Chapter 35

Freedom. Freedom at last!

Max was going home. After months of therapy and rehab, he was finally going home. Though, if it would've been after him, he would've loved to go back home months ago. And though he had had the feeling that spending two days with Rachel had healed him more than spending weeks in a hospital, everybody had told him to finish the therapy.

But it was finally over.

His mom had picked him up right after the last check-up and now they were driving along the main street of Arcadia Bay, parallel to the ocean. It was a nice, warm day; the blue sky covered by some white sheep clouds.

Maxine loved this kind of weather. A perfect day for a photo-session.

She missed photography. Though she had already tried to pick up her passion again, it wasn't the same in Maximilian's body. There was always something wrong. Pictures just came out wrong all the time. They were good, yet not perfect. Like, something was missing. On the other side, Maxine had become pretty good at having ideas for stories of all sorts.

'You can switch the mind, but not the body.'

A thought that had come to her during the long, lonesome, boring days in hospital. A lot of time to think. To think about the future and everything that had happened in the past. And how much everything had changed.

'It's like I switched the car I used to drive, from a VW Beetle to a muscle car.'

Everything was different. Being in a male body was different. She had the urge to boast more and was way more sportive. And she didn't even want to think about how often she got aroused. As a woman it was relatively easy to hide such rare occasions, but as a man it was so hard to hide it…literally. More than once she had got caught when she hadn't been aware of that fact. Simply embarrassing!

Being a boy was so different. At first Maxine had thought that it was just a mindset, but in truth it's way more complicated.

"You okay, sweety?" Vanessa's voice chimed out all of a sudden, ripping Max out of his deep thoughts.

"Yeah," Max replied with a sigh. "Just spacin' out, y'know."

"Mmh-hmm…" she hummed, a big smirk growing on her face. "Can't wait to see Rachel again, huh?"

Max understood the innuendo, exclaiming "Mo-om!", which caused her to chuckle.

"Oh c'mon, hotshot. I've been at your age, too and know how much you want to be with her again."

Max didn't return anything, yet simply blushed. Why do grownups always want to talk about such stuff with their kids anyway? Maxine recalled such talks with her mother, back in her reality. All those questions if she already was seeing someone. It had been just embarrassing and annoying. But the most embarrassing question was yet to come as they stopped at a traffic light.

"So, you two already had sex?"

If Max had already been red like a ripe tomato before, it now got even worse and he sank deeper into the seat, wishing that would fall through and keep on falling until he'd reach the center of the earth.

Should he answer truthfully or lie? Though, what would be the use of lying, anyway? It was pretty much clear that, sooner or later, every couple has sex at some point.

Eventually, the teenage boy simply nodded.

"I'm glad to hear. Still, I hope you two use protection."

Protection, however, was an entirely different topic. Both times, Rachel and Max had unprotected sex, and telling his mother this, would definitely end in another embarrassing discussion. So, the decision to lie with another nod was easily made.

"Hmm…" his mom simply hummed, and Max knew her way too well to tell that she had already smelled the lie. And it became even more obvious as the tone of her voice became very serious. "Max, please know that I trust you, that I respect your private space and that I will always be at yours and Rachel's side, no matter what happens. But, if I find pregnancy tests in the garbage bin, it somehow makes me worry. I already talked with Chloe and she - unsurprisingly - reassured me that - and I quote - Steph hasn't grown a penis overnight. So, wanna rethink your answer again?"

Even worse than talking about sex, was being caught lying about that topic. Rachel had told Max about the pregnancy test and that it had been negative. But they actually had vowed to keep it a secret and to be more cautious from now on.

"Mom," he eventually answered with a huff, looking out of the window, "Rach already told me. We're gonna be more cautious from now on, promise."

Instantly, a new smile formed on Vanessa's lips, and as she answered with a satisfied "Good!", they kept on driving in silence.

Rachel's foot was repeatedly patting on the ground, nervously. She was doing this for over ten minutes, already enraging the secretary who was sitting in the same room, evident by the daggers she threw at the teenage girl with her eyes.

But Rachel didn't care. She hated waiting. And she hated this aloof bitch that Mr. Wells' secretary was. More than once she had overheard her talking bad about students and how much she hated them. Well, she guessed that after this day she would hate them even more.

Why did Principal Wells wait with this stupid talk until today - the day Max finally came home? He could've done it a day earlier or later, but no. It had to be today. And this made Rachel angry.

