Like Cats and Dogs

by disnickyX

Tori and Jade don't get along. They're always fighting, even over the smallest of things. But then Tori's ex shows up at Hollywood Arts; and he's dating a girl named Melissa there. Tori tells him that she's dating someone new too. He invites her on a double date and now she's got a problem. She needs a date. Rating may change if I can get the courage to write one of those scenes

15. Twisted Reality: Chapter 15

Author's note: If any of you can't review this chapter, it's because I deleted chapter 8 and the system thinks you've already reviewed. If you want, you can just review as a guest:)

{~~~~TORI~~~~}

I… am so… freakin' gay.

I just…I don't know what came over me. One second I'm wazzing out because I bruised Jade's hip, and the next, she's in my lap, my tongue is shoved down her throat, I'm snatching her towel off and… and… oh, God I can't even think about it.

Whaddo I do. Whaddo I do. Whaddo I do….

"Guys…" Amber whines.

Right. She has to wazz. First step, get out of the bathroom, Tori.

I make to get up, but then I realize Jade's still in my lap. And what's more, she's slowly wrapping the towel around herself.

Un-freaking-believable. I mean, I get it. She's the super calm and collected one of the two of us and being caught nearly naked with her girlfriend, by her little sister, is no big deal to her; but still, the girls have really got to stop walking in on us. If not, they'll need so much therapy by the time they're our age.

I turn and address Amber. "Mamita, next time maybe you should knock-"

"I will, I will. Les prometo." she cuts me off with a whine while urgently hopping up and down.

I grin back at her. She remembered how to say she promises. And she pronounced it perfectly. I'm so proud of-whoa! And she's yanking down her shorts. She must really gotta go; and that's my cue to get out.

I grab my girlfriend, (who's still taking her precious time by the way), around the waist and lift her up. It's kinda tricky because she still hasn't secured her towel yet, so I'm trying to hold that in place as well.

"Don't drop me." She hisses.

I roll my eyes and hiss back. "I won't."

"You do it often enough." She glares at me; instantly making me feel guilty. I actually do drop her a lot; like every time I have her in my arms. But I don't mean to. Something always happens to startle me and I just…do.

Except for this time. We make it to her room with no problem and I set her down before telling her to hurry up or we'll be late for school.

"Don't tell me what to do!" She snaps back immediately.

I roll my eyes. "Well will you please hurry up?" I answer sarcastically.

She glares at me.

"What?" I ask, my eyes widening just a little to paint a picture of innocence even though I know I was totally being a sabelotodo. But it's not as if I ever really boss her around. And I'm not bossing her now. I'm just stating a fact. If she doesn't hurry up, we will be late for school. And I have a perfect attendance to maintain. She knows that. Everyone knows that. Even Trina knows it and she doesn't even know my birthday.

"Just go on without me." She answers, turning away from me and heading for her closet.

I blink at her back. Go without her? I can't. I'm her ride unless… "You're skipping school?"

"No."

"Joy's bringing you?"

"No."

I bite my bottom lip as uneasiness starts to settle into the pits of my stomach. If she's not skipping, and Joy's not bringing her, then that means she's either taking the bus or Taxi. Which also means, she must really not want to be anywhere near me.

And I can't blame her. Not when I think about what almost happened in the bathroom just a few minutes ago. I took my pretend girlfriend duties a little too far this time. Just a few more seconds and I would've…God, I really can't think about it. What was I thinking?! Not that I actually was thinking!

And it's not like I can apologize for it because if I do Jade will scream at me, probably even hit me. She's done it before. And she was right then and she'd be right now. I can't go around apologizing for making out with my girlfriend, or almost getting in her pants. That's a sure way to let people know we're just pretending.

"Earth to Vega."

I blink rapidly; just now realizing Jade's no longer in front of her closet. She's snapping her fingers in front of my face…and she's still in her towel.

I try my best to keep my eyes on her face, but it's really, really hard.

So gay.

I'm not gay! I scowl…at myself. Jeez I'm really losing it. I gotta get outta here.

"Um, I'll see you at school." I answer Jade distractedly while trying to keep my eyes on her body. No! Her face. Keep my eyes on her face! Ugh! What the heck is wrong with me?!

Jade narrows her eyes at me.

Oh man, I must be doing something really wrong. Definitely gotta get outta here.

"Um, bye." I spit out. Then I practically run out of her room and down the stairs before she could chew me out for doing…whatever that wrong thing was that I had been doing.

"Where's Jade?" Joy stops me and hands me a banana as I try to rush out of the house. She's so the opposite of my mother when it comes to this kind of stuff. My mom never makes sure I eat breakfast.

I thank Joy before telling her that Jade said she'll be down later.

"Seriously? I'm already starting to regret giving her keys back," Joy shakes her head.

Oh, her keys. I breathe a huge sigh of relief. Jade got her car back. That's why she doesn't need a ride to school! That makes perfect sense! Maybe she's not completely wazzed off at me for nearly getting into her pants this morning!

"God, I hope she remembers to pick the girls up from school today." Joy cuts into my thoughts.

It's Thursday, so I already know to pick the girls up. I've been doing it for a while now. It was only supposed to be three weeks while Jade was in detention, but she pulled the fire alarm and got herself another few weeks added on.

"I'll remind her." I tell Joy.

She smiles at me, full of relief. "Thank you, honey."

"It's nothing." I wave dismissively. I nearly leave, but then I remember the girls. I never leave without saying goodbye to them. Thank God they're in the kitchen putting away their dishes rather than upstairs where I'd have to face Jade again.

"Riley, Amber, I gotta go. Denme abrazos." I announce.

Weirdly, only Riley rushes up to give me a hug. "We're still going to your house after school today right?" she looks up at me with the cutest, most un-Riley-like, pouty face I've ever seen; and for a second I wonder if she's pretending to be Amber.

Nah. That'd be a waste of her time. She knows I can tell them apart. So I just answer her question.

"Well. Um, since Jade has her car back"-

"Please." She begs.

I smile down at her. Truth is, I wouldn't mind having the girls come over today. I need a distraction, and I mean anything that can help me not think about Jade, without her towel, is welcomed. The girls are as good as a diversion as any. Probably the best one I could possibly get. I mean, when I have them, they take up all of my time and energy; which means, I won't have time to sit and think about Jade and how I messed up, or how I wish I would've just messed up a little more by going just a little further-no, no, no, no.! Stop thinking about that, perv!

"Please." Riley begs again, drawing my attention back to her by squeezing me briefly.

"Riley, stop imposing." Joy jumps in, probably trying to save me, but I really don't need saving. I need that distraction. Just for today. Just so I can get myself under control.

"Oh it's no problem, Joy. They wouldn't be imposing." I flash my most trustworthy smile her way.

"Really?"

"Yeah. They're not so bad."

"Really?" she repeats, dipping her brows skeptically. Then she looks between her girls as if to ask me if I'm sure I'm talking about the kids here in front of me.

I nod my head enthusiastically. "Yeah, I can handle 'em pretty easily. We kinda have a routine when they come over. I get them a snack, they do their homework- oh, except if my dad's home. He likes to shoot a few hoops with them before he leaves for work."

I smile at the thought. Naturally, Riley's better, but my dad likes giving Amber pointers. I think it makes him feel proud every time she gets better, because honestly she has improved. A lot.

I think he misses doing that with me and Trina.

In fact, last night he bought the girls' favorite chips because he knew they'd be over today. He'd be so disappointed if they don't show up, so that's another reason the girls should come over. Actually, now that I think about it, they should probably just keep coming over on Thursdays period. Make it a regular event…tradition… thing.

"Well, if you're sure…" Joy trails off.

"Um, actually…" I do a little trailing of my own.

"Yeah?"

"I know Jade got her car back, but do you mind if they come over every Thursday anyway? It's kinda our special time."

"Would I…of course I don't mind!"

"Really?" I grin. What a relief. I had no idea she'd go for it so quickly.

"Can we spend the night too?" Riley pipes up.

"Riley, honey," Joy shakes her head. "It's a school night and I don't know if"-

"It'd be no problem to get them to school in the morning." I cut in immediately, and without thinking. But since it's already out there… "Do they have a bedtime or something?"

Joy gapes at me.

Okay, maybe I went a little too far. Just because she let me take them places doesn't mean she trusts me to care for them for a whole-

"Oh my God, I just love you!" Joy practically screams while pulling me into a very tight hug. Like, I just might die if she doesn't let go of me soon. When she finally lets go, she announces that she's gonna pack their stuff before running upstairs to do just that I guess.

I look over at Riley and raise my eyebrows.

She shrugs her shoulders, unable to offer up any explanation for her mother's behavior.

"Okay, denme abrazos. Again."

Again, Riley's the first to hug me. And again, Amber hangs back. Not only does she hang back, but I actually have to coax her into hugging me; and even when she does hug me, she barely squeezes back. Not to mention the fact that she keeps glancing at Riley uneasily.

What the heck is going on with her? She's been acting so strange for the last few days.

I'm tempted to ask her about it right now, but I'll be late to school. And besides, she's spending the night at my place. I have all night to get it out of her.

"Bye Tori." She smiles at me. I smile back, thinking to myself, Just you wait little girl. I'm gonna weasel it out of ya; before finally leaving.

When I step outside, I instantly get mad at Jade all over again. Because of her, I have to wear a turtle neck and it's soooo hot out here. It only takes me a few seconds to get to my car, literally, and I'm already starting to sweat. That's how hot it is.

Thank God I have AC in my car, but it only does me good for twenty minutes because now I'm at school, and I have to get out of my car.

I talk myself into it. Literally. For nearly five minutes I just sit here and say to myself, "Tori, you can do it." "It's just a two minute walk." "Not even that if you make it fast."

