Disclaimer: The show Victorious, its characters and other associated copyrights are property of someone else and not me.

Twist of fate

Chapter 8 – The mall – Part 1

No One's POV

"Where are you taking me?" Tori asked, as they neared the stairs.

"I don't know…I figure we'll go this way, until I hit something." Jade said sarcastically.

Tori couldn't help but notice, she was being wheeled straight for the stairs. "Or fall down the stairs…..which will happen in about 30 seconds."

Jade immediately stopped and moved the chair to the right. "I believe the little elevator for wheel chairs is this way."

"Yes, just a bit more to the right and just a bit ahead.

A few minutes later, with Tori's guidance, the pair was now outside the front of the school.

"OK, Vega, point me to the bus stop. Unless you have a car. Mine's at home. My dad says I should sell it. I told him no."

"Uh…It's to our left about 20 yards down the sidewalk. Why may I ask you still keep your car?"

Jade started to roll Tori up the sidewalk. "Because it makes it that much easier to run people down. Besides, it's my car and I'll be damned if I give it up."

"But you can't drive it."

Jade stopped and moved around the front of the chair. With an angry expression on her face, she dug through her bag and pulled out her wallet. Opening it, she revealed, a driver's license. See, a fully valid driver's license. I can drive just fine, I just happen to hit and run things over a lot."

Tori rolled her eyes, thankful that Jade couldn't see her. "Nice of you to not inform the DMV, that you can no longer see."

Jade shoved the wallet back in her back. "Let them figure that out."

By this point, they reached the bus stop and began to wait. "We will need the number 57 bus. Please let me know when it comes"

"Ok Jade, Where is that particular bus going? Dare I ask?"

"The mall. Which is a considerable improvement over this place."

Tori was a bit nervous about leaving school. She knew her overprotective father would not be pleased to learn she had skipped school to go to the mall, with someone he hadn't met. But at the same time she was pleased to be with Jade. It gave her a strange giddy feeling, which she found herself rather enjoying. Jade on the other hand leaned against the wheel chair.

Though Tori quickly noticed, frequently when Jade would hear someone walk by on the sidewalk she would "Stare" at them. Actually, she would intently gaze in the direction of the sound of the footsteps.

As they waited, some old woman walked by who looked to be bundled up like it was 20 degrees outside. In fact, Tori thought it was a very warm day. Jade fixed her sightless gaze on the woman and kept staring at the woman, as she walked past. The old woman seemed to grow visibly nervous and eventually stopped.

"What on earth are you staring at young lady!" The woman quickly snapped. "Don't you know it's rude to stare at people?"

Jade instantly burst out laughing and shrugged. "Hey, I like to mentally undress people. It's what I do. I can't believe those boobs sag all the way down to your snatch?"

Tori couldn't believe what she was hearing, she was terribly embarrassed. The woman just gazed at Jade in horror and for a second looked like she was going to have a heart attack. "You young people have no manners. No wonder the world is going to pot." The woman said, as she scolded Jade with a wave of her finger. Having said her peace, the woman lifted her chin and walked away.

As the woman vanished down the street, Jade just kept laughing. "Oh my god, that was priceless."

Terribly embarrassed, Tori was half tempted to head back into school. Not wanting to leave Jade however, she lightly scolded her instead.

"That wasn't very nice Jade."

"And your point is?" At this point a bus rolled up to the stop. "Ahh…Save by the bus. Tell me miss Vega is this ours?"

"Yes it is."

Tori moved to the wheel chair entrance of the bus with Jade holding on to the rear handle, letting Tori guide her. Within a minute they were on the bus. Tori guided Jade to a seat next to the wheel chair space. "Bus fares on me."

Having paid, Tori moved back next to Jade as the bus pulled away from the curb. Jade leaned her head back, saying nothing for at least 3 blocks.

"Why did you throw that orange at Ryder?" Tori could detect a hint of annoyance in her voice, as she said it.

"Who said I did?" Tori still was unsure if Jade was mad or not about the orange incident.

"I did."

"How do you know I threw that orange? Anyone could have thrown it." Tori said defensively.

Jade continued to look straight ahead. "A person that did that would have be either very brave or very stupid. I figured it had to the same brave soul that tried to eat at my table. That and you stood up to him. Nobody does that. But that brings me to my original question. Why did you do it?"

