Hello my dear readers. I hope everyone had a nice weekend. I finally got to see the new Victorious. Honestly, I thought it was kind of underwhelming and Dan took too long to set the story up. I don't want to spoil any more of the episode, but I found some things interesting including Sinjin at the beginning and the two guest stars. It would be an interesting scene if Dusty met them.
ArtisticAngel6: Thanks, I haven't had a chance to see the new promo for iCarly. I'm eager for the new episode because Tina Fey is supposed to be in this episode. Still wish she would have played Carly and Spencer's mother. Tina Fey you rock!
Twilight Warrior 627: Freddie is a ball of messed up emotions. New Years really did mess him up. He was on top of the world to turn a phrase then he was knocked off. This chapter is going to be the eye opener.
PD31: Well really only Freddie and Jade are his friends by Freddie's words at the New Years party and Cat is the girl that he still deeply cares about while the group isn't Dusty's friend. Tori and Trina, he has a neutral opinion, Andre, he has little respect for after the Gorilla Club; he doesn't care much for Robbie and he does have some major problems with Beck.
The unraveling is due to Tori's independently reacting to what she is seeing about Freddie. Jade can't wait to get started because she sees as time isn't on her side from what she sees as Freddie deteriorating from the man she loves.
darck ben: Thanks. I'm actually an Angel: The Series fan. I know about Buffy because obviously it is in the same universe since Angel is a spin-off. About writing one, I'm an Angel fan so any would be an Angel story and unfortunately I don't have a very high opinion of Buffy as a character and I don't think I'd be too kind to her in any story.
Jeremy Shane: Okay, here is the new chapter. Thanks.
Okay, I need to re-emphasize the warning for this story for this story:
High T for Violence, references to mature subject matter, Language and Offensive Language (Yes, I have two different language warnings for a reason and I mean it) so there might be some unintentional triggers for some people.
Okay, on with the story.
Chapter 7: The Best Couple Part 2
Northridge High School
Los Angeles, CA
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
It was already dark when the group of friends arrived in several vehicles in one of the parking lots of Northridge High School.
Jade stepped out from the driver's side of the Charger and shut the door behind her to quickly join Freddie at the front of the car and join their friends gathering friends after they finished exiting their respective vehicles. Jade remained silent as she saw that Tori had exited André's Charger with rolled orange extension cord.
Once the group met up and exchanged simple pleasantries, they stopped several yards away from the entrance to the school and started looking over the face since despite the fact of all the jokes and comments they had made about the school and the students, none of them had actually been to Northridge with possibly the exception of Rex when he somehow attended the last Northridge prom and assuming it was held at the school.
Jade crossed her arms under her chest and flippantly commented, "So this is Northridge? Little rundown—"
"Hellhole would be a more accurate description," Dusty called out from behind the group, surprising them all with his appearance, as he walked up behind them and slid between Robbie and Cat. The redhead didn't say a word as Dusty slipped his left hand into her right hand and laced his fingers with her fingers. However, Robbie frowned at the gesture with Rex laughing at his handler.
Dusty blew out a breath as he looked with reservation at the front entrance of his former high school.
Jade smirked as she asked the Southern teen, "Why are you here? You wanted to see Sinjin's game show?"
He glanced to Cat for a moment then over to Beck and André for a moment with a judgmental stare then to the pale actress to answer with a disbelieving expression, "Queries? Really?" He slightly frowned as he answered, "No, I'm here because you're taking Cat to Northridge… at night…"
The group for the most part looked to him with confused expressions as they didn't seem to have understood the gravity of the problems of the school he had described to them the one time he was at one of their Texas Hold'em games.
He blew out a breath and shook his head as he looked to them as babes in the woods just waiting to be eaten by the wolves. He continued with a cool tone, "I will put it this way: Ladies… if there is anyone here that actually goes here tonight… watch your mouths and behinds… they'll rape either or both if given half a chance to get away with it…" He looked to Beck and motioned his head to the actor as he finished, "Same goes for you too pretty boy."
He started on his way inside with Cat eagerly walking with him apparently obvious as to what he just said.
Tori and Jade looked to each other with mirrored expressions of shock. Beck closed his mouth and blinked several times as André shook his head.
Freddie shrugged a shoulder and spared a quick glance towards everyone. "He use to go here, he would know."
André looked to his friend and responded with a little shock in his voice, "Yeah, but don't you think he might be exaggerating just a little bit?"
Freddie snorted out and shook his head while answering, "The fact that he voluntarily showed up here obviously for Cat tells me otherwise."
The songsmith gave a side ways nod and shrug of his shoulder in response.
He motioned towards the entrance with his head. "Come on, let's see if we can find Ava and get some good seats." Freddie took Jade's hand and the couple started on their way with the tech-producer discreetly keeping a look out for people he didn't recognize as he would heed his friend's advice.
Jade shook out of her shock then laughed out, "Like finding seats is going to be a problem."
Auditorium
Northridge High School
The group had took their seats fifteen minutes ago with Freddie, Jade, Beck and Robbie (with Rex in his lap) sitting in the first row and Ava, Dusty (who currently wasn't in his seat), Cat, Tori and André on the second row; Jade was surprised that the seats for the most part had been filled for the rehearsal, but she wasn't going to admit it.
Jade threw her head back and groaned loudly with annoyance filling her voice, "When is he going to get started?"
Ava patiently answered, "We're waiting for Mister Goobensteen to show up... and hopefully a few others for the audience."
Jade answered with a patronizing tone, "Hoping in vain Ava."
The girl's brow furled as she snapped, "Shhh, or I'll kick your seat again."
Jade turned in her seat to look up at the shorter teenager. "You're not sitting behind me."
The fellow dark brunette smirked and retorted, "I can move."
Jade turned back to sit facing the stage and shook her head. She couldn't blame the girl for supporting her boyfriend even if said boyfriend was Sinjin.
Cat rose in her seat and looked around, stretching her neck up in the hopes of spotting for who she was searching. She curiously asked the rest while playing with the ends of her hair, "Has anyone seen Soapy? He said he was just going to the bathroom."
The dark brunette subconsciously looked around to see if she could spot Cat's ex then shook her head and idly commented as she got up from her seat, "I'll go find him, better than just waiting."
She started walking in front of the seated audience towards an exit as Freddie called out with a forced laugh, "Be back before they start!"
She waved backwards with a lazy motion of her left hand signaling that she heard him, but wasn't necessarily going to heed his suggestion then pushed open the door and walk out into the hallway. She wasn't familiar at all with the layout of the school, so she just started going down a hallway at random and started down the low lit hallway.
A part of her was curious as to where he took off. He had been so concerned about Cat's safety that he had even held her hand as they had made their way to the auditorium, yet he hadn't come back after about ten minutes.
As she mused on her thoughts, she followed the hallway out and decided to take a left at the T-intersection of the hallway and start down it. She noticed a figure standing in front of a row of grey lockers that were against the walls near the end of the hallway as she made her way down. She recognized the black hooded leather jacket on the young man then a moment or two later to confirm for herself that she was looking at Dusty.
The pale actress stopped a few feet from him as she saw him run his right index finger down the slight dent on the surface of the grey locker.
Jade crossed her arms under her chest and snorted out with a laugh, "Long bathroom break?"
