Trouble

“I do not talk like that!” Tori stressed for what seemed like the millionth time.

“Whatever!” Jade rolled her eyes. They were in the middle of one of their famous fights- Jade had accused Tori for trying to steal her boyfriend- and Tori was, frankly, tired of it.

“I’m so sick of you always on my back! You have been ever since we met. What is your problem?” The raven haired beauty in front of her didn’t reply, only crossed her arms and rolled her eyes once again.

“Stop being so dramatic Vega. Besides, if you weren’t making google eyes at my boyfriend, then maybe we wouldn’t be having this conversation.” Tori made a sound of exasperation and put her hands up in surrender. By now, everyone was pouring out of their classrooms and heading to their specially decorated lockers. Tori and Jade were arguing in front of Tori’s ‘Make it Shine’ locker and she was suddenly aware of the fact that people were watching their drama.

“You know full well that I would never make a move on Beck, because, one, he’s my best friend, and two, he’s your boyfriend!” Tori hissed. “What do you take me for? You know I’m not like that.”

“Would you two stop fighting for five minutes?!” Andre suddenly exclaimed, coming up from behind Tori, making her jump. He was wearing a plain black t-shirt and some jeans; the t-shirt complimenting his dark skin.

“Talk to her,” Tori said, giving up. “Because apparently I’m going after Beck… again,” this wasn’t the first time she had been accused of stealing Jade’s boyfriend. In fact, this happened regularly. But Tori was sick of this game. She wasn’t sure how much more she wanted to take from Jade. “I’m going to class.” She ignored Andre calling her name and walked to her next class with Sikowitz, which, unfortunately, Jade shared. Tori stomped into class and slammed her bag on her desk with such attitude, her teacher and a couple of other students stared at her in alarm.

“What’s up with you, Tori?” Robbie said sitting beside her with his hand in his puppet (Rex)… no surprise there. Tori groaned silently and rubbed her temples, feeling a raging headache coming on. She was extremely confused as to why Jade was getting to her more than usual.

“Jade,” was all she let out.

“She’s hot,” Rex said (the puppet). She stared at Robbie, slowly shaking her head. He shrugged.

“You know what Rex’s like,” Robbie said. What the hell is wrong with this kid? At this time everyone had filed into the class and was talking to each other or texting. Tori refused to look at Jade who always sat at the back of the class with Beck.

“Alright, settle down class,” Sikowitz said, holding a coconut in his hand. They gave him visions, apparently. Believe it or not, Sikowitz has done stranger things. None of the class was listening and to everyone’s dismay, he pulled out a bright whistle and blew it as loud as he could. The piercing noise caused everyone to groan loudly and place their hands over their ears.

“Dude!” Jade yelled from the back.

“Dude!” their teacher mimicked, sucking from the coconut he was holding and getting milk in his beard. Tori grimaced. That had to have been the least attractive thing she had ever seen. “You will be getting your assignments today!” he walked around the class, making distracting noises with his lips. Tori noticed that everyone visibly shuddered and she grinned. Despite the obvious flaws, Sikowitz had to have been her favorite teacher.

“This assignment,” he continued. “Will be a joined effort. I will be putting you into pairs and you will have to write the script and act it out,” Tori frowned. That’s quite a large task. She was worried about who she was going to be stuck with. Anyone but Jade.

Anyone but Jade.

“I will be giving you all a different genre and the script has to be at least ten pages long,” everyone in the room groaned.

“Sir, that’s a huge assignment!” Robbie said.

“Yeah, we’re not superheroes,” Rex contributed. Tori decided to put her hand up.

“Yes Tori?” Sikowitz asked.

“Can we choose our own partners?” Please, please, please.

“Nope! If I did that, none of you would get any work done. I’ll be picking your partners,” there was another huge groan and Tori decided that Sikowitz was not her favorite teacher after all. Sikowitz walked to the front of the class and produced a large hat from seemingly nowhere. Tori frowned.

“How did you do that-?”

“Hush!” Sikowitz screamed making everyone jump. “Don’t question it! Now, I’m going to pick out two names and that person will be your partner,” he smiled pleasantly at everyone while Tori’s stomach suddenly starting flipping with nerves.

Please not Jade.

“Robbie and Ann!” Tori heard Robbie groan. Ann was an evil blonde who never did any work. It was safe to say Robbie would not be getting any help from her. Sikowitz put his hand into the hat again.

“Cat and Beck!” Cat squealed and started giggling.

“Yay!” she screamed. Tori caught a glimpse of her dark red hair before she jumped on Beck. Beck groaned with pain and Tori glanced at Jade to see her giving Cat evil eyes. If looks could kill Cat would be dead.

“Andre and Thalia!” Tori saw Andre grin and knew that he was happy to be partnered with his very pretty girlfriend. The nerves in Tori’s stomach got worse; she had the feeling that she was going to be picked with Jade and there was nothing she could do about it.

