"Write a ten page script about a character who is faced with a dilemma"
After Tori's success in the Big Showcase, her mother had bought her book entitled '100 Things Every Actor Should Know'. It contained tips regarding makeup application on stage, and suggestions to 'embellish' one's resume, but also the instruction to find a character from within one's own feelings and experiences. Now with the title of her latest homework assignment staring her down, she was suddenly starting to realise how this could help her.
Sure, she could go for something easy - a toddler struggling to choose which toy to take on holiday, perhaps, or a teenager deciding whether or not to apply for college. She was talented enough at English to conjure something creative out of these prompts, and they certainly would avoid ruffling feathers.
But, on the other hand, rereading the word 'dilemma' only seemed to conjure up the image of Beck, and his soulful eyes and captivating smile, but with a baby in his arms that deserved a happy home.
Tori wasn't sure she'd ever felt so at odds before. Having always been stereotypically 'good', the things that she wanted had always been reasonably easily obtainable. She'd never really noticed herself stepping on any toes, and she'd never had to battle her own impulses like she'd been doing ferociously ever since she'd bumped into that beautiful boy on her first day.
She'd never had so many friends, but, oddly, she'd never quite felt so alone. It was proving difficult to find an ear to talk to about her feelings about this love triangle she was embroiled in, when it was members of her friendship group that she was in the love triangle with.
Across from Tori, Trina started singing along to Kesha in a trademark obnoxious manner, as if unconsciously reminding Tori of her existence. She was no use as an ear either. Even forgetting her own crush on Beck, Trina's advice never went further than what suited her best. Tori couldn't help but feel a momentary pang of self-pity that she'd ended up with that kind of sibling relationship.
She rattled her fingernails across the bottom of her laptop as she waited for the others to join the video chat she'd suggested. Beck was apparently dog-sitting so his RV was out-of-bounds, whilst Tori had been secretly relieved that both Cat and Andre, with their concerning family members, had opted out of hosting. Tori's house was free but the constant presence of Trina, still in the bad books following her actions over the hot weekend, had encouraged Beck to suggest a video chat instead. Tori tried not to make her disappointment obvious, silently hoping that Beck's aversion to her house would be a temporary thing.
Before her, the screen chimed with an alert regarding the presence of 'AndreH', something that really shouldn't have made her stomach claw with nerves. Andre was the first friend she'd made at Hollywood Arts, after all, but ever since Jade had commented on him wanting to 'get into her pants', Tori had struggled to look at him quite the same. She was already facing the dilemma of pining over a more-than-taken boy; she didn't need the additional problem of having to reject one of her closest friends in the meantime.
"Hey Andre!" She said cheerily as the boy in question filled the screen. She hoped that her tone came across as genial and friendly, not letting on her intense anxieties.
"Hey girl. How's it going?" Andre replied, and Tori internally cringed.
"All good." Tori beamed. "Oh hey, here's Cat."
Giggles filled her speakers as Cat's request to join the chat was accepted. Whilst Tori was glad that the group had expanded beyond just her and Andre, she couldn't help but feel that creeping irritation that was almost ever-present when she was around Cat. The girl was so pure and innocent that Tori always felt an accompaniment of guilt alongside her annoyance, but, god, was Cat hard work. Even the most patient of saints couldn't deny that. Which is why she found Cat and Jade's close relationship so so odd.
"Hi, hi!" Cat chirped, and Tori had to restrain herself from rolling her eyes.
"Hey, Lil' Red." Andre smiled. "You ready to get working on this script?"
"I sure am! Can it include a giraffe?" Cat requested, holding her purple stuffed toy up to the camera.
Tori opened her mouth to kindly decline, but Andre was quick to it. "Maybe if it works with the story, but we've got to work that out first I'm afraid." He explained with a light laugh.
This seemed to be explanation enough for Cat and the purple giraffe left the frame. Tori couldn't help but wonder why a sixteen-year-old girl still carried around a stuffed animal. She'd stopped caring for them before she left elementary school.
A final alert popped up on Tori's screen and she was relieved to see that the last member of the group, undoubtedly her favourite, was joining the call. Beck lacked Cat's unpredictability and Andre's slight awkwardness, but, miserably, also the attraction of the latter. In return, however, she couldn't deny that she was irresistibly attracted to the boy in question, even more so due to the tiny puppy settled in his lap, visible as his laptop joined the call.
