After Jade put the scissors back in their proper place, she went up to her room. She changed from her costume to pajamas, and booted up her computer. She was waiting for the phone to ring. She planned out what she was going to say when it rang. She would be calm, kind, and respectful. She didn't want to fight, but as Jade thought about what she'd done over the day, she realized the chance for fighting was high. Repeatedly, she hoped that she wouldn't have to yell or be forceful.
Even if she was waiting for an important phone call, the movie had to be edited. Downloading the footage would take a while, so Jade started to download it. A blue progress bar appeared, and began scrolling across the screen at a slow but steady pace. The number of kilobytes downloaded increased faster than the progress bar moved, but that was to be expected. The file was huge, thanks to the high quality the movie was shot in.
The chorus of "You Don't Know Me", the song Jade had sang at the Full Moon Jam, began to play. Jade sat up. She pushed her hair behind her ears as she pulled herself out of bed. She took her phone from her nightstand. She had already guessed who was calling, but she checked the display anyway.
Incoming Call from:
Beck Oliver
Jade slid her finger across the screen to answer the call. She knew if she ignored him, Beck would just try again a few minutes later. It was better to just get it over with.
"Hey, Jade." Beck's voice was muffled slightly by the phone's speakers.
Jade made her voice sound cheerful. "Hey, Beck. How was your drive home?"
Beck chuckled. "It was fairly good. There wasn't too much traffic, and I got home quickly. But you know that's not what I was calling about. Tori and I had a conversation. We talked about school and the project, and sang along to the new Ke$ha song."
Jade jokingly teased Beck. "And you're sure that's all you did?"
"Yes, Jade, I'm sure. I'm also sure you know I wasn't calling you about my drive home."
Jade looked down. "Yea. You're calling about me."
"Right." Beck sounded more confident now. "Your behavior this week has been so strange. You tensed up when Mr. Gradstein gave us the filming assignment, switched between praising and insulting Tori at lunch, dug your fingernails into the back of my hand, and... What I'm trying to say is you've been snappy all week. Why?"
"Can't a girl be snappy for no reason?" Jade's voice was condescending.
There was a quiet moment as Beck considered his answer. "A person could be snappy for no reason, but then they would be a gank. You are not a gank. I know you are not and will never be a gank, but this week you have been behaving like a rude, crude, nasty gank... and I don't like it. Most of the time when you're acting like this I can at least guess what might be wrong, but here I don't have the slightest clue. My mind draws a blank."
The computer pinged to tell Jade the footage had finished downloading. Jade opened her movie editing software. Jade imported the footage and another progress bar appeared. This one was slower than the first.
Beck's voice became somber. "Could you help me understand?"
Acting on instinct, Jade laughed. "There's nothing to understand. If there was, you would have figured it out."
"I know, Jade. You only act like this when you're hiding something, and I hate it. I hate feeling locked out of the loop. I'm your boyfriend. You can tell me anything you need to. I love you."
"I love you too..."
"But it doesn't feel like you love me, or even care about me."
Jade's muscles tensed. "Becket Oliver, you know that's no-"
"Jade August West, listen to me!" Beck did not yell, but his voice was firm. "If it's not too much to ask, I'd like you to be more open with your feelings. You spend so much time hiding them under a defensive wall that people don't get to know you as you. They just think you're some bratty stuck-up gank. If you're more open, you'll be more honest with others and with yourself. It would help people understand you. It would help me understand you when you get into moods like this."
Jade went silent. She knew very well why she was being moody, and why she couldn't tell anybody. If she told Beck, he'd be confused at best and downright furious at worst. He loved her, and she loved him, but there was something else making their relationship uneven.
"There are some things you wouldn't understand even if I was the most open person ever." Jade's voice was almost a whisper.
Beck urged her to say something else. "Give me a hint. Just one word."
Jade opened the internet and looked up something on ZapLock. Once she found the word she was looking for, she picked up the phone again. "Lyra."
The sound of keystrokes came through the speaker. A mouse clicked. "Lyra is a constellation..." Jade heard Beck scroll down the page. "Vega... It's got something to do with Tori."
When Beck said Tori's name, Jade's mind began to race. She didn't think about what she would say if Beck knew the cause of her worry was Tori Vega. She hand hoped he wouldn't be able to figure out the answer, forgetting that Beck also had internet access.
"Don't be silly." Jade sighed in frustration. How could she have been so stupid as to forget her boyfriend had a Wi-Fi connection?
"Are you jealous of her?" Beck's voice carried the hesitance and gentleness of a caring, concerned boyfriend.
