Ahhhhh! College life! Talk about a reality check! Super sorry for this very suckish update and sort-ish chapter, but just hear this now: UPDATES ARE GOING TO TAKE LONGER NOW THAT CLASSES HAVE STARTED! PLEASE BE PATIENT AND I'M SORRY FOR ANY FUTURE LONG DELAYS!

You're comments and reviews are as always greatly apprecitaed and wanted! Thanks to all who are still hanging in there with me and my crappy updates; you're all very understanding and greatly valued!

Disclaimer: Do not Victorious, blah, blah, blah, HOPE YOU ENJOY!

..:..

When I Look At You

Chapter 5 ~ Tuesday

Tori

Waking up for school on Tuesday morning, Tori Vega flowed through her usual routine of early morning procedures before stopping suddenly half way through the front door.

Trina yelled out from behind her and shoved her way around, grumbling about her sister the whole way in her conquest for their car, but Tori could have cared less.

She was going to see Beck today.

And Jade.

But mostly Beck.

She smiled at the thought of him then frowned as Jade bubbled her way back up.

The girl just couldn't stay down.

Snapping herself out of her daze Tori had to practically sprint down the front walk as Trina started the car and proceeded to back out, fully intending on leaving Tori behind.

Jade wasn't the only one who couldn't stay down.

Beck

How long had he been sitting in the car?

How long was Jade going to make him wait?

Could he just leave her?

He cocked his in thought before deciding against it; leaving Jade without a ride was the quickest way to a PDV.

A Public Display of Violence.

He was currently on her good side and would hate for all his ass kissing to go to waste. Ever since their Fro Yo outing yesterday and then their serious make out session – her doings, not his – he had been in her good graces for the rest of the evening.

And that was practically an Oylmpic sport in itself.

Reaching out to adjust his rear view mirror he caught a fleeting glimpse of his reflection and smiled as he reached up to finger the maroon colored shades atop his head.

Hopefully Tori would have some smiles to spare today.

Tori

Books slamming into place inside the locker easily drowned out her gentle humming as Tori continued to stack her weekend assignments back into their proper places. It wasn't until she was finished and clicked shut her locker that she saw Andre's beaming smile and mischevious look.

How had she missed him standing there?

"Hey!" She smiled, slinging her bag over her shoulder to give him a quick hug, "How was your weekend?" He merely shook his head and hugged her back.

"I never made it."

"What? Why?" Andre merely laughed at the evident shock on her face.

"Nina's grandma ended up in the hospital, so we agreed to hook up later."

"Aw, well I'm really sorry; I know you were looking forward to spending time together." Andre just shrugged and looked around, almost as if looking for someone.

"It's all cool; we both understood what needed to be done."

"Oh…" Tori wasn't quite sure how to respond to that, so instead gave him a small smack on the arm, "If you were here all weekend then why didn't you call? We could have done something!" At this Andre stopped looking around and fixed her with a Cheshire grin.

She felt her eyebrow rise in confusion.

"Well I would have called," the boy next to her started, "but it seemed like you got on just fine without me." His smile only grew wider as Tori's confusion grew larger.

"Huh?" She found herself asking dumbly, clearly not understanding his words which only caused him to laugh more.

"Here," He said quickly, his hand plunging down into his pocket to grab his phone, "you'll like this!" She watched as he quickly messed around with the screen before thrusting the small device right in her face, her eyes taking a few seconds to adjust to image before her.

She felt her throat go dry.

"How'd you get that…?" She asked quietly, her wide eyes glued to the screen.

"I see things." Was his smart ass response.

In pixilated glory right before her was a picture of her and Beck at the beach, his arms around her middle and holding her in place as a wave crashed behind them. They were both laughing and smiling, their actions far more intimate looking than they should for two simple friends.

"I think this one is my favorite!" Andre smiled as he pulled the phone away to scroll to another photo before presenting it back to her face.

This one was of them at the movie place where they were getting DVDs to watch. Tori was in her own aisle while Beck was in his, though instead of looking at movies, he was looking up at her from across the top of the rack, a large smile on his face.

She swallowed hard.

"So when were you two going to tell me you two hooked up? And when did Jade dump him?" Andre asked smugly as he pulled the phone away once more to tamper with the screen.

Tori blinked a few times before regaining her senses and looking up to find Andre still distracted by his phone.

"She didn't…" Tori said evenly, her voice causing Andre to quickly look back up.

"She didn't?"

"No." Tori shook her head.

"…oh…" The shock couldn't have been clearer on his face.

"Yeah."

"So you two…?"

"Yes."

"No.

"Yes."

"No!"

"Yes!"

"No! You two were together the whole weekend and she didn't even know?" Tori smacked her face in frustration before slumping back into her locker, Andre's incredulous look glued to her.

"Jade was gone for the weekend so Beck sought me out and we hung out. It's no big deal." She seemingly tried to convince herself.

"No big deal? Girl you wanna see these pictures again?" His hand moving once more for his pocket caused Tori's arm to shoot out and grab his wrist, her blood suddenly pumping in her veins.

"No, no!" She practically whispered. "I saw them just fine the first time!"

"You in some deep doo doo if Jade ever finds out."

"No, really?"

