"How's your throat now?" Cat asked through the phone. After Tori talked to Beck she went back to the Blackbox theatre, hoping that Sikowitz wouldn't punish her for leaving the class without even asking him. Luckily for her, he didn't mind one bit, one of the many positive characteristics of the teacher. It might not be fair to the other students, but for his darlings, the ones who are the most talented and, in fact, participate actively both in class and during projects, he was willing, ready and able to look the other way. And since Tori was one of his best students, he gladly did so. Once school was over, she went home and after a few minutes of contemplating, she called Cat to tell her what happened. The redhead had helped her so often by now that Tori felt almost obligated to tell her what had happened.
"It's a bit better. I can cover the bruises with a scarf, that's not the issue, but it still hurts when I swallow or try talk a bit louder." Tori said.
"Did you talk to Andre? I can't believe that he punched Beck." Cat said. "They were so good friends, and now this." Cat said, a small sigh escaping her at the end.
"I wanted to talk to him, but he was avoiding me. I'll try to call him later. I'm worried about him too." Tori said. "I need to talk him into talking to Beck again. I don't want them to stop being friends. It was my fault, I mean… I provoked Beck…"
"Stop saying that." Cat said through her phone. "It wasn't your fault. Nobody thought that Beck could react that way. How could anyone? He's been hiding it so well, you can't blame yourself." Cat said.
"I should have known better." Tori said.
"How?"
"I… I…" Tori tried to come up with something.
"Exactly. Now stop blaming yourself for something that isn't your fault. You are not mad at Beck, and Andre will forgive him too, just give it some time." Cat said.
"I hope so. I don't want people to lash out on him now. He's been through so much already." Tori said.
"You can't expect everyone to act as if it didn't happen, either." Cat said.
"I know… Are you mad at him?" Tori asked, wondering if Andre's reaction was the natural one.
"I am." Cat said after a few seconds of silence.
"Cat..:"
"Tori, he hurt you. In anger or not, he hurt you, and I am angry for that. I'm angry that he lost control of himself and attacked you, a close friend. How would you feel if he did the same to me, under the same circumstances, but if I was the one attacked, and you were the friend?" Cat asked. Tori bit her lips as she tried to come up with an answer, but she knew exactly how she would feel, and there was no use claiming the opposite.
"I would be angry. Very angry." Tori said.
"And that is exactly how I feel now. But if you can forgive Beck, then so can I. But as I said, we all might need some time." Cat explained.
"I understand. Just please, don't cut him out. For me." Tori said. She knew that she was pretty much playing the guilt card now, but she was desperate, and she wanted things to go back to normal as soon as possible, or at least to be as normal as possible.
"Alright. For you." Cat said. A small smile formed on the edge of Tori's lips.
"Thank you." Tori said.
"No problem. If you need some company, I can come over." Cat said.
"Thank you. But I'll just watch a movie and go to bed early." Tori said. She was exhausted, physically and mentally, and she hoped that she would catch some sleep.
"Kaykay. See you tomorrow. Good night." Cat said.
"See you. Goodnight." Tori said as she ended the call. She leaned back on her couch and surfed through the channels, hoping to find anything interesting on TV. As she was switching the channels, she heard a knock on the door. She wondered who it was. Trina and her dad had no reason to knock, and she had not invited anyone else over. She took the scarf off the couch and wrapped it around her neck again, just to be sure. She walked towards the door. She wondered if it was Andre who wanted to talk to her now. However, as she opened the door, she was more than surprised at who was standing in front of her.
"Jade?" Tori said in disbelief as she looked at the other girl. Jade's expression was serious. She had her arms crossed over her chest and Tori noticed her concerned stare. "What are you doing here? Did something happen?" Tori asked, worried about the fact that Jade hadn't said anything yet. She didn't get an immediate answer though. She saw Jade uncross her arms before she lifted her right arm up and moved it towards Tori. She took the edge of Tori's scarf in her hand and slowly began taking it off.
"Jade, what are you?" Tori wanted to ask when Jade took the scarf off, revealing the purplish bruises on Tori's neck.
"God damn it." Jade uttered when she saw the bruises. Tori stood there, not able to move or say anything. The last person she expected was standing in front of her right now, and even worse, she knew about the bruises. Did someone see them talking on the parking lot? She knew that if even one person saw it, the whole school would probably know the next day.
"Jade…" Tori wanted to say something, anything really, but she couldn't. She then saw Jade lift her hand towards her throat, and before she could react in any way, she felt Jade's fingertips trace the bruises on her throat. Tori hissed at the sudden pain. Jade's hand immediately shot back as Jade looked at her.
