I'm on a roll.
~Tori~
So far, since enrolling in Hollywood Arts, I still haven't got over the fact that it isn't a normal school. Even the students are questionable sometimes. Take Cat for instance. She was almost the oddest one of the bunch. She's nice and sweet, but sometimes…I just don't know what goes on in her head. Today at lunch she came scurrying over to set down this weird machine thing on the table. It attracted all our attention, even Jade's. Although she was looking at it in a way that suggested she was pretty much used to this kind of thing. We all gave the machine a cursory glance before looking to a smiling Cat to explain. When she didn't, we went back to our food. I was sure she would explain eventually.
"Don't you guys want to know what that is?" she questioned. And there it was. Cat's curiosity always made her the first to point things out so it stumped her when we weren't quick to figure out what she had brought over. Jade looked up from her food to set her vibrant gaze on our red haired friend. The things she had to say were mean most of the time but I had to give her credit for the small amount of humor, snappy comebacks, and catchy one-liners. I'd like it more if she didn't use them to hurt people as much as she did.
"Is it a transporter from another dimension that can beam you to another table? Because if it is, what button do I push?" Jade questioned, her voice starting off light only to gain annoyance, hardening the tone. Cat was instantly upset.
"That's so hurtful," she responded. It was like an unspoken inevitability that I would step in to account for Jade's bitter words. No one else really risked Jade's temper but me. She seemed to know I would too because her gaze found mine for a second before I turned to Cat to offer her a smile before looking back at her.
"You know, you don't always have to be mean to everyone," I told her.
"See, Tori's interested in my device," Cat joined in. Usually, whoever followed the first to speak out didn't get it as bad, especially if I was the first to speak out, which was most of the time. Jade's temper ran stronger when it came to me speaking out against her. But even though I stuck up for Cat, I had to tell the truth.
"I'm really not," I said to her. She pouted.
"Aw, come on little red. Tell us about your do-hickey," Andre encouraged. Good 'ol Andre. Cat was now all smiles again.
"Ok, it's called The Snowbee. Watch," Cat explained, reaching over to push at some buttons. White flakes shot from it so suddenly we all jumped, but then we were glancing around in confusion.
"Is this supposed to be snow?" Jade scoffed while Cat squealed happily, throwing her hands in the air. Jade went on to scowl and try brushing off the fake snow. I chuckled quietly but had to agree that this thing was just unnecessary. Eventually, Jade had enough and got up to shut it off.
"It makes pretend snow!" Cat cheered. I just sat in place wondering why this was a good thing while Andre and Beck began brushing themselves off.
"I see that," Andre commented.
"It's all over my tostada," Beck mentioned.
"And my pizza," I remarked.
"Well do not eat it," Cat warned.
"Why?" Jade replied cautiously, looking to her.
"'Cause it says the fake snow is toxic and can cause abdominal bleeding," she answered, reading off what I assumed to be the machine's pamphlet. Almost as one we all shoved our food away.
"So…what made you buy a machine that poisons people's lunches?" I asked her, slightly upset I didn't get to finish my food. Cat happily pulled out a magazine to present it to us.
"This catalogue!" she exclaimed.
"Sky Store?" Beck questioned.
"Yeah. I went to visit my uncle and uncle this weekend in San Francisco and they had these on the plane," Cat explained.
"It's like filled with all kinds of cool stuff you can buy," she continued, flipping through the magazine. We only stared, not even moving when she gasped.
"Like this! A tree face! You put it on your tree to give it a face!" she joyfully pointed out, turning to the right page and showing it to us. None of us were interested but Jade looked particularly unamused.
"What if you don't have a tree?" I questioned, just to see what she would say.
"It also works on bushes," she responded. Well…that's all I had to say about that. Cat giggled and I looked to Jade and Beck, exchanging a questionable quirk of my brow with Beck's furrowed brows and Jade's creased ones. Nothing more could be said because Robbie showed up, speaking as soon as he arrived.
"Unbelievable! You guys have no idea how upset I am about-it snowed? In Los Angeles?!" he began to say but stopped to look up at the sky.
"I told you global warming was bogus," Rex piped up.
"Stop watching Fox News," Robbie told him.
"No! It's fair and balanced!" Rex denied.
"Dude," I began, looking up at him.
"It's not real snow," Beck finished. Jade gave him a look while she worked on scooping up some of it with a fork.
"But you can eat it," she offered, holding it out to him. I marveled at her ability to seem so innocent. Good thing everyone knew she wasn't. Most of the time, at least. Robbie sighed and sat down between Beck and I.
