Chapter Text
Normally I wasn’t nervous for the first day of school, but today was not normal. It was my first day at Hollywood Arts, a high school for crazy talented people. And I was about to start my first day, after having performed once in front of an audience after having been practically dragged onstage. Sure it was fun and all and everyone seemed to like it, but who was I kidding? I was no performer, or singer, or actress, only if you count the only audience I had previously performed to, which were my hair and hygiene supplies in my bathroom. I was sure my bullshit was going to be called out at any point during the day. Nonetheless, I put on a brave face and hoped my senior year would start off at least okay.
Currently, I was running through the parking lot, trying to make it to homeroom, which I had no idea where it was, before the first bell. I pushed past the doors and almost immediately bumped into someone. And, unfortunately, that person was holding a cup of coffee in their hand. Naturally, as my luck would have it, the cup of coffee half spilled all over the boy’s white T-Shirt.
“Crap, I’m so sorry” I said looking up from the person’s shirt and finding that the boy was really good looking. He seemed to be a senior as well, judging by his appearance and the way he was calmly making his way through the school, you know, before I crashed into him.
“It’s fine” he said comprehensively “Honestly, I didn’t even like this shirt”.
Sensing the playful tone in his voice, I relaxed a little, but still, it was a shame for the white shirt.
“Here, at least let me try to get some of it off” I said, and having no clean cloth to dab it with, I opted to take off my jacket and use it instead.
“Excuse me” When he nodded in agreement, I started to try and dab his quickly staining T-shirt, but apparently it was of no use.
“I don’t think it’ll work, I can buy you---” I managed to get out before a rich, deep voice cut me off.
“Dude, why you rubbing my boyfriend?”.
I turned around, jacket in hand, and while I did so, I noticed that a few people were starting to gather around us. My eyes met piercing blue ones. Actually they were kind of green too. I had never seen such beautiful eyes before and certainly not such angry ones at that. I looked at the face the eyes belonged to and was immediately blown away. Her face was V-shaped and her skin was porcelain white. It was a very nice contrast to her raven hair, which had blue streaks in it. It seemed to highlight her eyes even more.
I didn’t notice I was staring until her voice spoke again “Well?”.
“I spilled coffee on his shirt” I said, almost in a daze.
“Get away from him” The girl said.
Ouch. For such a pretty face, that attitude was certainly not fitting.
“Jade…” the guy said.
So that was her name. Jade. Much like the stone. It was certainly a correctly given name.
“What?” she replied in a flat tone and crossed her arms over her chest. At that I couldn’t help but notice the cleavage that she had just hid. She was wearing a black, heart shaped corset, a black short skirt, a black belt and black combat boots. Not that I was complaining, but why was she wearing that to school?
I managed to gather my thoughts and was going to start explaining the situation, but the guy I’d spilled coffee on was faster.
“You are being extremely rude” he said looking at her and then turning to me “I’m sorry…”.
“Tori. Tori Vega” I completed for him.
“Vega?” Jade scoffed “I can’t believe there’s another one of them” she continued pinching the bridge of her nose.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” I asked curiously. Surely she couldn’t have meant my older sister, Trina, who had graduated the semester before. I knew she was bit… much, but still, it was different to hear it from other people.
“Nothing” The boy said “I’m Beck” extending a hand.
I was about to shake it when I heard growling. I looked around and realized Jade was making that sound.
“What, now I can’t even shake her hand?” Beck said, looking over me at his girlfriend.
“NO!” she yelled suddenly.
I was not expecting that. Again, how can this beautiful girl be such a gank? And just how jealous was she that I couldn’t even touch her boyfriend’s hand? I was gay for God’s sake, and I thought I seemed it, but apparently not, since she was so jealous.
“You’re unbelievable,” Beck said, walking away. Jade mumbled something under her breath and ran after him, both of them disappearing behind a door on the opposite side of the hallway.
