Hi dear readers! Here I am (once) again (feeling lost, but now and then...), with the new chapter! :) I tried to be faster with writing, so I hope it's still in the usual quality, yet the updating was faster. Anyways, I don't own Victorious, and here comes the story:
Tori was pretty shocked when the man held up the knife, but somehow she felt relieved, when she heard footsteps again, even though she had to admit that it could be another person trying to hurt her. But her heart told her different things, and that time, her heart was right.
At the next moment, the happenings speeded up very fast: a second before, Tori was pressed against the tree getting ready to die, and the man was getting ready to kill her, and a second later someone yelled stop, loudly, angrily, yet worriedly. Both the man and Tori looked there to see Beck running up to them, and the man realized that it wasn't the right moment to get what he wanted, so he just pushed Tori against the tree hard that her shirt ripped and the bole cut her back, then ran away before Beck could catch him.
"Are you alright?" he asked as he kneeled down next to her, who fell to the ground after being pressed roughly against the tree. She twitched a little as she shook her head, saying 'no', but she tried to stand up anyways. He held his hand out to help her up, and only when she was standing, he realized that she was hurt badly.
"Uh... my back hurts... What happened? I think I fainted for a minute." she sighed and tried to rub her back, but when she touched it, a warm liquid flowed onto her hand, what made her twitch again. "What is this?"
"Your back is bleeding." he whispered when he made her turn around to see her back. Her mouth dropped open, like she was trying to say something, but decided to not.
"Will you follow me back to my home? Just in case if he comes back... But if you don't want to, it isn't that important." she stuttered, but he shook his head, and she saw a slight smile appearing on his face.
"I will. Can we go, then?" he asked, and let her grab his arm to prop herself. She walked wobbling all the time, but it could be known as the aftereffect of the shock.
In about 15 minutes, they arrived at Tori's grandma's house, so Beck quickly said his goodbye, but before leaving her in the front yard, he asked her if she needed any help with disinfecting her wound on her back. She was hesitating, since if she let him help her doing that, she would have to take off her shirt, and maybe even her bra, and that would make her feel very embarrassed, because she barely knew him – even though he practically saved her life. But she knew for sure that after the day before, Julie wouldn't help her, so she sighed and nodded.
"Fine. But... please, don't make it awkward..." she stuttered, looking down at her feet, slightly blushing.
"No, I won't. Just disinfecting." he answered, trying to calm her down.
"Okay." she sighed relieved, then opened the door and let him come in. After Beck, she walked in, too, and closed the door. "There. That's my room."
They both went in, and Tori started searching for disinfectant, while Beck looked around in the small, yet cozy room. The bed was covered with a soft, fluffy, orange blanket, there were many pillows thrown on it, the rug was big enough to fill the whole room's floor, the closet had many decorative things on the top of it, and a picture frame... without a picture.
"Is this empty on purpose?" he asked cautiously, trying not to hurt her feelings again. Tori nodded.
"Yes, it is. You know... But anyways, that's a long story, and I'm sure you aren't interested in it. Here's the disinfectant." she said dryly, and put the bottle in his hands with the cotton wool.
"Would you tell me if I said I am interested in it?" he asked again, opening the bottle and pouring some of the liquid on the cotton wool. "And... you should take off your shirt if you want me to disinfect your wound."
"Kay..." she sighed, and quickly pulled off her shirt. Her wound looked worse this way, Beck even made a grimace, but he slowly, warnly smeared her back with the liquid. She hissed in pain a few times, but it didn't take too much time, so about 10 minutes later, she put on another shirt and sat down on her bed.
"So?..."
"So what?" she asked back, looking confused, yet satisfied that she had someone who cares about her.
"You said you won't tell me why is your picture frame empty because you were sure I'm not interested in it. But what if I say I am?" he smiled slightly at Tori, what made her heart melt and her cheeks become red.
"Can I trust you?" she asked after a few moments.
"You can. If you don't want me to, I won't tell anyone anything, I promise." he agreed, and sat down next to her, maybe a bit too close, because she started blushing again.
"Okay. Well... that's empty, because I don't have anything to put into it."
"What do you mean by that?" he blinked at her.
