JADED

BADASS

The ride home was quiet. Jade sat in the taxi looking at her phone, her face devoid of any emotion. Shawn sat beside her, leaning his head on the glass and staring at his reflection. He was blaming himself for what had happened.

Jade was beautiful. Although her beauty did not appeal to him romantically, it did to others. She had been harassed in his presence a lot of times before. It was probably why she always had on a Gothic makeup. It repelled people from her. But he made take off her protective layer. He definitely was to blame.

He knew she was mad. Even though, she seemed very calm on the outside, she was certainly burning inside. He wished she would say it out. He wanted her to blame him. To scold him. Or at least show her emotions. But he knew she wouldn't.

He just sat there silently, watching the lights on the streets and shops as the taxi sped through the roadway. When it eventually stopped in front of her house, he was reluctant to come out.

However, Jade opened the door and held it with a smile on her face. He apologized to her but she just smiled and told him she didn't blame him. That it wasn't his fault. But he didn't believe it. And even though he got out of the car followed her into the house, he still couldn't forgive himself.

He went straight to his room, even refusing to eat dinner. He laid on his bed, replaying the events in his head and robbing himself of his sleep. After tossing and turning on the bed for what felt like hours, he decided to take a shower. He took the towel on the nightstand and walked into the bathroom. After a few minutes he walked out, with only a towel wrapped around his waist and his hair dripping wet.

He stood from the bed and walked to the closet, hoping to find a change of clothes. To his surprise, the closet was full of clothes. He recognised some of them from the mall they had went to earlier.

He reached in and pulled out a pair of sweatpants to check the size. It was his size. Just then, his eyes fell on the note that was pasted neatly on the inner part of the closet door. It read:

"I figured you'd be staying for more than a day so I got you some clothes. You can take them with you when you plan to leave but remember, you owe me for this."

He smiled at the note. Jade was really doing her best to help him. He really owed her. He would make sure to repay her.

He was about to check another cloth when he heard a creaking sound and then a thud. Fear engulfed him as the movie he had watched began playing in his head. However, as scared as he was, a part of him wanted to go check out the source of the noise. He obeyed that part.

★. ★. ★. ★. ★.

Jade muffled a grunt as she stood up from the floor where she had fallen. She cursed at herself for not cleaning the floor where she had spilled water earlier. Now it had made her slip when she had an important business to take care of. However, she decided not to clean it.

She made her way out as quietly as she could, trying to ignore the pain in her upper back. As she stepped out into the darkness of the backyard, she merged into the darkness. She was dressed in black cargo pants and jacket, and leather boots. Her black hair was tied up in a ponytail and was covered by a black cap. Around her waist was a leather bag and on her hands were black leather gloves.

She ran to the fence and jumped over it into the neighbors house. Then she went out through the open gate into the roadway. She waved down a taxi immediately and entered into it, careful not to alert her bodyguards. The taxi driver gave her suspicious looks but he still drove her to her destination anyway.

He dropped her off in front of a bar and drove off after she paid him. Jade filled her lungs with the cold air before reaching into her back and pulling out her phone. The red dot on the screen of her phone blinked brightly, indicating that she was close to the device it was connected to. She gave a light smirk and walked into the bar. There was no way she was letting her harasser go. She only stopped Shawn from fighting because she knew how terrible he was at it. And since she was wearing a dress, she couldn't get even at the time, so she had cleverly hidden a tracker in his sleeve when she had moved his hand away.

Once she was in the bar, she spotted him, drinking and winking at a young girl. Jade could see that she was underage. She squeezed her face in disgust. What's with perverts and underage girls?

She moved to stand in from of him, blocking his view and hitting his glass away from his hand. Then as he raised his eyes up to her face, she took a glass of beer and poured it on his face. The man stood up immediately, hovering over her with his immense height and his burly physique. Anger filled his eyes as he watched the teenager who had just stirred trouble run outside. He grunted as he ran after 'him', vowing to teach him a lesson and break his bones.

However, as he was about to walk out the front door, he tripped over something and fell down flat on the ground. He leaped up and looked around, there was no one in sight. Then he looked down at what he tripped on, it was a rope tied for the purpose of causing a person to trip.

He grunted in anger and looked up. Just then, Jade jumped down from where she had been hanging onto his shoulders, wrapping her arms and legs around his neck as tightly as she could. However, he gripped her by her jacket and threw her to the floor. She stood up again but he gripped her neck and pushed her against a wall. Jade struggled to breathe as she kicked and clawed at him but his grip was just too strong.

She could feel the redness in her face and her limbs going numb due to the lack of oxygen and she closed her eyes, hoping for it all to end. However, she felt the grip around her neck loosen and she fell to the floor. She gasped as she held her neck, taking in as much air as she could. And when she opened her eyes, she saw Shawn standing off against the man. She grunted as she tried to rise up to her feet. Shawn was left-handed but he had an orthodox stance. He was surely going to get bashed if she didn't interfere.

She stood up and ran to him as fast and as noisily as she can. He grunted as he turned around to face her, ignoring Shawn who seemed to be a weakling. She jumped up, kicking his head with her leg and making him lose his balance. Then she somersaulted, grabbing his neck with her feet and tackling him to the ground and injecting him with a syringe.

He went stiff immediately and she released him. Bending over him, she removed her cap so he could see her face clearly. Shock filled his face as he watched her smirk. He recognized her face. She was the pretty, innocent looking girl he had harassed some hours ago. The one that was just to weak to even stand up for herself. Never had he imagined - nor could he imagine - that he'd be laying there while she towered over him, looking down on him like he was a piece of trash.

He opened his mouth to talk. To ask her how she had tracked him and what she wanted from him. But he had lost his voice and he knew he would soon lose his consciousness as well. Whatever the girl had injected him with was really strong.

Just then she spoke, as if she had read his mind. She had placed a tracker on his sleeve when she had removed his hand from her hair earlier. And as for what she wanted from him, she leaned closer to him, bending until her lips could almost touch his ears, then she whispered coldly into his ears:

“I want you and every other bastard like you to rot in jail. And I wanna be the one who'd put you there.”

Her words sent a cold shiver down his spine before his mind finally went blank. He had messed with the wrong person.

Jade huffed victoriously and reached into her bag. She pulled out a sticker which she stuck to his head and then her phone. She removed the tracker on his sleeve and took a picture of his ID card and then of him. Sending the first picture to a contact saved as Lewis on her phone, she instructed that he dug up every dirt on him and sent it to her in less than thirty minutes.

Then she stood up, raising her head up to the sky with a feeling of satisfaction. Spreading her arms, she left the cool breeze touch every inch of her face and she loved it. For the first time in her life, she felt really alive. Finally, she had found her purpose in life. She had something to live for.

She smiled as she put her cap back on and turned around. Then, she saw Shawn. He sat on the ground, watching her with ecstasy. She frowned at him and he stood up and ran to her, clapping and squealing with excitement as he linked his hand to hers.

“That was awesome. You're a total Badass.” He squealed, giving her a thumb's up with his free hand.

Jade groaned as she tried to shake off his arm but he held her tighter. She frowned at him but seeing the excitement on his face made the frown disappear. She made him lean a little and then ruffled his hair, making him frown and making her laugh. She was really lucky to have him. And she would forever be indebted to him.

Because despite that bitchy attitude and the Gothic makeup, she was just a girl that wanted to be loved as much as she did. And even though, she pushed everyone away from her life, she hoped that someone would at least stay.

And he was that person who stayed.