Shattered |Ricky Bowen|

Chapter 3

//Time doesn't heal anything...it just teaches us how to live with the pain//

After that blow up you had with Ricky you rushed to your house and up the stairs to your room. How could he do this to you? How could he make it up to you after what he did? The Bet. It swirled around your mind as you were unable to think of anything else. The worst part is he never came clean. When you found out it was an accident, something Ricky never meant for you to know. 

You were in the cafeteria with Ashlyn, EJ, Nini, Kourtney, Big Red, and Ricky. You and Ricky were sitting across from each other and were talking about the next movie night when Big Red spoke up. 

"Who knew this all started because of a dumb bet."  Big Red smiles. You felt the wind knock out of you, 

"W-what?" You stutter looking towards Ricky. He was looking down only glancing at you once before looking back down. "what is he talking about Ricky?" He finally looked at you but he couldn't say anything. 

"I thought you already told her?" EJ says as Ricky shakes his head no. 

"Oh my god, Ricky!" Big Red groans. "You didn't tell her!?!" 

"You two knew? And didn't tell me?" You had tears in your eyes. 

"I may have given Ricky a bet saying if he dates you for at least a month I would give him money..." EJ confesses. 

"Why would you guys do this?" Nini says getting upset herself. 

 Nini, Ashlyn, and Kourtney had no idea and were worried about you. Ricky still hasn't said anything. He didn't know what to say. He's been caught. 

"Say something, Ricky!" You raise your voice slightly. 

"I'm sorry Y/N. I just-" He pauses. "I can explain" 

"Explain what? You made a bet on me and what? Were you going to drop me after it's been a month? And you!" You point to EJ and Big Red. "you two knew this whole time! And EJ you were the one who gave him the bet!" 

"But I had my reasons for it!" EJ explains causing you to scoff. 

"Right." You spat rolling your eyes before getting up from your seat. You rush out the cafeteria ignoring the calls from your friends. 

"Y/N! Wait!! Please!" Ricky says rushing to you. You kept walking completely ignoring his shouts. "please just wait so I can explain everything!"  He shouts raising his voice.  

"Fine explain!" You spat turning around sharply. 

"Yes, it was a bet at first! But I do have feelings for you Y/N. I did when we started dating and I still do now," Ricky says walking closer to you. 

"I can't do this," You shake your head "I need time Ricky. To process." 

"Oh okay. Yea" Ricky nods.  

You can tell he's worried and he does feel bad, but that doesn't make you feel any better about this. He still bet on you, hid the truth from you, lied to you.  Ricky Bowen had left you untrusting, doubtful, and shattered. 

You shook the thought of him away focusing on the now. That's all you could do after all. You aren't going to let him ruin this for you. You got the part of Gabriella and nothing could ruin or change that. Not even Ricky Bowen himself. 

_

The next day you had a new mindset. He is not going to destroy this for you. You will not allow it. You strut down the halls heading to your locker before practice. You fixed your lipstick feeling better than yesterday, and much more confident. 

"Looks like someone is in a better mood," Gina says behind you. You close the locker before turning to her with a smirk. 

"It's cause I am. I decided to not let Ricky get in the way of things. If he's here then so be it but I'm not going to waste my time worrying about him. I deserve better." 

Gina nods glad your better. "atta girl! You've got this!" 

"Thanks, Gina," You smile before the two of you head to the bomb shelter where the practice held. 

You two walked in and see a lot of desks making a circle with name tags on each one. You look for your tag and see it's right next to Rickys. "Just great." You mutter sarcastically. You try to change the tags but were soon caught by Ashlyn making you groan. 

"You'll be fine. It's been months" Ashlyn says trying to make it better. Plot twist she's not. 

"How are you planning on going through with this?" Kourtney asks walking up to you with Nini. 

"Probably just going to ignore him or something," You shrug. 

"Okay everybody go on your assigned seats!" Miss Jenn says making everyone get to their seats. "you ginger boy can you read?"

"Not really." Big red shakes his head.

"Well, you are now," Miss Jenn says before walking away leaving Big Red dumbfounded. 

You tried not to laugh but oh boy this wasn't going to end well and you knew it. You were okay with Big Red since he was a big reason you found out but it was just weird between you two. 

Miss Jenn starts to say her speech which you did not pay attention to but then she said something that sure as hell caught your attention. "Please take your neighbor's hands" 

You took Gina's and turns to see Ricky sticking his hands out for you. You roll your eyes before awkwardly grabbing his hand. Ricky was staring at you and you knew it but you chose to ignore him. He isn't ruining thiS for you. No matter what he tries to do. 

Miss Jenn starts singing and it was weird. Once she finished the only one who clapped was Ashlyn.  "Oh boy" You mutter. 

Big Red starts reading the lines and oh dang this is not going to end. Everyone was tired and you were tired. You were so bored you did not know how much of this you could take. Luckily Miss Jenn calls for a break causing everyone to immediately get out of their chair in relief. 

"That was interesting." one of the stage tech guys say walking up to you. 

"I wanted to gouge my eyes out," You say making him laugh. "don't get me wrong though cause Big Red is great...but his reading not so much" 

"I'm Zach, Zach Herron" He smiles putting his hand out. 

"I'm Y/N, Y/N L/N" You copy his introduction smiling before you shake his hand. Both of you unaware of the fact that Ricky was eavesdropping.

 'Who does this guy think he is talking to you so suddenly and introducing him to you? What a jerk. I can't believe him' Ricky thought. He was jealous, to say the least, but Ricky wasn't willing to give up yet. Not now not ever.