2 years after the death of her father, 1 year and 6 months after her last stilted text conversation with Max, 1 year after her mother started dating some new douchebag, 9 months after her first suspension from school, 1 week after making out with some dude at a party to score drugs (and hating every second of it), Chloe saw Rachel Amber for the first time.
She was new to town. She was gorgeous. She was popular.
Suddenly it seemed everywhere she looked so saw Rachel Amber. Every group included her. Every teacher adored her. Every student idolized her. Everybody wanted her. She seemed to defy definition. She fit in everywhere and yet nowhere. She stood out no matter the context. Because of this it seemed natural that Chloe would also take notice, if only in a distant way.
She didn't really have friends anymore, but she had a few acquaintances through the parties she sometimes went to. It was helpful to know people who knew how to score. But during the day, when she found it worth the effort to go to school, she hung on the fringes, largely an observer. So she observed Rachel Amber. From a distance.
Then one day Rachel talked to her. It was afternoon. She had been having a smoke in the parking lot behind the gym. She hadn't heard her approach. She was just suddenly there next her where she leaned against the wall.
"Can I bum a smoke?"
It was so casual. Like it was the most normal thing in the world. As if they knew each other. Not knowing how to react, (if she should be snarky, or pretend she didn't know who she was, or ask if she knew who she was, or what) she ended up just silently offering her a cigarette. And they smoked. Quietly leaning against the wall together, looking out at the parking lot, they smoked. Then Rachel Amber stomped out her bud, raised a hand in a vague wave, and walked away.
Then it happened again a week later. Then again a few days after. Then again and again. Sometimes she would bum a smoke, sometimes she would have her own, but always she would come to Chloe and they would quietly smoke together.
It was nice in a way, to have a routine, even if she didn't understand it. They exchanged words sometimes, but only vaguely. They didn't greet each other in the hallway, but they didn't avoid each other either. They just were. And sometimes they were in each other's company. She didn't think to question it until it had been several months and they were already used to each other.
"Why are you hanging around me?"
"You're real. It's refreshing."
And that was that.