Jade couldn't breathe when she got home. Her eyes were foggy and filled with the tears she wanted to hold back from showing her parents. The last thing she needed was for her dad to be going ape shit over Beck hurting her, and her mother canceling everything she had planned and sit with her until she stopped crying. It wasn't worth the attention.

In and out. In and out. In and out.

She had to close her eyes to concentrate on her breathing because it was so uneven and desperate. She felt like she was going to pass out from the exhaustion. Her mother's car was already in the driveway, so she knew there was one person who she had to manage to avoid for the night.

Her hands moved from the tight grip she had on the steering wheel, to her glove box, trying to find her spare pack of make up remover. It would have been hard to sneak past a mother with mascara and eyeliner dripping down each of her cheeks.

She was surprised at how well her thoughts were processing in her brain, thinking more maturely than she felt she could. She had anticipated not being able to think, wanting to lie in her room with mega shutters blocking out all the sun, and maybe having on an old movie on repeat. Stuffing her face with everything she could think of to eat. Jade was even debating on smoking pot, or doing some form of narcotic that used to make her happy. It may work out this time, too.

After about ten minutes of calming down, she finally took the keys out of the ignition.

The front door was already open, so that made for a smooth walk into the house... in theory. If Molly hadn't noticed the sound of the door sliding over the front mat, she could have been up the stairs already.

"Jade, is that you?" her mother called from the living room.

She sighed, and let out a breath she didn't know she was holding back, "Yeah. I'm home."

"Do you want some dinner or something?" Her mother asked. Jade heard the footsteps start from the living room and start to walk towards her. She needed to start up the stairs before her mom could get a good look at her face.

"No thanks, mom. I had a big lunch, and now I'm really tired so I think I'm gonna crash in my room..." she played off.

"Oh... it's only five thirty though... Is something wrong?" She asked. She could tell something was wrong, but not exactly what. It was her motherly instinct.

"Nope. I just had a long day, and I think it's almost that time of the month." That was always a safe excuse for any girl. The period card can get her out of a load of trouble, even at school.

"Okay, Sweetheart. Goodnight. I love you," her mother said sweetly, giving her a smile.

"I love you too, mommy," it hurt, but she sent a smile back to her mother and headed up to her room, closing the door gently behind her.

She took off all of her clothes, leaving on her bra and instead of wearing her normal underwear, she switched that article of clothing to an old pair of boxers she had bought years ago.

Her feelings weren't making up their minds. She wanted to cry, to scream, to tear apart her room, to wallow in self pity, to write everything she could think of down and send it to the man who was ripping her heart to shreds. Her worst thought was to run back to Beck, tell him absolutely how much he meant to her, and beg him to tell her everything was just a bad dream. She wanted nothing more to talk to him, and force him to comfort her, but she knew that it would be the weakest point in her life if she did.

The phone in the pocket of her discarded jeans was vibrating so hard and constant it looked like her pants had a mind of their own. She didn't doubt it was Beck trying to get her attention.

The free will she used to be able to control so well was gone. She found herself absentmindedly reaching off her bed and grabbing the jeans off the floor. Her heart was beating a mile a minute as she saw how many missed calls and texts she was receiving, and the numbers were still counting; thirty two missed calls, seventeen voice mails, and twenty seven text messages.

She ignored the voice mails and the missed calls, but found her eyes scanning over every text message:

"Jade, please talk to me. Tori kissed me, I had nothing to do with it."

"Baby, I love you. Talk to me."

"You're scaring me, doll. Please. I'm begging you... just answer something..."

"I'll show up at your house if you don't talk to me."

"I need to know what you're thinking."

"Tori's just a friend. I don't like her, I swear on everything we have."

"I love you, Jade. I'm so so so sorry... I need you."

The words hurt her more than anything. How could he sink so low as to tell her that he loved her after all of this? He was a no good, cheating, asshole who just fucked around with everyone's emotions. And to think she thought he was different.

