I see you and I'm so perplexed
what was I thinking
what will I think of next
where can I hide
The shadows grew long, casting the hallway in an eerie pattern of darkness and light. It was the time of day before people started turning lights on. There was enough light to see on your own but the shadows were dark enough to hide in. Victoria Chase walked fast, staying as much in the shadows as possible, a far cry from the way she would normally strut down the middle of halls, demanding attention, flanked on each side by her entourage. She had been avoiding people as much as possible since Nathan had gotten arrested. If she had to deal with one more person asking her what had happened, why Nathan would do something like that, did she know he had a gun and a hundred other stupid questions, she was going to lose it. The worst was the way conversations would stop when she walked into a room now or the looks people would give her, some filled with pity but most of them with unabashed curiosity. Victoria Chase was not the topic of rumors, she controlled the rumor mill at Blackwell, she was not the topic. The only type of gossip that was acceptable when referring to her was how fabulously talented and amazing she was. People could be jealous, that was more than acceptable but they would not be allowed to talk about her as if she was a freak show on display or even worse, with pity.
The afternoon Nathan was arrested, VIctoria was as shocked as everyone else, maybe even more so because he was her best friend and she had no clue that he had been that much on the edge. She couldn't stand that fake, wanna be hipster, Max but not enough to want her shot. That was taking it a bit far, in her opinion. That Nathan had shot someone wasn't even the weirdest thing that had happened that day either. After he had been arrested one of the cops had let Nathan use their private cell phone and Nathan had called her. He had been adamant that she get a few things out of his room before anyone was able to search it. That in itself still wasn't the weirdest part of the day, she had assumed he needed her to get rid of the drugs in his room and maybe some embarrassing porno's but no, the drugs were secondary to a box and the bag of stuff she had to retrieve. The photos had been the weirdest thing by far about that day. She knew Nathan was a bit unstable but the photos he had in his room of Rachel Amber sent chills down her spine, they made her question if she even knew her best friend after all. The girl was clearly out of it and even looked dead in more than a few. And Rachel wasn't the only subject of photos she found. There were some of that blue haired freak that hung out with Rachel and even a few of Kate, all the girls looked drugged and scared. Victoria couldn't get the haunted look they all held out of her mind but the ones of Rachel, looking like she was no longer in the land of the living were the ones that gave her nightmares. Along with the photos, there had been a burner cell phone, she hadn't been able to figure out the password yet to get into it, not sure if she even wanted to, afraid of what else she'd find out about her friend.
After dumping all the bottles of water in Nathan's mini fridge down the sink, another odd requested that made a lot more sense after seeing the pictures, Victoria had made sure to take the box filled with syringes, miscellaneous vials and pills along with the photos and cell phone with her. They were now in her room hidden in the back of her closet in a shoe box buried under a few dozen other boxes of shoes. She felt dirty having it all in her room, she didn't want to think to hard about how all of it pointed to her best friend having murdered at least one girl and drugged at least two others. She was smart enough to realize that by complying with Nathan's request, she'd just made herself an accessory to probable murder after the fact along with who knew what else fucked up shit Nathan had been mixed up in. If she had turned it all over to the police right away she might have been able to plead ignorance but she'd been holding onto it all now for almost three weeks. A large part of Victoria hated herself that she's had to think about it that long, that she hadn't turned it all right over as soon as she realized what it was.
The problem was, she couldn't do that to Nathan, he had serious issues, he needed help, not jail. Unfortunately, because of his family, he was mostly never going to receive the help he really needed. Victoria was a lot of things but she wasn't one to abandon a friend who needed help. Nathan was one sick puppy, there was no denying that, but she wouldn't be the one to turn on him. Nathan was a product of too many people turning on him, of expecting him to be something he wasn't and then punishing him when he couldn't be who they wanted.
The Chase and Prescott families went way back, long before even Victoria and Nathan had been born. Her father and Nathan's were old college roommates and had struck up a life long friendship. Her earliest memories were full of her and Nathan. He was more family to her than most of her own family was. Even though she was an only child, she had never felt like one, Nathan and his older sister, Kristine, had always been there. She had seen first hand the pressure and expectations placed on Nathan from a young age even as she watched him struggle more and more with a mental illness his parents refused to properly address beyond quick fixes and band-aids of medication.
This was the first time she had ever felt any type of conflict when it came to protecting Nathan. The knowledge of what she was pretty sure Nathan had done was weighing her down, throwing off her game. He needed help but she wasn't sure how to get him the help he needed, especially if he had progressed as far as she feared he had. Victoria Chase was conflicted and that was not a feeling she was use to. She was familiar with self doubt, insecurity brought on by the pressure her own family of artists but this, doubting that she was doing the right thing when it came to her best friend, that was completely alien.
Victoria had never liked Rachel Amber, she had tolerated her, but she didn't deserve to die, especially not in the manner she strongly suspected the missing girl had. Nathan had sounded panicked and out of control when he had called her, begging her to help him out.
