February - Part II
"Have you been practicing your lines at home?" Jade asked Cat as they pulled into the school parking lot a half hour later. They both had supporting roles in the latest play that their class only was taking part in next week, Tori of course being the leading lady.
"Umm sort of, have you?"
"A little. But hey Sikowitz told me yesterday that the Black Box Theater will be open during lunch today, so do you want to meet there and practice together for a little bit?" Jade suggested, finding an open parking spot and killing the engine.
"Sure!" Cat agreed excitedly as the girls grabbed their things and started across the lot together to the school. As the continued walking, they chatted casually about Cat's birthday the next day and the party the following day, knowing they were in for a busy and exciting weekend. They were at Cat's locker when Tori approached them.
"Hey guys!" Their friend, well more so, Cat's friend greeted the duo, cheekbones glowing even brighter than usual.
"Hey Tori!" Cat smiled at her after closing her locker door, while Jade could only roll her eyes, unable to stand Vega's very presence.
"Beck's looking for you Jade; he said to meet him by the band room if I saw you. He was helping Andre' move some stuff in there," Tori told Jade with a kind informative smile, wondering if and hoping the fact that she thought she was "helping her out" might earn her some brownie points with her.
Unfortunately for her, Jade turned toward her with a scowl. "Don't be talking to my boyfriend when I'm not around," she told her flatly. She paused for a brief second before adding "actually; don't be talking to my boyfriend at all."
"I was just saying he was waiting for you!" Tori exclaimed defensively, smile and face contorting into an offended scowl.
"Look at me! I'm ever-so-innocent Tori Vega trying to help out a "friend" in need by telling her her boyfriend's whereabouts! Why I just hope that now she'll like me!" Jade exclaimed in her typical over done voice she often used to mock Tori in.
"I. Don't. Talk. Like. That!" The brunette insisted, clenching her fists by her sides.
Jade smirked, very clearly enjoying the way she got under Tori's skin. She turned back to Cat without another word to the Vega girl. "I'll see you later."
"Kay kay," Cat gave her a quick hug before she left. Jade smiled quickly at her and brushed past Tori like she didn't exist. Tori shook her head to herself without further comment as she let her boiling blood calm down, used to Jade's actions and unexplainable hostility towards her but tolerating it less and less each day.
"I swear she hates me for no reason," Tori muttered to Cat, waiting until Jade disappeared around the corner to speak.
"Jade does a lot of things for no reason," Cat responded with a shake of her brightly colored head.
Tori could probably confirm that statement herself with several examples to back it up; like how Jade cut trash cans up for no reason, impersonated her like a 1940's movie star for no reason, hated ducks for no reason, enjoyed cemeteries far too much than what was probably normal for no reason, etc. Though, Tori still couldn't help but wonder if there was some kind of hidden meaning to what Cat had said, or if she was saying that just because she was Cat, and nearly half the things she said didn't make complete sense.
So aside from the examples she'd already come up with in her head, Tori decided to enlighten Cat.
"Like what?" She looked at her friend with curious eyes, but Cat avoided her look. She seemed like she wanted to say more but apparently decided against it.
"Never mind," she shook her head again, faster this time, and quickly slid into another subject. "Are you coming to my birthday party?" she smiled hopefully.
Shrugging off the past conversation, Tori easily went with the new one, no more questions asked. "Of course. Actually, that reminds me... I've been meaning to ask you, is it okay if I bring a guest of my own?"
"Kay kay! Good!" Cat clapped excitedly, vibrant hair bouncing as she did, hopping slightly in place. "And sure! Who?"
"This guy I've kind of been talking too, he's in my vocal class. We're going out to that new Chinese place down the block for lunch today with some of his friends actually… can you come? I don't want to be the only girl with a whole bunch of guys I barely know…"
It was barely 7:30 in the morning, but Chinese sounded great to Cat; she had a feeling she'd be craving it later now, just because Tori mentioned it, so was quick to agree without a second thought.
"I'm in!" she giggled. "Can't wait to meet your new boy, Tor."
Tori chuckled, shaking her head as the girls started off for class together. "Don't be getting ideas, kitty Cat."
A beyond aggravated Jade plopped down center stage with a huff.
"Where is Cat!" the irked teenager exclaimed out loud to no one in particular, voice full of exasperation.
"I'm sure she'll be here soon," her boyfriend tried to assure her, sinking down beside her. The theater was completely deserted with the exception of the two of them. Beck, being the good boyfriend that he was, had just been waiting around with her for the last fifteen minutes waiting for Cat to show up to practice lines with Jade before he left.
