Dog Days of Summer

Disclaimer: Don't own Victorious

A/N:


Chapter 8 (Deadlines)

Tori groaned as she felt a sharp nudge in her side, her eyelids creased as sunlight attempted to invade them. "Tori…" She swept her paw through the air and curled into a tighter ball, burrowing her face underneath her body to separate herself from the light. She could hear Beck's voice, but further ignored him as she preferred to remain asleep.

"Jade, don't." She felt another sensation on her side and continued to groan. "Jade…" His voice rose, but the warning was all too late. She felt herself rolling over the edge of the bed, her eyes shot open and she tried to grab the blanket as her body went flying off and landed on the ground with a loud thump.

"Why?" Tori shook her head and looked up with a soft groan, her eyes gazed at Beck and Jade with question. "What was that for?"

"You wouldn't wake up," Jade tilted her nose into the air and hopped off the bed. "I guess you were comfortable?"

"Was." She stretched her body and exhaled softly. "Until someone rudely rolled me off the bed."

"You're welcome! Trina and Clarence have been up for a couple hours now. I guess Trina woke up around dawn to get some of the farm stuff done. You missed watching her milk all the cows." Jade laughed while Tori looked off to the door. She had wanted to walk the farm with Trina and see her work, but she'd been far too comfortable to wake up.

"Well in my defense, that was the first good night actually being a dog." She slept far better than she had the first night, and she wanted to take advantage of it. Now she had a visual of Trina milking cows and wasn't sure what to make of it. "We walked by the cow area the other day, there were a lot of cows…"

"Yeah, like there's a lot of chicken in the chicken coop-you know they send milk and eggs to farmer's markets. A truck is going to come by today and collect all the milk and eggs. Overheard Clarence and Trina talking about it."

Tori's heart skipped a beat and she felt a powerful urge to run out, she was going to enjoy seeing this. "That's so cool, I didn't know they did that! Do they just do the milk and eggs?"

"I suspect they deal with more," Beck replied, "Don't you remember seeing the ranch hands out in the fields?" They weren't as numerous or seen often, and had their own quarters, but the farm did have people working for Clarence. Tori never thought about it, but she didn't know what the purposes of farms were until now. "There's even a harvester somewhere. They've got wheat growing, barley, vegetables, and so on. In fact, just this morning Clarence had one of his ranch hands load up some of the fatter pigs and drive them out…" Beck's voice saddened and Jade shook her head.

Tori's nose twitched and she shrugged once. "It's the process of life. I wonder if Trina married that marine-I know they move around a lot, do you think she'd be able to keep the farm if Clarence gave it to her?"

"I imagine so," Jade remarked, "It seems like she could be able to own it and have someone else maintain it if she had to." Jade walked towards the door and lifted a paw as she stopped and turned her head to Tori. Her eyebrows lifted and her lips parted. "You think Trina's getting married? Is she?"

"I don't know. She doesn't have a ring or anything. It was just a thought." She cleared her throat and joined Jade at the door. "You know how she and Jason met for the second time? Evidently Jason was still thinking about her, told Cat, so Cat took her over to my house. Trina ended up coming home later on, but he and Cat were right there."

Beck's head shot up and he laughed once. "Oh yeah, I remember that! It was your parents' anniversary and all of us kind of invaded." Tori's eyelids fell halfway at the memory. Beck actually didn't arrive at the house until later, but she remembered the others all huddled together on the couch. "I didn't know that was the reason the dude was there with Cat."

"They were waiting for Trina to come back from Grandpa's." Tori left the room, leading the others down the hallway. Her mind drifted to her sister's return from camp and her lips curved into a smile. "The day Trina came home, I was a little busy with something but I do remember the smile on her face. Mom was the one she told, and they agreed not to tell Dad-"

"Told what?"

"She had sex at camp. I overheard the conversation." She tried to remain nonchalant about it, but it still bothered her to picture Trina having sex. She heard Jade cough while Beck froze and blinked several times. "She and Jason. That was why she was pretty much glowing that day, but she was upset over having lost his information, so I guess Cat showing up with him was a pretty good thing."

"You think?" Jade cleared her throat and swat Beck upside the head. "Quit picturing it!" Tori glanced over and Beck shook his head. "I swear to god, men…One mention of 'sex' and their mind goes south."

"I suppose it would be bad if I said I couldn't help it?" Beck smiled innocently and Jade's eyes narrowed. Tori could hear the tease in his voice, so she continued to walk without bothering to get involved in this.

"It's my sister," Tori closed her eyes and exhaled her regret over having brought the subject up. "Don't think about my sister naked or in any sexual form, please. It…disturbs me." Her nose twitched and her face tensed.

"The thought of your sister in a natural act bothers you?"

"No." Her voice grew terse and her eyes drifted towards the ceiling. "The thought of one of my friends thinking about my sister in a natural act is what bothers me. Obviously." Jade chortled and Beck's head fell once more.

