Tori was staring over Trina's shoulder as her older sister sat on the West family's couch, looking at her phone. Trina huffed and rolled her eyes as her sister did this. "Tori, can you stop trying to read my phone?"
"Can you just try calling Mom?" said Tori.
Trina turned around to face her sister. "Tori, she'll call us once she's settled in."
"Her flight landed hours ago," said Tori. "She's had plenty of time to settle in."
Trina sighed. "Look, this may be hard to hear, but-"
"But why don't you text her?" said Tori. "Or call her? Or call grandma and grandpa and ask if she's arrived? All it'll take you is like a minute. Why can't you do that?"
"Tori, I know you're stressed," said Trina. "And when you're stressed, your imagination runs wild. The thing is, Mom's probably fine."
"Why'd you say probably?" said Tori.
"She's definitely fine," said Trina. "I meant definitely."
"Then why hasn't she called us?" said Tori.
Trina bit her lip and paused. "Maybe she has bad reception? Have you thought about that?"
"Yeah, that makes sense," said Tori.
Trina put a hand on Tori's shoulder. "See Tori, Mom probably wants to call us, but can't."
"Why wouldn't she want to call us?" said Tori.
"Exactly," said Trina. "You're getting worked up over nothing. Now how about we watch TV?"
"No," said Tori. "I don't feel like watching TV."
"Are you sure?" said Trina. "The Wood's on."
"The Wood?" said Tori. "But I thought that got cancelled."
"No," said Trina. "They found some other kids to star in it."
"Huh," said Tori. "Now I'm curious. Like, how'd they explain why we aren't in it anymore?"
"Well let's watch and see if they explain it," said Trina.
"I thought you didn't want to watch the show because they didn't cast you?" said Tori.
"Oh well it's different now that you guys aren't on the show," said Trina. "I figured I'd check it out."
"Okay." Tori sat down on the couch and Trina flipped through the channels until she found the one that showed The Wood. She found it just as it finished showing the opening credits. The show then cut to a group of teenagers sitting around a couch, all with bored expressions on their faces. Then a guy walked in. Tori raised an eyebrow. "Is it just me or does he look like Beck? Like if Beck got a haircut I couldn't tell the two apart."
Trina nodded. "I know what you mean. Do you think this guy's single?"
As soon as she said that, the cast turned to their friend and spoke. "Hey Becket."
"Is that guy's name Becket?" said Tori.
"Yeah," said Trina. "Isn't he dreamy?"
"That's like two letters off of Beck," said Tori. "Like, I can't be the only one here who thinks that's weird."
"Now that you mention it, it does seem weird that there'd be another guy who looks like Beck who also has a similar name," said Trina.
"It's not just him," said Tori, pointing to the screen. "She looks like Jade and he looks like Andre."
On the screen, Becket went over to the boy who looked like Andre and grabbed him by the shoulders. A panicked look came over the guy who looked like Andre's face. "Wow! Wow! What's wrong with you?"
Becket lifted the boy who looked like Andre off the couch. He glared into the boy's face. "Don't play dumb with me Anders! I know what you did with Jadelyn and I don't like it."
Anders turned to the girl who looked like Jade. "Jadelyn, you told?"
"I had to," said Jadelyn. "My Daddy always told me not to lie."
"Anders? Jadelyn?" said Tori. "This is getting weird. Did they just replace us with people that look like us, give them similar names, and hope no one would notice?"
"Looks like it," said Trina.
Tori turned to Trina. "And you didn't notice it?"
"Well they're really your friends," said Trina. "I'm not as close to them as you are."
"Trina!" said Tori.
"And you know I don't watch this show that often," said Trina. "Just every now and then. Once a week."
"Wait, so they must've gotten someone to replace me?" said Tori.
"Probably," said Trina.
"This is so weird," said Tori.
"We can watch something else," said Trina.
"No, no," said Tori. "Let's keep watching. I want to see who they got to replace me."
They didn't have to wait long. Soon a girl who looked like Tori walked in. "Hi guys."
"Hi Toria," said everyone in unison.
"Toria? Toria?" said Tori. "That's not even a real name."
"So today I've got a special treat for you," said Toria.
"Is it your muffins?" said Jadelyn. "Because those made me sick."
"Hey," said Anders. "Those muffins were delicious!"
"No, no, it's not my muffins," said Toria. "I brought a new friend. Here she is. Her name's Bonnie."
Tori's jaw dropped. "What."
