Love on the Brain

Jade was sitting in front of the dinner table, her eyes glancing down at her fried egg, before they looked at her parents, who were sitting in silence next to her. Her dad was busy looking through the paper, and her mother was busy drinking coffee, trying to avoid looking at the new hair colour on her daughter’s head.

“You’re grounded,” Esther announced, repeating it for the third time this morning.

She was still utterly speechless about what she had seen that night when her daughter came climbing through the window, and nor was she ready to talk about it properly.

“Olivia will pick you up,” her father announced shortly, before he got up and went to refill his cup.

At this point Jade was very convinced that nothing could be worse than her mother screaming at her about how Yale would never accept someone who dressed like a prostitute regardless of how good the grades were. She really had hit rock bottom on this one, and Brian had informed the guys about it as well.

“And you can leave your phone at home when you’re at school. You won’t need it,” her mother added.

“Okay,” Jade responded, placing her phone on top of the kitchen counter, before she grabbed her messenger bag and went outside, where she found Olivia’s car waiting for her.

Her parents acted as though she hadn’t just left for school, none of them wishing her a good day, as she paddled down the patio and walked up to Olivia’s car, ignoring her eyes that had widened a lot since last time she saw her.

“They weren’t kidding,” she said, holding in her breath and still glaring at the red hair colour. “I can’t believe it,”

“I don’t think your reaction can be worse than theirs,” Jade told her cousin, buckling her seatbelt and leaning back.

“Considering your mother suggested a private catholic boarding school, I think you’re right,” Olivia agreed. “But still! What the hell went through your head? Were you high on something?” she barked.

“What? Of course not! I just wanted to do something new,” the redheaded girl shrugged.

“Then why couldn’t you just try out a new lotion or perfume? You didn’t have to go all crazy!” Olivia cried out, her eyes drifting over to her cousin, almost forgetting that she was in fact driving.

“Oli, come on! I’ve been obeying my parents my entire life! I wanted to do something different for once. I wanted to just do something for myself and not for them,” Jade sighed.

Olivia sighed too. “Honey, there’s nothing wrong about obeying your parents. Who told you otherwise? Haner? DiBenedetto?” she cocked her eyebrows.

“Leave them out of this,” Jade warned. “They’ve been nothing but good to me,” she insisted.

“Good? They’re turning you into some goth princess!” Olivia sneered. “This is nonsense. You’re just too caught up in Brian, seriously,” she shook her head.

“What? Why are you taking my parents’ side? You’re supposed to be my friend!” Jade reminded her, realizing that she was in fact shouting now.

“Your parents have cared for you your entire life, so of course I’d be all team Perez! Not to mention that I want to go to college with you Jade, my best friend. If you keep screwing everything up like this, that won’t happen,” Olivia said, parking the car in front of the school.

“You’re unbelievable,” Jade shook her head, anger running through her entire body, as she unbuckled her seatbelt.

“Let’s lunch together, J,” Olivia suggested, glancing over at her cousin.

“Why would I want that when you’re not supporting me?” Jade questioned. “Did my parents tell you to do so?”

“J,” Olivia sighed, climbing out of the car and taking her cousin’s hand. “I do this because I love you, okay? Brian’s just a little crush you have now. In a couple of months, hopefully before that, he’ll be out of your life. We’re off to Yale, our dream!” the dark-haired girl mumbled.

A little crush?

Jade looked down at the ground. She was really falling for Brian. He was so loving and caring when he was around her, and she had never had that with anyone before. She had never experienced having someone who did everything in order to satisfy her and who would always be patient with her when she needed it.

“A guy came up to me during their concert and grabbed me,” Jade blurted.

Olivia turned around, looking at her cousin and instantly feeling uncomfortable. “W-what?” she stuttered.

“He called me a slut and started touching me, refusing to stop when I told him to do so,” the redhead went on.

“Gosh, Jade… That’s awful,” Olivia whimpered.

“Brian stopped him. He made him leave the venue, and after the concert when I was crying, he told me I should never blame myself for being harassed like that,” Jade said. “He literally saved me from a potential dangerous situation, and then you call him a little crush? He’s not that, Oli. I just wish you would give him the opportunity to show it,”

Just like that Jade took off, leaving her cousin behind, as she went to join her other friends who had been waiting on her.

The redhead soon tangled her fingers with Brian’s, feeling him pull her close to his side and let his arm hang around her shoulders.

“How do you do?” he mumbled, knowing about all the shit that went down with her parents.

“I’m grounded,” she shrugged. “For the first time,” she confessed.

“Oh,” Val sighed. “I thought you were kidding when you said they would murder you…”

“They’ll get over it,” Zacky insured her. “One time I had a party and I accidentally broke one of my mother’s favourite porcelain plates. She got over it,” he told the redhead.

“You clearly haven’t met my parents, Zack,” Jade chuckled. “They’re a little…” she trailed off, trying to find the right word.

“Catholic? Overprotective? Obsessive?” Brian threw out a bunch of suggestions, making his girlfriend poke his ribcage with her elbow.

“Something like that, I suppose,” she shrugged. “I know they’re only acting like this because they care, but mom went a little over the top this time,” she said.

“Come on! You’re like the sweetest pumpkin on earth!” Michelle announced. “They can’t be mad at you forever. I bet this won’t even last a day!” the blonde expressed.

But Michelle was wrong. Very wrong.

When Jade returned that evening her parents were still giving her the silent treatment. Her father was up in his office, sorting out old books, meanwhile her mother was outside, her eyes looking over her flowers and reminding herself of the better days she had had.

The redheaded girl snatched her phone from the kitchen counter, as her parents hadn’t told her she wouldn’t be allowed to use it when she was home. She then went upstairs and threw herself unto the bed, feeling exhausted after the long day and by the thoughts of the week that was to come.

She turned unto her stomach, looking at her phone, before she saw a new message on her screen. She had already seen the old ones, were Olivia tried to make up for her slip this morning, which was still too fresh in Jade’s mind.

'We’re going out tonight. I can sneak u out of the window?;-) xx'

A smile tugged around the corner of her lips. She didn’t exactly know what had come over her, as she had gone from obeying her parents to doing what she wanted. Jade typed quickly back, knowing that no matter what she did, she couldn’t get another punishment as bad as this one.