Thank you for the reviews, follows, and favorites from last chapter.
And thank you to Jawrulez for the prompt, and the guest reviewer from last chapter who said Tori's and Trina's birth weights were too low. I hopefully fixed that last chapter by almost doubling the weights. If it still seems to low to be healthy, let me know.
This chapter focuses on Jade and her day up to meeting Victoria. To let everyone know, Tori only knows her name is Victoria because of a bracelet Trina made for her when they were younger that she always wears even know as a teen/wild girl. The bracelet, as we'll see soon in this fic, as one of the bead ones with beads with letters that spell the name.
I know I said Cat and the others might not be seen in this fic, but since this takes place in school before Jade meets Victoria, I decided to have them seen, at least for this chapter.
Also, Beck is again kind of an ass in my fics. For some reason, I can't wrap my head around him being a nice guy, especially when it involves Jade dating someone else. If anyone doesn't like that, I'm sorry, but it works for me.
Jade and everyone, minus Tori and Trina, still go to Hollywood Arts. Just wanted to make that known.
Finally, there's an OC in here named after a fellow author on here, one who I hope doesn't mind me using her OC. You might recognize her when you see her, based on the name.
Disclaimer: I don't own 'VicTORious, its characters, or the prompt for this fic. The first two are Nickelodeon's, and the last is Jawrulez's.
Jade POV
"Hey babe." Beck, my boyfriend of three years, says as I walk into school.
"Hey." I say in a deadpan as I head to my locker, not up to dealing with him right now.
"What's wrong?" He asks, leaning against the locker beside mine, as if he doesn't remember last night at all.
"Oh, I don't know. How about my boyfriend got pissed because I wouldn't sleep with him last night?" I ask, glaring at him as I grab my books.
"I did not." He says, sighing, as I close my locker.
"Yeah, you fucking did." I say, putting my books in my messenger bag. "You were all grabby last night after the movie. And when I said no, you got pissed, called me a tease, and left." I say, walking away. "It's not my fault you can't keep it in your pants." I say over my shoulder as I walk towards Sikowitz's class.
The walk to class is quick, the remaining students wasting little time in getting out of my way as I stomp down the halls.
Walking into Sikowitz's, a take an and seat in the middle of the class, my best friend Cat taking the one beside me, leaving Beck having no choice but to sit away from me since the windows are on my other side, and the seats in front of us, behind us, and beside Cat, are already taken.
Ten minutes later, Cat trying to figure out why I'm not sitting with Beck, Sikowitz walks in through the window, yes window, nine minutes after the bell rang to start class.
"Hello class." Sikowitz says with a wide smile, tossing his tan bag aside.
"Hi Sikowitz!" Cat calls out, waving and bouncing in her seat.
"Cat. Down." I say, sending her a quick glare.
"Phooey." Cat says in response, sitting motionless as her hands plot to her lap.
"Anyway, who's up for some Improv?" Sikowitz asks, taking a coconut out of his bag, a pink straw already inserted.
"Ooh ooh. Me. Me." Cat says, wiggling in her seat, fighting the urge to raise her hand.
"Good. Cat. André. Jade. Beck. Robbie. To the stage." Sikowitz says, stepping off the stage and standing by the windows, watching the five of us walk up to the stage. "Someone give us a situation." Sikowitz says after taking a sip of his coconut.
"After a break up." Rex, Robbie's puppet, says from Robbie's seat. How, I don't know, since Robbie is already on the stage beside Cat.
"Good. Now, a location." Sikowitz says, obviously not affected by Rex talking without Robbie's help, like the rest of us.
"Restaurant." A female shrugger says from the back of the class.
"Good. A break up at a restaurant. Go." Sikowitz says, nodding to us.
Fifteen minutes later, after Sikowitz stopped the scene because he ran out of coconut milk, he released us, saying he had to get more coconuts. Yeah, I don't bother asking when it comes to him too much.
"So, why did you two sit apart from each other? Another fight?" André, the talented singer/songwriter/instrumentalist of the group asks as we head to the empty Black Box theater to waste time until the next class begins.
"None of your business, Harris." I say, glaring at the dark-skinned teen across from me.
"Alright, chill down." André says, raising his hands in mock defeat, looking away, voice trembling with slight fear.
"Is it my business?" Robbie asks, staring at me.
"What do you think?" Rex asks sarcastically, bouncing on Robbie's lap.
"No." Robbie admits with a whisper.
"You people annoy me." I say, grabbing my bag and standing up, leaving the Black Box.
"We need to talk about last night." Beck says from behind me a minute later, clearly in a hurry to catch up.
"No, we don't. You want to fuck, I don't trust you yet, you got pissed. That's it." I say, gritting my teeth. "Now leave me the hell alone so I can get some coffee." I say, pushing open the double doors that lead to the Asphalt Cafe, where there's a SkyBucks stand for students and faculty to grab coffee or something throughout the day.
