Tone of Deceit

Disclaimer: I own nothing

A/N:

Chapter 4 (Implantation)

When they met up with the boys outside of the school, Jade could hear Beck listening to music on his phone. Highway to the Danger Zone was playing loudly while Andre was drumming his fingers to the beat and Robbie was leaning back against a tree with his eyes closed.

"Beck, what is it with you and old cliché songs?" Jade smirked as her boyfriend raised his head to her. His eyes lit up and a smile curled on his face.

"Oh they found you." Beck rose from the ground he was sitting on, placing one hand on his knee as he pushed himself up. "No one was able to reach you." Jade raised an eyebrow and started to inquire why the guys didn't go looking for her. Beck hugged her waist. "But Tori told us to stay put while she went to find you, Cat wasn't content to wait and Tori told us she didn't need everyone rushing through the school looking for you."

"Wasn't like I was in any danger or anything." She shot a look at Tori, the one that evidently made a big deal about it. "I mean really." Tori walked past her with a casual air but a quiet and blank expression.

"People have gone missing in this school, according to my Dad. I was concerned." Jade rolled her eyes and shook her head, there was only one instance that she knew of a student going missing and it didn't seem attached to the school in any way.

"The only one I've heard about is Courtney. I doubt Hollywood Arts is connected to her disappearance." Tori's eyes opened partially and Jade was shocked to see a flash of anger. Who was Courtney to her, she wondered, that such anger could rest within those usually chipper eyes.

"Courtney disappeared at this school, Jade. She disappeared shortly after leaving Sherwood and enrolling here. I won't believe the two instances aren't connected. Someone or something at this school is responsible and my dad is going to find them."

"Well great." Jade shrugged and plopped herself on the grass beside Andre and where Beck had been sitting. "So the police are handling it, that's fine. I'm sure they'll find out what happened to her." She bit her lip and cast a sideways glance, not wanting to let out her own curiosity in the matter. This was especially true considering she was more concerned about getting to know the Vega family; and this fire she felt from Tori was just another hole being punched into the fabric of mystery and intrigue. "So, did you know Courtney well?"

"I did." Tori nodded solemly, her hands moving from crossed arms and sliding down to her hips. The boys looked up to her and Cat's eyebrows lifted into her hairline. "At my old school, she was one of my closest friends." Tori dropped her hands down and let out a wistful sigh. "She wanted to enroll here because her brother was here and I was here."

As Tori turned her head away, Jade saw a tinge of regret. Tori's lips parted morosely and her eyebrows quivered. The expression drew Jade in, beckoning her inner curiosity.

The expression faded from the girl's face and she quickly glanced back. "So what were you and Mr. Sikowitz talking about?"

"I was just getting some personal advice from him." She bowed her head and frowned, recognizing the hypocrisy behind not wanting to be forthcoming when she was so busy delving into her friend's own personal secrets. "I was concerned about a friend, that's all."

"Understandable." Tori raised her left arm to glance at the small silver watch on her wrist. "I'm going to use the restroom real quick." She dropped her arm. "The guys were talking about going into town and doing some urban exploring-you interested in that?"

She was down for any mindless wandering, especially since she wanted to try and put her mind to other things. Sikowitz was right, in a way, it would be better not to focus all her energy into investigating her friends. "Sure, if we can grab some hotdogs from the street vendors." Tori grinned, spun around and hurried back into the school building.

Cat's gaze lingered on the girl for a bit, then she scoffed. "Anyone notice her entire demeanor changed just then?" Jade looked up at her friend and quickly nodded. She noticed Beck roll his eyes, Andre sighed heavily while Robbie tried his best to ignore by scrolling through his phone. "Jade, I have to tell you this."

"What?" She pushed herself to her feet and followed Cat's sideways gaze at the school. "Something wrong?"

"You know she always says 'old school' like she doesn't still go there. She still attends." Jade hummed in consideration. The boys looked up finally, a look of intrigue in their eyes. "I skipped out of school today-"

She jerked her head back, shocked that Cat would do such a thing. "Whoa. You're not one for that." Cat smirked and shrugged.

"Well you've got me interested." Cat hooked her finger under the tip of her nose and turned her eyes downcast. "Anyway, I went to Sherwood-one of the kids there let me in. They thought I was a new kid or something."

"What did you find out?"

