She called him one night, when she had no one else to turn to.
"Beck?" She said, her quiet little voice echoing in his head.
"Cat? It's two in the morning." Beck rubbed the back of his head; he didn't even know she had his number. Her voice was so small, and so scared that it worried him. "Is everything okay? Is something wrong with Jade?"
"No, Jade's fine, as far as I know."
"You're not with her? Why are you calling me then?" He said, almost hitting himself for how stupid that sounded. It wasn't that he didn't care for Cat, it was just...they weren't close, they never had been. Cat was the barrier between his girlfriend Jade and his friend Tori, and she was, quite frankly, the comic relief of the situation. The two had never really hung out a long, or gotten into an in-depth conversation. He wasn't the guy she would call for help, he knew that much at least.
"I'm scared, Beck." She said, the youthfulness of her voice gone.
"What? What's going on, Cat?"
"Can you come over?"
"Aren't your parents going to be mad?" Beck said, wondering if this was an every night occurrence for the strange girl.
"My parents aren't home, Beck, they haven't been home for a long time."
"Okay," He said, fumbling around for his car keys. "I'll be over in a few minutes."
The house was empty, and sad. A little stucco building at the end of a block was painted in various neons, that was how Beck knew it was Cat's. Her family was as weird as her, she had said once, if not even stranger. The paint was starting to peel, though, and it had faded with the rain. The place looked neglected and empty, but inside every single light was on.
"Cat?" He called, knocking on the door.
"Who is it?" Cat said, making Beck roll his eyes.
"It's two in the morning, who do you think it is?" Beck immediately bit his lip for being rude to her. She needed him, she trusted him enough to come help her with whatever was going on tonight, and all he could do was be mean to her.
"Oh, Beck!" Cat said, opening the door.
No surprise to Beck, the girl had her red hair up in a bun, and was in a matching pajama set, fluffy slippers on her feet. Beck swallowed, thinking of how much leg her shorts showed. She was tan, tanner than Jade, and he couldn't help but wonder what kind of noises Cat would make if he ran his fingers up the length of her leg. Maybe kitten noises-that was her namesake, after all.
"What's going on, Cat?" He said, looking around the house. "Where are your parents?"
"Gone," she shrugged, sitting down on the couch.
"What do you mean, 'gone?'"
Looking around the house, Beck knew she didn't have to answer that question. The kitchen didn't look like it had held any real food in weeks, and there was a pile of dirty laundry in the hamper.
"They left about two weeks ago, I haven't heard from them since." Cat said, a frown on her always-pleasant face. "I don't think they're coming back."
"Neither do I," Beck said nervously.
"I didn't mean to call you," Cat admitted after a moment of silence. "I was going to call Andre or Tori or Jade, but they'd all tell. They'd offer up their homes to me, or have their parents call social services and ship me off to wherever my parents are now. You wouldn't tell, though, Beck. You're smart like that. You're going to just help me with my problem, and leave."
"What kind of problem are we talking about here, Cat?"
"I have rats." Cat frowned. "In the attic. I can hear them at night and they keep me up."
"You're afraid of rats?" Beck laughed. "Your name is cat, for Christs' sake!"
"Your name is Beck but I don't see you building toy boxes." Cat shrugged. "So will you help?"
"Yeah, show me to 'em." Cat nodded, leading him up the stairs.
Looking at the house and then at Cat, small, little Cat, he knew he'd figure out a way to help with more than just the rats.
I'm sorry for any mistakes, I don't actually watch Victorious on a regular basis, but my little sister had it on the other day, and I ended up watching an episode with her, where this little idea popped into my head. It's just a one shot, but thanks for reading! xx.