Second Guesses, Second Chances

Chapter 4

Tori

I wake up to a sleeping Jade beside me, the sunlight through my bedroom window shining down on her thick, raven-black hair. The steady rise and fall of her chest tells me that she's still fast asleep. I get up and grab some clothes before heading to the bathroom for a quick shower. Once I'm all clean and dressed up, I go back to my room to check up on Jade. I quietly knock on the door just in case she's getting changed, but there's no answer. I slowly open the door to find Jade still snoozing.

"Jade?" I whisper, gently tapping her shoulder. Almost immediately, Jade lets out a primal scream as her eyes snap open, and I find myself being pummeled with my own pillow. She knocks me to the floor as she continues assaulting me, screaming every curse word she can think of. If I didn't know any better, I'd think she was going to kill me on the spot.

"Jade! JADE!" I yell back "STOP!" It takes me a few tries, but I eventually manage to calm the frenzied goth down. With heavy breaths, she tosses the pillow back onto my bed.

"What the fuck,Vega?!" she snaps. "Don't you know better than to wake me up when I'm sleeping?!"

"Wha- No, I didn't, and that's no way to treat someone who's let you stay the night!" I protest as I fix my hair. Jade takes a deep breath and closes her eyes.

"I'm... sorry," she says. "I really don't like it when people wake me up before I'm ready to do so."

"Clearly..." I mutter under my breath. I quickly compose myself and put on a smile.

"So, Jade, would you like anything for breakfast?" I ask, feeling a little hungry myself.

"No thanks. I'll just grab some Jet Brew on the way to school," she says. She picks up her clothes up off the floor and goes to the bathroom to take a shower while I go downstairs to have breakfast. As soon as I reach the kitchen, I'm greeted with the sound of Trina, still in her pajamas, belting out what I think is supposed to be a high note (?) into her phone. I cover my ears slightly as I move past her to get to the fridge.

"Trina, what are you doing?" I ask, mildly annoyed by her screeching.

"I got a new vocal training app," she says. "I'm supposed to do a series of 15 different exercises throughout the day." She promptly continues screaming into her phone a few more times before logging her progress into the app.

"Aaaaand... done! 1 down, 14 more to go!" She says, a look of pride on her face. "Y'know Tori, you should give this app a try! I think it would really help you out!" Even though her exercise is complete, she keeps trying to belt out "high notes" as she goes upstairs to shower and get changed for the day. I simply roll my eyes and ignore her, opening the fridge and getting myself a glass of orange juice. I make myself some toast and sit down at the kitchen table, checking my phone to see what's new on The Slap. There's a recap of Cat's stream-of-consciousness livestream from last night, Andre's uploaded a snippet of a new song he's been working on, and Robbie's posted a few photos of him in his new makeup. But what catches my eye is Beck's relationship status; He's changed it to single. I stare at his latest post, my heart racing in anticipation. I shouldn't be thinking like this, but part of me is secretly thrilled that he's single again.

Because that means I finally have a chance with him!

"Why are you looking at Beck's status?" I hear Jade bark as she looks over my shoulder. I immediately jump out of my seat in shock, wondering when she came down the stairs. I quickly turn around to face her, a sudden wave of fear washing over me as I see just how wazzed off she is at me. The way she glares at me sends chills down my spine, those icy green eyes once again staring deep into my soul. She raises an eyebrow, expecting an answer. A small part of me wants to stand up and tell her that she has no right to be jealous about Beck since they're not dating anymore, but I enjoy being alive. Besides, right now, she's hurting, and being spiteful isn't going to help her feel any better.