When the night of the pageant finally came Cat was definitely excited and more than a little bit nervous. Her, Trina, Jade and Tori were all backstage while the boys were waiting in the audience. Cat was putting the finishing touches on her makeup, which thankfully was one thing she was really good at. She lightly dusted her cheeks with blush and added some glitter over top of her eyeshadow. Then she put on a final coat of lip gloss and rubbed her lips together. She looked in the mirror and smiled, seeing how nice her make up had come out.

Through the reflection of the mirror she could see Jade sitting at her own vanity mirror behind her, probably working on her own make up. She thought about walking over to say hi, but then she saw Beck appear into view, coming up behind Jade to surprise her. He walked up and put his arms around her from behind and whispered something in her ear that made her smile. She turned around to kiss him. Cat quickly looked away from the obviously intimate moment between the two of them. As a couple Beck and Jade weren't exactly prone to PDA. Though they always made it perfectly clear to everyone that they belonged to each other, moments like these were rare to be seen by other people, and Cat knew that they preferred it that way and that's why she looked away. She thought it was kind of sweet how they'd been together all these years now and they were still going strong. Aside from a few minor hiccups.

Cat diverted her attention away from the couple to focus on preparing herself. While she felt the same pre-show jitters she always felt before being on stage, she wasn't too nervous because this wasn't her first pageant. Her mom had signed her up for plenty of them when she was younger, and she knew all of the tricks and all of the things the judges would be looking for. She knew she was supposed to smile always (which wouldn't be a problem for her because she loved smiling), and that maintaining her posture was very important. She knew she'd have to know how to walk in heels and pose, and she was expected to be charming and poised. Cat was confident that she could do all of those things. She just hoped that when it came time for her turn for the question and answer she wouldn't get too nervous.

Sikowitz had gotten the gig emceeing the event so just as expected, his delivery was filled with lots of strange and slightly inappropriate jokes. The first category of the pageant was the introduction, which was fairly simple. All the girls had to do was walk out on stage wearing a casual daytime outfit and introduce themselves. For that category Cat wore her black and white polka dotted dress with her Mary Jane heels and she went out on stage, smiling as happy and perky as ever. All she had to do was say her name, what grade she was in, and why she decided to join the pageant. It was fairly easy.

After that was the evening gown portion, which was quite the spectacle thanks to Jade, who stood out like a sore thumb in her tiny cocktail dress. Lucky for her it was too early in the competition for her to get eliminated. When it was Cat's turn she walked out in her pretty magenta gown and gave her best pageant girl performance. She made sure to smile and wink at the judges, and she twirled a few times so everyone could see how flowy and princessy her dress was. While she was on stage she could see Beck and Andre standing in the back of the audience cheering for her. She smiled and gave a quick wave to her friends, before hurrying back stage.

The talent competition was the most anticipated event of the night. The lineup had Jade arranged to go first, then Trina, then Cat, and then Tori would go last. As the moments got closer Cat felt herself getting more and more nervous as she watched her friends and the other performers backstage. Some of the girls gave really good performances.

But Jade's talent ended up being very scary and freaking everyone out. She'd gotten Robbie to agree to being tied up and lie down inside a box where only his arms and his head were exposed. Jade then brought out a case of six very large knives and began to slowly plunge each one into the box while Robbie was still inside. This brought about lots of nervous "ooohs" and "ahhs" from the audience, but the whole time Robbie appeared to be just fine. But then when she jabbed her last knife into the box, to everyone's shock, Robbie let out a blood curdling scream and all of a sudden lots of blood started dripping from out of the box. Everyone in the audience gasped and a few people screamed. Some of the more squeamish viewers even ran out of the room and one of the judges looked like he was about to lose his dinner. Even Tori, Beck, Andre and the rest of the gang were shocked because no one was expecting this to be a part of her "magic trick". She purposely hadn't let anyone in on the prank she was pulling.

But once she realized she'd sufficiently terrified everyone, Jade opened the box and the scrawny, curly-haired boy got out and stood up with his arms spread out showing everyone that he was okay. Though everyone was relieved, no one looked amused. Except Jade of course. Her performance was met with very scattered applause from only a few audience members, including a standing ovation from Sinjin VanCleef and a few goth kids.