He kept his focus on the locker as his hand dropped away from the locker and shrugged a shoulder. "Yeah, well… I hadn't set foot here in a year and a half and I guess I was a little curious."
She gave him a perplex expression. "So you stop at a random locker?"
He cracked a soft smile as he finally looked in her direction and answered with a soft tone, "This use to be my locker."
"Oh? Being a little sentimental?"
"Maybe... I was here for just a semester, but it was a formative one."
She gave him a slight nod then pointed to the slight indentation of the locker surface. "I guess someone got mad after you left and took it out on your locker."
"No, it happened when I was here."
She raised her pierced eyebrow out of curiosity and asked, "So, you did it? What did you use to make the dent?"
He commented with a reminiscent smile, "My head."
Northridge High School
Los Angeles, CA
January 2010
The right side of Dustin's forehead slammed into the grey locker and left a slight indentation on the surface with his notebook and textbook dropping to the floor. He blinked several times and shook his head from the impact of the locker more than the sudden shove from behind. He growled out his rage as it was an obvious shove instead of a passerby bumping into him due to the narrowness of the hallways and crowd of students during class changes.
His assumption was confirmed as he heard the cynical laughter of Antonio, a teenager who had attempted to cause him trouble every chance possible without any real results since the first day he arrived at school. Apparently Antonio was ready to step up this game. "Oops, sorry country boy, I didn't—"
He didn't finish as Dustin had pushed off his locker and twisted to his left to bring his right fist to collide with the other teenager's jaw. Blood instantly flew out of Antonio's mouth and noses as he snapped completely around and went face first into the floor.
The other students immediately backed away into a semi-circle to give them room to fight in the hopes of seeing a good brawl.
Dustin growled out, "I might accept your apology if you actually meant it."
Antonio spat out more blood on the floor as he pulled his arms underneath him and started pushing himself off the floor. As the blood dripped from his nose and his gums from his loosened front teeth, he growled out, "Fucking cracker!"
The Southern teenager snorted out a breath through his nose then commented sarcastically, "And here I thought nigger was the only racial slur you knew with how often you call your friends that."
Antonio didn't respond as one of his two friends that were with him charged Dustin on his left with a wide right swing, but the sophomore sidestepped him and reached out to grab his outstretched right arm then twisted along with his momentum to slam his head into handle of the locker. Skull met metal handle and instantly sliced open his forehead as he bounced off and Dustin let him fall backwards. He rolled to his side as he screamed in pain grabbed his forehead as the blood started running down.
Dustin turned just in time to see Antonio's second friend close in from his right for a swing, but ran straight into the Southern teenager's foot as he raised his right foot and kicked out hard towards his opponent's stomach. Antonio's friend's feet came from under him from the impact and as he fell backwards hard on the floor with the wind knocked out of him.
The L.A. immigrant didn't give him the chance to recover as he jumped on top of him and grabbed him by the collar with is left hand then started swinging and slamming his fist down on his face. Blood started flying after the second or third punch as the downed teenager was so disorientated from the kick, he couldn't even raise his forearms to protect himself.
After several more swings, the bottom of a shoe slammed into the side of Dustin's face and sending the teenager off Antonio's now unconscious friend. The Southern teenager rolled unto his side and growled through the pain from tasting the little bit of blood in his mouth from his teeth slicing into the inside of his cheek.
Antonio was on him in an instant and started stopping on his left shoulder and arm in the attempt to pound his heel into Dusty's head and face. Fortunately the downed teenager was able to get his forearm up to protect himself from the attempted stomping of his head.
Antonio raised his foot just as Dustin rolled onto his back and caught him by the shoe. He tried to push his foot down to plant it on Dustin's face, but the Carolinian held him in place then twisted hard to his right.
"FUCK!" the L.A. native shouted over the sound of his ankle twisting further than it was meant to go that sent him back to floor as he vainly tried to keep his ankle straight.
Once Antonio had fallen on his stomach, Dustin rolled and crawled up and grabbed Antonio by the collar. He started hammering his face with his right forearm until the wannabe bully stopped struggling. The Carolinian pulled himself to his feet and looked down at the barely conscious teenager as his eyes were rolling up to the back of his head.
Dustin rolled his left shoulder several times as he went back to his locker without paying a bit of notice to the dent that had just been left on his locker. He picked up his dropped notebook and textbook, finished the combination to his lock, opened the locker to switch out a book for his next class then closed it without a word. He started walking past the three friends with the crowd still shocked to what they had seen.
Antonio remained on his back as he had gathered just enough wits to spit out with more blood onto his face, "This isn't over Hale… I'm going to put you in your place…"
Dustin stopped and turned slightly to look down that the struggling teenager. He responded with a cool tone and dismissive look, "Maybe one day, but today... you're my little bitch."
The three continued to be left sprawling on the floor as the crowd parted to let Dusty pass to go to his next class.
Northridge High School
Present
Jade blinked as she mouth opened and closed several times while looking at the cavalier storyteller.
Dusty looked down at the hallway and tried to scuff away a dark red spot on the floor, but to no avail. "Mmm… I guess they never got that out." He looked back up at her then softly chuckled as he tilted his head slightly to the side. "So yes... Freddie was correct from the start that I could have protected you from Nevel… and you were correct that I could have protected you from Sam… for Freddie's piece of mind of course." He smiled as he finished, "You putting her down again wouldn't have been productive for what you were trying to do."
The pale actress finally closed her mouth and cleared her throat. "Chizz… and they just let stuff like that happen here? You had to put up with that for the entire semester?"
"Not really. Once you made an example of someone, the rest know you're not a target… it was the point Freddie was making in his speech after Carly's broadcast and Nevel even though Hollywood Arts is not Northridge."
Jade glanced down for a moment as she contemplated Freddie's words earlier in the day. She bashfully looked up at him and retorted, "It doesn't matter to him. He thinks he's carrying some curse from Seattle that they'll always be someone out there willing to mess with him… us. He thinks he has to be that harsh to protect us."
He gave her a curious expression. "When did you find that out?"
"This afternoon before we went home. He's afraid to let it go… that he'll fail me if he tries and can't let it go and fail me if he does let it go and I get hurt."
Dusty nodded along with evident concern on his face then asked, "Damn… what'd you tell him?"
"I told him he could let it go… he didn't have to be afraid. I'd protect him." She smiled at him and playfully punched him on arm which brought a curious eyebrow from the teenager before she explained, "I told him I'd grip him tight and raise him from Perdition if he fell."
Dusty cracked a smile at hearing those words. He responded with an upbeat tone, "You think he's going to take your advice?"
She gave a quick nod. "I think he's going to try."
The Southern teenager shrugged his right shoulder. "I guess that's the only thing you can do is wait… and hope… and pray."
"I guess so… and it helps he does have an angel looking out for him."
Dusty smirked as he added, "That can come in handy." He shook his head as he walked towards her then she naturally fell in step beside him as he started leading them back to the auditorium.
As they walked, Jade asked, "Ah, did Antonio was it? Did he ever try again?"
He stuck his hands into his pockets as he answered, "Of course... and I put him down again… it was just bloodier the third time around. He finally stopped at that point, but you always had to worry about that knife in your back… literally. He was pretty pissed that a 'country cracker' could whip him. In hindsight, I think it hurt his racial pride or standing with his friends or some such nonsense that I wouldn't put up with his… 'chizz' as you call it."
