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𝗣𝗘𝗥𝗙𝗘𝗖𝗧 𝗛𝗔𝗥𝗠𝗢𝗡𝗬
chapter eight:
tension in the air !
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NATALIA BAGLEY WAS certainly an interesting character in Athena's eyes. She was the stage manager for their production of High School Musical: The Musical and was one of the sweetest girls Athena had ever met. However, a shriek had expelled itself from the girl, claiming her emotional support hamster had escaped. So currently, everyone besides Carlos, Gina, and Natalie were in the hallway outside of the bomb shelter.
Athena was leaning up against the wall next to Violetta, the two of them talking about an episode of a TV show they were currently watching, when Nini and EJ appeared. She looked over. Nini looked like she wanted absolutely nothing to do with him, and that's when Athena knew she had found out.
"You're mad at me," EJ finally concluded. No duh, Athena thought to herself. "Look, there was no fitting at lunch."
"Fine," Nini replied. "Wanna know where I was at lunch? I was at the computer lab bribing some hacker to crack into my phone to recover a message you deleted when you stole it."
"Wait, why do you think that I—"
"Might I add that the message was actually supposed to be for Athena," Nini revealed.
EJ sighed. "I didn't know the message was supposed to be sent to her, not you."
"So you're admitting to it." Nini shook her head and walked farther away from the group, EJ following her. "Unbelievable."
The two of them tucked themselves into a secluded area of the hallway and talked it over for a couple moments. Athena shared a wide-eyed look with Violetta as she watched EJ try to plead with Nini, but she wasn't having any of it.
"Hey, um, is the door locked or something?" Nini asked, finally walking away from EJ. "Why can't we get in?"
"Oh, Natalia Bagley's missing her emotional support hamster," Ashlyn answered. "He got loose. Carlos and Gina are helping her find her. Him. It."
A high-pitched scream suddenly sounded from inside the bomb shelter.
Ashlyn pointed at the door. "I think they found it."
Natalie suddenly stepped out of the room, holding a box and taking off down the hallway. "I need a moment."
"Is he dead?" Ashlyn questioned.
"No," Carlos responded. "Now she thinks he's in her gym locker."
"Why the screaming?"
"That was me. She stepped on my toe." Carlos looked at the crowd. "We're ready to begin, people."
Athena frowned as she heard Carlos say to Nini and EJ that Ricky was running late and that EJ would have to fill in for him. Concern swirled through her mind again. He was only coming from his house to rehearsal, but his house wasn't far from school. Ricky wouldn't usually be late . . . unless something happened at home.
"Nini," Athena called, rushing up to the girl quickly as everyone else entered the bomb shelter, including EJ. "Did you get the voicemail back?"
Nini nodded. "Yeah. Are you sure you want to listen to it? It might, um . . . change everything."
Her eyebrows knit in confusion. "What do you mean?"
Nini sighed and held her phone out to her. "You'll see."
Athena took her phone and walked to a secluded part of the hallway as Nini went into the bomb shelter. She pressed play on the voicemail and raised the phone to her ear.
"Hey, it's me," Ricky's voice spoke, making her smile slightly. "I know you always say that you prefer for us to talk face-to-face, but I really have to get this off my chest and I know that if I try to do it in person I won't be able to get the words out. So . . . here it goes. I saw you playing the piano and singing that song with Ashlyn and Nini today, and I felt as if we shared a moment for a second. Maybe you don't feel the same or maybe it's all in my head, but I could've sworn the world stopped turning. Everything about you was just so . . . mesmerizing. If you ever listen to this voicemail, please just don't forget I'm still your best friend and whatever you take out of this I will respect. And if you decide it's too much, we can forget like this never happened and go back to normal. Love you always. Okay, bye."
The line went silent. Athena, her eyes wide and her heart racing, slowly lowered the phone from her ear. She definitely felt the same. The world had in fact stopped turning in her eyes too. And he had described her as mesmerizing. All of this was just so new, especially coming from him.
Now she was just more confused.
"Athena," Carlos voiced, peeking his head out the door. "We need our Kelsi — hey, are you all right?"
She shook herself out of her trance and turned to look at him. "Oh, uh, yeah, I'm fine. I'm coming."
