St. Mary Beth Hospital-Teen Psych Division

I'm shown around several rooms in the facility and I worry my lip between my teeth.

"It's okay, Victoria. You'll be okay here, you'll get better, promise me you'll get better?"

I nod faintly and the nurse walks me to my room. My roommate's on her side facing away from me and the nurse closes the door behind me.

"What are you in for?"

The voice is dry and humorless, as though the life has been drained from her body.

"I don't…" I pause. "I don't eat."

She rolls over and my god she is stunning. "Ah, I see."

"What about you?" I gingerly sit on my bed and notice her arms are shoved under the blankets.

"Tried to kill myself, what was it, three times now? Yeah, three times. Been cutting since I was ten."

I wince. "How old are you now?"

"Fourteen." She whispers before closing her eyes and yawning.

"I'm Jade."

"I'm Victoria."

"You should go by Tori. Victoria's a little old fashioned." Another yawn.

I give her a small smile. "I do, most of the time. Not at home though."

She rolls toward me and I lie down. "One more question, and believe me, you'd be surprised at the variety of answers I've heard. Are you straight?"

My eyes widen and I give her a crooked smile. "Not particularly."

"Neither am I." Jade whispers, tracing her hair on her pillow. I smile at her before closing my eyes.

"You should, by the way."

"Should what?"

"Eat. You're beautiful now, but you'd be a goddess if you had some weight to you."

"Well you should stop trying to off yourself." I open my eyes and find hers closed. "There's a shortage of beautiful and intellectual girls in the world. It would be a shame to lose one for something as sad as self-hate."

I see her smile, even though her eyes are closed.

/

A week later

I wake up when everyone else does. I put on my shirt and jeans and watch before waking Jade, who growls at me.

I sigh and yank the blanket off her. In response, she curls into a tiny ball, her arms still hidden from sight.

I pry her apart and she blinks at me before glancing down at her exposed wrists and blushing a deep shade of red before hiding them.

I only saw a little of the scars, but most of them are angry and strawberry colored.

"I didn't see anything." I whisper before tossing her a pair of pants and a shirt.

"Get dressed."

She groans before getting dressed and following me down to breakfast.

"Are you hungry?" she asks slowly, glancing at the food on my plate. I pick at it.

"Not really."

"Please just eat like half the banana."

I glance at her super long sleeves and peel the banana, taking a tiny bite. I follow that with a slightly bigger bite, and then one more before putting it down and glancing at her, arms folded.

"There. Ate some banana. I'm full. Eat your eggs and shit so we can go color or something."

Jade smiles at me and so do all the nurses and I roll my eyes before standing up and walking out of the cafeteria.

/

A month after admittance

Jade's sitting on her bed before looking over at me. I've gained about ten pounds now, but I don't want to eat it. It's Jade. She pulls these ridiculous eyes and I just can't say no to them.

"You look good, Tori."

I smile softly at her. "I don't feel good, but thanks anyway."

She climbs over her bed into mine and I glance at her wearily.

"I just thought you should know that I like you, Tori." Jade exhales. I blush slightly and blink.

"I like you too, Jade."

She smiles before playing with her sleeve.

"So what now?"

"Tori Vega, would you like to be my girlfriend?"

I laugh. "Yeah, yeah I would."

We agreed not to tell anyone lest the nurses separate us. We've been sitting on my bed for over two hours, just talking about everything.

"Why don't you eat?" Jade asks suddenly, and I glance around nervously.

"This really mean girl at my old school. She kept telling me I was fat and that I needed to drop a few pounds so finally I did. And then I couldn't stop."

Jade balls her hands into fists. I give her a crooked smile before glancing at her wrists.

"Why did you…?"

"I…I…can we talk about this later maybe?" It's barely a whisper.

Gently, ever so gently, I roll up her left sleeve. She tenses and I keep rolling it until I'm at her shoulder. there's still angry scratches and gashes everywhere, but it's as high as I dare to go.

I take her hand in mine and start the tedious task of kissing each scar, each cut. When I'm done with that side I roll up the other and do the same, pressing my lips to each one.

I snuggle into her chest and look up at her. "Take all the time you need babe."

She swallows.

