February,

The bell had just rung as Tori, and I walked into the school. We would've been there earlier but noo, Tori had to have her authentic coffee. She was on her phone as we walked across the hallway. I was following her, not really paying attention.

"Listen, I need your guys' help." Robbie said to Andre and Cat as we approached them.

I looked up, hearing Cat's laugh, noticing them all standing by the soda machines. "Oh, hi guys."

"Hey." Tori greeted, looking up from her phone.

"Oh, hey Y/n, Tori!" Cat said as they turned to us.

"How's it going?"

"What's up?"

"Well, after school I was thinking we should all go hang out at The Grove. You wanna-wanna?" Tori asked.

"Uhh..." "Oooh..." "Uhh..." We said, as I moved to stand beside Cat.

"We really can't." Cat said.

"How come?"

"Well, uh, we have ping pong practice." I shrugged, sending her a soft smile.

Every month or so my friends and I would have our ping pong practice. We joined freshman year, and because no one was already on the team; it was just us and Sikowitz. And that led us to change some things... Anyway, Jade is the captain and I'm co-captain and let me tell you, I SUCK at sports, really anything related to athletics, but ping pong? I'm actually really good and plus, I like it.

"Mm-hmm." "Uh-huh." "Yup." They confirmed.

"Shut up." Tori said amused.

"It's true."

"Yeah, we're all on the ping pong team." Robbie told her.

"Me, Andre, Robbie, Beck, Y/n and Jade." Cat gestured, turning to Andre and me.

"There's no ping pong team at Hollywood Arts." Tori said.

"Ahh-" Robbie winced, glancing at us before continuing. "Listen, Tori, um you're still kinda new here and there's some things that you just don't under-" He paused, moving closer to Tori as he sniffed the air between them. "What kind of gum are you chewing?"

"I don't know. Sinjin made it."

"Why would you chew gum Sinjin made?" I asked, a little grossed out.

"I don't know, I-"

"Smell her mouth." Robbie told Rex, moving him closer to Tori.

"Sure." He sniffed, getting closer than Robbie did. "Hmm...smells like, that trip we took to Acapulco last year."

"Yes!" Robbie agreed.

"Oh! You have Mexican-flavored gum?" Cat excitedly asked.

"Mexicans not a flavor!" Tori snapped, as Sinjin walked by.

"Thank you!" He said lowly in her ear, walking away.

"Look, if you guys don't wanna hang out with me then just say so. Why make up a lie that you're all on some ping pong team?"

We weren't lying, but these idiots didn't say that. Instead, they froze and acted as if nothing had just happened!

"Hey Tori!" Cat greeted again.

"How's it going?"

"What's up?" Robbie and Andre asked.

"Okay, so now you're just gonna pretend like we're not having the conversation we're having?"

"About what?" Cat asked and I don't think she was pretending.

"The big ping pong team lie!"

"We're not lying Tor!" I said following her to my locker.

"Look, if you don't believe us then go to the rec room." Robbie advised as they walked over.

"You can see all the trophies we've won." Cat said.

"First place." Andre added.

"Mhm!" I murmured.

"Really?" She asked.

"Yeah." "Please." We agreed.

"Okay. Then I wanna try out for the team." She said, smiling.

We winced; this could hurt our reputation. We maintained the ping pong team by only letting us, the old 6, on the team and NO one else.

"What?"

"Look, if you wanna try out for the ping pong team, then you have to talk to the team captains." Robbie explained.

"Fine, who's the team captains?" She asked, annoyance laced in her tone.

"Y/n" Cat said.

"Ooh!" She looked at me, cheesing.

"And Jade." Cat finished.

"Uck." Tori frowned, her face falling.

"Or you could join my team. I call it Rex's all hot chick volleyball squad." Rex suggested, chuckling as he moved closer to Tori "Yeah."

"And how many girls are on that team?" I sneered, readjusting my bags strap as Tori took out her gum, placing it on Rex's forehead.

