Andre Gets Crushed

Love Detector

"Wheeeee," Cat cheered as she came bouncing on her antigravity shoes with a very odd doohickey in her hands. It looked like crossover between Pandora's Box and a GameCube. The gang looked weary as she approached the lunch table and placed the doohickey in the middle of it. They all remembered the funky items Cat ordered in the past. One of them was a snow machine that covered all their food with a poisonous powder, rendering it inedible for that day.

"Cat, please don't tell me you ordered something else from that magazine," Tori whinged.

"Okay, I won't tell you," Cat said as a response.

"Alright, Little Red," Andre mused. "Whatcha got there?"

"Yay!" Cat was overjoyed that someone was interested in her contraption for a change.

"This thing here is really cool. You just put your hand on top of it," she explained as she began to demonstrate, "give it a second." All of a sudden the machine began to whir, and a dim red light emitted from underneath Cat's hand. The group watched more intently, especially Robbie, who was a complete tech geek. The red light's shining slowed to halt, and the screen showed some static. After five seconds the screen read, "Excited." Cat squealed with delight.

"See? It works! I am excited!"

"So it's a mood detector?" Robbie inquired. "That's actually pretty cool."

"You wanna try it too?" Cat's eyes glittered.

"Oh, erm. You see," Robbie stammered. "Um, I-I would but my hand doesn't like to vibrate."

"That doesn't seem like the case when you have caffeine," Rex chimed in.

"Rex!" Robbie cried in horror. Cat's machine changed from "excited" to "embarrassed".

"Wha...?" Robbie was dumbfounded. "I didn't even put my hand on it."

"I guess it detected it in your shrilly girl voice," Red snickered. Robbie scowled at him.

"Who else wants to try my machine?" Cat asked happily. No one else seemed to share her enthusiasm.

"Tori?"

"Thanks, but no."

"Beck?"

"I'm good."

"Jade?"

"No."

"Andre?" Andre knew that was coming. Letting a machine tell everyone how terrified he was feeling was the last thing he wanted to do. That thing would blow his whole cover with Jade. Right in front of Beck.

"I'm gonna have to pass," Andre responded as calmly as he could. He knew what would happen next. And it did. The spark in Cat's eyes was stomped out as her face fell.

"C'mon, Little Red," Andre pleaded. Her eyes grew bigger and bigger.

"Cat, please." Her lip began to quiver.

"Awww man. Come on, Cat." She began to sniff and blink back tears. Andre couldn't take it. She was even doing the puppy dog eyes. He heaved a defeated sigh.

"Alright," he gave in. "I'll try your little machine."

"Yay!" Cat squealed with glee as she threw her arms around Andre. She didn't notice that Jade now appeared more annoyed than usual, while Andre just pretended he didn't. After Cat let him go, he reluctantly placed his hand on top of the machine just as she did, and it began to whir once more. Andre was filled with dread as the red light glowed. He bit his lip as he waited for his results. After the static, the mood reader read "scared". Andre exhaled with relief.

"Huh. Why were you scared?" Cat wondered aloud.

"Yeah," Beck added. "Did you think that thing would electrocute you or something?"

"That happened to my brother once when he tried to get his toast out with a fork," everyone stared at Cat.

"What?" Cat was confused. The awkward silence was broken by the machine. It stirred and this time read "smitten". Tori facepalmed while Andre stared at the contraption in absolute horror. Jade flinched and prayed that nobody noticed.

"Smitten? What's that mean?" Cat asked.

"Ooooooh," Robbie mused.

"What? Tell me!" Cat urged.

"It means," Beck began with a smirk, "that Andre is in love."

"Really?" Cat was ecstatic.

"Man I can't believe you didn't tell us," Rex feigned offense. "Who's the lucky lady?"

This can't be happening, Andre thought. Everyone just kept staring at him eagerly, waiting for a revelation. He began to stammer; he couldn't tell them he loved Jade. He could already imagine how betrayed and hurt and angry Beck would feel. He'd pick up where they left off in their fight scene, and Andre felt that he would deserve everything. It was obvious that he wasn't hiding how distraught he was very well because Beck began to comfort him.

"C'mon dude. No one here is gonna judge," with each word he said Andre's heart twisted even more. Tori couldn't take anymore. She couldn't bare to look at the pained expression on her friend's face any longer.

"Andre, didn't you say that it was Helena Alvarado?" she blurted. She caught Andre, and obviously Jade, completely off guard.

"W-what?" he was still shaken.

"Helena Alvarado," Rex enunciated each syllable. "That's one chick I'm surprised ain't Northridge."

"I know," Robbie agreed. "She is HOT!" Cat frowned at Robbie when he said but he didn't seem to notice.

"Alright, Andre," Beck slapped his back. "So, what's your plan? Are you gonna have Jade help you serenade her at the concert?"

"Aw, that'd be so romantic," Cat gushed. Andre looked over at Tori in distress. She rotated her hands in a frantic circle, her way of telling him to roll with it. He then, even though knowing he shouldn't, looked over at Jade. Her eyes were glazed over with a cold indifference, and she refused to meet his gaze. He swallowed uncomfortably.

"Yeah," Andre spoke shakily. "I'll be singing to... Helena."

"My man," Beck congratulated him.

"Yeah, Andre," Tori added. "I think you should definitely come clean after you finished the song." He didn't respond and purposely avoided making eye contact with her for the rest of the lunch period. He did notice that Jade's expression hadn't change.