"Lunch is already a third of the way over," Jade grumbled, leaning back on her hands, absent mindedly tapping an impatient foot against the stage.
"Well, I can help you practice your lines?"
"No, we're supposed to be practicing the scene we have together," Jade denied his offer. "It wouldn't work with anyone else."
"I'll try to call her then," Beck said, pulling his phone out of his pocket. Jade glanced at him out of the corner of her eye in wonderment. She'd already tried calling Cat herself a few times.
"If she won't answer when I call why would she answer now to you?" she pointed out, sounding far snappier than she intended, but she was at the point where she didn't really care. Her boyfriend ignored her, scrolling through his contacts list until he came to Cat's number and pressing the "talk" button. Sure enough, he was only met with her cheery voicemail, telling him to leave a message.
"No answer," he told Jade, hanging up. They waited in silence for a few more minutes, each one of them ringing Cat a couple more times to no avail. Tired of all the failure and waiting around for nothing, Beck finally stood up with just over ten minutes left of lunch.
"Why don't we just go get something to eat real fast before the bell rings and you guys just practice another day?"
Jade remained seated in place for a moment, considering his suggestion before shooting up at last.
"Whatever," she mumbled flatly, following him out of the theater, only one thought on her mind.
Cat better have a damn good excuse for this.
Jade West rarely waited around for anyone, so when she did; you'd better hope for your sake you sure show the hell up when you're supposed to, or you were never going to hear the end of it. And boy was she prepared for Cat already.
Jade went about the rest of her day normal; waiting patiently for the end of the day to come so she could head on back to the theater for play rehearsal with the entire cast. She'd been on the lookout since lunch time for a certain little read head, but much as she'd expected, never spotted her. It made sense; they rarely ever saw each other any time after lunch until rehearsal at least, as all the classes they shared together were in the morning.
What didn't make sense to Jade was the fact that Cat had never showed up in the theater at lunch in the first place, and also hadn't answered any calls. Jade knew her best friend's brain was pretty scattered around and she could be a space cadet half the time, so maybe she'd just forgotten to come. Still, that didn't provide a reason for her not answering her phone, and the girls typically hung out at lunch everyday anyways- she wouldn't just blow her off or anything.
Would she?
Jade shook the thought away as the final bell rang to signal the end of the day and she shot up out of her seat and made a mad dash for the Black Box Theater. Cat's final period of the day just happened to be in there anyways, so Jade was unsurprised to find her already lounging about on the stage when she arrived, giggling at something Robbie (or possibly Rex) was saying next to her as the rest of their peers taking part in the play began filing into the theater as well.
"He still thinks he might have a shot with her," Rex was explaining to Cat as Jade approached.
"She gave me her phone number!"
Rex let out a "tsk", "she gave you the rejection hotline, man."
"You can find another girl in no time Robbie," Cat giggled at her curly haired friend. He flashed her a cheeky grin.
"You really think so?"
"Of course not, she was just saying that to be nice. Bye," Jade cut into the conversation in attempt to shoo Robbie off. He didn't need to be told twice.
Robbie rose to his feet with a scowl, slouching away as Rex said something to him pointedly about females never wanted to be around him period, not even the gothic ones. Ignoring the puppet's comment that was clearly audible at least halfway across the room, Jade crossed her arms tightly, hip jutting outward as she pursed her lips together and flashed an expectant look down at Cat, eyes piercing her like a thousand needles.
"What's up Sunshine!... you don't look very sunshiny," Cat started to smile at Jade's appearance but let it fade away quickly upon noticing the displeased look set upon her face.
"Where were you at lunch?" Jade's voice was flat as she got right to the point.
"Oh I went off campus with Tori," Cat explained with a giggle as she had a quick flashback to lunch time earlier. "This boy Brady invited her. He had a friend named Brody. Brady and Brody, ha-ha! They bought us Chinese."
Jade didn't bother to hold back a scoff. Cat's smile dropped again as she rose carefully to her feet to face her. "What?" she questioned worriedly.
"Did you forget we were supposed to go over lines?" Jade snapped.
"Who was?" Cat asked her, merely blinking and completely clueless as to what she was talking about.
"Us!"
"What about us?"
"God, Cat. Me and you were supposed to go over lines at lunch. We talked about it this morning!"
"Really?" This all sounded like news to her.
"No, I'm just making crap up," Jade scowled. Not noticing her look, Cat smiled. Even for someone who was the best friend of Jade, she still didn't do very well when it came to comprehending sarcasm.
