Red Velvet

Chapter 1

Cat and Beck had been best friends since the start of middle school- they were sat next to one
another in their first English lesson, and it spiralled from there. Beck saw that Cat was different to
everyone else; she was funny, she was kind, and she was the least judgemental person Beck had
ever met. He soon worked out that her home life was messy, and tried to make things easier for her
by buying her lunch if she didn’t have any money, and giving her a safe space to talk if she wanted.
They became immensely close, and soon enough, they befriended Jade and the trio did everything
together. Midway through their freshman year of highschool, Cat had moved into Beck’s RV with
him- she had been living with her Nona since the end of 6 th Grade, but she had concluded that she
needed to move to Elderly Acres. Beck realised that this meant Cat would either end up living alone
in her Nona’s apartment or have to go back and live with her parents and her brother- the thought
of which made his stomach churn. He knew that Cat was a very smart 15 year old but living alone
wasn’t really an option. And the alternative… Beck knew he couldn’t let that happen, and so he
offered to have her come live with him in his RV parked in his parent’s driveway. At first, Cat was a
little sceptical, since she detested change of any kind, but the RV was familiar and living with Beck
made a lot of things a lot easier. She always had a safe, quiet place to come home to, he didn’t have
the TV playing really loudly, he always made sure there was a routine. He was always so relaxed and
calm about everything, and it was starting to rub off on Cat a little. With Beck, she was free to be
herself.

It was about 2 weeks after Cat moved in, and Beck noticed she wasn’t acting like herself. She seemed
pretty distant, closed off in her own little bubble. When talking to her, Beck found that he had to
repeat the question 2 or 3 times before he got an answer. Jade had come over and the three were
settling in for a movie night, and on the outside, everything seemed perfectly normal. But Beck could
sense something was up. He knew Cat was struggling- he’d seen her like this before at school. She
would wriggle around a lot, clicking her fingers and shaking her head, sometimes she’d start yelling
and she’d get sent out the room, but more often than not she’d burst into tears seemingly out of
nowhere. Beck watched her as she sat on the edge of the couch, winding her fingers round and
round in her hair, tugging at it as she rocked in her seat.

“Hey, Cat, you wanna let go of your hair, bud?” Beck asked, nodding at the clumps of hair she was
tugging on. Cat ignored him, squeezing her eyes shut. Turning the TV off, Jade looked over at Cat- it
wasn’t the first time she’d seen Cat starting to get upset, but she wasn’t sure of what to do.

“Hey, Cat, you good there?” Jade’s tone was softer than usual but received no response. “Can we
help?” Again, nothing. “You wanna go lay down?” Cat pulled on her hair harder.

“Seriously, dude, you gotta let go of your hair- surely that’s gotta hurt.” Beck reached out to try and
stop her from doing herself anymore damage.

“NO!” Cat screamed kicking at Beck as he grabbed hold of her wrists. Jade jumped up off the couch,
taken aback by the shouting. Cat continued to kick and yell after Beck let go, holding her hands over
her ears as she screamed. Beck looked at Jade and then back to Cat, both of them uncertain of what
to do. Shaking a little, Jade crouched down in front of her.

“Look at me, Cat.” She said as calmly as she could. “Look at me.” A moment passed and Cat opened
her eyes ever so slightly, her screams turning into sobs. “Okay, okay good. Try and copy my
breathing.” Jade took a deep breath, encouraging Cat to copy her. After a few minutes of doing this,
Cat more or less had her breathing back under control. Beck brought a cup of water over and offered
it to her.

“You’re okay.” Cat gingerly sipped the drink, staring at the floor. “Can I sit?” Beck asked, and Cat
nodded. She was still crying ever so slightly, though her sobs had become pitiful whimpers that
broke Beck’s heart. Cat handed him back the half empty cup, which he placed on the coffee table
before offering his hand to her. Cat paused, looking confused.

“Why aren’t you mad at me?” She whispered. Jade and Beck glanced at one another before turning
back to Cat.

“Why would we be?” Beck offered his free hand out to Jade, who shuffled over so she was leaning
against him.

“Because I was screaming. And lashing out.” Cat sniffed, and tears spilled down her cheeks once
again. “I’m sorry. It’s okay if you don’t love me anymore or you want me to leave or...” Cat’s voice
trailed off as she buried her face in her hands.

“Oh, Cat- wait, can I give you a hug?” Beck asked, and following Cat’s nod, he pulled her onto his lap,
wrapping his arms around her. “It’s all okay kiddo. You’ve got nothing to apologise for. Of course we
still want you here- trust me, we’re not mad.”

