Okay, this is attempt number three at uploading this chapter. I have no idea what went wrong with attempts one and two, but here we are. If you can read this, awesome, if you can't, then it doesn't matter anyway, so boobies.
Disclaimer: With the exception of some songs I bought off iTunes, I own nothing even remotely related to this show.
One time, when they were bored, Tori and Jade made up a game. It was something stupid. Tori had insisted on having a princess in it while Jade wanted monsters. They had compromised, playing monster-hunting princesses. Trina was cast as the monster, even though she didn't know it. It had been an ongoing thing they did. They would creep from Tori's room, with their arms filled with balled up socks, and slip down the hallway to Trina's room. And then, on the count of three, Jade would shove the door open and Tori would start pelting her sister with the ammo, Jade following suit right after. Sometimes they ambushed Trina in the bathroom, patiently waiting in the tub with the curtain drawn until Tori's sister walked in. A few times they got Trina on the sofa in the living room, crouched behind a wall at the top of the stairs. Every time, Trina would scream things like "Why are guys you so weird?" and Tori and Jade would yell out vicious war cries, and then Trina would chase them. Up the stairs, down the hall, outside if she could, it didn't matter. But once they were safe, Tori and Jade would always collapse in fits of laughter. It was stupid, and Tori would get scolded by her parents, but she didn't care. Because it was her favorite game.
Tori wasn't even aware that she had been singing or dancing until a hand roughly tugged on the cord of her earbuds, causing her head to jerk forward. "Hey, Vega," Jade sneered, her hand roughly shoving the cord against Tori's chest, "the hallway isn't your personal stage. Some of us would rather not hear your shrieking so early in the morning." Tori didn't even have a chance to respond, because Jade spun on her heel and stalked off down the hallway. She turned and caught Andre and Cat looking at her, huge smiles on both of their faces. She responded with a smile of her own as they started walking towards her. She was in a stupidly good mood. Her classes were going great, she and Andre had nailed down their scene for Sikowitz, Jade was talking to her. Or, at least Jade was acknowledging her existence, which she figured had to be better than the alternative, right?
"So what's puttin' that shake in your hips, Tori?" Andre laughed as he and Cat stepped up beside her.
"Is it a boy?" Cat asked with a smirk, poking a finger into Tori's side.
Tori laughed as she pulled the earbuds out of her PearPhone and shoved them in her locker. "No, it's not a boy, Cat. Can't a girl be happy without a boy being the cause of it?" Andre and Cat looked at each other, seeming to come to the mutual decision that it was, in fact, a boy. Tori rolled her eyes as she closed her locker. "I'm just in a good mood." They both responded with disbelieving uh-huhs and the three of them headed off to class.
The entire class was spent doing final rehearsals for their scenes for Sikowitz. Everyone was separated into pairs, and Tori and Andre were tucked away by the steps of the stage, figuring out blocking for their scene. They were both happy with the dialogue they had written and felt confident in their ability to perform the scene. So they spent the class shuffling around each other and glancing from the stage to the chairs scattered through the room, figuring out how best to stage their argument. They had decided that Tori would accuse Andre of cheating on her, and Andre had suggested that she slap him at some point, to show off a bit of their stage fighting skills. The first time she tried, she actually caught his cheek, but he was good natured about it, like he was with most things, and she got it perfect on the second try. Andre clapped his hands together, a grin firmly in place as he looked around the room. "I think we're as ready as we're gonna be."
"We seem to be better off than some other people," Tori commented, her eyes falling on Robbie and Cat. Cat was chattering away animatedly, her hands seeming to tell most of the story, while Robbie just stared at her with a silly grin slapped on his face and Rex looking firmly in a different direction. A few other pairs were bent over their scripts, or practicing their scenes, but it was Jade and Beck who caught Tori's eye. They were sitting across from each other, each staring down at their own laps, and their lips barely moving. Tori frowned, but turned back to Andre when he said something. "Huh?"
"I asked if you wanted to run through it again? The bell's about to ring, but we've got time."
"Oh. Yeah. Sure." Tori nodded and followed him off into the corner.
She was surprised at how quickly the rest of the day seemed to pass. Her mind was so focused on her scene with Andre that she found herself mumbling her lines under her breath for most of the morning. She was really excited. She felt much more prepared for this scene than she had for the last one, or any of the small challenges and scenes Sikowitz would throw at them during class. Andre would pass her in the halls, giving her an encouraging wink or high five, letting her know how much confidence he had in her. Tori would always break into a grin, glad that she had him to help ease her transition into the new school. Lunch rolled around and once again Tori found herself at the same table with the same group of friends as every other day. The only difference was that Jade had been joining them all week. It was okay, though, because everyone was joking around and having a good time. Until Rex made a rude comment about Cat and Jade ripped his foot off. Then the table erupted in noise and no one saw Tori frown at Jade, or the nonchalant shrug Jade gave her in return.