Jade smirked at her and tilted her head to the right. "Oh and I thought it disturbed you because her breasts are bigger than yours." Tori froze and closed her eyes, shuddering at Jade's words.

"Now you're just trying to bug me." It was no secret Trina was more 'blessed' than she was, and she was so often teased for it growing up. Though playful teasing usually consisted of Trina joking about her getting her 'womanhood' one day. "They're not that much bigger, and I'm not flat chested!"

"No? Beck, what do you think?"

Beck raised an eyebrow and started to laugh. "Oh no, no you don't!" He picked up his pace and started for the kitchen. "You're not getting me involved in this." Tori heard him curse and laughed when he muttered about Andre not being with them and his being the only guy here. "I bloody knew I should have taken an earlier flight, but no, I had to be nice and take a flight with my girlfriend because her friend wanted to take a later more private flight to Italy!"

"Hey, my father insisted!" Tori exclaimed in her defense. Because of his life in the police force, David wasn't just protective for the sake of being protective, he was always careful not to let his daughters go anywhere for fear that something might happen to them because of him. It was just part of the working personality of a police officer. "He wanted me to go on a less commercial flight, and I didn't want to go alone."

"She practically forced me to change plans," Jade replied. "Andre had already left, and since Cat and Robbie weren't going, I was the only one she could ask. Forgive me if I thought I wanted to have my boyfriend come along with me so I wouldn't have to sit and listen to Tori's prattling for several hours."

"Hey!"

"What? Your life isn't that interesting."

"Whatever. It's not like I talk about myself any more than you talk about your boyfriend."

"He's certainly more interesting than how you want to become some big time superstar but the last recording artist passed you up because you don't look the part."

A sneer stretched across Tori's face and the back of her lips lifted above her teeth as she replied with a scornful tone. "Not my fault they want some big chested bombshell to prance around half naked-or fully-so people will pay more attention to a skinny ass naked girl instead of the actual music."

It was true, recording artists didn't give a shit about real music anymore. They wanted Miley Cyrus or Lady Gaga, or people like Rhianna and Beyoncé who would perform sex acts on stage.

"The one thing I do know about my sister and her taste in music, she hates pop." Beck and Jade stared at her with bewildered expressions. She could feel them watching her as she moved into the kitchen. "I swear anytime I have my radio playing, if it's a pop song, most times she yells at me to turn it off. There are some artists she likes, but I wouldn't know who. I think she prefers more Spanish style of music."

"So…say you do have someone like Rihanna on-"

"Oh she will take a hammer to the radio!" Rhianna was the last artist Tori would blast on her radio. Trina had a passionate hate for Rhianna, Chris Rock, and that hatred also stemmed out to a lot of the Disney-made singers like Selena Gomez.

"Have you ever heard her listen to any music?"

"I heard Christina Aguilera playing a couple times, and some of Shakira's songs. I do remember hearing Shania Twain and Celine Dion once when she was doing homework-but most other times she's listening with headphones."

Tori glanced around the kitchen, looking for her grandfather or sister, but they were nowhere to be found. She wanted to find them so she could see what they were up to, and if they weren't in the house, they had to be outside.

"Anyway, enough of this, I'm going to go see if Grandpa and Trina are still working on the farm."

"I think they are," Jade walked over to the doggie door and pointed with her paw. "You guys first."

"Thanks." She hurried for the door and jumped through it. Once outside, the sound of her father's voice stung her ears and startled her. "Dad! Dad's here, guys!" Jade slipped through the door, grunting in reply.

Tori yipped and ran towards the sound of her father's voice. As she rounded the corner, she could see Trina and Clarence standing with David. Trina's eyes drifted towards her and her lips curved into a gentle smile, despite the clear distress on her face.

Clarence had his arms crossed, his shoulders were risen and broad, and his eyes narrow. David was in full uniform, standing in front of his black patrol car. He had his arms crossed as well and had a slight lean to the right as his eyes fixated on the two.

In the car were two men dressed in suits and sunglasses. Businessmen, by the looks of it. Tori cocked her head to the right and whined once, causing Beck and Jade to stop just behind her. "What's going on?" Beck asked. "Why does your grandpa look pissed off?"

"I don't know…He's dad's father, so I imagine he wouldn't be too pissed. Right?"

David lowered his arms with a sigh, his chest fell and his head shook. "Look dad. Trina. I'm not trying to be the bad guy here." David moved his hand to his chest and his frown deepened. "I have to enforce the law, you know that as well as anyone else."

Clarence's voice rose to a feverish pitch, his face had grown bright red and his muscles tensed. "I am not signing over my farm so a couple of businessmen can turn it into some godforsaken mall-or whatever the hell they want to do with it!" Tori jerked her head back and her eyes widened as her heart began to stop.

