CH 4: Deviled Eggs
I was sitting in my room watching the latest episode of 'Big Brother' when the balcony door swings open.
Who, you may ask, is breaking into my grandmother's house at 8 at night?
"Oh, hi Jade." Tori laughs nervously. "I didn't know you were uh..."
"What the hell are you doing Vega?" I interrogate as I spring from my bed.
She tells me to shush and closes the balcony door. "Relax, I just came to play a prank on your grandma. You can help if you want." She shrugs, then sets down her bag.
I stare at her in awe. This was NOT the girl I knew from school, she was a different person entirely.
"What are you doing with those eggs?" I snap when she pulls a carton full of them from her bag.
"I'm gonna throw them at her windows. Won't that be fun?" She giggles.
"No, Tori, that would not be fun." I inform. "That's the exact reason I was sent here in the first place, and she's gonna think that I was the one who did it!"
"Wait..." She pauses. "You got sent here as some sort of punishment?"
I tell her the whole spiel. About chucking eggs at cars, people getting in accidents, and how I'm forced to do chores until the week is up, chores that would include scraping egg off the walls if such thing were to happen.
"So you're gonna be here an entire week?!" Tori excites, missing the point of my entire explanation.
She seemed a little too excited that the girl whose goal it is to make her life miserable is now staying on the same lake as her for another five days. I thought she hated my guts just as much as I did hers.
"Common, we have a lot of egging to do!" She laughs and starts toward the hallway gleefully.
"Did you not hear what I said?" I glare.
"Jade..." She huffs. "You're really gonna let your old grandmother boss you around? If you're gonna be stuck here for a whole week, why not have a little fun?"
The thought was intriguing. The punishment for raising hell here would either be more chores, which I could refuse to do, or go home, and get out of this prison cell.
Tori held her hand out, egg in her palm, tempting me with the very thing that sent me here. Maybe this isn't gonna be so bad. If she's seriously about to egg someone's house, Vega might not be as 'good' as I came to think.
I smile with a devious look in my eye as I snatch the egg from her hand and dig the slingshot out of my bag.
"Let's go have some fun." I smirk, and Tori's overjoyed.
First I tell her to leave out the balcony (however she managed to get up here in the first place) and meet me at the Marina. From there we'd hop on her Jet Ski and shoot eggs from the lake at granny's house.
"Pretty good idea, but why not hit every other house on the lake while we're at it?" She devises.
"Oo, I must say I am impressed Tori Vega." I smirk.
We part our ways, and I inform the hag I'm going to get ice cream from the Marina. She tells me to be home before it gets dark, and I lie and promise I will.
Next thing I know, Tori and I are once again on her black jet, and that can only mean trouble for anyone in our scope.
We sped by, hitting the houses of my grandma and all her friends. I had a lot of practice hitting targets while moving while tossing eggs out an automobile, but Tori's ability to shoot eggs and steer the water bike was pretty amazing. Window after window was vandalized until the only places not covered in sticky yellow were Tori's uncle's house and the Marina.
"This is the best punishment ever!" I shout, and Tori gives me a thumbs up. We take one more swoop around the lake before stopping at the Marina so I can return my helmet.
"Well, it's been a productive night, if I do say so for myself." She smiles proudly.
"Agreed." I laugh. "I never thought I would ever have this much fun at grandma's."
She nods, and there's an awkward pause.
"...well, I should be going home now. My uncle's probably pretty upset with me, heh..."
As she turns back to her black jet, I stop her. "Uh, hey, how about we get some ice cream first?" I shyly suggest.
She turns her head and closes one eye. "Really?"
"Yeah." I say, more confident. "If you're up for it."
She drops her helmet on the seat of her jet. "I would like that." She agrees.
She walked up to me again and we store at each other for a second before walking in. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I think Tori Vega's my friend.
"Hey Barbra!" Tori smiles.
"Well if it isn't Tori Vega and Jade West!" She comments. "I thought your families didn't like each other."
"Did you not hear?" Tori questions. "We just egged the entire lake! No family feud is gonna stop us from having a good time."
Of course Barb didn't approve of us going around causing mischief, but she didn't call the authorities or tattle on us or anything. She was pretty cool about letting us do our own thing. I ordered a plain vanilla, and Tori requested a superman. She paid Barb full price, probably because I was there too and she doesn't know that I already knew Barb was giving her special treatment. We sat at the table by the jukebox while enjoying our frozen dessert.
"Dude, what are your neighbors gonna say when they figure out you egged their friggin houses!" I wonder and take a lick from my cone.
"I'm sure the ones who know Uncle Philip already know I did it; they get the pattern... Greg's niece comes to town, the black jet starts causing problems the next day, Greg's niece goes home, the black jet stops being troublesome." She explains. "They know they can't do anything to make me stop, so they just stopped trying."
