Beck, Jade, and Tori gathered outside Lane's office. Through the window in Lane's office door, Tori could see Lane applying lotion to his hands. He turned away from the door and began to adjust the books in his office.

Beck pulled Jade aside. "Was that what you meant by 'things I would never understand?'"

Jade looked away from Beck. She knew she would have to face the consequences of her plan, but she had never truly prepared herself for it. She tried to find a response that would serve as a good enough explanation. A one-word answer would be too simple. Beck moved into Jade's line of vision, so Jade looked the other way.

Tori was sitting on the floor, her head resting in her hands. She could see Beck and Jade's feet between her fingers. Her heart told her to get up and talk to them, and try to ask Jade why she made the change she did, but her head warned this would be a bad time. Tori listened to her head. If Jade wanted her to speak, Jade would ask her to.

Jade saw the small changes in Tori's body language. She glanced up at Beck and saw more small changes in facial expression. The changes were different, but they meant the same thing. The changes signaled hesitance, confusion, anger, and sorrow. Jade had hurt two of the people she cared the most about.

"Yea," Jade made eye contact with Beck again. "That's what I meant."

The door to Lane's office swung open. Lane looked at the three teenagers in the hallway. "Should I be expecting you?"

"Mr. Gradstein sent us here." Tori stood up. "It's about a project..."

Lane looked up at the celling in disbelief. "He's always doing things like this. You'd better come in."

Lane held the door open so Tori, Beck, and Jade could enter. Once they were inside, Lane sat down in the wicker chair that hung from the ceiling. Jade and Tori took the two chairs that were already in the office. Beck found a chair in the back of the room.

Lane leaned forward. "What happened in Mr. Gradstein's class? I need to know if this is as big a deal as he says it is. He likes making a big deal about nothing."

"We've noticed." Beck folded his arms.

Tori adjusted her hair. "Jade should probably explain. She knows more about this than any of us. I mean, she edited in some clips that I didn't think would be there. Beck might have known."

Beck looked at Tori. "I talked to her the night before, but it wasn't about the film. I was as surprised as you were."

Tori's heartbeat sped up. "Are you sure you didn't mention the change to you, or even implied she was changing something? Something like that is way too big a deal to just be changed at the last minute. Part of it wasn't even in the script!"

"What was the film about?" Lane snapped the two out of their debate.

"The movie was supposed to have a love triangle, stage fighting, and at least two set changes or locations." Tori took a few deep breaths before continuing. "We decided the love triangle would be between the three of us, and there would be a twist at the end with Jade's character killing my character. That's how we filmed it. But something happened, and Jade changed it from her character killing my character to... being in love... with her." As Tori told Lane what the change was, she understood exactly what Jade had done.

Jade stared at the floor as Tori spoke. While Tori explained what the project was originally supposed to be, Jade made little circles with her foot. It was only when Tori started so struggle with her words that Jade lifted her head. Jade's eyes met Tori's. Silent words were exchanged.

Lane swung in his chair as he processed the information. "So Mr. Gradstein was angry because two characters in a student film were lesbians?"

Jade broke her silence. "Yea."

Lane's lips twitched into a smile. "And that's all?"

"Yea."

Lane covered his mouth to stifle his sudden burst of laughter. "Ok, I understand. He's like that a lot. He's a conservative fussbudget. You might get docked a few grades because of your risky move, but I'm not going to do anything. This isn't the first time it's happened. It won't be the last time. You're fine."

Beck breathed a sigh of relief. "Thanks, Lane." He turned to face Jade. "Why'd you change the film?"

Tori turned to face Jade too. "You could have at least told us in advance."

"I couldn't have." Jade's breathing was heavy. "You would have known about this... about me."

"About you?" Tori and Lane's confused voices rang through the office.

Beck immediately understood. "Last night, you said that there was something that, if I knew what is was, would make me confused and concerned, and that it would be painful for me. This is more than just the movie, isn't it? This is how you're, for a lack of a better term, coming out."

Jade nodded. That simple head movement sent the other teen's emotions over the top. Tori's heart began to race. Her face turned red, and she looked down to try to hide the smile she felt sneaking up on her. The head movement had given Tori massive amounts of hope.

