Two chapter in one day ^^ (Have I redeemed myself?)

Tori's POV

Tori stirred from her sleep at the familiar sound of her phone vibrating against the wood of her bedside table. She opened her eyes drowsily as she shrugged the sleep from before her eyes. Peering at her alarm clock, she noted the time.

Quarter past four? AM? In the morning? Really?

She groped around blindly or her phone and brought it to her face, her eyes watering in the sudden shock of the screens intense light.

1 New Message- Jade West

"What?" she murmured to herself, tapping it and waiting for the thread to load.

Jade West

04:12

Tori... Can I come over?

Tori raised an eyebrow. "What?"

She stared at the words for a moment, considering what to do. Her parents had gone to an engagement party earlier on, and had since got stuck there since the designated driver went home sick and no one else, including themselves, was sober enough to drive them. Tori had received a text just after arriving home from Cat's to say they were going to stay the night at a hotel with their friends rather than get a taxi all the way back. She didn't mind. Trina was still stuck in a field, and had to go into the local village to pay to charge her phone, so updates were sparse. The last they had received was a text to Tori saying "Sian fell down a hole and broke her ankle. Going to hospital. Don't wear my new boots." From that, they took that everything was fine. Tori had never liked Sian, finding her the only person in the world more annoying than Trina herself.

Tori Vega

04:14

Sure. Is everything okay?

The answer came swiftly.

Jade West

04:14

Not really. Be there in five.. Thanks.

Tori frowned. Jade must have already been walking a while, her house was at least twenty minutes away on foot. What could have happened that was so bad Jade was going to her at 4am? Deep down, she hoped with all her might that this wasn't about Beck. She wasn't sure if she could take sitting with her and pairing them back up again. It may sound cruel, but it was the last thing she wanted. She wanted Jade to be happy, but she wanted to be the one that made Jade happy, as selfish as she was aware it sounded. Tori flopped back down on her bed and waited for some sign Jade had arrived. She could remember first meeting her. Jade had gone out of her way to make her miserable, and a lot of the time, it had worked. But however much Jade hurt her, Tori could never let go of the feelings Jade sparked in her. It used to be hard, she went through times where she would stay up all night trying to decide what to do, what would happen if anyone found out, if she wanted anyone to find out. After a while, her and Jades relationship had smoothed over a little. The comments were less vicious, the physical assault rate dropped dramatically, and they began to become something that resembled friends. Well, that was to say they became something that wasn't enemies. Sort of a neutral. But Tori was okay with that, it hurt a lot less. She remembered with a slight smile when Sikowitz sent them on that play date. Good god. How Tori had managed to stay standing upon hearing those instructions she didn't know. She was terrified. As if by bringing up the subject in front of Jade would immediately alert the goth to Tori's feelings. But it didn't. And she had fun. They sang together, which was a memory Tori cherished, and then went home on surprisingly good terms. She wondered how long Jade had had the feelings Beck described. She wondered if it was possible that Jade had felt exactly the same that night. She doubted it. Her life didn't work out like that. She didn't have that sort of luck. She sighed and closed her eyes. A short while later, her phone buzzed again.

Jade West

04:19

I'm outside. I don't want to wake your parents up.

Tori pulled herself up and swung her legs over the the side of her bed, her feet touching the cold wood floor. She grabbed her brush and combed her hair down before making her way downstairs to the door, flicking the living room lights on as dim as possible. She really hoped she didn't look like hell on a stick.

She wasn't expecting what she found on her doorstep. She was expecting angry, frustrated or just plain, cold Jade. She didn't get any of them. What she got was a mess of dark hair and hoodie, tears and mascara. And it caught her off guard. Tori stepped aside to let her friend in, her eyes wide with concern. "Jade? Jade what happened? Are you okay?"

Jade said nothing, just shuffled slowly past her into the soft light of the house. Tori closed the door and turned to face her. "...Jade?" she repeated softly.

The goth looked up from the floor at Tori, unable to speak. She had cried her way over to her house, and now she didn't trust her voice. Tori gathered this from her tear-stained face, and opened her arms for a hug. She was strangely surprised when Jade so readily buried her face against her neck. She put her arms around her tightly and held her quietly, wondering what the hell had happened. Jade didn't move. For a long while she stood still, letting Tori hold her for what Tori considered to be an abnormal amount of time compared to the goths usual hug-capacity. Which worried her even more.

"Jade talk to me- what's wrong?"

"My parents... My parents hate me." She whispered.

Tori frowned. "I'm sure they don't... Why do you think that?"

"It's a long story..."

Tori pulled away a little to look at Jade. She couldn't stand to see her look so broken. "No ones in. Do you want a drink?"

Jade shook her head.

"Well, come on then. We'll go to my room, and you can tell me what's happened, okay?"

"Yeah.."

Tori lead the girl upstairs, trying not to think of the double meaning of the action.

Really, Tori? Now?

She opened the door to her room, quickly kicking a rogue bra into the corner and sitting on her bed. She patted the spot on next to her, looking up to Jade. Jade sat down beside her, staring at her feet as Tori handed her a tissue, mainly for the makeup.

"I'm sorry Tori... I shouldn't have come over so early."

"It's fine, but... What happened?"

Jade closed her eyes. Slowly, but surely, she began regaling Tori with everything that had happened over the last few years, all the way up to the present second. Tori sat and listened silently, feeling more and more guilty by the minute. After half an hour, Jade finished her sad tale and once again sat staring at her feet. Tori didn't know what to say.

