Author's Note: Yeah, I know. You guys want Like Cats and Dogs. I'm working on it. My Mom was in a car accident and I had to take care of her after her surgeries. Yes, surgeries as in more than one. I also had to move into a bigger place so she could have her own room, which meant working longer hours so I could keep up with the new bills. I've been trying to find time to write, but it's been kinda impossible. I've got things kinda regulated now. I'll try to have Like Cats and Dogs updated by the end of the month. "Try" being the operative word here. Please work with me. I'll appreciate your patience very much.

{~~~O~~~}

Oh. My. God.

My fucking head. Ow. Fucking, ow!

Those are my first thoughts.

I try to open my eyes so that I can maybe get a better idea of what the fuck is wrong with me, but I fucking can't right now. I just can't.

In fact, I can barely do anything. I can't seem to move, or breathe, or think. Well, I can think a little. But the only thoughts I seem capable of having are a slight few. Like, Ow. Fuck. My head. And fuck again.

What the hell!

I bring my hand up, to try and press on my head and alleviate the pressure a little. But my hands aren't doing what I tell them too.

They're too busy twitching at my sides.

Again. What the fuck?

"Amber?"

That voice. It's so fucking loud and needs to shut up.

"Amber?"

The hands that belong to the loud ass voice shake me, and I swear I'd kill it if I could.

"Oh my God, Amber!"

I moan a little. But it comes out as this pathetic little whimper.

"Mom!" I hear the voice scream, and it's like nails on a chalkboard times a thousand. I push up, so I can roll over a little and slap the shit out of the voice.

Or try to anyway. I don't go anywhere. My hand still doesn't move.

I still can't move.

It's just as well. The voice has disappeared.

For like a second.

It comes back, with two other voices. Both of the voices' tones are at an octave that doesn't grate the nerves, but they're still pretty damn loud. Ordering one to tell it what happened, demanding that the other call the police.

I just really wish they would all just shut the fuck up and let me die in peace. Because there's no doubt in my mind that that's what I'm doing. Dying. And no, I'm not being dramatic.

And to make matters worse, the fucking voices. God, why won't they shut the fuck up?!. One of them stays relatively calm, low, and deep. The whole time it stays like that. It's actually kind of soothing; but the other one, it gets higher and higher by the second as it chatters away. And it chatters non fucking stop.

And to make matters worse. Fucking sirens. I start to hear them. That long high pitch wail.

I groan, or try to groan out of discomfort, but nothing. Nothing comes out.

Fuck.

The sirens get louder and louder until I just can't take it anymore. Literally. I just stop having any thoughts altogether.

Like I'm asleep. Or something.

Or dead.

Now, I'm totally being dramatic. No. I know I'm not dead. Because I'm starting to have conscious thoughts again. And my first thoughts aren't, am I in heaven?

I know I'm in the land of the living. I'm just not sure where I am.

I open my eyes, but slowly because that's just how my body is processing everything. Slowly.

I look around for a second, noting that I feel a little better than before. There's still a little pain in my head, but I mostly feel groggy, and disgusting. Like I need to brush my teeth but the thought of toothpaste makes me want to chuck at the same time.

Then I fully get my bearings and realize I'm in the hospital.

Just great.

I hate hospitals. Hate them.

"Amber? You're awake."

I frown and turn my head a little to the left. Tori is sitting by my bedside.

I'd tell her my name is Jade, but I can't even say that because my lips are not cooperating with me.

Dammit. I hate this feeling. My body should do whatever the hell I tell it to do when I tell it to do it!

Then I see Holly and Grayson come in through the door behind her. And they've got the brat, Trina, with them. You can guess this makes me feel even worse.

The first thing a person wants to see when waking up in a hospital is their family. Their mom, or moms in my case, and their two sisters. They don't want to see strangers.

But I do. I see Tori, Grayson, Holly, and Trina. And it makes me feel so lonely and out of place.

"How are you feeling, Jade?" Holly asks.

