Chapter 21. Branching Paths

Disclaimer: I do not own Victorious.

...

In Andre's Car - March 24th, Senior Year

...

"Where are we going?"

It had been the first question that he asked them, and not once had either of them given Robbie any sort of acknowledge, nor any indication that they themselves knew where they were going.

"You'll see," Beck casually remarked from the seat directly in front of where Robbie sat. The violent vibration of his seat caused him to lean forward slightly in discomfort, "But if you keep kicking my damn seat then we'll shove you in the trunk 'til we get there."

A gasp was heard, "You wouldn't!"

Beck adjusted himself as he turned to face behind his seat, "You wanna bet?"

Andre, laughing to himself throughout this exchange, patted Beck on the shoulder to calm him down. "Relax bro. It won't be much that much longer Robbie, so don't worry." He shot a brief glance at the rearview mirror to ensure that Beck hadn't gotten a stray shot off on him. No marks. Good thing.

"Sorry…" Robbie began, stammering a bit over his words, intimidated slightly over Beck's threat. Unlike Jade who was direct and clear when she was serious or not, Beck was much harder to read. "Just, it'd be a lot more comforting if you guys could give me some indication of where we're heading. Doesn't even have to be the exact place or anything. Just I feel like you guys are taking me out to the desert just to abandon me there…"

Andre couldn't help but laugh aloud at Robbie's concern. He doubted that Robbie actually believed as much, but still found it humorous nonetheless. "That all depends. Did you happen to notice Beck engaging in a super shady drug deal and he catch you? Maybe watch him off some dude?"

There was a moment of silence which for a moment actually Andre concerned that might have been true beyond just him making a joke. "No…" Robbie said, his voice sounding a little unsure himself.

Beck was less assumed than Andre was from it, punching Andre's shoulder in defiance. "Why do I have to be the criminal drug cartel guy?"

Andre smirked, "Because if it were me, you can guarantee that I would have thrown Robbie into the trunk at the beginning."

"So, does that mean I can take this blindfold off then?"

Andre and Beck exchanged glances for a second or two, not too long for Andre to lose focus on his driving, before Beck called out to the backseat, "Eh, not just yet. A little bit longer."

Perhaps that was what Robbie found the most uneasy about the whole thing; it wasn't the fact that they had grabbed him, basically kidnapping him and then going off to drive somewhere unknown, but it was the fact that they had insisted that he keep a blindfold on during the entire trip. What was so important that I can't see? What if they're driving me somewhere just so Jade can destroy Rex!? Wait, that can't be… My house is locked… What if Jade broke the lock!? Robbie swallowed in panic as images of Rex being ripped into a hundred small pieces flooded his head.

"So uh, Beck… Where's Jade?"

Beck lowered his side's window, letting the air flow freely as he breathed in the LA air. "Told me that she's meeting up with Cat. Think they're going to do something with Tori before the movie tonight."

Robbie breathed a sigh of relief. If she was actually out with Cat, it wasn't likely that Jade would be breaking into Robbie's house. At least, he hoped so.

"What time is the movie anyways," Andre asked.

"6:30 if I remember correctly," Robbie stated, looking blankly out the window even though the blindfold was still on.

After that, there was a semi-long period of silence in the car, Andre continuing to drive, Beck continuing to lean his head out the window like that of a dog, and Robbie sitting in the back, becoming more familiar and used to wearing the blindfold. Finally, after what seemed like forever, the car began to slow down, eventually coming to a complete stop. "Alright, we're here," Andre remarked as he undid his seatbelt, Beck following suit and Robbie right along with him. "Just make sure you keep that blindfold on until we tell you otherwise."

Robbie reluctantly agreed, unable to help but be worried that having him keeping the blindfold on was a mistake. What if he were to open his door too much and scrape against another car? No, Andre surely had to have considered that beforehand; even he wouldn't be that stupid. He could feel a pair of hands on his shoulders, effectively guiding him – and quite a distances away from the car as he mentally counted the steps taken. He heard Beck's voice, "Alright Rob, you can take it off now."

Robbie quickly removed it, hoping that he would find some sort of party, maybe an incredible present. Heck, even lunch would be fine, all things considered. It turned out to be none of them.

Andre shifted focus between Robbie and what he was looking at, his face of excitement, "Well… What do you think?"