Her make up was running down her cheeks again as she clutched the phone tightly in her hand, rereading every text message over and over again. She didn't know what to do with herself. Her fingers tapped away at her keypad on her phone:

"Come over... I need you..." she hesitated before she pressed send, but she didn't know what else to do.

A reply later, "I'll be there in three minutes."

She knew that she was going to regret calling on him, but she didn't have a choice. Her heart was shattering into a million pieces, and he was one of the only people who could have a chance at fixing it. It really did make her feel a little better that he didn't ask what the problem was, he just knew she needed him.

"Jade?" Her mother gently knocked.

She brought her black comforter up and started scrubbing the make up off her face as she let out a muffled, "yeah?"

"Your dad needs me at the restaurant, is it okay if I leave?"

"Yeah, why wouldn't it be?" Jade asked in a mocked sarcastic tone.

"I was just making sure you were going to be okay by yourself."

"I'll be fine, I promise."

"Okay..." her mother still sounded on edge, "Call me if you need anything."

"Will do."

She listened carefully to her mother's footsteps as they trotted down the stairs and out the front door. Jade heard the lock shut, so that means that she actually had to leave her room to let him in. She found a very comfortable tank top that was all black buried under her comforter.

Molly started barking from down the steps. She must have heard a car pull up because Jade didn't hear anything like a knock or the doorbell.

She took it upon herself to meet him at the door after one quick look in the mirror. She didn't want to let him know that she'd been crying. Too bad, her eyes were already puffy and still had traces of water brimming along her eyelid. Right now, she didn't even care.

All she wanted was for him to hold her, and listen to her talk and complain. It was what she needed.

Her feet bounced down the stairs as her hand slid down the wooden railing. As soon as she touched the last step, the door was being beaten on. She pulled her composure together as she opened the door, glad to see he was alone.

"You rang, my darling?" he questioned with a smirk.

Sadly, his humor wasn't appreciated. Her body went against her and began to shake with uncontrollable sobbing, and without his arms catching her, she would have collapsed from the exhausting pain she was being put through.

"It's okay, Jade. I've got you," he whispered, stroking her hair gently. "I'm not going anywhere."

Beck sat on his bed in almost utter silence. His fingers couldn't dial fast enough, and his arm would have gotten stronger from every motion it was making; it went up to his ear, down to his leg, up to his ear, down to his leg over thirty dozen times it would seem.

He was desperate to get a hold of her. He couldn't bare not talking to her about this. They always talked everything out, and it would do nothing but make them stronger in the long run. He just needed to get a few words into her mind and everything would be perfect all over again... right?

That was all he could tell himself.

Losing her scared him to death and back. This was nothing he had ever felt before. She was everything he needed, and everything he couldn't imagine he would ever want.

From the way she would punch him if he was being a little bit stupid, the way she would smile at the little jokes only she understood, and the way she made him feel. It was perfect, and that was the only way that he could ever describe it.

Describe her.

He had so many plans for the future with her. How their wedding would have gone off without a hitch and just the way she always told him it would go. He could remember with amazing detail exactly what she had said. Not to mention his view of the kids they would have; her gorgeous eyes, his bone structure, and the combination of their personalities would make the greatest babies in the world. They always used to joke about how the earth couldn't handle it.

It made him have a small, sad, smile. But it quickly turned to nothing close to a smile, but the exact opposite. He was mad at Tori. Furious, angry, anything to describe how fucking pissed off this man was at her.

He played the day back in his head as he beat himself up for not seeing the signs.

I finally pulled into the driveway after almost twenty minutes of straight traffic that clogged every road I was trying to take home. Traffic had to be so much different an hour from when I normally got off school, just because I was in a hurry to get out of public and into the comfort of my own trailer.

I grabbed the key I always placed on the inside of the thermometer that had been broken for years. It was the perfect hiding place for a key I would have lost on a daily basis if I would have kept it in my possession.

