Of Scissors And Scooby Doo

Chapter 2

"Yeah. A little. But she didn't want to talk to me."

Mom hummed thoughtfully, her lips pressed together and eyes looking at a spot on my pillow next to my head. Maybe I was paranoid, maybe seeing Jade again just turned me completely crazy but the thought that my mother may have known that she was back settled into my brain, and before I could stop myself I accused her of just that. "Did you know that Jade was back in L.A.? Did you just not tell me?"

My mom's eyebrows shot up as her eyes moved back to mine. "No, Tor! I didn't know that. I would have thought-" She broke off and shook her head before continuing. "-that Jade's mom would have let me know that they moved back here. Or did Jade move to live with her dad?"

The thought seemed very absurd to me and I think mom had the same thoughts as me because she looked at me confusedly. Jade would never willingly live with her dad. She and he didn't have such a good relationship after the divorce and even a couple of years before then. But then again... Jade did seem to have changed a lot, maybe they sorted it out with each other. Maybe the tables have turned and now Jade's mom was 'the bad one'. Maybe, maybe, maybe. Despite not having a single clue, I shook my head.

"I don't think so. I mean... her dad... No, I don't think she lives with her dad. But how would I know, she didn't want to talk to me."

I – childishly, I must admit – pouted and furrowed my eyebrows to which my mom sighed in response and gave my knee a squeeze. "Maybe she was just shocked to see you. She will come around, I'm sure. Tomorrow the world will look different."

-OS&SD-

The world didn't look different.

Thanks mom, for making me build up false hopes.

Jade was so stubborn. That was probably the only thing that hadn't changed about her. She avoided me as much as she could. Everywhere I tried to approach her, she just... spit a comment at me (hurtful comments mostly, might I add) and pushed past me. I even tried to corner her in the bathroom but she just bolted out of the door, after pushing a poor freshman girl out of her way. Maybe I was just imagining things but slowly I got the impression that she was scared of talking to me alone.

But then I managed.

In the parking lot. That's where I got her. I almost thought she would hit me when I grabbed her arm and she whirled around but when she saw it was me, her body relaxed, slightly, but her scowl didn't vanish. "God, what do you want? You've been stalking me all day, what's the matter with you?"

"I haven't been stalking you. Is it such a bad thing that I want to talk to you?"

She shook my hand off and crossed her arms over her chest, her foot impatiently tapping. "You wanna talk? Then talk."

What? It was that easy? She looked at me expectantly but I found myself unable to say anything. What was the matter with me, seriously? This was what I wanted, I wanted Jade to talk to me and now I didn't know what to say? God, I was an idiot! When nothing came out of my mouth, Jade let her arms fall to her side and turned her head away, mumbling "I can't believe this."

She made a move to turn and get to her car but my voice stopped her. "Why did you leave me all alone?"

It was stupid and I didn't know where it came from but it made her stay, which was everything I needed. "What are you talking about?"

"You... You stopped writing. And calling. And I don't know what I did wrong. Just... It didn't make any sense, Jade. It still doesn't."

I couldn't see what was going on inside of her. All I knew was that her eyes stopped to glare at me and softened, for a moment bringing both of us back in time. And it gave me hope. Hope that maybe everything was just a big joke and... we'd be Jade and Tori again. But then she opened her mouth and reality came crashing down, brutally killing that stupid hope. "It was better that way. Get over it, Tori."

"How can you say that?"

"How can I say that? How can you still hang yourself up on me like that? I don't think that's healthy."

My breath hitched in my throat when the harshness of Jade's words hit me right in my chest. Maybe she was right. Maybe it wasn't healthy. But I didn't care. "So, you don't even want to try to get... us back? You're just going to hate me now, just like that?"

Jade scoffed and crossed her arms again. "I don't hate you. But if you keep being so annoying that might change very quickly." I kept my mouth shut then. What was I supposed to respond to that? I suddenly wished that I hadn't told Trina to go home without me today because I started to feel miserable. Weird how things have changed. I've always felt so comfortable whenever I was around Jade and now... now look at me. I pressed my lips tightly together when tears started to prick at my eyes. I should move. Just... move away from Jade, go home. But I couldn't. That would mean I gave up. It would mean I let Jade go.

"You're... you're not going to cry now... are you?"

And maybe that would be for the best. Let her go, I mean. But when I looked up at her, a burning lump in my throat, I saw her. I saw Jade. The Jade I knew. The girl who saved me from two mean little boys and the girl who got so worried about me when I had to get my tonsils removed. The way she looked at me right now was the same way she looked at me at the hospital. The same way she looked at me when my grandma died. Even the same way she looked at me when I scraped my knee really badly in fifth grade. She looked back at me with such worry that it almost seemed ridiculous. She could never bear to see me cry. So I took advantage of that short moment of vulnerability and didn't even bother to wipe away the tear that escaped. "Are you living with your dad now?" I swallowed when Jade's lips twitched and her eyes followed the path the tear had taken down my cheek. She briefly closed her eyes then and sighed.

"No, I... My mom and I moved back here about two years ago."

My eyes widened. Two years ago? "Why didn't... You could have told me."

She looked at me for a long moment with her eyes still so soft. I wanted to hug her, to just... smell her, as weird as it sounded. Wow, I'm such a creep. I almost thought she would come around but then she shook her head. "Whatever Tori, I need to get home now." Her voice had lost its sharp edge, if that was a good thing or maybe not... I didn't know. This time I let her turn around. She walked through the almost empty parking lot but before she reached her car I called her name. "Jade?"

A little to my surprise, she turned around. "Yes, Tori?"

Once again, I didn't know what to say and blurted out the first thing that came to my mind. "I will always like you." I didn't know if I was imagining things. She was standing pretty far away from me after all. But I was sure I saw a smile flitter across Jade's face before she lowered her head to the ground. And that smile was everything I needed. "And I won't give up on us. I will annoy you until we're old and wrinkly."

Her head shot up in surprise, her blue eyes wide. I smiled at her confidently before I turned on my heel and made my way home.

I will be victorious.

(If not, I'll eat a broom.)