I have nothing to say, except that I am SO sorry for the late update. INCREDIBLY late update, over two months. I feel…yucky. It sucks having three stories going now, and this one's definitely my least favorite. Oh, well…on with the story.
Jade POV
So many questions circulated in my mind as I sat on the Vegas' couch. What was I doing here? Why was André locked in the bathroom? Aside from those, one question was eating the heck out of my mind, though: What was I going to do? Last time we broke up, I had dumped Beck—therefore I had the power to get him back. Now, he had broken up with me, so I couldn't beg for him back. I would be so desperate.
The truth was…I couldn't live without Beck Oliver. I couldn't. Yeah, say what you want about me. I know that wasn't a very "Jade" thing to say. But it's true.
"Tori…I'm going to find her…" I said, my voice shaking. "She'll be dead by tomorrow, I guarantee you."
Tori shook me by the shoulders. "No. Stop. Repeat after me: I will not kill Madeline. Say it."
"You don't tell me what to do, Vega," I growled. Seriously, that chick actually thought she could boss me around, just because we were in her house? I could still take her down…if she wasn't going to help me get Beck back.
Tori sort of shrunk down in her seat. "Whatever…" she mumbled. Then she raised her voice. "André! You can come out now!" I wiped my eyes (again) and stared at the bathroom door nervously. It was obvious I had been crying, and I didn't want André to see, God, that would be so emba—
No. Jade West doesn't get embarrassed.
The doorknob twisted, and out came André with an empty bowl. He shut the door behind him and glared at Tori as he walked back to the couch. I noticed his eyes flicker over to me, and I ducked my head down. No way would I let him see me crying. It was bad enough that Tori had to see me like this.
"Oh, hey, Jade," André greeted casually. I waved my hand in acknowledgement, but my head stayed down. "Hey, what's wrong?"
Crap. Crap. CRAP. How did he see me? I wasn't even sobbing anymore. It's not like he could have heard me.
"Nothing's wrong," I groaned. I lifted my head slightly to peek at Tori, and she was whispering something to André secretly. She obviously thought I didn't see her. Ugh, now I needed to know what she said to him.
"Whatcha talking about?" I asked casually with a smirk. Tori moved away from André and scratched the back of her head, looking down.
"Nothing," they said in unison. I rolled my eyes. How Tori got roles in plays, I don't know, because she's a pretty bad liar.
"Whatever." I stood up and rubbed my eyes. "If you two lovebirds wanna talk about me, go ahead. I just can't promise you that you'll be safe later." I started walking to the door. "Thanks for the help, Tor." Then I left.
No one called after me or even came after me after I left. I was used to that. I'll admit I felt sort of bad for calling Tori and André lovebirds and leaving, but Tori told him that Beck broke up with me! I'm Jade, for chrissakes. Of course I got mad. I hate having "secrets" (usually because I never have anything about me that should be a secret) and I hate even more when people tell them. Of course that was what Tori told André. What else would she have to whisper?
Maybe they were dating. Ha. As if.
I shoved my hands into my sweatshirt pockets and turned the corner. I wasn't on Tori's street anymore—in fact, I was closer to Cat's. That stupid redhead. She was so…upbeat and happy. Well, Tori was too, but Cat was over the top chirpy. How could anyone be so happy all the time? It just wasn't possible.
I had no idea where I was going. This wasn't even in the general direction of my house. I ignored that fact and kept going for about fifteen more minutes until I saw a car's headlights behind me. Jeez, I hadn't seen a car in almost half an hour. I kept walking and ignored it, but then it honked at me.
"WHAT!" I screamed, turning around and throwing my hands in the air. At this point, I didn't even care if it was a pedophile in that car. Forty-year-old man? I could take him.
I heard the window roll down, and a head popped out. It was hard to tell in the dark, but it looked like…
André?
"What the heck, dude?" I growled, walking over to the car. "Since when can you…drive?"
"Since I turned sixteen seventeen months ago," André said, laughing. "I've had my license for over a year. I told everyone when I got it. The whole gang. Well, except Tori. But she knows now, anyway."
"Where are you going?"
"Uh, home? I kinda need to be there…to, you know, sleep?"
"I thought you and Vega were watching a movie." I decided to ignore his sarcasm.
"It ended."
"Really?"
"Really."
I stood next to André's car for what seemed like forever and listened to the song he was listening to. It sucked. It was some girl band and they sounded like they were five. I bet I could sing better than them…
"You wanna ride?" André asked suddenly. I looked back down at him and tried to decide if he was joking or not.
Finally, I decided he was serious and shrugged. "Sure," I said, walking around the car and getting into the passenger seat. I closed the door and André drove off. I turned the music down.
"Hey, why'd you do that?" He didn't really look that upset, but he turned the music back up. I groaned and hit my head against the seat. He just chuckled.
"Whatever," I mumbled. "Do you know where my house is?"
"Yep." André didn't say anything else as he drove—until my phone started buzzing.
I didn't notice, but André did. He turned the music down again. "Are you gonna answer that?"
"Answer what?"
"The door."
I looked down and realized my phone was lighting up in my pocket. "Shut up," I growled as I got out my phone and looked at the number. It said Restricted. Ah, a prank call. This should be fun.
"What do you want?" I said into the phone, my eyes narrowed and my voice a quiet growl. André was trying not to laugh.
"Who is it?" He mouthed.
"Mind your own business," I whispered back. I listened into the phone and heard a girl's voice say, "Jade West?"
The voice sounded sort of familiar, but I couldn't put my finger on it. Ugh, what a great day! Not.
"Maybe. Depends. Who is this." The way I said it, it didn't really sound like a question.
"How about you guess?" The mystery voice sneered. Just hang up, I told myself. My finger hovered over the end button, but for some reason I just didn't hang up.
"If this is Robbie with one of those nerd voice-changing apps…" my voice trailed off as I realized that could be true. Buzzcut boy was about to get it once I hung up with his maybe-nerd-girl-self.
"Don't get all excited," the voice over the phone said rudely. "it's not your boyfriend Robbie."
"Beck's my boyfr—I don't have a boyfriend." It hurt to say, but unfortunately it was true. "Why don't you go waste your time on someone who won't find out who you are and hurt you?"
"Did I hear you say Beck was your boyfriend? Good thing you corrected yourself, because I know Beck just dumped you."
Then I knew exactly who it was.
"Madeline," I said, clenching my teeth. "How nice to hear from you."
