Missed Your Chance

A/N: Hello people! I've got writer's block with my other stories at the moment, so I decided to write a little one-shot. This is a type of genre that I've never done before, so let me know if it's any good!

Disclaimer: I don't own Victorious! Don't you think it would've lasted longer than this if I did?

What were they waiting for? They all knew the truth; Beck still loved Jade. Jade still loved Beck. Everybody knew it except for them. Such stubborn human beings they were. Why couldn't they just kiss and make up like the last time they broke up? It wasn't hard, not really. To those two, however, it was impossible.

Beck had tried to move on, really he did. From his attempted kiss with Tori to a new date every now and then, he tried to forget about his first love, but to no avail. He couldn't stop thinking about her. It didn't help that he saw her every day at school. She would walk by his locker to get to class, not even bothering to glance his way. It was agonizing to watch her pass by him without a word. What was worse, she avoided him. Oh, how he hated that. He wished that he could talk to her again, to hold her hand and play with her hair, to kiss her and embrace her once more.

One day, he thought. I'll get her back.

As the weeks went on, he had still accomplished nothing. They were hardly on speaking terms and every time they were in the same room together, an awkward, tense air filled up the space. No one enjoyed it at all, especially Beck. He needed to end this soon. He wasn't sure how much longer he could take such torture.

One day, she'll be mine again.

The months passed through quickly, each one as uneventful as the other. He hadn't made any progress. If it was possible, he did the exact opposite. Speaking? No more. If they were in the same room, the other would just get up and leave. It was terrible, just terrible. Yet, Beck was still determined to win back the Goth girl's heart. He just hadn't decided how or when yet.

One day, we'll be together again.

It was a beautiful Saturday morning, just gorgeous; a light blue, cloudless sky with a refreshing summer breeze. Who could've asked for a more glorious day? Beck Oliver could have, for he got the call on that very day. It started off simple by him answering with "Hey, Cat. What's up?"

Instantly, the call went from plain to worrisome when Cat replied with a shaky, cracking voice. "I-I need you to meet me at the hospital. Now."

Beck sat upright from his bed in his RV, fully alert. "Why? What happened? Are you okay?"

He could easily distinguish a choked sob before she answered. "I'm fine! It's J-Jade! She's… she's… please, just hurry! I'll explain when you get here!"

Beck's body seemed to react before his mind registered all of this completely. After confirming which hospital to go to, he was speeding down the road to the hospital and running through the doors to find Cat and Robbie sitting in the uncomfortable waiting room chairs. Robbie had his arm firmly wrapped around Cat's tiny shoulders as the small red head furiously swiped at her eyes, tear tracks evident. When she spotted Beck, she jumped out of her seat, not in the happy bouncing way she normally would, and hugged his middle tightly as she burrowed her head against his chest.

Beck stroked her hair for a short minute until he pulled her away at arm's length. "Cat, can you tell me what happened?" he asked, trying to stay calm for the girl's sake. As she tried to explain what had happened exactly, her voice faded and she could eventually only produce squeaking noises from her mouth. Robbie got up and rubbed Cat's arm as he continued for her.

"Cat told me that Jade was over at her house when it happened. Apparently, Jade had been acting queasy and nauseous all day. She threw up a couple of times, I think. Cat tried to hug her or something and Jade was going to shove her off, but Cat's arm pressed against her stomach, which made Jade scream and nearly cry in pain. Later on, Jade passed out. Cat called me to pick them up and bring her here."

A knot slowly formed in Beck's throat and he found it hard to swallow. "Did you hear anything from the doctor?" Robbie nodded.

"She has appendicitis. She went into surgery about fifteen minutes ago."

Beck's heart dropped to the very bottom of his stomach. He knew that appendicitis could very well be deadly, but removing the appendix was one of the most common surgeries. He was sure it happened all the time, but he couldn't help but worry. Why did Jade have to go through this pain? How come it happened to her all of a sudden?

Instead of reacting to this news, Beck simply put on a blank expression and sat himself down in one of the chairs. Jade would be fine, right? She was strong. She could handle this with ease. By tomorrow, she would be walking around feeling fine and being her bitter self, right? All he had to do now was wait for the news of her recovery.

