Music And Lyrics

BECK'S POV

Hollywood Arts wasn't what it used to be. Or maybe it was just me. Jade breaking up hadn't been a shocker, but that didn't mean I had to like it. I had genuinely loved her, once upon a time. Before I met Tori.
After that, my doubt had gotten only bigger, up to the point where there was just no fixing things. I wasn't sure what I felt for Tori.
I wasn't even sure what she felt for me. I knew that she had the hots for me—a very satisfying feeling—but I wasn't sure if she'd like me like, you know, a boyfriend.
If I'd ask her out, she'd say yes, I knew that, but I was—I am—too much of a chicken to ask her. What if the date wouldn't be as good as it was in my dreams? What if we'd figure out we didn't match after all?

I slammed my locker shut, frustrated after another lesson of songwriting, only to figure out I really sucked at it, whilst André, the only reason I took the class, was amazing. He'd begged me to take the class with him, for hours and hours until I gave in. André, who was presently rummaging in his locker, heard my frustrated sigh and grinned at me. 'You know, if you'd just use all that frustration in your pretty boy head, you might come up with the best song ever.' He laughed as I scowled at him. 'Or you could ask Tori out. She's dying to go out with you, especially since Jade dumped you and hooked up with Derek.' I smirked. Poor Derek. He had no idea what he was getting himself into.
I straightened up and leaned against the locker next to André's. 'Why would Tori Vega want to go out with me? She's got you, doesn't she?' I said, grinning at André. He barked a loud laugh and said, 'She does, but she's not dating me, is she?'
I smirked. 'You two hang out so often you might as well be dating.' Though the idea of Tori and André wasn't something I liked to think about, I knew it could happen.

Ironic wasn't it? My best friend was my biggest competitor when it came to girls. I knew a lot of girls liked André, and I was sure Tori was one of those girls. I just didn't want her to be. Our bell rang, and for the first time I realized it was quite a weird sort of ringing. Not bad weird, but just different weird. André shut his locker and grinned. 'Come on dude. Lighten up. Just kiss her again and she'll be hooked.' I rolled my eyes and followed him to Sikowitz's classroom. Cat and Robbie, who had started dating last week, were already there, Cat in her Jupiter boots. Rex was nowhere to be seen, which wasn't rare anymore, ever since Cat and Robbie had started dating.
'Yo little red!' André said and headed for his favorite chair, in the front row of the classroom. I smiled at Cat, clapped Robbie on the shoulder and dropped my bag next to a chair on the second row. Leaning back with my eyes closed, I tried to imagine Tori sitting next to me, dragging her fingers down my cheeks, her lips on mine, her . . . God, who was I trying to fool? I was hopelessly in love with her.

'Alright class,' Sikowitz roared as he entered the room – barefoot as usual. I opened my eyes and looked around. Everybody was already here. Everybody except for Tori.
I saw André glance around the room uncomfortably, probably worried about Tori too. I wondered where she was. She was almost never late.
She hadn't been late since her second day at Hollywood Arts. I smirked. That day was clear in my mind. She'd kissed me.
Only, back then, it had been to get back at Jade. Still worried, I turned my attention back to Sikowitz. 'To warm up today we'll go for some improv exercises. I'll call up two people randomly, you'll get a subject and then. . . You act!'

'André, Cat,' he continued, 'Go!' I smirked and watched Cat and André get up to the stage. Suddenly, the door behind us opened and Tori walked in.
André froze on stage, gazing at his best friend, mouth hanging open, Cat looked horrified, and I? I couldn't keep myself from gasping loudly.

Tori's hair was tied together in a messy ponytail and she looked like she'd been crying. Her clothes were wrinkled and, most shocking, she had a huge black eye. Like, huge huge. It dominated her face, the shade of it varying from deep dark blue to purple and green. It looked even worse than the black eye Jade had once faked to get her into trouble; and there was no way in hell this black eye was fake.

André jumped off the stage and hurried to her. 'Tori,' He said, 'What the hell happened?'
She forced a smile on her lips and ran a hand through her hair. 'Nothing, I, um . . . I fell.' André shook his head.
'Tori, don't be rid—' She shut him up with one look. 'Not now, Dré.' He frowned, but slowly returned to the stage.

