When Jade first saw Tori perform at the Big Show Case, her first thought was something along the lines of 'Damn those are some marvellous legs." Then she started to sing from that moment on Jade was blown away by her voice and just sat watching the rest of the song in awe.
Once the curtain closed, Beck turned to her and "She's pretty good, eh?" Jade simply grabbed his arm and pulled him out of the theatre. Over the weekend she spent as much time as she could with Beck trying to keep her mind off the amazing brunette, by the time Sunday evening rolled around and she was lying in bed she had decided that at the very least she'll try to find her, maybe even try to get to know her, at school the next day.
Monday came around and went with no luck even catching the smallest glimpse of her, same as Tuesday and Wednesday. Come Thursday she decided to ask around. Now the obvious person to ask would be Andre, problem being that he would ask questions. Questions Jade wasn't willing to answer.
So, Jade subtly spent more time hanging about Robbie and Cat waiting for the Show case to come up in conversation. Unfortunately for her it wasn't until Monday that Rex brought it up something along the lines of "That chick from show was hot. Like, middle of summer hot." As soon as he said it, Jade sat up that little bit straighter and actually tuned into what was being said.
"Oh yeah! I loved her song" Cat let out, in that way she does when first jumping in on a topic, "I wonder who she is though? I want to sing a song with her."
"Andre said that she doesn't go to school here," Robbie said while eating his lunch. And just like that Jade got her answer as to why for the past week she couldn't find hide or hair of her. She slumped back down in her seat, somewhat disappointed that she would never get to her and her absolutely freaking marvellous legs again.
"Aww, but I wanted to make a new friend," Cat also slumped back down, bummed that she misses out on a friend. "One time my brother made a friend and..." Finally knowing her answer Jade stood and left Cat and Robbie to their inane chatter.
It wasn't until the following Monday that she got to see her again, admittedly not under circumstances that Jade would of wanted to.
When Jade entered Sikowitz's class first thing Monday morning, naturally the last thing she thought she would see was Miss Marvellous Legs rubbing her boyfriends shirt. Instantly she was filled with a familiar rage that would always consume her when some girl flirted with Beck, only more intense the usual. "Dude! Why you rubbing my boyfriend?"
And that one line started their so-called friendship. Shame it wasn't the way Jade wanted it to begin.
The next time Tori performed was for Trina's birthweek, Jade missed her actual performance. At the time this didn't bother Jade in the slightest, after all Jade thought Tori was trying to steal Beck from her, which still pissed her off. It wasn't until everyone was sitting at lunch that Jade regretted not inviting herself over for Trina's birthweek celebration.
The song was playing lowly on Tori's laptop while she ragged on about Trina not seeing the worth of it. Or something like that, really Jade couldn't remember for the life of her what was being said. She was totally focussed on listening to the music coming out of the speakers. By this point Jade had forgotten just how enticing Miss Marvellous Legs voice could be.
Jade sat there mentally imagining her singing that song in that silver glittery dress she wore for the Big Show Case. The part of her that wasn't busy thinking of Tori in that dress, was agreeing with Tori about Trina being a total stuck up gank about not getting an actual present. Personally Jade would of quite happily had Tori sing a song for her than get her a gift.
A couple of days later Jade was doing her best to get a copy of that song. Despite how badly she wanted a copy, she couldn't bring herself to ask Tori for a copy. In fact the time she was going to, she ended up giving her coffee away to her and telling her it came from the trash. Why she handed over her coffee, was and is still completely beyond her. After all everyone knows coffee is Jade's lifeline. So instead she broke into Andre's locker and temporarily stole his pearpod to copy the song from.
From then on she vowed herself that she would never miss one of the younger Vega's performances again. Not because she liked Vega, but cause she liked her voice.
The next song she heard Tori sing was in Sofia Michelle's play, and while Jade wanted to play the lead, the good side of it was that she would get to hear Tori's sing yet again. However, come the time of the play Vega was covered in monster makeup, and while that wouldn't normally worry her, in fact that would of been that perfect setup for a good solid week of bullying and insults.
She didn't want Vega embarrassed in front of everyone, not unless Jade herself wasn't personally responsible, besides she did feel a little bad about going back to being a gank right after she worked so hard to get herself and Beck back together, at least she knows Tori isn't crushing on Beck now though. Jade was greatly relieved by this, why she won't acknowledge.
