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News of Jade and Beck breaking up spread through the school like a wildfire. Nobody was too surprised about it. Their fights had been more frequent than usual towards the end. And not the loud, public ones everyone had grown accustomed to either, but quiet, hushed disputes fought in not-so-discreet corners of the school.
Jade didn’t even seem that torn up about it. She’d wiped her eyes once after coming out of the bathroom, and that was the extent of the tears as far as Tori saw. And Beck… Well, he was Beck. Laid back, nonchalant, aloof.
Tori couldn’t bring herself to ask about what the final straw had been. Their other friends asked for her. But neither Beck nor Jade would give them a straight answer. It was always something along the lines of a vague excuse or just a complete change in subject.
But Tori couldn’t help but notice the way Jade’s eyes flickered over to her whenever she was asked about it. Not angry for prying, but seemingly scared for her to know the truth.
After a couple of weeks, things went back to normal. Whatever happened between Beck and Jade had ended amicably enough for them to tolerate being around one another. The group dynamics only had to make a subtle adjustment to things. Mostly getting used to putting at least one person between the two whenever they hung out.
But as things shifted back to normal in their personal lives, as did things with school. Sikowitz had a crazy assignment for them. One they would actually work together and be graded as a group for. It was a commercial assignment.
They’d be graded on the quality of it, the props used, setting, script, acting, camerawork. It was worth about 20% of their overall grade, which meant no goofing around.
They could have used the school as a set. Maybe found some old props to use. Nothing too special - and that was the problem.
Without money, however, their options were fairly limited. All of them agreed that they needed to make something spectacular. They got together after school at Tori’s house to brainstorm ideas on how to raise enough money to splurge on the assignment. Nothing good had been shared just yet and they were almost losing hope.
“What about the school carnival?” Andre asked.
Tori shrugged. “What about it?”
“We could hold some sort of fundraiser there. Set up a stand. Do something that people would pay for,” he elaborated, his enthusiasm building by the second.
“Like a bake sale,” Beck suggested.
“Do any of us know how to bake?” Tori asked, shooting Beck a pointed glare. “And no, your chips and salsa recipe does not count.”
“Okay, so not a bake sale. How about a car wash?” Andre said.
Jade groaned, throwing her head back onto the couch. “It’s too hot for that.”
“Oh! Oh! I got it!” Cat announced, bouncing up and down on her feet. “We could do a kissing booth!”
“Okay… that’s actually not such a bad idea,” Tori said, considering it. “I bet we could raise all the money we need on Beck alone.”
“How would it work?” Beck asked, seeming to be on board.
“We each take a ten minute shift at the booth. One dollar per kiss,” Andre said, as the group murmured in agreement. “All we need is $50.”
“Who takes the first shift?” Robbie asked.
“We could go in alphabetical order,” Tori answered. “So that it’s fair.”
“All the guys are going to be saving their money for you, Tori,” Andre told her, teasing her the way he always did. “You’ll raise enough money for us before five minutes is up.”
Tori rolled her eyes, ignoring the way she could feel Jade’s body tense up from beside her. “Hopefully it won’t only be guys.”
They laughed knowingly at Tori’s remark, reminding her briefly of how freeing it had felt to come out to them earlier on in the school year. Their support was endless, and she was now at the point where she could make jokes about it all.
The laughter died down and Beck raised a good point when he asked, “Wait, so there’s a chance the guys will have to kiss guys?”
“Duh,” Robbie replied, shrugging it off.
“We better get an A on this project,” Andre muttered, not at all attracted to men, but comfortable enough in his own sexuality to kiss a few for the sake of the project.
Tori could feel Jade shifting next to her, and spared the other girl a glance. Jade looked uncomfortable, to say the least. Probably because she didn’t like getting close to anybody she actually liked, let alone random people from their school.
“I’m not doing that,” Jade finally said, getting to her feet. “There’s no way I’m kissing anybody for money.”
“It’s just a silly fundraiser,” Tori said, trying to ration with her.
Jade scowled. “Maybe to you.”
And then she was gone.
