sixteen → jade west

the gang notices

It started subtly, like a raindrop before a storm. The gang - Andre, Tori, Cat, Robbie, and Beck - noticed certain things at school. Some they dismissed as insignificant, others they misunderstood.

"Did you hear about Amy Lee?" they'd hear students whisper, snickers following the name. The gang knew of Amy Lee, the talented singer of Evanescence. But they didn't connect the dots, didn't realize the students were referring to Jade.

Jade was there, yet not really. She was like a specter drifting in and out of classrooms, never engaging in conversations unless she was asked to. Lunchtime found her at the library, engrossed in her books, her usual lunch spot left conspicuously empty.

The pranks, the name-calling seemed harmless at first. Kids at Hollywood Arts were known to be eccentric, to poke fun at each other. But it started to change. The taunts grew meaner, the pranks crueller.

One day, Tori and Cat stepped out of the bathroom stalls, their conversation halting when their eyes landed on the graffiti.

"Look at this," Tori pointed to the stall's door. Scrawled across it were words that made Cat's eyes widen.

"Amy Lee thinks she's all that, with her goth look. Somebody tell her she ain't a Twilight vampire!"

"But that's mean," Cat said, her voice shaking slightly.

"I know, right?" Tori agreed, frowning. "Why would anyone write that about Amy Lee? She's super talented."

It was later in March, maybe early April, when realization dawned upon them. Beck was the first to piece it together. Jade had once been teased for looking like Amy Lee.

Beck gathered the gang. "Guys," he began, his voice serious, "I think Jade is being bullied."

"What?" Tori looked at him incredulously. "But why? And who's bullying her?"

"I think it's the Amy Lee thing," Beck explained. "They're not talking about the real Amy Lee, they're talking about Jade."

The revelation hit them like a ton of bricks. The whispers, the graffiti, Jade's isolation - it all made a horrifying sense now. The harmless joke wasn't so harmless anymore. It had turned into a nightmare for Jade, and they hadn't even noticed.

But as days turned into weeks, Jade's continued absence, her sudden withdrawal, and the ever-increasing bullying had them all deeply concerned.

"We have to do something," Cat insisted. "We can't just let her suffer like this."

And so they decided to intervene, to extend a hand to their friend, even if she might bite it off. Because they knew that beneath the gothic exterior and the prickly demeanor, Jade was hurting. And as her friends, they couldn't just stand by and watch.