𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐥𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 ✰ 𝐞.𝐣. 𝐜𝐚𝐬𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐥

𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐎𝐍𝐄

"𝑨𝒍𝒍 𝑰 𝒅𝒊𝒅 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒕𝒓𝒚 𝒎𝒚 𝒃𝒆𝒔𝒕
𝑻𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒅 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒌𝒔 𝑰 𝒈𝒆𝒕?
𝑼𝒏𝒓𝒆𝒍𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒍𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒍𝒚 𝒖𝒑𝒔𝒆𝒕
𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒔𝒂𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒔𝒆 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒈𝒐𝒍𝒅𝒆𝒏 𝒚𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒔
𝑩𝒖𝒕 𝑰 𝒘𝒊𝒔𝒉 𝑰 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒅𝒊𝒔𝒆𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒆𝒂𝒓
𝑬𝒈𝒐 𝒄𝒓𝒖𝒔𝒉 𝒊𝒔 𝒔𝒐 𝒔𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒆

𝑮𝒐𝒅...𝒊𝒕𝒔 𝒃𝒓𝒖𝒕𝒂𝒍 𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆."

I take one last look at my letter before I stuff it back into my box. I leave them under my bed and I take one deep breath. I can't believe that I finished writing my last letter. Crushing on a boy since you were in middle school for seven years and ten letters later weren't all rainbows and butterflies. Sure, the excitement of having a crush and daydreaming about them is pretty fun. But it gets harder when you're best friends with your crush. And once you are, you bottle up all of those feelings to yourself since you don't want to ruin that amazing friendship you have with that person.

I've never told a soul about my crush on my best friend. And he never found out either. Thank goodness...or else I'd die out of embarrassment if he'd known about my long term crush on him. Will I ever get over him? I want to. I do. But it won't be that easy. You see, I see him every day. We go to the same school. We're both seniors at East High, and we even have the same classes together. Talk about luck. It gets hard whenever they walk you to school every day and they always seem to brighten your day. It gets hard when you two sit together in each class together, and always pair up with them for school assignments. It becomes the hardest when they always you to their home and you always have the best time together.

Ever since I developed a crush on him, I've written several letters to deal with my emotions for him. I usually write them when something pretty major happens, or I just need to vent about my feelings. It makes me feel better, knowing that I'm allowed to have some privacy, be honest with myself, and just think I guess. My last letter's supposed to be a way to say goodbye to what I've been doing for the past seven years. It's meant to remind me that at one point I'm going to have to get over my feelings for him. And I really should. After all, he has a girlfriend who he met during the summer. She's pretty nice, and we've engaged in a few conversations. He seems to care about her, and I don't want to torture myself by feeling jealous of them all of the time.

I hear a knock on the door. I push my box farther under my bed, even though I know he wouldn't be looking under my bed for any reason whatsoever, but I couldn't help it. I take a deep breath and hurry to open the door. He grins when he sees me, and I return his smile. "You're all ready?"

"Almost...I forgot my book. I'll go get it real quick." He nods and I run up the stairs back to my room. I couldn't believe that I had forgotten my book. I snatch the book from my bed and carefully place it inside of my bookbag. It was a good thing that I remembered. You see, I'm a huge bookworm and it's pretty rare to not see myself with a book in my hand. Reading books give me comfort, and helps me forget about the crappy world I live in.

Once I return downstairs, his eyes fall to my bookbag. "Couldn't forget that, could you?"

"No, not really. I mean, I'm itching to find out what happens to Cassandra after she enters the Underworld. I mean, out of all the horrible things that could take place in the universe, a cliffhanger had to be one of them."

He laughs and he gestures for me to join him outside. I follow him and we start walking on the sidewalk for a bit. "So, how was summer?"

E.J. casually shrugs. "It was pretty good. Theatre camp was pretty fun. Do you know how we performed the Music Man?"

"Yeah, and what about it?"

"Opening night was pretty insane, honestly. There were a bunch of tech problems and people had trouble finding their costumes and props."

"Wow, that sure sounds nerve-wracking! I so would not handle that well. I'm just glad you did fine." I already told E.J. all about my time during summer. I had gone to Pennsylvania to visit my grandparents. We stayed there the whole summer. Everything went fine, except for the part when grandpa broke his leg walking down the stairs-

Suddenly there's complete silence between us. Which I find weird for us since we can never seem to not stop talking. And weren't we just talking about summer and all that?"