Finally, the door to the Principal's office opened and the tall black-skinned man called her in and signed her to take a seat right in front of his enormous desk.

"Miss Amber," he then said with his deep, booming voice as he sat down as well, "please, let me give you my condolences once more. No one can even imagine this heavy loss you have to experience at your young age."

'Bla-fuckin'-bla,' was everything that popped up in Rachel's mind. How often had she already received the pity of other persons who, indeed, couldn't even imagine the pain she was feeling.

"Thank you, Mr. Wells!"

Acting. Always acting. She was so tired of it, yet couldn't escape it. She always had to be friendly, though she would've loved to kill them all.

"Now to the reason why I called you here," he then continued, leaning forward and crossing his fingers. "Right after your mothers sad demise, your father had called me and told me that - despite having no legal guardian here in Arcadia Bay - you refused to go back to Long Beach with him. And though I take it with pride that you decided to continue your educational path at our school, it also comes with some problems, regarding your stay at our beautiful town."

"I'm staying at my boyfriend's house," the blonde girl replied, like it would solve the problem. Sadly, it wasn't that simple.

"I'm aware of that, yet it is not a valid solution for the long term. The law states that underage children strictly need a legal guardian, and your mother was well aware of that when she applied for a room in our dormitory."

Custody. Legal guardian. Rachel didn't need that. She could live on her own. She had always refused to live in the dorms. Too many rules, curfew, annoying people. No, she wanted her freedom. Yet, the law was the law and the alternative was living at her dad's, and that was out of question.

So, she acted like a good student and nodded, saying "Yes, sir."

"Sadly, her application reached us after the set deadline," continued the Principal, already making Rachel fearing the worst. "But we came to a common ground as I arranged that you could move into one of the shared rooms."

He then brought forth some documents, handing them towards the teenage girl.

"Your roommate would be a freshman, named Brooke Scott. A promising student with a perfect GDP. I think you both will perfectly fit together."

Rachel stayed silent, reading the documents, especially the sheet with the rules. Who she shared her room with wasn't that important since she would spend most of her time with Max anyway, including a lot of sleepovers.

No loud noise. No drugs. No alcohol. No boys. No sexual activities. No partying. No fights. Lights out at 10 pm. Curfew after 8 pm.

If she could, Rachel would've loved to vomit. Rules after rules and no fun. No wonder, most students spend their spare time off school grounds. Still, she had no other choice than to accept this by signing the papers.

Principal Wells then took them over with a nod of appreciation, went for the drawer at the side of his desk and brought forth a set of keys, handing them to Rachel.

"One key for the building's front door and one for your room. A set of spare keys are available at the securities office, so you don't have to make copies, which is strictly forbidden anyway. Yet, I also recommend that you don't lose your set in the first place, because this would lead to an exchange of all affected locks, plus replacing all invalid keys of the other student. A very expensive procedure, I can assure you, that we would be forced to bill your parents for."

"Understood!" Rachel eventually said and got up again as well as the Principal. "Thank you, sir."

"I wish a pleasant day, Miss Amber, and hope that you will enjoy your stay and keep out of any further trouble."

It was hard to overhear the warning that chimed within the Principal's latest words. Yes, she had already screwed up a few times, but it was never like she was searching for trouble. She just wanted to be left alone and do her thing. But was it worth giving the Principal's words such deep thought anyway?

Rachel decided to let it drop and focused on going home and welcoming Max, though it would mean to skip the last two lessons.

'So much for staying out of trouble,' she thought with an internal scoff and had just left the main building as she almost collided with someone on the stairs. And as she raised her sight she almost fell back over out of surprise. But it didn't come to that as Max wrapped his arms around her neck and pulled her in for a long kiss.

A kiss that felt so overwhelmingly emotional that it caused Rachel to shed some tears. She wished that this moment would never end, though it was eventually bound to happen, because Vanessa was there as well and would never allow her to go home just yet. Or would she?

Neither Max nor Rachel had even to ask as his mother just guided them to the car.

"A one-time-only exception," she called it. But it didn't matter to Rachel how it was called at all, because a wish had come true, and she would never ask for something more.

Pondering.

Pondering was something Max had done a lot during his stay at the hospital.

Pondering about the past. Pondering about the present. Pondering about the future. About Rachel, Chloe, Steph, his parents, his dad… He had just pondered about everything. Even the truth.

