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Beck's POV

The next day, Jade didn't come to school. Not that I was looking for her or anything….

Well, who am I kidding? I searched like crazy till lunchtime when I saw Cat and Tori sitting alone, and I knew she hadn't shown up.

"Why the long face?" Robbie asked during lunch.

"Hmm?" I snapped out of my daze. "What?"

"What's up with you lately?" Andre asked me now.

"What do you mean?"

"You've been acting wonky," Andre said and Robbie nodded in agreement. "Does this have anything to do with Jade?" Wow, I really needed to work on my acting skills if I was that transparent. Then again, I prided myself on being an open book.

"Sort of," I admitted.

"Has she been bullying you?" Robbie questioned and I laughed. That was one way of putting it.

"No, nothing like that. She just…keeps getting under my skin."

"How so?" Andre asked genuinely.

"Well, she—,"

"Hey boys!" A girl's high pitched voice interrupted me. I turned to see our friend Rebecca Hale walking towards us with her best friend Karen something.

"Sup, Becca!" Andre smiled and greeted her, completely forgetting about our conversation. "Sit down. How's it going Karen?"

"Good," Karen smiled flirtatiously at him as she sat down next to Andre. "What were you guys talking about?"

"Jade West," Andre gave away as if I hadn't been trying to keep things low key.

"Ugh, why?" Rebecca said from her new seat next to me. Andre had always said he thought we should date, but we never did. We were always friends and we flirted sometimes, but I was just never really that interested in her.

Becca and Beck, Andre would say. He thought she was the perfect girl for me. One, because she was so nice and friendly. Two, because she was a dancer; as if that's a real reason. And three, because she's 'smokin hot'. But like I said, I never really saw her that way. The fact that she didn't seem to like Jade made me that much less interested.

"I don't know," Andre shrugged. "Beck brought it up."

"What about her?" Rebecca looked to me now and I shot Andre a look for putting me on the spot.

"Uh nothing, I just…met her the other day is all," I shrugged.

"Ugh, hopefully you never meet her again," Karen rolled her eyes this time. "That girl is a nightmare!"

"Totally," Becca seconded. "And such a bitch."

"I heard," Karen leaned in to gossip. "She lost her virginity in the 6th grade."

"Oh my god!" Becca gasped.

"I mean, can you say slut?" Karen said and they both laughed like harpies.

"She can't be that bad," I couldn't stop myself from defending her.

"Trust me, Beck," Rebecca looked at me seriously. "She's terrible."

"How do you even know her?"

"Ugh! That's the worst part," she shook her head and her natural red curls shook with it. "So for the kickback Friday, our dance coordinator choreographed this AH-mazing dance set to thee most perfect song!"

"Becca's got the solo in the dance, by the way," Karen said directly to me, as if I cared.

"Thanks," Rebecca smiled and continued. "So to make the piece better, we suggested a live band to play with us."

"But the dance coordinator did the most horrible thing ever and chose Jade West to perform it." Karen clearly over exaggerated.

"It's awful." Rebecca shook her head.

"I thought she was a great singer?" I looked to Andre who nodded, confused too.

"Ugh, well yeah she's good," Rebecca rolled her eyes like she hated to admit it. "But she's a horror to work with."

"More like whore," Karen said under her breath.

"Shut up, Karen!" Becca said with a smile. "You're just jealous because Ryder asked her out!"

Whoa, what? Ryder who? I asked myself. Oh god, not Ryder Daniels. I shook my head, but knew of course they had to be talking about him.

Again, I'm not one to listen to gossip, but Ryder Daniels strived on it. He was a senior like me, and an actor too…except he was terrible; and that's in my professional opinion. He only had one expression (careless) and he used it every second of his life. Around Hollywood Arts, he was thought of to be somewhat of a bad boy…which is I guess one reason Jade might like him. Still. He was quite the asshole.

"I am not!" Karen shook her head and turned her attention back to Andre. "I'm really not."

She and Andre flirted the rest of lunch while Robbie started talking to Rebecca about his grandmother. I mostly ignored all of them and played with the idea of Jade with Ryder in my head. No matter what I told myself, it bothered me that she might have gone out with him. I mean, god he was really an idiot. Once, he'd asked me how many k's were in the word hiccup.

The rest of the day went by as usual, only this time it seemed boring. It was like Jade had brought a new kind of energy into my life, and without her…it seemed so dull.

The following day I woke up early, too restless to sleep, and got to school way too early. I waited at my locker for half an hour, knowing Jade's was just across the hall from mine. I had started to lose faith that she'd show up until the first bell rang. Most students rushed to get to class, but she was just making her entrance through the front doors…with Ryder.

I tried not to gag as he walked her to her locker and left. Why had they shown up together? Did he drive her to school or did they just meet up outside? Whatever the case, I didn't like it.

I completely checked her out as she opened her locker and took a binder out. She had on tight black jeans and a deep purple overcoat that suited this weather perfectly. Her face seemed slightly flushed from the cold winds outside but her expression was the same as it was the day I met her. Just as I was about to make my way over to her, another bell rang and she was gone. I guess I'll have to wait till lunch.

