A/N: Long time, no see? I want to apologize to everyone who liked and requested that I continue this story. Truth be told, I had messed up slightly in the pacing/progressing of the story, and I couldn't figure out a way to rectify it. I promise I'll continue working on this story, and hopefully I can fix whatever damage I've done.
The story might jump around different perspectives at times, treat this as a forewarning.
I hope you enjoy!
HU
*
The roaring of a train. The smell of sweat from dozens of passengers. The tightening of her lungs as they struggled for that little bit more of oxygen. Her pulse pounding in her ears, as her legs pumped to catch up to the figure standing amongst the crowd. She reached out a hand to touch him, and shouted-
*
Max woke with a start, her hair sticking to the sweat on her forehead. She shook her head to clear the cobwebs, but her brain remained fuzzy. She could still feel the wind rushing through her hair. She could still feel the adrenaline racing in her veins, like a California wildfire in the middle of July.
Her stomach rumbled. She stared longingly at the shower, before dismissing it for breakfast. She made her way haphazardly to the table, where her father greeted her with a smile.
"Max! So happy to finally see you!"
"Hey, Dad," she greeted through a forced smile. She sat at her place and sighed, content for the moment. Ryan pushed a box of cereal towards his daughter, a look of concern on his face.
Max poured her cereal into the bowl and topped it off with milk before she noticed her dad looking at her. Her thoughts were so clouded, that it took her a moment before she could think of something to say.
"You alright, Maximilian? You look exhausted."
She bought herself time by lifting a spoonful of sugar to her mouth. She tried to think of a convincing lie before settling on a half-truth.
"I'm fine. Chloe and Rachel ran me ragged the day before is all."
"Ah," Ryan got out of his seat and placed a reassuring hand on his daughter's shoulder. "I think you should take a day for yourself. Maybe spend some time with your dear old Pop?"
Max smiled genuinely but also apologetically. "Sorry Dad, but I already promised Chloe that I would hang out with them."
"Max!" Ryan complained. "When do I get some time with my daughter?"
Max sighed inwardly. It's not that she didn't like her dad, she loved him. But she had too much on her plate. She had already spent the entire weekend playing matchmaker, and Mr. Jefferson had announced that he was holding a contest, but he didn't specify the details.
There was also that body switching thing that continuously floated around her head. It had been nearly a week since the incident, and with nothing else unusual happening, she decided to put it out of her head. Maybe it had been a really bizarre prank? Who knows.
The more she thought about it, the less she remembered anyway. Maybe it was better for everyone if she forgot about it.
Max shrugged before she could think against it. She tried to recover by saying something, but it was already too late. Ryan had grabbed a cup of coffee and sighed before making his way to the living room. He turned on the TV before parking himself on the couch. "Your mother and Chloe should be home soon. I know you have the day off from school for your Spring Break, maybe I'll see you when you come back."
Max finished her cereal and put the bowl in the sink. She glanced for an extra long second at her arm, still somehow stained from the note she put on there Friday night.
"And for Seattle News 7's Fact of the Week: it's been nearly four years since the trag-"
She kept her eyes on the TV as she cleared her throat. "Um, Dad…"
At that moment, the knob turned as Chloe kicked the door open, heavy bags of groceries in her arms.
Max's eyes tore from the TV. Internally, she had never been more grateful for her adopted sister's appearance. She swiftly made her way to her friend and retrieved some bags out of her arms.
"What are you wearing?" she asked with a lifted eyebrow.
Now that the bags were removed, Max could see that Chloe was wearing a pink, low crop sweater, her collar and chest exposed in front of her. It looked quite shocking in contrast to her striking blue hair.
"Don't mention it," Chloe pleaded.
"Hey everyone!" Vanessa called. She also carried a ton of brown bags, flanking behind her was Rachel. "I was gonna ask for help, but you'll never guess who arrived just as we were pulling in!"
Chloe quickly ran behind Max and put the bags on the counter. Max wanted to catch up to her and interrogate her, but Chloe seemed to be in a hurry to disappear.
"Chloe!" Vanessa called. "Don't disappear on us! Let Rachel see your new clothes!"
Max fought a wave of jealousy as Chloe huffed before turning around. Max watched as Rachel shuffled her way over to the counter to set her bags by Chloe's. The two exchanged words, nothing that Max could hear. Chloe blushed, which made Max smile, despite her sour mood.
