The next morning, Jade stretched, pulling the covers up around her shoulders, feeling Cat's warmth beside her. She'd been awake about 10 minutes but didn't want to disturb Cat as she laid beside her. Unfortunately, they did have to leave for school at some point. The early morning light seeped through the blinds, painting soft patterns across the room.
A buzz from her phone jolted her back to the present. Jade reached over Cat to grab it, brushing a kiss against her forehead.
"Mm, morning." Cat murmured, eyes half-closed, still caught in the haze of sleep.
Jade's heart began to pound as she saw the subject line: New York Film Academy Admissions Decision.
"Oh my god," Jade whispered, eyes widening as she stared at the screen.
Cat sat up instantly, any hint of sleepiness gone. "What? What is it?"
Jade's fingers shook as she opened the email, her eyes scanning the words faster than she could process them. And then, she saw it. "Dear Jade West, we are pleased to inform you…"
The words blurred as tears pricked her eyes. She turned to Cat, her voice trembling with disbelief. "I got in. I actually got in!"
Cat's face lit up, and she threw her arms around Jade. "I knew it! I knew they'd see how amazing you are!"
Jade pulled back with a smirk. "Yeah, guess they finally figured it out. Let's not get all sappy."
Cat laughed, rolling her eyes. "Fine, Miss Too-Cool-for-Sappy. But still! Jade, we've got to celebrate."
Jade's stomach growled, and she stood up, grabbing her jacket. "Fine by me. How about breakfast? And I mean real breakfast, not some granola bar."
Cat grinned, bouncing out of bed. "Yes! And maybe some waffles for good luck?"
"Waffles, pancakes, maybe a whole diner menu," Jade said, holding the door open. "It's a big day, after all."
"Will you make me breakfast when if get into FIT?" Cat asked, walking down the hallway.
"I'll order food." Jade compromised.
"You're lucky I like you." Cat paused, pouting for a moment before continuing on her way.
"And it's when." Jade corrected, following her girlfriend along.
"When what?" Cat asked
"When you get into FIT." She clarified.
Jade and Cat padded down the stairs, still half-dazed from the early hour and the buzz of excitement hanging in the air. As they hit the last step, Jade caught sight of her dad nursing a cup of coffee at the kitchen counter.
He glanced up as they entered, his gaze shifting between the two of them. "Good morning, girls. Early start today?"
Before Jade could brush it off with a quick excuse, Cat beamed and practically burst with excitement. "Jade got into College!"
Jason's eyebrows shot up, and a faint smile cracked his usually reserved expression. He set his coffee down, stepping forward and giving Jade a quick, somewhat awkward hug. "Well, would you look at that. That's... that's incredible, Jade."
Surprised, Jade froze for a second before patting him back. "Yeah, well, I guess they don't turn everyone away," she said, playing it off with a shrug.
Jason pulled back, still smiling. "Don't sell yourself short. You've worked hard for this."
Jade looked away, but couldn't help the tiny smile tugging at her lips. She still found it hard to accept his praises—but seeing the pride in his eyes meant more than she wanted to admit.
Cat, unable to hold back, chimed in. "I'm going to make breakfast to celebrate. Pancakes and waffles, would you like to join us?"
Jason chuckled, checking the time on his watch, "I have time for waffles." He decided. He really enjoyed having Cat in the house, it suddenly felt more full again. There hadn't been cooking for fun since Elizabeth had left - he was very happy his daughter had brought that back into their home.
Jade rolled her eyes, shooting him a teasing look. "Sure you haven't got a client to meet?"
He raised an eyebrow, a hint of amusement playing at his lips. "I'm sure they'd understand why I'm late- my daughter just got in College!" He jeered, raising his coffee in faux cheers- "I'm proud of you, Jade. Really."
Jade felt her throat tighten for a second, but she cleared it quickly, giving a quick nod. "Thanks, Dad."
Unintentionally, Cat interrupted the moment by nearly slipping backwards off the counter she had climbed up to reach the flour. "Haha!" She laughed to herself, re-finding her footing.
