BEHIND CLOSED DOORS

What they all saw, and what really went on behind the scenes were two very different things. To them, Jade was a beast. She was cold and harsh with a sharp tongue that would slice you without even the slightest bit of hesitation. She spoke her mind, and so it seemed, didn't care about what you thought of her. She had piercings, tattoos, hair streaked in eye-catching colours. She stood out, and if you asked anyone, they would all say it was because she wanted to be the center of attention. They would tell you that she was hardly even a girl as far as personality was concerned, and if it weren't for Beck, you'd probably find yourself questioning whether or not she was even capable of loving, or even liking much of anything. She didn't cry over humiliation, she was hard to hurt – both physically and emotionally – and she had the notorious tendency to keep her attitude at a phenomenally consistent rate.

"Why are you always such a gank?" They'd always ask her. "Why do you hate everyone and everything so damn much?" They were questions that were generally answered with a "it's none of your fucking business" before moving on to continue whatever she was doing before, and although she did have what she believed to be an adequate reason, she'd never let any of them know about it, because really, it wasn't any of their business, and she didn't want their sympathy. Jade West didn't do sympathy. She did hate. She did anger. She did arguments that ended quickly because your wit could never match hers. But loving? Caring? Feeling sorry? No. That was over her head.

They didn't even consider the possibilities, though. Family problems would never cross their mind. Having a particularly bad day wouldn't even register. They just didn't think. And that girl. That Vega girl. She thought the least out of all of them. She guessed that was why she hated her the most.

When Jade was forced to listen to her complain about such petty things, like she usually did, and it almost made her nauseous, but then she would get offended when she snapped, and the others would say that it was unnecessary for her to go there, when they didn't even know the truth of the matter. How she had a perfectly good reason to 'go there'.

The exact same thing had happened just the other day.

x x x

"Do we have to sit with them?" She asked Beck like she did almost every time they sat down to lunch.

"Yes. We do."

"But I don't even like them."

"Well, that's just too bad." He planted a kiss on her temple, and she gave into him like she always did.

Their presence was acknowledged with a smile from the others, but it didn't take long before they were all wrapped up in their conversation again. Tori was complaining about her parents. About her sister. About how her family was so unfair because they either made her to something she didn't want to do or wouldn't let her do something she did want to do. It was all so stupid, and being her, the minute the thought filtered into her brain, she was going to let it be known. She didn't hold back.

"Just shut the fuck up, already." Jade interrupted sharpy.

"Jade!" Cat chirped in.

"What?" Her eyes shifted to Tori, cold and hard. "I'm sick of listening to her complain."

"Well, you would complain, too, if-"

"No. I wouldn't."

A silence fell amongst the group. Cat and Andre flickered their attention from Jade, to Tori, and back to Jade again, Robbie looked scared to even be put in the situation, and Beck just pinched the bridge of his nose with a sigh. But, they all knew better than to get between the fight, especially when Jade looked as fired up and hostile as she did.

"You know what, Jade? Why do you always have to be such a-"

"A gank? A bitch?" Jade started, her voice raising by the second. "It's none of your business! We've already covered this!"

"Stop interrupting me!" Tori got to her feet.

"Why? What're you gonna do about it?" She did the same.

"I just want to know why-"

"No! I don't really think you do, Tori!"

"I wasn't even doing anything to you!" Tori put her hands on her hips, leaning in closer to Jade subconsciously.

"You were bitching like you always do!"

"I had a reason to bitch!"

"Not an adequate reason! You act like your family is so screwed up! It could be so much worse, and you're just caught up in your own little Vega-Universe where everything just has to revolve around you all the time." They pretty much had the attention of the entire cafeteria at this point. "Look at me! I'm Tori Vega!" Jade stood up a little straighter, using the mock-voice she'd created for the other girl. "I have such a hard time dealing with my stuck-up sister and my parents are so unfair!" Off in the distance somewhere Trina could be heard giving a brief protest at being called stuck-up, but it was ignored by them both. "Yeah, right. You're so miserable."

"Like you've got it any worse!" Under her breath a 'I don't talk like that' was muttered, but it didn't look as if Jade heard it.

"Maybe I do, maybe I don't! Either way, it's none of your business." She was beginning to feel like a broken record.

"I know daddy thinks acting is a waste of time, but that's all you've got under your belt! Other than that, I bet your family tends to your every little princess-y whim. I mean, how else would you get all of those piercings and tattoos?"