-----
They decided to go through with it, anyway. If Jade didn’t want to participate, nobody was going to force her to. She could find another way to contribute.
Andre got them permission to open up the kissing booth stand at the carnival. Tori found them a tent at the flea market for a good deal. Robbie rented them a couple chairs and a table from one of his neighbors. Cat worked on designing the posters and signs. And Beck spread word around school, building up excitement for the event.
Jade basically ignored them all while she busied herself with writing the script for the commercial, as well as making a list of the props they would need while brainstorming possible filming locations. Because of that, none of them minded her lack of participation in the fundraising event.
Jade was extra tense in the days leading up to the fundraising event. She snapped at everyone constantly, including Cat who normally got away unscathed when it came to Jade’s outbursts.
However, there was nobody she was more on edge with than she was with Tori. Tori kept their interactions minimal after Jade nearly bit her head off when she asked her what flavor lip gloss she should wear for the event. But if Tori were being honest with herself, she only asked to aggravate Jade anyway.
“Do we have everything we need?” Andre asked, as they met together one last time as a group before the carnival.
Tori surveyed everything they’d gathered, raising her thumbs up in approval. “Looks good. This is going to be perfect. Thanks for the idea, Cat.”
“No problem,” Cat replied, grinning at the praise.
Jade rolled her eyes, and not in an amused way. “You guys forgot the mouthwash. Better prepare yourself for some janky breath.”
Tori grimaced. “Gross, Jade.”
She was pretty sure none of them had considered that before. It was a lot easier to imagine Hollywood Arts’ most attractive students standing in line as opposed to the likes of Sinjin.
“The event is only open to the students. Nobody too gross is going to be there,” Robbie tried to reason. “And it’s only a kiss.”
“Whatever.”
“You’ll be there tomorrow, right?” Andre asked Jade as she began gathering her things together. “I mean, even if you’re not going to take a shift, you’ll still come?”
Jade looked over to Tori, holding her eyes for a few moments before sighing. “Maybe. I haven’t decided yet.”
Jade left behind a cloud of doubt in their minds, bringing to question whether or not this whole thing was going to be a disaster after all.
But nobody would admit that.
-----
Andre took the first shift. Not that he minded. He was pumped up about raising money for the project. And he was competing with Beck to see who could raise the most money. They wouldn’t let Tori play along because she was anticipated to raise them the most either way.
The booth was functioning well. Those who weren’t working their shift lingered nearby, prepared to assist with anything in a moment’s notice. Jade made a surprise appearance after Beck’s shift ended, huffing about how stupid the idea was even though they were right in the middle of it.
Tori wondered if that was a coincidence or if she’d timed it that way. It probably wasn’t easy seeing your ex kiss a bunch of random people. She would have skipped out on that part of it, too, had it been her.
Andre didn’t have any guys in his line, but he still managed to raise about fifteen dollars for the group. Beck had a fair amount of everyone in his line, ending his shift with a whopping thirty dollars. Robbie went next, getting the project seven dollars.
They had already met their goal before Tori and Cat had a chance to go. To be fair, they still decided to participate. Plus, any extra cash they earned wouldn’t hurt.
Cat was the last to go before Tori. She was eager about getting up there, proud that it was her idea that had worked out so well. Tori smiled at her friend, shaking off any lingering nerves she had towards being up next.
Jade settled in beside her, and their hands brushed briefly before Tori drew away. The last thing she wanted was Jade blowing up on her about something that wasn’t her fault. Like making physical contact with her.
“You’re not actually gonna go through with this, are you?” Jade asked, her arms crossed tightly over her chest.
Tori looked at her. “Why wouldn’t I?”
“Because you guys already met your goal. There’s literally no reason for you to work your shift.”
“Everyone else had to do it. It wouldn’t be fair if I didn’t go.”
“I’m not going,” Jade reminded her.
“Yeah, but you wrote the script,” Tori said. “And other than staring in the commercial, this is the only way I’d have contributed.”
