Disclaimer: I do not own Victorious, nor do I own that spray can you found down at the police station next to the graffiti...

A/N: Remember how I said I was working on a one-shot? Yeah...about that. I realize that I couldn't keep this as a one-shot, like I had originally planned 3 weeks ago. (I started writing this 3 weeks ago...but I just got around to adding.) I have writer's block, alright?

Anyway, I don't know what's up with my "crime-driven" Jori fics...but I guess that's what my mind wants to do. So, I give you this.

Chapter 1

"I can't believe you made me do this!" she accuses, throwing her hands in the air and pacing back and forth in front of me. We're sitting in a holding cell, both of us flushed from running six blocks. I watch as she turns to walk the other way every few seconds and lean back against the wall, crossing my arms. "Why did I ever agree to this? I would have been fine, studying for my test, but no, you just had to climb in my window at one in the morning and tell me we were going to have fun."

"You agreed to it, Vega. And I didn't tell you to punch the woman in the face. You did that yourself."

She glares at me. "She was pointing a gun at you! I had to do something!" She shakes her head and resumes pacing. "I thought you said no one was going to be home. You didn't say there was a crazy old woman who was going to try to kill us." I laugh and she stares at me in shock. "Is this really funny? Are you really going to laugh right now?"

I roll my eyes. "Vega, seriously, calm down. I thought the house was going to be empty. How was I to know that we were going to be attacked by a woman in her eighties wielding a pistol? If I had known that, and if I had known you were going to brutally assault her, I never would have suggested that house."

"I did not brutally assault her! I punched her once and that was to knock her out."

I chuckle. "So you finally punched someone in the face! How is that a crime?" Her glare is stabbing me. "Okay, so she was an elderly woman. You could have slapped her and she would have been out cold." She sinks onto the bench next to me and looks at her folded hands in her lap. "Alright, look. Your dad's a cop. Maybe he can help us get out of this…"

"Jade, my dad is the one who arrested us. He's leaving us here for the night. Do you really think he's going to help us out?" She looks terrified and for the first time I feel guilty. "God, Jade…what if I killed that woman? I could…I couldn't live with myself."

Fuck, I hadn't thought of that.

Two hours ago…

"Come on, it will be fun."

She stares at me like I'm out of my mind, and I can't blame her. I had never tried to drag her to do things like this, but with a smirk in place I'm confident she'll give in at some point. I know she'd done a few minor things, even if her dad is a cop, but she couldn't say she didn't enjoy them.

Okay, so maybe this isn't exactly something minor. I know I'm risking it just by inviting her, but I'm bored and Beck is in Canada. Even if he were here, he never wants to do things like this. He would give me a lecture with reasons why what I would be doing was wrong. I don't need a parent; I need someone to have fun with. And I'm losing my patience with her.

"You need to learn to live with risks. We both know you need to loosen up a little and quit being such the perfect good girl."

She rolls her eyes and sighs. "Fine, let's go." I smirk. That was easier than I thought it would be. I climb out onto the ledge outside her window and jump to the yard below. The half-Latina girl is at my side in less than a minute. "So where are we going anyway?" I shrug. There's an empty house about a mile south of Vega's house; we could hit that and get some valuables. The couple who lived there had gone on vacation and wouldn't be back until next week. How do I know that? My father was talking about them the other night at dinner. He hates them. "Do you know or are we just going in this particular direction for absolutely no reason at one in the morning?"

"Vega?" She looks at me. "You talk entirely too much. You're right, it's one in the morning, so please just shut up before someone hears us and calls the cops about two teenagers dressed in all black walking down the street." She frowns but keeps her mouth shut. Twenty minutes later we're standing at the end of a driveway to a white house. We jump the fence to the back yard and I squint through the window. The house is dark and the back door is unlocked. Idiots.

I lead Vega into the house and search through the living room for something small and valuable. "What are you looking for?" she whispers. I shrug, opening the glass door on the entertainment system. There's just a bunch of junk. Where are the valuables? They're rich, right?

I hear the sound of a click just before Tori gasps. Freezing where I stand, I concentrate on the sound. Either she had found something and clicked it or someone is in the room with a gun. "What are you doing in my house?" a woman's voice asks.

So much for this house being empty.

