Bittersweet

A/N: I'm probably gonna kill myself if I don't get these plot bunnies in control, seriously. I have returned with another idea for a story and so, here it is. It's a different concept. I have been meaning to explore it for a while, hope you guys dig it. If not, I apologize. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: Nope, that's all Dan Schneider. Wish I owned Ariana Grande and Liz Gillies though.

Conspiracy Theory

Caterina Valentine was an acquired taste.

She was a candy coated, sugary sweet bud that was and always would remain sticky on the outside with a syrupy innocence that dripped in every single thing that she did. From her long vibrant red locks to the literal tone of heart inspired affection that rang in everyone's voice when even allowing her name to drip off of their tongues like honey.

There was just…something about her.

Watching her, watching the light in her eyes, the airiness about her attitude...it was all very interesting and addictive. It was teasing and intriguing and all together, peculiar. It was something that affected Jade in the most unusually sensitive way. It was sensory overload.

It was indescribable, the feeling that sparked inside of her at the sight.

Jade watched her, watched her walk and watched her talk. She watched her walk around the corner, and while leaning against the metal scissors attached to her customized locker she followed the red head with her eyes as she bounced up to Vega, clapping her hands excitedly and talking in the high bubbly voice of excitement that usually pierced Jade's ears in the early morning time.

The raven haired female raised her cup of coffee to her lips, sipping slowly as she watched the two girls interact unblinkingly.

There was something strangely captivating about the way the girl worked. There was something that struck Jade as she watched the pulsating girl animatedly gesture her hands and exclaim her absolute profound enthusiasm at whatever good news she was relaying to her close brunette friend.

Her eyes shined with a sincere look of absolute glee as the brunette responded with an equal amount of happiness and patted the girl's head, before grabbing her hands and sharing the active eagerness.

Jade scoffed, rolling her eyes before tearing herself away from the sight.

It was absolutely disgusting when Tori did anything that remotely resembled the feathery light happiness that Cat practically spilled over onto people. As a matter of fact, she found herself insulting the brunette daily for her annoyingly ill-placed optimism.

But Cat…was different.

Cat was something that people rarely took interest in, because Cat lived in a world all of her own. She tended to roam and carry herself with such an airy attitude that people took her as dumb and gullible and maybe she was, maybe she did tend to go off to dreamland and refuse to return to reality until she felt it was time to share her saccharine wisdom to the world.

Maybe she wasn't really worth anyone else's interest. Maybe to them all she was, was bright red hair that could make your blood look like it was faded, and bright brown buoyant eyes that shined heavily sometimes with every emotion under the sun.

But there was something else…and that something else, that something that separated her from everyone else was the electric spark that Jade found herself succumbing to on a day to day basis. It was the feeling that soared throughout her veins as she watched the girl, it was everything she found herself thinking about on days that she should have been contemplating just how much of a bitch she was going to be the next day, week, or month.

There was just something that wasn't exactly true to Cat's personality.

There was something that separated the genuinely idiotic, gullible, and overly nice people from everyone else. There was something that only lived in certain people and it separated them from the rest, it allowed them the opportunity to be casted as different. Nice people were nice, nice people usually were futile and walked over most of the time. But when it came down to it…there was a difference between everyone.

To everyone, Cat was this idiotic and an insanely optimistic person. People walked over Cat; in a subconscious way…Jade herself had done it multiple times. But then, there was something about her that was shining through that insanely crazed and dynamic personality. There was something that Jade was starting to notice more and more about the girl and it was personally causing an unknown attentiveness to arise within her.

Jade couldn't focus for trying to put her finger on this quirk, this quality that the tanned red head girl was walking around with hidden so badly that she practically forced the stimulation of its uncharacteristic sensations onto certain people, maybe some people.

Mostly just Jade.

The girl donning silky blue strands as the accents of her hair, felt the hair of the back of her neck stand up. There were eyes on her, there were eyes that belonged to someone who was equally as observant as she was.

You didn't have to tell her who it was.

She dropped her history book into her locker and made a swift turn to come face to face with the girl in question.

"Something you need from me, Caterina?"

