Tightrope

Chapter Three

The minuscule amount of light from the streetlight outside her apartment was invading Tori's bedroom through the sole window across from her bed. It illuminated her dresser, the back of her closet door, and the end of her mattress, fading out just above her bent knees. With her legs pulled up to her chest and the only sound in the entire apartment that of her heavy breathing, Tori glanced at her relatively useless alarm clock – she still kept the one she'd had as a child on the small table neighboring her bed, though she used the alarm clock on her phone in favor of the actual physical one, and barely even used it for its mediocre time-telling capabilities. She kept it merely for sentimental reasons, and because it just seemed like the right thing to put next to her bed.

It was 4:09 AM. She was supposed to wake up in only two hours, but she'd hardly even fallen asleep, after what felt like hours of tossing and turning and thinking, only for a bizarre, paranoid nightmare to abruptly wake her up.

The dream was still there, floating in her head in detail. Although she didn't want to, she could still picture it, like a movie playing on the backs of her eyelids. In this dream, she'd woken up at a normal time on a normal day, only to leave her bedroom and walk into a kitchen occupied by Jade, wearing nothing but the most atrocious hot pink "kiss the cook" apron, which she would never ever be caught dead in if this were the real world. The weirdest part of the dream, however, was that this didn't seem the slightest bit weird. She was just aware of the normality of the whole thing, as if Jade spent all of her time naked in Tori's kitchen, making breakfast food. It was weird, but Tori's dream self didn't think so. Completely unaffected by the strange circumstances, Tori had crossed her tiny living room and entered the kitchen, finally speaking when she asked,

"What's for breakfast?"

"I'm attempting to make omelets. I know how much you love them, but you know how bad of a cook I am." Jade said with a laugh, in a 1960's TV housewife voice that sounded nothing like her. As far as Tori knew, Jade was actually a decent cook, which was another strange detail that only seemed odd when she looked back on her nightmare.

"Well hurry up, I'm starved." Tori had responded, only to get a look in return that was very un-Jade. Her smile was so wide that the more clothed of the two could almost feel the corners of her mouth ache, as if it were her face stretching into the painful shape of that massive grin. Jade was looking straight into Tori's eyes in a loving way that she had never seen on the girl's face before, even when Beck was still in the picture.

"Oh, relax, will you? These things can't be rushed." And with that, she reached behind her neck, dramatically untying the string that held the apron up and letting it slip to the ground, just as the dream came to a crashing halt and Tori was jolted from her sleep.

The dream could easily be explained, but that didn't slow her heart rate. Of course she was dreaming about Jade – in just over twenty-four hours, she had to pretend she was in love with the girl, and she'd been stressing over it non-stop since she'd made the decision of who to ask. Tori knew she'd be able to do it. She'd polished her acting skills enough during her time at Hollywood Arts, and she certainly didn't have to worry about Jade – the girl could manipulate anybody into believing anything if she truly wanted to. She was no Meryl Streep, but she was now quite honestly the best actress that Tori knew personally.

It wasn't a matter of pulling it off, because they could do that. The only thing Tori was having trouble with was justifying telling a lie in order to keep a record contract. She wanted it so badly, but her conscience kept poking her with a stick, reminding her that it was wrong, and she was giving up her dignity for a job. The thing was, there was always the possibility that Tori wouldn't get the same opportunity again, and she'd already put so much effort into her first album that backing out over something as silly as her sexuality seemed stupid. It didn't matter that she was talented. That wasn't even what got her signed, apparently. The sad fact of the matter was that the music industry had morphed into something that was more about image than actual talent. That was the root of Tori's problem, and the reason that she needed Jade. That's why the media was swarming with pop stars who didn't know a crescendo from a hole in the ground, and people like Andre, who had so much talent to offer the world, were still being kept from the recognition they so strongly deserved.