Hero of the Past and Present

Disclaimer: Do not own Victorious, do not own the video game

A/N:

Chapter 2 (A Broken Bond)

Tori pounded on Trina's bedroom door from outside, pleading with her to come out. "Trina open the door, please!"

"Nope, not happening!" Trina had locked herself in her room to get away from Tori and her Hollywood Arts Friends. She despised each one of them, simply because they made her feel worthless. They were all downstairs now, joking about how pathetic she is. When Tori said nothing, yet again, she snapped and bitterly remarked that Tori never once bothered to stick up for her own sister. "I'll stay in here and read my books if I have to, but I am not leaving this room." Tori didn't dare try to open the door, but it wouldn't have made much difference, considering she installed a lock on the door long ago.

"Trina, they're sorry, okay…it's just-come on, please talk to me? I don't like when we fight…"

"Should have thought about that before choosing them over me." She put her hands behind her head and stretched her legs out on the bed, sighing heavily as she gazed at a poster on the opposite wall. It was an FBI poster, she hoped one day to join that elite group of law enforcement. "Nineteen and still at home…why? Oh right, because it's cheaper to live at home than to live on the college dormitories." She was attending college at the University of Southern California.

Hearing the doorknob jiggle, Trina slowly looked towards her door. "Trina I love you, you're my sister and you always will be. I've always needed you…talk to me, please." Frustrated and annoyed, she threw the covers off and walked over to the door. She loved her sister too, but there was a lot of anger inside from all the mocking that Tori allowed her friends to do.

She grabbed the doorknob and twisted it, popping the lock switch up, then swung the door open. Tori stared back at her, mouth agape and hand reaching out for empty air where the knob used to be. Trina's eyebrows meshed together, forming a wrinkle between them and a crease on her forehead. "I'm not saying that I'm only angry at you, or that I love you any less as a sister, but I will tell you this-"

"Trina!" Cat's voice came from the stairway to her right. The sisters looked over to see the friends all staring at her, each with looks of concern. She had said something devastating to all of them before rushing up to the bedroom. Her words were that she regretted talking Tori into going to Hollywood Arts, regretted never introducing Tori to her own friends, all of whom were now gone, but that was not the worst of it. She wanted them to all go to hell, and said the minute the opportunity presented itself, she was getting out of this house and would refuse to see any of these people again, including Tori if she continued associating with them.

Was it harsh? Yes. Did Tori deserve that? Most likely not, but Trina was angry and had a habit of saying things that she didn't mean. In her heart, however, it felt as though she did mean it, or at least a part of her did. It wasn't her place to tell Tori who to be friends with, but Tori should know that she shouldn't let her friends constantly berate her family the way that she did.

"Trina we're sorry," Andre started. She rolled her eyes, growling at them for getting in the middle of her and her sister. They were all red-faced, with the exception of Jade, who was looking towards a family portrait on the hallway with a somber look. "We go overboard sometimes, Trina. We never think about things, I guess."

"Well you should," she barked in response. "I am her sister, whether you like it or not. You don't come between two sisters! As for you, Tori…" She turned to see her sister trembling lightly, her eyes were misty. "You and I used to be close, before you went to that infernal school. Not to mention, I had friends. Friends, much like you, now I only have one friend left…why is that? Oh right, because of the people standing right there!" Her finger flew to the friends and they gasped in shock, Jade slowly looked over, frowning at the accusation.

Tori cupped her hands over her mouth and closed her eyes, understanding well what Trina meant. She'd been a part of it all. The constant accusations and derogatory statements the group made of Trina around the school began to pressure all of Trina's friends. She had a group of her own at Hollywood Arts, just a small group. There was Quentin, Lindsay, Bryan, Sinjin and Salome. One by one, they all left her side, exhausted with the remarks and tension received from Tori's group. Each had been asked what they saw in Trina.

Why did they hang out with a loser

"Ironically Tori, they never said anything bad about you. Even now, Sinjin doesn't say anything bad about you guys. If he's got a problem with you though, he says it, doesn't he?" The statement brought up the memories of the whole Slap followers, when Sinjin got to them by mentioning how much they disgusted him by worrying over who is following who on the Slap. The whole thing had really been a test of how far Tori and her friends would go to try and get the best of her, she and Sinjin ad a bet going on and thought Tori might do the sisterly thing and not care. Trina figured they'd all insult her and try to be better than her 'ugly sister'. Much to Sinjin's sorrow, Trina was right, and that's when he had to speak up to them.

"We're genuinely sorry," Beck insisted, "Give us a chance and we'll show you that we-"

"Shut up, Beck." Her tone was spiteful and filled with malice. Her eyes flared with hatred and her fists clenched until her knuckles began to turn white. The group silenced, their eyes widening. "Maybe you don't understand, genuine or not, you people are the reasons my friends left me and you people are the reasons that that closeness that was there between me and my sister…is gone. You've severed it. You think I'm going to forgive and trust you people? Not with my life. More or less, I'm sure if I were hanging off a cliff, you'd let me drop!"

"That isn't true!" They protested. She wanted to dare them to prove it to her, she wanted to see just how far they might squirm.

