Chapter Text
It's senior year for the Hollywood Arts students, a lot has changed over the few years, but not too much. The group are all still close friends...well except Jade and Beck as of right now. Another huge fight and a breakup was the unfortunate norm for the two, they're on just barely speaking terms right now. A formal is coming up and Andre thought it'd be a good idea if he got everyone together to come up with a performance. Unfortunately everyone seemed busy that day, Beck in particular probably just didn't want to end up in another argument with Jade. Since Tori’s place was the main hangout spot, it was just him and Tori for a while till Jade finally showed up. After a few hours things were going smooth...absolutely smooth.
"You can't be serious" Jade said, slamming her notebook shut with a snap. "A song about sunshine and rainbows? Are we twelve?"
Tori rolled her eyes, twirling her pen between her fingers. "It’s not literally about sunshine, Jade. It’s a metaphor. For like… hope? New beginnings?"
Andre cleared his throat before Jade could fire back, tossing a crumpled sheet of notebook paper onto the coffee table between them.
"Counterpoint" he said, grinning when both girls turned to glare at him. "How bout we write a song that doesn't sound like a rejected cereal jingle or an emo poetry slam?"
Jade's fingers tapped against the arm of the couch, slow and deliberate. "You're lucky you're useful, Harris."
Tori leaned forward, undeterred. "Okay, fine. What if we do something classic? Like a slow dance ballad—think candlelight, moonlight, all that romantic stuff."
She gestured vaguely toward the ceiling as if conjuring the image. "Everyone loves that at formals."
Jade's expression soured instantly. "Oh perfect. Let’s just hand out barf bags with the track list."
She flicked Andre’s crumpled draft back onto the table. "Ballads are what you write when you’ve given up on being interesting."
Tori threw her hands up, her pen clattering onto the coffee table. "You know what? Fine. You two figure it out. I'm getting snacks." She stomped off toward the kitchen just as Andre's phone buzzed violently against the table. He snatched it up, frowning at the screen making his way to the door in a hurry.
"Gotta take this" he muttered, the door clicked shut behind him.
Jade drummed her fingers against the couch again, her gaze drifting to Andre’s backpack slumped against the leg of the coffee table. The zipper was half open, a spiral notebook peeking out—his songbook, the one he guarded like state secrets. She glanced toward the kitchen, where the faint sound of Tori rummaging through cabinets echoed.
Then with a quick decisive motion, she hooked her foot around the strap of Andre’s bag and dragged it closer. She scooped the notebook up with enthusiasm.
Jade flipped open the notebook with a practiced nonchalance, as if she wasn’t rifling through Andre’s private thoughts like a thief in the night. The pages were crammed with his cramped handwriting, lyrics scribbled sideways, chords sketched in the margins, half finished melodies dotted with coffee stains.
She recognized a few immediately, the angsty punk anthem they’d performed at Nozu last year, the ridiculous pop collab Cat had begged him to write ("Andre, please, it needs more glitter!"). But then there were others, pages and pages of songs she’d never heard.
Tori’s fingers hesitated on the bag of chips just as she heard a rustle of paper coming from the living room.
She turned, peering around the kitchen doorway and froze. Jade had Andre’s songbook held up to her face like she was reading a magazine about the newest pairs of scissors on the market.
"Oh no" Tori breathed. The memory hit her like a slap, Andre being all willy wonky about his crush on Jade during there first year. She cannot let Jade continue reading that notebook.
The chips tumbled from her grip as she bolted across the room. "Jade wait—!"
Tori lunged for the notebook, but Jade shoved her palm flat against Tori’s shoulder, holding her at arm’s length without even looking up. “Relax, Vega. It’s not like I’m digging through his underwear drawer” Jade muttered, flipping another page with her thumb.
“That’s worse!” Tori hissed, swatting at Jade’s wrist. “You can’t just—that’s his brain in there, his heart!” She ducked under Jade’s arm, but Jade sidestepped, pivoting away while her eyes scanned the page.
“Pretty sure his brain’s still in his skull, but—” Jade’s voice hitched mid-sentence. Her eyes froze over a line scribbled in blue ink.
Monday well Jade, I fell for you.
She froze in confusion.
Tori seized her chance. She snatched the notebook from Jade’s grip just as the front door swung open. Andre strode back in, his phone still pressed to his ear, his eyebrows knitted in exasperation.
“No, Grandma, the tsunami warning is for Hawaii—yes, I’m sure your shower isn’t—” He sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. “I gotta go,” he said into the phone before shoving it into his pocket.
Jade snapped her gaze away from the notebook in Tori’s hands, smoothing her expression into something neutral. “Everything cool?” she asked, crossing her arms.
Andre exhaled, grabbing his backpack from the floor. “Unless you count my grandma trying to evacuate her bathroom tiles, no.”
He slung the bag over one shoulder, oblivious to the tension crackling between the girls. “I gotta bail, she’s convinced the drain is gonna swallow her whole.”
Tori shoved the notebook behind her back, flashing him a smile that felt too wide. “Totally get it. Family emergencies.”
Jade snorted. “Yeah, nothing says emergency like a senior citizen fighting a bathtub.”
The door clicked shut behind Andre, leaving the living room in a silence that felt thicker than it had any right to be. Jade didn’t turn around right away. Instead, she kept her back to Tori, her fingers tapping rapidly against her arm.
"So" Jade said finally, her voice dangerously light. "I saw my name in there."
Tori’s grip on the notebook tightened behind her back. Her pulse hammered so loud she was half-convinced Jade could hear it.
"Whaaattt?" she croaked, pitching her voice up an octave in a way that sounded more like a strangled cat than genuine confusion.
Jade spun on her heel, her dark eyes sharp enough to cut glass. "Don’t" she said flatly. "You’re a terrible liar." She held out her hand, "Let me see the book."
Tori opened her mouth, some feeble protest halfway out but Jade’s glare sharpened like a blade.
"NOW! ” she snapped, voice low and jagged enough to make Tori flinch. The notebook felt like lead in her hands, but she handed it over.
Jade flipped back to the page with mechanical precision, her thumb pressing hard enough into the paper to crease it.
Tori edged backward, her calves bumping against the couch as Jade paced slowly in circles, her eyes scanning the lyrics with a focus that felt surgical. The silence stretched, thick enough to choke on. Tori braced herself for the explosion, the notebook hurled against the wall, maybe even a well aimed throw pillow to the face.
But Jade just...stopped. Her fingers tightened around the edges of the notebook, she closed it with deliberate slowness.
The soft thump of it landing on the couch cushion sounded absurdly loud in the quiet.
Then Jade turned her head, just enough to skewer Tori with a look that wasn’t anger, wasn’t fury, just something unreadable and unnervingly still. Her eyes tracked Tori up and down.
Without a word, Jade scooped up her jacket, slung her bag over one shoulder, and walked out. The front door clicked shut behind her with a finality that made Tori’s knees buckle.
She exhaled, a shuddering breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding, and slumped onto the couch. Her fingers reached toward Andre’s notebook, but stopped midway.
"Andre is gonna kill me... if Jade doesn't kill him first" Tori muttered, pressing her palms into her eye sockets until stars burst behind her lids.
The notebook lay abandoned on the couch beside her.
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To Be Continued...