I wake to the sounds of birds chirping and an arm wrapped loosely around my waist. A soft light spills through a half open window bathing Tori's purple walls in a glow. My back is turned to the half Latina so I can't tell if she's awake yet but by the sound of her breathing it's a no. Part of me feels extremely uncomfortable sharing a bed with Tori and another part of me doesn't want to leave a bed with her in it. Staying makes me feel safe and warm and Tori's body is surprisingly cozy. It would be impossible to be unhappy everyday if one were to wake up in this room so I think I partially understand why Tori's so giddy all the time.

Never tell her I said any of that.

I sigh deeply and build up the strength to remove her arm from mine but end up taking an extra ten minutes leaning into her. I finally start to squirm and get out of her grasp when Vega's arm tightens protectively around me. She mumbles something against my back and I can't decipher what it is. Something with tacos in it. And then she mumbles something else, something much more clear. Her breath is warm on my neck.

"Stay." Tori nuzzles her face into the base of my neck, sighing.

Something deep inside me hurts and everything that felt right a moment ago feels wrong. Tori's body should not feel warm and cozy. Her hand should not fit perfectly on my hip and I certainly should not enjoy her against me because I'm in a steady relationship.

So I do the only thing I'm familiar with doing around her, and that's push her away. And by that I mean quite literally—she falls on the ground with a thud and I wince. That had to hurt. I ignore her groans and climb out of bed. Tori's head pops up at the side of the bed and a scowl makes itself present on her face. Running a hand through her hair and questioning my harshness she asks sharply, "What the heck is wrong with you?"

Tori's fully awake now and caressing a spot on her side to make the soreness go away.

It's silent between us for a while. I pull awkwardly at my fingers and scuff my bare foot on her carpet looking down since I don't have an answer. I don't want her to see the blush that is most likely evident on my cheeks either.

"Um," Tori says awkwardly, thankfully breaking the silence but not looking me in the eye as she speaks, "I'll go make breakfast while you change."

With that, she's gone—out the door and trampling down the stairs before I could even take a second breath.

I slowly strip out of the pajamas she'd given me: a pair of sweats and an old college t-shirt that's way too big for me. I take as much time as I can using her shower because I don't want to face her yet.

Drying myself off, I get a good look at myself in her mirror. Dark circles have painted themselves underneath my eyes. I frown. I've done nothing but sleep lately so it's absolutely peculiar to have bags there. My eyes narrow when I realise everything about my body screams 'exhausted'. My shoulders are slumped, back arched in, and I'm leaning forward more than I can help. My hair is a mess, too, but it's always like that. I splash some water on my face and run pale, bony fingers through my hair. I sigh, pinching the bridge of my nose. The more and more I look at myself the more I feel sick.

I slowly walk down the stairs. Something's sizzling on a pan and the delicious smell bacon brings fills my nostrils.

I enter the kitchen. Vega's back is to me. She's humming a catchy tune from a song I've heard on the radio before and shaking her hips, forming a stupid little dance. Vega flips a pancake up in the air and laughs when it hits the pan. Her laugh brings a small smile to my face and my body feels warm like it did when she had held me upstairs earlier, and I hadn't even realised I missed the feeling until now.

I scowl and the smile drops. I can't and won't be thinking about that.

I make my presence known by giving a cough. Tori shrieks and turns around, her hair flying. Her small, tan hands fly directly over her heart and press on it, as if that would help it get back to its normal beat. Her eyebrows are painted upward and she looks around the kitchen until she finds me, letting out a sigh of relief.

"Geez, make a sound, will you, Jade?" Vega squeaks and turns back to her pancakes. I smirk and make my way over to her.

"And what would be the fun in that?" I tease, leaning against the stove. That happened to be a pretty bad idea because a quick, scalding feeling found itself in my hand. I bite my lip to refrain from making any noise but to no avail.

"Shoot," I hiss. I wave my hand around trying to get the burning feeling to go away but it won't.

"What's wrong?" Vega asks. She hurriedly turns off the stove and faces me, looking for any signs of danger.

"I think I burned myself, thanks to your stove from hell." I say through gritted teeth. And don't you dare call me a baby about this—I'd like to see you place your hand on something scalding hot and be okay with it.

Tori rolls her eyes. "Come on, my dad has some stuff that'll help with that."

Wordlessly, and with breakfast sadly forgotten, she leads me to a restroom I didn't even know existed. Jesus, how big is her house?

She makes me sit down on the closed toilet seat as she rummages around a cabinet. When she finds what she's looking for she emits an, "Aha! Gotcha."