Despite the pep talk, I'm nearly crawling into the building by the time those two minutes are up, and that was just from the effort it took to walk across the parking lot!

"Icky!"

No, no, no, no, no.

I am not in the mood to deal with Melissa right now. But I turn around anyway, and as soon as I do she puts her hand over her mouth and gasps. "Oh God, girl what happened to your face? Did Jade do that?"

See? Totally not something you wanna deal with when you're already agitated about being soaked in sweat.

I roll my eyes. "Jade would never hit me, Lissa." I lie.

She raises her eyebrows disbelievingly, but otherwise waits for me to explain. So, I continue. "It was an accident, and her little sister did it."

"How did"-

"I spent the night at Jade's but I tried to sleep with one of her sisters. I didn't know she's a wild sleeper and I got hit in the face. End of story." I cut her off.

She gives me a confused frown. "Why'd you try to sleep with her sister? I thought you two made up?"

Okay, maybe her definition of "end of the story" is different from…everyone else's in the world.

"We did make up. It's just that I was tired and Jade wasn't and I wanted," I pause there trying to think of something else to say rather than tell her I wanted to rub my belly button. I'm not exactly in the mood to be laughed at.

"You wanted?" she prompts.

"To get some peace." I go with. Then I make a bee line for my locker.

"Oh…" she says loudly.

I look behind me and she winks knowingly at me.

"What?" I stop at my locker and narrow my eyes at her.

"Nothing." She says. Then she waits for me to put my stuff away before taking my arm and leading me in the opposite direction of our first period class.

What the heck?

"Where are we going?"

"Black Box Theater. No first period today." She answers with a smile.

Oh, that makes sense. Wait a minute…"What's in The Blackbox Theater?"

Melissa doesn't answer; just starts fixing my hair and wiping sweat from my face. It makes me suspicious and a bit antsy.

"What's going on in The Blackbox Theater?" I start to freak. Oh God, what if we're doing a live dress rehearsal for the play. I'm nowhere near ready!

"It's nothing. Just an audition." She assures me.

"Oh, Ok." I sigh in relief. Wait…audition? "An audition for what?" I start freaking again.

"For a TV show called "The Wood." She answers me calmly as if it would soothe me.

It doesn't.

"I can't audition looking like this!"

"Sure you can. You look, um, great."

"No." I shake my head. "Nuh-un. No way."

"Come on Icky. It'll be fun."

I try to walk away, but she grabs my arm and pulls me toward the back of the line. Dang, she's strong.

I wait in line for all of fifteen minutes before I decide I really can't do this. I try sneaking out from behind Melissa, but somehow she seems to know what I'm about to do and she yanks me in front of her, making me accidently bump into the guy in front of me.

"Oops sorry," I start off, but then he turns to face me and I realize he's Beck.

My first response is to smile at him; but he's glaring at me and then I remember what happened last night. Jade told him that she cheated on him with me.

He looks at my clothes, probably recognizing them as Jade's, which also means he's come to the correct conclusion that I spent the night at her place last night.

Jammit!

He rolls his eyes. "Really?"

"What?" I squeak.

"I bought that shirt for Jade. She obviously wanted to make sure I saw it on you."

Ouch. Seriously? That was smart of her. Not to mention hurtful.

"Jade do that?" He points at my eye. I start to tell him she didn't when he cuts me off with a, "Good, 'cause you deserve it."

I realize he's got every right to be angry with me. But to say someone deserves a black eye is just…mean.

"Amber did it." I glare at him

He snorts at me. "You woulda been better off saying Riley did it," then he turns back around to face the front of the line.

I turn back to see if Melissa caught all that. She did, and she's giving me an amused smile.

This is not amusing.

"Trade me." I beg.

"No."

"Why not?" I hiss.

"Because I'm way hotter than you right now. If I go before you…" she shakes her head. "You should go before me."

"Lissa!"

"Icky!"

"Please!" I beg.

"Fine, but I warned you."

And she did. She goes right after Beck, who's just plan ole good eye candy for the teens out there, plus he's single now….

Then there's Melissa. She goes and sits on that stool in front of the camera and there's no doubt they're gonna pick her. The producers love her. She's gorgeous, flawless, witty, and gorgeous. If I was gay I'd totally have a crush on her.

"Next!"

Crap, that's me. I was supposed to sneak out of line during Melissa's audition. Maybe I still can.

"Icky!"

I jump, she's right beside me, and I get this feeling she knew I was gonna try and bail. Dang it!

I sigh heavily and walk up to the stool dejectedly. I know I look like crap. I'm all sweaty 'cause of this stupid turtleneck and there's a bruise under my eye and- you know what. I don't even care. I'm not even gonna try.

I plop down on the stool and face the camera.

"And your name?" one of the producers, the white one, smiles at me.

"Tori Vega." I answer shortly.

"Alright, and what's the worst thing you've ever done Tori Vega?" The other, the black one, asks.

I think about it for a second before going with the truth 'cause I don't wanna be on the show anyway. "I don't really do a lot of bad things." I shrug.

Out of nowhere, I see Melissa sidle up to the producers and whisper something to them. I narrow my eyes suspiciously. This can't be good.

"So, Tori, how'd you get that bruise under your eye?"

I roll my eyes. "I tried to sleep with my girlfriend's sister last night and I got hit in the eye…." I trail off when black producer guy starts writing something down and white producer guy starts whispering to the assistant lady.

I'm getting a bad feeling about this.

Then White Producer looks up at me. "Your girlfriend, huh? And who might that be?"

None of your dang business is on the tip of my tongue, but then Melissa speaks up on my behalf. "Jade West, one of the most popular girls in school."

"Well, that must make you pretty popular too, huh Tori?"

I shrug. "Not really. I'm kinda new here."

"New? And you managed to snag "one of the most popular girls in the school?"" he air quotes.

I shrug again.

"So you mean to tell me, one of the most popular girls in the school (God I wish he's stop freakin' saying that!) was single until you came along?"

I frown. "Well, no. She uh"-

"So you stole her from some other girl." Black Producer jumps in.

"Guy." Melissa puts in

"Really, so how'd he take the break up?"

Everyone's waiting for my answer. I can tell by the huge silence that falls upon the Theater; that is until someone clears his throat loudly.

Beck. His audition's over, but he's still here for some reason.

"Tori?" White Producer prompts. "How'd Jade's ex take the break up?"

"I um…" I glance at Beck, not sure how to answer because of the way he's staring at me.

The producers see who I was looking at and they're really quick to catch on. "Beck Oliver? You were able to steal his girl?" they gasp.

Dang it!

"I um…well you see I didn't uh…I just um…I gotta wazz." I hurry up and run out of there as fast as I can. And I run all the way to the bathroom farthest away from the Blackbox Theater, throwing myself into the first stall.

I don't think I can take this bull poopy anymore. It was okay at first, me dating Jade to make Danny jealous, and her dating me to get Beck to realize how much he loves her; but now cheating's been added on and it makes me look really bad.

God, I wish I was more like Jade. She seems to genuinely not care what other people think about her. And I really, really, admire that about her. But I'm just not like that!

"Icky!"

Jammit! How the helicopter did she find me?!

"Come out or I'm coming in," she warns after knocking on my stall.

I ignore her.

"Seriously, if I have to crawl on this dirty ass floor to get in there, I'm gonna make sure you regret making me do it."

"Or you can leave me alone." I finally answer. For some reason, I really believe she'd crawl under the stall door.

"You know, I really wish I could because there are about a gazillion other things I'd rather be doing other than having girl talk in the bathroom; but we're friends and according to the rules I have to check on you when you have a major breakdown in front of a lot of people and run to the girls bathroom. It's like, in the bible or something."

Despite feeling like crap, I actually laugh and open the door. "Come in."

"Seriously?" she asks, the left corner of her lip rising in disgust.

"I'm not ready to go out there yet."

She rolls her eyes and comes inside.

I sit back down on the seat and she plops down sideways, and heavily, onto my lap.

Okay, ouch.

"Hey!" I protest.

"I'm not sitting on the floor and I'm not standing." She explains. "The sooner this godforsaken talk is over with the sooner your legs get to breathe, capisce?"

No. No capiscing.

"What kind of a friend is that? You're supposed to listen to me no matter how long I talk!" I shoot back.

"And I will, just know that the longer you talk the more your legs are gonna hurt when you get up."

I roll my eyes at her. She's most normal female friend I have, yet she's still so…ugh!

"Alright," she says, swinging her legs back and forth, which actually kinda hurts my thighs. "Let's get this over with. Talk to me. Why are we in the girl's bathroom?"

I scowl at her. We're in the girls' bathroom because of her.

"What?" she asks innocently.

"Why'd you do that? Egg the producers on like that? You're supposed to be my friend. Couldn't you tell I was getting uncomfortable?"

"Yeah."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah, I could tell you were getting uncomfortable."

"So why did you keep making it worse?"

"You want the truth?"

"No, lie to me." I cross my arms over my chest.

"It's simple really." She shrugs. "You're my friend. I want you on the show with me. But, they weren't gonna feature you if you didn't give them something to feature, and you Icky, you're just so damn boring.

"I am not."

"It's okay, I still love ya." She pats my head.

"I'm not boring!" I insist.

She rolls her eyes and sighs out a, "What are you doing after school today?"

"I'm gonna pick the twins up from school and if no one's home I'll get them something to snack on while they do their homework but if"-

"See? You're practically a mom. And why the heck are Jade's sister's going to your house after school. Why not Jade?"

I keep my mouth shut. There's no way I'm gonna tell her that I need a teeny weeny break from Jade because I nearly took her goodies this morning and I don't trust myself to be alone around her right now.

"Oh, now you have to tell me." She grins at me.

"What?"

"Your face. It's so telling on you right now."

"Shut up." I mumble, 'cause she's right. My face has heated up a bit. I can feel it.

