A/N: This update's a result the amount of people who storyalerted it (but I feel weird about it because I hate it when people say they'll update if people review), and I will continue to be guilted into updating even if no one else does anything.
Not that it's particularly unenjoyable to update, I just had to watch all the ME3 extended cuts and pack for summer session is all. Anyway, thanks for the interest. And if there's anything you'd like to see, don't be afraid to suggest it.

I wake up and a small part of Cat's hair is on my eye. As I start to get ready for school, she mumbles a little and rolls so that her hand is hanging off the bed and startles herself awake with what I assume is the fear of falling. I know her questions pretty well by now, so I answer all of them. "It's Friday, last night was opening night of that narcoleptic astronaut play, and you have 40 minutes to get ready."

"Kay kay." Her speech is always slower in the morning. I go downstairs to get breakfast ready and give her access to my bathroom. I'm not feeling particularly creative today, so I just take out some muffins that my mother baked a few days ago and go up to ask Cat if she wants eggs. I hate eggs, the way they slither down your throat, but Cat seems to like them, and I'm a decent cook.

"No thanks Jade. Do you have juice?"

"Not for you Cat. You're getting milk." I would give the girl juice, but it makes her act a little crazy. I go back down the stairs and pour some juice for myself and drink it before she gets down, then pour her milk and make coffee for the day. "You ready yet?"

"Almost, just let me put my pajamas back in my bag. BRB." We don't really have to leave yet, but I like driving to school while it's still twilight so I don't have to drive too much during the day.

Once we get there, we hang out in what will be the shade once the sun comes fully out from the horizon and the fog- I burn easily- and listen to our pearpods. Once school starts, I make it through math and science- figures I'd get those in the morning- and make my way to acting class. We're not really doing much today, Sikowitz is just promoting the play. Tori walks in and sits next to me. I ask her what's up.

She smiles and says "I love how foggy it is today. Sometimes I want the sun, but it's just got a refreshing feeling to it right now."

"Yeah. I like the fog too," and I take a sip of my coffee.

Beck turns around and asks, "Why are you being so nice to Tori?"

"Why do you care?" I know why he cares. He cares about Tori. And maybe about me. I tend to be less mean when I just don't have the energy to go around experimenting on people. But I don't understand why he dated me for so long when he clearly likes goody two shoes. If only he knew how Tori could insult people.

"Idunno, it's just weird"

Tori interjects, and I guess I was remembering her insulting Chad because she asks, "Why are you smiling like that? Why is she smiling like that?"
And Beck responds, in slightly less confused panic than Tori, "I wish I knew."

I smile at their panic and take another sip of my coffee, and think about how much more Tori is like coffee than Beck is. Her hair is the color of coffee beans. She's energetic and makes other people energetic. She smells good. She can either be really sweet or really strong. I think I'm starting to like this girl for more than how unpredictable and crazy she is. My subconscious probably did a lot of sorting last night, because today being around her is less of a pleasant warmth and curiosity and more of a nuclear reactor in my sternum. Well, not that extreme, but it certainly seems like something's in there generating energy. After a long silence, I hear Tori ask, "So are you excited for the second night?"

"Eh. The only things worth noting in high school drama are opening night and closing night. The first time you go on, and Sikowitz trying to prank all the actors plus a cast party." She looks a little crestfallen, so I add, "Of course, being on stage is always good. Just no particular added excitement because it's a play." Beck glances back at us again, a little cautious.

"So you're going to the cast party then?"

"Yeah, probably. It won't be very big though. It's at your house, right Vega?"

"Yup. Trina made me volunteer because she wants to crash it."

Beck, Andre and I all groan at this.

I guess Andre was in on our conversation too, "Yo, I don't mean to be rude, but can't your sister find a bigger party to crash? I mean the whole point is it's just the cast and crew!"

I put in my classic two cents about Trina, "Yeah, no one likes her."

Tori gets defensive and exclaims, "I do! Sometimes. She's not that bad at parties!" She relents a little as we continue to stare incredulously, "Alright, I'll try to make her go to another party."

Sikowitz finally decides to talk about his latest shenanigans with his blender and coconut milk and about the importance of miming in theatre because the audience is too far away to see the more subtle actions that they can on camera. This continues until the class is through, and before I know it, it's time for lunch.

Jade's been really nice to me so far today. Not actively nice, but I think several people would die of shock if she ever were to become actively nice. Not that I mind seeking out her niceness at all. And now she's sitting next to me at lunch. Sure she would have had to sit next to Robbie or Beck as an alternative. But still, Jade West is sitting next to me!

Andre and Cat show up not much later with their food. The table's pretty silent until we're finished, when Andre points out that we have to do our homework now if we want to get to sleep at a reasonable hour because after school time will be taken up by the play. Hoping to start a trend so I don't have to move away from Jade, I pull out my homework and start on it. Everyone else decides to do it here too. Score!

After a while, I get frustrated with my arithmetic skills. I understand the concepts just fine, but I keep having to do each problem twice to get the right answer. When I finish off my math (which is all my homework for the day!), lunch is almost over. When I look up, Jade has her eyes on me. Not for long though: she pulls her lips into a smirk-type half smile, exhales are the way someone does when they're mildly entertained, and looks back down at her physics book.

"What?" I ask her.

"Your concentration and accomplishment faces."

