My Biggest Challenge
DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN VICTORIOUS, OR ANY OF THE CHARACTERS. OR ANY OF THE DISNEY FILMS MENTIONED (101 DALMATIONS, THE LION KING, FINDING NEMO OR THE JUNGLE BOOK.) ALTHOUGH I WISH I DID, HOW COOL WOULD THAT BE! ANYWAY, ENJOY.
STORY IN TORI'S POV- SET AFTER THE GREAT PING-PONG SCAM
CHAPTER 1- MORE THAN SHE'S LETTING ON?
"Best restaurant I've ever been to in my life." I proclaim to the others in Sikowitz' minivan.
"I know right." Beck replies.
"I told you guys that restaurant was amazing." Cat says happily
"I feel like I'm going to explode. I definitely ate way too much." Andre states whilst looking rather uncomfortable. I must admit, he normally has the most to eat out of any of us at lunch usually, but tonight he went all out. He had Shrimp Cocktail as a starter, and then an 8 ounce steak for his main (with a fair few side orders as well). To top it off, the slice of chocolate cake he ordered was what you would expect to share with 3 people normally. Safe to say, he didn't finish it.
"I can't believe I had to spoon feed you dude, although it was funny watching you try to eat that massive bit of cake." Beck chuckles to Andre.
"Oh thanks man." Andre says sarcastically. "I'm glad you found it funny."
"Don't get to use to it Andre, otherwise I'll have to make sure the only way you can eat will be through a straw." Jade says whilst giving Andre a glare.
"It's okay babe, don't plan on it happening again anytime soon, preferably not at all." Beck tries to sweet talk Jade whilst giving her a peck on the cheek, which soon turned into more. I honestly don't know how he puts up with her.
Meanwhile, I started talking to Robbie, wondering just how he managed to order $600 worth of caviar. Yes, you heard me right, $600 worth!
"Robbie, what on God's earth possessed you to order 600 bucks worth of caviar?" I question him
"I didn't know it was that expensive!" Robbie tries to defend himself. "Plus, have you guys ever had caviar? It's really good."
"No, why would I pay ridiculously expensive prices just to eat what are basically fish eggs?" I ask him.
"It's totally worth the expense." Robbie says. And before I can ask him to justify that, Cat chimes in, still going on about the lobster flavoured potatoes.
"Are you absolutely sure that you can't grow lobtatoes?" Cat asks. Seriously, she has even come up with a name for them.
"Yes Cat, I'm positive that no matter how hard you try, it's impossible to grow lobtatoes." I tell her.
After I tell her that, she goes back to her own little world, humming away. Then out of nowhere I find myself humming along with her. I couldn't help myself, since she was humming the song that I had just sung in the restaurant to get us out of a spot of bother.
You see because Robbie had ordered the $600 worth of caviar, we couldn't afford the bill at the end of the night. However, at the restaurant, there was supposed to be some 'classy live music' but there was a golfing accident if I heard the manager right. Anyway, to help us both out, I performed a song with Andre in return for us not being able to pay the entirety of our bill.
"That was a wonderful performance tonight Tori and Andre." Sikowitz pipes up from the driver's seat.
"Thanks Sikowitz". Both of us expressing our gratitude that he thought it was a good performance.
The rest of the drive back to school was filled with just chatting about what how much we enjoyed our evening.
Eventually, we arrive back at Hollywood Arts.
"I will see you all tomorrow, ready for who knows what." Sikowitz comments after letting us all out. I must admit, as crazy as Sikowitz is, he is by far the best teacher I've ever had. You never know what to expect from his lessons, but that's what makes going to his class so enjoyable.
"See you later Sikowitz." Andre raises his hand. "Well I better get home before my grandma freaks out. You want a lift Robbie?"
"Yeah please, if you don't mind." Robbie says.
Before he goes, Andre turns to me.
"I'll see you tomorrow yeah Tori, I've got a few ideas we can work on with that song if you want." He gives me a hopeful look when he says it.
"Yeah, I'd be up for that." I reply, and his face lights up, like when a kid gets something they really wanted for their birthday. Andre is amazingly talented when it comes to writing and making music. He has a huge career in front of him if he carries on the way he's going.
Then I look over to Beck, who still has Jade firmly attached to his face.
"Please get a room." I groan over to them.
"What, jealous Vega?" Jade shoots back with a smirk
"No, why would I be jealous?" I question, which seems to agitate her.
"Watch your tone with me Vega." She glares at me. Them eyes are enough to strike fear into the eyes of anyone, well anyone apart from Beck. But hey, someone has to be able to control her right.