The scissor-covered locker slammed shut and Jade leaned back against the cold metal with a perfectly arched eyebrow surveying the wide eyes and furrowed eyebrows of the red head girl.

Cat opened her mouth with an almost animated-like gasp, blended lips revealing smiling white teeth and a tongue poked out with easy excitement, a lightness in her eyes that stirred with confusion. Outstretched hands fell to her sides as she eyed the raven haired beauty with contempt.

"How did you know it was me?"

Jade smirked, bringing the hazel nut flavored coffee to her plump lips and sipping following Cat's gaze as it followed the movement of her hands. "Cat, is your name…you aren't actually one, contrary to popular belief. Plus, your cute little heels clicking sort of gave you away. And it's you." She shrugged, bringing an arm to cross over the other.

Cat looked down to her feet clicking the heels of her tall stiletto's in a very Dorothy like fashion and Jade couldn't help but see the resemblance between the character and her friend. So much hopefulness and naivety. Big brown eyes of absolute and total emotion at every turn. Cat was a young, beautiful, Judy Garland at her best.

And an impeccable actress.

Such an impeccable actress that she was able to day in and day out move along throughout the different students of Hollywood arts, being the effervescent and understandingly odd Cat, who sometimes had bi-polar outbursts and never really made sense and was quite the five year old child reincarnated into a high school student.

She was able to be normal for their taste, what they considered normal at least, and absolutely and totally suppress whatever it was hiding within the dimming of her eyes and the sparks that thumped within Jade's chest.

The black haired girl furrowed her eyebrows, staring at the girl's downcast features. "Something bothering you?" Jade said pulling herself from her position to pick her bag up from the floor.

"Well…" The soft voice answered, and Jade narrowed her eyes as the girl started to fidget. She watched her as she twiddled her fingers around each other, and her features struggled to get whatever thoughts she was trying to construe together in order.

"Well?"

"I…I was just-"

"Cat."

The girl's head snapped up immediately at Jade's firm tone and snap of her fingers, and she stared directly up at the girl, on command. And the feeling that pulsated wildly in Jade's chest came again, she was missing it by a mark, whatever it was her body was forcing her to look for. She ignored her inner examinations, looking at the redhead questioningly. "What is it you want to say to me?"

"I um, I want to have a…sleepover, with Tori, and I was wondering if-"

"No." The black haired girl turned swiftly and began her walk to class, already tossing her previous thoughts from her brain as the bell rang in her ears, but not loud enough to cover the sounds of Cat's heels clicking hurriedly against the floor of the school as she tried to keep up with the girl.

"Jade, wait! You didn't even let me finish, Tori said she would come…she-she said if I was able to get you to come too…she'd even get along with you."

"I'm not spending an evening with you and Vega. I can barely handle both of you separate at school what makes you think that I can deal with you together? Especially Vega." Jade shuttered at the thought and rounded the corner to Sikowitz's class.

"I just…I just thought-"

"Cat," Jade spun on the heel of her boot causing the red head to look up at her with sad eyes of hurt, and Jade stared at the girl trying to remember what she might of said to possibly hurt the feelings of the redhead and she sighed, before looking around and raising a hand to twirl a long red lock between her fingers. "I'm not a sleepover person."

"If you hate me then just say it."

And there it was. That soft whisper of a voice that inflected so much hurt that usually people caved into. That usually people got doe eyed and flustered over, feeling as if they had kicked some puppies clear across the room, purposely. Cat was capable of making anyone feel that way.

Even Jade.

But there was a different effect on Jade because she knew that the girl was realistically hurt this time. It happened very rarely, Cat being hurt. That was something that only the people that really knew her had to have figured out.

The girl could change emotions like the weather. But sadness, true sadness was only implied when something close to her heart went wrong. Jade watched the girl twiddling her fingers again and she felt that familiar tweak of annoyance seep through her body and she twitched. "Stop, look at me."

Cat's hands ceased their movements and immediately she turned her eyes to Jade watching with big meaningful eyes.

