At midnight
"can't sleep dear" asks Julia
"no but I tried, I'm just worried that I'm going insane and that I'm going to lose Jade, I can't sleep with this feeling that I'm going to lose her" says Tori
"you really do love her huh" asks Julia
"more than I thought I would but I don't want to make mistakes, sure I can feel my emotions now but I feel like anyone could make me have feelings for them, maybe you could find a reason to have me stay home all week and that Jade has to stay here with me" says Tori
"that's a little drastic Tori, how about this, if you can't make it through Monday without feeling like you're getting feelings for someone besides Jade or Cat then I'll talk to the principal about what can be done until you're better" says Julia
"the principal won't understand, he wouldn't believe that emotional vacuum disorder is even real, my dad's been talking about the possibility that it's what I had for months, nobody took him seriously, not even my doctor" says Tori
"now now you let me deal with your principal, you just focus on surviving, my advice, keep Jade as close as possible, even if the only option you have is texting her, I'll have your dad tell your teachers what's up so you don't get in trouble if you fall asleep or start texting Jade" says Julia
"we aren't allowed to have our phones on in class anymore, not unless it's a medical emergency and I don't think this qualifies as a medical emergency" says Tori
"risk of death from lack of sleep qualifies Tori, now go back and cuddle Jade, it's going to be an aftershock ridden morning, we had a quake a few hours ago, not like a big one but bad enough that quite a few people got badly injured " says Julia as Tori nods and heads back to bed
Later that morning
"so beach" asks Tori
"don't you want to talk to my mom first" asks Jade confused about Tori's sudden change of mood regarding her mental health
"I couldn't sleep last night, I talked to her, she has my back, at least at school anyway let's get going, my dad dropped off some clothes this morning" says Tori
"did you sleep at all last night, I'm worried about you" says Jade
"I slept at least six hours, probably more, I don't know specifics about how long I slept, all I know is I fell back asleep at about one thirty this morning and it's almost lunchtime" says Tori
"how long have you been up and would you like to get something to eat before we get to the beach or something else" asks Jade
"I haven't been up that long, maybe half an hour, I've mostly been watching you sleep" says Tori
"ok that was cute, so food, yes or no" says Jade chuckling at the image of Tori watching her sleep
"maybe something small and a drink" says Tori
"ok" says Jade nuzzling Tori and walking her to her car
At the beach an hour later as Tori and Jade lay down on their beach towels
"hey Tori what's it feel like to be brain damaged" asks Ryder
"excuse me" says Tori
"I said what's it feel like to be brain damaged" says Ryder as Jade gets up
"you might want to pick on someone your own size jerk" says Jade
"Jade, please don't, he's not worth the effort" says Tori
"aww gone soft have we" says Ryder
"no I just have better things to do than keeping you in your place" says Tori
"oh yeah like what selling yourself to this freak" asks Ryder
"ok that's it, I've had enough" says Jade as she easily knocks Ryder onto the ground and sprains his ankle
"ok fine we'll leave you alone, gosh you could have just asked us to leave" says Beck
"this is a new low for you Beck, you do know that he's being investigated by the FBI for rape right" says Tori as Ryder freaks out
"who told you that, your dad doesn't have access to that" asks Ryder absolutely freaking out
"who says he isn't the one who reported you" says Tori
"who was it Ryder, who were you dumb enough to rape" asks Beck
"that would be your ex girlfriend Beck, you were wrong to leave Naomi, he's the reason you thought she cheated, Ryder stole her virginity" says Tori as Beck loses it on Ryder
"that's it Ryder, I'm done believing you, either turn yourself in or I'll make you turn yourself in" says Beck, halfway redeeming himself
"ugh fine but you owe me for this" says Ryder
"oh do I, I'll go talk to Naomi and get the absolute truth" says Beck as Ryder is shamed into turning himself in
"I'm surprised you believed me Beck, you haven't done much of that lately" says Tori
"you weren't lying were you because Naomi really did make me happy, it broke my heart to break up with her" says Beck
"and how would I benefit from lying to you, I lie and Ryder attempts to kill me, the only reason he didn't was because of Jade and because I shocked him with the truth" says Tori
"she's my cousin, that's how Tori found out about the rape" says Jade
