The next day, the aforementioned 'gang' were sat in their regular spot in the Asphalt Café at Hollywood Arts, eating their lunch. Of course their table was the best seat in the school: in good view of the outdoor stage, while still close to the Grub Truck; the table was slightly on it's own for privacy, but not too far from the others so that they weren't loners; and it was perfectly in the shade, but still close to the sunlight so that it wasn't dark. This table was normally claimed by Seniors, but in Freshman year, while on one of her rants, Jade managed to scare away the regulars, and claimed the table for her friends.

"Cat." Robbie nudged the red-head beside him, who'd just fallen asleep on the table during their lunch break.

"Wha- Oh hi hi." Cat smiled at the curly haired boy beside her, as she sat upright. "What'd I miss?"

"You've been falling asleep a lot recently." Tori pointed out, ignoring Cat's question.

"I'm tired." Cat yawned, using her hand to politely cover her mouth. "You know with homework and all."

"That's 'cause you do it at midnight." Beck pointed out, raising an eyebrow and leaning his arm on the table. "You do know there is that space of time between school and midnight, you could do it then."

"Yeah I guess." Cat laughed, internally screaming over how she had no time due to work.

"No she cant, she's always 'busy'." Jade mocked, putting air quotes around the word. "She tells us that every time we want to go out anywhere."

"She came out with us last week." Robbie butted in.

'Yeah, and I had to leave Jane and Mark low on staff.' Cat thought to herself. 'Luckily Sammy was at a friends house, that's the only reason I went.'

"For the first time in forever." Jade shot back. "Come on Cat, what are you really doing after school?" Jade interrogated the red-head, raising an eyebrow when she began to pale slightly.

"Back off will you." Tori snapped at the goth. "You don't need to know what she does 24/7."

"Maybe I do." Jade growled. "With that crazy brother of her's I'm starting to get curious." Jade took a sip of her drink, smirking.

"Sammy is not crazy." Cat hissed under her breath. In all honesty though, Jade was right to think of him in that way, Cat does periodically tell them strange (and slightly over exaggerated stories) about him, so that they'd maybe not want to visit her house. This is also why she puts on that hyper and ditsy personality, so that people would think she was annoying and hopeful not want to spend too much time with her and not want to go to her home. It was a lonely way to live, but it worked... mostly. There were some times where the gang wanted to go to visit her, but through manipulation and cancellation Cat managed to convince them otherwise, keeping her home life a secret.

"Are you sure about that? Didn't you say he pretend to be a dinosaur like 3 days ago?" Jade snapped.

"He'd just read a book about them." Cat pouted, looking away from Jade and down at her watch. "I'd better go to Art class now." She jumped up from the table and skipped away.

"Go on then!" Jade yelled after her, causing people from other tables too look over at her. "Run off Valentine."

"Woah." Beck breathed. "What was that sudden outburst about?"

"She's avoiding something." Jade replied, looking at her boyfriend. "1. She has Improv next the rest of us. 2. Class doesn't start for 20 minutes."

"Either way." Andre cut in. "You never yell at Cat."

"Well she deserved." Jade growled, stabbing her abandoned salad with her fork.

"Is everything okay?" Tori asked Jade, looking at her with sincerity. "You don't seem-"

"I'm fine!" Jade yelled, storming away in the same direction Cat had gone.

"Something's telling me she's not okay." Rex spoke up, beside a slightly scared Robbie.

"Nah Chiz." Andre replied sarcastically.

"I'll go see what's up with her." Beck said, standing up and clearing away his and Jade's discarded lunches, before leaving to follow his girlfriend.


Jade POV

"Jade!" I heard Beck's voice echo around the Black Box Theatre as he walked in.

The words "He won't find me here." Kept echoing around my head, from my position behind the black-out curtains.

"I can see your shoes." He said pointedly.

"Damn it!" I near-yelled, looking down at my bright blue shoes which were pointing out the bottom of the curtains. "The one day I don't wear black."

"You gonna tell me what'd wrong Babe?" Beck asked me, pushing away the curtains that 'hid' me.

Lying won't get me anywhere, so I sighed an told him the truth. "Tonight... I'm going to see my dad in jail."

"Really?" He looked at me, sympathy in his eyes.

"Don't give me that look." I batted him away. "My Mom finally got to me, she's been begging for months for me to join her. She still hasn't forgiven him yet either, you know that, but apparently hes been asking to see me during their weekly calls and bi-yearly visits. She says he's better now, I call bullshit on that."

"Let's sit." Beck guided me toward the rows of chairs facing the stage and at down on the two in the back corner. "Now, I'm not going to be much help in this, 'cause I haven't forgiven my own dad yet, but your dad's been clean for how long?"

"5 years." I replied. "But that's because they don't allow alcohol in jail."

"As soon as he's out- if he's ever out, he'll be back to his old ways. 'Cause I'm still here." A signal tear cascaded down my face.

"We've gone over this 1000 time Jade." Beck comforted, stroking the back of my hand with his thumb. "It's not your fault."

"I know." I sighed. "You always try to make me believe my dad was the bad one."

"What do you mean? He is."

"That he was an awful person who left us, who left me and left Mom. A couple more felonies and he could be President. (A/N sorry but hehe). But still, a shrink might even say that sometimes I thought it was my fault."

"It's never been your fault Jade." Beck said back to me, pulling me close into a hug. "We both know that drinking is the fault of who does it, and their mental state. Remember, my dad drinks too, does that mean I'm the fault of his drinking?"

"No." I replied quickly. "Of course not, he-"

"Then why does that mean you're the cause of his?" Beck cut me off.

"I-" I started, cutting myself off with a loss for words.

"We'll get through this together." He stroked my hair lovingly.

A loud crash interrupted us, making me quickly pull away from my boyfriend's arms. "Who's there?" I called out to the theatre. "Come out!" I pulled out my scissors threateningly, walking into the centre of the room.

"Jade." Beck said, walking over to try and calm me.

"No!" I yelled back at him. "Someone knows my secret, and yours to some extent. This person need to know not to eavesdrop on me!" I turned back to the room. "COME OUT!"

"I'm s...sorry Jade." The voice of the unknown person spoke up, walking out the beck of the wall prop they'd been hiding behind.

"Cat?"