Chapter 2: New old friends
Chloe
A big groan escapes Chloe's mouth as she slowly wakes up. Blindly she tries to reach for her phone on the nightstand, after the fifths try and a fallen bottle half-full with beer she manages to grab it. She looks at the display and groans again as she sees that it's just 6:30 in the morning. 'Damn, what shit has Frank sold me there? Passing out in the middle of the day, sleepless in the middle of the night? Ugh, personal reminder: definitely need to rage on him!'
The bluenette turns to her side and tries to catch some more sleep, but fails as her mind keeps on thinking of one thing: Max. 'I even dreamt about her. Her body really blew my mind. Hmmm, maybe she can help me with something I couldn't get done yesterday.' With an impish grin on her face, Chloe's right hand slides down into her boxers. She lets out a moan as her fingers glide over her private parts. 'Oh babe, you're imaginary dynamite! I wonder how you feel in RL.' The punk-girl throws the blanket off her body, and spreads her legs as far as possible. Her left hand wanders under her shirt and starts to knead her breasts. 'Fuck, this is so good. It's been awhile since I've been that drenched. Oh shitfuckingshit, here I coooome!' With a loud moan, Chloe climaxes. Her body arches and spasms because of the intense orgasm, until she falls back onto her mattress.
'Okay…that was fucking amazeballs! Now I need a cig.' Breathing heavily, she reaches for leather-jacket, hanging over her chair, to get her cigarettes and lights one. She's letting herself fall onto her bed again and looks at the ceiling. 'I need to see her again! She's changed so much, but I can feel that the old Max is still there, somewhere beneath the anger and muscles.' Thinking about her black-haired friend's body again, makes Chloe blush. 'Fuck, Price. Keep it together. We just met yesterday and you're already crushing on her. Get your hormones under control! As far as I know, she isn't even into girls, let alone me.' She lets out a deep sigh, accompanied by blue smoke, rising to the ceiling. 'I should text her and ask, if she wants to have some breakfast with me. I've really been an asshole to her and now it's time to make some things up!'
Chloe reaches for her phone, unlocks it and starts typing. Luckily they both exchanged their numbers yesterday, before they parted.
Chloe: Yo Max! U r up?
Minutes turn into hours as the blue punk waits for an answer. She lights another cig to overcome her nervousness.
Max: Yep, now I'm awake. :-(
Chloe: kung-fu max still a sleepyhead? btw NO EMOJI!1!
Max: Fuck U! :-( :-( :-( :-(
Chloe: nice one! wanna grab some bite at two whales?
Max: Om nom nom! :-)
Chloe: dude, don't push it!
Max: :-P
Chloe: i hate u
Max: No, you don't! When, where?
Chloe: get u at 8, be ready!
Max: I put on my lingerie and wait for you! =D
Chloe's heart skips a beat as she reads the last message. 'Fuck, she's such a tease. Hmm, maybe I should surprise her by getting there earlier. Maybe I'm lucky and catch a view on her in lingerie or at least in her underwear; more imaginary dynamite for lonely nights. Mwahaha!' The bluenette grins as she jumps out of the bed, heading for the bathroom to get ready for her drive to Blackwell.
Max
Move, you whore!
Now I show you how real girls should behave, fag!
Nooooo!
Max wakes up with a start as her phone chimes. She's bathed in her sweat. Burying her head in her hands, as she takes deep, shacking breathes. 'It was just a nightmare…just a fucking nightmare.' The black-haired girl starts to sob. Tears are dripping onto her blanket as she hammers with her right hand against her head. 'Just go away! Go away you fowl memory! Get out of my fucking head!' Her breathing gets steady as she focuses on her meditation. 'I should do some exercises to calm down.'
Sitting on the edge of her bed, Max checks her phone. 'Who the fuck sends me a message this early?' She unlocks her phone and sees Chloe's ID. A smile grows on her face and gets even bigger as she answers her. 'Breakfast at the Two Whales? Major childhood memory! Well, let's get ready, before she arrives.'
She starts her laptop and loads her playlist for her exercises. 'Okay, let's see. Hmm. Today I go for some Rock-Ballads. Metallica - Nothing Else Matters. Rammstein – Ohne Dich. Nightwish – Sleeping Sun. Within Temptation – Somewhere. Sounds good. Well, let's do some warm-up.' Max stretches and performs thirty push-ups, thirty sit-ups and some cardio-training, before she starts her slow movements.
After some time Max's phone chimes again.
Chloe: knock knock
Max: ?Are you high?
And then there is a knock on the door.
