Disclaimer: I don't own Victorious, Wizard of Oz (novel or movie), Judy Garland or Wicked (novel or musical).
Rating: T, because I'm paranoid like that.
Warnings: Lots of Wizard of Oz and Wicked references (seriously there are so many!), minimal dialogue and mentions of heterosexual relationship (though nothing graphic).
Characters: Jade, Mr. and Mrs. West, Cat, Beck, as well as mentions of Tori, Andre, Robbie and random characters from Jade's past.
A/N: This is just simply something short that popped into my head the other night. So… of course I simply had to write it. I apologize for all the mistakes that might have sneaked past the radar. Hopefully you enjoy this. Reviews, good and bad (but in that case hopefully at least constructive), are always welcome.
Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West
Or the early life of Jade West as told with Oz references
By Little Myy
When Jade was four years old, she saw the Wizard of Oz for the first time. Being that young, she naturally fell in love with Judy Garland's Dorothy. So she informed her parents that she wanted to sing and dance like Dorothy, and could she get a dog like Toto. Her mother smiled indulgingly and her father just turned the page of his newspaper. She got to go to dance classes, because her mother had always wanted a graceful daughter. She got singing lessons, because her mother thought that she could brag about that at the country club. However she never did get Toto, because her father said that it was too much of a hustle and she would get bored with it eventually and who would take care of it anyway.
Jade was six years old when her mother made her take piano lessons, because her friend Beth had a daughter, Nancy, who was the most adorable pianist ever. So of course Jade had to be better. Not that she minded playing the piano, she actually loved it, but of course enjoying it wasn't the same as being the best. She could see her mother's slightly disappointed smile at her first concert, when Nancy played a bit more complicated song that what Jade had managed. And of course her father didn't even bother to attend.
Jade was seven when she joined the school choir. Jade doesn't remember what the school play was about, but while singing in the ensemble and watching older students act, she decided that next year she would stand on the stage and read her first lines. After all Nancy was never in a school play nor were Julie and Christina. Maybe then her mother would give her one of those bright smiles she had seen Beth give Nancy.
When Jade was eight she made her debut on stage, while playing a butterfly. It was a small part, she had total of three lines, but that was more than Nancy ever got, so she was sure her mother would be proud. When she told her parents about it, her mother smiled and said 'Isn't that nice,' and her father just grunted in agreement. On the day of the play there was a company party at her father's work and her parents simply had to attend. After all her father might get a promotion. Next week she took all her allowance money and bought the most beautiful butterfly she could find.
Jade was ten, when her English teacher Mrs. Orwell asked if she would like to do a commercial. Of course only if her parents would let her. Jade was so excited when she got home, that she almost broke her mother's favorite vase. At dinner table, when she announced that she could be in a commercial, her mother smiled and said once again "That's nice honey, but I simply don't have the time to take you there." Her father looked at her had muttered "Isn't it time for you to grow up from that make believe." That night Jade stayed up and sneaked in her father's study and learn how to copy her father's signature, so that she could fake a permission slip. She asked Mrs. Orwell to take her to the auditions and nailed it, getting her first gig. When her parents found out it was the first time they had ever fought about something. Her father banned her from doing anymore such nonsense.
When Jade was eleven she found out about a summer camp (thanks to Mrs. Orwell), where they would be doing The Wizard of Oz. Jade begged her parents to let her go. Her father wasn't thrilled about the idea, he thought letting her go would only fuel her ridiculous dream (of course he didn't say it in so many words). Her mother again just smiled and said that she would grow out of it and they should just let her go this once. Besides, they could go to that cruise they had been talking about for years.
That summer Jade went to the acting camp and like always she did her absolute best in everything. Maybe then her parents would see that it wasn't silly dream to try to be the next Judy Garland. She got an annoying girl as a roommate called Caterina, though she insisted to be called Cat. Jade just wanted to focus on acting, but Cat just wouldn't leave her alone. She would insist on doing silly things like swimming or singing songs around the campfire. When Jade auditioned for Dorothy of course she got cast as the Wicked Witch of the West instead. She hated the girl who got her dream role. So she cried and screamed for hours after being so disappointed. She had never felt so jealous before, until the perfect little brunet girl with pigtails and cute smile came and took everything from her. Cat was there to hug her and tell her that she would have been an awesome Dorothy, but now they got to be old school friends, since she would play Glinda the Good and Jade would be Elphaba. They would be like best friends and Jade couldn't help but smile a bit at that.
When Jade was twelve she asked her parents if she could go to performing arts high school. Cat had told her that she had gotten into some prestigious arts school in Los Angeles called Hollywood Arts. It had grades six through twelve and Cat said that it was a really big deal to get into it at a first time. Her father straight out refused and this time her mother agreed, saying that maybe it really was time for her to start thinking a bit more realistically. Jade stuck out her tongue and slammed her bedroom door as loudly as she could. She refused to speak to her parents for a week and it took four days for her mother to notice. Jade had never felt so angry in her life.
When Jade approached the age of thirteen she had the biggest crush on this guy named Justin. He was the coolest guy in school and of course every girl fell for him. Jade was no different. But she wasn't exactly in the cool crowd, not that she was unpopular either. However she didn't wear short skirts and revealing necklines and didn't giggle at everything some cute boy said. No, she preferred reading and dressing something more… practical, like combat boots and band t-shirts. She actually liked to have intellectual conversations with people, instead of just fluttering her eyelashes. But she wanted to impress Justin and so she threw a huge birthday party inviting everyone. She shared her first kiss with Justin on her back yard and she believed when he told her that he liked that she was different from other girls. Of course next week he was walking around with Melinda in his arms, while she giggled at everything he said. When Jade confronted Justin, he simply said she shouldn't believe everything people said. It was the first time Jade had ever hit anyone and while it made her feel better, it didn't reduce the tears she cried for weeks.
