Chapter Two
The Three Musketeers
Tori listlessly opened her front door and took only one step inside before screaming and jumping at the sight of the monster seated on the couch. The monster jumped up and screamed also – in a high-pitched girly shriek. Tori squinted at the monster's face, which was completely covered in some light blue goop. A towel was wrapped around its head and it was wearing a pink fluffy bathrobe. Tori was sure that it was definitely her sister under there, somewhere, and sighed in relief.
"What the heck is that blue stuff?" she asked, motioning towards Trina's face.
"It's just some moisturizing cream that a girl gave me today in Makeup Design class! It opens up the pores." Trina sat back down on the couch, breathing heavily. "So where were you after school? I was waiting by the car."
"No you weren't! When I got there you had left already. I was only six minutes late."
"Right, so I gave you five minutes to get there. And after the way you almost gave me a heart attack just now, don't expect me to wait at all tomorrow."
"Oh, I'm sorry", Tori commented sarcastically. "That would have been awful of me to cause the heart attack of a MURDERER!"
"Huh?" Trina questioned. "Are you talking to me?" She pointed at her face, getting goop on her finger and tried to look behind herself. Shrugging, she licked the blue stuff off.
"Yes, I'm talking to you", Tori answered, grimacing. "Why didn't you tell me this morning that you hit something in the parking lot?"
"I-"
"And why didn't you tell me that what you hit was an innocent little cat?"
"That thing was a cat? Looked more like a rat to-"
"Why did you push me away, hm? Why didn't you want me to see what you did?"
Trina shook her head in disbelief, stood up, and used her fingers to hold Tori's mouth shut.
"I didn't want you to see it because it was disgusting. Did you really want to see the blood and guts of a squished dead cat?"
"Mmmph mmph mmphdoodle!"
Trina let go of Tori's mouth. Tori wiped her face in disgust with her sleeve, and then pointed accusingly at her older sister.
"You killed Mr. Snickerdoodle!"
Trina burst out laughing. She collapsed onto the couch, slapping the pillows, tears forming in her eyes. After almost a minute, she looked back at Tori who was standing there with her arms crossed, a totally serious look on her face. Trina snorted and resumed her hysterical fit. The blue goop on her face was getting all over the couch. Tori sighed exasperatedly and sat down on the other couch. Trina stopped her bouts of laughter every few seconds but each time she looked over at her sister, she started up again.
Tori shook her head, stood up and began to walk towards the stairs. Trina finally stopped laughing and grabbed her sister's arm. She pulled Tori back down next to her.
"Geez Tor, what's wrong with you? Ok, ok, I'm sorry I killed the cat. I swear it was an accident. I didn't realize you two were such good *snort* friends." Trina barely held back a laugh. "Though, how close could you have been if you only called him Mr. Snickerdoodle? That's pretty formal, isn't it? Did he call you Ms. Vega?" That did it. Trina cracked up again and nearly fell off of the couch. Her blue cream was now everywhere but on her face.
"I didn't come up with the name!" Tori protested angrily. "Cat did! She's the one who wanted to have the funeral, and she's the one who wanted to watch Mr. Snickerdoodle get buried! Know why I was late meeting you, Trina? I was busy hiding behind a bush watching Sikowitz trying to shove a box with a dead cat in it into the ground! It-just-wouldn't-go-in-the-ground!" Tori gritted her teeth. "And we sat there watching for almost an hour! An hour! I missed my last class! But Cat was really upset and I was just trying to comfort her and MEANWHILE my vehically challenged sister is the one who killed Mr. Snickerdoodle in the first place!"
"You sat there for an hour?" Trina asked incredulously. "You're out of your mind."
"I told you, it was Cat's idea!" Tori said.
"That girl is so weird", Trina mused. "I thought you usually don't have enough patience for her crazy ideas."
"I guess I'm just getting used to it." Tori turned so she could lie down.
"So how did you get home?"
"I took the bus, not like you care."
"Of course I care, I told you I was waiting."
"You barely waited!"
"Well you didn't expect me to just stand there by the car by myself looking like an idiot, did you?"
"It was only six minutes!"
"I gave you five. That's more than enough. If you wanted a ride home you should have been there on time. But I guess your little cat funeral with Cat was more important."
