p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"The next few days pass by similarly to each other. Jade pretty much avoids talking to Beck alone because she knows Beck will want to talk about the fight that ultimately led to them breaking up. It's not that Jade doesn't want to talk about it but she genuinely needs time to think and figure things out for herself before she does that. Beck was a completely different person the other day and she didn't like that side of him. She can't help but wonder if that's how he's always been underneath or if this is a new side to him that's come out because he feels like he has to share her with other people or some bullshit like that. She should be allowed to have her own life. She should be allowed to hang out with her friends without her boyfriend getting mad at her for it./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"She could see his point of view if she'd barely spent any time with him but when she wasn't working on her project she was with Beck. She'd seen the rest of her friends at school minus a few times when they all did group activities or Cat came over to her house when Beck was busy. It makes her kind of mad that Beck thinks he's allowed to act all jealous and possessive over her when he hates when she gets jealous over the numerous girls who hit on him over and over again in front of her./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"On Wednesday Cat spends all day by her side. It kind of annoys Jade but she lets it slide because she knows that it's the redheads' way of silently trying to be there for her even though she hasn't really wanted to talk about it in deep detail with anyone. Cat is the only other besides herself and Beck who know about their breakup. Jade briefly wonders if Beck has told any of their friends about their split. She knows if Beck were to tell anyone Andre would probably be the first person he told./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"Jade has stopped sitting beside Beck at lunch. Deciding to take the spot next to Cat instead. Beck has stopped sitting next to her in class after too. The glares she directs at him after multiple days finally getting through to him. Most of the time she sits by herself in Sikowitz's class but she doesn't mind it. With how foggy her mind is about her relationship with Beck she really welcomes the space to just sit and be alone for once./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"Tori is very observant. Jade already knew this fact about Tori but it's different to actually see said attribute in action. Jade notices the slight changes in Tori after she and Beck break up. Jade is observant as well. Jade doesn't know why but she feels like Tori might know that something is up./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"Jade at least suspects Tori might think something is going on because she notes Tori looking at her and watching her. The way she watches her is different from the way she normally looks at her. When she normally looks at her, she looks away when Jade catches her looking. This time, however, Tori doesn't look away when she sees her looking. Instead she subtly shifts her gaze between her and Beck./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"Jade squints her eyes suspiciously at Tori. She thinks Tori might be trying to tell her something non-verbally but she doesn't know what that could be. She literally has no clue and that seems to frustrate Tori because she sighs loudly at the lunch table while everyone is sitting around the table./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"Robbie, Beck and Andre don't seem to notice but Jade arches an eyebrow in question at her. Cat also spares a questioning glance in concern at Tori from across the table but dismisses the thought when Tori shakes her head at her./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"Jade shrugs her shoulders at Tori and joins in on the conversation Robbie and Cat are having with each other. Jade vaguely registers the fact that Tori doesn't contribute much to any of the conversations going on around at the table. She sits quietly for the most part and plays around with her food absentmindedly./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"Tori's forehead is wrinkled and her lip is between her teeth for a few minutes as she looks to be in deep thought. When she lets her lips go, Tori plays with her hands. She's never really seen Tori like this before and Jade reminds herself to ask Tori about what she was thinking about at that moment. She also wants to ask what Tori was trying to tell her at the table when she gets the opportunity to do. Jade figures that now isn't the right time and sets out to ask when they're alone./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"Jade knows it'll be easier to get an honest answer out of the girl if it's just the two of them. Tori is normally pretty honest about things in general but if Tori was trying to tell her something without saying it, she clearly didn't want anyone else to know what she was trying to say./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"Tori has become more forthcoming about things since they patched things up after their misunderstanding a few weeks ago. Jade and Tori have tried to have very honest conversations about their feelings often. Even if it's difficult for one or each of them. They agreed that if they were going to have a real friendship they needed to check in with each other. It was Jade's idea because she knew that if they didn't communicate properly she could end up unintentionally hurting Tori./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"Knowing that Tori has feelings for her made her think they needed a change. They needed to establish boundaries with each other as well. She'd never want to do something seemingly romantic and therefore lead Tori on. She has a boyfriend. Or, well… She had a boyfriend when they'd had a conversation about how their relationship would need to be different from the rest of the relationships they had in their lives./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"Jade knows that this friendship with Tori is fragile. Real feelings being involved tends to do that. Tori, on the other hand, agreed to Jade's idea to do something like this because she doesn't want the other girl to be uncomfortable around her just because she likes her./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"It's taken Tori a long time to break