Things are not what they seem
Chapter VIII
"Going to school on a Saturday again, what a waste of time" Jade thought as she was parking her black 2008 Toyota Prius II in the parking lot of the school.
Mr. Dickers have saw how Jade had shoved pass Sinjin who was being creepy and talking non-stop next to her and it annoyed Jade so she shoved him out of her way.
So, here she was, in the school that she goes to become a great script writer and a successful actress, in a Saturday, walking towards the library, covering her ears to block the yells from the Vice Principal… Having detention on weekend, what a fun.
Dickers were still in the same room with her, much to her disgust, muttering loudly, annoyed, things like "Where is she?" "I'll give her another detention".
Jade wanted to tell him to shut up because he was giving her a headache, she shook her head, she didn't understand why this school hired this pathetic person to be a Vice Principal who the only things that know to do is yell. It's so annoying; she decided that the best thing to do was to listen to music with her earphones of her red PearPhone XT… Searching through her bag, looking for those red thin earpieces for a while, suddenly her mind remembered that she had thrown them away because one of them didn't work anymore. She internally groaned, she hated when the earphones only works one side, well… She hated a lot of things.
After finishing her unsuccessful search, Jade let her head fall to the school desk, trying to let her imagination work on something, maybe a new plot for a story or wander in the world of the Scissoring, anything that would make her forget that she was trapped in this place with the screamer scumbag of Mr. Dickers.
Within 40 minutes later, the doors of the library opened to reveal the person who was late, a brunette teenager girl, who has cheekbones, named Victoria Vega, best known as Tori Vega.
Jade groaned again as she felt her headache becoming more intense meanwhile Dickers was screaming at the top of his lungs, meaning that the other person who has detention was now present in the room. Jade lifted her head from her position, surprised to find Miss Perfect here.
That lifted slightly her mood as she now found a way to make the next couple of hours a little more interesting, already forming some ideas of what to say or to do to annoy Tori Vega, now knowing that she found a flaw in Miss Perfect.
Tori walked toward one of the desk, ignoring completely everything around herself, she knows that the Vice Principal was screaming at her for being late but she didn't care about it, she was glad that she had her earphones on, she wasn't in the mood to listen any yell from anyone, she didn't want to stay here, she didn't want anything.
When she turned to sit in one of the desks, her eyes landed in the other person who was there, her frenemy Jade West, who has an eerie smirk on her face. Tori kept on a neutral face, but inside she was cursing her luck, always was messing with her. She didn't want to deal with Jade, she was tired and dealing with her wasn't one thing that was on her mind when she knew that she had to be here today. She, in reality, didn't want to stay here at first but after sometime she thought that it was like a blessing and now it just turned to be a hell in this moment, and only seeing the last person that she wanted to see. And now they had to spend hours here, together… What luck.
-/-
After giving their cellphones to Mr. Dickers and having a discussion that ended with Tori having 3 more Saturday detentions; one thanks to Jade, who said yes with her own voice when Dickers asked Tori if she wanted another detention and Jade having 2 more detentions, Dickers put the box on the shelf, and mentioned that the girls will have tuna salad for lunch, both girls made a disgust face seeing the food as it seemed getting rotten, and left the room, leaving behind an uncomfortable silence there.
Tori got her IPod out of her jacket, and put on her earphones each in the correct ear trying her best to ignore the intense stare that she was receiving from behind. She was about to press play when she felt that something has touched the back of her head, ignoring it she was about to resume her actions when she felt another thing has touched her head again, and another, another and another. Groaning, she closed her eyes for a second as another thing touched again, tired she turned around in her seat forcedly seeing that the things that touched her head was little balls of paper threw by any other than Jade West.
"What?" Tori snapped angrily
The eerie smirk of Jade never faded from her face as she continued to stare so intensely, looking straight in the whole face of the half-Latin girl, without saying a word, like she was in a sort of trance, looking straight through her eyes, like wanting to enter in the deeps of the brunette that she has in front of her, with a few desks of distance.
