After the drama that morning, it was safe to say that everyone was especially glad when the bell rang to signal that the day was over. It's not like there wasn't usually tension between Tori and Jade, but this time it had been more personal.
MESSAGES
[two participants]
BABE🖤
hey babe cat's coming over after school
coz she wants to see Ro before she goes
just so u know
BECK❤️
okay cool x
I was gonna go to Andre's later
I haven't seen him much recently
BABE🖤
okay that works out great
u mind giving us a ride to mine on ur way??
coz you drove me here
BECK❤️
magic word?
BABE🖤
...
I was gonna say please
you didn't let me finish
BECK❤️
😂😂
yea of course I will
though you do know the reason Cat's coming is coz Aiden's there
BABE🖤
eww actually don't remind me
& thank u
ill meet you at my locker after last period
BECK❤️
sure thing
still ok for me to stay at yours tonight? x
BABE🖤
obviously
okay gradstein is giving me a look
see you later love you
BECK❤️
yikes
love you too xxx
They met up, along with Cat and Andre, after last period at the lockers. Tori and Robbie were tutoring ninth graders in tech theatre, so they walked to the parking lot without saying goodbye. Jade took her spot in the front seat of Beck's truck before anyone could object, leaving their friends to pile into the back. This also meant she had control of the aux. That is if you could call Cat shouting out fifty different song requests at once 'control'.
"Cat, baby, she can only play one song at a time," Andre sighed, placing a hand on her shoulder as Beck let out a laugh from the front.
"Fine," she sighed, pressing her back against the seat. "Play 'Give It Up'." If it was Cat's normal happy-go-lucky nonsense, Jade might not have listened. But since they had sung it together one karaoke night and it was one of her favorites too, she put it on.
"Someday I'll let you in!" Jade began to sing as the boys whooped. The rest of the drive consisted of more singing, it was nice to hang out together like they had since they were in middle school, even if it was only for fifteen minutes.
Beck was almost sad it was over as he pulled into her driveway, the fact it was actually their last year at Hollywood Arts beginning to hit him.
"Have fun, tell Robin I'll see her later," he called out the window as the two girls walked up Jade's driveway. Beck had missed Jade during their break up last year, sure, but he had also missed her sister. And so ever since they had gotten back together, he made a conscious effort to let Robin know he would be sticking around for the foreseeable future. He had been a constant in her life since she was a toddler and he figured the girl could do with more people sticking around.
"Yeah, yeah. Love you too!" Jade yelled without turning back, punctuating the remark with a flash of her middle finger.
He shook his head before starting up the truck again and pulling away from the house.
"She's a handful, huh?" Andre laughed, having moved into the front seat.
"She sure is," Beck agreed with a fond smile. "I don't even know what I'd be doing without her."
Back at the house, Jade unlocked the door and flung her bag on the floor.
"Honey, I'm home!" Cat called out with a flip of her hair, her tone flirtatious enough for Jade to feel the bile rise in her throat.
"Cat," she warned, her teeth practically gritted, but her friend simply shrugged with feigned innocence.
Cat had dropped the airhead accent she had gained in recent years for a play this summer and stubbornly refused to let it return. She'd been seeing a new psychologist, a better one, who had helped her realise she wasn't all that dumb after all. But then again, she was stupid enough to flirt with Jade's brother in front of her.
Luckily for her, the tension in the room was broken by Robin screaming Cat's name and charging into her legs.
"Ro Ro!" Cat yelled back, scooping the girl off the floor and spinning her around. Jade had aways thought the nickname was stupid, but at least Cat had cared enough to build a relationship with her little sister.
"What? No love for me?" Aiden teased, entering the room covered in flour. Jade shot him a warning look, to which he winked as Cat wrapped her arms around his torso.
She was ridiculously close to texting Beck to pick her up when Robin grabbed her arm and dragged her towards the kitchen. Upon closer inspection, she realised that Aiden wasn't the only messy one as she took in the batter in her sister's hair.
"Look!" Jade assumed she was referring to the uncooked mixture in rainbow cupcake cases, though she could have been pointing out anything in the war zone that used to be a kitchen. There was batter up the walls, eggshells on the floor and flour covering every flat surface.
