[Asphalt Café]
"Attention all Hollywood Arts Students!" Helen yelled into the microphone, standing on the balcony overlooking the Asphalt Café.
When she had everyone's attention, she continued. "Alright. Hollywood Arts is offering a new cooking course that is compulsory to all girls, and optional for the boys. New schedules will be up on The Slap by tonight, so please check them and for the boys, sign up if you are interested." She smiled and sassily walked off the balcony.
Tori groaned. "I hate cooking. I suck at it."
Andre shrugged. "That's why they have cooking classes. So you can learn how to not suck at it."
"I love cooking." Jade smiled evilly. "You get to kill innocent creature with fire."
"She's pretty good at it too." Beck commented as he put his tray down on the table next to Jade. He sat down and wrapped an arm around her. She smiled contentedly.
"One time, my brother and I tried cooking, but he burned himself so he went to the hospital." Cat giggled.
"What's so funny?" Robbie asked. "He burned himself."
"I don't know, it was just funny!" Cat laughed and continued eating.
"You should cook next to Vega." Jade commented. "Maybe she'll burn herself." She smirked.
Tori stared at Jade, speechless.
"Damn, gurl." Rex commented.
"Rex!" Robbie chided. "Come on. I need the bathroom." He took his backpack and left, while continuing to talk to Rex.
"See you in the kitchen tomorrow, Vega." Jade smirked and left the table with Beck.
"He still has the burn scar," Cat giggled, poking her salad.
Tori glanced at Andre and slowly, they backed away and left the table, leaving Cat by herself, giggling and eating.
[kitchen]
"Okay class, I'm going to partner you with somebody else and you two will stay together for the rest of the course." Chelsea, the cooking teacher, announced, picking up a list from the table. "Mara and Rose, Laura and Taylor-"
The kitchen door slammed open. "Sorry I'm late!" Robbie panted, slightly out of breath.
"Robbie? You signed up?" Tori asked.
"Yes. Since I'm not good at being a man, I thought I might start being good at being a woman. And I left Rex with Sinjin in case I burn him." Robbie explained. Jade rolled her eyes.
"Anyway." Chelsea continued. "Robbie, you're with Cat. Tori and Jade."
Tori's jaw dropped. "What?!"
Chelsea grimaced. "I know you two don't really click, but you need to learn to work together."
Tori stared in fear at Jade. The last time this had happened, she had been wrongly accused of hitting Jade.
Jade sighed. "I'm not going to do anything to you. Relax." She told Tori exasperatedly.
Tori glanced nervously around the kitchen before turning back to Jade. "Okay. But no burning. "
Jade smirked. "Sure."
[hallway]
Beck shoved his books into his locker. He had the rest of the day free while the girls – and Robbie – had their cooking class.
"Beck! Hey Beck."
Beck turned around to see Andre standing there. "Yeah?"
"I need help!" Andre blurted out. "I can't write my song and it's due in two days! Two!"
"Calm down." Beck ran a hand through his hair. "What exactly do you need help with?"
"Well, we need to write a specific topic-based sad song, and the topic I got was playground, and I've never been sad in a playground before, so I don't know what to write!" Andre cried. "I need you to help me, Beck."
"Okay. What's your next lesson?"
"Math."
"You mind skipping?"
"Nah."
"Anything after that?"
"Nope."
Beck grinned. "Alright. We'll go after lunch."
"Where?"
"To the playground."
[Asphalt café]
"Okay. Let's discuss our stupid assessment." Jade grumbled as she sat her tray down on the table.
"What assessment?" Andre asked.
"Cooking. We have to work in pairs to cook something we've never cooked before within a time limit. It's sort of like a mini Masterchef." Robbie explained. "I like burgers and Cat likes sushi, so we wanted to combine sushi and burgers."
Cat giggled. "Susherger!"
"That actually does not sound good." Beck commented, stealing one of Jade's fries.
"Guy's got a point. It sounds like a cross between your toilet bowl offerings and a burger." Rex said, oblivious to the fact that everyone was eating and did not need to think about anything toilet-related.
"Oh. Ew." Cat fell silent.
"Anyway. What should we cook, Jade?" Tori asked. "Maybe we should do pizza. Everyone loves pizza."
"Nope." Jade replied matter-of-factly. "Pizza won't get us good grades."
"Why?"
"Chelsea doesn't like pizza. Beck overheard her talking about it in the hallway."
"She had a pizza scare when she was 8." Beck put in. "I don't even know how that's possible."
Tori raised her eyebrows in disbelief.
"So," Jade continued, "I did some stalking on The Slap, and I found out Chelsea likes spicy food. And Asian food."
"So we cook some spicy Asian dish!" Tori exclaimed.
"Yep." Jade smirked.
"That's a great idea! Maybe we should do it too, Cat." Robbie suggested. Jade shot him a death glare.