"Impressive, isn't it?" Beck remarked.

Robbie was confused. This was what they wanted to show me? Seriously? This was it? He wasn't sure what Andre and Beck were hoping to achieve out of this, what their goal was in bringing him here. "You guys brought me to a gym?"

"Not just a gym, but the best one in town!" Andre proudly stated, "Just got done with renovations too!"

Robbie didn't see the appeal that it had on Andre or Beck. It was just a gym. Nothing special about it. "OK. But that still doesn't answer my question. Why did you guys bring me to a gym?"

"Because," Andre casually remarked, speaking as though there wasn't any explanation necessary.

Robbie wasn't willing to let the topic die there, "Because?"

"Not a fan of the gym?" Beck asked, hoping to achieve more than what Andre's answers were aimed at.

"No, it's not that... It's just… Well I'm not exactly a gym person."

Beck snickered, "Rob. I'm not sure you noticed or not, but none of us are gym people."

Robbie rose his hands in protest, hoping his remark didn't offend Beck, "I didn't mean anything by that! Just, why? Why all of sudden there being a need to drag me to a gym?"

Beck patted Robbie on the shoulder, the force of which almost causing the glasses to fall from Robbie's face, "Because buddy, we're gonna make you big."

"Why?"

"Isn't that obvious?" Andre asked, it being so vague that Robbie couldn't help but shrug his shoulders. He sighed and explained more in depth, "Because, what do you think'll happen when you arrive in New York and they find out that you're a scrawny noodle from Los Angeles. There? They're going to jump on the chance to grab your girl right from under you."

Robbie was a bit confused, not sure exactly what Andre was saying though very quickly it seemed that a lightbulb went off in his head. "New York? My… Wait…" His eyes widened as he came to the realization of what they were talking about. "How did you guys find out!?"

Beck smirked as he began to lead Robbie inside, Andre following right behind, "How do you think?"

...

Starbucks

...

Cat kicked her feet underneath the table, making sure to avoid not only the metal bar that held the table up, but also to avoid Jade, seated across from her. "Where's Tori?"

Jade took a sip from her coffee and shrugged, "You got me Cat. I told her when we'd be here. If she's not here by now, maybe she's… sleeping I guess?"

Cat opened her mouth in surprise. "Still!? But it's," she quickly glanced at her phone, unsure herself of what time it was, "It's almost noon!"

Jade thought for a moment before taking another sip of coffee. If Vega's going to keep us waiting this long, she's paying for my next cup! "Let's give it a couple more minutes. I would hope that she's on her way here, but if she doesn't show up soon, we'll head to her house."

Cat smiled. "OK! So Jade, have you decided where you're going to college yet?"

Jade sighed. Although Cat asked an innocent enough question, it was far more complicated than she probably realized. It wasn't an issue of if she got accepted to any colleges; she had been accepted to pretty much every place that she applied to, with the few exceptions being ones that she hasn't heard back from yet. But just because she had been accepted, didn't mean that any of them particularly thrilled her, "Haven't given it much thought really, no."

"Really!? Not a single one!? But you've had like, twenty schools accept you!" Cat bellowed out, perhaps more surprised by Jade's nonchalant attitude than just her answer alone.

"How do you know that?" Jade asked as she rose an eyebrow in response.

Cat found herself frozen. She was so curious about where Jade might have been going, she neglected the fact that she didn't find out about those schools from Jade. "Uh… I might have seen a list of where you got accepted to when I went to see Mr. Alexander…"

"Well… That's actually not as bad as I might have suspected," Jade chuckled as she took another sip from her coffee. If Tori doesn't get here soon, she's buying me my next cup! "I was thinking that you had been stalking my mailman or something like that."

"What!? No, I would never do that…" Cat sarcastically said, feigning a face that as much showed ignorance as it did general dismissal. The thought had crossed my mind though…

Jade smirked as she finished the last bit of her coffee, a frown appearing on her face as she felt the last few drops touch her tongue. "What about you Cat? You've been pretty mum about where you're looking to go, or even what schools you've been looking at. Spill it out."