"I'm kind of hating this silence right now, y'know." I point out and he seems to realize that.

"Oh, sorry. I was just thinking." He did look pretty distracted. I raise an eyebrow out of curiosity.

"Thinking about what, exactly?"

He avoids eye contact with me. "It's just that, I guess it's finally hitting me that we're graduating this year." I guess it suddenly hit me too. I had thought about graduating a couple of times before senior year like it was super far away. You know how when you hear people talk about how quickly time passes? I didn't care or believe in that, until now. How did I feel about graduating this year? I don't know what I feel.

"I guess it's just hitting me too," I say honestly to him. I then nudge him playfully. "Hey...but at least we'll finally be able to have more freedom after we graduate. I mean, think about it. Once you're all cozied up with Duke University, you can drive wherever you want, party whenever you want, and be away from your parents for once!" I smile at him warmly and he returns a small one.

"But you'll be at Julliard...studying dance. And we'll be states away practically." He pauses for a second before he continues. "I wish you could apply for Duke." He said that the last sentence was all quiet and his eyes glanced at mine for a moment. Ever since I and him were little kids, we'd always been sure about our futures. No question. My friend came from the third generation of his family attending Duke, where his grandparents and parents went. It was always his dream to go there since not only was it fit for him, but it reassured him that he was somehow connecting with his family.

And for me, I always wanted to go to Julliard. It's been my dream school since I want to be a professional dancer someday and do a bit of art occasionally. My friend always supported me in doing what I want. And he still does. He's still hung up on us being in the same college. I get him, though. It'll be weird not seeing each other almost every day like we always have.

I pat his shoulder gently. "Come on, I'm sure it won't be that bad. I promise you, we'll FaceTime and text each other every day. Though you'll probably get tired of me by the end of the week already since I'd get homesick just like you and text you, like 24/7 cause I'd miss you a lot." I suddenly blurt put the last part out, and he seemed a bit surprised by how quickly I said that, but he slowly nods after. "Er-sorry. It's just me and my big mouth blurting out things I don't mean to say."

"No, no. It's okay. It makes me feel a bit better now. Knowing that I'm not alone on this."

I shrug casually. "I mean, who isn't? I bet the both of us are going to be ugly crying when we graduate. I'd advise you to look away when that happens. But we'll always stay in touch, kay?" I respond as I pat him reassuringly.

"I mean after college we'll be able to live the life we want. We'll grow old and wrinkly together and live together in New York and inside of a nice penthouse."

E.J. grins from ear to ear. "I'd prefer a mansion, but not too bad of a plan y'know.

"So, is Nini gonna be meeting up with us?"

He nods. "Yeah, she'll be with her friend Kourtney. You remember her, right?" Shocker, right? Can you believe that my crush is E.J. Caswell? And as you can see, he's already taken by an extremely beautiful looking girl who just so happened to meet E.J. at theatre camp that year. He got with Nini about two weeks before school has started. As much as I can't stand hearing him talk about how great Nini is, it was sort of my fault in the first place. I mean, I was the one who even encouraged him to go talk to Nini.

"Yup." E.J. looks at me skeptically and raises an eyebrow.

He stuffs his arms into his pockets. "What's wrong?"

I sigh. There's so much wrong with this. That's not where I should be starting though. "I'm just sort of, I guess afraid. I mean, besides me of course...you've never had friendships with any other girls, much less even dated one. It's kind of weird, you know what I mean?" I stop speaking for a second before I realize that I have more to say. "Not that I don't like Nini. I mean, she's amazing."

E.J. smiles. "Yeah, she is. But so are you. You're my best friend, and no one can ever replace you. And I'm sure you'll get along with Nini. She's easy to like."

"Hmm, okay. I suppose it'll be pretty cool to hang with other girls for once. But it'll take a while for me to warm up to her."

E.J. laughs. "As if. You like everyone at East High. Even Natalie Bagley's pet hamster. Who hates everyone and would be willing to bite your finger." He shudders at that last part. Natalie Bagley's a sophomore at East High, and she likes to bring her hamster, Snuffles for emotional support. The thing is, Snuffle hates practically everyone who goes near her. One time, Snuffles ran out of Natalie's hands and stopped in front of me. To calm her down, I gave her a few pieces of the crackers I brought for lunch. Surprisingly, she liked it and Snuffles lets me pet her.

