Unlike his friends, Beck appeared relatively unbothered by Jade's outburst. Unsurprised, more likely, Andre guessed, as the trio began to work their way through the script in a far more progressive manner than previously. Knowing that Jade's arrival at Beck's would halt proceedings, Andre was keen to keep going. He'd barely even noticed that Cat hadn't returned until her screen name popped up, requesting to join the call.

"Hi, hi, I'm back!" The redhead exclaimed cheerily as she re-entered the chat.

"Hey, girl." Andre greeted her, before immediately finding himself intrigued by her surroundings. Behind her, was what looked like scaffolding, in front of suspiciously familiar black painted walls, almost as if she was in-

"Cat, are you at school?"

"What?" Cat blanched, taking a look around herself as though she didn't know where she was.

"I swear that's the Black Box." Andre clarified.

"What, um, oh yeah, yeah I am." Cat chuckled, awkwardly.

"Why are you at school? Matter of fact, how are you at school?" Andre laughed.

"Oh, they let me in. I said I needed someplace to work, so they said cool."

"That doesn't..." Andre began, momentarily questioning the matter, but then he realised than any probe into the matter would probably result in a lengthy conversation. Certainly, it would derail any chance the group had of finishing the script before Andre's work shift that evening. "...ah, whatever, we'll catch you up."

He started rolling off the basics of what the group had written so far, and Tori felt that this was a good opportunity to zone out and daydream. Beck and puppies... Beck and kittens... Beck and ducklings... Beck with ducklings in a pond... Beck with his shirt off in a pond...

A loud banging sound ripped Tori from this reverie, and she looked up to see Beck, fully clothed in reality, once again looking rather irritated.

"Beck! I'll break this thing down!" Came the expected scream from his girlfriend.

Beck raised an unimpressed eyebrow, before calling back that the door was unlocked.

Tori couldn't help but gape when Jade subsequently walked in with her infant child in arms, in disbelief that anyone, even the reckless Jade West, would break down a door whilst holding a defenceless baby.

"Here." Jade said, handing Beck the baby, who looked surprisingly calm despite the anger peeling off his mother in waves. Maybe he was used to it by now. "If you can look after a mutt, you can look after your child."

Beck sighed but took the baby. Tori couldn't help but squirm seeing someone for whom she already had heart eyes holding a tiny puppy in one hand and a tiny baby in the other. Was there anything he could do that wasn't attractive?

"So, where's this cheerleader that's got you bending to her every will?" Jade demanded.

Beck rolled his eyes. "She's on her way back from practice. She'll be like five minutes"

"Then I'll wait." Jade replied defiantly, plopping down on the couch next to Beck.

"Knock yourself out." Beck replied, earning himself a glare.

"Okay, now that we've interviewed anyone and everyone, can we please get on with this thing?" Andre begged, a rare flash of frustration bleeding through his tone.

Tori raised an eyebrow in response. "Hey, calm down Andre, we've got ages to finish this." Why on earth was he getting so tetchy - with her too, when she wasn't even doing anything annoying?

Andre bit back a retort, his teeth grinding into each other in a manner that would have dentists screaming at him. In reality, he hadn't seen a dentist in over five years. His mom had said that she would rather be covered for if he broke a bone or had a cardiac arrest or something, which he decided was fair enough. He was sure Tori didn't have to choose between health and dental, however. And she sure as hell didn't have scholarship forms littering her desk.

He looked up to see if he could catch the eye of the one other person he knew also did.

Jade West, however, was simply picking at her nails. He wasn't sure if she'd even heard Tori. Once upon a time she had stuck up for him in these matters, and they'd found comfort in complaining about all the rich and stable people they knew who ultimately just didn't understand the intricacies of their complicated lives. Unfortunately, these days it seemed that Jade had little time for others. Not that she was self-centred, but Toby-centred.

With no one speaking up to defend him, Andre let the matter slide, as usual, and his friends returned to the script. Andre tried to contribute, but Tori's comment had distracted him to an unforeseen level. Was it because she never told Beck to calm down when he was fighting with Jade? Or Robbie when he was stressing about one of the millions of things he got stressed about. Andre wasn't sure, but he was sure that it made him uncomfortable.

It took a while before the academic conversation was broken once again, and Andre was expecting it to such a degree that he wasn't even surprised when Jade spoke up. Something was going to happen sooner or later.

"Cat, why are you at school?" Jade asked, real concern pooling in her features as she looked up at Beck's screen for the first time since arriving and noticed her best friend's unfamiliar surroundings.

"Um, I told the security guard that I needed somewhere quiet to work and they let me in." Cat explained, nervously.

"Hollywood Arts has a security guard? Who let you into the school on a Saturday?" Jade asked, unconvinced.

"Yeah, he's called... Mike. Mike, and he said that I could stay for as long as I want."

"Mike? What's his second name?"

"Um, he doesn't have one. It's just Mike."

"Cat, are you-"

"Oh, Mike's calling me, gotta go, bye!" Cat cried, shrilly, hanging up before Jade could continue questioning her.

