Fandom: Victorious
Title: Point of View
Chapter Three: Christmas Song
Point of View: Cat Valentine
Dec 23rd, 2022
1st Period Mr. Anthony Advanced Harmony 1 and 2
"Okay, before the bell rings, children, let me hand out your homework assignment for winter break." My entire class groans at our teacher Mr. Antonio Anthony who, in good humor, bows, and laughs, encouraging the groans and boos which ring out in waves. A few kids even crumble up pieces of paper and throw them at him, which he slides and ducks to avoid being hit by throwing up his hands. "Hey, now, children, enough of that. This is not a bad comedy show. We do not throw things at your handsome teacher."
His comment gets even more groans and louder boos. Clapping his hands, he clears his throat to get our attention, not an easy thing to do when all of us are anxious to get out of class, eager for the last day of school to be done so we can start our nine-day break.
"All of you will be partnered up, so look to the person on your left and say hello to your partner for this assignment." Squealing, I grab Jade's elbow. She groans, barely even awake a deep cough rips through her lungs, seizing her chest. I stop shaking her, feeling my eyes widen as she buries her face into her arms, coughing uncontrollably. "We're partners, Jade," I whisper excitedly. Jade continues coughing, her pallid cheeks finally getting some feverish color.
"Since Christmas is a time of hope and joy, I want you all to write a Christmas song from the point of view of someone who has nothing to be joyful for and finds the magic of Christmas time to be their reason for hope. You will each be given a charity written on the piece of paper that you will pick from the hat Sinjin is coming around with; one partner picks from his hat."
I stick my hand in the hat because Jade glares at him so hard that he almost trips over his feet, squealing in fear. "Pediatric cancer. Ooh, fun." I reply sarcastically. "the next hat coming around with Mr. Harris will contain the style of music in which your song must be written. Andre Harris, one of our best friends, comes after Sinjin Van Cleef. Jade doesn't growl or scare Andre. She sticks her hand in his hat and pulls out the paper. "Country, are you kidding me?" Andre hauls his butt out of the area as Jade crumbles up the paper. "don't shoot the messenger!" Andre cries out, throwing his hands up to protect himself as Jade hauls it across the room, aiming for Andre. "Hey, I like country. What's wrong with the country, Jade?"
"It sucks."
Mr. Anthony gives her a worried look but keeps talking to the class. Her chest instantly seizes back up as she talks. A sharp wheeze escapes her lips, and she immediately goes into another coughing spell.
"Christmas songs are meant to be singalongs, so stick with traditional time signatures and song structures. There are better places to test out that new 7/4 melody you've been toying withdespite what you think you are not Beethoven. You are high school students at Hollywood Arts, the High School for Performing and Visual Arts."
"These assignments are to be taken seriously. They count as half your semester grade average, and remember the semester ends January 13th, so there will be no other shot if you fail this assignment; you fail the semester and could be in endanger of being kicked out of HA."
"I expect you all to research your topic and have a 1,000-word essay prepared by returning to class on January 3rd, 2023, where you will read them aloud. I want you to interview people affected by the topics you were assigned. Cat, we will use the topic you and Jade are working on as an example. Pediatric cancer. As you pointed out, it doesn't sound enjoyable?"
"No, sir. It doesn't."
"Well, that's because it's not imagining being a child stuck in the hospital, sick enough to die, attached to needles, IVs, and machines at the most magical time of the year. While everyone around you is singing cheer songs, planning trips to resorts, and buying presents, you're fighting for your life."
Jade gasps for air, coughing so hard it sounds like she's about to throw up her cheeks are bright red, feverish. Her eyes are swollen and misty. She's trying to cover her mouth to muffle her coughing, but it's doing very little to protect the sounds. "Miss. West, do you need to see the nurse?" "No, sir. Just need some water." "Tori, why don't you go get Miss. West that water, please, and thank you."
"Me?" Victoria Tori Vega squeaks out in disbelief, looking toward her sworn enemy Jade who groans. "Yes, unless there's another Tori in this classroom. Is there? Any other Tori's, please stand up." "Nope, okay then, yes, Miss. Vega, I mean you."
