"As many of you already know, summer school starts in three weeks, while certain summer activities start as earlier as this weekend. Be sure to check in with…"
Her attention quickly drifted. It was the last day of school, which meant that a lot of students, and even teachers, had already mentally checked out for the school year, already putting together their summer plans. Tori however, had other things on her mind. What should have been a day of celebration was instead a day of mourning. As a result, Tori couldn't help but feel downhearted. It began this morning when she walked into school, she noticed that Beck's personalized locker door was removed, a plain metal door in its place. It wasn't a huge surprise by any means, but seeing it for the first time, really hit the group hard. Then, the school held an assembly to honor Sikowitz and Beck, the two Hollywood Arts alumni murdered in Andre and Sinjin's killing spree. Of course Tori, Jade, Cat, and Robbie were put in charge of putting together the memorial video. That first session they got together to make it was easily the toughest thing she had gone through since the murders. But Tori believed it helped the group grieve, they had each other for support, and they knew they would be there for each other through anything and everything else.
Now, Tori sat in Sikowitz's old classroom, a place that used to be filled with spontaneity, listening to this boring teacher drone on about something or another. She still wasn't paying any attention. Of course Tori didn't have anything against this particular substitute, but it almost seemed like an injustice to have such a dull teacher in Sikowitz's old room.
Whoa, sounding a bit like Jade. Tori thought to herself. She was interrupted by the bell ringing, signaling that school was finally out for the summer. She watched as the students and the substitute teacher scrambled to the exit, eager to leave school life behind, at least for a few months. Tori, however, stayed back. She winced as she stood from her chair, as her shoulder was still sore from the surgery. The damage wasn't as bad as the doctors initially thought, and thankfully enough with rehab her shoulder should retain full mobility. She adjusted her sling slightly, before moving to close the door. She walked up to the mini stage Sikowitz had in his room, turning around to face the empty chairs, before her subconscious took over.
I don't fit in here with… all this.
This school's not normal.
Normal's boring.
Tori's very first day had been running over and over again in her head since the murders. She couldn't help but wonder what would be different if she had gone through with her initial intention and left Hollywood Arts.
"Earth to Vega? Heelloo?!" Jade forced Tori back to the present.
"Oh, hey Jade. What are you doing here?"
"Looking for you, duh." Jade stated. "Everyone left like ten minutes ago, what are you doing?"
"Remember when we first met?" Tori asked, taking a seat on the edge of the stage.
"Yeah I poured coffee on your head and you ran away." Jade answered, holding back a smirk.
"I almost didn't come back to Hollywood Arts after that. Do you think it was a mistake to come back?"
"Hell no. Tori what's wrong?" Jade insisted as she took a seat next to her on the mini stage.
"I can't get over it Jade."
"Get over what?"
"Everything. Everything that happened. It's all I think about. I still don't understand why Andre did it! And why did I survive, out of everyone that died? Why do I get to keep living, while Beck and Sikowitz are reduced to a memory. They should be here still! I was the target! And Is that what I am, for the rest of my life? A victim? A target?" Tori blurted, unloading all her pent up emotion onto Jade. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry." Tori sniveled, wiping away a few tears.
"Don't be. You can talk to me Tor. Just slow down, take it one thing at a time." Jade soothed as she scooted as close as she could to the defeated singer.
"Okay," Tori nodded, taking a deep breath. "That night, Andre showed me a ton of emails, you read them right?"
"Yeah I did."
"So you know that there is no way I wrote any of those."
"Obviously Vega, you're too much of a caring, annoyingly-friendly person to sandbag anyone like that."
"Thank you Jade." Tori gushed.
"I'd say to a fault, but that's just me." Jade continued, causing Tori to smile.
"Well if I didn't write them, where did they come from then?"
"Maybe Sinjin faked them?" Jade offered.
"Hmm.." Tori thought for a second. "No that can't be right. He said he went to Sinjin for the voice changer, which had to be after his started planning the killings."
"Maybe he made them himself, to cope with his insecurities. Or to justify his actions." Jade tried again.
"He seemed pretty shocked when he realized I didn't write them though…"
"I don't know then Vega! He was batshit insane!"
"I don't know either and it's eating away at me!" Tori huffed, obviously frustrated.