Great! My morning had started off great! I spilled coffee on, apparently, the hottest girl in school’s boyfriend, and if that wasn’t bad enough I was going to be late to homeroom on my first day! And I still didn’t know where my classroom was!
“Tori!” I heard someone scream from behind the crowd of people that had gathered to watch the whole Jade-Beck debacle. “Don’t you have anything better to do than just stand here in the hall? Back off, people” The voice said, now closer.
Emerging from the crowd was André Harris, the one person who I actually knew at this school. He was partnered with Trina at the end last semester, unfortunately, for the Big Showcase. But she ate some bad fish and was puking her guts out the day of the performance, and since I had rehearsed with them every day and knew the lyrics and choreography, that was also the day when I got dragged onstage to perform in her place, hence me having been dragged onstage. After my performance, the school’s principal offered me a place at Hollywood Arts and André helped me convince myself that I was good enough to go to this school.
Couldn’t he have been the first person I saw today, you know, and not spilled coffee on?
“André, thank God” I said in frustration “Did you see all that?”.
“Couldn’t have missed it if I tried” André said frankly “How lucky are you to have met Jade’s temper on the first day of class”.
“Yeah… about that, are they going to be okay?” I motioned to where the couple had run off to.
André gave me a knowing look “I honestly don’t know. That relationship’s bumpy. You know how they say “opposites attract”? Total bullshit. Those two fight all the damn time”.
“Wow. And the weird thing is, Beck seems like a nice guy and Jade…” I vented, not knowing how to phrase my thoughts on the Goth.
“... being Jade” André completed “She’s a bit of a gank sometimes, but nice enough if you don’t piss her off” He chuckled slightly.
“Ha ha ha” I fake laughed “Anyway, André, do you know where my homeroom is? It’s with Mr. … uhm … Mr. ….” I tried to get it out, but the name was just so dang complicated.
“Sikowitz?” André tried and saw he was successful when I nodded “ I thought so. Come on, I’ll show the way. Coincidentally, it’s my homeroom too”.
We walked in comfortable silence to… where Jade and Beck had disappeared to. Awesome, just cause I was so eager to see them again so soon. Just my luck.
When André and I walked in, the couple was hugging, seemingly, they had worked it out. Something about that bothered me slightly and I cursed at myself for that, since I didn’t even know them as a couple or individually.
We took a seat next to each other. I could see that most, if not all the students were already there. I saw a cute, short redheaded girl, talking to a curly haired boy who had a puppet on his lap… This was a performing arts school, after all.
I continued to look around when suddenly, the back door of the classroom opened abruptly and a strangely dressed man, who I had seen before sitting in the parking lot sipping on a coconut, screamed “Oh my god! There’s a huge fire!”.
I immediately stood up, ready to make a run for the main door, when I noticed that no one else was doing the same, which led me to believe that it was all a trick “Hey, what gives?!”
“Just wanted to get your blood pumping…” the man, who I now assumed was the teacher, said “All right! Now, let’s get started. First of all, I’d like to introduce our new student Tori.” he said, pointing directly at me.
I waved to the class shyly and caught Jade staring at me out of the corner of my eye. Why was she staring at me?
“And second of all,” he continued “I’d like to thank her for the two dollars she gave me this morning, not necessary, but much appreciated!”.
André whispered to me “You gave him two dollars?”.
All I could whisper back was “I thought he was homeless…”.
The teacher continued “Now today we are going to continue our study in group improv… Tori, I assume you’re familiar with improv”.
“No” I said, shrinking back into my chair.
“Okay, crash course” Sikowitz exclaimed “Improv, acting without a script, which means the actors must make their own actions and dialogue as they perform the scene. Understood?”.
I was about to raise my hand, but he didn’t notice or rather ignored me and continued on.
“Okay! Jade, you’ll be captain today, choose your actors!” he said, taking a sip of his coconut and going to the back of the classroom.
