A/N: Bold lettering are the lines in the poem, italics are flashbacks.
Sikowitz walked into Ms. Brown's English class, clapping to get the students' attention. Once he had it, he began talking, "So, Ms. Brown decided that today was the perfect day to have her baby. So, Lane has asked me to proctor the poem readings for her class. When I call your name, you will walk up to the front of the room, read your poem, then place your poem on her desk. Now, Sikowitz's favorite first; Jade, you're up."
Jade smiled slightly, getting up from her seat next to Cat and made her way to the front of the room. When she reached the front of the room, Sikowitz beamed proudly at her before announcing to the class, "Before we start, I have a very special announcement. Jade, here, has been chosen to voice the part of Princess Mia in the new Disney animated television show based on Princess Diaries."
The class clapped politely, Tori glaring at the pale girl, and Cat was clearly the only one who knew Jade had auditioned.
"Yay, Jadey!" Cat cheered, bouncing up and down, "Now we're both princesses!"
"Uh… Cat?" Tori turned toward the ditzy girl, "You're not a princess… And neither is Jade!"
"Yes, we are!" Cat shot back, glaring at the half-Latina, "Jade's Princess Mia and, last night, Jade said that I was the princess of Neverland when we were watching Peter Pan!"
No one argued as Cat was obviously very proud and Jade wasn't willing to burst her best friend's bubble, especially since she viewed what she said as true. Cat hadn't really grown up, and she couldn't see Cat growing up anytime soon.
"Now, Jade," Sikowitz broke the semi-awkward moment, "Read your poem."
"My poem is called Things I Hate." Jade stated, rolling her eyes as Tori let out a faux surprised gasped, earning a ball thrown from Sikowitz.
"I hate the way you talk to me," Jade began reading, not looking up from her paper
Jade shut her locker, letting out a squeak when she turned and saw Beck standing behind her, "God! You're such a creeper!"
"You love it." Beck laughed, casually taking her books from her as they began the walk to their first class.
"No, I don't." Jade replied, rolling her eyes, "You think it's so funny to sneak up on me! Well, I have news for you: It's not!"
Beck just laughed in response, kissing her temple.
"Don't laugh at me!" Jade took her books from him and sped up, "You are so disrespectful sometimes!"
"I'm sorry, babe!" Beck tried to keep from laughing and upsetting her even more.
Jade glared at him, but let him take her books back and resumed their previous pace. She didn't understand what it was. She was the most stubborn person anyone had ever met, she could hold a grudge with the best of them; yet, no matter what he did, she always forgave Beck as soon as he said that he was sorry. She hated it, but loved when those words came out of his mouth.
"And the way you cut your hair," Jade continued, her voice trying to sound strong.
Beck walked over to his girlfriend of a year, smiling broadly.
"Hey," he greeted with a broad smile, kissing Jade sweetly in greeting.
"Hey." Jade gave him a smile. After a moment, her face scrunched up in concentration, "Did you cut your hair?"
"Yeah." Beck replied, running a hand through his slightly shorter, and way more flippy, hair, "Do you like it?"
"No." Jade replied, turning back to her locker, "It's too flippy."
Beck just rolled his eyes before taking her hand and running it through his hair, "Now?"
"It's okay." Jade smiled softly as she continued to run her hand through his much softer hair, enjoying watching Beck lean into her touch.
She kissed him sweetly before taking his hand and leading him to their first class.
"I hate the way you drive my car," Jade took a deep breath, struggling to keep her gaze solely on her paper.
Beck's phone rang at three in the morning.
"Dude," Andre groaned from his bed, Beck was having to stay with Andre while his parents were dealing with a family emergency (intervention) having to do with his cousin in Canada, "answer your phone!"
Beck blindly searched for his phone, his eyes still closed as he answered it, "Hello."
"Beck," Jade's broken, sobbing voice immediately woke him up, "can you come get me?"
"Yeah," Beck said, getting up and pulling on a pair of sweat pants over his boxers and a jacket over his wife beater, "Where are you?"
"The Lookout." Jade replied, hiccupping.
"Jade," Beck's voice was urgent, "are you okay? What happened?"
"Me and my dad had a fight, he kicked me out, I grabbed two bottles of wine, and left."
"Did you drink the wine?"
"Why do you think I'm calling you?"
Beck laughed and told her he would be there soon before hanging up and waking Andre up.
Twenty minutes later, full of Andre's grumbling, the two reached The Lookout and Beck got out of the car, telling Andre to go back to his house.