Chloe & Max
As Max opens the door to her room, she looks into the smirking face of her blue-haired friend, dressed in her ordinary white tank-top with a skull on it, covert by a leather jacket, ripped jeans and combat boots. "You're early!" she says.
Chloe shrugs. "Well, couldn't sleep anymore, got bored and had a need to see you again."
The smaller girl smiles, steps aside and signs her blue-haired friend to come in.
"Just finished my morning routine and were about to hit the showers to get ready…huh?" Max looks at the punk and realizes that she stares at her again. "Chloe? Hello?"
The bluenette doesn't realize that Max tries to communicate with her. She just stares at her friend, who's just dressed in a loose, white tank-top and some short boxers. 'So fucking amazeballs! She's not even wearing a bra.' Chloe thinks as she can see every detail of Max's small breasts through the sweat-stained fabric.
"HEY!" Max yells. "Snap out of it, will ya!"
"S-sorry!" the punk stutters as her eyes quickly withdraw from the black-haired girl's chest and look into her blue, slight angry eyes again.
"That's strike number two, Chlo."
"W-what happens at number three?"
Max just shrugs with a smirk on her face, grabs her towel and shower supplies and walks out of the room.
Chloe
After Max left the room, Chloe starts to look around in her room. First thing she notices is the huge number of photos on the wall over the bed. 'Hmm, a lot of selfies. Some pictures of her dad and nature shots. Pretty good ones, though.'
Her gaze falls onto some weights on the ground. She tries to put one up. Chloe's face turns red and some sweat pearls form on her forehead. 'Damnfuckingshit, are they made of lead?' She gives up and puts it back on the ground.
Although Chloe's not a nosy character, she wants to know some more about her friend and starts looking into a drawer. Inside she finds a ripped picture. It shows a very happy, younger Max. A Max, Chloe knew 5 years ago. There was also another person on the other missing half of the picture. Only that person's arm is still in the photo, resting on the brunettes shoulder. 'Did she find a new friend in Seattle?' The bluenette turns around the picture. There are words written on the backside, but as in the picture, half of them are missing. …forgive me. …so sorry. …love you. …Sam. Now Chloe startles. 'Sam? Did she actually have a boyfriend in Seattle?' Her heart drops to her feet and disappointment forms inside of her. She smiles bitterly. 'So, no girl-action. Bummer! But why does she still tease me all the time? Is she just playing me? Or even making fun of me hitting on her?'
She shoves the negative thoughts aside as her gaze falls onto a punching bag, with several names written all over it. 'Okay, definitely a black-list. Let's see. Mike - whoever that is. Victoria - knew that bitch would make her list. CHLOE!? - Ouch! Vanessa - even her mom made it, kudos bitch! Jefferson – Well, at least one teacher. Sam? - Again this name. Hmm, seems like a bad break-up. I should ask her, if the opportunity comes up.'
Next victim of her nosiness is Max's laptop. New tech, not older than a few months, with a big screen. Perfect for movies and games. 'Dude, this baby costs over 2,000 bucks! Ah, her playlist is still open. Maybe we share the same music! Symphonic metal, rock, dark metal, gothic…oh boy, looks more like emo-town here. Wait. Aha! Indie-Pop and Indie-Rock. Still a little bit hipster inside of her. Okay, Price. Enough espionage for today. Max should be back pretty soon, and you don't want her to catch you going through her private stuff.'
As the bluenette wants to sit down on the small couch, her view falls on a sword on the wall over said couch. 'No way!' She climbs on the sofa, grabs the sword and unsheathes it. 'A real samurai sword! This is so fucking awesomesauce!'
Chloe starts to swings it through the air, making some fake battle-sounds, don't recognizing that the door has opened. Her final swing is a wide, diagonally backswing slash and as she turns her head and performs it, she looks into the surprised and wide opened blue eyes of her friend.
The bluenette gasps out of fear as she realizes that she almost cut Max in half. A red line is forming on the black-haired girl's chest, where the blade had grazed her. Additionally the towel that was wrapped around her body got cut at this spot, making it lose. It drops to the ground and Max stands in front of Chloe, completely naked.
The punk-girl stares at her black-haired friend's freckled body. It is muscular, but not in a body-building ugly way. The curves are still smooth, just accented by some muscle bumps here and there. Broad, but still a bit skinny. But what's really disturbing, are the long, faint scars along Max's body. 'Okay, Chloe. Don't panic, don't stare. Stop staring! But I can't. Damn, she's so hot! Snap out of it, look into her eyes and apologize! You nearly killed her!'
