Author notes: Little warning for this chapter, when it switches to Jade's PoV there are some scenes with abusive parents, but nothing too bad.
Tori's PoV
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And like that, everybody was gone. They all left once Trina had come home and implied pretty heavily that she wanted them to leave. I honestly felt angry, I mean, she literally bailed on me, then made all my friends leave once I actually found something to do. Literally who does that other than her? I doubt even Jade would do that. But seriously, Jade was acting so weird today. Nobody mentioned the argument we had earlier, not even once. And she was being weirdly nice. And trying to convince me to go to Andre's party. Maybe Cat was right about something being up with her lately, I mean, something was suspicious about it all. She wasn't overly nice or anything, but she wasn't rude, and she was being weirdly quiet compared to her usual, petty self. And when I'd looked over at her after I'd noticed she was silent about the party, I couldn't even help but see some type of upset look spread across her face. It was honestly confusing. I seriously didn't even know why I was so worried about her, anyway. It's not like she ever payed any mind to my emotions in this way... I was a little freaked out by it, and found myself zoned out again, lying alone on the couch.
I could faintly hear Trina singing upstairs as I snapped myself out of thought. I sighed heavily, forcing myself to get up, ready to take myself to my room to get ready to chill out before bed. I brushed my hair out of my face, and picked up my phone, which I'd dropped on the floor at some point when I was alone on the couch.
New message : Cat
Damn, I must've missed a text.
Cat: Did Jade seem off 2 u as well? D:
Tori: Yeah,, she was like. weirdly nice?
Cat: I knowww. Its so odd? Shes been meaner than usual lately, now shes being nice?
Tori: I'm sure she'll b ok. Don't stress urself out worrying about her pls.
Cat: ugh. its just hard. I care about her
Tori: I know u do, but shes tough. Im sure she can handle whatevers going on. I gtg okay?
Cat: I guess ur right, but im still gonna keep an eye out in case. Ttyl.
Tori: Alright Cat. I know ur worried and honestly I am too, but we cant worry too much. we have school tomorrow. We just have to trust Jade to handle it on her own okay? I'll see u tomorrow.
God. I could tell that Cat was seriously worried about Jade. I'd never fully got much detail from her about Jade's family, or exactly why it would be so bad if her and Beck were to break up again, but to be honest, the mystery of it was starting to worry me too. As much as me and Jade clashed, I'd hate to see something bad happen to her. I took a deep breath, and began making my way upstairs.
As I reached the top of the stairs, I was met with the interesting view of my older sister strutting up and down our hallway, trying on all sorts of weird clothes, and I'm like 80% sure she found some of them in Mom's closet. She didn't notice me standing there at first, as loud pop music was blasting from the speaker in her room. After a few more struts, she noticed me, and quickly turned off the music.
"Ugh, Tori! What is it?" She questioned, seeming bummed out that I'd interrupted her. I shot her a questioning look, to which she ignored, clearly not caring about the embarrassment she'd feel if anybody else saw this.
"Trina. You ditched on me again, and now you're gonna be mean too? And you made my friends leave!" I quickly called out, reaching the end of my patience for her tonight. I folded my arms over my chest, and stood up straight. I noticed her face shift from annoyed to guilty pretty much immediately.
"I'm sorry, Tor." Is all she said, and honestly, I was shocked she apologised. She took a few steps closer to me, offering her arms to me for a hug. Normally, I'd have turned down her offer, but for some reason I felt like I needed that hug. Especially after whatever today was. I quickly found myself in my sister's arms, and for some reason I was holding onto her tight. Trina noticed, and quickly questioned me.
"You okay, sis?" She questioned, a hint of concern now prominent in her voice. For some reason, I felt tears welling up in my eyes, and I genuinely had no reason why. I thought I was fine up until this point, when all my emotions suddenly decided to just come bursting out, all at once. Like a water main finally giving way.
