Jade's Secrets

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Victorious nor do I have any affiliation with it or any other fan fics!

I returned to the Shapiro household in triumph. My life may still be a mess but right now, things are starting to get better. And I hope it continues to improve. Rex was the first to welcome me home.

"Hey look! The mopey stick man is back!" he shouted.

"Hey man! There you are! Can you hel-wait...you're smiling!" said Robbie.

"You bet I am!" I replied happily.

"So it went well with Jade? You guys made up?"

"Yes sirree! We are officially cool."

"That's great! I'm so glad!"

"Yeah..."

I was genuinely happy Jade was forgiving but something was still bothering me. I had known her long enough to tell when she was being sincere and when she was being phony so I knew she had actually forgiven me. But still, I couldn't help but wonder why she was so against me coming into the house.

"You OK? I thought you'd be psyched."

"Wha? Oh yeah, I totally am."

"Something's up. There's something else you're not telling me."

"Well...here's the thing. Have you ever been in Jade's house?"

"No, I can't say I have. She'd kill me if I went close. Rex would be in shreds."

"Do you know if Tori or Cat have ever been in her house?"

"Not that I'm aware of."

"Has she even let Andre into her house?"

"No, Andre told me they always spend time at his house, never at hers. Why?"

"I don't know. I offered to help her with some chores and she refused to let me in the house. Do you think she's hiding something?"

"It's very possible. Do you think we should look into it?"

I thought about it. I didn't know everything about Jade, no matter how close we got. Jade might have something seriously personal going on in her life that she's just too proud to admit. She could need our help. But at the same time, we had just become friends again. It probably wouldn't be the smartest thing to snoop around, cross a line and jeopardize our friendship once again. Realistically, she could have just given me one last chance, one that I couldn't afford to blow.

"You know what? I'm probably over thinking it. What matters is that all is right with our friendship again. And now I can work on getting the rest of my life back together."

"All right. We've still got a heap of homework to do so we better get it out of the way so we can meet the others for sushi later tonight."

"OK. Now what subject are you working on?"

I'll get back to the story in a bit. But first, here's what I wish I knew before the next time I saw Jade.

Jade POV

Whew...that was a close one. I never let any of my friends into my house. Not even Andre or Beck. If Beck had gotten past me, I would have had a lot of explaining to do if he met my family. There's just something in my life that I never want my friends to find out. The truth is that I hate my parents and they hate me. I can tell you why too.

I was supposed to be watching after my little sister, Jennifer several years back. Jennifer was the angel of the family that everyone loved over me. So I was with her at the park one day and she wanted ice cream so I went to an ice cream truck with her to buy some. While I was ordering it, she ran off into the street. By the time I had realized where she had gone, it was too late. She was hit by a speeding car and died instantaneously.

As much as it hurt to lose my sister, even though I was bitter at her for being the favorite, what was hundreds of times worse was everything that came after. My family never really cared for me but then it just got so much worse when Jennifer died and their wrath has continued to this day. My dad hated me and now whenever he is angry he just yells at me, hits me, or whips me. I still have the welts. Andre is the only one who's seen them and when he asked me, I lied and said they were birthmarks. My mom, who used to be the more fair and caring one, loathed me after what happened to Jennifer. She sunk into a deep depression and eventually lost her job and now she's an alcoholic. Mom isn't awful when she's sober but when she gets drunk, she goes into a rage and beats me. They both blame me for not only killing Jennifer but for ruining our lives.

I'm tired of being blamed for Jennifer's death. I sure as hell didn't do it on purpose and it was years ago. We had to keep moving so that people wouldn't ask questions about my family or if my injuries couldn't be hidden. In fact, Los Angeles is the longest we've ever stayed anywhere. I never really had any friends so I started to become darker as a person. But then Beck came into my life and introduced me to his friends and that's been great. It's the happiest I've been in a long time. But it doesn't change the fact that I have to be scared of going home everyday. That's why I spend so many nights at Andre's. Thankfully, he's a good boyfriend and doesn't ask too many questions. And thank goodness for Beck, Cat, Robbie and even Tori who have been hospitable as well without many questions. It's a good thing my family doesn't care where I am at night. I wonder why I even bother going back to them ever.

I hate having to go through this alone but I have no choice. If I told any of my friends about my parents, they would want to do something about it; maybe confront my parents themselves or call the police. Then I'd be in real trouble and our family would have to move again. Lying to my friends about my life sucks but it's the only way I can keep them. No one can ever know...

Remus'Girl-Jaggie-Bade: Jade explains all and now you know what's up with that.

ScissorLuvCallie: BFF ^^

chocolatecheesecake23164: Yep, she has abusive parents. I'm surprised no one else called it but then again, there hasn't been much foreshadowing of it.

Just Say'n: Well that search would have failed because I was snug in my dorm room working on my Survivor fic at the same time as this one.

livvylovesyou: So much for lying although now I wish I'd thought of that.

666LuvJayC: So far, so good. But based on his past experience, there's still plenty of room for error.

Jeremy Shane: Thank you, come again. =)

SQTGirl: Don't worry about it, it all worked out for her in the end...I'm pretty sure...anyway, yay! We got Jade POV!