"4-5 gir- Ahh! Noo!" He grunted, looking to Robbie as Tori rushed off.

"TORI!" Robbie yelled.

"Just get it off my nose." He shook his head, "Snatch it off!" Robbie moved to take the gum off, but it was gum and Tori had put it on their good, so it just stretched.

"Ugh!" Rex groaned as Robbie grimaced, still trying to get the gum off. "Aw, man. It's the stretchy kind!"

"Eww! I'll catch you guys in class." I winced, waving them off as I went to go find Beck.

"Bye!" Cat called.

"Look if it was just up to me, then I would let you try out but-" I said, trying to stop my sister as we walked down the stairs.

"Oh! There's Jade." She said completely ignoring a thing I just said.

"She's literally said no and has been avoiding you all day...I don't think you should pester, if you wa—"

"Jade!" She called, jogging to her "Jade! Jade!!" She pestered, repeatedly tapping her. "I'm not going away! And you can't just say no."

Jade turned, now facing Tori as she paused her conversation with our mutual friend, Kory and another girl "No, no, no, no, no, no, no." She said, saying it in different ways and tones, I think she even sung it too.

"All right, well, you can." Tori scratched her head "Lane, can you come here please?" She asked, as Lane passed by. The halls started to clear, the warning bell ringing. "Don't move, you either Y/n." Tori said, turning to Jade then me.

"Whyy?" I whined. I didn't need to be here, I actually wanted to get to class.

"I'm staying here because I wanna stay here." Jade said.

"What's up?" Lane asked as Tori moved beside him.

"Jade and Y/n are the captains of the ping pong team, and I wanna try out and Y/n says I can, but Jade says I can't."

"Yep, that's what I says." Jade taunted, pulling me with her as she walked down the stairs.

"Come on, why do you all have to drag me into your problems?" Lane grumbled.

"Uh, you're the guidance counselor here. Can we have some guidance?" Tori pointed out.

"And plus, we like you." I shrugged, sitting down on the last step.

"All right." He pulled out his lotion bottle.

"All right, I've already got it loaded in here..." Tori pulled out her phone, glancing at Lane as he squeezed a substantial amount of lotion onto his hand.

He rubbed his hands together and smelled them, looking up "Okay, what?"

Tori shook her head, looking at her phone again. "See, look what it says on the official Hollywood Arts website."

"My life is slipping away." Jade groaned, glaring.

"Yea, and I'm missing class TORI." I added, resting my head on my knees.

"Read it." Tori looked back to Lane.

"All students are encouraged to participate in school sanctioned events, clubs and sports teams."

"And how can I participate in ping pong if a team captain refuses to even let me try out?" Tori turned to Jade, making her claim.

Jade shook her head and rolled her eyes. "You gotta let her try out." Lane said.

"We don't need more players." She shrugged.

"Read the phone, Jade. Read the phone!" Tori moved, putting her phone right in Jade's face.

"Break it." I mumbled. Tori was getting on my nerves with this, she was being so pushy!

Jade was steaming.

And so, after school, Beck and I went to ping pong practice, with Tori.

Beck went up against Tori first, losing.

And then Andre went.. and lost.

Cat went next and screamed when Tori threw an angle, she ran off, losing. Tori, 3, and us or really Jade, 0.

Then it was Robbie, and he lost too! Tori threw the ping pong ball, hitting Robbie in his area.

"Oh!" He grunted, falling to his knees, somehow hitting his forehead on the ping pong table.

Beck covered Rex's eyes; he didn't need to see that.

After Robbie recovered and put his shirt and glasses back on Rex went. Rex isn't on the team, but Jade didn't want Tori on the team, so she tried everything in her power to prevent Tori from getting on the team. It was pretty interesting to watch.

Rex missed the ball, and Robbie threw the racket across the table as Tori panted, tiredly.

I was next up, and I was excited. Beck rubbed my shoulders as I stood in-between his legs, my back to his front.

"You got this," he said, staring at the wall straight ahead.

