Chapter 3
Maxine always hated it when the alarm forced her to wake up. She rather liked to start the day with some chilling music, but since Maximilian was more of a Metal-guy, she skipped that part of morning routine.
Yawning and stretching his body, Max slowly stood up and the first thing he did, was gazing down his body.
'Oh no, not again!' thought Maxine, 'Why do I need to have a boner every morning?! It's not like I had some erotic dream or something. Though I wouldn't mind dreaming such stuff. Ugh, just keep it together, Max and focus on how to get back into your reality!'
Remembering her own reality, Max sighed and did the only thing that helped against her current state, moving.
This morning, he didn't bump into Chloe and just walked into the bathroom right away. A nice shower later, the young boy sat at the table with a mug of coffee and some toast, wondering why nobody else was already up, until William came downstairs, poured himself a mug of coffee and sat down at the table as well.
"Well-well! Look, who became an early-bird," he said with a toothy grin, which reminded Maxine totally of Chloe. "Forgot to do some homework?"
'Shit! Now don't tell me that Maximilian slept longer, even on schooldays.'
"No, I…uh…I-I just couldn't sleep any longer and felt hungry, so…"
"It's alright, Max! Was just surprise to see someone up before me."
Still trying to keep any interactions at a minimum, Max simply hummed in agreement and kept on eating in silence. Five minutes later, Vanessa joined the breakfast with a friendly "Good Morning, my sweethearts!" and, last but not least, Chloe, who just got herself a bowl of cereals and sat down without a word.
Immediately, an uncomfortable quietness filled the room, which drove Maxine almost insane. She had always hated it, when Chloe had been in a fight with her parents and then pouted for days, no matter how trivial the reason had been. Luckily, William didn't like this silence as well and broke it.
"I know you're trying to ignore me for the last two days, but can we finally talk about this?" he addressed his daughter with a neutral demeanor to show that he doesn't want to fight again. Sadly, Chloe saw it differently, evident how she threw the spoon into her half-empty bowl with a loud, clattering noise and how threatening her voice sounded.
"What's there to talk about?! You flipped your shit over nothing and hit me, nuff said!"
"I already apologized several times, and say it gladly again, I'm really, really sorry!"
"There's no excuse for domestic abuse!" stated Chloe with a shivering voice and watery eyes, jumped up and ran back into her room, only to leave the house a minute later.
Entirely overwhelmed, shocked and devastated by his daughter's reaction, William Price buried his face in the palm of his hands and sighed loudly. Vanessa soothingly embraced her husband's shoulders while Max stayed quiet.
Maxine knew that William's behavior had been wrong. She also knew he regretted it. But on the other hand she could understand Chloe's reluctant behavior. Bottom-line: she had to fix this messed up situation as a third party.
"Will," Max eventually spoke, gaining his attention right away, "I think we all know that Chloe doesn't give much about empty words. She's always been passionate and that's what makes her Chloe. Maybe, instead of just talking, you should show how much you care about her."
"Okay, sounds reasonable. You've something special in mind?"
Knowing Chloe all but too well, Maxine immediately had an idea what could bring father and daughter together again.
Max stood in front of the stairs, which led towards the campus of Blackwell Academy, and gazed at the tall brick stone building, rising above her.
'Wowser! I can't believe I'm fifteen and already a student at Blackwell…together with Chloe! Gosh, let's just hope I won't fuck up Maximilian's life too much.'
Cautiously, he climbed the steps, keeping his eyes open for any familiar faces, but especially for Chloe.
'Okay, my first classes are science. So, I better head straight towards the science lab and avoid any unnecessary contact with…'
"Hey Max! 'sup, bro?" interrupted a boy Maxine's thoughts, making her curse internally. Still, she turned around and faced a blonde, lanky skater boy with glasses and base cap.
'Shit! So much for avoiding other students. Okay, can't change it now…or can I?'
As Max stayed silent and raised his right hand a bit, Justin Williams just frowned at him with worry. "Yo bro, you're alright there?"
