Miniature Clone Chapter 3

"Jade?"

The world around them seemed to still, neither one sure what the next move should be. Tori thought back to every time Jade acted weird making up excuses to leave early. All the times she went after mothers who did something wrong.

"Oh my god," Tori said out loud.

Jade's hand tightened protectively around Mason's, firmly pulling him closer to her side. "Let's go," she said already turning away and down the street, Mason sending Tori a curious glance before he let himself be pulled along until Jade ended up swooping him up carrying him on her hip to make walking faster.

"I- Jade! Wait I didn'-" Tori stuttered as she took a few steps forward. What could she say in that moment that would make Jade listen? Tori knew chasing after her would only make things worse, she's learned this before the hard way. "I-I won't tell!" she yelled after the retreating figure, feeling defeated. The Latina let out a heavy sigh sitting down on the side of the sidewalk. Jade has a kid. A literal mini her. Is that even possible?! Jade. West. Tori's head was spinning. She didn't know how they could've all missed this. Maybe Mason wasn't biologically hers. Tori scolded herself. Of course Mason was Jade's, they looked too alike.

Too deep in her thoughts Tori didn't see her ride had parked nearby, a little honk jarring her from her trance. "O-oh, sorry!" she rushed out to the driver as she hurried to one of the back seats.

The goth didn't show up to class the next day. Nor was she answering anyone's phone calls, but being smart enough to keep everyone from getting worried, the goth did send out a text that she was okay and to stop bothering her. She put her phone on DND. This calmed everyone but Tori, who felt guilty for possibly making Jade feel like she had to skip school to avoid her.

"Hey, Beck?" Tori asked hesitantly when she found herself alone at their lunch table, the pair having arrived early before everyone else. "Have you.. No uhm," She struggled to find the right words without giving too much away. Then a sudden thought popped into her head. Omg, is the kid Beck's?! Her hands went up to her mouth and her eyes widened momentarily forgetting that she wasn't the only one sitting there.

"Earth to Tori," Beck said confused. He had his left eyebrow up furrowed a bit. "What's wrong?" he asked.

Tori looked back up and shook her head trying to shake off the thought. "I- uh you know what?" she asked quickly standing up grabbing her school bag slinging it over her shoulder. "I just remembered I actually have a uh a paper! That's right. A paper due next class, sorry bye!" she said hurrying off to catch a moment to herself leaving Beck as confused as ever and now concerned.

Andre showed up next just in time to see Tori retreating from the scene. "What's up with Tori?" he asked sitting down. Beck could only shrug before he watched Andre get slapped harshly on the back of his shoulder.

"Ow! What was that for?" Andre exclaimed turning around and seeing Sinjin, the pain on his skin lingering causing him to wince a little.

"You had a bee on your shoulder," he said as if slapping Andre was the only solution.

"Awe you killed it before it could sting me!?" Andre asked upset. He looked back to the injured bee on the table, poking at it. "Come back bee. Sting me."

Beck didn't ask, deciding it was probably better if he didn't. He knew Andre got uptight when it came to bees as he's never been stung. No one knew why he wanted to.

Tori found herself pacing in the broom closet, stepping over janitorial equipment instead of just pushing it aside. If it's his, does Beck know? Does he not know? Should he know? Gosh. What do I do? By then the poor latina had her hands tangled in her hair. She knew this wasn't her place, that it was obvious Jade wanted nothing to do with her. But still, she couldn't help it and skipped class taking a bus to Jade's house.

She thought about turning around, and she almost did, twice. She knocked, her eyes squeezed shut expecting Jade to open the door and set her on fire or something. No one came. She knocked again. "Jade? Can we just, like, talk for a second?" she called out. When the door eventually opened Tori winced ready for the worst. But it wasn't Jade. Behind the door looked a woman at least in her mid twenties almost thirties. Her hair was up in a messy bun and it looked like she had food smears on the shirt she was wearing.

"Hi!" Tori quickly greeted not wanting to seem rude. "Is Jade home?"

The woman paused for a moment, looking confused, a slight crease in her forehead. "I'm sorry, but she isn't. She's usually not home at this time. Are you a friend of hers? She doesn't usually have visitors."

Tori understood where the confusion had come from and nodded. "Me and Jade are..best buds," she said with a smile. "Is it okay if I come in and wait for her maybe?"

The woman looked unsure. Tori thought Jade must've sworn her to secrecy too, meaning Mason must've been living here with her. "I..could…maybe take Mason off your hands.. for you?" She then offered, looking hopeful. This caught the woman's attention and it was clear to them both in that moment that Tori knew about him. "O-oh I'm Tori," she then rushed out remembering she never introduced herself.