Tori groans but gets up to get a bottle of water from the vending machine. "I want you to talk to doctors, nurses, patients, and their families to get a feel for the life of a Pediatric cancer patient and their loved ones. Music can often be a coping tool for kids who are sick; music can bring people together and give them joy, hope, and peace. Even for a few moments, it can escape pain, fear, and isolation."
"What do the most popular Christmas songs have in common? Andre, go!"
"The most popular Christmas songs all have a catchy melody. Catchy melodies make it impossible for people to resist singing along."
"Correct, Mr. Harris. I see we learned from last year's mistake. Great job. Avoid sitting on one pitch for too long, and include simple, stepwise movements that people can easily follow. If you're looking for a more "warm and cozy" feeling for your Christmas song, throw in a few major 7th chords now and then. 7ths give the song a longing, almost hopeful feeling. When the 7th hits, everyone will get a little teary-eyed waiting for the resolution. It's a good way to keep the audience engaged and give your song more musical depth."
"Christmas songs are meant to be positive. Even the most serious topics can be done lighthearted and humorously. Christmas is about happiness and togetherness; make sure your song aligns with the holiday spirit." The bell rings, ending Mr. Anthony's lecture. Gathering our books and bags, we all rise, heading to the next class. "Here's your water gank." Tori tosses the bottle at Jade catching her by surprise.
I snatch the water quickly, seeing Jade stumble as she rises, almost losing her balance. Andre and Beck Oliver, her boyfriend, reach out and steady her. I see her face lose all color again as she falls back into her chair. I sit beside her, feeling worried. "Jade, do you need to go see the nurse? You're not looking so good."
"No." she can barely talk. Her chest is burning from the coughing. "I didn't eat this morning. I think I am just dizzy from low blood sugar."
"Why didn't you eat this morning?" "I couldn't stop coughing. The mucus kept draining into my stomach, making me nauseous." "Think you could eat something now?" "No, I'm still sick to my stomach." she takes a sip of the water while I rub her back, exchanging worried looks with Beck. He shrugs, never knowing what to do when Jade gets stubborn. After a few more sips, her color looks normal, and her coughing subsides a little.
"Thanks, Vega. The water seems to be helping. Guess my throat was a little on the dry side. We should get to class." I take Jade's book bag, and Beck grabs her books. Andre takes Jade's arm and wraps his around her waist. "Lean against us. We got you. Jade." She wants to struggle against his offer to prove she does not have a disability. Leaning closer to her, I whisper in her ear. "Please let us help you. Asking for help is not a sign of weakness. It's a sign of true strength."
"Fine. I don't want to be late for Mr. Sikowitz's class. The man is truly Psycho. He'll probably throw a damn coconut at my head." All of us laugh as we head down the hall. However, everyone else seems to forget Jade needs help within seconds of leaving the room. Breaking off in groups, Tori and Andre huddle their heads together, talking about their assignment. I shift the bookbag onto my left shoulder and wrap my right arm around her back as Beck heads off the hall to find his partner. I scowl at Jade as we see who his partner is, Remi.
"How are you feeling, Jade, about the assignment?" She sighs, shifting her books which Beck handed back to her when he ran off to find Remi. "Not so great, Cat. I thought I left that part of my life behind when I went into remission. As far as I know, no one here even knows about my past, it's not something I ever want to talk about, Cat, but now I will have to revisit the oncology ward and address the class even if I don't mention my history. There's something about talking in front of my peers about a serious topic like cancer which pisses me off because kids our age just don't get it; Cat, how being sick and scared fighting for your life for so long changes a person."
I squeeze her arm in symphony. "Even Remi doesn't know because her family was living overseas at the time." Jade and her brother, Ryan, were both born with a hereditary condition called Li-Fraumeni syndrome (LFS), which is a condition that increases a person's risk for a broad spectrum of tumors. In LFS, the tendency to develop cancer is inherited, meaning it can be passed from an affected parent to a child. Several types of cancer are commonly associated with Li-Fraumeni syndrome:
Soft-tissue sarcomas— Tumors that develop in tissues that connect, support, or surround other organs and structures of the body, specifically the muscles, fat, blood vessels, nerves, and joints.
