He got defensive real quick, but his words didn't match up. He turned his whole body to face me. "What!" His eyebrows were raised so high with energy I thought they might just jump off his head.
"Don't deny it." I said in response.
His eyes widened, I thought he was going to attack me. Suddenly Chloe burst out the door, a giddy look on her face. She practically skipped over to us. She stood in front of the bench and spoke in an excited sort of whisper. "Isaac did it!"
Me and Cole exchanged a glance. I spoke. "What?" He probably couldn't do much as a decontaminated body, then again I guess he could these days.
"I'm on council!" She shrieked, practically jumping out of her boots. I couldn't help but feel a little jealous.
I never thought Max would let her on, she was restricted! This was completely unheard of, there had to be an undertone.
"Yay!" Cole said matching her energy. Everything he did made me cringe.
Chloe noticed my displeasure. "God what is it?" She groaned.
I shook my head and gave a less enthused "Yay...!"
"Bitch." Chloe murmured under her breathe, kicking the dirt.
What? I couldn't believe she would just say that to me, like I wasn't standing right there. I sprung up off the bench and got in her face. "Excuse me?!"
Chloe took a step back, fear in her eyes as if she had not said what she just said to me. "What?"
I glanced at Cole as I spoke. "You think I wouldn't hear that?"
"Uhhh.." Chloe laughed a little bit. "Hear what?"
Seriously? She was really just gonna stand there and completely deny her disrespect. Sure I was being a little petty to her but we were best friends, I guess.
I pushed her shoulder and started to storm off towards my tent. I was hoping to find Lucas, he wouldn't want Chloe on council and I could end this.
Chloe looked down at Cole sitting on the bench and cupped her face in her hands. "Did you hear anything?"
Cole looked dumbfounded. "No?"
To this day I still don't know what happened then, but I do know that I heard her call me a bitch under her breathe, no matter how many times anyone will call me crazy.
Chloe smiled at Cole and extended her hand to pull him up from the bench. "Now that I'm a.." she cleared her throat and put on a sort of cocky fake voice, "council member. I suppose we should go attend to duties of the public."
Cole laughed and stood up. "What does that even mean??"
"Maybe I'm some sort of hall monitor." Chloe said with a tone of mockery.
"Camp monitor." He corrected. "And I don't think that's the point of all this."
She squinted back at him. "So what, let's go be idiots."
They both wandered around camp for a while, occasionally I'd peak out, see them being happy. I had everything, but all I could do was get mad. Maybe she was right to say that to me, even if she wouldn't admit it, even if it never even happened. I'm not crazy.
"See that." Chloe pointed at a group of guys hanging around the edge of the fence. "Bunch of hooligans." She snickered.
Cole tilted his head, it was just a group of guys. "I know them, they aren't trouble."
There was 4 guys standing around, to everyone else they weren't a problem, but Chloe wanted to antagonize someone.
"Hey!" She started to walk towards the group who gave her a strange look. Cole followed behind her.
They were a strange bunch, looked like a friend group from a cartoon. A tall blonde with rosy cheeks, another blonde but he was rather short with shoulder length hair, a ginger, and a darker skinned guy with glasses. They all looked a little strange standing next to each other.
The darker man spoke up. "Hey, your that one that nobody wants here right?" He didn't say this in a rude way, but Chloe wasn't having it.
She stood at-least 5 feet from the men. "I'll have you know I'm on council."
The ginger laughed, but ruder than the other man. "Yeah right."
Chloe threw her hands up in anger. "Go ask Max yourself!"
Cole shimmied up beside her. "Did you just approach them to brag about your promotion or do we have anything important to do bothering my friends?"
Chloe spun around. "Friends?"
Cole nodded. "Landon, Nik, Matt, and Tigre."
Chloe shook her head observing the group. "I'm on council just thought I'd let people know."
"So." Scoffed Matt. Chloe tried her best to stay calm, she hated that stupid ginger already. Maybe she was being annoying but he was so unnecessary.
Chloe stormed off, she just wanted some sort of validation, it was stupid but she was proud. Limited to council, even I have to say I was a little impressed.
She went all the way back to the bench where she started. Maybe she'd just bask in her glory alone.
The man from earlier ran up, the one with rosy cheeks. He was silent earlier, cole said his name was Landon. Chloe thought he was nice looking.
"Hey." He murmured.
Chloe smiled, maybe someone would listen to her nonsensical bragging. "Heyyy."
He sat down next to her on the bench. "Congrats, I heard about the pigs. Kinda crazy you're on council now."
"The pigs?" She looked confused for a second, she had almost forgotten. "Oh, yeah." Her smile faded.
He looked concerned and rushed to fix it. "Wait no I'm not judging you or anything."
Chloe squinted and gave him a sort of sarcastic side smile. "Thanks." She stood up. "I'm gonna go talk to Max, about.... things."
Landon watched her walk away, he was utterly confused. The museum doors slammed behind her and he almost flinched.
Chloe walked around the empty museum, she could sleep here now, no more chores, high class. It felt good, she knew I didn't like her anymore. And it felt good to her that she had more power than me now, she'd never show it.
She put her arms out and spun around on the empty hardwood floors, bookcases surrounding the room. She looked over and a closet was slightly open, it was the only part of the circular room not covered in books.
Chloe made her way towards it, pulling it open, a closet packed full of bleach. She stepped back a little feeling uneasy, her head started to spin. She remembered what Isaac said, what Max said. Something was wrong.
The floor boards creaked and she quickly turned around. Max stood above her with the same smug look as always.
He towered over her. "So are you ready to know why councils so special?"
