♘

CAT, ANDRE, AND RILEY were walking through the hallway when they noticed Tori struggling to get her French horn in her locker.

"Tori," André called, catching her attention.

"Vega," Riley added with a smile.

"What's up?" Cat greets.

"I'm having a horn problem," Tori complains. The trio stared at her with amused looks on their faces. "Why do I have to play an instrument, anyway?"

"Everyone at Hollywood Arts has to play an instrument," Cat explained to her friend.

"Okay, well, I sing. My throat is my instrument," Tori says, gesturing to her throat. "I'm a throat player."

Riley giggled a little, shaking my head. "Doesn't count, Tori. And to be completely honest, it sounds gross."

"Why'd you pick the French horn?" André asks her.

"I don't know," Tori shrugged. "I like French fries, French toast..."

Cat suddenly gasped, interrupting Tori. "One time when I was eating French toast at a restaurant, I started laughing, and then I started choking. So the lady who ran the restaurant made me leave," she explained, leaving Riley, André, and Tori to stare at her. "So, let's hear your horn!"

"Yeah, play that funky music, white girl," André agreed.

"You know, I'm half Latina," Tori tells him.

"Then hit it, Muchacha."

Tori cleared her throat a little before she played a bad tune. "I think it's broken," she says after she stopped playing.

"Here, let me fix it for you," Riley said before taking the French horn.

She cleared her throat before putting the French horn to her mouth and began to play Another One Bites the Dust. A guy with a keyboard joined in and everyone but Tori began to dance to the music.

"It's not broken," Riley heard Cat say to Tori.

Once she was finished, everyone in the hallway cheered as Riley handed the horn back to Tori.

"And that's how you play the French horn," the slightly younger girl chuckled before walking off with André and Cat.

♘

As André, Cat, and Riley walk into the theater with our teacher, Mr. Williams, we see Tori tackling some dude and André rushes over with our drama teacher to stop her.

"Who is the chick?!" He shouted as André pulled her off the guy.

"Relax, relax, relax!"

"What are you doing?" Mr. Williams asked protecting the guy from Tori.

"That guy was beating up Beck," Tori replied in concern.

Jade rolled her eyes as she walked up. "Oh, you poor thing," she says sarcastically, standing next to Beck. Riley chuckled a little at her response.

"We were practicing," Beck reassured Tori.

"This is Russ," Mr. Williams introduced.

"I'm Russ!"

"He's a professional stuntman. I invited him here to teach the class about stage fighting."

"And now, Tori says, "What's stage fighting?" Jade mimicked Tori.

Tori rolled her eyes. "I wasn't gonna say that," she said before turning to André and Riley. "What is it?"

"Fake fighting that looks real, like for a play or a movie," Riley replied.

"I took a class with him last summer," Beck explained, pointing to Russ.

"Well, it looked like he was hurting you," Tori says gently.

Jade glared at her. "Why do you care?" she questioned.

"'Cause I figure he already suffers enough pain dating you," Tori replied with a smirk. 

Riley shook her head at her response, thinking that Tori was just asking for herself to be killed by the goth. 

"You wanna see pain?" Jade retorted, going up to Tori but Riley quickly stopped her.

"Hey, why don't we go over here?" she suggested, taking her away from Tori as Beck followed us.

"Ugh, I can't believe you're friends with her, Riles," Jade grumbled as they sat down. "She's so annoying."

"I know. I'm starting to get annoyed by her whining and complaining but I'm trying to cope with it," Riley replied with a shrug. 

Riley knows Tori is new to the school, but it seemed like Tori came with every excuse to make everything about her, and it was starting to annoy the girl. Soon, class began and Cat was called up to stand with Russ as he demonstrated his lesson.

"Now, if I throw a punch at Cat," Russ began to explain, standing across from Cat. He threw a fake punch at Cat, causing her to gasp softly, thinking he was going to punch her. "It's easy to see that my fist didn't connect with her face."

"Thank you," Cat thanked, and Riley giggled softly at her innocence.

"But if we stage it from a different angle, then," he says and he and Cat moved a different angle. "Like I showed you?" Cat nods and he turns to Mr. Williams. "Sound effect, ready?"

"All set."

"To the audience or camera, it'll look like this."

He threw another fake punch to Cat, making it look real as the sound effect came on. Cat swerved her head with a gasp, causing Riley to think he hit her but calmed down when she smiled at us.