“We’re never gonna stop loving you, kid.” Jade added. “No matter what you do, we’ll always be
here.” She got up off the floor and sat back on the couch beside them.
Cat wiped her eyes on her sleeve and looked from Jade to Beck and then back to Jade a couple of
times before smiling down at the floor. She curled up in Beck’s lap, exhausted. Beck turned the TV
back on, and they watched some reality TV programme, having abandoned the idea of a movie. An
hour or so later, he gently eased the half- asleep Cat off of his lap and onto the couch.

“It’s getting late- you wanna stay the night?” He asked Jade.

“Sounds good.” She looked down at Cat who was now using her lap as a pillow.

Jade carefully woke Cat up so she could get changed and brush her teeth. Beck had gotten settled in
bed already and was scrolling through his phone. He was replaying a conversation he had once had
with Cat over and over in his mind.

“Beck, do you think I’m autistic?”

“Hm?”

“Nona said it’s why Mom used to get so mad. Because I’m autistic.”

“Oh. Have you had a proper test for it or something then?”

“Not yet. But Nona said I should. We’ve been doing some research and it would make a lot of sense.”

“Fair enough- you want half my cupcake?”

“Wait, really?”

“Yup- red velvet. All yours, little red.”

Beck was reading an article about how to help an autistic person when Jade crawled into bed beside
him.
“She’s out cold- I’m not surprised to be honest; all that yelling must’ve tired her out.” She peered at
the article on Beck’s phone. “What you reading?”

“Cat once told me she and her Nona thought she might be autistic.” Beck glanced over to where Cat
was curled up under her blanket. “I’m just doing a bit of research.”

“Oh.. that would explain why she needs to stick to the routine so much. And the sensory issues- like
why she will never use a fork with the thin handles but the thicker ones are fine. And, yanno.
Tonight.” Jade smiled weakly.

“Yeah.. you alright?” Beck turned his phone off and put his arm around Jade, pulling her in for a
proper cuddle and gently stroking her hair. He felt Jade relax against him as she sighed.

“Yeah. Even better now though.” She laughed, nuzzling into Beck’s chest. Beck smirked as he
reached up and turned out the light, holding Jade close as he felt his eyelids starting to get heavy.

“Good. Love you, Jadeyboo.”

“Shut up.” Jade tilted her head up as Beck kissed her on the cheek. “Love you too.”

Cat woke up to the alarm clock as per usual, and quickly got out of bed as to stop herself from falling
back asleep. She carefully made her bed, sitting her giraffe in his usual spot, before grabbing the
clothes she had laid out the night before and heading to the bathroom inside to get changed. She
easily unlocked the side gate, and used Beck’s key to get into the house via the back door. Cat made
sure she was as quiet as she could be as she tiptoed through the hallway to get to the ground floor
bathroom. She quickly got changed, brushed her hair and washed her face, and headed back out to
the RV for breakfast. On her way in, she saw that Beck was still half-asleep in bed, with Jade tucked
into his side. Cat smiled. Jade would be horrified to hear it, but Cat thought she looked adorable in
her sleep. She always seemed so peaceful. Beck noticed her staring and waved at her groggily.

“Cat, love, it’s a Saturday- you do know you can stay in bed for as long as you like on the weekends,
right?” He yawned.

“Yeah, I know.” Cat carried on with her routine, pouring her cereal and milk into a bowl, and making
herself a small cup of orange juice to wash it down. She sat and ate her cereal, re-reading that
months Sky Store catalogue. Beck stared at her for a moment, before sinking back into his cushions.

“Will you stop fucking wriggling?” Jade grumbled, having woken up when Beck started moving.
“G’morning, KitKat.”
“Morning, Jadey.” Cat called from the couch, not looking up from her catalogue.

Chapter (?????)

It was Monday morning, and Cat was sat in Sikowitz’s class when the girl from the concert- her name
was Lori, Dory, something like that- walked in. She smiled as she approached Cat.

“Hey, I’m new- my name’s Tori.” Cat was getting better and better at small talk with new people- it
was like improv but very boring and she never really knew what to say. “Tori Vega- my sister is
Trina? Yanno, very… loud, a little bit… strange.” She sat down in the empty seat beside her, setting
her bag on the floor. Cat wriggled in her seat. Her day so far hadn’t been exactly awesome; her
routine had already been thrown off when they had run out of breakfast cereal that morning. Beck
promised he’d pick up some more on their way home, and he’d offered her some toast instead, but
Cat had decided against it. She wasn’t really hungry anyways. Now though, sat in class, it certainly
wasn’t improving her mood. She swung her legs, rocking ever so slightly back and forth- not enough
for anyone to really notice. She glanced over her shoulder to where Beck was sitting, smirking at his
phone. Cat sighed to herself- Beck always made that face when he was texting Jade. She tapped her
nails on the back on the back of her chair, trying unsuccessfully to get his attention. After a few more
failed attempts, she sighed once again and turned back around, continuing to rock in her chair and
swing her legs. Somehow, Tori was still talking. “I’m not really a performer, but after the concert,
Andre insisted that I joined Hollywood Arts! What’s your name?”