The Woman nodded, straightening up a bit before she let Tori in, directing her to the nearest couch and noting how she looked around obviously not having been there before. Tori realized she'd been caught and blushed as she sat down avoiding eye contact. "Lilian" the woman introduced vaguely. She sat across from her. "Jade doesn't invite anyone over. To put it frankly, I think we both know she doesn't have friends. It's Tori right?" she questioned, continuing, "because I know you're not Cat." Tori nodded. "I've heard about you."

The latina didn't want to ask in fear that Jade only said bad or mean things.

"Rawr! Rawr!" tiny little feet ran into the room making both their heads turn, the intruder dressed in a dark blue onesie with scattered green dinosaurs; a T-rex toy in his hand as he ran.

Lilian quickly scooped the boy up before he could trip and hurt himself. "What'd I say about running?"

Tori watched the duo. It took her more than half an hour to cozy up to Lilian. She had explained in depth as best as she could how much she cared for Jade and how she could be trusted with anything, even if Jade possibly wanted to murder her all the time. "Do you watch him a lot?" she asked curiously, figuring that Lilian was always here when Jade couldn't be.

The woman only nodded with a soft laugh. "I should just move in by this point." Though a part of her looked annoyed. "Her parents are so irresponsible dumping this poor boy back into her hands without a care. The only thing they ever did for her was take in Mason when he was born, saying they would wait until Jade graduated and could take care of him on her own." They watched Mason play with his blocks, not phased at all at having a new guest in their house.

An hour passed, Lilian trying to get Jade to come home earlier but she insisted she was dealing with something important and that she'd be home before it got too late. The call ended and Lilian sighed looking over at Tori. "You seem to care a lot about her," Lilian observed.

Tori nodded as they helped Mason with his block castle. "She can be a bit .. mean but I know it's just a tough act to keep people away." Tori thought about their relationship. "She can't push me away.." she said softly to herself.

The time went by, Tori being too stubborn to head home without seeing Jade first. The pair became pretty well accustomed to one another during the time they spent with their joined playdate with Mason. The subject of Jade's parents and the father of her baby didn't come up much, Lilian wanting to respect Jade's privacy. But Tori did find out that Mason was almost three, and that Lilian was surprisingly related to the goth; they were cousins. Lilian had moved into town for a few months when Jade reached out needing help after her parents decided they were too busy to continue caring for Mason in Arizona.

"What the hell?" Jade said not sure what to do when her eyes landed on a very familiar brunette in her house. The girls jumped not having heard Jade enter her own house.

"Hell!" Mason repeated giggling.

Damnit. Another curse word Jade thought before her attention went back to Tori. Her gaze then went to Lilian's and she turned to head towards her room. "Kick her out, I want her gone when I get back."

Tori sighed, she knew Jade was going to be like this. But if she wanted to play this game, she could play too. She sent an apologetic glance over to Lilian before hesitantly following Jade into her room. If I don't come back out in 30 minutes, please come looking for me. She thought to herself.

Before Jade could kick the Latina out of her bedroom Tori slipped past her sitting onto her bed trying her best to ignore the killer stare she was receiving in that moment. Avoiding eye contact she spoke. "I could've helped you out." She let silence settle into the air. "..Do you hate me that much?" she then asked, chancing a glance at Jade.

Jade scoffed placing her bag down and taking off her shoes. "Don't you get it Vega. I don't want your help. I don't want anyone's help so why don't you just get the hell off my bed and out of my house. You are not welcome here."

Tori bit her lip. "So what, you're just going to balance all of this by yourself? Lilian can't be a live in babysitter. She has a life too you know? What about the baby's father?" Tori said before she realized she shouldn't have brought it up. It only made Jade more pissed and she didn't think that were possible.

"He's not in the picture. Leave. Now."

Jade was moving towards Tori now and she yelled moving farther onto the bed closer to the wall. "If it's Beck, he deserves to know. I know it's not my place but I-" she was cut off when a firm slap came into contact with the side of her face. It happened so unexpectantly that Tori had to process for a moment. Her eyes flashed to Jade, who looked genuinely regretful.

"Tori I'm so s- I didn't mean to, seriously," she started.

Tori could feel tears starting to brim in her eyes. She didn't know if it were from the sting in her cheek or the hurt she felt. She brushed Jade's hand away and headed for the door departing from her house as fast as she could. She didn't want to cry in front of someone like Jade of all people, no matter the circumstances. She took another uber home that night, ignoring Jade's texts telling her that she would take her home. She took a shower, gathering the events of today and let slumber swallow her, knowing it would be better tomorrow.