I love my reviewers so much! I'm not always the most confident in my writing, although I try to do my best. You guys just keep me hanging on, make me feel good. Much love for that! Thank you all so much!
The quota has been met! Huzzah! But this time I'll need new words from at least 5 people for my next update, and words from people who suggested some for this chapter DO count towards that! As long as they're new words for a new chapter, it counts! :D PM THEM TO ME! This chapter's word comes from Ha-Yeah-I-Wish, so thank you!
Disclaimer: Don't own Victorious, no monetary gain, etc.
These Words
-Valentine-
This morning was pretty intense for me. It was like any other morning to begin with, but when my eyes fluttered open and I stretched my body out, I rolled over to see Jade's sleeping face inches away from mine. I nearly screamed out loud before I remembered yesterday's events. Okay so that's not really that intense, but I had just woken up. It gave me quite a fright.
Glancing at my clock - still a few hours until school - I rolled out of bed, not worrying about rousing Jade. I mean come on, she slept through gun shots, bombs, and screaming teens during our visit in Yerba. Trying to tiptoe around her seemed pointless.
I gathered the clothes I'd wear today and went to shower. I never spend much more than fifteen minutes in the bathroom. When I got back in my room Jade was sitting up rubbing the sleep from her eyes. "Morning." I said cheerfully, plopping down in my computer chair.
Jade grunted loudly and forced her hand through her hair. "How the hell are you up so early and still annoyingly cheerful?" She sounded like the normal Jade. Maybe she'd be okay?
I chuckled. "Because I don't have to be mean to be happy. You can borrow some of my clothes if you'd like. There's still time for you to head home I think, but if you don't want to..." Of course I wanted her to stay. She's unhappy and I just plain like being around her.
Her head tilted to the side as she pondered this. "You better have something good."
I stood up and went to my closet. "I never wear the clothes in my closet, I don't like them. But I'm sure I have a t-shirt you'll like." I shifted through the clothing momentarily until I found it. Pulling the black cloth from it's hanger, I slipped back out of the closet and threw it at her, walking towards my dresser for a pair of jeans.
The shirt was all black with almost blood red evil looking skulls scattered all over the front. "Where does Tori Vega get a shirt like this?" Jade asked with amusement in her voice.
Shaking my head I threw a pair of plain black skinny jeans at her. "My cousin. I guess he thought I was going through some goth phase. He was wrong."
"Maybe he thought that because you listen to Kittie."
I laughed out loud at this. "I don't listen to Kittie, not really. I like a few songs. Like the one I sang at the festival."
Jade frowned. "I like Kittie."
"I know. You wore a shirt with their name on it a while ago so I checked them out. I sang that song for you, so I could see your face. It was priceless. You looked so shocked!" I giggled at the memory and sent a pair of socks flying in her direction. "Bathroom's right across the hall."
She made her way to the door and opened it. Before she walked out she turned to me and said, "Thanks for not making me go home alone." And she was gone, in the bathroom, before I could say anything in reply.
.+.+.+.+.+.+.
Jade drove us both to school and we arrived way earlier than I usually do. She didn't tell me why we had to go so early, although I asked more than once in my complain-y voice. We both had Sikowitz this morning so we went to our lockers seperately and met in the classroom. Sikowitz was absent, as usual, he probably won't be here until a few mintues after the first bell rings.
I was in the room first, sitting and playing with my phone, when Jade came in and sat next to me. Right next to me. With the every other chair available, she sat next to me. I looked over to her with shock written all over my face.
"What?" She asked glaringly.
"You're sitting next to me." I said.
She laughed. It wasn't a joyous laugh, or amused. It was dry and forced. "Yeah I am."
It was obvious she was still in pain. Of course she is. I felt stupid for thinking she was alright this morning. She was acting, which is something she's extremely good at doing. I'm going to have to learn the difference.
Giving her a small smile I turned back to my phone, or more specifically the app I have for The Slap. I updated my status to say something along the lines of hating being at school early. Saying anything about Jade would just raise questions that I didn't feel like dealing with right now. Absentmindedly, I clicked to Jade's profile and noticed she hadn't been online since the day before her and Beck broke up. The last thing on her profile were the words, 'Jade West went from being in a relationship to being single.'
"I didn't change it." Jade's voice interrupted me, causing me to jump. "It changed when Beck changed his." Her arms were folded over her chest tightly. Her expression was blank but her eyes screamed her sadness at me - the sharp shades of green looking almost like whirlpools that were sucking me in, exposing her emotions. That's how I'll be able to read her. Her eyes didn't move, there were no tears, but it was obvious - the anguish and torment.
