I may seem crazy
Or painfully shy
And these scars wouldn't be so hidden
If you would just look me in the eye
I feel alone here and cold here
Though I don't want to die
But the only anesthetic that makes me feel anything kills inside
Her room was exactly as she had remembered from her childhood. Walking in Victoria looked around her old sanctuary, clutching her luggage by her side. She scrunched her eyes in wonder as she looked about the room; one bed, drawer, closet, rocking chair and one huge window with white pressed curtains. Her eyes landed on her old Britney poster that was right above her bed, in the days before the pop star shaved her head and looked like a grandmother on X Factor, Victoria adored her. Walking over she sluggishly sat on her bed, she ran her hands over the soft bed sheets before dropping back on her bed. Her eyes look up at the white ceiling, she sighed heavily as she folded her hands across her stomach. She missed her old room, she missed Los Angles, she missed her friends and the way things used to be before…
Closing her eyes she counted back from a hundred, hopefully when she opened her eyes she would be back in her old life.
(x)
The smell of lasagna stung the air and overwhelmed her. Cheese and pepper filled her nostrils and her stomach grumbled in need. Walking across the hall she tapped on Trina's door. In a matter of seconds the bedroom door flung open. Trina stood in sweats and a t-shirt, with a hot iron in her hands. Her eyebrows shot up in wonder, "What?" she asked.
"It smells like Christina made us some dinner," Victoria said.
"Okay, I'll be down in a second." Trina nodded before closing the door.
Rolling her eyes Victoria made her way down the hall, stairs and then finally into the dinning room. Christina sat at the tip of the wide brown table; in the middle was the lasagna along with two plates, spoons and forks on each side of the table. Looking up from her plate Christina smiled.
"Dinners ready." She said.
Tori nodded her head and walked over to one of the seats, leaning over she picked up a plate, cut a slice of lasagna, placed it on her plate and sat down. She looked down at the melted cheese and meat and began to pick at the food. It was delicious, every spice, taste, was brilliant.
"Wow, this is amazing." Victoria said, swallowing.
"Thank you Tori. It's your mother's favorite dish,"
Tori crinkled her nose, "Really?"
"Yeah, your grandmother, my mom, used to make lasagna all the time, Eliza loved it."
Victoria grinned at her aunt as she continued to eat. Not long after Trina came in wearing hot pink pajamas, her hair was straight and was left hanging along her shoulders. Quickly Trina served herself and sat down. As the girls ate Christina finished up her plate and then pulled out a piece of paper.
"Alright girls, tomorrow is your first day at Greywood High. It's been a while since your last visit here so I took the liberty of writing down the address and directions. The school is just a few miles away. Both of you are already registered so all you have to do is pick up your schedules at the main office. Classes start at eight…" Christina said as she placed the paper next to Trina. "Well I'm exhausted. Night girls, don't forget to clean your dishes." And with that said Christina stood up, took her plate and left.
Trina and Tori exchanged looks of contentment before they resumed eating. They stayed silent, not much was left to say. And then before Tori knew it, she was washing her dish and heading to her bedroom. On the way to her room Tori stopped and turned her head to look at one of the pictures that ran along the stairway wall. It was her mother and her aunt Christina, they were young, along the lines of ten or twelve, she and Trina looked so much like them when they were young. Round races, olive toned skin and short brown hair around the shoulders. They sat down in front of the Vega house, behind them stood her grandparents. It was a nice family portrait, black and white and old looking, as if the pictures had been taken ages ago. Maybe it was…
Looking one last time at her mother's youthful face, she walked up to her room. Closing the door behind her, she went and laid down on her bed. She didn't realize how tired she had been until she laid across her soft cotton sheets, sleepiness overtook her and her eyes fluttered closed, soon after everything went black.
(-)
The ride to school was a quiet one, the morning had been dull and rainy, she even forgot to eat breakfast before her and Trina took off to school. Tori looked up at the somber clouds and sighed; she took out her ipod from her sweater pocked and plugged in the headphones into her ears. Closing her eyes she pressed play and allowed Ed Sheeran to take her away.