Her father was working for the people trying to take the farm? No, that wasn't it. He had to enforce the law, whatever that was, but how could he take the farm away from his father and his daughter?

David moved his hands to his waist, tucking his thumbs into his belt. ''Dad, without that deed you have no legal right to this land after you pass. We know your health is failing-"

"Hogwash, I'm as fit as a fiddle!"

Trina glanced at him and slowly shook her head, "The more you smoke the more you cough, Grandpa. You've been looking sicker than usual, too." Clarence swept his hand through the air and muttered angrily.

David untucked his thumbs and crossed his arms, straightening his posture and narrowing his eyes in the process. "Dad, you know Trina can't afford to purchase a new deed to this land if you die. These businessmen have a legal right to ask you to sign it over upon your death."

"Then why don't you purchase it?" Trina asked with a sharp tone in her voice. "You don't even need to run it, I'll stay here." David exhaled slowly and bowed his head.

"Trina. Sweetheart. I have no reason to purchase a farm. I'm not going to buy a new contract, and without proof of ownership, this land will belong to the public when your grandfather passes on. Again, not trying to be the bad guy here-but I have to do my job."

Clarence scoffed at the man and pointed a finger at him. "Is your job more important than blood, son? I don't remember your mother raising you to think that way!"

"It isn't like that, pop. I'm the only thing standing between those businessmen and a legal fight over this farm." He put his hands to his chest and raised his voice. "I'm protecting your home as much as I can considering the law. I can only do so much!"

Tori hated hearing all this, especially since it felt like her father was betraying them. Sure, he was only doing his job and trying to help as much as he could, but it was still betrayal in her mind.

The discomfort she felt fueled her to end this the best way she could. It mixed with the excitement of seeing her father, yes, but not by much. Without thought or care, she ran up to David and jumped up, barking excitedly. Behind her she could hear Trina trying to call her away, but she didn't listen.

David looked down scornfully at her as she wrapped her paws around his leg. "Get this mutt off me," he growled. Tori froze, she'd forgotten her father's intense hatred of animals. He shook his leg, causing her to roll off him and land beside Beck and Jade.

"Cleo!" Trina ran for her and crouched down, taking her into her arms. She threw her head up and glared at David. "You could have hurt her, Dad!" He scoffed and shook his slacks, straightening the pant leg.

Tori shook her head and curled her lips upwards. She could feel her heart pounding in her chest, belting out adrenaline and anger with each beat. "Beck. Jade." Her friends looked over slowly and their faces grew long. "I want him gone. Now! I want him off this farm!"

"But-he's your dad," Jade stared at her, still perplexed. "What are you saying?"

"Drive him off!" She tore herself from Trina's arms and stepped forward, barking rapidly at David. Beck and Jade reluctantly joined, causing David to flinch and stare down at the dogs. Trina attempted to quiet them, but they continued their fervent barking.

"Fine!" David threw his hands up and started to enter the driver's side of the car. Tori led the group until he slammed the car door shut. Trina picked her up and she stopped barking. The man rolled the window down and looked out at Trina and Clarence. "Dad, the only thing I can say if you want to keep your farm is find that lost deed-or find someone who is willing to purchase it! I'm giving you until the end of the month. If you can't get that fixed, then I have to let these guys purchase it."

Tori's heart sank as she watched her father roll the window back up and drive off. The end of the month wasn't too far away, and she didn't want her sister to lose the farm.

She put her paws over Trina's arm and looked up as her sister was hugged by Clarence. Jade and Beck walked over, both whining with concern.

"You know that's not the worst news," Beck said in a quiet voice. Tori sighed at him and closed her eyes. How was it not? She knew how much this farm meant to her granddad and to her sister, it was their livelihood. "Ares ventured out last night to Madame Fontessa's shop and found another animal that had been transformed by a curse."

"Great." She rolled her eyes and looked away. "And what was said?"

"He didn't learn his lesson and ran out of time. We also have until the end of the month to learn our lesson, or we'll be stuck like this forever. The last day of the month." Her heart stopped and a worried whine drifted from her, causing Trina to hug her tighter.

Two deadlines, and everyone's lives would forever change. She wasn't sure who to be angrier at. Her father, Madame Fontessa, or herself for getting stuck with this curse. Neither her father or the woman were bad people, they had good intentions it seemed. Her stomach tightened and she felt a rush of bile in her throat.

If there was ever a time to bring this up, now was certainly not it. "Thanks Beck. Why don't you stab a knife through my heart while you're at it…I feel like I'm going to be sick."


Well, there we have it. An amusing chapter but with some serious tension. True David isn't trying to be the bad guy, unfortunately so many law enforcement officers are thrust in that light because they're simply doing their job. Looks like the group, and the farm, both have deadlines ending on the same day. Lots to talk about in this chapter, so do tell me your thoughts.