Truth. What was the truth anyway? Was it something adamant, chiseled in stone? Or was it just a subjective fiction, dependent on the eye of the beholder? Was it even right to say the truth all the time, or was it okay to lie from time to time just to avert to hurt someone else or to prevent something worse to happen?

Did Rachel have the right to know the truth about Maximilian? That the boy she was in love with was actually a girl from another reality?

More than once, Maxine had thought about telling Rachel the truth. But what would be the gain of it, besides having unburdened her conscience? Would Rachel even understand or would she call her boyfriend a liar?

Eventually, there was only one way to find out, yet this way was also a very bumpy one.

'I need to tell her,' Maxine thought to herself, looking at the beautiful girl that was right beside her, her naked body only covered by a blanket.

Rachel then opened her eyes, looking at her boyfriend with her stunning green orbs, a shy smile decorating her still slightly blushed face.

"Hi!" she whispered like a gentle breeze on a summer's day while her hand brushed softly over his face.

His face? Her face? Maxine knew that she was in Maximilian's body, but it was hers for the time being, until Faith would rip her out of it and stuff Maximilian back in.

Rachel would be able to tell the difference, and the chances would be pretty high that she would break up with him, emotional pain included.

No, Maxine didn't want that for her beloved Rachel. She didn't deserve more suffering.

"Hey," she then said, her demeanor now full with concern. "What's with the long face? Did I…did I do something wrong?"

She was blaming herself. Rachel had the tendency to do that. Unlike Maxine had always anticipated, the so-called princess of Blackwell was full of self-doubts. She wasn't this perfect It-girl that everyone was seeing in her. No, she was simply a 16-year-old teenager with a broken family and the need for an anchor in this crazy world.

She had anxieties, phased depressions and even outbursts. She could be the nicest girl and then turn into an angel of wreath within seconds.

'In my reality, nobody talked about Rachel like this. She always seemed to be perfect. Maybe it was just an act. Or, this Rachel here is entirely different.'

Max looked deeply at her, weighing his words cautiously. His hands were sweaty and even if Rachel was still in the afterglow of their latest sexual endeavor, she must've felt this.

"Uh, Rachel…" he said with a trembling voice, chiding himself how obviously nervous he was. "There's, um… Th-there's somethin' I wanna… I-I need to tell you…"

Just starting a talk like this, always raised suspicion that something heavy or even hurtful was about to come up. A confession, maybe. Or even a break-up.

Rachel wasn't naive. She knew that and tried to prepare herself internally. But, eventually, her body-language and the out of her mouth dropping, cold "Okay…" were revealing her true feelings right away, which made Max even more nervous.

Max took another deep breath. His heart was pounding in his chest and he would've loved to just run away. But he gathered every bit of courage and said "Listen…Rach. I, uh… I-I know it sounds totally crazy, and, uh… Shit. I don't even expect you to believe me, but, uh…"

"Max!" Rachel interrupted this nonsensical flush of words impatiently, holding his hands tightly, while gazing even deeplier at him. "Just spit it out!"

Once again, he inhaled deeply. The need to just run away became almost unbearable. Until the words stumbled out of him in one big surge.

"I'm a 18-years-old girl from another reality, who's stuck in Maximilian's body."

What followed was silence.

While Max just felt relief, Rachel simply stared at him with big eyes. It was clear that, at first, she didn't know what to say, until she cleared her throat.

"Ummm…okay. So…you're a girl, trapped in a boy's body?"

Now Max was the one, who didn't know what to say. He had the feeling that Rachel didn't really understand what he just said, which became even more obvious as she hugged him and said "Max, I'm… Actually, I'm okay with it. If you wanna be a girl, be a girl. I don't care. I'll still love you, 'cause inside…you're still my Max."

Such heartwarming words. They were sweet and so full of love. Sadly, they also indicated that she hadn't understood what he had tried to tell her.

"Um…th-thanks, Rach, but… That's not what I meant. I, um… I am a girl from another reality. My name's Maxine Caulfield, 18 years old. I somehow - just don't ask my how or why - got powers to influence time. But something went wrong. I-I got hit by a lightning and, uh… ended up here, in Maximilian's body. Geez, I so don't expect you to believe me. But…"

During his entire speech, Max hadn't looked at Rachel even once. Just yet he raised his sight and saw this unreadable expression in his girlfriend's face that looked like a mixture of shock, unbelief and revelation.

"I dunno what freaks me out more," she eventually said calmly, not moving even one finger, "your freaky story or that your eyes are telling me that you really mean this."