"Tori, I need you to get the stuff out of my room, destroy it, so no one will ever find it. They wouldn't understand. Don't look at it, get the box under my desk, the bag I have behind the couch and, and the photos. I have a stack of photos in my drawer, you have to get rid of it all. Dump all the water bottles in my fridge, don't look at anything, just get rid of it for good, it's not what it looks like, you have to believe me, just make sure it's all gone before anyone can search my room. And you have to take all the videos of Kate down, all of them, you have to make it disappear, Tori. Don't say anything to anyone, you have to help me. They'll get the wrong idea..."
The way he had plead, in a way she hadn't heard Nathan beg in years, not since he was 8 and had broken an expensive vase his parents had paid a small fortune for and begged her to not tell anyone. Of course she looked at everything, how couldn't she? She had tried to tell herself it was so she knew what she had to protect Nathan from but she knew it was because how couldn't she? How couldn't she look at what had Nathan in a panic. She desperately wished now that she hadn't because she wasn't sure what to do with what she had seen. She couldn't destroy what she had found, as loyal as she was to Nathan, she couldn't bring herself to destroy the evidence.
'Get the wrong idea? Jesus, Nathan, how could there be any other explanation, what the fuck did you do?' For the first time in her life, Victoria was genuinely afraid of Nathan instead of for him.
Getting the video of Kate taken down had been much easier and after a few well placed texts, she got the rumor mill to grind to a halt on that, it was much easier due to all anyone wanted to talk about was the shooting. But rationalizing what she had found in his room to herself was proving to be a much more difficult task.
At first, Victoria tried to explain it all away, that Nathan had paid Rachel Amber to take those pictures, that they were staged, that they were taken long before Rachel went missing, but the problem with being intelligent as well as having a great eye for photography meant she wasn't able to convince herself of any of those possibilities. Besides, that didn't explain the other photos she saw with Chloe and Kate. They all weren't phenomenal actors. She had seen genuine terror and fear in their faces along with intense rage in the ones with Chloe. No, these weren't staged, Nathan was mixed up in some fucked up shit and he'd dragged her into it right along with him.
Nathan pulling her into his crazy schemes was nothing new for Victoria. In the past she had mostly been a willing accomplish but this was universes away from helping him sneak liquor out of his parents extensive collection or covering for him when he'd taken his father's Bentley out for a drive when he was 14, hitting a ditch and denting the fender. Despite every erratic thing he'd done as he got older, like throwing a chair through the formal dining room's full length windows because there were onions on his dinner one night when he was 15 or the time he had pushed his Nanny down the stairs when he was 12 because she wouldn't let him stay up late, Victoria had never been afraid of him before. He never got that way with her, he never so much as raised a finger in her direction, there was a bond between them that seemed to stop his violent outbursts when it came to her and his sister. She thought she has seen Nathan at his worst but then seeing those photos, seeing the evidence, she realized she'd barely scratched the surface.
Victoria was torn between her lifelong loyalty to her best friend and her conscience, her sense of right from wrong. It was too late to hand the evidence over directly, even if she wanted to but that didn't mean she couldn't send it in anonymously, if she dared to go down that road. To do so would be to turn on the one person she had counted on her entire life, neither choice felt like a viable option. Victoria Chase was nothing if not meticulous, everything she did was well thought out, she wasn't one to act on impulse, each move, look, word was carefully calculated based on risk versus reward. It wasn't that she was uncaring, far from it, but in the world she had grown up in, everything was judged with a critical eye to find any flaw or fracture. To be found lacking in any way was a fatal flaw, not only in her family but in their social sphere. Victoria had learned how hard life could be if you were seen to be less than or imperfect in any way deemed important from watching how Nathan had been viewed and treated. His illness had shaped her almost as much as it defined him.
Would it be doing Nathan a mercy to turn over the evidence? Would he be able to get the help he needed? Doubtful, in the current prison system. She felt like the little boy in that horrible movie she had to watch when she was in the 5th grade, Old Yeller, when he had to put down his rabid dog. Was Nathan a rabid dog? She shuddered at the thought, there was no argument that Nathan had more issues than Vogue but she couldn't be responsible for getting him locked up for life, she couldn't live with herself. But if that was completely true then why couldn't she bring herself to destroy the very evidence that would all but guarantee Nathan would be locked up for probably the rest of his life?
This had been her state of mind for the last couple weeks, the constant back and forth, never ending cycle of what to do. The only thing she knew with any certainty was that she needed to get Nathan's things out of her room. Last week Courtney had been rummaging in Victoria's closet looking for a a pair of shoes to borrow, something they did all the time. Victoria had almost had a heart attack, practically pushing the other girl out of the closet and her room while yelling at her to stay out of her room unless she was there. It was only further proof that Victoria Chase was losing her shit. It was too stressful. She had to find a place to dump the evidence that wasn't her closet. Somewhere it wouldn't be discovered or inadvertently destroyed.
There weren't that many options in Arcadia Bay, even less that wasn't somehow tried to her or Nathan's family. Every place she had considered came with the risk of one or the other happening. The school basement was her first thought but quickly discarded, too many kids went down there to make out or Samuel could find it. He was always creeping around, that made the entire campus off limits. She considered the junkyard but too many people went there as well. Burying is seemed stupid and would almost guarantee it being destroyed. A safety deposit box was too easily traced right back to her. She considered a locker at the bus terminal but they only allowed those for so long before they cut the locks off. She was afraid to travel anywhere to get rid of it incase she was caught with it in her bag or anything. So after discarding dozens of possible places, she was still nowhere closer to getting it out of her closet which was quite unfortunate as she got a shudder and deep seeded feeling of dread anytime her eyes fell on her closet door.