'Fuck, my powers aren't working! Seems like, I have to get through this without my rewind.'
"Uh…y-yeah!" the freckled boy eventually answered, putting his hand down again, "I'm just a bit off today, y'know."
"Gotcha there, bro!" replied Justin, scratching the back of his neck. "But I know the right thing against it!"
With a toothy grin, he pulled out a small bag with green leafs and a pack of cigarette papers.
'Okay, I already got that Justin is a pothead, but damn! He's just as old as me and has already smoked away most of his brain cells.'
"Justin," whispered Max, pushing the blond boy's hand with the bag down and leaned in, "you know we're on campus, right? Wells' Zero-tolerance policy. Ring a bell?"
"Damn, bro, you're so right! Better do this off campus…be back in jiff!"
Max wasn't even able to reply anything as Justin just grabbed his stuff and left the campus, probably to smoke a joint. He simply shook his head with a sigh and continued his way to the main building.
Letting her gaze wander around the campus, Maxine saw a lot of familiar, yet younger faces: Dana Ward and Juliet Watson, gossiping their asses off. Brooke Scott without her drone, still playing on her phone and avoiding social contact. Taylor Christensen and Victoria Chase, just being their bitchy selves. And then a bunch of others, who Maxine never met, but no Chloe.
'Dammit! Where is she? Is she already getting high in some dirty corner or…ugh, I'm just flipping my shit. She probably just needs some space and skips school today.'
Eventually, Max had reached the science lab, chose an unoccupied seat randomly and waited for the lecture to start.
'Okay, so far, everything went smoothly. Let's hope it stays that way.'
The bell rung and the rest of the students flooded into the classroom, taking their seats. Last but not least, Miss Grant, a black-skinned, chubby woman in her mid-forties and Blackwell's Science teacher, entered and started the lecture.
Since Science had never been Maxine's favorite class, she began to bore herself pretty quickly, scribbling some random stuff into her notes. Until the laboratory's door got opened again and Miss Grant said, "Ah, Miss Amber! Nice of you to pay us a visit nonetheless!"
'Miss Amber?!' thought Maxine, her entire being tensing up. She shifted her gaze from her artwork to the teacher's desk and saw a very beautiful girl with long, blond hair, dressed in red plaid button shirt with a black top under it and some ripped black jeans.
"I'm sorry, Miss Grant! Had some trouble coming back from L.A." answered the blonde politely, adding an innocent smirk to her words.
'Rachel Amber!'
"It's okay! I heard about the accident. Just take a seat, Rachel!"
"Thanks, Miss Grant!"
Her eyes literally glued at her figure, Maxine followed Rachel Amber how she sauntered through the room…directly towards her. Hadn't given it much attention, she just now realized that the seat beside her was unoccupied and, like the universe was mocking her again, Rachel threw her backpack on the desktop and sat down beside her in a swift motion.
'Fuck! It really is Rachel freakin' Amber! God, she's so beautiful! No wonder Chloe was so into her and I…damn! I already start to crush on her, too. Stupid hormones!'
Somehow feeling that Max was staring at her, Rachel smirked wryly, before she glimpsed at him from the corner of her eyes, which made the brunette boy turn away with a deep blush.
Once again, the door got opened, but this time more rapid and violently. It was Chloe who almost stumbled into the classroom with staggering, insecure steps, catching everyone's attention right away.
On one hand, Maxine was happy about the distraction, on the other hand she was shocked about Chloe's condition.
"Uh…h-heya, Miss Grant! I…uh…I-I kinda felt shitty and…ugh, fuck! I'm still…kinda...BLECH!"
In one big wave, Chloe puked her entire last meal right in front of the teacher's desk, causing the students in the front row and Miss Grant to back away a bit. The air was now filled with the stench of vomit, screeches and loud "Ewws!" as the routine of the lecture turned into utterly chaos.
Hissing a loud "Shit!", Max jumped from his seat and sprinted towards his step-sister, who was now on all fours, her hands resting in the puddle of puke. Together with Miss Grant, the young boy managed to bring her back on her feet, the stench of half-digested food and alcohol inducing him to gulp as well.