Point being that she tried to take Vega's part just to save her the embarrassment, if was Jade's way of trying to pay her back. Tori didn't seem to see it like that though, she seemed to take it as some sort of insult.
Naturally I walked up behind Tori and Marty "I can play the lead."
"No. We don't have anyone else to play your part," Marty said before wandering off to mutter to himself about this all being a disaster waiting to happen.
"Jade! Just cause I look like some sort of zombie doesn't mean I'm going just hand over my role to you" and with that Vega stormed off. Jade's eyes immediately falling to follow Tori's marvellous legs and her fine ass. Jade never put any thought into how her eyes hone in on her legs whenever she walks away from her though.
Once the ending song started up and Tori was totally letting loose with the vocals though, Jade immediately forgot why she even wanted to take her spot. There wasn't any way that she could make that song sound nearly as good as when Vega was singing it. And then at the end when Tori came out from the back non-zombiefied, almost came to a standstill while she stared and listened to her sing once more.
This time she had to steal Sinjin's copy of the video made of the play to get a copy of her wonderful voice. He may still be looking for that disc.
The fourth time was when Tori borrowed the dress to sing at Cat's restaurant, as it had been called since we first went there. At first Jade was 100% against Tori coming with them. Mostly due to the fact that whenever Jade was near Tori lately she kept feeling all nervous and jittery, so logic rules that she should spend less time around singer.
But of course everyone wants Vega to come along with them, so soon enough they were all packed away in Sikowitz's van heading for 'The Ping Pong' tournament. Of course, Tori came to the rescue when the whole group, by that we mean Robbie, over spent on the dinner.
"Give me you dress," That statement alone almost had Jade choking on her mouthful of the fruit salad she was having for dessert.
"What?" She had to speak around a mouthful of food, seeing as how her throat was barely working enough to keep air going to her lungs. And God, Tori was much too close to her right at that moment.
"Give me your dress" Now Vega was pausing slightly between each word as if Jade had suddenly been dumbed down, which considering how she was finding it harder to think around with these small shivers going down her spine and every breath she took was filled with the wonderful scent of the younger Vega, wasn't too far from the truth.
"This one?" Even Jade would admit that, that was a stupid thing to ask. Where else would Jade have another dress at the restaurant? Judging by the look on Tori's face she was thinking along the same lines.
This performance was easily the best and worst Jade had seen from the girl so far.
Jade was totally over come with anger and jealousy when it was Andre up there singing with her and not herself, but that wasn't the worst part. No, the worst part was Andre looking at Tori with such loving eyes, like she was the only person there and the damn smile he had on the whole song, one that only got bigger whenever Vega would look into his eyes or get closer to him.
And then on the other hand seeing Tori wearing her dress while singing that classier song was so incredibly sexy and enticing Jade couldn't remove her eyes from the girl. Then just to make it worse was that she had to come over and get all touchy feely with her. It took all her self control to stop the blush from rising to her cheeks.
This time Jade was ready and had her pearphone recording once Tori started up her song, sadly the quality wasn't nearly even close to how it sounded live. But Jade doubted she would ever forget it anyway.
She never did give Tori back her Ping Pong uniform, nor did she get Vega to return the dress.
Next was not until a month or so later. By this point Jade had admitted to herself that she was sorta, maybe, slightly, possibly attracted to the other girl.
Jade had organised with Cat to go sing at Karaoke Dokie, knowing that beck would follow along with her and he would invite Andre, something she wasn't happy about in the slightest. Now all she had to do was wait until someone brought it up in front of Tori and either invite her along or Tori would invite herself.
Turns out her carefully plotted plan was foiled by the older Vega child and her stupid wisdom teeth. And so her plan to get to sing along with Tori was ruined. That night, before beck came to pick Jade up, Jade had attacked anything in reach with her scissors in rage over the injustice of the world. Still simmering with anger when they left, luckily enough they came across two talentless ganks that she could unleash her rage onto them. To her dismay she didn't even feel the smallest hint resentment towards the blonde for flirting with Beck.
It wasn't until early the following morning that she came up with another plan to a. Get back at those talentless ganks and b. Hear Tori sing again. As a bonus the plan may on contained Andre having to stay behind with the other two guys to look after Trina. Something she didn't realise was such a gratifying perk once she saw that Tori ended up having to tie and duck tape her sister up.