down Jade's walls and she thinks her and Jade bring out the good in each other. Jade supports her, even if she tries to hide it. She doesn't want all the work she's put into building a friendship with Jade to be for nothing just because she caught feelings for the beautiful girl. All and all, the new friendship between the girls is going well./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"When there's a lull in the conversation Jade discreetly pulls out her phone and sends Tori a quick text. After Jade's hit send on the short message, she makes sure it's not on vibrate and she puts her phone face down on the table./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"Tori's phone chimes from in her monster bag and Jade is silently grateful that it doesn't noticeably attract anyone else's attention besides Tori. Tori shuffles around in her bag for a few seconds before grabbing the device out of her bag and unlocking it to check her new message./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"Tori looks up at her after she's done reading Jade's text message./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"emWait for me at my locker after school?/em/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"Tori smiles and types out her reply. When Jade sees Tori put her phone back down, she slowly lifts her own phone up to look at it. She flashes Tori a small smile of her own when she reads the words on the screen./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"emOf course :)/em/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"The rest of lunch is uneventful but it's over quickly and the gang heads off to class promptly. Tori's afternoon classes are extra boring today for some reason and she can't seem to keep her focus on her teachers or anything of the material they're trying to teach and explain to the class./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"There's so much on her mind right now and she can't shake the feeling that something is going on with Jade. She wants to know what it is but she's stuck in class. Not to mention Jade wanted her to meet her at her locker after school. She figures Jade must want to talk because why else would she want her to meet her there?/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"Her thoughts stay on that topic for a while and Tori eventually gives up on trying to listen to what her teachers are saying because it's useless for Tori to try and do anything other than think about Jade at this point./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"Jade, on the other hand, is actually able to put everything out of her mind for her afternoon classes. That doesn't mean that she doesn't struggle to focus. It happens a few times but for the most part Jade is on top of the lessons. She finishes all her work in class and feels relieved that she doesn't have to waste her night doing it at home./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"After Jade is done handing in her work she sits at her desk and finally lets her mind wander back to lunch time. She thinks about what Tori might have been trying to tell her. The only person she can communicate to without words is Cat. Unless she's sending someone a glare. She can tell everyone not to try her without saying anything with a good glare directed their way and she likes it that way./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"Jade fingers itch to pull out her phone and send a text to Tori while she's in class. Jade doesn't want to wait to ask her what she wants to ask her but she decides against bothering Tori while she's in class. She knows Tori's a bit of a goodie two shoes and she doesn't want Tori to be distracted from her work./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"The urge is still there even after she decides she's not going to text Tori but Jade does her best to push the feeling and her curiosity down as far as she can. She knows if she ignores it for long enough class will be over and she can finally get the answers she wants./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"Jade pulls out her notebook and her pencil before flipping through the pages. When she sees the one she wants she stops flipping the pages and looks over the paper. Jade reads the words on the paper to herself and fixes things here and there. Things she doesn't like or things that don't feel right. She reads the words over for a second time and moves onto editing another page until the bell rings to signal the end of the school day./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"When class is finally over Jade tries to hide her excitement while exiting the classroom and she's successful. Jade gets to her locker in record time and notes that Tori isn't there yet. While putting her books from class away Jade hears footsteps coming from her right and assumes it's Tori since Tori agreed to meet her at her locker over text at lunch./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"Jade realizes too late that the person beside her isn't Tori. When Jade turns her face and catches a whiff of a familiar cologne she internally cringes. She really doesn't want to deal with Beck right now. When her blue eyes meet his brown eyes she fights the urge she has to roll her eyes at him./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"She's been civil with him when they're all around their friends but they haven't had any alone time together in multiple days. That was something Jade made sure to avoid and she's kind of annoyed that he sought her out while she was alone like this./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;""Beck," Jade mutters grumpily./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"Beck ignores the tone in which she greets him. "Can we talk?" He cuts straight to the point and doesn't beat around the bush. Jade actually appreciates that because she doesn't want to stand around and exchanges pleasantries with him. She doesn't want to talk to him much at all right now./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"However, despite that she knows what he wants from her. She knows what he wants to discuss with her. She's not ready and she knows it. She can feel it in the way her shoulders tense and her stomach drops uncomfortably. She's been dreading this fateful moment and here it is./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"Jade can feel the anxiety sinking in but she pushes past it in order to make it through this conversation without being a complete bitch. Jade wants nothing much than to blow this conversation off. Blow off Beck's attempt at trying to get her to see things from his point of view but she still loves him so she tries. She tries to be nice to him. Not because he deserves it after the last fight that they had but because she wants to try and keep her cool during tough situations. This being one of them./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"Jade sighs and turns back to her locker. "No," she answers before adding, "I'm not ready."