Jaded Eyes (Jori)

5: Peculiar

"I don't get scared, cupcake"

"Perfect, my car's in south lot. Let's go" Tori said little bit more chipper than Jade would've liked and she seemed unaffected by the nickname which made Jade annoyed. Nonetheless, she followed behind the brunette out the doors into the sunlight.

"Fucking hell" Jade says as the Sun glares into her eyes as she walks. She put her hand up to shield her eyes from the abusive light. Reaching behind her, into her backpack side pocket, she pulls out her Oakleys and situates them on her nose.

Finally being able to see again, she looks towards Tori, unlocking her car about a three feet away from it.

The car.

"Wait, hold up, this is your car?" Jade questions as Tori puts her had on the handle looking a little confused.

"I have the keys, don't I?"

"I've seen this car around town. Whenever I walk home, I always think it's following me. It been happening for about a week. " Jade says

"Well, whoever that is, it isn't me. My car isn't unique. It's a Nissan Altima, I see them all the time." Jade was analyzing every word Tori spoke, looking for a discrepancy. She found none, and, to Jades knowledge, Tori hasn't lied to her. Plus, Tori just moved here, how could it be her?

Pushing the thought to the back of her mind, she opens the familiar door and sits. Whilst putting her buckle on, she turns to face Tori.

"So I was thinking you could do tab C and I'll get going on tab D." Jade spoke in more of a demand than a suggestion. Thankfully, Tori agreed to the plan. Remembering what Tabs C and D contain, Jade predicted that she'd be at Tori's until around 19:30

The drive didn't entail much and Jade mapped the route. It wasn't the same route that the other Nissan had taken which was further proof that the driver was not Tori. God, I really need to drop that. Jade thought as Tori pulled into the driveway.

"Holy shit"

Was all Jade could say while looking at Toris house. A four car garage, massive windows which gave the house a modern look and a glimpse of a balcony near the back side. Jade has never been to this part of town before. The garage opened, and Tori pulled in. Her car is on the far left and the other three spots were taken up by a McLaren P1, an Audi A8, and a Lamborghini Aventador.

"Dude, you didn't tell me you were rich rich." Jade spoke while getting herself out of the car. "Says the girl with Oakleys" Tori replies and Jade was obviously ignoring her. She was too busy being drawn to the P1, her dream car which she could only afford if she married a prince.

"Yeah, or a princess" another voice spoke. Tori's. Jade realized she must've said it out loud. Tori also got out of the car with out a sound. "Yeah or a princess, I guess. Just some rich person if I'm honest" Jade let's out a soft laugh and Tori found herself examining her shoes.

After picking up her jaw up off the floor, Jade turns to face Tori. "So, shall we?" Tori says pointing towards the door. "We shall.... after we gets our bags. Back seat, remember?" Jade chuckles as Tori opens the back seat and grabs both bags. "These might be important if we are planning to work." "Yeah just a little" Jade replies after grabbing the bag out of Tori's hand.

Tori is the only one who realized their hands touched by the pass of the bag.

Tori leads the way past the other three cars and opens the door to the mansion. Jade gets hit with the smell of something sweet. She assumes the kitchen must be near by. Tori kicks off her shoes and Jade does the same. As they swing left, the kitchen greets them just as Jade suspected.

A woman, who looked around forty years old, stands behind the island counter with a blue apron on. The apron is pretty messy but not as messy as it should be with so many cupcakes around the kitchen. If Jade were making this many, her apron would've definitely been covered in batter. The woman looks almost like Tori but not quite. Her mom. Of course she's be baking sweets.

"Hi, mom. Brought a friend over, she's gonna help me with a project for class." Tori informs her mom while hugging her.

"Not much of her friend. I was forced to work on this project with her." Jade retorts softly glaring at Tori. Tori just brushes it off and smiles a bit.

Jade looks over at the mother, hoping for repulsiveness but all Jade gets is a chuckle. "Nice one Tori! You always make funny friends."

"Let's go upstairs, it will be less noisy. The mixer can be pretty loud." Tori suggested and Jade quickly agreed. Before they could make it to the stairs, they heard Tori's mom again.

Coming around the island holding a plate of sweets, she says, "Oh darlings, bring this up with you. I made too many for the fundraiser anyway."

"Thanks, mom!" Is all Tori says before bolting up the stairs with Jade trailing behind trying to get a good look at the place. Minimal pictures on the walls, many green, well taken care of plants, and the furniture was mostly white leather. Very modern for LA.

They reached Tori's room. Jade set her bag down on the rug and Tori came in a little later because she was busy closing and locking the door. Jade opened her bag and got her computer and notebook ready to go. Tori set down the plate of treats on her night stand to the left of her Queen size bed.

The first thing Jade noticed about her room was the amount of blue. Jade thought she had Tori pinned for a pink-loving girl, but she was clearly wrong. Not a sign of pink anywhere.

Tori was reaching for a cupcake, while Jade sat on the left side of the bed cross legged and got her logged into her laptop. Tori, now with a purple icing mustache sat down on the corner of her bed and looking at Jade.

"You're staring."

"Are we really going to get right to work? We just got out of school, why don't we have some down time, yeah?" Tori said before taking another bite of her cupcake.

"Nothing less than an A, remember?" Jade said without looking up. Then she heard a groan.

"Are you this serious all the time? What do you do for fun?" Tori asked eagerly, and was now laying on the bed on her stomach with her feet swinging in the air behind her.

Jade's fingers lifted off the keyboard for a moment, eyes lingering on the screen. Then, she looked down at Tori and replied, "smack perky redheads".

"What?"

"That's what I do for fun. I smack my friend Cat. Small red haired girl who follows me everywhere."

Tori smiled a bit and then furrowed her eyebrows. "You smack her? Why?"

"I'll have you meet her." Jade internally smiled, and then said, "get your laptop out"

"No"

"No?" Jade was genuinely confused by this act of defiance.

"Nope," the brunette said popping the 'p'. "I wanna talk first"

"What could possibly be more important right now than school work?"

"The fact I find you peculiar"