On top of everything else, the Everyday Heroes contest had been postponed due to that stupid, hipster, Max Caulfield, getting in Nathan's way at the wrong time. Now, Mr. Jefferson barely looked at her, it was absurd, admittedly, he'd never crossed the line completely with her, there had been a few blurred moments of flirting but after everything happened with Nathan, it was as if she had developed some horrible case of acne the way he froze her out completely. He barely even acknowledging her in class. Victoria wanted to scream.
Finally, Victoria made it to her dorm room, casting a glare at the door across the hall from her's. Fucking, Max Caulfield. She still hadn't come back to school, probably milking all the sympathy she could.
Victoria slammed her door then flopped down on her bed, as far from her closet as possible. She was mildly annoyed that she'd been able to make it across campus and into her room without Courtney or Taylor appearing. Even though she'd been trying to avoid everyone, they still should have been looking for her. It wasn't her fault that she was so stressed and acting like an irrational bitch for the last few weeks, that was no reason for them to be avoiding her more and more lately. They should understand how hard all of this was for Victoria and be there for her.
With a huff of frustration, Victoria carefully took off her expensive shoes, getting up to place them next to the dreaded closet. That's when she noticed that something was wrong, very very wrong. Her closet door was slightly opened, she pulled it open all the way and saw that all her shoe boxes were strewn about, it looked like a mini tornado had gone through her closet as boxes were opened, shoes thrown around like the aftermath of a Black Friday sale at Barney's. Victoria dropped to her knees, panic taking over any rational thought as she threw shoes and boxes out of the closet behind her.
Fuck. Nononono fuck, fuck fuck fuck fuck, fucketty FUUUUUUCKKKKKK!
She grabbed the box she'd put Nathan's stuff in, it felt surprisingly light. She let out a scream of rage and frustration as she tore the lid off, only finding a typed note where all the evidence of Nathan's wrong doings once were.
"Nathan's been a very bad boy.
You've been a very bad girl.
Bad children will be punished."
Well at least she didn't have to worry about what to do with it, now she had much bigger things to worry about, like who had it and what it would take to get it back.
"FUCK!"
Max bit her bottom lip, concentrating with everything she had to squeeze the little foam ball in her right hand. Her fingers twitched as they finally closed around the round object. There was only a whisper of any pressure in the grip but that she'd been able to get her fingers to move at all felt like a miracle to her.
"Great job, Max, much better than earlier." Grace, her Physical Therapist, said encouragingly. Grace was in her late twenties with long, deep auburn hair she kept pulled back in a ponytail with brown eyes. She was what Max would consider more cute than pretty, her makeup was light, some eyeliner, mascara and lip gloss. This was Max's third PT session with her and had found her to be cheerful and encouraging each time. When Max got frustrated, the older woman had a way to make everything sound positive, cheering Max up quickly.
Max allowed herself a small smile. They had started with this exercise at the beginning of her session and she had barely been able to get her fingers to move more than a few centimeters before they would start shaking, refusing to go any further. Then Grace had done a few light stretching exercises with Max's elbow and wrist, careful to avoid moving her shoulder. After doing those, she had Max try to grip the ball again, with much better results.
Grace took the ball from Max and started massaging her arm, starting with with her elbow and moving down, hitting each muscles down to her fingertips.
"Way to go, Max!" Chloe cheered from the chair she was more sprawled over than sitting in, as she played some game on her phone. She looked up and flashed a smile at Max before looking down again, frantically tapping on her screen.
Max could only roll her eyes. She had told Chloe she didn't need to come in, she could pick her up afterwards but Chloe had insisted on sitting in on every session. The first session Grace had shown Chloe how to help Max with some of the exercises they wanted her to do every day, it surprised Max how serious the blue haired girl had been taking Max's physical therapy. She was the one insisting every morning after breakfast that they go through the routine Grace had shown them to help Max recover the use of her hand and arm. It was only the end of the first week so Grace had them working on Max's fingers, wrist and limited elbow movement. Max was improving her dexterity as more feeling was coming back to her, she could feel most of her arm up to her elbow, though it was more of a tingle in her forearm. Her doctor and Grace kept telling her it was great progress, much faster than they originally thought but it still wasn't fast enough for Max.
It was getting harder and harder to spend so much time with Chloe and not tell her about her rewind power, about Rachel Amber, about Jefferson, about everything. Things were further complicated by how much more comfortable they were getting with each other. Max knew the longer she waited the more it would bother Chloe that she hadn't told her sooner. Things had finally settled into a comfortable routine between them.
Max had also noticed Chloe seemed to be a bit more flirty since the kiss. They had never talked about it again but there were times when Max was almost positive Chloe was going to bring it up or make some smart ass comment but it never happened. At first Max worried that she'd freaked Chloe out because it was extremely out of character for Chloe to not tease her.
