Summary

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.

A tale of Jade told in Seven Parts, exploring her touch avoidance and how each person found out about it.

Authors Note

Everyone loves some Cade Friendship right? Of course you do! It's all adorable and whatnot.

Just to clarify, Jade claims she moved schools mid-way through the year because she 'castrated' a boy. That's obviously a lie she came up to seem threatening to others; she moved schools because she moved in with her dad and her dad wanted to send her to private school, not a public school. Page Academy is an actual school in LA; I've not super researched it, obviously, but it seems a very academic type of school that focuses on the more serious classes without much to do with the arts, so I thought Jade's dad would send her there.

As promised to a few reviewers, there's a little bit of Jyder in here - well, Ryder is mentioned few times. He makes a real, proper appearance in chapter 5 or 'ACT IV - Andre Harris'.

And at this point, Jade and Cat becoming friends because Jade protected her from bullies is practically canon in the fanfiction world, so I jumped in on that :D

This one, due to it being Cat, is most likely the most light hearted of the chapters, with the next chapter - INTERMISSION - Beck Oliver - being the darkest. But for now, lets just enjoy the sweetness and cupcakes that is Cat Valentine :)


The first time Cat Valentine spoke with Jade West, Jade had just saved her. Cat had always been a target for bullies, due to her wide smiles and hyper words and unique world view. She thought middle school would be better than elementary school, but if anything it got worse. The mocking songs that were chanted at her in the playground were swapped for acidic insults, the hiding of her pencils and erasers were replaced by shoves and slaps on the back of the head as she walked down the halls.

6th Grade was the worst. While most kids would be happy that so many fellow students from elementary school had come to the same middle school (Page Academy was an escalator school, meaning you could start in 1st Grade and go all the way to 12th grade without changing schools), Cat was the opposite. Her old classmates wasted no time in telling all their new classmates about the weirdo Cat Valentine, effectively turning everyone against her almost instantly.

7th Grade was when it changed. On one Monday morning, in October, as Cat was subtly trying to brush coffee grounds out of her hair (thanks for some 6th Graders before school), the teacher, Mr Fletcher, announced a new arrival.

Jade West came into the classroom with a scowl on her face and her uniform immaculate. She looked like a China doll, with deep set bright eyes, long brown hair with loose curls at the ends and milky pale skin, a scowl on her face. When Mr Fletcher tried to place a hand on her shoulder while he introduced her to the class, she ducked away, the scowl turning into a glare at the teacher that even caused him to pause.

Jade mostly kept to herself that first week, glaring at anyone brave (or stupid) enough to come close to her – the only one who spoke to her or was seen in her company was an 8th Grader called Ryder Daniels, who was one of the most popular boys in school (Cat didn't mind him. He never spoke to her, but he never bullied her or looked at her like she smelled funny, like all the other kids did. He just ignored her, which to be honest was a blessing). No one even heard her voice, as she was completely silent in class and always brought her own lunch from home, so she never even spoke to the cafeteria workers to order. Of course, her behaviour caused raised eyebrows – along with the fact that she was picked up and dropped off everyday from a chauffeured town car and her uniform and school accessories were always perfectly pressed and presented. She was nicknamed, behind her back, 'The Ice Princess' because she was so cold and seemed to be rich – she had to be, she often arrived and left in the same chauffeured car as Ryder, who was the richest boy in school. And that was saying something, considering everyone at Page Academy was in the higher income bracket.

The day when Cat Valentine would find her first real friend started out pretty normally. She was tripped only once in the corridor on the way to her home room which was nice. But at lunch time, she wasn't quite so lucky. She'd been heading away from her music class, humming happily to herself when she felt a hard shove and in a flurry of activity, was suddenly in one of the music practice rooms, crowded into the corner by two boys in 8th grade.

"Haha little kitty got lost." One, who she thought was called Aiden, smirked reaching out to tug on her hair hard. "Oh god, are you actually crying?!"

"L-Leave me alone!" Cat exclaimed, stomping her foot childishly, tears building in her eyes which Aiden had obviously spotted, just as the other boy, Jason, pulled her pretty sparkly unicorn satchel off her shoulder and started rifling through it. "H-Hey! Stop it!" She cried as her purse was tugged out and he emptied the contents into his hands. "Give it back!"

"Shut up and stop crying, shrimp." Jason snapped before laughing.

"Why don't you two shut the hell up. I'm trying to read and you're being too loud." A clear voice rang out from behind the two bullies and they whipped around, spotting the owner of the voice.

Jade West.

