Beck's POV:

Me and Jade were friends. It was great, really great even.

In the mornings we would meet up in the parking lot, walking together to the coffee stand to get our morning fix of sweet sweet caffeine, both large ones in order to make it all the way to lunch. Jade's black with two sugars, mine a double shot espresso. After getting our fix I would walk her to her first class, both of us chatting easily, only occasionally getting interrupted by Jade feeling the need to glare and/or yell at one of our fellow class mates. I barely even noticed anymore, just content to be allowed to be in the company of the girl.

I did find it a bit odd that Jade and I didn't have any classes together except for acting class with Sikowitz after lunch. She was mostly taking advanced classes, barely any actual art classes, despite us both going to a high school of the performing arts. Whenever I'd asked her about it she'd just brushed it off, changing the topic.

We would see each other for lunch, usually eating with my friends. She refused to acknowledge the fact that they could also be her friends and I didn't push. It would happen eventually, I just knew it. Sometimes I let her pick and we had lunch just the two of us, enjoying the quiet simplicity of each others company and not always even feeling the need to fill the silence. It was just comfortable.

After lunch I would get to admire her obvious talents in acting class. Sikowitz seemed to have realized what a talent she possessed, even though she still only begrudgingly got up on stage and never offered to do so. But when she acted she was magical, it was like getting swept away into whatever setting her character was in. She was magnificent. At times I would be chosen to act opposite her and it was everything I needed as an actor, the way she challenged me and kept me on my toes. Those classes were always my favourites.

So yes things were going pretty well with Jade. Unfortunately that couldn't be said for all the other parts of my life.

The fall play the school was putting up had had its auditions recently and I'd been dying to get the lead role of Michael, a homeless man who one day found a lottery ticket and started to work his way up in life. I'd been working really hard for the audition, spending long nights rehearsing and preparing. Jade had helped me a few times, reading lines with me, but she wasn't auditioning herself, said it wasn't really her thing. I thought I killed the audition too, it felt really good and Sikowitz seemed impressed. And then he gave the role to Ryder Daniels. Senior, douche-bag, not-that-good-of-an-actor Ryder. I didn't even get to be the understudy.

I wasn't the jealous kind of guy, really. I believed in working hard and seizing opportunities that presented themselves but losing the role to Ryder did hurt. It made me feel like all my hard work wasn't worth anything, that maybe I didn't even have the slightest chance of making it as an actor after all. It was a bit rough.

On top of that I'd been arguing a lot with my parents too. They usually tried to be supportive about my wantint to pursue acting even though they had a hard time understanding it but when I didn't get the big role at school and on top of that was starting to fall behind in maths class it caused a lot of arguing. I knew they loved me and just wanted what was best for me but it still caused a extra weight to be put on my shoulders.

I tried to be a good loser, congratulating Ryder on the part and trying to be genuinely happy for Tori and Cat who had gotten the parts of the twin girls playing opposite Ryder. It was just a matter of swallowing down the disappointment and jealousy and plaster on a carefree smile on my face. It wasn't like I wasn't part of the play at all after all, Sikowitz had assigned me to work backstage along with Sinjin and a few of his friends. Oh and Jade too. Apparently it was mandatory to contribute to a number of school productions so she was also stuck backstage.

It wasn't all that bad. We would paint back drops and work the lights and sound, joking around together. Sometimes I even forgot that where I really wanted to be was on the other side of the curtain.

"Hey Beck" Jade's voice called out from behind me. "Beck!"

It was a particulary bad day. I'd been watching the rehearsals and just knew that I would've brought a lot more depth to the character of Michael than Ryder currently was doing. Tori and Cat was holding up their end of the dialogue pretty well but it just felt like Ryder's performance was missing something. Or perhaps it was just my jealousy talking.

"Beck!"

"Oh yeah, sorry. What's up?" I turned around to face her, trying to brush off my absentmindedness with an easy smile.

"I was gonna ask you if we could finish painting this town backdrop anytime today but it seems like you could use a break. I know a place, come on"

Slightly intrigued I followed her out from behind the stage and around the corner. The door she led me to in a far off corner of the hallway next to the auditorium was blending into the wall almost completely. If I hadn't come with Jade I probably never would've even noticed it.

"Yeah yeah, secret door. Super cool. Whatever" She jimmied it open with a pair of scissors and let me into the room. It wasn't very big and full of what looked like cut up pieces of old play backdrops but on the floor there were two bean bag chairs and a small table.

"Jade what is this place?"

"Oh it's just some old storage room noone ever comes to. I come here sometimes to get away from people." She sat down in one of the bean bag chairs.

"And why'd you bring me here?" I seeked out her gaze but she avoided it, kept her eyes trained on the pair of scissors in her hand.

