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

Unfairly judged

Chapter 15 – Practice Date.

No One's POV

The day continued as per normal, but with each of the two girls slightly apprehensive about the, practice date. While the term, Practice date, was for the most part a Joke, they hoped that this trail run would lead to bigger and better things.

Both knew, they had made missteps along the way and hoped that things would go more smoothly. If that was possible.

At the end of the day Tori was at her locker and about to find Jade, when she saw the Goth walking up.

"Ready Vega?"

Tori demurred for a moment. "I feel like I should freshen up or change or something."

With shake of her head, Jade closed Tori's locker and grabbed the Latina by the wrist. "This is not a dress rehearsal. Besides, if we are to date and things progress beyond that, we're going to have to get used being with each other when we're not looking at our best."

"You mean, you're not always this pretty?" Replied Tori with a mock frown, as she pretended to struggle.

Pulling her close, Jade narrowed her eyes. "Glad this isn't a real date, because it'd be a shame if I had to hurt you."

"Jade."

"Yes?"

"You're not supposed to threaten your date."

"Vega."

"Yes?"

"If you will have noticed, at no point did I actually threaten to harm you. I merely stated that it would be a shame if I had to do so. So that's not a threat? Besides, this is a practice date so anything goes."

"Someday Jade."

Somewhat confused, Jade stopped. "What?"

"Someday we may look back at this moment and laugh at ourselves"

"Why would we do that?"

Smiling mysteriously, Tori merely shrugged.

Jade shook her head and let go of Tori's wrist. "Come on, we'll take my car, I drop you off after the date. Sound good?"

"Sure."'

The pair got in the car and were arrived at the mall about 20 minutes later. The car ride itself was uneventful and they mostly chatted about the day's events.

As they walked across the parking lot to he main entrance to the mall, Jade said. "Hungry yet."

"Not quite. Where would you like to eat? Mario's Pizza is good."

"Well we can agree on that. That's something."

Suddenly Tori had an idea. "How about we ask questions to each other, so we get to know each other."

For a moment Jade thought about saying how stupid was, but decided not to be a total gank. After a few seconds she concluded it was not too bad an idea. By this time they had reached the door and Jade held the door open for Tori. "Ok. Can I go first.?"

Appreciating the gesture, Tori smiled. "Ok."

"Tell me something about yourself that I would never guess.'

Tori thought for a moment. "Oh…I'm part German on my mother's side. My mother's grandfather, Heinrich Muller was from Dresden. His father, Jon, served in the German Army in WW I and won an Iron Cross for bravery at the battle of the Somme. My mom has that, and his wound badge. But in 1937, Jon knew war was coming and not wanting either of his sons to fight for Hitler and the rest of those maniacs', sold his Tailor shop and moved his family to Los Angeles."

Tori could tell, Jade looked impressed.

Nodding, Jade spoke. "Interesting, so your great great grandfather, fought in the German Army in WWI. Won an Iron Cross at The Somme, was wounded."

"Three times apparently." Noted Tori.

"Then had the smarts to get the hell out of dodge, before all fucking hell broke loose."

"He hated the Nazi's, said they kept talking about the glory of war and everyone was buying it. Jon said, there is no glory in war, only pain, misery, insanity and death. On a happier note, my mom still has one of the old family recipe books. She occasionally makes Quarkklauchen."

"What's that?"

"It's sort of a pancake, made with eggs, quark cheese, mashed potatoes, flour, with cinnamon on it. Not a very good description, but I like it. Ok, you tell me something I wouldn't have guessed."

"OK, since we're on the subject of family, my dad's oldest brother, for a short time was an actor in his early teens. His biggest part was 10 lines on an episode of "The Partridge family."

Tori instantly giggled. "Your uncle was on the Partridge family? Seriously?"

Tori then broke into a snippet of the 70's show theme song, "Come on, get happy."

Jade was quick to put a finger in the Latina's face. "Not a word, that's a closely guarded secret. I will not be connected with that mindless fluff."

"Ah come on. Besides, everyone knows Lori Partridge, aka Susan Dey was mega hot. But I will keep your secret, was he on other shows?"