When the two girls went to talk to Tori and pull her into their revenge plan, Jade half expected the brunette to just out right refuse, simply because it was her asking. "Okay, I hate these girls," the moment Tori said that a warm fuzzy feeling erupted low in Jade's belly.
So together they dressed Tori up in the most hideous cardigan and hat they could find, got a wig and glasses from Cat's house where they also gave her a fat nose and buck teeth. And thus Tori Vega became Louise Nordoff. With that Cat and Jade went to offer their challenge to Tara and Haley.
Jade had promised herself that she wouldn't dance. She promised herself she wouldn't stare. She promised herself that she wouldn't get all hot and bothered. She promised herself that she wouldn't bask in the sound of her voice.
She was never very good at keeping promises.
Watching the brunette bounce and jump around the place was just so intoxicating. The spark she had in her eye as she sang totally made getting shown up last night worth it. How Vega never thought of herself as talented was completely beyond Jade. Tori was made for entertaining.
Cat immediately threw herself at the younger Vega once she was finished. When Tori came towards her with arms wide open for a hug, Jade had to use all of self restraint to not just fall into those toned arms and crush her lips against the other girl. Instead they ended up sharing an awkward two hand high-five clasping of hands sort of thing.
Of course the owner had to come up and ruin their moment. "Whoa whoa, wait wait."
"Wait for what?" frustrated that one of the few moments she could openly enjoy with the singer was interrupted.
"The crowd hasn't voted yet?" at that she couldn't help but scoff. Like there was any doubt who would win. Applause ringing in her ears as Tori "Louise Nordoff" Vega name was called. Just like that the joyous moment continued as Jade danced beside her singing goddess, not once taking her eyes off her.
The following day Jade returned to Karaoke Dokie to buy a copy of Tori's version of 'Freak the Freak Out'. Pleased that the club recorded each person's performance.
While the whole group would be forever grateful to put the whole Diddly-Bops event behind them, Jade did find Tori's relentlessness on the topic endearing. That she wanted to do this so badly for those kids warmed her heart.
It certainly wasn't the best performance that Jade had ever seen, or rather been a part of. However, it was the first time that she saw Tori interact with children, that was enough to make Jade not regret this quite so much. Watching her talk to Lane's nephew, Devon, made a warm smile begin to spread. True, even Vega didn't want to be known as the Diddly-Bops, after all they all wanted to be respected by their peers as entertainers. Just not children entertainers.
Regardless Jade still downloaded a copy of their performance that that kid recorded off Videos for Kiddos.
Once she found out that Andre had reworked the song and would be performing with the younger Vega she made sure that she wasn't late for that lunch break, in fact she left her previous class a couple minutes early just so she could get across the school grounds in time.
Watching both Andre and Tori sing together again gave Jade flashbacks of that time at Cat's restaurant. Jealously spreading threw her again as she saw that same smile on Andre's face. His crush on her was so obviously sickening. Instead of dwelling on Andre, Jade shifted her focus to Tori and listening for her voice. A small smile appearing on her face as she watched Vega sing along.
Again she broke into Andre's locker to steal the USB drive that the song was recorded on. This time though she just left anything she pulled out of his locker all over the floor.
The next performance Jade almost missed. Beforehand she never would of thought that Tori was doing to sing more karaoke. She had her 100 day kiss with Slime-ball Steven after all. It wasn't until later that night that Jade found out that he was cheating on Tori with iCarly no less. Jade couldn't even fathom why anyone would even want to cheat on Tori, like really, just look at her.
She was not even paying attention when Carly started singing the iCarly theme song. In fact she was just about to leave the room to get away from Beck's constant hovering around her; really it is starting to bug her how much he just follows her around. Mere seconds into the song she heard that one voice that could stand the hairs on the back for her neck on end.
Between both Carly and Tori they ended up with mixed version of Tori's 'Make It Shine' and the iCarly theme. The duet soon turned into an all in with both the iCarly troop and the gang from Hollywood Arts.
Finally Jade got her wish to sing with Tori. She couldn't even begin to hide the joy she had bubbling through her. Shortly into the song Vega turned to Jade giving her a come here signal and singing inches from her face, then before she knew it the brunette was on Jade's back giving her a piggy back ride across the impromptu stage.
