The last few days off were a blast. Thursday Jade spent with Beck. Friday, she took her friends to the expensive restaurant. They had a great time, joking around and enjoying the overall atmosphere of the place. Saturday she went shopping with Cat and Tori, buying everything she wanted. What's the use of earning so much money if she wasn't going to enjoy it, right? In the evening they went out the karaoke bar Jade had told them about. They spent the whole night either singing or dancing. Andre performed a new song he wrote and received nothing but praise from everyone. Jade and Cat sang a duet themselves. It felt like old times. She enjoyed every moment. She talked to each of her friends. She had a long conversation with Robbie after such a long time.
Right now, on Sunday, she was on the airport again. She already said goodbye to everyone, but that didn't prevent Beck and Cat from coming with her anyway. They were waiting for Jade's plane back to Florida. The mood was much easier than the last time she left. Everyone knew that the worst part was over.
"Do you miss work?" Beck asks, hugging Jade from behind as she was looking at her ticket.
"I actually do. But I don't want to leave." She sighed, leaning back against him.
"I don't want you to leave either. But you'll be back sooner than you think. You'll see, time will fly as it did the first three months. And once you get back into that studio, you'll feel good again." He said as he places tiny kisses on her neck.
"Do you guys need some privacy?" Beck stopped when he heard Cat's voice. She had gone to get them something to drink and to eat. Now she was standing there with some sandwiches in one hand, sodas in the other, and a grin on her face. Beck chuckled at the redhead, happy to see her in good spirits again.
"No, don't worry. I just wanted to savor the moment." Beck said with a grin, earning a playful slap to the arm from Jade.
"I don't want to leave again." Jade said after a deep breath. She knew she had to go back and finish her work. She knew that time would fly. She knew that she would see them all again. But it didn't help. She didn't want to leave.
"I don't want you to leave either, but you still have to finish the movie." Cat said as she gave Beck the food and drinks. She walked towards Jade and wrapped her arms around the taller girls' waist. "Don't throw everything away now. You'll be back soon and everything will be great."
Jade smiled as she hugged her best friend back. The past week has been a rollercoaster of emotions for the both of them. She was glad that things were back to normal. No. Better than they were before.
"Awww." Beck said as he took a bite from a sandwich. He grinned at the death glare he got from his girlfriend. Cat chuckled as she let go from Jade and walked over to Beck to get something to eat herself.
They spent the next hour simply sitting there and talking. When the last call for her flight came, Jade got up and took a deep breath.
"I'll see you when the movie is done." She says as she hugs her boyfriend and her best friend. They hug her back and watch her leave for the plane.
"Let's go, I'll drive you home." Beck said to Cat as he put an arm around her shoulder.
"Kaykay." She said as they went to his car.
Jade sat down in the plane, immediately taking out her laptop to begin some of the work she had to do. It would keep her from thinking about what she was leaving again. She didn't even see her dad longer than fifteen minutes. But she saw Beck again. She talked to the gang. She made up with Cat and finally showed her how much she appreciated her. All in all it was something good, as it went from the worst Sunday in her life to the best week she ever had at home.
After she landed she took a cab to her apartment. The first thing she did was take a long bath. She relaxed completely. Her mind wandered off to what had happened to her and what decisions she made in the past few days. She wanted to be a better person than she was before. She wanted to drop the whole tough girl thing, at least when she was with the people she trusted, who knew that it wasn't her. She did the first steps. She told Cat how much she actually cared. How much she appreciated everything Cat had done for her. She saw that it meant a lot to her. She saw that something changed in her expression when she said that. She saw the same thing happen when she did the talked to Tori. She wasn't going to stop now. Without those people, she wouldn't be here. Even her father had finally shown her that he cared. She had no more excuses to be that mean, ungrateful person she was. Now, she had some ideas on how to pay them back bit by bit. She got out of the hot tub, put on one of Beck's big t-shirts and lied down into her big bed. After watching some TV, she finally fell asleep, knowing that she had work the next day.
Jade walked into the familiar studio again. Beck was right. She did feel better already. She walked into the set and sat down. She took the script to check what they would do today. Finish the dialogues, go to the tone studio and choose the samples. Tomorrow and onward would be the most important part. They would shoot the final scene. It would take at least a week, and there was no guarantee that the effects would work this time. Her thoughts were interrupted when she felt someone pat her on the shoulder. She turned around to see Jacob standing there.
