I lashed out at them, my old friends, so pissed at me that they'd decided to kill me for leaving them. Rachel pinned my hands and Kate held me still while Max got nearer and nearer with a knife. I jerked again. I didn't want death!

And then, I woke up.

Sweat beads were gathered across my forehead, and Chloe was upright, snuggling me closer to her, my head on her stomach.

"It's okay, Daerilia. What's wrong, what happened?" She soothed, patting my back gently.

"Nightmare," I choked out. Tears were combining with sweat, causing a sticky, salty moisture all across my face.

"Do you... Want to talk about it?" She asked. "You were grabbing me in a total fucking death grip there."

"Yes..." I said thankfully. "And I'm sorry."

She winked. "Don't worry."

I hoped she didn't see me blush in the dark.

"So?" She urged. "Tell me about it."

"Well," I started. "My old friends... They... Were really mad at me for leaving... Even though they knew I couldn't help it."

"That's a little messed up," Chloe said, rubbing comforting circles around my hand, which at some point she'd taken ahold of.

"Yeah." I coughed a little, another tear rolling down my cheek. "Not to mention that the older ones were holding me while the littlest neared me with a knife..."

"Oh my god, Daerilia." She said. "I'm so, so sorry."

"Thank you, for the comfort..." I said softly. "I-I'm gonna t-try to go back to s-sleep, now."

"Okay." She said, not making any move to release me at all.

"Uh, Chloe?" I asked. "Can I go back to sleep?"

"Oh! Sorry. I had forgot I was holding you." She said. "Sorry."

I laughed a little. "It's okay, Che."

I rolled over and twisted back into a sleeping position. Chloe was still awful close to me, maybe she'd already passed out again? I turned my head to check, and her eyes were stone closed.

"G'night, Che..." I mumbled.

I could of sworn I heard Max's voice say, "Night, D."

-The next morning-

I grumbled, waking up. I felt stirring next to me, instantly thought about Max. Then I remembered where I was, and remembered it was Chloe I had shared a bed with.

I'd only known her for a day, and I was already sharing a bed with her in a sleepover. No, that's not exaggerating. I felt like I knew her already, like we were already so close.

Maybe that's because her and Rachel seemed to have a lot in common, and I was best friends with her. They probably would've gotten along great.

The stirring stopped as Chloe twisted her head up to look at me. She reached up and brushed a piece of wavy brown hair away from my eyes, and I noticed a joint in her ashtray. There was a beer bottle sitting right next to it. She pushed another strand behind my ear.

"Morning, beautiful." She said.

I blushed heavily, feeling like I was one of those anime girls with wide eyes and a sweat bead stuck on her forehead.

"You're drunk, Che. And high." I took another glance at the ashtray and bottle.

"But I'm not high on drugs," she said, hiccuping. "I'm high on-" she hiccuped again. "-you."

"Chloe, you just met me, silly." I pushed her hand off my shoulder.

"But I already feel like we know each other so well." She said. "Like I'd trust you with my life, or something."

"And you suck at flirting," I laughed at this, and she did too, the hangover finally disappearing.

"We gotta do something," Chloe said. "Like, hardcore today."

"And what would that be?" I asked, curious as to what my illegal new best friend did for fun.

"We should break into the Blackwell pool! C'mon, it'll be fun!" She yelled, jumping up and turning on the Hi-Fi.

Piano Fire by Sparklehorse blasted into the wide, odd shaped room. I only knew the name because I looked at the case of the disc, but Chloe didn't seem to mind. She grabbed the joint off her ashtray and lit it, stepping up on her bed and twisting and swaying to the beat. The smoke patterns it made- whether they were illegal or not- were beautiful. Like, I wanted to draw this scene really bad. If only I had brought the sketchbook Rachel had sent me from the orphanage, I could.

She swayed to the beat more, caught in the moment. I watched in awe- I couldn't dance worth shit, and she wasn't even trying.

"You just gonna stand there?" She yelled over the music, laughing. "Shake that bony white ass! Get up here and dance!"

I chuckled a bit more, then watched her face. Her expression was serious. She really wanted me to join in on the dancing.

She looked at me with puppy dog eyes until I finally gave in and held out my hand. She pulled me up onto the bed, and I tried my best to match her swaying movements, but still failed miserably.

She laughed at me, and took both my hands in hers.

We started dancing together, if you wanted to call it that. She swayed and twisted me around, spun me, dipped me, the works, until we were both out of breath and laughing our asses off.

She mumbled something underneath her breath as we sat down on the edge of the bed that sounded something like, 'never danced with anybody that good before,'

I was breathing really heavily. I hadn't told her I had asthma yet, so I just took it chill for a couple minutes.

"What's wrong?" She asked me.

"Asthma," I said softly.

"I'm sorry!" She said. "In my defense, you were having a shitload of fun, and you know it."

"I was," I laughed the two words, inaudible. "I was."

"I was, too." Chloe admitted as she put the joint back in her ashtray. "I haven't had that much fun since five years ago."

"How?" I asked.

"My best friend left Arcadia Bay five years ago, because her family was moving. She didn't want to, but it still makes me pissed at her." She growled the last words, leading over a little more. "You're better then her already, though. She wasn't exciting."

I chuckled, looking at Chloe's tattoo. "Rachel was pretty exciting." I said. "Heavy crushed on me, too."

"This Rachel girl liked you?" Chloe said, laughing. "That's not surprising, I guess."

We looked up at each other at the same time, catching each other's gaze. Neither of us wanted to break it- like it was some sort of bond that would destroy the world if it was broke.

I was actually the one to break it, surprisingly. As much as I was enjoying staring into a patchwork of sparkling oceanic stars.

"Are we going to break into that pool or not?" I asked.

"Tonight, Dae." She chuckled. "When it actually counts as breaking in."

I laughed at this. "Oh! Right. So what do we do while we're waiting?"

"I don't know." Chloe admitted, shrugging. "What do you want to do?"

"I think we should start with breakfast," I said, my stomach roaring.

"Alright! Let's head to Two Whales. Mom's a waitress there, and she'll give us free food!" She said cheerfully, grabbing some clothes from her closet and quickly changing into them.

"Alright." I agreed.

I couldn't help but stare as she changed out of her shirt- the muscles that ran down her back and the wiry ones that buffed out her arms.

I twisted around, finally, not really wanting to stare at her.

"I saw those eyes." She laughed over her shoulder.

"Shut up!" I said playfully.

"Mhmm.." She hummed, then began to sing. "These eyes,"

Her voice was beautiful even though she wasn't trying. It rang throughout my ears, instantly making me more alert, happier, a smile plastered on my face.

And then I sang back, with my horrible voice, "have seen a lot of love,"

She turned to look at me, just after I had said that she'd finished dressing.

"Daerilia, was that you!?" She asked, awe in her eyes. "And I thought I was good at singing!"

"That wasn't me, if it was good." I said. "I suck at singing."

"Nah, that was amazeballs!" She yelled. "Sing a song for me!"

"Chloe, you had the angel voice, you sing a song for me!" I yelled in protest.

"How about this," she said. "After Two Whales, that's how we'll waste time! Singing songs. Is that okay?"

"I suppose so, Price." I said, throwing her truck keys at her.

She caught them flawlessly. "That's right."

And we walked out to her truck, ready to start our Two Whales adventure.