DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN VICTORIOUS. This chapter is from Andre's POV.
Chapter 3
"I don't want to die alone."
Five minutes after learning that we were trapped.
"I can't take it! I can't take it! I can't fucking take it!" Jade shouted, flipping out. Damn girl, chillax. Freaking out won't help our cause.
"Babe, please calm down and catch your breath." Beck tells her. Thankfully he's here. He's the only one who can get through to her.
"Does anyone got cell reception?" Robbie wonders. We all pull out our phones and I see no bars. No reception at all. A cell tower must've been knocked over by flying cars. Everyone says they have no bars. Damn. Wait! I have an idea!
"Do you have a radio?" I ask Tori whose eyes widen and a smile appears on her face.
"You bet we do, Andre, let me go get it!" she says cheerfully before running upstairs. I hope the radio works. Cause, it looks like we'll be here for quite some time, and we'll need to be updated on the latest. I hope my family's doing ok. My grandmother, while loud and annoying, I hope she is ok.
Tori comes back from upstairs, carrying a radio that seems to be battery powered. She sets it up on the piano and turns it on. A faint buzzing can be heard from it. Tori claps her hands excitedly and turns the volume up so the buzzing fills the house. Tori sits on the piano bench and starts tuning it. The entire house is staring at Tori intently awaiting for a voice to come out of the box. Eventually she stops and a woman's voice comes out of the radio. Oh good, we got a signal.
"Citizens are told to stay indoors at all times until the storm blows over and take shelter if they have any until further notice." the woman said. The reception was better than I expected which is a good thing. But, that doesn't lift my spirits.
"Reports are coming in about severe flooding, rain storms, and major damage to all of Los Angeles." the woman continued. Damn.
"Holy shit, this is bad." I state.
"Agreed." Robbie replied. I look at Tori and notice how worried she is. I decide to go sit down next to her on the bench. I've always been a shoulder for her to lean on. As soon as I sit down, she puts her head on my shoulder as I expected.
"We have got to do something; we can't just stay here with our thumbs up our asses." Rex stated.
"But what do we do? We're trapped in Tori's house." Cat whimpered.
"I don't know." Tori replied.
"How about a window?" Beck suggested. "There has to be one big enough for us to fit in."
"But the woman on the radio said we have to stay inside." Robbie pointed out.
"Who gives a fuck what the bitch said! We need to get outta here!" Jade shouted letting go of me and runs upstairs with Tori, Beck, and I following her.
Jade kicks open a door that leads to a bathroom and walks in with the three of us in the hallway. She pulls back the shower curtains and walks in and reaches up to the window and pries it open.
"Someone give me a boost." Jade commanded. By "someone" she means Beck. So Beck walks up to her, grab her waist, and lifts her high enough for her to poke her head out.
"What do you see?" Beck asks her after a few moments.
"Uh, a lotta vehicles and water and the neighborhood is in ruins; I'm surprised anything is standing. Pull me back." she replies and he pulls her out and put her down.
"Bedroom windows?" I ask Tori.
"Not very big, but let's try." Tori replies moving down the hall to her room, I'm assuming and she goes inside and goes to the window with me and we open the curtains and gasp at the sight of a vehicle propped gingerly against the house, blocking the window. You've gotta be shitting me.
"Oh no; let's see the others." Tori says running outside and going to the other bedroom next door, which I guess is Trina's, who I'm thankful is not here. Tori goes inside and pulls the curtains and the window is blocked by a pole of some sort.
"I think that's a transformer." Tori states. That makes since, we lost power several minutes ago, and if that's the transformer, well, that explains a lot. No transformer, to electricity. Sorry, Franklin.
Tori runs out and goes to the end of the hall and enters the final room, which is a large master bedroom, that happens to have a soggy floor that is covered in shards of glass. The curtains are bulged at the middle like something is pushed against them and they are billowing slightly from the wind.
"Not a good sign." Beck remarks. Tori goes to the window and pulls the curtains and shows the cause of the bulge, another car blocking the fucking window.
"You've gotta be shitting me." I state.
"Ugh, now what do we do?" Jade asks no one in particular. Beck shakes hi head slowly.
"I don't know, babe." Beck replies. We walk out of the master bedroom defeated and headed back downstairs. Cat and Robbie are sitting together at the piano bench, listening to the radio. I notice how close they are. Robbie will take care of her, he has always been there for her, even if she doesn't want him to be.
"What's up?" Cat asks, without turning from the radio.
"Windows are blocked by debris." Tori replies. Cat squeals a little and clutches Robbie and her purple giraffe tightly afraid to let go.
"Anything new?" Jade asks.
"Storm's heading north; SoCal is in ruins. L.A. seems to have taken the brunt of the hurricane." Robbie informs us, turning the radio up for us to hear. A man's voice is explaining the situation. Shee-it.
