Disclaimer: I totally wish I was Dan Schneider right about now.. but that would involve gender swapping and that's where it gets a bit tricky, so I'll end that with I do not own Victorious.
My drabble: Well I absolutely love Victorious :D so I have arisen from my Gossip Girl induced stupor, and have decided not to finish my summer assignments due in like a week to present you with this, "All Is Fair In Love & War." It will most likely end up in a series of one-shots but I'll find a way to connect them all together in one big story, somehow. I have no idea what i'm looking for in pairings. Because I am a hardcore Bade fan, but I also adore Cade and Jori. So we shall see. This story will contain everything you have ever wished for a story to contain; heartbreak, drama, humor, friendship, budding romance, camping trips, black outs, Beverly Hills 90210 references, maybe a little sex?, gossip, text messages, catfights, make-ups, coconuts, and SINJIN! Not necessarily in that order...
Where can you read such a story? Look down.
"Let's start at the beginning.." A calm, cool, and collected Jade began, looking into the lens of a camera that Cat was holding.
"A very good place to start." Cat giggled to herself, unknowing to Jade's look of contempt. Jade continued with an eye roll.
"I'm Jade. Yeah, I know you know me. That's not the point. The point is, I'm making this video blog.." She groaned as she was quickly interrupted by her best friend for a second time.
"It's also called a vlog." Cat smiled innocently, trying to contribute to Jade's video experience. Jade knew Cat was always trying.
"Thank you, Cat." Jade pursed her lips into a tight smile, just because she understood Cat's need to help didnt mean that it wasn't annoying.
"Anyway, I'm making these.. 'vlogs'" Jade slightly rolled her eyes, "as an assigment in our communications class. We have to vlog everyday after we get home from school, and upload them on the Slap. And we also.."
"And then we have to upload one post on the Slap every hour.." Cat's brow furrowed, causing Jade to groan and roll her eyes for at least the 30th time in an hour. Cat did some quick mental math before she chimed back up. "That's like 24 posts a day!" Cat beamed into the camera that she now had projected at herself. Jade scowled, clearly frustrated by the red heads lack of attention. She reached out and turned the camera back on herself.
"Yes. Cat. 24 posts a day. Won't this be fun." She rolled her eyes and turned the camera off, as Cat sat silently bouncing up and down on her bed. She was a ball of energy, at all hours of the day. Jade never saw her yawn, and she hardly ever slept. She drinks coffee all day every day, and even that wouldn't make her as hyper as Cat was every minute of every day. It was frustrating, and nauseating sometimes. It definitely gave Jade most of her headaches. Here she was, self proclaimed bitch of Hollywood Arts with her piercings and tattoos, and her best friend? Cat Valentine. Who looks like she could be on Disney Channel with all of her sticky sweetness and naiivety. But somehow it worked, she didn't know how, and she doubted Cat had ever given it a second thought, but it did.
"That was just.. awesome, Cat." Jade sighed as she plopped down sprawled across the floor. Cat smiled at Jade, without the slightest clue of her best friends frustration.
"Really?" Cat chimed, looking down at her from atop her pink-adorned bed.
Now contrary to popular belief, Cat wasn't stupid. At all. In fact, Cat was one of the most intuitive and insightful people Jade had ever met. Did she miss social cues sometimes? Yes. Did she tend to focus on anything but the subject at hand? Much to the frustration of her friends, yes. Did she like to focus on the happy bubbly sparkly things of the world? You betcha. But was she stupid? Absolutely not.
And if anyone said otherwise, they would have a personal meeting with Jade West's very impressive right hook.
"No." Jade replied curtly, before she started gathering her stuff. "It was suckish, Cat."
"Oh, phooey." Cat sighed and looked up at the ceiling. Her voice was quiet as she said, "I thought it was good."
"You would."
Jade couldn't help but roll her eyes at Cat's shameful optimism in every situation. Suddenly, Cat jumped up from her spot on the bed and bounded over to where Jade was standing.
"I'm bored." Cat stared imploringly into her best friends eyes, hoping she would come up with a solution to this predicament.
"And I'm Jade, it's nice to meet you." Jade smirked her signature smile and stuck out her hand in a faux handshake, which much to Jade's annoyance, Cat shook with a smile, of course.