Tori fought the urge to strangle her sister as Trina got up from the couch and skipped over to the stairs, then laughed as she made her way up to her room. Tori crossed her arms and looked at the opposite couch. She groaned in disgust at all of the blue cream. Her eyes slowly began to close. The last thoughts in her head before she fell asleep were of a bunch of cats meowing, and of one small redheaded girl named Cat, smiling.
Beck chuckled as Jade nibbled at his lower lip. He wrapped his arms around her back, but she pulled them off and held them behind his head as they kissed on his couch.
"I must say Jade, I really like when you take out all of your aggression this way." Beck removed his arms from Jade's grasp and cupped her face in his hands. He slowly pulled himself up to bring their lips together. She kissed back passionately, and then began slowly trailing down his neck.
"But you kinda lost it today", Beck said teasingly. "When you freaked out at that funeral."
Jade immediately stopped and sat up. She got off of Beck and scoffed in disgust.
"Never talk about a dead cat's funeral while I'm kissing you again."
"You mean you weren't having a good time? What about Mr. Snickerdoodle? Think about the cat, Jade."
"Ugh, you're disgusting. Get away from me."
Beck laughed as he pushed himself up into a sitting position and began to button his shirt.
"I take back what I said before. I don't like the aggression. All right, anyway, do you want me to read over that play script you wrote now?"
"Nah", said Jade, scooting closer to Beck and stopping him from completely closing his shirt. She nuzzled his nose with hers and kissed it. "It's not finished yet. I need some inspiration."
"How is making out with me going to help? Your play is about an unattractive girl with no friends who has to come to terms with the fact that she'll be forever alone."
"Yeah." Jade got a far away look in her eyes and smiled proudly. "I kind of like to think of it as Vega's autobiography."
Beck bowed his head in disbelief. Then he quickly stood up.
"That's right, Tori! I almost forgot."
Beck went over to the nearby table and grabbed his cell phone. He flipped it open, only to have it immediately snatched away by Jade.
"Excuse me Beck, what are you doing?"
"I was going to call Tori after school to tell her about the essay we have to do for science class next week."
"And why does Vega not know about this essay already?"
"She skipped class today, I don't know why."
"Well then, that's her problem, not yours."
"Give me my phone back."
"No."
Beck playfully poked Jade's stomach, and when she raised her hand to slap his finger away, he grabbed his phone from her other hand. He flipped it open once again and dialed Tori's number. Jade went to grab the phone once again, but Beck tickled her stomach, making her back up and fall onto the couch.
"I'm going to kill you", Jade threatened.
"I love you too, babe," Beck said. He held the phone up to his ear. It was still ringing.
"Hello?" came a very tired sounding voice from the other line.
"Hey sleepyhead", said Beck, sitting down next to Jade on the couch and putting his hand on her knee. She smacked it away and gave him a death glare. "Where were you today? Didn't feel like coming to science?"
"Who cares?" Jade asked, biting her nail.
"I … decided to cut class", Tori answered very carefully.
"I can't blame you. After that funeral, I'm sure no one wanted to go to class."
"Again with the funeral!" Jade threw her arms up in the air. Beck put his finger up to her lips to shush her. She bit his finger.
"Ouch! Anyway, Tori, we have to write a short essay for next week. I wrote down the outline so if you want we can meet up some time tomorrow and I'll explain it to you."
"Yeah, that would be great. Thanks, Beck."
"No problem – hey!"
Tori heard a bang, then some rustling and muffled arguing, and finally a loud beep.
"Hi Jade", Tori said loudly. "I know you put me on speakerphone."
"So you cut class, Vega? I didn't know you had it in you. Come to think of it, Cat wasn't in screenwriting class either. Where did you two go?"
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"Cut the chiz, Vega. Where did you and Cat go?"
"Well … we just … went to go see Sikowitz bury the cat after the funeral", Tori admitted very quickly.
"Why?" Beck and Jade asked at the same time.
"It was Cat's idea!"
Beck and Jade looked at each other and shrugged.
"Well anyways, if you want we can meet tomorrow morning before Sikowitz's class", Beck said.