Athena quickly rushed into the bomb shelter, where Nini and EJ were waiting on the platform. She put Nini's phone down by the girl's backpack and hastily put her backpack down on the floor next to Violetta's. Athena sat down at the piano and looked at Miss Jenn with an innocent smile on her face.
"Okay," Miss Jenn muttered before she looked back to Nini and EJ. "Can I get you to move a little closer to each other?"
Nini took the tiniest of steps to the right to get closer to EJ.
"Little more."
EJ looked to Nini pleadingly and moved closer to her. Athena glanced over and couldn't help but notice Gina smirking from her place on the floor. It seemed like part one of her plan was working, but Athena knew she wouldn't let herself get knocked out by her. Not a chance.
"Come on, guys, we're blocking this as a love story, not a SARS epidemic," Miss Jenn announced.
Carlos pointed to a chair on the platform. "I think that chair was over there."
"Oh, I can move it over in the scene," Nini stated, walking over to the chair and picking it up.
"Feels awkward," Miss Jenn commented.
"No, it's light," Nini insisted. "I can lift it above my head and walk."
"Sweetie, no one is walking with furniture on their head. This isn't The Lion King." Miss Jenn looked down at Big Red. "Strike the chair, please."
"With what?" Big Red inquired.
"Take it away. Remove it." Big Red got up to move the chair, and Miss Jenn kept on instructing. "Troy, once the intro begins, cross downstage and plant yourself at the piano. Which should be further downstage, okay?"
Big Red walked over to the piano. Athena gave him a small smile and a wave, but he began pushing it the wrong way.
"No, dear, that would be upstage," Miss Jenn corrected. Big Red sighed before walking to the other side of the piano. "Okay, Gabriella, you slowly approach the piano and rest an arm on it, naturally." She pointed to Big Red. "Can we make sure her bookbag is off stage right?"
Big Red nodded. "Sure, um . . ." He looked over to Athena. "A, which way is that?"
She pointed to the other side of the stage. "That way, Red."
He picked up Nini's backpack and moved it where Miss Jenn instructed him to. Once everything was in its correct place, it was time for the scene to begin.
"Okey-dokey," Miss Jenn began. "Take it from, Wow! Now that's really nice."
"Wow, now that's really nice," EJ repeated as Troy.
"Hmm," Nini hummed in response as Gabriella.
Miss Jenn pointed to Athena. She immediately pressed her fingers to the keys and began playing What I've Been Looking For while EJ walked up to the piano and rested against it.
"It's hard to believe that I couldn't see, you were always there beside me," EJ sang.
"Thought I was alone with no one to hold," Nini voiced, putting her arm on top of the piano very harshly. "But you were always there beside me."
Athena soon realized how much of an awkward situation she was currently in the middle of. She sent a wide-eyed, panicked look to Violetta for a moment. Violetta shrugged. Athena looked back at the sheet music and tried to only focus on playing the piano.
"This feeling's like no other," Nini and EJ harmonized. "I want you to know. I've never had someone that knows me like you do, the way you do. I've never had someone as good for me as you, no one like you. So lonely before, I've finally found what I've been looking for."
EJ crossed over to the other side of the piano to be closer to Nini. Athena willed herself to just keep her eyes trained on the sheet music, but that was kind of impossible as Nini began to do a bunch of runs during the do do do do do do do do do do's. She locked eyes with an extremely confused EJ, but she merely shrugged her shoulders and played the last few measures of the song.
The room was encaptured in awkward silence. Athena lowered her fingers from the piano keys and clasped her hands together in front of her. Well, that was definitely something.
"Okay, freeze," Miss Jenn ordered, standing up from her chair. "Nini, sweetie, this reprise comes at a decisive moment in the story once your hearts have joined. It's a love song."
Nini pointed between herself and EJ. "Were you not getting that?"
"I'd like you to get to his heart without cracking his rib cage."
"Sorry I'm late," Ricky's voice suddenly said, throwing his backpack on the ground.
