JADED

COMMUNICATION

“Please!!!” Shawn pleaded, his eyes widening as he stared up at Jade. Turning her back to him, Jade continued eating her cereal, chewing as quickly as she could so she disappear from Shawn's sight. She was sure to lose her temper if he continued pestering her.

“Forget it, Shawn. I'm not teaching you anything.” Jade said as Shawn came to squat in front of her. She placed her plate to her mouth and used her spoon to push the remaining food into her mouth. Chewing slowly, she stood up and made her way into the kitchen, trying to ignore the fact that Shawn was following her around.

He stood by the counter watching her as she rinsed her bowl and put it back with the others. And as she walked out of the kitchen, he followed closely behind.

Jade sighed as she stopped abruptly, making Shawn almost bump into her. Shawn was using her trick against her and it made her uncomfortable. She didn't want to teach him to fight. It wasn't a pleasant thing. But he wanted it anyway. Since he had watched her in action with her harasser, he had been pleading with her to teach him some moves. And he was determined. So she had no other choice.

“Okay, I'll teach you.” She said with a sigh as she turned to face him. As usual, all she could see without raising her head was his chest. She frowned and walked two steps backwards, raising only her eyes to look at him. “And we're starting training right now. Get dressed and meet me in the gym immediately.” She said walking into her room, smiling as she heard him jumping for joy.

She smirked to herself as she shut the door of her room, thinking to herself how she would make Shawn give up. She changed into a pair of sweatpants and a tank top before walking out the room. She slipped on the wet floor but caught herself by holding onto the doorframe. She frowned as she looked down at the wet floor. The housekeeper would soon arrive and clean it. No matter what it did, she'd never clean it herself.

She scoffed and stretched her leg over the wet part treading carefully so as not to step on the wet floor. Then she went to the gym.

On opening the door she saw that Shawn was already there. He's early. Jade thought to herself. Drawing in a deep breath, she got on the treadmill and turned it on. She began running on it, slowly at first then she increased her speed with every second.

“Your first training will be for strength. You have to be stronger than your enemy. So, start by doing a hundred pushups.” She said and placed her headphones on her ears. After running nonstop for almost an hour, she stopped to rest and drink some water.

She took off her earphones and walked to the edge of the room where a mini fridge sat. She opened it and took a bottle of water and drank from it.

“Twenty nine.” She heard Shawn pant and she almost choked on the water in her mouth. Turning to look at him, she was disappointed to see him sprawled on the floor, his shirt soaked and his face dripping with sweat.

Tsk tsk tsk. She thought to herself.

Whoever said that boys were stronger than girls had certainly never met Shawn.

“Watching you is an eyesore. I'm leaving. Once you're through, let me know.” Jade said as she shut the door of the fridge and began to walk out. Before she could reach the door, Shawn stood up and blocked her path.

“What you're asking me to do is impossible. Can't we just skip over to the main part?”

“No. Every process is important. It's either everything or nothing.”

Shawn grunts. “So, how long is it going to take?”

“I wasn't as lazy as you are and my teacher was pretty great but it took me months to get the hang of it. Given how much I suck at teaching and how lazy you are, it will take years.”

Shawn's eyes widened as he looked at her. “That long? You're joking right?”

“Nope. Besides why are you so desperate about it? Everyone at school loves you. Nobody is going to try to bully the golden boy.” Jade said and sat down on the floor, leaning against the door.

“Golden boy indeed.” Shawn scoffs, his face void of emotions. “Will you teach me or not?”

“I will. But I have to know why you want to learn. To make sure you don't abuse it. So spit it.”

Shawn groaned as he sat on the floor beside her. “Come on.”

Jade turned to face him. She knew he was hiding something and it piqued her curiosity. “I remember that we once promised to not keep secrets from each other and I'm sure you remember it too.”

Shawn scoffed and looked away. “Yeah. That was when we were best friends. Are we even friends now?”

Jade paused for a brief moment then shrugged. “Well, I guess so.”