"No, Cat!" Tori groaned. "We really need to do this project."

Jade scoffed loudly. "Are you serious? Cat's acting that suspicious and all you care about is your stupid project? Some friend you are." She said, shaking her head contemptuously.

Tori was taken aback. Jade attempting to lecture her on the basics of friendship was comical. Desperately wracking her brains for an appropriately scathing response, she fell at a blank. Why couldn't she be as mean as Jade sometimes?

A knock from someone's screen interrupted her thoughts. At the sight of both Beck and Jade turning round, and the former calling for someone to 'come in', she registered that Jade was about to be royally humbled. She couldn't suppress her grin at the thought of the evil girl realising that she'd felt threatened by a preteen.

The sight didn't disappoint. As the young girl slipped into the RV, her cheerleading outfit paired with two blonde pigtails, Jade's eyes grew into saucers. Not quite the busty stripper-cum-cheerleader she'd been expecting, Tori thought gleefully.

"Hey, Beck." The girl chirped, heading over to where the boy was sat.

"Hey, Allie. How was cheerleading?" Beck smiled.

"It was great, thanks. I learned how to do an aerial!" Allie almost vibrated with excitement. Jade looked on, stony-faced.

"Is this your girlfriend?" Allie whispered, pointing at Jade.

"It is. Allie, this is my girlfriend, Jade. Jade, this is my neighbour, Allie."

"Hi Allie." Jade said awkwardly, as the girl waved at her. Tori felt like she was watching a reality TV show.

"Is she Toby's mommy?" Allie asked. Tori enjoyed the fact that the girl was speaking to Beck as though Jade wasn't even there. She thought that Jade could do with that happening to her a little more often.

"She is. And the little one's over there if you want to say hi." Beck replied, pointing at Toby's travel cot.

Allie squealed and hopped over to the crib, gasping as she saw the little baby inside.

"He's so cute!" She said excitedly.

"I know." Beck grinned, as Allie made her way back to the couple.

"Can I tell you a secret?" Allie asked.

"Sure." Beck replied, furrowing his brow for a second before straightening himself and leaning towards Allie.

Tori couldn't help but lean in too, not that she needed to, given that Allie's whisper of "your girlfriend's pretty" was audible even to Jade.

Jade blushed and looked away, the shade of red deepening as Beck replied "I know" with a smirk.

"Thank you for watching Sparkles." Allie said, retrieving the dog from Beck.

"Anytime. I'm happy to do a favour for my favourite cheerleader." Beck grinned, seeing Allie out of the door.

"Wow, Jade, looks like you've got some competition there." Tori goaded, Andre and Beck laughing along with her.

"You didn't tell me she was nine!" Jade spat, angrily.

"You didn't give me a chance!" Beck retorted.

"I've been sat here for half an hour!"

"I mean before! You just immediately said that you were coming over. You get so jealous, Jade-"

"Um guys-" Tori began, aware that, whilst it had initially been entertaining, this fight was now interrupting their group project.

"Stay out of this, Tori!" Jade yelled, slamming down on the 'end call' button.

"Does it turn you on to see me angry or something?" Jade asked, turning to Beck as soon as the connection had ended.

"What? Of course not." Beck replied, incredulously.

"Then why do you do absolutely everything in your power to piss me off?"

"You do everything in your power to get pissed off!" Beck retorted, exasperated.

"Only because you provoke me!"

"That's ridiculous." Beck replied, standing up to walk away from his girlfriend. Unfortunately for him, she had the same idea and the two were at loggerheads once again.

"Is it? You could've nipped this in the bud by telling me she was nine, so why didn't you?"

"I don't know, maybe because it doesn't matter how old she is. She could be nineteen and it still wouldn't be wrong of me to babysit her fucking dog."

"You just love to make me jealous." Jade laughed caustically.

"Jade, would you listen to yourself? You're jealous over the father of your child looking after a kid's puppy."

"No, I'm not! Of course you'd phrase it like that! I'm annoyed that you let me think that you're doing favours for someone else instead of looking after your son, and that you didn't just tell me she was nine!" Jade responded, her fury reaching a new gear. Toby grizzled from his cot, almost uncertain as to whether now was a good time to try to get his parents' attention.

"Like I said, why does it matter?" Beck yelled.

"It matters because you could've stopped me getting upset but you chose not to! How do you think that makes me feel?"

"You make yourself upset!"

"No I fucking don't! You think I want to feel jealous and insecure?"

"Then why do you?"

"Because you make me feel that way!" Jade replied, tears stinging at her eyes.

"Well maybe that's the only way I can know that you actually love me!"

A silence descended over the stormy couple. Jade stared directly into Beck's eyes as he felt the beginnings of regret tear at him.

"You think I don't love you?" Jade asked, her voice free from malice.

"No, of course not, I just..." Beck trailed off, not knowing what to say.

"Beck, you just admitted that you make me upset on purpose. What the fuck is up with that?"

Beck sighed. He truly had no response, because Jade was right, and everything he had said was the truth.

"I'm going to find Cat. I'll be back for him later." Jade said, picking up her bag and heading towards the door.

