" I'm home ," announced Tori, stepping into the living room and throwing her purse on the coffee table ," I never , really never thought I would be saying this but the service for Rex was really nice . Cat did a good job and I think it meant a lot to Robbie that all of his friends came out for him…." She paused noting the quietness between her parents and the incredulous expression that Trina was currently wearing across her face.

It didn't seem natural especially for her older sister .

" Uh, what's up ? Did I miss a family meeting or something ? Not that we have ever actually had family meetings but still this seems sort of weird "

" Mom is having an affair " said Trina , shooting her mother a disgusted look .

" TRINA, no ," Holly shook her dark hair at her oldest daughter ," it isn't anything like that. You misunderstood your father and I , that is all. Don't listen to your sister, honey, you know how dramatic she likes to be "

" I am not being dramatic and I heard you and Dad loud and clear " argued Trina , crossing over to plop down on the sofa beside Tori.

" W..what are you talking about ?" asked Tori, glancing at her father for help.

" I'm still processing …..this cant be real " David stared at the texts on his wives phone in disbelief and found his naturally cool head jumbled . How could he have missed this ?

" I think we should continue having this conversation in private, honey ," urged Holly, " give Trina time to calm down and Tori can tell her about the puppet funeral "

" I don't care about the stupid puppet funeral ," lashed out Trina , accusation in her tone ," you ought to just stop, Mom. I heard you and dad ….every single word from the garage since Dad never finished soundproofing it . Guess it all makes sense as to why your never home ….."

" Trina , enough," David rubbed at the soreness in his neck," don't talk to your mother like that, young lady. We didn't raise you to be disrespectful ….."

" Fine , Dad , but I don't understand why you aren't wazzed off " tossed back Trina .

" I still don't understand what is happening ….anyone ?" asked Tori, feeling new dread sink and drop to the pit of her stomach and fall .

Dad was being pensive and that was never a good thing . He hadn't spoken up to deny what Trina had been accusing their mother of …did that mean some of it was true ?

" Nothing, Tori, a misunderstanding is all that this is " added a nervous Holly,' and I think we can clear it up if we just went upstairs and talked , David "

" I knew that we had our problems ," David found his voice ," I just ..I cant wrap my head around this, Holly . How ..how long have you been texting my partner ?"

Tori gulped and found the rest of her emotions drop to her feet .

" Gary ," repeated Tori, recalling a few of her moms off hand comments about him being good looking which she had found odd ," dad's partner ? OH MY GOD, MOM !"

" I'm right there with you….." trailed David , hurt and anger in his voice ,' I don't …..I never believed …how did you meet with him ?"

" All those late night art buyer meetings and inventory , dad " offered a helpful Trina .

" David , please, can we not hash this out in front of the girls ," pleaded Holly, desperately, touching his arm," girls, just go upstairs so your dad and I can talk "

" Tori and I aren't little kids anymore ," reminded Trina, sharply ," you might as well tell us . We're going to hear you two fight about it anyway …."

" Girls, please , just go upstairs and no spying " replied David , firmly .

" Fine but Tori and I are a part of this family too ," Trina took her younger sisters hand ," we deserve to know the truth as well, Dad "

" Trina , just go upstairs " ordered David, watching as Trina dragged Tori upstairs .

Tori's bedroom was the closest so that is where the girls went, Trina closing the door shut , loudly , and all but throwing her younger sister on the bed, dazed .'

" You missed the good stuff, Tori ," Trina heaved a sigh," I heard the yelling and the screaming from the garage ….wasn't pretty "

Panic and then the quick swift kick of hurt pounded throughout Tori and she gasped .

