Disclaimer: I do not own anyone or anything from Victorious. Also, the title of the story was inspired by Avril Lavigne's song Things I'll Never Say.

For those of you who read and reviewed the first chapter, your kind words were very much appreciated. Thank you!

Chapter Two

The next day, Tori stayed after school to help create the backdrop for a new play that was set to debut in three weeks. Auditions for the female roles took place yesterday, which Tori had purposely missed. Some time after the Platinum Music Awards, Tori got a small taste of the fame-filled life. A video of her performance gained over a million views on SplashFace, and Tori herself gained hundreds of new followers on her Slap page. The phone line at her house was constantly flooded with calls from various record companies and modeling agencies urgently requesting to speak with "Miss Tori Vega." She was an overnight sensation. Much to Tori's relief though, the initial surge of excitement had begun to die down and her life started to resume its normal pace. Becoming a pop sensation was still number one on her list; but she quickly realized that she was not quite ready for all the ravenous attention that came with it.

Tori was painting a portion of the backdrop for the play when she suddenly caught sight of a red-headed girl from the corner of her eye. She turned and saw Cat sweetly smiling up at her; in her arms was a bundle of clothing.

"Hi, Tori," Cat greeted. "We missed you at lunch today."

"Yeah, sorry," Tori said, mentally kicking herself. She hated lying to Cat. "I had to finish up some homework for Mr. Gradstein's class."

"That's okay. You didn't miss much. Just some really bad corndogs."

Looking to change the subject, Tori gestured to the clothes in Cat's hands. "Are those for the play?"

"Yeah," Cat replied, adjusting her load. "I found them in my brother's closet."

"Is he okay with you just taking his clothes like that?"

Cat shrugged innocently. "My mom said it was okay since he's away visiting his 'special' home."

Unsure of how to respond, Tori resorted to what she always did when Cat stopped making sense: she smiled and nodded.

"Did you audition for a part yesterday?"

"Yup!" Cat said excitedly. "But they're not assigning parts yet until all the auditions are done. The guys' auditions are going on now. I heard Beck did really good and might get the lead."

At the mention of Beck's name, Tori felt her heart flutter. She loathed herself for feeling this way. Tori opened her mouth to speak, but Cat was suddenly whisked away by another classmate, who led her to the costume bin. Left alone to ruminate in her reveries about Beck, Tori sighed, picked up the brush, and continued painting.

As Tori left the backstage of the black box theater, she pulled out her pear phone to check the time. Five o'clock on the dot. She noted the symbol on the top left corner that indicated an unread text message. The message was from her mother and it read: Tori, picking up anti-burn cream for Trina – might be late. Tori frowned. It was at times like this when she wished her driver's license would just magically fall from the sky, straight into her hands. Most of the students had already gone home, so the halls were eerily empty. Tori decided to make her way to her locker, but was suddenly stopped by an unexpected sight.

Beck, Tori thought as panic coursed through her veins. All week, she had managed to keep her distance from him, even sacrificing lunch time with her friends just to avoid him. She couldn't believe the crippling effect he had on her.

Tori gazed at him for a moment. He seemed unaware of her presence as he rearranged some books in his locker. Tori took a deep breath and attempted to regain her composure. She couldn't keep running away from him forever. Finally, she forced herself to move towards Beck and put on her friendliest face.

"Hey, Beck," Tori said, her voice trembling.

Slightly startled, Beck looked back to see Tori waving at him. Their eyes locked and Beck found himself catching his breath. It took all the will in his body to tear his gaze away from Tori's and focus it back on his books.

"Oh hey," he said nonchalantly. "Haven't seen you in a while."

Tori was taken aback when she detected the indifference in his voice "Um…yeah," she said with a reluctant smile. "I've been busy."

Without thinking, Beck retorted, "Busy avoiding me?"

Immediately, the air around them grew heavy and Beck wished he could take his words back. Though there was no malice in his voice, there was certainly an underlying tone of anger that took Tori by surprise. With a quiet sigh, Beck closed his locker and turned to face Tori.

"I'm sorry. I didn't–"

"No, I'm sorry," she interrupted. "You're right. I have been avoiding you."

Tori bit her lip and nervously fiddled with her hands. She had rehearsed this very moment in her head a million times over, what she would say, how she would say it. She even had the perfect monologue planned, down to the very tone and inflection she would use. But now, standing in front of Beck, with his deeply intense eyes upon her, Tori was at a loss for words.

In the end, all Tori could manage to say was, "Things have just been really weird between us lately."

Their eyes met in an unspoken understanding. This much was clear: too many things between them had been left unsaid. After the night of Tori's breakthrough performance, talk of the almost-kiss remained unspoken with the hope that it would simply be forgotten over time. The "situation" was going to be under control and they both believed that they would be able to continue their unassuming friendship as if nothing ever happened. But they couldn't have been more wrong. Soon, every brush of their hands meant something more, every gaze lasted a second too long, each hug became harder to break. For Tori, distance was the preferred plan of action to avoid doing something she would later regret.

Tori shifted uneasily as Beck took a step towards her. The intensity in his eyes seemed to have melted away, replaced instead by an apologetic expression.

"Look," he started, combing his hand through his hair. "I'm sorry about last week. I didn't mean to come on to you like that."

Tori shook her head sympathetically. "Beck, it's okay–"

"No, it's not okay," Beck said tersely. "Tori, the truth is…I like you. A lot."

Tori blinked, astonished. Surely, she had guessed at his feelings for her when he had leaned in both times to kiss her, but he never openly declared how he felt. Until now.

"But I know you're just looking out for Jade," he continued. "You're a great friend, Tori."

She smiled, deeply moved by Beck's sincerity.

"And I don't want to lose a great friend like you over some stupid kiss."

He held her gaze then, waiting, with the very same tenderness in his eyes that Tori had seen in their first almost-kiss. She was now faced with a critical decision. Telling Beck that she reciprocated his feelings could potentially hurt him more in the long run. As long as Jade was in the picture, Tori dared not cross over the boundaries of friendship. Not telling Beck, however, meant keeping her heart from taking a chance with someone who genuinely cared about her and appreciated her for who she was. A missed opportunity slipping from her hands. Already, she could feel her heart breaking.

"You're a good friend too, Beck," Tori said, trying to mask the sadness in her voice. "And I don't want anything to ruin our friendship either."

And there it was, said and done. There was no turning back now.

Beck and Tori smiled at each other hesitantly.

"So friends?" Beck said, holding out his hand.

"Friends," Tori replied, shaking his hand firmly.

All of a sudden, Beck pulled her into an unexpected embrace, wrapping his hands tightly around her waist. Caught off guard, Tori felt her whole body immediately tense up; but happy delirium quickly took over as she relaxed into Beck's embrace and wrapped her arms around his neck. She just about melted in the warmth of his strong arms. Just as they were pulling away, Tori's phone began to ring; the rhythmic tune echoed all around the empty hallway.

"Looks like my mom's here to pick me up," Tori said, silencing her phone.

Beck walked Tori outside, where they found Mrs. Vega's car parked by the curb.

Tori looked up at Beck and smiled. "So…I guess I'll see you tomorrow?"

Beck grinned boyishly and replied, "Yeah, I'll see you tomorrow."

With that, the two friends parted ways. As Tori was climbing into the car, she looked back at Beck and waved. It's better this way, Tori thought to herself as she watched the image of Beck grow smaller and smaller in the side-view mirror.

Don't worry Bori fans; the story is not quite finished. Stay tuned to see what happens! Please review!