The pale dark brunette laughed out, "You think we'd out grow that at some point, but…"
He answered with a somber tone, "Yeah… stuff like that always reminds me of one of the few things my mother left me: 'If we only looked at each other as God looks at us.'"
Jade nodded along in agreement as the pair reached the door into the auditorium. "I guess he left you more than a knife."
He smiled as he opened the door for her and added, "She left me some of her Grace too."
The group waited in their seats for Sinjin to start as Mister Goobensteen had finally arrived, but the producer didn't look happy at all being in the audience.
Dusty glanced passed Cat with a curious expression towards Tori and asked, "What's with the extension cord?"
The brunette looked to him a little surprised by the question, but quickly answered by holding up her phone, "I need it for my phone. It's janked up. It won't hold a charge."
"Why not just send it off to get it fixed or buy a new phone?"
Jade answered with an irritated tone as she looked over her shoulder, "She won't get a new phone—"
Tori in turn interrupted her with an impatient tone, "I am waiting for the new XT to come out."
Dusty raised an eyebrow becoming more confused with the explanation. "So you're carrying an extension cord for your phone in the meantime?"
"Yes. I don't want to be the 'tard that is stuck with the GX and laughed at when everyone else has the new XT."
Dusty raised an eyebrow. "Can I go ahead and laugh at you for having a GX in the first place?"
Tori turned her head again and looked up him with a frown. The others gave him questionable looks as well.
He shrugged a shoulder and continued, "The old G5s were better phones. You look at the GXs the wrong way and they'll break and I'll bet you the XTs will do the same thing when they come out. The G5s are nearly unbreakable, get just as good reception or better, superior screen size and resolution and I haven't found an App for the GXs that won't work on the G5. That and the fact it isn't in the shape of a stupid pear that's so inconvenient to actually put it in a pocket."
Freddie turned his attention to anything that could hold it since actually working for the Pear Company, he understood how truthfulness of those statements.
Jade pressed the side of her right hand against her mouth in an attempt to stifle her chuckle of Dusty possibly popping Tori's bubble when it came to the new phone. She was hoping that was the case so she wouldn't have to hear anymore about her going on about it.
Tori's mouth dropped opened and looked like she was about to challenge him, but the conversation was cut short when Sinjin walked in front of the wall with the logo of the game show while checking his microphone in his hand by blowing a few quick breaths into it. He wore a big smile as he began, "Hello and welcome to Northridge."
Three girls at the end of the front row, a redhead, brunette and blonde, eagerly started cheering at his mention of Northridge.
Rex dropped his mouth open as the closest thing he could get to a smirk and waved at the girls at the end of the row, "My girls."
As the girls waved back at the puppet, Dusty snorted out in disgust under his breath only loud enough for Ava to hear, "Northridge trash… might get an STD just looking at them… though the brunette looks cute."
Sinjin began again, "Thank you for being here for the first rehearsal of my very own game show, Queries for Couples."
The audience politely clapped then Tori started passing down the end of an orange electrical extension cord to Cat. "Would you pass this down? I need to plug in my phone."
Cat asked with a soft voice and smile while passing the cord down to Dusty then Ava and the ones that followed her, "A little help? Help my friend Tori plug in her phone."
"Thanks guys," Tori called out with a grateful tone.
Sinjin began again, "Um, before we start I'd like to introduce the wonderful man that runs GameGoober, Mister Harvey Goobensteen.
A man sitting on the end of the row just behind the seated Cat, Tori and André stood up lazily and gave not even a halfhearted wave at the audience then quickly sat back down.
The curly haired teenager raised a hand and eagerly shouted, "And now it's time to play!"
No one in the audience initially responded until Cat stood up and opened her arms up and cheerfully announced, "Sinjin's game show!"
Sinjin took a soft breath and patiently corrected into the microphone, "It is called Queries for Couples." He motioned his hand up in the air and called out, "Wall!"
Some members of Sinjin's tech crew started operating a rope and pulley system to raise the wall behind the teenager to reveal three couples as the audience clapped.
The audience had several negative reactions at seeing the dressed down and homely teenage couples.
Sinjin ignored the reaction and continued, "Now let's meet out contestants. Couple number one hails from Burbank, and—"
Harvey got out of his seat and quickly walked down the steps as he shouted, "Hey, ragtop!"
"Excuse us for a moment," Sinjin excused himself before taking a moment to speak privately with Harvey.
As they spoke, Tori took the opportunity to look past Cat and ask, "Hey Northridge, would you just plug it into that wall there?"
The redhead, brunette and blonde looked to her as if questioning if she was serious about her request.
"Thanks," she answered somewhat flippantly.
Cat commented dryly, "Some girls just aren't that smart."
"Huh hun," Tori agreed with her as she softly rubbed her left shoulder as the Northridge redhead decided to plug in the end.
There was a soft beeping noise from Tori's phone that grabbed the girl's attention and she whispered excitedly, "Yea, my phone came on."
The phone repeated back, "Yea, my phone came on."
Tori whined in frustration, "Oh, man."
André thumbed over to Tori's phone and asked, "You got the talking Reggie app?"
The phone repeated his question, "You got the talking Reggie app?"
Tori sighed in frustration, "Yes."
"Yes," the phone repeated.
Jade looked over her shoulder and complained, "Turn it off."
Tori whispered into the phone, "Shut up."
"Shut up," the phone replied with the high pitched voice. She poked the screen hard and the phone screamed out as if it really felt pain.
Sinjin started speaking into his microphone as Harvey started his way back to his seat, "Okay, Mister Goobenstein feels that the game show should have better looking contestants."
Jade eagerly agree with a hint of smugness in her voice, "He's not wrong."
Freddie slightly nudged Jade's shoulder with his shoulder. She looked over and he gently asked with a whisper, "Jade?"
"So, I'm going to say goodnight to you guys, go on… don't worry, it's nothing personal. It's just your appearances." He looked back to the audience as the teenagers finished clearing out and started, "Now ah…" He dropped his microphone and quickly dashed up to his friends then looked to Tori.
"Will you guys please be my test couples?"
"None of us are dating except for Freddie and Jade and you can't exactly be a contestant with Ava if you're hosting."
"That's okay, will you guys do it?"
Tori attempted to decline, but he grabbed her by the shoulders and demanded, "Don't blow for this for me Tori."
A few minutes later, several of the teenagers were separated into couples on stage: Beck and Cat in the first station followed by Robbie and Tori in the center station with Freddie and Jade rounding out the last station. Sinjin took his position in front of the stage and called out in a loud and cheerful voice, "Okay, it's time to play!"
The audience lamely responded, "Queries for Couples."
Sinjin continued not losing one bit of enthusiasm, "That's right… live from Northridge, it's Queries for Couples."
Tori eagerly pointed out and pointed to Robbie as he waved at the audience, "We're not really a couple."
Sinjin scolded Tori with a, "Shussh," while Robbie dejectedly slumped in his seat.
The sandy haired teenager turned to the audience and continued, "Say hello to our Query Girl, Trina Vega."
