General A/N: I don't own Victorious, though that's probably obvious. This is just an idea that came to mind while binging the show during quarantine. Happy reading!

Chapter 1: How long has this been going on?

Chapter Summary: Everybody makes mistakes, even Jade West.

Chapter A/N: Chapter title is lyrics from How Long by Charlie Puth.

It was Valentine's Day at Hollywood Arts and the Asphalt Café was abuzz. There were couples everywhere, way more singing than usual and, from the second level, a few students could be seen preparing to perform romantic Shakespearean scenes to an audience of, well, just Sinjin Van Cleef, the weirdest person in school.

Jade West sat alone at the table she and her friends usually sat at, with her red Pearbook propped open in front of her next to her lunch. She picked up a fry from her tray with one hand as she logged into her laptop with the other.

As she waited for her friends—who couldn't have picked a worse day to be late and leave her sitting in the middle of the madness alone—she started to wonder how much more she could take of this stupid holiday.

It was no surprise to anyone that Jade hated Valentine's Day. She always had, and she always would. She hated all corny holidays, but this one took the cake. What was the point of it anyway? If she had to hear one more love song, she'd have to show everyone how skilled she could be with a pair of scissors.

"Where is everyone?" Robbie Shapiro asked, taking a seat across from Jade and interrupting her reverie.

Awkward and weird as he may be, Robbie was one of Jade's close friends. She'd known him for years and though she found him really annoying most of the time, especially when he ran around with his hand shoved up a puppet's butt, she still kind of tolerated him.

"Who knows, who cares," she replied dryly, not bothering to look up at him. She was too busy searching for movie showtimes on her laptop.

"Don't be a grunch, Jade, there's still time for you to find a valentine," Rex, Robbie's puppet, said. He started to laugh until Jade slowly looked up from her screen, her blue-green eyes fixed on him. If looks could kill, he'd be laying on a hospital bed… lifeless.

"Robbie, you better shut your little puppet up right now or I swear I'll k—"

But her threat was interrupted by the chords of an acoustic guitar being played right behind her ear.

"NO!" she yelled, loud enough to get the attention of the Shakespeare club on the second level that had frozen mid-scene. She had a way of scaring people.

Jade turned to look at the freshman who stood behind her, her hand slowly inching for the scissors she kept hidden under the waistband of her black skirt. He had his mouth open like he was ready to start singing to her, but he never got the chance. As soon as Jade's glare was on him, he took off in a sprint, clutching onto his guitar for dear life.

See, Hollywood Arts had a fun—depending on who you asked—little tradition for Valentine's Day. Sing-O-Grams. You paid $5 and chose someone to have a love song of your choice performed to them. And every year, students went crazy for it.

The "performers" were comprised of a random group of students, or as Jade always put it, "sexless nerds." Robbie, being one of them, was always quick to take offense. "I rest my case," Jade would say each time he'd argue.

The grams were mostly popular between couples, but some students would send them anonymously to their secret crushes. Beck Oliver, Jade's ex-boyfriend, always knew better than to send her one, unless he wanted his head chewed off, or cut off by her scissors.

"Well, you sure scared the chiz outta that kid," Beck said as he sat down next to Jade. He took a bite out of his apple, stifling a laugh as he watched the freshman run toward the main building.

Beck was Jade's first love. Actually, he was her first everything. He was her first kiss, her first fight, her first 'I love you', her first time, and the first person to ever make her feel truly happy. They dated for two years before breaking up in December.

It was Jade who ended things, but the split was fairly mutual. She loved Beck, and Beck loved her, but she knew something was missing. He was like a puzzle piece that didn't quite fit. It seemed right, but the closer she'd examine it, the more she realized it wasn't a match. Sometimes puzzle pieces weren't meant to fit together, no matter how hard you'd want them to.

Initially, their friends were nervous about what the group dynamic would be like after their break up. They hoped no one would have to choose sides. But Beck and Jade remained friends and oddly enough, nothing really changed between them. Jade still got jealous when other girls flirted with him, broken up or not, and Beck was still the same laidback type of guy who wasn't all too bothered by it. It was weird, but it worked.

"Isn't that your fifth gram today?" Robbie asked. He thanked his lucky stars that he wasn't the one chosen to sing to Jade.

"Sixth," she said, her voice dripping with irritation. Forgetting about Rex, her annoyance quickly shifted to Sing-O-Grams.