"Well…" Cat rubbed her hands together and flashed a sneaky grin. "I walked the halls, looking in every window I could find until I saw Tori. She was in this science class with a boy-"

"Ian? The guy I met at her place?"

Cat cocked her head to the right. "Did he have sandy brown hair, tall and thin?" Jade smiled bright and nodded swiftly. "Then it was probably him. They were standing pretty close to each other, but that's beside the point. They were participating in a class lecture, doing dissection." Cat's eyes lit up with bemusement. "Not sure they were listening to the teacher very well, because they were talking and laughing."

"Okay, so you've confirmed she still attends Sherwood, but we kind of already suspected that."

"There's more. I followed her around for the rest of the day." Cat sighed. "I'm pretty sure I looked suspicious as hell." Jade nodded. "But you know how she doesn't usually have lunch with us today?"

"Yeah?"

"She was at a club meeting during her lunch break, eating there. And also, Trina was there." Jade dropped her jaw and the boys each raised an eyebrow. "Trina didn't seem like she was there as a student or anything, she looked more like a sponsor or something. You know how you have a teacher or community member that presides over club meets?"

"Well that would make sense, Trina already graduated from high school and she probably attended Sherwood too."

"Right. Well from what I could see it was like a detective club or something. High school kids interested in law enforcement…" The words froze Jade, wrapping around her brain so tight she could hardly think. "I kind of wonder if Tori might be interested in forensics." Cat shook her head quickly before clearing her throat. "Again, beside the point."

"Well, I mean, their dad is a police officer. I don't know what he does or what rank, but it's no secret that he's a cop."

Cat folded her arms neatly across her chest and nodded her head in the direction of the school. "What about her interest in Courtney? A former friend that went missing just as she enrolled in this school…what if Tori is trying to investigate that?"

"But Tori's been enrolled here well before Courtney's disappearance."

"Yeah, but I managed to crack open that door just a little to listen in and it seems like the police allow the high school students to 'assist' with small-time cases. I'm sure they can assist in missing persons cases until that case becomes something more high profile."

Cat had some good speculations, especially considering how passionate Tori was just now when talking about the girl's disappearance. Then, there was the claim Tori made about there being multiple cases of disappearances. "Tori said others disappeared, but I haven't noticed anything like that happening here. Then, how would she even know that information?"

"Her dad's a prominent cop. She'd probably hear about things from him."

Beck raised his hand. "I know the answer to that one." Jade and Cat glanced over to him and he rolled his shoulders back. "Her father's in charge of undercover operations, narcotics, and organized crime." Jade furrowed her brow and Cat asked the question that was on her own mind.

"How would you know that, Beck?"

"Because my mother was arrested by an officer working under him." He dropped his shoulders and frowned. "Some years ago, anyway." Jade's heart sank at the news, it was the first time he'd really spoken of what happened to his mother in a long while. "She was out dealing meth to some teenagers downtime and was caught by a cop posing as a client."

Her heart went out to him and she reached for his shoulder. "Beck, I'm so sorry." He shook his head and shrugged.

"It's not like I was ever close to my mother, she had a lot of problems. She was a runaway." He let out a chuckle filled with scorn. "She actually tried to reconnect with her family a long time ago, but was only using them, so they shut her out." Jade closed her eyes and looked away, thinking back to what Tori said about Ian.

It had to be painful, for all sides. "I guess she never tried to make amends." Beck shook his head at her.

"No, she figured if they didn't have the sense to help her-" His hands clenched and a vein bulged in his neck. "-and by helping her she meant forking over every dime they made and catering to her every whim-then she would have nothing to do with them. She wasn't interested in having a relationship with them, she was interested in their money."

She carefully wrapped her arms around him, not wanting to say anything but to at least give him some comfort. He hugged her back and she gently rubbed his shoulders.

Andre walked over to them, for the first time participating in their discussion. "In the interest of intrigue, I think I can tell you what's going on with Trina." Jade pulled away from Beck and furrowed her brow at him. "I think she may be working for her dad. My grandma frequents his office from time to time, you know, her paranoia." He chuckled and ran a hand over his neck. "She swears she sees people doing drugs in our building all the time."

"Okay…"

"Yeah, she's been classified as one of those people they don't take seriously anymore. They just listen to her ranting and leave it at that." He shrugged. "Anyway, we were over there and I saw Trina walking out of a restroom."

