Victorious Season 5:
Episode 1: Re-Auditions
The next morning, Tori's alarm clock went off, and it startled her so much, she sat up as soon as she heard it.
She didn't get a lot of sleep last night due to anticipating the day ahead, so she was feeling a bit drowsy. She rubbed her tired eyes and reached over to hit the button on her alarm.
When she removed her hand from it, her eyes widened as she realized. She had forgotten to set her clock to 6 instead of 6:30!
She jumped out of bed and swiftly brushed her teeth, showered and got dressed. But, by the time she had gotten downstairs, she saw that Trina was not in the house.
She ran out the front door to see her sister's car pulling away out of the neighborhood.
"Trina!" she called. But it was no use.
Crud! Tori thought to herself.
And she couldn't get a ride from her parents, as both were at work early this morning. It would've taken at least 20 minutes on foot and she'd definitely be late. Knowing that time was of the essence, Tori came to the decision that she had to take the bus to school.
After walking two blocks to the nearest bus stop, Tori checked her phone for the time. She had 15 minutes before class started.
THE SLAP MOBILE
TORI VEGA:
At the bus stop waiting. Slightly overslept. Trina left without me. My last year of high school begins today!
FEELING: Excited!
When the bus finally pulled up, Tori paid the riding fee, and went to the back to find a seat.
The rumors about riding the bus were true. There were some strange people on board. As Tori moved down the aisle, she caught a glance of some fat woman eating out of what appeared to be a jar of mayonnaise.
"Mine!" the woman barked, protectively holding the jar as though Tori's passing by was an attempt to snatch it.
Every time she saw an open seat, it was always next to someone doing weird things. One guy was talking to his parrot, another person slumbered while taking up both seats, and one guy had been clipping his toenails and stashing them away in his pocket. Everywhere else on the bus was full.
In the back, Tori finally saw an empty seat next to someone who didn't look like they belonged on a TV show for situational comedy.
He had short brown hair, brown eyes, a square chin and cheekbones. He looked about Tori's age, and was dressed in a black T shirt and dark blue pants. His backpack lay next to his feet, and he wore ear buds, watching a video on his phone.
"Excuse me?" Tori asked, getting his attention. He removed his left ear bud. "Do you mind if I sit here?"
He shrugged, replacing the bud in his ear. "It's all yours."
She smiled, put her bag down and sat in the seat next to the boy.
Her eyes surveyed the bus before they landed on what the guy had been watching on his PearPhone. After a moment, she recognized what the video was.
"Ooh, are you watching Miss Fire?" she asked.
The guy took out his ear bud again.
"Oh, yeah. It's a stupid movie, I know. But, Kate Williams is one of my favorite actresses."
Tori remembered when she and her friends worked as extras on that film after Beck Oliver landed a supporting role. Melinda Murray had originally been attached to portray the lead, but after she suffered a hand injury, she was taken off the project and replaced with Kate Williams; another very famous actress, yet much more pleasant to work with than Murray, who had been the cause of unrelenting controversy on the set.
"I met her once," Tori said.
"Oh, yeah?" the guy removed his other ear bud, turning to her.
"Yeah, I'm kind of an actress too."
"Kind of?"
"Well, I was in that movie as an extra."
"Oh. You're one of those people, huh?"
She wasn't sure what he meant by that.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"You know, those types that say they're actors, singers, artists, or whatever, but once you take a look at what they've done, if they've done anything at all, you find out that they're none of those things," the guy explained.
"Well, that's not the only movie I've been an extra in," Tori tried to defend herself.
"I don't think being cast as 'third crowd member on the left' really counts as acting."
Tori couldn't even think of how to respond. All she said was that she was an extra in a movie. The boy could see that she was getting a little upset now.
"Sorry. I'm not trying to be personal or anything. It's just, I've known a lot of people who've been extras in movies and all they ever talked about was getting to meet a certain actor, or being paid a lot of money, or how in a few years, their name will be up in lights," he continued. "You know how many of them actually became famous?"
Tori shrugged.
"A couple of them?" she asked hopefully.
"None of them."
"Oh."
"Yeah, most quit after they realized that Hollywood wasn't made to make them shine."