"You'd have a better chance of getting a snail to win a marathon than to have me believe you of anything." They exchanged defeated glances. Tori scratched at her neck, a nervous habit of hers, and started to walk towards Trina. She extended her arms, hoping for a hug. "Tori, I'm not in the mood." Without sparing her sister a glimpse, she shut the door and turned away. "It's about time someone stuck up for me, and since no one's going to do it, I'll do it myself."

"We're sorry about your friends," Tori pleaded from the other side. Her cries fell on deaf ears. Sorry didn't do a damn thing, her friends were gone just as was the bond between her and her sister. "Believe me, I'm sorry Trina. I do love you, you're my only sister! Hell, you're dad's favorite, whether you believe that or not." She scoffed and turned towards the picture album on the edge of her bed.

What started this fight, really? Was it Jade commenting on how Trina had no friends, or was it Beck's statement of how the only friend she could get was Sinjin? Perhaps it was Tori's acknowledgement and agreeing with her own friends.

She reached over and slowly opened the album to the first page, wincing when she came across a photo taken by her father of her and her friends all sitting around a park blanket. They were in Junior High, all met during an art class. In the ninth grade, Trina, Lindsay, and Salome all went into a martial arts academy after school while Sinjin, Quentin, and Bryan went to some computer school. They often shared each other's interest and talked on about how their days went. They would do everything together, seemingly inseparable, just like Tori's dumbass friends.

Salome and Bryan had been siblings, they moved away with their parents about a year ago. They wanted to keep up a friendship with Trina, but found so much hate from Tori's friends posted on her Facebook page that they wanted to stay out of all the tension. They didn't say anything harsh, but simply, drifted apart after some time.

Quentin got tired of trying to defend both himself, Trina, and his own friends from the oncoming questions that Tori's friends posed to him about why he hung out with Trina. So much so, that he washed his hands of the issue altogether and had not spoken with Trina in almost a year.

Lindsay had been the first friend to leave, unfortunately. This was the same Lindsay that dated Danny, and Trina still remembered Tori saying how Lindsay didn't like her. It troubled her deeply to think that all the fighting between her and her once-best friend stemmed from all the tension created with the others.

After Quentin, who was the last to go, Trina had a major breakdown on Sinjin's porch. She half expected that he was going to leave her side too, and she told him, she'd rather him just do it now than later. He picked her up off that porch and gave her the kindest smile she'd received from anyone in the longest time, and told her that he was never going to leave his closest friend. It was a promise that he'd kept to this very day, and she was eternally grateful for it.

Rapid knocking was heard at the door, but was drowned out by Tori and her friends calling for her. The friends were even inviting her to play poker with them, but she wanted nothing to do with any of them. She didn't believe in their sincerity, she didn't think they had anything malicious planned, but at the same time, didn't think they had anything good planned either. "I may be acting stubborn right now, but there's no way I'm coming out of this room!"

"Please! Give us a chance!" Cat exclaimed. The others agreed, perhaps Jade was the only one not saying anything though.

Ignoring them, she turned on the television straight across from the bed and flipped the channel over to the music channels. She hit the Spanish music channel and started to turn the volume up. It was playing a song from one of her favorite bands. Vestido Azul.

Tori cried out as she continued to turn up the volume, smirking deviously. "No fair drowning us out!" She never once tried to show up her sister, while Tori made every attempt to be better than her. The only things Trina had over her sister, so it seemed, was Martial Arts and the fact that the only thing she could sing and sing well was Latina music. Her true favorite Latina artists was Shakira, but she didn't dare try and sing one of her fast paced songs. However, Shakira got her through many rough times.

Through all of this, a different knock was heard. It was a faint rapping from her nearby window. Stunned, she turned and saw Sinjin on a ladder, waving at her. Her heart skipped a beat and she quickly ran over, opening the window. "Sinjin, what the hell are you doing? You do know my dad's a cop and if he sees a boy with a ladder…why…"

Sinjin looked down at the steel ladder, he was trembling and gripping the sides with great fear. "I was feeling nostalgic and saw an episode online of that old 90's show, Clarissa Explains it All. So I was feeling brave."

She rolled her eyes and leaned forward, folding her arms on the windowsill. The television remote tapped lightly on the brick outside and her lip curled into a smirk as Sinjin looked back at her. He was looking a bit different today, his usual curly afro was slicked back with some gel and his glasses were gone. "Why the new look, Sinjin?"

"My sister convinced me to try contacts out, so I went and got some…they're actually very comfortable on the eyes! She also bought me some hair gel. You like?" He ran his hand through his curly hair, smirking charmingly at her. She laughed and reached out, running her fingers through his thick mane.

"Well…It could grow on me." He rubbed his ear and looked over to the television.

"I can barely hear you over that. What's going on?" She grimaced and straightened her shoulders. Her lips thinned and her eyes narrowed.

"I'm having a fight with my sister and her friends, so I'm drowning them out with music." Sinjin bowed his head and let out a soft exhale. "You understand my plight. Anyway, I can tell you're terrified of that ladder, and if Dad sees you on this ladder outside my window, you do realize you'll be hitting the ground, right?"

