Thursday. The school day passed quickly, with nothing very notable or memorable about it. Jade watched some other people's improv scenes in Sikowitz's class, discreetly observed Tori during lunch, and listened to a few interesting lessons in some of her other classes. By the time Jade parked the car in her driveway and headed in the front door, she had concluded that she had learned nothing much that day, even about Tori. And maybe there was nothing more to learn. Maybe Tori really was a nice person who wanted to make a new friend. Maybe there was nothing sinister or cruel lurking behind her kind actions; maybe that was her true self and not a facade.

Even though Jade's opinion of Tori was increasingly shifting toward a positive one, she still felt uneasy about the idea of talking to her the next day. I resolved that I would seek her out on Friday if she continued to act like a good person, but still… I can't really know whether she's genuinely good just by watching her interact with other people.

Jade walked to her room and slid her book bag off her shoulder and onto her desk. She glanced over to the drawers where she kept her writing notebooks, and her gaze fell on the lock that sealed one of the drawers. Suddenly, she remembered the day she had installed it:

Jade had hurried into the room after school, desperately hoping that her father wasn't home. Her hands were shaking as she took out the combination lock she had just bought at the convenience store. As she opened the lock, she could barely make out the numbers; her vision was blurry from the slow but steady stream of tears that she was shedding. After installing the lock, Jade had frantically shuffled through her other notebook drawer, looking for the one that had caused all her troubles. Finally she found it: that small, pocket-sized notebook with the words "Baby Blue" scrawled across the top in sharpie. As she had stared at it, Jade felt a whole new wave of anger and hurt overcoming her, and she had shoved that small notebook into the now-lockable drawer. Jade had wiped her eyes with her sleeve, then shut and locked the drawer and hurried out of her house again, pulling out of the driveway before her father could return home from work.

Jade shook her head, trying to escape from the memory. She felt a light tear slowly fall from her eye, and she brushed it away with a soft sigh. Even two years later, it's still painful to think about that. Will those memories ever stop hurting?

Tori threw her backpack down on the couch, then called out to her sister, "Hey, Trina?"

Trina stopped walking, already halfway up the stairs. "Yeah? What?"

"I've got a question for you."

"Couldn't you have asked during the car ride?"

"Actually, I thought it would be better to wait till we got home," Tori said, her voice serious. Evidently her tone made an impression on Trina, who turned around and descended the steps to stand next to her.

"Is everything okay, sis?"

"Yeah. Well, kind of… I was wondering if you could tell me what Jade did that was so bad," Tori said hesitantly.

Trina's eyes widened. She hesitated, clearly unsure of what to say. Then she finally asked, "Couldn't one of your friends have told you?"

"I asked. They wouldn't tell me because they said Jade wouldn't like it if they did."

"Oh, I'm sure she wouldn't," Trina said with a small chuckle. "It looks quite bad for her."

Tori gulped. There was yet another dramatic yet vague statement about it. Tori had heard so many statements like it, and the more she heard, the more nervous she became about hearing whatever had happened. But if it was really bad, then she should probably know, to be warned. And prepared. "So… what was it?"

Trina walked over to the kitchen table and sat down and one of the chairs, gesturing for Tori to sit across from her. She complied, then waited as Trina hesitated, then finally started the tale.

"Two years ago, there was this girl named Sarah Gershton who went to Hollywood Arts. She was pretty well liked by most people, and a good actor and singer too. She was a year younger than me, so that would be your age. And then…"

Tori's breath caught in her throat at her sister's pause. "Trina! What happened?"

Trina sighed. "Jade started sabotaging her. She managed to prevent her from getting to any of the auditions for that season's plays, so Sarah was completely blocked out of the performances. Word is that Sarah tried to confront Jade about it, and Jade said some pretty terrible stuff to her. But what I do know for certain is that not too long after, Sarah transferred schools. Not much point in going to a performing arts school if you never get a chance to perform."

Tori gaped at Trina, unable to believe what she was hearing. "Jade… ruined her?"

Trina nodded sadly. "No one's seen her since. Or heard from her. Apparently she was too ashamed of not being able to do anything at Hollywood Arts. Or maybe Jade said things that really got to her. But either way, that's pretty much when people started being afraid of Jade."

"Wow."

"Yeah. That's why I was worried when you said you had asked her for a ride. Especially because… well, it seems like she's had a special hatred for you since your first day at Hollywood Arts."

Tori frowned. "Yeah. I guess you're right. Thanks, Trina."

Trina smiled. "What are sisters for?" Then she stood up and ascended the stairs to her room.

Now alone in the kitchen, Tori put her arms on the table and propped her head up with her first, thinking. She didn't want to just change her opinion of Jade based on one rumor, but still… Trina had been a student at Hollywood Arts at the time, and she had seen it happen. And what Jade had done was really terrible. If she still had even a little bit of that animosity inside her, she could definitely hurt Tori. And Trina was right; Jade did dislike Tori, and even when Tori had tried to apologize and talk to her, Jade had just seemed upset.

Tori rubbed her temples. She couldn't ignore what Trina had just told her, and she couldn't just accept it blindly as truth. She had to ask someone else about it. But who? Andre, Cat, and Robbie had already said they wouldn't tell her, and if she tried to ask them, Andre would probably be disappointed that she had already asked Trina about it. Tori sighed, accepting that for now at least, she had hit a wall. She tried to shelve these thoughts, sure that she would think of a solution later. And she could certainly do with some time to process all that she had just been told.

That night, Jade lay in bed, thinking about whether she should try to talk to Tori the next day. She could think of a million reasons why it was a terrible idea, yet for some reason, she felt compelled to do it anyway. There was something about Tori that made Jade believe that maybe, just maybe, she might be different. So far, she had relentlessly tried to befriend Jade, despite Jade's continual anger and rudeness. And she seemed well-meaning and earnest. Maybe it was worth a shot.

Friday.

A/N: That's all I've got for you today. To be continued next week!

Thank you so much for reading!