"Oh so no worries then!"
"I was being sarcastic!" Jade hissed venomously, watching as Cat jolted back at her sudden tone. "I called you too."
"I think I left my phone at home," Cat explained to her apologetically, at last seeming to realize the situation.
"Of course," Jade rolled her eyes and turned to walk away, stopping in her footsteps when Cat grabbed her by the arm to hold her back as soon as she started away.
"Jade I'm sorry! I forgot, it was an accident. We can practice tonight if you want-" Cat started, already spurting out apologetics.
"No, whatever. Just don't touch me. And leave me the hell alone," The raven-haired girl tore her arm out of her grasp with probably a little more force than was necessary, which she must've recognized because she turned slightly back toward her to see her reaction before storming off completely half a second later.
Cat's fingertips shot up to her temples after she watched Jade stomp off and disappear backstage, rubbing them around in circles. She was done playing this game; if Jade wanted to start acting like that with her again already then so be it. Cat had had it, and she was not in the mood for another round of bull crap to start between them already. She was through with chasing after her like some kind of pet. Sure, she'd made a mistake in forgetting about their plans for lunch earlier but that was all it was- a mistake, an honest mistake, but of course Jade, being Jade, would never understand that. Cat knew for a fact that if she went after her right now it wouldn't make a difference. Sometimes, it took nearly begging with Jade. She over reacted about everything and anything. So, Cat was done, she was not going to fix it this time. Jade could come to her when she cooled down, or that was it.
On any other day, Cat would probably have run after Jade with the amount of sorry's to make up for three years worth of mistakes sputtering from her mouth anyways. Not today, she decided. Not today.
Today, she merely glanced to the side of the stage in the direction Jade had disappeared, letting her eyes linger for a split second as she bit her lip in hesitation before feeling a sudden jolt of something she couldn't quite describe hit her at once and she whirled around on her heel in the complete opposite direction. Satisfied with her decision, Cat stomped over to a corner of the theater where Tori was standing, talking with Andre'.
"I'm done," she told her friends by way of entering herself into the conversation, feeling as though a sudden sense of power had just washed over her. It felt great, she realized. She almost felt as though she were free.
"Huh?" Andre's eyes snapped over to his favorite little redhead's face.
"With what?" Tori asked her. Cat flashed a smile at the pair before speaking again, using a word when she did that made their eyebrows shoot up in the air and their eyeballs nearly pop out of their sockets, because they had never heard innocent little Cat speak in such a way before. So, maybe she just spelled it out, so maybe it didn't really count. Either way, it was too unlike her.
She really had had enough.
"Being Jade's… well, you know... B-I-T-C-H," she whispered the last part as if afraid someone else might hear her "devlish" words.
Pleased with herself for once, Cat skipped away as if she hadn't just used, or spelled out a curse word for probably the first time in her life. Nothing could get her down anymore. She was through with worrying about and stressing over Jade so much. She could be pissed at her all she wanted; Cat was done with caring. Or at least, she was going to start making herself not care, for as long as Jade treated her like junk and continued to play stupid games with her and look for reasons to over react.
Done done done done done done done, she replayed the word over in her head, nearly making a song out of it as if she needed to keep reminding herself to not back down from her final decision.
Cat ignored her for the rest of rehearsal- thankfully they didn't have to rehearse their scene together until next week. Jade took immediate notice to this, realizing that something seemed off when Cat didn't come after her the minute she stormed away. She tried to get near Cat or at least in her line of vision as often as possible throughout the whole two hours, but found it start to come quite difficult when she came to realize that there were two things setting her back:
1. Vega and her were attached at the freaking hip for the majority of rehearsal; the skinny brunette girl lingering by her as if she really had a reason.
2. Beck was whisking her away any chance he got when the scene didn't call for one of them.
Jade finally gave up on trying to capture Cat's attention with about thirty minutes left of rehearsal, pushing the strange thought of the fact that Cat had been physically ignoring her to the back of her mind, figuring she'd probably just be getting a phone call from Cat later that night. This whole ignoring thing wouldn't go on for long, she was sure of it.
Done done done done done done done
Done done done
Done done done! DONE!
No matter how many times her brain screamed the word at her; Cat soon found that her heart just couldn't keep up with it. After rehearsal had ended, she had scurried off to the parking lot with Tori to catch a ride with her and Trina, keeping up the job of avoiding Jade at all costs until she came to her for once. It was now almost nine o'clock PM as she sat curled up on the couch with her brother in the living room, watching some comedic movie that normally would have had the silky haired girl in hysterics but her mind just couldn't focus on it tonight.
