Tone of Deceit

Disclaimer: I own nothing

A/N:

Chapter 1 (Something's Strange About Vega)

Jade parked her car outside the Vega family home, her thumb caressed the top of the steering wheel and her black painted lips creased as a bulge formed inside her left cheek.

With narrow green eyes she studied the front door, and her breath flowed calmly from her lungs. "Why are you obsessing?" Beck's words played over and over in her mind, accusations swirling about her brain like a whirlwind.

Ever since the girl arrived at Hollywood Arts, there was something that never truly felt right. Something about Tori and her sister didn't sit well in her stomach but she couldn't put a finger on the pulse of the problem.

Every visit to the home seemed well orchestrated, almost with the charm of theatre. "We know nothing about them." Her answer to her boyfriend resounded like the beating of a drum. "They've given us nothing, she's dodgy. Too dodgy." Beck thought her obsession was jealousy, because that's all she ever was evidently.

No, she thought, not jealousy but suspicion. Just who the hell was Victoria Vega?

The day Tori arrived at school chaos surrounded them. There was a shrewdness to the girl that now seemed to feign innocence and naivety. When Jade first saw her, wiping down a spill on Beck's shirt, there wasn't so much attraction in kthe girl's eyes as it was a look of recognition-like she were looking at a friend.

Attempts had been made to ask Tori if there were something familiar about him, but Tori would so often dodge the question by changing the subject. Any inquiries whatsoever about the girl's personal life resulted in similar reactions.

Even now, as Jade stepped out of her car, she could see Tori opening the front door and waving. Another planned visit for sure.

Jade tried to get Robbie to spy on them, but he'd been caught hiding out in the bushes and labeled a creep. She thought it would've been their cop father to set the boy straight, but it had been the older sister-another red flag for Jade. In public, always around them, Trina never acted like a protective older sister but a starry eyed fame-crazed hack.

Once, just once, Jade wanted to see this family when they didn't expect it. The only question was how? What were they hiding? Whatever it was, Jade was going find out.

She extended her arm in the air, waving gently at Tori. "Hey Jade, come on in." Tori smiled casually, but her gaze seemed to be searching every spot beyond her. "Where's Beck? I thought he'd be with you."

"He had something to do at home." Jade walked towards the house with an air of collectiveness. "I texted the others, but it seems like they're all busy." She pulled her purse strap further up her shoulder and looked down towards the half closed zipper. Her mind spun with the freshest idea she had.

Inside the bag was a camera, but she needed to find a way to hide it. With this, she could hope to discover how the family lived behind closed doors when the others weren't watching.

At the same time, as Beck's words made her doubt, what reason would they have to hide themselves from everyone?

Her gaze lifted back up as she stepped onto the front porch. "I guess it's just you and me for now, Vega. Some of the others did say they'd be up for poker later tonight." Tori looked over her shoulder, humming softly for a few seconds.

"That should be nice." Jade raised an eyebrow as Tori turned and guided her inside. "Would you like something to drink? I was about to make myself a sandwich, I could make you one if you want."

Sensing opportunity, she smiled broadly. "I'd love a ham and cheese right about now."

"Of course. Would you like lettuce and tomato on that as well?"

"Please." As Tori started for the kitchen, Jade instantly studied the living room for any nooks or crannies she could hide her camcorder. Thankfully it wasn't a large one, but a black Sony Hero 7 that Beck got her for her birthday. She only needed to record the Vega's activities for the night and hopefully the next morning, she felt confident there was enough space for it to continuously record.

If nothing else, she could learn how to hack into their computers and turn on the webcam; but she was not all that tech savvy.

Looking back towards where the family's piano was, Jade saw the perfect spot to hide the camera. A potted plant hung above it, long vines draping over the brown ceramic vase. Jade's heart skipped as she made her way over. "I'm going to check out your piano for a bit."