Cat simply smiled, aiming to look as innocent as possible while at the same time doing her best to evade Jade's question. It wasn't so much that she didn't want to tell her; on the contrary, she did want to tell her, but she would have to wait. Wait at least until Tori arrived. As she put her cup down, she noticed Jade's eyes hadn't parted their focus away from her; she watched like a snake ready to pounce on its prey. This only made Cat feel all the more uneasy, "Tori knows to come here right? Not my house or your house?"

Jade practically kept the same face, the only difference between the slight twirling of the corners of her lips. "Yes Cat, I called her this morning. She didn't pick up, naturally."

"But if she didn't pick up, how can you be sure that she knows?"

A faint smile appeared on Jade's face, "Because I left a voicemail telling her to meet me and Cat at Starbucks by 11:30, which apparently means noon for her or something."

While she was confident that Jade did leave a voice mail, she worried all the while that Tori might not see it. Speaking from her own experience at least, Cat was terrible when it came to voicemails. There were times in the past that she had allowed as many as a dozen voicemails to build up on her phone. "But… what if she doesn't check her voicemails? Or what if she waits for like a month before finally getting around to them?"

"Well Cat, for one thing, she isn't you." Jade chuckled very slightly as Cat frowned in disappointment. More, Cat was disappointed because she pretty much walked into that one. "And secondly, Vega's probably one of the most anal-retentive people when it comes to stuff on her phone. Who else do we know that actively organizes her contact list based on who she has class with or used to?"

Cat shrugged, unable to argue differently. "Fair enough. I just hope she gets here soon…"

"Me too…" Jade nodded, as much annoyed by the fact that Tori was late as the fact that it was obvious that Cat wasn't going to say anything as far as her college search was going until she did get here. As she was about to get up and order another cup of coffee, a figure walking into the coffee shop caught her eye. "Well, speak of the devil!"

Cat turned around, hopeful of who Jade might have been talking about, and her eyes widened with joy as she rushed out of her seat to wrap the unsuspecting Latina within a tight bear hug, "Tori! You finally arrived!"

Tori grimaced slightly as she could feel Cat's arms compressing tighter and tighter into her chest, "Hey Cat… Think you can… think you can loosen?"

The redhead quickly realized herself how tightly she was gripping Tori and immediately retracted her arms, almost immediately wanting to bring them back around her to apologize. At the last moment she stopped herself, "Sorry Tori… Just, well we thought that you weren't going to show up."

"Yeah. You know it's common curtesy to at the very least send a text or something saying that you might be late," Jade said half-sarcastically, giving Tori a gentle hug herself, being mindful of the vice grip she had been in only moments earlier.

Tori looked hurt at Jade's remark. "But I did send you a text…" She sounded serious, even a bit defensive, which caught Jade off guard.

Jade responded with a sarcastic glance of her own. If she had gotten a text, surely she would have known. But Tori's face did not change, nor did she give any impression that she was kidding. "You sent me a text and I didn't notice? There's no way…" To prove her point to Tori, she pulled out her phone, ready to show her the messages she had gotten in the last day, none of which would be Tori's.

Then she saw that her phone said '1 New Message'.

Skeptical, she looked at the message. Must have been from Beck or something. Probably forgot what time the movie is tonight…

Checking out some songs for the Showcase. Should be there by noon – Tori

"Well shit… I guess you did…" Jade closed her phone, in disbelief of the fact that she had completely missed Tori's text. A text that she had sent more than an hour earlier. "Sorry about that Vega. How 'bout I buy you a cup and then Cat can stop teasing me with her college plans?"

The disappointed look on Tori's face had progressively eroded away, starting with Jade acknowledging she was wrong to a being completely gone with this olive branch being offered. "Sure!"

"Wait!" As the two started for the barista, Cat joined them, freely tossing herself onto the shoulders of Tori and Jade, both of them having to brace themselves to keep themselves and Cat upright and not falling to the ground. "Seeing as Tori being late wasn't actually Tori's fault for being late but instead your fault for not letting me know that we were supposed to meet later which was actually on time which meant that we were early, I think it's only fair that you buy me a cup as well Jade!"

Tori gave Cat a blank look, confused by what the redhead had just said, but Jade had a wicked smile on hers. "Alright Cat… I'll buy you a cup of coffee. I'll even throw in a muffin or cookie!"

Cat's eyes lit up with excitement, "Really!?"

