Hey all. I'm back in a place with streaming video and Wi-Fi, so hopefully I'll be able to update a few more times before I go back to school in a few weeks. Before I forget – if any of you are also iCarly fans, Dawnmist of River Clan started a similarly-structured fic called iThink There's More for iCarly episodes, so go check her story out! You can read it at .net/s/7249188/1/iThink_Theres_More#.

Anyway—this chapter takes place after the pilot episode. I've been wanting to do it for a while, but I've always been hesitant since I have really mixed feelings about the episode. On the one hand, I understand why Tori wanted to get back at Jade, because the coffee thing was pretty awful, especially since Tori hadn't knowingly done anything wrong. On the other hand, kissing someone else's boyfriend seems like a little much to me. I was actually pretty shocked that Dan included something like that in the show's pilot episode. Also, Beck's expressions during the kiss were interesting (to say the least), so I decided to get into his head for most of the chapter.

This chapter is dedicated to tstoain and AliceAnn, two wonderful reviewers who had both requested a chapter on this episode. I really hope you guys liked my take on it!

"Little weird. Let's do it."

And then, somehow, Beck was kissing Tori Vega. As he leaned in, he couldn't help feeling slightly justified in his actions—after all, Jade had poured coffee on the poor girl's head, for Christ's sake. Tori obviously had guts, because Jade wasn't used to people fighting back against her. Pushing away his niggling unease, he focused on what he was doing.

His classmates cheered and whistled, and mid-kiss Beck suddenly caught sight of his girlfriend's face. She looked like she'd been punched in the stomach. Shit. Instantly, his smile fell off of his face, guilt welling up in his stomach. He had known that Jade obviously wouldn't take their little stage kiss well, but Beck was still taken aback by the look on her face—a combination of and vicious fury and genuine hurt, all rolled into one. Dazedly, he pulled back from Tori, running his hand anxiously through his hair.

"Man, I love this school!" Tori giggled. Beck caught a quick flash of victory in her eyes and felt worse. He wasn't sure how he had gone from lying "unconscious" on the floor to kissing the girl standing in front of him, but somehow he didn't feel quite as triumphant as he'd anticipated.

Uncertainly, he made his way back to his seat. Jade turned away.

He couldn't see her expression, but he could feel the cold fury radiating from Jade's body as she haughtily crossed her legs and turned her back to him. Shit. He was really screwed now. As the clapping died down, he saw that most of their classmates were either doing one of two things: shooting Tori admiring and/or jealous looks, or eyeing Jade to gauge her reaction. Beck still couldn't see Jade's face, but he assumed that she glared right back at them, because most of them turned away hastily as soon as they caught her eye.

"Wow," said Sikowitz enthusiastically, drawing Beck's attention back up front. "That was excellent!" He beamed. "Tori, you really have the hang of this alphabet thing! I especially liked your spontaneity. And Beck, that stage kiss was pretty convincing, too—"

There was a loud scraping sound as Jade stood up and whirled around, knocking her chair over. Head down, she half-ran to the door, slamming it so hard that Beck felt the classroom shake a bit. His stomach sank uneasily as he took in Jade's expression: anger (and probably some sort of desire to make sure he would never have children), but also heartbroken pain. He swallowed, feeling another wave of guilt wash over him.

"Huh. Kids these days. So sensitive…" muttered Sikowitz, chewing idly on a plastic straw. Tori Vega turned to look at Beck; her happy expression had vanished, and she looked about as guilty as he felt. She stood up nervously, and in a split second, Beck made up his mind.

"No." The words left his mouth before he realized. "I got it." Tori nodded mutely, face still flushed, as Beck turned and echoed his girlfriend's path out of the class.

Jade wasn't in the in the hallway anymore, that was for sure. Beck knew that Jade only ever cut class when she was legitimately upset, usually due to some combination of her rocky relationship with her parents, school frustrations, and her own insecurities. On a normal day, Beck would have been the first person to offer her any sort of company or comfort.

