Final Project
III.
Saturday evening, Cat contacted everyone to see if they wanted to go out since it would be the last night they all got to spend with each other. Everyone agreed on "KaraOKAAAAY" (and yes, you have to pronounce the last two syllables like Lil' Jon), which was formally Karaoke Dokie, but the guy that owned it got put out of business when he was always rigging the contests for his daughter to win.
They were all sitting at their usual table, snacking on appetizers and sipping their sodas as they listened to a few amateurs try their hand at karaoke. Some were bad, some were okay, some were better than they looked.
"So I found out who my China partner is," Cat said, deciding to bring up their final project, "His name's Aaron, but he was never in any of my classes. So I looked him up on The Slap, then I tried messaging him and calling him, but he didn't answer. So I found his address and went to his house. I knocked, but no one answered, but then I realized that the door was unlocked so—."
"You just went into his house?" Robbie asked incredulously.
Cat slapped him on the arm and looked hurt, "Aw, Robbie, I'm telling the story! And you just ruined the surprise!"
"It was going to be a surprise that you went into his house after you said the door was unlocked?" Tori asked, assuming everyone else knew she was going to say the same thing.
"Let me finish!" Cat yelled, tugging at her hair. She seemed like she was getting extremely ticked off, but then suddenly flashed a smile, "Anyway, I went inside and called for him, but still no answer. So I went upstairs and the first room happened to be Aaron's," she leaned in further across the table like she had a secret, "And you wanna know what he was doing in his room?"
The rest of the group leaned in, too, suddenly interested in what Cat caught this random boy doing.
"He was…baby talking to his lizard."
Everyone leaned back. Well, that put an end to that story.
"I'm gonna go pick a song," Jade suddenly announced as she stood up, "Want to sing with me, Cat?"
"Yea, I get to pick a song!" Cat exclaimed, throwing all her French fries in the middle of the table for some reason.
"No, you don't."
"Jade gets to pick a song!" Cat corrected herself without missing a beat, getting up from her seat to follow Jade.
"I'm gonna get another drink. Tori, you want another?" Andre asked as he, too, stood up.
Tori smiled at him, "Yes, please."
After Andre walked away, Beck leaned forward to look around Robbie (because he was the one sitting between Beck and Tori), "So you all ready to go to Tokyo?"
Tori leaned forward in excitement, "Yes! I picked out some outfits that I think would fit in pretty well over there, but I'm thinking about getting one of those cute school girl outfits once we get there."
"Ah, that'll be cute," Beck commented, taking a short sip from his drink, "Last night I was looking up some plays that they have going on around that area, you know, so I can get a feel of how they portray characters over there."
"That sounds fun; maybe I'll join you since I have to study their culture, too. Maybe we can—."
"I'm going to play with the kangaroos," Robbie all of a sudden butted in. Beck and Tori both looked at him with confusion, wondering if he was planning on going anywhere else with his statement. When he saw their eyes were firmly fixed on him, he got nervous and got up quickly, "Excuse me."
They watched him go before turning back to each other, Beck sliding into Robbie's seat to sit closer to her, "Anyway, Tokyo actually has a lot of stuff going on. At the parks there's always a wedding going on, and they have a lot of night time festivals, and ceremonies at temples and shrines, and—."
"Wow, you really did your research," Tori laughed, playing with a nacho as she dipped it in and out of the cheese that was on her plate, "I haven't looked up anything. Mind if I just follow your lead?"
She was half joking, so was slightly surprised when he replied: "Well, that's what I was hoping. I mean, the school paired people up for a reason, right?"
Tori gave a small smile, "Right, I just didn't know how comfortable you felt 'cause of the—."
"Here's Jade West and Cat Valentine singing "Beautiful Liar"," the DJ yelled into the mike, the whole place clapping loudly since the two of them singing together became somewhat of a tradition, and everyone loved listening to them.
Tori and Beck were among the people to stop their conversation for a moment to listen to them, watching as Jade and Cat slowly emerged from the dark corners of the stage.
"He said I'm—worth it, his one de-sire…" Jade began the song.
Andre came back with his and Tori's drinks, sitting down beside her again and wrapping his arm around her shoulders, "You planning on singing tonight?"
Tori shrugged and leaned against him, "I dunno, maybe. You wanna sing with me?"
"Absolutely, Baby Girl, let's get this place fallin' in love," he joked, both of them sharing a quick laugh.
"You know you're gonna have a blast in Japan with all the karaoke clubs," Beck said, grinning at Tori from just thinking how popular she could make herself over there.
"Ay! Let's not kill the karma. Ay! Let's not start a fight…" Jade and Cat both sang, their backs against each other as they tried to portray the betrayal and joining of the song.
Tori pounded on the table excitedly, "I know, I want to learn a song in Japanese so I can sing it over there and also when we come back to Hollywood Arts."
"I could try to learn some of it, too, so when we have to perform our play, we can end it with the song…you know, like how we did when…you were a zombie?" Beck chuckled, remembering how they fooled Sophia Michelle.
Tori covered her face just remembering it, "Ugh, I hope nothing like that happens again."
Andre sat listening to them, becoming slightly jealous that they were planning their next month together, and he wouldn't be able to be anywhere in the picture. He didn't even know who he got paired with, and quite honestly, he didn't care. He didn't get paired up with anyone in his circle, and he definitely didn't get as lucky as Beck.
"Oh, can't we laugh about it?" Cat sang with as much emotion as she could muster as the song came close to ending.
"Hahaha!" Jade did the sarcastic, breathy laugh into the microphone.
Then they both joined to finish up the song, "Oh! It's not worth our time! Oh! We can live without him! Just a beautiful liar!"
The whole place erupted in clapping and whistling, Beck, Tori, and Andre included even though they were more focused on their conversation than the two girls singing.
