Wednesday morning, Tori found a piece of paper in her locker, bent from being shoved in through one of the slim openings. She opened it, and her heart soared as she saw that it was from Jade. She wrote back! She's actually talking to me! Well, kind of. Writing. But that's practically as good!

Tori was desperate to read what Jade had written, but as the first bell drew nearer, the hall swarmed with students, and Tori realized it probably wouldn't be considerate to read the note while other people were around. A note was so personal. She should be in a quiet space to respect that.

Tori carefully tucked the paper into her pocket, then joined the stream of students that was shuffling toward the classrooms.

Throughout all of her morning classes, Tori ached to know what was in the note, and one time, she almost pulled it out of her pocket. But she stopped herself, focusing her attention on the clock instead, where she counted down the minutes until lunch, when she would be able to find a quiet moment away from everyone else.

When the lunch bell finally rang, Tori sprang up from her chair in Sikowitz's classroom. She stayed back for a few seconds, letting other people file out of the room ahead of her so that she would be able to steal away and find a private spot to read the note. As Tori was waiting, she saw Jade heading for the door.

Without thinking, Tori called out, "Hi Jade, you headed off to lunch?" Tori regretted those words as soon as they left her mouth. What kind of stupid question is that? Of course she's going to lunch. Why did I have to say that?

Jade's eyes flicked over to Tori for a split-second, and then she turned away abruptly and shoved her way through the crowd of people in the hall until she was no longer visible.

What was that about? Tori wondered. She seemed really eager to get away from me. But that doesn't make any sense. She responded to my note. That must mean she wants to talk to me, right? Or… maybe it's an angry note, and we're not actually any better off. I really should have read it before trying to talk to her.

Tori headed out of the classroom and into the Blackbox Theater, which she found empty. There weren't any current plays that used that theater, so Tori assumed she wouldn't be interrupted. She found a chair in one of the corners by the back of the theater, where she would be hidden from view in case anyone peeked in.

Then she took out the note and read.

Vega:

There are two things you need to know about rumors.

Once a rumor starts spreading, people stop caring whether it's actually true. They're just looking for something to gossip about, and if that means making someone out to be a monster, so much the better.

Despite all that, there's generally some sliver of truth behind rumors. After all, they need to be somewhat believable in order to pick up steam; that is, until people become fascinated by all the extra layers of false scandal they can layer on top.

Case in point:

As I was leaving school, I heard people gossiping already about how Beck Oliver is now single because his 'stuck-up gank of a girlfriend' dumped him 'with a series of dirty insults and swears.' - Third thing you should know: after a certain point, people stop caring whether the subject of the rumors overhears. They just want to gossip; they don't give a damn whether it hurts others.

Of course, this exchange continued on to the girls discussing how they were going to try to become Beck's next girlfriend. They even argued about who should get to ask him first. Idiots, they don't realize that they could all be with him at the same time, and get about as much of his care and attention as they would if they were the only one.

They're all complete morons, especially since they're interested in him. Hey, maybe you should throw your hat in the ring, too. I hear Beck's a great boyfriend.

There's no fucking point in signing this. If you didn't figure out who it is by the content, you don't deserve to know.

Tori put the note down slowly, unsure what to make of it. The tone sounded very spiteful and angry, but whether that was because of Tori or the gossipers, or whether that was just the way Jade always sounded, was impossible to tell.

It seemed like Jade had revealed some vaguely personal information - did talking about other people who were gossiping about her count as personal? - yet Tori also felt like Jade was keeping her at arm's length. After all, there was that whole thing about rumors being partly true. Was that a warning about the rumor about what she had done to Sarah? Or a threat?

Normally, Tori might not have thought too much about that one part of the note, but paired with the way Jade had coldly turned away from her just a few minutes earlier, it was hard for Tori to dismiss the idea that Jade still hated her.

But then why would she bother to write back at all? Or to respond with that whole thing about gossip? Did she know it would mess with my head this much? Was that the point?

Tori let her eyes wander around the theater, searching for answers, but she found none. Jade was probably the only source of answers she had. And since she clearly wasn't going to have any success talking to her face to face for the time being, another note was the only option.

The day before, in the aftermath of her breakup with Beck, Jade's entire afternoon and night had been a messy pile of ache and sorrow. She would try to move on with her day, but then something would remind her of Beck, like that part in the book she was reading that mentioned an RV. And so then she had thought about all the times she had spent with Beck in his RV, and how she had felt like he accepted her for who she was and didn't need her to change. Her eyes had teared up at the memory, and then the singular tear was joined by many others as a nagging in the back of her brain reminded her than in fact, Beck had never truly accepted her, and he didn't care about who she really was. He had just liked having a girlfriend, but once he realized it wasn't worth it to deal with Jade's problems, he had abandoned her. So of course, Jade had sobbed over that. And when she was done crying, she tried to return to the book she was reading for school, but found that the pages were all wet and wrinkled from her tears. Which only reminded her of why she was crying, and how messed up everything was at the moment.

The cycle continued throughout the evening, and as Jade had climbed into bed that night, she had begun to cry uncontrollably. She had tried to hold back her tears because her dad was in his room just across the hall, and she really didn't want him to hear, but everything that had been building up in Jade all day poured out, and she couldn't hold it back. She felt miserable, and she didn't even know why she was crying. There weren't any thoughts accompanying the tears, just… giant waves of extreme pain and sadness. She had sobbed for a long time, until crying had drained all her energy, and she was just left with exhaustion and an aching emptiness. And sometime after that, in the dark, lonely night, she had fallen asleep, with her head against a pillowcase that was soaked with tears.