Right then, Jade snapped. "Shut your mouth, Vega! You don't know the first thing about me!" She lurched out and attempted to claw her way across the table, but Beck sprung up and held an arm in front of her chest, restraining her.

"Jade..." He intruded, "I think you've said enough." His calm voice was such a beautiful contrast in comparison to the high-pitched shrieks that rang through the air only seconds before.

"But I'm not done yet!" She turned her head to him, eyes fierce.

"Yeah, I think you are." His hand removed itself from the space across her shoulders and slipped down gently to the small of her back. "C'mon. Let's go."

"And what happens if I don't?"

"I'll throw you over my shoulder and carry you."

Still fuming, she obliged, but glanced to Tori again before leaving. "We're not done here." She spat and retreated from the table.

Beck mouthed a silent, 'I'm sorry' to the group before scurrying after her and wrapping an arm around her waist as if doing so would keep her from running off too quickly.

x x x

The pair had come to a stop when they reached Jade's locker. It was clear that the silence he had forced upon her was only working her up a bit more, but now as she slipped out of his grasp, her eyebrows were pulled together in an expression that was a debatable cross between hurt, confusion, and annoyance. He knew now that it was his turn to deal with her.

"She's not really as self-centered as you make her out to be, you know."

"Maybe, but that's not the point!" The strain in her voice made it clear that muscles at the back of her throat were beginning to tighten. "She just pisses me off!" She crossed her arms over her chest. "And I was actually making a good point today!"

"Yeah, but, it probably would have come across better if you didn't make fun of her, or scream at her."

"Don't take her side, Oliver." She jabbed her index finger at his chest.

"I wasn't taking her side, I was just sa-"

"And I can't even help getting pissed at her! She just makes me so... ugh!" Old topic abandoned, she began to pace up and down the hall. "Little brat wants us to feel sorry for her when it's not even that bad! At least her family actually likes her. At least they'll actually support her. And sure, I admit her sister is annoying and selfish, but sisters aren't supposed to get along all the time! If she spent a month with my parents, then she might have a reason to bitch, but no, never once could they consider the any real possibilities I act like a bitch! They wouldn't even think that hatred and disappointment are the only thinks I know. They wouldn't even think that this is pretty much how I was taught to treat people. They wouldn't even think that this is how I'm treated all the time, but ten times worse, because I can't even get away from it!" Her voice was amplified by the empty halls, causing it to echo dramatically. "And that's just it, they don't think! At all. They try and act like they think and try and act like they understand, but they don't really know anything"

It became silent once Jade realized she'd gone into full-on rant mode, but even with the quiet, the anger still practically rolled off her in waves.

"...I know." He said, suddenly, breaking the stillness between them.

Jade hesitated for a second, but forced out a quiet, "Yeah, but, you're not one of them, you're one of us."

"Who's us?"

"You and me."

He walked up to her and pulled her body close to his, tilting his head to press his lips against hers. The simple action seemed to replace the previous emotions in her eyes with something lighter, and she smiled, ever so slightly.

"What was that for?"

He shrugged, followed by a few moments of a contented void of speech.

"Do you love me?" She muttered up to him.

"Of course."

"Say it."

"I love you."

x x x

Beck had left Jade back at her locker – after much protest on her part – to give her time to cool down while he went back to the group to apologize and explain to Tori without giving too much away. With him talking, he could probably get her to understand while being as vague as he possibly could, because it was a sure bet that he wouldn't lose his tempter and start screaming at her like Jade would have.

When he approached, the others were still all sitting together, however in a somewhat awkward fashion. They didn't seem to be saying much, and when they were, the one speaking would lean across the sable and whisper something that the rest would be unable to hear, but when Robbie, who was the only one directly facing in his direction from where he sat at the table, spotted him, his arrival was announced and they all turned to look at him intently.

"Where's Jade?" Cat was the first to speak, a worried expression on her face.

"I'm giving her some time to, you know, calm herself."

"So, you couldn't even talk her down?"

"No, I did. It's just, I don't think bringing her back would be the best idea. She's not the bet at apologies, if you haven't noticed."

They all nodded in unison, waiting for him to go on, but their expectations were crushed when he looked to Tori, saying, "I need to talk to you for a minute."