Osteosarcomas— Tumors that form in the cells of the bone.
Breast cancer
Brain tumors
Adrenocortical tumors— A type of tumor that forms in the adrenal gland (a small organ located on top of each kidney that secretes specific hormones)
Acute leukemia's— Cancers of the blood which tends to progress rapidly.
Jade was diagnosed with Burkitt lymphoma and Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma when she was six. She underwent three rounds of intense chemotherapy over a three-year course battling infections, organ failure, and relapses.
When Jade was eleven, she was diagnosed with Medulloblastoma, the most common cancerous brain tumor. The treatment took almost two years of her life between infections, recurrences, complications from treatment, and the tumor itself. She endured surgery to remove as much cancer as possible and underwent two more rounds of chemotherapy and radiation. That time the Chemo left her with an allergic reaction, causing swelling of her mouth or throat, severe itching, and trouble swallowing; she was unable to eat for months and depended on tube feeding to get her nutrients. Jade became depressed and suicidal for the longest time. I was afraid she wouldn't survive. Because these tumors start in the cerebellum, the part of the brain that controls balance and coordination. Jade had to go to physical therapy to relearn how to walk, dress, and pick things up.
Cancer stole almost all of her childhood. Jade is finally starting to live like a typical teen, so I can understand why she doesn't want to relive such a painful part of her life; her journey was documented on BHD, but not many kids our age watched the show at eleven years old. So, not everyone at school knows about her past, and Jade's afraid people will use it against her people, like our cousin.
Our cousin. Remi is my Aunt Edele's daughter. My aunt was married to Jade's cousin, Amanda Rollins, through her mother's side. Caitlin's twin sister Beth-Ann is Amanda's mother. Remi is their only daughter and a spoiled princess. Amanda and Edele divorced when Remi was very young; however, Amanda realized quickly that my aunt Edele was a psychopathic avaricious bitch.
Raised in the south, Amanda has no patience for greed or playing games like backstabbing her best friend to get a part in a movie. My aunt Edele remarried a few months later to another woman Jacqui Jenson. They had a daughter Kayla Marie Jenson a year later.
Mr. West, along with his brother Nathan owns one of the largest hotel chains in the United States. West Express. The West fortune is massive, around $4.5 billion; their great grandfather Barron was the founder of West Express in the '50s, and his son Marvin took over when Barron retired in the 80s. The West boys took over in the early 2000s. When Barron died in 2020, he left his grandchildren each $5.6 million. Ever since Jade was a child, she wanted to be independent. She didn't want to ask her father for anything; they had never had a decent relationship. He is cold and dismissive of her ambitions. Jade takes after her mother, Caitlin Ryan.
Caitlin was born in Kilronan, Inis Mor, Ireland, on December 1st, 1962, along with her twin sister Beth-Ann Jasmine Ryan to their parents, Laura and Rian Ryan. They have four siblings; Rian Lee came two years after Caitlin and Beth-Ann were born. Then their brother Riley Aaron five years later, Sloane Isobel, followed two years after, and one year later, their final child Aiden Mason.
Life as a child of the working class was challenging. Their parents owned and operated an inn with one of Ireland's best seafood restaurants. Every day Caitlin and Beth-Ann, as the oldest, were responsible for helping their parents open the inn, changing beds, cooking breakfast, attending to guest needs, and helping their father early in the morning to catch the day's fresh catch. Plus take care of all their siblings all before attending a full day at school. They wanted more. Caitlin knew she was destined for more.
Their big break came at a school talent show when the twins were ten. Caitlin and Beth-Ann performed with their best friend, Aislin Moore, my mother, and their sisters. Caitlin, and Beth-Ann's sister Sloane, with my mom's sisters, Edele and Katie, and Moria. One of the fathers in attendance was a talent scout who offered them a shout to audition for a record company in London.
There were many tribulations along the path, but they eventually became one of the most prominent selling groups out of the UK called Inishmore: their first hit single, Inish- Breeze, was released on December 24th, 1977.
