AN: Hello everyone and welcome back to this story; I hope you are all well and have had a good week.
As ever at this point, thank you to everyone who read and reviewed the last chapter.
Fanfic-Reader-88 – some great points; Cat is growing up 'a little' – that being the operative term; she's still Cat, still a little childlike but IS growing up slowly and has been given a shove in that direction by Jade. As for volunteering to be a Diddly-bop; she enjoyed it and got paid for it. Lots of people do like being children's entertainers.
Freddie and Sikowitz have serious issues, that much is clear and will continue to be explored as we go forward, though with the episode order it will be on the backburner a little as Sikowitz doesn't feature too heavily in the next few.
Freddie got through to Beck; they are friends and in fact at one point Freddie was living in Beck's RV so he certainly doesn't want to hate him but he looks out for Jade and will rank her above pretty much anyone else. How she'd compare to Sam or Cat would be an interesting debate but he's certainly closer to Jade than he is to almost anyone apart from those two.
KoiChoco – thanks and here is the update.
Challenge King – thanks, I'm glad you liked it. Jade had to face what Sikowitz was doing, as did the others a little. Beck maybe didn't care too much since he and Freddie had had their differences of opinion recently but maybe the 'favourite teacher' mask is slipping a little.
Darck Ben – thanks. As for TBBT – I haven't seen enough of it to really get a feel of the characters for a story or cross-over.
TenorSax93 – thanks.
Agent-M – thank you and yes, getting away from his snares for a bit would help them.
Pbow – Freddie spaghetti would have worked but was even less aerodynamic than the hot dog and I think he'd have struggled to escape with Cat had he been in that costume.
That's everyone, just a note that One Horse Shay recently updated his excellent iGuess we're Roomies and I'd urge you all to check that out, but then I am a biased Teddie shipper.
Chapter 28: Wok Star
Valentine Residence, Hollywood Hills
Monday, 10th January 2011.
"Thank you for hanging with me while Freddie's at work," the red velvet-haired girl told her friend; Cat was home alone after school with her parents both running late at work.
"It's cool," Jade reassured her, setting her coffee mug down on the table, "besides, I have a slightly ulterior motive to it all."
"Oh?" the cupcake lover asked nervously; the gothic teen grinned at her apprehensiveness.
"Don't be like that; it's nothing that you should worry about. You know this play that I was working on over Christmas?" she prompted; Cat nodded, "well, I want you to star in it."
Cat gasped happily. "I'd love to; does this mean that you're putting it on at school?"
"I haven't had an answer yet – I asked this morning – but I can't see it being a problem. So, you're in?"
"Of course," the redhead cried happily. "How does Beck feel about it, y'now, your first production as a writer?"
"He's been supporting me," the other confirmed, "though I get the feeling that he'd rather it wasn't occupying so much of my time. There was one other thing I wanted to talk about as well," the dark brunette winced slightly, not really wanting to have this conversation with anybody but recognising that her best friend was the person that she should have it with; she took a draught from her coffee and turned to see the shorter girl looking expectantly at her so she took a deep breath. "Beck, recently, has been dropping some hints."
Cat pulled a face so she pressed on, "I'm pretty sure that he wants us to sleep together." Her friend gasped a little again as she processed the claim. "Yeah," Jade smirked, "my reaction was a lot like that, although I tried my best to hide it from him."
"So what are you going to do?"
"I don't know," she admitted with an unusually helpless shrug. "I don't have an answer yet so I'm trying to avoid spending too much time alone with him in his RV. I invite him round to my house more often so mom's around and that keeps his hints at bay."
Cat nodded distractedly; to her surprise she found that her mind was wandering to what she'd say if Freddie made that suggestion about them. Later that night she'd wake up in a confusedly excited state to realise that the idea actually quite appealed to her.
Jade's assessment of Beck was quite correct, in regards to her play at least. He and Freddie had been talking about it after their last fencing class.
"How's things with Jade?" the tech genius had asked as they sat on the bleachers watching their dreadlocked friend working with one of the instructors.
"Great, really good – except…" Freddie turned to the taller teen in concern, "she's just so focussed on this play right now and, I want her to do it and make a real success of it – don't get me wrong – but it does eat into our together time."
Freddie nodded sympathetically. "I've not really been through the same thing myself; Cat hasn't tried writing anything like that… yet. I guess all you can do is be there for her, ask if you can help with it at all and spend the time with her that way."
Beck had nodded; he decided not to mention, just yet, what he was hoping that he and his girlfriend were moving towards.
Principal Eikner's Office,
Hollywood Arts High School
Wednesday, 12th January 2011.
The school principal set the telephone back on his desk and leaned back in his chair; he sighed and picked up the unheard-of request that he wished to discuss, reading through it again while he waited for his summons to be answered. A knock on the door a few moments later brought him from his musings and he called for the person to enter.
Freddie leaned around the door. "Hello, Principal Eikner, you wanted to see me?"
