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"Is your dog feeling better?" Tori asks the next day. She's sitting at their usual table, in between Andre and Cat, and she's talking to the latter. The rest of their group isn't here yet, so Tori and Cat had been discussing what had happened last night.
"Whatty?" Cat asks, jerking her head up from where she had been picking listlessly at her salad. She looks from Tori to Andre and back again, a frown forming on her face.
"I asked if your dog's okay," Tori says. "You said Jade wasn't feeling well last night."
"Oh," Cat says, at the same time as Andre exclaims, "Jade?"
Tori snickers, still amused by the fact that Cat had apparently named her dog after their friend. "Cat's dog is called Jade," she explains, and the look on Andre's face makes it clear that she's not alone in her amusement.
"Well, that figures," Andre says, grinning as he takes a bite of his burger. "Jade can be kind of a -"
His words are drowned out by a splutter as someone whacks him on the back of the head, causing him to almost choke on his burger. Tori pats him on the back as she glances over his shoulder. She's not surprised to see Jade standing there, a scowl on her face and her arms crossed.
"You should be more careful," Jade says to Andre as she sits down on Cat's other side, letting her shoulder bag fall to the ground, "someone might think you were about to say something unflattering."
"Mmph," Andre mumbles through a mouthful of burger. Jade seems to accept that as a satisfactory denial and turns her attention to her fries.
Companionable silence falls over the group for a minute or so. Tori sips her juice, her gaze drifting around as she takes in all of her friends. Something feels strange about the atmosphere at the table today, although she can't figure out what it is. She looks at each of her friends in turn, sipping thoughtfully. Andre looks distracted, and he keeps checking his phone as if he's waiting for a call. Cat seems more subdued than usual; she hasn't even told any crazy stories about her brother today. And then there's Jade. She's always kind of like a storm cloud, but today she's more gloomy than stormy.
At that moment Jade looks up, catching Tori's eyes for a split second before looking away. Tori stares at her, puzzled. Normally that would be Jade's cue to say something snarky like What are you looking at? or Look away before I slap that vacant look off your face. But she doesn't.
Tori starts to ask Jade if she's okay, but she's interrupted by the arrival of Beck and Robbie, who are in the middle of what seems to be an uncharacteristically heated argument. She catches Cat's eye, sharing a confused look. Beck's normally the level-headed one, and even Robbie doesn't usually seem so agitated.
"Just drop it," Beck says as they reach the table. He sits down in between Tori and Cat, dumping his lunch onto the table with far more force than is necessary. Soup slops over the side of the plastic bowl, but he makes no move to clean it up.
"I don't see why we can't -" Robbie argues, slumping down onto the seat next to Jade, who looks mildly displeased. He cuts himself off as Beck glares at him, and Tori shifts slightly away from Beck, uncomfortable by the apparent conflict.
"Drop it," Beck says more firmly, and this time Robbie does.
Cat opens her mouth as if to ask what's going on, but Tori shakes her head and Cat's mouth snaps closed. This doesn't seem like the kind of argument where outside intervention would be helpful – and it definitely won't be welcome.
Tori clears her throat. "So… what did everyone do last night?" It's a feeble attempt to lighten the mood, but to her great relief it seems to work.
"I was working on my project," Andre says, looking up briefly before returning his gaze to his phone, which hasn't gone off all lunch.
"That's the one for the song-writing class, right?" Beck asks. The fight with Robbie seems to be forgotten and he's back to his calm, engaging self.
"Yeah," Andre says. He looks up again, but his finger is still tapping the table right next to his phone. Tori hasn't seen him this restless in a long time, and she wonders what he's hiding. "If I get an A I'll be the highest-scoring student in that class ever."
There's a note of pride in his voice, and Tori smiles in response. Song-writing has always been Andre's passion, but for a while it had seemed like he'd lost touch with it. It's nice to see that his passion hasn't faded. After they've all offered their congratulations and encouragement – aside from Jade, whose scowl simply deepens – Beck speaks up.
"I had a family thing," he says, rolling his eyes slightly. He turns to Cat and Jade. "What about you guys?"
Tori notes that he's only asking the girls, not Robbie, and wonders if this has anything to do with what they were arguing about earlier.
"I stayed home," Cat says quickly. "I was with -" She cuts herself off with a startled squeak and quickly mumbles, "No one. I was by myself. All night."
Bumping Cat up to the top of the list of people acting strangely today, Tori decides not to pursue the topic. "Jade?" she asks.
The girl in question looks over at her sharply. "What?"
Recoiling slightly in response to Jade's bitterness, Tori says hesitantly, "I asked what you were doing last night."
"That's none of your business, Vega," Jade snaps, which has the (presumably unintentional) effect of making Tori feel better. Cat might be acting weird, Beck and Robbie might be fighting, but at least Jade's still as acidic as always.
A beat passes, and then Tori asks the same question of Robbie. He launches into a story of a new skit he was working on with Rex, while the others (sans Jade, of course) patiently pretend to pay attention. As he finishes up, Cat suggests a trip across the street to get frozen yogurt. At last, a little spontaneity. Only Andre and Robbie take her up on the offer, but Beck asks Cat to bring him back a strawberry swirl.
A few minutes after the others have left, Tori finally works up the courage to say, "You seem kind of down today, Jade. Is everything okay?"