" Mom wouldn't …would she ? Maybe it was just a misunderstanding between them…that has happened before, you know " Tori tried to make sense of it ," and you don't always hear everything right like ..like with Ryder Daniels "

" I was right about Ryder ," reminded Trina , more gentle now as she sat across from her sister ," and I wish I hadn't heard what I did but I wouldn't lie about it " She bit her lip and continued ," Okay so Sinjin and I had a double foot bleaching with Fuinn Yee . We get a discount that way ….a good foot bleaching is expensive "

" Trina ! I don't care about your feet ! What about Mom and Dad ? "

She ran a hand through her brown hair and tried to focus on what Trina was saying .

The whole idea just didn't sound real to her , it didn't sound like her family .

They weren't a soap opera and they had Trina for the crazy .

" So I was getting out of the car when I heard them fighting ," Trina was serious ," I didn't realize it was Mom and dad right off . I couldn't remember the last time I heard them fighting …I thought maybe it was Beck and Jade only it wasn't "

" Why would Beck and Jade be fighting at my house ?" asked a sarcastic Tori.

" Because that has never happened before ," drawled Trina, rolling her eyes , " stop interrupting me . Dad wanted that new number for that fancy French restaurant that Mom's been bugging over so I figure he must have looked at her phone and that's when all hell broke loose . "

" I don't know if I even want to know ….its Mom " moaned Tori, softly .

" There was a lot of questions and yelling because Mom got a sexy text from Gary while Dad was looking up the number , I think " went on Trina ," Dad was pissed off . That's how I know that Mom has been sexting ….made me sick to think about it "

Sick was understatement .

Tori felt as if she was going to throw up the entire contents of her stomach, just thinking about this ..this cheating thing . .Hadn't she been wrestling with her own conscience about that very thing about her and Andre ?

She had only kissed Beck and that had been horrible judgment on her part .

Oh God, did she get bad judgment from her mom ?

" It could have still be a misunderstanding " gulped Tori, not wanting to believe that either of her parents would ever do something this hurtful to the other .," Did Mom deny it ? I mean, they could just be friends like I'm friends with Robbie ….nothing ever going to go on there either "

" I don't think Mom could deny it , Tori " admitted Trina, her own voice cracking ," Dad wouldn't let me read the phone but I just have a feeling because of what Mom didn't say that the proof was in the new message from Gary …"

Their parents had always been so solid and happy .

Why, why would her Mom do this ?

She clutched at the new pain in her heart and wondered if this sharpness and the bitter taste that went along with it was what Andre was feeling because of her .

Tori closed her eyes, ignoring whatever Trina was saying , and wished this would go away . Her life had its crazy moments which made it sometimes exciting but she liked her normal to a certain extent . Especially where her family was concerned .

She had thought that she had led a rather charmed life and almost perfect .

Perfect was good .

Tori wanted things to be perfect or as close to being perfect as she could make it .

She liked when everything fell into place for her and the only worries she had were improving her songwriting ability and keeping up her popularity at school .

Home wasn't supposed to be something that needed fixed .

That wasn't her parents though now it seemed like it was and she hated it .

" Tori ," Trina cut through her sisters daze to look at her with sisterly love ," baby sister , you look kind of pale . You doing alright there ?"

" Nooooo, Trina, I am not alright ," blurted out Tori, pushing her hair out of the way ," how are you fine ? Why aren't you freaking out like me ?"

" Because you're freaking out enough for the both of us ," Trina gave her an indulgent smile ," so, I think I am going to focus on finding out some info so we can figure out if we need to take sides with Mom or dad "

" We don't need to be choosing either one ! Maybe they can work this out first , Trin "

" Maybe ," allowed Trina, patting her knee ," I was just thinking about when Dad first made detective . Mom was just opening the gallery , I was trying out for Hollywood arts, and you were in your little preppy group at Sherwood . "

" I wasn't preppy ," argued Tori ," and I don't know where you are going with this ? Mom was really proud when dad got to be detective …he worked really hard "

" At first , " agreed Trina ," you don't remember the fighting that came later ? Or how pissed Mom was when Dad missed her first big shows cause of those cases he was working on ..this is what it reminds me of "

" Ugh ! Why are you being logical ? I am the practical one here , not you '

" You're getting emotional so figure one of us has to think straight so thought I'd give it a try for a change ….." Trina met her sisters gaze and found Tori struggling to meet it .

