Chapter 3: Hurtful Memories

4th September 2017, Arcadia Bay, Oregon

Caulfield's household

Max groaned as her phone chimed and woke her up from an almost sleepless night.

'Ugh, what a shitty night! Why did Victoria bust my phone with hundreds of texts in the middle of the night, begging me for forgiveness? Damn, I think it's time to have a final talk with her about this shit.'

She crawled out of bed and walked with wavering steps into the bathroom.

'Shit, I look like a complete mess!' Max thought as she looked at her freckled face and red-cried, puffy eyes in the mirror. Then, she splashed some water into her face to wash away the drowsiness, brushed her teeth, and put on her common clothes.

'Mom's probably still asleep. Looks like I have to get my breakfast from the cafeteria today. Maybe I'll meet Chloe, that would at least be a nice start for an already shitty school day!'

With a long sigh, Max grabbed her old cam bag and headed for Blackwell.

Every morning during school days the Blackwell cafeteria was almost overrun by students, all of them on the hunt for a much needed coffee and some breakfast.

As Max entered the cafeteria and saw the masses, she just sighed and got in line. Her stomach was already rumbling and she knew, if somebody would give her some shit right now, she would go all ballistic.

"Hey, Max!"

Max turned around and looked at an auburn-haired, tall girl. "Morning, Dana!" she said plainly, followed by a yawn.

"Tough night?"

"Kinda. Vicky bombed my phone with texts in the middle of the night."

Dana Ward arched one eyebrow. "Really?! I thought you two were done?"

"We are, but…" Max responded with a slight shrug and sighed deeply. "I need to talk with her about it. Have you seen her?"

"Who? Victoria? No. Actually, I haven't seen her at all today and I'm not sad about it. Maybe you should ask one of her minions."

"Yay…" was Max's unmotivated, sarcastic answer.

Suddenly, a wide smirk appeared on Dana's lips as she gave the smaller girl a soft push. "Say, Max, Rach told me that you're head over heels into the new girl."

Max's eyes widened in surprise and her heart began to race.

'Shit, have I been that obvious? Obviously yes, dummy!'

"Wh-what?!"

"C'mon, girl, don't lie to me!" the auburn-haired girl singsong-ed.

'Damn you, Rachel!'

"Ugh, yes. But please don't tell anyone else, especially not Chloe!"

"Chloe, huh? So, that's her name. Sounds cute."

"Cute?" Max scoffed, "She doesn't do cute. She's more like a sexy Red Sonja, riding a Panzer-Tank…but with blue hair."

"O! M! G! Our little Max is into bad girls now. How kinky!"

Max rolled with her eyes while she blushed beet-red. "Better into bad girls than into self-centered jocks."

"Touché!"

Finally, they both reached the counter with the food. Max took two bagels, some donuts and a cup of coffee. She was about to leave as Dana grabbed her hand and dragged her aside.

"Yo, don't you wanna sit down for a bit?"

"Nah, I need to find Vicky and then check my mails 'n' stuff."

"Dude, you really need to slow things down and chill a bit! School year's just started."

"I'll try, okay! But…"

Suddenly, Dana squeezed Max's small hand a bit harder, gazing at her in a mixture of worry and seriousness. "Listen, Max, I didn't wanna tell you, 'cause I was unsure about your feelings for Chloe. But now I see that you mean business and…" She let out a deep sigh, dropping her gaze for a moment. "Max, I heard her crying. Damn, the whole dorm must've heard her."

"Who?"

"Chloe. I don't know if anyone was able to sleep until she'd stopped."

"That's…just horrible. Didn't anybody try to comfort her?"

"Max, it's the girl's dorm. Drama-central. The showers are spilling tears. It's nothing new. But…I never heard someone crying like this before." Her look into Max's eyes intensified. "Max, what I wanna say is, that she's probably carrying more load than it seems."

"So?" the smaller girl hissed back, her expression suddenly angrily. This wasn't the first time she had to defend the person that she had feelings for against other's prejudice. Sadly, last time she ignored the warnings and paid the price, and recalling this made her even more furious. "Maybe she just needs someone to carry this load with her? And I'm more than willing to do so. And I don't need your or Rachel's approval for that!"

