Chapter 7

When Cat and me reached the school, I saw that Beck`s and André`s cars were already standing in the parking lot. I assumed Jade would be here too, since she almost always got to Hollywood Arts with Beck. It turned out that I had been right. As we entered the school building Beck and Jade were making out at her locker and André was standing nearby, talking to a girl with a bright smile on his face. When he saw Cat and me, he walked over to us.

"Hey Toro, hey little Red! Guess what!"

"Cupcakes!" Cat screamed and I smiled at her adorableness.

"You got a date with that hot girl, you just talked to?" I stated the obvious.

"Yeah! And she`s not just hot, she`s a freaking DJ!" He was grinning from ear to ear. "Has something interesting happened to you, while I didn`t see you?"

I found out that I am crushing on a girl, who just happens to be my best friend, and I am trying to keep it to myself AND I have a hard time not gripping her and kiss her right in front of you.

"No, not much." I said "I practically spent my weekend in a hospital. There`s not much that happens in hospitals." I added sarcastically and winked at him.

"Oh right. Cat how are you?" He asked anxiously.

"I`m fine. Don`t worry." She smiled and it took my breath away.

"Hey guys!" Beck called from across the hallway, grabbed Jade`s hand and ran toward us. "How`s Cat? Is she okay? Cat, how are you feeling?" It was kind of cute how everybody was worried about her. Cat just did that to people around her. When you get to know her and begin to like her, you start to want to protect her. I was glad that no one seemed to take notice of Cat`s scar, that she had been so worried about.

"Really guys! I`m fine!" She insisted.

In that moment Robbie and Rex entered the school. When Robbie spotted Cat, he instantly asked, if she was okay and Rex added an unhelpful "How`s the chick". Cat looked like she was going to blow up.

"Okay! I think that Cat has had enough of questions today. How about we talk about something else?" Cat gave me a thankful look and I immediately felt warm inside.

After that we talked about casual things, a new school play was coming up and Beck wanted to try out for it, André told us everything he knew about the female DJ and Robbie said that he had to spend the next weekend with his scary uncle in Boston. So far everything seemed normal, except that I just couldn`t keep my eyes of Cat. I watched her every movement, her smiles, her laughs and her giggles, until the bell chimed and tipped me out of my trance.

First lesson was Sickowitz. I was always looking forward to his classes. Even though, or maybe because, he was crazy, Sickowitz was my favorite and the best teacher at Hollywood Arts, and I knew that most of the students felt exactly the same way.

When we stepped into the classroom Robbie, who was trying to tell us a joke, stopped in the middle of his sentences and his mouth fell open. We turned into the direction he was looking in and spotted Sickowitz. Or probably not Sickowitz. The man, who was standing on the little stage in the front of the room -yes we had a stage in our classroom- wore a suit with a white shirt and a tie, his hair was not messy at all and he didn`t look a bit insane. My gaze went up and down and up and down and up and down and… Yep it was Sikowitz. He didn`t wear any shoes or socks. I almost laughed. He seemed nearly normal. Nearly.

André was the first to ask what everyone wanted to know.

"What up with the outfit and where`s your coconut? Don`t you wanna get your visions or whatever?"

"Like you can all see, I am well-dressed this fine morning." Sickowitz started. "And like you all can imagine, there is a reason for this." The whole class looked at him in expectation.

"Well? What IS the reason?" Jade asked, after he didn`t appear to continue.

"I am glad, you asked, my dear Jade. I, your teacher and friend, am going to be given a prize for having teached the most successful artists in Hollywood!"

The class applauded loudly as Sickowitz bowed a few times.

"Aren`t you going to wear shoes?" Cat asked innocently.

"There indeed is a dress-code, but to my personal pleasure, nobody said anything about footwear." He grinned widely at us and we smiled back at him. That was just typically Sickowitz.

"Now back to important things." He said as we all sat down again, giving us a serious look. "How was your weekend?"

Cat immediately bounced in her seat, raising her hand.

"Pick me! Pick me! Please!" She called. So adorable.

"Cat! What do you want to tell us?"

"I got hit by a surfer and Tori saved me." So adorable… What did she just say?

I blushed, because the whole class was looking at me, including Sickowitz.

"I-I-I just carried her out of the water." I stuttered.

"Mhm… That sounds pretty interesting and dramatic." Sickowitz clapped into his hands and shouted. "Cat! Tori! Up on the stage! We want to see exactly what happened. You two are going to show us with the help of a scene. It is really important for an actor to remember dramatic things that happen in their lives, so they can use their experiences to develop their acting… And I am curious."

Cat stood up and pulled me on stage with her.

"Since we don`t have a beach or the sea in here, we have to imagine it. Students!" He talked to the class now. "Imagine! Beach, water, sun, wave rushing. Believe that you are there! Aaaaand action!"

I didn`t need time to get in character, since it was myself who I had to play, but I still took a second to get into the scene. I lied down on the "beach", closed my eyes and waited for Cat to scream.

Cat`s shriek made half of the class jump in their seats. I straightened up, opened my eyes wide as if I was in shock and saw Cat falling down onto the stage, remaining still. I leaped up and ran to Cat`s side of the stage, keeping my shocked and worried expression. I easily picked her up and carried her a few steps away from where she had lied. I laid her down, carefully, so I wouldn`t hurt her. I shouted for help, like I did on Saturday, and I pressed my hand against her forehead to stop the non-existent bleeding. The memories that kept flowing back into my head when I looked at Cat`s soft face made it very easy for me to start crying. I let the tears stream down my face. "Please, Cat... Don´t die… Don´t leave me… Don´t do this to me." I begged and didn`t have to make my voice tremble with every word I said. In progress, I started to cry even harder as I thought about what Cat said to me, after she woke up, that my voice made her stay. "Don`t die… Don`t die… Don`t die…" I sobbed and caressed her cheek with my hand.

And that was when Cat suddenly jumped up and ran out of the classroom, crying. At first I was, well dazzled, but I hurried off the stage and chased after her.

I found her in the janitor closet. She was sitting on the floor with her head in her hands and I could hear her sniffles.

"Cat, what`s wrong?" I asked her softly, sat down beside her and touched her shoulder. She instantly threw her arms around me and I let her lay her head in the crook of my neck. I didn`t know how long we stayed like this, but when Cat finally stopped crying, she told me what had upset her so much.

"I-I-I d`nt no that is –aso ho-ho-horrible." It was kind of hard for me to understand her, but I managed to make some sense out of it. (I didn`t know that it was so horrible.)

"Oh Cat. It`s over now and you don`t have to feel bad about something that`s in the past." I hugged her closer. Maybe I had cried a tiny little bit too much, but that`s how it had been.

"I`m sorry." Cat whispered.

"What do you mean, you`re sorry?" I asked confused.

"I`m sorry that I made you worry and sad and cry." How cute was that?

"It`s okay. It wasn`t your fault." I assured her.

"Yes, it was. I should have watched out, but I didn`t see this boy on the surfboard coming. I could have jumped out of the way." She mumbled.

"Maybe, but it`s still not your fault. It was an accident, Cat. Things like that happen and that`s no one`s fault." I tried to explain.

"You think so?" She looked up at me and the way her eyes sparkled made my heart race.

"Ye-Yeah, of course." I breathed and added "We should probably get back to Sickowitz` lesson." I helped her get up and in the moment she took my hand, my skin started to tingle. This is ridiculous! I have had boyfriends before and they had never ever made me feel this affected by simply touching my hand.

I sighed quietly, so Cat couldn`t hear me while we walked back to our classroom.