Not this time. This time, he was the cause. His stomach squirmed guiltily again.

Jade wasn't exactly innocent, he reminded himself. In yet another an extreme overreaction, she'd poured coffee all over Tori's head on her first day, simply because Tori had been trying to wipe coffee off of Beck's shirt. Although, in fairness to Jade, Tori had definitely blushed awkwardly as she introduced herself to Beck. It didn't justify the coffee—not even close—but Tori had been flirting with him a tiny bit.

Plus, he'd seen the victorious look in Tori's eyes as they'd leaned into the kiss. He certainly didn't think Tori was a bad person, and he couldn't blame her for giving as good as she'd gotten from Jade (truth be told, Beck admired her nerve). But at the very least, Tori could obviously take care of herself, and Beck wondered why he'd felt compelled to help her gain revenge.

He looked into empty classrooms, lounges, even the girl's bathroom. No Jade. Jade's locker, however, was still ajar when he passed it, so he was definitely headed in the right direction. Peering inside cautiously, Beck saw that her "emergency scissors," which she usually stashed on the top shelf, were missing. This wasn't exactly unusual; Jade cut up a lot of things when she was angry, so most likely she was currently slicing up some unfortunate prop or stack of papers. But it made finding her even more important. The last time she'd been mad at Beck, she'd cut up his favorite shirt and his gym shorts (how she'd gotten into his gym locker, he had no idea).

With a pang, he noticed that the photo of the two of them, which usually adorned the inside of her door, was lying on the floor, ripped in two. He sighed, running his hand through his hair again, and checked the janitor's closet across the hall. Empty. He had been sure that she would be in there, resolutely slicing up a trash can (or something like that), and he didn't have any other idea where to look.

The bell rang, making him jump as students suddenly streamed into the hallway. Beck was dimly aware of Andre and Tori coming up behind him, laughing about something. They quieted instantly as they saw him.

"Hey, man," Andre said, clapping Beck on the shoulder. "So…you didn't find her yet?" Next to him, Tori looked at the floor.

"No. I looked everywhere and I can't figure out where she could have gone."

"Dunno, man. Maybe she left?"

"Nah." Beck shook his head, trying not to let worry slip into his voice. "I drove her this morning. She doesn't have a car."

"Beck, I'm…sorry I upset her." Tori's voice was hesitant, but Beck knew the words were genuine. He could have yelled at her for her using him in her revenge against Jade, but that seemed extraordinarily hypocritical, considering that he had been very willing to participate. Plus, he could tell that she really did seem to be upset that she'd upset Jade so badly. So Beck just nodded, craning his neck over the crowd in an attempt to spot Jade's brown and red locks among the sea of students.

The bell rang again and Andre and Tori muttered apologies as they left for class. Beck heard Andre mutter some comforting words to Tori, and she laughed. Before Beck knew it, he was alone in the hallway again.

Just as he was debating going to class—he was Jade's ride home, after all, so she'd have to show up sometime—he caught a flash of brown hair out the window above the staircase. Jade. He hurried out the door at the end of the hallway.

His girlfriend was sitting on the pavement in the shadow of the building, leaning against the wall. In her hand were several fake daisies (stolen, Beck assumed, from the props department) and a pair of scissors; at her feet rested a pile of sliced leaves, stems, and fabric petals.

"Go away." She spoke without looking at him. Beck ignored her, walking over to her.

"I said go away." She hadn't realized it was him yet.

At the sound of his footsteps still approaching, she looked up. Beck saw the flash of surprise on her face as she saw who it was, but it faded almost instantly, replaced by the fierce anger he'd seen earlier. He stopped and leaned against the building cautiously.

"Hey."

"No." Her tone was so scathing that he almost flinched. Jade looked down at the flowers in her hands again, her curtain of shiny brown hair obscuring her face. "You don't getto talk to me."

"I just want—"

"I said no. I don't want to talk to you. Leave!"

They stood in silence for a moment, the scissors still in Jade's hand.

"Jade, please listen to me."

