(20)
"Never thought that you would be coming to see me," her father comments as he leans back in his office chair.
Jade sighs as she lets her hand fall to her stomach. "That makes two of us."
Her father smirks, a smirk that reminds Jade so much of herself. She hates that.
"So, what can I do for you?" Her father asks.
Jade inhales deeply. She hates, hates asking her father for anything, hasn't done it in years, and now she has to come back and ask him for something like this.
She just wants to turn around and leave, but she can't, she had to do this for her baby.
For her daughter.
Because she's determined to be a good mom, even if she doesn't think it's possible.
"You remember what you said yesterday? About getting me a job?"
Her father chuckles the most condescending laugh she's ever heard. It makes her blood boil.
"I thought that boyfriend of yours said that he was going to get a job? He didn't leave you to fend for yourself, did he?"
"No. Beck isn't deadbeat father. I wish I could say the same about my own."
Her father crosses his arms across his chest. "You know, you are asking me for help. You should be nicer."
Jade rolls her eyes. "Listen, Beck can't get a job okay? I can. So just, get me the job you were talking about yesterday. Please."
Her father raises a brow. He's probably never heard her say the word please before. She doesn't remember ever saying it to her.
It's a tense staring contest for a moment before he opens his laptop and asks, "Do you have an email?"
"Who doesn't have an email Robert?"
Her father narrows his eyes at her, clearly not in the mood. It makes her smirk.
"What's your email?"
"Scissorluver "
That makes her father do a double take. "Seriously? You don't have a professional email?"
"You should have specified," Jade shrugs. "Jadewest . All lowercase."
"Alright. I'll send you what I need you to do. I'll need everything done by Monday. That's when I leave."
"So I'm your assistant?" Jade asks, her nose scrunching up in disgust. "Don't you have one of those?"
"I had to fire her," her father says dismissively.
Jade hums. "What? Did she not let you sleep with her?"
Her father groans as he rubs his forehead. "I don't have to give you this job. Don't be so ungrateful for once in your life."
Jade opens her mouth to say something rude, but, she knows she can't. This job is money towards things for her kid. Maybe a bigger place one day (because there's no way she can spend more than six months in that RV with a baby). So she shuts her mouth, her hand falling to her small bump and moving her thumb over it slowly, smiling to herself when she feels that fluttery feeling.
"You're having a granddaughter," she finds herself saying. Why, she doesn't know.
Her father looks up from the computer, his eyes looking over her for a moment before he looks back at his computer. "Another you?"
"Whatever, don't wonder why I told you," Jade mutters. Then she shifts on her feet. "So, are we done here?"
Her father nods. "I'll call you if I need you. I might need you to come into my office sometimes, perhaps during your lunch or after school."
Jade nods, turns and walks toward the door when her father calls her name. She turns, her brow raising in question.
"Why can't Beck get a job?"
She swallows. She shouldn't have mentioned that, she shouldn't have mentioned Beck at all.
"I mean, he's not handicap," her father continues. "He's a healthy young man. It would make sense for him to get a job, as opposed to you, a young pregnant teenager. More reliable too. He won't be puking all over stuff."
Jade rolls her eyes as she replies, "Neither will I. I'm out of the first trimester. And not that it's any of your business, but Beck is trying out for a very big play, and if he gets the part, which he will because he's the best actor at out school, then he won't any time after school for work. So here I am, reluctantly."
Her father hums, not saying anything for a long moment, and Hade wonders if it's safe to leave. But of course, when she starts to, her father starts to speak again.
"Why aren't you auditioning for the play?"
His curiosity rubs her the wrong way. He's never cared before, why does he care now?
But she still finds herself telling him, "The play is at the end of the year. By then, I'll be huge. Wouldn't be realistic."
Her father smirks, making Jade roll her eyes.
"Whatever," Jade mutters.
"A baby isn't going to be good for your dreams of becoming a star Jadelyn. Remember that."
When Jade arrives back at Hollywood Arts, she finds herself sitting in the parking lot for five minutes, her hands fiddling with the buttons of her (Beck's) shirt that covers her bump.
Where her daughter is.
She's doing this for her. She would never want to work for her father, would rather spend the entire day with Trina Vega, but she's doing this for her daughter. To be a decent parent. And she wouldn't want Beck to give up on his dream, she wouldn't want him to give up on something he's worked so hard for.
She would rather give up hers.
"Knock knock!"