Tori couldn't speak , her mind a whirl of jumbled images and emotions all tossed together .

It was true that Tori didn't like change and this sudden punch in the gut was massive .

Even though Tori liked to believe that she had grown and matured a bit since coming to Hollywood Arts. She wasn't as prissy as all of her friends liked to tease her about being.

Trina craved the attention and would do almost anything to be noticed but for Tori, it was all about her chance to shine . The spotlight, the attention, the sound of the applause , she loved everything that went along with it but still she always wanted them in her perfect Tori order .

Everything was just fine in her world if she kept things just right .

Which is why it had been such a huge deal and so important for her to learn to loosen up and take risks .

Risks were scary and often tricky but she'd beat those Balls of Pain and the stupid Gorilla at the Gorilla Club.

Tori Vega was a risk taker .

And she had proven Jade wrong which had been fun to gloat about for about a day .

Even sweet , sensitive Cat took more risks than she did and now even Robbie was leaping

Hadn't .Cat and Robbie taken the biggest risk of all when they fell in love with one another !

Like she had thought about Andre and herself at one time but now Tori just didn't know what to think about love anymore .

In an instant , everything she had known and believed was changing .

Hadn't her Grandma always said that she had her Dads attitude and her Moms disposition but what did that really mean ?

It was so unbelievably difficult to believe that her Mom would risk everything for another man and she didn't want to believe it . Trina wouldn't lie about important things .

That little voice in her head echoed her fears resonating with her own actions as well reminding her that she had basically done the same by kissing Beck back.

Her heart still belonged to Andre and always would but she made a stupid mistake for all of the wrong reasons .

The attention and the adoration was wonderful and it made her feel special .

Tori had never had that when she was at Sherwood .

Nope , there she was normal, boring ole Tori Vega who was a straight A student and dated Danny and had the wacky sister .

She was still a good student but she wasn't the same person that she used to be .

At Hollywood Arts, she was a singer , a leader , a part of the popular kids .

Guys were constantly asking her out .

Crap! Oh God , she wasn't completely blameless where Beck was concerned or Robbie for that matter . She had used flirting whenever she needed her friend to do something for her and Robbie being the nice guy that he would always did .

She probably was a bit flirtatious with Beck, in retrospect .

No wonder Jade hated her guts a lot and it was only because Cat was the sweetest girl on the planet that she wasn't angry about Robbie either .

Did Andre realize she was a natural born attention seeker ?

He had never once said a word and here she was one who went crazy nuts when he was with that horrible Sherry or Hope Quincy.

It wasn't just Trina and Mom who were acting like grunches,s she was just as equally a grunch as well ! Now this awful, bad thing was happening and suddenly Tori had lost all control of her life .

" I'm exactly like Mom "

Trina lifted her ear from the door , where she had been eavesdropping on their folks .

" I don't think so," corrected Trina ," You are just like Dad . I'm like Mom "

" You really believe its true, Trin?"

" I thought Dad was going to cry ," confessed Trina in a quiet voice that she rarely ever used ," I wish I could lie and tell you no but I cant do that to you, Tori. I wish I didn't have to tell you anything that I had heard ..I wish I hadn't heard it in the first place "

Tori rested her head against Trina's shoulder ." What are we going to do ?"

" I don't know , Tori, but it will somehow turn out alright "

" You're a terrible liar "

" You're an actress so pretend that I just made you feel better " quipped Trina , warmly .

Tori didn't think she was that good of an actress to pull it off .

Much to the girls dismay and shock, David and Holly's talk hadn't gone well.

Trina's spying had only helped them to cement that their mother had apparently been seeing Gary behind Dads back for a while now .

