Ok, I lied, it's going to be a three-shot. But the last chapter will be along shortly. We've drifted a little from the original plot, but I hope you still like it.
So, how's Jade's week going?
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Monday came, and it wasn't fine. She tried to catch up with Tori, but the other girl was elusive, mercurial, always at the other end of a corridor, always talking to someone else. It soon became clear that it wasn't going to be as simple as that. Tori wasn't waiting for an apology, Tori didn't want an apology, Tori was just going to keep avoiding her, presumably until they graduated school or one of them dropped dead. She waited for lunchtime, but the other girl didn't show. André said she had extra practice in one of her classes, but she didn't believe him. Well, if that was the way she wanted to play it, Jade decided, it was her loss.
Except it wasn't. Jade couldn't sleep that night, restless and fidgety. She wished she'd stayed at Beck's place, but Beck had cried off and made an excuse. She couldn't blame him. She'd been snappy and irritable all weekend, with Tori on her mind. She knew she was doing it, too, she knew she was driving him away, and yet she seemed incapable of doing anything else. She was terrified of losing him, but she couldn't bring herself to let him know that, so she found herself constantly testing his commitment to her by pushing him further and further. And she knew, somewhere at the back of her mind, that it couldn't go on forever. Something would have to give eventually.
As it had with Tori.
She groaned, and rolled over. This was stupid. Tori was just being unreasonable. It wasn't as if she'd run over her dog, or Trina, or anything. It was just a cheap crack about a pimple. She couldn't seriously think that Jade thought she was ugly, or couldn't sing, or dance, or any of the other things that Jade might - allegedly - have said, at some point in the past. No. If Tori had so little self-esteem that she couldn't see how hot she was, then that was her problem.
She woke exhausted, having finally fallen asleep only to find herself trapped in a dream where she was being eaten alive by a monster purse while Tori cackled gleefully from the side-lines. She drove herself to school, when it became obvious that Beck wasn't going to, and clipped the fender on the gatepost. Crap. Another chunk of her allowance in the body shop. Right, first order of business, find Beck and bawl him out for not picking her up, then get on with ignoring Tori. If Tori didn't want an apology, then that was exactly what she wasn't going to get. Two could play at this game.
The flaw in this plan struck her almost immediately. If Tori was avoiding her, then how the heck would she even know she was being ignored? She'd have to find her first.
She lay in wait. She'd skipped out of her lesson early to get into position. Tori had to walk down this corridor after her class, so at the appropriate moment, Jade was going to walk up it. Tori couldn't fail to see her, so she'd either have to make an undignified retreat, or walk past her, at which point there was going to be some 24-carat, solid gold, ignorification going on. Jade could ignore people so hard it set off car-alarms. Tori was going to get it.
Tori appeared at the appointed time, walking down the corridor past the lockers, chatting to someone, and Jade began her run. She set off, striding purposefully in the opposite direction, head held high, an expression of haughty superiority on her face. She imagined she was being filmed in slow motion, the slight toss of her hair, the sway of the hips, the admiring glances of the frozen crowd. She was a goddess surrounded by mortals, untouchable, serene. At the exact moment she drew level with Tori she allowed herself a casual glance towards her, her eyebrow arched, a faint sneer of amused distain curling her lip, a leisurely blink before she turned away dismissively, as though Tori was no more than a trifle, an insect, a mere flicker of distraction, and walked face-first into an open locker door.
"Ow! Fuck."
The crowd froze for real, watching in horrified fascination as the locker door swung closed again to allow its owner, a small student whose name probably wasn't worth committing to memory given how long he had left to live, to come face to face with a dishevelled and incandescent Jade. "You little..!"
"Ohshit." The student was smart, and was already tearing down the corridor before Jade had got up a full head of steam. Normally she'd have given him a head start anyway, just to make the chase more fun. But not today. She stood, grinding her teeth, a small trickle of blood coming from her nose, and heard muffled giggling behind her. She turned, expecting them all to flee, but there was safety in numbers and she began to feel hot tears welling up, partly from the pain and partly from the sheer humiliation of it. Instead she made her way blurrily to the bathroom and shed them in private, staring at herself in the mirror while she dabbed at her injured nose. Everyone had laughed at her, but that wasn't the worst thing. The worst thing was Tori. She hadn't laughed, hadn't joined in, instead she'd just shaken her head in despair, before turning away and walking on down the corridor and into the hall.
Any other day, Tori would have come to see if she was all right. Any other day, Tori would have appeared at the bathroom door, with a diffident knock as though this was Jade's private office, and said, 'Are you okay?' And of course, any other day, Jade would have snapped at her sarcastically before taking her handkerchief, covering it in blood and snot, and shoving it back into her hand with a squelch as she walked out without a word of thanks.
That's just our thing.
Is it?
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There were fewer people at lunch. Not only was Tori absent, but André, too. Cat and Robbie prattled away to each other, while Beck seemed tense and uncommunicative. Jade took this as a sign that he was mulling over her predicament with Tori.
"I tried, okay?" she said.
It turned out Beck wasn't thinking about that. "What?"
"I tried to talk to her yesterday," Jade said. "And she's ignoring me. She ignored me again today. I don't know what else you expect me to do."
"Me?" Beck said, grumpily. "What's it got to do with me?"
"You said I should apologize," Jade said, accusingly. "'It'll all blow over', you said. Well, it hasn't."