Trina glided across the stage with applause from the audience wearing a white dress shirt under a black spaghetti-strap top and very short silver shorts that allowed her to show off her athletic legs. She stopped to stand beside him at the display screen. She eagerly greeted him, "Hello Sinjin."
Sinjin whispered to her, "You'll not suppose to talk."
She maintained her smile as she whispered back, "I'll talk if I want to talk."
Ava could see from the corner of her eyes that Dusty did not look comfortable with seeing Beck being Cat's partner on stage. She didn't know if it was because he didn't like Beck or the fact that he was pretending to be a couple with Cat as she had heard the stories about the ex's lingering feelings for the childlike redhead.
The tall teenager started walking across in front of the stage and explained, "Okay, let's take a look at our first query for couple number one." He stopped next to the first station with Beck and Cat. "Beck, Cat has bad breath…"
The redhead sucked in a quick breath and covered her mouth with her closed fists.
He forced out a reassurance to her, "It's just pretend."
She softly giggled as she dropped her hands away from her mouth.
"Do you A, tell her she has bad breath, B, ignore it because you love her or C, dump her?"
"Cat, go ahead and use your corded remote to secretly chose what you think Beck's answer should be."
"Okay, B!" she shouted as she pressed the center red button on the remote.
Jade leaned forward so she could look over to her right and comment, "Cat, you don't say it out loud."
Sinjin spoke up with a reassuring tone, "That's okay, it's just rehearsal."
"Beck, your answer?"
He wore an uncomfortable expression and passed a quick glance down towards Freddie and Jade before answering, "I'm going to go with B."
Cat instantly wrapped her arms around and shouted out a soft, "Yay!"
"Calm down Cat, don't start something you can't finish—"
Cat's mouth formed an 'O' shape and a soft pitch sound then started to softly giggle as Beck gently disengaged her from him.
As Sinjin started to walk to Tori and Robbie, Trina began to speak, "Okay, our next query is for Tori and Robbie."
"I say that," Sinjin corrected her with a hint of irritation in his voice.
Trina complained, "Well, I should get to say something!"
Sinjin shouted back frustrated, "No!" He turned his attention to Tori and Robbie and continued, "Now, let's look at our query for Tori and Robbie. Tori, Robbie has a pimple on his back he can't reach…"
The dark curly haired teenager eagerly nodded and agreed, "That has happened to me."
Tori pointed over to Robbie and commented loudly to make sure everyone knew, "Not really my boyfriend."
Sinjin ignored her comment and continued, "Do you A, take him to the doctor, B, wait for the pimple to explode on its own or C, pop it for him." He pointed to the remote and instructed Robbie, "Robbie lock in the answer you believe Tori would choose."
Robbie smiled and patted the top of her hand and started, "What will my girlfriend, Tori say?"
She immediately slapped him hard on his hand to let go of her right hand.
Dusty rolled his eyes and shook his head as he mumbled under his breath, "Yeah… he is so into Cat." Ava softly laughed as she took that as confirmation of how he felt about the redhead.
Robbie pressed a button to make his choice.
Sinjin continued, "So Tori, what are we going to do about that back zit?"
Tori smiled as she answered with a soft pat on his arm, "Well… I think I would choose A, take him to the doctor."
The audience sluggishly clapped in response.
"And Robbie predicted you would say, C, pop it for him."
Tori snapped her head around and admonished the ventriloquist, "Gross."
Robbie threw out his hands and countered, "My mom does it for me,"
"Maybe that's why she screams in her sleep!"
Dusty leaned over and whispered to Ava, "How does she know that?"
The dark brunette shrugged her shoulders and shook her head as she was as much a lost as he.
Trina looked off from the side with an expression that showed her disgust as Sinjin walked to Jade and Freddie. "Now for our final couple: Freddie and Jade."
The audience clapped again then the host started, "Your query is—"
A strange noise started emitting from Tori's phone resting and the beam in front of her and grabbing everyone's attention. A voice on the other end started speaking, "Hello? Tori?"
Jade leaned forward so she could look past Freddie and asked with mild disbelief, "You're taking a phone call now?"
Tori was quick to retort as she picked up her phone, "I didn't even press answer." She looked to the audience and quickly explained, "I'm sorry, my phone is very broken, mom I can't talk now."
"Can you hear me?"
Robbie shouted into the phone, "Hi Mrs. Vega!"
"Hello? Tori?"
Trina whispered harshly, "Turn it off."
"I'm pressing end call."
Mrs. Vega's voice called out again, "I can't hear you."
Tori whispered into her phone, "Mom, just hang up."
"I'm at the drugstore; do you want me to buy you some more ointme—" She was quickly cut off when Tori shoved the phone underneath her bottom to sit on her phone in the hopes of muffling what her mother was saying.
Sinjin leaned over and whispered, "I have some ointment if you need it."
Tori shut her eyes for a moment then embarrassingly asked, "Please read the next query."
He conceded to her request and looked back to Freddie and Jade. "Okay, Freddie and Jade, your query is: You're stranded on a boat in the ocean—"
Jade had her weight shifted to her left elbow and casually commented, "I don't go into the ocean."
Beck spoke up with a mildly irritated voice, "Just let him finish the question."
She leaned forward and shouted back to the other end of the stage, "I don't like the ocean!"
Sinjin started with a worried expression, "Guys—"
Beck commented with a frustrated tone, "We are trying to help our friend with his game show."
Jade narrowed her gaze on her ex-boyfriend and answered with an irritated tone, "You know what happened to me when I was in third grade and went into the ocean."
Beck snapped back, "The dolphin was just trying to be friendly."
Freddie looked back between Jade and Beck for a few seconds then slightly frowned. He looked to Jade and whispered, "I don't understand."
She blew out a soft breath then answered, "I had a bad experience when I was in third grade and they creep me out, so I won't go into the ocean."
Freddie raised his brow as her statement was an obvious revelation to him. "Oh? That's why you wouldn't swim with me during the—"
Sinjin shouted out in frustration interrupting the tech-producer, "Just say A, B or C!"
She gave Sinjin an irritated expression at interrupting Freddie and randomly shouted out, "B!"
Beck shouted out with an annoyed and flippant tone, "Maybe it was A!"
She leaned passed Freddie again and shouted back, "I don't ca—"
Freddie interrupted her and shouted back to Beck, "Stop trivializing her feelings. It obviously bothers her!"
Beck snapped, "Oh stuff it and go back to Seattle while you're at it!"
Jade leaned back slightly with wide eyes and slowly closed her mouth shut.
Freddie blinked for barely a moment then narrowed his eyes and set his jaw tight as he looked on his girlfriend's ex. He knew everything had just changed with his simple statement.
The rest of them on stage looked on in muted shock.
Ava whispered out in shock, "Holy chizz."
Dusty looked just as shocked as his eyes were glued to the stage then called out in a louder voice, "That's not a 'holy chizz'. That calls for an outright 'Holy Shit'." He slightly shook his head as he whispered, "This is not going to end well."
Sinjin announced with a bit of nervousness, "We'll be right back for more Queries for Couples."
The older Vega sister walked up to his left. She smiled and spoke into his microphone, "Starring Trina."
"Stop it!" Sinjin snapped in frustration.
Mrs. Vega's voice came through Tori's broken phone, "Tori, do you want the ointment or the foam?"
