To quote Jade, Beck Oliver was obviously an unscareable person. When he went into haunted houses, while every other human being around him was screaming in pure terror at the frightening faces popping out at them, he didn't even bat an eyelash. When he went on roller coasters, not only was he not scared of them, but he also didn't feel the need in screaming his lungs out just for the thrill and fun of it. Heck, he even had a girlfriend with dark eyeliner applied heavily under her eyes and various colors protruding from her hair like tentacles spiraling out from an unknown creature; she made every guy at Hollywood Arts (besides him) pee in their pants if she just so much as looked at them. Sikowitz had done an impressive job in trying to terrorize him (heck, he had almost given that Spoo guy an aneurism!), but his performing arts teacher would never find out his true fear. Yes, Beck Michael Oliver was inevitably a scareable person; but it was just one thing, he tried to remind himself over and over. Yes, but one big thing, a tiny voice in the back of his head taunted.
As much as he regretted to admit, it was true. It was a big thing, a person, actually. A person with long, vibrant red hair and brown doe-eyed orbs that always had a twinkle in them; a person with a slightly annoying yet the most bubbly personality that you could ever encounter; a person that stopped Beck right in his tracks, made his heart skip a beat, and greatly forced tiny pellets of sweat to roll down his forehead: all the signs of being scared.
If you haven't guessed yet, he was afraid of Cat Valentine. You may wonder, how could he be scared of such a small and happy girl that happens to be one of his very good friends? Well, he wasn't quite sure; he was almost sure, but not positively, one hundred percent sure. It was a feeling he got deep down in the pit of his stomach when she walked by, almost like, well, almost li—
"Hiya, Beck!" he hears a familiar voice, breaking into his thoughts like a wave crashing on to the shore.
He spins around on his heel in the suave and charming fashion he always does, trying to smile brightly. But there it went again, that heart of his, pounding away. "Hey there, Cat. What's up?"
"Oh, not much, just bought this nifty thing from the Sky Store. Look! It's a pepper spray bracelet. If a person's trying to steal my purse or get a little too friendly with me, if you know what I mean, I can just do this!" Cat turns around quickly, pushing a button on her bracelet promptly before shooting a spray of mist into Sinjin's eyes who just happened to be strolling by.
"Ahhh! It burns!" the poor, awkward boy shrieks as he covers eyes and tries to ran away. Unfortunately, a garbage can is in his way, landing him head first into an array of spoiled foods and tossed paper.
The girl with the red hair seems to be hardly bothered by this occurrence, facing back toward her friend. "Nifty, huh?" she says as if he thinks so too.
"Um, shouldn't we call a doctor? I think may have broken his spleen when he fell into that deep, dark abyss of trashcan," he offers as a suggestion, but knows that it's the right thing to do anyway.
"Oh, I think he's fine. If he needs anything, he can just call NorthStar!"
"Cat…" he pauses, just in case she catches on. She doesn't, as always. "You're NorthStar."
"I know!" Cat says, throwing her palms face up as if this is the best thing in the world.
Beck rolls his eyes, but smiles anyway, because that's just how she affected him and everyone else around them…well, except for Jade.
"Well, I got to go. I guess I'll see you la—hey, wait, you got some yogurt on your chin," she remarks with a perplexed raise of her eyebrow, pointing to the area.
"Really? Where?" he asks somewhat worriedly, brushing his fingers against the right side of his chin.
"Not there, here, silly," she giggles, almost as if it's obvious. And then she takes the sleeve of her jacket, wiping away the fruity, gooey substance which was on the left side of his chin.
Cat's concentrating on her task, but as she does so Beck starts to realize she's standing incredibly too close for his liking (not that he didn't like it), but Jade would be furious if she walked around the corner at this precise moment. And after he comprehends the distance of him and her, her and him, he notices how beautiful she really is. Not that he didn't think she was pretty before, but now he sees the almost un-noticeable freckles on the tip of her nose, accenting it in a very cute way; and her eyelashes, were they even real? Did she even wear mascara? No, those were all hers, dark and thick, and she batted them lightly as she did her job, very determined on wiping away the intruder on his chin. And this is when he starts to feel the sweat reeling slowly down from his hairline to his eyebrow, the pace of his heart growing exceedingly faster, and the nervous gnawing in the pit of his stomach. But then again he feels something wonderful too, and gosh darn skutter, if he didn't have a girlfriend he would kiss her right then and there. And, then, just like that (it seemed like hours, yet seconds at the exact same time) she pulls away, grinning widely with that incredible smile of hers.
"It's all gone," she states, clearly proud of herself. Who knew one small deed (a very small one at that) could make a person so happy? "Feel better?"
He chuckled, knowing that he hadn't even felt the darn yogurt on his chin, and even if he had, it would not have ruined his day. But since making other people happy (because that's what she did) meant so much to her, he looks at her and says, "Yeah, I do, actually. Thanks."
"No problem. Well, gots to go. See ya!" Cat beams, skipping off cheerfully to her next class.
As Beck watches her leave he starts to feel normal again: no racing of his ticker, no body produced water streaming down his forehead, no weird twisting and turning in his belly. But then, he smiles, a flicker of one, if you will, his lungs filling up with air as he comes to a horrifying (like he always felt when she was around) yet wonderfully thrilling (not so much what he usually felt) conclusion. He was, in fact, in love with Cat Valentine. And that, my dear friends, was a nightmare and a dream coming true all at the same time.