"I'm okay, everyone!" She giggled as everyone applauded for her performance. She came and sat back down next to Riley as Mr. Williams came to the front with a clipboard.

"All right, I'm gonna pair you guys up and each team will work with Russ this week to prepare a fight scene," Mr. Williams explained.

"I thought his name was Steve," André says in confusion.

Riley nods her head, agreeing with André. "He does look like a Steve," she said, and everyone else agreed.

"My name is Russ!"

"Okay, and on Friday, you will all perform your fight scenes here in front of the class," Mr. Williams continued and looked down at his clipboard. "Now, the pairs will be Cat and Riley., Beck and André, Gwen and Jess, and Tori and Jade."

"Tori and who?" Tori freaked out as Jade looked over with a satisfied smirk.

Before Mr. Williams could answer, the school bell rang, indicating that class was over. Everyone started to get up and grab their stuff, walking out of the theater. 

♘

Riley sat with Tori, Cat, and André at lunch. Cat and Riley were talking to André about our fight scene but Tori wasn't paying attention, looking somewhere behind them, and stabbing her lettuce.

"Look at her," she mumbled.

"Who?" André and Riley questioned the girl.

"Jade! I guarantee you she's telling Beck all about how she's gonna punch me when we do our scene."

"I wonder if mirrors work in outer space," Cat wondered out loud, looking in her mirror. The three all looked at her in confusion.

"I mean, what am I gonna do if she hits me?" Tori asked André and Riley, ignoring Cat.

André shrugged. "Bleed, burst into tears?" 

"I'm serious," she whined and Riley rolled my eyes, tired of her whiny voice.

"Relax, Tori. Jade isn't going to hit you," the girl told the other. "It's stage fighting. No one hits anybody."

"Yeah, but accidents happen," she continued to whine. "And what if she makes an accident happen on purpose?" She was about to take a bite of her salad but shook off the lettuce when she saw how much she got.

"You know the word mirror has six letters and half of them are Rs?" Cat asked us in surprise.

"Haven't you and Jade been rehearsing?" André asked Tori as we ignored Cat.

Tori nods. "Yeah, yesterday after school and this morning during study hall," she replied.

"And did she hit you for real?" 

"No, 'cause she probably wants to wait and do it to humiliate me."

"Well, if she does, she loses half a letter grade," I explained to her.

"Oh, great," Tori says sarcastically." So she gets an A- and I get a broken eye and a black nose."

"I think you mean--"

"I know what I meant."

Cat smiled as she looked at us. "My dog has a black nose. It's so cute. Like a baby meatball," she giggled, tapping her nose.

"Meatballs are brown," André says.

"You're so mean to me!" Cat exclaimed, picking up her stuff and walking away.

Riley sighed, standing up. "I'll go calm her down," she told them as she grabbed my stuff before looking at Tori. "And you, don't worry. I know you're not Jade's biggest fan right now, but she won't hurt you."

Riley gave her a small smile before following after Cat.

♘

"I'm not in love with your boyfriend!" Riley yelled at Cat she kept throwing punches toward her. She grabbed and pushed Riley onto a breakaway table, finishing their scene. Now, Cat may be small, but she is strong.

"And scene," Cat smiled as she came and helped Riley up. The duo bowed as the class clapped for us before they sat down.

"All right. Next up, we have," Mr. Williams starts as he looks down at his clipboard, "Tori and Jade."

Jade stood up immediately, giving Tori a smirk as she walked onto the stage. Tori followed nervously, looking towards André and Riley. They gave her a comforting look as she joined Jade on stage.

"Um, okay, for our scene, I'm gonna be playing an old lady who's walking home from a bingo game," Tori explained to the class.

"And I play a brutal mugger," Jade smirked.

"Yes, a brutal mugger who mugs me without actually hurting me."

"Okay, as always, be careful, and if anything goes wrong, just yell the safe word, which is butternut," Russ explained as Tori and Jade got ready.

"Okay, guys, ready? And--"

"Butternut!" Tori shouted.

"What?!" Jade asked annoyed.

"Tori, what's the problem?" Mr. Williams asked in concern.

"I was testing the safe word," Tori replied. "It works. Ok, I'm ready."

"And action."

"Oh, I certainly did enjoy the bingo," Tori says as she walks like an old lady. "Although, I do miss Bob Hope."

Everyone chuckled as Jade came up behind Tori.