Trina was up next and unfortunately Cat and the other girls could hear everything while they were backstage getting ready. She'd apparently decided to do a slowed-down, accapella version of her song "Chicago" that really wasn't doing her any favors.

Backstage the rest of the girls were trying to get themselves ready but Trina's wailing made it difficult to concentrate.

"God how has Trina Vega gone her entire life without anyone telling her that she cannot sing?" One of the pageant girls remarked.

"Trust me we've tried," Tori said, and she sighed.

Cat giggled. "Hey Tori can you help me touch up my make up?"

"Sure," Tori said. She sat down beside her and picked up a make up brush. "So you're up next Little Miss Valentine. Are you nervous at all?"

"I don't know. Maybe a little..."

Tori smiled reassuringly at her. "Cat you of all people have nothing to be nervous about. I'm the one who should be nervous. You're a much better singer than I am."

Cat smiled at the compliment. "Well you're a better dancer than me," she pointed out.

"Still you've got this in the bag okay? You're the one with all the pageant experience. You're the one whose putting your heart and soul into this. I'm just along for the ride. Remember that."

Cat nodded. "Okay," she said. Tori finished her makeup just in time for her to hear Sikowitz calling her out to the stage. The brunette wished her luck one last time and then she hurried out to the stage.

And it was strange but as soon as Cat got to the stage all of her butterflies and nervousness disappeared. Being on stage in front of a hundred people was actually one of the few places where she felt truly comfortable with herself. Even as the lights dimmed and the spotlight shown down on her, she felt more happy and at peace than anything. She took a deep breath before she began her monologue, which was from a play she did when she was younger, about a young girl who runs away from home and ends up lost in the woods. Then she began her song, which started off as a slow, melancholy ballad, but during the second half of the song the tune picked up speed and her performance became more upbeat. Cat really wished her parents could have been there to see her perform because the crowd really seemed to love it. Maybe they were just happy to see someone who could actually sing after being forced to suffer through Trina's performance, but Cat likes to think it was her they were really excited to see.

She'd gotten Sinjin to help with her lighting and special effects to jazz up the second half of her performance. The lighting changed from a solo spotlight to multicolored strobelights and she finished off her song with a short tap-dance and one of her famous high notes. And then the crowd erupted in applause, including the judges who all looked very pleased.

Cat was giddy when she rushed back stage. She was sweaty and out of breath, but she couldn't have been more happy. Everyone backstage greeted her with praise and congratulations, even Trina. "Wow Valentine, that wasn't bad. You really killed it out there," the older girl said.

"Really? You think so?" Cat asked, in a hopeful tone.

"Yeah in fact you were almost as good as I was. I think you have a real shot at being first runner up."

Cat smiled at the slightly backhanded compliment. She knew that was just Trina's way of complimenting her in her own Trina way, and that she shouldn't be offended by it. "Gee thanks Trina."

"No problem. Well if you need me I'll be in my dressing room, practicing my surprised face for when I get my crown. See you during elimination," Trina said.

"Wait but Tori's about to go on. If you leave now you're gonna miss her perfor-" Cat started, but Trina already had her back turned to her, walking away. "Um, ok then! See you during elimination.." she called out to no one in particular since the girl was already gone.

Cat sighed. She reached into her gym bag and pulled out a water bottle and drank from it. She felt like dumping it all over her face but she knew that would mess up her makeup and she'd have to start it all over from scratch and that wouldn't be good. She took another sip before she heard someone snort and then speak behind her. "Well the delusion sure is strong with that one," the stranger remarked. She turned around and saw it was another girl from the pageant who she'd seen around Hollywood Arts on occasion.

Cat raised an eyebrow. "You mean Trina?"

"Yeah how'd that hack get into this school anyway?"

Cat just shrugged. "It's kind of a long story..."

The girl stepped closer to Cat. "Well you on the other hand were really great."

Cat smiled. Even though she knew she could be a bit ditzy in the head sometimes and that most people thought she was weird, she liked that her talent was the one thing that gained her respect amongst her peers. "Thanks."

"Don't mention it. I'd say you were a shoe-in for the crown if it weren't for little miss perfect out there," she said, nodding towards the stage where Tori was standing under a spotlight about to begin her performance.