The air was cold, just how I always liked it, as soon as I walked in. It would circulate through the trailer and no cold would escape thanks to the bullet proof glass that was over every window.

I was just starting to unbutton the shirt I had on from earlier so I could switch into something more comfortable, and debate on what I was going to do for the rest of the night when someone lightly knocked on my door.

"Who is it?" I called. It couldn't have been my parents or anyone else who would have been in school. Or maybe it was Jade. When no one answered me, I opened the door with a hopeful expression, "Jade? Oh... what're you doing here?"

"So, if I was Jade, I would be welcomed a little better?" Tori asked with a smirk.

"No... sorry, I was just hoping it would be. What do you need?" I asked, not letting her come inside.

"Can I know what happened with you and Jade? I'm a good listener, and obviously you're the type of person who holds things in."

"And how would you know that?"

"Because you haven't told anyone what the problem with you is," Tori tried to bait me. "You haven't told anyone else about what happened."

"Because it's none of their business," I explained.

"Why not? We're like your best friends," She said before she huffed and whined, "it's hot out here. Let me come inside."

I said yes, thinking about all the harm it couldn't do, and moved away from the entrance so she could come in. It kind of bothered me how she instantly went to my bed and sat down. Normally I have to invite people, or at least give them permission to sit on my bed, and she just does it. She just found me another pet peeve.

"So sit down next to ol' momma Tori and tell me all about it," she said in a mock old lady voice.

It made me smile, "What was that?"

"My grandma voice," Tori said shyly with a smile. I sat down next to her.

"I like it, do more."

But she didn't bother to add an accent to the next thing she said, "Beck. Is Jade really worth all of this?"

"What?" I couldn't believe she just had the nerve to say that.

"She treats you like shit from what I've seen. She's ignoring you right now."

"But we're in a fight and we have to have a cool off period."

"Couples that are going to work end up talking through this stuff."

"You don't know anything about our relationship, stay off it." I said getting defensive. She can't be serious right now.

"I can't do that if I'm going to be a good friend. I care about you, Beck. You're too amazing for her, and she doesn't deserve you. I think you know that, deep down," Tori said, putting a cool hand against my bare chest. What on God's green Earth was she doing? She started moving her head closer to mine, letting our lips fall in level with each other. Her voice turned dark, and quiet, "You can do better than her."

Before I realized what was going on, her hand was pushing me back down against the sheets of my bed, and her lips were crushing down onto mine. I couldn't figure out why she was doing this, but my instinct told me to kiss back and my head was trying to fight it off. Her lips tasted like strawberry. I hated strawberry flavored anything.

I was just about to push her gently off of me, but I felt the weight shift from over me to next to me, and a screech of a girl echoing in my ear. The screech only one person could have mustered and sound so perfect.

My girlfriend...

The memory beat at his head. It hurt to hear the screech echo in his ears all over again, and he couldn't stop from replaying it.

The hurt expression, the agonizing look in her eye, the sound of her heart shattering to the ground.

He felt his eyes burn with the taunting of tears that brimmed under his eyelids. He couldn't believe he could have been that stupid. The girl who meant the world to him, for a girl who was worth nothing at all.

Beck ran his hands through his hair and pulled gently in frustration. Why did he feel like he had to break everything around him? Luckily, he could refrain for the time being. He still had hope for this to all work out. The only problem was that he was dealing with Jade. The most stubborn girl he had ever met.

She wasn't returning anything from him. No matter how much he begged and pleaded, she was ignoring his existence. It hurt so bad... so bad all rational thought was shoved out of his head.

He was grabbing his keys and heading out the door before he could stop himself. He knew exactly where he was going, and as of right now, he had no intention of stopping.

The ride to her house was a giant blur because his adrenaline had kicked in; what would she do if he showed up? Kick him in the shin, kick him in the family jewels, or kill him on sight.