Tori still wasn't sure what to do about Jade. She tried not to think about it too much, but sometimes she couldn't stop her mind from wandering, especially when Jade would scowl at her for no reason, or do that horrible imitation of Tori's voice that didn't sound anything at all like how she talked. Tori thought that at least it was progress, a small step that Jade wasn't actively avoiding her anymore, but she still seemed to be an entire staircase away from being her friend. Tori had no idea what to do about the situation, either. It's not like she could ask Andre or Cat or even Beck for advice. How would that go? "Oh, hey, so Jade and I were best friends, practically sisters, when we were kids. How can I get her to like me again after so long?" Yeah, she mentally scoffed, that wouldn't be weird at all. Tori suspected that whatever was going on with Jade, whatever reason she had for pretending like she didn't know Tori, was something that Jade would have to deal with on her own. Sure, Tori had questions, about a million of them, but she knew that Jade would never talk to her about it. Not until she'd gotten past whatever walls she had put up within herself. But Tori prided herself on her patience. She did live with Trina, after all, so she had it in abundance. She could wait it out. Jade West had to crack eventually. And Tori saw the first fissure that day in her screenwriting class.
She was in what had become her usual seat by the window, Jade sitting on the opposite side of class, as far from Tori as she could get without being in the next room. Their teacher had rambled on about the contrasts in the structures of scripts meant for various genres. He explained how comedies were usually shorter than dramas, and how action movies had more, well, action and less dialogue. It wasn't boring, but Tori was having a hard time focusing, and her pen had taken on a life of its own, doodling little pictures in the margin of her notebook instead of actually writing down anything from the lesson. "So you'll be paired up for this assignment-" Tori's head snapped up. Wait, what? What assignment? Huh? Students had started shuffling in their seats, looking around the room to try and catch the eyes of a friend or someone they wanted to work with. "Nope!" The teacher called, immediately stopping any action. "Since this paper is about the differences in format, I'm assigning pairs in a different format." A murmur of confusion rose from the class as he dug around on his desk for a sheet of paper. "Shawn Adams, you're with Devon Anderson and you're doing action and science fiction. There's some crossover with those genres, so make sure to point out similarities, as well." Tori didn't groan along with the rest of the class when they realized their partners were going to be alphabetical, but her heart did stutter and then start beating faster. Her head turned and her eyes fell on Jade. Her back was rigid and she looked like she wanted to murder their teacher. Tori blinked slowly, trying to swallow the lump in her throat as their teacher continued down the attendance sheet, assigning partners and giving them their genres. Eventually he neared the end and Tori realized her knuckles had gone white from gripping the edge of her desk so hard. "So that leaves Tori Vega and Jade West, and you'll be covering suspense and classic musicals." Tori risked a glance at Jade, but the girl's head was turned away. "Alright, you'll have two weeks for this. If you have any questions, feel free to- yes, Jade?" Tori's eyes snapped across the room.
"Can we switch partners?"
"No," he said simply. "If you have any other questions, now's the time to ask."
A few students raised their hands, and Tori heard a sort of humming noise as questions were asked and answered. Alarms were ringing inside her head, huge bells and buzzers and flashing signs telling her to look at the teacher and pay attention. But, even from across the room, she could see Jade's chest rapidly rising and falling, her nostrils flared, her hands balled into fists. And then Jade's head snapped in her direction and Tori's body forgot how to function. Her lungs filled but didn't empty. Her heart gave one single, solitary, questioning thump in her chest. Her fingers tingled and then went numb as her brain stopped sending the message to let go of the freakin' desk already. And Jade's fierce blue eyes were responsible for all of it.
One time, when they were both home sick from school, Tori and Jade wrote an entire story through paper plane notes passed between their windows. Jade had started it off about a girl who found out her sister was an alien. Tori laughed, thinking of herself and Trina, and wrote the next couple of lines. They passed the note back and forth a few times. Jade's contributions got longer, and Tori's got shorter, until Tori just sent the plane back with a small note in the margin that said "Finish it so I can read." It took a while, and she flipped through her history textbook, reading up on what she was missing by being home, but eventually a plane soared back. And then another, and another, and another. Jade had managed four pages, front and back. Tori shoved her history book off her bed and devoured Jade's story instead. Once she had finished reading it, she bent over the edge of her bed, grabbed her notebook and a pencil and scribbled a message to Jade. She tore the page from its binding, made the expert creases that her hands could do in her sleep, stood up and threw it out into the air. She watched as Jade caught it and unfolded it right there in her own window. Jade blinked a few times and looked up from the page. "Okay," she called. Tori's cheeks hurt from smiling so much. Her message had been "Write stories all the time, please?"