"Hey, Beck." Jade swayed, holding the half empty bottle of wine.
Beck just smiled at her and picked her up, placing her in the passenger seat of her car, taking the keys out of her pocket.
"Nooo," Jade whined, as Beck buckled her in, "you're not allowed to drive Gwenivere. She doesn't like you, she told me so."
Beck just nodded along as he started her car, calling Cat as he drove the familiar path to the red-head's house.
"Don't text and drive!" Jade yelled, as Beck told Cat what was going on once she answered.
"Here, Jade," Beck gave Jade the phone so that she would talk to Cat instead of telling him how much her car hated him; a true fact, but he wasn't going to tell her that, "talk to Cat."
"Hiiii, Kit-Kat!" Jade giggled, before chattering to Cat the rest of the ride.
When they reached Cat's house, they found the girl waiting outside for them.
"Cat!" Jade yelled, running to the other girl, only to trip when she got close to the girl.
Cat laughed, "Come on, Jade, let's go inside."
"Okay." Jade giggled.
"We're going to play the quiet game, okay?" Cat whispered, starting to lead the girl into the house.
"Okay." Jade whispered back, giggling quietly to herself.
Beck just shook his head and got back into Jade's car and drove it to his house, where Andre was waiting "patiently" for him.
"I hate it when you stare," Jade pushed on, briefly looking up, only to look back down after making eye contact with her ex.
"Jade," Cat whispered, sitting down next to her best friend at lunch, "he's doing it again."
Jade turned to look over her shoulder, immediately spotting the new guy (Bet, or something like that) staring at her. He had been doing this since he arrived and Jade was fed up with it. She already had one creepy guy following her around, she didn't need another.
"Where are you going?" Andre asked, eyeing her burrito as she stood up.
"Have it." Jade replied, pushing it toward him and heading toward the new guy's table.
"Why are you watching me?" Jade demanded, glaring harshly.
"You fascinate me." was his only reply.
Jade let out a frustrated growl before storming off, Cat running quickly after her.
Later that day, the new guy was paired up with Andre for a project and became a regular staple in their group. A month later, Jade finally decided her was worthy of being called by his given name (Beckett) and then a month after that, she began calling him by his preferred name (Beck).
"I hate your bug, dumb combat boots," Jade took another deep breath, she would not let these cretins see her walls fall down.
"Hey, Jade." Beck greeted excitedly, running over to his girlfriend's locker as soon as he entered the building.
"…Hi…" Jade replied slowly, confused that Beck Olivier, who was not a morning person, was so excited at 7:15 in the morning.
"Look what I found!" Beck pointed down at his feet, which were covered in a pair of old, worn out combat boots.
"Wooow…" Jade replied, shaking her head at her boyfriend who was currently bouncing up and down on the balls of his feet.
"Dude, what are you wearing?" Andre asked, walking over to the group and giving the boots a disgusted look.
"They just need a little polishing." Beck shrugged before leading the way to their first class.
The next day, Beck walked into school, the boots looking brand new.
"So, still hate them?" Beck asked as he approached Jade.
"Yes." She replied, not looking away from her locker, "But, they are very you."
Beck smiled and kissed her temple before she was pulled away by Cat, who was yammering away about some new guy with big hair and a puppet.
"And the way you read my mind," Jade pushed on, she just needed to get through this and then it would be the weekend, and she would spend it with Cat, her best friend in the entire world and the only person who could keep her mind from lingering on Beck for too long.
"So," Tori beamed happily, "what did you guys think?"
Tori had just finished her song for her showcase audition, and Jade was far from thrilled. She and Cat had been the two female performers since they first came to Hollywood Arts and now Tori wanted to take that away, too. Jade glanced at Cat and noticed, much to her surprise, a look of deep sadness in the red-head's eyes.
"Don't say it." Beck whispered to Jade, causing her to glare at him, but bite back her cutting remark.
"But, Tori," Cat said, her voice sad, "if you audition for it, then me and Jade won't be able to perform, and we always perform."
"I'm not necessarily going to get it." Tori flipped her hair over her shoulder, "But thanks for believing in me."
"Jade…" Beck warned, giving Jade a look.
"But," Cat continued, "You get everything you try out for and it's not fair. This is me and Jade's thing."
With that, Cat left. Shooting Tori a glare, Jade got up and followed her best friend.
