Jade was cold.

She sat in Beck's car, curled up in the passenger's seat. Jade was wrapped in one of his favorite sweatshirts as they drove the three hour drive back to his school.

"Why do you have to be involved in the graduate program?" Jade's voice was soft, almost innocent. It was rare that her harshness was absent, and Beck couldn't help but enjoy it just a little bit. "Why couldn't you have just come home, so we could move in together like we planned?" She looked at her boyfriend with wide eyes. "You know, like we always wanted."

Beck sighed, squeezing the hand of hers that was entwined with his. The rain beat on his windshield, whipped away by the black windshield wipers steadily. "It'll make life easier in the long run." He promised. "I've got a good plan. I want to make you happy."

"Make me happy by getting a place for us."

"We can't afford it right now. We'd be living in a dumpster. You deserve better." Beck replied, turning away from the road to meet her eyes.

"Mmm, dumpster living. Sexy." Jade laughed. "You and I could live in a tent on the beach and I would be happy."

"That's sweet, but you hate the ocean." Beck reminded her, a laugh on his lips. "You can stay with me for a few days. You've got plenty of your things there to keep you comfortable, and then we'll figure it out. Okay?"

"And I can't stay with you permanently because…"

"If they catch you, I could be expelled. The rules are bull, I know, but they're very strict." Beck sighed. "Believe me, I'd love to have you. My roommate would have to go, but hey, you do what you have to do." He raised her hand to his lips and kissed it. "I love you."

"I love you, too."

The sound of the radio paired with Beck's singing and the warmth of his sweatshirt soon put Jade to sleep. She fell into the kind of waking sleep which one contracts when sleeping in a moving vehicle, but it was comfortable, and it was enough.

They drove out of the rainstorm. Once the sun broke through the grey clouds, it was enough to wake Jade. She yawned and stretched, popping gum in her mouth as soon as she was conscious of the scent of sleep on her breath. "Where are we?" she murmured.

"Only an hour to go." Beck said. "Morning, sunshine."

Jade made a face. "Don't call me sunshine." She teased.

"Is there anything I can call you?" he returned playfully. "No babe, no sunshine…"

"Cute." She grinned.

"I got it." Beck smiled proudly. "You're the darkness to my light."

"Okay?" But, she was still happy. Jade liked where this was going. She could feel her heart race a little faster.

"But since that's much too long, let's settle for Mine."

"Mine?" Her pierced eyebrow arced in confusion.

"I just call you mine." Beck's lips curled in a sweet smirk, waiting to see if she got the joke.

Jade laughed, a sweet, happy laugh that he had not heard in a long time. "Cute and punny. The whole package."

Traffic slowed, allowed enough time for Beck to kiss Jade's lips quickly before they got moving again. "I knew you'd like it."

The rain had returned when Beck pulled out of the drive through and into a parking space. The journey only had another half of an hour remaining, but hunger had demanded a pause. Since Jade was still clad in only her pajamas, the couple very well couldn't eat in any decent restaurant. Fast food would have to suffice on this drizzly day.

Jade was halfway through her chicken sandwich before Beck asked her. Her eyes narrowed. She returned the sandwich to its wrapper, tilting her head to the side. "You really want to know?"

"Yeah." Beck shrugged. "I guess, especially since it became such a big deal, and all. Why do you hate Drake so much? You hated Tori, and you were an angel compared to what you've put him through."

Jade sat back, bringing her legs up on the seat. "It's kind of stupid."

"I doubt it." Beck said. "Not if it has you this upset." His phone buzzed, but he ignored the text message. It could wait.

"Do you remember my cousin, Carly?"

Beck did. He had met Carly a year earlier. She still stuck out in his mind because of her remarkable resemblance to Jade in both looks and personality. Carly was a lot easier to get along with, and had a vast knowledge of music from working in a record store. She and Jade were very close, despite the four year age gap. Beck secretly suspected Carly was the closest thing to a sister Jade had. He nodded.

"She and Drake dated for a while. He met her at work, they went out on a couple dates, you know. She started to really like him. Then, she found out he asked her out as part of some stupid bet he made with his brother, and she got pissed. He explained, and they worked it out, and for a while, they were pretty happy. I never met him then, but she told me all about him. So, they're together for about six months, and things are settling in. They're doing really well. They have some rough patches, but most couples do. Break up for a bit, get back together. Love on fire, and all that. He surprises her at school, he writes songs about her, she gets him an insanely nice guitar, the whole deal. You still with me?"

"I am here." Beck replied.

"Good. So, they're together about a year and a half, since before he was famous. So, Carly loves Drake and Drake loves Carly. But, apparently, she loved him a little more than he loved her, because one day, she went over to his place to surprise him, and found him with one of the actresses in his music video."

"That must have killed her." He could not imagine how painful that must have been. If he ever found Jade in the arms of another lover… Beck didn't enjoy picturing what would happen if that scenario ever came to be. He knew he would be shattered.

"Almost." Jade said. "I mean, she's stronger than that. She never let on how badly she had been hurt, but I could tell. He swore it wasn't what it looked like. He said they had been rehearsing and she had taken it too far. He said the girl came onto him, he said he had been trying to get her to leave and she only pursued him harder. He gave her fake story after fake story. Did a lot to try to fix it… I will give him that. Flowers, songs, hours of talking - mostly him 'explaining' and her not listening to his bull - but, yeah. "

Beck pondered that for a moment. "Any chance he was telling the truth?"

Jade frowned, shaking her head. "Carly could tell this hadn't been just the actress's idea. She knew Drake well enough by then. It sucked, but she got over it. He's a freaking tool, though, and I wouldn't live with him if I had anywhere else to go. In the meantime, though, I get even."

"What did Carly say when you told her you moved in with her ex?" Beck asked, curious.

"She doesn't know. She's not going to. It was only supposed to be for a year. When you're graduated, we're free. Until then, Drake suffers. It's win win." Jade beamed.

"If she moved past it, why are you dragging it out?"

Jade's eyes darkened. "She's family. You avenge your family."

"She's not dead!" Beck reminded her. "Isn't avenging only done when someone dies?"

Jade laughed a much darker laugh than her previous one. "You have so much to learn."