"No. Today was confusing, now I feel lost, I miss Mom and Dad, you keep bailing, and it just feels like right now, I don't get two fucking seconds of peace." I blurted out, a teardrop now forming and rolling down my cheek. Trina held me tighter.
"I'm sorry, Tori. I know things have been kinda shitty lately, but I've been so busy. I really am sorry I bailed on you, but sometimes its kinda hard to be here when Mom and Dad never are. It's like being here is just a reminder that they haven't been here much." She replied, in a much softer tone than normal. As upset as I was, I understood. It was weird to me that suddenly everything that had been happening was effecting me this much, maybe it's just one of those days.
"It's okay, Trina. You know that I love you." I responded, sniffling, wiping my tears away.
"Love you too, sis, now go to bed. You've clearly had a shitty day, you earned it." She finally spoke, now laughing slightly, releasing me from the hug. I actually felt kind of better now, but I was kind of confused as to how the situation with Jade made me so much more stressed than normal. She was mean all the time. It was just so different today, with how she was being at my house. And Cat noticed shit was up too! I wasn't even just going crazy.
I made my way to my room, where I got changed into an old t-shirt and shorts. I was so tired, all I could think of was just covering my body with my sheets and never coming out again. Today was stressful, overwhelming and fun all at the same time. I did really enjoy it when we played cards, it's just that everything aside from that was literal hell today! Once I was changed, I collapsed onto my bed, where I quickly climbed under my heavy sheets, I hugged them closer to me, allowing myself to get comfortable. It was like 9pm. Early to sleep, but I was exhausted. I can't even remember anything else, other than blacking out pretty much as soon as my head hit the pillow.
****
Jade's PoV
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It was around 8pm. Beck pulled up to my house, waiting for me to leave his car. I was a little nervous, and I found myself fiddling with my fingers as he looked at me, kind of concerned. Going home was always 50/50. I live with my Dad, who hates the fact that I'm me. He hates the way I love to sing and act, hates the way I dress and talk, and he hates the way I'm not going to school for 'normal' things. He drinks a lot, sometimes gets a little aggressive. My Stepmom, who pretty much just constantly kisses my Dad's ass, and agrees with what my Dad does. Which, if anything, is actually more annoying than my father himself, because she knows that it's wrong and does nothing. And finally, my little brother, Noah. He's only 12, and honestly, we're pretty close. I can tell that he worried about me. He'd check on me a lot, which sometimes actually made me feel bad for doing shit that scared him, like when I'd lock myself in the bathroom for hours. Dad was a lot harder on me than him, and he noticed it, trying his hardest to be a good brother, and honestly it was one of the only nice things people did for me that I actually knew how to show my appreciation for. My Mom moved away to Seattle when my parents divorced years ago, I don't really talk to her, but I remember her being nice.
Going home always went one of two ways. I'd either come through the door, and try to avoid everyone and get to my room as quick as possible, where I'd escape with a couple of condescending comments from my father, then spend the rest of the night avoiding my family. Or, I'd come home and he'd be drunk, and my step mom would've gone out to avoid it, meaning I was left to practically babysit him, and make sure he didn't get hurt, so that Noah didn't have to. And those were the nights where it sucked, because I had no choice to put up with it or not. It was either me or my brother, and I'm not completely heartless. I can't just make a 12 year old deal with it.
"Babe?" I heard my boyfriend ask, quickly snapping me out of my thought. I jumped a little at his voice, turning quickly to face him.
"Yeah, what's up?" I responded, my voice a little shaky, and my palms becoming sweaty. He looked super worried now.
"You gonna be okay to go in tonight?" He asked, placing his hand on my thigh. My brows raised slightly, an anxious look starting to form on my face.
"Yeah... It should be fine. I should go anyway, I don't wanna leave Noah alone overnight if I'm not like 100% sure that Dad's not drinking." I responded, quickly unbuckling my seatbelt and getting up to leave before I had time to hesitate any more. I was out of the car, and slammed the door behind me before Beck could even say goodbye. I jogged up to the door, and fumbled around in my pocket for my keys, before finally finding them and unlocking the door. I was a little nervous, but slowly cracked the door open, looking inside to see if I could see anybody.
