Lessons in Respect

Disclaimer: Don't own Victorious.

A/N: By the way a little easter egg, there are a couple cameo mentions here and there.


Chapter 7 (Getting to Know You)

"Okay. Andre, you did what?" Tori was still on the honesty and transgressions, but Andre was the last person. Soon she would begin asking them the important questions and setting up times for them to deal with her family. What she just heard, everyone else was shocked, except for Beck, who had been oddly complacent.

"It was meant to be a prank, Beck's idea!" Beck rolled his eyes as Andre tried to defend himself. Tori saw the obvious deflection of responsibility and made note of it in her notebook. Her nostrils flared out and her muscles tensed angrily. Not only was this the first she was hearing of it, Trina never told anyone, and this incident was just a few months ago! "We just wanted to spook her, so we sent the text message saying you were in trouble. We were going to go to where she drove and we were just going to damage the engine so she would get stuck out there in the dark. We didn't know there was some sort of gang fight going on! Honest!"

"Hold on, Andre." Tori lowered the notebook and looked to the stairs. A crease shot out across her forehead and she called on her sister with a deep, bellowing voice. "Come down here please, Trina!" Within minutes the woman was making her way down the stairs.

"What's the problem, Tori?"

"Andre says they did a prank on you and you got caught in the middle of some gang fight." Trina raised an eyebrow and studied Andre for a minute before snapping her fingers and pulling her phone from her pocket.

"Yes, that happened." She handed Tori the phone, showing the old text message. "I didn't tell anyone about it because I didn't know who did it and I didn't want to bother worrying anyone." She read the text out loud for the other friends to hear, and all of them were looking at Beck and Andre shamefully. It was sent from a phone that was unrecognized by Trina's contact list.

"Trina, it's me, Tori. Please help me, I'm stuck on the corner of 19th and Oak. I'm lost, it's dark, and I'm scared! My phone is dead and I'm using a stranger's cell, but it's unable to make calls." Tori lowered the phone and breathed out slowly, trying to gather it all in. "What happened when you went looking for me, Trina?"

"There was a small group of people, gangs, shooting off at one another. This man, tall and with dark brown hair, pulled me out of the line of fire. Said his name was Jesse or something. He pretty much kept me from getting shot." Tori's hand moved to her forehead and she exhaled once more while trying to keep her anger from flaring out uncontrollably.

"So because of the apparent 'kindness' of a gangster, my sister didn't end up on an extensive list of innocent bystanders killed due to gang violence." She clipped the bridge of her nose with her thumb and forefinger. "That's all, Trina…I think I understand why you didn't want to tell me, or dad, but thanks. I'm glad you're okay…Good to see you're not scarred or anything."

"Scarred? No, I figured out it was one of your friends, so I'm used to being thrown into bad situations thanks to them."

"Right…" After a few seconds, Tori regained her composure and turned to Andre. "Andre, it's not looking good for you. The blatant disregard you have for my sister is one thing, but to put her in that situation? I don't know what to tell you. Tell me again that it was Beck's idea and I'm going to be mad. You people need to take responsibility for your actions. Even if someone else suggested it, you still did it. You and Beck, right now, I'm not sure if I even want to give you two another chance. I mean, I want to, but forgiving the things you do to my family is hard…"

"Well what about Jade and the blood thing?"

Jade scowled at Andre and Tori closed her eyes, aggravated with how quickly Andre was trying to deflect his own guilt onto someone else. "That's a different person's separate crime. Yes, I'm pissed at Jade for it, and really trying to get over that so I can give her another chance as well. At least she has taken responsibility for it." Jade did acknowledge her guilt and admitted to not realizing how bad it was; she wasn't well versed in medicine to know that Tori had been losing blood at a faster rate than her body could replenish. "Not to mention, she didn't try and place blame on someone else or distract with someone else's idiot move! And Andre, accepting blame for your own shortcomings is going to make me all that more forgiving-especially in matters concerning my family members!"

"All right, I'm sorry! Damn! I didn't know what was going to happen."

"Should not have done it in the first place…Either way, let's get onto these questions." She glanced at the first question on the page and waited as Courtney handed each friend a dry erase board and marker, which confused the friends. "I know it seems juvenile but I want to see what each of you have to say, and if someone says the answer out loud, then you're going to know it even if you don't."

"Don't you trust us?"

"To be honest? No. No I don't. First question-" The first question was obvious. Her birthday. She lowered the page and looked towards Courtney with a raised eyebrow. "They're not that dense-I think, Courtney." Courtney lifted her shoulders and Tori turned back around, skipping over the question to read the second. "Color? What's my favorite color?" Her eyebrow lifted and Jade tossed the board onto her leg.

"This is stupid."

The remaining friends revealed their answer with Beck answering Blue, Andre suggested pink, Robbie asked about black, and Cat suggested red. "Okay, Black is my sister's favorite color, Robbie, not mine. Andre? Pink? Really? How many times have I said pink reminds me of pepto bismol?"

