Disclaimer: Anything familiar to you, I don't own. This is a work of fanfiction for personal amusement, fulfillment and maybe a bit of self-therapy. I make nothing from any of it. Cheers.
Warning: Violence of an adult against a minor. If you believe you cannot safely consume such content, Chapter 19 will have a summarizing preface which will mention the incident but NOT describe it in detail.
Chapter Eighteen: Theseus to Hippolytus
October 11th, 2010- 7:08 AM
Her hand was on the knob to the front door of her house when Chloe heard her mother approaching. Fuck, she thought. Just, fuck my luck. Knowing that there really was no pretending not to hear her, Chloe turned around. Joyce stood in front of her with her arms folded across her chest, dressed for work but with a look on her face as if she was already there. At least Officer Asshat is at the school already, she thought sighing as she waited for her mother to speak. For a moment, they stood in silence and Chloe counted the seconds until she would be forced to open the conversation up,instead.
"Chloe, David says he saw your truck in Edgeton last week, while he was picking up some parts for his car." I'll fucking bet, Chloe thought, bitterly. She wasn't sure if it was a result of thinking about the date or the idea that David was openly following her around that put her off. She thought she really ought to be sure. Her mother's face hardened slightly. She wanted a response. Chloe wanted to do little more than not think until she'd had breakfast and at least seen and talked to Rachel and Max. "Well? I'm waiting. What were you doing taking that truck out of town without telling me?"
"I wanted to take Rachel to dinner somewhere other than the diner or the only McDonalds in Arcadia Bay," she replied, frustrated but trying to stay calm. "The only other places in town are seafood, which she can't stand because she used to have too much of it, or too expensive to go to if your name isn't 'Prescott.'" Chloe stepped away from the door for a moment, to show she was paying some attention to her mother. The woman's face changed, slowly growing less suspicious and stand-offish. It turned softer, if a little more distant.
"Were you- were you two on a date?"
"Yes," Chloe told her, lifting her chin, slightly. She was long beyond wanting to talk about this but it didn't matter. She was not going to get embarrassed or too deep in thought about this. Not around someone who she wasn't entirely convinced she trusted. Clearly hearing something she had not expected, Chloe watched her mother uncross her arms and calm down significantly. She did not respond. "I'm going to breakfast," Chloe told her once, patting her pocket once to make sure she had her keys and phone.
"Alright," was all the response her mother gave. Chloe did not mind. She was out of the door and in the truck far sooner than she would have expected, all things considered. When she was finally behind the wheel of her truck, Chloe leaned her head against the steering wheel and exhaled a breath she did not know she had been holding. The truck started faithfully and though it gave an unhealthy feeling lurch when she shifted it into reverse, she got the feeling that it would get her where she needed to go, for at least one more day.
She was not aggravated because the date went poorly or anything. It had gone poorly, but that wasn't the source of the frustration. Chloe had thought that a little time would smooth things over in regards to this apparent problem cropping up between her, Rachel and Max. She was sure that at some point feelings would stabilize and everyone would go back to normal. What did I think 'normal' was, even? Instead, nearing a month after Max's birthday party, things had gone in much the opposite direction. Not a damn one of the three of them-Chloe included-had had the courage to bring up the giant elephant in the room. Chloe still caught Rachel and Max just missing each other with looks that spoke of complicated feelings. Those looks had gone to a stage beyond and no longer left her any doubt as to the question of whether, between the three of them there was some strange Gordian Knot of mutual feelings. She had also caught herself behaving the same way toward either of them and it made her feel shitty not to speak up about it.
Chloe got to the school, expecting to walk in some solitude to the main building and join the girls in the cafeteria. Instead as she pulled the Frankentruck into a parking spot, Rachel was waiting beside the stairs up from the lot. Even from a distance it was easy to see that she perked up as soon as she spotted Chloe but it was not a look of eagerness or excitement. Something was wrong. She took a moment to look the girl over from behind the wheel. Rachel had taken to not bothering with makeup anymore, which was a bit of a turn around as Chloe had begun to experiment with it on occasion, relying on her for advice. She was also still firmly committed to just wearing what she wanted instead of dressing like one would expect a "respectful girl" from an affluent family to dress. Chloe didn't often comment on it, but Rachel pulled off the whole 'confident badass' look pretty well. Where she stood waiting impatiently for Chloe, she did not look confident at all.