"is Naomi really unstable, that's what people kept telling me while I was dating her" asks Beck
"only when left alone which is how Ryder got the chance to take advantage of her, you must have left her with him or something, maybe you went to a party and left her with Ryder or something, she's not the kind of person that fights back against abusers, she has a tendency to think that bad things happen to her for a reason, for example being raped, her response would be 'well maybe he was lonely and needed company' also to being accused of cheating she'd say 'well I guess I'm just too stupid for them', she's very self conscious and thinks everything bad that happens is her fault" says Jade
"do you happen to know where she is, I need to apologize to her for accusing her of cheating, she really is the one I want to be with" says Beck
"oh she's on this beach somewhere, she loves the beach but she's not going to trust you, she's not going to make it easy Beck, you won't find her, you have to talk to her parents, if you accused her of cheating she won't feel safe anywhere near you until her parents say that you're ok" says Jade
"wait but if she's unstable why would her parents let her come to the beach, possibly alone" asks Beck
"because she loves the beach, she plays by the water, building sand castles and stuff, honestly if people let her enter she could win the LA sandcastle contest with ease" says Jade
"yeah they are pretty amazing, she only showed me her sandcastle building once, the rest of the time on the beach she'd spend basically glued to my side" says Beck
"yeah she gets unhealthily attached to people, though the fact that she didn't spend all the time making sandcastles should have been your first clue that she wasn't cheating on you, if she was cheating it would either mean she's lost interest in you or you've stopped making her feel safe, part of a person's job when you're dating someone is to make them feel safe, failing that is literally the only reason she'd leave someone or even think about cheating" says Jade
"I sure could learn a lot from someone like you Jade, Tori I'm sorry if I've been offensive to you or Cat, Ryder isn't a great influence and after breaking our music teachers guitar last month the police require him to be with someone at all times so they can keep an eye on his anger issues" says Beck
"she's a little off today, she has over a dozen hours of sleep debt and its affecting her" says Jade
"yeah Andre told me she has some sort of emotional vacuum disorder thing, apparently Cat told him though we aren't sure if it's real" says Beck
"oh it's real, you can thank Cat's brother for it, emotional vacuum disorder comes with complex post traumatic stress disorder, which he gave her by ripping her from Cat and then their parents chose not to tell Cat the truth, anyway Tori only just got closure on that part of her life yesterday, the sleep debt makes healing harder, it makes her more susceptible to even the slightest bit of flirting, she'd have flirted with you if Ryder hadn't been with you, she's scared about going to school tomorrow, she's afraid that she's going to misunderstand people's words and take them as flirting, which gets a flirty reaction as a response, she's afraid she won't be able to stop herself and people will misunderstand her intentions, her and I only have two classes together so I can't protect her all day everyday at school" says Jade as Tori leans on her, the heat almost putting her to sleep
"I'll talk to Andre, Robbie and Cat and we will see if we can come up with a plan to keep her safe" says Beck
"the thing is she'd likely be less controllable towards you, Andre and Robbie, Cat can't be involved in protecting her because it might completely envelope Tori back into a somewhat forced relationship with Cat, Tori isn't strong enough to stop herself from kissing Cat just yet" says Jade
"I didn't say she'd be involved in protecting Tori but that doesn't mean she can't help make a plan, she knows Tori better than we do, her input is important in this case" says Beck
"fine but she needs to give Tori space, Tori's already confused and scared, we don't need Cat making it worse by being clingy" says Jade
"understood, now enjoy your beach day and don't mind the people staring, they're staring at Tori, most of them have never seen her like this and I think someone leaked some of her music so they're on edge because it's amazing and they're afraid she's not long for this world" says Beck
"she released them this morning because she's about to lose the recording equipment she'd been renting and was hoping that her music would be popular enough to warrant record labels asking to sign her because at the moment her job pays below minimum wage and she's barely scraping by" says Jade
