(AN Dedicated to my friend, Sabrina, who is a fellow Jori shipper. FemalishRelationships on here and Sabotage-Game on Tumblr. Her Twitter is AcioJori.)

Right now, at this moment, I'm trying to find out why Vega dragged me into this stupid janitor's closet. I'm usually the one who does this. This is my closet. But I guess that doesn't matter now, I'm already in here.

Tori hasn't been talking much lately. It's not that I care or anything, it's just so… un-Vega like. The other's have been noticing it too, but I seem to be the only one who actually wants to do something about it. Again, it's not that I care about her or anything. But Beck is forcing me to be somewhat nice to her. I haven't been allowed to post anything remotely mean about her on TheSlap in ages. He always makes me delete them.

You know something, ever since Tori started acting funny, Beck has gotten really annoying. Like, not the regular way all Canadians are annoying, but unusually annoying. Does that make sense? Give it time to sink in and then get back to me on that… Time's up. Do you understand it yet? No? Well then, you're stupid.

Tears are streaming down Tori's face by now and I still can't tell you what's going on with her. The noises that she's making are all just barely audible. From what I can tell… she's upset about something. I don't know, she's mumbling and I can just barely make out the words "love" and "hate". Everything else is just one big slur of meshed up words that I cannot even begin to comprehend.

"Stop your blubbering and just tell me what's wrong!" I yelled at her, hoping nobody was outside the closet.

She immediately stopped sobbing, but her body was still racking from trying to keep her self together.

"Jade, I…" She seemed to be struggling to find the right words.

Just as Tori seemed to get her thoughts collected, she brushed past me and out the door. I was left in the closet alone, speechless. I was still standing there when I heard some rustling noises coming from the corner. My head shot towards the noise and I quickly tried to see what was the source of it.

"Well?" An old man's voice said "Aren't you going to go after her?"

When I finally saw the man who was talking, I recognized the Hollywood Arts' creepy janitor. Janitor Man must have been listening to our whole conversation, because he seemed pretty interested. He stood up from he seat on the old mop bucket and walked towards me. If I were in any other situation, I would've hurt the man, but I actually wanted to hear what he wanted to say.

"Why would I go after her?" I asked the man, whose nametag said Carl.

"Because." I looked at the man, Carl, and gave him a bewildered look. "Are you trying to tell me that you don't know?"

I couldn't understand where this smelly janitor was coming from. What in the world was I supposed to know about? Carl, or whatever his name was, seemed pretty amused by my confusion. He took another step towards me, motioning for me to sit down.

"That girl, Tori? Is that her name?" I nodded at him "Well, she comes in here almost everyday. Everyday, she's either crying or on the verge of tears."

"Vega?" I interrupted "Vega comes here almost everyday and cries?" I couldn't help myself from laughing at this mental image.

"Yeah yeah, now listen. One day she came in here with this letter, you see," He reached into his coveralls, pulling out a crumpled up piece of paper. "I think you should read this."

Carl grabbed his mop and bucket and left the closet. For the second time in matter of minutes, I was left in that room with the words knocked out of me. I slowly uncrumpled the piece of paper. It was tear stained and torn along the edges, but still readable. In blue ink, there was a letter. Turning on the lamp in the corner, I read the letter to myself, mouth wide open the whole entire time.

Dear Jade,

I don't exactly know how to tell you something like this… I know you don't like me, I understand that, but I still want you to know this. On March, 27th, 2010 I was invited to attend Hollywood Arts High School, you already know this. But something you don't know is that, within only a few days of being there, I had fallen for someone that I never in a million years would even think about that way. If you're reading this letter, please don't crumple it up, because it's not Beck and I know that that's what you're thinking. I would never do that to you, Jade, and I hope you know that.

No, it wasn't Beck, Jade. It was you. This is the hard part. If I ever did actually tell you this to your face, then I would be afraid. I wouldn't be afraid that you would physically hurt me, but emotionally. At first, I couldn't understand what these feelings were, but slowly, I understood them. Sure, I didn't want accept them at first, but then they just kind of grew on me. So I figured I might as well tell you somehow. People always told me to go after what I want, so now I am.

