New story! Unlike my last two, this one won't have a lot of humor. I'll be sure to add some, but not as much. Secondly, I got the idea for this while watching a documentary about Juvenile Prisons... Yep. Anyway, it will be interesting to see where this goes, and I hope you enjoy. I also still don't own Victorious.

When ever you ask me now who Tori Vega is, I'll immediately say she's graceful, charming, witty and a fighter. Yes, I, Jade West, describe someone who I now look at as a hero, a savior if you will. And yes, it is the same person that everyone knew I hated. What? Why do you raise that eyebrow at me? You see, ask me the same question a few years ago and I would have retorted with annoying, nosey, confident, and pampered... Like I just explained, people would have said I hated Vega.

I lay in my bed now, feeling the cool sheets against my bare body with another gentle heat up against my chest. Though my eyes are closed, I still can hear the soft, unconscious breathing just beneath my jaw, my heart fluttering slightly.

Oh how my view of Vega has changed since the time I first laid my eyes on her till now. Astonishing really, dramatic even. It will never matter how many years have passed, I will, I must remember what happened all those years ago... I say that even when it's been like, what, five years? Six? Something like that, I'm too tired to remember the exact number of days. Yet I still can't go to sleep. Why does my body refuse it?

Every so often it will, when ever I need to think. See, I am the type of person that is able to solve and know what is affecting me and how to treat it, though I need time. Well, as a teenager, time was hard to come by. So I would always panic, hyperventilate, break down... It was like I had a clock on the side of my mind, ticking away ever. So. Slowly, expecting me to know what is wrong with me. When the alarm rang obnoxiously, limbs would seize up, thoughts would scatter as my mind would falter. Panic attacks, the primary thing I hated about myself then.

Though now I am able to control myself better, since I work at my own pace, my own time. I set my own clock. Therefore, I can actually think, think about what led me to where I am today... And I need to do it now, starting in junior year, where my image of Tori Vega would shatter to form a new puzzle for my clock to badger me constantly, 24/7.

-o0o-

It was a Tuesday, I remember, and I had just gotten a cup of coffee and busted through the doors of Hollywood Arts. Not many other people were there, so I headed straight for my own locker. After taking a short admiring glance at my scissors that I threw at the locker (the teachers had explained I wouldn't be able to) and opened it. Once all of my needed supplies for my first class was taken care of, the Vega sisters had waltzed in.

Trina leaving Tori immediately as usual to do whatever, and the younger half-Latina strode over to her locker. My legs guide me across the room, which was now beginning to fill with many people, and stopped behind Vega. "Those shoes are horrendous. Where the hell did you get them?"

Tori chuckled slightly before responding with, "Hello to you too Jade. I'm glad you noticed, they're Trina's... I don't know where my other shoes went." Like clockwork, Tori closed her locker and leaned against the words 'Let it Shine' as I adjusted my backpack strap. Every morning it seems, I always find myself talking to Vega here, whether it be with or without Beck. A small detail that has been overlooked until that day, that hour even...

I snort in response, "Of course. What, did the little pixie fairy fly in you room and went shoe shopping?"

"Uh, yeah," she rolled her eyes, "Her name's Trina." I couldn't help but smirk then as the conversation was carried on. It would be a lie if I simply explained that I wasn't interested in the conversation. Or rather, talking to Vega. Something about her drew me in as I retorted my way out in jealousy, her dark caramel eyes maybe. It possibly could also be her laugh, her voice. I didn't know then, but I was eventually pulled in with enough unconscious force that I would stand here, everyday for a minute or twenty.

Monday through Friday.

So we talked that morning. I don't know what it was but we talked. I really just remember being somewhat entranced by the soothing voice and dark brown eyes. It's strange to think how I attached so many little small moments with them. So many.

The first memory was when Beck had coffee dripping off of his shirt. Course, I didn't like that, so I snapped. As soon as her gaze met mine, I felt a little twitch in my chest before I remembered that Beck was there. My boyfriend. Who will be mine for a long time, I had thought viciously as I spat at Tori. Now that was just the start of the relationship, after that was many conversations to this one.

The one that will change my life forever...

My mind always flickers to this moment, when Tori's eyes switched to the door, I felt a pang in my heart. Something I can't ignore, not while the life in the dark caramel eyes seeped away after a flash of panic. Not while her now cold, ruthless eyes stared with hatred and fell into a grimace. Immediately, my mind went haywire.

"Why the fuck is she here?" Tori muttered darkly under her voice. While I felt many others stare at the door, including Vega's livid glare, mine didn't. I watched those brown eyes, begging for the former ones to come back. To finish their sparkle of life as the conversation took a joking turn. I wanted the warm, smooth voice to transition back from the cold heartless monotone. To finish laughing at my cruel remark about pop singers. Little did I know I would be wishing that for months...

In a split second, Tori is up and she strides through the hallway, not careful to avoid shoving into other people. Many surprised faces spring and look at me accusatory before realizing the same confused expression on my face. I didn't do that, why the fuck would I? my thoughts raged.

Seeking valuable answers, my glare shifts over to the doors where I see an unfamiliar face. She was down right beautiful, sure. Long legs, short back, long black hair, pale (not as much as me though) and striking blue eyes. A model many would say. A predator I would say, a predator for trouble.

Jealousy aside, my interpretations are normally correct. Not when it came to Vega, obviously. Like I just said, jealousy aside. Just a few days before that morning, I had just snarled at Vega because she mumbled that we weren't that different, that she could be intimidating as well. Of course I laughed in her face after a cruel remark, not noticing the pure calm stature she held. But now, I realized I was wrong. The look that Tori gave sent cruel tremors down my spine, and it wasn't even pointed at my direction.

It was shot in her direction. This model's direction who, immediately, I got a gut wrenching feeling once my eyes set on her. I didn't trust her, not one bit... And it was the only assumption about Tori's life that had hit the nail right on the head.

And for months to come, it rattled my clock, sending the amount of time left to figure out a problem down drastically. I became worried as it taunted me. Cackling in my ears as I bolted straight to class, ignoring the other ringing in my ear that shouted 'five more minutes'...

So... How did you like it? I think it's a good start. Chapters for now on will be a lot longer, this was only the introduction. Well, hope you enjoyed. Until next time. :)