A/N: Day and year for reference later
Thursday September 12th 2013 at school
"hey Cat how are you today" asks Robbie as Cat seemingly ignores him
"she's doing ok though she is a bit overwhelmed, she's not ignoring you, you're the tenth person to talk to her today and we just got here five minutes ago, apparently she was not very popular at her old school so the fact that people actually want to talk to her is scaring her a bit, would you mind going ahead of us and telling Sikowitz we might be a few minutes late and to not call on her if she doesn't have her head up, she had a nightmare about someone breaking into my house and kidnapping her so she didn't sleep much" says Tori
"that's a valid reason to sleep through Sikowitz's class, I will go let him know" says Robbie as he heads to class
"come on Cat, lets go get you a snack" says Jade
"ok" mutters Cat, clearly lacking energy
In Sikowitz's class
"hmm that is troubling Robbie, thanks for letting me know, here's Lane's office key, if you wouldn't mind getting the beanbag chair so she can rest, I'm not about to call her out when she's not all there because she didn't sleep, if Beck did however I would have fun with that but not Cat, she's a sweet girl even if she confused us all yesterday, not sleeping because your RV creaks is one thing, nightmares are another, I don't play games with nightmares" says Sikowitz handing Robbie the key
"is Lane ok with that, he's not here again today, I'm starting to think he is avoiding talking to Cat" says Robbie
"turns out his niece is having really bad nightmares, as in scary bad nightmares and it's severely affecting her, she hasn't eaten in three days and she's six, she's afraid the food she eats every morning will kill her, Lane gave me the key in case a student needed in there, technically Cat does have to attend class, though nobody says she has to be awake now get going, class starts soon" says Sikowitz
"ok but this isn't like you, you always pick on new students, you poked and prodded at Cat yesterday" says Robbie
"I poke fun Robbie, I like to keep my class on their feet, unfortunately if Catarina is lacking awareness because of terrible nightmares I absolutely won't poke fun, like I said nightmares can be very bad if it's consistently keeping someone from sleeping, I'm well aware that Victoria sent you, you'd be well to trust her judgement on Cat, she picks up on things very easily, if Tori says stay back or back away do so, now seriously class starts in three minutes" says Sikowitz
"right" says Robbie bolting to Lane's office
10 minutes later as Tori and Cat silently walk in late
"Cat you sure you can do this today" whispers Tori as Sikowitz stops talking and points to the bean bag chair then Cat
"I'm not a baby Tor, don't baby me" says Cat definitely sitting in a chair up front beside Robbie as Tori sits beside Jade
"I hate to ask" says Jade as Sikowitz shrugs and continues teaching
"she started her period, she's three days early, on top of that she was so tired that she dropped the open bottle of apple juice and it sprayed all over her shoes, her brand new hundred dollar shoes, she was not happy, if anything it pissed her off more than having to come to school today and you remember how hard she fought my dad on it, she wanted to stay home, nap then get ready for the date tonight" whispers Tori as Cat falls asleep and falls off her chair, just barely being caught by Robbie before her head hit the floor
"care to share her condition with me Tori, clearly she is very tired" asks Sikowitz
"not particularly, not more than Robbie has already shared, her situation is need to know, Robbie lay her down on the bean bag chair and keep her curled up, do not let her roll off" says Tori as Robbie follows the request
"any reason in particular" asks Robbie
"she rolls off bean bag chairs, I don't know if it's because she doesn't like the feeling of them or if she does it for fun but she even rolls off them when she's asleep, the only way we found that she stays on them is when she's curled up, while she was having problems sleeping last night I decided to find out which way she can sleep on a bean bag chair as I knew Lane has a bunch in his office and she would likely need one if she didn't get any sleep last night" says Tori
"ok everyone out except for Jade, Tori, Robbie and obviously Cat, roam the halls, if I can call you back before class is over I'll send Jade" says Sikowitz as everyone asked to leave leaves
"again not like you Sikowitz" says Robbie
"Lane has an extended family emergency, as I told Robbie, his niece is suffering from extremely scary nightmares, to the point she's convinced that the food she eats has been poisoned, she's six and hasn't eaten in three days, he asked me to keep him updated on Cat's situation while he's away and that I'm to inform Officer Vega if it gets bad" says Sikowitz
"she didn't want to come here today, my dad made her, she wanted to sleep, eat when she woke up then get ready for her and Robbie's first date" says Tori
"Mr. Vega made a bad call, he should have checked how alert she was, if she can't stay awake in my class she won't be able to stay awake in any of her other classes, unlike my rule, I won't fail her but the other teachers might, unless Principal Eichner steps in and demands Cat get fair treatment, Cat will absolutely not get fair treatment…. You know Cat looks so pretty when she's sleeping" says Sikowitz