"My dad's boss." She blurts out before small tears form in her eyes. "My dad's boss would come over for dinner all the time and say he was going to the bathroom but he didn't, he wasn't Tori, he was always in my bedroom and-"

She cuts herself off and takes a deep breath. "He was never in the bathroom, Tori, he was always in my bedroom and doing things and I didn't know what was going on, how could I, I was only in first grade, but then as it went on I realized what it was and why it hurt so bad and how wrong it was and no one ever noticed, no one noticed until sixth grade when I tried to kill myself the first time and they wouldn't notice and I would hide the bruises and cuts and they didn't notice Tori."

She's shaking and I sit up, wrapping my arms around her and whispering into her ear.

"He's an asshole, Jade, and-"

I realize she's been crying and I hug her tighter, pressing a soft kiss to her temple.

"It's gonna be okay."

/

Six months from admittance. It is now June.

I'm getting released today. So is Jade. I've gained around fifty pounds, so I'm just at the healthy weight level. Jade's not suicidal anymore and they have her on some medication to stop her nightmares. We have yet to actually kiss, not because either of us are chicken, but because the nurses would have caught us. We've agreed to continue our relationship over the summer, until she starts as a freshman at a performing arts academy and I go back to Sherwood.

I don't want summer to end.

/

One month after release.

I push my lips against Jade's and a violin quartet starts playing in the back of my mind. Her lips start moving and so do mine as I pull her closer to me.

We break apart and I smile at her before turning around to put on my dress. It's red.

I turn back around to see her glancing at her dress and down at her sleeves.

I immediately notice the problem-the dress is short sleeved.

I grab her by the shoulders and look at her.

"Jade, wear the dress. You look beautiful in it and anyone that says anything else…well, fuck them. You're gorgeous. Wear the dress and pretend like the scars aren't even there."

She nods meekly before putting it on, and she looks absolutely amazing.

I peck her lips before walking outside into the sun, grinning and entangling our hands.

She smiles back at me and I walk up to my dad and mom, giving them both a hug.

"Well, happy Quinceañera or whatever." My dad grumbles and I smirk, batting him on his shoulder.

"Thank you dad. Thanks mom."

They grin at me and I peck Jade's cheek before going to dance with her.

"I'm going to miss you so much, Jade." I whisper, and she brushes a piece of hair out of my face.

"I'm going to miss you more. Doesn't your terror of a sister go to Hollywood Arts too?"

I nod and she groans. "You have to audition."

"Nah, I'm not good enough."

/

Last day of summer

"I'll never forget about you." I whisper softly into Jade's ear and she nods, squeezing her eyes shut. "I love you Jade."

"I love you too, Tori."

I kiss her lips, foreheads touching, and pull off her shirt. She flinches.

"Jade, you know I'm not Jerry. I'm not going to hurt you like that, ever, okay?"

She bites her lip and nods. I point to her wrist, kissing the inside of it.

"Just promise me-" I kiss her other wrist, "that-" I kiss her stomach, "you'll never-" I kiss her thighs over the thin material of her pants and stand up. "resort to this again."

She nods and I pull her shirt on for her. She sighs and leans up to kiss me, an open mouthed, passion-exploding-everywhere, I-love-you kiss. I dangling my arms around her neck and we stay like that, neither of us moving, for several minutes.

We settle into Jade's bed and I roll on my side, looking at her. "I'll never hurt you, okay?"

She nods and I take a deep breath. "You know, without you, I would've starved to death."

She blinks. "Without you, I would have been dead by now."

I gasp and furrow my brow. "You what?"

"The day you came in, I had everything all planned out. I stole some bed sheets and was going to hang myself until you showed up."

My eyes widen and I trace her side.

"I'm glad you didn't."

I rub her side until she falls asleep. "I love you Jade, don't ever forget that." I whisper before kissing her and untangling myself from her.

I stand up and write her a tiny note explaining that I would be leaving and that I loved her and that she should stay strong because we'd see each other again sometime soon. I slipped the note into her hand and left without a word before walking to my house.

So this is an idea I've had for a while. If you want more Roadwork, that's going to be out by this weekend. I've been so distracted lately and I know it's been forever but I've been tired and dealing with everything.

I know Jade and Tori were both slightly OOC, that'll change, don't worry.