Hey kids!

After writing We Groom Each Other Like Monkeys, I was in a very Cat&Jade mood. This idea had been in my head for about a month or two and I just never got round to actually writing it. The whole idea is that Cat and Jade are best friends (unlike in the show), and Cat has several mental problems. You'll see what happens, I don't want to ruin it too much! ;) I actually got quite emotional towards the end when I was writing!

Enjoy!

PS: Sorry for any grammar/spelling mistakes, I finished at around one in the morning so I was basically asleep towards the end, hehe!

xoxo

You took my hand, you showed me how

You promised me you'd be around

I took your words and I believed

In everything you said to me

Jade and Cat.

Cat and Jade.

Best friends since they met when they were seven years old - over ten years ago. The most unlikely people to be best friends in the whole world. Such polar opposites. But as it turned out, they needed each other.

Jade had always been a... different child. She never wore dresses, or pink, and the thought of pink dresses made her sick. Instead, she wore all black all day every day. Her teachers in elementary school were concerned and called her parents in several times for a 'chat'. Jade never cared. She was content with ripping the wings off of butterflies rather than chasing them around her garden.

Cat on the other hand, was the typical little girl. She loved wearing anything girly, and if it was pink she had to have it. Her wild and curly brown hair was either left alone or pulled into tight french braids. She was a good little girl and that never really changed as she grew up. Unlike Jade, Cat was the little girl who chased every single butterfly that crossed her path.

Their story began one day in elementary school. It was lunchtime and Jade was sitting by herself eating her sandwich, no one wanted to sit with her - they were all too afraid of her. Jade didn't care. As she ate, her bright blue eyes scanned the playground before finally falling on a group of other children in the corner of the playground. Several older kids - all girls - were towering over a tiny girl who was cowering on the ground. Jade frowned and stood up from her seat before making her way over to the scene.

"Hey!" she called as she approached the girls.

"Oh look, it's the freak," one of the girls spoke up in a snotty voice.

Jade scoffed and rolled her eyes, "Get out of here before I find a worm and shove it up your nose."

The girls just snorted before running away to the opposite end of the playground. Jade watched them leave before turning to the smaller girl who was still on the ground.

"Thank you," the girl whimpered in a high voice.

"Who are you?" Jade asked as she reached out a hand, offering it to the girl - who looked at it warily for a moment before reaching up and letting the taller girl pull her up from the dirty ground.

"I'm Cat. Like the animal! I love cats, their noses are so cute and pink! I love pink! It's so pretty..." the girl - Cat - rambled on.

Jade looked at her as if she had grown two heads and tenticles, "Stop talking!" she cried. Cat silenced herself immediately, biting her lower lip as her eyes grew sad. "I'm Jade," Jade introduced herself, ignoring Cat's sad expression.

"That's a pretty name!" Cat smiled, her mood changing in all of 2.5 seconds.

"Whatever. Who were those girls?" Jade asked as she looked across the playground at the group of girls who had been harassing Cat.

Cat shrugged, "I don't know..."

"Do they pick on you a lot?"

"Yeah, I guess," Cat sighed sadly.

Jade's eyebrows furrowed together, "Well they won't anymore. As long as I'm around, they'll stay away," she said, looking down at the smaller girl beside her. She didn't know why she was being nice. Maybe she wanted someone to talk to everyday. Or maybe she was just bored of sitting around doing nothing all day.

Cat gasped happily, "Really?" she gasped again, "Oh! Does this mean we're friends?" she asked excitedly, clapping her hands together and she jumped up and down. Her enthusiasm was beginning to give Jade a headache.

Jade raised an eyebrow but shrugged, "Sure... whatever..."

Ever since that day, they considered themselves best friends, and have done for over ten years. It hadn't been an easy ten years though. No. It had been quite the opposite. With the amount of time that they spent together, Jade knew Cat better than she knew herself. So when Cat began to change suddenly when they arrived into high school, Jade knew something was wrong.

Cat had always been a little strange, everyone knew that. Her moods had always changed fairly drastically in a matter of seconds, she always talked to herself as if she was having a conversation with another person, and she had always been rather obsessive over the littlest things. Jade had learned to accept Cat's... problems... for lack of a better word, she had become used to them over the years. But she soon began to notice that they were getting worse.

Jade didn't want to say anything in fear of hurting Cat's feelings - something that had become increasingly easy to do lately. She knew that something wasn't quite right with her best friend, and she just wanted to help her. Cat's parents had also become aware of their daughter's problems and finally dragged her along to the doctor to find out what was going on.

It was around eight o'clock in the evening when Jade received a call from Cat who sounded like she had been crying. Instantly, Jade began to make her way to Cat's house - a short five minute walk, and stayed on the phone with her the whole time up until she knocked on the front door.

