A/n: Firewalk is the fictional band in Life is Strange but in real life, it's known as Pretty Vicious. Just so you guys know so there is no confusion.

At the sound of the school bell ringing, given the indication that morning tea was now over, the student occupancy at Blackwell made haste to leave school, and by doing so, the faculty ignored their exhilaration as all the students rushed out of their classes and flooded the halls. With that being said, Clark Price and Rachel Amber would have a difficult time regrouping and meeting outside of the front of the school - it would surely take a good half hour before it was easier for people to escape the main campus building without being trampled over.

By the time Clark was able to get out of the stampede of teenagers, he was fortunate to locate a particular brunette he was looking out for.

When Rachel spotted him, a smile broke on her face as she ushered him to follow her once he was able to pry himself out of the horde. Once he caught up with Rachel, the headed out towards the train tracks.

Beforehand, Clark made sure to message his mother so she knew of what he was up to so she didn't get scared.

To: MOM
Hi mom. I won't be home for a while - probably until tonight. I'm hanging out with a girl.

To: MOM
Now that I think about it, I probably shouldn't have brought it up with you.

To: MOM
Don't tell Chloe.

To: MOM
Love you XOXOXO

The railroad was dead silent excluding the chitter-chatter of insects and birds frolicking around the area. Neither said a word to each other until they reached the tracks which was when they heard a train travelling through.

"You sure you don't want to just walk, or...?" Clark asked, his voice trailing off as he felt unsure about doing what he thought they were going to do.

Rachel nudged him and ran after the train. "Nope. If we're gonna go rogue, we're doing it right. Come on! Let's go!"

Her laugh made butterflies act spontaneously in Clark's stomach as she ran up to an open carriage and jumped in. With Clark right behind her, he dove into the carriage and got up to his feet thanks to Rachel helping him up to his feet.

"Thanks," he said appreciatively and peeked outside the carriage in the direction the train was taking them.

For the first time in Clark's life, he was going somewhere he didn't know where he was going to end up. In spite of his disobedient tendencies, Clark did have a path set for himself.

"Pull up a chair, Price. The view's amazing," said Rachel as she looked back and forth between the view and Clark

They weren't the first two to hop aboard the train, judging by the graffiti on the inner walls of the carriage they were in that was decorated with words, symbols and other obscurities. Clark found a small, wide crate and kicked it near Rachel and sat down.

"Alright, Clark. You're on a train with Rachel freakin' Amber. Play it cool, don't act like a fool in front of her. Holy shit she's gorgeous. I wonder why she decided to hang out with me? Maybe I should make small talk. She's somebody I've never really talked to before. I should have loads of things to talk about! Why am I having trouble thinking of the simplest thing?" Clark reassured himself in his own thought.

As he was giving himself a pep talk, he nervously made eye contact with the green-eyed girl who flashed him a tiny smile before looking back out of the carriage at the trees that passed them. Unbeknownst to him, Rachel easily read Clark's body language and could see that he was having such a hard time trying to think of something to say.

Suddenly, Clark came out with something he didn't quite think through. "It's nice Rachel we're having."

His bizarre comment made Rachel chuckle lightly.

"What?"

"Weather! I-I meant weather. Shit..."

"It sure is."

He made her smile.

Clark made very minimal progress, but progress nonetheless. All he had to do was be more cool around her and less nervous.

"You don't have to be nervous. I don't bite. I mean, it's kind of weird that we're hanging out." Rachel stated nonchalantly.

"So what made you want to hang out with me?" Clark asked shyly.

Rachel shrugged her shoulders and broke eye contact briefly. "I don't know. You intrigue me."

"I intrigue you? Me, Clark Price intrigue Rachel freaking Amber, the most popular girl at Blackwell? How...?"

"Well..." Her voice trailed off until she brought herself back with something better to talk about. "I bet you're wondering what we're doing?"

"The thought occurred, yeah. But you didn't answer my question."

"You seem cool, I guess. I dunno. You're a bit of a mystery to me, Clark Price. Anyway, I wanted some company for the trip."

Blankly, Clark stared at her completely dumbfounded.

"That's it?"

"That's it."

"I'm not convinced. I'm gonna need more than that."

"Joy rides with me aren't fun?" Rachel countered.

Rachel feigned a cross expression that made Clark flinch at how vexed she appeared. Not only did his fear toy with his rational thought, but also her acting was on par that it didn't occur to him she was just messing with him.

"I never said that. But it's just the 'where' I'm concerned about, not 'whom.' "

"Life needs a little mystery, Clark. I got an idea. Let's do something fun. Two truths and a lie."

Where Rachel slipped off her crate onto the cold steel floor, Clark joined her. He had his legs crossed because he was so eager to play the game with her.