"Hey, I'm just watching out for you; I really don't want to attend your funeral at such a young age!" Tori smiled weakly but even Andre's playful teasing couldn't keep the fear from rising inside her. Sighing, she allowed her head to fall back against the locker and closed her eyes in concentration.

This whole thing was really just nothing; her and Beck were just two friends who hung out over the weekend.

Simple as that.

End of story.

No sequels planned.

"I do really like the beach one, too, though." Andre said, pulling her from her thoughts. She looked up incredulously at him though he just merely shrugged, his phone once again in his hand. She was about to say something to him as he flipped to the next one when a sight beyond his shoulder made her freeze.

"What beach one?" Jade asked as she stepped up behind the unsuspecting boy and Beck smiled at her from even farther behind.

Tori's wide gaze briefly met Andre's and the two just stared at each other, neither moving an inch. It wasn't until Jade tried to reach around and grab his phone that Tori finally functioned and reached out and snatched it before the other girl's pasty hand could even make contact. Whirling around on the spot she made a break for the main door, Andre's fumbling footsteps sounding a few feet behind.

She was definitely getting her morning workout.

Beck

Something was obviously up.

Tori and Andre were acting weird, or at least more so than usual.

Each avoided him like he was the sole carrier of the Black Plague.

They even gave Jade a wider berth than usual.

Yeah…something was up.

And cornering Andre in the library was probably the best time to find out why; especially when he was only an aisle over.

"Hey man!" Beck greeted as he rounded the end corner and caught the unsuspecting boy.

"Oh, Beck, hey!" Andre nodded, his voice pitched a few octaves higher; the sure sign that he was under distress.

"What'cha up to?" Beck asked oh-so casually as he leaned onto the shelf, effectively blocking the dread-locked boy's exit.

"Uh, nothing much. Getting some books for a research paper, that sort of stuff. You?"

"Just browsing, seeing what kind of new facts I can learn." Beck shrugged, his cool demeanor obviously getting the best of his friend.

"New facts, huh? Didn't pin you as one of those 'did you know…' kind of guys."

"I'm not really, I just like being in the loop so to speak; like to be up on current events."

"Oh."

"Yeah."

"How current?"

"Very current." Andre considerably gulped at this.

"And what you consider 'very current'?"

"This morning."

"Oh, really? What happened this morning?"

"I think you know; you were the one running away from me." Beck continued with another shrug, acting as if he could have really cared less.

"Oh!" Andre laughed suddenly, his body jerking in a way that was too animated to be real, "I had to go, cause my, uh, lunch was in, uh, Tori's car. I forgot it, so we ran together to get it. It's tuna day!" He laughed once more, his dreads bouncing with his movements.

"Oh really?" Beck asked, fake surprise evident in his voice as Andre just bobbed around in front of him.

He found it odd that for as long as he had known Andre the boy had never really lied or kept anything from him. The young musician really was a valued friend who Beck often sought out when he wanted some manly time or even a breather from Jade, but how he was acting now, all secretive and worked up, well that just wasn't him.

Whatever he didn't want Beck to know must have been big.

"Yeah, tuna day; gotta love them fish!" Beck smiled once more before finally deciding that flat out honesty was probably going to work the best; it always had in the past.

"Andre what's going on?" The boy across from him ceased all movements and averted his gaze to the floor, embarrassment evident on his face.

"Sorry man, but I'm doing what I think's best for everyone."

"What do you mean?"

"Here." Beck watched as Andre retrieved his phone and clicked around before showing him the screen, a picture of him and Tori at the beach making his insides heat up.

"How…" He asked before trailing off, his eyes still glued to the screen, "weren't you out of town this weekend?"

"My plans were cancelled."

"I know you have a secret girlfriend." He felt himself blurt before looking up to see Andre's shocked face.

"Dang it!" The other boy sighed as he shook his head.

"Now we're even." He grinned as he handed back Andre his phone who just shoved it forcibly back down into his pocket.

"How'd you find out?"

"Tori; she told me by accident."

"Yeah, uh huh, you two hung out all weekend; secrets were bound to pop out!" If it hadn't been for the smile on his face Beck would have sworn he was being serious.

"You keep them pictures to yourself you can go away whenever you want, no alibi needed."

"Deal." Andre said, thrusting his hand out for a shake in which Beck fully obliged.

"You two did look cute in that pic together, though." Beck just rolled his eyes as he turned to leave; class would be starting in a few minutes. Behind him Andre followed, a smug smile on his features.

"Just out of curiosity," he asked quickly, "if Jade wasn't in the picture, would you seriously get with Tori?"

"What do you mean?" Beck asked over his shoulder. "Did you see Jade anywhere in those pictures of yours?" At this Andre stopped dead in his tracks, his book falling from his hands.

Beck smiled as he continued on to class.

He sure as hell didn't see Jade anywhere.

Once again I'm sorry for the late update, but please keep in mind I'm back in school with a tight schedule so please bear with me! I'll try to post longer chapters, but I won't make any promises.

Many, many, MANY thanks for all the awesome reviews/comments, they're the ultimate pick-me-up when my days are suckish. Keep them coming, they're what I LOVE to get! Much love, Fluff~