"I'm sick," is the first thing Cat tells her best friend when she enters her bedroom. She's curled up under her pink bedsheets, barely visible - only a lump underneath.

Jade's eyebrows knit together as she sits down on the pink bedspread beside Cat, "What do you mean?"

Cat's face crumples as she hands Jade a sheet of paper before curling up in the fetal position under her bedcovers. Jade quickly reads what's written on the paper, and her heart sinks.

Schizophrenia.

Bi-Polar Disorder.

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.

Split Personality Disorder.

The list is in bold, capitalized letters in the middle of the page. Jade shakes her head as she reads it, "No..."

"Yes," Cat cries.

Jade crumples up the paper and throws it across the room before sliding under the covers with Cat. She gathers her best friend into her arms and hugs her tightly, "You're fine, don't worry."

"I'm not fine!" Cat yells.

Jade is shocked, she's never heard Cat yell before, especially at her.

"I'm messed up!" she continues, pulling at her hair roughly as she rocks sideways.

"Cat-" Jade tries, but Cat cuts her off by jumping out of her bed.

"No! You don't get it! No one gets it!" Cat yells, continuing to pull at her hair before sweeping her hands across her desk roughly, sending everything flying to the ground.

Jade immediately jumps out of the bed, "Cat, you're scaring me..."

Cat suddenly collapses to the ground and begins wailing loudly, her fingers grasping at her carpet. Jade kneels beside her and pulls the smaller girl into her arms, holding her tightly and rocking her back and forth. She holds back her own tears as Cat sobs into her shoulder, grasping at Jade's arms.

"Shh, it's okay. I'm here, you're fine," Jade whispers into Cat's hair.

"Don't leave me. Please..." Cat begs as she grasps at Jade's arm.

"Never."

If someone said three years from now

You'd be long gone

I'd stand up and punch them out

'Cause they're all wrong

I know better

'Cause you said forever

And ever

Who knew?

Cat was put on a series of medication after being diagnosed with everything. No matter how much she hated taking pills, it was all she knew now. They were basically all she ate. Each pill made her feel nauseous, meaning that she couldn't eat. She had been losing weight rapidly, and Jade had noticed right away. Cat's school lunchbox was basically empty apart from a small sandwich and several pills shoved in at the bottom. She hated taking pills, especially at school. It seemed like everyone stared at her when she popped the brightly coloured medication into her mouth, even though Jade assured her that no one was looking at her.

But Jade's attempts to reassure her best friend were in vain when they overheard a bunch of girls talking at the lunch table next to them. Jade hated them all, but then again... she hated nearly everyone. She did her best to give them death glares, but apparently even that wasn't enough to faze them.

"Oh look, it's pill time again for the freak," one girl calls, resulting in all the others laughing loudly.

"Look at her, she's probably anorexic or something," another says.

"She's so messed up," another girl whispers, clearly not quietly enough though.

Hot, angry tears fill Cat's big brown eyes as she listens to the girls talking. She swallows her pills angrily before slamming her lunch box closed. Jade's hands grip the edge of the table they were sitting at, trying to refrain from beating each one of those girls. But her patience finally snaps with one more comments.

"She'll be gone in like... three years. She'll probably like... committ suicide or something... whatever those people do..."

Jade is instantly up from the table and marching over their table. She slams her hands down, making the girls scream in fright. Jade looks down at them, her eyes dark and dangerous, "If you don't shut the hell up right now, you'll be lucky to live for three more minutes if I get my hands on you. Understand?"

The girls look up at her, their eyes wide and terrified, unable to speak. Jade snorts and spins around. She takes Cat's hand and pulls her from the lunchtable and into the school, wanting to get her away from those girls as fast as possible.

Remember when we were such fools

And so convinced and just too cool

Cat gets her first boyfriend half-way through high school, and Jade has never seen her best friend so happy before. She looked totally, completely, head-over-heels in love every day. She even stopped taking some of her pills, not feeling the need to take them. Even just hearing Cat's giggle makes Jade happy, knowing that Cat was happy.

Robbie Shapiro was the boy responsible for Cat's evident change. He treated her like a princess, and even Jade liked him a little bit. But she swore that if he ever hurt her, she would harvest one of his organs with her thumbnail... and Robbie knew that.

He didn't even care about Cat's illnesses. To him, she was absolutely perfect. He made sure she took her pills if she needed them, but apart from that - he never treated her like she was different or weird. He loved her, that was evident.

Even Jade found someone, and she was also head-over-heels in love. She would never admit it though. Beck Oliver, one of Robbie's friends, made her smile more than anyone ever had - minus Cat. He accepted all of her, even embraced her bitter side. He was also the one who finally managed to keep her in line from time to time. No one had managed to do that before.

Everything was finally in a good place.

When someone said count your blessings now

'Fore they're long gone

I guess I just didn't know how

I was all wrong

They knew better

Still, you said forever

And ever

Who knew?