Cat paused. "You mean Tori?"

"Well yeah who else? Of course Tori's gonna win."

Cat was confused. Tori didn't even care about the pageant and she didn't even want to win. The only reason she was doing it was to support Cat. "But Tori's not even trying to win...you see she didn't even want to do the pageant in the first place," she explained.

"Cat, some people don't have to try. They just get everything handed to them. Think about it...Why do you think Tori wins all of the singing competitions and gets all of the lead parts in the school plays when her singing and acting abilities are average at best?"

"Tori's a really good singer..." Cat said in defense of her friend.

The girl smirked. "Not as good as she thinks she is. The only reason she's gotten so far is because she's pretty. And because she's got the right look. Shiny hair...high cheekbones...and most importantly she's thin. She's got all the right qualities for making it in Hollywood."

Cat frowned. If Tori supposedly had all those qualities was she trying to say that Cat didn't?

"You'll see what I'm talking about soon enough. Hollywood is a cold, shallow place, and this school is just preparing us for it. The sooner you learn how it works the better it is for you," she said in a slightly positive sounding tone. It almost sounded like it was meant to be uplifting, but it made Cat feel lousy.

That lousy feeling didn't go away, even after the girl had left her alone. Cat had been in pageants before and she knew that sometimes girls would play tricks on each other or say mean things to try to psych out their competition. She knew that the girl was probably just trying to mess with her head to get her to mess up during the next round. She tried not to let everything she'd said get to her.

But when she took a peek out onto the stage she saw the crowd cheering just as loudly for Tori as they were for her...maybe she was imagining it, but it almost seemed like they were cheering even more for Tori. She felt something foreign bubbling in her gut. Cat had never been jealous of her friends before so it was a weird feeling for her. She was always happy for them no matter what and she always wanted them to do well. But now for some reason she really didn't want Tori to win the pageant. She didn't want everything that girl had said to be true.

When Tori finished performing and all the girls met up backstage to wait for elimination round, Cat was quieter than usual. When she congratulated Tori on doing so well she felt kind of guilty because she wasn't entirely being sincere. Afterwards she went off into a corner by herself to try to practice pageant answers again, until everyone was called back to the stage.

Sikowitz, in his odd purple tuxedo, welcomed all the contestants back to the stage and began his speech. "Welcome back girls. Unfortunately now it's time for the dreaded elimination round...That's right, now we're about to find out which girls will be moving on to the next round, and which ones will be going home. With that being said, I ask the following girls to please step forward..." The teacher paused for dramatic effect, clearing his throat before continuing. "...Patricia Wilkins, Trina Vega and Jade West." The three girls stepped forward. Patricia Wilkins was a mousy ginger-haired girl who'd made the mistake of choosing juggling as her special talent. During her performance she'd let her nerves get the best of her and she accidentally flung one of her bowling pins into the audience, almost knocking out one of the judges who'd luckily managed to duck in time. She seemed to be taking her loss in stride as she pretty much expected it to happen after that. Jade also seemed satisfied with the fact that she was losing. Trina on the other hand didn't seem to get that she was being called forward because she was being eliminated, so she kept the smile plastered on her face the whole time as if she was about to be crowned. Cat could hear Tori sighing beside her, probably cringing at her sibling's delusion and soon-to-be disappointment. She already knew she'd never hear the end of it once they got home. "Patricia...while you were a delight to have in the pageant, unfortunately you almost inflicted bodily harm on one of our judges, which is typically frowned upon in the pageant circuit."

The orange-haired girl blushed, before taking the mic from Sikowitz. "S-sorry about that. I suppose I need to work on keeping my grip when I juggle..." She handed the mic back and ran off the stage awkwardly.

Sikowitz turned to Jade. "And Jade...That performance was equal parts disturbing and gross. In fact you violated several of the rules in our school's code of conduct and Principal Dubois asked me to give you this detention slip for tomorrow afternoon."

Sikowitz handed her the paper and the goth girl just looked at it and shrugged. "Fair enough," she said, and she walked off stage unfazed.