Tori was in a daze, barely aware of the bell ringing or the blur that was Jade leaving the classroom. She stumbled up the stairs in the main hallway. She mumbled her way through a song in her vocal class, earning strange looks from Andre, Cat and their teacher. She wasn't even sure what happened in her last class of the day, or if she even attended it. She stood in front of her open locker, students bustling around her, and stared inside, trying to figure out how she had gotten there. It wasn't until a body thumped against the locker next to hers that she shook her head and came to her senses. "I'll handle suspense, obviously, and you'll study like, The Sound of fucking Music or something. We'll write our pieces and stitch 'em together the night before it's due, deal?"
"Frankenstein."
What? Where did that come from? Had that actually come out of Tori's mouth? If the look Jade was giving her was any clue, it had and she was just as confused at Tori was. "Articulate, Vega. The fuck are you talking about?"
Tori made some strange gesture with her hands. "Stitch them together. Like Frankenstein's monster." Oh my god, what was her mouth doing? What was her brain doing? Jade rolled her eyes and pushed off the locker with her shoulders. "Jade!" Tori took a half step away from her locker as the other girl started walking away. Great, now Tori was walking like Frankenstein's monster. She shook her head again. "Jade, wait!"
Jade spun on her heel, her arms crossing over her stomach as she waited for Tori to say something that actually made sense. Tori cleared her throat and took another, sturdier, step forward. "Are you sure that's a good idea? I mean, it'll probably be better if we work on it together." Tori was proud of herself. That had been two complete sentences in a row. Yay! Her brain seemed to be playing catch-up, whirring away at warp speed to understand everything. This assignment was the perfect opportunity to spend time with Jade. Maybe even see if she could figure out what was going on inside her head. Make sense of it all.
Jade seemed to be thinking the same thing, only she wanted a different outcome than Tori. "No, I think we should just 'Frankenstein' this shit." Her hands had raised, her fingers bending in air quotes and she dropped them to her sides as she stalked off down the hallway. Tori watched her go, one of Jade's hands reaching up to tuck some hair behind her ear as she pushed past a group of students. Tori sighed and shuffled back to her locker.
"Oh my god, tell me you're not." Trina's body collapsed against Tori's locker, slamming it shut.
"Uh, I wasn't done in there, but okay?" Tori looked at her sister, one of her eyebrows quirking as Trina huffed and stomped a foot.
"Tell me you're not hanging out with Jade West again," Trina demanded.
"What? Why do you care?" Tori shooed her sister away from her locker and spun her combination on the dial.
"I care because I am your big sister and she was a bad influence on you!"
Tori laughed in disbelief as she opened her locker again. "What are you talking about?"
Trina shoved an accusing finger in Tori's face. "You were always so mean!"
"I was not!" Tori protested, switching out books and notes.
"Yes you were! You guys would torture me all the time!" Trina's voice had fallen into a whine and Tori had to roll her eyes. "You guys would throw stuff at me and say mean things and be horrible!"
"We were kids, Trina. And you weren't exactly an angel, either," Tori countered, shutting her locker again. "Remember all the names you used to call Jade?"
Trina flapped her hand as if it wasn't important and carried on. "Look, I'm just sayin'. I finally have a little sister that I don't hate and I don't want you to turn back into that annoying brat you always were as a kid. You two running around having fun and always leaving me out."
"Annoying brat?" Tori had to laugh at that. And then something in her brain clicked. "Wait. Wait a minute. Are you jealous? Oh my god!" Tori cried as Trina rolled her eyes and started stomping away. "Trina." Tori followed after her sister and grabbed her arm, pulling her to a stop. "Trina, look, I'm sorry if you felt left out as a kid, but that was a long time ago." Trina crossed her arms, giving Tori a wary look. "You're my big sis and I, y'know, love ya." Tori punched Trina playfully on the arm and the older Vega seemed to relax a little. "It's just an assignment with Jade, okay? She's not gonna, like, steal me away from you or anything."
Trina rolled her eyes and her body sagged. "I wasn't worried about that."
Tori cocked a brow. "Really?" Trina opened her mouth and blinked, trying to force words to form. Tori grinned and opened her arms up. "C'mon. Vega love. Gimme a hug." Trina rolled her eyes and started walking away, Tori chasing after her, her arms still held wide, all the way out to the parking lot. They were halfway home before a question presented itself in Tori's mind, and she was surprised she hadn't thought of it sooner. Like on her first day of school. She reached out and turned the volume on the radio down, Trina glancing at her as she did so. "Is that why you didn't tell me?"
"Tell you what?"
Tori shifted to face her older sister, bending one of her legs up onto the seat. "That Jade went to Hollywood Arts. Was it because you were scared I'd like, run off to be her friend and you'd never see me again?"
Trina glanced at her and quickly turned back to face the road, mumbling something under her breath. Tori grinned and leaned closer, cupping a hand around her ear. "Sorry? Didn't catch that." Trina huffed and mumbled again. "Still didn't hear ya." Trina slammed a hand against the steering wheel. "Yes, okay? I thought maybe you wouldn't recognize her, since it took me like a year of passing her in the hallways to realize who she was."
