Disclaimer: I don't own victorious.

Chapter Four.

For the next few days Jade did everything she possibly could to express her disgust with Beck. At every available opportunity she made a sly dig about his turn to alcohol, his bad judgement and instead of standing up for himself, Beck just accepted it. Maybe it was because a part of him knew he deserved it or maybe it was just because he'd rather she insulted him than ignored him altogether. It was messed up.

But by the time it passed the one week mark and the sly digs were still being shot, Beck's patience began to wear thin. He'd sat through an entire lunch of her slamming down every single he said. He even held his tongue when she announced he had an alcohol problem to their entire drama class. But one last taunt pushed the tanned guy too far and he finally lost it.

"So who's coming to mine tonight? Cat?" Andre asked the gang as they all stood beside Tori's locker in the corridor at the end of school.

"I can't, I have a musical rehearsal." Cat replied apologetically.

"Me too." Robbie raised a hand.

"I would but I have to stay home and babysit Trina." Tori grumbled

"I thought she already had her wisdom teeth out?" Andre asked confused.

"Oh she does but she caught that stomach bug that's going round so my parents are forcing me to take care of her." Tori complained.

"Beck can't come because he'll be too busy intoxicated" Jade sniped before Beck even had the chance to respond to Andre's question. The whole group glanced at the tanned guy whose facial expression remained neutral on the surface. On the inside however his blood was boiling.

"He'll be spending his Friday night wasted, drowning out his 'oh-so' difficult life with booze." Jade stated matter-of-factly.

"I'll be there bro." Beck reassured Andre.

"He'll be there but will he be there?" Jade knew she was getting to him now but she just couldn't stop herself from making one last dig.

"Right that's it.. I can't take this anymore!" Beck exploded loudly, turning to face Jade.

"Well maybe you should have thought about that before you drank yourself stupid and willingly allowed our friend to rummage through my private belongings!" Jade shouted at an equally loud volume.

"I have apologised and apologised!" Beck cried exasperatedly.

"Mmm, no, not good enough." Jade replied.

"Nothing is good enough for you Jade is it? You don't know what it's like!" Beck yelled.

"Are you seriously saying that I don't know what alcohol does to people Beck?!" Jade widened her eyes in disbelief, "Don't you dare pretend you needed it or it "helped." You chose the one thing you knew would hurt me the most."

"I get it, I screwed up!" Beck yelled even louder than before, attracting the attention of several other students in the corridor. Until this point the rest of the gang had taken a step back and were just letting the confrontation happen but it was starting to get out of hand and they were reaching dangerous relationship territory.

"Guys I think you need to go somewhere priva-" Andre began calmly.

"Oh you've screwed up Beck, you have beyond screwed up!" Jade interrupted darkly.

"I KNOW ALRIGHT?" Beck shouted angrily. "Stop acting like you're all innocent! Like you've never tried it!" Beck shouted back. Jades heart froze as Beck's words got personal.

"Just stop shouting at me!" Jade yelled hypercritically.

"I would if I thought you'd listen but that's never happened before has it?!" The volume of Beck's voice remained high.

"I hate you." Jade narrowed her eyes and glared in her ex-boyfriend's direction.

"Actually you know what.. I hate you too! You don't know me? Fuck, who have you turned into Jade?" Beck glared at Jade, his chest heaving.

"Alright I think you two need to separate and cool off." Andre finally broke up the argument which had attracted the attention of most of the corridor by this point. "It's obvious you're both just saying stuff you don't really mean in the heat of the moment. Don't destroy everything you have between you."

"No it's okay Andre." Jade scowled at Beck. "Beck already has."

Immediately Jade picked up her school bag and walked quickly out of school. Cat looked conflicted for a moment before squealing and running along after her. The rest of the gang remained quiet, watching as the anger in Beck's features dissipated and all that was left was an overwhelming sadness. Without saying another word to anyone, he kicked the door to his locker closed and walked off in the opposite direction. After that fight, it was clear that Beck and Jade were still a million miles away from what their relationship used to be and by the looks of things, it was only getting worse.