/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"The change in the air around her tells Jade that Beck isn't satisfied with her answer. The air around them was already awkward but now it feels tense as well as awkward. Beck was probably hoping she was ready and would even want to start the conversation with him. He probably thought she'd meet him halfway in this "let's forget about that fight and get back together" conversation. She won't./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"When the feel of cologne becomes stronger Jade knows that Beck's stepped closer to her. She doesn't let the proximity change her mind. Normally when they'd broken up she'd come crawling back to him in a heartbeat. Though she'd never admit it to anyone else, most of those times she'd had some blame in why they'd broken up./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"She supposes she did this time as well but the things she said were true. Beck wasn't the same first that she'd fallen in love with during that fight. He'd shown her some really ugly colours. Sure, she had some ugly colours of her own too. Everyone did if she were being honest but what she saw… It didn't make her feel good. It made her rethink things because that's not what she wants love in her life to look like./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"If she gets back with Beck, is he always going to be like that? Was it just a one time thing? Can she take it if he does something like that again? Could she take it if he did something worse than that? Is it healthy? Does she bring out the best in him? Does he bring out the best in her? She's got so many unanswered questions about their relationship./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"Before this, Jade would have told you that Beck was the perfect guy. Beck was exactly who she wanted to be with but things had changed and she couldn't say whether those thoughts were true anymore. She needs more time and Beck needs to understand that when it comes to them, her whole world has come crumbling down around her. She needs to figure out if it's worth the time and effort to rebuild or if she should just walk away while she's ahead./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;""Babe," he pleads softly. "C'mon. This was a big fight. I get that but we both said some things that weren't great. Let's just talk this out and get past this."/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"Jade can feel his gaze burning holes in the side of her profile but she doesn't look at him. He waits patiently for a long few moments before reaching out to touch her shoulder. She resists the urge to pull away when his hand makes contact with her right shoulder but he moves fast and turns her to face him./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"Jade notes that he looks sad, tired almost. His tone seemed genuine enough but she's just lost all her fight. Tears start to well in her eyes. She can feel them threatening to fall but she tries to keep them back as best as she can. "Beck, please," she begs./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"He eyes her questionably before leaning himself on the lockers beside hers. He waits for her to continue. "Don't do this. I told you I needed time to think about things. A few days isn't enough time for me."/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"His eyes widen before his eyebrows knit together. "I'm confused." He pushes off the locker and stands straight. "Whenever we broke up in the past all it took was a few days for you to get over whatever it was that upset you. We'd talk about it and we'd be good again."/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"Jade can't keep the tears back and they fall slowly down her cheeks. She doesn't bother to wipe them because he's seen her cry before and nobody else seems to be around right now. "This isn't one of emthose /emtimes." Jade hates it but her voice cracks near the end of her sentence./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"He runs his hands through his hair before he takes her hands in his. He squeezes gently. "I don't want you to cry. I don't like seeing you in pain." He takes his left hand from her right one and wipes the tears from her face. When the tears on her face are gone he takes her hand again. "You're sure that the only way past this is through time apart?" Beck asks./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"Jade looks into his eyes. She can see the sadness and slight pain in them. She wishes things were easier when it came to getting past this particular issue. She wishes they could move around it but she knows that would only be a band aid. She knows that if this is going to be resolved she needs to do it properly. They need to move through the issues and not around them./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"She nods firmly once. She doesn't trust her voice. This feels more real than any of their other break ups before this. In her heart she knows that's because she doesn't know when or if they'll get back together. The thought that this might be the end of her relationship with him hurts her more than she wants to acknowledge./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"Before Beck can reply to her, Tori walks up to the pair. She eyes the two of them before her eyes dart down to their still linked hands. "Hi guys," she greets./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"When Jade catches sight of Tori she slowly lets go of Beck's hands and clears her throat. "Hey, are you ready to go?"/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"Tori looks confused for a moment but she figures Jade might be searching for an out of whatever is happening with her and Beck at the moment. She decides to come to Jade's rescue and play along. "Yeah," she replies. "Did you want to come to my place or go to yours?"