"Are you sure you're ready for this?" Andre looked at me questioningly.
Her stomach was pivoting, heart racing. "I don't know. I thought I was but…"
"Hey, relax Tori." he patted me on the back. "Worst comes to worst, she doesn't know who it's for."
"Still," I sighed heavily. I had practiced for weeks, making sure the words of the song were perfect and the pitch was right. And now that it all boiled down to it, I couldn't get the balls to go up on stage and sing.
"Just think of it like singing for a class, a performance. Not a dedication. And you'll do fine."
I nodded, a lump forming in my throat.
"And Up Next is Tori Vega!" Sikowitz raptured through the audio system. Uh oh… I tried to move forward with shaky feet, making my way over steps and barely managing to stay standing.
It's okay I thought to myself. It's just another song… you can do this… I looked out to the crowd, and there she was, aquamarine eyes staring me down, watching, waiting to see me fail. This was a stupid idea. A very stupid idea. I couldn't go through with this. I turned around to walk off, but Andre grabbed me by the arms and pushed me back towards the mic. "You got this," he whispered for only me to hear.
I looked back to Jade standing next to Beck, her arm around his, her head on his shoulder. I became sick. "No I don't" I mouthed. I cleared my throat and shook my head, come on, Vega, pull yourself together. "Uh… uh, uhm…" shit shit shit. Come on. "This song is for um… someone… special…" I stammered into the microphone. Giggles moved across the crowd, I blushed. She laughed. Shit. Shit.
The music started, and suddenly all the words were misplaced. I couldn't remember what I was supposed to sing, there was nothing. The intro played on, I looked desperately to Andre on his acoustic. He glared at me, and told me to go on.
"I forgot" I mouthed.
"Just sing. Close your eyes."
I sighed and turned back. So many people, I never got this nervous. Close your eyes. I did, and searched my memory. "I'm missing you so much…" the words came out in a squeaky whisper instead of a lovely soprano. The rest of the stanza came out in an incoherent mumble. It is just a performance. I opened my eyes, and just looked to her as if for guidance, for confidence. She looked back at me, half sneering, half concerned. Beck leaned down to kiss her, and suddenly I was filled with a renounced confidence I'd never had, fueled by anger and jealousy. "What have I gotten into this time around…"
I jumped off the stage and started making my way over to her, singing as I went, pushing through the mass of people. "Would it be ok, would it be ok, if I took your breath away?" I sang as I approached her, and she let out a shocked sigh. Her eyes wide with panic, yet sparkling with some sense of excitement, pupils wide and the threat of a smile playing on the corners of her ruby lips. I breathed the last line, "You had me at hello."
She stood there for a moment, mouth agape, just watching me; waiting for some sort of move. She stammered some gibberish, looked to Beck, back to me, and then ran off. "Jade!" Beck and I shouted at her, but she had already meandered her way through the crowd and was pulling on the door to the school.
"What the hell was that?!" Beck yelled at me. I ignored his question by running away after Jade.
Oh god, what have I done?
She was pacing in front of the lockers crying, angrily kicking them. "Jade?" I asked softly.
"What!?" she screamed. "Oh, it's you…" she slid her back down the wall.
"Are you okay?"
"Do I fucking look okay!?" her eyes were red, her cheeks pink and stained with mascara and tears. Her lips were puffy and quavering, there was a tremor to her voice. "That scene that you caused, you don't know what that's going to do to me, do to you! How could you be so stupid!"
"I'm sorry, I-I just thought…"
"No, no you weren't thinking Vega. That's why you did it. God damn it why are you so stupid!?"
I took a step back. "Look, Jade, I'm sorry…"
She jumped up and put a firm grip around my shoulders then pushed me against the wall. "Shut up." she growled in my face.
"Jade-"
She leaned in and kissed me fiercely, no warning, no protest. She just swooped in. My heart fluttered, raced, and I melted in her grip, and absorbed her sweetness through this one simple kiss. She tasted like candies and heaven, warm and inviting and so addictive.
The instant she pulled away I wanted more, all of her. "Don't you ever do something like that again or I will kill you." she growled.
I looked down, slightly embarrassed. "Sorry," I mumbled again, a grin still stuck to my face and blush stained my cheeks.
"Well, well, well…" Beck said. He was leaned against the other side of lockers, one foot kicked up and hands nonchalantly stowed in his pockets.
"That's a lot of wells," Jade said turning around, folding her arms. She glowered at him sternly.
"What was that, Jade?"
"That was a kiss. I can show you again." "I don't need to see my girlfriend kissing other people, especially her." He threw a lame hand in my direction with a slightly disgusted look. "No offense."
"She happens to be a far better person than you will ever be, and frankly I'd much rather be kissing her than some filth like you."
"Jade what are you saying?"
"I'm saying," she moved over to me and linked her arm in mine like she'd done with him minutes ago. "She's mine. And if you lay a hand on her, I will destroy you.
He just stood there flabbergasted in his dumbfounded stance, unable to form words or thoughts. Just staring, his hands in his pockets, his blank emotionless expression. He could act, but when it came to the real world, there was nothing. Eventually he just shrugged, and walked away with a sorrowful "Okay."
He strode slowly through the front doors and ran his hands through his hair, a little flustered and overwhelmed in his actions. I looked to Jade. "So what now?"
She smiled. "This," and she pulled me close to her once more.