Chapter Text
Tori Vega was feeling moody.
That in itself was already unusual for her, but today hadn’t really gone very well for the high school senior. First, her alarm clock had died in the middle of the night and didn’t wake her up. Next, her older sister Trina had taken forever in the shower and left her barely any time to get ready for school. If that wasn’t bad enough, Tori couldn’t find her contact lenses and needed to risk the possibility of breaking her glasses at school. And now apparently the universe had decided that today would be the perfect day for the first day of a full moon, which always sent this one cat that lived on her street (that was owned by a family that moved in the summer after her junior year) into mayhem mode to ruin her very long walk home if Trina didn’t pick her up.
But it was still the start of the day. She had only just arrived at school. ‘ Maybe I can convince one of the gang to give me a ride ,’ was all the thinking she was able to do as she walked through the doors of Hollywood Arts until she collided with someone. There was a brief shot of pain across her front that eased into a mild throbbing as Tori fell on her butt with scrunched-up eyes and a noticeable lack of glasses. About to apologize as she squinted up, a loud voice began to shout before drowning itself out.
“Watch where you’re going assho-” recognizable by voice alone, Jade West’s sharp eyes were wide as she realized who she had just yelled at, before relaxing slightly. “Oh hey Vega, sorry. Didn’t see you there.”
Dressed in almost all black as per usual, she picked herself up and collected her scattered books, holding out her classmate’s glasses to the girl in the pink shirt. Tori’s eyes were almost as wide as Jade’s had been for a split second, retrieving her glasses and looking at who she had bumped into. Of course she had to slam into the most intimidating person at Hollywood Arts that she may-or-may-not find incredibly attractive, because the universe was having a blast fucking with her today.
“Hey Jade, no, sorry, that was my fault.” Standing up and shuffling her back on her shoulder, the young woman brushed herself off. “I wasn’t looking where I was going.” Jade smirked, arms crossed. “Yeah, that much was obvious.” Noticing a look in the brown eyes of her companion, she added “What’s got you so spaced out?”
Tori sighed as she began walking to her locker again, with Jade accompanying her. “I’ve been having a real stinker of a morning.” Swinging the door open, she switched on the glowing letters and exchanged books as the pale woman leant against the two lockers next to hers, a smirk appearing on Jade’s face as she said those words. “A real stinker huh? Well gosh golly gee!” Before she could say another word, Tori shut her locker and groaned shortly. “Please not today Jade. I’m really not in the mood.”
The goth looked her up and down, contemplating something with her pierced brow raised and her lips pursed. Right as Tori was about to say something, she was cut off. “Alright. I’ll take it easy on you today, but you owe me, Baby Girl .” She turned and left, and Tori was alone at her locker with a confused yet grateful expression, and an even more confused feeling inside her. Until the bell rang anyway.
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Tap.
Tap.
Tap.
The rhythmic sound of the base of a pen against paper could faintly be heard throughout Tori’s first class of the day as she tried to focus on what the teacher had been saying (something about the ionic bonding between atoms) but all she could focus on was those two (technically five) words that Jade had said to her.
‘“ You owe me, Baby Girl. ”’
A faint reddish tone came over her face as Tori remembered what her friend had said. Huh. Friend. As strange as it would seem to everyone who didn’t see them each on a day-to-day basis, but yeah, that was probably the best word to describe the connection the two of them had by now, though it would probably take a lot for Jade to admit it. It sure as hell had been a lot for each of them thanks to the way they started out, but it was just over two years since they met and Jade poured coffee on Tori’s head. Ever since, the pair had had some sort of tension between them, but over the entire time they had known each other, they had slowly started to understand how they each worked as individuals.
Jade had cooled her torment of the newer student after a public argument with Beck (which happened to be their final fight as a couple) right before the previous Summer began. During the argument they both realized that Jade’s sub-par or worse treatment of Tori originally stemmed from Beck not caring to explain that he had a girlfriend to Tori when she rubbed the coffee off his shirt on her first day at Hollywood Arts. Obviously the goth’s own insecurities and mild jealousy issues weren’t very helpful either, but that would have happened regardless. Thankfully after an admission of guilt and a long break from being in the same space as each other, the former couple agreed to remain friends, and strangely enough led to Jade hanging out with Tori more and more as a pair over the quite warm summer.
