Two days had passed. It was a sunny afternoon and Max was lying in bed, slowly dozing off to the Message to Bears music in her earpods. Her hospital room was crammed with candies, flowers, balloons and cards. Dana had come to visit her, and Warren, and Kate, and of course Joyce and David. Principal Wells had sent her a card, and so had a lot of other students. Even Vortex Club bitches like Taylor and Courtney. Were they even sincere or was it just to save face? She had wondered and then concluded that she didn't care much.
Still, hospital life was hella boring. She had taken more than her share of selfies and her room wasn't the most exciting place to shoot. She had nothing else to do but watch TV (boring!), check her social media pages (too many of those 'get well soon!' and 'thoughts and prayers' messages, it was getting on her nerves), or listen to music. A knock at the door woke her up.
"Come in!" she said, and the door opened to the smiling angel face of Kate Marsh.
"Hi there! How are you doing?"
Max smiled. Kate's sweetness would always make her warm inside.
"Kate! Come in, I've been good! And you?"
"Not too bad! Look what I got you…"
The girls hugged and went to sit at the table next to her bed. Kate put her bag down and opened it to reveal a complete tea set, along with a choice of teas, sugar, and an electric kettle.
"You brought all your tea stuff here?" Max asked, amused.
"If you can't come to our tea-date, the tea-date will come to you! I assumed the tea they serve her is not very good…"
"Understatement of the year! And don't get me started on the food…"
"Oh, poor Max!" Kate's compassion was sincere. "Do you want me to fetch you a burger from Two Whales?"
"You're sweet, but that's okay. Joyce brought me a burger after her shift yesterday, and a waffles for breakfast this morning. The nurses are pissed, though I can't see why, I'm saving them some of their shitty food! Oops, sorry for cursing…"
The blonde girl nodded gently to indicate that she was forgiven, then went to boil the water and prepare two cups.
"So, she said once the tea was made, you said you've been better since yesterday?"
"Yeah, Max answered, I mean, I no longer want to go skydiving… they gave me pills, soft stuff, just to relax and keep the gloomy thoughts in check. And I've got counselling. I should be out of here in a couple days. I'm not even feeling sad anymore, just… tired. And bored. My folks are coming tomorrow from Seattle, and I'll have a hard time convincing them not to take me back with them."
"You don't want to take a few days to rest with your parents? That could do you good."
"Nah, it's tempting but I know that staying over there doing nothing will just make me wallow in my misery. And I know they'll be on my back like when I was ten and had the flu, 'my poor baby' and all that… I feel I need to get back in action quickly, focus on school, my photos, not give myself time to think about…"
Suddenly a knot in her throat cut her off, and she felt warm tears forming at her eyes. She swallowed them back after a few seconds of struggle.
"Sorry. It's always painful to… you know…"
"Yes, I know," Kate whispered softly as she reached out to hold her hand. "Don't ever feel sorry, Max, if it has to come out, let it come out."
Max chuckled. "I don't know how you do that, Kate. Being always so nice and understanding. I've been a pretty shitty friend to you lately, not talking, not visiting for tea, not answering your messages… you were struggling with all that Nathan Prescott shit and I wasn't there for you."
"But you had your own pain to process. I wish I were more available to you myself, maybe then I could've seen earlier that you wanted to… anyway, let's say we both had a very bad week, forgive each other and move on, what do you think?"
"Not a bad idea… is it always so easy for you? Forgiving people?"
"Pretty much, yes. There are tons of verses about that in the Bible, after all."
Kate suddenly looked away, avoiding Max's eyes, and started to play with her hands nervously.
"Speaking of which," she said in a low, sorry voice, "I… have a surprise for you…"
Max raised an eyebrow. "A surprise?"
"Yeah… but before I show you… just promise me you won't get mad. And trust me, I know what I'm doing…"
"Kate, you're scaring me here! You sound like bad news, like you brought Bitchtoria Chase with you and she's waiting outside the door!"
Kate didn't answer and kept avoiding eye contact. Max's jaw dropped in shock.
"Don't tell me… you couldn't… like… what the fuck, Kate?!"
"I said, don't get mad, please! We talked things out and she insisted on… well, maybe she can tell you herself."