Tori played along for a few minutes in what seemed a stare game between both girls, the tension growing at a fast speed with each second passing by. No sound was heard more than the ticking of the big clock that marked the time... Tori shifted her weight moving slightly in her seat as she was growing nervous with Jade creeping her out, staring her like that. The brunette felt like her schoolfellow was trying to enter in her mind or soul to see whatever she wants, to invade her and mess with her, with those big orbs of blue-green of eyes that she had, which would mesmerize anyone, staring down at her, digging down to her soul.
She looked so intensely, like she found something so interesting in her, like she is seeing something that had caught her interest... Tori was feeling like she was being undressed by Jade's stare, like she's being left out in exposure of everything, of her fears, of her troubles, of everything that makes who she is, and her rapist was enjoying every second of this, she was enjoying making Tori uncomfortable, meanwhile the victim feels more naked as the stare keeps undressing her, without any obstacle, her victim was weak, docile, putting no fight. It was doing her job easier, her victim was practically paralyzed and frightened by her piercing gaze.
After a tortuous 10 minutes, that for her felt like hours, Tori turned around, letting her head fall into the desk as she felt tired, exhausted. Her last bit of energy was consumed by this contest with Jade West, who was still smirking, feeling a small boost of victory filling her.
Jade smirked some more, seeing her frenemy fall in defeat all over the desk. She decided to use her scissors to cut some paper out of her notebooks, to give them some random forms.
-/-
As her sharp scissors cut the thin paper, giving the plain canvas a new form, it transforms, it changes, to a new thing, made of the same material but it shows a new thing to the eye who witness what it is now.
People see what was before and what it is once it changed, but what about the process, the phases till the change? Who see what happened in the middle to be like this? Nobody more than life itself, the one that brings up situations in which makes you change, makes you transform because you can't be like what are you now forever, you wouldn't survive. You need to let a part of you to die and be reborn.
In this case, the only one seeing the transform of the thin, white paper, as so many pieces falls to the desk, to the void. Pieces, parts of what it was that are no longer needed, that only bother. Those little pieces falling like rain to the desk, to the ground. She loves doing this… It's like the same thing that the world made with her; those little pieces of paper are drops, water drops, falling down. Like blood, blood finding its way out of a broken heart, scurrying while the owner slowly perishes, the beating heart slowly stops, making it more painful... Life smirking evilly, like the smirk that she has now, looking at the dead heart.
My thoughts are strange
Just like the things
I used to love
Another bird done, she threw it away, making it to fall to the floor, along with those tiny pieces of wasted sheets. Bored and sated of wasting her precious papers, where she plasma her ideas letting her imagination flow, to this random forms, some beautiful, some twisted as her soul.
Looking up from her place to take notice of her surroundings, Jade frowned as she remembers that she wasn't alone, that someone was in the room too but no sound was heard, it feels like she was the only one there. The annoying young Vega was oddly quiet.
She looked from her desk the frame of the brunette, who was still with her upper body all over the desk. She slowly stood up from her place and walked up to where the other girl was. The half-Latin girl was asleep, her head buried into her arms, with her earphones on, blasting music through them in a low volume. Jade stood next to where the girl was resting and took notice of the situation, thousands of ideas passing through her mind, many to pull pranks on the girl… She noticed that one of the earphones had fallen off the ear of Vega, after a couple of minutes had passed; Jade took the earphone, so she could hear what the device was playing, she imagined some peppy pop song, but what she heard had surprised her.
No one ever lied straight to your face
And no one ever stabbed you in the back
You might think I'm happy but I'm not gonna be okay
Everybody always gave you what you wanted
You never had to work it was always there
You don't know what it's like, what it's like
To be hurt
To feel lost
To be left out in the dark
To be kicked when you're down
To feel like you've been pushed around
To be on the edge of breaking down
And no one's there to save you
No, you don't know what it's like (What it's like)
Jade stood there, surprised, that had caught her off guard. She looked down to the frame of the girl that was listening to that music. The cheerful, carefree, peppy, positive brunette was listening to a rather sad song, of Simple Plan. Yes, Jade knows the band and song. She had listened to that song before. Not her cup of tea for a time now, but it had been constantly played and it was one of her favorites, for being a description of what she felt at that time.
She looked some more to the girl that was asleep, unconscious to what was happening, Jade put the earphone back in her ear, unconsciously she had taken it off, there was a few seconds of silence, meaning that the song has ended, but the next song that begun to play through the earphones again surprised her.