Everyone at school was afraid of her and no guy would ever dare ask her out, even if she was somewhat newly single. Not like she was interested anyway, there wasn't a single guy at Hollywood Arts that she was attracted to, except Beck, but that ship sailed a few months before and she wasn't itching to reboard it.

With their cloaks of anonymity, guys were coming out of the woodwork and sending her Sing-O-Grams in hopes that, maybe, she'd give them a chance. They could stay hoping though, Jade West would rather willingly watch some dumb romantic flick like Titanic than date anyone else at Hollywood Arts.

"What was that all about?" Tori Vega asked, pointing toward the building behind her where the student had disappeared. "He almost ran into André and I while we were walking over here."

"Let me guess, another gram for Jade?" André Harris followed up. He laughed, only to be met with sharp blue-green eyes that caused him to stop immediately. That death glare could do a lot more damage than words.

Jade, too preoccupied thinking about the revenge she planned to seek on that freshman, didn't even notice Tori and André had joined them at the table. Nor did she care, really. The two sat side-by-side next to Beck, both eating their respective lunches.

With the exception of Beck, André was the most tolerable of the friend group, in Jade's eyes at least. Sure his grandma was borderline crazy and, yeah, he was always humming melodies and making beats for his new songs, but besides that, he wasn't really that bad. Jade didn't mind him, that much she'd admit. But Tori? Now that was a different story.

Tori Vega was to Jade West as hot was to cold. They couldn't be any more opposite. Tori liked singing and chick flicks, Jade liked acting and horror. Tori was an optimist, Jade a pessimist. Tori was compassionate, positive, and tried way too hard to be Jade's friend. Jade was apathetic, negative, and not interested in sleepovers and braiding Tori's hair while they gushed about their crushes.

But Jade was also jealous, though she would never admit it. Tori showed up at Hollywood Arts over a year ago and was instantly the center of attention. In the span of—literally—one night, Tori Vega became the talk of the school. And since then, everything seemed to be handed to her. Solos, performance slots at school dances, roles in the school plays, Jade's friends…

Jade couldn't stand how Tori could just waltz into her school and take everything like she owned the place. So, she made her life a bit of a living hell in retaliation. If no one else would, she'd be glad to.

"Say one more thing about these stupid grams and I'll have you acquainted with my scissors," Jade threatened. She picked up another fry and ate it like nothing had happened.

Everyone nodded. If you spent even the slightest amount of time around Jade, you'd quickly realize it was best not to cross her. Riling her up just spelt out trouble.

"Hi hi!" Cat Valentine said, skipping her way over to the table. She claimed the seat between Tori and Robbie, a huge smile plastered on her face.

"Hi Cat," they all said in unison.

Cat was the closest thing Jade had to a best friend, though she'd never put it that way. No one really understood Cat like Jade did. She wasn't the brightest light bulb in the pack, and she could talk your ear off about literally anything, but Jade cared about her and felt a strong need to protect her.

"Well, aren't you going to ask me why I'm so happy?" Cat asked, looking between her friends. She was practically bouncing with excitement.

"No," Jade answered, returning her focus to her laptop.

Beck nudged her with his elbow, lightly hitting her side. Boyfriend or not, he always knew how to get Jade to play nice, or at least try to play nice.

"Why are you so happy, Cat?" she asked in a monotonous tone.

"Because it's Cat Valentine's Day!" Cat cheered.

Cat Valentine's Day, as the name would suggest, was a day to celebrate Cat. It was the one time a year where, for twenty four hours on what normal people would consider Valentine's Day, everything had to be about her.

"Right," André nodded, "happy Cat Valentine's Day, Lil' Red."

There was a combined mumble of "Happy Cat Valentine's Day" from the rest of the group which made Cat smile even wider.

"You're all coming to Karaoke Dokie to celebrate tonight right?" Cat asked, twirling her red hair around her index finger.

Karaoke Dokie was a karaoke bar where the group spent most of their time after school. It was Cat's favorite place to hang out and the location of her Cat Valentine's Day celebration every year.

There was a collective nod from the group in response to Cat's question, except for Jade. "No," she said, attention still on her laptop.

"What?!" Cat exclaimed, stretching her arm out dramatically and hitting Robbie in the chest.

"Ouch, Cat!" he exclaimed, rubbing at the spot where Cat's hand made contact.