"I got this." I repeated, nodding.

"Stay focused on that ball."

"Stay focused on that ball!" I nodded again.

"Go get her, Tiger!" He said, patting me on my bum as I walked towards the ping pong table.

"Go g-" I paused, grabbing the racket from the table "If I beat her, will you buy me a lemonade?"

He nodded.

"Okay! Let's do this Vega." I turned to Tori, glaring.

I won!

"Yes!" I jumped up, throwing the racket down on the ping pong table as Tori pouted slightly, wiping sweat off her forehead. She walked up to Jade, who was now standing beside me. "Well?" she asked.

"You didn't make the team." Jade deadpanned.

"Wh- what?! I beat everybody, expect for Y/n!"

"I don't care, read the school's website." Jade held out her phone.

Tori looked at her, sighing as she snatched the phone from her. "When a student tries out for a sports team which there is no coach the team captain shall decide if the student is granted or denied acceptance to the team."

"Captain says denied!" Jade snatched back her phone.

"But you can't- You can't just-"

"Read the phone, Tori. Read the phone." She mocked, putting the phone in Tori's face.

Tori roughly grabbed Jade's arm, moving closer to her. "Don't you steal my phone-in-face bit!" She gritted out, turning to leave. She snatched her bag from Robbie, leaving the room as she slammed the door.

"Well..." I said after silence had settled around us.

"Another game?" Beck asked.

"Yeah!"

The next day, after school we had 'ping pong practice' again and currently, we were playing Twister.

"Oh, my God." Jade exclaimed, as she held onto my arm. I was literally beneath everyone; my legs were under Andre and my back was leaning on Beck's leg as my arm was wrapped around it. It was chaos but it was so fun.

"Man, this is the best ping pong practice ever." Andre grinned.

"Aw, I love this game!" Cat said.

"Wait, wait, wait don't lean on me-" Robbie called out as Jade and Beck started to lean over, causing all of us to topple over, screaming. "Oh! That was a foul!"

"Ow! That tickles."

"Okay! Let's start over." Jade said, as she stood, pulling me up.

"All right." "Ok dokie." Andre and I agreed.

"Okay, okay. Wait, let me get a drink first." Beck said turning to the soda machine.

"Yeah, me too." Andre nodded his head.

"Aw," Robbie groaned, standing up to his full height.

"What's wrong?" Cat asked, taking a swig of her soda.

"I think I pulled a muscle." He sighed, turning to us.

"You can't pull what you don't have." Jade remarked, making me hit her on her arm.

"Jade." I scolded.

Beck hit the soda machine a few times, trying to get it to work. "What up with this machine? It ate my dollar." He looked at Andre.

"All right, let the doctor handle this." Andre nodded, rubbing his hands together.

"Go doc."

Andre hit and bammed on it, hitting the top, front and sides of it as Beck hit the other side, pushing it a little.

"Guys, guys, try rocking it." Jade suggested, going to help.

"All right."

They rocked it, back and forth until it fell forward, startling all of us and apparently... the soda machine?

"Did that machine just scream like a teenage girl?" Andre asked, looking around at us as the machine's back 'door' started jumping. As if someone was trying to get out of there. The screen popped out, falling to the ground as Tori climbed out, her hair all over the place. She stood up, her mouth open as she looked around at us.

"All right. Who put me in the soda machine?!" She shouted, feigning shock.

I sighed, moving my hand from my forehead "Tori!" I scolded.

"All right, come on." Beck said as he and Andre moved to get Tori out of the soda machine. "Up and over, up and over."

"Come on, let's go." Andre muttered.

"I got it, I got it. Buzz off!" Tori exclaimed as she fidgeted and kicked.

"Why were you hiding in there spying on us?!" Robbie asked.

"Cause I had a feeling you guys' ping pong team was just a big fake and I was right! You weren't practicing ping pong! You were playing retro party games! So, what is up?" She turned, looking at each and every one of us.

...

