Hey there, here's chapter 13, enjoy and any comments are welcomed!


"What's the difference between uptown and downtown?"

Tori raised her eyebrows. Clearly, she was still unused to Cat's sporadic lunchtime questions.

"It's like the housing area and the city area." Andre answered, evidently far more used to his friend's lines of inquiry.

"So how can you have an uptown downtown?" Cat asked, still confused.

"Well... you can't, I guess. They're opposites." Andre replied.

"But the play is called Uptown Downtown. How can it be both if they're opposites?"

"Well, it's not... you see... ah, Tori, can you explain it?" Andre huffed.

"Um, sure. Well, I think the play is talking about some people based in uptown and some people based in downtown, but not both at once." Tori attempted.

Cat pondered this for a second before shaking her head. "No, I still don't get it." She sighed, dropping her head onto her hands.

"Don't worry about it Lil' Red. I'm sure you killed your audition anyway even if you didn't understand that." Andre grinned at her, but she shook her head once more.

"No, I didn't audition."

"Why not?" Tori asked, perking up.

"Because I didn't understand what the play was about. Is it uptown or is it downtown? I don't get it. I was trying to work it out last night and then I remembered that Jade was going to call me so I stayed up all night waiting for my phone to ring so I could ask her but it never did so I didn't get any sleep so I bought same day delivery on the world's comfiest chair cushion this morning so I could sleep in class and I slept all the way through the auditions." Cat cried.

"Oh Cat." Tori said sympathetically, putting a hand on the girl's shoulder.

"Do your parents know how much money you've been spending at the Sky Store?" Andre inquired.

Cat shrugged sadly. "I keep it all in my room. It's mine, not theirs."

"Well, does Jade know?" Andre asked, changing his interrogation process in a way that made Tori curious as to Jade and Cat's relationship dynamic.

Cat simply pouted. "My name's not Toby, so no."

At this, Tori and Andre shared a look, but before either of them could speak, they were ambushed by a mossy mop of teenage awkwardness, otherwise known as the infamous Sinjin Van Cleef.

"Hi main people. I just wanted to say I'm really glad that you're opening some of your lives to the world. It really helps me feel like I know you better." He nodded, leaning in towards the table.

"Uh, thanks, I think." Said Tori. "Although, I'm not entirely sure what you're talking about."

"Robarazzi, of course." Sinjin replied, earning a chorus of groans from the table. "This morning's piece was great! I would stay to talk but I've gotta go buy a leather jacket and some black hair dye. Catch you later!" He trilled, quite literally skipping away.

"Well that was weird." Tori commented, as Cat giggled.

"That's Sinjin for you." Andre sighed. "Well, let's see it then." He continued, gesturing to Tori's phone. In turn, she obeyed and pulled up the latest instalment of Robbie's god-awful show, the opening credits blaring out of her phone like the purge alarm.

"So, here's one for you - Ryder Daniels; is he Jade West's baby daddy?" One of Robbie's minions offered up.

Tori almost audibly gasped, her eyes shooting to the other occupants of the table to gauge their reactions. Weirdly, however, they didn't seem fazed by this, which puzzled Tori even further. Did everyone know this but Beck?

"She really has a thing for that tall, dark and handsome stuff, huh?" Said another senior, garnering agreement from the room as a whole.

"Uh oh, nobody tell Beck!" One grinned, and Tori's chest tightened with anxiety. Why did it feel like she was the one keeping a secret?

"Hey, let's talk Cat Valentine." A different minion chuckled. "How many things has she bought from Sky Store this week?"

"So many!" Robbie's smirking face called back. "I couldn't even count them!"

"I bet she's got a machine for that!" Came the reply, along with a pool of laughter.

"And another thing - that can't be her real hair, surely?" One of the seniors added. Tori glanced over at the girl in question, whose brow was furrowed. Surely Cat knew herself that her hair wasn't real though... right?

"...and talking of obsessions, Andre's ketchup addiction seems to be getting worse by the day!"

"I heard he's into mayo now too!"

"I heard that too! Man's an addict!"