"Me, jealous of Tori? No!" Jade smothered a laugh with her hand.
"You do know you can be friends with Tori. She's completely open to the idea of friendship."
"That's not it either."
Another pause on Beck's end of the line. "Then I don't know what it is. I wish I did, Jade. I want to help you through whatever it is, whether it's a fight, or a rumor, or anything else. I swear I will help you."
Jade took a deep breath to compose herself. She sat up straight, the way she had been taught to in one of her very first acting lessons, and allowed her larynx to relax. She breathed to the very bottom of her lungs. Her mind slid into acting mode, and the words she wanted to say were clear in her mind.
When she was ready, she began to explain herself. "Beck, listen to me. I know that you care for me very much. I can see for it in every thing you do and in every word you say. I know how crushed you were those times when I broke up with you because I was so convinced you didn't care. I was proud of you when you did things well, like the time you got the part of the waiter in Miss Fire. I know you know me better than almost anybody else, even my own family. Unfortunately, there is one person who knows me even better than you do: me. There are some things, that if I were to tell you what they were, you wouldn't believe me at first, and once you had figured out that I wasn't joking, you would become very, very concerned. You would wonder what you had done to deserve this, and all I would be able to say is that it isn't your fault. I can't say what that thing is, but it would destroy you emotionally and cause more pain than I can describe. I don't want to put you through that kind of pain. I'm sorry."
With that said, Jade tapped the "end call" button. She relaxed her hand and let the phone slide out of her hand. Jade jiggled her computer mouse to wake it up. Imported footage took up most of her screen. She started to piece the clips together to create the finished film. She chose the takes with the most clarity and style, added music to emphasize emotion, and changed the video setting so the quality was as crisp and clear as it could be. She took her time, making sure each clip was perfect before moving to the next one. Jade would not let her group down.
However, her editing duty did not have her undivided attention. Her mind often slipped back to her phone call with Beck. It replayed select bits of the conversation in her mind, especially where Beck asked her to be more open. Jade shrugged it off and continued working, but the conversation would not uproot itself from her mind. She found it harder to stay focused, but Jade refused to think of anything other than the movie. The longer she worked, the less distracted she became.
The weight of the conversation began to rise off her shoulders as she reached the final scene. Jade had the editing down to a rhythmic motion: drag the clip in, colour correct, fix the volume, playback, repeat with the next clip. This rhythm worked well for her. It did not change or bring up any variables. It drove away the emotions the conversation brought up. It was just her, the rhythm, and the movie. She went through clip after clip. She edited a clip with Mara, Jade's character, putting her arm around Jill, Tori's character. She edited a clip of Mara picking up the scissors. She edited a clip of the scissors bouncing off the stove and Jill asking a question. It was like all the other clips. Drag the clip in, colour correct...
Jade went into the volume editor. She played the clip to see where the volume needed to be changed. There was a ping as the scissors struck the stove, a moment of silence, and then Jill asking, "Why are you doing this?".
"If you're more open, you'll be more honest..."
Jade cursed as Beck's voice echoed through her mind, interrupting her train of thought. She adjusted the volume where it was needed and played the clip back.
Jill's eyes were wide, and she shuddered like a leaf trapped in a corner with gale-force winds blowing on it. "Why are you doing this?"
"...you'll be more honest with others..."
Jade pulled her chair closer to the desk. She moved on to the next shot. The colour was fine, so she skipped immediately to volume.
Her own voice came through the speakers, full of malice. "Because I love him. I love him, and you took him from me."
"...more honest with others and with yourself."
Jade was so annoyed about distracting herself, she replayed the wrong clip. She heard Jill ask why Mara was trying to kill her, but it wasn't Jill anymore. It was Tori. When Jade played the correct clip again, the meaning of what Beck had said sink in. Each hate-filled word suddenly felt wrong. Jade felt repulsed by the line. She did not love Beck Oliver. She did not love Beck Oliver, and Tori did not take him from her. She did not love Beck Oliver, and Tori did not take him from her, and she didn't want to take Tori away from anybody. The whole scene was wrong.
"If you're more open, you'll be more honest with others and with yourself."
Jade shook her head. She wanted to show Beck that he was right, and that she could be more open, but there was no way to do it. There was only the movie, the tragic, incorrect movie.
Suddenly, an idea made its way into Jade's head. The more Jade considered the idea, the more Jade liked it. There was a way to show Beck he was right and fix the movie at the same time. She just had to be careful not to wake her parents when she was recording.