"I hate you so much, it makes me sick; it even makes me rhyme," Jade sent Cat a look that clearly said they had secret, which sent the ditzy girl into a fit of quiet giggles.
Jade scoffed as she watched Beck talk to some girl he got stuck working on a project with.
"God!" Jade exclaimed, walking over to Cat. "Could she BE more desperate? It make me sick!"
"Love Sick!" Cat laughed, mostly to herself.
Jade rolled her eyes, but couldn't help the small smile that graced her features.
"I am not!" she argued with a smile.
"You are, too!" Cat replied, "You can't stop smiling, and I KNOW you're always thinking about him."
"I am not!" Jade continued to protest, even though she knew that Cat was right, "That's something only lovey dovey couples do."
"Oh, my God!" Cat squealed, "You rhymed!"
"I said, 'lovey dovey', that's not exactly a rhyme." Jade rolled her eyes.
"But they're rhyming words and you hate putting rhyming words together." Cat argued, "I remember because in first grade, when we were learning rhyming words, you got sent to the principal's office because you thought it was stupid."
Jade just rolled her eyes, smiling as Beck finally walked over to them.
"I hate it," Jade took a deep breath as she stumbled over her words, refocusing herself, before pressing on, "I hate the way you're always right."
"Jade," Beck tried to calm down his hysterical girlfriend, "Cat will forgive you. After all, she's known you way longer than Tori."
Currently, Cat was mad about a remark Jade had made to Tori after the Latina had turned down Andre for a chance at going on a date with the new guy.
"I was mad, and rightfully so!" Jade replied, "Andre has been ass-backwards in love with Vega since she got to this school. He has helped her with everything, canceling important events just to be with her, and she had the nerve to tell him that he just had a CRUSH on her and that he needed to get over it! I wasn't going to keep my mouth shut."
"You never do." Beck smiled affectionately, before kissing her forehead.
"I just don't understand why Cat, suddenly, always takes Tori side." Jade continued to rant, not noticing the red-head walking into the class room she and Beck were standing in while they waited for Jade's audition time, "Tori has stolen everything from me! She stole Andre, Robbie, you, and now Cat! Cat's my best friend-she always has been."
"Hey," Beck tried to offer his comfort, "She didn't take me."
"Yes, she did!" Jade fired back, "From the moment you kissed her, she could do no wrong! Don't try to deny it! You always choose her over me! Cat has never done that…until now."
Jade looked down at the floor, tears filling her eyes slowly as Beck moved to wrap his arms around her.
"Oh, Jade!" Cat made her presence known, running over and hugging the brunette girl tightly, "I'm sorry! I'm so sorry I made you feel that way!"
The two girls hugged each other tightly, apologizing over and over again for various things, as Beck watched with a smile on his face; for both the fact that he was, once again, correct, and the fact that Cat was probably the only other person, besides himself, that Jade would ever apologize to.
When the girls separated, Jade threw a glare at Beck, who's smile had turned into more of a smug smirk, and said, "Shut up!"
Beck just laughed and gave her a kiss for good luck as her name was called.
"I hate it when you lie," Jade cleared her voice as she felt her throat closing up and her voice filling with emotion.
Jade's eyes filled with sadness and loss as she observed Beck kiss Tori on the girl's second day at Hollywood Arts. When the two broke the kiss, a large smile on Vega's face, Jade grabbed her stuff and stormed out of the room, not wanting anyone to see her weakness.
Beck had apologized over and over again throughout the day, not getting anywhere with Jade and receiving angry glares from Cat.
Finally, Beck decided that he needed to talk to Jade alone. He walked over to her, grabbed her arm, and literally dragging his stubborn girlfriend into the janitor's closet.
"Let go of me, Beckett!" Jade yelled as Beck closed the door and hugged her tightly to his body.
"No," Beck responded softly, "I will never let you go."
Jade continued to struggle as Beck told her that it was a stage kiss and that it meant nothing.
"You didn't have to do it!" Jade finally yelled back, "You keep saying you had to , but you didn't. You could have said no, you could have changed the subject. But you knew what Vega was doing."
Jade stopped struggling, her voice sounding very small, "You kissed her because you wanted t know what it would be like. You don't need to lie to me."
"Jade," Beck sighed, knowing that she had been right, that he had been curious about what it would be like, but he didn't want to remember that, he was too ashamed, "I am so sorry. What will it take for you to forgive me?"
"Don't do it again." Jade replied, looking up at him with tear filled eyes, "I don't know what I would do if I lost you."