Tori looked down at her shoes and walked into the class, sitting down next to me.
I glanced at her, a horrible gut-wrenching feeling taking hold of me.
'Tori,' I whispered as soon as André and Cat started the scene, 'What happened?' She kept her gaze directed at the stage. 'I told you. I fell.'
I rolled my eyes. 'Come on, Tori, go tell André's grandma that.' Her lower lip trembled.
'I told you, nothing happened, Beck.'

I leaned closer to her, put my finger under her chin and brought her face leveled with mine. 'Tori, look at me.' Scowling, she let her eyes meet mine.
Or rather, the eye that wasn't swollen. 'Now tell me what happened.' She bit her lip. 'I . . . I can't, Beck. I'm sorry. I want to . . . But . .. I can't.'
Before I knew it, she got up and ran out of the room, leaving me in my seat, stunned, André, Cat, Sikowitz and the whole class stared after her.

I cursed inwardly and exchanged a glance with André. At the same time, we ran for the door, leaving the whole class staring at us.

We searched the entire school for Tori, but she wasn't anywhere to be found. Finally, we met at her locker again.
'Dude, what the hell? Where can that girl be hiding?' André shrugged and ran a hand through his dreads. 'I don't know, man. But I'm seriously worried now. This isn't like her.' I groaned and leaned back against the lockers. 'Look, she has to be somewhere. Where haven't we looked?'

My eyes met his and we both thought of the answer at the same time.

'THE JANITOR'S CLOSET!' We both called and ran for the door. I reached it first and wrenched it open. Tori was leaning against the wall, her arms wrapped around her legs, her forehead resting on her knees.

It hurt to see her like this. 'Tori,' I whispered, sitting on one knee next to her while André sat down on her other side. 'Tori, sweetie, what happened?'
'Tell us,' André said softly, rubbing her back. She looked up and I gasped. Now her makeup had run, I could see more bruises on her face, and, as I slowly pulled her sleeve up, I saw dark bruises on her arms as well.

André did the same with her other arm, and we uncovered bruise after bruise.

'Oh God,' André whispered. He cupped Tori's face in his hands and forced her to look up. 'Tori, baby, what happened? Tell me.' She started sobbing again and shoved into his embrace. 'I walked home last night . . . Trina left me hanging again, and I didn't want to bother you again,' she sobbed. André groaned, 'Tori,' but didn't continue as she spoke again.

'And these three guys were following me all the time. And I . . . I didn't think too much of it, until I got home, and they showed up there as well.'
She cried harder. 'They knocked down the door and . . . Beat me up. Two held me down, the other beat me. They were in my old school . . . They said I wouldn't need my pretty face in Hollywood Arts.'

She rested her head on André's shoulder as he gaped at me. He was in absolute shock. As was I. But I felt another, very powerful emotion bubbling up inside of me, and André seemed to know it was coming.

Blind rage took hold of me and I jumped up, fully intending on driving straight to Tori's old school, tracking down the sons of bitches that did this to her and beat the crap out of them.

I would've too, if Tori hadn't jumped up and wrapped her arms around my neck, effectively holding me back. 'Tori, let go off me,' I said, trying to unwrap her arms from my neck as gently as I could master at the moment.
My vision seemed to be tinted red for some reason, and I still felt the adrenaline the rage had invoked pumping through my veins. She shook her head.
'No. You'll do something stupid, and you'll get hurt, and I don't want either of you to get hurt because of me.'

I groaned in frustration. 'Tori, I just want to find those giant a-holes and kick them silly for what they did to you.' She shook her head again, clutching my shirt and look up into my eyes.
Dang it! I can't say no to her! Not when she's all damsel in distress like this! 'Okay, fine!' I exclaimed. 'I won't. Only for you, Tori.' She produced a weak smile and hugged me close.

I felt really tingly.