"Max, I-I…" Chloe starts to stutter, looking into her friend's now anger radiating eyes, but is cut down by Max's quick movement towards her. The smaller girl rips the sword out of her hand and from the corner of her eye the punk sees a fist rushing towards her face. 'Oh shit!'
Max
After the door to her room closed, Max takes some time just standing there, taking a deep breathe. 'Geez, Chloe. Stop staring at me all the time. I'm flattered, but not ready for such mushy bullshit.' Nevertheless a smile rushes over her lips as she thinks about her friend's lustful gaze on her body and the reddening cheeks on her face.
The freckled girl sighs and slowly starts to walk down the hall, heading for the showers. Different kinds of music and sounds chime from every dorm room on this floor. Everyone has his own morning ritual.
Right before passing Alyssa, who is looking at some posters on the blackboard, the toilette door on the opposite wall opens and someone throws a toilette paper roll at the girl. Max's reflexes are kicking in and she catches the projectile in midair, before it reaches its target. 'Bastards!' Then the black-haired girl kicks open the toilette door, looking in the startled face of Courtney Wagner. "Trees died for this! At least have the decency to wipe your bum with it!" she yells at the surprised girl and throws the roll into her face, which makes her shriek. "Or your face, there's no difference." Max adds. After the door closed again, she looks at Alyssa. "You're okay?"
Alyssa shrugs, a bit emotionless as always. "Well, you stopped the assassination, so no harm done. Thanks, by the way."
"No prob. Just watch your back for more attempts."
"There will definitely more, wasn't the first one. Maybe I should hire you as my bodyguard."
Max smiles and winks at the slight chubby girl. "Maybe, but I won't carry you on my arms."
Then she continues her way towards the showers. Entering the room she looks around and sees Kate in front of a sink, brushing her teeth. She still wears her pajamas, but her dirty-blonde hair is already formed into a bun. "Morning, Kate!" she says with a warm smile.
Kate spits the foamy toothpaste into the sink and gives the black-haired girl an insecure smile. "M-morning, Max."
'Wow, still afraid of me, huh?' "So, how are you doing?" Max asks the Christian girl to start a conversation.
The blonde just shrugs. "Fine, I guess?" she answers and turns toward the sink again.
'Nice conversation. She's so shy and sweet, so I can't blame or be mad at her. Maybe one day the ice between us will break.' With this thought, Max enters one of the showers, closes the curtain, undresses and turns on the water. She looks down at her wet body, touching the scars. 'Why is Chloe so attracted by this body? It's ugly and if I could, I would get rid of it. Her body on the other hand is much prettier. Athletic, tall, perfect curves. I envy her. And I feel the need to touch it, stroke it, to feel every inch of her skin.' A warm feeling forms inside of Max. She feels the need for intimacy, but stops herself. 'NO! I need to stop thinking like that. I'm not ready for such things!' Her fist hits the wall. 'Dammit! Dammit! Dammit!'
The door to the showers is opened again and Max hears a familiar voice. "Well, well, well, if it isn't our sweet little Jesus-girl?" 'Victoria!'
"L-leave me alone, Victoria!" Kate pleads.
"L-leave me alone, Victoria!" A second voice is mimicking. 'Taylor!'
Max takes a peak from behind the curtain and sees how the two taller girls encircle poor Kate Marsh, laughing at her. The small girl just stands there, looking at her feet and waits for the torment to be over.
"Someone told me that no one attended your little bible-course and I had an idea to help you out. Maybe you should rename it. Like 'Club of the anonymous flat-chest virgins'." Says the blonde girl with the pixie-cut and smiles mischievously.
"Ha, love it, Vic!" Taylor giggles.
I can hear a sob emerging from Kate. 'That's it! You bitches bullied her enough, time for some revolution of the nerds!' Max wraps a towel around her body and opens the curtain, looking angry at Victoria. "Leave her the fuck alone, bitch!" she addresses to Victoria.
"Stay out of this, Caulfield! It's none of your business!" the pixie answers, glaring at Max.
The black-haired girl makes some steps towards Victoria, until she stands directly in front of the slightly taller girl. Taylor takes a step back, out of fear, but the pixie stands her ground. "Actually, it is my business. You're bullying her, because she's different, alone and defenseless. You just make yourself feeling better, standing over other people and stomp on them. Are you fucking yourself, while thinking about all of your victims?"
Victoria's gaze gets even angrier as she stares into Max's eyes. "Back off, Caulfield!"
"Aww, did I hit a weak spot? Listen, bitch, if you or any of your Vortex fuckers bullies her ever again, I will make sure, you won't do it again!" she says with a furious voice.
