This was actually a short story inspired by tsttoain's comment on on Bade drabble story. When I say inspired, I mean that she mentioned Jade, Tori and the episode 'Helen Back Again', and as soon as I read that in my inbox half of the dialogue in this fic literally popped into my head. I wrote half on this on my phone while at work all day and the other half just now. I don't usually post so quickly after writing something, but what the hell (also, this means it's barely been edited. Please forgive typos and mistakes). I realise this isn't exactly what my Bade readers expect from my drabble collection, so I decided to publish it separately.

Also, this kind of comes from how I feel about the Jade and how I feel about Tori and how I think Jade feels about Tori. It does come off as a little harsh, but i'm chalking that up to it being more from Jade's point of view. And she's doing most of the talking. I hope no one gets angry about how I portrayed them.Also, the title comes from Taylor Swift's song "Better Than Revenge". I don't think it's totally accurate to their relationship, but the last verse of that song really does remind me of Jade and Tori and their competition.

This is set the morning after Tori gets Trina saved from being expelled, or whatever you want to call it. They were at school super early for the ninja attack, so fast forward 2 hours and here we are...

I hope you like it, or enjoy it or whatever. And I'm working to update YARIAT soon :)

Disclaimer: Victorious or any recognizable material doesn't belong to me. Le sigh.

Jade was unloading a huge pile of books into her locker. She'd spent all of last week focusing on her audition video, and had totally ignored her other assessments. So yesterday had been another afternoon and evening of solid studying and homework. She might not care what others think of her, but she does care about her grades. She probably doesn't look it, but Jade West has always been a straight A student and that wasn't about to change.

The main corridor at Hollywood Arts was still pretty empty. Most students hadn't even arrived yet. Jade wasn't sure why she was so early, but she did know that Beck wasn't there yet. He promised to buy her coffee when he arrived. She heard footsteps walking towards her, too light and click-y to be Beck. She turned and saw Tori standing in front of her, biting her lip. Beck had told her that she had spent the morning trying to keep Trina at the school, even though Jade hadn't asked, nor cared to know.

"What do you want?" Jade asked bluntly. She flipped through a folder to find her English essay, due that afternoon.

"Hey, I was just... I know we aren't super close but did you really want me to leave Hollywood Arts?" Tori asked tentatively. She shuffled her feet a little as she held her books close to her chest.

"Is that a trick question?" Jade deadpanned. Seriously, this girl was obsessed with people liking her. Jade actually hoped Tori became famous, just so she could read a mean comment online and die of depression.

Tori frowned for a second before speaking again, this time louder and angrier. "Seriously, Jade, what did I do? Why do you hate me?"

Jade turned back to look at her, looking at her like she'd just asked the most obvious question ever. Which she had. "Oh. You mean, apart from kissing my boyfriend, kissing Cat's boyfriend, nearly costing Beck his movie role, landing us in jail in Yerba and cancelling my clown show for a prom?" She snapped, bitterness in her voice.

"Pro-" Tor started, but Jade cut her off immediately.

"Don't make me hurt you!"

"Okay, okay," Tori said, "I've made mistakes. But I made up for all of them. Apart from that I haven't done anything, right?" She asked, almost desperately.

"Right."

Tori raised an eyebrow, studying Jade's flat expression, "Why doesn't that make me feel better?"

Jade sighed, chucking yet another book from her bag into the locker. "Because, Tori, you haven't done anything except get things handed to you. "

"Hey!" Tori cried, offended, "I do stuff! I work hard on everything."

This was like talking to a four year old; she'd have to use the simpler words. Or harsher. Jade stared at her, "I'm going to give you a list, so this conversation can end before I die of boredom."

Tori flinched a little at her tone, but just nodded. Jade continued, "First off, the fact that you go to a performing arts school and last month you asked what an understudy is literally makes me want to cut off all your hair and force you to eat it."

"Not everyone knows wh-" Tori tried to interrupt, but Jade glared at her so wickedly that she fell mute.

"My five year old cousin knows what an understudy is," Jade said snidely. "Secondly, what is it again that you did for your audition?"

"I sang a remixed version of Make It Shine with Andre?"

"Lovely," Jade deadpanned, "So to prove to Helen that you're good enough to stay at this school you brushed up on the words of a song you already knew? At least Andre reworked the music for it, and played an instrument. Hell, even your sister choreographed her own dance steps. Or tried to."

