Disclaimer: *sigh* Still don't own Victorious. It is in Dan's ~presumably~ safe hands.

Background music for this one: You and I, cover by Elise Testone. :) She did amazingly with this song, did she not?

This is for Bade Prompts... I've actually been really excited for this. My prompt was "Queen Of Hearts Card", of which I am perfectly pleased with. It gave me a lot of room to improvise and a lot to work with. Enjoy :)

The first time he sees her, she's with Cat. Donned in a small black dress and a smirk, she's watching, accasionally nodding, as the redhead in front of her explains animatedly the latest antics of her brother. But, you see, he doesn't know this. He doesn't see a girl simply putting up with her best friend, letting the smaller girl tell all her stories at one time so she had none left for later. He sees the girl that doesn't quite fit in anywhere, the one that always had a scowl on her face and a quick put down on her tongue, talking, listening to the redhead, the girl no one else cared enough to listen to.
To his eyes, it's quite endearing. He can already feel his heart begin to swell.

Two days later, he asks her out. He expects her to say yes, every other girl would have. But, to his surprise, she deadpans a 'no' and slams her locker door in his face, sauntering away to her next class.

Five weeks later, she finally says yes. She says it's only to get him to shut up, but she hides her smile when he walks away.

Because this is what she does. She's a liar; an actress.

Months later, he asks her if she would like to be his girlfriend, exclusively. She shrugs and offers a 'sure' with a half smile. He prides himself on being the cause of that smile. But he never sees the wide grins she breaks into when he leaves the room.

Because no one can know this other side of Jade West. No one can see what she hides beneath her bitter scowl and icy blue eyes.

Over time, she begins to open up to him, expose herself, just a little bit at a time. A past time here, a favorite old song there, little, tiny things that slowly let him see that there's more to this dark, beautiful girl than most see. They enticed him, kept him coming back for more. He was always asking her another question. Usually, she would roll her eyes and tell him to shut up. But, sometimes, when she was in a good mood, she would answer him honestly, giving him the response he adored most. A smile and a genuine reply.

After nearly three years, he thought he knew her. In truth, he did know her better than anyone else. But not many people know her well at all, so that wasn't saying very much.

Beck prided himself in being the only person that knew she liked maple syrup with her pancakes, because it's what her mom used to put on them. Or that she still had a stuffed teddy bear from her childhood stowed away in her closet, and that she sometimes takes it out when she's sad. He was the only one that knew she secretly was addicted to American Idol, and watched it every week, voting for her favorite and screaming at the television when something she didn't like happened. There were alot of things that only he knew about her.

But, what he didn't know, or simply forgot, was what always mattered most. You see, he could name her favorite Beatles song, or what song she almost always sang in the shower right off the top of his head, but he had a bad habit of forgetting that, sometimes, she's not as strong as she wants to be. That, under all the dark clothes and makeup, she's just a scared teenage girl. And, yes, he did abuse the knowledge that she truly loved him from time to time.

Occasionally, if they were arguing, something would slip his tongue, that he didn't mean to say. Cruel, harsh words that she didn't deserve to hear.

Lately, it had become apparent to Jade that he was beginning to let those things slip from his mouth more and more often. And honestly, it hurt. So she began to build up her walls again when she was around him.

One fateful night, they somehow arrive at Tori Vega's house. How exactly, she's not sure of. But here she is, standing on her front porch, silently praying for her to open the door as quickly as possible. She doesn't like being alone with Beck much anymore, he's even colder towards her in private now.

Tori soon opens the door, but doesn't seem to catch the pleading look Jade throws her way.

After some more arguing, and yelling at a few people, Jade walks out the door, counting to ten.

Even though her voice cracks when she says the last number, she's somewhat relieved.

Beck sits down to play his precious game of cards, and chuckles dryly, despite himself, at the first card he's dealt;

Queen of Heart.

How fitting.

Jade sighs as she walks to her car, cursing herself for ever letting it get so far that she was almost happy to see him go.

She had whispered it to him, softly in his ear. "Let's play some cards." He was never gambling man, but he obliged to her command, making sure he won. He put on his poker face and played an honest game, at least for a while. But soon, times got tough. He cheated, he pulled her strings, he bluffed, and he broke her. He took the Queen Of Hearts and ripped all her cards into tiny pieces, throwing every chip to the floor; leaving her scrattered, scared. But soon, he would realize that, in the end, he never won. Because she had somehow managed to get her hands on his heart, without even knowing it.

a/n: Okay, yeah. So that sucked. I only wrote it because I needed to get it up for Bade Prompts. Cursed writers' block. I haven't been able to write anything appealing in weeks.

Anywho, I hope you enjoyed it, if that's even possible with this.

I expect to be mocked by my friends for that little mention of American Idol. Lol, I've been so into that show this season. Colton was my favorite, so part of the reason this was up was that I was too heartbroken by him being voted off to do anything at all. LAWL. Which reminds me, I've got a video in the making and some songfics planned to a few of his covers, so expect those when I'm over this block.
Does anyone else watch Idol? Who's your favorite? Lol, I'm curious. Who do you think will win? Are you going to see any of the shows on the tour (so beyond excited for the tour. I'm going this year! Woot woot!)

So, yeah. Imma stop talking now.

Love,
Cat