"I don't want to eat anything," he grumbled. Jade shrugged and dropped the fork.
"What are you all upset about?" Andre wondered.
"This time," Beck huffed out. I didn't like the tone to his voice, but it was true, Robbie did get upset often.
"Well, the seniors-the ones who run The Slap-" he began to say.
"Dot com?" Cat interrupted.
"No, dot gov, yes dot com!" Robbie answered. Cat frowned and I shot her a small but apologetic smile so that she wouldn't be too upset.
"They wanna cancel my blog!" he went on.
"Hey! No wait, I don't care," Jade told him with a snap of her fingers. I glared at her and Beck shook his head.
"Why?" I questioned Robbie. We weren't going to get anywhere the way we were going so I had to ask.
"'Cause it's boring. Ha!" Rex responded before Robbie could.
"It is not bor-pfft, do you guys think my blog on The Slap is boring?" Robbie snapped back at Rex before turning to us for our opinion. Uhh, by our silence I think we all had the same answer but didn't want to give it.
"Hey look, it's that guy over there," Beck suddenly said, changing the subject.
"It is that guy," Cat agreed, for once catching on to what was happening.
"Wait up guy," Andre added, joining Cat, Beck, and Jade in packing up. I stayed where I was. I was too sympathetic to ditch him. Also, I was pretty sure he knew what had happened anyway. As if to drive the point home, Jade strode by behind us.
"There's no guy," she stated. I glared at her once more but she just smirked in return and flicked me on the nose on her way past. I flinched and rubbed at it before turning to Robbie who had smacked the table. I sighed.
"I'm sorry they wanna cancel your blog," I offered.
"I just don't understand why," he replied.
"Well, what kind of things do you report on?" I inquired, hoping to find a way to help him make it more interesting.
"You know, school news. Like last week, I did a report about the library being painted," he shared.
"Boring!" Rex said, dragging the word out. Sadly, it was. Robbie turned on him, ready to say something, but gave up.
"What else?" I prompted, moving the conversation along.
"Um, I did a piece on Principal Eichner's new office make over," he said. Well, that wasn't too interesting either. Rex yawned dramatically this time.
"Oh! I did a three part series on carpooling!" he said, excited. Like that was any better.
"Which was three parts too many," Rex dissed. I closed my eyes and took a breath before speaking.
"Look, if you wanna save your blog why don't you just make it about the students here? You know, like all the stuff that goes on in their lives?" I suggested.
"You think?" he responded uncertainly. I nodded.
"Sure," I replied. After all, people always find the lives of others interesting. What could go wrong?
"Ok, I could try that," Robbie agreed, a hesitant but hopeful smile in place.
"Good," I concluded, moving to get my bag so that I could go.
"Oh, uh, don't eat the snow unless you wanna bleed internally," I warned him, gesturing to the mess all over the table. I patted his back then walked away. Hopefully that worked out for him. I smiled as I headed for class, glad to have helped out a friend. My smile wavered and then disappeared when Jade fell into step next to me.
"What is it now?" I questioned her.
"What did you tell puppet boy?" she replied, glancing at me once before looking forward.
"Just gave him some advice on how to make his blog a little more interesting, that's all," I told her. She shook her head and made a disappointed sound.
"What?" I demanded.
"Knowing Robbie he may just screw that up too. You should have just left it alone," she advised.
"And let his blog get taken down?" I responded, appalled.
"Yes," she confirmed.
"No!" I denied. She shrugged and sped up only to round on me, blocking my path. I put on the breaks and stopped just in time.
"Ok Vega, but if your little idea fails like they usually do you better hope it doesn't affect anyone but you," she threatened.
"Oh, like who? You? And what do you mean if it fails like it usually does? I helped you haven't I?" I retorted, offended. I tried my best to help anyone I could. I didn't always get it right but at least I tried. That's more than I could say about her. Well, she did help me here and there…
"Me especially, because after I ruin the nerd I'll be looking for you," she said with a poke to my chest. I rubbed at the assaulted spot.
"Fine," I stated.
"Fine," she reiterated. She shoulder checked me on the way past, stomping down the hall and yelling at some chick who had been standing in her way. I rolled my eyes and continued to class. The rest of the day seemed to fly right by and in no time I was back home relaxing.