Jade and Cat jumped off the stage, Cat bouncing back over to the table as Jade went around it and stood behind Tori, "I think you took my seat."
Tori looked up at her, "Um, no, I've been sitting here the whole time."
Beck explained what happened, "Yeah, actually, I'm sitting in Robbie's seat, and your seat was two seats down from this, but you can take my seat now if you—."
Before he could finish, Jade grabbed the back of Tori's chair and tipped it forward, causing her to fall off her chair and land on the floor.
"Jade!" Beck, Andre, and Cat all yelled at once. Robbie was just then making his way back over to their table.
"That was really unnecessary," Beck said with slight disgust, as he grabbed Tori's one arm, Andre grabbing the other, to help her stand up.
Tori wiped herself off, feeling more embarrassed than anything. She swallowed back some tears that threatened to escape, but didn't want to embarrass herself more, and also didn't want to let Jade know that she was really hurt she was acting this way again.
"It's okay," Tori said, clearing her throat and walking to the other side of Andre to sit down, "Jade can sit there."
Andre rubbed her shoulder, "You okay?"
Tori only nodded, glad that Cat placed Tori's drink in front of her again so she could at least play with the straw. She was shocked when Beck was once again on her opposite side, kneeling down next to her, "I'm sorry, Tor, I'm going to have a talk with her."
Tori looked suddenly worried, "No, it's okay, you don't have—."
"What, so she moves and you have to follow her?" Jade crossed her arms, her anger and jealousy rising higher and higher than she had felt in a very long time.
Beck grabbed Jade's arm and began pulling her toward the door, "We're leaving."
"Good. I was done here anyway," Jade shot one last glare at Tori before twirling around to follow Beck.
The remaining four sat in silence for a moment, before Cat offered: "Sorry, Tori."
Tori shook her head, "It's not your fault. I understand why she's upset…"
"Whether she's upset or not…" Andre started, still rubbing her back, "She still has no reason to act like this."
Sighing, Tori rested her elbow on the table and her chin in her palm, "Maybe I should try to get switched…"
"I think it might be too late for that," Robbie said softly.
"Plus, that'll mean Jade wins…" Cat said, twirling a piece of her hair around her finger.
Tori glanced at the three of them. Is this really about who wins or loses…?
Outside of KaraOKAAAAY, Jade ripped her arm free of Beck's grasp, "So how'd you like my performance?" Before Beck could answer, she answered for him, "Oh yeah, you weren't paying attention. You were too busy talking to Tori."
"Jade, that was one of the worst things I've seen you do in awhile," Beck started, completely ignoring her previous accusation, "And I don't know if I can handle…this…" He waved his hand up and down her, "again."
She instantly went on the defense when she realized that Beck was looking to skip the fight and go right for what could possibly be the end, "Beck, come on, it wasn't that bad. She only fell like two feet."
"It's the principle of it, Jade," Beck ran his hand through his hair in frustration, "I mean, maybe we shouldn't be together if it's just going to make you on edge for the next mon—."
"Stop!" She yelled suddenly, holding up her hands with defiance in her eyes, "Don't even go there, Beck! You said last night that there was no way we were going to break up before we all left. And I'm not leaving you a free man to Tori when you—."
"Okay, you stop now. Whether I'm single or not, Tori is still dating Andre. You wanna know why?" He stepped toward her, putting his face right in front of hers, "Because he's handling it maturely!"
"Would you stop using that word?" Jade spat back, "How I feel about this arrangement has nothing to do with—."
"Jade."
Jade stopped when she heard her name, turning around to see Tori standing outsides the doors.
"I'll try to contact Helen in the morning and see if I can switch."
Jade began to smile but it quickly dissipated when Beck stepped around her, "Tori, no. If Jade can't handle this, that's her problem. Don't let her keep ruining your plans."
"Excuse me!" Jade's eyes widened at her boyfriend, "She offers to fix everything and you tell her not to?"
"Her switching is not going to fix everything," Beck said, folding his fingers behind his head in frustration, "If anything, it's only going to make it worse. When I'm paired up with someone new, all I'm going to think about the whole time is how you forced Tori to switch because she's such a nice person, that she doesn't want to see even someone like you upset. Well guess what, Jade, high school ends soon! Who knows where we're going to end up afterward. Are you gonna plant a tracking device on me so you know where I'm at and who I'm with every second we're apart? That is not how I want to be in a relationship."
All three of them stood in awkward silence after Beck's little vent. Tori rubbed her arm and stared at the ground, Beck kept his hands behind his head as he looked up into the sky, and Jade looked from Tori to Beck with very tight lips and narrowed eyes. Beck was the only one that was ever able to make her cry, and she felt the sting behind her eyes.
Jade kept her voice lowered so Tori wouldn't be able to hear the crack that came with her words, "Can we talk this over somewhere else?"
Beck stared at her for a very long moment, knowing that she was close to tears. He almost wanted her to start bawling, but at the same time, he didn't want to see her pride hurt in front of Tori, even though she probably deserved it. Sighing, he dropped his hands to his sides, "Yeah, let's go," he turned to Tori, "I'll talk to you later, Tor. And don't even think about switching."
Jade snapped her head quickly away from the two as she began walking toward Beck's car, Beck following close behind, unsure of how their night was going to end.
()()()()()()()()()()
Hey everyone. I'm sorry this story is going slower than I first expected, but I'm trying to build up to Japan instead of just tossing them there. I know those who review (thanks to the few of you!) are lookin' for some Bori, and trust me, it'll get there. Anyway, let me know what you think! Am I making Jade too harsh or overreacting? Or do you think this is about how she'd act? Any of you have any ideas that you may want to see for the story that I'll try to squeeze in somehow?