He almost slammed on the breaks down the street from her house. What if... her dad was home? Could she have told him everything? A giant knot slipped down Beck's throat. All the threats flew into his head, along with all of his remorse. His phone vibrated in the seat next to him.

To his horror, it was an update from TheSlap on Jade's relationship status. Jade West is now Single.

If he wasn't already dying inside, that did it. His chest started sinking, and he forgot how to breathe. The lights from her house were on, and he was so close. That meant he needed to keep it together for a few more minutes.

To be honest, a part of his feeling was that of pure rage. How could she just change that without him knowing they were broken up.

He turned into her driveway, thinking that this was the last chance he had to leave and ignore trying to talk to her. He hoped that she wouldn't let him in... it would have given him more time to figure out what to say to her, and how to explain all of this to her.

Beck opened the door to his truck and closed it gently behind him, taking a deep breath. Every step felt like an eternity, and before he knew it, his finger was pressing against the faint glow of her doorbell. He pressed twice like he always did, even though it should have tipped her off to not open the door.

Once again, his guard was thrown off by someone else being in the house with Jade. He could taste metal as he watched Jade's expression change from a little happy to horrified and confused. Beck switched his gaze from her to him, glaring as hard as he could, "so this is how you rebound, huh?"

Jade couldn't stop the tears from falling freely down her face. The guy held her tightly as the sobs shook both of them as she tried to control them. His only thought was to drag her to the living room and put her on the couch. He let her arms stay wrapped around his neck in a death grip, while his hands lifted her up bridal style as he carried her and put her on the black, velvet, couch.

She instantly grabbed the top of her knees and held them against her chest as she cried.

Although this was the first time he had seen her at such a low, he knew exactly what to do to cheer her up a little... or at least make her comfortable. He started off by turning the T.V on and searched for something she loved to watch, and the first thing he could find were old reruns of the earlier South Park episodes. Then he grabbed a blanket off the lazy boy recliner and wrapped it around her, before leaving and going into the kitchen and preparing her a single cup of coffee. Black, just how she always used to order it.

He brought it back into the living room and let her hold it when it was still steaming hot. She took a sip, even though the steam was pouring off the top and into the air. Her face showed no sign of flinching or quivering, just the same sad expression as earlier without the tears involved, "Thanks, Justin."

"It's what I'm here for, doll," he sounded so sweet and so sincere. "Now tell your old buddy, old pal, what's going on?"

"Beck..." she couldn't get out anymore than that, and she was already choking up. He put a comforting arm around her shoulders and pulled her close to his chest.

"Do I need to go beat him up?" he asked in all seriousness.

"No..." Jade said. "If anyone was going to do it, it would be me."

"What did he do to you, Jade? I've never seen you like this before, and Lily's never told me about you ever acting this way because of anyone," Justin tried to pick apart her brain.

"I walked into his house... trailer, whatever the hell I'm supposed to call it," Jade said with a frustrated voice. She was trying not to replay the image in her head, but it seems as though it wanted her to see it, "And I see the fabulous Tori Vega on top of my boyfriend with her tongue down his fucking throat."

"I'm gonna kill him," Justin said through clenched teeth. His fist was clenching around the blanket he held over her. Jade grabbed his opposite hand and looked at him.

"Just don't. It won't help anything," Jade whispered.

He could see her hurt expression, and knew it was better to stay off the subject of beating him to a whimpering pulp, "What to know what's going to help?"

She nodded. Anything to take away the pain.

He took out his phone and logged off his account on TheSlap, then handing the phone to her, "Change your relationship status."

Her hand was shaking as she gripped the phone. She almost typed in the wrong password because her fingers were quivering. The curser found it's way to her account settings, and she took one last deep breath before changing from in a relationship, to single. It didn't exactly make her feel better, but it made the hole feel a little smaller.

"Feel better yet?" Justin asked in a low voice, pushing the hair out of her face.

