Fuck. Fuckity fuck, fuck!

Forbidden romance, paired with Jade… those types of plays have a lot of kissing, I know it's all for show, but I don't think I'd be able to kiss Jade. Not even to play the part.

I remember almost hyperventilating when she had to kiss my cheek when we played Walter and Nancy. She missed my cheek and got the edge of my lips.

I slipped into the janitors closet by my locker and ran a hand over my face.

I felt sick, my stomach rolling, the room was most likely spinning, or was I dizzy?

I leaned against the wall, taking slow deep breaths, trying to ground myself when the door opened, making me jump and close my eyes, my breath quickening.

"You okay, girlie?" A voice asked.

I cracked one eye open, nodding slowly before shaking my head quickly.

"I'll go get Lane," the janitor said, pulling the door shut again as he left.

I tried to use my grounding techniques, searching for something for each of my five senses… I couldn't even feel the wall behind me.

My whole body felt numb.

I crouched, tucking my head between my knees and holding the back of my neck as my body heated up.

"Tori?" Lane asked quietly, a hand on my shoulder.

I jumped, hands flying up to guard myself.

"Woah, hey, it's okay… it's Lane," he said.

Some school counselor he is.

"What's going on?" He asked.

"Can't… air…" I barely managed to get the words out, he only nodded and held a hand out to help me up.

"Come on, we'll get you to my office."

I looked outside the door, students all trying to look in and see what was happening.

"Everyone get back to class," Sikowitz said, appearing out of nowhere, making the students all scatter. "What's going on here?"

"It's alright, Tori is just having a small panic attack. I'll take her to my office so she can calm down," Lane said to my last teacher who just nodded and both reached to give me a hand up.

I slowly stood, Sikowitz smelt of coconuts, while Lane, he smelled like hand lotion. I tried to keep myself grounded by the scents, but was thrown quickly when I saw Jade at her locker, her eyes meeting mine.

She was dropping her bag and books. I blinked and she was at my side in a second.

God, she's perfect.

"Vega, you good?"

I tried to nod, but she saw straight through my lie and took over Sikowitz's position by my side, her hand firmly slipping around my waist, her other hand on my arm.

"Was it the topic?" She asked softly, making me nod.

Lane opened his office, and I sat on the small couch, pulling my feet up and wrapping my arms around my knees.

"Ms West?"

"I'm staying with her," Jade said, looking at Lane. "Just, give us a moment."

He looked hesitant, his eyes darting back between us before I nodded at him.

As soon as the door was closed, Jade tapped my arm, then forcefully- but gently -pulled my body to face hers.

"Tori, why are you so worked up about the scene?"

"W-We have to kiss," I murmured, tugging at the band on my wrist.

"I mean, we don't have kiss, Tori," she said.

I just blinked at her.

"Are you against kissing?" She asked.

I shook my head, swallowing the lump that started to form in my throat.

"Against kissing girls?" She asked again.

Again, I shook my head.

"Well, What?"

I pointed to her.

"Against kissing me?" She asked, clearly confused.

I shrugged.

"Okay, so what about me makes me unkissable?"

"Nothing," I whispered, my voice cracking. I cleared my throat before speaking a little louder. "Nothing."

"You're gonna have to clarify, Vega," she said, her face twisting in thought.

"Nothing about you is unkissable," I blurted. "You're completely kissable? Don't you get it? You literally are so kissable it's hard to not kiss you." I stood, pacing back and forth as I ran a hand through my hair.

Fuck. I'd just all but admitted my crush on Jade.

"Fuck." I grunted, tugging hard on the band at my wrist, snapping it against it and hissing as it whipped against my skin.

"Tori," Jade said firmly, grabbing my hand to stop me from continuing. "You promised," she said softer this time, her eyes searching my face.

"Yeah, well, that was before I told you I was in love with you," I said without thinking, trying to pull my hand free.

Jade seemed to freeze, her jaw dropping slightly.

Her grip on my hand was tight, "you what?" She asked after a long moment.

"You're hurting me," I said, gesturing to our hands.

"You're in love with me?" She asked, ignoring my comment.

I stopped struggling and thought back to what I'd said.

Fuck.

I yanked my hand free, tightened the strap of my bag on my shoulder and ran.

I barely avoided Lane in the hallway who looked concerned about being outside of his office while we were in there.

But I kept running.

I ran till it hurt more to breathe than it did to cry.

My throat felt like it was burned shut as I gasped, trying hard to get air into my body as I took long breaths.

When I felt good enough, I took off running again.

I didn't stop till I couldn't run any longer.

I slowed to walk, heaving air deep into my lungs as I looked around.

