So I updated faster than I first thought I would... obviously procrastination from revision got the better of me.
This is more of a filler chapter but more plot will come soon :)
xx
"Come on Trina, we should've left ten minutes ago!" Tori yelled, directing the comment upstairs towards Trina's room.
"I'm COMING, gosh Tori!" Trina replied loudly as she made her way back into the bathroom. It had been the third time this week that the two girls had left the house for school far later than they should have, and the third time this week that it had been Trina's fault.
As Tori grew more impatient at her sister's constant lateness, her PearPhone buzzed in her back pocket. "You'd better not be late again! I don't think Sikowitz can deal with any more bad excuses to bail you out!" read a text from Andre. Tori replied to her best friend hastily, with a text reading "You're gonna have to think of one more - I can't deal with Saturday detention for a second time!", whilst shuddering at the thought of a repeat of her Saturday detention last year. Thankfully, Tori had had her friends with her then, but a Saturday morning detention with only Trina for company was not how she wanted to be spending her weekend.
As Trina came downstairs and entered their living room, Tori could tell why it had taken her sister so long to get ready this morning. She wore tight black leather shorts with a deep pink silk shirt and black heeled boots, her hair curled and make up perfected. Trina liked to think that her style was the prime example of 'effortless glamour', but this morning's instance was an addition to the countless times to prove that this wasn't the case.
"Trina! We have seven minutes to get to school - which is almost impossible if we get held up at every junction like we usually do!" Tori exclaimed, becoming more and more agitated at her sister's carelessness.
"Chill, Tor! I'll just drive a little faster, that's all! Besides, you were the one who chose to get a lift with me - if anything, I'm doing you a favour!" replied Trina, not realising or caring that a Saturday detention was a possibility for the both of them. Tori tried to protest - driving faster than the speed limit could get them pulled over, resulting in a speeding ticket as well as a detention - but Trina grabbed her keys off of the kitchen counter and made her way over to the door faster than Tori could argue her point.
Meanwhile at Hollywood Arts, Andre's PearPhone buzzed.
"So who thinks Tori will be late again?" He asked the group of friends who were crowded around the stairs in the hallway, before checking the reply on his phone. Cat raised her hand almost immediately, with Beck and Robbie joining in enthusiastically, and Jade rolling her eyes and raising her hand after a couple of seconds.
"C'mon! Have some faith in our friend!" Andre jokingly protested.
"Oh it's not Tori I'm doubting," Jade interjected, "She would have been here twenty minutes ago if it wasn't for the driver."
"Nope, you guys are right..." Andre told the gang as he read the text from Tori. "But I've already covered for her twice this week!" Before they could argue about who was going to think of a bad excuse today, the bell rang and the five friends groaned as they made their way to Sikowitz' class.
Just then, the doors swung open as Tori entered the hallway, spotting Andre on his way to class.
"Did I make it on time?!" she cried, catching Andre's attention as he spun round to notice how panicked she was.
"How did you manage to make it here so fast?" he beamed in response.
"Don't ask." Tori replied with wide eyes as she breathed a sigh of relief, rushing to her locker and quickly gathering her books before catching up with the group. 'No more risk of Saturday detention!' she thought to herself, thankful that she wasn't late for a third time.
Three hours later, the gang sat for lunch at their usual table in the Asphalt.
"Hey, is anything happening tonight? It's Friday - we should do something fun," Beck asked the group, who seemed unusually quiet for a Friday afternoon. Jade looked up from her lunch, curious to hear the idea that Beck had in mind. He wasn't usually the one to make plans, and Jade secretly liked it that way.
"What about Nozu?" he continued.
"Sorry Beck, I've got a tonne of homework that I need to catch up on as well as Sikowitz' assignment which needs to be done tomorrow." Tori replied, as Andre and Robbie nodded in agreement.
"And speaking of Sikowitz' assignment, are we still on for mine tomorrow night? We could always get a Chinese takeout or something to numb the pain of schoolwork." Tori joked, trying to lighten the mood. Sikowitz' group assignment was only a fraction of the huge amount of work that Tori had to complete, and she knew that everyone else was just as snowed under as she was. It was all anyone could seem to concentrate on recently.
Jade could sense that Beck was feeling stressed because of schoolwork, and lightly placed her hand on Beck's hand under the table so that their fingers were intertwined, realising that he desperately needed a break.
"Beck, come over to mine tonight?" she asked her boyfriend quietly, "Cat and I are cooking dinner and will probably end up watching a movie or something." Beck smiled, full of thanks and squeezed Jade's hand under the table as a sign of appreciation.
The gang got up from the table, with Tori and Andre discussing assignment plans and Beck and Jade talking about the next class they had, with their fingers still intertwined. Cat felt a light tap on her shoulder and turned around, surprised to see Robbie working up the courage to ask her something.
"Hey, Cat, before Tori's tomorrow do you want to... grab some frozen yoghurt or something?" Cat smiled, frozen yoghurt was one of her favourite things, but realised something almost immediately.
"But Robbie, we're eating Chinese at Tori's! We won't be hungry if we have frozen yoghurt beforehand..."
"Oh, right, I guess so. Maybe another time." Robbie replied, feeling slightly disappointed that Cat had rejected his offer. This wasn't the first time that this had happened, especially since after the Cow-Wow things had become slightly more awkward between the two of them. Cat smiled and skipped off to her locker before their next class acting as if nothing had happened between them just then, leaving Robbie to wonder how Cat actually felt.