It sounded coincidental even for her. "She was visiting her dad, maybe?" Andre raised an eyebrow at her and he put a hand to his chin.

"Wearing a full officer's uniform?" Jade dropped her jaw and Cat quickly chimed in.

"Did she say anything?" Cat moved closer to Andre and he turned to her, his eyebrows rising. "Did you talk to her at all? Did she see you?" He shook his head.

"I wouldn't put it past her to have noticed me, but if she did, she didn't say anything. I'm not sure she even saw me. We were inside someone's office and I saw her through the office window, and I wasn't sitting in view of it."

"So Trina is a cop." Jade crossed her arms and closed her eyes. "Like father, like daughter. I guess that would explain why I always feel like she's watching us." Still, it felt more than that. The guys, Jade could assume Trina simply did not trust; but it didn't feel like this was a case of her watching them because of Tori. "Why is she constantly watching us? What's the reason? Does she think we'll hurt Tori somehow?"

"I don't think so," Cat remarked, "the way she sounds like and the way her father is; it doesn't make sense that they wouldn't just tell us to take a hike if they thought we were a danger to Tori somehow."

"That's true." Andre nodded his head slowly. "I remember when Trina was enrolled here and when she was in my class. She acted like a diva, but even I could tell there was something different. She was observant, watchful, and she said something to me when we partnered up for a project…" His voice trailed off as he looked towards the sky in recollection. "'You are one of the most popular kids at this school, so we are going to be working together on this project'."

Cat started to laugh. "That sounds like a typical move of someone seeking popularity, right? Get in with the popular kids."

"Except she didn't say it like that." He glanced back, his eyes still wide and curious. "There was a matter-of-fact statement behind it. The tone behind how she said it was almost like being given an order. She wasn't going to work with me just because I was popular…I was popular, and therefore she was going to be working with me whether I agreed to it or not. She didn't care about being my partner and she didn't care about gaining any attention through that or the project, she was simply going to be my partner."

"So what're you saying, that she was watching you all the way back then or something?"

"Remember that big showcase?" Andre picked his jacket off the ground and pushed his left arm through the sleeve. "That was supposed to be Trina's final performance at this school. She was one of those part-time students and was going to start attending less and less because she had to focus on her primary school more."

"She didn't do that showcase," Robbie remarked, "But we know that. She got sick and Tori took her place."

"Yep." Even though Trina showed up quite a few times, putting on various performances and other attention-seeking schemes-she was never truly a student any longer. As Jade saw it, those schemes could very well be summed up as excuses to be around Tori. Or, if Andre's tale was indicative of anything, around them. "So she left the school and Tori came in."

Cat's voice lowered to a whisper and her expression turned to a thoughtful one. "And Tori implanted herself into our group. Why? She's certainly become one of the popular kids now."

"Because of what Sinjin told us once," Beck remarked, "We're the most popular kids, everyone's watching us."

"You think that's why Tori got in with us? It can't be. She's not even here all the time. If she wanted to be popular, if Trina wanted to watch over any one of us, how is being a part-time kid going to do a thing?"

Part-time students at the school had one other issue, in Jade's mind, that she could think of. The faculty never paid much attention to them no matter how much attention they drew. She wasn't sure why that thought was prominent in her brain, but it felt like an important note, and one that disturbed her for some reason.

"You'd think if Tori wanted to get attention, she'd be a full-time student like us." Jade inhaled and the others cast wary glances towards her. "The teachers here don't really care about part-timers because they don't seem like they're genuinely dedicated. I heard that from Principal Eikner once when he was talking to a teacher, that if a student were truly passionate, they would seek to be a part of this school only and no others. They'd have to give up the other school, otherwise they're just following a hobby that will pass."

"An interesting concept," Cat muttered, "I wonder if that's why Tori doesn't come here as a full-time student. Why she hasn't actually told us that she's not really interested in being full-time is the question."

"It's fun to speculate," Beck said with an uneasy smile, "But please-" He cast a pleading gaze towards Jade. "Please don't obsess. It's nice to have Tori as a friend, we don't want to lose that friendship because you guys can't leave well enough alone and just be a friend."

"I'll try," Jade answered although at all planning to stop trying to figure out what was going on with Tori and her family. Though it seemed like they had a clue for once, it still didn't make sense to her that they would force themselves into the group. No, there had to be something else there, something she wasn't seeing.

So much said here, what do you guys think? What could be going on?