"What do you want to do then, Cat? And I'm not watching your mom's garden waiting for a butterfly again. We sat there for two hours. And I got a sunburn." Jade let out an exasperated groan and sat back down on Cat's bed. She always gave in to Cat. She didn't know what it was, or why she did. It just always happened. She felt some kind of unmitigated loyalty to this girl. Something that she has never felt for some one else besides Beck before. She felt like she had to stick around and make Cat happy, because it was the only way Jade felt like she deserved Cat's friendship. If Cat was happy, Jade was a good friend. Anything other than a happy Cat meant Jade had failed. And Jade didn't like to fail. She hated it actually. It's on her long long list of things she hates. Right after the color yellow, and just before ducks. God she hated ducks. She saw cat giggle at the memory of their time in the garden just watching the grass grow.
"I told you to put sun block on.." Cat gave Jade a knowing smile.
"And you know I don't do anything anyone tells me to do." Jade huffed and folded her arms across her chest. As quick as the subject came up, Cat was on to another.
"Let's go get ice cream!" Cat started bouncing up and down in her usual fashion while singing, "Ice cream, ice cream, I wanna get some ice cream." Jade smiled, which was rare. She loved when Cat just did what she felt like doing; bouncing, skipping, singing, dancing. Because she did it in such a way that made this glow radiate off of her. Just like her smile. Man that smile. Jade could almost swear that it was brighter than the sun. Cat was pulling at her arm trying to get her into the idea.
"Come on, Jade, pleaaaseee? It'll be so fun! I can get Strawberry, and you can get Mocha Pecan, because that's your favorite." Cat rambled for a moment as Jade looked genuinely surprised that Cat knew that. Not a lot of people knew her that well. She never thought that Cat had cared enough to paid attention.
"And they have those colorful spoons, I want a pink spoo-" She must've had a weird look on her face because Cat stopped mid-ramble. And gave her a curious look.
"What?"
"Nothing." Jade gave her a small smile, knowing that Cat would push it.
"What was that look for?" Cat jumped from her bed to stand in front of Jade, a curious and almost worried look pasted on her bright face.
"It's just.. you know my favorite ice cream." Jade suddenly felt self concious and glared at the floor, she wished she had her scissors. They made everything better. Cat laughed like she Jade said the most ridiculous thing in the world as she swatted Jade's arm.
"Of course I know you're favorite ice cream. You're my best friend. I know everything about you." Jade's blue-green eyes shot up to Cat's warm honey brown one's and she gave her red velvet headed friend a doubtful look.
"You know everything about me?" Jade questioned.
"Well.. yeah! We're best friends.." Cat justified, as if it was the answer to everything.
"Really?"
"Why do I get the feeling that you don't really think I know you, Jade West?" Cat suddenly turned more serious and gave an exasperated sigh, as if her and Jade had traded places or something. It caught Jade off guard, if only for a moment, before Cat's mom knocked on the door and entered the room with a tray of cookies.
"Hi girls, I don't mean to interrupt, I just wanted to make sure you two got a cookie before you're dad and brother have at them." Her mom's smile was as warm as Cat's, so were her eyes. As Jade and Cat each took a cookie from the tray. "Your brother got into the superglue again. I thought he had learned his lesson after we had to surgically remove that spatula from his face.." Cat's mom trailed off as she caught a look at Jade. She then took Jade's chin gently in her hand and started looking at her face, and into her eyes, and feeling her forehead.
"Jade, honey, you look sick. Have you been taking you're vitamins?" Throughout the years Cat's mom had become sort of another mom to Jade seeing as Mrs. West didn't really have the time or energy to worry about her daughter most times. Cat's mom knew this, and as the warm hearted person she was, always tried to look out for Jade. Sometimes she felt herself get worried about Jade in the same way she would get worried about Caterina, like a daughter. Jade nodded at Mrs. Valentine giving her a smile and letting her eyes light up for just a moment.
"And I'm flossing." Jade gave a smirk as Kay Valentine gave a smirk of her own and lightly swatted Jade's arm like she did whenever Jade said something sarcastic or snarky.
"Alright, well, you girls have fun." She looked at Jade now and lowered her voice. "And please do not let Caterina look at the sun through her magnifying glass again." Jade giggled and nodded, she'd do anything Cat's mom asked her, because she held a lot of respect and love for her best friends mom. As soon as her mother was gone, Cat looked at Jade again, seeming to reignite the conversation they were having earlier. She gave Jade a questionable look and raised an eyebrow, yet another thing that Jade had so graciously rubbed off on her.
