A/N: Hey. Yeah... remember when I said I'd publish every day? So last night, I got a random visit from a friend here, so I kind of stayed out pretty late. Sorry about that. If I have time after work tonight, I'll post twice today.
Quick shoutouts: I'm reading a few fics (I need to review them because they're awesome) and wanted to suggest them to you. Too lazy to look up the titles, but the authors are Flamekat, sshaw101, Jmags-WriterofAwesomeness, and morecupcakesplz. Check out their profiles and read their most recent fics. To you four, I will have a review for your stories soon!
The weekend wasn't a pleasant one. The girls avoided the boys, and the boys avoided the girls. Not everyone was fighting – for now – it was just easier to avoid the other person for the sake of a friend's emotional break down.
Tori and Cat stayed in their cabin for the most part. They weren't technically comforting Jade, they just knew she didn't want to be completely alone. The only times they'd leave were for meals and if Jade were to cry. Cat couldn't listen to her best friend's heartbreaking sobs, nor did Tori know what to do. So the two would simply let her be.
On the other side, Robbie and Andre tried to distract Beck. They took him for a hike, they rowed a canoe, and they tried a lot of energy-exerted tasks, because they knew Beck would vent well that way. Beck would barely say a word, but he'd exert all his strength to whatever activity Andre and Robbie invited him to do that day.
Andre was still thinking about Tori and the secret that she's keeping form him. He started to doubt many things, that maybe it was something he did that she was keeping from him. But after thinking long and hard, he concluded that he had done nothing to anger her. So he was always going back to square one figuring out this secret of hers.
Tori, on the other hand, was drowning in guilt. Throughout the weekend, she would take a quick phone call or meet with Kojak when she and Cat left the cabin for lunch. Kojak was at this point drawing up a contract and urging Tori to take a look at it and hopefully sign it. But in the back of her mind, Andre was in there, and she still could not surely sign anything.
Robbie was internally sorting out his feelings for Cat. He reflected back on how lately they've been extra friendly and many people are mistaking them as a couple, their grandmothers included. He thought back on what Sinjin and Freddie had told him, what he'd been noticing, and that Andre and Beck had noticed too. He thought back on the CowWow, the song he sung, all the moments they had this year and years back. He was confused, and scared, and yearning for a solution to his feelings.
Cat witnessed her worse nightmare in the form of her best friends. She thought back to the night she and Tori had a brief chat, that it might have something to do with Tori's future, and how it's affecting Tori and Andre's friendship. That scared Cat. She would die without Robbie by her side. He was her best friend. Then she saw how Beck was worried about his future and how vulnerable Jade became in the face of the future of their relationship. How one minute they were a couple, the next they were arguing, and then they broke up. Jade cried buckets because she dumped her best friend and the love of her life. This was what Cat feared the most. She didn't know if she could handle heartbreak. Especially from Robbie.
It was the final Monday of camp and Lane, along with other staff, had to leave the campgrounds for the majority of the day to purchase materials and food for the Final Curtain. Leaving Sikowitz and his students in charge. That week, a majority of everyone's time would be spent preparing for their performances. There were four performances by the freshmen and one final number by Sikowitz's favorite kids. At around Dinnertime, Sikowitz decided to have a group workshop with everyone in the main hall. He figured the freshmen had gone through three weeks of intense workshops, that they might have had more questions to ask the gang before the end of camp.
There was obvious awkward air between the six friends, something even Sinjin and Burf could sense. Still, they were started off civil in front of the freshmen.
"Good evening children. We hope you've had a great workshop at camp these past few weeks. This week will be all about rehearsing for the Final Curtain. Now, this will be one of your final chances to ask questions to our staff. They've grasped the opportunities and resources at Hollywood Arts more than anyone I've met so take advantage of asking them questions about the school, performances, etcetera."
His six students took seats center stage. Beck was on one end, following Andre, Robbie, Tori, Cat, and Jade on the opposite end.
"OK, so who has a question?" Robbie asked.
