Disclaimer: I don't own the source material.
:}
It started with Beck. He knew Jade better then anyone, so when the two girls made it to the play, he quickly figured out what they'd been doing.
However, the actor was no gossip. He just walked by Tori and gave her a quick "Congratulations. I hope it was worth the wait."
Tori smiled at her girlfriends ex and said "Yea, we made the most of it." They both intended to let it slide from there.
Crystal was the next to realize what had happened. She was back stage hanging out with Sinjin. While she hadn't given up on Beck, she was finding things about the lanky boy she liked. His loyalty, the fact that he would keep trying, even when there was no hope of success. But mostly she liked that he wasn't fixable. The weird boy was his own person, and the more she banged her head against his determined weirdness, the more she came to respect his since of self.
Crystal was hanging with Sinjin, listening to him explain the difficulties with some of the things Jade wanted them to do when she saw Tori walk in and start to get dressed. "Oh my god, Tori and Jade did it." She told the nerdy boy.
"Did what?" He asked.
"You don't..." She stared at him, then pulled him a small distance along the catwalk so they wouldn't be ocverheard. "Tori's skin is glowing. I swear, she had sex." Crystal told Sinjin.
"How do you have sex?" He asked.
Crystal was actually embarrassed by her first thoughts. 'If you play your cards right, I may show you.' Instead she told the boy "Doesn't matter, just don't tell anyone they've mated." She respected, or feared, Jade enough to keep that secret.
Sinjin, for his part, also wasn't gong to tell anyone, except for Cat. He texted the redhead.
Cat (from Sinjin) – The Lion has lain with the Lamb.
A few seconds later, he received a text back.
Sinjin (From Cat) – I forgot, is Tori the Lion or the Lamb?
Sinjin smiled, and Crystal gave him a glare. "Who did you text?"
"Cat, but don't worry, she's much better at keeping secrets these days." He said. "Except from Jade, but I suspect she already knows."
Crystal found herself chuckling at that statement. 'Maybe you will do.' She thought again. 'Maybe you will do.'
The next to notice was Andre. He knew so much about Tori, but he'd never seen that particular walk and smile before. By eliminating the other possibilities, he realized what had happened. "Yo, Robbie my man, what happened with Tor?" He asked the nerdy detective.
"Not sure, why?" Robbie replied.
"Tori's walking a bit off, like she's..." That was when he figured it out. "Oh my chiz, they did it."
"Did what?" Robbie asked.
"Nothing, don't worry about it." The musician said.
Watching what Andre had been watching, Robbie asked "Are you saying that Tori and Jade finally fucked?"
"ROBBIE!" Andre screamed.
"What?!" The nerdy boy asked, looking around.
"Nothing man, we just don't want everybody to know." Andre told him.
"Right." Robbie said as he pulled out his phone and texted cat. He'd be upset to discover that Sinjin had reported in before he did.
Sikowitz seemed to already know. "Jade, can I have a word with you please." he said.
"Sure." She replied, following him into the office.
"I'm just checking, did you leave Tori enough for tonight's performance?" The quirky teacher asked. Jade didn't question how he knew.
"Yea, she should be fine." Jade replied.
"How about you?" He asked.
"I'm fine." jade insisted.
"Why don't you take a nap, and if we need you, we'll send someone to get you." The teacher suggested.
"I said I'm fine." Jade growled.
"Cranky much?" The crazy teacher asked.
Jade glared at him, but this time he didn't back down an inch. After a while, she said "Fine, I'll lay down and rest, but you better not forget me. I have things to do tomorrow."
"Then set the alarm in your phone." The teacher said, and he left her to get some rest. He had a play to oversee.
It was one of the many shruggers helping out around the play who started the rumor that Jade had slept with Tori, all based on the fact that the goth was conked out in the office during the first half of the play. The initial posting on the slap didn't garner many hits, but the verbal rumor spread, moving faster when Crystal tried to squelch it.
Trina was at home, sitting with Scotty, enjoying the evening when his phone went off alerting him to an update from one of the people he followed. He was going to ignore it, but Trina was intrigued. "Who's that?" She asked.
"Just a guy I follow on the slap. He does a food blog that's kinda interesting, claims he took it over from someone else. Not important, I'll be looking at whatever it is he decided was good enough to post later." Scotty told his girlfriend.
"What if it's something easy." Trina asked. "We could have fun cooking together, then later see if the food does inspire us to more."
"If you put it that way." He said as he opened his phone. A moment later, he put the phone down. "It's just a story re-post, nothing you need to worry about." His voice had a practiced, relaxed tone.
"Scotty..." Trina warned. 'That was too suspicious.' She thought. "I can handle anything those ganks choose to writer about me."
"It's not about you." He said, hoping she'd leave it at that. Unfortunately, that was when her phone went off. "Please, let me check it, and don't read anything I haven't pre-aproved." The future policeman said.
Trina ignored his advice, and read the story. "Who started this?" She asked, her voice like ice.
"Not sure, but apparently anyone who's not popular is spreading it." Scott said.
It would take them only fifteen minutes to trace the first post to a girl named Melody, one of Crystals rivals. The girl hadn't used her own account, instead relying on a couple of the shruggers who'd do anything to avoid her wrath. But one of the shruggers had given credit, probably in the hope that Jade wouldn't do horrible things to them once she found out.
