A/N: I'm not American, so forgive me when it comes to American geography throughout the story. This chapter is kind of boring, but it connects everything together. Don't forget to rate and review! :)
Tori and Jade were about an hour and a half into their voyage, when the beams of sunshine radiating along the bleak roads began to fade into sombre darkness due to an overwhelming amount of clouds forming in the sky.
Tori bit her lip. "I think it's going to pour." she pointed out, looking up at the sky from her place at the passenger window.
Jade tilted her head. "Thank you, Catherine Obvious." she retorted, tightening her grip on the steering wheel.
Tori frowned, sliding down in her seat. To their expectation, the rain began to fall from the sky in a quick jolt, one drop by one. Jade drove smoothly on the freeway, accompanied by many other cars and transport trucks. Tori grew nervous for themselves from Jade's track record so far. They drove in uncomfortable silence for a collection of minutes. Tori, restless for something to pass the time, pulled out her Pear Phone from her pocket, opening up her screen.
As the sharp rain continuously poured down on their car, Tori scrolled through her feed on The Slap once again. Cat posted a picture of her and her brother eating cotton candy 15 minutes ago. Tori continued to scroll. Andre tweeted, If any of you see a North Ridge girl with my wallet, stop her!, half an hour ago. I guess Andre and Beck's double date was a bust, she thought.
Tori continued to scroll past practical Tweets and pictures from other people she followed, until she came across a post from Rex. He had retweeted a picture someone had posted an hour prior. Tori tapped on the image, enlarging it to her viewing pleasure. There, stood a digital image of Tori on the side of the road, holding her shirt up, exposing her flat stomach and Victoria Secret bra.
Oh, my God... she thought, running a shaky hand through her hair.
Tori's heart dropped into her stomach. She trembled with fear, looking to see how many people had noticed the Tweet. It had 146 retweets and 292 likes. Rex was one among the bunch. Tori clicked the profile of the person who posted the picture. To her surprise, it was Burf, Sinjin's best friend, who posted the picture. The caption read, I was on my way to the library when I saw Tori Vega flashing traffic! I can't believe I took a picture of a real girl!
Tori shook her head, exiting out of the application immediately. She opened her mouth, ready to confide in Jade for advice.
"Jade..." Tori gulped, shutting her eyes.
Jade groaned, massaging the right temple of her head. "What now?"
"I might have a...little...problem." she reported, pulling open the picture of herself once again.
"What? What did you screw up, now?" Jade snapped. She shook her head. "I knew we couldn't get to San Francisco without you doing something stupid."
"Hey!" Tori spoke, crossing her arms. "You didn't even know what I was going to say."
Jade smirked. "Well, I think I can make a pretty good prediction if most of the things you say are stupid, anyway."
Tori grew angrier with Jade. Was it not a few moments before that they were finally bonding without bickering? "Hey, priss, you're the one who invited me on this trip! Remember?"
"Shut up, Tori." Jade said, flat out. She flicked the windshield wiper switch on, watching as the wipers moved back and forth on the window covered in droplets of rain.
Tori huffed, crossing her legs. She did not bother to fight back with Jade. After a few seconds passed, Tori decided to try and break the news to Jade again.
"Jade..." Tori tried.
Jade frowned. "What?" she fumed.
"Someone took a picture of me." Tori mumbled, vaguely.
"A picture?" Jade questioned. "What kind of picture?"
Tori bit her lip, fidgeting with the jelly bracelet on her wrist. "A bad picture." she responded, her voice cracking.
"What do you mean 'a bad picture'?" Jade asked, slowly.
Tori unlocked her phone, once again, holding up the image of herself on The Slap for Jade to see. Jade's eyes darted to the glowing cell phone screen, widening when she saw the image.
"Oh." Jade stated, looking back to the road. She did not say a word.
"Well?" Tori asked. "What am I supposed to do now?" she slid the phone back into her tight pocket.
Jade shook her head. "Only you can screw up this bad, Vega." Jade teased, feeling the exterior coat of black nail polish on her thumb nail. "I just find it hillarious that Burf, of all people, was capable of something this hillarious!"
"It's not funny!" Tori protested, crossing her arms. She looked out the window at the speeding cars passing them by. The rain was not going to give out anytime soon. "My parents are going to kill me if they see that!" she whined, dropping her hands down to her thighs.
"And knowing Trina, they probably already have!" Jade chimed in, enthusiastically.
"Stop." Tori warned, looking distressed.
"Come on. I'm just trying to make light of a situation that you royally screwed up." Jade exclaimed, laughing to herself. "Think of it this way: you won't have to deal with your family until Sunday."
