Jade West's day was already off to a rough start and it was only seven in the morning. She hadn't managed to get a second of sleep the night before, her mind whirling with unwanted memories and dark thoughts, and now she was being forced to sit through another dressing down about how she presented herself to the world by a very aggravated father when all she'd wanted was a bowl of cereal. She was managing to mostly tune him out, her fingers twisting a blue strand of hair viciously as she tried to picture Beck and the coffee he would bring her today after his morning yoga class. He'd called her earlier before he'd left his house, as was their custom, and had noticed almost instantly that she was grumpy. Jade had vigorously denied that she'd been kept up due to her stupid fucking thoughts, but her boyfriend had seen straight through it, having seen her in that state before much to Jade's horror. She hated being seen in such a weak moment, her pride screaming at her that she was stronger than this, that Beck would never look at her the same. But, in a truly Canadian fashion, he had simply held her until the tears stopped before somehow getting Jade to spill her guts about what was wrong (she blamed it on the mental and emotional exhaustion she was suffering at the time). She smiled as she thought of the way he'd swiftly promised her a delicious delivery of Jet Brew coffee during Sikowitz's class and the banter that had followed. Man she loved that idiot.

"And what are you smiling about?" It was more of a snarl than a question, and the harsh tone of her father's voice knocked Jade from her daydreaming. She rolled her eyes and dropped her feet heavily from where they'd been resting on the kitchen table, snatching her bag from the floor.

"I'm leaving."

"The hell you are! We're not finished talking young lady."

"I've been finished with this conversation for the past half hour, and if I don't leave now I'm going to be even later to school." She strode from the room, her comment about school finally causing her father to shut his damn mouth, and slammed the front door behind her. Normally, depending on which house she was at, one of her parents drove her to school when Beck couldn't, but there was no way in hell she was going to sit in a small space while her dad lectured her about how horrible she was for ten minutes. She pulled her phone from her pocket once she was out of view of her dad's house and hit three on her speed dial.

"Hi, hi!" Jade scowled at the overly cheerful voice of her best friend. It was too early for this.

"Cat, can you and your brother come pick me up? My dad's being a dick again."

"Oh, Jadey, I'm sorry but I'm already at school." Her scowl deepened, both at the horrible nickname the redhead insisted on using and at the fact that she was really going to have to walk all the way to school.

"That's fine."

"I really am sorr-"

"I said it's fine!" Jade hung up, not waiting for Cat to respond as she shot off a text to her boyfriend.

'Hey babe, gonna be a few minutes late, having to walk.' She stared at her phone as she waited for Beck to respond, feet moving on autopilot. Her text tone rang out as he answered.

'Dad refuse to take you again?'

'No. Refused to sit in a car with him.'

'Shit, babe, not cool. You're gonna get kidnapped one of these days out of sheer stubbornness.'

'I have my scissors.' She could almost see Beck rolling his eyes at that. It was cute how he worried, knowing she had to detour through a shadier part of town to be able to get there before third period, but no one messed with Jade. Ever.

'I'm coming to get you. Where are you now?'

'No, don't. I'm almost there and you need to save our seats in Sikowitz's class or else we won't be able to sit next to each other.' She really was almost there, and him leaving to pick her up would only make both of them late and result in her having to literally kick someone out a seat to be able to sit next to him.

'Are you sure?'

'Yeah, I don't want to have to kick Meredith out of a chair and get detention. Again.'

'Fine. But if you get abducted I'm gonna be pretty mad.' Jade let out a laugh and a fond shake of her head as her fingers flew across the keyboard typing out a response.

'Babe I don't think you CAN get mad.' They both knew that wasn't true. He'd been mad at her loads of times before, and as much as he loathed to admit it, he got almost as angry as she did when jealous, he was just better at hiding it. Well, more like he thought jealousy was pointless and got annoyed with himself when he felt it and made efforts to hide it. Jade didn't give a fuck and would more than happily kick your ass if she needed to. Besides, don't let Beck fool you, he loved it when she got jealous. Most of the time.

'That is so not true.'

'Your mad is like a puppy whose toy got taken away.'