"Uhh... I won't tell you everything now, because it's really too long, but later, if you will be interested, I can tell you. But back to the point, I don't have a normal family. I live with my grandma, because my parents and my older sister died about 10 years ago... I and Julie, my grandma don't really have anything in common, it's like I can live here only because my mom was her daughter, so we are relatives, and if I was older when that 'accident' happened with my family, she wouldn't let me be in her house. Whenever I'm nice to her, or she is to me, something comes what ruins it. And I never had friends before, that's why I came to Hollywood Arts, trying to make some. The old pictures of me, my sister, my mom and my dad make me sad, and I just don't really want to look at them, I don't have any pictures of me and Julie, nor about me and my 'friends'. That's why I didn't put anything to it. It's there only because I like that frame, it's really nice, isn't it?" she asked forcing a smile, like everything she said meant nothing to her, but Beck could see in her eyes that she was hurt inside telling these.
"I'm sorry." he mumbled looking down at his hands, lying in his lap.
"You don't have to be sorry. You asked me to tell you, and I couldn't say no, because how would that look like? I'm glad that I have at least you." she whispered, and for the first time that day, she smiled for real. He smiled back at her, and they were just sitting there like this, when his phone buzzed.
"Ahh man, I have to go now, I'm sorry. My... My mom wrote me a text asking what the... oh wait, that's a dirty word. Anyways, bye, see you tomorrow!" he said jumping up from her bed and quickly leaving the room. Tori ran to the window which looked to the front yard, opened it, and wished him sweet dreams before he got lost in the night.
On the next morning, Tori woke up with the knowing that she could see Beck again, and in these 10 years, it was probably the first day when she wanted to get up, get dressed and go to school, or anywhere else. She washed her face and combed her hair, and got dressed into a pair of black jeans with a white shirt and a black, knitted cardigan, thinking that she shall get some new, more colorful clothes.
After eating breakfast and brushing her teeth, she grabbed her bag, and looked around cautiously, then, when she saw Julie wasn't around, she quickly left the house. She decided to take a bus, so she went to the bus stop, but as she was waiting for the bus to come, she couldn't help but thought that something was wrong. She hasn't seen her grandma since she almost killed her, but that doesn't mean that she would just disappear all of a sudden. Also, she never heard Julie's footsteps in the living room or in the hall, she haven't seen her in the bathroom or kitchen, and it looked like she wasn't even in the house. Tori couldn't even find a letter telling her that Julie moved to an old people's home or somewhere else, because she was afraid of getting hurt – even though it's a weird way of getting rid of someone, too, it's still nicer than leaving them alone without any sign...
When she arrived to Hollywood Arts, and the first thing she saw was a gothic girl coming up to her, her smile immediately dissapeared, and she just wished that Beck will come soon to help her out from the situation. Well, he came, but the happenings weren't going as Tori expected they will be.
"Hey, Vega." Jade said as a greeting, and smiled at her. It looked real, but something was in it, maybe ridicule, what Tori couldn't tell at the moment.
"Hi Jade." she greeted her, too, and because Jade looked like she wasn't going to let her go, she didn't go anywhere.
"How are you on this nice, sunny day?" she asked too nicely.
"I'm fine, thanks. What about you?"
"I feel awesome." she nodded smirking, and at the next moment, Beck walked up to them. Tori was about to wave to him and greet him, when her put his right arm around Jade, and as she lead her head on his shoulder, he kissed her forehead.
"Hi, babe. Hey, Tori." he greeted them both smilling, like nothing much happened. For him and Jade, really nothing much had happened – they got back together, but in the past few months, it was normal for them. But for Tori, her heart shattered in the middle of the school's hallway and her face became pale white.
"Hey, Beck." Tori whispered, then started to explain something weird, but it was just an excuse to run away to the girls' bathroom and get locked in a stall to be able to cry through the whole day, without anyone noticing her.
"What's wrong with her?" he asked his girlfriend, whose smile was still on her face, and it just became brighter.
"I don't know. Maybe she has nausea?" she asked back, linked her fingers together with Beck's and slowly started to walk to their classroom with him.