"Or maybe not..." Robbie trailed off.
Jade smirked. "That's right. Stick to your sushi burger."
[playground]
"Okay. We're at a playground. Now what?" Andre asked, curious.
"Now, go ask that kid over there if you can play on that swing." Beck replied.
Andre shrugged and walked over to the boy playing on the swings. It seemed like an easy enough job.
"Hey there." Andre smiled awkwardly. He wasn't good with kids. "Can I play on your swing for a while?"
"No! You're old!" The boy stuck his tongue out at Andre, then pushed his swing back and swung right into Andre. He fell backwards but managed to catch himself in time.
"So how do you feel now?" Beck asked, as Andre walked back to him.
"Terrible." Andre grumbled. "That boy just kicked me in the, you know! I cant walk! Man I never want to come back here."
Beck chuckled. "Isn't that sad?"
"No." Andre's brows furrowed. "Just painful."
"I mean, he kicked you off because he obviously think you're too old for the playground. Isn't that sad? Like those you can never go back to your childhood. That kind of thing." Beck patted Andre's back. "Come on. Let's go write a song."
[tori's house]
The doorbell rang. Repeatedly.
Tori stumbled down the stairs, yawning. She had just woken up from a long nap. It was Saturday evening and Jade had come over to practice cooking their dish. (a/n: if you're wondering, this is the recipe they're following - recipe/grandmas-rainy-day-kimchi-noodle-soup-402890 )
"Tori!" Jade's recognizable screech could be heard from outside.
Tori yawned again and opened the door. "Got the stuff?" She asked sleepily.
"Yeah. Thanks for making me wait outside your door for five whole minutes!" Jade complained, walking inside. She placed two large plastic bags on the kitchen counter.
Tori shrugged. "Sorry. Noodles are in the fridge. I'm gonna take a waz."
Jade rolled her eyes. "Whatever." She dug the packet of frozen noodles out of the fridge and set it on the table, then unpacked all the stuff in the plastic bags.
"Okay, I'm done." Tori walked out of the bathroom. "What do we do first?"
"Okay, um," Jade scanned a piece of paper with the recipe on it. "You boil water, I'll chop all the stuff."
"Wow, you're actually helping me!" Tori exclaimed, teasing Jade.
"I need a good grade!" Jade snapped. "Now just go boil your water."
"Water's boiling. Now what?"
"Heat up that egg and break it in that bowl."
"Egg, bowl…" Tori muttered as she scurried around following Jade's instructions.
Jade continued chopping, until an explosive yell came from behind her.
"Jade the egg is hot inside I'm burning myself!" Tori's screamed shrilly and she turned around. She accidentally turned around too fast and the egg flew out of her hands.
And landed inside Jade's shirt.
"Vega!" Jade screamed. "There's egg in my bra!"
"Burning egg!" Tori added.
"It's warm, for god's sake! Not burning! You call this hot?!"
"I don't cook a lot!"
Jade rolled her eyes. "I need to get this shit out of my bra. And I need a new bra. And a new top. And you're sponsoring it."
Tori sighed. "Okay."
[andre's grandma's house]
[although I'm guessing it's andre's house]
"How are we doing?" Beck asked, setting a glass of water down on the table and sitting next to Andre on the couch.
"I've got the chorus down." Andre replied. He played it for Beck.
"That's great!" Beck smiled. "I like it. How about the verse?"
"ANDRE! THERES A MONSTER IN MY BEDROOM!" Andre's grandmother screeched before Andre could answer, running into the living room, and then bulldozering into the kitchen.
Andre sighed.
"She always like that?" Beck asked, curious.
"Yep."
[tori's house]
Jade had changed.
She was wearing Tori's bright pink t-shirt, along with her usual black jeans. Her egg-stained stuff were lying unceremoniously on the couch.
"Just sprinkle that on top of the noodles and we're done." Jade instructed, before heading to the couch and plopping down on it. "I need a drink. And I hate this top."
Tori smirked. "I think it looks good on you."
"Shut up." Jade snapped. "How are our noodles?"
Tori chucked a fork in the bowl, twirled it around and picked up a forkful of noodles, which she slurped up. "Spicy."
"Obviously. I meant, is it too spicy? Or not spicy enough?"
"I don't know- it's just spicy."
Jade groaned and got up. She tried the noodles. "Okay. I think we're good."
"Yay!" Tori grinned. "Now eat it with me!"
"No." Jade picked up her clothes and bag. "I'm leaving. Before anyone else sees me in this hideous-" She paused. "-thing. Bye." She left the house and slammed the door shut.
Tori shrugged and continued eating the noodles.
"Heyy Tori what's that?" Trina sang, terribly off-key, as she pranced down the stairs ridiculously.
"Food. You want some?"
