A/N: Thank you again for all of your lovely reviews, follows and favorites. I'm so glad so many people like this story. This Chapter is quite long so I hope you don't get bored half way through but I'd like to think my writing is that bad that anyone actually would but you never know. Also if you find any spelling mistakes I missed let me know as I wrote most of it during one of my many sleepless nights. Hope you like it!
Disclaimer: I don't own Victorious or the characters on the show.
Chapter Four: High-School memories
Cat giggled as the doorbell went. The plan was set to start as soon as Tori entered the kitchen and the kids were all in the living room. Cat had already fed Leo and he was now napping in his pushchair next to Nina. The food had been dished out five minutes ago, Tori and Alex were late. Jennifer rushed to answer the door.
"Hi, Alex… Tori" She greeted them happily.
"Us "Kids" have been told to eat in the living room" She informed Alex using finger quotes for the word kids. She then turned to Tori. "The kitchen's just there".
"Thanks" Tori smiled, unaware of why she could hear giggles coming from the kitchen.
"Hi, guys! Cat, Robbie you look so… different!" Tori exclaimed excitedly.
"Toriiii" Cat shouted excitedly as she rushed to hug her, as if thinking someone would beat her to it.
"Hi, Cat" Tori said, sitting in an empty chair. A plate of spaghetti taco's and a glass of wine was already placed in front of her.
"Ooh, spaghetti taco's that certainly takes me back" Tori smiled. Jade rolled her eyes.
"Ooh, spaghetti taco's that certainly takes me back" Jade copied using the very voice she'd used in high-school to imitate Tori.
"I don't talk like that!" Tori said without thinking… then she stopped and looked at the other three in the room.
"What's going on?" She asked, just like she would have in high-school Tori caught on fast. Cat giggled and Robbie looked scared.
"Did you know that the sky changes color?" Cat asked randomly, looking out the window.
"Cat, why don't you have some Candy?" Jade suggested, placing a bag of jelly beans in front of the red-head. Cat looked happy for a second then started to sulk.
"I want Bibble!" She sulked, throwing the Candy which then landed on Robbie.
"No, Cat. You're not allowed to have Bibble" Robbie reminded her. Cat folded her arms.
"Seriously guys what is going on?" Tori asked, looking at Jade mainly as she hoped that Jade would go easier on her. Jade just smirked.
"I'm not your friend" Jade said for no reason in particular when she realized that Tori was looking for her help. It was then that Tori's eyes went wide in realization; they were trying to play a trick on her. They weren't going to get away with it that easily. Tori decided to join in on the prank so that they'd be equally confused.
"Why not jade? Why do you hate me so?" Tori asked, batting her eye lashes and actually using Jade's own version of her voice.
"Tori! Can you tell Cat that she can't have Bibble and that even if she could I don't have any?" Robbie complained, sounding needy. Jade rolled her eyes at him.
"Cat… look at that airplane outside" Jade distracted her. Cat rushed to the window and looked out in astonishment.
"So Tori, nice dress you have on there" Jade complimented. Tori smiled and looked down at it proudly as if getting dressed this morning was her greatest accomplishment but before she could say a coy "Thanks" she was interrupted.
"I hate it" Jade remarked, harshly.
"Oh" Tori sighed, disappointed.
It was starting to get hard for Jade to pretend to be her old self. Since they'd left high-school twenty years ago she couldn't fully remember how she'd react to things that someone said. Some things were easy but on the most part it was hard. Cat seemed to be having no problem and even Robbie was managing nicely, not as well as Cat of course but seemingly better than she herself was. It was starting to pain her knowing that she, Jade West might just be the first one to cave.
"So Jade how are things?" Tori asked, sweetly. Jade glared at her.
"Why, don't you hate me?!" She shouted, offended that Tori would even attempt to be nice to her.
"Because… I don't okay" Tori shouted back. Then went back to her food, she stared at her food suddenly she thought back to her high-school day's… why hadn't she hated Jade in high-school?
Jade had pretended that Tori hit her in their stage-fight; she had picked a cup of coffee out of the trash just so she could mess with her, she had looked through her medical records so that Tori couldn't act in a play, she had denied that Tori was her friend so many times. She had even ruined the prom that Tori had worked so hard to put on… so Tori should have hated Jade.
"But I never did" Tori said aloud without meaning to. Jade looked at her and raised her eyebrow.
"Something you want to share with the rest of us, Vega?" Jade asked.
"No…" Tori admitted sadly. Even she didn't know what was going on inside of her head. Tori had, had every reason to hate Jade during High-school and it still confused her to no end that she hadn't. Tori scratched her head trying to think back… think back and get into the character of a younger Tori Vega… What would she do? What was younger Tori Vega thinking twenty years ago today?
It was the day of the stage-fight, the day that Jade had lied and acted like Tori hit her when she didn't. Tori had felt really bad when she'd been convinced by Lane that she might have actually hurt Jade but when Andre had told her that Jade's black eye was just make-up, Tori had had every right to hate the Goth. She could have told on her but she didn't and when Jade helped her ditch cleaning up the black box theater, that seemed to change Tori's feelings about the whole situation. Tori seemed to think that, that made it okay.
Jade had even driven her home that day and Tori had felt something… at the time she'd thought it was gratitude but now that she was thirty-eight reliving the memory she saw it as something else… butterflies? Why were there butterflies?
"Thanks Jade" Tori had said as she stepped out of the car.
