Romeo and Juliet

c h a p t e r s i x

River walked into East High on Monday morning still half asleep. She had spent the whole weekend with Ricky, taking turns for who would get to sleep in the bed and who would be forced on to the couch. It had been a weekend of panic from Rickys end. Nini had set up her own music account, using her birth name and everything. The girl had spent the past two days talking Ricky down every time he got upset, letting him know it would all be okay but she truly didn't know if it would and it sort of scared her.
Riv made her way to her locker and opened it slowly before she got a message on her phone. She knew exactly who it was. The pair had been messaging back and forth secretly for most of the weekend and she had to stop herself from falling any further. She had never felt this way for anyone and it felt so forbidden for her to fall for him.
She slowly looked down and checked the message, letting a smile spread across her face.

•••

Antoine: I hope you have a beautiful day

•••

She bit her lip to hide her smile and tried to shake it until she heard Gina walk up to her, making her quickly slip her phone into her pocket.
"Hey, what's got you smiling like that?" She asks and River shakes her head.
"Nothing, let's go to rehearsals, I still can't believe Miss Jenn made them so early today" she sighs rolling her eyes.
The pair hook arms and start making their way along to the drama room where the rest of their cast mates were already stood with Miss Jenn who had been waiting on the two girls.
"Hi, thank you all for coming to rehearsal in the morning" she says to all of the kids who look tired and fed up already.
"I know it's a crazy day with the career fair and all, but given all your behavior last week, I believe we are lucky to be rehearsing at all" she continues spitefully.
River knew they probably shouldn't have gone to North High but there was that strong part of her that was so thankful that they did knowing what it had started to lead to.
"For future reference, sing and dancing, good. Breaking and entering, bad"
"Miss Jenn, we didn't break anything" Seb pipes up.
"Would you like me to be the first?"
"I'm good" he says before sharing a slightly scared glance with his cousin from across the room before she smiled at him, letting him know it would all be alright.
"Okay, I'm just going to say it, Zack Roy stole our beast mask, why are you not freaking out?" Carlos asks their teacher.
"Because winners don't freak out Carlos, they rise. When they go low, we sing high" she states before belting out a high note making River jump in her spot.
The girl shook her head and turned to Ricky who had a worried expression on his face. She was worried for him. It had been no secret that things had been rocky for him and his girlfriend and River desperately wanted them to get through it. She didn't want to see Ricky like how he was after the breakup ever again. He had spent days just sat in her room where he had crashed after it happened. The pair had watched as many sad movies as he wanted and the girl had dropped all her plans to be with him. She never wanted Ricky to be that sad.
"Okay, let's rehearse, EJ, remember where you are emotionally, Belle has just rebuked your marriage proposal and LeFou is rallying the guys to boost you back up, let's hit it!" Miss Jenn says proudly as the students take a seat.
River went and sat next to Ashyln as they watched her boyfriend and cousin get into position. The red head had been so worried and apologetic to the girl about her slipping on stage, feeling as if it were somewhere her fault which the girl had told her it definitely wasn't.
"Go get em Biggie!" Ashlyn calls out from the seats.
"Thanks you!" He calls and his girlfriend smiles brightly.
"Big Red, whenever you're ready" their teacher smiles before all the boys get into position for the song and the music starts playing.
The students cheer as the red headed boy starts to sing and dances around the stage making everyone smile brightly. River was excited to see one of her best friends dancing around the way he was and knew he really did enjoy it. The cast cheered loudly whenever the boys did something right on stage and the energy in the room was great. After a few minutes, the performance was finished and everyone rose to their feet in a standing ovation. 
"Dancers, glorious. Big Red, hilarious. EJ, victorious" Miss Jenn smiles and the girl doesn't miss the smile that comes across their faces.
"Nice emotional connection to the material" Carlos comments.
"I have no notes" Gina adds.
"And as much as I hate to break that connection, I'm afraid I'm the bearer of some hard news" Mr Mazzara starts as he walks into the room making River's heart drop, fearing the worst.
"We just got a call from the disciplinary board of an organisation I'm not sure really exists. Effective immediately, this production will shut down rehearsal for one week as a punishment for trespassing by order of the...monkeys?" He ends, knowing he got that name wrong.
"It's pronounced Menkies" Miss Jenn corrects.
"For the record, your competition has been punished as well, North High is benched for the week"
River felt bad but her first thought was that she hoped Antoine wasn't too disappointed with what had happened as she didn't think he deserved it.
"Okay, feels generous" Ash comments and the rest of the kids agree.
"Miss Jenn, what are we gonna do? We can't lose a whole week, we haven't even started blocking the second act yet" Carlos asks worriedly.
"We are going to keep our heads down and our chins up" She tells him proudly.
"I don't think that's physically possible" her cousin pipes up again.  
"Just an expression Seb" River whispers to him and he nods.