Disclaimer: The show Victorious, its characters and other associated copyrights are property of someone else and not me.

Cards on the table

Chapter 6 – Back to reality

No one's POV

Tori's POV

After Jade dropped me off, I spent some time working on a paper I needed to finish for my Music Theory class. I finished it just before it was time for bed. Before I went to sleep, I checked my phone to see if Jade had texted, she hadn't. For some reason, that made me feel just a bit uneasy as I drifted off.

When I woke up the buzzing of my alarm, I felt no less uneasy. I think it was simply me, not knowing what today if not the future itself held for me and possibly Jade. The day quickly took a more normal turn when I getting dressed Trina burst in my room.

"Tori." Said Trina, as she made a beeline for my closet. "I need to borrow something; I have nothing to wear."

Before I could say anything, she reached in and pulled out a purple top and looked at it and frowned. "You have terrible taste in clothes Tori, but this will do."

As per normal, she quickly exited the room, without so much as a thank you.

Normally, I'd be really annoyed, but recently, I've been stealing clothes from her closet and placing them in mine. I was doing that in the hopes that she'd grab one of her own things and none of mine. Today it worked as that particular purple top, belonged to her. What makes it even more funny is that she didn't even catch it.

But my sense of satisfaction from fooling Trina, didn't last long and that sense of unease quickly returned. By the time I had gotten into my car and started off to school, my unease began to turn into a full-fledged freak out and this was no song.

The more I thought about it, the more questions seemed to flood my mind. What will Jade say to me? Will she tell anyone? Will she go back to hating me? Does anyone know? What will Beck say?

In-between the questions, were realizations like; oh my god I dated Jade and no one died and Now that I've dated Jade, she's going to pay even more attention to me.

By the time I arrived at school, my neuroses were completely running amuck. But I put on a fake smile, parked my car and started to walk across towards the front doors of the school.

I hadn't gone more than 10 steps, just reaching the sidewalk, when I heard Cat's cheerful voice behind me.

"HI Tori"

As much as I love Cat, I really wasn't in the mood to deal with her now.

I turned to see her bounding up behind me. "Hi Cat."

"What's up Tori? What did you do this weekend?"

That little question sent my panic attack into overdrive. Oh shit, she knows something. She's testing me. What the fuck do I do, she obviously knows too much? Shit. I know, all I need to do is make it look like an accident, then she'll never talk. Then I'll be safe.

Wait, am I actually thinking of killing Cat?

At that point the logical part of my mind, asserted itself and said. "Tori, instead of doing Cat right here on the sidewalk. Why don't you just lie to her! Yeah, that's the ticket."

"Oh nothing much Cat. I hung around the house and washed my hair."

Once again, the logical part of my mind spoke to me. "Tori, you suck at lying. Logically speaking, the best way to do away with Cat is to push her in front of the bus that's currently coming down the street."

Thankfully, Cat smiled and said. "You must have done a nice job, your hair does look really nice today."

"Thank you. I…I..took a some time to do it. It is kind of long." I said, as I watched the bus drive past us, only a few feet away.

Thankfully, for her at least, she started to babble something about her brother and I pretended to listen. We reached the doors and Cat went to her locker and I headed towards mine. I was still rather freaking the freak out, so to speak, but no one was in danger of being pushed in front of a but at the moment.

Nervously I looked towards Jade's locker and there she was. My heart started to race, upon seeing her. She however could not see me, as her back was towards me. A second later, having grabbed her books, Jade slammed her locker shut and walked away. The entire time, she was at her locker, she never even bothered to look in my direction.

Still a complete mess, I grabbed my books and headed to Sikowitz's class. I arrived before Jade and sat next to Andre. By then I had managed to think of a better lie then, I was washing my hair. One must be prepared. He said hello and we chatted about our weekend. He said he was working on some music and I said I spent the weekend working on a paper.

I then heard someone sit down behind me and the familiar and rather enticing scent of lavender body wash told me it could only be one person.

Part of me wanted to ignore her, but I know I wouldn't be able to resist.

So I gave in and turned around to see Jade, the woman I had kissed less than 24 hours before, who promptly scowled.

"Hi Jade, um how are you?" I said, my voice quivering slightly.

Jade quickly flipped her hair back and then started to talk in a exaggerated southern accent. "Oh My dear Tori Vega is paying attention to little ole me. I think I may get the vapors."

I was already on edge and Jade's little comment sent my anger off the charts. "I DON'T TALK LIKE THAT!" I snapped, rather furiously.

I then heard Sikowtiz, clear his throat. "Tori, are you ok?"

Suddenly feeling horribly embarrassed, I turned to him and slunk in my seat. "I'm fine, sorry about that. thank you."

"Good, if you're done yelling at Jade. Then I'd like to get class started."

