The two-note bell rang throughout Hollywood Arts, signaling the beginning of class. The doors to the Black Box Theater were propped open. Students began to pour in, taking their seats in one of the many folded chairs lined up in the theatre. A projector and laptop were in front of the chairs, ready to show the finished movies. Jade pushed her way into the theatre as an excited Cat ran beside her.

Cat's eyes glistened with excitement. "Are you sure you and Beck had a fight? Like, a might-cause-him-to-break-up-with-you fight?"

Jade turned, making Cat lower her gaze. "It wasn't a big, loud fight. We might still be together."

Cat nodded, the excitement now missing from her face. "Okay then... Hey, d'you kinda maybe sorta know if Beck kinda maybe likes girls with red hair?" The excitement came back as quickly as it had left.

Jade smiled sweetly. "He likes you just fine, Cat, but if you want to know for sure if he likes redheads, you can go ask him."

"That's such a good idea. I'll be back soon, okay?" Cat ran back through the doors.

Jade put her hand to her mouth to hide her laughter. Cat was usually strange, but it was those occasional moments of cheerful childishness that reminded her why the perky redhead was her best friend. At a moment like this, Jade needed Cat's oddball personality. It helped her to get over nervousness. Now, Jade was almost at the point of panicking. The DVD in her bag contained her group film, not in the way that it had been planned, but Jade's modified version. She hadn't had a chance to tell Beck or Tori about the changes, but if she did, how would they react?

Out of the corner of her eye, Jade saw Tori and Andre coming through the door.

"Really, I'm not surprised. That's how Jade rolls. She hates happy endings." Andre was his usual, casual self.

Tori, on the other hand, was picking at her shirt, uneasy. "So the ending is okay? There's no blood or anything, but I want to make absolutely sure we won't get into trouble."

"You'll be fine." Andre's eyes met Jade's. "Hey, Jade. Anybody sitting here?" He pointed to the farthest chair in the row.

Jade shook her head. She moved to the side so Andre could pass. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Mr. Gradstien come into the theatre. Jade joined the line of students handing in films. Somebody tugged at her sleeve. Jade turned to see Tori standing beside her. As the line moved, Tori moved too, staying parallel to Jade.

Tori was looking for some sort of reassurance in the goth's eyes. "Are we going to get in trouble for the film?"

"Don't be silly, Tori. Everything is going to go perfectly..." Jade handed the DVD to Mr. Gradstein. "... I hope."

"You hope?" Tori's eyes grew wide.

"I hope we can all get As. I know we're not going to have any trouble. Now go sit down." Jade pushed Tori into the seat next to Andre before sitting down herself.

Cat pulled Beck into the theatre. "You won't know until you ask her, so come on in and ask her."

"All right!" Beck stopped walking just inside the door. "I'll ask her if you stop trying to pull my arm out of its socket."

"Oh. Sorry." Cat dropped Beck's arm, her eyes filled with guilt.

Beck pushed a lock of hair out of his eyes. He walked over to the row where Andre, Tori, and Jade were sitting. Resting his arm against the chair at the end of the row, he took deep breaths, preparing to ask. Jade scooched away from Beck.

"Okay, class." Mr. Gradstein stood at the front of the class, in front of the projector. "In a couple of minutes, we are going to present the projects you have been working on for the past week. Please find your seats."

Students scrambled to find a chair without a butt in it. Beck took the seat beside Jade, much to Jade's dismay. Cat took the next available seat, and Robbie snuck into the seat next to Cat. Rex sat on Robbie's knee, as usual. Sinjin took the chair at the end of the row.

Once everybody was seated, Mr. Gradstein held up one of the DVDs. "Well done, students. You never cease to impress me with your wild antics as you vainly attempt to procure proper seating. Now you have found your seats, it is time to watch the first of your student films. It was made by-"

"Good Gandhi, I hope I'm not too late!" Mr. Sikowitz burst through the doors, running towards Mr. Gradstein.

Mr. Gradstein's eyes shot wide open, and his hands went over his clean-shaven face. "Erwin, what in the world is the meaning of this?"