Tori patted her sister's arm. "See? That wasn't so hard, was it?" Trina shooed her hand away. "There's nothing to worry about, anyway. Jade doesn't even acknowledge that we know each other."
Trina frowned. "Why?"
"No idea," Tori said with a shrug.
"Yeah, well, she was always weird."
"You're just jealous."
"I am not! Shut up! Tori, stop laughing!"
Tori had been home for about an hour when she received a Text from Andre, seeing if she wanted to rehearse their scene for Sikowitz one last time. She had responded sure, and he said he'd be over to her house soon. So Tori nudged Trina's leg with her foot. Trina grunted and rolled over on the couch, shoving her face into a pillow. Tori rolled her eyes and bent down to shake her sister. "Trina, wake up." Trina's arm shot out, Tori having to lean back so she wasn't hit, and the older Vega blearily looked up. "Andre's coming over to rehearse a scene. You need to move." Trina grumbled, and in a half-asleep stupor, stood up and meandered up the stairs to her room. Tori laughed to herself and started clearing the table of all her school stuff. She shoved her books and notes into her bag and tossed it over by the door, knowing she had finished the homework she would need for the next day. All that was left was perfecting her scene with Andre and she could end her second week at Hollywood Arts much more calmly and confident than her first.
She was sitting on the couch, watching some cartoon, when her doorbell rang. "It's open!" She hollered, turning her head when Andre came in. He smiled and sat down on the couch next to her. "Workin' hard, I see," He said with a grin.
"You know it. You want a drink or anything?" She asked, taking a sip of her own pink lemonade.
Andre shook his head and relaxed into the sofa next to her. "I'm good, thanks." They watched the rest of the cartoon, laughing as some crazy character got into all sorts of insane antics, and then when it was over Tori leaned forward and grabbed the remote. "I guess it's time to rehearse?" Andre asked, stretching his arms out in front of him.
Tori turned the tv off and set her glass down. "Don't sound so excited about it," she teased, shooting him a smile. Andre clapped her on the back as he stood up. Tori pushed to her feet and they set about rearranging the sofas so they had a bit more room to move around. They ran through the scene twice, making minor adjustments to their actions and blocking, and then a third time just to make sure everything flowed smoothly. Trina popped downstairs at one point to see why they were yelling at each other, and when they told her it was for a scene, she huffed and trudged back to her room, mumbling something about 'amateurs'. They ran through the scene one last time, grinning and holding back laughter as they screamed at each even louder than they had before.
"Hey," Andre said as they leaned against the counter in Tori's kitchen, taking a lemonade break after returning the couches to their proper places, "I have to write a song for one of my classes, and I was wondering if you'd listen to it and tell me what you think?"
"Sure!" Tori agreed enthusiastically. She followed him over to the piano and leaned against it as Andre sat down on the bench. He started playing something slow, and Tori's eyes followed his hands as they shifted and moved along the keys. Then he started singing and Tori got lost for a few minutes in the song. When he finished, she clapped and he ducked his head down in embarrassment. "You think it's alright?"
"Alright? Andre, it's amazing!"
"Thanks. I wrote it about this girl I met at the movies."
"Ah," Tori nodded knowingly. "Hence all the talk about having love just like the movies."
"Yeah," Andre agreed with a chuckle, "hence."
"Well it's really good," Tori said again.
"Thanks. I still have to record it, and I might change the bridge a bit, but I'm pretty happy with it." They talked about his song, and school in general, for a while. Tori was seriously impressed when he said that he'd written a handful of songs since his teacher first set the assignment.
"I can't believe how easy it is for you," Tori had sighed as they moved from the piano back to the sofas.
Andre scoffed. "Man, anyone can write a song. Go on. Make one up."
"Uh," Tori looked at Andre like he had gone crazy, but Andre just nodded for her to do it. "I love cheese," Tori sang, "it's the bee's knees."
Andre held up a hand and looked away. "Yeah, maybe you should leave it to the professionals." Tori swatted at his arm and they both laughed.
A few minutes later, after they had both calmed down, Tori glanced at the clock. "Do you wanna stay for dinner? My parents should be home soon."
"Nah, I should probably go," he said, getting to his feet. "I promised my grandma I'd fill her ice cube trays." When he saw Tori's confused look, he clarified. "The frost on the edges freaks her out and if I get there too late she'll think I'm a burglar and call the cops."
"Then I guess you should head on over," Tori chuckled, standing up. She walked him to the door and smiled when he told her that she'd do great in Sikowitz's the next day. She gave him a quick hug and waved bye as he walked down her driveway.
