"ANDRE HARRIS!" Jade kicked the front door open, scaring the dogs.
"Jade? What the hell?" I got up angrily, seething.
"WHERE IS HE?!" she started screaming, Beck following in behind her with a more...gentle concern on his face.
"What's going on?" I asked.
"You didn't see the news?" Beck asked.
"What news?"
"Andre's in a scandal. Apparently someone thinks he's cheating on you with Trina."
I went quiet, "What?"
"It's so stupid." Beck sighed, "But the paparazzi are really sold on this story."
"I'm gonna kill whichever reporter made that bullshit story." I growled.
"We have your back." Beck reassured, placing a hand on Jade's shoulder.
"ANDRE!" I yelled, getting a muffled "coming" in reply.
As he came down the stairs, Andre noticed the fury in Jade's face and, more importantly, the pissed off glare in my eye.
"What happened?"
"Wanna explain why the press is saying you're cheating on Skyla with Trina?" Jade snapped.
Andre looked like he was gonna vomit, "What the fuck?"
Beck put himself between Jade and I and Andre, "See, he didn't know either."
"Then explain this!" Jade held up her phone, showing an image of Andre and Trina sitting together at a cafe, something I wasn't shown until now.
"You better have a damn good answer for this." I spat.
"Sky, I don't know what the fuck is going on! Yes, I was hanging out with Trina, but it was for a good reason."
"What's the reason then, huh?" I gestured upstairs, "Cause if you wanted to throw this all away-"
"NO! Why the hell would I? That's not me! That's not Andre!"
A knock echoed through the door, "Hello? Skyla? It's Trina. We need to talk."
Jade looked at the door with a smirk as I called out, "Come on in Trina."
As the eldest Vega walked in, her face went pale as she noticed how angry we all were, and from the death glare she was getting from Jade.
"So you know about the scandal?" she gulped, keeping herself next to the door.
"Well someone kicked open my door to show me the evidence." I glanced over to Jade, "I just wanna know why the press thinks my husband is cheating on me with you."
Trina scoffed, "Oh please, like I would ever ruin a happy marriage."
"Well if you two aren't sneaking around behind my back," I exhaled, "who tipped off the press with a fake story?"
"That's the thing," Beck explained, "I've read every article, watched every segment, all they say is that the source who gave this tip was someone close to our group."
"But none of us would do something like that to make the other unhappy." Jade spoke up, "Even if we did, you'd had to have given someone a reason to."
"Perhaps a jealous fan?" Trina suggested, standing up straight and moving away from the door, "Skyla and Andre have to have obsessed fans who are willing to do anything to be with them."
"While you are right," I validated, "we have security watching over everywhere we go. We hired them for the sake of the kids."
"Wait," Jade stuck her hand out, "who all knew when you got pregnant with Calliope?"
"You, Beck, Trina, Tori, Cat, Robbie and Andre." I answered.
"What if, and this is a long shot," Jade inhaled, "what if it was Nadia?"
"Why would Nadia want to start drama now? She's a school teacher, she got married. Why ruin something that she hasn't been a part of for literal years?"
We all decided to sit down to brainstorm possibilities. Bouncing ideas back and forth, along with reasons why a certain person would not.
Andre's eyes widened, "Sky, how long was your mom sentenced for?"
"Thirty years, which was ten years ago, there's no way she could have. She's still locked up. Probably in her late fifties by now."
"Not to start conspiracies," Beck sat up, turning to Andre, "but before Skyla came to Hollywood Arts, would you say you and Tori were close?"
"Yeah, she's my best friend." Andre replied.
"And wouldn't you say," Beck turned to Jade, "that Andre and Tori were a bit too comfortable being around each other that much?"
"I mean, I guess."
"Trina," Beck turned to her, "thoughts?"
"Andre and Tori have always been close, ever since they first met. I had a sneaking suspicion that she had a thing for him, but when she started dating other guys, and Andre dating other girls, I didn't really think that-"
Trina stopped talking, her eyes falling to her lap. For some reason it looked like the gears in her head were turning.
"Trina?" I called to her, her head shooting up in response.
"Tori never stuck with one guy for too long back in school, she hopped from guy to guy. Andre, however, he tried to make things last."
"Cause girl hopping isn't the Andre way," my husband defended, "I was dating to find my forever. And Skyla's my forever."
I beamed at him, "So are you suggesting that Tori may have tipped off the press?"
"It's a strong possibility," Trina confirmed, "my only question is why she would make it so Andre was cheating on you with me. I don't even have feelings for him."
