Still at lunch, Tori was sitting at her table after Jade had left. Beck was still waiting in line and the others were probably too. Jade's words and behavior would not leave Tori's mind. It did not surprise her that much that Jade was nice to her. Although it happened seldom, it still happened from time to time. What surprised her were Jade's words. Not only what she told Tori but how she told her all that. Her voice seemed so secure; so full of experience. She seemed to know exactly what was going on in Tori's head and what effect it had on her. It intrigued the half Latina only more. She wanted to know what Jade had been through. Tori suspected a few things already. She knew that Jade had issues with her family and despite the façade Jade put on, Tori also knew that Jade could be insecure at times. She had been on of the very few people who had seen there in that state.
Tori felt two arms wrap around her shoulder and lean her cheek on hers. Tori gasped out of surprise, but calmed down immediately afterwards. That already let her know who it was, as there was currently only one person that could calm her down like that.
"Hey Cat." Tori said, leaning back into the hug.
"Hi!" Cat said happily, dragging the "i" as always.
"I'm so glad you are here." Tori said, putting her hand on Cat's arm and giving it a light squeeze. Cat let her go and sat down next to her.
"Did something happen?" Cat asked.
"Quite a few things. I saw a part of Beck's memory, but not the whole one yet." Tori said, looking at the redhead who carefully listened.
"Was it bad?" Cat asked.
"I don't know. I have no idea what it could be." Tori said. She would not tell Cat the details and Cat knew that. It was something personal not even Tori is supposed to know, so telling it to other people was a no-no.
"I hope it isn't too bad." Cat said, looking concerned.
"I also talked to Jade." Tori said. Cat's eyes grew wide at that statement.
"T-Tori, I'm sorry. I..:" Cat stuttered, her voice and eyes filled with quilt. Tori told her everything in confidence, but Jade would just not let Cat get away without answers.
"It's okay. I'm not mad. I'm sure she somehow forced you to do so." Tori said. She also knew why Jade had told her. It wasn't that she wanted to throw Cat under the bus. Jade knew that Tori would add two and two together when she found out that Jade knew, and that would be the worst of all options.
"You are not mad at me?" Cat asked again. Tori shook her head no.
"No. You probably saved me from a difficult conversation I would have had in the future. And thank you for not telling her about the other thing. I don't know how she would have reacted to that." Tori said.
"I would never tell that. I only told her about your family issues, but I didn't go much into details, I swear." Cat said.
"I know." Tori said as she leaned to the side on Cat. "Why did you tell her in the first place?"
"Jade really wanted to know what happened and… I told her that I didn't know but she didn't believe me. She knows me too well, I guess." Cat said.
"I'm sure she does. You two are best friends, after all." Tori said. She saw Cat smile up a little.
"She is great when you get to know her better. She just… has problems when she needs to open up to others, that's all." Cat said.
"But why? What happened?" Tori asked.
"I'm not sure. I think it could be…" Cat began, but stopped when she got interrupted.
"Hello, ladies." Robbie said as he sat down on the table with his plate.
Tori wanted to hit him over the head with it right then. His timing was ridiculously good when it came to being at the right place at the wrong time. She was so close to finding out something important about Jade, and of course someone had to interrupt.
"Hi Robbie!" Cat greeted him happily as always.
"Is everything alright?" Robbie asked, looking at Tori. Tori had to hold herself back in order not to yell at her friend. Cat noticed her distress, and put her hand on Tori's under the table. She saw Tori's expression change as she relaxed. Tori calmed down immediately again. She was glad that Cat was there, because she would have lashed out at Robbie who actually didn't do anything wrong.
"Yeah, everything's fine." Tori said.
"Look, I need a favor from you." Robbie said.
"A favor?"
"Yes. I have an assignment to do until next week and I need someone to help me record a few things." Robbie said.
"What type of assignment?" Cat asked.
"I'm making a longer animation for Film Arts and this is my end project. If I do this right, I will have an A in that class." Robbie proudly said. "I've been working on it since the beginning of the semester, and I need you to do the voiceover for one of the characters. It's an hour or two of work at the most."
"Maybe I can do it?" Cat suggested. She knew that Tori was exhausted from everything that happened recently and needed to relax and rest.
"You already voice one of the characters. Did you forget?" Robbie asked.
"Oh. Yeah, I forgot." Cat said, remembering that she already gave her voice to the female protagonist.
"Tori, please. I really need your help." Robbie pleaded.
"Sure. I'll help you. We'll meet after school in the parking lot." Tori said.
"Thank you! Thank you so much!" Robbie said, a wide smile forming on his lips.
Beck walked over to the table, looking as annoyed as ever.
"What's up with you?" Robbie asked as Cat and Tori shifted their attention towards Beck.
"I waited fifteen minutes in that damn line only to find out that they are out of tacos and burgers. Talk about my luck." Beck said in an annoyed voice.
"Why don't you order something?" Cat asked.
"I would, but lunch is over in five minutes. Another three hours of classes with an empty stomach will be fun." Beck said, sarcasm pouring out of his voice.