If I could, I'd smile at her. It'd be a totally involuntary act, but the fact that she calls me Jade instead of Amber is almost like having a little piece of home here.

But to answer her question, I still feel like shit; so, I close my eyes and hope everyone goes away.

There's a sinking dip by my arm, and I roll over a bit because somebody's fat ass just sunk some of my bed in by sitting down next to me.

I open my eyes again and attempt to a glare.

Holly smiles back at me, letting me know my attempt was a total failure.

"We'll be right back, okay?" She smiles at me.

Yes. Leave. Please. I beg with my eyes.

She gets up, unsinking my bed, and I see her, Tori and that little brat leave.

But Grayson stays.

He shuts the door behind him.

I wonder if I shut my eyes and pretend to be asleep will he go away.

So, I try it.

"Open your eyes, Amber." He barks.

Obviously, the answer is no.

Fucker.

I open my eyes and look at him, not necessarily because he told me too, but if he's planning on doing anything…weird, like tamper with my IV, or something, I wanna see him do it.

"What the hell were you thinking?!" He glares down at me.

I try to roll my eyes. How the hell should I know how the fuck I ended up here!

"I don't know how Ellen governs her household, but you're home with me now. I will not have you overdosing on drugs under my roof!" he hisses. It's like he wants to whisper so no one can know that The Great Grayson West's daughter is on drugs, but he wants to be harsh and menacing at the same time.

I try again to roll my eyes. I'm not afraid of this guy. When's he's going to learn that? And I didn't take any drugs! I mean, seriously. I've never been into drugs. Drinking yeah, but….wait.

Crap!

The fucking ice cream with Dustin's special medicine! That's what I od'd on?! I swear I'm going to kill Cat when I get a hold of her.

Logically, I realize it's not her fault I ate the ice cream with her brother's medicine in it, but still…

"You're grounded, Amber. Work. Then home. Then work. Then home for the next three weeks." Grayson has the nerve to say.

Dammit. I can't roll my fucking eyes. I need to be able to so bad so I can show Grayson just what I think about him trying to punish me.

I'm not grounded. Not even because I did nothing wrong. I'm not grounded because I say I'm not grounded. I mean, what the hell can he do to me if I don't comply? Exactly, not a damn thing.

I ignore the shit out of him and close my eyes again, but this time I accidentally fall asleep.

When I open my eyes again, I feel a million times better.

But again, there's this heavy feeling of sadness that settles into the pit of my stomach when I realize Holly's here. Not either of my moms.

"Are you ready to go home, Jade?" She asks.

"Yeah, but that won't happen for another year." I manage to say with way less difficulty than I thought I would be able to.

She looks a little taken aback for a second, and then she masks it with a smile.

"Well, we'll settle for getting you back to my house then."

"Okay," I mumble, trying not to smile. I look around for Tori, but I'm guessing this is a new day and she's probably in school or something. Which means I have to ride back with Holly. By myself. God I hope she doesn't talk and try to bond.

She doesn't

The ride home is made in complete silence. Which is kinda worse than if she was talking. Hell she could've put the radio on country and it would've been better.

It's so uncomfortable.

And when we finally get to the house I actually smile. I've never been so happy to see Grayson's house in my life.

I hurry to the door, and realize I don't have a key because I was rushed straight from Tori's bed, so I have to wait for Holly to let me in.

"Why don't you settle into bed and I'll bring you something to eat," she suggests.

"No thank you." I answer quickly. Even though I'm hungry, the thought of laying in bed for another second just makes me feel antsy.

I hurry to the house phone and call my job to apologize profusely for missing work. If I lose this job, I swear I'll lose my sanity along with it.

Lucky for me, today started off pretty slow, so my boss said that when my sister called this morning, she told her it was alright.

Ms. Lee could only be referring to Tori when she mentioned my sister, but snapping at her about calling Tori my sister doesn't sound like the best of ideas right now

So I let it go and hang up.

Now all I have to do is find something to do.

TV sounds like a good idea.

