Beyond Blue Eyes

05: Tori

I return to school the Monday after my accident, and Jade insisted over the weekend that I let her drive me to school for a bit, since I've got some restrictions because of the surgery that I had. I don't really mind it, because it gives me a little bit more time to spend with Jade. I've got a feeling that she's going to talk to me about something pretty important today, but I don't know why. When she arrives at my house, I get into her car, but she doesn't leave. "Uh, Jade, we're gonna be late for school if we don't get going," I say a little nervously. "Aw, lighten up a little, sunshine. I just want to talk about something before we go, 'cause if you react the way that I think you're going to, I'd rather have it happen when I'm not trying to drive," she says. "Okay... I'm a little lost," I say. "I know, honey, but hopefully you won't be for much longer," she replies with a small smile. I can't think of anything else to do, so I simply shrug. "Remember how I said that life is too short to wait for things?" She asks, and I nod. "Well, I think that I've waited long enough for this moment. Tori Vega, will you be my girlfriend?" She asks me, and I look at her in shock. Then, without saying anything, I unbuckle my seat belt so I can lean over and kiss her deeply. "How's that for an answer?" I ask as I put my seat belt back on. "I... gah... buh..." she says, sounding like something inside of her is broken. "Oh dear, I think that I broke my girlfriend," I say, and she snaps out of it. "I like that answer, Vega," she says, starting the car. "Why do you keep calling me Vega?" I ask as we begin the trip to Hollywood Arts.

"I don't know. Force of habit, I guess. Why, do you not like it?" She asks me. "That's not what I meant. I was just wondering why you still call me that even though we're girlfriends now," I say. "Okay. Thanks for explaining," she says. "No problem," I reply simply. "I have an idea," she says softly. "Which is?" I ask. "Well, Tori is short for Victoria, right?" She asks me, and I nod, despite having no idea where she's going with this. "So, how about I call you Victory?" She asks, and I smile to myself. "That works for me, sweetie," I say. "Cool. It can almost be like a reminder to me that you're the one who won my heart," she says, taking my hand in hers. "That's kinda sweet," I say. We continue to talk idly for the rest of the trip, and by the time we get out of the car, we're laughing about something that neither of us even remembers. While we get our stuff for class, she gives me a rather sly smirk from her locker, then she closes it and comes over to my locker. "Hey Victory," she says softly into my hair. "Hey sweetie," I say, smiling to myself. "Let me carry some of your stuff. I even brought a bag with me so that I can carry some of your stuff as well as some of my stuff," she says, and I hand her some of the stuff that I've already gotten out of my locker. I grab a pair of notebooks and a pen, then close my locker and set off for Sikowitz's class.

When we get to Sikowitz's class, we find the room completely void of people. It doesn't stay that way for long, though, as the rest of our classmates come in pretty soon after us. However, Sikowitz still hasn't showed up yet, which isn't exactly abnormal for him. I half expect him to come in through the window or something, like he's done in the past, but he surprises us all when he drops in through a hatch in the ceiling. "How long has that hatch been there?" Jade asks offhandedly. "I came across it by accident. I got lost on my way here and ended up on the second floor. I was walking back to the stairs to come back to the first floor when I apparently stepped on a piece of the upper floor that wasn't quite as strong as the rest of the floor, proceeding to fall through said floor," he begins to explain, "The next thing I knew, I was in a crawlspace between the two floors, where I happened upon the hatch, opened it, and fell in." "Well, that's a new way to enter the classroom, I suppose," I remark. "Yes, but it's not one that I would recommend. Partly because it would cost the school a fortune to keep fixing the hole in the floor upstairs," he says, apparently having heard me. "Anyway, moving on to today's lesson. Today, I would like you to begin to work on your graduation project. It's completely up to you what you do for it, just make sure that you don't do anything inappropriate - or worse, illegal - and you're all set. Your finished projects will be shown during graduation next June, as live performances or videotaped short films. You can also choose to work with any other students or go it alone, but everyone should still have a separate project of their own," Sikowitz explains. I glance over at Jade, who now looks like she might be sick.

"Sweetie, what's up? You look like you're gonna be sick," I say. "I'm fine, don't worry about me," she says, but she doesn't sound like she means it. "Sweetie, please don't do this to me. I want to help you," I say. "Can I tell you after class?" She asks. "Sure. So, what're you planning on doing for your graduation project?" I ask her. "I'm going to do a short film, but I want to make it kind of like a real movie, to showcase my directing ability," she says. "That's pretty cool. It kinda makes my project look inferior, though. All I planned on doing was writing some songs to perform," I say, but Jade's eyes light up. "I have an idea, Victory. What if we incorporate your songs into the soundtrack of my short film?" She asks me, and I find myself thinking pretty hard about it. "It's fine if you don't have an answer yet, Victory. I don't want your brain to overheat or something. That wouldn't be much fun," she says, and I realize that I'm thinking way too hard about her idea. With that, we get to work, and I finish writing the first of my five songs, while Jade's got an outline started for her short film, but she doesn't look as happy about it as I would've thought she would. "Hey, sweetie, what's up?" I ask her in the hall after class. "Janitor's closet," she says, dragging me into the janitor's closet with her. She closes the door and looks out to make sure that no one is nearby. "When I made it into Hollywood Arts, I was so excited to be able to pursue my dream of directing, and I thought nothing could put a damper on that excitement. That is, until I found out about the graduation project. My excitement disappeared like it had been hit by a truck. I've never had so much anxiety in my life than I did back then. Now that it's finally here, some of my old anxiety about it is coming back," she says, looking close to tears. I pull her into a warm embrace, trying to comfort her with my presence.

----

Okay, I have some completely random thoughts here. First, apparently there's a whole extra verse and chorus in the song "You Don't Know Me" in the soundtrack version of the song, compared to the version that's actually played on the show (the guitar sounds are also a bit different, but I like it). Second, am I the only one who thinks that the intro of the song "Take A Hint" (both the vocal part and the instrumental part) sounds oddly similar to the trumpet intro of "We Are Number One" from Lazy Town? Just some personal observations I made from listening to the soundtrack version of the songs. Anyway, bye for now!