Chloe

Chapter 2 - Unexpected Friend

The heat of the bodies on the bus assaulted me. Thoughts of running away, hiding, disappearing became dominate. The noise of the excited infants was deafening and all I wanted to do was go home and lay in the bed with Edwin. 

I wanted to forget college, to forget everything. But I know it was counterproductive to have such damaging thoughts. I had dreams and aspirations that included finishing high school. Everyone thought I would be a high school dropout or a run-a-way, and honestly I had come close many times but I had always persevered. I could do it again. I would survive and be better for it. –Chloe’s diary

Chapter Two

Unexpected Friend

 She was proud that she had actually remembered to set the alarm the night before and had plenty of time to get breakfast and not run to the bus. She took the same seat as the previous day and grocery-store-death-girl resumed her squinty-eyed stare. She really needed to have a name for her.

“What’s your name?” Chloe snapped at the girl. She really didn’t have any patience for crap that morning.

“Kim,” the girl answered almost nicely. Chloe was shocked the girl didn’t give her some made up name like “it, the number 4, or just plain screw you.” 

In an odd way Chloe was disappointed. If Kim gave her some sarcastic answer she could have at least snarled at her to get some of her frustration out.

“Chloe.” She pointed to herself and pounded her chest like a caveman.

Kim actually laughed at that. 

“What you did to that b***h cheerleader was awesome, but your life is going to be hell,” Kim stated matter-of-factly.

“I know. It already is,” Chloe mumbled miserably. 

Kim then slid over to her seat and asked, “Do you know anything about her?”

Chloe shook her head.

“She’s like the most popular girl in our school and has been for a long time. She claims herself to be the next big actress. She has been the lead in every play since I can remember. She is involved in everything, homecoming queen, head cheerleader, I’d be shocked if someone else got crowned prom queen. The teachers, principals, the whole damn school thinks she hangs the moon. Yet we mere mortals hate her. She’s mean and spoiled. She thinks she can walk over everyone and get away with it. The sad truth is that she can walk all over everyone and get away with it. She has these lemmings that follow her and do her dirty work. That way her reputation is never jeopardized.”

Chloe was blown away, “It sounds like the mafia.” 

Kim laughed, “Yeah, that’s the perfect way to describe it.”

The bus went over a bump and several others while they sat silently. Then Chloe turned toward Kim and said, “Your uncle is gross and a creep.” She didn’t know why she said it but she guessed it was a moment of bonding. 

Kim looked stunned and then nodded, “You have no idea.”

   Chloe watched her for a moment. Kim was actually quite surprisingly pretty. She had no idea what her original hair color was, but her eyes were an unusual shade of green if you could get past the black gunk. It was almost as if she was working hard to make herself ugly. 

When they got to school Kim went the opposite direction. To her profound relief there was no one at her locker.

   But the relief only lasted for a minute. Her stomach lurched when she opened her locker and she stared at spray-painted “b***h, w***e” and many other cuss words that didn’t bear repeating or reading. Her heart sunk and stomach hurt. There goes the theory she could just disappear.

  Determined not to let them beat her, she read somewhere hair spray could be used to get spray-paint off, so she spent her homeroom cleaning the inside of her locker. It worked too, well to an extent. At least the words weren’t distinguishable anymore. 

Wanting to go home nearly overwhelmed her but she forced herself to go to her classes. She needed to graduate so she could go to college and support herself. Nothing was going to stop her, not an abusive father or a psycho, spoiled cheerleader.

   The first two periods were normal –kind of. At least there wasn’t an overabundance of harassment. She still got catcalls walking to her class, and every once in a while someone would shove, pinch, or trip her. She hoped that after a while they would get tired of that, too. All she had to do was endure.

She walked to her third period class somewhat apprehensive. Art was one of her favorite subjects, and she didn’t want it to be riddled with practical jokes or harassment. Sitting at the same as spot the previous day, she kept her head down afraid eye contact would give them the excuse they needed to start on her. 

