The first time that Jade drives a car, she is fourteen and half asleep.

Eighth grade is almost over and both Cat and Jade are waiting for their audition dates in a couple of weeks. It's a Friday night and Jade is lying in her bed asleep, which is understandable considering that is just after midnight. The silence of the night is broken by the shrill ring of her cell phone. Jade nearly falls out of bed trying to answer it. She is groggy and her voice is deep with sleep.

"What?"

"…"

"Who is this?"

"…Jade."

"Cat?"

"…"

"Cat, why are you calling me in the middle of the night?"

"You said…you said to call if I ever needed…I'm sorry! I didn't know who else to call. I'm sorry— "

"Cat! What's wrong?"

"I can't get into my house."

"Why?"

"I got locked out."

"Locked…? Where are you now?"

"The park."

"Don't move."

"Why?"

"Just stay there, I'll come get you."

"OK."

Hanging up, Jade quickly pulls on a sweatshirt and a pair of shoes before tiptoeing down stairs. Briefly, she wonders if she could be a ninja before she almost trips over her own feet on the last step. She doesn't fall, but curses herself mentally. Straining, she tries to hear if she's waken anyone up. After what she deems an appropriate amount of time she moves on, grabbing her mother's car keys from the dish by the front door and sneaking out of the house.

Climbing into her mother's shiny compact, Jade starts the car like she's seen done a million times before. Putting the car in reverse, she backs out of the driveway. The first couple of blocks are jerky and she almost gets lost not being able to read the street signs in the dark, but she's always been a quick learner and makes it the rest of the way with ease.

Arriving at the park, Jade tries to look for Cat. She contemplates honking the horn, but decides not to, not wanting to bring unnecessary attention to herself. She then thinks about calling the girl, but realizes that she forgot her phone in her room. So, killing the engine, Jade gets out of the car and walks toward the park. She finds Cat easily enough, sitting in the fake tower at the top of the slide.

"Cat," Jade calls. She hears Cat's yelp of surprise before she says quickly, "Get down here so that we can go."

Cat slides down the slide and runs over to Jade, hugging the other girl tightly.

"I was so scared," Cat says into Jade's shoulder.

"Hey, it's alright." Jade says awkwardly, "Let's go. It's cold."

Cat nods and Jade leads her to the borrowed car.

"You drove?" Cat's eyes widen in surprise

"Yeah. 'You think I was going to walk?"

"But…that's illegal."

"So, let's not tell anyone."

Cat thinks about it a moment before saying, "OK!"

The ride back is quiet and uneventful.

Cat walks into Jade's room a little awe. She stares at the butterflies on the wall and smiles to herself before flopping on the bed.

"I'm tired," she mumbles, her face buried in Jade's bedspread.

Jade stares at her for a moment before climbing into bed as well.

"Go to sleep."

"OK."

(It's not until the next morning that Cat explains how her parents had taken her brother to visit her grandparents and had forgotten her. Jade literally couldn't hate them more at that point.)

Jade doubts her mother even noticed that her car was parked crookedly the next morning, or that Cat Valentine had not been there the night before. If she did notice, Jade decides, she just didn't care.

The first time that Cat dyes her hair red is shortly after that night. At school, Cat tells her that she did it to match red velvet cupcakes (her favorite), but Jade suspects it was to make it harder for her parents not to notice her.