A/N: Hi everyone! Hello to all my reviewers! I am so sorry for not updating. Yes, I am that author that takes so long to update that you must go back and read the chapter before again to know what's going on. I am so sorry. With school and everything else that's going on, I have been super not focused on writing. I finished this chapter like two weeks ago and I am just now updating. One of the main reasons, I haven't been updating I because I recently got into a show called Psych and I love it bunches, you should totally go watch it (if you don't already). Any whore, this story is almost done. Two more chapters, I think. I hope you guys like what I do in this one. And some of you may be a little surprised. Anyway, have fun reading. And remember… reviews make the world go round!

Disclaimer: I don't own Victorious. If I did I'd be rich. And Dan Schneider.

It was Monday and Tori Vega was seriously stressed out. After her and Andre's "make out session" (if you wanted to call it that) on Friday afternoon, Andre had been ignoring her. He didn't answer any of her calls, reply to her text messages and even managed to evade her surprise visit to her house on Sunday evening. She couldn't figure out why he was ignoring her. She just wanted to talk and give him his keyboard back (which he left at her house and she knew he was missing). Most of all she missed. They hung out almost every weekend since she got to Hollywood Arts and a weekend without him was horrible. She ran into Cat, Robbie and Rex talking animatedly.

"Hey Cat." Tori interrupted.

"Dang girl, you look like cr-" Robbie put a and over Rex's mouth.

"Hey Tori." Cat stated. She looked up at her. "Are you okay? You look," she cut her eyes at Robbie, "exhausted."

"It's…" Tori considered telling Cat about what had happened. But if she told Cat, she would have to also tell her about her feelings for Andre. And those feeling, while confirmed to her, were not ready to be shared with the world just yet. "It's nothing. Just, have you seen Andre?"

"No, actually. I tried to get him to go to Karaoke Dokie with me and Robbie on Saturday, but he didn't respond to my text. And," She took a breath, "I've been here for at least forty five minutes and I still haven't seen him. Why?" She questioned. "Did you two have a falling out or something?"

"Well not exactly. It's kind of a long story." Cat realized Tori was not going to say anything else about the situation. So, she said a quick "see you later" to Tori and flitted off to Robbie's locker where he was bickering with Rex. Did she say she went to Karaoke Dokie with just Robbie? Tori remembered to keep that in mind.

Tori continued her man hunt for Andre until the first period bell rang.

Andre had managed to evade Tori for the entire weekend and that morning, but now 2nd period was over and 3rd was about to begin. Andre's 3rd period was Sikowitz, the only class he had with Tori. As he walked towards Sikowitz's class, he replayed Friday's scene in his head (like he had been doing all weekend). How could he have been so stupid? How could he have let emotions get the better of him? He shouldn't have kissed Tori. It would totally jeopardize their friendship. She definitely didn't feel the same way about him, but she did respond to that kiss differently than he thought she would. I mean she didn't push him away and she didn't seem repulsed. In fact, she seemed like she was enjoying it. But she was probably just being nice. She didn't want to make it an awkward moment, right? But she smiled when they pulled apart. And it wasn't a tight lipped smile like the one she wore when she was uncomfortable. It was a bright smile that crinkled the corners of her eyes.

Wait. Did that mean she had feelings for him? That complicated things. Of course he wanted to be with her but, what would happen if things ended badly? He would lose her as a girlfriend and as a friend. Nothing would be the same between them. He had never felt the way he feels about Tori for anyone before. He had never been in a serious relationship and wouldn't even know how to manage a long-term girlfriend (which he hoped Tori would be). He was afraid he would let her down.

He opened the door to Sikowitz's classroom and immediately spotted Tori in the second row, where they always sat. She turned around and gave him a shy smile. Instead of sitting with her, he sat in the back closer to the door. Tori frowned and stood up to talk to him but the bell rang and class began.

"Quiet children!" Sikowitz yelled. "Drive by Acting Exercise! You all are angry Native Americans at tea with the queen of Mumbai! Go!" Normally Andre would jump at the chance to do a Drive by Acting Exercise (they were his favorite), but today he had too much on his mind. He zoned out for relatively the rest of class and the bell startled him. As he stood up to leave, Sikowitz, put a hand on his arm.

"Mr. Harris." Sikowitz started. " I noticed you did not participate in class today."

"Um… yeah. I kind of had a lot on my mind today."

"Would that have anything to do with Miss Vega?"

"Uh, what?" How was that man so insightful?

"Well I noticed that you were not in your usual position beside her, and you both looked at each other quite frequently but thought no one noticed. It was very apparent what was occurring."

"Oh well, um yeah, we kind of had…" Andre trailed off. He couldn't think of a word to describe what happened. "It's nothing really a minor," he paused and for a lack of a better word, said, "spat."

"I see." Sikowitz responded. "I feel you aren't giving me the entire story and I offer you one piece of advice."

"Oh? What's that?"

"Don't do anything that you will regret in the future."

"Um, okay. Thanks Sikowitz." Andre left the room. The halls were mostly empty as he opened his locker to get his books. He thought about what Sikowitz said and realized something: he was exactly right.