Within the next three hours, Tori and Andre had arrived, equally somber, Beck had played all the games he owned on his PearPhone, and Cat bought a snack from the vending machine down the hall. Eventually, Tori, Andre, and Robbie succumbed to their hunger and went straight to the cafeteria.

"You want anything?" Andre asked Beck. He shook his head.

"Nah, I'm good."

Andre sighed. "How long have you been without food, man? You gotta eat something." Beck still refused. He hadn't felt the need to eat. He wasn't hungry in the slightest, even though he missed breakfast from sleeping in too late that morning. As he thought about it, he hadn't eaten anything all day, yet he wasn't craving any food. How could he, with Jade still unconscious and probably getting cut open at that second. The very thought made him shudder.

"I said no." Beck replied, surprising himself with a harsh tone. Andre threw his hands out and muttered, "Okay, jeez." before stalking off to the hospital cafeteria.

Meanwhile, Cat was busy playing with her red-velvet cupcake hair and humming the tune to a random song. After about five minutes of this, she let go of her hair and asked "When do I get to see Jade?"

Beck ruffled her hair. "Soon. It shouldn't be too long now." His answer rang true when a portly looking man in his mid-thirties came out and walked over to them immediately. Beck assumed he knew they were with Jade since Cat came in with her and it was kind of hard to forget her hair color. Cat stood and smiled up at him with shining brown eyes.

"Can we see Jade now?" she questioned innocently. She hadn't noticed the doctor's grim expression.

"I'm afraid you can't see your friend at the moment." He answered shortly. Beck furrowed his eyebrows.

"Why? Shouldn't she be done with the surgery by now? It's been hours!"

The doctor sighed, bowed his head for a couple of seconds, and then tilted it back up with sympathy plastered across his face. "I'm sorry to be the one to tell you this, but your friend didn't make it." He then went on explaining how the appendix ruptured before they had even started surgery and bacteria spreading throughout her entire body before everything shut down. He added that if they had arrived just a little bit sooner, she could have had a chance of living. After expressing his condolences, he walked away without another word.

Beck hadn't been listening to anything after the first sentence. It was all incomprehensible words. Jade didn't live? Those words didn't belong in the same sentence, it didn't make sense. Of course she lived, she's Jade for crying out loud!

But she's still human, you already know that. She used to cry on your shoulder and she could have been in pain before, you remember.

It wasn't until Beck heard Cat's strangled sob that he was pulled out of his thoughts and gained a severe pain in his chest. It was as if someone had repeatedly stabbed him in the same exact spot with a sharp knife, twisting it deeper and deeper with every blow.

Cat had collapsed to the floor and held herself up with one arm while the other was tightened around her stomach. Tears were pouring down her face as she began to scream. "NO! NO! She's supposed to be okay! She's wasn't supposed to leave yet! I want her back NOW!" She turned to face Beck, who had sunken back into his chair and placed his head in his hands with his eyes shut tightly. He couldn't conceal his tears, which quickly dripped off his chin and onto his lap. Jade, the only girl he had ever (and still) truly loved, was gone. Dead. Out of his life forever.

He never did get the chance to win her back. They never became a couple again. He never got to tell her how much he cared about her, how much she truly meant to him. Of course, he really did have several chances, none of which he seized, and because of how long he held off on expressing his feelings for her, Jade died thinking she was unloved by the boy whom she had never stopped loving.

As all these thoughts ran though his mind, Beck didn't notice the heart-breaking scream of anguish he was letting out until he realized he was receiving several looks of pity from the others in the waiting room. He didn't care about them, though. He needed Jade. He needed to hold her, kiss her hand, and stroke her hair. He had to let her know that she was loved.

She's gone. The words echoed in his head. She's gone. You didn't tell her. She's dead now. You can't tell her anymore. She'll never know.

It took quite some time to explain what had happened in the amount of time that Andre, Tori, and Robbie were gone.

"What do you mean 'she's gone'?"

"No, you're lying!

"Stop! It's not funny!

