Hidden In Plain Sight

A/N: OOC Trina in this chapter, oops.

Chapter Six:

Tori's POV;

Jade took a deep breath, fiddling with the sleeves of her black cotton sweater. She looked around as we waited patiently for her to tell us where she'd been the past two and a half months. "So, when I left LA, I took some of my dad's money and my car, but it ran out of gas on the side of a road. I ditched it and started walking," she started then took another deep breath.

We were all listening intently and Cat was still hugging Jade. She had her eyes closed, but I knew she was listening to her best friend- she was 'imagining' the scene. Beck was also next to Jade but he wasn't hugging her. He was just sitting next to her on the couch, giving her the space he knew she wanted despite the fact that she was letting Cat hug her. The rest of us, including Trina, were stood around the room.

"I didn't have enough money for a motel- apparently I didn't take enough," she rolled her eyes and scoffed. "So I just found some abandoned building to stay in for the night whilst I figured out what I was going to do." I felt bad for her. She stole money from her father and it still wasn't enough to find a suitable place to stay for the night. Then, she stayed in an abandoned building where it would be freezing cold, dusty, and lonely. She really had it rough. But then again, we still haven't heard the rest of the story. The story that she was reluctant to talk about in the first place.

Jade coughed to clear her throat and shifted uncomfortably on the couch. "I stayed in the abandoned building for, like, three days before I left to go find some café or some place to eat at," she said, shifting again. She seemed awfully fidgety, I noted. "I just walked around San Diego for a while until it was night and I had to go back to the building I was staying in," she sniffled and Beck put his hand on her shoulder to encourage her to go on. "When I was on my way back, I 'met' some guy... We got to talking and I told him about my situation."

"He felt bad for me and offered me a place to stay. At first I didn't accept because I didn't know him, but he insisted and I eventually agreed. He was so nice, I felt I couldn't refuse, you know?" I felt myself nodding even though she wasn't looking at me. As she spoke, I silently wondered how this could have been so bad?

"About a week into me staying with him, we started dating. It was nice at first because he was so kind and caring, and patient. But a few days later, it was like a button had been pressed and he changed."

She took a shaky breath and wiped away her first tear since she began talking. This time, Beck did put an arm around her and she leant her head on his shoulder.

"Take your time, Jade. You can tell us anything," André said. She smiled, but it quickly vanished when she continued her story.

"He got really controlling, he would sometimes grab me or shake me violently. He even hit me on a few occasions. I was forced to be his little servant, he would make me clean everything up and if I didn't, he would get angry.

"One time.. he forced me to be with him," she whispered and closed her eyes. I put a hand over my mouth to stifle a gasp. "That was the final straw for me, though. I couldn't take it anymore so I ran away during the night. I stole his parent's phone, they lived across the road from him."

At this, me and Cat shared a look. That must have been the same phone I found in Jade's bag.

"I'd only seen his parents a couple of times, but they were about as shady as he was," she said. "After I ran away from him, I soon found out I was pregnant."

Both me and Cat looked at her with wide eyes. We'd played truth or dare with alcohol yesterday. That means she's not pregnant anymore, so...

"Jade... You drank an entire bottle of Jack Daniel's yesterday... What happened to the baby?" I slowly asked.

She couldn't even speak before she leant forward and put her head in her hands, letting out truly heartwrenching sobs.

There was no need for her to say anything else, we all suddenly got it. She didn't just lose her baby, she got rid of it. As much as I wanted to judge her for her decision, I just couldn't. She's one of my best friends and she'd been through hell. And to have a reminder of that hell, even an innocent reminder... It must have been painful, she must have been confused, and hurt, and lonely.

Beck took Jade in his arms and held her as she cried, giving her the comfort she deserved in her time of need.

A/N: Wow, I finally got this chapter done.. I procrastinate too much.