With these words said, Max turned around and stomped out of the cafeteria, completely ignoring Dana's spoken apologies. She gulped down the coffee in one draw, threw the empty cup into a garbage bin and stuffed the food into her bag.

'Great, first Victoria doesn't let me sleep and then Dana goes all wannabe-protector on me, 'cause Chloe cried at night. Damn, after I broke up with Vicky I bawled for days and nobody gave a fuck. It was just "poor Max" here and "you'll get over her" there. Rachel was the only one who tried to comfort me.'

Max stopped in her angry tracks as she saw Courtney, sitting in the hallway, already making some advertisement for the Vortex Club.

"Hey Courtney, have you seen Victoria?" the brunette girl spoke with agitation.

More annoyed than offended, the black-haired girl just shrugged. "Haven't seen her since yesterday. But if you see your punk-dyke, you can tell her that she should cover her ugly body, before strolling through the dorm."

Hearing more negative things about her crush, something snapped inside of Max. She took hold of Courtney's collar and lifted her from the chair.

"At least she doesn't look like a fucking scarecrow! Now get off my crack and crawl back into someone else's ass!", she yelled into her face and let her fall back onto her chair, before continuing her tour of rage to the Prescott Dormitories.

Hot tears of anger were now flowing down Max's reddened face as she recalled some of the fond memories she had of Victoria. Memories of a time they both were in deep love; a time without Blackwell; without a Vortex Club.

14th August 2014, Seattle, Washington

The Chase's apartment

Two young bodies, entangled in a lustful dance. Their moans getting louder with every movement until they grew into soft screams of relief and pleasure.

For some moments the room was filled with silence, only broken by some heavy breathing and the sound of soft kisses.

"I love you, Vicky!" the 14-year-old Max whispered softly.

"I love you, too, Maxine!" was the now 15-year-old Victoria's also whispered answer, followed by some more slight kissing.

Both girls now turned onto their backs, still completely out of breath from their game of love.

"So…did you like your present?" Max asked with an impish smile, entwining her fingers with Victoria's.

"Best. Present. Ever!" the blonde with the messy pixie-cut gave back and leaned in for another, but now more intense kiss.

"I'm so glad that your folks let us leave this boring soiree sooner."

Instantly, Victoria's face darkened, the previous good mood suddenly gone. "Yeah. I can't wait to bail for Blackwell."

Silence occurred once more, broken by Max's soft voice a few minutes later. "Vicky?"

"Hmm?"

"Is it the right thing to go to Blackwell? I-I mean it's a good school with a photography program, but…I don't know…I just have a bad feeling about this."

"Maxine, I finally wanna have my parents off our backs!" Victoria turned to Max, brushing over her freckled cheek. "I don't wanna hide anymore. I wanna show the world who I really am and what a stunning girlfriend I have!"

This comment painted a shyly smile on Max's face. "Thanks, Vicky! Y-you're awesome, too, y'know?"

Once again, Victoria leaned in for a long kiss.

"Say," the blonde spoke after the kiss, "Wanna watch one of my new Animes?"

"Definitely!" Max answered with a grin.

Victoria crawled out of bed and began to rummaged through her movie collection. "Smut or gore?"

Resting her head on her arm, Max stared at her naked girlfriend with a still lustful gaze. "I already had smut, so how about some gore?"

The blonde picked one of the movies plus her High-End-Laptop, and returned to bed, where both of them cuddled themselves under the blanked.

Although she didn't know the running flick and it wasn't that boring, Max wasn't able to avert her gaze from Victoria. And as much as the blonde tried to hide it, she was doing the same from the corner of her eyes.

Soon, both of them couldn't hold back anymore and looked at each other intensively. A series of hot kisses followed, which would've lead to more, if the voices of Victoria's parents hadn't told the girls that they weren't alone anymore.

"Maybe we should have some more smut as soon as my parents are asleep?" Victoria whispered into Max's ear.