“Hm?” Cat blinked. “Oh, Cat.” She quickly put on a smile too- enough people at Hollywood Arts
thought that she was weird, and she didn’t want Tori to agree with them.

“Aww like the animal!”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Cat asked- she was sure that it was supposed to be a compliment,
since cats (the animal) were small and fluffy and cute. But Cat wasn’t entirely certain- what if Tori
was mocking her? What if she’d misunderstood?

“It’s pretty! And so is your hair- I love the colour!”

“Thank you- it’s actually the exact same colour as red velvet cupcakes because they’re my favourite
and I wanted my hair to be like just like that! But it doesn’t taste like red velvet because it’s hair so it
just tastes like hair.”

Tori smiled and Cat flinched as she started playing with her hair. “Please don’t touch it.” She added,
wriggling away from Tori slightly. Only certain people could touch Cat’s hair, and that was Cat, Jade
and Beck. Nobody else if she could help it.

Suddenly, Sikowitz walked in through the door- a pile of scripts tucked under one arm and he held a
coconut with the other. He grinned triumphantly as he set the scripts down on his desk with a loud
thump. Cat jumped at the noise, her head already feeling fuzzy. Talking to Tori, Cat decided, was
utterly exhausting.

“Right, people, listen up.” Cat did not listen up. She simply kept rocking in her seat, the fuzzy feeling
becoming more and more prominent in her mind. Everything was too loud- Tori tapping her pen on
her notebook, somebody chewing gum to her left, Sikowitz’s voice booming across the classroom.
Cat watched as he turned on the stage lights- these lights were usually Cat’s favourite part. They lit
up the room in so many different colours, pinks and greens and blues.. but today they were all too
bright. Everything was too bright. The fuzzy feeling was so overwhelming now that Cat felt her
breathing speed up, and the room began to spin.

Suddenly, a hand on her shoulder. Heavy. Harsh. Wrong.

“Cat are you okay?” Tori asked.

Too much. Cat sprang to her feet, quickly flashing her time out card at Sikowitz before bolting it out
of the room. She sprinted as fast as she could, unsure of where she was running to. Cat just knew
she needed to run. She needed to get away.

Running out of the building, Cat found herself under a tree. Deciding it was safe there, she sank to
the floor, her breath shallow.
“I’m under my bed, I’m under my bed.” Cat pulled her knees close to her chest, squeezing her eyes
shut as tight as she could. She rocked back and forth, repetitively slamming her feet into the soft
earth as tears streamed down her cheeks. “I’m under my bed, I’m under my bed.” She kept rocking,
desperately trying to soothe herself as she felt the panic consume her.

Back in class, Beck and Jade had both jumped to their feet, grabbing both their things and Cat’s bag
as well. Sikowitz looked confused and concerned- he had seen Cat get upset before, but not running
out of the room upset. He got the class started with an improv activity before beckoning both Jade
and Beck over to him.

“I’ll email Lane and let him know what’s going on- do you two want to go and have a look for her?”

“Thanks, Sikowitz.” Beck nodded, and he and Jade left the room swiftly.

The pair hurried down the corridor, frantically looking for Cat. After checking the bathrooms and
nearby empty classrooms, Jade suggested checking outside. She and Beck made their way out to the
benches, both checking everywhere they could think of.

“Wait- how about the tree by the coffee shop. Have we checked over that way?” Jade stood
hunched over for a second, trying to catch her breath. Jade would never admit it to anyone but
seeing Cat get upset truly broke her heart- Cat was the kindest, most innocent person she knew, and
watching her run out of the room like that… Jade stood up, shaking her shoulders a little. This wasn’t
about her right now. They had to find Cat.

“You good?” Beck asked. Jade nodded as they started looking again. They turned the corner past the
coffee shop, and sure enough, Cat was curled up beneath the tree. Jade and Beck carefully
approached her- not wanting to startle her.

“Cat?” Jade said softly, “It’s Jade and Beck. Can we sit with you?”

Cat kept rocking herself, her eyes squeezed shut, but after a couple of seconds she nodded, and the
pair sat down either side of her. Jade fumbled with Cat’s bag, pulling out her headphones and her
Sky Store catalogue, and placed them on the ground beside her.

“I’ve got your headphones here- and there’s the catalogue too.” Cat reached for the headphones
and placed them gingerly over her ears. “What do you need us to do?”

“Pressure,” Cat mumbled