Sincerely, Vega

For the next couple of days, I tried my best to avoid Tori as much as possible. She didn't seem as fragile as she had before the day she took me into the closet, but still pretty fragile.

"Jade?" Beck asked me as we stood by his locker. Cat and Robbie were standing to his left and Andre and Tori were to my right. "You ok? You seem a little distant."

"Hmm? Oh, yeah I'm fine. Just thinking."

"About?" I didn't respond. "Guys, can you give us a couple seconds?"

Everyone nodded and walked away, pretty understandingly. Tori was the last to turn around the corner, giving one last look before completely disappearing. As soon as every bit of her was gone, I turned back to Beck. He turned his body towards me with the most serious look in his eyes. I quickly looked everywhere but at him.

"Jade… what's been goin' on with you lately?"

I suddenly took an interest in a rubber fish covered locker right next to me. I refused to look Beck in the eyes, no matter how many times he snapped his fingers trying to get my attention. You see, that's not exactly what a good boyfriend does to get his girlfriend's attention.

"Beck?" I asked, still looking at the locker. "Do you still love me?"

There were a few minutes of golden silence before he spoke again.

"Of course I do. Why wouldn't I?"

"No you don't. I see the way you look at "

"Jade, you're just being your usual jealous self. Trust me, I still love you."

Yeah, I was thinking it. I just didn't feel that spark anymore. That spark that you get at the beginning of every relationship. It's been gone for a while.

"This is about Tori, isn't it?" My head shot up at the sound of Tori's name. "I knew it."

I tried to give Beck my most confused look. I didn't want him to know that I knew about Tori and her… feelings. But wait a second, how did he know?

"Jade, Tori told me about it a few weeks ago. I know she likes you. I don't like it, but I know it. You feel the same for her, don't you?"

"What! What would make you think that? No way. No… I don't think so… maybe."

A sigh escaped Beck's mouth as he ran a hand through his hair. Once upon a time, I found his hair very attractive, now… it's just weird. A boy's hair shouldn't be that long. He needs a trim. Or a buzz cut. I mean, it's just too much.

"Jade! Snap out of it!" He said, snapping his fingers in front of my face.

After I didn't reply, Beck walked away. Half way down the hallway, he stopped. Slowly, he turned around to face me. Lifting an accusing finger, he jabbed it in my direction.

"You know, Jade," He started, still jabbing his finger. "If you wanna leave me for some… some girl then go ahead! See if I care! I hope you have fun with her."

The next day, Beck wasn't at school. He could be passed out in a ditch for all I care. I don't give a dang about him anymore, not after yesterday. After two, almost three years, the only good thing he's done for me is help me see who was really right for me. I'm sorry that I hadn't seen it earlier.

"Vega!" I yelled down the hallway when I saw Tori.

Tori's head shot up from her book. She had been reading on the stairs, I think it was her Theatre History book. The black paint that I had put on it a while ago was just barely wearing off. I laughed at the memory of her reaction but stopped when I noticed that Tori was now about a foot away from me. I put my poker face back on and looked her in the eyes.

"Hey Jade."

"Hey. Listen, at around nineish, I'm going out to dinner. You wanna come?"

A look of pure bliss crossed Tori's faced, disappearing when she realized it had gone on long enough to be considered creepy. She shook her head as if to clear a thought and her expression went back to normal Tori expression.

"Sure." She said "What time?"

"Nine. I already said that."

"Oh. Yeah, sorry. Where at?"

"I was thinking that Wok Star place. I haven't been there in a long time."

I was getting ready to meet up with Tori when it finally hit me: this could be considered a date. At first, the idea of me and Tori… together… kind of disgusted me. But now, actually giving it some thought, I actually kind of, maybe, liked it. I mean, I'm not going to worry about people making fun of me for it, they know I can hurt them if it gets to a certain point.