"couldn't you help pay for the equipment, don't you have money" asks Beck
"that was my original plan once id gotten my bank account unfrozen, long story but basically my dad's name is on my account for supervisory reasons, he didn't want me spending too much and the police during the investigation into my dad, they made the bank freeze any accounts with his name on it, obviously not expecting that his name would be on his only child's account, unfortunately Tori's dad says that the company has already made the decision that they've waited long enough for a reasonable payment and will be removing the equipment this week, basically even if I did offer to pay what Tori owes they'd turn me down" says Jade
"maybe you could buy her an equivalent set of music equipment, because honestly her songs are VERY popular in LA and people want more, it's like her music is a drug" says Beck
"I don't know what kind of money you think I have access to but my account was just unfrozen on Friday and the kind of equipment she was renting is worth tens of thousands of dollars, probably even more than that, she was renting equipment that record labels use, she was maybe making five hundred dollars every month and they'd take almost all of it, leaving her just enough to get lunch at school and even then her dad stepped in and gave her some of his money just so she could afford to pay what the school charges for snacks, drinks and lunch for a week, even IF I had the kind of money that could get her that kind of equipment, my bank would be furious as they consider that kind of spending to be reckless and could even limit how much I could spend every day, Tori wouldn't want me to take that kind of risk" says Jade
"I understand that, I'm sorry if I assumed how much you had access to, it's just there is an outcry for more of her music and I thought maybe you could help" says Beck
"it's not for a lack of me trying, most of her music that she's written are about cries for justice, about fighting against discrimination and finding love, the thing that people at school don't realize is that I'm helping Tori because of how I feel, last year she was buying a dress at a store and I was behind her in line, when it was her time to pay she got very upset because her debit card kept declining, she tried about seven times, at the same time I couldn't stop admiring just how beautiful she was, it was after her card was declined for the seventh time that I, without saying a word to her tapped my card on the card reader, paying for the dress she was trying to buy, her reaction was one of confusion and sadness, the cashier after a few minutes told her that her dress was paid for and that she could go, I only learned on Friday that she never wore the dress because she was upset that she couldn't afford it, the thing is that dress was the last big thing I bought before the bank froze my account, I'd spent every day after that drawing Tori in that dress, though I didn't know her name until I showed up at school in Sikowitz' class and he said her name, the thing is, until Tori recovers, any relationship with her is going to be vastly unstable, including how she feels about me, sure she is attached to me now but that may not be the case in a week, my mom's a therapist so I know that I'm pouring love, time and effort into a relationship that could crumble like Los Angeles streets during bad earthquakes, I'm willing to take the risk because whoever Tori does end up with deserves a stable Tori" says Jade
"people can be stupid Jade, me included, you shouldn't care about what other people think of you when you're helping someone knowing what you know" says Beck
"yeah ok that's great and all but that's not going to stop someone from calling the cops on me if they think I'm brainwashing Tori, I've heard things Beck, I know that's what they think I'm doing" says Jade
"could your mom claim Tori as a patient and that you're just keeping an eye on Tori for her" asks Beck
"Tori can't afford therapy and she's not on her dad's insurance policy with the LAPD anymore because she's turning seventeen and that's their cut-off, they expect Tori to get her own insurance, also my mom legally can't lie about Tori being a patient and given that she's my mom they're less likely to believe her anyway, they might believe her dad though" says Jade
"don't you have health insurance, can't you put her on like your policy or something" asks Beck getting desperate to find a way to explain the situation to people
"it was my dad's policy and it was terminated when he was wrongly convicted, unfortunately they don't care about how terminating a whole family insurance policy will affect people, though yes I could have put her on my part of the policy if it were active but I'm not about to ask favors of the justice system that put my dad away for a crime he didn't commit" says Jade
