Estrangement

Disclaimer: Don't own Victorious

A/N:

Chapter 19 (History of CEOs)

Tori sat on one of the idle workout benches in the gym, fingering through college brochures, scholarship opportunities and grants. She wanted to consider taking out loans, but she was pretty sure that wasn't going to happen.

Hearing the sound of popping gum, she jolted upright and looked over to see Nancy watching her from the doorway. "So Tori, you're considering college?" She was nervous about it, but confident she'd be okay. She remembered what had been said to her before about Gold's Gym helping to cover an employee's tuition with some of their own scholarships, but she wasn't sure if she'd been working enough.

Sure there was that old '90-day' limit, but a lot had changed over the last twenty years. Still an employee had to remain on for 90 days in order to be considered locked into a position, but she could technically get the health insurance and other coverage in a month of working there. "Yeah I am, and the sooner the better, but I don't know how I'm going to do that." Nancy walked over to her and sat beside her, staring at the brochure with an arched eyebrow.

"Think you're going to ask Trina for help?"

"Absolutely not." Nancy leaned back and parted her lips as Tori shook her head. She felt in her heart she wanted to do this herself. "I came to prove to Trina I'm not going to rely on her money, and if I ask for her to help cover college, then she's not going to see that."

"Oh." Nancy curled her finger at her chin and hummed for a second. "I know that's a noble thing, but also remember, it is okay to look for help anywhere you can get it. There's no shame in asking, but you're also right, with how Trina is at the moment…it could be best not to ask her for any money until you've exhausted everything else."

"Right. Plus I found this…" She handed Nancy the brochure, grinning proudly. It was a newer community college, a chain of them formed by the last CEO of Gold's Gym. A chain of two year schools named Golden Community College. Nancy was impressed with the find, as she clearly understood the college.

GCC offered a two year degree plan for those seeking a bachelor's. Years ago the Associate's degree had been all but eradicated, and the Bachelor's was considered a student's first college degree. Many basics and core classes had also been erased as unnecessary, and students were now focusing on classes that would lead them to where they wanted to go. There were still cheap community colleges out there that helped people through their first two years of attaining a Bachelor's before they were able to transfer to a major university.

This was what GCC offered, but at the same time, it had been created by the former CEO, Maxwell Jones in order to help his employees get a start in college. "It says that for Gold's Gym employees, tuition is cut in half for the first year. The second year, it's free to employees. Add also this-" She grabbed a manila folder from the ground and Nancy glanced over as she pulled out a scholarship application called Fallen Star. "This is a scholarship I found out was created back in 2019 that assists college students who have had a parent that was in a job such as Police Officer, Fireman, Paramedic, that may have died on the job. It is much like the old Hazelwood act for military families in the sense that it also covers most, if not all of a student's tuition!"

Nancy studied the scholarship information. A smile tugged at her lips and Tori filled with pride. "This is amazing! You found all this yourself?"

"Sort of. I had a little help."

"Oh?"

"Yeah." Tori flipped her hair back and grinned as she thought about the ending of her date with Zack. He let her on the hotel's main computers because he got called in towards the end to deal with something going on and had been in the process of explaining all these college opportunities out there. "There's this guy I met at the store…we had a date Saturday and he told me all about these scholarships and other things, like GCC. He knows about that one because he had a friend go there once."

"Well, you do know that Golden Community College has a mandatory requirement before you can attend, right?" She frowned as Nancy held up the brochure. She already knew about the required sixty days of employment. "You have to have worked here sixty days and the manager-that'd be me-would have to recommend you."

"Yeah, I know. But that's just it, there's plenty of time for the application!"

"True." Application deadlines for Fall semester were set for the middle of June, which was more than sixty days. "I suppose you would have plenty of time to gather your things. As for the scholarship you found, it would work great since your father did pass on the job, right?"

"Yes."

"Now in other news." Tori paused while Nancy set the paperwork on her lap. "You said you met a guy and went on a date? How was it?"

"Great!" She'd already told Jade all about it, and of course, Jade was ecstatic and wanted to meet the man when she came back up with all Tori's things. "He was really nice, and made me feel better about the whole situation I'm going through. We might have another date this coming weekend, actually."

"Well, I'm happy for you. New York is treating you well, then?"

