Chapter Three - Friends

She saw it as soon as she turned the corner. She gasped even louder and dropped what was in her hands. They broke apart startled at the sound. Tori looked down guiltily and Beck just stared at Jade, his face emotionless.

"Beck? What the hell is going on?" She slowly made her way over to him, placing her hands on his chest.

"Jade, it's over."

"What?" Tears stung her eyes. This couldn't be happening.

"I said it's over." The look on his face was dead serious, even annoyed.

"But…you love me. You said you love me." He gripped her hands in his and looked into her eyes.

"I don't. I lied, Jade. I don't love you."

"Yea," Tori said, pushing her away from Beck. "He loves me, obviously."

"I do love you," Beck said, leaning down to kiss Tori again, ignoring Jade and the tears that slipped down her cheeks. "I love you Tori."

*(*)*(*)*(*)*(*)*

Jade, it's over. I love you Tori. I lied, Jade. I don't love you.

I don't love you.

I don't love you…

Her eyes snapped open and she gasped, trying to sit up. A warm hand held her down gently. She heard a soft, steady beeping noise and looked around the room.

A hospital.

The walls were painted a soft, ugly shade of green and there was a TV on the wall in front of her. There was an IV in her wrist and she was wearing a hospital gown. The whiteboard on the wall announced that her room nurse was Cindy. She instantly pictured a perky blonde woman with bright blue eyes and too high of a voice.

The next thing she noticed was that the hand on her shoulder belonged to none other than Andre. She caught his gaze and held it. "What happened?" she asked. Her voice was raspy and quiet. Her head was pounding and she felt groggy. Her entire body ached and she could literally feel the bruises covering her body throb. That mixed with Beck's words repeating in her mind over and over again, she felt, if possible, worse than she had before.

"You ran out of school after Beck-" here he stopped, seeming to regret answering her question. "Well, you ran out and collapsed on the sidewalk. It's a good thing I chased after you or who knows how long you could have been there," he said with a small smile.

Jade didn't smile back.

I do love you. Beck's words clouded her head. I love you, Tori. Suddenly she felt dizzy and gripped the railing on the side of her bed.

"W-why did you follow me, Andre?" She hated how uncertain and weak she sounded.

"Listen Jade, you and I may not be close, or maybe we're not even friends, but you and I, we're in the same spot. I know how you feel."

Jade knew that ever since the day Tori showed up at Hollywood Arts, Andre, and every other guy there (including your own boyfriend, she reminded herself) had had an eye out for her. She was smart, funny, nice, and obviously beautiful. Why wouldn't they all drool over her?

"No you don't," Jade whispered harshly. "I know how you feel about Vega, Andre, but you never had her. You never had her, and who knows if you ever would have. But I had Beck. I had Beck, and she just shows up out of the blue and takes him away from me. I don't think you or anyone else at school realizes just how much I need him. He's the only thing that ever kept me sane and now Tori Vega just waltzed right in and took him from me. So don't tell me that you know how I feel or that we're even anywhere close to being in the same situation, because losing someone you had is completely different from losing someone you never will have."

Andre just stared at her, his eyes full of understanding and remorse. He looked down, feeling ashamed. "I'm sorry Jade, I didn't think about it like that. You're totally right."

Great, now she felt bad.

At that moment the doctor stepping into the room. "Hello, Jade. I'm glad to see you're finally awake. My name is Dr. Eric Morgan and I'm going to be your doctor during your stay with us." God, he made it sound like she was at a freaking hotel. Doctor Morgan was a middle aged man with golden blond hair and startling blue eyes. "And you must be the young man that brought Jade in, am I right? Are you the boyfriend?"

Both Jade and Andre tensed. "Andre, sir. And no, just a friend." Jade slipped her hand into his without realizing it.

"I'm sorry, my mistake. Now, Jade, how are you feeling?" the doctor asked calmly.

"Like I got hit by a train." Both Andre and Doctor Morgan chuckled lightly at that. Jade, however did not, seeing as it was true. "What's wrong with me?" she asked nervously.

"Unfortunately, we're not sure yet." Andre gave her hand a gentle squeeze. "We're running some tests and we'll let you know as soon as possible. Now, is there a phone we can reach your parents at, Jade? We can't seem to find a number for them."

Why does he have to say my name every five seconds? Jade thought to herself.

"No, there isn't. They've been gone for a few weeks. They do this all the time. They go off on some fabulous trip somewhere without warning and without taking me. I get home and there'll be a note on the table saying they don't know when they'll be back or where they're going. They always leave their cell phones at home though. Nice parents, right?"

"Do you have any other family we could contact? I'm sure you don't want to be here all by yourself."

"No, just my cousin Kelsey. She's only eighteen though, hardly an adult," Jade sounded annoyed but in actuality she was excited to see her cousin and best friend again. It'd been almost an entire year.

"Well it's better than no support at all. Do you have a number we can reach her on?" The doctor looked at her curiously.

"Yes, in my phone," he face and spirits fell. "Which is in my locker at school."

"That's alright," Andre said. "I'll just bring it back with me tomorrow after school." Tomorrow after school? What time is it now?

"That sounds good. We'll give her a call tomorrow, alright Jade?" She nodded her head at the doctor's words. "Alright," he said, giving her a pat on the shoulder before exiting the room.

"Andre, what time is it now?"

"Almost 9:30. You've been out for about eleven hours," he replied.

"Why are you being so nice to me?" She was confused. Jade had never been nearly nice enough to Andre to deserve him doing anything like this for her.

"Why not?" was his simple answer. He stood up and carefully untangled his hand from hers, trying to avoid pulling at her IV. "So I'll be back tomorrow after school with your phone and some other stuff. Sound good?" He was already over by the door.

"Thank you," Jade said sheepishly. "Andre, please don't tell anyone I'm here ok? I don't want them to know."

"I promise. But Jade, being in here doesn't make you weak. And nobody ever would think that about you anyway."

"Thanks," she said, looking down at her hands folded in her lap. Andre was already walking out the door when her voice stopped him again. "And Andre?" He looked at her in question. "About what you said earlier, we are friends."

He gave her a warm smile before walking off, leaving Jade to an empty room filled only with the sound of her beeping heart monitor.

Alright guys, there's chapter three. I hope you enjoyed it.

I would first like to say thank you all so, so, so much for reading. And a special thank you to all of those who reviewed/alerted/favorite whatever. It means more than I can describe.

Secondly, I'm sorry to say that I won't be able to update as fast as I have been. I started school last week and I've already got a project to do, a book to read, and two essays to write. However, it is a holiday weekend this weekend so hopefully I'll be able to push out a few chapters over the break.

Next chapter will mostly revolve around Andre, just FYI.

Thanks again for everything.

Love, always,

May

P.S. Review, please?