Jade furrows her eyebrows and stands up straight. "How could I help you?"

"You are the only one who can see me, Jade. The only one who can talk to me. Maybe you can help me to get back into my body."

Jade lets out a sharp laugh. "And how am I supposed to do that? I can't perform miracles!" She shakes her head and walks away from Tori. What does she expect from her? They don't even know each other, she can't just assume – just because Jade can see her for some reason –that she would be able to help her.

"I know, but… you can see me!" Tori repeats, excitement dripping from her voice as she follows Jade out of her room, down the stairs and into the spacious living room. "There has to be a reason for that! You have to help me! Please!"

Jade whirls around, a scowl on her face. "I don't have to do anything." Jade's hard glare causes Tori to step back, her face transforming into a deep frown. The dark girl turns back around, plopping down on the sofa and turning on the TV. She doesn't spare Tori another glance, instead she starts to zap through the channels. A sigh leaves Tori's mouth, her shoulders slightly sagging. She really had hoped that Jade would help her. That she'd be willing to. But of course the only person who could see her was a stubborn, mean gank. It's really not fair, this is her only chance, Jade is her only chance. After taking a deep breath, Tori trudges over to the sofa and quietly takes a seat next to Jade.

"Please. Can't you at least try to help me?" Jade's hard eyes meet Tori's pleading ones and to her surprise, she has a hard time denying her anything. With a sigh, Jade turns off the TV, then focuses her eyes back on Tori.

"Sorry. You have to find someone else."

"But who?"

Jade gets up, shrugging her shoulders and running a hand through her hair. "I don't know! Go to some psychic or whatever they're called. They'll see you."

"Don't you think I already tried that?" She huffs when Jade starts to walk away from her for the second time that day and quickly gets up to follow her. "I went to a dozen of those people but they just didn't see me, they didn't hear me, they just didn't know I was in the room with them! You are the only one, Jade! I don't know why but there's no one else! So I beg you, please, please, please help me!"

She's almost on the verge of tears, her eyes pleading with Jade to help her. And Jade almost wants to help her. She doesn't want her to be so sad, which is seriously not good. She loves to see people sad, as sick as that may be. Feeling sympathy for people is just not in her agenda, it never was, aside from the occasional tug at her heart whenever one of her friends was sad. But just looking at the brunette girl awakes some sort of compassion in her that she almost can't ignore. It must be hard to have no one to talk to – although Jade would like to have that kind of solitude once in a while, – it must be hard not to have a body. "I," she starts and looks into hopeful brown eyes which just urge her on to say yes to her pleas. But she can't. She won't get further involved into this weird ghostly business. "No. No, sorry but… I really… I just can't."

She quickly goes back into her room, shutting the door in Tori's face. But Jade doesn't stay alone for too long, Tori stepping right through the door after a couple of seconds. Jade sighs, annoyed at the girl's clinginess and her apparent inability to understand the simple word 'no'. She's like a puppy, following you around and not leaving you alone. Ever. "Would you leave now? I'm not going to change my mind."

"Jade-"

"No, just go!"

Tori sighs, but her eyes fill with determination. "I'm not leaving, Jade."

They stare at each other, each girl trying to get the other one to back down. When the brunette doesn't show any sign of giving up anytime soon, Jade pushes out an annoyed breath and walks over to her bed. "Fine. Stay. Whatever." If she doesn't want to leave then so be it. Jade can handle her for a little while longer, it's inevitable that she would give up to persuade her into something that completely oversteps her rail of power. That stupid girl could wait here until she decayed, if… that was even possible for a ghost. She lets herself plop down onto her bed, reaching for her phone and ear buds, plugging them in and putting them in her ears. Her eyes find Tori, the girl looking at her from her spot by the foot of the bed, and Jade makes a big show of pressing play on her PearPhone. Music fills her ears, her eyes closing.