"We'll see you two tomorrow okay." Beck calls over to us. It's then that I notice its only me and Cat still waiting here.
"Yeah, see you tomorrow." I reply.
I then turn to Cat and she has worried look on her face. It's not a look that suits her bubbly personality.
"Something the matter Cat?" I ask her
"I just got a text of my mom, she can't come and pick me up now." Cat pouts.
"Ah, damn. How come?" I inquire.
"She didn't say. Looks like I'm going to have to walk home" She says turning toward me.
"You can't walk home, not in this rain. I'm sure my mom wouldn't mind giving you a lift." I assure her
"Really? She wouldn't mind?" Cat mumbles, looking down. "If your mom is giving me a lift, rather than her go out of her way, would you...would you mind if I stayed the night at yours?" She asks shyly.
"Of course not Cat. I'd love to have you stay round for the night." She brightens up when I tell her this. Something tells me that something happened with her family since it's not going out of the way really to drop her home. I don't want to ask questions, but there is more to this than she is letting on.
After a few minutes of sitting in silence my mom turns up in the school car park to pick me and Cat up.
"Hey mom, you don't mind if Cat stays the night tonight do you?" I say, trying to give good puppy dog eyes for effect. It always works.
"Yes dear, that's absolutely fine. Jump in girls." See I told you, the puppy dog eyes always work. "How come your mom couldn't pick you up then Cat?" My mom asks.
Cat furrows her brow at this. I give her a skeptical look, but before she notices, I'm looking out the window again. My suspicion is growing, but it could just be nothing.
Either way, Cat seems to shake off whatever was bothering her, as if she's trying to not let it mess with her. "I'm not sure she didn't say", She replies to my mom's question. My mom nods and says "Well you know you're welcome at ours anytime."
"Thank you Mrs. Vega, that's very kind of you." Cat smiles.
The rest of the car journey back to my house mainly consisted of talking about the restaurant and what it was like. When we got in, Trina and my dad weren't about, which made me curious.
"Mom, where are dad and Trina?" I question her.
"Well, your father is getting ready because we are going out for dinner tonight. And as for Trina, I'm not sure, but you never can be with her, probably shopping at the mall, or working on her martial arts." My mom sighs. Which is true actually. Don't get me wrong, I love Trina, after all she is my sister, but she can be self centred and unpredictable. I know we can all be like that, but she is like that more than your average person.
"Oh, okay." I reply, slight relief in my voice. "Cat, why don't you pick out something comfortable to sleep in out of my wardrobe and choose a film to watch." I suggest turning toward her.
"Kay, kay." She answers enthusiastically.
At this point my dad comes down the stairs. "Hi Tori, Hi Cat." He greets us. "How was your evening with the others?"
"Hi dad. It was great, thanks for asking." I give him a smile
"Hi Mr. Vega. Yeah the evening was really nice." Cat agrees. Then off she bounds upstairs and out of sight.
"Oh Tori..." My mom snaps me out of my thoughts. "We'll be back late tonight so don't wait up for us, can't have you two being late for school tomorrow."
"Don't worry mom, we won't be late." I nod.
"Right then we best be off. See you later." My parents say.
"Bye mom, bye dad." And with that the door is closed, and me and Cat have the place to ourselves.
I go upstairs to get changed into something a bit more comfortable. I knock before I go in to make sure Cat has changed and is decent. Thankfully she was.
"You decided what film you want to watch yet Cat?" I ask her.
"Ohhhh, can we watch 101 Dalmatians? Or The Jungle Book? Or Finding Nemo?" Cat bounces excitedly, reeling off the list of films. I should've known she would pick a Disney film.
"Yes Cat, any of them are fine." I reply. "You go downstairs and set it up on the DVD player. I'll be down in a minute after I've got changed."
"Kay kay." She says, full of joy.
As I get changed, I get totally lost in my thoughts whilst singing very quietly 'Tell Me That You Love Me', the song I sang at the restaurant with Andre. Thinking of all the people in the restaurant who gave a look to that special someone when I sang that line. However there was one person there that didn't and that was Cat. She kept her eyes on me at all times, but why? Oh well, best to just ignore it.
"Tori, you coming down to watch this or not." I hear Cat yell from downstairs, rather impatiently. Shit, I got so caught up in my thoughts that I totally forgot that Cat was downstairs waiting for me.
"Yeah, 2 seconds!" I shout back, quickly throwing on a top. I am such an idiot, I can't believe I forgot about Cat. "Okay, I'm here, I'm here" I say as I run down the stairs. "Have you started it yet?"
