Day One; The Crash
Tiny fists coiled tightly around the pink strap of her suitcase, she dragged her packed belongings from the front porch of her small home and to Andre's awaiting car parked out front. With hauls of her arms she tugged the luggage down the sidewalk, her breath coming in short puffs as the weight was more than she had expected. Because she had lived the farthest and in the valleys of Los Angeles, they had all agreed that she was to be the first to be picked up before their 11:15 flight to Tahiti, but Beck and Jade were going to meet them there. Cat had spent all morning making sure she had all her essentials, necessities, clothes and valuables; and of course Mr. Longneck – Robbie had told her (while they were video-chatting) that she had packed more shoes and bikini's than she should have for a weeklong vacation, but that didn't stop her.
"Hey Dre!" She greeted cheerfully, a bright smile etching across her smooth skinned face as she finally came to a halt beside the trunk of his silver Mercedes.
"Sup Lil' Red? You need some help?" He asked her kindly, taking the suitcase strap from her hands and into his own. With a grateful Cheshire smile and a small giggle she nodded, tucking her magenta hair behind her ear before going to help him haul the heavy baggage into his trunk by grabbing a hold of the bottom. She had always adored and admired how nice Andre was; since the day she had met him he had been nothing but good natured, funny and gentle and he quickly became one of her close friends on her first day of Hollywood Arts.
"Thanks! You're so nice!" She chirped as they pushed it into the car with little difficulty (he was a burly kid, he handled the weight well).
"No problemo. So you excited for the trip?" He inquired, smiling briefly over at her as he walked over to the open door of his car, slickly sliding into the driver's seat. She followed his actions and slid into the passenger's seat, making sure to buckle up. She hadn't wanted to fly through the windshield if they had gotten in a car accident; she had already been in one that almost took her life with Jade, and she didn't want to risk that once again.
"You bet I am!" Replied Cat without hesitation, clasping her hands together excitedly. "Just not for the plane ride though, I have a problem with heights. One time, my brother was on a plane ride at the amusement park when we were little and he started to have a panic attack! So the ride attendant made him get off and we had to leave." She explained with a muffled giggle hidden behind her hand, recalling the very event that happened so long ago. "But he's better now."
Andre took his eyes off of the road for a split second to give her a weird look she pointedly attempted to ignore; most of her friends did, thinking she wasn't paying attention or she was too 'stupid' or crazy to notice. But she did. "Yeah…well you'll be fine; it's just a four hour flight Lil Red."
She sank down into her seat, her fingers fidgeting with the numerous bracelets covering her scarred wrist absentmindedly. "Are you sure?" She asked quietly, sounding like an innocent little child.
"Promise" Andre reassured with a light chuckle, his braided dark hair waving slightly as he shook his head.
"So, you're running away?"
Mouse slung his bag over a lean shoulder and turned his back to her, staring at the open window and into the night. "Yeah, Kitty. I am." He murmured in response to what she had inquired only seconds before. "What choice do I have?"
"You had the choice to rob someone's house with a gun, Mouse! You killed someone! They had an alarm, and someone probably called the police; you're going to get caught!" Cat cried as she stood from her brother's bed, attempting to control the overwhelming emotions. The two siblings were lounging within his bedroom on a late Friday night, both their mother and stepfather gone for the remainder of it. She had been in the middle of watching a Disney movie upon the living room couch, enjoying the freedom of being alone, when her brother had rushed into the house sweaty and panicking and carrying a black bag she didn't recognize. He had immediately shut and locked the door and set upstairs to pack his things; she had followed him, confused and slightly worried.
He had pulled a gun from the back of his trousers and stuffed it into a pack, as well as the bag he was carrying – which she had soon found out, was full of money. She had gasped and backed away from him, sinking into the soft mattress of his bed and asking him to admit to the truth. Though she hoped it wasn't true, he had, and without a speck of guilt ("We need the money Cat, but I didn't think that they had an alarm. I didn't know I was going to shoot him").
"Listen, Kitty. I'm getting out of this house either way – no matter if I robbed someone or not. But if the police show up to the doorstep don't tell them. Don't give me away, I'm begging you."Mouse turned back to her now, his voice soft and pleading.
"Where will you go, then?" She asked him, her lower lip wedged between her teeth until she had drawn blood.
"Out of state, maybe out of the country." He shrugged and ran a hand over his cropped brown hair. "You can come with me if you want. We'll go far away from this place, and we won't have to look back."
She shook her head, backing away from him with shock still etched across her face. "No, I'm not going anywhere with you, Mouse" Tears leaked from her eyes rapidly then, more cascading down porcelain cheeks each time she had wiped others away, as if they were replacing each other.
Her older brother slid onto the ledge of the window, swinging his legs over the side. He looked back, green eyes boring holes into hers. "Just promise me you'll get away from his hellhole then? At least for a little while. Go on vacation with your friends or something…You're my little sis; I don't want anything to happen to you when I'm gone"
The simple tears soon turned into heavy sobs, and she pressed her back against the dark blue wall with her hands cupped over her mouth. Cat answered him with only a nod of her head, refusing to meet the eyes of a murderer she had known very well to be her eldest brother. An ironically loud silence loomed over the small room; Mouse hopped from the window and into the grass not far beneath him; yet something had dropped from his pack and landed upon the ledge with a soft thump. He didn't seem to notice as he had completely disappeared from sight and into the darkness. Curious, she wandered over to the open window and picked the small white box up and into her hands gently. Cigarettes.
