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C︎hapter 3
Fight or Fight
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It was now the next day, four days till the big fight scene. Adelaide was sitting at a table at the Asphalt Café in her regular spot next to Jade, who was caught up in a discussion with Beck that she was zoned out of as she pushed her salad around on the plate.
Occasionally, her gaze lifted and she caught Tori looking their way worriedly a few times from across the courtyard where she sat with André and Cat. Cat was distracted, as usual, looking at herself in a small hand-held mirror and André seemed to be reassuring Tori who looked incredible anxious.
Breathing out a sigh, she rolled her eyes briefly when she saw Trina walking over to their table. It was only her second day back at school and she was already over the person who was Trina Vega, if Tori was anything like her sister she could understand why Jade disliked her so much.
"No," Jade said immediately when Trina attempted to sit next to Adelaide, causing her to abruptly get up and move to another table. Adelaide wasn't going to lie, it was a huge perk being best friends with Jade just for the fact that people feared her and left her alone as a result.
She watched, amused, as Trina sat at another table who she referred to as, 'A-Listers'. Though they quickly dispersed when Robbie sat next to her.
Her mouth dropped open in shock when she saw Robbie kiss Trina, "Oh my god."
"What?" Jade questioned, glancing over at her as this was the first time she had spoken.
"Robbie just kissed Trina." She gestured over to their table, Trina appearing just as off-guard and harshly rejecting him.
"Ouch, oh well," Jade commented, shrugging, before turning back to her conversation with Beck.
Adelaide couldn't help feeling sympathy for Robbie, he needed to find someone like him, someone who mutually felt the same. She hoped, for his sake, that he could let go of this crush and find someone better than Trina Vega.
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Adelaide ran around her room setting up her camera to film her intro video for her slap page. Now that she was back at the school, she felt like she needed an updated video to go with it. Plus, she had stopped posting on her page shortly after she left nearly a year and a half ago.
"Okay..." she spoke to herself, getting comfy on her cream macramé hanging chair with a cup of tea. Picking up the remote she'd previously linked up to her camera, she hit the record button and waited until she saw the red flashing light appear to start talking.
"Hi! Most of you probably already know me, but if you don't my name is Adelaide. Everyone calls me Addy though and I despise those who call me Adelaide," she said, pausing briefly to sip her tea, before continuing, "I always carry a book and my camera in my bag just in case. I love acting, singing and playing piano or electric guitar. Oh, and any type of writing..."
"What else..." Her eyes trailed around her room, catching sight of the photo booth strip of her and Jade stuck on her mirror. "My best friend is Jade and she made me say that so people know to stay away, and by people I mean Trina and Sinjin. If you are not Trina or Sinjin, then I will happily talk to you."
She flashed a smile at the camera, a threatening undertone hinted towards the two individuals. "Anyway, I spent the past year in Canada and now I'm back at Hollywood Arts. Honestly, I just missed school and my friends...yeah, mainly my friends."
With a sigh, she took another silent sip of her tea. "I think that's enough of an intro...So, I'll see you when I see you."
Lifting the remote, she pressed the stop button waiting a few seconds for the camera convert the recording to file before reviewing it. Once she checked the sound and video quality, she exported the file to her laptop so she could edit it and upload it onto The Slap.
"Ugh, I hate watching myself."
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Before she knew it, Friday came around and she'd survived her first week back at Hollywood Arts. Today also marked the day of the big 'fight scene', Tori still appearing just as apprehensive as she had Monday. Meanwhile, Adelaide could hardly contain herself as André and her got up to flawlessly complete their scene.
"I'm not in love with your mother!" André exclaimed in character, defending himself against her attacks. Adelaide gave one final lunge, grabbing him by his top and throwing him in to the table which broke upon impact.
"And, scene!" she exclaimed, confident in their performance as she held her hand out to help André up smiling.
"Alright," the teacher said after the applause had ceased, "Next up, we have Tori and Jade."
A subtle smirk graced Jade's face as her and Tori rose out of their seats and made their way to the front, the latter stumbling in her steps and looking much more nervous. Adelaide furrowed her brows, they had been rehearsing all week and she highly doubted Jade would actually risk her grade just to keep up this back-and-forth the two had going on.
For both their sakes, she hoped that whatever nerves Tori had in her system she sorted them out quickly. Performing a fight scene with your mind elsewhere was never a good idea, Adelaide would know.
Bringing herself out of her thoughts, she handed Jade her beanie and wished her good luck as André gave Tori her props and attempted to reassure her nerves again. Sighing, she returned to her seat trying to shake the bad feeling she had off.
"Um, okay, for our scene, I'm gonna be playing an old lady who's walking home from a bingo game," Tori said, her voice shaking sightly.
"And I play a brutal mugger," Jade said, with slightly a little too much pep in her voice.
"Yes, a brutal mugger who mugs me without actually hurting me," Tori reassured, glancing a Jade who narrowed her eyes teasingly.