"I can't believe it." Jade said as she shook her head. "I mean, I heard it and all that, but I can't believe that he did this to you." Jade said, traces of anger and sadness mixing in her voice.
"It's not what you think. It was my fault. I did something I shouldn't have done." Tori said, trying to come up with something believable. She couldn't tell Jade about her ability yet. She was sure that Jade would just call her crazy if she did.
"No. It isn't your fault." Jade said as she walked past Tori into the house. Tori closed the door before she turned around. Jade threw her bag to the ground and looked back at the half Latina.
"How did you find out?" Tori asked, hoping to find out some details she could work with so she could come up with something.
"Well, Beck came to my place two hours ago. He told me." Jade said.
Tori felt her knees almost give in from under her. She suddenly felt light headed. She found it harder to breathe. Beck told her what happened. Beck must have told her everything, including what Tori had told him. She never asked him to keep it a secret. There was way too much going on that moment for her to remember to tell him not to tell anyone.
"I… I can explain." Tori began, hoping that her mind would cooperate just this once tonight, because recently, she swore it did everything it could to screw her over.
"How stupid can he be? He leaves such a note on the table and then he gets mad when someone reads it? I can't believe I dated that moron for two years." Jade said as she sat down on the couch.
"Note?" Tori asked, wondering what Jade was talking about.
"Stop playing dumb with me, Vega. I know what happened to his parents. His real ones. He told me not an hour ago. But I can't believe he would do… this" she said as she pointed towards Tori's throat "to you for reading the medical report the doctor had given him. I mean… of course anyone is going to ask questions about that. Oh, that stupid son of a…" Jade wanted to curse, but held herself back, remembering what happened to his real mother.
Tori felt as if a boulder got lifted off of her. Beck didn't tell Jade about the visions. He covered it up himself. She wanted to go and hug him for that. She sat down on the couch next to Jade.
"Don't blame him, please. I pushed for answers when I shouldn't have. I provoked him. I made him do this." Tori said. "I don't want you or anyone else to do anything against him because of this. If I'm not angry, no one else should be." Tori said.
"Well, I'm glad you didn't tell me that before." Jade said.
"Why?"
"It felt good to knee him somewhere where it hurts him. That might teach him a lesson about putting his hands on you." Jade said with a smirk.
"You didn't?" Tori gasped.
"Oh, yes I did." Jade said with a smile. "He knows that he deserved that one."
"Oh god." Tori uttered. She didn't want anything to happen to Beck. She tried to make that clear to everyone. However, that still couldn't stop that small smile that managed to form on the edge of her lips. It's not that she was mad at Beck. It was more that she never realized how much she really mattered to her friends and what they were willing to do to anyone who hurt her. But she was even more surprised about Jade doing that to a guy who she dated for two years and who Tori knew Jade loved very much.
"Well, now that this issue is dealt with, how about you and I watch a movie." Jade suggested.
"Sure." Tori agreed. She knew what Jade was trying to do. Instead of talking to Tori about it or anything like that, she just wants to offer a form of distraction from what has been going on. And right now, Tori welcomed any form of distraction. "Did you have anything in mind?" Tori asked.
"Well, I always have…" Jade began as she reached for her bag, but Tori knew what she wanted to say.
"No. We are not watching any of your sick, twisted, demented horror movies!" Tori said. Jade immediately stopped searching in her bag and leaned back on the couch.
"Alright. Then I have no idea." Jade said as she crossed her arms over her chest in disappointment. Tori rolled her eyes as she got up and walked to her TV cabinet. She opened it and took out a box full with DVD's, carried it to the couch and put it down next to the Goth.
"Pick one." Tori said as she sat back down. Jade looked into the box and took out two dvd cases.
"Nope. Boring. Dumb. Stupid…" Jade uttered at every movie she took out before lazily tossing it aside. Tori watched Jade empty the box in a minute while the living room was now decorated with dvd cases lying on the table, couch, chairs. A few even managed it to under the piano.
"I guess no movies tonight." Tori deadpanned.
"Well, it's not my fault that you got nothing interesting here." Jade said as she threw the empty box behind herself. "Wow, Vega, your place is a mess." Jade said.
"But… I…"
"I'm kidding. Gosh, I'll pick them all up later, don't worry. I'm just trying to cheer you up, that's all." Jade said with a smirk. Tori sighed in response.
"I really never know what to think of you." Tori said.
"What do you mean?" Jade asked.
"One day, you seem to hate my guts more than anything, the next day, you seem to be my best friend and care about me, and then barely a few hours later you are back to hating my guts. I'm sorry; I just never know what to think of your words or actions." Tori explained.