"Yes, Mr Benson, come in and take a seat," he gestured to the vacant chair across his desk from him; Freddie sat down and eyed his headmaster expectantly. "I wanted to talk to you," Eikner began, "because I saw your letter; I have it here. You want to drop Sikowitz's class?"
"Yes, sir," the brown haired teenager confirmed.
"May I ask why?"
"We… don't see eye to eye," he replied delicately.
"Care to be more specific," Eikner prompted.
"Ok, you know how he supervises the ping pong team?" The principal nodded. "We went out for a celebratory dinner after our last tournament victory and we were short on money; the restaurant threatened to call the cops on us and Sikowitz bailed, leaving us to deal with it. Tori had to literally sing for our supper," he finished; Eikner looked on astonished.
"I had no idea," he muttered.
"Then there was the incident a couple of months ago when he called my friend Jade a 'gank' in front of the whole class. Teachers shouldn't do that. Oh and just before Christmas he got some of the students to form a musical group – for that kid's party?" Eikner nodded, knowing of course that the Black Box theatre had been rented out for the event, "he hand-picked a few kids for it. No auditions, no applications, he just asked a few of them to be in it and ignored the rest of his students altogether."
"Right," Eikner scratched his beard thoughtfully as the bell sounded for the end of the lesson. "Well I'm very concerned about him bailing on you in the restaurant," he scribbled on the notepad in front of him, "I'm going to remove him as supervisor for that team and from some other activities. As for the music group – well it was his friend and I guess, while it's rather unprofessional, it's his choice to assemble a group as he sees fit. And as for his comment about Jade – unless she complains it's difficult for me to do anything about that allegation but I will keep an eye on him," he promised. "But for now I would urge you not to drop his class just now. With what you've done so far it would be better to take his class again next semester then, if you want to take a different class in senior year, fine. Think about it?"
"Ok, I'll do that then."
"You know, you'd be the first person ever to voluntarily drop his class. What does that tell you?"
"That nobody else sees him for what he is?" Freddie shot back.
"Hmm, I was thinking more that he's the best acting teacher we've got."
"That doesn't say much for the others does it?"
"Now, now, Freddie," Eikner added a small hint of sternness to his voice to a student taking shots at his staff, then he brightened, "can you honestly say that you haven't learnt much about acting from him?" He smiled as Freddie frowned and swallowed down his retort. "Think about it," he urged.
When Freddie nodded, Eikner stood; the teenager did likewise. "How was your Christmas break Freddie?" he asked conversationally as they headed for the door.
"It was good, thanks. I went up to Seattle to see some of my old friends, my aunt had a few days off and flew in from New York to spend New Year with us. So, yeah, it was great. How about you?"
"I met a very nice Tahitian woman. I managed to bring her with me to LA for a while and we're trying to keep her here permanently."
"I guess it's tough to be in a relationship if she's not here," Freddie half-joked.
"That is very true," he opened the door and the former Seattle native exited, coming face-to-face with Jade as he did.
"Ah Jade, come in," Eikner urged her, closing the door behind her. Freddie was rather surprised to run into the girl but shrugged and headed for the locker area; to his immense surprise the dark brunette stormed past him a few moments later; he gave chase and caught her by the drinking fountain near Sikowitz's classroom.
"Jade?"
"What?" she snapped.
"I don't need to be a genius to see you're upset, Jade," he began, then he smirked, "but it helps."
In spite of herself the girl grinned briefly at him before her face fell again. "They won't let me put on my play," she told him, "apparently it's too 'weird and disturbing'," she air-quoted. Freddie turned to go back to Eikner but she restrained him, thanking him for caring but explaining that it wouldn't do any good. Then she walked off to sulk, saying that she wanted to be alone.
Freddie watched her go before he headed, finally, for his locker. He spotted his girlfriend by her locker and waved casually to her; Cat skipped over.
"Hey, what did Principal Eikner want to see you about?" she asked in concern, knowing that he had been summoned from their previous class.
"It's about me wanting to drop Sikowitz's class," he explained, "he recommended that I stick with it for one more semester and then take someone else's next year if I really don't want to be in his class anymore."
"'kay 'kay," she nodded, happy that they'd be together in another class for a little longer at least.
"No Tori?" he glanced around; Beck, André, Robbie and Rex had joined the couple but the half-Latina was nowhere to be seen.
"No, she's taking some extra credit classes over break, lunch and after school right now to catch up on some of the stuff she missed with not joining us until sophomore year," André explained.
"Hey, where's Jade?" Beck looked around the hallway.
"She's… a little upset," Freddie went on to explain what had transpired in the principal's office.
"I'd better go look for her," her long-haired boyfriend sighed.
Freddie was in the next couple of classes, History of cinema and English, with both Tori and Cat; the brunette was in high spirits afterwards as she talked animatedly about the restaurant she had been to the previous night.
"No, no, no no. You're not getting it; this is like the best Chinese food ever," she enthused as the trio headed downstairs towards the locker area. "I mean they have these eggrolls, they're so good."
