AN: Hello everyone; welcome to the latest chapter of this story. I hope that you all enjoy it.
My thanks as always go to those of you who took the time and trouble to review the last chapter;
Fanfic-Reader-88 – It would have made sense to get the ban lifted, wouldn't it? Freddie isn't putting up with any crap from Sikowitz; things could certainly get awkward between them before long.
Consort of Chaos – I'm glad you liked it. Tensions are mounting and there's every chance they could continue to do so, given the volatility of the Bade relationship.
Challenge King – thanks, I'm glad you liked it. Some day soon we might see just what Jade does mean to Freddie.
Darck Ben – thanks, I'm glad you liked it.
KoiChoco – thank you for the review, you're right; this Freddie just doesn't put up with anyone messing with him or his friends.
Ok everyone, let's get on with the story.
Chapter 26: Thanksgiving
Hollywood Arts High School, Los Angeles, CA
Wednesday 24th November 2010.
The final bell of the day had just sounded; the kids had the holiday the next day and a long weekend to look forward to though, as Tori pointed out, it wouldn't be entirely relaxing for all of them. She, Beck, Cat and André had a 10-page script for their class due on Monday morning – and she was not going to be in Los Angeles before Sunday night.
"It's ok, just chill," the dreadlocked musician sought to calm his friend, "we can all write out our ideas over the weekend then we'll meet up Sunday night, once Tori's back, and get it done."
"Sounds great," Cat added.
"I can do that," Beck noted, causing Jade to frown; she wanted to have a little alone-time with him, especially as they wouldn't be seeing one another this year at Thanksgiving after last year's events.
Instead, she turned to the curly-haired ventriloquist. "What are you up to Robbie?"
"We'll be at my grandmother's place," he mumbled, trying to avoid Freddie's eye as he did, remembering the time that the two had been over there together, "but then Sunday night Rex and I are going to see a movie; I asked him earlier and he said he would."
Jade looked at her close friend and they exchanged disbelieving looks. "Freddie, bring some sanity to the conversation," she demanded, ignoring Beck's reproachful expression, "what are you doing?"
"Mom and I fly to New York tonight; she's coming to collect me in a few minutes – that's why I needed a ride today," he smiled at his girlfriend and the red velvet-haired girl nodded happily. "We're going to stay with my aunt Olivia; this is the first holiday in a long time when she hasn't been working."
"What does she do?" Beck asked curiously; Freddie hadn't really talked much about his extended family.
"She's a cop," he explained, then continued with a grin, "one of the several reasons Sam decided to stay in Seattle with the Shays rather than coming with us."
The others nodded knowingly.
"Freddie!" came a shrill call as Marissa Benson entered the school. "Are you ready? We need to go now so that we came beat the traffic."
"Right," he called casually over his shoulder before turning to his friends. "I guess that's my cue to leave; have a happy Thanksgiving everyone and I'll see you all on Monday." He gave a quick hug to Jade and then Tori (the brunette looked shocked that the gothic teen had consented so readily to one from him) before turning to his girlfriend. The redhead took his hand and they walked over to where his mother was waiting impatiently by the main door.
"Enjoy yourself and I'll see you when we get back," he told the shorter girl. She bounced into his arms and kissed him fiercely; Jade smiled at the sight, as did Tori.
Freddie set her down and she reluctantly took her arms from behind his back; he gave her one more quick kiss and his eyes lingered on her as he walked through the door his mother was holding open. With a last wave to the group he was gone.
"It's going to be a long weekend," the bubbly girl muttered, just loud enough for Jade, who was walking over to join her, to hear. She put a consoling hand on her best friend's shoulder.
"He'll be back before you know it," she promised her; Cat smiled weakly.
"There you are," the pair turned at Tori's exasperated call; Trina was sauntering casually towards them. "We need to get going; we have a flight to catch."
"Relax, it's not for a couple of hours yet," her older sister drawled.
"Are you meeting your parents at the airport then?" Beck asked.
"No, they're uh… not coming with us," Tori confessed.
"Why not?" André asked.
"Because…" the brunette began, "our grandmother doesn't like our mom."
"What's wrong with her?" Cat asked; she had met Mrs Vega a few times and liked her.
"She married my dad and Grandma feels that he shouldn't have married outside of his race."
"She hates your mom for being white?" Jade challenged; Tori shrugged.
"That's what it comes down to. We're welcome as we're her grandkids but mom isn't, so dad refuses to see her."
"That's so sad," Cat observed.
"Yes well, we need to go so come on Tori," Trina urged; the younger sister shook her head at the change in the older girl's demeanour but she waved to her friends and followed the senior girl out of the school.
Newark International Airport, 3 Brewster Rd, Newark, NJ
Thursday 25th November 2012.
It was approaching 1 a.m. local time when the Bensons stepped from flight UA 1439 and entered gate C133. Following the signs for baggage claim, Marissa had insisted on packing some "essentials" that required checking a bag, the mother and son made their way to the appropriate carousel and retrieved her case. Just beyond the restricted area, the matriarch spotted her twin sister and gave her a curt wave.
"Marissa! It's lovely to see you," the detective greeted her, though to Freddie's ear (sensitive to sarcasm after spending over two years in Jade's company) she sounded less than totally sincere. "And Freddie? Wow, I haven't seen you in a long time." She sounded genuinely pleased to see her nephew.
"Hello Aunt Olivia," he greeted her with a smile and a hug. The New York native led her guests from the airport to where she had parked her car and drove them through the relatively sparse night time traffic to her downtown apartment.
Valentine residence, Hollywood Hills, Los Angeles, CA
Cat woke unusually early on the morning of the holiday; there was an empty feeling in the pit of the girl's stomach. She scrabbled around on her bed until her hand tightened over the plush toy Freddie had bought her on their trip to the zoo before they had even started at Hollywood Arts. The cupcake loving teen kissed the animal, pulled it to her heart and hugged it close, as if it meant that she was actually hugging her boyfriend, even though he was on the other side of the continent.
Something about it soothed the girl; she drifted back into sleep with a contented smile on her face.
West residence
Jade had no such problems; she awoke at a reasonable hour and slipped her robe over her shoulders, tying it loosely in front of her as she ventured downstairs; the girl was greeted by the sight of her mother at the kitchen's breakfast bar; the matriarch had prepared a pot of coffee and was currently eating her way through a small stack of toast.
"Hey mom," she greeted her casually, spooning sugar into a cup before filling it with the hot, black liquid. She sighed contentedly as she took her first draught of the day.
"Jadelyn," Mrs West greeted her with a smile, though Jade wondered immediately just how genuine it was.
"So we're going to grandma and grandpa's this afternoon?" the dark-haired teenager prompted; she had yet to choose a colour of hair extension to wear today.
"Yes, it will just be the four of us this year," the matriarch buried anything she may have wished to add by taking another bite of her toast and a fresh sip of coffee.
The Hollywood Arts student rolled her eyes in frustration but stayed silent; instead she picked up a cereal box, some milk from the fridge and prepared a bowlful for her own breakfast.
The two Wests ate in silence for a few minutes before Jade turned to her mother in exasperation. "Ok, are you going to be annoyed with me all weekend?" she demanded.
Mrs West set the last of her toast down and looked at her daughter. "I'm not annoyed," she clarified, "but it's just going to be the four of us and that is because of what happened last year. It's not all your fault, your father seriously over-reacted, but your cousin was upset and now your aunt doesn't want her to be around you."
"Works for me," Jade muttered with a barely repressed smile; her mother frowned.
Apartment 8-C, Bushwell Plaza, Seattle, WA
It was approaching lunchtime; at Sam's insistence Spencer was preparing a not-so-light snack for them to keep the blonde going until the main meal in the evening (or mid-afternoon if she got her way). An alert sounded on the Shays' main computer, drawing their attention to a chat request.
"Freddie!" Carly shouted happily as she recognised the TechGuy screen name; she quickly accepted the request as Sam ambled over to join her by the screen.
