A/N: Hii! So sorry this chapter took a while, I was really stuck as to where I wanted to take this. I hope it doesn't feel like I'm rushing it or anything and I also hope the chapters don't seem too repetitive. I've spent the entire week worrying about this being to repetitive or predictable or both and stuff. I don't know if it's just me or if that's actually the case, hahah. Anyways, hope you guys enjoy this chapter. Oh, and also, thanks so much to everyone who has reviewed, favourited and alerted this so far, your interest really makes me smile!

If Victoria knew that getting up that morning would lead to her entire life changing, she would never have bothered.

Contrary to popular belief, Victoria was not a morning person. It wasn't a rare occurrence to find her in the bathroom before anyone else in the morning, but that only happened because she had failed to sleep at all the night before; something that seemed to be happening all the more frequently lately. She made a mental not to mention this to her therapist. Sure, the man got on her nerves, but he was a damn good therapist. At least that's what her parents kept saying.

Sighing, she reached for the glass of water she always kept on the nightstand by her bed, right next to a bottle of pills she had to take every day. She glanced at the little orange bottle and groaned; she hated how drowsy and irritable those pills would always make her feel. She couldn't skip taking her dose, however. Se scowled at herself, she could never skip her dose. Her parents would have a fit if they found out; they weren't spending all this money on the best therapist money could buy for their daughter to disregard everything and do whatever she wanted. Her parents would also have a fit if they found out she had received yet another rejection letter, but she chose not to think about that.

"Tori?" There was a gentle, almost timid knock on her door. "Are you up yet?" Taylor.

Getting up hastily, Victoria grabbed the pill bottle and chucked it under her pillow. She ran her fingers through her hair to smooth it out and opened the door, a small scowl adorning her face. Taylor, already dressed for the day, smiled at the sight of her friend.

"Grab breakfast with me?" she simply asked as she made her way inside the room. "We can go down at Two Whales, their waffles are so good," she plopped herself on the bed.

Victoria rolled her eyes and closed the door. "You know I hate the food there," she replied as she pulled her t-shirt off, revealing a simple black bra. Taylor looked at her unfazed; they had been naked around each other far too many times to care.

"No, you don't," retorted the other girl with a chuckle. "You only hate what that place has come to mean to you, their waffles are still the best in Arcadia Bay."

"That place means nothing to me," Victoria scoffed. "And, anyway, I'm on a diet." She removed the pair of shorts she had been wearing and pranced to the closet, pulling out her outfit for the day.

Taylor groaned as she got off the bed and walked around the room, her eyes scanning over everything before finally landing on a printed piece of paper on her friend's desk. "Are you fucking kidding me, Tori? Again?" she grabbed the paper, her eyes dancing over the lines. "You don't need to diet, you're already skinny. When was the last time you enjoyed a meal?" she could hear a muffed response coming from behind her, but the words weren't clear enough for her to understand. "What's this?" she asked a second later, her eyes still glued on the letter. She gasped in surprise when the paper was abruptly pulled away from her hands.

"Not your fucking business, Tay," Victoria all but hissed, the letter now crumpled in her hands. Taylor stared at her, her eyes slightly wide as she was taken aback by the sudden change in her friend's attitude. "Ugh, sorry. It's just a letter from that gallery in New York," she explained grabbing her makeup bag from her desk.

Taylor's features softened in realization. "Wanna talk about it?"

"Not really," Victoria shook her head. "It's nothing out of the ordinary anyway."

"It's their loss, Tori. You're an amazing photographer, anyone who doesn't see this is blind." Victoria chuckled but didn't give any other response.

Ten minutes later, and the two girls were standing in the hallway, Victoria locking her door as she nodded at Taylor who was hushedly explaining how she hoped they could spend some time alone without Courteney for once.

"Okay, out with it." The two girls sat across from one another at a booth as further away from the entrance as they could. Taylor was busy scanning the menu while Victoria was digging through her purse for her lighter, a cigarette hanging loosely from her lips.

"What are you talking about?" Taylor kept her eyes on the menu but her attempt to keep her voice even and indifferent didn't go unnoticed.

Victoria groaned and slammed her purse on the table before abruptly grabbing the cigarette from her lips almost crushing it in her hand. "I could have sworn I had my lighter with me, for fuck's sake," she muttered irritably as she turned her attention back to the blonde girl in front of her. "We didn't meet yesterday, Tay." Her tone was softer now. I know when there's something you're not telling me, you're horrible at keeping secrets. The whole of Blackwell knows this," she chuckled a little despite herself.