"Nuh-uh, you have to tell me. We're friends. That's what girlfriends do. They gossip about each other's love lives."

"There's nothing to tell." I lie.

"Come on," she begs. "This is like the only non-boring thing about you."

Seriously? "You know, I'm feeling a lot better Lissa. You can get off of me now."

She tilts her head a little and regards me for a few seconds before hopping out of my lap. "Yeah, you look a lot better." She winks conspiringly.

"Shut up!" I shove her playfully. And she just gives me a wicked grin before unlocking the stall.

"Melissa" she turns a little. "Thanks." I smile.

"De nada."

I smile some more. I really do feel better. She's such a good friend to me.

Too bad you're not that good of a friend to her.

Okay, that thought just came out of nowhere. But it's not completely meritless. I don't like Melissa going out with Danny. Before, it was okay because I didn't know her I guess, but lately it's been bothering me. If I was a good friend I would've tried to warn her about her boyfriend by now, right?

"Lissa? Um, could you wait a second?" I call without thinking it over, before I can lose my nerve.

She stops at the door and faces me, her face crumpled in fake agony. "Oh no. I thought we got it all." She whines.

She's joking, but I'm not.

"It's um, it's not about me this time." I shift uncomfortably.

"Okay." She shuts the door back and stares me straight in the eyes.

Yikes! I don't know if I'll be able to do this.

But you have to.

But I have to. Right. I square my shoulders and try my best to meet her gaze without wavering. "We're really friends, right?" I start off.

"Yeah." she answers simply, but I see the way her eyes are roaming over me. They drop down to my hands where I keep wringing my thumb, then down to my feet, where I keep shifting from right foot to left restlessly, then back up to my throat where she can probably visibly see that I've gulped about seven times, and then up more to my face, where it's probably just an all-out mess of nerves.

She narrows her eyes at me. She can tell that what I have to say won't be pleasant.

So just say it!

Okay, okay. Here goes.

"Um, you know how they say…" No that's not the right way to start off. "Um, that saying don't uh…." No, that's even worse than the first-

"Spit it out Icky, you're freaking me out here!"

I jump a little, startled by her sudden outburst.

"Oh for Pete's sake!" she walks up to me, snatches my hand up and leads me back to my stall. Then she shoves me onto the toilet seat and plops down onto my lap.

"Ow."

"Talk." She commands.

Okay. I can do this. I take a deep breath and collect my thoughts. When I finally speak, it actually turns out to be a pretty good start. "How does Danny treat you?"

She tilts her head a little, like she's thinking about it before her eyebrows dip in suspicion. "Why do you ask?"

Dang it! That's not where I wanted that to go. So, I answer her question the best I can. "I was just wondering…. just wanted to make sure that's he's good to you…you now, 'cause we're friends and that's what friends do." I try to joke, but it doesn't sound very much like a joke.

Jeez I suck at this.

"Wasn't he good to you?" She counters.

"Um." Crap. I look down at my feet guiltily. Why did I even say anything? I don't want to tell her what happened. I don't like to talk about it. I don't even like to think about it. It was bad enough the first time around. So I try and deflect her question. "Lissa, I'm not trying to be a problem I just"-

"You just didn't answer my question." She cuts me off.

Dang it, she's good. And she sounds wazzed off. I don't even remember what her dang question was, plus she's making me so nervous that I really gotta wazz now.

I start squirming a little and bouncing my leg.

"You can wazz as soon as you answer my question." She says. Jeez do I really wear everything on my face the way she said I do?

"I said, was he good to you?" She continues.

God that's direct.

I jiggle my leg a bit more urgently as I try to think of how to answer that. "Um, he was um…uh…we um…."

"Look, if I promise not to shoot the messenger, will you tell me?" she softens a little.

I nod my head and hold my pinky out. Unlike Jade, she takes it immediately. I have to smile. Jade would've told me how dumb it was first.

"Danny, cheated on me." I sigh. It's not all that happened, but I can't talk about that other stuff. Plus he said he wasn't the one who started that rumor about me. And I don't know if he was lying or telling the truth, but just in case he was telling the truth, I don't feel obligated to tell Melissa about it. Maybe him being a cheater will be enough.

"See? That wasn't so hard." she says with a smile that doesn't reach her eyes.

Uh-oh. She's mad.

She gets out of my lap and reaches for the lock on the stall. I feel like she's mad at me, and I really don't want her to be. I grab her arm.

"Where are you going?" I ask, slightly panicked.

"Please don't tell me you still need to do more talking Icky, aren't your legs numb?" she smiles. This time her smile goes all the way up to her eyes and I know it's not me she's angry with.

I smile back, full of relief. We're still friends.

"Well, if you need to talk Lissa, I can always sit in your lap for a few." I offer.

"I'm good, thanks Icky," she says, then she gives me a hug. A serious one, so I know it's a genuine 'thank you.' "I might take you up on that offer later though."

I smile, "I'll be here." I promise her.

I think me and Lissa just might become the best of friends. God knows I need that. I have no one to talk to when I'm having issues. No one normal at least.

"Okay, you can wazz now." She says as she lets me go. "Meet ya in fourth period."

"Okay." I grin back.

I go to do just that, but like magic, my wazz is gone, so I just hurry out of the bathroom and try to make it to class.

As soon as I step out of the bathroom, this freak in a patriotic colored suit throws something at my face.

"It's the flour bomber!" someone yells.

And yup. That's flour…all over my face.

I turn around and go back into the girls' bathroom. I just might stay in here until fourth period. No, no. I think I'm gonna stay in here until schools over 'cause it's just not Tori Vega's day. It really isn't.

Wait, my perfect attendance! I can't stay in here!

I hurry up and clean the flour off of me the best I can, which isn't really that good honestly, and head for class.

Bam! Flour bombed…again! What are the freakin' chances?

That's it. I give up. No class for Tori Vega today. No perfect attendance.

I should just make myself comfortable in my stall and wait for school to be over.

I clean myself up…again. And I do just that.

Melissa comes and finds me after a while though. She drags me out by my hand claiming that I missed fourth period, and that it's lunch time and that I have to eat.

I believe her. I'm freaking starving.

Surprisingly she sits down at the table with me, André, Cat, Robbie…and Rex. She usually doesn't sit with us. She usually drives off somewhere, but I think nothing of it. She's probably making sure I actually stay out of the bathroom.

My stomach growls and I look down at it.

Usually, I share lunch with Jade, but she hasn't shown up yet. I tried calling her while I was in the bathroom, but I couldn't. My phone's dead. I didn't charge it last night.

My stomach growls again, louder this time. Thank God no one heard it either time. They're all looking at Sinjin a bit wistfully. Which is totally weird in itself, but André set up a kiddie pool and is charging everyone five dollars for five minutes. Sinjin's the only one brave enough to do it so far, but I'm awfully tempted to get in in just my bra and panties. Yeah, it's that hot.

In fact, I just might wear a swim suit underneath my clothes tomorrow so I can get in.

Then I realize I have an opportunity to eat a little something. And while Melissa's looking at Sinjin, I grab a few fries off her plate.

Because I'm not as smooth as I think I am, she catches me.

I brace myself, waiting for her to tell me to get my own, but that doesn't happen. She just divvies up her whole plate, pushing half the fries to one side and cutting her burger in half as well.

"This side is yours." She tells me.

I don't argue with her. I just dive right in. All I had for breakfast this morning was a banana. Though they're better than nothing at all, those things are not fulfilling in the least.

"Damn."

I look over at Melissa, wondering what she's damning about.

"I'm not even gay, but damn."

What?

Then I look at what she's looking at. Jade. And she's right. Damn.

I'm so lucky I don't have a boy part, 'cause I'd be highly embarrassed right now. Jade looks….damn. Don't get me wrong, Jade looks good every day, but today, that black top is, well formfitting is an understatement. Like, there's an abundance of cleavage spilling out the top, and lower, the shirt tucks in at her waist, which appears extra small because of the size of her boobs. And that skirt, it looks super tight the way it clings to her hips and thighs. Honestly, she shouldn't be able to move, but she can. Man can she move. There's a little extra sexy to her walk and I suddenly have the urge to see from behind because I know Jade has a nice-

Crap! I'm so gay.

Next thing I know, my view is being blocked by the freaking producers of "The Wood" and Lane.

I glare at them. Can't they see I'm ogling my girlfriend?

"Melissa, Tori, André, you're going to be featured in the wood." White producer, Kyle, says.

"Yes!" Melissa exclaims beside me.

I forgot all about the show.

"You can thank me later." Melissa winks.

I glare at her. No, I won't be thanking her at all.

"Or you can thank me now." She persists.

"What show?" Jade cuts in, sitting down next to me. I see Black producer, (still don't know his name) frown at me.

What?

"Had you come to school on time Jade"- Lane starts off, but then he gets cut off by Kyle.

"Wait, Jade? Tori's girlfriend?"

Jade glares at him.

"Don't worry, you'll be featured as well." He smiles before pulling me away. I don't want to go with him, but I do it anyway.

We walk over to my car and he sets the camera up. Yeah, I get a camera plopped onto my dashboard.

By the time I go back, lunch is over. Which I'm okay with. I'm not hungry anymore. I ate most of Melissa's fries.

What I'm not okay with, is the fact that Jade ignores me all day. Well, I'm not surprised. She's a bit upset over missing the audition …and probably that thing that happened this morning; but that doesn't mean I have to be okay with it.

She's all walking around looking like….like that; and she's supposed to be my girlfriend. She's supposed to dress up for me. But she's not even talking to me! Which probably means she's dressed up for someone else, someone like Beck. She's probably trying to make him jealous.

Okay, Tori calm down. She's supposed to be making Beck jealous idiota.

I take a breath and it helps a little, but not much. I still wish Jade would talk to me. Schools over and I've barely seen her. I miss her, and it hasn't even been a full day.