/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"Beck briefly looks over and meets Tori's eyes. He looks jaw-slacked but it happens quickly and it's gone when he looks back at Jade. Jade scans her eyes over his face and she can see the slight annoyance he's fighting not to show. He shuffles his feet and lets a beat pass. "I'll uh, see you guys later," he comments before he walks away./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"emLeave a review :)/em/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"She could see his point of view if she'd barely spent any time with him but when she wasn't working on her project she was with Beck. She'd seen the rest of her friends at school minus a few times when they all did group activities or Cat came over to her house when Beck was busy. It makes her kind of mad that Beck thinks he's allowed to act all jealous and possessive over her when he hates when she gets jealous over the numerous girls who hit on him over and over again in front of her./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"On Wednesday Cat spends all day by her side. It kind of annoys Jade but she lets it slide because she knows that it's the redheads' way of silently trying to be there for her even though she hasn't really wanted to talk about it in deep detail with anyone. Cat is the only other besides herself and Beck who know about their breakup. Jade briefly wonders if Beck has told any of their friends about their split. She knows if Beck were to tell anyone Andre would probably be the first person he told./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"Jade has stopped sitting beside Beck at lunch. Deciding to take the spot next to Cat instead. Beck has stopped sitting next to her in class after too. The glares she directs at him after multiple days finally getting through to him. Most of the time she sits by herself in Sikowitz's class but she doesn't mind it. With how foggy her mind is about her relationship with Beck she really welcomes the space to just sit and be alone for once./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"Tori is very observant. Jade already knew this fact about Tori but it's different to actually see said attribute in action. Jade notices the slight changes in Tori after she and Beck break up. Jade is observant as well. Jade doesn't know why but she feels like Tori might know that something is up./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"Jade at least suspects Tori might think something is going on because she notes Tori looking at her and watching her. The way she watches her is different from the way she normally looks at her. When she normally looks at her, she looks away when Jade catches her looking. This time, however, Tori doesn't look away when she sees her looking. Instead she subtly shifts her gaze between her and Beck./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"Jade squints her eyes suspiciously at Tori. She thinks Tori might be trying to tell her something non-verbally but she doesn't know what that could be. She literally has no clue and that seems to frustrate Tori because she sighs loudly at the lunch table while everyone is sitting around the table./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"Robbie, Beck and Andre don't seem to notice but Jade arches an eyebrow in question at her. Cat also spares a questioning glance in concern at Tori from across the table but dismisses the thought when Tori shakes her head at her./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"Jade shrugs her shoulders at Tori and joins in on the conversation Robbie and Cat are having with each other. Jade vaguely registers the fact that Tori doesn't contribute much to any of the conversations going on around at the table. She sits quietly for the most part and plays around with her food absentmindedly./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"Tori's forehead is wrinkled and her lip is between her teeth for a few minutes as she looks to be in deep thought. When she lets her lips go, Tori plays with her hands. She's never really seen Tori like this before and Jade reminds herself to ask Tori about what she was thinking about at that moment. She also wants to ask what Tori was trying to tell her at the table when she gets the opportunity to do. Jade figures that now isn't the right time and sets out to ask when they're alone./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"Jade knows it'll be easier to get an honest answer out of the girl if it's just the two of them. Tori is normally pretty honest about things in general but if Tori was trying to tell her something without saying it, she clearly didn't want anyone else to know what she was trying to say./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"Tori has become more forthcoming about things since they patched things up after their misunderstanding a few weeks ago. Jade and Tori have tried to have very honest conversations about their feelings often. Even if it's difficult for one or each of them. They agreed that if they were going to have a real friendship they needed to check in with each other. It was Jade's idea because she knew that if they didn't communicate properly she could end up unintentionally hurting Tori./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"Knowing that Tori has feelings for her made her think they needed a change. They needed to establish boundaries with each other as well. She'd never want to do something seemingly romantic and therefore lead Tori on. She has a boyfriend. Or, well… She had a boyfriend when they'd had a conversation about how their relationship would need to be different from the rest of the relationships they had in their lives./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"Jade knows that this friendship with Tori is fragile. Real feelings being involved tends to do that. Tori, on the other hand, agreed to Jade's idea to do something like this because she doesn't want the other girl to be uncomfortable around her just because she likes her./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"It's taken Tori a long time to break down Jade's walls and she thinks her and Jade bring out the good in each other. Jade supports her, even if she tries to hide it. She doesn't want all the work she's put into building a friendship with Jade to be for nothing just because she caught feelings for the beautiful girl. All and all, the new friendship between the girls is going well./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"When there's a lull in the conversation Jade discreetly pulls out her phone and sends Tori a quick text. After Jade's hit send on the short message, she makes sure it's not on vibrate and she puts her phone face down on the table./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"Tori's phone chimes from in her monster bag and Jade is silently grateful that it doesn't noticeably attract anyone else's attention besides Tori. Tori shuffles around in her bag for a few seconds before grabbing the device out of her bag and unlocking it to check her new message./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"Tori looks up at her after she's done reading Jade's text message./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"emWait for me at my locker after school?