Back at California State 10 days later

"this is really weird, why doesn't she seem to remember who we are" asks Robbie

"that's an unfair question Robert Benedict Shapiro, her mind is boggled, she can certainly put faces to memories but names constantly elude her, for her it's like meeting friends you haven't seen since you were a kid, you remember them fine but can't come up with the names, Jade I have a query for you about you and her" says Cat

"why did I know this was coming, we were only together for about six months when we first got to Uni, she likened it to cheating on you so we broke up, it made her feel so bad that even asking her for a warmth cuddle, I'd receive a death glare from her, I have to agree with Robbie here, seeing her like this is disturbing, she's very cuddly" says Jade

"why did I see protests on our walk into this dorm" asks Cat as Tori remains asleep beside her

"Tori is very well liked here, they're trying to make a fuss so she will be re-admitted" says Andre

"their protest is moot, with her memory like it is she won't remember a single lesson, she didn't even remember she was in university, that the little relationship between you and her Jade, she tried to rationalize why she would do such a thing but couldn't find a reason why she possibly would have" says Cat

"well she initiated it, her kiss is like a drug, once it started my lips had a mind of their own, working though my classes just so I could lock lips with her again, it was a different experience for me, I normally have control over my emotions, not so with her, even now I can feel the pull to kiss her, there is something different about her" says Jade

"I haven't kissed her yet" admits Cat

"why not, it's clear by how she's sleeping with her head on your shoulder that she wants to" says Jade

"I'm afraid" says Cat

"why afraid" asks Robbie

"because she likes you too Rob, when I showed her the picture I had of you she said and I quote 'if I liked guys he'd totally be my world', also her ability to function emotionally rests solely on her ability to have a restful sleep, of which she has only had a few times since amnesia, our first day back we rented a hotel room and she slept well and was playful, then next time she fell asleep was in my car and it's not the most comfortable car in the world so she was not in a good mood at all and she hasn't had a good long sleep since, not only does it make it hard to be romantic but I'd feel guilty about forcing her into something faster than she can handle right now" says Cat

"maybe the brain injury did more than just cause amnesia, maybe it threw her off cycle, if she can't sleep then her body can't regulate anything, she needs to get a brain scan" says Jade

"as far as she is concerned no doctor can come near her that she can't afford" says Cat

"that's new, the whole time she was a student and a roomie to me she had no problem letting me pay for her monthly physicals" says Jade

"why monthly" asks Cat

"I guess you haven't been in touch with her father, her mom died of brain cancer, they wanted to make sure she was good, especially as she got more erratic and unfocused, she accused her father of not doing enough to help her mom and the relationship between Tori and her dad has been tense ever since" says Jade

"did they ever find out why she was getting more erratic and unfocused" asks Cat

"the shower slip didn't help matters but they'd found some areas of her brain that were as they called it crunchy and burnt looking, they'd seen similar patterns in children who nearly drowned and were deprived of oxygen for about ten minutes, they said the hard looking parts would be hampering her brain from connecting certain parts of her brain to the extent it needs to be to function efficiently and would cause hyper fixation and inability to focus" says Jade

"you know that explains why she could draw me in her book with excellent detail, right down to the eye lashes but couldn't answer a question I'd asked the minute before" says Andre

"did they try and fix it" asks Cat

"she had a medical shunt put in to 're-tissify' her brain, Tori's word not mine, while the doctors say the process worked at the next scan a week before her and I broke up it only made her focus on you more than ever" says Jade

"so she won't go to a doctor, how's the science wing equipped" asks Cat

"you seriously want to hand Tori over to the science wing, the guys there had been hitting on her for two years" asks Jade

"I know a girl who can get it done while keeping privacy, Carly Shay, she's majoring in medical science so she has access to the portable systems, shall I make the call" says Robbie

"of course you'd be friends with her, sure why not" says Cat

3 hours later after Carly does some scans

"well how is she" asks Cat

"well miss pop princess, I believe she's autistic and Bipolar, she also displayed brain patterns generally associated with PTSD" says Carly

"she was also diagnosed with Amnesia while in Puerto Rico 14 days ago before we left, it was a work accident" says Cat

"ahh yes that explains the memory issues, though I'm afraid it's worse than just amnesia, her memory will only be able to get so much better" says Carly

"so her memory won't get much better than this, it's clearly causing her pain, is there nothing we can do" asks Cat upset

"not really unfortunately, Sam always had interesting ideas, too bad she hates me now, I never should have asked her out" says Carly as Tori mumbles in her sleep

"if only she actually hated you Sam, I was talking to her last week, it's fear not hate, she's already in a heap of trouble for her prank war last year when it damaged her dorm wall to the point it had to be held up and repaired, it cost the university several hundred thousand dollars, she didn't push you away because she hated you, she pushed you away because she didn't want you tainted in the eyes of the university" says Jade

"does she love me" asks Carly

"she never mentioned anything but then again we aren't that kind of friends, her and Tori were pretty close though, unfortunately if Tori's memory is as bad as you say then she probably doesn't remember anything Sam said" says Jade

"there is one way to reset the pathways but it involves electro-stimuli therapy, it's not exactly very painless, it can be very painful, we'd have to shave her head and drill small holes to put an eletro shunt in her head and she'd have to wear a metal mesh helmet for a week while connected to a plug" says Carly

