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Next day Tori waited for Jade to arrive to school and as soon as she saw her standing by her locker, she walked up to her. "Jade..." Tori said.
"What?" Jade asked.
"We need to talk" Tori affirmed and Jade closed her locker.
"So?" Jade questioned after a few seconds but Tori didn't know how to start, she took a deep breath and after a while she decided to go for it.
"Jade, yesterday when I went upstairs to get you, I saw something..." Tori informed and Jade knew what she was talking about so she stared at her nervously. "I think you know what I'm talking about"
"I don't know what you think you saw but-"Jade started but Tori interrupted her.
"No, Jade, it's not 'what I think I saw', it's what happened and it's what has been happening for a while, isn't it? You weren't even nervous after it happened which makes me think you're used to it, that's the only explanation" Tori affirmed. "A few days ago I saw something similar to what happened yesterday and I thought I was crazy but after what I witnessed, I have no doubts"
"Did you tell anyone about this?" Jade questioned.
"No, I wanted to talk to you first" Tori responded and she exhaled relieved. "But Jade, why haven't you told your mom? She needs to know what's happening"
"I can't" Jade said and Tori stared at her confused. "I tried to tell her when he started doing it about ten months ago but she didn't believe me"
"What? No but she loves you so much; how could she not believe you?" Tori questioned.
"Listen, when I was like thirteen and my parents had just divorced, my mom started dating a guy named Carlos, he was very nice but I didn't like him so I did everything I could to make them break up and I got it, after a few months of fighting he got tired and they broke up" Jade confessed. "My mom knew that I had done it on purpose but she understood that it was because I was jealous of him in a way so she didn't date anyone else, not until Nick"
"And so when you tried to tell her, she thought you were lying?" Tori asked and Jade nodded.
"Yes, I accused him right after he started, I told my mom that he was being disrespectful to me and that I had seen him looking at me in an inappropriate way and she went nuts" Jade said. "She confronted him about it and he denied it all in my face, he played the victim and acted offended, my mom believed him and yelled at me for it, she thought I was saying it to make her dump him"
"So you only told her once and since she didn't believe you, you didn't tell anyone else?" Tori asked surprised. "What about your father? I'm sure he would believe you"
"My father doesn't care about me, he probably loves me in a very strange way but he is not really present and I don't know if he would care, besides, his wife controls him and she would never let me live with them" Jade explained.
"Jade, does this have to do with the fact you always get home late?" Tori questioned curiously and Jade nodded. "What do you do?"
"I take self-defense classes, I started doing it just in case things get uglier than usual, you know? But it won't happen, I take them once or twice a week and the other days I just go around, sometimes to the movies or the mall until it's nighttime and I know my mom is gonna be home" Jade confessed.
"When did you say he started doing it? About ten months ago? And you've had to stay away from your own house all this time?" Tori questioned shocked and Jade nodded.
"Yes, that's why I didn't tell anyone that Beck and I broke up" Jade commented. "I wanted the class thing to be secret because if Nick ever tries to hurt me then he won't expect me to kick his ass"
"Okay, I get it, but wait, you and Beck broke up like nine months ago, that means Nick was harassing you while you still dated him, right?" Tori questioned and Jade nodded. "And why didn't you tell him? He was your boyfriend"
"It started happening around the time when Beck and I fought a lot, he was always distant and upset and I was angry all the time too, partly because of Nick, I tried to mention it a few times but I never actually said it because I didn't think it was important until something happened, I was actually gonna tell him the day we broke up" Jade confessed. "That day was the first time Nick tried to kiss me for real and I wanted to tell Beck what was going on but when I tried to do it, he started talking about the fact you guys didn't want us around and drove me to your house, I wanted to go so we could talk and I could tell him but then, he never opened the door so..." She said.
Tori stared at Jade sadly because she knew that the fact Beck hadn't opened the door still hurt her a lot and to make it worse, she'd been dealing with Nick's harassment at the time too. "I'm sorry about that" Tori said sincerely. "But you should have told him anyway or me or anyone, Jade, it's not fair that you have to spend the day out when the one who should be on the streets is him, actually, he should be in jail"
"That's how things are and I can't do anything to change them, I have been trying to get a job so I can move out but part time jobs don't give you enough money to rent an apartment so I guess I'll have to wait" Jade commented.
