Well, here it goes. The oneshot I was going on about before, this is it, and now it isn't even a oneshot anymore. I've been skeptical about stuff I've posted before, but I seriously might have fucked up this time. If you remember back in November, I put up a oneshot called "She Keeps (Or They Keep) On Passing Me By", a little fic about how Robbie's love life, or lack of one, made his life in general miserable as hell. This time, though, the puppet master that everyone loves, or at least tolerates, is getting a shot at redemption. If the general idea doesn't excite you, then maybe the pairing might... maybe. Oh, and at some point, you'll find a few often-mentioned-but-never-seen canon characters pop up in this fic, so that should be fun, I guess. But anyway, I'm saying too much, and likely boring the shit out of you, so I present to you "Passing Me By (The Senior Kickback Remix)". Maybe you'll like it, but I'm not getting my hopes up.

Dan Schneider and Nickelodeon own Victorious. The Pharcyde owns "Passing Me By", the song that this story and the one that it's based on is named after, which is quoted in both fics.

(Flashback)

"On my way to school, while I was at a stoplight, I heard a old song playing in the car next to me. Normally, I don't pay attention to what other people listened to in their own cars, but for some reason, the words I heard resonated with me."

"...'Cause then I would let you know that I love you so/ and if I was your man, then I would be true/ the only lying I would do is in the bed with you/ Then I signed, 'sincerely, the one who loves you dearly, P.S. Love Me Tender'/ the letter came back three days later, 'Return To Sender', damn! (damn!)"

"She keeps on passing me by. She keeps on passing me by..."

"The last part of the song that I heard stuck with me the most, because it seemed to fit the description of how my love life, or lack of one was going. All the girls I had ever wanted, no matter whether it was a total stranger, someone I kind of knew, or the four girls who were supposedly my friends, they all had one thing in common: none of them saw me as boyfriend material. Apparently, I was that unattractive and repulsive.

I was gonna dwell on it some more, but before I knew it, I was at Hollywood Arts, and I had to put all of the gut-wrenching, soul-killing and just generally fucked-up feelings behind me, at least for now. While I was at my locker, I heard a 'hey Robbie' coming from my right. It was Tori, and Cat was practically right behind her. I say 'hi' to be nice, but deep down, I'm still a little frustrated because they wouldn't have understood how I felt. And they probably wouldn't have cared. Nope, they would just keep on passing me by.

(Friday afternoon/evening, late spring/early summer 2012, around 6PM)

"So, you're really not going to the dance tonight?" André asked Robbie over the phone. The dance that was in question was the Senior Kickback, and even though an all-students kickback was happening tomorrow, the Senior Kickback was a bigger deal since it was one of the last times that all of the seniors would be in the same place together.

"No, I'm not going," Robbie said on the other end. "There's no point in me going. I don't have a date for tonight, and unless at least one miracle happens, I won't have one for the dance tomorrow either. I don't wanna look like a loser. At least an even bigger loser than I already am."

Normally, this would be a moment where where somebody - usually Jade or Rex - would jump in and tell Robbie that he was already a giant loser, but he was apparently way ahead of them. Then there was the fact that Rex laid dormant on Robbie's bed, and Jade, who was at the Vega house with Tori, Beck, and of course, André, was actually feeling bad for the ventriloquist, and so were the other three teens in the living room of the household. Cat hadn't yet arrived with her date, and Trina was still in her room getting ready for the dance herself, so they hadn't heard Robbie's self-deprecating explanation for not wanting to go to the dance.

Meanwhile, André continued the conversation by telling Robbie, "look man, you're not a loser. If going to the dance alone is what you're worried about, then you shouldn't sweat it too much. I mean, there might be some girls at the dance who don't have dates either. If you find a girl that you like who likes you too, then you could have a date for tomorrow's dance... and maybe even have somebody to go home with tonight. Besides, we'll all be at the dance together, so even if you don't end up with a date, at least you could still hang out with us."

