By the time we made it to the door of the nurses office, I was completely over my near emotional breakdown, and was completely back to being myself. Though there wasn't a physical change to my appearance, Beck obviously noticed something because he squeezed my hand and gave me a small smile of relief. There was no break in the group's stride as they cruised through the door to the nurse's office. The idiotic elderly lady just stared at the group that had barged in unceremoniously. Never mind the fact that I was obviously bleeding. She collected herself quickly though, and sent the crowd out with a wave of her hand. Everyone that is, except for Beck.

"Son, you need to leave so that I can check out Jade's eye," she informed him sweetly.

"I would, but she won't let go of my hand," he laughed while scratching his head. I glared at him. So, he was going to flirt with the elderly nurse as well. He shrugged as if to say 'I'm just being friendly'.

"What? Speak up. I can't hear you. "

"I said, 'she won't let go of my hand!'"

"Jade, let go of his hand."

"No."

"If you don't then I can't check out your eye."

"Then don't and we'll leave."

"Wait! Let me grab the trashcan before you heave." Honestly, how could such a feeble lady be the freaking school nurse? She was completely incompetent.

"If you're not gonna check me out then I'll just leave! It's just a black eye!" I shot her a snarl.

"Don't be silly," she glared. "You don't need a rabbi. Now sit down, and let me look at your eye." My eye's popped open. She wasn't even affected by my aggressiveness. This stern lady came out of nowhere. "I know exactly how to deal with stubborn patients. Now quit being a gank and let me have a look."

"He's not leaving." There is no way I was going to just let her force me to do her bidding. I was Jade, the rebellious girl whom everyone feared.

"Did I say, 'let go of his hand and sit down'"? No, I didn't. Obviously, you're going to refuse to let him leave no matter what I do so it would be redundant for me to insist upon it." Looks like she finally gets it. I made my way over to the plastic chair she had indicated and sat down while Beck leaned against the counter it was next to. She gave Beck another glance. "I don't have any extra chairs," she said brusquely.

"That's fine. I'm perfectly comfortable."

"Good, now stay quiet or I will make you leave."

"Yes ma'am," he saluted.

The nurse rolled her eyes and turned back to me. "So, what's the damage?"

"My eye," was she freaking blind too?

"Well obviously, but are there any other injuries? A boy came running in here shortly before you arrived and started yapping about a broken chair. Any ideas as to why?"

"Tori Vega purposely…"

"I've got no time for your teenage drama. Were you injured?"

Seriously, she's interrupting me? "No," I clipped out. I purposely stayed my hand from grabbing onto the injured one. I already didn't like this lady and I sure as hell didn't want her prying into my life.

"Are you sure? Sometimes the adrenaline can cause the pain to be masked. There's no reason to be a tough person in here." Ha, I could think of one, and it revolved around Vega. She would not win.

"I'm sure you're right." I faked a smile. "I'm not trying to be tough though. If there was an injury, there would be no reason I would hide it."

She narrowed her eyes. "People hide injuries for all sorts of reasons. I'm just making sure that you're not one of those idiots who try to reject help when they need it."

I bristled. I was not an idiot. If I was, then I would think that showing her my arm would get Vega in more trouble and make her miserable. I wasn't, and I knew that even if her punishment worsened, she would still have the satisfaction of knowing she had hurt me. He always enjoyed it. Why would she be any different? "Well, I can assure you that I'm not. My eye really hurts though. Can I go home after you take a look at it," I imitated Vega as best I could minus the accent. Maybe if I seemed eager to go home, she would think I was overplaying it instead of downplaying.

"No you may not!" That set her off. Good. "Honestly, people like you are always trying to get out of class." Ouch, that kind of stung. People like me. Well, it's not like I didn't earn that reputation. "You are not injured to the point of hospitalization so you are going back to class. Hold still while I take a look at the extent of the bruising. She roughly grabbed my face and angled my head this way and that. "You bruise easily. It's already starting to color." That's because it's a day old. Some nurse you are. "Oh well, despite the swelling that developed really quickly, I see nothing to cause too much concern." With that, she grabbed a cotton swab and applied a generous coat of some foul smelling liquid onto it. The moment she pressed the cotton onto the cut below my eye, I recoiled. That stung like a bee. I hate bees! "Quite being a wimp." I was many things, but a wimp was not one of them. I squeezed Beck's hand just a little as she pressed it back to my face, but I showed no further signs of discomfort. Once she was done, she applied a weird looking band-aid to it and stepped back to admire her handy work. She was looking at me when a frown crossed her face. She turned to Beck. "She got hit by a cane, right?"