"I'll start," declared Rachel. "First, I'm ambidextrous. Second, I was born in New York, the land of fashion and Broadway, to which I will one day will return when my heinous exile here in Arcadia Bay comes to an end."

"I wonder what it's like in New York." Clark pondered aloud.

Clark chose his words carefully because if he asked her for her view on New York, it would defeat the purpose of Two truths and one lie. Therefore he pondered out of curiosity. He also knew that his sister would love to escape Arcadia Bay, but he wasn't quite so keen on bringing her along with him, as much as he cared about her deep down.

His comment made Rachel squint her eyes at him. While she too wasn't truly a traveller herself, it surprised her that even he had his whole life revolving around the Bay.

"Not a world traveller?" She asked curiously.

Clark shook his head.

"If you could travel anywhere, where would you go? Russia, Greece... Kathmandu?"

"Kathmandu?"

"One day, I'm going to climb Everest."

"That's ambitious. And here I thought getting out of Arcadia Bay was that. So what's your third thing?"

Rachel looked at him sceptically. "My third thing?"

"Y'know, you say three things and I gotta-"

"Oh, right. Yeah. I'm a Leo. Meow."

The three statements Rachel laid out on the table made Clark ponder long and hard about which one of the three was the lie.

Although he never really noticed her write in class, he couldn't determine her as ambidextrous. Then again, how could he possibly tell if her Zodiac sign was a Leo?

It took some thinking about the third option on whether she was truly from New York or not, but it was quite the challenge.

"Hmm. I'm gonna go with New York."

"Not bad, Price. Long Beach, in fact. West coast is the best coast." Rachel said proudly.

Clark frowned and dropped his shoulders. "I've only ever lived in Oregon with my mom and my sister. We... I got nothing to compare it to."

"Then we'll just have to change that one day, won't we?"

" 'We?' "

"Yeah, we. Wouldn't you like to just... get away? I know I would. It'd be the adventure of a lifetime. Think about it. We could go wherever we want, whenever we want and do whatever without anybody telling us otherwise."

"That actually... sound pretty nice."

"Right? Anyway, it's your turn."

Given that Clark needed to think carefully on what he was to say and decide whether it was going to be classified as a truth or a lie. He didn't know how skilled she was at reading people so Clark decided to test just how good she was.

"One, when I was a kid, I would dress up like a pirate just like my sister and our best friend. Because of that, I want to become an actor and perform across the globe." Clark began, forking out his truth.

"And where is this best friend of yours?"

Clark frowned. "Gone. Moved up to Seattle."

"Oh. I'm sorry."

Now, it was time for a lie.

"Anyway... two, I have a fear of the dark because of some past trauma when I had a big fight with my sister."

Rachel couldn't hold back a snort in disbelief that somebody of his age - their age - was afraid of the dark, but she didn't judge him heavily for it, she just took the mickey out of him. Her laughter was something he found comfort in, but for some reason he didn't see it as playful laughter. Fortunately he didn't say anything else he would have ruined the progress he was making in befriending Rachel Amber.

"So what's your last one?" Rachel asked impatiently.

"I have a stuffed animal in my room called Mushroom."

This time, Rachel burst out laughing in a way Clark could be fine with. But for some reason, he never told anybody about it, but it seemed easier with Rachel. It was like he actually trusted somebody he properly met that day.

She repositioned herself so that she had one leg hanging out of the carriage and the other across to her left knee. Rachel was so invested that she took Clark's hand. He said nothing but allowed her to take his hand and touch and observe it. The feeling of her touching his hand made him tense very slightly but also very curious as to what she was doing. He could see she was trying to read him but he wasn't quite sure just how she was able to simply by looking at his palm.

"You're hella mysterious, Clark Price."

"Uh, 'hella?' Who says that?"

"It's a Cali thing."

"Oh. Cool. Hella cool."

Rachel giggled. "It's a start. You gotta say it more naturally - don't force it out. Just act chill when you say it, not like you're trying to impress anyone. Then again, if there's one person you ought to impress, it's me."

"Easier said than done."

For what felt like an eternity was just two minutes that passed by in reality. Clark was disappointed that she couldn't physically touch him longer but he enjoyed the brief physical contact nonetheless. That was when Rachel claimed she believed she understood him; somebody she barely knew.

"I'm not sure why you would have a stuffed animal for a sixteen year-old," she began.

"What can I say? I'm a complex guy, Rachel."

"But I think it's probably because it's a gift from someone you hold - or held - dearly to your heart. You must have lost them when you were young, so you treasure Mushroom..."

Rachel still couldn't help herself but snickered at the name that she secretly found quite adorable.