Max quietly made her exit past her family members, which none of them really seemed to notice. Once out of sight, she collapsed face down on her bed, the weariness seeping in her bones.
She shouldn't feel as jealous as she felt. She wasn't the one to lose her parents in a terrifying, scarring wreck. She shouldn't have to force a smile every time Chloe gets new clothes or has something go Chloe's way, only for her sister to reject it as if she never needed help in the first place.
Hell, the last time Ryan or Vanessa got Max something new, she wasn't even in high school.
Max loves Chloe, that was for sure, but she never asked to have an adopted sister. She never asked to be forgotten.
*
After about an hour, the three girls left the Caulfield's and biked their way to the mall. There, they made their way through several shops and passed by the food court. Chloe and Rachel walked stride by stride as they conversed about school, their classmates, and about other stuff Max couldn't keep up with, like their love of heavy music.
Max felt like a ghost. She drifted silently behind her two companions, barely exchanging more than two words. Truth be told, only a part of her minded that she was being ignored so heavily. Other thoughts ran circles around her head, thoughts that were intrusive and she didn't want to ponder on, but it was better than ruining their time together.
This mostly included her dream. She couldn't stop thinking about the roar of the train underneath her feet. She remembered feeling the sun on her skin. She recalled being surrounded by so many other people.
But why was she running? That was the question. She wasn't being chased, she was running to something. But the more she lingered on the dream, the more details slipped away.
She wanted to stamp her feet in annoyance. Why? Why couldn't she remember?
"You okay, Max?"
Max blinked rapidly. Her eyes caught flecks of green and gold flickering back at her. She looked to the left, and another set of bright eyes looked back at her from her best friend. Both girls looked concerned.
"Yeah." Max licked her lips. She pushed past her friends, a blush emerging on her cheeks. She ducked her way inside a store, not caring which one it was. Unbeknownst to her, she had ventured into a store completely unfamiliar to her.
*
"Let's go, Rach!"
Rachel put an arm on Chloe's forearm. "Let her go, Chloe."
"What?" Chloe looked back at her crush. "Why? She's upset!"
"That's exactly why," Rachel replied vigorously. "We've been pretty much ignoring her since we've got here. She's probably frustrated with us. Give her some time to herself."
Chloe looked at her for a second before looking back where Max disappeared. It wasn't a store Max would typically have gone in, and that thought made Chloe worry even more for her friend that's always been there for her. How could she pretend that everything would be alright?
On the other hand, she supposed that Rachel had a point. After all, Max had been doing her a lot of favors in the past few days. Maybe it was time that Chloe could return the favor.
"Maybe. But I still don't like leaving her alone in the middle of the mall."
Rachel let her grip slack enough to catch Chloe's hand instead. Rachel smiled, and once Chloe realized what was happening, she smiled back. "Max will be fine," Rachel insisted. "She's a smart girl, and she's got her phone on her. What's the worst that could happen?"
Chloe blinked, considering what Rachel was saying. Internally, she thought that she owed Max big time, and she also thought that perhaps Rachel had a point.
"Okay," Chloe nodded reluctantly. "But if something happens, or if Max texts me that she wants to leave, we're out of here."
Rachel grinned. "Of course. We're not gonna abandon our Max. But I wanna show you this dope store. Follow me!"
Chloe's grin burned brighter as she allowed herself to be carried away by her crush. She glanced behind her for a moment to see if she could see Max emerging from the store. But once the two girls rounded the corner, she put her focus back onto Rachel.
Rachel squeezed Chloe's hand confidently, and after a beat, Chloe returned the gesture.
"So…," Rachel began.
"So what?"
"What's with the sweater?"
Chloe fought the blush that threatened to emerge. "This? Vanessa bought it for me."
"Your Mom?"
Chloe cringed. "She's not my mom."
Rachel let go of Chloe's hand. "Don't snap at me! I was just asking a question."
Chloe shrugged before huffing dramatically. She shoved her hands in her pockets to break the tension.
Rachel's features softened as she felt she had unintentionally delivered an emotional blow. "I didn't mean to blow up on you. Sorry."
Chloe considered before releasing a breath. "It's cool. It's not something I like to brag about."
Rachel considered her for a moment. The two teens had stopped walking, and a crowd full of people had to venture around them. Chloe was grateful for the intrusion, as she hoped it would be a physical break to stray away from the heavy subject matter they found themselves in.
She had lost sight of Rachel for just a moment, before spotting her again sitting off on a bench. Chloe made her way over to the girl, her fingers scratching her collar nervously.