Adelaide leaned back in her seat, she knew that Jade was only playing on Tori's nerves to get a reaction out of her and succeeding at that.
"Ok, as always, be careful and if anything goes wrong," Russ instructed, "just yell the safe word, which is...butternut."
"Ok, guys, ready?" asked the teacher, the two moving into position. "And..."
"Butternut!" Tori exclaimed jumping up, everyone looked confused at her outburst.
"What?!" Jade yelled annoyed.
"Tori, what's the problem?" the teacher asked equally confused.
"I was just testing the safe word. It works!" she explained smiling. Jade and Adelaide both simultaneously rolled their eyes. "Ok, I'm ready." She sighed, reluctantly getting back into position.
"And...action!"
Tori began slowing shuffling forward hunched over, impersonating an elderly woman as she stranded her voice, saying, "I certainly did enjoy the bingo, although I do miss Bob Hope."
The audience briefly chuckled, Jade swiftly moving in behind Tori and grabbing her shoulders. "Give me your money," she demanded, lowering her voice slightly to sound more gruff.
"What?!" Tori yelled, faking surprise.
Jade continued, "I ain't playing. Give me your money and your watch."
"Oh, wouldn't you rather have this?" Tori asked as she swung around to "hit" jade across the face with the cane.
"Ow!" Jade yelled, falling to the ground with her back to the audience. Adelaide shifted forward in her seat, as did everyone else. Her reaction seemed a bit too real and Jade should've continued the scene by now, one glance at Tori showed that she was shocked too.
Jade ripped her beanie off, exclaiming, "Butternut!" Both Adelaide and Beck jumped out of their seats and ran over to her as she yelled the safe word again.
"She's bleeding!" Cat exclaimed, worry laced in her tone when Jade turned to face them and they finally saw her face.
"Cut!" Russ yelled out, hurrying over to Jade who kept a hand held over her eye. "Let me see, let me see!"
"Are you okay?" Beck asked concerned, placing a hand on her shoulder as Adelaide mirrored him on the other side of her.
"No, Tori hit me in the face for real," Jade angrily gestured to the shocked brunette.
"No I didn't!" Tori defended herself, although the evidence was clearly there as much as she denied it.
"Tell that to her bloody eye!" "Tell that to my bloody eye!" Adelaide and Jade exclaimed at the same time, the latter yelling out in pain again and returning her hand to cover the wound just below her eye.
Everyone crowded again, "You'd better sit down."
"Somebody grab a chair."
"Yeah, quickly get a chair."
"Beck, get a chair."
"Here here here," Tori said, running to the back of the room and grabbing a chair that wasn't like the others.
"Yeah, there we go. Sit down," Russ said.
"No, wait, that's a -" Adelaide began as Jade sat down, the chair instantly breaking, "...breakaway chair."
Jade slowly turned to glare at Tori from the floor. "Aw, butternut!" Tori exclaimed.
Adelaide helped Jade back up and led her over to one of the chairs that wouldn't break away. Beck rushed away briefly to retrieve an ice pack, handing it to Jade who held it up to her face as Adelaide gently moved her hair out of the way leaving her hand to rub Jade's back reassuringly.
Cat shook her head walking up to Tori asking, "Why'd you hit Jade in the face with a cane?"
"I didn't!" Tori exclaimed. Cat instantly backed away, pleading not to be hit.
Sighing, Tori turned to André who stood by her side asking desperately, "Will you back me up here?"
"Look, I'm sure Tori didn't mean to whack Jade in the face with a cane," André responded shrugging.
"Oh," Tori groaned. "Why does everyone think I hit her?"
"Well, we were watching you guys do a scene," André explained. "You hit her across the face with your cane. She fell down, and now her eye's all bloody."
"Well, that doesn't mean I hit her."
André shared a confused look with Cat, saying, "I kinda think it does."
Tori stomped her foot slightly before rushing over to Jade, who was now standing again, and the rest of the class. Adelaide moved slightly to place herself in between Jade and Tori. "Jade, you know I didn't hit you. I swung, but I missed."
"Look, Tori..." Jade weakly responded, everyone rushed to grab her when she swayed.
"We gotta get her to the nurse," the teacher said.
"But I didn't hit her!"
"Can someone call my mum?" Jade asked as she was being led out of the room, Adelaide by her side.
"I'll call your mum," Beck responded, grabbing their bags.
"She doesn't need her mum," Tori said, pointing at Beck. "Don't bother her mum!"
"I gotta call her mum," Beck shrugged.
Jade paused at the door to face Tori, saying, "And I thought we were just starting to be friends."
"But...I didn't..." Tori pleaded once more, her words falling on deaf ears.
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It was now the following Monday, Jade's eye had developed over the weekend into a black eye. The blackish-purple bruise contrasting with her pale skin tone, which no one other than herself knew it was makeup. Adelaide, much to Jade's annoyance, had insisted on spending the weekend with her and watching their favourite horror films while stuffing their faces with sugary sweets.
