"Toooooooriiiiiiiii," my sister's voice sing-songed, obnoxious and loud enough to pierce through the chatter filled halls of Hollywood Arts. I finished throwing my books into my locker, shut the personally-decorated door, and turned to see Trina bounding toward me; the dopey, eager smile on her face grew with each step, and I swung one strap of my backpack over my shoulder.
"Tori," she repeated as she stopped in front of me, this time without the ridiculous pronunciation.
"Trina," I mimicked, already frustrated with the conversation. Trina had a tendency to describe any and all information-as long as it pertained to herself-as if it were a breaking news report.
"Guess who's getting sushi with the Senior Photography Club?" She let out a squeal of excitement and started bouncing up and down, eliciting dirty looks from a couple of innocent bystanders across the hall.
"The Senior Photo Club asked you to hang out with them?" The club was the most prestigious of all after school activities at Hollywood Arts; all of the members were stupid gorgeous, insanely artistic and deep, and notoriously picky about who they interacted with.
"Well," she took a deep breath after almost asphyxiating herself from the moronic jumping, "I mean, I was there when they were talking about it, and they totally saw me there, so like, it was a context invite." My older sister had a tendency to be socially inept, often finding herself in situations where her presence was irrefutably unwanted. I pinched the bridge of my nose and sighed, knowing trying to talk any sense into her was useless. "Anyway, you're going to need to find a ride home."
My arm shot down to my side and my head whipped forward, suddenly overcome with irritation.
"Trina, you drove us to school today," I said angrily, shaking my hands in front of her face with each enunciation. "You can't just tell me last minute to find another ride; the day's already over!"
"Not my problem!" She was so unreasonable sometimes, and before I could even argue the absurdity of the situation, Trina had turned and disappeared up the stairs and around the corner, leaving me dumbfounded and screwed. I let out a frustrated grunt then quickly headed towards the parking lot, desperate to not be stranded at school. The brilliant Los Angeles sun temporarily shielded my vision, but I quickly recognized that back of Beck and Robbie's heads and trudged toward them, relieved.
"Hey," I uttered, catching the attention of the two boys. They both turned toward me, and Beck pushed his long, dark hair back, offering me a familiar smile. "Hey, Tori. What's up?"
"Trina just totally abandoned me last minute," I said, the annoyance in my voice incredibly evident. "And I hate to ask, but is there any way you could give me a ride home?" I offered a shrug and an apologetic smile, hoping he understood that I wouldn't burden him if I had any other option.
"Ah, sorry, Tori." Beck frowned down at me and nervously rubbed the back of his neck. "I have rehearsal for Saturday's play until six." I let out a worried groan then turned to the other boy, my hands raised in a pleading position.
"Robbie?" I asked, utilizing my absolute best puppy dog eyes. The lanky, curly-haired boy adjusted the puppet on his arm and directed it toward me.
"Sorry, hot stuff," the Urban voice of the puppet, Rex, fell upon my ears. "Rob and I are catching a ride with Sinjin back to his place to work on that Chemistry project."
"Shiz!" I exclaimed, "I'm so screwed." I tangled my fingers through her hair in frustration, letting out another groan and cursing Trina under my breath.
"You could always ask..." Beck cleared his throat, and I looked up hopefully, glancing in the direction he was pointing.
"Jade," I muttered. She was hard to miss, sporting black jeans and a navy top, pursing her lips together angrily, and allowing her dark, loose curls to bounce freely as she marched across the parking lot.
"Thanks, guys. See you tomorrow," I barely managed to get out as I quickly headed after the innately negative girl. My heart was pounding by the time I actually got in ear shot, nervous for her inevitably negative response.
"Jade!" I called out pleadingly.
She stiffened momentarily, turned with a scowl to see who the hell was hollering after her, took one look at me then deadpanned, "No."
She turned back just as quickly as she'd dismissed me, continuing her path to her car. It was no secret that Jade wasn't exactly my biggest fan. Heck, she'd pretty much done everything in her power to make my life miserable since I became a student at Hollywood Arts. Lately, though, the girl seemed to be in an even darker place than usual; the month-old break up with Beck, her boyfriend of two years, really seemed to take a huge piece out of Jade. The piece that allowed her any sort of compassion.
"You didn't even wait to hear what I was going to ask!" I called after her desperately, trying to stay close on her trail. She stopped again to turn towards me, this time cocking and eyebrow and offering me an amused smirk.
"Okay, what do you have to ask?" She spat out bitterly, letting me know my question was irrelevant. I had no other options, though, so I swallowed the lump in my throat and tried to look as apologetic as possible.
"Do you think you could give me a ride home? Trina totally left me-"
"No," she repeated in the same fashion as before, cutting me off and pulling the sunglasses that had been resting on her head down over her eyes. Her smirk grew into a sardonic smile, her way of telling me this was amusing for her.
"Jade, come on! I wouldn't ask you if you weren't my absolute last resort, but if you don't give me a ride, I'll have to walk! My house is twelve miles from here, Jade. TWELVE," I tried to reason with her, hoping that her logical or rational side would kick in and force her to grant me this small wish.
"Oh, well in that case..." she said in a falsely sincere tone, as if she were actually considering my point, then proceeded to pull down her glasses so I could see her eyes, "enjoy your stroll."
She offered a condescending wink and turned her back on me a second time. The worry of seeming pathetic long gone from my brain, I trudged after her, refusing to take no for an answer.
"Come on, Jade! Remember all the times I've helped you out?"
"Actually, Tori," Jade uttered, her voice dripping with contempt as she spoke my name, "I don't. I try to suppress all memory of interacting with you." I let that slide, knowing sticking up for myself would've gotten me absolutely nowhere. She'd reached her car by then, and fiddled with her keys to unlock the door.
"Please, Jade?" I asked once more, totally defeated. "Have a heart for once." She scowled at me, through her sunglasses and across her vehicle, then let out a loud, exasperated groan.
"Fine," she spat, "but don't talk to me. I already have a bad enough headache and I don't need your retarded, Southern drawl making it any worse." I bit my tongue, fighting the urge to defend myself once more, then sunk into the front seat of her car, quickly shutting the door and clicking the seat belt. I watched Jade as she plopped down, immediately turning on the ignition. She raised her music to an uncomfortably loud volume, most likely to drown out the sound of my breathing, clutched the steering wheel, knuckles white, and finally led us away from school.
I did my best to remain invisible and silent, doing whatever it took to avoid warranting another out lash, but I couldn't stop myself from stealing a few glances at Jade to ensure she wasn't about to drive us into a brick wall. The fourth time I looked, her hand shot out to turn the music down to a drastically lower volume.
"What?" Her voice was pushing infuriated, and it caused me to cower in my chair a bit. The tension in the car was excruciatingly thick, and I couldn't help but just silently pray the ride would be over soon.
"Nothing," I mumbled, feeling a little ridiculous for letting another teenager intimidate me so much. "My turn is coming up on the right."
Her head turned towards me instantly. "Do you think I'm a moron, Vega?" she hissed in disbelief. "I know where your house is. I've driven your sorry ass home before."
That finally crossed my line, and as the anger swelled up inside me, I knew there was no way I wasn't going to be able to let it out now. I took a deep breath and prepared to give Jade West a piece of my mind, but as I whipped my head towards hers, a red flash flooded my peripherals. I immediately turned back, instinctively, and my vision was suddenly flooded with the color.
"Jade, look out!" My screaming voice sounded foreign.
And then nothing.