A/N:

…..I really miss this fucking show.

Anyway…

Read, Review, Enjoy.

-Flame

I must have been drunk the first time that the thoughts entered my head, because there is no way I would have thought them sober. And everyone knows that once you think something once, it stays in your head for a while, right?

It's not like anything has changed. She still isn't my friend. Hell, you couldn't really call us acquaintances, either. We're more of antagonists, constantly trying to outdo the other in every medium. She would deny that of course, but I know better. I see the look in her eyes when she's up there performing. It's a look of competitiveness, and a glint of a challenge. And so I give it to her.

The only reason I even care about her at all is because she gives me a challenge. She makes me work harder. But, I hate her for that too.

So why the fuck can't I get her out of my head?

It all began when Beck and I broke up.

Before

I pushed my way through the doors of Hollywood Arts, knocking a few freshmen out of my way when they were too slow to move. One of them started to object as he was pushed aside, but one look from me, and he shrunk back, terrified. A smirk formed on my lips, the satisfaction of striking fear into another's heart filling me with elation.

That smirk was washed away when I saw who was leaning against my locker door.

She was touching one of the scissors glued to the metal, her eyes focused on it. She hadn't seen me come in.

"You have three seconds to remove your hand from that before I cut it off, Vega." I snapped, walking up to her. "One." Her eyes grew wide. "Two." Her hand flew off the scissors, slapping against her side. I rolled my eyes, pushing her aside as I started to twirl the combination. "Smart decision." The lock clicked, and I opened the door, grabbing my physics textbook off the top shelf. "Now, what do you want?"

"Have you seen Beck?" she asked. I looked over at her for a moment, then turned my attention back to my locker.

"No." I stepped back, slamming the locker door shut. I began to walk away, suddenly eager to get away from Vega, and the look in her eyes that I didn't understand. Of course, she followed me.

"Well, I need to talk to him, so if you could…"

I stopped dead in my tracks, whirling around so I could face her. "Vega, I don't have any plans to talk to Beck, so you can go find him yourself, and leave me the hell alone."

"You know, just because you guys broke up doesn't mean that you have to avoid him."

I gripped my textbook harder, fingernails making indents in the cover. "I'm not avoiding him, I just…" I stopped, shaking my head. "I don't need to explain myself to you!" I turned around, walking away again.

This time, I wasn't followed.

Sikowitz's class. The only class that I actually semi-liked, much less tolerated. Sure, I'm still not exactly sure what we are supposed to be learning, since his lessons range from acting to coconut husbandry, but that doesn't matter. What matters is that it was relatively interesting.

Incidentally, it was also the only class that I had with Vega and Beck. And it was because of that, for the first time in my life, I dreaded going to Sikowitz's.

I wasn't dreading it because of Vega. God, no. I could deal with her, easily, like I did every day. No, it was Beck that I didn't want to see. Because I knew that the second he saw me, he would beg for me to take him back, just like always. And I would resist for a bit, but eventually relent, and get back together with him. Just like always. That's just the way things worked.

I was getting a bit tired of the cycle, though.

I forced myself to stop thinking as I entered Sikowitz's room. A blast of noise hit me as I walked through the door; a storm of voices that I couldn't focus on.

Everyone was talking to everyone else, and maybe it was just me, but it seemed like the conversation was utterly meaningless. I found my seat, glaring at those who turned to look at me as I sat down.

I swung my bag off of my shoulder, placing it on the seat next to me. I glanced around, taking in the mayhem.

To my left, Robbie was talking to Cat, his hand shoved up the ass of that damned puppet. I couldn't tell which one was talking right then, the boy or the doll, but it didn't matter. Both tended to just spout bullshit. Cat was laughing though, so whoever was talking was saying something funny.

To my right, Tori and Andre were bent over a notebook, with Andre furiously scribbling. Tori's head was bent close to his, and he was nodding periodically, his pencil going faster every time he did so.

And directly in front of me sat Beck, who was staring at me, an expectant look in his eyes.

"Good afternoon." He said, running a hand through his hair.