“But-”
“Jade,” Tori interrupted, turning to face her. “What’s the big deal? It’s ten minutes for a good cause. I don’t understand why you aren’t thrilled about the idea of me having to kiss a bunch of people I don’t like. It sounds exactly like the kind of torture you’d want me to get put through.”
Jade looked away, purposefully avoiding Tori’s eyes. “Do whatever you want.”
There was something in the tone of her voice that made Tori sad. Jade was bothered by something, and she just wasn’t getting it. Should she have? It wasn’t like the two of them ever talked about anything of value. They weren’t close enough for Tori to read between the lines.
“It’s all you, Tori,” Andre said, pulling Tori away from Jade and leading her to the stool at the booth.
Cat was beaming, boasting about the $25 she’d made. They were all impressed. With any luck, Tori would get their total past $100. Nobody was saying it, but they were all hoping.
She took her seat, setting her hands down on the table as the first person stepped forward. It was a boy from her math class named Conner. He was cute and definitely someone who’d been on Tori’s radar in the past.
He handed over a $5 bill, securing his spot with Tori for at least a minute or so. If he was a good kisser, she might let it go on a little longer. Andre gave her a thumbs up that her ten minute timer had been set, so she leaned forward and their lips met. It was a nice kiss. Maybe a little too eager, but he was paying to kiss her after all.
When the kiss ended, it was not because either of them had stopped it. Conner had been shoved out of his seat and had landed on the floor. Tori watched him fall, shocked firstly by that, and then again by who had done it.
There stood Jade, fuming from the other side of the table. She took a seat on the chair Conner was discarded from, throwing down a $20 bill in front of Tori. Tori stared at her, confused.
“What are you doing?”
“Yeah, what the hell was that?” Conner asked, getting to his feet.
The people in line were groaning about Jade cutting in front of them, clearly upset that she was wasting their time. But Jade looked completely in her element. And one glare behind her shut them all up.
“You got what you paid for, now scram,” she told Conner, not sparing him another glance. “And you.” She pointed at Tori. “I’m a paying customer. Keep up your end of the deal.”
“You want me to kiss you?” Tori sputtered, absolutely flabbergasted. “Is this some kind of joke?”
“Is anyone laughing?”
Tori looked around her. Nobody was even so much as smiling. Their friends stood behind the booth, seemingly confused. All except for Beck, who looked like he wasn’t at all surprised. Tori returned her focus to Jade.
“Why would you want to kiss me? I thought you thought this whole thing was stupid.”
“It is stupid.” Jade’s cheeks almost looked pink from where Tori was sitting. “But I’d be stupid too if I just stood back while a bunch of losers kissed you.”
Tori wasn’t sure what to think, or how to feel. The idea of Jade liking her had never crossed her mind before, but now that she thought about it, things started to make a little more sense. The lingering looks, the intense arguments, the way Beck seemed disheartened by their interactions after the break up.
“Jade-”
“Just kiss me already!”
Tori did as she was told and pulled Jade’s mouth to meet her own, crashing their lips together roughly. Surprisingly, it was Jade who eased them into something calmer, something much more intimate. Tori followed her pace, finding herself enjoying the gentle way Jade tugged on her bottom lip.
She always thought that being this close to Jade would be deadly, but it was actually pretty nice. Nice enough for the rest of the world around her to start to blur out the longer Jade kissed her like it was all she’d been wanting to do her whole life.
Tori found herself wondering if maybe Jade had been wanting to kiss her like this for a long time. Tori had certainly thought about Jade in a romantic way more than once, but she’d always written it off as intrusive thoughts. Jade never treated her like someone she could stand.
Could it all just have been an act?
Almost as though Jade could read her mind and was trying to give her an answer to that question, she pulled Tori even closer and slipped her tongue into her mouth. They had set up a sign with a strict rule against french kissing, but Tori was the last person who was going to stop her.
Instead, she found herself letting out a soft sigh, sinking further into Jade’s hold and moving her own tongue out to meet Jade’s. Her response seemed to only encourage Jade, who kissed her even deeper.
