker than Rachel's humor now. "But for real, you should join the Drama Club," Rachel said.

"It's so wholesome," Dana commented, obviously referring to the fact that the dramatic environment filled the void in her life. Or at least that was what Chloe thought.

"I'll think about it, I guess," Chloe responded. "There's just some people I dislike in there."

"Oh, don't worry, Nathan left."

"Yeah.. it's not just Nathan."

After a short silence, Chloe got hit in the arm by Rachel, even when she thought that was hilarious. Rachel couldn't let Chloe disrespect her friends like that, unless Chloe had actually meant Rachel... Haha, no way.

Somehow, by the end of the day, Chloe ended up checking out the Drama Club to see how things would be if she joined. By somehow, she meant Rachel's charm. "We could go over lines together and kiss backstage," Rachel had offered. For starters, why would Chloe want to stay more hours at school? To be with her girlfriend? Come on, she wasn't that whipped.

"Our dear Chloe is here!" Professor Keaton announced. "Will you be joining us this year?"

"Just looking," Chloe answered dryly.

So the first half-hour was Mr. Keaton telling them about the new play. Obviously another drama, but a bit more adult than The Tempest. The script was an adaptation of "Who's afraid of Virginia Woolf?" by Edward Albee. The professor said that they cut out some stuff in their version, but they would go over through the first draft next class to see if everything worked or if something was missing. There were two main characters and two supporting characters, meaning people would be fighting for roles left and right. Chloe could feel that Rachel already had her eyes on the lead female character Martha. To be honest, Chloe believed Rachel could get it right away after hearing Keaton say that the people who worked the hardest would get the roles. He also mentioned that he wouldn't care to change the characters' genders if he had no better choices, probably dissing all the guys' crappy acting in the last play. After some simple acting exercises, he ended the first club meeting early and handed the scripts' draft to the crew.

Mr. Keaton turned to Chloe and handed her a script. "I hope I see you in class next time!" And then he sassily left the room.

Chloe turned to Rachel. "What the fuck does he mean? Has he already included me on his shady drama plans?"

"I hope so, it'd be so much fun!" Rachel said excitedly. "You'd be so helpful reviewing the script. You could actually make it not cringy. And a plus is that you'll be here with me."

And that's how Chloe joined the Drama Club. Even her therapist called her "Whipped" when she told her the whole story about how she felt pressured into joining. Captain Cheese also said that doing new activities was good for her, but of course Chloe could just not show up if she really didn't want to. Thing is, Chloe had actually read the original play that one time she did homework. She had actually liked it. It would suck balls if it went to shit. Apparently the script adaptation was written by Samantha Myers, who was part of the Literature Club (Why are there so many clubs?), so Chloe trusted that it was in good hands. But the real thing was, as the teacher had mentioned, the boys' delivery. Their acting was way too plain and just awful overall. It was as if they didn't feel emotions.

"Well, if you really think that, you should audition for George," Rachel suggested when Chloe told her. George was the other lead character in the story. "Mr. Keaton already said he didn't care about gender."

"So is he bi like you?" Chloe joked.

"Who knows? Maybe. His boyfriend came to the last play."

"Cool as fuck. I swear the most hilarious people on earth are LGBT!"

Excluding Chloe's new knowledge, auditioning for a guy role was pretty wild. At the same time, Rachel snatched the lead male role from everyone in The Tempest. For this play it would be a bit weird though, especially because of the final twist. But I'm sure Samantha could work it out, right? Fuck, Chloe was actually considering this and she wasn't even into acting. Captain Obvious said that Chloe wouldn't have gotten this far if she didn't secretly enjoy it.

So on audition day, students could either audition alone or with a partner. Of course, Chloe and Rachel auditioned together for George and Martha. They began when Rachel entered the room and laughed loudly, followed by Chloe.

"Jesus—" Rachel chuckled.

"Shhh..." Chloe scolded at her wife, who seemed a little drunk.

"—Crist!"

"For God's sake, Martha, it's two am!"

Rachel turned to Chloe. "Oh, Georgie!"

"Well, I'm sorry, but—"

"What a clutz! You're such a clutz!"

Chloe put her hands in her pockets. "It's really late, you know."

Rachel looked around. "What a dump!" she exclaimed, imitating Bette Davis. "What a dump... Hey, what's that from?"

"How the hell should I know?"

"Aw, come on, you know it!"

"Martha..." Chloe trailed off.

"What's it from for fuck's sake?" Rachel insisted. She wasn't supposed to swear, but she felt like it.