"I'm sorry Jade. I didn't mea-" I was interrupted.
"Don't worry about it." Her head turned away from me to glare out the window and my heart clenched.
Stupid, stupid, stupid! I screamed at myself. I'm supposed to be helping her, distracting her from the pain. Not giving her reasons to hurt. I clicked the home button and shoved my phone into my pocket, hating it at this moment. I contemplated saying something else, but at this point anything I say would most likely make it worse.
It wasn't long before more kids started to arrive. Some shruggers sitting in the back or off to the side. Cat bounded in before anyone else in our group, practically jumping into my lap to give me a hug. "Hey Tori!" She giggled out.
"Hey Cat, how are you this morning?" I asked, pulling myself from her grip with difficulty.
She stood again and clapped her hands together. "I was scared on the way here. My brother always yells at the trees but today he stopped and accused one of saying something mean." Jade and I exchanged glances as she continued. "He hurt his hand after he punched it, and he bowed to it. After he got back in he said he had to accept defeat like a man." She giggled out loud. "That was one tough tree!"
"Stop talking, Cat." Jade said in an irritated tone.
"Okay." The redhead said cheerfully, sitting down on the other side of me.
Robbie was next to show up, and after a few choice words from Jade to Rex, he spent his time talking to Cat. More shruggers, then Andre and Beck together, the bell rang and in came the rest of the shruggers. The only person missing from class was Sikowitz.
I couldn't help but to check on Jade every few minutes out of the corner of my eye. Especially since Beck was blatantly staring at her with an expression of mourning. I couldn't bring myself to be mad at him though. It was Jade that severed the ties. Yeah, she was having trouble with it, but so was Beck, and I hadn't bothered to ask how he is, not even once. Not even when he begged me to talk to Jade for him. I feel like a terrible person.
I contemplated texting him but that just wouldn't do. Jade would most likely see, and I should ask him in person anyway. It would just have to wait until I get a moment alone. Getting up and walking away from Jade to talk to Beck was just completely out of the question.
Sikowitz made his appearance in the window, but it was closed and locked. He had to pound on it and yell for someone - that someone being me - to let him in. He fell inwards and rolled, landing on his back. "Who locked that window?" He asked animatedly, jumping to his feet and tossing his bag.
"You did yesterday, sir." Andre piped up. "You said you thought there was someone chasing you on your way here so you locked it."
"Oh yeah." He said, glancing out the window suspiciously. He strode over to the window and shut it firmly, locking it again. "Okay!" He shouted out to us, rubbing his hands together. "Valentines Day is in two days."
I hadn't given much thought to the holiday of love, but I glanced over to Jade and her head was down. The last three years she's had a valentine. This would be her first time in a while without one. I had to resist the urge to put my hand on hers to comfort her.
"I was going to do a play, BUT!" He shouted the last word dramatically. "I've found myself a lady, so you guys get to go out and have fun!"
The rest of the class was spent discussing a play he had planned for two weeks after Valentine's Day. The cast would be decided at a later date. There was one drive-by acting stunt where we had to act like frogs trying to capture a fly, Jade didn't participate.
After the bell rang Jade took her time gathering her belongings, and so I did too. Once the room was clear, Sikowitz having been the first to run out of the door, Jade stood up. "Hey Jade." I said carefully. She stopped and turned to me, fixing me with an expectant glare. "I know this will be- I mean..."
"Spit it out, Vega. I have class within the next hour." She spat out in irritation.
I didn't take it to heart, that's just how Jade is. "Well I was thinking maybe we could be each other's valentines?" I knew she'd think I was only suggesting this because of Beck, but I really do want her to be mine - I mean my valentine. Oh same thing.
She gave a curt laugh and just left, not giving me an answer. My heart felt heavy as I walked slowly to my next class.
.+.+.+.+.+.+.
The Asphalt Cafe is the only other place I got to see Jade today. I was there before her, and like this morning, she sat right next to me even though every other seat at the table was available. I looked over to her and she emanated exhaustion. "You okay?"
"Fine." She said, spearing a piece of lettuce from her salad with her fork.
I shoulder bumped her, and a small smile appeared on her face. It melted away as quickly as it had come and I was sure I was the only one that had gotten to see it. Robbie, Andre, and Cat showed up together and sat opposite us. Beck didn't show up to lunch that day. The question and hurt in Jade's eyes went unnoticed by anyone that wasn't me.
