A/N: Two updates from me in three days? What is this black magic?

Guess what? I made it to the actual episode. It only took until the fourth part to get there. :P I am so glad that you guys seemed to like Jack, since he is completely my own character, and I've had a ton of fun creating him.

Don't forget to vote in the poll on my profile page if you haven't yet already. Beck just took the lead. I will keep the poll up until I am done with this episode.

As always, thank you all for your continued support of this story. Writing this has gotten me through a lot of shitty stuff lately.

A special shout out to all who reviewed the last chapter-

-unicorn of fire

-TheWhiteCrayon

-lovElavan

-ABEDFANisRobbieShapiro

-Artistard3

-rosaandrews

-4223marilyn

Enjoy?

Tori the Zombie

Part Four

"I….I don't know!" Tori says, exasperated.

"Oh, come on! Why can't you admit that you're in love with me?" Robbie asks, in an annoyingly arrogant tone.

God, watching the two of them rehearse this scene is like torture- and NOT the good kind. At least Robbie seems to be pretty much off book. Too bad the same can't be said for the fucking female lead. It's pretty pathetic that I know more of Vega's lines than she does. Obviously it goes without saying that I have been off book for a week now.

"And, I'm very good looking." Robbie says. I can't help but smirk at Vega's response to that line, while I adjust the collar of Beck's flannel that I had him give me before rehearsal began.

"It's okay that you don't know," Beck's delivery is rather flat, which makes me look up in surprise. As much as I hate the fact that he is paired with Vega for this show, I enjoy watching him onstage.

"For you, I could wait one thousand years." Beck isn't quite looking at Vega when delivering the line. Something is definitely off with him.

"But that's so many!" Vega says, overly dramatic, as usual. I can't help but roll my eyes at her overacting, and begin to scroll through the emails on my pear phone.

"I don't love you because you're beautiful," Beck spins Vega around, finally getting into his character. "You're beautiful because I love you."

"Woah," Tori mutters, totally breaking character.

Ugh, really Vega?

Disco music suddenly starts blaring from the speakers. As if Vega breaking character wasn't bad enough, now Sinjin fucks up the music?

"What up with the disco?!" I yell as I stand up and glare at Sinjin. Seriously, his first music cue of the night and he manages to fuck it up?

"I'm sorry!" he apologizes, frantically hitting buttons. "I hit the wrong thing."

"No! Fifteen years ago your mother gave birth to the wrong thing!" I shout, beyond pissed that he completely killed the whole vibe of the rehearsal, just as Beck was going to start singing. I plop back down in my seat and continue to look at my email, while Marty calls for a break.

Holy shit! "Guys, guys! Everyone shut up for a second," I say excitedly, standing up as I am reading an email.

"Whatcha got?" Beck asks, as everyone start to walk toward me.

"An email from Principal Eikner."

"That says?" Vega asks, standing next to me.

I just silently look at her and back at my phone, raising my eyebrows quickly. God, she is an annoying idiot sometimes. I begin to read the email from him explaining that Sophia Michelle will be coming to our show on opening night. Everyone starts freaking out, including our director who grabs his stomach and rushes out of the theater.

"Who's Sophia Michelle?" I hear Vega say, clueless as always.

"Oh, no, no, no," I grumble, grabbing Beck's hand and walking us over a chair and I slam down in it. I mean, this bitch has got to be joking, right?

"What?" Vega asks, perplexed.

"She gets to be the lead, and she doesn't even know who Sophia Michelle is," I say with complete disdain. Beck walks behind me and starts rubbing my shoulders, and whispers in my ear for me to relax. How the hell can I relax? Not only did Vega get the lead that should have gone to me, but now we will get to meet my favorite playwright, and Vega doesn't even know who the fuck she is?

"Wait- is she the lady that does those infomercials with the vibrating hair brush?" Vega asks.

"Look at the cover of your script," Robbie tells Vega, and you can tell that even he is getting annoyed at how fucking idiotic this bitch is.

"Ohhhhh, Sophia Michelle wrote the play we're doing!" Tori exclaims as the light bulb finally turns on.

"Ohhhhh!" I mock Mini Vega, not bothering to correct her that we are actually doing a musical.

"She's like the biggest playwright on Broadway," Robbie patiently explains.

"Yeah, she's huge," Beck says, as he continues to rub my shoulders.

Marty comes back into the theater and attempts to start a pep talk to the cast about how we have to be great, but after two minutes ends up leaving again to take another "nerve pill." He needs to just steal some of Sikowitz's "special" brownies he hides in his desk. Maybe they would mellow him the fuck out.

"Rehearsal is done for the night! Memorize your lines- I want everyone off book in two days!" he shouts as he runs out of the theater and down the hall. At this announcement, Sinjin starts playing the fucking disco music again.

"Will you kill the disco!?" I yell, ready to wring his scrawny little neck.

