1/26/12
Ch. 1
Prudence P.O.V
"So let me get this straight? We're really moving?" I asked my mother as I moved about the kitchen packing up dishes and knick knacks from around the room. She was cleaning out the fridge and scrubbing it down from top to bottom.
"Yes Prudence we're really moving. We're going to Los Angeles at the end of the week. You're father has gotten a fabulous promotion and we can't let it slip through our fingers. He'll be making three times as much money as he does now." She said glancing up at me from her position at the bottom of the fridge. "We'll be able to send you to a performing arts school now. Isn't that what you wanted, to go where you can study the things you have an interest in instead of a regular school?"
Of course that's what I wanted. It's what I've always wanted, but giving up my friends, was it worth it? I let the idea bounce around in my hand for a moment before shaking myself out of my thoughts and looking my mother in the eye.
"You know that's what I want mom, but all of my friends are here. I won't know anyone there." I complained in a child-like manner. I knew we were going to be leaving no matter what, so why not milk it a little bit beforehand?
"You can make new friends P', now keep packing." She said unsympathetically, obviously knowing the game I was playing. Damn. I smirked and went back to my business thinking of how I was going to tell my friends that I was moving to California.
"So the movers are on their way down to the new house. We're going to fly down tomorrow and meet them, this is our last night here, what do you want to do?" My dad asked as he sat down on the couch we were leaving behind. I sat in the floor next to his feet and relaxed as he played with my hair.
"I think I just want to stay in, I've already said my goodbyes to everyone, I don't think I could stomach going through that again." I said as I grimaced at just the thought. It hadn't been pretty telling my best friend that I was going to be moving, he had all but handcuffed himself to my ankles. I'd promised to keep in touch but we both knew it wouldn't be the same.
"Was it really that bad?" He asked as my mom came in and sat down on the couch next to him quickly cuddling up onto his chest.
"It was awful; Liam was nearly hysterical when I told him." I said pouting. They both made whining noises and nodded at me with understanding. I knew they weren't being patronizing they too had friends here and I knew they were just as sad to leave them.
"I'm sure he'll come down to see you sometime sweetie, maybe for summer break, and if he can't we'll send you up here." There was a promise in my mother's voice and it made me look up into her eyes. I could feel my own eyes beginning to glitter with unshed tears and it frustrated me to no end. I wasn't a crier, especially over a great opportunity like this one. It's just that I'd grown up in Salem; it had been my home for my entire life. I didn't know any different, and I was scared to be going somewhere new that was completely foreign to me.
"Prue, you'll be okay. We'll all be okay, I know this is all different for you and I can imagine how scary it all must be, but you'll get adapted to the new place soon enough." My father cooed to me before standing and taking my hand to pull me up. "What do you say we go get something to eat and then we'll come back and watch a movie before going to bed? We've got to be up early tomorrow morning for our flight." I smiled at him as he twirled me slightly in a dancing manner.
"You'll see how great L.A. really is when we get there darling. It'll be great for you and will help you further your dreams." I knew my mother was right but it still sucked to be leaving my hometown, probably for good.
The drive from the airport was relatively short, maybe only twenty minutes at most. The house was gorgeous; it was very modernized with big bay windows all over the front side and was done with a white and chrome color. The lawn was perfectly green and well-manicured. I was star-struck to say the least, I could definitely learn to adapt if this is where I would be living. For the first time in almost a day I actually smiled and it wasn't faked at all.
We pulled into the driveway and as I got out the sun beat upon my shoulders. I was amazed at the strength it had, I hadn't been outside the air conditioned vehicle for five minutes before I could feel the swear starting to bead on my forehead.
"Will it always be this hot outside?" I groaned as I lugged my carry-on up the steps to our new front door. Mom and dad were quickly behind me after gathering their own luggage and paying the driver. I heard my mom laugh after I made my complaint signaling to me that she'd heard what I had said.
"I'm sorry to say that most days will be like this." My mother huffed tiredly as she reached the top step to stand on our medium sized front porch, my father following her as he pulled the house keys from his pocket.
