PERFECT TWO! ricky bowen

CHAPTER ELEVEN, high school musical; the chooiscal

"You gotta stop moving." Carlos tells her, doing his best to carefully attach the homemade pin to her sweater without hurting her. "This is the price you pay for beauty."

Gina gets her mom on the phone by the time Carlos was done. "Mom, mom, mom. Okay, two things. One, I was just crowned Queen of crazytown," Some of them chuckled at her comment. "And two, can I spend the night at Ashlyn's house?"

"Um," Carlos speaks up, leaning towards her. "It's actually the queen of East High...." He took a step back, saying 'ooh' and raised his eyebrows when Gina shushed him.

"Uh, mom, sorry, I can't hear you, okay." Gina puts her mom on speaker. "Okay, you're on speaker." She looks at everyone with a smile. "Say Happy Thanksgiving to my mom, everyone."

"Happy Thanksgiving!" Everyone chorused.

"Oh. Same to all of you." Gina's mom responds and everyone smiles. "Gina, honey, can you take me off of speaker?"

"Uh, yeah," Gina takes her mom off speaker, sending an apologetic look to everyone. "Sorry, guys." She then went over to the entry way to be in a more private area while she's on the phone with her mom.

Luca watched her walk away with a frown on his lips. He wondered if things were okay because things didn't sound like they were good. He didn't mean to, but he couldn't help to overhear some of Gina's conversation with her mom. Well, she did raise her voice when her mom told her that they had to move which got the attention of most of the drama club. 

By the comment Gina said Luca guessed that she and her mom have to move again which made him sad. He didn't want her to leave and he had a feeling she didn't want to leave either. He was starting to get the courage to confess his feelings to her, but he can't do that if she moves. A few moments after he noticed Gina walk off he spoke up, saying that he was going to go check on her

Luca was leaning against the counter, holding the empty tray Gina had brought with her when Gina walked into the kitchen. She was a bit surprised to see him there and did her best to hide that by looking down and going to grab her backpack.

"Hi, um, are you-are you okay?" Luca asked her. He mentally scolded himself for asking that, knowing that she obviously wasn't okay. 

"I will be." Gina replied which surprised him a bit. He wasn't expecting her to reply with that and to be honest he wasn't really for sure what he expected her to reply with. 

Luca nods, rubbing the back of his neck. "So, do you want to talk about it or-"

"Not even a little bit." Gina interrupted him, putting her backpack on. 

Luca's lips form into a frown. He get it that she was upset and wanted to leave, but he just wanted to help her out or at least let her know that he was there for her if she needed someone. "Oh, okay. Uh, I'll call you?" 

"Honestly," Gina takes a shaky breath, turning to face him after she picked up her purple color coat. "You heard what happened." Luca hands her the empty tray and her voice trembles as she speaks which breaks his heart. "I don't think there's any point in calling me anymore, do you?"

Luca opens his mouth to say something but no words come out. He didn't know what to say. He just knew he didn't want to lose her. He had a feeling that no matter what he would say it wouldn't stop her from leaving or get her to talk to him other than just short sentences. He didn't even realize his eyes were teary until he felt a tear run down his cheek while watching her walk out the door.

****

The girls had planned to have a sleepover at Ashlyn's and then the whole thing with Gina happened and they decided to cancel it since none of them were in the mood for that now. Ophelia was in her bedroom, dressed in pjs. She laid on her bed, watching one of her favorite shows 'Friends' on her laptop that rested on a pillow on her lap. She then decided to facetime Luca to check on him and facetimed him on her laptop. When he left a few minutes after Gina did he looked pretty upset which made her concerned about him.

"Hi, Luca!" Ophelia greeted, sending the boy a smile. 

She could see that Luca was in his bedroom, laying on his bed as well. She knew he was on his bed because she could see part of the Marvel poster hanging above it. Yeah, Luca was a Marvel fan. He was actually the one who got Ophelia and Fallon into the Marvel fandom which was a good thing and bad thing because now Ophelia and Fallon won't stop gushing over which male character they think is cuter, but they always agreed to watch any Marvel movie with him.

"Hey, O." Luca sent her a smile except the smile didn't mean his eyes.

"Are you okay?" Ophelia looks at him with concern, tilting her head to the side. "What happened with Gina seemed intense." 

"I'm not okay, but I will be." Luca answers. He sighs, leaning his head back against the headboard of his bed. "Gina's moving and I hate it."

Ophelia frowns, her shoulders dropping in defeat. "What? That's so sad."

"What's even more sad is the fact that it seems like she doesn't even want to talk to me anymore." Luca added. 

"She's probably just upset with having to move and took that out on you. I'm sure she'll talk to you soon." Ophelia assured him.

Luca nods. "I really hope so 'cause I'm almost done with writing my first song and I wanted her to be the first one to hear it."

Ophelia looks at him with offense. "Why not me and/or Fallon?" A smirk tugs on her lips in realization. "Ohh, is this how you're gonna confess you're in love with her?"

Luca's face turns a bright red, his eyes growing wide. "I'm falling in love with her. There's a difference."

"Still it's a big deal." Ophelia grins. "I think she might feel the same about you."

"I don't think so." Luca shakes his head. "I know you said she was just upset about the fact she's moving, but I don't think she likes me back. I mean, why would she? When you look at her you wouldn't expect her to like someone like me. She's popular, confident, and insanely talented. I'm shy, somewhat a good musician, and did I mention shy?"

Ophelia chuckles lightly, shaking her head. "Luca, you're insanely talented too. You're also kind-hearted, a great friend, and many other good things. I just know it she feels the same way about you." 

"Thank you," Luca smiles a bit. "And I hope she does. Maybe I can finish my song in time before she leaves so I can sing it to her. 'Cause then she'll at least know how I feel about her." His smile widens. He nods to himself as he sits up straighter. "Yeah, okay, that's what I'm gonna do. I'll talk to you later, O."

"Okay," Ophelia chuckles. "Good luck."

A/N this chapter kind of focused on luca's & gina's relationship & this chapter turned out a lot better than i thought it would :) there was a cute lil moment between ej & fallon as well though ! also i love ophelia's friendship with luca so much.