Chapter 3: Interesting

Phew. I'm back my dudes. It's been awhile but I promise this fic hasn't been abandoned. This chapter's a bit short and it's unedited, but I'm excited to give you guys more Bade content so here you go! Also, I've made some changes to the previous two chapters, so go back and reread those for some major overhauls! I'm wanting to go a bit darker with this fic then we see in the show. Victorious is obviously meant to be a comedy, but the characterisation they give Jade hints at a much more complicated past. Hopefully, with these changes I've made, you guys still love this story and still feel it's true to their dynamic as I flesh it out and give them more depth. Jade is a complex character and her relationship with Beck is a wild ride as a result. I feel that the writers, in an attempt to make Tori the cute main character and Beck the hot eye candy, neglected Beck's character in terms of complexity as well as allowing Tori to get away with things Jade would have been condemned for. Not on my watch. If that's not your cup of tea that's perfectly fine! Just don't read. No need to be an asshole in the comments- you know who you are. Anyways, enough of my rambling. On to the Bade content!

A week passed with little excitement, Jade managing to refrain from killing Tori, and Tori managing to refrain from flirting with Beck- mostly. The latter girl had somehow weaselled her way into the couple's friend group with little trouble, much to Jade's horror, and had taken to following them around like a lost puppy.

The morning that sign ups for Andre's newest musical began, Jade was power walking through the hallways towards her locker. Beck was waiting for her there so they could walk together to their next class, both of them hoping to be able to take a smoke break together before school officially started. She smirked as people practically dove out of her way, her hair bouncing dramatically with each step, and hitched her bag up for what had to be the hundredth time that morning.

Tensions between Jade and Tori were still running high, and despite the two not truly acting on it, Jade relished in the harsh verbal jabs she'd aim the other girl's way. The morning after the kissing incident, Beck had sworn up and down that he would do everything he could to discourage any future flirting Tori might send his way, but there was no chance in hell that Jade wasn't running interference. And to Jade, interference meant intimidation. So, when Tori caught her attention due to the mountain of books she'd been holding toppling to the floor, Jade smirked internally. Tori looked up desperately at the sound of Jade's footsteps and blew a piece of her hair out of her eyes. The pathetic look on her face made the paler girl actually smirk as she strutted past. "Need help?"

"Yes, please."

"Interesting." The shocked look on Tori's face brought Jade an immense amount of joy and the smirk on her face turned spiteful just before Beck came into view.

He looked so good leaning up against her locker, arms folded over his chest and one foot propped up behind him. His tank top clung to his torso tightly and the flannel he wore over it had sleeves rolled up to his elbows. He grinned brightly when she came around the corner, all dark hair and tight jeans, her clingy shirt rising up over her belly button with each step. She rolled her eyes at his sappy grin but couldn't help the small, genuine smile it brought to her own lips. "Hi babe."

Beck whistled as he exaggeratedly looked her up and down."Well, hello, gorgeous." She laughed at his smug tone and rolled her eyes, barely coming to a stop before she leaned up to press her lips to his.

"I'm going to head out for a quick smoke before class. Wanna come?"

"Hell yes." He groaned, pushing off his locker and running a hand through his hair. "Robbie's been pestering me all morning."

"Oh yeah? About what?" They strode through the hallway, Jade pulling a pack of cigarettes and a lighter from her bag and giving Beck a small smile when he held the door open for her.

"No clue, haven't been listening."

She snorted at that, tossing her hair over her shoulder. "Want me to make him leave you alone?"

"Absolutely not. Scissors stay in your boot the whole day, missy."

"Whatever." She lit up and took a long drag, leaning back against the exterior wall of the school. She'd never cared if people knew she smoked, it wasn't something she was ashamed of. She'd started at fourteen, one of her older friends at the time having found her stressed the fuck out behind the bleachers towards the end of her eighth grade year and offered her a cig. They'd promised to meet up at Jade's house that afternoon, but when the young girl had arrived home to her parents screaming and throwing things, she'd bolted, causing her friend to have to come looking for her. She promised that the nicotine would help calm her, and Jade, trusting her friend's judgement, smoked her first cigarette on middle school grounds with an eighteen year old. After that she continued to smoke socially with her friends, which eventually led to opening up her window and climbing out onto the roof and smoking whenever her parents fought, and then, to just smoking. Beck knew- obviously, as the boy smoked himself- and all her friends knew, so it was never anything she had to run off and hide from them to do. But now she was praying her friends would stay inside and wouldn't come looking for the two of them, as they so often did during the couple's smoke breaks, because Vega didn't know. And, Christ, if Vega ever found out Jade would end up killing the girl.

