To the anon who asked: I don't want to give too much away. But i will say that everything has its ups and downs. Take from that what you wish.

But, i did say that there would be more drama, and that there would be a lot more stuff to put into the story before it even begins to be finished. just sit back and let the story play out. i promise that you'll be happy with the way it turns out. The road to the end game will be a bumpy one, but there is an end game in mind.

Enjoy :)


Jade spent the entire next day carefully watching Cat. She was still shaken up after the events of the night before, and Jade wasn't exactly the type to admit that something scared her. But the way that Cat seemed to zone out and have her mind take over like that was frightening to Jade.

During breakfast, after her parents had left for work, Jade approached Cat. "What was that?" she asked, her voice shaper than she had intended. "Last night.

Cat glanced up for only a moment and shrugged as she continued to pour herself a glass of orange juice. "A bad dream," she replied simply. He brought the glass to her glossed lips and took a long sip before saying, "I get those sometimes."

Jade hated the nonchalance in Cat's tone. The events of last night were not something to be nonchalant about. Cat seemed to have gone into a crazy trance. She screamed and didn't react to the people around her. It was as if she wasn't really there; just her body was. It was honestly horrifying.

And yet, here she was, talking about her bad dreams as if she were talking about the light drizzle happening outside the window.

Jade bit down on the inside of her cheek in an attempt to hold in the slew of words that were threatening to spill out.

Sensing Jade's frustration, Cat set the glass down on the granite counter and put her hands on Jade's waist. "Its okay," she assured. "I'm fine." She lifted herself up onto her toes to place a kiss on Jade's lips, but Jade pulled away and Cat frowned, lowering herself back down to her feet.

"We can't do this," Jade said, taking a step back to further distance herself from the petite redhead.

"Can't do what?" Jade hated how small and broken Cat's voice sounded. It was as if Jade was physically hurting her; a thought that Jade could not stand.

"Us," Jade explained. "We can't do us."

Cat paused. "Because of last night?"

"Not only," Jade said. "I mean, you're obviously going through a lot right now, and I don't know if starting a relationship is really the best thing for you given the situation."

Cat's gaze lowered to her feet and her voice dropped to being barely louder than a whisper.

"You don't get to decide what's best for me." Even with her voice so quiet, Jade could feel the animosity.

"I know" she said. "But that's not everything. I mean, Cat, I'm not… I don't… I like guys."

"But you like me," Cat stated.

"I do," Jade agreed. "But I'm not gay, and this can't keep going on the way it is. Not now."

Cat's lower lip quivered for just a moment before she carefully regained her composure. Jade took in her beautiful features. Her plump lips holding back a frown. Her deep, brown eyes trying to fight back fears. The muscles behind her beautifully perfect face keeping every last inch of her a stoic statue.

"Ever?" She asked.

Jade paused. "I don't know, Cat." They stood like that, green eyes digging deep into chocolate brown, for what felt like hours. Days. Years. But in truth, couldn't have possibly been longer than twenty seconds.

Jade straightened herself out and glanced at the clock above the oven. "Be ready in ten minutes," she said.

In school, Jade realized just how much of a crazy stalker she was. Again, she looked everywhere for Cat. She made sure to keep that little redhead in her view at all times, when possible. She would look for a flash of bright magenta after every turn, scanning the crowds in the hallway until her target was spotted.

But she never approached Cat. No. Everything was to be done for a distance. Jade was trying hard to be sneaky about it, but it was pretty damn hard to be inconspicuous when you're Jadelyn freakin' West.

The hallways were usually packed with kids. All were singing or dancing or playing an instrument or something creative. People bumped into people. That's just what happened.

But one of the perks of being Jade West was that the crowds in the hallways parted before her. Normally, this made Jade smile. She knew she was at the top of the hierarchy. But right now, it wasn't helping the cause. Her damn popularity made her stick out even more than her normally head-to-toe black outfit would.

It made Jade wonder why she was just do afraid of letting people know that she might possibly be not as straight as she had originally thought. No one would ever have the balls to say anything to her face about it. She scared the shit out of most of the people in the school. And her classmates could talk and whisper about her as much as they wanted to behind her back. She didn't care. They could call her whatever stupid names they thought fit.

Besides, they lived in Hollywood. It's not like the idea of gay people was so outlandish in this town. Jade knew that there was nothing that could hurt her.

She was untouchable.

So why was she just so completely horrified about the very idea of it all?

The only class where Jade was able to keep an eye on Cat completely was Sikowitz's class. The two girls sat next to each other, but didn't say a word. When Cat was called up to the stage to participate in an acting exercise, Sikowitz told her to pick people to assist in the scene. He spoke even louder than usual to combat the sounds and voices of the construction occurring outside. Principal Eikner had decided to expand on the Asphalt Café, and you could occasionally hear the loud noises of the building.