"Why? Why does he have to be with Jade? Why does he have to break my heart? But he seemed so neutral with her yesterday at the lunch table... Even like he was mad at her. Maybe he just wanted to protect me from her, though... But he didn't give any sign of loving Jade... Neither did she... Wait. He said Jade was mean with everyone because she had a break-up with her boyfriend a while ago, and I just told him that she might still love that boy. What if that boy was Beck, and I told him to get back together with her? I would never ever forgive myself for doing that... And anyways, I was chasing so unrealistic dreams... Why would he even like a girl like me, with no family, no life, and a mind what can be like a terrorist's at some time?" Tori asked herself, quietly, only in her thoughts, pulling her knees up to her chest and laying her head on them. She felt the first, hot teardrop flowing down on her face, but she didn't care at all, she just wanted to know why did he get together with Jade again, and why couldn't he care about her feelings, too.
Tori sat there for over two hours, and everyone in the class was searching for her, since Jade told the teacher that she was at the school, but didn't come to the lessons. It didn't bother her, until she heard the girls' bathroom's door squeaking as someone opened it, and someone walked in.
"Vic? Are you here?" The girl asked on her own, high, bubbly voice. Tori quietly sighed, knowing that it was just Cat, and she wouldn't do anything mean to her. The readhead kept searching for her, and she knew she should let her know that she's there on a way, what doesn't involve talking or getting out from the stall. She sighed again, then slightly kicked the stall's door, what made Cat jump up frightened, but after a few seconds, she ran to the stall that Tori was hiding in. "Are you here in this stall?"
Tori hesitated with answering, but she finally opened the door, stood up and walked out to the bathroom. As Cat looked at her face, what was decorated by pitch black strikes because her mascara flowed down to her chin, she gasped and took a step backwards.
"What happened to you?" she asked shyly, as she slowly reached her arm out to touch Tori's face.
"Nothing, I'm just in a bad mood today." she answered and caught her hand before she could touch her.
"Is there any reason for being in a bad mood? 'Cause life is amazing!" Cat squeaked, then walked back to the door and looked at Tori again. Her face was pale white with black strikes, and her eyes were puffy and red from crying. "We have only 6 lessons today. There are 4 left... Are you sure you don't want to come?"
"I am, Cat." she nodded slightly, and right after redhead left the bathroom, Tori sat back on the top of the toilet and continued crying and thinking about things that happened anyways, but she wanted to change them.
Later that day, when school ended, Tori finally decided to stand up and leave the place and just go home, but Jade caught her in the hall again. When Tori heard her yelling her name, she immediately twitched, but turned back to face the gothic girl.
"Oh, I see someone's been crying on the toilet through the whole day!" Jade said smirking, and took a sip from her coffee.
"I'm really not in the mood to talk to you, Jade." Tori answered holding back her tears as her hands clenched into fists.
"I know, that's why I'm talking to you." she smirked again. "But why were you so sad that you spent your day in the bathroom?"
"None of your business." she said shortly.
"Aww, is the little Victoria Vega upset?" Jade asked, making an overacted pouting face. Tori was about to answer, but Beck interrupted her as he walked up to them.
"Hey girls, what's up?" he asked, looking first of all at Jade, then at Tori.
"Oh, nothing much, sweetie. We were just talking, right, Vic?" Jade smiled mockingly at her, what made her throw a grimace at the gothic girl, then she looked back at Beck.
"Yeah, nothing much. Just talking. Well, see you later..." she said quickly, and before any of the two could say anything, she left the school.
When Tori got home, she didn't even care about taking off her street-wear shoes, she just threw her bag down on the floor and fell onto her bed, continuing crying. She didn't even stand up for over 3 hours, and then, she did only because her phone started to buzz.
"Who the hell wants to talk to me?!" she asked herself as she stretched her arm out to reach her phone and check what she got and from who. She didn't really want to do anything, but when she saw the name of the sender, her heart started to beat harder. She got a text from Beck, and after all that happened, she couldn't think anything about it, so after she took a deep breath, she opened the message.
Hi... Listen, I saw you weren't really happy today. Had anything bad happened? Or could I help you with anything?
