Dead End

/../

Beck pressed his hands over Jade's chest, trying to keep her heart from stopping – to keep her from dying. She wouldn't die on him, he promised himself.

He knew he wouldn't be able to go on without her by his side, and the sole thought of the possibility of that happening, made his blood run cold (colder than it already was, that is). His hands were numb, probably turning blue from the lack of heat, but he couldn't bring himself to care.

If there was one thing Beck regreted doing, it was accepting Tori's invitation to the

All he wanted was for Jade open her eyes – those blue-green eyes he fell in love with 6 years ago – and tell him it was going to be okay. (She was always right, after all.)

/../

"Just open it, okay?" Jade exclaimed for the millionth time, throwing her hands above her head in exasperation. "You are such a girl."

"Don't you get it, babe? This letter will define my future, okay? Our future. If I don't get in, you are going to the NYU and I have to settle down for one of the schools here in LA who have offered me scholarships. This is big, Jade. Huge."

Her blue eyes scanned her boyfriend's face for any sign of reassurance, he was starting to scare her, after all.

"We don't know that! I could just stay here and go to the UCLA with you, we both have places there, and maybe it's what we should do, I don't know I just – " She was cut off by his sharp, serious tone, the one he only used when she was being unreasonable (that admittedly, was most of the time, anyways).

"Don't even think about it, Jade. Do you hear me? It's always been your dream to go to the NYU, and you are not settling for anything else, not for me, not for anybody, got it? You are going to make it big." Beck put her hands on each side of her face, looking straight into her eyes. "Promise me."

"No, Beck, I won't – "

"Promise me, Jade."

Jade shook her head, her eyes watering with tears full of fear, of uncertainty. She glared into his brown eyes, cold and scared. "I promise."

/../

Andre just sat there, his gaze fixated on the pale – her skin was freaking blue at this point – dark haired girl, not really knowing what to do. He couldn't have her die either, she was his best friend, the only person who really understood him, the only girl on the whole wide world that could make his heart beat faster with just a look (or a glare, really). She couldn't die, not here, not when there was a tiny chance that they could make it. Not then, when he just realized he loved her.

He was in love with Jade, hiding it was no use by now.

And she was dying.

That thought snapped him out of his daze, and he rose to his feet, quickly calling 911 and closing the distance between him and the dying girl. "We need to get her body heat, Beck." He instructed, the first aid class he took in middle school finally being of use.

"How are we supposed to do that? She's dying Andre." Beck whimpered, looking at his friend with pleading eyes. Beck wanted Andre to have the answers, to have the solution to this hell that his life had seemed to become.

"Just take of your jacket and pants and get under the blanket with her." Andre sighed, trying his best to keep his feelings towards the girl out of his instructions. "Take hers too."

Beck did as instructed, leaving Jade in nothing more than a black t-shirt and lacy underwear. He undressed himself as well, curling up beside her and pressing a cold kiss onto her skin.

Andre kept performing the CPR, feeling Jade's chest get tighter every passing second. He silently prayed for the blizzard to die down, so that the cabin would heat up a little bit. It didn't help that the only thing they had were snow jackets and an old ragged blue blanket.

The braided hair boy kept his glance away from Beck, who was having a hard time keeping his tears from falling. He had his arm wrapped tightly around his fiancé's small frame, and whispered loving words into her ear nonstop.

"Come on, babe, you can do this." Beck mumbled on her neck, his lips planting soft, heating kisses on her skin.

"Remember when you promised you would fight for us? Well, Jade, this is the time to fight."

"Please, babe – I don't think I can do this alone."

"Damnit Jade, just wake up."

His tone was growing more and more frustrated with each passing second. He was mad about letting Jade fall asleep (he should have tried harder). Andre could feel the agony on his tone, and he didn't know what else to do but keep helping Jade's heart pump blood.