"This is bad." Scotty said. "Now the whole school knows."
"How long until the play is over?" Trina asked.
Scotty looked on line, checking the schedule. "Act one is over in fifteen minutes, then all of act two has to be done. Do you think Jade and your sister will wait until after the play to check for their names on line?"
"Yea, their both professionals. I don't, however, trust the audience to wait. We need to do something." Trina said.
"I'm calling Cat." The ex football player said.
"Good idea." Trina replied. 'Wow, never thought that would be my reaction to calling Cat in this kind of situation.'
Cat was home watching a Disney movie marathon when she got the call. "Cat here, whats up Trina?" She answered. Trina quickly explained what was going on. "Got it. We can start some damage control, but this is a rumor, it's going to be hard to squash. Let me talk to someone." Cat then texed Sinjin.
Sinjin (From Cat) – You still hanging with Crystal Waters?"
The reply came almost too quickly.
Cat (From Sinjin) – He is, and I'm watching his phone for him – CW.
Sinjin (From Cat) – Crystal, call me, we need your help.
Crystal, still using Sinjins phone, called the small detective. "Okay, whats up?" She asked. Cat quickly explained what was going on. "I tried, I can't stop the rumor." The blond said.
"But you can start one." Cat replied. "Just remind people that Jade doesn't like it when people are in her business. I'm going to spread the same rumor. Just let them know this is a private affair, and to let it go or face whatever Jade unleashed on them."
"Got it." Crystal said. "Do you think it will work?" She asked.
"Mandy Walker." Cat replied.
"Right, on it." Crystal said.
"We owe you one." Cat said.
"Just don't let anyone know I think I might like Sinjin, okay." The popular girl said. After she'd hung up, Cat posted to the slap, while calling Trina from her house phone.
"Okay, we've got a second rumor going, letting everyone know the first rumor is dangerous, and to let it go. Probably won't stop the rumor, but it will help keep the teasing down." Cat told Trina.
"Would it help if Tori posted?" Trina asked.
"Depends, why?" Cat asked.
"Cause I know her password." The older sister said.
"Just be careful. Say the wrong thing, and this doesn't go away." The redhead said. "Now I gotta go, I need to ask my roommate to proofread what I'm posting and give suggestions. We're on a time crunch here."
"Bye." Trina said. Then she raced to the computer and logged into Tori's account.
"Should you be doing that?" Scotty asked.
"Probability not, but this is a special case." Trina replied. "Scotty, talk to me, I need some of those magic words that will let people know not to break their balls over this."
"Then let me try." He said. Soon they had a post.
Students of Hollywood arts. There is a rumor going around about what I and my girlfriend may or may not have done. This isn't about that, but spreading rumors about Jade. She's been hyper reactive ever since people found out she fought professionally as Mandy Walker. I'm begging you, don't poke the bear. I don't want her to have to live with her reaction on her permanent record. Just please, don't poke the bear.
Thank you.
"A little long, don't you think?" Trina asked.
"It's not a text update, so it can be longer. Just something for them. We can break it down into sections if you like. One hundred and forty characters each." Her suggested.
The first was one hundred and seventy two characters, the rest smaller, but they got it out in three tweets. "I hope this works." Scotty said.
"Me too." Trina replied, smiling.
"What?' He asked.
"They did it." Trina said. "I know, it's not that big a deal, and certainly none of our business. It is, however, my business." Scott gave her a confused look. "Jade came to me for advice, and it worked out. Now we just have to help them weather the storm." Trina smiled. "Thing are looking up."
Back at the play, it was an eventful intermission. Jade woke up so she could watch the second act, while Tori and the other actors spent their intermission getting everything ready, and resting. The band and crew, however, logged on to discover the whole controversy.
Quickly Andre and Burf moved to start their own threads on the rumors about Tori and Jade, letting everyone know it wasn't their business. Others, like many of the members of the audience, chuckled at the initial rumor, only to be reminded how bad things could be. Mostly, the students at Hollywood arts would allow this to fade over the rest of the weekend. Their desire for drama sated by the flood of texts and posts various people had left.
The second act went well, everything seemingly going more smoothly now that there weren't any last minute changes. After the performance, Andre and Robbie were able to let Jade and Tori know about the rumors. Both were ready for Jade to explode.
"So Crystal tried to help, not expecting anything in return?" Jade asked.
"Yea, apparently." Robbie said.
"And the people know enough not to make a big deal about this?" Jade asked.
"Yea?" Andre said, confused.
"Lets call it a win, plan some horrendous revenge for Melody, and call it a night. I've got too much to do tomorrow to worry about who I'm going to have to kill Monday." Jade said, sounding tired.
"What happened?" Tori asked as she watched her girlfriend just shrug it off.
"I have no idea." Beck said. "Except that maybe your a good influence on her." Tori smiled, feeling the warmth of her love for the goth. Jade would never be a warm teddy bear of a person, but she would be loveable, and that was good enough.
It was Beck who first realized someone other then Tori had used her account...
:}
Can you guess who's been forced to read "If you give a mouse a cookie"?
Hope this chapter amused you. I know, not every roomer is killed by the possibili8ty of serious damage to the one spreading it, but this one wasn't that big a deal.
So, review, comment, whatever.
See you next time, space cowboys.