Her fears were mostly laid to rest the first night when Chloe insisted they could both sleep in her bed. She couldn't have been too freaked out if she didn't mind sharing a bed with Max. Though they hadn't gotten got much sleep at first. Max couldn't seem to find a position she was comfortable in and Chloe was paranoid she would roll over in the night and hurt Max.
Max shifted in the bed for what felt like the hundredth time that night, no matter how she tried to lay, she couldn't find the right position to sleep in that wouldn't result in her rolling onto her shoulder. Her mind running at top speed wasn't helping much either. It was her first night out of the hospital but she could already see dozens of differences between this timeline and the last one, some small and others huge. It weighed on her a lot that she couldn't figure out why there was were so many differences. She knew that there would be some changes if she was shot instead of Chloe but that didn't account for the unrelated changes, or what she assumed to be unrelated.
Case in point, Chloe, the older girl hadn't talked about Rachel Amber nearly as much in this timeline than she had in last one. At least not to Max. She also seemed, softer, more careful with Max compared to the last timeline. Max could rationalize that it was due to her being shot and saving her life but it was still different, the way Max would catch her looking at her sometimes or the way that she refused to leave Max's side, even going so far as to sleep at the hospital a few nights until Max threatened to have her barred from her room because she was starting to smell a bit ripe.
It was too much to hope that Chloe was looking at her the way Max knew she looked at Chloe when she thought the blue haired punk wouldn't notice. There was still the little annoying voice in her head that kept telling her that a big part of Chloe falling for her in the last timeline was because of her powers, Max didn't know if Chloe would ever fall for plain, not so super Max.
"Ok, this is hella ridiculous." Chloe sighed, sitting up, rubbing her eyes.
The light from the street light outside her window casted her in silhouette, for the thousandth time Max wished she had her camera so she could take a picture, the contrast of the light and dark outlining Chloe was perfect. All night since they'd gone to bed, Max had been struggling to stay on her side, in fear of touching Chloe and freaking the other girl out even more after the kiss from earlier.
"Alright, Hippie, sit up for a minute." Chloe said as she moved her pillow and helped Max sit up. "Ok, come here."
Chloe laid back down, her right arm outstretched where Max's head had been. She put Max's pillow on top of her arm, over her own shoulder as she gently coaxed Max back down so that the smaller girl was snuggled into her side. Max laid down hesitantly as Chloe reached over and put another pillow behind Max's back, giving Max a face full of her breasts in the process. Max was grateful for the darkness so Chloe couldn't see her blushing, her face felt like it was ready to burst into flames. Chloe laid back down on her back, pulling Max closer against her side.
"Are you sure this is ok? Are you comfortable?" Max asked quietly, her face only inches away from Chloe's breast. She could feel every breath the other girl took. It was more out of politeness than anything, Max didn't want to move, it was the most comfortable she'd been since she'd woken up in the hospital. Chloe was warm and they fit perfectly in their current position.
"Yeah, I can't roll on you and hurt your shoulder if you're laying on my arm and this way you can lean against me to keep from rolling onto your shoulder." Chloe reasoned seeming oblivious to the effect her actions were causing the younger girl. "Night, Maxi-pad."
"Night, Tampon." Max shot back, Chloe knew how much she hated it when she called her that, almost as much as she hated being called Maxine.
"Ok, point taken." Chloe laughed as she lightly tickled Max, conscious of the injured girl's shoulder. Her tickling soon turned into soft caresses as she gently rubbed circles on Max's back with her fingertips.
Max struggled to keep from moaning out loud, that electric feel was back everywhere Chloe touched her, it was bad enough she had shuddered. Feeling brave in the dark and unable to stop herself, Max leaned her head up and kissed Chloe right above her jaw line, on the lower part of her cheek. It was a quick peck, barely a beat of Max's lips pressed against Chloe's skin but enough for Max's lips to feel electrified.
"Night, Chlo." Max said cuddling back into Chloe's side again. Chloe's fingers stopped for a second, as if stunned but then started their lazy circles on Max's back again. Max smiled, feeling safer and happier than she had felt in weeks. She was quickly asleep. When she woke in the morning, Chloe's head was resting on top of hers. It had become part of their nightly routine, Max sleeping cuddled into Chloe's side with the older girl's arm around her. Max wasn't gonna lie, it was definitely her favorite part of their routine.
"Ok, Max, that's it for today, keep doing those exercises over the weekend and I'll see you on Monday." Grace said after she finished massaging Max's arm, pulling the younger girl out of her thoughts. "Now, Chloe, starting tonight, I need you to massage Max's fingers, hand and arm up to her elbow after she does her exercises, this is going to help get more oxygen to the muscles and the blood circulating more to help get the feeling back, alright?"
"Yeah, no problem." Chloe said as she stood up, slipping her phone back in her pocket. She grabbed Max's jacket, helping her into it.
"Do you know when I'll be able to go back to school?" Max asked. There wasn't a real urgency, she'd been able to keep up with most of her classes between Warren and Kate helping her but the sooner she was able to get back to school, the sooner she'd be able to figure out what to do about the Jefferson situation. She needed to see how he was behaving with her own eyes. It was hard to try and question Kate without drawing any suspicious from her. She wasn't looking forward to all the attention, the stares, whispers and questions she'd get, she hated being the center of attention but she'd more than willingly put up with it if it helped her figure out how to make sure Jefferson never hurt another girl. That both he and Nathan paid for what happened to Kate and Rachel.