"Jade, wait-" Beck began, but it was a pathetic attempt. She was already halfway out of the door.

The sound of Jade's exhaust masked the noise of Beck's foot hitting the side of the RV.

The call, meanwhile, had not ended simply when the tumultuous couple had hung up. Tori was left speechless as Jade had essentially told her to fuck off, whilst Andre bit his lip at the thought of the messy argument that would inevitably be occurring on the other side of town.

"Well that was..."

"Yeah."

Tori sighed. "I guess we may as well just do this another day. We can't do a group project with only half the group." Whilst this was true, Tori's ulterior motive had more to do with the fact that spending a significant amount of time face-to-face with just Andre felt immoral. Not only did she not want to give him an opportunity to say something that would ruin their friendship, but she also didn't want to lead him on. The best solution, she decided, was to avoid being alone with him altogether, including over technology.

"Hey, wait, I reckon we could finish it just us." Andre suggested. Whilst no one wanted an unsubmitted assignment on their record, he knew he really couldn't afford that. His chances of receiving a scholarship for the following year were already tight, and he simply couldn't risk giving that board of stale, male and pale trustees an excuse not to keep him on. If only his friends could understand that, yes their school was fun and different, but it had to be serious as well. A carefree academic attitude was a privilege he simply did not have access to.

Tori was afraid of this. Andre clearly wanted to spend time with her, alone, a thought which made her incredibly anxious. She wondered if she had to be a little harsher, to really get it through to him that she liked him as a friend, but only as a friend. God forbid she would have to have that conversation explicitly.

"I don't think it'll work Andre, sorry." She paused for effect, the actor that she was. "And I think my mom's calling me now, so I'm going to go."

"Wait, Tori-"

But she was already gone. Andre banged his keyboard in frustration. Why did no one else seem to understand that schoolwork wasn't a choice for him? He mentally cursed himself for only hanging around with people who had their shit together. Financially, anyway, he thought, considering that whatever Jade and Beck had going on could not be considered as 'having their shit together'. Sighing, Andre opened up the shared document the group had been working on, and saved a copy to his laptop. If no one else was going to take this seriously, then he guessed he would have to. He pressed the enter key so hard that it left an indent on his finger.

This was bad - Andre was in love with her. Tori wasn't sure how this had happened, but it was now clear to see. She'd just tried to be his friend, honestly, but clearly that had been taken the wrong way.

Niceness bites you in the ass once again.

Tori groaned and opened up the shared document the group had been working on. At least there was an outlet for her dilemma.

The upbeat tone of Cat's mobile was markedly incongruent with her grim surroundings, the dustbunnied catwalk above the Black Box theatre. Though dark and dingy, it was quiet, however, meaning that Cat found it something of a sanctuary from the chaos of her own home. She'd found herself there on an admittedly frequent number of occasions of late. She was glad that there wasn't really a monogamous security guard posted to keep her out. Instead, it was surprisingly easy to hoist herself through the never-locked window of Sikowitz's classroom and navigate to the Black Box. A couple of times, she'd had to avoid cleaners, but she was small, careful and quiet, and the final place at which she came to rest was thankfully beyond their sight.

Jade's contact flashed up on Cat's screen and she debated whether or not to answer. She imagined that her best friend had argued with Beck and needed an audience to whom she could vent. Cat didn't really feel like noise right now.

"Hello?" Cat whispered warily, always conscious of making noise when she was in the school after-hours.

"Hey, Cat, you still at school?"

"Yeah."

"Stay there, I'll come pick you up."

"You don't have to, Jade."

Cat chewed her fingernails nervously, sure that Jade would take her home, the house that she felt least comfortable in right now.

"It's fine, Cat, I don't mind. I'll be there in five."

"No, really." Cat retorted. "Danny will pick me up."

"Danny?"

"Yeah, you know, the guy I've been seeing?" Cat was glad Jade couldn't see her as she shook her head. Jade didn't pay attention to anything that didn't involve Toby, or Beck and other girls, these days.

"Oh, right, yeah, of course." Jade muttered, clearly caught off guard. "So, how's that going?"

"It's good." Cat grinned, thinking of the days she'd spent so far with Daniel. "He treats me so well. I really like him."

"That's great Cat, I'm happy for you. He ask you to be his girlfriend yet?"

"Not yet. I think he will soon though. Tonight, maybe?" Cat thought, hopefully. Either way, it had to be coming soon.

"Wow, that's - that's great Cat. When will I get to meet him?"

"Soon." Cat replied, thinking of Danny dropping into Hollywood Arts to take her out on lunch dates, or picking her up from school in his swanky Ford.

"I look forward to it. And you're 100% sure you don't want picking up right now?" Jade clarified.

Cat shook her head despite knowing Jade couldn't see her. "No thanks, Danny's got it."

"Yeah, of course. Well, I'll see you later then."

"See you, Jade." Cat replied, clicking off the call and immediately navigating to Danny's contact.

Jade, on the other end of the line, stared up at the Hollywood Arts building, and slowly pulled away.