One time, when it was raining and they were stuck inside for the day, Tori and Jade wrote a song. Tori's parents were both at work and Trina was supposed to be watching them, but she had disappeared into her room, annoyed by the two younger girls laughing and fooling around at the piano. It was a dumb song about how mean their teacher was, but they had fun. Especially at one point when Jade started substituting Trina's name for their teacher's. As Jade played chords on the piano, Tori sang louder than she ever had before because Jade said she liked her voice. They abandoned the piano for the sofa and watched some cartoon instead of singing. After a while, Tori's mom came home, said 'hi' to both girls and listened with an amused smile as they sang her their new song, even though Tori kind of mumbled and Jade's voice drowned her out. But then the phone rang, and the smile slipped from Mrs. Vega's face, and when she hung up, she turned to the girls and quietly said, "Jade, that was your mom. I think you'd better go home now, okay?" Jade nodded and put her coat on, gave Tori and Mrs. Vega a quick wave and dashed out into the rain. Tori would randomly start humming the song for weeks after that. Not because it was good, or she was proud of it, but because it was theirs, and she could hear Jade's voice in her mind.
Tori and Andre had gone first. They nailed their scene and Sikowitz told them they did a great job. A few other pairs went, and Tori was surprised at how well Cat could act. Red in the face, screaming at Robbie one minute and then bubbly and bouncing back to her seat the next. Tori noticed a pattern with all of the scenes. They all involved people who were dating and breaking up, and they all ended up in screaming matches or crying or both. Until Beck and Jade were called up and they pulled a table and three chairs to the middle of the stage. They sat down, at opposite ends of the small rectangular table, their hands mimicking the motions of eating. Neither of them said anything for a while. Instead, they just sat there, occasionally glancing at the other, but mostly just staring at where their plates would be. A strange sort of tension settled over the room. It was awkward, and uncomfortable, and Tori noticed several people squirming in their seats. The silence was finally broken when Beck glanced at Jade and said, in an exasperated sigh, "We can't keep going on like this. It isn't fair."
"Fair?" Jade's voice was a whisper. She lifted her gaze and met Beck's tired looking eyes. "Fair?" Her voice was a little louder, gaining strength as her palms rested on the table, her fingers splaying out. "Let's talk about fair. Like how fair it was to get me pregnant when I was eighteen. Or how fair it is that you're too busy at work to deal with the family that you created." Tori had a sinking feeling in her stomach. This wasn't acting. This was a conversation, or an argument, that Jade had heard and was just repeating. Beck's character tried to protest, but Jade cut him off quickly. "No, you wanted to talk about fair, so let's talk. How fair is it that you'd rather be with that tramp you've been seeing than spend time with your own child?" Jade flung a hand towards the empty chair at the table and Beck seemed to recoil. "How fair is it, that after all the time I've spent trying to hold this family together, you tell me you want a divorce so you can go play house with some other woman?" Tori had to close her eyes. The scene dissolved from there, Jade's voice escalating into an almost hysteric cry, and Beck's rising to meet her. There was anger and frustration and a dozen other feelings Tori couldn't put names to bubbling beneath every line either of them spat at the other. The sound of a chair being kicked over rang through the room, and then heavy footfalls, and Tori opened her eyes. Beck was gone, leaving Jade alone on stage, staring at the empty chairs and table in front of her. "It's not fair." And then Jade was shoving her own chair backwards and stomping off the stage, out through the door next to it.
Tori had the insane urge to run after her. To follow her and hug her and tell her that it was okay. But it wasn't okay. And Tori's feet felt like they were made of lead. And soon Beck was running from the back of the classroom toward the door Jade had just disappeared through, and then Sikowitz was coughing awkwardly and asking Andre to help him clear the stage. And Tori could only stare at the door. Because she knew that Jade's parents fought. Often. But Jade had never said why, or about what, and if the things she was saying on stage were true, and Tori knew they were, then Jade's family was a lot more messed up than she had ever realized. Somewhere, far away, the bell sounded. But the lead had grown and spread and Tori couldn't move any part of her body. And then Cat was tugging on her arm, telling her they were going to be late for math. And somehow Tori pushed past the lead and made her body take orders. Stand. Walk. Sit. Stand. Walk. Sit. Stand. Walk. Corner Beck outside of fourth period. "What happened?" Tori was demanding, startling herself as well as Beck with the almost accusatory tone in her voice.
"Whoa," Beck gave her a strange look, holding his hands up in defense. "What's going on?"
"Jade. What happened?" She was invading his personal space and it made him uncomfortable, she could tell. But her eyes were hard and she stepped even closer.
He was up against a wall. Quite literally. "I don't know. Every time we rehearsed, she was fine. And then today," he trailed off, giving a sort of shrug.
"Where'd she go?"
"She was already gone by the time I got into the hallway. I checked the janitor's closet, the rec room, she wasn't anywhere she normally hides out." He paused, his brows furrowing together. "Why are you so upset? She'll be okay." Tori barely met his eyes, instead mumbling about Jade being obviously upset and Tori just being concerned like anybody else. Beck gave another shrug and took a step sideways, so Tori was no longer pining him to the wall. "She'll be fine. She wants to be left alone right now. Trust me, I know her." Tori looked up at him when he said that. The tone in his voice, like he knew best and Tori was just some little kid who should listen to the grown-up… She walked past him and into class, dropping heavily into a seat next to Andre.