There was absolutely no way in hell that Tori freaking Vega could know that someone (two someones!) in her supposed friend group smoked without trying to "help". She'd pester the shit out of them both as she tried to get them to quit, more than likely literally annoying them to death. Besides, if Tori was scared of Jade now, she should see her without her nicotine.

She had tried to quit once, over the summer, at Cat's request. The little redhead had begged her after stumbling upon some video on TheSlap that talked about the health risks that smoking involved, and Jade just couldn't find it within herself to really say no. She'd handed over her cigarettes and lighters to her best friend and promised to try and quit, Beck promising alongside her in solidarity. The attempt lasted almost a whole day before Cat threw her stuff back at her and begged her to smoke a cigarette before she murdered Robbie. The bespectacled boy had made a particularly lewd comment about Jade, and after a terrible, fidgety, temperamental day, Jade had nearly put her scissors through his hand.

Beck had fared much better, only fidgeting and seriously upping his caffeine intake. He probably could've truly quit if he wanted to, the boy had the willpower to do so, but when Jade had lit a cigarette he'd let out a ragged sigh of relief and lit one too. So now, there they were, leaning up against the school and passing a Marlboro Red back and forth as they watched the slow trickle of students heading into the building.

"Vega can never find out about this habit."

Beck furrowed his brow and turned to his girlfriend. "You ashamed of it? Never have been in the past." He bent his head back and let out a steady stream of smoke in an incredibly attractive display before passing back to Jade.

She snorted and took the cig from between his fingertips. "I'm not ashamed of shit, I just don't want to have to deal with Miss. Goody Two Shoes riding my ass about quitting. From what I've seen this past week, the newest Vega is quite the fan of following the rules."

"She hardly knows us, you really think she'd care?"

"About the principle of the matter, maybe. Besides, she can't help but to be all up in other people's business."

"The second she tried to get you to quit the others would shut her down." He chuckled deeply and inhaled the last bit of the cigarette before putting it out against the wall. "I don't think they'd all manage to survive another day of Jade without nicotine."

"Vega certainly wouldn't survive."

"Let's give her a chance, babe. Maybe we can chalk this whole thing up to a rough start and be mostly drama free for the rest of the school year."

"I'm not going to pretend to be her friend." The words were snarled as she hitched the strap of her bag higher up on her shoulder, roughly shoving the carton of cigarettes and lighter into it as they walked back into the school, Beck pausing to throw the butt of the cigarette away.

"I'm not asking you to. I'm asking you to attempt to refrain from murdering the girl the next time she looks at you wrong."

"The real challenge will be not murdering her the next time she looks at you."

"I think you'll manage." He slung his arm over her shoulders and pulled her in tight, pressing a kiss to the top of her head. "Are you gonna sign up to audition for Andre's new play?"

She snorted and shot him a look. "Duh. I always do." The sound of the bell filled the air and the two shared an exasperated look before taking off at a jog, teasingly knocking into each other and joking the whole way to Sikowitz's class.

Everyone in the room turned to look at them when they walked in late, causing Beck to smirk as Jade's eyes narrowed dangerously, her glare moving to hit every person in the class.

"Turn around before I make you turn around."

"Babe." A warning.

"Crazy grunge." Jade launched towards Robbie with eyes narrowed into dangerous slits, the boy starting to frantically babble that it wasn't him it was Rex, but Beck caught her around the waist just in time and hauled her back into his chest.

"Okay, that's enough. We're sitting down now. Robbie, shut your puppet up." Beck groaned out as he pulled his struggling girlfriend into their seats.

"He's not a puppet!" The boy was borderline hysterical at this point, still cowering away from a glaring Jade who was being held in her seat by Beck.

"You're insane!" She snapped, struggling a bit longer in her boyfriend's arms before he leaned in, whispering into her ear that if she didn't calm down they were going to end up with detention and her dad would hear about it from the school. They both knew that wouldn't end well, so she reluctantly settled down, relaxing into Beck's side with the occasional glare shot Robbie's way.

After Sikowitz somehow managed to gain back the class' attention, the day's acting exercise began. Jade and Cat were up on the stage talking in southern accents, the latter clutching an outrageously large stuffed pig.