'Careful, Jade. That smart mouth is gonna get you in some trouble.' Said smartmouthed girl grinned devilishly as a shiver ran down her spine.

'Oh, I'm counting on it.' A few minutes passed and Beck didn't respond causing Jade to frown, but she simply shook her head and slid her pearphone into her back pocket as she finally stepped into the Hollywood Arts parking lot. Sikowitz had probably come into the room and he'd had to put his phone away, that was all. She was the only person in the halls as she strode confidently through them and towards her most interesting class of the day. Not only was Sikowitz a lunatic, but Beck, Cat, and Andre had the class as well. It was the only class of the day that they all had together, and she enjoyed learning about a subject she was passionate about with all her friends. And Robbie.

Texting with Beck on her way to school had put Jade in a better mood, but all of that went out the window when she stepped into class. "Dude! Why are you rubbing my boyfriend?!" Beck turned to look at her over his shoulder with a grimace on his face, while the twig bitch kept her arm on his abs and attempted to stutter out a pathetic excuse. Beck was too nice to tell the whore to back off, Jade had no such problem and the girl was about two seconds away from joining her good mood on its journey out the window. "Get away from him!" Jade gestured angrily at the lack of space between the two as she spat the words venomously, and watched in satisfaction as the twig scrambled backwards.

So, this must be the new girl Cat had been telling her about. Fucking Vega sisters. She should have known that anyone related to goddamn Trina would be awful. Beck quickly stepped to her side and wrapped an arm around her waist, half soothing and half restraining, as he pressed his forehead against her hair, murmuring comforting words. Jade leaned into him possessively and didn't stop glaring at Mini Vega for a moment as Beck led her to her chair, pressing a gentle kiss to her temple and pulling her legs into his lap. He was pulling out every trick in the book, gentle kisses and words of reassurance, as well as maximum physical contact in an attempt to prove to both Jade and Vega who he was dating.

Saying Jade had trust issues was an understatement. She'd been fucked over by so many people in her life that she couldn't help but be wary and build her walls as high as she could to protect herself. Beck knew every gritty detail about her past- from what fueled her trust issues and jealousy, to the real reason she hated being touched by people other than him and occasionally Cat and Andre. Therefore, he understood her reactions and knew what she wasn't saying every damn time as well as how to fix it. Being known so deeply had scared Jade at first, and she had taken to maximizing the emotional distance between her and Beck in preparation for when the leaving came, but it never did. Instead, Beck had, literally, tossed her over his shoulder and dragged her into the janitor's closet, spilling his own secrets and demanding she never do that again. It was the first peek Jade had gotten at Beck's dominant side and she had been torn between being turned on and pathetically crying at the lengths he had gone to to reassure her.

"Hey, you okay?" The words were whispered to her in an attempt to keep Sikowitz from hearing and Jade turned to give him a sarcastic smile.

"Oh, I'm just peachy. I love coming into class after a morning of pointless lecturing from my dad and a twenty minute walk to school through the blistering heat to find my boyfriend being rubbed all over by a fucking Vega sister. Plus, I got zero sleep and now I don't have any fucking coffee." She'd almost started shouting at the end as she gestured to his coffee stained shirt in annoyance. The one thing she'd really been looking forward to, besides spending time with Beck, was that coffee and now both had been spoiled by Vega. Who shows up at a new school and starts rubbing all over other girls' boyfriends?! She glowered at her feet in an attempt to keep from looking him in the eye, knowing that if she did she'd start to melt.

Beck let out a chuckle, amused by his girlfriend's fiery temper, and uncrossed her arms as he pulled her hand over her knee in his lap and began soothingly stroking the soft skin of her palm. "You're gonna be alright."

She turned her scowl on him and furrowed her brows even further. "Don't tell me what to do."

Quick as a whip, he pulled her hand up to his mouth and nipped the tip of her middle finger in warning before returning it to his lap. "Don't be a brat."

"You like that I'm a brat."

"Don't be a brat about this. You know what happened with Tori was an awkward accident."

"Oh, so you're on a first name basis now?!" Beck sighed and ran a hand through his hair.