Any other weekend Jade wouldn't have complained, but having to keep up the appearance of the developing bruise was difficult. She only had to keep up the act a little longer.
"Hey, how you feeling?" Beck asked Jade as him and Adelaide sat down opposite her with their lunches.
"My eye hurts." Jade pushed her food around, barely acknowledging their presence.
"Oh yeah, which one?" Beck joked.
Jade glared, responding, "Cute." Continuing to push her food around on her plate she sighed briefly. "I want coffee."
"What's the magic word?" Beck asked.
"Get me some coffee?" Beck simply stared at her until she added, "Please."
"Actually, the magic word was "lotion." But I'll accept your please, 'cause you got a boo-boo eye," Beck said, leaving the two girls to retrieve the coffee.
"Two sugars," Jade reminded him.
"I know what to do."
Jade and Adelaide sat in silence eating their lunch entertained by watching Robbie continue to humiliate himself with his pursuit for Trina. She had no idea what had led the young boy to literally fall head over heels for the older Vega.
Commotion started up behind the two girls causing them both to turn around, Jade soon having a cup of water thrown in her face that the intended recipient dodged.
"Oh, my God, Jade!" The girl exclaimed, quickly apologising, "I'm so sorry. Please don't destroy me socially, I didn't mean to."
Adelaide's brows furrowed, suspicion creeping in as Jade anxiously touched her face void of her usual anger that would arise at this situation. "Just forget it," Jade firmly interrupted the girl's rambling, grabbing her bag and taking off.
"Jade!" Adelaide called out after her, hurriedly grabbing her bag and following her into the school. "Dang, why did I have to wear heels today," she complained, struggling to keep up with the teen.
"Oh hey, Jade!" André called out as Jade speedily walked past him in the hall. "Jade, wait up. Wait up."
Ignoring his attempts at conversation, she replied, "Can't talk. No." André kept pestering her until she finally stopped. "What?!"
"Oh, what's wrong with your eye?" André questioned noticing that she was covering it again.
"Tori hit me with a cane, remember?" Jade sighed.
Adelaide hurried around the corner, slowing to catch her breath when she saw Jade stopped talking to André. She approached the two, pausing when she got within hearing range and stopped behind Jade without drawing attention to herself.
"Yeah, but I've never seen a black eye drip before," Andre commented, touching her cheek where black liquid was dripping quickly deducting, "This is makeup."
Jade weakly protested, André continuing, "Tori never hit you, did she? Fake black eye, fake blood."
Finally dropping the act, Jade sighed and lowered her hand to reveal the purple mess dripping down her face, pleading, "Look, you cannot tell anyone this, especially Tori."
"I won't," André nodded, both of them backing away from each other. "TORI!"
"Shut up, André!" Jade yelled chasing him around the hallway.
"Tori, where are you?"
"Will you please stop?"
"Anybody seen Tori?"
"Nobody bother Tori! False alarm. He ate a bad taco," Jade said, both her and André disappearing down the opposite corridor. Adelaide sighed, shaking her head slightly as she swung her bag over her right shoulder and exited out the school doors.
She didn't even care that she'd miss the last two periods. Jade had lied to her.
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Slap Update
Tori Vega
Um, whoa. André just told me something X-TREMELY interesting. I knew it!
Mood = Grrrrr 😠
Adelaide sighed as she scrolled through her newsfeed on her phone, shutting it off after reading Tori's update. It was now Friday, a whole four days since Jade's masquerade came crashing down. Four whole days that Adelaide hadn't spoken a word to Jade.
"Move," Jade demanded, standing impatiently in front of the girl was casually leaning against her car preventing her from getting in.
"No," Adelaide said crossing her arms as the two stared each other down. "Not until you apologise to Tori."
Jade simply sighed stubbornly as the other girl continued, "She took a lower grade AND a whole week of detentions instead of ratting you out, which you deserve by the way. You can't tell me that a part of you doesn't feel the tiniest bit guilty that she's in there scrapping who knows what off the walls."
Shrugging dishearteningly, she replied, "I guess maybe a little."
"So, you can either stay out here or go in there and apologise...and I don't know, maybe drop this whole revenge game you two have going on." Adelaide stubbornly crossed her arms, challenging, "You know I'm not going to move and you can't make me."
"Ugh, fine," Jade dramatically said, turning on her heel and reluctantly walking back into the school.
Both Jade and Tori exited the school not even ten minutes later, looking much more chipper. They had, after all, convinced the guard to join them in cleaning up the mess and then stealthily gotten out of detention all together.
"Alright, let's go," Jade said, reluctantly offering Tori a lift home after a nudge from Adelaide.
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A/N: First full episode done! What do we think of Adelaide so far? I have a lot planned for her.
Thank you to everyone who has read and followed/faved/commented! Means a lot 3
Hope you enjoyed this chap! :)