Does this mean she's ready to talk about, all this shit? Her heart seemed to be beating in the bottom of her throat instead of her chest. It became difficult to swallow and suddenly she wasn't sure she wanted to open the door and step out. Maybe Rachel read this on her face because she went from waiting to walking briskly toward the truck. Oh fuck, here it comes. Everytime she imagined the conversation that was coming, it always ended in hypothetical heartbreak. Save being a drama queen for Shakespeare, Chloe. She got out of the truck and, shifting her backpack on her shoulder, met Rachel halfway. Chloe had time to remark to herself that at least it was good while it lasted, when Rachel spoke.
"Something's wrong with Max," Chloe blinked. Wind out of her sails, she took a moment to take stock of how she felt. Should I be angry that when I think she's about to dump me, instead she's bringing Max up? The truth was that she wasn't. For a moment Chloe was even relieved, but then it passed. Rachel's words and her general demeanor caught up with her and Chloe frowned. She's not quite in panic mode, but… but Rachel's face was lined with her concern and she stood leaning slightly toward the stairs as if ready to turn and take off to it at any time. "Chloe, did you hear me?"
"Yeah," she said, shaking her head once. "Lead the way." As she bade, Rachel turned and started toward the stairs and to the rest of the campus. Chloe followed a step behind for a moment and then matched pace.
"So, like, after I got your message earlier, I realized Max hadn't answered mine which is kind of weird," Rachel said. "She's started getting up earlier than me lately. I stopped by after I got my shower done and knocked and she basically just told me to go away."
"What did she say, actually?" Chloe asked, wrinkling her brow. Though she wasn't sure how she felt about it, she was sure that Rachel and Max were awfully fucking close and this didn't strike her as the kind of way Max would treat either Rachel or Chloe. "Like, was she upset? Was she mad about something?"
"I dunno, she just said to 'go on without me.' When I asked what was wrong, she said to just let her 'sleep it off.'" Chloe shook her head again. This time it was to refute the idea. "My thoughts exactly," Rachel replied, shooting her a look. In those bright hazel eyes, Chloe saw relief so thick it was almost palpable. When Rachel looked at her like that, like she trusted her more than other people, it was enough to put butterflies in her stomach in any other situation. This was not any other situation.
With Rachel's key they were back in the girls' dorms, walking down the thinly carpeted hall in no time at all. For not the first time, Chloe considered what it would be like if her mother was able to afford letting her stay there. It made absolutely 0 financial sense, but she had indulged in the fantasy quite often over the last couple of weeks as the realization hit her that, on the average, Max and Rachel spent a lot more time together than she did with either of them. What would it be like to like, leave my room, go next door and hang out with them both like it were nothing instead of a fifteen minute drive every time?
Shortly, they reached room 222 and Rachel motioned for Chloe to knock. She did. There was a brief pause during which Chloe shot a concerned look at Rachel and then, from just on the other side of the door, Max spoke. In all the years they'd known each other, Chloe had heard Max in tears often enough that the sound of Max trying to talk as if she were not desperately upset was kind of ingrained in her mind. There was a childhood full of scraped knees, arguments and other things that so often could move kids to tears between Chloe and Max. It was kind of endearing to be reminded of that even if the manner she was was unfortunate.
"Rachel, I'm sorry. I just don't think I can go to class and see anyone today, okay?" Chloe stepped right up to the door and leaned her shoulder against it. "I know I'm probably freaking you out a little and I don't mean to. I just don't want to talk about it."
"It's Chloe," she told Max, trying not to speak too loudly in case there was anyone else on the floor. The one thing she did know was that Max was kind of a private person when it came to her emotional state. "Will you talk about it to me?" She did her best to sound soothing instead of scared. There was a longer delay this time than last. "Max?"
"Not even you," she said. "I'm sorry," she added, sounding as if she was getting worse.