"You're a cartoon character I swear." Jade rolled her eyes, taking a few steps closer to be in catching distance.
"It's not my fault your cupboards are taller than me." Cat pouted, handing the flour down to Jade before lowing herself again. "Oh the -"
"I'll get it." Jade dismissed, reaching up over Cat's head for the vanilla extract. "Here you go short stuff." She teased.
"I GOT INTO CAL-ARTS!" Tori's voice rang out the moment Jade and Cat reached the group.
"Oh Tori thats so good! Jade got-" Cat started before suddenly being cut off by her girlfriend.
"Well done Vega!" She replied, faking as big of a smile as she could, while squeezing onto Cat's hand to stop her from talking.
"Thank you Jade." Tori replied, not noticing anything strange about it all. "I got the email this morning!" She continued.
"Why're you squeezing-"
"Shh." Jade whispered. She wasnt sure if it was because she didn't want the group to know or if she was stopping Cat from accidentally taking anything away from Tori's moment. But either way she didn't want to make a deal out of her acceptance.
"Fine." Cat pouted, getting the hint. "Congrats Tori thats so good!" She rejoined the praises, throwing herself at Tori for a hug.
"Thanks Cat." Tori hugged back, her hands still cautiously avoiding Cat's half-healed ribs. Cat couldn't help but inwardly cringe at this- everyone was treating her like she was made of glass or something - but it was only because they cared.
"It's gonna be so weird being in California without you all." Tori smiled at the group.
"Hey I'm not going anywhere." Andre reminded her. "Can't get rid of me that fast."
"And I'll be back sometimes." Beck added. His post Highschool plans were to take off with his RV for a bit- to experience life and see if the acting thing worked out along the way.
"My Mom has made me promise to come home as often as I can." Robbie sighed, running a hand through his hair.
"That's gonna be a lot of plane rides." Cat told him, a little wide eyed. "Pennsylvania is far."
"Pittsburg." Robbie corrected.
"Oh - is that still far?" She asked, looking up at Jade.
"About the same distance."
"See- far."
Jade was now in the post-production phase of her film project. She was sat in one of the edit suites with their editor, overseeing every cut & transformation of each clip.
"Leave a breath there befote cutting-" She corrected for what felt like the hundredth time.
"Why don't you just do it?!" The boy yelled, throwing the mouse down against the table. Jade merely needed to raise an eyebrow at him to make him grovel with an apology.
"Happily." Jade sneered, pushing him out of the way and extending the clip herself. She hated editing, but she loved being in control more.
"This whole project has just been her tunnel vision." She heard the boy mutter to another one of their classmates.
"Thats why its ended up being good." Jade replied sharply, scrolling along to the end of the next clip and once again adding the beat he'd missed. It was a slow scene, it didn't need to feel rushed. "Without me you'd have shot the whole thing at the wrong damn shutter speed." She grumbled, reminding the boy of the simple mistake he'd made while setting up the camera.
She couldn't wait until College, there she'd hopefully be able to trust people to make a good film without constantly supervising them. Rather than this bunch of knuckleheads who'd clearly only taken filmmaking for an easy A. It was shocking the kind of underexposed, poorly paced, badly levelled pieces that ended up being produced each year. One of the groups hadn't plugged in the boom mic so they'd had to change their piece to a silent film last minute. If that were her group Jade would have personally made them painstakingly re-record each line and dub it into the track. Actually if it were Jade's group it wouldn't have even happened in the first place. But luckily it wasn't her group, sucked to be them really.
Their film was amazing, both visually and with the story telling. It was about a terminally ill billionaire who offers a desperate young woman a fortune to spend a week in his mansion—but as she fulfills his strange demands, she realises he's not preparing her for the inheritance, but a deadly ritual. It was amazing how easily you could get people to act for 'exposure' and a lunch. And it turned out one of the kids in her group did have one use - their uncle had a mansion in the hills- so it all fell into place really. Even the members of her group who didn't like her, which was all of them, had to appreciate Jade's script and direction really did lead them to a seriously good film.