Kate Marsh and Chloe Price

Crap. She totally heard me. I'm about to be skinned alive by a punk girl before I ever even clear my name. This is how I'll be remembered. The girl who made out with a bunch of boys at a party she doesn't remember and was then literally eaten by a scary blue-haired girl who found her in an abandoned lighthouse. This is fine. Everythings fine.

Everything was not fine. At least, not to Kate. After her episode in class she ran as far as her legs could take her. Eventually as the trails became thinner and her legs more tired, she found herself here. At the top of the old lighthouse overlooking a crystal ocean, and the storm that just passed over visible on the horizon. She cried, and napped, and cried some more, and eventually she realized that it was already sunset, so she should head back to the dorms. That's when she found herself in this situation.

Kate couldn't help but jolt when she realized somebody had come into the light house. That's when the somebody looked up, and when their eyes met neither said a word. Kate found herself staring at what was possibly the most stereotypical edgy teen she had ever seen. The stranger stared and furrowed her eyebrows. She obviously had questions held back to make sure nobody near outside could hear her.

Kate looked out of the broken window she had been napping at, and then back down to the girl. Outside, the swirling pool of angst had started drinking whatever the stuff they brought was, and a few of them were dancing to music from one of their phones. Upon looking back, Kate saw that the edgy girl had started tiptoeing up the stairs. She moved almost as if she would scare Kate away if she went any faster. The two didn't break eye-contact the rest of the way up, and eventually when the mystery girl reached Kate she spoke.

"Hey."

Kate could feel the heat in her face, she had no idea how to handle this situation.

"Hi."

"Uhh what brings you here?" The blue-haired girl questioned.

"Uhm. Nothing much"

She seemed almost annoyed at how timid Katewas. "Okay, What's your name?"

"Kate."

"Okay, I'm Chloe."

Kate was trying her best to try and keep the conversation natural, she had a horrible tendency of sounding weird. Kate tried her best to become comfortable and question Chloe next.

"Alright. So, you're hiding from the vortex club I guess?"

The punk girl sighed, "Yeah, I was just chilling on the bench but I didn't really have a way to leave when I realized they were coming." After explaining she paused and stared at Kate for a moment, silently taking notice of the bags under her eyes. "And what were you doing up here?"

Kate tensed up. "I was, just… chillin."

"Chilling"

"Yeah"

"Your eyes are puffy"

"Well gee that's nice of you to say" Kate chuckled, but it was really a hollow feeling. It reminded her of how hard it is to ignore this sinking feeling in her stomach. She felt like she was falling into hell.

Chloe giggled at the Kate's sudden sense of humor "No, I mean I can tell you weren't just 'chilling.'"

"Well, what do you want me to say? Those kids down there embarrassed me in class and I ran away here? That I sat here and cried all day because I'm not sure what to do? I can't just say that to people." Kate mentally facepalmed, you just did dumbass…

Putting aside the sudden confession, Chloe investigated, "You go to Blackwell?"

"Yes." Kate sighed. "What about you?"

"I dropped out from there, almost 2 years ago now."

"Oh. wow. I don't really remember you."

"That's fine, I don't remember you either. It seems pretty obvious we hang out in different crowds."

"Yeah, me in no crowd and you in the edgy one"

Both girls were smiling now, and Kate was glad she finally managed to lighten the mood and get comfortable with Chloe.

"Dang girl, you got some sass."

"I'm only sassy because I'm mad. I… don't normally act this way with people."

"Because of Victoria and her little bitch Nathan?"

Kate's voice went soft again. "How did you know it was them specifically?"

"I've had... Encounters with those two. Especially nathan… That fucker actually roofied me once…" Chloe trailed off, glancing out the window and frowning.

