Chapter 9- That Me

Everyone was sitting in the Asphalt Cafe, eating lunch, as usual.

"Hey Andre" said Travis smirking "You got something on you lip"

Everyone looked at Andre then back at Travis because there was nothing on Andre's lip

"Oh is there" said Andre smirking back while wiping his lip with his arm

Beck broke in "Uh Andre there was nothing on your lip"

"I know" Andre answered

"But why would you..." Beck started but Travis butted in

"Beck, come with me and i'll show you what that meant"

Beck followed Travis around the corner. Travis showed him the picture of Tori drooling, that he had taken a few days ago.

"Inside joke?" Beck asked

"Yep"

Beck and Travis walked back to the table.

"What was it?" Jade asked

"Inside Joke" Beck answered

"Oh I love jokes" said Cat

"What was the joke?" asked Tori

"Sorry, can't tell you" said Travis

"Why?"

"Cause that's why its called an inside joke"

Beck wiped his lip, and Andre and Travis started laughing. Just then the bell rang and everyone started to walk to Sikowitz's class. As they walked through the halls they ran into Trina, who was walking alone with her head down.

"Hey Trina" said Travis

Trina just looked at him and walked away, which Travis thought was odd. Trina was usually the opposite of that, loud and confident, but when he saw her she looked very vulnerable. Travis knew something was wrong.

Travis went through the rest of the day smoothly, alphabetical improv in Sikowitz's, and Jade trying to force him to tell her the inside joke in script writing. Travis drove home with Tori as usual, and when they walked through the door Travis still had Trina in the back of his head.

"Hey Tori"

"Yeah"

"Do you know where Trina keeps her diary?" asked Travis

As kids Travis and Tori always found it funny to read Trina's diary. But whenever Trina caught them she would hide it in a new place, and over time it got harder and harder to find.

"Nope, why, you gonna do a little snooping?" asked Tori

"Yup, tell me when she gets here, ok"

"No prob"

Travis walked up to Trina's room, and opened the door. He looked around the room.

"Where would Trina keep her diary"

"Under the bed, no, in the desk, no, in the closet, no"

"Hmmm, awww she couldn't have, damn it I gotta try"

Travis walked over to Trina's clothing drawer. He opened the top drawer, which had Trina's underwear in it.

"I just had to be the nice cousin" said Travis as he stuck his hand in

"ewww" Travis groaned as his hand hit something hard

Travis pulled out the pink colored book.

"Ok lets see what we got here"

Travis looked through the diary. Most of it was what Travis had expected, which was Trina talking about how good she is. But then he looked over all the entries over the past month. The entries were based on this guy she liked, but never wrote the name of. It looked like she was afraid to talk to him, because she didn't want to lose her popularity. Travis smirked when he read that, Trina had always been different in public, than at home.

He kept reading, when he came upon something he thought was very disturbing. She had been forcing herself to throw up to keep herself thin. Travis needed to stop this, sure Trina was annoying and self absorbed most of the time, but Travis had always thought of her as his big sister. He knew, that when it really mattered, that she would be there for him, and that inadvertently he owed her some credit for getting into Hollywood Arts. Travis looked at the diary more, finding that she usually did this around 2 in the morning a few days a week in the downstairs bathroom.

Travis reached the most recent page of the diary where he saw something that shocked him so much that he dropped the book. He picked the book up again looking shockingly at the words written there. He couldn't believe it, he just couldn't believe it. It was the last line on the page, only four simple words. I LOVE ROBBIE SHAPIRO.

Just then his phone vibrated. He had just gotten a text from Tori.

From Tori

Trina's home, get out of there

Travis put the diary back and ran out of the room and went back downstairs. Trina was still looking in a bad mood, she grabbed a pint of ice cream and went upstairs.

"Did you find anything?" asked Tori

Travis lied for Trina's safety, and because he had a plan to help her. Travis was going to stay up tonight, and confront Trina about it.

It was 2 in the morning and Travis was laying on the couch. He knew he would be extremely tired in the morning but this concerned him more than sleep. All of a sudden he heard someone coming down the stairs softly. It was dark in the room, but Travis noticed it was Trina. By the looks of it she looked like she had some bags with her to. Travis heard her drop a bag, she swore a little bit then went to the light to turn it on. Trina turned on the light.

"Hey Trina, what'cha doing there"

Trina who was caught off guard dropped her bags, which were filled with food.

"Umm, I was just , putting this food away" Trina said nervously

"At 2 o'clock in the morning" Travis answered back

"Yeah, why are you up right now?' said Trina defensively

"Because I want that person back, who didn't care about how she looked in front of people, the person who wasn't afraid to be herself, the person who was my big sister"

Trina started to tear up "I can't be that person anymore"

"Why, why can't you be that person anymore?"

"Because that me isn't popular"

"That you, was the one that taught me how to be a writer, taught me how to be self confident, and was the one that got us both into Hollywood Arts"

Trina was crying now "But no ones going to like that me"

"I beg to differ, I like that you, Tori does, I would bet that most people would like that you, and if anyone doesn't why does it matter?"

"Because i'm afraid that certain people wouldn't love that me"

"I'm sure Robbie would love that you"

Trina looked at Travis shocked

"You didn't think I wouldn't look through all of it" Travis added

Trina was bursting into tears now

Travis walked over to her.

"Promise me that you'll be yourself, and i'll help you get him"

Trina started to calm down and nodded her head.

"Good now get to bed"

Trina walked upstairs and turned around.

"I love you, little brother"

"I love you to, Big sister"

Travis woke up the next morning, and went downstairs to eat breakfast. As he sat down to eat he saw Trina walk down the stairs. She had just some plain clothes on, with a hat on. It was the Trina that Travis knew and loved.

"How are you feeling today Trina?" asked Travis

"I'm feeling good, really really good"

Travis smiled "Welcome back Trina"