Jade & Trina's Very Strange Christmas

A Very Strange Request

Few things infuriated Jade like Beck. She had known that for a long time. It was probably part of his charm, to get her to feel something so intense, even if it was usually anger.

The problem was that Beck didn't always take it well when the anger was directed at him. And probably with good reason, but damned if Jade would ever admit that. She'd let the ship sink before admitting she's the one who punched the hole through the wall. Or hull. Or whatever.

What a stupid analogy. She blamed that on Beck, too.

Never mind the fact that Jade already wasn't a fan of Christmas. It was a day observed by goody-goody families and religious people, or by entitled little shits who wanted presents. There was no in-between. And since Jade wasn't a fan of either extreme, Christmas had never meant much more to her than a week or two off from school and a chance to watch some festive horror movies.

But for Beck to break up with her, again, two days before Christmas just felt like a kick in the proverbial nuts. Sure, they'd been fighting a lot lately. The arguing had gone from thrilling to annoying and Jade was at the point where even seeing Beck with his stupidly perfect hair and big stupid doe-eyes made her more nauseous than excited. And even though he probably didn't think about the timing since Jade had never given two shits about Christmas, it still felt pointless and cruel on his part.

I hate feeling sorry for myself, Jade thought as she slammed the door to her car.

In the backseat was her cargo; a mystery box from her teacher, Erwin Sikowitz. He had approached Tori in the hallway after school to see if she'd be interested in delivering this package for him. Jade had overheard the conversation on her way out the door and rolled her eyes. Leave it to the goody-two-shoes Vega to help people out and expect nothing in return.

It was the next part that got Jade's attention, as Sikowitz waved a wad of rolled-up cash.

"I'll pay you five hundred dollars," he said. "It's very important this makes it to..."

Before Tori could respond, Jade plucked the money from Sikowitz's hand. "I'll get it there," she said.

"But I didn't say where it was."

"I don't care. I'll get it there."

Jade couldn't believe how perfect the timing was, and...

...and she realized too late that the wad of money was completely fake; stage money from the prop department. She waved it at Sikowitz, who smiled somewhat sheepishly.

"That's what happens when you crash a conversation," he said. " That needs to go back to the prop room, I was using it in my last class."

"Besides, he was asking for my help," Tori said. God help her, she actually seemed indignant that Jade was poaching her chance to be a Good Samaritan. How adorable. How very Vega .

Jade turned to Tori, a devious notion already forming. "Look, I didn't want to say anything, but...my dad lost his job and we can't even afford Christmas dinner right now," she said, managing to squeeze out a few tears that were just subtle enough to seem real. "If you let me do this, I'll owe you one."

Jade kept her facade up in the face of Tori's intense scrutiny. Her game was strong. Vega searched for any signs of deceit and must not have found any. Her irritation turned into a soft smile.

"Okay, fine," she said. "You need it more than me. Go ahead."

Tori departed and Jade couldn't help but wonder at how easy that had been. Almost too easy.