We didn't exactly respond right after, after a beat of silence and a lot of glances at the ceiling, Andre broke it. "Let's just tell her."

"No." Jade instantly said.

"Yes." Beck looked to her.

"I think we should tell her." Cat shrugged.

"Why don't we just drive her out to the desert and drop her off?" Rex suggested.

"Rex!" Robbie scolded.

"She knows too much!"

"Yeah- just tell her, I mean look-" I shrugged, gesturing to the soda machine.

"Tell her." Jade gave in.

"There's no real ping pong team." Andre said.

"Ah-ah!" She yelled victoriously, pausing. "Then what's this all about?"

"Well, it all started two years ago when the school put that ping pong table in this room." Andre said as we looked to the blue ping pong table, thinking back to our freshman year.

"I remember like it was yesterday. We were just walking around the school halls, skipping, and we just walked in and there it was. Then Robbie suggested that we form an officially ping pong team here at Hollywood Arts, to compete against other schools." I explained from the couch, Beck and I were laying on.

"So, I slapped Robbie hard on top of his head." Jade said.

"It really hurt." Robbie added, making Tori look at him. "It really hurt!" He emphasized, putting a hand on his mop of curls.

"I heard that. So?"

"So, a few days later, me, Andre, Y/n, Jade and Robbie were hanging out." Beck spoke up.

"When Cat walked up." Jade said.

"She was all pumped up about some fancy restaurant her parents took her to the weekend before." Andre continued.

"They had amazing steaks and crab cakes and lobster mashed potatoes and classy live music and the most insane desserts I've ever tasted!" Cat raved.

"Which all sounded pretty good to us." Andre shrugged.

"So, I said 'well, we gotta go there.'" Robbie said.

"And I told Robbie there was no way we could go there cause it's really expensive." Cat said.

"Where is this story going?" Tori interrupted.

"It actually gets weirder." I said, making her look over at us as Beck nodded, sitting criss cross Applesauce.

"You see, when Cat told us that the restaurant was too expensive..." Robbie turned to Tori, explaining.

"I remembered something Beck had told me about all the sports teams at Hollywood Arts getting a minimum of $1,500 a year to pay for travel and equipment. That's when I got the idea." Jade explained, then stopped as she had zoned out.

"Well, what was the idea?" Tori blurted, waiting on her to continue.

"Oh, right. I was telling a story. Uh...I said, 'maybe we should form a fake ping pong team, take the $1,500 bucks and use the money for all of us to have a fancy dinner at the restaurant Cat told us about.'"

"At first, we thought Jade's idea was crazy." Robbie said.

"But after we exchanged some looks and Y/n told us about her secret ping pong talent, just in case..." Andre shrugged as I nodded.

"We started to think it might be a pretty cool idea." Cat continued.

"But then Robbie said 'wait'" Beck added.

"I reminded everyone that all sports teams are required to have at least one faculty advisor."

"So, we went to the only teacher we could trust." I spoke.

"Sikowitz." Beck concluded.

"But he told us our plan was way too devious and illegal." Cat backtracked.

"But then he said, 'hey, did you hear that principal Eikner might get fired?'" Andre said.

"Help me?" Tori said, lost.

"See, the principal's boss-"

"The superintendent." Rex added.

"Was mad because Hollywood Arts didn't have any winning sports teams." Andre continued.

"And he told principal Eikner, 'at least one team better bring home a trophy this year or else-" Beck made a cutting off sound, "You're fired."

"So, I said to Sikowitz, what if the 6 of us-"

"7." Rex corrected Robbie.

"7 of us, pretend to go to a ping pong tournament, take the $1,500 bucks the school gives us,"

"Use 400 of it to buy a nice trophy for the school." Andre explained.

"Which would keep principal Eikner from getting fired." I added.

"And use the rest of the money to take our favorite teacher to the restaurant Cat told us about." Jade said.

"And have the most amazing dinner of our lives." Robbie concluded.

"And then, Sikowitz was on board." I said, smiling.