Bonnie walked on screen. She was a brunette with big glasses. She also wore an ugly brown sweater and was hunched over while she walked. "Hi guys, I'm Bonnie."
"That's Ponnie," said Tori.
"I think she's called Bonnie," said Trina.
"No, that's Crazy Ponnie," said Tori.
"Oh yeah," said Trina. "She's supposed to be Crazy Ponnie. But she was never on the show."
"No, she is Crazy Ponnie," said Tori. "She looks exactly like her."
"That's the magic of television," said Trina. "They probably used a lot of make up on her."
"There's no way that she looks that way just because of make up," said Tori.
"Okay," said Trina. "She's had plastic surgery. People have done crazier things to get the part."
"Yeah, I'm sure people have do crazy things to get on TV," said Tori. "Like break out of jail."
"Come on," said Trina. "You're saying Ponnie broke out of jail and got a job on a reality show just to mess with you. Isn't that a little crazy, and selfish?"
"Selfish?" said Tori. "An insane criminal is out to get me and I'm being selfish for thinking she's trying to mess with me?"
"Yeah," said Trina. "Maybe she did that all to mess with me."
"Aha!" said Tori, pointing at the TV. "So you admit that's Ponnie."
"No," said Trina. "I think you're just acting paranoid."
"Paranoid! Paranoid!" said Tori. "This isn't even the craziest thing she's done to mess with me. And how else do you explain why they included Ponnie in the show? Hmmm?"
"They read about it in the news," said Trina.
"Read about it in the news?" said Tori. "That actually makes sense."
At that moment, the show cut to a shot of of Bonnie, who was talking to the camera. "See I'm just pretending to be Toria's friend. I'll get in good with her and when she least expects it, BAM!"
"She coming for me!" said Tori, who jumped off the couch.
"No, it's just a dumb show," said Trina, motioning to her sister. "Come back, we can watch something else."
"No, no," said Tori, walking out of the living room and up the stairs. "I think I'm going to turn in early."
Tori made her way up the stairs and to Jade's room. When she got there, she saw the door to it was closed. Tori gingerly knocked on the door. She could hear Jade's voice coming from inside. "Come in."
Tori opened the door and saw Jade lying on her bed. Her arms were crossed on her chest. Her eyes were wide open and glued to the ceiling. This ended up giving her the appearance of a vampire from one of those old horror movies. Tori smiled. "Hey, I was just thinking of going to bed early. You know, it's been a long day."
"Sure, I understand," said Jade, pointing to the section of floor where Tori would sleep. The sleeping bag Jade had mentioned was laid out there. True to Jade's word, it was too small for Tori to sleep comfortably and had a few holes in it. "I hope you like your sleeping bag. It's the best I could get you."
"I'm sure it is," said Tori.
"Also, do you want a pillow?" said Jade.
"Sure, that'd be nice," said Tori.
"Well we don't have," said Jade. "Sorry."
"I'm sure you are," said Tori.
"What's that supposed to mean?" said Jade.
"Don't play dumb with me," said Tori. "I know what you've been doing."
"I gave you somewhere safe to hide from Ponnie," said Jade.
"Not because you wanted to," said Tori.
"What are you implying?" said Jade, who got off her bed. "I volunteered to let you stay at my place."
"And I'm sure you did it out of the kindness of your heart," said Tori.
"And where else would you go?" said Jade. "Do you want to stay at Robbie?"
"Maybe not at Robbie's house, but maybe with Andre," said Tori. "Or maybe with Beck. Hey, if I were at Beck's house, do you think he would make me sleep on the floor?"
Before she could even register what was happening, Jade grabbed Tori and threw her down on her bed. "Take it back."
"Take what back Jade?" said Tori, an innocent smile creeping onto her face. "I'm just saying that Beck probably wouldn't mind having us at his house. He might even enjoy it."
"Take it back!" said Jade.
Tori's voice deepened to imitate Beck. "There's no way I'm letting you sleep on the floor Tori. Here, you can stay in my bed."
Jade glared down at Tori, her face turning red. "Okay, that's it. The kid gloves are coming off."
"Kid gloves?" said Tori. "What, you've been treating us kindly? Is that how you treat all your guests?"
"I welcomed you into our home," said Jade. "I treated you with kindness and civility."
"You made me sleep on the floor," said Tori.
"I let you have my sleeping bag!" said Jade.
"It has holes in it!" said Tori.
