Chapter 1- The Beginning
It was summer in Beverly Hills and everyone in Hollywood Arts was excited for the next day, the first day of freedom, summer vacation. Everyone, that is, apart from a certain Jade West.
"Come on, Jade, it might be fun, you haven't seen your cousins in ages, it could be fun!" said Tori, in that annoying voice that always got to Jade.
"Yeah, right," Jade replied, with a sarcastic look on her face.
"This one time, when my parents took me out for dinner, my cousin babysat my brother. He ran out screaming literally as soon as we got home. We haven't seen him since" Cat said brightly.
"Why doesn't Jade want to see her cousins?" Andre asked
Jade sighed and began to tell him:
"Okay, let's see… It was around this time about ten years ago… so I was seven, maybe eight and my cousins from New York decided to visit before they moved to England coz of my uncle's job. I was pretty much the same as I am now, except I was ten years younger. I hadn't met these cousins before so…"
"Get to the point"
Jade glared at Rex: "Quiet, I'm telling a story. Anyway, Florence came in first. She's my age but that was all we had in common. She was blonde, wore pink dresses, carried dolls and I was…"
"Pale, wore dark clothing, carried scissors… Yeah I think we can imagine it…"
FLASHBACK Jades POV
Florence walked up to me with a sickly smile on her face, that I knew worked oh so well on adults and other children. Well, I was Jade; I wasn't 'other children' as my father had pointed out so much to me.
"Hey, you wanna play dolls?" She asked brightly. I immediately hated her.
I just looked at her, "No". She looked surprised; obviously thinking what went wrong in her little suck up act.
"Now, now Jade, play nicely" that sickly tone drifted over from Alison, who was wearing way to much make-up and clutching what she called a dog but I saw it as a rat. She looked fondly at Florence, as of course I knew she would. Florence seemed to her as the type of daughter (or step daughter) that she really wanted.
Then came my aunt and uncle, both dragging a four year old girl, who was strongly resisting, but strangely silent. They got her inside and she froze. She didn't look scared, just that she wanted to be alone. Unlike her sister, she wasn't wearing pink. She didn't have her sister's blonde hair, either. I got the feeling that if I had seen her before, I would never remember her. She just had that look about her. With brown hair and a fringe past her eyebrows, you could tell she didn't want be noticed.
She looked at all of us individually, eyes flickering for less than a second on Florence and slightly longer on me. Uncle Rob pushed her slightly forward, "This is Violet."
Andre was confused "I don't understand, why don't you want them around again?"
Jade glared at him. "If you'd stop interrupting me…"
FLASHBACK Jades POV
After awkward introductions, my father and stepmother led Uncle Rob and Aunt Tricia into the kitchen for some adult beverages. I left Florence and Violet by escaping to my room. We had two guestrooms in our house so I assumed that they were staying in there. I started cutting up some artificial flowers with my baby scissors. My school confiscated my good ones after I threatened the kid who gave me those flowers (Sinjin, I think he was called). I got bored and headed to the kitchen for a snack.
That's when I heard the whispering. It came from one of the guest rooms. I looked in and saw Florence glaring what seemed uncharacteristically at Violet, saying "I don't want you in my room. I am not a baby. Go sleep outside, I don't care, just keep…out…of…HERE!" and with that final word she pushed Violet, who fell over hard. Yet she looked up at Florence, her face expressionless. Florence laughed, "I prefer you more now that I made you stop talking…not much, but more."
Florence walked to the door, giving only just enough time for me to duck into the next room. She left looking like she hadn't a care in the world. I was right not to trust her, that two-faced thing that had to be my cousin. When she left, I walked into the room. "Why do you let her do that to you? If she thinks it's alright now, she'll spend the rest of her life doing it to you." I asked the small girl. Okay, I might have been a bit harsh, but I know that this Violet was stronger inside. She looked at me, her face still unreadable, and just shrugged before getting up, brushing herself down and making her way towards the door, dragging behind her a small, dark-purple suitcase.
"Where are you gonna go?" I asked. She looked at me and shrugged, and that's when I saw the first emotion in her; loneliness. I sighed, "You know, you can stay in my room if you want to?" Her face immediately brightened with a smile as she nodded vigorously. I smiled and held my hand out for the tiny kid to grab onto. "Come on, I'll show you."
"Thank you" Violet had said when we had her in my room. That was the only words she had said throughout the whole visit. I knew from then on that we'd be closer than we had initially thought.
Jade drove home as soon as the school was let out for summer. Now that she wasn't going out with Beck, she had no plans for a social summer among friends but, as she remembered her cousins would be arriving soon, she would probably just tag along, even if it meant being in the same room as Tori voluntarily.
"Jade, sweetheart, go tidy your room please. Our guests will be here soon." Jade was mentally sick at the voice of Alison as she went upstairs to her room and waited for the worst summer ever to arrive.
After thirty minutes or so of cutting up anything she could get her hands on that had no importance to her, the doorbell rang. Jade groaned before getting up and going downstairs to see what had become of her cousins.
Naturally, Florence came in first. She was, as Jade expected, dressed fashionably, and very pretty. For the first time ever, Jade thought that it was a good thing her and Beck broke up because she would have had a hard time hiding him from Florence. "Oh my god, Jade, you haven't changed a bit in the last ten years." She babbled enthusiastically.
"No, neither have you," said Jade before saying under her breath, "Unfortunately."
Alison and Mr West welcomed Florence and her parents into their house and led them in the main room. Jade was left in the hall as a fourteen year old girl came in dragging two suitcases. Violet, like Florence and Jade, hadn't changed much in ten years, either. Jade went forward and helped take one suitcase as Violet took the other. "Both yours?" Jade asked. Violet shook her head. "Still not talking, huh?" Violet gave a guilty smile and shrugged.
Then Florence disrupted the peace by coming in. "You can put my one in the room I stayed in last time, and no, you're not in there again." Florence called to Violet She saw Jade look at her in disgust. "Problem?" she asked Jade.
"Uh…yeah. Why should she have to carry your suitcase upstairs to your room? Last I heard, slaves were abolished in 1865." Jade snapped.
"Then maybe you can help her," Florence shot back at Jade before turning and leaving before Jade had a chance to retaliate.
Jade stared at the door Florence had just walked in through before turning to Violet in disbelief, catching sight of the amusing face Violet had pulled at Florence's retreating back.
"I guess you want to stay in my room again," Jade sighed. Violet faced Jade, unable to mask the hopefulness in her eyes. "Come on, then."
Jade led Violet to her room. "You can put your stuff there. You don't mind sleeping on the couch do you? Well, it's either that or the hallway so, it's your choice," Jade said, trying to sound like her normal, uncaring nature. If it was any other kid, Jade wouldn't have even looked in their direction. Babysitting was not Jade's strong point. But Violet was different.