"Let's bring her to the infirmary!" spoke the black-skinned teacher, turning to the class one last time. "Brooke, go and get Samuel to clean up this mess. And the rest of you, wait outside until I'm back!"
Max, as well, let his gaze wander over his classmates one last time, seeing Eliot, who seemed pretty agitated, and Rachel, who looked somewhat concerned.
On their way to the infirmary, Chloe had to puke once again, luckily, it wasn't that much. The blonde's entire shirt and blue jeans were spotted with vomit and that intense smell was following them. Eventually, they had reached their destination.
The nurse immediately took over Max's position and ordered the young boy to close the curtain and wait on the other side while both woman undressed Chloe and wrapped her into some blankets before laying her onto the bed. The dirty clothes were thrown into a plastic bag.
"I'm gonna call her parents," said Miss Grant, followed by a deep sigh. "Max, you can stay with her until she got picked up, if you want to."
"Of course, Miss Grant. Thank you!" answered Max with a weak smile, being very concerned about Chloe's condition and the consequences that would soon follow.
Time flew by as Max waited beside Chloe, either for her to wake up or for one of their parents to finally pick her up. None of those possibilities occurred during this one hour the brunette boy was already waiting now. Eventually, the bell chimed, signing the end of morning classes and the beginning of lunch-break.
As it knocked on the infirmary's door, Max got up, thinking it would be his parents. Sadly, it was just Eliot Hampden, asking the nurse for Chloe and frowning agitatedly as he saw Max.
"Can I speak to my girlfriend…alone?" he said, the aggressive tone in his voice increasing Max's pulse.
"Can't you see that she's still asleep?"
They stood now face-to-face, Eliot a bit taller than Max. Still, the freckled boy didn't think about to move aside or letting this creep alone with Chloe.
"Hey!" whisper-yelled the nurse, "If you guys wanna compare your testosterone-levels, then do it outside! Now, get out! Both of ya!"
While Eliot rushed out of the infirmary without a word, Max apologized and left as well, sighing deeply as he was standing in the hallway.
"Hey!" it sounded again, but this time it originated from a lovely, female voice, right opposite the infirmary. Leaning against some lockers, stood Rachel Amber, arms crossed and a wry smirk on her lips again. "Thought I'd bring your stuff, since I figured that you had enough stench of vomit for today!" she then said with a wink, reaching Max his backpack.
Still being intimidated by the blonde's cheer presence, Max just blushed and averted her gaze, mumbling a quiet "Thanks!" But this didn't bother Rachel the slightest.
"I even added the stuff you missed to your notes. And don't worry, I copied it on my phone and will rewrite it at home. Sooo…yup, that's it. See ya!"
Suddenly, Rachel was gone, vanished somewhere in the crowd of students. Max would've loved to give the whole situation a deeper thought, now that his brain started to work again, but his mom's voice ended this endeavor before it even had started.
"Maximilian!"
With concern, the brunette woman, dressed once more in a black suit, approached his son and hugged him.
"What happened?! Your Science teacher called and told me, Chloe wasn't well."
"Mom," Max said, already trying to defuse the situation before it could heat up. Luckily, Miss Grant had been smart enough to hold back with the details, probably knowing about Chloe's difficult situation. "Chloe came to school wasted beyond everything and puked right in front of Miss Grant."
"What?!" gasped Vanessa, fury beginning to burn in her eyes. But before she got in full rage, Max tried to calm her down.
"Mom, I know it was pretty stupid of her, but…please don't go all ballistic on her!"
Once again, his mother huffed "What?!" trying to hold her composure. "Maximilian, Chloe crossed a line here. It's bad enough that she smokes and drinks anyway, but coming to school, entirely drunk…? Are you even aware of the problems, not only she, but also we as a family are about to face? Chloe can consider herself lucky, if she just gets suspended, but I…" She pauses for a minute, taking a deep breath once more. "I'm the DA's assistant and can't afford bad rumors about an allegedly delinquent step-daughter! It could break my boss' neck during the next election."
