Jade & Trina's Very Strange Christmas

A Very Strange Request

Few things infuriated Jade like Beck. She had known that for a long time. It was part of his charm, to get her to feel something so intense, even if it was usually anger.

The problem was that Beck didn't always take it well when the anger was directed at him. And with good reason, but damned if Jade would ever admit that. She'd let the ship sink before admitting she was the one who punched the hole through the wall. Or hull. Or whatever.

What a stupid analogy. She blamed that on Beck, too.

Never mind the fact that Jade already wasn't a fan of Christmas. It was a day for the religious and goody-goodies. Or for entitled little shits who only wanted presents. There was no in-between. Jade wasn't a fan of either extreme. To her, Christmas never meant much more than a couple of weeks off school. And of course, watching festive horror movies.

But for Beck to break up with her, again, two days before Christmas was a kick in the proverbial nuts. Sure, they'd been fighting a lot lately. And Jade knew the thrill of it was gone. It had gone from thrilling to annoying. Seeing Beck with his stupid-perfect hair and big stupid doe-eyes made her nauseous. She doubted he gave a second thought to the date, though. Not on purpose. Jade had never given two shits about Christmas, so why would he take that into account? And yet, it still seemed cruel. Heartless, even.

I hate feeling sorry for myself, Jade thought as she slammed the door to her car. That's his fault, too.

In the backseat was her cargo; a mystery box from her teacher, Erwin Sikowitz. The oddball teacher had asked Tori Vega to deliver it for him. The goody-two-shoes was all set to agree, even before Sikowitz mentioned paying her.

That got Jade's attention, as Sikowitz waved a wad of rolled-up cash.

"I'll pay you five hundred dollars," he said. "It's very important this makes it to..."

Before Tori could respond, Jade plucked the money from her teacher's hand. "I'll get it there," she said.

"But I didn't say where it was."

"I don't care. I'll get it there."

She couldn't believe how perfect the timing was, and...

...and she realized too late that the wad of money was completely fake; stage money from the prop department. She waved it at Sikowitz. A sheepish grin consumed him.

"That's what happens when you crash a conversation," he said. He plucked the fake money from her hand. "This needs to go back to the prop room, I was using it in my last class."

"Besides, he was asking for my help," Tori said. God help her, she seemed indignant that Jade was poaching her chance to be a Good Samaritan. How adorable. How very Vega.

She turned to Tori, a devious notion already forming. She didn't like Vega, but she could pluck her strings like an aging punk rocker.

"Look, I didn't want to say anything, but...my dad lost his job and we can't even afford Christmas dinner right now," she said. She even managed to squeeze out a few tears that were subtle enough to seem real. "If you let me do this, I'll owe you one."

Jade kept her facade up in the face of Tori's intense scrutiny. Her game was strong. Vega's irritation turned into a soft smile. She'd still get to be a do-gooder after all.

"Okay, fine," she said. "You need it more than me. Go ahead."

Tori departed and Jade couldn't help but wonder at how easy that had been. Almost too easy.

"So where is this going?" Jade asked.

"Mount Baldy."

Jade's laughter filled the almost empty hallways of Hollywood Arts. Sikowitz's face was a total blank. Did he not get it? For real?