Cat gasped. "One time when I was little, I had an egg roll with the most amazing sauce. It was sweet but also kind of sour. Man, what was it called?"
"Sweet and sour sauce?" Freddie suggested in a teasing voice, smiling at the childlike girl.
"Maybe," she pondered, "it doesn't sound right though." Freddie and Tori traded confused looks, wondering what else it could be.
The three of them happened upon Beck, who was walking past locker area; he seemed to still be looking for something or someone – and shared a telling glance with Freddie.
"Hey, Beck," Tori, who was still unaware of Jade's plight, called.
"Yeah, what's up?" he asked her.
"After school, we're..." she stumbled slightly and almost dropped her folder, "Oh my God… after school, we're going to this insane Chinese restaurant we found right up the street. Wanna come?"
"Maybe, if I can find Jade."
Freddie was sympathetic. "She's still not around? I had hoped that she'd have settled down a little since I last saw her."
"Well she skipped her last couple of classes; I don't know where she is."
"She's still mad?" Cat wondered aloud.
"Oh, yeah," he confirmed.
"Why is Jade mad?" Tori pressed.
"'cause, you know that play she wrote, Well Wishes?" Beck prompted.
"Yeah, she wants me to play the lead," Cat interjected.
"Well," Freddie took up the tale, "she wanted to put it on here at the school and they won't let her."
"Why not?" the half-Latina demanded.
"The teachers think it's too weird and disturbing," Beck explained.
"What's wrong with weird and disturbing?" Sinjin asked, walking up to them. Tori glanced at him, looking him up and down and making a troubling discovery.
"Your pants are unzipped," she pointed out.
"I know," the dirty blond shot back as he walked off again; the others looked helplessly at one another.
Robbie raced up to the pair. "We found Jade," he gasped breathlessly.
"Where?" Freddie asked.
"Janitor's... Closet," Rex gasped.
The group made their way over to the closet; upon entering they could see Jade sitting cross-legged on the floor, cutting up a trash can with her scissors.
"Hey," Freddie greeted her cautiously.
"Whatcha doing?" Beck asked softly.
"Cutting up a big trash can," she snapped.
"You cut up the janitor's entire trash can?" Tori asked in amazement.
"He's got another one," the miserable girl noted.
"Jade, listen. I read your play and I think it's really good," the lighter brunette enthused.
"Thanks," she replied, "but if the school won't let me do my play then who cares if it's good?"
"Why don't you just produce your play yourself?" Cat suggested.
"Do you know how much money that would cost?" her friend asked; Cat took a breath then in a distracted voice she had to confirm the she didn't.
"Did she cut up that whole trash can with just a pair of scissors?" Robbie asked in amazement.
"Ok, Cat has a point. Have you looked into how much it would really cost to produce your play?" Freddie asked, taking a seat next to the girl.
"Yeah," she turned to him, "I did a quick crunch of the numbers and it would be about two to three grand."
The tech producer frowned for a moment and then smiled. "I can pitch in a bit from my work at the Pear Store." He looked up at the others. "Do you guys still have your Diddly-bops money?"
"No, I spent mine on Chanukah gifts," Robbie explained.
"And I spent the rest on my Northridge girls," Rex added with a laugh.
"Rex! You stole from me?" his handler was aghast.
Freddie spared the odd couple an irritated look before turning, pleadingly, to the others. "How about you guys?"
"No, I bought those big trays of cupcakes that we ate over Christmas," his girlfriend noted.
"You spent nearly two hundred bucks on cupcakes?" he asked in amazement.
"Well," the redhead amended, "that and presents for family… and a little something for my wonderful boyfriend." She giggled and walked over to sit down next to him; he kissed her cheek and smiled but turned to the others.
"I've got a little that I've saved from work but… not that much," Beck commented.
"Okay, this isn't going to work," Tori conceded before adding thoughtfully, "but it shouldn't be that hard to find someone to put up the cash."
Jade's head snapped up at the brunette's words; in a hopeful voice she asked, "You'd really find me someone to put up the money? To produce my play?"
"I meant that..." the other brunette tried to explain.
"Hey," the gothic teen stood up, brandishing her scissors menacingly, "did she not say," before, in an exaggerated southern belle voice, she mimicked, "'it shouldn't be that hard to find someone to put up the money.'"
"She did," Robbie confirmed instantly, some of the others murmured their agreement.
"So you'll do that, right?" she asked Tori.
"Sure," the girl agreed weakly.
"Good," and with that parting shot Jade left the closet.
"Oh, Sweet and sour sauce," Cat gasped; she took Freddie's hand and they followed Jade out of the room. "You were right after all," she remarked happily.
"Ok, now I need someone with three thousand bucks so we can produce Jade's play," Tori said to herself, pacing the room.
Wok Star Restaurant
1710 N Highland Ave, Hollywood, CA
The Slap Mobile
Tori Vega: Chewing Chinese food with Freddie and Robbie.
Hey... will someone please give me $3,000 for Jade's play?!
Feeling: Full.
