Final Project

XXXVI.

The day of graduation came quicker than the blink of an eye. Helen wanted all the (highly) talented seniors to pitch in and help set up, but the majority of the student body decided they wouldn't show up until it was time to walk across the stage and receive their diploma.

Tori had convinced Beck to come, although, for the past few days, he seemed worried about something that he wasn't willing to talk to her about. She tried as hard as a non-pushy girlfriend could get to figure out what was going on with him, but he always said the same thing: "It's nothing…really."

Cat and Robbie came to help decorate and put up tables as well, but Andre and Jade were nowhere to be seen. The two of them had done a tremendous job of avoiding everyone (Cat and Robbie included), so their absence was really no surprise.

Tori and Cat were up on the stage hanging blue and gold streamers when Helen snuck up behind them.

"Okay, Ladies, here's the lineup!"

Tori jumped and Cat squealed and dropped the roll of streamer down to the ground. Looking over the edge, the three women saw the roll hit the cement and continue rolling in a straight line.

"Haha, it's like a colorful trail! I wonder if it leads to bibble…" Cat's eyes got wide with excitement as she grabbed ahold of Tori's arm.

Tori patted her hand gently, "There's no more bibble, Cat…"

Helen cleared her throat, obviously annoyed that she wasn't the center of attention. She gave the two teenagers a disapproving look before averting her eyes to her clipboard, "The schedule is as follows: Tori Vega, Cat Valentine, Jade West, Andre Harris, and then a duet with Andre and Tori. I assume all of you know what songs you will be performing and have worked it out with the musicians?"

By the way Helen asked it, it was better to just say yes even if it wasn't true. And in Tori's case, it was only half true.

Her and Beck spent the last few days figuring out a song for her to perform for graduation. And though he wasn't terrible at it (there was definitely less talented songwriters out there), he was no Andre Harris. And though she became better at songwriting just by doing it so long with Andre, it was true that all her better songs were primarily written by Andre.

They finally finished the night before, which took a load off her chest, but she still didn't know what was going to happen with her and Andre's duet. Apparently, both her and Andre tried to tell Helen that it wasn't going to happen, but as it was, no one told Helen no.

"I got my song!" Cat announced, apparently very proud of herself. She wrapped a piece of her velvet red hair around her index finger as she gave Tori a nudge, "Tori's life inspired it."

"Should I be afraid…?" Tori asked slowly, not sure she if should trust that innocence shining in Cat's eyes.

Cat giggled, "No, there's no explosives."

Tori gave a look of uncertainty while Helen gave a low, "Well, all right then," and walked away.

"Yoo-hoo!" They heard a voice from the bottom of the stage. Both girls looked over the edge to see Robbie holding the golden streamer roll, "I think you dropped your golden hair, my fair lady!"

Tori rolled her eyes at this, but wasn't too surprised when it got Cat excited, "Ooo, Robbie, climb my hair and save me from this tower!" Cat tore off what her and Tori had already taped to the stage (much to Tori's dismay, but the damage was done before she could even utter a sound) and wrapped it around her hair that she put over one shoulder.

"Uh…" Robbie looked regretful now, "I don't think this will support my—."

"Do it!" Cat yelled in that loud, almost-crazy voice that only she can pull off.

Right away, Robbie jumped on the roll of streamer, only for it to snap halfway between the ground and the stage, leaving him to land on his butt.

Cat seemed worried as she looked over the edge, but Tori couldn't help but laugh a bit. I'm gonna miss them…

"Hey, Tori."

Tori turned around to see Beck standing right at the back of the stage holding a blue centerpiece in his right hand, and a gold centerpiece in his left. The shiny plastic pieces that sprayed from the center made it look like Beck was holding two small fireworks.

"Helen wants three of these on each table. Do you think I should put two blues and one gold, or two gold and one blue?"

She smiled at his uncertainty and thought it was cute that he came to her for decorating advice. It made her wonder if he would be like this when they found a place of their own in New York. She did a sort of happy skip over to him and wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him close. She could feel the plastic strands from the centerpieces tickling the back of her neck when Beck enclosed his arms around her as well.

