Final Project

Prologue

"That spark of light I see in you—Baby, baby, it lifts me up, TAKES me through,

There is no dark space, girl…your devotion has me, KEEPS me in a daze,

The illumination I feel in my soul—oh yeah…fills me, CHILLS me, out of control…"

"Enough!"

Andre was interrupted from his hallway performance by Jade as she walked, almost stomping, her way over to him and Tori. They had been sitting on the steps in the main hallway of Hollywood Arts, and Andre was playing a new awesome tune on his keyboard and singing his new song he wrote for Tori to Tori.

Jade stopped at the bottom of the stairs, a bored yet somehow angry expression on her face, "Why do you always have to write such depressing songs for?"

Tori raised an eyebrow, "You thought that song was depressing…?

"Yes…" Jade crossed her arms, "It's so mushy it's depressing."

Tori rolled her eyes, "You would say that."

Andre just laughed it off like he always did, "It's cool. I'll sing the rest to you after school, kay?"

Smiling, Tori leaned in and gave him a quick kiss on the lips, "I can't wait."

It was Jade's turn to roll her eyes, "Gag me. You two should seriously consider keeping that hidden away so the world doesn't have to witness it."

"You and Beck kiss in public all the time!" Tori exclaimed, feeling somewhat offended. She wasn't sure why she felt that way anymore when Jade said things like that—she figured she should be used to it by now.

Jade gave her a look that stated that what she was about to say next should very well be obvious, "Yeah, but Beck and I are hot."

Tori gave a disgusted look and threw her arms out to the side, "Offended!"

Her lifelong frenemy smirked, "Good."

Tori hadn't even noticed, but Andre left the stairs as soon as he saw that the two girls were about to start one of their back and forth's again. He went to his locker, playing that certain tune that no one else was ever able to imitate to open it. Seeing as how Jade had already walked away, Tori walked back over to her boyfriend, "Soooo…" she began, leaning against the locker next to his, "got any plans for us after school?"

Andre smiled at her, "I thought we just made a song date."

"Okay…but what about after that?"

"Oh, believe me…" he shut his locker and played another quick tune to lock it, "after you hear the rest of it, you'll know what you wanna do."

By the playful way he said it, it made Tori blush and lead her to do her nervous habit of sticking her hair behind her ear on both sides, "I don't doubt that it is that good…"

They leaned in for another kiss (in which, if this were the show, the audience would do an obnoxious "oooooo"), but before they had time to truly enjoy it, Sikowitz almost glided past them, he was walking so fast, "One minute to class, you two poppy love bunnies!"

"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""

Tori Vega: Starting the day! I hope you're good, day.

Mood: Chill

"So!" Sikowitz yelled as soon as the bell for the start of class rang, "I'm sure you all heard…"

And then he stopped and sat down on the top step of his stage. He stared at all his students with his chin in his hands. When the whole class finally realized he wasn't going to say anymore unless they coaxed him, Robbie was the first to ask: "Heard what?"

"Oh! You mean you haven't heard?" He perked up as if this were interesting news.

Cat semi-raised her hand, "How are we supposed to know if we've heard what you think we heard when we don't know what we heard to tell you that we heard?"

The class stared at her for a second before refocusing on their teacher.

"Anyway," Sikowitz continued as if Cat never spoke in the first place, "Hollywood Arts is trying something new this year for the seniors—which all of you are now—in gaining experience from the outside world. You know…like, beyond the walls of this school."

"We've been doing that for years now," Jade threw in, "All of us has done some sort of acting or singing job outside of school."

"He probably means that we'll actually get graded on how well we do for ourselves. It won't be just for experience," Beck added.

"Man! I always hate it when fun becomes work!" Andre complained.

Tori put in optimistically, "Well, as long as you think it's just for fun and forget about being graded…I think it'll be fun!"

Everyone nodded…except Jade. She rolled her eyes.

Sikowitz stood up and began pacing the stage with his hands behind his back. He was looking down with a concentrated expression, serious-like, as though the news was, on the contrary, not going to be fun. "This is a little more complicated than what you all think. It's not just a grade…it's your final project as seniors…meaning it's a huge chunk of a grade!" He almost yelled this while looking at all of them, before resuming his previous position and clearing his throat, "And it's not just gaining experience outside the walls of Hollywood Arts…it's gaining experience outside the realm of The United States!"

Everyone stared with blank expressions.

"See…" Sikowitz went on, sitting back down on the top step again, "I've had most of you in my acting classes the whole time you've attended Hollywood Arts. I've seen you at your worst…and at your best. I've seen you struggle…and I've seen you succeed. I've seen you want to give up…and I've seen you grow. I've seen you—."

"We get it!" Jade yelled, growing increasingly irritated.

Their teacher cleared his throat again, "Yes, anyway…the point is, you've all learned what you can from me, and now it's time to learn something new. Something…" He smirked a bit at his next word, "foreign."

Everyone stared with blank expressions.

Sikowitz seemed to get mad all of a sudden that no one was guessing what he was hinting at, "Oh, for Jean, Margaret, and Jaime's sake! Hollywood Arts is starting an Overseas Talent Education Review. Or…OTER," he smiled and twiddled his fingers from both hands together, "I love those fishy beaver things."

"Meaning…?" Tori inquired, making sure Sikowitz didn't stray from the subject.

"Meaning, that every senior will be sent to another country for a whole month to study the culture in order to perform a play upon their return that incorporates the true atmosphere of that country," Sikowitz concluded.

"No way!" Tori yelled, standing up to show her excitement, "That sounds like so much fun! Oh, I can't wait to see another…good…country," she put emphasis on the good to remind herself of the terrible Spring Break they all had a few years back.

"We get to pick our own countries…right?" Inquired Jade, almost demanding that they be able to have their own choice.

"Afraid not, Jade," Sikowitz said, "Helen informed me that she is just finishing up the list and that very list will be posted in the hallway first thing tomorrow morning."

()()()()()()()()()()

All right everyone, this is the introduction to my lil' story. A few things you should keep in mind as this story progresses: 1. The rating will more than likely go up. 2. Updating may be slow; I'm a full time college student and a single mom of a 7 month old. My days are usually pretty busy. 3. I am a fan of Tandre, I think they have that certain connection that makes them go well together; maybe it's just because they're the ones always singing together. 4. I also like Bade. They are quite interesting. 5. The "something" between Tori and Beck is also interesting. Maybe it's just how the show sets it up. We see them in a lot of love plays together, they kissed on the first episode, and they even titled an episode "Beck Falls for Tori." I mean, what are they trying to hint at here? I'm going to try to dwell into that question.

Also, within the next few chapters, I'll add more details, such as how Tori and Andre became a couple and other such things. Thanks for reading!