"You guys ready for this?" He asked excitedly. He was grinning from ear to ear as he slid the key into the lock and turned it before pushing the door open in a grand gesture. We all walked in at the same time and the foyer was very wide, a chandelier was hung from the high ceiling and straight in front of them was a tall winding staircase that leads to the second floor.
"Holy sh—crap." I quickly amended when I realized my parents were still standing with me. I was completely blown away by the size and beauty of the house. It was like something out of a magazine and I was going to be living in it.
"It's sure something huh, Prue?" My mother stated chuckling at my astonishment. I had to agree with her though; it was a spectacle to say the least. I couldn't believe it really, I knew we were well off as far as money was concerned but this was insane.
"Why don't you go pick your room sweetie, any room but the master bedroom on the top floor that's ours." My dad said sternly with a smile. I couldn't wait to start checking out the house. I left my bag at the base of the steps as I went on my adventure through my new home. I felt like the doors just kept on appearing, every time I'd get through with one room another one would pop up out of nowhere.
I finally settled on the master bedroom downstairs, it was slightly smaller than my parents but it still had an adjoining bathroom and that was very appealing to me. I went back to find my parents but found them gone, after a few minutes of searching I found them in their room curled up on their bed asleep. The day must've caught up with them. I sighed as I trudged back down the stairs, wandering into the kitchen I found a set of keys laying on the island in the middle of the room with a note attached 'We decided to take a nap, figured you'd want to go explore your new surroundings. Love you. Be safe.' Picking up the keys I had the arrant thought that I didn't know where anything was but I quickly pushed it out of my head and went in search of the car my parents had apparently bought without my knowledge. I found the garage rather quickly and spotted two new cars, one obviously for me, a black Mazda RX8 with chrome rims and for them a red Mazda5. I took a moment to gawk at my new ride and explore its features before I opened the garage door and set out on my way.
I'd been driving around for about an hour when I came across a coffee shop near the new high school I would be auditioning for on Monday. It didn't look too crowded, only one car in the parking lot. I parked quickly and stepped out making sure to lock the doors behind me as I pulled open the door to the café. I spotted a group of kids taking up two tables on my way to the counter; A black guy with small clean looking dreads, a shorter girl with fiery red hair, a slightly taller tanned girl with long lush brown hair, a tall lanky boy with movie-star medium lengthy hair (totally American Eagle material), and a pale boy with a Jew 'fro holding a puppet. They seemed like totally normal kids and I smirked as they all began to laugh at the tanner girl.
I quickly made my way up to the front before they could notice me creeping on them and began to scan the menu for something that seemed appetizing. After a moment of careful deliberation I decided on a blueberry muffin and a caramel Frappuccino. I paid for the meal and found a booth in the corner where I could have a clear view of the group but it wasn't so obvious that they'd notice me looking. I felt stalkerish but something was drawing my attention to them, something I couldn't quite point out. I heard the creak of a bathroom door opening before a rush of air brushed passed me as a girl dressed in black with jet black hair stomped across the floor to sit with the stalkerees.
I watched her walk with interest, her gait was strong and purpose filled, she seemed to glide and her strut was like she owned the place. I found it entrancing and couldn't look away. She sat down next to the tanned girl and smirked as they all welcomed her back and asked 'how'd it go in there?' I found myself chuckling despite how awkward I felt doing it. As my eyes left my napkin and glanced up they met the striking blue of the girl who walked passed me. I felt the air vanish from my lungs and fought to hold in the cough as my drink nearly sputtered from my mouth. My cheeks flushed and I quickly looked away.
Her face was angelic, pale skin contrasting fiercely with the color of her hair making her features stand out all the more. Plump rosebud lips, perfectly shaped eyebrows one of which holding a silver barbell where it had obviously been pierced. She was absolutely breathtaking and I found that I wanted to look up at her again so badly and had to reign in my impulses to avoid looking like a complete idiot. I went back to eating my muffin and silently prayed that when I did bring my eyes up again she wouldn't be looking my way.
