Disclaimer: I own Nothing!

This is currently just a two-shot but it may evolve into multiple chapters

[Robbie's POV:]

I toss restlessly. She invades my every thought, even when I'm unconscious. I wake up in the morning from another dream where she was the stat. Even as my eyelids slide open, her piercing gaze haunts me.

"Robbie! You're going to be late for school!" my mom calls up the stairs. Rolling my eyes, I pull on a shirt and some pants. A few moments later, I'm heading down the stairs and the air seems thick. Each breath seems to take forever. It takes an eternity just to inhale, and another eternity to exhale. I guess I'm just anxious. I know she'll be at school today.

"Here, take this and buy coffee at school." My mom says digging into her jeans pocket and producing a five. I suppose I look like I've fallen off the wrong side of the bed, mom looks concerned.

"Thanks mom." I grin, grabbing Rex and shoving him roughly into my school bag.

"Love you!" she calls out the front door as I step into the crisp morning air. I dip into drives side door, and across the seat, before buckling my seatbelt. I slip the key into the ignition and turn it. The engine roars to life and music filters through the speakers as I crane my head and back out. The drive to school seems painfully slow. I watch the buildings creep by me, their shadows falling over me and then skittering away in equal measure. The music in the background is almost forgotten, something in on the sidewalk reminding me of her. Flashes of her creep back into my mind. They wrap themselves around my brain and suffocate every other thought.

I'm still dazed as I throw my car into park at Hollywood Arts. People flitter past me, but I'm in a daze as I stumble towards my locker. It's like this every morning.

"Robbie!" A shrill voice drags me from the depths of my consciousness. My lips quirk as I catch a flash of red in front of me. Just another part of my morning routine.

"What?" I ask looking up at the magenta-haired girl standing there.

"Are you okay?" She asks, swirling around in front of me. Cat's nothing if not a ball of barely contained energy. It's rare for her to every come to a complete stand still.

"Yeah, sure I am Cat." The lie rolls naturally off of my tongue, and I bite it to keep more from spilling out. Cat's lips twist for a brief second before she nods in acceptance of my answer.

"Kay kay. Bye!" She states abruptly, before bouncing off. If it were anybody else I might be offended, but I've gotten used to Cat's eccentricities so I just smile in the direction of her disappearing form.

"Liar." A voice murmurs in my ear. I whip around and come face to face with a pair of beautiful chocolate eyes. My lips curve at the edges, there are worse things to be greeted by in the morning.

"I know, I just can't tell Cat. She won't get it." I counter hastily, forgetting my composure and descending into a spluttering mess. I'm too lost in my own thoughts and excuses to realize Tori's got no idea what I'm talking about.

"Tell her what?" She asks, stroking my arm casually and looking concerned. I swallow thickly and look into her eyes. My tongue flails helplessly as I attempt to attach words to it. Thoughts swirl around my head, mostly centering on the realization of just how soft Tori's fingers are.

"I-I-I" I stutter nervously, failing to wrestle coherence from between my lips.

"You, you, you?" Tori asks, amusement curving her lips as she raises her eyebrows.

"I've got to go to class." I mumble, pulling away from her and spinning around. I can't tell her. I can't tell anyone. I take a few steps before I realize I've been walking in the wrong direction. Cursing under my breath, I turn back around and veer around a corner leading to Sikowitz's classroom. She's right there. God, she's gorgeous. Her eyes flit in my direction and my heart stops. I turn around and head up the stairs, taking the long way to class instead.

"Robbie! You're late!" Sikowitz booms, as I enter the classroom. Mumbling an apology, I take a seat behind Tori and try to catch my breath.

"Why are you late? You left for class before me." Tori states skeptically, turning around and ignoring the acting exercise unfolding before us.

"I had some problems and I needed to clear my head, so I took the long way to class." I whisper, trying to avoid getting even further onto Sikowitz's bad side. He's notoriously bad with holding a grudge towards students that displease him.

"Tell me?" She asks, giving me a gorgeous smile. It's so bright that I'm almost blinded. My tongue twitches mutinously, aching to spill my secret to the girl leaning towards me.

