Half a Heart •Ricky Bowen•

16

Ella walked up to the auditorium to see everything was burnt and soaking wet. Ella’s hand covered her mouth as she audibly gasped at the wreck before her.

“It’s okay. Nobody was hurt. There was a small fire in the theater over the holiday and the sprinklers did their job.” Miss Jenn announced.

Ricky's hand found hers, he could tell she wanted to cry and that was the last thing he wanted right now.

“We’re almost done here, just have to finish up in the faculty room next.” A firefighter said as she walked up to Ms. Jenn, holding a burnt paper mache basketball in her hands. “Some circuits blew in there over the break." 

“Unfortunately, the show cannot go on.” The students mumbled to each other, not wanting to believe what the fire fighter had just said. “The fire ripped through half of your costumes and the sprinklers ruined a bunch of your sets. I’m sorry, but I’m gonna have to red tag the entire backstage area for a month at least.”

Ella could feel the lump in her throat getting bigger and bigger with every movement she made. Ricky pulled his girl in towards him, allowing her to rest her forehead on his chest. 

“Okay. Okay, listen up. Hug your neighbor, take a moment, take a moment and reconvene in the cafeteria after school to talk about our options.” Ella let go of Ricky, both of them checking their phones to see if Gina had texted either of them. “Nini and Ricky, spread the word.” 

Nini immediately agreed while Ricky was texting Gina once again. “Ricky?” Miss Jenn called out to get his attention, “Sorry. After school in the cafeteria. Got it.” 

Everyone left the scene as Ricky pulled Ella aside. “Hey, hey look at me. We’ll make this work, okay? Everything will work out in the end. It has too.” Ricky attempted to calm her down. Ella nodded her head, forcing herself to believe his words.

Ricky gently held her chin and tilted his head down to kiss her. Ella held his hand in place as she pulled back from the boy. “You never fail to make me feel those fireworks Ricky Bowen.” Ricky grinned at his girl and gave her one last kiss before walking her to her class.
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Ella was one of the first people to get to the cafeteria, she was in shock. Sure she didn’t have a main role in the play, but this musical was just as important to her. It gave her an actual family. Carlos and Seb walked up to the girl with dried tears on her cheeks. They sat next to her and gave her a tight hug.

“Okay guys!” Miss Jenn grabbed everyone’s attention. “Wait, where’s Gina?” 

“I think she’s going through a family thing right now.” Ashyn called out as she sat on a table. Ella took a spot next to Carlos and Seb as Miss Jenn continued to talk.

“I’m really not sure what to say. You’ve all worked so hard. I’ve seen all of you grow so much. But if we don’t have a theater, we don’t have a show.” Miss Jenn admitted.

“What?” Everyone asked in disbelief.

“Come on Miss Jenn, we’ve gotta do something.” Carlos said, not ready to give up everything they’ve been working on.

“I think we… I don’t know, I guess we could consider other venues?”

Everyone's chattering began again, liking that idea.