The memory of Jade in a cool, dark green bikini on the beach eating a hotdog with too many toppings led Tori’s brain right back to the words that had started this dive into her ‘friendship timeline’ with the goth, bringing the red flush back to her face for multiple reasons.
“Psst. Hey. Tori.”
The young woman’s eyes snapped up as she looked to her left, the source of the words being her classmate who gestured towards the pen in her hand. Apparently, she had stopped tapping, turned the pen around, and pressed it against the paper of her notebook. Which was now covered in rich dark blue ink. Tori let out a defeated groan and slowly started ripping the ink-stained pages out with a similarly ink-stained right hand. As if her day wasn’t bad enough already. Oh wait, it just got worse. Some splashes of ink that hadn’t sunk into the paper attacked her recently acquired shirt. “Perfect..”
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“Damn Tor,” Andre’s voice grew louder as he approached the group’s table with Beck and Cat, “what’s got you in such a funk?” The three of them all sat on the opposite side of said table to Tori, giving her space as they curiously looked her over, though with her head down behind her stale salad, they couldn’t tell what was happening with her face. “Hey..” the half-Puerto Rican greeted them quietly, raising her arm to show the dark blue stain on the base of her hand before adding, “..today is not my day.”
Cat chimed in with her signature oblivious laugh, grabbing Tori’s hand off the table to look at the smudged ink that stained her skin. “Aww cheer up Tori, at least your splotchy tattoos are temporary. One time my brother-”
“Alright, that’s enough of that.” Jade quickly cut Cat off with her hand over the redhead’s mouth before she could continue her brotherly tangent as the pale young woman sat next to Tori on the end of the seat, her bag hitting the floor with a muffled thud. “I think Vega’s had enough to deal with today already, and it isn’t even noon. She definitely doesn’t need to hear another story about Cat’s brother.” The four of them, Tori included, stared at Jade with a grouped look of confusion.
“What?” The black-clad senior glared at each of them in turn.
“Since when do you care about how Tori’s day has been going?” Beck was the first to answer that question with a question of his own.
Jade’s eyes narrowed as she glared at her ex boyfriend. “What, you don’t think I’m capable of being nice to her?” His hands were up defensibly but she cut him off as he started talking. “It’s just tha-” “I’ll have you all know she asked me not to make fun of her voice today, and I haven’t. Granted I’ve only seen her once before now but my point stands.” The young woman leant back slightly with her arms crossed.
Tori couldn’t really believe what she was hearing, and kept staring at the girl next to her with an incredulous expression. “Oh not you too.” Jade looked at her once then turned her head away.
“It’s just,” she began, turning to her salad once again with that same red flush on her face from class, “I didn’t think you actually meant it this morning..” If Tori had been looking, she would’ve seen a pale pink creep its way onto her classmate’s cheek before she turned back to face the group. “Well yeah. I don’t go back on saying I’ll do stuff. You of all people should know this, Vega.” Andre, Cat and Beck all looked back and forth between the two, each independently more confused than Tori.
Jade sighed in what sounded like annoyance and slight disappointment, before rubbing the bridge of her nose and looking at the slightly older girl above her fingers. Tori broke out of her stunned expression and once again took a stab at some disappointing lettuce. “That settles it. You need something to get you outta this funk, and I don’t hear anyone else volunteering.” Before she could think of a way to say what she wanted to, Jade cut Andre’s open mouth off with a glare and continued. “Look. Do you want your day to keep sucking or not?”
Taking in a deep breath, the usually-cheerful girl looked at her and smiled weakly. “Not really.” A slim grin spread across the goth’s face as her oceanic eyes peered into Tori’s. “Good. I’m coming to your house at seven. It’ll give you time to do homework if necessary. I’ll bring the snacks, try not to pick any movies I’ll hate.” Tori was left staring blankly again, but as Jade raised her eyebrow she quickly stammered out some incomprehensible half-words. “Wait-bu-huh?!” That was what her brain apparently decided to end on after taking in the information. “You heard me Vega. Your house. Seven pm. Got a problem with that?” Jade added that last bit as she glared at the rest of the group, as if challenging any of them to speak up. Cat looked nervously at her hands beneath the table, Andre avoided her gaze entirely with his hands up, and Beck simply leant back with raised eyebrows & pursed lips.
