It's not exactly a secret.

No really, it's like...the opposite of a secret. Someone may as well have, at one point in time, hired a sky writer, rented a billboard space on the freeway and took out an advert in every LA newspaper. That's how much of a not secret it is.

Jade West hates being touched.


Authors Note

Y'all know I couldn't resist putting a bit of Papa West in here. So here he is, when Jade first moves in with him; the dynamic is quite different from how it is when Jade is 16/17. Also, there's no Julia as of yet. Papa West is currently married to 'Stepmomster 3' - who, as mentioned in other stories - wasn't horrible or cruel, but tried far too hard to become Jade's new mother, which Jade doesn't appreciate. In my head, Papa West and Marleen (Stepmomster 3) are already starting to grow apart so will probably be divorced within the year.

This one is for all the Jyder fans out there. We get adorable 13 year old Ryder trying to impress sulky 12 year old Jade.


When Ryder Daniels met Jade West, he was on his best behaviour. His dad had made him promise to be nice to his best friends daughter, because if all went to plan, she'd be his wife one day; and Ryder knew that his future wife had to be treated like a real princess, because that's what his dad always told him. Just like his mom was his dads princess. So the day his dad said they'd be taking a trip next door to meet the girl just a day or two after she moved in, Ryder knew exactly what to do.

He put on his nicest pair of jeans and a collared shirt, with a v-neck sweater on top. At 13, he was starting to realise the power his looks had and was becoming more and more conscious of his outfits and hairstyle. And he wanted to make a good impression on this girl who might one day be his wife, if all of his dads plans worked out; and Ryder didn't see why they wouldn't. His dad was super smart and all his plans worked before. And besides, Ryder wasn't childish; he didn't believe that girls were gross, he never had. Girls couldn't be gross, they were always very soft and pretty and sweet; that's what his dad said anyway, and the girls at his school, Page Academy, were the same. Girls like that were pretty boring though.

"Now son. Jade's not had a very nice time when she was with her mother, so be careful and gentle with her."

"What happened with her mom?" Ryder asked as they climbed into his dads car – neighbours they might be, but due to the grounds on both the West estate and the Daniels' estate, it would take about 20 minutes to walk from door to door, thus it was best to just take the car.

"She...wasn't a very nice person." Mr Daniels' smiled down at his son. "I'll explain more when you're a little older. But don't mention anything about the time before she came to stay with Steven."

They made it to West Manor quickly, the 20 minute walk cut down to under 5 minutes due to driving. There was no need to knock, as John Daniels had been a welcome guest here for years. "Steven? Marleen?" He called into the marble foyer.

"Ah, John!" A voice exclaimed from the den area off to the left of the foyer, and the old friends greeted each other with a pat on the back. "And Ryder. It's good to see you, young man." Mr West extended his hand to the 13 year old, who shook it firmly, with his back straight. He liked Mr West – he always treated him like a grown up, not a silly kid like all of his dads other friends.

"Oh look Jade! It's Mr Daniels and his son Ryder!" There was a 'Southern Belle' voice joining the foyer now, and Ryder looked to see Marleen West, who his dad called 'Stevens Third Wife'. Ryder couldn't really remember the first one, but the second one was pretty but seemed very stupid. This one seemed more like his own mother but wore a lot more jewelry and fancy things. However, what really caught his attention was the girl standing next to Marleen, although there was a good foot of space between them.

The girl was small, that was the first thing he noticed. And looked a little younger than him. She'd obviously been dressed up a little as well, wearing a dark green pinafore dress black socks and black shoes. Her hair was straight and brushed her shoulders with bangs covering her forehead and almost covering her bright grey-blue eyes. However, what really drew his attention was the yellow-green bruise on her cheek, the bruises peaking out of her dress at the knees, the ones dotting her arms and the bright purple cast on her right wrist.

"Jade, this is my close friend John Daniels and his son, Ryder." Mr West introduced ushering his daughter forward a little. With a scowl firmly in place, she shuffled forward, glaring up at her dad as she did so.

"It's lovely to meet you Jade!" Ryders dad smiled, crouching down a little and extending his hand out to shake hers. However, the movement made Jade take a step back and flinch, practically ducking behind her father as she glared at the man.