Rachel smiled reassuringly at Chloe as she sat down. Both girls can still feel the tension of the previous conversation, and neither was sure on what to say next.
The silence lingered for a bit longer before Chloe started to panic. She decided to settle on a familiar topic. "I wonder how Max is doing."
Rachel raised an eyebrow. "You seem to worry about her a lot."
Chloe looked away from her for a moment. The crowd had dispersed, but a few strangers still remained around them, and yet Chloe felt alone in this moment with her crush. "She's like a sister to me."
"Like? It already seems you two are like sisters."
"You think so?"
Rachel slunk her hand into Chloe's once more. This time, her fingers interlaced with Chloe's. Rachel absentmindedly played with the knuckle on Chloe's thumb, which seemed to calm both girls down, if only a little.
"You know what I think Chloe?"
"What's that?"
"I think that every person has one or two people they just have a connection with. Sure, two people can have chemistry, but I'm talking about something deeper. I'm talking about when you start to get to know someone, and then you find that, somehow, you completely understand them and they understand you. And it can apply to best friends, or siblings… or even lovers."
Chloe frowned. "Like love at first sight? Or soul mates?"
Rachel smiled. "Something like that."
*
Max dodged her way past several racks of assorted shirts, shorts, and hats and through a curtain of beads. Inside, she was surrounded by darkness, lit only by the glowing posters hiding blacklights.
This seems like the perfect sort of cover to hide a nervous breakdown, she thought to herself. She took a couple breaths and scanned the posters in front of her, hoping to escape from her thoughts.
"What's a little hunny like you doing back here?"
She looked sharply to her right. She kicked herself for somehow not noticing the stranger that shared the room with her. He was just a few inches taller than her, with bright hair (she guessed it was bleached blonde, but it was hard to tell with the lighting). He had pale skin, like her, but he had a dark, disgusting mole just under the left side of his thin lips. Even worse, she couldn't quite discern his age.
She swallowed bile that made its way up from her heart. She felt herself frozen under the lecherous stare this stranger was giving her. She wanted to flee, to say anything to dampen the situation.
The stranger seemed to take her momentary lapse of action as an invitation. He took the initiative to step behind her. The stranger placed a hand on her side and he leaned in altogether too close for comfort.
"Maybe you and I can find somewhere private," his hot breath ran down her neck, causing shivers of revulsion to go down her side. "And have some fun."
His hand trailed down to her backside, and when she felt his grip, that was when her fight or flight response finally kicked in. She felt, rather than thought, of her elbow swiftly jab into the stranger's ribs. She heard the sharp intake of breath as her assailant, caught off guard, let her go.
Max scrambled her way through the beads. Several threads tore off of their bindings and onto the floor. A dozen or so customers immediately looked over and stared at the girl that rushed past them. The worker of the store shouted something, presumably, "Hey!" but Max didn't care.
With tears in her eyes, Max shot out of the store and shoved past a young couple towards the nearest exit she could think of. She didn't dare look behind her, for fear that her assailant was hot on her trail. Fortunately for her, she managed to find her bike within minutes, and without thinking of exactly where to go, she took off.
Max rode her way through the streets, forcing several drivers to suddenly stop and honk their horns in frustration. However, Max again didn't care. In fact, a part of her hoped she would be run over, then maybe someone would care about her and how she felt.
It wasn't for about two miles that Max realized just where she was headed. She was headed for Discovery Park, one of the few places she ever felt at peace. Max pumped her legs as fast as she could, desperate to escape her situation, desperate to escape her own tumbling thoughts.
She made it to the park in record time. She biked past the bike trails and bike racks to make her way to the forest. She needed to be alone. She needed some time, finally, to herself to figure everything out.
She made it to a clearing in the woods, and that was when she finally let herself break. Max practically jumped off of the bike and fell to her knees. Her arms scratched against the grass, which, strangely to her, felt almost good.
"I hate this!" Max screamed. Her voice was growing raw, both from the physical exertion and from the raw emotion, but her voice echoed through the trees, startling some nearby animal life.
"I don't want to be a girl! I hate having to watch everywhere I go! I hate having to worry about what I wear, what I do, or who I hang out with!"
She wiped the tears out of her eyes. "And I hate, hate the city! I hate how everyone is only thinking of themselves!"
Max sobbed into her hands. Her throat was horse, and it felt painful to cry, but she did it anyway. The pain felt good.
"I don't want to be here anymore."