I hear you talk about your family life
I wish I knew just what that means
I guess my mother never loved my dad
And now I wear it on my sleeve
She looked down at her classmate, thinking back to the slightly changes that she had noticed, since any of the gang apart of her has noticed… She frowned. Tori Vega was fooling everyone with her act of being so happy and positive, make it shine attitude but Jade had caught the tiny things that were different.
She shook her head, and took off the earphone dropping it careless over the desk, and moved on, heading toward a shelf, deciding to read something, to pass the boredom or she would go insane.
-/-
She woke up, disoriented; she slowly went from her position, recumbent to sit on the seat, her mind was waking up too slow, she closed and opened her eyes many times to adjust to the light. Even though she had slept 1:30 hour, she felt tired. After some minutes her mind was well aware of where she was, although her first through was "A dreamless sleep? A Sleep without nightmares… That's good." Her thoughts were vague and without much sense, but that had stuck with her.
How can I sleep if I don't have dreams?
I just have nightmares
How can it be?
She slowly and carefully fixed her hair, which was a little messy by the resting and after touching slightly her earphone without intention while fixing her hair, she remembered that she was listening to music before falling asleep. Now that her mind had woken up and regained sense, she heard that no sound was filling her ears, her IPod had died, the battery was drained off.
Music washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life
"Seems like someone has wake up from her beautiful sleep" Jade said, in a neutral voice that had startled Tori which caused Jade to smirk, that was covered by the book she was reading.
Tori had forgotten that the Goth girl was in the same room as her, as she slowly turned around in her seat, she saw that the raven-haired girl was reading one of Stephen King's novels, The Shinning.
Tori saw her and didn't say anything, suppressing the urge to say a snarky or defensive comeback, instead she did the same as Jade did, she got up from her spot and went to pick up a book from the big rustic shelves.
-/-
"The Maze Runner, let me guess, you are reading this because you want to go and see the movie, right?" Jade said, with a very faint disdain tone in her voice.
Tori stayed silent for a few seconds "Yes, I will go and see the movie, so what?" She said, deciding to be directly blunt and honest, if that would get Jade to be angry, she didn't care.
And with that, another fight between both girls went on for at least 40 minutes.
Since Monday, after Jade practically had torn Tori's head off, the half-Latin girl has shown her cold and indifferent side toward the Goth girl, which caused even more fights between them… When the fights were in front of the gang or one of them, Tori put up an act as if the fights were the usual and she was her typical positive attitude but Jade could see and hear the masked tone of indifference and coldness, under all the act, that it was there, wild and raw, being caged, waiting to be set free to slash their prey. Jade felt an unfamiliar feeling since the first time that the brunette had practically let the hatred attack her.
The fight ended with Tori and Jade leaving the library, each heading toward a different direction, to avoid each other. They were always at each other's throat.
Tori headed toward the bathrooms. After having finished with her needs, she went to the sinks, pausing a moment to have a look of herself, while she splashed some water on her face, the sight she saw in the mirror wasn't very encouraging, it was the opposite of encouraging. To anyone who looked right now at Tori Vega would say that she looked pretty, healthy and with her so cheerful soul, Making It Shine as she always does. But to her, the sight of herself was other thing. She saw her reflection: her hair was messy; her eyes hadn't had the same sparkle like once it did, under them there were the signs of sleep deprivation as there were bags under her eyes, her whole frame of body seemed weak, like it lacked of energy, of vitamins.
The whole picture in front of her was so depressing, it was the result of the situation that was taking its toll on her, but she didn't know how to stop, she couldn't help herself to stop falling, she was failing to keep up the 'everything is fine' act, slowly the mask that she was wearing, was slipping down on its own. Right now as she stared at the reflection of herself, she looked straight into her own eyes, those big brown orbs, they were darker than before; they were two pools of her sadness, of her hurt, of her pain, they showed how her soul was being wrecked and twisted as she was passing through this nightmare, the loneliness, the yelling, the insults, the blame game… Everything was a lot of pressure on her, she was falling.
I'm still scared. Afraid of failing
Anticipating, the ride to end.
before the wheels begin to move.
