A.N. Quick note here (there will be one at the bottom too) there are spoilers to episode four in here, and this is taking place after the end of episode four in a different world (I haven't figured out how to explain this yet, so please just roll with it).

The rays of the sun burned at her face through the window of the bus. Max was eager to get off Blackwell campus to see Chloe, hoping that, unlike the other alternate world she had visited, Chloe would be fine. Along the beach, people were running along, sunbathing or eating; no beached whales, or dying animals to be seen.

Everything seemed… normal.

If Chloe was okay then maybe it all was. Max had avoided everyone on campus, making a beeline to the bus stop where she knew one had to pull up roughly when she arrived. She had impeccable timing when Max actually paid attention to the time.

The bus rolled slowly to a halt, allowing Max to step off just around the corner from Chloe's house. She considered the blue painted house more of a home than her actual home. It looked the same as always, and the noise of the television, or was it the stereo in Chloe's room, blaring was a sign that everything was normal in this alternate world.

Max rapped her knuckles against the wood of the door twice, hoping she was loud enough for Joyce or anyone to hear her. She nearly fell backwards when she saw who had answered the door.

"William?" The kind man smiled at her, the winkles around his eyes forming as his teeth showed.

"Max, it's been a while!" William moved to the side, allowing Max to step through the threshold and into the home. Everything did look the same, at least. There were photos of Max and Chloe, William and Joyce, Joyce and Chloe, and Chloe and William. Chloe had a similar haircut to Max's.

"Yeah, I- I know." Max stammered, nearly tripping on her own shoes as she walked through the tiny hallway to the living room. The mantra of 'Everything looks the same,' repeated over and over in Max's mind.

"Chloe, Max is here!" William shouted at the base of the staircase. The thumping of music was abruptly switched off, the sound of feet stomping down the stairs. Max felt a pair of arms wrap around her shoulders from behind her, making her nearly lose her balance.

"Max!" Chloe spun Max around, quickly holding her friend close once again. Max held on just as tightly now, her best friend was just like how she was before her dad died, happy and so Chloe again. The punk chick might have been a rebellious style she had adopted after her dad died, and she rocked it, but it wasn't the same full of life and positive girl Max knew her best friend really was.

"Wow, wait until classes tomorrow, I'll get to be seen hanging with the coolest chick at Blackwell again." Chloe held a loose grip on Max's fingers in one of her hands as they walked over to the couch. "Assuming that you won't be hanging with the Vortex Club again, right?"

"No fucking way am I going to hang out with them when I have you." Chloe smiled at her friend, and settled into the couch. The pair sat there for hours, talking and watching television, sitting in a comfortable silence that they seemed to have grown used to. Like, they didn't need words between them all of the time.

XXXX

"You got Jefferson up first?" Chloe asked as she started up her car. Max shivered a little at the mention of her teacher; then tried to remember exactly how she got out of the "Dark Room" after he had drugged her. She couldn't remember anything.

"Yeah," Max tried to keep her voice steady, struggling to keep her breakfast down at the thought of being in the same school as the psycho, much more in the very same room. Her thoughts wandered to what Chloe had said the day before, about her being considered 'cool'.

"Chloe, why would I hang out with the Vortex Club when I have you?"

"I dunno," Chloe mumbled, keeping her attention on the road. "You were the one who started partying with them after you met Victoria and Nathan."

"I'm friends with them?" Max whispered to herself, but she hadn't realised Chloe could hear her.

"Yeah." Chloe dragged the word out to emphasise the point. "You are dating Nathan, right?"

The car stopped as Max head clicked the pieces together.

"I'm what?"

A.N. I got this idea, yes, there are some spoilers! I just got curious with the pairing and thought that maybe there could be a world where things could go right for Max, and maybe have some of the meaner characters be a little nicer. Also, in later chapters I will theorise what I think happened at the end of episode four and what could happen in episode five. I hope you all like this because it seems a little different (says the girl writing a story about being in a different dimension about a game where the main character can time travel. Fuck, saying this is the different thing is strange).