"I know!" replied Max, louder than intentioned, being aware of his mom's job in this reality, but paused for a few seconds to calm down again. "Mom, I don't wanna defend Chloe's stupid behavior, but…she doesn't need more rage or punishment, but love and support!"
For a minute, Vanessa remained silent and Max could see how she became more relaxed and calm. "Alright," she eventually sighed and then gave her son a soft smile. "And you go and get yourself something to eat. You must be starving."
Just at this moment, Max actually realized how his stomach grumbled. "Will do, Mom!" he said and hugged his mother tightly. "Thanks for taking care of Chloe!"
"I'll always take care of my two munchkins!" she replied with a chuckle, before breaking the embrace. "Now, off you go!"
Smiling and saying "Okay! Later, Mom!" Max left for the cafeteria, while Vanessa sighed once more and entered the infirmary.
After telling the nurse who she was, Vanessa cautiously approached Chloe and touched her shoulder softly, to wake her up.
"Chloe?" she spoke calmly and watched how the girl with the strawberry-blonde hair squirmed and groaned before opening her eyes.
The first thing she said was a hissed "Shit!" and then closed her eyes again, probably waiting to get a lecture. But it didn't happen. Vanessa kept her promise and gave her step-daughter a gentle smile.
"Come on, Chloe! Let's get you home!"
Being entirely surprised by this lack of rage, Chloe just frowned, not trusting the peace. However, she also didn't want to spend the rest of the day in the infirmary, therefore, she mustered all her willpower to overcome the need to stay in bed and got up. Having brought some fresh clothes, Vanessa helped her step-daughter to get dressed again, grabbed the plastic bag with the dirty clothes and helped Chloe walking back to her car, a black Mercedes.
"You sure you wanna drive me in your fancy car?" asked Chloe, holding on to the frame while opening the door.
"It's not like I have a choice, Chloe, and besides…" Vanessa entered the car swiftly, already starting the engine and waiting for Chloe to fasten the seatbelt, before continuing her words, giving the blonde a smirk. "…I trust you that you'll keep it inside for the ride!"
After they had left the parking lot, both women stayed quiet for a moment, yet both also knew that it wouldn't stay that way. Eventually, Vanessa began to speak.
"So, why did you do it?"
"Did what?" Chloe simply replied, playing fool. But Vanessa didn't take the bait. Instead, she stayed calm.
"Getting drunk. You're a smart girl and never did anything without a reason. So, why?"
Chloe stayed silent, her gaze fixed at some point outside the passenger's window, clearly ignoring her step-mother. But as the brunette woman heard a sniffle, she stopped the car immediately and took the now sobbing girl in a tight embrace.
Right at this moment the Why? was unimportant. What mattered, was to give Chloe the comfort and safety she needed right now.
Maxine sat at a picnic table and went over the notes Rachel had given her, while munching on a sandwich.
'Damn! Those notes are incredible! Everything is so tidy and structured. When I think back to my scripts…just yikes!'
Though most of that stuff already seemed familiar to Maxine, she told herself to learn this boring info. As she was just going through the last page, she saw something that was out of the ordinary: some quickly scribbled words and a number.
"Text me?!" replied Max those words, staring at them with wide open eyes.
'Did Rachel leave me a message?! Why?'
On one hand, Maxine was curious and wanted to know what's going on. But on the other hand, she didn't want to interact too much with this reality and therefore shoved that idea aside.
With a sigh and a bunch of mixed feelings, Max took a peek at her phone, realizing that lunch break was almost over and another bunch of classes were laying ahead of her.
'Ugh, better go to the classroom. Literature isn't really my thing, but maybe I can earn some points for my interest in the classics.'
As it turned out, even with her interest in poems and some classics, Literature still remained boring as well as the other remaining classes. But eventually, the bell sounded for the last time of the day and freed Max from his scholarly duty…or at least, so he thought.