Jade P.O.V
"Jade? Jade!" I heard Beck yell at me from my side as I drug my eyes away from the girl across the room. I quickly yanked my head in his direction and gave him my full attention. The whole table was staring at me and I felt the heat rise to my face before I forced it away.
"What?" I snapped at them and the majority of the table turned away except for Beck. Leave it to him to want to dig into my air headedness. He was giving me a look that meant 'you're going to spill whether you like it or not.' I hated that look, it always meant delving into my head and that was never a good day for anyone. It always left me feeling rather drained and ready to do some serious damage with my favorite pair of scissors.
He pulled his chair up closer to me so he could lean in to whisper in my ear. "What's got you spacing out on us?" He asked softly so no one else could hear him.
"Nothing." I hissed back to him as I turned to give him a mild glare. He just smirked in response and wiggled a finger at me to let me know he knew I was lying. I knew he'd know, he always knows. That's why he's my best friend; he always knew when something was going on with me. I suppose that's what almost two years of dating will get you, a lifelong bond with someone you can always count on to be able to read your mind.
"Jade, I know you, remember? So don't lie. Is it the cutie sitting over there by herself?" He asked conspiratorially. How the hell did he always know? I gave up trying to lie to him and subtly nodded my head looking up at her again; she hadn't looked up again since our eyes met the first time. She was absolutely stunning. Nice and tan, thick dark brown hair that was cut short and styled to look messy but she wasn't over-doing it like most people did with that hairstyle. She wore black wire rimmed glasses and her lip was pierced with a little silver stud on the bottom. She seemed to be on the shorter side but I was only assuming since I hadn't seen her stand up, she dressed like a guy but that was okay because she was handsome about it, obviously wearing name brand clothing if the HCO on her shoulder was anything to go by.
That was perfectly fine with me, I preferred them butch, but not too butch and if the eye shadow I could see was any kind of clue she was right on the line which is where I liked my girls. As she reached up to scratch her neck I noticed that she had a tattoo on her right wrist. Fuck me. I'm a sucker for tattoos and piercings.
"Jade, you're starting to drool." Beck whispered into my ear again while pretending to swipe off the imagined liquid from my chin. I turned and punched him in the shoulder making him yelp and recoil with discomfort. I hadn't hit him too terribly hard, just hard enough to get him to back off.
"What is going on with you two?" Tori asked as she stared at us from across the table with her brows knit and her eyes narrowed. She was curious and I was not willing to let this information get out quite yet.
"Jade has a new crush." Beck announced for me and I found myself rounding on him again and punching him with a lot more force than I had before. He really did cry out in pain this time and brought his hand up to rub the offending spot on his arm, I hoped it bruised just so he'd have a reminder of what happens when you aggravate me in public.
"What new crush?" Cat asked as Robbie, Tori and Andre all leaned in closer to hear Beck better. I could have cursed the day my best friend was born as I dropped my head into my hands groaning with frustration. I felt like I could strangle the boy but I knew that would only make it worse, so I listened as he gave them all the information he had.
"Jade was eyeing up the girl sitting over there alone. She couldn't take her eyes off of her." He smirked and I heard as all four of their heads turn to try and get a look at the new girl of my affections. I also heard a collective sound of approval as they turned back around to address me. I raised my head and glared.
"Jade she is a cutie!" Cat squealed.
"Yeah you should totally go for it!" Tori agreed instantly with a huge smile on her face.
"Damn, that girl is fine, if you don't go for her I will." Andre stated causing a fire to erupt behind my eyes and suddenly Beck wasn't the only one I wanted to strangle. The jealousy that flared within me was a surprise to say the least. I didn't know anything about that girl and yet I was willing to cause harm to one of my oldest friends.
"And if he doesn't succeed I'll take a stab at it, and lord knows Robbie doesn't have a chance with anyone in her league." Rex just had to put his two cents in.
"Will you all just shut up before she notices that we're talking about her?" I whined as I looked at her again to see if she was looking at us. She wasn't and I thanked the Heavens for small favors.
"Chill girl, she hasn't raised her head since Beck filled us in on the scoop." Andre said trying to lighten the mood a little bit with his trademark grin. It set me at ease a little bit but not enough to drop my guard.
