First of all, the provenance of this fic: Victorious is a wonderful show and I have just started watching it from the beginning. I am… savoring it. But as I was watching the first few episodes, I was thinking, you know, these characters' motivations would make a bit more sense if they were in one of those Alpha/Omega worlds, such as the one in Chash's wonderful series: A Fine Job of Bending All the Rules (available wherever awesome fanfic is stored). And so that it what this story became: Victorious set in the FJoBAtR universe (wow, that is a terrible acronym). It also has the same motivation as Chash's story. Knotting universes are awesome, "BUT WHAT ABOUT THE GIRLS"?

I don't really like covering the same material as the episodes, so this is probably going to be the only one that does that. The sharp left turn is coming up next chapter, I think. Let me know if you think it's worth continuing!

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Things I like, by Tori Vega.

1) Science. 2) Nice boys. 3) Ham. 4) My parents. 5) Music. 6) My sister Trina (maybe).

Things I like, but didn't know I liked until yesterday

Performing in front of a crowd.

Secrets I'm planning on keeping until I die

1) That time I looked at porn on the computer and saw a knot and wanted to puke.

2) What my sister did to me that one time at summer camp. Trust me, you don't want to know. (Oh ewwwww. It wasn't that!)

3) I can smell it when omegas go into heat.

4) It smells good.

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For some people a new school was a horror, for others it was an opportunity. For Tori Vega, it was a minefield.

Kids were drumming and tap dancing on the landing. The lockers burst with color. Everyone looked cool and awesome. Tori hesitated outside the door. She wasn't cool and awesome, and it was important that she wasn't cool and awesome. She was supposed to stay in the background, not be noticed. But she had been noticed, been on stage, and they had all been really wonderful and welcoming.

For once, she hadn't felt like a freak.

Now she kind of did, but not in the way she was used to. She had always been supposed to restrain herself, keep calm, not get angry, keep out of the spotlight. If they were looking at you they might see you, and she really didn't want to be seen - not for what she was.

Not for an alpha.

But here everyone wanted to be seen, and trying to stay out of the spotlight would make her ten times more freakish. It would draw attention. People would ask questions.

Oh god, she couldn't stay. But before she could run, Trina grabbed her elbow and pulled her through the doors, talking excitedly, with the overly dramatic comforting tones that sometimes made her feel like a big sister, and sometimes just made her Incredibly Annoying.

Then, of course, she abandoned Tori in the hallway. But it was Trina. What did she actually expect? Her ride was gone. She might as well go to class.

The crazy red-head (beta, she mentally categorized), Cat, wasn't any help, and the boy with the puppet (possibly a male omega? That would be weird. But the puppet persona was a perfect imitation of a douchebag alpha) got her lost. She had planned to show up early and talk to the teacher, but when she finally got there she was hardly early, and the teacher hadn't even arrived yet.

And then there was the boy with the hair. He was super cute, and nice, not screaming at her for spilling his coffee and staining his shirt, and he didn't give her that prickle of annoyance all down her back like other alphas did. Beta. Nice boy beta. She smiled.

Then, of course, the door opened.

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Jade West hated mornings. She hated this morning particularly. Beck wasn't waiting at her locker for her, and there was a weird smell in the hallway. There was always some weird smell in the hallway, it was a high school after all. But this smell was pernicious, and suspicious, and then, of course, she stepped into her classroom and figured out that it was THAT GIRL.

THAT GIRL was the one at the showcase. The one waltzing onto their stage and doing the most idiotic choreography with absolutely no natural grace whatsoever. The one that pushed past her, brushed up against her knee as she moved through the seats, late, and sent a shock up her leg. She stunk too, stronger than the Axe soaked beta boys on their best day. It made Jade want to vomit.

It made her horny.

Jade didn't care about alphas. Fucking goddamn alphas. They didn't tempt her. She didn't want them. She was used to all the losers around school, and fine, she could sense them when she was in heat - and she was on the tail end of it now - but she didn't react. Iron self control had to be good for something.

It had to be the shock that made her hormones do backflips.

Girl alpha, girl alpha, girl alpha. Freak.

Girl alphas were freaks – even more so than girl omegas. Being a beta was normal. Being a male alpha meant you could boss everyone around. Being a female omega meant you were supposed to smile and eat shit. But being a male omega or a female alpha was just weird.

And she was such a dork.

That was the most shocking part of the whole thing. Letting herself get pushed onto stage, fighting back, but fighting out of embarrassment. She was an alpha, even if she was a girl. She should own it.