"Definitely!" the brunette girl replied softly, almost completely lost in the eyes of her loved one. "I love you!"

"I love you, too!" the slight older girl responded and placed another kiss on her girlfriend's lips, "Forever!"

24th September 2016, Arcadia Bay, Oregon

Blackwell Academy

The school campus was completely silent. Only a few lanterns interrupted the omnipresent darkness. The quiet scenery was only disturbed by the two persons who snuck through the night. One of them was blindfolded and lead by the second one.

"Vicky, where are you taking me?" the brunette girl whispered, almost tripping over a root from a nearby tree.

"Ssh, Maxine! It's a surprise, okay?" was the blonde's answer. She took a look around and walked the last few yards in a fast pace until they reached the backdoor to the swimming pool.

The door opened with a loud click and both girls entered the building, a wave of an intense chlorine smell engulfing them.

"The swimming pool? Are you crazy?! We're not supposed to be here. How did we get in?" Max said half-panicky, still blindfolded.

"Chill, Maxine," Victoria spoke with a soft voice, brushing with her hand over her girlfriend's face, "I asked Zack for a favor and he took care that the door stayed unlocked. Besides, we're not the first students who would take a midnight swim." She leaned in and gave Max a soft kiss. "I fucked up a lot, Maxine and it's time to make up for it."

"Vicky…" Max spoke quietly, her body tense from nervousness.

"Do you trust me?" the blonde whispered, which was answered with gulp and a frantically nodding.

Slowly, Victoria began to undress Max. First her Hoodie, then her shoes and jeans, followed by the brunette's pink shirt. Still without any sight, Max experienced everyone of Victoria's touches very intense. Her breathing was shallow and her heart raced. And it got even worse as Victoria whispered in her ear with a tantalizing voice.

"What do you think, Maxine, should we just skip our clothes, skinny-dip and take a swim with a big happy-end, hmm?"

"Y-yeah!" was the smaller girl's exhaled answer and as Victoria stripped off her bra, she bit her lower lip and moaned softly.

Victoria leaned in and pressed her lips onto Max's for a long and hot kiss, before she spoke into her ear again. "Now it's your turn to get me naked!" Max was about to take off the fabric that was covering her eyes, but was stopped right away by the soft touch of Victoria's hands. "Uh-uh! You don't need those."

Leading Max's small hands, Victoria let her draw gentle lines all over her entire body, until they reached the bottom of the blondes cashmere-sweater, ready to pull it up.

"Hahaha, look at those tiny titties!" a male voice, unexpectedly, chimed through the whole building, accompanied by laughter, snickering and other hurtful comments. Max gasp in surprise, withdrew her hands from Victoria's sweater and covered her breasts with one arm, while she ripped off the blindfold with her other hand.

Panicky she looked around and saw that the whole Vortex Club was flooding into the pool area. Max stood there, only dressed in her white panties. She felt weak, embarrassed, vulnerable. Her whole body was trembling and all she wanted to do was to run away. But shame and panic let her stay in place. Her only hope now was Victoria.

"What the fuck are you guys doing here?" the blonde yelled at her friends.

Taylor Christensen, clearly drunk, rolled with her eyes. "Looking what you were up to. And as I see, lot worse than I thought."

"Well, bad for you, Taylor. Now fuck off!"

"C'mon, Vic," Courtney spoke, while smoking a joint, reaching it to Victoria, "Arcadia Bay's so boring. Let's party and get high! You can drag Miss Flatchest here along, if you want."

Ignoring Courtney's offered joint, Victoria exhaled deeply, pinching the bridge of her nose and weighed her choices as she turned to Max again.

"Maxine, you wanna…"

SLAP!

From one moment to another, the noise of the partying students abated completely. Holding her reddening cheek, the blonde looked into a pair of welled up, hurt and anger radiating blue doe-eyes.

"Maxine…I-I didn't know…" Victoria stammered, but was cut off by Max instantly.

Tears were flowing down the smaller girl's freckled face in a constant stream, and her voice was trembling. "They insulted and made fun of me…about my body, and you…you just stand there and do nothing." She sniffed and a sob escaped her mouth, her voice getting weaker. "I don't know what hurt more, their words or your silence. I can't do this anymore…I just can't." For a short moment her sight got determined. "You have to decide: me…or them."