"Oh." I blush a little, and think about asking her out now. The problem is, we usually only hang out in public. And in order to hang out in private I would also need to ask to hang out in private…publically. And she may need me more as a friend than a girlfriend. And I'm a chicken. Because we've kissed, and that either means she likes me or feels comfortable enough to put on a show with me. So at the very least we should be able to hang out in private. I promise myself that by the end of this weekend I'll have made several attempts to seduce her and either have set a time to hang out, just the two of us, or been rejected. And the bell rings.

Next thing I know, we're getting ready for the play. Someone knocks, then enters the dressing room while I'm putting my binder on. I smile my evilest smile, then straighten my face. "Hey Jade, can you hold this end while I wrap the rest around my chest?"

I see her reaction in the mirror. She looks up, her eyes widen a bit, and she says, "Sure." She struggles with where to hold it, and settles on my back, but kind of close to my armpit. I'm currently thanking whoever designed binder usage protocol that you can put them on top of bras, or this would be incredibly awkward. As it is, it just fits into my plan of seducing her. Especially since I don't have my mustache on yet. I work fast.

I fasten the end of the ace bandage and put on my shirt and jacket. It's not much of a difference, but it's an important one. We sit next to eachother and pin on our wigs. The light is pretty blinding, but I guess you need it to see what makeup looks like onstage. We play our little acting games and do our warm-ups with the rest of the cast, then go on for the second night.

After the show, my parents are there. I guess they chose Friday night to come see it. I see Jade go off to talk to Cat and by extension Robbie, and I feel a little bad about the flowers my parents gave me. I tell them and Trina I'll be right back and we can leave in a bit, then I walk over to her.

Cat's face lights up a little (only a little by Cat standards), and Robbie can't pull his attention away from her. I turn to see Jade, a little more sober looking than usual. It's especially weird because she still looks like Nancy. I decide on the intrusive approach. I practically tackle her and announce in my manly voice, "Honey, I'm home-and I brought flowers!"

A laugh forces its way out of her mood. "At least they're not sunflowers or roses. Your parents have good taste." I look down, examining them for the first time, and it's a few different lilies with some wildflowers. They're definitely from our backyard. Thank you California for your weather.

"Here." I push them into her hands. She looks at me a tiny bit incredulously for a second, and I explain, "They're from our backyard."

"Thanks. I like lilies." I think she forgot herself for a second there, because she adds menacingly, "especially blood lilies. They look enough like thin blood, but I really like the color when it comes out in greater quantities. It's a shame they're not darker and duller." She did her job right because Robbie's trying to get away as inconspicuously as he can. Which is quite conspicuous for him. I can't help finding that entertaining. But Cat's more concerned about him and follows.

And then it hits me. I'm alone with Jade. Luckily she talks first, "Sadistic entertainment with Robbie aside, thank you. Even if they're from your backyard and your parents it means a lot to get flowers every now and then. If anything it would make some people sentimental and hang on to the flowers rather than give them away. So don't write it off by telling me it's no big deal because of those things."

"How can you know what to say like that?"

I shrug. "I articulate what I think well."

"Then how can you know what to think like that?"

"Emotional maturity."

"But you're so young!"

I look at her with a 'don't give me that bullshit' stare, then I explain. "People grow taller under the weight of the world that they may cripple and relax rather than strain to hold it high."

"Who said that?"

"Me." Tori looks at me with a mix of concern and wonder. She struggles for a second, and then she remembers she's allowed to hug me. I think she read more than I wanted her to into the 'weight of the world' thing.

"I'm not going to promise you everything will be alright, because that's a load of crap. What I can promise you is that the people who care will do everything in their power to make it alright, and that I care a lot."

I chuckle. "I bet you can't tell me who said that." Tori goes to therapy?

"No, I can't… it's not exactly those words either, I can't quite remember."

"That's a shame. I imagine you'd like to know."

"I would. They're a genius and must be amazing at expressing feelings." I break into something close to a cackle. "Jade, I thought you stopped making fun of my serious moments!"

My laughter dies down a little, "Sorry. It's just that you said I'm amazing at expressing feelings." I pretend to wipe a tear out of my eye from the laughter, but it's really nothing my eyes wouldn't soak back up in a minute.

"Just you then," Tori mumbles.

It's just her I've been wanting to kiss. "Do you wanna go out sometime?"

"Excuse me?"

"Like on a date. But not for the play. I totally understand if you want a friend more than a significant other, but I figure I might as well express some interest otherwise nothing would ever happen, and then we'd just be left on the cusp of a deeper friendship but still pretending to be acquaintances forever, and—" I hadn't even noticed her had moving towards my face when she shushed me.

"Tori. You're babbling."

"You called me Tori!"

"I also called you Tori at Nozu when I decided to give you a ride, and I do it in my head all the time. It's not extraordinary or anything." But it is. Because it lets me know she's being genuine rather than defensive right now. Or as non-defensive as she gets.

"Sooo…date? Yay or nay?"

"Yay. But you realize you asking me means you have to decide on where to go. And this would have to remain closeted for a while. To spare Beck's feelings and make sure we're not revealing an important part of ourselves to strangers for nothing."

"Yay! Give me a while to plan it. How about on Sunday since our Saturday's pretty full? Does Sunday work for you?" God, I'm going into full blown babble mode I'm so giddy.

"Just plan it Tori. Also, you might as well tell cat since she'll figure it out anyway." I always thought she was a little ditzy. Apparently my confusion shows, "You don't have to be all kinds of intelligent to be emotionally intelligent."

"Alright. See you tomorrow Mrs. Swain." I start to walk back into the dressing room area, but Jade calls to me.

"Hey, Vega. Don't tell anyone that I accepted flowers so willingly. Or what kind of flowers I like."