Tori bit her lower lip as she tried to figure out what to do. If she didn't answer, he would probably regret that he met her, because after all the nice things he did for her, he really deserved at least an answer. But if she replied, that would make her feel like she didn't have feelings for him and she wasn't crying through the whole day because he was with another girl. Also, if she asked him to help her – though she didn't really know how to tell him about her feelings for him without letting him notice that she would be talking about him –, she would feel embarrassed, because he helped her so many times, but she never did anything for his good.
After a few minutes of thinking, she finally decided to text back. Tori looked around in her room, then sighed and started to press the buttons on her phone. She couldn't help, but asked him to meet her at the park he showed her yesterday, and for her biggest surprise, he said he would rather talk to her at his house.
"What does he want from me?" she asked herself as a drop of sweat flowed down on her face. A park would be okay, even if they were alone, but his house... The awkward disinfecting on the day before was anough for her, and she was hesitating with saying yes or no, but she decided to go to his house, at least then she would be able to talk to him. There was only one question: where does he live?
Tori decided to call him to ask him about where shall she go, but before she could dial his number, a car honked in front of her house. She twitched when she heard the sharp squeak, but she thought it was her neighbor trying to annoy the people in the street – he was a snob, egoist and mean man, who didn't really care about the others, and he liked it when he could piss off his neighbors –, so she pressed the „call" button, when she heard another honk. She couldn't help but ran to the window to see a car, which didn't belong to her neighbor, and she haven't seen it before. But on the driver's seat, she saw Beck smilling at her with his usual, attractive and flirtatious smile as he waved to Tori.
Her heart started to beat faster again when she ended the call, ran out of the house and shut the door to sit next to Beck, who was waiting patiently, drumming with his fingers on the wheel.
"Hey, Tori." he greeted her when she hopped into his car and sat on the passenger's seat next to him. She let a slight smile spread through her face when she plugged in her seatbelt.
"Hi Beck."
"Would you like to eat some ice cream?" he asked as he turned his car keys in the ignition.
"I don't have any money with me... Or maybe.. well, I have one dollar and fifty cents." she said as she took out her money from her pocket. Beck softly chuckled.
"I would invite you." he smiled at her again, and as she looked out the window, she could already see the café where he would probably take her.
"Thanks, Beck, but... You barely know me, and you have a girlfriend... Is it right that you are taking me to a café and asked me to go your house?" she asked quietly, and she also became slightly nervous when he looked into her eyes with his dark, warm brown ones.
"That's a long story, Tori. And anyways, I can take whoever I want to to a café and buy them some ice cream, aren't I right?" he asked back looking serious, but she could see in his eyes that inside, he was smilling, especially when her cheeks slowly became red.
"You are right." she whispered as she unplugged her seatbelt and opened his car door. He followed her, locked his car and walked in to the café with Tori. They were looking at the ice creams, when she saw a familiar person from the corner of her eye, so she slowly lifted her head up to examine the man standing a few feet away from her. She looked at him for long moments, but when she recognized him, her heart missed one beat and she unintentionally stepped closer to Beck.
"Did you decide yet?" he asked, looking up at her, but when he saw her frightened face, his smile disappeared.
"Beck... It's that man. From yesterday." she stuttered, even forgetting about how confused she was with the situation between her, Beck and Jade.
"Don't worry, we are in public. He's not going to hurt you. Or if he is, there are so many people here, I'm sure they wouldn't let him do anything with you." he smiled at her encouraging. She swallowed but nodded, and looked back at the counter full of desserts.
The short one hour what they spent at the café went really fast, Tori felt like it was only a second. Or more likely a minute, because half of her mind was focusing on Beck, and it made her feel like the hour was just a moment, but the other half of her was focusing on the man from the day before, and it made her feel like the hour was a year, or more. They talked about a lots of things, and for the first time, in a really, really long era, Tori felt like she can love someone without feeling the desire to hurt them to be sure about herself not getting hurt. Even though she really wanted to ask him about the thing between him and Jade, she couldn't collect enough courage to ask him – and anyways, he asked her to go to his house, that would be more private than a community lot, so there, they could talk about personal things, too.
Later, when they finished eating and talking, they paid and left the café. Beck was packing some stuff up in his car, since it was kind of messy, and Tori was just standing beside him, when she saw the man coming out from the building, too. She swallowed again, and followed him with her stare as he opened a black car's door next to them, hopped in and put the key into the ignition, but didn't do anything. Their eyes met for a second, when he looked up, but Tori immediately looked down and turned away.