Tori exhaled sharply. "I guess you're right. But that picture needs to come down." she agreed, watching as the heavy rain begin to come down in thicker sheets.
"Why don't you, like, I don't know, text Burf to take it down?!" Jade grumbled.
Tori sneered. "I would, but I don't have Burf's number now that I had to get a new Pear Phone GX." she explained, pointing to her bright blue cell phone. Any one of her friends could remember the agrivating story behind her contemporary cell phone.
"Ugh, don't remind me of that." Jade groaned, searching the compartment next to her seat for her red Pear Phone. "Here. Just text him from my phone." Jade insisted, holding out her phone for Tori.
"You have Burf's cell phone number?" Tori asked, taking the phone from Jade's hand.
"I'm not proud of it. We had to work on a project together for Script Writing class and I guess I forgot to delete it until now." Jade explained, raising her eyebrows.
Tori nodded slightly, pulling up Burf's contact information. "Is there any certain way I should approach this?" Tori asked, showing Jade the 'New Message' screen.
Jade licked her dry lips. "I don't know. Just say something like, 'Why, hello Burf, it's me, Tori Vega, delete the picture of me and we can share a soda pop!'" Jade proclaimed in her classic Tori Vega impersonation voice.
"I don't talk like that." Tori retorted.
"Whatever. Just text him." Jade responded, stretching her arms, then yawning.
"Um..." Tori bit her lip. "How about, Hey, Burf! It's Tori. Can you please take down that pic of me from The Slap? Thanks!" Tori read aloud as she typed.
Jade rolled her eyes. "You're pathetic." she announced. She plucked her cell phone back from Tori's hand, keeping one hand on the steering wheel and one hand on her cell phone. She began to erase Tori's message, then typed her own, glancing back up at the road from time to time.
"Jade, keep your eyes on the road. Do you ever think to yourself, 'Hey, maybe this is the reason why my parents won't let me drive anywhere alone anymore.'?" Tori scolded, rhetorically.
"Calm down, Vega. I wouldn't be doing this in the first place if you couldn't just be a little more aggressive for once." Jade rebuked. "And, send!"
Tori took the phone back from Jade's hand and read the message out loud. "Hey, Burf! It's Tori, AKA, your worst nightmare. You better delete that picture off The Slap or Jade is going to be the reason why you'll be screaming in your sleep from now until your thirty. Love you!" Tori glared at Jade. "Really?"
"What?" Jade asked, shrugging her shoulders. "I thought it was pretty good."
"I think it's pretty threatening and illegal!" Tori countered. "He won't delete the picture for sure."
"Really?" Jade sneered. "Do me a favour, Tori. Check The Slap to see if your picture is gone."
Tori disregarded any other argument, shrugged, and checked The Slap for her picture. To her amazement, it was gone.
"Jade...it's-it's gone!" She rejoiced, showing Jade the screen.
"And you didn't believe me." Jade beamed, turning the car from the freeway onto another main road. They were a quarter of the way through Santa Barbara. Jade carefully drove the car through the pouring rain. "Burf is probably crying in his mother's arms as we speak."
"How do you do it? We barely texted him a minute ago." Tori asked in pure astonishment. She had to admit, she was pretty amazed. But, more so relieved. She prayed Trina did not see the picture before it was deleted.
Jade laughed at Tori's innocence, switching lanes. In that moment, elation was the only emotion that could be felt between each other. Tori thought it was incredible that the two could go from the state they were in fifteen minutes prior, to Jade saving her from an alarming situation. Maybe that will be our friendship forever, Tori thought, looking to Jade. Maybe it is just meant to be rocky.
When Tori thought their trip would be crystal clear from that point on, the engine of Jade's car began to sputter. The growl of the engine frightened Tori. "Um. Jade. Why is your car making that noise?" she asked, timidly. She looked to Jade and they exchanged glances.
"If I knew why it was making that noise, don't you think I would get it to stop?!" Jade stammered, trying to get the car to keep moving at a steady pace.
Tori and Jade felt the car begin to come to an involuntary hault. Jade put the best of her ability into pulling the car over onto the side of the main road they had just pulled onto. The car eventually came to a full stop, and Jade could not do anything to get it to start.
"I have a full tank of gas, why would the car just stop?" Jade questioned, unbuckling her seatbelt. She listened as the rain began to hit the car firmly as it was no longer in motion.
"Jade?" Tori asked.
"Yeah." Jade answered. She licked her lip.
"When was the last time you changed the oil in your car?" Tori inquired, craning her neck in Jade's direction.
"I don't know." Jade responded. "You're supposed to change the oil?"
"Oh, my God." Tori groaned, sinking down in her seat.