I slowly turn to face the woman, realizing she has to be at least eighty-something. And just for the record, not all elderly people shake. This woman has a steady arm and she could very well shoot with precision. "I…uh…"

Everything happens in the blink of an eye and next thing I know my arm is searing with pain and the woman is on the floor. Vega is alternating her gaze between her fist and the elderly woman, whispering "oh my god" over and over. I grab her wrist and drag her toward the front door, opening it and dragging her outside. I can hear sirens at least a couple of streets over as we run and I'm starting to get lightheaded. I slow down and glance at my arm. Blood paints my pale skin. "Jade!" Vega rush to my side.

I push her. "Go…"

"Jade, are you there?" I look up at her. "God, I thought you went into shock or something."

I shake my head. "No, I was trying to remember what happened tonight." I raise my arm and wince slightly. Nothing had been done for my shoulder, except to stop the bleeding. When I woke up, I was here. "Vega…I'm sorry."

She shrugs. "No, you're right. I agreed to do this. I could have said no, thrown you out the window, and gone on with my night. But instead, I chose to do something criminal…"

"Vega." We both look at the guard and I push the half-Latina girl toward him. They speak quietly, her head bobbing at his words, and I pretend to be interested in my fingernails. I want to know what they're saying. Vega sighs with what seems to be relief and glances at me for a second before turning back to him. He shrugs and nods, walking away.

"What did he want?" I ask.

She crosses her arms. "The lady I punched will be fine. Apparently she's a hell of a lot tougher than she looked." She sighs. "But she's pressing charges. Jade, I'm being charged with assault and trespassing. She's charging you with trespassing." The guard returns with a handful of bunched up wet paper towels and hands them to Vega. "Thanks." She sits on my right and grabs my wrist, pushing up my sleeve and wiping the blood from my arm. I hiss in pain when she dabs around my wound. "This is going to ruin our records for sure." She laughs. "Yeah, now everyone will know a cop's daughter punched an elderly woman after breaking into her home."

"It's your first offense," I mutter. "Maybe it won't be so bad for you, you know. And if your dad does help you, maybe you'll get off easier."

She shakes her head. "No matter what, I'll be worse off than you. You only broke into the house." She leans against the wall, eyes closed. "I didn't see that one coming." She laughs and I raise my brow. She can't see it anyway. "Did you do it on purpose, Jade? Were you trying to get me to fall? Was this some big plan to take me down?"

I roll my eyes. "Yeah, Vega, it's all some big plan to ruin your life." She opens one eye to peek at me. "No, it wasn't. The only thing I was trying to do was show you how to have fun. I never intended for us to get caught. I really did think the house was empty. And if it makes any difference, I did have fun until this." I point to my shoulder.

She nods and examines my shoulder. "I had fun until this happened too." She sighs and stands, crossing the cell to look through the bars. "How long are they supposed to hold us?"

"I'm guessing they'll hold us until someone decides to come and get us. But since we're being charged…"

"Vega, West, you have a visitor."

I frown as the guard brings someone behind him. Trina Vega stands there, her arms crossed. I stand and move to the bars. "You know, this really does seem like something Jade would do, but Tori? Why did you do it?"

"Just cut the accusations, Vega point one. We were just having a little fun."

The older girl rolls her eyes and stares at her sister, like she's thinking of something to say. Apparently she finds something. "Mom and Dad refuse to talk to you, and I honestly can't think of any reason to disagree with them. I wouldn't talk to you either, but here I am. Do you want to know why? I'm here because I couldn't just leave you here, even though I should. I know what you're being charged with. Dad told me. I just can't believe you'd be so stupid to do something like that. God, what were you thinking?"

"I swear to God, Trina, shut up. None of this was Vega's fault. I'm the one who dragged her out of the house at one in the morning to do something incredibly stupid, knowing that it was a risk to her perfect fucking record. She didn't do a fucking thing wrong, it was all me." The Vega sisters stare at me and I smile at Tori. "What, it's true. And you…" I glare at Trina. "If you didn't want to be here, why the fuck did you come here? You would obviously rather bitch at her than help her and she's already been through hell thinking about how fucked up her life is. So just shut up."

Trina turns to her sister. "You did this because of Jade? Does she know?" I raise my brow. Do I know what? Tori tries to shut her sister up, but Trina smirks and looks at me. "Did you know that Tori will do almost anything if you ask her to?"