"I'll take my chances." She smirked and gently put her finger to the tip of the ladder. Sinjin slowly looked to her hand, shuddering as she playfully pushed forward. His eyes widened and his hands shot out, grabbing the windowsill, despite the fact that the ladder barely moved. She smiled coyly and gently pat his shoulder.

"Funny, coming from a guy terrified of heights. Come inside?"

"I was actually coming to ask if you wanted to take a quick drive around town. Maybe hit a museum. I'm done with work for the day." Sinjin worked as a teacher assistant at Hollywood Arts, which was the reason he was still there at twenty. He worked for Sikowitz, but was really hoping to one day be a history professor. Trina herself went back to Hollywood Arts on occasion to talk with the Tae Kwon Do instructor she had on campus. She raised an eyebrow and shut off the television. Tori and her friends were still trying to get her attention. With a heavy sigh, she turned to Sinjin and shrugged her shoulders.

"It would beat being stuck here." She could hear the doorknob jiggling and was curious as to whether one of them would try to pick the lock. She knew both Robbie and Andre were great lock pickers. If that were the case, she would rather hasten herself out of this area. "All right, move on down and I'll make my way out. I'll text Dad or something, let him know I'm heading out. I'd rather avoid my sister's friends, so…yeah."

"If you say so." Sinjin wasn't deemed a threat by her father, really, but he was still a man. David may act like he didn't care about her, but she knew he did. It was easy to see, and he acknowledged once before that sometimes he said things before speaking and didn't mean half the things that he did.

When he told her he wanted her to go to college far away, he apologized after he saw how it upset her. He meant it only jokingly and didn't want her to go away. When it came to men, he was overprotective of her, seemingly more so than he was with Tori, and that stunned her. As much as David trusted Sinjin, he still was watchful and didn't want any boy doing anything to hurt his daughter. That being said, every guy that ever came around her was required to talk to him and to know that her father was a cop. He respected the men that weren't intimidated by him, which Sinjin wasn't, thankfully enough.

"If your dad's in the house, why isn't he stopping your sister and her friends from banging on the door?"

"Apparently he trusts us to resolve our own issues without having to intervene. Not the smartest move, but whatever…" She put her leg on the windowsill and Sinjin began to descend the ladder. He extended his hand and she reached for it, using it as leverage to move over the window and onto the ladder. Once over, she shut the window and started to descend, when she was just about to be below the window, she took a quick glimpse into her room to see the door starting to open. "Thought so…"

It didn't take long for them to get to the car, leaving the ladder by the side of the house. It was her dad's, so they didn't see any qualms about leaving it there. As he started up the car, Trina took one fleeting glimpse at her bedroom window, frowning at Tori gazing down at her. Her heart started to break, but she forced herself away. She wanted to rebuild that bond with her sister, but she didn't think it was possible with Tori's friends 'poisoning' her. Even if they claimed it wasn't their intention, they would not easily gain her trust or respect after all they'd done.

She took her cell phone out and began to text her father, "Going out with a friend, Daddy." It took a few seconds, but her phone chimed out a response. Sinjin raised an eyebrow and commented on the swiftness of David's reply.

"Are you with a boy?"

"It's Sinjin."

"Okay. Have fun and will you be back by dinner?"

"Yes." She pushed her phone back into her pocket and reached up, combing her fingers through her hair. "Dad wants me home by dinner." They usually ate at seven-thirty or eight. Lunch was anywhere from noon to three, depending on when lunch was served at school or what her class schedule at the college was like.

"All right, I'll get you home by then."

"Excellent." She eyed her Shakira CD case that she'd left in the dash of his car. Her grin stretched from ear to ear as she instantly took the CD from its case and pushed it into the player. As it started up, she rolled down the window and hung her elbow outside. The wind nipped her cheeks and blew her hair back, it was a warm sunny day outside. "I love this time of year, April…don't you?"

"Yep."

"My birthday's in a couple weeks, what are you getting me?" He laughed heartily and glanced over with a subtle grin.

"I don't know, you're turning twenty, so…what does every twenty year old want?"

"You should know." He was a couple months older than she was. "But I'll take anything really."

"Maybe a nice dinner?"

"Maybe." She threw her hair back as Shakira's Loca began to play. She hung her arm out of the car, tapping her hand on the door in the rhythm of the song, singing along. Sinjin looked over to her with a bright smile and shook his head. When the guy's part on the song came, he began to sing along, despite being able to keep up. She laughed and playfully shoved his shoulder, watching him snicker at his poor attempt.

"You are loca," he teased. "Don't distract the driver." She wagged her eyebrows and smirked with brazen defiance. This was going to be a good time to get away from all the stress of the day, and she was happy to be spending the day with him rather than her sister's friends.

What are your thoughts so far? I thought I'd open up to show the dynamic of the group and where they are right now. The big bad will strike soon, though, in like a couple chapters. What are your thoughts, questions and observations in this chapter? I'll happily answer any questions you might have (unless you're anonymous, in which case I have no way to respond to you :/)