She looked up at him, locking her hazel eyes with his deep green ones. Her heart was rushed with old feelings that hadn't fully gone away yet. She had flashbacks of kissing him in a black light lit room with posters of Bob Marley and weed. The sound of rock pulsating through her ears, and the smokey atmosphere of his bedroom. His hands wandering through her hair as he held himself over her. The awkward giggle that would escape every now and then.

Justin began to lean in... his lips parting slightly, his hand reaching up and cupping her cheek, "I would never do that to you, Jade. I love you like he can't."

His lips were inches away, and he would have gotten away with it too, if it wasn't for the meddling doorbell.

"What're you talking about?" Jade asked, still having the look of utter confusion on her face.

"Why is he here?" He spat out, changing his attention to her, "I come over here to tell you how much I love you, and how much I care about you, but you're here in skimpy clothes with another guy. I can't believe you're this kind of girl. I let one mistake happen, and you're already looking for someone else."

"Beck... that's not what it looks like..." Jade felt like she had to explain herself. She couldn't figure out what was going on because her mind was foggy enough as it was. From Justin to Beck, from Justin to Beck. It bounced around like it was nobody's business.

"Not what it looks like? You're in your house alone with another guy!" Beck yelled, causing the motion light on the garage to go off.

"Are you fucking kidding me?" Justin said from the background. He walked in front of Jade and got too close to Beck, "You just made out with another fucking girl, and Jade needed someone to talk to and since it just so happened to be a man, you're uncomfortable with it. She's been the perfect girlfriend, but you're here yelling at her for doing nothing wrong, when she should be kicking your ass right now."

"You don't know what happened..." Beck said through an agonizing tone. It killed him to see her with him, after she had given up everything they had she went running to him. Of all fucking people.

"I know what Jade told me, and you don't deserve her at all. Go back to your whore," Justin told him.

Beck wasn't focusing on that, he was focusing more on Jade's expressions. She couldn't stop staring at Beck. Those eyes told him that she still loved him... but she didn't want to anymore. It hurt the girl too much, therefore it killed him.

"Jade... I'm so sorry, but you have to listen to me. Tori kissed me, I had absolutely nothing to do with it."

"It takes two pairs of lips to kiss, bro." Justin spoke for Jade, and it was pissing Beck off.

"Why don't you mind your own fucking business?" Beck spat.

"If you're hurting Jade, it's my business." Justin growled, taking another step over the line and into Beck's personal space. He was testing him, pushing him.

"Justin, back off." Jade commanded, finally taking charge of the situation. She was out of her awe moment, and into her natural, controlling nature. He couldn't go against her. "Beck. You have to leave."

"What...?" those words shook his entire world.

"You heard me. I need you to leave. I need time. I need to be away from you for a few days." Jade said in a weak tone. She couldn't look him in the eyes.

"Why?" his tone couldn't help but be hurt over this. She was not only his love, but his best friend. "Jade, I can't do this without you. I need to talk to you about this in private, so you can hear me out."

"No. Not now. Maybe sometime later, just not now." Jade pleaded. Her eyes were brimming with tears all over again.

His gaze shifted to Justin and back to her. It was all because of him, "Fine."

He turned around and walked away from her. All he could tell himself was that she wouldn't leave him because of another guy. He would give her the time she needed, and everything would be perfect. All it would take was a little time...

Jade's heart pulled towards Beck as she watched him walk away and get in the pick up truck. Every part of her body was yelling at her to not let him get away except for her mind. That was the only logical thinker of the day. She knew he needed to leave and give her time to heal.

A hand touched her shoulder gently, "Let's go back inside. We can watch reruns all night."

She didn't say a word, but took the lead and went back inside.

Justin watched her go into the house before he fished in his pocket for his phone, "That went good. I didn't get to punch him though. I believe your idea's working out just fine." he pressed the send button on the text and waited a second for a reply.

"Perfect. I'll see you tomorrow for phase two." Tori texted back with a wink face.

He put the phone back in his pocket with a smirk. Everything was going as planned...