"I can't help that!" said Jade. "It's been awhile since me Dad took me camping."
"Oh yeah, you're big bad Dad," said Tori. "It's always his fault. It's either him or your Mom."
"Careful Vega," said Jade. "Don't say something I'll make you regret."
"Like what Jade?" said Tori. "Like how you've had a normal childhood?"
"How dare you," said Jade.
"I dare," said Tori. "You're not the only one whose parents got divorced. You're not the only one whose parents ignore you. And you know what, not all of those people act like you. When Trina had to get her wisdom teeth taken out, my parents left town and dumped her on me. They expected me to take care of her all by myself. Right now I'm worried some maniac is going to get me and my Mom can't even be bothered to call. I'm nowhere near as bitter and angry as you. And I haven't tried to do half the stuff you've done to me. I haven't tried to get you expelled from Hollywood Arts. I haven't tried to drive you in the middle of the desert to bury you. I haven't tried to ruin the prom for everybody because of a scheduling mistake you had no control of."
"You did try to steal my boyfriend," said Jade.
"I didn't," said Tori. "I helped you get back together when you two broke up."
Jade got off Tori and sat on the edge of her bed, slumping forward. After a while, she turned to Tori. There was a dejected look on her face. "So you finally realized you Mom wants nothing to do with you?"
Tori jumped forward, grabbing Jade by the shoulders. Her fingernails dug into Jade's skin. Tori forced her down on the bed. Jade's hands flailed threw the air, a few hitting Tori. Tori wasn't fazed and continued to sit on Jade, pinning her to the bed. "Honestly, I can't say you don't deserve this."
Jade continued to flail her arms around. Tori dodged these blows. "Don't get too smug. I've been looking forward to this day since you came to Hollywood Arts."
"Oh I've been waiting for this just as long as you," said Tori, her hands moving down from Jade's shoulders to pin her arms down. "I was an idiot for thinking we could be friends."
"Well that's one thing we can agree on," said Jade with a smirk on her face.
Tori proceeded to knee Jade in her stomach. Jade squirmed under Tori's weight. She tried to push Tori off of her, to no avail. Tori smiled. "Oh I'm going to enjoy this."
"Wait, Tori," said Jade. "I love you."
"What?" said Tori.
Jade then shoved Tori off of her. Tori was able to regain her balance, preventing Jade from knocking her off the bed. Jade shot up, her hands grabbing Tori. Tori could feel Jade's fingernails tearing into her. She tried shoving Jade down, but she proved to be too strong. Jade dug her fingernails deeper into Tori. Tori could feel the pain shoot throughout her body. She winced as Jade continued to rip into her. Tori felt the urge to scream out in pain. She did everything to resist that urge. She wasn't going to give Jade the satisfaction of seeing her in pain. It was getting hard to do, as the pain was becoming unbearable. She fought back as Jade tried to push her off the bed. Tori quickly grabbed Jade's hair and pulled. "Ow!"
"Oh, is Jade hurt?" said Tori. "Why don't you got go to your Daddy and see if he can make it better?"
Jade smacked Tori across the face. "You'll pay for that."
"What is going on?" At that moment, Trina rushed into the room. She got in between the two girls, kocking Tori off the bed. She grabbed Jade, putting her arms around her. Jade struggled to get out from Trina, but couldn't.
Tori got off the floor and smiled. "Good job Trina. Now, hold her still while-"
"No," said Trina. "No more fighting."
"What?" said Tori. "You're taking her side?"
"That's right Tori," said Jade. "Listen to your sister."
"I'm not on anybody's side," said Trina. "I just need you two to stop fighting."
Tori looked at her sister in disbelief. "But she's-"
"I don't care what she did," said Trina. "She's letting us stay here."
"Thanks Trina," said Jade.
"But she's been awful to us," said Tori. "Not just today. As long as we've known her, she's been awful."
"Tori, you need to cool off," said Trina, who was struggling to keep Jade still. "Why don't you take a shower?"
"I don't want to take a shower," said Tori.
"There's no way I'm letting her use my shower," said Jade.
"You know what," said Tori. "That's actually a good idea."
"See," said Trina. "Take a nice warm shower and see if you feel better."
"I will," said Tori, reaching into her bag for some clothes she'd brought from home.
"And while you do that, I'll have a talk with Jade." Trina turned to face Jade, who groaned. "Fight all you want, but I'm not letting you go."
"Can't blame me for trying," said Jade.