At that point, Robbie walked up to the table looking mournful. Andre took this as an opportunity to change the subject, hopefully to snap Tori out of the confused stare she was giving to her poor salad. “Hey Rob, why the long face?” The conversation quickly evolved into absurdity as they all attempted to figure out how someone, let alone Sinjin of all people, was able to throw Rex hard enough into a wall to break his head open.
But Tori wasn’t focussing on any of that conversation. Instead, she was still trying to process Jade being so nice to her, to spring this surprise on her out of nowhere.
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Andre sighed as he and Tori sat next to each other in their song-writing class, the second last of the day before Sikowitz’s, and she had been moping through the majority of their partnered work.
“Wanna tell me what’s wrong?” The slightly younger man whispered to his friend.
“You know exactly what’s wrong.” Tori, whose face was buried in her arms on her desk, looked up from the crook of her elbow and at Andre.
“All I know is that you were having a bad day before you saw Jade, and now your day is apparently worse because she isn’t teasing you.” He quietly tore a piece of paper and handed it to her after scribbling some words down. Is it about your giant crush on her? The latina sighed and dropped her head to the table once more, solid confirmation to him that Tori’s crush on Jade was at least part of what was wigging her out that day.
When Andre had asked the first time if she had interest in the Jade during the previous summer (not too long after Jade and Beck broke up actually), Tori had replied that she wasn’t sure when her crush on the pale girl had started, but if she thought about it, it all lead back to her first detention at Hollywood Arts and the two of them ditching Derrick as he cleaned up the Blackbox Theatre. They danced out the room before it turned into a slow walk and a shared set of laughter, eventually followed by an apology to Tori and a confession to the principal. The way Jade’s piercing eyes softened as she looked away, appearing almost as awkward as Tori felt, sent butterflies to the older girl’s stomach and a warmth to her chest. And now, over two years later, she perceived those things to a much stronger degree at the recollection of that memory as the now-familiar feeling of her cheeks warming to the blush on them.
“Tori.” Andre’s voice cut through Tori’s thoughts, earning another groan from her, muffled by her arms and the fabric of her shirt sleeves. “I’ll take that as a yes,” he joked, shortly chuckling before patting her back. Well that just felt demeaning. Tori glared at her best friend, almost invoking some of what she had seen Jade use on people to get them to leave her alone. It actually reminded her of a time that previous summer when the pair were laying on the beach, only to be interrupted by two boys that walked past, only for Jade to scare them off wearing nothing but her scowl and a cool dark green-
“Tori!” Andre’s hissed voice sliced through her thoughts again, rousing the latina from her memory fantasy once more. “Sorry,” she said, rubbing her eyes, “sorry I was just-” “Drooling about that day you and her were at the beach?” There was a smirk on the song-writer’s face as Andre nudged Tori with his elbow. She looked back at her desk sheepishly and blushed even more than she thought possible.
Sneaking a quick glance at her phone to check the time, Tori was reminded of what day it was and sighed. “It’s just not the best day for me I guess.” Somewhat tentatively, Andre arched his eyebrow and whispered even more quietly to her. “That time of the month? I know some people who get really, uh, excited , when their once-a-month thing comes up.”
This question almost sent Tori into a laughing fit once it registered in her mind as to what he was asking about. Trying to both breath and not disturb the class, she closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths to calm down as Andre timidly looked at the notes they were supposed to be working on. Wiping tears from her eyes, Tori smiled at Andre and swallowed her laughter. “I mean I guess you could say that it’s definitely not my favourite time of the month.” After awkwardly avoiding her gaze for a few seconds, Andre smirked at Tori. “Feel a bit better now Tor?”
“Actually yeah.” The singer looked at her friend with a smile. “You always help me with this kinda thing. Thanks Andre.” Her smile was returned by her best friend, his eyes warm.
“Any time chica.”
