A/N - Fun chapter to write.

Okay, so I will post an update on Wednesday and one on Saturday. Those will be the last two updates because I only want this to be a six-chapter story. :)

Jade's P.O.V.

Tori Vega was an annoying little priss. And why she was my roommate was beyond me. Did stealing shoes count as a viable reason for a room change? I would have to ask Mary, the head of housing.

I was headed for my English class in Marten Hall though, so it could wait. At least I hoped it could. Who knew what I would find in the room when I got back—Vega going through my stuff, her with one of her random boyfriends, or even the entire room cleaned. I put my things the way I wanted and, yet, she was constantly cleaning.

My jeans.

I left something in them—something I didn't want Vega to see.

Spinning on my heel, I hurried back towards the dorm room. The panic bubbling in my chest was frantic. I knew I was just being irrational. I often was. Almost all my feelings tended to be on either end of the spectrum, extreme or not. There was no in between.

Especially when it came to Tori Vega.

What am I talking about? Well, I'm talking about my feelings towards Tori Vega, duh. I swear, some people are just so dense—including Vega, of course. She has absolutely no idea how I feel. And by feel, I mean that I'm in love with Tori Vega. Crazy, huh?

Slinging my shoes—the one's Vega took—over my shoulder, I pushed open the door into my building. I didn't know what I was doing by not going to class but somewhere deep down I was sure that my mind was working up a "rational" explanation.

I took the stairs two at a time instead of taking the old and creaking elevator. I wondered as I set foot on the landing to the third floor what I would tell Vega when she asked why I wasn't in class. I hoped that she didn't go back to the room but she was barefoot.

Then Vega was there.

She had come sweeping out of the room, her hand shoved in her pocket and a flushed expression on her face. All I knew was that she was in a rush to be out of there. I frowned at her and stepped out to block her. She managed to collide with my chest… hard. With a groan she fell to the dingy carpet that lined the hall.

"Watch where you're going." I spat at her nastily. I had to keep up appearances.

When her face rose to meet mine, I saw in them something like confusion and fear. I wasn't sure what to make of it. She struggled to her feet hastily, her hand immediately going to her pocket.

What a silly thing to notice right? I notice everything. I'm not even kidding. It was sixty-eight steps to the outer dorm door and twenty-six to the third floor. I passed seven students—three girls, four boys—and a professor walking a bull terrier. Counting… I did it a lot. And I didn't just count, I noticed too.

"S-sorry." Tori mumbled softly, before trying to rush past me.

"Sorry." I mocked in that tone that made Vega upset usually. I know she didn't talk like that but she didn't, and she shot me a vicious look.

"Just let me by, Jade." Her tone heavy as she shoved past me and disappeared down the stairs. I found myself standing there smiling faintly to myself. Would it be strange to say that her assertiveness was hot? I don't think so.

Shaking off the strange encounter, I entered the room using the key I kept tucked in the elastic of my panties—and yes I wear panties, not boxers. I'm not a boy. And speaking of being a girl, the first thing I noticed when I walked in was that my clothes were all gathered up. An overflowing duffle bag sat on the floor as if dumped there in a rush. And the jeans were missing.

Digging through the bag I found them but all the pockets were empty. It had to be here somewhere. I paused to take a deep breath before I tore into my comforter and the floor around my bed. I kept telling myself it had to have fallen somewhere.

Finally I saw it. It lay half-hidden under Tori's bed—the paper I hid from anyone's eyes but my own. It looked white in the bright spot of sunlight it rested in. I smiled, as it looked unfolded. Maybe she didn't see it. When I leaned down to pick it up, my eyes adjusted to the harsh light and I noticed that it wasn't my paper. This was actually white and was lined paper, the kind you would rip out of a notebook.

I gritted my teeth with frustration. The panic that rose before never settled. It was eased by my teasing of Tori but was back again, and worse than ever. If this paper wasn't the list, then where was it?

I was about to rip the paper in half when curiosity overcame my anger. What was this then?

It was a list… like my own, but written by Tori.

She loved how I dyed my hair, and how I teased her. She said it was like flirting, and for me it was. I never realized that she felt the same way. I felt a blush creep up into my cheeks, then scoffed. I was Jade West—I didn't blush. But then again, I shouldn't write lame, corny lists either.

Twenty-four items on the list with an average of two sentences each. 78 ellipses, 790 words in all, and out of all of those words only five were the word love. She used 24 commas and about 162 periods—including the ellipses. And yet my mind forgot to count how many times she used the or how or you. I couldn't get over what she wrote, and how unbelievably sweet it was.

I picked it up and folded it, tucking it into my own pocket—wondering if Vega did the same with my note. Yet there was no guarantee that she even had it. I wasn't going to let my irrational thought patterns do me in. I couldn't confront her because that would be admitting I had a list too but not saying anything meant she had great blackmail material.

Well, now I did too.