I've really appreciated the reviews :D just to clear things up, Andre will come in later, but he won't be a patient. I just couldn't really see him fitting into the mental hospital setting. There will be a little bade, but don't worry, this is a bat story ! The bade is just to add some drama, it's not going to be anything serious.
Five minutes go by, and Cat has gone from picking at her hair, to twirling it, to chewing the ends gently.
I touch her arm gently. "Cat?"
She looks up from her hair and starts to giggle. "Sorry Beck, I just tried this red velvet cupcake shampoo that I ordered off the internet, and now my hair just smells and taste so good!"
I chuckle. "It's okay, I was just wondering, um...is Jade always like...that?" Pushy, prying...crazy.
Cat's eyebrows furrow. "Oh my, I got so distracted by my hair. I'm so sorry Beck, that she was being mean to you."
"No, Cat, it's okay, I can handle it," I explain. She shakes her head and grabs my hand.
"Whatever brought you here, is your business," she tells me, her eyes wide. "Jade shouldn't have tried to provoke you. Everyone has secrets, and everyone has a right to have them." She looks down at this, and I hear her swallow, like she's holding back tears.
I squeeze her hand, and she looks up at me, a slight smile on her face. That feeling comes back, it's like the air is sucked out of my lungs when I look at her, and she stares back. Her eyes draw me in, warning me that there's danger ahead, but I'm so infatuated, that I'm willing to take the risk. I'm willing to look into those beautiful brown eyes, the ones that hold back so much.
"DINNER'S SERVED LOONIES!" Jade screeches from the hallway. "VEGA GET OUT OF YOUR BEDROOM AND COME TO FUCKING DINNER!"
"Yay! Dinner!" Cat squeals, jumping up and down, she grabs my hand and drags me put of the room, zooming down the hallway
The food here is actually good. The company is a bit...um, well we're all patients in a mental hospital. Enough said?
Tori just twirls her food around and tries to slip it into her jean pockets. Jade always slaps her hand and threatens to go tell the cafeteria watchers, who stand near the front doors, trailing their eyes over us.
Robbie seems nice, you know, for a guy who talks through a puppet. The puppet is kind of a jerk though.
"Vega, eat the stupid chicken," Jade barks. "And Robbie tell that stupid puppet to shut up, before I rip it's head off." Rex had just made a comment about Jade's cleavage a few seconds prior. Well, to be fair, her black V-neck wasn't leaving too much to the imagination.
"He's not a puppet!" Robbie howls.
"So if I stab him in the eye with my fork, he'll feel it?" she smiles deviously. "Even better."
"The forks here are plastic," Tori points out.
"You want the plastic fork in your eye too, Vega?" Jade hisses. Tori shakes her head no and quickly goes back to picking at her food. She whips her arms back and launches the fork at Rex. It bounces off his eye, but it lands in Robbie's chicken noodle soup, splattering him and Rex.
"Jade!" Robbie and Rex scream.
"That wasn't nice Jade!" Cat scolds.
The cafeteria wardens walk over. "Jade West, we've already warned you about throwing your eating utensils!" One of them yells. "Your knife and fork privileges are suspended for a week." The then snatch her knife and the fork from Robbie's soup and walk away.
"Guess I'm finishing this chicken with my hands," she shrugs, grabbing the chicken and ripping a big piece off with her teeth.
Cat looks away disgusted and Jade smirks. "What, too much for you vegan?"
Cat furrows her eyebrows. "I'm a vegetarian, not a vegan!"
Jade responds by tearing off another piece and chewing it loudly.
Tori slams down her fork. "Cant we have one meal without you driving someone crazy?"
Jade laughs dryly. "Look around princess, we're in a fucking mental hospital. We've all driven to crazy."
"Jadey, just stop," Cat pleads, she reaches over to rub Jade's hand, before Jade snatches it away. But she doesn't make any more comments.
"Good Jadey," Tori says, with a smile.
Jade hisses in response.
"Guess what we're having for dessert?" Cat asks excitedly.
"Fried pig intestines with chocolate sauce?" Jade suggests.
Tori shoots her a look before smiling at Cat. "What are we having?"
Cat drums her hands against the table, making a drum roll effect. I can't help but chuckle to myself. "Red velvet cupcakes!"
"Are they your favourite?" I ask. Everyone looks at me surprised, since I haven't said a word besides "Hi, I'm Beck."
She looks at me, a grin on her face. "Oh yes, I even dyed my hair to match them! It used to taste like hair, but now it taste like red velvet cupcake thanks to my new shampoo." She smiles to herself, and takes a piece of her hair and chews on it.
I raise my eyebrows at her, and try to suppress a smile, but it's not easy. I shove a piece of chicken in my mouth to distract myself.
"So Beck, where are you from?" Tori asks, taking my talking as an invitation to include me in the conversation.
"L.A.," I answer.
She smiles. "I used to live in San Diego, I miss it so much. The sun, the beach, all the people." She looks down sadly into her food. "It's not the same here."
"Yeah," I reply. Things have gotten awkward with Tori's sad confession. All that can be heard is Jade smacking down on her chicken. Cat has given up eating and is now just chewing on her hair. Robbie is having an arm wrestling match with Rex. Tori quickly grabs a piece of her chicken and shoves it into her jean pockets. No one notices but me, and our eyes lock. She shakes her head and mouths "please." I look away, I don't know what to do. I don't want Tori to get upset at me, but she obviously has a problem. I don't want her to drop dead in a month, and have this moment run through my mind. I decide I'll talk to Cat about it later, she knows Tori better, maybe she can have a heart to heart with her later.
"Desert is served!" one of the chefs announces.
Cat springs out of her chair so fast, it falls back. She runs over to the table with the tray stacked with cupcakes. She grabs a paper plate and piles on at least five cupcakes. She's giggling and jumping up and down with excitement. The other patients stare at her with annoyance or confusion, but I just grin at her. It looks odd, this jumping, happy girl in a place where people are sent because they've lost their minds and it's written all over their faces that they've lost all hope of ever regaining them. And that's mostly because they don't want to face what they fear the most: themselves. But here's Cat, jumping and smiling, over cupcakes. It gives me a spark of hope that there is still good in the world, if you look hard enough. And something tells me that Cat has the ability to turn that spark, into a raging fire.