The next day, Tori still felt like she was flying. If she had displayed a sunny disposition before, she radiated sunshine now. She smiled at everyone she passed in the halls and laughed at every joke, even the ones that were clearly bad puns. She even walked differently. Her steps were lighter, her pace more graceful. She caught sight of Andre standing near the Wahoo Punch vending machine with his keyboard under his arm. Briskly, she walked over to him, moving her arms the way a child might use to imitate a train.
"Hey!" Tori held the word for a long time.
"What's the big news, Tori?"
"Big news? There isn't any big news." Tori laughed awkwardly.
Andre smirked. "Come on, I know that walk when I see it. Something happened last night..."
"Not too much, just hanging out."
"Oh, right. You were out with Jade."
Tori nodded, blushing.
"Was it fun?"
Another nod.
"I'm sure you two girls had a good time together..." Andre made some hand gestures to complete his sentence.
"No! No! No!" Tori laughed to dissipate her rising discomfort. "We just kissed. Nothing more! Doing that would be weird and... ew."
"Oh." Andre looked away, embarrassed. "Sorry, I shouldn't have said that." He saw Robbie come around the corner and walked away. "Hey, Robbie!"
Sighing at her release from an awkward moment, Tori went to her locker. Her phone fell out of her pocket, clattering to the floor. She put it in her locker as she organized her things for the day. Today would be a good day. She would have her favorite classes, and she'd be with Jade for the whole day. She pushed her backpack into her locker, adjusted her bangs, and closed her locker. A strange buzzing sounded from the locker. Tori looked around in confusion before realizing what the sound was. She reopened her locker and dug her phone out from under her backpack.
Surely enough, there was a new text message from Jade.
Jade: Turn around.
Tori obeyed the text to see Jade standing behind her, looking at her own phone. "Good morning, Jade."
Jade looked up, smiled, and put her phone in her pocket. Tori couldn't help but notice the bags under Jade's eyes.
"Well, aren't you just a bucket of sunshine this morning?" Jade crossed her arms.
"No, you're just crabby."
Jade glared, and Tori quickly added, "I mean, you don't look like you slept much."
"I didn't."
Tori smiled a little. "That explains it."
Jade glanced down at the floor before meeting Tori's eyes. "I was up all night thinking. Thinking about us."
"Oh?"
"If we becomes a thing, it won't be easy. I know some people are going to be fine with us, but there are other stupid, hateful people that will want us to act like we don't exist, or worse."
Tori shook her head. "Yea, there might be, but there aren't many and they aren't around here."
Jade mumbled something Tori couldn't hear.
"What did you say?"
"Things come out where you least expect them to."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"It means what I said."
"Okay then..."
Jade spoke up. "So be careful, okay?"
"Relax, I'll be fine!" Tori chuckled. "I'm sure there's absolutely nothing to worry about. This is the 21st century, Jade. Nobody's going to hurt us, and if they did, I have this suspicion you'd be able to shut them up."
Jade smirked and shrugged. "Maybe not."
"I've seen you get pretty defensive."
"Name one time-"
"You dumped coffee in my hair because you thought I was trying to steal Beck."
"Don't remind me." Jade's smile faded as the memory came rushing back.
An awkward silence fell upon the girls as each girl waited for the other to continue the conversation. Jade looked up as if she was going to speak, then looked down again, having dismissed her comment as pointless. Tori tried to encourage Jade nonverbally. Jade looked up again and took a step closer to Tori.
"Hey, Jade. Hey, Tori." Beck walked over to the girls, his hands in his pockets.
Cat followed steps behind him. She had a bright smile on her face and a sparkly butterfly clip in her hair.
"Beck! Hi!" Tori turned to face the other couple. "How was your night out?"
"Hi." Jade's greeting was short and blunt.
Beck smiled, ignoring Jade's uneasiness. "Our night was great."
"Yea!" Cat added. "I didn't know Beck could be so cosy."
"I didn't know Little Red could be so cute." Beck put his hand on Cat's head.
Cat poked Beck. "Well, you have better arm muscles."
"You're a colourful girl."
"Your trailer is way cooler than my house."
Jade raised an eyebrow.
Beck jumped a bit at that comment. "Anyway, how was your night?"
Tori blushed and looked down at the floor. "It was... nice."
Jade nodded. "Yea. It was nice. A bit sweet."
"Romantic?" Cat suggested.
"Sure." Jade shrugged.
"That's great." Beck smiled, putting his arm around Cat's shoulder. "We wanted to say thanks."
"For what?" Tori tried to remember something important enough that they would thank her.
Cat giggled. "For getting us to go on the date, silly billy."
"Oh." Tori shook her head. "You don't have to thank us for that."
Jade walked closer to the other couple. "It's no big deal. Just doing what a friend would do."
"We thought we owed you guys, so if you need anything, just ask us. We'll do whatever we can to help." Cat smiled.
"Okay..." Jade seemed hesitant. She trusted her best friend, but not so much her ex.
Beck nodded. "Trust me. You may not need help now, but you might need it later, so we're letting you know. It's just doing what a friend would do."
"Alright." Jade relaxed.
"We've gotta get to history. See you in Sikowitz's class?" Beck turned.
"See you then."
Beck and Cat walked off, leaving Jade and Tori alone once more.
"Told you it would work." Tori's voice held a touch of proud arrogance.
Jade smirked. "You never said that."
"Well, I thought it!" Tori's voice was more playful now.
The bell rang, signaling the beginning of the day. The student body began to move to their classes. Jade waved at Cat and slid her hand into Tori's hand as they made their way to their first class.
Author's Notes: Sorry this chapter took so long. I'm hoping to write ahead over the upcoming break.
I'll admit this now: I have no idea how to write Andre. His portrayal in this chapter is probably not right. If anyone has tips to fix him, he might show up more frequently in the future.