I was in my room, almost ready to go, when I got a call. I reached into my bag and pulled out my PearPhone. The caller ID said that the call was coming from Tori. I let it ring a few more times before answering so that I didn't seem to eager.

"Hello?" I said into the phone.

"Oh, Jade, good. Um, well, I'm not sure if I can make it to Wok Star tonight."

My heart sank as I heard the words coming in from the other end of the phone. A million questions soared through my head within the few seconds afterwards. She was saying some more stuff, but I wasn't paying close enough attention to be able to hear every word.

"How come?" I said, interrupting whatever she was saying.

"My car broke down, Jade. I just told you that."

"Oh, yeah. I wasn't listening. Hey, um, why don't I just give you a ride?"

I could imagine Tori's face when I said this. She was doing that eyebrow thing where she lifts one up and leaves the other one down. I heard her breathing on the other end.

"Vega? You still there?"

"Uhh… yeah. Yeah I'm still here. You sure you can do that?"

"Sure, you'll just have to owe me."

We said our goodbyes and hung up. I felt pretty satisfied with myself; I didn't know that that could come from me. I grabbed my keys from my dresser and went downstairs to head for my car. My dad was sitting on the couch, reading the paper, next to his new wife and her yappy dog.

"Where do you think you're going?" He said, not taking his eyes of the paper.

"Out." I replied, not stopping.

I pulled up outside of Tori's house about half an hour later. You know, I've been to this house a few times before, but I've never been so nervous. My hands were starting to get sweaty and tapping my fingers on the steering wheel. Slowly, I reached for the door handle and opened it. Just as I stood up from my driver's seat, the door to the Vega home opened. Tori ran towards me, jacket slung over her arm and hair shoes in her hands.

"Sorry! I was getting ready and I just couldn't find what to wear and—"

"Tori! It's ok. Cool your chiz."

Tori's face went from rushed, to confused, to happy all in a matter of second. She walked around to the other side of the car and plopped herself down into the passenger side. After we took off, the questions flooded in.

"Where's Beck? Is he in Canada again?"

"No. Why?"

There were a few moments of silence before she answered my own question.

"I just thought you would want to spend your Friday night with him. Not me."

"We umm… we broke up."

Tori clammed up, seemingly frozen in place. I guess I shocked her with that one.

"What… what happened?"

I tapped my fingers against the steering wheel again. Not out of nervousness this time, but annoyance. Couldn't this chick just maybe, oh I don't know, mind her own dang business?

"I, umm… things just weren't working out."

I automatically regretted telling her this. More questions flooded out of her. Most of them consisted of one word responses. If she was lucky, she got an "I dunno" out of me every now and then. Other than that, I was pretty monosyllabic with most of them. It was the Jade thing to do in this situation.

"We're here." I said while parking the car.

We both got out of the car and headed towards the restaurant. It looked exactly the same as it did the last time we were there, except now there were a few more celebrities on the Wall of Celebrities. The only other difference was that that crazy, psycho lady wasn't there today. You know, the one who tried to ruin my play with her talentless daughter and whatnot? Yeah, her.

Some tall hostess brought us to a four person booth and left us alone with some menus. I immediately opened up mine while Tori just sat and stared at me. I could feel her eyes burning through my skin as she stared at me. After a few more minutes of this, I couldn't take it anymore. I set down my menu, crossed my arms over my chest, and looked her in the eyes.

"What?"

Her eyes shot in every other direction, but mine. I waited and waited for her to catch me eye contact, but there was no such luck. Instead, I head to grab her chin and actually point her face towards mine. I stared deep into her brown eyes. After a few moments of solid eye contact, words escaped from her mouth.

"I was just… looking."

I let my hand fall to the table and let it retreat back to my side. I picked up the menu that lady gave me and blankly scanned it over for the third time, already knowing what I was going to get. A lady came to take our order and took our menus from us, also taking my source of hiding from Tori.

"So…" Tori said, looking for an awkward moment, apparently.

"So. How are things goin' with you?"