Unseen by Jade Tori began to blush. Her primary reason was that she hated that someone tripped the woman she had a huge crush on.

Tori decided to go with the partial truth. "Ok…I threw it. I heard he tripped you. Only a lowlife would do that to a special needs person. He needed to be taught a lesson. I did it in a way that couldn't possibly implicate you.

Tori looked at Jade to try and gauge her reaction. Jade tilted her head back and appeared to be thinking.

"So I need defending, is that what you're saying." Jade said acidly.

Tori didn't back down. "I didn't say that. He was a prick who not only messed with a special needs person, but someone I happen to know. I couldn't let that slide. I've been teased about my condition. I've had people take my lunch and hold it up out of my reach. It's humiliating and I hate it. I guessed that he did that on the first day as well. I saw you crying. I've cried those same tears."

Jade remained silent for another block, before responding. "Thank you." She said in a quiet and sincere voice.

"Your welcome."

There was an awkward silence for the 10 minutes before they arrived at the mall. When it was announced over the loudspeaker, Jade stood up and put her hand on Tori's wheelchair. As the bus came to halt, they moved to the wheelchair ramp and got off.

"The entrance to the mall is to the left up the sidewalk. Just hold on to my chair and I'll guide you.

Again the awkward silence returned, as they made their way up to the doors and into the mall. It was midday on a week day so the mall itself wasn't very crowded.

"Any stores you want' to go into in particular?" Tori asked. Though she guessed that they probably wouldn't shop in the same stores.

Jade was trying to think of something to say. Since her losing her sight, she had cut herself off from others and found it hard to work her way back. Though she had no idea what Tori looked like, she did have a good feeling about her. Maybe it was her voice, or the way her hair smelled or the fact that she stood up for her.

"Hot topic. The CD store, I forget its name."

Tori knew the both store's Jade mentioned were at the other side of the mall. Knowing her destination, Tori started to move. "I know where they are."

They had gone a few feet when Tori asked out of the blue. "Why aren't you mad at me? For doing that."

Jade cracked her neck. "You thought I would be?"

"Yes, after all I was interfering in your business. From what I've gathered, you don't like anyone in your business."

"So you've heard."

"Yeah."

Jade sighed. "it's not easy for me to deal with people anymore. It's hard just for me to admit that. I don't know how to deal with people anymore. I've been blind for 14 months and…" A very frustrated sound Jade said, her voice trailing off.

Now Tori felt it was the right time to ask. "Can I ask you what happened?"

"Is there a bench nearby. I just want to sit down."

Tori spotted one. "I'll guide you." Tori carefully guided Jade to a bench where she sat down. Tori then parked her chair next to the bench.

Jade paused for a moment and took a deep breath. "I suffered a stroke. I always thought if it as something that only happened to old people. In fact, many young people every year suffer strokes for various reasons every year. A lesson I learned the hard way. Did you know that Jessie J the singer, has had a stroke? Hers was a result of heart condition. I had an aneurysm and it caused a stroke. Most of the time if you have a stroke that affects your vision, it will only wipe out part of it. Mine was a bit more uncommon. It hit just in the right place and wiped out my vision entirely. I used to have perfect eyesight. Now I can't see anything and I never will."

Tori felt bad for Jade. She in listening to the Goth's story, could hear the pain in her voice as she told it. She could have said, I'm sorry or something like that, but Tori knew that jade's heard that more times than she can count. Instead, she pushed her own fears aside and told her story.

"We were coming back from eating out. Nothing fancy, it was just a Denny's. A long haul truck driver, had pushed himself too hard and driven too long. The police say he fell asleep at the wheel. His truck hit our minivan and sent it down an embankment. I was 12."

Like Tori, Jade could hear the pain in Tori's voice, a lot of it. She wanted to say something that would help, but Jade couldn't think of anything. She could never think of anything to say anymore. Anything polite, anyway. Most of the time it didn't bother her even remotely, today it did. Not wanting yet another awkward silence, Jade abruptly stood up.

"Looks like fate's been unkind to both of us. Come on, let's do some shopping."

While very uncommon, strokes can happen in young people. Jessie J did indeed have a stroke at the age of 18 and was caused by a heart disorder she suffers from. They even can on occassion, be fatal.