Grew up with a lot of dreams,

plans who to be,

none of them know were mine

- Tove Lo

Chloe Beale grew up never knowing her parents. Come to think of it, she didn't know any of her family because, as far as she knew, she didn't have any. Why else would she have lived in a foster home all her life? She considered the kids living in the foster home with her family but it just wasn't the same. She would have given absolutely anything to have her real family back. Dreaming about her deceased family was something the redhead did often.

Something Chloe never understood was why she never really had a temporary home. She understood why no one took her as a teenager, no one ever wanted teenagers, but she was confused as to why no one took her when she was younger. Most days she just assumed it was her red hair. That was what the kids at the different houses told her; it was God punishing her for being ginger. She knew they were joking but it made her feel like God had cursed her with some type of caused her to slip into a terrible depression.

It's safe to say that the depression nearly killed her. Most of the time she barely ate anything, occasionally stress eating to the point where her stomach nearly ruptured, and she almost never got any sleep. Going to school was a blur and her foster parents at the time paid no mind to it. They had been the worst ones to her yet and their children weren't very great to her either. The only one that paid attention to her was their oldest daughter, Aubrey, who was the same age as her. Aubrey knew about her depression and worried about her a lot, forcing her to eat when she needed it and cuddling with her when she was overly exhausted. It was because of Aubrey and her dream of becoming a nurse that she was able to beat depression and graduate high school.

By some miracle Aubrey managed to convince her parents to pay for Chloe to get a college education. Together they went to Barden University in Georgia, Aubrey planning to get a degree in law and Chloe planning to get a medical degree. Aubrey's parents were surprised Chloe wanted to go into the medical field. They shared a dorm room their freshman year, later an apartment that Aubrey's parents paid for, so Aubrey could "make sure Chloe wasn't going to be a complete waste of money". Somewhere in the midst of all the stress of college Chloe managed to get hooked on cocaine and marijuana. For the longest time she managed to hide her addiction from Aubrey, who noticed that something was off but couldn't figure out what it was. It was one night at a party they went to that Aubrey found out.

Chloe had most certainly not intended to get high that night at the party, but someone had brought some marijuana and she hadn't been able to get her hands on some for a very long time. She had been so stressed lately and desperately needed to smoke. With this being said, when they offered her the drugs it was nearly impossible for her to say no. Aubrey was flirting with a tall brunette and didn't seem to be paying much attention to her redheaded friend so Chloe snuck into one of the bedrooms with a few other people and lit up. What were the odds that Aubrey would walk into that same room with the tall brunette, planning to have sex with her, and see her smoking a joint?

Words could not describe how terrible Chloe felt afterwards. Once Aubrey had seen her high she demanded that they go home and told the tall brunette that she would call her later. It killed Chloe to see Aubrey so angry and upset. It was something that she never wished to see again.

"How long?" Aubrey hissed as soon as they entered their apartment.

"I-I-" Chloe stuttered, unable to form words.

"How long has this been going on, Chloe?!"

Now sitting on the couch, Chloe looked down at her hands in her lap. Tears streamed down her face and she could tell that Aubrey was nearly there.

"Almost two years..."

Aubrey pinched the bridge of her nose and took a deep breath. As angry as she was she refused to yell at Chloe anymore, understanding how much the girl hated seeing her angry. She was determined to help get her best friend through this time in her life, even if it killed her.

"Anything else I should know about?" she asked in a more comforting tone.

"I snort cocaine sometimes as well."

Chloe was prepared for Aubrey to yell at her further and knew that she deserved it. What she didn't expect was for Aubrey to come sit with her on the couch and give her a comforting hug. In fact, they stayed like that until Chloe fell asleep and Aubrey had to carry the fiery girl to bed. The next day Aubrey was determined to find Chloe some help so she wouldn't ruin her life.

The next day Aubrey grabbed her laptop and looked for support groups and hotlines to help Chloe beat the addiction. She found multiple resources and decided to contact her girlfriend, Stacie, to see which would work best since she had gone through the same procedures herself. Stacie suggested that the support group Aubrey found was the best way to go since that was how Stacie got over her addiction and it was held on campus. When Chloe woke up Aubrey decided to ask her what she wanted to do. It was decided that Chloe would go to the support group that Saturday.

For Chloe, the days leading up to the support group were very difficult. She stayed with Aubrey as much as she could in order to avoid going out and getting high with somebody and it was terrible. Aubrey tried her best to make Chloe feel better and help her ignore the cravings without eating herself to death. While Aubrey projectile vomited when stressed, Chloe ate almost everything in sight. To avoid having to take Chloe to the hospital Aubrey closely monitored Chloe's food intake as best she could. What she didn't know about was Chloe's other form of stress relief.

Cutting was something that Chloe rarely turned to, but in times like this when she couldn't stress eat and was going through withdrawal it seemed like her last option. Then again, to her at least, everything seemed like it was her last option. Cutting was something that Chloe was sure that Aubrey wouldn't find out about. She had been doing it since high school when she became depressed, but only when things got really, really bad. No one was going to find out.

When Saturday came Chloe was already regretting the decision to get help. In fact, she was contemplating skipping the support group and going to find one of the dealers on campus. That thought was thrown out with some hesitation. She didn't want to let Aubrey down again, not after the night of the party. She was going to make Aubrey proud.

The support group was held in Baker Hall, one of the dorm buildings for freshmen at the college. It was where the staff meeting room was which was odd since there were so many other places where they could have put it. Chloe checked her watch to see what time it was, making sure she wasn't late. 3:25. She was five minutes early. Reluctantly she continued walking toward the staff room and found that there were about ten other people there. Most of them looked like college students but she didn't recognize any of them. She was pulled out of her thoughts when she heard the door close behind her. Turning around she saw the prettiest girl she had ever seen.

Short was the first thing that came to mind but the ear piercings were absolutely stunning. Chloe had a hard time taking her eyes off of her. The brunette started walking in her direction and she almost melted.

"H-Hi, I'm Beca. What's your name?" the brunette, Beca, stuttered. God she was cute.

"Chloe, Chloe Beale," she beamed. She could feel the heat that reached her face.

Their nice conversation was (rudely) interrupted by the start of the support group. The only thing Chloe remembered from the group was the brunette's name, Beca. Considering she had yet to learn Beca's last name she hoped that she would see her again.