I think the characters might be a little OOC in here, but I think you'll understand later why.

CHAPTER 3
Jade's POV

Before I could react, my dad smashed the bottle onto my head. I felt the glass edges stab into my forehead. I wanted to cry, but Jade West doesn't cry. And anyway, that would make me look weak, which is the last thing I wanted in a moment like this.

"Dad, stop," I choked, trying to crawl backwards and away from the monster.

My dad's eyes rolled in his head grotesquely. He crouched down in front of me, grabbing the collar of my shirt and keeping me from getting away. I lashed out with my hands and legs, but he kneeled down on me so that I couldn't kick him anymore.

"Dad!" I said in a squeaky voice as he grabbed me around the throat.

I started to choke, trying to pry his one hand off. I felt myself starting to turn purple, but he wasn't loosening his grip. I struggled wildly, but it only made things he lifted his other hand with the bottle and hit me in the head again. I let out a strangled scream losing what little air I had left.

He hit me two more times, and I wanted to pass out so badly. Luckily, he only hit me three times, versus the usual five or six. I guess he was in a good mood to day, I thought bitterly.

I started seeing stars and black engulfed my vision. Something wet and sticky was dripping into my eyes, but I couldn't wipe it away since I was still trying to get his hands off of my neck.

Eventually he let go of me and stood up, slumping forward. The bloody, broken bottle in his hand dropped to the floor, breaking into sharp pieces.

"Good night, Jade. Same time tomorrow, okay?" he mocked, disappearing into the hallway, leaving me gasping for breath and covered in blood.

I couldn't stop the tears falling off of my face. I got up with the help of my bed and staggered into the bathroom. My forehead was all cut up and there was blood already drying on my face. I did actually like blood, except when it was my own and it came from being beaten by my dad.

You could see a handprint around half of my throat where he had tried to choke me to death.

It took me a while but I finally managed to get cleaned up. My forehead was bright red still, and if you looked closely you could see the cuts. I decided to change my hairstyle and put bangs down over it to make it less noticeable. I did look a lot different, but it was better to see that then my actual forehead.

I also used makeup on my throat to cover up the handprint. When I figured I looked decent enough, I went back into my bedroom, avoiding the glass shards on the floor that I would pic up later, and sat down on my bed, sighing heavily.

I reached up to my dresser and picked up my phone.

It read in solid white numbers at the top that it was 12:45 a.m.

I remembered I had to call Beck, or he would know something was up. I quickly dialed his number and brought my PearPhone up to my ear, wiping my eyes.

"Hey baby," Beck answered within three rings. His voice sounded strangely relieved. "I thought you weren't going to call."

"Well I am now," I replied, trying to keep the pain out of my voice. "Were you asleep?"

"No."

"Oh, well good then," I responded quietly.

"Is something wrong, Jade? Is your Dad home?" Beck started to sound worried. He knew that I hadn't told my dad about our relationship, mostly because he would probably kill me for having a boyfriend, and I was sort of put at a risk whenever I called or texted Beck within the confines of my home. "Oh, I knew I shouldn't have asked you to call me. I'm sorry, Jade. I don't want to cause any trouble for you. I'll go now."

"No!" I said suddenly. I didn't want him to go…just yet. "I think my dad is downstairs, uh, eating a midnight snack."

Beck laughed softly on the other end. "Well you sound really tired. So I'll let you go to bed. I just wanted to hear your voice again."

I smiled.

"Bye, baby," he whispered.

"I love you," I said back.

"I love you too. See you tomorrow." He hung up.

I put my phone down gently on my bed. Still smiling and although in pain, I eventually fell asleep peacefully.

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

Tori's POV

I arrived at our usual lunch table with André. Robbie and Cat were already there, and they smiled up at us as we sat down.

"So how are you guys doing today?" I asked them. "How are your Sikowitz projects going?"

"Oh you know, pretty good," André responded, taking a bite out of his burrito. Cat didn't say anything; she was busy flipping through a Sky Store catalog, and Robbie said, "It's doing all right."

"And how are you doing with Jade?" André asked.

"Well, she wasn't here yesterday so I didn't really get a chance to talk to her, and she's not picking up her phone," I said, actually slightly relieved that I hadn't seen Jade yet this week, well except for Monday. But it was now Wednesday and I was starting to get a little bit worried too because the project was due next week and the only thing we had so far was an idea to write about.

I stewed in my thoughts when suddenly, Beck and Jade walked up to our table, seeming to come out of nowhere. Beck was holding a plastic container with a burger in his hands and Jade had a coffee in hers.

I tried to avoid Jade's eyes, and I noticed that she seemed to have gotten a new haircut. She had bangs that went across her forehead, like she was trying to hide something. There were also a few cuts scattered across her nose, and she looked like she hadn't slept in days.