"How was your vacation?" he asked. She got up and gave him a hug.
"It was great. And yes, I took care of the problems I had." Jade told him with a smile. He smiled back, glad that he had his director back focused.
"Happy to hear it. I had quite some fun myself."
"Oh really. And how did you spend your week off?"
"Let's just say it's really relaxing when you and your girlfriend spend the whole time on the beach and then go out in the evening."
"Oh, I believe you. Where are the others?"
"Give them a minute, they'll be here soon."
And he was right. Slowly everyone was coming into the studio, ready to continue with their work. The crew was setting up everything while the actors were in getting ready. The day went without a flaw. The dialogues were done in two takes maximum. The sound effects crew already had found the samples Jade had sent them and now they were putting it all together. The last part was spent on finding a great track for the final part. Jade was a perfectionist when it came to work, and the sound effects crew found that out the hard way. Nothing seemed to be right. She always found something that didn't fit. But after a few hours of searching, she finally found something she liked.
"Thank god!" one of the guys deadpanned when she finally picked the track. They only hoped that she wouldn't change her mind once the scene was shot.
Two more weeks had passed. The final ten minutes of the movie were almost completely filmed. But now came the part that she was afraid off. Andrew was in full costume. The prosthetics were on him. He was chasing the heroine as the acid she had injected in him was taking its toll on him. They were prepared this time, making more prosthetics this time instead of just one. As the killer was chasing the heroine, the special effects crew began to work the prosthetics, using wires and everything. It didn't work. The atmosphere in the studio became more intense immediately. They all knew what was on line. They wouldn't get more time again. Either this works, or everything they had done was for nothing. Jade wasn't going to set for a washed down ending, and neither was anyone else after all the work they put into this project.
While the SFX guys put the second prosthetics on him, Jade got herself some coffee. She was nervous. This had to work somehow. They had made four of them and the first one failed. After an hour that it took them to put on the other, they shot the scene again. And again, it didn't work.
"Cut!" Jade growled, slowly loosing hope. Jacob stood next to her, biting his fingernails. He was the calm person in the room, but even he couldn't stay cool in this situation. He watched Andrew scream out in frustration. Take three. It seemed to work, but then a wire popped out of it, deeming the shot wasted.
"Cut!" Jade said again, defeat noticeable in her voice. She wanted to give up by now. Andrew saw it and walked over to her.
"Don't give up now. We still got the last one. It will work, trust me." He said as he kneeled down in front of her. She looked at him and he gave her a confident smile. He knew how much this meant for her. It wasn't that a mistake like this could end her career. The higher ups were happy with her work. He knew that a failure like this could cause her to give up on directing altogether. And he didn't want that.
"He's right." Jacob joined in, standing next to Andrew. "One more shot. Let's do this."
The waiting for Andrew to be ready was wrecking everyone's nerves. After another hour finally, he was in full costume again and they started the scene.
"Action." Jade said as the camera began rolling. The scene worked fine as always. Now came the crucial part. Everyone held their breath as the SFX began working. And it worked flawlessly; they watched a both beautiful yet disturbing scene of the meltdown of the killer. It was done. The last take was a success.
"Cut!" Jade cheered, happier than ever. "Cut! Cut! Cut! Motherfucking cut!" she yelled as she jumped out of her chair and gave Jacob a hug. They both laughed at the successful shot. Andrew let out a growl out of joy as he ripped apart the prosthetics of him and tossed them to the ground with full force.
"Guys, this was the final shot. We have finished shooting "Pop goes the Weasel" and I want to thank each on of you for your hard work and passion. And I also want to thank our director, who did a fantastic job for her first project." He said as the whole crew began applauding her. She felt overwhelmed with emotion. She was smiling as a little child while some tears slid down her cheek.
"Thank you all." She said as she wiped away the tears.
"I don't know about you, but I'm starving. Let's go out, all of you. Dinner and drinks are on me." Jacob said, after which everyone stampeded out of the building. He and Jade stood there, watching the crew take off to change. He turned his head and looked at her.
"Good job."