Estrangement

Disclaimer: Don't own Victorious

A/N:

Chapter 10 (A Sister's Demands)

Tori sat anxiously in the passenger side of the car. Jade was driving her out to Trina's office, where hopefully they could talk things out in a calm and rational way. However, with twenty years of tension between them, calmness was likely to be thrown out the window. "I can't do this, Jade. I can't do this." She moved her hand to her mouth and began chewing absently on her nails until Jade reached over and swat her hand back.

"You'll be just fine. It's only your sister…" As if that made things okay. Jade may as well be throwing her into an active volcano, because once Trina erupts, Tori knew she was going to be badly burnt. Tori brought her temple to rest on her knuckles and closed her eyes.

"I'm sure there's a volcano out there somewhere named Katrina…If not, I'm going to name one specifically for my sister." Then again, there had once been a hurricane named Katrina long ago. Jade chuckled softly as Tori's eyelids slid upwards. "My heart's going a mile a minute, Jade. I'm scared. What will I say? What will Trina say? I know you telling us to just hash it all out and to get everything off our chest that we need to tell each other, but…Jade that's terrifying!"

"You know what's more terrifying? Trina is a CEO that can hire and fire people on a daily basis. Point and say 'goodbye', I'm pretty sure that ought to strike more fear into the heart of people than 'my sister'." Tori felt an icy chill run down her spine as she visualized the fiery glare of the woman bearing down on less fortunate people.

"I am so screwed…"

When they reached the office, which was several floors up, they found Trina standing before her full glass window and gazing out at the ground below. Beside her was a large oak desk with a desktop computer and a red leather chair. The back wall was only a glass window, which filled Tori with the fear that her sister could easily throw her out through it if angered enough. The walls were littered with shelves of fitness manuals and books. The office had a rack of dumbbells on the left side, and a mat for which a martial arts uniform hung neatly above.

"Have a seat," Trina stated. There were two smaller, leather swivel chairs that rested in front of the desk. Tori sat down on the one at the right and looked towards her sister. Trina's eyes were narrow, her face stern, and her hair hovered loosely above her shoulders. "Jade, since you're the counselor here, you probably miss your office. Have a seat in my office chair." Trina turned and placed a hand on the red chair beside her. Jade started to smile and walked over, thanking her.

Trina moved to the chair beside Tori and crossed her right leg over her left. She folded her arms over and closed her eyes, breathing out with a peculiar sharpness. An awkward silence filled the room as Tori gazed at her sister's tense body. Jade shook her arms out in front of her and set her palms down on the surface. "Okay, I'm glad we could make this. We're going to try something here…whatever you two have been holding inside, let it out. One at a time though, no interrupting the other and no making snide remarks. Trina, since this is your ground, let's start with you. What you feel when you see Tori? Let it rip."

Tori winced as Trina straightened her shoulders and turned her eyes out to the side. "Anger. Regret. Disappointment." Tori felt those words like a hot branding iron on her skin. Her heart sank as she tried to meet Trina's gaze, but the woman looked away as soon as she looked up. "Shame. I see a woman my sister turned into because I tried to get her into a school that caused her to disrespect her family. You want the truth? I feel like if she wasn't my sister, I wouldn't so much as bother with this. I'm a stickler for time, and Tori decided she had no time for me in her life, and now all of a sudden she wants me to make time for her? Not only does she want me to make time for her, she comes asking me to help her out expecting that I'm going to just do that out of the goodness of my heart? It doesn't work that way. Life doesn't work that way." Tori's eyes glazed over as her lips bumped each other in a rapid sensation. She had to keep strong, to keep from bawling her eyes out. Trina's words were harsh, full of resentment and anger.

"Okay, not a bad start." Jade turned her palm over and motioned to Tori. "Now you. What do you see when you look at Trina? How do you feel?" Trina leaned her head back and glanced at her with slanted, narrow eyes. Tori took a deep breath and closed her fingers on her pants, struggling with how she felt.

"Pain. Guilt. Sadness. Regret. I don't know. I-I wanted attention when I was young. Even now I'm still jealous because I see what you've built for yourself, Trina. I know I screwed up, and I can understand why you don't want anything to do with me. Yes, I came to you wanting your help, and maybe it was selfish of me to expect that you would help me right away, but…it's not like that now."

"It isn't?"

"The minute I saw Megan and Rachel, I knew…I-I wanted to be a part of your life, Trina. I wanted to be a part of their life. I need help getting on my feet, yes, but I still want to be a part of your life…Give me a chance. That's all I ask."

"You would have to show me enough effort." Trina's voice lowered as she turned fully towards her, crossing her arms. "I don't want you showing up in my children's lives just to fade away or disappear again. If you're going to do that, then no, I don't want you to be a part of their life. You have to prove to me that you'd be genuine. You'd have to show me that you actually give a damn. Because back in LA? That sure didn't exist! gI wasn't even a thought on your head as you, as your friends tore me down. Tore mom and dad apart. Why? Why did you go that route? Tell me? What was the point of chasing that stupid ass fantasy of yours? Clearly you never got it, and apparently you have trouble keeping up with the real world."