/em/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"Tori smiles and types out her reply. When Jade sees Tori put her phone back down, she slowly lifts her own phone up to look at it. She flashes Tori a small smile of her own when she reads the words on the screen./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"emOf course :)/em/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"The rest of lunch is uneventful but it's over quickly and the gang heads off to class promptly. Tori's afternoon classes are extra boring today for some reason and she can't seem to keep her focus on her teachers or anything of the material they're trying to teach and explain to the class./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"There's so much on her mind right now and she can't shake the feeling that something is going on with Jade. She wants to know what it is but she's stuck in class. Not to mention Jade wanted her to meet her at her locker after school. She figures Jade must want to talk because why else would she want her to meet her there?/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"Her thoughts stay on that topic for a while and Tori eventually gives up on trying to listen to what her teachers are saying because it's useless for Tori to try and do anything other than think about Jade at this point./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"Jade, on the other hand, is actually able to put everything out of her mind for her afternoon classes. That doesn't mean that she doesn't struggle to focus. It happens a few times but for the most part Jade is on top of the lessons. She finishes all her work in class and feels relieved that she doesn't have to waste her night doing it at home./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"After Jade is done handing in her work she sits at her desk and finally lets her mind wander back to lunch time. She thinks about what Tori might have been trying to tell her. The only person she can communicate to without words is Cat. Unless she's sending someone a glare. She can tell everyone not to try her without saying anything with a good glare directed their way and she likes it that way./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"Jade fingers itch to pull out her phone and send a text to Tori while she's in class. Jade doesn't want to wait to ask her what she wants to ask her but she decides against bothering Tori while she's in class. She knows Tori's a bit of a goodie two shoes and she doesn't want Tori to be distracted from her work./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"The urge is still there even after she decides she's not going to text Tori but Jade does her best to push the feeling and her curiosity down as far as she can. She knows if she ignores it for long enough class will be over and she can finally get the answers she wants./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"Jade pulls out her notebook and her pencil before flipping through the pages. When she sees the one she wants she stops flipping the pages and looks over the paper. Jade reads the words on the paper to herself and fixes things here and there. Things she doesn't like or things that don't feel right. She reads the words over for a second time and moves onto editing another page until the bell rings to signal the end of the school day./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"When class is finally over Jade tries to hide her excitement while exiting the classroom and she's successful. Jade gets to her locker in record time and notes that Tori isn't there yet. While putting her books from class away Jade hears footsteps coming from her right and assumes it's Tori since Tori agreed to meet her at her locker over text at lunch./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"Jade realizes too late that the person beside her isn't Tori. When Jade turns her face and catches a whiff of a familiar cologne she internally cringes. She really doesn't want to deal with Beck right now. When her blue eyes meet his brown eyes she fights the urge she has to roll her eyes at him./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"She's been civil with him when they're all around their friends but they haven't had any alone time together in multiple days. That was something Jade made sure to avoid and she's kind of annoyed that he sought her out while she was alone like this./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;""Beck," Jade mutters grumpily./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"Beck ignores the tone in which she greets him. "Can we talk?" He cuts straight to the point and doesn't beat around the bush. Jade actually appreciates that because she doesn't want to stand around and exchanges pleasantries with him. She doesn't want to talk to him much at all right now./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"However, despite that she knows what he wants from her. She knows what he wants to discuss with her. She's not ready and she knows it. She can feel it in the way her shoulders tense and her stomach drops uncomfortably. She's been dreading this fateful moment and here it is./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"Jade can feel the anxiety sinking in but she pushes past it in order to make it through this conversation without being a complete bitch. Jade wants nothing much than to blow this conversation off. Blow off Beck's attempt at trying to get her to see things from his point of view but she still loves him so she tries. She tries to be nice to him. Not because he deserves it after the last fight that they had but because she wants to try and keep her cool during tough situations. This being one of them./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"Jade sighs and turns back to her locker. "No," she answers before adding, "I'm not ready."