Valentine Madness

SUMMARY: Tori and her friends notice how sad Cat is and they try to help. Meanwhile, as the gang prepares to go out for Valentine's Day, Jade gets served with a trespass order.

Set in February 2014

CHAPTER 1:

At the Asphalt Cafe, the gang sat at their usual table having lunch.

"Has anyone seen Cat lately?" Robbie asked everyone. He got a series of head-shakes in response.

"She hasn't been to class today," Tori said thoughtfully. "I wonder what's wrong."

"Why does it matter if something is wrong with Cat?" Jade asked Tori inquisitively.

"Uh, she's our friend, Jade. And friends look out for each other," Tori reminded Jade.

"Yeah, sure," Jade muttered. She she grabbed her things and walked away from the table.

"What's eating her?" Andre asked Beck, once Jade was out of earshot.

"Easy," Beck responded. "She's hesitant to tell her parents about the engagement." He paused. "And it's Valentine's. If you haven't noticed, she's not exactly a Valentine's Day kind of person."

"Well, has anyone got any plans for Valentine's?" Robbie asked the group.

"Tori and I made reservations to have a nice dinner," Andre said, and Tori shared a smile.

"Guess I'm all alone on Valentine's Day again," Robbie sighed, bummed.

"Doesn't surprise me," Rex chimed in.

"Not now, Rex!" Robbie hissed, annoyed.

"What about you and Jade?" Tori asked after a bit.

"We'll probably go to Nozu's if she's in the mood," Beck answered, and everyone nodded their heads.

At Jade's locker, Beck approached.

"Rough night, babe?" he asked.

"You have no idea," Jade admitted.

"Tell me what happened," Beck said.

"My parents received two complaints from Tori and Trina's parents," Jade mentioned.

"About?" Beck asked.

"First one had to do with the time I exposed Trina to hives with a bouquet of daisies. Second involved last night," Jade recalled. "When I went over to Tori's house to talk about what happened with Blake, I told Andre and Trina to get out and Trina verbally fought me over it because she and Tori live there."

"So, what happened?" Beck asked.

"Apparently, I've been temporarily banned from the Vega's house," Jade explained.

"Well, I can't say I'm surprised," Beck admitted.

"What was I supposed to do? I didn't want Andre and Trina to know about the incident with your brother," Jade explained.

"I'm sure Blake feels bad about what happened, but it still does not excuse your actions," Beck said. "You okay?"

"No, but I know who I can take my rage out on," Jade said. She turned and angrily approached Tori.

"Come on, Jade; don't do this," Beck called after her, trying to talk her out of it.

"Did you have anything to do with this? Did you tell your sister to blab on me?" Jade furiously asked Tori.

"Hey, I had no involvement in that. But what Trina did was justified; You did kick her out of our home after all," Tori said.

"And she thought it was necessary to go as far as getting your parents to ban me from your house?" Jade asked.

"What can I say, you have a knack for being pretty scary. Look, I'm sure if you made the effort to be nice to Trina at school, then maybe she could talk our parents into dropping the ban sooner," Tori suggested.

"Yeah, like I'd waste my time being nice to your talentless sister," Jade fired back.

"Hey! Don't you talk about my sister that way!" Tori said. She started to storm off.

But after a few steps she turned back around and added, "And FYI, Jade: I'm glad you're not welcome in our house for a while. I've been nothing but nice to you and you hardly ever return the favor. And I can't even remember the last time I got a 'thank you, Tori'. So, until you change your attitude, enjoy NOT coming over to my place."

Jade stood there, befuddled by what had happened.