Caitlin and Beth-Ann started modeling in the late seventies. When the girls were teens, they moved to Los Angeles sharing a small apartment. The group faced some tough times when Beth-Ann got pregnant at eighteen years old an unwed woman back then was scandalous. She was forced to leave the group and marry the father of her baby, Jim Rollins. Their daughter Amanda Jasmine was born on June 13th, 1980, in Loganville, Georgia.
Caitlin tried to support her sister in every way she could, sending money to her when she could, but Bethann was very stubborn; Beth-ann wanted to prove to everyone down south she didn't need her family's money or a man to support her child. Beth-Ann grew to resent Caitlin for insisting on sending money, and for a long time, Beth-Ann relationship with her sister was very strained.
After working as a child model for a few years, Caitlin broke into the New York City scene as a socialite. Caitlin was signed with Milan Tillman's agency, Tilly Management, in 1988. She walked in New York Fashion Week shows for different designers and built a decent modeling career. All while juggling a singing career and group drama. By the time she was eighteen, the group had released five albums and done three world tours and four national tours. Caitlin chose to pose for Playboy.
A choice that helped change her life and sent her into a whole new world of fame, money, glamour, prestigious stature, and countless scandal. Beth-Ann, now immensely enriched in southern culture, viewed Caitlin's choice as selling out to the industry's lust for sexual pleasure and called her some horrible names. Her choice broke the group up for good and sent the girls divided.
My mother stopped speaking to her sister for over a decade because of their falling out. Edele sided with Beth-Ann, and never forgave her. My mom never judged Caitlin; she viewed Cait's choice as a bold statement of independence and self-confidence in her body.
Her cover was the most sold since Marilyn Monroe, an eerie foreshadowing to some now who wonder if you could look back and catch the similarities of their lives. Would someone have been able to save Caitlin from her fate?
Many people are familiar with the image of Caitlin the Actress—the blonde bombshell who sashayed across the silver screen of the new era of Hollywood, leaving a trail of gawking men behind her. Indeed, for many of the movies she starred in, this was the character archetype she was cast in the feisty Irish lass. Producers considered her too shy and reserved to have a real acting career.
Her movie career and private life garnered a vast amount of public attention, and audiences thought they knew everything about her from her looks. However, Caitlin was much more of a diverse actress and individual than what some Hollywood productions portrayed her as. By the time she was in her early thirties, Caitlin seemed to be nothing more than a character in her own life. A shell of her former self stuck in a loveless marriage to a man who excelled in money and power and had an ego to match.
After her Playboy issue was released, her offers grew. Now she was seen as a sex symbol and was getting offers to star in more mature roles. Including the part that truly catapulted her career, the musical Point of View told the story of legendary screen actress Gia Monera, a model turned Actress who was the first to contract Aids in the late eighties. Shortly after she finished filming point of view another movie was offered to her called Hollywood is Not America, a film about the dreams of an Irish girl who moves to Hollywood in the 50s to become an actress only to get trapped in the dark world of Hollywood. Both films were released in 1992, and Caitlin gained critical acclaim. The doors were opening for the young Actress.
In December 1995, Caitlin signed a seven-year contract with 20th Century Fox. The following year, she had successful supporting roles in comedies, including Young and the Restless, Legal Age, and Love Fest. However, she would later attest that each film cast her as sexually ornamental. But this was indeed the beginning for Caitlin—her audience popularity grew with each title, and magazines featured her frequently. Fan mail arrived in the thousands, and in 2000, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association dubbed her the best young box office personality.
In 2004, reality TV was starting, and MTV wanted Caitlin. They created a show centered around her life, her rise to fame, her falling out with family and friends, including her parents, who were appalled by their daughter posing for Playboy, and her sister Sloane who had become addicted to drugs and the rock and Roll lifestyle so popular back in the late '90s.
Sloane had tried and failed to become the next Joan Jett. She had a few hit songs but never topped the charts with albums. Sloane was consistently hitting up Caitlin for money, and after a few stints in rehab and numerous times in jail, Caitlin stopped helping her. "Until someone is ready to face their addictions and get the help they need, there is no saving them." One of her most famous People Magazine quotes was from the early 2000s.