The look Jade gives her would be enough to make anyone in their right mind quail, but Tori knows – or at least strongly hopes – that it's all for show. Not bothering to give her an answer, Jade just narrows her eyes and stabs a fork into her fries.
Tori waits a moment longer, and then gives up. She remembers when she first came to Hollywood Arts, how she'd tried so hard to make friends with Jade. They'd gotten off on entirely the wrong foot, but Tori had always thought she'd be able to make up for it. She'd seen the way that Jade was around Cat, how she was softer and more genuine, tempering her knee-jerk cynicism in order to put her friend at ease. And she'd seen Jade with Beck, and how she was somehow more real with him, not quite owning up to her emotions but not hiding them either, letting him know her on a level that nobody else got to see.
She'd never gotten to that point with Jade, although she considered herself good friends with the others in the group – Andre, Beck, Cat, even Robbie. It was just Jade she'd never really been able to understand, and some days she wasn't even sure she wanted to.
Lost in thoughts of Jade and friendship and how much had changed since she'd first come to Hollywood Arts, Tori doesn't immediately register the fact that Beck is talking to her. She tunes in at the end of his sentence.
"… project coming along?" he asks.
Tori blinks, trying to catch his train of thought. Then it clicks. "Oh, my project with Cat?"
Beck gives her a strange look. "That's what I just said."
"I went over to her house last night to work on it," she explains. "But then her dog was acting weird and Cat said she was busy, so we rescheduled for Thursday."
"Thursday?" Beck echoes, confused. "But it's Monday now and the project is due next Tuesday."
"I know." Tori shrugs, finishing off her fries after offering them to both Jade and Beck; only the latter accepts, taking a couple of fries as he listens to Tori talk. "But Cat said she'd be busy the next couple of nights."
"Hm," Beck says dismissively, while Tori's mind wanders. Cat hadn't said exactly what she'd be busy with, but it had to be important for her to postpone doing such an important project. He turns to Jade, frowning. "You know, you do look kind of out of it."
"Gee, thanks," Jade says scathingly. "That's just what every girl wants to hear from her ex-boyfriend."
"He has a point," Tori says. She pauses, and then, daringly, adds, "You look really tired. You could say… dog tired."
Irritation flashes through Jade's eyes. "Yes, Cat's dog is named after me, and it's hilarious."
"Well," Beck says with a smirk, "you can be kind of a -"
Jade throws her fork at him, but he ducks and it sails harmlessly over his shoulder. He raises his eyebrows in a mocking kind of way, which prompts Jade to roll her eyes again. After a while conversation turns to lighter topics, with Beck engaging Tori in a discussion about the new restaurant that opened up down the street last week. As they talk Tori is aware of Jade glancing over at her every now and then, when she thinks that Tori isn't looking.
And she's also aware of the fact that as Beck speaks he's been moving closer, until he's close enough that Tori could touch him if she wanted to. And for a moment she's tempted. Jade and Beck have been broken up for so long that she wouldn't be treading on any toes if she did finally act on her feelings, but something's holding her back.
Feeling like she's caught in the middle of something she doesn't quite understand – and isn't there always something between Beck and Jade? – Tori is relieved when Cat, Robbie, and Andre return, complete with frozen yogurt.
"Here you go," Cat says brightly, placing one of the cups in front of Beck.
"I got you one too," Andre adds as he sits down on Tori's other side, handing her a cup of raspberry bliss. But he places it too close to the edge of the table and it topples over, six pairs of startled eyes watching it. Without thinking Tori grabs for it, snatching it up less than a second before it would have hit the ground. Caught off-guard by her quick reflexes, she decides to play it cool.
Tori beams at Andre, gently placing the cup back on the table. "You're the best," she says, entirely ignoring the way everyone is staring at her in surprise. As she digs in, she notices Robbie sitting down beside Jade, his hands actually shaking at the prospect of interacting with her.
"Here's yours," he says, giving Jade her own cup as Cat sits on the dark-haired girl's other side. Giving Jade something unsolicited, even something as trivial as food, is a risky move, and the group collectively holds their breath as they wait for her reaction.
Jade hesitates, considering, and then shrugs as she reaches for it. "Thanks."
Tori shares a surprised look with Andre, but they say nothing. Although Tori can still sense some unease in the group, with everyone in their own little worlds, the rest of lunch passes by comfortably. When the bell rings they start to go their separate ways, and Tori is about to head to her locker when she notices something.
"Hey," she says, catching Beck by the arm and pulling him back. She's looking at a dark mark on his wrist, something that looks like it's shaped like some kind of weapon – a dagger, maybe, or a knife. "Nice tattoo," she says, genuinely impressed.
Beck glances down at his arm, then back up at Tori, confusion darkening his eyes.
"What are you talking about, Tori?" Cat says on her way past, an almost-skip in her step and her half-empty cup of yogurt still in her hand. "Beck doesn't have a tattoo."
Without waiting for a response she flits away, catching up with Jade and looping her arm through the other girl's. Tori watches her go, then turns back to Beck. He's pulled down the sleeve of his sweater so that she can't see the place where she'd thought there was a tattoo, and he's not confirming or denying anything.
Instead he frowns at her slightly, says, "You're going to be late for class," and then walks off, leaving Tori alone and incredibly confused.
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