~ Saturday, October 24th - 3:14 AM ~

It had been several hours since his big performance at school, and André Harris was having difficulty falling asleep.

A topic that had been bothering him for the past week was at the center of his restlessness.

"Jade who?" he joked to Tori as he walked away to meet the girl he met earlier that night.

It frightened André that his mind once again was fixated on the black-haired girl.

"What the hell is wrong with me?" he asked himself while staring at his room ceiling.

He remembered back to the other night.

The late-night recording session.

Her surprisingly sweet side.

Her soothing voice.

Her cute smile.

All of this rushed through his mind as if it were a maelstrom of confusing thoughts.

He needed help, and there was only one person who could provide it.

"Tori!" he gasped, sitting up in his bed and picking up his phone.

There was a missed call left from her.

Even though his mind was now focused on Tori, a recent memory caused André to go back to Jade.

~ A Few Days Ago... ~

He was sitting on the couch at Tori's house and staring at a Jade-esque Tori.

"…I'll be way meaner to you," she glared.

Tori was acting too much like Jade. As much as he liked the sweet side that Jade had hidden, André was equally attracted to her forceful side.

At that point, his mind went blank. The only thing that came to mind was Jade, nothing else.

Tori began to resemble her more and more. It got to the point where André felt like he was back in the studio.

Everyone, including his best friend Beck, became second to him.

Beck who?

He began to lean closer and closer.

All he wanted was one kiss. All he needed was just one kiss.

Jade moved closer as he did until their lips almost touched.

"Oh, Jade…" André moaned as his dream was almost a reality.

Surprisingly, Jade yelled at that precise moment.

"André!"

But something was wrong with her voice, it sounded… like Tori.

What in the hell?!

Suddenly, what felt like a pillow slammed into André's head.

~ 9:25 AM ~

He woke up.

Laying on the floor, André realized that he'd fallen asleep while sitting against the headboard.

Not only was his head hurting as a result of the fall, but his thoughts were still ricocheting against his skull.

One of these thoughts frightened him.

Beck.

As he sat up, André fell into deep thought.

I couldn't betray my best friend. Yet I almost did... at least in my head, and I didn't give a damn about how Beck felt.

André remembered being on stage with Tori, singing with her, and being completely focused on Jade.

How did she become so beautiful to him all of a sudden?

It was as if you'd been in the presence of an angel in disguise for years and had only recently discovered the angelic side of them.

Don't get him wrong: André wasn't blind to Jade's other side. He was well aware that she wasn't all nice and sweet.

But at the moment, he didn't care about that.

Not really.

What he did care about was the look on Beck's face last night.

He was completely oblivious to what was going on in André's mind.

And that's exactly how André wanted it to be.

He knew it was wrong, but what could he possibly do about it?

It was like there was no end to the insanity he was feeling.

He had to go somewhere.

It was almost 9:30 in the morning and the sun was out.

After getting himself together, André walked down the block and came upon Cat's house.

The redhead had set up a lemonade stand in her front yard, but she was apparently trying to sell toothpaste-flavored cupcakes.

André thought it was strange- Wait, he'd known Cat long enough to be used to her eccentricities.

As soon as Cat saw André, she ran up to him waving two cupcakes.

"Toothpaste Cupcakes!" she chimed, "The minty flavor of toothpaste inside a tasty cupcake! Want one?"

Not wanting to hurt her feelings, he just told her that he had a very large breakfast.

"You look like you haven't been sleeping well." Cat said as they both walked towards her stand, "Still thinking about Jade?"

André felt as though his heart stopped and his lungs were being squeezed.

How did she… When did she… Gotta play this off and act calmly.

Cat smirked as if she was expecting him to respond with a quick lie.

"Are you kidding me? Why would I be thinking about Jade?" he answered quickly, "I mean, she's a friend, but c'mon. I don't think about her like that."

Cat giggled, "You are such a bad liar. I saw the way you looked at Jade after you hugged her last night."

André remembered it too well.

~ Last Night ~

When he and Jade saw each other, she approached him and they hugged.

This wasn't the first time this happened, but something was different about this moment.

He could feel how warm she was.

How soft she was.

The noticeable fragrance that she was wearing.

Whatever the factor was, it made him want to hold her close to him and never let her go.

But eventually, he knew that he had to. Mainly to not draw any attention from those standing near them.

As he pulled away from her, André saw that she was smiling at him.

He felt the need to tell her something.

Anything.

But no word could describe how he was feeling at that moment.

So he remained silent.

~ Present Time ~

"Yoo-hoo! André, are you still there?" asked Cat, waving her hands in his face.

"Oh uh, yeah, it's just something that came to my mind." he replied, "I have to go. Good luck selling those cupcakes."

As he began to walk off from Cat's cupcake stand, he could hear her calling to him.

"Don't worry, I'm not going to tell her anything!"

André didn't know how to feel about that. But at the moment, all he could do was trust that Cat wouldn't tell Jade a thing.

He had to play it off, of course.

"Yeah sure. Whatever you say, Cat."

Continuing to walk down the block, André knew there was one person he needed to talk to.

"Tori."