Hollywood Arts: A Beacon of Hope

Disclaimer: I own nothing

A/N: I know I said i was going to wait for my other stories to finish, and I am! (By the way Invader Johnny, since you reviewed the authornote chapter this is replacing, you'll have to review as a guest if you want to leave a chapter response.). There is, however, a reason I want to put this second chapter out now instead of later.

My regular readers will catch it towards the end, then they will know why I'm doing it now instead of later on. For memory sake.

Chapter 2 (Sisters Against the World)

"You set that up didn't you?" Tori followed her sister into the house, uncertain how to react to what Trina had done. On one hand she was upset that Trina had everyone set up some big showcase just so she could see the quality that Hollywood Arts held.

"Of course. You don't have to audition to get in, you know." Trina turned around and breathed in slowly. "I turn seventeen in April, at that point I'm going to start working with the school to find me a job." Tori pursed her lips and dropped her eyes to the floor. She felt Trina's hands on her shoulders and looked up into her strong gaze. "When that happens, and when I have money, I'll be able to take care of you. But until the time comes, I'm not letting you go into the foster care system again."

"I thought you were more worried about finding our mom and dad when you turned eighteen." She took her seat on the couch. Trina moved to the kitchen counter and turned on the sink. "Do you even remember anything about them?" She knew Trina often had dreams about them, but both girls thought them to be more memories than nightmares. "You dream about them, anyway."

Trina washed her hands then shut off the faucet with a heavy sigh. "I was only three years old, so I don't remember anything." She walked around to the outside edge of the countertop. Tori's heart faltered as her sister's face began to soften. Trina's eyes slid to the right and her shoulders hunched upwards. "David says dreams are connected to the subconscious, so it's possible I'm remembering them."

"Well, what do you dream about? You never tell me." Tori leaned to the right, gazing up with hopefulness. Of the many times she asked Trina to elaborate, her sister would only give her a sad smile before turning away. "I think I'm old enough to know what, if anything, you remember."

"Yeah, I mean hell I don't even remember." Trina grabbed a banana from the nearby fruit basket and started to peel it. A wrinkle formed between her brow and her eyes hesitated for a second on the banana before drifting towards her right leg. "I remember shots, though. Gunshots yes, but needles…"

Tori's hand flew up to her chest and her lips parted as Trina shook her head. "You don't think our parents are dead do you?"

"No I don't." Trina took a bite of the fruit and closed her eyes as she slowly chewed. Tori rubbed her knees and looked towards the coffee table. "I only have one memory of our mother. Though my dreams come in flashes." Tori lifted her head and puffed her lower lip as her eyes started to sting. Trina exhaled sharply and threw the banana peel into the nearby trash bin. "I remember her running through the streets, carrying you in one arm and holding my hand in another. I remember my leg burning from pain and blood dripping from some wound."

Tori's eyes widened and her breath caught in her throat. "That's it? I mean, you don't remember like-"

"I was three, Tori." Trina's forehead tensed and a small vein began to bulge as she shook her head violently. "I get the feeling maybe she was running from someone-maybe Dad. I can't visualize her face all that well, but I remember a mix of colors."

"Colors?"

"Latina skin. Brown hair, green eyes, and…purple." Trina's voice trailed off and Tori slipped her hand up to the bottom of her throat. Purple was the color of bruising. "All I can remember really from that long ago is thinking our mom and dad were abandoning us." A scowl stretched across her face and her hand clenched as she moved to the refrigerator.

"Trina."

"Well what do you think? We've been in the system our entire lives." A tear slid down Tori's face as her fingers tightened around her pants leg. She listened to the anger in her sister's voice and fought to keep her own emotions down. "If mom wanted to find us again, don't you think maybe she would have put her name down instead of remaining unlisted?"

"Maybe it was for our safety? What if she was abused? What if you and I were abused, or at least at risk of it?" Trina slid her fingers through her hair and pulled her lips back to reveal her clenched teeth. Her eyes shut and lines stretched out from them as her brows moved slowly to the middle.

"You need to go ahead and submit an application to Hollywood Arts. Start signing up for classes."

"Trina, can't we talk about-"

"No." Trina cleared her throat and walked towards the computer on the table. She opened the laptop and motioned for Tori to head over. She heeded her sister and studied her closely. Trina's shoulders were tense, her jaw locked, and eyes narrow. Her face softened after a few seconds and her head bowed, throwing her hair before her face. "Alright, which of these classes look good to you?"

Tori leaned over and studied the screen closely. Trina already entered all the name and contact information, selecting 'phone' as means of best contact. "Improv, Theater, Vocal music…"

"How about Job Training and Resume Writing as well?" Tori smiled slightly and nodded. She could see the value of learning those skills. Trina checked all the boxes and scrolled down. "Days best for classes? Monday through Friday?"

"That sounds good." She glanced at the availability and pointed. "Hit the weekdays before three and weekday afternoons after three." Trina checked the boxes, then scrolled the page to make sure everything was accurate before submitting.

"Well that's done." Trina pat her hand gently on the table and looked off to the door. "David and Holly are going to be out for the rest of the day, so it's just the two of us." David didn't really live there, it was Holly's house. By that same regard, she liked to give the girls their space and wasn't home often either. Since Trina was close enough to being a 'responsible adult', David and Holly were not overly worried about supervision. "What are you hungry for?"

"Hungry?" Her stomach growled and her lips curled upwards. "Anything sounds good right now." She was never a picky eater. Growing up in poverty, she had to learn to eat whatever was put in front of her. She didn't remember the first foster family they had, but Trina often said it took some moves before they got one that actually had decent standards.

