Hey there! It's been a while as I've had some big life changes and not very much time to write and I wanted to make sure I had a block written before I started posting again, but I've got quite a few chapters ready now so here's number seven. Happy reading!

Being the newbie had been a mixed bag for Tori. She couldn't deny that she was enjoying the attention, and she had a whole library of opinions to share with people who hadn't heard them ten times over and were grey with boredom at her words, as had been the case at Sherwood. The change had come at the right time for her and she was certainly beginning to feel at home.

But, as with any newcomer, there was always the tinge of that imposterish feeling. There was just so much she was yet to catch up on, and the arrival of Jade had made her feel as though she had entered an established group, rather than holding a place as one of its founding

members. No one had even texted her to ask if she was alright after the day's events. Sure, nothing particularly bad had happened, but it would've been nice if they had checked in on her after she was subjected to the ferocity of the scary girl. Or if Beck had shot her a message to apologise for his girlfriend's actions. Or better yet - ex-girlfriend.

No!

She had to stop those kind of thoughts. They were exactly what had gotten her into this mess in the first place. That, and Trina.

"You know, it might've been helpful if you'd have told me a few things rather than running off on my first day." Tori whined towards her sister, who was sat on the couch opposite her, as she suddenly remembered how unhelpful the girl had been on her first day of school. "Like maybe where certain classrooms are or which boys are most definitely off limits."

Trina shot her sister a confused look. "Off limits? What are you talking about? Most of the guys at Hollywood Arts are single."

"Well, does the name Beck Oliver ring a bell to you?"

"Beck Oliver?" Trina snorted. "Oh yeah, he's definitely not on the market. You know he's got a kid?"

"No Trina, I definitely did not know that. Or else I wouldn't have spent the last three weeks having a big massive crush on him!"

"You have a crush on Beck Oliver? Join the queue, sis. Once he breaks up with that goth bitch, I'm next and no cling-ons like Sophie Bunson are gonna get in my way."

"Had, Trina. I'm not gonna have a crush on a guy with a baby. I'm not a home wrecker."

"Suit yourself. But baby daddies are so hot."

Tori shook her head at her sister's audaciousness. How could shamelessly fantasise about being a homewrecker whilst Tori felt wracked with guilt for being unable to shake the initial feelings she had harboured for Beck?

"So irresponsible though." Tori added. "He might be hot but how stupid do you have to be to get a girl pregnant at 16?"

Trina snorted. "So I'm guessing you haven't heard the rumours?"

Tori quirked an eyebrow and sat up. "What rumours?"

"Most people don't even think the baby's his."

Tori gasped. "What, why?"

Trina shrugged. "His girlfriend's kinda... weird... and slutty. It wouldn't shock me is all I'm saying." She said, raising her hands.

"Does Beck know?"

"Clearly not if he's still in the picture." Trina laughed.

Tori was dumbfounded. "Well why has no one told him?"

"Have you met Jade West?" Trina asked, amused.

"Well, yeah, briefly."

"And you're still asking that question?"

"What?" Tori asked, confused.

"If you get on the wrong side of Jade West, she will ruin your life." Trina explained. "Girls like Sophie Bunson are harmless, girls like Jade West aren't."

Tori's mouth dropped agape. "And so no one's gonna tell Beck that he's raising a kid that's not his?"

Trina rolled her eyes. "God, Tori, it's just a rumour. If it's true, I'm sure he'll work it out himself." She said, eyes going back to her magazine.

Tori mulled over this for a second. "So who do you think is the real dad?" She asked, thoughts wondering to the guys who roamed the halls, or Andre, or Robbie - actually, scratch that, there was truly no way it could be Robbie. The boy had a puppet for Christ's sake.

"Well," Trina began, eyes not leaving her magazine. "If you ask me, I think it's probably Ryder Daniels."

"Ryder Daniels? Who's that?"

"Oh Tori, you have so much to learn!" Trina exclaimed, throwing down her magazine. "Ryder Daniels is like the hottest boy at Hollywood Arts."

"Hotter than Beck?" Tori asked, stunned.

Trina groaned. "No, no one is hotter than Beck, Tori. Be serious!"

"But-"

"Ryder Daniels is super hot, but I think he's into Jade which makes him super weird."

"Why does that make him weird?"

"Because, Tori, what normal guy is more into her than me?"

Tori had no answer for this.

"Anyway, no one's ever seen anything happen between them, and he's got a new girlfriend like every week but I don't know, Tori, I've seen them hanging around together, and, realistically, if you could sleep with him then why wouldn't you?"

"I-" Tori stuttered, speechless. She really didn't want her thoughts to stumble in that direction.

"I'm not the only person who believes it, either." Trina shrugged. "Cassie from my math class says that's why neither of them have posted any pictures of it to The Slap." She continued, crudely referring to the baby as though it were an object. "Apparently it has Ryder's eyes."

"The baby has Ryder's eyes?" Tori asked, sceptically.

"Apparently." Trina replied. "Cassie said that they're such a dead giveaway that Jade can't post the baby in case Ryder sees it and works out it's his."

"Wouldn't he know anyway?" Tori asked. "You'd think he'd remember if he'd slept with her."

"Yeah, but who knows how many guys she's been with. God, she probably doesn't even know herself who the father is." Trina replied, shaking her head.

"She really cheats on Beck that much?" Tori gasped, dumbfounded as to how someone so rude could have tied down someone so perfect as Beck and not appreciate it.

"Probably."

"Probably?"

"Well... I don't know for sure but-"

"Well, how many times has she cheated on him then? That you know of?"

"For certain, none, but-"

"Trina! You don't know anything?" Tori exclaimed, realising that her sister had no evidence to back up any of her claims.