"I was jealous!" She snapped her voice in a strike of anger and pain. Her muscles tensed as she leaned forward, glaring into Trina's eyes. "Even then you were successful, Trina! You were the star, and I was the shadow." Trina loosened her arms and breathed from her nose as her eyebrow arched up. "You were the martial artist that got into Hollywood Arts after practicing for years. You were the one making strong grades, going through your own homeschooling course just to have real classes. You were always working for everything, working your ass off to become something, and was jealous. No matter how much I worked, I could never get out of your shadow! Then I finally did, and you know what? It felt good! I finally felt better than you, superior. It's wrong, I know it's wrong, and it's because of that, that I'm where I am. It's because of that feeling that I let my friends disrespect my family, and that I constantly hoarded mom and dad's attention from you. It went too far and I pushed you away!"

Her tears boiled on her cheeks and her fists clenched tight. "You were making mistakes from day one. The Tori I knew before Hollywood Arts would never have done the things that you did. You let your friends put me in the hospital, you blew off one of your best friends for their approval-"

"Because I liked their approval! I loved it, I craved it! You were right, you've always been right! I can admit that, so why can't you-" Tori frowned and bowed her head, "Why can't you just accept that and forgive me?"

"It isn't forgiveness that's the issue, Tori. I forgive you just fine."

"Then what is the problem?"

"The problem is trust. The way you acted like a selfish and spoiled rich little girl. The way I'm trying not to bring my kids up, to teach them responsibility. The way I don't want you influencing them into thinking that behavior and expecting everything on a silver platter is okay." Tori winced as Trina uncrossed her legs and breathed in deeply. "Do you realize that all three of my children will start working when they turn sixteen? I make them do chores, and they don't get away with doing things that are against the rules. They can't charm or blackmail their way out, and all three have been grounded, put in a time out, had something taken away. They're going to know what it's like to go out into the real world where life just isn't easy, and I'm going to prepare them for that. Things should not come easy to someone, and I regret that I made you think that it was possible."

"What do you mean?"

"I put you in that school because I put you on that stage where all you had to do was sing one damn song to wow everyone. After that, you thought everything could be handed to you, and it didn't matter who you stepped on, even your own best friend." Trina curled a finger at her chin and held contact with Tori's wavering eyes. "You didn't even want to be a singer until then. Mom tells me you're still chasing that dream, you still want that dream, but you have zero work ethic. You've lost jobs, you've lost homes, all because of this fantasy of yours, Tori. How do you expect me to help you? I'm not going to give you money, that's for sure, because how am I supposed to know you won't just spend it the first chance you get to run off to some talent scout."

"I-"

"No…you want my respect? You want to be a part of my family? You want my time? You're going to have to earn it." Tori's eyes widened and she quickly looked to Jade, who was watching with eagerness. Trina stood up and walked towards a picture hanging from the wall. "Tori, if you really want my help, here's the thing. You can't get an apartment with evictions on your record, you can't get a job with as many times as you've been fired-and I have looked."

"Y-You looked?"

"Yes. Being a CEO, I can run background checks on anyone. I've contacted every boss you had, and they all said the same damn thing." Trina locked her wrists behind her back and bowed her head. Tori started to whimper as she feared what was going to come out of Trina's mouth. "You need to learn about the real world, Tori. You need to learn about respect and hard work. Mom and Dad can't teach you these values anymore…"

"What are you saying?"

"I can't give you money for a place, and those evictions on your record have spoiled the shit out of your credit. So I'm going to give you a place, as long as you pay rent." Tori's heart stopped as Trina turned to her, clenching her jaw. "Then, I'm going to swallow a bit of my pride. I'm going to give you a job…to pay rent...If you cannot keep up with the job, if you cannot keep up with rent…you're gone."

"W-What about us?"

"Well put in the effort, Tori. If you can put in the effort to show me you're willing to work for yourself without trying to go rush off to the nearest talent scout, and show some responsibility…you might just earn a little respect from me. If I don't see you making an effort, we're done."

"S-So you're going to give me a job? Where?" Trina smirked as her eyes drifted to Jade's. Suddenly Tori was getting a bad feeling that it would have something to do with the gym. She started shaking her head and firmly gripped the armrests of her chair. "Don't tell me…it's going to be…"

"You're going to start out the same way I started out. Let's see how long you last before you give up."

Well that was a pretty good session, for 20 years it could have been a lot worse, but it does say something that Trina's willing to give Tori a place and a job. With her track record, Trina (most people) would normally not do that for someone with an extensive history of losing apartments and work. Regardless, it's good ground they made. Tori may not like it at first, but she'll hopefully come out of this better with some values I think Trina wants to instill into her little sister.