I slowly made my way into the house, gently shutting the door behind me as I couldn't see anybody in the hallway. I began walking through my house when I heard something.
"Jade." A female voice called, suddenly spotting me. I froze in my tracks. My step mom. I honestly felt a little relieved, as the fact she was here likely meant I wasn't gonna be tasked with looking after Dad tonight. I stood there silently, not wanting to talk to her, simply waiting to see what else she had to say. "You should seriously stop wearing those combat boots, they make you look rough." She finished, looking at me in disgust. I sighed heavily, knowing something like this was coming. I stormed off upstairs silently, genuinely not wanting to give her the time of day.
Once I reached the top of the stairs, I immediately made my way to my room, quickly opening the door and marching in. That's where I was met with the sight of my brother, sitting on my bed. I jokingly rolled my eyes and groaned overdramatically.
"Ugghhhhh. Noah, what did I tell you about coming in here without my permission?" I teased, walking up to him and jokingly pushing him, causing him to laugh a little and push me back. I caught him smirk, before opening his mouth to respond.
"To not do it because you have weird shit in here." He chuckled, causing a slight look of concern on my face. Okay, I swear to god if that kid looked through my drawers-
"Dude, I literally never said that!" I quickly retorted, chuckling slightly. "Wait, you didn't look, right?" I added, now a little more serious.
"Ew, gross no! I was just playing with you!" My brother laughed, jokingly pushing me again. "Wait? You've got weird shit in here?" He finished, smile dropping. Yeah. Probably for the best he didn't look.
"N-no? Just shut up, okay!?"I hastily snapped at him, now wanting nothing more than to change the subject. His face turned slightly disturbed for a moment, before he pulled me into a tight hug. I was a little confused, but returned it almost immediately. Noah was the one person I felt like I could fully trust. Even more than Beck. I'd been looking after him and keeping him safe pretty much ever since our parents divorced. He was the only person I felt comfortable enough to cry in front of, I mean, he'd literally seen me at my worse. Other than Vega that is, I don't know why, but I've actually cried in front of her multiple times. Which is weird as shit considering I hate her, or at least I'm meant to, but today, being nicer to her really wasn't awful . But that's besides the point. For most of my life, my brother was the only one who never disappeared, or fucked me over, or treated me like shit. Not a lot of people knew about him. Only Beck and Cat. I didn't really mention him to anybody else, because that felt like I was giving people a reason to ask more about my family, and I did not wanna tell them about it.
"I missed you today, Jade." I heard Noah whisper under his breath as I held him. I suddenly became filled with worry, and pulled back from the hug. He was never normally this clingy and it made me scared that maybe something had happened.
"Why? Are you alright? Did Dad do something?" I quickly responded, my hands now placed firmly upon his shoulders, my brows raised and mouth slightly opened.
"Sorta... They were arguing earlier, about random shit, and then Dad threw something and they were just yelling a bunch so I came in here." He responded, looking down at the ground. I quickly pulled him back into a hug, feeling guilty that I was out and not home with him.
"I'm sorry, Noah. I should've been here." I apologised, hugging him tighter, my guilt now growing too.
"No, it's okay! You still have to go out, I just came in here because it feels safest." He quickly responded, trying to console me. My face was now plastered with an anxious look, my thumbs trembling slightly. I could tell he seriously meant it by the face he looked at me with. He looked kind, yet serious.
"Look, you can come in here if it feels safe, just swear on my life that you're not gonna snoop around." I finally spoke, after a while of just holding him silently. I was okay with him being in my room, as long as he didn't pull any more shit, like that joke he'd played on me a minute ago. God, I really would take a bullet for that kid. I could feel a smile forming on his face now, so I slowly pulled away from the hug, knowing I really had to get to bed, tired from a long ass day.