"And lastly...Trina Vega." Sikowitz sighed deeply at the smile the loud girl kept plastered on her face as if she was waiting for good news. "I'm the reason you got into this school so a part of me feels responsible for your failure."

Trina's smile fell. "Wait what are you talking about? Are you saying I'm eliminated?"

"Please don't make this any harder than it has to be..."

Trina was silent for a few agonizing moments while everyone anticipated the outburst that was about to occur. Then, just as expected, she growled out a scream in frustration at the balding teacher. Sikowitz flinched and stepped back but unfortunately he couldn't get away fast enough. Cat gasped and covered her mouth as Trina ripped out of her dress whatever rubber objects she'd used to stuff her bra and shoved them down the teacher's shirt. Then she stormed off the stage loudly while everyone watched in horror. Tori looked especially mortified that her sister had just attacked her teacher.

Sikowitz smoothed out his shirt and composed himself. He cleared his throat to get everyone to stop whispering. "Well now that that's over...Tori Vega, Michelle Finster and Cat Valentine...you three are our finalists."

Everyone slowly began to clap. The three girls smiled somewhat awkwardly at the scattered applause they received, as everyone tried to recover from the awkwardness of the moment that just happened. Afterwards Sikowitz said a few more words and then they were given permission to go backstage and get ready for the Q&A portion.

At that point Cat's nervousness began to really sink in. Tori, who didn't seem to be worried at all, could tell something was up with her. She approached the short girl who'd taken to pacing the floor and biting her nails. "Hey Cat are you alright?"

She paused. "Yeah I'm fine. Why?"

"Well you've been really quiet. You haven't said anything since Sikowitz announced we made it to the final round. Aren't you happy?"

"Oh yeah. Of course," Cat said, faking a smile. But her voice didn't sound very convincing. But she couldn't just tell Tori she was worried that she was gonna beat her in the pageant. That would make her sound like a bad friend. "I'm just trying to practice my answers in my head. That's all."

"Well why don't I help you?"

"No that's okay," she said quickly. "I've got it."

Tori paused. "You sure?" Cat nodded, avoiding her eyes."Okay then...I guess I'd better go check on Trina."

Cat nodded, relieved when she finally walked away. But after she left Cat couldn't help but feel a little guilty for lying and being so short with her. But she needed time to clear her mind and she knew Tori being around would just distract her even more. All she'd be able to think about was how Tori was probably gonna do way better at answering her question than she was.

Cat went back to pacing the floor, which was helping her nerves a little bit.. To everyone else it probably looked like she was on the verge of having a breakdown, but that wasn't exactly out of the ordinary for Cat so no one really paid her any attention. At one point, out of the blue she felt someone behind her touch her arm. She jumped and turned around quickly, but relaxed when she saw that it was just Beck. She sighed. "Jesus Beck, you scared me."

The dark-haired boy smiled. "Hey. Sorry I didn't mean to sneak up on you."

"What are you doing back here?"

"Well I was getting ready to leave. Jade says she's over the whole pageant thing and she's ready to go. And my boyfriendly duties say I gotta go where she goes so...I just wanted to come back stage and wish you and Tori good luck."

"Oh thanks. Tori went off to go find Trina but I'll tell her you came by."

"Okay cool. And um...are you doing okay? You look like you're a little anxious."

Cat's eyes widened. "Me? Anxious? Pshhtt...no way."

"No?" Beck smiled. "You know what you're right...what am I thinking?"

"I'm just super excited about the next round of the pageant is all. I can't wait to get back out there on stage.. Really I'm not nervous at all."

"Good...because you have no reason to be." He stepped forward and placed a calming hand on his friend's shoulder. After being friends with her for years, Beck knew how to get her to relax. He grabbed both of her shoulders lightly, and told her in a firm voice, "You're gonna do great Cat. You have nothing to worry about. Okay?"

Cat sighed and nodded. Even though she didn't want to admit it, she was always grateful that Beck was always able to tell when she was pretending to be okay, and when she needed reassuring. He always knew the right thing to say. "Thanks."

"No problem." He gave her a half-hug and pecked the top of her head. "I'll see you at school tomorrow?"