"I didn't mean anything by it Ca-" Jade started but Cat quickly cut her off, determined look plastered on her face.
"Ask me anything." She crossed her arms over her chest, another thing she had picked up from Jade.
"What?" Jade lifted her eyebrows in question, wondering what had gotten into Cat.
"Quiz me." Cat's brown eyes flashed a new hardness to them, like she was more than willing to take on the new challenge. Jade cleared her throat, she wasn't used to this side of Cat. It was almost unnerving? And somewhat refreshing.
"Uhm. Alright. What is my favorite movie?" Jade was more than willing to play Cat's game. She wanted to see just how much Cat thought she knew about her.
"Well that's a trick question because you have two favorite movies. One of them is Zombieland. For 3 reasons; one, you love zombies. Two, you think you're going to be one of the last people on the planet if that ever happens so you think it's going to help you 'prepare', and three, that movie makes you think about the time when I, accidentally, made Tori into an ugly zombie. Which you greatly enjoyed." Jade stood there dumbfounded. Cat really did know her. A lot more than she had given the red head credit for.
"And the other one would be, even though you hate to admit it, the Princess Bride." Cat gave her a smile, one that burned her retina's. Brighter than the sun. Jade grimaced at the mention of the movie.
" I do not like that movie." Jade replied curtly. Cat grinned at her denial.
"You know every word to that movie, Jade. Every time you're sick, you make me watch that movie with you. When we were 7, you made us act it out.." She huffed, "I always had to be the big rats in the fire swamp.." When Cat thought of this she folded her arms across her chest once more and made a pouting face. This made Jade laugh, something that rarely, if ever, happens.
"Okay, fine. Valentine - 1; West - 0." Jade shifted her position so that she was looking up at Cat from the floor. "Ask me something." She saw Cat hesitate for a moment and then her eyes sparked. Something Jade always loved to see.
"How do they get strawberry milk? Are there pink cow-" Cat was cut off when a pillow came in contact with her face, courtesy of the emerald-eyed girl sprawled out on her floor.
"Hey!" Cat laughed as she hugged the pink pillow tight, she was surprised Jade had even touched something pink.
"Cat!" Jade laughed a little, "I meant a question about you." Cat looked in Jade's eyes for a minute, being swept away by the perfect blue waves, the green coming in as vicious undertow carrying her out to sea. And she didn't mind.
"Alright, what is my favorite kind of weather?" She smirked at Jade, as if she had won. Jade easily returned it.
"Anyone else who knows you would say that you like days with endless amounts of sunshine.." Cat was about to cut her off, because Jade had answered incorrectly, but Jade didn't let her interrupt this time.
"But I know that you like drizzily days the most. Just a little bit of rain, not a lot because thunder and lightening scare you, but you look forward to those days with just the perfect amount of rain because after the clouds roll away, you always get so excited searching the sky for a rainbow." Jade's voice had gotten a bit softer towards the end. Cat looked at her with a sort of slight amusement on her face. Cat never thought anyone had paid attention to her before. She didn't think anyone ever gave her a second thought.
"Looks like we're tied." Cat said softly before plopping down next to her friend. Jade read into her starry eyed look.
"Alright no more game show questions, let's go to Freezy Queen." Jade rolled her eyes with a smile on her face as she pulled Cat off of the bed.
"I love Freezy Queen!" Cat exclaimed as she jumped up and down, hugging Jade. Jade grabbed her camera and her book bag and followed a bouncing, singing, Cat Valentine out of the room.
"I know." She smiled to herself. Even though they were oil and water, pink and black, glitter and scissors, they were still best friends.
Who knows how it worked, or why it worked so well, but it just did. They were just the kind of friends that would do anything for the other, without realizing it themselves. Jade had sat for two hours, staring at Mrs. Valentine's garden waiting for a butterfly, just because she wanted to see Cat's eyes light up when it fluttered past. And Cat had to go through being the big rats that were either stabbed or set on fire, during Jade's productions of the Princess Bride, all because she loved seeing Jade's face brighten as she said every line.
As hard to understand as their friendship is, they both lived for those 'brighter than the sun' moments.