I glance at Tori, whose face is red. "Vega?"

"You didn't tell her, Tori? No wonder you're sitting here in a holding cell with her. As long as she's here too, you're fine, right? You definitely don't need my help."

"Trina, shut up."

I stare in confusion at the girl on this side of the bars. Just what in the hell is Trina talking about? She didn't say she would go with me just because I asked her to, did she? She came with me because I wanted her to… "No…no, you can't." My voice croaks with the realization and Tori shakes her head at me before glaring at her sister.

"Go the fuck away," she snaps. Trina leaves, smirking the entire time. I return to the bench and stare at the Vega girl. "Jade, I…you weren't supposed to know. You weren't ever supposed to know."

I sigh. "Look, whatever…thing…you have for me, I don't…I can't reciprocate it. I have a boyfriend, one I love more than anything."

She nods. "I know. That's why I never intended for you to find out. But since Trina can't keep her mouth shut and you do know, I guess you're going to keep hating me. You've got an entire new set of insults to use on me and I'm sure everyone at school will love to hear them." She stands and walks away from me. "And when we're through here, you can just go on with your life and forget that we ever did this."

I jump to my feet and grab her wrist, turning her to face me. Before I can tell myself not to do this, I cup the back of her neck and gently kiss her. The whole "smash lips together" thing really isn't my favorite, and if I did that, it wouldn't mean anything to her. It shouldn't mean anything to her. When the fuck did I become so considerate of Vega's feelings?

She takes forever to respond, but when she does her hands push at my shoulders, making me wince as I pull away from the kiss. "Sorry," she murmurs, her eyes on my shoulder, like she can't even make eye contact with me. "Why…why did you kiss me?"

I shrug. "I wanted to make something clear." Her eyes meet mine. "I don't like you like that, Vega. I can't. But I don't hate you, and this isn't something that anyone should ever be harassed about, no matter how much I like bothering you. I'm not that cold that I would do something like that." I sigh and let go of her. "As for everyone at school…it's none of their fucking business. If you don't want them to know, they shouldn't know. They should have to know."

"You're just saying that so they don't know it's you."

I laugh. "Really, Vega? You really think I would kiss you, tell you that I'm not cruel enough to insult you over your preference in teams, and tell you that people don't need to know your business…just so they don't know you like me?" I roll my eyes. "Listen, Vega. You like me. Big deal, I'll yell it across Hollywood Arts if you want me to. I could care less if people knew that it was me you like."

Her eyes are wide and she shakes her head. "Jade, you wouldn't do that, right? Just because you don't care doesn't mean I want people thinking I'm…"

"You're what? Fuck what people think. And if anyone has anything to say about you hitting an elderly lady just tell them to fuck off. Strike fear in those fucking…" She grabbed my wrist and smiled. I smirk and lean against the wall. I don't know why I've started caring about Vega at all, even trying to make her smile, but she's going to drive me up the wall if she doesn't shut up about negative crap right now.

I realize I probably just made her like me more. Fuck.

Two weeks later…

Like I thought, Vega got off pretty easy since it was her first offense. She's sentenced to six months wearing an ankle monitor, meaning she can only leave her house to go to school and even then there's a cop watching her. People started talking behind her back, laughing at her for doing something incredibly stupid, but once I got to them they haven't said a word since. I'm not allowed to talk to her at all; the Vega family wanted to file a restraining order, but they decided against it since I'm a student at Hollywood Arts too.

Which was why they're thinking about withdrawing her.

Alright, don't get me wrong, I used to hate Tori Vega being the best at just about everything, but she's competition. It's not like I would wish for her to go away and let me take over. I've actually been thinking about her a lot in the past two weeks, ever since we got ourselves into this stupid mess. Beck pretty much broke up with me and won't talk to me, so it's not like I've got him to focus on. Andre and Cat are still around, and they're both fed up with having to choose between Tori and me to sit with at lunch. Andre even skips the entire decision process and sits with Beck. Robbie figured out that there's no reason to sit with me if there's no one else, so he just hangs around Beck.

Lunch has gotten lonely.