"Jade, please." Steven let out a long suffering sigh and stepped to the side. "Jade doesn't like to be touched." He said by way of apology and, Ryder noticed his own dads eyes soften a little as he nodded. "Ryder, how about you show Jade around the neighbourhood a little." Mr West's eyes met Ryders, and he nodded obediently, before looking to Jade and seeing her watching him warily.

"But Dad, I don't..." Jade shifted a little, chewing on her bottom lip.

"Jade, sweetheart, you need to go outside at some point. And Ryder has lived here his whole life. He'll be able to show you all the fun places!" Marleen exclaimed, clapping her hands a little in an effort to have Jade get even just a little excited.

Jade still looked like she didn't want to go, but after a second, she let out a sigh and a nod. "Fine. I'll be back in a minute." She almost whispered, turning on her heel and heading towards the stairs in the middle of the foyer, scurrying up them quickly and vanishing from view.

"Now son, you be careful, you hear? I'm trusting you to take care of my little girl." Mr West looked down at him with a stern look, although the fondness in his eyes was visible too; he knew Mr West liked him, because he was polite and well spoken, and didn't run around like a lunatic like all of the kids his dads other friends had. "Don't go any further than the ice cream parlor next to the park, but you can buy some." He slid a crisp $20 bill into Ryder's hand, and he nodded, chest puffing up with pride at the level of responsibility he was being given.

"I will sir." Ryder nodded, taking his duty as protector very seriously; after all, this girl would probably be his wife one day, so he best start protecting her now! Jade came back down the stairs, now wearing a tiny pair of combat boots on her feet, a scowl still on her pretty face as she ignored her step mothers pained sigh at the sight of her newly put on footwear.

Remembering how Mr West said she didn't like to be touched, Ryder instead made a gallant gesture towards the door, inviting her to go first (Ladies first, always!). Soon enough, after around a 5 minute walk from the front door of West Manor to the front gates, the pair was out on the well maintained street, wandering along quietly towards the park.

"The ice cream at the park is the best." Ryder told Jade, just for something to say. "Your dad said we were to get some-"

"I don't like ice cream." Jade muttered, a scowl still on her face. "It makes me puke. I can't have dairy." The unspoken 'My dad should know that' hung in the air and Ryder coughed lightly.

"Well, what about sorbet? If it's just dairy you can't have, then that would be OK, right?"

Jade paused and looked at him, her furrowed brow turning to a look of slight confusion. "Um...what's sorbet?"

Ryder blinked at that – surely she knew what sorbet was?! They had it every Sunday, with Sunday Dinner, in between their starter and main, a lemon or mint flavoured one, in order to cleanse the pallet between courses. "It's like fruit ice cream. It doesn't have any milk or anything in it." He explained. "I can't believe you've never heard of it!"

"Well, sorry I'm not used to your prissy rich foods!" She snapped back angrily, eyes firey and tiny fists clenched.

"I didn't mean that!" Ryder exclaimed, his eyes wide. This girl was nothing like his mom or the other girls at school. "I meant...well, I was just surprised that no one had ever got your sorbet instead of ice cream before is all!"

"Please don't really care to make exceptions for me." She muttered as she started walking again, with Ryder taking a few quick steps to catch up. "My own dad doesn't even know I can't have cows milk. Believe or not, not many people generally care." And there was something just so upsetting about her words and tone and the broken look on her face, that Ryder just wanted to do...something to make her feel better. After all, this girl was meant to be his future wife! (OK, so his dad had maybe been partly joking about it, but not really. He knew this was the perfect outcome for his dad and Mr West, and since Jade seemed interesting and not stupidly girly like all the other girls at school, he was more than happy to go along with it).

With a move that would have made a romantic movie actor applaud, Ryder reached out and grasped Jade's hand, enclosing his fingers around hers, tugging her to a hault. It was like a movie moment; if they were older, he'd probably kiss her on the lips right now, but since that wasn't really appropriate, he instead tugged her a little closer and used the momentum to plant his lips on her cheek.

However, the issue he soon found, as he nursed his own cheek with a bright red mark due to a slap, was that he hadn't taken into account the way Jade had practically seized up the second his hand touched hers, how she'd frozen completely, her breath speeding up dangerously and her eyes flickered from side to side. And when he planted his lips on her cheek, he hadn't heard the tiny whimper she gave. But he did feel the hard slap she gave him the second he pulled back.

