Chapter 02: Momentum

"So, how do you think you did?" I asked Stella as we met by the lockers.

She shut her locker, taking measure of me before giving a little smile. "I felt pretty good about it. I missed the bonus question, though."

"Hmm?" I asked. "I don't think I got it, but I don't know for sure."

Stella held up her cell phone. "I memorized the question, then I texted Chloe. She really knows her stuff, and I totally missed it."

"O-oh," I muttered, feeling a warmth spread through me as Stella's words conjured up images in my mind of that tall, blonde girl and those sorrowful eyes that I felt saw right through to my heart. "Did she say if she made up her mind about coming to the meeting this week?"

"It didn't come up," Stella muttered.

"What didn't come up?"

I looked back over my shoulder to find Alyssa coming up to meet us, her backpack resting on her shoulders. "Oh, um… We were just talking about… Um…"

"How did you do on the algebra test?" Stella said, coming to my rescue. I didn't know why I felt so guarded about our meetings. Most people didn't need to know, but Alyssa knew all about them. We've even invited her to the meetings a couple of times.

Alyssa groaned. "Ugh, that thing was brutal. You two do okay, though?"

I nodded. "I don't think I did great, but I feel like I passed it. We had a little extra help during our last study session."

"I killed it," Stella chimed in. "One step closer to a four-point-oh and my ticket into Blackwell and out of this shithole."

"Really? Next time you two bring in a secret weapon, invite me."

Stella smirked. "I get the feeling that Kate might uninvite me next time," she said, elbowing me.

My insides tensed up as heat built up in my face as my hands fumbled at the cross dangling from my necklace. "I-I would be more than happy just to have a next time."

"So," Stella said, placing a hand on my shoulder, "what do you girls say to having a little celebration? It's Tuesday and that was the last test for almost two weeks! We gotta decompress."

"Thanks for the offer, but my idea of decompressing is a little more on my own," Alyssa said, shrugging to readjust the weight of the backpack.

"Sure, Alyssa. We'll talk later," Stella said, waving as Alyssa passed us by. As soon as she got out of earshot, Stella deflated. "Well, shit. Her place is like the only good place for us to hang out."

I threw my own bag on. "We could do the little book store again?"

"I know that Arcadia Bay isn't exactly full of good places to hang out, but we just went there yesterday. And the day before," Stella replied. Then, she smirked. "I think I get it." Sighing, she grabbed her own bag. "We can go again. But it's your treat."

I smiled. "Of course."

As we entered the little shop, my eyes swept over the little tables and the few, precious booths. While there were a couple of people enjoying a good book and a good beverage, Chloe wasn't there. I couldn't shake the disappointment that weighed on my heart. Stella said it herself. There weren't a lot of places to hang out in Arcadia Bay. Why wouldn't she return? Could she have been deliberately avoiding us?

"Relax," Stella said as she patted my shoulder. "I'll grab our usual spot while you get our drinks."

I obliged, getting our usual orders from the barista before sitting across from Stella at our booth. Stella grabbed her cup, using it to block the mischievous grin on her lips. "So, now that we don't have exams looming overhead, threatening to crush our futures, maybe we should discuss the elephant in the room?"

I held my warm cup in my hands, slowly twisting it in circles. "E-elephant?" I asked, feeling my anxiety rise.

Her smile widened. "Please, I didn't need to know you're gay to see the massive girl-crush you have on Chloe."

My heart stopped. "St-Stella! Don't say things like that out loud!" I hissed, my head whipping around to see who might've heard her outburst that sent my whole body aflame. Thankfully, no one seemed to be within earshot. "Besides, Chloe doesn't have anything to do with… I mean, just because I sometimes have those feelings doesn't mean that I-I-I have those kinds of thoughts about Chloe! I just… It's just…"

"Whoa, whoa," Stella said, setting her drink aside. "Breathe, Kate. Breathe."

I nodded, feeling a tingling in my nose. Focusing on my breathing, I slowly inhaled and exhaled until my lightheaded feeling ebbed away. "Don't tease me like that!" I choked out once I started to feel normal again.

"Tease nothing. I'm stating facts, here," Stella said, her finger tapping against the table. "We met the girl once, and you've mentioned her ten times a day since. And don't pretend like you weren't looking for her when we came in, either."

Both my hands covered my face in a feeble attempt to hide my shame. "M-maybe it's best that we don't see her again," I said, trying to fight the bubbly feeling in my chest. "You're right… I think she might really be stirring up sinful feelings in me."

I felt warm fingers on my wrist. Stella gently pulled my hands from my face as she set her eyes on mine. "Kate. We've been over this. The feelings you have aren't 'sinful,' and there is nothing wrong with you having them."

