A/N:

Oh my goodness.

I haven't updated since February.

I'm awful.

Sorry.

Before anyone knows it, it's already that time of year again when schools starts again, and all of the kids would be moving to Hollywood Arts, the newest and fanciest acting school. Jade stares into the mirror, and takes a deep breath, forcing a smile upon her face. It didn't reach her eyes but Jade didn't let that get in her way.

"It's school," she says to herself, shaking her head. "You've been through way worse than a day at school. You'll do fine."

Beck watches with an amused smile at the doorway, and laughs. "You really will do fine," he says, making her jump. "Have you got everything?" He asks her, smiling. In the back of his mind, he replays the first time he had been there on Jade's first day of school. As Beck leads Jade down to breakfast, he prays that everything goes smoothly today.

Jade eats her breakfast slowly and carefully, watching Beck with raised eyebrows as he wolfs down whatever is near him. "You're messy." Jade comments.

"Not much has changed then?" Beck jokes. Andrea watches the two of them with a piqued interest. As far as she was concerned, her family were together again, and that's all that mattered to her. What Jade endured in England, Andrea could only imagine. All she knew was that she would make sure that Jade had everything she ever needed now she was home.

"If I remember correctly," Andrea interjects, "It was Jade who used to be the mucky pup. Girls, however, grow out of it. Boys seem to grow into it," she sighed, flicking a crumb from the kitchen table. "I'll drive you to school today. We can pick up Cat on the way. I wonder how Mr Valentine is coping. He wasn't too pleased about Cat getting a place, though nothing Cat is doing at the moment seems to please him too much."

"Like what?" Jade asks, confused. There were so many things that she couldn't understand because of the things she had missed, and it made her crave knowledge about all the missed events in her friends lives.

"Well, Jade," Andrea sighed deeply, "A lot of things have happened to that family, some of which you know. After Cat's mother died, Mr Valentine became very protective of his family, more so than say the usual father. And then when Cat's brother had his depression diagnosis, he put more pressure on Cat. She, of course, struggled with this. She had her own problems going on, and then she got a diagnosis of bi-polar. There were lots of problems in a short term. When Cat began to feel better, she started doing things that made her happy, and I was pleased for her. She dyed her hair red, because she likes red velvet cupcakes, and while that may not be so wise, it's reversible. She started singing, and acting, and she earned a scholarship at Hollywood Arts with Beck. It's been a tough few years for that family, and I'm not sure I would've coped as well as Mr Valentine has. Or Cat, for that matter. But she's still smiling, and an example to us all. Now come on, let's get you all to school. Have you got everything?"

Cat, as always, is bubbly on the car ride there, chattering away about everything and anything. Jade was surprised to find that Cat's incessant stream of meaningless stories comforted her greatly, and in turn, she sang a few verses of Black Star to entertain Cat. Beck simply sat back and watched his best friends laughing and having fun, something he'd envisioned all those years.

While Jade looked like they both imagined, Beck had greatly underestimated her beauty. Just looking at her took his breath away, and made him nervous. As much as he convinced himself that it was simply nerves about being around her after all this time, he suspected that it may be more.

Walking through the doors of the school, Beck and Cat both felt excitement bubbling beneath their cool exteriors, while Jade convinced herself that she was totally cool, no nerves, and forced herself to keep a completely blank face. Cat squealed in anticipation as they all looked around. Looping her arm around Jade's arm, Cat gave the other two teenagers the biggest smile she could muster. She didn't understand why they weren't jumping for joy, too, because after all, wasn't everything perfect now? They were all together once again, and they were going to the best performing arts school in the area.

The day went smoothly, as they had all hoped, and afterwards, they went for ice cream. Cat giggled over her cookie dough sundae, while telling Beck all about what happened at the beginning of lunch.

"This boy came up to Jade, and he was checking her out," she began, open mouthed. Beck pushed down the jealously that raged inside, and nodded. "Can you believe it? No-one hit on me. Anyway! He put his hand on her butt, and I seriously thought he was gonna lose his hand, Jade was maaad. And then he tried to take her into the janitor's closet, so she locked him in there!" Cat finished, giggling. "There was this weird kid in there with him, too - I think his name was Sinjin."

Jade offered Cat an indulgent smile, and winked at her. "Don't let anyone walk all over you, Cat. Just tell me if they do."

"Yeah," Beck smiled, his eyebrows wiggling in amusement, "Jade's pretty scary."

"She'd be more scary with like, piercings and tattoos."

"Like Little Miss Priss would ever get a piercing." Beck laughed, remembering all the times she squealed about getting dirt on her dress.

"Is that a dare?" Jade asked, raising an eyebrow. "Because if so, challenge accepted."

A/N:

Yep..Jade's changing into the one we all love and know. No more Little Miss Priss here. ;)

Stay tuned for the next chapter. If my updates are regular, it should be here in, say...5 months?! :P

I'll try and get it up as soon as I can, I promise!