Those last three words were what affected Tori the most. Who was this kid?
"You sound a little bitter to me," she said.
"I'm not bitter. There are just tons of people that think because they were an extra in one movie, it'll help make them famous."
"Did I sound like I was bragging earlier? I'm sorry," Tori said in a defensive, caustic tone of voice.
"No. I'm just telling you that a lot of untalented people think-"
"So, now you're calling me 'untalented'?" she cut him off.
"I'm not calling you untalented, I'm just saying..." he began again.
"You're just saying that anyone who has a dream should just give up, because they won't make it anyway, right?"
"I didn't say th-"
"How do you know whether someone's talented or not? I'll bet you've never performed in front of a crowd of people in your life," Tori ranted.
"Oh, now look who's bitter," the guy said.
She certainly was. For the last three years, Tori had an optimistic look at how the industry was. She was sure that if anyone worked hard enough, they would at least have a shot at becoming a star. Now out of nowhere, this stranger, who'd probably 'never performed in front of a crowd' in his life was talking down to her. He was so annoying. Tori bet he couldn't sing either, and that he was just mad because he had no talent.
It took a second for Tori to notice when the bus came to a halt.
"Hollywood Arts," the driver said over the intercom.
"Sorry, this is my stop," the guy said.
He stood up and collected his belongings. He was already halfway down the isle, before Tori realized.
Hollywood Arts. No way.
Before she could say anything else, the boy was already off the bus. Tori picked up her bag and exited the vehicle. She hurried off, wanting to question that kid about what he was doing at a Performing Arts school, when he thought so little of the Performing Arts. Not to mention the fact that she'd never seen him at the school before. Why was she letting what he said bug her so much, anyway?
When she entered the building, he was nowhere to be seen. There were tons of kids in the main hallway; a lot of new faces. Papers were taped to the walls, which Tori knew were the lists of the first classes new and returning students were to report for first period.
It wasn't long before Tori heard a giggle that we all would recognize.
"Hi, Tori!"
She turned around and smiled, happy to see Cat Valentine walk towards her.
"Hi, Cat!" Tori said, embracing her.
Cat was one of the first person Tori met at Hollywood Arts. Adorable red hair and a cute face and petite figure, Cat was the sweetest thing ever. With a voice arguably better than Tori's, her singing could bring even Freddy Mercury to his knees. Sounds like a guy magnet, right? Yet, despite all of these good qualities, Cat was pretty ditzy.
She and Tori became good friends quickly. Of course they'd had their ups and downs in the past, but they loved each other like sisters.
"How was your summer?" Cat asked.
"Uneventful. And how was yours? Are you and that girl Sam still doing that babysitting thing?"
"Yeah! Last week, we babysat this kid who reminded me a lot of my brother."
"Like how?"
"Well, he tried to eat a -"
"Wait, don't tell me!" Tori held her hand up. "I don't wanna know."
Tori had already heard a lot of stories about the crazy things Cat's brother would do. She didn't want to now visualize a little kid doing something similar.
"What's up, Tori?" another familiar voice said from behind her.
"Andre!" she turned around and gave her other best friend a hug.
If anyone was to be thanked for Tori's transfer to Hollywood Arts, it was Andre Harris. With his encouragement and kindness, he had convinced her to attend the school. He had also written the song "Make it Shine" that she performed the night Trina's tongue inflated. Andre was just about Tori's closest friend, and the most talented musician she knew.
Accompanying him were the two other members of their group. Beck Oliver and Jade West. The former was smiling, the latter rarely ever did.
"Hey, Beck!" Tori said, giving him a quick hug.
"What's goin' on, Tori?"
When they broke apart, Tori absentmindedly almost embraced Jade.
"Try to hug me, and I swear I'll stab you," Jade said.
"Easy," Beck said, the expression on his face not changing in the slightest.
"Sorry," Tori said.
Beck and Jade had been in a relationship a little while before Tori transferred to Hollywood Arts. They broke up twice, and the second time seemed to be for good. Things were awkward for a while, but close to the end of last year, they got back together again.
