It was only after the fact that I had left the school that I realized that I had no plans to were I was going. Jeez that sentence.

So, I went were ever my mind took me. And guess what? I found myself standing in the middle of a kiddie museum. Great, they had free hotdogs apparently that would give back some of the hundred dollars for admission. I just hit my fist against the steering wheel and glared at the car in front of me, knowing that I wasn't going to stay here from my ego's sake.

As for the driving, I tried again. And again and again until I managed to find myself back at Hollywood Arts. 'What the hell is my luck?' I spat at myself, shaking my head gruffly. I only missed two classes so, good enough of a break I shrugged. Then an idea popped in my head. I turned it to the side a bit and saw the classes flee to lunch, confused. "Right, today's a half day... So I missed three classes," I murmured, slightly pleased.

My feet scramble out of the car while hands slammed it. Walking only a few steps, I am stopped by Sikowitz who was just wandering around. "Jade? Why weren't you in class?"

"Didn't feel good in the morning so I went to the doctors with some stomach issues. I'm fine now."

"Oh, okay. I won't see if that's true or not by asking for a slip of paper so good day." I raised a pierced eyebrow at him, watching as he walked unevenly off.

"Bad coconut?"

"Two weeks after it's a 'bad coconut'," he muttered happily.

"Why?"

"I forgot I bought some a month ago..." My head shook impatiently as I stalked off, only to groan once he hollered at me, "See you later talking zebra!"

"Strange man. Such a strange man..." I ranted in whisper. My steps go straight to my locker and stuff my bag in before I saw my target out of the corner of my eye. "Tori! Wait, I need to speak to you for a second."

She turned, hearing my calls. Her arms folded impatiently as she followed me to the janitor's closet. "What do you want Jade?" she snapped.

I wince at the harshness in her voice, and sputter out, "I need help..."

"With Elizabeth?" Vega cocked her head to the right, my right anyway, "No. You weren't supposed to get involved anyhow."

"What? Why, we've dealt with people like Elizabeth before here Tori."

"Not we, but I have. Jade, she isn't like any of the other's we've dealt with. Nothing like them. It's best to keep your talents low and hid-"

"What do you mean she isn't anything like we've dealt with? I've dealt with manipulators all of my life! They all do the things they do to get something." My eyes dart in between her own before sliding for a split second at her right hand. In it was a shaking pocket knife, ready to come out whenever she needed it.

"So West, tell me what she want's then. Tell me you know what she wants because you don't," her eyes stare emotionless into my own, almost breathing fire into my soul. How they could do such a thing I could never know. "Her only goal is to see the ones who oppose her crumble, fall, bend to her knees. Unlike most, she will never see the line between bitchy and cruel, bossy and vile, ganky and demented. There is a difference between a physical threat and one who uses tools to keep their hands clean, sure. But, the outcome of it all is very much a physical threat, very much harmful to your skin and bones.

"Hear me West," she spat in a low hiss, "Get out of this. How ever you can, just fuck off of my business and leave me to do whatever. You hate me, why should you step in when someone could do the deeds you wished the moment I stepped here." Her eyes looked grey, empty of the brown that was leftover. I blink and I swore I heard some metal climb back into her pocket as she grazed into me. The door closed and I knew she wouldn't help me, especially from what I 'admitted' several times before in her face. I gulped as I sunk to my knees, feeling the cold, hard ground against them.

"But I do like you Vega, I just... I can't get myself out, I need those eyes again. I need those eyes again," I whispered gravely. My mind digested all of the words, stamping them off as bluff. Nothing she had done up to that point had been very physical, just bitchy, bossy and ganky. I stood up, opened the door and walked straight to my locker before heading off to class. I didn't want to believe a word Tori had said, and at that time, I didn't truly understand any of it.

-o0o-

"Come on, we've been practicing for a week now everyone! We can get this play done tomorrow and the next day," I explained to the actors I assigned for the roles. Everyone nodded hesitantly before going off and doing their own thing. While the play had been organized, Elizabeth stayed away from me and I didn't speak to her, seeing if my assumption of the half-Latina's advice would help. So far, I saw nothing fail for me in the past week.

