Author's Note: So here's my Chapter 2. I played through all three episodes of LiS yesterday (took me literally all day, but I did it) just to get inspiration to write this. Tell me what you think! I love to read your reviews. I'm also always up for direct messaging, so PM if you want to! :)

Chapter 2: Nostalgia

It was all Max could do not to burst into tears in the middle of her dorm room. Even the smallest things reminded her of the way life used to be. Of Chloe...

That made all of her classes extra hard to concentrate in that day. At least now, if she decided to have a mental breakdown, no one would see her in the safety of her room.

I will find that photo. And I will save you, Chloe. I need you...

"You can rewind time, Max. That's fucking insane..." Max heard punk Chloe's voice in her head. "...you need a sidekick to guide you..."

Super Max needed her Girl Wonder. As if the situation she was in wasn't arduous enough, now Max had to tough it alone? No. That is not how she was going to let this play out. Chloe was right... Max had an incredible power, and it was time to fix this.

It was time to be an Everyday Hero.

But, Max thought, I should probably check out this new world before I try to go back. Just to see if I can't find anything.

And who says I'll actually be able to go back if I do find the picture?

Max didn't want to overwhelm herself now. She needed to take things one step at a time. For starters, the Vortex pre-party shindig was tonight. She could look for something there, like the drugs Nathan hooked Kate up with... and probably Rachel, too.

It was decided. Max was going to attend the party and snoop for clues. For anything, really.

She heard her phone buzz on the nightstand to her left.

Victoria: Meet me at the fountain in the courtyard at 9. Dnt be late.

Victoria: And try not to act weird like yesterday

Okay, the party is at nine. What time is it now? Max verified the time on the top of her phone screen.

4:47PM

She still had about four more hours until the party... What to do?

Max's stomach bellowed out in hunger. Let me play you the song of my people, she joked. I need to nosh. What better place than the Two Whales? I'll be able to catch up with Joyce there anyway.

The second she walked through the door of the diner Max felt a pang of instant nostalgia.

Talk about going back in time... The diner looks exactly the same as when we were kids. Although now there are way less fishermen and way more dumped food carts. Chloe and I had the best backdrop to play pirate: old ships and a big ocean...

The feeling wasn't only for the time Chloe and Max spent together as kids, but their journey as adults. What she wouldn't give to be back in that old booth on October 8, 2013. Sitting across from her blue-haired rebel, predicting the future and seeing through pockets...

Chloe was so damn excited to test out my power, Max thought as she sat in the third booth down from the back wall to the right, close to the jukebox. She looked out behind the counter and found Joyce's unforgettable face working hard to please.

The moment Joyce's eyes met Max's, her face lit up. It was good to see that the poor girl was doing well after her fall last night. Bless her heart... She pushed up the folding counter and walked out to the table Max was sitting at.

"Hey girl," she said, "Its great to see you're doing better."

"Thanks, I don't know what got into me." Max replied apologetically, "I guess it was just all the excitement of seeing Chloe after five years."

"Things happen. Don't worry about it, Max. At least you're okay." Joyce assured. "Chloe is so happy that you're back in Arcadia Bay again. She hasn't had many friends since... Since her accident."

Sigh. Assholes around here just don't understand how to be nice, do they?

"I wonder why. Chloe is such a good person. You don't think it's because of...?"

"That's probably exactly why. And what's worse is Blackwell won't even admit her. Say they 'don't have the funds' for handicapped students." Joyce scoffed. "But that's fine. Homeschooling is just fine with us. If anything, it's better for her not to have to deal with people bullying her for her disability."

This conversation did not help Max feel any better. She wondered why she wasn't suffering severe depression yet. Max always did see the positive side of everything– she always had hope.

"Chloe did have one good friend around here while you were gone. Rachel Amber..." Joyce admitted.

"Rachel Amber?" Max inquired.

"Pretty girl. Smart as a whip, too. She always talked about her dreams of becoming a model and moving out to Los Angeles. Chloe would always joke about how she was coming with her... That was, until she disappeared six months ago." Max could see the hurt in Joyce's eyes. "Anyway, let's get down to the big question. What do you want to eat?"

"The last good burger I had was here. I'll have one of those, please."

"A burger for the hungry girl, pronto!" Joyce called out into the kitchen.

Max had time to think before her food came out. So, Rachel Amber was still friends with Chloe, and she's still missing. Great. I mean, it's not great that she's missing, but– Anyway. This means that I have a definite thing to look for now. Everyone in Blackwell is connected, and I'm going to figure it out.

Before she knew it, Joyce came around the corner with a steaming burger on her plate. She set it down on the table in front of Max and handed her a bottle of orange soda.

"I figured you'd want something to go with your food, and I know how much you and Chloe used to drink this when you came in here as kids."