Beck had always been friendly to Tori, but as far as her relationship with Jade went, they could best be described as "frenemies". There were huge tensions between them at the beginning, but they eventually grew to tolerate and respect each other. Sometimes.
"How was you guy's summer?" Tori asked them all.
They had all hung out over vacation a few times, though not as often as Tori would've liked.
"It's was fine," Beck replied. "I went to Maui for a couple of days."
"Aaaannd he didn't take me," Jade chimed in.
"You said you didn't want to go," Beck said without looking at her.
"That's not the point."
This time, he did turn to her.
"You really wanna do this today?" he asked.
"You could've said no to your parents," she said.
"They had already bought the tickets."
Beck and Jade's bickering was always a recurring thing. Usually they'd argue for a few minutes, and then just make up right before starting another argument.
"Geez, I'm sorry I asked," Tori said.
"One time, my parents were taking us to Hawaii, and my brother slept in and missed the flight," Cat added.
There was an awkward pause. The rest of them stood there waiting for the rest.
"He doesn't always end up doing something crazy," Cat said, looking slightly offended.
Hollywood Arts was exactly as Tori remembered it. The sight of the custom decorated lockers, the red and blue colored handrail on the stairs, the smell, the atmosphere, her friends. God, she loved this school. Everything made her feel right at home again, and thoughts of the guy on the bus had left her mind.
"So, listen, I already checked the list, and we're all in the same class with Sikowitz," Andre said.
"Where's Robbie?" Cat asked.
"He must already be in there," Beck replied.
The five minute bell rang. The students began scrambling to get to their first period.
"It's showtime," Tori said in a sing-song voice as she began backing up.
Splosh.
She backed up. Right into someone holding coffee, causing them to drop it on the floor.
"Oh, my God," Tori gasped. "I am so sorry."
"That's fine. It's okay," the much taller boy said.
"No, I wasn't looking where I was going, and..." Tori stopped when she looked up at him.
This guy was gorgeous. He looked more like he belonged at a magazine shoot than here at Hollywood Arts. He pretty much fit the description of tall, dark and handsome. His jet black hair was spiked, and he wore a leather jacket over a white T-shirt. He had captivating hazel eyes, and was taller than both Beck and Andre. Think Finn Hudson, NOT Edward Cullen.
"Wow, Tori," Jade said. "How many other guys are you gonna do that to at this school?"
Almost the exact same thing had happened when Tori first met Beck.
"I'm sorry, let me help you clean that up," Tori said as they both crouched down.
"We gotta go, Tori. We're gonna be late for class," Beck said.
"It's okay, go. I'll meet you guys in there."
Once her friends had gone, it was now only Tori and this new guy left in the hallway.
After she'd gone to the bathroom to get paper towels, Tori was trying her best to avoid staring at him as they wiped the floor clean.
The lack of conversation soon got to Tori, and she had to say something.
"So, I haven't seen you around here before. Is this your first day?" she asked.
"Um, yeah. I just transferred for my senior year. I'm Keefe," he said.
She shook his hand. "Tori."
"Are you a senior too?"
"Yeah. Been going here for two years," she replied as they stood up and threw the paper towels away.
"What are you here for?" Keefe asked.
"Singing and acting. You?"
"Music. It's weird, I didn't even find out I got accepted here before a couple days ago."
That was weird. Why would that have happened.
The bell rang once again.
"Oh, great. Guess we're late for class," Tori said.
"Ah, it's only the first day," Keefe said, adjusting his backpack on his shoulder. "Hey, could you show me where Mr. Sikowitz's class is? I was told I'm supposed to go there."
"Yeah. That's actually my first class, come on."
When they entered the classroom, it looked exactly the same. 20 some-odd seats sat in the front of the room and a small stage at the front. The teacher of the class, Erwin Sikowitz, had been in the middle of explaining something, before stopping to say:
"Tori Vega, you are late."
"Hey, Tori!" Robbie Shapiro smiled, turning from his seat to look at her. Tori gave him a wave.
"What's good, hot stuff?" Rex Powers "said" as he sat in Robbie's lap.
