Chapter 02
Chloe once read in a health brochure that the average American woman could expect to live to be 80-years-old.
At the time, that sounded like forever to her and she knew that many people live far longer than that. It later occurs to her, though, that perhaps people need that long in order to live properly.
Her math teacher used to say that life is all about experiences good and bad alike. Not having either means you're essentially not living at all. She didn't really know how to feel about that at the time, but a question struck her about whether the experience has to be good or bad specifically? Cam life can be about neutral experiences too?
When she travels to the store with her mom to buy food, does that count as an experience? Can she still call it 'living' if she watched a cartoon while eating a bag of chips? She wouldn't really call those good or bad, but she does them so often that she thought they might count.
If it has to be good or bad, does it have to be really good or bad? Like sometimes she would be walking along and suddenly finds a quarter on the ground. She would be happy, but it is soon forgotten. Does it still count as an experience?
Chloe would be very sad if it has to be memorable because there's just so much she can't remember.
She still remembers her birthday at the Two Whales, Ms. Richards' anger at her, and Justin's falling over while trying to do a trick on his modded skateboard, but not much else. She doesn't really remember much of what happened in her classes, her home life, or even what she ate. Why bother to?
Some people want to know, though. When they happen to see each other, her parents would ask her. Her teachers sometimes ask. Even Justin might ask when he gets bored.
She just tells them whatever comes to mind. That she got an 'A' on that dream paper assignment for Ms. Richards and how Mr. Haydock is talking to her class about the importance of tea in history. They would congratulate her on the paper and maybe muse jokingly about tea and that'll be the end of it.
Which she is grateful for, really, because she has nothing else to talk about.
Chloe's life has become a series of days that bears so much resemblance to each other that they blur into an amorphous fog. There is nothing – good or bad – that is intertwined with her life.
She has nothing to brag to classmates about. She has no bullies to cry to teachers and her parents about. Even Elly and Julie mostly just throws her nasty glances (if they happen to meet eyes), but they otherwise ignore her. She has no accidents to humorously recount about either.
The life and times of Chloe Price can be summed up sufficiently as go to school, get good grades, spend weekends reading comics and playing on phone, then rinse and repeat.
Well, perhaps not everything is the same. That little girl…the one named Maxine. Chloe sometimes fingers the pencil case given to her as gift and wonders what she is doing.
As she had suspected, their meeting was a one time event. Since her birthday, Chloe has been paying her mom more visits at the Two Whales throwing glances around to see who's there. She always feels a little disappointed when she sees just the usual faces. After doing it a few times, Joyce expressed surprise.
"Not that I don't love your visits, darling, but this is pretty unusual for you, isn't it? You never come to see me at all."
"Yeah, I know. I was just bored and I figure that, since you're close by, I might come see you."
"Well! I sure wish you'd come even when you're not bored, but I'll take what I can get. You're welcome at any time, Chloe."
Eventually, though, she becomes bored with the visits too and stops coming and, soon, Maxine fades from memory.
While taking out the trash one evening, Chloe happens to see her neighbor, a lady named Polly, being dropped off by an unfamiliar car. At first, she hardly even recognized Polly as she had her hair done and had on very carefully applied make-up. She also had on a beautiful red dress that accentuated her curves pleasingly and brand new heels. Chloe even caught an alluring scent that drifted down her way.
After Polly kisses the stranger in the car goodnight, Chloe went inside her home and into her bathroom. She takes off her shirt examining herself in the mirror.
She tries to imagine herself in Polly's red dress and the image that comes to her head doesn't seem nearly as good. She is lanky and neither her chest nor her butt really pops out. That red dress wouldn't help as it would just hang loosely on her.
Looking more closely at her face, she decides that make-up would help her face but the problem is that she has no idea how to apply it. How do other girls do it? How did Polly do it? Is there an instructions book she has to read? Was it trial and error? Did their mothers teach them?
She thought about asking Joyce but her potential reaction and the likelihood that she'd tell William makes Chloe uncomfortable and she gives up on the idea.
She also thinks about why she wants to try on make-up. Polly did it probably to impress whoever is in that car she got out of. Does that mean Chloe wants to impress somebody?
The thought easily leads to the idea that perhaps she wants a boyfriend. A lot of other girls at her school seem to have one. Why doesn't she? Maybe a boyfriend could take her places and they'd have fun together. Someone who enjoys being around her and wants to.
She couldn't really decide what kind of boy she likes, though. Someone like Julie's boyfriend, Kenny, repulses her, but even Elly's boyfriend, Jason, didn't seem appealing either. She tried to think of what kind of boy she might want and didn't know.
Chloe ended up putting aside the idea, but it still gnaws at her whenever she sees a couple as it feels like she should have a boyfriend too. It makes her feel weird for not having one when all her classmates do. Is it really her fault, though, when none of the boys interest her? More notably, none seem to show interest.
But that's another thought that gnaws at her heart.
After she decided she wanted to use make-up and specifically to be attractive to the boy of her dreams that might appear, she became hyper aware of boys, couples, and any mention of relationships. Any time she sees two people kissing or even if someone mentions it in passing, they would have her full attention.
Over that time, a question comes to her. How exactly do you attract a boy?
She had decided on learning make-up and just left it at that, but is that really all there is to it? In the movies, the girls would be beautiful and the heroes would just come to them. Does it work that way in real life?
Was putting on make-up and a red dress all Polly needed to do? How did Elly and Julie get their boyfriends? How did her mom get her dad? She didn't know and the only people she could ask were her parents and she didn't want to ask them. So she remained ignorant.