Max failed to notice the annoyed look that flashed across Chloe's face when she had asked about going back to school.
"If your recovery keeps going this well I would think in a week you could go back but we'll have to talk to your doctor as well. I know they were planning another surgery for your shoulder so he might want you to hold off until after that. I'll see what he says and we can talk more about it at your next appointment." Grace replied making a few notes in Max's file, "In the meantime, keep doing your exercises twice a day and get those muscles massaged."
"She will, I'll make sure of it." Chloe answered shooting Max a smirk. "See ya, Monday."
"Yeah, see you Monday." Max added as she headed for the door Chloe was already holding open for her.
They walked out of the office building to the parking lot across the street where Chloe's beat up truck was parked.
"Feel like going to Two Whales for lunch?" Chloe asked, unlocking the truck as she stood behind Max to make sure she didn't fall climbing in.
"Yeah, I could eat." Max said, climbing into the truck, she'd gotten a lot better getting in herself. The first few days Chloe had to help her but now Max felt comfortable enough with pulling herself up without falling. It was yet another part of their routine that they had quickly settled into. They went to the diner after Max's PT if Joyce was working or back to Chloe's if Joyce wasn't. Max wasn't sure how she'd be able to go back to cafeteria food after this.
The drive to the diner was quiet, as Max fiddled with the radio. Chloe drove with her elbow on the rolled down window, chin propped on her palm. Max watched the afternoon light filter through the blue and strawberry blond strands of Chloe's hair, the light making her blue eyes seem to shine brighter than normally. It really did take her breath away how beautiful Chloe was. It broke her heart to know that the peaceful look she was catching on Chloe's face more and more lately would be shattered the moment she learned about Rachel's fate.
Max had been going over different ways for the past week to get justice for Rachel. Her dreams were troubled thinking about her being buried, alone in the junk yard while Jefferson walked around as if nothing was wrong and Nathan was hiding behind his team of attorney's. It wasn't right, she had to fix it.
"You alright over there?" Chloe asked, glancing at Max with concern when they stopped at a red light.
"Yeah, just thinking about things, you know. I have to meet with Sebastian's partner tomorrow about the civil suit and I'm really nervous about Nathan's arraignment next week." Max was really worried about those things, so she wasn't exactly lying to Chloe.
"Max, even with all their money, there is no way they are going to give him bail, he brought a gun to school and shot you. They can't be that stupid. With all the Prescott money, his parents would have him halfway around the world the same day they granted him bail, the court has to know that." Chloe reached over, giving Max's hand a reassuring squeeze.
Max gave her a grateful smile, all the while feeling like a major jerk due to everything she was hiding from Chloe.
They pulled into the parking lot. Chloe jumped out as soon as she parked the truck, going around to Max's side to help her out. While Max had mastered how to get into the truck without falling on her face, getting out was a different story. She couldn't help it, she was short and the truck was tall. Chloe thought it was hilarious, of course, but kept her snickering down to a minimum.
They both grabbed menu's as they sat down in their favorite booth, waving to Joyce who was pouring a couple people at the counter some more coffee.
"I didn't realize you were in such a hurry to get back to school." Chloe said flippantly, refusing to meet Max's eyes as she stared at the menu she knew word for word. "Aren't I entertaining enough for you?"
"It's not that," Max started, picking up on the hurt in Chloe's voice, no matter how much the older girl tried to hide it. "I don't want to get too far behind and have to repeat the semester. Too bad I couldn't bring you to school with me, you are pretty entertaining. I'm a big fan of your 'That's what she said' jokes."
Chloe rolled her eyes, smirking at Max, "I can't help it if you walk right into them."
"No, you're just really good at turning anything into an innuendo. Seriously, who knew Toy Story could be so dirty, you've forever ruined for me." Max shook her head sadly, looking down to hide her smile.
"Oh no, you can't pull that naive and innocent shit with me anymore, Maxillion, I know your dirty little secret." Chloe teased as she tapped foot under the table with her own.
"Yeah, you caught me, I totally want Warren." Max teased back though her heart was racing, worried she'd been too obvious about her feelings for the girl sitting across from her, that Chloe had figured it out.
"Whatever, you know you want this." Chloe waved a hand over herself, her laugh had a slight edge to it, she was smiling but her eyes were intently watching Max's reaction.
"Hey, girls, how was PT today, Max?" Joyce asked as she came up to their booth, two drinks already in her hands. She set them down as she fondly smiled at her daughter and Max.
Grateful for the well timed interruption, Max turned to face Joyce, giving her full attention to Chloe's mom. "Great! I was able to actually hold the ball today."
"That's wonderful, darling." Joyce beamed as she pulled out her order pad.
"Yeah, all of Chloe's help is really making a difference. They said I might be able to go back to school in a week."
