THANK YOU FOR READING!
This story was inspired by the song "Girl Next Door" by Saving Jane and the new episode "Jade gets crushed." I just love that song and I've already got so many other people I know hooked too it. Hope you love it!
There is nothing in my life that would ever lead you to believe that I actually liked Cat Valentine. She's to peppy, to cheerful and basically everything I never wanted in an acquaintance. She dresses like a toddler and honestly her laugh is the most annoying sound in the world. Everybody loves Cat Valentine but I hate her guts. She's got a flawless complexion, flawless voice, flawless everything. She smells like roses and peppermint, she dances like a stripper, with her high heels and sparkly tops. Her smile is so big I could die from the pearly white teeth she flashes around. Is it too much to ask for her to just be upset for a moment?
Of course there were times in my life that I had to put up with Cat and pretend that I liked her. When we sang together at Karaoke Dokie, when we got Vega frozen yogurt, when she starred in my play, when … well you get the idea. I never really wanted to be there, I acted like I did. I was an actress after all. It was more for the protection of the group, or Cat's heart, that Beck told me to smile and act like we were best friends, when I truthfully wanted to slap her. For years now, when somebody found out about my secret hatred they would ask why? Like it was poisoning their brains to think that somebody could hate Cat Valentine. Why shouldn't I hate her? Cat and I were opposites in everything we did so why should I be happy with my polar opposite?
Sometimes I thought about trying to like Cat, to actually form a smile on my face when she talked, or to actually laugh when she did something funny, but it just didn't come to me. Beck was the only person that really understood that as much as I wanted to like Cat I couldn't. Everything about her just made me hate her. That was my life for so long, pretending to that I liked Cat when in reality I wanted her to be murdered by a man with a pitchfork in her sleep. Cat just seemed to always be in everything I do, she was always just right there ready to help me when I didn't really need it.
It was more then just her peppy attitude and bright smile that made me hate her, on the 5th of October, 2009 she had to kiss Beck in a scene, and ever since that time I knew something was up between them. That kiss was downright foolish for Sikowitz to allow. Then on the 13th of December, 2009 she beat me out for the role of the female lead in our schools Christmas play. Then on the 16th of February, 2010 she spilt coffee on me then started to cry, and everybody gave her sympathy. Meanwhile my shirt was never able to be worn again. Then on the 12th of June, 2010 she on vacation to visit her Aunt and when she got back she showed us pictures of the prom she was invited to and how she was voted Queen. Honestly, Cat Valentine sickened me and I could go on and on forever but I don't want to run out of breath.
The point is I was more then mad when I was told to pair up with Cat for the new song we all had to do for class. Sikowitz didn't notice the distain in my voice when I said fine or the abhorrent look in my eyes as I watched her move toward me. She sat beside me and placed a hand on my knee, "Can we write a song about a Cat-" She burst into giggles, "That's my name!" Her eyes got big along with her smile, like she was trying to win a pageant contest.
I removed her hand from my knee and sighed, "I know your name Cat."
She made her cute sad face and asked, "did I do something wrong?" Finally the girl asks a smart question. I didn't want to slap her in the middle of class so, I grabbed her wrist and pulled her out of the class. Sikowitz was to distracted by a blond haired girl in my class asking him why he was holding a bag of rye bread. How I actually knew what rye bread was surprised even me. The hallway was empty, but I didn't trust it. With my eyes I searched around for somewhere private. There was the janitors closet, so I opened it with a powerful push, to find it completely empty - I double checked.
Cat shut the door and faced me smiling, obviously not understanding what we were doing. "Cat," I didn't know what to say to her, the close proximity of our bodies made it hard for me to focus. The anger in my chest was boiling with every eye flutter. "You do everything wrong." I explained, crossing my arms over my chest like it would stop the hatred in my body from rising, "you are just too peppy and too nice, I don't even like you!"
She seemed hurt at first, she looked down and tried to think of something to say. It was probably hard for her because her vocabulary ranged from grades one to three. Finally when Cat looked up her eyes were rimmed with tears. I held my composure. "I'm sorry Jade…" she opened her mouth to continue speaking but nothing came out, so instead she ran away, out of the closet and out of the school. I never meant to make Cat cry, but I honestly did not give a rats ass. I left he closest and looked around for Cat, I knew she had left, but there was always a chance she had run back in. Nothing was even moving in the air, no sign of life anywhere, so I walked back to class and took my seat. Beck noticed me walk in, but Sikowitz didn't he was too distracted by other things still going on around us. He leaned back his chair, away from Andre and asked, "Where's Cat?"
"Why do you care?" I suddenly became full of rage and jealousy. "It's not like she's your girlfriend!"
Beck held up his hands, telling me to calm down. He was the only person in the world that could ever make me calm down, not even my Grandfather, who I was particularly close with understood how to calm me down like Beck. "Jade, it was just a question, one minute you're here with her, the next you're not."
I didn't want to explain what had happened, as far as Beck knew I was being nice to Cat. Rolling my eyes happened first, then the glare, finally completed with a sarcastic smile, "She's fine."
Beck gave me one last look of uncertainty before turning back to Andre to finish his song. Something in me was wondering where Cat had gone, and the other part still didn't care. She was probably on her way home and got distracted by a butterfly or something. Honestly I didn't know a person could be that dumb. Sikowitz called for our attention again, "Next class you will perform your songs, so practice!" Then he exited through the window.
Tori Vega stood up and looked after where he had gone. She was probably the only person I almost hated as much as Cat. She was as thin as a twig, flawless complexion, and she had her hands (eyes) all over Beck. Not to mention the fact that ever since she came to Hollywood Arts, people thought she was God's gift to us humans and cast her in every play. People thought her singing could cure cancer, and even though her cheekbones were impressive, they weren't that amazing. So I usually ignored what came out of her mouth unless it involved me, or Beck. This time however, I couldn't zone out, something was blocking me of that ability. "We have like twenty minutes left to class." Tori sighed, she looked around the classroom for somebody to respond and she noticed, "Hey, where's Cat?"
I groaned and leaned back in the chair, "Why does everybody care where Cat is? Is she just that important? No." People gave me delusional looks, like I belonged in a jail cell. Even Beck - who knew about my distain for the girl - gave me an odd look. "What?" I asked louder than usual. "Is it so crazy that I don't like Cat Valentine?" That raised more eyebrows then before.
Suddenly Lane burst through the door, a look of total shock and horror on his face. His forehead was plastered with sweat, as if he had just run a marathon. "Kids, don't be alarmed, but you're all being sent home early today." Everybody started to cheer and clap, some nerdy kids in the back asked why. "We found a body."
Tori's mouth opened in shock, "A dead one?" Lane nodded.
"Well who was it?" My voice was pretty much emotionless, this wasn't that big of news, people died all the time. Lane didn't look like he wanted to tell me, but in the end he stuttered it out.
His voice was frightened, "Lloyd MacDonald."
My mouth dropped open, my palms began to sweat and it felt like I was spinning around in circles. My breath became panicky, something I've never really felt before. My heart was beating against my ribs like a lion just waiting to get out of a cage. No matter how hard I tried to pretend like Lane hadn't just said that name, I couldn't. Everything was different now, I couldn't keep pretending like my world wasn't going to spiral into pit of uncertainty and darkness. Despite the fact that I was having a panic attack, the only thing I could say was, "I have to find Cat."
