A Singer or a Fighter (Tori Vega/Shelby Marx)

Mystery Friend

It was a week until her first match and Tori felt a little nervous since it had been awhile she had gotten into the ring. She knew her friends noticed her spacing out often, but that was because she was thinking through the best moves to use next week on the judo fighter, Maren. Maren had a few inches on her and was pretty hefty. If she was pinned down, it was over, so it was best to keep a distance by kickboxing and-

"Tori!"

Tori jumped, realizing the gang was all looking at her, "Sorry guys, what?"

"We were asking if you wanted to rehearse lines after school. You know... for the play?" Robbie supplied.

"Why else would we rehearse lines? Except for you, you practice every night saying hi-"

Rex's voice became muffled by Robbie, who was laughing nervously, "No, I-I don't. Pfft."

An awkward silence ensued.
Tori shook it off, "Uh, about that, didn't you guys know? I won't be in the play." Tori shrugged as if it wasn't a big deal.

"Say what?"
"Huh?"
"But why?"
"Really?"
"..."

"TORI WON'T BE IN THE PLAY!" Singin yelled, happening to be passing by.

She closed her eyes frustrated, waiting for Sinjin's echo to stop.

Tori sighed, "Look, I just don't feel like doing the play this time around. I've got some things going on."

Cat touched her arm, "Like what?"

"College stuff and I have a part time job now," That sounded reasonable enough.

"Oh. So where do you work?"

Tori paled slightly, she didn't think they would push to know where her job was, "It's a... at the mall. You know what, I've got to get going if I don't want to be late." She backed away slowly, their eyes questioning, until she turned around to run out. "Catch you guys later!"

"Tori has been acting off lately," Andre leaned against the lockers.

"Her acting was always off," Jade snarked.

Beck rolled his eyes at Jade then followed up with a concerned, "Yeah, what's up with her?"

Cat opened her mouth to speak, but was interrupted by the goth, "Are we going to talk about Vega all day or are we going to rehearse like we planned?"

"I guess," Andre and the rest followed Jade to the Blackbox Theater to get started.

~

Tori parked her Ducati behind the Jungle Gym and went inside, already tying her hair into her signature ponytail.

"Hey, Shelby," Juan greeted her. She nodded to him, heading to the changing rooms with her monster of a bag, at least it held everything.

She came out, dressed in a red sports bra and black shorts, bandaging her hands, "Let's do this."

Block. Feint. Right hook. Duck. Roundhouse kick. Keep the momentum going and come around with another right hook. Don't give him a chance to breathe.

With a particularly aggressive punch from her left side, Juan fell back, gasping with a broken lip. They've been sparring for a good half hour and Shelby wasn't without her own injuries.

"That's the Shelby I know," Juan grinned, "Hurt, but with a will of steel."

Calming down, Shelby felt pain blaze through her body. "Damn it, Juan. Save some for Maren." Juan only laughed.

Shelby gulped down some water and wiped her face with a towel. She saw her reflection in the gym mirrors and it wasn't pretty...

Damn it, Juan. There were bruises all over her, something she was used to, but Jaun clipped her right across the face and there was a trace of blood from where a part of his glove was probably ripped and managed to scratch her at the right angle. "Juan! Check your gloves! I have a nice and pretty scratch everyone is bound to notice," she yelled.