Though she was still uncertain about where all of her friendships were going to end up (between not only Andre and Jade, but Cat and Robbie as well), her future with Beck was seeming more and more positive and she was so glad she had someone to share her future with. She was happy she had at least one person to hold onto.

"Three gold," she whispered in his ear before laughing and kissing him on the cheek, "Because I'm gold, baby!" Beck smiled back at her because he caught the joke and the reference.

"I've tried to let it go, But these butterflies I can't ignore! 'Cause every time I look at you, know we're in a catch twenty-two!"

Tori opened up graduation with a bang. She took center stage and instantly won the crowd, her smile so big that her cheekbones seemed more prominent than usual.

"We've been friends for so long, but I need to tell you what's on my mind. I'm sick and tired of playing games! 'Cause I know that you feel the same!"

Looking down, she saw a mass of people dancing, some by themselves and others with their good friends or better halves. The only one that wasn't dancing (that she could spot easily) was Beck. He was standing in the middle of the crowd, his hands in his pockets that made him seem so casual yet appealing at once.

Her eyes met his as she sang.

"I know you inside out, so I'm asking now: Take a chance on me. How much clearer can I be?"

His smirk grew as the beat picked up, and he nodded his head to the song…their song. A song he was actually able to write with Tori. He was now able to feel how proud Andre must have been all those times when Tori performed one of his songs. It was definitely an honor to be involved with someone with so much talent.

"Hey, boy, whatcha gonna do? If you want me like I want you, then man up, and make your move. I'm—Go-ld, Go-ld! You, me, good as can be. Want to be more than your company. So bet your money on me. I'm—Go-ld. Go-ld!"

As it would have it, Tori wore a short, white-golden dress that hugged her in all the right places. She wore minimal make-up and did nothing special with her hair, however, so the dress in no way made her look gaudy.

Beck wore a white-golden silk tie to match her attire, but although it was only a small piece of his three piece suit, it automatically connected the two of them as a couple at their graduation.

When Tori tore her eyes away from him to continue being her exuberant self on stage, he looked around to see if he spotted anyone he knew. His eyes did catch Cat and Robbie, and they looked like they were having some sort of serious conversation. He frowned, because he assumed the two of them would be the ones having the best time here. Robbie got up the nerve to ask Cat to be his date, she said yes (with no strings or complications attached), and they both were ecstatic about it. So what could be going on?

He considered going over there to see, but didn't want to disturb their moment in case it was something they had to get off their chests before high school was officially over.

He heard Tori's voice echoing throughout the area as his eyes settled on Jade. She was by the punchbowl with a red solo cup in her hand. She wore a pitch black dress with a gold belt wrapped around her center. She had her blue strands in her hair that somehow flowed and mixed-in like she was born with it.

Feeling eyes on her, Jade's eyes turned to meet his own. If he hadn't dated her for so long, his first instinct would have been to look away. But instead, he held her gaze. He tried to smile, to smirk, or even give a small tug of his lips, but nothing was happening. She remained straight-faced as well. And for the first time, he literally could not read a single thing in her eyes.

She turned away before he could try any harder.

Though he wanted to make amends, he knew graduation wasn't the place to do it; in fact, it would only cause a very bad scene.

He looked around for Andre. Nothing. Did Andre even show up? Did he somehow make arrangements to get his diploma without walking across the stage? That would be such a shame…Beck always pictured all of them walking together, going out to celebrate afterwards, reminisce on all the good times…

The people around him suddenly burst into loud applause and whistles as Tori's song ended. Beck clapped as well, waving his hand once through the air when Tori waved at him from the stage.

"And now, give it up for one of my best friends, the very talented, Cat Valentine!" Tori announced into the microphone.

Beck turned to where Cat and Robbie were talking and saw that Cat looked totally caught off guard. Her big eyes widened as she stared into the eager eyes of the seniors at Hollywood Arts. She turned her worry orbs back to Robbie, but he just nodded to the stage, mouthed, "Go on," and smiled sadly. Cat returned this smile before touching him on his upper arm, giving him a quick kiss on the cheek, and running for the stage.