"I've never told anyone that." Jade murmured. Tori opened her mouth to reply, but words failed her. All this time, she had viewed Jade as someone who had it all, and listened without objection to people calling her a bitch. All this time. And now she was forced to face the face that Jade had been suffering, right in front of her eyes. And she'd done nothing to help her.

"Jade, I- I'm so sorry..."

Jade smiled weakly "It's fine. No one suspects I even feel at all, how could you have known? I don't even deserve to be able to tell you all this after how I've treated you. You should be laughing and posting all this on the slap for everyone to see. Thats what I deserve. I wouldn't blame you."

Tori sighed. "I would never do that. I can't believe your parents would say that about you... Of course you have friends... I'm your friend," Tori looked Jade in the eyes "You do know that, right? Me and Cat and Andre and Robbie... Even Beck, even if things are a little difficult with him at the moment- we're all you'r friends. We're all here for you."

"I still don't deserve any of you."

"By what you've just told me, you absolutely deserve us."

Jade said nothing.

"Don't be sad... You're not as alone as you think." Tori murmured.

Jade sighed. "According to my father, I should have been strangled at birth. That was his way of saying happy sixteenth.."

Tori felt slightly sick. "Then he's a stupid bastard who doesn't know anything, especially about you."

Jade looked surprised. Tori didn't often swear aloud. "Yeah, I guess so."

"You don't believe him, do you? Tell me you don't think that would have been better?" asked Tori.

Jade looked up at her from the corner of her eye. "Sometimes I wonder.. Would it actually have made any difference if I had been."

"It would have made a difference to me."

"Well, yeah, your first few years at Hollywood Arts would have been a load better."

Tori looked away. "Not really... If it wasn't for you, I'd still be stuck with Ryder."

"I thought you left him 'cause he cheated on you?"

"Yeah, there was that, but that wasn't the main thing, not really."

Jade turned to look at her more fully, a smile tugging at the corners of her lips. "You mean I beat a dude up without totally knowing why?"

Tori raised an eyebrow "That was you?"

Jade rolled her eyes "Who else was it going to be, Sinjin?"

"True... Thanks. I think its the only reason he never came back."

"So... Why else did you leave him?"

It was Tori's turn to stare at her feet. "I, uh, liked someone else and he noticed. Worryingly quickly actually."

"Who?"

Tori stayed silent and stared at Jade.

"Who?" The goth repeated.

Tori continued to stare. Jades jaw dropped ever so slightly.

"...Me?"

Tori looked away and closed her eyes "...Yeah.."

The two sat in silence for a moment.

"I didn't have myself down as you'r type." Jade said musingly.

"Didn't have myself down as yours, either." replied Tori, shrugging.

Jade smiled "Touché."

Tori's alarm clock caught her eye as it turned to 5am and she realised how tired she was. By the sounds of it, Jade hadn't slept at all.

"Uh... Shall we get some sleep? You can stay here tonight, if you like." said Tori, breaking the slightly awkward feeling that had encompassed the room.

"Yeah... That would be nice. I don't think I could stand going back into that house."

Tori smiled. "Alright. We can talk more when we get up. Do you, uh, want to borrow something to wear, or..?"

Jade looked at her feeling slightly sheepish "I... I don't usually..."

Tori blushed a little. "Oh, it's okay... Wait- nothing-"

"What? No- Underwear.." Jade interrupted, holding her hands up.

"Oh, okay."

"Did you mind? I'll sleep on the sofa downstairs."

Tori shook her head "No, its fine. You can sleep with m.." she faltered, realising what she was saying and quickly re-worded it. "You can sleep up here if you want to."

Jade smiled a little more "It would be nice not to be alone.."

Tori felt her heart flutter "Okay, if you're sure."

Jade stood slowly. "I'll go get changed.." she said quietly, heading towards the bathroom and leaving Tori alone for a few minutes. She exhaled loudly, and crawled over to the side of her bed she usually slept on, burying herself under the covers and switching off the lamp. Her heart was pounding.

Get over it. She's only sharing you'r bed for the night. It doesn't mean anything. Stop winding yourself up over nothing.

She swallowed hard at the sound of Jade approaching outside. The room was pretty dark without the soft glow of the little bedside lamp but she could still make out Jades figure as she carefully entered the room and started to make her way around to the other side of the bed. Tori pretended to already be sleeping. She didn't know why, because they both knew that she wasn't, but she felt it was easier than trying to talk. She tried not to, but the temptation to peek was too much. She opened her eyes a little, running her eyes over Jade and her pale curves as she passed her. Turns out 'underwear' didn't do all that much to make the difference between nothing after all.

She may as well take it off.. Tori thought to herself. Ugh, Tori, keep you'r hormones to yourself, it really isn't the time. She tried to push the fresh images of Jade out of her mind. It worked, right up until the point than Jade actually got into bed. Then, it took every ounce of control she had not to reach out and touch her. She just wanted to feel that Jade was real. A real living person lying next to her. Not a mean bitch, or a sociopath, but another human just like her. She bit her lip and closed her eyes.

Just go the hell to sleep, Tori, before you do something totally stupid. It didn't take long for her to start to doze off. Longer than it would have if she hadn't been sharing her bed with Jade West, but still not long. Just as the world began to fade away, she caught Jades voice.

"Goodnight, Tori."