The rest of the weekend sucked. I could already see my step-mom getting fatter. My dad went on a business trip so it was just her and me. I managed to lock myself in my room for the rest of the weekend so I wouldn't have to see her, even when she insisted we have some "mother-daughter time."

You are not my mom, witch.

I turned off my phone so I wouldn't get any calls. When I turned it back on Monday morning, I had one call from Robbie and, whoa! Seven calls from Tori. Wow. Should I call her back? No, it'd be better to talk to her in person.

I get in my car and drive to school. When I'm halfway there I remember the auditions are today. I really hope I don't screw things up. I park next to Trina Vega's car and I can see them getting out of the car. Tori seems to be struggling carrying in all her textbooks. When I get out she drops two of them. I pick them up and hand them to her with a slight smile. She grabs them and scowls at me before turning around.

I'm usually the one who does the scowling. What I did must have really hurt her. I need to fix this. I run up next to her.

"Tori, we need to talk."

"What is there to talk about? You kissed me and left. You ignored all of my calls. I've had enough of your shit!"

"Tori-" she walks away before I can finish saying her name. Should I go after her? No. Let her go. If she doesn't want you, that's her problem. But I want her. Arrgh!

I go after her again.

"Tori, I'm sorry. I should've stayed and explained."

"Yeah, but you didn't."

"Tori." I grab her arm and she looks me in the eye.

"I'm only acting like this because I- I think I- I…"

"You what, Jade?"

"I think I love you!"

"Wow, you have a great way of showing it."

When she walks away, I cry. I haven't cried since my mom died. I do not cry. I decide to skip my first class and hide out in the Janitor's Closet. I ball my eyes out while cutting apart the trash can. At least scissors can still bring me happiness. Barely.

When the bell rings I pick myself up and wipe my eyes. I leave the Janitor's Closet and end up being the first one at Sikowitz's class.

I sit down and wait for everyone else to arrive. One after one they come in and surround me. I notice Tori tries especially hard to pick a seat away from me. And the lucky one who gets to sit next to me is Cat! Yay.

"Hiiiiiiii, Jade." She says while hugging me.

"Get off of me."

She gets off of me and frowns. She then smiles and begins laughing like an idiot before talking.

"Sooooo, how are things with Tori?"

"What? What do you mean things with Tori?"

"It would take a real idiot not to see what's going on between you two."

I'm confused. Is she suddenly not an idiot?

"Lousy, Cat. They're going lousy."

"Ooooh, I'm sorry."

"CLASS! The bell has rung! Sit down and shut up!"

The class does as he says.

"Wow, I did not expect you to do what I said. Hmmm, I was planning on letting you guys just have a free hour."

This gets some cheers.

"But no matter! We'll do an improve exercise! Jade! Get up here and pick a group!"

Uggh. I drag myself up there. "Cat. Andre. Beck. And Tori."

She glares at me as she comes up. This is the same group Tori picked when she got back at me for pouring coffee on her head. What a coincidence. Maybe it was supposed to be this way. I look down bat Robbie and see him pouting that I didn't pick him. Sucker.

"Alright class, give us a scene!"

"A tropical island!" yells out one student.

"That's infested with zombies!" yells another.

"Alright, we have a zombie infected island! Give us a situation!"

"One of them is a zombie is trying to eat the others!" shouts Robbie.

"NO! Any other ideas?" shouts Sikowitz.

"The zombies are getting close to them so they need to hide!"

"Alright! Now gives us a letter to start at!"

"Q!"

Oh great. Q. How I am I supposed to start a scene with Q?

"Jade?! Are you not listening? Start the scene!" shouts Sikowitz.

"Quick! Get down, the zombies are coming." I shout, already getting into character.

"Beck! R!"

"Ready everyone? My trap is about to catch a zombie!"

"Andre! S!"

"Shut up man! That trap'll never work!"

"Tori, what do you think we should do?" asks Cat in a delightful manner.

"Under-ground! We can hide underground!"

"Vega are you serious? Do you have any idea how long that would take?" I say, not meaning to sound so poisonous.

"Would both of you cut it out?" asks Beck.

"Yeah, what he said!"

Sikowitz makes a timer noise. "Andre! You're out! You forgot about X! Sit down!"

"Oh man." Says Andre as he pathetically sits back down.

"Cat! Keep it going at X!"

"X is my favorite letter! What about you guys?" Sikowitz puts his face in his palm.

"You have no idea how much trouble we're in, Cat!" shouts Tori.

"Zombies! They're getting closer!"

"All of you be quiet! I can deal with them. Wait, no! Aaahh!" Beck pretends to be dragged away buy zombies.

"Beck! The zombies took him!"

"Cat, if you hadn't been messing around Beck would still be here!" shouts Tori.

"I'm sorry!" shouts Cat angrily.

Another timer noise. "CAT! You're out! The letter D comes after C! Everyone knows that!"

"Arrgh! You hate me!"

He hands her a piece of chocolate and she quietly sits back down.

"Jade! Keep it going at D!"

"Do you think we should go after him?"

"Everyone we know is zombified. I don't think one person will make a difference."

"For Pete's Sake we need all the help we can get!"

"Grrrr! I'm gonna eat your brains!" shouts Beck as he returns, zombified.

"Help us! Anyone!" I shout.

"I know what we can do!" yells Tori as she stage punches Beck in the face.

"Jolly gum drops that hurt!" shouts the zombified Beck.

"Karate. I like your style Tori." I wink at her hoping she smile. She smiles. Yes! It's working!

"Let me teach you some of my moves sometime." She's flirting right back. I love this scene.

"Me eat you!" shouts Beck. Now he's kind of just making things awkward.

"NO!" I shout, stage kicking him and he falls over.

"Would you guys stop hitting me?"

Timer noise. "Beck! You're out! O comes after N!"

He doesn't complain like everyone else.

"Tori! Keep it going at O!"

"Oh my god! This is getting scary."

"Please, calm down. I'll keep you safe."

"Quicksand! Watch out we almost walked right into it!"

"Really dangerous! I hate this island." I'm just scrambling for words so I can keep talking to Tori.

"Stupid zombies."

"Time to leave. I think the two of us could make it."

"Until we can find out how, we should stay here."

"Vacating the island would be easier."

"What is it with you and leaving?" She directs this question straight at me.

"Xylophones are at my house and I miss them."

"You don't think I want to be with you?" she is definitely talking about the kiss now.

I look at the class and they are all befuddled, wanting to know what happens next. But before I can talk I hear a timer noise.

"Jade! You hesitated! Both of you sit down!"

As we're walking down she whispers to me "We'll talk at auditions."

I grin like a maniac when I sit down. When class ends I head to music class. We had our performances and mine and Robbie's got a lot of cheers, especially from Tori. She was definitely lightening up.

After all my classes were over, I headed to the auditorium. I push the doors open and walk in.