Jade West let out a grumble as she pulled up to Tori Vega's house in the middle of the afternoon. The half-Latina hadn't been in school and Sikowitz had eventually been concerned after his attempts to phone the house had failed. Andre had said that her parents had left for the week and Trina had shown up a few minutes late at school insisting that Tori had been right behind her but she hadn't slept well the night before.
Probably fell asleep with her headphones on. Jade thought to herself as she got out of her car and pounded on the door. "Vega! Wake up!" She shouted at the house only to stop after pounding on the door after a moment when she realized that the door had been knocked open by her pounding.
It hadn't been locked and it hadn't been fully closed.
"Vega?" She called carefully as she pushed the door open the rest of her way with her foot. The door slowly creaked open and Jade's eyes widened as she saw what looked like a disaster zone. There were objects thrown across the floor and two of the windows in the kitchen looked as if something had been thrown into them. "Vega? What's going on here? This isn't funny." She hesitantly called out. It was then that she heard muffled sobbing coming from the kitchen, from behind the counter.
No...She thought as she rushed in and saw a sight that broke her heart into hundreds of pieces. She knew that she and Tori hadn't exactly been on the best of terms when they first met and especially now that they were...well, she didn't know what they were right now. But this...she wouldn't have wished this on her enemies.
Tori Vega was laying on the ground. Her clothes were ripped, her face was bruised and bloody and there were other bruise marks all over her body. She was curled up in the fetal position. "Vega...Oh my god." Jade whispered in horror as she reached down and hesitantly tried to touch her shoulder to get her attention only to have her recoil away from her in fear as she pulled herself deeper into the fetal position.
Jade immediately pulled out her phone and dialed 911. "It's okay Vega." She said in a soothing tone as she could manage as she gently stroked Tori's head trying to get her to realize that she wasn't going to be harmed. "It's okay...I called for help. You'll be okay." She took a closer look at Tori and noticed something that stopped her cold as she reached down. There was blood pooling out from under Tori. A lot of it.
Oh my god...She thought as she came to a sudden realization. Whoever had done this had wanted to make sure she didn't survive. "Tori...I know right now you're scared and you're hurt but you need to let me help you." She said in as gentle a tone as she could manage under the circumstances. "Please, you need to show me where you're bleeding from."
Tori looked up at her and shook her head. "I can't..." She whispered. She was most likely in extreme pain from the look on her face. "It hurts so bad, Jade." She sobbed weakly. Jade gently grabbed her hand and placed it around hers. "I need to see Tori." She said quietly. "Just...Just squeeze my hand when you feel pain but I need to see."
Tori nodded as tears continued to roll down her face and she squeezed Jade's hand with a strength the Goth didn't know she possessed as she managed to lay down straight and Jade's already shattered heart seemed to break again as she saw a large shard of glass sticking directly out of Tori's chest. Blood seemed to be pouring out of the wound. "Hold still Tori." She said quietly as she placed her hands on the edges of the wound trying to stop the bleeding.
"Dyke. You ruined my life." Tori whispered sadly. Jade looked at her sharply. "That's what he kept saying...He kept calling me a Dyke, kept saying I ruined his life."
"Tori." She said in a very soft tone. "Who did this to you?" She asked in the same soft, dangerous tone. It was rarely heard but when it was heard people knew to give Jade a wide berth and pray to god they weren't on the receiving end of it.
Tori began to cough up blood and her eyes began to close and Jade looked around helplessly as she tried to figure out what to do. She heard Tori whisper something and Jade leaned down close to her to try and hear what she was saying.
"Ryder...Ryder did this." She whispered. "Waited until Trina was gone and he beat me up." She said weakly. Jade..." She whispered as the life began to leave her body as Jade heard the sounds of nearby sirens.
"Hold on Tori..." She said as she continued to hold Tori's hand as she heard the sirens getting closer. Tori shook her head and let a weak sob escape. "No...need to tell you something." She whispered as she continued to weakly gasp for breath and she weakly grabbed at Jade's arm. "I always...always thought you were really pretty." She whispered as her eyes closed and her breathing stopped. Jade looked down at Tori's body in shock. She had learned two things about Tori Vega that she thought she never would have found out.
One that she was a lesbian.
