Late Sunday night, Jade was lying on her back and staring at the ceiling, unable to fall asleep. In fact, she hadn't been getting much sleep for the past couple of nights. Even though receiving an apology from Tori should have been an improvement, Jade felt so much worse off than before.

Since Tori's apology, a little of Jade's anger had subsided, but not much; Jade had never been good at letting go of grudges. Yet the apology left Jade feeling worse off than before; she now technically had no justification for hating Tori. And even in the small sliver of Jade's mind that had been freed up as her anger lessened, there was still no relief. Instead of giving her the comfort of emptiness, that corner of Jade's thoughts were being rapidly filled with new ones: thoughts about how sincere and caring Tori had seemed when she was apologizing; how Tori was pretty much the first person to ever apologize to Jade; how innocent and sweet Tori had looked at the Blackbox Theater with her hair tucked into a messy ponytail.

And those thoughts only brought a crap ton of confusion into Jade's life, which was made more extreme by her lack of sleep. Why the fuck can't I stop thinking about her? How come all of those new thoughts about Vega are positive? Why can't I stop thinking all these great things about her when I still hate her guts? Jade drew her hands up to the top of her head and pushed her fingers aggressively through her hair. Why can't I get her out of my fucking head so I can go to sleep!?

Jade rolled over onto her side, propped herself up on her elbow, and looked desperately at her alarm clock. How much longer do I have to try to sleep before I have to get ready for school? The numbers were a bit blurry, so Jade rubbed her tired eyes with her other hand. 3:27. Fuck. I've got fewer than 3 hours.

Jade pushed off of the hand she was using to prop herself up and flipped over to her stomach, letting her face drop onto the pillow with a thud. As her eyes closed again, she was immediately greeted with an image of Tori's face, honest and open. A burst of some strange feeling rocketed through Jade's chest and throat and found a home right at the front of Jade's mind, where it began to mingle with her other thoughts and feelings, converting them into copies of itself until that little nugget of emotion was all Jade could feel.

What were these new feelings? They were far different from anger and hatred; if only it were one of those. Jade was used to anger; she knew how to deal with it, and it felt normal and comfortable. But whatever these feelings were… they felt alien to Jade, and that scared her. But no matter how hard Jade tried to suppress them, she failed; these new, confusing feelings had taken root, and they were here to stay.

"Hi Jade!"

Jade shoved the rest of her books in her locker and slammed the door, then turned around to face Cat. She leaned against her locker. "Yeah. Hi," Jade croaked out, trying and failing to keep the tiredness out of her voice.

Cat looked at Jade's face searchingly. "Are you okay?"

Jade smiled slightly, in the way that tired people often smile to conceal their lack of sleep. Perfect timing for her to ask that question. Just when pretty much everything in my life feels not okay right now. "I'll be fine. What's that you've got?"

Cat brightened at the question and eagerly held out the shiny blue keychain that she had been gripping in her fist. "I got it at the zoo! It has my name on it!"

Jade took the keychain from Cat and examined it. It had small photographs of lions and tigers, and in gleaming silver print at the bottom it said "Cat." At the end of the word, Jade could faintly see an "s" that had been covered up with a black sharpie. Jade nodded at Cat. "Fierce."

Cat giggled. "I tried to find one that had your name on it, but there weren't any. Only ones that said monkeys and hippos. Have you ever heard of anyone named Hippos?"

"I haven't. Too bad."

"Yeah. Well, see you in class!" Cat exclaimed, then skipped away to find someone else to show her keychain to.

Talking to Cat had almost made Jade forget about her woes, but when Tori sat down in front of Jade during Sikowitz's class, they all came flooding back. Jade quickly directed her eyes downward and stared into her coffee cup, trying to focus on the casual swirling of the liquid as she gently shook the cup, hoping it would distract her from thoughts about Tori.

Then Sikowitz took up the role of epic distraction. He stepped in front of the class, proclaiming, "Today we will be doing two-person improv scenes! With your partner, you will be investigating the intricacies of the human condition."

Jade noticed the other people in the class staring at each other questioningly, and she even felt a few pairs of eyes focusing on her. They expect me to make a sarcastic comment. I've got to be able to come up with something. Jade racked her brain for something to say, but her mind was moving too slowly.

When Sikowitz realized that no one was going to react to what he had said, he simply continued. "Nah, I'm just kidding! You're going to pick your first line from out of a box, and then you'll have to create a scene around it. Now then. Who'd like to go first?"

Jade bit her lip and slouched a little more in her chair, desperately hoping she wouldn't be called on. If she couldn't even think of an obnoxious comment at the beginning of class, there was no way she would be able to think quickly enough to do improv.

"Tori and Jade!"

Jade blinked. Did I hear that correctly? No, I must have heard wrong. Out of the corner of her eye, Jade saw Tori standing up and walking to the stage in the front of the room. And then she heard Tori's voice, slicing like a knife through the foggy cloud of tired thoughts that was occupying Jade's mind.