But just as Cat appeared to be getting better, she suddenly took a turn for the worst. Jade noticed that her best friend had been fairly distant over the past few weeks. She didn't want to question it in case she was over-reacting. But both Robbie and Beck noticed the drastic change in Cat's behaviour. She rarely spoke, and if she did it was one word sentences that came out. She never wanted to hang out anymore either, which was extremely strange.

It just seemed like there was a time bomb ticking away, ready to explode within Cat any minute.

It was only a few weeks later when that time bomb finally went off and destroyed everyone's world. Jade received a text from Cat telling her to come over. Of course, Jade instantly made her way round to Cat's house, excited to spend time with her best friend once again. But as she entered Cat's house, she could instantly tell that something was wrong. Something didn't feel right within the house.

"Cat?" Jade calls as she walks through the small house.

"Cat?" she tries again whilst walking up the stairs.

Jade enters Cat's bedroom and is about to call once more when she suddenly stops dead. Her stomach drops to the floor and the blood rushes away from her head, causing her to waver and grab onto the door handle.

Cat. Beautiful, little Caterina Valentine is gone.

Jade knows she's gone, she doesn't even have to hunt for a pulse. She just knows. Cat's motionless body lies on her bedroom floor surrounded by dozens of empty pill bottles. Tears fill Jade's eyes and she collapses to her knees beside her best friend.

"No... no..." she begins to sob, "Don't do this, Cat.. Don't do this..."

She gathers Cat's body into her arms and hugs her tightly, unwilling to accept that she's really gone. "C'mon Cat, wake up. Wake up, c'mon!" she begs desperately, shaking Cat's shoulders roughly, hoping that if she shook hard enough she would wake up.

Nothing.

Not even a twitch.

"Cat, please," Jade whimpers.

Her eyes flicker over to Cat's bed and land on a ratty piece of paper sat on top of the pink sheets. She wipes her face and reaches up to grab the paper, but more tears are brought on by what is written. It's clearly Cat's writing, and Jade doesn't know if she can't bare to read it. But she forces herself to. She has to.

Jadey,

I'm sorry. I really am. Please don't hate me. I just couldn't do it anymore. I know you thought I was getting better, but I wasn't. I was never going to get better.

Don't be sad, I'm happier now, trust me. I don't have to deal with my thoughts anymore. I don't have to take pills anymore. I'm better here.

I love you, Jadey. I really do. Don't forget that. Don't forget me, please. You were the first person who really cared, remember when we first met?

You mean the world to me. You always have and you always will, even now.

I'm not gone. I'm still with you.

I promise.

All my love, forever,

Kitten.

With the final word, Jade completely breaks down and collapses over Cat's body. She wails into her shoulder as she rocks back and forth, unable to believe that this is actually happening.

I'll keep you locked in my head

Until we meet again

I won't forget you, my friend.

What happened?

And time makes it harder

I wish I could remember

But I keep your memory

You visit me in my sleep

"I miss her."

Jade West, Robbie Shapiro and Beck Oliver sit together in Cat's bedroom, exactly as she left it. Nothing had been changed. Nothing had been moved. It's almost as if she's still alive. The three of them had barely stopped crying over the past few weeks. It seems to get harder with time.

"I miss her so much," Jade breaks down again, holding one of Cat's stuffed giraffes to her chest as she sobs into it's head. Beck swallows his own tears and pulls Jade into his chest, letting her sob against him. He rubs her arm soothingly, trying to help. But he knows that nothing will ever made Jade feel better. Nothing can bring back Cat.

"She was my everything," Robbie says hoarsly as he stares into space. He looks like he hasn't slept in weeks... all of them do. He's spent the last few weeks here in Cat's room. He doesn't want to leave, terrified that if he does, he'll forget her. He'll forget her face, her voice, the way her hair smelled after being washed, the way she looked when she fell asleep.

"I see her in my dreams," Jade whispers, looking up at the boys, "She's happy, and more stunning than ever," she chokes up again.

"What does she say?" Beck asks.

"She says she's happy. She doesn't want us to cry anymore, but... how can I not cry?" she sobs, her hands covering her face.

"I wish I could see her one more time," Robbie says, on the verge of tears again. He pushes up his glasses and presses his fists into his eyes to try and stop the tears.

"She's beautiful," Jade whispers, sniffing.

"She was always beautiful," Beck adds, smiling sadly at the memory of Cat.

"Does she say anything else?" Robbie asks.

Jade manages a small smile, "She's always watching us. Always."

As soon as the sentence was out of Jade's mouth, the brightest ray of sunshine beamed through the window and landed directly on the bed where they were sitting. Simultaneously, smiles spread across their faces, and they knew that Cat really was looking down on them.

My darling, who knew?

I hope you liked it!

xoxo