"Ointment!" She paused for a moment then asked, "Wait, they have foam?"
Hollywood Arts High School
Los Angeles, CA
Thursday, January 19, 2012
Tori stood at her open locker to slide in a notebook as Robbie slid up to stand across from Tori and rest his hand on side her locker door. "What up girlfriend?" He closed his eyes and puckered his lips, but Tori caught them with her hands to stretch out his lips as she told him, "Stop pretending we are a couple; the game show is over."
He slightly pulled back and licked his lips then commented, "I don't think you want to get snippy with your pretend boyfriend who fixed your PearPhone so now it works without an extension cord."
"You fixed it?" she asked excitedly.
"Yep." He took a step back around the corner and answered, "Your mobile phone is once again mobile." He rolled around a trolley with the several batteries stacked on one another.
"What? What is this?" she asked as he held up her phone for her to take.
"Car batteries… from a Volvo."
"So I'm suppose to lug around these giant car batteries to power my phone?!"
"Or you could buy a new PearPhone GX to replace that one."
"No, if I buy another GX, I guarantee you the new XT'll gonna come out like the next day and then I'll be the dumb preturd with a GX while everybody else has the cool new XT regardless of what Dusty says."
Robbie smiled to her and rested a hand on her left shoulder. He whispered, "Take it easy baby."
"Robbie!" she scolded him with her raised left pointer finger which caused the teenager to drop his hand away from Tori and take a step back.
The friendly voice of Sinjin called out from behind Tori, "Hey Tori, Robbie."
The brunette turned and answered, "Hey Sinjin."
The curly haired teenager wore a smile and held a trophy in his hand as he asked the pair, "Have you seen Jade or Freddie?"
Tori answered and asked with a curious tone, "No, why?"
He held up the trophy and explained, "They got the award for Best Couple."
Tori raised an eyebrow.
He let out a soft laugh, "The audience really liked Freddie defending Jade. They thought it was pretty romantic, but they were a little disappointed that there wasn't a fight."
Tori blew out a breath and palmed her forehead. Freddie and Beck getting into a fight was the last thing she wanted to happen, but she had this overwhelming feeling that was going to be a foregone conclusion before all was said and down and it broke her heart.
The actress pushed those feelings off to the side for the time being and asked hoping for a happier distraction, "Is that Goobenstein guy going to put your game show on his website?"
"I'm not sure."
"What did he say?"
Sinjin slightly tilted his head to the side and commented, "Nothing, he just spit in my apple juice."
Tori sucked in a breath through her teeth and shook her head as she commented, "That's not a good sign."
Sinjin let out a soft and hopeful laugh, "Hard to say."
Robbie curious pointed out, "Hey, there's Beck and Jade."
Sinjin turned to look with the other two at Jade and Beck apparently arguing over something. The taller of the curly haired teenagers commented with a little fear in his voice, "I think Ava's right and I'm going to avoid…" He motioned his hand towards Beck and Jade. "…that. I don't want to be caught up in that mess."
Robbie readily agreed, "I think that's a good idea."
The pair of boys quickly turned to head around the corner a few lockers down from Tori's locker and dashed down the short hallway to the T-intersection.
Tori closed her eyes as she realized for the moment that was probably the best idea as she didn't know what she could do to help the situation and that she was probably condemned to help pick up the pieces. She casually shut her locker then blew out a breath as she got behind her trolley and gave it a good push to get started. She started on her way down the hall as Trina walked past her and insisted, "Just get another PearPhone GX."
"I am waiting for the PearPhone XT!" Tori shouted back defiantly as she pushed her trolley of car batteries as Beck walked passed her dragging Jade long by her by her right wrist.
Jade shouted out annoyingly, "There's nothing to talk about!"
"Yes, there is!" Beck shouted back as he held Jade by her right wrist as he pulled her along on his way to the janitor's closet.
The dark brunette teenager yelled out to the loitering teenagers around the lockers and stairwell, "He's kidnapping me! You all see it! Kidnapper!" As Beck opened the door and dragged her inside, she hissing out, "Let go!" Once they were in the closet, Jade complained one last time, "Kidnapper."
Beck started closing the door behind him as he looked on Jade, but the door suddenly stopped before it closed and surprising the actor. As he was about to turn to see what had stopped the door, he was jerked backwards from someone grabbing the back of his jacket collar and yanking hard enough to pull him completely out of the closet. He barely remained on his feet as he was turned one-eighty from the pull and stumbled a few feet down the hallway. Once he was confident he had settled on his feet, he turned with a bit of annoyance to face the one that had pulled him out of the closet, but the only thing he saw was a fist coming at his face. He didn't have any time to react before the fist collided with the left side of his jaw and sending him spinning and heading face first to the floor.
Fortunately, the jerking of his body into the spin naturally caused him to bring up his right forearm to stop his face and head from taking the full impact of the floor, but his shoulder. However, he still got a nice face full of floor that made his head spin from knocking a little bit of the floor with his forehead, but without breaking his nose or damaging any of his teeth.
The longer haired teenager coughed a few times that sent spittle and a bit of blood on hallway floor as he blinked a few times to try to clear his vision as the right side of his face lay across the cold polish hallway floor. The copper taste in his mouth was apparent as the inside of his cheek had been cut by his teeth from the impact of the fist to the side of his jaw and cheek. He patted around with his left hand a few times until he stopped to push up to allow his right hand underneath his chest to get free and help push him up off the floor to kneel on his right knee. He rested his left forearm on his left knee for a moment to catch his breath and try to wipe the spittle and blood off his lips with his right palm. As he stood up and ran his left hand through his hair to get it out of his face, he thought, "Damn, Freddie can hit like a freight train."
He turned around to face the one that gave him a nice punch to the face. "Freddie—" He stopped and his eyes shot open wide as the person he expected to hit him wasn't the Seattleite, but another Los Angeles immigrant. The actor blinked at seeing instead of Freddie, Dusty standing there giving him a cold and unyielding stare. Beck saw that the Southern teenager had dropped his book bag off of his shoulder and unto the ground and giving him a cold stare.
Beck broke eye contact to glance over Dusty's shoulder to meet Jade's eyes as she had stepped out of the closet and into the hallway with Cat coming out of nowhere to stand beside her with apparently spoons in her hands. As far as he could tell from Jade's expression, she was just as shocked and appeared somewhat helpless in understanding to what just happened. The red velvet haired teenager looked just as worried and confused. However, he ignored the fact that he and Dusty had became the center of attention from the surrounding students and some others around the entrance and stairwell quickly coming up behind him to see what was about to take place.
The Canadian born was about to speak, but Dusty spoke up with such a cold tone he had never heard his classmate speak, "The next one won't be a love tap, so turn your ass around and walk away before I really teach you some manners."
The taller teenager frowned and narrowed his gaze on the lean teenager. His jaw tightened up and ignored the pain from the punch to his face. He whispered out and let his irritation slip into his voice, "This doesn't concern you, so you're the one that should walk away." He tried to walk around Dusty to try to speak with Jade, but Dusty sidestepped and stopped the actor in his tracks.
The pair was now about a yard apart from one another as the slightly shorter teenager held his cold stare at Jade's ex.