They stayed kissing for what felt simultaneously like forever and no time at all, before a buzzer was going off. Tori recognized that sound by now, but she didn’t want to pull away. She could sense that Jade probably didn’t want to either, but they still separated from one another.
Tori glanced around herself first, not brave enough to look at the expression on Jade’s face and see what she really thought about what had just happened between the two of them. Most of the people who had been gathered around the booth had left, save for a few stragglers who looked genuinely curious about what had just happened.
Tori looked over to her friends next. First Cat, with her wide eyes and parted lips, then Andre who looked at a loss for words. Robbie seemed neutral about the whole thing, and Beck had his eyes on the ground, not necessarily upset, but looking as though he still didn’t want to witness his ex-girlfriend kissing somebody else. Perfectly reasonable.
Tori worked up the nerve to look at Jade last, surprised to find Jade’s green eyes still staring back at her, studying her face. Tori opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out.
“Well, we raised enough money,” Andre said, making an attempt at breaking the awkward silence.
Cat chimed in with, “Jade, you can take your $20 back. I’m sure Tori would have kissed you for free.”
Tori furrowed her brows, turning to look at her friend. “What?”
“It’s just that you seemed really into it,” Cat tried explaining, shrinking into herself as her voice grew softer and more high-pitched with each word.
“I wasn’t-” Tori began, about to deny liking anything that had to do with Jade on pure instinct, but she didn’t have the heart to finish that sentence and lie. “What I mean is-”
They all waited silently for her to finish her thoughts, but she couldn’t. Everything was suddenly on the line here, and she was still trying to process the fact that Jade had kissed her at all.
But Jade was not at all a patient person and she quickly made a show of gathering her things and walking away. Tori watched dumbly as she left, disappearing into the crowd of students milling around the other events.
Tori frowned, turning to her friends for hopefully some decent advice. None of them would even look her in the eye.
“Did you guys know that was going to happen?” she asked, looking between them all.
They all shook their heads except for Beck who said, “Why do you think she was so against the kissing booth? She didn’t want to see you kissing other people.”
Tori looked at him, realizing exactly why Beck seemed to know more than anyone else there what was going on with Jade. “You knew that she was into me?”
“It was obvious,” he stated, not sounding bitter, but more so like he had already accepted this all.
“To you guys as well?”
Cat shrugged. “I guess so. She’s always staring at you in class.”
“And she has your post notifications on,” Andre added.
“I’m just as lost as you are,” Robbie said.
Tori groaned, running her hands through her hair as she tried to think of a way she could fix what just happened. Clearly Jade was upset with how she reacted to the whole thing once they’d stopped kissing. She’d put her heart on the line in front of everyone and Tori had just stood there.
“What do I do?” she found herself asking out loud.
She felt a hand on her shoulder and turned to see Beck standing at her side, a sympathetic smile on his face. She knew none of this could have been easy for him, but he seemed to be fine with the fact that he and Jade weren’t getting back together ever again.
“Do you like her?” he asked, making it sound so simple.
Tori shrugged, helpless. “I’d never really thought about her like that before. I thought that she hated me. I mean, I know that she hated me.”
“She never hated you, Tori,” Beck assured her. “Sure, she was jealous. And confused. And she put a lot of unnecessary blame on you for the things that didn’t go her way, but she was into you. From the moment you transferred here, it was always there.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
Beck lifted a shoulder weakly. “It wasn’t my place to tell you, and Jade denied it for a very long time. The reason we broke up this last time is because she finally admitted to herself and to me what she’s been feeling towards you. How could I be upset with her for that?”
“You should go find Jade,” Andre said, stepping into the conversation. “We can clean this stuff up.”
“Are you guys sure?” Tori asked, receiving confirmation from them all. “I doubt she’ll pick up if I try to call her.”
“It’s worth a shot,” Beck said. “And if you really can’t find her, check out that really creepy house on Harvard Boulevard. One of her favorite movies was shot there and she likes to look at it when she has a lot on her mind.”
Tori knew that was top secret information Beck was handing her way, and she gratefully made note of it in her mind. She left the carnival in a hurry, pulling out her phone to try calling Jade. She went straight to voicemail.