"B-but…"

"Until 8 am I want your answer or…or…" Max's face grimaced as she wasn't able to finish the sentence. She grabbed her clothes and ran out of the swimming pool, her fading sobs chiming through the building until she was gone.

"What. A. Drama-Queen.", Taylor commented dryly.

"Such a joy-kill!"

"Stupid hipster!"

"Ugly bitch!"

Victoria heard the mean comments, and they hurt her, because they were against the only person that ever meant something to her. But once more, she stayed silent. Feeling empty and dull. She knew what she should do right now. She should follow her girlfriend and comfort her; apologize for what she did. But she lacked the courage. Victoria Chase was too scared to look into the eyes of the girl she just hurt so badly.

A first tear dripped onto her expensive cashmere sweater as she ignored all the others and went straight for the exit. But before she's able to leave the building, Rachel Amber blocked her way, standing in the doorframe with crossed arms. Her furious eyes gazed at Victoria chidingly.

"I hope you're finally satisfied!" the blonde girl with the feather-earring said, earning a hatefully glimpse.

"Get out of my fucking way, Amber! Or are you enjoying yourself, seeing me like this?"

"I'd love to say yes, but seeing Max in pain for this doesn't give me any pleasure. Though I'm glad that she's finally drawing a line."

"Then what do you want?"

"Giving you something to think about. What do you want in your life, Victoria? If you're searching for love, then follow Max. Comfort her. Hold her. And, by all there's left in the universe, hold on to her! But if you're looking for fame, then just be fair and let her go. She deserves better than a life in uncertainty, not knowing if the girl she loves is gonna bail on her from one day to another." Rachel stepped aside and let Victoria walk past her, only to grab her by her arm in order to stop her once again. "Victoria, I never wanted to be your enemy. So, please, for Max's sake, take my advise seriously!"

Without another glimpse or another word, Victoria ripped her arm from Rachel's grasp and left, heading for the dorms.

25th September 2016, Arcadia Bay, Oregon

Blackwell Academy

Slowly, she opened her eyes, the bright morning light blinding her. Victoria groaned and covered her face as a painful sting went through her head.

With drowsy movements the blonde tried to find the phone on her nightstand. An empty wine bottle fell from the small table and hit the ground with a clinging sound, making Victoria curse under her breath. Finally, she managed to find the wanted object, took the phone from the nightstand and glimpsed at the unlocked display.

"No!" she gasped and jumped up as she realized that she hadn't send the message for Max, which she'd written on the whole night. And as she recognized that it was already past 11 am, Victoria grabbed her jacket. But before she was able to leave, her foot hit an object that was laying in front of the door.

It was an envelope with her name on it, written in Max's handwriting.

Without wasting another second she ripped it open. Took out, unfolded and read the containing letter.

Dear Victoria,

it is now 9 am and, though I thought about those words the whole night, I hoped from the depth of my heart that I'd never have to write them down.

But it seems like this hope was in vain. You made a final decision by staying silent again, and I'm respecting it, though I'll never understand it.

Maybe this is the best for both of us. Probably I've never been the perfect girlfriend for you. I don't know. But I know that I don't want to dictate you a life that you're not comfortable with.

You said to me once that you wanted to go to Blackwell so that you could show the world who you really are. Maybe it was just my wishful thinking that the real Victoria would be an attractive photo-nerd with a hang for shy photo-geeks.

Anyway, I just hope that, one day, you'll find the real Victoria. A Victoria that will be a successful photographer. A Victoria that finally hasn't to hide anymore.

I know this sounds like a stupid cliché, but we still can be friends. Maybe not right away, but surely after some time has passed.

Damn, now I don't even know how to end such a letter. Goodbye? Farewell? Later?

Maybe I just stick with a simple: See you around!

Max

4th September 2017, Arcadia Bay, Oregon

Blackwell Academy

Small droplets hit the now one year old letter. These weren't the first tears soaking this sheet of paper, smudging the ink on it some more.