"Okay, look kid, I love you but I have to get to bed, its's early but I've got school tomorrow and I'm tired as fuck." I laughed slightly, fluffing up his mousey-brown hair. He retaliated by trying to reach up and fluff up my hair back, but I was able to hold his short ass back, eventually just picking him up and taking him out of my room, his laughs filling the air as he jokingly kicked and tried to break free.
"Night, Jade, love you!" He managed to call out through laughter.
"Love you too, now get outta here!" I responded, closing my door behind him, a smile still plastered over my face.
Finally, silence. It was shitty knowing that was the way he was, and hardly being able to tell anyone. Beck and Cat knew a little bit, but other than that, the only person I could go to was Noah. He lived through it too, and that's why I always tried to be nice to him.
****
The next morning, I was awoken from my sleep by my alarm blaring. It was 6am, the time I woke up every day for school. I groaned and stretched my arms out, before climbing out of bed. I had about an hour before I had to leave, so I didn't really have time to lay around. As expected, once I opened my bedroom door to the hallway, it was dark. My Dad and step mom were still in bed. Most of the time, they weren't up to take care of Noah yet. They didn't start work until a little later, which left me to get my brother out of bed, make breakfast, and shit like that. It wasn't ideal, but I was used to it. Huh, kinda reminds me of the situation with Beck... Anyways, I made my way through the shadowed hall until I reached my brother's door. I smirked a little, before slamming it open.
"Noah, get up!" I called loudly into his room, before slamming the door closed again. That's pretty much all it took to get him up, because he knew I didn't have time to mess around, but I couldn't help but laugh as I heard him groan whilst I made my way downstairs.
Once I reached the kitchen, I poured two bowls of cereal, and took a seat at the table to eat mine. I was quickly joined by Noah, as he thundered down the stairs and jogged into the kitchen.
"Morning." I murmured, taking my eyes off my cereal to watch him join me at the table.
"Good morning!" He responded, way more energetic than I could ever think of being in the morning. "Got any plans today?" He added, in a questioning tone.
"Nah." I replied, still with a mouthful of cereal. "But I'm kinda nervous for today to be honest."
He turned his eyes away from his cereal to look at me, sort of concerned.
"It's just Vega. We had a massive fight yesterday." I sighed, now turning my eyes to meet his.
"But, weren't you literally at her place last night?" My brother questioned, now confused. Mind you, yes, he was right. I was at Vega's. That was the problem. I agreed to be nicer to her, and I actually didn't hate it. Now there was this awkward fucking tension between us because we were literally fighting hours earlier.
"Yeah, but shit with her is just kinda. Weird, right now." I answered, putting emphasis on how weird it was, which caused a suspicious look from my brother.
"What do you mean, weird?" He asked. "I thought you hated her." He continued, spooning cereal into his mouth. "You fight with her all the time, how can it be so weird this time?"
"Because. Beck told me I should try be nicer to her, so I did. And I didn't hate it. Now I'm confused, because I don't think I hate her, but I definitely don't trust her." I replied, now eating my cereal too, trying to keep time in mind.
"Wait a second, he asked you to, and you actually did it?" Noah chuckled, a genuinely confused look now on his face. The one thing I hadn't told my brother about was the current situation with Beck. I hadn't told him how tense things were, or that I felt like I needed to do things to keep him happy. I didn't wanna tell him. He was already worried enough with the situation with our parents, and the last thing he needed was to be worrying even more. I hadn't even told him about me and Beck's arguments.
"Yeah. I guess I just thought it was worth a shot." I snapped, trying to put on my most convincing voice, which wasn't too hard. I mean, I literally go to school for acting. But for some reason, Noah didn't look very convinced at all. He furrowed his brow at me, but could tell I didn't want to talk about it anymore, so decided to just brush it off and change the topic.
"Okay... Is Beck gonna take you to school today?" He asked, pleasing me, as I don't think I could've sat through explaining my current situation with my boyfriend to a 12 year old. Now coming to think of it, I actually hadn't heard from Beck this morning, so figured I'd give him a call as I got dressed or something.