"I agree on the Lori Partridge thing, she was pretty hot. I think he was on Mod Squad and Emergency, a few other shows. It was just a few bit parts. He became an Industrial Engineer."

Tori then pointed to one of the nearby trendy clothes shops. "Oooohhh.. I want to go in there."

Jade put her hand to her chin. "Himm…trendy, overpriced designer clothes and you're going to want to try it all on. And of course if I say that anything doesn't look fabulous on you, you'll take it personally. Now I know what it feels like to be a guy. Do I have to hold your purse too? They say fun is overrated anyway."

"Good idea. I'll be looking at dresses. Oh yeah, be a doll and get me an expresso." Tori said playfully as she shoved her purse into Jade's hands and headed into the store."

Moments later, Jade walked into the store and spotted Tori off in her element, looking at some new pink dress.

The place was a typical, trendy overpriced mall store, full of the latest fashions. Jade couldn't help but chuckle, as she spotted a guy in a green shirt, looking horribly board and holding the purse of the attractive blonde woman he was with, as she tried on clothes.

"I guess some things don't change." Observed Jade.

Tori was looking at dresses and while her gesture of making Jade hold her purse, was largely a joke, she did like being able to look at and try on the clothes; something she loved. She however, made a mental note to only do so for only a few minutes, it wasn't fair to Jade.

Much to Tori's surprise, Jade calmly found a chair and sat quietly while she looked at several outfits. The Goth spent her time watching Tori and the other patrons with a plant smile on her face.

After some minutes, Tori forced herself to stop. "Come on, I'm boring you, let's go."

Jade shook her head dismissively. "No, keep going. Why don't you try that green leather skirt with that black blazer and that white blouse? I think it will look good on you."

Tori raised an eyebrow. "Just who are you and what have you done with Jade. You hate fashion."

"Vega, first of all, yes I hate fashion, but that doesn't mean I don't know what looks good. Second, you love fashion and to be honest I kind of like watching you, enjoying yourself, pick all those cute outfits. We need to do things for each other, if we have any chance. Even I know that. Besides, if I really get bored, I'll just pass the time by annoying the rather snooty female sales clerks."

Tori immediately gushed. "That's so very nice of you."

"Well if I was mean to you all the time, that would make me boring, now wouldn't it. You just shop, enjoy yourself and make sure when we go to the horror con next week, you don't look as board as that guy over there. You'll be walking home if you do, which I'm pretty sure he's…."

Jade then yelled over at the man in the green shirt. "Hey buster, the more bored you look the less likely she's going to sleep with you anytime in the near future. That goes double if she's your wife. And stop eyeing the red haired chick at the Cinnabon across the mall. She's like 15 dude, seriously?"

The woman he was with huffed, angrily grabbed his wrist and immediately dragged him out of the store.

Jade laughed out loud, to the displeasure of the sales clerks, nearby. "He ain't getting any tonight."

Tori grabbed another dress and as she headed into the dressing room mumbled. "I think I was better off on her bad side."

True to her word, Jade let Tori try on more outfits and occasionally gave her opinion, which at times was somewhat brutal. But still Tori appreciated Jade making the effort.

A bit later, the pair emerged from the store, with Tori had bought 2 outfits. One Jade liked and on she liked.

Jade then pointed to forever 21. "Hey, let's hit that store."

Tori bit her lip. Jade had been good, but it wasn't best to push her luck, for her sake and the other shoppers. "Um…I'm kind of shopped out. How about we get some pizza."

"Sure. I think this practice date is going well." Remarked Jade, looking quite pleased with herself.

"We'll let's see if we can make it through dinner. Just don't mess with the salt shaker please."

Jade pretended to look very offended.. "Would I ever do such a thing?"

"That's almost as unfunny as it was the time you actually did it. Come on, I'll buy, since you were nice enough to hold my purse. That's assuming you didn't empty my wallet out, while you were doing it."

Jade shook her head. "No, I just went through your texts."

"Good."