I ignored him, turning my attention to my bag, pretending to rummage around in it for a pencil. I could feel him staring at me, but I refused to acknowledge it. After a moment, I heard him sigh and shift around in his seat. I glanced up to find that he had turned back around, facing the stage.

The door next to the stage burst open, slamming against the wall. The crash made everyone shut up and look towards the doorway, in which stood our fashionably late teacher.

"Everyone up!" he yelled, waving his arms up and down wildly. We groaned, but complied, rising to our feet.

"Now, everyone on this side of the room will pick a name out of this hat!" he walked over to the stage, pulling a top hat out from behind the curtain. "Whoever you pick shall be your partner for our next project!"

He made his way around our side of the room, eventually finding his way over to where Beck and I sat. I chose first, groaning as I opened up the slip of paper in my hand.

Sinjin VanCleef.

I gritted my teeth, looking up at Beck, who was in the middle of picking his own slip of paper. I waited for Sikowitz to walk away before speaking. "Switch with me."

Beck glanced up at me, his paper held between his index and middle fingers. "What?"

"You heard me. Switch with me."

His eyebrows rose. "Why should I?"

I glared at him. "Because, I will end up murdering you if you don't." I held out my slip. "Switch." I hesitated a moment. "Please?"

He started to reach out for my slip, then brought his hand back. "Wait….first things first. You gotta promise to come over tonight."

"Beck…." I growled, feeling the anger rise in my chest. He rolled his eyes.

"Not for that. I just want to talk things over." He held out his slip. "Deal?"

I took another glance at the slip in my hand, then grabbed his, shoving mine back into the space where his had occupied a moment before. "Deal."

He grinned, turning away. "Cool. See you at seven."

I took a deep breath, trying to calm down. I was interrupted, however, by Sikowitz, who had found his way back to the stage.

"Okay! Now, find your partner, and stand with them!"

It dawned on me that I hadn't even looked at whose name was on the slip Beck had given me. I unfolded it, and groaned once more.

Tori Vega.

Figures.

Everyone started to move around, joining their partners. Beck found Sinjin, whose face lit up when he saw who his partner was. Creep.

I saw Tori look around, wondering who her partner was. My hand closed around the paper slip in my hand.

Her eyes met mine, and I could tell that she knew that it was me. The flash of fear in her gaze, and the frown on her lips confirmed it. I couldn't help but smirk as I looked away, picking up my bag off the chair, and walking over to where she stood.

I threw my bag down on the chair next to the one that Tori had been occupying, then looked at her, frowning. "Guess I'm stuck with you then, Vega."

"You don't have to sound so enthused about it," she replied, sarcasm practically dripping from her words.

"Trust me. I'm not." I looked up to where Sikowitz stood. "So, what are we doing now?" I shouted, wanting to get it moving along.

He looked at me, shaking his head with a smile. "Ah, Jade. So….pleasant. Like sour coconut milk in the moonlight." He didn't wait for our reactions before continuing. "You will all be creating a demonstration of your talents. Whether that means you write a play, or a song, or even a mime act, I don't care! Just show me something that you can do!" He clapped his hands, then sat down, grabbing his coconut. "Now be gone! Go home!"

"Uhm….sir?" Andre began, obviously confused. "It's only…"

"Go!" Sikowitz yelled, waving us off. We all sort of glanced at each other, shrugged, and walked out of the room.

"Jade."

I walked faster, trying to get away from the trailing annoyance.

"Jade, we have to figure out what we're doing." Tori walked faster, stepping in front of me, stopping. I was forced to stop, stumbling a bit in order to not run into her.

"Get out of my way, Vega."

She shook her head, stepping to the left in order to block me as I tried to go around her. "No. We have to work on this, and figure out when we can meet up to get it done."

"Are you busy tonight?" I asked after a moment, trying to keep myself from pushing her aside. She was right, we did need to work on it, so I had to put up with her and her bull.

"No, but…"

"Good." I pushed past her, making my way towards the exit. "I'll be over around eight."

If she replied, I didn't know. I was already gone.