"Okay, we can go now. Sorry for the waiting." Beck said suddenly, what dragged her out of her thoughts, so she could sat in the car, too. They stayed quiet for a while, and as Tori looked at the surroundings, she slowly started to forget about the man and focus on the things that were important for her. At that time, it was rather one thing, called Beck.
"Uh... That black car is following us." she said quietly as she looked in the rearview mirror. He glanced there, too, but didn't find anything weird in it.
"Maybe the driver has somethind to do around the place where we are going." he shrugged, and Tori had to agree. And anyways, if he wanted to hurt her or both of them, he would already have done it, right?
"Could you tell me why do you want me to go to your house?" she asked shyly. He bit his lower lip and looked down for a second, but he immediately lifted his head up again.
"I need to talk with you about something that might... bother you, and I might could help it." he answered, and none of them said anything after this, until they arrived at his house. They got out of the car, and Beck locked it, then they walked up to the trainer-like thing in the yard.
"Here we are." he said, as he opened its door and let her hop in.
"Woah... do you live in an RV?" she asked as she looked around.
"Yeah... Is this too lame?" he asked nervously as he ran a hand through his hair. She tried to hold her smile back as she looked at him, then shook her head.
"No, I think it's pretty cool." she said. He sighed relieved, and after he closed the door, he told her to take a seat on the couch until he brings something to eat.
She sat down and looked around carefully – all of his things reflected his personality, making her realize that her simple room reflects nothing, proving that she has no personality and life. She sighed and put her bag down next to the couch. She couldn't believe these all – he shows her a beautiful place and is so honest with her, and on the very next day, he has a girlfriend what broke her heart, and on the same day, he invites her to a café and takes her to his house, and she accepts it!
"One day I will break my own heart if I continue like this..." she thought, but his voice dragged her back to reality again.
"I'm back. I couldn't find so much food, so I hope some chocolate is okay with you..." he said awkwardly as he sat down next to her; maybe a bit too close. Her heart started to beat faster again, but she tried to hold it back, or at least to act cool.
"So-" she started, but the ringing of his phone cut her off.
"Just a minute, I will answer it and come back, okay?" he said and quickly picked it up and walked to the other corner of the room. He was quietly listening for a while, so Tori could think about the happenings even more – making her even more nervous and confused –, when he suddenly snapped up.
"No. I said no! I'm not going to pay you one million dollars! … Yeah you can leave me alone and never come back. I don't care about your threatenings, I know you can't do anything. … Really?" he asked mockingly, but Tori couldn't care at the moment. I'm not going to pay you one million dollars... Exactly what a man asked her to do a day before. Paying him one million dollars.
Woah... Just like, woah. This chapter was horrible, so was the thing-what-was-supposed-to-be-a-cliffhanger... Next time, I will try to do a better work, I promise! Anyways, I'm sorry for making Bade get back together, but you know me, it won't last for long, but will be one of the most important things in the story, if I can follow the storyline what I imagined.:P
And please let me say some words about my upcoming story! :) You know, what I've talked about in the latest chapter. It will take its place a few years later, around the time when Tori would leave university, so when the characters are about 20-22 years old. I know I've never done it before, but I have a good idea, and it can't happen when they are just 16, so like... well, that does it. Here comes a short summary:
What if Jade West dies in a never-happened car accident, Cat Valentine sinks into strong depression after loosing her brother so Robbie Shapiro moves to her house to keep her company, Andre Harris loses his job and home so moves to Cat and Robbie's house, too, and Beck Oliver needs mental support after realizing that his girlfiend is no longer alive? … It's freezing cold in London, where Dr. Tori Vega meets one of her old friends – if you can call your highschool crush an 'old friend'.
What do you think? Should I write it with these characters (none will be OOC, I promise!), or should I keep it for an original story with original characters? Please answer this in your review, pretty please! :)
By the way, have you heard about the meteor in Russia? Oh my god, it's horrible, I hope everyone is okay now! It was so shocking, I saw some pictures and videos on the internet... All I can say is that it's horrible.