A/N Hey everybody! Sorry I haven't being posting it in, has it really been almost four months? Wow. Anyways here I am.

Just so you know this takes when Cat and Jade are in fifth grade, hopefully their youth sort of comes through. Okay, on to the story. I hope you guys enjoy!

Disclaimer: Only in my dreams do I own Victorious.

"And one more knot, and.. yay! All done!" Cat looks down happily at her finished bracelet before glancing at me. "How is yours coming Jade?" We both look down at the knotted mess in front of me. It looks like a three year old got a hold of string and messed with it with her eyes closed.

"Fine! Perfect! Just dandy! Just look at it."

Cat takes the bracelet, if you can even call it that, and inspects it.

"It's not that bad." She says weakly. I just roll my eyes.

"It stinks. Why do we have to make stupid friendship bracelets anyways? In what ways will it help us in life?" I grumble.

"Aw, come on Jade, they're fun. Can't that be enough?" Without a word, I just shoot the brunette next to me a glare. It is her fault I had to even bother making the thing in front of me. Ever since she came waltzing into my house a few months ago wearing the puke yellow uniform, raving on and on about this sunshine girls troop that was formed at our school, I have been forced to go to gain "social skills and other valuable lessons", and "make new friends". Like that would happen. I already have Cat and that is pushing it. She is the only reason I stay here, someone needs to watch her. That and the fact that my mom promised that if I earned 50 badges she would give me back my hammer set and let me quit. Man do I miss it but I only have 19 left to go, 18 if I somehow transform the lump in front of me into a candy stripe bracelet before the troop leader comes by.

"This is so stupid," I say. "It shouldn't be this difficult. It is a stupid bracelet."

"Please stop saying that word. You know I don't like it." Cat frowns, crinkling her face.

I smirk at her innocence. Sometimes she acts like such a fourth-grader. "Well it is extremely stupid. We both know it." I am about to say more when I hear a voice behind me.

"Hi Cat! Jade." Ugh, Leslie Garnith aka "Little Miss Perfect" looms behind us with a huge grin plastered onto her face. She is wearing a pale yellow shirt and sparkly jeans that probably cost a fortune. On her head, a huge sparkly fake flower is pinned to her head, hopefully jabbing her skull as she moves. For some reason ever since I dumped a bucket of sand on her head in third grade after she was mocking Cat in front of her friends, she has hated me.

"That's an... interesting bracelet you have there Cat." She says, looking at the bright multicolored stripes on the table.

"Thanks!" Cat responds brightly, not catching the jab as usual.

"And Jade." Here it comes. "What exactly is that? A thread snake after mealtime?"

"No, not you, sorry." I tell her, smirking. "I decided that the thread would probably burst into flames if it knew I was creating something like you."

"You think you're so clever." Leslie takes a step closer. "At least I don't fail at the simplest things in the world. Every girl in the universe can make a friendship bracelet." She put her hands on her hips, flashing her more complicated designed bracelet as obviously as she can. She has never been one for subtly.

"Really? I'm sure you're right 'cause in life that's what matters the most." The sarcasm drips slowly out of my mouth like bitter honey, if that is possible. Cat is watching us nervously hoping she won't have to get involved. She hates conflict but with Leslie it is impossible to avoid it. Leslie opens her mouth.

"If you want friends it is."

"I have friends, just not minions like you do." I can tell she is close to the breaking point but unfortunately before she finally snaps, the troop leader, Ms. Carter walked by.

"Girls? Is everything okay over here? How are your friendship bracelets coming?"

Leslie takes a deep breath before her innocent and smug grin returns. "I was just helping Jade over here with her bracelet. She isn't doing it right."

"Oh Jade." Ms. Carter looks at the mess in front of me and sighs. "Can't you even try? I'm afraid I can't give you a badge for this."

Leslie flashes me a proud smirk behind our troop leader's back. Something deflates inside of me. This is so unfair! Complain, yeah I do that, not care, quite a bit especially when it comes to stupid wastes of time like this, but no one can accuse Jade West for not giving anything a shot. I'm here aren't I? Not everyone can tie knots to form a beautiful thing of jewelry. I suddenly get a surge of pride for my pathetic little piece of string. I open my mouth to give Ms. Cater a piece of my very annoyed mind but Cat beats me to it.

"She did work hard on it honest," she tells the woman. "She just… did a different version… a more tangled version of candy stripe. I like it. We didn't have to do candy stripe right?" Cat blinked innocently at Ms. Carter. I just shut my mouth and sit there speechless.

Ms. Carter seems to be sharing my lack of words. "Well no, I guess not…"

Leslie looks furious. "It's not even the right length," she cries. "It's too short to be a bracelet."

"It could be a ring." Cat offered. "I would wear it!" With those words, she picks up the connected strands and ties it on her finger. It just looks awkward and pathetic. Though it is apparently too small to be a bracelet, it's clear that it is too large for Cat's finger and the ends just hang limply down. She practically glows though as if it is the most beautiful diamond ring in the world or something.

"Alright," Ms. Carter sighs. "Here you go Jade." She pulls out a small bag, reaches into it and hold out a badge with two fingers. Silently I take it and stare at it. It is a square badge with a thick rainbow band across it. I guess that is supposed to be a lame representation of a friendship bracelet. 18 of these to go before I can officially burn them. I might keep this one though, just to mock Leslie.

By the time I had looked up, Ms. Carter had already given Cat her badge and moved on to the next table. Leslie had finally gone back to her table and soulless cronies. I look at Cat who is beaming at me.

"Not bad Valentine. Thanks."

"Here." She thrusts her bracelet towards me.

"Whoa," I tell her. "Who said I wanted your waste of string." Her eyes dim. I try to resist by turning away but I can still feel her eyes on my back. Finally I break and sigh. I reach over, smacking my other hand on the table. Picking the bracelet up, I tie it onto my wrist carefully. The bright colors of red, pink and orange stick out like tacky florescent billboards. Cat squeals and tries to hug me but I push her away with a firm no. She continues grinning like a happy moron for the rest of the day.

I wear the bracelet around for about a month. What can I say, despite the blinding colors, she didn't do a bad job on it.