If anyone's still reading this, I thank you for your patience and I apologize for not updating. It isn't a long chapter, but there will be more coming. I'm updating all my stories by their update dates starting with those I haven't updated the longest.

~Black and Blue~

"What do you mean? What's wrong with Jade?" Beck asked.

Cat looked around the hallway, it was mostly empty.

"Jade has bruises on her face." She whispered.

Beck's heart stopped. "What are you talking about, Cat?"

"Someone threw water on Jade by accident and Jade ran into the bathroom so I went to check on her." Cat sniffled. "She's wearing makeup. Her face is all bruised and I think she has a black eye." Cat grabbed a handful of Beck's pant leg. "She says she got in a fight Beck. What if she's fighting again?" she whimpered.

"Where is she?" Beck demanded.

Cat pointed to the bathroom door.

Before Beck could move the door opened and Jade stepped out.

"Okay Cat- Beck… what are you doing here?"

Beck didn't answer. He looked closely at her face. At this distance he could tell, Jade was wearing a lot of make up.

"Cat, watch the door." He growled. He pushed Jade backwards through the door and back into the girls bathroom.

"What the- Beck!" Jade protested.

He gave her a gentle shove, pushing her back a bit more before he turned and blocked the door, barring her escape.

He turned towards her again and reached for her face. He smeared away some of the makeup.

"Beck!" Jade yelled.

Cat was right, there were bruises. He couldn't see to what extent, but there were definitely bruises.

"Who did this?" Beck demanded in a low voice.

"It's none of your-" Jade flinced when Beck's fist hit the wall beside one of the bathroom mirrors.

"Don't give me that shit!" He snarled. "Who. Did. It?"

Jade looked away. "I just got in a fight, alright? I don't know who the girl was."

"Jade, are you fighting again?" Beck asked.

"No! It was just a one time thing. Geez, get off my back!" Jade pushed past him and unblocked the door, storming out.

Beck cursed, giving the wall another punch before following her out of the room.

Jade was hurt.

Someone dared to touch his girl, and they left a mark.

He didn't care if it was some other girl. No one had the right to touch her.

Cat must have followed Jade when she left because she was no longer curled up beside the door.

He fought the urge to track them down.

Something wasn't right, he knew something wasn't right.

Jade knew he didn't mean what he said. She believed him.

Then why wouldn't she take him back?

Because of Garret.

Did she love Garret?

He didn't think so. He refused to believe it. She'd never love someone as much as she'd loved him.

Would she?

No, whatever was going on between Jade and Garret, it couldn't be love.

He knew what Jade was like when she was in love, it wasn't how she acted when she was around Garret.

So why wouldn't she take him back?

And now… now she's fighting again?

He didn't want to believe it.

Jade had gotten into a lot of fights before they met. She'd hung around with a bad crowd, Cat excluded of course.

Jade couldn't be hanging around with them again could she?

No. He didn't think so. Someone would have noticed. Cat would have noticed. If Jade was back with those hoodlums Cat would have told him.

So why did she have those bruises on her face?

Beck sighed.

Maybe he was thinking about it too much. Maybe it really was just a little fight and that was that. He hoped so. He couldn't bear the thought of Jade getting hurt.

The bell rang, signaling the end of lunch. He cursed and stalked off to class.

Jade plopped into her chair in her usual manner, struggling not to wince from the pain. She was glad that Cat wasn't in this class. Cat had chased after her when she left the bathroom. She apologized over and over. Jade couldn't handle the guilt. Cat was just trying to help her, and all she did was lie to her best friend. She left Cat standing outside her classroom with a dismissive "I'm not mad."

As the class began to start Jade felt her phone vibrate in her pocket. Not caring if her teacher saw, and knowing even if she did she wouldn't call Jade out on it, she pulled out her phone and pulled up the text.

She froze, it was Garret.

Come out and play babe.

I'm in the middle of class…

I wasn't asking.

Jade shoved her phone in her pocket and sighed. She should have just ignored her phone, and said she never saw the text until later.

Somehow she knew that wouldn't have worked even if she'd tried.

She grabbed her bag and stood, quickly leaving the room without a glance towards her flustered teacher.

It wasn't the first time she'd done this, and it probably wouldn't be the last. As the door shut behind her she idly wondered whether the teacher was going to even bother reporting her to the principle this time.

H.A. didn't care so much if you missed a class or two… it was after all, the parents money wasted, not theirs. Skipping class was just considered to be a form of expressing your artistic differences around here.

Jade stopped by her locker, grabbing a notebook. She headed to Cat's locker and popped it open. She shoved the notebook in and closed the door.

Her phone vibrated in her pocket.

I'm not a patient person babe.

She ignored the text and texted Cat.

I'm going home. I left next period's homework in you locker… hand it in for me?

She put her phone away and walked to the parking lot.

Garret was leaning against his car, smoking a cigarette.

Jade bit back a retort on his predictability and stood before him patiently.

"What took you so long?" He asked as he looked her up and down.

"I stopped by Cat's locker to drop off some homework so she could hand it in for me." She shrugged.

Garret smiled. If Jade didn't know what he was really like, she'd have thought it was a pleasant one. She did know though, and she could see the true cruelty behind it. "Well aren't you the dutiful student?"

He pulled her close, to anyone looking at them they probably looked like they were kissing. His face was close enough to hers that she could feel his breath on her face. His left hand snaked around her waist, pulling up her baggy sweatshirt and exposing the skin of her lower back and stomach. His hand stopped on her back.

"I would like to think…" He murmured, "that you were smart enough to realize that when I say I'm impatient… I mean it!"

Something in his right hand flickered and Jade realized he'd never finished his cigarette.

She heard the sound of her skin sizzle before she actually felt the burning sensation.

She tried to jerk back, but Garret's other hand held her steady.

She whimpered in pain.

The sizzle stopped as the cigarette went out.

She sucked in a ragged breath when he finally pulled it away.

"Let's go."

He opened the door he was leaning on and roughly shoved her inside.

Jade looked out back at the school. The urge to flee into it's safety flooded through her.

Movement drew her eyes to one of the windows facing the parking lot.

Her heart stopped.

Beck was standing at the window watching them.

She didn't have to wonder if he'd been watching the whole time.

The look on his face said that he had, and that he knew something was off.

Garret opened the driver side door and started the car.

As he pulled away and Beck and the window shrank away, Jade could have sworn she'd seen Beck say something.

"Don't go."

~End of Chapter~