~Jade~
Vega had no idea what she was getting into by helping Robbie. I knew him, and I knew that whenever he was involved it was doomed to failure in some way. Yes, not providing help for him was a crappy thing for us to do, but we all knew from experience that it always bit us in the butt in the end, which is why we stopped. A popular school status just wasn't in the cards for Robbie and I had a feeling Vega was going to have to see it firsthand. It was always the hard way with her. It was a few days later when I noticed inklings of gossip. Well, that wasn't unusual in a high school. What really caught my attention was when I heard what it was about. Apparently, a video of Vega was being spread around. It wasn't putting her in a good light but it was trending. That was new. I didn't like the chick but I hated the way people were talking about her more. Damn puppet boy. Like I said, help him out and you get nothing but grief from him in return. I passed a guy who was showing the video to this chick next to him. I growled and smacked his phone out of his hand. It hit the tiled floor and shattered the screen.
"My bad. Watch where you're standing," I threw out casually as I walked by. He opened his mouth to say something when I leveled him with a scowl. He bit back whatever he had to say, scooped up his damaged phone, and quickly walked away. The girl followed right behind him. Yeah, Vega was already getting some backlash. Too bad I couldn't fully enjoy it.
~Tori~
It didn't take long for people to start acting weird. I wasn't sure what it was but I had this strange feeling that I was involved somehow. But that wasn't it, right? Right? I mean, maybe it's just me? No, it wasn't just me. After hearing about a video concerning me that was posted on The Slap, and then getting laughed at behind my back a few more times, I checked for myself. What I saw had me seeing red. Maybe Jade was on to something when she told me not to help Robbie. Ugh, and now I was agreeing with Jade again. Great. Anyway, I was ready to confront Robbie about his latest post so I didn't hesitate to advance on him the moment I strode down the hall, turned the corner, and spotted him.
"Robbie!" I growled. He gasped and tried to run for it but I charged and grabbed him before he could go anywhere. He squeaked when I yanked him around to face me.
"Uh, um, h-heya Tori…how are things?" he stammered, eyes flicking everywhere but at me. He was looking for an escape but I wasn't going to give him one. I stood with a tense posture, my hands gripping my notebook, and a narrowed eyed glare aimed right at him.
"I see you're still rockin' that chin zit," Rex commented. I was so ready to let my fists fly but I stopped myself, and it wasn't because Rex threatened to sue me. It just wouldn't be right. I let out a sigh and dropped my fist, trying to relax.
"How could you post that video of me squeezing my pimple?!" I demanded, outraged.
"Y-you told me to make a blog about the students! T-the stuff that goes on in their lives!" he pointed out. No, this was not my fault.
"Yeah, not the stuff that grows on my face!" I bit back.
"But it's really popular!" he defended. Not when it harms people's feelings! What was he thinking?
"I told you to do stories about what's going on in students' lives, not to embarrass and degrade people!" I yelled at him, trying to keep myself as calm as possible. He shifted a little but said nothing so I kept going.
"I mean seriously, is being popular that important to you?" I questioned him. He seemed to be thinking about it, exchanging a look with Rex.
"Yes," he decided, turning and walking away. I stood there, too stunned to move. I didn't know if I was more angry or embarrassed now. I had no choice but to continue on with my day, enduring everyone talking about me. No matter how many times I heard or saw anything to do with that dang blog I got angry all over again. It wasn't until we had a free period, that we all spent in the Black Box Theater where we watched more of Robbie's horrible blog, when I was done with allowing it to continue.
~Jade~
"Welcome to Robarazzi, starring Robbie Shapiro. Robarazzi, you're home for up to the minute tasty gossip about students at Hollywood Arts. Robarazzi, starring Robbie Shapiro," the video Robbie announced. I stood behind Beck, glaring at the computer screen with crossed arms, a coffee in hand that I sipped at every so often. Vega sat in a seat in front and off to my left. She was staring at the screen too. This was the longest time I've ever seen her angry. I told her helping Shapiro was bad news, but did she listen to me? No, of course not.
"Oh my god," she grumbled.
"Coming up on Robarazzi, Tori Vega's pimple. Shrinking, or growing?"
It showed a picture of Vega now, looking really angry, with a red question mark over it. Then it zoomed in. Vega scowled further at the picture. I watched as Beck's hand came close to her chin but was slapped away. The abrupt and swift countermeasure made me smirk.
"Don't touch it!" Vega snapped at him. He pulled his hand away and shifted in the chair he was sitting backwards in. He held up his hands submissively and Vega left him alone. All our eyes were back on the screen of the laptop in front of us.
"Also, does Andre Harris have a ketchup problem? Hmm?"
We all looked to Andre who stood behind Vega. He looked back at us and shrugged.
"Does Sinjin Van Cleef steal famous teeth? Probably."
I nodded along with the others for that. Sinjin was known for doing some pretty oddball stuff.
"Is it splitsville for Beck and Jade?"