Taylor sighed as she finally lowered the laminated paper barrier from between them. "Let's just eat first, okay?"

"Shit, is everything okay?" Victoria had instantly grown worried, her voice urgent and somewhat hushed as she leaned closer to her friend. "Is your mom okay? If you need a ride-"

"My mom is fine, don't worry about it. Thanks for the offer, by the way," she smiled. "It's not about me, actually."

It didn't take long for the taller girl to figure out that she was probably the one Taylor wanted to talk about. "Oh," she simply mumbled, relaxing back down on her seat. "Yeah, let's eat first." She raised her hand signaling for someone to come take her order. Much to both the girls' surprise it wasn't Joyce who arrived at their table, notepad and pen in hand.

"You're not the annoying blonde woman who kicked us out last time."

The waiter simply stared and raised his shoulders. Victoria rolled her eyes. "I'll take a cup of coffee," she stated matter-of-factly. "Soy milk and no sugar."

"You should eat something," came Taylor's voice but was promptly ignored. "Waffles for me, thanks," she said sighing and handed the two menus over to the waiter who nodded and left without uttering another word.

"I wonder where that woman is…" Victoria mumbled after a while, nursing a hot cup of coffee in her hands. It was unclear whether she was talking to Taylor or she was simply thinking out loud.

"Heard she was let go," Taylor decided to respond anyway. "Something about her not being… you know, 'all there' to work, I think." There was a hint of sadness in her voice. "You saw her, right?" she asked a couple of moments later. "At the funeral…?" the question was mumbled and hesitant.

"I only talked to her briefly to pay my respects," Victoria stared somewhere between over Taylor's left shoulder and the window. "She was… well, as expected of someone who was attending their own child's funeral." Taylor simply nodded. "So what is it you wanted to tell me?" If Victoria hated anything, it was losing time beating around the bush.

Taylor swallowed nervously. "My mom called today."

"I thought this had nothing to do with her?"

"It doesn't. She's… worried. About me. And about you."

"About me?" The cigarette was now back in the girl's fingers, a nervous habit, a way of distracting herself.

"Yeah. She likes you a lot."

Pause. "Why?"

"Because she thinks you're a nice person?"

"I mean why is she worried." Victoria could feel her patience dwindling but forced herself to calm down when she saw how nervous Taylor appeared to be.

"It's about Nathan," muttered the other girl a few moments later showering both her and Victoria in heavy silence.

Victoria could really use her lost lighter right about now. "He's locked up," she mentally patted herself on the back for keeping her cool like she did. It was no secret that the subject of Natan was a very sensitive one, rarely even touched upon by anyone other than her therapist.

Taylor nodded slightly but stopped herself. "Well… he was." The plate of half-eaten waffles laid forgotten in front of her.

"They let him out?" This time, Victoria was unable to keep her voice indifferent and neutral, shock seeping easily into it.

Taylor shook her head slowly as she thought how much easier it would have been to simply email Victoria a link of the whole thing. "Not exactly."

"He got out?" Victoria's eyes grew slightly wide.

"You could say that."

"I thought he was being guarded at all times."

A nod, "he was."

"Enough fucking stalling, Taylor. Just say what you came over to say, I don't need you sugarcoating anything."

"He…" 'fuck.' "He's dead, Victoria. He- he killed himself, it's all over the news… I'm so sorry…" 'How's that for not sugarcoating it?' she thought bitterly as she reached across the table to take Victoria's hand in her own. "Vic, I-"

As if a jolt of electricity coursed through her body, Victoria abruptly pulled her hand away, her face visibly paler than it had been a few seconds ago. "Excuse me," she muttered grabbing her cigarettes and sliding out of the booth. Taylor's voice calling out her name sounded muffled in her ears; and so did the annoyed "hey" that the person whose lighter she had just grabbed from their table yelled after her.

"You should go after her," came a voice from Taylor's right that made her jump in surprise. The girl sighed and nodded in agreement, but she knew better. If the years of being around Victoria had taught her anything, it was to let her friend process and deal with everything in her own way and her own time. She had received one too many verbal lashings in the past that served to make her a little weary when it came to even approaching, let alone talking to the girl when she was this upset over something.