This comment made Kate's breath stop all at once. I'm not crazy… Nathan must have drugged me that night when I…

Chloe noticed the sudden paleness of Kate's face. "Hey, you okay?" She asked. "Wait. Do you know something about Nathan? He didn't do anything to you did he?" Chloe was nearly heart-broken. No, if this sweet little innocent girl was so much as touched by Nathan... "Well, Chloe... I'm just not sure what I saw. What I do know is that at a vortex club party I somehow got blackout drunk despite drinking only one sip of wine… But everything after that is so blurry I don't know if Nathan, or…" She felt so helpless. She couldn't even explain it properly.

"Wow, dude this is really fucked up I'm so sorry Kate." Chloe sympathized. Although she sounded like she wanted to kill Nathan more than anything.

Kate giggled and blushed slightly "No don't be… I feel like, I mean it's my fault for even going, y'know?"

Chloe sputtered slightly "No, Kate, it's not. You're literally the only victim here. God, I wanna punch that bastard. I could do it right now, just hop down there and punch his little ass so hard he runs back to blackwell."

Kate was very taken back by her new friend's sudden rage. "Uhm. You really shouldn't, Chloe."

Chloe looked back to Kate, realizing that she got way too worked up and possibly scared this seemingly porcelain girl. She sighed and composed herself. "...Yeah. But we gotta do something about him. I mean in this state he could just go and do it again to another girl. He could be doing it right now! They have drinks down there…"

The two girls both peeked out the window to see how the event had evolved in this short time from a gathering to a full on rave. One of the kids pulled out their speaker and was blasting bad club music at full volume. Nathan was chatting with Victoria, near the edge of the small crowd. The pair was swaying to the music as they drank and laughed.

Kate wondered just how much more legitimate this case could be with two victims now. Alone she felt crazy, but with another girl… "I… Should we call the police?"

"No! We can't! That'll just get us in trouble. Nathans dad basically owns Arcadia Bay, Nathan would be waltzing past the police and immediately back into the city to continue his pervy shit. Unless, if we took care of it ourselves." Chloe explained. She looked at Kate awaiting input.

Kate was visibly uncomfortable. "That sounds like a really bad idea Chloe… I mean, if you're really gonna do something like that, please, just leave me out of it." She was trying very hard to be passive. The two girl's clashing personalities obviously shared some difference in intensity.

Chloe once again reminded herself to tone it down. She spoke quietly but with more passion "Kate, don't you want revenge on Nathan? Or at least to make sure he never hurts another girl again?"

The doubts came flooding back to her. "Chloe, I really mean it when I say I don't feel like he's guilty of what happened to me… I mean, I think he roofied me yeah but all the stuff I did after and him recording it? That's not worth hurting someone over. I can prove that I embarrassed myself, but not that Nathan hurt me besides the bullying."

"But I can prove that he hurt me! When I realized I was drugged and came back to my senses I tore up shit in his room! I have evidence! And with you backing me up I have no guilty conscience for hurting that perv. We could stop him, without cops, without anyone but ourselves."

Kate protested, "Chloe even if that was entirely okay and moral how would you do it? Drug him back? Frame him for something worse? Just… shoot him? We can't do that Chloe. Neither of us have the right to take another person's life. That's in God's hands. If he's guilty he can pay for his sins in hell. We all can…" The tone became incredibly more somber as silence fell in the light house. The only sound was muffled pop music and the raunchy teens dancing to it.

"Kate, you don't actually think any of this is your fault right? All you did was go to a party, that's not a sin.'

"But I should have known better Chloe. It is my fault. If I was just smart enough to have not gone-"

"Kate stop that! Please listen to me-"

"You don't understand Chloe, you don't even know me. Do you know how disappointed my family was once they saw that god awful video of me at the party? Someone actually sent it to them. And now even my mother thinks I'm a whore. She wants to take me out of school here because she thinks I'm sleeping around and making out with guys all the time now.…" She was tearing up now, and Chloe felt absolutely horrible.

As the tears started falling and Kate let out everything she was holding back, Chloe could think of nothing to do but take this poor girl into her arms and hold her until the new friends fell asleep.