"I will never break up with you." Beck replied, honesty shining in his voice as he took Jade back into his arms and pressing a kiss to her hair.
"I hate it when you make me laugh," Jade finally made eye contact with Beck for a brief moment.
Jade was having a bad day. Tori had gotten yet another lead-this time in a play written by Robbie, a part that was supposed to be Jade because the character was inspired by Jade. And that was just the tip of the iceberg. Her parents had been fighting again, neither of them wanting her to spend Christmas with them, and didn't care that she had heard the whole thing.
"Hey, Beautiful." Beck greeted, kissing her in greeting.
Jade didn't respond, just stared straight ahead, glaring at the picture of Tori hanging on the wall across from her.
"You wanna hear a joke?" Beck asked, hoping to get a hint of her smile to grace her face.
"I hate jokes." Jade replied, offhandedly.
"I'm gonna tell it anyway." Beck said, knowing that the stupidity of the joke would at least earn him a sarcastic response and an eye roll, "Can February March? No, but April May."
True to his prediction, he got a snort from Jade as she said, "That is the stupidest thing I have ever heard."
"I'm so punny!" Beck said as he wrapped her in his protective embrace.
"You're so lame." Jade rolled her eyes, but gave him a small smile and placed a kiss to his cheek.
"Come on." Beck smiled, taking her hand and leading her out of the school.
"Where are we going?" Jade asked, not really caring.
"I don't think that it would be a good idea for you to be within arm's length of Tori today."
Jade just laughed, but got into his car as he drove them away from the school.
"Even worse when you make me cry," Jade immediately looked back down at her paper upon making eye contact with Beck.
Jade hated feeling this way. She was not the kind of girl who cried over a guy; who's life feel apart when she was single. But she couldn't help it, everything reminded her of Beck. She couldn't stop thinking about him, and she didn't really want to stop, but everything made her want to cry.
It made her angry at herself, at him, at everyone who had ever said that they would never make. She hated that they were right and she hated that Beck broke his promise to her. Jade watched as Beck walked by with Tori, laughing at something the annoying girl had said, and her eyes filled with tears-even through all of her preventing methods, she found herself running to the junior's closet before the tears could spill over. God, she missed him so much… and that thought alone was enough to cause her walls to crumble around her.
She sank to the floor, hugging her knees as she rocked, sobs wreaking her body.
"Hey, Jade!" Andre's cheerful voice greeted, as he opened the door. Seeing her, he said, "Oh, crap!"
Before he could say anything, Cat pushed past him, having seen Jade making a run for the closet.
"Speak of this to no one!" Cat demanded, pushing Andre out of the closet and slamming the door shut and running to her best friend, pulling the girl into her arms and trying her best to comfort her.
Cat didn't really hate anyone, but she had developed a strong dislike for Beck for the person he had managed to turn her strong best friend, the strongest person Cat had ever known, into. This broken girl, the girl who was the complete opposite, was enough for Cat to say that she hated Beckett Oliver; but then she remembered that Jade loved him, and Cat was immediately filled with sympathy for her best friend.
"I hate it when you're not around," Jade continued, biting her bottom lip as she pressed on, eager to get to the end of the poem and leave.
Jade sighed as she entered Hollywood Arts. Beck had had to go to Canada for his great-grandfather's birthday, leaving Jade in LA by herself.
She hated it when he was gone, she felt like an outsider looking in whenever he wasn't with her. She felt as though she was on the outside looking in. She was practically ignored when Beck was gone, so she had started to use those days to further her future career.
"Sikowitz!" Jade yelled entering her favorite teacher's class room, not seeing him. Walking further into the room, she continued, "You said you wanted to see me!. . . If you're not in here in ten seconds, I am leaving!"
As she finished, Sikowitz jumped through the window, crashing into a group of chairs set up next to the window.
"Jadelyn!" Sikowitz hopped up and walked over to his desk, picking up a flyer and handing it to Jade.
"What's this?" she asked, her eyes scanning over the audition information.
"That, my student, was faxed to me by an old friend of mine." Sikowitz replied with a smile, "He works for the television division of Disney and he asked me to pass along this information. I know you tend to dislike this kind of thing, but anything Disney would be an excellent thing to put at the beginning of your professional resume and I feel like you are the one of my students that is ready for something like this. So, what do you say?"
Jade was silent for a moment, before her face broke into a huge smile and she hugged her favorite teacher, "That you so much!"