"So are you going to go talk to her or what?" Tori urged as she nudged me in the rips making me grunt as she put a little force into it. I looked back at the girl and noticed that she was looking up again and like magnets our eyes found their way back to each other. It was like a force of nature to look away and I didn't even feel the need to until Beck caught my attention.
"Look they're making googley eyes at each other again." He giggled like a little school girl and I rolled my eyes at his innocence.
"If you don't shut up, Oliver, I won't hesitate to kick your ass right here and now." I warned him quickly as I took a deep breath and released it slowly trying to calm myself. I don't know what I was getting so amped up about, it's not like I'd never talked to a girl before, hell I'd probably talked to too many girls but none of them had ever affected me like this one.
"Jade, just go say 'hi.'" Beck encouraged smiling at me reassuringly before moving my chair out with his foot. It still amazed me that for such a skinny guy he had a surprising amount of strength. Somewhat reluctantly I stood on shaking legs and began to make my way to her nervously, wiping my hands on my pants where they'd started to sweat. Unfortunately there was nothing I could do for the shaking they'd started to do.
As I got closer to the table I noticed that she was getting more and more interested in her cup and was refusing to look up at me. So deciding to take the initiative I slid into the opposite side of the booth and waited for her to look up. I would wait as long as I needed to; she had to move her eyes to me at some point.
I didn't even know it until she did glance up at me that I had missed the color of her eyes, they were a very deep dark chocolate brown and I felt myself melting into them as she stared at me, questioning me with her expression why I was there. I felt myself getting lost in her and shook my head to regain my composer.
"Hi." I said shyly as I smiled at her. I felt my eyes twinkle when she began to blush, she was just as nervous as I was but wasn't so good at hiding it like me.
"H-hi, can I do something for you?" She asked me. Her voice was shaking and the flush on her face intensified ten-fold. I found her to be absolutely to die for adorable. She was getting under my skin really quickly.
"Yes you can. You can tell me your name?" I asked her as I ducked my head to keep eye contact with her as she lowered her head. I couldn't let her eyes go, I was falling in love with them big time and they were steadfastly becoming my favorite drug.
"Prudence, uh, Prudence Delvichio. I just moved here from Salem. Today actually, I was driving around and got a little hungry." She just moved here huh.
"Oh that explains it." I said vaguely knowing she would take the bait as soon as it came out of my mouth.
"Explains what?" Bingo. I smirked to myself before answering her question.
"How I could've missed a girl as beautiful as you. There's no possible way of that happening, so of course you weren't here yet." I smiled my most charming smile, but it backfired.
"I uh, I've gotta go. My parents will be expecting me." She said quickly before she slid out of the booth and threw away her trash before exiting the café and climbing into her car and speeding off.
What the hell just happened right now? This girl was into me I could feel it in my bones, tell by the look on her face, and see it in her eyes. Why did she just run away from me like I had the fucking plague? I felt my confidence go from 10 to 0 in 2.5 seconds. I just didn't understand it at all.
"Jade?" I heard Beck question as he laid a hand on my shoulder jarring me from my thoughts. "What just happened?"
"I have no fucking idea. But I'm going to find out." I said as I slid out of the booth and ran to my car, getting in quickly and driving off after her. I wasn't too far behind so it was pretty easy to catch up.
I followed her for three blocks before she turned off onto a residential street and kept driving up to a stunningly large house and pulling into the driveway. I pulled in behind her and got out quickly as I saw her notice me in the rearview mirror. She got out too and stared at me in shock. I guess she didn't think that I would follow her all the way to her house. But I'm Jade West, when I want something I go for it guns blazing or I don't go for it at all.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" She asked me as I began walking towards her. "Why did you follow me to my fuckin' house?"
"I just want to talk to you," I said as I held up my hands in a non-threatening posture. "I want to know why you ran out on me; we'd been flirting for like half an hour and then I go over to talk to you and you just bail. What the hell is that?" I asked as I get a little closer to her. She isn't backing away so I take that as a good sign.
