Two.

Vivian, unknowing of her consequences, decided to talk to Beck. She walked up to him, her black bowed sandals clacking against the tile floor. Beck was at his locker, stuffing books in. She tapped on his shoulder and he stood up and turned around. "Hey," He said coolly, slinging his backpack over his shoulder.

"Hi!" She squeaked way too enthusiastically, and silently cursed herself in her head.

That was all they managed to say before Jade stalked over, obviously angry. "And whose your friend Beck?" She asked sarcastically, raising her hands as she spoke. Vivian, oblivious to Jade's sarcasm and unknowing of her personality she answered.

"I'm Vivian,"

"Well, Vivian, you do know this is Beck Oliver, right?"

"Of course, I-"

"You were going to ask him out, and don't deny it. Beck will never go out with you."

"Well, why not? I'm fun, and sweet, and definitely prettier than that." She waved I Jade's direction.

Jade's nostrils flared, and her hand tightened around her coffee cup.

"Are you sure about that? 'Cause he's going out with me, isn't he?" She snapped, and Vivian's eyes grew wide with surprise and fear, and then narrowed them again. "Well, we'll see how long it lasts now that I'm in the picture!" She then snapped her head around and strutted off. Jade then narrowed her eyes and turned to Beck. "What do you think you were doing?" She said exasperated.

"I don't know, talking to her?"

"You couldn't tell her you already had a girlfriend?"

"What do you mean?" Beck asked, oblivious to the fact Vivian had been trying to hit on him. He was like that a lot. Ignorant and too friendly.

"Dude! She was gonna hit on you!"

"Oh," Beck shifted uncomfortably, a smile playing on his lips, a far-off expression on his face as he stared into space.

He couldn't believe that a girl liked him.

"Are you sure?"

"Dude Have you ever looked in a mirror?"

"Well…yeah, but…"

?But what? You're gorgeous! Do you know how hard I try to keep you? I'd appreciate it if you don't keep giving the go ahead to a ton of Barbie doll-wannabes!" Jade was on the verge of yelling now, and Beck could almost see a tear starting to form at the corner of his eye."

"Don't worry," He said, wrapping his arms around her waist. "I've only got eyes for you."

He kissed her temple lightly, and Jade blushed red. She was one to hold grudges, but now she's got to try even harder to hang on to him.

"What do you say we go to your RV. Do you mind if I sleep over tonight?"

"Why?" He asked. "Are your parents fighting again?"

"Yeah," She nodded, faking a look of sadness. Her parents had fought a lot, but ever since they started going to the marriage counselor things had gotten better, right now Jade just wanted to go to Beck's.

"Sorry 'bout that. Sure you can come over."

"'Kay," Jade smiled. She leaned in and kissed him on the lips, watching Vivian's expression as she did. She just slung her bag over he shoulder and gave an icy look before strutting away.

"Let's get to class, 'kay?" He asked, and Jade nodded, flashing him a sweet smile.

They walked hand in hand to Sikowitz' classroom, and sat down in the back row next to each other. They were watching some boring video about silent films, and they lights were turned down low. Once Sikowitz got the film started, Jade slung her feet over Beck's lap and wrapped her arms around his neck. Vivian shot them a look from the row in front of them where she was sitting next to Tori. Ugh, Jade thought. Of course Vega would get along with Vivian.

It was true. Tori had taken a liking to Vivian, and they were quietly whispering, and Jade knew it was about them because Tori's eyes kept darting back from them to Vivian. Jade just smirked and leaned in to kiss Beck, which caught him by surprise. "Ugh," Vivian frowned. "We ought to enforce some PDA rules around here," She said loudly.

"Whatever," Jade mumbled, rolling her eyes at Vivian's remark.

Vivian then continued to lean in and whisper something to Andre who smiled. You could tell Tori was upset by this, and the smile vanished from her face. She then shook her head and smiled, trying to ignore it. Jade moved her feet from Beck's lap to the chair in front of her and crossed her arms. We all knew Vivian was a tramp, but leading Andre on too? That was low. Even for Vivian's standards. What was gonna happen next, was she going to go after Cat's boyfriend Jake?

Jade just huffed and Beck put his arm around her and held her closely against him. He kissed her temple and rubbed her shoulder, making her sleeve bunch up.

She pulled it down again, without thinking, causing Beck to stop. The thing was, she didn't want him to stop. Not just rubbing her shoulder, but loving her in general. Jade would not lose to Vivian, she just wouldn't.

It wasn't even a possibility in her book.

She had to do everything in her power to keep Vivian away from Beck, whether or not it meant changing some of herself as well as her relationship. Vivian wouldn't last long here anyway. She was better than Trina, but that wasn't saying much. She wasn't nearly as good as Jade, Cat, Beck, Andre, or Tori. Robbie…maybe, but again, that wasn't saying much. She was a pretty good actress, considering she put on that fake 'nice girl' act all the time, but when it came to a script…

That night at Beck's RV, Jade lay on Beck's bed, spooning Extra Dark Toffee Coffee fro-yo into her mouth. Beck was sitting on the couch, eating his pint of Extra French Vanilla. Figures, with over 50 flavors, Beck chose plain vanilla. It had taken Jade almost half an hour to decide between the flavor she got or Dark Espresso Peppermint. Compared to Jade, he was so uncomplicated. His life was perfect, and everything came easily to him. Jade then sat up on her elbows and Beck looked at her. "What's up?" He asked.

