It took him almost a week to finally take the courage to ask her - to his own surprise, to be honest. Usually Beck wasn't the type to be too shy to ask a girl out and who had always gone straight ahead. But this wasn't about just some girl, it was about Jade West, so it was no wonder that this time was different. Because she was different. And that was probably the reason why Beck had become all crazy about her in just two weeks.

And here he was now. On his way to her locker where she was busy throwing some of her books in carelessly. He tried to fix his hair one last time by running his hand through it in his typical move before he stopped right in front of her and coolly leaned on a colorfully decorated locker next to hers.

"Hey there," he smiled.

"What do you want?"

Jade didn't even look at him but continued placing books and other stuff in her scissor-covered locker, almost as if he wasn't even there. But Beck wouldn't be intimidated by that since he had gotten kind of used to Jade's cold behavior.

"You know, I was just wondering if you would want to – maybe – go out with me sometime?"

He gave her a light smile.

"No," she simply said, slammed her locker shut and walked away.

Beck was left behind, slightly confused by the harsh rejection, and it took him some time to find his tongue.

"Wha – wait," he shouted. "Just 'no'? Don't I get, like, an explanation or something?"

But Jade didn't even turn around.

Sighing, Beck threw back his head and stared at the drab ceiling, resting his head on the cold metal of the lockers. It really wasn't that surprising that he got rejected, was it? What else had he been expecting?

Jade was out of sight already but he turned his head to stare in the direction she had left, sighing once again. He had known before that this wasn't going to be easy but it still hurt - hurt his pride, his confidence - and most of all his heart, even though it felt weird to him to admit that.

Yes, so maybe he had went from kind of liking her to actually liking her faster than he preferred. But he wasn't sure himself yet. This whole situation was confusing, mostly because it was one like he had never been in before.

Being buried in thought Beck didn't notice how Tori had appeared in front of him, smiling happily as ever.

"Hey Beck," she greeted him.

"Huh – I mean, hey," he replied and slightly shook his head to go back to thinking straight, which didn't quite work out. His mind kept wandering back to Jade no matter how hard he tried to focus on what Tori was saying.

Meanwhile she was playfully twisting a streak of long brown hair around her finger while she spoke. "I was wondering if maybe you could help me with something. You know, I'm not that good in math and there is this homework we have to hand in by Monday, so I thought maybe you could–"

"Yeah, sure, no problem," he told her hastily, hoping to get rid of Tori as soon as possible. He needed more time to think about Jade.

"Awesome," she said and beamed at him. "So can I come over tonight? Or do you have any plans?"

"I don't," he replied stifling a sigh. "Just come over whenever you want, I'm home."

"OK cool - and thanks, Beck!"

"Sure."

She gave him one last smile and then turned around to walk over to her own locker, grinning at her success. He would most certainly be hers soon, she was absolutely positive about that.

While he was watching Tori strolling away, Beck realized what he had actually done. He would have to spend the whole evening with her while all he felt like doing was to crawl away into his bed and wallow in self-pity because Jade had rejected him. He wasn't sure if he could manage to play nice all evening under those circumstances.

But on the other hand, maybe Tori could help him forget his misery, even if it was just for a while. And it wasn't like Tori was the worst person to hang out with, she could actually be pretty funny and it was usually nice to have her around. So how bad could it get?

. . .

"He did what?"

"Shush, Cat!"

"He did WHAT?"

"I said shut up!"

Jade clashed her hands on her friends' mouth but the redheaded girl kept on babbling excitedly - just that no one could understand her mumbling anymore and so - to Jade's satisfaction - she gave it up soon.

"Will you please calm down now?" she asked impatiently.

Cat nodded and slowly Jade removed her hand from her friend's face.

"Ohmygod he asked you out!" she squealed as soon as her mouth was free again.

Jade rolled her eyes and moaned. "Cat!"

"Sorry," she giggled. "Told ya he likes you, didn't I? Didn't I?"

"Shut up."

"Why did you say no, though? Beck is perfect!"

"He isn't perfect," Jade snorted. "He's annoying."

Cat shook her head. "Uh-uh, you know he's not. I think you even kinda lik-"

"No, Cat, I don't."

"Do too."

"Do not."

"Do t-"

"End of conversation," Jade growled and slammed her fist on the lunch table they were sitting at.

Cat pouted at her. "But are you sure you won't regret this later? I mean, like a thousand percent super-sure?"

"Give it a bone, Cat!"

"Fine, you have been warned," the redhead said and sipped her milkshake. "You know, this shake reminds me of clowns. You know, because clowns have red noses and this is strawberry-flavored. Strawberries are red, too! Do you remember that time when my brother once–"

As Cat went back to her usual random talk, Jade stopped listening to her (as she often did) and was dwelling on her own thoughts. Stupid Cat. Of course she was sure that she had done the right thing. Even a thousand percent super-sure. She really was... wasn't she?

I'm back home (have been for a few days, actually) and so here's an update - finally! I'm sorry I always keep you waiting...

So yeah, it's not that easy for Beck - but who would have ever thought that anyway, right? ;) I have some things planned for this story (thanks to a 6 hour bus & train ride on which I had lots of time to think), so I hope you will all keep on reading (& reviewing? :D Please?) :)