She stood up from her seat at the back of the room, tossing her long brown hair over her shoulders and looking at the boys with utter distain in her cold eyes. It didn't matter that she was wearing the school uniform – pleated green skirt, white shirt, green and black tie and green blazer, along with black thigh high sock (Cat's mom only allowed her to wear knee high white socks, but Jade looked so grown up in hers, Cat wanted to copy it) she looked like an angry fairy queen, in Cat's eyes. "And for Gods sakes, give the girl her money back."

"Look here girly..." Aiden sneered, moving towards her with a swagger in his walk. As much as Cat knew she should take the out and run, her feet were glued in place; she didn't want this girl to get hurt because of her! "You're new here, so I'll give you a pass on speaking to me like that. If..." He looked Jade up and down with a sleazy smile that gave Cat shivers just seeing it. But despite it being directed at her, Jade just kept looking at him with cold and bored eyes. "You go on a date with me." He smirked, reaching forward as if to reach for the bottom of her skirt, flicking it up in a creepily playful manner.

However, the second his hand touched her skirt, the cold detachedness of her eyes left and they were suddenly filled with rage and fire and hatred – enough to make Cat squeak in fear, even though she wasn't the recipient. Within seconds, a pair of scissors seemed to materialise in Jade's small hands and she held them dangerously close to Aiden's 'thingy', her teeth bared in a snarl.

"Touch me again and I'll cut you open from your useless prick to your fucking jugular." She hissed, eyes narrowed. "You think I'm fucking joking? Why do you think I moved midway through the year? Cause I castrated the last fuckwit who tried to mess with me."

"Jesus you're fucking crazy!" Aiden exclaimed, moving backwards so quickly he ended up tripping, landing on his butt with his legs splayed out in front of him as Jason stood frozen next to Cat, his eyes wide.

"Maybe I'm crazy, or maybe I'm just fed up with useless perverts like you touching me." She took a step forward, right between Aiden's splayed legs and crouched down, her scissors now actually pressing into the boys crotch. "Now are you going to give the girl her fucking money back, or do I need to teach you a lesson?" She almost purred, pushing the scissors a little harder then pausing as she looked down and let out a harsh laugh, that sounded like shattered glass. "Jesus Christ, you actually pissed yourself!" Sure enough, there was a dark spot on Aiden's grey trousers, and the spot was spreading. "Get out of here Pissy-Pants." She stood up and dramatically flicked her hair over her shoulders, standing with her arms crossed and hip cocked to one side. "And you." Her gaze zero'd in on the frozen Jason. "I already said. Give the girl her money back. Then both of you get the fuck outta here!"

And that was that. Within seconds, Cat had her bag and money back in her arms and the two boys had literally scrambled and ran full speed out of the music practice room, as if the fires of hell were after them. Cat stood frozen as she stared at the pretty but cold looking girl, who's grey-blue eyes landed on her, one dark eyebrow cocking upwards.

"What are you staring at?" She asked in a bored tone, rolling her eyes.

"Uh...um...thanks for that!" Cat chirped, a bright smile coming onto her face and she bounced up and down on the balls of her feet. "You were super scary! It was funny how fast they ran!"

Jade tilted her head as if curious about the bouncing faux-redhead in front of her (she'd dyed it the weekend before and it was the colour of red velvet cupcakes!) and sighed, before flicking her hair back again. "Whatever. You should learn to stand up for yourself." She stated, turning on her heel and moving back to her original seat. "Close the door on your way out."

Cat chewed her lip before deciding, not for the first time, to do something most likely utterly crazy. Instead of leaving, she bounced over to Jade and grinned at her. "I'm Cat! Like the animal but I'm not a cat, it's just a nickname! For Caterina! We're in the same class!"

Jade frowned at her, looking almost like she was puzzled and confused. "I know. You always get in trouble because you use coloured pencils to write with."

"I like to write with the rainbow! Rainbows make everyone happy!" Cat chirped brightly, still bouncing on the balls of her feet. "I know your name too! You're Jade! That's a real pretty name! And you're really pretty too! You look like a Fairy Queen!" And as Cat rambled on and Jade just stared with puzzled amusement at the girl, Cat had no clue she'd just met the best friend she'd ever have.

Of course, that wasn't the time Cat really found out about Jade not liking to be touched. If she decided to look back on it, which she wouldn't do because she always thought it was silly to look to the past when the future was laid out in front of you, she could probably pinpoint that incident as a huge hint to Jade hating to be touched.