I never really thought about it that way, mainly because being sent to grandma's IS their way of making me stop whatever bad thing I'm doing. Now that my partner in crime is here, however, it's not such a terrible thing anymore. This could really work in my favor, and all thanks to the girl I hate.
...USED, to hate, anyway.
"I never knew how truly evil you are inside." I say aloud.
She snickers. "You said that before." Tori reminds, and takes another bite out of her rainbow treat.
"But why?"
She didn't have a problem explaining it. She tells me that when she's at her uncles, the atmosphere is just different. There aren't any directors or agents around to evaluate her actions, no parents to disapprove of her behavior, no sister tattling on her wrong-doings. There's no pressure to be 'liked', so she feels more relaxed about not caring.
I guess getting away from Hollywood with the pressure to keep a good rep slips away from her when she comes here. Seeing the real Tori not being such a puss brings things to a whole new perspective
"What does that taste like anyway?" She comments, referring to my waffle cone.
I raise an eyebrow. "You've never had a waffle cone?"
"Actually I haven't had ice cream since the night of our Ke$ha concert." She admits. "Just thinking about it made me sick!"
I laugh in memory of that experience...
~Flashback~
"Well, we'd be doing great if we were trying to win a concert from 'Hakakakkaka'!" Tori angrily grunts to Andre, throwing the extra 'k' to the floor.
~Flashforward~
"Here." I offer, handing her my dripping cone. "It's really good, actually."
She grabs the sticky vanilla from my hands and takes a chomp off one of the sides. "Mmm!" She delights. "This is so sugary!"
"Hey, give it back before you eat it all!" I growl playfully.
"No way! You can have mine, this shit is way better."
I froze.
"Tori, did I just hear you swear?" I blink in astonishment.
She shrugs like it's nothing. "So?"
Ten minutes later and we finally part our ways. Tori to her black jet, and me to the dirt road. All was well until I'd returned home to find my grandmother staring at me angrily, my phone in her hand.
"Young lady, where have you been the past few hours?!" She scolds harshly.
"Gr-grandma!" I stutter fearfully. "I was just, at the Marina- I-..."
I stop and remember Tori's words from earlier... 'You're really gonna let your old grandmother boss you around?'... Well, granny better think again if she thinks I'm just gonna sit back and let her take my phone.
I snatch the mobile device from her brittle fingers and take off to my room. She might not be completely un-able to get up and down, but it sure would take her quite a while regardless.
I had maybe five minutes to pack my things, find a way down the balcony, and get Tori to come pick me up at the Marina.
I shoved some essentials in my purse, knowing I couldn't take my luggage across the water. I left my phone the past couple times because I was too afraid to bring that over the lake, but Tori seems to have a pretty good grip on the vehicle, so I'll risk bringing it along considering the circumstances.
"Hi." Tori finally answers. "So did you get in mega trouble from your grandma?"
"About that..."
I tell her how I snatched my phone and sassed to my grandmother, and that I freaked out and decided to bail.
"So I need you to come get me at the Marina and maybe let me stay at your-"
"Forget it." She scoffs. "I let you stay last night because I was responsible for your drinking. This time you made your own mistakes, plus I'm leaving soon anyway."
I was shocked at her hostile behavior. "What? You're going home tonight?"
She sighs into the phone. "No, Jade. My uncle and the family are going to the bar. I'm coming with so they can sneak me in and actually make use of my fake ID."
"Wait, seriously?" I ponder, knowing now she wasn't one to follow the rules, but curious at her slightly sarcastic tone.
"Yes. Seriously. Now I gotta get going, they're waiting."
"Wait, Tori!" I cry, hoping she hasn't already hung up.
"What?" She responds harshly.
"I don't want to go back to my grandmothers... I really need somewhere to go, and you're the only one who can help me." I beg. "Please!"
There was a pause, and then the call ends.
...guess I could always sit at the Marina till it closes.
I sat by myself at my table, wondering what granny must be telling my parents about the incident. I don't know if they're gonna force me to stay here, or take me home where they can physically take away my phone and other electronics. Either way seemed pretty cruel, considering I don't even have a friend on this lake anymore.
Next thing I know the doors open, and Tori struts through the door.
"I'm looking for Mika Symons?" She announces as she approaches my position.
I stare at her oddly, then notice the drivers license she was waving in her hand.
"...look, sorry for blowing up at you earlier. I'm going through a thing right now... you forgive me?" She looks at me apologetically.
I smile and swipe the fake ID from her. She seemed pretty upset about the way she treated me, and I really do need her help. Her uncle honks from out front, so we rush out and hop in the back of his huge pick-up truck.