Jade jumps, her head turning and seeing Cat standing on the other side of the car door. She sighs, takes the keys out of the ignition and gets out of the car.
"Hey."
"Hiya!" Cat greets happily.
Why the hell is the redhead so happy? Jade truly doesn't understand.
"Why aren't you doing the senior play?" Cat asks.
Jade rolls her eyes. She really doesn't want to get into right now. So she changes the subject.
"Are you?"
Cat nods, her eyes lighting up. "Yeah. I auditioned for the lead, but Tori will probably get it."
Jade scrunches up her nose. "You could get it you know."
Cat shrugs her shoulders. "Tori always gets the leads in plays. But I don't mind. She is really talented."
"So are you," Jade tells her friend.
Cat smiles, beams really, and Jade rolls her eyes when Cat wraps her arms around her waist. But considering the fact that she could use the hug, she doesn't exactly push her off immediately.
She gives her six seconds instead of five.
When Cat moves her arms away from her, she asks, "What happened at the appointment?"
"Oh," Jade says, because she didn't tell Cat that she was right and she hates that she has to do that.
Cat pokes her gently in her bump, making Jade swat her hands away. "What're you having!?" Cat asks, her lips pouting a bit.
"Don't pout," Jade says as they walk into the school.
"Tell me!"
"How many times do I have to tell you I hate begging?" Jade asks as they make their way to the blackbox.
Cat stops, even though she pouts again, and Jade sighs as the words, "You were right," passes her lips.
Cat furrows her brow. "About what?"
Jade licks her lips as she runs her hands through her hair. "It's a girl," she says lowly, and Cat furrows her brow even more.
"What? I can't hear you."
Jade narrows her eyes at her friend. "I said it's a girl," the goth repeats just a hair louder.
"Wha-"
"It's a girl!" Jade snaps, then her eyes moving around, making sure no one was around to hear her.
Cat squeals, he earns moving around her once again. "I'm so happy! I'm going to be an aunt! I'm going to have a niece!"
Jade can't help the small smile that forms on her lips at Cat's words. Even if she's not that excited, Cat's happiness bleeds into her.
"Oh my gosh! We can start talking about baby names now!"
Jade chuckles as she says, "I think that's for me and Beck to do."
"I'm your best friend!" Cat protests, and Jade thinks to argue that Beck is her boyfriend and her child's father, but she honestly doesn't feel like it.
"As long as it isn't a color. Or an animal," Jade says as she pushes open the door of the blackbox.
Beck is shaking hands with Sikowitz, Tori, Robbie, and André standing behind the Canadian. They turn at the sound of the door, and Beck smiles as Jade walks over to him, handing him his keys.
"Where did you go?" Beck wants to know.
"We'll talk later," is all Jade says before she asks more loudly, "How was your audition?"
"Beck did fantastic," Sikowitz replies before Beck can. The older man takes a step toward the couple. "You know Jade. I was expecting for you to audition."
Jade shrugs her shoulders. "Yeah well, I can't. I would if I could."
Sikowitz nods. "I have no doubt."
The drama teacher turns his attention to the rest of the friends. "The call backs will be up tomorrow."
And with that, he skips out of the room.
Tori raises her brows before she turns toward Jade. "So, we heard you're having a girl."
Jade rolls her eyes. "I know, I was there when Beck told you."
Tori rolls her eyes too. "I was just trying to congratulate you."
"We should go out," André says as he steps forward. "Go out to eat or something."
"Yeah, we can go to Novu and get some sushi," Robbie quips excitedly as if he's never eaten sushi before.
Jade sighs as she rubs the back of her neck. "I can't eat sushi. It's not good for the baby."
Beck wraps an arms around her waist. "We can go to Karaoke-Dokie. The food is just as good and it's cheaper."
The rest of the gang agrees and Cat links her arm with Jade's. "Can I ride with you guys? Please!?"
"Oh me too," Robbie asks quickly.
Jade rolls her eyes at Robbie's clear attempt to spend more time with Cat. And just to be evil, she decides, "Cat, yes. Robbie, you can ride with Tori and André."
"What!? Why can't I ride with you guys!?" Robbie demands to know.
"Because you're annoying!" Jade snaps.
Beck chuckles as he kisses the side of Jade's head before he says to Robbie, "We'll give you a ride home."
Robbie mutters a sullen fine as he walks over to André's car, and the trio makes their way to Beck's car. When they're in the car, Beck says, "You know, you would think that today you would be nicer."
"Yeah you would think that," Jade mutters.