"Thanks, Joyce." What a delightful surprise. Max popped the cap and took a swig of the soft drink. It tasted like her childhood.

* bzz bzz *

Nathan: Hey babe, you're coming tonight, right?

Max nearly choked and dropped her phone as she read the words.

Max: Yeah, of course.

Nathan: Cool I'll see you there. Love you.

Holy shit. Nathan is my boyfriend? Can this reality get any stranger? This is totally creepy. That douchebag?

Max scarfed down the remains of her burger and finished off the orange soda. She jumped up and left a ten at the booth for Chloe's mom.

She needed someone to confide all of this in, not just her journal and pictures... She needed a real person, and she knew that she could trust Chloe no matter what. Max headed down to the Price house.

Once she reached the blue house, Max ran up the path and knocked on the door quickly. She tried to hold back her nerves, but they stuck out like a sore thumb... She just needed someone, like, now.

William answered the door again and, before he could greet her at all, Max blurted out "I need to speak with Chloe. It's sort of an emergency..."

"Okay," he answered, "She's in the living room. Try not to explode on your way." A smile peeked on the edges of William's lips as he closed the door behind Max. It was comforting to know that Chloe had a good friend back in Arcadia Bay again.

Max ran down the hall into the living room and found Chloe watching the television contently.

"Chloe," she burst. The girl turned her chair around to look at Max's face. A nice breakup of the monotony to see her again.

"Hey, Max. Good to see you again."

"Listen, I need to talk to you about something..." Chloe could tell her best friend was clearly upset.

"Okay, what is it?" she asked.

"Maybe not right here."

"Okay, why don't we go to my room? Dad renovated the garage so I didn't have to use the stairs. Hehe." Chloe found light in the darkest of situations. Definitely polar opposites with her alternate universe self.

"That'd be great. Let's go."

The girls moved through the living room and over to the door under the stairs. Max hopped in front of Chloe to open it for her, and shut it on her way inside.

"Mi casa es tu casa."

Max surveyed Chloe's new room. It looked good, for what used to be the old garage.

"Okay, Chloe. I'm going to tell you something serious, something you can't tell anyone else. For real, this is between you and me."

"Don't insult me, Max, go ahead."

"I swear to you that I am not crazy."

"Just say it, sista."

"Okay..." Where to begin? "I am from an alternate universe. One where your dad died."

"What?" Chloe was concerned about the imagination of her old friend.

"Maybe I should start from the beginning. Two days before I came here, I discovered that I could rewind time. I saved you from getting shot in the girls' bathroom at Blackwell. You were trying to get Nathan Prescott to pay you to keep your mouth shut about another incident, but I won't get into that... Anyway, he had a gun and he shot you, Chloe. I watched you actually die. I held my hand up in a desperate attempt to save you, and I rewound time. I went back to the bathroom, set the fire alarm off, and saved you."

What the hell has this girl been smoking? Chloe thought. Although she didn't say it out loud. Just sat there and waited for Max to continue.

"And then we spent the next two days getting into all kinds of trouble around Arcadia Bay. The last time I saw your face in my universe, you were pissed at me and basically kicked me out of your truck."

"Wait, Max, are you saying that in this universe, I'm not paralyzed or anything?"

"Yes. You're also a rebellious punk. That's the phase you went through after William died... You dyed your hair blue, got a tat and some piercings, and started dressing in band clothes."

"Wow, go on."

"Okay, so before you drove me back to Blackwell, Joyce gave me a picture of us when we were kids. William took it the day he got in that fatal car accident. Here's where it gets weird."

This was interesting for Chloe. Even if it was all purely fictional and Max was absolutely making this up out of her ass, it was nice to hear a good story. And to just be in her presence.

Max continued, "I went back to my dorm room and sat on my bed staring at the picture, wishing with everything that I had that I could go back to that moment and let your dad survive so you could be happy."

Aw, Max. You're so adorable. Chloe thought to herself.

"I kept focusing on the picture and started to hear our old voices in my head. The air around me felt like it swirling, and the film started to glow. Eventually I was able to focus on it enough to see the image clearly again... And then I was warped into your kitchen, in 2008. That was the day William died... But I saved him."

This was a lot for Chloe to process. With a tale like this, Max was either reaching into the deep and twisted recesses of her imagination or she was telling the truth.

"William took our picture and I found myself as an 18-year-old inside of my 13-year-old self. It was hella crazy." Max remembered how that was punk Chloe's favorite vocabulary word... "Then the phone rang. It was Joyce, and she wanted your dad to come pick her from the grocery store. I knew I had to find a way to stop him, so I hid his keys. He couldn't find them, so he took the bus instead... And now I'm here. Chloe, I altered the line. I fucked everything up. This isn't how it was supposed to be. And now, because William didn't die in the car crash, you became paralyzed in one." Max was stressing hard. She hadn't confided in anyone or anything since all of this went down... "This is all my fault," she admitted.