Jeez, that's so pathetic.

I shake my head at myself before getting in my car. Before driving off, I plug my phone in. Like I said, it's been dead all day.

I've got quite a few messages and ten missed calls, six of them from Jade!

Holy crap! Jade called me six times and I didn't answer her. And it clicks. Maybe I'm being punished for not answering her calls. Maybe she's ignoring me because she thinks I've been ignoring her.

I get excited, a huge smile lighting up my face because I know I can fix this. I just have to call and explain.

No answer.

Okay, so she's still mad at me and is still ignoring me. Of course she's not going to answer my call. So I text her:

Me: I'm sorry I missed your calls. My phone's been dead all day.

No answer. I pull off, because I wasn't expecting an answer immediately. She could be busy. It's Thursday so she has to pick up-Oh crap the twins. I forgot to tell her that I'm picking them up.

Me: Oh, and don't worry about the twins. I'm picking them up today.

She text back immediately.

Jade: Why?

I frown. That was fast. Why didn't she text back so fast before?

Me: They're staying over.

Jade: Why?

Seriously?

Me: They wanted to. Why not?

She doesn't text back after that. I send her about five more but she ignores them all.

Ni modo.

I've still got plenty other things to think about. Like how to convince my parents to let a camera crew practically live in our house for the next week. Instinctively, I know it's better to ask my mom. I'll have better luck with her. But still, wording is crucial by means of getting the answer I want.

I think the best route to go is a simple one, Suck up and beg.

I dial her number and hold my breath until she answers.

"Hey Mami." I grin into my phone, (like she can see it.)

"What do you want?"

I pout a little. "What makes you think I want something?"

"You always call me Mami when you want something."

"I do not."

"So there's nothing you need, Tori? Nothing at all?"

"Maybe not."

"Okay, nice to talk to ya. bye"-

"Okay, yes. I need you"-

"I knew it!" she exclaims. And I can just imagine her grinning triumphantly on the other end.

"Yes, Mami. You know me so well 'cause you're such a good mother." I suck up so more.

"Oh, spit it out, baby. I don't have all day."

"Okay, I need you to come home so the camera men can come in and"-

"Camera men? Tori!"

"Please Mami?" I beg. "It's for this show called "The Wood," and since I'm a minor I have to have your permission for them to come in and film me. Please, please, please."

"And I should take time out of my busy day to cater to you because…."

I grin. That's an easy one. "Because you love me." I answer confidently.

"Oh fine, I'm home anyway…"

"Hey!"

"Love you, baby."

"I love you too." I grumble halfheartedly while pulling up to the child pick up.

The woman with the clipboard still checks my ID as if it's changed from last Thursday; or the Thursday before that, or the Thursday before that. Jeez, there's a such thing as taking your job a little too seriously. But I try my best not to glare at her while she holds the girls back from getting in my car. I don't want her to make it even more complicated for me. Something tells me she would.

"How was school today?" I ask the girls through my window, stilling waiting for the woman with the clipboard to give them the okay to get into my car. .

"Great!" Riley says enthusiastically, immediately making me suspicious.

"Alright, you two are free to go." the woman finally lets them go.

Riley, tries to get in the front seat, but I stop her.

"Nope it's Amber's turn."

"No, it's okay Tori." Amber says quickly. Too quickly.

"No, fair's fair, let's go Mamita."

"Come on Tori." Riley whines. "She said she doesn't want to, and I want to. What's the big deal?"

"The big deal is this is my car and I said I want Amber up front and you in the back, entiendes?"

She blinks at me.

"Do you understand?" I repeat in English.

"I guess." She rolls her eyes and gets in the back. But I still have to practically beg Amber to sit up front with me. Seriously. The kid's starting to wazz me out. Is she mad at me for some reason?

She doesn't say anything at all for a while, and neither does Riley. I hate weird silences, so I turn on the radio. Riley starts singing along immediately. Kid can't carry a tune to save her life, but she loves to sing.

I know you wanna bite this

It's so enticing

Nothing else like this

Imma make you my bi-

"Woops!" I turn the radio station.

"Hey!" Riley exclaims. I know how much she loves Rihanna, and that's one of her favorite songs, but there's just no way I'm gonna let her listen to that, or sing it, while there's a camera in my car.

"Here, listen to Willow whip her hair back and forth."

Riley glares at me.

"What? It's fun if you do it." I try, to convince her.

No such luck.

"No." she pouts, folding her arms over her chest.

So I start whipping my hair back and forth.

Amber starts laughing.

"Come on do it with me."

"Nuh-un," they say.

We're nearly at the end of the song before both girls are doing it. It was totally worth it, they both look so adorably silly.

Then my song comes on and I turn it up.

Same bed, but it feels just a little bit bigger now
Our song on the radio, but it don't sound the same

Riley groans.

"I like this song too." Amber says shyly.

"You would." Her sister bites back.

I turn the radio up a little more and start singing, inviting Amber to sing along with me.

She doesn't seem to want to, but I poke her side, making her laugh until she gives in and sings with me.

Too young too dumb to realize

That I should've bought you flowers

I grab her hand and hold it up real high before singing the next line.

And held your hand

Should have given all my hours

When I had the chance

Take you to every party

'cause all you wanted to do was dance

"Baila, Mamita." I start to sway a bit. "Dance." I repeat in English.

From there, Bruno is totally forgotten. The girls are asking me how to say every word they know in Spanish. Numbers, animals, colors, body parts…

Jeez, I forgot how into this they are. And I'm so relieved when we finally get to my house. I'm suffering from a little Spanish overload. I practically run to the door shouting, "Start your homework while I get you a snack."

I hear them run upstairs to my room. And I pull out two apples and the peanut butter. I know it's a little weird to put peanut butter on apples, and the girls were a bit iffy about trying it at first too, but now they love it.

Snack made, I carry it upstairs expecting to find two little girls doing their homework on my bed.

Nope. They are on my bed, but it looks like they're fighting. Riley is behind Amber, calling her a dirty thief, and Amber's squirming around like a maniac.

"What's going on? You two are supposed to be doing homework!" I yell. They both straighten up. Amber keeps her hands behind her back, but I thought I just saw a flash of silver… "Are those my dad's handcuffs?"

"No." Riley answers quickly. I take that to mean yes.

"How many times have I told you, these are not toys!" I yell. "My dad uses them for work."

"Why are you looking at me, it was Amber's idea." Riley argues back.

Amber doesn't say anything to confirm or deny Riley's accusations. She just stands there looking like she's about to wazz her pants. But I don't even have to look at her worried face to know that she was not the brains behind this operation.

"Gimme the keys, Monstrito."

"But I don't"-

"Now." I cut Riley off.

"Fine." She scowls, digging into her pocket and pulling them out.

I unlock Amber and throw the cuffs onto my bed.

"Homework." I point to their book bags.

Riley grumbles a little more. I ignore her. She can be so much like Jade sometimes. And not in a good way.

"Tori, I need help with mine." Amber says quietly. She won't meet my eyes, and I just assume she's a little embarrassed about getting into trouble just now.

"Why didn't you ask me for help?" Riley grins at her in a teasing manner.

Weird.

"Because you just tell me the answers and I need help on how to do it!" Amber yells back.

That's even weirder. But I let it go. At least she doesn't look like she's about to have an accident in my bed anymore.

"What are you working on, Mamita?" I ask, peeking over her shoulder.

"Telling time with a face clock."

"Oh, that's easy"-

Abruptly Trina bursts into my room. No knocking. Not for my sister.

"Oh good, they're here." She says, looking genuinely relieved to see the girls. "I'm taking them."

"Yes!" Riley jumps up and runs out of the room.

"No," I glare at my sister. "They haven't finished their homework."

"I don't care." Trina scoffs. "I need them to help me with some stuff."

"What stuff?"

"None of your business stuff. Riley, let's go." she says to Amber who hasn't moved yet.

"I'm Amber." She says.

"I don't care, let's go." she says before leaving. As if her words are final. The nerve.

Amber looks to me and I can tell she really wants to go. It's a bit disturbing really. Trina's just gonna make them do a lot of slave work, but they seem to have fun in her room.

Maybe Melissa's right. Maybe I am boring. I gotta be if the girls prefer Trina's company.

"Riley, come on." Trina walks back in.

"She just told you she's Amber." I roll my eyes.

"I wasn't listening, come on kid. I don't have all day."

Amber looks at me again, silently begging with those huge baby blues.

"Fine. Go." I sigh.

She jumps up with a huge grin on her face, and for a moment it looks as if she's gonna hug me; but then she stops and runs after Trina.

Weird.

"Victoria Vega!" I hear my dad yell…from downstairs. I'm in some serious chiz. I swear if Trina did anything Trina-like and blamed it on me again…

I run down the stairs and instantly see the problem. It wasn't Trina this time. It was me. . The camera crew is here and my dad looks extremely surprised. Which means Mom forgot to tell him.

Uh oh.

"Hey Dad." I smile uneasily at him.

"Hey Dad? I open my door to this and all you can say is "hey Dad?""

"I thought Mami told you about them." I answer, using a slight baby voice. I admit it.

"No, Mami didn't tell me about them." He mocks me.

I give him my most pathetic puppy dog look. "Please Papi."

He closes his eyes and pinches the bridge of his nose, a sure sign that I'm about to get what I want regardless of what he thinks is best for me.

"Sons." He finally says. "I needed to have sons. None of these sad faced, please Papi begging, baby girls." He mutters while walking off.

That's a yes.

"My dad said yes." I tell the camera guys. They all scramble in and I give them a small your of the house.

It goes smooth, boring even, until my dad comes out of his room dressed in his uniform.

"Have you seen my handcuffs?" he asks me.