"Yo Beck, what's with the dog?" Andre enquired.
"It's my neighbour's." Beck explained, flashing the group a million-dollar smile. His teeth were perfect, Tori couldn't help but notice. It seemed that every day she found something new about him to admire. Every time, however, she had to remind herself that he had a girlfriend, he had a child for god's sake, and she wasn't that kind of girl. Well, apart from the Danny thing... but that was different! They had history, and it was a stupid mistake, as they'd both agreed. Emotions had got the better of her, but they wouldn't again, she was sure of it.
"They can't look after their own dog?"
"She's at cheerleading practice so she asked me to look after him. And look at him," Beck said, holding the dog up to the screen. "how could I say no?"
Cat pouted at the screen as the dog licked its own nose. Tori couldn't help but feel that the dog was purely getting in the way of her view of Beck.
"Your neighbour's a cheerleader? And you've never thought to mention that before?" Andre asked, raising his eyebrow.
"She's nine, Andre. You'll find yourself on a list with that attitude." Beck smirked, as his friend flushed and shrunk in on himself.
"I- you-" Andre stuttered. "Hey, we've got a project to do, right?" He said, shifting the topic of conversation.
"Yes, yes we do." Tori replied, eager to shift the conversations away from cheerleaders, even if they were the prepubescent kind. "So, we're looking for ideas for a dilemma. Something different, something fun to write about."
"How about a giraffe that gets lost in space?" Cat asked, and Tori grimaced.
"Or a human?" Andre suggested, kindly.
"Or a girl who's really interested in space and she thinks that'll be her career path but then she breaks her leg and can't be an astronaut any more so she becomes a singer and then wins a Grammy?" Tori suggested, mentally patting herself on the back for her creativity.
"Umm, it's only ten pages, so that might be a little much." Beck frowned, and Tori's face dropped. "We might be better off with something a little simpler. Everyday kind of problems, you know."
Tori couldn't help but think that the 'everyday problems' contained even within their small circle differed massively from person to person. She'd never had to deal with an obsessively jealous girlfriend or a psychotic relative.
"Like, forgetting your homework?" Andre suggested.
"Yeah, or being late for school?" Beck nodded.
"Or keeping your brother out of the sugar jar?" Cat suggested.
"Uhh, maybe something a little more universal, Cat." Andre grimaced.
But Cat hadn't even registered the response, too busy shouting something at her brother. Tori, Beck and Andre continued brainstorming, as Cat wondered in and out of frame, occasionally shouting "Marco!" followed by a concerning instruction such as "stop chewing my door" or "take my shoes off". When she was in the frame, she was disengaged, barely looking at the camera, and never suggesting anything even remotely usable for the group.
"We could do something to do with a girl applying to college?" Tori suggested, knowing her sister was nearing that stage, and the complicated mess that it could be.
"Yeah that's-"
A huge crash interrupted Andre, his screen shaking as vibrations reverberated around him.
"Grandma, what are you doing?"
"I was swatting a fly, Andre!" Came the shrill cry of what could only be Andre's grandmother. Once his joint caregiver, now Tori was aware that the old woman had, essentially, 'lost her marbles'.
"With a chair?!"
Tori blushed as she witnessed the scene. Not only could she not help feeling a sense of anxiety in that Andre wanted her to be part of that family, but also an embarrassment in that she was watching what should be a private moment of family discomfort.
Andre, several streets away, couldn't help but share the latter sentiment, although shamefully. His grandmother was a flawed woman, with many problems that had spiralled beyond controllable limits, but she was still his grandmother. The woman that had, alongside his mother, cared for him and his younger sister since they were toddlers. The woman that had attended his school recitals and parents' evenings. The woman that had held the hand of his six year-old self and wiped his tears as they drove away from 'Family Day' at his father's prison, after being told that Victor Harris would not be allowed to attend due to partaking in a fight with another inmate the previous day.
Before him, the coffee table was shattered, a potted plant upended on the hardwood floor, and a stack of his sister's schoolbooks split in a heap between the soil and shards of glass.
Naturally, he would be in charge of that cleanup.
He returned to his computer as his grandmother flitted away, complaining about 'bad energy in the air' and beginning to repeatedly open and close the refrigerator. Looking at the clock, he wasn't sure whether to be relieved or on edge that his mother was due to be home in half an hour. In his house, 30 minutes often felt like a lifetime.
