Twist of Fate

Chapter 4 - The Bird

Disclaimer: The show Victorious, its characters and other associated copyrights are property of someone else and not me.

Twist of Fate

Chapter 4 – The bird

POV

For some strange reason, lunch made Tori more nervous than anything. All the groups of friends sitting at various tables and here she was, new with no real friends. Having rolled out onto the asphalt café she went to the lunch truck and got her tray. Her own wheelchair had a fold out tray which served as her desk in class. At lunch she placed her lunch tray on it and tried to find a place to sit.

After a moment of indecision, she spotted Jade sitting alone at a table off to the side eating her lunch. A few more moments of observation told Tori the other students seemed to avoid going near that table. Tori thought for a moment and though this girl wasn't a friend, she was the only person she knew.

Jade was eating her lunch and through the roar of the crowd she picked up the sound of a small squeak coming towards her. It surprised Tori to see Jade look up as she approached. She realized a second later, that Jade must have heard her approach.

"Hello Jade." Tori said with a hint of trepidation in her voice.

Across the asphalt café, a number of people noticed someone talking to Jade at lunch. Since she had lost her sight, that was a very unwise thing to do. The blind Goth was prone to bursts of anger, when disturbed at lunch.

"I like to eat alone, No offense Tori." Jade said in a low calm voice. While the intrusion of the Tori was not all that welcome, Jade strangely wasn't bothered by it all that much.

"OK, that's fine. Have a good lunch." Tori said.

It was the sound of disappointment in Tori's voice that got to Jade. It bothered her, for reasons she didn't quite understand. For Jade, beneath the substantial anger, there was a deep well of loneliness. She didn't want to admit it, but was there. Tori's voice sent a small ripple through that pool. One that Jade found herself unable to ignore.

Tori had rolled away about 7 feet when she suddenly heard Jade call out. "Vega. Come back."

Unseen by Jade, Tori grinned. Though Jade half guessed the girl might be smiling.

Tori rolled up, pushed a chair out of the way and rolled in next to the table, then sat her tray on it. "Thank you. You really don't mind?"

"If I minded Vega, I wouldn't have asked you back." An annoyed sounding Jade, said quickly.

There was an awkward silence for a few minutes as the pair started to eat. It was as if, neither one knew what to say. After about 3 minutes Tori noticed something.

"I'm getting some odd looks? It's like they haven't seen someone in a wheel chair before."

Jade smirked, "It's not that. It's because you're the first person I've allowed to sit here in a year. Now they're wondering how long I'll you'll last at this table."

Tori thought for a second. "What will cause me not to last here?"

Jade took a bite of her salad. "You'll have to find that out. Tell me, I'll bet one table in particular is paying attention. There will be a girl with very red hair, an African American teen, a curly haired boy with a creepy puppet and a handsome looking guy with probably a dumb look on his face."

Tori turned her head to notice they were all looking at her with very surprised expressions. "Yep, they're all looking at me. "

Jade chuckled. "You know the worst part of being blind. It's not knowing which direction to flip the bird. If you flip the bird and aim it wrong, you look like an idiot. If there talking loud enough it's easy to aim. But in a situation like this, it's nearly impossible. "

Tori took a drink. "From your position they are at about 3 o'clock about 20 yards away."

Jade raised the middle finger in the direction of the other table and shot Tori a smile. "Thank You, I've been wanting to do that for months."

"People you don't like?" Tori said as she glanced that the other group. They looked mildly insulted, but not too broken up about it.

"No, my friends actually. After lunch, they'll probably want to talk to you. Find out what you did to sit where they can't. You'll probably like them."

Tori half thought to ask why they couldn't sit with her, but decided against it. Tori suspected that the wrong thing said, would quickly get her ejected from the table. She very much wanted to stay there.

At this point their conversation was interrupted by what Tori thought, was an odd-looking homeless man.

"Jade, I've noticed you didn't sign up for my class again. " He said, looking disappointed.

Jade waived her hand in front of her face. "I'm blind remember"

"You were one of my best student's freshman year and was hoping you would join my class anyway. Stop using that as a crutch. You're still a dam good actress."

Jade just sat there, as if she were deciding what to say.

"That's why I took the liberty of changing your class schedule. I dropped your advanced English class and added mine to your schedule."

"WHAT? You can't do that." Jade spat out quickly.

"I can and I did." Then he turned to Tori. "Who are you and are you in my class?"

"I'm Tori Vega. No, I didn't take you class. I'm sorry." Tori said, with nervous squeak to her voice.

"Then, why not?" He said with a hurt look.

Tori suddenly felt even more nervous. She liked acting but was afraid that her disability my limit her. Much the same fear Jade had. "I just wasn't sure what I could do."

"What do you have 5th Hour?"

"Art history with Mr. Banner." Tori answered quickly.

Sikowitz waived his hand in front of him, with a confident look. "No you don't, you now have my class. I'll take the liberty of changing it for you. Believe me, I did you a favor, he's boring as hell. No need to thank me."

With that, he took a coconut out of his pocket, took a sip from it and walked off.

"What just happened?" Said a stunned looking Tori.

Jade just shook her head. "Sikowitz."

Authors Note: A useless factoid, In Los Angeles there is actually an entire theatre troop consisting of blind actors. It's called "Theatre by the Blind." So even for a person like Jade there are opportunities.