Dang it. I forgot to put them back. I go to my room, scoop them up off of my bed, and hand them to him.

He snatches them away. "How many times do I have to tell you my handcuffs are not toys?"

I roll my eyes. I know they're not toys. I just got through telling the twins the same thing. And I nearly tell him that, but I stop myself. I can't bring myself to tell on them. "I just needed them one time. It won't happen again." I cover for them.

"Oh, you just needed them one time." He mocks me.

"Yes."

"For what?"

"I uh... well, I um…" Hmmm. What the heck could I need handcuffs for?

My dad groans and rolls his eyes. "You want handcuffs? Fine, I'll get you handcuffs. But I wish you would pace yourself m'hija. When I was your age, I was still playing Legos. I wasn't even thinking about sex. In fact, I never think about sex. In fact, I've never had sex in my life!"

I snort. "But you and Mom"-

"Me and your mother have never had sex, Tori. Never. NUNCA, me oyes?

Seriously?

"Then how did me and Trina…"

"The stork dropped you off. The both of you."

I hear a bit of chuckling behind me, and I remember the camera men.

How embarrassing. And I know it can get a whole lot worse so I keep quiet, hoping he gets everything out of his system faster without me adding more fuel, but no. He keeps on.

"He dropped Trina at the wrong address"-

"Dad!"

"But we take care of her, and we love her as if she were our own." He finishes, placing a hand over his heart.

I roll my eyes just as the twins come out of Trina's room.

"Tori we"-

"The stork dropped you two off too, entienden?!" He whirls around and yells at them.

"Yes sir." Riley answers, eyes wide and eyebrows raised high.

Amber doesn't say anything. Just nods her head up and down vigorously.

"What did I say?" He points at Amber.

"T-the stork dr-dropped us off." She stutters.

"That's right, and when you're thirty the stork might drop you off a baby too. But not a day before! Entienden?" he points between the both of them.

"Yes sir." They both say together before running back into Trina's room.

"Papi!"

"What?"

"You scared them."

"Good."

I roll my eyes and go into my room so I can start on my homework. He follows me, but it's not for more yelling. He's gotta go to work, and since he's a police officer, he doesn't like leaving without saying goodbye. You never know what could happen out there.

It's hours before I finish my homework. Not that it was hard work, but I kept getting distracted. Jade's still ignoring me. I tried calling her. I tried texting her. Nothing.

I don't know what to do. I thought I needed a break from her, but now…

"Tori?" Riley comes into my room.

"Yeah, Monstrito?"

"I'm hungry."

I check the time and crap. It's late. I haven't been paying attention to the time at all.

Way to go Tori, why don't you just starve the girls to death.

I run to my parents' bedroom and knock on their door. "Mom!"

"Yeah?" she yells back.

"I need money for pizza."

"What do you need pizza for?"

Seriously? To eat, Mom. To eat. But I say, "for the girls" instead.

"Cook something."

And kill them the first time they stay over at my house? No thank you!

"Mom!"

She opens her door abruptly, and I thank my lucky stars that I wasn't leaning on it. "Where's your money, Tori?"

"I uh, I spent it." I stumble.

It's kinda true.

"On what?"

"Jade." I answer; which is all the way true.

"Just Jade?"

"Yes, just Jade."

"Okay, fine." She sighs before giving me the money.

"Thank you."

"I wanna order it." Riley jumps up beside me. I'm not exactly sure how I forgot the girls were right there, but I forgot the girls were right there, so she ended up scaring the chiz out of me.

"Sure, here." I gasp, handing her my phone.

Apparently she does it all the time at home because she doesn't need any of my help until it's time to give my address.

While we're waiting for the pizza, I try to text Jade a few more times, but still no answer. I'm so desperate, I almost call Joy and ask her to talk to Jade for me, but I change my mind. Jade would absolutely kill me tomorrow. She doesn't seem to like Joy for some reason. I have no idea why. I think she's a very nice woman.

"Pizza's here!" the girls squeal excitedly when there's a knock on the door. I laugh at them. I remember when I used to get that excited over pizza.

"Oh good, the pizza's here!" Trina screams and practically wrestle's the boxes out of the girls' hands.

Seriously.

I expect Trina to get her slices and go, but she surprises me. She gets three plates and puts two slices of pizza and each plate. It's only when I sit down next to Amber that I realize she didn't get me a plate.

I scowl at her before getting my own plate and taking my seat next to Amber again.

"What's the matter Amber, aren't you hungry?" Riley sing-songs around a mouthful of pizza.

"Gross. How are you gonna get a boyfriend with those table manners?" Trina practically gags.

I roll my eyes. She's one to talk. I don't see her ever getting a boyfriend. Ever.

I look over at Amber to see why her sister's teasing her this time, and I notice she's kinda scooting away from me, like she doesn't want to sit by me.

"I already have a boyfriend." I hear Riley say, but I'm a little too distracted by Amber's…weirdness to process what I've heard.

"Really?" Trina continues. "You're like five "-

"I'm eight."

"What does a five year old need with a boyfriend?"

Boyfriend?

I look up at Riley. She's eight. She can't have a boyfriend yet.

"She means he's a boy and he's her friend, right Riley?" I raise my eyebrows.

"Uh, yeah." she concedes unconvincingly.

Oh God, it's already starting. Wait, what am I worried about? I'm not her mom.

"Nuh- uh, he's her real boyfriend." Amber tells Trina. "I saw her kiss him."

Kissing?! "Riley!"

"Shut up Amber." Riley glares at her sister menacingly. "At least I'm not gay!"

"Stop saying that! I'm not gay!" Amber screams back.

"Yes you are 'cause you like Tori."

And now I realize why Amber's been acting so weird around me. Riley's been teasing her and making her feel uncomfortable.

"Riley, that's enough." I step in.

"But she told me she does."

"Shut up Riley!" Amber screams before pushing her sister so hard she falls out of her chair. Then she runs up the stairs.

"Riley! Apologize." I yell, pointing in the direction her sister just ran.

"Me? She's the one who pushed me!"

"Yeah? Well you pushed her first."

She blinks up at me.

"With your words." I clarify before deciding to go after Amber myself. Riley would probably make it worse.

She's in my bed, lying face down with her face buried in one of my pillows.

"Amber?" I call.

She tenses up a bit, but she doesn't move other than that.

I sit down beside her and place a hand on her back. "Come on Mamita, mírame."

She ignores me.

"I know you know what that means. We've practiced that one."

She sighs and turns a little so she can look up at me, but she doesn't meet my eyes. Poor kid is mortified. Her beet red face is testament to that.

"She was just teasing, Amber." I say soothingly. "I know you don't like me."

"But I did tell her that." She sniffs.

Oh crap! Whaddo I do.

Get your hand off of her!

I can't snatch my hand off her back. That'll make her feel worse!

But if you leave it there…

"You're really nice to me," Amber continues. "And you try to make Jade be nice to me too; and you're lots of fun, and you take me and Riley places, and Jade never…" she trails off.

Oh, that kind of like. I can deal with that kind of like. So I continue to rub her back gently.

"And I think you're really pretty." She blushes.

Dang it!

"I wish I was pretty like you." She sighs. "I'm just normal. My face is normal, and I'm the shortest in my class, and I don't have ta-tas yet." She pauses there and glances at my chest. "Well, yours aren't as big as Jade's, but at least you still got a mouthful."

A what? Did she just say…No, no, no. I heard wrong. Yeah, that's what happened. I heard wrong. "Um, I have a what, Amber?"

Please say I heard wrong.

"Jade said you have a mouthful and I got ant bites."

Oh. She probably doesn't understand what a mouthful means. Still, what the heck was Jade thinking when she told her that! Didn't it ever occur to her that she would repeat that? In a place that was not so appropriate for her to say it. Like in front of these freakin camera's that are in my room. Jeez. I seriously hope they cut this part out.

"Um, Mamita, maybe you shouldn't repeat that mouthful thing to anyone. Ever."

"Is it bad?" she frowns at me.

I want to tell her yes, but she looks so sad and I can't do it.

"Maybe just a little embarrassing."

"Okay." She agrees, still looking every bit of miserable.

"Amber," I grab ahold of her chin and tilt her face so she'll finally look at me. "I think, no, I know you're a beautiful little girl."

She rolls her eyes disbelievingly at me.

"It's true." I insist. "And you're not supposed to have ta-ta's yet anyway. It's too soon."

"Kayla B. does."

"Yeah? Well by the time you get some, Kayla B's will be old news. No one will care about hers anymore. Okay?"

"Okay." She finally smiles back at me. Just in time for Riley to come and make her feel worse. But instead, Riley actually apologizes. I jump up and give her a huge hug 'cause I'm so proud of her. She fights me off, but I don't care.

"Tori! It's your turn to clean the kitchen." Trina yells from downstairs.

I scowl. It's actually not my turn to do the dishes, but I don't want to make a scene in front of the cameras. I think we've made enough scenes to last a lifetime.

"Come on guys." I sigh.

"I can't," Riley clutches her stomach. "I'm feeling a little sick."

Seriously.

"Okay, Mamita, let's go."

"I feel sick too, Tori." Amber claims.

I narrow my eyes at the "sick" girls. "Fine, finish your homework."

It takes me twice as long to do the kitchen because the girls keep calling me every five seconds for help.

I kinda wish the camera crew would leave. It's getting late and we've been a bit uneventful. Seriously, there's nothing interesting about me making sure the girls get their showers and putting them to bed in the guest room.

Even after I make the announcement that I'm turning in, they still don't leave. They say goodnight and start raiding the fridge.

My parents are so gonna kill me in the morning.

I'm nearly asleep when I hear, "What are you doing?" right by my ear.

I jump up out of my bed.

Riley! Jeez, I didn't even hear her come in 'cause I was too busy…oh god, she saw me rubbing my belly button.