Trina was furious but Tori was just hurt and upset . It hadn't helped when their parents had talked with them , explaining they had been having some problems for a bit now and had decided to take a little break from each other .

Try some marriage counseling and go from there ….see what happened next .

By the time 7: 15 and school rolled around, Tori felt as if the rest of everything that she had known had finished crumbling into tiny , little pieces and she had no clue what to do to help to fix herself .

She sleepwalked through Sikowitz's class and hadn't the energy to explain to her friends why she wasn't talking to them or why Cat and Robbie's romantic acting scene had made her burst into tears and run out of class to the Black Box to think and wallow.

Tori just didn't know what to do or say to her friends and hiding out was good .

Couldn't figure out why she had always made a big thing about it when Cat did it…hiding out in the dark had its perks .

No one could watch her cry and it was private .

Why couldn't she be lucky enough to have Cat's positive , cheerful attitude on life ?

Right now she was pretty sure she was borrowing some of Jade's bitterness and anger .

Tori played with her Cuddle Me Kathy doll and wondered how she had missed her mom's odd behavior ?

Mom making breakfast for only herself had been kind of un-Mom like but she wasn't always home for breakfast so it didn't seem so out of place .

Trina never noticed things except for apparently this major doozie .

Andre opened the door slowly and let his eyes adjust to the darkness of the theatre, questioning himself only momentarily but knowing that Tori was hurting gave him the strength to push back his own issues and hurt because she needed him.

They could work on their own problems some other time .

He found Tori sitting on the edge of the stairs, that silly doll she loved since she was a little girl in her hands, and the saddest expression on her beautiful face .

" Hey "

Tori lifted her eyes and a moment of hope then weariness settled across her face when she saw who had joined her . " Andre," Spoke up Tori, hesitation in her voice ," what are you doing here ?"

Andre sat down beside her . " I came to check up on you ," answered an honest Andre ," Don't think I ever expected to see you burst into tears over Cat and Robbie's mushy love scene and then you ran out of class . Not exactly normal Tori behavior ….."

" I want to be alone "

" No, you don't ," Andre knew better ," I heard about what happened with your parents "

" Oh God, I am going to kill Trina for blabbing " declared Tori, twisting the bonnet .

" Chill down, girl, Trina was worried about you too ," went on Andre , matter of fact ," she told Cat about what went down with your folks . Cat told the rest of us …."

Tori buried her face in her hands and let out a little cry ." Couldn't you have sent Cat or maybe Jade ? You asked for space and I have been trying to give you what you need and you helping me cant be what you wanted to do about us ..ugh, I'm not making any sense '

She held her doll closer , refusing to give into the urge to just fall into his strong arms and let Andre make everything all better but she wouldn't do that to him.

Andre deserved better than her .

" So thanks but I would appreciate it if you could give me some space as well "

She bit her lip and wondered how angry he was because he was doing a good job of disguising it and she just didn't know how much longer she could keep this conversation going and not want to throw herself into his arms .

" Did you come to gloat ? Tell me that I deserve it ? Cause believe me, I know "

Tori was real bad messed up and this was much bigger and more important that winning a contest to meet Kesha . She was really torn apart over this and he understood this , he knew from his own experience about the pain and the hurt she was going through.

Andre laid his hand over hers and gave her a gentle smile . " No one deserves it , Tori ," stated Andre ," and I came because you're my friend and I love you "

She managed a wan smile and felt like crying ." I thought you hated me "

" Never ," replied an honest Andre , swallowing his pride and his pain ," didn't we agree that no matter what ..happened between us we would still be friends ?"

Tears welled in her eyes ." I am so sorry, Andre "

" You already told me that and I get that you are ," decided Andre , tamping down his own feelings that had resurfaced upon their closeness ," lets just leave it alone .

How are you really doing ?"

Tori shook her head and tossed the doll aside . " I have no idea at all ," cried out Tori," I don't have a clue …I'm a mess "

She wanted desperately to lean into him but was scared to. He was being kind and she didn't want to make things worse between them .