She just continues to stare at me as I inch closer and closer until I'm standing right in front of her. I fall even deeper into her eyes when I see them bathed in sunlight turning them into a light honey shade, so bright and energetic. Her breathing is heavy and I'm worried that she may be starting to panic.
"Prue?" I probe as I come to rest right in front of her not two feet away. I'm in touching distance and as bad as I want to reach out a hand and grasp hers I hold back letting her set the pace of this conversation.
"Why did you follow me, you know that makes you like a stalker right?" She asks as she cocks her head to the side. She's being completely serious and I guess she's right; I am a stalker in a roundabout way.
"I don't care. I needed to know why you ran." I told her honestly keeping nothing hidden. I learned early on not to do that when you were dealing with a female. It was all honestly all the time with me and I liked it that way, things were a lot less complicated.
"Do you want to come inside?" She asked me and I breathed a sigh of relief as I nodded my head and smiled at her. I followed her into the house and as we walked through the house I was even more amazed at the size and decoration of it.
"You're house is really nice. It's beautiful. I love how open it is." I told her with a little bit of awe in my voice. She turned back to look at me with a smirk gracing her luscious lips and I felt my insides shiver at the look she was giving me. I felt hot all over and all I wanted to do in that moment was kiss her breathless.
"I haven't really gotten the full affect yet, I just got here like three hours ago." She told me as she led me through the house, to her bedroom presumably. I assumed right because after a minute we arrived at a door and she opened it to reveal a room with lavender painted walls, a king size four poster bed with a grey and white comforter with a purple floral pattern sprinkled across it. I quickly walked over to it and sat down bouncing a few times as I took the rest of the room in.
"Your bed is really comfortable," I stated as I laid back on it. "I could lie here all day." I grinned big and looked up into her eyes. She was smiling shyly as she decided whether or not she wanted to sit with me or on the love seat in the corner of the room. In the end she decided to sit next to me and perched herself on the edge of the bed next to my hip.
"So, you never told me your name." She said as her eyes drifted from my eyes to travel down my face and torso before roaming back up again. I could definitely see desire and attraction in her eyes there was no denying it now.
"My name is Jadelyn West. I've lived here my whole life; never want to live anywhere else. I'm 17 years old, my birthday was last month. I live with my parents but they work a lot so they're rarely home. The group you saw me with was all my closest friends we do pretty much everything together. Um, I go to Hollywood Arts. That's pretty much it. Obviously I'm gay, but you knew that so," I ended my mini-biography and took a moment to catch my breath.
"Do you like it?" She asked and I was confused, did I like what?
"Like what?" I asked when she didn't elaborate.
"You're high school do you like it?" She explained picking at a loose string on the comforter.
"Oh yeah I do a lot. I want to be an actress so it's basically the best school ever." I said with enthusiasm. I truly felt that way. It certainly beat the hell out of a regular high school.
"I'm supposed to audition on Monday." She said quietly. Wow, could this be anymore meant to be? What are the odds that the new girl in town would just so happen to run into me and my gang three days before she's supposed to audition at my school? It had to be fate, right?
"Oh really, what are you auditioning for?" I ask her interestedly as I turn over on my side to give her my full attention. She seemed nervous to tell me, she was playing with a silver band with black tribal markings on her right hand.
"I want to be a movie writer." She said quietly paying a considerable amount of attention to how her ring slid across her middle finger. I had my eyes trained on her hands as well and was completely enthralled by how they looked her hands were slightly boney and had shorter nails, very well-manicured, clean cut. They were sexy as hell in my opinion. I was looking forward to feeling them glide up my skin.
"That's exciting, I know a few friends who are going for that. I can write plays but I don't have the attention to detail that's required to do movies, I've written a few plays though." I told her nonchalantly.
"I love to write it's like my favorite thing to do." She giggled a little bit and shook her head. "I'm really introverted, so having conversations on paper with fictional people is how I deal with a lot of my problems."
"I can understand that." I agreed. We grew silent after our small conversation and I couldn't help but stare at her and it took her a few minutes to realize what I was doing and for her to look over at me too.