Jade wasn't at lunch either. Tori fidgeted all through theater history, just waiting for the bell to ring, and then she ran through the hallways to her screenwriting class, hoping that Jade would show. She didn't. By the end of the day, Tori seemed to have developed some sort of tick. Her hands were twitching, her fingers curling and uncurling into fists. She headed towards her locker at the end of the day, actually upset at not being able to go to school the next morning. She would have to wait the whole weekend to see Jade, and Tori knew that she wouldn't be able to do anything but worry. She wasn't even sure if she was allowed to worry. It had been so long, and Jade obviously didn't want to rekindle their friendship. Sure, Jade was making eye contact with Tori, and speaking to her, even if it was in a mocking tone, but she wasn't exactly being friendly.
Tori spun the combination on her lock, lifted the latch and let the door swing open. She grabbed a book from her bag and threw it in, frowning. She felt like her thoughts had been so one track since she started at her new school. It couldn't be healthy, right? To think of classwork and socializing as distractions from a larger problem? Or how her eyes seemed to always fall on Jade if she was nearby, no matter how hard Tori tried to move them, to look at anything else. It was just frustrating. And confusing. And Tori didn't understand what was going on.
"Hey hey, Tori!"
Tori's head snapped up as Cat bounced next to her. "Uh, hey, Cat," She said, forcing a smile.
"We were thinking of maybe seeing a movie tonight so Andre can try and find some girl. You wanna come?" Cat's hands were clasped in front of her and she was swinging her arms back and forth.
"Um, I don't know," Tori started to say. Going out would be a good distraction from all her thoughts of Jade, but she also wanted to just kind of stay home and think. Maybe stare at the house next door through her bedroom window until it gave up the fight and told her all of its secrets.
Cat stopped swaying and pouted. "But you gotta come! If Andre finds that girl I'll be all alone with Robbie and Rex."
Tori looked at her friend, Cat's eyes big and pleading and her bottom lip jutting out, and sighed. "Alright, I'll go."
Cat squealed and launched herself forward, wrapping her arms around Tori. "Yay! I'll text Andre when I get home and find out what time." And just like that, Cat had untangled herself from around Tori. A small smile tugged at the corners of Tori's lips and she shook her head as the bright red hair bobbed off down the almost empty hallway. Tori realized that she had been standing there for longer than she meant to and hurried off to the parking lot before Trina decided to leave without her.
The ride home seemed longer than normal. Tori was staring out the window, thinking about the scene in Sikowitz's, and Trina was belting out some song on the radio at the top of her lungs. Tori was curled up against the door when she turned to look at Trina. "Hey, where are we going?"
Trina shrugged and continued singing. Tori sighed and turned her head back to watch the scenery speed by as Trina made yet another turn at random. Eventually they came to a stop outside a small ice cream shop. Tori groaned as Trina turned off the car and unbuckled. "Trina, I don't want ice cream. Can't we just go home?"
"My car. My rules. And I rule ice cream." Trina opened her door and then froze, one foot on the pavement, the other still in the car. "Not that I rule ice cream. It's not some land that I can just claim to be queen of. Now, Candyland? There is a land I would be queen of." Tori was stumbling out of the car in her haste to end the conversation.
"Why are you upset?"
Tori looked up from her bowl of ice cream to her sister. Trina was watching her with wide eyes, expectant. "I'm not upset." Trina scoffed and dug her spoon into her rapidly disappearing dessert. "I'm not," Tori insisted. "It's just," she paused, giving a small shrug, "these past couple of weeks. New school. New friends. It's been kinda crazy."
Trina waved her hand, dismissing Tori, and a bit of ice cream flew off her spoon. "Listen, I wrote the book on crazy, okay? And you, missy," Trina pointed her spoon at Tori as a clump of chocolate slid down onto the table, "are upset, not crazy."
Tori stirred the contents of her bowl with her spoon. The ice cream had started to melt, and the more she stirred it, the more liquid it became. "A lot's happened lately. I'm allowed to be a little overwhelmed," she murmured.
There was a scraping noise, and Tori looked up to see Trina getting the last bits of ice cream out of her bowl. "Fine. Don't tell me. Just wallow away and leave your big sis hangin'. Whatever," Trina said, annoyance obvious in her voice. Tori sighed and pushed her bowl across the table as a peace offering. Trina glanced at it and then looked at Tori with distrust in her eyes. Tori lifted a palm as if to say 'go ahead' and Trina started digging in.
"No offence, but all this sister talk lately is kinda freaking me out."
"Tell me about it," Trina said, ice cream spraying out of her mouth.
"Charming," Tori commented. "How are you still single?"
Trina's mouth fell open in shock. "I ask myself that all the time!"
