Deciding that Chloe could wait another night, Max turned to her friends.

"Let's go then" she said.

They made their way to Warren's room and discussed the important matter of which movie to watch. By the time they reached the boy's dorm, Warren had convinced Kate to take a shot at horror movies, while Max answered Chloe.

I'll drop by for breakfast tomorrow, okay? I have a date with Warren and Kate.

Seconds later, Chloe's answer arrived.

Oh jeez Max, at least have a date with Warren alone. Great now I have nothing to do the whole evening. This is gonna be hella boring. Thanks. Well, see you tomorrow then. Enjoy your three-way deal.

Max gave an angry snort. Chloe got pissed so easily. Entering the room, she set her phone on silent and put it in her pocket.
Warren's room was cozy, wonderful warm after their stroll over campus. The upcoming movie in her mind, Kate already snuggled down in a blanket, sitting very close to the wall on the bed. Max stood close to Warren, pretending to help him with their drinks.

"Let's just watch Scary Movie or something similar" she said quietly.
"I don't think Kate is ready to watch anything spookier than that."

Warren gave her a little smile and nodded.

"Kate, prepare yourself for a real shocker!" he said, tossing her a can of Coke.

"It's not going to be that bad, don't worry!" Max assured her, sitting down in the middle of the bed and opening her own can.

"Oh it's okay guys, I'm ready" Kate said, sounding a bit too light-hearted and giving them a shy smile.

Warren put the disk in the DVD player and flung himself on the bed next to Max, grinning at both of the girls before pressing start on the remote. They watched the first few minutes in total silence. Max glanced at her side and saw Kate pulling the blanket right under her eyes. Chuckling, she took a sip of her Coke. Warren leaned in towards Max and whispered in her ear. His breath touched her neck, and Max felt a shiver down her spine.

"I'm sure she'll laugh when she figures out it's actually just a parody"

Max turned her head, just a small bit, her face now very close to Warren's.

"As much as she's cuddling with that blanket, I don't think she'll even see the first ten minutes."

They both smiled at each other and Max quickly looked away. Fifteen minutes later, it turned out that neither Warren nor Max had been right: Kate was cuddled up in the corner, sleeping peacefully. She was even snoring lightly and it took her friends a great amount of self-control not to burst out in laughter.

"I'm glad she's okay again" Warren said, looking at Kate. Max agreed.

"I can't imagine how life here would be without her".

A few weeks had passed since Kate had been standing on the roof of the dorm. Max still was thankful that she had found the right words to calm her down. She didn't want to think about what could have happened on that day. Whenever Max remembered how she had failed to use her rewind up on that roof, she felt miserable. She must have shown her worries on her face, because Warren took her hand, squeezing it once tightly.

"Don't think about that Max. You saved her, and that's all that counts!" He let go of her hand abruptly, as if he had just realized he was holding it.
"You're a great friend, you know? Nobody else cared about her."

Max blushed slightly and smiled. It felt pretty good hearing those compliments, even if Warren had told her a hundred times how proud he was. Still, she had nagging doubts about her rewind power. For her, it was pure luck that she had saved Kate from that roof. But what if her powers stopped working again in such a dreadful moment? Max looked up into Warren's eyes and realized that he would know about her rewind for months if she hadn't met Chloe.
Why shouldn't I tell him now? She asked herself.
But would he actually believe me? Maybe he'll think I'm crazy. Or maybe he'll get scared of me…

"What's wrong Max?" Warren interrupted her thoughts just moments before she wanted to speak. He looked concerned and Max changed her mind.

"Nothing" she said quickly and smiled.

They watched the rest of the movie, chatting about other things, while Kate slumbered undisturbed.
It was about 1am when Warren put away the DVD, yawning and stretching his limbs.

"I'm glad we came here and watched that movie instead of staying at the party" he said and turned on the light.

"Yeah, me too" Max agreed and got up from the bed.
"It was really fun!"

"True" Warren smiled.
"Let's make a movie night again soon. We wanted to watch the The Lord of the Rings trilogy, I bet you didn't forget!"