"No, you can't wait any longer, Jade, I saw him and I heard him... He is not playing around, he could seriously hurt you" Tori said worriedly.
"Nah, he wouldn't dare because then it'd be easy to prove that he harasses me" Jade commented. "I can take care of it, I always manage to scare him away and like I said, I take the self-defense classes just in case, don't worry, I'm in control"
"I'm sorry, Jade but it didn't look like that to me, if we hadn't been there, he would have..." Tori said mortified.
"Raped me? No, he wouldn't do it, I told you...he knows that if he did then I could send him to jail and he is not going to take that risk" Jade affirmed. "Yesterday was a day like many others I've had, some have been worse, there was this time when I thought he was going to do it and it was the first time I felt actual fear because we were alone and he pushed me onto the bed but then he only stood there and continued talking like he always does, I got up and after discussing for a while, he left, he could have raped me then but he didn't because he is a coward and he is not willing to go to jail but either way, after that day I started taking the lessons because it scared the hell out of me"
"I don't know, Jade... I think you're underrating him; that could change any day, you are in danger in that house, he is a constant threat to you" Tori said sincerely.
"Don't worry, I usually try to avoid him and when he catches me, I simply deal with him for a few minutes" Jade affirmed and Tori sighed not really convinced. "He won't rape me, Tori, he hopelessly expects me to give in and sleep with him but that's never going to happen"
"How am I supposed to go to your house and pretend everything's fine when I see him? I'm afraid of him; I still don't understand how you can handle it so well" Tori commented.
"I just take it for what it is and you should do the same, he would never dare do anything to you so don't be afraid, he is a big coward and he harasses me only when nobody is around" Jade said.
"I'll try" Tori said.
"Oh and Tori, don't tell anyone about this... if I told you everything is because you saw it and it would be stupid to deny it but nobody else can know, okay?" Jade said seriously and Tori looked down.
"But why not? At least our friends should know" Tori commented. "The other day we were talking about it, after I saw you with Nick in the kitchen, I asked if they had noticed anything strange about him and Beck said that he saw him looking at your body" she informed and Jade thought about it worriedly.
"What else?" Jade asked.
"Well, Beck didn't know if he had imagined it or not and I was confused too so we decided to let it go because Nick seemed so nice and the day they bought us pizza, he talked about how you were the daughter he never had, Andre is convinced that he is the best stepdad ever" Tori informed. "Honestly, after hearing what I said and what Beck said, we considered the possibility of you two dating in secret because we never imagined Nick was the monster he is"
"So you all thought that I was having an affair with my mom's boyfriend? What kind of person do you think I am?" Jade questioned angrily.
"We didn't know what to think and it wasn't that we believed it was true, we just thought it was a possibility but then we realized how horrible that was and came to the conclusion that Beck and I had exaggerated" Tori explained. "They will be shocked when they know the truth"
"No, they won't because they will never know" Jade said. "You can't tell them, Tori, especially Beck... I can't believe he considered the possibility of me dating my stepdad, even if it was just for a second he did"
"Jade, don't exaggerate, Beck didn't say anything against you" Tori affirmed. "He only said he saw Nick staring at your body and he found it weird"
"Either way, I don't want him or anyone to know what's going on, I can take care of it myself, I've done it for almost a year, I've dealt with it on my own and I'm fine like this, I don't need anyone's pity" Jade commented.
"It's not pity what I feel, Jade, it's fear and angst for what might happen to you" Tori clarified. "If we tell them, if you tell them what's happening, maybe together we could come up with an idea to help you"
"I told you I'll be fine, I don't need your help, if you hadn't seen what happened yesterday, you wouldn't have known either because I didn't want anyone to know because like I said, I can take care of it" Jade affirmed. "And since it's my life, I can decide on it and when I say you can't tell anyone, I mean it"
"But Jade" Tori insisted.
"Stop it, Tori, I'm not going to tell anyone and you won't either, period"
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