"I literally just met the girl."

"Then why are you defending her?"

"You know what, do whatever you need to, but don't come crying to me when Andre gets mad at you." Jade smirked smugly and shifted closer to him, her jealousy appeased a bit with the permission granted to chase Vega away. Although, she was a bit curious as to why Andre would care, he had seen her scare away loads of girls. She turned back to face him and ask just as Sikowitz stormed into the room frantically shouting about a fire.

Beck leapt from his seat and grabbed Jade by the waist, hauling her to her feet, before hastily shoving his girlfriend in front of him and propelling her forward, a bit worried she might try to double back and get a glimpse of the flames. Just as Jade's fingers began scrambling at the door in an attempt to get it open so all of the frantic teenagers can get out of the room and her personal space, Sikowitz started laughing.

"Kidding. Kidding, only kidding." Jade momentarily considered launching herself at the teacher but was instead redirected to her chair by the firm grasp of Beck. She turned to her boyfriend with narrowed eyes as he plopped down and brought her legs back into his lap, annoyed that this psycho had caused her to be touched by the rash inducing kids around her. Beck simply shook his head and stroked the top of her thigh soothingly. Sikowitz rubbed his hands together earnestly and sent them all a wide grin, "Just wanted to get your blood pumping, which I did." He barked out a short laugh and turned to the students still standing. "Alright! Now let's get started, rumps in chairs." Jade rolled her eyes somewhat fondly at the eccentric man and turned her attention to her chipping nails, inspecting the week old nail polish as she contemplated how to teach Mini Vega a lesson.

Her attention returned to the teaching happening when Vega informed the room she didn't know what improv was. Jade scoffed and shot Beck a look of exasperation. Improv was basic knowledge, even people who didn't go to Hollywood Arts knew what improv was. Who the fuck even was this girl? Okay, so she sang one song and wasn't total shit, that doesn't mean she belonged at HA. Jade had worked her ass off in preparation for her own audition, and this bitch struts around in a tiny dress and doesn't suck for two minutes and suddenly she's welcomed with open arms? She doesn't even know a lick about performing despite having a sister who's gone here for a while and it was, quite frankly, offensive.

Jade grinned and plopped her feet on the ground when she was called to lead the exercise and the mood was lightened a bit when Sikowitz misheard Andre's suggestion of 'Big News' as 'Big Nudes', and Beck shot Jade a wink as he whispered that he'd be happy to see her nudes. Jade grinned playfully and punched him in the arm as she muttered a low, "Of course you would."

She stretched languidly and smoothly crossed over to the slightly raised stage, giving Vega a darkly smug look as she called her name to participate. The girl gulped nervously as she stood up, Andre giving her a reassuring smile that caused more confusion to bubble up in Jade. Normally she'd think her friend had a thing for this chick, but there was no way. Surely Andre had better taste than that.

Beck approached the stage warily, seeing that gleam in Jade's eyes that screamed she was up to something. He slowly made his way to her, making sure to give Tori a wide berth so he didn't add any fuel to Jade's fire. His caution took a backseat as Jade leaned down off the stage to teasingly caress her lips against his, Beck's hand coming up to grip Jade's forearm tightly as his other fell to her hip. She pulled away slowly with eyes still gleaming and Beck pinched her hip lightly in warning.

"Jade, kiss your boyfriend on your own time."

"Oh, believe me, I will." Beck almost choked on nothing at the promise laced through those words, suppressing a smile as he watched Jade shoot Tori a dirty look. He really did like it when she was a brat. "Go wait in the hall." Jade was practicing an unbelievable amount of restraint to keep herself from spitting those words at the girl, eyes narrowing as she hesitated. Vega's eyes trailed down to where Beck was still gripping Jade's hip despite him having moved up onto the stage, and Jade knew she wasn't imagining the disappointment she found filling those brown irises at him making an effort to maintain contact. The new girl moved out into the hallway with a nod and Jade watched that horrible haircut leave before turning to her boyfriend, quickly working her plan through as Beck continued to give her a look of warning.