Andre looked down at his screen, his friends almost frozen in concern and uncertainty. He chewed his lip and tried to squash the incoming heat of embarrassment. Trying not to suppress his wishes for a 'normal family' whilst also trying to ignore the awkward faces on his friends was some task. He didn't want to be ashamed of his home life, but there was something in Tori's face that made him feel like she expected him to be.
"Maybe we should do this later." Tori commented, unnerved by the appearance of Andre's grandmother. God knows what her friend had told the unstable woman of his feelings, and she didn't want to make a lasting impression that couldn't be backed up.
"No, no, let's get it done now." Andre insisted, shaking his head, his mind flicking to the paperwork he had to complete later that night in order to ensure his scholarship place the following year, in addition to the four-hour shift at Yotally Togurt that would inevitably turn his brain into yogurt.
"Yeah, I have work later." Beck agreed. "Let's just go with that college application idea, that was cool."
Tori blushed a little at the indirect compliment, before internally cursing herself for reacting.
But things failed to remain smooth among the group. For every step forward they made in regard to the script, there was a distracting noise from Cat's computer. Tori wasn't sure the redhead had contributed a single word to the project, and she wasn't sure how she felt about them all getting the same grade for something that there had been varying effort levels in.
"Cat, is there somewhere else you can work? I don't know what's going on in your house but you seem too distracted to work on the project." Tori sighed, finally.
Cat bit her lip. "I'm sorry, it's just my brother. He - it's - he's not very happy."
"Is there a different room you can go to where you won't hear him?" Tori asked.
"Um, well..." Cat began, unsure. "...yeah, I'll find somewhere."
"Great." Tori replied. Now they might finally get some work done.
"Be back in a bit." Cat signed off, her screen disappearing.
"Okay, so maybe we can try and get on with things now." Tori said. "I was thinking-"
Her train of thought was cut off by a request for 'ScissorLuv' to join the chat. Whilst the person behind the avatar was surely obvious, the irrational part of Tori tried to assure herself that it was someone, anyone, else.
"Who's that now?" She groaned.
"It's Jade. Let me see what she wants." Beck replied, accepting the request before Tori could decline.
Tori's screen momentarily filled with the angry-looking face of Jade West. Tori's eyes flitted from the pierced eyebrow to the blue hair streaks and tried not to gulp at the thought of the inevitable oncoming wrath.
"Hey." Beck smiled, lifting a hand up at his girlfriend.
"What's this?" Jade asked, her tone dripping with annoyance.
"We're doing a project. For scriptwriting class." Beck explained, with thinly veiled frustration.
"I thought you said you were going to take Toby swimming."
"I said I might be able to take Toby swimming, but then we decided to do this today. I texted you. Didn't you get it?"
"I don't see why- what is that?" Jade asked, pointing presumably at the puppy in Beck's lap. Clearly not a dog person then, Tori noted. Any surprise there?
"It's my neighbours dog. I'm looking after him while she's out."
"At cheerleading practice." Andre butted in, clearly bored of not having said something for a while.
Beck rolled his eyes in anticipation as Jade seemed to somewhat explode on the screen before them.
"So you can dogsit for a cheerleader but you can't look after your own son?"
"I'm doing a project." Beck deadpanned, clearly frustrated by the relentless questioning.
"And why are you doing favours for a cheerleader anyway? If you're doing that for her, what is she doing for you?" Jade raised an eyebrow suggestively.
Tori shrunk in on herself, also not wanting to imagine the 'favours' a cheerleader could be doing for Beck.
"Jade, come on. You know that I wouldn't-"
"I'm coming over." Jade said defiantly, closing her screen window before Beck could protest.
The boy in question ran a hand through his hair in frustration and Tori couldn't help but feel for him. Jade was permanently annoyed. How draining must that be for a 16-year-old boy to cope with, on top of the other responsibilities by which he was plagued? She admired Beck's strength and resilience, unsure that she could put up with such treatment herself.
Andre, on the other hand, couldn't help but feel a wave of guilt wash over him at Jade's reaction. He hadn't meant to seriously poke at her jealousy, assuming that Beck would clarify that the cheerleader in question was only nine. Now seeing the rift he'd aided between the young couple, he couldn't ignore the shame that nestled inside him.