Jade drove herself home that afternoon after school. She couldn't stop thinking about the argument she'd had with Beck. She hated him for turning to alcohol. She'd left school in a rage, but the anger had quickly dissipated as she drove the short journey back to her house. She was just so tired of feeling angry and sad all the time. She needed a break from it, but the overpowering stench of wine, cigarettes and burning which confronted her when she opened her front door immediately set her temper off again. Slamming the door shut, Jade threw her car keys on the side. She was so not in the mood to be dealing with this today.

"Sarah!" Jade shouted angrily at the sight of her Mother sprawled out on the couch asleep. She got a little closer and then had to take a step back as the combination of smells reeked. "Sarah get up and go shower!"

"Jade baby is that you?" The middle aged woman slurred from her position on the couch.

"Get up!" Jade demanded.

"You're always so mean to me!" The woman whined.

"You're drunk, now go get a shower." Jade repeated herself "GO!"

The message finally seemed to get through to Sarah West who climbed up off the couch and stumbled upstairs to the bathroom. Jade sighed and headed into the kitchen. Suddenly the source of the burning smell became apparent when she noticed the thick grey smoke pouring from the oven. Quickly Jade yanked it open and pulled a burning hot tray out of it. Her mother had at some point in her drunken state attempted to cook a pizza but she must have forgotten about it because it was completely burned to a black crisp and the tray was completely unusable.

After opening all the windows in the kitchen, Jade set to work on the living room. She brought the bleach and a bin bag and began to scrub the disgusting mess of drink from the carpet. There was ash everywhere and for some reason grass. She could tell there had been someone else here because there were two wine glasses and a man's jacket had been left on the coffee table.

"Fuck you Sarah!" Jade mumbled as she scrubbed violently at the stains. This was only the third night her Mother had been home for over a month and she had been drunk twice. No explanation to where she'd been, no money, probably on drugs and she had the audacity to just show up here, invite strangers inside and make a disgusting mess.

"And fuck you Beck." Jade felt her blood boil even more. She had learned to expect this kind of thing from her Mother because she was far too gone. But Beck wasn't supposed to do this. He was her rock, her sanity.

Once the living room was clean she went upstairs to her own bedroom and lay down on the bed taking deep breaths. Her head was aching and her throat clenching with uncried tears. Why did it feel like everything in her life was getting shittier and shittier? She'd always tried to be a good person. She wasn't the kindest person to others and she didn't always say the nicest things but she never intentionally hurt people. But people seemed to intentionally want to hurt her.

"I'm going now," Sarah appeared in Jades bedroom around 9pm. She had showered and was wearing a grey skirt suit. But she still reeked of alcohol.

"Going? Going where?" Jade exclaimed confused.

"I have a business trip on the east coast. I'm going to go get my stuff and then call a cab."

"You're going to work in that state?" Jade asked in disbelief. "What will your boss think of you?" With a swift movement of the hand Sarah slapped her daughter across the cheek.

"Who do you think you are brat?! Don't you ever talk to me like that! I am your Mother and you owe me respect." Sarah yelled.

"Oh you lost any slither of respect I had for you a long time ago Sarah." Jade shook her head. "Go to the east coast! Like I'd care anyway."

"If you're not careful I will block your access to the credit cards Jade! Then what will you do? You need me!" Sarah exclaimed. Jade kept her mouth shut, to scared to argue anymore. She needed access to her parents money in order to survive. Sarah smirked knowing she'd won and waved her fingers tauntingly as she left. Jade's heart pounded with a feeling she barely recognised. Fear maybe? But Jade West didn't do scared. It wasn't until the front door closed and Jade heard her mother climbing into a cab that the emotion overwhelmed her and once again she found herself breaking down. Jade suddenly became frighteningly aware that right now, she had noone.

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