"Hey Max!" another, to Maxine unknown, voice chimed, originating from a slender, brunette girl with casual clothes and a beanie on her head.
'Uh…who the heck is that? I don't recognize her at all.' Maxine thought and simply replied with "Uh…yeah?", getting even more surprised as she got hugged by that strange girl.
"How's that script coming? I already have a million ideas for the setting and the costumes, based on our first brainstorming, but…"
Out of a sudden, she stopped rambling as the brunette realized that Max was entirely without a plan about what she was talking about, evident by his dumbfounded demeanor.
"Hello-o! Earth to Max! Are you spaced out again?"
"Uh…" was the first thing Max brought forth, still unaware the girl's name. "S-sorry, I…" He inhaled deeply, taking a few seconds to gather all thoughts. "Sorry, it's just been such a shitty day and I'm totally busted. Can we do this tomorrow?"
At first, Maxine feared that the girl would be mad or worse, go all ballistic on her, but she simply shrugged and smiled warmly. "Yeah, think you're right. Mondays just suck. Let's do this tomorrow, then. Wanna grab some snacks and chill a out a bit? Maybe watch some Walking Dead?"
Though this girl seemed to be super-nice, Maxine still wanted to hold on to her plan. Let alone that she was grounded anyway.
"Sorry, but…uh…I got grounded for smoking weed and…yeah, not allowed to make any detours."
"Bummer!" replied the girl, but still refused to be mad at Max. "Not even good ol' Gamemaster Steph Gingrich is able to compete against the evil forces of parenthood. Guess it has to wait, huh?"
"Yeah," answered Max shyly, scratching his neck, because Maxine wasn't sure if they both were just friends or…more. The only way to find out was to do more research. "Hey…um, Steph. You mind, if I'm taking a photo of you?"
At first, Steph frowned upon this request, but eventually gave her "Okay!" and took a neutral pose. After getting the right angle and an artificial click later, the picture appeared on the screen of Max's phone. He then showed it the brunette, whose eyes suddenly opened wide upon the perfect shot.
"Wow, never thought I could be that photogenic."
"It's all about lighting and angle," he started to ramble while gazing at the photo, "If you mix that with the perfect model, you get amazing shots. Even with such a crappy phone-cam."
As Max realized what he was doing, he froze for a second and turned his glimpse towards Steph, who was smirking widely at him.
"Okay. Firstly, you sounded much like Evan right now, and secondly, if I wouldn't have been a lesbian, I would totally date you for that compliment!"
Blushing beet-red, Max gazed back at the photo, but instead of staying quiet, Maxine's truthful nature and newly discovered girl-crushing side spoke out of him.
"But it's true. You've a natural beauty. You don't need any make-up or different style. Your full, red lips are a perfect focus-spot and your eyes are radiating some sort of adventurous anticipation."
Silence occurred for another minute, making both realize that no other students were in the hallway anymore. Maybe this was the reason, why Steph leaned in and quietly said "I once read that even lesbians tend to have sex with a guy from time to time."
Taken entirely aback, Max chocked on his spit and coughed wildly, so that Steph had to pat his back.
"It was just a joke, Max!" she giggled and then rubbed soothingly over the brunette boy's back. "Besides, for now, I'm totally girls-only!"
"Good…ugh…good to know!" he gasp, taking some more deep breaths. "Listen, I've…I've gotta go and…"
"Yeah, you do that!" the brunette girl replied and embraced Max once more. "We'll see us tomorrow! Bye!"
"See ya!" called Max after her, still catching some breath and then began his journey back home.
'Nice going, Max! First day in school and you already interacted with a dead girl, made a move on a lesbian and witnessed how Chloe entirely fucked up. Let's hope that's all drama for today!'
As Max arrived back at home, he sighed in exhaustion and immediately made his way upstairs. For a moment, he stopped and glimpsed at Chloe's door, weighing the option to knock and talk with her. But considering her previous condition, he decided to let her rest and sober up.
After throwing his backpack on the bed in his room, the young boy slumped down right beside of it and closed his eyes for a minute.
