Life is Hell

Chapter Ten - Skipping Chloe

"Lunch with Nathan Prescott, how did I deserve this honor?" I asked Nathan as we were walking towards the cafeteria. "Have to keep the mask up, did you forget?" He replied and I have to say, I was a little sad about that. I was sad about it. Maybe this Prescott kid had something about himself that made me want to know him more. "So, do I have to pay for my own lunch?" I asked him, trying to hide my disappointment. "Wouldn't be a really good date if you did, would it?" He asked. "And easy yes or no would have been enough" I told him and sat down a the table, while he went to get us some food.

"Clare Price" Rachel said and sat down at my table. "What's up Rachel Amber?" I asked. It was kind of our thing to call each other by our first and last name. "Have you seen your sister today?" She asked and I shook my head no "Have you?" I asked her in return. "No, it's like she skipped again" Rachel said. "She knows that she can't skip anymore. She will be expelled if she keeps this behavior up" I said. "Maybe this is what she wants" Rachel said and I guessed she was right. All Chloe cared about was getting out of town with Rachel, she didn't care about Blackwell anymore.

"I'd say junkyard after lunch" I said, ready to skip the last period. "Do you really want to get expelled?" Rachel asked. "Not from skipping two days and one period. Chloe is the one the teachers know for skipping, not me. I need to talk to her, maybe get some sense into her" I said as Nathan came back with our food. "Thank you" I said, taking mine and putting it down in front of me. "Look at you, being all normal and stuff" Rachel said. I guess she didn't have anything to do without rehearsal or Chloe here. "Thanks" I smiled at her, before looking at Nathan. "Rachel, you know Nathan Prescott?" I asked. "Yeah, he's in my drama class. We were in the play together" Rachel said. "Yeah, the play. I would like to erase that memory from my brain" He said and started eating.

"Well, I'm going to leave the lovely couple alone then. Don't do anything I wouldn't do" She said and got up. "Yeah? And what would that be? You're open for anything" I replied. "Guess you haven't figured me out yet, Clare Price" She said and walked off. "Rachel Amber is even more dramatic than I thought" Nathan replied. "She's pretty cool. She seems to have her shit together" I said, although I knew that she didn't. I knew that something was still on her mind. The events of Saturday night at her house during dinner. If that isn't a reason to stop eating again, I don't know what is. But then Frank would hunt me down and shove the food down my throat, not going to risk that.

I ate about half my lunch until I pushed the plate back. I was full and there was no way I could eat more. "Done already?" Nathan asked, eating his last bites. "Yeah, I'm sorry our date got cut short, but my sister needs me" I said. "I get it, I understand you completely. I would do everything for my sister" He said and I gave him a small smile and kissed his cheek, before rushing off the school's premises.

It took me a while to get to the junkyard, also known as American Rust Junkyard. I walked onto the property and started looking for Chloe. "Chloe" I yelled, walking around the dirt piles, finding her lying on a old boat. "What are you doing here?" I asked and climbed up, then sat down beside her. "Looking where you are. You skipped school again" I said and she groaned. "I expected that speech from mom or dickhead, but not from you" She said and I rolled my eyes. "Because I couldn't care less about what happens with you, but now I do. Now I actually care and I don't want you to do something you might regret in the future"

"Funny coming from you" She said and I rolled my eyes. "I didn't even know why I keep trying" I said, trying a new strategy. "What the hell do you want from me now?" She asked upset. "You not to throw your life away! I did that, I have been on the edge about a million times, but I refused to jump and do you want to know why? Because I didn't think you could handle mom without me there! I thought that my death will kill you too! I'm done with all that shit now! I'm done okay!" I said and jumped up, climbed off that ship and walked away.

Three... Two... One...

"Clare wait!" Chloe yelled and I stopped walking. I turned around to see that she was walking towards me. "What happened between us?" She asked. "What the hell are you talking about?" I asked her, actually getting upset. "We grew apart, okay, but I thought we got closer again because of Friday. What is happening now?" She asked. It actually hurt me to see her like this. "I'm done being Chloe Price's sister. I'm done answering questions about you and why you are the way you are! Who am I to fucking know that!?" I asked and looked up at her. She was a few inches taller than me, while I was the average 5'5" tall.

"Clare, I thought we are in this together" She said. "I thought so too, but apparently we're not. If we would be in this together, you would have shown up at school! You wouldn't take everything I do for granted, but you do! You take everything for granted Chloe and you don't even care or appreciate it!" I yelled and our fight got actually real. It was supposed to be a mind trick to get her to talk, but shit seriously got real.

"That's- that's not true" She said, looking down. "It is Chloe! I risked everything for you and Rachel that day, yet only Rachel really showed me some appreciation about it! Rachel was the one that kept talking to me and didn't skip again. Rachel is the one that proved how thankful she is about what I did. Don't you know what I risked?" I asked her, close to tears. "I risked my freedom, my scholarship! God damn Chloe, I'm risking my scholarship right now to talk some sense into you! And do you know what, Principal Wells could have sent me to some therapy centrum for a few months. You could have lost me that day Chloe, but you don't seem to care. You just don't" I said and walked off.

I pulled my phone out of my pocket and called Frank "Can you please pick me up? I'm at American Rust" I said.