"Uhh, maybe... But look, I've gotta go get ready, don't hang around here too long. You've got school as well." I spoke, getting up out of my chair, and bringing my now empty bowl to the sink to be washed later.
I made my way upstairs, and looked in my closet for an outfit. After a couple minutes of deciding, I finally threw on some ripped tights, a black skirt, and a grey sweater. I made my way over to my bed, where I took a seat and decided to finally call Beck. When I checked my phone, he hadn't even texted. Weird. I hovered my finger over his contact, and after a moment of hesitation, pressed ring.
"Hey Babe, what's up?" I heard a slightly muffled voice speak, as the line connected.
"Hey, are you taking me to school today? My car's still broken down." I responded, now brushing my hair as I spoke.
"Uhh, I'm sorry, I don't think I can today." Beck responded. I was a little confused; he literally always said yes.
"What do you mean? Why not?" I questioned, now sounding slightly annoyed.
"Because. The girl from my writing class, Alyssa, asked me if I could pick her up like 30 minutes ago so we can work on a play we're writing." He responded, now sounding as if he was sorta distracted.
"What? And you're seriously choosing her over me? I'm literally your girlfriend." I snapped, now extremely pissed off, brushing my hair with more force now.
"Babe, relax, you can just get a bus, or get a ride with one of our friends." He sighed, now sounding pissed off. I didn't wanna handle this anymore, so I hung up on him. I threw my hairbrush back down, and stormed up out of my room to go brush my teeth. I felt my phone buzz in my pocket whilst I brushed my teeth, and tried my hardest to ignore it, but after about 5 buzzes I decided to just see what it was.
6 New messages - Beck
Beck: Babe
Beck: I'm sorry
Beck: I thought you'd be fine with it
Beck: Please?
Beck: Jade. Please answer
Beck: Please just text me back, I'm sorry.
I felt bad, but decided not to respond. I didn't believe for one second that they were just gonna work on a play together, I mean, he would've told me earlier if that was true. I was honestly fucking tired of not being his priority. Even if he was telling the truth, there was no reason he couldn't have picked me up too, but I decided not to push at it, I didn't wanna end up even more pissed off. I didn't wanna walk or get a bus, because it would add another 10 minutes onto my journey, and I already only had 20 minutes before I had to leave the house.
I shoved my phone back in my pocket, and finished brushing my teeth, spitting out the leftover toothpaste. I was pretty desperate for a ride now, so I made my way back downstairs, thundering down them. Noah was waiting at the bottom of them, and there was definitely no hiding that I was pissed off, so he decided to just move out of the way and leave me be. Probably the best decision he could have made, to be honest, I really did not feel like talking about it. I felt bad just ignoring him though, so I decided to break the silence.
"Noah, go get ready for school. You've got to leave like 10 minutes after me, remember?" I muttered, now sitting on the bottom step, putting my combat boots on.
"O-okay, are you okay?" He responded, in a soft tone. I could tell he was worried, but I seriously did not have time for any cutesy sibling shit right now.
"I'm fine." I snapped, getting my point across to him that I wanted him to just leave it. He made his way past me and ran upstairs to get ready.
I was now ready to leave, so I collected my schoolbag from where I'd left it. But the only problem was, I didn't actually have a ride yet. I yanked my phone back out of my pocket, and started angrily scrolling through my contact list. As far as I could see, there was literally no way I'd be getting a ride from Cat. Not that I wanted one from her anyway, not with her brother driving. That guy seriously had problems. Everybody else was out of the question too, living completely out of the way, I'd rather just walk than piss them off as well as Beck.
But right as I was preparing to walk, I remembered. Everybody was out of the question. Everybody apart from one.
Tori Vega.
I didn't really want to get a ride with her, but it's not like I had much choice. My car was broken down, and walking would make me seriously late to school. I guess it was worth a shot asking her, at least. Right?