"Hey dork!" the blonde greeted him jovially; he rolled his eyes but smiled at the two girls.
"Hi ladies, or lady and Sam," he corrected himself with a wicked grin at his close friend, "Happy Thanksgiving."
"Same to you," the brunette grinned back. "Where are you?" she frowned, suddenly realising that she didn't recognise the background.
"Oh this is my aunt's house," he explained; Sam nodded, knowing of course where he was. "How are you Sam? Seeing your mom today?"
"Why would I want to see anyone else?" the blonde asked, before continuing in a genuine tone, "right now, with you on the screen, I have my whole family here," she smiled sincerely at the Shay siblings. "And I still have no idea where she is," the girl concluded darkly; Freddie could detect the pain and sorrow emanating from underneath her brash exterior and bravado.
"So how are you Freddie?" Carly asked.
"Great thanks, dinner will be ready soon but I've got a little time to chat."
"But it's not even mid-day yet," Sam pointed out.
"Not for you, we're on east coast time, Sam," he reminded her; she looked a little blankly at him. "Never mind," he shook his head and grinned at Carly who smiled knowingly back.
Olivia Benson's apartment, Manhattan, NY
The Bensons were almost ready to settle down to their appetisers when the detective received a call; she sighed at the number but took the call.
"Right, right… WHAT?" she added furiously. "Whatever, thanks for nothing!"
"Problem?" Freddie asked as casually as he could; he was helping his aunt to prepare some of the food while Marissa attempted to fumigate the guest room.
"Sort of," she sighed, "that was Captain Montgomery from the NYPD Homicide division. He's sending a detective over because they want my help on a case."
"You won't have to leave will you?" an agitated Marissa pleaded from the doorway to the room; she had overheard the latter portion of the exchange.
"I hope not, I'll see what this Beckett has to say when she arrives."
"When will that be?" Freddie asked.
"In about five seconds," his aunt complained, "looks like Montgomery wanted to make it a done deal before it happened."
Sure enough, there was a knock on the door a moment later; Olivia opened it to reveal two people, a slim, attractive female cop and a taller, stocky, short-haired man.
"Detective Benson?" the woman asked. "I'm Detective Beckett; this is Rick Castle."
"The Rick Castle?" Freddie asked in surprise, bringing all eyes to him, "writer of…" he hesitated for half-a-second, "Storm Force?" He knew his mother would not approve of the author's more recent works and his new central character; he looked anew at the pretty, brunette homicide cop and, thinking back to the various fora and people with whom he discussed such matters, immediately felt that he had identified the real life Nikki Heat. Again, he chose to keep this discovery from Marissa.
The two newcomers continued to look at him; the writer seemed rather smug that his name was recognised while the cop was tempted to roll her eyes at the likelihood of his already over-inflated ego swelling further, however her reaction was stayed when she eyed the teenager. There was something flattering in the slightly goofy smile that he was directing towards her that caused her to grin a little herself and draw herself up to stand just a little taller.
"Yes, that's me, and that's just one of many best-sellers that I've written," the author confirmed immodestly.
"Freddie Benson; I'm a big fan of your novels," he snapped out of his reverie towards the female homicide detective and smiled at the man, stepping forward and offering his hand; Castle shook it and returned the smile.
"So you're…" he fished.
"Olivia's my aunt," he nodded at the copper-haired detective, "mom and I are just here for Thanksgiving; up from Los Angeles for the long weekend," he grinned.
"Yes well, sorry to disturb you, Detective," Beckett turned the conversation back to the matter at hand, "but we received call about a homicide; we're on our way there now."
"What does that have to do with me?" she wondered aloud. "I'm SVU; I'm not in your department."
"No, but we have reports of a child witness to the attack, and reason to believe that there was a history of…" she glanced at the teenager and moderated her tone as she returned her gaze to her fellow NYPD detective, "abuse within the family. Captain Montgomery suggested that we might be able to make use of your expertise in the area."
Detective Benson sighed; she closed her eyes and frowned. "The primary scene is a homicide, right?" Beckett curtly nodded her confirmation. "Ok then," Olivia looked to her guests before continuing to address the brunette, "your team should investigate, keep me updated and I'll meet you at the precinct if it looks like I can be of any help."
Beckett looked upset at being dismissed in such a way but Benson folded her arms over her chest and stood resolute. "We'll be in touch," she informed her and she and Castle left.
"I really don't want to have to go in today," she complained. Marissa opened her mouth to ask why she didn't just say that to Beckett but Freddie was quicker.
"The problems of being a cop, huh, aunt Liv?"
She nodded wearily. "You're never not on duty," she glanced towards her irritated-looking twin and grinned, "a little like being a nurse, huh Marissa?" This caused the reddish-brown haired Benson to bite her tongue a little. "Anyway, let's forget that for now and just enjoy our Thanksgiving meal together, shall we? Freddie, can you finish getting the table ready while Marissa and I bring things through?"
Valentine residence, Hollywood Hills, Los Angeles.
"So your aunt's had to work after all?" Cat asked as she and Freddie chatted via video link.
"Yeah, she really didn't want to but I guess criminals don't take holidays off."
Despite it being a seemingly inappropriate course of action, Cat giggled a little at his observation.
"How's your day been?"
"It's been good; my Nona's over so the four of us had a really nice dinner and we're going to play some games later," she told him excitedly; he grinned at her exuberance. "What will you be doing if your aunt's at work?"
"I'm not sure," he admitted, "it's just going to be mom and me here so it'll almost be like being at home – only the guest room TV has more unblocked channels," he chuckled.
"I thought your mom unblocked them all in your room," she pointed out.
"She does then she tries to sneak a parental lock on every now and again; it's a constant battle," he conceded. "And she blocks a lot of them in the living room, which is why I don't watch too much down there. Will you be seeing any of the others this weekend?"
"Uh, I think Jade and I will be hanging on Friday; Beck's going to be at work so probably just the two of us, then we're going to get together; me, Tori – once she's back – Beck and André, on Sunday so we can get our script done."
"Have you got any ideas for it?" he asked.
"A couple; I want to do a scene about a giraffe who learns how to love," Freddie raised his eyebrows at the suggestion, "but we need to all talk through them and decide what to write."
The former tech producer nodded; he did feel, though, that they were cutting it rather fine not starting their script until the night before it was due, especially for Mr Gradstein, who was widely recognised as one of the school's stricter teachers. He and Jade would be taking the same class the following semester and he made a mental note to make sure they got their work done in plenty of time.
The brown-haired boy glanced up as he detected movement from behind the computer. "Oh hey mom, I'm just talking to Cat."
"Hi Mrs Freddie's mom!" his girlfriend called ebulliently; Marissa walked across the room to lean in next to her son.
"Hello Cat, how are you?" she asked civilly; she still wasn't fully convinced about the girl but had to accept that she did make her son very happy.
Freddie sat back for a few moments while he allowed two of the most important girls in his life to talk.
It would be late into the evening before Olivia returned home, an exasperated expression on her face as she did.
"Sorry about that," she told her guests, "but duty called."
"That's ok, aunt Liv, we get it," Freddie assured her. The cop glanced to her twin sister; Marissa just smiled slightly awkwardly and said nothing. "So, will you have to work any more of the weekend?" he pressed.
"No, we've dealt with it from our side – for now at least," she explained, "the witness-slash-possible-additional-victim has been taken to a safe location and is being looked after. Some officers from our department will be taking a statement and dealing with that side of it. The homicide is nothing to do with us so I should be free for the rest of the weekend and won't have to deal with that idiot writer and his crazy theories. What do you want to do with it?" she asked her nephew.
"It's New York!" he exclaimed, in his excitement he overlooked the critique of one of his favourite authors. "There's everything to do in Manhattan; the Statue of Liberty, the Empire State Building, Central Park, Fifth Avenue – I know some girls who'd kill to walk up and down there… I mean," he gave his aunt an embarrassed look, given where she'd just been.