"No way! A chip off the old block, eh?" Robbie joked and the whole room laughed along with him. Tori felt Andre tense beside her.

"Join us next time," continued their curly-haired somewhat-friend. "where we'll be taking a close look at Jade West's anger problems..." The voiceover continued, alongside what looked like security camera footage of Jade kicking over a trash can as she stalked down someone's driveway.

"...only on Robarazzi!"

The video faded out and the three teens at the table drew away from Tori's PearPhone.

"God, do you think he'll ever stop?" Tori groaned.

"What did be mean by chip off the old block?" Andre spoke, almost eerily.

"What?"

"He said 'chip off the old block' about me, about me being 'addicted' to ketchup. What did he mean by that?" Andre asked. Tori squinted at him in surprise. She'd never seen him so not-calm before; in fact, he was almost visibly seething.

"I don't know, Andre, it's just Robbie being an idiot." Tori said dismissively.

"No, no, he meant something by that. What's he trying to say?"

"It's nothing, I'm sure." Tori replied, confused. What had got Andre so worked up she had no clue, but she was almost afraid to ask.

"Yeah, he keeps saying im addicted to Sky Store, which is so not true." Cat commented, earning quizzical looks from her friends. "Oh my god, eye masks for your ears!" She gasped suddenly, grasping the open magazine in front of her.

"Why would-" Tori began to question, before trailing off. She was probably better off not knowing the answer to that question.

"Hey guys, what's up?" Came a voice from beside them, as Beck sidled into the empty side of the table, in between the two girls.

"Robarazzi, that's what's up." Tori complained.

"Oh no, what this time?" Beck smirked, a little happier than Tori would expect given that Robbie had frequently discussed the potential breakdown of his relationship. Although, the devilish side of her mused, maybe that was a good thing.

"He said that Andre's addicted to mayonnaise, that my hair is fake and that Ryder is Toby's real dad."

Beck snorted in amusement, causing Tori to shoot him a quizzical look.

"You're okay with him saying that?" She asked.

Beck shook his head. "Course not, but that rumour always makes me laugh."

"You know about it?" Tori was shocked. Up until now, she'd thought she'd been hiding something from him by keeping quiet about the whole thing. Of course, she'd heard the rumour from Trina, so she'd held back on approaching Beck with it due to doubts of its authenticity. But now she was hearing that he'd known about it all along?

"Yeah, I do go to this school, Tor." Beck chuckled, and Tori's heart couldn't help but skip a beat at the nickname.

"...and you don't care?" Tori asked, stunned.

Beck cocked his head in amusement. "You do know it's not true, right?"

Tori's mouth gaped like a fish. "Uh...but..."

"I know your sister started it, so I'm not going to judge you for believing it," Beck began, amused. "but I can give you three reasons why I know it's not true, and if you could relay them back to her that would be greatly appreciated."

Tori simply nodded.

"So, firstly, I trust that my girlfriend hasn't cheated on me." He started, and Tori had to physically restrain herself from cocking an eyebrow. Almost sensing her disbelief, Beck continued, assured, "I know you don't know Jade too well but believe me, she wouldn't."

Tori could only nod as if to say 'if you say so'.

"Secondly," Beck continued, "Jade is like the smartest person I know, and Ryder Daniels is the biggest user I know. I don't think he's ever been with a girl longer than the length of whatever project he's partnering with them to get a good grade. He does it all the time, and Jade would see right through that."

Again, Tori wasn't sure that that was the most convincing argument, but she allowed Beck to continue. As assured as he was, she assumed he had some more solid evidence or Jade was really good at manipulation, the latter seeming the more obvious answer.

"And if all of that wasn't enough to convince you..."

It definitely wasn't.

"...I even have DNA proof that he's mine."

Tori's ears shot up. Well, that was something.

Beside her, Andre appeared to perk up too, leaning towards his friend.

"You got a DNA test? You never told us that."

Beck pulled away a little, almost in realisation that he'd said too much. "Yeah, well, it wasn't a big deal, really."

"Not a big deal? That sure sounds like a big deal. You thought Jade cheated on you?"