"my dad works for an insurance company, was it by chance Franklin insurance group that the policy was with" says Beck
"yeah I'm pretty sure it was them, anyway please let me enjoy what time I have with Tori, I don't know how long it will last" says Jade
"ok, last question, is Tori dying" asks Beck
"it has crossed my mind, the problem is I don't know the answer to that, it's just that things don't tend to go my way, people tend to take the people I love away from me" says Jade as Beck nods and leaves
At Beck's 2 hours later
"you wanted to talk to me about something Beck" asks Mr. Oliver
"did your company terminate Jade West's families health insurance" asks Beck
"her father was arrested and convicted of murdering a police officer, it's company policy to terminate the health insurance of a convicted criminal, they don't think about the effect of policy termination on the family, they just want convicted criminals off their policy list" says Mr. Oliver
"and you think that's fair, Tori needs access to medications and so does Jade, Jade's mom spent a lot of what money she had left making sure Jade had her medication, there was a mixup with the police and they froze Jade's account simply because her dad's name was on it even though it was just so he'd be notified if she spent a ton of money, Jades mom says that Jade was raised to not take advantage of being rich, anyway as a result of what Jade's mom was doing by making sure Jade had access to her medication they were behind on their mortgage payments meaning they almost became homeless" says Beck
"I thought Tori was on her father's insurance no" asks Mr. Oliver
"it seems not, at least not as of today, apparently the police have a policy about removing seventeen year olds from their policies and expecting them to get their own insurance" says Beck
"you could always open an insurance policy and put them on it, you are obsessed with them after all" says Mr. Oliver
"but that would be very expensive and I don't have THAT much money" says Beck questioning the legality of such a move
"I'm sure that Jade and Tori's father would compensate you, besides its about time you got an insurance policy that fits your needs" says Mr. Oliver
"is that even legal, I'm honesty not sure that they'd even want to share an insurance policy with me" says Beck
"hey Beck, they're your friends, Tori especially, she'd see it as an insult if you didn't at least offer to help" says Mr. Oliver
"Jade's being accused of brainwashing Tori at school, even if I offered she'll probably say no" says Beck
"son, by getting involved you'd be spreading the blame between you and Jade and they're less likely to accuse her of things if it's linked to you, honestly I'm not sure why Tori hasn't jumped you yet" says Mr. Oliver
"Ryder used her for a good grade and nearly got it, she'd gone out of her way to make him food and it didn't make him feel guilty, after she found out, she exposed his ways to everyone at school and he was suspended for several weeks, but it left a bad taste in her mouth about trusting boys, she may be bisexual but she won't date boys, not anymore, I've long come to terms with it, all I can be is a good friend, besides right now she really seems to like Jade, I would never force Tori to date me instead of her" says Beck
"the least you can do is offer to share your insurance policy with them, the newly insured at Franklin get three slots but you only pay for the slots you use and if someone has a mental health issue the rate is discounted for that slot, you care for them Beck, it's not in your nature to let them suffer, you may not like it but you have a lot of influence at that school, if anyone could change people's minds it's you, you or Andre" says Mr. Oliver
"ok so how do I apply for health insurance" asks Beck
"you email them, I'll give it to you" says Mr. Oliver writing down the email for new insurance requests and handing it to Beck
"and you're sure they'll approve me, you're not trying to make me look like a fool are you, because I swear I have been looking, nobody wants to insure someone my age" says Beck wary as his dad is known to be a practical joker
"when it comes to health insurance in America I don't joke around, you can't survive in America without it, you'll want the comprehensive plan, it's the best deal for what you get" says Mr. Oliver
"and you're sure Tori and Jade will accept my offer" asks Beck still unsure about the plan
"Tori might hesitate but Jade would be stupid to say no, anyway you should go write the email, after that you need to study, you have a test tomorrow" says Mr. Oliver as Beck nods and heads upstairs