"If…"

And as quickly, the excitement disappeared. "If?"

Jade shot a quick glance at Tori and then smirked at Cat, "If you tell us, right here, right now, where you're going to college."

Tori's eyes widened at this, not only because Jade was pretty much bribing Cat to have her disclose her secret, but also because it was a pretty huge mystery to her. For Tori, anyone could tell that UCLA was her first and foremost choice. Jade, she could have gone pretty much anywhere she would have liked. Cat, it was a complete mystery. She has good grades, I think. She's a great singer, so if it's a place that calls for an audition, she's all but guaranteed to get in.

Cat looked conflicted, her eyes switching between Jade and the sweets displayed on the other side of the counter's glass window. I want one! But I don't like it when Jade does this! It's never fair! But they look so good! Finally, she sighed in defeat. At the end of the day, sweets would always win out. "Fine…"

Tori and Jade leaned in, making sure that they heard clearly where she was going in the event that she tried to mumble a less than coherent answer to them.

"I'm going to…" A look of pride and accomplishment appeared on her face, "NYU!"

...

Hollywood Strength & Fitness

...

"You know, you really can't fault Cat for telling him," Beck remarked as he and Robbie ran along neighboring treadmills. Andre sat on one of the weightlifting machines just a couple of feet from them, sweating like crazy. "If anything, it's your fault for telling Cat!"

Robbie looked like the definition of fatigue, his hair and the shirt he was wearing both completely drenched in sweat. The fact that he was still able to stand without collapsing was a minor miracle in itself. That he was still able to run along a treadmill and maintain a conversation with Beck and Andre, an act of God. "She said that she didn't want anyone to spill the beans that she got accepted. I figured that that meant that she would be as diligent in keeping me a secret too!"

"I hardly think that she did it out of spite," Beck said as he increased the elevation of his treadmill slightly, figuring that it wouldn't be that much more demanding.

"Exactly. She was probably more just excited for you!" Andre hopped on the closest treadmill and began to run again with them, almost immediately looking like fatigue and exhaustion had again set in after just a few steps. "I mean, NYU is a tough as hell school to get into," he said, hastily altering the speed of his machine to a much lower level.

As exhaustion began to overtake Andre, it had finally caught up with Robbie, causing him to turn his machine off entirely as he sat down right on the machine, paying little regard for the small pool of sweat that was left there. "Are you saying that it's a surprise that I got in but not for her?" He asked, it being tough to tell if he was insulted or just extremely tired. Possibly both.

Almost immediately after, Andre found himself mirroring Robbie's actions, turning his machine off – even in spite of the lower level he was running on – but opting to take a seat on the same machine he was seated moments earlier. "I don't mean it like that. Just, she has singing that she can back on. So even if she doesn't have grades like Jade, she can still kill an audition. While I can't speak to this personally, I just have a bit of a tough time imagining that NYU would be as… what's the word? Excited for mimes as Hollywood Arts."

Beck, having been working to no only keep up with their conversation but also keep running at a quick pace, hadn't even noticed that the two of them had stopped. Finally once he turned his head did he notice he was the only person still running, "When'd you guys stop?" Powering down his machine, he held a hand out to help lift Robbie who now had collapsed in exhaustion. "Don't mind him. It's hell of an accomplish, getting accepted there."

"Exactly. I don't mean anything negative by what I said. It's just, I don't know, there's just something that seems a bit odd, Robbie Shapiro, going to New York University. I just wouldn't have pictured you going there is all," Andre remarked as he tossed a couple of water bottles to the two of them. One of the nicest things about the gym being reopened was how aggressively they were hoping people would return, and not charging for bottled water was certainly a nice gesture.

In what slightly surprised both Beck and Andre, Robbie managed to catch the bottle one handed, effortlessly at that. Robbie felt a rush of confidence as he basked in their awe, only for it to quickly dissolve away as he struggled to screw off the cap, trying several times before he handed the bottle to Beck to open. "To tell you guys the truth, it wasn't at all my first choice. Heck, NYU wasn't even one of my considerations at first. Really, it wasn't until…well…"

Andre leaned forward a bit, thinking he knew the rest of where Robbie was going. "Until Cat told you that she had applied there too?"