"No." I hiss, eventually regaining my self control.

"Why not?" She groans, thrusting her bottom lip out and pouting. My eyes dart away from her, if they linger on Tori for too long when she's like this I know I'll give into her demands.

"I can't…just trust me on this one. I can't tell you or Beck or Andre or anyone for that matter. It's…personal." I say flailing my arms before letting them come to rest on my lap as melancholy seeps into me. If anybody learns the truth, I'll never hear the end of it. Or worse, I'll never hear anything from her again.

"Okay Robbie, if you say so." She mumbles turning back around in her seat. Her arms come across her Torso and an irritated sigh escapes her lips shortly after. I glance up and try to focus on Sikowitz's rambling, but my own thoughts distract me again. Grasping onto every happy memory I have of this girl is harder than I thought, and when I find one I grasp onto it in the same fashion that a child would grip a teddy bear. I guess that's why I get so lost in my head all of the time.

"Robbie!" A demanding voice yanks me from my thoughts.

"Jade?" I look up and see her flanked by Cat, Beck, Andre, and Tori.

"Class is over" Tori states, answering my silent question. As I tumble back into reality, I realize that she's smiling and her fingers are on my shoulder.

"You and me are partners, Sikowitz is making us do a play" Jade says, peeling my eyes away from Tori. A disgusted tone slips into her voice and weaves itself through her words. I can tell she's less than enthused about our partnership.

"Alright." I lament, trying to prevent the same tone of disgust from slipping through my lips.

"Let's go to lunch?" Tori suggests, trying to break the tension. Jade and I break eye contact and with a shrug I push myself to my feet.

"Ooh I love lunch! That reminds me of this one time when my brother.." Cat trails off on yet another tale of some wrong doing her brother did. I feel guilty every time, but whenever Cat mentions her brother, I find that her words drift through one ear and straight out of the other.

"CAT!" Jade yells in irritation, pulling the magenta-haired girl from her story and yanking her out of the classroom and down the hall. Cringing, I realize that working with Jade is going to be a lot different this time than it used to be.

"What did her brother do?" Tori asks, looking up from her phone with genuine interest in her eyes. I guess that's why she's slipped so seamlessly into our group. Even the most mundane of details hold her interest.

"Dunno" Andre, Beck, and I all say at the same time. Tori's eyebrows cut into her nose and she looks dissatisfied by our response. I pet her shoulder lightly as we slide towards the Assault Café, and the darkness seems to disappear from her eyes. Lifting my lips in her direction, our usual table veers into view. Cat and Jade are already sitting at our usual table, and Cat's babbling happily.

"Hey Ladies" I say flirtatiously, before swinging a lanky leg over the bench of the table. Setting myself down right in between Jade and Cat, my eyes skitter between them expectantly.

"No." They state firmly in unison. My heart gives a pathetic thump within my chest and my shoulders fall.

"Alright, that's cool." I shrug, trying to play it off and repress the disappointment welling up within me.

"Robbie…" Tori's bright voice drags me back out of my darkest thoughts and hurls me back into the conversation.

"What?" I ask, my eyes still lingering on the table as I examine my lunch.

"Will you-" She starts, before I cut her off.

"Sorry, I can't." I mumble, standing up and leaving the table irritably.

"Where are you going?" Tori's voice rings distantly as I swing open the door and slide down the wall. The hallways are empty, so I just sit there and let my anger slow to a simmer. I'm drifting away into my mind again, when a flash of red darts through the doors I had just come through.

"Robbie what's wrong? I know something's wrong because this one time my brother said nothing was wrong and something was wrong and it ended up being he had a dead cat under his bed, he said it was sleeping." Cat rambles on about yet another one of her brother's wrong doings. For once, I don't drift away. It's nice of her to come after me, so I chuckle lightly and ruffle her hair when she finishes her story.

"I'm fine Cat, do you know where Tori is?" I ask standing up and adjusting my shirt as guilt festers within me. I shouldn't have snapped on her, it's not like she's been inside my head. She doesn't know what's going on in there.