And then she did own it, and Jade grabbed Beck by the collar and jerked him toward the door. "We're getting out of here."

"Hey, she's pretty good."

Her hand went straight to his crotch. "I'm better."

And now, three days later, THAT GIRL was in her classroom, in her space, and stinking the place up. Not only was it THAT GIRL, it was THAT GIRL with her paws all over Beck, looking all dark-eyed and seductive. Jade was filled with rage.

She was used to being filled with rage. But this time it was so much rage that she couldn't even express it. THAT GIRL. Why was she here? Why was she touching Beck? Why was she looking all sweet at Beck? She was an alpha. She was supposed to want- Well, to be honest, she was supposed to want Jade, and Jade couldn't help feeling irritated that she didn't. And threatened. And super pissed off.

"Dude!"

But she couldn't move from the door. The room already stank like that girl, and stepping into the miasma made her want to be violently ill.

The girl looked confused. And then she backed down. She ducked her head and shied away when Jade flicked her to the side. She submitted. That was NOT an alpha thing to do.

But the girl was an alpha. Jade didn't make mistakes about that.

She was an alpha who submitted.

It... kind of turned her on.

Jade settled into her chair, in close and possessive proximity to Beck, and watched her. She was nervous. She was awkward. She was such a dork.

Jade hated her.

Jade would have hated her even if she hadn't been putting her forearm all over Beck. She hated her because she was an alpha, and because she was so goddamn close, and Jade's heat was supposed to be over, but this frigging alpha was making it hard to sit still in her chair.

And so, when she had the chance, she pushed it. She called Tori up on stage to have her first (and hopefully last) taste of improv.

Be my dog, she thought. Alphas were animals. But maybe they could be pets too.

Tori was scared. Jade grinned. She was out of her depth. She wasn't in control.

That was how omegas felt all the time. It might be a good deed to give her a taste of it.

"I went to the animal shelter and got us a new puppy."

Touching her was more than Jade wanted to do, but she put her hand on her arm. It sparked like static electricity. Jade's teeth ground together. Fucking alphas. This girl needed to not be in her class, not be in her school.

"Sikowitz..." Tell this bitch to get out!

Tell her to kneel. No alpha would kneel for an omega.

But Tori did. She got down on her hands and knees. Jade smiled. How could she not, when she had never felt this powerful? She reached down to touch her head. Her hair was soft and she lowered her head just slightly when Jade stroked it.

Drunk on power, Jade let the scene play, and when Tori, humiliated, fled the room soaked in coffee, she bared her teeth in a grin. Her gut throbbed. Her mouth was flooded with saliva. She felt like she was in heat, but she was supposed to be done with that for this month.

That was... a little weird. But it didn't matter. There was no way Tori was coming back to Hollywood Arts.

Jade had won.

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Tori was too old to cry on her mom, but when she turned around and said, "how was the new school, honey?" Tori couldn't help but fall into her arms and sob.

"It was that bad?"

Tori rubbed her eyes. She hated being weepy. She wasn't usually. She was tough. She was in control. She had had coffee poured in her hair!

"There's a girl," Tori mumbled into her mother's chest. "She hates me."

"She doesn't even know you."

Tori swallowed and sat up. It had been the worst day ever. She had been the one touching the girl's boyfriend, and, so embarrassed at being caught, she hadn't really apologized. She probably had ought to have, but she had been distracted. The boy was cute and charming, and the girl was gorgeous and smelled like - like stars and homemade apple pie, or something equally absurd and delicious.

"She didn't have to get to know me," Tori said. "It's pretty clear she hated me on sight. I was kind of rubbing down her boyfriend though."

Her mom laughed, and Tori felt herself start to smile involuntarily.

"The boyfriend's a beta, for sure. I think his name's Beck. But I'm pretty sure she wasn't a beta."

"Oh really?" her mother cocked her head, sounding amused, as if she didn't bother categorizing everyone she met and thought it was funny that Tori still did. It was kind of inappropriate, she supposed, but it was defensive too. She had to know who the alphas and the omegas were. Betas couldn't tell a thing about what she was, but alphas got twitchy around other alphas, and when omegas were in heat they could sense alphas. Tori had to make sure to stay well away when an omega came into heat.

"No. Not a beta." Tori cocked her head. "But she didn't act like an omega." She acted like a pissed off alpha dude when he found another alpha treading on his turf. What if she was a pissed off alpha finding another alpha treading on her turf? Had Tori finally met another female alpha? Of course another alpha would instantly hate her. Alphas were natural rivals. But... Tori didn't feel that way. Usually she would cringe whenever she sensed another alpha nearby, a twist in her gut, a pricking down her back, a rise of adrenaline, especially if he were pushing his weight around, acting like he owned the school.

