Grade 10 day 8
"aww who's the new girl" asks Tori
"I don't know, I've never seen her before, how about I go ask" says Jade
"Babe no, don't you dare initiate her, principal Eichner told you no more of that" says Tori as Jade smirks
"well since you called me babe I guess I can relent but either way I want to talk to her" says Jade as she walks over to Cat
"ugh why is nobody telling me where to find Lane" fusses Cat
"he had a family emergency, he's not in today, maybe I can help" says Jade as Cat sizes her up
"help me with what exactly, Lane messed up my classes, he put me in an acting class, I'm a singer not an actor, I can't act to save my life" says Cat suddenly afraid of Jade
"this is a performing arts school, acting is a part of that, you're expected to attend the class, everyone at Hollywood Arts has attended Sikowitz's class for at least one semester, if it really wigs you out then you can ask to be transferred out of his class but everyone is expected to try at least a week, Lane should be back tomorrow" says Jade as she leads Cat towards Tori
"i-i-is this school bi or gay friendly, my mom told me it was" asks Cat getting more nervous by the minute
"teachers don't have a problem, other students might make fun of you, which are you" says Jade
"Babe I said no initiation" says Tori
"i-i-I'm bi" stutters Cat
"babe you're scaring her, what's your name" say Tori
"Cat, Cat Valentine" says Cat
"wait Police Chief Valerie Valentine's daughter Cat Valentine" asks Jade suddenly backing away from Cat
"i-I guess, I don't really know what she does specifically, I just know she is a police officer" says Cat
"Jade why are you scared, you know my dad's a cop too" says Tori
"she had my dad arrested last month, after a six month investigation they found out how he treated me after I came out to you and we started dating, while I'm glad they arrested him I guess I'm shocked her daughter is smaller than I expected, Valerie is pretty tall" says Jade calming down a little
"my mom isn't my mom, she's my moms sister, my mom died in a car accident when I was six, my mom wasn't much taller than I am, I think had stopped growing at seventeen or something….. there I go oversharing again, I had to switch schools because at the last one I got tricked into oversharing about my shower routine…. People won't do that here right" says Cat beginning to freak out
"Jade we need to keep her away from Robbie, understood" says Tori as Jade nods
"I swear the nerve of Robbie, I get that he's a nerd but he sure does know how to piss me off" says Jade as they head to class
At lunch that day
"I thought it'd be scarier" says Cat as Robbie approaches
"hey, new girl, I have a gift for you" says Robbie creepily
"hand it over Robbie, you don't get to freak her out, her mom is the LAPD police chief and they sent my dad to keep an eye on her" says Tori as Robbie hands the purple stuffed giraffe in a box over and David immediately walks over to scan it
"Robbie step back, Tori hand me the box" says David as Robbie steps back
"dad Robbie may be creepy but he wouldn't dare do anything like what you're suggesting" says Tori handing the gift box to her dad
"I'm not worried about a bomb, I'm worried about a wireless camera, LA has been flooded with wireless camera equipped toys this year, Cat has been especially targeted because she tends to overshare, she will talk about anything if she's tricked into talking about it, at her last school she was tricked into talking about intimate details about her shower routine when she was asked how she keeps her hair soft and healthy and her skin so soft, last year a fellow student had given her a stuffed cat that she had put on her bed and took with her to the bathroom when she showered, luckily it didn't have a camera but it did have a microphone that was transmitting audio to said student over the internet, the audio was then leaked online and her ex nearly killed her, don't go looking for the audio, It's been taken down, Robbie, going forward if you have any gifts for Cat, inform me first so I can check it for cameras or microphones" says David clearing the gift and handing it to Cat
"Officer Vega, I would never do such a thing, I get that I can be creepy but she's cute, defenseless and probably well read, why would I hurt her like that" says Robbie
"I mean you tried to take a picture of Tori changing at the mall last year for your school newspaper, give me one reason I should trust anything you say" says David as Cat opens the box and starts crying, hugging the stuffed Giraffe like her life depends on it
"i-i-i-i-I thought they stopped making these…. Thank you Robbie, I've been looking for one for years, I lost mine in the crash" says Cat forcing herself to stop short of saying the rest
"my dad knows someone who worked where they were made, he spoke to your mom awhile ago, explained that there was a wishlist of items that she was looking for to replace what you lost in the crash, that stuffy is actually a pre-production model, that is the original one the creator used to sell the company on the design, take good care of it, the first edition stuffies are going for a lot of money, like half a million dollars, I imagine that one is worth way more" says Robbie
