My jaw dropped in surprise. "Uh well, that is…" I began, only to silence myself and pause. An awkward silence dragged on as my mind could not create any valuable answers. At last I sighed in defeat. "It was an accident." I promised.

"Of course," Cat answered sagely. "Whenever you hurt Tori, you do it to make her sad, not to get her in trouble." Was that true? I thought back to what I had done to the girl so far and what I had planned to do to her in the future. They were all things to make her miserable and cry, but nothing to actually force her to leave the school. What was holding me back? "So," Cat began, "What happened?"

As cunning as I am, and I am very cunning, I could not come up with anything to soften the truth to the girl who apparently knew me better than I did. Part of me was dying to tell her everything, even parts that I hadn't told Beck, not because I was hiding it, but because he would know without me having to say it. Things like; how I felt, the fear that pervaded my mind, causing me to freak out like that, the guilt at playing the innocent one when the real person with the innocence was taking the heat, and the need to make it right. Not only to appease Beck, but to finally rid myself of the guilt. I was bitchy, and I could be selfish, but I didn't want to believe that I could be that selfish. I told Cat all of these things, weaving them into my retelling in a way that allowed her to see the exact reason for every action. It felt so good to finally say it all out loud. You can't look uncool in front of Cat. Not only does she not care, but she is bound to do something weirder than whatever you might do. I held nothing back and she listened, or I thought she did. Once I had finished there was a silence. The sage expression on her face had morphed into her goofy and clueless smile once again. "So, it was an accident, right?" I nodded my head slowly. "Then just tell everyone silly."

"And how should I do that?" I asked sarcastically, "Go on the announcer and just say 'FYI there was a huge misunderstanding about my eye. Oh, I decided not to do anything until now because the Jade West is a coward. And one more thing, if you haven't noticed, I apparently have a conscience."

"Exactly!" Cat agreed.

I looked at her. "I would lose all my street cred."

"So, you'll still have us."

"That's just it!" I practically shouted. "I don't have all of you guys. Beck does. I'm just the girl they put up with because they have to since I'm dating their friend. They think Vega gave me a black eye and they are sitting with her at lunch as though nothing happened. They talk with her in the hallway about how mean the faculty is for giving her detention. They think she's capable of giving someone a black eye and lying about it, and they still like her better than they like me!" My lip quivered, but I bit it to stop the irritating motion. "I've known them for far longer, and she just waltzes in and they love her. She's the knight in shining armor who was victorious against the evil Jade dragon. And when they find out I faked it, she'll be the poor, innocent, angelic princess that I tried to keep prisoner. My role will never change, and trying to explain what happened will be like the dragon saying that it's not his fault he likes shiny jewels and pretty girls. If I try to explain, then I'm making excuses and I lose the only thing I have left, their fear. If I do things my way, I can at least keep that. Then they will continue to say how mean I am behind my back. I prefer that to them taunting me to my face." Like he does. If he were scared of me like the school is, then he wouldn't hit me anymore. I wish I could scare him the way he scares me, but I can't. So, I have to settle with making sure that the house is the only place I will ever have to deal with something like that. "Even if I have to bitterly play my role, I will do it so that I never have to deal with that kind of situation. I finished, meaning both scenarios.

"But if you're unhappy, why except the role? Why not try to change it or reject it altogether."

"You can't change a character in a movie, the director won't allow you to. And if you reject the unsavory roles altogether, you end up in the street without a job. Sometimes, a performer has to perform a role they don't like in order to get the kind of credit and recognition that they want."

"But that's not the recognition that you really want. What you really want is what everyone wants, respect. You get that from caring friends. And you get friends by caring about them."

"And then they turn on you. Look at Andre. He left to go snitch the moment he learned something that could help her. His loyalties switched."

"His loyalties were never yours to begin with. You're so distant with them. They've known you for years, but they don't really know you. You're a constant presence, but it's like a mysterious fog. They know it's there, but it's been there for so long that they've accepted it and learned to ignore it. But once it leaves, they don't know what to do. It's unfamiliar territory, and they kind of wish the fog was back, just so that they wouldn't have to deal with the change."

"But then once they learn how to deal, they are glad it's gone." I said bitterly.

Cat threw her hands in the air. "None of these comparisons even matter. Tori isn't going to tell anyone! She's going to the detention tonight and she's going to quietly clean up the food."

"What? Why the hell would she do that?"

"Because she just wants to stop fighting."

"She started it."

"I'm not having this discussion again."

"Cat!" I called as she began to walk towards the door. "Wait." She opened the door and walked out.

"If you won't help yourself, then there's nothing I can say or do to fix that. You want to be that bad guy, fine, then be the bad guy. But I'm done trying to help you out of this hole you've dug yourself into." With that she walked away and disappeared into the crowd that had stopped to watch the drama take place.

They didn't leave immediately and I ended up growling at them. They dispersed not long after that and, although I got some grumbles, I was partially satisfied. They would have scampered off into any corner they found before. Give it time though. Once this eye was healed, I would form a plan to reclaim my cave and all its treasures.

Hi guys. I'm working on the next chapter. It's going to be the last part of the episode plus a few more fillers. I'm not sure if it will be the last chapter though. I might add one more just to cover all of the bases I had planned to cover. Suggestions are welcome of course, and, although I won't beg. Reviews are nice. I'll post the next chapter for this before I post the chapter for Source of the Fire. Till then. :D