One More Chance With Time

9.

Jade West was in a pretty foul mood as she opened the door to her car and slid into the driver's seat. It was almost time for school to start over at Hollywood arts and she was already running late since her alarm clock hadn't gone off for some reason. She muttered under her breath as she turned the keys and the car started up. She had just reached the edge of the driveway when she saw a quick series of movements behind her, before she knew what had happened there was a hand covering her mouth.

"Don't scream." A very familiar voice whispered in her ear. "Before I take my hand off your mouth you need to promise me you won't scream and give me a chance to explain myself. Understand?"

Jade nodded although at that moment she was wondering who would be stupid enough to screw with her like this. Whoever it was was going to regret it. Whoever it was removed their hand and Jade whirled around and prepared to knock out whoever it was. The urge to knock whoever it was out vanished almost immediately as she got a look at the figure and her eyes widened in shock.

"Like looking into a mirror isn't it?" The elder Jade asked with a smirk. "Listen, you need to get to Tori's house as fast as you can."

"Why would I go to Vega's house?" The younger Jade asked carefully, she was still slightly in shock at seeing what looked like a slightly older version of herself. "She's probably already at school."

"No. She isn't." The older Jade said quietly. "Listen to me very carefully, Today is the day she dies. Ryder attacks her after Trina leaves her alone at the house. He leaves her broken and beaten...he does horrible things to her and leaves her alone to die."

Jade shook her head. "Somehow I doubt that. Ryder may be an idiot but even he wouldn't try something that could get him in that much trouble. Nice try...whoever you are."

Jade suddenly found herself with her head pressed against the steering wheel as her older-self locked her arm behind her back and pressed forward as she spoke in the soft and dangerous tone of voice that only those who had really made her angry experienced. Jade had to admit, it sounded identical to her own voice when she used that tone. "Listen to me. She dies today. You see her laying on the ground with a piece of glass sticking out of her chest. You listen to her last words and they shatter your heart into a million pieces. Can you guess what her last words are?"

Jade shook her head as best she could with her head pressed against the steering wheel.

"She said she always thought I was really pretty." The older Jade said softly as she let up her grip on the steering wheel and allowed Jade to sit back up. "And if you need more proof, I can tell you why you broke up with Beck."

The younger Jade narrowed her eyes and stared at her older-self.

"You broke up with Beck because it didn't feel right. It never felt right didn't it? Every date...every kiss...none of it felt right. And I can tell you why it never felt right."

The older Jade leaned forward until she was nose to nose with her younger-self. "Because you...I mean we don't like guys. It took me a long time to accept the fact that I liked girls but once I did I felt a little bit better and after that I felt horrible. Not because I was ashamed of what I was, but because I was so cruel to the person that always liked me no matter how mean I was to her."

The younger Jade listened and thought for a brief moment on what she had heard. This woman who resembled her so closely and knew so much about her and the feelings that had resulted in Jade ending her relationship with Beck wasn't wrong. She was dead on right about why she had ended the relationship.

"How could you know all this?" She asked hoarsely even though she had a good idea of what was going on. The elder Jade looked down at her. "A year's time after Tori's death, everything in your life and the lives of your friends has pretty gone downhill. You leave home and have given up on your dreams, Cat is with someone who beats her all the time because she doesn't know how to end the relationship. Robbie is stuck in a deep depression that he can't get out of and Andre has pretty much given up on music altogether."

"What about Beck?"

The older Jade closed her eyes for a moment, what she was trying to say was difficult to say. "Beck...Beck tried to keep us all together. He did his best to try and help us cope with Tori's death but we eventually all fell apart in some way or another. He tried to help me come to terms with my feelings after Tori's death but I pushed him and the others away. He's still trying to help everyone but he has his own problems that he's not dealing with and those problems are taking a heavy toll on him."

The younger Jade looked down for a moment as she tried to wrap her mind around what had apparently happened in the future. "How did you get back here?" She asked quietly. "I don't understand how you could have come back here."

The older Jade simply looked up. "I honestly don't know. I guess the best thing to call it was divine intervention. I was sitting next to Tori's grave...I had a knife pressed to my wrist and I was ready to end it. I just couldn't deal with the pain and the guilt anymore when a figure dressed in white tried to talk me out of it, It almost worked but I was determined to end it. Whoever or whatever it was touched me on the top of the head and there was a bright flash of light and I ended up a few blocks away from our house a few hours ago. I hid in your car and waited for you and here we are."

"I was given a chance to try and save her, to change the future to make everything better." The older Jade said softly. "We can save her. We can change the future and give everyone a brighter future, We can do something for the girl who was always kind to us no matter how badly we treated her. We owe her this!"

Jade looked down at the steering wheel and thought to herself for a brief moment. She looked back at her older-self and let a smirk that was tinged with worry appear on her face. "Anything else I should know before we get going?" She asked.

"Just be careful." The older Jade said quietly. "I don't want to see Tori hurt. At all. I already saw her die once and it nearly killed me. I honestly think if I see it again it will actually kill me. We have to save her, at all costs."

Jade grinned and pulled out of the driveway and sped towards Tori Vega's home as fast as she could. The older Jade was gripping the seat tightly as she prayed to whoever was listening that they weren't going to be too late.

Finally, they arrived in the driveway and both Jades looked at the door in horror as they saw it was wide open. The younger Jade opened the door and ran towards the open door and saw Ryder had Tori backed back into a corner with a sharp piece of glass in her hands.

"GET AWAY FROM HER!" The younger Jade screamed as she launched herself at Ryder.