I am Chloe

Chapter Five

I finally posted a chapter 2 pages long! 2, 2.5 pages is my limit or else I'm afraid people might lose interest. How many pages do you think I should have?

By the way, sorry for the cliffhanger, you guys are going to hate me for this. :)

**********

I read the title out loud:

Chloe update.

I took a risk and clicked on it, it had information about some sort of bacteria. E. Coli.

Turned out the title was E.Coli Update

I laughed out loud at my stupidity, why did I jump to unrealistic assumptions so quickly?

I let out a loud huff of relief, and opened the new browser to begin the never ending search on the Eucalyptus tree.

*

I got out of the apartment with my black purse in hand, my black stockings hugged my legs and thighs perfectly underneath my black short shorts that had bits of neon patterns over them. My upper body was covered with a black wool and leather hoodie, I ended my outfit with some leather black knee high boots. I was not usually a person who usually wore black all the time, in fact, I rarely wore black. But I just did.

I left the building with a rush of cold wind greeting me, I shivered in my place and practically sprinted to the arcade inside the ground floor of an old building a couple of blocks away.

The arcade was called Mania Zone, it was one of the regular hangouts between teenagers, it was the 'it' place. It was pretty dark with a couple of dim neon lights; I liked it because of the games there. My favorite was Space Ball, basically you have to guide a ball through space in a certain direction and eliminate all the obstacles that keep pulling it in different directions. The top score was 1400, my top score was 1250! I was determined to beat that high score sooner or later.

I got out my wallet and inserted fifty cents into the slot; the familiar joystick comfortable beneath my palm.

I can do this...

I pressed the white button for 'Start Game'. Here we go...

The ball rolled forward into space, soon an asteroid started heading in its direction, I pointed my joystick in its direction and pressed the red button for 'Fire'. A bomb destroyed the asteroid, leaving the ball safe and unharmed.

With time, the number of asteroids increased, the hard part was trying to shoot all of them. My hand started to sweat, I couldn't lose now, I looked at my score, 1320.

I sensed some people behind me.

"Dude, she's totally gonna beat you!" I heard someone say.

Focus, Chloe... I imagined myself as a real life Space Ball, I let my mind be the player, eliminating all the factors around me.

"Oh man, she owned you!" I heard the guy say, I peeked at my score, 1410.

I grinned at myself, I kept on playing till my hand slipped and my ball was out of control. My final score?

1445.

I heard some applauds behind me: four guys, three of them were applauding while one of them kept staring at me in jealousy. I bet that was JSFDWQ, the guy with the highest score.

"Sorry," I told him.

"Whatever," he said, turning around to leave me.

I smiled to myself and walked around the arcade, my mission here was done.

I saw some kids from my school, the idiots included, I lifted my hoodie up hoping they wouldn't recognize my light brown short hair.

"Hey," I heard someone say.

It was a guy, I think his name was Hunter. He was one of the seniors at the high school nearby, he usually hanged out at the arcade so almost everyone knew him.

"Hi," I replied.

"Congrats, I saw you back there."

"Thanks," I said.

"Wanna play air hockey? The game's on me" he offered, I started to like this Hunter guy.

"Sure, thank you."

"Chloe, right?" he asked me, boy was he tall.

"Yeah, how did you know?" I asked him, obviously looking surprised.

"People talk you know," he said, as he inserted two quarters into the slot.

"Oh? What do they say?" I knew just exactly who 'they' were.

"Not much," he answered.

The surface of the air hockey machine started to become frictionless, I grabbed the hockey puck and the pusher, starting the game.

"Define not much?" I asked.

"Well they told me about today," Hunter said, not making eye contact with me.

I remained silent.

"And that you hit third base with a senior," he added, avoiding eye contact again.

I couldn't move my hand, and the puck slid past it into the slot. One point for hunter.

"Erm, that never really happened," I said in defense.

Hunter shrugged as I passed him the puck. " Well, I just said what I'd heard from them, you know?"

"And you're friends with them?" 

"Do I even know you?" he retorted, "Forget it, it's probably all true," he left the air hockey machine running with me at the other end.

Great, my first attempt at making a friend was a big fail. 

I pushed the puck inside the hole on my side six times till the machine turned off, I guess Hunter won. 

I left the arcade, drops of rain hit my head, it was as if they hit me for my stupidity and my naiveness, and they hit me hard.

*

I found Dad slouched in the couch, it was nearly ten o'clock not to mention on a school night. I walked in soaked from the rain, my hair was dripping wet even though I had my hoodie up all the time.

"The rain's pretty strong." I told Dad while unzipping my jacket to reveal a long sleeved black and gray shirt underneath.

Dad just kept on reading the newspaper in his hand. 

"I won the highest score on a game today," I said, hoping for a reaction.

 But no, it was as if I was talking to a brick wall, better yet, a mute Dr. Chloe.

 In my head, this is how the conversation went between me and my father:

"The rain's pretty strong,"

"Yeah, can you believe it?"

"I won the highest score on a game today,"

"That's excellent! I'm so proud of you Chloe!"

 But of course, that was all in my head.

I wondered what my mother would've told me.

 Now my mother was a whole different story.