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Chapter 1 - The Day After
Victoria woke up that morning unlike how she usually did. Her skin felt dry. Her eyes were heavy. Her hair was untidy. There were footsteps echoing throughout the hallway. For others this might’ve been normal, expected even but not for Victoria. There’s a price to pay for perfection and often the price is her whole evening and a stupidly early wake up time every day. She had a skincare routine that was 25 steps long and always woke up refreshed and ready for the day. Something was awry, her body had felt like eyes had been all over it the whole night and she could faintly remember the sound of a camera clicking. She felt a shiver roll down her already cold spine when she noticed the door of her room half open. Despite how gross she felt, she still had to uphold her dignity and take a shower. She quickly got up out of bed and got her shower supplies and clothing. Slowly opening her door she stepped out with her shower slippers, those dormitory showers were nasty, especially to someone as clean as Victoria.
The morning light poured in through the windows of the dorm hall and Victoria noticed the door opposite from hers slightly ajar. Max’s door slightly ajar. Strange, Victoria thought to herself, she had seen that door every morning, she had never seen it open like that, Max was surprisingly private for someone so nosy. The open door was almost like an invitation, the way that Victoria could see Max’s bed and photo wall, the most vulnerable parts of Max’s room. Victoria walked across the hall and knocked against the door frame before leaning her head into the dorm.
“Maxine?” Victoria cooed with the same snarky, sarcastic tone she always used with the other girl. Max was already awake, sat at her desk writing something in that dumb journal she always had on her. Yet, Max still jumped out of seat at the sound of Victoria’s voice.
“Victoria?!” Max’s journal snapped shut and her head jerked around to look at the blonde.
“It’s surprising you’re up so early, usually the whole hall can hear you snoring at this time.” Victoria smirked, walking further into Max’s room. “What are you even doing in that journal of yours?”
Victoria leaned against Max’s desk stroking the cover of the brunette’s journal. Max stared up at Victoria, hands clenched tight in her lap and lips pursed.
“What a feisty look you’re giving me, this thing must be important to you.” Victoria scoffed, “You know it’s fitting some hipster trash like you would keep a journal.” Victoria’s finger teased the cover of the journal up. Max’s eyes grew dark, yet she still didn’t speak, her glare still fixed on the girl above her.
“Well, it’s no fun if you stay silent, Maxine!” Victoria implored Max to answer but no verbal reply came, just Max’s hand slamming down on the journal. “Well, I guess the more time I spend dilly-dallying here, the less time I get in the shower.” Without anymore conversation Victoria hoisted herself off the desk and left into the hallway, leaving Max alone in the cramped room.
In the shower Victoria washed off all of her morning regrets. It made sense to her that she would feel disgusting that morning, especially after what happened the day before. She felt sorrow for letting Nathan get that bad. She knew it wasn’t her fault nor was it her responsibility to ‘fix’ him but there was a guilt ripping her heart slowly apart. Her best friend would be locked up for who knows how long, and she couldn’t help but think it was her fault. She had already seen his behaviour changing lately and now Chloe, oh god, Chloe. Victoria gagged while under the warm water. Chloe was dead. Victoria could’ve done something, if only, if only...
Victoria was snapped out of her trance by the sound of the shower room door clicking open. Victoria turned off the water and got ready for the day. Tossing the curtain out of the way and emerging from the shower, Victoria checked her hair in the mirror. She mussed her hair around for a while before getting it to a way that she liked. In her sluggishness to fix her hair, the other person in the room already finished washing. The shower curtain on the far end of the room pulled open and Max Caulfield stepped out, clothes clinging to her body, hair soaked and pushed back, like she hadn’t fully dried herself. Victoria’s heart almost skipped a beat at the sight, but she simply shook her head at the thought. Though, she knew the image of Max dripping wet would live in her head forever.
“Hm? Did you not bring a towel or are you just too poor to afford one, Maxine?” Victoria remarked.
“Max. Never Maxine.” The other girl corrected. Max inched closer to Victoria, coming up right behind her. Victoria froze up seeing the dark look remained in Max’s eyes from earlier that morning.
“Sure, sure, whatever. Get away from me, loser.” With that Victoria slipped out of the shower room, slightly sweaty. She didn’t know whether the sweat was from the humidity of the showers, or if it was from the interaction with the other girl.
What is wrong with me today? Victoria pondered sitting in the courtyard with Courtney and Taylor, who seemed to be entertaining each other, so Victoria paid no mind to the two. She held her head with one hand and her posture slumped, deep in thought.
“Hellooo? Earth to Victoria!” Taylor waved her hand in Victoria’s face.
“Come on, sit up, Vic. Bad posture is bad press.” Courtney placed a hand on Victoria’s back to correct her posture. “The Vortex Club doesn’t need to lose all dignity just because of what happened yesterday.” Victoria’s brows slightly furrowed. Where did they get the audacity to correct and interrupt her?
“I need you both to shut up and stop talking to me.” The two other girls obliged but looked at Victoria, wide-eyed. “I have a headache.” Victoria continued, not addressing the other two girls’ stares. The other two kept talking to each other until classes called for them.
Moving into the photography classroom, Victoria placed her things down at her usual desk. Victoria heard a camera shutter from outside, but when she whipped her head over to look at the window, nothing was there. Max walked into the classroom a few minutes later, lousy old camera in hand. Victoria’s eyes followed Max as she took her seat. Max met Victoria’s gaze, face going slightly pink and eyes lidded. Victoria could feel her own face heating up. Before Victoria could linger on the fact that Max Caulfield of all people was becoming attractive to her, their new teacher walked in.
“Hello class! My name is Ms. Gardner. As you may know, your previous teacher, Mark Jefferson, was arrested last night. I will be taking over for him for the rest of the year.” The woman spoke, each girl in the class at least mildly perturbed at the mention of Mr. Jefferson’s name. “I was informed there is an upcoming photography contest! I will be receiving any submissions.” The rest of the class was a blur. It was clear the new teacher was having a hard time settling in.
Victoria rushed to her dorm. She honestly just wanted the day to be over. Although, Mr. Jefferson had never done anything to her, she still felt gross just thinking about everything, especially about Kate. Flopping down face first on her bed and closing her eyes, Victoria was just so done. She hadn’t felt this horrible since her birthday, when her parents didn’t even call to wish her a happy 18th, just deposited some cash into her account. The thought of her birthday made her wince. Why does she have to put up with this? Why couldn’t she have the perfect little life she pretended to? Why couldn’t she do good at anything? It wasn’t fair. Nothing was. She envied those like Max, perfect photos, perfect parents, perfect face... Shit! What was she even thinking. She couldn’t find Max attractive, but she did. Her mind kept wandering to Max’s body, Max’s voice, her eyes, everything about her.