Author notes: It took me so long to come up with ideas for this chapter, but I've got a general baseline now of how I'm gonna keep this story going! I hope you guys are enjoying so far!
Tori's PoV
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Well, shit. I guess everyone is coming over. Everyone always comes to my place for some reason, I don't know. But to be honest, I really don't mind. Trina bailed on dinner, and my parents? Literally never home. Dad works a lot, he's a cop. Mom? To be honest, I don't actually know where she was lately. She'd come home sometimes, but not for too long. She'd always say that she was gonna go stay with a friend. I was a little suspicious of her sometimes, I mean, who really wants to put up with a friend for that long with no breaks. But sometimes it was just better not to question anything with her. I didn't wanna annoy her when she actually decided to come home. And I love my sister, but honestly it did upset me when she bailed on dinner so often to go hang out with people, so seeing my friends was a nice distraction. Having everybody over all the time was better than being constantly alone. But today, I was a little stressed about it. Jade was gonna be coming, and after earlier, I didn't really know if I could actually trust Beck when he told me she was over it. We had stupid little fights all the time, but today felt different. She seemed way angrier than normal, and it honestly made me wonder if she was being truthful about it being okay. And I kinda wondered too if her and Beck were genuinely okay.
I sat back down on the couch for a while, kicking my feet up and waiting patiently for my friends to arrive. They were gonna be a couple of hours, so I had some time to kill. Well, I guess more shitty reality TV it is!
After a while, I found it hard to stay awake whilst watching random celebrities' family drama unfold, but with no family home, and no food plans, there seriously wasn't much else to do. Or at least I thought so. My binge watching session was interrupted when I heard a sudden ringing of the doorbell.
What the fuck? It's like 5pm. Nobody is meant to be here for another hour and half. I dragged myself off of the couch, and made my way to the door. It rung again as I made my way there.
"Hold on, I'm coming!" I called out, slightly annoyed. Seriously, it's so annoying when people do that! I made it to the door, and placed my hand on the handle, still sort of confused as to who could be here. I opened the door slightly when I was met by a familiar sight and voice.
"Hiiiiii!" the voice called, right before I was hit with the sight of bright red hair, that bubbly smile, and a light pink shirt with blue jeans.
"Cat?" I questioned, honestly confused as to why she was already here, "You're like an hour early!" I finished, looking down to meet her eyes, where she still had a smile plastered on her face. I couldn't help but love Cat, even when she did random stuff like this. I mean, how could you not? She always managed to brighten everybody's mood, and even Jade hung out with her sometimes. Like a few months ago, when Jade stayed round her place for a couple of nights because her house had a bug infestation or something.
"Yeah, sorry about that." She giggled, bouncing a little. "But I need to talk to you, Tori!" She added after a few seconds, the words stressing me out instantly. I ushered her to come in, and she hastily skipped through my door, making her way over to the couch, where she took a seat. I closed the door behind me, and followed her, taking a seat next to her.
"What's up?" I asked, now a little worried. I remained making eye contact with her, but her face still hadn't shifted from smiley, so I had no clue if something was even wrong or not. I mean, normally a smile like that would mean no, but this is Cat Valentine we're dealing with here, so I kept my guard up.
"It's Jade." She spoke, quieter than usual. "But, you can't mention this to any of the others because none of this is for sure, I'm just assuming a little here." she quickly added, finally now looking a little more serious about things. Her words terrified me. Was she gonna tell me that Jade is only coming over to murder me for earlier? Shit. Hurry up and talk, Cat, talk!
"... Go on" I murmured, wishing she'd hurry up.
"Okay, she hasn't spoken to me or anything, but I'm like 90% sure her and Beck were arguing earlier and that's why she was so angry when she came into class." she paused for a second. "But that's pretty obvious. But I'm worried, Tori! She's like my best friend, and every time I've asked her recently she's just told me that they're fine, but this is like their fifth argument this week. That's more than usual!" she continued, now looking seriously worried, which worried me too, because it wasn't often that Cat looked as if she was anything other than happy. "And we haven't hung out anywhere near as much as before. She's being so closed off." I now started to sorta wonder where she was going with this, I mean, Jade is literally always closed off with me. "When she comes over, can you please just tell me if something seems off?" she finished, still looking right at me.
"Cat, I don't know what to tell you." I responded, feeling a little guilty. "She's literally always off with me, I don't see what I'll be able to find different." I continued, my eyebrows raised. I felt awful saying no to her, but I honestly didn't know what else to say. It's true. No matter how hard I'd tried, she literally always fought with me. But at the same time, she was sorta right. I understood what she meant about Beck and her fighting more. I'd noticed it. I looked away from Cat whilst I got a little lost in thought, but once I looked back at her I noticed how upset she looked. Shit.
"Okay, okay. I'll keep an eye on her for you!" I blurted out suddenly, not wanting to upset my red headed friend. Her lips formed a smile yet again.
"Yay, thank you!" She exclaimed, bouncing in her seat.
"But, I really don't see how it's gonna help. Even if something's off with her, what can we even do? She's Jade. If she's being closed off, it's not like either of us will get her to open up." I quickly spoke, slightly cutting Cat off. I heard her sigh a little.
"I don't know, I'm just worried. If they break up then- wait no." She blurted out, before quickly cutting herself off, slapping her hand over her mouth. I raised one eyebrow, now suspicious as to what she was going to say.
"Then what?" I questioned, still looking at her with my suspicious look. She uncovered her mouth, and sighed slightly, before parting her lips to speak.
"Okay, you seriously can't mention this to anyone" she sighed, and I knew it was serious now. "But she's like, super attached to him. And I'm worried that something will happen to her if they break up because things really aren't great for her." She added, a serious look now plastered over her whole face. I was now even more concerned than before. I knew hardly anything about Jade, but learning this right before she came over was definitely one way to freak somebody out.
"What do you mean by not great?" I questioned now, wanting to know more, but trying my hardest to not come across as too pushy. I think she could tell I was getting concerned, as the look on my face shifted from confused to a little scared.
"I don't know.. I mean, I do, but I don't really wanna go into it. It's personal. It's just stuff to do with her family and all of that." She stuttered, wanting to tell me more, but also wanting to keep Jade's privacy in mind. "She pretty much only opens up to him, so I'm just worried about if they break up, then she's gonna be alone through it all." Cat finished, finally giving a clear reason as to why she actually wanted me to see if I noticed anything off about Jade today.
"O-okay, well I'll keep it in mind and we can talk about it if she seems off." I responded after a while of silence, now smiling at Cat to try and console her slightly, as I could tell she was freaking out a little.
After that, I put the TV back on, and let Cat pick something to watch whilst we waited for the others to arrive.
****
It had been a while, and finally I heard my doorbell ring again. I picked up my phone, and checked the time. I saw that it was 6:32pm.
"Ding dong!" Cat called out, giggling.
"I got it." I announced, hopping up out of my seat and jogging over to the door. As I opened it, I saw Andre and Robbie standing beside each other, Rex of course in Robbie's hand. Andre stood tall, with baggy black jeans and a fitted black shirt with some band logo on it and a silver chain. Robbie, however, wore similar geeky clothes to normal, his black fluffy hair standing out.
"What's good, Tor?" Andre laughed, pulling me into a loose hug. He seemed in a good mood.
"Hiya Tori!" Robbie exclaimed, rocking awkwardly back and forth on his feet as he did so.
"Hey guys! Come in! Cat's here already, she was a little early." I responded cheerfully, opening the door wide as the pair marched in as they had so many times before. Before I shut the door, I noticed a familiar car begin to drive up my road. It belonged to Beck. I felt my stomach tighten a little, as I was still kinda terrified to face Jade after earlier, even after what Cat had told me. I gently shut the door, nervously waiting for them to pull up and come to the door. I could hear my friends chatting in the background now, but their voices were slowly becoming drowned out by my heart, which was increasingly beating harder and harder as I heard the car approaching.
After what felt like an eternity, I heard the engine shut off, followed by two car doors slamming. I took a small step back from the door as I waited. I heard approaching muffled voices and footsteps. My heart genuinely felt like it was going to beat out of my chest now.
The door bell rang.
I gulped slightly as I placed my hand on the handle, slightly hesitating before I cracked the door open. In front of me stood Beck, his arm around his girlfriend's waist. Her arms were crossed, and her hair flowed over her shoulders so perfectly. She stood a little taller than me, which admittedly intimidated me somewhat. It was silent for a few moments, as I hid my body behind the door, only poking my head out.
"Hey Tori." The male voice finally spoke, breaking the silence. He raised his hand slightly to wave as he did so. My eyes turned away from his girlfriend, who I noticed I'd been staring at, and to him.
"Oh, hey Beck." I chuckled, opening the door a little more. "And Jade." I added, a small hint of worry in my voice.
"Hey." Jade murmured slightly, her voice lower than mine with that same rasp as always.
I was hit with confusion straight away. No mean comment? Just hey? Maybe Cat was right. Maybe something was up with her. She normally would've greeted me with some sort of condescending comment, or have even ignored me completely.
I opened the door fully, and motioned for them to come in, which they did so hand in hand.
****
Jade's PoV
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"Hey." I spoke, quieter than usual, keeping Beck's talk with me in mind. I had to be nicer to her tonight, and to be honest that actually wasn't starting to sound so bad after earlier. I didn't wanna cause a scene like that again, because then people would definitely know that something was up.