I had just taken a sip of my coffee when I heard that. I looked at the video with wide eyes and flared nostrils, my anger rising. My relationship with Beck may not be as boyfriend and girlfriend as was expected but it was still a relationship which I didn't like to hear being questioned. Beck glanced back at me and then smiled with a shake of his head, unconcerned. Of course he was.
"All this and tons more on Robarazzi, starring Robbie Shapiro."
As soon as the video was over Vega stomped her feet and got up, determination written on her face and held in her stance.
"He's a dead man," she decided. I couldn't agree more.
"Beck and I aren't splitting up," I commented, just to make that clear for myself.
"Well…" Beck began. I stopped to stare at him, unamused with his teasing.
"Dude," I stated, a tone to my voice that was all warning.
"Kidding," he amended, raising his hands. Why does he always have to do that? He knows how sensitive I am when it came to things like that yet he still did it.
"I use an appropriate amount of ketchup," Andre remarked next, insulted.
"Let's go fix this right now," Vega suggested, moving to head for the double doors after collecting her bag. We did the same and moved to follow her out, but she stopped.
"Cat, are you coming?" she questioned our currently shopaholic friend.
"Oh my god! Underwear that floats!" she exclaimed, holding up that Sky Store catalogue again. She then rushed to pick up her phone while we all became just a little more concerned. She really had to stop buying from that thing. Where is she even getting the money for it? We eventually turned away and walked out the door with the plan to either persuade or even outright yell at Robbie. I was sure Cat would be fine on her own. We made our way through the halls to the room Robbie and his team set up in. Vega burst in first, shouting, followed by Andre. Robbie tried to turn us away since he was in the middle of talking but we ignored him. We were on a mission. I was the next to throw his information back in his face with a point of my finger. Beck began to question it again and I yelled at him but he said he was kidding. Yeah, keep messing with me. It isn't funny and I'm already wazzed off. I caught Vega rolling her eyes at our bickering.
"Uh, are you guys getting this? Because this is really great stuff!" Robbie asked the camera man, which oddly enough, was Sinjin.
"Robbie! You're not gonna have any friends left if you keep exploiting us for your dumb blog!" Vega yelled, anger like I never heard from her before lacing every word. I couldn't agree more with her at the moment. Although I didn't really care too much about having Shapiro as a friend, I wasn't too keen on having anymore lies being spread about me. Who knew what he would say next? Robbie ran over to his board of notes, uncaring of Vega's rage.
"Ok. We have Tori freaking out," he added. I could see her tensing and my own disbelief flickered on my face. What was wrong with him?
"Is he serious?" Vega questioned, glancing at us before stepping toward Robbie. She began to rant and we supported her, crowding him by the board. Some of his team joined in, trying to stop the outrage. I turned on one of them, ready to give them a piece of my mind too, when Vega yelled over us.
"Stop!" she ordered. We all did as she said to look at her.
"This is your last chance. Are you going to stop this Robarazzi thing of not?" she questioned Robbie. There was a moment of silence while he thought about it. We all waited.
"No," he finally said with a shake of his head. We all looked at him, dumbfounded. But then Vega clenched her jaw, looking like she was seconds from bashing the nerd in the face, but held it back at the last moment. She spun on her heel and strode to the door. The rest of us had no other reason to be there so we left too. I kinda hoped Vega had a plan to fix this , as she always did, because I was ready to implement my own methods, which wouldn't end well for Shapiro.
~Tori~
I sat at home with my laptop open and arms crossed, staring at the recent video Robbie put up of us on what he termed a 'psychotic rampage'. I shook my head and growled my agitation. I had decided that it was time to do something about this. No more Mrs. Nice Girl. It had to stop. There had to be something I could do.
Dear fellow students:
PLEASE STOP LOOKING AT
MY PIMPLE!
Mood = Embarrassed
The next day at lunch I spent the majority of it self-conscious of my face. I glanced around at everyone who passed with a hand pressed to my chin to hide the widely talked about blemish. Jade shot me a raised brow but I just shook my head.
"Ugh, I'm so mad at Robbie. I feel like everyone is staring at my pimple," I stated, addressing the whole table.
"Everyone is," Jade told me, voicing what I already knew. Why did she have to make things worse? I frowned at her, but she just shrugged.
"How do you think I feel? Five people today asked me about my ketchup addiction. One kid called me Mr. Ketchup," Andre spoke up, peeved.
"It's all Tori's fault," Jade said, looking at me. Here we go again.
"Really?" I replied sarcastically.