Everything in Jade just went absolutely haywire. Her hair stood on end, goose bumps arose all over her body, she was suddenly all hot and flustered, her voice just died in throat, butterflies erupted in her stomach, and her legs turned to jelly.
From that moment Jade did all she could to stay away from Tori for the rest of the evening, yet she never let the girl leave her sight. Jade could of sworn Tori threw her looks for the rest of the party, then again she was probably still coming down from the wonderfully high high she was on.
Later that night when all was said and done, Jade lay in her bed staring blankly at the ceiling, images of all of Tori performances flashing behind her eyes, while her body relived the sensation of having Tori draped over her. Jade was in for a long sleepless night.
It wasn't until a week later that Jade was able to download the song from . While there she watched the video of Tori breaking up with Slime-ball Steven countless times. It got better every time.
Next was the Full-Moon Jam. This was the one time Jade could really be prepared to watch and listen to the younger Vega perform. Tori being the nice and fair person she is opted not to sing with anyone, which worked out perfectly for Jade she didn't want to see Vega sing a duet with anyone but herself.
So she did her best to get the closest seat she could to the stage, without being overly obvious that she wanted nothing more being up there with her. Then Ryder Daniels stepped onto the scene.
When the brunette first mentioned having a date with the senior she tried to the best she could to talk Tori out of it. However, the stupid girl just thought that Jade wanted to see her suffer. While yes, she doesn't mind Tori being embarrassed or humiliated, but only at Jade's hand anyone else and she will not stand for it. How she wishes she could just come out and tell Tori about the rumours she's heard about him.
And she just knew Ryder would ruin Vega's perfect voice with his.
Thankfully Robbie managed to find out what he was up to. Knowing that, Jade was happy that Tori immediately started plotting revenge on the jerk. Sitting on the stair of the Vega's house, a small smirk playing across her lips as she watched the lyrics come together. The lyrics that would tear Ryder 'Jerk-ass' Daniels down in front of the whole school.
Jade had to admit that lately the younger Vega was surprising her more often with her hidden strength whenever it came to her break-ups. Sure she was the one to break up with all of them, but she never really seemed downed but any of them. In fact, within seconds she seemed to jump straight onto the revenge boat.
Watching her belt out that song at Ryder, Jade couldn't help but bop along to the beat. Seeing that little self-satisfied smirk as she waved good riddance to the senior brought a smile to Jade's face. How fitting that song was, if only Ryder knew what a sexy, talented person Tori was. But he would never get a chance to see that now. For that Jade was glad.
Jade was lucky enough to get two copies of this performance. One from when the song was just completed at Tori's house and another copy from the Full-Moon Jam.
The Monday after the Prome was when Jade found out that she missed one of Tori performances. It was just the icing on the cake for an already crappy week. First, Beck was in Canada, so she didn't have anyone that she could hide behind. Second, her play was cancelled, by Vega no less. It was one of those few times that she could show off to Tori. Thirdly, she missed Tori sing for the first time since she vowed never to.
That Monday was the worst that Jade could ever remember living. The entire day she had to sit through everyone reliving the Prome and going into terribly clear detail about the whole night. Every little thing brought up as the gang explained to Beck what he missed out on.
Then they finally got to Tori's performance. The mental image of Tori bouncing around singing her heart out to the school with as much passion as she could ever could in an effort to save the event, Jade knew it was something she would forever regret missing. Knowing that it began to rain shortly after she escaped Dong the Diaper Guy and was on her way home; was just another thing that she regretted. Watching Tori bounce around and sing while in that red-pink dress with rain running down her sexy self. To see that Jade would pay every single penny she owned.
Monday night was spent with her staring up at the ceiling, with an array of images floating though her head. All of which she knew would never live up to the real thing.
Why couldn't she of been the bigger person and just moved her play? Why couldn't she of just sucked it up and gone to the Prome and enjoyed it? Why did she have to cut Tori down every chance she got? Why wasn't Beck there to make sure she didn't screw everything up? Why couldn't she just tell Tori she has a crush on her?
No matter how she tried she couldn't get a copy of it anywhere. No one thought to record it on their pearphone. The sound system got fried by the rain, so despite all of Hollywood Arts music equipment automatically recording everything that was sung, she couldn't get a copy there either.
Maybe she could ask Tori to sing it again? But then she would ask why. That wasn't something Jade was willing to fess up to Tori yet.