Lullabies (Victorious) (Cade)

Reality

Jade woke up first that morning. Her eyes still closed, she moved to stretch her shoulders and arms, stopping short as she jostled the sleeping form beside her. Cat stirred slightly, making a small noise like that of a disturbed animal.

Jade froze, holding her breath and waiting for Cat to settle again. Mercifully, she didn't wake. Jade slowly opened her eyes, gazing down at her sleeping girlfriend whose arms were wrapped lazily around Jade's torso. One hand rested on the small of her back whilst the other rested at the base of her skull, fingers curling lightly into the dark hair cascading down.

Jade watched the steady rise and fall of Cat's chest for a while, the rhythm of her breathing and serenity of her expression filling Jade with a feeling of security and contentment the likes of which she had rarely known.

She leaned forward, pressing a kiss on Cat's forehead. At this, Cat's eyes fluttered open and she scrunched up her nose, blinking away sleep.

"Oh, hi." Jade said with a smile as Cat shifted forward, pressing herself into Jade and nipping lightly at her ear.

"What time is it?" Cat asked, still idly playing with Jade's hair. Jade craned her neck, angling to see the clock on the wall.

"Ten-thirty-ish." Jade replied, running her hands across the skin of Cat's sides.

"I probably can't stick around too long today." She continued with a sigh. Cat leaned back to meet Jade's gaze, raising an eyebrow.

"I need to call a locksmith. I'll probably need to wait around and then pay for some dude to break into my car." Jade rolled her eyes at the concept but Cat just nodded.

"I have errands to run with my mom. And I'm going to the mall with Tori tomorrow. You could come with?"

Jade grimaced. "I'm good. I'll see you on monday."

The girls spent a little more time chatting about their weekends and cuddling before finally getting ready and begrudgingly saying their goodbyes.

----------------------------------------------------

"Go away, Sinjin." Jade sighed, heading for her locker with a coffee cup in hand, the curly haired boy following behind her.

"But..." he argued, unable to finish his sentence as Jade whirled around suddenly to glare at him. He silently closed his mouth and sheepishly backed away.

Satisfied, Jade continued on to her locker. As she shuffled books around she could hear hushed whispers coming from behind her. She looked up to find lots of different groups of eyes on her, some shooting her a disgusted look when they realised she was watching, others casting their gaze downwards nervously. Trying not to think too much of it, she pulled out her phone.

After retrieving her phone from her car on Saturday, she and Cat had been texting like they always do. However, the following day Cat stopped replying at around 2pm, suddenly popping up again at 10pm, acting strange but with no explanation for her silence. Jade wasn't normally bothered when Cat spent time with her friends and didn't reply consistently.

But something about the timing was odd.

Just then Tori approached nervously. A wry, forced smile barely finding it's way onto her face.

"Hi, Jade." Jade narrowed her eyes.
"There's something we need to talk about. I wanted to warn you so you don't freak out when..."

"Tori." A voice came from behind Tori, cutting her off. Cat's voice. As Jade's eyes found Cat's, her hands dropped uselessly to her sides, her coffee cup clattering onto the ground and its contents spilling everywhere.

Jade's expression twisted into one of shock, anger, horror, disbelief. Each emotion fighting for control.

A sickly purplish bruise bloomed across Cat's left eye, reaching a little onto her nose and cheek too. The telltale red of broken blood vessels was obvious as well, looking at it made Jade's chest hurt. And yet she couldn't look away.

"What the hell happened?" Was all she could manage to croak out, tears threatening to form in her eyes.

"Excuse me, Jade." Another voice joined the conversation. It was Lane, who approached from behind Jade.

"Could you come with me please? Alone?" Jade opened her mouth to argue.

"Now." He said sternly, leading her toward his office before anyone else could say anything.

As they walked, Jade could see passersby shaking their head at her. She couldn't hear them though. All she could hear was her blood rushing in her ears. Even as she sat down in Lane's office, she could hear him say something, but couldn't make out his words. Nor did she care to.

"Jade!" She startled, looking up as his words finally broke through.

"Good, you're listening. So as I understand it, you and Cat have been... seeing each other. Is that correct?" He asked calmly.

Confused, Jade nodded slowly, her jaw tight.

"Okay. Then, if you don't mind. Would you please explain to me why Cat has come to school with a black eye this morning?"

Jade's entire body tensed up, an awful chill washing over her as the realisation hit her of what he was really asking. She stared him down in complete shock.

"You... you think I did that?"