Thanks for your reviews, everyone! :) Here's chapter 3:
"André...aww. André, please don't cry..."
Tori sat down next to her friend and put her arm around him, pulling him close to her. André leaned his head on Tori's shoulder and tried to be as stoic as possible-as stoic as one can be after completely breaking down-and covered his face with his hand. Tori couldn't believe it.
André was her friend who had it all together, the one who was always happy, the one who always had a song to sing. She didn't think she had seen André this distraught since...since his little sister had been diagnosed with leukemia. But his sister had long since gone into remission. André hadn't mentioned a thing about 9 year old Alayna since he came flying into school about a year before and announced to the world that she was in remission...was that it? Was it Alayna? Or was he stressed over the big Advanced Chorus project they had due on Thursday? Did he just hate public speaking? Did something happen before he came to school? One way to find out...
"Hey?" "Mhm?" He mumbled, still very much in tears. Tori reached out and smoothed his chocolate-brown hair out of his face. Then, she reached for the hand that André was covering his face with and gently took it, pulling it away. André quickly wiped his eyes with the sleeve on his free arm, then glanced at Tori hesitantly...and this time he didn't look away.
"André...I'm Tori," she said softly, trying to plan out what to say to him that would get him to open up to her-not pull away. "You know me. I'm the one that you sing for, when you want an honest opinion about what you write. You're my best friend. You're the one who helped me to get here. You're the one who told me that I belong at this school. You've always been the one that I feel the most comfortable talking to, more than anyone else. You're the one that I sing with. I LOVE singing with you." Tori gave a small laugh.
"Remember when we snuck into the keyboard room, and just stayed there for the entire class period? Remember? That's where we figured out the harmonies for "Tell Me That You Love Me." "We," André gulped, "We got in so much trouble," He gave a watery chuckle. Tori laughed. "Yeah, we did. Do you remember what you said, as we were heading to detention?" André shook his head. "You said, 'I don't even care. Music is always worth the risk.' And, André...you're always willing to do anything for me, anything I need.
Remember, the other day, I was like, 'oohh, they're selling smoothies!' Right away, you asked me, 'what kind do you want?' Dude, you're always doing stuff for me, buying me stuff, singing me songs, sketching me signs for my locker, complementing me on just about everything I do..." Here, Tori grew serious, reaching her free hand up to wipe away a stray tear that was slowly cascading down André's cheek.
"And that's why, I don't believe, not in a million years, that you would ever hurt me intentionally. Am I right?" André nodded fervently, too choked up to speak. "I'm curious as to why you hit me." André's eyes widened, and he sucked in his breath. "Not because I'm angry about it," Tori said quickly, "but because there's something going on with you that you're not telling me. I know that asking you outright what it is, that doesn't work. You don't do that. It's just not how you do. Soooo...I'd like to start with that smack in the face you so graciously handed me in Improv." Tori gave André a little smile.
He stared at his shoes for a long time, then looked at her, then glanced at the wall, then looked towards the lockers for a while, then back at Tori, then down..."André." She spoke his name firmly. "Stop. Look at ME." It took a minute, but he finally met her eyes. "It's okay," Tori murmured, "I promise. I'm not gonna think of you any differently, and I will never judge you. You can talk to me. Hey," she smoothed his hair back again and gave him a reassuring smile, "I'm Tori."
André gave a shaky sigh, and then gave Tori a small, sheepish grin. "I'm sure this was kinda awkward for you..." Tori rolled her eyes. "Aw, André! Don't even start. You know I could care less. You're my best friend." "I know! I know."
André ran his hand through his hair. "That's the point. You're my best friend. And I HAD to turn around and-" He picked at his jeans, and then turned towards her, his eyes full of sadness, fear, and remorse. "Tori...I...I'm sorry, I..." She put her hand on his knee and squeezed, willing him to continue. "I made a mistake. I should NEVER have hit you, I will do WHATEVER it takes to make it up to you, I can't...I just...I can't believe I HURT you. You're YOU. I can't...I just don't...Oohh..." André rubbed his temple. "I...I don't know WHY I hit you. It was just...a reflex, I guess. I was kinda tensed, anyhow, and then when you touched my arm, I kinda, like, jumped, you know?"
Tori nodded slowly. "I don't have anything against you, I don't have any reason to. I feel like a jerk..." He trailed off and glanced sideways at Tori, carefully. Her head was cocked slightly to the side, and she was studying him intently as he talked. "I'm so sorry. I hate it that I hurt you. I don't get how you're sitting here right now, cuz if I were you, I'd hate me...dang it, I already do-"
"Noooo! No, no no, no, NO! Andraayy..." She smacked him in the back of the head. It didn't hurt; there was way too much hair back there, but it got his attention. "Dude," She continued. "I don't want you to hate yourself, okay? Not for one MINUTE. I don't hate you at all, I can promise you that right now. You made a mistake, you admit that. Do you hear me?" André nodded, suddenly too choked up to speak.
"Hey..." Tori put her arm around him, seeing how upset he was. "It's okay. If you say you didn't mean to, then I believe you. And I forgive you. Don't think about it now, okay?" He nodded again, tears slipping down his face. "Ooohhh, André..." Tori absentmindedly ran her fingers through his hair. What was going ON with him?
Tori sat with André for a long time, the two of them together, not saying a word. Eventually, she pulled out her PearPhone and saw that there were only about 2 minutes until lunch was over.
"André?" She asked softly. He pulled away from her and sat up, wiping his eyes with his sleeve. He looked at her. "Yeah?" Tori sighed. "Is there anything that's bothering you? I mean, like, other than what happened earlier? Cuz, I feel like you've been off all day. You're not...I dunno, you're just not YOU. You're not happy-"
"Naw, naw, nothing's wrong, I promise. I'm just kinda tired, you know? Didn't get much sleep last night, lots of homework."
"The only homework we had last night was to research a genre of music and an example of a song relating to that genre," Tori answered. "Unless you're behind?"
"Naw, naw, I'm not...it's nothing, okay? I'm fine, Tori. I swear! Okay?" André had gone visibly pale since Tori had asked him what was going on, and now, he looked like he was about to throw up. "Ookaayy, if you say so."
"Thank you!" André stood up and began to gather his belongings as students began to fill the hallways of Hollywood Arts. Tori stood, too, and once André had his things all together, he turned to look at her, and before he knew it, she had enveloped him in a hug.
"Don't forget that you can talk to me, okay?" She said into his ear. The two pulled away. Then Tori flashed her brilliant smile at him, then turned and walked away. And André vowed that day that he would NEVER give her any reason to worry. Because the one person he couldn't lose was Tori...
DUN DUN DUNNN! Sorry for the sucky ending to the chapter, guys...I guess just the sucky chapter in general. I feel like I wrote a whole lot of nothing...but what the heck do you think is going on with André? Do you believe that he's fine? And do you guys PLEASE TELL ME whether or not I made him too emotional? Revieeww! Chapter 4 coming soooon:)