Shawn turned to look at her. Burying his green irises into her blue ones, he tried to search for proof that she was lying but all he found was sincerity. “Okay then. I want to protect myself and... And my mother. From my father.” He said with a sigh.

Jade raised her eyebrows in confusion. “Your father. Didn't he prom...”

Shawn scoffed. “Yeah he did. But, a beast never keeps promises. He promised your parents that he'd be better but he became worse. That day, he made me regret telling you. He hit me till I fainted and when I woke up, I saw that my mother had it worse. I swore never to tell anymore.”

“Why didn't your mom leave? That is enough reason for a divorce.” Jade spoke, softly.

Shawn sighed softly as he tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear. “My mom saw how hard it was on you when your parents divorced and she didn't want me to go through the same. Besides, dad had threatened her to stay. He promises to kill her if she ever leaves.”

“I don't know what to say.” Jade whispered.

“Don't say anything. Just listen. I've been wanting to get this off my chest.” Shawn smiled softly at her, his green eyes glinting with hope. Jade wondered how he could still feel hopeful after going through something as bad as that. He may be weak physically but emotionally, he's the strongest person she's ever met.

“Okay.”

Shawn looked away from her and staring into space in the direction of the treadmill, he continued. “There's no day he doesn't hit mom. Or me. Mom can't even leave the house for fear of people questioning her about her bruises. And the worst part of it is that she keeps defending him. She keeps telling me that he'd change and not to hate him. But I can't do that, Jade. When they started this, they already knew I was bound to pick a side and I choose my mother. I have to protect her. I don't want to lose my mom, Jade.”

“I support you, Shawn. You're gonna win this fight.”

Shawn smiled softly. “Thanks. But, I'm not planning on fighting with my dad. I just want to be powerful enough to make him leave us alone. Which is why sharing your punishment is the stupidest thing I've done. However, I don't regret it. Because you're my best friend. So, tell me. What really happened to you?”

“What do you mean?”

“That day at the beach. After you left with your mom, I noticed you'd left your phone so I went after you. Didn't know the route you took so I went to Marie's place to wait for you. You never showed up. I tried calling her but it wasn't going through. I came here and you weren't here either. Everyday for a week, I came by the house but you weren't home. Then suddenly I hear you overdosed on drugs at a party and your mom's dead.”

“And you didn't believe it?” Jade asked, creasing her brows slightly.

Shawn shook his head. “How could I? They said that you'd overdosed on drugs and did promiscuous things but I knew Jade. She wouldn't even drink alcohol as she was underage, how could she go to a bar? The girl that couldn't live without her phone never called once when she noticed it was missing? The empty house I stood and waited at the door everyday was suddenly occupied? Not only was it absurd, it was unbelievable.”

“Do you really want to know the truth? It may... No, it will change the way you look at me.”

Shawn turned to look at her, smiling softly. “Nothing can make me change the way I look at you? I didn't hate you even when the police and your dad cooked up those lies about you.”

“Will you believe me?” Jade asked with uncertainty as she stared into his eyes.

“Sure.” Shawn nodded, trying not to break eye contact.

Jade sighed and looked down at her fingers. “We weren't involved in an accident. We were kidn*pped. He was a psychopath. He killed my mother. Gave her cuts all over her body and let her bleed. She died in my arms. Slowly and painfully. I was tortured and... And... r***d. Then I was locked up in that dark place, cold, hungry and afraid. And everyday I prayed for death. But it didn't come. Neither did help.” Jade paused as the words stuck in her throat. The tears were forcing their way down her cheeks as she wiped them off.

She took a deep breath before continuing. “And when they finally let me go, for reasons best known to them, I woke up in a hospital. I tried to tell them but they told me what they'd told you. And when I tried to tell them the truth, they showed me my test results. I had overdosed on drugs. But it was a lie. No one believed me.”

“I do. I believe you.” Shawn said softly and Jade looked into his eyes. At first they comforted her, but then she saw pain in his eyes and she felt regret immediately.