"why give her something worth so much, what's in it for you Robbie" asks Tori
"because it was on her wishlist, her mom paid for it, though I was hoping for one date, no strings attached, I'm not asking for more, I'm not expecting more" says Robbie as Cat actually considers it
"Cat you don't have to if you don't want to" says David making sure Cat knows her rights
"no Mr. Vega, he deserves that much, he brought memories back I thought I'd never remember, I can't say if I'll enjoy it but he deserves a chance" says Cat
"Tori and Jade can pick the time and day as well as the place if that makes you feel any better Officer Vega" says Robbie
"Tori, Jade are you sure he can be trusted, her mom would have my head if I let anything happen to her" asks David as Tori nods to Jade
"he's giving up control of where the date takes place Mr. Vega, that's usually a big deal for first dates, I know my first date with Tori was very important to me and I would have never let anyone else decide it but either me or Tori, Robbie here's the deal, Tori's place after school tomorrow, Cat picks the restaurant and we all order but you will be paying for her food as well as your own, first impressions are important and so far, you're doing ok" says Jade
"why so soon" asks Robbie not having expected the date to be that soon
"Cat does need to think it over but we don't want her dwelling on it for too long, if it doesn't work out then it doesn't work out, I've noticed she has a tendency to overthink things, if she backs out by this time tomorrow then she backs out, dad, your boss works long hours, is there any plan to keep Cat somewhere else when she's not safe at home, she told me she feels unsafe when her mom isn't home" says Tori
"yes actually, Cat is the girl I told you about last week, that would be staying with us for a few months, which is why she has no problem talking to you, she was told she could trust you, when I informed her of trusted people I mentioned Jade but I forgot to describe her, that was my fault, though you know the rules for Jade staying at the house, those rules intensify with Cat there" says David as the bell rings
"ok, anyway dad lunch is over, we need to get to class, Eichner is making some sort of announcement and we can't be late" says Tori as they get up and head inside
Later that day at Tori's
"well Cat, you've spent the afternoon in classes with Robbie, have you decided to keep the date or cancel it, it's up to you" asks Tori
"I'm keeping the date though I doubt I will want a second one, you need to understand I lost my entire family in that crash, at least I thought I did, my mom wasn't on speaking terms with the rest of my family, my Mom, Dad and my brother were the only family I knew, we were moving to San Francisco, my mom had gotten an amazing job there, anyway the moving van had suddenly stopped, how I don't know but my dad was driving, then my mom, who had just ended a fight between me and my brother suddenly crashed, I was the only person left alive, the fire ate everything in the moving truck, I don't care if it was paid for by my 'mom', this stuffed giraffe means everything to me, the one I'd had before I'd had since my first birthday, so six years, then nothing until now, mom could have waited until I got home to give it to me, instead she sent Robbie to school with it, without him or his dad I wouldn't have this in my arms right now and I wouldn't have remembered my moms voice for the first time in ten years, my 'mom' doesn't pull strings, she doesn't ask for favors from people unless it's for work, Robbie deserves at least one chance, I just hope he's not like my ex" says Cat
"speaking of, you don't seem the type to date, not based on what you've said at school" says Tori concerned about her
"she is Bipolar like I am except she can get violent but that time was the first it had ever been directed at me, us dating had conditions and strict rules, the main one being that she wasn't to lay a hand on me in anger, the moment she did the relationship was over, that was the rule" says Cat
"but she got mad at you as if you had control over whether the creep leaked the audio or not, that wasn't right" says Jade
"it wasn't about the audio, that's just the reason she gave the police when my cousin called them, she got angry because she thought the way I hugged my cousin that day seemed sexual and she wanted to stop it, the moment she scratched me she backed away, knowing that it meant her and I were over, while she did bring light to the leaked audio, she only did so because she thought she was covering up in*t" says Cat
"you weren't actually dating your cousin were you" asks Tori
"absolutely not, he only just turned fifteen last week, I'd have to be dumber than a rock to think dating him was ok, no she got the idea because of how I hug him, which stems from my belief that I don't know when the last time I'll see them is, so I hug them as if it IS the last time, I hug everyone like that, losing my family the way I did, it changed me, it made me very aware that living a long life isn't guaranteed, which is why I'm giving Robbie a chance, I don't want him dying thinking that nobody ever saw the good in him" says Cat