"Tori, Andre, Beck and Robbie," she said. Jade crossed her arms in front of her chest and leaned back into her seat as she watched all of her friends perform.

Right at the end of the scene, Cat's eyes finally made their way to Jade's, but only for a split second. Yet, in that scratch of time, Jade felt so many emotions through Cat's eyes that it gave her chills.

Jade hated show she felt like her world was breaking when Cat's eyes tore themselves away.

The class clapped at the end of the scene, and Cat smiled widely. Then a loud bang roared from outside the window and Jade watched as Cat's face fell and her eyes turned to panic.

Cat jumped at the sound. Her father threw a beer bottle against the wall. The glass shattered everywhere, leaving a puddle of alcohol all over the kitchen floor. He stepped closer to her and she could smell the alcohol on his breath.

Cat's vision returned to the sight of the class all staring at her.

"Are you alright?" Sikowitz asked. Cat only nodded shyly and took her seat beside Jade, trying her best to ignore the sharpness of Jade's eyes on her.

When the unusual bell rang, Cat picked up her backpack and turned to head out of the class. Jade quickly followed. For a moment, she contemplated just reaching out and grabbing onto Cat's wrist, but with Cat's habit of freaking out, Jade decided against it.

Instead, she used her height to an advantage and took long strides until she was in front of Cat and cut her off Cat skidded to a halt when Jade stood before her.

"What was that?" Jade asked. "And the nightmare. And in the kitchen. The burrito. Sikowitz's class on the first day."

Cat shrugged and fiddled with the strap of her backpack over her shoulder. "Jade," she whispered and looked around the hallway as if she was checking to see if there was anyone listening in.

"You're having flashbacks, aren't you." Jade's words were more of an observation than a question.

Cat shook her head. "No," she said. "I'm fine." Jade opened her mouth to say something else, but Cat just pushed beside her and walked quickly to her next class.

At the end of last period, Cat was already standing beside Jade's car, waiting. The car ride was awkwardly silent. Jade would glance over at Cat every so often, but the girl's eyes seemed to be glazed over in an absent expression.

The same went for the entire time they were home. Cat went upstairs to her room and locked the door. She didn't come out until Mrs. West called the girls down for dinner. And even then, at the table, Cat was basically mute apart from when she was asked a direct question. The moment she finished eating, she excused herself from the table and went upstairs.

An hour or so later, Jade went upstairs to prepare herself for bed as well.

She lay awake in her bed, eyes open and fixed on the darkened ceiling. Every so often, she would turn her head and look at the bright red numbers illuminated on her alarm clock. The minutes flew by, and soon minutes turned into hours. Jade waited for the soft pitter-patter of Cat's tiptoed steps coming across the hall and into her room, but for the first time since Cat came to stay with them, the footsteps never came.

The clawing sensation returned to Jade, and she hated it.

Cat must be mad at her. Cat must have been so upset with Jade that she wouldn't even come to sleep in the bed with Jade. Jade tried to convince herself of this, but there was something in the back of her mind that made her doubt it. On that day that Cat was scared of Jade after she choked that girl in the hallway, Cat still came into Jade's room that night.

Without even realizing it, Jade flipped her legs over the side of the bed and started walking towards the hallway and over to Cat's door. She gently put her hand on the doorknob, trying not to startle the girl who was probably asleep. Slowly, the pushed the door open and looked into the room, eyeing the bed. But the bed was made, and there was no Cat.

Jade felt her stomach drop and her blood run cold. She looked into the bathroom, but Cat wasn't there either. Jade ended up searching the entire house, and with every empty room, the nerves within her grew stronger.

Jade walked quickly to her front door and threw it open, feeling the chill of the night hit her body like daggers. It wasn't that Los Angeles was particularly that cold on an October night, but that Jade was wearing no more than a pair of men's boxers and a loose band t-shirt. She wasn't even wearing shoes. But none of that mattered as she walked up and down the street.

She didn't know what it was that she was hoping to accomplish. She had no idea where Cat could have gone. Jade closed her eyes and tried to think of where nearby Cat could have possibly gone. Images flashed through her mind, but one stood out more than the rest. Jade turned around and started walking in the opposite direction towards the playground down the block.

The woodchips felt like ice cubes under Jade's feet, but she kept moving forward, straining her eyes for any sight of Cat. She heard a ragged breathing coming from behind the swings accompanied by soft whispers. Jade thought for a moment that it might just be some homeless man, but the idea was tossed aside as a familiar sob met Jade's ears. She knew that Cat was there somewhere, wrapped up in the darkness.