Robbie was an odd little fellow. He was nice enough, but he was definitely the underdog of the group with his socially awkward ways. What didn't help his situation was the fact that his best friend Rex was a puppet. Usually whenever Robbie had wanted to say something harsh, offensive, or even confident, it came out of Rex's mouth. It's strange, but most people play along and go with it. It's unclear as to just how real Robbie himself believes his dummy to be.
"Sorry, Sikowitz. I was just cleaning something up," Tori explained to the teacher.
"Anywhoodle," Sikowitz shrugged. "Let's get back to the topic of what's to become of the ten of you."
Tori noticed that in addition to her original class from last year, there were indeed ten new students. They all stood while the rest of the class sat. A few looked geeky and shy, others looked confident. In the midst was a particularly pretty blonde girl with green eyes, full lips and other delicate features. Her wardrobe was similar to Trina's.
What really caught Tori's eye though, was when she saw that the person standing near the blonde girl. It was the same kid who had been on the bus!
"Due to an error, none of your try outs were fully documented and processed," Sikowitz explained.
"What happened?" Keefe asked.
"Apparently one of the teachers didn't realize that the camera recording auditions had run out of tape before the last ten people had performed their pieces," Sikowitz said. "And the faculty didn't realize this until three days ago."
FLASHBACK
Three months ago, Sikowitz sat in the Hollywood Arts auditorium with a pen and paper. Being that it was the end of the school year, Sikowitz was trusted as the only faculty member to hold the remaining auditions for next year.
"Alright, get on with it. I'm human too, and frankly, I'd like to enjoy my summer vacation." he said aloud as a hopeful prepared his piece.
A few feet behind him, a video camera recorded the auditions. The LSD had given a warning about low tape. But Sikowitz didn't notice, because he was so out of it today, that he wasn't even taking notes.
END OF FLASHBACK
"I had nothing to do with it," Sikowitz told the class. "Now, onto my next point. The ten of you will meet in the auditorium at 3 o'clock this afternoon to re-audition."
Many of the ten new students groaned.
"Wait, if we're re-auditioning at 3, why were we told to come here this morning?" the guy who was on the bus asked.
"To give you all time to prepare your acts, of course," Sikowitz replied. "We apologize for the inconvenience. Tori, you will help Lane hold the auditions today."
Now all eyes were on Tori.
"Why me?" she asked.
Sikowitz shrugged. "I don't know. Because you were late. Because I don't feel like sitting through ten auditions again. Just think of this as detention."
Tori sighed.
THE SLAP MOBILE
TORI VEGA:
Holding re-auditions with Lane. Hard to decide which ones I like best.
FEELING: Indecisive.
By the time 3 o'clock rolled around, Tori was sitting inside the auditorium with a notepad. Next to her was Lane Alexander, the school guidance counselor. A few feet away from them, Sinjin Van Cleef operated and monitored the video camera.
Sinjin had been only little more than an acquaintance to Tori and her friends. Mostly he'd make awkward advances toward all of the girls before being either ignored, rejected, or chased away. He was basically the nerd of the school, as he was always called upon to solve any and all kinds of technical difficulties that arose when dealing with equipment.
Today, his job was helping Tori and Lane create records of the re-auditions.
Speaking of which, the first few were not very good. It made Tori feel pretty bad, but she was told specifically by Sikowitz that if she didn't think the performance was exceptional, she couldn't give the student a passing score.
Some of the auditions weren't too bad. Tori gave a pass to this one Freshman kid who had a pretty good singing voice. The smile and wink he had given to her before he left was a little creepy, though.
"Okay, next up is Dianna Chamberlain," Tori said.
The person who walked out onto the stage was the pretty blonde girl that Tori had seen in Sikowitz's class.
"Hi. My name is Dianna Chamberlain, and I'll be accepted into Hollywood Arts in a few minutes," she announced without even a hint of modesty.
"Nice attitude. Lovin' the confidence," Tori replied.
"Just sit back, relax and be wowed. I should warn you, I have the tendency to be overwhelming, so I'll hold back a little for ya."
Jeez. This girl kind of reminded Tori of Trina.
"Great," Tori said. "Wow me."
"Wow us," Sinjin said with a lack of enthusiasm.