Prudence P.O.V
The silence that followed us after talking about her school wasn't as awkward as it should have been; I found that to be a little weird, usually I'd be crawling out of my skin having a stranger sitting so close to me on my bed. Maybe it was because I wasn't used to this bedroom yet and it didn't feel so much like she was invading my personal space. Or maybe it was something else entirely. It took me a moment to realize that she was watching me very intently. I wanted to look at her too but I was curbing that desire for as long as possible so I didn't inflate her ego too much, she was already showing signs of thinking she knew me and she really didn't.
But after a few minutes I couldn't take it anymore and I turned my head to see her. Her beauty struck me again, she looked so content laying there staring at me. Like she was right where she wanted to be. It amazed me how she could look like that, she didn't even know me, how could I make her so happy?
"Why are you looking me like that?" I asked her I was honestly curious to know. I wanted to know how she was feeling and the cause. She just blew into my life less than an hour ago and already I could tell that she would be for long time to come.
"Like what?" She asked back cocking her head to the side and pursing her lips slightly, her blue eyes filled with confusion as she studied my face.
"Happy, like you're just settled in, comfortable. I'm a complete stranger to you Jade. How can you be like this around me, you're acting like you're sitting here with your best friend." I explained raising my eyebrows.
"I feel comfortable around you. I can't explain why, it's actually very unnatural for me to be acting like this right now. It took Beck years for me to act like this around him and we were dating then!" She said rolling her eyes.
"What makes me so special then?" I asked her as I made myself more comfortable, lying down next to her on my stomach my head parallel to hers.
"I have no idea. You just, intrigue me I suppose. There's just something about you, I feel like we're supposed to be connected somehow." She said, her voice was light and conversational but I could hear the questions that were just beneath the surface. She wanted to know why she was feeling this way. And honestly I did too because everything she was feeling, so was I. And this sort of thing just never happened to me, I'd had two real girlfriends my whole life and both of those relationships ended in disaster and heartbreak. And yet here I was with a girl in my bed that I'd only known for roughly an hour. What the hell?
I couldn't think of anything to say to that. I knew how she was feeling yes, but that didn't mean that I needed to tell her everything. Silence once again overcame us and neither of us were eager to break it just yet. So we didn't we simply sat there taking each other in, learning each other's facial features and breathing rhythms.
When the silence did come to a close it wasn't I who ended it. "Why did you run, Prudence?" Jade asked me softly as she locked her eyes with mine. I considered lying to her momentarily before rethinking that option, she'd probably be able to tell if I was lying. So I opted for the truth.
"You scared me." I told her, never breaking away from her gaze. Her eyes widened a little in shock and concern.
"I scared you, what did I do?" Her voice was higher than it normally was and she sat up to look down at me. I had obviously upset her somehow; I don't think she liked the notion of scaring me very much.
"I'm not very used to having to beautiful girls approach me at random. I have a small issue with anxiety, I panicked." I told her as I too sat up to face her.
"And me following you didn't help then. I'm very sorry, I didn't mean to upset you, and I just needed to know you. I want to get to know you better. I think you're a great person so far." She smiled shyly at me and it was much different than the cocky attitude she seemed to permanently exude.
"I think you are too. And don't be sorry, I just had a mental episode for a minute, but it's just because I like you. When I saw your face the first time I felt like my heart was going to explode." I blushed as I made my admission. She smiled and squeezed my hand that rested by her knee.
"I did too, you took my breath away." She was so sweet, she made my heart swell and I felt my pulse begin to race. "I meant what I said; I want to get to know you Prudence. I don't want to let you slip through my fingers."
"I won't. And hey, there's a good chance you and I will be going to the same school together so I'm sure we'll be seeing a lot of each other." I smirked at her and she laughed as she realized I was right.
"You're right, I didn't think about that. But I hope to see you more than just at school, you should come hang out with me and my friends tomorrow. We're going to the beach." She offered. I thought about it for a second before telling her I would go.
"You can pick me up before you head out there?" I asked her. She nodded her head vigorously and smiled widely.
"Of course."