The gang met up in an empty classroom, where Tori had convinced Beck to take Jade before they made an enormous scene in the halls that were still occupied by random other students.
Trina also showed up.
"What are you doing here, Trina?" Tori asked.
Trina waved her phone. "I'm still in the HA6++ text thread, duh," she said.
Tori checked her phone, to make sure she hadn't accidentally summoned anyone else. "You weren't supposed to be."
"I figured you removed me by accident, so I re-added myself last week." Trina waved her off.
Jade, Beck, and André glared at Trina, silently trying to think if there was anything they had sent in their group text that they wouldn't want Trina to know.
"I love group texting," Cat said, still with a smile on her face but obviously with less of her usual sweetness. She slouched over to Jade and hugged her around her middle.
The group had seen the "Cade" dynamic enough to know not to even worry that Jade would flinch away or yell at Cat.
Jade sighed deeply and stroked Cat's red hair. "You're okay, Cat, you're okay," she said in an uncommon moment of verbalized tenderness. There was a hardness to her gaze, too, a clear sign her thoughts ran more along the lines of Enrique is not going to be okay.
"Okay, so that wasn't in the group text," Trina said.
"Enrique's been insulting her repeatedly," Robbie said.
"Then break up with him," Trina said simply.
Beck grabbed Jade's free hand before she could lash out at Trina physically.
"Think you could tone it down, Trina?" Tori asked through gritted teeth.
"Sorry, just saying," Trina added. "I'm sorry he's such a jerk, but I said what I said. There isn't much else you can do."
"I can think of plenty I can do," Jade growled.
"Any of those things nonviolent?" André asked, hiding behind Tori.
"Actually, I can," Tori said, grabbing André by the shoulder.
Cat, disentangling herself from Jade, sat down on an empty chair.
"I think we might want to save the scheming for later," Robbie suggested, cluing them into Cat's sullenness.
"Let's go get ice cream first," Beck suggested. His fingers were still intertwined with Jade, and he gave her hand a tug.
Jade relented, releasing Beck's hand. "What do you say, Cat?" she asked; the angry edge was still there but her focus was shifting to her friend.
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They moved their meeting to Magnolia's, changing the subject from Enrique's verbal lashings (and Cat's suffering through it) to other things going on. They had very clearly decided not to help with the float any longer, out of loyalty to Cat, so they were revisiting the other extra-curricular events on the calendar.
"Come watch me at the showcase?" Trina asked.
"I'm going," Tori deadpanned.
"You sound like you'd rather not," Jade said.
"It'll be fun," André said. "She's doing something different than that number you rescued from last year."
"Yeah, I think that beats the Lock-In," Beck said.
The rest of the gang got onboard after that.
"Hey, André?" Cat said a little timidly.
"What's up, Little Red?" he asked.
"I'm thinking of writing a song," Cat said.
Beck, Jade, Tori and Trina all looked at Cat quizzically.
"About..?" André asked.
"Enrique," Cat said.
"That's a great idea," Robbie said enthusiastically. "Tell the world all the awful things that come out of his mouth and that you're not taking it anymore!"
"That actually is a pretty great idea," Tori said slowly.
"I was thinking about that, but I also want him to see that he's not getting the last word," Cat said, conviction seeping into her voice.
"Absolutely," André said.
"Will you guys write it with me?" Cat asked.
"No problem, you can write all the good things we have to say about you and to you," Beck suggested.
Cat cracked a bigger smile. Enrique made her feel like dirt a lot, usually when they were alone, and when she seemed… different than what he was expecting. It was like he was dating an imagined Cat, and when he had to face the real Cat one-on-one, it made him angry, made him want to berate her until she changed. When she didn't magically become someone else, he threw a fit and walked away. Cat realized she had been making excuses for him, because she had let it start in the first place. If it had been Jade, she would have given any guy like Enrique a pair of scissors down his pants without a second thought.
André grabbed a notepad out of his bag and gave it to Cat. "This might be a bit hard at first, but I promise, it's gonna be great." He placed a pen on the pad, and said, "I want you to write down all the ugly things he's ever said about you."
Cat bit her lip and started thinking.
André grabbed another pad and pen before motioning to the others. "Everything she writes, you write something true, something good, something better."
Beck, Jade, Tori, Trina and Robbie nodded in understanding of where André was going with this.
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André took that night to start putting the lyrics together.
The gang came back together in one of the studios at school the next day after classes ended. Trina joined them, since André was helping her with her showcase number again this year. This time, he was doing it gladly, instead of being forced by his advanced class teacher. André had gotten Robbie to come in and play a little bit of violin while he played guitar to back Trina.
After doing one run of Trina's number, the gang critiqued parts of it that she could work on, but all in all, Trina was ready for the showcase… as long as she didn't do anything to jeopardize her tongue again.
André handed Robbie and Beck sheet music for bass and drums. "Think you can manage?"
Robbie and Beck nodded.
While Robbie and Beck went to study the notes, André showed Cat the finished lyrics.
The four girls in the group read it together. At every affirming thing on the page, Cat looked up at her friends, not surprised but very appreciative.
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A/N: All hail, André, master of the diss-track! Stay tuned for the output and last chapter for the season.