Disclaimer: Don't own, just borrowed.
Inspired by the episode "How Trina got in"
:}
Trina was sitting with a couple of her friends during lunch, talking about nothing. She wasn't here as often as she should be, but they always accepted her back. They were the seniors at Hollywood Arts who were going into entertainment, but would never be stars. The people who'd marvel at Sinjins technical skills if he wasn't so creepy. Still, they were loyal friends, and the people Trina hung out with when she wasn't trying to muscle in to one of the popular groups.
Today they were listening to Dustin complaining about the latest snag in his career path. He was decent looking, with a certain gravitas that drew attention. However, he wasn't that great an actor. Naturally, his friends had peen telling him he could have a great, even prominent career in news, and he recently decided that would be his new career path. Start with sports or weather, since those are the easiest to break into, then try to move into the anchors chair. That brought him to his current rant. "I was doing my twelve part expose on the Ping Pong team, the only successful sports team in Hollywood Arts history, and I only got to do about five episodes." Trina didn't care, but Dustin was one of her friends, and she knew she had to at least pretend to listen. Actually listening was an unfortunate byproduct. The boy was handsome, but terminally dull.
"Why'd they stop you?" Mark asked. He didn't go to Hollywood Arts, or any school since he graduated from Sherwood last year, but he was dating Heather, so he often had lunch with them. "We're they afraid you'd discover that Ping Pong is lame?"
"Mark" Short and mousy, Heather was a dancer, mostly into Ballet, but wasn't likely to pursue it professionally. Her real goal was marriage and a family. Trina didn't judge.
"Just saying." Her boyfriend said.
"Actually, Jade asked him to stop, so..." Rachel said. She was attractive but not beautiful, and a cellist. Her time in Hollywood Arts hadn't produced any other notable talents, but she had as good a chance as any of the musicians to play professionally, just not first seat.
"So what?" Mark asked, clearly not understanding why that would be enough.
"So Jade threatened him, and he backed down." Heather explained.
"So you backed down cause some girl threatened you? What, did she hold a weapon, or tell you she'd have her boyfriend beat you up?" Mark teased.
"No, she just stared, and I knew if I didn't stop..." Dustin shivered at the thought.
"This girl intimidated you? Is she..." Mark was cut off.
"Quiet. She might hear you." Rachel hissed, glancing around as if the devil herself were listening. "She's just over there, with her friends, at their usual table." The group glanced across the Asphalt Cafe to where Jade and her friends were sitting, eating lunch and discussing whatever was on their minds. Tori was, as always, there, among the popular kids.
"Which one is she?" Mark asked.
"Black hair, pale skin, evil eyes." Heather hissed. Fear bled into loathing, even if she wasn't the type to really hate anyone.
"She doesn't look tough." Mark offhandedly commented.
"Seriously! Are we really talking about her?" Trina asked. She'd had enough of this conversation. She'd sat down with them to talk about what was going on in their lives, to catch up and feel normal. The things Tori and her friends did often got weird, and Trina sometimes just wanted some normalcy to help her stay focused, or to relax after her latest scheme to get famous blew up in her face.
"Well, for starters, everyone but you seems to be afraid of her, and I wanted to know why." Mark told Trina, even as he gestured around the table, towards the other seniors. Seniors who were far too willing to agree that Jade terrified them.
"Look, Mark, you don't attend this school, so you probably don't know what a dangerous person Jade West is." Dustin said, slipping into his recently acquired 'News reader' voice. "It's usually best just to keep your distance, unless you have to engage. Then, get in, get what you need, and try not to look like your running when you leave."
"I think she can smell fear." Rachel opined.
"I follow her on the slap, because I'm afraid of what she'll do to me if I don't." Heather admitted.
"But why? I mean, I get the girls, but Dustin? I know you're not that big of a wimp." Mark was teasing.
"Please no. I just wanted a quiet lunch without talking about one of Tori's stupid friends." Trina moaned. It was too late.
"Okay, let me tell you why everyone is afraid of Jade West." Heather started, slipping into story mode. "Back when she was going here part time, as part of the middle school program, she got in a disagreement with a senior named Bo Ridges. He was a big guy, linebacker sized, with a taste for the young ones. Jade told him to back off, he didn't, and slowly things progressed back and forth until one day he confronted her outside the school. He just wanted to squeeze her ass, but that one decided to throw down." Heather paused to make sure everyone was listening. "They say Bo never quite recovered from the beating she gave him. To this day, he still walks with a limp."
"I can't believe a slip of a girl like that could do so much damage." Mark teased.
"She can't." Trina said. "Stories like that circulate around this school all the time, and they're usually ridicules."
"So you've heard a different one?" Heather challanged.
"I don't indulge in gossip." Trina defended herself.
