Yeah, so, not quite sure what the hell happened here; there's just been so much stuff going on this kinda got placed on the backburner, so sorry for that!

There will probably be only 2 or 3 more chapters of this until it's over, so just read this: updates are pretty much fair game, I can't give any definites. Just check in regularly, that's all I ask!

***Thanks for all the awesome reviews and comments that are still coming in begging for more; I absolutely love that stuff, so keep it coming! ***

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When I Look At You

Chapter 6 ~ Wednesday

Tori

Thank god it was a Panini day, otherwise she would have screamed.

Though not an avid fan of the sandwich she had to admit that it was good enough to distract every other person in the school, which in itself was a blessing.

Who knew her savior was going to be edible!

Sighing, Tori leaned back against her locker as the rest of the student body rushed past and towards the cafeteria; there was bound to be a traffic jam somewhere along the line. Pressing even closer to the metal wall behind her she hugged her bag to her chest as even a few teachers scampered by, their orderly fashions completely thrown to the side in favor of a food crazed rush.

Now that was just ridiculous.

Looking both ways down the hall and main area of the school, she found herself alone and relished in the silence of it all.

Today was just not her day.

It had all pretty much started with Sikowitz's class; the madman having them do dramatic improv sketches with the opposing sex…and guess who her partner was.

Yup.

Beck.

That she could handle; it was their sketch that totally frosted her fruit loops.

Together they had to act out the gruesome tale of two lovers kept apart by their significant others who were both oblivious to their affair. They were required to hug, comfort, and even slow dance with each other across the stage.

Talk about irony.

It was only mere milliseconds after they were done that she excused herself from class with the complaints of cramps, too worked up to worry about the collective gasp from the class as she admitted her fake female problems. Sikowitz firmly shoo-ed her out of class as Andre sent her a sympathetic look, obvious concern on his face as she practically ran out the door.

She didn't stick around long enough to see how Beck reacted.

Ever since then, for at least the past hour or so, she paced back and forth through the main foyer of the school, her head whirling with thoughts at her current predicament.

She really was making too much out of this whole situation; assigning the greatest cosmic significance to the smallest thing that didn't even matter.

Shaking her head she sighed as the last few Panini fighters scrambled by before sliding down the lockers to ball up on the ground, knowing full well someone was bound to come across her.

Oh well.

She'd just tell them she was violently PMS-ing and they'd shoot off like a rocket, no doubt about it.

With the lie fresh and ready in her mind she listened as the official lunch bell sang out and classroom doors exploded open with the Panini lovers who couldn't make it free in time. Running a hand through her hair she watched the new swarm flutter pass before she was once again alone with the comfortable silence of the hall, something she had come to know as friend in her past hour of pacing trenches in the floor.

Resting her head forward on her knees she tried once again to figure out a way to get out of the problem she was in – if it could even be called that. Frowning, she sighed as she felt a presence slide down beside her and looked up, knowing it full well to be Andre coming to her rescue.

"Hey."

"Beck!" She exclaimed with confusion and shock evident on her face as she took in the easy grin of the dark haired boy.

"You weren't at the nurse's office or at lunch, so I figured I'd find you here." He said with a shrug, his grin growing wider at her still confused features.

"Beck…no; you…you can't be here." She said shaking her head and slapping a hand across her eyes as though not being able to see him would make him go away.

"And why is that? It's a free hallway." Of all the days he had to seek her out; why today?

"It's just not a good time right now."

"PMS?"

"No!" She exclaimed suddenly, tearing her hand away to look at him. "It's…it's…"

"Us?" He asked, his voice low and calm though slightly deafening in the stillness of the hall.

"Yes. It's us," She admitted, looking down to her fidgeting hands, "what are we doing? What's going on?" Beck sighed at this and seemingly collected his thoughts, his face twisted up into the same knot of unknowing-ness she knew hers to be in.

"We're friends," he eventually said, "very good friends who enjoy each other's company."

"Really?" She couldn't help herself as she turned to look at him, her face incredulous at his apparently simple response.

"Very good friends don't spend the entire holiday weekend together doing things like kissing and hand holding or falling asleep together in ways that aren't friend appropriate!" She snapped, the seriousness of the situation finally getting the best of her. Looking away she huffed, just as confused and bothered as she was before.

And Beck really wasn't helping.

"I admit we were a little bit more than friends this weekend, but hey, that's between us; our little secret." He tried to reason only to make her mood plummet even more.

"So now I'm just some little secret you can shove underneath your bed?"

"I didn—"

"No, I'm sorry, I just…" Beating her head back against the lockers she welcomed the distraction of pain. "We can't do this anymore." She finished quietly, too scared to look over and meet Beck's eyes.

"Do what?" God; couldn't he just drop it?

"This," she said bringing up a finger to point back and forth between them, "we can't do stuff like this anymore."

"Talk? We can't talk anymore?" Was it just her or did he sound genuinely hurt?

Averting her gaze she pushed and pulled her way up from the floor, slipping the worn leather strap of her school bag over her slumped shoulder.

"I…I don't trust myself around you." She said quietly, looking everywhere but him. "I don't want anything to happen that either one of us will regret; I don't want to affect your relationship. I know Jade and I aren't close, but I don't think I could live with myself if…if we did something that hurt her. I'm sorry Beck." She explained softly, trying her hardest to hide her trembling lips and watering eyes. Shaking her head she backed away slowly until finally turning around and quickening her pace as she neared the front exit, her hands flying out on either side to push open the double doors for her escape.

She didn't even bother to look back.

She knew her dark haired boy would still be sitting there, glowing in the afternoon sun.

Today just wasn't her day.

Beck

"And where have you been?" Jade questioned before he could even slump down beside her at the lunch table. Shaking his head he quickly pulled a lie together in his head, something she would obviously buy.