"What part of 'I don't want to talk to you' are you not getting? Or has she made you too stupid to understand plain English now?" Angrily, she turned her back to him.

"It was just a stage kiss, I swear."

"I don't care!" She spun around, brandishing the scissors in his direction, and Beck took a slight step backwards. "First you let her rub you down on her first day, and then you let her KISS YOU? In front of everyone?" Her voice, which had started out calm and cutting, rose shrilly at the end of her sentence. Up close, Beck could see that she was a mess. Her eyeliner was smudged, and although she had obviously tried to wipe it away, he could still see traces of mascara running down her cheeks.

He had made her cry. Jade never cried. She had obviously tried to hide it, so he pretended not to notice the tear tracks down her face. He felt even worse now.

"I'm sorry!" He knew the words were inadequate as they left his mouth. For a second, neither of them moved, his apology hanging in the air between them.

"I don't care." Her tone was harsh and cutting. "I don't want to talk to you."

"Jade, please let me ex—"

"I said no!" He swallowed, willing himself to remain calm. "Go sit in class with your precious Vega and see if I care!"

"Come on. You know I don't care about her like that. I want to stay out here with you."

"I'm not going back there, and you're not staying here." When he didn't move, she narrowed her eyes angrily. "Go!"

She picked up the flowers and turned to leave.

"Wait. At least tell me that you'll let me drive you home so we can talk?"

She laughed humorlessly. "Yeah, you wish. Why don't you give Tori a ride instead?

"But—"

"I'll walk home!"

She turned and stomped off around the corner of the building, and Beck heard the door swing shut again. He wondered if it was worth it to go after her, or if he should give her some time to cool off before trying to talk to her again. Part of him wanted to keep following her until she talked to him, but another part of him—the logical part—knew that Jade wasn't likely to respond well to that kind of gesture, and that (for his own safety, maybe) he should let her calm down before approaching her again. He glanced at his watch and made up his mind. He'd go to his final class, and find her afterwards. Sighing, he made his way down the hall and slipped into his History of Jazz class.

Any luck? mouthed Andre from a seat to his left. Beck shrugged noncommittally, and Andre gave him a sympathetic look. When the bell rang twenty minutes later, Andre waited for him in the hallway.

"Let me guess: she won't talk to you," said Andre.

Beck sighed. "Yep."

"Sorry, man," said Andre.

"It's fine. To be honest, I kinda deserve it."

"Yeah…although she was asking for it a tiny bit," said Andre defensively. "I mean, who pours coffee on someone's head in front of the whole class? It was Tori's first day!"

"Yeah, but that…improv thing…was the wrong way to get back at her."

"Yeah, I guess." Andre shook his head. "Nobody deserves that." Catching sight of Beck's face, he added, "but I'm sure it won't be that big of a deal, you'll fix it."

"Yeah, well, I gotta find her and talk to her before she leaves," said Beck.

"Good luck, man."

"Thanks."

Beck quickly grabbed his books and headed out towards the parking lot. He wasn't sure where he'd find Jade (or if he'd find her at all), but he was going to try.

As the hallway cleared out, Jade ducked out of the teacher's lounge she'd been hiding in and darted into the janitor's closet. She'd tried to go in there earlier, but there'd been a creepy man asleep in the corner (…), so she'd gone outside instead. The sudden surge of students into the parking lot, however, had sent her scurrying back inside. Like she really wanted to hear their stupid annoying laughter as they got into their cars. They were probably all laughing about what Beck and that stupid Vega chick had done in Sikowitz's class.

It had been an hour since that girl had kissed her boyfriend. In front of the entire class. And worst of all, he had kissed her back. In her mind's eye, she could still see the little smirk across his face right before he and that thing—ugh. She shuddered inwardly.

Jade had to hand it to Tori Vega: as far as revenge and public humiliation went, this little scheme was pretty damn good. But Vega had gone too far. This was Jade's school, and new girl or not, she wasn't about to let some little brat go after her boyfriend.

If he was still her boyfriend.