"I get it, Freddie," she laughed, "It's just a figure of speech."
"Yeah," he mumbled, still uncomfortable about it. "But anyway, there should be lots to do, right mom?"
"I don't know Freddie, all those people," she gaped in horror.
"Yes, Fifth Avenue will be chaotic on Black Friday," the New York native nodded, "but some of the other places should be good to see and you should get to do a few things before Sunday."
"I can't wait," he enthused. "Oh," he muttered as the ringtone from his phone sounded; he looked hesitantly at the sisters.
"Go on, it'll give Marissa and I a chance to talk," his aunt encouraged him; he sped off to the guest room and answered.
"Hey Jade, Happy Thanksgiving," he greeted the gothic teen.
"You too," she replied, "how's the Big Apple?"
"Well it was dark when we got here and we haven't really been out today but hopefully tomorrow I'll get to a few places," he explained with a smile. "How was your day?"
"Oh, you know, just mom, me and the grandparents. No dad to annoy me or anything like that."
Freddie felt sympathetic, despite the girl's indifferent-sounding dismissal; he knew that she wanted more from her relationship with her father than she currently had.
"Oh get this," he remembered excitedly, changing the subject before either could dwell on it, "remember those Storm books I lent you?"
"Yeah," she prompted slowly.
"I met the author! Rick Castle; he just showed up with this detective he's shadowing."
"What? The real Nikki Heat? They both just came to visit?"
"Well they came to get Aunt Liv's help on a case," he clarified, "but I got to meet them and I'll definitely be able to visualise Heat next time I read the books." The Los Angeles-based girl smiled at his gushing enthusiasm, the tonality of his voice led her to suspect that her friend was forming a little bit of a celebrity crush on the detective. "Anyway," Freddie continued, "I hear from Cat that you two are hanging tomorrow."
"Yeah," Jade's enthusiasm seemed to be on the wane, "we'll probably hit the mall so Cat can go bargain hunting or something, I dunno," she shrugged.
"Make sure she gets some of her script done," he urged, "I can't believe they're leaving something for Gradstein to the last minute like this."
"I know; we'll make sure we don't."
"You read my mind," he grinned, happy that they were on the same wavelength, both in working together and in the approach they would take to getting it done. "I sure wouldn't want to piss off Gradstein."
"Me either," she admitted.
"Wow, somebody actually scares Jade West!" he teased; she frowned a little down the phone, mentally vowing payback the next time she saw him when she could goad him over meeting, and taking a shine to, the detective.
"Scared is a stretch," she protested, her frown dissipating at his laugh travelling down the phone to her. "So what else are you doing today?" She sought to change the subject.
"Well, obviously it's three hours later than it is for you so I'm going to see if… oh, there she is; ToriVega is on-line so I'll say hi to the sisters then probably go to bed before mom starts complaining about how late it is," he concluded with a grin; Jade laughed along with him.
Green Meadow Mall,
6801 Hollywood Blvd, Los Angeles, CA
Friday, 26th November 2012.
As Jade had expected, the mall was packed with bargain-hunters when the two teenagers arrived. Cat wore a small backpack (in anticipation of some acquisitions of her own) along with her usual broad smile as they battled through the crowds.
"You're not seriously going in there?" Jade asked in disbelief as her shorter best friend tried to battle her way into Toys for You.
"But it's sixty per cent off everything," the redhead wailed. "Everything!" she repeated, clutching Jade's arms and shaking her slightly.
The gothic teen spread her arms a little to remove her friend's hands; she gave an uncharacteristically patient look to the girl. "That's why you can't move in there," she pointed out.
"But if I don't go in then they'll sell out of stuff," she insisted.
"Fine," Jade surrendered, "but I'm not going in; I'm going to get a coffee and I'll see you at the food court."
"'kay 'kay," Cat grinned and turned and squeezed her way into the store; to Jade's mild astonishment she showed an unusual degree of feistiness and awareness to slip and battle through the crowds towards her targets. With a shake of the head the dark brunette headed downstairs towards the Jet Brew stand.
"Hey," the teenager on the stand greeted her, "black, two sugars and as strong as I can make it?" he guessed. The green-streak haired girl grinned and nodded.
"I guess that makes me a regular," she commented.
Emboldened by her smile, the guy – after handing her the coffee and accepting payment – offered as she turned to leave, "y'know, I get off work around three if you're still going to be here and want to do something."
Jade turned back in surprise and fixed him with a piercing stare. "You asking me out?" she challenged.
"Uh… yeah?" His confidence dissolved under her gaze.
"I already have a boyfriend, thanks anyway though," she finished with a small grin and a wave; irritation and flattery battled for dominance over her feelings. "I still got it," she muttered with a cocky grin as she walked away before taking a sip of her brew. "Damn, this is good coffee," her smile widened. Behind her, the attendant's face fluctuated as relief, disappointment and a touch of optimistic hope battled for dominance of his emotions.
Jade scanned the court; like the rest of the mall it was extremely busy and there were no free tables. Spying a family tidying up from their meal, she made her way across the court and slipped into an empty seat as they began to walk away, smiling slightly at the parents as they turned to her. The mother put a protective hand on her young son's shoulders and steered him away as he stared at her visage; feeling slightly affronted she shrugged and took another sip of her drink before cradling it between her hands on the table. She closed her eyes and let out a weary sigh, spending the next few minutes enjoying and savouring her drink.
"Hi-iii," the familiar call of her best friend shattered the peace that had momentarily enveloped her. The red velvet dyed haired girl set two huge bags down on an empty chair and waved a plush, green elephant toy in her face. "Look what I got free with all my other stuff!" she exclaimed excitedly and began to laugh as she poked the girl in the chest with it.
"Cat!" Jade snapped in annoyance and yanked the toy away from her; the chastised redhead retreated and sank into the chair next to her, a fearful expression on her face. "Cat," the brunette forced calmness into her voice; this was a conversation she'd been thinking of having with the girl for a while now, and now seemed as good a time as any since it was just the two of them and she was wielding a child's toy, "you turned sixteen last summer, Freddie will be seventeen soon," she pointed out.
"I don't follow."
"Don't you think it's about time that you started growing up?"
Cat gasped at her best friend's bluntness. "I… I…" she fumbled weakly as her eyes softened by the second; tears threatened to begin shimmering within them.
"Freddie really likes you… I mean REALLY, and he likes you the way you are," the black-clad teen insisted, "but you can't just stay in this…" she shrugged helplessly as she sought the right word, "bubble, I guess, forever. Sooner or later you need to start acting your age."
"I just… I guess so," the cupcake lover's tone was morose as she conceded the point.
"I don't mean that you can never have any fun," Jade insisted; Cat's smile, albeit a weak one, returned, "just that you need to… I dunno, be a bit more mature about things. Especially," she smirked, "with him crushing on older ladies."
"What do you mean?" Cat was confused.
"His aunt's a cop, another cop came over – the one that Castle guy wrote about?" she prompted. Cat nodded; she hadn't read the books herself but had heard the other two discussing them and both had given her brief synopses of some of them, "Asking for her help and it sounds like he has a bit of a celebrity crush on her," the brunette grinned. "Oh yeah, he was really fangirling it yesterday; I need to remember to tease him about that on Monday."
Cat gasped in horror; Jade moderated her attitude in an instant.
"Don't worry, like I say he really likes you but… growing up a little will really help you both," she insisted.
"I could try," the other accepted sheepishly; her friend smiled.
"Don't let it worry you, don't stop being who you are, but do try to be the new, improved version of Cat now and again," she encouraged, "I'm sure he'll love it even more."
"'kay 'kay," the bright and exuberant Cat was back and leapt across the space between them to hug her friend tightly, causing Jade to wince.
"Here's your elephant," she handed the plush animal back to the redhead when she released her.
Flight AA231, Miami to Los Angeles
Sunday, 28th November 2012.
"Your attention please, this is the captain. Unfortunately, due to a security alert at Los Angeles we will be diverting to Albuquerque." Tori was suddenly bolt upright in her seat in the second-to-last row of the economy cabin at the announcement and looked to her sister in horror. "We hope that the situation will be resolved by then and it will be a short hop up to Los Angeles; we will keep you updated as the flight continues and American Airlines apologises for the inconvenience."
"Inconvenience?" Tori screeched. "It's more than inconvenient; we have our script due tomorrow – we're supposed to be meeting tonight! Oh, now what do I do?" she groaned.
"What teacher?" Trina had been told around ten times already but it didn't affect her so she hadn't been listening.
"Gradstein."
"Ooh, he's tough," the older girl pointed out; if one listened hard enough there may just have been a hint of sympathy there.
"No chizz," the younger sister shot back.
"What is 'chizz' anyway?"
"André thinks it's a German sausage." The girl stood up and retrieved her computer from the overhead locker.
"What are you doing?" Trina asked.
"I'm going to try and write down a few more ideas then call the others from Albuquerque once we land and see what we can arrange for later tonight when we get back to Los Angeles."
Flight VX 169, Newark to Los Angeles
Fortunately for Freddie, he didn't have the sisters' problems; with his flight due to land an hour later than theirs was originally scheduled to, the scare was over in time for their flight to not be diverted and the announcement came over the plane's tannoy that they would be arriving on schedule.
"Excuse me," the boy asked a passing stewardess, "does this plane have Wi-Fi."
"It does," she confirmed, "we're rolling it out across the fleet and luckily, this is a newer plane so we have it. I'll be back in a moment with the password for you."
He nodded gratefully as she departed with a smile.
"Do you have to, Freddie?" Marissa complained. "Can't you go just a few hours without your internet?"
"Mom, I just want to check in with Cat and see how she and the others are getting on and whether it'll be convenient to go over there tonight. I know it's going to be a little late when we get in," he deflected as she opened her mouth to complain, "but I'd like to see her in person after we've only been able to chat now and again this weekend."
Mrs Benson turned to look out of the window; she bit her lip as she pondered on her son's words and the feelings that he was showing. The matriarch had a horrible feeling that her baby boy was growing up and his feelings for this girl were becoming rather serious.
"I'd rather you didn't with it being a school night," she said evenly, "and I don't know how her parents would feel about you going over there so late – I don't think we'll be home before eleven o'clock after all," she pointed out (unusually) reasonably, "but you can ask her I suppose."
The stewardess returned and handed him a slip of paper with the password. Freddie thanked her and dug in his carry-on bag for his computer, setting it up on his tray table. He opened up the video chat software and smiled at the list of on-line contacts.
"Ah, there she is – and a couple of the others are on-line too," he commented; Marissa glanced over curiously before losing interest in her son's dealings with his friends and returning her attention to her book.
"Hi HappyCat," he grinned as she accepted the chat and her face appeared on his screen.
"Oh hey Freddie… you're on a plane?" she processed the background behind her boyfriend.
"Yeah, I just wanted to see how you were and whether you wanted to get together later on tonight – it'll be quite late," he added, mindful of what his mother had said.
"Sure, if we're done with our script by then."
"You're not finished yet?" He was surprised.
"We're still waiting for Tori to get back so we can start," she informed him; he shook his head in disbelief.
"You guys have a ten-page script to do by tomorrow and none of you thought to get together over the weekend and do as much as you could – either with Tori on video chat or just without her?"
"I guess not," she conceded weakly; he shook his head.
"Well we heard over the tannoy that something's going on at LAX; I hope her flight isn't affected," he sounded worried.
Flight AA231 re-route, Albuquerque to Los Angeles
The two sisters had re-boarded the aeroplane and taken their seats in the second-to-last seats at back of aircraft. With it being a comparatively short flight, the crew had begun preparing food while they were on the ground in Albuquerque and began distributing it as soon as they were airborne again.
The tannoy sounded. "Aloft Airlines welcomes you aboard flight AA231 for the last leg of our flight to Los Angeles this evening. The captain has turned off the fasten seatbelt signs and you're free to move about the cabin."
Tori quickly finished what she felt able to of her meal and set the remnants on her tray table; she picked up her book and carried on reading, trying to remove the stresses of the day. For some reason she had been unable to get hold of any of her friends during their brief stopover and she was worried that time was running out on the group.
"Hey... Tori. Hey," her elder sister began to bother her; she closed her eyes in annoyance but turned to the diva.
"What?" she asked.
"Is this chicken?" The older Vega proffered it on her fork; Tori sniffed it cautiously.
"I think it might be pineapple… or part of a thumb."
"Ulch. I can't eat airplane food. Too gross. Ulch," she picked up her half-eaten meal and placed it on her baby sister's tray table.
"And why is this now on my tray table?" the singer demanded.
"'cause I'm done with it," Trina replied as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"I don't care if you're done with it. Keep your garbage on..." the younger girl began before they were disturbed by the nine-year-old boy sat behind Trina kicking her seat.
"Hey, hey, kid! I told you to stop kicking my seat," she snapped at the boy.
"So?" he shot back and kicked it again.
"Stop that!" she demanded.
"You're not the queen of this plane," he told her.
Trina turned to the kid's dad, "Excuse me, will you please do something about your son?"
In a disinterested voice he asked the boy, "will you stop kicking her seat?"
"No." His dad shrugs helplessly at the aspiring superstar.
"Some people are so rude," Trina complained to Tori; her sister picked up Trina's used napkin from her tray table and waved it at her.
"I know."
The intercom stayed Trina's retort. "This is Captain Stubing, sorry about our delay today. We should be arriving in Los Angeles at around 11:14 p.m."
Tori groaned again. "I'm supposed to meet André, Beck and Cat to write that script for class that's due in the morning."
One of the stewardesses stopped next to Tori and spoke to a gentleman sat across aisle from her. "Here's your water."
"Thank you."
"Can I get you anything?" she asked the person sat next to him.
"Uh, excuse me?" Tori interrupted.
"Yes?"
"Does this plane have wi-fi?" she asked.
"No, but we do have wireless internet service."
"That's what Wi-Fi is," the teenager pointed out.
"Please don't give me attitude," the stewardess requested.
"What are you doing?" Trina asked curiously as her sister reached for her computer again.
"I'm gonna see if André's online so we can work over video chat."
"Oh, smart. Maybe you guys can, uh—" she turned back to face her nemesis. "Did you just kick my seat again?"
"Why don't you ask your butt?" the obnoxious boy asked, kicking it again.
"Look, if you don't knock it off, I'm gonna tell the flight attendant."
"Ooh, you're a scary witch," he shot sarcastically.
"I wish I was a witch 'cause I would take my broomstick and I would..." the angry girl began; her sister grabbed her arm and pulled her back into her seat.
"Trina, sit. Oh, good. André's online."
The older girl reached up and adjusted her overhead fan. "I need some more air," she pouted.
Tori looked across and spotted something, "you have a pimple under your arm," she pointed out.
"Don't talk about it!" Trina snapped. An argument between the sisters was, again, averted as Tori's best friend's visage appeared on the screen.
"Tori Vega, what's up?" the dreadlocked songsmith asked.
"Hey, I'm still on the plane."
"You're on the plane? Well if I were you, I'd get in the plane." He laughed at his own joke before spotting her scathing look and stopping with an embarrassed look. "So you're on the plane?"
"There was a security alert and now I'm not gonna land until after 11 because we got re-routed through Albuquerque."
"Oh, but we still gotta write that script for class," the musician pointed out.
"I know. Wanna do it over video chat?"
"Yeah, sure. I'll text Cat and Beck and tell 'em to get online."
"Cool."
"Will you pop this for me?" Trina interrupted all of a sudden; Tori gave her an uncomfortable look.
"No."
In an annoyed tone, Trina argued, "I let you borrow my green sweater last week." André winced on screen at the thought of the sisters arguing over the pit zit.
"And that means I should pop your pit pimple?!" the younger Vega asked.
