Hope this makes up for my lateness with the last chapter.

Chapter 6

They dance now, some twirling with no regard to the fact that their footsteps are making balance dangerous, while others just try not to topple off into space.

Tori's never been one to worry—there's never really been anything for her to worry about—but suddenly there's a grip in her stomach every time she hears the rumors about Chad and Caterina.

Or Chaderina.

It's the new thing, apparently, to mesh names of popular couples, and even though Chad and Caterina haven't been caught doing anything yet, the student body is determined to make them an item.

Normally, Tori would be knee deep into the news, exchanging gossip with Jade—who usually snarked back that she couldn't care less who and what was doing who—and fending off Trina's complaints that she's so much more suited for whatever guy in the relationship.

This time, however, it's Caterina.

Jade walks around with a lightning brewing under her skin, and Trina's surprisingly silent on the topic. And Tori is worried.

She's aware of Chad the way all single girls are, and has heard the rumors. Chad, who makes girls feel like they're on air one day, only to let them crash and burn the next.

Mixed in with the "they'd be so great together," and "how cute are they?" are the warning undertones, the shadows that come from girls scorned and heartbroken.

So Tori acts, stumbling because while stars glow and illuminate, they also flash uncomfortably when they're forced to interact with those still on the earth.

"Cat—erina. Caterina."

A brief pause. "Yes?"

"Um. I heard you're going out with Chad."

"No."

"No?"

"I'm not."

"Oh." An awkward silence. "Cat—"

"I'm really not dating him."

"I know. I just want you to be careful."

"About what? I said I'm not dating him."

"He has a reputation of taking hearts and breaking them."

"I know."

"…you do?"

And Caterina finally looks up, her eyes hard despite the smile on her lips. "I'm not stupid, Tori. I know better to think a guy like Chad will fall for me."

She doesn't really believe it—Cat's the insecure one, not Caterina—but the way Tori flinches is so rewarding that she doesn't take it back. She knows they're both remembering Danny.

When stars don't make enough of a fuss, thunder hits.

Jade, surprisingly, isn't the one to lose her temper first.

"I'm not a child!"

"I don't care. You don't understand that he's dangerous."

"And what if I don't care? What if I want dangerous for a change?"

They stand, fists balled, face inches apart. Caterina's eyes blaze with a fire that matches the fury in Jade's, and they refuse to budge, their feet planted, until the bell rings.

As Caterina storms away, she barely catches Jade's parting shot, the sound carrying on the wind so lightly that she's almost sure she imagines it. "I don't want to see you get hurt."

Chad kisses her again after class. This time, she pulls away as soon as their lips touch, and puts enough distance between them that she can clearly see the tilt of his eyebrows as he regards her.

"Not in the mood, babe?"

There's no mockery in his tone, just confidence, and for a moment she's attracted, but then Tori's face flashes into her mind, and perhaps stars have more effect than they seem to at first, because Caterina turn to walk away.

Chad's voice stops her. "Don't believe everything you hear. I'm not quite as heartless as your friends think."

"I don't do everything my friends say."

"You sure?"

She leaves, but there's a hesitance in her steps that makes Chad grin. Then again, he thinks, watching her stalk away, he's been wrong about her before.

"Do you know what you're getting into?"

There'd been an unspoken line between her and Beck before this. He just crossed it. Caterina's chin tilts upwards, and she has to crane her neck slightly to meet his eyes. "Did Jade—"

"No."

It's all he has to say, and the challenge in her gaze fades slightly. "I don't know what you mean."

"Tori's right." It doesn't surprise her that he knows about Tori's speech. "Chad's not the type to let a girl down easy."

"And I'm not the type to let him throw me away if I decide I want him to pick me up." The words come out a lot more confidently than she expects, and apparently Beck thinks so to, because suddenly his hands are on her shoulders and he's forcing her face up.

Whatever he sees in her face apparently makes him think better of it, and he lets her go. "Be—"

"—careful." She smiles slightly. "I know."

He walks away first, not sure if the thank you was directed towards him, or Tori, or Jade, or all of them. Not sure if it matters.

Andre never mentions Chad at all. They continue to work on their project, their voices melding better and better, her fingers getting surer on the string of the guitar until she no longer needs him to guide her hands.

Sometimes, she wonders if she's imagining the sudden distance between them, and then he makes a joke and she almost laughs the way Cat did. Almost.

He pretends he doesn't see it, and she pretends it never happened.

It gets harder and harder.

She thinks that it's ironic that the first thing Rex has said to her all year is the only thing she doesn't want to hear from him.

"You bein' stupid, girl," the puppet scolds, wagging its head sagely, "You gonna get burned."

Caterina raises an eyebrow at Robbie, but the boy is beet red and trying to shush the puppet on his left arm. "Quiet, Rex!"

"I won't be quiet. Jade, Tori, and Beck have told you, and I'm not gonna shut up until I say my piece. Stop bein' stubborn and listen! You're not ready."

The irony doubles when a puppet becomes the one to push Caterina over the edge.

This time, when she and Chad finds themselves alone, she's the one that kisses him.