"Some Slap staffers wanted to interview me; something about an editorial."

"Really? I didn't know they were doing one on you!" Looking up and across the table Beck practically melted Robbie with his glare, the fro haired boy too shocked at this sudden action to even respond with his puppet. With the slightest twist of his head Beck signaled to just drop the conversation, something Andre obviously picked up on as he quickly distracted Robbie with some incessant chatter.

"They sure do love writing about you, but then again you are the best actor in school." Jade said with a nudge to his arm as she picked up the other uneaten half of her Panini and rotated it in her hands.

"Isn't this like the third time in four weeks?" She asked before biting in, her cheeks unattractively bulging out as she tried to consume as much as possible.

God she was a sandwich whore.

Shaking his head Beck shrugged as he picked at his own sushi tray, the various chunks of fish and rice no longer as appetizing as they had been when he bought them. Pushing them away he ran a hand through his hair and sighed, his cheeks puffing out at the action. Looking up he found Andre eyeing him from across the table, the boy still distracting Robbie from the larger issue at hand.

"You! Andrew!" Looking past the dread locked head before him Beck saw Trina's form slowly emerging from the mass of people packed lunch tables, her eyes focused in on Andre.

It was amazing how she still couldn't get his name right.

"It's Andre." The boy in question stated as he turned to meet Tori's sister.

"Whatever!" She snapped, waving him off with a flick of her hand. "I need a ride home; I refuse to take the bus."

"Why? You have a car."

"Yeah, well, apparently not; Tori took it and left, you know why?" At this Andre turned slightly towards Beck, an eyebrow quirked slightly in question.

"She left before lunch," He lied smoothly, "something about cramps or some other female problem."

"Great! She couldn't even tell me!" Trina huffed as she crossed her arms over her chest and looked expectantly at their lunch table as if expecting some kind of sympathy.

"Yeah, uh, sorry." Andre mumbled out as he turned back to his plate of pizza, most likely thinking she'd go away if ignored.

"No matter, you can give me a ride home. Bye!"

"Nobody likes you!" Jade yelled out after her though the words were wasted on the brunette as she forced through the masses of people. "God she's annoying." She added as she shook her head and continued to eat her lunch. Beck smiled weakly in agreement, completely aware of Andre's drilling gaze from across the table despite the fact he was trying his damndest to avoid him.

Minutes later the bell rang, effectively causing students to scatter for their next to last classes before the end of the day. Jade left her trash on the table for him to throw away as she reached up to give him a small nip on the lip, a gesture he only returned half heartedly.

Lagging behind he gathered his girlfriend's mess and fell in step with Andre as they made their way over to the trash bins and then out to the parking lot where they both continued to climb into Beck's car.

"So what really happened with Tori?" Andre asked as soon as they were out of the parking lot and well on their way into town

"She basically said we couldn't be friends anymore." He summarized, a frown tugging down his handsome features.

"That's it? No big or fiery explosions?" Andre asked incredulously from the passenger seat, watching his friend closely for any hidden facial messages.

"She just doesn't trust herself around me; doesn't want to hurt Jade."

"At least she's doing something about it; trying to fix it. You just keep messing around man, you need to make up your mind; you can't just keep floating around, ya know?" Andre reasoned, leaning forward as to better see Beck's face.

"I know, it's just I don't know what to do." The dark haired boy admitted with a shake of his head. "It's just a mess."

"Well let's start off with the simple stuff: do you still like Jade?" Beck's frown deepened at this as he stared out at the road, a look of deep concentration on his face.

"No…I don't think so."

"Well that isn't going to cut it, now is it?"

"No. I guess I don't anymore; we've just grown apart I guess. She wants a more physical relationship and I…well I'd like to sit down and talk every now and then."

"Good, so Jade's out." Andre said sitting back with an arm hanging out the window. "And now I can show you this." He continued as he pulled his phone from his pocket and messed with the screen. Seconds later he was holding it out for the driver to see, an unreadable expression on his face.

"What exactly am I looking at?" Beck questioned as he briefly squinted at the small screen before looking back towards the road.

"What you're looking is grounds for a break up."

"Really now?"

"Yes." At this Beck pulled off into a random gas station parking lot and pulled the phone from Andre's hand.

Examining the picture even closer he realized that what he was looking at was a picture of Jade with some unidentified stranger who had his arms wrapped around her waist. Her blue and black hair was pushed to the side as she looked up at the person behind her, a very un-Jadish smile on her face.

"Where'd you get this?" Beck questioned, looking up to meet Andre's still unreadable expression.

"A friend of mine sent it to me last night; they were at some party over the weekend and saw Jade there with their cousin. I don't know who that guy is, but apparently he knows Jade pretty well."

"So you don't know who this guy is at all?" He continued to question, pointing at the screen for emphasis.

"No clue," was the honest reply, "all I do know is that he's supposed to be coming down to visit some family today."

"Huh." Beck mumbled as he handed the small cellular device back to his friend, an odd little smile on his face as a plan formulated in his mind.

"Guess I'll see if Jade wants to go to a movie tonight." He grinned as he looked over to his partner in crime still shaking his head in disbelief at his words.

"Most guys would freak if their girl was caught cheating on him." The dread locked boy stated as he quirked his eyebrows in disbelief.

"Well you forget; I'm not most guys." Beck's grin deepened as he started the car and backed out, directing them back towards the school. "When you've suffered through as much hell as I have you'd do anything to get rid of the devil himself."

Andre only laughed as Beck pulled on his rhinestone encrusted shades and relaxed in his seat.

That bitch was going down.

Thanks again for all the reviews and comments still coming in; I love opening a full mailbox! You all are greatly appreciated and definitely keep me on my toes! ~ Much love, Fluff ;)