With the prospect of having a sponsor for her play, Jade had been overcome with manic energy that she was directing towards her play. As a result she had 'abducted' Cat after school and begun rehearsals for Well Wishes in the empty Black Box theatre (as she hadn't asked to use it, nobody had told her that she couldn't use it for rehearsals). Beck was in the theatre with them supporting his girlfriend and this had left just three of the group to check out the restaurant. Freddie was thankful that they had gone straight from school so he could eat before heading to work.
The three of them had finished their meals; Tori reached for and cracked her fortune cookie. "Okay," she read the paper. "My fortune says, 'he that is not right is often never wrong.'"
"That makes no sense," Freddie observed.
"I know, right?" she agreed.
"Alright," the tech genius took his turn. "Mine says, 'the wise man trusts in the twin powers of love and forgiveness.'" He set the paper aside. "A little deep for the dinner table." However, when the boy wasn't looking, Tori, aware of the issues he had with Sikowitz and picking up some vibes from Cat, Jade and Freddie himself that all wasn't entirely well with him, slipped it into her jeans pocket with the intention of stowing it on him at some point in the future.
Robbie offered his to his puppet. "You wanna read it?"
"Yes," Rex confirmed and cleared his throat. "It says, 'Robbie will never be loved by a woman.'"
The ventriloquist looked askance; Tori sniggered and shared a smirk with Freddie.
"What? That's not true," the bespectacled teen insisted.
"The cookie has spoken," the wild-haired puppet declared with finality.
"Alright, back to Jade's play," the brunette urged them; Robbie groaned, Freddie gave her a sympathetic look. "She's expects me to find someone to pay for the whole thing."
"Well, we went through this earlier and none of us have that kind of money," Freddie reminded her. "I could maybe pull together about half of it but my Daka settlement is tied up in my college fund."
"Daka settlement?" Robbie wondered aloud.
"Back when I did iCarly; we promoted these lousy shoes and managed to screw some money out of them when we got out of the contract," he explained.
"Hey, what about your bat mitzvah money?" Tori asked Robbie as the thought hit her.
"First, it was a bar mitzvah. I'm a boy," he insisted.
"Theoretically," Rex sniped.
"And I already spent the last of my money on leather pants and male makeup," Robbie continued.
The other teens gave confused and concerned at this disclosure.
Mrs Lee, the restaurant's owner, made her way to their table. "Everything okay?" she asked.
"Yeah," Freddie enthused, "the food was great; say thanks to the chef for us."
"Ah, I will," she nodded then gasped a little as she recognised him. "Hey, you're Freddie Benson – friend of those two on iCarly! My daughter and I saw you on their show over Christmas."
"Yes," he confirmed, "I used to produce it when I lived up in Seattle across the hall from Carly."
"I must have photo with you for my wall of celebrities…" she insisted, "but first, is there anything else I can get for you?"
"Yes, $3,000 to put on a bitter girl's play," Tori snapped flippantly.
"What play?" the restaurateur asked curiously.
"Oh. No, I'm joking. How much do we owe?"
"But I like theatre very much," she insisted. "Tell me about the play."
"Well," Freddie took up the story, "one of our classmates wrote it; it's about a little girl who falls into a well and then drowns in her own tears."
"You wear a HA jacket?" Mrs Lee eyed him. "You go to Hollywood Arts – so this girl does too?"
"Yes," he confirmed.
"You must go on my wall. You know, my daughter auditioned to go to school there, but they said she was talentless and irritating."
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry," the tech producer muttered.
"Oh, that was a bummer," Tori added.
"It's too bad," Robbie agreed.
"Yes, well; HA student, friend of Freddie… Okay. I will put up the money for your bitter friend's play. Can I get photograph now?"
Freddie smiled. "Sure."
"Come see the wall. Come, this way." She beckoned them over towards it. "And bring the puppet."
"He's not a puppet," Robbie sighed.
"Ah, you see the celebrities?" she gestured.
"Cool," Tori smiled at the array of the famous.
"All those celebrities have eaten here?" Freddie asked in surprise.
"Oh, yes."
"Oh my God," Tori spotted one in particular. "Angelina Jolie."
"Uh-huh. She ordered the wanton soup and then she tried to adopt my daughter."
The teens exchanged helpless looks once again. Freddie had to leave for work but he left in high spirits, knowing that Tori and Mrs Lee were going to be thrashing out the details of her sponsorship of Well Wishes; the boy was happy not only for Jade but also for Cat, knowing that it would give his girl the chance to showcase her talents to a wider audience.
The Slap Mobile
Tori Vega: OMG, someone just gave me $3,000 for Jade's play!
And Robbie uses male make-up... huh?!
Feeling: Giddy.
FreddieB: I helped!
ToriVega: :D
Swordplay Fencing Studio,
416 S Victory Blvd, Burbank, CA
Thursday, 13th January 2011.
The school day had passed in a blur; Tori's Slap update had reinvigorated Jade to the point that she fidgeted almost non-stop throughout the day, so eager was she to get moving with things. However they couldn't make a start on it until a suitable theatre had been found, something that Mrs Lee was dealing with.