"They were about to kick Robbie off The Slap. You were the one who told him to start reporting on our personal lives and then you gave him ideas by letting him shoot videos of you playing with your pimple!" she exclaimed. I could only frown and look away.
"Give me the salt," she demanded. Andre reached over and passed it to her. She did tell me not to help him and I didn't listen. Now look where we were. I just wanted to help. I didn't think something like this would happen. Some guys came up to our table to give Andre a huge jug of ketchup, taunting him. Andre yelled that he didn't have a ketchup problem but they had already left, snickering. The flash of a crowd of students toting cameras caught Andre holding the jug, and all he could do was squint his eyes at the multiple flashes. We shooed them away and they quickly retreated.
"Who were they?" Andre inquired.
"Robarazzies," Beck answered.
"Robbie's little ninth grade photographers," Jade added, eyes flicking to Andre.
"Aw, man, now Robbie's got pics of me with this industrial sized ketchup. We gotta do somethin'," he groaned, setting it aside.
"Clearly," Jade stated. I took a breath to calm myself.
"I think we just have to show Robbie that we're not going to be his friends unless he stops embarrassing everybody," I suggested. It was the best I could think of at the moment. Everyone went quiet with their own thoughts. Even Jade had nothing more to say. Cat suddenly giggled next to me, and it was then I realized the new machine she had in front of her.
"Is that from the Sky Store?" Beck asked. Cat nodded.
"Uh huh," she confirmed.
"What is it?" Andre questioned her next.
"It's the world's most powerful portable juicer. 'For juicing on the go!'" she answered, announcing it like it was some commercial ad.
"You're so screwed up," Jade commented.
"No, it's really cool. Lookit," she disagreed, stealing Beck's pizza right out of his hand. He stumbled over his words, too caught off guard to make much of a deal, but Cat just stuck the slice in the top of the machine. We watched as she flipped the switch and juiced it. We all looked a little shocked, except for Jade, who looked disgusted. Cat giggled again.
"See!" she said, passing the cup of liquid pizza to Beck.
"You juiced my pizza," he stated, slightly miffed as he held the cup in his hand.
"Why chew what you can drink?" Cat replied like it was obvious. I shook my head. Robbie showed up right after that and we all frowned at his appearance.
"What's up my peeps? How're you doing this fine day?" he greeted. Did he not realize the hostility directed at him? Was he that oblivious or did he really think he could do this to us them act like he didn't do anything at all. He found a spot between Jade and Andre who both didn't look too happy to have him there. Beck turned away, Cat narrowed her eyes, and I crossed my arms. Robbie turned to Andre and pointed at the jug of ketchup.
"You really need that much ketchup?" he questioned. Andre only stared. Without warning, he grabbed Robbie's backpack and launched it far from the table. No one was surprised. I guess it was better than decking him.
"Hey!" Robbie exclaimed. Jade followed that by opening his lunch and tossing it over the table and onto the floor while Robbie stammered over his words. He acted like their actions were unfounded, like he didn't know why it was happening.
"What's wrong with you guys?" he asked the table. I decided to remind him.
"Stop embarrassing us on your dumb Robbarazzi blog!" I yelled at him. It was then when the whole table went off on him.
"You guys embarrass yourselves! I just get it on tape and show the world!" he spoke over us. We all fell silent, disbelieving what he just said.
"Well, we don't wanna be your friends 'til you stop," Andre told him.
"Fine. Lots of other people wanna be my friends. Smart, attractive, people! See you on the web," he replied, getting up to leave. Well, that didn't do anything.
"Do you want me to juice your bagel?" Cat asked me. She didn't stay mad too long.
"I really don't," I responded. She only giggled and rested a hand on the juicing device. The rest of us could only carry on eating until lunch was over. By the end of the day I was so ready to go home.
~Jade~
I heard Cat had acquired something called a Ball Freshener that cleaned tennis balls. What's up with that? She didn't even play tennis. But of course, now she had the world's thinnest racket so that she can practice. She said Lane had tried to talk to her about her obsession but then he got distracted with her purchases. Figures. Someone really had to help Cat out of this. Later that night after working on homework I couldn't help but see what other dirt Robbie managed to get on us. The video I found almost made me throw my laptop in a fit of anger and fear. He managed to catch a conversation between Beck and I during one of the times we were out chatting in his car. I guess it could be called a date, but really, it wasn't meant to be.
