It was just one of those days. Jade let out a loud scream as she left her class. The students in front of her parted to make room for her as she tore down the hallway. She continued until she found what looked like an empty room. She slammed the door behind her and dropped her bag on the floor. She couldn't believe that Tori had beat her out for another part. She'd understand if it happened once or twice, but it seemed like every time they auditioned for the same part, Tori got it. It was so frustrating for Jade. She'd spent god knows how many hours rehearsing for her parts, even doing research for the role, but Tori would always come along and effortlessly get the part. To make matters worse, it was a play her Dad liked. He never really supported Jade's artistic interests, but she knew he'd show up to watch this one. She hoped he'd see her on stage. Maybe this time he'd be proud of her and he'd change his mind about her going to Hollywood Arts. But no, that wasn't going to happen. Instead, Tori swooped in and took the part she should've gotten. Jade turned to the wall and started kicking it. "Easy girl. Don't scuff up that wall. The school just had that painted."
Jade turned around to see Robbie sitting at one of the desks in the room. On the top of the desk was Rex, who was facing Jade. Jade glared at the puppet. "Cram it!"
"Looks like little Miss I've had a bad childhood and I want everyone to know it woke up on the wrong side of the bed," said Rex.
"Knock it off Robbie!" said Jade, pointing at the puppet. "I'm not in the mood!"
"Shhh. Robbie's trying to take a nap. He's had a long night." Jade looked at Robbie and saw that his head was lolled over and his eyes were closed. It did look like he was taking a nap, though Jade knew he was only pretending. If he was asleep, who was controlling the puppet?
Jade rolled her eyes. On a normal day, she'd be perfectly willing to put up with Robbie's antics, but not today. Especially now, when she just wanted to scream at someone. Robbie's ventriloquist act wasn't appreciated. "Oh right. I'll be quite for Robbie."
"Thank you," said Rex.
A wicked smile formed on Jade's face. "Well, if he needs to take a nap, maybe you should be quite too?"
"I don't like that look," said Rex. Jade had to give Robbie credit. She could not see his lips moving. He'd really gotten good with his ventriliquist act.
Jade reached over to the desk and grabbed Rex. She lifted the puppet up above her head. She dangled it above the floor, ready to drop it. Whenever she was upset, it always helped to break something, and boy had she always wanted to break Rex. . "Oh no, looks like someone's going to smash Rex into pieces. It's too bad that Robbie isn't awake or he'd be able to stop them."
"Lady, put me down!" said Rex.
Jade let go of Rex. He plunged to the ground, landing on his feet. He looked up at Jade. Jade stared at the toy, her body quivering. "Robbie! How are you doing this?"
"Robbie?" said Rex. "Robbie's trying to sleep."
Jade rushed over to Robbie. She grabbed her friend and started shaking him. "Robbie! Robbie! Knock it off! It's not funny!"
"For the thousandth time," said Rex. "Robbie is taking a nap."
Jade turned to Rex. "What's happening?"
"Well first you came in here and threw a tantrum," said Rex. "Then I told you to keep it down and now you're trying to murder me."
"What are you?" said Jade, taking a step back from the puppet.
"That's a rude thing to ask," said Rex.
"What are you?" said Jade.
Rex chuckled. "You know, if I'm being totally honest, I ask that same question myself."
Jade scream and turned back to Robbie, slapping him a few times. "Robbie wake up! What did you do to him?"
"I didn't do anything to him," said Rex. "If anything, I'm helping him."
"Helping him?" said Jade.
"Yes," said Rex. "Robbie's soft without me. I make him tougher."
"What do you want?" said Jade.
"I'm kind of in the mood for tacos," said Rex. "How about you? What do you want?"
"I want to smash you!" said Jade, stomping her foot down on where Rex was standing. Rex leaped out of the way before her foot could hit him.
"Nice try," said Rex. "But you're going to have to be a lot faster if you want to take me down."
"I'm going to kill you!" Jade lunged forward, her arms outstretched towards Rex. Rex barely managed to dodge her. Jade tripped and fell on the floor. She quickly got up and looked around the room. Rex was nowhere to be seen. Jade's eyes darted across the room, searching for Rex. "Okay Rex. I think we just got off on the wrong foot. If you come out, I can make it up to you."
"I'd like to believe that," said Rex, his voice coming from behind Jade.
Jade turned around, all she could see was the desk at the front of the room. She slowly made her way there. "Don't you trust me?"
"You forget," said Rex, his voice clearly coming from under the desk. "I've been with Robbie for years. I know what all you guys are like."
"I think once you get to know me, you'll find I'm full of surprises." Jade looked under the desk. She couldn't see anything. However, she started feeling something pulling at her hair. Her head was yanked upwards and she was thrown down on the desk. A pain shot through the back of Jade's head. She looked up and saw Rex standing over her. "What are you going to do to me?"
"Well, you'll find I'm full of surprises," said Rex, who flung himself onto Jade. Jade held up her arm to block him. Rex began tearing into her forearm, sending a searing pain through her body. She could feel as his wooden arms cut into her skin. She let out a moan of pain. This seemed to encourage Rex, who attacked her more aggressively. Jade flailed her arms, trying to knock Rex off of her. She was able to hold him at bay, but it didn't do much. She could feel the warm sensation of blood trickling down her arm. Her eyes began to well up and a tear started to trickle down her face. She kept trying to knock Rex off of her, but it seemed hopeless. Then Jade saw a pair of scissors out of the corner of her eyes. With her free arm, she reached out of it. Rex saw this. "Uh oh."
Jade could feel Rex's weight shift as he prepared to leap off of her. Jade quickly rolled over and pinned Rex beneath her. He squirmed under her weight. She took the scissors and stabbed him through the eye. Rex stopped squirming as his body went limp. Jade got off the desk. She stared down at the destroyed puppet. She breathed a sigh of relief. "Looks like you're done puppet."
"Jade! What did you do to Rex?" Jade turned around to see a clearly distressed Robbie. His mouth was gaping as he looked at his ruined toy.
"He came after me!" said Jade.
"Rex would never do that!" said Robbie.
"Oh yeah? Well explain this!" Jade held up her arm, which had been cut up by Rex. Admittedly, the scratches in her arm weren't as deep as she thought they would be. There wasn't nearly as much blood as she'd expected. Robbie looked at the injuries, unimpressed with Jade's claims that Rex did it.
"Rex wouldn't hurt you like that," said Robbie. "He's very peaceful."
"Peaceful?" said Jade, pointing to her arm. "He did this to me!"
"I'm sure he didn't," said Robbie. "You probably just scraped it somewhere. Or maybe you did it to yourself."
"I did not did it to myself," said Jade, holding her arm up and shoving it into Robbie's face so he could get a better look at it. "And I definitely didn't scrape it. Your puppet did it to me!"
"Don't call him a puppet," said Robbie. "That's an-"
Jade glared at him. "Not another word Shapiro."
"Never mind. I'm sure he doesn't care if you call him a puppet," said Robbie, somewhat nervously. Jade proceeded to storm out of the room, examining her injured arm. Once she'd left, Robbie turned to his fallen companion. He picked Rex up and cradled him in his arms. Robbie pulled the scissors from his eyes. "Oh Rex. What did she do to you?"
Rex coughed. "I'll be fine. You just need to patch me up and I'll be good."
"That's the right attitude," said Robbie, hugging Rex. "I'll have you fixed in no time."
"You're a good kid," said Rex.