But it gnaws at her. When she sees those couples, it reminds her and the question reappears and it gnaws at her. When she thinks of make-up, it leads to the question and it gnaws at her.
When her father comes home, it grabbed her attention as he was unusually early and unusually happy. Joyce had already beat him home that day by thirty minutes but Chloe later learns that he had actually called her and asked her to close up shop early, which she had to get permission to do.
When he arrived, he gathered them all together to inform them that he had received a promotion. It wasn't exactly the one he wanted but he'll be making a little more and, more importantly, he'll be receiving a little more off time.
It sounded weird to Chloe. That her father now has a higher position with higher salary, but that somehow means he'll work less than before. She always had it in her head that the more one gets paid, the more one works. That it was a sort of law to life and, really, that's exactly how it was for Joyce and also William before he got promoted.
Not that she's complaining. If this is the way it works in this case, she'll be happy to take it.
William declared that he didn't just gather his family together merely to announce the good news. He says that, as a treat, he'll be taking his favorite ladies to a nice shopping mall in the big city to buy them a new dress…so long as it's within reason, he adds laughing nervously seeing the gleam in Joyce's eyes.
So on his next day off, he takes them to a sprawling mall so large that it can be seen long before they even reach it and there are so many consumers that they require a multi-level parking garage that reaches so high that it has a built in an elevator.
Even before going in, Chloe is already greatly impressed. Arcadia Bay barely has any stores as it is – even the number of grocery stores is very limited – and the largest of them isn't anywhere near what one could call a 'mall'. This place her father took them to, however, is so massive that every store in Arcadia Bay could fit into the first level alone.
Which is another thing that made her mouth drop. When she first came in and saw the stairs and escalators, she stared uncomprehendingly until it hit her that the mall had more than one level. Three, to be exact. Of course, that's what stairs and escalators are meant to indicate, but the idea of stores having levels was so foreign to her that it took her a moment to see that.
Joyce isn't nearly as impressed as her, but she did seem very happy and excited to be there. Seeing their enjoyment, her father also becomes more upbeat. Of course, with all of them this way, they couldn't just go buy the dress he promised. They had to explore and window shop and see what's out there.
After reaching the second level, Chloe doubletake seeing a 'Hurricane Simulator' machine which the ads on the sides says is to allow her to experience a 'Category 1' hurricane with wind speeds of 70+MPH. Seeing her stare, her parents gave her some money and told her to go have fun.
So she tries the simulator and it has her standing in an enclosed metal tube. When it started, air blows out and ratcheted up very quickly until Chloe's hair and clothes were blowing all around and the noise turns into a screech. It only lasted about a minute, but she left feeling dizzy and in awe. She would certainly hate to see something like that in Arcadia Bay.
She comes to a food court which is unbelievable large. From one end to the other are a large variety of fast food vendors connected to one another in a long line – some of which exists in her hometown, many of which didn't. There were vendors stated to serve Thai and Malaysian food and she wonders know how different they taste from Chinese. There were even vendors that did nothing but serve specialty drinks.
The actual sitting area in front of all these vendors is plain massive. A whole fast food restaurant or two could fit in the space that covers the area where the vendors begin and the sitting area ends.
She didn't feel hungry enough to eat, but she saves the memory of this place thinking she might come back later. Walking along the mall, Chloe feels fatigue flow through her shoulders. Inundated with so many sights, she takes a seat on one of the many available benches to take a breather.
Reflecting, she realizes that even that simple fact is amazing – that a mall could have so many sights that just seeing them could exhaust her. To think there are such incredible things in the world.
It is while sitting down that she happens to look up towards the third level and notices some sort of panda bear walking along. It takes her a moment to realize that it's not somebody dressed in a costume, but a stuffed bear being carried by someone who is apparently small enough to have the bear cover nearly his entire form.
Compared to the things she's seen today, that didn't warrant much thought but something about it kept grabbing at her. She freezes when it finally hits her – she only knows one other person to have a stuffed panda bear toy that is large enough to cover their form like that. That little girl who gave her the pencil case for her birthday. Maxine.
It occurs to her that anybody could have the same thing as the toy is large and probably designed to be sold to children, but she couldn't get the thought out of her mind. Getting up, she rushes over to nearest stairwell all while keeping as much of an eye on the bear as possible.
When she reaches the third level, she goes towards the area where she saw the bear headed. At first, she couldn't find it anywhere and she feared that she lost it. Looking around two, three times, her eyes land on one of the stores which seem to be some kind of gaming center. Taking a chance, she walks over and looks inside to see it lined with all sorts of gaming machines.
Going inside, she moves looking around hesitantly. Half way through, she spots the bear lying on the ground with somebody standing beside it playing an arcade machine. Pretending to just be browsing, Chloe walks a little further ahead trying to get a clear view. When the person comes into view, Chloe stops losing her breath a bit.
Pale skin, messy brown hair in a bob cut, and blue eyes. It's her. Maxine Caulfield. She plays the arcade machine without even noticing Chloe blatantly staring at her.
After her birthday at the diner, Chloe had largely figured that she'd perhaps never see the other girl again. After all, that was the first time she ever saw her at the diner and she had never reappeared afterwards. She recalls the pencil case given to her by Maxine as a birthday gift – she still keeps it in her backpack though she never bothered to use it. She just sometimes glances at it and remembers how she got it. She had thought it would be a gift from a girl she would remember every now and then without seeing again.
Except there she is. Of all the places in the world, Chloe just happens to go to the one place where Maxine also happened to be. What were the chances? Had her father never gotten a promotion, they would not have met. Had he not decided to treat them, they would not have met. Had he just decided taken her here earlier or later than today, they might still have not met.
