New Friend, New Idea
Tori was so startled by the unfamiliar voice that she jumped from Beck, shrieked in panic and franticly grabbed for her t-shirt to cover herself. Unlike her, Beck remained laid on his back and just turned his head towards the voice. The owner of the voice stood at about twenty feet from them. She looked casually elegant in a simple looking summer dress that surely cost more than Beck's car.
"Hi Alyssa, I thought that you are in New York." He greeted her with a light friendly tone.
"I was going to, but the event got postponed. So I decided to stay here awhile." The young woman replied airily, then remembering that she was pretending to be cross with him she continued. "When I invited you to come here it wasn't so you could impress pretty girls." Her face was arranged in an angry expression, but her eyes sparkled in amusement. In Beck's opinion she was enjoying their discomfort way too much.
"I wasn't trying to impress anyone, just to have a quiet place to wind down after a hard day." He got up, took the hand of the already clothed Tori and turned to Alyssa.
"Alyssa this is Tori Vega. Tori this is Alyssa Vaughn." The two girls smiled and shook hands.
"I know, I mean please to meet you." Tori stammered a bit. She didn't expect to meet someone famous today, not in her bathing suit. She wished that she had put on one of her better t-shirts. The gorgeous young woman before her made her feel underdressed.
"So this is Tori. She is even prettier than you described her." Alyssa began studying Tori with renewed interest. She took her hand under her own and turned towards the house.
"You must come with me to the house and have something refreshing to drink." She dismissed their protests with a hand wave. "Tori tell me, are all the crazy stories Beck tells me about his friends and school true? Do you really have a friend that goes everywhere with a ventriloquist dummy?"
"Yes it is true. Robbie and Rex are inseparable. Rex is so domineering that you sometimes forget that he is just a puppet Robbie talks thru." Tori replied relaxed by the inviting manner of the older girl. They both continued leisurely towards the big house, leaving Beck behind to pick up the towel and the beach bag. By the time he caught up the girls Tori seemed to have relaxed fully and was telling Alyssa the story of how they wined a private concert from Ke$ha.
"And then the little boy sais - 'I want a kiss from you and you and the freaky one.' To which Andre replies 'You better stop there.'" Both girls burst laughing. Alyssa turned to him.
"You know Beck, I always thought that you over exaggerated your stories to amuse me. But if everything is true then your school is the craziest I've ever heard of." They reached the house and climbed up a stairs to a wide marble terrace overlooking the beach. There already waiting for them was a table with three chairs around it. On it were carafes with cold juices, cold lemonade and ice tea. Besides them there were plates with different tasty snacks.
"So, how are things going for the new couple?" Alyssa asked while poring herself iced tea. "Putting aside the obvious need to be all over each other." She smirked at the obvious discomfort of the two teens at being caught making out on her beach.
"It is going quite well, aside from the reaction of my ex." Beck replied, smiling towards Tori.
"Yeah, Jade didn't take it very well." Tori grimaced. "Now she is spreading rumors at school."
"What kind of rumors?" Alyssa asked lifting her glass of iced tea.
"First it was a rumor, that Jade and I were some sort of sex maniacs. That I have some sort of insatiable sexual appetite." Beck said hesitantly, knowing the reaction that the older girl would have. Alyssa burst out laughing.
"Oh, this is priceless. I'll have to come up with a different nickname for you, Crazy Hair. I'm just afraid I won't be able to use it in public." Beck made a face at her and put some snack in his mouth.
"Then she began spreading the rumor that I had done things with Beck that she had refused to do." Tori continued reluctantly. "So now you can imagine the atmosphere at school."
"Every girl is looking at you like you are a home wrecker and feels free to indulge in her latent hatred of you, hatred emanating from the fact that you are prettier and more talented than them." Alyssa replied knowingly. "There isn't much you could do, but hope for something more interesting to come up. Quite clever move from his ex. She is obviously trying to make you dump him."
"That is not going to happen." Tori said firmly. "But it would be nice to find a way to make this rumors go away." They continued talking for another hour before an older man in a suit came out on the terrace and approached Alyssa. He whispered something in her ear. She thanked him and turned to her guests.
"Sorry guys, but something came up that requires my attention. We'll have to cut this visit short." She explained.
"Beck, would you please get your car and come pick me up from the front entrance? I would like to ask Alyssa something." Beck knew Tori well enough to see that she had thought of something. He got in the yard and drove his car to the stairs in front of the house. Tori got in the car in very good mood.
"Why are you so exited?" He asked her.
"Oh, I think I found a way to stop the rumors about us." He looked at her questioningly, but she refused to explain. She wasn't sure it would work, or that he would be entirely happy about it.