"I said, back off! You're nothing, Caulfield! You hide behind your muscles and threats, that's all. You think you are talented? You aren't even on the same level as I am!" her voice drips with poison.
Suddenly Max grabs the collar of Victoria's cashmere sweater and pulls her down, so that their faces are on the same height. "Then maybe I should bring you onto my level."
Victoria grits her teeth. "Let go or…"
"Or what? You gonna slap me, Icky Vicky?" the smaller girl mocks.
A small, but warm hand touches Max's arm. "Max, please. It's fine. Just let her go." Kate's calming voice chimes. The black-haired girl opens her hand and Victoria, with Taylor tailing her, walks to the door. "Thanks." Kate adds.
"Hey, Victoria!" The Queen-Bee turns towards Max one last time. "You forgot something!" The small girl shows her the finger and Victoria, her face now completely red out of anger, keeps on walking away with great, angry steps.
Max can't hide a smile, scoffs and is surprised as Kate Marsh hugs her out of a sudden, making her stiffen. "Thank you, for having my back. You're the first person in this school, which stood up for me like this."
The black-haired girl gulps, feeling the warmth of the Christian girl's body through her towel and her warm breath on her neck. She takes a deep breath and inhales her scent. A warmth forms inside her body again and in her face. 'Am I blushing? What is happening? She feels so soft, so warm and she's is so sweet and cute and…I…I… No Caulfield, get your head straight. She's just showing her gratitude, nothing more!' "Uhm, no biggie, Kate. I just hate bullies. And…uh…" she stammers. 'Great, now you sound like a complete idiot.'
Kate and Max break the hug. The stronger girl notices that even Kate's cheeks show a light pink color. "Say, Max, do you like tea?" the blonde asks shyly.
Max smiles at her. "Yeah! Actually, I have a stash of various Asian teas."
"Well, maybe we could meet sometime for a tea-session and chat about things." Kate's cheeks blush some more, while she focuses on her feet.
At first, Max is surprised, but finally nods in agreement. "Sure, I'd like that. How about tonight?"
"Tonight is fine with me. At 7 in my room?" The blonde answers with a big, warm smile.
"It's a date!" Max chimes and Kate turns away, blushing even more. 'What the fuck, Max! A date? Are you cereal?' "I mean, uh, it's settled. Y'know…a friend-date-thingy. Well…uh…see ya, Kate." The black-haired girl takes her shower supplies and pajamas, and walks out of the showers, leaving Kate standing there. 'Nice one, Max. This was so embarrassing! I hope she isn't mad at me for just leaving her there. At least the ice is broken.'
Max reaches her dorm again, opens the door and just as she enters her room, still in deep thoughts about what happened in the showers, she sees a flashing reflection of light in the corner of her eyes. Her reflexes are kicking in, time slows down. She sees the blade rushing towards her body. She's taking a step back to avoid the slash, but nevertheless the tip of the blade grazes her chest, and her towel, now cut, falls to the ground.
Raising her head, she looks into the deep blue eyes of a shocked Chloe. Still under the influence of her reflexes, Max bridges the gap between them; 'Disarm and disable.' rips the sword out of her friends hand and aims a punch for her head.
Chloe & Max
Max's fist stops an inch, before hitting Chloe's face. Both girls standing there, eyes locked onto each other.
The punk's eyes are widened out of shock and fear, because she realizes that she almost killed her friend. "M-Max…I-I'm sorry…I…" she stammers, a tear running down her left cheek.
At first radiating coldness and anger, Max's gaze changes into something else. Her expression turns into warmth and comfort. The fist in front of Chloe's face unclenches and touches the bluenettes cheek, wiping away the tear. "J-just don't do it again, 'kay?" She says in a calm voice, turns away, closes the still open door, sheathes the sword and hangs it at its rightful place on the wall. After that, she starts dressing into her regular clothes from the day before.
Chloe still hasn't moved, still a bit shocked and uncertain, what just happened. 'Did she just brush my face, after I nearly cut her in half?'
"Ready?" Max asks the still petrified punk.
No reaction.
"Chloe!" the black-haired girl yelled at her to gain some attention.
"Y-yeah? What?" She stammers again.
"Are…you…ready…to…go?"
"Yeah, sorry. I just…well…"
"You sure, you're okay?"
Taking a deep breath in, the bluenette looks firmly at the muscular girl. "Max, I almost killed you and all you do is brushing my cheek and move on like nothing happened. I don't get it."