"Thankfully," Beck explained to Freddie, "she's an aficionado of the theatre and she picked a good one for Jade to use."
Schneider Art Theatre,
7307 Melrose Ave, Los Angeles
The small, one-story theatre already had the production emblazoned above its entrance; Jade smiled as she read "Coming Soon: 'Well Wishes' starring Cat Valentine, written & directed by Jade West" before Beck and Tori led her inside the building.
"Come on, come on," Tori urged as she shot inside.
"Wow. This is a nice little theatre," Beck complimented.
"Right?" the brunette agreed.
"And this restaurant lady, who you barely know, is really gonna pay for this place?" Jade had a hard time believing it.
"She's paying for everything. The whole play, the full $3,000," Tori confirmed.
"She really hooked you up," Beck noted.
"Huh? Love me? Love me now? Yeah, you do. Come on, give Tori a squeeze." The couple exchanged surprised looks at her request.
"Here, I'll playfully punch your arm," the mean girl offered.
"I'll take it."
"Okay," the director began thinking aloud. "Well, I got a lot of work to do here. I got to ask Sinjin if he'll help me with set dressing; Freddie can do the effects. Maybe Robbie can do the lighting if I ask…"
Mrs Lee, the play's sponsor, entered the theatre through the same side door that the teens had used. "Hello. Hey. Look, it's Tori Vega with the beautiful cheekbones."
"Hey, you," Tori greeted her. "Jade, this is Mrs Lee from Wok Star."
"Oh, it's really cool to meet you."
"Is this our playwright?" the restaurant owner asked.
"That's her," Tori confirmed.
"I'm Jade," the two shook hands. "This is my boyfriend, Beck."
"I am the boyfriend."
"And listen, I can't even, like, tell you how amazing it is that you're paying for all of this."
"Don't even mention that. I'm just happy you get to do your play," she insisted.
"Well, thanks. I can't wait for you read it."
"I already did," Mrs Lee added to the girl's surprise.
"Oh, I gave her a copy last night," Tori informed her.
"I read it in the bathtub."
"Oh. Did you like it?"
"Loved it."
"Really?" Jade was relieved that her financier liked it so much.
"Awesome," Mrs Lee enthused.
"Oh my God."
"Yeah. I only have a few notes."
Jade turned to her suspiciously. "What do you mean notes?"
"You know, ideas to make the play better. Spice it up a little bit," she smiled.
As Jade shot her an accusatory glance. Tori chuckled weakly, "Oh gosh."
"You wanna change my play?"
Sensing trouble, Beck spoke up. "Wow, I got to go and meet the guys at fencing."
Freddie was incredulous. "And you just bailed? Just like that?"
"I could see Jade was about to freak," the longer-haired teen pointed out.
"And you weren't there to support her, to back her up?"
Beck bowed his head meekly. "You're right, I should have helped; should have been there for her. I just… don't like confrontation."
Freddie sniggered at the confession. "Dude," he pointed out, "you're dating Jade; there's going to be a lot of confrontation."
Beck nodded weakly.
Hollywood Arts High School
Friday, 14th January 2011.
Jade slammed her locker furiously; across the hallway Freddie surveyed the scene with concern. He hadn't had a chance to speak to the girl after his fencing class the previous evening but he headed over to his friend.
"Ok, somebody has really upset you," he attempted to lighten the atmosphere; it failed as Jade treated him to her death glare. Unlike most people, however, Freddie did not quail under it; Jade's shoulders slumped in resignation.
"Tori," she spat.
"What's she done? I thought she found you a sponsor," he pointed out; he knew from Beck about Mrs Lee mentioning 'alterations' but no specifics.
"She did, but my sponsor has turned my play into a joke!" she yelled. "She's inserted her talentless daughter into it and made the whole thing absolutely ridiculous." Jade seized her hair and tugged on it as she ran her hands over her head in an effort to reduce her stress level.
"What does she have in mind?" he asked; his concern was twofold as not only was it Jade's play but also a great opportunity for Cat that was on the line if the play turned into an object of ridicule.
Schneider Art Theatre,
7307 Melrose Ave, Los Angeles
Cat was curled up on the stage, as if at the bottom of a well. "Is that what you meant, Nana?" she shouted, before lowering her voice. "I've been good my whole life and now I'm trapped down in this well… and I'll probably never get out." She began to cry.
"She's amazing," Freddie, who was there for the first act, remarked to Jade in a whisper from just off the stage. "The script, everything, is fantastic too," he complimented his friend.
"Yeah," she gave a wan smile, "but now…" she glanced up into the eaves.
In a VERY bad singing voice, Daisy, Mrs Lee's daughter, began, "Don't you cry, little girl, down in that well. The well where you fell with no secrets to tell. You don't have to cry, just believe you can fly and you will fly up out of that well."
"Yes!" her mother cried. "That was so good. She killed it. Woo!"
Cat stood up. "I'm sorry. I'm confused. My character can fly now?"
