A/N: What? Another chapter up in less than a week? What is this witchcraft?
I would like to send out a huge thank you to all who read, follow, favorite, and/or review this story. It really helps keeping me motivated to write. After not writing for like a month, the past few days I have been writing like crazy, so I am hopeful that I will be able to publish with much more regularity if I can keep up the new writing schedule I have made for myself. I'm still hopeful that I will finish Season One by the summer.
Enjoy?
Cat's New Boyfriend
Part Five
"So Daniel wants to meet me somewhere after school today so we can talk," Cat tells me, absentmindedly picking at the fur of her stuffed giraffe. "What should I do?"
"Are you really considering giving that cheating asshole a second chance?" I ask her incredulously.
She just looks at me and shrugs, hugging her stuffed animal to her face. "I don't know," she mumbles into the giraffe's neck.
"Cat, you deserve so much better than him," I tell her seriously, and cough once, trying to clear the tickle in the back of my throat that's been annoying me all day.
"But, I mean, I've never had a guy do the things that he's done for me before," Cat says, gesturing to her desk where a vase with a dozen roses, a couple stuffed bears, and apology cards are displayed.
"You'll find someone else who will give you those things just because they want to, not because they are trying to make up for hurting you," I tell her.
"I- I guess," Cat says, a few tears falling down her face. "You are usually right about these types of things," Cat concedes with a watery smile. "This just really hurts. I like him SO much Jade."
"I know," I tell her, putting my arm around her shoulder awkwardly. For some weird reason my arm seems heavier than normal. Cat leans into me and lays her head on my shoulder. We sit in silence for a moment before her phone dings, letting her know she just received a text. "Aren't you going to check your phone?" I ask her after she doesn't make a move to take it out of her pocket.
"It's probably just Daniel again," Cat says, lifting her head up and off my shoulder and wiping her eyes. "I don't know what to tell him."
"Here, give me your phone," I move my hand off her shoulder to cover my mouth while I cough, and then gesture for her to give me her pearphone. "I know exactly what to say to him. And then we really have to get to school. We've already missed our first two classes," I tell her. She already missed the first two days of the week, and when she told me she wasn't going today either, I decided enough was enough. I get that she was upset with the whole Daniel and Tori thing, but she just needed to get over it and get back in school. I know she's trying to avoid any awkward confrontations with Vega, but she needs to get her ass back in class. Besides, auditions for the next showcase are coming up, and she wouldn't be allowed to participate if she misses too much school. And I know that would just kill her.
"Okay," she says, digging it out of her pocket and handing it over to me without even looking at it.
I look at the screen and notice the text is from Tori, not Daniel. "Here Cat," I tell her, tossing her phone onto her lap. "It's from Vega."
Cat groans. "Ugh," she stuffs her phone back in her pocket without looking at it.
"You're still giving her the silent treatment?" I ask her, sort of surprised. It's been five days since the Kickback, I thought for sure she would be at least talking to Vega by now, even though she didn't want to actually see her in person yet.
"I've got nothing to say to her," Cat says, as I clear my throat again. Cat tilts her head and looks at me. "Are you feeling okay Jadey?" she asks.
"I'm fine Cat," I tell her, ignoring the fact that now that I think about it, I do feel warmer than usual, and my throat has been kind of dry and scratchy since yesterday afternoon.
"It's just you look kinda pale," Cat tells me, and I just raise my left eyebrow at her. "More than normal I mean," Cat laughs and pokes me in the stomach with her elbow and I wince. "What's wrong?"
I don't answer her for a moment, trying to tap down the wave of nausea that was triggered by her touch. "Noth-nothing," I manage to mumble, once my stomach calms down.
"You're not getting sick are you?" Cat asks, jumping off her bed and walking across the room. "You know how I absolutely HATE getting sick!"
"I'm fine Cat," No sooner than the words are out and I start coughing again. "We have to get to class," I tell her and stand up quickly. I shut my eyes tightly as the room seems to spin.
"Jade!" Cat shakes my arm. "What's wrong with you?"
I snap my eyes open and take a deep breath. "I just haven't been sleeping well lately," I tell her as we walk downstairs and out to my car. "It's not a big deal."
"Nightmares again?" Cat asks me sympathetically, and I'm annoyed that somehow me coming over to force her to go to school and deal with her problems suddenly turned into her feeling sorry for me and wanting to talk about my own.
"Eh," I say, shrugging noncommittally. "Something like that." I swallow down another wave of nausea. "Let's stop talking for right now. I skipped breakfast this morning and I'm feeling kind of nauseous," I tell her truthfully.
"Oh my God," Cat says, clamping her hands around my wrist.
"What?" I ask her through gritted teeth.
"What if you're pregnant?!" she exclaims, covering her mouth with her hands.
"Pregnant?!" I repeat and start coughing. "I'm not- I'm not pregnant Cat!" I screech out at her between my coughing. I pull into Hollywood Arts and park the car, twisting the keys out the ignition and clear my throat. It suddenly feels really hot and stuffy in my car.
"Well how do you know? You could be," Cat says, getting out of the car and folding her arms in front of her. "The only way to be sure that you're not pregnant is to not have sex. Isn't that what you always tell me? And I happen to know for a fact that you and Beck-"
"Shut up Cat!" I yell at her, jumping out of my car and glancing around the (thankfully empty) parking lot. "We're very careful, all right?" I hiss at her and slam my door shut. "Besides, I'm on my period right now," I tell her, and move some hair out of my face that is sticking to my forehead. "So I can safely say-" I stop talking mid sentence as a thought just occurred to me.
Why is my hair sticking to my forehead? I wipe my brow and realize that I'm sweating.
Sweating? I don't sweat.
Cat and I both stop walking and I look at my sweaty hand and then back at her. "I think I am sick," I tell her, as we walk into Hollywood Arts.
"You should go home Jade," Cat tells me, grabbing a hold of my wrist. I see Beck, Robbie, Andre, and Trina all huddled together by Beck's locker. I shrug Cat;s arm off of me and wave her away.
"I'll see you in class later," I tell her and start coughing again. I walk over to the group and look at them with bleary eyes. The four of them all look the way I feel.
"You're sick too," Beck says after taking one look at me.
"What's wrong with all of us?" Robbie asked, and then broke out into a coughing fit.
"Out of my way!" Trina yells suddenly making a beeline for the bathroom, with her hand covering her mouth.
"We should really go to the emergency room," Andre says.
I begin coughing again, and feel a dribble of sweat roll down my face. That's absolutely disgusting. I narrow my eyes at Beck. "I told you there had to be some kind of fucking side effects from those damn fish."
Sometimes it really sucks being right all the time.
A/N: I hope everyone enjoyed the chapter! Please, please review and let me know what you think! Now- onto Freak The Freak Out!