As the girl walked past me I couldn’t help but notice the smell of lavender. It was a nice smell and I couldn’t help even more as my eyes lingered a bit too much on her ass as she made her way to the mini stage in front of, or rather, the back of the classroom.
“Ahh,” she sighed. Her eyes were looking across the room, looking at her options “Cat, Eli, Beck and… Tori”.
Did I hear that right? Did she just call on me?
I was afraid as hell, but I couldn’t let her be aware of that. So I stood up and walked to the stage. So did the other people she called on, Beck, the redhead, whose name I assumed was Cat, and a blond boy who had sat in the back, which by elimination meant his name was Eli.
“Okay, let’s give’em a place” I saw Sikowitz yell from across the room.
The boy holding the puppet was quick to raise his hand “Home!”.
“Home!” the teacher repeated.
“Oooh, real creative, Robbie” the puppet said.
“You be quiet, Rex!” Robbie said uncomfortably.
And suddenly, the puppet, Rex, slapped Robbie in the face. Yes, the puppet slapped the boy on the face. I was shocked to say the least.
“And now we need a situation” the not-homeless teacher continued on as if the situation that had just happened was completely normal.
“Big news!” André called out.
“André, nobody wants to see big nudes” the teacher said.
Not at all inappropriate. But I wouldn’t mind seeing Jade’s nu--- WHAT? Get your mind out of the gutter, Tori! You don’t even know her!
“Big - news” André repeated slowly.
“Ah well that’s different! Big news” he said, pushing past us and writing it all on the whiteboard.
“Why don’t you go wait in the hall?” Jade said with her arms crossed as she looked at me.
“Um, okay” I said in agreement as I reluctantly walked to the back door of the classroom. Although I was a little bit suspicious as to why she was being so nice to me after the whole, whatever it is she put on in the hall.
“Okay! Home, big news. Action!” I heard Sikowitz scream from the hallway.
I heard nothing else, seeing as the door was shut, so I had no idea what was going to happen next.
Then, Jade opened the door in mid-sentence “... and got us a dog” she finished, pulling me by the arm.
Okay, so I was supposed to play a dog. Seeing as I had never had a dog, even though it was always my dream to have one, I had no idea how to act like a dog. So I just made a sound which resembled barking.
“Oh uh, looks like this dog’s got bugs in its fur” I realized that I was standing up because as she said it, she pushed me down and I ended up on all fours. And as I processed her line, I couldn’t help but wonder scarily where she was going with it.
“You know, dog, I read on the internet that coffee’s great for getting rid of bugs” she continued as she marched into the audience.
Oh no she won’t.
Before anyone had a chance to stop her, she grabbed Beck’s almost half full cup of coffee and poured it on my head.
OH MY GOD. Thank God it wasn’t that hot, but still she had poured coffee on my head.
Not wanting to break character or whatever, I did the next thing I could think that a dog who’d been poured coffee on would do. So I growled and then bit her hand.
“You little shit!” she cursed as she nursed her bitten hand.
I wanted to get out of there, so I growled again before getting up and running away toward the audience.
"Yeah, run away you fleabag!!” she screamed, still holding her hand.
“And… scene! Jade…” Sikowitz scolded.
“What?!” She yelled.
“You just poured hot coffee on my head!” I yelled at her.
“Did I?” she said, taking a step towards me “I don’t think so. I poured coffee on a DOG’s head”.
Both Beck and Sikowitz said at the same time in the same warning tone “Jade…”.
“You know what??” I said, having a brilliant idea.
“What?” she said, as if daring me to do something.
I grabbed the coconut that was on the shelf next to me and before she could stop me, I poured it on her head. Not waiting to see a reaction out of her, I grab my bag from the floor and leave the classroom through the front door.
All I hear is a scream through the shut door. I ignore it and start to make my way down the hallway full of lockers when I’m suddenly pushed into them.
“What the actually fuck, Vega?!” she said, her eyes burning with a rageous fire.
“Ouch” was all I managed to get out before she started again.