'Not one word,' Victoria thought, 'Not one fucking accusing word about how bad I treated her. Not one bit of blame. She just accepted it. Took it with dignity. And I? What did I do? I just hid again, like a coward, because I couldn't bring up the guts to tell her that I love her and that the Vortex Club can go to hell. I'm such a fuck-up!'

'And last night I just confessed all this stuff I wanted to tell her a year ago. Without any context. How pathetic is that?'

A hard and intense knocking disrupted her thoughts and let Victoria jump scare.

"Victoria," Max's voice yelled through the door, "Open this fucking door or I swear to dog that I'll kick it in!"

"Shit!" she muttered under her sigh, mustered every bit of courage, walked to her door with shaky limbs and opened it slowly.

Her gaze fell onto a very angry looking Max with red-cried eyes and clenched fists.

"Maxine…" the blonde whispered.

"Don't Maxine me, Victoria!" Max screamed into her face, "What the fuck is wrong with you?"

"I'm…I'm so sorry." Victoria spoke quietly, only to be interrupted again.

"S-sorry?! You're sorry?! Eight months, Victoria! It took me eight fucking months and a fucking therapy to finally get over you. And now…" Max's anger suddenly abated, while her lips began to tremble and new tears were flowing down her cheeks, "Now you're telling me that you still love me. That the Vortex Club means nothing to you. Why now? I was so glad that those wounds were finally healing and you…you ripped them open again. I was crying the whole night, thinking about us; what we had and…"

Max's voice broke. Her hands unclenched and she wrapped the arms around her now shaking body.

Trying to give her some comfort, Victoria wanted to embrace her into a soothing hug, but Max withdrew instantly and gave her ex-girlfriend an angry glare.

"Fuck off, Victoria! Get out of my fucking life!" she hissed and ran out of the building.

Victoria's gaze followed Max until she'd left the floor. Attracted by all this commotion, every girl living on this very floor stood in the hallway, looking at Victoria - the queen-bee, the president of the Vortex Club - with nosy eyes.

She knew that she looked like a complete mess and normally, Victoria would've flipped them all off, pretending that nothing had happened. But she was tired of it. She didn't want to pretend anymore. So, she let those tears flow. For the first time of her life, Victoria Chase cried in front of other people; showed them her true emotions.

To her own surprise, someone wrapped an arm around her body and dragged her back into her room. After the door was closed, she was taken into a tight, soothing hug. And now, Victoria broke down completely. She didn't care who this shoulder belonged to. She was just thankful for it and cried every bit of pain out.

A hand combed through the blonde's short hair, followed by some soothing words. "Let it all out! It helps!"

Straight away, Victoria broke the embrace and backed off as she recognized the other person's voice. "You?! Why? Why are you doing this? Wanna laugh at me? Wanna give me some more shit? Then just do it already!"

Chloe gazed at the blonde for some time without showing any emotion, until a wry smirk formed on her face. "As much as I'd like to slap some sense into your bitchy brain, I won't do it."

"B-but I deserve it."

"No, what you need right now is comfort and time to think. Victoria, if I wanted to, I could give you a lotta shit. But I'm not like that. I don't stomp on people when they're laying on the ground. I know the feelings your going through…if you haven't heard last night. And I bet that no one else around here will give a shit about it. So, last chance for a mushy hug."

And again, Victoria broke down. Her face grimaced. She jumped forward and cried out every bit of emotional pain into Chloe's comforting shoulder.

Balls of used tissues were scattered all over her desktop. For the last hours, the silence of the small office has been broken by constant sobs and sniffs.

Max didn't know when she'd finally stopped crying or if anyone had heard her. She didn't care about that anyway. Most students of Blackwell already saw her shedding tears the one or other day. May it because of bullying, school stress or just the fact that she had one of her mental breakdowns. Nobody asked, nobody cared. Except maybe Rachel and Dana, but Max didn't want to burden her only friends with her emotional crap.