"Aiden, I say this in the nicest way possible, but what the fu-"
"Fudge!" Cat butted in. Her babysitting business with Sam made her good with kids and used to interrupting swearing. For such a upbeat person, she did seem to surround herself with the polar opposite.
"The weasel wanted to make cupcakes," he attempted to justify, Robin giggling at the nickname.
"I wasn't aware making cupcakes involved redecorating."
"You're being a bit dramatic. Maybe performing arts school was a bad idea."
"Oh yeah? Well-"
"Robin, why don't we put these in the oven and then you can help me clean up whilst your siblings sort this out. In another room," Cat intervened. The two older Wests took the hint and went back out into the hallway.
Jade had to admit she had missed arguing with her brother. She had missed being a sibling, having not seen either of them all summer. She just wanted to talk to him, even if that meant having a screaming match over cupcakes.
"Look what they've done to us, arguing like parents," Aiden sighed, resting his back against the side board. He was right of course, the two of them spent their life parenting the child they'd never had.
"Remember when we used to fight about sibling things? Like when I snapped your Britney Spears CD," Jade laughed. He frowned, as if he was still mad about something he had forgotten about up until then. "I don't wanna turn into them, I don't wanna be like mom and dad," she added, quieter this time.
"No more yelling, at least in front of Robin?" he proposed, to which she nodded decisively. "And that includes you and your boyfriend, too. I know what you two can get like when things get tough. I don't want her to grow up like we did."
"We're not like that anymore," she told him, but his face didn't change. "I promise. C'mon, we should probably go help Cat."
"Frosting!" Robin ordered, passing a cupcake down the production line the four of them had created. By the end of it, all the cakes were decorated, complete with rainbow sprinkles. Sure, there was also a substantial amount of frosting on their noses, but Jade had come to realise that it was part of the gig.
"J, I wanna be a baker when I grow up," she told her older sister, before shoving cake in her mouth.
"Oh really?" Yesterday she wanted to be a singer and the day before a princess but the girl was six. At least she was ambitious.
Once the kitchen was clean and the ingredients had been washed out of her hair, they all retreated to the living room to watch a movie. Jade had wanted to watch Corpse Bride, but had been outvoted three to one, so they were watching Tangled. She was sat in the middle of Cat and Aiden, much to Cat's dismay, Robin draped over their laps.
Beck had stayed at Andre's much longer than he had intended to. It had been nice to catch up and hang out with his best friend alone for once. By the time his truck pulled into Jade's driveway it was dark, with only the porch light illuminating the way.
"I'm back," he whisper yelled after letting himself in with his key, not wanting to wake Robin up.
"Hey, man. How was Andre's," Aiden replied from the dimly lit kitchen, where he was making hot cocoa.
"I had fun, thanks," he replied, before looking around for his girlfriend.
"Couch," was all Aiden said. Beck obliged, looking into the living room where Cat and Jade were both asleep on the sofa. "I took Ro up to bed a while ago, but I figured I could leave them. I should probably take Cat home now, though."
Beck looked over at Jade sleeping for a moment longer, the familiar sound of her snores putting him at ease.
"Nah, I'll do it. You two should hang out a while more before you head back to college. She misses you," Beck offered, picking his keys up from the counter before going over to wake Cat up. He pecked Jade's forehead before he left, leaving her alone with her brother.
The sound of the front door closing made her stir. She sat up and cricked her neck after falling asleep in a weird position. Aiden placed a cup of cocoa down on the coffee table in front of her before taking a seat beside her.
"Beck's not back yet?" she asked, her voice croaky from sleep.
"He was, he just went to take Cat home. He offered." She smiled, knowing exactly what her boyfriend had been thinking when he had.
Beck's words rang in his head as Aiden turned the tv. Although it didn't seem like it at times, Jade was his younger sister and it seemed like forever since the two of them had just hung out.
He channel surfed until he found a rerun of Sabrina The Teenage Witch and he remembered when she used to make him watch it with her, though he secretly liked it just as much. They sat in silence, watching together for a while.
"You still have a crush on Sabrina?" Jade mused.
"You still have a crush on Harvey?" he retorted.
"Touché."