“You just had to rub my boyfriend, didn't you?!” She said, pushing me even harder on the lockers.
As much as I wouldn’t mind this pushing me up on the wall in a different scenario, I needed to defend myself before I was mushed into, well, mush.
“I wasn’t rubbing him! I spilled --” I started out pushing her back.
“Nevermind what you spilled on him!” She said getting closer than she was before “No one touches Beck except me”.
Again, those piercing blueish-green eyes looked into my own. I shivered a little and I hoped that she didn’t notice.
I’m not known for backing down from a bully, so I get even closer to Jade. Suddenly a voice interrupts us, Sikowitz’s.
“Is everything okay here?” he says from a distance, no doubt not wanting to get caught in the crossfire in case it came down to it.
But, to her surprise, Jade backed down “Yeah. Everything is just fine” she says while keeping her eyes focused on Tori’s.
Damn, those eyes. Why was I so struck by them?
“Well, then, get back to class. Both of you” the teacher then says as if nothing had ever happened.
Weird. At her old school, the coffee-coconut incident would definitely be cause to have both of them sent to the principal’s office. However, Tori did not give this much thought since she didn’t want to get in trouble on her first day.
Jade walks away without another glance at Tori. Suddenly Tori feels herself missing the piercing blue eyes looking into hers, while also scolding herself for the very thought.
With everybody back in the classroom, Sikowitz continued on with his lesson.
“You okay?” André asks Tori as she sits besides him.
“Yeah” she said, while trying to listen to the teacher’s words.
“... Alphabet Improv!” Sikowitz exclaims “What is alphabetical improv you ask--”
“No one is asking,” Jade says from her chair beside Beck, who looked rather furiously upset. The Goth had pulled a pair of scissors out of her bag and had begun to play with them, obviously ignoring the whole “never play with scissors” rule.
What a rebel, I thought while rolling my eyes and going back to Sikowitz’s words.
“It’s when we give a letter to the first actor who speaks in the scene” he continues on as if Jade had not interrupted him “Beginning with the letter “A”, while the next actor must deliver the line with the next letter and so on. Now who wants to lead the first group?”
Without even pausing to process, I had my hand up and saying “I do!”.
“Toro, come on up and choose your actors” Sikowitz exclaimed.
Toro? We don’t even know each other, what’s with the pet name?
Walking up on the mini stage, I realized just how nervous I was and I hoped that it wasn’t showing. I have to show that gank that I’m not scared of her. Or at least try. I’m not about to let her bully me for the rest of my days at this weird-ass school.
“Okay, André, Cat, Beck” I say “… and Jade”.
She looks at me and I swear that I saw something else besides hatred flash across her face.
While everyone else I chose had made their way up the stage, Jade calmly made her way, never taking her eyes off mine. That is until she stopped right in front of Beck and kissed him, tongue and all, right in front of me. Beck gently pushed her away, not seeming too happy with the public display of affection.
Damn, what would those lips feel like?
I mentally slapped myself to keep it my gay pants, after all, this girl had been nothing short of a complete gank to me. And if she could be a gank, so could I. On my own terms that is.
“Jade, kiss your boyfriend on your own time” The teacher said nonchalantly as if this was something he said quite often.
“Oh I will” Jade said, while stealing at glance to see mine and everyone else’s reactions.
I did my best to keep a straight face. I was anything but, but my face was sure going to look it as long as I was determined to show this girl what I was made of.
“Okay, if you start your line with the wrong letter, you are out!” Sikowitz said excitedly “Robbie, give us a letter”.
“P” Robbie said eagerly, no doubt wanting to get ahead of the puppet.
“P!” Sikowitz exclaimed to the class “ Okay, the scene can be about anything you want. The first letter of the first line is “P”. Tori, action!”.
Without having time to think it through I said the first thing to come to mind “Please go take a shower, you stink” I said this, of course, directed at Jade.
“Quit telling me what to do!” she retorted.
