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Jade West hated mostly everything - the color yellow, the word panties, people who say 'Have a nice day!'. But, what Jade hated most of all, the one action that stood above the rest, was being touched.
That's not to say some people, under certain conditions, weren't permitted to lay a hand on her. However, that privilege was difficult to earn and easy to lose. Beck found himself on the receiving end of that revocation just a short time ago, and Jade was still fuming about the incident.
"He has no right," she mentally screamed for at least the fourth time, slamming her locker closed with an irritated growl. The school day was nearing its end and, even though she had thought about the event several times over, she found herself thinking about how the day started in the worst possible way and continued to spiral down.
It wasn't Cat's fault. Jade knew the redhead was the opposite of observant, and if Jade was a stronger person she would admit to herself that she could have avoided everything if she had been paying attention, too. But Jade wasn't paying attention. She was distracted the moment she entered the school, resulting in collision with a peppy, hyper Cat and the loss of Jade's full, much-needed, coffee.
"Cat!" Jade screeched with one part shock and two parts anger. Cat fell to the ground and bounced right back up, the pep in her step unbroken.
"Oh Jade, hi hi!" Cat beamed, happy as a lark to see the dour actress. Cat blinked a few times, processing the frustration on Jade's face, and looked down at the large puddle at their feet. "You dropped your coffee," Cat deadpanned. A tinge of red appeared on Jade's face, and she held back a scream. Cat was no better than a pet and Jade knew that, and you didn't lash out at pets. They didn't know better, not really. Cat reached out, consolingly, and was going to say they could get more coffee before the first bell at the Asphalt Cafe. But the moment her hand barely brushed the sleeve of Jade's leather jacket, Jade pulled back violently and interrupted her with a shout.
"NO!" Enough was enough, pet or not, Cat knew not to touch Jade. "Forget it," Jade said bluntly, stomping off and leaving Cat to deal with the mess in the hallway. So frustrated by the loss of her caffeine fix, Jade didn't say a word to Tori as Jade passed by the singer at the girl's locker.
It didn't take long for Jade to see that today was not her day. During Sikowitz's class, Jade had to remind Rex, physically, that he didn't get a pass on her rules just because he was a puppet. Robbie would probably find Rex's arms by the end of the day, but that wasn't Jade's problem. And apparently, Beck had decided that a visibly irritated, nearly irate Jade was approachable with bad news.
"So you're breaking up with me!" Jade shouted at Beck, hearing hardly anything he had said after his opening line. Beck looked flabbergasted.
"What? No!" he shouted back. "All I said is my Uncle needs my help and I'll be out of school for a semester to help him out."
"Your Uncle lives in Canada, Beck! You're going to be gone for six months!" Jade retorted, stating the obvious.
"Well, he actually needs me up there the summer before, so it's more like nine months." Beck corrected gently, running a hand through his hair. Jade wasn't taking this very well, and he hadn't thought through how he was going to tell her this. He had hoped she would have been in one of her understanding moods.
"And what about us, Beck? Were you planning to even visit?" Jade asked, the anger in her tone subsiding slightly, allowing her insecurity and fear to sneak through. Beck fidgeted under her questioning.
"I hadn't really planned it out yet, babe. I mean, if I can, I would, you know?" he offered, extending an olive branch. Jade shook her head. She wasn't dealing with this.
"Let me know when you figure it out," she responded bluntly, her anger quickly replaced with an uninterested tone. She moved past Beck, walking quickly. He reached out an arm to wrap around her shoulders from the front to pull her into a hug. She stopped instantly, avoiding his arm, and quickly turned to look him directly in the eyes.
"Never touch me," she spat caustically, maneuvering around his outreached arm and purposefully walking away. She wasn't paying attention to where she was going. Jade just needed to be anywhere but there and with anyone but Beck. Which is exactly how Jade crashed into yet another person that day, slamming right into Tori as she rounded a corner. Tori had her head down, looking at her phone, and the two girls bumped heads together.
"Ow!" they both exclaimed, both reeling back a bit.
"Watch where you're," Tori began, only then looking up to see who she had crashed into. "Oh. Jade. Sorry, I was," but Tori didn't finish her thought as Jade rushed past her. Tori thought she saw the start of tears, but Jade wasn't hurt that badly from their crash. Further, Jade didn't even look angry once she saw who she had crashed into. Tori pursed her lips; she didn't like seeing her friends in pain, and Jade looked very upset. Tori set off to figure out what she could.
Jade had found one of the many janitor's closets she used for solace. She was breathing in measured, careful amounts, trying to calm her mixture of raging emotions. Today was too much to deal with and it was catching up with her. She replayed her conversation with Beck, second guessing if she overreacted. But as she listened to what she remembered, Beck clearly sounded like he had made up his mind. He wasn't asking or consulting. He was telling her that he would be gone for almost a year, and she had no choice in the matter. Jade hated being told what to do.
The rest of the day was a blur. Jade trapped herself in her head, analyzing Beck's words and actions and resolving how she would respond. Still stuck in her mind, Jade found herself in front of her locker near the end of the day, replaying the conversation for at least the fourth time, when a slightly taller brunette approached her with a concerned look. Tori didn't flinch when Jade slammed the locker closed.
"Jade," Tori calmly stated to get Jade's attention. She knew Jade didn't like surprises. Jade looked up from her locker to Tori.
"Tori," Jade responded. Tori took a short breath. She had rehearsed this a few times to make sure she didn't further upset the emotional girl.
"Bad day?" Tori asked, concern spilling over. Jade bitterly laughed.
"Just a day." Jade stated matter of fact, looking bored. Tori nodded while frowning and reached out, placing a hand on Jade's shoulder to comfort her.
"We cancelled the card game tonight at my house. So tonight will just be some CSI reruns and bad movies. If you want to join, it's an open invite," Tori carefully said, bending the truth and avoiding ultimatums or phrases that may make Jade feel indebted to Tori's charity. Jade raised an eyebrow, but didn't shift or flinch to remove Tori's hand from her shoulder.
"Everyone else?" Jade questioned. She was only really asking about Beck, but she wasn't going to give Tori the satisfaction of knowing the recent fracture between the two. Tori shook her head.
"Busy. That's why we cancelled," Tori lied. She removed her hand from Jade's shoulder, taking a step back. "No pressure," she said, moving away to wrap-up her day. "Just show up if you want." And with a lazy turn and friendly smile, Tori walked away, leaving Jade alone in the hallway.
Jade West hated mostly everything – the word 'moist', picking off shrimp tails, the month of October. But, what Jade hated most of all, the one fact that stood above the rest, was that she didn't hate when Tori touched her. That Tori got a pass on her number one rule, no matter what. And Jade couldn't help but smile to herself, alone in the hallway, as Tori walked away.