She looked a little confused, as I'd expected, but quickly opened the door fully for me and Beck to come in. We walked in, and as we entered, I caught sight of my friends sitting at the table and chatting about random shit.
I caught sight of Cat, and before I knew it she was up out of her seat and running toward me. Ugh, I wish I could say no to her. And before I knew it, she had taken me into a tight hug in which I simply didn't return, just backing away slowly. She didn't release for a while, causing me to speak.
"Cat. Cat, Cat, Cat that's Enough!" I blurted out, yelling a little. She jumped back, still smiling and looking at me. She giggled a little, as she dragged me toward the table to take a seat next to her. As I sat down, the others finally greeted me. Tori took a seat next to Andre, and Beck took a seat in between me and the girl.
"Oh look who's here, the grunch." Rex laughed. Robbie quickly slapped his hand over the puppet's mouth, now looking absolutely terrified.
"Robbie, I will kill a puppet." I snapped, looking at him with my signature angry look.
"He doesn't like being called that-" Robbie started, before being hastily cut off by Andre.
"O-okay, people! I say we play some cards!" He called out, trying to make the tone sound more casual as he clapped his hands together. I couldn't help but chuckle slightly at this, which he noticed and returned, laughing a little too.
"Yeah! That sounds like a great idea!" Vega's voice chimed in. It annoyed me slightly, but at the same time, her voice was so soft yet so powerful and I had no clue how she did it. Not that I'd ever admit that to her, though.
A while passed, and we were all sat there joking and laughing as we played a game of cards. I managed to go the entire time without making comments at Vega, but I didn't exactly talk to her either. Every time I looked over, I swear it was like she was staring at me... And Cat was too. Something was up, I just had literally no clue what. I shot them both annoyed looks when I noticed it, but it made me feel kinda weird. Like, I did check that my makeup looked fine before I left. What was so interesting? I mostly tried to just keep on playing cards, which I won multiple games of, making sure to rub my wins in everybody's face. Andre came close to beating me a few times, before eventually actually beating me, much to my annoyance.
I decided to finally talk to Vega, after I found myself feeling hungry.
"You got any food, Vega? I'm hungry." I spoke, blandly, trying not to look at her. I felt her eyes immediately lock onto me as I said this, but I decided to continue fighting my urges and continue looking away.
"No. Trina bailed on dinner again, so I got nothing." She responded, sounding a little nervous to let me down. I actually couldn't help but feel a little guilty for her. As much as I hate Trina, they're sisters. And now Vega isn't even eating dinner. I'd kill my little brother if he did that. God, why was I feeling guilty for her? She's literally Vega. But surely anybody would, right? But still, I decided to respond a little snappy. Not as much as usual, to not piss off Beck. But it would just be downright weird if I was fully nice about it.
"Oh, well that's useless." I murmured, still refusing to even look at her. I felt everybody turn to look at me, but they weren't exactly shocked. It was far from the first time I've been kinda mean to Vega.
Andre swiftly saved the day again when he broke the silence.
"Why don't I order pizza!" He quickly called. I loved that about him. Always tried to keep things chill, even when I did make it a difficult job to do. I felt Beck place his arm around me now, probably trying to stop me from drilling further into Vega. I felt her look at me as he did this, Cat's eyes also turning to look at this. God, they were being so weird today.
****
It had been a couple hours now, and Andre had ordered pizza, which we sat around the table and ate together, discussing schoolwork and other shit like that. A few times, Cat said some weird shit about her brother, which honestly concerned us all, but it was best to not question it. I found myself looking over at Andre, who for some reason looked in a really good mood today. He'd broken random tension 2 times, and he'd been smiling like every time I looked at him. I was kinda confused by this, he looked like, Cat level happy. He'd even paid for everybody's pizza. What's with this dude? I don't think this went unnoticed to the others, either, as everybody looked at him whilst he ate his slice of pizza, a huge smile plastered over his face.
Out of nowhere, Robbie spoke, finally saying something useful.
"Damn Andre, you're in a good mood today." He called out, everyone agreeing with him and chattering about how he was right.
"Okay. Okay, okay. I got news!" Andre hastily replied, clearly unable to contain his excitement any longer. I furrowed my brow in confusion, but he seemed happy with whatever it was, so I was curious to hear. We all sat in silence waiting for him to speak again. "My uncle, the real estate one. He sold a house to some random ass rapper from New York, and I went with him to view the place and I ended up talking to the dude about music and shit. And he told me he's gonna be in NY for like another month, but he planned on using the house for release parties and shit. So I told him that's fire and a party in a place like that would be crazy. So he told me I could have one. Like the party we had at Kenan Thompson's that one time!" He finished, now looking more excited than ever. This was honestly some of the best news I'd heard in a while. Last time we had a party at a big place like that, it was really fucking good. A smile pulled at my lips as I looked over at my boyfriend, who parted his lips to speak. But this changed my mood. We weren't even there and I was already afraid of him flirting with other girls, and I didn't really wanna go anymore.