Resting her head on her arms, Max stared at the wall of the room. She felt empty and without any motivation. She never wanted to go all ballistic on Victoria, but somehow it happened. Somehow all these piled-up feelings of anger and disappointment towards her ex-girlfriend were released in one big blast.

She took a glimpse at her phone and realized that it was almost lunch break. Normally, Max was supposed to be available for students during the whole break, but neither did she want to get up, nor to unlock the door.

'Fuck this place! I don't wanna do this anymore. Every time some shit happens I'm responsible. Everyone blames me if Wells comes up with another stupid rule. Fuck this shitty job!'

A sudden knock at the door let the brunette raise her head rapidly. But she stayed put, lacking any motivation to see another person.

It knocked again. "Max, it's me, Rachel." it chimed through the door.

With a sigh, Max stood up and unlocked the door. She hadn't even opened it entirely, as Rachel already rushed inside and took the small brunette into a tight embrace, rocking her softly.

"I just heard what happened. Oh Max, I'm so sorry!" the blonde whispered.

Max didn't know what to say. Rachel had always been at her side; gave her hold; comforted her when she needed it. She was a real friend and Max was so thankful for it. And this fact made her cry in relief.

Lunch break. For most students it was the very welcoming rest after the first class. Eating lunch, enjoying the warm weather of the beginning fall or just relaxing in your dorm room were a few possibilities, which could be done during this time.

Max would've loved to enjoy this break, too. But sadly, the job as a student council dictated her that she needed to be available for students and teachers during lunch break at least two days a week, and one of them was Monday.

'Too bad that Rachel had to get back to class so soon. I would've loved to talk with her some more, but…' Max thought and buried her face in her hands, letting out a big sigh, 'At least she covered my ass by telling Mr. Peterson that I have women's problems and needed to lay down a bit. She's a true friend, if not even more like a sister.'

The buzzing of her phone told Max that she'd just received a message. She unlocked it and a wide smile grew on her face as she read the text.

[Chloe]: yo Maximus! heard you have the shitty shift.

[Chloe]: gonna bring u some food.

[Chloe]: and keep u some company.

[Max]: Can't wait to see you!

She started the browser of her phone and typed into the search field: how to make a move on a girl. But before she was able to hit the search button, the door of the office flew open and a more than furious Nathan Prescott stormed in.

"YOU STUPID CUNT!" he yelled and slammed his hands on the desk, "What's your fucking problem, dyke?"

Unimpressed by the brown-haired boy's outburst, Max just raised her gaze from the phone, arching one eyebrow.

"Well, gee, Nathan. Nice to see you, too. How're you doing? I'm not so good, by the way. Wanna sit down?" she replied cynically.

"Victoria's gonna bust your gay ass for this!"

Hearing her ex-girlfriend's name sent a sudden jolt of anger through the brunette girl's body, making her stand up and yell back at Nathan. "I don't give a rat's ass about her opinion! Besides, she already agreed with this. So, shut the fuck up, sit down, and tell me why you rammed Mrs. Hoyda's car and shoved it against a lantern?"

Intimidated by Max, Nathan sat down, crossed his arms and didn't bother to look at her.

"This bitch parked in my spot."

This surprisingly marginal reason for vandalism and insult let Max open her eyes widely. "You're shitting me, right?" Receiving no answer, the young girl got furious again. "Are you fucking cereal?! There are no designated parking spaces. Neither for students nor the faculty!"

"Wrong, bitch. I own this school, therefor I own the parking lot."

Upon those words, Max just shook her head and scoffed. "You're an idiot, Nathan, and I'm tired of covering your sorry ass. I'm gonna report everything to Principal Wells and let him deal with it."

"You wouldn't dare!"

"Try me!"

"I'm…gonna…KILL YOU!" Nathan screamed angrily, jumped up and onto the table towards Max, who was completely stunned by this overwhelming outbreak of violence.

Nathan's hands were about to grab Max's neck into a choking hold, but stopped merely a few inches before making contact. The air seemed to smell like ozone and both stared at each other in surprise for a moment, until Nathan was suddenly thrown back and hit the ground hard.