Well, in terms of my personal life. The play, however, we had some minor issues. First there was the lack of people auditioning before these people who I never spoke to showed up. Then there was the light that blew out in the middle of rehearsal. However, that day I was determined to not let any of that sort of stuff hold this play back; teachers would come in to asses the play before it would be showed in front of an audience.

If it didn't pass, then the next two days would be used for other, 'more important', things. Everything had to be set perfectly and now I had people not doing well. "Sinjin, where's the rest of the stage crew?"

"I don't know..."

"What do you mean you don't know? All they have to do is keep a damn light on the characters, why would they be nervous about it?" I snapped sourly. My hands shook slightly and my breathing started to become harder.

"I-I don't know. They weren't nervous at all through the rehearsals-" I raised an eyebrow at him once he halted his sentence. "Uhh, could I leave quickly to the bathroom? Otherwise I think I'll just... Oh no."

"Yes go!" I hissed once I saw him gag back something coming up. He flees to the bathroom and left me to deal with the actors. I go backstage where they all waited and found them but one gone. "So, do you know where the others are?" I asked the girl, Ray I believe, who would play the singer.

"Yes..." she whispered before giving a smirk. Right after she said that, the actors who played the beast, girl and 'monster' in the cage came out of the shadows, matching grins plastered on their faces as they circled me. I stiffened for a moment, hearing the judges for the play come in through the heavy doors.

"Look, can we just... I don't know, get this play started and then do this?"

"No," a growl came thickly behind me. Before I could turn to see who it was, it murmured, "Just restrain her already. You've done this thousands of times before." The three from the shadows quickly grabbed my arms while the other tripped my feet, forcing me on my knees. I only saw the ground a foot from my face before I heard strides passing me and going towards the first actor. My head looks up before my eyes widened; two girls locked lips in front of me before they separated.

I seethed as she crouched down in front of me, "Your starting in thirty seconds Jade, why not put on a show? See, I want to watch a performance tomorrow about the girl who kicked the bucket. Go out there and give them a show," she drawled slowly, taking her time with the sentence. Elizabeth only smiled cockily, "Confused? Should be. These students don't go here, they go to my old school; Tori's old school." Then she left with the actors out the door and I swayed there, on my knees.

My steps stumbled onto the stage and I eventually found myself in front of the purple curtain. "I-uh, I don't have anything..." I choked on the knot in my throat.

"What do you mean by that Jade?" one of them asked.

"The performances ditched me," I muttered.

"I'm sorry about that, don't have backups now do you?" After shaking my head, they all got up to leave and the heavy doors soon slammed a moment later. "No one else applied," I whispered, a response a minute late.

I sunk to my knees and stared at the floor, my blood boiled and I needed to lash out. Do something. My head turned over to the lock on the cage, my mind recalling the nightmares when the monster would chase me away. I needed to get to the lock, but only when I got rid of the nightmare; that was it. Get rid of Elizabeth, then get Tori. My head nodded as I became determined.

And when I'm determined, there's no stopping me.

-o0o-

Hands ran through raven hair furiously as I stared out my bedroom window. It had been another week and I couldn't help but want to heed Tori's words fully. Though I just couldn't, I was already knee deep in this seeming trap and had no way out of it. That, and I missed the old Tori, I hated this new one which would become increasingly more aggressive by the day.

I remembered on the roof at that moment, when I had walked a few streets from my house and I heard fighting in one of the alleyways. Since I wasn't in the bad part of town, I was curious. My head snuck around the corner and my heart felt a pang; Tori was fighting a huge, burly man and was winning. A hand glided over my side as it remembered where this person kicked.

The man wasn't doing too well either, the half-Latina dodged every single one of his swings and punched him right in the nose. His steps staggered back as the wall was sprayed with red. "You're the newer one right?" a low hiss grumbled at him.