"Yeah, that's not going to happen", Jade stated. "Vega, get the work yourself – get off me, Beck!"
Beck grabbed his girlfriend and pulled her close to him. He laughed as he repeatedly rubbed his knuckle on her head. She tried to push him off, but he was too strong.
"I'm going to break up with you, I swear!"
"Yeah yeah, NOOGIES!"
"Beck, stop!"
"Don't resist it, Jade!"
Tori held the phone at a distance as the couple on the other end continued their little play fight. She heard Beck's cell phone fall onto the floor. Deciding to just speak to him later, Tori hung up.
"I hate you", Jade was out of breath as she sprawled out on the couch.
"I love you too, babe."
"Don't call me babe."
"I apologize, Miss West."
"Don't you mean the future Mrs. Oliver?"
"Hmm, I don't know about that. My future wife has to be nice to me. And my friends. Who are her friends also, come to think of it."
"Ew, Vega's not my friend."
Beck raised his eyebrow at Jade.
"Ok, fine. Maybe sometimes. But only when I'm in the mood. Which isn't very often."
"You know, there's really no reason for you to be so mean to her all of the time", Beck said.
"It's not my fault that she's so easy to make fun of!" protested Jade.
"Yeah well, try not to", Beck replied. "She's a nice person, you know that."
"So?"
"So be nice to her."
"Ugh."
"And Cat also. Now she's really your best friend."
"Yeah, that's not saying much."
"Still, you hardly ever see her outside of school anymore. Tori went with Cat to watch her dead cat get buried. Where were you when your best friend needed you?"
"In class where I belonged. And Vega's just weird. Who watches a cat get buried?"
"She was being a good friend to Cat. Tori's my friend also, you know."
"And that really disturbs me."
"Come on Jade, I'm being serious now", Beck put his arm around his girlfriend. He kissed her cheek. "I don't want you to lose your friends."
"Ugh, fine", Jade curled up against Beck.
"So you'll be nice to Cat and Tori and start spending more time with them?"
"Just call us the three musketeers", answered Jade, putting on a huge fake smile.
"Really?" Beck asked doubtfully.
"Oh yes, really."
"See, now that's more like what my future wife sounds like."
Beck moved closer to Jade and captured her lips with his. She ran her fingers through his hair as she sighed in content. The cell phone lay forgotten on the floor.
"So, how was everyone's day?" David Vega addressed the question to the rest of his family, as they sat at the kitchen table.
"Fine, dear," answered his wife Holly.
"Meh", replied Trina, shoving mashed potatoes into her mouth.
"Trina killed a cat", said Tori, very casually.
"What?" Mrs. Vega dropped her spoon onto the floor as Mr. Vega pushed his chair away from the table.
"Hey!" protested Trina, her mouth full. "Ok fine, you want to play that game? Mom, Dad, Tori cut class today."
"What?" exclaimed Mr. Vega, standing up.
"Hey!" Tori protested now, putting down her fork.
Trina stuck her tongue out at her sister. Tori did the same. Mr. Vega rubbed his forehead, while Mrs. Vega looked as if she wanted to faint.
"Let's start at the beginning here", Mr. Vega began, the veins in his forehead beginning to show. "Trina, you killed a cat? Please tell me this has nothing to do with the blue substance that's all over the very expensive couch in the living room."
"It was an accident, Dad, I swear", Trina replied. "And that blue stuff is cream."
"Cream?"
"It opens the pores."
"Pores? So why is it all over one of my couches? Never mind that, did you really kill a cat?"
"It was a total accident", Trina repeated. "I was pulling into a spot this morning in the school parking lot and I just kind of … hit it."
"You just kind of … hit it?"
"Yeah, really Dad, it's no big deal. I've hit tons of stuff before at school. Like last week I accidently drove into a tree. And there were a couple of birds that just came out of nowhere. Then there was that close call with the bunny rabbit-."
"That's enough", Mrs. Vega held her hand out to stop Trina. She turned to face her youngest daughter. "Tori, why did you cut class?"
"I didn't miss much, I swear", Tori began. "They let us out of class for the funeral anyway but Cat also wanted me to be with her at the burial."
