Sikowitz was trying to throw them off again. Half-way through a scene from a play about improv actors he ambushed Beck and Robbie with the challenge to be two people who spoke English but did not actually understand it when spoken to them. That was…interesting. Lots of yelling.

Jade was pretty much over this class, at least for the day. Her temper had been tapping the redline all day and something was going to set it off in a cascade of snark any minute now. In three, two, one-

"Jade!" Sikowitz called out. Right on time. "You! I hear you're working on a new script!"

Ask her to talk about her films? One that wasn't even written yet? There's a conflict for you. "Are you asking an actual question or just saying random words again?"

"Which means yes." The victory dance was familiar by now. Which drove her absolutely *crazy.*

Cat bounced in her seat. "You are? Yay!" Her happy big eyes swiftly changed to wary big eyes. "Wait, not a scary one like the one with the tricycle?"

Jade looked at Cat like she was crazy. Out of that whole film, Cat picks the kid's *bike* to find freaky and disturbing. "No, this one's a drama." She saw everyone lean forward, ready to listen. She raised her eyebrow at them until they realized it was healthier to find something else to talk about. Works in progress were *not* discussed until the skeleton was in place.

Sikowitz looked intrigued. "I'm intrigued. Human drama or daytime drama?" This was one of the things she liked about this otherwise insane teacher. He had a lot of the same associations she did, and they often got into very oblique conversations.

"Daytime drama, but a life span of perhaps a year. And with a hint of-" The bell rang and Sikowitz hit the deck. So that ended that, since he was now convinced that his shadow was caught in the rug.

Cat accosted her at her locker, something that hadn't happened in a while. "Can I be in your movie this time?"

"Hey, here's the thing. It's a two person story, really, and Beck and I-"

The redhead pouted. "Aw, anything Beck can do I can do, come on!" Clearly Jade had successfully trained at least Cat to keep her distance from Beck but that made this particular speculative script unlikely- drama in this case was a love story, but not a lame one, a really good one.

"Cat, you're a girl too, remember? This is a couple-type story so that's not going to work, get it?" She explained as if to a child.

Cat looked at Jade like *she* was crazy. "Did you just say that you won't make a movie about two girls in love? How come?" She was genuinely interested.

"What? No, it's just…" Actually, there was no earthly reason this idea couldn't work with two girls. It would take some tweaking of course, and a little research, but film schools would fall all *over* themselves if she could make something like that, and make it *good.*

And it would be fun to make a movie with Cat. They'd been friends for a long time but how long had it been since she had Cat on camera? "I'll tell you what Cat, give me a couple of days to shake through my ideas and I'll let you know, okay?" She slammed her locker door.

Cat squealed and gave her a big hug. "Yay! I love Jade's movies," she pulled away and toyed with her fingertips, her eyes going off into the distance. "Except the ones with the mutated bicycle children."

Jade blinked. "You know that boy was just *riding* the trike, he wasn't supposed to be, like, merged with it."

"Really?" Cat's eyes went big again. "That's still pretty scary, though."

"Riiiiight. Later, Cat. Hello, Beck." He came up to her left side and everything in life was suddenly pretty damn good.

Fast forward two days, and the idea just kept getting better. This was going to be a hell of a story and probably her best movie yet, after that scary thing. Running through it in her head, but swapping the male character for a female worked perfectly every time. In her head she saw the shots lined up, all the beats would be hit just right.

Then Cat read the script outline at lunch one day. "This doesn't sound like two girls at all. I'm confused, did I not get the part? Is it Beck after all? If so, congratulations Beck!" The tragedy-comedy masks had nothing on Cat for mood swings.

Beck leaned forward. "Told you. You can't just trade a boy for a girl and get the same results."

"Don't tell me I can't do something!" Jade glared. "I don't know what you're talking about, and can we talk about it later? Cat, you're coming over tonight for a read-through, okay?" Cat nodded, happy to have gotten the part- again.

The read-through was awful, and she was really glad only Cat was there to witness it. "You're right, this is crap! Ugh, what did I do wrong?" She hurled a cheap porcelain vase into a corner that was full of crockery shards. This was just where things got thrown. It had seemed wise to have a designated area for that in Jade's studio.

"Stop making *her* sound like *him.* She isn't him. See? Easy!" Cat shrugged and hit her with that 'you're dumb but I love you anyway' smile. It was always a little odd to get that look from CAT of all people.

Jade was frustrated but she agreed. "I'll try again. Go home now."

"Kay kay, bye Jade! See you at school tomorrow!" Cat hugged her on the way out the door and laughed out loud to herself that part of her goodbye rhymed, but not that last part, because it was so hard to find a rhyme for tomorrow, or the word tomorrow, or something-

Jade closed the door on all that…whatever. She chucked her script outline onto the pile of broken china plates and mugs and jars and went to bed, thinking angrily. How was she supposed to know what girls were like together? She dated *boys,* liked *boys* and had never even thought about girls herself because why would she. Because she was a *film maker* damn it, and why shouldn't she be able to make ANY movie? Really, she was planning to be pretty stubborn about this ever since Cat brought it up.

So she thought about it. Not what if Beck was a girl, but what if she, Jade, was dating an actual girl? What if she was dating Cat herself, even? That sounded pretty safe. Who didn't love Cat?

It was safe to say that imagining dating Cat helped a lot. After toying with things for a good ten minutes, she thought it was time to actually get started. She reached a bit, fumbling at first, then found there wasn't anything there *too* much different than boys; but the details were all important. Jade was concentrating pretty hard; it seemed like there was suddenly a floodgate that had opened, and the subtleties of the concept for the whole thing began to shift slightly into new territory. She was a bit astonished to realize that there were aspects she hadn't yet considered, and each one had a thousand pleasant paths. The idea built up for a while, teasingly staying just near enough for her to miss when she tried, until she nearly had it half a dozen times. But really, it was all about the process and that process was a bliss of its own. When the idea finally came in full force, her smile of satisfaction was genuine and she sat back, spent.

A page full of a wildly written plot synopsis sat on her desk and her pen hand was tired. "There. Although, I may need another actress in this, as a third party. I wonder if Tori would be interested in a part."

AN: Flashfic challenge with Scriblitte. I do not own Victorious, and write here only for my own entertainment, and hopefully for that of others. I giggled a lot writing this, especially that last bit.