"Okay." Jade heard the refrigerator door open and quickly glanced over her shoulder at the girl while reaching into her purse. Biting her lip, she sucked the air through her teeth and tried to still her nerves. For this to work, she needed absolute stealth. This was the first time no one else in the family was somewhere nearby, so all she had to do was move when Tori wasn't looking.

Slowly and gently she removed the camcorder, her head tilted up to the plant as she flipped on the camera. "Okay," she said under her breath, "Here goes nothing." She glanced back once more and her heart leapt to her throat, Tori had her back turned to her and was crouching before the refrigerator, trying to gather the food.

She had to act fast.

The camera grew heavy in her fingers as she lifted it up and felt a sudden weight overtake her arms. Her breath grew shallow as though her nerves were overtaking her.

Just as she started to set the camera between the leaves and dirt, she heard an unfamiliar voice ring out. "Okay Tori, I'm all done." She froze, her eyes growing wide as she turned to glance at the stairway.

There was a boy, tall and lean like Beck, and with a similar hairstyle though dirty blonde. Her jaw hung open and the camera fell from her fingers. The boy's eyes darted to the fallen camera and his eyes lit up. "Hey, cool camera. I used to have one of those, but I upgraded." Her heart collapsed into her stomach and blood rushed to her face. Tori spun around and studied her with a furrowed brow.

"Huh? Jade, what're doing with a camera?"

She sputtered through her first words before regaining her composure. "I was going to take pictures of my new friend!" Tori chuckled softly, her eyebrow raising over her right eye. Jade could see the disbelief flashing in them, which sent her mind reeling for an excuse.

Instead, she jerked her thumb over her shoulder at the boy walking down the stairs. "Who is this guy?" Tori set the loaf of bread down on the counter and smiled at the boy.

"Ian. He's a friend from my old school."

Ian nodded. "Pleased to meet you, I was just fixing Tori's laptop." He walked past Jade, looking Tori straight in the eyes with a playful smirk. "Stop downloading so much crap, Tori."

"I can't help it!" Tori threw a slice of ham onto a piece of bread and shook her head. "I see a game I like, I download it."

"Yes." He leaned his elbow against the countertop and held her gaze. "That, and every virus that comes with them." Ian tore his gaze from Tori for a moment to glance at Jade, who instantly realized she was staring and turned her head. "You keep staring at me, but you haven't even introduced yourself. You look like you got caught stealing candy from a baby or something."

"J-Jade, and I'm sorry." She cleared her throat picked up the camera from the ground. "It's just you look a lot like my uh…" She watched as Tori's eyes flickered upwards from the sandwich and darted in her direction. "Beck, you look like Beck."

"Beck?" Ian's brow furrowed and his head cocked to the right. "Beck who?" His lips pursed.

"Beck Oliver, he's my boyfriend." Ian's eyebrows went up and a small chuckle fell from his lips. Before he could say anything, Tori interrupted him.

"I should probably tell you to put that camera away, Jade. Dad's not too thrilled about people bringing cameras into the house after Robbie was peeping on us."

"Oh yeah, I heard about that." Jade hastily returned her camera to the purse. "Your sister destroyed his camera."

"They value their privacy," Ian replied. Tori rolled her eyes at him and exhaled sharply.

"I thought you were going to go home after you were done fixing my computer?"

"I was." He extended his hand towards Jade. "But I haven't even met your new friends yet. I was curious." He crossed his arms and his eyes narrowed a bit. "Is this the one that was giving you a hard time?" Jade felt ire coming from him for the first time but remained silent, feeling was better to not defend herself on the spot this time. After all, she'd just been discovered trying to put a camera in the family's pot. Although, Ian didn't reveal that fact. "Wondering why she was trying to hide a camera above your piano.

"Shit," she thought. She bared her teeth behind closed lips and watched as Tori threw her head upwards. "I wasn't trying to do that." A weak defense, sure, she could do better.

"I don't know why you'd want to do that," Tori remarked, "Not like there's anything of interest you'd learn."