Sikowitz's class isn't easy either. Tori and I aren't allowed to participate in the same exercises and we can't be paired together. No one likes this any more than we do, and it's becoming frustrating. It doesn't help when I can feel Tori's eyes on me sometimes either. And yes, I look at her too. I just don't do it as often as she does because she's the one who likes me, not the other way around.

Vega has it easy compared to me.

On our court date, Vega was told she had to wear that stupid metal ankle monitor. I was let off when my father, who cares absolutely nothing for me, decided to do something about me for once in his life and had me released. I was shot in the shoulder, wasn't that enough? That's what I have to live with now, the fact that I'm not being punished the same way Vega is. I have to look at her and know that that stupid metal thing on her ankle is all because of me.

Oh, and she missed that test that she was studying for.

Two months later…

I haven't said anything to Vega in two months and two weeks. I don't even know why I'm keeping count, but what I do know is that today…Today I'm going to talk to her somehow.

Alright, so maybe I'm starting to go out of my mind from being denied the permission to speak to her. I miss hearing her stupid, annoying, cheerful voice when she's trying to be nice. I need to hear her voice or I'll go crazy. God, I sound like I'm obsessed or addicted to something…That's too cliché. Vega isn't my drug.

I fumble through my locker for a pair of scissors that hasn't been confiscated, but I don't have any. Someone pokes me between my shoulder blades and I jump, bumping my head on the top of my locker. Who the fuck would do such a thing? I turn and realize Cat is standing close, arms crossed, like she's mad or something. What the fuck does she have to be mad about? "I don't like choosing between you and Tori…" I figured as much.

"I know, Cat. You shouldn't have to. Vega's the good one. I'm just the girl who gets everyone in trouble. Haven't you heard?" It's so hard to bite out the words, and I can see by her expression that she wishes things weren't like this. "It's been two months. If I could talk to her, I would."

Cat bites her lip and glances around, taking note of Vega down the hall. Her "escort" is further down the hall, and I wonder just what the hell the redhead bouncy ball's got up her sleeve. Cat looks at me. "What would you say to Tori if you could talk to her? Would you apologize? Tell her you finally love her and you want to be with her?" I raise my brow at the last part and she giggles. "Come on, Jade, you and Tori are like that sauce from the Chinese restaurant. You're the sour and she's the sweet." I wonder where the hell this sentimental Cat came from…Then again her last name is Valentine…Ugh, why can't she just be the squirrel she normally is and not make any sense.

"Look, Cat, I don't…I don't like her like that. She knows I don't. But I do want to apologize to her about getting her into this mess."

She nods. "I know. That's why I'm going to help you talk to her. Go to the bathroom." I open my mouth to protest, but she closes my locker and pushes me in the direction of the girls' restroom. "Just wait here, okay?" I nod and she disappears into the busy hallway. Moments later, the door opens and none other than a certain half-Latina steps into the bathroom, glancing over her shoulder before the door closes and I move from my hiding place by the wall.

She stares at me in shock. "No, Jade, we're not supposed to…we can't…"

I shake my head. "I know, Vega. I'm not supposed to be talking to you at all. But really, what am I going to do? I've learned my lesson and I'm certainly not going to endanger you again. I want to apologize." She frowns. "I never got a chance to tell you how sorry I am. But I want you to know that I'm miserable too." I roll my eyes. "And Cat seems to think we're perfect for each other." She smirks. "She said we were like sweet and sour sauce. But Tori…I don't know if I can. I mean, after all that's happened…"

She cuts me off with her hand over my mouth. "I get it. You already told me how you feel, and I doubt it's changed in two months. As for your apology, I know. But it's not completely your fault, you know. I agreed it to go and I'm the one who punched the woman. And I know that if Trina hadn't opened her mouth, we probably wouldn't even really be talking, right? I mean, you've already apologized, so there's nothing else."

"I hate this. I hate that I can't even be sarcastic right now." She frowns at me in confusion, and I don't waste a second, pulling her close to me and kissing her gently, as if we haven't been living in Hell for the past two and a half months. But when she responds, I have to pull away. "I'm sorry…I…You should go before you get in trouble with the cop. No girl takes this long to go to the bathroom, and I'm sure he's noticed you're gone by now."

She nods and leaves the bathroom without a word, and I'm left standing there wondering what the hell I've done.