"yes she's very pretty when she's sleeping, just count yourself lucky you didn't have to hear her blood curdling screams when she suddenly woke up from her nightmare again and again last night, the only time she got any sleep was when I played with her hair to try and calm her down but that only lasted two, maybe three hours, she woke up and had to waz, when she came back it was back to nightmares every half hour, Jade and I took two hour shifts all night keeping her calm" says Tori
"that sounds like PTSD, what was the nightmare about" asks Sikowitz
"it was about someone breaking in to my house and kidnapping her" says Tori
"has she ever been kidnapped" asks Robbie playing with Cat's hair
"not as far as I know and I spoke to her mom, she said there had been threats but she had never actually been kidnapped, if she indeed needs to sleep longer is there a chance that she could sleep in Lane's office instead of going to her other classes" asks Jade
"the other teachers will fuss about her getting special treatment, not even principal Eichner could convince then to let her skip class, though the police might be able to convince them" says Sikowitz
"we might not have a choice unless they're ok with Robbie skipping his classes to be there in case she falls off her chair again, this school overwhelms her as it is" says Tori
"I just finished the first tests of the year, I'm ahead in most classes anyway, I'd just have to let them know I'm being asked to keep a close eye on Cat today by Officer Vega, it's not that far off from the truth is it, you are his daughter" says Robbie
"it isn't that far off, that much is true however I have only been given authorization to dictate her safety while she's at my house, I have no authority here, I can ask my dad to keep you by her side but your teachers would have to agree to not mark you as absent and you can't force them to agree, if they say no then you can't help her, any injuries after that would be on them, my dad won't blame you" says Tori as she texts her dad
"understood, has she said anything about the date tonight" asks Robbie
"only that she is willing to give you a chance, however her dedication to wanting to be ready for tonight says she really wants this to work, keep in mind she's never actually said that so don't hold her to that and never mention that to her, I want this to be crystal clear, my observations on her behavior are just that, observations, take them with a grain of salt, I have a shaky track record reading body language" says Tori as Cat stirs
"is this a good sign" asks Robbie as Tori gets a response from her dad
"yes, my dad is on his way to inform your teachers that you are at school but will not be present and he will also be informing Cat's teachers that she might not be in class for the whole period but that if there is homework that they're to hand it to Jade" says Tori
"what is it a sign of exactly" asks Robbie
"I'm not entirely sure but she'd have woken up by now if it was a nightmare, if she doesn't wake up take her to Lane's office and stay there with her, at lunch we'll bring her lunch and eat there with her" says Tori
"ok" says Robbie
"Jade go get the students, there's time left for a quick reenactment exercise" says Sikowitz as Jade goes to get them
Later that day before the date time
"you tested him didn't you" asks Cat
"are you talking about having him by your side while you slept today, yeah I was testing him, he hasn't exactly been known for respecting girls privacy, I had to know for sure, your mom wanted to know if he could be trusted at all, he passed, at least this time" says Tori
"he told me he's tried to ask you out before" says Cat
"yeah, he did, many times, usually any girl that shows him interest or attention he will assume has feelings for him, for some reason he's being extra careful with you, it doesn't make sense to me" says Tori
"I've met him before, at a geek summer camp two years ago, the heat caused me to have fainting spells, he always made sure that I was safe, though the camp rule was never ask anyone's name, it was an anonymous camp thing, it was privacy focused, his voice is unmistakable though" says Cat
"what geek summer camp, what was it about" asks Jade
"it was called Hailey's Comet Camp, it was a science camp, there were telescopes in every cabin, though most days it was board games or story time" says Cat
"I didn't take you for the Uber smart type Cat, no offense" says Jade
"that's because I'm not comfortable with it, I'd rather nobody knew if I could help it, science camps are my guilty pleasure, music is my main love but there's something about science that catches my attention, now that you know, please keep it a secret like he has" says Cat
"shouldn't Robbie be here by now" asks Jade pointing out Cat's dress and the time
"he said he had to grab something first" says Tori as Cat panics a little
"what if he doesn't like my dress, what if I act too stupid, what if he hates it, I feel like I'm gonna puke" says Cat panicking more
"you know where the bathroom is" says Tori as Cat runs to the bathroom
"is it just me or does Cat really really seem to like Robbie, knowing they knew each other from that camp is suspicious to me" says Jade
"they couldn't live farther apart babe, yes it's clear she has feelings for him, no I don't think he knows, honestly I wouldn't be surprised if these feelings crept up on Cat like your feelings for me did to you" says Tori
"she was playing with your hair during my shifts last night, when I say suspicious I mean in a bad way, as if she's faking feelings" says Jade
