A/N: And now ladies and gentlemen (and everything in-between) here is a night that's been almost two decades in the making.
ENJOY!
Jade pulled up to Hollywood Arts, following the meandering flow of traffic to the back of the building. This was where the students who drove would park but since it's night, their parents will have the pleasure.
She was actually surprised to see this many people turn up for parent/teacher conferences.
"I mean they can't all be new or have any demerits against their kids," she muttered to herself.
(Don't be so negative and stupid, West! Some parents just want to make sure their teens are doing okay.)
The woman parked and turned off her car. She sighed, psyching herself out for the inevitable meeting.
It happened at elementary school. It happened at middle school. And here we are now. Especially following that attempt to "reach out," Jade knew that Tori would want to formally break the ice. Detention hall wasn't the most ideal place to cross paths after all these years. No doubt Tori would use tonight as an excuse to get her out of hiding.
(I wasn't hiding!)
(Yes, you were!)
"Oh, man," she huffed. "Here we go."
Parents gathered into the auditorium for a formal message from the newly appointed principal.
Jade passed by a couple of people who whispered among themselves that might have recognized her. Even in this day and age, unless you paid close attention to the photo on the back of the dust jacket, you're not going to know what the author looks like.
She wasn't a face like Stephen King or George R.R. Martin who gets spotted easily from the litany of TV interviews and public appearances. Book signings were as far as that went with Jade. That level of anonymity was just fine for her. Jade appreciated going into an office supplies store or a restaurant and nobody harassing her.
She didn't care much about self-promotion; only interested in pushing the next book. Signings were purely for interacting with the fans. Jade did delight in meeting them face to face and sometimes impressed by how young or how old her readership stretched. There were the ads for upcoming books, which Jade oversaw herself. She refused to appear on camera like James Patterson.
Jade had fame but it was fame on her own terms. Her publisher worked for her now. She wasn't about to let anyone else call the shots.
Never again.
Everyone's attention went toward the stage where the smartly-dresses principal approached the podium.
"Good evening, parents and guardians! You may be seated."
The crowd did so.
"For those of you who are not my relatives, I am Tori Vega-Larson."
Some snickers came out from the parents.
(Opening with a joke, huh Vega? Cute.)
"I am the new school principal of Hollywood Arts. For those of you who don't know, Helen Dubois had retired this last school year and hand-picked me as her replacement. I am honored by being chosen as she was my principal when I went here, long, long ago."
Some more chuckles from that one.
Jade covered her mouth to hide her smile.
"And getting to know your children, I have to say that this position has been a privilege. I hope to meet with all of the newcomers and anyone returning who would like to speak with me, my door is always open. Except when it isn't."
That last joke didn't land as hard as the previous.
Tori took the cue from the reception and decided to close.
"So, welcome to Hollywood Arts, parents of the future Class of 2031! Thank you all for coming."
She locked eyes with Jade as she turned to leave. The woman smiled and vanished behind the curtains.
Jade went on a tour of the various instructors at Hollywood Arts these days.
Nobody she remembered from her tenure there.
First off was Miriam McDorman, Alice's music teacher.
She wasn't as stuffy as some of the music teachers Jade recalled. This was very upbeat and had an affinity for showtunes. Indeed, this semester began the journey through musical theatre with the three penny operas. By the spring, they will have arrived at the modern Broadway show, with the likes of Sondheim and Webber. Jade found her nice but a little physical, wanting to hug every adult who walked into her classroom.
Next off was Edgar DeBiase, the fuddy-duddy writing teacher. Jade did not care for the harsh critique of Alice's work. But she wasn't alone as his ridiculous high standards made it sound like nobody's writing quite hit the mark. But he promised the parents that he would whip them into shape.
(Yeeesh, fuck this guy!)
As a palette cleanser, Jade then met the eccentric dancing instructor: Veronique Chaudet.
She was originally from Nice in the south of France and actually owns a dance academy here in Los Angeles.
Veronique's quirk (of many) is to instruct the students in French, whether they did well or poorly. Jade found her odd but respected the demonstration of her own style that was like a fusion between ballet and breaking dancing. She couldn't help but applaud alongside everyone else.
Jade checked the itinerary for which of Alice's teacher she had left.
(SAY WHAT?!)
Rob shook the hands of the mom and dad of one of his better-performing students. He assured them that he is doing just fine and has been getting along with the class.
"Just iterate what I told him," he said to the parents on their way out. "He can't sit on the sidelines until the perfect part comes along. He's better off doing as many things as he can, build up that portfolio, as it were. How can he improve if there is no baseline established?"
"Guess we all gotta start somewhere," the dad agreed.