"I don't have a class this period. I heard you were showing the movies and decided to come down and watch. It's more interesting than lesson plans." Sikowitz sat in a seat at the back of the class, making it clear he would not be leaving any time soon. "I won't be any trouble, A."

Mr. Gradstein put his hands back by his sides. "I hope not. Now, where were we?"

"Telling us about the first movie, sir!" Sinjin shouted from his seat.

Mr. Gradstein examined the DVD. "Thank you, Sinjin Van Cleef. As I was about to announce before I was so rudely interrupted by this scarf-wearing buffoon, this student film was made by Victoria Vega, Beckett Oliver, and Jade West. Their movie is known as 'Steel Your Heart', with 'steel' spelt with two 'e's. That's one mark off for having a spelling error in the title."

Tori slumped down in her seat. "It was a play on words!"

The DVD player in Mr. Gradstein's computer popped open. Mr. Gradstien carefully put the disk into the player and shut the player. Whirring noises could be heard as the computer loaded the film. More whirring filled the room as Mr. Gradstein brought down the white backdrop screen, which the films would be projected onto.

The backdrop was lit up with colours as the menu screen popped up. Tori's joyful face slid across the screen, followed by a shot of Beck coming out of the restaurant. The camera zoomed out of Jade's angry face as the menu options came up. There were only two options, "Play Movie" and "Select Scene". Mr. Gradstein chose the latter. Three scenes appeared, and Mr. Gradstein wrote something on his PearPad. He sat down seconds before he played the full movie.

The movie opened on a fancy restaurant. Jill entered, nervous. Her sparkly dress was high standard, even for this restaurant. She sat down at one of the tables and took her phone out of her clutch purse. She stared at it for a few seconds before she put her head in her hands. Alan looked over at Jill. Seeing the tears starting to roll down her face, he walked over to her.

He put his hand on her shoulder. "Are you okay, miss?"

Jill lifted her head. Mascara had streaked her face, and her blush was smudged. "No, no, I'm not okay. My boyfriend said he was going to meet me here for a make-up dinner and he canceled at the last possible second. Every time I try to see him, he always accepts but says he has to work. I don't know why I keep trusting him. It's so clear that he's just going out with his secretary. Oh, why would anybody do that?" She put her head down again.

Alan lifted up Jill's chin. "Maybe he doesn't appreciate what a beautiful girlfriend he has."

Jill sent a text message. "He doesn't have a girlfriend anymore. I just told him it's over."

Alan nodded, then wrote something down on his notepad. "You know, I'm technically not supposed to do this, but for a girl as beautiful as you are, I'm willing to risk it."

Alan ripped the page out of his notepad and put in Jill's hands. Silently, Alan went back to his job, leaving Jill alone again. Jill took a few deep breaths and counted to three. On three, she opened the paper Alan had given her.

"You shouldn't have to be left alone. Call me?" Jill read. A smile spread across her lips. "Yes! Yes, I will call you!"

Jill jumped up, squealing with excitement. The other patrons glared at the joyful girl disrupting their meal. Jill didn't care about the others. Hope glinted in her eyes as she skipped towards the restaurant door. Her phone fell out of her purse, landing with a thud on the restaurant floor. She turned back, grinning sheepishly, and picked it up before heading outside.

"How profound! The girl dropping her phone symbolizes her clumsiness and excitement for meeting the boy." Mr. Gradstein wrote more in his PearPad.

Tori sank even further in her chair. "That was just an accident."

Jill smiled as she walked down the street, starting off the second scene. Alan waved from further down the street.

"Oh, hey!" Jill ran over to Alan. "I didn't recognized you. You should have worn the waiter's uniform. It's cute."

Alan smirked and brushed some hair out of his eyes. "That uniform isn't as comfy as it looks."

"That's a shame..." Jill grabbed Alan's arm. "But we should go do something. What do you wanna do? Karaoke, bowling, dinner, catch a movie, what?"

Alan's smirk changed to a more neutral expression. "Actually, I should probably tell you something first. See, before you, I dated this girl, Mara. She was pretty, and funny, but she was a little crazy. I broke up with her because she was so strange and out of touch with reality. She never cared until I broke up with her, and now she's following me everywhere. I don't want you to get hurt."