"I just guessed."

Cat lifted her hand and Tori glanced over, amazed that Cat was the one who got it right. Was it a stroke of luck, though? "Tori, I remember you're always writing with red markers, red gel pens. There was one time you kind of droned on about like this chemical that had a reddish tint. Also, when we met you said you liked my hair because it was red." The friends had bewildered expressions and Jade's mouth fell open. "So it's red, right?"

"Yes, Cat…"

"That has to be a fluke!" Jade commented. Cat stuck out her tongue and Tori silently shook her head.

"Next question. What is my biggest fear."

"I know this!" Cat immediately started writing, to which Jade followed suit as if trying to one up the girl. Beck, Andre, and Robbie were a tad slower in the process. When they revealed the answers, they were scattered all over the place. Cat answered losing her family while Jade answered water. Andre's answer was the dark, Robbie's was puppets, and Beck's was fire.

Upon seeing Beck's answer, Tori heard Courtney cackle. She turned around to her best friend, seeing Ian nudge the girl. Fire was the last thing Tori would ever be afraid of. That, and gas, she worked with both quite often in science classes. The Bunsen burner was her favorite tool.

"Seriously?" Beck muttered, "Am I really that far off? Robbie's the one that's got puppets down, of all things."

"Yeah none of you three guys are right," Courtney dismissed them with the wave of her hand. Tori put her hands to her hips and looked between Cat and Jade. They were both around when she told them the story of the water park and why she wouldn't go with them. As a child, she went to a water park with her family and got lost from them, scared that she was all alone and abandoned, she searched for them and ended up falling into the deep end of a pool. Trina must have seen her before falling, because she was the one that pulled her out. "Cat and Jade, you two are both right. I'm terrified of losing my family, and terrified of water."

Jade and Cat nodded and Tori turned her glare onto the boys, who bowed their heads guiltily. "Which is something that if you understood, you wouldn't do the things you do to my family." She looked to the next question, reading the words out loud, then pausing. "Who was my first crush?" Her eyes flicked up from the page and she looked to Courtney and Ian. "Seriously Courtney?"

Courtney gestured to Ian. "It's not like he doesn't already know." A handsome smile flickered on Ian's face, sending a shiver down her spine and she instantly turned back to the friends. They each had a dull expression and their answers were revealed. Cat, Jade, Andre, Robbie answered Ian while Beck answered 'that guy'.

"Okay, we're going to move on." She ignored the blush forming and growled out the next question. "What do I want to be when I graduate college?" She studied her friends expressions and slowly folded her arms. She cupped the paper over her arm and lifted her eyebrows. "I know I've talked about it to all of you."

"I don't know this," Jade muttered. Tori hummed as Jade looked off to the side. "I mean I know you said what it was, I just can't remember." Andre flipped over his board first, saying Tori wanted to be a musician. Her brow furrowed and her lips pressed tightly together. Beck's answer was singer/actress. Jade snapped lightly and rubbed her "I know it isn't that. Tori said it was just a hobby…"

Cat held up her board, proud of her answer. Tori rubbed her chin and smirked slightly at the word 'veterinarian'. "Tori loves animals, and I remember her saying this. Her best subjects are science and math, too."

"That was the next question, but yes Cat, that's right. I was also in the academic decathalon back in the eighth grade." Cat flashed a quick grin. Tori was impressed with the girl, and somewhat impressed with Jade. At least the others were trying, but she wanted to see more correct responses from them. "Come on, guys, if you don't know anything about me, how can I assume you care about me? How can I assume you give enough of a damn to try and show me any respect towards my family?" She shook her head and looked back to the questions. "Next, what does my mom do for a living?"

This time all of them, even Cat looked greatly confused. In Tori's defense, she never said much about what her mom's career was. "Okay guys, mom is a nurse. Just like Trina wants to be a cop like dad."

"And that I didn't know," Beck muttered.

"You don't know a lot about my sister-"

"Yeah I always thought she screwed someone in order to get into Hollywood Arts." Tori flinched and listened to Courtney begin to seethe behind her. She narrowed her eyes at Beck and lifted up a finger.

"First thing you need to know about my sister. Talent isn't limited just to singing, dancing, acting-athleticism is a big talent and she's one of the top athletes at the college right now. She never 'screwed' anyone, and if she did, it would be the man she's getting married to you arrogant, self-centered prick!" Beck's eyes widened and a collective gasp lifted from her friends. "Where athletic talent comes, she's got more talent in her fist than what you could pull out of your ass."

She rolled the paper up and scoffed. "Not to worry. Very soon you're all going to know my family like you've never known them before. If you aren't willing to respect them and if you can't-then I'm cutting you." Her eyelids slid open and her nostrils flared out. "I suggest not getting on my bad side…"


it seems obvious why she wants them to talk to her parents, she needs them to respect David and Holly as well, she values family and they are her family. Just be glad she doesn't have ten different siblings XD