She looked at Robbie and gave him an apologetic smile then turned back to Jade. "You said you were coming when I sent out the mass text last weekend," she said. She flashed her famous puppy dog eyes, but that never worked on Jade West.

"That was until I remembered Valentine's Dead Day comes out today and I'm not missing the premiere."

Jade was a bit of a horror film lover. Well, that was putting it lightly… she was kind of obsessed. Cat Valentine's Day or not, she planned to be at the next showing of the movie as soon as school let out.

Cat was sad. She wanted all her friends there to celebrate with her, but she knew there was no point in arguing with Jade.

"It's okay, Cat, we'll be there," Tori reassured her, resting a hand on Cat's shoulder and giving it a gentle squeeze.

"Is Ryder coming too?" Cat asked.

Ryder Daniels was the most recent addition to the group, but only because he was dating Tori. They'd been together for almost five months. Everyone seemed to like him, except Jade, of course. Something about him rubbed her the wrong way, she just wasn't sure what.

"No," Tori sighed, "he's at an audition in New York. He'll be back on Sunday. We're celebrating Valentine's Day then."

Jade rolled her eyes. Of course they were going to celebrate that stupid holiday. "Well, that explains it," she said. She finished typing in her card number to purchase a ticket for the movie then looked at Tori.

Tori looked back at her, an eyebrow raised in confusion. "Explains what?" she asked.

"Why he's not here clinging onto you like a desperate little monkey."

Ryder and Tori were not afraid to be affectionate, sometimes a little too affectionate. The two were almost inseparable since they started dating. Anytime you saw Tori, you could expect to see Ryder with his arm loosely flung around her shoulder, their fingers interlocked. It was far too mushy for Jade.

"He doesn't cling onto me," Tori quickly defended. She looked between the group for backup, but they were silent, looking down at the table like there was something far more interesting on it. They weren't getting involved in another Jade versus Tori quarrel.

"He doesn't cling onto me!" Jade repeated in the fake southern belle accent she reserved to mock Tori with. It never failed to get a rise out of her.

"I don't talk like that!" Tori cried out.

Jade shrugged. "Whatever," she said. She finished processing her payment then shut her laptop closed.

Tori took in a deep breath. This wasn't the first time Jade had made a remark about Ryder, and she knew it wouldn't be the last either.

"I know you don't like my boyfriend, for whatever reason, but the least you could do is pretend to, for my sake," Tori pleaded.

Jade placed her laptop in her bag, secured it, and then threw the strap over her shoulder as she said, "I don't have to do anything, Vega."

She stood up and looked between the group. "I'm gonna go, I have a script to write," she said.

It wasn't exactly a lie. She did have a script she'd been meaning to work on, but it wasn't anything time sensitive. She just needed an excuse to get away from Tori.

Tori watched as Jade walked away and disappeared into the main building. She felt defeated. This wasn't new territory for her, but she always felt like any time she took a step forward with Jade, they'd immediately take three steps back.

She didn't understand her. She couldn't wrap her head around why she always picked on her, why she'd chosen her as her target practice ever since they met.

A couple of hours after school ended, Jade arrived at the movie theater with time to spare before the start of the film. It was her go-to place. Not only did they offer the best horror film marathons that included Jade's favorite, The Scissoring, but their somewhat off-the-grid location couldn't be beat. It was just far enough from Hollywood Arts and her neighborhood that the likelihood of seeing someone she knew was practically zero.

And that was how she liked it. The movie theater was a sacred place for Jade. It was a place to escape and enjoy one of her favorite art forms. It was something she actually preferred to do on her own. Going alone had many perks, she didn't have to wait around for anyone and everything was done on her time. But the best part was that she could fully submerge herself into the film. There were no distractions, no boyfriend who wanted to make out, no friends who wanted to pass the group popcorn from one end to the other.

To say she was excited about the premiere was an understatement. To Jade, nothing was as exhilarating as watching a horror movie for the first time, especially one written by the same screenwriter who wrote The Scissoring. She had high expectations, but she was sure they'd all be met.

After finding a spot in the parking lot, Jade walked into the theater lobby. She showed her mobile ticket to the ticket attendant who scanned it before letting her in.

"Theater six to your left," the attendant said as the scanner beeped, indicating her ticket was valid.

She opted to skip the concessions line and made a beeline for the theater instead. She wasn't hungry and she had no intention of drinking anything that would have her up and running to the bathroom mid-movie.