"If you say so. I mean it's still a big change for me, though it isn't like LA is all that different." Who was she kidding? LA was very different from NYC, but at the same time, it was amazing. "I could definitely get used to this place. Jade said she's coming back up with all my things Saturday, and Zack said he's willing to help move it all in, then he wants to take us up to the Empire State Building!" Nancy put her hand to her chest, gasping.

"You've never been up there?"

"Nope." She knew she was missing out, but in all honesty, she never thought about how marvelous the building would be. Sure it was no longer the tallest building in the world-or country-for that matter, but it was still something she was looking forward to seeing. "There's a restaurant up top, Zack said he's going to treat us to a nice dinner, give me a proper New York welcome."

"That's great news, and I don't have any work for you Saturday. Though, speaking of work, have you given the store a walk through yet?" She lifted her head and twisted her nose, causing Nancy to laugh. "Go on, put on your nose clamps and gloves, though I'm sure there's not much to clean up yet. We haven't had our day's rush crowd yet."

"Well that's reassuring." She rolled her eyes and pushed her paperwork into the manila folder. "Will Trina be coming by today, do you know?" Nancy stood up and dusted off her pants.

"No I don't, I think she's off today, so she's probably busy with her family."

"Yeah, and if she wasn't off, she'd probably be working at the corporate office." The truth of the matter was, being a CEO meant Trina actually had the option of when to go into work and when to stay home. CEOs were not usually 'graded' on performance and were typically their own boss, setting their own work hours. However they had to take responsibility as they were the lifeblood of a company. "Trina usually works as often as she can, but Emma, Kate and I have gotten her to the point where she knows when to take time off. She can either go in and work on making sure everything's running fine, fixing whatever issues there are, or go home and be with her family. Even there she tends to sometimes think about what to do for the company."

"Online statistics say she's a powerful CEO…I mean hell, she destroyed LA Fitness!" Nancy chuckled softly and shook her head.

"True, but they were going down the drain anyway. Trina's got a lot done for this company, even brought it to its peak, or at least close to it. We're proud of her, but we still think she needs to focus more energy onto her family. She's got this company running like a well oiled machine, she doesn't have to watch it 24-7, most of the upper management team already does that for her." Tori raised an eyebrow and followed Nancy out of the workout area. "She thinks she owes Gold's Gym for giving her the start in life that she needed, to the point that she really does want to make it the best it can be. I think it's already at that point, it can't get much better now than it already is."

"Yeah. I know that much." She'd done her research. Gold's was the top producer of almost all the energy bars out there, the power bars, muscle milk drinks, workout programs, weight training sets and gear, karate programs, smoothie drinks, and the gyms were the pride and gem of it all. Trina's hard work may have gotten it there, but she should take a break if at all possible. "She's turned this place into a powerhouse."

"Well it wasn't all her doing of course, I mean the CEOs before her did a pretty good job, like Mr. Maxwell there that started up the GCC. Every CEO leaves their mark on a company whether good or bad, they can be graded on their own personality while also how they benefited a company. Trina's not Gold's most famous, best, or even the most powerful CEO…but she's a damn good one."

Tori was thrown back by the news. She was under the impression that Trina was the most successful CEO of Gold's Gym. "If Trina wasn't the best, then who was?" Nancy folded her arms and lifted her shoulders.

"What Trina is, is Gold's youngest CEO ever. At thirty-six she's got a lot to prove and has done the most to prove that she was good enough to be CEO. She's also the second female CEO, with the first being the one just before Maxwell. She's still considered a 'baby' as far as CEOs go, because most are in their forties, fifties, and even sixties."

"There have been plenty of CEOs in their thirties, though!"

"Oh yes, just not where Gold's Gym is concerned. If you're looking for the best…well Maxwell was considered great for opening those community colleges, though he was only CEO for about four years. The first female CEO of this gym? Selena Princeton, CEO right after Jim Snow stepped down in 2015 is considered to be one of the greatest for her legacy. Being the first female she had a lot to step up to the plate for, so she did her best to expand the gym as much as she could. She hosted many gym marathons, amped up all product productions, expanded stores in more areas than any CEO has ever done…so if you're looking for the most famous, most successful or most powerful CEO of the gym, it is Selena. Trina, I think, would like to fill that woman's shoes, and has even taken mentorship from the woman in the past…but Trina has a long way to go before she can leave that kind of legacy."