"Look," Chloe cajoled, feeling a little upset at not being able to get through the door and to Max. "I get it, you want to be left alone. If you want me to go away, I'm going to need you to promise me you won't do anything stupid."
"I won't," Max told her, laughing bitterly through tears that had never sounded clearer in her voice. "I promise."
"Alright," Chloe said. "I'll be checking my phone pretty often, Rachel will too. If you need something, tell one of us, okay?" For half a second, there was silence. This time she turned away from the door to Rachel, who had her arms crossed and seemed as frustrated by the door keeping them at bay as she did.
"Okay," Max said. Chloe saw her own relief echoed on Rachel's face. That look was replaced by a blank, stony one a moment later, when Max continued. "I love you, you know? Thank you for caring." Son of a bitch. She wasn't entirely sure what she thought of the comment (she rather felt like her emotions were being pulled in four or five directions at once) but she knew from Rachel's face that the thespian was not entirely comfortable with Max's choice of words.
"I'm always gonna care," Chloe said, honestly. Rachel's eyes slid slowly away from her and toward the wall opposite of Max's door. She did not look upset, just off kilter. As Chloe stepped away from room 222 and toward the staircase, she fought the urge to pull Rachel aside and ask what she was worried about or tell her that surely Max meant it platonically. There were two problems with that, though. The first was that the idea of Rachel getting upset and exploding on her was fucking terrifying and the second was that she was pretty sure the last part was a lie .
"Ready for class?" Rachel asked her as they hit the bottom stair. Chloe couldn't even feel irritated that Rachel wouldn't just talk about it because it wasn't as if she was rushing to tell Rachel about the thoughts in her own head in relation to Max, either. Things have actually gotten really twisted over the last couple of weeks.The doors to the school were just feet ahead and Chloe didn't even remember the walk from the dorms, though at some point Juliet had joined them and Rachel was engaging her in some sort of conversation about the play. I'm not actually jealous of them and Rachel doesn't act jealous about Max acting like she does toward me or- Chloe swallowed. Or me like I do toward her. Chloe let herself have the thought that had been dancing around her head since Rachel first started hanging out with her, since things got even vaguely romantic.
I have trouble feeling like I'm worthy of her sometimes. She's like a force of nature. She's like that wildfire. Gorgeous, dangerous, confident and most of the time she even knows it. Some people are objectively special. That's not me. That's her. Chloe looked sideways at Rachel, watching her laugh at something that Chloe had not heard and didn't give a damn about. That's her and that's Max. Chloe glanced down at the ground when she felt her eyes watering. She had asked herself if Max acting like this toward them both was wrong of her, no small number of times in the last two weeks, especially. Chloe continued to come to the conclusion that if Max was wrong, then so was she and so was Rachel. Max wouldn't try to hurt me. She wouldn't try to hurt either of us. And yeah, so sometimes I don't think I deserve Rachel but I'm not about to start distrusting either of them. The day I do that, I really don't deserve her. God damn it, why can't we just talk about this?
Rachel lead her by the hand into Mr. Keaton's classroom. Maybe it'd be better that way. Juliet walked past them toward her usual seat in the front. Or maybe it'd be worse. Maybe she would figure out that she doesn't really fucking need me. Chloe didn't think she could risk that, selfish or not. So she kept her mouth shut and tried to focus in on the world around her instead of on thoughts that existed only in her own head. A hand pressed against the side of her neck and Chloe jumped, blinking. Rachel's face came into sharp focus and the look on it was hurt. The girl pulled back her hand quickly, as if apologetically.
"Sorry," Chloe told her. "Guess I was spacing waaaaay out there." The light tone in her voice sounded forced to her own ears. Steph was sitting just in front of Rachel, turned back to look at her in some concern. Dimly, Chloe thought that she needed to remember to get Steph her updated character sheet before Friday.
"It's okay," Rachel said, though the hurt at Chloe jumping did not entirely disappear. Chloe wondered if that was really all it was. Or maybe she's thinking about shit, too. "You just looked really upset for a second." Chloe ran her hand through her hair, frustrated. "Hey," Rachel said, leaning across the aisle. Chloe raised an eyebrow on her. "Wasn't I supposed to help you with your roots on Sunday?" Chloe nodded. "I'm sorry I forgot."
