Chapter 2 – Miniature Clone

"I love Karaoke Dokey!" Cat squealed, her head sticking out of the backseat window like a dog. The friends were able to all get together for food, most agreeing on burgers and fries with a side of Karaoke to end their night. They took Andre's car, Jade in the passenger seat as mostly everyone else was too scared to take the seat when she called dibs it. Wanting to remember old times they played one of their party favorites from the party bus they rode several months back.

"Five fingers to the face!" Tori sang shoving her hand in Beck's face.

"Five fingers to the face!" entered Jade, making sure her voice held as much attitude as she felt it needed.

By the time they arrived, they went through three songs, each filled with dancing and laughter, Robbie grateful that Jade didn't throw Rex out the car like the last time they all rode together. They picked their seats inside, Tori and Cat rushing to the sign up sheet near the front anxious to pick their songs. They decided on Senorita, Cat's current favorite song, even deciding to make it a trio with Jade who agreed hesitantly. The group were regulars, getting discounts on their meals whenever they performed.

When the music started, the intro traveled through the room from the speakers, filling the hang out with the bass; the girls getting into the beat.

"I love it when you call me Senorita," Tori sang, starting them off. She had found herself halfway draped over Jade to help put on the show as she continued singing the verse. "I wish I could pretend I didn't need ya." Tori expected to be shrugged off or nudged away, but Jade was indifferent, remaining calm. Tori felt her blue green eyes on her intensely from behind while she finished her part.

"Sweat dripping off me, before I even knew her name," Jade came in, pulling Tori in close again, the song choice setting the mood. The goth let her hand graze over Tori's mid, winking at the audience. Tori's face was becoming flushed, avoiding looking back at their group of friends and carrying on with the performance.

Soon the chorus came back up. "I love it when you call me Senorita," Cat came in with her verse not thinking anything of the pair and adding in some of her own touch. She ran her hand sexily through her hair when she sang, for affect.

"Ooh I should be running, Ooh you know I love it when you call me Senorita."

"Ooh la la"

During the song Jade looked like she was genuinely having fun which was a change from her usual stressed and grumpy persona.

"You say we're just friends," Jade said looking at Tori shooting her an impulsive smirk that didn't go unnoticed. "But friends don't know the way you taste."

Tori couldn't look away from Jade's piercing yet seductive gaze. Wait. Seductive? Yeah, definitely seductive. Tori felt like she were under a spell. Then Jade winked making her feel like the oxygen had suddenly been sucked from her lungs. Was no one else aware of what she was doing to her? No one was coming to her rescue.

By then there were cheers, clapping and whistles going around the Karaoke bar and the song came to an end with Cat sporting her messy red hair, Jade with smudged lipstick and Tori without an earring as she had tossed it lost in the moment.

The girls returned to their table, the guys having started eating without them.

"Damn!" Andre complimented voicing his appreciation for the girl's entertainment and talents. Robbie already had his hand over Rex's mouth incase he said something inappropriate.

"You guys were good!" Robbie complimented. He cleared his throat when his eyes caught onto Cat's and they both looked away quickly, Cat going to the restroom to straighten out her hair a little.

With the bright and clueless redhead gone, Jade sat down and started eating, ignoring the confused glances she was getting from Tori who was practically trying to burn holes into the side of the goth's head.

How could she do something like that and then pretend nothing happened. Am I the only one that noticed? Why do I care? Why is this even a big deal to me. Tori thought to herself and huffed deciding to drop the overthinking in her head, stuffing her face for the distraction.

Cat soon returned, the group conversing in their usual conversation when a baby started crying nearby. It was as if Jade went on auto pilot, she nearly jumped up seeming suddenly alert, almost scared. It seemed her surroundings came back to her and she went back to being indifferent. The crying continued though, and Jade finally realized the stroller from which the crying was coming from, it being left unintended. In seconds Jade practically had smoke coming out of her ears, her eyes scanning the area.

"Do you know the baby?" Cat asked intrigued. She'd been watching Jade for a while now. But Cat was ignored left to watch the goth stand up and walk away. By then Tori's attention was also on her as they both watched Jade approach the stroller. Suddenly Jade was crouched down before she stood up, a small object in her hand from off the floor as she disappeared into the women's bathrooms.

"The nerve," Jade mumbled furiously rubbing off the hair from a pacifier while holding it underneath a running faucet. Once it was clean she came back out, oblivious to her curious female friends watching; the guys clueless in a debate about something sports related. Jade approached the stroller and gently slid the Paci into the baby's mouth. Looking the baby over Jade could tell she was a beautiful little girl.

