Hollywood Arts: A Beacon of Hope

Disclaimer: I own nothing

A/N:


Chapter 7 (Safe Haven)

Entering the house, Tori was surprised to see Holly and David lounging at the couch. She often wondered what those two did in their spare time, especially since they so often had lives elsewhere. "Hey," Tori waved at them and pointed out the door. "Trina's parking the car."

"Did you enjoy the tournament at the mall?" David asked. Tori sat beside the man and moved her hands behind her head.

"Yeah, it was fun seeing Trina's idol at the mall. Alexis Ortiz."

David snapped his fingers and lifted his head, "I remember that name from old police files. She was a good woman." She raised an eyebrow at the mention of police records. It didn't sound like Alexis had ever gone to jail, so what were the records?

"She was involved with the police?"

"Well, there's nothing I can say. She wasn't a criminal, but she had been involved. I was a beat cop and back then the police were not the best." His brow furrowed and his shoulders lifted up. Maybe that meant she'd been victim or witness to some crime they couldn't solve, but whatever the case, the woman made a life for herself and that was what mattered most.

"So." David curled his finger over his chin and arched his eyebrows. "That's the woman Trina's been going on about?" Tori nodded and glanced over as Trina entered the place. "Well I'd love to talk more, but Tori, your friends are waiting for you out back." She looked over her shoulder as David snapped his fingers. "Andre and Cat, I think are their names." Tori sat upright and twisted around to the back door.

"Great!" She wasted no time heading out to see her friends, though she regretted her fast run when she stumbled outside. Cat and Andre looked up at her with amusement from the porch table they were at.

"Hey Tori, you've got a great back yard!" Cat chimed. She sat with them and looked out to the large fenced in yard. There was a sense of disconnect with it, mostly due to the fact that it was not her house.

"Thanks. It's Holly's yard, actually." Cat's lips pursed and Andre looked off at the lawn. "Once Trina can get a job that will support the both of us, we're going to get our own place." It felt more like fantasy or a dream than actuality, but Tori had faith in her sister.

"No offense," Andre chuckled, "But I can't picture your sister in the job market." Tori rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. His face sank and Cat shot him a scathing look. "I didn't mean that the way it sounded. I just think she's self-absorbed, or in her own world sometimes."

"Sometimes." Trina would get lost in thought, and many times someone would be talking to her and partway through she'd tune them out. "You know she was three when we were separated from Mom and Dad? I think she still remembers a lot more than she tells me. I don't know why she won't tell me what she remembers, but I can tell it hurts. She acts like a diva sometimes, but only because doing that distracts her from those things that pop up when she's being serious. It's not her fault."

"You were a baby then?" Cat's eyebrows moved inwards and her hands lowered to the table. Tori took a deep breath and tucked her hair behind her ear.

"Yeah. I was only one. Our mother must have told the people at the adoption clinic our names and birthdays because this was what we knew our entire lives." She leaned forward and folded her forearms on the table. "Trina's more obsessed with finding our parents than I am, though. I think it's because of what she remembers."

"What do you think she'd do if she ever found them? What would you do?"

"I don't know." Her eyes lifted up to the sky and a sadness drifted up her back. Cat leaned over the table and Andre moved back, resting his arm atop the chair next to him. "Obviously I'd ask why they gave us up. Why we weren't good enough to keep."

"Maybe your mom didn't want to give you up," Andre suggested. She'd thought about that through the years, but it was still difficult to comprehend reasons that someone would give up their child if they didn't want to. "I mean there are a number of reasons. You know, at the school there are so many kids given up for adoption because their parents were drug addicts, murdered, put in prison…."

"I guess." She could see those possibilities, but didn't want to think of them being actuality. "I don't want my mother to be in jail, I don't want to think my father is dead."

"Many don't." Andre lifted his shoulders and leaned his head back. His chest expanded as his lips separated. "You know, my grandmother's the only reason I don't live in a homeless shelter?" Tori's heart lurched and her eyebrows pushed the skin between them upwards as Andre lifted his head up. "I moved here to be with my grandmother, but she can hardly take care of me. Can't pay my way through public school, can't do much of anything aside from think everything down to her own shadow is out to get her."

"Is that why you're at HA?"

"Pretty much." He crossed his arms and turned his eyes down to the table. "I used to live in New Orleans with my dad and brothers. You know, Harris is my mom's name? Grandma is my maternal…My family was destroyed by a hurricane." Tori moved her hand up to her mouth and bowed her head. Andre unfolded his arms and tapped his fingers on the table. His eyes slanted and body tensed. "Grandma didn't like Dad much. He was a musician-and of course she thinks music is a waste of time. She had me take her name and isn't thrilled I'm learning to play instruments."

