One More Chance With Time

21.

It had been an odd and somewhat stressful few days for Jade West. She had been thrown out of her home by her father in the middle of a rainstorm, had been accepted with open arms by Tori's mother and father and had been promised by Tori's father that Jade's father would be getting a visit from him in a few days. The night her father had thrown her out, Jade had wanted more than anything to be with Tori but Tori had gently told her no. "Right now, you just need someone to be close to you. Just give it a few days, Jade."

And despite all the stress of the past few days, she couldn't help but be amazed by how Tori's family was treating her. The day after the incident with her father, the family had all gone out to breakfast after Tori's mother and father had grabbed the essentials from her father's house and Tori's father had angrily promised a return visit with a social worker to look into how he had treated his daughter. After that, she had been permission to use the family's guest room and had been allowed to set up whatever she needed in the guest room.

I wish my family was more like this one. She thought wistfully as she and Tori continued watching the TV downstairs. Despite Trina annoying Jade somewhat by asking her where she had gotten some of her cosmetics it was almost like a dream home. Jade's head was leaning against Tori's shoulder. "Comfortable?" Tori asked in a joking tone. "Yeah." Jade replied softly as she adjusted her position a little bit and closed her eyes for a moment before looking up at Tori and smiling slightly. "Besides getting kicked out, this has been a pretty good couple of days."

"Who knows, maybe you'll like it so much you might not want to leave." Tori said with a smile as Jade looked down at the floor. "Yeah...maybe."

Tori looked down at her and thought for a moment she had something wrong. "What's wrong, Jade?" Tori asked gently. Jade looked up at up. "My dad is the only family I have. As far as I know, I don't have any other relatives or any other place to stay."

Tori mentally cursed out Jade's father for putting her in this situation. "My parents said you could stay here as long as you needed to, Jade. They meant it."

"I know...I just feel like I'm being a drain on them."

Tori shook her head in disbelief. "Are you kidding? You saved my life! There's no way your a drain on them!"

Jade looked up at her. "That's...something my dad always told me. He always told me I was a drain on his money and his life. She said quietly. Her eyes widened as she felt Tori pull her into a hug as best she could while the two were sitting on the couch. "Your father isn't a nice person, Jade. When he said those things, he was just trying to be cruel to you. You aren't a drain on my parents, on Trina or on me." Tori smirked slightly. "Besides, if you think I'm going to let you leave you've got another thing coming."

Jade couldn't help but smirk back. "Bring it, Vega. I've already showed you I can take what you dish out and give it right back."

Tori kissed her softly on the head and smiled slightly. "I do need you to promise me something though, Jade. Something important."

"Name it."

"If anyone hits on me, promise you won't break any bones."

"Sorry, I can't promise that."

Tori couldn't help but let out a laugh and Jade started giggling as well before the two were both laughing hard enough that the couch was practically shaking.

Monday

"You ready?" Tori asked softly as the two girls stood outside Hollywood arts. Jade nodded. "As ready as I'll ever be." She muttered as the doors opened and the two girls walked in. As Jade and Tori walked towards their lockers they noticed one thing. Nobody was looking at the two of them oddly, no one was whispering or saying anything. A few people smiled at Tori as she passed by and a few of them looked away in fear as Jade passed by them, so far nothing was different.

Maybe they don't know. Jade thought to herself as the two girls went to their respective lockers. A part of her was ashamed that she was hoping no one knew about her and Tori while another, smaller part of her was hoping that someone would say something and just get it over with.

A harsh laugh interrupted her train of thought as she closed her locker. Two guys were standing in front of Tori and from what Jade remembered, these two particular guys had been friends with Ryder. Oh damn. She thought to herself as she stalked towards the two of them with murder in her eyes.

"I can't believe Ryder actually thought you were hot, dyke." The taller of the two of them sneered as he pushed Tori against her locker. Tori was fighting back tears but it was evident that she was losing that particular battle. "No wonder you never got back to him, too busy checking out the girls, huh?" The shorter one said with a leer. Jade was closing in on her target and had her hand clenched into a fist when someone's fist impacted with the side of the taller boy's face and knocked him to the ground and the shorter one let out a gasp as the wind was knocked out of him as a smaller fist impacted with his stomach.

Beck stood over the taller thug who was trying to get back to his feet while Cat landed a punch against the shorter one's nose and was rewarded by a crackingsound. "Leave." Beck said quietly as the taller one got to his feet while the shorter one covered his nose with both hands in an attempt to stop the flow of blood and to avoid the enraged Cat Valentine. "Leave them alone!" Cat shouted angrily as she kicked the shorter one repeatedly in the shin. Jade was tempted to join her but instead walked over to Tori and narrowed her eyes a the two of them which was apparently enough to get the two to reconsider their current actions.

The taller one grabbed the shorter one and the two of them tried to get away as the groups of students that had watched the encounter started booing them and a few of them even shouted out curses at them before going back to their respective businesses as the two objects of scorn vanished as they went down the hallway. Beck moved over to Tori and Jade along with Cat and took a quick look over the two of them. "You two alright?" Beck asked quietly as Cat hugged Tori. Jade looked at Beck and smiled slightly. "Yeah. I'm fine. Thanks for the help with those two."

Beck smiled. "They're probably counting themselves lucky that Cat and I got them before you did. If you would have gotten to them they'd probably both be on the ground screaming for mercy." Beck said in a mock joking tone. Jade smiled darkly and nodded. "They'd be right." She said with a smirk. She looked over at Tori who was wiping her eyes and talking to Cat with a wide smile on her face. Beck smiled at her. "So, you two finally ended up together?" He asked with a gentle smile. Jade's eyes widened slightly. "How did yo-?" She managed to asked before Beck looked over at Tori and then back at Jade. "The way you two always fought, I always thought it was more like an old married couple then mortal enemies. Jade, I don't care if you date girls or boys, Andre, Cat, Robbie, we're not going to judge you. We'll always be here for you two."

Jade smiled and fought back a few tears. She and Beck may not have made a good couple, but he was an amazing friend."

"Just for the record, if that puppet of Robbie's says something, I'm going to throw it in a wood chipper." Jade said with a smile as she walked back over to Tori.