"I forgot too," Chloe replied, honestly. She was happy to change the subject. "Next weekend, for sure."
"So what were you thinking about just now?" Rachel asked. In doing so, she opened a door. A door that Chloe was terrified to step through even in private, much less with Steph listening in in the middle of the drama lab. The truth was she didn't want to start a conversation anywhere that might result in Rachel splitting with her. Didn't I just get done deciding I should be ashamed if I didn't trust her? The clock above the classroom door ticked loudly, incessantly. Two pairs of eyes were waiting on her to answer.
"I'm just worried about Max," she answered. It was a half-truth: Max's strange mood was a subject of worry but it was only part of what weighed her down. Chloe did her best to pay attention to Mr. Keaton when he began teaching. There was something to be said for offering respect to someone who had earned it and in her eyes he was one of those teachers who did that by combining actual knowledge of their subject with being a decent human being. Still, she could not bring herself to focus on anything he said throughout the entire lesson. It was not restricted to him, either.
Most of Ms. Grant's biology lesson a little later went over her head, too. Not even Steph's occasional attempts to jar her back to the world did the trick. It got to the point that Chloe was beginning to give up on school all together for the day by the time her designated lunch period came around. Their table was going to have one less than usual and Chloe wasn't about to try to talk Steph and Mikey into leaving their table with a couple of the other members of the cast of the play.
Rachel met her at the door, turning her phone over in her hands. When the blonde looked up at her, Chloe raised a hand to wave. Rachel relaxed visibly and a smile that bordered on a smirk, the old Rachel Amber standard, settled into position. It was tentative at best, but she felt her lips upturn, too. It was kind of hard not to be infected by a confident Rachel. Chloe was still surprised, slightly, when the girl greeted her by wrapping her up in a hug the minute they were in range.
"Hubba hubba," Steph jeered, playfully as she passed them. Chloe didn't have time to feel guilty about forgetting she was walking with the gamemaster. Rachel stood a bit straighter to easier rest her head on Chloe's shoulder. This meant the warmth of her cheek was close to Chloe's own and she closed her eyes to simply enjoy the closeness. When Rachel separated from her, Chloe felt a little more present in the moment.
"Anything from Max?" she asked, looking pointedly at the phone.
"No," Rachel said, "but I got a text from my mom. She says Sera sent a letter for me. She's going to bring it by tomorrow night." The girl's smile faded slightly, but Chloe grinned, widely. Rachel being a little nervous made sense, but she reached out and lightly nudged pushed against her arm. Rachel wavered just slightly. "What was that for?"
"To remind you not to overthink it. This is what you wanted. Sera's reaching out to you. Unless the letter turns out to be really shitty, isn't this kind of one of those rare things that are just objectively awesome?" It was cool to see the transformation in Rachel as they walked into the cafeteria. The thespian returned to smiling but it was so much more than that: when confident, Rachel walked like a fucking queen and people took notice. This seemed to include Chloe's soon to be stepfather, who was posted up just inside the cafeteria glaring daggers around the room.
"Chloe," she turned to acknowledge him against her better judgment and Rachel slowed so that she did not pull free from the arm around her shoulder. Chloe raised an eyebrow at the man, unsure if he was looking for trouble or not. He had, after all, taken to not picking fights on campus. It took her just a moment of looking into the veteran's eyes to know that this was going to be an exception to the rule. She released Rachel and David gestured for her to join him outside. For a moment, instead of looking at Chloe or at their table, when Chloe shot a glance at the thespian she was glaring daggers at David.
"You have a problem missy?" Given the rather upsetting nature of the morning Rachel's excitement for a letter from Sera had actually been a nice reprieve and even David wanting to talk to her hadn't chased it away. The minute he spoke to Rachel that way, though, it retreated to a nice, shadowy place in the corner of her mind for later. Rachel shook her head and headed toward the table, leaving Chloe only after the tips of her fingers passed lightly over her elbow, as if to say that she'd be there in spirit.