"Thanks again, Mr. Shapiro," said the mom. "Goodnight."
"Bye," the teacher waved.
He wandered back to his desk and checked his list of students' parents and guardians.
"Alrighty..."
A knock on the door frame made him look up.
"Mr. Shapiro?"
He couldn't believe who he was looking at right now.
"No way! I am in the presence of greatness," he smiled. "Is that celebrated queen of the macabre, Jade West?"
Jade folded her arms and shook her head with a grin.
"You may be handsome now, Robbie. But you're still a dork."
The old friends laughed and hugged.
"So good to see you," Jade admitted. "Hard to believe so much of everyone left but you stayed."
Rob shrugged.
"This place just never stopped being special to me."
"Acting teacher, I see" Jade nodded, scoping out the class. "How's old Sikowitz?"
"Oh he's been retired. Going on seven years."
Jade wandered around, picking up a mini bust of William Shakespeare from the desk.
"Can't believe he's still alive," she chuckled. "Last I heard he committed self-trepanation?"
He nodded.
"How the hell did he get hold of a dentist drill?"
Jade made an "I dunno" face and put the little sculpture down.
"What brings you here?" Rob asked.
"Parent-teacher conferences," Jade replied.
The teacher looked stunned.
"You're kidding me, which one?"
The former goth rolled her eyes at his over-the-top disbelief.
"Alice."
"Wait, what?" he said incredulously. "Alice. Alice Doyle. She's your daughter?"
"Yeah, I know. One of the many things my husband talked me into."
Rob winced.
"I take it you're not on good terms these days?"
"We're divorced," Jade huffed.
"Definitely not on good terms," he nodded.
Jade attempted to lower herself into one of the old desks.
"Ugh, oof!" she groaned. "Well, this makes me feel old."
"Comfy?" Rob asked.
"Hell no!"
"Well, let's get down to business. I'm just gonna get this out of the way. Alice...she's wonderful. Very nice and smart. For example, we had an assignment for everyone to write a scene between two people and I was impressed by hers."
He handed Jade the double-spaced papers stapled together.
She breezed through it, having not been shown this until now.
"Whoa, this is cool."
Rob smirked.
"Please tell me she writes more at home."
Jade smiled like a proud mama and nodded.
"That's great, she really is a natural talent. There are aspiring writers I noticed that like to hide behind flowery language. Alice's stuff isn't wordy; she makes very deliberate choices. I sense someone who is very observant."
A concerned look came across his face.
"What's the matter?" she asked.
"Sometimes, I feel that Alice is too comfortable...observing."
Jade raised an eyebrow.
"We have acting exercises, even a little singing. Now I know everyone isn't a songbird but all of us can at least hum a few bars. Alice is reluctant with anything involving getting up in front of the class and performing, even if she's with others."
She was always concerned with her daughter's crippling anxiety with putting herself out there. It hits different hearing the same thing from another person.
Rob kneeled so he was more eye to eye with Jade.
"I don't want you to be worried. This is more common than you think. It's not just artists. Look at some athletes or politicians. At some point, you're going to be put on the spot and that can be scary. Alice is going to amount to great things but not if she gets in her own way."
"How do you know?" Jade asked.
"Because I recognize that kid who was bursting but too awkward to give it the release they need. That used to be me."
She looked perplexed.
"You?"
"Jade, don't you remember me when we first met? I wanted to be a performer so badly; I wanted to be the center of attention even if that made me a little annoying. I was basically Gene Belcher on Bob's Burgers. I used Rex as a means of coming out of my shell. Alice has to find her own way of facing her fear."
He stood up and waited for Jade to wiggle out of the chair.
"Beyond that, I have zero complaints. You have one heck of a kid, Jade. She's amazing and it's a pleasure having her in my class."
Jade lightly punched him in the shoulder.
"Thanks, teach."
"Oh, almost forgot," Rob said as he dug in his pockets and produced a folded piece of yellow paper. "She wanted me to give you this when I saw you."
(Who?)
Jade looked at the paper as she unfolded it to reveal:
"Jade West, please report to the principal's office before you leave."
"For fuck's sake," she grumbled.
The brunette took a deep breath before knocking on the door, only for it to open with a creak. It wasn't fully shut like she thought.
Sure enough, the office of the principal was revealed. And there she was.
"Didn't know I'd worry about being sent to the office after I left this place!"
Tori chuckled and stood up to greet her.
She went in for a hug, but the pale woman hesitated, hurting the Latina's feelings. Jade's body movements were less like running into an old friend and more playing a game of dodge ball.
"Oh," was all she said.
"Shapiro said you wanted to see me, here I am."
Jade then showed the yellow paper.
"Bit theatrical, don't you think?"
