Time for a sad chapter ... that's why it is brief! This chapter deals with "The Worst Couple" when Beck and Jade break up. For this episode more from the side of Beck and Jade, might I recommend checking "An Issue of Timing"? ;) But this is more from Cat's perspective.
...
Jadey left.
Cat was stunned. How ... how ... how did that happen? Jade was counting - as long as Jade was not counting down to Cat being in trouble, she loved listening to people count - and then Beck was going to go get her. At least that was what Cat expected to happen. Although Beck and Jade were both grumpy, they both got grumpy sometimes. By this point, it no longer even disturbed Cat too badly. Eventually they would kiss or end up laughing at something together or something would happen and they would get along.
That would happen now, Cat was sure.
She waited patiently. Beck did not go to the door, and she saw something that looked almost broken in his face. That was a bit scary. She did not recognize it as something that she had ever seen in Beck's face before, and the unknown was confusing to her. But then he went back to the table and kept playing cards. That soothed Cat a little. If Beck was going to keep playing a game, it must not be so bad! Who would play a game if something really, really bad happened? She did not really understand what was going on - she had never been in a long-term relationship (usually nothing more than giggling with a crush for a week), and certainly nothing like Beck and Jade's relationship - but if Beck was playing a game, she could trust that it was okay.
But if everything was okay, then why was her stomach feeling queezy? Why did Jade not come back? And why did Jade not answer her call later that night?
Over the next couple days, Cat's mild concern transitioned to simmering fear to total devastation. When she mentioned Jade to Beck, Beck would insist he had to be somewhere and would pat her head and quickly dart off to somewhere she could not follow. When she mentioned Beck to Jade, Jade would give her a glare with bloodshot eyes and hiss, "Do not go there, Cat. I'm warning you!"
Cat, being ever hopeful, did "go there", wherever "there" was. For her troubles, Jade went into another round of counting and a disappointed Cat ended up sitting on a bean bag chair in a corner of Jade's room in "time out", which she never considered refusing, because you just did not refuse to listen to an annoyed Jade after she scolded you. That would risk a worse scolding! Sending a glare of her own at Jade, she noticed that Jade had turned her back to her and was trying to hide that her body was shaking with tears. Cat's lip began to tremble. If Jade was crying, things were really, really bad.
Maybe ... maybe her Jade-and-Beck-and-Cat family was gone.
She climbed out of the bean bag chair, ran to Jade's side, threw her arms around her, and burst into tears of her own. Jade did not push her away or insist that she was not crying. Instead she hugged Cat against her and they cried together.
That was when Cat knew that Jade and Beck were really broken up, and it only made her cry harder.