I simply nodded and watched as Sikowitz started to lecture. By the end of class, I had calmed down a great deal. However, I still felt very embarrassed and was afraid that I had blown it with Jade. After all, I yelled at her. Perhaps this thing between us was a passing thing.

Once class was done, I simply didn't have the stomach to face jade, so I quickly scooped up my books and left without even looking at her.

I didn't have Jade in my second class of the day, English, which was good. I don't think I could handle the strain. I didn't feel that much better when I came out of class. As I did however, I could see Jade standing across the corridor, leaning up against the wall. She looked at me then smiled.

Normally when Jade smiles at someone, they quickly get the feeling that something bad is about to happen to them. That's happened more than once around here.

But this wasn't a normal Jade smile, or even her signature smirk. This was a warm, bright, inviting smile, one I don't think I've ever seen before. It took a moment to realize that this particular smile, was meant for me and me alone. All of a sudden, I felt not only like a weight had been lifted from my shoulders, but just a bit special.

She let the smile linger for a few seconds longer and as soon as I smiled back, she nodded and vanished around a corner.

I'd like to say that I felt 100% better, but upon thinking about it, I still was a bit worried. Let's face it, if things go south between us, something bad may just happen to me. That amount of worry, was something I could manage.

The rest of my morning went uneventfully and soon enough I reached lunch. Having got my food, I headed towards the table and seeing there, felt just a bit nervous. As I said, I could handle that.

I sat down between Andre and Robbie with Jade sitting across from me, flanked by Cat and Beck. We quickly got to talking about school and whatever subjects that came up in conversation. Once and a while I'd see Jade's eyes dart in my direction, but she mostly ignored me. Though she did take time to insult me a few times.

I was tempted to touch her foot with mine, but something inside me said to play it cool.

Lunch ended and rest of the day proceeded pretty much normally, with Jade acting just like she normally did. As the bell rang, I breathed a sigh of relief, that I had made it through the day. Sure, I had a minor meltdown earlier, but can you blame me. All that matters is that I made it.

I took a look around for Jade as I arrived at my locker but there was no sign of her. Sensing she was about somewhere; I took my time in putting my books away.

Sure enough, after about everyone else had left, I spotted a pale hand reach out of the broom closet and a single finger pointed at me then beckoned me inside.

Slamming my locker shut, I quickly walked to the broom closet and slipped in.

I could see Jade standing there, bag in hand. "Hey Tori. You alright?"

I nodded. "Yeah. I am now." Then blushed slightly. "Your smile helped."

"You looked a bit stressed. Let me guess, you kind of freaked out today?" Asked Jade, in a slightly concerned tone of voice.

I then looked at the floor, feeling a bit embarrassed. "Sorry. This is all new. You and me. Not to mention, the first time I dated a woman. I didn't know how to act, what to expect. I sort of freaked out."

Jade nodded. "I thought you needed that smile. Can't have you going all to pieces on me. For the record, your smile in return, helped me as well."

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing really. Anymore. Let's just say that this morning, when I was halfway done with my make up, I sort of just froze. I just stood there for almost 5 minutes, not moving, just staring at myself. I think a lot of the same things were going through my head."

I could tell that Jade was really making an effort to be open and that was something I greatly appreciated. I could press her more about her panic, but decided against pressing her more. "I'm glad you're ok. Thanks for your help, that means a lot. I was really freaking out there for a while. Poor Cat, she almost ended up in front of a bus."

Jade's eyebrow quickly rose. "What?"

I then, somewhat reluctantly, told the story of what happened that morning. I wasn't sure how Jade would react to the news that I had considered tossing her best friend in front of a bus.

As soon as I finished, Jade burst out laughing as if it was the funniest thing she'd ever heard. "Oh my God, I could just see Cat now, going under the wheels of the bus. That would be priceless."

"You're not mad?"

"No. It's more than understandable. Besides, I'd be lying If I said I hadn't thought about wasting that annoying twit on occasion. I even had it all planned out?"

"Wait. If you have a plan for killing Cat, do you….."

Jade quickly cut me off. "So, Tori. You look pretty today. How about you and I check out the new Woodfield mall tomorrow? We can make it a Mall date. Game?"

"I'd love to."

Jade gave me a quick kiss. "Good. See you Tomorrow. I'll let you leave first." She then paused. "Are you going to be ok?"

I smiled and briefly took her hand. "I will be. You?"

"Yeah."

I walked out of the closet, and for an instant, I hoped one day, Jade and I could walk out of that closet, hand in hand.

Time will tell.

Sometimes a smile is all you need.

Well they survived their first day back and Cat even remained alive. Keep those great reviews coming. Till next time.

Before I go, I'd like to give a shout out to a few Jori themed Instagram accounts that I found. They have pictures, small stories and some real cool Jori artwork. They are keeping the Jori spirit alive. Check them out.

They are

joriisendgame

fandom_loverrrrr

jori_forever.2020

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