Unfortunately, the same could not be said for Beck. Beck's heartbeat slowed down. Colour drained from his cheeks, and though he also looked down, he did so to hide the glistening tears he knew would soon arrive. Over and over, he tried to push away the grief that welled up with the tears.

Lane walked over to Beck and put his hand on the boy's shoulder. "I know it's tough. You and Jade were one of the most popular couples at Hollywood Arts. Everybody admired you two. To have it end like this must be hard on you. It's like something out of one of the soap operas my wife watches. This school's usually like a comedy."

Jade watched Lane comfort Beck. Though his face was turned away from her, she knew his expression was pained. They had had so many ups and downs as a couple. She had fussed, but he had stayed by her. He had given direction, and she had followed. He had cared about her even when they weren't together. Their breakups had always hurt, but this one was excruciating, and not just for Beck.

"You said I should be more honest. This is the honest me." Jade's chest began to heave as she recalled all the memories. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry that the past two years have been worthless. I'm sorry I let you get expectations that couldn't be reached. I'm sorry that after all we've been through, it's turned out to be a lie. It's not that I don't love you- really, I do. I just don't love you in the same way that you love me. When we first started dating, I was happier than I'd ever been in my life. You were kind, caring, gentle, like a fairy-tale prince. Every day was filled with excitement. I wanted to be by your side forever.

"Then I realized I wasn't in love with you. I was in love with dating and all the thrills that came with it. I mean, I still loved you, but not in the way I thought. When I realized I liked girls, I got scared. I wanted somewhere safe to shelter myself from that fear. You were already there, so I stuck with you. My life started to become a struggle. I pushed away the strange and kept the familiar. Then, last night, you told me I should be more honest, and you'd understand me better if I was. I didn't want you to keep chasing your tail, so I changed the movie. You have every right to be mad at me. Go ahead. Yell. I deserve it." Jade descended into sobs.

Beck turned back to Jade. "I'm not going to yell. I'm not mad at you. I'm not even surprised."

"What?" Jade spoke between sniffles.

Beck walked over to Jade. "I've been suspecting something was up for a while now. This confirms it. It's over for good." Beck stared into Jade's blue eyes, not moving an inch. "Date whoever you want."

Jade gave Beck an understanding nod. When she looked back down, Beck sighed and shoved his hands in his pockets. Lane held open the door and signaled that Beck could go back to class. Beck smiled as he left. The door swung closed. Its thud was the last sound before silence fell.

With Beck gone, the only thing Jade could do was look at Tori. The black locks around Jade's face hid her blushing. She felt strangely awkward when Tori glanced up for a second. Jade threaded her fingers together, trying to hide her emotions.

Lane kept the door open. "You girls can go too, if you'd like."

The tension in the room immediately lifted. Jade stood up immediately, adjusting her hair. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Tori stand up too. The two girls rushed out of the office. Jade shot Lane a quick smile as she went back to class. She didn't know what was come of her coming-out, but she hoped it wouldn't it be too dramatic.

Author's Note: The cat is out of the bag! Or, should I say, "The Jade is out of the closet?"

Speaking of Cat, Ariana Grande had a vocal chord haemorrhage. My wishes are with her, and I hope yours are too.

Thanks to everybody who's been reviewing. You're all awesome! If you have ideas for something that could happen in the story, suggest them. They might make it in.

Back in Chapter 2, I asked my readers (you) to figure out the theme for my chapter titles. Nobody responded. Now I'm re-introducing the title theme and giving you guys a few clues. The answer will be posted with the next chapter.

Clues:

1. Nothing is being spelled out in the chapter titles

2. There is a magic word that connects all of the titles

3. Sometimes I hear the titles on my own, other times I look them up.

4. The next three titles are "Wonder 'Til I'm Wide Awake", "Letters I Will Never Send", and "Change is Good".

Good Luck!

Writing Tracker:

This will be displayed at the bottom of the Author's Notes. It's a way for you guys to see how far I am, and a way to keep myself responsible for making new chapters. Please remember that the chapters will only be released every Friday. I know you can wait. The actual Victorious show filmed a whole season at a time.

Chapter Being Written: Chapter 7

Last Chapter Planned Out: Chapter 20