AN: So this chpt is kind of a look into part of what is diff about Cat. It's sort of filler but needed to help push the story along. Should help set up Jade's chpt well. Hope you like.

Xox

B

Chpt 4 Cat POV

"What's up with you, C? You've been really weird.. or weirder than normal- recently. What's going on?" Tia looked at me with a pointed gaze from across our room.

I sighed and picked at my navy blue bed sheets I hadn't bothered to make that morning. "Nothing, I had group earlier."

"Yeah? How was it?"

"Fine. Lynn wanted us to share why we were there but all I could manage was that I was forced to be there and that the ulterior option was a mental facility… I don't think that was the best wording for me to use considering the looks I got afterwards." I blushed after realizing how crazy that likely made me look to everyone, especially Jade.

The darker girl just sighed and crawled up next to me on the bed, grabbing my hand. "Yeah, probably not the best way to put it but at least you said something. That's improvement. I'm no expert on this kind of thing but I know it's guna take you time to feel safe enough there to tell them what happened. I imagine most of the people there are in the same boat, huh?"

"A few girls told their stories, or the shorter versions. Jade gave a watered down version. At least that's how it seemed to me. She's holding something back, something big."

"The girl from high school right? Well, you're holding back too so you can't expect her to open up if you won't either, ya know?"

"I guess, I'm just really curious to see what made her into the harsh, dark person I've known her to be. And what happened to now make her seem almost broken or defeated. Oh, I met up with her for coffee before group, by the way. It was nice just talking and reminiscing about shared memories. First time in a while I felt kind of at ease when not in character for something."

She smiled and patted my leg, "Well, that's awesome, C. I think seeing her again will be good for you. Maybe you both can help each other heal from whatever your demons are."

I hope you're right… I watched her jump off my bed and sit down at her desk to finish some homework. Laying back, I stared at the ceiling and tapped out a beat against my stomach, just thinking about everything that has happened or could happen. My fingers mindlessly traced over an old scar and I grimaced, remembering the day a few weeks after everyone got locked in Beck's camper:

"Hey, Lil Red, come play beach volleyball with us!" Andre shouted, tossing a ball in the air over by the beach nets.

"Kay Kay!" I responded in my usual, overly cheery voice.

Dropped my bag and laid out my towel next to where Jade had set up her chair and stuff. Crossing my arms over my torso, I grabbed the hem of my shirt and lifted it over my head before tugging off my shorts to drop on my towel. The action must have pushed my bikini bottoms down slightly 'cause when I looked up again, deep green eyes laced with confusion were trained on my lower stomach. I glanced down to where Jade was looking and noticed the pinkish purple scars that were just visible above the fabric of my bottoms. I looked back up and caught her gaze, yanking my bottoms quickly back over the scars, and silently pleading with my eyes for her not to ask me anything. She must have understood or been too shocked to think because she never opened her mouth, just continued to look at me, but concern replaced confusion. Before she could find her voice, I turned on my heel and ran over to the game that everyone had already started without me.

The rest of the day I avoided being anywhere near Jade and I knew she could tell. I caught her staring at me more than once as the day drew on and all I could do was silently pray she wouldn't bring it up. To my relief, she didn't and whatever weird tension there was between us dropped after that day. I assumed she just forgot or didn't care enough to question, why wonder about the girl who seemed too happy and care free to ever have a negative thought cross her mind? I shouldn't have been disappointed; I mean I had practically begged her to drop it. Plus, it's not like I gave anyone reason to question who I was. It was a lot harder to keep up the act after that day, though.

"C… C!" I felt a warm hand on my shoulder shaking me gently.

Blinking groggily, I noticed my roommate standing next to my bed with her phone and ID card in hand. It was dark outside already.

"Hey, sleepy head. Want to come dinner with me and Cierra?"

"Oh, yeah, I guess I probably should eat something." I sat up at grabbed my stuff. "So do we have any crazy plans tonight that your going to make me join in on?" I asked, nudging her playfully as we walked out into the dark.

"Well, there are a few parties but considering how well that went last night… for the both of us… I was thinking of inviting Cierra back to our room after dinner and breaking out the stash while having a movie night… I won't if you don't feel up to it, though, I know that it's kinda our thing…" I could tell she was nervous; it was the first time since the first week we were here that we'd have someone over for more than an hour or two to study or work on a project.

Linking my arm through hers, I shut up her rant. "Babe, it sounds like a lot of fun. I like Cierra, a lot. It should be a great time so yes, let's do it!"

"Hey, pass me that, yeah?" I slurred slightly, leaning over Cierra's legs to grab the slowly draining Jose bottle.

Cierra giggled at my weight slipping and landing on her while Tia just rolled her eyes at me but unhanded the bottle. "C, you're feeling good, go easy hun, we're only like 20 minutes into Death Race for God's sake!"

I pushed myself up slightly but still let myself lean against my blonde friend's body, "Don't judge me, T. I didn't get to drink last night, you did. So tonight's my night, hoe!"

"You guys are too funny, thanks for inviting me, though," Cierra piped up, running the fingers of her left hand through my loose curls and grabbing the tequila bottle with her right, taking a healthy sip. "I'm surprised y'all don't get in trouble for having this shit here."

"Our RA is chill. She'll actually probably pop in before the movie is over to join us for a while, she's in Cat's hip hop class," Tia answered, opening the window and loading a bowl. She took a few hits before gesturing it to us, "C squared," she giggled at her stupid joke, "want to hit Astatia?"