"Fuck off, you don't seem that dangerous little girl," the man snapped back before throwing another dodged punch. Immediately he gave a heavy groan, holding his stomach wearily as his knees buckled, sending him on his hands.

Vega crouched down, "I would advise you to not ask for a fight with me because, frankly, your gang sucks at hand to hand combat. And tell your leader to stop sending people like you to fight me because I'm getting sick of beating you guys up every single afternoon."

"How come?"

"Because I actually have a life, believe it or not! But I have to deal with you bastards every waking moment and it is driving me absolutely insane. So you fuck off and find your own streets." She got up, adjusted her jacket and simple walked away, leaving the man to vomit all over the ground.

I blinked again and I was back on the roof, momentarily away from memories. Well, not really mind you, just not sunk into the abyss of my mind. At school, besides of Vega's outbursts, I had to deal with Elizabeth. I eventually learned not to be at school during lunch hours, but in my car at a burger joint of something like that. Food would be on my clothes and I would have to wash them off in the bathroom before they stained. Luckily I wore black so stains weren't a major problem, until things like mayo were sprayed on.

It was just little things like that which tormented me for a week. Though, for a split second in that time one the roof, I felt a sense of pride knowing I had gone cigarette free for a few weeks. Once the random thought popped in my mind, I began to feel ashamed, remembering the several time amongst the weeks that went by when I acted on certain hand scratched the back of my neck as my mind flickered back to the pleasurable moments while I thought of Tori while I, uh... yeah. I couldn't even bring myself to think of the proper words. Every single time though, I would feel the same guilt and end up succumbing to another panic attack.

"Jade? You've been out there for three hours, why don't you tell me what's wrong?" a kind voice spoke to me, soothing my ears enough that I climbed back inside, joints popping out of their stiff stature.

"It's the same thing... Nothing really new," I whimpered.

"Then, clarify things for me so that I could help you." I looked at her wearily before starting, which took a moment to sort out.

"I-Do you remember my answer from the last time we talked? I said that I didn't realize something before all of this shit happened." After Peggy nodded, I continued, "Well... I realized that I didn't know Tori at all. I-I just saw her go and it hurts every single time I think about it. It's Elizabeth, I fucking know it's her. She toys with Beck and he doesn't have a clue on what the hell's going on and- she went over and completely sabotaged my play."

I felt a hand on my shoulder, gripping me enough to feel it, to know someone was listening. "It's annoying me, it's pissing me off what Elizabeth does. It's just- I can't..."

"Then what has you all riled up? Why can't you just leave this situation if you're shaking because of it?"

My breathes began to sharpen as I shook more violently. "I can't leave Tori in this. She told me to, but I can't. She's... She's hurt, I know it, she's acting exactly like me. Lashing out at people, looking for fights and- but... she holds no emotion." I stopped, feeling a ball in my throat refusing to go.

"What? Looking for fights, Jade is that what happened when she came over?'

"No. She only took out all the men because they were beating me... Did you know that she had a tattoo because she was named the 'Maned Wolf'? Did you know that she had a pocket knife? Did you know that she ruled streets and drove away gangs? Did you fucking know that she sent four people to the hospital and was sent to prison for it? I didn't, and I should have known the hints behind that damned cheery smile that I-I-"

My throat makes a sound, refusing to let words out as Peggy stared at me in complete shock. "Yet I still want her even though she pushed everyone away. I still want her even though I tried so hard to throw her out of the school. I just want her... I can't stop and I need to get that bitch away from her. It tears me up seeing her so broken, so... THAT BITCH TOOK HER FORM ME!" I snapped grabbing the scissors in my boots. "I NEED HER BACK, I NEED TO-TO, to...'

My words falter and my arm sends the blades to the wall, sinking into the paint and board angrily. "Jade? What did you realize?" I heard in my ear, speaking calmly and gently even though I can feel her shaking.