Briefly, she thought that perhaps the universe is trying to point out to her that she should go talk to Maxine.
And she wanted to – just a little – but didn't know how to approach. Should she just try to casually walk up and say hi? Or maybe just meander around until Maxine finally sees her and comes to her?
As fate (and impatience) would have it, Chloe simply said hi in an embarrassingly squeaky voice.
Maxine pauses in confusion as if unsure she really heard someone or not, then she stares around trying to find anyone looking at her. When she turns and meets Chloe's eyes, she hesitates uncertain before her eyes light in recognition.
She smiles shyly, "Chloe, is that you?"
Putting on what she hopes is a confident smile, Chloe replies, "Yep, that's me. Long time no see, Maxine."
She nods confirming. "Yeah. Since we didn't go to the same school, I thought we wouldn't see each other again, but I'm glad you're here. Are you here with your parents?"
"Yeah, but we split up to explore. This is the first time I've been here."
"I've been here before-" Maxine says morosely. "-but I've never explored. I just wanted to play games."
Chloe glances at the arcade she was playing. It's some kind of fighting game. "Do you like fighting video games?"
"A little. I'm not good at them, though. I usually lose by the second fight."
She frowns hearing this. The first three or so fights in any fighting games are usually designed as 'warm ups' so they tend to be fairly easy. The fact that Maxine is losing by the second fight means she's pretty bad at the game.
Clearing her throat, Chloe offers hesitatingly, "If you want, I could play with you. Maybe I can show you how to play them?"
Maxine nods, "Could you please? I would love that."
That is all the encouragement Chloe needed. She rushes up and shoves in the two quarters needed to play a game and hits the start button to add herself in. After selecting their characters – Chloe wasn't familiar with this game so she just chose the coolest looking fighter she saw – they began their battle.
As she guessed, Maxine is a poor player. She rarely blocks attacks, her attacks consist of simple standing kicks or punches, and she never used a single special technique even though they're so simple that Chloe was able to guess some within seconds.
Expressing frequent surprise and sounds of awe at Chloe's 'mastery', Maxine ends up losing quickly then she puts in more money wanting a rematch. When the second fight starts, Chloe stops her.
"Wait, let me show you some moves." She demonstrates a button combination resulting in Maxine's fighter throwing a fireball. "See that? That's how you do it."
Wide eyed, she repeats Chloe's actions. It takes a few tries before she gets it, but eventually she is able to consistently use a fireball technique. The battle timer started turning red, so they quickly get back into battle.
Maxine is so impressed by the fireball technique that she then decides to use only it in lieu of anything else and even managed to hit Chloe twice before she got the idea of what was happening. Unfortunately, as she was about to close in to attack, the timer ran out leaving Maxine as the only person to get any damage in. The game, of course, declares her the winner.
Chloe wouldn't have been upset either way, but when Maxine's face burst into a wide open smile and she even jumps and claps in excitement, she finds it strangely made her even happier. As if Maxine's victory was, in effect, a victory for them both.
A math teacher once told her class that he enjoyed teaching because he liked the feeling of seeing his students finally 'getting' a difficult concept or succeed and it's a reason why he sometimes encourages them to enter math competitions in the hopes of winning. She hadn't believed him at the time thinking teaching was easy money and that the competition thing was really forced onto him by the school.
As their playing continued and she kept stopping to teach Maxine new techniques, battle tactics, and just how to become a better player, she felt a distinct sense of pride and happiness whenever her protégé successfully uses her new battle prowess against her.
The first time Chloe was blocked and kicked away, she attempted to retaliate with a jumping kick only for Maxine to jump into the air at the right time and kick her away again. It was a simple and common tactic, really, but such a huge improvement from before that Chloe lets out an awe whisper of praise which has the other girl preening.
When Maxine effectively utilized everything she learned to defeat Chloe in two rounds of a match in which she really did tried to win for the first time, both became happy and Chloe found herself jumping in rhythm with Maxine in celebration of her victory.
Perhaps her math teacher had something, after all.
They played more matches. Maxine began experimenting with the play style and, soon, she started discovering new techniques which even Chloe didn't know and, in a turn, the student taught her teacher. From then on, both battle and enjoyed on an equal playing field.
They each must have put in $20 of quarters before Chloe caught sight of it out of her periphery – a machine with familiar handle bars and blue and pink arrow pads on the bottom. She quickly stops Maxine from putting in more quarters into the fighting game.
"Maxine, wait. Have you ever played DDR before?"
"DDR?" She repeats in confusion. "No, what is it?"
"It means Dance Dance Revolution." Chloe says and points to the machine. "That's it over there. Come on, I'll show you."
Maxine grabs her stuffed bear and they walk over to the DDR machine. Maxine stares at it up and down slowly her eyebrows furrowed as if she couldn't make sense of this weird and massive machine.
"How do you play this?"
Chloe bites her lips smiling a little. "To be honest, I'm not 100% sure. See, I've never actually even seen a DDR machine in person before. I've only ever seen it in videos. I think I get the idea of what to do, though."
She points at the pads. "See those pink and blue arrows? They're the controls of the game. You have to stand on the machine and tap those arrows with your feet in time with the machine, right?" She indicates the screen. "Arrows will appear on that screen. When the game tells you to, you have to press the right arrow that shows up."
She gets on top of the machine and Maxine follows her lead standing besides her staring down at the arrows and using Chloe's posture and stance as an example to follow. They put in the money – the game required two dollars from each of them to play – and watches as the screen pops up asking to select difficulty.