Sikowitz called action so Cat and Eli quickly dropped to their knees and adopted a childish look to their faces. Jade gave Beck a soft look, "Hey babe, how was work?"

"Ah, I got fired." Jade shook her head in disappointment and took a step back towards the door Tori was waiting behind.

"Again?" At Beck's sad nod, Jade sighed and smiled comfortingly. "It's okay, I have great news that will cheer up this whole family." Her smile turned slightly malicious as Cat and Eli begged her to tell them what the news was. "I went to the animal shelter and got us…" she paused dramatically and closed the distance between herself and the door, swinging it open and pulling Vega back into the room. "A dog!" The 'kids' cheered and clapped while Beck struggled to hide an amused smirk at Jade's antics, shaking his head in a tiny movement only she noticed as he gave her a fond eye roll.

"Uh, yep. I'm the new family dog. Woof." Jade sighed in aggravation, the bitch couldn't even fully participate.

"Sikowitz, will you please tell this amateur that dogs can't talk, and that they don't walk on two legs?" The teacher paid her no mind, not even glancing up as he sipped aggressively at the coconut in his hand. At this point Jade had lost all patience for the idiocy she seemed to be surrounded with and snapped at the odd man who was meant to be watching their performance. "Sikowitz!"

"Oh, I'm sorry, I was sucking the milk out of this coconut. But it's true, Tori, if you're going to play a dog, be a dog." Vega sighed loudly before dropping to all fours, letting out a very unrealistic bark. Sikowitz nodded in acknowledgement of the improvement and called action before returning his attention to his coconut. As soon as he called action they were right back in it, Cat and Eli rushing to pet Tori and celebrating their new house pet.

Jade, having claimed Tori had bugs, stepped off the stage and snatched an iced coffee from the hands of a student sitting in the front whose name she didn't know and didn't care about. "Jade." Beck had muttered her name warningly but made no move to intercept her, knowing he'd technically already given her his support of this, "Maybe you shouldn't…" he trailed off as she emptied the entire cup on Vega's head. Jade rolled her eyes as Tori made no move to try to get away. She honestly wasn't surprised that the girl sat there and just let it happen. Pathetic.

Vega slowly rose to her feet and touched her dripping hair. Jade sneered at her, no pity on her face whatsoever. "What's the prob, dog?" Tori looked at Jade with wide eyes before they flicked back to Beck, who was showing no reaction to his girlfriend's horrible action or venomous words, before sprinting from the silent room. Andre watched her go before turning to Jade with anger burning in his eyes, a look she'd seen before on a much different person. She tensed and fought to keep herself from stepping back as memories of him battered her mind, and Andre seemed to consider yelling at her for a moment before Beck stepped forward with a stony look on his face that was, surprisingly, aimed at Andre and not Jade. Seeing that Jade had lost the smug look and that Beck seemed to be more than willing to kick his ass if he took a step closer to his girlfriend, Andre simply shook his head at them and turned to follow Vega out of the room.

When the door had slammed shut behind Andre, Beck wrapped a firm arm around Jade's shoulders. He guided her forward and stopped at their chairs to snatch their bags from the ground, tossing them over his shoulder before, without a word to Sikowitz who had been focused on his coconuts and was asking what had happened and where they were going, pulled Jade out of the room. Jade was tough, there was no question about it, but when Andre had turned to her with coiled muscles and burning eyes, Beck had known just where her mind had gone as her shoulders tensed and her fingers crushed the now empty coffee cup that she was still grasping. He pulled them forward, his body angled towards hers and curved protectively around her lithe frame as he dragged them towards the janitor's closet, making sure to keep Andre and Tori from seeing them and Jade from catching a glimpse of Andre.

The door to the closet closed behind them with a heavy thud and Beck dropped their bags to the ground before pulling Jade into a tight embrace. Her fingers wrapped tightly into his T-shirt and her nose buried into his collarbone as he ran a soothing hand up and down her spine. "I'm fine." The words were harsh, bitten out with a ferocity, but she pushed herself further against him as she said them, inhaling his scent deeply in an attempt to fight back the memories desperately trying to pull her back in.

He responded simply by kissing the top of her head and saying a soft, "I know."