"You're the biggest gossip in the school." Rachel said. "But Trina's right about one thing. That's not why people are afraid of her. I know for a fact it was something that happened in her freshman year. There was this girl, Monica Sandow, popular, mean girl, who picked on the weak, kinda like popular girls sometimes do. Okay, often do... Anyways, Jade took exception to what she was doing to Cat… You don't know her, but Cat is one of her friends, the short one. Kinda everyones friend. Anyways, Jade didn't like what Monica was doing, and asked her to stop. Of course, Monica told her to stuff it, and Jade said she should watch her back. A week later, Monica just disappeared. No one knows for sure what happened, but Jade was smirking a lot, and we all know about her love of scissors."
"I heard she once cut up the janitors rubber trash cans with nothing but a pair of scissors." Burf said, startling everyone but Trina, who was used to Sinjin and his friends sneaking up on her. The group quickly recovered and glared at Burf, and he quickly moved away.
"Not true. My dad's a cop, and let me tell you, if she killed someone, she'd be in jail by now." Trina said. "Can we forget this insanity and focus on me? I may be moving to another show. Nothings final yet, but they want to try me out in a kids show, to show my versatility."
"The way I heard it, Jade's uncle is a spy who trained her from the crib to be an assassin. I mean, she can throw scissors, and rumor persists she once told people she could kill with just a roll of toilet paper." Dustin said. Everyone's eyes were on him. "Just saying what I heard."
"Enough of this. Trina said, standing up. "I'm going to find the truth." The Latina walked over to the table where Jade was sitting, and promptly spoke to Beck. No one at the table wanted this, to involve the terror of Hollywood Arts in their gossip, but they couldn't move as Trina spoke in front of the object of their collective fears. After a few minutes, Beck stood up and walked back with Trina while Jade glared death at their table. Students moved quickly to get out of the path of that glare, and Mark was beginning to wonder if the whole school had gone insane.
"Okay, Beck, tell these losers that all those rumors, about why everyone is afraid of Jade, are wrong." Trina said.
"Most of them are wrong, or at least misleading. Which ones have you heard?" Beck asked nicely. The four seniors reluctantly told him their stories, but Beck only bothered listening until he got the names, and then stopped the narrative. "Okay, none of those stories is true. Jade's just a passionate girl, and for some reason people find it easy to be afraid of her because she laughs at other peoples pain." He smiled that warm, winning smile of his.
"Liar!" Trina shot back. "I know that smile. It's your trust me smile. You're hiding something, and since my sister is part of your group, I have a right to know." Trina challenged him. Beck glanced back at his girlfriend, flashing his best calming smile, then turned to the assembled seniors, plus Mark.
"Trina, please, there's nothing to..." Beck said.
"I'll bet Cat knows, or could find out." Trina suddenly said.
"But there's nothing to..." He saw the look on Trina's face. "Not buying it, are you." Beck sighed. "Okay, but never let Jade know you know this. The Bo story is wrong. He wasn't hitting on Jade, he was Monica's boyfriend. After Jade threatened to shave her hair off, he went looking for her, to tell her to back off. Bo swung first. And while it's true he was in the hospital for a while, she didn't cripple him. After that, Monica moved to another school, probably to avoid Jade doing the same to her. Okay? Jade never killed anyone, and her uncle wasn't a spy."
"So where did she learn to kill people with toilet paper?" Trina asked. He started to protest, and she cocked her eye.
Beck shifted so his back was to his friends. "She may have a first cousin who was in special forces." Beck replied.
"And other rumors?" The Latina asked.
"Mostly false." Beck said. "Look, I've got to get back to Jade. You never heard any of this from me."
"Right." Trina said. As the actor walked away, Trina was already making plans. "I'll get Cat to confirm what he told us later."
Back at the gangs table, Jade was watching her boyfriend return. "So what was this acting exercise they needed help with?" Tori asked.
"I can't believe you told them." Jade said.
"It's okay, They only know a little." Beck replied.
"Whats this?" Andre asked.
"They were asking about the Bo Ridges indecent." Beck said.
"The what now?" Tori asked.
"Nothing." Jade said, then she turned back to Beck. "So they don't know about anything else?"
"What else is there for them to know? Every other rumor that's even partially true is just lucky guesses." Beck said.
"Bo was this guy Jade beat down to protect Cat." Andre said. At Jade's glare, he added "Like Trina wasn't going to tell her."
"And how many of these rumors are true?" Tori asked.
"You don't want to know." Cat said, "So Jade, any chance you'll be able to help me with my new play? It's asks the important question, what if Abraham Lincoln was a hot chick. I call it Babraham Lincoln."
:}
Just some mindless fun. I have no memory of when I wrote this, but I kinda like it. So, thoughts?