Jill just laughed. She smiled as she told Alan not to worry about the other girl, almost bragging about how much better she was. The camera pulled back to reveal a black head of hear hiding in the bushes. It was Mara, holding a pair of binoculars to his face. She ducked behind a tree when Jill dragged Alan down the street. She watched as Jill tried to pull something from Alan's grasp.

"Just what on earth is that girl doing?" Mara leaned towards the couple, trying to get a better look.

Jill yanked Alan's phone out of his hands.

"Just what do you think you're doing?" Alan tried to get his phone back.

Jill started searching Alan's contacts. "I want to call Mara. If she gets to know me, she won't worry about me being with you."

Alan stopped trying to get his phone back. "You can try it. Just be careful."

The camera cut back to Mara, who was peeking through fronds of a bush, trying to understand what Jill was doing. A bright, cheerful, chirping tune began to play. Mara took out her own phone and held it to her chest, attempting to silence it as she left the scene.

The third scene took place later, at night. Mara swung open the door, revealing a cheery Jill. Mara let Jill into her house. Mara's cold, snide attitude told that she knew she had the upper hand, while Jill's bubbly attitude told of her completely oblivious nature. Mara lead Jill into the kitchen. While Jill was distracted by cookies, Mara picked up the scissors. She walked over to Jill, leaning in so she was inches from Jill's face.

Jill turned around, complimenting Mara's cooking. She saw how close Mara's face was to her own. "Your eyelashes are really pretty."

Mara's facade slipped for a second. She got back into her icy persona before raising the scissors over her head in a dramatic fashion. She inhaled, adjusting her grip on the scissors. She threw them at Jill's head. A shriek rang through the room as Jill dodged the scissors, which bounced off the stove and landed on the floor.

Jill's eyes began to water as she looked up at Mara. "Why are you doing this?"

Mara's facade broke. The cold exterior gave way to a tired, out of touch girl. "Because I love you."

Jill looked back at Mara, bewildered.

"I love you, and I was worried Alan would take you from me. I was afraid, Jill. I wanted to take you from him, but now I know I can't do that. There's only one thing I can do."

Mara threw herself at Jill. The two fell to the ground. Mara brought her head down towards Jill's as the scene faded to black.

The class was silent as they took in the twisted ending. Then, the room began to fill with clapping and voices.

Sikowitz stood up, cheering. "Bravo!"

Sinjin giggled to himself.

Cat crawled across Beck to reach Jade. "You're like those Russian girls!"

Rex's mouth hung open. "That's hot."

Andre stared at the screen. "I didn't see that coming."

Robbie glared at his puppet. "Rex..."

Beck was silent.

"What in the world was that ending supposed to mean?"

Tori and Jade looked up into the face of Mr. Gradstein. He was snarling, his eyebrows knitted together. "Were you really trying to imply something of such caliber in my class? If you thought you could get away with it, you are dead wrong. Go to Lane's office!"

Tori held her hands in front of her face. "I didn't know-"

"Silence!" The angered teacher was clearly not to be messed with. "There are to be no excuses. I want you all to Lane's office. Yes, that includes you, Beck Oliver."

The trio of students stood up slowly, trying to avoid the teacher's wrath. They turned towards the door. At the same time, they ran out of the dark classroom and into the welcoming hallway.

Author's Note: Sorry I didn't have an author's note last chapter. I was traveling over the weekend, so I didn't have a lot of time. If I had time, I would have said the long speech delivered by Jade at the end of chapter 3 is a monolouge. You can use it and any future monolouges in auditions.

I'm hoping you all are enjoying the story so far. Thanks to Do vd Graaf, CatHeartsU, Invader Johnny, ScottyBgood, mennanenna, FrankieHughes96, IsabelaRedHead, kritiasthegod, and Azkadellio, who have reviewed my fanfiction. Also, thanks to MeltingSunlight, my awesome beta reader.

If you know what Cat meant by "those Russian girls", let me know in your review.