Offering him a quizzical look, she stood and followed him as he led her to the side of the building where he stopped and looked around to check if anyone was close enough to hear them. Satisfied, Beck sighed and took a moment before he began to explain.

"Look, I know that you and Jade don't really get along, but sometimes you just need to cut her a break."

"She was the one who started it, though! Besides, she was being unreasonable. There's no reason for her to act like that to me. I wasn't even doing anything to her."

"I know... And I'm not saying that she's innocent, but Jade... you kind of need to watch what you say around her."

"Why? She doesn't watch what she says about any of us." She crossed her arms, not quite understanding what he was trying to get across.

"She knows what she can get away with saying most of the time. Sure, every once in awhile she forgets and she says something that more than averagely offensive, but because she knows a lot about most of us, she pretty much realizes what she can and can't use as an insult. But what do any of us really know about her?" He paused, "And I'm not included in the 'us'."

Tori looked to the ground, her gaze was beginning to soften a little while she thought, and she eventually settled on mumbling a soft, "nothing, really" before she raised her eyes to meet his again.

"Exactly."

"But I still don't understand what set her off."

"You said you knew about her dad, right?"

"Yeah, what about it?"

"They don't exactly get along."

Another pensive silence was taken, but the impact of it didn't seem to set itself into Tori's brain. To her, just like to everyone else, Jade was so strong. So independent. No one kicked her around, no one told her what to do. Everyone viewed her as being top-dog and in charge.

"I don't get along with my parents, either, sometimes, but it's not that big a-"

"It's not like that." He tucked his hands into his pockets, face blank. "They really don't get along."

Then it came to her, and her eyes widened drastically, mouth slightly agape. "He doesn't like... hit her, does he?"

"Oh, no... Not from what I know, anyway." He'd never gotten any hints of physical abuse, but just the thought of it unsettled him. "But, the way Jade treats us? That's what home is like for her. All the time. So, when you were complaining about your family..."

"...She compares it to hers." Tori finished, ashamed.

"Yeah, and I think she gets kind of jealous. The people who should love her and support her... don't. Yours do. It kind of hurts her how you can complain about something she doesn't even have."

"I didn't even realize... God, I'm so stupid, sometimes!"

"Just don't tell anyone else, alright? I like my head attached to my body, thank-you-very-much." He chuckled softly, knowing how Jade would totally rip him to shreds if all the things she did such a good job at hiding slipped out because of him.

"Do you think I could go talk to her?"

"It's worth a shot."

x x x

When she entered the hallway, it didn't take long to find who she was looking for. Jade was slumped down on the ground, with her back against the lockers, and a bored look on her face. Tori was amazed that she'd actually stayed there merely because Beck had told her to, and began to question the length of her attention span.

"Jade?" She called out in a sing-song voice, just to get her attention, and the other turned her head slowly, boredom being replaced by annoyance.

"Oh, great. What do you want, Vega?"

"I wanted to apologize."

"What for?" They got into fights all the time, and they hardly ever ended in an apology, so needless to say, she was pretty suspicious from the very start.

"I talked to Beck, and he told me some stuff... about you."

She scowled, "Come on! I told the boy to keep his mouth shut!" She leaned her head back on the lockers, but she didn't look so much angry as she looked... distressed.

"Don't get mad at him, he was just trying to get me to understand."

"Because it's my life-long dream to get you to understand me."

"Look, I'm just here to say I'm sorry." She was already trying pretty hard not to lose her temper, because Jade's snippy comments weren't doing much for her.

"For what?" Jade asked, voice sharp.

"For taking what I have for granted."

"And?"

"For making assumptions about your family. I was wrong."

"Good. I see you've learned your lesson."

Tori shook her head and smiled, "You can really be a brat sometimes." The way she said it made it sound lighthearted and friendly, and you could hear the expression on her face just by listening to her voice.

"I know." Jade smirked back.

For once, the quiet between both girls was comfortable, and Tori's grin just kept on growing the more she thought about, what she would consider, a success.

"Come on, give Tori a squeeze." She announced, finally, holding her arms open.

Amazingly, Jade complied.

"Friends?"

"In your dreams, Vega."

I sat down today just to jot down a few ideas, and then, this happened. This is my first Victorious story, and I tried my hardest to make everyone stay in character, but I'm not sure how well it worked out.

Anyway... Favourite, review, etc. :D I hope you liked it~