Memories A Pricefield story

Chapter one

Max woke up with a pounding headache from dehydration. She blinked a couple of times to get use to the light, then reached over and picked up a glass of cold water with a couple ice cubes floating at the top. She sipped it until it slowly hoping the water would cure her dehydration and get rid of her headache. She noticed a plate of fresh cookies on her desk. They looked like the kind Joyce use to make whenever she came over to their house. The thought made her queasy so she didn't eat any.

She checked her phone and saw three notifications from Kate, and slide them open, lying back down on her bed as she read the messages.

[Kate 1:45 pm] Hey Max. You were asleep when I brought your water so I decided to do some tiding up. I'm sorry if I upset you or anything, but I promise I didn't snoop through your stuff. I just always thought that a clean house made a happy house yknow (: (well in this case dorm, haha)

[Kate 1:47 pm] I did notice a box labeled "childhood memories". I didn't look through it but I did notice that scrapbook you got in kindergarten. I didn't even know you still had it. I remember the day you got it, we were so young and innocent back then. And hopeful too. Maybe if you looked through it you'd feel better? Just a thought (:

[Kate 3:15 pm] I came over again to bring your homework and some cookies Joyce made. I did some of the math and science just so you'd get the hang of it, cause I know you don't really like those subjects. If you need anything just call or text me.

Max smiled softly and clicked her phone off. Kate was a literal walking angel. She felt so grateful to have her around through all of this. Victoria too, she even came around to check on her sometimes, and even apologized for being a grade A bitch, which Max of course accepted.

After a few hours of lying in darkness, not really wanting to get up, slowly got out of bed and walked over to her newly clean desk and got started on her homework. It wasn't as heavy as it was before, perhaps the teachers were taking it slow again because of the 'incident' as they liked to call it.

"We are all traumatized by this terrible incident," Principal Wells had said. Max could remember her rolling her eyes at that. All? Maybe like five! Everyone had been upset for 2 days and all got over it pretty quickly. Only Max and a couple of Chloe's friends from before seemed to care. Even Steph, a girl who went to school with them since elementary, but moved away to LA, had came to Chloe's memorial. But everyone else? They were too busy trying to get Nathan out of jail and back into Vortex Club, like the sheeps they were.

But whatever. Max just needed to get this stupid homework done.
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Max was surprised to see that she had finished all her homework from the past 5 days by 12:31 am and wasn't even a bit tired. If anything, she felt better. A tad bit peckish though. She walked over to her plate of cookies and brought them over to her desk to nibble on them while she read. She had found her copy of To Kill a Mockingbird and went to open it when she remembered Kate's text. She peered behind her and saw the small, raggedy blue scrapbook peeking out from inside the book.

"Maybe she's right," Max said to herself. "Maybe it will help." She picked up the book and opened it to the first page. A picture was glued on of two little girls standing in front of a kindergarten classroom smiling. The taller girl was smiling wider than the shorter one, who had a half smile and her eyes on the taller one. Max could hardly believe it was her and Chloe, so many years before. She couldn't believe she was really lo- wait? Was the picture rippling? No, no we are not doing this again! She went to slam the book shut but suddenly all the memories were coming back to her in full technicolour, and she couldn't control it this time.
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Max woke up that morning to her mother softly rubbing her back.