Cat stared at it, her sobs diminishing into expeditious tears once more, leaving lines of black trailing down her cheeks. Running mascara and eyeliner was the least of her worries and thus she hadn't bothered to wipe them away like she had the last time. Her fingers picked at the small package and eventually opened them, revealing a full set of them neatly lined up. She looked over her shoulder and at his desk, wandering over to it and opening one of the drawers roughly, something very uncharacteristic of her too do. She rustled amongst the pointless items hoarded and shoved within them until her hands caught grip of a black lighter filled with fuel.
She put a blunt between her lips.
It hadn't been long until the seven of them boarded the private plane that the Vega's had arranged, and the assuring words of Tori, Robbie and Andre during the fifteen minute car ride diminished almost immediately. Cat's stomach churned uneasily as she sank into the comfortable dark blue seat upon the expensive, yet small airplane. She had flown before and the feeling within her abdomen hadn't occurred to her once before, though of course she did get nauseas and clammy each time she stepped foot upon a plane. It was a curious feeling and she wasn't quite sure what to make of it.
Brent Shepherd, Jade's eighteen year old stepbrother from Great Britain (who agreed to come on the trip along with them), and she had been stuck with sitting together, something she didn't mind or care about for that matter, and had been pushed all the way into the front of the plane and near the cockpit. She had pushed the college student to the window seat, claiming if she had gotten the slightest bit of a glance of what was below them when they took off, she might throw up on him. Thankfully the handsome boy hadn't thought twice about it and gladly obliged to her dearest and pleading wishes.
With a long exhale she pressed her back into the leather seat and curled her fingers around the arms of the chair, her chocolate brown eyes instinctively closing as she attempted to relax. Instead of listening to the sounds of the plane beginning to take off she pursued to focusing upon her friends endless chatter – to Beck and Jade's voices in the seats across the aisle, to Tori and Andre's, to Trina's god awful singing and Robbie trying to shut her up. Their voices were comfort to her, as she had known that they were all with her, and being around those she had grown to love so dearly made her feel safe for at least a little while.
She hadn't known how long she sat there in complete and utter silence, something very uncommon for her, with her hands gripping the arms of the seat as if it were a life line, but by the time she had opened her eyes and peaked from the corner of her eye, all she had seen was white and fluffy clouds she always wanted to jump into. Cat swallowed hastily looked away and took another shaky breath, absentmindedly chewing on the inside of her cheek.
"Ah, the fear of heights," Brent said quietly from beside her, hood covering a majority of his face "or the fear of falling?"
Cat cleared her throat, tapping her finger rapidly against the metal beneath her palm in order to distract herself. "Both" She answered him, a frown tugging at the corner of her glossy lips.
Something fell softly over her hand, and when her eyes flickered downward in surprise Brent gave her a tiny squeeze with his callous fingers. "Don't worry, love" He said when she gone wide eyed at a sudden shake and rattle (otherwise she would have giggled at what he had called her), "it's just turbulence. It happens all the time; haven't you been on a plane before?"
"I went to Iceland before with my mom and my brother two years ago" She answered him, "He got shot there, by this hobo we found in the streets!"
"How'd that happen?" Brent asked her, smooth voice filled with amusement. Cat figured he was trying to get her mind off of her fears by distracting her and taking interest in her bizarre stories she had always blurted out.
"Mouse was waving money in his face and poking him and asking him 'Want the money hobo, huh?' over and over again and then he got shot. It's alright though, he's okay."
"You're retarded brother always gets shot" Jade commented from across the small aisle, smirking over at her.
"And stabbed" Cat giggled with a shake of her head. She was about to continue going on about the ridiculous hobo story, now that she had more of a crowd to tell and it was getting her mind off of her nerves, but the rattle of the plane abruptly stopped her. Her eyes widened as it grew stronger, shaking more frequently and rougher than it had when they were hitting turbulence, and she instinctively clutched Brent's hand. She leaned over and glanced behind her, inspecting the panicked and confused reactions of her friends before expeditiously pushing herself back into the seat as far as she could. The rattling and shaking did not stop for one second; it had only gotten worse as a loud bang came from absolutely no where.
"Everybody buckle up, the engine's blown!" The pilot slammed open the door for them to hear him, "we're going down!" His words confirmed Cat's worst fears and she desperately tried to blink back the tears threatening to spill over and cascade down her cheeks.
From beside her, Brent had strapped one of the yellow masks around his mouth that had fallen from the ceiling of the plane and was desperately trying to get one for her as well with only one hand to use. Beck was holding himself collected next to Jade, Tori was openly panicking, Robbie had dropped Rex from his lap and was shouting at everyone – incoherent and muffled words Cat could not hear from all the way in the front.
The plane became to pick up speed, accelerating downward so much that she thought her stomach was on the floor, and it was making her feel as if she was going to puke. Bags were falling from the compartments above them and she clutched onto Brent with all she had, unable to believe that such an atrocity was happening; this couldn't be real. It was just her imagination running wild with possible worst case scenarios and in reality; she was sitting on the plane laughing and joking with her friends or singing with them without a worry in the world. She opened her eyes and dared a look passed Brent's hidden face and out of the window, watching in horror as the light blue sky shook and violently flew by. The cockpit just in front of her groaned and snapped and only seconds later had the plane hit solid ground – Cat and the others were thrown from their seats.
A thundering crash slammed into her ear drums as the body of the plane disconnected with the cockpits, and they were left hanging from their seats and gripping onto anything to keep them from sliding down the titled aisle, even though they knew there was only ground beneath them. Cat's head slammed into something metal, and all went silent.
Well, there it is: my newest project. I hope you liked it, even though it isn't that special. Throughout the story there's going to be a lot of flashbacks from the characters; like their back story and what not. Cat might be a little bit OOC...Anyways, let me know what you think and if I should continue or not!
*This story is set immediately after Wok Star (Season One!) and the face of Brent is Francisco Lachowski