"Okay, that last part might sound good during the dance, but then what happens when the dance is over?" Robbie asked in a somewhat frustrated manner. "I know that Jade and Beck are gonna want to be by themselves, Cat might go somewhere with her date, and even though it probably isn't guaranteed, you and Tori might hang out together."

Robbie's observation wasn't lost on André, Tori, Beck or Jade, who heard everything due to the phone call being put on speaker. The last part had definitely caught André and Tori's attention, since Robbie was possibly implying that the duo would attend and eventually leave the dance as more than just friends. But regardless of what Robbie may have been suggesting, only one thing concerned André at the current moment.

"Listen man, if you don't wanna go to the kickback, then you don't have to go. I'm just saying that you shouldn't just sit at home and let yourself be bored and depressed."

Taking André's words into consideration, but also under the impression that his night would turn out bad no matter what he did, Robbie then responded by saying, "look, I'll think about going to the dance, but I doubt it seriously that I actually will. If I don't see you guys tonight, then I'll just talk to you tomorrow. Bye, guys."

André responded with a "later, Rob," while Tori said "bye Robbie" in the background before the call disconnected. Just seconds later, Tori then said, "wow, poor Robbie. I feel bad for him."

"So, Robbie's seriously gonna miss the dance. You know, I normally don't get too emotional, but I'm kind of upset for the guy," Jade added.

"Well, before he got off the phone with André, he said that he might go, and even if he doesn't go, can you really blame him?" Beck began. "I mean, if I was in the same position that Robbie's in right now, I wouldn't feel too thrilled about going to a dance either."

"Yeah, I mean, who would wanna go to a dance, a prom or a party alone? That's gotta be hard for somebody to deal with," André said.

"I'm just seriously trying to figure out how he got shot down by every girl that he asked," Jade began. "I mean, I know Robbie isn't a chick magnet or anything, but I didn't think that he was that unappealing."

"That's pretty high praise coming from you, Jade," Tori said. "You know, considering all of the times that you've more or less made fun of him."

"Come on, Vega, like you haven't done it?"

"I may have shot him down before, but I never just flat out insulted the guy."

"Whatever. The point is that you haven't done much better than I have when it comes to dealing with Robbie. You might not have been as harsh as I had, but still -"

"Okay, ladies, ladies," André jumped in before Tori and Jade's argument got too heated. "Now isn't the time for fighting."

Once everything had cooled down, Beck then said, "this is probably a dumb question, but did Robbie ask Cat to go to the dance with him?"

"Yeah, but she said no to him too, apparently because she had already found a date," Tori added.

"Do you remember the Jason guy from the method acting challenge, who came here with Cat after we had showed up?" Jade inquired.

"That's Sikowitz's nephew, right?" André asked in search of confirmation.

"Yeah, that's him," Jade answered. "Apparently, Cat saw him again at the mall about a week or so ago, and she must have asked him to go to the dance with her. I guess Robbie didn't know about it until he asked her to go with him."

"Well, I'm guessing that he probably hadn't done this," André began. "But um, did Robbie think to ask Trina to be his date to the dance?"

"Why would Robbie wanna put himself through that? That's like torture, and not the good kind," Jade replied.

"Jade," Beck said in a somewhat stern tone.

"Look, I know that I really hadn't said this before, but you seriously need to back off of Trina," Tori said in an annoyed manner. "Regardless of how she acts, or how she has acted before, she's still my sister, and I'm getting sick of people, especially you, constantly insulting her all of the time."

"You could have fooled me," Jade told the younger Vega sister. "Any other time, you would have just ignored it when anybody said anything bad about her, especially when it was one of us."

"Well, I'm saying something now, Jade, and I mean it. Back off." Once Tori finished arguing with Jade, she then turned her attention back to André. "To answer your question, no, as far as I know, Robbie didn't ask Trina to the kickback tonight. Now that I think about it, I don't think she has a date either."