"Get out of here!" I squeal and walk her to the door

"But what were you doing with"-

"Shh!" I shush her while pushing her out. "It was nothing. You didn't see anything. Now, go back to bed."

"Fine." She scowls.

"And don't tell Jade!" I yell after her.

She turns back with a wicked smile on her face. Dang it, she's up to something.

"Why not?"

"You know how your sister is, so don't tell her." I practically beg.

Riley considers it for a moment before holding her hand out. "It's gonna cost ya." She smiles.

"Fine, Whaddo you want?"

"I'll think of something later. Deal?" she briefly glances at her outstretched hand, the one I haven't shaken yet.

"Why can't you ever ask for money like a regular person?" I grumble as I shake her much smaller hand.

"Because"-

Whatever her answer was going to be gets cut off by my ringing phone. I frown a little before glancing into my bedroom. Who the heck is calling me at this time?

"Who"-

"Bed." I cut Riley off, pointing to the guestroom down the hall.

She hesitates for a second before leaving.

"I'm coming, I'm coming" I mutter to my insistently ringing phone. And I don't even check the caller ID. I just answer.

"Hello?"

"Can I come over?"

Come over? I pull my phone back and look at the screen. It's Melissa.

I put the phone back to my ear.

"Lissa?"

"I broke up with Danny. So…"

I smile a little. That's excellent news, and somewhat of a relief for me; but Melissa's probably sad right now. She needs me. "Yeah, come over."

I go downstairs and I put on the cocoa while I wait for her. Being friends with André has sort of put me in the habit of making hot cocoa when a friend of mine is distraught, and I have no doubt Melissa will be a gigantic mess.

I'm aware of the camera crew watching me, yeah, they still haven't gone home yet; but I ignore them. Not even on purpose. I kinda just got used to them I guess.

Then I get the text to open the door.

Show time. I take a breath, preparing myself for the devastated mess that'll be in front of me.

But when I do open the door, she's not hysterical or sobbing. It kinda throws me off a little.

"You look…nice." I say.

Why isn't she crying? It's so weird.

"And you look busy." She glances down at my thighs…where I don't have shorts on. Dang it, I knew I was forgetting something. "Am I interrupting anything?"

I think she's teasing me, trying to be her old self, but she looks sad. Maybe she's not crying hysterically, but this is still bad. In fact, it's probably worse. Isn't it unhealthy to keep everything bottled up inside?

I shake my head and grab her hand. "No. you're not interrupting anything. Come on," I say before leading her up to my bedroom so we can talk

Once inside my room, I realize I forgot the cocoa, so I run downstairs and pour two cups real quick. Then I check on the girls, mainly Riley.

She's knocked out. I can tell because she's practically being suffocated by Amber and is none the wiser.

I'm still wearing my smile when I go back to my room and confront Melissa. She tries to return my smile but it's just not quite right. "Here, this is for you." I offer her one of the cups.

She takes it immediately and sips slowly.

"This is really good," she says softly.

"André likes it too."

"I'm sure he does." She answers. Again, I think it was supposed to be a witty reply, but her voice is too sad to pull it off.

"You okay?" I ask, sitting down next to her.

"Yeah."

But she's not okay. She starts making this weird sound in her throat, and after a while I realize she's trying to keep from crying.

I take her cocoa from her and set it on the ground before hugging her tight. "Let it out, Lissa. Don't hold back."

But she doesn't let it out. She keeps with that half crying thing. And she squeezes me so tight I nearly suffocate.

When she finally lets go, she gives me an embarrassed smile and stands up. There's no way I can let her go home. It's already late, and she's still a mess. What if she breaks down into hysterics and gets in an accident.

I grab her hand firmly. "Stay." I command.

"Okay." She nods. There's no fight whatsoever in her and it reaffirms my belief that I've made the right decision for her. "But I'm not sleeping with you." She concludes.

I think it's a joke, but I can't really read her right now.

"Where's the guest bedroom?"

Apparently it wasn't a joke.

"It's occupied." I answer.

She frowns at me.

"Jade's sisters." I explain.

"Can they sleep in here with you, and I get the guest bedroom?"

I guess I could do that.

"Sure," I shrug. "Help me get them."

"Okay."

I get Amber 'cause I don't want Melissa to get punched in the face. The little angel doesn't stir, not even once, and I strategically place her on the furthest end of my bed. I'm gonna put Riley in the middle….as soon as Melissa gets in here with her. What's taking her so long anyway?

I double back to the guest room and see that Riley's still in the bed and Melissa's getting in beside her. "Can you take her?" she asks me.

I nearly scowl at her but keep my facials in check.

"I thought you were bringing her." I say as nicely as possible.

"I tried. She's heavy."

Seriously? I pick Riley up easily. She stirs a bit, but I shush her and rub her back to keep her asleep.

"You're pretty good at that." Melissa observes.

"Thanks."

"Told ya you're like a mom." She teases…in a monotone. It's totally off-putting.

"Good night. Lissa." I say, rather than argue with her.

"Good night." She calls back.

It's then that I notice she hasn't called me Icky. Not once. She must be really depressed.

I collapse next to Riley and it seems like no more than two seconds later I'm being shaken awake.

"Come on Tori, your alarm is going off." One of the girls tells me. I think it was Amber. I grumble a bit before getting up; then get the girls dressed and fed with only one eye open. Today would be the perfect day for me to start drinking coffee.

At the thought of coffee, I think of Jade. I miss her. But she won't talk to me. And it's really starting to wazz me off.

I stump my way up to my bedroom to get dressed. Lissa's already here going through my closet, and picking out something to wear. Usually I don't like that kind of stuff, but she has nothing to wear and she's still sad over the break up. I can't yell at her.

"Where are your swimsuits?" She yawns.

"Why?"

"It's hot out. If André sets up the kiddie pool, I'm getting in today.' She explains.

"That drawer," I point. When she picks one out and goes to the bathroom to change, I put one on as well. If it's anything like yesterday out today, then I'm getting in the kiddie pool too.

For such a rough start, my morning goes smoothly. I get the girls to school on time. And I get me to school on time.

I text Jade good morning but she ignores me.

I ask get if she's coming to school today.

She still ignores me. And I decide not to let it bother me. It's Friday, and I'm going to focus on being able to catch up on some snooze time this weekend.

The warning bell already rang, so the halls are nearly empty. I'm kinda not in a rush because of my perfect attendance being ruined; plus I'm in the mood for a wahoo punch.

When I get to the drink machine, Cat's already there.

"Hey Cat!" I call cheerfully

"Hey." she answers in a very depressing voice. Not normal for her at all.

"Aw, what's wrong, Kitten?"

Kitten? Jeez, Melissa's right. I am like a mom.

Dang it.

"I don't know which soda to get." Cat finally answers.

Really? That's what she's so sad about? Well I guess if little things can make her happy, little things can make her sad as well.

"I think I know of a way to cheer you up." I smile.

"Really?" Her eyes get all wide and hopeful. She's so adorable.

"Sure just get all"- Then I hear it, this weird, high pitched, gurble gable. I recognize that sound. The flour bomber!

Thank god the janitor's closet is right here. So I yank cat's arm and shove her in.

"Oh, god Tori!" She exclaims when she hits her head on the wall.

Oops. I didn't mean to do that, but at the same time… "Shh." I quiet her by clamping my hand over her mouth.

Her eyes widen and she begins to squirm.

"Shh." I repeat..

She nods her head, like she gets it, but as soon as I take my hand off her mouth she starts talking!

"Cat." I groan.

"But Tori, there's a spider on your shoulder, a big one."

I wazz out, crashing into the wall and the ladder and the equipment trolly, before finally running out of the closet….where the stupid flour bomber gets me.

The dang wazzball was waiting for me. And it's all on camera.

I slink back into the closet.

Cat points at my face. "Tori, you got a little."-

"I know! Now help me get it off," I yell.

She squeaks and covers her mouth with her hand, terrified. You don't yell at Cat. It's just wrong.

I take a breath and calm down.

'Shh Cat, it's okay." I baby her until she's feeling like her normal perky self again.

Then she helps me get my clothes straight. And almost all of the flour off of me. I say almost all of it because there's still some in my pants. Don't ask how it got down there.

When me and Cat finally come out of the closet, I run right into Melissa.

She quirks an eyebrow at me. "You're so lucky it was me who found you and not Jade." She says.

I frown at her. That's definitely something she would say, but her delivery's a little off. She sounds too sad. I know it's because she's still upset over the break up. Even though she's the one who broke it off, it's still got to be hard.

"What are you talking about?" I play along.

"Are you kidding me, she sees you standing next to me and she pitches a major wazzfit. What do you think she'd do if she saw you coming out of the closet with Cat just then?"

I shrug my shoulders. "It was Cat. Only pedos and Robbies are attracted to her."

She nods her head. "That's so true."

"So, you coming by my place this weekend?"

"Nah.'

"I think you should. I can make you some more hot cocoa." I bribe.

"I feel fine."

"No you don't."

"Okay, no I don't, but you're still boring."

"Hey!"

"Still love ya," she smirks at me, or tries to, but it looks more like a grimace. Then she heads for the bathroom, not second period.

I debate on whether or not to follow after her; then I decide why not? My perfect attendance is already messed up.

Melissa's nothing like me. I would've gone into one of the stalls, but she's just standing in front of the mirror, staring at herself. She doesn't even acknowledge my presence. Not until I speak.

"You want me to sit in your lap?"

She laughs then; a very wet, watery, teary, gross laugh, before wrapping her arms around my neck. I hold onto her tightly and let her cry on my shoulder. She didn't get it out last night, so I'm glad I could be here for her today.

I wait patiently while her cries turn into little sobs, then little hitches and then nothing at all.

She brings her head up and announces that she's all done before washing her face.

