I'm alive! Yes, I know I've been a bit AWOL lately…sorry about that. My sophomore year of college has been pretty insane—I'm a biology/physics double major and I play a varsity sport in the fall, so it's been pretty hectic. Nevertheless, I promise I'll get to work on a full episode next (I've been trying to do "Beck's Big Break" for a while, and "Helen Back Again" might lend itself to something…we'll see).

This is from Jade and Beck's Drive By Acting Exercise, which is one of my favorite Slap videos of all time. I always wondered what was going through Beck's head as Jade was doing the Jersey accent, so I decided to explore it a bit. Enjoy!

"Man, I love Friday afternoons," said Andre enthusiastically. They had just sat through a seemingly-infinite Spanish class, and Beck had never been so glad to hear the bell in his life.

"Thank god," Beck agreed. He was excited for the weekend as well. Junior year was turning out to be harder than he'd expected, and he was looking forward to his first homework-free evening in five days.

"What're you up to, man? Want to hang with Tori and me tonight? We're gonna go see a movie or something."

"Nah, I can't. Jade and I are going to see that play in the city." He had gotten Jade tickets to see Not Only the Good Die Young several months ago, and although she'd obviously tried her best to look unexcited by the news, he knew she was looking forward to it. Despite its rather depressing title (and subject), it was a popular off-Broadway play that both he and Jade had wanted to see for a while now.

"Oh, right!" Andre nodded. "I remember. That one where that family dies…"

"That's the one." Beck closed his locker with a bang, and the two of them set off down the hallway. Turning the corner, Beck saw Jade leaning against her locker, listening as Cat rambled on about something, gesturing enthusiastically.

"And so then I thought, what if horses could, you know, like, actually fly? So there would be literal 'horse-fly's?'" Cat giggled, and Jade simply rolled her eyes. Yet Beck couldn't help but notice that she hadn't said anything inflammatory about the inane concept. He smiled slightly. Maybe his girlfriend was in a good mood after all.

"Hey, babe." At the sound of his voice, Jade looked up, a relieved look on her face as she saw him and Andre approaching. "We should probably get going soon." They'd planned to go back to Beck's house for about an hour before going into the city, and he couldn't pretend he wasn't looking forward to some—er—relaxing with his girlfriend after the long week.

"Good. Let's go," she said, taking his arm. "Bye, Cat." With an amused smile, Beck allowed himself to be pulled down the hallway and out into the parking lot.

"You excited?" He asked Jade, playfulness in his tone. She smirked slightly.

"Yeah, whatever. It's been a long day."

As they passed the snack cart at the edge of the parking lot, Beck felt Jade stop. He knew what was coming. "Coffee?" he asked, trying to keep his mood light. The last thing he wanted to do was start an argument and ruin their afternoon.

It was a good move. "Obviously," she answered loftily.

He fished out his wallet. "Two sugars," Beck told the young-looking kid behind the counter. He saw Jade trying to suppress a grin, and smirked.

"Excited for the weekend?" asked the coffee guy. Beck started telling him a little about the play, and was gesturing animatedly when a loud voice interrupted him.

"Jade! Beck!"

At the sounds of their names, both Beck and Jade turned around, Jade looking exasperated. Sikowitz was standing behind them holding a camcorder, and Beck fought the instinct to roll his eyes. This really, really wasn't the time. They were going to be late if they didn't hurry soon.

"Hey, Sikowitz," he began uncomfortably.

Jade was surprisingly calm as she jumped in. "Listen, we really don't have time for, uh..."

"Drive-by acting challenge!"

Apparently Sikowitz wasn't fazed by Jade's audible sigh and eyeroll. Beck tried to intervene before things got too heated. "No, seriously," he said, "we gotta go to a—"

"Beck! You are a young man trying to place an order at a fast food restaurant."

Beck rolled his eyes, displeasure crossing his face. At this point, it might be faster to just do the scene and get Sikowitz to shut up.

"Okay," he said resignedly.

"Jade." Sikowitz turned the camera to Beck's girlfriend.

"What?" she spat, tilting her head angrily.

"You are working at the fast food restaurant." As soon as Beck heard that, he couldn't resist a small smirk. Like Jade would ever be caught working at a fast food place. Still, he knew by the way she had stopped arguing that she was going to do the scene. And since Jade never half-assed anything, Beck knew he was about to witness some very entertaining acting.

"Yeah?" She raised her eyebrows, clearly impatient.

"You're a weirdo," Sikowitz continued.

"Any specific kind of weirdo?" Beck couldn't blame Jade for asking. Sikowitz was infamous for giving frustratingly vague stage directions.

"You're a weird man."

Beck felt his eyebrows crease. Surely Sikowitz was going to give her some other information. Any male at Hollywood Arts—himself included—could technically be considered a "weird man." Still, Jade didn't seem too concerned. "A weird man," she said, nodding slowly. "Okay, but what kind of—"

"Action!"

They turned to face at each other, and Beck noticed that all of the emotion was gone from Jade's face. Apparently she really was in the mood to act. He wracked his brain. Fast food restaurant. "Um, I'll have a number three turbo combo—"

"Holy cripes! You are like, ridiculously handsome."