But the girl, Jade, had bossed her and grabbed her and twisted the arm of the teacher to make her get down and play doggy, and Tori had never felt that flex in her gut. She had poured coffee on her head and Tori hadn't even gotten angry.

Maybe the yoga and meditation really were working.

Tori twisted her hair around a finger. "I think she might be an alpha."

"Really?"

She smells nice.

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Tori had fallen asleep on her mother's shoulder. "What's up with our little alpha pup?" her father inquired quietly.

Her mother smiled up at him. "An omega girl at the new school driving her crazy." She shook her head. "She thinks she's an alpha, but you don't cry when an alpha won't be your friend."

"Ah, omegas, born to drive us alphas up the wall." He grinned.

"You didn't give her much preparation." Her mother shook her head. "Telling her that she'll end up with some nice beta boy."

"She could!" her father said stubbornly. "Or beta girl. Biology isn't destiny."

Her mother laughed. "Certainly not. If it were that would mean that I was equally destined to end up with any of those awful alpha boys I had dated. I'd much prefer to think I was destined for you."

"Well, I think I have to agree there." He leaned in, kissed his wife, and stroked his daughter's hair. "She should be free of the world pushing her around when she makes her own decisions."

"And her own mistakes."

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All else equal, Tori was stubborn. And if this was her first alpha-alpha pissing match, she wasn't running away with her tail between her legs.

She strode into that room, a little late, and that girl, Jade, slid up the back of her chair with a look on her face somewhere between totally pissed off and shocked. The room smelled like her, but Tori swallowed and didn't react.

Yesterday, Tori had been afraid and out of her depth, but today she was ready. Fine, she had never done improv. She might not be brilliant at it, but she could do her best. It wasn't like impressing hobo-man Sikowitz was something she desperately needed in her life. And alphabetical improv was an exercise you could win. That was exactly what she wanted, she wanted to win. So she called Jade up to play.

Jade knew it was a pissing match the moment she said her name. That almost-smile and quirk of her eyebrow were probably supposed to threaten, but Tori felt herself wanting to grin back. This situation was a little bit of a mess. Guy alphas all fought and yet they hung out in groups, like friends. Could she have a friend? Someone she could be honest with? Someone who really understood?

Jade sauntered up to the stage with a slow swing of her hips, laid a kiss on Beck like she was marking him, and the scent that surrounded her seemed to grow, deepen the sweet highlights brightening. It was kind of overwhelming, and when the game started with 'P' Tori, hardly able to pull in a breath, could only think of one thing to say.

"Please go take a shower!"

"Quit telling me what to do!"

Beck slid in, playing the nice guy, trying to calm things down. But the look on Jade's face - stunned betrayal - made it obvious that that had been a bad idea.

With limited interruptions, it got worse.

Beck faked passing out, and Jade lit into her, and Tori gave up holding back.

And it was working. Jade got angrier and angrier, barely able to keep a lid on. Tori closed the distance between them, and Jade's shoulders went up. She moved, trying - almost - to get away, it seemed, keep the space between them constant, controllable. But she wasn't going to run.

Tori didn't really know what she was saying anymore. She was just snapping out responses, loving the heat of it, feeling confident. She had Jade running, and soon she would catch her. And then she did. Jade stormed off the stage, sitting down with a look of absolute death on her face.

Tori had won, and she was going to take her prize.

Beck was clearly a nice guy. Tori liked nice guys. And he kissed like a dream.

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Jade stormed into her house, down to her room, and threw herself on the bed. Godfuckingdammit! She grabbed for scissors and a stuffed rabbit and started shredding it, ears first.

THAT GIRL- THAT GIRL had humiliated her, in front of everyone. And she had used Beck. Beck was HERS. That was the DEAL. Damn him. Damn all those beta sluts. Tori Vega would rue the fucking day she-

"Jadelyn!"

Jade froze. Her mother's ultra-sweet voice echoed in the hallway.

"Jadelyn! I heard you come home."

Jade threw the scissors at the wall, where they impaled point first. She stomped to the door and threw it open.

"WHAT IS IT?"

Her mother smiled sweetly - fakely - unperturbed by her bellowing. "Your father wants you in the sitting room, dear."

"If he wants me let him call me himself. That would make a goddamn change."

"He's waiting dear. And he has company."