"No silly, I was waiting for you." She giggles.
"Well I'm here now, so you can start it." I tell her. "What movie did you pick anyway?"
"One of my favourites, The Lion King." She states, whilst trying to get comfortable. She eventually settles for resting her head on my shoulder. Cat is quite a touchy, feely kind of person, always giving people hugs and what not, but hey I'm not complaining, who doesn't love getting a hug. It brightens up your day.
About halfway through, Trina walks through the door with dozens of bags, her usual larger than life self. Me and Cat just ignore her and go back to watching the film.
"Uhhh... Hello. Are neither of you going to ask what I bought?" She asks.
"Honestly Trina, I don't really care what you bought. But since you brought it up what did you buy?" I try to be as polite as I can. It's one thing ignoring Trina, it's another to get in her bad books. I mean, she's no Jade, but Trina isn't someone I would want to mess with.
"Well, there's no need to be so rude. And since you are curious, I bought some new shoes, a new pair of jeans, oh and a new iPad." She happily lists off. Wait, did she just say she bought an iPad?
"Did you just say you bought a new iPad? How did you even afford that?" I ask, raising my eyebrows at her.
"Yes, I did say iPad. And I need you to do me a favour, can you put mom's credit card back in her purse." Of course the same old trick she always uses, don't know why I bothered asking to be fair.
"No, I will not put mom's credit card back, you can." I narrow my eyes towards her.
"Come on, I'd do it for you." She whines
"No you wouldn't!" I exclaim. Well it's true she wouldn't do it for me, so why should I do it for her.
"FINE! Be that way." She groans as she stomps off upstairs. For Trina, that was quite mild, and now I'm definitely going to be in the bad books. Oh well, she'll get over it.
In all the time, I was talking to Trina, Cat hasn't moved. I thought she might have fallen asleep, but that's impossible to do with Trina around. She looks at me and yawns. Awww, she looks tired.
"Tired Cat?" I mumble.
"Mmm..." She whispers back. "...But I want to see the end." I look over at the clock, and it's just gone half past 10, and we have to be up at 7 for school.
"Another night Cat, we've got school in the morning." I try to reason with her.
"Pleasssseeeee Tori." She drags her words out for affect, trying to get her way.
"Are you busy tomorrow night?" I ask her. "It's Friday night, we don't have school the next morning so we can watch the rest of it if you want."
"I'd love that. Thanks Tori." She says as she gets to her feet to go upstairs.
"No worries Cat." I'm already missing the warmth of her head on my shoulder, I was quite comfortable like that.
As I we head upstairs and into my room, Cat's already in my bed before I've got the door shut and the bedside lamp on. I giggle at her. My bed is King size, so it's plenty big enough for the two of us. I go into my en suite bathroom (what, I have an en suite bathroom because Trina takes ages in the family bathroom alright) to brush my teeth. After I've finished, Cat goes in and does the same.
I'm setting my alarm for the next day, and Cat turns to me. She starts to speak but I'm not really paying attention because I'm setting the alarm, bloody thing. Why does school have to start so early I think to myself. "Thanks for letting me stay tonight Tori..." She whispers, then turns away onto her side. "...I can always rely on you." And then, as she drifts off to sleep, she's humming 'Tell Me That You Love Me' again. Wow, she really liked that song.
Before I manage to get to sleep, I find myself lost in my thoughts again. I find myself thinking about what got us to that restaurant in the first place, being part of a fake ping-pong team. Jade was reluctant to let me in on it, even insisting that I play everyone in the gang at ping-pong. I managed to beat all of them, which felt really good. Now I know what they mean by having a competitive instinct or a competitive edge. It was one of the best feelings I've had.
And it makes me wonder, could I take up a sport like ping-pong or something else to feel that again. It would be a challenge, but yeah, I think it's one I would quite like to take on.
Wait, did Cat say she could rely on me? Rely on me for what exactly...
A/N: So this is my first ever chapter. Hopefully it's not too bad, and you want to continue to read the story. I know it's a bit short but it's my first attempt. Hopefully the next chapter will be a bit longer.
I'm not going to ask you to review, but any constructive criticism to try and help me improve my writing is greatly appreciated. If there are any grammar or spelling errors, feel free to point them out. Not sure how often I will be able to update, but I hope to get a chapter per week. If I get some time off work (which isn't often) then maybe that will increase.
Anyway, enjoy your day, and thanks for reading.
(P.S. I've tried my best to use American spellings, but it doesn't come naturally to me. Sorry.)