Her birthday was tomorrow, and she and Jade were still not talking.
…Again.
She had been periodically checking her phone every so often just in case she'd missed any notifications, but she was met with the same blank screen each time; the same stupid, no notification background picture that was of her and of course, Jade.
"HAHAHA! Did you see that? The guy just took a bite of a hotdog, and he's wearing a hotdog suit! How classic is that?" her older brother laughed, having to wipe away tears from the corners of his eyes from cracking up so hard even though he'd seen this movie countless times. Normally Cat would be laughing right along with him, but right then all she could do was offer a weak half smile, oblivious to the fact that the cloudiness in her eyes she was beginning to feel was from the little bit of tears that were beginning to form above her lower lashes.
"Haha."
"What's wrong sis?" He paused the movie and turned toward her confusedly, a wrinkle rippling across his forehead. "We always laugh at that part."
Checking her phone one last time and finding nothing, absolutely nothing at all- zero notifications, Cat couldn't hold it in any longer. She chucked the phone with all her might across the room to the opposite couch in frustration, not caring where it landed and falling face first into her brother's lap in a fit of sobs.
Frankie Valentine's eyebrows shot up as he began to pat his sister's back awkwardly. It was a rare occasion when a Valentine cried; Valentines were all about love and happiness, and maybe a bit of the occasional ignorance, but not… whatever this was.
"Cat?"
"I don't know what to do anymore! I keep telling myself I'm done letting Jade walk all over me, and always being the one to fix it whenever there's a problem. But I can't, I can't do it. I care too much. She doesn't!" Cat choked out between sobs, her whole body shaking as she cried into her brother's lap. "My birthday's tomorrow and I just know she won't even say anything about it unless I call her, which I know I'm going to end up doing tonight as much as I don't want too."
"I know what will make you feel better," the eldest Valentine sibling told her soothingly. She waited a little while for her sobs to calm down slightly before raising her head slowly from his lap, looking up at him with shining big brown eyes.
"You do?" she sniffled, voice weak and soft yet hopeful, pools of warm tears still swimming in her orbs. One of them trickled down her face and her brother wiped it away quickly with his thumb before reaching forward to the coffee table for the plate of frosted animal cookies they had gathered before they'd started the movie.
"Here; just have a cookie sis, they always make me feel better," he told her in all sincerity. With a small smile, she couldn't help but let the tiniest of all giggles escape her throat.
"No thanks… I think I'm just going to call Jade," she mumbled sadly in defeat, officially giving in yet again.
"Are you sure?"
"I'm sure."
"How sure?"
"Pretty sure."
"Like, sure sure or just sure?"
"Frankie!" another giggle slipped out of her, but it wasn't her normal happy "Cat" giggle; it was her sad "I'm just laughing to be polite even though I currently hate life" giggle that had just been invented.
"I'm sure," she confirmed again, rising from her spot on the couch and slowly slouching over to the other couch where her phone had landed, wedged between two cushions. She sighed, breath shaking as she retrieved it, waiting for her breathing to return to normal from her sob fest just seconds prior before making her call.
"Okay, okay," her brother said, setting the plate of cookies back down after taking a couple for himself. Cat sucked in her lower lip and started to make her way out of the living room, but turned back to her brother when she heard him calling after her.
"Be strong sis, stand your ground; I'm not sure what exactly happened this time, but make sure she knows that you've had it. I hate seeing my little sis upset. Don't let her keep hurting you."
Cat nodded uncertainly, more so to herself than him as she stared down at the phone in her hands, avoiding her brother's eyes. She'd never heard him… make so much sense before; then again, she wasn't so sure if she herself made enough sense to people half the time either. Either way, she knew her brother was right. She couldn't let Jade keep hurting her, no matter what. Yes, she was giving in again; she was calling her even though it was breaking a promise to herself that she wouldn't. She wasn't even quite sure of how she wanted the phone call she was about to make end, all she knew for sure was that she really was done playing Jade's games- and that self made promise, she absolutely refused to go back on.
She returned to her room then, silently closing the door behind her and locking it too just for the heck of it before flopping onto her bed with a sigh of defeat before finding her favorites list in her phone and tapping on Jade's name like she had so many times before. She was still hiccupping every little while as aftershocks from the crying, but she didn't care.
A/N: Continue on for part 3
