Tiny Dancer

1.16 Wok Star

"Did you find her?"

Jesse shakes his head at Beck's question while Tori, Andre, and Cat all turn to see who he's talking to.

"No," he sighs as he joins the group. "She's not in the Black Box or anywhere between there and here."

"You're looking for Jade too?" Andre asks.

Jesse frowns. "Yeah. She blew off her last two classes."

"And now she's nowhere to be found," Beck adds.

"She still mad?" Tori asks with a knowing look.

Beck nods. "Oh, yeah."

Cat gives them a curious look. "Why is Jade mad?"

"You know that play she wrote? Well Wishes?"

"Uh-huh."

"Well, she wanted to put it on here and the school won't let her," he explains.

"Why not?" Andre asks.

Jesse purses his lips and trades a look with Tori.

"The teachers think it's too weird and disturbing," she tells them.

Sinjin, walking by the group, decides to stop and add his two cents. "What's wrong with weird and disturbing?" he asks, a perfect example of both.

Jesse sighs as the others all give the boy odd looks. "Sinjin, no."

Tori glances down. "Um, your pants are unzipped."

Sinjin scoffs. "I know."

He walks off without another word and they all make a silent but unanimous decision to ignore what just happened. Before they can actually go back to their conversation, however, Robbie runs over. He's breathing hard and (for whatever reason) so is Rex.

"We found Jade," he manages through heavy breaths.

"Where?" Beck and Jesse ask in unison.

Rex pants. "Janitor's closet."

Jesse immediately grabs Beck's hand, linking their fingers as the two of them lead the way to the janitor's closet in question. When they get there, they find Jade sitting cross-legged on the floor and cutting up the remains of a large trash can with one of her larger pairs of scissors.

"Hey," Beck says slowly as he and Jesse step into the room. "Whatcha doing?"

"Cutting up a big trash can," she answers flatly.

Robbie peeks into the closet after them. "You cut up the janitor's entire trash can?" he asks hesitantly.

Jade gestures at the intact bin behind her. "He's got another one."

"That's... not really the point," Jesse tells her. He drops Beck's hand so he can crouch down beside her, easily balancing on his heels and putting one hand on her knee. "You okay, Jade?"

Jade pauses in her plastic mutilation to glance up at his soft eyes and sympathetic smile. Stubbornly fighting back a smile of her own, she shrugs and silently returns to cutting.

Jesse sighs and squeezes her leg softly. "I'm sorry they won't let you show your play."

"Yeah," Tori agrees as she steps into the closet. "Jade, listen, I read your play and I think it's really good."

"I'm not your friend," Jade immediately tells her.

"Well," Tori huffs with an offended look before Jade suddenly pauses in her cutting as Tori's words seem to register.