Disclaimer: The show Victorious, its characters and other associated copyrights are property of someone else and not me.

Unfairly Judged.

Chapter 13 – Post Mortem

No One's POV.

As she drove home from the date, Tori quickly fell into despair. After all this work, reestablishing their friendship, the date had been a total disaster. At first she started to think it over, but found the memory too painful and fresh so she pushed it out of her mind. Instead concentrating on the feelings, instead of what was the ultimate cause.

When she got home, she could count at least one small blessing; that no one was home. The bad date was humiliation enough, having to face Trina or her parents would make it even worse.

So Tori retired to her room, turned off the lights, lay in bed and listened to the rain.

The next morning Tori felt no better, in fact she felt worse. In her mind she had lingering worries of this triggering another round of retaliation. Then she had feelings of guilt for thinking so less of Jade, especially after what they've gone through. Those two feelings combined with the additional feelings of depression, left the normally perky Latina with an almost toxic mix of emotions. It made her stomach hurt.

Entering school she quickly spotted Jade at her locker, a cup of coffee in hand and very sour look in her face. It said in very uncertain terms; leave me alone.

Tori quickly turned away, and walked to her locker and once there, looked back to Jade's locker to see she was gone.

Just as she grabbed her books, she turned to see Beck round the corner. Unlike Jade he had a rather eager look.

"Hey Tori, how'd the date go?"

Grimacing slightly, Tori shook her head. "Remember in history class, last week where they talked about Pompeii and how when the volcano erupted, the people had to flee."

Looking slightly puzzled, Beck nodded. "Uh…yeah."

"They had more fun than we did."

"I'm so sorry. What happened?"

"You're being a friend and I appreciate that, but I really don't want to talk about it. Other than to say, I totally blew it. I doubt I'll get another chance."

Putting a reassuring hand on Tori's shoulder, Beck said. "Have faith."

"In what? God?"

"No, Jade. Remember what you've learned about her. There's a lot more to her, than meets the eye. I'll see you in class. In the meantime, just try to relax."

Despite, Beck's reassuring words, Tori was certain she blew her chance. Plus she continued to feel bad about half expecting some sort of retaliation. Though in the first half of the day, nothing happened, it was a normal day. She saw Jade a few times, but the Goth despite looking to be in a horrible mood, stayed quiet. Tori also noticed that Jade seemed to be avoiding her. That only convinced her that she had blown her chance and furthered her despair.

She wanted to say something, but just didn't know what or if she should.

Lunchtime came and instead of joining her friends, she returned to her former spot on the steps.

However no sooner as she had sat down, Jade came and without saying a word sat next to her.

Finding herself paralyzed with fear and indecision, Tori just looked straight ahead and started to eat her lunch. Jade looked ahead and did the same.

After eating the first few bites of her sandwich, Tori thought it over and came to the conclusion that even if she stood no chance for a second date, the proper thing would be to apologize.

"Jade, I'm sorry."

"For what?'

"Everything."

"That's rather vague Vega. That could mean anything from the date last night to the John F Kennedy's assassination."

Tori nodded. "Well, I ruined the date, it's all my fault and then this morning worried that you'd do something. I feel bad for that too. To be honest, I'm a bit surprised you're here. You looked like you didn't want to talk to me. Why are you here?"

For the first time, Jade looked to Tori. "To apologize. I didn't want to talk to you cause I was angry and needed a few hours to work some of it out of my system. This is important. I didn't want to do or say something I'd regret. ."

"Like going out with me." Lamented Tori.

Jade seemed to grow angry again. "You know what, you frustrate the shit out of me. Of all the people, you endlessly and continuously bug me. First of all, I don't regret dating you. Stop that. I told you before, I like you. I regret the date itself, as it was a total disaster, yes, but not you. But before we get to that, I was a bit gankier than I should have. So part of the disaster was my doing. For that I'm sorry. Oh and by the way, stop feeling sorry for yourself, it's annoying."

Tori flushed with embarrassment. "Oh…apology accepted. I thought it was all my fault."

"Vega, stop being a bonehead. We both screwed up. What happened? Come on; let's do a post mortem on this thing. Figure out and talk about what each of us did wrong."

Tori, feeling somewhat relieved, raised an eyebrow. "You want to autopsy our date?"

"Yes, normally two people have a bad date they write each other off and go their separate way. But I'm not a normal person…."

Before, Tori could even think of making a smart remark, Jade pointed a finger at Tori. "Don't even say it."

"I didn't say anything."

"No but you thought it. So tell me, what the fuck happened. I know you were disappointed the picnic thing got wrecked, but you showed up looking kind of pissed off."