Beck quickly glanced from Andre to Robbie, not horribly surprised if that ended up being the truth. It was no secret that Robbie liked Cat. In reality most of their graduating class was probably knew or had general awareness that he liked her. Whether it was mutually felt, it was hard to say entirely, but some people who suspected as much. In fact, there were even a few who had made bets if the two would become a couple by the end of the school year.

For a moment, Robbie looked petrified, as if he had been turned into stone. He had hoped that people would have just assumed that it was just happenstance that the two of them were going to the same school. It was a mistake on his part for not figuring Andre to be a bit more conscious and aware of what was going on. There wasn't any point in trying to lie about it at this point, "Maybe…"

Beck rose an eyebrow, "Maybe?"

Andre lightly chuckled, "You mean yes, right?"

Robbie threw up his hands, disgruntled and annoyed by the prodding of the two. It wasn't all that important. "Yeah, sure. Fine. Happy now?"

Beck laughed a little bit himself before patting Robbie on the head, almost immediately regretting it as he felt the sweat from his hair drench his hands. "Just giving you a hard time Robbie, that's it," he said as he quickly wiped his hands off on a nearby towel. "I mean, I'm certainly not in a position to cast judgement. You got into a great college, you'll be going with the girl you like. You're basically the white Andre."

"Hey!" Andre barked out, not expecting Beck to make that sort of comment.

Robbie seemed similarly surprised, though for different reasons. "So does that mean then that he's the black Robbie?"

"I wouldn't go that far," Beck said as he casually dismissed the notion, knowing that Andre would hate that even more than Robbie being a white him. "I'm more just referring the fact that basically you both are doing the same thing if you really think about."

Andre vehemently shook his head in protest, "No way! In no way are the two even remotely similar."

"Really?"

"Yeah," Andre insisted.

Beck wasn't buying it, and by the looks of it, even Robbie had trouble believing what Andre was saying too. "You're telling me that Robbie's situation in no way whatsoever bears any resemblance to what's going on with you?" Beck pushed.

"Name one way that they're similar. Even one!"

"Well, Robbie is going to NYU because Cat's going there. And you're going to UCLA because Tori's going there."

It could have been the case. Andre had the musical background and talent to go to pretty much any music program in the United States, and while he wasn't by any means as enthralled at the prospect of going to UCLA as Tori was, why he wasn't pushing for more auditions elsewhere was a curious thing.

Andre was adamant that what Beck was assuming was wrong, "That's not it at all. UCLA has a great music program."

"So just coincidence then that the two of you happen to be going to the same college? No other possible reasoning behind it?" Beck was certain that Tori being accepted to UCLA was a hugely motivating factor for Andre, but he wanted to hear it from his friend's own mouth.

"Nope!" Andre coolly said, as much indicating to Beck that he wasn't going to continue on with the conversation as it did reaffirm to Beck that he was right.

Beck shrugged. It wasn't like it'd be something Andre would willingly admit anyways, so better off just letting it go. "So, what's next for Robbie boy?"

The three of them remained in place for a few moments, all of them deep in thought – Robbie perhaps in terror of what grueling exercise the other two might impose on him next. Finally, Andre broke the silence, snapping his fingers as a lightbulb went off in his head, "Bench press."

Beck nodded, "Sounds good." He turned to Robbie, "Ready for more fun?"

Robbie collapsed back onto the treadmill, already knowing he was going to hurt tomorrow.

...

Starbucks

...

"NYU… I can't believe it…" Tori was at a loss for words. She was thrilled for Cat, beyond excited that she got accepted into such a great school. Though in the back of her mind, the idea that Cat would be across the country come September was a terrifying thought, one that broke her heart just thinking about it.

Jade was similarly surprised by Cat's announcement. Even now, after several minutes had passed and she had been able to digest it a bit more, she still had trouble believing it herself. "Me neither. I would have figured that you'd still at least be in California. I don't know, maybe Berkeley, USC-"

"Maybe even UCLA!" Tori interrupted. "Could you imagine that Cat!? We'd be roommates!"

"That would be awesome!" Cat exclaimed, almost panicking as she realized after the fact that she had come dangerously close to spilling her cup of coffee, over her phone no less! She almost immediately frowned afterwards, "Now I wish I had applied there instead."