But when three hours pass and Tori still doesn't make a move to go away, Jade realizes that it won't be as easy to get rid of the brunette as she thought it would be.

x.X.x

The obnoxious sound of her alarm reaches Jade's ears and with a groan she rolls over, fumbling with her PearPhone to turn it off. When she finally manages to disable the annoying object, she sighs and lifts her hands to rub the sleep out of her eyes. Her mind feels so fuzzy, the memories of the weird dream she had feeling so real in her head. She had been writing – or attempted to – and then there was a girl – a ghost? – sitting on her bed and asking for her help. Her hands fall to her side and her eyes stare at the ceiling, a sigh escaping her mouth as she pushes the blanket away from her body and slowly sits up. Out of the corner of her eye, Jade can see something move and when she turns her head, her throat almost releases a scream.

"Jesus," she gasps when she comes face to face with Tori.

"Nope. Just me." Tori smiles brightly, ignoring the glare she receives. "Had a good sleep?"

Great. It wasn't a dream. "I thought you left," Jade mutters, completely ignoring Tori's question and getting up from the bed.

"I told you I wouldn't."

"Oh, yeah. You sure did." Jade turns around from her dresser and once again sends a glare in Tori's direction. "Is your ghostly brain damaged? I told you a billion times that I can't do anything for you! Just accept it and move on with your life! Or… afterlife or whatever you're stuck in now."

Tori watches the girl sort through her clothes, biting her lip when Jade turns back to her. "You're really mean, you know?"

She didn't expect Jade to laugh at that and frowns at the weird reaction she gets from her. "And what now? You want an apology? Trust me Tori, you didn't even encountered my definition of mean yet."

Jade surprisingly feels a slight pang in her chest at seeing Tori look down, her fingers starting to fiddle. She almost feels… guilty for being so cold towards her, the girl not deserving to be treated the way Jade treats her. She frowns at herself. It's the way she is, her attitude doesn't even change towards her friends and it shouldn't change for a completely stranger either. She clears her throat and sidesteps the sad girl, although she might as well could just walk right through her. "I'm going to take a shower now. And when I come back I expect you to be gone, understood? Don't want you sitting here, snooping around, while I'm at school."

"Oh, I'm definitely leaving," Tori states with a small smile. Jade faces her, the surprise evident in her face. "I'm going to school with you," she says, her eyes twinkling with mischief.

"What? No way! You're gonna leave me alone. Go to the light, do whatever! But you're not coming with me!" Her eyes wide in anger, Jade stares at a smugly grinning Tori.

"Sorry, Jade. You can't stop me, can you?" The anger in Jade's eyes almost amuses Tori and she walks closer, the grin on her face not faltering as much as Jade wanted it to. "But you could get rid of me sooner if you'd just help me." Jade watches Tori walk out of the door and all she wants to do is to slap that smug expression off her face. Hot anger bubbles in her stomach and she doesn't think she's been this mad for a long time.

"I'll wait in your car!"

x.X.x

"Would you stop that?"

Jade tries to push the words out of the side of her mouth, not really wanting anyone to think she's crazy. She received more than a few curious glances today, like in the hallway, when she was seemingly seen talking to a garbage can. Or in Sikowitz's class, when she loudly groaned in annoyance because of the unbelievingly loud singing from Tori. But well, if she really thinks about it, she most definitely is crazy, seeing a girl no one else can. The girl that really stretches her luck right now, still continuing to blow air into her face.

"Tori, I swear-"

"Who are you talking to?"

Cat's bubbly voice stops her from finishing her sentence, the redhead plopping down across from her. "No one," Jade pushes out through gritted teeth and after throwing the amused brunette one last glare, she turns to Cat, although her face doesn't relax in the slightest. "Oh, that's Cat, right? I've seen her hanging around you quite a lot," Tori utters, moving closer to Jade and resting her head in her palm. She releases a sigh when she watches Cat smile brightly, munching on some gummy bears. "I wish she was the one who could see me. She seems so nice, I'm sure she would gladly help me."