"Everyone knows, Tori, there just isn't any proof!" Trina insisted.

"How can everyone know if there's no proof?" Tori replied, exasperated.

"Because it's Jade West!" Trina cried. "She hates everyone and everything - there's no way she wouldn't cheat on him."

Tori rolled her eyes. "Trina, I really need some good, useful tips and insider knowledge about the school and this is not that!"

"How is this not insider knowledge?" Trina threw her hands up in exasperation. "I'm telling you what everyone thinks."

"It isn't insider knowledge, it's just what you and 'Cassie from math' think!"

"That's as insider as you can get! I'm the most popular girl in the school." Trina retorted, completely sincere.

Tori simply rolled her eyes. "Sure, Trina. Because you've told me so much useful stuff."

"Hey, if you can't appreciate the value of what I've told you, that's on you." Trina responded in frustration.

"Tell me something useful then." Tori moaned. "I wanna know what goes on at Hollywood Arts."

"I can tell you the news from the past year?" Trina suggested.

"Yeah, yeah do that." Tori agreed, hoping to clear up the Hollywood Arts scene so she wouldn't get herself into any more situations.

"Okay, so Mikey Malone was like totally into me but-"

"Trina!"

"What?"

"I thought you were telling me about Hollywood Arts?"

"I am! He goes there, I go there."

"I don't wanna hear about you."

"You're so rude, Tori." Trina complained. "You're lucky I'm telling you anything at all."

"Well please can you tell me something, and not to do with you or Mikey Malone, or whatever boy you're convinced has a crush on you this week."

"Fine." Trina huffed. "So, at the start of last year there was a big drama because some freshman overheard people having sex in the janitor's closet and it got back to the teachers and we had a massive speech about 'appropriate conduct' and for weeks no one was allowed to go near the closet or they'd be accused of being one half of the couple and they'd get suspended so-"

"And who was it?" Tori interrupted.

"Don't interrupt me Tori!" Trina glared daggers at her younger sister. "But for your information, no one knows, but someone started a rumour that it was Mr Wilson, this creepy biology teacher, and a senior. Nothing got proven but he left at the end of last year so if you ask me..." She threw her hands up as she let her sentence trail off, making her assumptions quite clear.

"Anyway, that was the big drama for ages." Trina continued. "But then someone found bones on the grounds during gym and there was a whole investigation..."

"Oh my god!" Tori gasped.

"...but it turned out just to be someone's chicken drumstick from lunch."

"Oh." To Tori, there was something distinctly underwhelming about Trina's stories which never seemed to have a satisfying conclusion.

"And then Cat Valentine's brother got arrested and- oh, wait, before that, Jade got pregnant - but yeah, her brother-"

"Wait, wait, go back! I wanna hear about that."

"You wanna hear about the chicken drumstick?" Trina asked, quizzically. "Well, it was-"

"No! Not the drumstick, Trina, Jade!"

"Ohhh, right. Didn't I already explain that?"

"No, all you said was that the baby wasn't Beck's."

"What more is there to know?"

"Everything!" Tori exclaimed. "How did you even find out she was pregnant?"

"Oh, well that is a story." Trina laughed. "You should be asking how everyone else found out from me!"

Tori raised an eyebrow.

"Basically, Jade was wearing baggier clothes than normal, she was always in the toilets when I went in, and I saw her drinking pickle juice at lunch which I read in Cosmo can be a pregnancy craving." Trina nodded wistfully.

"No one else seemed to realise, either." She continued. "I didn't hear a single whisper that she might be pregnant, but if there's one person smart enough to work it out, it's me." She said, tapping her nose. "So, one day, I asked her if she had a spare tampon and she said no- and spat gum in my hair too - but anyway, that confirmed my suspicions, so I waited in the bathroom for her and she suddenly ran in and puked; it was so disgusting. Then, I asked her if she was pregnant and she just laughed in my face so I thought, 'well, I gave you the chance to tell me the truth and you didn't take it' so then I wrote about it on my Slap blog."

"You did what?" Tori exclaimed.

"I wrote about it on my Slap blog, obviously."

"Trina? Why the hell would you do that?" Tori cried, flabbergasted.

"Because it was great gossip, Tori. I wasn't about to wait around for somebody else to take credit for working it out."

"Why would you do that? Oh, god, what did she do after that?"

"Oh, nothing, really." Trina replied, meekly.

"Trina, what did she do?" Tori pressed.

"She smashed my locker with a hammer." Trina replied, avoiding eye contact.

"She did what?" Tori gasped. "Oh my god, she's insane and she hates this family."

"What are you talking about? She shouldn't hate me. I didn't tell anyone it was her that smashed it so she didn't get kicked out."

"I don't think that makes you best friends, Trina!" Tori groaned. "This just gets worse and worse."

"Why do you care so much about Jade anyway?" Trina asked.

"Because she sounds awful and she hates me." Tori sighed, flopping back against the red couch.

"She hates you? How did you manage that already?" Trina replied, amused.

"Did you forget the whole having a crush on Beck thing?"

"Yeah but how does she know that?"

"I might've let something slip in front of her." Tori replied, embarrassed.

Trina only laughed. "Oh, Tori, that was stupid. You do not wanna get on the wrong side of Jade West. I would know."

Suddenly, snippets of conversations she hadn't quite noticed at the time came rushing back to Tori like a flood of dread.

"She's only brave right now because Jade's not here."

"The one you really have to be worried about is Jade West."

"I bet it was that Jade girl."

"You're gonna be dead when Jade finds out you got her part."

How could there have been so many mentions of this girl? So many warnings that had seemingly catapulted themselves right over Tori's head?

She gulped and turned to her sister. "She's not that bad, right?"

"Oh, Tori," Trina sniggered. "she's the worst."