Above him stood Chloe, who glared at him agitatedly. She put one of her combat boots on his chest and bent down a bit, her blue eyes seeming to glow in the light of the room.

"If you try to touch her ever again, I'm gonna rip off your fucking junk and stick it so hella deep into your ugly ass that you can suck on your own balls! Got it?" the bluenette hissed and intensified her glare.

Everything Nathan could muster in fear, was a frantically nodding, before he turned onto his belly, crawled towards the door, stood up and ran out of the office.

"What a fucking ass-…" before Chloe could finish her sentence, she's taken into a tight embrace by Max.

"Thank you!" the brunette whispered quietly, followed by a sniff as she tightened the embrace even more.

Chloe smiled warmly and brushed through Max's hair, rocking her softly. "Dude, you really should get another job."

"Or just hire you as my bodyguard." the smaller girl replied with a scoff, breaking the hug to look at Chloe. "Your hair," she said with a frown, combing through the punk-girl's blue hair, "It seems to glow somehow."

"I…uh…I just re-dyed it this morning. It'll fade…soon." Chloe answered plainly, and turned away, "Let's munch or else I'm gonna starve."

Taken aback by Chloe's sudden change of mood, Max just stared at her quizzically, but then remembered what Dana had said.

'If she's really carrying that much around that it makes her cry, I shouldn't wonder when she reacts sensible to some topics. I should better not poke any deeper.' she thought, almost expecting Chloe to be still in a bad mood, but as the bluenette faced her again with a wide smirk on her face, she was even more surprised.

"Meat 'n' greed or Veggie-na?" the punk-girl said, holding up two wrapped sandwiches.

"Wh-what?!"

"Carnivore or herbivore?"

"Oh…uhm…I-I think I'll take the bacon sandwich. Thanks, Chlo!"

"Really?" Chloe said with one arched eyebrow, "And I would've thought you were completely into Veggies."

"I am," Max replied with smile and unwrapped her meal, "But not when it comes to food."

"Huh."

Both girls sat down and started to eat, chewing on their for in silence.

"Max?"

"Hmm?"

"Can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"As a student council, you listen to student's complains, right?"

"Sadly, yes. But not only students, but also teachers." She let out a big sigh. "Originally, I was supposed to be a link between students and the faculty, and it was actually fun to help everyone out. But last year, Principal Wells," she quoted the next word, "upgraded my job and turned me into a filter for every shitty complain and problem there is at this fucking school so that he would've more time to crawl up some donator's rich ass."

"That…hella sucks ass!"

"Yeah! But I only have to pull through this shit one last year. At least, they cut me some slack with my grades. But why did you ask?"

"Well," Chloe began, lowered her gaze and scratched her neck, "I…uhm…I kinda have a complain about a student, and…uh…I think you can help me with it."

A bit angry about that even Chloe wanted to file in a complain, Max almost lost her temper. "Okay, if this is about Victoria or one of her Vortex fuckers, just write me an e-mail and get in line. Dog, I'm so tired of this fucking Vortex-Club."

"Uhm…no, Max. Chillax, it's not 'bout them."

"Huh?! But who else would mess with you on your first day?"

"Okay, listen. There is this girl…I don't know, probably your height…and I met her yesterday. And there's something about her that hella annoys the shit out of me."

"Okay, I admit, Rachel can be very…"

"No, not Rachel! The girl I'm talking about is brunette,"

'Fuck.'

"Has freckles all over her cute face,"

'Me.'

"And is totally into me."

'Sideways.'

"But the thing is that I totally dig her, too, but don't know how to ask her out since she's always so busy. And despite that she already wets her panties only by seeing me, she doesn't ask me for a date either. What should I do?" said Chloe, leaned forward and grinned at Max with anticipation.

For a long moment, Max just sat there and stared at a mischievous smirking Chloe. Her thoughts were making a rollercoaster all honors, while her heart almost jumped out of her chest and her breathing was close to hyperventilation. She licked her dry lips, ready to give her crush an answer.

"W-well…uhm…" she stammered, "Wh-why d-don't you just use…uh…th-the first opportunity to ask her?"