"Vega, we've known each other for years now. What is there you don't understand? I'm a moody person. I say and do things depending on how I feel that moment." Jade said.
"So it's a game of luck with you? I mean, the last few days, you have been nothing but supportive. You've helped me out so much. Then, yesterday at school, you basically told me off, and now suddenly you are here again. I just… I don't want to think that everything is fine between us and then, I say something and everything goes to hell… I..." Tori stopped, not knowing what else she could say.
"Damn it, Vega, why can't you get into that thick skull of yours that I do care about you and that nothing that you say can change that." Jade said, making Tori look at her. "Do you have any idea how concerned I was about you when I heard what Beck did? The idea of anyone else hurting you now makes me sick to my stomach. The only thing that stopped me from hurting him more for hurting you was that Andre already did it before I could. And he's I wasn't the one to find him first." Jade said.
"Look, if you care about me, if I really mean anything to you, don't do anything to Beck. Don't talk about what happened, nothing. Please." Tori pleaded. Jade sighed, shaking her head in disbelief.
"Alright. I'm sure that's what you are going to tell everyone anyway." Jade said.
"Well, only Robbie is left now." Tori said.
"Yeah, because if you don't Robbie might club Beck to death with Rex." Jade said. "Oh, is that a smile I'm seeing." Jade said as she looked at Tori, who covered her mouth to conceal the wide smirk.
"How can't I smile at that idea?" Tori asked, imagining Robbie doing kung fu moves with Rex as his weapon. "Thank you for cheering me up."
"No problem. You've done the same a few time. Well… you've tried."
"Can I ask you something?" Tori asked. She saw Jade's smile fade away.
"You want to ask me about yesterday." Jade said.
"You really do know me." Tori said. "Jade, please understand me too. You have been such a great support, and I want to do something to help you too."
"Why?" Jade asked, looking at the other girl. "Because you feel like you owe me? You don't owe me anything. You don't need to act like this because you feel like you need to do something for me in return."
"That has nothing to do with it. Jade, you mean so much to me. Why do you think did I always try to befriend you, no matter what? Why do you think did I always let you get away with everything you've done?" Tori asked.
"Okay. I'll tell you. My dad and I… had a big fight on Monday. We argued for a long time. He… he wants to marry his girlfriend." Jade explained.
"Oh. Is she that bad?" Tori asked.
"You can't imagine. I hate that bitch." Jade said.
"What did she do?"
"She is doing everything she can to drive my father away from me and everyone else. I ask him to come watch one of my plays again, and the few times he does agree, she comes up with a place she wants him to take her exactly that day. And that's just one of the many things she does." Jade explained.
"Did you try to tell your dad that?" Tori asked.
"Of course I did. But he thinks that I'm jealous of her; that I'm making things up because I don't want him to be happy either. He is so blind when he's around her. That woman has him wrapped around her little finger and he still denies it." Jade said.
"I can't imagine a West being so stubborn." Tori said. She heard Jade let out a chuckle.
"What a great combination. Two thick heads in the same house. I wonder what can go wrong there." Jade snarled.
"Well, in a few months you will be out of there. College in a new town, new people and no parents to screw up our lives with their bullshit." Tori said.
"That sounds so great. I just hope I'll be able to stay sane those last few months there."
"You lasted so long; I don't think a few months more will even matter. Maybe things will get better during them. Who knows?"
"They won't. I know." Jade said. "Look, I'm tired of all the shit parents do. Go, pick out a movie from the ones lying around the house."
"I can pick?" Tori asked.
"Yeah, be glad you can. Cat is the only one who had that privilege before." Jade said.
"You know what? Let's watch that horror movie you brought." Tori said. A small smile formed on the edge of Jade's lips. She took the case out of her bag and got up. She placed the dvd in the dvd player and took the remote. She sat down next to Tori and pressed play. "How scary is it?" Tori asked.
"Well, to me, it's okay. To you? I'm sure you'll have your eyes shut most of the time." Jade said.
"They call a movie Hatchet?" Tori asked, looking at the name as it popped up on the screen.
"It's a double dvd. The sequel is on it too. It's even bloodier." Jade said.
"Well, it's not like I'm not used to sleepless nights." Tori said. Then, she felt an arm wrap around her and pull her closer. She saw Jade pick up one of the blankets that were on the edge of the couch and cover them both with it.
"Don't worry. Nothing can harm you when I'm here." Jade said. Tori smiled and leaned her head on Jade's shoulder.
"Maybe the movie won't be that bad." Tori said.
A/N: I must have rewritten this chapter a dozen times by now. I guess twelve time is the charm for me. I hope you like it.