"That is great news, Max. I guess lunch is on me than today to celebrate." Joyce would never tell her daughter but she was incredibly proud of how responsible she'd been with taking care of Max, taking her to all of her appointments, making sure Max did all her exercises and took her meds at the right times. It warmed her heart to see the change in her daughter as well. Chloe was smiling a lot more these days, arguing a lot less, making an effort. She had even mentioned getting her GED just the other morning. It was hard to believe the difference in only two weeks. Maybe Max saving her life had made her really think about her life and what to do with it. She only hoped it would continue even as Max got better and would need to rely on her less.
"Score." Chloe cheered from her seat. Her leg was bouncing up and down, she was always in motion, bouncing her leg, tapping her fingers, shifting around. The only times Max had seen Chloe be relatively still was when she was stoned and when they were going to sleep. And even then she was still usually moving around, tapping her foot or rubbing Max's back at night.
"So what can I get you girls today?" Joyce asked. They both ordered a cheeseburger and fries. She wrote their orders down and went back to the kitchen.
Max looked at the other people in the diner, searching for a different topic of conversation then the one they'd been on before Joyce had thankfully interrupted them. She wasn't ready to have that conversation with Chloe, not even joking around, she was sure the other girl would see how much Max was not joking. Chloe had always been better than anyone else at reading Max's face since they were kids.
Her eyes fell on a man sitting at the counter, he had messy sandy blond hair and skin that look as tough as leather, making his age hard to determine but Max guessed probably in his late 40s. He was clearly a fisherman, or use to be one before the fishing around Arcadia Bay had started dying down. He had on a long sleeved shirt with a short sleeved work shirt on over it. His dark brown pants were the thick material that fisherman around there favored. He was pouring something from a flask into his coffee.
Max turned her eyes back to Chloe and caught the other girl openly staring at her. She self consciously wiped her mouth. Chloe didn't look away, even after being caught staring she continued to stare at Max, her eyes searching for something within Max's eyes.
"Ah, what?" Max finally croaked out, her body unusually warming up under Chloe's piercing stare.
"I can't get over how grown up you are now, Caulfield." Chloe simply stated. She looked like she was trying to solve a puzzle, she quirked one eyebrow at Max. "I mean, obviously, I knew you had to get older but I still can't get over that the geeky little kid who left here 5 years ago grew up to be this geeky almost adult person."
Max took a drink to try and hide the blush that was creeping up her cheeks. It might not have sounded like a compliment to anyone who overheard Chloe but the way she said, Max knew she meant a lot more, though she was still confused. Was Chloe seriously flirting with her or just messing around with her? It was so hard to tell with Chloe.
"Uh, thanks?." Max stammered out between drinks. She rolled her eyes. Could I be anymore lame? I could control time for fucks sake, so why does Chloe seem to reduce me to a bumbling idiot at times?
Chloe laughed, tossing a sugar packet at Max, "I'm just saying, puberty wasn't horrible to you. Have you even seen Becky Cameron? Oh man, puberty was not good to her. She still has the worst case of zits ever. Serves her right for being such a bitch when we were kids."
Max gave Chloe a disapproving look, it wasn't nice to bully someone over something they couldn't control and acne was one of those things. Though, internally Max was a little pleased. Becky had made Max's life hell in the 4th grade, bullying her for being the smallest and shyest kid in class. Chloe had even gotten into trouble once for defending Max when Becky had pushed her. Chloe's class had been outside for gym while Max's grade had been outside for recess. Max was waiting to get a swing when Becky started giving her a hard time and pushed her down. Chloe had run off the softball field, right into the playground area and punched Becky in the face, knocking her to the ground, then jumped on her and continued to hit her, yelling that no one messed with Max. The gym teacher pulled Chloe off the other girl who was now crying on the ground. Chloe had gotten suspended for two days but her parents never punished her for it. They did tell her that violence wasn't always the answer but sometimes bullies needed a learn a lesson before they stopped. Max's parents took both the girls out for ice cream.
"I haven't seen anyone really that we grew up with. I think I left campus maybe twice before all of this." When Max had gotten to Blackwell she so was terrified she'd run into Chloe in town that she hadn't wanted to leave the campus, not until she knew what she was going to say to the other girl. It appeared as if fate or whatever was out there clearly had other ideas.
"No big loss, most of them grew up to be a bunch of jack asses. Well, except for Abby, but she got knocked up by Brian Longren a couple years ago and dropped out of school. Their baby is adorable, a little boy. She's living with her grandparents over in Grovers."
Abby had been both Max and Chloe's friend even though she was in Chloe's grade. She never made Max feel like a baby because she was younger. Max remember her as a sweet girl who would talk a lot about horses and boys. It was sad she'd had a child so young but hopefully she was happy.
"Here you go, girls." Joyce set their plates down. "Oh, Max, I almost forgot, you got a registered letter today at the house. I put it on Chloe's desk for you."
"Thanks." Max wondered who would be sending her a registered letter to Chloe's house, not many people knew was staying there, and anyone who did would more than likely have called her before going through the trouble of sending her a letter.
A couple kids came in that Max recognized from Blackwell, Justin and his friend, Trevor. Max could swear she smelled weed when they walked in. She laughed to herself, imagining Justin was like the Pigpen character from Charlie Brown, only he was followed around by a cloud of smoke instead of dirt.