Jade could just barely make out the petite silhouette of Cat, sitting on the ground in her pale pink footie pajamas, mumbling to herself. Jade walked over to her slowly, but stopped a couple of feet away to keep from scaring her, but Cat seemed to not even notice Jade.

The girl's body was shaking and sobs start raking her tiny body.

"Cat," Jade said. At the sound, Cat flinched and closed her eyes tightly.

"No!," she shouted. She began to shake her head back and forth quickly, her red hair whipping sharply against her face. "No, No! Daddy, leave me alone!" Her voice sounded so weak and broken.

"Cat," Jade said again. "It's me. Jade. You're safe. I'm here." Jade hoped that the words worked as magically again. She repeated them over and over again. Slowly, Cat's panic seemed to diminish. With every time that Jade repeated herself, she inched closer and closer to the shaking girl until she was no more than a step away.

Jade kept talking as she slowly lowered herself to the ground. Cat kept her eyes shut tightly, but she wasn't freaking out as much. Her breathing was still uneven and Jade saw her chest rising and falling quickly, but she wasn't shaking and sobbing. Jade continued to talk as she leaned forward and scooped Cat into her arms. Cat jumped slightly at the contact, but Jade just continued to talk to her.

"You're safe," Jade repeated. "I'm here."

Jade used all of the strength in her legs to lift herself up while clutching Cat close to her chest. Jade was grateful that Cat was that tiny. The girl couldn't have possibly weighed more than 95 pounds. Jade kept her close like that, constantly whispering reassuring nothings as she carried Cat three streets over to her house, up the stairs, and down the hall to Jade's bedroom.

Cat felt the world coming back to her and she opened her eyes, surprised to feel herself in Jade's arms and being placed gently on the bed. Jade lifted the bedspread to cover Cat, and was surprised to be met with wide brown eyes.

"You back?" Jade asked.

Cat frowned. "What do you mean?" she asked. "Where'd I go?"

Jade shrugged and chuckled, dark and bitter. "I don't know. Your body was at the park, but I have no clue where your mind was."

Cat moved her gaze away from Jade and onto her hands as she fumbled with the edge of the black comforter.

"Why do you keep taking care of me?" Cat asked. "You don't like me."

Jade sighed. "I do like you. That's the problem." She stepped over to the bed and lowered herself into the covers alongside Cat.

"Why is that a problem?" Cat asked. "I like you. You like me."

Jade closed her eyes. "It's more complicated than that, Cat."

"No its not," Cat argued. "You only say it's complicated because you're making it complicated."

Jade waited for a moment before turning herself on her side so that she was looking at Cat. Cat turned her eyes and met Jade's gaze.

"Do you have flashbacks?" Jade asked. Cat closed her eyes and the two fell into a silence. A long moment passed, and Jade had thought that Cat had fallen asleep. Jade closed her eyes as well before Cat's sweet whisper broke the silence.

"I like sharing a bed with you," Cat said. Her hushed voice danced around the room. "I usually don't have nightmares when I'm with you. When I sleep in my bed, I always get them. But with you, it's like you're scary enough to chase the nightmares away."

Jade smiled in the darkness.

"I never used to like sharing a bed with people though," Cat revealed. "Sometimes, my daddy would want to sleep in my bed with me. I didn't like that." With the moonlight fighting its way through the blinds, Jade could see Cat's face contort into a frown.

As soon as the words left Cat's mouth, Jade's mind began to put the bits and pieces together and she starts to form yet another picture of the life that Cat used to live.

That's what Jade's experience with Cat was. It was like she was given a puzzle with a whole bunch of pieces missing, and it was up to Jade to use what she saw of the broken puzzle to draw in what she thought the missing pieces were.

There really aren't any reasons that a man should ever share a bed with his preteen daughter, and that coupled with Cat's dislike or sharing bed's made Jade's stomach drop and the clawing return.

She struggled with something to say, but nothing seemed adequate. Instead, she just blurted out the first coherent sentence that came to mind. "You know I love you, right?"

Cat shifted in the bed and snuggled herself so tightly against Jade that it was as if they were one entity. "I know," she said. She moved her head and rested it against Jade's chest and she could hear Jade's rapid heartbeat beneath the skin that was still chilled from the October air. "I love you, too."

"Good," Jade said. She paused for a moment before placing a tentative kiss against Cat's red hair and wrapping an arm around the frail girl's waist. "And don't you ever forget that I love you, Okay? Never."

"Okay," Cat said.

Minutes passed and the two fell asleep to an orchestra of collected breathing and matching heartbeats.


And so the story is begining to become clearer, and more of Cat's history is revealed. I just really hope i did it justice. I've noticed that the things i write sometimes aren't like how i picured the scene in my head.

Reviews make me happy :)