"Jade? Are you coming?"

Fuck. It is me that he called. Well, what am I supposed to do now? I'm screwed.

Jade rose slowly from her seat, then concentrated on her feet as she placed one in front of the other on the way to the stage. Then she looked at the floor. Then out the window. Anywhere other than at Tori.

"Wonderful. Now, Tori, your first line." Sikowitz held out what looked like the bottom of an old shoe box, filled nearly to the top with a bunch of slips of paper, folded in half. So many pieces of paper, each of which would result in a completely different scene. So many possibilities. Tori better pick something decent.

Even though Jade was trying not to look at Tori, she couldn't help but notice that Tori seemed a little bit nervous as she reached out her hand and selected a slip of paper.

Sikowitz nodded, then walked to the back of the classroom and stood near the door to watch their performance. "You may now unfold the paper and start your scene," he said, then clapped his hands together once and smiled expectantly.

Okay, I probably have to look at her during the scene, right? At least at the beginning. I can look away after we start off the dialogue. Jade watched as Tori slowly unfolded the piece of paper she was gripping. She noticed that the girl's eyes widened a bit as she read it. Uh oh. That's not a good sign.

"Uh, Sikowitz?" Tori asked uneasily. "Can I choose a different one?"

"Nope!" the teacher responded emphatically. "You selected it, not me! Your choice is final!"

"Uh, okay…" Tori took a deep breath, then looked straight into Jade's eyes with an earnest look that sent a million sparks racing through Jade's mind and made her breath catch in her throat. Then, with Jade still reeling from the shock of seeing every single one of Tori's features from just two feet away, Tori began the scene: "We can't go on like this."

Jade's eyes widened. With all her brainpower focused on Tori's mesmerizing eyes and flawless skin and hair, Jade could barely think of anything to say. She tried to yank her focus back to the scene at hand, but she failed and ended up just standing there, frozen.

After a long pause, Tori seemingly realized that Jade wasn't going to be responding and asked tentatively, "Uh, did you hear me?"

"Stop right there!" Sikowitz shouted suddenly. "Tori, the number one rule of improv is to always keep going, no matter what happens. If your scene partner doesn't say anything, then you have to pretend that's all part of the scene. Instead of asking if she heard, integrate her silence into the story. Do you understand?"

"Uh, maybe… I guess?"

"Good. Continue."

Tori fidgeted slightly, then took a deep breath and spoke again, masking her nerves quite well, in Jade's opinion. "See, this is the problem, you never talk to me," Tori said, infusing a fair amount of aggression and anger into her voice.

That line suddenly brought Jade's focus away from Tori's beauty and back toward the dialogue. Finally free from Tori's spell, all of Jade's anger for the girl resurfaced. Before her tired mind could tell her that this was a performance, and she wasn't actually supposed to get in a screaming match with Tori, Jade crossed her arms and said, full of venom, "And why the hell should I talk to you?"

"Jade, language," Sikowitz warned. Jade rolled her eyes. Please. "Hell"? That's nothing.

"Because no matter how much you say you hate me, we all know that deep down, you really love me."

What the fuck?! That devil! Jade dropped her arms to her sides and clenched her hands into fists. "In your dreams," she said through gritted teeth, ready to strike.

A look of sheer terror flashed across Tori's face.

"Aaaand, scene," Sikowitz said quickly, before the situation onstage could get any worse. "Well, that was a very well-acted lover's quarrel." Lover's quarrel?! What the fuck, Sikowitz? "That's a wonderful example of a scene that started off suddenly, then quickly escalated to an absolutely gripping climax." He directed his gaze to the rest of the class. "I hope you all were paying attention; everyone will be doing similar scenes later this week. Now, I believe we are out of time." Just a few seconds later, the bell rang, and students began to file out of the classroom and into the hall, eager to get to lunch.

As Jade was leaving, she heard a soft voice calling out, "Jade?" Tori. What the fuck does that devil want? No way am I talking to her. Jade quickened her pace, not stopping until she got to the Asphalt Café.

After about thirty seconds, Cat arrived and sat down next to her. "Jade, are you sure you're okay?"

No, I'm not okay. Jade was still full of rage from Tori's insanely presumptuous and cocky assertion—of course I don't fucking "love her"—but as she began to calm down and her heart stopped racing from the adrenaline of the confrontation, her tiredness quickly overwhelmed her. Jade felt that she barely had the strength to hold herself up, and she leaned to the side, expecting that Beck would be next to her like he usually was. No, Beck was visiting his family in Canada for the week; but then who was it who was next to her?

"Don't worry, Jade, you can sleep on my shoulder," Cat said sweetly. Oh, right, Cat. She was a good friend. And what a relief it was that Jade's last thought before she drifted off was about Cat instead of Tori.