'Thank you,' she whispered. André rubbed her back. 'We're not letting you walk home alone anymore, though. We'll have someone walk with you every day. Me, Beck, Robbie, Cat, I bet I can even convince Jade.'
She sniffed and turned to look at him. 'You don't have to,' she whispered. He smiled at her. 'Yeah, I do.'

What was this thing I was feeling when I watched the exchange between the two of them? Jealousy? Couldn't be though, I'd felt jealous before, and this didn't feel like it had with Jade. Maybe, a voice in my head argued, You just didn't like Jade as much as you like Tori. I rolled my eyes.
Great. Now I have a voice talking in my head. I'm officially a nut-case.

Tori was wiping away her tears and carefully re-applying some of her makeup, until she could find Cat, who could give her a complete makeover, like the bruises and the black eye weren't even there.

For the rest of the day, I made sure either André, Cat or I were there with her to keep a close eye on her, and, as she proved after our final class, she needed it.
She ran to her locker, dumped her stuff in it and ran for the door, hoping none of us would catch her before she could leave.

'Oh come on, Tori,' I said while leaning against the door, 'You didn't really believe I'd let you walk home on your own, did you?' She scowled at me.
'I don't want you to walk me home.'

I grinned and fished my car keys from my pocket. 'Well then, good thing I brought my car.'

TORI'S HOUSE
BECK'S POV

Tori opened the door and let me in. She tossed her bag in a corner and headed for the kitchen.
'Where's Trina and your mom and dad?' I asked. 'New York,' She answered.

'Do you want a drink as well?' she asked, holding up a bottle of whisky. I frowned. 'Tori, you shouldn't be drinking. It's not going to solve anything.'
She took a swig of the bottle. 'I can try.' I shook my head and reached for the bottle, prying it from her grip.

'Believe me,' I said, 'Being drunk doesn't last, Tori.' She snorted and ran a hand over her mouth. 'How can you know? Maybe being drunk is what I need.'
I shook my head again and pushed past her, emptying the bottle in the sink. 'No it isn't.'

'Why do you even care?' She yelled. She might as well have punched me. 'You've got every girl in school, Cat, and Jade, still, why would you even care about what happens to me?' My mouth fell open.
'Tori, what makes you think that, just because Cat's my friend, and Jade my ex, that I couldn't care about you anymore?' She wiped away a few tears and strode to the couch, dropping herself onto it.

There was more to this, and I knew it.

'Tori,' I whispered while kneeling next to her. 'What else happened last night?'
Tears leaked from the corners of her eyes again, and she bit her lip so hard, I actually saw tiny drops of blood well up. 'Tori?'

'I can't,' She whispered. 'I can't say it.'

I shook my head. 'Why not?'

She looked at me. 'Because it's all my fault. If hadn't been stupid enough to wear shorts like those, they wouldn't have. But I did, and now . . . And it's all my fault.'

It took me a moment to process what she had just confessed. And another to realize what she meant.

'Oh my God. Tori, baby, I'm sorry,' I whispered, jumping up and pulling her into a tight hug. 'I'm so sorry.'
She started crying, and crying and crying. She didn't protest as I sat down on the couch, pulling her onto my lap, letting her cry out the feelings she'd been suppressing.

After a while, her sobs grew dryer, and after more than an hour, I realized she'd fallen asleep.
I gently lifted her, and carried her up the stairs, in true bride-fashion, to her bedroom.
The room was a mess, and I could see she had done much sleeping last night.

I lowered her onto the bed carefully, and pulled the sheets up over her sleeping form. I noticed the quilt that hung over the side of her bed, made out of all the different T-shirts of places she'd been to.
It was the only thing her grandmother had left her. I remembered André telling me about it.

Slowly, I pulled it over her, making sure she was comfortable, before heading downstairs, already dialing André's number.
'What's up?' He said when he picked up.

I groaned. 'I'm going to kill them, André! They raped her!'

So . . . Should I continue?
I'm not always a Bori fan, mostly Tandré shipper, but I go both ways xD

So anyway, as I mentioned, credit goes to Brittd33 for the concept of the story. It was all hers.
I just made a fanfiction out of her fanfiction :p

Love it? Hate it?

Tell me what you think :)

Read and review!

Xx Annaelle