"Tori," Jade sighed, grabbing Tori's hand. "I know it might not be easy, but you have to come to terms with the fact that you won't ever know why. What they did was horrific and senseless, you'll drive yourself insane trying to find logic or a reason for it."
"I just keep thinking, I was the target. I was supposed to die. E-Everything that happened, it was because of me."
"You can't think like that Tori. Sikowitz sacrificed himself for our safety. And Beck? The reason he was even there at that house that night was because he cared for his friends and wanted to be there for us. They wouldn't blame you for what happened, it was out of your control. And they wouldn't wanna see you take it out on yourself either Tori."
"Yeah, yeah I know. It's stupid, but I can't help it." Tori whimpered. "How do you do it?"
"Do what?"
"Not breakdown, like ever. After everything that happened."
"Tori I'll let you in on a little secret." Jade took a deep breath. "I haven't had a full night's sleep since that night. Every time I close my eyes, I'm back there. But it's worse, I can't save anyone. I see you and Cat…even Robbie sometimes. I can't move… I can only watch as you all are..." Jade cut herself off, trying to keep a stoic expression.
"I'm so sorry Jade. I didn't know."
"It's okay Vega, I probably wouldn't have talked about it anyway. We all deal with things in different ways." Jade shrugged, fighting away tears. "And I'm fine with your way, dumping everything on me in a classroom after school let out for the summer."
Both girls laughed, Tori starting to feel a bit better. Her gaze landed on the window to her left. The same window Sikowitz used so many times to enter his classroom.
"It almost doesn't feel real, ya know? Like he might just climb through that window at any second." Tori rose up warily, walking over to it. She placed her hand lightly on the window sill, running her finger over the wood where Jade engraved Sikowitz's initials with her favorite scissors. "Thank you Sikowitz, for everything." She whispered.
"Hey, so Cat and Robbie are off doing God knows what. Do you want to go catch a movie? No horror ones, I promise." Jade said, looking up from her phone.
"Right now? I look like a mess!" Tori exclaimed.
"C'mon Vega you don't look terrible." Jade replied.
"Wow Jade, you just know how to make a girl feel good about herself." Tori snapped back, rolling her eyes.
Jade closed the distance between herself and Tori, intent on proving the sarcastic girl wrong. She paused, getting lost in Tori's gaze. She quickly switched her focus, gently tracing the scar on Tori's left cheekbone. She couldn't even count how many times Tori had complained to her about the marking left on her face from that night. Jade on the other hand, had a sense of pride about them. The scars, hers on her neck, Tori's on her face, showed that they went through hell and made it out the other side, together. She couldn't comprehend how Tori could possibly think it made her less attractive, in fact, it was quite the opposite.
"Hey Tori..." Jade purred.
"Yes Jade?" Tori questioned innocently, trying to ignore the fact that she could feel Jade's breath on her face. Tori's hands started to clam up, her heart felt ready to pound through her chest.
"You look beautiful." Jade added, swooping in, colliding her lips with Tori's. One hand dropped down to the small of Tori's back, the other the back of her neck, deepening the kiss. Tori loosened under Jade's grip, giving in to her.
"Wow…" Tori murmured, panting as Jade pulled away.
Jade stood, looking somewhat annoyed. "You could... say it back or whatever." She spat, frowning slightly.
"You are very beautiful Jade." Tori responded, beaming.
"So are we going or what?" Jade asked again, satisfied with Tori's reply.
"Lead the way West."
The girls came to a halt at the door.
"It is going to be way different next year." Jade grumbled, taking one last look at the classroom.
"It's already way different now." Tori lamented before both girls started towards the exit.
They stepped out into fresh air and sunlight, ready to begin anew. Tori had only taken one step towards Jade's car when she was interrupted by her phone going off. She stopped and pulled it out of her pocket hastily.
"Unknown number." Tori read off her phone screen, nervousness creeping into her stomach. She hesitated before looking to Jade, then muted the phone and stuffed it back into her pocket.
"You aren't going to answer that?" Jade questioned.
"I'll let it go to voicemail." Tori smirked, grabbing Jade by the hand. "Besides, we have a date."
Thanks to the people who helped me with this story, without you, I would have never done this. Also big thanks to everyone who followed/favorited and of course, everyone who left a review, you are a big reason why this story was completed after all this time.
Thank you all for sticking around till the end, hope you liked it. And as always, thanks for reading.
Happy kindaalmostcloseto Halloween!