"Give me your money," she says in a deep voice, grabbing Tori by the arms.

"What?!"

"I ain't playing. Give me your money and your watch."

"Wouldn't you rather have this?" Tori smirked. She stood up and swung her cane, nearly hitting Jade.

"Ow!" Jade exclaimed, falling to the ground. "Butternut! Butternut!" She stood back up, turning around and holding her eye in pain.

"She's bleeding!" Cat and I exclaimed in worry as we all crowded around Jade to see if she was okay.

"Are you okay?" Russ asked her in concern.

"No! Tori hit me in the face for real!" Jade replied.

"No, I didn't," Tori says, shaking her head. 

"Tell that to my bloody eye! Ow!"

"All right, you better sit down. Someone grab her a chair."

"Here, here, here," Tori rushed and grabbed a chair for Jade.

Jade sat down but as soon as she did, the chair broke. She glared up at Tori even more.

"That was a breakaway chair!" Russ shouted at her.

"Aw, butternut!"

♘

Everyone crowded around Jade as Beck handed her an ice pack. Riley placed a hand on Cat's shoulder before they walked over to Tori and André, looking at the girl in disappointment.

"Why did you hit Jade in the face with a cane?" Cat questioned her.

"Were you scared she was gonna hit you so bad that you had to make the first move before she did?" Riley added as she glared at her, crossing my arms.

"But I didn't hit her!" Tori screamed.

"Okay, we believe you!" Cat freaked, grabbing Riley's arm. "Don't hit us!"

Tori rolled her eyes and looked at André for help. "Will you help me out here?"

"Okay, look, I'm sure Tori didn't mean to whack Jade in the face with the cane," André explained calmly to Cat and Riley.

"Ugh! Why does everyone think I hit her?"

"Uh, we were watching you guys doing the scene, you hit her across the face with your cane, causing her to fall to the ground, and now she's in a chair with a bloody eye," Riley narrowed it down for her. "Need any more details?"

"Well, that doesn't mean I hit her," Tori tried to defend herself.

Riley shared a confused look with Cat and André. "Um, pretty sure it does," she clarified.

She rolled her eyes before she walked towards Jade. "Jade, you know I didn't hit you," she told her. "I swung, but I missed."

"Look, Tori..." Jade starts to say but starts to fall to the ground till Mr. Williams and Russ both catch her.

"We got to get her to the nurse," Mr. Williams says, starting to escort her out.

"Cat and I can take her," Riley said as she and Cat walked up, wrapping their arms around Jade to keep her steady.

"But I didn't hit her," Tori says once more.

"Can someone call my mom?" Jade questioned.

Beck immediately took his phone out of his pocket, dialing Miss West's number. "Already on it."

"She doesn't need her mom," Tori says before pointing at Beck. "Don't bother her mom!"

"I gotta call her mom."

Before the girls walked out the black box with Mr. Williams and Russ, Jade turned to Tori. "And I thought we were just starting to be friends," she says sadly.

They ignored Tori as she started to protest and took Jade to the nurse.

♘

Riley was walking through the school when she saw Jade coming, so she tried to catch up with her to see if she wanted to hang out after school.

"Oh, hey, Jade," Riley tried catching her attention but she was ignored. "Wait up, Jade."

"What?!" She finally stopped, and it was then Riley noticed her covering her eye.

"What's wrong with your eye?" Riley questioned her confusingly.

"Tori hit me with a cane, remember?"

"Yeah, but I've never seen a black eye drip before," Riley said, touching her eye. Once she drew her hand back, the younger of the two noticed that it was make-up, and looked up at her. " This is make-up. Tori never hit you, did she? Fake black eye, fake blood."

"II-" Jade stuttered with a guilty look before sighing. "Look, you cannot tell anyone about this, especially Tori."

"I won't," Riley told her and as she began to walk away, she called for Tori. "Tori!"

"Shut up! Riley!" 

"Tori, where are you?!"

"Will you please stop?"

Riley ran around the school hallway, asking students if they had seen Tori anywhere as Jade tried to stop her.

"Nobody bother Tori. False alarm," Jade told them as she continued to chase after her best friend. "She ate a bad taco."

Finally, Riley was able to find Tori, and explained everything to her. 

♘

Author's note!

We see that Riley is starting to get annoyed by Tori's whining and complaining so please comment on what you think. Now, don't get me wrong, I do love Victoria Justice but I think they made Tori too perfect.