The pair kept walking and talking, most of it was relaxed and playful banter. It being a practice date, oddly seemed to remove a lot of the pressure.

When they arrived at the restaurant they resumed asking questions about each other.

"I'll go first." Tori said a she sipped her soda. "Ok, has a movie ever really surprised you? I mean you didn't think you'd like it, but really did."

"Interesting question. The answer to that is 1973's Westworld."

"I've never seen that. What is it?"

"It's by Michael Crichton, the guy who wrote Jurassic Park."

"I loved that movie."

Jade grumbled, "The book was good, the movie sucked."

"Why?"

"The book was darker and more serious, the millionaire, Hammond, he was a major asshole in the book. They toned some things down, it could have been a first rate thriller, only it turned out to be a family friendly adventure. But Westworld, I thought would be the same way. It's about a theme park where you can relive the Roman, Medieval or Western time periods and they use Robots to do so."

"Wait, I remember, the robots, go crazy or something. They kill everyone."

"Yes, it was a serious story and the main character, he was just this ordinary guy, probably an accountant or something, and he's suddenly thrust into this crazy situation, where a robot is hunting him down. I loved how the last 15 or so minutes, has almost no dialogue. It could have been a bit more graphic, but it gets very serious in the end. Not to mention we're dealing with Robots, it easily could have gotten stupid, but they handled it all very well."

They continued to talk and occasionally bickered over pizza but each had a good time. Jade talked about horror movies and stories she was loved, Tori talked about fashion and each listened to the other intently. Though their interests varied wildly, the conversation never seemed to end. After dinner they walked some more. All they did was talk, neither one tried to make a move, hold hands or even kiss. Neither really felt they really needed too. They were connecting on a personal level and wanted to enjoy that without any complications. After all it wasn't a real date and that afforded them a bit of comfort, not usually there during a 2nd date. It allowed them to be themselves, a bit more than normal.

At about 9:00, they decided to call it an evening and Jade drove Tori to her car, which was still parked at Hollywood Arts.

"That's amazing." Said Tori as they pulled up next to her car.

"What's amazing?"

"No. Us. We're getting along, were talking about movies and things. Having a fun time, at least you seemed like you did, you are an very good actress you know."

Jade smirked, "Yes I am, but I didn't need to. We may be ready for a real date soon."

"Just try to not start a fight between other couples. I'm pretty sure you did. It's not a real date, so it doesn't really count. Remember you're supposed to impress me."

"I thought I did?"

Tori put a hand on Jade's shoulder. "You did, but it doesn't count. Not a real date. Did I impress you?"

"Everything except, when I made you laugh at dinner and soda came out your nose. That was just funny."

After briefly, cringing with embarrassment, Tori quickly leaned over and gave Jade short but very warm kiss. Just that brief touching of lips, was enough to make Jade's heart jump.

"Wow!"

The Latina smiled, grabbed her bag and got out of the car. "Practice date, practice kiss. Got to be ready…..Good night Jade."

After recovering her wits, Jade said. "So…do I get another date?"

Tori closed one eye and tilted her head. "I think we need a bit more work. There was the soda thing and you burped at dinner and forgot to say excuse me. So….How about the movies, Friday night. See if we can handle that?"

"Fine Vega, but if things go right perhaps we can practice holding hand or kissing more, I'd be horribly embarrassing if we bumped noses or something. Could ruin the whole date, you know."

Tori laughed. "Couldn't have that. Good night and thank you Jade."

Jade smiled back, not her normal smirk or anything even similar, it was a bright smile that was matched only by the sparkle in her eye. "Good night Vega."

Well they had a practice date. At first it was largely a joke, but that allowed them to relax and just say, none of it mattered. What did matter is that they enjoyed themselves. They talked about themselves and got to know each other.

Thanks to Invader Johnny.

The movie Westworld is from 1973 and in some ways is very ahead of its time. The thing that causes the robots to break down, which not discussed in great detail, is essentially a computer virus. It's is pretty much the first movie or book to even come up with such a concept. I recommend the movie. I also read that HBO is developing a miniseries based on the show as well.