"What makes you so sure about that?" Beck asked.

"Well, this is Trina that we're talking about, so," Jade said jokingly, although Tori clearly wasn't amused.

"Damn it, Jade. What did I just say?" Tori scolded the Goth before continuing. "But anyway, the reason I have to believe that Trina doesn't have a date is because usually when she is going out with somebody, or at least plans to go out with somebody, she makes a big deal about the entire thing until she leaves. That's how she was about the date that she was supposed to go on with that Seth guy, at least until he decided to use Robbie and Cat to dump her for him."

"That whole 'singing bad news' thing?" Beck remembered.

"Yeah, that was it," Tori responded.

"Well, that would explain why Robbie ended up getting his guitar smashed," André said, having heard about Trina's destruction of the puppeteer's instrument.

"Yeah, it would," Tori answered. "And even if he did ask her to the dance tonight, she probably, more than likely would have told him no. Actually, screw that, she definitely would have told him no, and she wouldn't have been nice about it."

Just before Tori finished talking, Trina had made her way to the top of the stairs. She hadn't heard the entire conversation, but she had heard enough to the point where she wanted to stop and listen to the rest of it.

Unaware of the older Vega sister's presence at the stairway, André backed up Tori by saying, "she's got a point. On top of smashing Robbie's guitar, she spit milk in his face when he kissed her at lunch that one time."

"And it wasn't soy milk," Jade added, referring to Robbie's concern about the milk due to him being lactose intolerant.

"Then there was the time where they had to fill in for Festus on the Grub Truck when he got hurt because of them. Robbie basically did all of the work while Trina just bossed him around. Oh yeah, and she apparently fried Rex's foot," Beck continued.

"Yeah, and she walked into our class and basically threatened to kill him if he didn't write a good review for her play that she did," Jade mentioned, remembering when Trina walked into her and Robbie's class and threatened him for not writing a positive review for the self-titled, one-woman play that she had put on shortly after Tori first arrived at Hollywood Arts.

"Oh yeah, that happened," André responded. "And before that, she smashed his face into the bowl of soup he had for lunch, and then before she went to their class and threatened him, she stuck the arms of his sweater in his locker while he still had the sweater on. I knew he didn't wanna do it back then, but looking back on it now, I can definitely understand why he didn't wanna write a review for her play."

"And then there was last Christmas when she sprayed him with the flock gun," Tori recalled. "It was an accident, or at least she acted like it was, but seeing as how she only asked him here to help with the tree and to pull stuff from the garage, I don't think it really helped much for her to apologize. Plus, a few weeks ago, while all of us were working on 'The Blonde Squad', she told him that she didn't even like him as a friend, so there's that."

"Well, no one likes her, so that makes it even," Jade responded nonchalantly.

"Look, Jade, if I have to tell you one more time - "

Just as Tori was about to finish scolding Jade for making yet another mean remark about Trina, the older Vega sister walked down the steps and into the living room, much to the other teens' surprise. Dressed in a black sweater with a white dress-shirt-like collar, blue pants and black heels, she walked towards the front door before her younger sibling got her attention.

"Hey Trina?" Tori called out.

"Yeah?" Trina answered.

"Where are you going?"

"Uhhh, I'm going to the kickback. You know, the dance that's at school tonight?"

"You know that there's still more than a hour left before the dance, right?" Jade asked.

"Oh yeah, I know, but I have to stop somewhere before the dance starts. Besides, why does it suddenly matter what I'm doing and where I'm going? No one likes me, remember? You guys normally wouldn't give a shit about me any other time, so why bother to start now?"

After a brief pause, and realizing that her rant may have came off harder than she might have intended it to, Trina then said, "look, I'm not trying to be mean or bitchy, but normally when I'm around, you can't wait for me to get away from you, so excuse me if I can't understand the sudden interest in my life." She took another pause and sighed before looking back at the group and saying, "I'll see you guys at the dance," before finally walking out the door.