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Eventually the final class of the day arrived, bringing with it strange dealings. Jade had claimed the seat next to Tori as she arrived, tossing her backpack with surprising strength and accuracy onto the chair. Jumping slightly at the impact, Tori looked at Jade with a confused glance.
"Hey there." The young woman clad in dark clothes bore two cups of coffee, setting one on Tori's desk as she sat down. After she pulled a large notebook from her bag, Jade went searching for something while saying "You better drink that before it gets cold by the way, otherwise I just wasted five bucks." Tori had been busy staring at Jade in both perplexment and attraction, but eventually managed to find the coffee and take a sip. "Pumpkin Spice Latte?" Jade chuckled and smirked at her. "I have a shit memory so I don't remember what you usually order when we're in a big group, but I figured you'd at least enjoy the Basic Bitch drink." The writer winked when saying that last bit, and Tori's fluttering heart gave way to a coughing fit from trying to drink and thank Jade at the same time.
Thankfully she had managed to not choke to death by the time Sikowitz arrived, half an hour late to class whilst being chased by a short old lady and her rogue chihuahua through one of the low windows of the room. "..And that, class, is why we never anger entities with height complexes. Now. Can anyone tell me what time of year it is?" Robbie's Rex-less hand was up quickly, the death of his puppet apparently not as soul-crushing as he made it out to be at lunch. "It's almost a month away from Halloween?" Jade's head perked up at the mention of the holiday. "Precisely. A month away from arguably the best holiday of the year and the equivalent Halloween Fair and Formal that the school is going to put on for the first time in twenty years." A pale hand sarcastically raised itself into the air. "Why is this the first I'm hearing about anything Halloween related about this school? And why twenty years specifically?" Jade's dark hair flowed almost weightlessly down her shoulders as she spoke while Tori struggled to not stare more at her. The coffee cups had been tossed into the trashcan near the doorway, emptied rather quickly. "Well not twenty specifically, more like twenty seven and a half but that's neither here nor there." Before students could ask what he meant by 'and a half', Sikowitz continued, "You may be wondering why I'm telling you now before the rest of the school hears it during an assembly. That, my dear children, is because you are the reasons why I asked your principal to bring this grand event back. It's your final year here and I want you to kick it off with a bang."
Tori could practically see the pride in Sikowitz' eyes beaming at each and every one of the students in the room. "I know you'll make this the darn-near best Halloween Fair and Formal this school has ever seen. Which is why I'm splitting you into pairs and using this to mark out a large portion of your grade before Christmas." The class erupted in groans and a number of heads slammed on their table. "I know that might not be the best news, but I have every faith in all of you. Come see me after class and I'll let you know who your partner is and what you two will be working on."
After a lesson that only ended up being about fifteen minutes worth, the bell rang and students began to head towards Sikowitz' desk and retrieve the slip of paper with their name on the outside and their partner's plus the task inside. Tori lagged behind everyone else as they left, searching for a dropped pen when Jade walked by. "See you tonight Vega~" There was a teasing note in her voice as the goth left the room, a tone that yanked at Tori's ears and heart. Looking up, she bumped her head on the desk she was under and swore under her breath. 'Why did Jade have to be needlessly attractive?' Tori rubbed the incoming bruise on her head while walking over to pick up the last paper note on her teacher's desk. Grabbing the slip, Tori's heart skipped a beat as she saw, printed plain as day, 'Jade West - Dunk Tank'. "Oh. Great." "I gave you Jade because you and she have been working incredibly well together recently and I have every faith you'll be able to keep her from murdering anyone while working at the dunk tank." Tori turned to look at her teacher, who was smirking despite the coconut straw in his mouth. "Right. Gotcha." Before she was able to leave, Sikowitz continued. "You're not very good at hiding that crush of yours Tori. Really terrible trait for an actor." He winked, and the half-Puerto Rican gave a tired smile.
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'Of course Sikowitz knows, it's not like Andre hasn't been trying to get me to confess to Jade for months now or anything.'
Tori rubbed her eyes as she entered the school parking lot, mildly exasperated, before beginning to search for Trina's car. After a few seconds of being unable to find the bedazzled rolling tire-fire, she sat on the curb and sighed into her hands.