"No problem, Vega!" Jade had uttered the response before reversing out of her drive way and Tori had watched her go like a sad puppy.
"What's eating you, Vega?" Jade asked, transforming her to the present.
"Yeah, Tori… what are you thinking about?" Cat asked, tilting her head to the side.
"Nothing to worry your little head about Cat" Tori smiled sweetly, patting Cat on the head. Cat folded her arms and sulked.
"What's that supposed to mean?" She asked offended.
"Okay, I'm beat… I know what you're doing…. Can we drop this now?" Tori asked, giving up. A sigh of relief came from the others.
"Thank, goodness for that I thought I was going to cave first" Jade admitted.
"Yeah, it was beginning to be hard for me to stay in character" Cat agreed.
"Are you kidding? I thought you were doing the best out of all of us" Jade told her.
"So… We're back to normal again?" Robbie asked, Cat nodded and kissed him on the cheek.
"Tori, we want to hear about you and your life" Robbie said, leaning his elbow on the table and looking at her with deep interest.
"O-kay… well as you know I have a daughter…" Tori started pointing to Alex who was talking to Nina and Jennifer. They seemed to be getting on well.
"No you don't Tori… technically you have two daughters" Jade pointed out. "But I'm not sharing Patrick with you" She added. Tori looked at her;
"Good to know" She muttered, inching her seat further away.
"We know all that Tori; we want to know about your love life?" Cat said, mimicking her husband's action.
"Nothing to tell" Tori stated.
"So no-one interesting in your life?" Cat interrogated, moving closer the the half Latina as she did.
"Nope… Tell me about your kids" Tori changed the subject. Robbie and Cat looked at each other and smiled.
"We have four wonderful children" They said in unison.
"Mom! Dad! Charlie took my doll!" Miranda cried running up to her mother and sitting on her lap. Robbie went to his son to give him a dad lecture and seconds after that Leo awoke and started crying.
"Oh, that's Leo… I'll get him" Cat beamed, placing a crying Miranda back on the ground and picking up her little one.
"Come here, Miranda" Nina said taking her little sisters hand and guiding her into the living room.
Tori laughed at the fact her old friends had just jinxed themselves.
"They're a delight to have over really" Jade told her. Cat walked back in holding her little boy who had a full head of brown hair. He was one years old and you could see a lot of Robbie in him.
"He's really cute" Tori gushed.
"Do you want to hold him?" Cat asked, holding out her son for Tori to hold. Tori nodded and held out her arms for Leo. Leo snuggled peacefully in Tori's arms and seemed to smile.
"Look, Leo… this is Tori… auntie Tori?" Cat said assuming she would now see Tori around as much as she saw Jade, so that she could be her kid's honorary aunt.
"Yeah, I'll stick around" Tori promised reading Cat's mind.
"Good" Cat said taking Leo back and trying to soothe him back to sleep. Robbie returned looking tired as he sat back down in his seat.
"Everything, okay?" Cat asked.
"Yeah, I told Charlie off and he's now sulking in Patrick's room… but Patrick's there so that won't last for long. Nina's with Miranda now… everything's all fine and dandy" He reassured his wife who had just gotten Leo off to sleep. She placed a sweet kiss on Robbie's lips and headed back to the living room to put Leo in his pushchair.
"Let's get some more drinks in us" Jade suggested, refilling their now empty wine glasses.
"So are you sure there is no-one interesting in your life? Not even someone you like?" Robbie asked Tori.
"Nope, single and plan to stay that way" Tori admitted sipping her wine.
"That's what everyone says right before they meet Mr Right or Mrs Right…" Cat said, unconvinced.
"So if there's no-one your with… is there anyone you like?" Robbie asked. Smiling like a teenage girl.
"Is he all right?" Tori asked, noticing how he was being slightly girly. Jade shrugged.
"Yeah, he doesn't get out much… He spends most of his time with Cat and the kids" Jade admitted. Tori nodded.
"So?" Cat repeated her husband's question. Tori looked at the ground.
"Ooh, she looked at the floor… you like someone don't you Tori?" Robbie asked. Tori rolled her eyes.
"Are we still doing the High-School thing? Because this is probably what most High-School students talk about" Tori asked. Robbie shook his head.
"No, we're doing the we haven't seen you in years interrogation" Cat informed her
"Why can't you interrogate, Jade? She's single" Tori asked.
"We interrogate Jade all the time, tonight's your turn" Robbie said. Tori looked at Jade who just shrugged her shoulders.
"They do… It's annoying… tell us Tori" Jade said, getting in on the whole thing.
"I don't like anybody" Tori lied but she didn't actually know she was lying.
"We all know that's not true… what have you got to lose?" Jade wondered. Tori looked at Jade, her eyes. She'd been looking at those same eyes for fifteen years and still she hadn't known a thing. She remembered being in high-School and always thinking, wow I love how beautiful Jade's eyes are and yet when they handed her, her baby in that hospital she hadn't figured it out.
Although of course Tori was glad to have had Alex… and she couldn't figure out whether this was a coincidence or a blessing or even fate that it had happened to them. Out of all the baby's in that hospital, it had to have been Jade and Tori's who had been switched.
A/N: I hope you liked? Let me know in a review as that's what mostly keeps me going... If any of you picked it up I was trying to build my way into Tori realizing she might have had feelings for Jade during High-School but does she still have them now?