Sometimes it was to the point that Trina would tell her there were times she wondered whether their mother made the right decision-which implied she remembered more than she let on, but Tori didn't want to push the subject because of how her sister got whenever she thought about their parents.

"I'll make us some stew." Trina moved to the pantry and reached in. "We've got some soup, we've got-well a lot of stuff."

"I need something more feeling than soup, Trina, but I'll take it." Trina looked over her shoulder.

"Well how hungry are you?"

"Haven't eaten all day." She rubbed her stomach and hummed. "It's killing me."

"Tell you what, I'll make one of my special sandwiches for you." Tori's eyes lit up as Trina grabbed the bread from the pantry. Her 'special sandwich' was an invention of hers she made one day many years ago when they were bored, Tori fell in love with it so it became something that she often requested.

What the sandwich contained was several different deli meats separated by different layers of cheese and sauce. At the very middle was relish, with a slice of turkey above and below, followed by pepper jack cheese and ham. Between the each layer was a mixture of ketchup and A1 steak sauce. Cheddar cheese would follow the ham, then the sauce, then salami and provolone. No sauce would sit on top of the final layer as that was where Trina put the mayonnaise on the top bun, mustard on the bottom bun, then she would pepper it. Once done, she'd toss it in the microwave for a few seconds and then serve it.

When David and Holly first tried it, their faces went sour after the first five bites because it had too much pepper. Tori couldn't get enough.

"Help me get the ingredients out, Tori." She rushed to the fridge and grabbed the sauces while Trina grabbed the meats and cheeses. "You know, I need to tell you something about this coming summer."

Tori grabbed a bowl from the pantry and set it down on the counter. "What's that?" Trina put one hand to her hip and turned to her.

"I'm going to a camp." Tori's eyebrows rose and her lips parted as Trina began to prepare the bottom bun. "You know how I've been working out and learning some martial arts techniques? David found a martial arts camp and says it would be beneficial for me to go if I want to be in the police department one day."

"Well. How long is it?"

Trina paused for a minute, creating a deafening silence. When she finally spoke, it was quiet and uncertain. "Nearly four months." Tori gasped at the thought of Trina being away for so long.

Her heart began to race as Trina's eyes turned to her. "We've never been apart for that long." Her body started to heat up and she swallowed down the anxious thought creeping into her mind.

"I know. That's what I'm worried about." It wasn't separation for good, as if Trina were going to move away or have to go to another foster home and never be seen again. It was only four months. "I would like to go, but-"

"Why worry? I'll be fine." She straightened her back and flashed a gentle smile. "I think I'd worry more about you getting over anxious." Trina raised an eyebrow at her and laughed.

"Me? Anxious? Never." Her sister smirked and playfully nudged her. Tori's heart rose up and her lips curved as Trina reached over for a hug. "Will you really be all right?"

"Yeah."

"Okay, because while I'm gone I want you to find yourself some friends to hang out with." Trina leaned back and pat her arms while gazing into her eyes. "Don't spend this summer by yourself, got that? It's March, so you've got plenty of time to find some people to hang out with. If you can't, just ask Sinjin and I'm sure he knows some people there."

Tori swept her hair back and moved her eyebrows together. "Well Andre seems nice. I'm a little worried about the fact that the students there are, well, I don't know…"

"They're not any different than we are, Tori. You'll find yourself some friends, hang with Andre a while and you're fine."

"In the meantime, when you do go off to camp?"

"Yeah?"

Tori lifted her mayonnaise-covered butter knife and gave her sister a playful, but serious look. "You better damn well have some fun at that summer camp and tell me all about it when you get back!"

Trina chuckled softly and finished the final layer of the sandwich. She put one arm around Tori's shoulders and looked down at their finished creation. All that was left to do was toss it in the microwave.

"No worries Tori, I'm sure I'll have fun."

"You'll miss me though. You think you're tough, but you need me." Trina laughed again at Tori's playful smirk. She knew Trina would be just fine at summer camp. Hell, she knew she was going to be okay. Yes she was nervous as hell about this school for troubled and at-risk youth, but she would make the best of it. Hopefully Trina could use whatever life skills she learned from this camp and apply it, so maybe they could finally stop worrying about becoming completely homeless if Holly stopped being able to help them. "Do your best at camp, don't get too distracted."

"And what exactly would distract me?" Trina raised an eyebrow and moved the plate to the microwave. Tori folded her arms and tilted her head.

"Boys. The boys at camp." Trina hit the start button and looked at Tori like she had an extra head.

"Yeah right, like I'm going to let a man distract me from what's important."

Tori's eyelids fell halfway and her lip curled into a smirk, "When are you going to find a man worth keeping? Honestly, you date for a while then break up."

"I will when we get settled down. Who has time for relationships when they're in our situation?" Trina leaned against the countertop and Tori's hands slid down to her hips as she shook her head with dismay. "You and me, Tori. That's what I'm focused on. You, me against the world-maybe one day we'll find mom and dad while we're at it. Maybe we won't. Who really cares?"

"Well, at least relationships can bring you some happiness. Just have fun at that camp."

"Plan on it. As long as you make friends at Hollywood Arts and enjoy yourself, I'll go and enjoy myself at camp."

So now that that's done, a little fun for my readers too. Just so all of you know, this story is mainly Tori's perspective, so we really won't see everything in Trina's path. But it all affects the plot and path in the long run. The setting is March 2010 because that's when the first episode was. For the actual Hollywood Arts, it really doesn't matter when you get in. Anyway, hope you enjoyed the chapter (and possible foreshadowment that came within it), do leave your thoughts on the things they discussed and stick around for the next chapter to be posted when one of my current tales finish soon here.