"It's only been a day."
"A day and a half."
"Give it time."
"How much time?"
"Look, do you want me to talk to her?"
"Ohhhhhhhhh."
Beck closed his eyes and groaned, having long ago become accustomed to this particular verbal warning sign.
"Oh, you'd love that, wouldn't you?" Jade went on, hotly. "You'd just love to get together with her, have a little chat about me, make me out to be some kind of charity case. Well, I don't think so. In fact, I don't want you talking to her at all."
"What?"
"If she doesn't want to talk to me, she doesn't get to talk to you, either."
She hated herself as soon as she'd said it. This was exactly the kind of over-the-top, pointless demand that put such a strain on their relationship, and made her sound both bitchy and insecure. The look on his face told her that she was right, and she decided, for once, to relent. "Beck..."
But it was too late. He got up. "Got to get to class," he said, and walked off.
She sagged in her seat. Across the table, Cat and Robbie were still talking. "Cat," she said, and got no response. "Cat!"
Cat jumped. "What?"
"Have you seen Tori today?"
"I saw her this morning."
"And did she... say anything?"
"Yes."
"What?"
"She said good morning, and then she said she needed to pee, and then she said-"
"I mean, did she say anything about me?"
Cat went crimson with fear, and Jade watched patiently as she tried, and failed, to come up with a lie. "Um..."
"Cat..."
"She just said you two had fallen out," Cat said quickly. Jade's eyes narrowed.
"Is that all?"
"Yes."
"Really?"
"Yes."
"Don't make me come over there."
"She said you'd been mean to her," Cat blurted out. "And she didn't want to be your friend anymore. But I'm sure it'll all be fine," she added, quickly. "Don't hurt me."
"I'm not… Jeez. Did she ask about me? How I was?"
Cat wasn't sure what the right answer should be, so she went with honesty. "No."
"Oh."
"Do you want me to say something to her?"
"…No."
"'Kay, 'kay."
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Wednesday started badly. She stubbed her toe on the bed. She spilled her coffee. She tore her skirt on the door handle. None of these things could, in reality, be blamed on Tori, but she felt aggrieved nonetheless. She was losing concentration. She needed to get back on top of things.
Beck didn't show, but she hadn't really expected it, not now. They were still together, but it felt more and more like a sham, like they were going through the motions. She'd drive herself. She caught the other fender on her way out of the drive, but she didn't care.
Ignoring Tori was getting her nowhere, it was only making her complicit in their separation. She decided to try a new tack, and force a confrontation. No, not a confrontation, that would be stupid. Tori would just walk away. How about... niceness? That could work. She planted herself slap bang in front of Tori's locker and waited. She was aware of people looking at her, and folded her arms impatiently, leaning back and scowling at them. She was still busy scowling when Tori appeared. Damn it. That looked bad. She quickly busied herself rummaging in her bag, as though she was just passing by. She looked up as Tori approached. "Oh, hey."
Tori paused. "Excuse me."
Jade blinked in confusion. Those were words. Definitely words. Spoken to her. By Tori. So far so good. She just didn't know what they meant. She realized she was blocking access to the locker. She shifted to one side, as Tori opened it, and struggled for something to say, something that would cut to the chase, that would break down Tori's defences and leave them hugging and laughing in the hallway.
"That's a... nice shirt," she managed. Tori looked at her.
"Thanks."
Not quite what she'd been aiming for, but Tori had replied, which meant that technically, this was a conversation. Yes. Score one to West. Flushed with success she began, "Look, Tori, I'm really sorry about-"
But she was cut short by the slam of the locker as Tori spotted someone else. "Hey, Chloé, wait up." She disappeared in a rush, leaving Jade mouthing platitudes to empty space. She made to move but the edge of her jacket was trapped in the locker door. She rested her head against the cold steel, and cursed. It was going to be a long day.
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It didn't get any better at lunchtime. It got worse. Much, much worse. She sat at their usual table, fiddling with her ripped jacket and making one-sided conversation with a mute Beck, until it became obvious that no one was joining them. "Where the heck is everybody?" she said, irritably. Beck lifted his head sullenly, and nodded over her shoulder. She turned to follow his gaze.
There they were, over in the corner, at a different table. Tori, André, Cat and Robbie. Talking and laughing as if they hadn't a care in the world. Only André noticed them looking, and at least had the grace to look guilty, although that was probably sympathy for Beck more than anything. She felt sick. Had Tori done this no purpose? Would Tori do this on purpose? In some ways it was worse if she hadn't, if it was simply that her natural attraction drew them all to her, like planets in orbit around the sun. Even Beck was probably feeling the pull. She'd known these people all through high school, and three days was all it had taken for them to abandon her in favour of Tori. Three days. She turned back to Beck, speechless, and her heart broke as she saw nothing in his eyes but a cold I told you so.
Her jaw clenched. She should say something. She should go over and have it out with them. They had no right to-
"And what good would that do?" Beck said, reading her thoughts.
"But..."
"Leave it."
She took one last look at the other table, and briefly caught Tori's eye. There was no triumph in her expression, no malice. As she saw Jade, her smile dropped, and for a moment Jade thought she saw a trace of sadness in her eyes. But even as she watched it faded, and she turned away.
Jade lost what little appetite she had. She pushed the remains of her lunch towards Beck, and left.