On these words, she sprang up and hurried to the door as if she wanted to get out of Max's punching range as quickly as possible. She opened it and motioned for the person waiting to come inside, and suddenly, here she was standing in the room, Victoria Chase the Queen Bitch of Blackwell herself, in flawless pixie cut, perfect makeup and extremely expensive cashmere sweater. She was holding a huge stuffed doe and a box of coconut bites.
"Hi, Maxine," she said, and to Max's greatest surprise, her voice was nothing like her usual tone, the vocal equivalent to a knife dipped in vinegar and salt. No, here in front of her she sounded almost… gentle? She stood there waiting, but as Max remained silent with her eyes shooting daggers at her, she grew increasingly uneasy and decided to try another opening. She held out the box of cookies in front of her. "Uh, Kate said they're your favorites?"
Max had always been afraid of Victoria. For a girl struggling with social anxiety, someone like Victoria Chase, who was success and confidence personified, was intimidating, and the fact that she seemed to have targeted her and always managed to find the right words to send her crying in a toilet booth didn't help. But here and now, after what happened that past week, she felt no fear anymore. Just anger. Bitter anger. "What's up, Chase?" she growled with venom in her voice. "Come to take a pic of Blackwell's one and only Suicide Hipster?"
"Max!" Kate scolded as Victoria startled, visibly hurt.
"You have some nerve coming here," Max continued, ignoring her friend. "After what you've done to Kate, aren't you ashamed?"
"Yes I am, actually," Victoria said. "Maxine, I know you don't like me much and I can't blame you, but please trust me when I say I didn't come here to torment you. As for Kate, we talked things out."
"That's right," the Christian girl intervened. "Yesterday, she wanted to take me to the Bean Hip Café after class… you can imagine how scared I was, but I went anyway because she seemed to have good intentions when she asked. I don't know how long we stayed there, drinking cups after cups, talking. She apologized for the video thing, she said she thought I was just drunk and letting loose and she found that funny, and posting the video online was just some form of hazing to her."
"Oh yeah," Max retorted, "cyberbullying is just good ol'fun!"
"If you're implying that what I did was stupid and insensitive, yes it totally was," Victoria said. "And I know just apologizing won't fix anything. I just didn't realize how serious the whole thing was until Nathan got arrested and the truth came out and him and Jefferson and the drugs and… I can be a bitch but I'd never, ever get behind something so sick and twisted. Then I realized Kate was a victim, and I saw how much it affected her. I should have seen it sooner, I know, and don't worry I still feel like shit and it won't be getting away anytime soon."
To Max's amazement, Victoria started to shake as she spoke and tears started to well up in her eyes.
"Kate, I'm so, so sorry!" she concluded as she nearly broke down.
The Christian girl stood up and went to pat her back, whispering comforting words until the Queen Bee managed to regain her composure. Then she invited her to take a seat with them, and served her a cup of tea. Victoria put the plush toy on the bed and opened the box of cookies.
"You want one?" she asked Max.
After a moment of hesitation, the hipster girl reached out and grabbed a cookie. They ate slowly and in an awkward silence.
"So," Victoria asked, "how are you feeling now?"
"Do you really care?" Max asked, still with aggressiveness in her voice.
"Yes, I do."
"Sorry but I still find it hard to believe. It's good that you made up with Kate, but I didn't forget how badly you've been treating me since I arrived in Blackwell."
"I kind of expected that… you want a proof? I won the Everyday Heroes contest."
"Yeah, thanks for rubbing it in my face."
"That's not what I meant. I won and I was supposed to be in San Francisco the day…"
She didn't finish her sentence but she didn't need to. They all understood: the day Chloe was buried.
"But I didn't go," she resumed. "Instead of enjoying my moment of glory, mingling with professionals and kickstarting my career, I chose to come to the funeral. Because I care. Because I care about Joyce who's always been so kind and patient to me when I'd show up at the diner for breakfast, still wasted from the party the night before, and because I care about you, Maxine."
Max sat in silence, eyes wide with shock and confusion. That had to be the truth. She remembered having seen her at the funeral, though her mind was too busy dealing with her own grief to pay much attention to her. A contest like the Everyday Heroes was a real early career boost for an aspiring photographer, and there was no way she would've ditched this chance just to make a good impression.
"You… you do?" she managed to ask. "But I… I thought you hated me!"