Tori crossed her arms.
"What did you expect? I sent you a private message and got nothing in response."
"Yeah, walked into that one," Jade whispered to herself. "Look, sorry, I was..."
"Busy, I know" Tori huffed. "But I was willing to make time. I didn't exactly know I was going to come across you either."
Jade sighed and looked at the floor.
They hadn't seen or spoken with each other in a very long time. And even back then their last encounter wasn't on the best of circumstances.
Jade was reluctant because she was sure that Tori remembered. But Tori's mind was actually elsewhere.
"I got a new number," she mentioned.
"I know," nodded Tori. "I figured it out when I tried calling you and it said number no longer in service."
That made her feel bad.
Tori had no real way of reaching out to her, so Jade couldn't fault her for getting creative and using social media (and friends in the faculty) to get her attention.
"I understand that we didn't always get along, but I didn't expect to be ghosted. I mean, Beck, Cat, Andre, Trina; they've all gone and started their own new chapters. But they kept in touch."
They did. They all did.
Shortly after high school, Beck and Cat got serious and the pair really influenced one another. Beck became less stoic, and Cat was more level-headed, less leaning into her ditzy persona. They married and had a set of twins. They currently live in New York. Cat manages a successful online fashion business called Cat's Closet. Beck, meanwhile, acts for commercials and local TV like the latest Law and Order. No shortage of work in the Big Apple.
Andre and Trina were the relationship that surprised everyone. He rose to stardom with his two albums in two consecutive years; not as impossible a feat when it turned out he was sitting on a TON of material he had cultivated over time. Andre got Sinjin to film, edit and post several of his music videos. He became one of his closer friends and was often a part of his entourage. When he wasn't filming videos, Sinjin could be seen posting to TikTok or doing other promotions for his musician chum.
One day, they were shooting another music video and one of the dancers, a very attractive Czech girl, pulled out at the last minute. Trina offered up her services and became a breakout hit as the main background dancer. And she never really left, serving as background dancer for more videos and on-stage during concerts. In the afterglow of another knockout performance, the talent and crew all partied in and around the tour bus. There was some Stoli and one thing led to another. The next morning, Andre and Trina woke up in bed together. Their discarded clothing and condom wrapper was evident that they didn't do a jigsaw puzzle all night.
Unable to recall much, the pair was curious if they really got along that well. With some convincing, Andre agreed to go out with Trina and see where it went, to make sure it wasn't just a fluke influenced by alcohol. It wasn't. They actually got along fine. Apparently, being apart from the usual gang made the dynamic between them very different and they really dug each other's company. Trina's bombastic personality was more alluring this time around and she saw a tender side to Andre she didn't acknowledge in the past. They haven't tied the knot. Yet. (A sticking point for Trina's parents) But they are domestic partners and very much in love.
Jade paced a little around the office.
Now she felt like she was a student in big trouble.
"You're right, I'm sorry. The last few years have been...a lot," Jade admitted.
Tori got a big glassy-eyed.
"You don't have to tell me that."
There was a long pause, both women playing psychic chicken to see who would speak first.
"I definitely didn't see this coming," Jade smirked. "I mean you, the principal? You?"
Tori shrugged and patted her wooden desk.
Not for nothing but if young Jade found Tori insufferable before, imagine her as an authority figure.
"How didn't I know about that?" Jade asked.
"Our old web administrator quit at the tail end of July. And I've been looking for a replacement ever since. So, for now, that website is pretty useless. Don't even get me started on the school calendar."
She then picked up her phone and waved it like she was showing it off.
"That's why I've been relying on emails to keep parents up to date."
Jade nodded.
"But that's okay," Tori said. "I never caught on that Alice was your daughter."
"That last name gets them every time," she sighed.
"I don't want to be pushy, but can I ask why?"
Jade rubbed her hair and sat on the corner of the desk.
"Nothing much to tell. After the divorce, we felt it would be easier legally speaking, you know if anything happened to Harry, she would get everything."
"Oh, I see. But you never changed your name?" Tori asked.
"First off, I had the name recognition. For the sake of the book sales; it might have confused readers if I suddenly went by a different name. Besides, Jade Doyle," she shuddered at the sound of it.
Tori smiled.
"Yeah, it suits you ill."
"I hate Harry for what he did, how it all ended for us; but I can't deny his love for Alice. Despite all his flaws, he is a devoted dad."
Now that Jade got a little candid for where her marriage ended up, Tori was petrified where the conversation was going to shift next.
"By the way...I'm...very sorry...about Sam."
Tori let out a very, very long sigh.
"It's not your fault," she told Jade.