"Betsy, Betsy, That animal's delicious flesh can keep us all alive for another week."

"I don't wanna be alive without Poncy!" Jade had to hold back a sigh at the pig's ridiculous name, and she could hear Beck chuckle at the way her shoulders tensed. He could read her body language way too well. "This pig is everything to me that my daddy never was, and I'll be ding danged-" Cat was cut off as a ball pelted her in the face and she cried out, the force of the strike knocking her off her feet.

"Sikowitz!" Cat and Jade shouted at the same time, Jade's voice filled to the brim with venom as she took a step closer to Cat defensively. The man just stared at them emptily, as if he hadn't just hit one of his students mid sentence with a ball and knocked her to the ground.

"What?"

"You hit me in the face with a ball!"

"Oh come on, a truly great actor can stay in the scene no matter what's happening around her."

"But it really hurts!" Cat was holding her face delicately, her eyes big and watery as she stared at her favorite teacher in shock. Jade huffed, annoyed at the whole situation now that she knew Cat was okay, not to mention that the bell was about to ring at any moment. She returned to her seat and picked up her bag, rolling her eyes in response to the amused smile Beck gave her at the insanity of their teacher.

The sound of the bell ringing prompted Beck to hop out of his seat and take Jade by the hand, the two of them not looking back as they strode from the room, Beck talking and laughing with Andre as Jade simply typed out a status with her free hand. The couple kept walking when Andre doubled back to invite Tori to lunch, ignoring the annoyed grunt from Jade at the idea.

"Try not to fight with Tori during lunch, okay?"

"I won't start anything if she doesn't." Beck sighed but conceded that she had a bit of a point. Tori knew she got on Jade's nerves and seemed to enjoy stepping on them sometimes.

Robbie was already seated at their table when they set their trays down, arguing back and forth with the puppet perched on his lap as always. Jade popped open her salad container and angrily stabbed at the lettuce within, still annoyed that Tori had managed to worm her way even further into her life and now she had to put up with the annoying twig during her free time. She didn't know if she'd survive any more time with Tori and it was her greatest fear that the Vega girl would be invited to their group's weekend meetup at Beck's trailer.

Said boy rubbed her back soothingly when she continued to viscously stab innocent lettuce, his eyes not once straying from Robbie as the boy tried to get him to pick a side in his argument with his puppet. The bespectacled boy sputtered when Andre agreed with Rex and plopped down at the table, Cat and Tori in tow. Jade sent the latter a fierce glare before returning to her salad, Beck sending her a warning look in response. His hand trailed from her back, over her waist, and down to her thigh, squeezing tight enough to be a warning but not so tight it wasn't pleasurable.

Tori unwrapped her turkey wrap and took a deep breath. "Sikowitz said I have to complete the Bird Scene before I can audition for your play, Andre." The group hummed in acknowledgement and nodded knowingly, everyone taking a bite of their food just knowing Tori was going to ask about the skit and they would need an excuse not to talk. "Did you guys have to do it?" A round of confirmations echoed around the table, more food being shoved in faces. "Was it hard?" Jade groaned in annoyance and shoved her salad away before jumping to her feet.

"Oh my god." She snapped, expressive brows furrowed in annoyance. She opened her mouth to express just how stupid this whole conversation was when she caught Beck's gaze. He shook his head slightly and frowned, a dominant and warning gleam in his eyes. She pursed her lips and swallowed her words before snatching her bag from the ground and turning on her heel, power walking away to keep from saying something that would cause Andre to flip his shit once again.

Beck gave Tori an apologetic shrug as he stood, scooping his own bag up and grabbing Jade's salad so he could force her to eat. It wasn't uncommon for Jade to not eat if she got distracted or angry or upset, and Beck often had to force her to sit down and eat something before she got sick. "See you guys later." He saluted them with a smile and started heading in the direction his girlfriend had stormed off in. He found her in the janitor's closet with a riskily lit cigarette dangling from her fingertips and a scowl fixed on her face. "Babe, you know you shouldn't be smoking that in here." He frowned as he settled on the ground in front of her, gently rubbing his hands up and down her thighs. He sighed as she simply stared at him and took another drag. If someone smelled the smoke and opened the janitor's closet they were fucked, not to mention that nicotine was an appetite suppressant and he wanted her to finish her salad. He rolled his eyes and snatched the cig from her grasp, taking a large drag before putting it out on the tile floor and tossing it into a nearby trash can.