"Yeah," Jade hummed, "why turn on your older sister like that?"
"Jade," I gave her a look, "you and I both know why. Everyone here knows why, except for Trina."
"What?"
"Trina," I took her hand, "back in school, nobody was really a fan of you. Not even your own sister."
Trina looked pissed, but her eyes held more of resentment than the usual "I'm gonna kill her" look.
"I say," I broke the silence again, "we confront the press. We let them know that whoever sent in that story was obviously trying to start a smear campaign."
"Andre," Trina looked up at him, "I'm confronting my parents about Tori's behavior."
"Good idea."
"Jade," I started rubbing the base of my palms together, "I need you to go to Tori, get insider information. Act like you've never seen the scandal, if she spills, alert me."
"I'll do you one better, I'll record the whole thing."
I heard a knock on my door, we all confusedly looked at it, then each other.
"Yes?" Andre called.
"It's Tori, we need to talk."
Quickly, I signaled for everyone to hide, except for Andre and Jade. I hid with everyone else. The kids were at daycare, I didn't have to pick them up for a while. I peeked around the corner of my hiding spot.
"Come in!" Jade called, a smirk on her face.
Timidly, Tori opened the door, when her eyes laid on Andre, then Jade. She looked panicked, I quickly took out my phone to record the interaction.
"Sup, Vega." Jade spat, "Seems like everyone's confused about the scandal."
"Tori," Andre glared at her, pure hatred in his tone, "there's a lot of explaining to do. I don't want excuses."
He put a hand on Jade's shoulder, nudging the woman forward.
"We want answers," Jade hissed, "now."
"I," Tori was trying to play it off, "I don't know what you're talking about."
"Oh, but you do." the gothic woman taking a step towards the Latina.
"I don't!" Tori turned to Andre, silently pleading for him to defend her.
Gaining an idea, I set up my phone to continue recording the interaction, and stepped out. Approaching the three.
"Skyla!" Tori sighed, "Look you have to believe me, I have no idea-"
I held my hand up to interrupt her, "I'm not in the mood for excuses, Tori. You're telling the truth, and you're telling it now."
She groaned, "Fine! I tipped off the press with a fake story."
"Why?" I asked, now more annoyed, "Why try to ruin our marriage? Our life? What did we ever do to you?"
"Yeah, Tori." Andre put his arm around me, "We've done nothing but support you, we vouched for you when you needed us."
"Because Andre, you don't deserve her. Did you not remember back when-"
"Back when what?" I cut her off, "Back when he had a crush on Jade, and to help him get over it, you dressed up as her, leading him to almost kiss you?"
Tori started picking at her fingers, shifting from foot to foot, "He told you?"
"He told me everything," I explained, "one of our conditions, before we got married, was to tell each other everything. He knows my secrets, I know his."
"You what?" Jade questioned, looking at Tori with disdain.
"You and Beck were broken up, and he didn't want to make a move on his friend's ex."
"CAUSE THAT'S NOT THE ANDRE WAY!" Andre shouted.
"Are you fucking insane, Tori?!" Jade questioned with pained disbelief, "What kind of person does that?!"
"I was only trying to help!"
"Help? HELP?! You call that helping him?!" Jade's voice raising at the audacity.
"Yes! And clearly it didn't work so we performed that song."
"You know what Tori?" Jade was shouting at this point, "You and your 'help' can go shove it! It seems like any problems we have is because of you!"
"Jade, please." I placed my hand on my best friend's shoulder to settle her down.
Stepping forward, I took a deep breath, staring Tori in the face, "You know I don't like getting violent. I trusted you as one of my many friends. But not only have you broken my trust, you've broken the trust of your sister, my husband, and all of our friends. You've even ruined the trust of your own husband, once he finds out about this."
"Tori, you have two options here," I took another step towards her, "fix your mistake, retract your story from the press, or I ruin your life in return."
Tori glared at me, "I'm not doing anything for you. My ex husband and I-"
"Ex?" Beck appeared now, "You two broke it off?"
"Mutually, yes. Where are you all coming from?"
Trina was the last to emerge, "I could ask the same thing about your audacity."
"Trina, I-"
"Save it." Trina snapped, "Mom and dad will be made aware of this. You need help."
"Like I need help from the wannabe pop star!"
"That's not my dream anymore, I found my calling with the dojo."
"Oh please."
"You're delusional." Trina spat, "Just like with Ryder."
"I am not!"