But here she was, in the bathroom of the school, looking at herself in the mirror, lost in the thoughts of how her life had turned into a downhill way to hell, dwelling in her misery… And she doesn't do anything to change it, she just let things happen and take it all, as slowly everything kill her bit by bit, but what could she even do when the situation is something that it's out of her control? She only could witness what it's happening and nothing more. It was a problem of her parents, not hers.
If you push me then I won't fall
I've been programmed to take it all
And shove it way down inside
She went back to the library, stopping to dwell on the subject, no matter how much she thoughts about it, she can't fix it. Yes, Tori Vega can't fix a problem.
Arriving at her destination, Tori found Jade still reading the same book, she decided to do as if she wasn't here, oh how she needed to use her IPod.
Half hour later, Jade went and picked up her red PearPhone and called up someone, Tori guessed that it was to get something to eat, since it was near the hour for lunch. Tori were becoming sleepy, she still felt herself tired but she didn't want to sleep again so she was fighting to stay awake.
"You look tired" Jade said casually, without looking away from the book. Tori, in her drowsy state, didn't notice that Jade had returned to her reading "Seems like someone hasn't been sleeping enough" Jade said, with malice in her voice.
Tori gave Jade a 'death glare' which in comparison with Jade's, hers wouldn't scare even a kitten. Jade rolled her eyes at this.
"You can't scare even a baby, Vega" Jade said, closing her book, bookmarking where she had left the reading.
Jade stood up, and left the library, Tori watched as the Goth girl went and left the place, meaning that she was the only one there, after a few seconds, in the silence and lonely place, Tori decided to follow the raven haired girl.
At the entrance of the library, Tori looked to the left and to the right, to see if she catches the girl, at the right, she could see in the distance the back of Jade, Tori had to run to catch up with the other girl which happens to have a rapid pace. Once she had matched up with her, Tori decided to step back up a little, giving some distance between them, afraid of what Jade was capable to do.
Jade gave no importance to that, she kept walking. Tori asked some questions but Jade was lost in her thoughts, besides she didn't want to talk to the girl, less to explain something. After some time, Tori gave up on talking.
They kept walking till they had reached the main doors of Hollywood Arts, where Jade decided to have a peek outside, so she stuck her head out of the door, just in time to see that the pizza dealer was coming. Searching in the back pocket of her jeans, Jade pulled out her wallet. Tori stood there, a few steps behind her, looking at her do those things without being present at all of the reality; some part of her brain was busy with thoughts.
Before that Tori knew it, both girls were back in the library. Her body once again was in autopilot, Jade was carrying the pizza, so she went to her desk, which was in the back, she left the pizza over a desk in front of herself, she was in her seat, legs over the desk and was eating a slice of pizza already and she left her scissors on the desk.
After eating a couple of slices, Jade saw that Tori was at her desk and seemed that she would not bother to get up and eat, she frowned.
"Hey, aren't you going to eat?" Jade said, a little louder than she intended, it caused Tori to be startled, she had not expected Jade to ask that, or even talk to her.
"No, thanks, I'm not hungry" Tori said. It was true, since a few days (in reality, more, like a couple of weeks) her appetite was smaller and right now she felt none.
Jade gave her a glare which the brunette couldn't decipher. After a couple minutes, both girls were looking straight in the eyes of the other, Tori decided to go and grab a slice of pizza and eat it, just for the sake of if that would make Jade to stop looking at her like that, it was making her uncomfortable. While the young girl was walking back to her place, giving her back to Jade, the raven haired girl had a small smile on her face, which after a few seconds, faded away instantaneously.
After an hour and half, the pizza was eaten by both girls, Tori ate 4 slices but with a great effort. She felt full… Again the silence was settled in the room. Jade was playing with her scissor making it rotate around her finger.
Jade went out of the library, shortly after, to roam around the school, and get out of the room. Tori didn't follow her, this time; she had returned to her read, The Maze Runner.
-/-
Jade found her way to the music room, without being caught by the Vice Principal, or the pathetic scumbag of Dickers, like she thinks of him. The room was in utter silence and emptiness with the lights off, like it was supposed to be in a Saturday, a day in which no one would come, like it was supposed to be. But today, Jade was standing in the frame of the door of the room, leaning on it, and with her fingers, she found the switcher and made the lights to turn on, she smirked at the sight of the beautiful grand acoustic piano to be illuminated, as the whole room was coming alive...