"Good. Good. You?"

"Eh."

Tori gave me a funny look, cocking her head to the side and looking at me with a raised eyebrow.

"Eh?"

"Yeah. Eh."

"Why eh? Are you mad about… Beck?"

"No. Not really. I knew things hadn't been working out well in that department for a while."

Tori gave me an understanding nod and tucked her hand underneath her chin, elbows on the table. This was something I wasn't exactly used to. Tori seemed to be the only person who actually listened to me. Other people always acted like they didn't really care. Even my mom, when she was still around. Very few people actually treated me this way. It gave me somewhat of an odd feeling in the pit of my stomach.

"How come?"

"Just the way we acted around each other… It wasn't the way it used to be."

She gave me another nod and laid her arms flat on the table in front of her. About twenty minutes of talking later, our food came. We took forever to finish eating just because we had been talking so much. We had talked about everything from our home lives to Sikowits's new type of coconut milk that he had been tricking earlier. Once you actually started up an interesting conversation with her, Tori was an actually pretty decent person to talk to. She had a lot of good points and definitely fought for her statement, whatever it might have been.

By the time the check came, it was around eleven-thirtyish. Time had flown by so quickly that I didn't even realize that we had been there for almost an hour and a half. The way Tori's presence had corrupted me had yet again shocked me.

"How much do I owe?" Tori asked, reaching for the black book.

"No no. I got this." I said and snatched up the check before her polished nails came within a few inches from it.

I was surprised to feel a smile on my lips, mimicking the one on Tori's. I paid for the check and left a tip for our waiter. I say he deserved about a dollar fifty for his work.

"You ready to go?"

Tori nodded her head and slid out of the booth with ease. I followed her out the door and to my car, nodding to the hostess as we left. It took me a few minutes to realize that my beat-up old car was the only one left in the parking lot.

"Wow," Tori said before getting into the car. "People don't come here that late, do they?"

I laughed at her statement and lowered myself into the car. The car roared to life and backed out of it's spot. The ride back to Tori's house was filled with talking and laughter.

"So wait a second, that's how you got the shrimp in my bra?"

"Yep," I told her and nodded, eyes still locked on the road "It wasn't even really that hard. Pretty easy, actually."

"Wow. And all this time I thought you just used some sort of voodoo magic junk or something like that."

I was just about to pull up into the Vega's drive way as we were talking about the night of the Prome. It had probably been the most exciting night of my high school life. I loved pulling all those pranks on Tori and I especially liked seeing Doug the Diaper Guy grossing out those freshmen.

I parked my car and got out, preparing to walk up the driveway to the front door. Following Tori, I couldn't help but wonder what she was thinking about. She had this little spring in her step as she walked in front of me, almost like a skipping motion. Lost in my thoughts, I almost ran into her as she stopped in front of her door.

"Thanks Jade. For tonight." She said and reached out her arms. "Give Tori a squeeze?"

Giving into Tori's pleading I wrapped my arms around her waist. Her arms snaked around my neck rested on my shoulders. We stayed like this for a good two or three minutes before pulling away. I was almost heart broken when I didn't feel the warmth of her body against mine anymore.

I couldn't tear my eyes away from Tori's lips. My hands were still wrapped halfway around her waist when I pulled her back in. But this time, our lips crashed together. Everything seemed to happen in slow motion; at first, I could tell she was a little confused, but she didn't fight back at all.

It wasn't a long kiss, maybe only a few seconds, seven or eight at the most. Yet, it was still the most magical thing in the world. Within those few seconds I had thought about everything from the past couple of days. The note. Breaking up with Beck, possibly for Tori. And the most recent one, dinner tonight. That one, specifically, burning in my brain. Remnants of the memories were still floating around in my mind even after we pulled apart.

"What… what was that for?" Tori asked, dumbfounded.

"Let's face it Vega, we both should've seen this one coming."

(AN So... How did you like it? Was it good? Bad? Terrible? Should I just completely delete it? What was your favorite part?)