Beck got in the middle of us, no doubt trying to keep us from going at each other’s throats. “Relax ladies, let’s all try to get along”.
“Shut up” Both girls scream at once at the peacemaker, who only raises his arms up in his defense.
“Maybe we should go” André says uncomfortably.
“Yeah” Cat replies.
“Ehh, André, Cat, you’re out! The next letter was “T”, Tori, Jade and Beck go on” Sikowitz yelled from the back of the classroom while sipping on a different coconut and not giving one flying damn about the scene going on onstage.
“Take a breath, both of you” Beck tried again, putting a hand on both mine and Jade’s shoulders.
Of course, this gesture was only met with annoyance as Jade brushed him off “Unhand me!”.
Clever.
“Very good girlfriend you are” I said as the thought genuinely occurred to me.
“Why don’t we try talking instead of arguing?” Beck tried one last time.
“Xanax is what she should take for her temper” I said, taking a jab at her.
“You should jump off a cliff” Jade said cockily, not giving a damn about my attempt to try to piss her off.
“Zesty, of you” I thought quickly.
“Absolute madness” Beck said while running a hand through his hair as he slowly backed away from the angry dispute between the Goth and the Latina.
“Be a dear and piss off” Jade said, pointing to the door. One could say that her tone was calling for way more than a “piss off”.
“Care to make me?” I said, stepping closer to her while keeping my eyes fixed on hers.
“Don’t wanna find out what I’ll do to you” She replied with her pierced eyebrow raised at me.
“Everybody, let’s back off” Beck said in another attempt to cool things down.
“Failure is what you are” Jade said, not even taking a glance at her boyfriend.
“Ganky of you to say” I reply, also totally forgetting Beck’s existence.
“How about I show you how much of a gank I can be?” She said reaching for her pocket. What the hell is even in there?
“Ignore you, that’s what I’ll do” I said, turning my back to her.
“Just great, now let’s finish this off and cool down” Beck said in turn.
“Know what I want to do to you?” Jade says in a jokingly, yet menacing way while, again, reaching for her pocket.
Seriously, what was in there?.
“Let it out, Jade” I say, thinking of a brilliant way to finally shut her up and make her lose at alphabet improv.
“Make me, why don’t you?” She said. I thought I could see something in her eyes: anticipation of what I would do next.
Well she was just going to take it then.
“No problem” I say, taking one final step towards her and shutting her up with my mouth on hers.
Oh My God! I don’t know what it is that I expected after I decided to shut her up by kissing her, but this wasn’t it. Her lips were soft and full and --.
“Shit!” She scrambled, jumping back after a solid five seconds, holding a hand to her lips.
“Jade, you're out!” Sikowitz yells from the center of the room, clearly very engaged in our improv now.
“See if I care” the girl says loudly, all the while marching away from the stage, grabbing her bag on the floor and exiting the classroom, going to whoever knows where.
Not even flinching, the teacher continued “Beck, Tori, the next letter is “O”. Finish the scene”.
“Oh my gosh, I can’t believe you just did that” he said, surprised.
“Painful as it was, I did do it” I said, continuing the scene, hoping that no one was noticing the growing blush on my cheeks.
“Quite brave of you to do” Beck said, and I could tell that he was being very sincere. But something about his voice was off. Not that I really knew him, but still.
“Radiation poisoning is what I got. Take me to the doctor, please” I said, although it couldn’t be further from the truth.
“Sure thing” Beck said, extending a hand, showing me the way to the audience.
“Thanks” I said finally, making my way down the steps of the stage and sitting back down on my seat next to André.
“Excellent!” Sikowitz exclaimed “Now, let’s have another group. You, shrugger in the back, come on up and choose your actors”.