The day went on as usually. Tori barely followed anything going on in classes and to her luck no teacher bothered her with any questions. She was lucky that her previous constant hard work had made her a favorite amongst them, which now came in as a blessing for her. She did not know what to think about anymore. What happened to her, what happened to Andre, Beck's memory, Robbie's memory and the irresistible wish to finally find out what had happened to Jade were too much for her right now. It were too many things that decided to occur in such a short amount of time. If it wasn't for Cat being able to calm her down like that, she would have gone crazy by now.
As soon as her last class had finished, Tori walked out of the classroom and out of Hollywood Arts. She made her way towards the parking lot, where she had left her car. She was so lost in her own thoughts that she hadn't even noticed someone standing next to her car. She jumped out of shock when she realized that Trina was standing next to her car.
"Trina! You scared the hell out of me!" Tori said, putting her hand on her chest while breathing heavily.
"Gosh, it's easy to scare you." Trina said, rolling her eyes.
"Are you finally back in school?" Tori asked, looking at her older sister.
"No, not yet. I don't want to deal with any of that yet." Trina said, looking down at her shoes to avoid Tori's stare.
"I understand." Tori said.
"Look, I need to borrow your car. I'll bring it back tomorrow." Trina said.
"What happened to your car?" Tori asked.
"It broke down again. It's in the garage and should be ready in a few days, but I really need the car for tonight." Trina explained.
"I need it too." Tori said.
"Tori, please!" Trina said, putting her hands together as if she was begging. Tori let out an annoyed groan before taking her car keys out of her pocket and throwing it towards Trina.
"Thanks! I'll bring it back tomorrow." Trina said as she unlocked the car and opened the driver's door.
"Don't leave any garbage!" Tori yelled as Trina started the engine and reversed out of the parking lot and sped off.
Tori let out a sigh as she looked around. She knew that she would have to walk back home from Robbie's now.
"Hey. I hope you haven't been waiting here for long." Robbie said as he walked towards Tori.
"No, I've just arrived here myself." Tori said.
"Are we going by car or?" Robbie asked, looking around.
"Trina took my car. We'll have to walk." Tori said.
"Don't worry. I don't live far from here." Robbie said.
They arrived at Robbie's place five minutes later. He unlocked the large, wooden door and motioned Tori to walk inside. She did so, looking around as she walked into the large living room. She stood in awe as she saw all the things the Shapiro's had in their living room. From books, expensive paintings to instruments, there wasn't a single item there that wouldn't make an artist jump out of joy.
"Like what you see?" Robbie asked, a smirk present on the edge of his lips.
"I would spend the rest of my life here if I could." Tori said as she walked around and looked closer at the books.
"Let's go upstairs before you drool on anything." Robbie said as he walked upstairs. Tori followed him and walked through the only open door. She stopped in her tracks to absorb her surroundings. Robbie's room was something you wouldn't even see in on television. The flat screen TV and the laptop weren't even the beginning. The large room was filled with a large bed, a couple of closets and multiple unique looking bookshelves and a large desk leaned on the side of the room next to the slide door that lead to his own balcony. To say that Robbie was well off was an understatement. What then caught her eye was a large board on the desk which was connected to the laptop. She saw the pens next to it and what looked like a two-fingered black glove next to it.
"I forgot, you've never been here." Robbie said as he lazily threw his bag on his bed and sat down next to the desk.
"What is that board?" Tori asked as she walked towards the desk.
"This, my dear Tori, is my animation board, the place where I spend most of my free time." Robbie said.
"Why didn't you tell anyone that you animate?" Tori asked.
"Cat and Beck already know, so I guessed that you others did too. What did you think I meant when I asked you to do the favor for me?" Robbie asked.
"I thought you had some sample and just needed the voiceover. I had no idea." Tori said.
"Well, now you know." Robbie said.
"Have you already made anything?" Tori asked.
"A lot of things. A few short movies, some skits and so on. Now, I'm working on the 10 minute movie for my final project. I need to do some more editing and polish up the animations of some parts and I'm done." Robbie said as he pulled out a box from underneath the desk and took out a few cables and a microphone.
"You can go and watch it if you want while I set this up. It's called 'Majora's Path', on the desktop." Robbie said while he tried to unknot all the cables.
Tori took the laptop and placed it in her lap. She found the file immediately and opened it. The animation started a few moments later with what seemed a lone wanderer walking through a path in the woods. Tori looked on as the nature around the character seemed to change into a water-world and continued to change as he continued his journey while some melody played in the background. He spoke to multiple people on his way, but there was no sound for the dialogue yet.
"There is no sound for the dialogues?" Tori asked.
"I haven't yet come to edit it. I want to have all the pieces before I set them all together." Robbie said as he tried to pull one of the cables, only for it to tie itself even more up in the mess. "Goddamnit!" He cursed.
Tori continued watching as slowly in the final part he arrived in the woods again. He had progressed in his age during the journey and had finally seemingly arrived back home.
"Robbie, this is amazing! What was that song in the background?" Tori asked, looking at him.
