She never meant to eavesdrop, honest! She had gone back to ask Sikowitz a question about the new play they were putting on, in which she had been given the lead (of course). Luckily, she heard Jade's voice from inside the room and stopped outside, seeing as interrupting would get her killed.

"I'm seriously getting tired of this, Sikowitz," Jade said, obviously trying to keep her voice calm.

"Tired of what, Miss West?" was the man's response.

"Tori getting the lead in everything!" she snapped back. Tori heard Sikowitz sigh.

"Look, Jade…"

"No! It's getting ridiculous! One or two, I understand that, she's new, she needs to feel accepted, but you're taking roles away from me, roles that I'm much more suited to than she is and we both know it!"

"Jade!" he said a little louder, trying to silence her. It worked.

"Look, ok. Yes, she's new and I've made allowances for that. Yes, you're a better actress and everyone is aware of it. But you've had two years of this school more than she has and two years more of roles. I'm your teacher. It's my job to make you as prepared as possible to face that world, to face this town."

"And taking away roles that I could use to pad my resume is helping… how?" she asked, still irritated.

"It's not helping you, it's helping her. You're not my only student." Jade growled in frustration. "Jade, if you want to make it in this town, you will. You will use your claws and dig in and never, ever give up. You're a fighter. She isn't. She's used to having things handed to her."

"Then stop doing it! Stop enabling her weakness and make her fight for something!"

"She won't, though," Sikowitz said gently. "She'll quit. She'll think everyone has turned against her and the world hates her. It's just the kind of person she's been raised to be."

"Well, then, she's a child," Jade retorted.

"Yes, she's a child. On occasion, she's even more naïve than Cat. And it is our automatic reaction to want to protect this innocence, isn't it?"

There was no response.

"Isn't that why you attached yourself to Cat freshman year? To protect her?"

"I had to," was the quiet response. "No one else would look after her like I do and she's too sweet and gullible to be left to her own devices."

"See? You're a total mother hen. I've seen you act the same to Sinjin on occasion."

"Yeah, well, Sinjin…" she started off angrily then sighed deeply before continuing, a sad tone replacing her angry one. " I worry about Sinjin. I really do."

"See?"

"But what does that have to do with Tori taking my roles?" she asked, angry tone back.

"Like I said, you will make it in this town if you want to. Tori… Tori needs as much padding as she can get. She has a lot of raw talent, which will get her nowhere in this town. She has the look most people want but she doesn't have the skill behind it. You have the skill, the background, and the determination. You will make it on your own. She won't. And it's as simple as that."

There was a long silence before Jade responded, "All right, I understand that. But I don't want people to think I slacked off or couldn't hack it my last two years of high school! I need something, Sikowitz. I get that she needs most of the leads to make it in the door of anywhere she wants to be but so do I! And I cannot, will not, sacrifice my career for her."

"I know. I'll do something about it. You just have to trust me. No, don't look at me like that. All right, don't trust me. But trust in the fact that I will do my damnedest to do right by you both."

The room was quiet for a few moments before Jade said softly, "Thanks."

"Now, go on, get to lunch. I'm sure Beck is looking for you."

"Even though I'm a total gank and am lucky to have him?" she replied snarkily but Tori could tell she was smiling.

"You're proud of being a gank and you know it. And you're both aware of how lucky you both are. Now, vacate my classroom, child!" Jade laughed to herself, a rare smile on her face, as she left the room… and it slipped off as she almost ran into Tori.

"Watch it, Vega," she snapped as she brushed past her. In her wake, she left Tori with a lot to think over. After the conversation she just heard, she couldn't quite think of Jade or Sikowitz in the same way ever again.

End A/N: I wrote this in June, when I first discovered Victorious and kinda became obsessed with it. The obsession has gone but I found this going through my computer so I figured I'd post it, seeing as I've been posting quite a bit lately.

I hope you enjoyed it.