Disclaimer: Still don't own.

:}

Jade had originally been expecting to hit some weird ass food truck with Beck when he suddenly insisted they instead go to a mall. Worse then just going to try out Beck's new hobby, finding good food court food, Tori and her talent-less sister would be joining them. 'I don't want them there. I only agreed to this madness as is because beck and I seem to have lost something. Last thing we need is Vega and her sister. Beck wants Vega, while Trina wants Beck, and I don't need the distraction. Beck, I'm here, and could use some of that support you lavish on Vega.' Blue eyes begged. However, as was usual, Beck seemed to miss it.

The mall was over fifteen miles away, in a very different part of Los Angeles. Extra security had been posted since the last time gang members got into a disagreement inside the mall, and it made Jade even more paranoid. Tori, for her part, seemed too calm, like she had inside information about what to expect. Jade didn't know that the anti-gang task force had set up an office int hat mall, or that most gang members wouldn't go in colors to the mall any more simply because it now neither carried the clothing they wanted to covertly reflect their gang affiliations, nor was there a reason now that they weren't in colors. If they did somehow run into someone they had a problem with, given the covert but assumed police presences, they would find any one of a dozen different ways to settling their differences. It was better then letting the police send them away, again.

"..So I was thinking, maybe denim really is the new black." Trina was prattling on about something. "Not that black denim is a bad thing, mind you, but that blue that once upon a time was so common it's a color now, that is way in. Jeans are way in. And I look so good in Felony jeans. Wanna maybe try some on while we're here?"

"I don't know, they can be kinda expensive." Tori hedged.

"We're just trying them on." Trina pushed. "I don't have mom's credit card today, so my actual shopping has to be on a way more limited budget."

"You're a focused shopper." Beck noted. Jade has seen how he was actually impressed with how Trina went through the stores in the mall seeking deals.

'Makes me worried that Beck is seeing anything positive about Trina.' Jade worried. 'It means her general levels of horribleness aren't enough to drive him off any more. Usually, as open and accepting as he is, Beck is the most closed minded of the gang. I can count on him… Wait, is that her?!" panic flashed across ocean blue eyes before the goth regained control. Practiced neutrality once again the facade she presented to the world. 'makes sense, she does live nearby. Just, I don't know how to explain this to Beck…' Her gaze temporarily locked on a medium height Caucasian woman with sandy blond hair and a freckles complexion. Said woman was in good shape, thin and semi-athletic.

"Siobhan?" Said girl, a woman barely out of her youth, asked as she approached. "My god, it is you. I hadn't expected to see you around these parts. I thought you'd be up in the hills, doing whatever it is you upper middle class types do on a lazy Saturday afternoon."

"Middle class isn't rich, Sandy." Jade growled back. "And I.. I don't know who this…" She stopped. "Hard to explain how I know her name without the name tag, isn't it."

"Siobhan?" Beck asked, now looking at his girlfriend with new eyes.

"I like to take classes sometimes down here, where it's cheaper." Jade defended herself. "The community center is kinda off limits to the gangs, and there are loads of safe places around here, as long as your careful. So, I take classes, make sure to only park in well lit spaces, and I know that security is always near by. Or, I do at the center." She turned. "And Sandy, there is a reason I don't share my personal life with you guys."

"Lin talks so much you can't get a word in edgewise?" Sandy asked. "Look, you don't usually share, and I get that it's a student tutor relationship. It's just you're so understanding and friendly when you help out. I do love that that you're teaching acting to us, as well as helping the people trying to study for their GED's. You're always so friendly and approachable, we sometimes forget that you don't share much…."

Tori and her sister were watching, mouth agape, as they tried to process this new information. Only Beck was more gobsmacked as he realized his girlfriend had the oddest secrets.

"Siobhan, would you like to introduce us to your friend…" Beck's voice grew colder as he approached the end of his sentence.

"Sorry, didn't mean to interrupt." Sandy looked sheepishly at the group. "So, you're out with your girlfriend and her, um, siblings? Of is only one of them of related, and the last a date?"

"Girlfriend…" Trina surprised everyone by being the one who's voice worked. It echoed shock more than elation.

"Girlfriend." Beck echoed, only the chill in his voice had now shifted to a full on blizzard.

"Read the room, Sandy." Jade groaned. "I never lied, just shifted who I was dating." Then to Beck, she added "We were broken up, and I needed to make sure the freaks at the center stopped hitting on me, so I made up a girlfriend. She doesn't know who because the picture I posted was the first one I found that didn't embarrass me, and it has both Vega girls in it." She shifted again. "Of course, you've been on television, and I didn't need them asking about that either, so I may have denied everything in a way that hinted I was dating…"

Trina just shrugged. "Sorry, I did think about it, but in the end, I'm way too much into boys." It was the most understanding thing Jade had ever heard the woman say.

Tori was starting at her sister now. The Latina's mouth was trying to make sounds, but nothing came out.

"Jade, care to explain?" Beck was done. He half expected Sandy to be upset at the other name.

"Of course, you use your first name with them…" Sandy laughed. "What? She wouldn't have gotten volunteer credit, or been aloud in the teachers prep area, if she hadn't use her real name. Too many freaks out there…"

"Um, Jade, are you actually embarrassed you volunteered to earn school credit?" Tori asked.

"And why, since you earned those credits two years ago working in the morgue?" Beck added. "They had to ask you not to come back."

"I like teaching." Jade broke down. "I love helping out. I help them learn acting as an exercise to keep them out of gang life, or otherwise give them other tools to help them deal with the day to day. I started helping with the GED's when it became obvious some of them needed that, and I enjoy helping people. Why is that such a major surprise?"

"Wait until the other find out Siobhan is dating Tori Vega." Sandy bounced. The girls hazel eyes looked through Beck. "Because I can already see more of a connection, and wanting for her from that one than from you. Sorry, we call it like we see it, and I just saw that my favorite teacher at the adult ed is actually not always the sweetheart we know her to be. Well, didn't mean to cause this much chaos, so I'll be going now…."

With that, a well intentioned friend left Jade's high school life somewhat shredded.

:}

Just something to remind everyone I'm still alive and writing.