"I don't hate you, Cat. You know that. And you should be extremely grateful for that because I hate everything, except you. I just can't handle your constant "ray of light" sometimes. If you haven't noticed I'm sort of a deep dark soul compared to all your array of colors, you know?"

Something flashed in the brown that Jade couldn't catch before a smile took over the plump lips of the girl and she bounced a little while giggling.

It brought an involuntary smile to her features and she rolled her eyes. "I hate Vega. Absolutely hate her, so therefore I refuse to spend more than twelve hours around her willingly. So I'm sorry Cat, but no. The sleepover is out."

Jade turned to open the door to the room, a slightly less dampened girl on her heels, sated with the knowledge that she wasn't despised by the always hateful Jade, but not satisfied with the answer of no. She always seemed to be pushing over the line when she really wanted something from her friends. Today was no different, today she just wanted something from someone that was as stubborn as a mule with a rod up his ass.

Jade stalked into the class throwing her bag down and she felt the sweet and thick air of the girl next to her, bouncing on the balls of her heeled feet as she continued to pester her with her high pitched and seemingly sweet voice of pleas.

"Jade, I know you don't like Tori…but we haven't had a sleepover in like, forever. I don't know I guess I thought we were kind of like best friends –"

"We are friends…I'm not really best with anyone."

"Best friends have sleepovers-"

Jade turned around, her patience thinning considerably. And the girl stepped back at the motion, having started to pick at her fingers again and bringing them to her sides immediately.

"Cat, I'm not having a damn sleepover with you and Vega. End of story."

"But Jade-"

"But nothing. Sit down." The raven haired girl ran her fingers through the blue highlights of her curls. And as the last few stragglers made into the classroom, she reached to move her bag so that she could sit and before she could even look she felt Cat's mouth open again. Whipping around with firm eyes she pulled a chair next to hers, and pointed to the seat, exclaiming with a hard voice,

"Sit down Caterina."

There was a silent moment of blue eyes watching brown unblinkingly, and then watching Jade, Cat took a seat in the chair that the girl had pulled over, hands in her lap and ankles crossed.

Jade didn't even realize her voice had raised over the normal speaking tone, she didn't even realize she had drawn the attention of their friends by using the girl's first name, and she didn't realize how fast her adrenaline was pumping. She was feeling sparks inhabit her system, racking through her body and spreading like wildfire throughout her veins.

Usually that feeling came when she was angry and her system was on overload with animosity. Considering she was always an angry person…she didn't really pay much attention to that rush of adrenaline.

But something was different, everything was different.

That unknown spark was flaring bright and burning like wax singeing her chest and she took a seat in her chair, slowly, crossing her thigh over her other, and folding her arms, the usual scowl on her face. Cat sat unmoving next to her, ignoring any and everyone with her eyes casted downwards.

Class moved on. Sikowitz went on about something that was stupid and imaginable and Jade followed Cat's example and ignored everyone unless directly spoken to. Tori was wildly optimistic and Beck was shooting furtive glances in her direction.

Cat did not speak.

And for a second Jade didn't understand what changed. What about the situation that had just taken place had caused all of the feathery light air to leave the girl's lips and reduce her to absolute silence? The students around them were asking her if she was okay and she was offering up small smiles and Jade wondered with eyes casted to side if she had upset the girl in a way, she almost felt guilt which rarely happened.

And then a memory wrapped around her senses, it snaked up and she recalled the events of the last twenty minutes of her life.

There was something about her eyes.

There was something about the way they darkened when she spoke to her, something about how her stomach flipped when she watched the light brown turn deep chestnut with an inconceivable expression. And that was Cat whenever she spoke to Jade.

Mistakenly unusual expressions that were hard to tap into. There was something about the way she stared with attention at the words that emptied the pale girl's lips. Something about the attention that she gave her that differentiated from the attention that she gave anything or anyone else.

There was something that Cat had about her that was effecting Jade in a way indescribably, difficult to wrap her mind around.

Or maybe it wasn't.

The darkness that hid in the depth of her pupils whenever Jade had addressed her, maybe that was what Jade had been seeing. Maybe that was what Jade had been feeling the feelings of sparks and butterflies from. Maybe she was seeing the darkness that was hiding underneath the innocence of the girl that she had always come to know.