The muscles in the back of Beck's neck and shoulders tightened as his anger started to build in chest while he eyed Dusty with a narrow gaze. "You need to move Dusty. I'm trying to have a private conversation with Jade."
Dusty matched his stare and snapped back, "And you need to kiss my ass, because you're not putting your hands on her again and you're going to have to put me down first before I'll let you force her to 'have a conversation with you'… and pretty boy…" Dusty shook his head and his cold stare turned into one of mild disgust as he finished loud enough for the surrounding students to hear him, "I don't think you got what it takes."
Beck stared at Dusty and the Southern teen stared right back at him, not willing to yield one inch to the actor. "If you don't think I will put you down then try me."
The taller actor looked around and saw that they were the center of attention. He looked back to Dusty and could tell that he wasn't bluffing; Dusty would fight it out with him right then and there and not care one bit about in kind of trouble he could face. Beck gritted his teeth as he realized he wasn't going to be able to talk to Jade in private, so he turned around and headed to the other end of the hallway. He called back, "We're going to have to talk about this sooner or later!"
Dusty let out a slow breath but kept his cold stare at the back of Beck's head as he walked down the hall and pass the shocked students.
Jade cautiously walked up behind him hesitantly began, "Dusty—"
The former Northridge student cut her off with a curt tone without taking his eyes off Beck's retreating form, "I don't want to hear it." Dusty leaned down to pick up his book bag then threw his bag onto his right shoulder and commented, "I'll walk you to class."
Jade realized that it would be pointless to argue with the teenager as he obviously saw it as a matter of honor. She gave him a nod then started on her way to class with the watchful boy by her side challenging anyone to get in Jade's way.
Vega Residence
Thursday, January 19, 2012
Cat, André, Tori, Trina, Beck and Robbie were already sitting at the poker table for the scheduled game and already played a few hands. The mood of course was completely opposite to what was intended for the get together as a way to take a break during the always hectic week at Hollywood Arts and to celebrate Tori getting her role.
There was very little chatter among the teenagers as for the most part they were focused on the game with the group individually stealing glances at Beck. Some of the glances were of concern as others were of expressions of them trying to figure out how things could have turned into a drama storm. The actor was particularly quiet as he almost mechanically played out his hands as a visible yellow and purplish bruise had formed on his left cheek and jaw.
They had all heard what had happened through Cat and others at school as the grapevine was quite efficient in getting news around the school of the near fight between Beck and Dusty over Jade along with the news of Beck wishing Freddie would go back to Seattle from Sinjin's game show. Apparently none of them were brave enough to bring it up with Beck or comment on the fact that neither Freddie nor Jade was here to play cards. Tori was somewhat grateful that apparently they had skipped it because she didn't want to see the confrontation between Freddie and Beck.
Actually, the singer was dreading the eventual confrontation. Simply pretending Beck saying he wished Freddie would go back to Seattle and his attempt to drag Jade to the janitor's closet against her will was not going to happen. She could not imagine the tech-producer just letting it go as he did with André's temporary crush on Jade.
However, the uneasiness around the table was not to last as the doorbell rang. Tori blew out a breath and laid down her cards as she called out, "I got it."
"Yeah, get it," Trina dryly commented as even she was feeling a little awkward at the table.
Tori quickly got up from her seat and walked towards the door. She opened it and paused for a moment to see Freddie looking at her with a narrow gaze and tightly closed jaw. She stuttered for a moment before starting, "Hi Freddie—"
He walked right past her and shouted, "WHERE IS HE?! BECK!"
The teenagers at the table turned their attention to the fuming former Seattleite with expressions that more or less a nonverbal form of 'oh chizz'. The actor got up from the card table and walked around Trina, André and Cat to stop at the threshold between the kitchen and the living room apparently having no concerns about Freddie's anger.
The tech-producer headed straight for him, but Tori rushed around to stand in front of Freddie and held up her hands in an attempt to calm him down while André got up from his seat in the hopes placing himself between Beck and Freddie.
Tori spoke with a nervous and desperate tone that played out on her face, "Okay, you're obviously upset—"
He tore his eyes away from Beck and directed them straight at Tori. He whispered out with a chilling tone, "Tori, I love you, but you have to get out of my way."
The brunette swallowed seeing his eyes as she felt genuine fear of what Freddie could do in the next few moments from not only the look in his eyes, but everything over the last two weeks. However, she shook her head and whispered out, "No."
He growled out as he held his stare at her in a possible attempt to intimidate her to move, but she knew deep down he wouldn't do anything to actually move her.
Beck called out with a quiet tone, "Tori, let him pass."
Tori looked over her shoulder to the bruised actor as if he was insane then exchanged a concern expression with André.
He wore an even expression as he continued with a tired voice, "We have to settle this at some point."
Freddie snorted out dismissively, "Damn well we do." Tori reluctantly stood aside as did André, but fortunately for a moment, the pair stood about a yard or two apart instead of up in each others faces.
Freddie grinned, but it wasn't a happy one as he sarcastically started, "Where do you want to start first? The part where you want me to go back to Seattle or the part where you tried to drag my girlfriend into the janitor's closet and Dusty was ready to beat you down for it?"
Beck frowned and took a deep breath. He let his irritation slip into his voice as he retorted, "That was none of his business."
"I don't give a jank about whose business it was! What I care about is that you put your hands on Jade when she told you no!" Freddie took a step forward and hissed out, "It seems you really do have a problem with a girl telling you no and all those times she told you no when you were together and ignored her weren't isolated incidences." Freddie pointed towards the discoloration of his jaw and left cheek of Beck's face. "I'm going to make this real clear for you right now: you put your hands on Jade again and I'm going to really teach you that no means no."
Beck deeply frowned despite the pain from his jaw at the teenager who had replaced him in Jade's heart.
André slightly slid between the pair and laughed out nervously, "Whoa, let's not start saying things we might regret in the morning."
Freddie frowned as he looked to André which caused the songsmith to take a step back. "What I'm I going to regret in calling out this asshole in not touching my girlfriend? You may have kept your mouth shut about how he treated her, but I'm not. I thought he realized how much he janked up with his relationship with Jade, but I guess I was wrong and he apparently didn't learn anything." He motioned passed them towards Trina and continued, "Look what he pulled on Trina. Did he ever apologize?"
The room went silent with Trina awkwardly looking away as his answer.
Freddie snorted out in disgust as he held his stare on Beck. "I guess not, but you're going to learn that it stops or you're going to pay for it… because you're not getting rid of me; I'm not going back to Seattle."
Tori whispered, "Freddie."
He looked to Tori and challenged, "What? He talked down to Jade, treated her as a child at times, let girls flirt with him when he knew it bothered Jade then pretended he didn't see it, put his hands on her when she said stop and none of you said a damn thing about it." He blew out breath with a smirk, "Hell, you all left her alone to go to Yerba after their breakup, so I really shouldn't be surprised that all of you would accept his behavior."
Tori and Cat had the decency to look embarrassed at him pointing out that fact.
Freddie continued with his anger still seeping into is voice, "Now he suddenly thinks he can still get away with it, but he can't. I won't let him."
Beck sarcastically countered as his own anger started to rise up, "Well you were conveniently there for her… take advantage of the situation."
