My Lucky Charm is a Rose (HSMTMTS)

5. Oh, isn't this amazing?

Apparently, this time, Ricky handled it a lot better. For one, he didn't dump her on the spot, or even while they were alone later that day. I'd say that is a miracle in itself. He handled it really well, wanting to try the long distance thing (although that's bound to fail sooner or later), and even giving her a cute Salt Lake snowglobe. Or at least that's what Nini told me on her bus ride to Denver. The snowglobe is pretty cute, though. Kinda jealous over here in Salt Lake.

It doesn't take long after our first day back, though for everyone to start obsessing over the spring musical, Beauty and the Beast. Who is going to be Adam/Beast, Belle, Mrs. Potts, and all the rest of the lovely cast? What the staging could look like. Google-stalking the Menkies. You know, the usual things theatre geeks do.

"Please tell me you're auditioning for a part, Juliette." Oh, Carlos. I'm not doing that. I'm far better behind the scenes. Especially with my stage fright.

"Sorry, but no." I can tell he wants to protest, badly. "Unfortunately, I am just going to focus on doing my own thing and preparing for life after high school."

"You're not even going to try? Not even just for Madame de Grande Bouche?" Nope. I love Beauty and the Beast and all, but I'd just freeze before I even got on the stage, let alone if I ever made it onto the stage. I can do short presentations, but once it gets past the ten minutes in front of an audience, it goes south quickly. The only reason that didn't happen while I was at the courthouse, which feels like a lifetime ago, is because there were only a handful of people in the room.

"No." Shrugging, I continue to listen in as they talk about who should be Belle. It's between Ashlyn and Gina, although people keep asking whether I'll do it, even with my constant "no"s. And, of course, Beast, but Ricky and EJ both don't want the part, so that'll get interesting when we do auditions.

"Oh my gosh, I can't believe I'm standing in front of both Troys from the musical." Perky, annoying, freshman. "I'm such a huge fan of both of your performances." Seriously? I was confused and I didn't even watch most of it. "Oh, I'm sorry, I never introduced myself. I'm Lily, freshman." That much was clear, girl. "Can I get a selfie with both of you?"

"I can take the picture," I offer, and she hands over her phone so I can take a picture of the three of them and once I've taken a few, I hand it back to her.

"You can tag me in it if you want. Just @EJWaterPoloTheaterGuy. Theater with an 'er'." That's a bit excessive, EJ. Mine's just @UKGal88. Pretty simple, if I do say so myself, and not at all obvious it's me. Not even EJ knows about my dual citizenship, so that would be the last thing to cross his mind.

That's when a genius plan runs through my head.

"Hey, EJ. I have a crazy idea for a senior gift to Miss Jenn." This is more than just genius. This is next-level insane.

"What?" Leading him away from the crowd and the cafeteria, I describe the plan in detail and, for once, I can't tell what he's thinking. "That's genius."

- - -

Two weeks and three snow days later, it's my birthday. My real one. Well, one of my real ones. This time, I am officially turning eighteen! And, of course, because the universe hates me, it's also the day of auditions. It was supposed to be yesterday, but due to Mother Nature and the obscene amount of snow Salt Lake gets, there was a snow day. A foot of snow in an hour. When we were all supposed to be driving to school. Yeah, it was called off pretty fast yesterday, but today was just fine to drive in. Unfortunately. Luckily, I don't have any classes outside of theatre with anyone in drama, so provided Miss Jenn doesn't figure out it's my birthday, I don't have to deal with a bunch of happy birthdays today.