Beck nearly dropped his backpack in shock at the sound of his girlfriend's voice. Apparently, Jade had decided to use her "Jersey man" voice. He'd found about this particular talent of hers several months ago, when, with the group, she'd insisted that a decent actor should be able to mimic any sort of accent. At Andre's prodding, she'd burst into the Jersey accent, and they'd nearly died laughing. Beck fought the impulse to do the same now, forcing his cheekbones to remain neutral. "Thanks," he said. "Can I get, a, uh—"

"I swear on my mother's face, you are like, nine different kinds of attractive. Look at you!" She gestured up and down, face completely serious, but Beck saw the twinkle in her eye. He and Jade made a habit of trying to out-act each other whenever they got scenes like this. He focused his attention on the air behind her, pretending to be reading a menu. He couldn't break character…he wouldn't break character…

"What comes in a double cheeseburger?"

"You are better than a double cheeseburger." The fake intensity in Jade's voice almost broke him again. "I swear you are so gorgeous I can't even stand myself right now."

"I appreciate that, but could you just—"

But Jade, being Jade, couldn't let him steal her scene. Obviously. "Who are your parents?" she asked, cutting him off. "Is your father some kinda schmancy Greek God, and your mother—what is she? Some kind of exotic animal like a fantastic lady antelope that one might see on a safari?" She made the last word extra long—safaaaari—and gestured enthusiastically as she spoke. Sikowitz looked amused, and Beck belatedly remembered that Jade had never actually used her Jersey man voice in class.

Stay in character, Beck. "Is there someone else I can order from?" He pretended to look around. Anything to avoid looking at Jade's face, because he knew that doing so would result in him bursting out in laughter.

"Ahhhh!" He stopped at Jade's cry. "Look at those abs!"

Huh. Weird direction, but he'd go with it. "My—my abs?" he asked doubtfully, looking down.

Jade looked at him, completely serious. "I—I understand that you are wearing a shirt, but if there's one thing I know for certain, it's that you have some phenomenal, pardon me, exquisite abs." He decided that Jade must have been going out of her way to include heavily accented words; she pronounced certain like "soy-tin."

It was easier to stay in character now. "Okay," he said, blinking as if exasperated. "I'll have one cheeseburger."

Jade pointed at him, and he was taken aback by the earnest hysteria on her face. "One day, if I get married, and I have a child, I wanna take that baby, my own little baby child. I wanna let him take a nap. On your gorgeous abs. That's how impressed I am with your abs, my friend." She nodded resolutely, and Beck fought a smirk. He wasn't going to let her forget this. Every now and then, Jade berated him for not going to the gym very often, but he knew that she secretly thought his abs were awesome. Next time she mentioned the gym, he'd just bring up this little incident.

"One large fries."

"And even if you get fat one day, if you eat like a pig for nine years and gain, oh, I don't know, fourteen hundred pounds, I won't care!" She gestured into the empty air. "Because I'll know that those phenomenal abs are in there somewhere, buried underneath all that fat."

Oh god. He couldn't take it any longer. Time to end the scene while he was still ahead.

"I'm never coming here again," he said seriously. He turned around and walked out of the frame so that Sikowitz wouldn't notice the laughter that threatened to break out at any moment.

From the expression in Jade's eyes, he knew that she knew she'd won. Still, Jade being Jade, she had to get the last word in. She turned to Sikowitz, and Beck knew that she was going to try to get him to laugh. "Did you see his abs? Did you see that man's abs?"

"I did not." Sikowitz smiled, which was as good as a laugh from him.

"They're nice." Beck could see the smile beginning to break out, but Jade still fought resolutely to keep a straight face. He grinned. She was so entertaining sometimes.

"Nice abs. Yeah." She turned, and Beck knew she was about to break down. Sure enough, as soon as he caught her eye, she smiled full-on, and he snorted. By the time she'd reached him, he was doubled over, laughing.

They stood like that for a minute, him gasping for breath. Finally, Beck calmed himself. He looked up at Jade. Already she had recomposed herself, a disdainful smile playing around her lips. "What?" she asked innocently. "Surprised at my talent?"

"Where did that come from?" he asked her mildly.

"I'm sorry, what are you talking about?" she asked carelessly.

"What made you decide to break out the accents and all?"

She shrugged. "You were obviously going to do the scene. I couldn't let you steal all of the attention."

"No, I don't think that's it." He pretended to think seriously for a minute, then looked at her seriously. "I think you liked it," he teased, poking her shoulder playfully. "I think you'd never Sikowitz to know, but you secretly love things like that."

"I do not!" she protested, but she was lying and they both knew it. "I'm just a serious actor, that's all. Since you were obviously willing to waste our time and do the stupid acting exercise, I thought I should go along with it. Especially since Sikowitz assigns the plays, and all, so he should know how talented I am."

"Yeah, okay. Whatever you say."

"Shut up. Let's just go."

He laughed and took her hand, and they walked over to his car. Something else struck him, though, and he turned to face her just before he opened the door.

"So…you really think I have exquisite abs?"

He expected her to hit him, but he should have known better. Jade had already proven that she was feeling more playful than usual today.

"I think you know that I like them," she whispered into his ear, smiling deviously. He felt a tingle run down his spine. Suddenly, he couldn't wait to get home.

Andre was right. Friday afternoons were the best.

Kinda short, but I promise the next one will be longer. I might also add another part to this later, from the scene at the beginning of the video where they're uploading it (the "say you love me," "magic word" exchange. We'll see).

Reviews make me happy! (: