AN: Hello everyone and welcome, later than anticipated, to this chapter. I had hoped to get it done for last week but life got in the way.
Anyway, a shout out to those of you who read and, especially, reviewed chapter 17 and a special one to Agent-M who had the dubious honour of providing this story's 100th review; the first time one of my stories has reached those giddy heights. Like you I didn't like Trina's ingratitude; whether Freddie can do anything about it remains to be seen.
Fanfic-Reader-88 – yes we have the Carly-Steven-Tori subplot to enjoy; I'm particularly looking forward to how it all comes to a head eventually, possibly involving some pain. Like you I suspect that Robbie's grandmother would have reacted like that to almost anyone who showed up with him and, as I said above, yes Trina's behaviour was rather unpleasant.
OneHorseShay – I'm glad you enjoyed the early stages of Caddie. Cat does have a fondness for cute little dresses so Freddie may well see more of the collection as we progress. Jealous Jade? I suppose the question is what is she jealous of when she's dating Beck? You perhaps hinted at one reason with your one-shot set after CNB; she's doing a bit of a compare and contrast? Of course you have a different theory though. As for your theory of Mammaw's dislike of Freddie (that you expressed via PM) – it's certainly a possible reason, particularly with your suggestion that André's grandmother would have had similar misgivings if he and Jade had dated.
Challenge King – thank you, I'm glad that you liked it and were amused by Cat's attire; do any of us buy the whole Little Miss Innocent act? She knows what she's doing.
Darck Ben – thanks. I don't 'cast' actors to make guest appearances (I'll leave that to OHS) but you are, of course, more than welcome to cast whoever you like to play the characters while you're reading the story.
ArtisticAngel6 – thank you for the praise; I'm glad you love the pairing and hopefully you'll enjoy their interaction going forward.
Guest – thank you for the review. Carly's jealousy of Freddie with another girl was long established on the show (except when she went as out of character as he did during those abysmal few episodes that followed iOMG). Does she have feelings for him? The Creddies have always thought so and believe that iGoodbye confirmed it; an alternative theory is that she loved being loved by him and felt threatened that someone could 'steal' that love from her. Freddie DOES want the girls to reconcile; he wanted Carly to come down for Spring Break to see Sam, maybe he will get the chance later on with them. You're right that there could be some… discussions between Cat and Carly when they meet in person, given the history.
That's everyone so here's the next chapter.
Chapter 18: A Film by Dale Squires.
Benson Residence, Hollywood Hills, Los Angeles, California
Saturday, 8th May 2010.
"So, how's Steven?" Freddie asked his friend teasingly; Cat grinned by his side as they both eyed the brunette expectantly.
"I don't know," Carly began hesitantly; the brown-eyed web hostess was sat at her desk in her room while video-chatting with her friend and his girlfriend. The pale Seattleite looked down at her keyboard for a moment as she battled the feelings that her own romantic life and the sight of Freddie being so happy with another girl threatened to engender within her.
"Aw, never mind Carls," he sympathised.
"Yeah, the right guy is definitely out there," Cat backed him up, giggling as the couple shared a smile.
"We haven't broken up!" Carly almost snapped at the couple; her tone was certainly somewhat shorter than usual. The pale Seattleite felt a little annoyed that they had jumped to that conclusion. "It's just that he's gone away for a month." They turned to her in confusion. "You see, his parents are divorced but made it an amicable split; they home-school him and he spends half of his time up here and half of it… actually half of it in L.A. somewhere." She put on a confused expression as the Los Angeles-based teens shared a surprised look. "Something I said?" she ventured when neither commented.
"No it's just… that story sounds a little familiar," Freddie observed.
"Yeah is it a fairy tale?" Cat asked him excitedly.
"No, sweetie," her boyfriend's own tone was patient, "it's the same thing as Tori's guy," he turned to his old friend, "one of our friends here at school is in the same situation. She's dating a guy who divides his time between his parents too." The tech genius bit his tongue as he pondered on the coincidence of two girls both dating a 'Steven' who divided his time between LA and Seattle. He decided, however, that there was no point saying anything just yet; his friend had had precious little luck in the relationship department as it was without him sowing any seeds of doubt in her mind unnecessarily.
"When did he go?" Cat piped up.
"Last week; always comes and goes on the first of the month," the brunette explained; Freddie thought back on the upswing in Tori's mood over the last week with her guy's return helping her get over the fall-out from the song she performed for Trina's birthweek and his suspicions flared another notch. For now he gently bit his tongue.
"So you're home alone on a Saturday night?" he asked instead, sympathy entering his voice again as he pulled his girl a little closer to him; the redhead grinned wickedly and shuffled onto his lap, causing him to wrap his arms around her to hold her steady. It was a sight that further lowered the web hostess's mood, though she did her best not to show it.
"Yeah," she sighed, "most of my friends are busy; I'm seeing a couple of them tomorrow though – got to plan the next web show after all." Freddie nodded. "How about you two? Not out and about tonight then?" she tried to adopt a teasing tone of her own and just about pulled it off.
"Not tonight; I had a long day at work and we're helping Cat's mom and dad do some decorating at their place over the next few days so we decided on a quiet night in with a couple of movies while we have the house to ourselves with mom doing the night shift." His girl smiled and turned on his lap to steal a quick kiss.
Vega Residence, Hollywood Hills
Sunday, 9th May 2010.
The young couple were taking a break from helping her parents out; the Valentines had told them to take a couple of hours off from decorating and they had decided to go and visit their newest friend; for Freddie it was because he wanted to sound her out on Steven and look for some evidence for or against his burgeoning suspicions. He was pleased, therefore, to see that the boy in question was there when they arrived, having returned from Seattle the previous week.
"Hey Tori," Cat greeted her exuberantly as she opened the door.
"Cat, Freddie, hi," she smiled. "Come in, come in," she urged them.
"Thanks," the Seattle-born told her as they passed her and entered the house.
"Guys, this is Steven," she smiled and gestured towards the dark-haired boy; he stood up from the couch and offered his hand to them and the three exchanged greetings. "Freddie's actually from Seattle originally," the brunette elaborated for her man; he raised his eyebrows a fraction.
"Oh really, whereabouts?"
"Well I grew up there," he clarified. "We used to live on the west side of downtown," the tech wizard explained, "in an apartment block called Bushwell Plaza, near Occidental Park." The boy could have sworn he saw the faintest flicker cross the other teen's face as he said this but it was gone as soon as it appeared.
"I don't know it," he said simply.
"Freddie used to be part of a web show up there," Cat added proudly; her boyfriend was sure that the other boy's discomfort flared a notch momentarily. "iCarly," she clarified.
"Really, you worked on iCarly? Tori's shown me a couple of them," he motioned towards the half-Latina. "Carly's cute but not my type; she's not you" he finished with a charming smile in the girl's direction.
Tori and Cat grinned happily at his words; Freddie looked somewhere between suspicious and nauseated.
Black Box Theatre, Hollywood Arts High School
Monday, 10th May 2010.
"Hey Jade, have you got a second?" "Freddie asked his friend as he spotted her just inside the theatre; she was stood talking to Beck but waved her boyfriend off to go and save them a couple of seats, given the look on the newcomer's face. The long-haired Canadian looked from one to the other in suspicious confusion before heeding the instruction and heading for the seating area. Freddie spotted his girlfriend's vivid red hair and waved at her as he approached the darker-haired teen; she smiled and waved back, patting the seat next to her to show that she had co-opted it for him.
"So what's up?" The gothic girl was, as ever, direct and to the point.
"You know Tori's kinda got this new guy?"
"Yeah, what about him?"
"I have my concerns," he admitted and set out what he knew and what he suspected from talking to the couple and also to Carly.
"Have you told either of them this?"
"No, I really don't want to rock the boat for anyone, especially Carls," and he gave a brief run-down of the petite girl's woes in that department; Jade nodded sympathetically.
"So what do you want to do?"
"Keep my eye on him and wait until I have some actual proof. Then," he smiled, "maybe invite my friend down for a visit."
Jade's eyes lit up and the familiar mischievous smirk set on her face. "That could be a fun meeting."
"I'm thinking Sam might like to be there too," the boy speculated. "But until then, I'll just see how it all goes."
"You think Sam will want to get revenge on Carly's behalf?" Jade wondered.
"I think she'll like to give someone a beating," Freddie smirked before adding a bitter and disgusted edge to his voice as he continued, "she certainly enjoyed handing one to the blonde bitch didn't she? Oh, I think Beck's getting impatient," he observed as he spotted the actor throwing another glance at them; they made their way to their seats and Freddie gave his girl a good morning kiss as he sat down next to her. Jade gave a guarded look in his direction; the boy's description of his ex-girlfriend sat ill with her, despite Lindsey's sins. The gothic girl found herself wondering, once again, just how ok her friend really was.
Class was due to start and the majority of the students were stood talking to one another as they waited for their teacher, Chris, to arrive. Tori had taken a seat in the middle of the auditorium; she lounged a little on it with her right foot resting on the chair in front as she thought of the hypothetical dilemma she wanted to set out for her friends. The brunette was sat in between André and a slightly odd-looking boy that she didn't know, though she believed his name to be Damian. Her songsmith friend was perched on his chair, sitting on top of the back rest with his feet on the cushioned part. In front of him sat Jade, with Beck on her left; the couple were sitting very comfortably together and facing the front where they could see Freddie and Cat in the front row. The Seattle-born teen had his arm around his girlfriend and both were dressed down in their oldest tops and worn jeans (Cat's had holes in both knees) as they were going to be helping her parents re-decorate her brother's room again after school today (Freddie would help for a couple of hours before work and then return afterwards).
"Okay," the half-Latina asked them all, "if you had to give up the internet or one of your feet?"
"Foot," Cat answered without hesitation. André and Jade agreed, giving the same answer immediately after.
"Take a foot," Beck supported them; none of the teens seemed to even have to think about it.
"Really? You'd all give up a foot to keep the internet?" Tori was surprised.
"Totally," Beck answered.
"Wouldn't you?" Cat asked in surprise.
"You love the Internet," André pointed out.
"I know, but my foot is a part of my body and the internet is... yeah, bye foot. No need to ask you huh Freddie?" she teased, seeing their friend remain silent throughout. Cat grinned and snuggled closer against his side.
"I'd lose the internet," he replied quietly and all eyes of the group, and some of the other kids who had overheard the exchange, turned to him. "My mom's a nurse, remember?" he reminded them. "When I was younger I was with her for one of her shifts because she decided that she didn't trust the day care company she'd been using; we'd just recently moved to Seattle and she didn't trust the Shays to look after me either. There had been a bad accident on the I-5 that day," and they saw his skin visibly whiten as he recalled that day. "Even though I obviously wasn't in theatre with them when they were operating I was in the hospital. You don't want to know what I saw that day," he finished with a shiver. The redhead in his arms gave him a small supportive smile; he looked to her and returned it as best he could. She strained her neck a little so that she could give him a quick kiss, re-evaluating her own choice as she did; she wasn't the only one to do so.
"All right, future superstars, take your seats," Chris had entered the theatre, "because at this point in your lives, I am in charge of you. Come on, hurry up. Let's not waste time. We've got some excitement today."
"Yay, I love excitement," Cat was happy to have some distraction from Freddie's tale.
"Who doesn't love excitement?" Tori asked her.
"Damian," the red velvet-haired girl pointed to the boy next to the half-Latina.
"She's right... Tori," he told her. Thinking that he seemed rather creepy she rose far enough to be able to pick up her chair and bunny-hopped a couple of inches towards André and away from him.
"Ok, okay. Today, instead of discussing the differences..." Chris began before he was interrupted by a new, late arrival.
"Hi. Sorry I'm late, sweaty and out of breath," Robbie called as he dashed into the theatre; his ever-present puppet was on his hand much to Freddie's disdain.
"Somebody get me some coffee," Rex demanded.
"Robbie, just sit down," the teacher told him. The ventriloquist headed towards the seat directly in front of Tori.
"Why are you late?" the lighter brunette asked him.
"'Cause my Uncle Marty gave me this old car, which I was really psyched about, except it keeps breaking down," he began as he sat. "And on my way here, the motor died in the middle of a really bad neighbourhood. Now, don't get me wrong; I like all people, but look, a mean guy took my left shoe and Rex's," he gestured their shoe-less feet to the class.
"Put my foot down," his puppet ordered.
"Okay. Let's all shut up and let teacher talk," Chris interrupted the odd couple's scene. "Now, I bet you are all familiar with the short film called 'Butterface'."
"Yeah, of course. Oh my God, I've watched that movie on-line like a billion times," Tori replied.
"Yeah, who hasn't?" Jade was a little impatient.
"Well, I'm glad you're all aware of the film because I'd like you to meet the director of "Butterface..." Chris began.
"No way!" Freddie was excited by the prospect of a real director; he was hoping to get some new ideas for effects and other 'magic' he could bring to his work.
"Don't tease me," his dark brunette friend threatened, barely daring to believe what seemed to be on offer.
"... A former student of mine, Dale Squires."
The director emerged from the wings of the stage, jumping and pointing his fingers at them as if they were guns.
"Yeah, let him hear it," Chris urged as the kids applauded his entrance.
"What's up, guys?" he asked them confidently as he took their applause.
"Okay, Dale, the podium is all yours."
"Nice. I've always wanted a Plexiglas podium." The assembled students laughed politely; though Freddie rolled eyes a bit while Cat ignored proceedings altogether and pulled out her phone to begin texting. "Uh, what happened to your shoe?" the director asked, noticing Robbie.
"Oh, it was taken by street toughs," the puppeteer explained.
Tori raised her hand and called out a question, "Hey, is it true that you're going to be directing Johnny Depp's new movie?"
"Uh, looks that way, yeah," Dale confirmed.
"It's so... that even excites me," Damian declared. As one the entire class imitated Tori's move to edge away from him.
The class was further disrupted as the rear door was opened; Trina and Sinjin lead huge mass of students clamouring to get inside the room to see the guest speaker.
"Dale... there he is. Oh my God, there he is!" Trina blew a kiss at him.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. What is going on here?" Chris demanded as he approached them.
"Cat sent out a mass text message that Dale Squires is here," the elder Vega explained.
"I love mass texting!" the cupcake lover raised her phone in triumph; Freddie pinched top of his nose and closed his eyes, shaking his head a little.
"Come on, come on, come on, come on. Hey, hey, guys, you can't... " the teacher attempted to restore order.
"Hi, Dale. I hear you're directing the new Johnny Depp movie and guess what? I'd be perfect. Here's my head shot," Trina brandished a photograph. Tori began to look deeply disturbed at her sister's latest antics.
"All right!" Chris had had enough. "Hey, hey, hey, hey. If you are not in this class, then leave," he instructed them.
Trina turned to face the other kids and began to usher them out of the door. "Yeah. Yeah, you heard the man. Go on. Get out. Schoochie, schoochie." She then turned and smiled at the class's teacher. "Hey," she greeted him sweetly.
"You too, Trina," he told her.
"But I'd look so good next to Johnny Depp in a movie," she protested. "Please Dale?"
"Tori, can you make your sister leave?" Chris asked the younger sibling.
"Trina, stop embarrassing me or I'm going to embarrass you," the singer cautioned.
"Don't threaten me."
"When Trina was six," she began, "our family went to the mall just before Christmas."
"Don't say it," Trina insisted urgently.
"And she peed... "
"Tori," Trina was scandalised.
"… on Santa Claus." The kids in the theatre immediately began to laugh at the older Vega sister; Trina fled in embarrassment.
"Thank you, Tori," Chris told her. "Dale?" he prompted.
"All right. What were we talking about?"
He was interrupted again, however, as the older of the sisters stuck her head through door again. "In all fairness, I did have a bladder infection," she pointed out.
"Go," Tori demanded.
A talk followed, during which the class, Freddie in particular, made copious notes based on his methods and ideas for directing a production before a short question-and-answer session for the last few minutes before the bell.
"So that's why I went with a handheld camera," Dale explained. "I wanted to give it that panicky, jittery feel, you know?" Jade and a few of the others nodded their agreement.
"I love that panicky, jittery feeling," Cat observed.
Freddie spoke up, "I think it worked well and without having to use any of the special effects that you might otherwise have needed to add." Squires gave a slightly curious look at a teen who seemed so knowledgeable about the finer workings of the effects.
"And it was totally brilliant how you didn't even see his wife in that scene," Tori's point earned a small chuckle from the speaker.
"Yeah," André agreed, "'cause it made you think, like, 'where is she?'"
"Well, to be honest," he admitted, "she wasn't in the scene because the actress who played the wife got food poisoning and was puking in the bathroom. But hey, I'll take brilliant."
"One time, I ate a hamburger and then, like, an hour later, I started sneezing, but I don't think it had anything to do with the hamburger," Cat told him. Tori pulled a face as she looked at her friend. Jade, despite being used to her best friend's random outbursts, made a suggestion.
"Maybe your red hair dye seeps through your scalp and into your brain."
The shorter girl gasped, "Can that happen?" She clutched at her head in panic while Jade palmed her face. Freddie put his arm consolingly around his girlfriend to settle her while giving Jade a slightly reproachful look; she just grinned confidently at him and, in spite of himself, he smiled back softly and shook his head.
"So, Dale, why don't you tell my class why you're here?" Chris suggested; time would soon be up so they needed to get to the point.
Damian nodded, "Yeah."
"Well," Dale started, "Chris asked me if I'd help you guys make a short film, kind of as a class project."
The assembled students mumbled, "A what?" "No way." "Cool."
"And you'll direct it?" Tori asked the celebrity; he gave a cocky shrug.
"Is that cool with you?"
"That's very cool with me, Dale Squires," the half-Latina enthused.
"So what kind of movie are we going to make?" Freddie asked.
"I don't know," Squires replied, "I was thinking something maybe intense, scary."
"Like Jade?" Rex suggested; the girl in question leaned over and hit him hard with her folder. "Oh," the puppet muttered before slumping against Robbie's arm.
"You knocked him unconscious!" his handler lamented; the gothic girl just smiled and settled back in her seat next to Beck.
"Hey, Beck, maybe we could rework that one-act play you wrote earlier in the semester?" Chris suggested.
"Yeah, I'd be into that," the actor nodded.
"Oh. And I talked to a guy in the biz, he's going to let us use professional film cameras, lights, whatever we need," Dale added.
Freddie thought of one more issue. "Where are we going to film?"
"Oh, we can shoot it at my house," Tori suggested.
"Alright; I think we're making a movie," the director enthused; the kids clapped the prospect.
"Let's do it," Tori finished before wrinkling her nose as her older sister suddenly snuck back into the theatre and appeared by the podium.
"I created this photo of me and Johnny Depp together, so you could see what we might look like as a..." she began.
"On Santa Claus," Tori reminded her.
"Bladder infection," she shot back.
"Out," Chris demanded.
"Hey," she complained, pouting but trudging for the exit; the others wouldn't be far behind as the bell ended the lesson shortly afterwards.
Asphalt Café.
"Hey, Beck?" Robbie caught up with the Canadian teen as he and Jade waited by the Grub Truck for Festus to provide their lunch.
"Yeah, what's up?" he asked.
"I was just wondering… you know your way around cars, don't you?"
"I've fixed mine in the past," he conceded.
"Could you… maybe help me with mine? I really don't want to break down in rough neighbourhoods again."
"Sure," the laid-back actor replied, earning a disappointed look from his girlfriend. "We'll have to work it around the movie we're doing but if you can get it here then we can do a little on a lunchtime or right after school," he suggested.
"That would be great, thanks."
The trio joined Cat, Freddie, Tori and André at their usual table; the younger Vega kept glancing surreptitiously over at her sister, sat at a nearby table, but Trina was seemingly content to keep a low profile at the moment after the events of the morning class.
"So are you guys still decorating?" Jade asked the other couple.
"Yeah," Cat confirmed, "we have to finish my brother's room tonight."
"I thought you worked on a Monday," Tori pointed out to the tech producer.
"I do," he confirmed, "I'll be there for a couple of hours before work then go back and help them finish off after." He gave a quick chuckle and continued, "After yesterday it'll be nice to have a break at work; there was a lot more to do than I thought."
"That's why they asked you to help us," his girlfriend pointed out with her customary giggle.
Valentine Residence
The two teenagers had helped Cat's parents to get a lot of work done on the room before Freddie left for work; the Valentines had then turned their attention to the guest bedroom in his absence and had made a good start on that. Cat bounced downstairs when her boy knocked on the front door and welcomed him back inside; he had changed back into his older clothes after finishing his shift.
"Why don't you two finish up painting your brother's room and we'll keep going on this one," Mrs Valentine suggested to her daughter. "I know you have this film to work on later in the week so if you can at least help us to get one of the rooms finished it would be great."
"Sure," the Seattle-born nodded, "let's go," he seized his girlfriend's hand and they headed up to the room where he took stock of the situation.
"Ok, sheets are on the floor, everything's away from the wall. Should be an easy enough job, even if it'll take a while to get it done. It is…" he checked the time on his phone, "8:30 so we have a couple of hours before mom will want me home. Let's go."
The two opened a couple of tins of paint and set off from opposite corners of the room.
It was tedious work, though Freddie found it rather therapeutic. Cat, however, was getting bored with simply working up and down the walls adding red paint to them, though she amused herself for a while by comparing the colour to that of her hair, which elicited a soft giggle every time she did. Freddie smiled at the sound and stole an occasional glance at the girl in her well-worn but figure-hugging clothes when he went to recharge his brush.
Finally, though, Cat was out of stimuli. Thankfully they were almost done by this point and she crept over to where her boyfriend was focussing on the job at hand and wiped her brush lightly down his cheek, leaving a thin, red stripe of paint on it. Freddie snapped back to the here and now at the sensation, rubbing his cheek gently and looking from the paint on his finger to the grinning redhead stood beside him.
"I can't believe you did that!" he complained; she simply grinned and attempted to give the same treatment to his other cheek. He managed to dodge her lunge and flicked his own brush in her direction; a few drops of paint flew from it, landing on her face and neck, making it appear that she had broken out in spots. She squealed at the feeling of the paint on her skin and redoubled her efforts to paint her boyfriend.
"Cat?" her father asked from the doorway a few moments later; he eyed the teens, both now splattered with flecks of paint. "What on earth are you doing?"
"We're just about done and I got bored just painting the wall," she complained.
"So you decided to paint Freddie instead?" he asked, slightly incredulous.
"Uh huh," she confirmed with a slightly embarrassed smile.
"Just… go and get cleaned up before bed," Mr Valentine shook his head and waved her off. "And Freddie? Thanks for your help but I think your mom is expecting you back soon."
"Oh!" he commented, seeing the time was after 10:30. "Thanks, yes, I'll uh… clean up and then go." He gave his girl a goodnight kiss, went to the sink in the guest bathroom in order to wash the worst of the paint from his face and headed for home, hoping to avoid his mother's disapproving gaze before he made it to the shower to get properly clean.
Vega Residence
Wednesday, 12th May 2010.
The Slap Mobile
Tori Vega: Dale Squires is coming to MY HOUSE! Ahhh! André wants onion dip.
Feeling: Busy.
Tori's home was a hive of activity with various students wandering around the living area. Freddie stood by the piano talking with the lighting crew and discussing the best ways to make use of conditions in the house. Cat, dressed for her role as Monica in a grey top with a black, flowery-patterned dress over it, stood nearby her boyfriend. Her make-up kit (as she was doubling as make-up artist) stood open on the kitchen counter; several of the kids came over to have theirs touched up while Freddie and the others talked.
The hostess, meanwhile, was directing the crew to help them set up the room for filming. "Move this, just so this area's clear," she gestured to the coffee table and a couple of the crew came over to move the offending item out of the way of the shot.
"Okay, we got it," a stagehand confirmed and they lifted and moved it.
Mrs Vega arrived at the back door with a couple of bags of groceries; she looked rather concerned at the number of people who had invaded her home.
"Okay, um... Tori? Tori?" She beckoned her youngest daughter over.
"Hey, mom," the girl greeted her.
"What is all this?" She gestured to the pandemonium.
"You said I could shoot a short film here for school," Tori pointed out.
"Yeah. I thought that meant you, a couple of friends, oh hey Freddie," she emphasised his name and smiled at the boy as he glanced in their direction, "a camcorder, maybe a microphone."
"Mom, Dale Squires is helping us. This is a big deal," then she dropped her voice and muttered from the corner of her mouths, "and Freddie is happily dating Cat again."
André, with a mouth full of chips, joined the Vegas. "Hey, did you buy onion dip?" he enquired.
"No," Mrs Vega replied in mild confusion.
"Why not?" he asked; she responded by dropping the bags and glaring at him. "Okay," he raised his hands in surrender.
"Where's Trina?" the matriarch asked.
"Tori locked her in the bathroom," Cat supplied.
"Cat, you weren't supposed to tell her that," Tori snapped; Cat looked worried.
"I'm okay with it," she was reassured. Cat smiled, turned and walked back over to Freddie, slipping an arm around him and leaning in for a quick kiss. "I'm just going to go take a hot bath. Please don't ruin the house," Tori's mother urged her daughter.
"We're not going to ruin the house…" the brunette began before being interrupted by the sound of breaking glass.
"My bad," a crew member called out.
"Oh. Uh..." Tori looked uncomfortably at her mother.
"Just try to keep things in one piece," was her parting shot.
"Yeah, we'll... okay," she called to the retreating parent. She spotted Jade nearby and asked, "Hey, what time is it?"
"I'm not your clock," the mean girl replied before sighing. "It's almost 9:00."
"I need to be home in bed by 10:30. Can we please get started?" Robbie urged.
"Without a director? And my mom will complain as well if I`m late back on a school night; I can't believe I missed a shift at work, got all the lighting and stuff sorted out and then the guy never showed," Freddie added with a snort of disgust.
"Yeah, where is Dale?" André wondered aloud.
"I don't know; He was supposed to be here at 7:00," Tori noted.
"One time, when I was seven, I was at the beach and I made a sand castle, and I called it Cat's castle." The redhead smiled at the gathered students as they all stared at her. "True story."
Freddie grinned at his girl. "You made one called Cat`s castle last summer as well. And I'm sure you'll do the same THIS summer when we go there."
The cupcake lover giggled again. "That's so true!" she cried happily.
Squires interrupted the conversation by finally arriving. "Hey, hey. Who's ready to make a movie?"
The kids cheered and whooped his appearance.
"I am," André confirmed.
"So Tori. You're going to be my little assistant on this project?" the director prompted.
"Yeah, sure. In fact, I mean, I know you're the director and everything, but I had a cool idea about how we could set up the first shot," she told him as he crossed the room to pick up a soda.
"Yeah, talk to me," he encouraged.
"Okay. So I was thinking we open on a close-up of..." she began to set out her proposal.
"Oh, oh," Squires' phone interrupted them. "Hey, I've got to take this. Yeah, hey, what's up? She did?"
"But it's almost nine and we have school tomorrow..." the brunette protested.
"You know, just go ahead and start shooting without me," she was told.
"Yeah, but I don't know how to..." she argued before he interrupted.
"Just do your close-up thing, yeah. The one you were telling me about." To the person on the other end of the phone he said, "So she's hot?" as he walked out onto the Vegas' patio.
Freddie walked over to the despondent-looking girl. "Did you forget I spent MONTHS doing this for iCarly?" he reminded her. "We don't need him."
"Yeah," she smiled and her eyes lit up. "Yeah, we CAN do this." The singer raised her voice and called out. "Okay. Let's start the first shot. Beck?"
"Yeah."
"Let me have you on the couch," she directed.
"Girl..." Jade began warningly.
"For the shot," the brunette clarified loudly. Jade raised one eyebrow as she turned away; Freddie flashed his go-to-girl a quick smile and she returned it wickedly.
"My bad," a crewman called as the sound of breaking glass was heard again.
"You know, just yelling 'my bad' doesn't make it okay," Tori lamented as she set up the first scene for filming.
"You did a great job," Freddie complimented as he and Cat prepared to leave; it was 10:30 and he had just texted Marissa to let her know that he would drop off the red-haired girl as he headed home and that he was just about to leave Tori's.
"Thanks, I shouldn't have had to though," the half-Latina grumbled. "I can't believe Dale showed up late and then never did anything. At least I had you to help me; your iCarly experience really helped."
He shrugged modestly. "I was happy to help."
Hollywood Arts High School
Thursday, 13th May 2010.
Freddie sat in his maths class; as usual Cat was alongside him and, as usual, the girl was struggling with the subject. The class were busy with their work and nobody was paying attention to the tech genius trying to patiently and quietly talk his girlfriend through the basics of the algebra they were working on.
"I don't get it," she complained in defeat.
"It's really not complicated," he began, "just pretend that these letters are really numbers, so instead of three a squared plus four b it's three times two squared plus four times three."
"So that's…" she tapped on her fingers for a few seconds, "that's only twenty-four and it's got to be fifty-four."
"Right," he smiled, "so that can't be it. So try some different numbers."
The girl frowned at the page for a moment. "Oh I get it now," she whispered in delight; she gave him a very quick peck on the cheek (mindful of their recent detentions for PDAs in class) and picked up her pen to scribble down the answer. Their teacher did glance towards them and gave a small shake of his head in warning but thought no more of it seeing the pair bent over their work and focussing on the task in hand.
Class ended uneventfully and the two left hand-in-hand.
"Thanks, Freddie, I really think I'm starting to get it now," she smiled as they reached the mezzanine at the middle of the main staircase; the redhead gave her boy a much deeper kiss than she had been able to in class. He gathered her into his arms, hers found their way around his neck and they threatened to begin to make out in the corridor, causing an obstruction for their fellow students who had to walk around them.
A blonde girl was crossing the locker area and glanced up the stairs; she froze at the sight of the two in lip-lock, instantly recognising both Cat from her hair and, of course, Freddie. Lindsey had heard the rumours that the pair were back together but seeing and confirming it with her own two green eyes was a painful experience for the junior. She tore herself away from the scene, hastily wiped her eyes on her sleeve and hurried after her friends.
Vega Residence
The Slap Mobile
Tori Vega: I feel like a real DIRECTOR (Dale is busy again).
Feeling: In Charge
The brunette was watching on as Jade hunched over Cat on her living room floor; Freddie, meanwhile, was filming the scene with his old iCarly camera. Between them the kids had managed to get nearly everything filmed; there were only a couple more scenes to go.
"Monica. Monica. Do not die on me. Wake up. I mean it. Wake up. Come on," Jade slapped the shorter teen's cheek, causing her to break character; she gasped, opened her eyes and raised her hand to her cheek.
"Owww," she complained to the camera - and to Freddie.
"Cut," Tori called.
"What?" the darker haired girl demanded.
"Jade!" Freddie called in a voice laced with disappointment.
"You're not supposed to hit her," the stand-in director pointed out.
"I felt that's what my character would do," she countered.
"My face hurts," Cat told her. Coupled with the disapproval in Freddie's voice, the first vestiges of guilt and shame crossed Jade's face.
The cameraman set his trusty machine down on the couch, took the girl's arm and led her to one side.
"I know you want the realism, but actually hitting her? Why? You can't be bothered by her stage-kissing Beck. Unless," he grinned, "you think Beck should have fought me after we were in that play together last semester."
A brief frown crossed Jade's face; she took a breath but Freddie continued, "She's your best friend, she's my girlfriend; you can't hit my girlfriend," he steeled his voice a little as he pointed this out before becoming a little more jovial again, "just do a little stage fighting? We both know Cat can pull it off, I can add the sound effects. It'll work."
"You're right," she conceded. "I'm sorry Cat," she called to the redhead; the girl nodded as she rubbed her cheek. She and Freddie were, of course, very close and had bonded so much over the last year but he had drawn a clear line in the sand and, she had to concede, he was right. "At least we won't need any make-up for your cheek for the scene," she grinned. Freddie shook his head and gave her a rueful smile.
"Ok, can we try it again without the physical assault?" Tori demanded.
"You're not the director but I guess so."
"You've been listening to Freddie; he's not the director either," the other girl snapped hotly.
"He knows what he's talking about," Jade smirked confidently.
"And our director's over there playing with his laptop," Freddie pointed out.
"Wait here," Tori told them with a sigh and strode purposefully over to where Squires was talking on his cell phone again.
"Come on. Do you see this? Do you see it?"
"Dale, please hang up," she urged him.
"Hey, I've got to jump," he rang off and turned to Tori. "Sorry, but you have to take a look at my website. Can you believe how many comments? People love me."
"I know; we love you. Now could you please help us shoot this last scene so we can love you even more?"
"What, for the movie?" He sounded surprised.
"Yes."
"Alright, let's take a look… Alright, for this scene I think we should... what scene are we shooting?"
"Scene 29, where Olivia finds Monica dead," Freddie explained.
"Oh, right. Okay. I want you two up on the couch for that," he motioned to Jade and Cat.
"You can't have them on the couch," André pointed out.
"Why can't I?"
"Because at the end of scene 28, Monica collapses on the floor," Freddie told him.
"Well, we don't have to shoot it that way," the director reasoned.
"We already shot it, Squires," the tech producer shot back.
"Whoa, who are you to have an attitude?" Squires fired at him.
"Someone who actually puts the time and effort into making sure a scene works and films the way it's meant to," the brown-haired teen replied without missing a beat; Squires took a breath and turned to Tori, asking in a calmer voice,
"Ok, when did we film it?"
"Last night, while you were in the jacuzzi," she jibed.
"Just show him the scene," Jade groaned, tired of the argument and wanting to get on with the filming.
"You already cut it together?" Dale was surprised.
"Yeah. Like I said I actually know what I'm doing. Here," Freddie showed him the footage on his lap top.
Beck and Cat were in the living area; the girl approached him.
"No, Monica, don't," he pleaded as she closed the gap. Cat kissed him and then dropped to floor.
"Wow. The movie looks really good," Squires approved.
"Thanks, that means so much," the sarcasm in Freddie's tone was unmissable. Tori, however, wanted to avoid further argument.
"So see? Monica has to be on the floor," she explained.
"Yeah. Yeah. Okay," he conceded. "Let's shoot one. Ready? Roll."
"Can you please tell her not to slap me?" Cat begged him.
"She should do whatever feels right," he returned. The redhead gave Jade a worried look; she just smiled back at her.
"Jade..." Freddie reminded her cautiously.
"Alright," she relented. "Lie down." Cat tucked her hair in front of her left shoulder and lay down on floor.
"Action," Squires called.
"Monica. Monica," Jade began. "Do not die on me. Wake up. I mean it. Wake up. Come on." She swung but missed a few times during and after saying this; Cat jerked her head from side to side in response.
Sikowitz's Classroom, Hollywood Arts High School
Friday, 14th May 2010.
The kids were finding it difficult to concentrate; each of them was counting down the hours to the premiere of their movie. Tori, especially, was proud of what they had achieved and delivered; the girl had worked into the night to get it finished and ready to be aired, again with next to no help from the official director. He had, however, taken the film in order to have it finally and professionally edited and produced with better equipment than Freddie could supply (not for the want of trying from the former iCarly producer). Their eccentric acting teacher had finally given up on trying to teach them anything and simply encouraged them to discuss the movie in detail and to re-enact a few of the scenes. They had done this eagerly and Sikowitz had suggested a couple of improvements that they could make to the scenes (A little late for that, Jade had noted dryly).
"All in all, though, I was very impressed," the teacher commended them, "If your performances were like the ones you put on in here today, along with a bit of…" he hopped a little dance on stage, "movie magic, then you should have something pretty special."
"I hope so," Tori noted, "we all worked hard enough on it."
Black Box Theatre
Finally the end of the day came around; the theatre was full to capacity and a screen had been erected at the front on the stage; the kids' movie was being projected onto it, much to the audience's enjoyment.
Currently Jade was on the screen; her character urging Cat's, "Monica." She 'slapped' the redhead; in the theatre Freddie and Cat traded smiles at the effect. His arm was around her and she snuggled against his side, though her free hand rubbed her cheek absentmindedly as they watched. "You cannot die." She slapped her a further two times. "You're going to ruin everything! Monica."
Freddie, in the theatre, whispered to his girl, "It looks fantastic."
"I know," Tori, sat on his other side, had overheard. "We did great," she added in a low voice of her own.
On screen, the scene had changed. Beck was sat in a small room, decorated sparsely like a police station interview room. Two adults, dressed as cops, were with him. "I don't know what happened," he insisted vehemently.
"You're a killer," one of the cops told him simply.
"I'm not. I loved her," his tone was forceful.
"You're a killer!" the cop repeated.
"I loved her!" he shot back louder.
The next scene returned to the Vegas' living room; Jade brandished a bloody knife. The girl wiped it clean – in the theatre Cat gasped at seeing her friend looking so comfortable wielding a murder weapon - before slipping it into a drawer on top of photograph of the child-like girl. The audience applauded enthusiastically as the scene faded to black.
"Yay! They love it," Cat hugged her man; he eagerly matched her move.
"Yeah, they do," Tori grinned.
"Ooh, shhh. Here come our credits," Freddie smiled.
The 'credits' came on screen:
"A Film by Dale Squires.
Written, produced and directed by Dale Squires."
The kids' applause waned at sight and they started to talk furiously among themselves.
"You said you put all our names at the end," Freddie addressed Tori.
"I did," the brunette protested. "Dale must have taken them off."
The 'man of the hour' dashed to front of the theatre, eagerly lapping up the audience's standing ovation. "Thank you," he told them.
"He's taking all the credit?" Jade snarled angrily; even her usually laid-back boyfriend looked upset, particularly as it was his play that had been adapted and now was supposedly "written by" Dale.
"Thank you so much. Oh sit," Squires urged the still-applauding patrons.
"He's taking all the credit," Freddie confirmed.
"I can't believe this," Tori uttered weakly.
"Yes! Oh, yeah! Whoo!" the 'director' was milking every last moment.
Squires was still shaking hands as people leave theatre; he was replying to their praise with phrases like, "Thank you." "Thank you so much." "It was a labour of love, really."
The real stars, meanwhile, were in a small group nearby, stewing angrily.
"Shouldn't we say something to him?" Tori suggested.
"Yes," the others agreed and Robbie and Cat began pushing Tori towards him.
"No," she yelped, not liking this idea too much.
"Fine, I'll do it," Freddie sighed; he then smiled. "I can always threaten to set Sam on him I guess."
"Yes. Go, go, go, go, go," Tori urged him with relief in her voice.
"Thank you. Thank you," Squires shook hands with one more person.
"Great film, Dale," the spectator told him.
"Hey Dale," Freddie fired testily.
"Hey, uh... Freddie? Can you get me a bottle of water?"
"No!" the annoyed teen snapped. "You took all the credit for the movie we made."
"So I can't get a drink?" the celebrity grinned.
"Why did you take our names off the movie?" the tech producer demanded of him.
"I directed it," Squires pointed out.
"Really? You didn't even show up most of the time. And when you did, you just talked on the phone and sat on your butt while Tori did all the work."
"Oh come on. You think Steven Spielberg really directed Jaws?" Dale asked.
"Yes!" Freddie returned.
"Look, I really have to go."
"Wait," the teen stopped him.
"What?"
"You know Tori directed that movie. Beck wrote it, André did all the music and I filmed it and edited it. What did you actually do?" he pressed.
"I took the credit," Squires laughed.
"Well, you can give it back - right now," Freddie took another step towards him.
"Man, you really don't get Hollywood, do you? Oh, by the way, the after-party's been cancelled, so tell your friends no after-party."
At this point, as Squires was escaping, one of the few remaining audience members came up to him. "Hey. Great movie, Dale. See you at the after-party?"
"I'm there!" he called as he fled the theatre; Freddie and the others looked on in fury.
Valentine Residence
Sunday, 16th May 2010.
Cat hopped out of the passenger side of Freddie's Corolla; the little red-head scampered to the trunk as her boy opened it and picked up a couple of the lighter bags stowed there. Freddie himself gathered up the rest and awkwardly closed it with his elbow before following the girl inside her home.
The couple had decided to cheer themselves up with an afternoon at the mall; Freddie had had work the previous day to distract him and the two had been to play 'baby-golf' (as Cat called it) again afterwards but they were still angry and upset that their hard work on the movie had gone completely unrecognised. Cat immersed herself in 'retail therapy' and was now laden with bags from the mall's various toy stores (in the guise, of course, of helping the redecoration of some of the rooms in the house).
"I don't know how you talked me into carrying all these inside," Freddie grunted as he deposited her purchases inside the house; she gave him a coy smile and pulled him into a kiss.
"See?" she opened her left hand palm-up and gestured towards him with it. "That's how I do it, not by talking," she elaborated with a deceptively innocent smile.
"Hi kids," Cat's mother joined them in the living area. "Oh, someone's been busy," she teased at the sight of the bags.
"Yeah, I think she emptied half of the shops," Freddie joked, smiling at his girl; she pouted briefly before nudging his side gently with her elbow. He chuckled and pulled her into a cuddle; Mrs Valentine smiled at the sight of her daughter's happiness, particularly as she was dating such a nice boy as Freddie. She helped them to take the bags up to the room and watched, along with the ex-Seattleite, as Cat dashed between the rooms, setting things out to exactly where she felt they should be. To nobody's great surprise the majority of the purchases found their way into her room instead of either of the others; Freddie just chuckled and shook his head.
"You make her happy," Mrs Valentine muttered to him as she made to head back downstairs, "keep doing that," she patted his arm and left with a small smile.
"I'll… try," he replied uncertainly as she retreated. He smiled himself as Cat pulled him into her room. "You still have that?" he asked in a voice that showed how touched he was as he spotted, pride of place on her bed, the soft toy he had bought her two summers ago, just after they had first met.
"Of course," she answered, picking it up, cradling it in her arms and waving it towards him, "I used to hold him whenever I was sad and thought back on the day you got him for me. It reminded me of the good times while we weren't together."
The boy's face fell as he thought back on his own life when the two had been apart and everything that had happened to him during his relationship with Lindsey; he was distracted, however, from his musings as Cat pulled him into a kiss. He suddenly found himself sat on her bed, their arms around one another and exchanging gentle and tender kisses. Freddie's heart rate began to quicken as he processed the surroundings; he tried to control it and compose himself by allowing his girlfriend to set and control the pace and depth of their exchange, thankful that they stayed relatively innocent.
Hollywood Arts High School
Monday, 17th May 2010.
"Hey Jade," Freddie called as he got out of his car having just arrived at school. Jade, and her customary cup of coffee, were crossing the car park.
"Hi," the annoyed girl's tone was unusually sharp, considering who she was talking to.
"I see none of your comments on Splashface survived," he noted sympathetically.
"I know, and I was really proud of some of them," she smiled in spite of the situation; Freddie laughed as he thought back on some of what his friend had tried to tell Squires, and the world, about the short film.
The Slap Mobile
Tori Vega: I want to shove my thumb into Dale Squires' eyeball.
Feeling: Wazzed Off.
The brunette was sitting by locker with her folder on her lap; she was getting a little work done before class. Freddie and Jade spotted her and walked over; Jade sighed and tutted but followed the boy.
"Tori," he called.
"Vega," Jade added.
"What?" she asked them, looking up distractedly.
"Check out the homepage on Splash Face," Freddie pulled out his lap top.
"I've already seen the 'Lobster on a Bicycle' video," she told them.
"Look up top," Jade urged.
"Our movie is the number one featured video?"
"Three million views over the weekend. And Squires is taking all the credit," the Seattle-born lamented.
"And he keeps deleting all my very creative negative comments," Jade added.
"I particularly liked the one questioning the species of his mother."
"Which one? There were three or four like that." The pair shared a grin before a fresh groan of disgust from their friend interrupted their banter.
"Ulch," Tori sounded revolted. "Look at this. He's using our movie to promote himself."
"What did he write?" Freddie was curious.
"Catch me Tuesday night on the Mack Murphy show."
"Hey," Freddie turned to the darker-haired of the two girls, "don't they tape Mack Murphy down the street, off Sunset?"
"Yeah, I think they do," Jade replied slowly.
"So, maybe we should go?" Tori suggested.
"Ulch, gross," Jade wasn't convinced. "Talk shows are for tourists and Canadians."
"And revenge-seekers," Tori's eyes shone.
"Ah, so what's the plan?" Freddie liked the sound of what she was thinking.
"I don't know. You're smart, she's mean, come up with something," Tori left them to it, gathering up her things and walking off. The two remaining teens looked at one another.
"Let's get to work," Freddie suggested. Jade smiled wickedly and followed him to their first class; the music room was empty so they were able to plot in peace for a few minutes before it started.
"I could call Sam?" he suggested. "She'd give him a beat-down for us."
"Yeah," his friend drawled thoughtfully, "you know me though; I prefer getting people back in a way that makes them sorry for a long time."
"A beating from her would do that," he insisted.
"I know, but it wouldn't humiliate him."
"Being beaten up by a teenage girl wouldn't be a humiliation?" Freddie was surprised that Jade dismissed it so easily.
"Not unless it was done very publically and I can't see the Mack Murphy show security just watching him get beaten up. No, we need something more subtle and embarrassing…" she tapped her pen thoughtfully against her notepad.
Paramour Studios, off Sunset, Hollywood
Tuesday, 18th May 2010.
The Slap Mobile
Tori Vega: Going to the Mack Murphy Show - for REVENGE. Moo-ha-ha-ha...
Feeling: Feisty
The emcee of the night was on stage warming up the audience.
"Okay, people. Listen up, listen up. We're about 10 minutes away from go-time on up late with Mack Murphy, so let me hear you!" The crowd responded by clapping and cheering.
Tori, Jade, Cat and Freddie were standing together at the back of theatre; Cat was wearing a very nice blue dress as she and Freddie were going to a restaurant after; for that reason he was also smartly dressed in a dress shirt and grey pants.
"Look at all the stupid tourists," Jade snarled in disgust.
André arrived to join the group along with a well-built black girl.
"Hey," he greeted them, introducing the girl as his cousin, Kendra.
"Hey," Tori and Freddie welcomed the new addition.
"Pretty shirt," Cat complimented her.
"'Sup?" added Jade.
"She's a great actress," the girl's cousin explained.
"I get paid up front," Kendra reminded them; they delved into their pockets for money. "20, 30, 40, keep it coming, 50."
"Okay," Tori recapped. "So when Dale Squires sits down, you're going to wait exactly two minutes, and then you're going to..."
"André told me what to do," she cut the brunette off. "I don't have to hear it twice."
"Yes, ma'am," the intimidated teen acquiesced and lapsed into silence.
The older girl looked suspiciously at the much smaller and slimmer Cat. "What do you eat?" she challenged. "Salad?"
Cat giggled. "Sometimes," she volunteered.
"Hopefully more than that tonight," Freddie interjected; he squeezed her hand and the couple grinned at one another. "I still say we should have called Sam and set her on him," he commented to Jade as they headed for their seats; Cat nodded vigorously.
"This is more public," the darker haired girl assured them.
"And you're going to be working with Johnny Depp on a big movie?" Mack asked Dale; the teens were in a small group in the audience waiting for the action to start as Murphy interviewed his guest.
"Yeah, made the deal this morning," Squires confirmed, causing the audience to applaud wildly.
"Awesome," the host enthused. "I'm betting it didn't hurt that this new short film that you just did has already gotten, what, like, three million views this week?"
"Just past four," the director disclosed.
"Have you guys seen Dale's short film?" Murphy prompted; the studio crowd applauded. It was something the host tried to build up.
"Jerk," Freddie muttered coldly.
"30 seconds," Tori noted.
"Yeah, about that film," Squires was suddenly rather more conciliatory. "I, I have to be honest."
"So you're not going into politics?" Mack joked, causing Cat to giggle and pull gently on her boyfriend's arm.
"That was off-the-cuff," she observed.
"It's just, I've been feeling kind of guilty," Dale continued.
"About?"
"Well, it wouldn't be fair for me to take all the credit for that movie. See, most of the work was done by a really talented group of students from Hollywood Arts High School here in L.A. Specifically," he drew a piece of paper from his pocket, "... I would like to give credit to Andre Harris, Jade West, Beck Oliver..."
"Oh, he's giving us credit," Cat gasped.
"On national TV," Jade added.
"...Robbie Shapiro, Freddie Benson, Cat Valentine and most importantly, Tori Vega," Squires concluded.
"Your cousin!" Tori gasped in horror towards André.
"My cousin. She's gonna... oh man."
"We have to stop her!" Tori told them; she looked over to their partner-in-crime. "Abort. Abort," she, Jade and André mouthed while making 'kill' gestures; Kendra simply gave them a thumbs up.
"No. No. No. Stop. Stop," André begged her quietly.
Freddie, on the other hand, was still grinning slightly; the gesture had done nothing to change his opinion that Squires is a douche. "Here we go," he told them, settling back in his seat.
"Hey there! Dale squires!" Kendra called.
"Uh, apparently, you have a fan in the crowd." The heavy-set girl got up and walked towards stage, pushing a stagehand to ground when he tried to intercept her. The kids, other than Freddie, looked worried; Jade actually palmed her face.
"Hey, Dale! How come you lied to me?!" she demanded.
"Uh, ma'am?" the host asked as the intimidating girl approached the duo on stage.
"I don't know you," Squires observed. He turned to the audience and repeated with a nervous laugh, "I don't know her."
"You, you don't know me?!" She sounded surprised at his denial and turned to the public, and the camera, and continued, "This man took me to a fish restaurant two weeks ago and told me he loved me, and I haven't heard from him since!"
"No, no, no, no, no," the director tried to defend himself as audience started jeering him; the Hollywood Arts kids' discomfort was increasing. Cat looked absolutely horrified; Freddie, meanwhile, was still relaxed and rather amused. "C'mon, all right, she's lying! Okay? You are a liar!" he insisted.
"Liar?!" Kendra was scandalised. "Oh no. That's it! I'm about to open up a cloud and rain all over you!" She leapt on top of the terrified celebrity screaming a war cry, "Ahhhhhhh!"
"Get off me! I don't know you!" Squires urged her as they began to wrestle.
"I wanna go back to that fish restaurant!" she demanded of him.
"Can you go to a commercial?!" he begged Murphy.
"No way, man, this is awesome!" the host replied before addressing the studio audience. "You guys liking this?" They cheered their approval; meanwhile Kendra was now holding Squires by the ankles with his neck on the seat of the couch and his head perilously close to the floor.
"Yeah! Now you're upside down! How do you like that, Dale Squires? How do you like that?"
"She's so strong," Cat observed in a small voice.
"Dale gave us credit," Tori commented weakly.
"Even I feel bad," Jade confessed.
"I don't," Freddie shrugged; he was enjoying this as much as anyone in the studio.
"We should do something," Cat insisted.
"Waffles?" André suggested.
"I like waffles," Tori agreed.
"Waffles are good," Jade echoed.
"I know a place," the songsmith got to his feet; the others followed, albeit reluctantly in the tech producer's case.
"Off we go," Tori led them from the rows.
Seeing his girlfriend's discomfort with the scene, Freddie took Cat by the hand. "I guess it's time for our reservation too then." She nodded readily.
"Yeah, it's definitely time we left here."
"What did I do?!" Dale wailed as they left.
Off Vine, 6263 Leland Way
"You still seem upset with him," Cat mused as the couple sat at their table waiting for their appetisers.
"I am I guess," he conceded.
"Why when he gave us credit? He made it right."
"Because he did it in the first place and suddenly back-tracking a little after the way he screwed us over… I just don't think that made us even. Seeing him suffer like that, and knowing it happened on national TV, definitely helped."
The girl turned to her drink and took a cautious sip to hide the look on her face; she didn't want to show the worry she was feeling from hearing him talk like that.
In spite of her concern she enjoyed the meal. They split their orders, sampling a little of both the house salad and buffalo mozzarella before their entrees arrived (Atlantic salmon for Cat and short ribs for Freddie). Both were in high spirits as they left; the meal and flirtatious company meant that Cat's worries were forgotten for the night. He drove her home and said goodnight with a soft kiss in the threshold to her house; her troubled feeling over his attitude towards the director returned as she settled into her bed. She pulled her stuffed toy close to her in the hope that it would ward off her woes again.
Beck Oliver's RV
"Wait, so let me get this straight," Jade was sat in the actor's lap, leaning her back against his chest as they reclined on his couch. "You fixed up his car, went to get the cheerleaders and while you were gone some escaped criminals stole it."
"That's what happened," he insisted lightly.
"I don't buy it," she shook her head. "Not even Robbie could have that happen to him."
"Well it did," he leaned forwards and pressed his lips to her temple. "And meanwhile you guys got your revenge on our director," Beck prompted.
"You saw that?"
"Uh huh, I wasn't going to miss it when you mentioned you were going to be in the audience for the show. Of course I didn't think you'd quite do that to him, especially once he'd back-tracked and name-checked us all."
"Yeah, we tried to get Kendra to abort but she didn't," Jade's tone was unusually embarrassed as she thought back on the evening; like Cat she found her mind wandering to Freddie's non-reaction. Coupled with how harshly he had described Lindsey and dismissed her beating at Sam's hands (not that she herself was upset about the Las Vegas-based blonde's actions) she felt concerned about the boy's state of mind.
Worrying about Freddie, however, could wait for tomorrow. Tonight, after they had been so busy with movies and cars for the past few days, she was content to play catch up with her boyfriend. She began to try and turn in his lap; he helped to steady her as she wriggled around to make it easier for them to kiss and cuddle.
The unlikely couple spent an enjoyable half-hour in a similar vein; they kissed enthusiastically and their hands slipped under one another's shirts, though not venturing beyond the midriff and stomach area as they traced bare flesh. Beck did briefly attempt to move his a little higher but Jade clamped he elbows to her side holding them in place. He lifted his wrists to move his hands away from her skin and she briefly broke the kiss to meet his eyes.
"Sorry," she whispered, breathing slightly heavily from their actions, "I'm just not comfortable with you going anywhere like that just yet."
"That's ok, I'd never try and make you do something you didn't want to," he reassured her, swooping in to kiss her cheek. She captured his lips briefly but tenderly and smiled at him.
"It's getting late; I need to go before mom complains." She kissed him again before extricating herself and standing up, offering him her hand and pulling him to his feet. The couple embraced and kissed briefly again. "I'll see you tomorrow; goodnight Beck."
She departed with a smile; they were exploring boundaries but it was clear that they would be respected by them both. Things were good - at least until one thought hit her on the drive home. Wait, he has cheerleaders on speed dial?
Asphalt Café, Hollywood Arts High School
Wednesday, 19th May 2010.
Jade was surprised to see Cat sitting alone, staring vacantly into space. She wasn't concerned; after all it was fairly normal for the girl to be distracted by something, but she would usually be surrounded by other people.
"Hi Cat," she called as she took a seat to the side of the table. "Cat," she repeated a little louder as the girl didn't respond. "CAT!" she shouted, causing her best friend to jump.
"Oh hey Jade, I didn't see you arrive."
"Obviously," the pink-streak haired girl replied dryly. "What's up, you looked a million miles away. Was everything ok last night?" she asked nervously, suddenly worried that something had gone wrong in her friends' relationship.
"Oh, no, last night was great and the food was really good," the cupcake lover insisted.
"So what's wrong?" Jade pressed.
"Freddie. I just… he seemed way too happy to see Dale get set on by André's cousin, even after he gave us the credit for the movie. It's like he didn't care about seeing him get hurt."
"I know," the gothic brunette noted, "I thought the same thing. He was the same way when Sam beat up Lindsey when she came over back in September; it was like he actually relished seeing her get hurt."
"I don't like relish," Cat informed her, "I always take it off my burger."
"Cat," Jade sighed wearily, "anyway it seems like, even though you two are obviously really happy together, there's still some lingering issue with him over what Lindsey did."
"You're right and I don't know why," Cat complained. "Ok, she dumped him and it hurt him but these things happen. For him to resent it after all this time is just odd."
"You're right," the mean girl was treading delicately to avoid breaching her male friend's confidence, "it's like he's just not the boy who started at Hollywood Arts with us anymore."
"I do like this Freddie," the redhead insisted, "but we need to get the old one back."
"Let's get thinking on how to do it," Jade agreed; for his own sake she felt Cat was right about that.
AN: Thanks for reading. I hope to be back with the next chapter next week so I will see you all then. In the meantime, please let me know what you thought of it. Oh, and One Horse Shay has updated We Love Each Other; you should check that out if you haven't already done so. PD.