"Maybe she doesn't, but I do," Chloe said. "You can treat me like shit all you want at home and throw your authority around like a big man here against me any time." David shook his head at her. "What I'm not going to stand for is you disrespecting my friends. The shit you said about me and Max the other day? Not okay. And her name is Rachel, not 'missy.'" For a moment Hayden raised his head at a table that Chloe could see just past David's left shoulder. The man shifted forward in his uniform, drawing himself up taller and larger to be more intimidating. Like he's not already twice my size. Hayden shook his head behind David's back, as if trying to calm her down. Chloe actually appreciated him looking out for her but here was David being a massive prick, a volunteer for every bit of frustration she'd been storing up over the last month. While she was still watching Hayden, David's hand closed around her wrist and Chloe cursed, loudly as he pulled her bodily from the cafeteria. Mother fucker, she thought, jerking her hand back when he finally released her.
"Don't you ever fucking touch me again," she said, as loudly as possible .
"You will watch your language."
"You may get away with bullshit at home but you're on campus right now, dipshit, and manhandling teenage girls doesn't look good for you." Chloe didn't bother to keep her voice down and that was fine. She knew at least one teacher was in the cafeteria and if one of them saw him do that, she was hoping they would have the decency to say something. "You're the one talking about respect but I've never seen you show an ounce to anyone."
"Respect is earned," he shot back. "Not given to punk brats who mouth off to their superiors. Now, I was saying-"
"Fuck you," she answered. "You're not my superior officer. You're not my superior anything. You're a weak pissant who gets off on trying to scare teenagers. You're actually fucking pathetic." She stopped herself short of continuing but the next line on her tongue was sure to escalate things.
"Why were you in Edgeton last week?"
"My mother asked me that already and I answered her. I don't owe you an answer. I think you either get to assault me or ask me a question. You've filled your quota of being a creepy bastard for the day." The moment in which David passed from ' You will respect mah authoriteh' to 'I'm a big scary man and you're a weak little girl, be scared of me' was marked by him going red in the face, jaw muscles working. His fists clenched as if he ached to strike her and only the act of crossing his arms would prevent it. At this point, as much as her heart was pounding, as much as she was scared sometimes at home that he would hit her, she almost wanted him to here, now. With witnesses, hopefully not even her mother could deny that David was bad news.
"I think you do need to answer me, and fast. See, I've seen your little photobug friend out on the beach where that Bowers punk likes to peddle his shit. Now you're going out of town without warning? I think maybe you were meeting someone there and bringing drugs into the school. The number of days you come home smelling like marijuana…" as he approached making his point, David seemed to swell slightly, trying to intimidate her into telling him what he wanted to hear. "What were you doing in Edgeton?"
"I was on a date, alright?" she asked, thrusting her face toward him. If it was true that bullies feared someone willing to stand up for themselves, she hoped a little aggression in response would back him down. She was crossing the line from "getting this over with" to anger. Chloe 's body felt cool and her stomach hollow.
"A date?" he asked, scoffing.
"Yeah, a date," she replied, now speaking as loudly as she so pleased. "What, do you want the 'Dear Penthouse' you sick fuck?" Her heartbeat was unnaturally fast. She was beginning to breathe a little too quickly, too. David Madsen had finally crossed a line she had dared to hope he never would and laid a hand on her. The line she stopped herself from crossing a moment ago, she crossed in response. "No wonder the army couldn't risk keeping you around, didn't want you to fondle the recruits." She turned away from David with the satisfaction of the impotent rage in his eyes burning deep in her stomach. His hand closed once more around her wrist, this time her left. Scared and angry, she turned ready to strike the man when, after a moment, her eyes landed on the teacher on duty in the cafeteria, come to investigate. Ms. Grant was displeased. Chloe could not remember seeing the jovial woman this angry since Nathan Prescott was publicly excused by Principal Wells for cheating on the year's first test.