"Nah. I'm just going to sit here and look beautiful." Trina sat down on the couch. Tori rolled her eyes and continued eating.
[kitchen]
"Cat and Robbie, it's your turn!" Chelsea announced. It was the day of the assessment. "Go!"
"Okay!" Cat giggled. "Can someone help me start the fire?"
"I'll do it." Jade sighed exasperatedly, before going to help Cat.
"Our dish is a combination of sushi and burgers, because Cat like sushi and I like burgers" Robbie explained. "We're going to place a-"
"Ow!" Jade screamed, clutching her hand and grimacing. "Cat!"
"I'm sorry!" Cat apologized. "I didn't mean to!"
"I know but I don't care right now! You burnt my hand!" Jade cradled her wrist gently.
"Cat. Bring her to the nurse." Chelsea instructed. "Robbie, you'd better go along too and make sure Cat doesn't do anything weird."
Robbie, Cat and Jade left the kitchen, with Jade grumbling under her breath and Robbie repeatedly telling Cat it wasn't her fault.
"Okay…" Chelsea trailed off, checking her list. "Only Cat and Tori's groups are left. Tori, do you think you can do it alone? I can give you extra time since Jade can't help you."
"I guess so." Tori replied uncertainly. "I could try. Will Jade get the mark too? Because she did contribute quite a lot."
"Definitely. Your time starts now."
[empty music room]
"Hey Andre!" Beck walked into the room. "You wanted me to come?"
"Yeah! I finished the song and I wanted you to hear it. You know, since my grandmother chased you out the other time." Andre put down a bottle of water and sat in front of the keyboard. "You ready?"
"Let's hear it."
[kitchen]
"A minute to go, Tori!"
Tori squeaked in anxiousness as she hurriedly poured the noodles and soup into a bowl. She snatched up some ready-chopped spring onions and garnished it on top of the noodles.
"Done!" She announced proudly.
Just then, Jade stumbled into the kitchen with Cat and Robbie behind her.
"Jade!" Tori grinned. "I made it myself!"
"Really? Did the egg drop into someone's bra again?" Jade said sarcastically, but smiled jokingly at Tori.
"Taste test time!" Chelsea picked up a fork and headed to the table. She tasted the noodles and scribbled down her illegible comments on a piece of paper.
"Cat and Robbie, it's your turn now." Chelsea stated when she was done. "Go for it!"
[music room]
"Well?" Andre asked right after he finished playing the very last keys of the song.
"I think," Beck grinned. "It's fantastic. Good job, man."
"Thanks!" Andre gave Beck one of those manhug thingies (a/n: OKAY I KNOW THIS SOUNDS WEIRD but I really have no idea what it's called I'm so sorry XP ps. If you know what it's called tell me!)
"We should let the girls hear it," Beck mused. "I think Jade'll love it."
Andre blushed, remembering his past crush on Jade. "Sure."
[hallway]
"Hey girls! And Robbie." Andre grinned as he and Beck approached the four who had just come from the kitchen.
"Hi!" Cat giggled and hugged Andre.
"Hey." Jade said sulkily. "My burn's hurting again." She added, glaring at Cat.
"Sorry…" Cat muttered, hiding behind Tori.
"Guys!" A very excited Laura ran towards them. "The results of the cooking assessment are out on TheSlap! Tori, Jade, you guys scored the highest in class!" Laura then ran off to tell the other students the news.
"Yay! We got the highest in class!" Tori exclaimed, opening her arms for a hug from Jade. Jade raised an eyebrow in response, before checking TheSlap on her phone.
"What did we get?" Robbie asked Jade cautiously.
"4th place." Jade answered. "14 out of 20."
"Congratulations, guys." Beck smiled warmly, patted Tori on the shoulder and entwined his hand with Jade's. "Andre has some good news too."
"Oh yeah! I nearly forgot," Andre said sheepishly. "For the first time ever, I wrote a sad song that wasn't about love. Wanna come hear it?"
"Sure!" They all agreed, except for Jade, who just shrugged. Andre enthusiastically led the way to the music room.
[hallway]
"Here," Burf whispered, as he handed Rex to Sinjin. Rex had his hands tied behind his back and his mouth taped shut.
"Good. Where's Robbie?"
"Music room."
"Right. Make sure nobody knows about this. I've always wanted Rex to myself." Sinjin grinned evilly, and the two of them ran off in opposite directions.
Hey guys! Sorry I took so long to update, I was just really busy with exams and projects. You have permission to kill me ): Anyway I hoped you enjoyed it! The next chapter will hopefully be up by Wednesday (so you guys don't have to wait so long). Please review :D
(Oh by the way this fic is rated T, because there's going to be some minor swearing here and there.)
(And in case you didn't get the epilogue, basically Robbie forgot to take Rex back from Sinjin so Sinjin puppetnapped Rex because he's always wanted a puppet.)
Jess