A kid in the back raised their hand. He was a lanky kid with bottle cap glasses.
"Um, s-say you're n-not really a confident person. It's because people see you so d-differently. Especially at an Arts school, individuality is an important t-thing. How do people who aren't as in the 'in crowd' fit in?"
"Story of my life," Sinjin said standing in the back with Sikowitz and Burf.
"Uh, well," Robbie started. This question, in all honesty, probably triggered Robbie, Jade and Cat the most, since they were pretty different from the typical musical, pop star and actor of friends Tori, Andre and Beck were. "If you are comfortable in your own skin, there shouldn't be any reason you should be ashamed or embarrassed of yourself."
"Yeah, I mean, Robbie's a nerd, but he's a friend, so we hangout with him," Andre stated.
"Thanks man," Robbie emotionlessly said. The 'nerd' part didn't really make him smile, but he appreciated the thought. Robbie sat back down.
"Nerds are cool, hehe," Cat commented.
"Yeah, especially puppet boy, huh?" Jade smirked. Cat turned red. "Look, I'm not the nicest person in the world…"
"Uhuh."
"Oh yeah."
"Yup."
Jade glared at Tori, Andre and Beck.
"But I'm doing what I love at Hollywood Arts, and I'm accepted by it. So deal with it."
"And I'm just happy all the time," Cat chimed in.
"Sadly, this perky redhead is probably my polar opposite, but we're accepted because of our talents."
"Yeah, I mean, normal's boring," Andre said.
"And so is easy. Easy's boring," Beck added.
"Just be you. Let your individuality show. That's why you got accepted into Hollywood Arts, right?" Tori asked them. The kids nodded, a sigh of relief spread across the room.
Another kid shot their hand up.
"So, what do you do about stage fright?"
"Don't have any," Jade bluntly stated.
"Great advice Jade," Beck sarcastically commented.
She shot him a dirty look.
"If you've got stage fright, think of a happy place!" Cat said.
"Or focus on someone or something in the room to calm you down," Robbie said.
"If you're acting, make believe that your character doesn't have stage fright. That's good acting," Beck mentioned.
"Just get lost in the music, and all your worries will disappear," Andre added.
"If you're singing a song that means a lot to you, don't be afraid to express yourself. Just think how much it'd mean for someone to hear a song that can inspire them too," Tori said.
"And if all else fails, be confident, make believe you're not scared. Like I said, don't have stage fright, don't even think about it," Jade concluded. "Next question."
A kid in the front row, who had been observing their behavior, raised her hand.
"This question is for all of you. What about friendship?"
They fell silent.
"What about it?" Cat innocently asked.
"Like… has it affected your dreams, how important is it? I mean, you guys must be friends, right?"
"On good days," Jade shrugged.
"Well," Tori started. "We are friends, to answer that question. And our friendship is very important to each one of us in our own ways."
Andre scoffed. Tori heard and turned around, giving him a confused stare.
"Yes, Andre?" she asked.
"Exactly how important is friendship to you, Tori?" he put her on the spot light.
"Very," she told him. "So much that I care more about my friends' feelings than my own."
"Oh really?" Jade butted in. "So much that you have to lie to not hurt feelings?"
"Yeah, maybe it's better that way. So your friends won't have to hear it and get hurt," Beck chimed in.
"Since when did you start defending Tori?"
"Nothing, I'm just saying," he defended himself.
"Jade," Cat whimpered. Jade slightly backed off.
"Well, what's so bad about telling the truth?" Robbie said out of nowhere.
"What?" Cat turned to him.
"Why do we have to pretend the truth isn't there when it is?"
"Yeah, Shapiro's right," Jade admitted. "Did I just say that?"
"No, you're right, Jade. Robbie has a point," Andre added.
"Who said anything about pretending?" Tori asked.
"Pretending, white lies, excuses- they're all the same," Jade claimed.
"But that's not fair, what if we do that to protect the people we care about?" Beck said.
"Like I've said to Vega before, how is the truth not fair?" Jade posed.