"What if she…"

"You can still be her friend," Stella said, not letting a single second of silence linger. "I can't say I know her that well, but I really don't think she's so shallow that she'd let a hangup like that affect her. And if she is—fuck her."

Measuring my breathing to try to keep myself together, I tried distracting myself with my drink. "What is wrong with me?"

"You're a sucker for tall blondes?"

And my drink left my mouth to decorate the table between us.

To say the past week wore me out would be one hell of an understatement. I wasn't used to getting more than two or three texts in a week from people that weren't Mom pestering the shit out of me. And most of those were usually Frank setting up a chance to either score some weed, or some meandering task he'd have for me to work off that debt I seemed to always have with him.

But this week I kept hearing from Kate and Stella. Mostly Stella, but still, Kate did thank me on Monday for being there for her and helping out with her studying. Stella, on the other hand, seemed to ask me some science or math-related thing a day, and we actually texted back and forth about the bullshit and drama going on around us at our respective schools.

Stella texted me yesterday that she wanted to hang out with me today. I pointed out the abundance of fuck-all to do in this dead-end town. But she insisted, so I showed up at the beach. It being a piece of shit like the rest of the town, no one hung out here. Just one shitty RV and an empty beach.

For a minute, I thought maybe she wouldn't show—that this was some sort of punking. Because I showed up ten minutes late, and I didn't see her anywhere. But then I saw her walking out from behind that RV. For a moment I thought it might be hers. Then I realized how stupid that thought was. Stella was a year behind me in school. So unless she got held back a year, and she was too smart for that, she should've only been fifteen. Only old enough for a learner's permit.

"Hey, Stella," I greeted, waving like a dork.

"Chloe," Stella said. Her eyes flitted over her shoulder to the RV and back to me. "Let's take a walk."

We fell in step, walking down the beach with no real destination in mind. "So… what's all this shit about?"

"I guess… it's about Kate." Stella sent a glance over at me. "She's actually been in good spirits since we hung out last week." She sighed. "She is really, really looking forward to seeing you at group tomorrow. I keep telling her not to get her hopes up but…"

"You're asking me to go to group tomorrow," I said.

She nodded. "Yeah. This seemed like a face-to-face ask."

I groaned. "I don't want to do that shit again," I bluntly told her.

"You made that pretty clear. But Kate just…" Stella rolled her eyes. "I dunno. She wants to see you again."

Fishing my phone from my pocket, I held it up for emphasis. "She's got my number. We live in the same damned town. If she wants to hang out, she can just give me a call," I said, trying and failing to keep the bite out of my words. "Not like she's in fucking Seattle."

Stella gave me an inquisitive look, and I braced myself for the question that would dig into that particular wound. It didn't come. "Kate's shy. Maybe you could ask her to do something or we could plan something for the three of us to do. Not that there's anything to do around here."

"Yeah, no shit," I replied. "Can't wait to get out of this shithole."

"So, what does Chloe Price do in this shithole to pass time?" Stella asked, waving an arm to show off the grand nothing of Arcadia Bay's namesake.

"Most of the Blackwell crowd isn't exactly my scene," I said. "I guess I spend most of my time at home just watching movies and chilling."

Stella sent me a sidelong glance, holding my stare for several seconds before she asked, "You smoke?"

I chuckled. "Yeah. You?"

She reached into her pocket, pulling a baggie of green halfway out.

My grin only grew wider. "Nice," I said, thumbing over my shoulder. "I know a cool place if you wanna hang."

I took Stella to the lighthouse. They'd put a padlock on the actual lighthouse door, but we were still able to chill there on the cliffside free from interruption. It got pretty hazy there for a while, but I remember it being a pretty damn good time. But we couldn't stay there forever. At least Stella couldn't. It seemed like every ten minutes she worried about not studying enough. She saw getting into Blackwell as her ticket out of this hellhole. It made me wonder if I should try harder. As shitty as going to Blackhell was, the thought of being stuck in Arcadia Bay for the rest of my life dwarfed that nightmare.

By the time we got to the bus stop, our high—or at least mine—faded away. Reality and all my worries started clawing at my brain again. At least someone could listen to me who actually gave a damn. "So… About Kate," I said, not even slightly wanting to hear Stella's response.

She shook her head. "Kate's been in a bad place up until you showed up at group last week. Since then she's been… Shit, she's better than I've seen her in a long time. And most of that is her looking forward to seeing you at group again. Kate's mentioned it every fucking day since."

"Fuck," I muttered, shoving my hands into my pockets. "I really didn't want to go back and listen to everyone bitch about their problems again."

"Hey, bitching about your problems makes you feel better. It sucks you have to take turns, but… I dunno. I like it," Stella said. "So, are you coming or what?"

Leaning back, I turned my eyes to the hazy clouds overhead. Somehow, all I could really see was Kate's earnest smile. "Fuck," I muttered. "I…"