"You're fighting with us like we're still in high school!" Beck suddenly shouted, startling me.
"So what? Andre and I were meant to be!"
"No we ain't! I'm married to the love of my life, to someone who treats me like I'm a person. Tori, all you wanted from me was favors. You've never once hinted that you liked me or even made a move."
"You even suggested that he should ask out Skyla when we were in school." Beck defended.
"Yeah!" I paused, "Wait what?"
"We'll discuss that later." Andre reassured, turning his attention back to Tori, "Retract your fake news story and tell the world the truth."
"No!" Tori yelled, stomping her foot once, "I want my happy ever after, and it's with Andre!"
"You're throwing a tantrum like you're a spoiled toddler," Jade exhaled while rolling her eyes, "have you grown up? Cause we all have, you just haven't."
"Remember your wedding?" Trina quickly followed, "You were a bridezilla! You wanted me to lose weight, you threw a tantrum over your cake, and when your bouquet wilted after a day of it in your possession, you demanded that the florist give you a refund even thought there were specific instructions telling you how to preserve them for the ceremony."
"Stop lying! You're all lying!" Tori was becoming belligerent.
I had had enough and walked over to where my phone was, picking it up and stopping the recording.
"You will retract that story," I threatened, "or else we'll tell the world that it was you."
"You don't have proof, you know I'm right! You all just hate me because I was more liked in school than all of you!"
"Tori," Beck's voice darkened, "pick your next words wisely."
"SHUT UP!" Tori screamed, turning to Jade, "Everyone was scared of you, they thought you were weird and freaky and no guy wanted to ask you out because you were terrifying and violent!"
She turned to Beck, "So many girls fawned over you and you did nothing about it! There's a reason why you and Jade had issues before Skyla came along! You enabled behaviors that made her upset! You didn't do anything about it cause you're vain!"
Her eyes shifted over to Trina, who looked ready to pummel her little sister, "Nobody liked you. You're gross, untalented, and the only reason you had friends was because they knew you were related to me. They were your friends out of pity."
She locked eyes with me next, "Nadia must've been right about you. All she talked about was how terrible you were and that you weren't liked because you were broken."
"Tori, quit it." Andre put his arm in front of me.
"I'm not done." she hissed, turning back to me, "She told everybody about your trauma. Everybody in school knew about what your dad did, and what happened to your family."
I started seeing red the more she spoke.
"They knew about your mom's prison sentence, and the shit she told you, the threats she made-"
Tori couldn't complete her sentence, as I had punched her right in her nose. She stumbled back, her ankle buckling, showing right through her pumps. She fell on the floor, a rough, but carpeted, fall.
"Damn." Trina spoke up after a painfully long silence, "Nice form."
"Thank you." I shot a small smile to the eldest Vega before turning my attention to Tori.
"I've had enough." I calmly exhaled, "You're no longer welcome in my house, near my kids, or near me. You're done, Tori. This friendship is done."
"I thought we were friends, Tori." Andre sounded disappointed, "Friends don't do this to each other."
"You were more than my friend." Tori let out a small sniffle, clutching her nose.
"You're toxic." Andre spat, "Get out."
Jade snatched my phone from my hand, "I'm sending this to the press."
"Go ahead." Andre agreed while I nodded.
Trina stepped forward, pulling Tori to her feet and walking towards the door, "I'll take you to the hospital for your nose, but afterwards, you and I are going to Mom and Dad and having a long discussion about what you did."
"Trina!" I called, placing my hand on the door knob, "Before you go, take this."
I passed her a business card for a mental health facility as I opened the door, "Just in case you need to make a big decision."
Trina smiled and continued to lug Tori out the door, I closed the door behind them and met everyone else on the couches, slumping down and sighing heavily.
"She was bluffing, right?" I finally asked, "About the whole school knowing?"
Jade nodded, "She was. Nobody knew. The day you told me, I didn't know what to say. I knew Nadia spoke about you having trauma, but she always said it wasn't her place to talk about it."
"Funny." Beck chuckled, "That's the one good thing about her that earned her a bit of respect."
We all shared a laugh, and began to tell stories of our youth. What high school was like before Hollywood Arts, before the fame. We laughed, shed tears, but we were happy.
But I couldn't shake the fact that someone I called a friend, would go behind my back, go behind Andre's back, and try to ruin what she was so clearly supportive of.
It didn't make sense.
But it doesn't matter anymore, the problem is resolved. Tori will be getting help, and the press will lay off on that story she sent.