She went and sat down on the padded little bench, she stretched her arms, as she prepared herself to play a melody on the beautiful instrument that she had in front of her.
After playing a melody that Jade had stuck in her head, the melody was really nice and cool, kind for a pop song, but it needed some arranges. So she was doing that when the door swung open to reveal Dickers, who was very annoyed. The good mood that she was having while being in that room, dropped instantaneously as she saw him there, about to scream at her.
She didn't know when, but before she knew it, she was being locked inside of the janitor's closet. Dickers was screaming at her for being out of the library, and she answered with a shrug, which only enraged him more, and it seemed like both of them moved out of the room, arguing, and in a moment, Dickers grabbed Jade by her arm, and dragged her inside of the janitor's closet.
Jade felt herself getting frustrated by the situation, cursing having to being stuck in school on a Saturday in the first place, she looked around the room, and to her disgrace, there wasn't any trash can to get even with. She wanted to scream at the top of her lungs so she could get rid of the frustration, but she knew that it wasn't going to help for nothing, if it was going to do something, it would only bring her more troubles.
After maybe 25 minutes being trapped in that place, the door opened to reveal someone who was being pushed inside of that room. The person, who was being pushed, stumbled and fell. Jade groaned when she felt that something had hit her leg, what had hit her, seemed to be an arm. That person slowly got up from the ground, when Jade saw who was, she growled loudly. Now to her disgrace, she had to spend her time locked in the janitor's closet with Tori Vega.
When both girls looked at each other, they frowned.
"What are you doing here?" Jade snapped.
Tori only glared at her for a few seconds. "I could ask you the same thing" She said.
"Great, now I have to be stuck here with you" Jade grumbled with a tone of disgust in her voice.
"Well, being trapped with you it isn't the most pleasant thing" Tori said looking squarely to the Goth girl.
The Goth girl only snarled under her breath. After a couple of minutes, Jade kicked a shelf that was filled with a lot of boxes, causing many to fall… Some fell on the young brunette.
"Hey" Tori snapped, covering her face, trying to protect herself from the falling cardboard boxes.
"Have you to be such a bitch all the fucking time?" Tori exploded with rage, she was sick of Jade's attitude. This only caused Jade to smirk.
"Oh, the little sweet Tori, just said a bad word" Jade said, faking a surprise tone in her voice.
Tori was so sick of this, her emotions were taking over her, she didn't want to make this go too far so she only closed her eyes and let out a long and loud sigh, in an attempt to calm herself down. Jade did the same as before, she kicked the shelf again and many boxes fell on the half-Latin girl, again.
And that was the final straw that broke camel's back. Tori, enraged, get up from her place and went over Jade who was at the door, and pushed her to it.
"What it's wrong with you?" Tori yelled "I have enough of your dealing; I'm not your punch bag to be playing around"
Some seconds passed in silence after the abrupt rant of the brunette, but to that person it seemed like an eternity. Jade was surprised by the sudden act of the girl, but she masked it with her usual eerie smirk. So, the only thing that the raven haired girl said was "Wow, seems like the little and sweet Tori has guts"
Tori didn't expect that, she shook her head, it was Jade after all and she's always unpredictable. "I don't get you" Tori said.
Jade didn't say anything at that, she only continued to give the brunette her characteristic smile while the minutes passed by, but Jade was growing uncomfortable having the young half-Latin girl so near of her, so she lifted her right arm and with two fingers, she pushed the girl on her chest making the girl to take a few steps back. Tori didn't protest at that or did something about. They found themselves wrapped in a silence inside of the little janitor's closet.
Jade to break the ice, did what she does best, annoy the girl.
"Oh, look I'm Tori Vega, so sweet and innocent, but I have now guts, and I said bad words too" Jade said mocking Tori with her Sweet Sally Peaches voice.
"I don't talk like that!" Tori said, irritated.
"Whatever" Jade snapped venomously.
A ten minutes later, both girls were sitting on the floor facing each other: Jade was with her back pressed against the door and Tori was near the shelf using some boxes trying to make herself comfortable.