"Chlo…" She sighs. "Nothing happened, okay? You scratched me and saw me naked, that's all. Punching or yelling at you won't undo it and you didn't do it on purpose. At least, I hope so. So, let's move on and get some breakfast, before I really die out of starvation." Winking and smiling wryly at her friend, Max takes Chloe's hand and leaves the dorm with her.
As soon as they were outside the building, Chloe reaches into the pocket of her jacket and pulls out a half-emptied box of cigarettes. With still shaky hands she puts one in her mouth, lights it and takes a deep draft. 'Fuck, I need to calm down! Bummer, I don't have any weed on me.'
Suddenly the PA of the campus cracks and principal Well's monotone, deep voice is heard all around Blackwell Academy. "Miss Maxine Caulfield, please report to the principal's office immediately! I repeat. Miss Maxine Caulfield, please report to the principal's office immediately!"
"Shit! I can't catch a break." says Max as she and Chloe look at each other, halfway to the parking lot. "This is probably about yesterday."
"C'mon, ignore this shit and let's bail."
The black-haired girl shakes her head. "Chlo, I can't. I have a scholarship and if I don't play by the rules they will revoke it and I'm forced to leave Arcadia Bay again. And I don't want that. I don't want to return to Seattle."
"Fine." The punk sighs. "Should I wait for you?"
"No, we'll meet at the Two Whales. Just leave me some grub." She winks, as the strong girl heads for the main building.
"Yo, Maximus!" Chloe follows her. Max turns around and looks at her. "Just do me a favor. Don't mention me, okay? 'Cause I always get blamed, if some shit like that happens and I'm involved, so…"
Smiling at her friend, the smaller girls nods and continues her way in a fast pace. 'Hopefully this won't turn into a shitfest.' She thought.
Dana
"I'm telling you, Jules. I'm done with boys!" Dana Ward, the auburn-haired cheerleader says to her friend Juliet Watson, a light-brown-haired, tall girl with a jeans-jacket.
Juliet puts her hand on Dana's shoulder to comfort her, before answering. "I know you had some bad experiences, but c'mon…"
"Some bad experiences?!" the cheerleader scoffs. "First Logan impregnated and left me for good, and now Trevor is cheating on me. I tell you, you can't trust them!"
"Okay, you had some very bad experiences, but what's the alternative?"
Dana looks at her friend with a big smirk.
"Oh no! Oh nonono! D, you know I'm one hundred percent straight."
Leaning closer to Juliet's face, the auburn girl's smirk gets even bigger. "Oh, really? I hadn't noticed last year."
The reporter backs off a bit and sighs. "C'mon, D. We were drunk and after this incident we agreed that it was a one-time-thing." Her voice sounds very nervous and she blushes deep red.
Dana starts to laugh out loud. "Chill, Jules. It was just a joke! No, but for real, my next date's gonna be a hot girl!"
Juliet gives her friend a soft push on her shoulder and walks out of her room. "You're impossible, D!" She looks down the hall and then turns to Dana. "Hey, look at this!"
Dana stands up quickly and gazes down the hall like Juliet and sees a very pissed Victoria, stomping into her room, closing her door with a loud bang. "Whoa, I wonder who pissed her off like this in the morning." Then a black-haired girl, who Dana knows as Max, is the next one to vanish in her room as fast as possible, followed by Kate Marsh. The both friends look at each other and Juliet just shrugs, but Dana wants to know more and calls at her friend Kate. "Hey Katie! You have a minute?"
Since here at Blackwell, Dana always tried to watch after Kate. She knows that she's often the target of bullying by the Vortex Club and tried to stop it, but since Victoria started to pick on her it has almost been impossible. Also her Club activities after school made it additionally impossible to be at her side all the time, what she really regrets. "Hi Dana! Hi Juliet!" Kate says with a very kind and almost happy voice.
"What happened back there?" Dana asks.
Kate tells both girls what happened in the shower room, but leaves out the part about what happened between her and Max. In the end, it's no use, she still blushes.
Juliet shrugs. "Well, looks like someone finally makes a stand against that bitch."
"Yeah, 'bout time. Wait! Kate, are you blushing?" Kate looks away, shyly and Dana just grins wide. "Hmm, looks like someone hasn't told us everything."
"I-I need to go a-and…" Kate says nervously.
But before she has the chance to leave, Dana grabs her by her shoulder and shoves her into her room and sing-songs. "I think we have some more talking to do!"
Waving at Dana and Kate, Juliet takes her leave. "Yeah, you two have your girl-talk; I'll go and prepare my next story about Victoria's big fail."