"No," Jade snapped.
"So then why is my angel telling me to fly up out of this well?"
"Because the angel's mother is a..." the dark brunette began; Tori hurriedly interrupted.
"A nice lady who's paying for this play."
"That's right. Sing it again, Daisy," the Wok Star owner urged.
"Don't cry, don't you cry, little girl."
Cat palmed her face; Jade glared at Tori, who grinned back sheepishly, and Freddie muttered, "she should have let Angelina adopt her." Jade smirked involuntarily at his quip.
Freddie then declared that he had to leave; he walked up on to the stage, kissed Cat goodbye and headed for work. Jade called on the girl to take a quick break but to be ready for act 2.
Hollywood Arts
Monday, 17th January 2011.
"Hey, Jade," nervously approached the girl by her locker during morning break, "I was working on the set dressing for the interior of the well and I found two different kinds of moss."
"They look like your hair," she snapped at him.
"Thanks. This one's called Kentucky red moss. And this one comes..." he began to explain.
"Go!" she yelled.
Tori saw the end of the exchange; she walked up to the irate gothic teen. "You know, he's only trying to make your play better."
"So?"
"So now he's got pee running down his leg."
"I'm not responsible for Sinjin's bladder control or lack of it."
"Why are you so upset by this?" the lighter brunette demanded. "Okay. So you're not getting to do your play exactly how you want, but at least you're getting to do it."
"Mm-hmm. And how do I explain that..." she caught herself and stopped, shaking her head.
"What? Tell me," Tori urged.
"Hold out your wrist," the dark brunette instructed, leading her in the direction of the janitor's closet. Freddie and Cat had spotted Sinjin running off; the couple walked in the direction he had come from (suspecting that Jade may have been the cause, given how upset she had been during rehearsals over the weekend) and saw the two heading for the closet. Freddie shook his head.
"Nah," he muttered. Cat looked at him curiously. "Never mind," he told her, placing a quick peck on her cheek.
Vega residence
Tori had invited her friends for an evening playing poker; she, André, Beck, Cat and Robbie sat at the kitchen table playing cards.
"Where's Freddie?" the hostess asked; she, and Cat, had hoped that he would be in attendance.
"Oh he just got off work; I think he's going to see Jade because she was still so upset earlier when I left to come here," the redhead informed her, checking her phone and reviewing her boyfriend's message.
"What about?" the songsmith enquired curiously.
Janitor's Closet.
"I invited my dad to come see my play on opening night," Jade explained once the two girls had some privacy.
"And?" Tori prompted.
"He hates me," she explained simply.
In a weak voice Tori asked, "but why would anyone hate you?"
"He doesn't understand creative people," the mean girl told her. "He thinks that wanting to be an actor or writer or director is stupid. So I invited him to my play 'cause I thought it was gonna be really good and, hopefully, make him finally have some respect for me." The teen started to get more and more worked up as she continued, "but then you let your restaurant lady turn it into a joke, which is just gonna make my dad think he was absolutely right about my dreams being stupid and pointless. Thank you for ruining my life."
"At least she thanked you," André observed.
"Give me one," Beck asked casually; the musician, who was dealing, gave him a card.
"Two," Tori prompted, exchanging a couple of her own.
"What's Trina doing?" Robbie looked to the elder Vega; her face was covered in green mush.
"I'm putting avocado on my face to give it a natural glow," she explained as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"I use male makeup," the ventriloquist responded.
"You know, maybe you shouldn't tell so many people about that," Beck suggested.
A thought struck Cat. "Wait, Jade's dad's only coming to the play on the first night, right?"
"Yeah," Tori confirmed.
"So then why don't we just do it the way Jade wrote it for that one night?"
"'cause," the brunette explained, "Mrs Lee is gonna be there and she wants it done her way."
"But what if she's not there?"
The others shared looks as the plan began to formulate in their heads.
"I think Cat just said something pretty smart," André complimented.
"Sorry?" she replied weakly.
"No, it's good. Come on, come on, come on. How do we keep Mrs Lee from going to the play on opening night?" Tori urged.
The teens began to think; Cat suddenly gasped, "Bingo!"
"You got a plan?" Beck asked her.
"No, I don't like this game. I wanna play bingo." She set her cards down on the table with a smile.
"Wait, wait, wait," André thought back to what Tori had told him after their trip to Wok Star the previous week, "Mrs Lee is totally obsessed with celebrities, right?"
"Yeah," the brunette said slowly.
"So if a celebrity walked into her restaurant right before the play started..." he continued.
"… or a fake celebrity…" and all eyes turned to her sister, who liked back uncomprehending.
The Slap
Tori Vega: My sister looks like an avocado exploded in her face.
Actually, that would be so cool
Feeling: Devious.
West Residence
Mrs West granted Freddie admission into her home when he called around after work; the brown-eyed teen was directed to the den where Jade was currently hunkered down.
"I should warn you," the matriarch observed, "that she's not happy."
"I got that from how she's been acting at school these last couple of days," he replied, "she's taken the re-write of her play pretty hard."
