Beyond Blue Eyes

03: Tori

At school on Monday morning, while I'm getting some stuff from my locker, I chance a quick look over at Jade's locker. She's looking over at me and blushing, and when she sees me looking at her, she quickly hides her face behind the door. I smile and giggle at her sudden shyness, finding it cute. I glance back at her locker and find her still standing there, but now she seems to be working on something. I shrug and head to Sikowitz's class, playfully toying with her hair as I pass her.

"Now, seeing as the holidays are right around the metaphorical corner, I thought that we could play a little game. Here's how it's going to go: you will walk around the room as aimlessly as you like, and when you encounter a fellow student, you must ask them if there is anything that they would like you to do. No matter what that person says they want you to do, no matter how sarcastic or disinterested they seem, you must do what they ask, but it is up to you as to how you do the task. The game begins... now!" Sikowitz says at the beginning of class, and everyone gets up and starts walking around the room. I soon get distracted by Jade, who's wandering around like a chicken with its head cut off, and I accidentally walk right into André. "Oh, hey André. I didn't see you there. Is there anything you want me to do?" I ask him, and he pauses to think for a moment. "Well, I've been wanting to wash my eyebrows for a bit now, but it doesn't matter how I do it, they always end up worse than when I started," he says. "Okay, I'll wash your eyebrows for you, André," I tell him. I get a washcloth from my bag, then run out to the drinking fountain to get it wet before running back to him. I use the washcloth to clean his eyebrows, and we go our separate ways once I'm done.

The next person that I run into is Robbie and Rex, who both ask me to kiss them, so I reluctantly do so. Rex, in his typical fashion, turns it into a make-out session, then we move on. After them, Beck runs into me, which makes me feel a bit awkward because of the conversation we had on Friday. "Hey Beck," I say quietly. "Hey Tori. What've you got for me to do?" He asks me kindly. "Uh... maybe you could just give me a hug? I could really use one after everything that's happened lately," I say. "I get what you mean, and I'll do that for you," he says, pulling me into a warm hug. "Thank you, Beck. You're a great friend," I say with a smile. "Any time you need a hug, just feel free to ask," he says in response, and we part for the time being. I run into Cat next, and she pretty much takes up most of the remainder of class with her task. Just as I turn away from her, I nearly collide with Jade, who immediately tries to hide her face. "Which one of us ran into the other?" I ask her. "I was coming over to you when you were finishing up with whatever wacky thing Cat had you do, so I think you ran into me," she says softly. "Okay, so what do you want me to do?" I ask her politely, and she looks into my eyes. "I want you to kiss me," she says with all of the courage that she had been hiding so far. I don't know what else I can do, so I lean closer to her and kiss her lips softly. She grabs the back of my head and deepens the kiss, which causes me to let out a soft groan. All too soon, we separate, and neither of us can speak from the surprise of what just happened.

The rest of the day, Jade doesn't come anywhere near me on her own for some reason, but I try not to let it get to me. After school, while she's putting her stuff back in her locker, I walk over to her, planning to invite her to my house this afternoon to hang out. "Hey Jade. Can I talk to you?" I ask. "For a little bit, Vega," she says softly. "Um... okay. Do you wanna come over to my place and hang out this afternoon?" I ask her. She shrugs and says, "I suppose it wouldn't hurt. I'll just follow you home, how's that?" "Sounds like a plan to me," I reply, heading out to the parking lot with her right behind me.

"Ugh, Tori, what's Jade doing here?!" My older sister Trina whines when Jade and I walk into the house. "I invited her over to hang out, Trina," I reply, flopping onto the couch. "Whatever," Trina says, heading up to her room. Jade, meanwhile, joins me on the couch, apparently trying to appear as small as possible. "Jade, what's going on? You're really shy all of a sudden," I say, reaching out to take her hand in mine. "Don't touch me... please," she says, recoiling from my hand. "Jade, please talk to me. Tell me what's going on," I say. "I... I can't. For one, you won't believe me. For two, I'm not entirely sure that I believe it myself yet..." she says. I simply sit in silence after that, unsure what to make of Jade's suddenly uncharacteristic behavior. I decide to turn on the TV to keep myself occupied, since Jade hasn't made any more attempts to talk to me.

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So this is interesting. A shy and reclusive Jade? Not to mention that she seems to be trying to gain some confidence to tell Tori something. Is there more to Jade than she's let on for so long? You'll just have to read on and find out! Bye for now!