"That's correct."

"You saw her get hit, right?"

"Yes."

"Why would a cane leave a scratch as well as a bruise," she wondered to herself. Damn it, I'm so close to getting out of here.

"How would I know? You're the nurse." She glared at me; sending shivers down my spine, though I would never admit it.

"Watch it, or I'll keep you in here all day with nothing to do." Ha, she thinks she can scare me into submission. Heads up lady, I've dealt with far worse. "I'll make your friend leave as well." Well, that was going to be how she played it. If she wanted to play dirty, then she was going to lose. I began to imagine all the ways to give her hell until Beck squeezed my hand. He gave me a knowing glance. One that said 'I know what you're doing and please don't do it'. I slowly realized that the longer I stayed here, the larger a chance that she will realize she needs to take a look at my hand.

"Look, I got hit, what else is there to it? Maybe the force of the blow broke skin, I really don't know. I do know that this chair is uncomfortable and I'd really like to see my favorite teacher Sikowitz." I didn't like Sikowitz, but he was definitely preferable to the other teachers.

"That's plausible, I suppose. Alright, just be sure to put ice on it when you get home and you'll be fine." We stood up and Beck switched his hands to be placed on my shoulders.

"Don't worry," Beck interrupted my snarky comment, "I'll make sure she does." The nurse raised her eyebrow at us as we made our way out of the door. Before we could fully escape, she called out, "Do I need to lecture you two on the necessity of protection?"

I was mortified. Honestly, did everyone presume that we were shagging? I began to turn around to give her a piece of my mind, but Beck's grip on my shoulders tightened and he called over his shoulder, "That's completely unnecessary."

"Good, keep it that way," she said as the door closed.

"Just cause you couldn't get some if you tried," I mumbled.

"Thank you," Beck said.

"For what?"

"Not saying that to her face. So, instead of our rescheduled date, do you just want to hang out at my place?"

"Absolutely."

"Alright. Now, let's get you to Sikowitz's class.

"Do we have to?" I looked over my shoulder at him.

"Yes. We already missed second period and part of third."

I pouted and looked ahead again. I grabbed my throbbing wrist and continued walking forward.

"What's wrong with your arm?" Damn, he was suspicious again. I should probably tell him, and I didn't want to wait until tonight again in case something happened. I was also tired of avoiding his questions.

"I don't know," I confessed. "I think I hurt it when I fell through the chair."

"And you didn't tell the nurse this why?"

"Because I don't want Vega to know!" How could he not get that? What other reason could there be?

"I doubt the nurse is going to call Tori over and tell her all about it."

"Maybe not, but when people see a bandage around my arm, they'll figure it out."

"Fair enough. Let me take a look before we get to Sikowitz's class though."

"No."

"Jade," he warned. "We have a deal."

"Vega did this, not my dad. Therefore, the rules don't apply."

"Jade, you can't honestly expect me to know you're hurt and not do anything."

"That's exactly what I expect Beck." Beck stopped and turned me around to face him. We were right outside Sikowitz's door.

"Jade, that's not going to happen, now let me see."

"No!" Why couldn't he just let it go? I could see I wasn't going to get anywhere though. So, I tried to bargain. "Look, I'll show you after school at your place. Ok?"

"No, it's not ok. You can't just…"

"Beck, Jade, quit flirting and get in my class," Sikowitz's voice called through the door. I smirked and opened the door. I grabbed a seat near the front so that Beck couldn't bother me without Sikowitz hearing him. Beck grabbed the seat next to mine and immediately put his arm around my shoulder.

"This is not over," he informed me. I rolled my eyes.

"Beck, you've had enough alone time with Jade. It's time to focus on class. There are much more important things than relationships, like coconut milk. Ahhh, coconut milk. It can keep you company on even the loneliest of nights. Anyways, get up here with Andre. You two are going to do a drive by acting exercise in class.

The exercise took up the rest of class. When the bell rang, I quickly made my way out the door before Beck could have a chance to catch up. I assumed that when he couldn't find me, he would just continue on into lunch. I ran towards the girls' restroom immediately and locked myself in a stall. I yanked my sleeve back to check the damage. My eyes widened in shock when I saw the amount of blood soaking my arm. That wasn't the worst part though. The worst part was the piece of wood sticking out of my wrist.

