A New Horizon
Beck hopped out of his car and got in school. The school halls looked as they always did but somehow it all felt off. He shook his head, trying to chase off the melancholy creeping on him. He has been like that for weeks now. None of the distractions he tried had worked for long. Beck knew the reason of course but there wasn't anything he could do about it. While he was at his locker, André came by carrying large keyboard under his arm.
"Hey man, ready for another great day." He greeted him with a smile. Beck just raised his eyebrow. His friend seemed awfully chipper today.
"What are you so happy about so early in the morning?" Beck didn't mean to sound so harsh, but on top of everything else he hadn't had his mourning coffee and the only person's morning cheeriness he could stand was probably Cat's. And only thanks to the force of habit.
"Why wouldn't I be? The sun is shining, the birds are singing and I am making a new song." André replied unperturbed by his friend's uncharacteristically bad mood. "The question should be why you are grouchy." He didn't like it when his usually cool and laid back friend was in such a mood, but lately it's been happening a lot.
"I don't know I just am." Beck shrugged off the question.
"Is it because our pretty but scary friend?" Beck tried to mutter something vague but his eyes traitorously flicked toward his ex's locker. André caught that and shook his head. "If you miss her so much why don't you try getting back together with her?" He couldn't understand why Beck and Jade had to make things so complicated. For him it seemed simple. You like a girl – you ask her out. If she says no, you move on and possibly write a song about it. If she says yes, you go out, have a good time and you write a song about that.
"It's complicated." Beck said after a while. He loved André like a brother but in this case he was next to useless. His relationships lasted a week or two at most. The longest he had seen him mourn the end on any of them was day and a half.
"Yes, yes I know – 'you love her but you can't stand her'." André had heard that explanation several times already. It didn't make sense to him. How could you love and can't stand someone at the same time.
"Yes that's right, but don't tell anyone. I don't want people to know and gossip about it." Beck didn't want this to reach Jade. He didn't know how she would react, but he was willing to bet it wouldn't be pretty. André nodded reassuringly.
"Okay, I won't. Now let's get to class. I heard Sikowitz might be on time today." Beck reacted to this with a mild interest. Sikowitz was never on time, at least not for the first period. They reached Sikowitz's class just in time. Once there Beck was faced with a bit of a conundrum. Usually he would sit next to Jade but now that was out of the question. As it turned out their classmates were already here, so the only free seats were one next to Tori and one next to Jade. Before the break up he would have sat next to Jade without hesitation, but now whenever they ended up together she either glared at him or demonstratively ignored him. He didn't want to sit next to Jade but sitting next to Tori wasn't a good idea either. While he hesitated André made the decision for him by sitting next to Jade. At that moment Sikowitz came in and Beck had no other chose but to sit next to Tori. He cold literary feel Jade's eyes burning holes in his back. The class went as usual and he was beginning to wander why did Sikowitz came on time when half an hour before the bell their crazy teacher let them go.
"You may all go now." He dismissed the class. Just as Beck picked up his back and headed to the door Sikowitz called back. "Beck, Tori and Jade you stay back." The three exchanged puzzled looks, as they sat back down.
"Alright children I have a proposition for you." Their teacher began with an exited twinkle in his eye. Then he just stopped and just stood there with a grin on his face.
"What proposition?" Tori asked apprehensively while the other two exchanged bewildered looks. With Sikowitz you could never be sure.
"My acquaintance is producing a new show for one of the smaller networks. They have already cast their main characters. But they need to mind their budget so since they can't shoot it in Canada, due to the subject, they've decided to save money by hiring students from local art schools for the secondary roles." The trio listened with increasing interest. A real TV show, it sounded so exiting, and unlike 'The Wood' it was going to have scripts, sets and everything.
"So this is going to be national?" Jade finally asked, just to be sure. Beck could see Tori next to him almost giddy with excitement.
"Yes, are you interested?" Their teacher confirmed. The trio just looked at each other and nodded enthusiastically in response.
"Excellent, here is the address where the casting will be held. Good luck." With that he gave them a piece of paper with an address and a phone number and hurriedly left the room through the window. Beck held the piece of paper and looked at the two girls. As excited as he was about this great opportunity he couldn't help but wonder how he and Jade or for that matter her and Tori would work together. It was true that at the moment, paradoxically Jade seemed to get along better with Tori than with him, but considering they had just broken up that wasn't saying much. Still this opportunity was so tempting.
A.N. This is the first chapter of my new multi-chapter story that I hope to update often and for a long time. Reviews, suggestions and critiques are more than welcome.