The dilemma of whether or not to give the video to Melody was making Jade nervous, and on the way back to her friend's house, she couldn't stop thinking about everything that had happened tonight.
And about Finn.
She wanted to go back home and cry right after returning the cat, and she didn't want to see Melody.
Memories of how much Melody abused the friendship came to her suddenly. It was as if Melody only wanted Jade to envy her.
The first time they met in person, Jade picked up Melody and took her to the mall in her old car and the scarlet-haired girl spent hours trying on clothes and even bragged about how expensive they were. They also visited the official Monster Mash store in the mall and Jade was sad because she could only buy a bracelet of silver hearts with the boys' faces on them. Melody, on the other hand, bought almost the entire store, and paid with the platinum card that her father had given her for her eighteenth birthday. Melody also wanted to go to the beauty salon, but Mrs. Cadence called her to tell her that it was time to go home. Jade's stepfather had been in the military or something, he never talked about details, so he was in charge of cutting Jade’s hair and in the. Jade's mother was the one who was in charge of that because she had also been a kind of agent or something when she was younger. Jade had never been to a beauty salon, and she always painted her nails with black varnish at home, and much of her gothic wardrobe was second-hand. On the other hand, Melody spent that day showing off the designer clothes she had bought and used Jade to carry all her bags.
The second time Jade and Melody met in person, Melody asked her help to do some boring Spanish homework before her private teacher arrived, and even asked her to do her history and literature homework entirely while she watched Monster Mash videos.
Maybe Melody wasn't as good a friend as Jade thought.
Jade didn't feel like dealing with her right now, didn't feel like hearing Melody complaining about why Jade didn't call her while with the boys.
Jade didn't feel like going back to her normal life.
If she went back to Melody, she would be no one.
Or maybe she shouldn't go back.
Maybe she could stay with the boys forever.
Because yeah! Finn promised friendship, but Zeth? Oh no! She wasn't such a fan anymore after meeting him, and she hated him with all her being.
She stopped walking and sat down on the sidewalk, hugging Mozart to her chest.
She didn't want to go back.
She didn't want to see Melody.
She didn't want to hear her.
She didn't want to give her the interview for her blog.
Jade sighed and hurried to the O'Pry residence, then knocked on the door.
Melody opened up with huge chocolate stains on her face and clothes.
Wasn't she outside looking for the cat?
Had she sent Jade alone to look for Mozart while she was peacefully eating ice cream in her Monster Mash pyjamas?!
"What took you so long?" Melody asked. "I sent you a thousand messages to tell you that I didn't find Mozart and that I was coming home to sleep!" She looked at Jade, expecting an explanation.
"Mozart's fine!" Jade grunted.
"Oh, excellent! I thought Mum would ground me again!" Melody opened the door wider. "Come on. I already put your sleeping bag on the floor."
"I'm going out for the night," Jade said. "I met some friends who helped me find Mozart." Her voice broke slightly. Well, that wasn't a lie as such was it? But Jade already wanted to go home.
"Friends?" Melody raised a brow. "Are they rich? Handsome?"
"No, silly!" Jade rolled her eyes. "They're just really kind."
"Oh?" Melody raised both eyebrows.
"Yeah, it was cool."
"Cool?" Melody laughed. "Well, I guess they must be worth it to leave me now."
"I guess so," Jade shrugged. "See you later."
"Hey! Wait!" Melody tossed the cat over her shoulder and ran to catch up with her friend. "What's going on here? What are you not telling me?"
"You left the door open, the cat is going to run away again," Jade said, pointing with a finger. "It's just that I met some guys... They invited me to a... Party?" Well, if that party was going home to cry, then yes, a party.
"You are going to a party? Do you know what time it is?" Melody laughed. "You need a better excuse because I don't believe you. You're not a party girl."
"It's more of a little get-together," Jade was already wishing she could run off. "Nothing important. I don't want to talk about it in the middle of your front yard."
"Are you sure I can't convince you to stay?" Melody asked, but Jade didn't turn to face her. "Jade!"
"Melody, it's nothing."
"You sure?" Melody changed her tone of voice and clenched her fists. Oh no! Not one of her famous tantrums here in the middle of the front yard. "You say your friends found Mozart?"
"Well... Yeah, they gave him to me," Jade took a step back. Her friend no longer looked happy; she looked furious!