"She's sitting at our lunch table still. She got all quiet and sad when you left. It reminded me of this one time when my brother…" Cat trails off as I begin to haul myself upright. I guess there's something in my eyes that killed her urge to recall another tale of her brother's madness.

"Thanks Cat." I whisper, quirking my lips in her direction, before jogging towards our lunch table outside.

"Tori I'm Sor-" The words spill out of my lips before dying as Tori turns to me. I guess Beck, Jade and Andre left while I was gone. It's just Tori and I now. Well I guess this is Tori. Right now she looks more like a husk of the girl I'm used to lighting up the room.

"What?" She croaks. Her eyes are swollen and red and my breath catches in my throat.

"Are you okay?" I ask, unable to push anything more intelligent out of my lips.

"Do I look okay?" She snaps, anger flooding her usually placid chocolate orbs.

"I'm really sorry. Why were you crying?" I ask, wiping a stray tear from her gorgeous brown orbs. I feel self absorbed, but I can't help but feel that this is my fault.

"I just got a text that my parents aren't even going to be home tonight. We were supposed to have a family dinner for the first time in a month, but they bailed to go see a basketball game with their friends." She sighs, a sob hacking somewhere deep within her chest.

"I-if you want, I could bring sushi over and I'll tell you what's been bugging me?" I splutter, biting my bottom lip as I prepare for a brutal rejection.

"I guess so..." She answers, still looking utterly dejected as she sniffs and wipes stray tears away from her eyes.

"Nozu sushi though, right?" She asks, after a few moments of silence slip past us. Her lips curve at the edges, and though she still looks breakable, I think Tori is on the mend.

"Of course. Only the best for you." I find myself smiling gently. Impulsively, I lean forward and peck her forehead. My cheeks ignite instantly, and Tori's eyes blow open as I break away.

"Thanks Robbie, this really means a lot. Trina and I obviously aren't close, and my mom and dad bail on me every opportunity they get. I guess it's just nice to see somebody cares…" Tori says, forcing the sadness out of her voice. The expression in her eyes turning from hard and cold, to the innocent melted chocolate look that I'm familiar with.

The day sails past me, and before I know it I'm holding a bag of sushi in my hand as Tori's house looms before me. Sucking a deep breath of air into my lungs, I reach out a finger and press the lit button on the door of the Vega house. A few moments later, it swings open and Tori appears. I'm to greet her when two arms constrict around me and I'm pulling into a hug.

"Thanks Robbie." She mumbles into my chest, looking as though she's fallen back into the same bad mood she'd been in earlier. My heart jerks as the vibrations of her voice rattle through my body. We linger in the doorway for a few moments before Tori pulls away from me, and I trail inside on her heels.

"Let's eat." I command with a smile, hoping that the booming sound of my voice will drag Tori from her depression. She gives a weak smile and nods slightly as she walks toward me, but I shake my head and motion for her to sit down. I reach into the bag and produce several carry-out containers with the Nozu logo stamped on them. Cradling the containers against my body, I step over to the couch and flop down next to Tori.

She reaches over and takes a container from my lap. A shiver rushes through me as Tori's hair brushes against me for the briefest of seconds. She doesn't notice though, and quickly settles back into her place next to me. She opens it and quirks her lips, before taking a bite. I guess Tori's never had this particular dish before. The flavor spreads through her mouth and a smile crosses Tori's lips as she nods approvingly.

"This is amazing!" She moans, before quickly taking another bite.

"It's tuna" I say casually, grabbing my chopsticks and trying not to look too please with myself. As I take my first bite, it's kind of comforting to not be seen as a total freak. We eat in companionable silence as an episode of Drake and Josh plays in the background. It's the closest to normal that I've felt in some time, those memories flittering to the edge of my mind.

"Soo, Robbie. You gunna tell me what's been bugging you?" Tori asks, setting her container on the dark coffee table. Tori scoots closer to me, and I can feel the heat radiating from her as she watches me expectantly. I try to organize my feeling into words for the first time, as my top teeth dig into my bottom lip. A breath rattles through my lungs, and the words taste bitter as they leave my lips.

"I think that I'm in love with Jade."

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