Knowing they're both new at this, Chloe chose 'Easy'. The next screen asked for them to choose a song and she chose a song that seemed easy…but not too easy. Maxine watched with wide eyes surprised to see her do the selecting using nothing but her feet.
At last, the game starts and they're brought to a screen using a mixture of psychedelic and rhythmic visualizations. Chloe quickly points to the top.
"There, I think that's it. See those markers?" She indicates the clear arrow markers at the top of screen. "Arrows will fly up the screen and when they hit those markers, you have to tap the right ones on the pad, okay?"
Maxine nods still unsure.
"It's going to start soon. We'll try it out first."
The game asked 'Ready?', then without waiting, a series of arrows began scrolling upwards. Even before it got up there, both of them got the idea. Putting that understanding to use, though was a bit harder.
This is as much Chloe's first time playing the game as it is Maxine's and she discovers that that it actually takes a bit of finesse to tap one arrow then move to another without tripping over herself. Her partner seems to be having equal trouble. She wasn't tripping but she moved a lot slower to avoid doing so.
As they tap, various remarks pop up on the screen indicating how good their rhythm is. There were a few 'greats' and even one or two 'perfects', but most were poor matches. Eventually, as they got more used to the machine, their score slowly increased.
Chloe found that she was having plenty of fun even in the frustration. She glance over at Maxine every now and then and is pleased to see her face go from confused to a small smile which then becomes a large smile.
"I think I'm beginning to get it, Chloe."
"Me too!" She gasps.
Their enjoyment turns to surprise when the game suddenly increased in difficulty with the occasional double arrows requiring them to hit two pads at the same time or a long arrow which they discovered meant they had to keep one pad pressed for an extended time.
Maxine had a long arrow come up that required her to keep her right leg on the up arrow pad but a series of other arrows continued to come requiring her to use her left leg to try to tap the other arrows. This threw off her balance and she ended up falling over onto Chloe knocking the both of them down.
As they stare at each other in surprise, the game ends declaring that they did poorly. They look at the game, then at each other again, and burst out laughing. Chloe lays her head on the floor and closed her eyes laughing so hard that she had to struggle to stop just to breathe. Maxine giggles repeatedly even as she tries to hold her hands over her mouth to hide it.
They both get up as their laughter dies down. Staring over at her companion, Chloe grins.
"Try again?"
"Yeah! Lets do it!"
Feeding the machine the money it demands, the game begins again and Chloe makes sure to choose the same settings and song as before to keep it simple. This time, the two of them crouch in a 'ready' stance and smile at each other prepared for action. The game begins again.
Chloe focuses to keep her rhythm in-sync with the game and she moves her upper body to try to keep her balance. Maxine does the same and their fingers brushes at point as they wobble left and right trying to maintain this delicate pose.
They did vastly better this time. The few times Chloe catches sight of the game's remarks, she sees a lot of 'good' and 'great'. Feeling a little heated, she realizes she's actually sweating a little and is breathing heavier than normal, but she likes it. Glancing over, she sees beads of sweat on Maxine's forehead too.
Just before the game ramps up in difficult, she shouts, "Get ready! It's about to get crazy!"
"I'm ready!"
Then the point came which they failed spectacularly before. Being prepared this time, they do better and, for a moment, they managed to keep up. The speed eventually catches up with them and Chloe is the first to trip this time. When the moment came she had to quickly switch between pads, she accidentally lifted the wrong foot and, trying to correct herself, she trips and is about to crash off the pad board altogether.
A hand quickly snaps out and pulls her back up. She pauses in surprised before quickly getting her head back into the game. Realizing what happened, she grins.
"Thanks, Maxine!"
"No talk! Play now!"
Chloe laughs a bit and glances over. Maxine's face is that of great excitement. She's focused on the game and is actually doing surprisingly well. Her smile is also wide enough to break off her face.
At last, the game ends and they bend over resting on their knees trying to catch their breaths. Hearing her giggle, Chloe looks over to see Maxine smiling at her.
"That was really fun!"
"Yeah…yeah, it was."
Chloe meant it too. She doesn't remember when she enjoyed herself so much. She doesn't remember when she did so badly at a game and loved it instead of getting frustrated. She loved how they're doing this together and how, in the midst of the excitement, they would fall over each other and also save the other from falling. She wanted to do it again.
The final score comes up and Maxine proves to be the better player. The game congratulates them both on a good game but her score is much higher than Chloe's.
"Aww, you win."
"It's a competition?" Maxine asks. "I thought it was a cooperation."
Chloe pauses to think up a good response. "It's both. We compete for score, cooperate for fun."
Maxine nods. "I like that type of game."
She glances at the screen, then at Maxine. "Do you want to play again? Or…?"
Pursing her lips, Max points at the entrance, "Can we go eat? I'm kind of hungry."
"Yeah, I am too." She wasn't really, but she wanted to come along anyway. "The food court is on the second level."
Picking up her bear, Maxine walks alongside Chloe out the game center. As they walk downstairs, Chloe rifles through her pockets discretely trying to work out how much money she has left.
Her dad gave her $50 figuring it would be more than enough. In most other cases, it would have been. Today, though, she sunk about $20 into that fighting game plus a few more dollars into DDR. She should still have plenty of money left.
At the food court, Maxine turns to her, "Find us a good seat. I'll go order."
Chloe nods and she runs off to one of the vendors. Chloe glances around and decides on the table closest to the edge figuring they could stare at the mall ceiling if they get bored as the ceiling is actually made of glass allowing the sky to be visible.
