𝐒𝐏𝐎𝐓𝐋𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓 - 𝐡𝐬𝐦𝐭𝐦𝐭𝐬 (𝐢𝐯)

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀𝒗𝒊𝒊. 𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐲𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐚

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧
━━ 𝒕𝒓𝒐𝒚𝒆𝒍𝒍𝒂

After ten more minutes of saying "a last goodbye" to the puppies (Ricky had to physically drag Juliette out of there because she refused to leave the puppies there), the two of them drove to Gina's house, where everybody was already waiting for them.

"Look who decided to arrive," Carlos announced as soon as Juliette stepped into Gina's attic and, apparently, bedroom.

"I'm sorry, I was busy, came here as soon as I could," she played it off, trying to make it sound as casual as possible.

"Today was big." Carlos took the cast list and stood in front of everybody. "We rehearsed for a Hollywood movie but, in my humble opinion, the following is even bigger."

Before he could proceed, however, he was interrupted by Ricky's yells as he walked up the stairs as well. Both him and Juliette had agreed that he would wait some more minutes before stepping inside so as not to let any of them suspect that they were together. "Am I too late?"

"For Ricky Bowen, you're right on time." He sat directly opposite Juliette, sending her a small wink as Carlos started to announce the cast. "Sharpay will be played by Kourtney Greene. Ryan will be played by moi. Kelsi will be played by Ashlyn Moon Caswell. Taylor will be played by the famous, controversial Hollywood exile known only as Emmy. Martha Cox will be played by our personal dancer and former co-choreographer Gina Porter."

Every single announcement was accompanied by a small round of cheers, but Juliette could not help but feel anxious. As the smaller roles were announced and none of them had her name, she started to get worried that she hadn't been cast at all. Her leg started moving up and down only for her to receive a calming smile from Ricky across the room.

"Troy will be played by, not shockingly, Featured Extra Number Two, aka Richard Bowen."

"Let's go seniors! Yes!" he celebrated, standing up from his seat and too excited to high five the girl seated besides him.

"And now, the moment we've all been waiting for." Everybody shut up at the hearing of those words. That was the moment of truth, the announcement of the last role. "Gabriella will be none other than... Juliette Duchamp!"

She could not help but let out a shriek of relief as her name was announced for the female lead. She felt Kourtney, Gina and Ashlyn hugging her, also shrieking and saying how proud they were of her and how she was going to absolutely crush it. In the background, Carlos stated that he was intent on Miss Jenn playing the iconic Miss Darbus, but that was a matter for another day.

"Wait, what about Chad?"

"Right, my boyfriend?"

"Chad is not cast yet."

"I'm sorry," Gina interrupted them, her voice getting serious, "how do we not have enough people to fill out an HSM3 cast?"

"It appears the movie sucked up all other potential drama kids. They're getting a hundred bucks a week plus all the kettle corn they can eat," Carlos explained as if it were nothing.

"And why are we not getting paid?" Juliette observed, offended that she would have to balance countless things that year and she was not getting paid for any of them. If she had to put up with Dani and Mack, she better get paid for it.

"You guys, Dani just posted something really cryptic on Instagram." Kourtney took a seat, hand in phone, and all of them surrounded her to see Dani's post better. "It reads, 'Hollywood is brutal. Stay grounded out there, babes'. Mack commented 'Fucking messed up'."