“Dave and Sinjin!” Tori’s nails wrapped nervously on her desk.

“Jade and-” Sikowitz rummaged around in the hat and Tori was suddenly very aware of her overly fast, beating heart.

“Tori!” She knew it of course, but the confirmation made her stomach drop to her toes and her heart almost leapt out of her chest. She didn’t know why she was acting like this; it wasn’t like she’d never done a project with Jade before.

“Sikowitz,” Jade started to protest.

“No! I don’t want to hear it. My decision has been made. Besides, maybe this will do you two some good,” he eyed Tori and she gave him a pleading look but he ignored it. Tori glanced over at Jade and caught her glaring at her. Tori turned back around and sank lower into her chair. Sikowitz called out the rest of the partners but Tori wasn’t listening anymore. To her, her life was over. This assignment was worth half her grade and she had to do it with Jade! The one girl who has hated her ever since she came to Hollywood Arts. Tori let out a loud groan and slammed her head onto her desk multiple times, ignoring the stares she was getting.

“Are you done defacing school property Ms Vega?” Sikowitz said. Tori groaned and with her head still on the desk, lifted up her thumbs. She could practically feel the rolling of his eyes but ignored it. She was having an existential crisis here!

“Alright everyone, get into your groups and start planning for your assignment. Time is ticking!” Tori refused to get up, her heart still beating irrationally fast. She actually feared of a heart attack. All around her she heard seats being moved and desks being rearranged as people started talking about their assignment. Sikowitz was going around telling different partners their genres. Beside her she heard someone pull up a chair and she squeezed her eyes shut, knowing it was Jade.

“Stop being so dramatic Vega,” Jade repeated what she’d said earlier before class and the sound of her voice caused Tori’s heart to burst and her stomach to explode in butterflies. She was confused with her reaction and still refused to look up. “I’m not happy about working with you either, but we both need good grades, so you’re just going to have to suck it up.” Tori frowned and bit her tongue to keep from retaliating.

“Right, Vega and West,” Tori frowned again. Why was Sikowitz calling them by their last names?

“Your genre is horror,” there was a pause. “And don’t make it too scarring Jade; we don’t want a repeat of what happened at your second audition for this school.” Jade chuckled and Tori stifled a grin. Jade had produced, directed and starred in her own short horror film when the new principal had come to Hollywood Arts and they had to audition to stay in the school. Needless to say, the judges were so scared (Sikowitz had jumped out of his seat screaming, running for the door) that they didn’t even think twice about letting Jade back in. That and she did have talent. Tori could at least admit that. She was also a good singer… talk about the full package.

“Well, at least we don’t have to worry about that. Horror is my specialty,” Jade muttered. Tori heard pen across paper as Jade wrote some ideas down already. Tori once again had to bite her tongue to stop her from making a snide comment about Jade being extremely scary herself so there was no surprise that she found horror easy.

“Are you going to contribute or what?” Jade asked annoyance evident in her voice. Tori didn’t answer and Jade made an exasperated noise. “Look, Vega, I can’t do this by myself. And I swear to God, if you cost me this grade I’m going to seriously hurt you.” Tori quickly glanced up and then groaned at the bright lights. Squinting, she glanced at Jade who smirked. Sudden anger shot up Tori’s spine and she glared at her.

“Whoa, calm down Vega, don’t want you breaking a nail,” Jade sneered.

“God! You’re insufferable!” Tori blurted. Jade shrugged, her black hair falling in front of her face.

“I’m not here to impress, Tori.” Jade looked straight into her eyes and Tori felt her throat close up. Were Jade’s eyes always that attractive? Jade smirked again and Tori had a sudden urge to slap it off her face.

“You look like you want to strangle me,” she commented.

“Because I do!” Tori said angrily. “Do you like making my life a living hell?” Surprisingly, Jade looked a little uncomfortable at that.

“I’m hardly making your life ‘a living hell’,” Jade retorted. She glanced down at the notepad sitting in her lap but looked up again. “You know, you should stick with acting rather than singing, because you are the biggest drama queen I have ever met.” Tori’s eyes widened.

“You’re such a bloody hypocrite! Look what happened when I hugged Beck. You completely freaked out and thought I was stealing him from you!” Tori couldn’t believe how outraged she was. She was trying her hardest to calm down, but everything about Jade-her aura, her attitude- was firing her up.

“Beck is my boyfriend! He shouldn’t be hugging any girl other than me,” Jade exclaimed, angry now.

“I can’t believe he’s stayed with you for as long as he has. You’re unbelievably suffocating! I feel sorry for him!” Tori said without thinking. She knew immediately that she had hurt Jade’s feelings but it was too late to take the words back. For once, Jade was silent and Tori felt terrible.

“Look Jade-” Tori began but Jade cut her off.

“No, whatever,” Jade’s voice was flat. Tori couldn’t believe that she hadn’t punched her yet.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “I didn’t mean it, Jade. You know that right?” Tori suddenly felt frantic. That blank look on Jade’s face was hurting her more than she’d care to admit.