"Fine, if it makes you feel better I'll invite her over today. You know, 'cause we're like sisters! And we'll paint our nails, watch Mean Girls, have a pillow fight, and complain about boys." I tell him in a high-pitched girly voice.

"Why would she complain about me?" He questions skeptically.

"Because I feel bad for her. You're a huge dork you know." I softly nudge him again.

"Shut up, will you?" He reacts with a hint of playful nature.

The rest of the walk goes smoothly, and we arrive at East High. I take in a deep breath. It feels weird seeing the school again after two months. The first two people I see are two girls sitting down on a bench. The first one has a pink jacket with straight brown hair that goes a little past her shoulders. She's like, super pretty. And she has sort of a more innocent and approachable look to her. Beside her is a girl with a large Afro with a green camouflage jacket and hoop earrings. She has style, and she doesn't hide it. I'm not sure how I feel about her yet, unlike with the other girl.

Things take a turn when I notice that E.J.'s veering toward them, meaning that one of the two was E.J.'s new girlfriend. I swallow the lump in my throat and follow him. The girl with the pink jacket happily waves at E.J. and skips to him. They exchange a quick kiss before I slowly feel my skin crawling. So she's Nini. And the girl next to her must be Kourtney.

I manage to muster a friendly smile for Nini and Kourtney. "Oh, you must be Quinn. Hey! E.J. talks about you like all of the time." Nini smiles. I sense my cheeks getting hot. E.J. talks about me a lot with Nini. That made me feel a tiny bit better about the situation.

"Uh-hey, Nini! I've heard E.J. talk about you a lot too. You sound pretty cool." Nini gives E.J.  an expression of warmth after my comment. Kourtney then waves to me.

"I'm Kourtney, by the way. Nice to meet you, Quinn." I wave back at Kourtney. I know that E.J. wants us to get along with each other. So I decide to start the conversation.

I turn around and see if there's any sign of Ashlyn. I don't see her. She's probably just late, though I was looking forward to seeing her. I notice that E.J. did the same too. He must be wondering the same thing.

My eyes drift over to Kourtney's earrings that I had seen earlier. "Nice to meet you too, Kourtney. Your earrings are really pretty. And, you're the whole outfit in general, to be honest. Where'd you get them?"

"Oh, this?" Kourtney touches her earrings. "I made this during the summer. Getting bored when you're alone at home always seems to bring some sort of creativity out of me. I also got these clothes from a thrift store and altered them to make them more my style."

"That's amazing. Usually, I just throw on whatever I find in my closet." I joke and I see Kourtney smile. It makes me feel relieved. Knowing that she seems to like me.

"I can help you out with that. I don't mean to brag, but Nini likes to call me the 'Queen of Fashion!' You can stop by my house one of these days."

"Totally! I'm more into simple outfits but I'm sure Kourtney can do something with it. There's nothing she can't do. We'll have so much fun."

Kourtney softly nudges her friend. "Aw, you didn't have to say that, Nini."

E.J.'s eyes catch mine and I can sense his approval. "I know you guys will get along this year, I mean you guys like the same things. Like, Nini! You listen to Coldplay right?"

"Yeah, I'm assuming both of you have listened to the Scientist? It's by far their best song, at least for me."

"No way! I love that song too. Has never failed to not make me feel super emotional." Says Nini. Okay, I was wrong. It's nice knowing she has the same taste in music as me.

"I've been listening to Coldplay for a few years and I've gotta say that Yellow is their best one. You know, I feel like you are the type to listen to The Neighborhood. They're one of my favorites."

I nod. "Yeah, I love their music. Crazy how we have a pretty great sense of music, huh?

Kourtney looks down at her phone. "Now, I'm all for this bonding, but class starts in like, five minutes. So we should hurry! Kourtney points out. Good thing she even checked the time, or I would have been late to class on the first day of senior year.

"Come on guys, I'll see you two later during lunch." E.J. leans forward and gives Nini another kiss on her cheek before the two of us go our different paths.