"No!" Beck insisted. "No, it wasn't me who wanted it."

"Then who was it?"

Beck exhaled deeply. "My parents they just... they wanted to be sure that I wasn't 'ruining my future' for a baby that wasn't mine." He said, with the accompanying bunny ears around the statement that he clearly didn't agree with.

Andre cocked an eyebrow. "And you agreed to that? Jade agreed to that?"

"No, I knew he was mine. Jade knew he was mine. But she just thought she'd let them do the test if it got them off her back. So, there you have it, concrete evidence that Toby is not Ryder Daniels' baby." Beck said with a slight grimace and a tone of finality that indicated that the conversation was over. Tori couldn't help but feel that she'd learned far more than necessary about Jade's relationship with Beck's parents. Not that that should have really surprised her - Jade was just about the worst example of a daughter-in-law that Tori could think of, and Trina Vega was her sister, for god's sake.

"Well, anyway, now that we've got that put to bed," Beck continued awkwardly, "what about what he said about you guys? How do you feel about being as equally obsessed with mayonnaise as you are with ketchup?" He finished with a smirk, directing the end of his sentence towards a dissatisfied Andre.

"Not funny, man. He's really pissing me off." Andre grumbled and Tori nodded in agreement. "Hey, what do you think about the phrase 'chip off the old block'?"

Beck raised his eyebrows. "I dunno, haven't heard that said for a while."

"Robbie said it, in his latest video. He talked about me being addicted to things and then said 'chip off the old block'. What do you think he means by that?"

Beck pursed his lips together. "I wouldn't worry about it, man, it's Robbie. He's annoying but harmless. Whatever you think he's trying to insinuate, he's not. It's nothing, trust me."

Andre exhaled sharply out of his nose, clearly not happy with that answer. Tori didn't think she'd ever been so confused by a lunchtime conversation. This was the fatal flaw of joining a friend group late, she guessed - lots of things were going to inevitably pass her by unless she inquired, and that was something she really didn't want to do right now.

"Hey, do you guys wanna go hang in the Black Box during free period? I hear they're rehearsing the senior plays; it could be fun to watch." Beck suggested, and Tori nodded enthusiastically. Free periods at Sherwood had meant catching up on Science homework in empty classrooms, whilst at Hollywood Arts they meant front row seats alongside a hot guy to the performances of future celebrities.

"Don't you usually spend your free periods with Jade? You didn't let me join your closet party that one time - how come we get to hang out now?" Cat asked innocently.

At this, Beck's cheeks reddened slightly. "Oh, er, yeah that was an... exclusive closet party, but this is a public show, so we can all go. And, honestly, Jade's not too happy with me right now so I don't think she'll want to spend her free period with just me."

Tori thought she was just about running out of fingers to count the number of times that Jade appeared unhappy with Beck and their relationship as a whole. Honestly, at this point, she thought that it had to be obvious to the others that they were only together because of the baby. Life was funny like that, she supposed, because these two could be bound together for life rather than with their true soulmates because of something as stupid as a condom breaking, or whatever had happened to cause Toby to come into existence. She was trying not to think negatively about Jade, she really was, but when she put it like that, she couldn't help but feel sorry for Beck, trapped in those invisible ties which bound him to the wrong girl.

"I'll come watch the plays." Tori beamed at Beck and he shot her a smile. Cat also expressed interest, but Andre didn't even register the question.

Instead, he suddenly rose up, pushing himself away from the table with an odd sense of purpose. Tori furrowed her brow as he packed up his things, seemingly forgetting that they had been in the middle of a conversation.

"Hey, where are you going?" She asked.

"To find Robbie."

She and Beck groaned in tandem. "Do you really think that's a good idea?" Beck called after his friend, but if Andre had heard he didn't bother to reply, instead swinging his backpack over his shoulder and walking off.

Of course, Andre had heard, but he didn't need uber-calm-and-collected Beck's opinion right now. He and Tori loved to believe that everything was nothing because that made life easier for themselves, but Andre was a passionate person and anger was the emotion that presently burned the brightest of them all.

And Robbie should've learned long ago not to play with fire.