"Sorry. Where on earth did you think calling a stuffed animal 'mushroom' was a good idea?"

"I kinda like mushrooms."

"Fair enough. That's the truth."

"Not bad."

Rachel paused for a moment and stared deeply into Clark's eyes, solely to gain another look at his soul before she came forward with her second allegation.

"Of course you wanted to be a pirate. Sail the open seas, plunder secret treasure..."

"Buckle swash! Did I mention my love for booty?" Clark growled, imitating a pirate.

Once again, he made her laugh and it brought not only she, but also him joy.

"So, an actor? Obviously true. As for the reason why you have a light on when you sleep, you look like the type of guy who goes out and throw eggs and toilet paper at people's houses after some late night drinking with the Irishman."

"Three for three. You're pretty good there, Rach." Clark complimented.

The brunette raised an eyebrow at the nickname he thought of for her. At first he was sceptical about saying it out loud, but having the courage to do so for somebody he barely knew somehow was justified in his mind.

"That's a new one. And we barely even know each other, but now I feel like I've known you forever."

"Gotta think up of a better way to remember you than through those pretty green eyes of yours." Clark flirted boldly.

"You think my eyes are pretty?" Rachel asked without making it sound genuine.

"W-Well, yeah. Is... that a problem?"

"No. No problem at all." Before she could get lost in his eyes, she cleared her throat and smiled casually. "So if my math is correct, you told me two truths and one lie."

As Rachel said this, she and Clark hung their legs outside the carriage as they started to reach the location Rachel intended for them to get to.

"And you played extraordinarily. Far better than I could have thought." Clark appraised.

Coyly, Rachel combed some hair behind her left ear so it didn't obscure the visibility of her earring.

"A lifetime of studying the human condition." Rachel sang with pride.

"Is that so? I'm impressed. Pray tell."

Rachel's mood became sour minimally, but she was able to refrain from being a sour-puss because she didn't want to scare Clark off.

"When your dad is the District Attorney, I guess lying is... something you're used to. Hey. Thanks for trusting me."

"I'm sorry?"

"You played the game. And not every adult would admit to having a stuffed animal called Mushroom."

Clark sighed, fighting back a grin. "You're not going to let that go, are you?"

"No way! Where's the fun in that? I'm just glad you felt comfortable opening up a bit to me. It just means a lot."

"Yeah, well... it takes a lot to trust somebody. I haven't quite had such a good life myself. Not since I hit fourteen."

Rachel tilted her head and stared at him closely.

"Why's that?"

It was a very tough subject to talk about, but Clark knew that it would help him if he told somebody about it. He was actually glad he could find the courage to tell Rachel, of all people. There were a select amount of those who didn't know, who were privileged in knowing the reason behind his sadness; and those who did know shared no sincerity in their consolidation.

"Because... well... I lost my dad in a car accident. He went to pick up my mom from the grocery store but he got t-boned by a semi crossing a red."

"Shit. I'm sorry to hear that." Rachel consoled.

The topic made Clark weepy as he found himself experiencing a bit of runny nose. He sniffled and bowed his head where tears threatened to fall. To console him, Rachel took his hand into hers and interlocked their fingers together. This time, it wasn't to read him for simple pleasure, but rather to let him know that he was no longer alone.

He had Rachel now.

Reaching into his pocket, Clark produced his phone and offered Rachel to listen with him. She agreed almost immediately and put the earbud into her ear and listened to the indie rock playing through the phone.

They listened through the entire song until Clark put his phone away after the song was over when he noticed something of interest by pointing this out to Rachel.

"Hey, where'd you snag the cool bracelet?"

Rachel raised an eyebrow and glanced at her wrist. "I've had it, I guess, since I was a kid in Long Beach. It reminds me that there's more to experience out there than just Arcadia Bay. Maybe one day I'll go back to Long Beach or... anywhere but here. Maybe sooner than later. Don't be surprised, Clark, if one day, I'm just out of here."

"Can I join you?"

"Sure." Rachel chuckled heartily. "You'd actually make great company. It's just that sometimes I feel like I've got no reason to stay here. But I'm always glad to have a friend come along."

"O-Oh, so... we're friends now?"

"Yeah. Why, don't you want to be?"

"Of course I do! Absolutely. I'm just surprised, is all. I'm glad to be your friend, Rach."

As they started to ride up towards a national park, Rachel pointed it out to Clark before informing him that they needed to disembark the train by jumping off at her behest. Clark shrugged his shoulders and jumped off the carriage, missing his footing as he rolled on the dirt while Rachel smiled to herself and jumped off, landing on her feet before she helped Clark up and escorted him to the park.