Andre placed a warm hand in her brown hair and blew out a breath. " You haven't lost your friends ," continued Andre ," and that includes me too , Tori "

" Even though I ruined everything " argued Tori, her thoughts scattered .

" Naw, I'll be alright and so will you " He smoothed her hair and felt her lean into him so he stepped back from her putting distance between them ," you want to tell me about it ?"

" Mom and Dad are taking a break ," Tori wanted to rest her head against his shoulder but knew that they weren't ready for that so she didn't ," I don't know if that means they are taking a break or separating . Its bad, Dre, its so not good that my mom is moving into a hotel ….tonight "

" Damn," swore Andre , reaching over to rub soothing circles across her back," I am so sorry about that, baby "

He caught himself and amended ," I meant , Tori "

She blinked through her tears and felt another wave of utter helplessness . " I just ..I don't understand any of it "

" I never did get the full story about what went down with my parents ," explained Andre , squeezing her hand ," I had my own ideas about it and they both had something different to say about it . I still don't …I do know that none of this is your fault , Tori "

" I don't know about anything anymore , Andre "

Andre decided he needed to lighten the mood before he got too much into the comforting her part and things got weird and awkward .

" You know everyone is really worried about you ," said Andre ," even Jade . I know that you're still upset but I think it would do you a world of good if you come out of here and hang with us at lunch. Let Cat have a go at trying to cheer you up…."

" You haven't been eating lunch with us " blurted out Tori, their eyes meeting and holding .

" It'll be cool ," reassured Andre , determined to be all mature about this whole situation .

Tori needed her best friend, not the boyfriend . Guess maybe he was the ex-boyfriend now ," trust me . We'll get some lunch and hang out and you'll feel better …."

Tori wiped at her eyes. " You and Beck made up ?"

" No, we did not but everything is cool ," told Andre because he and Beck could be civil ," besides lunch and all of your friends , I defiantly know of something that will cheer you up even more "

" I doubt it unless you have a time traveling machine handy so you can erase everything that is bad that has happened …"

" Fraid not but you might ask Robbie ," told Andre ," he has all those mad geek skills . Speaking of Robbie , tonight is the night he dumps Roxanne and finally makes it real with Cat . Way past time if you ask me ….." He chuckled , hoping that she would laugh but only managed a thin smile .

" Oh, I had almost forgotten about that ," admitted Tori , pressing her lips together in a line ," they act like a real couple now . Cat really hates that Robbie has been dragging his feet at breaking up with North Ridge .."

Good, that did the trick and took her mind off of her own problems for a bit .

Andre smiled at her . " you want me to maybe go get Cat ? You girls can go primp in the bathroom and maybe you could borrow a different shirt from Jade or something "

Tori looked down at her clothes - purple baseball shirt and a pair of black sweats .

" EW, I look gross "

" You don't look gross , just tired ," replied Andre ," but I really don't like that shirt on you three days in a row "

Tori jumped off of the stage , trying to straighten her messy hair and blowing out a breath.

" Thanks for this , Andre, but I am going to respect your wishes . You wont have to worry about me making anything more out of our friendship from now on "

" I wasn't worried about it ,Tori, I was worried about you " admitted Andre, quietly .

" Thanks ," Tori grabbed her backpack ," I needed to hear all of this but then you always know what I need " She let out another breath ," You can go to class now "

" What about lunch ?" asked Andre, hoping he'd talked her into that, at least .

" I have to make myself look better first ," declared Tori ," I cant handle Jade's insults today then I'll meet you at the Asphalt Café "

" Good "

With a wave , Tori grabbed her stuff , sent him a tentative smile and left the theatre .

Andre picked up the doll and sighed , heartily . " That was tough "

The toughest was yet to come and that was proving that he and Tori could return to the same friendship they had before they had gotten involved .

He was going to do everything in his power not to be a liar .