She turns intending to go make her own order when Maxine returns carrying two bowls of ice cream. "I got us strawberry ice cream."
Surprised, Chloe stutters a bit, "O-oh, thanks. Do you want me to pay you back?"
She shakes her head. "No, I wanted to buy it for you. We're friends."
"Oh, thanks." Chloe says a little surprise. A tingly feeling goes through her at the words. Gathering herself, she points to the seat she chose. "Hey, I found seats over there. We have a good view."
They sit down where Max immediately digs into the ice cream with gusto. Chloe goes more slowly taking a spoonful. Licking her lips, she grins.
"This is great stuff!" She looks at the ice cream. "I like how they have pieces of real strawberry in it."
"Yeah, it's large pieces too." Maxine says in-between spoonfuls. "That makes it better."
Chloe smiles watching her eat. She briefly thinks of how different Maxine actually seems now – bolder and more open in her feelings. She has become familiar enough with Chloe that perhaps she not longer feels nervous around her and can act more freely.
"I'm glad to be here."
She had whispered that intending to say it to herself but Maxine picks up the words and looks up from her bowl.
"I'm happy too, Chloe. Do you… come here often?" Maxine shakes her head. "No, I think you said this is the first time you came here."
Chloe nods. "Yep, my first time. I've never been to a mall like this before. It blew my mind when I stepped in here. Everything's so…different. Was it like that for you the first time?"
She looks thoughtful. "I can't remember, but I think so. I spend most of my time in the game center whenever we come here, though, waiting for my parents to finish shopping." She perks up a bit. "Oh wait, I do remember that my dad took me into that hurricane machine with him and I screamed a lot. I've been scared to go around ever since."
Laughing, Chloe responds, "Yeah, that machine was freaky. After we split up, I saw that and went in to see what it was like."
Maxine's eyes widen. "By yourself?"
"By myself. I was dizzy afterwards. Being in a real hurricane must be scary as hell."
Chloe's voice hitch a bit at the end unsure if her language would offend her companion, but Maxine didn't even notice. Instead, she stares with impressed eyes at Chloe's account of how she went into the frightening machine without either of her parents.
"That's really cool, Chloe." She says in an awed voice. "I wish you were with me when I went into that machine."
Chloe's cheeks redden and she stumbles a bit at her next words.
"Y-yeah, I wish too. I would like to come here more often. This has got to be the biggest mall ever."
Maxine pauses and looks around hesitantly. "I think…I've been to a bigger mall. It looks bigger to me."
"Bigger than this?" Now it's Chloe's turn to be amazed. "Where's that? Is it in this city too?"
"It's not here. I don't remember where it was; I slept most of the way there."
"But it's bigger?"
Max nods. "I think so. This mall has three floors, but that other one had four."
"F-four?" Chloe says wide eyed. "What else does it have?"
"It actually has a whole amusement park right inside it with rollercoaster rides and everything." Maxine says perking up. "It also has this aquarium where you go through a scary tunnel and see a lot of animals. There's even sharks! My dad said the aquarium would let me swim in the water but I didn't want the sharks to eat me."
Maxine lights up happily as bits and pieces of the memory of her visit slowly comes back to her and she hurries to transform the images and sounds in her head into a verbal explanation.
"And, and there were so many stores! They have a game center that's way bigger than the one here and it has go-kart racing inside! They have a maze, a place where you play golf, and there was this place with girls that has really huge boobs! My mom yelled at my dad for looking at them." She giggles remembering how embarrassed her father looked. "Oh, and there's this place that actually teaches you how to fly airplanes and they have machines that lets you try flying!"
Chloe pays rapt attention feeling more and more overwhelmed just by listening. When she first came to this store, just the idea of a place with more than one level and had such a huge food court was incredible.
Apparently, though, there's a mall somewhere that's one level higher and is so large that it has an entire amusement park – with rollercoasters! – inside. Along with an aquarium large enough to hold sharks. Plus a maze. Plus a place that lets you fly airplanes. All of this and a place where you can stare at girls with huge boobs too.
It sounds like Maxine is describing an entire city – and a large one at that – instead of a mall. Chloe wanted to go there so bad that it's almost physically painful.
"That…that sounds incredible." Chloe says breathlessly. "That has got to be the greatest mall in the world!"
Maxine nods. "I wish it was in Arcadia Bay so I could go there everyday."
"Anything would make Arcadia Bay better." Chloe groans. "I would give my arm just to have this mall. If I had that place you're talking about, I could die happy. Right now, we don't even have a store that sells manga."
"Manga? What's that?"
"Oh, it's Japanese comics."
"You can read Japanese?" Maxine asks in surprise. "I like comics too, but I can only read them in English."
"Oh no, manga is in English. Wait, you like comics too? What do you read?"
"I read Batman. I like it when he solves crimes and stuff. I don't like the fighting, though." Maxine says. "My mom doesn't like me reading that kind of thing. She says it's a terrible influence. My dad says I should spend more time reading my textbooks."
"Textbooks are boring!" Chloe declares confidently. "I think you'll like manga too, Maxine. They're in English and they're great. Most aren't violent at all, so your mom shouldn't have a problem."
She looks up in interest. Maxine would actually like to read much, much more comics and manga too if they're really as great as they sound. Though she does read Batman, she finds she ends up skipping a lot of the content in favor of only certain parts of it which means she ends up finishing very quickly and the comics are short to begin with. If they're in a way that her mom won't be angry at her for reading, that's all the better.