She was wearing dark jeans, boots and a long sleeve cream colored shirt. Nothing too flashy, just comfortable, her hair was pulled into a high pony and the only jewelry she wore were small studs on each ear. Unlike Trina, who wore jeans, lacy shirt, with her hair down and black stiletto heels to match. Not even the rain couldn't keep Trina from looking flashy on her first day in a new school.
Trees after trees passed as they rode to school, it was seven thirty in the morning and Tori was still tired. As the car pulled around the woods she could see her new school come into clear view.
"Check it out; we're going to school in the woods. You think cell phone service here sucks?" Trina asked.
"I don't know; pull out your phone and check." Tori shrugged.
Trina did just that, she cursed as she saw the low bars.
"Well that's just great." Trina sighed as she turned into the school parking lot. Outside, some students hanged about their cars and stairs. As Trina parked a few people looked up from what they were doing and stared. Greywood was a small town; Tori figured they could all smell new meat a mile away. Pulling out her headphones she pulled down the zipper to her book bag and stuffed her ipod inside. Next to her Trina checked her makeup before grabbing her huge purse that contained her books from the backseat.
"Ready?" Trina asked.
"…As I'll ever be." Tori said.
(x)
The halls of Greywood were smooth and narrow, but the building itself was a huge maze, large enough to be a museum. Every turn was a different surprise, with its tall ceiling and windows that reached as fair as the lights on the ceiling. Tori found herself captivated by the school. The halls of Greywood reeked of life and exhilaration, with walls of glorious paintings and replicas of the finest art work of around the world. The lights in the halls were dim, like they held a certain mystery of what happened in each room. Some staircases consisted of spiral stairs, and the floors were made of shiny black marble. Papers covered the bulletins, newsletters and flyers of the latest town events hung up. Walking around Tori's eyes looked about in awe, everything here was beautiful. Passing the endless student body, Tori found herself lost. She looked around and saw that Trina was no where in sight.
Crap! Tori thought. Biting her bottom lip she looked around as people walked up and down the halls, no one seemed to notice her presence. Walking down the hall she wondered if she could find the office without getting lost, just then she felt a tap on her should.
Thank goodness!
Turning around she expected her sister with an annoyed look on her face, she wasn't expecting a small girl with long red hair pulled around her shoulders. Her face was sweet and warm, her lips a hazy pink color and her skin a nice delicate French coffee color. Her hair was red, like what you would imagine Ariel the little mermaid's hair would look like in real life. Her hands were on her hips and her face was consorted as if confused and relieved at the same time. Tori took a step back; she didn't know this girl though her face seemed so… familiar. For a second Tori forgot where she was and then remembering she was in fact lost, she smiled.
"Um, Hi I'm Tori Vega, I'm new here. I was wondering…do you know where the main office is?"
"Tori… is that short for Victoria?"
Tori scrunched her face.
"Uh… yeah, though I go by just Tori. I'm sorry, do I know you?" she asked.
The red head smiled and it was infectious, taking hold of Tori's hand she beamed. "I've been expecting you. I'm Cat; you're new here, right? From Los Angles, the office assigned me to be your tour guide for the day. I was just heading there now to pick you up; I bet you haven't gotten your schedule yet have you?"
Tori shook her head, staring down at their joined hands.
"Okay, cool. Come on, I'll show you to the office."
Cat pulled Tori along by the hand; she smiled at a few people along the way and greeted others. "So, Tori" Cat said, as if stretching the name to get a good feel of it, "What brings you to Greywood?" she asks.
"Uh… things weren't working out in Los Angles and with my parents so I moved back here. Back home."
"Oh. I'm sorry…how was the city life? That must have been exciting. I've been to LA a few times but it's not really my cup of sugar, too loud. I usually just visit to shop."
Victoria laughed lightly, "I guess it was nice, fast, everything was always fast pace in LA. There was so much to do and places to go; you could never get bored in LA."
Cat smirked, "You'll find out soon enough that you can never be bored in Greywood either."