We shared friendly conversation with eachother as we all ate, everyone but Jade. I was about to say something to include her but my phone started ringing. I pulled it out and my mother's name and photo flashed across the screen.
"Mom, I'm in sch-" I tried to say but she interrupted me.
"Tori, are you with Trina?" My eyes glanced around and found her fauning over a good looking senior.
"Not at the moment, but I could be." I replied.
"Well when you see her tell her what I'm about to tell you, and that I'll be there to pick you both up in a half an hour." I just noticed how thick her voice sounded, as if she'd been crying.
I stood up in a panic. "Mom, what's wrong?" Everyone at the table looked up at me in confusion.
"I-it's your father." She stuttered out, and it was obvious that she was starting to cry again. "He's been shot, he's in the emergency room."
My heart - which had been thudding loudly in my chest - stopped immediately. "What?" I asked as tears formed in my eyes. "Is he okay?"
"I don't know anything yet. He's in surgery. I'll be there in a half an hour." She hung up on me, presumably so she wouldn't break down right then and there. Or to do exactly that, I don't know.
"Tri-" I tried to call out to my sister, but my voice was weak. It was hard to hold back the dam of tears.
Jade stood up next to me and yelled for Trina. Her hands landed on my shoulders. "What's wrong?" She asked.
Trina scurried over with an irritated look but it quickly changed to one of worry. I directed my words towards her. "Mom will be here in a half an hour to pick us up." My voice was shaky, but intelligible. "Dad's been shot." I croaked out.
Jade's eyes grew wide, and Trina's mouth clamped shut to hold in a sob. "We're not waiting." She said with trepidation, pulling her cell out. "We'll drive there in my car." I assumed she was calling our mom to have her call the school as she raced toward the parking lot.
Jade shook me slightly so that I'd look at her again. "You want me to take you?" She asked, her voice is a lot softer and friendlier when she's worried.
"No." I said in a whisper. My mind couldn't comprehend this situation. Father, cop, shot, emergency room. It made sense, but my mind kept telling me it didn't. Who shot him? Where was he hit? Is he okay? Mom said he's in surgery. That word alone sounded dangerous and scary. "Surgey." I said out loud. It left a bad taste on my tongue.
Jade tilted her head in confusion, she had been saying something else but I wasn't listening. "What?"
I didn't answer, I just took off toward the parking lot where Trina was waiting in her car. I hopped into the front seat, and she backed up quickly, shooting me a glare. We were speeding towards the hospital in no time at all.
.+.+.+.+.+.+.
"Family of David Vega." A male doctor called out almost four hours later, and we all rushed to him, shouting questions. His hand, and clipboard rose into the air as if to tell us to quiet down, and we did. "I'm Dr. Vance. We had to induce a coma, but he's stable. It's still too soon to tell if he'll survive."
"Please tell us what happened. We weren't even told where he was shot!" My mother almost shouted.
The doctor sighed as if he hated to explain. It angered me but I kept my mouth shut as he began to talk. "He was shot in the head." The three of us gasped simultaneously, and fresh tears gushed from my swollen eyes. "Gunshot wounds to the head are more difficult to predict. Think of the skull as a closed box that cradles the brain. There isn't a lot of room for movement of the brain or swelling in the skull. If a bullet enters the head and wobbles around, the permanent cavity, or bullet track, may be large, but the damage from the temporary cavity, the shock waves sent from the bullet, that forms is even worse. There is no room for the brain to move and the shock waves often cause irreversible damage. For some lucky people, if the bullet velocity is high with little to no wobble, and it passes through non-critical parts of the brain, less damage occurs and survival is possible. This seems to be the case, but like I said, it's still too soon to tell."
Trina slumped into me and sobbed loudly. I hugged her to me and did my best to cry silently. There was no stopping the tears, but I could prevent myself from having a total meltdown. "When can we see him?" My mother asked, placing a shaking hand on my shoulder. Her face held a pained expression and I could tell she was trying her best to hold it together for Trina and I.
"He's being moved from surgery to a room as we speak. We'll be holding him in the Intensive Care Unit until further notice. When everything is settled a nurse will be sent to retrieve you all. I'm sorry I don't have more to tell you, Mrs. Vega." She nodded and Dr. Vance walked away.