She huffed in annoyance and frowned at him. "I needed that."

"No, you didn't. What you need is to finish your salad. All you've had today is a large coffee and a cigarette." He opened the lid to her salad and pushed it into her hands. "Eat it."

"I'm not hungry." She snapped, slamming the clear plastic lid shut.

"Yes, you are." His eyes turned hard and the set of his mouth made it clear that this wasn't up for debate. She huffed and ripped the salad open once more, grumbling angrily around the lettuce in her mouth.

"Fuck you."

"Well," he teasingly smirked, pulling her feet into his lap, "maybe when we get back to the RV if you eat." She rolled her eyes so hard they should've fallen right out of her head and she kicked him lightly in the stomach, causing his to let out a dramatic,

"Oof!"

"Shut up."

"Tell me what's got you so worked up."

"Vega's just so fucking stupid." He laughed and tugged her foot in teasing reprimand.

"You think everything she says is stupid, what was so much worse this time?" If he hadn't been looking into her eyes so intensely he wouldn't have seen the insecurity swimming deep within them. "You're worried she's going to do better than you did." Jade snorted and shook her head.

"No! I'm a thousand times more talented than her, and I'm the only one to ever pass the Bird Scene on the first try."

"Surprising no one." Beck added in, going back to massaging her legs soothingly.

"It's not that I think she'll actually do better than me it's," she shifted uncomfortably before she continued, "it's that she seems to come out on top no matter whether or not she actually deserves to. It's infuriating! I know she's not actually going to do better than I did, but I don't know that she won't be kowtowed to if she sucks. Which she will."

"Jade," Beck reached forward and pulled his girlfriend into his lap, pressing a kiss to the top of her head before gesturing for her to keep eating. "No matter what you know that you're the most talented in person in this entire fucking school. What Tori does or how people treat her will never change that."

"I know," she growled out, turning to glare up at him, "but that doesn't stop it from being infuriating how everyone treats her like she couldn't make a mistake if she tried." She paused, taking another bite of her salad and chewing it slowly before putting the box aside so she could turn and straddle Beck properly. "Besides," she grinned evilly and reached up to tangle her fingers in his hair, "we both know you're just as talented as I am."

"Wow," Beck gasped sarcastically. "A high compliment indeed." Jade snorted and pushed his face away in faux annoyance. He fell gently onto his back, pulling her onto his chest as he did so. Their bodies were pressed together from their thighs to their shoulders, Jade's soft breasts contrasting nicely against the hard planes on Beck's chest. He peered down at her gently, picking up a brightly coloured strand of hair and twirling it around his finger. "Tell me you love me." He whispered, dropping the piece of hair to lightly trace a finger down the bridge of her nose.

"I love you." She whispered back, pressing a gentle kiss to his throat and tucking face into the crook of his neck. It would've come as no surprise to anyone who opened the janitor's closet to find Beck and Jade entwined with one another. While it wasn't common for the couple to make out in front of others, knowing that they always took it too far, they were always touching. Always. If they were still and they were in the same room then they were touching. They were always wrapped up in each other, even two years into the relationship that hadn't gone away.

But it hadn't always been that way. When they first started dating Jade had shied away from his touch. It wasn't the sharp recoil others got, but it was still an avoidance. It had taken weeks of tender, questioning touches that stopped halfway from her skin to allow Jade to meet him in the middle, before she stopped flinching away. Now they were quite literally attached at the hip to the point where you never saw one without the other, and if you did there was something wrong.

"Jadey?" Light flooded the closet alongside Cat's voice as the redhead pulled the door open. "Jadey!" She cheered as she took in the pale girl sprawled in the arms of her boyfriend on the floor.

"Ugh, what're you doing here, Cat?"

The redhead beamed, bouncing happily on her toes as the couple squinted at her, their eyes not adjusted to the bright light of the hallways after twenty minutes in the janitor's closet. "Lunch is over and class is about to start, I didn't want you to be late."

Jade groaned, dropping her head back onto Beck's chest, evoking a chuckle that vibrated beneath her soothingly. "Come on, babe." He sat up, pulling her along with him as he clambered to his feet, handing his girlfriend her backpack and tugging on his own. "You can't afford another detention." She grumbled out curses under her breath as she accepted her bag. Beck chuckled again and took her hand in his as she grumpily stormed out of the closet, her boyfriend in tow and Cat trotting along behind him.