/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"The change in the air around her tells Jade that Beck isn't satisfied with her answer. The air around them was already awkward but now it feels tense as well as awkward. Beck was probably hoping she was ready and would even want to start the conversation with him. He probably thought she'd meet him halfway in this "let's forget about that fight and get back together" conversation. She won't./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"When the feel of cologne becomes stronger Jade knows that Beck's stepped closer to her. She doesn't let the proximity change her mind. Normally when they'd broken up she'd come crawling back to him in a heartbeat. Though she'd never admit it to anyone else, most of those times she'd had some blame in why they'd broken up./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"She supposes she did this time as well but the things she said were true. Beck wasn't the same first that she'd fallen in love with during that fight. He'd shown her some really ugly colours. Sure, she had some ugly colours of her own too. Everyone did if she were being honest but what she saw… It didn't make her feel good. It made her rethink things because that's not what she wants love in her life to look like./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"If she gets back with Beck, is he always going to be like that? Was it just a one time thing? Can she take it if he does something like that again? Could she take it if he did something worse than that? Is it healthy? Does she bring out the best in him? Does he bring out the best in her? She's got so many unanswered questions about their relationship./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"Before this, Jade would have told you that Beck was the perfect guy. Beck was exactly who she wanted to be with but things had changed and she couldn't say whether those thoughts were true anymore. She needs more time and Beck needs to understand that when it comes to them, her whole world has come crumbling down around her. She needs to figure out if it's worth the time and effort to rebuild or if she should just walk away while she's ahead./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;""Babe," he pleads softly. "C'mon. This was a big fight. I get that but we both said some things that weren't great. Let's just talk this out and get past this."/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"Jade can feel his gaze burning holes in the side of her profile but she doesn't look at him. He waits patiently for a long few moments before reaching out to touch her shoulder. She resists the urge to pull away when his hand makes contact with her right shoulder but he moves fast and turns her to face him./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"Jade notes that he looks sad, tired almost. His tone seemed genuine enough but she's just lost all her fight. Tears start to well in her eyes. She can feel them threatening to fall but she tries to keep them back as best as she can. "Beck, please," she begs./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"He eyes her questionably before leaning himself on the lockers beside hers. He waits for her to continue. "Don't do this. I told you I needed time to think about things. A few days isn't enough time for me."/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"His eyes widen before his eyebrows knit together. "I'm confused." He pushes off the locker and stands straight. "Whenever we broke up in the past all it took was a few days for you to get over whatever it was that upset you. We'd talk about it and we'd be good again."/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"Jade can't keep the tears back and they fall slowly down her cheeks. She doesn't bother to wipe them because he's seen her cry before and nobody else seems to be around right now. "This isn't one of emthose /emtimes." Jade hates it but her voice cracks near the end of her sentence./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"He runs his hands through his hair before he takes her hands in his. He squeezes gently. "I don't want you to cry. I don't like seeing you in pain." He takes his left hand from her right one and wipes the tears from her face. When the tears on her face are gone he takes her hand again. "You're sure that the only way past this is through time apart?" Beck asks./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"Jade looks into his eyes. She can see the sadness and slight pain in them. She wishes things were easier when it came to getting past this particular issue. She wishes they could move around it but she knows that would only be a band aid. She knows that if this is going to be resolved she needs to do it properly. They need to move through the issues and not around them./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"She nods firmly once. She doesn't trust her voice. This feels more real than any of their other break ups before this. In her heart she knows that's because she doesn't know when or if they'll get back together. The thought that this might be the end of her relationship with him hurts her more than she wants to acknowledge./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"Before Beck can reply to her, Tori walks up to the pair. She eyes the two of them before her eyes dart down to their still linked hands. "Hi guys," she greets./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"When Jade catches sight of Tori she slowly lets go of Beck's hands and clears her throat. "Hey, are you ready to go?"/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"Tori looks confused for a moment but she figures Jade might be searching for an out of whatever is happening with her and Beck at the moment. She decides to come to Jade's rescue and play along. "Yeah," she replies. "Did you want to come to my place or go to yours?"/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"Beck briefly looks over and meets Tori's eyes. He looks jaw-slacked but it happens quickly and it's gone when he looks back at Jade. Jade scans her eyes over his face and she can see the slight annoyance he's fighting not to show. He shuffles his feet and lets a beat pass. "I'll uh, see you guys later," he comments before he walks away./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"emLeave a review :)/em/p