"No one can kill disco!" Sinjin yells back, surprising me a bit, then whips out the damn vibrating hairbrush he and Vega were talking about a minute ago. Why either of them would need a vibrating hairbrush- and what they do with the handle part of it when they are alone- is not something that I want to think about, so I start to quickly pack up my stuff so I can get the hell out of there.

"What is going on with you?" I ask Beck as we walk out to his car together.

"What do you mean?" he asks me, pushing his hand through his hair. I stop walking and just stare at him.

"That scene you just did was shit," I tell him bluntly.

"What do you mean?" he asks me somewhat surprised. "Marty seemed to like it. I mean, I know that Robbie is still working on developing his character, and Tori doesn't have her lines down yet, but-"

"I'm not talking about them. Robbie was fine. Actually, he was way better than I expected him to be. Vega was her typical melodramatic self. I'm talking about you. Your acting in there today was shit. You weren't looking at her, weren't even attempting to connect with her for the first part of the scene. Just when you finally decided to get into it Vega breaks character and Sinjin fucks up the music cue. What the hell is going on?" I ask him, crossing my arms.

"Well, why don't you just tell me how you really feel about my acting skills," Beck replies.

"We all know that you are one of, if not the most talented actors in this school," I begin. "But that scene that just happened in there?" I point behind me towards Hollywood Arts. "That was absolutely horrible until like your last two lines. What was the problem?"

"I don't know, I didn't realize that you would be so upset that I wasn't 'connecting' enough with Tori," Beck said, looking down at his shoes.

"We go to a fucking performing arts school. I see you kiss and 'connect' with girls all the damn time. The way you can have chemistry with anyone onstage is one of the things that makes you such a good actor. So I call bullshit on that one." I say, and as Beck opens his mouth I cut him off. "And don't you dare bring up the kiss that happened in Sikowitz's class during Vega's first week here. That was improv and completely different."

"Jade, we still have our damn scripts in our hands and-"

"And what the fuck is that about? We've both had our lines down since the first week!" I yell, cutting him off.

"Look, Jade, can we just get in the car and talk," Beck asks me quietly, his eyes darting around the parking lot. I glance around and see Andre, Vega, Robbie with Rex, and even Sinjin all standing in the middle of the sidewalk just staring at us.

Fuck.

"Fine, let's just go," I say and we get into the car silently and as Beck pulls out of the parking lot, I can't help but yell out the window. "Show's over! Go get your own lives!"

We drive in silence for a couple minutes. "Just take me to my mom's house," I mumble to Beck.

"What?!" He shouts, swerving over to the side of the road and slamming on the brakes so quickly he just about gave me whiplash. He turns the car off and turns towards me. "Why didn't you tell me that your mom and Greg are back?"

"Um…..they aren't yet," I answer him honestly. "But they are supposed to get home at like three in the morning or something."

"Why aren't you staying with your dad tonight then?" Beck asks.

"The Stepmonster and I got into it this morning over something stupid, and things got a little out of hand. And I may or may not have threatened to stab her in her fake tit with a pair of my scissors." I watch Beck narrow his eyes. "So my Dad told me when he dropped me off at school this morning it would be better for all of us if I just went home to my mom's house after rehearsal tonight."

"What the fuck is wrong with them?" Beck explodes, punching his steering wheel out of frustration, making me jump. Over the course of the past three days I have seen Beck lose his temper more times than I have in the entire five years of knowing him. I feel like we fucking fell though Alice's rabbit hole and ended up in some weird alternate universe.

"I'll be fine. It's not like-"

"It's not like what Jade? It's not like you have some convicted sexual predator living down the street from you?" he interrupts me. He takes a deep breath and starts the car again, and makes a u-turn. "You are staying with me tonight."

"Beck, I can't-"

"Fuck that Jade! You CAN, and you are. If your parents have a problem with it, oh fucking well. They don't seem to have a problem leaving you alone overnight. Well I do. So unless you want me, Andre, and Robbie to camp outside of your mom's house all night, you will come home with me."

I can't help but feel relieved, knowing that I don't have to stay in the house by myself. The damn nightmares have been plaguing me every night at my Dad's, and I can only imagine how much worse they will be if I was to attempt to sleep alone in the house my attack actually happened in.

"Thanks," I smile, and Beck lets go of the steering wheel, grabs my hand and squeezes it. "I would rather be with you any night of the week," I say as we pull into his driveway. After Beck turns off the car and unbuckles his seat belt, he puts his hand under my chin and gently kisses me.

"Me too." he says half smiling, but I can still see the shadows in his eyes as he pulls away and gets out of the car.

As I get out of Beck's car and start to walk to the RV, a thought occurs to me. "Wait!" I call out to Beck and he turns around on the steps to look at me. "Why the hell would you bring Robbie? Isn't he still scared of the dark?"

A/N: Please, please review and let me know what you think. I know people say it all the time, but it is true. The more reviews I receive, the more inspired I get to write. :)