Nevermind what went on with the next group, because I couldn’t focus anymore on the scene ahead of me. Apparently, neither could Beck, because, out of the corner of my eye, I saw him get up and leave the classroom. I wonder if he was going after Jade. Maybe I should go and apologize to her…
Thankfully, I didn’t have to wait long before the bell rang, indicating that we had ten minutes to get to first period. I looked at my schedule on my phone and saw that I had Calculus next. This might be an arts school, but math is still important I guess. I asked André and he gave me the directions to my next classroom.
Before he left for his next class, I asked where the restroom was, seeing as though I had had coffee poured on my head. André promptly answered “I think it’s down the hall to your left and then making a right”. I said a quick thanks and hurried to the restroom, not wanting to be late for my second class of the day. And I hoped it would not be as eventful as the previous one. Then again, how eventful could calculus get?
Upon opening the door, I could hear someone sniffling. Walking forward a bit more, I saw seemingly empty stalls, except for Jade who was currently in front of the mirror, crying, mascara all over her face. In addition to that, her hair was still damp from me having poured coconut juice over her. Despite all that, she still looked beautiful.
I froze in place, noticing she hadn’t heard or seen me come in. I had no idea if I should leave or if I should apologize or if I should go and hug her. The latter option seemed a bit much seeing as we had had no friendly encounters whatsoever.
Still having no clue as to what I should do, I took a step forward and my mouth opened to say something before I could process what was going to come out “Are you okay?”.
She tensed up immediately when she heard a voice coming up behind her. Upon seeing it was me, she said nothing, just kept on adjusting her make up.
I made my way in silence to the sink two places over from hers and tried my best to adjust my appearance as well. Looking at myself in the mirror, I didn’t look half as bad as I thought I did, most of the coffee had dried up.
After a few more seconds of silence, I started to feel bad. Here I was next to a girl who had smudged make up from crying so much. So, I caved in “Look Jade, I know we didn’t start off on the best of terms, I ---”.
“What, you think this is about you? I can handle a bit of rough play, Vega” She said, cutting me off, though there was not much meanness to her voice, but rather sadness.
“Still, I’m sorry for pouring coconut juice over your head” I said genuinely “And I’m sorry for kissing you without your consent, that was crappy of me, even though I just did it to shut you up”.
I was met by complete shocked silence. However, knowing that that was all I was gonna get, I took one last look in the mirror and turned my back to her.
“Thanks, Vega” I heard her whisper behind me.
I paused a bit longer, waiting for an apology, but it never came.
The next two periods, Calculus and Musical Theory 1, were what some would consider normal, not much to tell really, it was only the first day of school after all. The teachers mostly introduced themselves, explained the syllabus for the semester and how we were going to be graded. I wasn’t worried so far.
Lunch came after the fourth period. I made my way to the Asphalt Café, being guided by Robbie, the puppet boy from Sikowitz’s class, with whom I shared Vocal Theory 1. Apparently that class was for really talented singers, which is why Trina never mentioned she’d had that class. She’s my sister and I love her, but she never sings on-key. I was surprised to not see Jade or André there. I knew he had an amazing voice, and by the tone of her voice, Jade seemed like she would sound great singing. So I asked Robbie about it.
“Every theory class has levels. Musical theory has six. Vocal theory has four. At least two levels are obligatory. Each level you go through allows you to further your studies as a performer. It also depends on your interest. Since Jade and André have been here at Hollywood Arts since freshman year, they’ve already gone through the first levels. André is in Musical Theory 6 and Jade’s in Vocal Theory 4, along with Cat, who got here as a sophomore".
I have to say I was impressed, even though I knew next to nothing about musical or vocal theory. All my life I’ve just been singing and molding my voice to whichever artist I found most interesting at the time. I don’t consider myself to be musically gifted like André, but I do admit that my voice is at least nice to hear. At least everybody at the Big Showcase seemed to enjoy it.
We talked a bit more along the way and Robbie continued to explain how you usually took one theory class of each category per semester. I thought a bit and calculated that I was going to get to at least level 2 in both classes, seeing as I would graduate at the end of the school year.