“Yes you did. You all think that,” Jade said angrily. Tori grew silent. She wasn’t sure if Jade was right about that but there was some truth in what Tori had said.

“No, Jade, of course not!” Tori said feebly; lying.

“Save it Tori. You don’t have to spare my feelings,” the bell suddenly rang and Jade leapt from her seat like it had suddenly burst into fire and ran to Beck, wrapping her arms around his neck in an abnormal show of public affection. He looked surprised but hugged her back. Tori bit her lip at the couple and felt an unfamiliar sensation settling in her stomach. Mostly guilt but also… Jealousy?
Why on Earth would she be jealous of Jade and Beck? She never has been before. Looking down at the desk she saw that Jade had left her notebook open where she’d been writing her notes for their assignment. On it were different settings that their assignment could be based on but looking closer she saw that there were grooves from the writing on the other side of the page. She turned the page and her eyes widened.

Beautiful girl.

Beautiful girl? Tori whipped her head to where Jade was but saw that her friends had already left for the cafeteria. So much for waiting for her. What did Jade mean by beautiful girl? Had Jade even written this? It could be possible Beck wrote it. Tori thought about it for a moment but realized that Beck couldn’t have written it for two reasons, 1. It was Jade’s handwriting and 2. This was Jade’s notebook. The notebook she always carried around with her. It was like her diary. Immediately at that thought, Tori felt like she was invading Jade’s privacy and snapped the book close, putting it in her bag. She made a mental note to give it to Jade later.

She quickly walked out of the classroom, her bag on her back, feeling like she was carrying a weapon that could destroy the Earth. All the while, the words beautiful girl kept floating around her brain in Jade’s voice. For some reason, shivers kept crawling up and down her spine as she thought about who Jade could have written that about.

“Tori!” Cat’s high pitched voice brought her back to reality.

“Hey Cat,” Tori greeted her.

“What’s going on with you and Jade? You seem to be arguing more than usual and she seemed upset when we left class,” that was the most serious sentence Tori had ever heard Cat say. Guilt immediately wracked her body and she struggled to stay nonchalant.

“I’m not sure Cat,” Tori sighed. “I think I’ve hurt her feelings.”

“You should talk to her Tori,” Cat said. Suddenly her phone buzzed and she took it out, read the text and gasped. “My brother’s in the hospital!”

“Oh my goodness, what happened?” Tori asked in alarm.

“He got a toy car stuck up his-”

“Okay!” Tori interrupted, not wanting to hear which body part her psycho brother had got a toy car stuck. Though, she had a pretty good idea. Tori shuddered at the thought. “Where’s Jade now?”

“She’s sitting with the others at the cafeteria. It’s pizza day!” Cat shrieked loudly, making Tori wince.
“Anyway, I should probably get going. I have to go see if my brother’s okay!” Tori watched the red head run to the school doors and almost fall into a bin in the process. She chuckled and headed towards the cafeteria. Almost immediately her stomach twisted with nerves and she frowned. She mentally chastised herself for being ridiculous. Her strange emotions were worrying her so she made a pact there and then. She would control her feelings until the assignment was over. She would also make an effort to be nice to Jade, long enough for Jade not to rip her head off. And to do this, she was going to apologize to Jade properly for her horrible comment in Sikowitz’s class. It was a good start anyway.

Tori walked outside to the lunch tables and spotted her friends in the usual place, all sitting around a round table eating today’s pizza. Tori took a deep breath and headed over to them.

“Hey guys!” she chirped cheerfully, placing her bag down and sitting- with all the grace of an elephant- next to Jade. Everyone looked at her strangely for this and she bit her lip nervously.

“What the hell are you doing?” Jade asked more venom in her voice then Tori would like. It made her all the more nervous.

“About to eat some pizza, what else does it look like?” Tori immediately slapped herself for retorting as quickly as she did. Not a great start.

“It looks like you just sat next to me.” Tori noticed that Jade’s beautiful blue-green eyes were murky with anger. Obviously Jade hadn’t forgiven Tori- not that she had expected her to.

“Is that a crime now?” Tori asked slightly miffed.

“I don’t want you anywhere near me,” Jade retorted. Tori’s heart stung at that and she frowned.

“Well that’s going to be hard seeing as we have to do an assignment together!” Tori’s voice was rising. So much for her plan.

“Guys, stop arguing!” Beck finally intervened.

“Cat fight!” Rex exclaimed in his creepy voice.

“Rex! Don’t be so rude!” Robbie started arguing with his puppet and then Beck and Jade started arguing because Beck had taken to Tori’s side on the matter, saying that Jade should listen to her. This, of course started the whole, Tori-Is-So-Obviously-Trying-To-Steal-My-Boyfriend subject and they ended up screaming at each other over the table. Tori looked exasperatedly at Andre who just shrugged, put his headphones on and started playing his keyboard.
This was going to be harder than she thought.