Jade's eyes narrowed as she re-imagined the kiss in her mind's eye for about the thousandth time. What the hell was Beck trying to do? He'd baited Jade like this before, teasing her to make her jealous; it was just the dynamic of their relationship. But this…he'd never gone this far before, never done something to deliberately hurt her. It didn't matter that his expression afterwards was about as close to "oh, shit!" as she'd ever seen on his face. She was going to fucking kill him.

Jade had really thought that she would be able to keep it together for the rest of the class. But hearing everyone else cheering, with their obnoxious stares and giggles—as well as Sikowitz's little comment on her boyfriend's "performance"—had been too much to take at once. So rather than let everyone see how upset she really was, she'd bolted at the first sign of stinging in her eyes. She'd been humiliated enough without the entire class seeing her cry.

Now, sitting in the janitor's closet, Jade wished she'd brought something more substantial for her scissors to cut. As odd as it sounded, Jade found that the simple action of slicing things up—shirts, papers, whatever—was the perfect mindless distraction whenever she was upset. Angry over losing the lead role? Shear a few curtains. Pissed at her dad? Chop up a broom or two.

Boyfriend kissed another girl in front of everyone? She'd never had to come up with a solution for that one before.

Cutting up the fake flowers had worked for a little while (not that there was any symbolism in flowers or anything; she just hated flowers), but she'd finished them soon enough. She thought about Beck's startled face when she'd told him to go away, and smirked bitterly. Good. He could take his little apology and shove it, because damned if he thought she was just going to forgive him like that.

To distract herself, she took out her mirror and concealer, slumping against the wall as she dabbed at her face. Ugh. Crying, to Jade, was like sweating: she didn't like it, so she rarely did it. Thus, the fact that Vega and Beck had both made her cry (in school, no less) only made her want to dismember both of them even more. With gratuitous violence.

Vega was going down. That much was certain. And Beck? She'd think of some suitable punishment for him once he had thoroughly explained how sorry he was. If she ever even let him talk to her. Which was seriously questionable right now.

Plus, of course, that assumed that he wanted to talk to her. Sure, he'd tried earlier, but who knew what he had been going to say? His actions didn't exactly say "I love you." More like "I'd rather be with this girl that I'm conveniently kissing in front of you and the entire class."

With renewed anger, she grabbed the nearest rag and began hacking it to pieces.

Beck had looked everywhere in the parking lot, but no one had seen any sign of Jade (although Sinjin had offered to help him look for her. He'd turned the proposition down). He was starting to wonder whether or not she truly had found another ride home, but he doubted it. Anyone that Jade liked enough to ask for a ride would have seen or heard about his little improv scene with Tori. Either a) she had taken public transportation (unlikely), or b) she was still somewhere in the building (more likely).

Just for good measure, he glanced into the window of the janitor's closet. Relief washed over him. Jade was perched on the floor, scowling as she methodically sliced up a rag.

Knocking seemed pointless; she'd just refuse to let him in. So he eased the door open and stepped into the tiny room. Jade ignored him, but attacked the rag slightly more viciously as he cautiously sat down on the floor.

"Hey," he said softly.

Silence.

After a minute, he tried forever. "Jade, come on. You can't ignore me forever."

She glared at him, but merely finished cutting up the rag she had and moved onto another.

"Can't we talk about this?"

More silence. If anything, her gaze was more furious than before.

"I'll get you some coffee right now if you'll just talk to me." When even this didn't warrant a reaction, he went for the obvious. "I'm sorry!"

She twisted around, fuming. "If you want to break up with me, why didn't you just tell me?" she spat.

"I don't want to break up with you!"

"Well, you've got a funny way of showing it," Jade snarled.

"It was just a stage kiss!"

"Oh really? So 'stage kisses' go on forever now? While everyone else cheers and your girlfriend is five feet away?"

"I'm sorry!" he said again. "I screwed up!"

"Yeah, you did!"

"How can I fix this?" Desperation edged into his voice. He knew Jade was stubborn, but he had thought she would have calmed down by now.

