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The world ended last Friday.
Max could remember it in perfect detail, if she wanted to.
But that was in her past, now.
She was trying to move on.
That was a very difficult part of her life.
She didn’t really want to remember it in too much detail.
So she didn’t.
Max found it surprisingly easy to go back to her classes after her world ended.
She was in her photography class, now.
Mr. Jefferson wasn’t the teacher, anymore.
But that was okay.
Mr. Jefferson creeped Max out, anyway.
And it meant Chloe could sit next to her, in class.
Mr. Jefferson never really liked Chloe, so they never ended up in the same photography classes.
He was always suspicious of her influence on his other students.
Jealous prick.
Max was never going to forget Chloe’s beaming smile as she casually strolled into class.
How she sat down by sitting on the desk’s writing surface.
And only after she realized she couldn’t spend the entire class like that, begrudgingly slid down.
How she made an exaggerated groan when she landed into the seat, and carefully looked back over to Max.
“You know I’m rockin’ it, don’t deny it.”
Chloe put her hands up by her chest, closed her eyes, and did a little dancing groove for a few seconds.
She was dancing to a song only she could hear.
It was pretty awkward to dance in one of these desks.
But that was okay.
Since it made Max smile.
Chloe was in a lot of Max’s classes, actually.
Max couldn’t quite remember the reason she wasn’t in her chemistry class, sooner.
She knew there had to be some reason, but if you gave her some kind of quiz about it now, nothing would come to mind.
Warren tried to set next to her, but that couldn’t do.
That’s where Chloe was going to sit, of course.
Warren smiled and laughed, and casually took a seat a row ahead.
He understood, of course.
He was one of the first people to know about Max’s relationship with Chloe.
Chloe made such a point of rubbing it in his face that Max kissed her before Max kissed him.
Max thought it might have gone over awkwardly, but Chloe and Warren were kind of kindred souls.
That’s the kind of teasing they both enjoyed.
They were both the kind of people that enjoyed life better when they could make other people smile, and improve the moods of everyone around them.
Chloe did it by her teasing and ‘tude.
Warren did it by being so full of bubbly energy and being so open with his interests.
So that no one else had to feel weird or judged for liking dumb anime movies, or nerdy video games.
Chloe sat down next to Max, and excitedly drummed at the surface of the desk.
“Let’s blow some shit up.”
It made Max smile.
Of course Chloe was in this class if only to help Max make all of her experiments explode.
Why else would she be in here?
Max chuckled to herself.
She could already think of all of the excuses Chloe was going to provide to the teacher as to why she had mixed things the way she did.
Why, very conveniently, hers was the only beaker that had managed to catch itself on fire.
Why, very conveniently, hers was the only beaker to produce that awful-looking smoke.
The kind of smoke that would probably shorten your life span a few years, at the least.
Warren would probably tell her the specific combination of chemicals Chloe used, later.
And would probably try to one-up Chloe to impress Max.
Since he liked seeing her grin and smile, as much as Chloe did.
Chloe noticed Max was spacing again, though.
She looked concerned.
There was a crease in her forehead that Max didn’t see too often.
She eventually calmed down from her drumming to look sideways at Max.
She rubbed at Max’s shoulder.
“Going to be alright, dude?”
Max nodded.
Of course she was going to be.
Chloe was here.
After class, Warren pulled her aside.
He wanted to know how she was doing.
Max could answer, honestly, that she never felt so good about going to class, now that Chloe was in it with her.
It’s what she’s always wanted.
Max couldn’t really read Warren’s expression, after that.
She was never very good at picking out the particulars of men’s facial gestures.
But he insisted, very forcefully, that she call him, if anything was wrong.
Max smiled.
That was sweet of him.
It felt nice to have people that cared about her.
This dress was too revealing.
Max didn’t really like it when her legs were exposed.
She wore jeans for a reason, damn it.
The air was still cold outside.
She didn’t want it to bite too severely at her exposed skin.
That’d just make things too miserable to enjoy this party, correctly.
And it was supposed to be an enjoyable party.
Both Max’s and Chloe’s family would be there.
So would a good chunk of the school.
Even Victoria was going to be there.
Victoria never attended parties that weren’t hosted by the Vortex Club.
It had to be a real rager to get all of those people involved.
Chloe just rolled her eyes when Max protested about her dress.
Chloe was in a suit and tie, ‘because she still had some dignity left in her, after all’.
That’s why Max’s dress had to be black, too.
So they would match.
“You’re fine, Max.”
Chloe hesitated.
Max could see the gears turning in her head as she attempted to work out what she wanted to say.
It was one of the endearing qualities of Chloe.
“Wait-no-scratch it. You’re looking better than fine. You’re lookin’ hot, guurl. Come git some.”
Chloe raised her hands up and made a beckoning motion with both of them.
Her grin was so wide.
Max giggled and collided with Chloe.
She carefully wrapped her arms around Chloe’s neck and placed dozens of little kisses along her cheek.