She was stunned and didn't know what to do next. A dangerous situation and a crossroads for their relationship. Max delivered the story, now it was on Rachel to process it. It was up to her to simply believe the truth or to call her boyfriend a freaky maniac, who was ready for the mental hospital.

"Rach, I…" he tried to reply desperately, but got stopped by Rachel right away as she put her flat hand on his mouth, right before she got up and left the room, dressed only in her bathrobe that she had swiftly put on.

Was this it? Would she break up with him now? Did she think that he was an insane person?

Max couldn't let this go unanswered and wanted to follow her. Since his mother was back at work, they both had the house for themselves at the moment, so he only put on some shorts and went on to look for Rachel. But where was she?

The bathroom door was open and the lights off. So, he went downstairs, yet again, there was no Rachel.

Did she leave? No, not just dressed in a bathrobe. She also wasn't in the backyard. But where? Where could she be?

"Rachel?" he called through the house, and, surprisingly, got an answer.

"Up here!"

It came from upstairs. But there was only one room where she could be: Chloe's room.

And indeed, Rachel was there. Sitting on Chloe's desk chair and staring out the window while smoking a joint, her bathrobe just hanging loose from her shoulder.

Cautiously, Max entered with slow steps, his girlfriend not even giving him one glimpse. He asked himself, since when she was smoking weed, but swallowed that question down, because it wasn't of that much importance at the moment.

"Rach?" he almost whispered, like being afraid he would scare a wild deer. But she stayed relaxed as she took another draft from her smoke.

"Is it true?" Rachel then asked, huffing out the dense smoke that was snaking out of the open window. "I mean that stuff that you just told me."

Was it even true? Sometimes Maxine wasn't even sure herself anymore, if all this crazy stuff really happened. The storm and her powers; her entire life, seemed to be gone, ages ago. But looking at the beautiful blonde right in front of her, told Max that all this really happened, otherwise she never would've met her

"Rach, I'd never lie to you."

A plain answer that was answering the question, but still left a lot open for interpretation. For Max, it was a yellow answer. And for Rachel?

Rachel simply began to chuckle hysterically, which made him worry about her condition. But as quickly as it came, it also disappeared again. She extinguished the rest of the blunt in an ashtray, stood up and then walked over to Max and wrapped her arms around his neck, followed by a passionate kiss.

"So," she then said after breaking the kiss, but not the contact, "lemme get this straight. Your real name is Maxine Caulfield and you're an 18 year old chick, right?"

"Um…yeah."

"And you're from another dimension?"

"Well…more like from a different reality, where I'm female and not a dude, called Maximilian."

"So, you and Maximilian switched bodies and he's now in your reality?"

"No…my, um…my real body died as far as I know and he's now stuck in a realm between realities."

Once again, Rachel chuckled, and Max felt that the blonde wasn't taking him very seriously. And he made this thought very obvious by putting on a sad face.

"Rach, I don't expect you to believe me, but…"

A finger on his lips, plus Rachel's added smile silenced Max, while she replied "I so fuckin' believe you, Maxine."

She then brushed over his face and placed several pecks on his lips, speaking between them.

"I…so…believe…you…"

But Max eventually backed off, speaking with a firm voice to gain her attention. He realized that she was high and therefore couldn't take her words seriously.

"Rachel! Stop pretending."

Like a switch had been turned, the teenage-girl got dead-serious, her gaze now even deeper and more focused. Now, she seemed entirely clear in her head, like she had flushed out the THC with push on an internal button.

"Do you believe in fate, Max?" she asked rhetorically, not awaiting an answer. "I do. And I believe that it was Fate who brought us together." She then took a step towards her boyfriend to bridge the slight gap between them and took one of his hands, holding it tightly. "Maybe you are from another reality. Maybe you're just insane. Hell, you could be an alien from the moons of Saturn and I'd still love you. You hear me, Maxine? I…love…you!"

Once more their lips collided passionately. But this time none of them stopped, which soon led to the situation that they landed on Chloe's bed, ready for another sexual adventure.

'I'm dead…'

These words were swirling around in Rachel's mind since Maxine had told her about her own reality. Her friendship with Chloe, Seattle, her time at Blackwell, the storm, her time-altering powers and… that the Rachel of her reality had been killed by a serial killer, who also was a teacher at Blackwell.