Jade's mother returned to the living room, leaving him to walk the last few feet to the den's door alone; he knocked softly on it and called out to the girl.
"Jade? Jade? Are you alright?"
Hearing no answer he tried the door; it was unlocked so he eased it open and cautiously crossed the threshold. His eyes fell on the girl sat on the floor; her knees were drawn up to her chest and she was hugging her legs close to her.
"Jade," he breathed again and moved quickly to her side, taking a seat next to her and slipping his left arm around her. The stoic girl sniffled as she tried to fight off the tears forming in her eyes; finally she rested her head on his shoulder and began to sob.
"It's ok, just let it out," he whispered, gently rubbing her side.
"Thanks," she choked, once she had begun to regain her composure. She studied him before putting on an apologetic expression, "I got a little make-up on your shoulder." The top of his blue and white shirt, which he wore unbuttoned over his Pear Store work shirt to add a little protection against the cool, January night, now sported a large and noticeable black patch.
"That's ok," he smiled, "it'll wash out with my mom's nuclear strength detergent."
Jade chuckled weakly in spite of her mood.
"So it's that bad now?" he prompted. "I know it's confused the hell out of Cat, and that takes some doing," he joked.
"It's usually her that does the confusing," the girl sniggered, her mood improving as she talked with her friend, "but yeah, it's bad – and when my dad's going to see it… you know his opinion of me and my dreams?"
Freddie nodded; they had had this conversation in the past. "So where's Beck?" he asked. "How come he never came over with you feeling down over everything?"
"He's at the Vegas playing poker with the others," she disclosed.
"Wow," he muttered in disgust and disappointment.
Schneider Art Theatre,
7307 Melrose Ave, Los Angeles
Thursday, 20th January 2011.
Opening night had arrived; Cat and Freddie travelled to the theatre together after school, meeting Beck, Jade and Tori at the venue. The young couple were gossiping about random subjects (something Cat generally excelled at) which helped in keeping the redhead's mind off her forthcoming performance; while she had her lines down and didn't particularly suffer from stage fright she was extremely concerned about the addition of Daisy Lee and how that could impact on everything. He gave her a good luck kiss and she headed to the dressing rooms to get into her character's costume; Freddie intended to speak to Jade but opted to make a detour when he saw her stress levels rising by the second; he took a seat in front row instead and his eyes wandered up to gantry where he knew he was going to be based during the production in order to man the effects.
Tori had no such qualms about speaking to the producer; she walked up to the blue-streak haired girl in wings of the stage. "Hey."
"What? What!?" Jade snapped.
"Will you calm down?"
"Sorry, I'm just freaking a little," she apologised.
"There is nothing to worry about," Tori assured her.
"You guys," Cat approached them apologetically, "I was getting into costume and I dropped my bra in the toilet."
Jade turned to the lighter brunette and, in her southern belle voice, she imitated, "Nothing to worry about."
"I don't talk like that," Tori snapped in annoyance.
"So what do I do about my bra..." Cat began; Tor took the garment from her and wrung the water out of it, "okay."
"Now go get ready," the half-Latina handed the item back to her.
"Thank you?" she muttered before returning to the dressing room.
"You know, she's so sweet, but sometimes I wonder if..." Tori began; Jade interrupted her.
"There he is, there he is, There he is, there he is, There he is," she swatted gently at her.
"Who?" Tori asked.
"My father."
"Wow," her friend appraised him. "He looks kinda..."
"Like he hates my guts?" Jade suggested.
"I was gonna say cold and judgmental."
"That works too," the dark brunette agreed.
Freddie walked over to join them. "Look, you don't have to freak out," he rested his hands gently on Jade's shoulders and looked her in the eyes, smiling confidently. "Your play is going to happen exactly how you want it to, and the guys are going to make sure Mrs Lee never gets here."
"So what are they doing?" the dark brunette asked, wanting to go over the plan once more.
"Beck and Robbie are having a meal at Wok Star; Trina's going to pretend to be a celebrity diva," he raised his eyebrows and shot a glance at the younger Vega, who grinned back knowingly, "with André as her bodyguard. Those two will show up just before she'd have to leave to get here and stall her until the play's over."
"Okay," Jade breathed a little more easily. "And what about daughter Daisy?"
"No worries," Tori smiled. "She's up there in her flying harness, waiting for her cue. That's never gonna come."
"I'm ready," the little girl called to them; the three teens waved at her and smiled weakly.
Things were going well on stage; Cat was alone in the centre of it; behind and around her was a blue aura and the backdrop on the set made it appear that she really was stuck down a well.
"How could this have happened?" she lamented. "My grandmother always said that if I was a good person that only good things would happen to me."
Tori, stood in the wings with the playwright, cast a surreptitious look towards the back of the auditorium, where Mr West was sitting impassively. "Do you think your dad likes it?" she whispered to Jade.
"It's hard to tell," she replied surprisingly calmly. "I've never seen him like anything before."