Oh, if only it were a practical joke. Beck was desperate to believe that Jade paid the doctor to tell them she didn't make it just to see if anybody cared. He had actually started to believe that was the case, until the day of her funeral arrived four days later.

It was open casket; her parents had arranged it. They found out about their daughter's passing after a lady from the hospital called to inform them. They didn't even have time to react when the woman hung up.

Cat had made a speech that made just about everyone, including herself, burst into hysterical tears.

"The day we met in kindergarten, a bunch of older kids were picking on me and Jade told them to back off. She even threw a pencil sharpener at them! I wouldn't leave her only after that and eventually, she got so used to it that we would just march into each other's houses like it was our own. We were like sisters; inseparable. Then, a few years later, we both got into Hollywood Arts on the same day. From there, we planned the rest of our lives out together," she sobbed. "We were going to go on Broadway where she would write the plays and I would star in them and… and we would be bridesmaids at each other's weddings. Jade would yell at me and get annoyed with me, but she was still my best friend and I miss her so much." She choked on her words but managed to continue. "I'll never forget her or anything about her. I hope you can hear me, Jadey! I… I love you."

She proceeded to walk slowly back to her seat, but before she could make it all the way, she collapsed in a heap on the floor and bawled her large brown eyes out. Tori and Robbie walked over to her quickly and helped her up on her feet and half-dragged her to the end of the room. Tori's eyes were burning a bright crimson and her sniffles and choked sobs refused to cease. Robbie hadn't smiled since the day at the hospital and he was constantly found staring off into space as if in deep thought, tear tracks evident on his pale cheeks. He blamed himself, they all knew it. He thought that if he had driven just a little bit faster to the hospital, Jade would still be there.

Andre didn't speak much; he just bowed his head and listened. He stopped writing music, at least for now. All that he could think of was Jade and her beautiful singing voice. He had been in love with her at some time, but although he truly got over it, she was still a close friend of his and one he didn't expect to lose so soon.

Mr. and Mrs. West had hovered over their daughter's body for half of the funeral, their faces equally as pale as the young girl's. It wasn't until Mrs. West cried out in fury about how life was just a cruel joke that they were forced to exit the church.

Even Trina had attended the Goth's funeral. They were not friends in the slightest, but she came on behalf of her sister. She would be the strong one for quite some time, she knew that much. So the older Vega sister sat in her seat, quiet as could be, praying that life would get back to being close to normal soon.

Where was Beck? He was outside of the church in a small corner surrounded by trees that branched over him. Nobody would see him they weren't looking for him. He couldn't bring himself to look at Jade, his beloved angel, lying in a casket waiting to be buried. In the shade of the leaves, Beck was sitting on a concrete bench, rocking back and forth with slight motion and clutching a small, black ring hung around his neck by a simple black thread. He held it close above his heart with his head hanging down and brushed his lips softly over the ring, as if it would unravel at anything else. His face was wet with the never-ending salty tears streaming from his eyes to his burning red cheeks, his gaze never leaving the beloved circle object in his grasp.

"Why her?" he asked softly to no one in particular. "Why Jade? She had so much potential. She had a great life ahead, why was it taken from her?" He switched from speaking to no one to speaking directly to the deceased girl.

"Jade, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry this happened. I was going to tell you how much you still meant to me, I swear I was! I didn't know when the right time was, but if it weren't for my stupid pride, I would have told you any day!" A sob escaped his throat as he continued. "I love you; I've always loved you no matter how difficult things seemed to be. I just want to hold you again and be able to tell you that I'll always be there for you. I would do anything to get you back, God knows I would! I missed my chance with you. I missed my chance with the perfect girl and I can't tell you enough how sorry I am!"

As Beck sat alone on the bench, a warm breeze ruffled the leaves and made the grass sway, drying his tears from his face. "Can you hear me, Jade? I'll never stop loving you."

A/N: Yikes, not my best. I didn't even cry while writing this, which must mean this wasn't as emotional as I thought it would be, but maybe you guys and gals liked it! Review please! Oh, and I'm saying this once: NO FLAMES! I don't know if I could extend this story or not, but if you want me to, I will! Thanks for reading!