"What time is Beck coming over, Jade? I can't take doing schoolwork for much longer!" Cat called in a frustrated tone from the spare room to Jade who was walking down the hallway.
"About now, actually." Jade replied as she leant on the spare room doorframe whilst checking her profile on The Slap. There had been no particularly interesting updates from her friends, just a "Three cheers for the weekend! Feeling: relieved" from Tori and a "No frozen yoghurt... Feeling: rejected" from Robbie. Jade wondered momentarily why Robbie had set such a disgustingly angsty update, but shrugged it off as the doorbell rang from downstairs, knowing that she had to let Beck in who was waiting at the door.
"Hey baby," Jade said in a flirty tone as Beck kissed her lightly, whilst Cat hopped down the stairs singing a song about how much she loved the weekend.
"Hi Beck! Haven't seen you in a while!" Cat teased, as she giggled and flopped onto the sofa in the living room. Jade didn't want to admit it but she felt almost as happy as Cat about the weekend finally coming around, smiling to herself as she thought about spending a chilled evening with her boyfriend and best friend. Joining Beck on the other sofa, Jade felt her PearPhone buzz in her hand, receiving a call from a contact she held mixed feelings for.
"Uh, I'm just gonna take this," Jade said in an agitated tone as she left the room, leaving Beck and Cat to exchange confused glances.
"Um, hi." Jade spoke as she answered her phone, quickly making her way upstairs treading two stairs at a time. Both Beck and Cat heard Jade's bedroom door slam loudly.
"Who do you think it is, Beck?" Cat asked worriedly.
"I'm sure it'll be fine." Beck replied, realising that he had never seen or heard Jade answer a call in that way, before changing the subject to the group project they were going to complete at Tori's.
"Jade, it's your father. I need to ask a favour." He spoke slowly, slightly cautious of how Jade would react.
"Go on." Jade responded, in a cold, bitter tone, apprehensive of her father's request. She had always had a rocky relationship with her father, and was slightly relieved that he hadn't contacted her for so long.
"Well, I'm taking Christian to Spain for a couple of days and was wondering if you could let Mandy stay in the spare room at your house so she's not alone when I'm gone." Jade breathed slowly, trying to take in what her father had asked of her and control her rage at the same time.
"So first, you don't contact me for six months. Then, you call me out of the blue and take no interest in how I am or how I'm doing at school." Jade's voice grew louder as she became angrier at her father's unexpected request.
"And THEN, to top it ALL off, you expect me to babysit your WIFE?! Whilst you take my brother abroad?!"
Meanwhile, Cat and Beck were still discussing the group project in the living room.
"Ooh, I bought this new film the other day, let me get it from my room!" Cat exclaimed, so she could stop talking about schoolwork for a while, before remembering that Jade was upstairs having a phone conversation. As she tiptoed quietly upstairs and down the hallway, she heard Jade becoming irate with the person on the other end of the phone. She didn't want to eavesdrop but couldn't help but overhear Jade's end of the conversation as her voice grew ten times louder.
"You're supposed to be my FATHER. Last time I checked, fathers were supposed to check up on their kids every once in a while. And no, no I am NOT letting Mandy stay here while you escape from your responsibilities by taking my brother abroad."
The room fell silent as the call disconnect tone rung through Jade's ears. She exhaled slowly and angrily, trying to control the extreme rage she was feeling.
Cat recognised this silence as her chance to escape, as she grabbed the DVD from her shelf and ran downstairs back into the living room.
"Everything ok?" Beck asked, confused as to why Cat looked so exhausted.
"Yeah, fine." Cat replied quietly, inserting her DVD into the DVD player. The two friends could hear Jade's bedroom door slam even louder than the first time, followed by angry footsteps running down the stairs and leading to the kitchen.
"I'd better go and see what's up..." Beck whispered as he signalled to the kitchen, alarmed that a phone call could make Jade this irritated. Making his way to the kitchen, the sound of clanging pots and kitchen utensils got louder as he decided that he would approach his girlfriend with caution.
"Hi," he said softly, trying not to aggravate Jade any more. This wasn't the first time that Beck had seen one of Jade's outbursts of anger, but it was a rarity for him to see her as irate as she was right now.
"Ugh, get out, Beck!" Jade yelled as she vigorously chopped potatoes, however Beck ignored this request, leaning next to Jade at the kitchen counter and crossing his arms - a sign that she had to tell him what was bothering her.
"It's just, my idiot of a father called and doesn't even ask me how I am, then tells me that he's taking my brother abroad without me, and THEN asks me if his wife can stay here while they're gone. What kind of a father does that, Beck?" She looked at him, her eyes filled with hurt, as Beck pulled her close to hug her and gently kissed her on the forehead.
"Ok, first, put the knife down," he instructed softly, "and second, breathe. Cat and I will make dinner, you sit down. And besides, I don't want to take you to the emergency room and tell them you cut off a finger because you were angry with your dad." He joked, which managed to make Jade smile slightly. Beck watched Jade closely as she left the room feeling less irritated than she was before, hoping that his girlfriend's father wouldn't call for a second time.
What do you think? Any reviews are really appreciated!
Sorry that this is so long! Would you prefer longer chapters (like this) in future or for me to separate it out? I prefer longer chapters but let me know :)