The theater was about halfway full when she entered. She looked up and toward the far back, spotting a single aisle seat in the very last row. That was the perfect spot. It was as far back from everyone as possible and at the very end, so only one person was on her side, a goth girl like herself.

She sat down and placed her black purse on her lap, opening it slightly to fish out her cell phone. She had about fifteen minutes to kill before the lights would dim, and the current video playing was explaining movie theater etiquette. She'd been going to the movies for over a decade, she didn't need a pre-film video to teach her.

On her phone screen, she had a few alerts from The Slap app notifying her that Cat, André, Beck and Robbie had all recently posted. Months back, the group had all agreed to set up notifications for each other so everyone would be alerted when they each posted. Jade had reluctantly agreed, but she refused to add Tori, so she didn't.

Jade figured the posts were all Cat Valentine's Day celebration photos from Karaoke Dokie. As the app opened and loaded, she looked up from her phone and noticed a familiar couple standing at the bottom of the opposite staircase, right near the entrance. It was definitely Ryder, Jade could make out by his face since he was facing the audience, and Tori, which she assumed by her long brown hair, similar physique and the hideous outfit she was wearing. She stood facing Ryder, so Jade couldn't tell exactly.

Jade didn't mean to watch them so intently, but she did. She spent enough time looking at them as they talked at the entrance, she didn't even notice her phone screen go black. There was something that was off about this, and it wasn't the fact that Ryder and Tori had shown up at her movie theater. Well, it definitely annoyed Jade considering she never expected to see anyone she knew there. It was a hole-in-the-wall of a movie theater, why would they go all the way out there when they have a perfectly good theater near school.

As Ryder turned his attention to look for a pair of empty seats, Jade looked down hoping he wouldn't notice her. When she peeked, she saw him climbing the stairs, eyes focused on the two empty seats a few rows below Jade. Tori, however, was nowhere to be found.

Ryder took a seat and Jade watched him. She thought about the conversation from lunch, how Tori said she'd be at Cat's celebration and that Ryder was supposed to be in New York. That was what felt so off about seeing them together… there. Why would Tori lie about that? And why was Jade thinking so hard about it? Why did she even care?

She was too lost in thought to notice Tori climbing up the stairs and toward the row where Ryder sat. It wasn't until she was halfway down the aisle, clutching a large drink in one hand and a giant tub of popcorn in the other, that Jade realized that it wasn't Tori. While she looked almost identical from behind, her face told a different tale. They had similar features, but she wasn't anywhere near as pretty as Tori. And those cheekbones couldn't hold a candle to Tori's.

Fake Tori, as Jade quickly named her, sat down next to Ryder and handed him the tub of popcorn before placing the drink in the cup holder. Jade, still unsure of why she cared so much, continued to watch them. She thought maybe, just maybe, it was a sibling or a cousin, but that was until Ryder brought his arm around Fake Tori, in the same fashion he always did to real Tori, and leaned in for a kiss.

The conversation from lunch replayed in Jade's head and it was at that moment that everything finally clicked. Ryder wasn't in New York, he was there in LA on what looked like a date with a girl that wasn't his girlfriend on Valentine's Day.

Jade couldn't believe her eyes. She was watching Ryder cheat on Tori right in front of her. Without even thinking about it, she grabbed her phone from her lap and swiped through to access her camera. She angled her phone so that the focus was on Ryder and Fake Tori then zoomed in just enough to show who they were.

The two didn't stop making out which, as gross as it was for Jade to witness, meant she had enough video proof to out Ryder for being the biggest chizhead on the planet.

Jade ended the video and opened The Slap app. Her initial instinct, as someone who always filmed embarrassing videos of her friends and got hundreds of views off of them, was to post it for the whole school to see. She navigated through the app, selected to make a new post and added the video to her draft. Her finger hovered over the "send" button as she debated whether or not she should actually post it.

Before she could think too hard on it, the lights in the theater dimmed, indicating the movie was about to begin. Jade quickly hit the "save" button instead, so she could deal with posting later, and shoved her phone back into her purse.

She wasn't one to care about following the rules, but she'd been waiting months to see Valentine's Dead Day and she would be livid if she got kicked out of it.

Meanwhile, things at Karaoke Dokie were going great. Everyone had taken a turn performing a song of Cat's choice and it was Tori who now stood on stage singing along to the instrumental version of Katy Perry's California Gurls.

