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Smokey Eyes
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You would think Jade had gotten over her hatred by now. But one can never be too wrong.

There she was once again. Black and white and purple and with emerald eyes radiating murder. Slowly they diverted upon me, sending a shiver down my spine as she passed by me with that perfect look of disgust, like I've committed some incredible sin and deserve to be punished for it the fiery depths of Hell. By Satan himself. I swallowed hard. As I followed her figure walking away I wondered where it all went wrong. It's not that I'd want to be best friends or at least frenemies with Jade, but I can't stand the hostility anymore. I've endured nearly a year of these venomous glances and uptight comments when all I want is for us to come to terms and just accept each other. We're part of a group here, whether she likes it or not. Besides, she can't be messing around with the carefully set up structure of our relationships forever. Right?

I sighed and closed my locker with a slam. Who was I to worry about this trivial thing? I shouldn't even care. Jade can do whatever she wants, I won't even care anymore. That only ever seems to make things worse, even though she seems to be nice for about half a day before shit hits the fan again.

"Hey there, Tori." I turned around to the source of the familiar voice and found Beck standing there, a content smile on his face and his push-back hair messy. His blouse hung loosely around his shoulders and I was surprised not to see Jade next to him, subtly clinging onto one of his arms, like she was nearly every morning. It felt somehow weirdly empty and my eyebrows hunched together over my eyes. "Where's Jade?" I asked almost involuntarily.

"I just saw her going outside, said she needed to get something. I don't know what though, class starts in two minutes." he shrugged and wiped the brown locks out of his eyes. Somehow his eyes always seemed so tired yet so friendly. "But let's go, she'll come right after us." he added, and commenced to go to class.

I followed him, chatting about random things and the weekend, parents and music. We got into Sikowitz's class, greeting Cat, Andre and Robbie and the others, telling our stories. It struck me how much Jade's presence lacked. No matter how evil or snarky her comments could be, it was something I enjoyed too, if it wasn't aimed at me. I sighed inaudibly as I look at her empty seat in the room. She's interesting. Jade's like an immeasurably deep lake, unknown for what hides beneath the surface. I just wish she was to share it with me. She's so different from me that I'd like to know how she works, so to say. I'd like to know her mindset and quirks and ideas of friendship and life. Know her. It's too bad she keeps pushing me away.

Throughout my train of thoughts I also noticed that Sikowitz was nowhere to be seen. He wasn't the type to run late, he never did. By the time the bell had rung we were anticipating his approach. But the minutes passed and he stayed away. So did Jade. I felt a distant twang of conspiracy, but then a loud yell filled the class, scaring the living daylight out of me.

"Helloooooo sunshines!"

I spin around on my chair, to the place the roar came from and saw Sikowitz standing in the middle of the little stage, coconut in his hand and his hair (or what was left of it) standing upward. He grinned deviously, almost smirking, and then calmly took a sip of his coconut milk, letting his eyes scan every startled face.

"What I want to do today," he began, slowly descending the little staircase, "is tackle this thing called surprise. And I want to begin by asking you where our lovely Jade is."

"She said she needed to get something just before class started." Beck answered, seemingly much to Sikowitz's dismay. If one thing, he didn't like students being late, especially not Jade, who was tardy quite regularly. He just didn't have the guts to punish her for it. I know his fear all too well. Poor man.

A loud sigh escaped his lips. "Well, we all know she won't come here by herself, so someone has to go look for her." Beck complied and already started to get out of his chair, looking slightly annoyed before Sikowitz turned around to me. "Tori! Move your feet and get that girl." he added with a wink, pointing his stubby finger at me. I shot Beck a perplexed glance that he returned, slowly sagging back into his seat. It felt as if the whole class was surprised, sending out the girl Jade hated most to get her. Sikowitz quite succeeded in his lesson, then.

"Me? Does it really have to be me?" I protested, but in vain. Sikowitz scooted forward, nearly pushed me out of the room and slammed the door shut in front of my face. I stood there for a moment, my eyebrows raised in thought. Or Sikowitz was planning something, or he really is a little crazy in the head. It would both come down to the same thing, really, so I decided I'd get on and over with it. I wandered through the hallway, looking left and right, looking for that one of a kind death-stare as I made my way outside. It seemed as though she had vanished. I had walked around the building at least three times, but I didn't spot her yet. I had no idea how long I had been looking for her, idly wondering if Sikowitz would be angry if I returned empty-handed, but then I finally saw her, leaning against one of the vending machines.

Her back was turned to me, black hair covering the most part of it. It looked like she was hiding something from sight, and I was suddenly curious. "Jade?"