"So, you guys formed a fake ping pong team, so you could get some money, buy a trophy for the school, save the principal's job, and take Sikowitz out for a big, fancy dinner?" Tori asked, summarizing it all up into 1 sentence.

"Yeah, I guess we could have just told it that way." Andre said, looking around.

"So, are you gonna bust now and ruin everything?" Jade piped, getting up from the arm of the couch.

"No...if..." Tori turned to her.

"If what?"

"And I'm very proud to announce the newest member of the Hollywood Arts ping pong team, Tori... 'The paddlepus' Vega!" Sikowitz announced to the crowd of students and faculty who was stood outside, cheering.

It had been 2 days since we let Tori in on our little secret and it had also been 2 days since she joined the team. It was now Friday and like every year, we were going off to our 'ping pong tournament' to bring some victory back home to Hollywood Arts.

Tori ran out from wherever she was hiding, doing a little dance move when she got in front of Jade, grinning.

"Now, wish us all luck, and hopefully we'll bring home yet another first-place trophy for Hollywood Arts!" Sikowitz said, causing the crown to cheer and clap loudly "All team members in my van! Thank you, thank you!" He smiled at them, holding up a thumbs up as he started the van.

"Hey, look at that, shag carpeting!" Rex said as Sikowitz rounded the corner, driving out of the parking lot.

"Oh, my God, best food ever!" Tori exclaimed.

"Right?" Cat agreed.

"Mm-hmm."

We'd arrived at the very fancy restaurant almost an hour ago and had changed into more presentable clothes... well expect for Tori, she was still wearing her ping pong uniform. The waiters had just delivered our food and we were digging in.

Sikowitz was sat at the far end of the table and next to him was Andre. Then Beck, me and Jade and sat by Jade was Robbie, Tori and Cat!

Beck stood up, raising his glass. "To ping pong!"

"To ping pong!" We stood, holding up our glasses and toasted.

"To the pongy thingy."

"Aw, shut up." Rex said.

We sat back down, getting right back to eating when Tori yelled, looking at the snooty whispering women behind us. "Yes! I'm wearing a ping pong uniform!" They ran off, not expecting her outburst.

"How could you not think to bring a fancy dress?" Andre asked.

"I don't know. I just didn't, okay?"

"Jade, you said you reminded everyone to bring nice clothes?" Beck said, looking over at Jade.

"I did."

"You didn't remind me." Tori remarked.

"Whoops." Jade said nonchalant, taking a bite of her food.

"How's everyone doing?" The waiter asked as she walked up to our table.

"Oh!"

"It's so good!"

"It's amazing."

"Good, good, good." She nodded, turning to walk away.

"Oh, wait, ma'am!" Robbie turned, getting up.

"Hey, Y/n" Jade called, cutting her food.

"Hm?" I asked, taking a sip of my drink.

She turned, now looking at me "Can I taste some of yours?"

"Yeah, go ahead. Can I taste yours?"

"Yeah, get in there."

"Tha-"

"Is everyone happy tonight?" Everyone looked up from their food to the manager, praising.

"Oh, wonderful. How is your drink, sir?" He asked Sikowitz.

"Very moist, thank you." He raised his glass, taking a sip.

The hostess then walked up, standing beside the manager as she put her hand on his arm "Two more people are complaining there's no live music." She anxiously said.

"So, offer them a free dessert."

"I did. They're still upset." She nodded.

"Excuse me." He said turning us, following her.

"Here you are." The waiter told Robbie, placing down a bowl.

"Oh, thank you dear." He sighed, moving to pick up the bowl.

"Are you sure?" Cat asked Tori.

"Yes, they can't grow lobster flavored potatoes."

"Uh..." Andre grunted, holding up his fork full of dessert. "Uh, it's so good! But I'm so full!" He moaned.

"Come on, man up. Here we go." Beck grabbed his fork, feeding Andre. "Ah, there it is. There it is. That's nice, isn't it?"