"Yes! We're sisters. If you had a pit pimple, I'd- Quit kicking my seat!" she turned around again.
"Quit kickin' my seat!" the kid mocked.
The stewardess returned, handing each girl a small tub. "Your desserts."
"What is this?" Trina looked at the unappetising serving.
In a disinterested voice the stewardess replied, "I dunno, pudding?"
"Aww. It's got fur on it," the diva complained.
"Just like your pimple," Tori mocked.
"Oh," André shuddered at the thought.
Tori scanned her list again and spotted TechGuy on-line; she invited him to join the chat.
"Hey Tori," he smiled before frowning as he spotted her surroundings. "You got caught up in the chizz happening in LA then?"
"Yeah, we got diverted to Albuquerque and now we're gonna be late in."
He nodded sympathetically. "We'll be landing soon but I should have a little while before I have to log off. I was chatting to Cat just now and she says you guys haven't even started on your script?"
"No, that's why we're getting on-line now," she explained. "André," she gestured to the currently empty window, "is going to contact Beck and Cat and get them on-line so we can do it."
"You want some more help?" he offered. "Like I say I can't stay long but maybe I can add something."
"Uh, sure, that'd be great," the girl figured an extra brain, especially Freddie's, would help.
Tori glanced towards her sister as the older girl, who was plucking her eyebrows, commented, "Woo. You're a long one." The younger Vega grimaced at the sight.
"Hey, Tori," André had returned and was waving at her.
"Oh. Hey, uh, did you get Cat and Beck?"
"Yeah, they're about to get online."
"Nice. Where are you?" Tori didn't recognise the backdrop as being anywhere in André's house.
"Oh, I'm at my grandma's house."
"Why are you at your grandma's?" Freddie wondered aloud.
"She called me and said she was scared 'cause the numbers kept changin' on her digital clock."
Tori gave him a confused look. "Isn't that what clocks do?"
"All I know is, when I got here, she was hidin' under her bed."
"Did you get her out?" Freddie asked; Marissa, having overheard this exchange, was now taking an interest in the conversation and glanced over so that she could see the screen.
"Uh-huh, but I had to use butter," the dreadlocked songsmith explained; the two Bensons exchanged shrugs. "Oh, Cat's on," he noted as the computer chimed.
"Yep, I see. Let me invite her," Tori did the honours.
"Hey, are you gonna eat your pudding?" her sister asked.
"You ate yours?" Tori was surprised.
"Yeah, I just scraped the fur right off the top. It wasn't bad."
The brunette set her uneaten dessert down on her sister's tray table. "Go nuts."
Cat, sitting at the desk in her bedroom, greeted them happily. "Hi," she called.
"Whassup, little red?" André asked.
"Hi again, sweetie," Freddie smiled.
"Hey, Cat," Tori added her own greeting.
"André!" his grandmother shattered the calm again.
"One sec," he told them. "What's wrong, grandma?"
"The numbers on my clock changed again!"
"It's a clock, grandma. The numbers are supposed to change."
"What happened to my butter?"
Marissa gaped at the woman's condition.
"I'll go to the store tomorrow and get you some more butter," her grandson placated her, though not completely as a screaming sound was suddenly heard by all.
"What was that?" Cat enquired.
"My grandmother just screamed."
"Why, what happened?" Marissa asked.
"I don't know. I think she saw herself in a mirror."
"André! There's another me on the wall!"
"It's okay, grandma! Just introduce yourself. I'm sure she's nice."
"André?" Marissa asked. He turned to look at her, leaning awkwardly next to her son as she continued, "Would there be a good time for me to visit your grandmother? It seems from that little… incident that she should be on some different drugs for her condition."
"Well the doctors say she's on the best thing for it but… I guess it couldn't hurt, thanks Mrs B."
"You're welcome – and that definitely isn't how someone who's on the best medication should be acting."
The African-American teen nodded as he pondered her point; the computer chimes again, wresting him from his musing.
"Beck's online," Cat pointed out.
"Oh, yeah," Freddie spotted GotBeck's appearance in his on-line contacts.
"Requesting..." Tori clicked on his name.
"Ow!" Trina lunged forward again.
"What?" he exasperated sister demanded.
"That rotten kid behind me kicked my seat again and made me poke my eye."
"I didn't kick your seat," he protested.
"You did too," she shot back.
"How's your pit zit?" he taunted.
"That tears it!" she yelled, rose and tried to lean over seat in order to attack him; Tori had to get up herself to restrain her.
"Trina! Trina! He's a little boy," she pointed out.
"Yeah and I'm about to put him into a little hospital."
Tori sat back down with a sigh as the long-haired actor appeared on screen. "You requested my face?" he asked calmly.
"Hey, man," André called.
"Hi," Tori added.
"Hey, Beck," Cat smiled.
"Hi. Wait, is that a dog with you?" Freddie asked.
"Aw, look at the puppy," Cat gushed.
"He's cute, huh?" the Canadian teen waved the animal towards the camera.
"So cute," Tori gushed.
"Is he yours?" Freddie wondered.
"Nah, I'm watching him for my neighbour while she's at her cheerleading practice."
"You live next door to a cheerleader?" Freddie raised his eyebrows. "What does Jade make of that?"
"She doesn't know," he shrugged.
"Figures. I live next door to a one-legged old man who throws lemons at me," their dreadlocked friend lamented.
"So, what's up?" Beck steered the conversation away from his neighbour; Freddie bit his tongue knowing that this wasn't the time for an argument over it, not with his girlfriend having a project that she needed to get finished.
"Tori's plane's late," he explained instead.
"I don't get in til almost midnight."
"But we gotta write the script for Gradstein's class," the actor reminded them unnecessarily.
"Yeah, so we're gonna do it here over video chat," Cat added, taking a sip from her coffee.
"Jet Brew?" Her boyfriend raised his eyebrows. "You've just been hanging with Jade then I see."
"Yeah," she grinned, "after we chatted I went to see her and well… when you see Jade there's always coffee."
"Ok, back to the script," Beck called loudly, "the plan sounds good. Let's get to it."
"Alright; I will type..." Tori volunteered.
"Cat, read the assignment," André instructed her.
"'kay, 'kay. It says, write a single-scene script, between seven and ten pages. The scene must involve a mystery – ooh, use at least three characters and have a surprise plot twist."
"Got it," Beck nodded.
"We can do that," the musician agreed.
"Ideas?" Tori suggested.
"Hey, you guys wanna hear a cute joke?" Cat asked.
"A joke?" Beck asked.
"Just so long as it's not…" Freddie began but his girlfriend spoke over him.
"Yeah. Listen. Okay. What did the young shrimp say when his mom asked him why he wouldn't share any of his toys?"
"What?" Tori asked as the other LA-bound teen pinched his nose.
"Sorry, I'm a little shellfish." She laughed giddily. "Get it? 'cause shrimp are very self-centred."
"I think the joke is that shellfish sounds like selfish," the singer pointed out.
"Oh, my God. That's even funnier," the girl laughed hysterically for a few seconds; again her boyfriend and his mother exchanged helpless looks. Cat then surprised them by putting on a serious expression. "Okay, back to the script."
"Hey," Tori suggested once the others had added their farewells and Freddie had left the chat. "What if our script's about a kid who goes into a closet to look for something and," the computer chimed again, interrupting her. "Ulch," she muttered as she identified the newcomer.
"What?" Beck asked.
"Who was that?" André wanted to know.
Tori eyed the RockRobster screen name disdainfully. "Robbie's requesting to join our chat." The teens all sighed as she acceded to his demand.
Another screen opened; the bespectacled teen, along with his ever-present puppet, appeared in it; Robbie was sitting in his room, several posters lined the wall, but Freddie's eye was drawn to photos of him and Rex together. He mentally shook his head at the idea. "Hey," the ventriloquist greeted them.
"Hi," Tori replied.
"'sup?" Beck asked.
"Hey, Rob," André added.
"Hey, Robbie," Cat piped up, "what did the young shrimp say when his mom asked—"
"I'm a little shellfish, you told me yesterday," he cut her off.
"Poo," she muttered dejectedly.
"Oh, you guys hung yesterday?" Freddie enquired.
"We ran into each other at the mall," Robbie brushed it off. "Listen, I need you guys' help."
"You need professional help," Rex sneered.
"I don't either!" he insisted.
"Robbie..." André began wearily.
"We're trying to work on a script that's due in the morning," Tori explained.
"This'll just take a second," the puppet assured her.
"Okay, what's your problem?" Beck sighed.
"Well, on Wednesday at school, I asked Rex if he wanted to see a movie with me on Sunday night." He turned to Rex. "True or false?"
"You said, 'how would you feel about seein' a movie on Sunday night?' And I said, 'sounds like a plan,'" the wild-haired puppet clarified.
"Exactly. And now it's Sunday night and Rex says he has other plans."
"Which I do," Rex confirmed.
"Why would you go and make other plans when you said you'd see a movie with me?"
"Robbie," Freddie sighed, unwilling to humour his classmate, "you walk around with your hand up Rex's butt; you decide where he goes!"
"He does NOT!" the object of his annoyance snapped back.
"You guys," Tori called weakly, trying to restore order and make a start on their script.
"I never said I would see a movie with you. I said, 'sounds like a plan.'" Rex ignored her.
"What's the difference?" Robbie did too.
"You never called me to confirm."
Freddie palmed his face and shook his head before turning weakly to his bewildered mother. "Yeah, he's always like this," the brown-eyed boy confirmed.
"I'm gonna get a root beer," André got up and left.
"Robbie, Rex, you guys work this out yourselves," Beck told them.
"Bye, Robbie," Tori waved.
"Wait, no, don't kick us out of the chat! No, don't!"
It was too late though; the brunette's finger did the rest and one screen was removed from the chat.
Freddie looked up as the tannoy message called for all electrical items to be switched off in preparation for landing. "That's my cue to go too," he told them regretfully, "I'll see you later?" His girlfriend nodded. "And I'll catch you guys at school. Bye."
"Alright," André began once the others had said their farewells and Freddie, too, had left, "back to our script."
"Hey," Cat suggested, "what if we write about a giraffe who learns to love?"
"A giraffe?" Beck asked in confusion.
"That's not good," the musician shot her down.
"No," Tori agreed.
"Let's just stick with the kid in the closet," the songsmith decided.
"Right. So I was thinking, maybe he comes home from school looking for something and he goes into his closet," Tori fleshed out her ideas; a disappointed and slightly bored Cat pressed the rainbow effect button which caused her display to start appearing in a variety of different colours; she giggled at the sight. "And there's like a small, secret door in the back of—Cat. What are you doing?"
"I clicked on rainbow. Woooooooo." The girl waved her arms; stars appeared on the screen following her hands' path across it.
"Will you please stop that?" the annoyed singer requested.
"We gotta do this project," André reminded her.
The redhead switched off the effect and gave a sorrowful look. "Sorry," she told her peers.
"Now where were we?" Tori sought a recap.
"Uh, the kid goes into his closet," her musician friend began.
"Right," the half-Latina smiled. "And maybe it's not a normal kid. Maybe he's like created by scientists in a government lab or..." she was distracted as her computer chimed again.
"Who's that?" André wondered aloud.
"Jade," Beck recognised the ScissorLuv screen name. "Let me see what she wants."
Tori groaned loudly at yet another interruption as the dark brunette appeared on-screen.
"Hey, look," the long-haired Canadian began, addressing his girlfriend. "We're doing this project that's due tomorrow morning, so..."
"Where have you been?" she demanded.
"Home. Why?" he asked in mild confusion.
"I left you a voicemail and you haven't called me back," she pointed out.
"I'm doing homework," he explained.
"Why do you have that animal?" she noticed the dog.
"It's my neighbour's dog."
"His neighbour the cheerleader," André chuckled.
"Cheerleader?" the mean girl hissed.
"Why? Why would you say that?" Beck demanded of his friend.
"Sorry."
"Why are you keeping her a secret?" Tori wondered aloud.
"Thank you Tori," the words slightly stuck in Jade's throat but she managed to get them out
"You know what cheerleaders have?" Cat grinned. "Pep," he answered her own question a moment later.
"Pep?" Tori looked at her.
"Did she say pep?" the talented musician asked.
"Why are you doing favours for a cheerleader and what is she doing for you?" Jade pressed.
"It's not what you think," Beck insisted. "She's just..."
"I'm coming over there," the aspiring actress decided.
"No, no. You don't need to..." her boyfriend's attempts to placate her were curtailed as Jade clicked off.
"Alright," Tori told them, her concern mounting by the second. "So far we have nothing. So it'd be great if we could do a little writing together, okay?"
Cat, meanwhile, selected a different effect and her visage was split into a number of different ones. "Look! I'm in a kaleidoscope."
"Oh, how does she do that?" André asked.
"You just click effects on the lower left," the cupcake lover explained.
"This is not a time for effects," Tori insisted; her pleas, however, fell on deaf ears.
"Wooooooooooo," Cat continued to mess around.
André began with an effect that distorted his picture. "Hey, look at me!" he called as his head appeared to increase in size. "You guys are giving me a headache."
"André..." the singer began scoldingly.
Beck joined in the fun. "Ooh! I'm getting dizzy. Look at me, I'm spinning around," as he rotated clockwise.
"What effect is that?" the red velvet-haired teen asked curiously.
"It's spin clockwise."
"Why tell her that?!" Tori snapped, knowing full well what would happen. Sure enough the other two joined Beck and all three were rotating on screen, much to Tori's irritation.
"Whoa. Look at me," Cat called.
"We're not making progress," the brunette told her team.
"Here I go!" André ignored her and continued spinning.
"André, I need you to focus and keep your eyes..." she began.
"I'm spinning. I can't focus on anything," he talked over her.
"It's like a space ship," Beck agreed.
"I'm princess rotation," Cat smiled happily.
"You guys," the younger Vega snapped, "we have a project to work on. I'm not gonna sit here and watch you guys spin clockwise!"
"Hey, you heard the lady. Ready?" Beck asked the others; all three switched effect to rotate anticlockwise instead. "Oh. Reverse! We're in reverse now."
"That's not what I meant," Tori lamented.
Cat also added a voice echo effect. "Look at me going back in time," she called.
"When did I become the mature one?" Tori asked her sister.
Trina took a quick break from flossing her teeth to reply, "I don't know." Once again her seat was kicked from behind. "Quit it!" she snapped.
"Make me!" the cheeky nine-year-old shot back.
"Oh, I'm gonna make you, kid," she threatened.
Over the indistinct babble of the trio's fun and the bickering from her sister and her nemesis Tori insisted, "you guys. This is no time to fool around."
The Slap
Tori Vega: I'm 30,000 feet UP in the air - doin' homework. HELLLP!
Mood = Flighty
The group finally managed to focus a little and began to make some progress. Tori, however, was disturbed by her sister; Trina had her headphones on and was dancing/beatboxing in her seat.
"Alright," she recapped. "So the little boy yells..." she then addressed Trina, "Will you stop that?"
"What?!" the older Vega asked, not hearing over her music. Tori pulled out one of her earbuds.
"Stop dancing in your seat like a weirdo!" She turned to the others. "So the little boy yells what?"
"How about, 'Mom! There's evil in my closet! Eviiiilll!'" André suggested.
"Okay. Good. How do I spell eviiiilll?"
"Use four is and three ls," Beck replied.
"Got it," she confirmed. "Okay. Now, why don't we say the mom walks into the closet to find her son's face being eaten by..."
"Look!" Cat interrupted, trialling yet another effect. "Now I'm a cherry pie. I'm pie girl! But don't bite off my nose!"
Tori had reached the end of her tether. In an angry voice she snapped, "Cat! We have a ten page script due tomorrow morning and we're on page three and you're not helping at all. Now will you please stop acting like a child?!"
The child-like teen began to sob in response.
"There she goes," Beck sighed.
"Look," the brunette sought to mollify her. "I didn't mean to yell at you. Please don't cry. I was frustrated because—oh," she sighed as the girl clicked off.
Valentine Residence, Hollywood Hills.
After clicking off the chat Cat dashed downstairs in need of a comfort snack. She flew past her parents, both of whom eyed her in concern as she attempted to stifle her sobs, and reached the kitchen. The girl bent over as she opened the fridge and looked to see what was there. She selected a bottle of water but decided that she didn't want any of the food in there; instead she thought of the stash of red velvet cupcakes she had stored in her room and started to make her way back upstairs.
"Is everything ok, Cat?" Mr Valentine called.
"Yeah," she muttered unconvincingly as she rushed back upstairs.
The two parents looked at one another again. "I'll go talk to her," Mrs Valentine told her husband and followed their daughter upstairs. She knocked on the girl's bedroom door. "Cat? Is everything ok?" she asked in a soft voice.
Cat shuffled across the floor and opened the door, stepping back to admit her mother. "I think so," she answered weakly, "one of my friends upset me when we were on video chat. I just need a cupcake to cheer me up," she giggled.
"Do you have an extra one?"
"Yeah, sure," she proffered the box to her mother who took one of the treats.
"Mmm, these are good," she complimented, taking a bite. "Now," the matriarch patted the bed next to her, having taken a seat, "why don't you tell me what happened."
Beck's RV,
Driveway of Oliver Residence.
An insistent knocking could be heard on Beck's door.
"What's that noise?" André asked curiously, hearing the commotion over the web chat.
"Open the door!" his girlfriend demanded.
"Is that jade?" Tori asked in surprise.
"Yeah," the RV resident confirmed; he leaned towards the door and called out, "I'm busy working on a project!"
"I need to talk to you," the gothic teen insisted.
"Sorry, door's locked," he called calmly. A moment later the door was forcefully opened. "Now it's not locked," he observed.
"She has a key?" Tori asked.
"No, she has a foot."
"What is going on?" Jade demanded, walking over to join her man.
"You just kicked my door open," he complained.
"Put the dog down and tell me about this cheerleader chick who lives next door."
"I'm not gonna put the dog down," he contradicted. Tori rolled her eyes and face-palmed at yet more interruption taking place.
"Oh, aren't you?" the irate girl snapped.
"If you wanna meet the cheerleader, she'll be back any minute to pick up her dog."
"Then I'll wait for her," Jade took a seat.
"Whatever you want," he shrugged, turning back to the screen and chat.
"Okay, can we get back to writing the script now?" Tori prompted.
"Yeah, let's get this done," André agreed.
"Wait, what happened to Cat?" Jade looked at the screen and noticed her best friend's absence.
"Tori yelled at her and she clicked off in tears," the musician explained.
"Man, Freddie is going to be wazzed off with you when he finds out," Jade told her rival; she would normally have relished this fact but she really didn't want to see Freddie any more upset than he had been recently, nor did she like the idea of someone upsetting Cat.
"I know," Tori groaned, "but she was behaving like a child and we needed to get this done. I'll apologise to her at school tomorrow."
Jade frowned and bit her tongue; it appeared to her that the girl had completely disregarded her suggestion and their little pep-talk from Friday.
"Okay, let's get back to it. Boy's in the closet. Face being eaten. Mom walks in and..." Beck began.
Robbie provided the next distraction at this moment; he created a fake screen name (Lil_Stephanie21) in an effort to join them, much to their irritation. He attempted to re-engage the group in his argument with Rex, though Tori was to curtail it by removing him from the chat.
"All passengers, please take your seats..." The tannoy sounded; Tori glanced around, musing that they must not be too far from landing.
"Ok, we don't have too long left and we need to get on with it. Oh, who's that?" she finished in annoyance as yet another chat request was made. , which happened to be Sinjin's screen name; he joined them – until Jade recognised the furniture surrounding him and that it appeared that the dirty-blond haired teen had broken into her house. He picked up his computer and fled, with a plea to them not to tell his mother.
"Alright, we're not accepting any more chat requests, okay?" Tori decided.
"Good." "Agreed." The others backed up her decision.
The African-American's grandmother, however, was to provide yet another distraction. Concerned that her grandson was talking to himself she came to investigate, and, bewildered by his friends appearing on the computer's screen, she insisted that she "didn't understand this" and screamed, hitting the screen, breaking the camera and bringing an end to André's participation.
"I guess that just leaves you and me," Beck shrugged.
"And me," Jade reminded them.
"Let's just get an F and be done with this," Tori sighed in defeat.
"Oh, come on. We can finish this script ourselves," Beck tried to lift the brunette's spirits.
"You really want to?" she asked.
"Sure. Why don't we just try to—" he was disturbed by a knock on the door.
"Oh. Now what?" Tori groaned once again.
"Is that your cheerleader friend?" Jade rounded on her boyfriend.
"Come in," he called.
"Yeah! Come in!" Jade snapped.
A blonde girl of around nine years of age entered the RV. "Hi, Beck," she smiled.
"Hi, Allie," he grinned back at her. "Jade, this is my next door neighbour, Allie. Allie, this is my girlfriend, Jade."
"Nice to meet you," the little girl greeted her.
"Hello, Allie," Jade replied, waving weakly as her anger with the pre-teen evaporated.
"Thanks for taking care of Sparkles."
"Any time, kiddo."
Allie leaned close to him and whispered, "your girlfriend's pretty."
"I know," he whispered back happily.
"Bye," she left.
"See you," he called after her.
"Wow, jade, looks like you got some competition there," Tori teased.
"You gonna say you're sorry?" Beck chided.
"You didn't tell me she was nine," the girl snapped.
"You didn't give me a chance!" he protested.
"Oh, don't try to turn this around on me!" she insisted.
"Hey, Beck," Tori called, trying to keep peace and get her project back on course.
"You love making me jealous," Jade snarled.
"You just assumed..." he began to argue.
"You could've said she's nine. I wouldn't have gotten upset with you."
"Listen. Can you guys fight later?" Tori demanded.
"Stay out of this, Tori," Jade pressed the sign off button and the two left the chat.
A quarter-of-an-hour later, and still fuming, Jade left the RV. A plane flew overhead as she left and she remembered something that she still needed to do.
Valentine residence, Hollywood Hills, CA
Freddie sighed in annoyance as he squeezed the steering wheel of his car slightly more firmly than he normally would. The tech genius could see his friend's text message flashing in the forefront of his mind while he tried to keep his full focus on the mercifully quiet roads; the short message that Jade had fired off, "C goofing around, T snapped at her, C logged off feeling upset", kept popping up in his brain. The brown-haired teen pulled his Corolla up outside his girlfriend's house, thankful that there was still a light on in the living room – and also, he observed when he glanced to the second floor, one on in his girlfriend's room. He softly knocked on the front door; a surprised Mrs Valentine answered a few moments later.
"Hello, Freddie," she glanced tellingly at her watch.
"Good evening Mrs Valentine, I'm sorry to call over so late but I heard that Cat was feeling a little upset earlier when she was talking to Tori so I came over to see if she's ok."
"She was rather unhappy a couple of hours ago," the woman of the house confirmed, her concern at the lateness of the hour evaporating and instead she smiled at the considerate boy standing before her and how much her daughter clearly meant to him, "go on," she jerked her head a little towards the staircase and stepped aside to grant him entrance.
"Good evening, sir," he greeted Cat's father as he walked towards the stairs.
"Hi Freddie," Mr Valentine returned before turning to his wife. After making sure Freddie was upstairs and out of earshot he commented, "Caterina really got lucky here, didn't she?"
Mrs Valentine smiled and nodded.
"Cat? Cat?" Freddie knocked gently on the door to the girl's room; he heard a creak as he assumed she climbed off her bed followed by the sound of her padding across the floor. The door opened to reveal her slightly surprised eyes and smiling, albeit tear-stained, face. He pulled her into a strong hug; she wrapped her arms around his back and sighed contentedly in his embrace.
"Are you ok?" he asked in concern; she pulled her face away from his chest and sought his lips.
"I'm good," she insisted after they kissed, "it's just that Tori really upset me with what she said."
"She shouldn't have snapped like that," he agreed, "but…" Cat looked at him in slight hurt as it seemed that he was about to agree with the brunette, "you did have your work to finish and you really do need to make sure it's done by tomorrow morning. I guess it just wasn't the time for goofing around," he said, his voice as soft as he could make it.
"I guess," she conceded weakly, Jade's words from Friday ringing in her ears.
"So how are you getting on with the script?" he pressed.
"I haven't done anything since I signed off the chat," she admitted. "I'm gonna have to call Tori aren't I and work out what to do."
"I think you should; it's a bit late now to do anything about it but maybe you can arrange something for morning before school? They should have landed by now," he consulted his watch, "so yeah, give her a call."
"'kay 'kay," she skipped across the room and picked up her phone from her bedside table, thumbing quickly through her contacts until she found the brunette.
"Tori? Hi," she said when the girl answered, placing the girl on speaker so Freddie could call 'hey' too.
"Hey Freddie, hi Cat; look I'm sorry for snapping earlier," the younger Vega began weakly.
"That's ok Tori, I should have been doing more for our script. Did you guys get it done?"
"No," she lamented, "André's grandmother freaked – so he left the chat – then Jade and Beck had a domestic so he left, I tried to get it done but Trina had to go and annoy Perez Hilton so the end of the flight was spent with those two fighting across my lap."
"So how much do we need to do?" Cat asked.
"About five pages," the taller girl admitted in defeat.
"'kay 'kay, let's meet in the library tomorrow morning and get it done."
Tori was silent for a moment, completely stunned by Cat taking charge like this.
"Uh, sure," she agreed eventually, "I'll call the others. What time?"
"Is 7:30 too early after your flight?"
"No, no, I'll be there," Tori insisted.
"Great! I'll see you then. Bye!" The redhead rang off.
Freddie smiled at her. "I'd better let you sleep then if you have an early start tomorrow. Goodnight Cat," he leaned in and kissed her tenderly before making to leave.
The girl mentally debated whether she should bring her discussion with Jade up with her boyfriend; finally she decided that she didn't dare to, in case the answer was one that she didn't like. Instead she resolved to try and act just a little bit more maturely – on occasion – and to see how he responded to it.
"Oh, Freddie," he turned back at her call, "you need to hide from Jade tomorrow."
"Uh, why?"
"She said she was going to tease you for fangirling over that lady cop," the redhead eyed him slyly and then giggled as he palmed his forehead wearily; he smiled back and shrugged weakly; he might not want to be reminded of that but he did want to know what she and Beck had been arguing about.
"Goodnight Freddie," she padded back over to him, kissed him one last time and waved as he left.
Asphalt Café, Hollywood Arts High School,
Monday, 29th November 2010.
With the scriptwriters working together in the library, Freddie sat at the gang's table keeping a keen eye out for Jade; the gothic girl duly arrived, along with her signature coffee from Jet Brew, and grinned with relish as she sat down next to him.
"So, how's the little crush going?" she began, smiling broadly at him.
"Stop it," he chuckled back, before adding conspiratorially, "though I do admit she's pretty hot."
"Ooh, Freddie's in lurve," his friend nudged him playfully, "how did Cat take it?"
"Surprisingly well," he frowned thoughtfully before turning to her with an accusing smile, "almost as if someone had told her that she had nothing to worry about."
Jade shrugged. "I don't know who could have told her that."
"Changing the subject… Tori said that you and Beck were arguing last night before leaving their on-line chat. Care to share."
Jade took a telling sip of her coffee as she either debated answering or tried to avoid having to do so. The former iCarly tech producer continued to look at her with an insistent stare and, finally, the girl caved.
"I joined their chat yesterday because I'd been trying to call Beck and he wasn't answering. Then André tells me that he's dog sitting for his neighbour, who's at cheerleading practice." Freddie's face fell and he looked at her in concern. "Anyway, I went over there because… well," she looked a little weakly at him, feeling a little foolish now that the whole story was known.
"Because you wanted to know why your boyfriend was doing favours for a cheerleader who I'm guessing you didn't know."
"Right; anyway it turned out, once she showed up to collect the dog, that she's like nine years old."
"And he never mentioned that when he had the chance?" the boy guessed.
"No. He says I never gave him the chance but we were on-line, he could have said it the moment André mentioned her, or when I got there and we were sat chatting for however long but no.
Freddie's frown grew; he shook his head in annoyance. "Did you work it all out last night?"
"No," she sighed, "he insists he's done nothing wrong, that it's my problem and wanted me to apologise for getting jealous. I didn't so we rowed and I left."
"He ignores your calls but answers them from other people, brags about being friends with cheerleaders, doesn't mention her to you and lets you think she's older – and a threat to your relationship? Jade, you're not the one who needs to apologise here," her friend pointed out.
The girl smiled warmly at him again as the bell rang. "Thanks Freddie, we'd better get to class. The quicker we're done with school the quicker you can drool over your new girlie-friend again," she aimed a swat at his rump as they began walking and he playfully slapped her hand away.
"No Cat," he muttered to Jade as their first class of the day, Science, began.
"They have Gradstein next so maybe they're blowing off first period to make sure they get the script done," she suggested; he nodded his agreement with her supposition.
Sikowitz's classroom
As usual their teacher was late to the final period of the day; Freddie sat with Cat snuggling against his side as they waited on the arrival of the others.
"Freddie, hi, how was your weekend?" André called as he led Beck, Jade, Robbie and Tori into the room.
"Pretty good thanks, until my girlfriend got all upset with people snapping at her," his voice lacked any anger but Tori still wore an uncomfortable expression.
"Freddie… I," she began; he interrupted.
"You were worried about getting your project finished.
"And she was right," Cat piped up in defence of the brunette.
"I still should have said it differently," the singer conceded. "Are we good?" she asked the tech genius in concern, cracking a relieved smile as he nodded.
"We're all good," he confirmed; his girlfriend threw an arm around him happily. "Although…" he turned to Beck; the long-haired actor rolled his eyes impatiently.
"What? What have I done now?" he snapped sarcastically.
"Apart from using nine-year old girls to try and make your girlfriend jealous?"
"Ok, to start with…" he hesitated and then frowned. "You know what? I don't need to explain, or justify, myself to you. You need to butt your nose out of my relationship," he snapped; the others gasped almost as one. Freddie leapt to his feet, much to Cat's surprise while the others took a subconscious step back to give the two fencers a little space.
"How do I do that, huh?" Freddie's voice was filled with icy calm. "You're dating my sister; it's never not going to be my business."
Beck looked to him in confusion; even Jade looked a little surprised at his words.
"Wait, Jade's your sister?" Tori gawped at this development.
"As good as," he amended. "Jade has been there for me when… well, whenever I needed someone. She's as much family to me as anyone ever could be, and the same goes for Sam. So my nose," he turned harshly back to Beck, "will never be too far away so long as you're with Jade; get used to it."
He sat down, feeling the differing stares of the group (challenging from Beck, questioning from Jade, stunned from André and bewildered from Tori) on his back.
"I like that you stand up for people like this," Cat told him softly, breaking a little of the tension, "it makes me feel safe." She leaned over and gave him a peck on the cheek.
"Alright young actors!" Sikowitz burst through the door by the stage, "Are we all set to learn."
"Yes, please, begin teaching," Freddie urged, much to the hobo-lookalike's surprise given the recent issues between the two of them. He shrugged it off though and settled the class to begin his lesson.
AN: Thank you very much for reading, I hope you enjoyed it. Don't be shy about reviewing and letting me know what you thought and I hope to have the next chapter up soon. PD.