Before Tori could ask her what she meant they were at the office. Walking in Tori got her class schedule together; Chemistry, English, Pre-Calculus, Home Room, Lunch, Italian, and Band. Tori looked around the office, hoping to see Trina somewhere. She didn't.
"Hey Cat," Tori asked walking out of the office, "Do you know who is guiding my sister? Her name is Trina."
"Yeah, both I and my friend Andre were picked to guide you both for the day. He must have taken off with her to her first period already."
"Oh." Tori nodded.
Just then the bell rang, first period had begun.
"Give me your schedule." Cat said, Tori handed over her class list to the red head.
Cat looked over it with a smile, "I figured they'd give you all the same classes as me, except for band." Cat said looking up at Tori, "What do you play?"
"Piano." Tori said, "I'm not very good at it but it's something I enjoy doing, like a hobby."
"That's so cool. You should play for me sometime."
"Yeah sometime… sure."
Cat giggled, "Well come on, first period has already began and you do not want Mr. G on your bad side the first day at a new school."
(x)
The day went by rather quickly, to Tori's satisfaction. She was still tired and Cat's enthusiasm was bit exhausting. She was sweet girl, sharp around the edges, but still sweet nevertheless, though it seemed as the classes passed on Tori couldn't concentrate on anything. And by the time that lunch rolled around, she couldn't be happier than to have two classes left. She didn't see Trina, not once throughout the day. Somehow, that bothered her; each face she saw was distant and unfamiliar to her. She closed her locker as Cat sprung forward to her. "Time for lunnnnnchhh." Cat laughed, singing the words. Taking Tori's hand once again, she took off to the lunchroom.
Walking into the huge lunchroom she found herself flabbergasted, this school in such a small town was built by artists. She was sure of it.
Just then she heard Cat squeal and drop her hand. In a flash the red head was jumping on a boy with glasses and crazy curly hair. Her legs and arms were wrapped around him and her lips were secured on his. Tori looked away blushing, Cat was so… public with her affections. Tori briefly wondered who he was.
Walking up to the mini food market Tori picked out a yogurt and banana, she wasn't really in the mood to eat but she thought some food could help the grumbles coming from her stomach.
Just behind her Cat walked up with her guy at toe.
"Tori, I'd like you to meet Robbie, Robbie this is Tori."
Tori held out her hand and shook it with his. "So you're Victoria." He said, his tone suggesting that he had heard of her for so long, too long.
"It's just Tori." Tori said, moving along the lunch line.
"Well hurray and get your food, our table is at the far end of the cafeteria." Cat smiled and with that she took Robbie's hand and fled.
Victoria paid for her food quickly and headed for the table. Walking through the people she tried to look out for her sister. Still, she was nowhere, until her eyes landed on the table where Cat, Robbie, Trina and some other guy, African American boy with an ipad on his lap, sat.
"Hey," Tori said, placing down her lunch on the table. "Trina I haven't seen you all day."
Tori said as she sat down. "I guess our schedules are different." Trina shrugged.
"So this is your sister, Tori?" The African American boy said, "Hey, I'm Andre." He said moving so he could shake her hand, Tori shook his back. "Yeah I'm Trina's sister."
"I heard a lot about you." Andre said, Tori looked up at Trina, "Did you?"
"Yeah, Trina told me about how wild you two were in LA." Andre said.
"LA, oh how I miss thy!" Robbie sang.
"Yeah, well those days are behind us." Tori said opening her yogurt.
"I take it Cat gave you a good first day?" Andre asked, looking over at Cat who was resting upon Robbie's arms, her head in the nook of his neck. His arms wrapped around her possessively.
"Yeah, it was… um it was a good first day." Tori said.
"Cool, cool." Andre said. "So what instrument do you play besides your voice?" he said.
Tori looked up at him in surprise, "How do you know I sing?" she asked.
"You shimmy off a vibe, there's something in your voice that tells me you sing." Andre said.
"Andres' good at spotting the musicians." Cat mumbled.