"sounds like a Samantha idea if you ask me" says Robbie

"it was her idea and while painful at times it does work, though if done wrong it could be used to condition her into a mindless slave to anyone with evil intentions" says Carly

"how so" asks Cat scared

"it can be used to fry parts of the brain if the voltage is too high, I'm only talking about low voltage to work, if higher it can char connections beyond repair" says Carly

"how do you know this" asks Jade

"the other friend I was friends with besides Sam tried to use the method to rid herself of her PTSD, she ended up not being able to make any decisions period, you could tell her to do anything and she wouldn't fight back at all, someone told her to go jump off a bridge last year and she did, I didn't take it well, I destroyed all documents the university had on the technique" says Carly as Tori wakes up

"did I die" asks Tori

"no, why do you think you died" asks Jade

"because my vision is blurry" says Tori starting to freak out

"it's a reaction from the tracer I used for the scans, it will go away, please calm down Tori" says Carly

"Sam loves you" blurts Tori unable to filter her speech

"really" asks Carly

"she loves your eyes, she said they're like starlight, she hates herself" says Tori

"why does she hate herself" asks Carly

"because she causes you pain, because she's the reason Sarah is dead, she was joking with her roomie about how Sarah messed up the voltage and how she followed anything like an order, she begged him not to do it, that she jokes around when she's nervous but he'd told Sarah to do it anyway, she said you and Sarah were close and that she should be dead for hurting you, that you should never trust her with anything, not even your heart because all she does is cause pain" says Tori crying as the memories flow

"what is her nickname for me" asks Carly

"I don't remember" says Tori

"the memory might be blocked by Sam asking her to keep it a secret or by the trauma" says Jade

"she has had no problem talking about you or your sex life Jade, come up with another idea" says Cat

"Sam has secrets Cat, besides Tori was the one that wanted to keep our past love a secret not me, if Sam asked her to keep something a secret even Amnesia might not be able to get past that, the trauma could have locked it in a box for only that person to access" says Jade

"so she told me about it to what, keep it a secret between us then or something" asks Cat

"it could be Cat, phantom speech seems to be a thing with her trauma brain, when she told me that Sam loved me her eyes glassed over then returned to normal, almost as if to unlock a box" says Carly as Tori's eyes glass over again

"the locking of my secrets is important Tori, I want Carly to be able to know about them someday so maybe I can be freed of my demons, please keep my bugaboo secrets safe Tori please" says Tori as her eyes return to normal

"that was interesting" says Cat confused

"interesting but not shocking, Sam is known for her wit, most likely bugaboo is a keyword she used to lock that up in Tori's brain, which means Sam knows the condition Tori has and used it to keep secrets…. Carly Isabelle Shay" says Carly as Tori's eyes glass over yet again

"Carlotta Isabelle Shay, the most perfect girl in the world, only became friends with me out of chance, our friendship has weakened as every day passes" says Tori as her eyes yet again return to normal

"ok I'm not going to do that again, it could cause more harm than good, I'm going to go talk to Miss bingo cheater" says Carly annoyed as the cycle repeats again

"Bingo miss Vega, we played Bingo, I'd cheat so she'd get mad and glare at me with those beautiful fiery starlight eyes of hers, oh how I miss those eyes" says Tori getting really annoyed

"Tori go lay down for a bit, Carly and I have to talk" says Cat as Tori does so

"I don't understand, did you figure out something" asks Carly

"fiery starlight is a song Tori wrote as a kid" says Jade as Sam stands at the door

"what's it about" asks Carly

"it's about a girl with a rare condition to hold others memories but only flashes of her own, she follows the girl named Starlight back to safety every night" says Sam

"that's what Tori has isn't it" asks Cat

"yes, she was born with it" says Sam

"how does it work" asks Cat

"ok so imagine going to the library and picking out five books on say whales or ocean creatures then when you go to check them out before leaving, three get changed to different book by wildly different authors, that's what it's like" says Sam

"we've been friends for years, how could she have hid this from us" asks Andre

"the difference between you guys and me is I had no intention of making her feel comfortable talking to me, not every condition shows up when someone is calm and collected, my new roomie called it torture but Tori never once got angry at me for bringing it to the surface, every other story she told was from a third perspective, she always called herself Tori in those instead of just using first person terms like 'I', in fact she always offered me money in return, sure I took it but I would always spend it at the place she worked so it ended up going right back to her" says Sam

"you know she always spoke so highly of you, I knew full well you were trying to trigger her but she stopped me from hating by saying 'don't hate Samantha, her ideas are working, I feel more myself than ever', was her getting amnesia predictable" says Jade

"yes and no, it is amnesia but different, every memory group got locked in boxes, oh by the way she isn't gay" says Sam

"wait what now, but she loves me, she told me herself" says Cat

"man you are wicked literal Catarina, she's bi" says Sam

"Jade's bi, I'm bi, what is she afraid of" asks Cat

"being made fun of, coming out as gay is easier than coming out as bi, for her anyway, she said it was the main reason she won't speak to her dad, she came out as bi and he basically disowned her, for once in her life Trina defended Tori, David is in the wrong and he knows it" says Sam