"I've never actually ridden in the back of one of these." I admit. "It's fun!"
She giggles. "I'm glad you're enjoying yourself."
My real name is Jade West, but Tori's family here thinks my name is Jade Wheeler. My fake name is Mika Symons; apparently I'm 21 years old, and I was born in San-Fran Cisco. I was born on March thirtieth of 1990.
Victoria Vega's name on her fake driver's license is Patricia Lance. (The last name is her aunt's). Patricia is 21 years old as well born on the twentieth of December, 1990.
"I've been meaning to ask..." I begin, since I was thinking about it anyway. "How did you get an ID made up so quickly for me?"
"Her cousin used to go to bars with us." Tori's aunt Miriam informs. "Then her parents found out and forbid her from visiting."
"Yeah..." Tori continues. "But now we have an extra fake ID lying around for anyone under-age to use, so it worked out good for us, huh?"
I was a bit weary, to tell the truth. I've never lied about my age before. "Won't they know I'm not twenty-one just by looking at me though?"
"As long as you present them with a legit ID, they can't deny you." Another family member from the back of the truck says. "Just make sure you know your stuff, because if they ask you, you'll want to be prepared."
"Just know what your name and birthday are. Oh, and the street that you live on." Tori advises, examining the ID I was holding.
I was still nervous at first, until Tori explained to me that I should treat it like acting. It's like playing a character; as long as you believe that you're the character you're portraying, the audience (or person you're trying to convince) will believe it too.
It made sense. Let's just hope this piece of advice won't result in me getting in a shit load of trouble like the last time she tried to tell me something useful.
"ID, ma'am?" The guy asks, and Tori hands the lady her ID.
She looks at her skeptically. "What did you say your name was?"
"Patricia Lance." She say, reaching for her license back.
The cop swipes it away, then asks Tori a few questions. After she gets them all right Tori steps through, then a couple more people until it's my turn.
"What about you?" She glares, knowing for a fact that neither Tori nor I were really 21. "What's your name?"
"Mika Symons." I respond confidently.
"...what's your mother's name?"
Crap.
I tried looking to Tori. The lady never asked her what her father's name was! Tori was already heading in though, so there was no help from her.
"You gonna answer, or should I just call the cops now?"
Gotta think... there were a few aunts here, but the only one I knew was Miriam. It was worth a shot, I guess.
"Her name is Miriam Symons." I state, keeping my expression just as bold.
No response at first, then she sighs, hands me the license, and opens the rope.
YES!
I rush to catch up with the group. Already I know that this is gonna be one hell of a good week, judging by all the excitement we've had already. Supposedly after ten PM is when it 'gets good', so in the mean time Tori and I reminisce over the good times we've had this year at Hollywood Arts.
"Yeah," I agree. "But that wasn't nearly as hilarious as the time Trina's harness broke in the middle of your play."
She laughs. "I have to admit it was pretty funny watching her dangle there, crashing into everything."
"Now hang on a moment..." One of Tori's relatives contemplates. "This girl here goes to the same school as you?"
"Yep, Tori and I are classmates back in Hollywood." I smile.
She puts her hands on her hips. "Well I'll be! What are the odds of that, hmm?"
We smile.
"Christa!" Greg shouts. "It's your turn!"
The obnoxious drunkards continue their game of 'have you ever', and I order another martini.
"What about when we made those North Ridge girls babysit your sister?" I continue.
~Flashback~
"Wait, you mean like, Jade level mean?"
"No." Cat clarifies. "Not that mean. But REALLY mean!"
~Flashforward~
"They had it coming." Tori giggles. "Watching Trina was the absolute worst!"
We continued this until Greg got in a fight with one of the waiters, and we got kicked out. He suggested we just go to another bar, but I was unwilling to take the risk of being caught again.
Apparently I was being a 'party pooper' though. Greg mentions that he was nice enough to come get me, so I should play by his rules, as opposed to life's. Clearly he and the others were too drunk to realize they too will get in trouble for allowing me entry knowing I'm underage. The only think they could think of were more boos. Finally, after arguing with them through the whole car ride, Greg swung around and dropped me at the edge of their neighborhood.
"What?" I glare when Miriam pulls me from the window and sets me on the wheel.
"Down." She commands.
I comply and step off the wheel before Greg starts driving again.
"The house is probably three minutes that way by foot." Another of the relatives points. "If you're not gonna be a team player, than you can just find your own way home."
"Aunt Sal!" Tori says accusingly.
Greg took his foot off the breaks, and it was obvious there wasn't going to be any arguing about it. Hastily, Tori hops out before they take off.
She went straight from the back of the truck and plummeting to the ground. She seemed pretty tough though; she could take it.
"Bad idea..." She comments, rubbing her head.