"Nope, I still remember" Max said, grinning.
"I'll go and get the extended version, okay? And we can text about the day and time."

"Great!" Warren gave her a thumbs up and looked at Kate.
"Now we just have to wake her up."

It took them almost five minutes until Kate was awake enough to leave the room. Still giggling, Max said goodbye to her friend when they arrived in the girl's dorm, crossed the hall and went inside her room. It had been a nice evening, and Max felt sure she had made the right decision with staying with her friends.
She lied down on her bed and let her thoughts stray.

- Did you follow Victoria? Then read on until you see this sign:#. Did you follow Nathan? Then start at this sign:#. Both continue normally at this sign: ÖÖÖ |

Soon, she remembered her chat with Victoria, and the message she had sent her.
Should I text back? She asked herself.
Victoria had been pretty nice, so Max felt like being rude if she didn't reply.

You can always text me if anything's wrong.

She answered then, feeling like Victoria wasn't that bad at all. Max asked herself if Nathan really saw more in her than a friend though. She couldn't imagine him walking over the campus holding hands with Victoria. Or holding hands with anyone.

- # -

Soon, she remembered her chat with Nathan, and the message he had sent her.
Should I text back? She asked herself.
Nathan really seemed to enjoy their chat in some way. So why stop after that one conversation?

Haha we'll see :)

Right after answering, Max wondered if it was the right thing to write. Shouldn't she have said something cooler?
Nathan must think I'm pretty lame she thought, feeling uneasy.
But what else could I have wrote?

- ÖÖÖ -

Still lost in her thoughts, Max fell asleep some time later.

The next morning, Max just took a quick shower and made her way to Chloe.
Joyce opened the door, and when Max entered, she already saw her blue-haired friend gulping down bacon and eggs. Sitting down at the table, Max's stomach rumbled loudly.

"Someone's hungry" Joyce laughed and proceeded to pile up pancakes on their plates.

"So Max, how was your threesome?" Chloe mumbled through a mouth full of bacon. Max rolled her eyes, but had to laugh anyways.
The three of them had a lot of fun, but when David sat down on Joyce's side, Chloe's mood immediately changed.

"Morning Officer" she said with a fake smile on her face.
"Already arrested someone today?"

"Stop saying that Chloe" David responded, sighing. He was hesitating for a moment, then he went on.
"By the way, I know you hung out with that fricking drug dealer in his RV again."

"What the fuck, why would you know that?" Chloe's voice rose.

Does he mean Frank? Max asked herself.

"You shouldn't care. I just don't want you to meet that creepy guy" David said, his tone getting harsher too.

"God, I'm an adult, David. Why do you always know where I am? It's not your business if I'm meeting that 'creepy drug dealer' or not"

Max looked at Chloe, surprised. So she's really meeting Frank or what? She was confused. Her friend was getting her rage on now.

"Last time you told me I shouldn't go to the junkyard. I want to know why you always know where I'm staying, David, for fucks sake. Have you planted a GPS tracker on me or what?' Chloe shouted.

Joyce was trying to say something, but David cut her off.

"And what if, Chloe? You're not safe around those people, I just want you to stay on the right and law-abiding path"

Chloe was now losing her temper completely.

"It's not your fucking business who I meet, David. I can't believe you're tracking me, that's sick, you know that? Just sick!"

"Chloe, please, keep your voice down!" Joyce said.
"And David, do you really have a GPS tracker on her? It's really getting out of hand with your control addiction. I can't stand it anymore!"

"Jesus, David, what's wrong with you?" Chloe stood up, her face red from shouting. Joyce seemed to be near to tears now.
This is getting out of hand Max thought. She saw David trying to speak for himself, looking really sorry this time, but Chloe had started calling him names, getting louder and louder.
I know he's not really that bad. He just seems to be trying to help Chloe, even if it's a strange way. Or is he going too far this time?
Max struggled for words. What should she say?

Calm Chloe or Accuse David