Tori had a hurt look on her face, similar to the one she had given Jade only minutes earlier. "Don't say that Cat! You got into an amazing school!" She flashed the redhead a reassuring smile immediately afterwards, "You're going to have a blast there. You're going to be in New York!"

"I know! Oh, I'm so excited!" The seesawing of emotions was apparent; Cat being extremely excited and only moments later being forced to accept what that meant. "But being without you guys… I don't know how I'm going to survive…"

"Oh I wouldn't worry," Jade said as she took a sip from a cup of coffee on the table, utterly disgusted by the taste of it. "Oh God… That's nasty!" Looking at the side of the cup, she noticed "Tori" hastily written on the side of it. What the hell Vega? Is that how you're always so perky in the morning?

Tori turned the cup around and noticing her name, smiled at Jade and her exaggerated reaction. "Not a fan Jade?"

"What's in that!?"

"Coffee. Lots of cream, lots of sugar."

"OK Mr. Wolfe, you enjoy that then…" Jade sarcastically remarked as she pushed Tori's coffee closer towards her, wanting to be as far away from it as possible. Cat and Tori both laughed. Once the two of them stopped and Jade made sure to drink from her own cup, she looked at Tori inquisitively, "So Vega, you decide what you're going to sing for the Showcase?"

Tori grunted and dropped her head onto the table. After Sikowitz emailed all the Senior Showcase performers the order of performances a few weeks back, Tori immediately felt extra pressure being put on her. Mostly because she was being listed as the headline act. The final act of the night, no pressure. None whatsoever! At the time of the auditions, she was confident that she could have pretty much performed any song without much consideration, but now it made selecting a song that much more difficult. And even after hours upon hours of looking for a song that most suited a headline act, she at a loss.

"I don't think she decided yet," Cat innocently remarked, gently patting Tori on the head.

Jade nodded in agreement, "I don't think so either."

In a rather comedic sequence of events, Tori lifted her head up, took a hearty sip from her heavily diluted coffee, and then immediately lowered her head back to its original position. Suddenly, a thought – albeit a random thought unrelated to the conversation at hand – came to her. She lifted her head again, "Wait. Jade, did you decide where you're going to college?"

Cat snickered a little at Tori's question. More than likely she didn't realize just how many schools she had been accepted to. "Jade decide? Every other day she's accepted to another college. She probably won't decide until the end of next month!"

Tori rose her eyebrows, due much in part to not just what Cat said, but how she said it. There was a seriousness to it, not just sarcasm. She snapped her head towards Jade, "Really? A lot of colleges? Which ones?"

Jade sighed. She wished that neither of them had asked because to her, it seemed like unnecessary bragging. "Well, there was Yale, USC, the New York Film Academy, the American Film Institute, Boston University, Chapman College, Emerson College. Uh, which other ones? Tulane I think. LSU, I think a few more besides those."

Tori and Cat were both stunned, mouths ajar in surprise.

"What?" That was exactly why Jade didn't want to talk about it, because of reactions like that.

"That's a lot of colleges," Cat remarked. Tori could only nod in agreement to that.

"It's a lot, but I don't know, something about them though that I'm not feeling," Jade said dismissively, not wanting to drag the conversation on any further.

Tori wasn't ready to let it drop though. "What do you mean?"

"I don't know. Just something about them, and I'll leave it at that." Jade said defiantly. It was plenty clear she was wanting to conversation to stop there, and though both Tori and Cat were still curious and wanting to push the issue, neither of them were in any mood to risk the consequences of angering Jade.

Tori simply nodded in compliance, "Well… Whichever one of those you end up going to, I'm sure you'll love it!"

Cat nodded enthusiastically in agreement, "Yeah! And no matter where you end up, we'll still be friends! No question!"

"Please Cat, I don't want to start thinking about being taken from both of you," Tori whined.

"Sorry Tori!"

Jade simply nodded, her focus not wholly on the conversation at hand but rather at what Tori said only moments earlier. Whichever of those I end up going to… I already made my choice of where I'm going to… and it's none of them…

She took another sip from her coffee, slowly easing herself back into the conversation between the two.

A/N: As far as Cat and Robbie go, they will become less central characters as the story moves forward. This is - in ways - a prelude to that.

Hope you guys enjoy! Feel free to leave a review!