Captain Blues: Ahoy-hoy. It has been quite some time due to life stuff but I am back with another chapter so let's cut the hot-dogging and grandstanding short and start the show!
Beneath the Mask: A Darker Shade of Brown
Chapter Seven: Explaining The Past
After being led into the house by Shelby, Jade sat beside Cat and felt annoyed at the heart-eyes Cat was giving Shelby.
"Are you in heat or something?" Jade hissed out to Cat, who shook her head and blushed heavily.
"No. Why?" Cat responded with a smile.
Jade pinched the bridge of her nose.
"Well, I'm not surprised that she never mentioned me," Shelby said as she walked to the kitchen to open the fridge. "She did decide not to heed my warnings, then took her ball and ran away when things went tits up. I mean, knowing her, she probably tried to bury what happened deep into the ground, never to bring it up again. Her past included."
"B-But what are you doing here?" Cat asked.
"I'm waiting for the commissioner of the CFC to find my next opponent," Shelby explained as Jade watched her open the fridge to look into it. "So, I figured I'd stop here and see family before my next bout, and then once I get that, I head back to Seattle," Shelby explained.
"Why, Seattle?" Cat questioned.
"I made some good friends with the iCarly cast, who live in Seattle," Shelby explained. "We became good friends after I tried to cave in Carly Shay's face," Shelby joked. "Plus, my training camp is there."
Jade could see a thoughtful expression on Cat's face before she said, "I watch iCarly. They are pretty funny."
"Well, I hope they'll be hilarious when I get back," Shelby joked before she walked to the couch and sat down on the lazy boy to face the two. "So, what brings you two over here?"
"Tori has been missing," Cat explained.
"Missing?" Shelby asked.
Jade flinched and looked down as Cat nodded. "She's been missing."
"Missing? Missing how?" Shelby asked with fear.
Jade sighed. "Vega and I got into an argument two days before and another one the day after that," Jade explained. "The day that new girl Chloe came to school was the last time any of us saw her. "
"Chloe?" Shelby questioned, albeit hesitantly.
"Yeah. Chloe Hale Chasefield was her name," Jade said.
Jade then noticed that Shelby's jaw clenched up at the name. "And she's been missing since?" Shelby questioned.
Jade frowned. "Yeah. Chloe arriving is the best way I could put a date to Vega disappearing. Why?" Jade asked her.
"Fuck," Shelby swore.
"What?" Jade asked, confused.
"Of course, that bitch would come back," Shelby said as she stood and paced the room.
"You know Chloe?" Cat asked.
"Know her?" Shelby asked before anger crossed her face. "She's the reason I lost my best friend!"
Jade then remembered the look in Chloe's eyes when they had first met and talked about Tori briefly.
Chloe knew Tori.
Tori went missing that same day.
"What is going on?" Jade finally asked.
Shelby let out an aggravated sigh and observed a picture on the wall. "You seem to know a lot about this person," Jade said. "Who the hell is this girl, and how do you and Vega know her?"
The room was quiet as Shelby walked the picture and gazed at it for a moment, her hand lightly touching the photo before she sighed. "Toria is my cousin and was my best friend," Shelby began.
"Had been since we were younger. I don't know what Toria told you guys about her past, but this…" Shelby turned the picture to reveal a smiling Tori in what looked to be a dance dress. "This look isn't her…Never was…She's not this damn Bratz doll."
Jade frowned heavily and asked, "Then who was she?"
"She was a martial artist and one of the best in our class," Shelby answered.
"What? Goodie-Goodie Victoria Vega? A Martial Artist?" Jade asked with surprise. "With her two feet? You kidding me?"
"I'm dead fucking serious," Shelby answered with a stone face.
"Yeah, she could sing her ass off and has the damn chops to do it, but all she wanted to do was fight the best all over the world…We both did," Shelby explained softly.
"No wonder she smacks so hard," Jade noted softly
"You got her to hit you? In this new life of hers?" Shelby asked with a grin. "Well, Toria does have a short temper so, I'm not surprised you managed to get under it."
"Really?!" Jade and Cat exclaimed in unison.
"Yeah. Toria has a short temper and has had one for a long ass time," Shelby replied.
"But it is weird; she rarely got angry at any of us. Especially Jadey until recently," Cat said with a small pout to Jade, who sighed deeply.
"She must like you then," Shelby said. "But despite her being good-natured about me defeating her back then, she was pissed off and left during my celebration party. Well, Chloe was a new classmate of ours, who Toria had defeated a week before to get into that tournament. Chloe was invited to the party and went after Toria, and I guess that's when they became friends."
Jade scowled at the name.
"Chloe…At first glance, Chloe was a sweetheart, but there was a darkness in her that I noticed in her. Soon, they were dating. And well, shit got worse," Shelby continued.
"Wait. Date?" Jade asked.
"Toria is a lesbian," Shelby explained before her eyes became sad. "Did she hide that from you guys?"
"We had no idea," Cat said as Jade felt her heartbeat quicken.
"You said that my grades were important to me, and you were wrong. What was important to me was you, Jade," Vega's words echoed within her mind.
Jade felt the last piece of the puzzle fall into place, and tears began to build up in her eyes. She finally understood why those words felt more profound to her.
Was it more than friendship that Vega wanted?
Did Vega like her more than a friend?
"She wanted to bury who she was…I did not know it was to that extent…" Shelby whispered sadly.
Jade shook her head. Her feelings could wait.
Learning more about Vega was what she needed to do.
"You said it got worse? How worse?" Jade asked.