Athena glanced up from the piano keys when she heard footsteps run in. She looked up at him with wide eyes, remembering the voicemail she had literally heard a couple of minutes ago. However, all of her panicked thoughts flew in out the window when she took in everything. His hair was extremely disheveled as if he had been running his hands through it. Athena glanced down to see his hands shaking the tiniest bit. Not to mention, Ricky's entire facial expression just screamed that his heart was breaking. She could see the sadness in his eyes even from so far away.
"My mom, she caught an earlier flight," Ricky explained. "Where are we?"
Athena blinked in surprise. Lynne was home? She was never home. In fact, she was always in Chicago.
"Scene seven," Carlos replied.
"Right. I don't have it. Could I borrow—"
"You need your script, Ricky," Miss Jenn told him loudly. "And a pencil. It's a blocking rehearsal."
Ricky looked over at Athena, and when their eyes met, she immediately knew something was wrong. "Attie, could I borrow a pencil?"
She nodded. "Of course. There's one in—"
"No, actually, he can't," Miss Jenn interrupted. "When you come to rehearsal, people, you come prepared."
Natalie then ran back in the room, panting slightly from her run from the gym to the bomb shelter. She was sobbing quietly to herself.
Ashlyn walked up to her. "Was he in your gym locker?"
"No, just my cherry lip balm," Natalie answered while sniffling. "But it had Elliot's teeth marks in it."
"Oh, I'm sure that wouldn't hurt him," Ashlyn reassured her.
"It's sparkly."
"Then it'll be easier to find him," Seb revealed. Everyone turned to look at him, and he chuckled nervously. "If he smiles."
"Natalie, we feel your pain, but I was just explaining what a constructive rehearsal requires," Miss Jenn continued. "Focus. And honestly, another day like this, and I am showing up with my emotional support coyote."
"Miss Jenn, I know the scene," Ricky stated.
"Would you wait for me in my office, please? Thank you."
Ricky sent another gaze to Athena. She gave him a small nod with a reassuring smile. Ricky walked over to his backpack and slung it over his shoulder, exiting the room afterwards.
"Wait, are we done?" Ashlyn asked.
"We are, Ms. Darbus," Miss Jenn responded. "Take a note. This is what a frustrated drama teacher looks like. Go. Scoot. Come back when you're ready to be punctual, park your distractions at the door, and take the work in here seriously."
Athena sighed and stood up from the piano as everyone left the room. She stared longingly out the door, wondering what got Ricky so upset. It obviously had to do with his mom, but what exactly had happened?
When she felt a presence next to her, she turned to see Violetta walking up to her. A knowing look was painted across her face.
"Go after him," Violetta declared. "He needs you more than anyone right now."
"Remember that voicemail I told you about?" Athena questioned, and Violetta nodded. "I just listened to it. Ricky said that we shared a moment where the world stopped spinning and that I was mesmerizing to him. Something's changing, Vi."
Violetta placed a hand on her shoulder. "'Thena, I know you're confused. Ricky is too, probably. But something's going on with him, and you're the one person he probably feels the most safe with. So, go wait for him outside of Miss Jenn's office."
Athena nodded. "I will. Thanks, Vi."
She quickly grabbed her backpack and left the room. Athena walked over to where Miss Jenn's office was. She heard quiet voices talking on the inside, and not wanting to eavesdrop, she leaned herself against the wall a little farther down the hallway.
Athena didn't have to wait very long. After a couple of moments, the door to Miss Jenn's office opened. Athena pushed herself off the wall and stared at the doorway. Ricky walked out of the office, his eyes cast down to the floor. He only looked up when he realized Athena was in front of him.
"Hey," Athena greeted softly. "What's going on?"
Ricky opened his mouth. However, no words came out. He shook his head and looked back down at the floor.
Athena shook her head.. "You don't have to tell me." She reached forwards and grabbed his hand, making him look up at her again. "But you can tell me what I can do to help."
He sighed. Ricky immediately leaned down and wrapped his arms tightly around her small frame. He buried his head into the crook of her neck despite their height difference. Athena froze up at first, but she soon relaxed into it and hugged him back tightly.
"Please, just . . . be here," Ricky mumbled against her skin. "That's all I need."
Athena slightly nodded. "Yeah. Yeah, of course."
And she would be there for him. Forever and always.
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sometimes my heart just goes <athenablake3 yk