"Yeah if you want a peepshow, put the camera in her sister's room." Jade raised her eyebrows and Tori's voice rose.

"Ian!" Tori smacked the countertop and Ian mustered a cheesy smile. "Go home!"

"What? They don't know about Trina's boy-"

"No." Tori's eyes grew wider. "They don't need to know all that."

"Right." Ian sighed and hung his head. "Welp, I guess I'd better get going before she decides to kill me. I know when to shut up usually."

"Usually? I've never seen you so talkative."

"Well, you know how I am when I'm intrigued." He grabbed a pear from the fruit basket on the countertop and bit into it. "I'm sorry." She smiled at him and closed her eyes, slowly shaking her head back and forth.

Jade watched him as he left the house. Her gaze drifted back to Tori, who was finishing the first sandwich. "How come you didn't tell us about Ian?" Tori shrugged.

"No one asked about my old school."

That wasn't entirely sure, but Jade decided not to call her out on it. Cat clearly asked a few times what Tori's old school was like, but she always said it wasn't too interesting. "You know, he really does resemble Beck a little bit. Just a little."

"Oh. Yeah, I suppose." Tori lifted the sandwich plate and extended it to Jade. "Here you go." Jade took the plate and walked towards the couch. She sat down, set the plate on her legs and picked up the sandwich. "They are related after all."

The nonchalance in Tori's voice froze her, with the sandwich hanging just inches from her lips. Her head turned slowly in the girl's direction and her heart began to pound in her chest. "W-What did you just say?"

"I've seen pictures. They've never been very close, I think, that's why I was so startled when I first met Beck. I'd only seen him in Ian's old family holiday photos." Tori raised her shoulders and crossed her arms. "Seems like they were never close. I think Ian's dad's sister. He always said they fell off the grid a ways back and just disconnected from the family. Something like that."

Still flabbergasted, she set the sandwich back down on the plate and looked at the door. "How come Ian didn't say anything when I brought him up?" Tori's eyebrows closed inwards and she let out a weary sigh before sliding her fingers across her forehead.

"Probably because he didn't want to talk about it or bring it up…Guess I've got loose lips today too. How about you keep that between the two of us for now, okay?" Jade shot her gaze back to Tori, unsure of how to respond.

This was huge, or at least she thought it was. Maybe Tori didn't give her something about her own family, but this was insight like never before. "I'm sorry," Jade said quietly, "I reacted hatefully towards you when we first met because I thought you were hitting on my boyfriend."

Tori's eyes narrowed. "I am aware. I hoped we were past that by now, Jade."

"Of course. I'm just saying, you could have said something."

"Not really." Tori slapped a slice of bread on top of her second sandwich and rolled her eyes. "What was I supposed to say when I first met someone? Oh hey, you look just like Ian's cousin. I'm sure Beck would just love knowing that I know someone from the side of his family that his mom never talks to anymore."

"Fair enough." Knowing Beck, she had to agree with Tori. He probably would feel awkward at best. She'd keep this to herself, for now.

"And about the camera…" She closed her eyes and grimaced. It was one thing to say she hoped the girl had forgotten about that slight of hand. "I don't know what you were thinking, but Dad would probably kill you if he caught you trying to hide a camera in his house." Tori cleared her throat. "Not literally I mean, but you know-"

"Yeah I get it, privacy. He is, what, a high ranking police officer? I'm sure he doesn't want to risk anything like that."

"Pretty much, and it looked like an expensive camera. You probably don't want it broken." She glanced sideways and let out a heavy sigh.

Sure as it was, she would think twice before attempting the camera stunt again. Still, this only bolstered her resolve. Even if they were a cop family, there was no way anyone would be as secretive and private about their lives as they were. Or at least, that's how she imagined it to be.

So it begins, there's more to this than the Vega family, however. While the first little bit of it is Jade trying to figure out more about them, it's what they are doing that brings the greater mystery to the story. Your greatest clue at this point may be the cover picture itself. I'll leave you to it, hope this first chapter has you intrigued.