Chapter 1-
Tori sat with Cat on her couch, and after a long moment of silence she sighed as she chose her answer. "Yes Cat." Cat squealed as she hugged her friend, "Well are you going to tell her!?" "No way! Are you crazy!? There's no telling what she would do if she knew,"Tori whined softly as she looked away from the red-head who sank back sadly. She sighed and rubbed Tori's back gently, "I won't tell her, I promise." "You can't tell /anybody/ Cat,"Tori said quickly as she stood and walked over turning off the game before crossing her arms, "Swear to me Cat that you will not tell anybody what I told you!" "I swear Tori, I won't tell anybody." Tori sighed and ruffled her own hair gently before looking towards the kitchen, "Are you hungry? I'm starving,"she said as she walked into the kitchen and rummaged in the fridge for some food.
"So, that went over quite well." André said after improvising an end to the song he and Jade have been collaborating on. Jade just smiled in response. The fact Jade has been quite calm and friendly while they have been working on the song did scare him a little. It seemed even though she has been focused on their work she was thinking about something, something that must´ve been making her happy for some reason. "Say, how did you manage to come up with the lyrics that fast? When I try that... Well, guess you still remember last time." He asked, his fingers running over the keyboard, somewhat expecting her mood to change. Jade thought for a moment. "I just had some sudden inspiration." she shrugged. "Oh." the boy grinned. "What?" "Come on, tell me." he moved slightly closer, giving her a begging look. "No." "Please?" She let out a sigh and ran her fingers through her raven hair. He was a close friend and never spilled a secret. Both have been knowing each other for years now and somehow she wanted to talk about it. Maybe talking about the matter would clear up her own confusion. "So, can you keep a secret? Of corse you can" She began, taking out her scissors, playing with them before pointing at André. He nodded "Of corse, we´re friends and you know some of my secrets aswell. It would make us even." "So, let´s say there is someone I like." she paused. "We both know that person. And... well, she´s been where I got my inspiration from." André´s eyes grew wide at the word "she" and Jade immediately noticed she said a little too much. "Damn." she muttered. "Cat?" The boy asked in a low tone. Jade shook her head. "So..." "Yes, Tori. Tell anyone and you´re dead." She cut him off, took her bag and left the room, heading home.
Cat stood up and left quietly after they managed to down and entire pizza, for a little girl Cat would deffinetly put away her food. Tori sighed as she sat down on the couch and looked over at the door before Cat shut it, "Hey Cat?" "Yeah?" She asked poking her head back in before glancing at the clock. It was damn near 2 am and Tori sighed softly, "You can stay the night if you want, it's the least I can do after you sat here and listened to me blabber about how I'm a giddy school girl for somebody who doesn't even care if I exist,"Tori laughed quietly. Cat hesitated before she bounded back into the apartment happily and shut the door behind them, locking it, and making her way over the couch. She slumped down next to Tori and rubbed her eyes, "I'm so tired." "There's no way I can get to sleep right now, you can have my bed tonight, I'm gonna see if I can find any job listings,"Tori smiled at Cat. Cat stood and left the room quietly making her way up to Tori's room and she quickly made herself at home and snuggled deep into the girls soft bed. Tori watched her leave then pulled out her laptop, opening it and typing in her password quietly, "toriwest". She clicked on "Log In" and waited for the laptop to load before she opened the internet browser and she opened craigslist, looking for any local acting, or singing jobs that she could work on. She didn't have any money to get anybody christmas presents, and her parents refused to buy her friends any, so she would have to find a way to raise the money by herself. She sat on the computer and typed and clicked for at least four hours before she slowly started to doze off.
André was about to follow her outside but knowing Jade it wouldn´t have been a very wise idea. At least not if he´d like to live some longer. So he remained at school, the halls unusually silent. They´ve been the last people inside, along with the janitor. André left as soon as he heard a car drive off. Jade drove home and went straight up into her room. Sitting on her bed she started her did she even start to tell him? What if he accidentally does say something to Tori? They are close friends and hang out quite often. She logged into her Slap account and checked the "online" list. Only Beck and Rex were listed. Strange, it was only about 8pm usually Tori would be online at this time. Even though Jade never sent her a message she did pay attention to her online times for some reason. She logged off again and googled high schools in New York. She didn´t tell anyone yet but a few days before Christmas she´ll be moving.
Tori woke around noon the next day and she got up quietly looking over at Cat who was staring at her quietly. Tori jumped, forgetting the red-head had spent the night and she looked at her, "Whatcha doing Cat?" Cat giggled and looked at her, "Watching you fight in your sleep. You have some serious anger problems,"Cat laughed and sat back eating her subway sandwich quietly. Tori eyed the sandwich, her stomach growling before she looked away. "Your sandwich is in the kitchen,"Cat giggled and Tori walked to the kitchen. She picked up the sandwich and smiled as she grabbed a soda for her, and one for Cat. "Hey you wanna hit the mall today? They're supposed to be having a lot of christmas rollback sales,"Tori smiled as she sat down and unwrapped her sandwich digging into it quickly and hungrily.
Jade didn´t stay online for long. She took a notepad and a pen starting to write down a list. First she losted her friends. Cat, Beck, André, Robbie and Tori. The she added ideas of what to get them for Christmas. Headphones for André, new fish for Beck´s fish tank, a Pear-pad case for Robbie, something bright and shiny for Cat, maybe one of those lamp things that project pictures and patterns onto wells and the ceiling. She had knew what to get for each of them, excepts Tori, there was just a lonely questionmark behind her name. She did want to get something for her too, even though it would most likely seem awkward since she usually never is nice towards her. "Well, maybe I´ll find something while looking for the other gifts" she though putting her notes aside. Thinking about what to get for Tori kept her awake most of the night but no matter how much she though she couldn´t come up with something that would be fitting. Eventually she fell asleep. As she was heading to the mall she still kept thinking about a gift and still her mind was like empty. Why can she think of something for everyone else?
Tori sighed quietly as she smiled and drove to the mall with Cat, looking over at the sound of rapid texting coming from Cat's pear phone. She laughed quietly and looked back up at the road as the light turned green, "Who are you texting?" "Andre, Beck, and Jade,"She said quietly and put her phone down,"They're all at the mall too." Tori sighed as she slowed down and she looked up as she pulled into the parking lot of the mall and stopped. "Well ummm, I need to head upstairs to get some presents, why don't you go find the others?" She glanced at the clock, it was about 1pm. "We can all meet back up at the food court at around 2:30?" She looked up at Cat as she nodded and both of the girls got out of the car and departed. Tori went upstairs and smiled as she got a few different things, for each of her friends. She got a new filter, and some food for Beck's fishtank, a set of sparkling head bands for Cat, a rag and bottle of wood polish for Robbie. She looked around not sure what to get Andre before picking up a season 1 deluxe copy box set of House, and she thought of Jade. "Maybe she'll like this." She put the present in the basket before she moved over to the electronics. She picked up a few cases of burnable cd's and a new michrophone stand for Andre, after she broke the last one. She paid for the things and smiled as she waited to have them gift wrapped. She picked up a small dog plush that said "Hell Hound" on the tag and she smiled putting it with the rest and paying for it. "These are perfect for Jade,"She giggled to herself before she took her presents and pulled her phone out, "Cat? Where are you guys?" She spoke into the phone quietly and made her way to the food court.