"So, you three seem to be getting along. What do you think about Nini?"

She's perfect for E.J. I mean she's super pretty, she's nice and welcoming, who couldn't like someone like Nini? I examine E.J's face every time he would talk about Nini. His face lit up. And he looks so comfortable around her. It was now clear that I made a good decision about writing my last letter. It would be letting go. And sometimes you just have to step back and watch.

"She's nice. I was sort of nervous about meeting here but once again you prove me wrong. Kourtney's fine too."

E.J. releases a breath. "I was hoping you'd like her. By the way, Nini and Kourtney are sitting with us at lunch, if you don't mind."

I shrug. "It's cool, I'm looking forward to it."

✰ 𝐋𝐀𝐓𝐄𝐑 ✰

I increase the volume of my music inside of my earphones. I breathe in and out as I settle down on the bench. Recess has already started, and lunch is after. So I have all the time in the world to just sit and think.

'Head underwater
And they tell me
To breathe easy for a while
Breathing gets harder, even I know that
Made room for me It's too soon to see
If I'm happy in your hands
I'm unusually hard to hold on to..."

My song's suddenly cut off when someone lightly tugs on my earphone. I look up and it's Uncle Ben. I hit pause on my song. What's he doing here? He's always off at the teacher's lounge eating food while all of the other teachers gossip about, well whatever teachers talk about." Seriously? I was in the middle of listening to my music."

Ben rolls his eyes. "Ouch, I expected you to be more excited to see your uncle, Quinn."

"Sorry, it's just been a long day. First day of senior year and all." I take off both of my earphones. "So, what brings you here at this time? Aren't you supposed to be eating lunch?"

"Yes, that is true. But it's about your mother. She forgot to give you your lunch." Ben hands me my lunch bag. I almost forgot about my Mom making me lunch. I did miss her doing that during the summer. I peer into the bag and take out a plastic lunch box. Inside was my sandwich, and on top of it was a smiley face. The blueberries were the eyes and the strawberries were the smile along with a grape shaped to be a circle and resemble a nose. Besides the sandwich was a mix of strawberries, blueberries, and grapes. She even packed ketchup packets to go with the sandwich. I think that after things have changed for my crush on E.J, at least this was a reminder to me that things would never change between me and my mom.

I carefully place the box back into my bag. "Thanks, Ben. It looks really good."

Ben nods. "You should text your mom and thank her for the food. She was in a rush to go to work, but she wanted to take the time to make your lunch."

Since my whole life, my Mom's always been super busy with work. She's a waitress for some Chinese restaurant that's always super busy 24/7. She leaves at eleven in the morning and returns home at ten-thirty. Since Junior year, she's been working more days. She doesn't get much sleep, and I always find her still sleeping when I leave to walk to school with E.J. Every now and then she'll get called to cover for someone, meaning she has to leave earlier than usual.

"Yeah, I will." I put the bag to the side and rest my head on the wall. "How's the first day of school been treating you?"

Ben shrugs. "Surprisingly my whole class arrived on time. Though I'm pretty sure it'll only stay like this within the first two months until kids start getting lazy. Other than that, classes went fine. Except for my second class of the day. You see I was having the kids design their building for fun with tiny building blocks. It was going well and all until I realized that there was a bunch of my blocks missing. Some kid must've stolen them...again."

"This has happened more than once? They're acting like kids."

Ben nods. "What do you expect from a high schooler? They like taking things to annoy their teachers and to keep for themselves."

"You're not wrong. How are you going to find out who stole the blocks then?"

"Simple. I'll ask the students if anyone has noticed the missing building blocks. I'll then mention that whoever has stolen the blocks has to return them to me or else they'll have to pay for a whole new set of blocks which cost twenty dollars. It won't take long to find some student in the back who's either laughing at how funny they think the situation is or a student whose face screams that they're hiding something. I can spot a white lie from a mile away."

I back away from Ben and stare at him up and down. "You watch way too many detective tv shows. You scare me sometimes, you know."

"Eh, well I suppose they are my cup of tea after a long day of teaching. It relaxes me."

"You watch four episodes of How to Get Away With Murder and I either see you yelling at the TV, crying, or looking at the TV in complete shock. There's no in-between."