And the second being that she was crushing on Jade of all people. Me...after all that I put her through...she thought numbly as she heard the sirens outside. She got to her feet and walked out the back door and stared at her phone with blank eyes as her shock was rapidly replaced with blind rage.
She called up someone she knew she could count on to give her the information she wanted. She waited a moment until she heard the familiar voice of her ex-boyfriend Beck answer. "Hello?"
"Is Ryder at school today?" She demanded.
"Jade? Where are you? Find out where Tori is?" He asked carefully. He could hear the anger in her voice.
"Just tell me if Ryder is at school today." She said in the soft dangerous tone that people knew to avoid at all costs.
"Yeah. He got here around noon. He told Sikowitz he had an appointment. Jade, what's going on?"
Jade turned off the phone and immediately walked over to her car and climbed inside. She could feel tears of rage and sorrow and despair threatening to overwhelm her as she headed back to the school. She wanted to cry which was a rare sight but she couldn't. She looked down at her phone which was starting to ring again but she muted it as she headed back to the school. It was a ten minute drive but it felt like an hour to Jade as she finally stopped her car in the middle of the parking lot and stormed into the school.
It was almost time for the classes to be dismissed and Jade narrowed her eyes as she scanned the large groups of students leaving the school until she finally located her target trying to walk away from one of the larger groups. He smiled and waved at his friends as he headed for his car and didn't notice as Jade practically ran at him. He finally heard the sound of her boots hitting the ground and he turned around just in time to see the enraged look on Jade's face and the sight of her fist heading for his face.
"YOU BASTARD!" She screamed as her fist collided with his nose and a loud cracking sound was heard as he hit the ground with a thud. She brought her fists down on his face again and again as she continued screaming obscenities at him as the tears she had been holding back finally began to run down her face.
Cat and Andre watched in shock from the entrance of the school as Jade went full out on Ryder. They had seen Jade angry before but they had never seen her like this. She was screaming and yelling at the downed form of Ryder. "YOU KILLED HER!" She screamed over and over. "I'LL KILLL YOU!" She screamed as she brought her fist down on Ryder's body over and over again as she continued screaming and crying. Cat and Andre had managed to reach the scene of the one sided fight and tried to pull Jade off of Ryder.
"Jade!" Andre shouted as she fought to get away from Andre and Cat and continue beating the hell out of Ryder. "What he hell?!" Sure, neither of them were Ryder's biggest fans but Jade had done a number on him and they wanted to know why.
"HE KILLED TORI!" Jade screamed at the top of her lungs. Cat and Andre both were shocked enough by her accusation and the way that Ryder was glaring at Jade that they loosened the grip enough that Jade managed to get loose once again and she kicked Ryder in the side of his head as hard as she could and then unleashed another series of indiscriminate punches.
"W-What?!" Cat asked in a shocked tone as Andre once again managed to restrain Jade who was openly sobbing.
"I...I went to her house." Jade whispered hoarsely as she continued to sob. "She was beaten and she was bleeding and she had a piece of glass sticking out of her chest. And...And she told me who did it." She turned back to Ryder and snarled angrily as the rage she was feeling returned. "HE KILLED HER!" She screamed over and over as Lane and Sikowitz ran over to the scene of the fight to see a sobbing Cat and an enraged Jade who was fighting to get away from Andre and back to beating up Ryder.
Lane stared down at Ryder and saw his bloodied face and bruised body. He was barely conscious and Jade was still fighting to get at him. A crowd was beginning to gather around the scene including Trina and Beck. The two had horrified looks on their faces as they saw Jade and Cat sobbing and the somber look on Lane's face.
Trina could only whisper a question. "Is it true?" She asked as tears began to run down her face and Beck stared at Ryder in shock. Lane took a deep breath and nodded. "We...I...The authorities just called the school. Tori was found...found..." Lane couldn't finish the sentence. Trina burst into tears and began sobbing into Sikowitz's shirt Lane tried to get Jade away from Andre. Jade just kept sobbing as she nearly collapsed after Andre let her go. The only reason she was able to stay up was because Lane was holding her up.
Lane looked down at the barely conscious form of Ryder and looked over at Sikowitz as he gently let Jade sit on her knees on the ground. "We need to get an ambulance here." He said simply as he pulled out his phone and dialed 911.
Beck gently put his hands on Jade's shoulders as she continued crying along with the others.