Chapter 3

Tori had spent all day Sunday hiding in room thinking about the kiss. She couldn't get it out of her mind. She'd only wanted to console Beck not elevate their friendship to something neither of them were ready for.

Perhaps she was reading too much into this. It was just a kiss right? She'd kissed Beck many times. It wasn't even their first kiss. He could have meant it as a kiss between friends. Maybe Beck was just genuinely appreciative of the lunch she'd made. She had spent a few hours on it.

Tori looked in the mirror as she passed the brush through her hair for what seemed like the seven hundredth time. She pulled the brush through her long brunette hair again and sighed. No matter what his intention behind the kiss, Tori still felt anxious about seeing him.

Tori got out of Trina's car feeling exhausted. Riding with Trina always left Tori feeling drained. Trina sang too loudly and her driving was horrendous. Tori was amazed they hadn't been pulled over by LAPD or other people in traffic didn't call in noise complaints.

Tori looked at the outside of Hollywood Arts. Her stomach did a flop as she thought about walking through those doors. All of her friends would be around in those hallways, Andre, Kat, Robbie, Beck...Tori felt a new wave of nausea. How was she going to face Beck?! Tori chided herself for being such a pretard. She was determined not to let this ruin her friendship. It was just a kiss not a marriage proposal.

She opened the doors silently willing the butterflies to go away. Mentally, she pictured catching all those butterflies in a net and setting them free in the Hollywood hills. Keeping her mind occupied helped calm her uneasiness.

Tori glanced around the hallway. Just as she predicted there were most of her friends. Andre was playing a morning jingle on his locker piano, Kat was fixing her hair, Robbie was arguing with Rex, Beck was nowhere to be found. Phew. Perhaps Tori would get lucky and Beck would miss today.

Tori slowly made her way towards her locker with extra pep in her walk and a wide smile on her face. She smiled at a few of her fellow classmates before her eyes landed on a particular "friend". Jade. Tori had completely forgotten about Jade in her silent struggle about Beck.

How was she ever going to face Jade? Jade turned from her locker slamming the scissor door shut, her dark curls whipping around her face.

"Hi, Tori," Jade said in her fake falsetto voice, the one she used right before she was particularly nasty to Tori.

"Oh, uh, hi, Jade," Tori replied uneasily before walking quickly past Jade to her own glowing locker.

Jade sighed in annoyance then walked briskly to catch up with the taller girl. "Listen Vega, I was over at Beck's trailer this weekend and I saw something that I really didn't like."

Tori's blood ran cold. She squinched her eyes closed waiting for the punch to the nose. Her first thoughts were that she hadn't said good bye to her parents this morning and now she'd never see them again because surely Jade was going to kill her.

"Vega? What are you doing?" Jade said angrily causing Tori to peek at the shorter girl with one eye.

Jade was standing there with a scowl on her face leaning casually against the row of lockers but she didn't seem any more threatening or angry than usual. Tori let out a small shaky breath and opened both her eyes. Perhaps she was making assumptions. Jade didn't know about the shared kiss.

"Um, what did you see?" Tori asked lightly emphasizing each word as they passed through her lips.

"I went over to Beck's on Sunday and there was some little blonde bimbo there. So I hid in the bushes until she left," Jade said pausing to take a sip of her coffee.

"You hid in the bushes?" Tori asked as she opened her locker and removed the book for her first class.

"I just said it didn't I?" Jade asked angrily before continuing "Anyhow, as blondie was leaving, Beck kissed her!"

Tori faltered, her head snapping back towards Jane. "He kissed her?" Tori asked incredulously.

"Yeah, he kissed her. It wasn't just a little peck either. It was full on lip lock."

Tori turned from Jade trying to hide the hurt on her face. Sure, she wanted things to go back to normal between her and Beck and she felt incredibly guilty about kissing him in the first place but she felt so strange about the new knowledge.

"What should I do, Tori, I need your help," Jade whispered not wanting to be overheard pleading in the crowded hallway.

Tori took a deep breath trying to compose herself. She turned back towards Jade hoping that her face was masked calm. Jade didn't seem to notice the change in Tori's demeanor.

"What do you want to do about it Jade? " Tori asked resuming the exchange of books in her locker.

"I want to get him back for being a jerk and cheating on me," Jade spat angrily taking another sip of her coffee.

"You guys aren't dating anymore, Jade. Kissing another girl doesn't qualify as cheating on you if you aren't dating," Tori said holding her theater book and turning towards Jade.

"That's not the point, Vega!" Jade yelled slamming her hand down on Tori's theater book causing it to fall to the floor. Jade smirked feeling accomplished for causing the taller girl distress before taking another sip of her coffee.

Tori sighed irritably bending down to pick up her. She stood up about to scold Jade only to see Beck walk in the front door of Hollywood Arts. She gasped in surprise when she saw he had his arm around a pretty girl with blonde hair, blue eyes and a beach tan.

"Oh my God," Tori breathed. Her eyes narrowed as the boy smiled and kissed the blonde girl's forehead. He noticed Tori looking at him and smiled at her friendly before turning back towards the girl. Tori turned back towards Jade feeling scorned. "Alright, Jade, I'll help you."

Ok, chapter 3. I hope you enjoy it and sorry it's taken so long to post this. I'm so busy right now. Life getting in the way of writing...what is this world coming to :)