It was just Beck and I being ourselves. Oh, and also for him to try and talk some sense into me again, which I ignored. That was the part of the conversation I dreaded that they had overheard. They hadn't caught that, thankfully, but the fact that they were sneaking around and recording us without permission easily got me angry again. I grabbed my phone and called up Beck to tell him what I had seen. He tried to calm me but it was too late. This was all Vega's fault. She had to be the one to fix this. I would make sure she did. I hung up on him, grabbed my keys, and then threw on my boots before stomping out the door. I drove straight to Vega's house and slammed my fist on her door. I didn't even care if I was bothering anyone. When no one answered I growled, pulled out my phone, and called her.
"Who are you and why is your number blocked?"
"Open your door," I demanded.
"Jade?"
"Who else? Now open the door Vega!" I replied, hanging up on her. A moment later she opened it and I pushed past her to barge in.
"You're lucky you opened it quickly," I growled at her, stopping to stand in the middle of her living room with my arms crossed.
"What are you doing here?" she asked. I was pleased to hear a cautious tone to her voice.
"I'm here to make you miserable for giving Robbie that idea. Because of you, everyone could of…they saw me talking with Beck…You know what? Never mind. Those creeps were spying on Beck and I when we were out together!" I told her.
"Why are you screaming at me then? Shouldn't you be reserving all your anger for Robbie?" she replied. I clenched my fists and then advanced on her, catching her by the shirt before she could flee.
"I'm screaming at you because it's your fault!" I snarled, yanking her closer so that I could grab her from the front of her shirt and hold her in place. We were almost nose to nose now.
"J-Jade-I-I…" she stammered, eyes wide. At that moment the door opened and Beck ran in to skid to a halt.
"Sorry for coming in without knocking but I was afraid I wouldn't get here in time," he explained, gesturing to me. I let Vega go to round on him.
"Get out of here, Beck. I'm handling the problem. Or, part of it," I said, glancing at Vega who was busy smoothing out her shirt with a frown.
"Jade, relax. You need to think about what you're going to do first and then-" he tried to say, but I just spun him around and pushed him towards the door.
"I am relaxed. In fact, I've never been calmer. I just want a little chat with Vega," I forced out in the best calm voice I could manage, throwing in a tense smile that I knew he saw right through. He sighed and looked to Vega, who looked back in a pleading way, but then he was looking at me.
"You sure?" he asked me.
"Yeah, whatever," I answered, waving him off then turning to grab Vega by the arm. I dragged her into the kitchen and deposited her in a chair at the table where her homework was spread out along with her laptop. She threw one last look at Beck but he just gave her a reassuring smile. He knew I wouldn't do anything too bad to her. She didn't know that though.
"Be nice," he told me on his way out. I ignored him.
"B-but…" Vega said, worried. The door shut behind Beck and Tori slouched in her chair. I slammed my hands on the table, startling her.
"Now find the video," I commanded. She quickly opened The Slap and found the newly uploaded video. We watched as the recording picked up just after Beck had offered to cheer me up. They barely missed the conversation we had about Vega. To say I was relieved was an understatement. I could only imagine what would happen if that got out. I watched as I complained until I happened to catch the camera guy camping out in the backseat. I pointed him out and Beck joined me in screaming at him until he jumped out and ran away. My eyes went to Tori to see that her mouth was hanging open and her eyes were wide in disbelief. She slammed the laptop shut and crossed her arms, sitting back in her chair.
"He's going too far," she said, looking to me out of the corner of her eyes. I nodded, staring at the closed laptop instead of her.
"Maybe we could, you know, put our heads together and think up a plan?" she suggested. I quirked an interested brow.
"What did you have in mind?" I inquired. Her eyebrows and nose scrunched in thought as she held a finger to her chin. I kept my face in a scowl and ignored how cute the expression was.
"Oh! Maybe we could-" she began to share, hopping up in her excitement, but tripping on the leg of the table. It skid a little to the left, hitting me in the hip, and knocking me off balance just as Tori fell against me. I stumbled back, throwing my right hand out to land on the table and stop us from falling. My left hand subconsciously went to Tori's waist, gripping so that she didn't hit the floor. Her left hand had done the same as my right, reaching past me to press on the table, while her right grabbed at my left shoulder. We stood there, almost nose to nose again, and stared at each other in shock at both the proximity as well as the near fall.
I didn't have much time to enjoy the unexpected contact, or even for Vega to start questioning the situation, when there were flashes at the glass door leading out to her patio. We both tensed and looked to see one of Robbie's Robarazzies snapping pictures. My grip on Tori tightened and then I pushed her away to charge at the trespasser. There was no way I was letting those pictures see the light of day. He panicked and ran for it but I chased after him. I heard Tori calling to me but I didn't stop. I snagged the guy by the collar of his shirt, choking him, and then wrestled him for the camera which I forced from him. I shoved him away and then threw the device on the hard ground, pleased to see it shatter into pieces.