I don't have a TV in my room, so I go to Tori's and turn hers on before making myself comfortable in her bed. Yeah, I don't want to be in bed, but the thought of being here when she gets in kinda tickles me. I know she's gonna have a total wazzfit.

I only have to wait a few hours to witness it.

Unfortunately, she's not alone.

She comes in with Beck. The boyfriend.

"Amber! What are you doing in my room! Blah, blah, blah…." She wizzes.

I ignore her and scowl at him, the boyfriend. But I guess it looks more like I'm just reacting to Tori's freak out.

"Get out!" She yells.

"You get out," I counter.

"This is my room!"

Suddenly, well, maybe not suddenly, but I get the urge to fuck with her and her relationship. I just can't help it.

"Are you embarrassed about us sharing a bed?" I ask. Eyes squinted accusingly and everything. "Is that a problem all of a sudden?"

Beck looks confused for all of two seconds before he catches on to what I'm insinuating.

It takes Tori a lot longer.

She doesn't get it until I wink at her, to kind of help her out.

Her eyes grow huge and she opens her mouth to protest, but she just gets stuck saying, "I…uh…I….I…."

It's hilarious.

"It's okay, babe. She can stay." The boyfriend butts in.

Suddenly, my mood darkens. Seriously? I got this. I don't need help handling Tori Vega!

"Beck," Tori finally speaks. "She's just saying that, we don't…well, she sleeps in here, but we just sleep." She babbles.

It's kinda cute actually.

"It's nothing, babe. I believe you," Beck leans in and kisses Tori.

"Gross." I gag before getting out of bed and heading toward the door.

"Is that all it takes to get you out of my room?" Tori asks.

"I'll be back tonight." I rebuttal immediately so that she doesn't think she won.

Then I go get the house phone and call my job out of sheer boredom. I 'm ready to beg Ms. Lee to let me come in tonight, but I don't have to. Nozu's is swamped all of a sudden and she would love to have me.

I think about asking Tori for a ride to work, but the idea of not telling anyone where I am, just makes me feel so much better. They'll probably think I ran away. The thought gives me a mini orgasm.

I leave the house as quietly as I can and catch the bus.

Nozu's is just as swamped as Ms. Lee said it was. These people and their sushi. I swear…

But it's good thing, especially the tips.

Well, I'm not too sure about my next table. It's full of jocks and cheerleaders, and I really don't want to go over there. Those kinds of guys don't tip good. But I do it anyway. It's my table.

I put on my best smile and direct my attention to the head jock. I can tell he's the one because while all the other guys seem to be paired with another girl, this guy is hogging a few girls to himself.

Gross.

Nevertheless, I put on my best smile. Which I'll admit happens to be a little flirty. "Hey, I'm Jade. What can I get you?" I ask.

The girls flanking Head Jock scowl at me a little, which is fine. I imagine they feel a little threatened by me. Except for one. She smiles back at me. She must be at least bi.

She's cute too.

"I'm Hudson," Head Jock smiles at me, a bit predatory-like if you ask me.

I lift an eyebrow, "What can I get you?" I repeat.

"Your number."

Direct. But I can be direct too.

I take the menu from his hand, making sure I bend over just enough to give him a good cleavage shot. "Hmmm, it doesn't seem to be on the menu." I say while giving it back. "I'll give you a minute to look this over again." Then I sashay my way to another table. Cool and collected.

I come back a few minutes later.

Head Jock orders a spicy tuna platter and some noodles.

I'm about to ask his buddies what they want when he touches my arm for attention.

I scowl at him, but it doesn't deter him in the least. "I'm having a party at my house tomorrow night. You should come by." It doesn't sound very much like a request.

He's a bossy one. And intense as hell. I think it's his eyes. They're super light, but they're surrounded by really dark lashes, so the contrast is really….well, intense.

"Should I?" I ask.

"You should."

"I'll see."

"Tell you what," he gives me his number and address. "Come or don't come, but now you know where to find me."

I smirk and take the piece of paper. I don't want to go to his party. Not really, but since Grayson grounded me, I feel like it's a good idea.