Chapter 8

Chloe’s POV

The morning started with a false sense of security. After last night's dinner, I actually felt like Maya and I were on the same team. I walked into school, wearing a sweater that didn't smell like a thrift store, feeling like I could handle another day of being invisible.

But the second I stepped through the double glass doors. I heard whispers, and I could tell something was off. 

The whispers weren't just quiet gossiping, they were horrific and loud. As I walked down the hallway, I passed a group of cheerleaders near the trophy case, girls I used to lead, and saw them together, but they didn't glance at me with putting eyes. They were too busy with their conversation.

"Did you hear?" a girl from the cheerleading team was telling her friends as I passed. "Jaxon told everyone last night. He’s officially single. He said Chloe turned into some kind of 'disturbed' robot. I'm pretty sure he’s already looking for a new girl."

"Finally," another girl whispered. "I thought she’d actually trap him into being her Prom King. Looks like the queen finally lost her crown."

My heart dropped. Single? Disturbed robot? The Queen lost her crown? 

No way Maya would do this, I whispered. Maya had looked me in the eye on the porch and told me they were "better than normal." She had looked at me and lied while she destroyed my entire life.

She was living in my house, wearing my clothes, and burning my reputation to the ground while I was here, stuck in a body that people went out of their way to avoid.

I spotted her near the library. She was holding a stack of books, looking perfectly calm, beautiful and completely untouched, even after what she did.

I didn't think… I just moved. I marched up to her and grabbed her arm, dragging her back toward the lockers. I didn't care that everyone was watching.

"What the hell, Maya?" I asked. "You told me everything was fine! You told me you fixed it!"

Maya’s face went white, her eyes were darting around the crowded hallway. "Chloe, stop. People are looking..."

"I don't care who’s looking!" I screamed, the frustration finally boiling over. "Jaxon is telling the whole school he’s single! You stood and lied to my face!"

"I didn't lie," Maya whispered. I told him I wasn't ready to... to do what he wanted!” And he told me we needed space.

"You told me it was great!" I yelled. "I kept your life safe! I fixed things. And you ruined the only thing that mattered to me because you couldn't play a role for one afternoon?”

That's it, Maya snapped. He's just playing you around like he does to everyone else.

"At least someone finds me pretty enough to want to play!" I shot back.

The crowd gasped. The Maya they knew wasn't "pretty," and hearing her say it with such arrogance was like a glitch in the Matrix. But Maya wasn't backing down. She stepped closer.

"At least I'm not stupid enough to have a tattoo of Jaxon's name on my left butt cheek," Maya spat.

I felt the blood drain from my face as the hallway erupted in "Oohs."

"You bitch," I breathed.

Maya continued. "You know I loved him first. But you just swooped in when you found the opportunity. After everything, the bullying, the names, you still chose him."

"You had one thing, Maya! Just one thing to do and you fucked it up, just like your whole life!" I stepped into her space. "I kept your neighbor crush happy! I’m reading different books just to have something to talk about with him! I’m literally learning Japanese just so I don't look dumb to your family! I’m trying, Maya! What are you doing?"

Maya flinched, her low self esteem setting in. Then, it hardened into pure vitriol.

"I hate you, Chloe," she whispered, though it felt like a scream. "I just hate you. I'm done pretending."

"Good!" I yelled. "Because I just want my life back! Don't you get it? I'm tired of this whole shit!"

The crowd was frozen. "Why is Maya calling herself Chloe?" someone muttered. 

"They’re weird," another added, the social status of both bodies weighing by the second.

"Nakamura! Whitmore!"

The Vice Principal shoved through the crowd. "My office. Both of you. Now."

"Well? Who wants to explain why the 'quiet' girl started a physical altercation?" The VP asked.

I took a deep breath. "It was me," I said. "I started it. I dragged her, and I yelled. It wasn't her fault."

Maya’s head snapped up. She stared at me, her mouth slightly open. In all the years we’d known each other, she had never seen me take the fall for anything. She had never seen me feel so defenseless and sincere.

"I see," the VP muttered, scribbling something down. "Well, at least someone is owning up to their lack of character today. But that doesn't mean you'll get off the hook easily. Detention for the next one week, for you both.

“Thank you ma'am,” we said in unison.

The silence of the detention hall was unbearable, some few kids and a teacher I barely knew. We sat three desks apart, the clock on the wall ticking toward four o'clock. The Vice Principal had given us two hours of silence to "reflect on our public disturbance, and an appointment with the guidance and counsellor teacher tomorrow."

I looked over at Maya, she was quiet. I'm pretty sure she had never gotten detention before.

When the Vice Principal walked back in to check on us, she looked at me first. You all can go home, you continue your punishment tomorrow. 

I didn't say goodbye. I just walked toward the bus stop, leaving Maya standing there.