Me: Why did you lie to Kate about us liking each other now?

Victoria: I don't know! I freaked out! I know she would feel better if I told the truth. A bitch fucks up sometimes.

Me: Sometimes.

Victoria: Shut up, Caulfield.

Me: Btw, I was not ready.

Victoria: I'm with her right now. I would never let someone sleep on me, but I haven't seen her sleep this good in a long time. Your talk must have worked.

Me: I hope so. I hate to leave her, but we have a mission to do.

Victoria: I'll try to snoop around. I'll send you deets if I find anything.

Me: Thanks.

Chloe made me take the bus once again. I didn't say anything about it, as she made me take it before, but she was in a better mood today. So much better, it was like she didn't have a mental breakdown not too long ago. I could only wonder what she was doing or what she did to make her feel that way, but again, I didn't ask about it.

After the bus ride and getting through about five songs, I was back at the apartment again, went up the elevator and went to the room.

I expected to see my blue-haired best friend-slash-mom when I walked in. Instead, Chloe had cut it short again, the same way for the photoshoot, and dyed it jet black. It was… different, to say the least. I was used to her blue hair!

"Whoa, your hair looks so… dark." Was all I could say.

"My hair wasn't blue anymore, so I was like, "dude, fuck it, I work in the dark now. It doesn't matter what the hell I do.'" Chloe stood up from the couch and spun around to show off her new 'do.

"Has Rachel seen this?" I asked, reaching up to touch and fix her stray hairs.

"Not yet," she shook her head. "She's been hella busy and she said today was worse."

"Any special occasion for doing that?"

"Nope, I just wanted to dye it black. I might throw in some blue again, but—" She does a little hop and swayed her arms around, "I'm hella into it."

"Then," I took my camera out of my bag, "time for another photo op."

Rachel would love a couple of these Polaroids. It was just Chloe being Chloe, flipping the camera off with both her hands and getting into some poses she had to do for the photoshoot (she was really into showing off her jawline). I waved them around to develop and then handed them to her.

"I look badass." Chloe smirked at herself as she flipped through the new photos.

"You look hella badass." I added.

She chuckled, placing the photos on the coffee table, "So, what happened at Kate's?"

I paused, reminding myself with everything that happened. I sighed, letting all my breath leave my lungs. "You better sit down for this."

After doing so, I explained it all. From Victoria admitting to liking us, to Kate's reveal, and to the plan Victoria and I semi-made. She was shocked, but smirked when I was done at the end.

"That's a hella lot of shit to think about. One, I can't believe Bitchtoria likes us, two, I can't believe Kate self-harms, and three, holy shit, I can't believe Bitchtoria likes us."

"Stop calling her that. We're friends now. This is happening because we want to help Kate."

"Speaking of help, this might be a hella crazy idea, but I really think that going back to Arcadia Bay would be good."

I nodded, slightly nervous, "What's your idea?"

Chloe sighed, looking down at the ground and folding her arms, "I think we should see my mom."

I took a step back; that was the last answer I expected. I didn't expect her to call her "mom." We haven't seen her since we left a year ago. We said our goodbyes and couldn't visit them because of things like weather and finals. Her mom was sad to see us go, but she really did promise to not really contact us. Thinking about that, it was a bad idea.

"You wanna see Joyce?" I asked for reassurance. "Where did this come from?"

"If I'm going to actually, you know, grow the fuck up," Chloe raised her gaze to look directly at me, "then I should talk to her. I put my mom through so much shit and I'm sure she'll be happy about hearing me say "hey, I'm going clean.'"

"That's very mature of you, Chloe."

She shrugged, "Plus…" She took a deep breath, "I just really want to see my mom again. Maybe she could offer some advice! I never wanted to hear about them before, but I want them now."

"What about David?"

"I don't really care about him." She rolled her eyes. "But… I guess I could ask him too."

"Right," I pressed my lips to stop the smile forming on my face, "Are we still going to look for Kate's—"

"Duh! We'll do that still! I still wanna do that."

"Okay, good, the sooner we do this, the sooner Kate can start healing and be happy again." I took my messenger bag off my side, dropped it next to the couch, and sat down, nearly landing on the metal. "So, when are we going?"

Chloe sat down next to me, sucking air through her teeth as she slowly started her sentence, "How does tomorrow sound?"

I gave her a look like I was saying "are you fucking cereal?" With my heart racing in my chest and my hands freezing, I shook the nervousness off me like misquitos. "Tomorrow, for sure?"

"Yep."

"Does Joyce know?"

"… Nope. I wanted to surprise her, I guess. I'm full of that shit, you know?" She punched me in the shoulder.

"I know that." I punched back. We shared a laugh as we looked at each other. It eventually died down until we simultaneously fell back, letting our backs rest against the couch.

"Rachel doesn't know either, doesn't she?"

"It's an idea I came up with after Rachel had to go. I came up with a lot of shit when I had to drag you back into the room."

"Okay, but promise me you'll do therapy through the phone, at least. I'm glad you're going and all, but we need to keep talking to them." The therapy sessions weren't much to talk about. I talk about anxiety, she talks about drinking. I could tell we were making great progress! Now, there's Kate.

"Oh yeah, duh."

I nodded and continued after a cough, "Then, let's start packing?"

Chloe nodded blankly. Then, she started to chuckle and point a finger at me. "Right, we have to do that."