"Andre, man! How'd you hide that this whole time that's great!" He exclaimed, more than ready for this party to happen. Everyone was now excited, looking straight at Andre for more details.
"Okay guys, okay. I still gotta find a good time to call the guy, find out when he'll let me have the house for, then I'll let you guys know." He laughed, so excited he jumped out of his seat. "But Rex, you tweet about it again and you're dead." He added, now in a bland and serious tone. I couldn't help but laugh at his comment.
"Oh yay!" Cat called. "At least my throat is better now so I'll actually be able to talk." She continued, bouncing up and down in her seat. I instantly got flashbacks to the party at Kenan's, where she'd been unable to talk because of vocal nodules, and wore a headband that literally made her talk like Siri.
I noticed Vega looking at me, so I glanced over at her. She was awfully quiet about the whole situation, and probably noticed I hadn't said anything either. I actually smiled at her a little bit, not wanting to start anything right now. After a few moments of sort of awkward eye contact, she broke her silence.
"I don't know guys. It just doesn't really sound like my thing." She sighed, something clearly wrong, because this was 100% her thing. Everybody now looked pretty puzzled, including me. I mean, I didn't really wanna go either, but if I was gonna have to go and watch my boyfriend let random girls flirt with him, then she was gonna have to come put up with it too.
"What do you mean, this type of thing is like. Totally your thing, Toro." Robbie questioned, the use of a nickname for her producing a confused look on everybody's face.
"First of all, don't call me Toro, second of all. I don't really know. I've just been kinda down lately with Trina ditching, and my parents are always gone." She responded, now looking genuinely kind of upset. I definitely was no stranger to shitty parents, so like. I understood. But at the same time, if anything, a party would be good for taking her mind off of shit. Being nicer to her genuinely didn't seem so bad for once, and I almost actually wanted her to come. Besides, if I got bored, her being there meant I'd get to make fun of her or something like that. Before I could even stop myself, I found myself talking to her.
"Oh come on Vega, just come." I snapped. Everybody looked at me, confused. Even Beck looked confused, despite him being the one who'd asked me to be nicer to her in the first place. "What? I just think it's stupid not going, I mean, this is like a crazy opportunity for her to finally get laid or something and she's just gonna sit it out?" I added, now sounding a little more like myself. But now I was confused as to if that's genuinely why I wanted her to go, or if I just for some reason actually wanted her to go. She looked at me with a furrowed brow.
"Damn Jade, I didn't realise you cared so much about my sex life." She joked, pissing me off a little, but I did admittedly find it a little funny at the same time. I noticed Andre laugh at her comment, too.
"I don't, I just think it would be stupid to not go. Like, even aside from that. How many chances do we really get to do shit like this?" I responded, now feeling myself become slightly irritated by her.
"Uh, actually, we weirdly get a lot of chances like this-" Andre chimed in, before I cut him off with a terrifying glare.
"Yeah, well that doesn't matter. You can't just sit this out, it's gonna be a massive thing." I hastily snapped, trying hard to defend myself, hoping somebody would agree. Finally, thank god, Cat came to the rescue.
"To be fair, Jade's right. You'll literally be the only person sitting this out, just come." She defended, somehow still with that same bubbly smile on her face. Honestly, where would I be without Cat? She was kinda ditzy, but weirdly smart. She said some really useful shit sometimes, and she was really good at advice. I used to be really close with her, we used to hang out after school and shit. But then she started noticing how off me and Beck seemed. And that was hard enough to realise for myself, so I distanced myself a little bit. I felt bad, because I care about her, like seriously. But at the same time, I had started to tell her more about myself, so it was best to distance myself before I accidentally told her too much and started regretting it.
"Fine. I'll think about it, okay? Just let me know more when you find out." Vega finally gave in, putting both hands up in the air in surrender.
Suddenly, the front door flew open. I heard a terrible screeching sound, and the sound of high heels hitting against the floor. Trina. God I hated her, she pissed me off somehow more than her sister.
"Hey sista sista-" She called out to the younger Vega, before stopping in her tracks as she saw us all sat round the table. "Why are all your friends always here?" She questioned, seeming either annoyed, or like she wanted to be annoying.
"Why are you never here?" her younger sister replied. I was actually kind of impressed by her snarky comment, having to catch myself before I laughed a little.
With that moment, we took it as our cue to leave, and everybody slowly made their way up, hinting they were going to leave. I was kind of worried to go home, but it was just for the night, so it was fine. Or at least as fine as it could possibly be going home to a father who hates you and a step mother who seriously doesn't approve of you. We left through the door, and I found myself in Beck's car, being taken home.
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