"Isn't there something you want to tell me?" Melody took another step forward. "Someone you want to introduce me to?"
"Nope."
"Then why were you so quick to leave? Did you meet someone you liked?" Melody's tone turned accusing.
"I have never been like that. I'm not a girl who likes random boys. You offend me!"
"Oh, really?" Melody sneered. "So what does that video mean?" She grabbed Jade by her arm and dragged her towards the house.
"Which video? What are you talking about?!" Jade yelled as her friend dragged her inside, slamming the front door.
The girls were both silent for a few moments, glaring at each other, breathing heavily. Then Melody smiled, putting an arm around Jade's shoulder.
"Sorry about that. I think I was a bit annoyed by a notification from the Monster Mash fan club," Melody took her phone from the couch in the living room. There were two empty ice cream buckets, yes buckets, on the coffee table, and heartbreaking music by Monster Mash playing on the TV. "Zeth uploaded some selfies with a cat he said he found in a tree," Melody showed the phone to Jade, who bit her lip. That idiot Zeth had uploaded a photo cuddling the cat, in fact there were several. "You won't tell me, will you? It was Zeth who gave you the cat, wasn't it?"
"Nope." Jade lied and clenched her fists. "It was someone else."
"So, I guess the video you just uploaded…"
"Wait, a video I uploaded?" Jade pulled out her phone and gasped.
There were thousands of notifications, all about new followers, comments, and likes regarding a video that every Monster Mash band member was tagged in.
"Damn you, Finn," Jade whispered. "How the hell did you do this?"
"Why didn't you call me if you were interviewing the boys?" Melody threateningly squeezed Jade with the arm around her shoulder.
"Because I wanted to surprise you!"
"Well... It surprises me now!" Melody stepped back and yelled, "Were we not friends?"
"I was planning to give you the video for your blog!" Jade exclaimed.
"Clearly you did not! And that's why you posted it!" Melody pushed Jade, and she fell back on the couch with a loud thud. "I made you my friend out of pity, and that's how you pay me back?" Melody was out of control, so much so that even Mrs. O'Pry ran down the stairs.
"Melody! Enough!" Cadence yelled, "What's going on!? Lower your voice! You will wake up your brother and tomorrow he must wake up early to go to work!"
Jade was surprised to learn that Melody's older brother was home. As far as she knew, Anton was with some friends in LA recording an album.
"I gotta go!" Jade jumped off the couch and ran out the front door, stumbling a few times until she was out of the house. Melody was still yelling and cursing when Jade made it to the mailbox, but Jade paid no attention to her.
She hated Finn, and she didn't know if she wanted to go back to the Darktide Hotel to make a scene or go home with her Dad.
On one hand, the fact that Finn had been the one behind this whole thing made her insides burn, and yet, she also felt like going back to reproach him, but she just couldn't stand the idea of being near him anymore.
She sighed.
She looked up. The hotel, the suite, she could see it from here.
Should she really go back to the hotel?
Or should she stay in the front yard and wait until the morning to talk to Melody properly?
Or should she go back home to sleep?
Whatever the case, she was alone in the middle of the road that connected all of Hollow Woods, sighing heavily with downcast eyes.
"I better go home," she whispered, but then there were footsteps behind her, stilettos to be precise. Jade turned quickly, but only heard some kind of gunshot and a wire, perhaps made of metal, retracting. When she turned around, she only saw leaves falling from a tree on the sidewalk. There was no one there. "How strange..." She whispered, looking at the leaves on the tree moving, "I thought I heard someone."
Jade began to walk home then, without knowing that, from among the leaves of the tree, a young woman was watching her, with a silver grapple gun in hand. Dressed in a black battle suit and stiletto boots, and with gun holsters on her thighs, the girl was on a branch, crouching, half-shutting her brown eyes.
The girl removed a leaf and a branch from her short black hair with a grunt, and soon raised the communicator on her wrist to her lips...
"I followed the girl like you asked me to, Zeth," the black-haired girl said, her eyes fixed on Jade, "That's right... It seems like she's a friend of Cadence's daughter. I'll keep you informed." Then she turned right, raising an eyebrow at the sight of a purple muscle car slowly driving through the darkness, "Great! Looks like we’ve got company." Then she moved among the branches, and with a shot from her grapple gun at a light pole, she swung her way down.