"Trina barely rehearsed for her audition!"

"Really, Trina is who you're trying to beat here?" Jade asked bluntly. Tori flinched again; this conversation was obviously getting to her. Good. "Vega, I wrote, directed, performed and produced my own short clip. Just for that stupid audition. Because I had the chance to show her what I could do."

"Wha-"

"If you ask me what produced means I swear I will stab you right now. " Tori fell silent again, looking at the floor solemnly. Jade sighed, she needed to get to her own point so she could leave this conversation; it was giving her a rash. At the same time, she felt kind of exhilarated. She'd wanted to say this to Vega for ages now.

"Look, Tori," she said, putting so much emphasis on the name that she looked up at her, "you're annoyingly talented. And I hate that, but I can't deny it. But you haven't touched you French horn, or piccolo or whatever in like 2 years. You can't just sit around waiting for opportunities to fall into your lap. Or problems to appear right in front of you, so you can fix them. That's not going to get you a record deal, or an Oscar, or a Tony or whichever one of my other dreams you want to steal."

Tori said nothing for a second, trying to blink away tears. "Oh My God, you're right. I don't even deserve to be here!" She said; her voice cracking as she leant against the locker next to Jade's.

Jade nodded, "God, took you long enough," she said, annoyed. She slammed her locker shut, finally, and moved to walk away. She was tired of this conversation and she'd said what she wanted. Now all she needed was coffee and Beck and her morning would be good again.

"Wait," Tori stopped her, "So that's why you hate me? Because you think I don't deserve what I get?"

"I know that," Jade replied, "And no. I hate you because you kissed my boyfriend."

Tori shook her head, looking upset and confused, "But... what was all that about then?"

Jade stared at her, judging her for her stupid questions, "Tori, hating you over things that make me better than you would just be petty. The only things on your side are luck, looks and a good voice."

Tori's eyes widened, as if the concise version of Jade's insult hurt her more than anything else she'd said. "B-"

"Hey girls, playing nice?" Beck said suddenly, appearing behind Jade as if by magic. He was holding two large cups of coffee.

Jade took one of the cups from his hand. "I was just talking to Tori about her hopes and dreams," she said, with an obviously faked cheery tone.

Beck frowned at her, "Okay, I'm gonna take that in the worst possible way," he turned to Tori, "Do I need to apologize?" he asked.

Jade frowned, but before she could say anything, Tori shook her head. Her eyes were a little red and she looked kinda freaked. Like a deer in the headlights of harsh reality.

"No, it's fine. I should... go!" She said quickly and jolted away, half running downing the hall.

Beck watched her go then turned back to Jade looking concerned, "What did you say to her?"

"Nothing!" She said defensively, taking a sip of her coffee.

"Jade?" He asked, looking at her pointedly. If she let him continue she'd end up relaying the whole conversation to him. So she deflected, "Where did you have to go for this coffee, anyway? Guatemala?"

He sighed, stepping closer to her, "There was a queue."

"Whatever," she muttered.

Beck leaned down at pressed a kiss to her temple quickly before taking a sip of his own coffee. She looked up at him. "What was that for?" she asked, a little suspiciously. To be honest, the random affection made her feel a little guilty. Beck would freak out if he knew what she said to Tori that morning. But he just shrugged, a lazy smile draping his lips.

She sighed, grabbing hold of his wrist and pulling him away from the lockers. "Come on, we have class," she said. Class without Tori, she remembered and was grateful for a second. She didn't think she could handle an hour with her being all sad and heartbroken or whatever. This never would have happened if she hadn't been obsessed with Jade hating her. The girl had issues. Seriously. And Jade had just spoken the truth. She truly believed everything she had said. Vega got way more than she worked for. And way, way more than she deserved. It wasn't just about her arriving and taking all of Jade's roles and leads away from her. It was about her doing it with no good reason, apart from charming everyone else in the stupid school like some fairy. Maybe it would do her some good. Maybe she'd actually become proper competition and give Jade another reason to hate her, rather than just being annoying. Jade hoped so, and swallowed any remaining guilt with a mouthful of hot coffee.

A/N: Halfway through writing this I realized that the episode after 'Helen Back Again' was 'Who Did It To Trina', in which Tori writes and directs her own play. I like to this that this conversation served as motivation for her to create something of her own.