"It's called 'Under an old Tree'. It's from a video game I used to play. I love that melody." Robbie said as he finally got the cables untied and plugged them into the microphone. "Here you go. Wait." Robbie said as he reached towards his laptop and moved the cursor towards another file. He opened it, and inside were multiple word documents. He opened one of them. It was filled with dialogues. "This is what I would ask you to record for me. Read them through and do them a few times over if you can." Robbie said as he placed the microphone in from of her before placing the cover over it.
"That's a lot of dialogue." Tori said, scrolling through the four pages.
"I know. I'm not sure which one of them I'm going to use yet." Robbie said as he sat down on his desk. "If you want to drink something, I have a small fridge next to the bed. Now if you would excuse me, I need to do some drawing." Robbie said as he put on the glove and took one of the pencils.
After many hours of rereading and adjusting, Tori's part had finally been done.
"Thank you for doing this." Robbie said as he saved the sound file.
"When will you be done with the animation completely?" Tori asked.
"In a week or two. Why?" Robbie asked.
"When you are done, I want you to give me a copy. This is amazing." Tori said. Robbie smiled at the compliment. It was something he didn't receive very often.
"Thanks. I'll give you one as soon as it's done. I promise." Robbie said.
"I should go. It's late and I'm tired." Tori said as she grabbed her bag.
"Thank you again for helping me out with this." Robbie said as he walked her downstairs towards the door.
"Don't forget to bring me the copy." Tori reminded him again.
"I won't. I promise." Robbie said as he opened the door for him.
"You know, you should let this side of you show more often. I mean the creativity and confidence you had just shown while you worked on your project." Tori said.
"Easier said than done. But I'll give it a shot." Robbie said.
"I'll see you tomorrow at school." Tori said.
"See you." Robbie said. Before he stepped away, he found two arms wrap around his neck and shoulder. Tori was hugging him. He was completely caught of guard, but hugged her back a moment later. That moment, everything went bright in front of Tori's eyes.
A young Robbie was sitting in his room reading some of his comic books and imitating the actions of the heroes in them.
"Robbie!" He heard someone yell from downstairs.
"Yes?" He yelled back, not taking his eyes off of the comic.
"The phone. It's for you." His mother yelled as Robbie jumped up and headed downstairs.
He took the phone out of her hand and pressed it against his ear.
"Mhm. Mhm. Mkay, I'll be outside in half an hour." Robbie said as he put the phone back. He ran into the kitchen to tell his mother about his plans and to grab something to eat. Suddenly, the vision jumped for a short time, as Robbie had different clothes on and was heading outside. He opened the door before the bright sunlight blinded him for the moment.
The vision ended that moment, but Tori wasn't staggered at all by it. She had slowly gotten used to it, so that it barely surprised her now when it happened.
"Bye." She told him as they separated and she walked towards her house while Robbie went inside and shut the door behind him.
She knew that she had quite a walk ahead of her, but that would only give her more time to think. She wondered what had happened to Robbie, but was also genuinely surprised by his interests she had no idea off. He really had a great talent with what he did. She only wished he would show that more often, for his own sake. Way too many people at Hollywood Arts underestimated him and wrote him off as a weird nerd.
She had walked for a few minutes before a car stopped next to her. Her heart began racing as her imagination ran wild. She wanted to run, but her legs wouldn't move. But when the window rolled down, she was more than surprised to see Jade sitting in the car.
"Jade?" Tori asked, not believing her eyes.
"Come on, get inside." Jade said. After a moment, Tori nodded and opened the door before sitting down in the car. "What are you doing here this late?" Jade asked.
"I was at Robbie's place helping him with a project. What are you doing here?" Tori asked, looking at the Goth.
"Just driving around. I was too bored at home and decided to make a little trip. Want me to drop you off at your place?" Jade asked.
"Yes. Thanks." Tori said.
The car ride was silent from then on. Jade was focused on the road ahead of her while Tori contemplated whether she should ask Jade anything now or just leave the moment be as it is. They arrived at Tori's place ten minutes later as Jade turned into the empty driveway.
"Nobody home?" Jade asked, seeing that all lights were off.
"Probably not." Tori said.
"Where are your dad and Trina?" Jade asked boldly.
"Dad is probably burying himself in work while Trina has something to do somewhere. I don't know the details." Tori said, still not looking at the other girl. "Thank you for the ride."
"Don't mention it. And don't let all this drag you down. There is no point in that." Jade said as she looked at Tori.
"I'm trying not to let it." Tori said.
"Well, you keep trying. You are too dumb to give up anyway." Jade said with a smirk.
"Thanks a lot, Jade." Tori said, a small smile forming itself on the edge of her lips. She opened the door and got out of the car. "Are we friends now?" Tori asked as she looked back in the car before closing the door. Jade didn't answer immediately, but seemed to be thinking.
"Hm. What do you think?" Jade asked, looking back at Tori.
"I think we are." Tori said.
"Then I guess you and I are friends now. See you tomorrow." Jade said as she started the engine again.
"Bye." Tori said as she closed the door. She watched Jade reverse out of her driveway and speed off.