Tori Vega stood in a dimly lit alley a block away from Maestro's with Andre Harris, the boy's black suit jacket covering her otherwise bare shoulders. Andre stood with his back to the dead body of the man that Tori had been forced to stab in the heart for self-defense's sake, guarding her from the sight that they both knew would be hard for anyone to look at, let alone the currently fragile singer. As an extra precaution, Tori stood with her forehead leaning against the other wall of the brick building, her back to Andre, not wanting to see neither the body nor the boy. She didn't particularly want him to see her in her current state either, but it couldn't be helped at the moment, and she was glad for his presence.

"I called the other guys," Andre offered to her across the thick air between them. "And the cops. They should all be here in a minute."

Tori nodded, the skin of her forehead scraping uncomfortably against the brick as she did so. "Okay," she croaked out, looking warily down at the state of her dress.

Obeying the now-dead man in his order to take it off had saved it from being actually torn, which was good; it had only suffered from laying in the mud and dirt of the alleyway before she had wrestled the knife away from the man, stabbed him, and then scrambled back into her violated clothing before calling out to Andre.

Violated…

Tori screwed her eyes tightly closed; taking a few deep breaths to reign in the tears that were threatening to emerge again.

"Tori?" Andre asked carefully, and she heard the crunch of the broken asphalt under his feet that meant that he had stepped up to stand behind her.

He placed a hand on her shoulder and she shuddered. The physical contact that she had welcomed only a few minutes ago as verification of another safe human being in the vicinity now made her stomach clench.

"Please don't touch me," she whispered, her request barely audible.

"You know that I won't hurt you, right?" Andre asked her softly.

Tori nodded, her throat to tightly constricted to allow for any speaking.

"Tori?" Andre spoke carefully again and she flinched, knowing what it was that he was going to try to ask her. "That guy-"

"He wanted my purse," Tori chocked out the easy lie.

Though she still had her back turned to him, she could practically feel him relax behind her as he released the breath that he had apparently been holding and replied with a tone of thinly veiled great relief. "Oh; alright."

So he had already guessed the unthinkably awful truth. Hopefully she had through him off the trail – forever, if she had her way. After all, no one really had to know the truth behind what had just happened to her.

"You probably should have just given him your bag," Andre said, sounding almost at a loss for what to say, and he shifted from foot to foot as they waited for the others to arrive.

Tori opened her mouth to give a reply – probably another lie – that she hadn't yet formulated, but Beck and Jade ran up just then, saving her from having to speak.

"Are you two okay?" Beck asked in between gasps for air as he tried to catch his breath.

Tori turned around to face the trio of her friends, Andre answered, "I'm fine," but he looked at her uncertainly, clearly unsure of how she was doing.

"I'm fine," Tori lied, and she surprised herself with how convincing it sounded, even to her own ears. "I'm just a little shaken up is all."

Beck released a deep, relieved breath, much as Andre had a moment before. "Good."

Jade just stayed silent for a moment, staring at her through slightly narrowed eyes. It was the same look that Tori had seen in her eyes when they sat at their desks in math class, and Jade was faced with a problem that she had already worked, but knew to be incorrect. Somehow, Jade had to know that Tori was lying, and she was trying to piece together the truth.

"Where'd the guy go that grabbed you?" an unsuspecting Beck asked.

Tori turned a little green as both she and Andre pointed to the body in the shadows of the alley.

"Dude!" Jade gasped, finally breaking her streak of silent contemplation as she took a couple of steps toward the body. Beck reached out and grasped her arm when she was only a few steps away from him, keeping her from going any further. Tori was glad; she doubted that the sight of the still-bleeding dead man was one that even Jade would want to see – at least up close and in this setting. The Goth seemed a little in awe of Tori in the moment as she asked, "How the… Why… What did he want?"

Tori barely refrained from flinching when she was asked that question again. Again she lied simply, "My purse."

"The guy had to drag you a block away to get your purse from you?" Beck asked with raised eyebrows.

Tori gulped, realizing that he had found a loophole in her story. "I guess he knew there would be more people in the parking lot?" she fished for a reasonable excuse, and that one didn't sound too bad.

Beck still looked unconvinced, but no one of the three said much else because Robbie and Cat ran up just then. Psychowits was right behind them and a cop car pulled in beside the teacher. Tor's heart slammed in her throat for the tenth time that night as the possibility hit her just moments before the actual man emerged from the patrol car.

Her father.

Tori Vega loved her father dearly and he loved her just as much. As a general rule, this was a good and wonderful thing, but there was one drawback to being Daddy's little girl.

He always knew when she was lying.

I didn't know if I was going to write this or not, but here I am. This should be a two-or-three shot, and there may even be more stories in this series after this one, depending upon the response that I get to this. *hint, hint* Hopefully you guys enjoyed it! Reviews always make my day! Thanks!:)