Her form seemed to grow rigid at the sound of my voice but then she loosened up and turned around with a smirk plastered on her face, hips cocked and cigarette rebelliously between her fingers. One hand rested on her checkered skirt. She put the cigarette to her lips and gingerly took a drag. She then exhaled the smoke. Her eyes glinted mysteriously, challenging.

"You... smoke? Seriously? That's kinda illegal, you know." I started, raising my eyebrows. I know Jade likes to be the rebel, the kid that never listens and does whatever she wants, but smoking? I did not expect that, figuring she didn't want to be kicked out of school or scolded for it at home. Her damn career is at stake and she's taking this so lightly it's almost scary how she not cares. I'm just hoping she's pretending this all. That all her animosity has been just a play, something to keep my attention on her so that she wouldn't go by unnoticed or uncared for. Maybe that's what's lying beneath her white porcelain skin. All insecurity and secrets, unknown but to Beck.

She simply threw her head in her neck, her black hair rippling down her shoulders and a chuckle exiting her throat. "Yeah, and?"

I hesitated, biting my lower lip. Jade is not the kind of person you'd want to get in a serious arguement with, but neither am I if I'm determined. "Don't you think you shouldn't? Regarding not only the obvious health issues."

"A few cigarettes won't kill me."

"No, nothing will ever kill you, right? Since you're all stone-cold and rock-solid." I rolled my eyes at her, crossing my arms in front of my chest in some feeble form of defense. I could almost feel her frustration, her spiteful feelings boiling inside of her, like a volcano ready to burst. She was rumbling, quivering. She was the thunder in a raincloud. It made me be on the verge of taking my words back because I didn't want her somewhat peaceful mood to burst because I was being annoying, but I didn't. The sorries were already balancing on the tip of my tongue but I bit them back and swallowed them down.

"Hey, you'd better watch your mouth." the black-haired girl answered, her voice trembling with suppressed anger as she takes a few threatening steps closer to me. I could see a spark dwelling in her dark, smoky eyes beneath her long lashes. I really felt that if I pushed her any further she'd lynch me on the spot. Still, I had the temptation to give her the feelings gives me, but something stopped me. I don't know whether it was me or some distant thought of forgiveness, but I sighed and held up the palms of my hands towards her in defeat. Would I be any better than her if I'd snap at her? No. I wouldn't. I'd do anything to be different from her. Not because she's Jade but because I'm not Jade. We're different and that's what needs to be.

"Okay, I'm sorry." I caved in. "But honestly, I'm just trying to say that you shouldn't smoke." I murmured, glancing downward at my shuffling feet.

"What's it to you anyway, Vega?" she said, her voice slick and smooth like velvet as she blew a cloud of smoke right into my face, still coming closer. "Since when do you care?"

My eyes followed hers, my heart dangerously pounding in my chest at the sight of the black and white and deadly predator coming close to me. It felt like my lungs weren't able to work anymore, but that could've just been because of the smoke. "I've always cared for you." I said, breathlessly, "I wanted us to be friends. You're just too hostile all the time to notice." my eyes swerved to avoid hers but those green eyes were burning a hole into my head. So I turned and looked at her.

Her expression said as much as a brick wall, but her eyes were like glowing embers. No, they were bonfires. "You're very interesting. I don't like that. I can't stand that I'm so captivated by you, I'm growing sick of it. No matter how high I build walls around me you keep climbing them."

"But I... I don't get it. Why are you always so unruly? What does that have to do with me specifically?" I just stood there, feeling puzzled. Jade West thinks I'm interesting? Whatever happened to the disgust and uncaring attitude? Has she only hated me because she thought she had to? But she merely laughed. It was a soft, low laugh, the small creases near her eyes giving off an oddly kind expression to her normally so deadpan features. It quite suit her.

Jade took one last, long drag of her cigarette and arched her back, blowing the smoke upward, out of my face this time. She was so close I could almost follow the moves she made being reflected in her eyebrow piercing, see the way her lips curled into a sly smile and suddenly I felt uneasy yet thrilled. It had never struck me how gorgeous Jade actually was up until now. Which was a fact hard to deny when she was this close to me. The black-haired girl took the cigarette out of her mouth and, without arguing or giving me any warning, simply put it in between my own lips. Something similar to dominance flickered once, twice in her eyes. Her lips curled further into a smirk that hid feelings she couldn't bring to words. So instead, she pressed a kiss on my cheek like the seal of a secret pact that can't be spoken of.
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A/n: lolol, see what I did there? :D Anyways, there isn't much to tell about this. Victorious bandwagon, so I decided to write something about it. First Victorious fic, implied Jori, as you can see. Also, Sikowitz is the fiercest Jori shipper around. Praise the father of this ship! ALL HAIL SIKOWITZ!
Hope I got them in character enough, though maybe Jade is a little bit too hateful. Oh well. Leave me a review? :D
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Disclaimer: I do not own Victorious
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