All the precautions were fortunately for naught. To her relief her table talked about non-matters, such as weather, their summers, etc. Never once did they mention the cheerleader or how much a spaz she was.  

Jody seemed to be having a better day, but more amazing was that Kim and Jody hit it off instantly, even though they couldn’t be more opposite. 

During their light banter, Chloe learned that the boy at the end, who took everything so seriously, was named Aaron and he was a wonderfully talented artist. 

The guy with the gray streak in his hair was Tom, a foreign exchange student from Scotland.  His friendly dark eyes, pale skin, dark hair, even with the gray streak, which she found out was natural, like a birthmark or some such thing, was quite handsome. 

 Shawna was a Turkish girl whose family moved to the United States back in the 90‘s. It was after the first Iraqi war when a lot of the Turkish people became refugees. Caleb was a shy, husky boy who liked video games to the point of obsession. 

 Their table was full of people who were different than the normal high school hierarchy. They were also vastly different than her friends at the cottage, but she still felt these people could become good friends, too.

   The sabbatical from the harassment didn’t last long though. When third period ended and she had to make her way to the lunchroom, it was like hell descended upon her. As soon as she was spotted, the harassment started. The shoving, pinching, tripping resumed full force and she felt like a ping-pong ball.  Thankful she brought her lunch and didn’t have to make it through the foray with a tray of food. She eventually wound her way to Jody.

Sadly, this behavior wasn’t anything new for her as she had endured similar in past schools. The only difference was that there seemed to be more of them and the spirit was a tad meaner. Crowd mentality seemed to intensify.

  Because of her past experience with bullies, she didn’t really react, which she hoped disappointed them. She didn’t run off crying or begging them to stop. She just blanked out and soon they got tired, wandered off unsatisfied.

When she found Jody, Kim was sitting next to her. She set her lunch bag down noting that Jody looked petrified and Kim seemed angry. She sat down where she laid her bag and began fishing out her sandwich, pretending none of what just transpired mattered.  Kim and Jody stared at her loose jawed.

“I’d be crying by now,” Jody commented, propping her head up with her elbow on the table.

“I wouldn’t come back to school,” Kim added.

Chloe really didn’t have a clue what they were talking about so she shrugged and took another bite of her sandwich. Before she could finish swallowing she noticed Jody’s eyes get round and Kim jump up with clinched fists next to her. That was when she felt ice-cold liquid pour down her head, dripping on the table.

“Oh my God, did I do that?” Chloe didn’t have to turn around to know it was Britney. Who wouldn’t recognize the shrilly tone that girl employed.

“Oh yes, Erkel, you did,” Kim said and took her glass of juice and threw it at Britney. Britney then launched after Kim and a brawl commenced. 

Chloe pulled Kim off of Britney when a teacher grabbed them and hauled them to the Vice Principal’s office.

  In all her illustrious years of high school she had never been sent to the office. Typically teachers would rather forget about her, and since she was a master at disappearing, that was easy for them to do.

  They both were covered in dripping food when they entered the official office. The Vice Principal gestured for them to take the seats located in front of their desk.

 “Hello Kim, nice to see you again.” 

Shocked, Chloe whispered to Kim, “But it’s only the second day of school.” Kim winked at her.

   When the Vice Principal slammed his hand down on the desk Chloe flinched so hard that she fell from her chair. She was shaking when Kim lifted her up and whispered, “Are you okay?” 

But Chloe couldn’t answer, she was suddenly very afraid.

   The Vice Principal looked at her queerly and had the good grace to look a little ashamed. It didn’t stop her shaking uncontrollably.

“What were you two fighting about?” The bald-headed short man barked. Chloe and Kim exchanged confused looks. 

 It was Kim who explained, “We weren’t fighting each other.”

“Oh I see, you guys were merely discussing the weather covered in food,” He sneered. 

Chloe looked disbelieving at him and tried to clarify, “Sir, I think you have it all wrong, we weren’t fighting EACH OTHER.”  She talked slowly, so he could understand it but it only pissed him off worse.

“I don’t have time for this, I’m calling your parents to pick you up.” He pushed a button on his phone.