"No snotty sister to drive you home huh?" Tori was suddenly aware of a dark shape standing next to her, green streaks of hair mixed with black bending down to bump her elbow. "Apparently not." Jade chuckled lightly at Tori's reply before straightening up and starting to walk to her car. "I guess that means I'll need to take an extra trip to the gas station. Come on Tori, we both know your house is too far for you to walk." Tori glanced up. "Wait huh? You're offering to drive me home?" Jade patiently stopped, tapping her foot as Tori stood and walked over to her. "You told me not to be mean to you today. This is me not being mean." The two young women smiled at each other slightly awkwardly from across the roof of Jade's car, before the driver unlocked for them to climb in.
Being driven by Jade was something Tori had become somewhat familiar with over the summer thanks to the days the pair had gone around the large city they lived in to hang out. Jade didn't live too far away, so it wasn't surprising when she called Tori in the morning five minutes before coming to pick her up. Still overall it was strange heading home from school in the car she had jumped out of not too long ago. Tori opened her mouth to speak but Jade cut her off. "You apologize about the door every time you catch a ride and every time I tell you it's no big deal." Sparing a glance at Tori, Jade smiled warmly. "I know, I know. I just feel bad sometimes." The afternoon sun warmed the inside of the car to a comfortable level, the wind outside that had picked up while they drove blocked from chilling the girls. At a red light and after a long stretch of silence, Jade brought up what Tori had been meaning to since Sikowitz' class ended. "Dunk tank huh?" Tori's smile picked up a little. "Yeah. Sikowitz said he has faith in me to not let you murder anyone while we're working it," she said with a chuckle, recognising the turnoff to her street. Jade cackled, turning the car into the last stretch of the trip. "Honestly that doesn't surprise me. Not sure why he gave us something I'll be tempted to enact violence at, but I guess you have a way of dealing with people. Like that bitch you got to sponsor my play." Tori laughed at that memory. "Mrs Lee sure was a handful."
Not long after, Jade pulled up near Tori's driveway and looked at her passenger. A warm feeling bubbled through Tori as she returned the look, smiling. "Thanks for the ride Jade. I really appreciate it. See you at seven?" Her classmate smiled and unlocked the car doors. "Seven," she confirmed, "Text me what snacks you want, I'll pick em up on my way over when I get gas." The older girl opened the door and stepped out, leaning down slightly to look at Jade as she spoke. "Will do. Drive safe Jade." She nodded and locked the doors, giving Tori a small wave as she pulled away.
Walking up to her front door, Tori's phone buzzed. Pulling it out as she unlocked the door, she read a notification from her dad;
Sorry for not letting you know sooner champ, your mom won tickets to a thing in Seattle over the weekend after you left. We're at the airport now, your sister managed to weasel her way into coming along. There's plenty of food so feel free to make what you want, just please don't burn the house down. We wish you could be here but we know you're getting ready for exams. See you on Monday, love you .
Ah. Of course. Perfect timing as per usual. Trina can be the absolute worst at wanting to be included in things, aside from college apparently.
its okay dad, i've got a bunch of homework anyway
love you 2, safe flight to you, mom and the daughter who uses all the hot water <3
A few minutes later, Tori's phone buzzed about another notification.
Damn you're right, is it too late to send her back?
The youngest Vega smirked, before sighing. Three nights alone. At least she'll have company tonight, albeit unexpectedly. After asking Jade to bring a few things via text, Tori decided a shower would be the best thing to start the evening with. Luckily the only homework she had received that day was her dunk tank task with Jade, and she couldn't really work on that without her. The hot water washed over Tori's body in an absurdly pleasant way, washing away all the aches and pains that had accumulated over the wild ride her day had been. Steam filled the bathroom she had all to herself, obscuring most of the view her full-body mirror would otherwise catch. After slipping into sweatpants and a crop-top, hair tied in a pony-tail to dry, she cracked open a window to let the room air out. Golden sunlight began seeping into the room through the open window, the sunset marking its start. A few drops of warm water dribbled down Tori's back, some others dropping from her hair as it bounced from her walking down the stairs. 'Guess I better search for some movies that Jade'll like and won't traumatise me.' After that matter, all Tori would need to do was wait for seven.