Back inside, the four remaining teens briefly sat in silence before Jade spoke up by saying, "so, I think Trina heard us talking."

"I would be more surprised if she didn't hear us," André replied in a quiet but serious tone.

"Well, whether she heard us or not, she has a point," Beck began. "Any other time she came around, either we brushed Trina off, complained about her being around us, or we tried to avoid her altogether. And to be honest, I think that might be one reason why she's always acted the way she does. Sure, she makes a big deal about herself, but she does it because if she didn't, then nobody else would."

Realizing that Beck was right, and remembering how she herself along with their parents played a big role in that theory, Tori then said, "you have no idea" as she slouched down on the couch.

Meanwhile, at the Shapiro residence, Robbie was in his room sitting at the edge of his bed, and more than likely, he was in a depressed mood at the moment. Usually in situations like this, Rex without a doubt would be voicing his opinion, either by supposedly giving Robbie a so-called pep talk, or by putting him down and finding joy and delight in his misfortune. But this time, Rex was simply laid out on the pillow at the right side of the bed. Eventually, Robbie's parents walked into his room, and being at least somewhat aware of their son's predicament and mood, they were hoping to cheer up the young man, or to at least lessen the sadness and frustration that he was feeling.

"Are you gonna go to the dance, sweetie?" Mrs. Shapiro asked in a concerned voice.

"I don't know, Mom. I might go, but right now, I seriously doubt that I will," Robbie said, giving an answer similar to the one that he gave André just before their phone conversation had ended. "And even if I was going to the dance, it starts at 8, and it's 6:45 now, so I would have to rush to get ready. Besides, what's the use of going to tonight's dance, or tomorrow's for that matter, if I don't have a date?"

"Well, you went to your prom last year, and you didn't have a date then," Mr. Shapiro added.

"It was called a 'Prome' at school, Dad, and besides, that was last year, when I was a junior. I thought that things would be different after that, especially now," Robbie said quietly, but also in a frustrated manner.

"That may be true, but you still went to the prom, or 'Prome', and you said that even without a date, you still ended up having fun." Wanting to keep encouraging his son, but understanding that a change of mind wouldn't come easy, Mr. Shapiro then continued by saying, "listen Robbie, I know that high school hasn't been all that easy on you, especially when it comes to girls. But just because things went bad for you in the past, it doesn't mean that it'll be that way tonight or tomorrow. And even if it is, you shouldn't stress over it too much, because you've got your whole life ahead of you to worry about your luck with women. But tonight, you should go and have some fun. It might seem hard, but it beats sitting here moping around and wondering 'what if'."

Once Robbie saw that Mr. Shapiro was done talking, he let out a simple "thanks Dad" before Mrs. Shapiro walked over and said, "me and your father, we both love you so much, and we just want you to be happy. And your sister feels the same way, even if she won't admit to it out loud." Mrs. Shapiro then went to hug him before walking out of the room as she said goodbye.

Before he joined his wife out in the hallway, Mr. Shapiro then asked Robbie to remember what he and Mrs. Shapiro had said to him, adding that while they weren't trying to force him to go, it would be better for him if he did. With that, Robbie's parents had walked away and eventually headed out for a Friday night around town.

Well, that part's over with. As you can see, Robbie's still on the fence about going to the Senior Kickback, and to a further extent, the all-grades kickback that happens the next night, even after the conversations he just had. But as you'll find out later, there's one more person that he still needs to talk to that may or may not convince him to change his mind. And before I finish, at the beginning of the next chapter, you'll see another often mentioned but never seen member of the Shapiro clan, and to say the least, she won't be too thrilled to see who shows up to talk to our favorite puppet master.

Anyway, that's a wrap for now. The next chapter should be up soon, but until then, hopefully you enjoyed what happened so far, although I'm not getting my hopes up. Adios, bon voyage, sayonara, and goodbye.