𝐒𝐏𝐎𝐓𝐋𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓 - 𝐡𝐬𝐦𝐭𝐦𝐭𝐬 (𝐢𝐯)

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀𝒙𝒗𝒊. 𝐠𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐢𝐭'𝐬 𝐨𝐟𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐢𝐱𝐭𝐞𝐞𝐧
━━ 𝒈𝒖𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒊𝒕'𝒔 𝒐𝒇𝒇𝒊𝒄𝒊𝒂𝒍

They ran to the stage, all holding hands. The bleachers were full to the brim, all tickets had been sold. It was crazy to think that so many people wanted to see their silly high school musical, but there they were, eager for it to begin. From the wings, Juliette could see Big Red and Carlos and, of course, EJ, who was sitting with her sisters. The Bowens and the Duchamps were in the row behind them, huge smiles on their faces.

    "Places, come on," Maddox urged them.

    "Hey," Juliette took Ricky's hand, making him turn around before going onstage for the first time. "I love you, you're amazing."

    "I love you too," he whispered back, leaving a peck on her lips. "You got this, okay?"

    Juliette nodded and saw Ricky walk onstage, her Wildcat uniform on, just as the music began. That was it.

    "Come on, team!" Mr Mazzara shouted, as soon as the music began and the Wildcat team appeared on stage. Juliette smiled. Who would have thought that Mr Mazzara, 'Benny', would have agreed to play a role in the musical. Both teams started playing a fake game of basketball which got everybody backstage praying that the Wildcats didn't fail a single hoop. Everything was counted to the minute although, knowing them, they would have to improvise sooner or later.

    "So, what are we gonna be?," Ricky began singing, immediately bringing the audience to their feet. If there was a perk to staging High School Musical was that everybody knew the songs and everybody accompanied the actors with them. "This is the last time to get it right, this is the last chance to make it our night. We gotta show what we're all about, work together."

    Juliette shook her hands, which were slightly sweaty, as she sang the song in her head. She had to make her first appearance soon and she felt she was going to faint. She saw Ricky throw her a quick smile from the stage and she returned the gesture as she walked on stage, her white dress flowing slightly.

    "Troy," she sang, waiting for Ricky to deliver his line as she walked up to him. "Oh, you can do it, know that I believe."

    They were face to face, their eyes not leaving each other as they sang. Their faces came closer, so close that they could feel each other's breath as Juliette put his hands up to cup Ricky's face. She saw his eyes travel to her lips and back up to her eyes, but she didn't let that distract her.

    "And that's all I really need."

    "Then come on."

    "Make me strong, it's time to turn it up, game on."

    That was it. She had done it. She had sung her first song and she had done it great. She let out a sigh of relief as soon as she stepped into the wings again, the song still in the background.

    "You know what that reminded me of?" Gina spoke, surprising Juliette and making her jump slightly. She was so on edge that everything frightened her.

    "What?"

    "That moment in which Ricky smiled at you. It reminded me of last year, when I had to save your choreography because you saw Ricky looking at you from the wings." Gina walked up to her and side-hugged her, smiling. The junior was a bit taller than she was, which allowed her to rest her head on Juliette's. "You've come a long way."

    "Yeah, who would have thought that they would be sucking faces every free minute of their day?" Maddox joked, smiling at the girls.

Suddenly, they heard the last notes of the song, which made them all turn around. That was a crucial moment, one that they had rehearsed thousands of times and that could go either way: either Ricky could get the ball in or he dropped it. He had to get it in or else they would see themselves forced to improvise and no one knew how that could go. Truth be told, Juliette had been an advocate for Jett scoring the last point (Ricky couldn't play basketball under pressure to save his life. Now, give him a ball and a free court and he could score a thousand points) but Miss Jenn had remained adamant that it had to be Ricky, it had to be Troy.