"I'm sorry…" She couldn't imagine the pain or the sorrow he must feel from that, even in her situation there was the possibility of finding her parents one day. Be it a day from now or thirty years down the line. She had the dreams, the fantasy, Andre had a finalization like so many other people out there. "What happened to your mom?"

"She's gone." He waved a hand in the air and looked away. "Divorced Dad when I was young and ran off to be with some doctor up north."

"Hey!" Cat exclaimed above him, startling Tori. Tori glanced over to the girl and Andre's lips pressed down together. "Did you know you could still go to Sherwood if you wanted?"

"I don't have the money."

"I know, but I'm just saying if you did, you could." Cat appeared to be purposely trying to change the subject, and Tori could understand why. It was such a depressing issue to think about, and of course they were there to hang out and not get bogged down by their own misfortunes. "Like me, I go to another school because I can."

She leaned back and her eyebrows shot up. She thought everyone that went to Hollywood Arts was underprivileged. "You do? That's news to me. I thought they only catered to those that need them."

"They do," Andre replied. "Hollywood Arts isn't just a school for the poor and the homeless, or even the abandoned. They're a safe haven. A home for the neglected, abused and so on." Tori looked from him back to the redhead and furrowed her brow as she studied the girl. "Cat falls into that category…"

"Really, Cat? You don't seem…well, no one at the school seems like-"

"I'm at Hollywood Arts when I'm not at my other school," Cat folded her right hand over her left, stopping it from trembling. "My family doesn't even notice I'm gone. They're focused either on the fact that my older brother's off in the military and my younger brother's got problems." Cat's face twisted into anger and her hands began to ball up. "Well I've got problems too, I'm sick of sleeping on the basement floor, sick of being ignored…It doesn't help that dad's an alcoholic either, he's always coming home drunk every night and screaming at mom, screaming at my little brother, and telling us how worthless we are."

She stopped and closed her eyes, breathing in deep. Tori felt her body tense and looked over to Andre, who was studying Cat with a solemn frown. Now she was seeing more the value of that school than what she initially thought. She reached over and set a gentle hand onto Cat's.

The girl's eyes drifted up to hers, her nostrils were flaring and her chest heaving as tiny drops of tears formed at the corners of her eyes. "It's okay, Cat. How did you hear about the school, anyway?"

Cat shut her eyes and took a deep breath. "I ran away from home a couple years ago. I actually ran into Andre." Andre waved as Cat's lips curved into a tiny smile. "I was-" Cat's voice trembled and she quickly shook her head. "Andre told me to sign up for the school and I didn't think there was any point, but I went ahead. I started meeting with Lane-the counselor-and the people there just made me feel better about stuff…so I kept going."

"Sounds like you met a lot of good people."

"I did. Now I can just go there for an escape. It's somewhere to be-their doors are even open at night, so when dad comes home drunk…I don't have to be home." Tori's heart lifted and Cat cleared her throat. Her hands gripped Tori's for a second, then lifted to wipe away the tears in her eyes. "I haven't told my family about the place-I'm a little worried what they'd think."

"So you can just leave your other school and go straight to HA? Where do your parents think you're going?"

"They don't care. They always assume I'm working on some after-school project, and that's fine by me." Cat reached over and pat Tori's hand, smiling as she looked back into the girl's eyes. "I'm glad you decided to give it a shot, Tori. I think you'll like the school a lot!"

"Yeah." She felt her eyes welling up with tears and quickly wiped them. "I do think I'll end up liking it now that I know a little more about it."

Andre pat her shoulder, "Hey if you ever need anything you know we're here for you. I'm sure your sister's got you taken care of, but if she's busy or something, you can call us. Or that one other dude."

Tori turned her head and the corner of her lip tugged back with confusion. "What other dude?"

Cat gasped and snapped her fingers. "Oh! I knew I was forgetting something! This boy from Sherwood came by to see how you were doing, but left when he saw us waiting for you. He may have been busy."

Her brow furrowed and her heart skipped a beat when she realized who they were talking about. "Ian! Ian was over? Why didn't you tell me!" She got up quickly and hurried inside, the two of them followed after her.

Trina was on the couch with David and Holly, they looked up with surprise as she ran past them to grab her phone. She wanted to catch up with Ian and see what he wanted, and of course her phone was in her back pack.

Her conversation with Andre and Cat could continue later.


So we know a little more about Andre and Cat. Truly HA has provided them with some shelter.