Of Scissors And Scooby Doo

Chapter 2

As soon as I walked through the door my eyes fell on Trina, sitting at the kitchen table with a huge bowl of... something green in front of her. When I let the door fall into the lock behind me she lazily turned to look at me. I wasn't really surprised when I saw the right side of her face completely coated in the green stuff. "Oh, there you are. How did you get home?"

I had texted Trina and told her not to wait for me because I had wanted to talk to Jade again, like, really talk to her this time. But as I walked into the parking lot I only got a glimpse of Jade's back as she got into her car. I had called out to her but either she didn't hear me or she ignored me. I'd say it was the latter. "Why didn't you tell me that Jade goes to Hollywood Arts?"

Trina's eyebrows furrowed. "Who?"

"Jade!" She still looked clueless. I sighed and rolled my eyes, stepping up to the table. "Remember? Jade West!"

"Oh," she dragged out, nodding her head in realization, before she looked back at me, still confused. "She goes to Hollywood Arts?"

"Yes!"

"Huh." She looked at me for a moment longer before she shrugged and turned back to her beauty stuff. "I never knew that. Thought she lived in San Francisco."

"Yeah, well... She doesn't! She wouldn't be attending Hollywood Arts if she still lived there, would she?"

Trina looked at me weirdly. I knew I was probably overreacting. It wasn't Trina's fault that Jade was so freaking distant. But how could she not know that she and Jade were attending the same school? She must have seen her in the hall or something, right? I mean... this new Jade really wasn't that hard to miss. Trina's voice pulled me out of my thoughts. "Well, since when is she back in L.A.?"

I let my eyes fall shut in an almost painful manner. "I don't know. She wouldn't talk to me."

I hear Trina shift before I feel her grab my upper arms. My eyes open again and I let her guide me onto the chair opposite from hers. She sat back down and looked at me sympathetically. I might have laughed at the sight of her half green face if Jade wouldn't have been the only thing I could think about. "Why is that? You two were so close."

"I know." My eyes ran over the texture of the table as my voice grew quiet. "I was so-" Surprised. Ecstatic. Overwhelmed. "-happy when I realized that it was Jade standing in front of me. But she didn't even care."

"Maybe she just didn't recognize you."

"She did," I mumbled, picking at my nails, "She said she knows who I am but that it doesn't make a difference. She doesn't want me to make a big deal out of it."

"Oh. That's... not nice."

I hadn't been so naïve to think that my first day at a new school (especially at a school like Hollywood Arts) would be a walk in the park. But I also hadn't expected to run into Jade West. And even if I had expected that... in my mind our reunion went off way more... happy, I guess. In my mind Jade would be happy to see me. We would pick up where we left off and... no. Tori, just stop. Jade wasn't happy to see me. For whatever reason.

I suddenly felt all the disappointment and sadness the day had brought foaming up to form one huge ball located in the middle of my throat. Without another word I stood up, not acknowledging Trina's questioning voice as I walked or rather dragged myself up the stairs. Maybe I was just too sensitive. Maybe I shouldn't let Jade get to me so much. But how could I do that? If anyone knows how to turn off emotions: here was someone that really, desperately needed it. As I lied in my bed, arm thrown over my eyes (God, I was so dramatic. You're not dying, Tori. Get a grip!), I wondered what had happened with Jade over the last four years to make her act so indifferent toward me.