The Fake Black Eye
"Two sugars!" called Jade after him. It was nice to look after her for a change. Usually she loathed showing any vulnerability. Seeing her injured was strange. It somehow didn't feel right. Jade always liked to seem so tough. And Tori, he knew that the hit had been an accident but why would she be so adamant to deny it. Did she hate Jade that much? Was the good girl exterior just an act?
"I know what to do." He flippantly responded and walked off. He knew that she didn't like too much mushiness. The coffee shop across from school had a line, so it was almost the end of the lunch time when he got back. To his surprise Jade was nowhere to be seen. He mulled around the Asphalt Café for a while, hoping that she would show up. When she didn't show up for the next class he began to get slightly worried. After the class he saw André and caught up with him.
"Hay man, have you seen Jade around? She missed her class." Andre seemed hesitant to speak at first. Could she really be in trouble?
"No, but I think I know why she skipped." Beck just looked at his friend expectantly.
"What do you mean? Her black eye wasn't so bad that she'd have to leave school." Jade wasn't above milking an injury for leniency from the teachers, but she liked History. They were just studying about the Salem witch trials.
"That's the thing. She does not have a black eye." Beck looked at his friend with surprise. He had seen the black eye.
"What are you saying?" But then again she did make him wait outside of the nurse's office. He didn't want it to, but slowly an unwanted realization was dawning on him.
"I met her in the corridor at lunch time. She was wet because someone had spilled water on her face. I noticed that her black eye was running." Andre explained to him. "It was fake, Beck. It was a make-up." Beck just smiled bitterly. He would have liked to be more surprised than he was but he knew Jade all too well. Such an elaborate scam was just up her ally. Jade loved special effect make-up. He was surprised she had limited herself to a simple back eye.
"Why would she do that?" as soon as the question left his lips he knew the answer. "So she can get Tori in trouble." And to think that he foolishly thought that they had settled this. He should have known better.
"I think that despite your talk she is still out to get her." Andre stated what was obvious to both of them.
"What are you going to do?" He didn't like it but Jade had definitely earned her punishment.
"I already told Tori and she told me to leave it to her." Andre informed him. "But you can tell Jade I'm not her fan at the moment."
"I'll try to reason with her." He promised but the truth was he didn't know what to do. He had tried talking to her, but obviously it hadn't helped. May be this time he was going to leave it to Tori. After all she had shown herself to be capable of standing up to Jade. If a need for his help arises, he was going to lend it. Still a day passed, and then the next one and nothing happened. It was Friday, Jade was beginning to fidget. And fidgeting was something she hated to do.
"Why doesn't she do something?" She asked him in low voice at lunch, while throwing glances full of suspicion Tori's way. "What is she up to?" Tori seemed completely oblivious to this. She was sitting next to André and giggling to a bizarre argument between Cat and Rex about faeries. He felt a slight smile lifting the corners of his lips. Remembering who he was sitting next to Beck quickly shook it off. A glance in Jade's direction confirmed that her attention was still focused on Tori.
"Why don't you ask her? Today after class Tori is staying behind to clean up The Black Box Theatre." She threw him a suspicious look.
"How do you know that?" Beck just sighed and shook his head.
"André told me." He wasn't about to tell her that he felt bad for Tori and had asked André what punishment she had gotten. Jade agreed to talk to Tori and ask her why she hadn't told a teacher about the fake injury. She insisted on going alone. Beck decided to follow her discreetly in case the talk didn't go well. To his infinite surprise he saw Jade and Tori leaving The Black Box Theatre together and in a good mood. They even looked friendly with each other. When later Jade explained to him that Tori had chosen to keep the information to herself as a peace gesture he was impressed by the maturity and kindness of the pretty brunette. He was almost sure that, in similar circumstances, he wouldn't be able to do something like this.
The next day he woke up unusually early for a Saturday. After a light breakfast he headed to school. No one saw him get in since the building was empty with the exception of the unfortunate few who had a detention. The teacher who was supposed to supervise the detained students was nowhere in sight. When Beck reached the library the only student in it was Tori. She was sitting behind one of the desks with her head resting on top of her folded hands. Her hair was spilling in a mahogany waves covering her shoulders and flowing down her back. She sighed heavily, obviously bored out of her mind. Beck smiled and sat behind the desk next to her.