"I'll see you girl's at home later." Joyce called over her shoulder, already headed over to the booth the boys had sat at.
"Who do you think sent you a registered letter?" Chloe said, her mouth full of fries. She was attacking her food with her usual gusto, leaving no frie behind.
"No clue." Max shrugged with her good shoulder. She dipped her fries in some ketchup. When she had eaten all her fries she finally took a bite out of her cheeseburger.
"Weird, maybe you've won some contest or something. My Aunt got a registered letter once from some contest she had forgotten she'd entered. She had won a free vacation to Florida. She thought it was a scam when they tried calling her so they sent her a registred letter. Wouldn't it be great to get out of here, go somewhere fun. Maybe not Florida, too many alligators and weird stuff in those swamps but somewhere that isn't Arcadia Bay." Chloe had a wistful look on her face as she stared out the window for a moment, her mind on all the places she'd rather be than in Arcadia Bay.
"Doubtful, I haven't entered any contests lately. But, hey, this summer after school's out, you and I could go somewhere for awhile. Maybe a road trip or something." Max suggested, knowing how much Chloe wanted out of Arcadia Bay but she felt a little strange offering to go with Chloe. It had felt like a Rachel and Chloe thing in the last timeline. She wasn't sure how Chloe would feel about it now, going somewhere with Max instead.
"Yeah, maybe, if I can find a job or something to save up and payback the money I owe." The way Chloe said it, it sounded like she thought she'd still never get out of Arcadia Bay.
"We'll figure it out, Chloe." Max said, wanting to break the heaviness that had settled around the older girl. "And, hey, if Sebastian's partner is half as good as Sebastian is, then maybe the Prescott will be paying for it."
"Wouldn't that be a kick in the ass, their money paying for us to travel around while Nathan sits in prison." An amused Chloe replied, her spirits already lifted.
"Exactly, don't worry, Chlo, it'll work out. I can take pictures of all the dumpy tourist traps and you can get us kicked out of them." Max laughed, no matter what, she was going to make sure that Chloe got out of Arcadia Bay, even if it was only for a trip, she wasn't going to let Chloe feel trapped there anymore.
"We'll be like land pirates, the scourge of the open road." Chloe excitedly said, getting more into the idea.
"And crappy tourist traps!"
"And crappy tourist traps!" Chloe added with a chuckle, raising a few french fries up in the air.
Forgetting to eat her food, Max watched Chloe's face light up as she laughed, the dark mood from moments ago forgotten about. It was one of her favorite sights, when Chloe was unguarded and not acting cocky, when she was purely being Chloe. Her blue eyes would light up like the bluest skies in summer and her smile reached her eyes. Puberty had been pretty damn great to Chloe Price in Max's opinion.
"You done already? You gonna finish that?" Chloe asked, noticing half a cheeseburger on Max's plate. She reached over and grabbed it before Max could respond and shoved half of it in her mouth. Luckily, Max was finished, her chest was starting to hurt along with her shoulder, which was a good thing the doctor's had told her, it meant that she was starting to get feeling back.
After Chloe had finished hers and Max's food, they started walking out of the diner. Chloe slowed down by Justin and Trevor's booth. Justin was showing Trevor some trick, using a frie as a skateboard as he ran it along the edge of his plate before popping it in the air and spinning it around to land on top of the table.
"Yo, Justin." Chloe called, sending the skater a head nod.
"Yo, Chloe. Oh shit, hey, Max, how ya doin?" Justin squinted, his eyes were bloodshot. As usual, Justin was totally stoned.
"I'm doing alright." Max answered. She liked Justin but she was feeling uncomfortable, besides Kate and Warren, him and Trevor were the first Blackwell student's she'd seen since the shooting. She wasn't feeling in the mood to go over everything, her shoulder was starting to throb, it felt like there was some type of pressure pushing at it that was sending shockwaves of pins and needles down her arm.
"That was some crazy bullshit Prescott pulled. If I ever see him, I'm so gonna kick his ass, no one hurts my friends!" the skater boy exclaimed, well as much as he could in his slow, stoned speech but Max figured that was pretty much as excited as Justin could sound in his current state.
"Yeah, me too. That little poser fuck is gonna get what's coming to him. Hopefully, some big ass dude has already made him his bitch." Trevor said, his speech as slow and stoned sounding as Justin's. He slumped back in his seat, as if talking had worn him out.
"Thanks, guys." Max said, oddly touched that they both had offered to kick Nathan's ass for her. She hadn't realized that they even knew who she was really. It was sweet in misguided, boy kinda way.
Justin pulled his hat down more to block out the sun that was shining through the window next to him. "Yeah, no problem. Anyone gives you any shit, you let us know, Max. We've got your back."
"Thanks." Max rubbed her arm, trying to ease the pain she was feeling. It was starting to hurt more as the pressure in her shoulder kept building up.
"Yeah, thanks again, guys, we gotta get going, see ya around." Chloe waved to both the skaters as her and Max left.
"Are you alright?" Chloe asked with concern as soon as they were out in the parking lot. Max had a pained look on her face and kept rubbing at her arm. She'd barely complained about any pain so far but maybe they had overworked her arm muscles with the exercises as home and then the physical therapy earlier.