Before she could tell Chloe that, though, the sound of a phone ringing interrupts. Maxine recognizes her ringtone and she pulls out her phone from her pocket. Chloe stares in surprise as Maxine started talking into an old looking flip phone.
Not many kids at her school have phones, but the ones that do all have smartphones. When her parents got her a phone, they had to pick up an older model because the newer ones were far too expensive but she still ended up getting a smartphone too with a nice screen. Chloe flinch a little seeing Maxine's phone thinking her family might be even worse off than she is.
"Hello?...I'm at the food court with my friend…alright, I'll be here." She hangs up. "My dad says we have to go home now. They're coming to get me."
Chloe's mood sours immediately. Of course, it was obvious that either one or the other would eventually have to go, but it did have to be in the middle of when they were still enjoying themselves?
More importantly, before coming here, she had been sure she might never see Maxine again. That might become the case now. Even if she can be sure she would see the other girl again, how long would it be? Would it be as infrequent as it is now and all dependent on the chance that they happen to be in the same place?
She didn't want that.
"Can't you ask your dad if you can stay a little longer?"
Maxine shakes her head softly. "My dad has to go to work tomorrow. He also wants me to study at night instead of wasting time here."
"Then…then come to my house sometimes. I can help you study too." Chloe pleads. "C'mon, I'm really good at school work!"
Blue eyes locks onto her looking curiously and Chloe suddenly stops her pleading as she notice how much they seem to glow.
Smiling, Maxine nods, "I would really like that, Chloe. I'll ask my parents to let me come over your place sometimes."
Snapping out of her trance, Chloe quickly says, "That's great! Lets trade numbers. Give me yours and I'll text you mine."
She pulls out her smartphone and Maxine reads her number. Afterwards, Chloe sends a simple text saying hello. As she did so, it occurs to her that she and Maxine won't be having many texting conversations as it can't be easy to text on a flip phone.
"Alright, saved it." Maxine says. She looks around her sight stopping in a direction. "My parents are coming."
Chloe looks in the direction she's facing and she spots the familiar man and woman from the diner. They return the stare too noticing their daughter sitting with a strange girl they've never met before. Glancing at Maxine, Chloe is surprised to see the girl withdrawing a little and losing some of her demeanor. She gets up standing to attention in front of her parents and Chloe follows suit figuring it's the right thing to do.
On their arrival, Mrs. Caulfield openly takes stock of Chloe making her feel a little self-conscious and Maxine's mother doesn't do much to alleviate that feeling keeping her facial expression stony. Her husband pats Maxine's head a little, though she could feel his eyes wander over to her now and then too.
Maxine flinches seeing her parents' looks becoming a little nervous about how Chloe would react. Her parents have kept a strict watch over what kind of friends she has insisting that having the right kind of friends is important.
Her dad, Ryan Caulfield, says friends influence your decisions in way that is often hard to resist. He believes that keeping the right friends will incentivize his daughter into keeping on the straight and narrow and ultimately succeeding in life.
Her mother, Vanessa Caulfield, is much the same and she has done the most to try to ensure Maxine has a good influence in her life. Many of her mother's friends are much like her and they keep in contact regularly often going shopping and bringing their children along. Like her, Vanessa's friends all have single children families too. There were only two others with daughters and they've all tried to get each other's children to become friends.
Maxine does play with the other daughters, Angelina and Kathy, now and then when their mothers bring them over, but she never really connected with them as well as her mother did with their mothers. Vanessa knew this but she tries her hardest to nurture their friendship and watch her daughter's other friends feeling that the benefits would be worth the time and effort.
So knowing the importance she plays in Maxine's future, Vanessa decides to take the reins in breaking the silence.
"So who would you be, dear? Did you become friends with my little Maxine today?"
Chloe feels a little stung realizing she didn't remember her from when their daughter gave her a gift during her birthday in the diner. At the time, Vanessa and Ryan watched the exchange closely and questioned Maxine a bit afterwards, but soon forgot it all when Chloe did not make another appearance.
"No, ma'am. I met your daughter before at the Two Whales diner. My name is Chloe Price. We haven't seen each other much since, but I saw her today and wanted to play with her."
Ryan fingers his chin. "The Two Whales diner? Oh, I remember now! Maxine here gave you her pencil case, right?" Chloe nods. "That was very kind of you to play with her, Chloe. How come you went so long without seeing her? Do you go to a different school?"
"Yes, sir. I go to Arcadia Junior High." Chloe wets her lips. "I…would like to see Maxine again. I invited her to come over to my house sometimes, if you don't mind."
There is a silence as Ryan and Vanessa glances at each other. Chloe falters a little thinking they're going to say no. Maxine, seeing her parents' reaction and Chloe's falling expression, walks up to her parents clutching her hands together pleadingly.
"May I, mom? Dad? Chloe taught me a lot today and I had a lot of fun. If I go over her house, she can help me study and teach me other things too."
Ryan's expression softens at his daughter's face and he is actually impressed she was taught something. "Is that right? What did you learn?"
A terrible feeling goes through Chloe. She doesn't know Maxine's parents well, but from the little described of them and this short meeting, they sound strict. They probably would not appreciate it if Maxine tells them that Chloe taught her how to throw a fireball in a fighting game or that they learned how to dance with DDR together.
Luckily for both of them, Maxine was aware of this too.
"I was playing a game and doing really badly. She…showed me how to experiment and do better at the game. Afterwards, I wanted to play a dancing game and she showed me to balance better when I move too much or too awkwardly."
It was the truth phrased in a way to make it sound better. Chloe breathes a slight sigh of relief though she still remains tense not sure how Maxine's parents would take it.