Tori looked down and not wanting to answer the question, started to take a bite of her sandwich, only to have it torn out of her hands by Jade, who then tossed it onto the street. There after about 3 seconds, the sandwich was run over by a passing Mercedes.

"Hey, that was my sandwich!"

"So what, answer the question. We're analyzing our date. Spill it Vega!"

Tori sighed. "I was already very disappointed by the ruin of my plans. Perhaps I wanted things to be so perfect, I put too much pressure on myself. So I was very frustrated already. Than I had a huge fight with my sister when I was getting ready. My mom heard the fight and yelled at me. So by the time I left, I was really pissed off."

"So I sense something is wrong and you don't bother to tell me. When I tried to lighten things up you start to snap at me. But I didn't help either. You know what my greatest sin was?"

"What?"

"I gave up on the date. Yes, I gave, up, I could have pressed you as to what was bugging you. Because you weren't you. You were this sullen, angry person, whom I didn't like. But instead of caring and pushing through that persona to get at the root of the problem. I started to be a gank and gave up. I said some things, that I knew would irritate you. You disappointed me and I retaliated by starting to piss you off even more. It's something I do sometimes actually, a lot of the time. I am sorry Tori. I shouldn't have done that. But this thing with Trina. Look she's a total gank and personally I hate her. But she's your sister and you need to settle this."

"But she stabbed me in the back!"

"Tori this isn't you. You're not the type to hold a grudge. Yes, she lied and yes she manipulated things to keep us apart. But let's face it, this is me…we're talking about, not Rebecca of Sunnybrook farm. She was doing it to protect you, a bit overzealously, but it's what she was doing. I can be a pretty nasty person at times, if she didn't view me with suspicion, I'd think I was doing something wrong?"

Tori sighed. "It hurt."

"I'm sure it did. I'll tell you a story. I don't get along with my mom, the reasons aren't all that important, but I know my mother. I know what makes her tick. When my mom was 10 years old, her 7 year old sister, Amy ran into the street and was hit by a car. She was killed instantly. It was just a terrible accident. Now they hadn't fought like you two had, but I do know that it left a hole in her life. I know it bothers her to this day and she doesn't like to talk about it. Amy's gone and there is not one thing my mother can do about it. It changed her, it haunts her. Her older brother named is own daughter Amy, but still that fill the void. What I'm saying is that, you're better off making peace. She didn't do it to hurt you, even I can see that. If you let this fester, it will do you no good; it's affecting you already. Plus one day, that chance to fix it will be gone."

"I don't even know what to say or do?"

"Just talk. Start with Hello. Besides, what's better, cutting them off completely or getting even? I could have helped you there."

Tori thought over Jade's words and realized she was right. "You're right. I didn't know you could be so understanding, so philosophical."

"I'll bet you thought, I'd write you off didn't you. You're still wondering why, I'm here?"

"Yes."

"I'm not giving up on this. I still believe that we, two women who are radically different, could have something. Call me a fool or just plain nuts, but I still believe that. I also believe you're special. Besides, someday, I will royally piss you off and believe me, it will happen. Remember there is a new me, but the old me which is still around, is a mega bitch. Perhaps me showing some understanding will help me on that particular day. It's also the right thing to do. Yes our date ended in disaster, you were angry, I was ganky and after a while didn't care, who knows, perhaps the next one will only be a disaster as opposed to be a total disaster. We may even have a good one someday. Providing we don't kill each other first, which is a distinct possibility. You're going to have to put up with me and my mood's…let's say. But I promise I won't give up on the date or you so easily. I feel bad I did. I can only hope you think I'm worth it. I'm afraid you won't sometimes, I'll admit it. But I think you are."

For the first time, all day Tori chuckled. "We're really bad at this, aren't we?"

"Yeah."

For a few seconds, the girls sat in silence as they watched the passing cars.

Jade looked at her sandwich and threw it so it landed right next to Tori's on the road. "Vega, You wanna go grab a burger or something?"

"Is this a date?" Remarked Tori with a look of slight surprise.

"Hell No. You start to clear the air with Trina first then will talk about dates. I want happy, perky annoying Tori Vega not the sullen angry one."

Tori smirked, "You didn't like the sullen, angry one…even a bit."

Jade looked up and thought for a moment. "Well, she may be fun in the sack, but in public, no way. I'm the angry one here."

Tori pretended to look offended for a moment then laughed. "I can only imagine who much a disaster that would end up being. We'd probably bang heads or something, knock each other out."

Jade smirked back, "We'll then we'll have to do a post mortem on our first time…..But in the meantime, let's go get some food. No date, no pressure."

Tori got up. "Ok, sounds good."

Author's note, due to the Holiday season, my output may slow a bit. But don't worry, just enjoy your holiday season and I'll be back. If I can get out a chapter, I will.

Thanks again to SevReed