Perfection
…..
"But I am learning that perfection isn't what matters. In fact, it's the very thing that can destroy you if you let it."
―Emily Giffin
…..
There were many things that Jade West hated. It wasn't a surprise really; she hated almost everything there was to hate. She hated being predictable, she hated when people she trusted let her down, she hated being put in second place, she hated the way her mother treated her, like she was the one responsible for her parents' divorce. She hated bras that hooked up at the front, she hated the color yellow, carpeting.
And the list went on and on.
However, if there was something Jade hated the most, it was the way outsiders thought they had the right to judge her and her family.
It was a mystery to her, why people seemed to think that she had the most perfect family life, that – even with divorced parents and a workaholic mother – she was the luckiest girl to walk the Earth.
They were all wrong.
Sure, she had a roof above her head (more like a palace to live in) and a little brother who loved her to the depths of hell, and a mother who, even if she didn't show love or appreciation for her or Jeremy that often, provided for them in the only way she knew how.
Sure, she had a father who adored her to no end. (Ignoring the fact that he had moved to the other side of the country as soon as the divorce had been signed.)
Jade loathed how strangers looked at her on the street, like thinking "There's the girl that has it all."
One day, it all became too much for her, having to pretend all the time, having to make people believe her life was a happy one, a perfect one.
So she did the only thing she knew how to do. She stopped smiling back; she stopped being the girl everyone thought she was.
She started wearing black like it was the newest trend, and changed her friendly demeanor for a stronger – meaner – façade.
Maybe that way, they would understand.
Maybe that way, they would realize how wrong their assumptions where.
The drastic change, however, came two years later. At the age of 16, there was nothing she wanted to do more than stand out, to be different, to be anything but the average teenager.
Being simply Goth was way to cliché for her liking.
And with that thought on her mind, she entered the nearest beauty salon and asked the lady for some blue streaks on her hair.
She hoped that they would understand how un-perfect her life really was, and how troubled she had become.
When her mother interrogated her about it, she just shrugged her off, offering a half-hearted "I like blue, mom."
…
Being a laid-back kid had worked for Beck Oliver throughout all his life. (All 16 years of it.) It was the way he rolled, keeping his comments to himself, letting outsiders think whatever and however they wanted to about him.
He was used to it by now, the whispers that followed everywhere he went. "That's the example of perfect kid." "He sure has the perfect family." "Little Beck, he'll probably grow up to be a respected lawyer the same way his father did."
He didn't like them, but he was used to them. Beck didn't think there was any point, really, in correcting them, letting them know how fucked up his family really was. How behind that entire perfect couple disguise, his mother hated his father with a passion bigger than the love she felt for her son. How his dad blamed him for his mother's hatred, how he would probably would grow up to be a lawyer, not out of choice, but of obligation and blackmail.
That was, however, until the day he met Jade.
He felt inspired by the way she had challenged everyone, showed everyone who she really was, not what they all believed her to be.
She wanted to be an actress, he learned – and maybe he would be one too. He wanted to be like her. To feel the passion and the excitement she felt, to be different, to stand out.
To be un-perfect.
So he made his way to an ink-shop and asked for a tattoo, faking his mother's signature on the permission sheet.
"Buy the ticket, join the ride." It read on his side, printed on his skin with blue ink.
Maybe that would make them understand.
Maybe that would break the perfect boy aura that they all seemed to believe he possessed.
Maybe that would make her like him back.
He moved to the RV the next day, to get away from the yelling and the insults and the "perfection" that filled each and every corner of his house.
…..
They auditioned for Hollywood Arts together, performing a sketch Jade had written. Every teacher loved them. Sikowitz, Lane, Eikner, they all agreed, those two were different, special.
Both of them got their acceptance letters the next day.
Time passed, they grew, and they fell in love. Jade fell in love with Beck so deeply she was scared she was losing her mind. He loved her back, with the same – if not more – strength.
Their first kiss had been awkward, and weird. It hadn't been a fairytale, movie-like kiss (it never was), it had been full of discoveries, of fear, of certainty – because the both of them knew, at that moment, that they belonged together.
Her family didn't approve of him, his didn't approve or her either, but neither of them minded. (They never would.)
People talked, of course they did. They wondered why the hell the hottest boy on HA would fall for the dark, mean girl. And sometimes they wondered why the beautiful, mysterious girl would fall for the seemingly empty, robotic boy.
They fought – a lot, there was no point denying it. There were times when Beck wondered if it was worth it, if their rocky relationship was worth the fights and the heartache and the comments that people laid behind their backs.
And then he would look at her, the blue streaks adorning her dark locks, her piercing blue eyes to match. And he would remember, he would remember the reason why it was all worth it, why she was worth it all. Because she had saved him, saved him from living a lie.
In moments like that – when she would kiss him, fingering his tattoo and sending chills down his spine, when she would tell him she loved him, when she would smile up at him with that perfect grin of hers – he thank whatever God there was in Heaven, that they were not perfect.
Because sometimes, perfection was the way to destruction, and nobody knew that better than Beck and Jade.
A/N: So, this is my last Something for the Silver Sixpence Challenge. I hope you liked it, because I did. I know it hasn't much to do with blue, but I've wanted to write this for a while. And there was a little blue.
So, I guess this is my goodbye from Save the Bade, and I would like to say it's been an honor to participate.
On another note, I'm preparing my farewell bade three-shot, from which you'll hear from soon. And that's it, I guess.
A big hug to anyone and everyone who is reading this, because I love you all, and I hope that even if Victorious is ending tomorrow, bade fanfiction won't die along with it.
Thanks again – Andrea.