"What's what from?"

"I just told you!" Rachel stressed. "What a dump!"

"I've got no freaking clue!"

"Dumbass! It's from one goddamn Bette Davis film!"

"I can't remember all of her movies," Chloe defended, crossing her arms.

"I'm not asking you to remember all of her goddamn movies, just one...!"

Some students laughed in the background, loving their organic and playful dynamic. Mr. Keaton let them go at it for a little more, even though they were past the limit, which was a page and a half. "You can cut it there, haha," he said. "Splendid performance, darlings. No swearing on the stage though!"

"They should totally get the roles," someone whispered.

"They're just good because they're dating," someone else whispered back.

However, the couple ignored the random comments and watched the rest of the auditions in silence. There had been a slight improvement for Hayden, but the rest of the guys seemed the same. On the other hand, girls like Juliet, Dana, and Courtney did fairly good. Mr. Keaton said the results for the final casting would be announced next week.

Chloe followed Rachel to the dorm room 224, where her girlfriend was living. Next to each room's door, a whiteboard hanged on the wall, letting students write whatever they wanted in there. Rachel's board currently read 'hottie lives here', written by no other than her one and only dork.

They took their jackets and shoes off after entering since the interior was warmer than the fall's weather. Rachel wasn't allowed to decorate a bunch, but she kept some posters up and her star lamp on her desk. Chloe dropped on the bed, as if it was her own room. "You did amazing back there."

"Chloe, you surprised me. It felt so real!" Rachel sat next to her. "You've improved a lot since we last practiced, you feel more comfortable."

"I'm just really good at banter."

"That you are." Rachel laid down closer to her. "I'm very proud of you."

Chloe smiled and connected their lips. "Same goes to you."

Rachel looked at the time. It was around five-thirty in the afternoon. "So what do you wanna do today?"

"Hmm... we could continue Breaking Bad. We have like two episodes left off season 3."

"Ooh, alright," Rachel said. "Let's go grab some snacks first."

When they returned and started watching, it was around six. They devoured the savory snacks under 20 minutes. The rest of the second-to-last episode was spent with Rachel resting on Chloe's chest with her arm around her body. When the episode finished, Chloe started giving her excited opinion, but Rachel was fast asleep. The next episode started playing and Chloe paused. Should she wake her up to watch the finale together? Probably not. Rachel was always exhausted on school days. Should Chloe stop watching? The answer was most likely yes, but she didn't think much about it at the moment. Oh, how she regretted it now.

"You watched the ending without me!?" Rachel yelled at her the next morning. "Oh my God, I can't believe you'd do that."

"This isn't such a big deal," Chloe said. "Why are you making it one?"

"You just don't start a show with someone and then leave them out to dry. It's rude!"

"Technically, I watched with you. You were on top of me, after all. Just with your eyes closed."

Rachel turned away from her. "Not funny."

"I'm really sorry it upset you," Chloe took a step closer to her. "I didn't do it to make you feel bad."

"No, you were just being selfish. Never in a million years I thought you would betray me like this."

"Come on..."

Rachel didn't talk to her for the rest of the day. Even when Chloe hanged out with Steph and Mickey during the breaks, they asked about her girlfriend. Chloe didn't share any classes with Rachel because she still had to catch up on her courses. Meanwhile, in Drama Club, Rachel only spoke to her to recite lines, Martha's comments feeling harsher than ever.

"I don't know what you're so tired about," Rachel spat. "You haven't done anything all day! You didn't have any classes or anything."

"Well, I'm tired," Chloe answered. And she was. So tired of not talking directly like human beings. "If your father didn't set up these Saturday night meetings all the time..."

"Well, that's too bad for you, George..."

"That's how it always is, anyway," Chloe grumbled.

"You never mix. You just sit around and talk." Rachel just kept throwing daggers at her. I mean, Martha at Georgie.

"What do you want me to do? Act like you?" Chloe crossed her arms. "Should I go around braying all the time?"

"I don't bray!" Rachel brayed.

"Alright, alright," Chloe said softly. She really was tired. "You don't bray."

"I don't bray," Rachel repeated, sounding a little hurt. Then she pouted. "Make me a drink."

"What?"

"I said, make me a drink," Martha said softly. It was surprising how Chloe would actually do so if Rachel asked her this way, in that beautiful voice. Lord, she was gay.

Mr. Keaton eventually cut them off to give them some feedback and let them take a break. Then he proceeded directing Dana and Courtney, who got the roles of Honey and Nick (who was now Nicky). The rest of the club was rehearsing to be understudies just in case something happened, like when Juliet was late to The Tempest play due to traffic.