"Mr. Madsen," Ms. Grant called, loudly. "Release that girl, right now." When Chloe turned, she saw that his free hand was clenching into a fist almost as tightly as his other was around her wrist. What was disturbing was that it was raised. Holy shit, he was actually going to do it.
"This is a private matter," David spat.
"This is not a private matter, Mr. Madsen. This is very public and public or not, there is no excuse that you can give me for what you were about to do. If you value your position at Blackwell Academy and want any chance at keeping it, you will release Ms. Price immediately." Chloe would have wanted to cheer for her at any point, but she was a bit stunned that she might have been only a moment or two from a right hook to the face. If Ms. Grant hadn't stepped out of the cafeteria, no one would have seen it. Holy shit. Her aching wrist was freed and Chloe backed away. David, glaring once at her, then at Ms. Grant, backed away, muttering in what amounted to near gibberish about Ms. Grant misunderstanding what she had seen. "I'm sure I must have," she said. The two stared at each other past Chloe and eventually David turned down the hall and left.
Instead of bringing her back into the cafeteria within eyeshot and earshot of the others, the woman smirked once at his retreating form and then motioned for Chloe to step toward where she stood against one wall. Feeling cool still, Chloe did as she bade. Ms. Grant took Chloe's left hand and turned it over, examining the marks already starting to form. She flexed Chloe's hand and when Chloe didn't wince apparently decided nothing was too badly hurt. The fact was Chloe didn't know if she'd know how to react if it were broken in the moment.
"Ms. Price, I think we should go down to see Principal Wells immediately," the science teacher said, fixing sharp dark eyes on her. Then, apparently deciding that Chloe was in no state to make a decision, started to tug her lightly toward the hall. Chloe shook her head and the woman tugged once more as if she thought Chloe hadn't really understood what she wanted. "Ms. Pri- Chloe?"
"No," she said. "You should have let him hit me." Ms. Grant shook her head, as if to deny that was an option. "Look, the best case scenario now is that he gets fired and somehow I doubt that." Chloe swallowed around a lump rising in her throat for the second time that day. "Do you have any idea what my house gets like if that happens? Not only will he be around all day every day that way, he's going to be angry. David doesn't do angry. He either does passive aggressive sexist or he does enraged." For just a moment, the woman faltered and Chloe drove her point home with some honesty. "I always worried he was capable of it when he got mad but he's never laid his hands on me before and I won't risk making him mad enough to do it again, I promise." Even as she spoke the words, they registered as a new truth in her mind.
"Chloe, that was not your fault, he was way out of line, regardless of your inappropriate language. "
"It wasn't my fault," she agreed, "but it is the way it goes. If you tell anyone it will make things worse. You're one of the smartest teachers here." She turned honest pleading eyes on the woman. "Please. You know that the official line that the police will help kids and teenagers with shitty people in their life is bullshit on a good day. You also know that David's got buddies in the police department and that he's got his war vet status he'll never let anyone forget about and that I'm a seriousproblem child. " Ms. Grant sighed. Her stance was weakening. "Don't tell anyone. Let them think I was just being a loud mouth punk and David decided to walk off instead of deal with me. Please." For a moment, Chloe focused her eyes on the woman's face. It was easy watching several different ideas play across it. Then finally Ms. Grant released her soft grip on Chloe and backed up.
"Go get lunch and find Ms. Amber," Ms. Grant said. "Chloe, if he does strike you, you can't keep it to yourself."
"I won't, but I can't let you or someone who might not respect my privacy find out, either," Chloe told her, honestly. "You know, it's crazy, Max and Rachel both say they think there's more to David than… than this."
"I think they're right," Ms. Grant answered, bluntly. "But that changes nothing about what happened here today. That makes nothing he said or did right and it does not change that you should be able to protect yourself."
"I will," Chloe told her before hurrying back into the cafeteria. Chloe got a feeling that Ms. Grant was going to see to it she didn't end up in trouble for this one, when she stalked off down the hall instead of returning to watch the students. More eyes than she expected were glued to her from the moment she entered. Rachel joined her when she came up to the counter for a lunch. However much time I have left.
In a final act of unkindness on the part of the universe, Chloe dreamt that night, from the back of her pickup truck.