"Cut the crap Beckett. You think you have everyone fooled by this charade of being indifferent and not caring but it's not that good. You lost the part and you're sad about it. It's okay to be sad but just deal with it"

I let out a small sigh. "You're right. It kind of bummed me out I guess, I felt like I was doing my very best acting and it wasn't enough. Not even good enough for the understudy part."

She shrugged. "Okay. That's normal. I for one thought you were great but these things happen"

"Yeah I guess" I said a bit sullenly, still feeling a bit affected by the rejection.

"Do you wanna talk about something else to get your mind off it? Or maybe help me cut up the last of these barn props?"

"As tempting as that sounds, maybe instead you could just sing for me? Just anything really, I remember how nice your voice is from the night at Karaoke Dokie" I gestured at the keyboard lying on the floor next to her. It was a silly idea really, she would never sing for me. I'd asked before.

But this time she did. She shrugged, playing it off as being indifferent and then played a few chord on the piano.

"There is no upper hand, I'm giving you mine..."

It was amazing, angelic even. Just as good as the night at the karaoke place, if not better. And it was just for me. I felt an unexpected surge of affection for the brunette in front of me, so happy I got to be part of her life. Of course after she ended the song she threatened to cut up my favourite plaid shirt if I ever told anyone about the singing or the room. That was just to be expected though.

She was an enigma my friend Jade. All hard shell and moodiness, dark combat boots and leather jackets but a secret soft inside she would occasionally let show. I wanted to understand her so bad but was still kept at arms-length. She would never talk about her family or about her past and avoid the question whenever asked. If I gave her a ride to school she made me park around the block and she would never let me come inside the house. One time she was late when I was picking her up so I made my way towards the door to knock and was met by a furious Jade snarling at me to "NEVER do that again".

It was confusing. And along with the jealousy I already possessed towards Ryder another small one started to make itself known, a jealousy of Cat. She was allowed in Jade's space in a way I just wasn't. At times when Jade would get this empty, sad look in her eyes Cat would always be there to drag her off by the hand and Jade letting her do so. They would return later, walking close together, shut off in their own little world.

I tried asking Jade about it but got no real answer. One afternoon I tried asking Cat about it too.

"Cat!"

"Oh hey Beck!"

"Can I ask you something?"

"Yes! I love questions!"

"I think it's nice how close Jade and you are and I just wanted to know how did you two get to know each other?" I tried to seem casual, friendly enough, not letting it slip how the curiosity was killing me.

I could see her eyes get a little panicky though, shutting me out. "Did you know that no one hass ever seen a unicorn and that they're just a myth? Oh but also how people say that they can fly but really they have no wings so how would that even be possible?" She giggled a bit, twirling a strand of red hair between her fingers.

"Ookay... So about Jade?"

"Well we just met a few years back! But did you know my brother once tried to steal a unicorn from Toys R Us and he got chased by this security guard?"

I smiled a bit at her, shaking my head at the story. I knew a lost cause when I saw one, Cat wasn't going to tell me.

"Okay, byee Beck" And then she sprinted off.

It seemed like that mystery wasn't going to be revealed to me anytime soon. I just forced the feeling away, tried to be content with the level of trust that Jade and I had accomplished so far. With time maybe she would trust me like that too. I did quite a lot of suppressing, trying to make myself feel okay with losing the part, with my parents disappointed looks when I would come back late with paint streaks on my clothes and still not having improved my maths grade. I tried to keep up the act for everyone, keep up with the normal, charming Beck Oliver-persona. My friends seemed like they bought it. At times I guess I even bought it myself.

And I was fine, I really was. Even opening night. Jade and I had the lights working perfectly and the backdrops and props all looked great. It was even enough to feel a small surge of pride of what we'd accomplished. The jealous part of me was pushed far far back, barely even able to make a whisper. If I tried really hard it was like it wasn't even there. And the play went great too, way better than our final rehearsals. From backstage we weren't able to see the whole thing but we could hear the audience gasping, laughing and clapping at all the right times. It was great.

But then when it was over the cast all went back out on stage in a row to receive the applause of the audience and I could see Ryder take his spot in the center. I just felt dull and emtpy, watching them from my place on the sidelines. Cat and Tori looked wonderful in their sparkling dresses, both having performed wonderfully in their roles as the two wonder twins, fighting over the affection of a man who was incapable of love. Ryder was taking a bow, grinning excitedly, full of confidence and performers-high and in that moment I hated him more than anything. The jealousy came raging back and I made my hands into fists at my sides trying to contain it.

And then suddenly there was another hand sneaking into mine, prying the hard grip open and interlacing our fingers. Long pale fingers fitting perfectly with my own, softly squeezing. I could feel the anger fading away, focusing on the present and her hand in mine. She knew. She understood. We stood like that for a bit before I managed to pry my eyes away from the celebration on the stage and shoot her a grateful look. And just as quickly as it happened she pulled her hand back, glaring at me.

The glare lacked its normal intensity though and I simply just smiled back.