"Not really, I think I need to take a pain med and lay down for a while." Max winced as another wave shot down her arm.
Chloe unlocked the truck and helped Max up, she ignored the weak protests from the smaller girl that she could do it herself.
Max tried to hide how much pain she was really in, it almost felt as if her shoulder was going to pop out of the socket or something. She was started to get scared, she'd never felt anything like this in her life. Was it normal for her type of injury? None of her doctors had mentioned this type of pain, they had said she might feel some discomfort and pain as the swelling went down and the nerves started working again but nothing about sharp pains all down along her arm from her shoulder to her fingertips.
Chloe kept casting concerned looks over at Max as she drove, not liking what she was seeing as the smaller girl was sweating and gritting her teeth. "Should I take you to the hospital?"
Max shook her head, she felt beads of sweat breaking out on her forehead as her fingers were twitching "No, just need to take some pain meds."
"Are you sure, you don't look so hot, Max?" Chloe's concern was growing by the second, Max was pale and her body was starting to shake.
"No, I'll be fine.." Max said through clenched teeth, fighting the panic that was building up along with the pain. This didn't feel like anything ordinary to her, the way her shoulder and arm felt like they were under pressure, like something was trying to push out of her arm, every nerve ending on fire. She wanted to get home, take a pain pill and calm down. Hopefully, she'd be fine once she was able to relax, the feeling and pain would subside.
The streets of Arcadia Bay zoomed past them as Chloe sped up to get them home. Pulling into her driveway, Chloe was pulling the key out of the ignition at the same time she was opening her door, rushing around to help Max out of the truck.
Max stumbled out of the truck, Chloe's steady arms around her waist the only thing that kept her from falling on the pavement. The taller girl, half carried Max into the house, being as careful as possible.
"Almost there, Max, it's alright. I'm going to go grab your meds. You're going to be alright." She took Max over to the couch, laying the smaller girl down carefully before running upstairs to get her pain meds.
The room felt like it was closing in on her as soon as Chloe had placed her on the couch. Something in Max, some internal feeling, was telling her that she needed to be doing something, that laying down was not the answer. Only, Max didn't know what she was suppose to be doing, how she was suppose to stop what was happening. Her head was pounding when it finally dawned on her, the familiarity of it hit her. This was how she felt whenever she'd had a Storm vision, with the new added bonus of her arm now hurting as well. Fuck, what is going on, I haven't had a vision, is the power still there? Is there a new storm coming?
Max clutched her head as Chloe came over with a glass of water and one of her pain pills.
"OK, careful, Max, don't choke, it's alright." Chloe coaxed as she helped Max, she was really starting to regret not taking Max to the hospital. Max was pale and shaking, her fingers on her right hand twitching as Max tried to bring the pill to her mouth. She was half slumped over, unable to lay down due to her pain in her head. Chloe held the cup up to her mouth, helping her take a drink to wash the pill down. "Are you sure we shouldn't be on our way to the hospital?"
Max heard Chloe's question but her voice sounded far away, like Max was hearing it underwater. Max rolled off the couch, landing on her knees as she clutched her head with her good hand. "No, I just…"
"Max, Max!" Chloe was on the floor, next to Max, holding her, rubbing her back, gently rocking her, doing anything she could to try and comfort the other girl who was clearly in a lot of pain. To say she was scared would be the understatement of the year. There was a persistent pounding coming from somewhere, Chloe wasn't sure if it has her heart or what but it wouldn't stop.
Through the haze and the pain, Max heard the pounding as well, everything seemed to slow down for her as the front door flew open. She heard it bang against the wall as four armed police officers came down the hall and into the livingroom. Max could see them in detail, three men and a woman. Two of the men had their guns drawn, pointed at her and Chloe. The woman was grabbing a pair of handcuffs while the fourth cop was pulling out a taser. Why are they here? What the fuck is going on?
Two moved over towards them, grabbing Chloe to separate her from Max. They were yelling but Max couldn't tell what they were saying, everything was happening all at once. Time went back to regular speed.
"Chloe Price, you're under arrest. Do not resist!" The larger of the male cops yelled at Chloe as he threw her to the ground.
"Get the fuck off me, you asshole. Max, are you ok? You better not fucking touch her." Chloe growled as she struggled against the bigger man trying to subdue her.
Max's head felt like it was about to explode. She watched Chloe struggled against the police, kicking out against the larger one as a second cop came to help subdue her. The second cop had thrown himself over the top half of Chloe, struggling to get her in a headlock. Chloe cried out in pain as one of them pressed a knee into her stomach.
"Stop fucking fighting! We will taze your ass if you don't settle down right now." The third cop yelled, holding his taser out in front of him.
"No! Stop! You're hurting her!" Max yelled, her head and arm felt like they were both close to exploding when she felt a popping sensation in her head, like when your ears popped when you were on a plane from the pressure change.
Everything stopped as Max's hand, while not fully outstretched was as outstretched as she could get it. Max looked at her arm in shock, the pain in her head was gone, the pressure and pain in her shoulder was gone, like a valve had been pulled that released all the built up pressure.
Time started rewinding itself.