"What are you doing? Who are you?" A female voice intruded causing Jade's blood to boil as she turned around. The woman had to be in her early twenties; a young mother. If Jade could comment, she'd say she looked like one of those irresponsible mothers in the movies where they lose their kids or forget them in their car seats.

"I'm the person who is actually watching your damn kid," Jade replied. "If you were here to see for yourself, you would know that she's hungry, Who the hell leaves a k-"

"I was only outside for a couple minutes I needed to s-"

"I could've stolen your kid. I could be a kidnapper you ungrateful little s-"

"Jade!" Jade rolled her eyes at the sound of Tori's voice. "I'm so sorry," the Latina apologized gently pulling Jade away before the goth had a chance to jump her. Once they were a safe distance away, Tori stopped and turned to Jade. "What was that?" she asked, only to be ignored. Jade held her gaze for a moment, her expression hard and reserved before she walked back to their group leaving a confused Tori once again. Cat watched Jade pick up her purse mumbling that she was leaving. Sure enough when Tori looked at her phone to see the time, 8:00pm in bold font was displayed across her Shawn Mendes lockscreen.

Cat stared at the door that had closed behind Jade then she shrugged. "I think Jade has a boyfriend," she said with a small shy giggle.

This caught Beck's attention pretty quick, him turning his head in Cat's direction. "Who, Jade? Jade has a boyfriend?" But Cat only giggled again and hid her face. Tori was curious, she couldn't shut the possibility down. But this was Jade they were talking about. She doesn't have a boyfriend.

Andre's attention was grabbed too. "What makes you say that?" he asked just as confused as the rest of them. "I mean she is.. well.." he cast a look to Beck. "She's Jade."

"Ha!" Rex interrupted. "Jade! A boyfriend?"

Robbie scolded his puppet, shushing him hurriedly.

Cat looked defeated for a moment. "Why else would she be hiding it?" Her eyes flickered to Beck. Jade must be keeping a boy secret because of her ex, right?

"She's Jade. She doesn't tell us anything any way," Andre said in thought. Though he did feel some things had been different with her for the past few months. She was more secretive, more irritable, and her friends seen her drink amounts of Coffee that would leave any one pulling all nighters. But when any one tried to bring it up, they were immediately shut down with threats and silencing stares

Tori suddenly didn't want to talk about it anymore. Jade, with a guy. She laughed to herself earning her a few confused looks. "Let's just forget about this," she said shoving a couple fries into her mouth so she didn't have to speak.

"My brother is going back to rehab. He has.. problems." Cat said hoping to make Tori comfortable again. "And his turtle. He keeps flipping over and getting stuck on his back. Poor guy."

...

Tori's eyes scanned through her Slap homepage seeing a post of Trina, the caption reading 'Going to Hawaii, Aloha! Cute Boys and Sun tans.'

Tori cringed, sitting up in bed to comment under the post.

'They didn't invite you Trina.' Tori commented thinking back to earlier when their parents let them know when they were leaving. Every year on their anniversary, their parents spent almost 3 whole weeks on some island. Last year it was the Bahamas. With a yawn and a glance towards the time in the corner of her screen, she saw time was only going slower. She was trying to pass the evening time until she would go to bed and start the school day bright and early the next morning. She had a date after school and needed the whole time to worry over what she could wear. Sure it took her almost a week to get back to the guy, but the guilt was eating at her; she felt obligated to at least see how it'd go.

"Ding dong! ahahah"

Tori knew that sound anywhere. With a tired sigh she got up and headed to her front door. Why was Cat here? Opening the door Tori watched Cat, a big smile on her face swaying as she stood outside Tori's house.

"hahaha Hi," she greeted shyly.

Tori nodded slowly. "Hey Cat," she said pulling the redhead into the house. "What's up?"

Cat then suddenly looked sad. "Jade didn't want to help me with my Halloween makeup. She wouldn't even let me come over." Tori watched practical puppy eyes enlarge on the redhead's face. "She always lets me play with makeup. I'm the only one she tolerates."

Tori resisted the urge to roll her eyes at the last part because yeah, Jade had said that before out loud to the group that she favored Cat. "Maybe I can help you with your makeup?" Tori suggested.

"No, it's okay," Cat insisted still looking a little sad before she came up with an idea. "We should go over there and tell her boyfriend that he can't have Jade all to himself. That's why she said no. He's probably over there right now," the redhead said making a move back towards the front door.

"Cat," Tori said stopping her. "Let's just leave her be, okay?"

"We'll call her!"