Chloe always knew what to say to make Max stop thinking about her own bullshit insecurities.
She always knew what to say to make Max stop worrying about things that didn’t really matter.
Chloe was always here for here for her, now.
Before the party was set to start, Max wanted to wander around a bit to take some photos.
This is what she liked to do, after all.
Chloe walked along right beside her.
Max suddenly stopped in her tracks and brought her camera up.
She tried to get the cute little squirrel just so in her view finder.
Max made a promise to herself she’d never use her powers again.
So she only had one chance, now, to get the shot just right.
There.
She took the shot.
The squirrel ran away, as they were wont to do.
Max carefully fished the photo out from her camera and shook it.
She still shot on instant film and her analog camera.
Victoria had offered to buy her a digital one.
That was kind of weird.
Victoria had never done anything nice for her.
But Max wanted to still shoot on analog.
She liked the feeling of these photos in her hands.
She liked watching the details of the picture slowly come into relief.
The fade in from the peaceful nothingness.
But Max frowned.
It wasn’t a very good shot.
The squirrel was too far away, really.
Max couldn’t get that close without a better camera or using her powers.
But that was okay.
Her photos weren’t going to see the light of day, anyway.
Max’s expression must have been pretty worrying to Chloe, since she tapped at Max’s shoulder.
But Max just put her camera down and offered her warmest smile to Chloe.
She could never be very frustrated or upset for very long when Chloe was around.
“You gotta stop blaming yourself for these things, Max.”
Max frowned at this.
Chloe had been repeating this a lot, lately.
It’s not like she was beating herself up that badly for these stupid photos.
“It’s fine, Chloe. I just need a better camera, some day.”
Chloe sighed and just shook her head.
Max continued to frown.
She could never figure out why Chloe was never satisfied with her response.
“Not for the photos.”
Max blinked.
Her expression fell.
“For what?”
Chloe groaned in a severe, exaggerated manner. She put her hands up behind her head and kicked at the ground.
There were some leaves.
They made good for kicking.
What else do you use leaves for, anyway.
“For everything, Max. You can only do so much. The world isn’t a perfect place.”
Max sniffled.
Chloe was confusing, sometimes.
And the more she repeated this, the more confusing it was.
“I don’t understand, Chloe …”
“Max?”
Max looked back.
She recognized that voice.
Victoria.
What was she doing all of the way out here?
This was pretty far away from where the party was going to start.
She must have been intentionally trying to find her.
Max carefully turned around and tried to make her expression warm.
Victoria’s tone was soft, and gentle.
She’d been doing that a lot with her voice, lately, and Max couldn’t really figure out why.
“Oh, hi, Victoria. What are you doing all of the way out here?”
Victoria sighed.
Her dress was as black as Max’s, only she had a cute veil on, too.
It looked a little morbid, but if Victoria wanted to pull off something Gothic, she’d probably knew just how to.
Victoria slowly uncrossed her arms and walked close to Max.
Max was a little concerned.
This wasn’t like Victoria at all.
“I could ask you the same thing, Max. We need you. We can’t start otherwise.”
Max frowned.
She’d only been gone a few minutes.
“I was just taking pictures of the wild life, with Chloe.”
Victoria flinched and closed her eyes.
“Give me your hands, please, Max.”
“Wha ---“
“Max.”
Max was more than a little concerned, now, but obeyed.
Victoria carefully grasped at Max’s hands and squeezed tightly.
“Max.”
Her voice came out halting, quiet, and miserable.
It almost made Max tear up just out of empathy.
“Where do you think we are?”
Max blinked.
“At the party, of course. Isn’t that right, Cuh-low ---”
She looked back to where Chloe was for some backup on this.
For some assurance that Victoria was just being fucking weird.
" --- e?"
The last syllable came out weak, and pathetic.
Chloe was gone.
“Max.”
Victoria breathed in sharply,
“We’re at Chloe’s funeral.”
Max felt the color drain out of her world.
She looked back to Victoria.
Victoria couldn’t meet her gaze.
They both ended up looking at the floor, somewhere.
Max kicked some leaves.
She tried to ignore the tears that were coming down, now.
But she couldn’t ignore Victoria moving in closer, wrapping an arm around her, and guiding her back to the event.
“It’s okay. We’re all here for you.”
Max sat down on the front row.
Warren sat next to her.
So did Victoria.
Neither of them allowed Max to move an inch without their hands on her shoulders.
Rubbing as vigorously as they could.
To ensure that she knew that they were there for her.
Warren looked so sharp in a proper, well-fitting suit.
Max couldn’t really make out the details of the event, now.
Her world was too blurry.
Just as well, she didn’t really want to make out any details.
She didn’t want to look at the casket.
Or all of the flowers.
Or the picture of Chloe.
Beaming, like she always did.
It was exactly a week ago that her world ended.
That her Chloe died.
Max didn’t want to think about it too much.
So she didn’t.
But sometimes, she had to.
And she never remembered crying so much as when she had to.