The Undead
A/N: Wow! Thank you all so much for your kind reviews! I'm so glad you all like this fic :) and I hope you enjoy this chapter
Chapter Two
Jade slouched in the passenger seat of Beck's truck, lips pursed and arms crossed. Suffice to say, she was not happy. She really disliked Tori Vega and her happy-go-lucky attitude, and her incessant need to always stick her nose into other people's business.
And now, Jade had to spend a few hours at her house in order to work on a project she was even less pleased about doing. What was it with Sikowitz and his sudden interest in death, anyways? First, an acting exercise on death and now an entire project where they had to play dead? Ha, well, Jade already knew she and Beck were going to pass this course with top marks.
With an eye roll, Jade rested her feet on the dashboard even though she knew Beck hated it.
"Jade," Beck sighed. He hadn't taken his eyes off the road, but had seen her from his peripheral.
"What?" Jade replied.
"Put your feet down, you know that's dangerous," Beck ordered with a brief glance.
"No, I'm comfortable," Jade shrugged defiantly.
"And what if we crash?" Beck retorted seriously.
Jade tensed. A shiver ran through her entire body, starting in her toes and reaching the very top of her head. Images of black carriages and shiny ice flashed through her mind, followed by the phantom feeling of water entering her lungs. Her eyes stung with lake water and her chest burned horribly. The corset that she wasn't wearing was crushing her ribs in a way that made her want to scream.
Slowly, Jade let her feet slip off the dashboard and touch the floor again. She looked out of the window crossly, aware of Beck staring at her from his reflection in the glass.
"We're almost there," she told him by way of explanation. It wasn't like her to give up so easily, but she also didn't like the idea of crashing a vehicle. Again.
True to her word, though, Beck pulled up outside Tori's house just a few minutes later. He parked his truck on the curb behind Andre's car. As Jade got out, she scoffed at the sight of Robbie's... well, whatever it was. Some kind of bicycle.
"Why do we let ourselves be seen with him?" Jade asked aloud. It was more to herself, but Beck placed an arm on her waist and requested she not be mean as they walked towards Vega's house.
Trina was the one who opened the door, unfortunately. She was dressed quite glamorously in a sparkly purple dress and a pair of shockingly tall heels. She didn't hide her disappointment at the sight of Beck and Jade on the other side of the door, and Jade didn't mask her distaste at the somehow even more annoying Vega sister.
They were let in, though. To herself, Jade kind of wished Trina had shut the door in their face so they wouldn't be forced to spend a painful evening at the Vega household.
As she made her way to the couch, Jade tossed her coat on the floor directly next to it and took pleasure in the way Tori rolled her eyes and moved it to the coat rack.
"Jadey! Beck!" Cat squealed and greeted them warmly.
She encased Jade in a bone-crushing hug that the latter reluctantly accepted if only to not hurt the sensitive girl's feelings.
"Okay, that's enough," she told Cat after almost more than five seconds.
Obediently, Cat let go of her, but she didn't seem upset. The smile on her race remained. In fact, it seemed even brighter now that she had hugged Jade.
"I'm so glad you guys made it," Cat told Beck and Jade, "Rex was being rude again."
Jade shot Beck a look, as if repeating her earlier question about why they still hang out with a ventriloquist.
"So, now that everyone's here, shall we get started?" Tori joined the group. She had her laptop under her arm and a glass of pink lemonade in her other hand.
"Whatever," Jade said unhappily. She mildly wondered if Sikowitz would consider letting her skip this project for a tonne of coconuts.
At everyone's confirmation, Tori placed the laptop on the coffee table in front of the couches and then took her seat in front of it.
"Right," Tori said, "death."
Jade rose an eyebrow, seated beside her with Beck on her right side and his arm slung across the back of the couch.
"Death," Tori repeated to herself, "death, death, death."
"Are you asking?" Jade snapped.
"Ha!" Rex laughed.
"Sorry, I hoped that saying it enough would give me an idea," Tori apologised.
"I still don't get it," Robbie said, "what exactly is he asking for?"
"I have no idea, but I know it's gotta be amazing," Andre replied with that look of optimism in his eyes that he usually got when prompted with a creative challenge.
"Then we'd better get on with it instead of repeating words," Jade looked pointedly at Tori.
"What if we watch a sad movie," Cat said. Jade looked at her and saw her idly twirling some of her hair between her fingers.
"What?" Robbie asked.
"Well, it might help us get into 'the mood'," Cat chuckled as she used air quotes around her words.
"Hey, that's not a bad idea, Cat," Tori agreed, nodding her head.
"What is?" Cat asked.
"Watching a sad movie to help get us started on our project," Tori reminded her.
"Oh! Thank you," Cat smiled.
"But what movie are we going to watch? We can't watch movies all night," Andre reminded everyone.
"I don't know, I'm up for it," Jade shrugged.
"Let me see what movies I have," Tori said.
She got up from the couch and went to the TV stand where she opened the cupboards to reveal a load of movies stacked inside.
Beck and Jade looked at each other.
"Okay, let's see," Tori mumbled to herself.
Jade groaned quietly and leant her head back against Beck's arm which was still behind her.
"Aha! Got it!" Tori proclaimed victoriously. She rose to her feet and held out a dvd in her hands, a smile on her face.
The others remained silently, glancing back and forth between the movie and Tori.
"What's it about?" Andre finally broke the silence curiously.
"It's based on true events," Tori began, "a man and a dog become best friends, but then the man dies and the dog spends the rest of his life grieving for him."
"That's so sad," Cat whimpered, bringing her hands to her face.
"I know, I cry every time I watch it," Tori pouted, looking at the cover of the dvd case.
"Whatever, let's just watch it and get some ideas," Jade waved a hand, ordering Tori to put the dvd in the player.
With a pout at Jade's usual rudeness, Tori turned around and put the dvd into the player.
Two hours later...
As the credits rolled on screen, a sob cut through the music playing. Everyone, all teary eyed, turned to the source of the noise to see Robbie hugging Rex, sobbing. He'd removed his glasses to wipe at his wet eyes.
"That was heartbreaking," Robbie hiccupped and waved a hand towards the screen. "How could he leave her like that?"
"I know, man," Andre patted Robbie on the shoulder with understanding, wiping a stray tear from his own eyes.
On the other end of the couch, Jade swiped at her cheeks with her sleeves to hide evidence of her tears, leaving mascara smudges in their wake. Her hands were trembling to anyone looking close enough, and she was paler than usual.
"Was it just me," Beck began quietly, mouth close to her ear. His arm had tightened its hold around her shoulders by the end of the movie. "Or was that movie based... on us?"
Thinking about it, Jade knew he was probably right. Still, she shook her head with a frown, unwitting to believe that they had drawn that much attention to themselves through the years.
"Don't be stupid," she told Beck then stood up and faced the others, "are we starting this project or what? It's getting late."
Suddenly, all attention was drawn to her and the others seemed to realise what they were doing at Tori's house in the first place.
"Oh, right," Andre said, "I actually have a few ideas. That movie really helped, good idea, Cat."
"What idea?" Cat asked.
"The idea to... you know what, nevermind," Andre shook his head.
With a chuckle, Tori stood.
"Right, let's get started," she told them.