Robbie was surprisingly nice and cute, in a boyish sort of way. If only he could get rid of the puppet, he would be much more endurable. But as he explained to me, he was a ventriloquist, so I guess I understood why he carried the puppet along. Although nobody else seemed to parade their artsy gifts around.
Finally, after what seemed like a long time, we reached the lunch area, called the Asphalt Café. There were a handful of food trucks with lots of options, like salads, burgers, pizza, vegan food and a coffee food truck, which is where Beck had gotten his coffee from this morning as I had recognized by the label, Jet Brew, on the cup.
I opted for a veggie burger at the vegan place, which also had vegetarian options, even though I wasn’t one or the other. As I held my tray, I looked through the tables to try and spot a familiar face, seeing as I had lost Robbie along the way.
After a while I spotted André, who was sitting at a table with Beck, Cat and Robbie. I wondered where Jade was. I approached the table of friends and before I could ask if I could sit, André ushered me over.
“Thanks” I said, putting my tray down and starting to eat. I was starving, so I wasn’t really paying attention to whatever it was they were talking about.
“So, what’s the topic?” I managed to get out in between bites. At that question everyone went quiet, but Beck responded quite calmly “Jade and I broke up”.
I almost choked on my burger at that statement “What?” I was worried it had something to do with the fact that I kissed her, so I started to talk really fast, which did not help with the choking “I already apologized to her, but I apologize to you too, Beck. I’m sorry, the kiss was uncalled for and…”
“Whoa, Tori, relax. That was not the reason we broke up. Honestly, we’ve had it a long time coming…” he said, still very calm.
“May I ask how long you were dating?” I was curious. I figured that was the reason I saw Jade crying earlier in the restroom.
“Four years” a voice I now knew only too well belonged to the very own Jade said “But who was counting right? Anyway, I’m over it”.
Wow, that was… impressive? They had been dating for four years, and now they were broken up Jade claimed to be over their break up already. I wasn’t sure if I would react that way if I had been in a long, loving relationship with someone. But then again, I had never had one before, so who was I to judge?
“I’m sorry” was all I could say.
“Don’t be” the Goth said. Then she proceeded to take french fries from my tray. And as I was about to protest, I noticed she wasn’t carrying a tray. So for whatever reason that was, I kept quiet and endured the fries’ stealer.
No one said anything of it as well, so I guess I made the right choice.
Cat was the first to speak “Jade, can we get together after school to work on our Composition project?”.
I’m amazed, she asked as if they were good friends. And I’m ashamed of myself for thinking that, even though I knew Jade could be a gank, she didn’t have any friends. After all, here she was, at a table full of them, and one ex-boyfriend now. I guess I had a lot to learn about Jade, and I hoped she'd be willing to let me. I don’t like to have enemies, after all, and I hoped that after our encounter in the ladies’ room, we’d be able to stay on good terms.
“Sure” she said, still taking fries from my tray “Your place after school, I’ll drive us there”.
“Okay!” Cat said happily.
Everyone was quietly eating their lunch, and by now everyone was mostly done. I was drinking a bit of soda when Jade directly spoke to me “Give me your arm”.
Being the naive trusting person that I was, I gave her my arm, not expecting that she would drag me out of the lunch area and somewhere in school I had not even known existed, a janitor’s closet.
As to be expected, there were many cleaning supplies on the shelves, lots of large mops and a few brooms, and for a closet it was pretty big.
I turned my attention to the girl who’d dragged me here and for the first time today I saw her looking nervous. She was fiddling with her hands and was pacing the room, well, closet, nervously.
Since none of us had spoken since we’d gotten there, I spoke up first and again I asked “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, fine, Vega” she said almost instantly.
“Okay, good” I said “Why did you drag me in here?” I was beginning to get nervous. I had a cop for a dad and he’d always tell me horrible stories of murders and stuff, and I’d already seen this particular girl with scissors, so I treaded lightly.
After what seemed like one thousand years, she finally spoke up again.
“Date me”.