I hear the bell ring and know we've missed 2nd period. Odd. It really doesn't seem like we've been in here that long.

"Ready?" she asks me.

"If you are."

"I'm good."

I raise my eyebrows at her. She said that the last time.

"Really." She laughs. "I feel much better."

I still look at her. She rolls her eyes and grabs my hand before dragging me out the bathroom.

"Let's go, Icky."

Icky. Yup. She's feeling better alright.

Then she abruptly lets go of my hand.

"Hey Jade." She says before practically running off.

Jade? I smile at my girlfriend, extremely glad to see her standing here in front of me and totally forgetting about the fact that she's been ignoring me.

"Hey mami," I say before nipping her lip.

"Is she wearing you're clothes?"

I roll my eyes. That's her response. She can't even say hello? I've been missing her like crazy and she can't even say hello to me?

"Why is she wearing your clothes?" she asks more insistently.

I nearly don't answer, but then I remember the cameras. I don't want to be the insensitive girlfriend.

"She spent the night last night and she didn't have anything to wear this morning." I reply patiently.

"She what!? And I'm supposed to be okay with that?" Her eyes are wide, her nostrils are flared; she's wazzed off.

Well if she had been answering my texts and calls last night, I would have told her. But I don't say anything like that.

"She's just a friend." I shrug simply before nipping her once again and heading for third period. Which as pretty boring, by the way. The teacher doesn't seem to be himself, now that there are camera's filming his lesson.

And to be honest, fourth period was almost no better. Even Sikowitz was a little more tamed. He even had on shoes!

As soon as the lunch bell rings, Sikowitz tells Jade to come see him and André announces that he's setting up the kiddie pool again.

Finally, something to look forward to. Well at least I thought so until Melissa handed André a twenty and asked for twenty minutes.

Twenty minutes! That's a long time to wait to get into a kiddie pool.

When's it my turn?" I whine to André after what seems like an hour later.

He checks his watch. "Now."

"Right now?"

"Yup. You got four minutes and 48 seconds left."

He doesn't have to tell me twice. I hurry and strip down to my suit, not wanting to waste a second, before walking over to Melissa. "My turn." I tell her.

She looks me up and down. "What is that?"

I roll my eyes. "Shut up."

"No. Tell me where you got it so I can burn that whole store down."

"It's not that bad." I get in beside her instead of pushing her out like I really want to. I think I'll give her a week before I start treating her like normal again.

I lean my head back and sigh. The relief I'm getting from the cool water trumps any embarrassment I could feel for sitting in a kiddie pool at school. Now all I need are my sun glasses because even with my eyes closed that sun is a force to be reckoned with.

Then suddenly the sun is blocked.

I smile and open my eyes to thank the merciful angel who's providing me with-

"Put some clothes on."

Dang it. Jade.

I can hear Melissa snickering beside me and I don't know, I don't want to appear to be a total pushover so I stay put.

"This is the most conservative suit I have, Mami."

And it is. I'm practically in shorts and a glorified sports bra.

"It's not conservative enough." She glares down at me.

I bite my lip. If I scoot up just a bit more, I can totally take a peek under her skirt.

Perv.

I shake my head, trying to clear away my dirty thoughts, but Jade misunderstands me.

"Don't tell me no, get your ass out of this pool, now." She hisses.

"But I still have three more minutes." I whine.

Melissa snorts and I pinch her underneath the water. So much for being nice to her.

"Out!" Jade commands.

"Can't I just"-

"No."

"What if I just"-

"No."

I keep arguing with her until André comes over and says, "Times up ladies."

I smile satisfactorily before getting out if the pool.I got to stay in the kiddie pool for my full time. I won.

Jade realizes it and she looks like she's gonna kill me. So I step up to her and whisper in her ear. "You can't kill me in front if the camera." I smile happily.

Finally some good came out of being filmed 24/7.

{~~~O~~~}

Even though I had to deal with those intrusive camera guys for a week, I can't deny that I'm a little excited. We got an advanced copy of the first episode if "The Wood." And now we, that's me, André, Jade, and Melissa, are about to watch it at my place.

"Hurry up with that popcorn, Vega!"

I scowl at the back of Jade's head. She's been extra cranky with me for about a week, but I deal with it because I'm usually too busy drooling over her to get too upset. Seriously, ever since we've been filming, she's been making sure she looks like walking sex.

Well, she's toned it down a little today, there's no cleavage or heels, but there's a skirt…with no tights underneath. Just bare sexy legs, and bare sexy thighs-

Focus Tori!

I finish up with the snacks and put the DVD in. When I sit next to Jade, she crosses her legs, raising her skirt up a little higher and revealing more thighs.

I bite my lip and literally sit on my hand so I won't be tempted to touch. I force myself to look at the TV screen, where the ridiculous sounding narrator paints me and Jade as the "it" couple at Hollywood Arts, which we're not. Then there's a clip of us arguing as he insinuates that there's trouble in paradise, which there isn't.

Suddenly, it cuts to the scene where me and Melissa are in the kiddie pool together. I have my eyes closed but there are several shots of boys practically drooling as they stare at us.

Okay…

Then Jade walks up and tells me to get out of the pool, which I absolutely refuse to do. When I finally do get out of the pool, on my time, it shows me whisper in Jade's ear; but there's also a clip of me looking beyond her. Then the camera cuts to Cat, who's walking away from the group, before it cuts back to me smiling quite triumphantly.

That's weird….

The next shot is of me with my clothes back on, and an alone Cat at the wahoo machine.

I'm starting to get a little confused. Cat at the wahoo machine happened before me and Melissa in the kiddie pool. Why are they showing these scenes out of order?

I watch myself go up to Cat, ask her what's wrong and call her Kitten. Then I tell her I can make her feel better before shoving her in the janitor's closet without any kind of warning. There are a lot of random noises; bangs and moans and squeaks and shushing….

I sit up straighter, my eyes widening as it hits me. I can't believe this! The producers are making it look like I splunked Cat in the janitor's closet!

After a little while, Cat comes out skipping and smiling; and I come out adjusting my pants. Melissa's right there, with a sad look on her face. She mentions Jade and I shrug carelessly. Then she walks away. I tilt my head to the side and watch her go, before following her into the bathroom. And again, it looks and sounds as if me and Melissa…you know.

We come out of the bathroom and seemingly get caught by Jade. Melissa hurries off, and I just smile and nip Jade's lip before moving on. Then there's a close up of Jade. She's staring after me and she looks…sad.

They show some random clips of André and Beck and I don't have the time to feel any sort of relief whatsoever because they come back to me.

I'm in my car and my face lights up as I look at my phone. Then I put it to my ear and say, "Hey Mami." Next, there's a clip of Melissa in her car as well. "Hey babe," she says. "You want me to come to your place?" Then it cuts back to me. "You know me so well." I say. "Why should I?" Melissa scoffs. I grin. "Because you love me." I answer confidently. "Okay." She sighs in defeat. And then I hang up my phone.

The next clip is fairly okay. It just shows me picking up the girls and bringing them to my place. I'm not surprised when I see my dad asking for his handcuffs, and then me giving them to him and him telling me they're not toys and to pace myself. I am surprised they didn't keep all that stuff he said about the stork. Instead, that whole speech is skipped and they just show the part where I roll my eyes and go in my room.

They go back to more random stuff. Like Cat and Sinjin and there's even a bit of Rex.

When they come back to me, it's dark and I'm opening the door for Melissa. She makes a comment about my lack of bottoms and I smile, almost seductively at her before pulling her by the hand up to my bedroom. Then there's a clip of Riley coming out of the guest room and walking into my bedroom. She asks me what I'm doing, and I bribe her to keep quiet, even tell her not to tell Jade.

I just can't take it anymore. I run up to my bedroom and shut the door behind myself.

A few minutes later there's a knock on my door. I ignore it. I know it's Jade. And I know she has to pretend to be mad at me for "cheating" on her, but I'm just not in the mood right now. I feel like complete and utter kaka.

"Vega." I hear her say.

I still ignore her, keeping my arms crossed over my face.

I hear my door shut, and for a second I imagine she respected my wishes enough to leave the room and let me be. But I know better. Jade wouldn't do such a thing.

I hear her come closer.

I frown and sigh. I really just want her to go away. Why can't she just let me have this one? Just this one.

"Vega." She says again. And still I ignore her.

I hear her come a little closer and I can feel myself start to get a little angry with her. Does she have to be so pushy all the time? Can't she just give me a little break here and there? Can't she see that I'm not in the mood to deal with this stupid dating thing I've stupidly gotten myself into?

I feel my bed dip and I know she's going to straddle me before she even does it. She does it every time I ignore her. She really hates being ignored. So what do I do? I still ignore her.

She growls out of frustration and starts tugging on my arms. She tugs for a while but I fight hard to keep them in place. And I win…kinda. She does stop tugging after a while.

I tense up, subconsciously bracing myself for whatever she's going to do next, but then she kisses my arm and I recoil a bit.

I was not expecting that.

She kisses me again and again. My wrists, my fingers, until I finally give in. I remove my arms from my face.

"What?" I glare, or try to anyway cause all it takes is for Jade to cup my face and say, "Baby, what's wrong," and I lose my resolve. I missed this Jade so much.

"I looked like a slut." I sniff.

"So what?" she says softly. Leaning in to kiss my lips. "It's just a TV show. Everyone knows you're not a slut."

I shake my head. Everyone doesn't know that. Everyone at Sherwood High thinks I am.

"Anyone who matters anyway." She continues. "I'm the one who should be bawling like a newborn. Did you see what they did to my character?"

I just stare at her, waiting for her to explain. There's no way she should be upset. I think she looked rather beautiful the whole time.

"I was practically a whining doormat. And an insecure and jealous girlfriend."

