Sequel: Fragile
Status: Finished! Thanks for the support everyone!

Handle With Care

Introduction

(Jade's POV)

This is the only time I am ever going to mention this so pay close attention. My name is Jade Gabriela Martinez, but you can never call me that unless you're my mother. To the rest of the world and my friends, my name is Jay. I grew up in a small town outside of Phoenix, Arizona with my mother, grandma and aunt. My father, grandpa, and uncle stayed behind in Mexico to help raise money for us to have a better life here in the US. Unfortunately, my mom eventually grew tired of being alone and shortly after I turned fifteen, she started dating my now step dad, Clay. He was your average upper class bank investor who owned nice cars and lived in this huge house with a pool and three stupid poodles. I on the other hand, hated him with every fiber in my body and refused to leave my grandma's house to move to California to keep up with Clay's job schedule. So despite the many protests from everyone, my mom reluctantly agreed to let me stay behind. So you would think everything would eventually get better, right? Well that wasn't entirely the case.

I'm now seventeen, waiting to turn eighteen in six months, with no stable place to stay, and freshly kicked out of high school. When my mom had heard the news of me being expelled for fighting, she completely lost it and insisted that I go live with her and Clay in Los Angeles until I could get my life straightened out. I had started getting into trouble right around the time I turned sixteen; meeting boys, drinking with my friends after school, smoking weed, ditching. It was fun, it was adventurous and more importantly, easy. I still do it til this day actually, just not as easily. Clay begged for my mom to put me through therapy and all that psychiatrist bullshit, which I strongly disagreed with but ultimately lost, so most of the time I was being dragged around from different appointment's day after day. On the bright side, I got to start a group therapy session of other fucked up kids just like me today, so making friends was going to be a breeze.

"Jade, Clay and I will be out at a company dinner tonight so you'll have to take the bus home from therapy today. But don't even think about going anywhere else, I'll make sure Ava checks in with me once you get there too. So I'll know if you don't." My mother warned as we pulled into the parking lot of the familiar small brick building. I just muttered a simple "Okay." before getting out quickly and practically slamming the door. I knew if I had said anything else to her, a war would ensue. I casually strolled along the walkway, staring around at all the other people who had started to show up. I noticed a few girls with tattoos and piercings hanging around the lobby who looked pretty cool to talk to so instinctively I made my way over to them. "Hey, are you new here?" A girl with pink hair and a septum said to me. I nodded with a slight shrug. "Yep. You guys too?" They both shook their heads, holding up a slip of paper. "Yeah us too. I'm KayT and this is Melody." The pink haired girl said pointing over towards the other girl with a shaved head and snakebites, before extending her hand out to me. I shook them both with a smirk "Nice to meet you guys, I'm Jay." Suddenly before I could make anymore type of conversation, the door to the meeting room had swung open.

We all filed inside, signing in our names on a clipboard before taking a seat. I sat beside Melody when I noticed a slender, muscular looking guy step in through the door. He had tattoos adorned all over his arms from what I could tell which instantly sparked my curiosity. Thankfully he took the seat across from me, which gave me an advantage to getting a better look at him. He had gorgeous dark brown eyes and an almost mysterious look on his face that made me just eager to know more. "Alright everyone we have three newcomers today. I'd like you all to welcome Jay, Melody, and KayT." A round of applause, but I couldn't keep my eyes off of this man. He definitely looked older, but I couldn't quite put my finger on who he might be. "Chester, since you're our veteran here, why don't you introduce yourself first?" Chester? That's a pretty interesting name. "Well hello, girls. Obviously my name is Chester. I've been here on and off for the last three years, I'm 24 and I'm the lead singer of a band." I peered over to my left, seeing the other girls faces go completely white. Okay, so he was famous I'm assuming, even better. "Okay thank you. Now Jay, how about you go next." I suddenly snapped out of my trance upon hearing my name called. I glanced around the room, slightly nervous. "Well, my name is Jay. I'm a full blooded Mexican with Aztec decent and according to my mom and stepdad I'm psychotic because I listen to punk music and dye my hair. Oh and I'm 18." I lied, knowing full well that the counselor knew my age, but luckily he didn't drag it on.

After KayT and Melody had their turns, I realized they were the same age as I was. Both seventeen waiting to turn eighteen in a few months. During our group session, I noticed the guy named Chester kept his eyes somewhat fixated on me which struck my curiosity even more. We were then paired up with a partner to help get a better insight into our lives as the counselor liked to call it and wouldn't you know it, I got paired with Chester. We sat at a back table away from everyone so we were able to hear ourselves speak. "So, Jay. Can I know your real name?" He asked with a small smirk. I pressed my lips together, leaning back some in my seat. "Only if you swear to never say it ever in your life." He held up his hand laughing in the process. "I swear." I absolutely hated telling people, especially strangers, my real name unless I had to, but something about this man made me feel somewhat comfortable. "Jade. My real name is Jade Gabriela Martinez. But you like everyone else, can call me Jay." He nodded, scribbling something down in a small notebook.

"And since I already know your's, how about we skip to the good stuff. How come you're here?" His face seemed to stiffen a bit which caught me by surprise, but he eventually softened some. "Because when I was a kid, I suffered a lot of stuff. Drugs, drinking, abuse. That sort of stuff." I just nodded, not wanting to push it any further. I was lucky enough to never had endured any sort of abuse when I was a kid. "How about you? Besides being crazy and all." He said with a slight wink. "Because of the same stuff, mostly. Except for the fact that I like to fight and such and occasionally cut. But I don't do it all of the time, mostly when I'm upset. My stepdad insisted that my mom put me here to learn to be a 'normal' person in society as he likes to call it. My real dad stayed behind in Mexico so I could have a better life. But to be honest, I'm just trying to find my place in the world. Like most of us, if you will." He nodded in understanding, smiling at me.

We kept up a good conversation for the remainder of the session, me eventually learning that he was the singer of a pretty well known band called Linkin Park and that he was from Arizona as well. He even agreed to be my partner again next week for group, if I would let him. Once outside, the remainder of us talked among each other, Melody and KayT eagerly wondering if I had any idea who I was talking to and how the hell I managed to stay so calm about it. "Honestly, I didn't even know who he was. I've never listened to them before, so it was kind of not a big deal. He's a really nice guy though, actually. He even asked me to be his partner next week." Their eyes suddenly widened even more, making me raise an eyebrow suspiciously at them. "You have to! I'd love to know more about him. Please, Jay!" KayT practically begged me.

I chuckled, slightly happy to see how much these girls had already started to treat me like if I had been their friend for years. "Alright fine, I will. He is pretty cute too." Melody scoffed, shaking her head. "Good luck with that, he's probably married or something." I just shrugged, seeing Chester walk past me from the corner of my eye. "See you next week, girls. Bye Jay, it was nice to meet you." He said as he got into his car, waving to me. I just waved back cooly, "Bye Chester!" suddenly seeing Melody's face change dramatically. "You are so, fucking, lucky." She grumbled under her breath.
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Ok everyone, short sweet and to the point. This is an insight on how I planned out my new story to go. I would sincerely appreciate all the feedback and ideas I can get, hopefully this story will do really well as my others! Thank you in advance to whoever gives this a try, its something I haven't done before! Love you all! xo