“Good luck with that,” she and Kim said simultaneously. They looked at each other with amused expressions.

“What did you say?!” the Vice Principle yelled.

Chloe scooted further down in her chair. This guy reminded her too much of her father.

“I said good luck getting in touch with my parents,” Kim said defiantly. 

More confident, Chloe added, “I don’t even know where mine are. You’ll have to call my aunt.” 

Kim added, “Ditto that, except you‘ll have to call my brother, but he’s at work and won’t be able to get off.” 

Chloe spared a sad glance at Kim then turned to the Vice Principal, “My aunt probably could take us both home as we live near each other.” At least she assumed Kim lived nearby since she worked in her community and rode the same bus. The man nodded his shiny head just as the front-desk administrative assistant walked in to escort them out of the office and into the main hallway into chairs as if they were on display. Chloe imagined it was a mid-evil tactic to shame them for their poor behavior, but all it did was piss her off more. 

After a few moments the administrative assistant came out to explain Chloe’s aunt would be arriving within thirty minutes. Kim was right, her brother couldn’t get off and her mother couldn’t be found.

They waited the thirty minutes in the hallway leaving a puddle of juice and food underneath them. The only thing she felt was guilt. The guilt of inconveniencing her aunt on a workday was making her stomach hurt. She hated being any kind of imposition to anyone, especially over a misunderstanding, but she especially hated being an imposition to her aunt who had done nothing but be supportive and loving. 

When she saw her aunt, she bolted up and practically ran into her arms but they both stopped at arms length, her aunt looked at her disbelievingly.

“Oh my dear, tell me what happened?!” Her aunt said while flicking a piece of jello off Chloe’s shoulder with her manicured index finger. 

Chloe quickly divested the burdensome tale to her aunt who shook her head and muttered, “Typical.” Without another word, she stomped off to speak with the Vice Principal.

   Chloe and Kim exchanged looks and resumed their seat of shame. After what felt like forever but was probably more like ten minutes, the Vice Principal came out of his office looking like he had been to hell followed by her aunt who was crisp and triumphant, carrying a smug expression. 

Aunt gestured for them to follow her to the little sports car where she placed beach towels on the soft cream leather seats for them to sit. 

A distance from the school, Aunt explained, “He was going to give you two In School Suspension but I convinced him that wouldn’t be a smart choice,” aunt gripped the steering wheel tightly as she continued to explain, “The jerk didn’t believe that Britney had anything to do with it. She evidently has a golden reputation and her father was responsible for donating their new stadium to be built this summer.” Aunt spared a quick knowing glance at Chloe, “That, my dear, makes her very dangerous.” 

  Chloe knew Britney was dangerous purely because the girl was used to getting her way, and she wouldn’t quit until she did. But to have that type of money pouring into the school was beyond Chloe’s comprehension. It was a whole another level of danger.

The sad thing is that Chloe was sure Britney’s parents thought their daughter’s tenaciousness was great, but when you add an overindulged child on that, all you create was a monster. Her parents are going to have their hands full when Britney finds out the real world doesn’t work like high school. At least those thoughts gave Chloe comfort.

   As they drove on the open highway, Chloe glanced in the back seat to see Kim watching the traffic out the window. For once she did have something positive come out of school. It felt good to have a friend like Kim who was willing to get in trouble to defend her. And although Jody is practically scared of her shadow, she didn’t shun her from sitting with Chloe or talking to her. That meant a lot. In the past the few friends she made would fall off once the harassment started. The fact these two girls didn’t gave her hope that things were going to get easier.

   Aunt dropped Kim off in a hidden trailer community near her cottage. The singlewide looked like it had seen better years as they watched Kim climb its steps and disappear inside. Chloe was beginning to understand her better. It was obvious that they shared similar struggles.

It was barely a mile before the gates to the community came in sight. Aunt pulled into the driveway and they made their way inside.

It was too early for Edwin to be at home so she went to her room and showered. Afterward, she pretreated her laundry and walked back to the living room to do some homework. She called Jody hoping she would get her homework for the last few classes of the day. 