"What if we care too much about our relationships to do anything to affect it?" Cat said.
"I think that's a pathetic excuse," Robbie chimed in.
Andre and Jade smiled at Robbie for being so confident as well as agreeing with him.
"Robbie?!" Cat was offended.
"If friends really cared about each other, they would just be honest, I mean you'd work it out, wouldn't you?"
"Yeah, what Robbie said," Jade smugly grinned.
"That's what's up," Andre agreed.
"Can't you see that the decisions some of us have to make are a hundred times harder because we care about the people we love?" Beck said.
"If you love someone so much it shouldn't be hard to make any decisions."
"But this is our future we're talking about, it's tough," Tori sighed.
"Tough on you or your friends?" Andre speculated.
"Both!" Cat shrieked.
"Ahem!" Sinjin cleared his throat. They realized they were indirectly arguing in front of everyone. "What they're trying to say is that friendship is hard in the Arts, but get some genuine friends and you'll work it through the good and the bad." He emphasized the last part on his friends.
"Uh, we have time for one more question," Sikowitz hoped it wouldn't be a bad question.
"Friends seem like easier people to deal with than family. So how do we deal with that?" a kid asked.
"Well some family are very supportive," Andre said. He was probably the only one between all his friends who had a completely supportive family. The others had at least one family member who disapproved or tried up-showing them.
"And some are not so supportive," Robbie added.
"How do you deal with that?" another student asked.
"You don't. You just become a spotlight hogging stage gank," Jade said. "You up-show everyone, even a sibling who, not to mention, was one of the reasons for you attending this school," she slowly turned her head and glared at a particular brunette.
"Whoa, Jade defending Trina, that's not something you see everyday," Andre told Robbie; they both nodded.
"Who said anything about hogging the spotlight? Maybe the reason why some family members disapprove our dreams is because we're just plain ganks in general," Tori backfired.
Jade stood up, as did Tori. Cat was caught in between and shot up from her seat and squealed, being the only wall between the two.
"Oh," Robbie shot up.
"Hey," Andre tried distracting the audience.
"Uh well, I think what we're trying to say is, supportive or not, if you have at least one person being supportive of your dreams – like a teacher or a family member or a friend – then you'll be ok," Beck concluded.
"Well I think that's all the time we have tonight. You kids can use the theater until ten tonight then lights out. Tomorrow is a free day, but I suggest you use it to rehearse for Saturday. Goodnight."
Sikowitz dismissed everyone, not before having Sinjin and Burf telling the gang to stay behind. It took all of 10 minutes, after some asked Sikowitz quick questions and others goofed off on the grand piano before he got all the freshmen to leave. Sinjin and Burf were stacking chairs and fixing tables, as did the rest of the six, neither one of them daring to speak a word to each other. Sikowitz shut the door and rubbed his balding head before turning around to face them.
"Tori, Andre, Jade, Beck, Cat and Robbie." The six of them stopped what they were doing and faced their teacher, not bothering to gather close to him. He noticed they didn't budge and frustration grew inside.
"Can someone tell me what the helicopter is going on?"
"What are you talking about?" Robbie shrugged.
"What is going on with you kids?"
"Nothing, why?" Cat said.
"Oh really?" their teacher wasn't convinced. "I have never seen you kids so upset since Tori acted like a Diva during the platinum music awards."
"She's still a diva to me," Jade snarled.
Tori glared at her.
"She's not the only diva," Beck started.
"Excuse me?!" Jade was appalled.
"Now's not the time for your chizz," Andre stopped them.
"Well whatever the beef you kids have between each other, I suggest you cook it up and eat it before you make fool out of yourselves," he scolded them. They've never seen Sikowitz this upset before… genuinely upset that is.
"Sinjin, Burf, you're dismissed for the night," he told the two boys before turning to the group. "You kids are on clean up duty. Goodnight."
A/N: Song title - The Joke Is On You - Well that Q & A pretty much backfired on them. Guess what the next chapter will be?