I noticed I was at a large park, the pond across from me as a mother feeding ducklings with her toddler.

I moved to sit on a bench, leaning forward on my elbows, dropping my head into my hands.

"Fuck," I muttered, fresh tears burning down my cheeks.

I sat there for a while, it felt like hours, but I knew it was probably twenty to forty minutes.

Eventually leaning back against the seat, my eyes on the water in front of me, trying to keep calm by watching the small ripples as a fish or duck popped up or swam by.

"Are you okay?" A voice asked, making me look up and see a uniformed officer standing there staring at me.

I sniffled and nodded, wiping my eyes.

I was sure I looked a mess, my makeup was most likely ruined.

I couldn't find it in myself to care though.

"Are you sure?" The officer asked.

"Yeah, just… hard morning. I'm sure I'm gonna be getting into trouble for running out the way I did."

"Would you like a lift back?" He asked.

"Uh," I looked her over, tilting my head. "No, it's okay."

There was something off about him, my stomach telling me to move, run, get away fast.

"There you are," a voice called, making the officer and I both turn and look at the source. "I've been looking everywhere for you, are you okay?" The guy, around my age, asked as he moved closer to me, wrapping an arm around my waist. "Sorry, officer. My girl here didn't do anything wrong, did she?" He asked.

"No sir, just making sure she was okay, she'd been sitting here for quite a while."

"Yeah, we had a bit of a tiff, I had to come lookin for her otherwise I woulda been here sooner," the guy said.

"You two have a good day now," the officer said, nodding at us and continuing on his way.

I quickly moved out of the other guy's arms, almost falling into the pond in the process.

"Sorry about that, I'd heard rumors about a fake cop picking up pretty woman and got worried when I saw him coming straight for you from the top path," he said. "Names Isaiah." He held a hand out.

I carefully shook his hand and cleared my throat. "S'fine, my dad's a cop. I could have easily ran his badge number or something."

"No name?" He asked me.

Biting my lip, I picked my bag up, shaking my head as I stepped backward toward the path behind the seat.

"What? I probably saved your life and you won't even give me a name?"

"How do I know this wasn't part of a plan? One harasses me, the other acts like a protective boyfriend, than, you both get me."

He laughed, nodded, then shrugged.

"That's a good point." He took a step closer to me. "Very good, really. Learn that from Law and Order?"

"Like I said, my dad's a cop."

"Vega!" I felt the air rush from my lungs at her voice, but didn't react or look around so he didn't know I was who Jade was looking for.

"I'm not part of a team," Isaiah said.

"So, you're kidnapping people alone?" I took a bigger step back.

"Maybe," he shrugged.

"Funny, still not giving you my name," I said, looking around quickly when I saw Jade coming down some stairs and heading for me.

I don't know how she found me, but I'm so very glad she did.

"So you don't trust anyone?" Isaiah asked.

"No, not really."

"And Nothing I do will make you share your name?"

"Why don't boys ever take no for an answer?" I asked, my voice raising.

A few people looked as he moved closer to me, his finger lifting my chin slightly.

"I think you better remove that hand before I cut it off," Jade said, barely five steps away now.

I took a breath, stepping behind her as soon as Isaiah was distracted.

"Hey, this doesn't concern you," he said, frowning at Jade.

"Did he hurt you?" Jade asked, making me shake my head quickly.

"No," I said softly.

"What, you'll trust a female stranger but not me? Who saved you from a fucking psychopath?"

"He saved you from a psycho?" Jade asked.

"Uh, I don't know that the person was a psycho," I said.

"Bet you she'll even give a female her number too," Jade said with a smirk.

Wait, what the fuck was going on?

What the hell are you up to, Jade?

"Yeah right," Isaiah scoffed.

"What d'you say?" Jade asked, looking at me. "Give a lady your number?" She slipped her phone from her pocket and handed it to me.

I slid it unlocked as saw that my location was on her screen in the message app.

Find-a-friend. That's how she found me.

I handed her phone back after a moment and Jade looked victorious.

"Prove it works," he said. "Call it."

Jade hit call on my number and I pulled my phone from my pocket as it started ringing on a low volume.

"Call From: West, Red heart as an exclamation mark, smiling emoji with heart eyes."

My phone said in an automated voice over the ringtone.

I looked at her with my cheeks heating up, I'd completely forgotten about the auto-voice I have on my phone for emergency contacts when my phones not on silent.

"We need to talk," Jade said, looking at me as she ended the call, causing my phone to stop ringing out.

"I guess so," I said, nodding as I followed her up the stairs, leaving a stunned Isaiah behind.