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The first thing Red noticed was that Chloe was drinking coffee at two in the morning.
The second thing she noticed was that this was the fourth day in a row that Chloe had stayed up late studying. “Chloe,” she said gently, trying not to startle her. She tended to get jumpy when she was overly caffeinated.
There was no response. Red leaned over the back of the couch and looked down at her girlfriend. Chloe was surrounded by books, loose papers, highlighted notes, and enough flashcards for her mom to make an entire army. “Chloe,” she tried again, poking her in the shoulder.
This time, she looked up. “Hm?” she hummed, dark circles under her eyes accentuated by the angle.
“You’ve been studying all night.”
“I know, but-”
“And yesterday.”
“I have to-”
“And the night before that!”
Chloe flashed her a tired smile and tilted her head. “I have a test. I have to study, and the only time I have to study is now. I mean, I have class all day, and then I have fencing practice, and then I have to eat and call my mom, or she’ll lose her mind.”
Red folded her arms and sighed. She could sympathize with overbearing mothers, especially since they changed the timeline and the Queen of Hearts was suddenly nice, but it was no excuse for all of this. “Go to bed,” she ordered, grabbing the flashcard Chloe was holding and putting it in her pocket.
“Red! I need that!”
“No, you don’t. What you need is sleep.”
“I can’t,” she said, turning to a notebook instead. “If I go to sleep now, I’ll forget everything.”
Red frowned, glancing at the scribbles in her notebook. Chloe’s usually pristine handwriting was getting messier the more days she went without rest. “Chlo, you’re barely keeping your eyes open.”
“I’m fine.”
“You just highlighted the same sentence three times,” she pointed out, gesturing to the page.
“I have to keep going,” Chloe insisted, picking up her pencil again. Red watched her for another moment before sighing and walking away.
Chloe was sitting at her desk when Red woke up. There was a textbook open in front of her, and her head was resting against her palm, occasionally dipping down.
“Morning,” Red said, rubbing sleep from her eyes. Chloe didn’t respond, which woke Red up immediately. “Chloe?”
“Sorry,” she said, blinking rapidly. “What?”
“You okay? You look exhausted.”
“I didn’t sleep much,” Chloe admitted, turning the page of her textbook. Red could see diagrams drawn on the pages, but they didn’t make any sense to her.
“Again?”
She nodded. “I have to finish this.”
“You’ve been saying that for days, Chlo. You need to take a break.”
“I can’t!”
“Why?”
Chloe glanced between Red and the open textbook on her desk. “Because if I stop, I’m going to fall asleep.”
Red frowned. “Then sleep. You need it.”
Chloe opened her mouth to answer, but she never got the chance. Her pencil slipped from her fingers as her expression shifted into something completely unreadable. Her body stiffened, and she slipped out of the chair and onto the hard, wooden floor beneath them.
“Chloe!” Red gasped, rushing to her side. She pushed the chair out of the way and knelt beside her, hands hovering as she tried to decide what to do. “I’m here. You’re okay.”
She tried desperately to remember everything she’d been taught in her health class. The only problem was she hadn’t actually gone to it most days, instead opting to loiter around the hallways with Max or get an early lunch. All she could remember was to clear away any objects, which she’d already done when she pushed the chair away.
Thankfully, Chloe’s thrashing calmed down quickly. Red stayed by her side the whole time, softly repeating soothing phrases until it stopped completely. “Chloe?” she asked gently, brushing her hair out of her eyes.
“Red? What happened?”
“I…I think you had a seizure.”
Chloe looked around the room confusedly, as if she were looking around for a flashing light or something else that could have triggered it. When she found nothing, she squeezed her eyes shut tightly, rubbing at her temples. “I…”
“Don’t try to do anything, just…stay there,” Red ordered, standing only to retrieve a glass of water to give to Chloe. “You scared me, Chlo.”
Chloe opened her eyes, looking somewhere over Red’s shoulder rather than at her. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to. I just…I need to do well, Red. I have to.”
“Oh, Chloe,” Red said softly, gently brushing hair away from her face as she thought about her next words. She’d never been the best at comforting people- probably something she picked up from her mom- but that didn’t mean she wouldn’t try. “All of this ‘perfect princess’ stuff? It’s a lot! I didn’t get it before, but I get it now. But the good thing is, we don’t always have to live up to everyone’s expectations. I mean, I tried to live up to my mom’s expectations of me, and you saw where that got us. Sometimes it’s not about being ‘right’ or ‘perfect’. Maybe it’s just about doing what works for you. And all of this stressing out and staying up all night because you’re too scared to be anything but flawless? That’s not what’s best for you. The test can wait. If it really means that much to you, we can ask Fairy Godmother if you can make it up another day. Right now, you need to get checked out by a nurse and then rest.”
“But-”
“No buts! One test isn’t more important than you.”
Chloe didn’t answer. Red reached out, carefully taking her hand and squeezing it comfortingly. “You don’t have to prove anything to anyone. Everyone already knows you’re a genius anyway, good test results or otherwise.”
Chloe looked down at their hands for a moment before squeezing back. “I was scared I’d forget everything, and I’d be this big failure.”
“You might forget a few things, but that’s okay. Do you think I’m a failure because I’ve made mistakes?”
“No!” Chloe gasped, her eyes widening in fear, as if afraid Red would turn on her.
“Then why can’t you?”
“I…I just can’t.”
“You can,” Red said, holding out her pinky. “I promise.”
Chloe looked her up and down before extending her own pinky.
They sat in silence, Red unwilling to move from Chloe’s side. After a while, Chloe’s breathing evened out, and she drifted off to sleep for the first time in days, unafraid of tests or expectations.