/../

The clock kept tickling; each minute was being marked by a clicking sound. Jade sighed out of frustration, leaning her head on her hands and breathing in deeply. She had studied for this test (how could she not have, this was the test that would decide her future in Hollywood Arts, the school of her dreams), she had had less than three hours of sleep the night prior, her only goal was to pass this test, and for some reason, the answers seemed to evade her.

Jade looked to both sides of the room, as she tried to get her feelings in check.

It was just like her father wanted to ruin her life, really. Was it really necessary for him to pop the news of his new marriage the morning before the most important test she had ever taken? She didn't think so.

Anger flooded her body, she was not going to let him drag her down, not when she had the chance to keep herself up. (That chance may have been copying some answers from the dark skinned boy sitting next to her, but who cares, really. He was offering them to her, anyways.)

"Thanks." She mouthed back to him when she was sure there were enough correct questions to pass. She made her way to the teacher's desk, and planted her paper before him, effectively being the first one to exit the room, - not before winking at the boy on the back, of course.

Jade figured she would be better off being humble, and she stayed behind, sitting down on the hallway to wait for the boy. Twenty minutes later, he appeared besides her, taking a sit next to her.

"Andre." He nodded to her, offering her a piece of mint gum.

"Jade." She smiled back. "I owe you one."

"Oh, don't worry." His smirk was accompanied by a wink. "You'll pay me back."

/../

The tension of the situation was thick on the air, and Andre started feeling his hands getting numb from the cold. Little pieces of ice dropped slowly on the ground besides the three teenagers – marking each passing second with a soft thud.

Beck wrapped the blue blanket tighter around his fiancé's body, and whipped his tears with his thumb.

"She'll get over this, okay Beck? Jade is strong." Andre muttered, still performing CPR on the girl's cold body.

"I know she is. I just – this is my entire fault. She didn't wanna come. I made her do it because I thought it would be nice hanging out with the rest of you for a while, instead of it being just the two of us you know." His voice quivered. "She warned me about the bad weather, she said it was unlikely that all of you would make it to the cabin before the first winter blizzard and I didn't listen, Andre. I didn't fucking listen to her. I should probably know by now that she is always right."

Andre couldn't help but remind himself that he would have listened, if it was him instead of Beck. He would have stayed on campus with Jade, to make her happy. He would never make her do anything she didn't want to do.

(He was quick to get rid of the thought, though. He was over Jade. He had to be.)

"I'm sorry Beck, I really am."

/../

"You know this is crazy, don't you?"

"Look, this trust fund my grandma left me is for me to do whatever I want with it, and the thing I wanna do the most right now, is to go to college with you. So why not use it for that?" Beck ran a hand through his hair, trying his best to convince his girlfriend this was what he needed, what they needed.

"I know that, Beck. You want that now, and I understand, but what happens ten years after today, if you don't succeed in your acting carreer and you don't have a roof above your head? That's what trust funds are for, not for chasing your girlfriend half across the country."

"Is that all it is to you? Chasing you half way across the country? You have to understand; Jade. If I don't go with you, then we will probably end up breaking up, and we both know that's not an option for us, it has never been, not after we got back together the last time."

"I understand that, that's why I should stay here with you –"

"You promised."

"Okay, then. Let's go to New York." Her statement was met by his warm lips on hers, and – even if she knows what he is doing isn´t safe – she found herself not caring at all.

They'd be together, in college like they always dreamed of being, and that was all that mattered, right?

/../

Suddenly – breaking the silent, almost deadly environment that had filled the room – a loud siren started getting closer and closer to the cabin. Beck perked up, shoving himself on his clothes again and helping Andre carry Jade to the front door, still wrapped on the only blanket they could find.

The paramedics soon took over, placing Jade on the ambulance and making sure both boys are buckled in next to her, before starting the car.

A doctor on his middle thirties, who was sitting next to Jade on the ambulance, jumped into action, firing questions about the teenage girl that both boys took upon themselves to answer as quickly as they could.

"Is she allergic to any medicine?"

