Tori stops, the football player from an unnamed school already walking away. she stands still, lips parted, looking into jade's green, swamp eyes. there's a spark. it had ignited when the jock pushed passed tori, hitting her shoulder. jade stomps up to the boy, the sound of her combat boots hitting the linoleum ringing in the air of the hallway. a slender hand is on a shoulder, and the teen turns around. he smirks when he sees jade, and glances at his friends, before addressing the girl before him with mock-seriousness.
"May i help you?"
A pale fist is pulled back, and connects with a strong jaw in seconds. the boy's friends are quiet, deadly quiet. as is tori, shocked as ever, standing in the sidelines. jade stands above the boy, looking down—words spilling out of her mouth like hot black tar, burning the "man" below her.
"Don't."
Who knew. who knew that one word had such an impact. jade looks up, glaring at the others. they hurriedly nod and leave, deserting their friend. jade nonchalantly pops a piece of gum in her mouth (blueberry, this time—) and walks over to a silent and shaking tori.
"I heard."
Jade takes a quick glance at tori's still-flat stomach, before looking up, said girl's hands covering her mouth. jade sighs, whispering again, though awkwardly, this time.
"It's cool, don't—don't worry. i'll help."
Jade coughs. tori sighs, saying:
"Do you know who—"
"Yeah."
Tori bites her lip again and nods, hands daring to flutter to her stomach. she makes patterns with her fingers, simple lines and intricate swirls. she blinks, and jade notices her pretty eyelashes are long.
"Thanks."
Jade nods, her gum now foul-tasting. she turns on her heel and stalks off—before letting the knife get pushed in that one organ that pumps blood any deeper. jade spits out her gum at the first trash can she sees, and feels the cut grow and weapon get comfortable.
Fuck, she thinks.
and "fuck" is right.
;;
It's october twenty-third, two-thousand-eleven, two-twenty pm, and junior year when beck oliver gets arrested with first-degree rape.
Tori's hands encircle her small, only visible if you knew it was there, baby bump—tears cloud her vision, and she feels like she's going to be sick.
(It's not the morning.)
She feels like this when she must retell the night it happened. again and again and again. she stares into beck's once-trusting eyes, and wonders what had happened, or maybe if he's just always been this way. jade stands outside the door of the courtroom, hand clutching a sort-of-warm decaf coffee with two splenda's and hazelnut cream. with every sob she hears from tori it's almost as if her heart is a violin, musician painfully plucking some strings.
She growls at beck's name, at his lawyer's voice. she hates him, she really fucking does. he gets two years in juvy, and then twenty in prison—once he turns eighteen. child support is demanded, along with a hefty fine. jade thinks anything less than a death penalty isn't fair.