"I know but I feel bad when I heard what happened. When you said you were no longer 'Mrs.' I assumed..." Jade bit her lip. "That was really fucking stupid!"
The tan woman put her hand on her friend's.
"Yeah, a little. But it's okay. You didn't know at the time. That's the difference."
Jade cleared her throat, resisting the temptation to tear up out of embarrassment.
(She said everything is fine, so why do I still feel like shit? UGH, is this remorse? FUCK!)
"Despite our falling out I guess, it seems fate that our daughters ended up becoming friends."
"Seriously, what are the odds?" Jade muttered.
Tori stood up straight, adjusting her business suit. Grey wasn't a color Jade remembered seeing much on her, if at all. It kind of looked good on her. Fortunately this wasn't the 1980's or Vega would've been sporting the old shoulder pads.
"Listen, it's been pretty open most weekends. How about you and Alice come over? The girls could hang and..."
"Don't you think they're a little old for a playdate?"
Tori rolled her eyes. The classic Jade West wit.
"While they're doing their own thing, maybe we can finally catch up. Get away from the stuffiness of school."
"Shouldn't the principal act like school is the place to fucking be?"
"I'll always like Hollywood Arts," Tori pointed. "But this place has been my job for the last ten years. I'm not over it but maybe one day I'll have had enough."
"It really gets on your nerves sometimes?" Jade's lips turned into a grin.
"Let's just say I would have more good days if most parents were like you."
"Ouch, that's pretty bad."
The pair chuckled.
"I really would like to talk, Jade. It's been too long."
Jade looked visibly uncomfortable.
"Come on, West!" Tori sternly stated. "You owe me!"
"What do you mean?" asked Jade.
"It was bad enough that you were the biggest no-show at my wedding!"
Jade threw up her hands.
"Oh. My. God. I was under a goddamn contract, Vega! They had me booked for signings all over New England! I couldn't get out of it. Back then I was a nobody; I had to do what the publisher said!"
"You're right, I'm sorry. I was just hurt you couldn't be there that day."
Jade hugged herself.
"Yeah, I know."
"But did you have to also box me out of your wedding? At least I invited you."
The dark-haired woman stomped her foot in protest.
"Alright, THAT wasn't my fault! Right after the proposal, Henry and my future in-laws hatched this ambush wedding. They even flew in my folks without me knowing. Why? Because his great-grandmother had only three months to live and they wanted her to witness the wedding. Bitch lived another four years!"
Jade then took a step forward.
"And Beck and Cat were only there because they were in driving distance. Plus, the bridesmaids and the groomsmen were both short one. So, they were the only friends in on it. I was livid when I initially found out!"
Tori pressed her lips to suppress a giggle.
"That's pretty messed up, Jade. Sorry they took your day and made it a hidden camera show."
Jade scrunched up her face, thinking about the "surprise" being dropped on her like an anvil. Plus her old ex from high school being present didn't help the queasiness in her stomach.
While it may have felt rather accusatory, Jade had to admit to herself that Tori was just being honest. It had to hurt that only with her did she become a phantom.
"Okay, okay, you win!" huffed Jade. "What were you thinking, this weekend?"
"Sure," Tori shrugged, trying to mask the extent of her enthusiasm. "Mia usually sleeps in Saturdays and I do the shopping (mostly alone). Sunday?"
"I dunno, we got church and then there's brunch...just kidding! We'll be around."
"Great!" smiled Tori.
"Can't wait," Jade deadpanned as she passed the yellow paper to Tori. "Okay, I met the dean so now I'm outta here!"
The former goth was halfway out the door.
"Hey, wait! Aren't you going to need my address?"
Jade looked back and replied, "Text it to me."
Tori had a confused expression until Jade indicated for her to flip over the paper. There were the new digits.
"You know, since my kid and your kid are" she made a face and raised her fingers in air quotes. "Besties, I should probably make sure her friend's mom has my number."
The tan woman smiled sweetly at Jade.
"See you Sunday," she said.
"Do I bring anything, or..."
"It's not Thanksgiving, Jade. Just bring yourselves," Tori chortled.
"Gotcha," Jade nodded.
"Goodnight, Jade."
"Night, narc!"
A/N: That bit about Trina and Andre hooking up was inspired recent things I've read, and I must admit, that pairing has potential. So, I left that door open if I made any sequels or side-quels to this story in the future.
Also, trepanning is the practice of drilling a hole into your head. This goes back to the Middle Ages and even today, there are some people who believe that it was health benefits. And yes, some of these folk did in fact do it to themselves (and lived). A famous example is the documentary Heartbeat in the Brain (1970) a visual diary of one woman's successful attempt and if you can find it (and have a strong stomach) it's interesting.