Prologue: Rachel Amber fits in everywhere. Everyone likes her. Some people like her a little too much. This is her story.

Chapter 15: Interlude (Rachel)

Friday, April 19th, 2013 (10:00 PM)

Rachel sat on the couch in the Vortex Club VIP room, leaning back and nursing a red solo cup filled with beer. It tasted a little off, but that was probably just from the energy drink she had kicked back earlier. Nothing like some Monster to kick off a night of partying. The room was oddly empty, but she supposed the other members of the Vortex Club were enjoying the atmosphere of the party before coming in here.

She heard footsteps, and Nathan stepped in through the curtain that separated the VIP area from the rest of the party. Okay, admittedly it was hard to hear with how loud the music was, but she managed. God, she thought she was getting a headache from the volume.

"Hey Rach, how's it hanging?" Nathan was wearing a red leather jacket with a black t-shirt, along with acid-washed jeans and some sneakers Rachel was sure were more than anything she owned. Okay maybe not some of her dresses, but mostly everything else.

"Pretty good, pretty good. Just kicking back. I don't really like these parties earlier in the night, ya know?" Nathan bobbed his head, either comprehending or having the good manners to feign understanding. He sat down across from her, sipping his own drink. She didn't know if it was beer or a harder liquor, and wasn't sure if she wanted to. Nathan was mean when he was drunk. Okay, also when he was sober, but not to her. He was sweet to her.

She tapped her fingers against the table, drumming some of her anxiety into it. It was just her and Nathan here, and if he had been drinking… She shook her head. It was five feet from here to the curtain outside. If he got too pushy she could just step outside, where there were plenty of witnesses. Nobody would be finding Rachel Ambers corpse buried somewhere in 6 months.

"So where is everybody else? Victoria, Logan, Courtney?" She asked, uncertain of the answer and hoping to god that Nathan was in a good mood. His brows furrowed, and it was several seconds before he responded.

"Victoria and Courtney are dancing out there, and I think Logan is trying to put the moves on some chick he saw." He let out a little laugh, and she reciprocated. It was a fake laugh, and he knew it. Too hollow. "It's just us, right? That's cool, no?" She shrugged her shoulders.

"I dunno. I mean, I like hanging out with you, it's just that I wanted to ask Victoria about something, and I always love seeing Logan strike out trying to get someone out of his league, right?" His shoulders were tensed, and she swore her headache was just getting worse. It was getting hard to focus. Maybe she should get out of here… She made to get up, but Nathan reached out, grabbing her wrist.

"No, stay!" Um… I wanted to talk to you. You know, just you and me. We never do that anymore." Yeah, we never did that because she was scared. Nathan could be nice, but he had… he had an edge to him that unnerved her. He could seem easy going, he could seem brash, arrogant, all normal emotions. But when they were alone, when she could really get a read on him, that was when she really saw him… and what she saw terrified her.

She sat back down. God, what had she just been thinking? She had lost her train of thought… it was getting hard to think. Was there something with her beer? She looked down at it, and then back up at Nathan, and saw that he was looking at it too. Wait…

"You drugged me." She made the connection, and the words died in her throat. They came out as barely a whisper, and he looked straight into her eyes. He scared her.

"Maybe I did." He shrugged his shoulders, somehow mocking the carefree gesture she made only moments earlier. "If that's the only way, then I'll take it."

And then the world blurred. It was as if the world was one giant Jackson Pollock painting, or a photo that was still developing. Nothing was quite fully formed, there was just impressions and blobs of color. A red and black blur, somehow more frightening than anything she had seen in her life. But then there was a bright shock of blue, standing out like a beacon, giving her hope. It moved in front of her, and then the world faded into darkness.

Saturday, April 20th, 2013 (10:00 AM)

When she came to it was morning. She was lying on Chloe's bed, and boy did she have a headache. It felt like a hangover, but not quite. More angry, if that made any sense. Did she have tequila last night? Oh god did she have sex with Chloe?

Rachel looked down, and breathed out a sigh of relief as she saw that she was fully clothed. She loved Chloe, but she didn't want to feel like she was taking advantage of the younger girl, and didn't want to just sleep with her. She wanted to make love to her.

Putting that aside, Rachel sat up, and looked around. Yep, she was in Chloe's room. She heard the door creak, and Chloe came in. She was wearing jeans and a singlet, which was surprising. Chloe usually wasn't out of bed, let alone dressed at this time of day on a Saturday.

Chloe sat down on the bed, and started to recount to Rachel the events of the last 12 hours. How she had found Rachel and saved her from what would probably have been rape, and how she had driven her back to her house, and put her to sleep in her own bed.

And in the weeks and months to come, when Rachel asked Chloe how she had known to come get her from the Vortex Club, how she had realized that Rachel was in danger, Chloe would only respond with 4 words.

"You needed my help."

AN: So there's that. I stole the idea of interludes from the popular web serial Worm by Wildbow. I figure I'll do these every 15 chapters, or maybe just whenever I feel like it. They're a fun way to explore other character's POVs and tell their stories in the Shock of Blue Hair universe. I had to explain why Rachel was still around in this timeline and figured this was better way to do it than a flashback or having her tell the story to Max. If you liked this, and have the time, please leave some feedback in a review!

See you next time!