I smile a little. She is a bit of an insecure girlfriend. She used to get mad at Beck for everything. A girl dialed him wrong number, Jade got mad. A girl said hello to him in the halls, Jade got mad. A female teacher gave him extra credit, Jade got mad. It was ridiculous. Absolutely ridiculous.

"See?" She smiles back. "Nothing to get upset over. You're not a slut. And I'm not some whining little bitch who lets her girlfriend cheat on her. I mean, come on. Everyone knows you're too scared of me to try something like that anyway."

Even though I wouldn't cheat on Jade, the way she went about it telling me so, rings absolutely false. I'm not afraid of her.

"That's not true," I speak up.

"Oh?'

"Yeah, I'm not afraid of you.

"Oh?" she repeats, raising an eyebrow at me and crossing her arms over her chest.

I grab her by the waist and lift myself up a bit.

"Nope," I say, biting her chin playfully. Only, I think I may have bitten her a little too hard because she bites me back….which she never does because she knows that I don't like to be bitten.

"Don't bite me." I snap.

"Don't tell me what to do!" She snaps back. Then she bites me again!

"Jade…" I warn. What's with this girl? I mean, I understand, I bit her first and you shouldn't do things to people that you wouldn't want someone to do to you, but she's the freak who likes it, not me!

She dips her head, about to bite me again, and it's just…enough. I've had enough.

I roll over on top of her, taking her completely by surprise and I don't let up.

"Stop it." I command.

"Or what?"

I hesitate for a second. What will I do if she doesn't stop?

Nothing. She wins.

I get up and hop out of bed. She follows after me.

"Where are you going?" she questions.

"Out."

I open the door and she shuts it. "Don't walk away from me, Vega."

I roll my eyes. She's my girlfriend. Not my mother. I can walk away from her if I want. I open the door back up, and she shuts it again.

"Stop." I hiss. Opening the door back.

"Don't tell me what to do!" she tries to shut the door again, but I yank her hand away.

She shoves me, and I shove back, not as hard as she shoved me, but I'm still able to surprise her.

Then she pushes me into the wall really hard. I grunt squeeze my eyes shut tight as I sink down to the floor and hold the back of my head.

"Vega?"

I don't answer her. Just continue to hold the back of my head.

"Baby?" I feel her stoop in front of me and grab my face with both hands.

I open my eyes abruptly. "Gotcha." I smirk before tackling her down.

"Good one." she rolls her eyes, now get off of me.

"So, I won?" I grin.

She narrows her eyes at me. She's not gonna say it.

I kiss her happily

And she bites me.

We're back to that.

"Jade!"

"What?" she pushes at me, but I don't budge.

I grab her hands and pin them above her head. "Don't do that."

She raises her eyebrows at me. "Just because I let you on top of me doesn't mean you can talk to me like that, and it doesn't mean I'll let you pin my wrists down as well."

I frown at her, raising an eyebrow of my own.

"Let me on top of you." I dip my head a little and look her straight in the eyes. "Mami, I took that."

She blinks up at me. Totally caught off guard.

I grin back at her, waiting for her to get over her shock and try to kill me. And while she's working her way out of her stupor, I brace myself, getting ready for a fight.

Suddenly, her eyes harden.

I grin even wider.

Here we go.

"Get off of me!" she growls.

"Don't tell me what to do." I tease, throwing her favorite phrase back at her.

She starts worming around, wiggling and bucking up against me. No doubt so she can dislodge and kill me. But I've got a bit of an advantage on her. One, I saw this coming like five minutes ago, and two, I may have cheated a little bit. I may have been picking a few fights with Trina and getting her to inadvertently teach me how to wrestle ever since the first couple of times Jade wrestled me down to the ground and nearly killed me. I figured I needed to learn to defend myself, and it's totally paying off. I'm so winning right now.

We roll around for a good little while, before I actually start getting a little tired and I accidently let one of her legs free. God, she's got a lot of stamina.

Then she wraps it around me and I know if I don't get a hold of this soon, she's gonna trap me and- crap, seconds leg's free.

She starts squeezing the life out of me with her thighs. I let out a loud gasp, but other than that, I try to concentrate on getting outta there. I press down on her hip with one hand, and wiggle and squirm my way out, partially at least. I wrap m free leg around hers tightly, pinning her down on one side.

I grin back at her. One down.

Her eyes widen and so does my grin. Bet she thought she had me.

Next thing I know, she leans up a bit and bites my cheek.

Dang it. How many times do I have to tell this girl…

Before I can even think about what I'm doing, and trust me, I should've thought about what I was doing, I pull my hand back and spank her twice on the back of her bare thigh.

She gasps and closes her eyes tightly. "I'm gonna kill you," she threatens. Which I figured as soon as my hand left her skin.

There's really only one of two things I can do at this point. I can either shake in my boots or play it off.

I decide to play it off.

"I won." I grin before kissing her lips soundly.

"Whatever."

"Oh. My God!"

I whirl around. Crap! I forgot to shut my door back and Melissa's standing in the doorway.

"That was the hottest thing I've ever seen." She gapes at me. I scramble off of Jade and meet her at the doorway.

"I had no idea you were the top. I could've sworn, I would've bet my life that…in fact, I remember you saying you're the bottom. Remember that? Double date with me, you, Jade and Danny. You said you were the bottom."

"What the heck are you talking about?" I scowl at her.

"Oh my God, how'd you…you're both still fully clothed and you totally…"

"Totally what, Lissa?"

"she totally came!"

"No she didn't!" I protest, my face going scarlet.

"Oh yeah? Then what's that all over the front of your pants?"

"What?" I look down and there it is. A big wet spot on the front of my jeans. "It's uh, sweat." I answer.

"Sure it is."

I look up at her.

She winks at me and walks away.

"Keep your mouth shut!" I yell after her.

She just laughs. I'd chase after her, but my jeans. The front of them is still wet. I most definitely need to change them before I go downstairs and face people. But my clothes are in my room, and Jade's still in there. How am I supposed to face her? I practically accidently raped her! She kept telling me to get off, and fighting me, and biting me and I wouldn't listen to her.

I raise my hand to knock on my door, but then it occurs to me that this is my room. So I take a deep breath and walk in.

"Vega!"

I flinch a little.

"Tell me why you still have this."

I squint at what she's holding in her hand and frown. It looks like a lock of hair.

Then I realize it is hair; her hair. The lock I cut when I had to pretend to be Jade because of the project Sikowitz gave us on my first day of school.

Great, now I'm a rapist and a creepy stalker person.

"What were you doing going through my drawers?" I ask, snatching at the hair in her hand, but she draws her hand back. And braces the other against my stomach.

I mean to back up, give her some space but she stops me by grabbing a fistful of my shirt and pulling me a little closer.

"What would you do about me going through your drawers? Spank me?"

I blink at her, my face slowly going red. I think…she's flirting with me. And she's smirking at me in way that I think…well, I'm getting this feeling that she maybe, kinda, liked it when I um…when I did that.

God she's such a freak.

I reach for the hair again, a bit hesitant this time and she pulls back even more while simultaneously poking her chest out…and I get distracted. I like stare, at her boobs, until she clears her throat.

You're so gay, Tori.

I'm not gay!

Yes you are.

Ugh, yes I am.

And since I've established that I am indeed gay, I take another peek at my girlfriend's chest before locking my eyes with hers.

"See something you like, Vega?" She smirks.

"Or somethings." I rebuttal, 'cause I can flirt back no problem. Then I reach for the hair again. "And stay out of my drawers." I command.

"Or?" She bites her lip.

God she's so sexy. Wait, answer. I'm supposed to answer her.

"Don't make me bend you over." I retort.

She scoffs. "What makes you think I'd let you bend me over?"

"What makes you think I'd ask?" I counter, snatching the hair out of her hand and putting it back. "Stay out of my drawers."

She tries her best to scowl at me, but I think she's amused. There's a small twitch at the corner of her mouth. I kiss her and start taking off my jeans.

"What are you doing?"

"You sweated on me." I wink before changing.

Thank God I'm finished when my dad bursts into my room.

"Tori!"

"Dad! Knock!" I yell.

He grins, totally unaffected by me yelling at him. "I got you a present." He sings.

"Now?" I frown. "It's not my birthday."

"I'm a man of my word."

"You're word? When did you promise to get me a ….oh no." Then he pulls them out. A pair of shiny new handcuffs.

"Nice right?" He winks before tossing them to me. I catch them and note that they're the good kind. Not the plastic ones he used to get me when I was little. The kind that came with a key but you didn't really need a key.

No these are stainless steel. Jade would definitely need a key to get out of these; and I instantly get an image of her squirming around, naked, on my bed, unable to- gah

I shove them deep into the back of a random drawer before claiming to be hungry and heading for a very public place where I can not be alone with my girlfriend right now because I'll end up raping her for real.

{~~~O~~~}

Author's note: So, I'm having a little trouble figuring where to start the next chapter. I mean, I know what it's going to be about, but as you know it's going to be a Jade chapter, and I got to thinking that you guys might want to read about the wrestling part of this chapter from her point of view. You know, since she kinda "sweated" on Tori, again. Then I got to thinking you guys would probably want to read what she was feeling or thinking while watching The Wood; but then I figured I was going too far and no one would want to read the same thing twice even if it is from a different point of view and that I should just start the chapter from the next day.

Then I came up with an even brighter idea. Why not just ask you guys what you want? Do you want chapter 16 to start from when they're watching the wood, or when Jade goes in Tori's room to comfort her and the end up "wrestling", or to just pick up from the next day? It's up to you guys so lemme know.

Also, a lot of you guys wanted Tori to be the dominant one, so I tried to put that in and still keep her, Tori at the same time. I was a little iffy about the spanking, but then I remembered that canon Tori is a spanker. She did it to Cat in season 4s "Cellblock"