"You can go back in time and make it so that you never kissed Vega," she said resolutely.

Crap. He wasn't getting anywhere. It was with deliberate calm that he asked his next question.

"Jade. What can I do to convince you that it didn't mean anything to me?"

"I don't know. Tell me why you felt the need to humiliate your girlfriend in front of everyone?"

"I don't know!" He paused, because he really didn't know what had come over him. "One minute I was on the floor and then I was…you know." Jade raised her eyebrows, but otherwise didn't respond. "I was…annoyed that you overreacted," he said finally. "I mean, seriously. You poured coffee all over Tori just because she spilled on me and tried to clean my shirt—"

"And that gives you the right to cheat on me in public?"

Obviously, she wasn't going to make this easy. "It wasn't cheating; it was acting!" For good measure, he added, "I was being an alien!"

This line of argument was clearly getting him nowhere.

"Andit didn't mean anything. To me or To Tori." Jade looked at him doubtfully. "Really. It didn't," he said, his voice softer. "And I'm sorry that I hurt you. I was being really stupid."

"Yeah, you were."

"I swear, I don't want to break up with you. Do you want to break up with me?"

She shrugged and fingered the scissors, avoiding his eyes. "No."

"So just to be clear…we're not broken up?"

"No." She looked up at him. "But I'm still mad."

"I know." He paused. "And I'm sorry."

"God, Beck, it was like—like a movie or something. Vega looked right at me with that stupid little smile before she asked you to kiss her, and you just—you just let her." He winced, nodding guiltily. "And then they all cheered and I just—I couldn't stay there…"

She trailed off, her voice dropping as the hurt shone through her words. Beck felt even worse. Jade never seemed bothered by classmates' opinions on their relationship; as stupid as it sounded, he hadn't even thought about the fact that there had been other people in the room.

"I don't care that they all think I'm a raging bitch." She laughed harshly. "But these people don't even have the tiniest bit of respect for the fact that I'm your girlfriend? They just laughed at the fact that my boyfriend was cheating on me!" Her eyes flashed angrily.

Beck decided that pointing out the whole "it-wasn't-cheating-it-was-acting" thing again wouldn't earn him any brownie points.

Jade was quiet again, and Beck wasn't sure what to say next. Instinctively, he reached in and wrapped his arm around her. She stiffened, but fortunately didn't protest as he pulled her into his side, and Beck was secretly relieved that she appeared, at least for the time being, to have forgiven him.

"Come on. Why do you care? You've never cared what they thought before."

Jade mumbled something undetectable into his shirt.

"Sorry, didn't catch that," he said, trying to sound cheerful.

"No one respects the fact that you're mine." She glared. "Not even you."

He sighed. "Jade." He turned so that he was facing her again. "I love you. Not Tori. You. Who gives a damn about anyone else?"

"Apparently you do. Since you, you know, kissed her."

"Can you just…accept my apology?" He couldn't think of anything else to say.

A pause. "Fine," she muttered. Beck grinned.

"I'm still gonna kill you. And Vega." She glared at him, but it was half-hearted at best.

"It's okay, I kind of expected it."

"Shut up."

Beck stood up, pulling Jade to her feet as he did so. "Want to get some coffee?"

She smirked, and Beck couldn't remember the last time he'd felt so relieved to see the familiar expression on her face.

"You're buying. For like, the rest of the week."

Thanks for reading!

I tried my best to keep it in context without mischaracterizing Tori badly, because I'm pretty sure both she and Beck would have felt really guilty after the fact. (Actually, I watched the ending scene a few times, and I'm pretty sure Beck's thinking "oh, shit!" after he kisses Tori. Just my interpretation). I actually really like Tori as a character, and I don't like when she's vilified in fics simply because she's a (possible) romantic interest for Beck. Hopefully I did alright keeping everyone in character.

(To the 56 people who have this story on alert but don't usually review…I really appreciate that you're reading, but I would love any feedback that you have. Positive or negative—it all helps. )