"Thank you." Andre said, making me laugh at their interaction.

"Breathe through it."

"You're a good friend." Andre glanced at Beck, chewing as Beck patted his face.

"Okay...what if a farmer planted a lobster and a potato in the same hole... Maybe it would grow a lobtato!"

"Yes Cat, a lobtato would grow. I'll tell the farmers." Tori smiled, making Cat giggle.

"Here's your check." The waiter said, putting the check on the table besides Sikowitz.

"Thank you." He turned, watching her leave. He took a bite of his dessert, then picked up the check, opening it. "Mmm.." He scanned it, looking for the amount we owed when suddenly he spit out his food, sitting up. "What the hair bones!?"

"What?" Jade asked.

"It's $1,300!" He gritted out, making us let out gasps.

"What??" I asked, looking at Jade.

"It's never been over $700!" Cat exclaimed.

Jade sighed aggressively, hitting the table with both her hands. "Way to go, Tori!"

"You expensive!" I snarled, pointing a finger at her.

"I ordered the same thing you did!"

"Wait, wait, I see the problem. They mistakenly charged us for an extra $600 for caviar." Sikowitz said, looking at the check.

"Oh." Jade said, leaning back in her chair.

"Ha ha, excuse me, sir?" He called for the manager.

"Hi, is anything wrong?"

"Yes. we were mistakenly charged for $600 worth of caviar." Sikowitz said, handing over the check as he leaned back in his chair.

"Oh, that's not a mistake. That awkward young man ordered a large bowl of caviar." The waiter interjected, gesturing to Robbie. We slowly looked at Robbie, who was avoiding eye contact with everyone.

"Man, what were you thinking!?" He yelled, looking at Rex.

"Aye, I didn't order any caviar!"

"Robbie!" I exclaimed.

"I didn't know it was that expensive!" He defended before everyone started bickering, even the manager was yelling.

"All right, all right, all right! Hushhh!! Robbie can't help what he is." He said stopping our bickering and yelling, he cleared his throat, rubbing his forehead "Nevertheless, we don't have enough money...to pay the check." Sikowitz looked at the manager.

"Well, sir, I'm sorry, but payment is required or I'm going to have to call the police." He handed back the check.

"The police!?"

"Oh, no! You can-"

"The police!?"

"No, sir I-"

Everyone was fussing, it was just panicked chatter coming from all of us. The hostess ran over, trying to see what all the commotion was as the waiter and manager tried shushing us.

"I can't go to jail!" Jade exclaimed.

"Not like it isn't in your future!" Rex remarked, above all the chatter.

"Rex!" Robbie scolded.

"Claude." A man called, coming from behind the piano. "Claude!"

"Yes, Mr. Conrad?" The manager turned, anxiously.

"Where is the live music?"

"Well..." He turned to look at the empty piano.

"I thought Perry and Jordan were performing."

"There was a golfing accident. Perry took a ball to the head." He emphasized, hitting his own head. 

"And you didn't book another music act?"

"I didn't find out until 4:30 and I-"

"People come here for classy, live music. Do you know how many customers are complaining?"

"Sir, I didn't have the time t-" He gritted out, trying to whisper.

"Uh, guys, guys?" Tori stood up, gaining their attention. "I think I may be able to fix both our problems here." She glanced at the hostess and waiter behind her, then looked at Jade and I, jogging behind Jade. "Give me your dress." She urgently said.

"What?" Jade asked, mouth full of her dessert as she looked at Tori.

Tori sighed, rolling her eyes. "Give me your dress."

"This one?"

"No, the dress in the van, yes this dress!"

"Where's Sikowitz?" Beck whispered in my ear, causing me to look at his unoccupied chair.

"I don't know...?" I looked around, not seeing him anywhere.

Once Jade and Tori switched clothes, and Tori asked Andre to play the piano as she sung, our dues were paid, and the restaurant's problem was fixed!

And Sikowitz was back too.

It was literally a win-win for us.

~