Chloe was speechless. What do you say in response to something like that?

"How do I know all of this is true? Do you have proof that this actually happened?"

Max thought for a moment. Then she remembered! She drew on the fireplace to mark her being there before hiding William's keys!

"Come with me. I want to show you something." Max led her friend out of her room and into the dining room area. She pointed towards a small butterfly on the bottom right corner of the bricks.

"I drew this the day I jumped into this world. Believe me?"

Okay, that was pretty freaky. Chloe didn't remember Max ever doing that, and she never noticed it until now.

"Alright, Max, you've got me there." she confessed. "This is crazy."

Max felt relieved to have been able to get that off her chest. This was freaking her out more than she ever imagined.

"So, how can I help you get back to your universe?" Chloe questioned. "This seems really important to you, so I'm here for you."

Even in an alternate time line, Chloe was so loyal and good to Max.

"No way to help, not right now. I'm still trying to investigate more into the disappearance of Rachel Amber, and-"

"Wait," Chloe interrupted, "You know Rachel? Does she exist in your universe too?" Please say yes, Chloe thought, I wouldn't want my other self to miss out on her.

"Yes, she does. And she's missing there too. You've been working really hard to find her, and I've been trying to help you." Max replied.

This was really odd, talking to Max about this alleged "alternate time line," but it was worth it... Maybe she really could find Rachel...

* bzz bzz *

Taylor: Hey girl, you're coming to the party tonight right? Gonna be awesome. Ur azz better be there. See u soon. XO

Oh shit, the party! Max thought, What time is it now? I have to head back to my room and get ready.

Max looked across the room at the digital clock.

7:56PM

"Crap! I gotta get back to my dorm and get ready for the party. The Vortex is having some weird, before-the-actual-party party." Max shrugged and shook her head. "Anyways, I gotta run! Can't be late. Talk to you later Che!" She yelled as she rushed down the hall and out the door.

Back at Blackwell, Max sighed. This day would never come to a close, would it? She walked across campus and into the girls' dormitories, owned by Nathan- her boyfriend's- family. Ugh. Max shuddered at the thought. Reason number 356 to escape this world.

Max just wanted to get all of this over with. She speed-walked down to the end of the hall and found her room on the right.

I guess I should probably take a shower and change my clothes. Don't want to scare everyone away with my... beautiful aroma.

She reached into her closet and grabbed her shower bag. Gotta be careful around here, she thought, Even though we're all seniors, people still like to play evil pranks...

While in the shower Max heard a couple of girls walk in the bathroom, chattering and giggling together.

"Like, Maxine has no idea," one of them exclaimed. "Nathan is such an ass sometimes."

"Yeah, but he's super cute. And he owns Blackwell. He can do whatever he wants and no one would say shit."

"Yeah, you're right. That's why he can deal all of that shit to people and never gets caught."

"I bet he just pays the dumbass security officers to keep their mouths shut." one quipped.

"I heard his shit is cut with laxative."

There was a pause before the conversation picked up again.

"Do you think he's working with the guards to bust the druggies?" one questioned. She had a point. Why would Nathan sell drugs laced with laxatives? Not cool.

"I don't know. It doesn't matter, not our problem anyway." the two girls left the bathroom and Max exited the shower.

Damn, that girl had a point. I need to watch Nathan more carefully tonight and see what he's up to...

Max returned to her room and dressed herself in a white undershirt and cute gray sweater. It was the closest she could get to her old Max wardrobe. She looked for the time again. Everyone seemed to make a point to her not to be late... Some Vortex Club thing, maybe?

8:45PM

I might as well just head out now. Don't want to make Victoria wait too long.

Max left the dormitories and headed out to the courtyard. Victoria was already sitting on the fountain waiting. Once she saw Max she stood up and took a couple steps toward her.

"Ready to head out?" she asked.

"You know it. Let's go!"

Max followed Victoria down the sidewalk and quickly discovered that the party was to be held in the swimming pool.

Go Otters.

Max had a flashback to the first and last time she was ever in that building. Her and Chloe had just broken into Principal Wells's office, and they decided that they earned a little time to themselves in the pool. Splish splash. It wasn't exactly skinny dipping, but whatever the two girls did was close enough for Max. That night was probably the most intense and exciting experience Max ever had! Not to mention, she got to see Chloe in her underwear...

Bad, Max. Don't think about Chloe like that. Perv. She thought. Oh come on, you know you got a little giddy when she dared you to kiss her in her room. Her mind argued back with itself. Good point.

Max could hear the bass booming through the walls of the pool building. Victoria led her through to the girls' locker room.

A party around a pool, she quipped, Not dangerous at all.

Tonight was going to be a long night.