Tori opened her mouth, but was unable to muster any words. Her body tensed as she tried to imagine her sister living up to such a legacy. "I-If she's trying to live up to that, then why doesn't she spend more time working than she spends with her family, again?" Nancy rolled her head to the right, sighing heavily.

"Because she knows the importance of family." Slightly annoyed by Nancy's remark, Tori crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes.

"Are you implying-"

"I'm not implying anything." Nancy cut her off by brandishing a hand in the air. Tori stammered as she watched her boss walk off. "There are a lot of things you don't know. Trina mentioned you finding her old journal from fifteen years ago. There are things that you don't know that involve her, her family, her children…things even that aren't in the journal. The most recent? You didn't hear this one from me…Megan was put in the hospital about the time Trina became CEO, about the time she bought out LA Fitness." Tori's eyes widened as Nancy slowly looked over her shoulder. "The reason that happened was because Trina had thrown herself so hard into work when her daughter was put in the hospital. She'd thrown herself into her work a little before that, and wasn't home when what happened…happened."

She was afraid to hear the news, mostly because it involved her sister and her niece. "What happened? What happened to my niece?"

"Trina was working at the time and Sinjin was leaving the college to get home. Megan was alone with Rachel and Danny when a burglar broke into the house." Her heart stalled and sweat began to form at her brow. "Apparently the man took note of Trina's success, found her-and this is the reason they try to keep their address and personal information out of the public eye-and was going to steal some of the expensive stuff. He was armed. Megan tried to fight him off by herself after pushing Rachel and Danny into her bedroom. The man told the police he was caught off guard and struck her without realizing she was just a child. The dogs subdued him just as Sinjin and the police got there."

"Oh my god…" She cupped her hands over her mouth and clenched her eyes shut, finally understanding why Trina was so hung up on being with her family now. Every moment was a precious one, and to go through something so frightening as possibly losing a child was something no mother, or father, ever wanted to go through. "The burglar…w-what happened to him?"

"He's in prison now. New York State Penitentiary. He won't be getting out for a long time."

"Did-Did they ever find out who he was? I mean sure they did, but…I mean…" Nancy raised her eyebrow and looked away, her face full of nonchalance. It was clear no one cared about the burglar, so Tori wasn't too surprised. "Was it someone Trina knew?"

"In a way. For some reason Trina never cared to talk about it, she was more focused on her children than who the person was, but it was someone she knew. As for why he tried to burglarize the place-no one knows." Tori was trying to wrack her brain over who could have possibly been so cruel that they'd want to steal from her sister. Burglars usually were desperate people, people with nothing or they'd fallen so far in life that they couldn't deal with things as they were. She'd had the feeling of envy before, but never thought to sink so low. "Anyway, get to work. I'm going to be in my office."

"You didn't tell me…who tried to steal from her? Who put Megan in the hospital?" Nancy sighed heavily, clearly hesitating. This only made Tori all the more nervous and irritable than she was. "I promise I won't tell Trina you told me-I won't say anything unless she brings it up. I just-I want to know who hurt my sister. Who put my niece in the hospital?"

"Why does it matter?"

"Because like it or not, they're my family!" She stomped her foot on the ground and Nancy turned around, smiling slightly. There was a look of pride on her face as she crossed her arms. Tori's heart was racing a mile a minute, and anger was seeping through her veins as well as panic and concern. "If it's someone Trina knew, and you're hesitating in telling me-then that means it's someone I knew, doesn't it?" She started breathing heavily as Nancy raised an eyebrow.

"Not necessarily, it could also be that Trina's a good friend of mine and this is personal information, but I suppose. Most burglaries are random, sure, this one wasn't. Um…the name might ring a bell for you, I don't know."

"Okay…" She took a deep breath and closed her eyes, now fearful of the name that was going to come out of Nancy's mouth. Perhaps she was getting too deep, maybe she didn't need to know. As long as Trina, Sinjin, Megan, Rachel, and Danny were all okay, that was all that mattered.

"Beck? Do you recognize that name?" Her eyes shot open and her heart stopped as her body began to grow numb. Now it was clear as to why no one knew where he was, not even Jade. Her jaw fell open and she staggered backwards.

"W-Who-What?"

"That's the man that broke into her house a few years back. Beck Oliver."

Well the mystery of his whereabouts are solved, but Tori won't be making any contact with him. We now know what made her once workaholic sister focus harder on her family, or one of the many things that made her develop into a family person.