Every Beat of your Heart Makes a Song in Mine (A Victorious Story)

Chapter eleven

About another week went by until finally, Tori, Cat, and Beck were able to leave the hospital.

When Tori arrived home for the first time, she was greeted with a banner on the door and a small party that her parents and Trina had set up. Well, her parents really did most of the work, but Trina picked out the tablecloths and sprinkled some of the confetti, so, you know, it's the thought that counts.

After a little celebration that Tori really wasn't too in the mood for to be honest, she retreated to her room and sighed, flopping down onto her bed and staring at the ceiling. One thing she had to admit, her own bed was much more comfortable than a hospital one. She would take memory foam over the brick that the other mattress was any day.

This coming Tuesday, she and the gang were supposed to go to Karaoke Dokie, so about three days from today, and try to have fun and keep Beck's mind off of the clear crisis at hand. Still frustrated that Beck was blaming himself and Jade wouldn't wake up, Tori scratched at her cast while she tried to think of any possible way that they could get him to remember more. This was probably at least the third time that she had been in a cast since she got to Hollywood Arts, and yet she still wasn't used to how itchy it was against her skin and how she couldn't scratch where it really itched. Looking over at the laptop that had been left on her bedside table the night of the crash, she shrugged. She didn't have anything better to do.

Logging on, she made her way to TheSlap.com to see if there were any updates. The first post at the top of the screen didn't make her feel any better. There, in big, bold letters,

Hollywood Arts Students Trapped in Car for Three Hours After Bad Car Crash. One in a Coma, One with a Concussion, two more with Broken Limbs.

Looking down at the author of the article, Tori wasn't surprised to see that it was written by Sinjin. Skeptical of how much he knew about the actual events of the crash, Tori read on.

"On October 17 at 11:28 p.m., Junior Students Beck Oliver, Jade West, Tori Vega, and Cat Valentine were driving towards Freezie Queen after a successful final performance of Mr. Sikowitz's most recent production, 'The Show Must Go On.' The teens had planned to stop at Freezie Queen and then head to Mr. Oliver's house to work on a project that was due the next day. But shortly after they pulled out of the parking lot, they were met with a terrible crash because of a drunken driver, leading to Oliver's car getting totaled, and West going into a coma, Vega breaking her arm, Valentine breaking her ankle, and Oliver getting a concussion. Here are what some friends and family of the victims have to say:

'Get outta my way!!' Trina Vega, older sister to Tori reported a few hours after the accident. 'You weirdo, we're trying to get into the hospital! Stop stopping me for an interview for your dumb article!!!' Trina and her parents had had to leave immediately after the performance to beat the traffic, as well as Mr. Vega had to report to the police department for a police report the night of the play. They were all home when Mrs. Vega got the call from the hospital. From there, they went to the hospital that Tori and her friends were taken to, where our crew tried to stop them for an interview."

The image of Sinjin and Burf trying to stop her parents and Trina outside of the hospital honestly made Tori want to laugh as she read on.

"On the night of the crash, we were able to interview the friends of the victims, Robbie Shapiro and Andre Harris. Here is what they had to say.

'Get outta my face!!!' Harris exclaimed as we interviewed him and Shapiro. 'This is no time to be updating the slap, we need to make sure that Tori and the others are okay!!!' Strange that he mentioned Vega first. Could this be a possible crush?"

Tori felt her cheeks go red with shock. Did Andre have a crush on her? She shook her head to and fro, snapping out of it. No, it had to be Sinjin making a bigger deal out of a small fact. Andre was her friend. Although if he did happen to have a crush on her, she wouldn't mind. He was kinda cute, and sweet, and an amazing singer...

Tori snapped out of her daydream once again and continued to read the article. Blah blah blah, Sinjin and Burf stopping more people who were trying to get to the hospital, blah blah blah, weird conspiracies, blah blah blah, Sikowitz...

Wait, Sikowitz?? Tori looked back to the paragraph that contained her teacher's name.

"We interviewed teacher Erwin Sikowitz for his opinions on the matter. This is what he had to say.

'You two need to stop making people stop for interviews. People's lives are at stake and you're just worried about your reads on The Slap. Be mature and don't invade on others' lives in the middle of a crisis...Sinjin are you even listening to me or just writing down everything I say? Wow, ignoring me? Really mature. Both of you boys get to class and stop being nuisances. I haven't seen behavior like this since Robarazzi was a thing.'

We've yet to find out from the victims themselves their views on the crash. All we know is that they're recovering steadily...all but one."

And then the article was over. Tori rolled her eyes. As if she needed to be reminded yet again of the predicament Jade was in. She hoped that she would wake up soon; she was honestly missing getting yelled at daily for no reason.

Tori groaned and laid back on her bed, her hand to her head. "Congratulations, universe. You win." She mumbled.