"That's not even mine!" he groaned.
"Then you shoulda thought of that when you stupidly snuck into someone else's yard to take pictures of them!" I yelled, ready to punch him out just for being associated with that stupid blog. He cringed when I advanced and then ran for it again. I slammed my boot down on the camera and then kicked it away, happy to relieve some of my anger. Tori came running out and stopped next to me.
"Jade!" she scolded when she saw the destroyed camera.
"What? Did you want to give Robbie more ammo?" I questioned haughtily, crossing my arms.
"No. But you could have been less violent and just took the camera from him," she mumbled.
"Yeah, well, now he can't take any pictures at all," I replied, my anger only simmering now. Tori sighed but nudged me and gestured for us to go back inside. When we walked in she adjusted the table while I shut the door. She then sat down and held her head in her hands with her elbows resting on the table. Mrs. Vega came in carrying bags and rushed over to show Tori something she bought. I stood on the sidelines and watched with delight as she tried to get Tori to try some foreign pit cream. Tori complained and refused, especially after she asked why her mom thought of her and bought it. Mrs. Vega finally gave up but told her she would try it later after I left if that was the reason why she wouldn't. After putting everything she bought away and going upstairs, Tori avoided looking at me. She was a little pink in the cheeks, clearly embarrassed.
"Like I didn't get enough of this already at school," she grumbled. I only shrugged. That was parents for you. I must have been crazy to think this, but I was going to let it slide. I could have teased her mercilessly, but as she said, we had all gotten enough of being embarrassed.
"What are we going to do?" she groaned, sounding tired. I walked over and sat on the table next to her. She looked like she was going to reprimand me but then thought better of it. I just smirked and leaned back to rest on my hands.
"We need to put an end to this," I remarked.
"Yeah, but how?" she replied, looking to me. She looked like a kicked dog. I avoided looking at her.
"Hey, I know what we can do," I said, brightening with a devilish idea. I shot a knowing smirk at Tori who sat up expectantly. God, now she looked like a hopeful puppy. I really had to stop thinking like this. I jumped off the table and then pulled up a chair so that I could share my idea with her. I was surprised when she added to it, making it better. That nerd was so going to get it.
~Tori~
GONNA GET YA Robbie Shapiro.
LOOK OUT.
Mood = Mischievous
I couldn't believe I just teamed up with Jade to get back at someone. It felt good to be on the same side for once. It didn't take much to set up our plan besides sharing it with Andre and Beck who we needed help from to make it work. We met up by my locker between classes. It was right after the guys had gym. We waited and waited, for what seemed like too long for me. I kept pacing back and forth, unable to settle. Jade stood leaning against the wall of lockers, picking at her nail polish, a camera strapped around her neck. She had bullied one of the Robbarazzies out of another one. It was kind of ironic that we'd be using it against Robbie. She looked so calm compared to me.
"Where are they?!" I stressed, turning to her.
"Patience," she replied, voice stern and steady. She wandered out to the middle of the hall with the camera in hand.
"But they finished gym ten minutes ago," I told her.
"It takes time to get from the locker room all the way here," she reminded me. I paced back over to the corner of the hall to look down it expectantly.
"Hey, did that pit cream work?" she asked with some curiosity when I turned back around to face her. I couldn't tell if she was teasing or generally asking but I didn't want to talk about it either way.
"Never, speak of it," I replied with a raised finger at her, the one holding the camcorder I had brought for the plan. She raised her brows at me but shrugged and said nothing. I might as well add what happened before that as something we probably won't speak about either. A second longer and we heard a door opening. We both perked up. This was it.
"Ooh, turn it on! Turn it on!" Jade told me with a type of excitement in her voice that was new to me. I liked hearing it. I also didn't mind the touch to my arm she gave me in passing. There was no time to dwell on either of those things because we were about to get our revenge. Jade held the camera at the ready and I powered up the camcorder. Beck came racing down the hall with Andre right behind him.
"We got him," Beck announced with a smile.
"He's right behind us," Andre added. They moved out of the way just as Robbie came around the corner yelling. He wore nothing but a towel around his waist. We had him right where we wanted him.
"It's not funny! You guys better give me back my clothes or I swear I'll-" he began only to freeze when Jade and I began taking pictures and recording him.
"Ah! Turn off the camera!" he shouted uselessly.
"Why? You look so cute," I taunted innocently. The few students in the hall began snickering behind us as they watched.
"Dance for us, Robbie," Jade joined in, taking on the voice of a modeling photographer. She snapped another picture.
