𝐒𝐔𝐌𝐌𝐄𝐑𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄 𝐒𝐀𝐃𝐍𝐄𝐒𝐒 - 𝐡𝐬𝐦𝐭𝐦𝐭𝐬 (𝐢𝐢𝐢) | ✔

twenty-three

"Miss Jenn!" she exclaimed, as she saw who was sitting besides her. "Big Red! Alex?"

She who had once been her best friend looked at her with a smile from the second row. Juliette, putting it all behind, stood up and hugged her tight.

"Why aren't you in costume?"

"I'm not... I'm an understudy. Gina's understudy," she clarified, breaking the hug. "I'm not going on stage. But the play is so worth it, I promise you'll have an amazing time."

"I'm proud of you anyway," Alex smiled, sitting down.

Soon, the lights dimmed and Alex and Emmy as young Elsa and Anna stepped on stage. Juliette knew how terribly nervous the two young girls were so she gave them a thumbs-up from where she was and the play began. It was not long before the Wildcats appeared on scene and Miss Jenn looked at Juliette. The woman could see how eager she was to be up there, with the lights on her, acting alongside her friends, so she just side-hugged her, which calmed Juliette greatly.

Before they even noticed, the lights turned on again. It was time for the first interlude and that meant that Juliette could go backstage and congratulate everyone at how incredible all of them were doing so far. However, when she got there, she found that things were not as calm as she'd expected them to be.

"Come with me," Gina, frantically, took her hand and pulled her aside. "I need you to get dressed."

"What? Why?"

"You're coming out as Anna for the next act."

"I can't, Gina, this is..." she tried to speak, but the younger girl cut her off.

"I've already done half the play, it's your time to shine. Get ready to sing What do you know about love with Ricky."

"Does he know...?" she questioned her, only to be cut off again.

"Nobody knows. I brought your dress, you better hurry and put your hair in two braids before the ten minutes are over," she explained. They got into the bathroom and closed the door behind them. As Juliette undressed, Gina prepared to slip up the dress over Juliette's head and zip it up. She took two transparent elastics and gave them to the read head, who quickly braided her hair. There was no time for them to replicate Gina's hairdo because, by the time she was ready, the audience was already clapping at the curtain opening.

"Hans is not a stranger," she recited as she stepped on stage, pushed by Gina. She did not dare to look down but she could hear Miss Jenn gasping. Ricky, Carlos and E.J. looked at her in surprise but they continued nevertheless.

"Okay, so what's his last name?"

"Of the Southern Isles," she confidently said. She knew this script by heart, she could do it. She was with Ricky, he wouldn't let anything go wrong.

Soon, the music began playing and both Carlos and E.J. moved to the wings, leaving them alone on stage. Ricky twirled and moved her as the choreography indicated, far from what they had done that day on rehearsal. Nevertheless, it felt just as special. Their hands gave them security and confidence and they just knew they were doing it well. And even if they weren't, they were together. It was enough.

The scene changed to Elsa's castle and both of them walked out stage, breathing heavily.

"What did that mean?"

"Gina gave me her part," Juliette explained. "I was literally thrown on stage."

"You were amazing out there, I always knew you were a true Disney princess," he smiled, playing with one of her braids. "I'm very proud of you."

"I'm very proud of us," she corrected him, but the moment was interrupted by E.J., who was hugging her from behind and congratulating her as well.

Nonetheless, they all stopped on their tracks as the first notes of Let it go began playing. This was Kourtney's big moment, the climax of the play, so they all ran to the wings and took each other's hands as Kourtney entered. She look dashing in her Elsa dress. She looked dashing because she was so. She threw a look at them before she began singing, they all knew how terribly nervous she was so they all smiled at her, which seemed to encourage her to begin.

Her voice only took a few seconds to move them nearly to tears and their hairs stood on end as they heard her literally become Elsa. She was shining, doing it better than she had ever done it, with all the special effects they had prepared working perfectly.

"What happened?" Gina asked as all the lights went out.

"I don't know," Maddox came over to them and said. "There's a power outage."

It didn't matter because the whole audience were taking their phones out and pointing their flashlights at Kourtney. It took her a moment to calm down but, soon, she began singing again. She didn't even need music to perform. Her voice was more than enough.

"I'll be right back," Juliette told them as she walked out. She got up the stairs where she knew Maddox and Corbin Bleu were, trying to fix the light problem. But she didn't look at them. She walked straight ahead to where Channing was and pulled the power lever up. "Do not mess with this, okay?"

Channing didn't even dare to answer and Juliette walked down again, her dress flowing behind her. She ran to the wings again and arrived just in time to see Kourtney changing dresses.

"We wished the Beauty and the Beast transformation had been as smooth as this, huh?" she laughed as the audience stood up and clapped for Kourtney. This is what the girl deserved and the clapping only seemed to encourage her further.

She walked up the little frozen steps they had crafted, already in the signature blue Elsa dress that fit her like a glove. This was her role. The role of a lifetime.

She could feel a small tear falling from her eye as they heard everyone cheering for Kourtney. Ricky hugged her from besides her and she just rested her head on his side, unable to take her eyes off Kourtney. As soon as the song finished, the lights went out again for the last intermission.

"You were amazing!" all of them congratulated the girl, group-hugging her. All together, they walked to the dressing room to get ready for the final act. This was already ending and they were dreading that moment.

"I knew you would do it," Alex stood there, next to Anna's chair. "It all paid off in the end."

"I'm sorry about everything that happened," Juliette confessed. "I never meant to leave you behind."

"You didn't. You just... grew. And it took me a while to realize that Ricky helped take you out of your shell."

"Wait, did everybody get a card from Nini?" they heard Ashlyn ask, making them all look at her.

"What? Nini's here?"

"I haven't seen her," Alex clarified.