"Why do you have to be like this with me?" Tori asked, suddenly. It was something that haunts her mind all the time when it comes to the Gothic girl.
Jade sighed and tried to put herself more straight in her position, making now to have all her back pressed against the door and she stretched her head till it touched the doorknob, the cold metal at the touch sent a little chill that went down her spine.
"Why can't you accept that I want to be friends with you? All I have done to you is being nice and I have always helped you when you needed even when you didn't want it" Tori continued asking after seeing that the girl won't answer. She felt like it was the moment to say what she felt in her heart even knowing that would be the worst thing to do, with the person who she was talking to. But if she didn't do it now, she felt that she would never do it. Jade could practically rip her heart out straight away if she wanted right now, but she didn't care, she would run the risk.
Jade just looked at the girl, without moving even an inch from her spot, her face was unreadable.
"Haven't I told you already, you cannot be nice to me when I have been mean to you, that is not how it works!"
Tori sighed dramatically, Jade was being too stubborn, for her like.
"What have I done to make you hate me so much?" Asked the brunette in defeat, she didn't understand the raven haired girl. She wanted to understand.
"You were rubbing my boyfriend in the first day, and kissed him, the next" Jade said blunt, straight away.
"And we still dwell on the 'Beck issue'… How many times have I told you that I don't like him! Apart you dumped iced coffee in my head. I tried to explain to you that without intention I spilled my coffee on him because I was distracted and bumped into him!" Tori said, exasperated with this. She was sick of fighting over the same thing all the time.
"The coffee had gone cold, it was a waste so I had to do something with it, instead of throwing it to the trash can" Jade said, without more, as the most obvious thing on the world and shrugged.
"Jade!"
"Vega" Jade said with the eerie smirk back on as she saw her frenemy becoming frustrated with her attitude.
"Can't you behave at least for once and try and be civil to me? You were nice to me in the PMA… Can't you be like that again?"
"No" Jade said simply.
Tori frustrated sighed and ran her hand over her hair and messed with it, Jade smirked some more seeing her frenemy getting so worked out.
"Come on, Vega. Stop getting so worked up. You are too easy, you should toughen up a little" Jade said, getting tired of her attitude, she was too melodramatic for her taste.
Tori after hearing that, she raised her eyebrow and then gave her a 'death glare' which was scarier than before, back in the library.
"Oh, really? You think that I'm being a fucking drama queen, right now, right? Well, know one thing, West, you sucks. You're a horrible person with that entire attitude, even though I believe that behind that bitchy act of you, there is a sweet and cute person, like what I had witnessed sometimes with you, the first when you come to me for help to get back with Beck. But you know what? You just got what you wanted; I got tired of all this crap. I give up, really, I give up! I'm tired of bearing with all the shit you put up… I must be a masochist for dealing with all of this all this time, but not anymore." Tori exploded with rage, letting out all her frustration, all of her angry.
Then, blinded by her emotions, Tori went over her, and in her ear, she whispered "You are just a broken person, so broken. Your soul is just a big wrecked piece of black like the black hole that is your heart"
And then her mind remembered the secret passage that lead the way back to the library from there, in the janitor's closet, so Tori went to it and left the place, leaving behind a really stunned and dumbfounded Jade West that when she recovered from the shock she found herself alone in the janitor's closet.
At a rapid pace she went to the stairs and climbed up to the library in hopes of finding the young half-Latin girl there. What she had said had triggered something inside of her. But to her disgrace, there was no one.
Jade looked at the big clock of the place and it read 4 pm, it was time to go home, detention was over. After looking at it, the gothic girl ran to see if she could catch the other girl, ignoring her things that were strewn everywhere.
She found herself in the parking lot before she knew it and no traces of the brunette to be seen. The raven haired girl screamed, her frustration and adrenaline taking over her.
The screams were a sharp, piercing howl of pain, pain that Jade didn't know from where it was coming from. She felt the same unfamiliar feeling of the whole week, but this time it was so intense, it was unbearable. It was pain and no the good kind of pain. It was raw and wild, so deep, till the bones, like when a lion is being hurt, she felt hurt and she didn't understand why.
Saying things without thinking often lead to hurting others' feelings
