Disclaimer: Darn.

In the altered words of SarcasticLeaves, rock on mighty Bademancers.

I was lost in my own little bubble at the moment. I was locked in my dad's arms. He was so strong. It was slightly reassuring. I silently prayed that there weren't any aftershocks. I felt his arms unwrap around me. My hand went to cover my mouth. I never liked earthquakes. And this just added towards my hatred. Everything… Was broken.

"Cat? Cat!" I heard my 'mom's boss yell.

I raced over to stand by my momma. I can't do this.

He slowly stumbled into the room, dropping his briefcase on the floor. "Cat," he exclaimed.

"Hi, Mr. Gibbons…" I started. "Some stuff broke," I said helplessly.

"I know, I…" he panted, "I felt the earthquake when I was goin' up the stairs. You kids okay?"

I heard momma and dad and Robbie all assure him that they were fine. I wasn't, all this stuff broke and it's my fault!

"I'm so sorry about your guitar!" I apologized. "And your lamp and your table," I continued, motioning to the broken objects.

"That's alright, it's not your fault," he said.

Sure… "But…"

"Cat!" I felt momma put her hands on my shoulders. "Mr. Gibbons isn't mad at us because he knows the earthquake caused all this damage."

"Yeah," my dad jumped in. "We can only blame the earth."

"And it's quaking," Robbie added, displaying awkward arm gestures.

"Of course," Mr. Gibbons agreed. "I'm just, uh… Relieved that Cooper and you kids are okay," he said, reaching to pick up the little puppy. He then motioned his head towards Robbie. "Son, your zipper."

I wish they'd stop pointing it out.

"Jiminy!" Robbie exclaimed, zipping up his pants once more.

There was an awkward moment of silence that fell upon us as I looked down at my feet. I mean, I guess that the earthquake broke some stuff, but not nearly as much stuff as I broke!

I heard momma's voice before I could finish my train of thought. "So we're just gonna go now."

She grabbed my arm before I could stop her. I called over my shoulder, "I'm so sorry, Mr. Gibbons!"

I couldn't even hear his response before the elevator door closed. Momma roughly released my arm and faced me. "Stop apologizing, it wasn't your fault!"

I stared at her, incredulously. How on earth could someone be so heartless? "Ya know what? You're right, it's not my fault."

"Good Cat. So just zip it…"

Now it was my turn to interrupt. "It's yours."

She stared at me in shock. "What?"

I just shook my head at her and attempted to walk out of the now open elevator. But she grabbed my arm and pulled me back, closing the door and stopping the shaft.

"Please stop doing that!" I begged, feeling my now red arm. She had a strong grip.

"No!" she yelled. "Are you saying that it's my fault you invited me over here to help you dog-sit?"

"No one invited you! You invited yourself!" I exclaimed.

"That is such a lie, it's not even believable," she gasped. "You asked me during school, remember?"

"I absolutely did not. You didn't have any other plans for tonight because you're too stubborn to admit that you miss Beck!" I corrected her. If she thinks that she's gonna make me take the blame then she's sadly mistaken.

She doesn't know she's my momma. And I'm setting her straight. Not that she's my momma, of course, but I'm setting her straight on something else. She was finally at loss for words, and I'm taking advantage of it.

"You miss him more than anything!" I could feel tears welling up in my eyes. I miss them more than anything. "And if you would've let him near you tonight, maybe you two would have a chance, but you didn't, and now you don't! You have to go and ruin everything with your awful ego! You just have to do everything in a unique way! Well, guess what? You don't have to be the winner at everything!"

"Shut. Up. You don't know anything about me, Cat," she said, oddly calm.

"I do too!" I countered. "I've known you forever!"

"You have not!" she replied defensively. "No one's known me forever because they've all left!"

"That is not true, you leave them," I corrected. She was speechless again as my words sunk in. "Just like you left Beck," I added.

I could tell those words stung her the most. Just like her words stung me everyday of my life since I was eight and a half.

I continued on with my rant. "And when Mr. Gibbons realizes that the skull was once in his bedroom and that there's a freaking ladder in his living room, he's gonna come after me, you know why? Because I was in charge. But I didn't do anything! And you're gonna let me take the blame and you're. Going. To. Leave. If you think that Beck left you, you're sadly mistaken! He wasn't happy in your relationship. He wanted to work things out with you and set you straight on how things needed to change. But you couldn't take it! You hate it when people set you straight because you always have to be right and in charge! Well sometimes you don't have to be, Jade!" I inhaled deeply and turned the elevator back on and crashed against the wall.

I felt her hand on my shoulder. "Cat…"

But I walked out on her. I'd talk to her on Monday. That is, if I was done sobbing by then.