After a sudden plane ride back home, Jade stared at her phone in disbelief. A clip playing on a loop as she sat frozen in her bedroom of Cat, on stage in Buenos Aires, voice cracking as she addressed the crowd in the middle of Why Try. Her words were raw, vulnerable, punctuated by tears she couldn't hold back.

"I can't—I'm sorry. I just… I can't finish this one. I'm going through a breakup."

Jade watched Cat's image falter on the massive screen behind her as the audience collectively gasped. The crowd's sympathetic cheers swelled, their support pouring out in waves. Cat took a moment to collect herself, wiping her eyes, but the pain was evident in her trembling hands and the broken quality of her voice.

The video ended abruptly, and Jade realised her hands were shaking too.

That was it. That was how she found out. That Cat asking her leave was a real breakup. Not just some time apart. They were done.

It wasn't a conversation, a phone call, or even a text. It was a clip from some fan's livestream, now trending across every social media platform. Cat had laid it all out in the open for the world, and somehow, Jade had been left to piece it together through the noise.

'Who was Caterina dating? ' was the trending question online, and everyone had an opinion. Rumours flew about secret relationships, some absurd, others disturbingly close to the truth. Jade's face occasionally popped up in threads, but most dismissed the idea outright. After all, Cat had never made their relationship public.

Jade's stomach twisted with a mix of anger, heartbreak, and betrayal. She didn't know what hurt more—the breakup itself, or the fact that she hadn't even been given the dignity of hearing it directly from Cat.

By the time Beck called, Jade was pacing her room, her thoughts a tangled mess.

"Is it true?" Beck's voice was cautious, like he wasn't sure if he should even be bringing it up.

"Yeah," Jade snapped, biting down on her words to keep from saying more. She didn't want to admit how much it was tearing her apart.

"You okay?"

"Do I sound okay?" she shot back, harsher than she intended. She sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Sorry. No, I'm not okay. I don't even know what this is. Are we broken up? Are we on a break? Does she even want to talk to me? I don't—" Jade's voice cracked, and she cursed under her breath, refusing to cry.

Beck was quiet for a moment. "She's probably a mess too, Jade. You've both been through a lot. Maybe give it a little time."

"Time," Jade echoed bitterly. "That's easy for you to say. You're not the one who's been left out of the loop on your own damn relationship."

The call ended shortly after, but the knot in Jade's chest only tightened. She couldn't sit still. Her thoughts kept circling back to that clip, Cat's face crumpling under the weight of her own words, the audience screaming their love for her while Jade sat alone, an afterthought in her own story.

By the time night fell, Jade found herself scrolling through every angle of the performance, dissecting every frame. The pain in Cat's voice was real, but so was Jade's frustration. How could Cat be so open with thousands of strangers but not with her?

And yet, even through the anger and confusion, one thought lingered in the back of Jade's mind: Was Cat okay?

Cat sat on the edge of her hotel bed, staring blankly at the floor. Her head pounded, her hands trembled, and her mind was foggy. She didn't remember much about last night's show. The lights, the crowd, the music—all of it blurred together like a hazy dream.

But the headlines this morning were impossible to ignore.

"Pop Sensation Caterina Breaks Down On Stage: 'I'm Going Through a Breakup'"

She read the words over and over again, trying to piece together what had happened. The livestream clips showed her sobbing mid-performance, the audience cheering in support, but she couldn't recall the moment she'd let it slip. It hadn't been planned, hadn't been approved by her team. It had just… happened.

And now, her PR team was livid.

"You don't even remember saying it?" one of them had hissed during their impromptu meeting that morning. "Do you have any idea the mess we're in now? This is a disaster."

Cat's head was spinning as they laid out the damage. Fans were speculating nonstop, tabloids were running wild with rumours, and the carefully curated image her team had worked so hard to build was crumbling.

They'd kept Jade out of the spotlight for so long, bending over backward to redirect any suspicion. And now, with one tearful confession, everything was teetering on the edge of exposure.

"We need a plan," another PR rep had said, pacing back and forth. "We need to redirect this narrative. Fast."

Someone suggested a celebrity cover story. "We could say she's dating Shay. They already have chemistry on stage—it wouldn't be a hard sell. His team would jump on it-"

Cat had recoiled at the idea. "No. Not Shay."

"Then- what's that guy you wrote your song with- Andre?" another voice chimed in. "He's been in her orbit forever. It's believable, and he'd play along."