"she knows him better than we do babe, they were probably friends at that camp, remember her mom said she had one friend until now, I'm guessing that friend was Robbie, in my eyes she's afraid this date may ruin their friendship, also she's bi babe, she's allowed to have feelings for both girls and boys, her ex happens to be Paige Ellen Sikowitz, Sikowitz's niece, her hair is similar to mine, I told her it was ok to play with my hair to calm herself down" says Tori
"wait really, wow…. Wait does she have a reason to be afraid the date will ruin their friendship, is that what happened between her and her ex" asks Jade kind of shocked
"kind of yeah, they basically grew up together, Cat's mom says the obvious next step for them was dating, Paige being Bipolar was how Cat's doctor found out Cat was also Bipolar, more than half the time their manic and depressive episodes were in sync, Cat's mom said it became quite obvious it was more than just Cat mimicking Paige to make Paige feel better, Cat let Paige into her life, her best friend was now her girlfriend and when it ended it ended with her getting scratched for something that wasn't even happening, I'm absolutely certain she's afraid that Robbie, her now oldest friend has feelings for her and that it too will end badly if it is allowed to become mutual between them" says Tori as Cat comes back, slight stains now on her dress
"I-I-I couldn't protect my dress…. Is it noticeable" says Cat
"not really, I didn't even notice until you mentioned it, Jade you want to help her, Robbie should be here soon" says Tori as Jade takes Cat to the big bathroom to clean the dress up as much as possible
20 minutes later as Robbie arrives with a bouquet of roses
"sorry I took so long, apparently roses are in high demand right now, I had to go to ten stores just to find a single bouquet, after three stores my mom wanted to drop me off here but i know Cat likes roses, I had to plead with her to let me buy them when I finally found a bouquet, where is she by the way" says Robbie
"I'm over here, I'm not feeling good" says Cat from the couch
"so is the date off" asks Robbie
"no it's still on, she ordered Chinese, she's getting a rice dish as that's all she feels she can keep down, the rest of us have a buffet style dinner, oh and also no kissing Cat tonight, she doesn't know what she has and she doesn't want to give it to you" says Tori
"I approached this as if I wasn't going to get to kiss her anyway her mom being the police chief and all, I was under the assumption her ex didn't even get to kiss her" says Robbie as Cat manages a laugh
"oh believe me Paige and I definitely kissed, quite a lot actually, even if my mom did protest, she's the one that let me date at ten, even with strict rules, Paige and I didn't have our first kiss until we were thirteen, imagine being in a relationship with someone and not kissing them for three years, it was very difficult not to kiss her, now please don't bring her up, I miss her a lot but she broke the core rule of our relationship, breaking up with her wasn't a choice I WANTED to make, rules are rules, she wasn't even out of the closet to more than a few people, if your plan is to win me over you will not bring her up EVER again, not until she's out of jail anyway" says Cat
"it's complicated Robbie, it's best you just do as she asks, food should be here shortly, also she's in pain, the cramps are pretty bad, she might throw up several times tonight, her lack of a good restful sleep isn't helping, also while they were together P may have exposed her to some rather extreme ideas" says Tori as Cat throws up into a garage bag
"ugh not again with that, Paige IS NOT some extremist radicalized person, doctors refuse to treat the issues, she'd been taken to the hospital almost a hundred times while we were dating, I was there every time, she'd tell a doctor what she's experiencing only to have the doctor an hour later discharge her without doing anything and she was on my moms insurance so it wasn't a coverage thing, the doctors simply don't care, yes she got into the weeds of a few conspiracy theories, every time I'd be able to coax her out of it, I'd be able to explain it in a way that made sense and she wouldn't believe in them after, Paige has real mental health problems Tori, she's not some radical person looking to kill people based on lies, you'd know that if you'd have met her, don't confuse mental illness with those wanting power and control over others based on conspiracies, her mental health crisis is a direct result of doctors not giving a f*k about girls like her and I, I could have been where she is, my mom begged a therapist to take my issues seriously, my mom was literally on her knees begging my therapist, Paige's mom isn't willing to do that kind of thing, even if she was she doesn't have the money to pay for any of it, her mom isn't like Sikowitz, she doesn't care about Paige's health or how people see her" says Cat as the delivery person knocks on the door
"I'll get it" says Jade as she opens the door
"here's your food…. Or most of it" says the delivery man
"what do you mean most of it, we ordered ten boxes of Chinese food, the buffet special and two rice plate, there are only eight boxes here" says Jade in a scolding tone