“I thought you guys got kicked out of school when you didn’t come back” Jody said.

“Nothing like that, all we got was a day off,” she explained finding Jody’s drama amusing.

“I’m glad you can laugh about it, I have been feeling sorry for myself thinking I lost the only two people who would talk to me.”

“Don’t worry. I’ll be back, unfortunately.”

“I’ve got to run, I’ll call you later with the homework assignments.”

“Thanks Jody, I owe you.”

Chloe settled deeper into the couch reading an assigned book for her AP English lit class when Edwin walked in. He glanced at his watch and stated the obvious, “You’re early.” 

She smiled at him mischievously and said “Yep, they sent me home early for fighting.” She wished she had her cell phone handy to take a picture for his expression was priceless. 

 Patting the seat next to her, she began to tell him how it was really Kim that was defending her that got into the fight. She thought he would be amused but instead Edwin looked so very worried. 

“This Britney sounds like a b***h but what’s worse is that she sounds like she has a lot of support behind her. I don’t understand why the school lets her behave this way.”

“Like everything else in the world, school is a business. Without money it would cease to exist or it would exist very poorly. Therefore they tolerate these kids, who are usually brats, in order to save their bottom line. Unfortunately it’s often at the expense of the other children who just want to get an education.”

   He looked at her and smiled, “Have I ever told you that the way you think is really neat? Most people would just say, ‘I don’t know why Britney gets away with what she does, I guess they’re idiots.’” He said that last part with a very convincing American accent. It shocked her, he sounded different. 

 She c****d her head, “Wow, you are really good at that American accent, if I tried to sound British I’m sure you’d be rolling on the ground laughing at me.”

He looked uncomfortable and then said, “well…uhh….when you live somewhere long enough you begin to figure out how to sound like them.” He shrugged and changed the subject. “Tonight our friends are coming over.”

“Oh, I miss them!!” She could forget about school for a few hours at least. He smiled at her, reached over and kissed her lips tenderly, “I know you do.” 

  Right before the sun dipped into the ocean, Edwin went ahead to start the fire while she finished up her homework. The fire blazed brightly bringing a smile to her face when she arrived. It had been too long.

She rushed down the steps her toes sinking into the soft sand when she noticed two silhouettes arguing quite forcefully. She stopped to listen.

“You have to stop this Edwin, It’s only going to cause hurt! You’re going to mess everything up and I’m afraid you won’t survive!”

“Leave it alone Christoph, it’s none of your business,” Edwin’s voice was calm but strained.

“Hell it is, I love her, too, we all do, and we don’t want to see anyone hurt. You’re playing a dangerous game with someone I don’t want to see damaged anymore than she already is.”

Chloe gasped when Edwin grabbed Christoph’s shirt.

“It’s her decision, and you’ll leave it at that.”

“You aren’t the only one involved you know.”

In a deadly voice that she had never heard Edwin use before, “You keep your distance Christoph, we’ve talked about this.”

“You don’t own her Edwin.”

Sandra saw her and hollered “Boys, chill out your play acting, Chloe’s going to get the wrong impression.” Both of them relaxed their combative stance and stepped away. If that were play acting she would hate to see the real thing. 

Stepping toward the fire she debated on asking what the “play acting” was about but she was too exhausted to deal with any more drama. She would try to remember to ask tomorrow. Right now she just wanted to enjoy the night with her friends.

   Edwin was tense all night, but he put on a show of being unaffected. Her stomach hurt but that, too, she ignored. When the music was turned on she was so thankful for a diversion that she nearly cried.

 Even with the music playing and them dancing, Edwin was still tense, and he was being very possessive and protective. She wished she was brave enough to ask what was bothering him, but as usual she was scared.

It got worse afterword. Edwin didn’t spend the night for the first time in a very long time making some excuse about having to meet his father to discuss the trip. 

She didn’t sleep, fearful he was avoiding her. He was hiding something and she didn’t know if she could handle it.