"Alright-y. You'll have to put your hand underneath the faucet for about fifteen minutes," She turns the water on, gently grabbing my wrist to put under the cooling liquid. Ah, that feels so nice.

The water, I mean. Not her hand that still happens to be on my wrist.

Definitely not that.

To make the fifteen minutes go by faster we make small talk and discuss stupid things like favourite colour and foods and meaningless crap like that. When the agonizing minutes are finally over, Tori unscrews the cap of whatever she was digging out of the cabinet to reveal a gross looking pasty cream of some sort. She dabs her fingers in it and it makes an audible squishing noise. Ew.

"Give me your hand, Jade." Tori holds out her own expectantly.

"No," I say. Now, we all know I'm a fan of disgusting things but this cream just looks really nasty. Like my cousin's back infection.

"Jade, do you want your hand to feel better or not?" Vega inquires, an eyebrow poking up.

"Yeah, but…" I mumble.

"Then give me your hand so I can make your boo-boo go away." She says teasingly, laughing as she still grabs my hand without my permission. I don't argue any further though, no matter how repulsive the cream looks.

Tori is delicate with the way she applies the substance. She doesn't press hard enough to make me cringe or soft enough as to where she doesn't get the job done. Vega does it just right, surprisingly. It's almost soothing, the way she's touching me.

"Almost done," She tells me softly, almost in a whisper, "Does this feel okay?"

I only nod. I hope my eyes don't give away that she's practically putting me to sleep with her gentleness.

Tori smiles at me. It's not the cruel one she wore last night, either. It's genuine and one she's rarely given me before. It's the kind of smile she gives to Cat or Andre or Robbie. But never me, because I'm the only person that manages to make her keep a frown when I'm around. And it kind of scares me that right now her smile makes my stomach feel…I'm not sure how to describe it…light? It's the same way I felt when I woke up and when I was in the kitchen with her and I do not like it.

I stand abruptly, knocking over the can of cream, which she'd placed on the sink.

"Jade…?" She questions, and surely she must think I'm crazy now due to the way I've been acting all morning.

"I need to go. Now." I say shortly, making my way out of her restroom and to the living room.

"Jade, Jade, wait! What's wrong? I wasn't done applying the—oh, gee, I did hurt you in there, didn't I?"

"I just need to leave, Vega," I snap, opening up the front door. I don't look back as I beeline the fuck out of there and to my car. Fortunately, the Latina doesn't chase after me.

The trip back to my house is full of heavy rock metal and the smoke of one cigarette.


There's a hunched figure waiting on the doorstep with frustrating brown hair that I know too well for my own liking. I growl. He should not be here right now. I park my car and climb out, almost tempted to slam the door.

"What are you doing here, Robbie?" I ask, crossing my arms when I get to him. He flinches at the harshness of my tone and stutters out his next sentence.

"I—I, well, uh, Sikowitz asked me to g-give you your schoolwork for the week a-and I leave tomorrow to visit my Aunt Nina, s-so I wanted to give you your stuff today if that's okay with you." Robbie fiddles with the end of his blue button up as he speaks and looks me anywhere but in the eye. The tips of his ears turn pink.

"Robbie, you're supposed to be in fourth period. You could have visited me at the end of the school day but you chose now? You really ditched just so you could deliver some papers?" I question. I tilt my head to the side. I really am curious.

"It's not like anybody would have noticed I'm gone anyway!" He snaps, briefly showing me a more vulnerable side of him. His mouth twitches and just like that Robbie seems like he's about to cry. I'm not good with crying people so I don't know what to do.

"Robbie," I say unsurely. Would it seem rude to just leave him here and enter my house?

"Just forget it. Here, Jade." He hands me a folder, offers me an unconvincing smile, and brushes past me. I watch as he walks down and away from my driveway. I watch as he walks up the street, gripping his hair and pulling roughly at it. Robbie stops at a lamppost and curls at the base of it, wrapping his arms around his legs. A broken sob pierces my quiet neighbourhood. Another one sounds, and after that they don't stop.

I want to do something but my body moves in the opposite direction of him.

I can't comfort him because I don't understand him.

I leave him there to cry alone.


This was another filler type chapter but I filled it with Jori. Or, as some of you would call it, Tori being wonderful and Jade being in denial.

Also, let's shoot for about 25-30 reviews this chapter (I know it's short, stick with me guys). You all led me on with the amount of reviews you gave me for the first chapter, you teases.

I love you all, no matter how many cases of blue balls you give me.

Until next time.