They had all come to the carnival with Beck (except for Jade) so Tori had no way to get around without calling for an Uber. She scrolled through her apps until she located it, beginning to schedule her ride. A notification appearing on her screen stopped her from finishing.
Jade: what do u want?
Tori stared down at the words, smiling because she knew Jade was open to hearing from her. It wasn’t too late to try and figure things out.
Tori: can we talk? pls?
Tori waited for a response, walking away from the carnival and towards the neighborhood behind the school. It was a lot quieter over there, and if she did need to get an Uber, it would be an easier location for her to get picked up from.
Jade: in person.
Tori felt relief wash over her once again.
Tori: that’s fine. where are you? i can meet you there
It took about thirty seconds for Jade to reply, but those thirty seconds felt like a lifetime to Tori, who was becoming more certain by the second that what she wanted most was to give Jade a shot.
Jade: i’m coming back to the carnival. meet me behind the school
Tori wondered if it was fate that she was already standing exactly where Jade requested to pick her up from. She had no clue how far away Jade had gotten from the school, but she waited patiently for her to arrive.
When Jade finally pulled up, Tori felt butterflies in her stomach and marveled at how foreign they felt to be summoned by the sight of Jade. Jade wasn’t looking at her, and only started moving again once Tori had closed the door shut behind her.
They headed off in the direction of the highway and Jade merged onto it without a word. Tori stared out the window, wondering if she should be the one to start the conversation or wait until they’d arrived at whatever the intended destination was.
Soon, they were off the road and pulled over to the side. Tori checked her surroundings but still had no idea where they were. Jade put the car into park and took her hands off the wheel, still refusing to face Tori.
“So, what’s up?” she asked, clearly trying to sound nonchalant, but Tori knew better.
“Jade,” she murmured, and the other girl glanced her way for a brief moment. “I’m really sorry I didn’t know what to say earlier. I was just really caught by surprise. I didn’t know you felt anything other than hatred for me.”
Jade sucked in a breath, shaking her head. “This is all very new for me, too.”
“When we kissed… I liked it, okay?”
“Yeah?”
The vulnerability in Jade’s voice was like nothing she had ever heard from her before. Tori felt her heart clench, acknowledging the power she had in this situation. She would not hurt Jade again. Not if she could help it.
She made a motion to reach out for Jade, but stopped short. There was more to be said, she knew that. And when Jade finally turned to face her, she felt brave enough to continue.
“What happens now?” Tori asked.
“I don’t know,” Jade admitted. “I didn’t think I’d actually get this far.”
“And you kissed me anyway?” Tori asked, shocked by her boldness.
Jade laughed. “I had to do something. You were going to let a bunch of nerds and jerks slobber all over you for a dollar a minute.”
Tori grimaced. “It sounds way worse when you say it like that. Actually, thank you for stepping in.”
Jade lifted a shoulder casually. “It was nothing.”
But it was something. It was a declaration of her feelings for Tori in front of most of their peers. She’d never made a gesture that big for Beck, and they’d been an actual item for years. Tori was almost overwhelmed by the clear depth of what Jade felt for her.
Almost.
Because a part of her was really starting to dig deep into her brain and pull to the front memories and ideas of Jade. Interactions they’d had that had left Tori feeling confused. Leaving her wanting more. Always more of Jade.
“Do you want me to take you home?” Jade asked, clenching her fingers around the steering wheel anxiously.
Tori turned to look at her, studying the new version of her friend who was actually nervous around someone. She let a smile play at her lips and reached out to brush her fingers over Jade’s, watching as Jade let out a small sigh.
“Let’s do something. I don’t care what,” Tori told her.
Jade nodded. “There’s a spot. We could go and talk some more. Maybe we could even try that kissing thing again without an audience?”
Tori laughed. “Sounds great.”
And not that she needed the confirmation that Jade actually did give a crap about her, but when they pulled onto Harvard Boulevard, Tori knew for certain that something great was on the horizon for the two of them.