"Come here," She said breathlessly.

"Okay…" Beck said warily while standing up and plopping down on his bed. He laid down and Jade snuggled up to him, resting her head on his shoulder.

He smiled and put his arm around her, squeezing her body against his.

"Beck," She breathed.

"Yeah?"

"I want to,"

He turned to look her in the eye, and their faces were less than an inch apart. Jade leaned forward and closed the gap between them, heatedly kissing him.

Beck started to slide his arm up her shirt, but then stopped himself.

"No," He said. "Not tonight," Beck then stood up and walked over to the couch where he sat down and opened his laptop. Jade sat up breathless and confused. Why had he stopped himself? Hadn't he wanted to continue?

Thoughts bounced around Jade's mind, and she walked over to him and plopped down on the couch next to him. He glanced at her, and then looked back at his computer screen. They sat in the silence for a while, until Jade broke the ice and announced that she was going to take a walk. Beck offered to come with her, but she quickly declined. She needed to hold on to him, but right now she needed to be alone. She shoved her hands into her sweatshirt pockets, then realizing that the sweatshirt was Beck's. She didn't remember putting it on, but she must've before she went outside. She walked slowly, counting the steps as she went. Thousands of thoughts tumbled around her brain, but her mind was blank. She wasn't really thinking about anything, just sub-conscientiously figuring things out in her head. Beck was going to go for it, but then he stopped. Why had that happened? Did he think of Vivian and wish it were here? She quickly dismissed the thought. Beck wasn't like that. He had always been loyal. Until Vivian showed up at least…

Jade looked up from the rock she had been kicking down the street, and realized she was in the park. A single streetlight illuminated the night, and Jade kept walking farther from the light until she reached the big stone bridge where she and Beck shared many memories together. Se sat on the stone wall, her feet dangling over the freezing water twenty feet below. She looked down, watching the water rushing over the rocks, and thought about her relationship with Beck was just like it right now. At least in her mind it was.

Maybe she ought to end it all. Give up. Let Vivian win. It'd be so much easier to stop it all right now, then continue her battle against Vivian. Or against herself really. It'd be easy, really. Jade had always thought suicide was an irrational option, only for the foolish. Only now she wasn't so sure. She could do it right now and end it all. All she had to do was push off the stone wall and plummet to the icy waters below. No one would really miss her, except maybe Beck and Cat. But Vivian would be a fine replacement for her. Maybe it was time…

Just as she was about to push off, a light haired girl strolled up. She was from Hollywood Arts, her bulky sweatshirt proved that, and Jade recognized her as Roxanne Carter. She had white-blonde hair and pale green eyes, but right now they were full of sadness. She got up and sat on the stone wall next to Jade.

"Hey," She simply said to Jade, staring out at the foamy water.

"Hey," Jade replied back quietly. The two girls sat in silence for a while.

"Life got you down?" Roxanne finally asked.

Jade just nodded in response.

"I know the feeling."

Jade wasn't sure what to say, but before she could answer, Roxanne spoke again.

"Jumping is irrational though. It's a permanent solution to a temporary problem." She spoke softly, her words sounding mature and wise, even though she looked only fifteen. It was as if she could read Jade's mind, the way she spoke.

"Trust me Jade, taking one's life is foolish. There's so much more to experience in life, but if you jump…" She trailed off. "You wouldn't be as irrational to jump, would you Jade?" She said turning her head and looking Jade in the eye.

Jade silently shook her head.

"Good," Roxanne said, turning back to face the blue green water, white with foam from the rapids. "Anything can make you stronger, providing you let it."

Jade just nodded as she was talking. She was wise beyond her age of 17. "Now go, I bet someone's wondering where you are."

Jade nodded, feeling like a child. She felt foolish now, even thinking about taking her own life.

She hurried back to Beck's RV where Beck hugged her once she stepped inside. "Where were you?" He asked.

"With a friend," She replied simply, waving off the topic.

"Glad you're back, I was worried."

"Me too," Jade admitted.

"Jade, what is it?"

"Nothing," She said quietly, shaking her head. She didn't want to confess to Beck that she had been stupid enough to consider suicide.

"Alright," He finally replied, letting it go.

The next morning, it was all in the news, the paper, and all around the school.

"Jade! Jade! Did you hear?" Cat asked with grief filled eyes.

"What?" She asked, not having heard the news yet.

"A student here committed suicide last night!"

"What?"

"Roxanne Carter jumped."

A/N: Sorry for the sadness, I was sad writing it. I got the idea off an assignment we had in English the other day, where the first letter of the first sentence had to be your first initial, and then the first letter of the next sentence had to be the next letter in the alphabet, and so on. I wrote about a girl whose old best friend committed suicide. It made me really sad to write. Well anyway, hope you like this chapter, and I hope it wasn't too sad. Oh, and by the way, the rating is gonna go up to T. nothing too bad, I promise. I'm not that old myself

Xxxx

-ScarsofInk