The Challenge

Chapter 21

Jade's POV

The bell rang not 10 minutes after I made the call. I jogged downstairs and opened the door to find a very confused friend of mine with a curious look in her eyes.

"What do you mean you think you're falling for Tori?" Cat said confused, searching in my eyes any sign of explanation

"I'll explain everything, come in" I said calmly

You might be wondering why I would've called Cat, out of all the people I could've called. Why I called the ditsy, funny, kinda crazy redhead I called a friend. One simple reason: besides maybe Vega, she's the only person I trust. We've been friends ever since we were 13. We went to the same school, and she's the only one who understood me, until now.

We sat down on the couch in my room "You're probably confused" I started

"NO shit Jade" she said with a straight face

The thing is, I don't think people actually know the real Cat, maybe not even Beck. She's not as stupid as everyone thinks.

So I had to tell her everything. Everything from the first day of school when Sikowitz gave us the challenge, up to the exact point I knew I had developed a crush on Vega.

"So you guys "falling in love" in the summer was a lie..." Cat concluded after taking it all in after a while "It actually makes sense now. I didn't completely buy that.... But you're falling for Tori"

"I said I think I'm falling for her" I corrected

"If you thought that, you wouldn't have called me Jade"

Damn, she knows me so well it's hard to lie to her

"Who knows, maybe she's having the same problem. She's been acting weird lately" she pointed out

"Yeah, about that... She's been like that because I kissed her last week. But before you start flipping out" I said holding her shoulders down when I saw she was gonna freak "It was totally inappropriate, Cat. She's forgiven me, but I doubt she feels the same way"

We both sat there for a while, saying nothing, just thinking.

If she did feel the same way, would I notice? But I knew, she didn't

"You know what the worst part is? I fell for her, and not the other around. I always thought she was a hopeless romantic, but I was wrong. I thought I knew who Tori Vega was, but before this challenge, I knew nothing. I'm starting to get to know her, and my initial feelings towards her were completely mistaken". I tried to explain "I don't know Cat; my mind is just drowning in my thoughts"

"Jade..." she said with a sorry look in her eyes "I've never seen you like this"

"That's because I've never felt this way before. I feel like I need to be around her, when's she's away, I feel the darkness creeping in... She just makes my day better... She makes me better" I said while tears threatened to spill from my sad blue eyes

When Cat leaned forward and hugged me, I completely fell apart. It was not like me to cry over some crush, but Tori was changing me, even though I refused to accept it.

I cried on her lap for at least 10 minutes, but I needed to calm down

"What am I gonna do Cat?!" I threw my hands up in the air "I'm a complete mess"

"A freaking hot mess" she laughed, trying to cheer me up

I laughed as well. It was amazing how Cat was always a good friend to me, but I never was much of a good friend in return/

"I think what you should do is keep your cool. Maybe try and let her know that you like her without actually doing so. Let her know that you're interested, that you're open to an actual relationship with her. Be kind to her; keep your anger and jealousy in check. Act like a real girlfriend as her fake one, and be her friend when she needs you" said my very wise friend