"Hurricane Rick has all but wiped out Los Angeles and is now currently in the northern areas of SoCal. The power plant is currently having issues maintaining power." the man explains. Shortly after finishing, the radio starts buzzing, signaling the loss of signal, most likely from the power going out altogether.
Robbie starts fiddling with the tuners and changes channels, recieving nothing but buzzing.
"Power must have gone out." Robbie tells us sadly, earning him another crushing squeeze from Cat, causing him to gasp for breath. "C-Cat, loo-loosen up a bit!" Oh for crying out loud Robbie, she's barely squeezing!
"Sorry." Cat whines before loosening her grip on Robbie. Robbie turned the radio off.
Everyone gathered in the living room and sat down somewhere. Tori and I sit together on one of the red couches; Cat and Robbie sat together next to us Jade and Beck took the other couch for ourselves.
"How long do you think we'll be here?" Cat wondered. Good question and I wish I had a good answer.
"Awhile." Beck replies vageuly. His response is vague, but awhile could be anywhere from a few hours to several days and possibly even longer. I hope it's not gonna come to that; we only have so much food.
"We need to ration all the food in the house." Beck states suddenly.
"That's a good idea; let's get started." Tori responded jumping up from her seat and walked into the kitchen and started opening cabinets that held food in them. Beck, Jade, and I followed and started grabbing food out of the cabinets and placing them on the tables and countertops.
"The food in the fridge will have to be eaten first before they spoil; I'm not sure what to do with all the frozen foods, since we have no power." Tori stated as she motioned to the fridge.
"We could start a fire and do it the old fashioned way." Jade suggested innocently.
"That's really dangerous, Jade." Tori replied with a worried expression.
"Yeah, how are we gonna make a fire in here that's large enough to cook meat, but small enough that it's manageable?" I point out, giving Jade a wary look. She's edgy that one.
"Whatever; it was just a suggestion." Jade said nonchalantly.
"Wait a minute, we have no power in the entire house, right?" Robbie said out of the blue. Huh?
"Yeah, what about it?" Beck asks him.
"Well, with no power, we won't be able to charge our phones and we might need them if we're gonna be here for awhile." Robbie pointed out. Wow, for an annoying loser, he has his moments.
"Yeah, let's turn them off." Tori replied, reaching in her pocket and pulling out her phone and turning it off. Everyone soon follows suit and all our phones are off. We have no signal and no internet, so why kill the batteries?
Now that all of the foodstuffs are out of the kitchen cabinets we can start to ration them. If we ration them correctly, we should, hopefully, have enough food to last us the rest of the month, which is three weeks away. Unfortunately, we'll have to keep our appetites under check and have to fight the urge to eat. But, do we have a source of water? We can go at least a week without food, but at least three or four days without water. I don't want to drink hurricane rain water, thank you very much!
"Do we have water?" I ask Tori. Tori shrugs and moves to the sink and turns the faucet on full blast and water does come out.
"Phew, at least we have water." Tori says relieved. Robbie and Cat soon join us in the kitchen to help with the rationing. Cat seems to have calmed down as she doesn't have her purple giraffe with her.
"Do you know what we have for food in the fridge?" Robbie asked. Tori's eyes wandered to the ceiling as she struggled to remember what food is in the fridge.
"Not really and I don't want to open it; we need to keep it cool for now." Tori replies. "We should only open it only when it's absolutely necessary." she added.
"It is absolutely necessary, Vega." Jade snapped and walked to the fridge and opened the door before anybody could object. We all walked to stand beside her. I stood behind Beck and look past Jade's shoulder inside the dark fridge. It was hard to make out the containers of food inside. From what I can tell, there's dairy, condiments, sandwich ingredients, whole wheat bread, and a containers full of leftovers of foods I can't tell. Jade then shuts the door to trap the escaping cool air.
"Not much, but it's better than nothing." Beck states. Everyone nods.
"Agreed; at least we have some idea wht's in there." Jade replied.
Tori left the kitchen and headed for the stairs.
"Where are you going?" I asked.
"Getting a notebook and a pen." Tori replied without looking back. She ascended the stairs and vanished. Um, ok?
"Why would she need a notebook and a pen?" Cat asked quietly. We all shrugged. Tori usually has something up her sleeve, so let's she what card she plays.
Tori returns after a couple of minutes witha blue notebook and a pen.
"We'll make a journal entry of our stay here." Tori states at our confused looks.
"Why? That seems unnecessary." Jade replied, her confused look contorting to an even more confused look.
"Well, we need it in case we..." Tori started. She looked at us all expectantly. Beck understood and nodded his head. Jade and I nodded as well. Robbie and Cat didn't reply nor nod, possibly not understanding what Tori means.
"I don't get it." Cat says.
"We'll need it in case we don't make it, Cat." I tell her patiently. Cat gasped and grabbed Robbie again, who now had a terrified look on his face.