Jade grit her teeth and slammed the door shut. She kicked off her boots and rummaged through her closet until she found one of the pink frilly dresses that she only wore on these certain occasions. Then she washed her face and re-did her makeup in a much milder fashion. She took out the blue extensions and twisted her hair up off her neck. White sandals on, she headed for the sitting room.

"Ah, finally. Toby, this is my daughter, Jadelyn."

Jade's father didn't bother to look at her, just sat back in his chair and gestured, eyes on his friend, another paunchy balding middle-aged man in a suit. He was probably rich. Jade didn't care.

He stood and walked toward Jade, eyeing her the whole time. He walked around her, eyes lingering on her breasts and backside.

"I never really thought of doing this," he said, humming slightly. "Being a beta myself, we sort of just muddle along. But my boy's got a knot the size of a grapefruit and being confident of where he'll stick it, and an alliance with a smart dealer like you, now that's something worth having."

Jade's father just nodded. Jade set her teeth and waited, making her face utterly blank. She counted in her head, from one on. Some days she made it into the thousands before they were done looking at her. Potential buyers.

Omegas were things. She knew that very very well.

Omegas were sluts, omegas were animals, omegas were prizes for alphas to win. At least that was what they had told her. She knew better now. Betas are sluts. Alphas are animals. But omegas were still prizes for alphas to win... or buy as the case may be. And she was on the auction block.

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In the evening dusk, Tori stood outside the door, shifting from foot to foot and feeling entirely out of her depth. The house was a mansion, huge and overbearing, with topiary and statuary and a doorbell in the shape of a face. She pressed the tongue of the face and heard the deep bells toll throughout the house. Then she waited.

After about five minutes - or so it felt - and right when she was about to turn around and flee - the door opened and a bright blonde woman smiled at her. (Omega. Like, stereotypically omega, the lowered eyes, the hands brought together in front of her body. It was kind of a shock.)

"Oh, hello."

"Hello," Tori forced a smile. "Is Jade here?"

The woman's smile brightened even further, but she still didn't look up. "Oh, are you one of Jadelyn's friends?" She leaned back into the house. "Jade! Jadelyn! You have someone to see you."

The thumps announced Jade's arrival, but when she stepped into view in the doorway Tori nearly fell down the steps in shock. Her eyes were clean of kohl. Her boots had been replaced by sandals. And she was wearing an old grey and blue plaid flannel shirt over a short pink baby-doll dress. But when she spotted Tori she glared, and her glare was just as fierce as it had been at school.

Actually, it was fiercer.

"Should I make you a snack?" Jade's mother asked.

"NO," Jade barked. She stepped out the front door and slammed it behind her. "What the hell are you doing here?"

Tori shifted and rubbed the back of her head. "I wanted to apologize," she said. "I can't... come in?"

"I don't want your stink in my house."

Tori sagged. "Look. I'm sorry. Things got out of hand in class today. Beck's nice, but he's yours and I don't want to screw that up. I'm not that sort of girl."

"I couldn't care less what kind of girl you are," Jade said flatly.

"I'm sorry. And I know I... must set you off. You set me off too. But just because we're both..." Tori swallowed. She couldn't say it, not out of doors. "...you know, it doesn't mean we can't be friends."

"Yes," Jade said flatly, "it does."

"But couldn't we... try? I think it could work. Can't we be friends?"

"You don't want to be friends with me, Vega. I'm poison, the deadly kind."

"I- I don't think so."

Jade rolled her eyes. "Why would I want to be friends with you? You smell like something the cat dragged in. And I'm not going to be another of the idiots fawning all over you just because you don't sing as revoltingly as your sister."

Jade was hard and bitter and fierce. And it hurt. Tori wished she would stop telling her how badly she smelled. She was very careful with showering and scented soaps. No one else said she smelled whiffy. And the worst was that she couldn't really say it back. Jade's scent was strong but Tori couldn't say that she smelled bad, quite the opposite. Tori couldn't get angry at it though. She only felt sad.

At school Jade, in her make-up and boots and awesome outfits, had been charming and confident, even when she was being an asshole. But now she was only angry. There had been a push and pull before, almost like she was trying to draw Tori to her while humiliating her. But now it was only push - a hard cold wall, the color of her blue-green-grey eyes.

"Okay," Tori said. She sighed. "If you change your mind, just let me know."

She left.

Jade leaned back against the door and tried to breathe again. She said she wanted to be friends. Her sad rodent eyes had pled for it. But it was a lie. She didn't want to be friends. She wanted to knot her and breed her. She was an alpha. All alphas were the same.

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