Now, at school, Jade was trying to avoid the pain of the day before, so she threw herself completely into her schoolwork, welcoming the distractions that it provided. If she was thinking about advanced character analysis or how to sing steadily in a vocal arrangement that involved hemiolias, then she wasn't thinking about her breakup, or any of the associated troubles.

For the most part, the distraction worked, and Jade felt infinitely better than she had the previous day, even though she knew it was only because she was suppressing her feelings. Obviously she would have to deal with them eventually, but why suffer now, when she could just distract herself and feel decent?

As an added bonus, putting so much attention and effort into school paid off well in most of her classes, and it would probably end up helping her on assignments and boosting her grades down the line. Jade figured that if it was good for both her mental state and her grades, distracting herself from the breakup couldn't really be that bad of a plan.

But now her problem was that there were a couple girls whispering in class, and as much as she tried to block them out so she could listen to what the teacher was saying about the correlation between setting and characterization in the book, the high-pitched whispers kept worming their way into Jade's head.

"I heard she shoved him into the lockers!"

"Oh my god, really? I knew she was crazy, but I never knew she was actually violent."

"Come on, what do you expect? You know what she did a few years ago."

"Yeah, but I mean, he was her boyfriend."

One of the girls snorted. "You think that means anything to her? All she cares about is getting what she wants, and if anyone's in her way, she'll destroy them."

"I mean, yeah, but like, don't you think she'd want to keep Beck as her boyfriend? She was so lucky to have him. It's not like anyone else is going to want her."

Finally, the teacher's attention snapped to where the two girls were sitting. "Amanda? Laura? I hope you're talking about the themes developed as the characters grow throughout the book."

The girls shut up immediately.

"Would one of you like to share with the class your personal insights into Esther's most significant development so far?"

Even as one of the gossipers stumbled into a sloppy response (that clearly indicated she had not read anything beyond the first few chapters) and the teacher gave a stern, disapproving stare, Jade was not comforted by the slight social humiliation that the girl was facing. Because even though the teacher had interrupted the exchange, Jade had heard enough. Honestly, just the first two sentences would have been enough. It wasn't even that the gossip was hurtful; no, that was a completely separate issue. It was that the whispers reminded Jade of the breakup. Those few sentences completely unraveled all the mental blocks that a day's worth of school distractions had put in place, and Jade ended up close to where she had been the night before - feeling alone, exhausted, hurt, and exceedingly sad.

Jade tried to sit through the rest of her class, but it became too difficult, what with all the despaired chaos that was going on in her head. She picked up her book bag from beside her chair and walked out of the room, ignoring the disapproving look she got from her teacher.

Jade headed to her locker, figuring that since she wasn't staying at Cat's house anymore, she could leave school early. There was less than half an hour left in the day anyhow. But when she swung open her locker door, she saw another wad of lined paper, with messy edges from where it had been ripped out of a notebook. Another note from Vega. Something inexplicable compelled Jade to read it, so after checking that there was no one else in the hallway, she opened it up.

Hi again, Jade. (Yes, of course I could tell it was you. You gave yourself away by calling me 'Vega'. Or maybe that was intentional?)

No, I am NOT going to date Beck. You used a list in your letter to pretty decent effect, so here:

I'm not interested in him, and never have been.

Maybe you've heard, he just had a breakup, and I'm not going to be a rebound.

Right now, he seems to me like a real jerk. But maybe that's not my place to say.

I'm going to be honest, Jade, I'm kind of confused by… everything. You're sending a ton of mixed signals. You give me a note, but then make it bitter and sarcastic (okay, maybe I shouldn't be surprised by that part), and then proceed to avoid me when I say hi after class? What am I supposed to make of that? Is this a game that I don't understand? And what do you expect me to do?

Don't get me wrong, I'm really happy that you responded. More than I can express in words. I just… I have no clue how to tell what you actually feel or want. There's no body language or nonverbal cues over letters, so I'm searching for meaning behind your words, but I'm feeling kind of lost.

I, for one, will bother to sign my name. Call me old-fashioned, but I think it adds a nice feeling of closure to a letter.

Tori

A wave of bitter anger rose up in Jade, although it was mostly unrelated to the letter. Seeing Beck's name on paper had just reminded her of it all…

Before Jade could think better of it, Jade pulled a piece of paper out of her bag and scrawled a furious response.

What do I want from you? I'm demanding nothing from you, Vega. Any pressures you feel to figure out what I 'want' - like I have some ulterior motive - that's all in your head. And believe me, if I did have an ulterior motive, I wouldn't tell you. That literally ruins the entire point of something being secret - though maybe you don't understand the value of private thoughts and motives. Not everyone wants everything out in the open, Vega.

Speaking of out in the open: yes, I'm avoiding you. That much should be obvious. Except you're somewhat wrong because I'm not actually avoiding you. Think of it this way: I'm avoiding every single person in the school. You're not special in that. Sorry to burst your bubble.

Except Jade didn't actually feel all that bitterness toward Tori. And honestly, she didn't really feel like that note would get her anywhere. She ripped it up, then stuffed the shreds into her book bag. She took a few deep breaths to try to quiet some of her anger, then reread the note.

When Jade got to the part where Tori said she thought Beck was a jerk, Jade smiled with a sense of satisfaction. There was something gratifying about someone else realizing it - Beck was not the perfect angel every girl seemed to think he was. And if Tori sided with Jade on this, without knowing many of the details - well, maybe she had potential as a friend, after all.

A/N: Well, that was fun, wasn't it? I am really happy with how this chapter turned out. I hope you liked it too!

Thank you so much for reading! See you again next week!