Lockdown
Disclaimer: Do I look like I own Victorious? I do not, leave me be.
A/N: By the way, I've updated the poll choices for you on my profile, so as of this chapter I want to see where your suspicions lie.
Chapter 10 (Fall From Grace)
"Beck, do you know what they're saying out there?" Robbie sat with Beck at the cafeteria table, staring at his friend's hunched form. Beck's hands were vigorously running through his hair. Andre sat nearby, his arms folded over on the table and his head shaking. "They really think you're responsible now."
"I know that," Beck growled. Robbie and Andre shifted to the side. Robbie tapped his fingers anxiously on the table and clenched his eyes shut. Even he was beginning to doubt Beck. When Greg died, Beck hadn't actually been in their line of vision. He'd been in the martial arts studio, beating on a punching bag. They weren't in with him, but watching outside to make sure the killer didn't come up. "You guys believe my innocence right?"
"Well we didn't really hear you on that mannequin. I mean hell, even Trina made noise when beating up on the mannequin." Beck's expression fell and Robbie flinched. "You did end up killing her you know. Tiffany's and Shirley's deaths were really similar." Beck slapped the table and the two friends jerked in place.
"I didn't kill the two bitches!" His voice echoed throughout the cafeteria. He pointed an angry finger at Robbie and narrowed his eyes. "And you keep your mouth shut like I told you! I don't need that bitch's father coming down on me. She got what she deserved."
"You killed an innocent woman," Andre muttered, "Our friend's sister." He pushed his hands through his hair and glanced sadly at the table. "That pretty much kills whatever chance I had with Tori. I was hoping to ask her out, but now that won't happen."
"Why the fuck would you blame me for that?"
"Guilt by association. Why else?" Andre leaned against the palm of his hand and shrugged as Beck narrowed his eyes at the man. "Tori can't stand any of us. She hasn't even talked to us since her sister's death, I know she blames us. She doesn't know it was you, but yeah…I think that girl's losing it. I really do." Robbie had to agree, he wouldn't put it past Tori losing her mind.
"That girl depended on her sister. Trina was her livelihood, her everything." Beck scoffed at the men.
"Please! Tori barely gave her the time of day."
"In our presence, Beck. Everyone knows the Vega sisters were inseparable…I even remember hearing Tori crying over Trina possibly going away for college! That girl couldn't stand to be away from Trina."
"That's true," Andre leaned back and shuffled his hands together. "Tori didn't want to look dependent in front of us, she wanted approval so she acted the way she did like she was pushing Trina away."
"Hey guys!" Robbie flinched at Tori's voice and looked over to see the girl walking up to them, waving. "Have you seen momma? I'm trying to find her." He didn't know where Holly was, though he did see her standing with David at the stairs near the front door.
"I think Mrs. Vega's towards the front stairs."
"Oh? Thank you."
"Where are Jade and Cat?"
"Jade's talking to Mr. Sikowitz and Sinjin at the office. Cat's in the bathroom. You know the one with the showers?" Wasn't that the same bathroom that people broke into often?
"The one Principal Eikner wants removed?"
"Yeah. She went for a swim earlier so she's taking a shower, getting the chlorine off her."
"Cool." It would be better to just remove the ventilation shaft. The bathroom had an air vent that connected with the ground, and it came out into the hallway on the other side, also at ground level. This made it easy to just crawl through without anyone noticing. "Anyway, hope you find your mom."
"Thanks. What are you guys talking about, by the way? I thought I heard something about Trina?"
"No, nothing there." He smiled sadly and watched a look of disappointment grow on Tori's face. "We're just chatting about random things."
"Oh. Okay." Robbie watched Tori slink away and turned his head sadly. His heart went out to her of course, it was terrible she had to lose her sister the way she did. He was angry at Beck, but then, so was Andre. What right did Beck have for murder?
"God she's naïve as all fuck," Beck snorted. Robbie and Andre groaned as Beck shrugged his shoulders. It did bring an interesting thought to Robbie's mind; what if this killer was killing because of Trina? If not Beck, then it could be Sinjin, Mr. Vega, or even Holly.
"What if the killer's doing this for revenge?" Beck raised an eyebrow and Andre shifted his eyes towards Robbie. "What if they're trying to weed out the person responsible for Trina's death? If anything, this could end as soon as Beck confesses to the murder!"
Beck reached over, grabbing Robbie's shirt and pulling him back with a violent growl, "Okay you asshole, that's not happening! That does not leave us, got that? I'm not going to jail because you decided to rat me out. Fuck off." He pushed Robbie back. Robbie felt the chair falling backwards and flailed his arms, screaming as he crashed to the ground.
"Dude!" Andre screamed out and moved over to help Robbie up. Robbie let out a subtle groan and rubbed a sore spot on his hand where he hit the table leg. "Dude we're covering for you, don't be a dick!" Beck rolled his eyes.
Robbie looked to the cafeteria windows and saw someone walking around outside. He raised his eyebrows and started to point. "Guys?"
"I'll act how I want," Beck warned Andre.
"Guys. There's someone outside." The man was looking up and down on the window, knocking on the windows as if looking for something.
"It's not right," Andre muttered. Robbie studied this man further. He had a straight face, a leather jacket and blue denim jeans. His hair was short and somewhat curly looking. "We're trying our best to cover your ass, so the least you can do is respect us."