"Don't touch me! I don't want your filthy lips and hands anywhere near me!" She shouted angrily, turning on her heel and practically bolting back down the sidewalk towards West Manor, leaving Ryder in shock as he watched.

"Jade! Wait! What about sorbet!" Ryder called, running after her, causing Jade to speed up.

"I don't want any! Leave me alone, you jerk!" She called back over her shoulder as she arrived at the locked gate and then froze, staring at the keypad, chewing her lip. Ryder came to a halt a few steps behind her and watched her glaring at the keypad and realised that she hadn't stopped to wait for him, but instead it was because she had no clue of the code.

"If you come to get sorbet with me, I'll give you the code." Ryder tried to bargain, hoping to get this first meeting back on track.

"I don't want to go get sorbet with you or walk with you or hang out with you!" Jade snapped, refusing to turn to look at him, instead still glaring at the keypad, as if the gate would just open if she stared hard enough.

"Look Jade, I'm sorry. I promise, if you come with me to get sorbet, afterwards I'll show you the park and then we can come back." He didn't know what he'd done wrong, not really, but it was obvious he had upset her a lot. And if they went back to their parents with her upset at him, it'd make them not trust him and make them think he was really just a stupid kid who couldn't be responsible.

Jade chewed her chapped lips before letting out a huge sigh that practically moved her whole body. "Fine. But you don't touch me again. And stay at least two feet away from me at all times!" She told him firmly, before nodding at him to show her the way to the ice cream parlor.

Ryder did as he was told that day, buying her raspberry and mango sorbet from the fancy parlor next to the park, then showing her all the fun things to do – the park wasn't some boring public park either; it was in an exclusive Beverly Hills neighbourhood after all! It had grand fountains and a huge adventure playground, along with climbing walls and flying foxes – not that they did any of that stuff, since Jade couldn't do much with a cast on her wrist.

And he kept to those rules every time he saw her, which was almost every day since they travelled too and from school together – they both went to Page Academy after all, with him in 8th grade and her in 7th. He knew she didn't talk to anyone, not really, so he stuck by her before and after school, along with at lunch and any breaks between classes; he was more than popular enough to protect her from the vultures at the school, who might say something or do something to upset her, or set her off. He was practically her best and only friend - alongside a weird red haired girl who seemed to refuse to leave no matter how much Jade snapped at her.

However, he didn't seem to have much luck in that department sometimes; once, when coming out of the boys locker room after gym, he heard a huge commotion in the halls and when he got to the big group of people, he couldn't even see what they were looking at. However, standing on his tiptoes, he saw it; Jade was holding a boy face first against the wall, his arm twisted high up behind his back, Jade's thin fingers gripping his wrist as she used her other hand to push his face into the wall harder.

"Jade! What the hell?!" He managed to break through the crowd, careful not to touch her as he tried to talk her down. "Let him go."

"No. This asshole thought he could touch me. No one touches me." She sneered, her voice rough with pure anger as she put more pressure into his hold on his wrist and the back of his head, making the boy whimper. "Me ignoring you when you ask me to the dance doesn't mean 'ask again', it doesn't mean 'keep on trying' or 'maybe later'. It certainly doesn't mean you try to grab my arm to stop me leaving!" She hissed.

"That's enough Jade. You've hurt him enough, he's practically crying!" If it was anyone else, Ryder might have put hands on her, to pull her back from the boy – Jonny, he was pretty sure the kid was called. He was a 7th grader, in the same class as Jade – but if he even got close enough to touch her right now, it'd make everything even worse. Talking her down was the best bet.

Jade curled her lip before dropping her hands, taking a step back and sneering at the boy she had just been tormented. "Does that answer your stupid question, fuckface?" She snarled at Jonny, before turning on her heel and glaring at the people in her line of sight. "Move." She hissed and just like Moses and the Red Sea, they parted, allowing her to storm out of the crowd, the little redhead following her with quick steps and a bright smile.

Ryder shook his head and move to help Jonny stabilise himself, before looking at him with a glare. "You touch her again, you try and talk to her again, and I'll kick the shit out of you myself." He warned, before giving a glare to the rest of the crowd. "Hear that? Jade West is off limits." He ordered, before heading out of the crowd himself, intent on finding his neighbour to make sure she wasn't too shaken.