"Chloe tried to turn Tori against me," Shelby explained.
"At first, I thought Chloe was jealous of me. I was the top prospect in my class. I had CFC practically banging on my door, and my future set…She tried to ruin our friendship by making Toria jealousy of my success. However, Toria was my best friend and is my family, and that made her loyal to me," Shelby noted with a smile. "But she was also loyal to Chloe. So much so that when I noticed signs that Chloe was growing angrier at her, Toria defended her."
Shelby let out a sigh and said, "They dated for a few months. Things were looking very serious. Until their prom night…"
Jade and Cat got silent as Shelby took a sip of her soda and said, "Toria and I were supposed to meet up after her prom to grab something to eat. I was celebrating that night because I got my HSED and was about to start my first year in CFC, but she never showed. I figured she and Chloe were finally having sex since they had innuendos being thrown all over the place. So I figured we'd celebrate the next day…"
Jade felt a burst of annoyance hit her stomach at the words "Tori/Chloe/Sex" being in the same sentence but remained silent.
"Instead, I get a call that Toria sat in some abandoned alleyway. Our teacher found her beaten within an inch of her life," Shelby finished.
Jade felt the air leave her lungs as Cat audibly gasped at this.
"It was bad…She was in a coma for two weeks. I immediately suspected Chloe and searched around for her in those two weeks. When I found her, the cocky bitch admitted to everything. How she faked the entire relationship and tried to isolate Tori into being alone to get back at her for defeating her that day," Shelby finished explaining.
"Whoa…That's harsh as hell," Jade said. "So she tried to break up her friendship with you and then betrayed her like that just because Vega kicked her ass?"
Shelby nodded grimly and added, "To make it worse, Chloe thought that if she did beat Tori, she could've beaten me and had what would be my future career. Tori was better than her, and she hated that fact. It showed me how cold-hearted people could be…"
Jade felt anger bubbling through her body. Jade couldn't imagine it. The Vega she knew was so kind and forgiving. She could not stomach the thought of Vega hurt like that.
"Oh no…Tori," Cat whispered with tears falling down her face. "What did you do, Shelby?"
"I just tried to murder her outright but was stopped by her mother's bodyguards before I could. There was going to be a trial, but after Tori woke up, she begged my aunt and uncle to dismiss all the charges," Shelby said.
"What?!" Jade exclaimed angrily. "Why?!"
"When Tori woke up, it was like seeing someone else in her body. She wasn't the tough girl I had fought in the past. Toria was meek, soft and, pathetic…" Shelby explained. "She wanted to forget all that happened. She didn't want everyone to get into what she viewed as her mess. But for me? I knew the truth. She was afraid to face Chloe and felt that if she stopped fighting, Chloe would leave her life forever…"
"Then what happened? Chloe just up and left after mentally breaking Tori?" Jade asked with an angry tone.
"That's what happened," Shelby said. "When Toria told us she stopped being a fighter and that she never wanted to go back to that life, Trina, my aunt, and uncle agreed with her choice as they never liked Tori fighting, but I was pissed. Toria and I always wanted that life. We were supposed to fight on the grandest stage for what would become my championship, and yet she tossed it away and buried it. She became weak in my eyes, and I let her know it before I walked out of her life..."
"But that's not fair to her," Jade said with a frown. "Vega was hurting. The person she was with had betrayed her and broken her fighting spirit down. You can't blame her for wanting to toss it all away. She went through something traumatic. You should have been there for her instead of your feelings."
Holy hell, where did that all come from?
"I know," Shelby whispered. "Grandma drilled me on that for the past two years, but I can't help but be pissed. I warned Toria that Chloe was bad news, and she didn't listen and wound up getting the pride beaten out of her. I lost my best friend, my rival, and my cousin all in one fell swoop, and the worst part is, because of my previous attack on Chloe, I couldn't go anywhere near her…"
"So that explains why she is missing," Jade muttered. "But why would Chloe come back here?"
"I can tell you. Chloe officially signed with CFC half a year ago and has been tearing up the scene, and I know she's being scouted as one of my opponents…I wouldn't be surprised that she came here to hurt Tori again to get into my head. That shit isn't going to fly," Shelby explained.
"So what are you going to do?" Cat asked as she stood up from the couch.
"What else? Find her and beat her before she can touch Toria again," Shelby responded.
"It won't do any good," Jade said with a frown as she sat down her phone. "I just texted Beck. My ex that she's seeing. He said she left out of town for some signing for a contract, but she'll be back in two weeks."
Shelby scowled and growled. "So it seems they did choose her after all…Good. At least I'll get to beat her ass on the main stage. Which means training for me starts soon."
"We need to find Tori," Cat said as she looked to Jade. "We need to let her know that we understand what she's going through…Let her know that she's not alone and that she doesn't need to hide from us…"
Shelby looked at the clock, a thoughtful expression on her face before she closed her eyes and asked, "Why don't you guys stay here tonight? It's pretty late.
"What? Stay here?" Cat asked. "W-With you?"
"Yes, I want you both to stay here," Shelby replied. "I haven't been a part of Toria's life for two years. I need to know a few things…"
Jade stood up from the couch and said, "Well then, Cat can tell you all that shit."
Jade quickly walked to the door and paused when Cat asked, "Where are you going?"
Jade took a deep breath and answered, "I'm going to find her."
And with that, Jade walked out the door.
She had no idea where to start, but she would not stop until she found Vega.
But what would she do when she did?
Captain Blues: And that is the end of this chapter. The next one will be coming out soon. Until then, time to set sail!