"Guys!" Robbie kicked out, striking Andre in the leg. Andre yelped and Beck snapped his glare at Robbie, both screaming at him. "There's somebody outside. Do you think they'd be able to see us?" They looked toward the window and Beck's nostrils flared out as a wild anger shot past him.
"Fucking Zander," Beck whispered, "I told that fucker not to show his face at the school." Robbie raised an eyebrow and pulled himself to his feet as Andre asked who Zander was. Beck leaned his elbows against the table and gazed off nonchalantly. "This guy at Jade's last school that she used to have feelings for. She's been talking back and forth with him and asked him to come see her audition. Damn bitch was going to cheat on me!"
"As if you don't do it to her," Andre scowled. Beck's eyes narrowed and he turned around, huffing.
"Well she didn't imply anything happening between the two of them, so maybe not. Either way I don't think she should be seeing anyone else. I guess Zander can't get in the school, so I'm not worried." Sure, no man was going to muscle in on his woman.
Robbie rolled his eyes in aggravation and pushed himself from the table. "Yeah okay." Beck and Andre looked up curiously at him. He wanted nothing to do with their presence. "I'm going for a walk. See you."
"You can't go off by yourself," Andre warned. He ignored his friend's concerned remark and started off, brushing his hand through the air. "Robbie!"
"I don't care, I'm done with you people."
"Let him go," he heard Beck's retort and snarled. "I'm done with the guy." Robbie extended his arm and flipped his middle finger up before leaving the cafeteria.
"Such an asshole." Robbie muttered angrily and turned the corner. The moment he did, he felt a peculiar feeling strike him. Possibly jitters from being alone for the first time, so to him it was a far better feeling than being stuck around a murderer like Beck. "Anywhere's better than where he is."
He stopped at the end of the hallway and looked over his shoulder to see Beck leaving the cafeteria with Andre. Anger swirled in him and he continued off on his own.
Several minutes passed as he scanned the halls of the school. There were no signs of the murderer anywhere, but unease was starting to settle in him. He did eventually pass where the bathroom Cat was in, then he saw something strange. A figure in a cloaked cape was standing by the door. He ducked behind the wall and put his hand over his mouth to avoid screaming as his heart started to thrash about.
He listened as the bathroom doorknob rattled and the killer let out a small grunt. Was Cat still inside? He swallowed hard and looked toward the air vent, whimpering under his breath. He'd sworn himself not to crawl through the vent system anymore, but if Cat was still in there, he had to do something!
Or, if it was Beck, could he be baiting him? Was this a chance to try and kill him? It didn't matter, more important things were at stake here!
He crouched down and began crawling through the dusty vent. The dirt choked him and his breathing began to grow heavy. Toward the end, he could see Cat drying off with a towel. He was happy to see the showers were working.
Seeing Cat, however, he felt guilty. She had pink underwear on and was slowly running the towel over her milky white skin. Her hair clung to the water on her back, and small streams glinted off the flashlight sitting on the counter.
When she pulled her clothes on, Robbie found the strength to push himself out and into the bathroom. When Cat saw him, she fell against the counter and screamed. "Get out of here, Robbie!"
"No wait I'm not trying anything. Someone's standing outside the bathroom!" Cat ran after him and began striking him, cursing him out. With ever hit, he trembled and begged her to stop.
"Quit sneaking into the bathroom!"
"I'm not! I'm trying to help you." He had to find a way to get her to be rational here, rather than to beat the shit out of him. Then he remembered Cat and Jade went to the same school, so she might know Zander. If so, maybe she'd listen. "Cat! We saw that guy, Zander, outside."
As predicted, she stopped and staggered backwards, raising her eyebrows up. "W-What? Zander?"
"Yeah, he's walking around outside, probably trying to get in. Maybe he knows Jade hasn't gotten home yet or something, whatever the case is, he's out there." Cat's eyes widened and her hand moved up over her mouth.
"How would you even know about him?"
"Beck. Beck recognized him."
"No…" Just then, the bathroom door swung open. The two shrieked as the cloaked figure began to advance. Cat scrambled for the flashlight, but her hand swept it off and onto the ground. Robbie guarded her and searched the figure for a face, but it was far too dark for him to see. "Robbie!" Cat put her hands to his shoulders and shrank behind him. "W-Who is it?"
"I don't know…" He swallowed hard as the figure stopped in front of him. He could hear the raspy, shallow breathing coming from the killer. A whimper left his lips as Cat began to stumble backwards, tripping back onto the floor. "Could be Beck, might be someone else…" He saw the glint of a knife. Fear shot down him as he looked back to Cat. "Run!"
"I-I can't. I don't-I'm scared!"
Just then the person grabbed him and shoved him against the counter. He was too surprised to fight back. Pain seared through his waist as the counter jammed into him. He tried to push back, but before he could do so, he felt a sharp slicing sensation shooting down his back. Blood splashed out and he screamed in anguish.
"N-No! You can't!" He was then flipped onto his back. In the corner of his eyes, he saw Cat crawling through the vent, screaming for help. The killer didn't seem to care, implying that Cat was not the intended target. He'd been baited out, just as he thought! His eyes fixated on the knife and he began whimpering as it came back down on him. "God please! Don't do this!"
The killer leaned over him, whispering softly into his ear. "You brought this on yourself." His eyes widened and a name fell from his lips just as the knife's sting slicked across his throat. His body went numb as blood splashed out onto the floor.
The killer speaks, Zander's outside, Beck's pissed, and Robbie has been killed. Tell me your thoughts on the chapter, and don't forget to check out the updated poll!