Vanessa is skeptical. "She taught you how to experiment in a video game and how to dance better? Huh."
"I guess those are good traits to have." Ryan concedes. He sighs, "Well, I don't really see a problem with it. Chloe seems like a good kid to me. Vanessa?"
Maxine quickly turns to her mother pleading a little more. "Please, mom. I really like Chloe."
Vanessa scowls a little, but slowly nods. "I don't mind, but you can not go over today. You have piano practice today and I want you to spend today and tomorrow studying for your upcoming English test. Understood?"
She looks down. "Yes, mom."
Chloe is surprised to discover that Maxine can play the piano. She has got to see that sometime. Now, though, she just has to assure that she even sees the other girl sometime soon.
"So how about this Sunday?" Chloe asks excitedly. "She's free then, right?"
Vanessa nods. "Yes, she should have time then. I will bring her over to your house to play. Is…" She thinks it over. "8AM alright? I can bring her over before heading to work."
"Yes, that's great!" Chloe smiles.
"I would like to meet your parents too. Will they be there?"
The smile falls off. "W-well, my dad is usually leaves for work at seven and my mom leaves at eight."
It was a half lie. Her dad usually leaves for seven when he's not going to work early and likewise for her mom. However, they're usually not early on Sunday, so it'll hopefully work out.
"Seven? That's even better." Vanessa nods. "I was thinking of going to work a little later to bring Maxine over, but I rather we come by seven anyway."
Chloe smiles again. "Oh, that's great! I can't wait for you to come!"
Vanessa smiles a little. "Good to hear, Chloe. Anyway, we have to go now. Maxine, come along."
Ryan nods to her and leaves with his wife clutching his daughter's hand. She turns around as they walk along waving to Chloe who returns the gesture. When the Caulfields went downstairs and disappears from sight, a sense of melancholy overcomes her.
The day had been so bright and exciting. She was doing something new, learning something new, and trying something new nearly the entire time. Now Maxine's gone and it seems like her life has just returned to what it was: boring. She still probably hasn't seen everything the mall has to offer, but…she just wishes she could see all of it with Maxine instead of by herself.
She returns to sitting at the table in the food court staring at her strawberry ice cream. Taking another spoonful, she finds the taste didn't really suit her and pushes it aside. She rests her chin on her hands and stares listlessly at the rest of the mall wondering how her parents like the experience.
Perhaps another half hour passes until she receives the phone call she didn't realize she had been waiting for. She picks up and her dad's cheerful voice comes through.
"Chloe, are you done exploring? Ready to buy your dress?"
She blinks realizing she had completely forgotten that was why they came here.
Putting some cheer into her voice, she responds, "Yeah, I'm ready. Where are you?"
"On the third level. Go to the very end and you'll see a department store. We're in the area just past the jewelry section. There's some amazing dresses here!"
"Alright, I'm coming. Bye."
She hangs up and gets up to leave. Her dad seems happier to be looking at dresses than she is, but she suppose most of that excitement is for her and Joyce's benefit rather than any real feelings he has about it. William never was much of a man for dresses. When she reaches the department store, she comes to the conclusion that she isn't one for dresses either and hopes there's some more casual clothes at the store.
Going past the jewelry section as instructed, Chloe catches sight of Joyce first and goes over to stand by her mother who is staring at a nice looking dress.
Joyce smiles at her, "Oh Chloe, I'm glad you're here." She holds up the dress to her daughter. "Hmm, not really your fit but I think it could work."
Chloe grimaces. "I don't know, mom. I've been thinking and maybe casual clothes are more my thing. Maybe I can get some t-shirts and jeans or something?"
"Don't be ridiculous." Joyce admonishes. "You have a closet full of those already. You need something for those special occasions."
She didn't really want to, but didn't bother to disagree instead allowing her mother to go through the selection picking out dresses and holding them up to each of them to see which ones goes best with who.
Her father soon comes around carrying a small toolset. "Well, my two favorite girls. How are the pickings?"
"I don't know." Joyce laments. "They all look so nice. Can't we have more than one, William?"
Her father smiles nervously glancing at the pricetags. "Now Joyce, I've got a promotion but we're not quite at the level of the Rockefellers yet, so lets not go overboard. Only one for each of you."
"Damn." Joyce mutters, then sighs. "Well, we only really need one dress anyway, ain't that right, Chloe?"
She nods. "I don't even need one. I still want that t-shirt and jeans if you'll let me."
"Now don't you start that."
After an hour of searching wherein Chloe feel her back aching from standing still so long, Joyce finally settles on a pretty red dress for herself and a blue dress for her daughter. William lets out an exaggerated sigh that earns him a playful slap from his wife as they check out and finally leave the mall just as it gets dark.
Chloe looks back at the mall feeling a melancholic, though she knows it'll always be there waiting for her if she wants to come back. On the drive back home, the car falls silent and she swallows a bit as a subject that's been on her mind a lot points out to her that now would be a great time to speak.
She clears her throat, "Uh, mom, dad? I was wondering…if I could have someone over sometime? This coming Sunday, I mean?"
"You…want to bring someone over? You mean a friend?" William asks surprise in his voice. "That's great! Your mother and I told you many times we'd be happy to have your friends over any time! Hell, we were beginning to worry you didn't have-"
Joyce elbows him quickly. "Of course, honey. We'll be more than happy to see your friend. Who is he…she…?"
"She." Chloe affirms. "Her name is Maxine Caulfield. We met before and we saw each other again today. I asked her to come over and she said yes."