She knew that something about Cat was off from that sickeningly simplistic optimistic face she braved everyday. Not to say that personality hadn't become a part of her. It was definitely a part of her. It always would be.

But there was something beating in her chest, something that was connected with the raven haired girl that was waiting to fly free from her. There was something that was yearning to be released and although it sounded a little psychopathic, Jade couldn't deny the obvious urge to want to free it from the girl.

The thought of Cat, devoid of innocence, full of something sinister something so unbelievably realistic was absolutely mind blowing to Jade.

Maybe the sickeningly happy feeling of butterflies and the fiery pounding that had been resounding in her ears at the sight of her was worth something, maybe the absolute and total thought of something being considerably different about Cat wasn't so far fetched.

It was a theory.

Whatever it was is was plaguing Jade's thoughts now, as it had been, only this time all she could see was the way the girl's eyes changed when she spoke to her. All she could remember was the tone of her voice as she spoke to her, soft…almost with hope for permission. The tone a child would take with speaking to someone with authority.

And how she reacted to her words, how she stopped speaking when Jade spoke. How she listened, carefully following her lips with her darkening eyes and how she made sure to make direct eye contact, and the nervousness…the anxious fidgeting.

It all sounded strange. To anyone else this was normal. It was Jade "wicked witch" West. Anyone would have the same reaction to her, anyone would twiddle their fingers nervously and speak in stutters upon asking her for anything or making conversation.

Most people didn't even get that far with her, she was very disinterested in mostly everyone.

She felt like everything was just a waste of her fucking time.

She never dwelt on it. She never found herself wishing for something, someone to bring her mind back to earth, to bring her senses to something that sparked a meaning within her because she just felt there wasn't anything that she had to watch, nothing she had to enjoy.

Because it was a known fact that if Jade wasn't controlling something, she wasn't enjoying it. She had an impeccable sense of grasping things and ruling them with an iron fist. It's just how she lived her life, and once there was nothing like that…her interest was almost nonexistent.

It was the soul of a director.

Watching Cat, following Cat with questioning eyes everywhere had been, different. It was maddening and confusing and ultimately she wondered daily about the purpose of her watching, of her questioning the girl's personality, she wondered when it would all make sense to her again.

Because things were coming together, albeit blurry at the particular moment.

Butterflies and sparks were something that she was mostly uneducated in. Dark deep meaningful looks that meant nothing consciously to Jade and big brown eyes full of attention and an unknown flash of something that was so off from the sugary taste of Cat were all that was making sense and not making sense at the same time.

Everything was…everything.

Things were absolutely off and Jade was wondering why it was good enough to take refuge within her life, she was wondering what about it was so important to her mind and soul. She was yearning to pin point what it was that was sparking the reactive nature her body was putting off, she was wondering why she wanted to know about the redhead so badly.

What the fuck was it about her?

"Jade?"

A timid voice spoke to her left and the breathless adrenaline rushed through her again when she looked over at the tanned red haired girl.

"What?" there was a snappy bite within the word and she saw the eyes flash again, and she noticed that the two girls were still sitting while everyone else were filing out of the classroom save for their usual group of misfits.

"Class is over…" Cat said softly, and there was the innocence again. Jade watched the brown in her eyes, purposefully searching now. Looking for the things she had capitalized on finding all day. Looking for something that would bring her closer to whatever it was that was making her feel…so, everything.

Everything.

She looked around now seeing Andre and Robbie and the other two meaningless faces looking down at the two girls as they still sat.

"Cat come on, we've got to go so we can talk more about this sleepover." Tori said with that same optimistic smile that usually plagued her facial features and Jade then stood, grabbing her bag and flipping her hair.

Cat's eyes looked up bright with a smile taking over her face, but unbeknownst to everyone else of course, there was something peculiar, something different. It wasn't just happy Cat, being excited over the trivial things like a sleepover.

There was a difference within her features, something oddly magnified within the concentration of her sight.

