|Tori|
The week passes by in segments of class, lunch, class, detention. And, of course, constantly Jade. My mom questions me more than once, suspecting that I actually am in trouble and I'm staying after to deal with some bad deed I never told her about. I assure her as best as I can, though she still doesn't understand why I'm sacrificing my free time for a friend.
I don't really understand it, either. Not when I think back to a few weeks ago. Jade still hated me then. She ignored me and insulted me and treated me like she did most everyone who wasn't Beck - like she absolutely could not stand being anywhere near me. At the time I just kind of took it as it was, convinced I couldn't change it, never thinking for a moment that Jade of all people would ever want to be my friend.
But she does, and that thought by itself makes me happier than I would have ever thought. I mean, I've always liked having friends, and while I've been selective with those who I keep close, I give the benefit of the doubt more often than not. I trust Jade, which is something I would have never said even a week ago. Without really thinking about it, I let her rely on me and in return, I gained a friendship I would have never thought possible.
I'm sure they could probably make an after school special about us if they really wanted to.
Friday is the last of her detention sentence. I'm on my way there, bowed over my phone, when someone bumps into me. I glance up, ready to apologize, only to find Beck's angry gaze glaring me down. I stop, frozen, trying to form words but my mouth only flops uselessly on my face.
His face is stern, black hair yanked back in a ponytail. He straightens, gaze flicking across my face before he speaks.
"She won't even look at me anymore," he says, and I can see his jaw grinding. "Since when are you two so close?"
It's so unprecedented that I don't how to react for several moments, just staring at him. I've never really seen Beck mad before, even when I confronted him on Monday. He at least had a degree of coolness to his words. But this is like a sword without a sheath aimed straight at my face. I swallow, trying to regain myself before I speak. "When you dumped her for not being good enough. Which she is, by the way."
He falters. His mean front shatters and breaks at his feet when he looks down at them. Beck isn't a naturally hostile person. I bet he was trying to act like Jade, who is always mad at something, but he can't master it like she can. "She won't answer my texts, my calls, my messages online. I try to talk to her in school and she just brushes me off."
I raise my eyebrows. "What do you expect her to do? Hold your hands in the hallway? You broke up with her, Beck."
Beck's face flinches. "I know," he says, but he doesn't sound all too happy about it. "But I didn't think she'd write me out of her life."
I frown, pushing my phone into my pocket. I don't know what I'm supposed to do here. Beck and I have always been friends, but since he broke up with Jade, I haven't hung out with him at all, really. Actually, most of my free time has been with Jade. I'm with her between classes, at lunch, during detention. Sometimes we get coffee afterward. Cat and Andre are usually present (Robbie's stuck around Beck for the most part) but I'm almost always taking with Jade. I didn't think about it much until now. I like talking to her, so I do. A lot. She called me last night, even, and we stayed up until eleven reading each other terrible knock-knock jokes we found on the internet.
I shake my head slightly, clearing my thoughts. "Look, you really hurt her. I don't think you understand how much."
Beck shifts his backpack on his shoulder. He doesn't look at me for a while, still studying his shoes in silence. Finally, he lifts his gaze. "She'll do it to you, too. Eventually. Block you out, I mean."