A minute went by, then two, then three… Time seemed to be moving in slow motion. Taylor couldn't see where Victoria had gone, but she could guess. She hastily paid for what each of them had ordered, grabbed her purse and Victoria's forgotten phone that was left on the table and made her way outside quietly apologising to the man whose lighter Victoria had stolen a few minutes before. Victoria was standing there, in the back alley, her back pressed against the wall and her head leaned back, her eyes closed as she inhaled deeply.

"Hey." Victoria opened her eyes slowly, not bothering turning her head to face Taylor who had just appeared around the corner, her hands clasped tightly in front of her as a sign of nervousness. The silence that surrounded the two girls was heavy and tense. Victoria closed her eyes once again, completely ignoring everything around her. It was her way of dealing with things, Taylor knew that. She would shut down for a few hours, maybe a day , and then she would come back to being her old self without as much of a warning.

"Wanna talk about it?" Taylor already knew the answer to that question but she couldn't stop herself from asking. A small glimmer of hope shone in her eyes when Victoria lifted her head and turned to look at her. It vanished just as quickly, however, when the taller girl opened her mouth.

"No," she stated simply, and Taylor felt like it hurt more than a verbal lashing would. At least then she would know that Victoria wasn't bottling everything up again like she so often did.

"Wanna go back?" she tried again. "We could hang out-"

"What I want, is to be left the fuck alone, Taylor!" The girl flinched.

"You uh… You left your phone in there. Look, I'm gonna go back but please call me, okay? Please? Just- shit. Just talk to me when you feel like it. And please get back too, it looks like it's about to rain."

"Good," was the only thing that came out of Victoria's mouth before she leaned her head back against the wall and closed her eyes, ignoring the sigh and incomprehensible mumble that came from her friend.

Max smiled as the door in front of her opened, revealing a beaming Kate who motioned her to get inside. "I got cookies and my favorite 'Final Fantasy' movie, I hope you're up for it!" she laughed as she walked in and immediately removed her shoes so she could hop on the bed.

"You're late," Kate scoffed playfully as she took the DVD from Max' hands and turned on the DVD player.

"Only ten minutes," Max laughed. "I had to go over some notes for the English class and lost track of time." Kate nodded and a wave of relief washed over Max. Truth was, she had spent almost the entire day putting off her photography assignment, hating the fact that she couldn't even look at a camera without feeling her stomach turning and bile rising up in her throat. "Cookie?" she asked forcing a big smile on her face as Kate walked to the bed and made herself comfortable next to her.

"Only if it's chocolate chip," the both chuckled.

Two hours later, and Kate couldn't stop glancing over at Max who kept mumbling every single line from the movie along with the actors.

"What?" asked the brunette when she heard a soft snicker coming from her left.

"How many times have you watched this movie?" asked Kate unable to hold back her laughter.

"I don't know, like… not that many?" Max tired. "Why?" she could feel her face turning red and she silently thanked god the lights were off.

"You keep repeating the lines," Kate informed her and Max felt yet another wave of heat.

"I'm not doing that," she mumbled in a lame attempt to defend herself. She was most definitely doing that.

"Yes, you are," Kate laughed again. "For at least an hour now, it's… it's really cute actually, so don't worry about it." It was her turn to blush now.

"Shut up," Max mumbled burying her face in her hands for a short moment, not wanting to miss too much of the movie by being embarrassed.

There was an annoying blinking light just off to Max' right which she was trying hard to ignore. She knew it was her phone, it had gone off at least four times already, and she knew she should probably check to see who it was and what they wanted, but she couldn't bring herself to care. And she would have to be doing a good job at ignoring it too, had the screen not be lighting up the entire room.

"Uh… Max? Your phone is going off," Kate informed her after the fifth time the screen lit up. The brunette sighed as she finally gave up and picked the device up. Why she hadn't just turned it off of even placed it facing upside down if she really didn't want to get it, she didn't know. A part of her believed that, in a weird, somewhat twisted way, she liked knowing that people cared enough about her to call or text her five times in a row. And another part of her hoped, surprising as that was, that it was Victoria the one looking for her. She wasn't about to admit it, not to herself and certainly not out loud, but there was something about the queen of Blackwell she found intriguing; endearing even. When she wasn't too busy being a bitch and putting everyone down, that is. She was just a little bit disappointed when she saw it wasn't Victoria who was texting her, but that feeling was quickly replaced by one of confusion when she saw who was. The number wasn't familiar to her, she hadn't saved it in her contacts and she couldn't remember ever seeing it before. She knew of only one 'Tay', however. Max blocked the sound of the movie out for a moments while she read all the messages, each a little more frantic than the next.

