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As Chloe parked her car in the small parking lot of the Blackwell Academy, she shut the engine down and exited the car. Max followed suit and confusedly turned to look at Chloe.

"Where are you going?" Max questioned and Chloe realized she hadn't told Max her plans for the day.

"Oh right, forgot to tell you. I have a "meeting" with Nathan in the dorms. He had something to give me." Chloe said, causing Max to raise a curious eyebrow.

"Okay then." Max said as she began to walk towards the main school building. Chloe followed her until the walkway split up in the middle of the school yard.

"Hey, you mind if I check out your room in the dorm after I'm done with Nathan?" Chloe asked, her curiosity showing in her voice. Max chuckled and simply nodded her approval.

"You're awesome. I promise I won't break anything… hopefully." Chloe added the last word in a whispery tone, but Max caught it nonetheless.

"You better not! And water my plant while you're there. My mom insists that I keep it alive…" Max faked frustration, much to Chloe's amusement.

"All right, all right, I'll behave. See you in the afternoon!" Chloe bid her farewells for now as she headed towards the dorms. Max waved her a quick goodbye before taking a short sprint to catch up with another girl heading to the main building.

I'm glad Max has friends here. Hopefully she never antagonizes some of the rich kids around…

As Chloe neared the dorms, she ran into the one person she had hoped to avoid like the plague.

"Chloe." David greeted in his stoic, military-oriented way. He was clearly suspicious of his stepdaughter showing up here, but chose to not say anything.

It had always been that way anyway, for the most part. David was smarter than he let on and Chloe was pretty sure he knew about her drug-related habits. Chloe hated David, because he took William's place, which nobody could or should fill. But Chloe also had some respect for David. He had taught her how to shoot a gun and even gave her the pistol she now carried around. "For safety", he had said back then. And of course, he had helped Joyce with her debts, with what little he earned, which was a plus in Chloe's book.

"David. I'm here to pick up something from my friend's room. Max Caulfield, you might remember me telling you about her?" Chloe tried her best to sound neutral so that David wouldn't inquire too much about her business here.

"Max… Your best friend who left five years ago? I didn't realize they were the one and the same." David said in a somewhat surprised tone.

"Yeah. You can expect to see a lot more of her from now on. I already feel sorry for her." Chloe retorted, making David give her a fiery glance.

"You'd better get a move on then." David simply stated as he wanted to move on with his duties. His stepdaughter was not his priority while at work, after all.

Chloe didn't bother to say farewell and bypassed David to continue into the dorms. Chloe had to simply enter the dorms to find Nathan waiting for her.

"Finally, I'm going to miss my class thanks to you." Nathan complained as he handed a small wrapped up box to Chloe. There was an address written on it, but not much else.

"My father expects it to be delivered by tomorrow morning. And before you ask, no, we couldn't get anyone else to do this." Nathan exclaimed, clearly annoyed and hoping to move on from this situation.

"It's fine as long as I get the usual fee." Chloe remarked and Nathan nodded.

"I'll bring the pay to you tomorrow at Frank's place. Victoria will be there too, just so you know. We need to discuss some other business then." Nathan hinted at something, but Chloe knew she would have to wait until tomorrow to find out more.

"All right Nathan." Chloe said as Nathan left the dorms to join his class.

Finally… Now I get to see Max's room.

Finding Max's room was too easy. Room 219 had a slate next to the door like all the rest, but the drawing on it was what drew Chloe's attention. Max had left her door unlocked, so Chloe got in without much effort.

Chloe immediately noticed the wall above Max's bed that had over a hundred pictures on it. Most were landscape shots, but there were pictures of people as well. Someone was absent from all the photos though.

Max doesn't have a picture of me? That needs to be rectified.

Chloe's attention turned towards Max's desk where her laptop was open. Chloe got curious and decided to check if Max had left any sites open. After placing the "gift box" on the desk, Chloe sat down on the chair and clicked the mousepad to awaken the computer.

Score! Her Facebook profile is open. Hmmm, nothing too interesting. Kate Marsh seems to have a lot to say to Max and vice versa. I think she was the one Max ran up to after we parted ways.

Having done enough spying, Chloe stood up from the chair and noticed a singular plant in the corner of the room. Figuring it was the plant Max wanted her to water, she picked up and opened a bottle of water that was resting on the windowsill above it.

Here you go little plant. Hope you live a long and prosperous life.

Chloe's attention then turned towards what she assumed was Max's wardrobe. The tiny space in the opposite corner of the room housed some very modest and simple clothing, much like Chloe expected, but there was also a bikini hanging there.

Oh, I so know what we're doing tonight!

Satisfied with her exploring, Chloe sat down on Max's bed. The cushion on it was familiar to her; Max had sewn it with her mother a long time ago. It felt like an eternity since Chloe had last seen the rest of the Caulfields.

There wasn't much Chloe could do until the afternoon came, so she decided to catch some shuteye to alleviate some of her sleep deprivation. Max's bed felt so much more comfortable than her own and she quickly felt herself fall soundly asleep.

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End notes: Sorry for the short chapter! I've been quite busy lately and hadn't had much time to write. I figured I'd use this chapter as a small setup for the next one, which I'll try to make around 3000 words long to make up for this one.