There were a few incidents in school where boys would ask her out (one time Jonny Taylor from their class asked her out over and over, to go to the dance with him. When she kept ignoring him, he grabbed her arm and she twisted the boys wrist, spraining it, before Ryder Daniels managed to stop her) and she'd flip out the second they touched her. The biggest sign was when she came over to her house one day, after school, for a sleep over – Cat's first sleep over.

Cat had never really had a friend come over after school, or at all, so she didn't really know she should give out warnings to her guests about her brother's...'odd' behaviour. And no one really knew how her brother would react to Cat bringing someone else over.

It all went well at first. Jade didn't really fit into Cat's chirpy, happy, sugar cookie baking household, what with her permanent scowl and black clothes, but her mom and dad were just happy she had a friend coming to stay over, finally. They stayed in Cat's room for the most part, coming downstairs for dinner (the Valentine's had ordered Chinese as a treat) and sitting at the table with the rest of the family.

Cat was also pleased that her brother seemed to like Jade; he didn't throw fits or shout insults at her, like he sometimes did to the neighbours or her parents guests. Instead, he just watched her quietly. And then, when Jade and Cat were in the kitchen, picking out cookies to take upstairs (Cat wanted Red Velvet Cheesecake cookies, Jade preferred Raisin Oatmeal) Alex came into the kitchen and, without a word of warning, wrapped his arms around Jade from behind, hugging her to him.

For a split second, Cat thought it was nice; her brother didn't like people much, and didn't like interacting with them. So this meant he really liked Jade! However, that thought was gone in a split second, accompanied by a piercing shriek from Jade, the loudest noise Cat ever heard her make.

Within seconds, Jade had wretched herself from Alex's hold on her and had practically shot to the far corner of the kitchen, huddling in on herself, her eyes flicking back and forth as her whole body shook with tremors, taking in short and frantic breaths as she wrapped her arms around her torso, practically doubling over at the waist. Cat's mom and dad burst in after the shriek, taking in the scene – Cat holding a box of cookies next to the pantry, Alex frozen solid as if he doesn't know what to do, and Jade shaking and doubled over in the corner, next to the sliding patio doors.

Then it was a whirlwind of activity, figuring out what had happened (that was all up to Cat to explain, as Alex had gone totally silent and was doing that scary thing when he lived in his own head and kept hitting himself) and Jade was still silent and refusing to move from the corner, still shaking like a leaf.

Cat watched with teary eyes as Jade's dad arrived in a fancy car and carefully ushered Jade into the back (without touching her, Cat noticed curiously) before he turned to face her mom and dad. Cat should have been in the living room, or her bedroom but instead was peeking out from behind the open front door.

"I apologise. Jade...she doesn't like being touched. Especially not suddenly and especially not by a male." A sigh practically tore itself from his lungs. "My wife was meant to make you aware of it when you were speaking to her about the sleepover but it seems she forgot." Even Cat could see the anger that flickered over his face when he said that. "I hope it didn't cause any distress with your family."

"Not at all...and I apologise about Alex's behaviour. He meant no harm, I promise." Cat's mom fluttered her hands a little, as if she was nervous. Cat had heard her mom and dad talking while she was sitting next to Jade, and they'd said he was a big, important person who could cause them lots of issues if he was mad about Alex. She was happy that Jade's daddy didn't seem mad. "I think he actually liked Jade a lot. He's very tactile when it comes to people he likes and we always encourage him; but normally it's only family he likes, so we didn't think to warn Jade."

Mr West nodded. "I understand completely. Just a little bit of crossed wires and miscommunication." He seemed to pause, leaning down towards the open car door Jade had climbed in from and listened for a few seconds before straightening up. "Jade also apologises and says that, despite what happened, she had a nice time with Caterina."

Cat squealed a little at that, clapping her hands silently behind the door; that meant Jade would still want to be her friend, even after everything that had happened.

Once Jade had left and Alex had settled down, thanks to an extra dose of his special medicine, Cat unknowingly mimicked Robbie Shapiro 4 years earlier, perching at the top of the stairs and listening in to her mom and dad.

"I wonder what happened to cause such a reaction to touch..." Her mom said quietly, with a soft sigh. "I know Cat mentioned she'd only just moved in with her father recently, but what about before that..."

"We may never know dear. It's horrible to even consider what may have happened to her...the important thing is, that now she's evidentially very well cared for and out of what must have been a bad situation."

Cat blinked a little. What did that mean? 'Bad Situation'? She decided that she'd ask Jade on Monday at school, or maybe tomorrow if they decided to go to the mall together!

(Cat asked the next day. Jade's response was only a glare and a warning to never ask again.)