At first, Rachel had found the idea that a teacher could be a serial killer pretty awesome and dramatic. But as Maxine went into the details, she would've loved to freak out.

Maxine had been through a lot, this reality included, and now many things suddenly made a lot of sense, especially Maximilian's change of behavior since last October.

'But still… I was dead in her reality and now we're together. Would we've been together there too, if I would've stayed alive?'

With a sigh and a head that felt as heavy as a wrecking ball, Rachel sat up. She was still in Chloe's bed, entirely naked while Max had left for the kitchen to prepare them some food. For another couple of minutes she kept on staring into empty space, until the door got pushed open and Chloe and Steph came sauntered in.

"What the fuck?!" Chloe immediately exclaimed, freezing on the spot, while Steph simply smirked. "Did you 'n' Max just…?"

Rachel, now being back in her element, didn't waste any time and jumped up, grabbing and putting on her bathrobe while replying "Yup, we just fucked in your awesome big bed. Quite comfy, y'know."

"Dude, da fuck?!" the strawberry-blond kept on complaining as Rachel walked past her. "That's just disgusting!"

The young budding actress stopped and turned around, facing Chloe. "Reality-check, Chloe. You 'n' Steph have done it in Max's room more than once. And don't lie, I could smell it. So, I guess, now we're even." She then closed in and whispered in her ear "I also rubbed my pussy over your pillow…enjoy!"

"Blech, gross!"

With a mischievous snicker, Rachel left Chloe standing in the rain, while heading for the bathroom, whereas Steph simply mentioned "Busted!" before she moved on into the room, her girlfriend, who was still complaining, followed stat.

As soon as Rachel had entered the bathroom, she locked the door. She felt dizzy and like losing her mind. At first, she thought it could be the aftermath of the joint, but then everything went upside down and she lost consciousness.

But she didn't hit the ground, no. She was still standing in front of the mirror and her eyes began to glow emerald green.

"Why did you send her here, mother?"she said with an ethereal voice to a person that was materializing behind her and took the shape of Sera Gearhardt.

"She's different from the others. She needs guidance or she'll destroy everything," chimed Fate's voice.

"Guidance?!" Rachel yelled back at her as she spun around and closed in on the entity. "In each and every reality we guide her. Me and my sister are doing the dirty work for you, just because you don't have the guts to oppose the others."

"Don't you dare to patronize me, Thalia! We all have our destiny."

"Just stop with this destiny-crap, mother. This, here, is way out of line. I wasn't supposed to be responsible for her. And now… I can't do what you want me to do."

Reaching for the girl's face and brushing over it, Fate told her "Love can be as inspirational as death. Guide her to the end, fulfill your destiny, my dear. You know very well what eventually awaits."

"Do I even have a choice?" the entity in a girl's body scoffed. "Rachel is unaware of her true self. She's just a vessel, carrying my essence and will follow her destiny without a doubt."

"Oh my dear Thalia, I know about your feelings for your vessel and for her, and I encourage you to thrive on them. Because, unlike me, you have the luxury to feel. But, eventually, she has to make a sacrifice."

For some time, Thalia just stood there, shedding emerald green tears, until she took a step back, her voice full of bitterness.

"No! I won't do it. She doesn't deserve this."

Fate froze, her formerly soft demeanor changing into the coldest glare her human figure could express.

"As you already said, Thalia, Rachel is just a vessel that is following its destiny. You cannot control it and you will not stop it. If you fail, the tapestry will rip, and with it reality. Don't place your foolish love for a mortal over the existence of an entire reality. Your sister knows that, and acts accordingly."

"My sister is a spineless excuse for existence," she barked back, anger taking over. "I always have to guide and encourage her, as well."

"And this is why you're Thalia, my first daughter and head of the Muses. You, of all, inspire all individuals; even your sisters. Now, be my trusted daughter and fulfill your destiny!"

The last words were fading out as Fate dematerialized again, leaving Thalia, the entity in Rachel's body, behind. For several minutes she just stood there, processing her mother's words, until she at long last decided to ignore them.

But how to tell Rachel, who would just follow destiny's path of every individual?

The idea came out of nowhere. It wasn't much, but it was everything that was possible at the moment.

As Rachel awoke again, she was standing in the shower, hot water running over her body. Confused, she looked around. She couldn't remember taking a shower, or even how she had taken off her bathrobe. But what creeped her out beyond everything, were three words, written on the foggy glass of the shower tub in her own handwriting.

Keep Max safe!