"...I love her." The words weren't what I had ever thought, but it was the truth. "I love her and... I can't function properly without her," I cry into Peggy's shoulder, "But I can't tell her because she won't let me, she's just too far away."

We sit like that for a few minutes, the maid digesting everything that was shot out of me before she started. "I'm sorry Jade, you've done well for someone your age that has to put up with that hell on top of everything else. It's unfortunate that you can't speak your mind without those barriers, it's unfortunate that your mother has the blame for that." I felt my back warm as it was scratched softly, "But you still have to tell her. You have to get rid of your demons and tell her. Do what you know you need to do, you've said it yourself; get rid of Elizabeth. But what's stopping you? Really Jade, you say it's just annoying but why do you hesitate? That shouldn't be in your ego's nature but you do."

"Every time I do something to her, she hits me harder. She hits my punch plus some," I muttered darkly.

'Well, then hit her hard enough that she doesn't have the strength to pull back. Find what will do that and you'll be better off. Now, how about I go to the grocery store and get whatever your mother barked at me with some popcicles. Hmm?"

"Alright... Thanks Peggy," I smiled. She left towards the door and turned back.

"See you in a bit."

"Alright," I mumbled, frowning as the door closed. I felt my gut wrench horribly as I heard the stairs creak. My head shook slightly before I laid my head down, immediately falling into a short nap. After some minutes, I jerked away, looking outside which began to dim as the sun set down. My legs guided me off the bed and into the bathroom where I scrubbed off the makeup which was, understandably, messed up.

Back in my room I sat momentarily at me desk before I decided to go for a walk. Grabbing my converse, I strode downstairs and opened the front door. I couldn't shake this chilling feeling in my gut, so I tried to ignore it before stepping down to the gravel.

I didn't have a destination in mind, so I enjoyed the silence and the visible breathes from the temperature. As I strolled around, my steps seemed to have had a known place to go and continued to guide me over. Once I had crossed the road, my eyes began to register the area around me.

It was the intersection. It had no lights, only a stop sign and the railing that blocked one side. I stared at it, biting my lips as I noticed that the repair company still hadn't fixed it like they said they would. Headlights snatched my attention and I half smiled, realizing it was Peggy coming back from the store. I began to walk towards the intersection when time seemed to have slowed.

I frown slightly as Peggy's car rolled through the road, passing the stop sign that faced it's back to her side of the car. My gaze slid to the road, squinting at the car coming closer and closer. From about twenty yards away I watched, footsteps halting momentarily, as the car ignored the stop sign and raced right through, planning to turn towards me.

My breath stopped as I felt my heart beat furiously against my ribs while my eyes widened. The car didn't slam of the brakes like they should have, instead it rammed itself into Peggy's car, sending shards of glass and metal pieces everywhere.I felt my legs dart towards them, my eyes still registering the maid's black car spun violently, hurling itself into-

"NO!" I screamed as the car smashed into the railing. The wood snapped as the metal bent, allowing the car to fly over into the ditch. My legs hurtled over the barrier blocking pedestrians from the rocks and flew over them, making my way down to the bottom. As the car crashed into a large oak, I tripped on an exposed branch and fell. My head immediately shot up, just in time to watch as what was left of the windshield hammer itself into the large rocks.

I struggled to get up, not hurt because of the patch of grass that saved my fall, and stepped over frantically to the car. I let out a strangled cry as I stepped back momentarily, hand over my mouth. Peggy was laying upside down, the side of her head dripping with red. I gulped and managed to get her out, the car giving her up with no hesitation.

"Peggy?" I whispered as my eyes gazed down at the widened eyes and frown. Tears leaked out as my brain registered the dull, grey blue eyes that now held no excitement, no gentleness, no care. It was stripped from emotion. Everything was stripped from emotion, all except shock. Shock which was the ghost of the last moment of her life.

I carry her up the rocks and set her down softly, my blood suddenly bubbling with nothing but absolute fury. I was livid.

