The Chloenicles #1 [COMPLETE]

Chapter 1: Where to begin...?

Well... I guess it all started the day after I decided to take college and my education seriously.
For the like.. hundredth time.
This semester.
But this time I really meant it.
Okay... I really meant it the 99 times before but this time but I set an alarm for 7 a.m. the next day to get up in time for class so I have proof that this was the real deal. But when it went off the next day I did not feel like getting up....?
I don't know why that was...? So I hit snooze and surprise, surprise, I overslept.
And there I was, lying in bed debating wether or not I should hurry and get ready and run to class in 15 minutes or if I should just stay in bed and start my quest of better behavior tomorrow.
I did not really feel like going to class without any make-up on. There was no way I could have squeezed putting my face on in. Normally I would not have cared but today I felt tired and cranky and it was raining outside und my confidence couldn't take a make-up free day.
Also, any stupid comment about how tired I looked could have put the commenter in serious danger from my part.
By staying in bed I was doing the world a favor in so so many ways.
So.... I stayed in bed.
After another great 4 hours of sleep I had also missed any other class that I had that day.
The perfect time to get up if you ask me. Also, I was hungry.
My roommate Max was hard at work when I entered our living room / kitchen space. Maybe I should tell you that playing video games was Max's job before your mind is going places it does not need to be. Don't ask me how he made a living doing that... Maybe he was testing them or something. He paid all his bills and spent most of his time in front of the TV screen with headphones on (with the great advantage that he wasn't talking to me or bothering me in another way) which made him the perfect roommate for me.
Today was no different.
He was sitting on our once blue, now grey couch, his light brown eyes were focused on the screen of our TV and the level of greasiness of his badly cut brown hair, that framed his round face, and the crumbs on is grey pajama suggested that he had been sitting like this for a while.
Just everything about him screamed anti-social nerd.
After I did the thing a couple of times where you open the fridge and hope that food will magically appear while the doors are closed I had to give up on that dream and find a distraction from my hunger.
I should interrupt Max's gaming.
He would be annoyed and yell at me a little or be excited and explain the game to me, either way, he would distract me from my growling stomach.
„Yo!", i yelled.
Surprisingly he didn't react to that.
Weird.
I tried his name. „MAX" , I screamed now, even louder.
Still no reaction.
Then I remembered that he got new super soundproof headphones the other day. He talked at me about them for like 300 hours the last time our fridge was empty. I could have danced in my underwear to live music by a mariachi band and he would not have noticed or cared. For a short moment I considered doing exactly that but where would I get a mariachi band at this time of day.
So I threw a shoe at him instead. That method proofed itself to be effective and he finally looked up, took off his headphones and made an undefined but not really friendly sounding noise. Hello to you too, man....
„Watchadoin?", I said.
„Gaming", he answered.
Wow, Captain Obvious save us all.
„Can I play?", I asked.
He seemed to think about it.
I could tell because of the painful expression on his face.
His thinking face.
He always looked like someone punched him in the stomach while he thought hard about something.
„Well...", he said after a while, „I suppose I could pause my game and try the multiplayer option with you"
„Cool! What's this game about?"
„There is this alien invasion....and you have to keep the American Government from killing them all."
„And how are we doing that?"
„Well, we press these buttons to write a strong E-Mail to our representative in congress... That's all we can do in the beginning."
He continued to explain a couple of more options and buttons and things that I forgot instantly but I had learned a long time ago that you at least have to pretend to listen to his instructions otherwise he would not let you play for weeks.

I have to admit that the plot of the game sounded a little boring but it turned out that it was a lot more difficult than expected.
After our mails were answered with an automatic reply for the fifth time I was so frustrated that I slammed the controller to the floor.
Max gasped and picked it up like a loving mom would her baby. „It's not its fault that you have gamer rage", he said while checking if it was still ok.
„Sorry", I said to the controller.
And with that the magical distracting-bubble popped and my stomach made a sound that would have made a lion jealous.
„Should I order pizza?", Max asked while still checking his baby.
„That's a great idea! I just need to go to the ATM first."
Yes, yes, I know. I could have done that hours ago and on my way back I could have also stopped by the supermarket and I could have bought food there.
Could have.
Should have.
Blah.
That's not how it works.
And you know it.
Don't pretend to be any different.
I looked out the window to check the weather. It had stopped raining and it was already dark out. That was good news because I could go in my pajamas now and people would think I was some kind of homeless person and avoid me. Whenever I wore pajamas during the day, people could see my face, which, with my pointy nose and the bags under my dark brown eyes, unfortunately made me look so much younger than I actually was. People tended to assume that I was sick or a child on heavy drugs or something and asked me if I needed help.
What was wrong with society.
The situation was not improved by the fact that I was not the tallest person and that my long, thick, black hair, that I never bothered to brush, made my already small face look even smaller and my skin look even paler than it actually was.
I would describe my looks as 13- year old heroin addict, who hasn't been introduced to jeans yet.
Speaking of my hair.... It was a little greasy. I decided to hide it under my „Bad Hair- Day" hat, took the blackest and baggiest jacket I could find, grabbed my bag and off I was to my epic money retrieval adventure.
And what can I tell you, it was epic.
But not in the good way.
When I arrived at the ATM I did the things you are supposed to do: insert card, pin etc. ... But my card was rejected.
Apparently there was no money left to get.
I was so shocked by this discovery that I just stared at the ATM for a good couple of minutes until a woman, who was waiting in line behind me, took all the courage she had and tapped me on the back.
Judging from the expression she had on her face she debated wether or not to reason with me or call the police immediately.
I knew I looked like I was not ready for society but I also thought that jail might be a little over the top.
Long story short, I didn't make a scene and rushed out of the bank, the relived look on the woman's face burnt into my brain.