"I've done good my whole life," Cat continued in woeful tones, "and now I'm trapped, down in this well and I'll probably never get out."
Still in harness, Daisy tried to attract the attention of the teens, well aware that her cue should have come around now. "Hi," she whispered. The two girls waved to her again before turning their attention back to the stage.
Eli, who Jade had cast as Cat's father in the play, was hunched over the redhead; she had just resurfaced from the well. "Come on, Ariel, breathe," he urged. "Breathe."
Tori stole a glance at her phone, having received a message from André. "Mrs Lee just left the restaurant."
Jade smiled confidently. "She's too late," the girl observed, knowing the final moments of the play were unfolding.
One of the paramedics, one of the "shruggers" – the quiet kids from Sikowitz's class – who Jade had decided to give a chance to, stood over the seemingly lifeless girl, "it's too late."
"How is she?" Eli asked, returning to his 'daughter's' side.
"She's gone," the paramedic told him sadly.
"What?" he asked in shock.
Cat lifted her head and looked towards him. "Dad?" she asked in a soft voice.
The stage lights faded and the curtain closed, heralding appreciative applause from the assembled audience.
Jade made her way to the front to greet some of the spectators as they left; "that was awesome," one complimented her as he shook her hand.
"Thanks," she replied gratefully.
"Great work," a man who looked suspiciously like Josh Peck told her; however she declined to shake his hand as she had spotted her father heading down the stairs towards her.
"Whatever," she dismissed him; he walked off feeling rather disappointed, though Tori greeted him with a quick hello and simpered a little as she appraised him; Freddie, about to make his way down from the gantry, spotted this and grinned at the potential opportunity to tease his friend later.
"Dad," Jade addressed Mr West.
"Jade," her father replied sullenly.
Father and daughter engaged in a long staring contest before Tori broke the tension.
"Just say whether you liked It or not!"
"Friend of yours?" West asked.
"Yes," Jade confirmed, "this is Tori, one of my friends from Hollywood Arts; she helped me find a sponsor to finance this. Oh and there's Freddie," she spotted the teen making his way slowly through the upper tier. "Freddie," she called, waving and beckoning him, "get down here." West turned to look at him as he heads down towards them. "So, my play?" she prompted.
"I thought it was excellent," he commended.
"Thanks," she replied evenly. "Anything else?"
"Would you please take that jewellery out of your face?"
"No," she dismissed out of hand.
"Bye," he turned to leave.
"Bye," she echoed.
Freddie had joined them at last. "Well, did you get what you wanted?"
"Mm-hmm," she confirmed, "I've never seen him look that happy before."
"Come on," her fellow brunette smiled. "Give Tori a squeeze."
The two girls hugged, only to be interrupted by Mrs Lee's arrival.
"Oh, I miss it?" she asked in disappointment. "Oh, dang it, I miss it," and she kicked one of the chairs in frustration.
"It's okay," Tori sought to placate the restaurateur.
"You can see it Tomorrow night," Jade soothed.
"And watch your daughter fly and sing again," Freddie put in.
"Just like she did tonight," Jade finished.
"Oh, was my little girl wonderful?" Mrs Lee gasped.
"Oh, yeah," Jade agreed.
"She stole the show," Tori enthused.
"Oh," Mrs Lee was happy.
"I'm ready," Daisy called. "Mom. Mom?"
"I'm going to go and congratulate my girl," Freddie told the other two teens; he disappeared behind the curtain to find Cat, leaving the Wok Star owner scanning the stage for her daughter.
"Cat? Cat?" he called serenely as he approached the female dressing room.
"Just a second," the redhead replied. He heard a scrabbling and rustling before the door opened a fraction and a smiling Cat peered around it.
"Hey, I just wanted to congratulate you; you were awesome," he praised her.
"Thanks," she craned her neck a little and managed to meet his lips with hers. "I'll be out in a minute; I just need to finish off getting ready."
"Great, I'll see you in a few minutes and then how about we get a smoothie to celebrate?" he suggested.
Cat squealed and grinned; she closed the door just as the volume of Mrs Lee's voice flared another notch or two.
Tuesday, 25th January 2011.
Mrs Lee had fumed at learning about the alterations Jade had made, returning the play to its original concept. She insisted on the play being performed the way that SHE wanted it for the remainder of its run at the theatre. Having received the approval she sought from her father Jade was willing to acquiesce to it; however the feedback from the public turned out to be far less positive than it had been from opening night.
Finally she relented a little and allowed Jade to put on the production as she had written it for the show's final two performances before the rental of the theatre expired. She was happy, overall, having made a profit from her sponsorship of it; reluctantly she agreed to split it with Jade; the playwright was far happier to spread her portion around, handing a few bucks to Cat, Eli and the others who had made it a success.
"I guess everyone is happy," Cat smiled as she helped her friend clean up after the final show.
Jade nodded; she was certainly happy, having proved to herself, and her father, that she could be a success in the industry.
AN: Thank you for reading; I hope that you enjoyed it and I'll see you all soon for the next chapter. PD.