Victoria smiled and said: "I couldn't hate you no matter how I wanted to. To tell you the truth, you've been getting under my skin since day one. I try so hard to make great photography and maintain a perfect social life. Sometimes I just want to stay in my room watching movies and shows on my own, wearing an old t-shirt and sweatpants, but I can't because I'm the, like, Queen of Blackwell and I have to keep playing the role, it's exhausting! And then you show up, not caring what clothes you wear, not caring about your popularity, just living your life and taking awesome pictures with your Polaroid, and… you have such a natural talent for photography! I'm jealous of you, Maxine!"
Now Max had officially BSODed. She'd never expected such a heartfelt confession from the Queen.
"I…" she stammered. "I… wowzers! I don't know what to say, I… it's not that great to be me, you know. I'm not like I am because I don't care, I'm just terrified of people!"
Victoria chuckled: "Well, I guess I am, too… always afraid of judgement…"
"So what has changed?" Max asked. "Why are you telling me this now?"
"Have you… heard of the Dark Room? The files they found in it?"
"Yeah, I have… creepy, how he kept all his photos in files with his victims' names on it… oh, sorry Kate, are you alright?"
They had just realized Kate was pale and shaking.
"Yes," she said as she gulped down her tea and poured herself another cup. "Don't worry, my therapist said I have to get used to people talking about it. Good thing I brought chamomile tea, it's great for the nerves."
"You know there are other plants that work wonders for the nerves, too."
"Thanks but no thanks, Victoria," Kate said with a giggle. "Last thing I want is to become a Justin!"
"Anyway," Victoria resumed, "what you surely don't know, because it's not been made public, is… in those files they found an empty binder with my name on it."
Now it was Max's turn to go pale. There was a moment of shocked silence before Kate, of all people, whispered a single
"Fuck…"
then startled and covered her mouth, eyes wide as she realized what she had just said. Like her father used to say, "Everytime you curse, Jesus cries!"
"That's the right word, yeah," Victoria replied. "So, to sum up, in the past week I found out that my best friend is a psycho killer, the teacher I admired oh so much is a pervert, and I was his next victim… and to think I would've spent a whole weekend with him in San Francisco had he not been arrested… I still have nightmares about it." She shuddered, then straightened up and continued: "All that to say, it's been a real Week of Hell for the three of us, and we can officially create the Blackwell PTSD Club now, so all those things about jealousy, popularity, and all… there are more important things than that. That's why I wanted to come see you, Maxine. We don't have to be friends if you don't want to, I would understand, but we could just not to enemies?"
"Does that mean no more mean words, no more slate defacing, no more photo or video shaming?" Max asked.
"No more. I promise. And, if you need help, like… to talk… I'm not very good at this to be honest, but you can still ask. And that goes for you too, Kate, of course!"
Kate smiled and muttered a soft "Thanks."
Max hesitated for a moment. Not having Victoria as an enemy anymore? That would surely make her life at Blackwell a lot easier. And who knows? They both shared a passion for photography, maybe they could…
"Okay," she said, "but I have two conditions: first, it's Max, never Maxine. Second, don't ever say again that you're jealous of me. You are a great photographer, Victoria."
"You think so? Next to your selfies, my photos always seem so… bland…"
"Well I think you have a great eye. And to be honest, I always thought my selfies kinda sucked. I didn't even submit a pic for the contest because I was too embarrassed."
"Really?"
"Yeah, for real. I'd be glad to talk shop with you sometime, trade techniques and all."
Victoria smiled, her eyes sparkling with genuine happiness. "Yes, I'd like that. I think I can respect those conditions, Maxi… Max."
Max felt tears well up in her eyes. Fuck, not again! Too much mush in this room! So what were they supposed to do now, shake hands or hug or something? Max, you have to answer, say something, do something for dog's sake!
To soothe her inner voice, she reached out to grab the plush toy on her bed and started to examine it. "I like does," she said. "Thank you, Victoria."
"You're welcome. And my friends call me Vic, just so you know… I wouldn't mind."
Hi all, thank you for reading! Just a quick note, it's not a very Gothic beginning, but I needed those first chapters to define the new relationship dynamics between the characters in this post-Chloe/no rewind world. Actual plot will begin with the next chapter, stay tuned!