Playing with the Alphabet:

Beck and Jade

**J is for Jackson**

Grrrooonggguhhhh!

...What on earth?

Grrrrrrrroooooooooooonnnnnnn gggguuuh!

Jade sat up in a hurry, black hair whipping around her wildly, joints tensed for action. Nobody snuck up on Jade West; if they so much as tried, Jade took no responsibility for the scissor-induced injuries the person might sustain because of their foolish antics. They shouldn't have ever tried to scare-

Grrrrrrrrrnnnnnnggguuuh! Grrrrrrnnnnnnnnnguuuhh!

Well that certainly wasn't a person. Though, Jade did notice a familiar brown haired boy suddenly appearing in front of her and successfully blocking the little moonlight that leaked into her bedroom.

"Jade?" The boy sounded panicked. He had to have been to break the most sacred of sacred rules; "no one's allowed in Jade's room". "Jade, what's that noise?" His blue green eyes, perfect mirrors of his older sister's, widened in paranoia. And while she internally fretted over his well being, Jade was slightly irked that her kid brother seemed so afraid of some weird noise. And just as she thought it, the noise came again, louder and longer.

Goodness, Jade could hardly hear a sarcastic thought in her head.

"See? There it is again!"

"Yea, I noticed." Jade stood up from her bed, swiftly pushing passed her brother and to the window. Down below, she could barely make the silhouette of a man with a jack hammer, grinding into the sidewalk. At four in the morning. Jade made a face. "It's just some stupid construction worker, Jackson. Calm down."

Jackson didn't seem calm. After she had told him what the sound was, in fact, he seemed highly annoyed and a little ashamed. Serves him right for freaking out over industrial tools, Jade thought.

"Oh, well..." Jackson's mind seemed to draw a blank.

Jade really didn't have time for this.

"Okay, go to bed now," Jade ordered as she shoved Jackson out of her room. Once he was out, she shut the door and made a beeline for her bed. Maybe she could actually sleep now that she knew what that awful sound was. Maybe. It went off a few more times, each time dragging Jade into more and more of an involuntary conciousness each time.

Good Lord, she could not sleep with that racket! And it seemed neither could Jackson, for he once again was inside Jade's room. The boy must've had a death wish or something.

"Jade," Jackson began, but Jade cut him off.

"Don't start whining to me, Jackie." Jack grimaced at the nickname, but let Jade continue. "I can hardly sleep with that jack hammer out there as it is. I don't need you're hardly pubescent voice to start irritating me, too." Jack reddened.

"What? My voice has totally dropped!" Jade collapsed back into her bed and tried to bury herself into her covers.

"Interesting; you're voice is cracking. Now get out of my room if you want to see your fifteenth birthday."

"But, Jade!"

"Jackson, get out!"

"No." Jackson West had been one of the few people with the gall to stand up to Jade, and to this day, it irked Jade to no end. Like, how can her fourteen year old kid brother stand up to her? The girl often dubbed 'Wicked Witch of the West'. Sure, years prior he had been more easy to be scared off but-

"Can't we go to Cat's house? I don't think Dad's home, so he wouldn't know." Jade groaned, sitting up to face her brother. He'd made himself quite comfortable on her bedside, which was way too comfortable for Jade.

"We can't go to Cat's house; her family's been asleep for a while."

"Then what about Tori?"

"You know I hate Tori."

"Then why do you hang out with her all the time?"

"Jackson, I am going to count to ten, and if you're not out of my room I'll-"

"You'll what?" Jade let out a hiss of air through her teeth as she pinched the bridge of her nose. Damned fourteen-year-olds. Thought they were so cool just because they'd be going to high school in a few months. In a perfect world, Jade could stab them all. And Vega. Because Vega really needed a good stab every once in a-

"What about Robbie or Andre?"

"I don't know if you've noticed this, Jackie, but it's four in the morning! Everyone would think me insane for being at their house at this time."

"So? You don't care about what people think." Jade bit her lip. She did claim she cared little for other people's opinions. But sometimes, she worried that even though her friends seemed to accept her, her rudeness and weird tendencies would push them over the edge.

Just like Beck...

...

Beck.

"Beck!" Jackson jumped at Jade's sudden exclamation. Jade hardly noticed. She was too busy buzzing around her bedroom, gathering a few things into her black gears of war bag. "Pack some things for the night, Jackie," Jade instructed as she stuffed her feet in a pair of black converses she had yet to wear. Jackson nodded slowly and (finally) left Jade's room. It didn't take long for the West kids to be ready, and after a quick not scrawled to her father (Weird noises. Couldn't sleep. At Beck's) Jade and Jackson were off.

It'd been a while since Jade had driven down Beck's street, and she wasn't exactly sure how she felt about it. For Jackson, Jade thought. For Jackson, for Jackson, for Jackson. And really, he was the only reason she didn't turn this car around. When she pulled up to Beck's RV, her stomach was twisted into knots so tight, she was sure that only her return home could fix them. Jackson looked a little nervous, too, but not for the same reasons. Though he did keep glancing at Jade. Gauging her emotions, probably.

Jade refused to show them.

"Come on," Jade ordered, dragging Jackson towards the door of Beck's RV.

He answered after one knock, and looked very surprised at who stood before him.

"Jade?"

"No. It's the Easter bunny." Jade pushed back Beck and entered his RV. It seemed bigger than she remembered. And cleaner. Her shirts no longer littered the floor. Old pizza boxes from her and Beck's all nighters were no longer crammed into a corner. The picture of her and Beck from ninth grade no longer sat on Beck's bedside. Jade bit her lip to keep from reacting.

"Hey, Beck," Jackson greeted cautiously. Beck grinned at Jade's younger brother.

"Hey, Kid. Long time no see." Jade ignored the rest of their conversation, instead using the time to inspect Beck's RV.

It was almost like she had never even existed.

Jade felt her eyes sting (she was not going to cry) and a tightness in her throat (she was not going to cry, damn it!). It was weird, thinking that Beck could just dump everything about her. He probably hadn't had a second thought of it. He probably had laughed as he did it. He probably-

"So, you guys are spending the night?" Beck asked, suddenly appearing behind Jade. The black haired girl flinched, jumping away from Beck from both surprise and unease.

"I, uh..." Jade wasn't supposed to be stuttering. Why was she stuttering? Being so close to Beck in the place they had some of their most intimate moments wasn't helping to keep her head straight.

"Jade? Are you okay?" Jackson asked. Jade looked away from both pairs of concerned eyes.

"I...I was just dropping Jackie off. He couldn't sleep. There was a noise and... yea." Beck's eyebrows furrowed.

"You can stay, too, Jade-"

"Yea, I'd rather not hang around my ex-boyfriend, sorry." Jade bit her tongue. She hadn't meant to sound mean. It was just... her defense. She couldn't help it! And before Beck could try to rationalize (which he always did to her, something so frustrating and endearing she couldn't stand it anymore), Jade basically ran right out of Beck's RV.

"Wait," Jackson tried calling out, but Jade shook her head.

"I'll pick you up at seven." And she slammed the door to Beck's RV.

She hadn't noticed the soft clinging against the metal door, of a necklace with a small ring.

If you don't understand the ending, that necklace is the one that Beck and Jade used to wear (the matching ones). So Beck hadn't "gotten rid of everything Jade related".

Weird chapter, but I've been sitting on it for a while. So... UPDATE! And dude, I watched a BADE video, BADE~you could be happy

It literally made my day. And introduced me to an amazing song. So yea...

and I saw Wanko's yesterday. Pretty good. And trust me, I was all over that miniature Candre moment (don't shoot me!)