Romeo and Juliet

c h a p t e r e i g h t

•••

A few hours later, the pair were still out together taking photos but had stopped at the Greenwich Village Walk. The pair held each other's hands tightly and smiled as people admired them, thinking they looked sweet together. They got towards the fountain when River heard her phone start ringing and she took it out to see the group call was starting.
"Hey, I've got to take this, can you give me a minute?"
"Of course, I'll just be over there" he points to a bunch of seats in the distance and she nods.
"You're the best" she says kissing his cheek.
He nods and walks off as she answers the call, putting in her headphones to hear better.
"Hey guys!" She says enthusiastically which is drowned out by everyone else.
"Wildcats, quiet!" Miss Jenn calls and the call drops silent.
"I've called you all here for a very serious reason, it seems Zack Roy has yet another trick up his sleeve" Their teacher starts and River furrows her eyebrows in confusion.
"Miss Jenn, they just dropped the video on their Instagram" Nini pipes up.
"Are you ready?"
"Ready Miss Jenn"
"Kids, Nini is going to share her screen so we can all watch together"
"All right, three, two, one"
Then Nini's  screen started to play a video that seemed to be aimed against east high with a voice oh so recognisable in the background. She wondered if Antoine knew about this.
"East High, for decades the students of this institution have had greatness thrust upon them. They've had fame. They've had popularity. But do they deserve it? No! We say it's time to give another school a shot at the spotlight."
The images of East High and the former high school musical cast faded to show a photo of North High with the sun shining in the background to make it look almost heavenly.
"North High has spent its spring break on an immersion trip with nothing but theatre in their hearts and minds"
The images and videos were now ones of famous places in New York.
"Meanwhile, East High has been slacking off in style, almost as if they know they can't win-"
The images of her friends were paused and the kids all looked deflates as Miss Jenn called to turn the video off.
The kids all then leaned towards their phones as they got a notification making River confused.
"Guys have you seen this?" Nini asks as she shares her screen.
On it was a message from an unknown number. As Nini started to read what it said, River felt her heart stop.
"Hey wildcats, looks like Belle isn't the only guest Lumiere is inviting into her life"
And there below the text was a picture of Antoine and her, one that had been taken a few days prior by her dad. He had an arm around her shoulders whilst her head leaned against him. Her face paled as everyone looked towards her.
"Riv?" She heard her cousin ask and she looked back to the screen with tears in her eyes.
"I promise it's nothing" she says quickly worrying that everything had been ruined.
"It's okay, we're not mad, we're just confused" Ashlyn says softly and they all nod.
"Basically since we went to North High, we've been texting and meeting up a couple of times and I think I like him but we're not dating, we're not together, we're just talking and not even about the show and he can't get any of my notes cause I leave them downstairs and we're always upstairs and I'm sorry I didn't tell you guys" she blurts out and sees the girls getting a little excited about her new crush knowing she had struggled to find one before.
"It's okay Riv, it must've been hard to keep that all in but we're here to support you" Kourtney says and she send the girl a thankful glance.
"Thank you guys" she smiles as she wipes a tear or two away.
She turns and sees Antoine walking over to her, probably noticing her getting upset and she turns back to the call.
"I've got to go talk to him now, I'll speak you yall later" she says as everyone waves and she ends the call.
He gets over to her and she stands to look up at him.
"Are you okay?" He asks and she shakes her head.
"Did you know?"
"Know what?"
"That one of your North High friends was going to send out a photo of the two of us to all my friends, exposing me to be somewhat of a liar or traitor" she says.
River didn't want to believe that Antoine could've had any part in this, that it was all a misunderstanding or she was somehow in a dream. She didn't want to face what might be true.
He bites his lip before he looks into her eyes again.
"Lily asked me about you a week ago and I told her about us and I sent her some photos because I wanted to show her I was happy but obviously it was used for a bad purpose" he tells her and she shakes her head.
"We were meant to be a secret and you broke that, and now she's told everyone, I could've been excluded from my friends because of this and what about the video? Did you know about that?"
He nods solemnly and she shakes her head in disbelief.
"Why?"
"It's a competition River, je suis désolé, I'm sorry"
She just looks down. She felt like she had been betrayed and taken advantage of. Their little relationship was so important to her and he wasn't even being careful like they had promised to be. She wondered if any of it had been real to him or if he had just wanted to get to her to lower the competition to a place he could beat.
"I think I need to go home now" she whispers.
"I'll walk you"
"No, I think we should stop this, I clearly can't trust you" she says calmly as she turns to walk away.
He grabs her hand and spins her around, guilt laced in his eyes.
"Riv, please"
"Goodbye Antoine, good luck in the competition" she whispers, letting some tears slip down her face as she slips her hand out of his and walks away.

•••

It was later that evening and River sat in the darkness of her hotel room. She was by the window and was looking out over the illuminated skyline. She sighed sadly as she recollected the memories from today. She wasn't heartbroken but she was nearing it. She had never felt the way Antoine made her feel before. It was all so new and a bit alarming. She had ignored the messages from her friends apart from Gina who spoke to her briefly, reminding her that she loved her and boys aren't everything and that it would all work out.
She wanted that to be true.
She pulled out her phone and scrolled until she found the contact she was looking for, pressing the device to her ear so she could hear the ringing.
"Hey" A soft voice answers.
"Hey Ricky" she says, letting her voice crack from how weak she was from crying earlier.
"Are you okay?"
"Yeah I just needed to hear your voice"
"That's okay, do you want to hear a song I just wrote?" He suggests and she nods to herself.
"I would like nothing more"
And so the pair spent the night listening to his song and crying over the people they loved, Ricky both shocked but happy to hear she had found someone. They laughed and sang and eventually both moved to their individual beds, not leaving the call until the other fell asleep ending with both teens passed out an hour later with their call still going through. They were lucky to have each other because they knew that no distance could stop them from being there for the other.