Chapter Text
It's only been 1 week, seven days and Tori Vega is absolutely miserable. For some reason she thought that since they're now at college that maybe, JUST maybe that Jade West would have matured; that just maybe she wouldn't have to be looking behind her back every time she was in the same room as Jade; that she could just have a normal college experience. But no, Jade just has to torment the Latina at every possible moment. It's the Hollywood School of Arts all over again except now Tori has to deal with it practically 24/7 instead of simply when she's at school.
It started off relatively simple with Jade locking Tori out of the dorm room. Then it was misplacing Tori's laptop... on the roof, turning off the hot water to the bathroom, resetting Tori's alarm... to the time zone of Western Australia, and most recently, swapping Tori's Pepsi with another drink.
Why is Jade upping the ante on tormenting Tori? In the goth girl's eyes, the Latina is flirting with her boyfriend, Beck Oliver. Jade is still as jealous as ever and as protective as ever. All Tori has done is help Beck find where his class is. Having all of the time in the world, being dormmates with Tori allows Jade to torment her high school alum whenever and however she sees fit.
Tori, meanwhile, has had enough. She walks out of the dorm room, "I'll be back later," Tori says. "I need to go and just clear my head." Tori stops to see if Jade is even paying attention. If she is, the goth isn't showing it. Instead she's using her trademark scissors to stab open a TV dinner. Now in college, both women are being mindful of what they are spending because of the high tuition. Even with their scholarships, they're still paying for their classes, their food, and their transportation, though Jade is able to cheese the system, bullying people into free meals.
Tori walks off for about 15 minutes until she is completely off campus. Once off campus, she's walking along a strip mall, looking at the different shops. Clothing store, a Walmart, hardware store, all of the typical stores that would pop up near a college to help supply the students, whether it's food, clothing, and of course, items to secretly repair the dorm room after a drunken night out. At the end of the strip mall however is an antique store. It's a simple shop with enough in the window to actually lure Tori inside.
Browsing the aisles, there's various items, an old pocket watch, vintage coins and jewelry, even some ancient weapons. Tori laughs, "I already know what Jade would do with that sword," as she looks at a Japanese katana.
"Hello miss, can I help you?" A voice from behind Tori says. The college student practically jumps, not expecting someone to sneak up on her. She turns around to see an old man with a cane. "I'm sorry to startle you, it has been a little while since I had someone from the college stop in," the man says with a sincere tone.
Once she's calmed down, Tori sighs, "there isn't anything that you can help me with unless you can go back in time and change a person." She raises an eyebrow when the man points to an item with his cane. It's a stereotypical lamp that could have been a prop in a live action Aladdin movie. Looking back at the old man, the Latina says, "You can't be serious," as she walks over to the lamp. "This little thing is going to solve all of my problems," she says with a heavily sarcastic tone. Tori picks up the lamp, looking it over. She rubs it lightly as she looks for the price tag. When she finds the tag, she's not surprised to see that it's over $1,000. Looking back at the old man, Tori jokingly says, "I wish I could afford it."
The old man opens his mouth to say something and pauses for a moment. He smiles and says, "For you? How about a trade? You come, work here for two, three months depending on your class schedule, and I'll let you have the lamp in exchange." The offer seemed random. Tori figured that maybe she could turn this into an actual job with actual pay, so why not? "Sure... but... I wish it was a paid job now and that the lamp was a bonus." The Latina decided that she'd counter, maybe try to get money now instead of later. Having ownership of the lamp was just a means to keep the old man happy in the offer. To Tori's shock, the old man says, "Well, I was about to close for the night, but if your schedule allows it, be here tomorrow at 5:00 p.m., $20 an hour, and you can have the lamp. Is that a deal miss?"
Tori's flabbergasted as to what just happened. "Um, of course, 5:00 p.m. tomorrow. Thank you. And I'm Tori, Tori Vega," she says, extending her hand. After a handshake, the old man sees her out and Tori just looks around, holding the lamp, still dumbfounded.
Standing alone, she pulls the top off of the lamp. Smoke pours out and Tori screams, dropping the lamp. A giant, smoky woman emerges from the lamp. "Thank you mistress for releasing me from my prison. I am Desiree, the genie of the lamp. As a reward, you shall have three wishes, two of which you've already used." Tori laughs. To her, everything makes sense now. Jade must have spiked her drink and she's just on one hell of a trip right now.
"Wishes?" Tori laughs. "Those were wishes you granted?" She says with a very skeptical tone. "What rules are there for these wishes, hmm? Can't wish for love? Can't wish for power or control? And if that's the case, that's not fair because I didn't know I already used two wishes." Thinking that this is all just in her head, Tori has decided to play along while this lasts. She thinks she'll be back to reality in an hour or two.
Desiree listens to the questions and skepticism that Tori has. "You are right mistress. I shouldn't have granted those without revealing myself to you. How about I give you three wishes? The only rule is that you must live with your wish, no matter what the consequences are. You cannot undo a wish."
Tori scoffs, "Yeah... right..." She's still in disbelief, thinking that this is all just a dream, a trip, because of a 'spiked drink.' "How about this for my first 'wish,'" she says, making exaggerated air quotes. "I wish that it was Senior year at the Hollywood School of Arts and that Jade West and I were girlfriends, best friends, inseparable," Tori says with a smirk.
Desiree looks at Tori confused. "Mistress, you wish for this Jade West and yourself to be girlfriends? Lovers?" The genie asks with genuine curiosity. "Would you want people to know? Who do you want to know about the relationship?"
Tori rolls her eyes, still convinced this is all a dream. "You know what? I wish that Jade West and I were secretly girlfriends and that the only person that knew about our relationship were her parents and my sister Trina because she read a lewd text Jade sent to my phone shortly after we started dating in Freshman year." Tori stands there, crossing her arms with a smug look on her face.
Desiree nods. "So you have wished it, so shall it be," and she claps her hands. There's a flash of light and Tori is no longer standing in front of an antique store... she's back in her bedroom. The lamp is on the nightstand and a pride flag above her bed. Tori looks around, confused. She thinks that this is still a dream until Trina opens the door and yanks her arm hard. Tori feels the pain, slowly realizing that this is not a dream.
Trina says, "Hey sis, Earth to sis!" Tori shakes her head and looks at her fraternal twin. "Jade is downstairs. If you told your girlfriend that Mom and Dad were going to be gone for the night, you missed by an hour..." Trina keeps talking but Tori's practically tuned her out. The realization of what has happened is now dawning on the Latina. The wish, it was real. The wish to have Jade West as her girlfriend, her lesbian lover, the same Jade West that can be psychotic, possessive, ultra protective, and jealous, as Tori saw with Beck... "Tori, are you even listening to me? Are you going to go downstairs and whisk Jade away or do you want to be outed?!" Trina says, shaking Tori.