"Maxine?" Her father repeats the name. "Wait, is this the Maxine that was at your birthday?"
Chloe nods knowing her father can't see. "Yes, that's her."
"My, my, this is quite the development." He says in a mock cartoonish voice.
Joyce looks between Chloe and William confused. "You both seem to know this girl and since Chloe's birthday? Why am I hearing about her now for the first time?"
William blush. "I'm sorry, Joyce, I guess it must have slipped my mind."
"Sorry, mom. I forgot too."
Chloe didn't actually forget. She just didn't think it was necessary to bring it up. Joyce sighs at the two of them, but in a good-natured way. She smiles afterwards at Chloe.
"Well, better late than never. Tell me about, er, Maxine, was it?"
"Yeah, Maxine Caulfield. She is a little younger than me, but I think we hit it off pretty good. We had fun today. I guess I figure we could keep having fun at home."
"She does seem nice, Joyce. I've seen her too. My memory's a little hazy, but I think she's so pinchable, huggable, and just plain wuvable." He laughs playfully. "She's a cute little thing."
"Yeah, she is cute." Chloe agrees smiling. "When I first met her, I thought she was way younger but she's older than she looks. She's also so cool! She's been to some amazing places!" A memory returns widening her smile. "Also, she reads comics. She says she read Batman!"
"Okay, okay!" Joyce laughs. "You two are trying way too hard to convince me, but I was already roaring to go the moment Chloe said she was a friend. Whoever this Maxine is, she sounds like a doll and I want her to come over too."
"Then we're all in agreement!" William declares. "You say she's coming over Sunday?"
"Yeah, her mom is bringing over at seven."
"Seven? Is she staying the night then?"
"I don't know. I hope so. I guess we can ask when she comes over. They should be here just as you're leaving, dad."
"As I'm leaving…? Oh, you mean seven AM." He laughs. "I thought you meant seven PM, Chloe. The Caulfields must be early risers."
She shrugs. "I guess. I think her mom wants to meet you both."
"Is that so?" Joyce asks smiling. "Well, your father and I will put on our best faces."
Chloe smiles feeling reassured. Her parents would have been friendly with or without being asked to, but knowing that they're giving it special attention seems to make it more powerful.
It is important that Maxine's parents come to like them as they need the Caulfields' permission for their daughter to come over, but they have it in the bag even without any effort. Her mom is a fantastic cook and her dad is a hard worker. What else could Mrs. Caulfield want?
The sky is dark when they arrive home. Chloe feels ready for bed already but knows her mother won't let her tuck in until they have dinner which she hasn't even started yet. Chloe goes to sit over by the couch in the living room as her father helps her mother prepare.
She stares at the blank TV screen not turning it on. There's nothing interesting on it anyway. Instead, she passes the time picking at the small holes on their aging couch listening to the sound of her parents in the background.
The couch and TV were purchased years back intended as a sort of 'family entertainment' thing. The idea being that this large, comfortable couch would be a place where the family could gather together and enjoy a nice bit of TV on a cool large screen. Her parents' jobs, however, prevented that from becoming a reality.
At the time, Joyce and William were still working mostly normal hours so they hadn't really foreseen their jobs getting in the way so much, but when bills started piling up over this and that, they needed the extra money. The bills did eventually get paid, but, over time, new bills came to replace old bills, and hopes and aspirations of a visit to Paris becomes a reason to work even more.
So over time, the couch and TV becomes just part of the background as the Prices' try to find new ways to have family time as their home can't seem to fill that particular service. Sometimes, life doesn't always play out as one hopes though Chloe supposes that doesn't mean it has to be bad. She sees her parents enough to be satisfied.
"Chloe, could you prepare the table?" Joyce calls.
Wordlessly, Chloe walks over to the kitchen grabbing the plates and utensils. She places a plate on her side and plates beside each other on the other side, then places a spoon, knife, and fork beside each plate. She goes back into the kitchen to get an empty glass.
"What would everyone like?"
"Just ice water for me, Chloe."
"Same here."
She does as asked and also gets orange juice for herself, then places the appropriate glasses at the dinner table. Chloe sits waiting until William brings over a pot of lightly sautéed potatoes placing it in the center before sitting at his seat. Joyce comes a bit carrying a dish of steak. Placing two slices down for everyone, she takes a seat and clasps her hands together to lead prayer.
All ends the prayer simultaneously. "Amen."
Dinner proceeds as a quiet affair. Well, only for Chloe who doesn't say a word. Her parents keep up conversations chatting about their jobs and sharing random bits of their daily lives. She didn't mind too much as thoughts of this upcoming Sunday consume more and more of her mind.
Much of her imaginings involves how Maxine would react when she introduces her to some new comics and what kind of games they could play. She wonders if her friend – that's the word Maxine used to describe them – is familiar with some of them or would they end up going through a learning lesson together again. If so, she might have to freshen up on the rules of Scrabble.
By the time dinner let out, the thoughts of how well it would go fades a bit in favor of how wrong it could go. She bids her parents good-night as they clear the table and she goes up to her room dropping into bed.
Sleep didn't come too easily, however. Lying there with her eyes closed, her mind drifted to the possibility that Maxine would come and end up hating her house. Being bored, hating her house, hating her. She knew it is ridiculous but logic and feelings don't always mesh well.
So images of Maxine smiling battles with images of her angry face floats through her mind. Her angry face reminds Chloe of Elly's angry face and that just repulses her more.
She groans a little and tries again to clear her head. Whatever happens will happen, but she hopes it will go well. Chloe whispers to herself that she wants everything to go right so badly.