Freddie broke into a grin. "Take advantage? Really?" He snorted out, "You're the one that ran off to another country instead of working out your problems with her. We became friends. It happened." He took another step towards Beck. "After Colonel Shay rescued your dumb ass, I practically shoved Jade back to you so you could work things out. I couldn't get out of the airport fast enough for you two to spend the afternoon together." Freddie looked to the rest of them. "Did none of you not notice that?" He motioned with a hand to Trina. "Except for Trina who wanted to get out of there faster than me."
Freddie snorted out a laugh and glanced to everyone before looking back to Beck. "You remember the dinner at Wok Star? I didn't show up and Jade had to come and get me? I told you that I just lost track of time playing computer games and didn't hear Jade call? I lied."
Beck frowned in confusion along with the rest of the group of friends.
The tech-producer shifted to a sterner voice, "I lied; I didn't lose track of time. I purposely ignored going and her phone calls. I wanted her to spend her time with you and give you two another shot to fix things because she loved you and I wanted her to be happy. I didn't want her to lose the guy she loved. I know how it feels to lose the person you love." Freddie frowned as he finished with a regretful tone, "It's not my fault you didn't step up and try again then or the weeks between then and when Jade and I got together."
Tori's mouth dropped open and eyes nearly bulged out of her eye sockets at that revelation with the rest of them joining her except Beck.
Beck finally whispered out in a tone that suggested that he might not believe his own words, "Bullchizz. She went to get you and you came with her. If that chizz you just said was true, you wouldn't have come back with her."
He let out a soft growl before countering, "She wouldn't leave my hotel room. It was either I went with her or she would stay for the evening. She wasn't going to let me just stay there by myself."
Beck shrugged a shoulder and retorted with a flippant attitude, "I don't believe you."
Freddie was about to snap back a reply when Jade's soft voice called out, "It's true."
Everyone turned around or their attention to see that Jade was standing at the open door with Dusty by her side as he wore a concerned expression on his face.
The pale dark brunette took a breath and continued with a soft voice, "He tried to give me some chizzy excuse to not go, but then admitted he wanted me to try again with you, try to meet you half way and at least try to start putting ourselves back together, but I couldn't walk out on him and leave him alone… I wasn't going to be Carly."
Beck shook his head. "Carly didn't walk out on him; he walked out on her."
Freddie bowed his head slightly and shook it while wearing a smirk. He looked up and retorted, "As if you knew chizz about my real relationship with Carly."
Beck took another step closer to Freddie so the pair were just a foot apart and snapped back, "You walked out on her after you listened to Sam's stupid 'foreign bacon' nonsense. You're the one that dumped her and told her that her feelings weren't real and you were the one that walked out on her again when you thought that she purposely tried to sabotage you with Nora."
Freddie frowned as it struck him on how Beck could have known about 'foreign bacon', but ignored it for a moment to retort, "Of course she tried to sabotage us. She knew I was planning to spend New Years with Jade and she wanted to—"
The taller teenager shouted out his interruption with real anger in his voice, "Carly didn't do it purpose! She just wanted Nora to stay in jail, but when the judge took pity on Nora with Gibby being forgiving of her, Sam just not caring and you forgiving her, she thought why not do the same thing for Nora? Why not give Nora the second chance you were giving her?"
Freddie jaw slacked as he looked to Beck in disbelief then retorted with a curt tone, "Why do you believe that chizz? How could you even know that even if it's true?"
The taller actor shouted back in frustration, "Because she told me and I believe her!"
Freddie's anger was instantly replaced with confusion and if the expressions on the rest of group's faces were any indication, they were just as confused as he.
Jade walked to stand by Freddie's side and crossed her arms under her chest and asked, "Carly told you? Carly told you? When?"
Beck looked down to the floor for a moment then looked back up to hesitantly replied, "When I went up to Seattle after New Years."
Jade corrected him with a furled brow and hesitant tone, "You went to Canada to visit family."
He blew out a breath and ran a quick hand through his hair with his right hand. "No, I didn't. I just told you that. I went up there to see her."
Jade took a slight step backwards and looked to him with a mild shock and the faintest of hints of feelings of betrayal. She whispered out, "Why? Why would you go up there to see her?"
He blew out a breath and bowed his head just enough not to meet her eyes. "Because she's my friend and I was worried about her."
The actress asked with evident disbelief, "Friend? You barely know her from Kenan's par—"
"Actually, I've been talking to Carly since Freddie moved in with you."
The first floor went silent as everyone instantly put on muted shocked expressions. They started glancing towards one another for confirmation that each had correctly heard Beck.
Jade was the first to find her voice and ask barely above a whisper, "What?"
"I… I…" He dropped his shoulders and threw up his hands. "She was the only one I could talk to, the only one that could possibly relate to what I was going through."
Jade took another step back and darted her eyes back and forth as she processed what he had told her. A few moments later, she looked back up to meet her ex's eyes and whispered out, "Going through…" She raised her voice to shout out with a harsh tone, "You've been talking to her this entire time… behind our backs!"
Beck slightly frowned from the accusation.
She sucked in a sharp breath as something occurred to her. Her face fell in fear as she whispered out, "Oh my God, Carly did know… she knew from you."
Beck frowned in confusion as he squinted his eyes as he looked to her.
Freddie gave her a confused and worried expression even as he was processing that Beck had just admitted that he was in contact with Carly the entire time to the point where he considered Carly his friend. "What?"
She looked at her boyfriend from the corner of her eye as she kept most of her focus on Beck. Her breath was starting to quicken as she answered, "You told Tori what you were planning to do on New Years…" She sucked in a short breath. "I told Beck while we were out getting ice cream for our poker game before New Years that I was going to tell you that I loved you at midnight."
She felt her chest start to contract as she blinked with the first tears started rolling down the valley between her nose and cheeks. Her voice became horse as she continued, "That's who you were texting before we went inside, not them. You were texting Carly. I... I told you so it wouldn't just be thrown in your face. You should be the first to know and that it wasn't meant to hurt you, but you... you turn around and you—" She sobbed out as it was obvious to everyone that her composure was completely breaking down, "—you tell Carly so she could sabotage me and Freddie on New Years!"
Beck raised his hands as he wore a completely shocked expression, "Jade, it's not like tha—"
He didn't get the chance as she slapped him hard across the left side of his face. His face stung from being struck directly on his bruise, but that's not the pain he really acknowledged; it was the pain he saw on Jade's face.
The tears were flowing freely from her eyes and she covered her mouth with her right hand. She whispered out, "How could you do that to me?"
"Jade…" Beck began, but she ignored him as she turned and ran past Dusty on her way to the door and out of the Vega home.
The expression on Freddie's face and motion of his head back and forth a few times to look at Beck and Jade's retreating form would have been comedic if it wasn't so tragic. Freddie looked to Beck with all the hatred he could pull from his soul and the teenager actually took a step back in fear then Freddie was dashing after Jade out the door. "Jade!"
The rest remained in stunned silence at what they had just witnessed.
Beck's shoulders slumped in defeat and wore an expression of complete loss.
West Residence
Freddie knocked on the bathroom door, but Jade continued to ignore him as she had done for the last few hours since they got home. He whispered out desperately, "Jade please open the door."