At lunch, though, I didn't see her. After I grabbed a burrito from the grub truck, I scanned her usual table and she wasn't there, none of her group was. I sighed and walked over to my friends to see we had a new edition. There, next to Robbie sat the ditzy red head he was so crazy about. If she was there…then where was Jade? I sat down with a puzzled mind.

"Hey," I said, mostly to Cat.

"Hi hi!" She smiled.

"Cat's gonna hang out with us today!" Robbie said with a huge smile, as if he just wanted to state what was happening.

"Cool," I nodded. "Why?"

"Her friends are absent," Robbie shrugged. "So she's gonna hang out with US!" he repeated, overjoyed that Cat had chosen him and his friends to sit with.

"Yeah, Rob," Andre shook his head. "He heard you."

"Oh," Robbie blushed and Cat giggled. I could see why he liked her; she clearly thought his awkwardness was cute.

"So…" I said a few minutes later. "Where are your friends?"

"I don't know." Cat answered too quickly and looked guilty. "I mean…they're sick. Very sick."

"Uh huh…" I nodded slowly; she was obviously lying, but why? "I thought I saw Jade this morning though…she looked fine to me."

"You would think she looks fine," Andre joked but no one laughed.

"Umm…" Cat said as I continued to stare at her, waiting for an answer. "It was a sudden kind of thing?" I gave her a look of disbelief and she gave in. "Okay, they're not sick. But you can't tell! Jade will take away my candy if I get them in trouble!" She looked frightened and clutched her chest for some reason.

"I won't tell," I assured her and her frantic eyes calmed down. "Where are they?"

"I don't know," she shrugged. "They don't tell me, they just don't come to school sometimes. Well, they go to their homerooms so they don't get marked absent, but then they leave."

"Where do they go? And what do they do?"

"I don't know," she repeated; she was so not a credible source. "They do bad things though…" She gave me her most serious face.

"Bad things?" Robbie wondered the same thing as me. "Like what?"

"I don't know," Cat's response was really wearing thin on me. "They drink and smoke and ditch school…that's bad enough isn't it?"

"Oh," Robbie nodded.

What the hell? Jade and Tori ditched school to get drunk and high? That didn't really make sense. Then again, I didn't really know Jade that well. Still, I thought she was too good for that.

Maybe it wasn't true. And if it was, why would she wanna get drunk in the middle of the day? When she seemed like she had such a future ahead of her. I'm starting to wonder exactly how much I didn't know about Jade. And more than anything, I really just wanted to see her…and touch her.

Like yesterday the day dragged on at a dull pace.

The next day, I'd made myself a promise. I decided that I needed to focus on my own life and forget about her for now. I mean, I still had to do well in school and I was the lead in a play next week. I have a lot on my plate and Jade just complicated things. I'd recited this to myself at least a dozen times during my homeroom class so I was sick of it by the time I got out.

I was finally shifting my thoughts to my schoolwork as I got to my locker but then, like a breeze she strolled past me. I almost did a double take to make sure I hadn't hallucinated the image, but there she was, opening her locker and tossing a book inside.

I stared for a minute, just taking the sight of her in. Today she was wearing a short black skirt and a navy blue long sleeve top. It was so simple, but on her body it looked amazing. Before I could think, my legs brought me to her.

"Hey," I started. She turned to me then back to her locker.

"Hey."

"So…where've you been?" I asked after she slammed her locker shut.

"Around," she said as she leaned against her closed locker.

I tried to stay focused on my own question, but ended up staring down at the low scoop neck of her shirt. Her skin looked milky against this shade of blue, and it went perfectly with her eyes.

"This color looks great on you," I said in a low voice as I put a hand on the locker behind her. I leaned a bit closer and put my other hand on her hip.

"Well…" her pale blue eyes looked amused at my words, but she still moved away from me. "If that's all, I have someplace to be."

With that, she walked away from me. Look, I'm not a stalker by any means, and I would've let her go if she'd been heading to her next class. But she didn't. Instead, she walked out the double doors of the main hallway, and I…followed her like a trained puppy.

"Hey!" I called to her when we were outside. This November's weather was really starting to get cold. Even with my jacket on, I was chilled.

"What?" she turned to answer me but didn't stop walking.

"Where are you going?" I jogged to catch up to her as she entered the school parking lot.

"To hell," she laughed a little, and brushed me off like a pest. It was like she was in on some joke the rest of the world had missed.

"Seriously," I tried again as we approached a black Jeep wrangler. "You're just gonna blow off school?"

"Yep," she said as she threw her stuff in the backseat of the Jeep. This was her car?

"Just like that?" I shook my head as she opened her door and climbed into the driver's seat. "Where are you going?"

"Find out for yourself," she nodded her head towards the car. She wanted me to go with her. Where? The sound of the engine starting shook me from my thoughts. "What's the matter, Oliver? Are you chicken?"

I wasn't at all intimidated by her taunting, but I already felt more than tempted to go with her. To me this seemed like a scene from a movie. The kind where the main character has to make a choice that he knew would change his life.

It was like I knew going with her could end very badly, but there was no way I could return to my life the way it was before I met her. I think I was just so infatuated that I'd go anywhere if she was gonna be there.

Whatever the reason, I got in the car and we were off.

The end!

Summer's here *insert red balloon emoji*

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