I shook my head quickly, not lifting it from Cierra's shoulder. "Hells no, I can't get twisted if I want to be alive tomorrow, T."

"Yeah, I'm good, thanks, though. I think I'll stick with Cat and Jose here."

She shrugged and lit up again.

"God, Natalie Martinez is fucking gorgeous, I'd kill to be in Stathom's seat right now," I sighed.

Cierra turned her head to look down at me, "Who's Natalie Martinez?"

"Case, on the screen. Ames' navagator." I pointed to the screen, licking my lips unconsciously.

I felt Cierra's eyes on my face longer than necessary, but she finally looked back to the movie, agreeing with me. We continued watching, passing around the alcohol somewhat, and as I got more intoxicated the more I cuddled into Cierra's side. Eventually she wrapped her arm around my waist and drew lazy circles on my exposed side from where my shirt rode up. Casey, our RA, did stick her head in and took a few shots with us before she was pulled away to deal with rowdy kids down the hall.

Cierra broke the comfortable silence again, taking a deep breath that made my head raise with her chest that I was now laying on. "You're a lot better looking that Natalie Martinez, C."

She said it so quietly I almost didn't hear her, and if I hadn't been inches from her mouth, I most likely wouldn't have. I raised my head a little bit and looked up at her; she was still looking at the TV, trying not to meet my eyes. Lightly grabbing her chin with my left hand, I pushed her face to look at me. Her pale cheeks were tinted with a blush that ran down her neck; it was incredibly cute.

With liquid courage, I asked her to repeat that. "What'd you say?"

"Um… I, um, said you- you are much more attractive, then Natalie Martinez…" She kept trying to look back at the movie to avoid my eyes.

I placed my hand on her cheek, drawing her gaze back to me. With little effort, I moved forward the few inches to close the gap between our lips. Cierra's lips were soft and gentle, so much nicer than any guys' I had ever kissed. I know Tia saw us kissing 'cause she moaned quietly. As much as she likes to pretend she is as straight as they come, she still loves to kiss other girls (mostly me) and gets really turned on when she sees me making out with another girl.

Breaking the kiss, I shot Tia a glance before looking back to Cierra. I lifted myself up slightly and straddled her hips, keeping our faces close to each other. "Thank you, Cierra," I whispered against her lips, smiling. She smiled back and kissed me again.

We felt my bed dip next to us, signaling Tia got restless just watching and wanted in. I felt fingers brush my hair over my right shoulder, exposing the left side of my face and neck to my roommate. It took less than a second to feel familiar lips caressing my neck. I moaned into Cierra's mouth, turning my head so more of my neck was offered to Tia's mouth. When she bit down gently on my pulse point and sucked on it, very likely leaving a nice mark, I gasped and broke away from the girl beneath me. Tia took advantage of my free mouth and pulled me up to my knees and then brought her lips to mine. Nothing was slow and controlled anymore. Alcohol and arousal fuelled a heated make out session, deepened when I felt her tongue swipe my bottom lip and then push them apart. Cierra ran her hands up my short-clad thighs that were on either side of her hips still. With each venture up my legs, her thumbs got closer and closer to my now very hot and wet center. She pressed her thumbs just to the side of my underwear, drawing a loud moan from me and making my hips instinctively buck towards her, grinding on her lower stomach. I turned away from Tia and grabbed on to Cierra's neck, forcing her to meet me halfway. Her hand finished its journey up between my legs and cupped my sex. I gasped and bit down on her lip, listening to both Tia and the girl below me moan in unison. Threesomes are not new for me, but this was the first time anyone tried to touch me below the belt. I was barely holding on at this point, so I ground my center down on her hand and felt the rough fabric of my jean shorts rub against my clit. A hand wrapped around my chest as Tia palmed my breasts from behind me, kissing and nipping at my neck again. I pulled Cierra up to a sitting position so Tia could reach my nipples easier and I felt her snake her hands up under my shirt. It was times like this that I was so happy to not have a bra on. With a more rough bite on my neck and a pinch to my right nipple, I thrust hard into Cierra's hand and screamed out my orgasm. After I could breath again, I placed a soft kiss to both girls' lips and climbed off of Cierra. Evidently they were still worked up so they helped each other get off before our blonde friend had to get back to her own dorm. With a final kiss goodbye, we waved and watched her walk down the hall looking thoroughly well fucked. Tia wrapped her arms around my waist from behind and kissed my cheek.

"Well, that made for a much more eventful night than I anticipated when we invited her over," Tia chuckled into my hair.

I lead her over to my bed again and leaned back against her chest as she sat against the wall. Flipping off the TV, I spoke again. "Yes, well, Jose likes to make me horny and living with an attractive biracial dancer doesn't always help," I joked.

"Hmm," she hummed, "I understand that. I have the same problem, although my roommate is a sexy Italian dancer with an amazing voice."

I just smiled into the darkness. "I'm going to brush my teeth, but will you cuddle with me tonight?"

"Of course, C. You know I love to hold you."

"And you're amazing at it." I slipped into the bathroom to brush my teeth and then changed into more comfortable shorts before crawling into bed next to my roommate.

Slipping an arm around my waist and nuzzling into my neck again, Tia whispered, "Good night, C, love you."

I sighed and melted into the embrace, feeling more at home and safe in her arms than I had in months. "Night, T. I love you, too."

Unbeknown to me, my forgotten cell phone was blinking with a new message.

Jade:

Hey, Cat. Just wanted you to know that if you want or need to talk, I am always here. I know we haven't been close in a long time but I care bout you a lot n hate seeing you so broken. Okay, well you have my num. xo J