Jade watched with deep cutting eyes as Cat bounced happily in her seat and started talking a mile a minute about their plans, that unfortunately did not include Jade. She didn't say it out loud, but there was an obvious disappointment within the words of her long winded ideas of what was going to be fun.

She didn't get up from her seat.

It was something that wasn't profound in anyone else's eyes, but nothing about Cat's personality had really been profound lately for anyone other than Jade. This moment was no different. Cat was the only person in the room still sitting in her chair, and it seemed normal, as normal as Cat could have been.

It wasn't.

Oceanic eyes watched as she smiled brightly exclaiming her joy at what they were going to embark on their "fantastic weekend adventure".

"Come on guys, let's get some lunch so we can hear more about this adventure Tori's going to be in for this weekend." Beck said with a big laugh, and Jade shivered at the sound. It was like something creepy and crawly whenever he was around recently, a woman scorned. She had been a woman scorned for a while.

Everyone murmured their approval and Jade watched Cat's eyes flick downward to her shoes, before glancing upwards at them. She bit her lip, her hands placed properly on her lap, eyes smiling but that something hiding deep within them, invisible to the others.

"Come on Cat," Robbie called out and Jade watched the girl's eyes lock on her features as the boy called out to her, the rest of them hanging around the doorway, waiting.

She stood in front of her, arms folded as the red head stared up at her hands unmoving, face locked onto hers gazes intertwined deeply, something unsaid being passed between them and Jade stood and searched the pupils with a burning intensity that crackled within the room like a flickering candle.

She didn't get up. She continued to watch Jade who watched her, confusing the hell out of the rest of their coveted "gang" but leaving something strangely sacred between the two of them. And Jade was so close. Literally.

Because she could see everything, she could see the dark shade and the burning intensity within the girl and she felt the spark peak within her, licking at her insides waiting for her to understand what the cause was. Waiting for her to understand was had ignited the feelings earnestly.

"Cat?" Beck called out and Jade blinked, the flash in the girl's eyes heavier now, willing her subconsciously to understand. The red head turned as if to answer the Canadian boy, eyes tearing themselves from the raven-haired girl's to stare at him.

Then…something reared up inside of Jade. Something was tickling her, like the feeling she got when she wrote a new screenplay, or wrote a new production. Something that took her over when that unmistakable feeling of height appeared within her.

It was the something she had been trying to define all week.

Everything came into focus.

"Cat," She spoke and the girl snapped her eyes to Jade's almost expectantly. Jade raised her eyebrow, watching as the pieces fell into place. Watching as the unknown darkness made sense, watching as the sparks turned into flames within her, burning and consuming her and she straightened her posture. "Come on, let's go get some lunch."

The red haired girl stood, looking at the rest of them with bright eyes, smile on her features enthusiasm that took over her body once returning as she bounced on her heeled feet with that candy-coated flair in her steps.

"I hope they have a fruit salad today, I think I want some pineapples…something sweet, oh! Tori we should have pineapples at our sleepover!"

The girl spoke rushing up to Tori, linking their arms together and Jade followed close behind, eyes watching the girl's head bob furiously as she talked about their trivial plans that were really just background music to the echo in her ears.

It was all so strangely simple. The something that was there, the reason for her unimaginable and ill-defined feelings, the reason she felt so interested…so concerned with the girl.

Dark eyes, flashes of unknown hope, hanging onto her words…and the sparks were so prominent, the significance was so great within the raven haired girl, because it felt so good. It meant so much within her, it was so…inviting because,

She was in control. And that was the one thing, it was the effect of the undertone of the sugary sweet Cat Valentine's not so innocent tones of honey coated stares and silent words of meaning.

There was something about her, something about her that separated her from being just the innocent and playful and child-like girl that everyone else saw. There was something about her that wasn't the optimistic front that all of Hollywood Arts got to see. There was something that Jade now understood, and didn't really understand the entire concept of, but felt a roaring desire to explore further raise within her.

There was something about Caterina Valentine, a conspiracy that separated her from the rest. A theory about her that was unconsciously reserved for only Jade to see.

Obedience.

A/N: Review, please, tell me what you think? There's a lot I want to do with this story.

- Mimi