Second Guesses, Second Chances

Chapter 15

Tori

The next 24 hours are a blur, between homework, projects, and classes themselves, and I suddenly find myself back in my room, getting ready for my fake date with Jade. It's nearly supper time, and the goth will be here any minute to pick me up. I dig through my closet for something decent to wear, becoming increasingly desperate as the minutes pass by. Eventually, I find something decent to put on, and rush to the bathroom to do my makeup.

"Tori!" I hear my sister yelling from down the hall. "The Wicked Witch of the West is here!" I chuckle a little at Trina's nickname for Jade before telling her that I'll be downstairs in a minute. I finish my makeup in record time before heading downstairs to greet my "date". My breath catches a little when I see her as I make my way down the stairs. She's sporting her usual black shirt and short, pleated skirt, and her black combat boots and choker are nothing new, but what catches my attention is the dark red button-up she's wearing over everything else. It's not as bright as the costume for our play, but seeing her willingly wearing colours in the wild is completely unheard of, and it makes me feel special to see her like this.

"Took you long enough," Jade says flatly, pretending to inspect her nails.

"Jade, you look..." I start, gulping hard as I hesitantly try to gauge how she feels about being complimented for wearing anything other than black. "...You look lovely." I stop dead in my tracks like a deer caught in the headlights as her head snaps up, her brows furrowed slightly. Although she's frowning at me, her eyes look more confused than insulted, as if she's asking me if I really mean it.

"It's nice to see you wearing colours," I add, hoping it'll convince her that I do. Her expression softens a little before she looks back down at her nails.

"You're not too shabby-looking either, Vega," She says, quietly. I feel my face warm up a little upon hearing her say something nice to me. "So, are you ready to go?"

"Yep! Lemme just get my shoes on..." I say, as I grab my beige, thigh-high boots. I say goodbye to Trina and tell her that I won't be needing a ride home after the musical before following Jade out to her car.

"Wicked Witch of the West?!" Jade says as we get into her car. "What gave your sister the impression that she had the right to call me that?" I try to stifle my grin as I put on my seatbelt.

"You gotta admit, it's pretty good," I say. Jade rolls her eyes without a word as she starts the car.

"Do you have the tickets?" I ask.

"Yup," The goth says, as she reaches into her glovebox to pull out the 2 slips of paper we bought yesterday and hands them to me. We head out to the theater next to Hollywood Arts and arrive just in time before the musical starts. The theater lights dim as we reach our seats, and we sit down as the show begins. As each character is introduced to the audience, I notice one girl in particular, Lucy, who bears an uncanny resemblance to Jade, except her hair is brown, not black. I quickly glance over at the goth next to me, a slightly confused look on her face as she sees the same thing I do. The musical ends, and the theatre erupts with applause, the audience more than satisfied with the show.

"That was fun!" I exclaim as we make our way back to Jade's car. "I know neither of us knew what we were getting into when you told Sikowitz about this musical, but I actually had a really good time."

"I gotta admit, so did I," Jade replies with a stifled grin. "I'm glad we didn't waste our money." We finally reach the car and get inside. "It's only about 8:30 now, do you wanna come over for a bit?" I perk up a little at her question and nod, excited to be formally invited to her house for once. I know I've been to her place before, but I showed up unannounced and uninvited just to apologize to her, so I don't really count that as a 'visit' per se. As we pull up to her driveway, I notice that most of the lights in the house are turned off, save for one on the bottom floor.