"Oh, hi Beck. Hi, Jade," André greeted, scooting over to make room for the two.

"No, I don't want to sit here," Jade complained to Beck in an oddly scratchy voice. Beck ignored her pleas and pulled her to sit down at the table with us. She looked at me. "We always sit with these losers. Can't we sit somewhere else?"

"Nope. And they're not all losers." I smiled at Beck for defending us from Jade, and he winked back while opening his container and taking out the burger.

"Yeah, I guess you're right. The only loser here is Vega."

I frowned but said nothing, mostly because I couldn't think of anything really good comebacks.

"Hey, Jade, what happened to your nose?" Cat asked, when everyone but Jade had continued to eat their food.

"She tripped and fell onto a plant," Beck informed us, taking another bite of his burger.

"Then why did you get a new haircut?" Cat persisted. She reached over the table to try and push Jade's bangs back out of the way. Jade jerked back as soon as Cat touched her, and she stood up immediately.

"I wanted to change it up for once."

Cat's expression of curiosity changed suddenly to that of sadness and knowing. "Was it your dad?" she whispered, but not quietly enough judging from what happened next.

"Shut up, Cat," Jade seethed, hatred dripping in her voice, which was unusual considering her and Cat were best friends. Beck stopped eating, a French fry hanging out of his mouth. André looked shocked while Robbie fiddled with his PearPhone, completely oblivious to what was happening.

"But it was, wasn't it?" Cat asked.

"Jade, what is she talking about?" Beck seemed utterly confused.

Jade stood up. There was a pop as the coffee cup broke open, dripping the still-hot liquid onto the table and seats. Beck scooted over so fast to avoid contact with the stuff that he knocked Robbie off the bench completely. André reached over and pulled Rex out of the way as the coffee spread across the surface, despite the table's design that had interconnecting diamonds with holes in the centers.

She still didn't say anything. Jade looked around, giving everyone a stare of pure anger, even Beck.

I was absolutely lost in the moment to what was happening.

No one moved, although the coffee was getting into our lunches and some of it onto our backpacks. If looks could kill, all of us would've dropped dead right there. Without another noise, she walked away, leaving us to clean up her spill.

"Cat, what the heck did you say?" Beck said, his eyes blazing furiously at the redhead.

"Chill, Beck," André said, lending Robbie a hand to stand him back up and giving him Rex.

"No. Cat, what did you say to her?" Beck questioned, moving to go over to Cat. I wondered what was up with him. Usually, he was a very calm guy, but it seemed like someone had lit a fuse or something. He was very agitated and his face was red, unusual behavior for him.

Cat shrunk against me when Beck approached her. Her eyes widened and she said softly, "I'm sorry, Beck. I don't think I should've said anything."

"Is she keeping a secret from me?" Beck shouted.

"Beck, you need to calm down man," André said, stepping in between him and Cat. Cat clutched my arm like she was afraid the Beck was going to hit her...or André.

"Fine." Beck seemed to deflate a little bit and he moved away from them, grabbing his backpack. "I'm going to find her and see what the heck is going on." He walked away quickly.

Cat's eyes were still very wide, and it looked like she was about to cry.

André left to go get some napkins to clean up the mess.

It was dead silent, with Robbie still standing there awkwardly, Rex sitting on his arm. Cat started rubbing her eyes and I pulled her off of the bench, taking our backpacks, which were now partially soaked with coffee.

André came back, his hands full of napkins and a roll of paper towels. He handed me a few napkins, and I started to dab the coffee off of the backpacks. He and Robbie wiped off the table, leaving Cat to hold the puppet.

We worked in silence, but I was fine with it. When we were finished, we sat back down, giving each other weird looks.

André decided to break the silence. "Cat, is there something you want to tell us about Jade and her, uh, dad?"

"No," Cat shook her head. "I can't tell you anything. It's a secret."

"All right then. I'm sure Jade'll get over it and so will Beck," André said, seeming to take control of the situation. We proceeded to salvage and consume our food that was not stained by the coffee. "Geez, I wonder what's up with everyone today."

I started to think about the one thing Cat said about Jade moments ago, and how her and Beck had reacted.

Jade didn't look too happy about Cat mentioning her dad, I thought. And it's not like her dad is the friendliest person in the world. I remembered the time I had helped her with her play and I met her dad. He really did seem like a mean person.

Something must be going on with him. Something that only Cat knows about, and Beck is worried about, probably because he doesn't know, and they are together after all. Couple shouldn't keep secrets from each other.

I shook my head. You're jumping to conclusions, Tori. You don't really know Jade. For all you know, she could be planning a birthday party for someone.

And I wished on my life that that had been the case.

I hope everyone is enjoying this story so far. You guys have been really encouraging and stuff, and I can't thank you enough for that.

Review. :)