"Usual?" Jordan, a girl with skin matching Andre's, asks as I get to the coffee stand.
"What do you think, Jay?" I ask, using my nickname for her.
"Why so grumpy now?" She asks, grabbing a large cup and filling it with black coffee as I grab two sugar packets and a stirrer from the tray just off to the right of the window.
"Don't ask. You know I don't tell." I say, taking a five from my wallet. "Hand me a blueberry muffin." I tell her as she hands me the cup, placing the lid on as she does.
"So bossy." Jordan says with a smirk, grabbing one of the bigger muffins from the back. "3.50." She says, handing me the muffin and a couple of napkins.
"You'd think they'd charge less for their most valued customer." I say as a joke, when in reality, it's kinda true. I am the main reason they set up this coffee stand here.
"Sorry. No one's that special." Jordan says with a laugh. "Hey, shouldn't you be in class right now?" She asks, checking the time on her phone.
"Sikowitz let everyone out early again." I say, rolling my eyes.
"Isn't that the third time this month?" She asks, leaning against the counter.
"Yep." I say, sipping the coffee after adding the sugar and stirring it. "How much do you make here, anyway?" I ask before taking a bite of the muffin. What? Just because I'm the ganky Goth of the school, I can't make small talk with the girl who makes my coffee?
"A little over four bucks an hour, not counting tips." She says, making a show of pointing at the tip jar beside the register.
"Wow, way to be subtle." I say with a small laugh as I put the change and a couple extra bucks in the tip jar. "Gee, I wonder how I figured that out?" I ask, putting my wallet back in my bag.
"You must be psychic or something." She says, playing along. "When's the bell ring for next class?" She asks, still smiling from the joke.
"About fifteen minutes." I say, sipping the coffee. "How many hours do you work here a day? And don't you have school?" I ask her, taking another bite of the muffin.
"I work four hours, and I graduated last year. All my classes at the university are after noon this semester. I leave here at noon, and I have an hour to shower and get to my first class." She informs me, taking a sip of something from a coffee cup on her side. "Water. Not allowed to drink coffee during my shift." She explains when I stare at her with a quizzical look.
"Ah." I say, taking another bite of the muffin. "I'm gonna head back in. Don't want Beck sending a search party." I say after swallowing the bite.
"Yeah, don't want that." She says with a slight sneer.
"You really don't like Beck, do you?" I ask her, finishing the muffin and throwing the napkins and baking cup from the muffin away.
"I feel like he's just using you as a status symbol." She admits, staring at me. "I mean, before you started dating, he wasn't really popular outside of his looks and acting skill. After you started dating, he became the most popular guy because you were so popular with your talents. I honestly feel like he's dating you to be popular, not because he likes you." She says, sighing.
"I appreciate the honesty." I tell her with a small smile. "See you later Jordan." I say, giving her a small wave as I head back into the school, thinking about what she said.
"See ya. I'll have your usual ready for lunch." She calls after me.
Sure enough, a few hours later, she has a large coffee with two sugars already stirred in ready for me. After paying her quickly and heading to the Grub Truck to grab my lunch, a burrito if you must know, I head over to the usual table for the gang to sit at for lunch.
Thankfully, Beck isn't there today, something about practicing for Sikowitz's new play, according to Cat.
The rest of the day goes quickly after lunch. After putting my books in my locker and heading out, ignoring Beck as I go, I head to a small coffee shop almost forty-five minutes away. I love going there. The coffee is the best in California, it's quiet, no one outside of the barista taking my order talks to me, and I can work on writing my screenplays as long as I want without worry of someone bugging the hell out of me.
I spend the usual five and a half hours there, drinking four cups of coffee and adding to each of the three screenplays I'm writing. Just after 9:20, I leave the coffee shop, named 'Grounded On Earth', interestingly, and head home, my homework already finished thanks to the relaxing atmosphere of being 'grounded' as the patrons call it.
Fifteen minutes later, I'm on a back road heading home, when I bump into something. Cursing, I get out to see what kind of damage was done. I stop when, in my headlights, lays a tanned girl, roughly my age, with long wild hair and dirt all over her body, her clothes looking like they barely fit her, some parts look like they're only together because of a vine or something.
"You okay, chick?" I ask, going to check on her. I pull back when the strange girl growls at me, her teeth looking unnaturally sharp. "What the fuck?" I ask myself, staring at the girl who seemingly is fine after getting hit by a car, stalking around on all fours like a wild animal, her dark eyes locked on mine, which I find strange since I'm not standing in any light, and there's not a lot of light around, not counting the headlights of my car.
That's it for this chapter. Hope the quick little intro to Tori was good and believable.
Next chapter will pick up where this left off.
Blessed Be.