Caitlin and Beth-Ann's relationship broke for good in the early eighties, shortly after the birth of Beth-Ann's youngest daughter Kimberly. Jim was abusive and addicted to gambling. Caitlin tried to help her escape the situation and offered her a mansion in Hollywood Hills.
Beth-Ann, however, was glad to be out of Hollywood. She found everyone to be superficial and too fast-paced. She had fallen in love with the south, so she refused to move. Caitlin tried a few times to have the kids taken away due to Jim's abuse, leading to a huge falling out in the mid-eighties.
The show wanted to bring them back together to air out their differences; because they smelled ratings.
The producers also wanted to feature the friends who stuck by her, like my mother, who was already a mother to Daniel and Sutton. Beverly Hills Dynasty was born, my aunt Edele was also cast in the show, and their fights became legendary. Reality TV soared to the heights of popularity. Acting is just pretending, is what they always say, but reality TV isn't acting.
It's selling a piece of your soul. Day by day, minute by minute, until you don't even recognize yourself anymore. That's the trouble; a sex symbol becomes a thing. I hate to be a thing. Monroe said those words shortly before her death, and Caitlin echoed them over a century later. Caught in the trappings of fame with a husband who cheated on her daily, with actresses, heiresses, and business partners, she turned to drugs and sex.
In 2006, Caitlin became a mom for the first time. Her daughter, Jasmine Deyvn West, was born on December 24th, 2006. Her pride and joy, for a while, looked like she had found a purpose. Becoming a mom changed her, according to my mom, who gave birth to me a few hours later in the same room.
Jade grew up idolizing her mother and wanted to follow in her footsteps. A fact that her father detested. Two years after Jade was born, they divorced shortly after her mother discovered she was pregnant again. Ryan Romeo West was born on April 13th, 2008. She threw herself into being a mom and trying to make the reality show a hit. The scandals had a way of following her, though.
Caitlin was overwhelmed with proposals from men to date. When more of the nude photos she posed for but never consented to being released were leaked after her rise to fame, these pictures were sold to publications and ignited the public's intrigue. To this day, my mother believes Edele leaked the photos as revenge.
Throughout her relationships, the public was deeply involved with her private life via the paparazzi, from affairs to miscarriages, court dates for custody, child support, fights with co-stars, domestic abuse calls, and her many relapses and mysterious illness the paparazzi loved to sacrifice her sanity as water to the public's thirsty quest for news. To this day, people speculate how did she die?
And, like so many do, Caitlin turned to drug and alcohol use to help her cope. For the most part, she could handle these diversions. Still, after an ectopic pregnancy and miscarriage, likely due to her struggles with staying sober, she was hospitalized for a heroin overdose in 2011.
Many could see that Caitlin was struggling, but she continued to act after starring in one comedy after the other. She was greeted with critical and commercial acclaim, earning her a Golden Globe for Best Actress, but she is said to have appeared, unlike her former self. Depression had begun to creep up. She walked away from the screen to return to her root's music.
Her first album as a solo artist, produced by my mom, Hollywood Is Not America, topped the charts when it was released in 2012. After the commercial success of her album, she wrote and recorded two more within the same year, one with my mom, who became her partner. They formed a group BH Elite which pissed off my aunt Edele and sent them into a heated feud that has yet to cool off.
Jade and I became famous from birth because we were born on screen; we never had a choice about being in the spotlight.
Like Caitlin, we started modeling as toddlers, first in beauty pageants where we discovered our passion for music, then commercial catalogs like JC-Penny and LL Beam, and as we got older, Victoria's Secret, a decision by our mother's when we were ten which caused controversy and scandal among the reality TV audience.
We were given this spotlight without consent, but we accepted it and decided early on we wouldn't let it own us. We would make our gold from this straw we were weaved.
Doing commercials whenever we could land them, and we started gaining minor roles in big-picture movies and prime-time TV shows. We would go on to model for brands like Guess and Christian Dior and walk in runway shows in Paris, Milan, Japan, China, England, and Switzerland. We took acting and dance lessons from the top agencies along the way.