"but he can be very creepy" says Tori
"because he wants attention, not because he genuinely thinks being creepy is ok, I could have turned out just as creepy acting, I know what loneliness feels like, what it feels like to not be appreciated, I fainted in music class and he helped me get back up when I came to, I thanked him, the look on his face told me nobody has ever thanked him for being kind, think about that, nobody ever thought to thank him for being kind, of course he'd act out for attention" says Cat
"huh, I never thought about it that way, I guess it kind of makes sense but that doesn't make it right Cat, what do you plan to wear tomorrow" says Tori
"he's well aware his behavior wasn't right, I made it very clear that IF I choose to take things further after tomorrow night that I will not accept that behavior, that I have two sides to me, the cute airhead that IS smart behind the scenes and the vengeful side that will go after him if he continues acting creepy even a little bit, anyway I'll be wearing a fluffy cute dress, in velvet red as is my theme usually as you can tell by my hair" says Cat
"is the whole two sides thing real or was that just a threat" asks Jade
"my mother was a vengeful rape lawyer, willing to work hours upon hours upon hours to make sure justice was served, my father was a forgiving father, in his eyes I could do no wrong, no matter what I broke even if sometimes on purpose he would always forgive me, when they died it was like they gave me that part of them, so that I wouldn't be totally defenseless, an example of my vengeful side is as follows, one time my mom let her friend babysit me, even though he never acted upon it he still told me he would love to see me in his bed, it completely freaked me out, I spent weeks ignoring mom after that, several times I would break things in her room to show I was unhappy, was what I did right, well no but she also never apologized, not until she sat me down and asked why I kept breaking her things and I told her what he'd said, which I'd told her before but the friend was a fellow cop, until that point she'd chosen to believe him, then a year later he was a confirmed pedophile, having been found guilty of using his authority as a cop to spy on little girls in the park, after the talk she got me a phone that she can track but that otherwise I can use as I want, she's taken everything serious since, though she will still call me out on my lies, when it comes to something as serious as 'this guy said this' or this guy told me that' she's taken it seriously, that's why she assigned your dad to keep an eye on me at school, it's become blatantly obvious to her that because of my height problem adult men seem to think they can say whatever they want and I won't tell anyone" says Cat
"then I'm glad Tori talked me out of initiating you as a new student, that could have been bad" says Jade
"what is this initiation thing, my old school didn't have that but I keep hearing that some LA high schools do" asks Cat
"I'm what's referred to as the anti-bully bully, my tactic is I pin them against a locker and stare into their eyes so intensely that it scares them into fearing me, ironically the only person it didn't work on was Tori, she bit my nose, that's why you're safe with us, we're out of the closet, nobody will say a thing bad to you if I'm close by and because they know I'm dating Tori, even if I'm not in the room but Tori is they know I will find out in less than a minute and that I will hunt them down and make them apologize, bullying at school has gone down to near zero since Tori and I got accepted last year" says Jade
"I'm not ok with you keeping people afraid" says Cat
"Believe me she doesn't, not since we started dating but Jade isn't afraid to call people on their actions and she's been praised for it, she's gotten awards for it, she keeps people honest, principal Eichner said no more initiations from Jade but didn't say she couldn't snitch on people if they mock or otherwise make fun of people, it doesn't matter the grade" says Tori as she gets a text from her dad
"Fair I guess, where am I sleeping tonight" asks Cat
"Funnily enough he just texted me that, he says you can either sleep on the couch and he will set up partitions to give you privacy when he gets home, you can sleep in Trina's room with her or you can sleep in my room with Jade and I" says Tori
"I haven't met Trina and I'm not fond of sleeping in public spaces, is it really ok if I sleep in your guys' bed with you guys" says Cat not wanting to seem creepy
"My bed is big enough, it easily takes up nearly half of my room, my bed is so soft you might not want to leave it, we don't have homework for a few more days, if you're tired now we could go up and watch a movie" says Tori as Cat yawns
"It has been a hard day for me, moving into a new school eight days in because I was afraid someone would kidnap me at my old one, I could use a nap" says Cat as Jade picks Cat up like nothing
"Well Cat, let's get you that nap" says Jade as she carries Cat up to the bed as Tori follows closely
