2 | He Could Be The One ── Ricky Bowen ✓

008: Actions Have Consequences

     Miss Jenn tilted her head and sighed.  "Sweetie, it's okay to have a bad day every now and then.  Everybody gets them, including me.  Do I wish I got them less and Zack Roy got them more?  Sure.  But they're normal and healthy."

     Megara took a deep breath and shut her eyes.  "What's going on with that anyways?  Is he some guy from your past?"

     "I guess you could say he was my Isaiah back when I was your age," Miss Jenn said with a content hum, seemingly a lot less stressed out than she had been in weeks.  But Megara knew as soon as the show would start, Miss Jenn's nerves would be through the roof again.

     Megara furrowed her eyebrows, bringing her hand to wipe her eye.  "How do you know about that?"

     Miss Jenn shimmied her head as if contemplating her answer, but she decided on being honest with the young girl.  "Ricky kinda clued me in.  He said he thought you might be a little on edge with the breakup."

     Megara sat in silence for a moment before offering a small shrug.  "It wasn't much of a relationship anyways."

     "First love is always hard, but don't let heartache deter you.  Open up your heart, honey.  You might find something unexpected in the places you'd least expect," Miss Jenn said with a small smile.

     Megara squinted her eyes.  "You seem a little too enthusiastic for somebody who's going to be directly competing with the love of her life from high school," she noted.

     "I had a lot of caffeine.  Any other questions?"

     "Nope," Megara collected herself (and her Goofy and Clarabelle tote bag) before heading for the door, closed shut for some privacy.  Megara then slowed her pacing and found herself stopping in place, staring at the wooden door, Miss Jenn going back to scribbling her pen along her paper behind her.  There was one thing still itching her.  "Why did you have me in the play?"

     "What?" Miss Jenn asked.

     Megara turned around completely, trying to loosen her grasp on her tote bag.  "I didn't audition for HSM.  Why did you cast me in the play?"

     Miss Jenn shrugged.  "You were the perfect Kelsi."

     "Why?  You even didn't know me.  Matter of fact, I almost ran you down with my skateboard on your first day here.  If anything, you should have told the principal about it."

     "Honey, part of my job is knowing when to take chances," Miss Jenn said softly.  "You just so happened to be the mysterious kid who also just so happened to be off-book," she said with pointed eyebrows.  Megara bit her lip as she thought about the commotion she caused just by sitting in the audience during the auditions, and how she saved Ricky's ass by basically feeding him Chad's lines.  She couldn't help it that she was the perfect Troy.

     "I just don't get why it had to be me," Megara shrugged again.  She was suddenly feeling lost, and unsure of her place in the theatre, school, and her own life for that matter.  Being in last semester's show was just an accident, something she encountered along the way, but it still had given her a sense of purpose.  Now that she was purposely staying away from this show, she wasn't sure how to feel, or if she had made the right choice.

     "There was just something about you.  My gut was telling me that you were the sparkle we were missing.  It just felt like fate to me.  You're my playmaker."

     Despite still feeling gloomy and unsure, Miss Jenn's words did bring a smile to Megara's face.  "Thanks, Miss Jenn.  I'll... be on my way now."