Disclaimer: Ya know.. writers write these all the time, but I'm not sure if viewers even read them anymore. Here I am getting arthritis from typing disclaimer after disclaimer only to discover it's all for nothing! *Sigh* In the end, arthritis or not, I do not own Victorious.

Cat's eyes grew wide at the shapes exploding into the sky. "Jade! Look! Look Jade!" The small girl couldn't contain herself as she bounced up and down, pulling on the crossed arms of the taller, pale girl next to her.

Annoyed, Jade sighed. "I see them, Cat. They're pretty hard to miss." Jade voiced sarcastically. It was the fourth of July and Jade had taken Cat up to the tippy top of the tallest hill Cat could find.

Cat's mind blocked out the rest of Jade's sentence, agreeing with her on the view. "I know right? They are pretty." Jade, completely taken aback at Cat's natural way of selective hearing, opened her mouth to object before stopping herself after seeing the look of awe on the little redhead's face, shades of red, blue, and green splashing across her skin. Cat was so innocent, in every form of the word. The smallest things made her day and she wouldn't hesitate to share them with Jade the moment she saw her. Secretly, Jade couldn't help but enjoy the smaller girl's stories. There were new ones everyday and every one of them made Cat smile so bright. Jade loved that smile.

A small part of Jade was jealous that Cat could find such happiness in the simplest things in the day, but the other part, the greater part, was grateful that Cat wasn't nicked down to the bones by the hurtful things people had said and done to her at school. Of course, Jade fixed that after finding them and sending them to the emergency room with a threat, a lie for them to tell, and an apology to Cat, but Cat wasn't aware of that part. She just assumed they saw the error of their ways and did what was right in apologizing for hurting her. Not to mention Jade peeking around the corner in the hallway watching them, making sure it went as planned. She just did her signature smirk as they turned down her hallway, quivering in fear.

Cat tilted her head up, turning her face towards the brunette. "Jade?"

Jade answered without taking her gaze off the sky. "Hm?"

"Why do you think fireworks choose to explode?" Jade could only look down at the girl with a confused expression.

"They're made to explode, Cat. That's what they do." Cat looked down at her small feet.

"I know, but what about the ones that don't make it to the sky? What about the ones that never take off?" Jade didn't know how to answer her friend's question. She knew Cat knew the obvious answer, they probably weren't made properly. But, that wasn't the answer Cat was looking for and Jade knew that. So, she did what she always does when she doesn't know how to reply to her thoughtful friend.

"Well, what do you think, Cat?" It was Jade's way of saying she didn't know and she was ok with that. Usually it was hard for Jade to admit she didn't know something, but when it came to Cat's questions, no one knew the answer, so no one blamed her.

Cat's eyes lit with excitement at the question, making her lift her head to face the taller girl with a smile. She loved expressing her opinion, especially to Jade. So, when Jade asks Cat directly, she can't help but want to tell Jade all her thoughts and opinions. It usually ends in Cat getting a blank stare from Jade and a raised eyebrow, but just knowing she got some attention from her friend was enough to keep her happy.

Cat turned to face the bright colors shooting across the sky. "I think the ones that don't make it to the sky are shy." A small smile shaped itself on Jade's lips. "They don't want to be seen by hundreds of people, gazed at by thousands of eyes. They choose to stay on the ground where they feel safe and don't want to take the chance at fizzling out when they make it to the top. What if they didn't cause a big bang and pretty colors when they finally reached the end of their trip? They would have nowhere to go but down and no one wants to fall." Cat motioned her head from the sky to the ground, mimicking the drop.

"And the ones that make it to the sky?" By now Jade was genuinely interested in hearing Cat's theory.

Cat brought her head up, her smile beaming at Jade. "The ones that make it to the sky are like you and me."

Jade shifted her eyes to the sky. "Like you and me…"

"Mhmm! They want to become stars too." The small smile grew on Jade's face. She knew what Cat meant now, but still looked back into their girl's eyes, urging her to continue. "They take that chance and blast into the sky, hoping to make it past all the others, to make it higher than all the others. They live off the attention, they crave it. And once they can no longer go any higher, they explode. But it doesn't mean it's over. For them, it's a new chance to show the world just what they're made of, to keep all eyes on them."

"To stay alive in their eyes even after they fizzle out.. just like the stars." Cat nodded. She knew she could make Jade understand. What came out of Cat's mouth was so easily misconstrued as just ramble, nonsense, and sometimes even insanity, but Cat knew the one person who understood her, her best friend Jade. The one friend she knew she could tell anything to without fearing judgment.

"Hey, Cat?" The smaller girl replied with a noise. "Why'd you pick this hill? It's so much farther away from the fireworks than all the other hills in the city."

Cat just smiled. "I wanted to be a firework." She stated simply.

"You wanted to shoot into the sky and explode?" Jade teased, giving the redhead a jokingly raised eyebrow. Cat's turned her lips up into a smile, lightly pushing Jade before stepping in front of her, wrapping the taller girl's hands around her waist. This was one of their most favorite positions, when they were alone, of course: Jade behind Cat, her arms encircled around the petite girl, Cat's arms lying over Jade's comfortingly. It was something they'd become accustomed to and now relished in.

Jade brought her head down to speak into Cat's ear. "I know, I know. You wanted to be close to the stars too, didn't you?" Cat couldn't help but smile and squirm when Jade's breath tickled her ear, making the brunette tighten her grip.

"Jade?" Cat said quietly, idly playing with Jade's fingers.

"Hm?"

"Thanks for being Jade." The pale girl laughed.

Jade pressed her lips to Cat's cheek, earning a squeal from the girl in her arms. "Anytime, Cat."

A/N: I know, I know.. This is one of the many Cade one shots you'll be reading that's about the 4th of July right? But ya wanna know something? Do ya, HUH? DO YA? Well there's nothing to know so quit askin! Gosh people I don't have ALL the answers! Just the one's to the test ;] How do you think I passed elementary?

Anyhow, review if you liked the nude pics I sent… uh… that wasn't meant for you…uh… What I meant… was review if you liked this… can we pretend this never happened?

If you do choose to review then I would love some constructive criticism. I appreciate it all. Reviews keep the stories coming after all.

And if you choose Not to review… oh you don't even want to know how many fireworks I'm gonna shove up your toaster oven… Happy 4th everyone!