Cat smiled at him and nodded, then she watched him leave. She felt slightly better. Still nervous but slightly more calm. Talking to Beck tended to have that effect on her. He was the most laid-back, level-headed person she knew; the complete opposite of herself.

Cat sat down in front of her mirror to look at herself one more time before she went back out on stage. She was up first and she knew they'd be calling her out any minute. Before when she'd look at herself she thought she looked fine, but now she was starting to get paranoid. Had she caked on too much foundation? Maybe she needed a bit more eyeliner... Did the dress she'd chosen for this round make her look fat?

She didn't get much more time to dwell on it because right as she reached for her makeup kit, Sikowitz was already calling her out to the stage. Cat stood up and braced herself for what she hoped wouldn't end up being a complete disaster.

She took a deep breath and walked out to the stage, where suddenly the lights were too hot and the crowd was too big. Sikowitz gave her a big welcoming smile, but she could barely focus on any of the words he was saying. But luckily she managed to realize when it was her turn to speak, smile and nod pretty.

"Okay Cat are you ready for your question?" Sikowitz asked.

Cat nodded and forced herself to smile. She brought her mic to her lips and said, "As ready as I'll ever be!"

Sikowitz smiled back and began reading from his place card. "Alright Miss Valentine. Your question is...'In your own words, what do you think the true meaning of beauty is?"

Cat froze for a brief second as her mind went completely blank. But luckily she had been coached for pageants before and she knew what to do in a situation where you didn't know right away how to respond to a question. The first thing you do is stall for as long as you can. And while you're stalling, try to think of a personal anecdote that relates to the topic of the question. "Well Mr. Sikowitz, that is a very good question that I have many thoughts about..."

Sikowitz nodded."I see...and what would those thoughts be?"

Cat tried her best to at least sound confident, and not like the nervous wreck she truly was. "Well...when I think of true beauty the first thing I think of is..." She really was at a loss for what to say, until she looked out into the audience and saw that the answer was right there, standing in the back of the auditorium. "...my mom."

Her mother had just entered the building, dragging her brother along who looked like he'd rather be anywhere else. But Cat was happy to see both of them. And suddenly she knew exactly what to say.

"You see my mom was a famous supermodel in the 80s, and she used to travel all around the world to places like New York, London, Paris, and Milan. And she'd do photoshoots and TV commercials, and walk runways for all the major fashion designers. One magazine even named her the most beautiful woman in the world..." Even from way back in the audience, Cat could tell her mother was smiling at the words she was saying. "And while anyone who looks at my mom would probably agree with that statement, that's not the reason why I think she's beautiful. As her daughter I've seen firsthand the sacrifices she's willingly made for the people she loves: she had a great career that gave her fame and fortune and the opportunity to see the world, but she gave all of that up just so that she could take care of me and my brother and give us the best life possible. And I will forever be grateful to her for that. To answer your question Mr. Sikowitz, I don't think that true beauty is about our outward appearance at all... I think it's about our actions and the things we do for others. Selflessness, loyalty, and unconditional love….those things are beautiful to me, and I think if more people were like my mother the world would be a much prettier place..." She paused to let everyone know she was finished speaking.

Following a brief five seconds of silence, Sikowitz started clapping and the audience followed suit. "Well that was just lovely. Wonderful response. Thank you Cat." Sikowitz said.

Cat smiled, partly in due to gratitude that it was over and that she'd gotten through it, and partly because it seemed like she'd done a fairly decent job. Everyone in the audience seemed to like her response and the judges seemed to like it too.

Even though Cat may have slightly embellished a bit...yes her mom had been a famous model in the 80s, but the truth was she deeply regretted giving up her career to be a housewife, and she never missed an opportunity to blame giving birth to Cat and her brother for ruining her once-perfect supermodel body. But Cat figured it didn't matter as long as the judges bought it and thankfully they appeared to. Suddenly she didn't feel quite as pessimistic and anxious as she'd felt about her performance in the pageant before. She started to think that maybe she did have a good chance of winning. She'd done well in all of the most important rounds and she'd probably worked the hardest out of everyone. And most importantly she hadn't let what that mean girl said to her psych her out. Now all she had left to do was sit backstage and wait patiently for this round to be over so Sikowitz could call her back out onstage and announce who would be getting the crown…