It had taken another twenty minutes for a nurse to come and get us, and we all followed her in silence. Getting the air I needed was hard, it felt like the sadness was pushing down on my lungs, and whenever I took a breath, it would force it right back out. This morning my only worry was what to wear to school today. Well, and to make sure I didn't upset my moody friend. Now my father's been shot in the head and he's in a coma.
Suddenly I wanted Jade. She'd be able to hug me without crying. My arms wrapped themselves around my chest in a makeshift hug. I wouldn't have to feel her shaking in my arms as I clung to her. If she'd be willing to hug me. I know she's done it a few times before but there have been reasons. I made it possible for her to put on her play, and for her father to see it her way, she broke up with Beck, she was crying over Beck... I even forced her to hug me when she asked to come to Yerba with us. That was a painful one. My father being in the emergency room seemed like a good enough reason, right?
"Here we are." The nurse said, pulling me from my musings. I instantly felt horrible for thinking about that when we were on the way to see my injured father. But it was distracting me from crying.
I was the last one to step over the threshold into his room and I almost collapsed. There were breathing tubes in his mouth, and a large white bandage over a shaved portion of his head, a few inches above his ear. As I walked closer I noticed the entire right side of his head was shaved and there was another bandage towards to back, I assumed it was the exit wound.
His chest was rising and falling in a slow and peaceful rhythm, but it was ruined by whatever machine was allowing the oxygen to flow as it pumped into him noisily. My mother and Trina took the only two chairs so I leaned against the wall and stared at him. I wanted nothing more than to collapse onto him and wail my frustrations so the whole hospital could hear, but I didn't. I cried silently as Mom and Trina spoke to him, Trina holding his hand, Mom stroking his arm.
.+.+.+.+.+.+.
It's been two days and the doctor's still can't tell if he's going to survive. He's surviving though, right? Still producing those loud beeps from the heart monitor that I've counted in my head as a distraction more times than once. They should be able to tell by now! Not knowing is the worst.
Trina and I haven't been going to school, much to my mother's protest. But she didn't have the energy to fight us so we always won the argument. The only time we even left the hospital was to go home and shower, but we'd head right back immediately after. My phone died yesterday and I didn't bother grabbing my charger. I didn't want to talk to anyone, except maybe Jade, but she's got her own things going on. She didn't need me and my problems bugging her too.
Today I'm sitting in a chair next to him with my feet resting up on the bed near his waist. My hands were fiddling with my shirt as I sifted through my erratic thoughts. My mom and Trina were at home showering so I was alone. The urge to talk to him, out loud, was there, but every time I'd start I'd feel stupid. He's not conscious, so he can't hear me. But if he could then he should know that I'm here. Mom and Trina have told him I am, but I'm the only one that hasn't said anything to him. I guess once couldn't hurt.
I took a deep breath that quickly turned into a sigh. "I-" I started. Tears formed and a frog made a home in my throat, but I had to say something. "I'm here, Daddy."
A knock came at the door just then and I jumped, my feet landing with a loud plop on the floor. Looking up, Jade was standing in the doorway. "Jade?" I asked in a bewildered voice.
She nodded and walked in, one hand behind her back. "Just me, Vega." She walked up right in front of me and pulled her arm around to show me the two black roses she held. One had a card on it. She took the one that didn't and placed it on the stand next to my father's bed. "That's for him." The other she extended out to me. "This one's for you, Valentine."
I took it from her, holding back my tears. I flipped the card over to read what it said. 'Happy Valentines Day. Sorry for being such a gank when you asked me.' My hands shook as I brought the painted flower to my nose. It smelled like - well paint, but the flower's scent wasn't completely buried.
"Thank you." I whispered, closing my eyes tight.
"Any time, Vega." Her words were enough to break my will, and the tears cascaded down my face. I stood up and threw myself into her arms, and she hugged me without hesitation. Just as I imagined, there was no trembling - from her anyway - or sobbing. No tears. Just warmth, her steady arms giving me her warmth, tight but gentle, and it helped. Even though the tears didn't stop, it helped.
Argh. This was hard to write only because I was watching Mystery Science Theater 3000 at the same time. It's so damn funny! Lmao. I'm not going to lie, this idea was brought on by TWO words and I'd feel terrible if I didn't give Newsies the credit for 'Emergency'. But hey, I like that it's not just Jade needing Tori, Tori needs her too. Maybe I'll put angst as the other genre. Lol.
Mmkay. 5 different people need to suggest and then you'll get a chapter 9! :D Love you guys. PLEASE PM THEM TO ME GUYS!