The rest of the group sat at their usual table, the remnants of their dinners scattered all over, watching as Tori jumped around from one end of the stage to the other. They all danced in their seats, clapping along to the beat and cheering on their very talented friend. Cat danced in place and swayed her arms from side to side in pure joy.

Midway through the second chorus, she felt her phone buzz in her hand. If there was one thing Cat loved more than celebrating Cat Valentine's Day, it was texting, especially mass texting, so she always had her phone in the palm of her hands. Without stopping her dancing, Cat checked the notification.

Jade West posted a video on The Slap.

She continued to dance in place, singing along to the lyrics as she slid her thumb across the screen, swiping at the notification and opening up the app.

As the video began to play, Cat's facial expression went from wonder to surprise in seconds. Her body stopped moving as she stood frozen in place. She knew Jade was at the movies, as sad as that had made her, so she expected some weird video of her about to watch the movie. What she wasn't expecting was to see Ryder kissing a girl that wasn't Tori, though the similarities were uncanny.

"What's wrong Cat?" Robbie asked. He was the first to notice she stopped dancing.

"She probably just got her IQ score," Rex said.

Robbie glared at him and exclaimed, "Hey! Not nice!"

Cat looked over at Robbie, shock written all over her face. "Did you see what Jade posted?" she asked.

She figured everyone else had received the notification too, and they had, but no one else had their phone out. They were all too focused on Tori's performance.

Robbie just shook his head. André and Beck watched Cat curiously, both no longer dancing either.

"Check your phones," Cat said, her voice in a sad tone.

In slight synchronicity, the three of them picked up their phones from where they laid on the table and viewed Jade's notification.

The room went silent for a second after Tori finished her song, then the crowd erupted into cheers for her. Everyone clapped except her friends who sat quietly around the table, cell phones out in front of them, watching her boyfriend get up close and personal with someone that wasn't her.

Tori jumped off stage, handed the DJ the mic, and walked over toward the table. She knew she slayed the performance, but her smile faded as she noticed all her friends sitting on their phones.

"Oh come on! Not even one clap?" she asked as she neared them.

"Um, Tori," André began nervously, "That was a great performance and all but…"

He looked at his phone then at the rest of the group almost as if to say, "a little help here!"

"You should check your phone, Tori," Beck said, breaking the now awkward silence.

Tori eyed them suspiciously. It wasn't like them to act so weird and dubious. She reached for her phone in her back pocket and pulled it out. Before she could bring it up to look at it, Cat stood up and threw her arms around her.

"I'm so sorry, Tori!" she said.

"What? What happened?" Tori asked. Cat's grip was tight on her and she couldn't get her arms up to even look at her phone. "Did Riverdale get canceled?"

"No, Ryder ch—" Cat began to say, but was quickly interrupted by a hand covering her mouth.

It was Beck. He pulled her off of Tori and held her back, even as she licked his hand in protest.

"Stop Cat," he argued, "she needs to see if for herself."

Cat relaxed in his arms. He lifted his hand off of her mouth slowly, watching her to make sure she didn't try to say anything again. When she didn't, he let her go completely.

"See what?" Tori asked. With her arms finally free, she brought her phone up closer to her face and looked at her screen. She had a few notifications, mostly a series of texts from Trina, her sister, that she couldn't read because it only showed the preview, and one from The Slap.

Jade West posted a video on The Slap.

She swiped her finger across Jade's notification first, figuring that was what everyone was acting weird about. The app took a few seconds to load, which under these circumstances, felt like an eternity.

"This better not be another video of her listing off the most annoying things about me because I—"

Tori cut herself off as the video started to play. It was definitely not of Jade talking crap about her, though now she wished it was.

The video was about fifteen seconds long, but all she had to see were the first five, and that was more than enough. She swiped out of the app and checked her messages. They were all Trina asking for her to call her, saying she was worried and that she'd seen the video on The Slap.

Tori felt a tidal wave of emotions crash into her as she stood frozen on the Karaoke Dokie floor. She felt betrayal, anger, sadness, but most of all, she was starting to feel numb. Tears welled up in her eyes, and she bit her bottom lip to try and stop herself from crying. This wasn't the place to break down.

She forgot about the rest of the group, who stood quietly around the table watching her, waiting for her to say something, but there was nothing for her to say.

"I'm so sorry, Tori," Cat repeated.

And with that, Tori was gone.

General A/N: I hope you enjoyed. Drop your thoughts in the comments, if you'd like. I welcome all feedback! 🙂