"Well, I'm not really a singer. I mean, I uh can sing, I just prefer not to. I play piano."
"That's awesome. So I'll be seeing you in Band with Robbie?"
Tori turned to Robbie, "What do you two play?"
"I play guitar, Andre over there plays the base and at times believes he's a good enough DJ." Robbie laughs.
Cat giggled.
"You laugh now but when I make it big you'll be sending my ass a remember me card." Andre says. It was Trina's turn to laugh.
"Okay, well I guess we'll see how good you are at Jade's party this Friday." Cat sighed. At this Robbie became rigid, almost stone like. Tori looked up at Trina, both confused.
"Who's Jade?" Tori asked.
Cat sat up in Robbie's lap. "Jade is my best friend, she couldn't make it to school today because she was sick. You'll meet her tomorrow, anyway she's throwing this party Friday at our mansion, and everyone in school is invited."
Tori didn't miss it when she heard, "Our"
"You two should come," Andre said.
"Yeah, it'll be an event to die for." Robbie said his voice almost sadistic.
Cat looked over at him with hurt eyes, she whispered in his ear, her voice too low for anyone to hear.
"We'll be there." Trina smiled, "Right Tori?"
Tori nodded as she looked away from Cat and Robbie. "Sure, can't wait."
(x)
When the day was over Tori couldn't be more relieved, she closed up her locker as she flung her book bag over her shoulder. Cat came up to her before she left.
"Did I make your first day bearable?" Cat asked.
"You did, thanks Cat, I'll see you tomorrow?" Tori said.
Cat flung her arms around her and hugged her close, "Yes! You will. We're going to be such good friends, I know it." Cat said, and with that she released Tori. Tori smiled as she waved goodbye and then walked out of school. Trina was already waiting in the car outside.
Climbing in Tori closed the car door then turned to Trina. "Well that was a good day." Trina said, "I think we're going to like it here."
"Yeah," Tori said, looking back at the building, she could see Cat climbing into a 56' black Impala. She couldn't make out the driver.
"Let's go home." Tori said.
And then with that Trina drove off.
(x)
"She's exactly the same. Her face, hair, everything, we've been waiting so long and now the wait is over." Cat smiled, looking over at the black haired goddess.
"Yes Cat, I believe the wait is finally over." Jade said, a smile spreading on her lips. Leaning over to Cat, she pulled the red head close and buried her face in her neck. Cat shivered as Jade inhaled, her eyes rolling back as Tori's scent overwhelmed her senses, "Delicious." Jade smiled before pecking Cat's neck and leaning back. Her hands gripped the wheel before her eyes took on the packs of student's leaving school.
"Did your hunting go well?" Cat asked.
"It was the best hunt of my life, kitten." And then Jade turned on the car and placed her foot on the gas. "Let's go home, I have a feeling there's a lot to discuss before I return to school tomorrow."
(x)
Tori walked out of her bathroom, she wore a snug t-shirt, it had belonged to her dad back in his high school days. Looking at herself in the mirror she brushed her hair before putting it up in a high pony. She smiled, she wanted this school year to be perfect, to be better, and with her eighteenth birthday only two months away she knew she was going to have a good experience now that she was back home. The pass was long gone and now all she had was her future to look forward to. She had her sister, her new friend Cat. All she had to do was smile and pretend everything was fine.
Pulling her hair to the side she turned around and looked over her shoulder at her birth mark. It was such an odd birth mark; it looked like a tattoo to anyone else, but somehow looking at it brought Victoria a peace of mind. Walking over to her bed she pulled the sheets back and laid down. Turning over to her bed lamp she clicked it off before pulling up her sheets and closing her eyes. Tomorrow didn't seem so bad.
Fun fact: Tori's school schedule is exactly my school schedule. Also the teachers in this story will be named after the teachers of all my classes in real life.
Next chapter we'll see Jade again! and Beck will be returning to us SOON, so be patient Bori shippers.
Btw anyone been catching up with Victorious? Ew Bade got back together. No comment, seriously, NONE.
Review please my lovelies.