The room remand silent to his question. He blew out a tired breath then shoved the key into the lock of the bathroom that he had retrieved before checking on her again. He unlocked the door and cautiously opened the door.
The bathroom was completely dark and it was only for the hallway light that he could see that Jade wrapped her arms around her shins and held her knees to her chest while sitting in the center of the bathroom rocking back and forth. Her eyes were completely bloodshot and looked like she had run out of tears with the puffiness under her eyes. She blinked several times as the light nearly blinded her since her eyes had adjusted hours ago to the pitch darkness of the bathroom.
He cautiously stepped inside as if he was afraid of spooking her like a small animal then closed the door enough so only a sliver of light entered the room and not blind the dark brunette. However, she ignored him as he took a seat beside her. He carefully raised his left arm and wrapped it around her shoulders. Her shoulders and arms were bare since she had changed into a tank top after they arrived home and they seemed cold to Freddie's touch.
He kissed her temple then held her close to keep her warm and let her know he was really there for her. She stared off and remained silent.
Un-seeable to either of them, the pale redhead angel stood behind them in a corner of the bathroom and watched the pair with a sorrowful expression on her face.
Tori Vega: Bought another PearPhone GX – 'cus who knows when the XT will come out? Could be MONTHS. #Couldn'tWait FEELING: Texty 8)
Hollywood Arts High School
Friday, January 20, 2012
Tori walked down the main stairs as she typed away with her thumbs on the sky blue PearPhone cupped in her hands. As she finished and reached the bottom step, she stated to herself, "And text message sent." She turned to her left and stopped to see André at his locker with Robbie arms wrapped around himself holding Rex against his chest.
The ventriloquist asked curiously, "Where's the battery cart I made you?"
"I don't need it. I went to the Pear Store and just bought me another GX."
"Good," André commented with approval.
Robbie asked a little surprised, "I thought you were going to wait for the new XT?"
Tori sighed with a slight roll of her eyes, "Oh who knows when that phone is going to come out? It could be months."
The boys readily agreed with her as she continued, "You know; I needed a new phone now and the GX is fine. And look, I already installed talking Reggie." She tapped the touch screen then spoke, "Yo, what up Reggie?"
"Yo, what up Reggie?" the phone repeated.
Cat walked down the main stairwell wearing an eye catching royal blue dress and called out, "Hey guys, have either of you seen Jade or Freddie?"
The actress turned around and answered with a hint of concern, "No, I haven't."
André joined in with a down tone as he shut his locker, "I haven't either. I didn't see Freddie's Charger or Jade's car in the parking lot this morning."
The worrying feeling that had lingered with Tori for the rest of last night that had only subsided momentarily when she picked up her new phone was back at the forefront of her mind and heart.
"That's because they're taking the day off," Dusty called out as he approached the group from the school entrance a few yards from them.
They all turned their attention to the Southern teenager holding a small Pear Store bag. He stopped close enough to them at the end of the stairs and next to Cat standing one step up for Tori to reached up to place a hand on his left upper arm and ask, "How are they? Neither would return any of my phone calls or texts."
Dusty glanced with a slight frown at the hand Tori had placed on his arm. She dropped her hand with an awkward smile as she realized he didn't approve of the gesture.
He gave her a timid smile and refused to answer.
André stuffed his hands in his pockets and asked with a somewhat pleading tone, "Come on man, you got to tell us something; we're their friends."
He turned his attention to the songsmith and replied with a slightly cool tone, "No, I really don't."
André put on a slight frown as he gave the fellow teenager an expression that questioned whether he was really going to be that confrontational.
Cat rested her hand on Dusty's shoulder and whispered, "Please Soapy."
He looked to his ex with a guarded expression and literally bit is tongue for a moment. He let out a slow breath as the redhead's soft brown eyes did their magic (figuratively) on him.
Dusty passed around a glance to all of them then continued with a sympathetic tone, "It's fair to say that all of you are Beck's friend, right?"
They responded with a series of yeses and nods, not sure where he was going, except for André who quickly spoke up with a hint of offense in his voice, "You'd think we'd turn around and tell Beck what you told us?"
"I don't know; I guess it depends on which one of them you hold more loyalty to: Jade and Freddie or Beck."
The songsmith frowned and glanced away as Robbie looked nervous and Tori wore a lost expression.
Dusty shook his head and continued with a sympathetic tone, "I don't envy any of your positions. You have your friends on opposite sides and you want to stay true to both, but…"
Tori confidently answered, "We will… we are."
Dusty responded with a sympathetic tone and expression that showed he had pity for the actress, "You don't get to pick both. You either keep what I told you to yourselves thus picking Jade and Freddie's side or you tell Beck and consequently taking his side. You stand with one or the other even if you do nothing."
Tori frowned as she stared him straight in the eyes and contradicted him, "You're wrong."
He smiled and the gesture caught her off guard as he spoke, "I pray that you're right."
Tori blinked in confusion and was about to ask why he would say that, but Trina ran up to them holding up an orange Pear Phone. "Look what I got!"
Robbie excitedly asked, "The new PearPhone XT?"
"Yep," Trina answered with a smug tone.
Tori reached for Trina's phone and with muted horror whispered out, "What?"
Sinjin called out from further down the hallway, "I got one too."
Some other students on the other side of the stairwell called out that they had the new XTs.
The janitor down the hallway smiled and called out, "I got a blue one with unlimited texting."
Tori's mouth dropped open and was going into complete shock as Dusty quickly interrupted holding up the Pear Store bag, "And so do you."
Tori looked back to the webmaster as she was caught momentarily between the conversation about Jade and Freddie's wellbeing and the news that the new phone came out just after she got a new GX. "What?"
Dusty offered the Pear Store bag and she raised an eyebrow as she cautiously took the Pear Store bag and asked, "What's this?"
"It's the new XT. As soon as Freddie found out that it was being released, he was able to pull one for you and was going to give it to you today but… you know. He asked if I could swing by and pick it up for you… that's why I saw him this morning."
She pulled the box out of the bag and looked at it in shock.
Dusty shrugged a shoulder as he continued, "Yep… but you need to bring back your phone so they can activate it and put the money you paid for you GX on your XT. Freddie had to spend his own money for it. He was hoping he guessed the right color for you."
Tori cradled the box unsure how to respond to Freddie's gesture in light of what he must be going through with Jade at the moment. She looked up at Dusty a few moments later and asked, "If you see him before me, would you thank him for me?"
He gave her a respectful nod and answered, "Yes I will."
Cat held up her thumb and randomly asked curiously, "Does my thumb look Spanish?"
The group looked to her with patient amusement, but Dusty gently wrapped his fingers around her hand then kissed her thumb pad bring a giggle out the redhead. He smiled at her as he commented, "I don't know sweetheart, but it's beautiful anyway." He looked to Tori and asked, "You're Latino descent; does her thumb look Spanish?"
Author's Note: Wow, a lot happened in this chapter. I hope you liked my interpretation of events. All criticism is especially welcomed for this chapter.
I'm sorry, but I'm going to take a three week break from the story. I've really been pushing writing this much material in such a short amount of time and I need to slow down or I'll burn out. Also, if you like for me to answer any reviews, comments or question before the next update, please don't leave them anonymously because there's no way to PM you back and I'd like to answer you back.
Special Appearance by Julie McNiven as Anna