Tori had changed the subject quickly after that, and Trina went along with it. They left soon after, and the ride home went much like the ride from school. Tori's feet were both on the seat, her head resting on her knees, Trina dancing and singing along to Ke$ha, pausing only to tell Tori that how she was sitting wasn't safe. Tori rolled her eyes but dropped her feet to the floor all the same. Tori got a text from Cat saying that they were meeting up at the movie theater at eight to see some romcom that had just come out. Tori texted back that she'd definitely be there, and then Cat responded with about a dozen smiley faces, a handful of exclamation points, and a few symbols that Tori didn't recognize but figured were just the result of Cat's excitement. "Hey, Trina," she asked as they pulled into their driveway, "wanna come to movies with me later?"
"Like I'd be caught dead at the movies with you."
Tori rolled her eyes. It was amazing how fast Trina could flip a switch. "Can you give me a ride at least? I'm supposed to meet everyone there at eight."
Trina threw the car into park and hesitated before taking off her seatbelt. "Everyone?"
"Yeah, you know, my friends?" Tori offered, unbuckling herself.
"Yeah, okay, I'll join you."
Tori looked up just as Trina was getting out of the car. She opened her own door and followed her sister into their house. "Wait, why'd you change your mind?"
"You're friends with that Beck kid, right? Tall, kind of broody, super hot?" Trina's face scrunched up as she closed the door behind Tori.
"Yeah," Tori said slowly.
"Then I'll definitely be there," she said and headed off towards the stairs.
Tori rolled her eyes, not even bothering to point out that Beck had a girlfriend and that said girlfriend was one Jade West. Which, as soon as she thought that, made Tori think about the day's events. Tori sighed and trudged upstairs, feeling a boulder settle firmly in her stomach.
One time, when they were camped out in her backyard, Tori and Jade made a promise. They promised to be best friends forever, and Jade had even pointed up at the night sky and demanded that Tori swear it on the moon. Tori had laughed at the time and then pointed at the ground, demanding that Jade swear it on the Earth. It escalated until eventually they were just giggling, swearing on infinity and fireflies and Trina's favorite shirt and paper planes that they would be friends forever. It was a promise that Tori believed. Because there was magic in the small tent in her backyard, and in the fireflies hovering on the edge of her pool, and in the stars reflected in Jade's eyes.
Tori had to run to keep up with Trina. The parking lot at the theater was crowded, so they were stuck parking far away, and Trina was in no mood to keep Beck waiting as she was quick to point out. Tori didn't think Beck would mind, but she couldn't tell Trina that. So they ran into the theater, Tori immediately spotting Cat's bright hair on the other side of the foyer. She approached with a small wave, Trina panting next to her, eyes desperately scanning the crowd for any sign of her prey. "Hey, guys," Tori huffed, slightly out of breath also, as she stepped up beside her friends. Andre, Cat, and Robbie turned and greeted her, but before any of them could really say anything, Trina was gripping Tori's arm. "Where is he? Do you see him? Does my hair look okay?"
"Uh," Andre started, raising an eyebrow at Trina, "who are ya lookin' for?"
"Beck!" Trina snapped. She pushed up onto the balls of her feet to better scan the crowd.
"Oh, he's not coming," Cat chirped.
"What!" Trina rounded on Cat so fast that Tori was knocked back from the force, stopped from falling by Robbie's hand on her back. "What do you mean he's not coming?" Trina grabbed at Cat, but the small girl was quick and ducked behind Andre for cover. That didn't stop Trina though, and Tori was stunned as the girls started ducking and weaving around Andre, Cat screaming and Trina demanding answers. Andre shot Tori a pleading look and she stepped forward, grabbing her sister firmly by the shoulders. She and Robbie pulled a struggling Trina away and Cat's head poked out from behind Andre. "Where is he?" Trina demanded.
"He had to talk to Jade," Cat said quietly. "Don't chase me again!"
Trina rounded on Tori. "You promised he'd be here!"
"I did not," Tori said indignantly. "You just assumed!"
"You assumed, assumer!" Trina yelled back.
"What does that even mean!" Tori shouted back.
"Ladies!" Andre interrupted and stepped forward, putting a hand on each of their shoulders as Cat shuffled along behind him. "Relax, alright? Now, we came to see a movie, so let's all take a deep breath and go see this movie." Trina looked like she wanted to lunge at Tori again, but Andre stopped her with a sharp "Uh-uh!"
"Oh man, you never stop a chick fight!" All eyes turned to Robbie, whose hand shot up to cover Rex's mouth.
After another tense moment, Trina huffed and threw an arm out towards the ticket counter. "Fine! Let's go see the stupid movie!" Andre walked between Tori and Trina, and Cat shuffled over to Tori's other side, glancing warily sideways at Trina. They got their tickets, and then some popcorn, and headed into the theater.
