Gut Feeling.

1. Inner Workings.

"I swear to God I will brutally murder the next person who interrupts my audition!" screamed Jade West, Hollywood Art's resident badass, as she stormed across the stage to restart her scene for the fourth time.

The first time she started she was interrupted by a perky freshman seeking a different classroom, who was promptly and unkindly chased away. Next it was the nurse seeking Sinjin (no one dared to ask why). Unlucky number three happened to be Lane, who burst in looking for Jade herself. She continued fuming on stage, her limited daily quota of patience having already been used up before the lunch period was even over, as two men in black suits followed Lane into the theater.

"Jade," the guidance counselor began evenly, "these men are from the police department. They need to speak with you."

"Am I being arrested?" Jade asked indifferently.

"No."

"Has my car been stolen?"

"No, but—"

"Then it can wait!"

Lane responded with a resigned, "'kay," and led the suits from the police station out into the hall.

Ten minutes later Jade joined them, looking significantly less outraged, her bag slung over her shoulder, her audition complete to her satisfaction.

"Alright, what?" she demanded of the suits, slipping her Pear Phone into the pocket of her jeans.

"Jade, these—"

"I didn't ask you." Jade turned her attention expectantly toward the suits. Suit #1 looked down at her, grim determination clenching his jaw as he spoke.

"Your father was attacked last night."

"Oh." Jade was significantly subdued by her shock. "By whom?"

"Well, that's what we're trying to figure out," Suit #2 supplied.

"Oh."

They were all quiet for a few seconds, until Jade asked apprehensively, "is he dead?"

"No," Suit #1 responded quickly. "But he is in an induced coma until the swelling in his brain goes down."

"So he was beaten." It wasn't a question.

"Well… Yes. With a tire iron, as far as we can tell, in the parking lot outside the restaurant Nozu."

"Jade," Lane said, in therapy mode, "I've given you the rest of the day off."

"Why would I need that?" she snapped, recovered.

"Well, we assumed you would want to see your dad…"

"I know what he looks like!" she retorted. "I mean, I've already seen him for this month."

"This month?" Suit #2 questioned. Jade rolled her eyes at his lack of tact (and intelligence). #2 was clearly the rookie of the operation.

"Yes. Monthly visits. That was the custody agreement." Her words were clipped.

"Oh."

"Yeah. Oh."

"Jade," Lane tried again. She was starting to want to cut out his tongue. "Jade, I really think you should go see your dad."

"I can't. I have tests in two classes and an assignment due in the other."

"I'm sure your teachers will understand."

"Well I don't! Why would I want to visit someone who's unconscious?" Without waiting for an answer, Jade stalked around the corner and out of sight.

Someone tried to kill her father, apparently with brute force alone. The fact that this happened to someone in her family – not someone on the news, but someone in her albeit broken family – was shocking enough to make her hands shake. She didn't care much for her dad, that was true enough. He had particularly upset her recently at a showing of the last play she wrote, where he left halfway through the first act and called her mother about pulling her out of school because she wrote such disturbing material. Jade admitted that the play was dark, but it had a happy ending…somewhat. At least, nobody died or was maimed in that particular show. She had phoned him in a rage, and the confrontation was upsetting to say the least. It wasn't enough to make her plan his murder, but it stung even now. Still, Richard West didn't deserve to be beaten half to death. For all her talk of violence, Jade couldn't condone such a crime, even when the victim was such a man. But perhaps the crime had nothing to do with her father's terrible personality, and more to do with money or sheer convenience. Even Jade couldn't unravel the inner workings of such a mind.

Another mind she couldn't unravel smacked into her full force as she rounded the corner near the central stairs.

"Oh, sorry!" Beck said as he backed away.

"It's fine," Jade said harshly. Her feelings about Beck were, as always, mixed. She hated him for the way they broke up, hated herself for breaking up, and wished things could be as they had been before, when everything was fine. "Why are you out of class?"

"Flying to Canada today to visit family," he responded, making an airplane gesture with his hand. "Why were you in guidance? Finally kill Sinjin?"

She knew it was a joke, but it rattled her. Did Beck really think her capable of killing someone?

"I didn't kill anyone!" Jade shouted. "You know I wouldn't do that."

"Woah," Beck stepped back again. "Yeah, I know. It was a joke. Is everything alright?"

"My," Jade paused to groan at the fact that she was telling the truth. "My dad was attacked last night and he's in the hospital unconscious."

"Oh my God! What happened?"

"Someone beat him up with a tire iron apparently."

"Oh my God," he said again. "Are you okay?"

Jade shrugged. "Fine. Never liked the guy anyway."

The bell rang.

"Right," Beck was saying. "Well I'll be in Canada for a few days but please keep me posted, alright?"

"If I can." Jade stalked off to her next class without saying goodbye. She had gotten to a point where she almost hated seeing Beck; she would rather not see him at all than have such awkward conversations.

The rest of the day went relatively smoothly, especially knowing another Beck encounter was impossible, no matter how handsome he still was. Jade didn't tell anyone else what happened, and no one was looking at her funny (or funnier than usual), so the policemen must have gone unnoticed. But when the end of the day came around, she dragged her feet and took a detour, dreading her mother's hysterics when she got home. Thought it had been over three years since the divorce, Linda West clearly harbored a hope that her ex-husband would come back home again. Jade knew he wouldn't — exes rarely do, and she knew that firsthand.

When she finally did get home, Jade found her mother exactly how she expected her to be: sitting on the couch surrounded by wet tissues. When she noticed Jade's presence, Linda leapt off the couch and smothered her daughter in a hug.

"Oh, honey," she sobbed against Jade's shoulder.

"I know, Mom."

"It's so awful!"

"Yeah."

Linda stepped back and started gathering up the tissue mess.

"You don't have to see him if you don't want to. I know how you feel about him."

"I'm…" Jade hesitated. "I'll see him if you want me to, but I don't get why you'd want me to."

"He would want you there," Linda said gently, brushing her tissue-free hand against her daughter's cheek. "He loves you."

Jade scoffed.

"I do want you to see him, but not until he wakes up."

"When are they waking him up?"

"Tonight or tomorrow morning; they called."

"I'll…" Jade sighed. "I'll go visit tomorrow. During lunch."

"Promise?"

"Promise."

"Thank you sweetheart."

"Will you meet me there?" Jade asked expectantly.

"No, no, I couldn't. I would be in the way. Besides, I can't stand hospitals."

"Right." Jade's voice was faint.

Keep my eyes open

My lips sealed

My heart closed and

My ears peeled

Welcome back everyone! Here is the first chapter of the rewrite. Not much has changed, but things get a little different through the rest of the story. I'm up to chapter ten right now, so expect more soon! More Beck, more insight into Jade, maybe even more crime ;)