It was too late as a clearly still grudge holding redhead already had Jade dialed. They both sat in silence listening to it ring. She called three times, each time left to voicemail.

"Just sleep over, I'm going to bed," Tori mumbled though part of her didn't want tomorrow to come.

"Yay Sleepover ahaha!"

"Cat," Tori mumbled not wanting to open her eyes. She felt Cat's body weight on half of her body and grumbled farther trying to wake the other up. "Moveee."

Cat mumbled back and rolled over giving Tori space to breathe again. Letting Cat sleep in a little more, she quietly got out of bed and took a shower, dolling herself up afterwards complete with newly made curls and makeup. When Tori was finished she found Cat already dressed for school, almost burning toast in her kitchen.

"I made breakfast!" she said happily so proud of herself that Tori didn't want to put her down and ate the burnt toast with her.

"Hey Cat.." Tori asked just realizing something, "How did you get over here? You can't drive."

"Oh, my brother dropped me off," Cat answered. Tori looked at her, several questions in her head but she decided it was best not to ask.

Tori chose to order them an uber to school not wanting to scar Cat with a 15 minute Trina car ride.

"Damn Vega, who has you dressed up?" Jade asked, her tone hinting a bit of sarcasm but she couldn't hide her genuine curiosity well enough for Tori not to notice that too.

Cat butt in, her attitude purposely shady and sassy. "Tori here has a date. Probably because she knows how to answer a phone. Have YOU been going on any dates lately? Have something you want to tell us huh?" Tori put a gentle hand on Cat's arm. Ignoring the two, Jade walked off without a smirk nor her usual scoff making Cat feel proud of herself as if she had won.

This was the third time this guy's hand grazed Tori's knee. She wasn't dumb not to notice. Tori wasn't sure why, but this did nothing for her. In the past it had, she'd usually enjoy the small romantic touches and even start to flirt until she had them wrapped around her finger. But this time it was different. The attraction wasn't..well there. Instead she found herself thinking of someone else, someone she dare wouldn't voluntarily think of. Not on purpose anyway. A voice pulled her out of her thoughts.

"I'm trying to get your attention.."

Tori couldn't help think that this guy, whatever his name was she kept forgetting, was actually quite a dick. She took a moment to remember when he used to bully her while she was new at Hollywood Arts. And that he only took a notice in her after her and Stephan broke up, him cheating on her with not one but two other girls. Tori's eyes scanned her date over again in a new light.

"I think I'm just going to call for a ride home," she mumbled pulling out her phone when he suddenly took it out of her hand.

"I've been trying to go out with you for months. Let's just finish this date okay. I don't want to waste my time."

Tori blinked letting a couple seconds of silence pass, his stern gaze fixated on her. She chewed on her lip for a moment before she respectfully stood up and grabbed her phone back already taking her leave from the cheap Diner he had brought her to. Taking in her surroundings she identified nearby the daycare center Trina had dragged her to the other day and smiled at the thought of the little boy. 'It's nice out' she thought letting herself walk maybe a mile or two to enjoy the outdoors while it was still warm.

During her walk the Latina counted two gas stations, one park, a toy store, grocery store and even a nice gated community with an indoor pool and a dog park. She looked at her phone deciding to stop at the park that she could see a few feet away. She liked that this park was more closed off than the others. It was kept up well, and quiet. 'I'll order an Uber now' she thought leaning her shoulder up against one of the park poles. '4.9 stars Top driver. Black Hyundai.'

Little steps caught her attention. Looking up she saw the little boy she was just thinking about. He stumbled up the playground steps one by one until he got to the slide he wanted to go down. Tori eventually got up, hesitantly making her way over. Was he here alone? Tori thought scanning over her side of the park. She felt a tug on her pants and looked down. "Hey buddy," she said getting down onto her knees for eye level. She hated looking down at people even if they were little kids. She laughed softly seeing how fancy his shoes were and went to tie them as she didn't want him to fall while he played around. "Where's your mom?" she asked looking at him again after she finished. But she didn't get a verbal reply, only a smile. The smile only a trouble maker would make when they know they've done something wrong.

"Mason!" A voice cut through the air. It sounded urgent, worried.

She knew that voice.

"Mommy!"

Tori watched the boy's tiny little feet take off in the direction the voice had come from but Tori was too scared to look up at who it actually was.

"My god kid you're going to give me a heart attack. What did I say about doing this crap. If something happens to you I'm going to jai-"

A brunette's soft brown eyes caught onto the goth's blue green, dead silence filling the air except for those belonging to the birds chirping nearby.

"Jade?"