Family Portrait

2

Jade and Cat made their way into Hollywood Arts with Cat basically bouncing and Jade dragging her feet as usual.

Jade watched Cat as she went on about a movie she saw about animals with human lives while playing with the ends of her hair.

Jade found herself tuning the girl out as they walked to Jade's locker.

Sure she could have a brighter side but she couldn't lie and say that what Cat spent a lot of time talking about interested her.

She listened because Cat was happy to talk about these things and her happiness mattered most.

"And then my brother threw it out the window" Cat finished her story with a frown.

Jade was about to question what she had just heard but was stopped when the others came over and greeted them.

"Cat I texted you last night about our project. Didn't you get it?" Tori asked the red head who instantly went quiet while she thought.

"My phone died sorry. What about the project?" Cat and Tori fell into easy conversation about what had to be done and Jade watched Cat be her energetic self.

Frowning slightly, Jade went into her locker, smiling when she felt arms wrap around her waist.

"Good morning" Beck said in the girls ear before pulling her into a kiss when she turned to face him.

"Good morning" Jade greeted her boyfriend back with a smile.

"How was your night?" Beck asked as he had been busy with a family event and didn't have the time to text the girl.

"It was okay" Jade shrugged quickly glancing at Cat who was now talking to Robbie.

Beck noticed the quick glance and followed Jade's eyes to Cat before looking back the girl in his arms.

"Did something happen with Cat?" he asked slightly concerned. There was rarely a time Jade and Cat would hang out and Jade would say the time they spent together was anything less than good. Okay did not equal good in his opinion.

"No" Jade shook her head.

"We just talked about some girl stuff" Jade would be lying if she said she didn't feel a little bad about lying to Beck but she had a promise to uphold.

-

"Cat maybe you should talk to someone. I know it was by accident but I'm worried" 12 year old Jade said to the brunette who was sitting criss-cross applesauce on her best friends bed, playing with the multi colored beads on her bracelet.

Around 8 last night, Cat was waiting for her dad to pick her up from vocal lessons but he was running late.

Cat kept calling but it would go straight to voicemail and Cat wanted to say she wasn't worried but it was dark and she was alone waiting for someone who may not even be near by yet.

She could call her mom but that would only do so much good as the woman had began her 3 hour journey out of town for a business trip almost 2 hours ago.

Had he forgotten that he was picking her up? Did something bad happen? Cat sniffled as she wiped her eyes before the tears could fall.

She was determined not to cry over something as stupid as being alone at night.

Knowing calling her brother would do no good as the boy was away on a trip with a friend, Cat stood from the bench she had been waiting on and began the 20 minute walk home in the rain.

Well what she assumed would be around 20 minutes. The drive was 10 so she just doubled it and began heading down the dimly lit street.

After walking for 10 minutes Cat began to get confused as to which way to go. There wasn't much around her except a few roads and trees.

But she wasn't going to call her mom. That'd give the woman another reason to argue with her father over her again.

Eventually, Cat began to see familiar things like the playground and was able to actually make her way home after walking for almost 40 minutes in the darkness.

As Cat locked the front door and turned to go up the stairs, she saw her unconscious dad sprawled across the couch with the most likely empty bottle of alcohol on the floor beside him.

Sighing, Cat hurried upstairs, throwing herself on to her bed and immediately letting the tears fall until she fell asleep.

"I'm fine Jade. I promise. It was just a mistake" Cat said quietly.

"A mistake that could've gone really bad. Maybe we should tell my m-

"No!" Cat cut Jade off, now looking directly at the girl.

"It was just a mistake and if you tell anyone then that means my family falling apart will be your fault too! My dad will be alone if we have to leave and I'm not leaving him. Promise me you won't ever tell anyone" Cat glared a Jade who was shocked at Cat's reaction. Out of their 2 years of friendship, Jade had never seen Cat become so defensive and angry.

"But my mom could-" Jade tried to convince Cat that informing an adult may help but Cat wasn't letting her get her words out.

"If you tell someone I'm never talking to you again" when Cat threatened to end their friendship, Jade knew she couldn't let that happen.

"I promise"

-

Soon the bell rang, signaling it was time to head to the first class.

"See you guys at lunch" Beck said as he put his arm over Jade's shoulder and the group of friends began heading in different directions to their designated classes.

Beck and Jade headed to their English class and soon lunch time rolled around.

Beck and Jade carried their lunch to their usual table where Tori, Robbie, and Andre were already sitting.

"Hey" Beck greeted the group as he and Jade sat beside one another.

"Where's Cat?" Jade asked as she noticed the red heads absence.

"She went home. Something about having to help her family with something" Robbie informed Jade.

Jade didn't show it but she instantly became nervous.

Taking out her phone, she quickly texted the girl.

Hey is everything ok?

5 minutes passed. Then 10. Then 15.

No response.

"I'll be right back" Jade said mainly to Beck before getting up from the table and going into the empty hallway of the school to call Cat.

Cat picked up almost instantly.

"Hello?"

"Cat what happened? Are you okay?" Jade asked, her voice filled with concern.

"I'm fine. I just had to help my mom run some errands"

Jade wanted to believe Cat but she found it hard to do so when she knew that if something was wrong, Cat was going to bottle it up and hide behind a mask.

"Are you sure?" Jade asked.

"Yeah. I'll talk to you later okay" and with that, Cat hung up and Jade went back to lunch, feeling some relief but not as much as she had been hoping to receive.

Cat didn't mention to Jade that by errands she meant doing a favor for her mother which led to Cat laying under her bed for comfort. A place of comfort that she discovered when everything began and she refused to give it up. It was all she had when she couldn't go to Jade's house.

"Is everything okay?" Beck asked, wrapping his arm around Jade's shoulders as she sat beside him.

"Yeah" Jade responded as she watched the group talk. She had ever intention on going to Cat's house after school.