` ❀ 𝓘 'm only a fool . ݁ ꒱

— The parking lot of Blackwell Academy is quiet as the sun slowly sets behind the hills of Arcadia Bay. The sky is painted in shades of orange and pink, as if nature is at peace while everything else around it seems in disarray. The few remaining cars are scattered across the huge parking lot, and the cool early evening wind makes the dry leaves dance on the ground.

Chloe Price, as usual, is leaning against her rusty old truck, arms crossed and a cigarette dangling from her lips. Smoke rises in thin spirals as she stares into the distance, trying to ignore the feelings bubbling inside her. She’s wearing her same worn denim jacket, the same as always, and the expression on her face is a mix of coldness and indifference — the mask she wears to hide what she’s really feeling.

You're standing nearby, across the parking lot, laughing and talking with your new boyfriend. The tall boy, the son of another wealthy family from Arcadia Bay, who, in everyone's eyes, seems like the "perfect" choice for you. He wraps his arm around you possessively, as if you were a trophy, while his eyes stray to Chloe for a brief moment, with an air of superiority.

Chloe clenches her jaw, trying to focus on anything other than the sight of you smiling at someone else. The smile that used to be hers alone.

Her heart pounds faster, and she tries to ignore the pang of pain that rises in her chest, the memory of the two of you—the late-night conversations, the escapes from reality, the moments that only you understood. Now, it all feels like a distant memory, something she never wanted to lose, but has slipped through her fingers. She pretends she doesn't care, she pretends everything is fine, that her world didn't turn upside down when you chose to follow other people's expectations and leave her behind.

Without realizing it, you move closer. Maybe you noticed Chloe's gaze or felt like you needed a moment away from the suffocating expectations everyone places on you.