"Yeah; we'll each take turns writing a day out?" Tori suggested as she sat down on one of the couches and pulled the coffee table closer to her and put the notebook down and opened it to the first page after the cover. Tori looked back at us and we all nod.
"Ok, then I'll start." Tori said shakily. She doesn't find this easy and I don't find it easy either. Jade wraps her arms around me again and pulls me close to her. Beck wrapped his arms around her and pull her in closer. Tori starts writing on the first page. Cat, Robbie, and I went into the living room to see what Tori was writing. Only Jade and Beck remained in the kitchen, wrapped together like a giant piece of candy. I look up briefly to see them kissing.
I look back down at the beautiful brunette sitting in front of me, writing. She's so pretty. I want to be with her, like Beck and Jade are. SHe really helped me through my crush with Jade a couple of months ago. But, I think she did it only because she likes me. I hope she does. I don't want to be just a shoulder to lean on. I want more.
"What are we gonna do about sleeping arrangments?" I asked without looking up from the notebook Tori was still writing in.
"Beck and I will take the master bedroom after we clean the glass off the floor." Jade replied automatically. She lets go of Beck and grabs his hand and drags him upstairs before anyone could reply.
Cat and Robbie go into the kitchen and start putting food away, leaving Tori and me alone. I move to sit down next to her and look down at what she is writing in the notebook.
Tori's daily log started to sound something like this:
Day One June 12th, 2011:
Hurricane Rick has hit Los Angeles and the city is all but destroyed. The roads are most likely blocked and the power is out. SolCal took the brunt of the storm. I am writing this daily journal so that should anyone find us too late, they'll know what has transpired here.
My name is Victoria Vega. I'm a student at Hollywood Arts high school and this is my house we are trapped in. My friends are as follows: Andre Harris, the boy with dreadlocks...
She hasn't gotten far, but I can't help but notice that she put my name first. She'll put Jade's last obviously.
"It's not a bad start," I state. She stops writing and leans back. She seems to have finished. Tori doesn;t take her eyes off the notebook. I take her hand in mine.
"Finished." She announces. Cat and Robbie reply with "ok"s.
"Are you ok?" I ask her. She looks at me and gives me a weak smile.
"I'll be fine, it's just..." she starts. She looks like she's about to cry. I let her hand go and wrap her in a hug. She hugs back tightly and sobs a little.
"I don't want to die alone." She mumbles into my chest.
"You won't die alone, Tori; you got me and Cat and Robbie and Beck and in a way, Jade." I reassure her. She laughs a little and straightens out. Her cheeks stained with tears. I raise a thumb and clear the tears away from her eyes. She smiles at me.
"I really like you, Andre." she admits before she leans in. Before I know what's happening, her lips are on mine and she's kissing me! Her lips send a shock into my body and I find myself kissing her back. She is a good kisser. Much better than that annoying bitch I was with for awhile during the lame Prome. I hope Cat and Robbie aren't watching.
After a few moments, we break apart slowly.
"I'm sorry." Tori says.
"Why are you sorry?" I ask perplexed.
"I like you, Andre, but I don't know what will happen."
"None of us do."
"Do you like me back?" she asks hopeful.
"No." I reply simply. She looks horrified and ready to cry again.
"But-but-but I just.." she started.
"I love you, Tori and I want us to be together even if we are trapped here forever." I respond quickly to prevent her from breaking down completely and hating me forever. She looks relieved.
"I love you too, Andre." she replies and we start kissing again.
We hear the sounds of footsteps on the stairs and we break apart and Jade followed closely by Beck enter the living room.
"Hey you guys." Tori greets them as they enter the living room.
"Tori finished with the day log." Robbie explained to them.
"What did she write?" Beck asks. Tori takes the notenook and hands it to him. He takes it and holds it so they can read it together.
"Where did you get the idea that I'm your friend, Vega?" Jade asked as soon as we finished reading the log. "And I do not have twenty pairs of scissors! I have fifty-nine!" she adds. What the fuck is it with her and scissors? I mean really?
"I'm trying to be nice to you, Jade!" Tori defends.
"Why?!"
"We may die here! Do you want to die alone with me and feel nothing but hate for me?" Tori asks. Jade contemplates this for a moment.
"Yeah." she replies. Tori rolls her eyes in defeat.
"But, Jadey, why can't you and Tori get along?" Cat asked desperately.
"Don't call me that! And I don't want to get along with Tori because she's fucking annoying!" Jade replied. Cat covered her ears. For some reason she hates swearing. Whatever.
"It's a good start, Tori." Beck comments on the journal to change the subject.
"Thank you, Beck." Tori replies with a smile. Jade rolls her eyes in annoyance. Seriously, Tori's gotta stop smiling at me as long as Jade is here. And since we're trapped here, she better stop quick if she wants to survive this.
This will be a long stay.
Chapter 3. Andre's POV. Tori's next.