"Give me back my clothes!" he yelled again.
"Should we?" I questioned, looking to Jade, Andre, and Beck standing behind me. The three of them thought for only a second before disagreeing.
"Yeah, I think we need to put this video online," I mentioned. Jade nodded and circled around to stand on my other side.
"What? No!" Robbie exclaimed, horrified.
"Sorry," Jade said, not sounding sorry at all as she took another picture.
"People want to see what the people want to see," I told him, throwing his words back at him.
"You cannot put this video online!" he commanded, shaking a finger at us.
"Ok," I replied.
"No problem," Beck said.
"We'll kill the video…" Andre began.
"…as long as you kill Robarazzi," I finished, turning from Andre to Robbie.
"What? No!" Robbie disagreed.
"Yes!" I demanded.
"My blog is a hit!" he exclaimed. Yeah, like that makes a difference when he wasn't the one in front of the camera. But now he was.
"Alright, then I'm just going to zoom in right here…" I threatened, doing as I said with Jade taking more pictures which I had a feeling were close ups too.
"No, no, don't, don't, don't," he pleaded, moving to block the lens with his hand. I pulled away.
"Are you going to stop?" I inquired pointedly.
"Well if I don't do Robarazzi what am I going to do for my blog on The Slap?" he questioned, arms out. I hummed in thought and then smiled.
"Throw him his clothes," I said, looking to Beck and Andre. They nodded and tossed Robbie his clothes. He dropped some but collected them off the floor to hug them to his chest. Jade glanced at me, waiting for me to share what I had thought of. This was sure to be a safer idea than the last one. Everyone, including Robbie, agreed that his blog should be about low carb recipes. He muttered something about what to name it then ran off. Probably to get dressed. I exchanged a rare smile with Jade and felt ten kinds of relief. Everything would be better now. Hopefully.
Mmm…now I want a blueberry
muffin. I am one hungry girl!
Mood = Hungry
At the end of the day, Andre, Beck, and I sat down on the stairs in the main hall to try and talk Cat out of her Sky Store obsession. I was seated next to her with Andre on my other side. Beck stood leaning on the rail next to Cat. She sniffled and looked close to tears, sitting there clutching at the magazine while she flipped through the pages. I could see why Jade opted out of helping. A potentially crying Cat wasn't something she liked to deal with.
"Come on. Let me have it," Beck encouraged, holding out his hand. Cat whined and held it tighter.
"Maybe I can talk my parents into giving me my credit card back?" she said, looking at each of us. Beck sighed.
"Cat," he began.
"It's time to say good-bye to Sky Store," I chipped in.
"Don't you think that's the best thing to do?" Andre questioned softly. Cat looked at each of us again, distressed. When she looked at Beck he gestured for the magazine again. She petted it in farewell and then held it up to him with a squeak. Beck took it and tore it in half, causing Cat to squeak again and cover her face. I sympathized, but really, it was better this way. I scooted over and rested a hand on her shoulder.
"Look, I know it hurts now but you'll feel better soon," I told her. She took a deep breath and then let it out.
"I know," she mumbled.
"Wanna come hang for a while?" Andre offered.
"Nah, thanks. I just wanna sit here," she replied with a shake of her head.
"'Kay. Bye," I said, patting her on the head before getting up.
"See ya, sport," Beck added, tapping her with the ripped magazine before following. Andre caught up to us shortly after. We bounced ideas off each other concerning where we would go and I reminded Beck to get in touch with Jade to let her know. He just smiled at me in a way that made me raise a brow at him, but he just shook his head. What? We should at least let her know so that she wasn't left out, right? It wasn't like I wanted her to go…well, maybe a little.
~Jade~
I walked down the stairs but stopped on the second landing when I saw Cat talking to Sinjin. He ran off and then Cat pulled out a Sky Store magazine. Wait, hadn't the gang put her through an intervention yet? If they had then she wasn't supposed to have that.
"Hey Cat," I greeted, walking down the rest of the steps to stand next to her. She yelped and tried to hide the magazine but I just yanked it out of her hands.
"No more," I ordered, tearing it in half. She whined and stomped her foot.
"Not again!" she cried out, her head bowed. I just rolled my eyes and strode past her. Those idiots really underestimated her. Maybe I should have been there, but I really didn't like seeing Cat cry, which is why I left so fast. I tossed the torn magazine in the trash on my way out and pulled out my phone to see a text from Beck telling me where everyone had decided to hang out. I replied that I was going with. Vega would be there. Why wouldn't I go? Messing with her would be a good ending to a day that had already gone so well.