Trina had fallen asleep before the previews were even done. "Is your sister narcoleptic?" Andre asked with concern, poking Trina's arm.
"She's something, alright," Rex mumbled.
Tori glanced over at her sister and shook her head. "She just missed her afternoon nap. She'll be fine." Andre choked back a laugh as the opening credits rolled.
Trina woke up halfway through the movie with a very startled gasp, causing the other patrons to shush their group loudly. Trina just waved off their protests and leaned across Andre and Tori to grab some popcorn from Cat. The movie itself was actually pretty funny, and Tori found herself laughing through most of it, Cat giggling excitedly next to her. Once the movie was over, they all headed back out to the lobby. "You guys wanna do anything?" Tori asked as she took the empty popcorn bag from Cat and threw it in a trashcan.
"Can't. I have to get up early for some family thing tomorrow," Andre said.
"He's my ride." Cat pointed at Andre.
"I spy a cutie that might need some love," Rex said, his head turned to look across the lobby.
"Rex, do we have to?" Robbie asked in a pleading tone.
"Get a move on, boy!" Robbie gave a small wave as he trudged off through the lobby.
"Alright. Well you guys drive safe and I'll talk to you later." They said their goodbyes, Tori giving Andre and Cat hugs and Trina sort of waving with a mumbled 'later', and the Vegas headed off towards Trina's car. "That movie was pretty good."
"It was alright," Trina said with a shrug. "The main guy was really cute, though."
Tori laughed at her sister's almost one-track mind. They talked a bit more about the movie as they drove home. Tori was surprised at how much Trina had figured out about what happened during the parts she was asleep for. "Geez, Tor, it wasn't like Inception or anything," Trina said when Tori voiced her surprise.
"Oh, like you understood that movie," Tori scoffed.
"Nope. But the boy I saw it with did," Trina grinned. Tori rolled her eyes as they pulled into their driveway.
"Thanks for coming and for driving," Tori said as they unbuckled and got out of the car.
"Yeah, yeah, don't expect it to become a habit or anything," Trina said with a smile as they walked up to the house. Tori chuckled and followed her sister inside. It was later than she realized, and Tori gave her sister a quick hug goodnight before heading off to her bedroom. She pulled her Pearphone out of her pocket and tossed it on the small table next to her bed. She got changed into her pajamas and climbed into bed.
Tori was woken up the next morning by Trina singing. Loudly. Tori could hear her sister even over the water in the shower and through two shut doors. Tori groaned and rolled over in bed, dragging one of her pillows on top of her head. Trina's singing was still just as loud, though, and after a few minutes Tori gave up on trying to sleep. She sat up, pushed her covers back, and climbed out of bed. She padded out of her room, down the hall past the bathroom, and carried herself downstairs to the kitchen. There was a note on the counter from her mom saying that their dad was at work and she had gone out for the day with some friends. Tori shrugged at it and headed for the fridge.
With a bowl of cereal in hand, Tori plopped down on one of the sofas, taking a second to turn the tv on. She flipped through a few channels until she landed on an old movie and then dropped the remote on the table in front of her. She crossed her legs on the sofa and started eating her breakfast.
It was several minutes later when someone knocked at the door. "Just a minute!" Tori called, leaning forward to set down what remained of her cereal. She got to her feet and walked to the door, which wasn't even locked, Tori thought with a sigh. It's like her parents wanted her and Trina to get crazy murdered by some psycho. Tori paused, her hand stretched out to the door handle. Well, maybe her parents just wanted Trina to get crazy murdered. No, Tori shook her head and opened the door. And then her eyes grew wide and her mouth fell open in shock. Because on the other side, a scowl on her lips, a messenger bag hanging from her shoulder, and a cup of coffee clutched between her hands, was Jade. Tori blinked several times, wondering if she had fully woken up or if she had fallen back asleep and this was a dream.
"As fun as it would be to stand on your doorstep all day, move so I can come in."
Tori blinked again, her head nodding slowly, and stepped back, opening the door wide. She watched as Jade walked into her house, glancing quickly around the room, and then dropped onto one of the sofas. Tori closed the door and took a moment to gather her thoughts. Jade was in her house. Jade had showed up at her house. Tori's mind was reeling, filled with questions and concern and a bit of confusion. But mostly, as Jade glanced at her in an expectant sort of way, Tori only had one thought.
Jade West had cracked.
A/N Lois Mars, since I couldn't respond to your review, I just wanted to say thank you and yes, this will be a Jori friendship and then evolve into something more. I'm a fan of slow burners, so I'm trying to build up the foundation first. I hope I'm doing that okay =) Although, since my chapters are so lengthy, you probably won't have to wait much longer. (Hint? Maybe?)
I'm sorry if you got several emails or were confused or if the chapter disappeared halfway through reading it. Something, somewhere deep in the depths of the interwebs where fanfiction lives, went wrong. It happens. But I hope this chapter was worth all the trouble it caused, the cheeky little thing.