The sight of the man gawking at his car nearly sent me over the edge, or him over the edge behind me. "My new car... What am I going to tell Hannah?" he muttered furiously.

He turned to see me and his face lit up, "HEY! Next time, watch where your going because you ju-" I couldn't take it. My hands twitched momentarily before I grabbed his shirt and shoved him to the hood of his car. "The hell you doing girl?"

"What-makes-you-think-I-was-driving-that-car?" I seethe through my teeth.

"Well, you just walked from that direction," he spat as his finger pointed to the ditch, no even bothering to look over.

That was it. I didn't feel like giving him mercy at the moment. I didn't care if he had a bad scratch on his forehead. I didn't care if his Lamborghini was just smashed. My arm just pulled back and a fist attached to his nose a second later. After he howled in pain, I let him have the rest. "I WASN'T THE ONE DRIVING THE CAR YOU FUCKING MORON! SHE HAD THE RIGHTAWAY BECAUSE YOU HAD THE DAMN STOP SIGN! GUESS WHAT? IF WHITE WORDS SCREAM AT YOU TO STOP, THAT MEANS TO FUCKING STOP FOR THE LOVE OF GOD!"

He whimpered under me and squeaked, "Is she alright?" Some would have pitied the look in his eyes as he attempted to look over. I just lifted his back a few inches and slammed him back onto his car.

"SHE IS DEAD BECAUSE OF YOU!" I let go of his shirt and step back, beginning to see red. I close my eyes, basking in his soft cries, and snapped them open. "You need to call 911 and tell them how you killed my friend you fucking ass." He only nodded and began the call as I strode over to a nearby light pole and slid my back against it. My arms wrapped around my knees and I shook violently as I silently sobbed.

I remember trying to stand a few minutes later after I heard sirens but then nothing. I had blacked out. Before anything else, however, I felt light shaking on my shoulder and soft words. "Jade. Come on Jade. There you go, that's it. It's Mr. Vega, your fine."

My eyes blink open and I find the policeman crouching beside me. "What happened?" he asked gingerly.

"The fucking idiot didn't look at the damn stop sign and rammed into Peggy's car. She crashed through the broken railing and into a tree then into rocks."

"Peggy?"

"She was my maid," I choked. Mr. Vega sighed mournfully and wrapped his arms around me, which I returned eagerly. My knees had began to feel sore from the fall and my hands stung from punching the man and catching the fall.

"Why don't you go home and we'll take care of this tonight, alright? Go to sleep, you don't look hurt so I think you don't need any checkups from the ambulance." I only nodded and got up slowly. Mr. Vega left me to walk away and I didn't not wanting to look back but, I did. Peggy wasn't to be seen but the car was still at the bottom of the ditch.

My eyes watered and I padded away. With a fogged mind I couldn't really tell how much further I had to go. To check I looked up and realized I was in the Vega's neighborhood, a few blocks from mine. Once again I was engulfed by my mournful conscious and didn't think about anything. Only listening to the buzz that was left.

I took a few steps, turning a corner when I smashed into someone. My feet staggered back as I stare at Tori who glared back. However, as soon as our eyes locked, it snapped into just a raised eyebrow. My words come out quiet and cracked, "Sorry..."

My steps brushed past hers before halting once I heard a soft 'Jade'. I don't turn around immediately, but when I do she is bolting towards the direction I came from. My head shakes quietly and I continue my path.

At the moment I don't quite remember what else had happened before I saw myself in my vanity mirror. Perhaps I didn't register anything on the way, though that's how I remember the rest of that night anyway.

My clothes were stripped down to my bra and underwear. Feeling my muscles ache tiredly, I just sink under the covers and weep quietly. I felt horrible. Absolutely horrible. My mind pondered on the fact that Peggy was the only one who listened to my problems and had made important words to me before she was over the rail. But now, she wasn't there. She was gone.

For the first time in years I felt truly alone, and I couldn't help but feel my limbs seize and my chest constrict realizing that Tori was still gone with the similar, dead look in her eyes.