Now, more than ever, Beck was really concerned about what was going on between them. It looked like a sad breakup if he'd ever seen one, but were the two of them even dating?

Cat made it up to the stage as soon as slow music began to play. She took the microphone from Tori, gave her a huge hug, then turned to the audience.

"I'd like to say we gave it a try…I'd like to blame it all on life. Maybe we just weren't right, but that's a lie…that's a lie."

Tori made it to Beck at this point, her face giving off that glow she only gets after she's performed.

"You did great," he told her as he wrapped an arm around her shoulder and hugged her to his side. Their outside hands clasped together as they slow danced side-by-side, looking up at the gorgeous redhead with the amazing voice.

"And we can deny it as much as we want, but in time our feelings will show…'Cause sooner or later we'll wonder why we gave up. The truth is everyone knows…"

"I think something's going on between Cat and Robbie," Beck said lowly into Tori's ear, trying to make small conversation as the song played. The song just seemed so unlike the Cat he knew…she was always so happy and this was…well, sad. He glanced over at Robbie to now see him sitting in a chair and looking at the ground.

"Why do you say that?" Tori asked, laying her head on his shoulder as she continued to stare at Cat who seemed suddenly so different.

"Almost, almost is never enough. So close to being in love. If I would have known that you wanted me, the way I wanted you, then maybe we wouldn't be two worlds apart, but right here in each other's arms…"

"I saw them talking and it just seems like…" Beck trailed off, but he didn't have to finish. Tori understood just as much as Beck did. And listening to her song, Tori had to wonder if it was truly inspired by her life. There was something in Cat's voice that said it was a bit more personal than that…

"I don't think Andre showed up," Beck said as a sudden change of subject.

"I'm not too surprised," Tori admitted with an inner sigh. Though she was highly nervous about it, she was kind of hoping for one last duet with Andre, even if it was basically against his will. At this point, she would take whatever she could get. Of course, they would have had to sing one of their old songs, since they never got together to make one specifically for this night.

Beck rested his cheek against her forehead, "Do you think Helen will be mad?"

Tori laughed gently, "Yeah, but that's not gonna do much. I don't think she can just fail Andre because he didn't perform at something that's really only voluntary."

"Hope not…"

The crowd began clapping slowly yet appreciatively as Cat finished up her song.

"Here we almost…we almost knew what love was. But almost is never enough."

Cat smiled down at her audience, waving vigorously and giggling, "Thanks, everyone!"

Tori was always amazed at how quick Cat could change her tone. Was that song truly just a song, or did it have some deeper meaning in Cat's life? Tori figured she would just ask her next time she had a moment alone with her. Maybe she needed someone to talk to about it.

Little did she know that she would never get that opportunity…

()()()()()())()()()()()()()()

First and foremost, I'm like to apologize for two things: the long delay and the short chapter. Believe me, I've been wanting to update for some time now, but life has definitely happened again. I'm now working full time and going to school full time, so about time I come home and spend time with my very busy two-year-old, I'm too worn out to do anything about time I put him to bed. Plus, I was having a hard time thinking about what I wanted to write for this chapter. My muse, I think, had gone on vacation, so I'm not completely happy with this chapter, but I'm hoping it'll lead to something good again

I do not own the songs. The one Tori sang is "Gold" by Victoria Justice, and the one Cat sang is "Almost Is Never Enough" by Ariana Grande. I love both of them.

So what's happened in this last month...hmm, well, I got that job, I finished up another semester of college, and...I turned 26! Yay! So I had a fun birthday. And that's about it, really.

Thank you all for your continual reviews and support. It still means so much to me, and I really hope I can get the next chapter out sooner than not. School is out for two weeks, so I'll see what I can do before September comes.

Oh, and I would like to thank whoever nominated me for the 2013 Topaz Awards for Best Bori. I got notified about a week ago of this...I don't know which one of you did it, but that was very sweet of you! So Thank You so much!

-Enula