"Hi there Tori, want some company?" She sat up sharply and stared at him in alarm.
"Beck, what are you doing here?" He just smiled at her expression.
"Considering whose fault it is that you are here today, I thought that it would be a good idea to keep you company." Her surprise was replaced by a wide smile. "I feel kind of guilty that I didn't believe you that you hadn't hit Jade." Tori just waved of his apology.
"Your company is always well come, but aren't you going to get in trouble if someone catches you here?" Tori asked, cocking her head to the side.
"What are they going to do to me? I'm already in detention." Beck dismissed her concern with a shrug. He pulled out a deck of cards and the two of them began playing. The game was pretty evenhanded. They were joking around, trying to pass the time quicker, when Tory, after one of the games, regarded him with a sigh.
"Can I ask you something?" Her hand was playing with a strand of her hair. "Do you think Jade is really going to stop hating me?" Her hazelnut eyes sought out his.
"I think she will dial it down to hostile tolerance. I wouldn't bet on her becoming your friend; much less admitting it." Her sigh was an indication that wasn't the answer she was looking for. "Now it's my turn. I saw your performance in the Showcase. It was amazing I couldn't believe that it was your first time on stage. Why didn't you apply to Hollywood Arts like your sister?" Tori seemed delighted and embarrassed by his compliment at the same time. He could see a definite blush coloring her cheeks.
"Performing has always been Trina's passion and dream. I didn't want to intrude. Besides, when she left my school, life became much more serene." Beck smiled at her words, he could see how a school without Trina could be appealing. "I wouldn't have been on the stage if Trina hadn't developed an allergic reaction to her herbal gargle." He remembered that André had called the mishap his luckiest break.
"I'm glad; it would have been a shame not to have you here." His words were met with another beaming smile from Tori.
"Thanks, I've always liked singing, but never thought I'll to make a career out of it." Just at that moment heavy footsteps echoed down the empty halls of the school. Mr. Dickers was coming to check up on his lone charge.
"Hide!" Tori grabbed the cards and shoved them in his arms. Beck hastily looked around and slipped between the rows of bookshelves, in the furthest corner of the library. The vice principle scanned the room. Saw Tori sitting behind her desk, looking appropriately bored. Looking mildly disappointed at the absence of any obvious violations he informed Tori that she would be free in two hours. In her most sincere and innocent voice Tori thanked him. He turned around and mumbling something under his nose left the room. Beck waited a few seconds and joined Tori again.
"You should try acting." He told her with mirth in his voice. "You did very well in the alphabetical improvisation, and your last Bird Scene was quite something. I think you'll have a knack at it." Beck added more seriously.
"Really? You think so?" She seemed intrigued by his words. "Your main interest is acting, isn't it?"
"Yes it is." He nodded.
"What is it about it that you love?" Tori leaned back and looked at him carefully. He sat side ways on the chair and thought about it for a minute.
"That's a tricky question. I think mainly it is the opportunity to play characters who are very different from me, and to try to imagine their motivation." He remembered that at first it was the thrill to be someone else, someone exiting. After all it was that that had attracted him to Jade at first. She was strange and exiting.
"How did you start?" he glanced back at her. Her smile was so warm and inviting.
"In the beginning it was a way to escape from my parents high expectations. They were not very happy at first, but when it turned out I was good at it they warmed up to the idea." The interest in her eyes was so genuine that he continued to tell her how acting wasn't his mother notion of stable path for her son. At least at first, later when it turned out he was actually good at it she became more supportive. The next hour and a half they spend talking. He told her about the plays he had been in. She told him about her old school, about what it felt to be on stage for the first time, in front of so many people. He looked at his watch. It was almost time for Mr. Dickers to let Tori go.
"Listen, I'm going to go before Dickers gets back." At the door he turned back and smiled at her. "When you get out, come by the coffee shop across from school. The coffee is on me."
""With pleasure. I'll see you there."