If That's What It Is

Chapter Three – News

Beck was furious. After dropping Jade off at school he had to head back to the RV to get an extremely important essay he had stupidly forgotten, only to have fallen asleep on his couch. It was several hours later that he'd gotten a call on his drive back to Hollywood Arts from a sobbing Tori. He couldn't make out exactly what she'd been saying because she was crying so hard, but he did hear the words "Jade and I" and "fight." The anger bubbled up in him so fast it scared him. Maybe it was that Tori had confronted his Jade. Or, maybe it was that his Jade had been so cruel as to make sweet Tori cry so hard. Probably the latter. Whatever it was, though, with it he slammed his foot down on the gas pedal and sped towards school.

He found her by her locker. She looked like she was in a foul mood. Normally he'd leave it alone but today he was particularly unhappy right then. For some reason unknown to him he felt the urge to protect Tori, even if it was from his own girlfriend.

She saw him before he said anything. "Hey babe." her voice was emotionless and bored-sounding as she leaned up for a kiss. Beck jerked away from her and glared, ignoring the look of hurt that briefly passed over her face.

"What the hell did you do?" he growled out.

A look of pure confusion came onto her face, but she stared him straight in the eye. Neither of them said a word for a minute, until understanding washed over. "This is about Vega."

It wasn't a question. And, Beck didn't need to say anything; Jade already knew that the oncoming discussion was about Tori. She scoffed, closed her locker, and turned to leave. In a moment of fury Beck lashed out and grabbed her upper arm, slamming her back against the lockers.

Jade stared up at him, openmouthed and more shocked than she had ever been in her life. She expected to see a regretful look on Beck's face but the anger was still there. "What the hell, Beck!" She roughly pushed against his chest forcing him backwards. The glare remained on his face. "Okay yes! Is that what you want to hear? Yes, I got in a fight with Vega, but she deserved it and you know what? You don't even know anything about it so you don't get to come up out of nowhere and act like I'm some sort of huge bitch for putting her in her place! She does not get to accuse me of anything! Especially not using my best friend!"

"What did you say to her?" he ground out through his teeth. His mouth was set and his eyes were narrowed. He was the picture of livid.

Jade sighed, "I just told her that Cat is my best friend, that I know her better than anyone, and that Tori had no right to accuse me of using her. Oh, and maybe something about if she ever did it again I'd break her nose."

If at all possible Beck's scowl only got worse. He didn't say a word to her, only turned around to walk away. It was her turn to stop him. "Are you serious? What exactly did I do wrong? Okay so maybe threatening her was a little uncalled for, but apart from that, how is anything that I said not true?" Beck stopped but didn't turn around to face her and didn't say anything. His back was rigid and his hand in fists at his side. "And why the hell are you standing up for her again? Why is it that you almost constantly choose that little brat over your own girlfriend? Why is it that Andre even took my side on this when he's in love with her? Why can he take my side, but you won't even consider it? And why does it matter so much to you that I upset her when you know that I'm right this time?" When he still remained silent she scoffed again and walked past him. "Yeah, I think I just got my answer."

Since hanging up the phone with Eric, Cat had been even more desperate to find Jade. She was jittery through every class, and in between hours she would scurry through the hallways looking for her best friend, the biggest smile on her face. She had long since forgotten the fight between Jade and Tori, and now only wanted to share the better than fantastic news she had received.

As she made her way towards Jade's locker she was stopped by a red-eyed Tori Vega. "Cat, there you are!" Her voice sounded normal, if not breathless.

"Tori, have you been crying?" Despite the half-Latina's best efforts and some very hard-core scrubbing, she was not able to get all of the tear streaks off of her cheeks.

"What? Oh, yeah, but I really need to talk to you, it's really imp-" Cat cut her off quickly while trying to get around her.

"Look, Tori, I'm kind of in a hurry so I can't really talk right now, I have to go talk to Jade, so-"

"Cat, no! You don't have to put up with her anymore okay. Just tell her no! Whatever she's trying to make you do you don't have to do it! Stop letting her push you around!"

"What? No, Tori I told you, that was me saying those things to you, not Jade putting words in my mouth. Why would you say that?" Realization dawned on the redhead then, causing her jaw to drop. "Is that what you guys fought about? Did you guys fight over me?"

Yeah, I told her to stop manipulating you! Granted, it didn't work very well, but-"

"What's that supposed to mean? Why would you say that? Jade is my best friend, she would never do that!" Cat stared at her with exasperation before moving around her and walking away, leaving a confused and slack-jawed Tori behind.

It was now the end of the day. Tori was trying to find Cat. Cat was trying to find Jade. Beck was avoiding Jade. Jade was avoiding Beck. Cat was avoiding Tori. Tori was avoiding Jade at all costs.

When Cat finally found Jade she was walking out of school, an annoyed and very angry look on her face. She stopped short when Cat ran up and hugged her from behind. "Hey Cat."

"How did you know it was me!" Jade rolled her eyes, amazed at her friend's craziness.

"Magic."

"Ooh!" Cat laughed and let go of the brunette before turning solemn. "I heard about your fight with Tori…and Beck. Where are you going?"

"Home. I really don't want to stay here any longer than I have to."

"Need a ride?" Jade nodded, thankful that Cat didn't ask any stupid questions about her feeling and crap. They made their way towards Cat's red convertible. Cat jumped over the door and landed in the front seat while Jade settled for actually using the door. They put their seatbelts on while Cat started the car. She had a huge smile on her face.

"What are you so happy about?" Jade questioned as they pulled out the Hollywood Arts parking lot.

"I got a call from Eric today," she said, as if that explained everything.

"Eric as in Eric Nelson? What'd he want?" Excitement started to bubble up in Jade's stomach at the thought.

"Oh he just called to catch up, ask how we were, and oh, he said something about us needing to move back to New York because the show is going back on Broadway."

"What?" Cat had the biggest smile on her face.

"The official re-opening is in four months! They want us to move back to New York in the next two and a half weeks!"

"Oh my gosh! This is amazing!" Jade was beaming now too. It was the first smile she's shown since that morning.

Did anyone see that coming? I hope I wasn't too obvious with where this was going. I hope you guys liked it! I'm sorry it took so long to update. I have no excuses. Sorry :(

Review please!

Love, always,

May