And rather than being hammy and underwhelming as they expected, Tori and Sinjin were indeed wowed by this girl's talent. She had primarily been trying out for the Acting Department, but she'd decided to perform a scene from a musical in order to show off her acting, dancing, and singing abilities. Needless to say, she was right. She was accepted into Hollywood Arts in a matter of minutes.
After a couple more people were off the list, Tori had only two left. Keefe McCrady was the last one.
"Alex Hodgman. You're up," Lane announced.
When Alex went up on stage, Tori recognized him immediately. It was the boy from the bus again. She had to hold back the urge to ask him what he was doing here. He slightly smirked at her.
"My name is Alex Hodgman, and I'll be auditioning for the Acting Department here at Hollywood Arts," he said.
"U-Umm...The floor is yours," Tori said.
Alex turned around, sighed and wiggled his arms a bit to release some tension. Tori almost laughed. Was this how this kid got into character? She was pretty anxious to see this guy bomb this audition.
When he turned back around, Tori felt like she was looking at a whole new person. His demeanor had completely changed. His eyes looked sullen and disconnected.
"I-I can't do this," he said.
She knew it! The kid had frozen up! Right then and there, she wanted to say "Aha!" and gloat about how right she was about this kid. He was so transparent. No wonder he had - -
"They think I killed her," Alex said. "They actually think that I would murder my wife."
Where Tori thought the kid had developed stage fright was actually the moment when he had actually begun his audition.
It was a scene from the movie "The Manhunt", a film in which Harold Chevy's character is accused of murdering his wife and had gone on the run when the evidence was incriminating. Alex was acting out the scene where the character announced to his lawyer that he would not change his plea to guilty in order to duck the death penalty.
"She was my whole life. If I lie in the face of the circumstances of her death, I wouldn't only not be doing right by her, I wouldn't be doing right by myself."
A lot of people loved the movie for its ability to evoke powerful emotions and make people question the criminal justice system as well as their own morals.
"My wife was more important to me than the air I breathe," Alex went on. His eyes were welling up now.
He continued reciting the scene, bringing his own rendition into the piece. Steady tears were streaming down his cheeks during the culmination of the speech. His hands were visibly shaking and his conviction was all too real.
"If I have to testify again, I will proclaim again and again that I am positively, unequivocally, and inexorably, not guilty. My conscience is clear."
It wasn't for a moment that Tori realized that she herself had begun to cry as well. She was lost in the performance.
"Scene," Alex said, drying his eyes and regaining composure.
From behind her, Tori could hear Sinjin and Lane clapping and applauding.
"Thank you," Alex said before picking up his backpack and walking out of the auditorium.
Tori was left wide-eyed and bewildered.
"That was really good," Sinjin commented.
"It was great," Lane said.
Without even responding, Tori put down her notepad and ran out of the building.
"Tori, wait! The auditions aren't finished yet!" Lane called.
It was too late. She was already out the door.
"Hey!" she called when she caught up to Alex.
"Hey, what's up?" he asked.
His attitude had changed back. Tori recognized him as merely "just the boy from the bus" again.
"What you did in there; what was that?" Tori asked.
"Myyy...audition?" he asked quizzically.
"You were unbelievable!" she said with her arms spread; not smiling, astonished.
"Thanks."
"But, all the stuff you said on the bus, about acting and everything. I thought you looked down on that stuff."
"Look, all I meant was that people shouldn't go out wanting nothing but fame," he explained. "That's not what the business is about."
"You also mentioned that even people with talent never make it,"
"I didn't say they shouldn't at least try."
That was when he turned his back to her and resumed walking away, leaving Tori to ponder.
"Hey!" Keefe had now caught up to her. "I saw you leave the auditorium. Aren't you gonna watch my audition?"
It took Tori a second to snap out of it before she smiled and answered.
"Yeah," she said. "Show me what you've got."
As he'd said, Keefe auditioned for the Music Department. He played a few of Mozart's and Beethoven's pieces on his piano before busting out some sheet music that he'd written himself. Tori gave him a fervent pass.
Even though it was only the first day of school, Tori could already feel that her senior year was going to be a big one.