Trina hid her face in her hands to hide a laugh. Mr. and Mrs. Vega looked completely dumbfounded.
"I thought the cat was dead", said Mr. Vega.
"No, not the cat. I was with Cat, my friend."
"That's that strange girl with the unnatural red hair", Mrs. Vega explained to her husband.
"Oh her", Mr. Vega nodded. He appeared to be a bit calmer, but it was short lived.
"Can someone please tell me why I'm paying all of this money to send you two to Hollywood Arts? When you're cutting class!" He looked at Tori. "And you're killing all of the wildlife!" He turned to Trina.
No one seemed to have an answer, so Mr. Vega angrily stomped out onto the patio. His wife followed, briefly glancing at her two daughters, a perplexed expression on her face. Trina paused for a second before digging right back into her dinner. Tori watched her in astonishment.
"Good job, sis, now we're both in trouble."
"You started it by opening your big mouth", answered Trina, food falling out as she spoke. She wiped her face with a napkin, then got up and walked into the living room. She looked at the dirty couch in disgust, and sat down on the other couch where there was no blue cream. She turned on the television. Tori remained at the kitchen table. A familiar ringing noise caught her attention.
"Is that my phone?" Tori asked, getting up.
"Yup", answered Trina, picking up the ringing device and looking at the screen.
"It must be Beck calling me back", said Tori, walking into the living room. "Hopefully Jade's left his place by now."
"Guess again", Trina kept her eyes focused on the television screen. She held the phone right up to her sister's face. Tori found herself in very close proximity to Cat Valentine. Or at least a picture of her holding an ice cream cone and giving a thumbs up. Tori took the phone out of Trina's hand and walked back into the kitchen before answering.
"Hello?"
"Hey Tori!"
Cat seemed to be back to her usual cheery self.
"What's up, Cat?"
"Nothing, I'm just soaking my hand in some ice", answered Cat nonchalantly.
"Oh." Tori bit her lip, feeling a sudden burst of guilt. "I'm really sorry about squeezing it too hard."
"That's ok. I'm starting to get the feeling back in my fingers now. My mom told me I should keep my hand in something cold, so I bought some ice cream. I had my hand in there for almost ten minutes, but then I got hungry so I ate the ice cream instead, and just used normal ice."
Tori laughed and smiled to herself. "Sounds like you're feeling much better."
"I am. That's why I called, I wanted to thank you for being so supportive today with Mr. Snickerdoodle and his-." Cat brought her voice down to a whisper. "Situation."
"It's no problem, Cat, I was glad to help."
"You're a good friend, Tori. Mr. Snickerdoodle would have liked you. It's too bad you never got to really spend time with him."
"Yeah, it's a real, uh, bummer", Tori fibbed.
"No one else would have come with me to see him getting buried."
"Ain't that the truth", thought Tori to herself. "I'm here for anything if you need me", she said out loud.
"Oh, I was hoping you'd say something like that!" Cat exclaimed gleefully.
"You … were?"
"I want to solve Mr. Snickerdoodle's murder mystery. Don't you think he deserves justice?"
Tori gulped. She quickly glanced over at Trina who looked like a zombie in front of the television.
"Um, Cat, I doubt you'll be able to figure out exactly what happened to him. I mean, there were a lot of cars in the parking lot."
"It'll take a while to figure everything out, I know. But if you help me, we can solve the case twice as fast. Two people means twice as fast right? I understand that kind of math."
"Well…"
"Please, Tori", Cat begged. Tori could tell even over the phone that Cat was putting her puppy dog eyes on. Most of the time she was able to resist the redhead's crazy requests but there was a tiny voice coming from deep somewhere, telling her to help.
"I don't know…"
There was silence coming from the other line until Cat whimpered.
"Please?" she said very quietly.
"Ok", Tori heard and felt words coming out of her mouth but couldn't believe she was saying them. "I'll help you."
"Yay, thank you so much Tori!" Cat was ecstatic. "We can start tomorrow morning!"
Tori didn't move. She kept the phone next to her ear, even after she heard Cat hang up. Out of nowhere, Trina booed at something on the television, and Tori snapped out of it. She looked at her cell phone, then over at her sister, then back at her cell phone.
"What did I just do?"