"Penicillin." Andre and Beck exclaim at the same time, each of them looking at each other with confused eyes.

Andre could be Jade's longest friend, but Beck was her boyfriend, after all, and the dark-skinned boy had trouble remembering that detail sometimes – he did remember, he just wanted to forget about it sometimes.

/../

Fifteen minutes had passed since he had shown up at the coffee shop to wait for Jade. Over the years, both of them had gotten really close – they even called each other their best friend.

However, that was going to change soon, if everything went accordingly to Andre's plan. He had been waiting for the perfect moment to ask Jade out, and he thought that it being the last day of summer break gave him the once in a lifetime opportunity to do so.

So there he was, playing with the straw on his frozen latte, when he saw the pale girl enter the shop by the front door, a tanned boy he barely recognized on tow.

"Dre, hope you don't mind. I brought Beck over so you could finally meet him." She smirked, taking a seat before him on the table, her friend following suit.

Beck – the name rang a bell on his mind, Andre had heard about him before, but he didn't remember where.

"He is starting school with us this semester," she explained, taking the boy's hand between hers. "And we are sort of, dating."

Her smile grew widely, her eyes sparkling with glee.

And that's when he remembered. Jade had been the one rambling on and on to him about this "new kid" who was enrolling in Hollywood Arts and had an amazing hair and perfect tan skin and cute smile.

"Nice to meet you, Andre. I've heard a lot about you." Beck offered.

And just like that, he lost his chance.

/../

The hospital was so quiet Beck could hear every page turning and pen tracing on the papers at the nurse's desk. His hands were still shaking – not from the coldness anymore, but from fear for his girlfriend.

Jade had been ushered into the OR the minute the ambulance had been parked securily on the hospital and Beck and Andre had been left alone at the waiting room, with nothing more than a promise from one of the nurses to be back with information as soon as she could.

And that was that.

Two hours later, they were still sitting on the uncomfortable couch when Andre spoke up, afraid to disturbe the silent aura that had formed on the room, but more worried about the tears streaming down his friend's face.

"She is going to be okay."

"I wish you would stop saying that," Beck glared at him. "You don't know that, you know there is a possibility it might not go well, and I'll be left alone here, Andre. You know that."

"You are not the only one who is hurting here, Beck." His sharp tone surprised Beck, and he turned around on his spot on the ragged couch to get a better look at him.

Andre's face was also stained with dry tears, his hands still tucked into his pockets for warmth.

"It's different and you know it." He snapped back. "I am in love with her."

"Well, newsflash, Beck, you are not the only one in love with Jade West in this freaking room:" Andre's face grew red with anger. "I've been in love with her since we were eleven, I've known her for far longer than you have, and you just came in five years ago and stole her away."

Beck shook his head in disbelief. "You have been in love with my girlfriend for this long?"

"I dreamt of her being mine long before I knew you."

"That doesn't change the fact that you never told me, Andre. I thought we were friends."

"We are. I just hate it that you think you are the only who's loosing someone here, cause we both are." Andre placed his hand on Beck's knee reassuringly.

As on cue, Doctor Wilson made his way to the two boys waiting for him. "Jade is fine, guys." He announced after a minute of silence. "She'll have to stay in tonight for some routine checkup, but she is free to go home first thing tomorrow. You are lucky the ambulance got there before her heart stopped."

Relief tears flooded both of their eyes, and the doctor smiled at both of them. "One of you can go see her know, who would like to go first?"

"He'll go." Andre answered, shoving Beck forward and into the hallway. "I'll wait for my turn."

"Thanks, man." Beck patted his shoulder, before following Doctor Wilson into his girlfriend's room.

/../

A/N: I don't even know what this is. I completely forgot about this till today, aka the deadline so here it is.

If you enjoyed it please let me know.

And for the ones who are waiting for an update on To Walk Along The Lonely Street Of Dreams or I Married My Best Friend, I promise those will be up soon. Thanks for your patience.

Love, Andrea.