Liberosis

Off The Rails

Getting to know Chloe Price's inner world on the way to the overview was certainly something. Rachel was impressed by how raw Chloe really was and how much Rachel was flirting with her, complimenting her looks at every chance given. Rachel also opened about wanting to leave Arcadia Bay when she started talking about her signature bracelet, which she had since she was a kid in Long Beach.

By playing "Two Truths And A Lie", an improvisation game that helped her get to know people she was acting with, she learned that Chloe's mom was dating an asshole who thinks Chloe is a problem. Chloe herself believed that and Rachel made it her mission to show her she wasn't a problem, just a person.

She also acknowledged how close they were getting, not only emotionally, but physically. They'd started being sat a meter from each other, slowly ended up bumping shoulders, laughing, and sharing Chloe's headphones. Life was good.

But when they jumped off the train and arrived at their destination, Rachel didn't expect to be so frustrated at a broken viewfinder that'd swallowed her only quarter. She was hitting it repeatedly with no outcome. While trying to sleep last night, she'd planned their day: the game on the train tracks, and then her and Chloe spying on people to hopefully catch her dad meeting with the anonymous person.

Unlike her, Chloe looked for solutions, just wanting to make her happy again, which made Rachel feel better already. Chloe fixed the issue with a Prescott plate and her nail file. Rachel praised her for it, obviously, and realized how much of a dork Chloe was when she yelled "Prescott power, active" after forcing the coin out of the machine.

She'd put the coin in a working viewfinder and let Chloe have the control of it, the two making fun of everyone they saw until Rachel finally spotted her dad... kissing a woman that wasn't her mom as Chloe commented on how much they were going at it. As Rachel's world turned upside down.

Not knowing how to process this, her eyes just had to stop watching. Rachel turned away and stepped back. How could dad be cheating on mom? They seemed so put together and her father could be a lot of things, but he'd always been loyal.

When Rachel used to play with other kids and she made them cry because she won fairly, he would stick by her side and tell the other kids' parents that they were the ones to blame for not knowing how to lose. How can this be real?

"Hey, are you alright?"

"What are we doing?" Rachel snapped.

Chloe frowned. "Excuse me?"

"Last I checked, you were supposed to be Chloe Price. Yet we've been ditching now for hours and we haven't even gotten wasted yet. That has to be against some ditching rule."

"Uh, hell yeah. If the honor student wants to show the school delinquent how to party? Be my guest."

"How gracious of you." Rachel walked away. Damn, Chloe was taking too much. Rachel turned around, put her arm on her lower back and guided her. There was a couple ahead of them having a picnic. "They have a bottle of wine," she pointed out. "Let's steal it."

"Uh, okay. Or we could try to find a liquor store instead?"

"No. You shouldn't bring alcohol to a public park if you're not willing to share it with everybody, right? And fuck it, I just wanna take something that's not mine." Just like my dad took my mom's heart and decided to break it.

So Chloe gave in to her anger. Rachel acted as if she'd fainted and the couple panicked on what to do as Chloe snatched the wine. They escaped successfully and then drank while walking on train tracks. The tension cut through the air and Rachel was glad that Chloe wasn't trying to speak to her for once. She wasn't sure how she'd react. Rachel was never great at controlling her feelings when it came to something personal.