Tori was extremely frustrated. She hoped she could have talked to Andre after 3rd period but he monopolized by Sikowitz. She also hoped he would at least come get some lunch, but he didn't do that either. In between her classes she kept her eyes peel, but he didn't come back to his locker. She had sent him numerous text messages, none of which he replied to. At lunch she asked all of her friends if they had talked to him but they all responded with the same answer: no. At the last bee she walked out of her American Lit classroom with her heard hanging low. She was sad. Her best friend was M.I.A. and ignoring her. She opened her locker and her phone buzzed. It was a call from Trina.

"Hey lil' sis!"

"What, Trina?"

"So I ditched last period to go shopping and right now I'm still at the mall."

"What? No! You were supposed to take me home! You know my car's in the shop."

"I know, I know! Do you think I would just leave you there without a ride?"

"You've done it before!"

"Well I didn't do it this time! I paid Sinjin to give you a ride." Tori looked toward Sinjin who was standing by the door, waving at her.

"Eww! No." Tori said disgusted. "Trina, come pick me up!"

"No, I'm shopping!"

"How am I Supposed to get home?"

"Sinjin!"

"Trina. Be serious!"

"If you don't appreciate the ride I have secured for you than get one of your friends to take you home!"

"Like who?"

"Um what's his name? Anthony? Austin? Andrew! Yeah Andrew! Get him to give you a ride."

"It's Andre." Tori sighed. "Okay, bye Trina."

"I love you."

"Ugh, whatever." Tori slammed her locker shut and rested her head on it. It looked like she was walking home.

"Hey." Tori looked up at the familiar voice. It was her previously M.I.A. best friend, standing there in the flesh. Tori wanted to throw her arms around him and kiss him, but she knew she couldn't do that. Instead, she said the first thing that came to her mind.

"You left your keyboard at my house."

Andre let out a nervous chuckle. "I know." He looked at her. "Do you need a ride?"

"Um, actually, if it's not too much trouble, yeah."

"Okay, well, I just have to get some stuff out of my locker."

"Oh, okay." Tori could feel the tension in between them. She hated how awkward it was. A week earlier she never would have hesitated to ask him for a ride, and it most certainly wouldn't have been this awkward. The walked out of the school to his black Honda Accord. Tori got in the passenger side. She immediately took to the radio to turn on some music out of habit, but quickly withdrew her hand. She decided it was better to have permission.

Andre looked at her and laughed. "Of course you can turn on some music. You never had any problem before."

Tori saw this as the perfect segue to figure out what had been going on with him. "Well, I mean, based on the way you have been avoiding me, I didn't know if you were mad at me or something."

Andre cringed. "No, I'm not mad at you. I was never mad at you. I was…" Andre glanced at her. "Embarrassed."

"Embarrassed about what?"

"Kissing you." Tori snorted. That was so funny; or was it? Was he saying that he was embarrassed that he kissed her? Or was he embarrassed that he kissed her? She didn't know and she didn't want to embarrass herself by asking, so she kept her mouth shut. "It's just," he continued as they pulled into the Vega driveway, "I like you a lot, but I don't necessarily feel… comfortable about taking out relationship to the next level. I want to keep you as a friend and I don't know if that would be possible if we advanced our relations." A flicker of disappointed sadness flashed on Tori's face before she quickly composed herself. This conversation was way more painful than she expected it to be. She had sort of readied herself for it. She was okay with his decision but that didn't mean it didn't feel like someone had thrown a ton of bricks at her chest, "… just be friends. Are you okay with that?"

Tori flashed her brightest smile. "Of course I am, silly." Okay so maybe she wasn't so happy about it but, it was more than nothing. She got out of the car. "Well aren't you coming?"

He leaned his head out of the window. "What?"

"Your keyboard? It's here."

"Oh yeah. Just let me park."

As he was parking, she unlocked the door. "Come on in."

"Thanks."

Andre had originally just gone into Tori's house to pick up his keyboard and leave. But after he went in, Tori offered him some lemonade and he sat down on the Vega couch and got comfortable. He was genuinely surprised that Tori had agreed so easily. He suspected that this was probably what she wanted; that she wasn't ready to take their relationship to the next level either. He was so relieved that she was okay with his decision; it felt like a huge weight had been lifted off his shoulders. He felt really great. Tori plopped down on the couch beside him with lemonade and a bowl of popcorn.

"So," Tori started, "what have you been up to lately?" She smirked at him.

"Well aside from avoiding you…" Tori glared at him. "Nothing really. On Sunday I took my little cousin Naya to the movies."

"A-ha! That's where you were on Sunday."

Andre feigned shock. "Tori! Have you been stalking me?"

Tori hit him with a pillow. "Shut up. I have not been stalking you."

"Oh really?" he waggled his eyebrows at her. "Because I think showing up at someone else's house when they aren't there is kind of stalking."

"It is not."

"I think it is."

"No it is not! I was looking for you!" She whacked him with a pillow.

"Ow!" She laughed. He grabbed the pillow from her hands. "Oh yeah? Two can play that game?" he started to playfully hit her.

"Ahh!" She giggled and got up quickly from the couch. She grabbed another pillow form the chair next to it. "You should stop before I am forced to harm you with this pillow."

"Oh? Bring it on, Vega."

Jason willinger.