Tori stared after Jade as Jade rushed out of the Sikowitz's classroom. So, she's back to ignoring me. I think I just made things a lot worse. Tori thought back to what she had said during the improv. It wasn't meant to be directed at her! I don't actually think Jade of all people loves me; there's no way. She clearly hates my guts, no matter what I do to try to make our relationship better. I was just trying to go along with the scene, and that felt like something someone would say in a dramatic movie! But I think she thought I was talking to her… What in the world am I supposed to do now?

Her thoughts were interrupted by a gentle nudge from Andre. "Hey Tori, are you coming to lunch?"

"Yeah… but I think I just made Jade hate me more."

"Jade hating you more? Is that even possible?" Andre said with a laugh.

Tori groaned and shoved him lightly. "That's so not helpful right now."

"Alright, alright. Can we just go eat? I'm hungry," Andre said, rubbing his stomach and making a puppy dog face.

Tori laughed, some of her worry about Jade fading away. She could always count on Andre to cheer her up; he was just so silly and sweet. "Yeah, let's go."

Jade was woken up by someone gently shaking her shoulders, along with the sound of a soft whispering in her ear: "Jade, lunch is almost over." She forced her eyes open and winced at the bright sun that was streaming directly onto her face. Stupid sun. She slowly lifted her head from its position on Cat's shoulder and turned to face her friend. They held eye contact for a few seconds, and Jade let a silent thank you pass between them. She wasn't good at expressing gratitude, but Cat understood her appreciation without her needing to say a word. That was one of the nice things about Cat. She never forced Jade to speak when she clearly didn't want to; she just let her be, and she gave her space when she needed it. Unlike Tori, who clearly didn't get the hint that Jade did not want to interact with her.

Where was Tori, anyway? Even though Jade didn't want to talk to Tori, she still felt a weird desire to know where the girl was. My god, my mind is so messed up. I hate her, yet I can't stop thinking about her.

Once Jade's eyes had adjusted to the sunlight, she looked around the cafe. Tori, Andre, and Robbie were sitting at a table nearby, absorbed in conversation. There she is. Well, thank god she didn't sit over here. Then, as if she had some sort of special sense for hearing when people were thinking about her, Tori suddenly looked right over to where Jade was sitting, and their eyes locked. Oh no. Jade looked away, but her thoughts had already started racing. First came all the good: Tori's sweetness, her radiant smile, and her beauty. Then, shortly after, the bad: the leftover anger about how she had kissed Beck, plus all the new hatred for that line during improv. In those few seconds, Jade's mind turned into a confusing mess of thoughts, every single one of them related to Tori.

And then, to make matters worse, she heard Tori's voice. From just behind her left shoulder. "Jade, before you yell at me, I have to tell you—"

But Jade wouldn't listen. She couldn't. She knew she wouldn't be able to get away quick enough to avoid hearing the rest of Tori's sentence, and she also knew that she couldn't keep running away from every conversation with Tori. Even though she wanted to. So instead, Jade gathered her remaining confidence and spoke in a voice that sounded much braver than she felt, trying to drown Tori out. "There is no one in the world I want to talk to less than you. I won't yell; I just won't listen. So bye, Vega. I've got more important things to attend to." And then Jade walked away. Huh. That actually went pretty well, I think.

But just because she had gotten herself out of that conversation successfully didn't mean she had kicked her thoughts about Tori out of her mind. No, those were there to stay. Fucking devil's spawn.

"Jade, will you share your final scene with the class?" Jade's play-writing teacher asked.

Oh god. Not that. Jade avoided eye contact with her teacher as she responded, "I didn't write it." How could I have written it? I couldn't focus on anything at all this entire weekend because all I could think about was Tori. So pathetic.

"Excuse me?" The teacher looked shocked, and rightfully so. This was the first time Jade hadn't completed an assignment for this class.

Jade knew she needed to come up with some excuse, but then she realized she didn't actually need to lie. "There was nothing worth writing about. It was all a foregone conclusion."

"And what exactly would that be?"

"Zell's plot fails, and the farmer kills her instead."

Her teacher raised an eyebrow. "I wouldn't call that a foregone conclusion. I'd say it's more of a shocking plot twist."

Jade considered this for a few moments. Thanks to her lunchtime nap, she was able to think much clearer than in the morning, but it was still a slow process. "Well, maybe, but the chickens should've seen it coming. It's not like a chicken can really expect to take down someone who has that much composure and power. Zell was bound to fail from the beginning."

"But did Zell know that?"

The question took Jade by surprise. Had she? Had Jade known deep down that no matter what she did, she would never be able to escape from Tori—and all the confusing and annoying feelings the girl brought with her?

Jade slowly started to answer. "Well, I guess Zell was afraid that she could never succeed. But she also hoped that she had the power to change her situation. Because if she didn't, then she couldn't have had much hope for her day-to-day life."

The teacher nodded. "Beautiful analysis, Jade. I can tell you've been thinking a lot about this."

Oh, you have no idea.

A/N: Enter Cat and Andre, plus a ton of Jade's feelings.

Well, I hope you enjoyed this one. Thank you so much for reading!