"Yeah, she sure would."

"Who would what?"

Cat's head is tilted, her eyebrows drawn together in confusion. She really had to get a grip on herself, Jade thinks as she realizes that she yet again talked to Tori and looked like a complete idiot to everyone else. "No one," she repeats, her nails angrily biting the skin of her palm. "I was just thinking out loud."

"My brother tried to eat one of his socks today," the redhead randomly informs Jade, her confusion over Jade's words completely blown away. The look she receives from Jade – and Tori – doesn't seem to bother Cat very much as she just nods her head and then resumes to happily pop gummy bears into her mouth. "You know," Tori starts again, Jade having a hard time resisting to yell at her, "I've heard a lot of stories from Cat about her brother already. Have you ever met him?"

Jade slowly turns towards her, the brunette's brows kitted in curiosity. With one swift movement, Jade swings her bag over her shoulder and gets up from the table. "Where are you going?" Cat asks confusedly, but Jade doesn't answer, only sends her a small wave without looking back. Her shoulders bump into various students on her way into the bathroom but she doesn't even glance their ways, let alone apologize to them. The bathroom door is roughly pushed open by Jade's hands and the eyes of the two girls standing at the sinks visibly widen at seeing an angry Jade West enter. The glare Jade sends their way brings them to quickly pick up their things before scurrying out of the bathroom. When she's finally alone, she chucks her bag to the floor, her hands gripping at the sink and eyes staring at her angry reflection. Jade takes in a deep breath in an attempt to calm down but when she sees Tori appearing in the mirror, all thoughts about calming down are thrown out of the window.

"Who do you even think you are?!"

Tori's confused gaze rests on the black haired girl whose eyes almost drill holes into the mirror. She whirls around and although Tori knows that she doesn't have to fear anything, because well, she isn't really human right now, she can't help but be slightly scared as Jade walks closer to her. "You've been snooping around in my life for who knows how long, you try everything possible to embarrass me in front of others and you don't even let me concentrate on my classes!" Her voice is so loud that Tori's ears buzz. "You barge into my life, almost making me believe that I'm mentally ill and expect things from me that I'm not capable of doing!"

"But you don't know that! You can help me, I'm so sure of it!"

"No, I can't! Listen, Tori," she says exasperatedly, her anger slightly fading and replacing itself with exhaustion, "I know this must be hard for you, I completely understand, I do." Jade fixes her eyes on Tori's and wills her voice to soften. "But there's nothing I can do. I don't know why I see you, maybe I am slowly getting crazy, but… I'm positive that I can't help you."

Tori's forehead creases and her eyes get this pleading look again that Jade decided yesterday, she absolutely hated. "I think you can, Jade! Please-"

No, no, no! Stop that!" The pale girl waves her hand in front of Tori's face and quickly takes a few steps backwards.

"Stop what?"

"That thing you do with your eyes! I don't… I don't want you to look at me like that!"

Tori frowns when Jade lifts her hands to shield her eyes and lets out a tired sigh, stepping closer to the only person who can see her. "I know I expect a lot from you. I know this must be hard for you too, seeing me when no one else can." Jade's hands slowly fall from her eyes to still see the pleading look in Tori's eyes and a small smile on her lips. "But see it from this side: if you help me, chances are high that you'll get rid of me soon. I won't annoy you anymore, I promise."

Jade's eyes drown in indecision and she's almost sure that she will most definitely regret it if she complies Tori, but seeing the brunette look at her like that strangely tugs at her heartstrings and she doesn't even realize it when she slowly starts to nod her head. A bright smile lights up Tori's face but Jade just rolls her eyes and lets out an aggravated sigh at her excitement. "Okay, I'll help you! But only because I want you to leave me alone."

"Oh thank you, thank you, thank you Jade! I really wish I could hug you right now!"

"Yeah," Jade mutters, picking up her bag and strolling to the door, "I'm glad you can't."