When Jade graduated from seventh grade she had sworn off all boys and decided to put all her energy to performing no matter what her parents said. She watched every show that summer that was running, she read play after play learning them by heart, she went to every audition she could find. She actually managed to get a part in an upcoming musical, but her dreams were dashed when her parents informed that they were moving to Los Angeles. She refused to leave and insisted that she got to stay with her aunt or grandmother or someone. She said she would sleep on the street, but she would never move to Los Angeles. After three weeks of arguing, her mother finally came to her room to make a deal. She promised she could go to that acting school in Los Angeles, if only she would quit being so difficult. Jade couldn't help but think that if they really did love her unconditionally, her parents would have let her go to acting school to begin with instead of using it as a bribe.
While Judy Garland was still someone Jade respected, she had already learned that she would never be Dorothy. So instead on her audition she took the part she so often was cast, in real life and as on stage. Wicked Witch of the West was something people had started calling her after she made Justin's life hell and so that would be the part she would take. She sang Wizard and I from Wicked and never really thought how close to home it seemed to hit. When she opened her acceptance letter Cat was there to celebrate it saying that now they really were like Glinda and Elphie (though Jade decided not to point out how the characters' relationship was more than slightly homoerotic not to mention that they ended up as enemies by the end of it).
Jade met Beck for the first time that year. Cat was friends with everyone at the school, no matter what grade they were in, but still somehow all her good friends seemed to be guys. She understood why Robbie and Cat were friends, as the puppet guy was as weird and pathetic as anyone got and obviously didn't have many friends. Andre was all around annoyingly good guy with too much talent. Jade didn't exactly like him, but she did respect him in a way. And then there was Beck. He was the cool kid that everyone liked and every girl wanted to date. He was like the Justin of this school (except Beck was better looking and a much better actor). Jade made a point never to sit next to him on those times that Cat would drag her to sit with them during lunch.
Jade's plan to avoid speaking to Beck failed pretty fast. The guy was ridiculously stubborn and wouldn't leave her alone, always trying to indulge her into a conversation and even going as far as asking her out for coffee. She would practice her glare in front of a mirror just to see what was wrong with it, because apparently Beck wasn't affected by it in the slightest. Of course they shared a few words during acting class, but Jade refused to humor him any further. That was of course until Jade finally got what she had always wanted – a lead on a play. It sucked that Beck happened to get the male lead and she was stuck with him during the production.
She tried to convince herself that it was simply because of the play that she started to actually enjoy Beck's company. He was funny and laid back, but at the same time took his acting seriously. She told herself that it was quite normal to develop feelings for your co-star. It was simply that they both put their everything into the roles and of course the emotions would seep into real life. It would all go away after the play was over.
When Beck asked her out after the opening night, she was too high on adrenaline to refuse. It took him five months to convince her that it wasn't just because of the play that he was interested in her. Five months to get her to realize that he actually wanted to be with her because of her. And it took five months to Jade come to the conclusion that she didn't want him to leave her and take someone else out instead, because he could have anyone he wanted. She was just happy that at the moment it was her and she intended to keep it that way. If one thing Jade was good at, it was making things difficult for others and she was going to make it difficult for anyone else to get Beck.
As they reached the tenth grade Jade thought she had gotten over her Dorothy phase. She was okay with being who she was and so were her friends, and most importantly so was Beck. She didn't need to be sweet and girly and innocent to get a role and she certainly didn't have to please anyone else. That was, until Tori Vega came to the picture. Tori, who took the whole school by storm, charming everyone from students to staff. Tori, who had the prettiest smile and the most perfect cheekbones the world had ever seen. Tori, who was just like the girl from summer camp, who had taken the lead role and been all ten kinds of adorable. Everyone was so taken with her, even Beck, that it made Jade sick. She was everything Jade had wanted to be, but never could and it came so easy for her. She didn't even know what improv was, when she came to Sikowitz's class and nailed it on her second try, taking her revenge on Jade at the same time.
Jade wasn't exactly hurt or angry with Beck because of his and Tori's stage kiss. No, as soon as Tori had said "Kiss me," Jade knew that Beck would do it. After all, if anything Beck was a great actor and he took it seriously, and everyone who had bothered to ever listen to Sikowitz knew that the first rule of improv was to always say yes. So, Jade accepted that her boyfriend kissed the new girl in front of the whole class. However, accepting the fact that Tori had kissed her boyfriend was a totally different matter.
It wasn't that she didn't know what the stage kiss was about. It was just… in a way that was exactly how Jade had ended up with Beck – by being on the stage together. Transference emotions and all that crap. So, how could she be sure that the feeling that Beck had for her wouldn't transfer towards Tori. After all, the girl was the next Judy Garland, the perfect Dorothy, and Jade was still stuck as the Wicked Witch.
So maybe Tori brought out all her insecurities and fuelled her jealousy so far that Jade ended things with Beck. And of course Tori being the perfect girl that she was, actually helped Jade to get Beck back, after Jade had realized how idiotic she had been. She had after all decided not to make things easy for anyone else to get Beck. So one night, when she was lying next to Beck in his RV telling him about all this using a stupid movie as a the base, she felt slightly better about it all. And maybe when she heard him laugh and tell her that Elphaba did get Fiyero in the end, she didn't bother to correct him that it was only in the musical. After all she kind of liked to think that way too.