(Unknown Number 12:19): Hey, Max, it's Tay. Sorry for bothering you, but Victoria is down by The Two Whales and she was pretty upset when I left her... I was wondering if maybe you can go over there and kinda talk to her a bit? Seeing as you two seem to get along lately and all. Thanks!

(Unknown Number 12:57): Hey, it's me again. I know you probably have plans, but Vic is still not back and I'm kinda worried… I know I shouldn't have left her there by herself, but you know how she is… Anyways, pls let me know if you go over.

(Unknown Number 13:10): Okay, so you're not the only one not replying to my texts, she's ignoring me too. I knocked on your door and you didn't answer so I really hope you two are ignoring me cause you're together somewhere, talking or whatever. Text me, pls!

(Unknown Number 13:35): Shit, okay, Max now it's raining and she's still not back, I'm fucking worried about her, I don't know what she could do. I told her some… not so great news and I was so stupid to leave her there when I knew how upset she was. Fuck. Just… pls come by my room, okay? The door is unlocked.

Max could feel her heart picking up its pace at every text she read. Her head snapped towards the window; the sky was dark and there was the sound of constant thunder coming in through the closed blinds.

She tried to block the horrifying memories from her mind as she turned her attention to Kate who was looking at her with a mixture of concern, interest, and fear in her eyes.

"What's up?" asked the girl, concern evident in her voice.

"Nothing, it's just uh…" Max cleared her throat that had suddenly become scratchy. "I need to do something, I'll be back, okay?"

"Max-"

"Don't worry about it," the brunette stumbled as she attempted to put her shoes on while walking to the door. "It's probably nothing, but better make sure. I'll tell you everything when I come back, I promise!" With that, the young girl disappeared into the hallway, leaving a very confused and worried Kate staring at the spot she had just been standing in just a second ago.

Just as Max was taking a deep breath and was about to knock on Taylor's door, the sudden, loud banging of the entrance door made her stop dead on her tracks, her heart jumping in surprise. She held her breath as she heard someone's wet footsteps coming up the stairs, accompanied by soft, incomprehensible mumbling. She retreated in the shadows as a familiar Oxford shoe appeared on the top of the stairs, immediately followed by a very familiar, albeit very wet body. Victoria didn't seem to notice her or anything in her surroundings for that matter as she dragged her feet to her room and closed the door behind her.

Max let out a breath she had apparently been holding and hastily knocked on Taylor's door. There was a sound from inside the room as if someone tripped while getting out of bed and, a second later, the door opened revealing a dishevelled-looking Taylor who had, most liked, indeed tripped while in a hurry to get out of bed and open the door. The blonde girl's face visibly fell as her eyes fell on Max but hope was quickly evident in her eyes when the shorter girl smiled awkwardly at her.

"Victoria is in her room," Max simply stated, her voice soft and caring in an attempt to ease Taylor's mind.

"Shit, thank god," the blonde sighed in relief and brought a hand up to rub her eyes. "Did you… Did you guys talk? Were you with her?" she asked after a moment.

"No, I uh… I just saw her coming in just now. She didn't look too good…" Max rubbed the back of her neck while glancing over at Victoria's door.

"Fuck, okay… Thanks, Max. I should probably go over there for damage control," she nodded to herself as she seemed to be trying to put her thoughts in some sort of order.

"What happened?" Max asked unable to stop herself.

"It's N-" Taylor started but immediately stopped herself. "Uh… I'm really not sure if I should be saying anything… Maybe you should ask Victoria in like… a week or so? When she's all better. Though, even if you don't ask, you'll probably hear about it soon enough…" Max looked at her confused. "I should really be going now, thanks again!"

'Things are already weird and it's not even two o'clock yet…' Max thought as she made her way back to Kate's room, more than ready to put the whole Victoria drama behind her, even for only half a day.

A/N: Sooo... there. Not my favourite chapter, I'll say that much, haha. There were a few scenes that I had written that got cut cause they didn't quite fit in here. That, and also cause they made the story seem too repetitive, like I said. I've kept my favourite cut scene, however, and you bet I'm gonna be using it later on! I promise this isn't going to be all angst, bt. It just comes naturally to me to write in this tone. I'll write some happier chapters in the future, though, I will! Anyways, thanks again for reading! Leave a comment if you do! Hell, leave a comment even if you don't, I really want to know what you guys don't like so I can improve it. Thank you!