"No!" Cat snapped, her voice sharper than usual. "Leave Andre out of this."

The room went silent for a moment, everyone staring at her like she'd grown a second head.

"Fine," the lead PR rep finally said, her tone clipped. "Then who? Because this doesn't just go away. We need a name, Cat."

Cat's stomach churned. The thought of dragging someone innocent into this, of lying outright to her fans, made her feel sick. But she also knew the alternative—letting the truth surface—would be even worse.

"Fine," she muttered, her voice barely above a whisper. "...Shay." At least it would be someone she knew, someone she'd talked to. Before they started fabricating some story about some random celeb guy.

Her team exchanged glances and the conversation shifted to damage control strategies.

Cat tuned them out after that. She couldn't handle it. The pressure, the lies, the endless expectations—it was all too much. She felt like she was drowning, and every attempt to stay afloat only pulled her deeper.

By the time the meeting ended, she was left alone in her hotel room again. The silence was deafening, but she welcomed it.

Her phone buzzed on the nightstand, and she glanced at it. Notifications flooded the screen—texts from friends, news alerts, fans tagging her in posts.

One text stood out, though: "Call me."

It was from Andre.

Cat hesitated. She couldn't bring herself to talk to him, not yet. She couldn't handle his questions, his concern. Not when she didn't even know how to handle herself.

Instead, she buried her face in her hands and let out a shaky breath.

Touring wasn't fun—it was exhausting. The PR games weren't clever—they were soul-crushing. And the distance from her friends, from Jade… it hurt more than she could put into words. But she was in too far now to back away. And worse, she was alone in it all. All she had was this sudden fake ex-relationship with Shay that she had to pretend had been a thing. And she had to keep singing this damn album- an album dedicated to Jade. It was called My Everything for God's sake. Jade was that everything.

Back in LA, the group had collectively made the decision to go and comfort their gothic friend. So there there were, sat on the couch in Jade's living room, legs pulled up to her chest, her face buried in her knees. She'd barely said a word since they'd showed up unannounced, her eyes red and puffy from crying. Beck, Andre, and Tori exchanged glances, silently agreeing to give her the space to talk when she was ready.

Tori perched on the arm of the couch next to Jade, gently rubbing her back. "Hey, Jade," she started softly, "we're here, okay? Whatever you need."

Jade let out a shaky breath but didn't lift her head. Her voice, muffled by her knees, broke the silence. "I don't even know what just happened."

Andre, sitting across from her, leaned forward. "You don't gotta have it all figured out tonight. Just take it slow."

Jade finally looked up, her face streaked with tears. "She told me—" Jade's voice cracked, and she had to take a moment to steady herself. "She said this was my fault. That I pushed her into persuing music. That I'm why she's stuck in all this."

Tori frowned, confused. "What? That doesn't even make sense."

Jade shrugged helplessly. "Maybe it does. I mean, we all encouraged her, didn't we? Andre and I especially. She wanted to go to college for fashion, but we told her she was too good not to try music. And look at her now—she's miserable."

Andre shook his head. "Hold up. That's not on you. None of us forced her to do anything. Yeah, we hyped her up, but Cat's the one who chose this path. Don't let her guilt-trip you into thinking otherwise."

Jade stared at the floor, her hands gripping her knees tightly. "I don't know. I just—what if I messed up her life? What if she hates me?"

"She doesn't hate you," Tori said firmly. "She's just... going through it right now. You both are."

Jade let out a bitter laugh. "She didn't even tell me herself. I had to find out from a video of her crying during a show. A video. Do you know how that feels?"

The room fell silent for a moment. Beck moved closer, sitting down on the couch beside her. "It's a mess," he admitted, "but you can't blame yourself for all of it. You've been there for her through everything. She's gotta figure some of this out on her own."

Andre nodded in agreement. "And you've got us. Whatever happens, we're not going anywhere."

Jade looked at them, her lips trembling as fresh tears welled up. "Thanks. I just... I don't even know what to do now."

Tori gave her a small smile. "Step one: let us be here for you. Step two: Beck's making tea, and we're not letting you leave until you feel a little better."

Beck raised an eyebrow. "I'm making tea?"

"Yes," Tori said pointedly. "Now go."

Despite herself, Jade let out a weak chuckle. It wasn't much, but it was something.