'Fuuck, I'm so busted! And I thought playing CSI Arcadia Bay with Chloe had been exhausting.'
Letting the events of the day passing by in her mind, Maxine tried once more to bring some sense into this reality. But no matter how much she thought about other things, one person came up in her thoughts, again and again: Rachel Amber.
'She's so beautiful and nice. From Chloe's stories, I always had the image of her, being a constantly high bitch, who fucks and lies her way through life. But this Rachel seems to be so different. I wonder why she even gave me her number.'
Right away, Maxine's nosiness snapped in and made her rummage through the notes in Maximilian's backpack until she found the sheet with Rachel's number on it.
'Okay, Max, keep it simple! She wanted to be texted, so just write a neutral text.'
[Max]: Hi!
'Oh, how creative, Max…NOT!'
A few minutes of excruciated waiting, Max received an answer.
[Rachel]: Hi…unknown person…
'Idiot! You forget to write, who you are,' scolded Maxine herself internally with a facepalm.
[Max]: It's me. Maximilian Caulfield. You wanted me to text you.
'Oh gosh, Max, that's so embarrassing! What the hell is wrong with you?!'
[Rachel]: Indeed I did. Cause now I gotcha number and can stalk you like a creeper! Muhaha!
A sigh of relief emerged from Max upon this mock from Rachel's side. Already experienced with such mind-games from Chloe, Maxine wanted to play that game as well and lure Rachel into a trap.
[Max]: What if I wanna be stalked by you?
More minutes passed without a reply, making Maxine almost believe that she might had overdone it. But then the phone chimed again and Max's jaw dropped as he saw the selfie Rachel had sent.
[Rachel]: Put this on your homescreen and consider yourself stalked! ;)
The heart in his chest hammered like crazy and his stomach made summersaults as Max took in every detail of the picture. It showed the blonde's face in a close-up, a wry smirk on her lips and one of her stunning green eyes closed.
'Oh my dog, she's so pretty! NO! Stop it Max! You can't interfere with this reality so much!'
'Ugh, who am I kidding? It was my first day in school and it was merely a miracle nothing worse happened. Maybe I should change my strategy and do what Maximilian would do…or at least guess what he would do. And he would definitely hit on that hot chick!'
All worries thrown overboard and having a smug smile on his face, Max snapped a selfie of himself and sent it to Rachel in return.
[Max]: Consider yourself stalked as well! ;)
[Rachel]: Game's on, bitch! See ya tomorrow in school!
[Max]: See ya…bitch!
With a chuckle of amusement, Max let the phone drop to the side, his cheeks were flustered and he had to hold his stomach because of a swarm of butterflies that was going wild in there.
'Shit, I'm so crushing on her! Should I feel bad about it? I mean, I really love the Chloe from my reality, but in this one…I don't know. It's like she's entirely strange to me and kinda a forbidden fruit. So, I think it's okay to give in to my feelings as long as I'm stuck here.' thought Maxine, and took another look at the picture.
A new wave of warmth flushed through Max's body and suddenly gathered in his crotch, causing that his pants became kind of tight in a sudden place. And Max immediately realized that this was different from her morning erection. Maxine actually felt the need to touch herself.
'Damn, it's been some time since I did it to myself. The stress at the beginning of the semester. This fucking week. And now this kinda interdimensional travel…I just never found some space to get off. But…I also thought it's a body-thing and not mental.'
'Ugh, I should take a cold shower and make a new plan on how to act in future and try to do some more research of Maximilian's friends.'
As Maxine thought of what she had already found, she remembered a bunch of poems the young boy had written.
Max jumped up, rummaged through the secret compartment of the drawer once more and read all those writings of love, realizing that they were all about one person.
'Rachel Amber! He crushed on her, too! So, he wouldn't actually be mad if I help and intensify things between them. Though, don't get cocky, Max! It's not like you have been in a relationship before.'
Having made the decision to give in to her feelings, Maxine, now entirely love-struck, hummed one of her favorite songs, grabbed some fresh clothes and went for a cold shower.