Beck looks at his girlfriend for a moment. "Where'd you go?" he asks when he realizes that she never told him.
He notices her flinch slightly before she mumbles, "To my parent's."
He already knows that it has something to do with her father. God, Beck wishes that she would just stay away from him, he obviously is a toxic person. He doesn't want to bring it up with Cat in the car, they can talk about it later. He decides to move on to a safer topic.
His hand finds her thigh and squeezes. "You ready to have a baby girl?"
He feels her tense. Beck furrows his brow and looks back at Cat through the rearview mirror, and he notes that her earphones are in. As long as they talk lowly, she won't hear anything.
"Jade?" he says, and waits for her to turn her head toward him. "Are you okay with this? Having a girl?"
Jade swallows thickly, her eyes quickly filling with tears that she blinks away. "Fucking hormones."
"Jade, it's okay," Beck tells her, his eyes going back to the road but his hand moving until it finds her. "Talk to me."
"It's stupid," Jade mumbles.
"It's not," Beck assures her, his thumb running over her skin in smooths circles. "Babe, I wanna know how you feel. Nothing you say is stupid. I promise."
"I didn't say you would think it's stupid. It's-I feel stupid. I feel silly for thinking this way," Jade tells him. Beck is still looking at the road, but out of the corner of his eye he can see Jade look toward the back of the car, probably at Cat to see if she's paying attention. When Jade notices that she's not, Jade leans back against the seat of the car.
"I don't think I can do this."
Beck whips his head around before looking back at the road. "What do you mean?"
"Beck, we're having a girl. She's going to look up to me, just like I looked up to my mom and realized what a huge disappointment she was. I-I don't want my kid to be disappointed in me."
"Why would our daughter be disappointed in you Jade?" Beck asks, because he's truly baffled.
It's mind boggling that Jade doesn't see how amazing she is.
The said teen sighs as she moves a hand over her forehead. "Because Beck! I'm a teen mom! And because of that there's no way I'm going to able to have the career I want. And people don't like me. I'm a bitch. And I've gotten my bad attitude from my shitty parents. Everything bad I've gotten from my parents. I don't want our daughter to end up like that. I don't want our daughter to end up like me."
"Nothing's wrong with you Jade," Beck tells her. "You're determined and you're strong. You're smart you're funny, you're fucking beautiful, you're an amazing singer, an incredible actress and one of the best directors I know. And you're seventeen. You're all of that at seventeen."
Jade sniffles, and Beck bites the inside of his lip. She's crying and he can't even probably comfort her.
"I hate these hormones," Jade mumbles.
Beck smiles softly. "I kinda like them."
Jade narrows her eyes at him. "You like seeing me cry?"
"I like every part of you. Including the ones you try to hide."
Jade scoffs, but when Beck looks over at her she's fighting a smile. It makes him smile.
"This is entirely too mushy for a car ride to Karaoke-Dokie," she quips.
Beck doesn't say anything, just grins.
She's feeling better.
Not one hundred percent, but...better.
When they pull into Karaoke-Dokie, Tori, André, and Robbie are already there, and she lets Beck go and talk to them before she intertwines her arms with Cat's.
"If you tell anyone what I said I will kill you."
Cat furrows her brow. "I don't know what you're talking about," the redhead squeaks unconvincingly.
"I know you heard what I said in the car," Jade tells her, and Cat opens her mouth to interrupts but Jade continues, "I don't mind. Not really. Just don't tell anyone. Because I will kill you. Slowly, painfully, and I'll make sure Mr. Purple is watching."
Cat squeals again before she promises, "I won't say a word."
Jade smiles, satisfied, and as they walked over to their friends Cat says,
"Just so you know, Beck's right."
Jade furrows her brow. "About what?"
"You being like, really incredible, I don't know how I would react to having a baby."
Jade shrugs her shoulders. "As you clearly saw, I'm not handling it that well."
"Yeah but you're handing it," Cat tells her. "And you're great Jadey. Kinda mean, but great."
How many times is she going to get emotional?
Her eyes are stinging with tears, but she blinks them away quickly, muttering a low 'thanks'.
"You know I'll be there for you when you have the baby right?" Cat asks.
Jade smiled softly as she nods. "I know."
This chapter was gonna be another like, two to three thousand words longer, but I felt like I haven't updated in a while so I cut it in half. So the next chapter should be updated soon, when I have time between my classwork. There will be lots of Jori and André/Robbie/Beck/Cat in the next chapter.