She then pulled back and ran out of the room, eager to tell Beck. Her smile fell when she instantly remembered that she would not be able to celebrate this opportunity with him. She sighed, folded up the flyer and walked to her locker, tucking the paper safely into her bag and leaving the school.
"And the fact that you didn't call," Jade's voice was now raw with emotion as she tried to press on, cursing herself as she felt the tears she was trying to keep from forming began to fall down her cheeks.
Jade sat staring at her phone, waiting for Beck to call and apologize for not standing up for her when Tori tore into how Jade hadn't deserve to get the lead in the school's production of Kiss Me, Kate. Beck had left Jade there to take it, and then get in trouble with Lane as she told Tori exactly what she thought about her.
But, an hour later, he still had not called. She knew he wasn't busy. She knew he was probably with Tori, helping her "heal" from the truth. Why couldn't he, for once, just support her, and only her. He was the only person in the world, aside from Cat-who was currently sitting next to Jade coloring in the Tinkerbell coloring book Jade had bought for when Cat was over (she had not been happy with Tori's comment and had told her that what she had said was out of line before running to catch up with Jade), that truly cared about her.
That was just it, though. She always acted like a bitch, but he knew that it was just a façade, one that would disappear once she decided that she could trust you, but he always reprimanded her. But when Tori acted like a bitch, it was okay, because she never acted that way. He didn't need to stand up for Jade when Tori insinuated that she thought that she was way more talented than Jade, when the whole school (whether they would admit it or not, knew that it was the other way around).
Jade sighed, the realization that he was not going to call settling over her, and she fell back onto her bed, her face in her pillows. Cat simply set the coloring book and crayons down and lay down next to her best friend, offering silent comfort.
"But, mostly, I hate the way I don't hate you," Jade didn't bother to hide that she was crying anymore, her voice would have given it away anyway. So she looked up, tears falling down her face, and locked eyes with Beck as she recited the last line of her poem, "Not even close, not even a little bit, not even at all."
When she finished, she set quickly put the paper on Ms. Brown's desk before running out of the room, not seeing Beck stand to go after her. He was pushed back into his seat by Cat, who sent him a dark glare before running after her best friend.
"Beckett, Beckett, Beckett," Sikowitz tsked, "you're not going to let that wonderful girl walk away from you again, are you?"
Beck looked up at his favorite teacher, who nodded his okay, before Beck tore out of the room, knowing exactly where Jade would go.
He slowed his pace as he neared the old dressing rooms behind the auditorium. He slowly pushed the door open and was greeted by Cat demanding to know just what he thought he was doing.
"Hey, Jade." Beck greeted softly, ignoring Cat.
"Go away, Beckett." Jades voice was hard.
"I'm not leaving." Beck replied.
"Then I am." Jade stood up with Cat, who lead the way to the door.
As soon as Cat left, Beck grabbed Jade and shut the door, locking it.
"Let go of me!" Jade screeched ad Cat began to pull vigorously on the door handle, trying to magically unlock it. Beck just kept tightening his hold on her until she got tired and stopped struggling.
"Don't talk, just listen, okay?" Beck voice was soft as he continued to hold Jade to him, knowing that she would try to bolt if he let go, "I am so sorry. I've missed you. Please, take me back?"
Jade fixed him with a calculating stare, trying to find any trace of a lie, before saying, "I've missed you, too."
Beck smiled as she relaxed into his arms, "I promise, I am done with letting you walk away."
Jade smiled into his shoulder before placing a kiss to his cheek and hugging him tightly.
A couple minutes later, they emerged from the room to find Cat glaring darkly at the door.
"If you think for one minute that that was okay, Beckett Oliver, then you are sorely mistaken!" Cat yelled, before she noticed the smiles. Looking at the couple, new reunited, she squealed happily before launching herself at them, hugging them both tightly, "I'm so happy for you guys! Yay, Bade!"
The couple just laughed and made their way out to their "alone time" lunch table, ignoring the various comments that followed them.
First off, thank you for reading this story. Second, this has nothing to do with Victorious, but I am asking you to sign my petition (link below) for pushing for better pedestrian railroad protection. This is a much bigger problem than we know and the railroads (specifically Union Pacific, which has rails that run though my hometown one which, this summer, a 14 year old boy was hit by an Amtrak he did not hear) don't want to anything to prevent these accidents from happening (i.e. putting up fences along the track) So, please, sign my petiton:
/sign/better-protection-for?source= &r_by=6274291
Thank you and I hope you enjoyed my story.