Disclaimer: The show, Victorious and the characters of The Addams family and associated copyrights are property of someone else and not me.
Outgoth the Goth
Chapter 6 – A close shave.
No One's POV
After she stopped laughing, Jade looked at the "Art of War" book for a few moments, before tossing it on a stack of Vogue magazines that her mother had on a nearby table.
"Whatever."
While she didn't think she needed a book, Jade did realize she needed to relax. So she ordered herself a pizza, turned off her phone and decided to have a horror movie marathon on the 70" big screen TV in the living room.
She didn't usually get to watch them on the big screen as either her father was watching sports or her mother didn't like horror movies. Actually her mother on one occasion described them as boring and unrealistic. Jade never knew what that meant, nor did she bother to ask.
So Jade sat down with her pizza and watched George Romero's dead trilogy, Night of the living dead, Dawn of the dead and Day of the dead. Plus as an added bonus she watched his 1973 film, "The Crazies."
By the end of the night she had managed to relax and enjoy her movies in solitude. As far as Tori or Wednesday she actually tried not to think of it. All she knew is that blowing her top and acting like a major asshat was not the way to go.
As she entered the school the next day she mused. "But I like blowing my top, it's a natural state of being for me."
But then she spotted Tori alone by her locker and decided to take a small step and swallow a bit her pride. Jade would be the last person to swallow her pride, but it was something about the sight of that Latina that just did things to her.
Jade walked up and tapped Tori on the shoulder.
Startled, Tori turned around and looked as if she didn't know what to say. "Oh hi Jade. Do you need something?"
Not used to apologizing or being humble, Jade found herself both shifting and looking at her feet. "I acted a bit rudely yesterday morning….uhh…I'm sorry."
After a moment's silence, Tori responded sharply. "Beck put you up to this didn't he?"
That snapped Jade out of her nervousness. "NO!"
Tori crossed her arms looking skeptical. "Then why are you apologizing."
Part of Jade wanted to explode, but she restrained herself. "I'm only human."
Suddenly seeing Wednesday, looking as dour as ever, walk up. Jade looked over to Wednesday and muttered. "At least some of us are human."
Not waiting for a response, Jade turned and walked off.
Tori watched Jade walk off for a moment, then turned to Wednesday.
"HI!"
"Was she bothering you?"
Tori kissed Wednesday on the cheek, "No, just playing one of her head games. Par for the course. Thank you again for dinner last night. Medieval times was really fun, all the sword fights and the joust."
"Yes." Deadpanned Wednesday. "But the knights didn't actually fight to the death. That ruined my appetite, how am I supposed to possibly eat if someone's life isn't actually in danger."
Tori not sure how to respond, "Sorry."
"Don't apologize, it's not your fault. Plus in the big fight the green knight was obviously the inferior one. He could barely hold a sword, my mother cold beat him with both arms tied behind her back. He won't be coming back. I'm seeing to that."
Tori nodded, "He was a pretty lousy actor. They should fire him for sure. You should write them a letter."
"Yes, that too." Remarked Wednesday.
"Ready to go to class Wednesday? Remember we're meeting in the blackbox theatre today?"
The girl in black shook her head. "Yes, I need to go to my locker. I'll meet you there."
20 minutes later, Tori, Jade and the rest of the gang were in the black box theatre and Sikowitz was on stage.
"Ok Children, As I explained yesterday, we're going to do a few scenes on the stage with proper lighting. Cat, Andre your up."
The class went fine until it was Jade and another student named Kurt Moore's turn. They were doing a scene from Barefoot in the Park and all was going well, when the unexpected happened.
Jade was in the middle of a line, when she suddenly stepped exactly 1 foot to the left and less than 1 second later, a large stage light crashed down onto the stage where she had been standing.
"Are you Ok Jade!" Shouted Sikowitz as he ran up to Jade, who was standing there stunned.
Tori who had been sitting in the front row with Wednesday ran up. "Jade, are you OK?"
"I'm fine. It missed me." Jade barked, as she recovered her wits and looked to the audience.
Sitting only a few feet away was Wednesday who's very sour facial expression didn't change one iota.
Class was immediately dismissed and principal Helen gave Jade the opportunity to go home. She also profusely apologized.
Jade was stunned, shaken but just wanted to go on with her day. A few hours later, she was called into Principal Helen's office.
She again apologized and explained that after a quick investigation they discovered the light fell as a result of a worn bolt. We are so very sorry."
Jade nodded and said. "I'm sure you are."
Not wanting to be there anymore, she got up but as she did she paused. "Tell me, that area above the stage is kept locked right?"
"Yes at all times and from the thick layer of dust on the floor up there, it seems no one has been up there for some time. I'm the only one with the key. I'm not sure what you mean by that but it was unmistakably an accident."
"I'm going home for the day. I won't sue if that's what you're worried about. Just make sure that never happens again." Jade muttered tersely, as she walked out.
Jade was shaken, but not for the reason one would expect. While the thought of nearly being squished by a stage light was disturbing, the reason she wasn't was even more so.
