"Um, no, that is not right. That is just plain wrong. Oh, honey, don't even show your face here again."

Tori Vega rolled her eyes as she trailed behind her sister, Trina Vega, into Hollywood Arts high school. Trina was, once again, criticizing other peoples' clothes at the school; which was one of the reasons Tori tried so hard to pick out the right clothes.

"Hey, Trina," Tori said. "I think you're being too nice. Maybe you should stop and practice your mean-ness before you go on."

Trina laughed and patted her sister's head. "Oh, Tori. Sad, sad little Tori. I don't need to practice! Things like style and fashion—which that girl over there does not have—come naturally to me!"

"Really?" Tori shot back. "Because those shoes…not lookin' so natural to me. They look like dead animal."

"That's because they are! Shh!"

Tori laughed as her sister shuffled into the school, trying to hide her boots. She still followed Trina, up until one of her best friends, André Harris, came up to her. "Hey, Tori," he said. "Have you seen Robbie's haircut? It's pretty—er, you should see it for yourself. Follow."

André headed off toward Robbie's locker, where Tori could see Robbie wasn't standing. She felt sick. Robbie got a haircut? What about his afro?

"Do I want to see it?" Tori asked André before following him.
"Yes," André told her, and she shrugged and followed.

When they got to Robbie's locker, André told Tori to wait by it with him. Tori started to lean on it, but just as her back hit the metal, she remembered that Robbie's locker was covered in his baby bottle's nipples. "Ew!" she exclaimed, jumping forward a few inches. André stared at her and chuckled.

"Just hold on a second, Tori," he said calmly. "Robbie should be back here any…hey, look, here he comes."

Tori turned her head just in time to see Robbie Shapiro moping down the stairs with Rex in place on his arm. Tori gasped in shock as her eyes took in Robbie's new hair…so short it barely reached his ears. She stared in complete shock as Robbie and Rex approached her and André.

"You look surprised," Rex, Robbie's dummy, said. "Could it be because of Robbie's new 'do?"

"Shut up!" Robbie hissed in the dummy's ear. Then, more clearly to Tori and André, "I was hoping you wouldn't notice."

"How could we not?" Tori said. "It's…pretty noticeable. Sorry to say."

Then there was a blood-curdling scream. All three friends covered their ears, and as the scream continued, Tori yelled, "What the heck is that!"

Robbie and André shrugged, and the screaming stopped. Their friend, Cat Valentine, came running down the stairs.

"WHAT DID YOU DO TO YOUR HAIR?" she screamed. "It's…it's…all gone! Why?"

"Man," Rex said. "That was what your scream was about?"

Robbie rolled his eyes and adjusted his glasses. "My mom made me," he muttered. "She gave me ten bucks to get it done."

"Ten bucks?" Cat cried. "You loved your hair!"

"Yeah, but no one else did," Rex said.

Everyone laughed except Robbie. "Jerk!" he shouted. Everyone laughed even more.

"Well, if it isn't Midget, Terrible Two and Afro Bo—oh, my God, what happened to your hair?"

Tori, Robbie, André and Cat turned to see Jade West standing behind them. "Dude. You shaved your head."

"I didn't shave it!" Robbie defended. "I just got a little bit cut off. It's still curly!" Jade didn't listen. She shuddered. "And I thought you looked bad before," she said. Another shudder.

"Who's that over there?" André asked suddenly, pointing to a locker. Before Tori, Jade, Cat, and Robbie followed André's glance, Tori cried, "Oh, please don't tell me Beck got a haircut, too." She groaned.

André rolled his eyes. "No, I don't even see Beck. That's a chick."

"What's the difference?" Rex snickered. Jade pushed Rex to the ground, causing Robbie to scream. At the distraction, André grabbed the others and showed them the girl.

She was sort of tall, maybe five-foot-five. Her skin was pale, though not as white as Jade's. She had jet black hair—which you could tell was natural—and it was cut into a stylish bob. "She's hot," André concluded. Tori slapped his arm. "You're such a boy," she shook her head.
"Last time I checked," André joked.

"C'mon, let's go meet her!" Cat chirped happily. "Maybe we can make a new friend!"

"And get rid of an old one," André muttered, glancing at Jade.
"Don't," she growled. Tori looked closer at the girl. There was something different about her, Tori could tell. She looked quiet, and not very social. She decided quickly that Cat would not be a good match for her, if she was quiet and anti-social.

"Let's pass on that, Cat." She said, turning to her friend. "We can meet her later." Cat looked sad. "But I wanna meet her now," she argued. Tori sighed and reached in her bag. She pulled out a bag of jellybeans and shook them in front of Cat's face. "Caaandy," she said in a taunting voice. Cat grabbed the bag from Tori and grinned. "Mmm, it's so sweet! 'Kay, let's go!'

When Tori, Cat, André, Jade, and Beck—who had gotten to school late—arrived at their usual lunch spot, Robbie and Rex were already there…sitting with the new girl. Tori froze, realizing that, 1) She was smiling in a flirty way at Robbie, 2) She did not seem quiet, and 3) There was one less seat at the table, meaning one of her friends—or maybe herself—couldn't sit there.

"I CALL A SEAT!" They all screamed. Tori slid next to Robbie, André next to Tori, Jade next to André, and Cat next to Jade. Jade shot daggers at Cat with her eyes as Beck stood behind them, holding his lunch tray. "Move." Jade ordered. Cat stared at Jade with frightened eyes and began to get up.

"Stay," Beck said. He kneeled on the floor next to Jade. "It's fine," he whispered to her. Then, more clearly and loudly to both Cat and Jade, "Hopefully it'll be back to normal tomorrow."

"Ahem," Tori said, hitting Robbie with her elbow. "Who's this?" Robbie looked at Tori and his other friends. "Oh, sorry, I didn't notice you here…"
"Yes you did," Rex said. Robbie told him to shut up again. "Guys, this is…well, you introduce yourself." He smiled admiringly at the girl.

"I'm Madeline. Just Madeline. No funny nicknames, like Maddie or something 'creative'." She actually put quotes around the word "creative". Jade rolled her eyes, not bothering to hide it from Madeline. Madeline shot her a smirk back, and then her eyes flickered to Beck with interest. Jade was busy watching Rex, still planning on how she would destroy the puppet, and didn't see Madeline's flirty wave. Beck ducked his head and didn't return Madeline's glance.

"Madeline, meet my friends…Tori, André, Cat, and Beck." Robbie motioned to them with his hand. Jade's head shot up immediately and she scowled.
"What about her?" Madeline asked, pointing at Jade.
"She's not really our friend," Rex said. Jade threw her water bottle at him. "Die." She said. André leaned over to her and whispered, "You know he's just a puppet, right?" Jade glared at him, and Beck laughed.

"My name is Jade." She said, not looking at Madeline. "You'll call me Jade."

"You'll call me Madeline."
"I know."
Madeline shrugged and turned back to Robbie. Everyone else at the table started their own conversations, except Jade, who picked silently at her salad, and Tori, who watched Jade pick at her salad. She got up and pulled Jade over by the vending machine.

"I don't like her." Jade said simply. She started to go back to her seat, but Tori grabbed her arm and pulled her back. She's getting strong, Jade thought.
"I know, and I think she likes Beck," Tori whispered. Then she stepped back, waiting for Jade to explode—but she didn't. "It's. Fine. I'll destroy her in a calm way."

Tori's last thought before she turned to look at Madeline again were Yeah, right.