"Keep up the good work," Rachel said, trying to sound dry. But she was anything but that.

"You too..." Chloe didn't really know what to say to her. The reason Rachel was upset was so silly, but she also didn't wanna make her feel crazy or unreasonable. Right now, Chloe felt shy and anxious, just wanting to get back to normal already.

Chloe didn't stay over at Rachel's that afternoon, which was rare for her lately. Instead, she crossed paths with no other than her girlfriend's close friend Dana. "Hey, are you free?" she asked.

"Oh, hi, Chloe!" Dana greeted first. "What's up?"

Chloe began walking to the parking lot, Dana following her behind. "So Rachel got mad at me over watching a show without her."

Dana raised her eyebrow. "What? Really?"

"Please tell me it doesn't make sense because to me it doesn't. She even called it a betrayal."

"Hmm... that is kinda weird, right?" Dana commented. "Has Rachel gotten like this before?"

"Maybe, but those times it made sense." Chloe rested her back against her truck and lit a cigarette. "It always had something to do with her dad."

"Do you think this time is different?"

"I don't know." Chloe took a puff and offered one to Dana, who accepted it. Unlike Rachel, she knew how to smoke. "But she won't talk to me."

"Then what are you doing? Go after her. Wasn't your courage what got you guys together in the first place?"

Dana's words seemed to have hit her because Chloe threw her cigarette on the floor, stomped on it and left Dana with the smell of smoke.

Chloe knocked on Rachel's door room. While waiting, she noticed Rachel's whiteboard had been wiped. So she began drawing an angry Lioncrab. Suddenly, the door opened and Chloe got caught. "Um, hi." She quickly hid her marker. "Can we talk?"

Rachel rolled her eyes and went back inside, leaving the door open for Chloe to enter. Chloe stepped in and closed the door. They didn't need the whole school to know what they were fighting about. Rachel had sat on the floor next to her bed.

Chloe sat next to her, not getting a reaction from her girlfriend. "This morning... your anger... does it have something to do with your dad?"

Rachel reached her blonde hair to put it behind her ear, but Chloe did it for her. She nodded. "I only used to watch shows with my dad. This was the first time I had watched one without him. That's why it was so special to me to do this with you. I'm sorry for not telling you before. Just didn't want to make it a thing, but here we are."

"I wish you would've told me. You once said that 'there are some things I shouldn't keep to myself'."

"Silly," Rachel giggled lightly. "That was completely different."

"But I made you laugh, beautiful." Chloe winked at her.

"You know," her girlfriend said, changing the subject. "Today I heard someone say that you didn't deserve the role of Georgie because you're new to the club. It made me so mad."

"I mean, it's kinda fair. There's probably some dipshits in the world who worked all their lives for a lead role."

"In the world, sure. In this club? It felt like just me until you joined. You're so talented and you're only getting better. We're setting the bar high." Rachel paused dramatically. "By the way, you don't have to worry about that person anymore."

"Amber, did you murder someone while also calling us dipshits?" Chloe gasped. "By the way, I have a shovel," she whispered just in case.

"No need. It's all been taken care of." The blonde smiled innocently at her.

"Who's afraid of the Rachel Amber?" Chloe singsonged.

"Virginia Wolf, Virginia Woolf. Who's afraid of the Virginia Woolf?" Rachel sang drunkenly and laughed with Dana. Courtney just smiled.

"Oh, wasn't that funny? That was so funny!" Dana commented.

"Yes." Courtney clapped her hands. "Yes, it was!"

"I thought I'd burst a gut, I really did..." Rachel stopped chuckling. "Georgie didn't like it. She didn't think it was funny."

"Lord, Martha, do we have to do this again?" Chloe said annoyingly.

"I'm trying to shame you into a sense of humor, angel. That's all."

Chloe looked at Dana and Courtney. "Martha didn't think I laughed loud enough. Martha thinks that unless you 'burst a gut', you know? Unless you carry on like a hyena, you aren't having fun."

"Well, I certainly had fun," Dana said. "It was a wonderful party."

"Fuck yeah!"

"Rachel, no swearing!" Mr. Keaton yelled. "And it wasn't your turn to speak!"

Rachel just smiled, not giving a fuck in that moment. Chloe smiled back at her, breaking character as well. Their shenanigans made them start the scene all over, but whatever. Life is a party. What's the point if you're not having fun?