As she drove home, she went over that moment just before the light fell in her mind. She was on stage, Wednesday and Tori were only feet away in the front row and she suddenly stepped to the side.
The thing is that Jade hadn't intended to step or even move, her entire concentration was on the line she was currently reciting,
On her way home, Jade spoke aloud to herself. "I just moved. There wasn't any thought to it. No sense of danger, no premonition of doom, no nothing. It was like a reflex action. I suddenly stepped to one side and suddenly wham, I get missed."
She wanted to suspect Wednesday. But Jade knew that the door to the area was locked and no one had been up there for some time, there was not one shred of evidence to indicate otherwise.
"Maybe it was just a freak thing." Jade finally concluded.
About the same time Tori was sitting down to lunch with Wednesday and the others.
"Where's Jade?" Asked Robbie.
"She went home a little while ago. I saw her as she was leaving." Answered Beck
"Was she ok?" Said Tori with a noticeable amount of concern in her voice.
Wednesday briefly scrunched her face. "She is fine, the light missed her by several inches. With the weight of that particular light, had it hit her it wouldn't have been a matter of her being alright, it would have simply crushed her skull, resulting in instant death. Tori, would you like to get some Ice cream after school at Benny's. Cat, you can come as well. Any other takers."
Beck raised an eyebrow. "No offense Wednesday, but you hardly seem like the Ice cream type."
"I'm not, but I like shakes and the pure intensity of Ice Cream headache they cause. I find a certain purity to it, that one cannot find elsewhere. I find Banana Raspberry, seems to cause the longest lasting ones. While mint chocolate Ice cream headaches are shorter, they do tend to be more intense."
The assembled group at the table looked at Wednesday strangely until she said. "I'm buying."
"Cool." Said Andre.
"I'm In." Said Beck.
"Yay, Ice Cream." Squealed Cat with Joy.
Tori smiled and kissed Wednesday on the cheek. "You're so generous."
Jade returned the next day, trying not to think about Wednesday or falling lights. As soon as she entered, Tori came up.
"Jade, are you OK."
"I'm Fine Vega." Jade said, trying to keep her cool.
No sooner that had Jade said that a familiar dark form appeared and took Tori's hand.
"Come on, I want to kiss in that broom closet you're always talking about. I like kissing in dark, confined spaces that smell of poisonous chemicals."
The odd thing about that statement, Jade could have sworn Wednesday was being sincere. Regardless, Tori smiled and walked off, before Jade could say anything.
"So much for that deep conversation," Growled Jade.
At lunch, Jade kept to herself but watched Wednesday eat. The girl rarely seemed to look at her food, but kept her eye on everyone else around her.
Later on in the day, Jade made another attempt to simply say hello to Tori, between classes. Nothing grand or anything special, just say hello.
As before, less than 5 seconds after Jade said hello, Wednesday appeared seemingly out of nowhere. Jade at this point decided to leave.
It happened again the next day which was friday, whenever she got near Tori, Wednesday simply showed up as she was some sort of apex predator that knew her territory was being encroached on.
At the end of the day, Jade wasn't sure what the deal was with Wednesday. Leaving the school she simply didn't know. All she knew is that Tori was leaving directly from the school to meet Wednesdays family, as they had just returned from vacation.
She got in her car and pulled out of the lot, thinking about Tori and how stupid she had been for not giving Tori even a hint she liked her.
In fact Tori and Wednesday were in her black hears two cars ahead of her. Jade hated Wednesday even more for having a here and all she was a beat up brown, 2005 Honda Accord.
They had all reached a red light and Jade just kept thinking how the Pale demon snatched up Tori right from under her.
"It's my stupid fault." Jade said to herself as the light turned green.
Wednesday's hearse started and the car ahead of her also started to drive, but Jade kept her foot on the break. There was no conscious thought to it, her foot just stayed on the brake. A few seconds later, the car behind her honked.
"What the hell?"
Jade was about to pull her foot off the break when out of nowhere, a city garbage truck ran a red light and barreled through the intersection.
It was then Jade realized that had she started to move out instead of keeping her foot on the brake she would have been directly in the path of said garbage truck. It didn't hit her or anyone else, it just flew through the intersection and kept going.
Again Jade found herself a bit shaken. "Fuck!"
Off in the distance, Jade could see the hearse with Wednesday and Tori also keep going.
Again as she carefully made her way home, Jade wondered why her foot wouldn't move. Again she felt no sense of danger no premonition of death, her foot simply wouldn't move.
Pushing that aside, she thought about Wednesday and her two near misses. Again there was not one shred of proof that Wednesday had anything to do with it, but Jade was certainly getting suspicious.
Getting home, she spotted the Art of War Book she had tossed aside the other day. At first it seemed, he mom was mocking her when she gave her the book.
Now Jade wasn't so sure, the more she thought about it the less she felt like he mother was mocking her at all.
That's why she put down her bag, grabbed the book and started to read it as she walked into the kitchen to make herself dinner.