PERFECT TWO! ricky bowen

CHAPTER TWELVE, el ray theater

Everyone either stands, takes a seat on the floor or at the tables. Ophelia takes a seat on the floor, next to where Ricky was sitting at a nearby table. They exchanged a glance, sharing a small smile with each other before looking away. Ophelia could tell that Ricky was nervous about what was going to happen now by the way his knee kept bouncing up and down. She didn't blame him because she was nervous as well. Fallon stood beside EJ, leaning against the table that EJ sat on, and Luca sat on the floor beside Ophelia.

"I'm not really for sure what to say." Miss Jenn continues. "You've all worked so hard. I've seen you all grow so much. But if we don't have a theater, we don't have a show."

Everyone looked at her with shock and began to chatter amongst themselves about how they didn't want that to happen. A frown was on Ophelia's lips and she glances to her left when she felt a squeeze on her shoulder. It was Luca who did that and he looked at her with a sad smile, equally as sad as she was about this, but he felt like he should comfort her. 

"Come on, Miss Jenn," Carlos urges. "We've gotta do something."

"I think we...I don't know, I guess we could consider other venues?"

Hearing Miss Jenn say that everyone started talking about the different venues they could put the show at. "Oh, oh, what about the old Kingston downtown?" Ashlyn inquired.

"It's condemned."

"The Lucky Ducky Puppet Pavilion?" EJ asked.

"It's a massive Starbucks now."

Carlos smiles. "How about the El Ray?"

Ophelia smiles, pointing at him in a sign of agreement as everyone else did the same. Miss Jenn didn't seem to be on board with this idea. "Any other ideas?"

Carlos looks at her with furrowed eyebrows. "Miss Jenn, I feel like you just had a really weird reaction to what I just said."

"Sorry," Miss Jenn apologizes. "What did you say?"

Nini explains to her. "Carlos is asking if we can try and use the El Ray theater."

Carlos stands up. "My Uncle Ruben is the listing agent, and the last thing they had in there was a fashion show, like, four years ago."

Seb pulls up a picture of the El Ray theater as Carlos went to call his uncle. "Woah. This place has five hundred seats."

Upon hearing that everyone gathered around him to see the picture. The place was perfect to put on a musical.

Miss Jenn counters, "I can't imagine we'd be able to get in on short notice."

Carlos spoke to his uncle in Spanish. Ophelia didn't understand any of it beside the multiple Si's she heard which made her smile. "That sounded like a yes to me!" Ashlyn excitedly said and everyone cheered.

Miss Jenn looks at them all with a nervous smile. "The El Ray theater is it!" Everyone cheered louder and high fived each other.

****

"I thought this place would be a lot nicer." Luca commented, shining his flashlight around the dark place as they each continued to navigate there way through the theater. It was dark, old, and creepy. 

"Same here." Fallon agrees, looking at the place. "This place is kinda creepy."

"Yes, it is." Ophelia nods in agreement, instinctively moving closer to be by Ricky since she was kind of scared. "I'm not liking this at all." Ricky noticed she moved closer to him, now she was standing right beside him, and he couldn't help the small smile that tugged on his lips. 

"Right this way! Follow me!" Miss Jenn smiles, leading the group to the stage. She inhales. "Ah! Smell that smell, the theater. Mold, it's a sign of life." The drama club members get to the stage finally.