"Hmm…" the bluenette hummed, pinching her chin like thinking about this advise, "I don't know. Sounds too simple."

"Goddammit, Chloe, just ask me out!" Max suddenly blurted out to release the tension.

Chloe's smirk grew even wider as she got up, rested her hands on the desk and leaned in until her face was only a few inches from Max' away. "Okay, Caulfield, wanna go on a hella hot date with me?"

"Y-yes!" the brunette exhaled quietly and moved her head closer to Chloe's, ready to place a kiss on her lips, but was stopped as hers just touched a finger.

"Uh-uh! No kiss before the first date. I'm not that cheap, y'know?"

A knock on the door let both girls end this intimate moment. Max cleaned her throat in order to calm down a bit. "Well shit, I think my fucking duty calls."

"Yeah, I need to prepare myself for my next class, too."

"You mean, you need a smoke."

"Yup!"

"We'll see us tonight?"

"You can bet your sweet ass on that."

"Does this count as our date, then?"

"Nope!"

And with this word, Chloe opened the door and stepped out while another student entered.

'Max Caulfield, you're back in the game!' she thought with a warm smile, completely ignoring the student in front of her.

5th August 2016, Portland, Oregon

Sunrise Orphanage

A wide, devilish grin painted his bearded face as he was about to take his final reward. In front of him lied Chloe Price, the girl who, until now, resisted everyone. But not anymore. In a few moments this resistance would finally be drowned in screams and groans.

Pater Jefferson fixed his gaze on the scenery in front of him. He was ready. Ready to take what was rightfully his own. He readied himself, took position and wanted to enter her. But he seemed to have missed, so he tried again. And again and again, but to no avail. It was like an invisible barrier separated them, making even the slightest contact impossible.

"How's this possible?!" Jefferson hissed furiously, trying once more to enter the young girl, and again he failed.

Chloe's whimpering and sobbing had stopped some moments ago. Now, an evil grin was formed by her lips and an eerily snickering emerged from her mouth.

"What is it, Jeffershit? Having trouble to score?" the young girl said with amusement and a slightly distorted voice.

"SHUT UP!" he yelled back in anger, giving her a slap on the head and gave it another try, until Jefferson suddenly had a strange feeling on his sex, like someone was grabbing it in a tight hold, but there was nothing.

"You know, Jeffersuck," Chloe began, "Let's have a look at what's wrong with you."

The sound of ripping flesh chimed through the room, followed by an intensively loud scream of agony. Pater Jefferson crumbled to the ground, his hands covering his blooding crotch.

Slowly, Chloe lifted herself up from the bend over position and turned around to face her tormentor. Her eyes were glowing deep-blue as well as her hair. She bobbed her head to one side and shifted her gaze to Jefferson's sex, which was hovering right beside her. Blood dripped from it to the ground, already forming a puddle.

"Hmm, I think I know what the problem is." she said nonchalantly, glancing at Jefferson without any emotion again, "You are a dickless fuck!"

His body now entirely flooded with adrenaline, Mark stared at the now blue-haired girl in shock. "Th-the devil…y-you are the devil!"

Chloe threw her head back, laughing out loud before gazing at Jefferson with amusement again.

"The devil? Look who's talking."

"The Lord will punish you!"

Instantly, the amusement vanished from Chloe's face. "The Lord." she scoffed. Then, without her moving a limb, Jefferson was lifted up from the ground and floated in mid-air, arms spread out. Chloe closed in slowly, until she was almost face to face with the man she hated for so long. "How many lives have you destroyed? How many children lost their innocence because of you? How many of them have you driven into suicide? You still think you're doing god's work, do you?" she said emotionlessly, a single tear rolling down her cheek, before her lips formed an evil smile again.

With a sound of ripping flesh and sinews, Jefferson's right hand was ripped off his arm in a slow motion, making him scream again. Blood spurted from the open wound, painting everything in its direction red.

"You wanna see a god's work?", Chloe asked, after he'd stopped crying again, with an even more distorted voice, her eyes glowing more intensively as she moved her head even closer to Jefferson's, "I am a god!"