I needed something to stop the blood, but I would not use toilet paper directly on an open wound. That was begging for an infection. There were paper towels outside the stall. I could use those, but I would have to be quick. I pulled my sleeve down and made a mad dash to the paper towels and back. I had just closed the door when I heard voices come in. I tuned them out while I bit down on my hoodie and yanked the wood out. I slammed a paper towel on the hole to stop the bleeding. Unfortunately, the pain was growing now that I had aggravated the cut. I was focusing on not whimpering when I heard my name mentioned along with Vega's.

"I heard that Tori got called into Lane's office today." Score. That'll teach her to mess with me.

"What for?"

"Didn't you hear? She gave Jade West a black eye!"

"The Jade West? And she's still alive?" For the moment.

"I can't believe it either. But get this. Tori got two weeks of detention for it. Plus, she has to clean up the stage area this Friday after the food fight scene." Yay, but that's kind of harsh. She didn't actually hit me, but she is the reason I'm bleeding. She did do it on purpose after all. Didn't she? What am I thinking? Of course she did.

"That's horrible. She's already going to die when Jade gets a hold of her."

"I don't think she will. I heard from her classmates that Jade was a mess. She even begged Tori for her mother." Excuse her. I would never beg.

"There's no way. I would believe you if you said Tori was begging for her mother after Jade West got a hold of her, but Jade. That's just not possible. You don't think Jade's going soft, do you?" Soft? Soft! Like hell I was getting soft!

"I think she might be. If she is, I might have a chance at Beck. Maybe I should flirt with him during lunch. She wasn't with him when he was heading outside." This got me furious. I grabbed the toilet paper and wrapped it around the paper towels like a bandage. I yanked my sleeve down and was about to slam the door open to show her who's soft when I nearly fell over due to dizziness. I yanked my sleeve up; assuming that I had bled through. I hadn't. Looks like my arm wasn't going to be obnoxious and bleed all day like my eye had. I leaned against the tiled wall as they left. My fight had gone out of my system. Besides this girl wouldn't make a move on Beck. She was obviously all talk. I just needed to lean against the wall for a bit and wait for the dizziness to pass, which it did soon. With renewed purpose, I strode out through the stall. I would not be beaten by a flesh wound. I looked at my eye in the mirror. The bruise was showing, but there would be no point in covering it up. The school knew about it anyways. Might as well wear it proud while Tori takes the blame.

oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

By the end of the school day, however, my guilt had over run my anger. I had seen Tori at lunch and she seemed miserable. I should have been ecstatic. Perfect Vega wasn't so perfect anymore, but I wasn't. She hadn't been the one to give me a black eye. As much as I wanted to bask in her misery, I couldn't. For the rest of my classes, I replayed the scene over and over again. It just didn't add up. If she wanted to hurt me, there were better ways. Why would she use the break-away chair? That would only point a neon sign in her direction. If she wanted to get away with it, she should have left it at the eye and claimed innocence. They probably would have believed her, they always do. The only option I could come up with is that she really didn't know it was a break-away chair. But if she was trying to help me afterwards, why try to hit me in the first place. Unless she wasn't trying to cause me harm at all. If that was the case, then I had a lot to feel guilty about. The slight doubt I felt only expanded as I made my way to the passenger seat of Beck's car after school. He came shortly after, and unlocked it so that I could get in. I hadn't even had a chance to turn around after closing the door before he bombarded me again. "Let me see."

"No." I was too busy thinking to deal with this right now.

"Jade…"

"We're still at school Beck."

"I don't care. I didn't see you at lunch, and you've been avoiding me in between classes. I need to know that you're ok."

"Beck, please. Not right now." He must have sensed that something was troubling me. He made a bargain. One that I quickly agreed to.

"Fine, but tell me this. How bad is it?"

"I already pulled out the splinter so it's not bleeding anymore."

"It was bleeding!" Why couldn't he be his calm and collected self right now?

"Not anymore. Look, you can take a look at your RV ok. Same deal. I promise."

He mulled it over and agreed. I put on a bored expression as we pulled out of the parking lot. Once we were out of school grounds, I mulled over the scene again and again until I came to a conclusion. Tori hadn't done anything on purpose. I had gotten her into undeserved trouble, and I had to fix this. But first, I had to tell Beck everything.

Hey! So, this didn't really come out the way I hoped, but I hope you guys enjoyed it anyways.