All of those early modeling gigs helped get our bank accounts to get off the ground. With our earnings from BHD, which helped open the door to the world of acting, producers shifted focus from our mothers to us, two girls trying to make it in a glittery world following their mother's shadows. They followed us to auditions, caught our reactions when we didn't get the parts, or when we did, there was never a moment to grieve in private when we didn't get a role; we had to relive the pain in front of the camera. Jade's health struggles were often documented, and my reactions to seeing my best friend so sick, being afraid she would die.
It built character, according to my mom. It broke us in a way we have yet to process. In 2017 we landed roles in a new series called ActUp, which focused on the 80s of the Greenwich Village during the Aids crisis. Jade landed the role of Jenny, a young girl whose dad is a cop trying to keep the LGBTQ banned from restaurants and public places.
During the 1980s epidemic, the significant presence of the gay community prompted local medical practitioners to take note of and respond to observed patterns of reported ailments early on. Widespread fear and panic about the epidemic were combated by efforts of community activists and local government policies that were sometimes supportive and, at other times, damaging or ineffectual.
In the show, Jenny is, discovering her sexuality going against everything her father stood for, leading her into a dangerous world of self-discovery through drugs and unprotected sex.
Jade turned to her cousin Amanda who is a detective in New York City, to get advice on how to play Jenny, what NYC was like in the 80s and her twin cousin' Amanda's boy twins AJ and CJ, and her niece Mazie from Amanda's sister Kim who she is raising about what life is like growing up as a kid in NYC.
They've become very close since Jade reached out a few years back, and I know Amanda calls Jacqui every few months to do well-fare checks on Jade. Jacqui is the lead detective of the LAPD Special Victims Unit.
I landed the role of Carolina, the daughter of one of the Aids activists locked up every other episode for protesting police brutality. My character is HIV positive but forced to keep it a secret for fear of getting kicked out of school. She is always afraid but remains strong as she goes through the series. We are in our sixth year of production, and my character is discovering her sexuality; her secret is unfolding. She's fighting for her life to stay in school and stay alive.
The show received excellent ratings and cemented our statuses as teen queens of TV. In 2019, it was reported that Jade made $5 million just for doing one season of the show. That was much higher than what I was offered, a lie. To start a scandal and try to separate us, I know who started the rumor. My Aunt Edele all because she wanted Remi to get a part in the show. The truth is Jade and I are paid the same. We make sure of it. Today our salary is $10 million for BHD and a cool $6 thousand for Act Up.
In 2020, we wrote two books. Confessions from the teens of TV Royalty, a New York Times bestseller; thank you very much. Just one year later, we followed up with a second book. We're still going, yet. Thank You, Next. Last year the producers of BHD decided to spice our lives up. Or screw them up. I am still deciding.
They got Remi a part on Act Up but didn't tell us all to get our raw reactions which caused a lot of scandals online, precisely what they wanted—a hollow game of cat verse mouse. Remi has earned herself quite the reputation for being a snake willing to backstab anyone to get what she wants. Like mother, like daughter. The bitter pill that is hard to swallow is that Remi is a damn good actress; when she takes it seriously, she's a force to be on screen with. She challenges you to reach deep inside yourself. She's made me a better actress.
Taking it seriously is her major issue; Remi would rather be seen on the red carpet alongside Hollywood Elite and partying in clubs with socialites than do the actual job. She is leaving us to the damn frenzy of the press junket, otherwise known as promotion, generally including press releases, advertising campaigns, merchandising, franchising, media, and interviews with the key people involved in making the film, like directors, producers, and creators, along with our eight hours sometimes plus school day, and homework, and our obligations to BHD.
Is there any wonder why there is no shortage of love between the three of us? Or why Jade is staring daggers into her back as we see her press herself against Beck's side giggling and flipping her hair, throwing shaded looks behind her shoulder towards Jade. "she's going to earn herself a fucking black eye if she doesn't stay away from Beck."
Jade mutters as her phone pings. Bringing it out of her pocket, she reads the message out loud. "He's Lying to you, Jade."
"Who sent it?" "I don't know, but it makes me wonder if he is Beck."
"Do you think he could be cheating on me, Cat?"