"the cook messed up the rice order, he's new and doesn't read Mandarin very well, you ordered a rice plate with chicken on the side, he read it as vegetable fried rice WITH chicken, as in mixed in with the rice, the restaurant refunded the rice order but it is on its way, maybe ten minutes away, the boss didn't want what was correct in your order to get cold, we have a rule 'no food sits more than ten minutes in the kitchen', when I was ordered to take your food the buffet part of your order had almost sat for five minutes, immediate family of police officers like Tori tend to get their food delivered faster, it's a stupid priority rule but it's one that my shift manager enforces, anyway I have other orders to pickup and deliver, Richard should be here momentarily with your rice and chicken, again I'm sorry for the inconvenience" says the delivery man as he leaves and Jade brings in the food
"ugh did my cousin mess the order up again, I swear basic Mandarin isn't that hard, if the food wasn't some of the best quality Chinese food I've ever had I would absolutely order from somewhere else" says Tori
"wait your cousin Derek is the cook who keeps messing up my order" asks Jade
"he's the translator for the cooks that only speak English but he does cook on occasion, he is a pretty good cook, he was originally hired to translate English speech into Mandarin speech, not read Mandarin and translate it I to English, which is why he messes up orders sometimes" says Tori as Jade brings the food over
"wait, why is he still working there if he's not doing the job he was hired for" asks Robbie
"the shift manager when he was hired spoke English, the orders were written in English and he had to translate it for the cooks, there was a manager shake up over the summer, the new manager speaks Mandarin and he's expected to read it written, he gets it right most of the time, he is learning pretty well but it takes time, we got the unlucky roll on his ability to read it, he must have just started his shift when we ordered and to be fair I have often ordered rice with chicken" says Tori as Trina walks in
"hey Uhh this delivery girl asked me to hand this order to you and didn't ask for money, what's going on" says Trina handing Tori the box with Cat's rice plate in it
"cousin Kyle messed up our order, he told the chef to make rice with Chicken, we ordered rice with chicken on the side as Cat's on her period early and for some reason she's throwing up" says Tori
"uhhh Cat did you use the bathroom at the bottom of the stairs and use the liquid 'soap' there" asks Trina
"yeah why" asks Cat
"it's not soap, or it isn't anymore, it's part of a science project I'm working on, I wrote 'not soap' on it" says Trina
"she didn't sleep last night and got maybe a few good hours of sleep at school, she probably wasn't thinking that straight, how do we fix it" says Tori
"she needs a bath or shower, that science experiment is a failure, it soaks into the skin but it's enemy is water" says Trina
"can she eat first or should she do that first" asks Robbie
"if it were me I'd shower first, hot water, it doesn't have to be a long shower, as long as every visible inch of her body gets hit with water, meaning you aren't helping with that, luckily there isn't any school tomorrow morning so you can stay the night" says Trina as Jade rushes Cat to the upstairs bathroom
"what kind of experiment was it and why isn't there any school tomorrow morning" asks Tori
"it was a soap making experiment, I failed the entire class because I got the teacher sick, my attendance is simply for show, he's trying to get me expelled for 'knowingly' harming him, anyway there's something wrong with the heating and cooling system at school and it has to be shut completely down for them to work on it, given it's still rather warm out and is expected to be until the end of the month they don't want to put any students at risk of heatstroke, Principal Eichner sent out the email ten minutes ago, did you guys not get it" says Trina
"we'd agreed to turn out notifications off, Robbie and Cat are technically on a date and Cat, as smart as she is, gets easily distracted, no notification sounds means no swelling urge to check her phone every five minutes, meaning she can actively focus her attention on Robbie to see if the connection is strong enough to have a second date" says Tori
"ahh ok, how was work" says Tori
"I hate it but it's a school to work program, I was undecided on where I wanted to work so they chose for me, the only upside is I get to meet tons of cute boys and girls but it is exhausting but I did manage to get a girls number today" says Trina
"Trina do you like both girls and boys" asks Tori
"I haven't actually figured that out yet but I intend to keep my options open, you know how dad talks about grandkids, as the oldest there's a lot of pressure" says Trina
"I told dad that as long as I'm with Jade or any other girl the only way he will get grandkids out of me is through me adopting them, it took him a few days to accept but he eventually did accept that fact, did that girl seem interested in you in any way" says Tori
"I mean I think she was flirting but I'm so bad at it I couldn't tell for sure, I think she's Japanese…. Shoot I told her I'd text her when I got home" says Trina running to her room as Jade and Cat come back down
"how do you feel Cat" asks Robbie
"a little better, good enough to eat and not be scared about you sitting next to me" says Cat as she walks over, hugs him then picks up the rice and chicken boxes
"what happens if the date goes well" asks Robbie
"IF it goes well then I have a choice to make, when I know I'll let you know Robbie, right now let's just eat then watch the movie" says Cat
"ok" says Robbie feeling defeated