He crosses his arms. "Whatever."

"Now, why don't you go outside? It's recess."

I laugh loudly, which makes the hallway echo. "And sit around a bunch of strangers who love to gossip over stupid things while the security guards yell at kids to be quiet? I prefer to remain in my calm and healthy environment."

"Fair point." He notes.

"Why aren't you at the teachers' lounge doing whatever teachers do?"

Ben shrugs. "You've heard about Ms. Jenn before, right?" I nod. Ben explained that she's the new drama teacher replacing Mr. Rivera.

"While we were in the lounge, everyone was introducing themselves to her and trying to make her feel welcome here. Then she brought how excited she was to be a teacher here at East High. It was going well l until she suddenly started talking about her idea for the Fall Musical and how her scene was cut out of the movie. She got weirdly emotional about that part. I figured I needed a break so I made the excuse that I needed to go to the bathroom. So, here I am."

"Won't they be wondering where you are after a long time?"

Ben shakes his head. "Nah, I'm a pro at sneaking out of rooms with anyone really batting an eye. And don't think they'd blame me for doing so." He explains with his monotone voice. He stuffs his hands into his pockets. The teachers begin to file out of the classroom.

"That's my cue to leave. See you at home, Quinn." He waves goodbye, and I can already see which one is Ms. Jenn. She stands out because she's the only blonde one in the group...and besides Ben is one of the younger ones. She has a wide smile on her face. She walks with complete confidence, and I sort of envy that of her.

Out of curiosity, I take out my schedule. My eyes widen a little when I see that I have her right after recess. What a coincidence. I've never had theatre before. And I'm not the type to just go out and pour all of my emotions in front of people. So am I scared? A little. But I'm ready to take on the challenge.

The bell rings once more. Students are piling out of the classroom, looking at their schedules. I notice worried freshmen are trying to navigate the school. It's crazy how I was just like them once.

People are pushing and shoving. I luckily manage to avoid big crowds and stayed to the side. It's something I've quickly gotten used to during my years in high school. I'm about to make a right turn to the theatre classroom when at the corner of my eye I see a girl with long brown hair and a pink jacket speaking to a brunette boy with a confused expression worn on his face. It's Nini! And she looks pretty uncomfortable.

I know that isn't good to be nosy, but anyone would probably be curious too. I slither into the side and stand behind another group of kids talking beside their lockers.

"Wait-is this a joke?" The boy said as he interrupted Nini's sentence.

"Still talking here." Nini snapped. The boy quickly shut himself up. His mouth was still agape at what Nini had told him before.

"Oh, snap!" Kourtney adds. A short red-head boy behind the guy Nini was talking to glares at her. She does the same to him.

Nini continues right after, "I met someone at camp. Uh, I didn't plan for it to happen, but it happened." Nini finalized. She's trying her best to seem civilized and professional, but it's clear to me that she was pretty nervous to break the news.

"He was the Music Man, I was Marian the Librarian! It's called a showmance." She shrugs, waiting for his response.

"Wait you went to librarian camp?" The red-head questions. Everyone collectively ignores him.

"Please tell me you're joking."

"I'm not."

"Come on, Ricky!" She says, her voice rising slightly. "You know what you did..." she pauses for a second, "or didn't do."

All of sudden, the speakers were on and the principal started speaking: "Good morning students! Please make your way to the gym for our annual back-to-school kick-off!" I remember that the school made this announcement in my first class. The announcement filled up some of the awkward silence that was now occurring between the two.

Ricky's still stunned at everything Nini was saying. "I don't believe this. You're blowing me off for some theater punk you met 4 weeks ago? At a lake?" What did he say about E.J? Now Ricky was seriously starting to get on my nerves. Not only was he rude to Nini but also being a jerk as he talked about my best friend.

Nini's face scrunches up in confusion. "You kinda dumped me!" Nini reminds him.

"It was a break. Not a breakup!"

I walk out of my previous position and approach Nini. "Hey, Nini! Is this guy bothering you?"

Nini's slightly caught off guard. However, she composes herself. "Actually, yes he is. He just can't seem to take the hint and leave me alone." Nini smirked at him. Ricky scoffed.

"Boys, am I right?" Nini nods in agreement. "Listen, buddy. Next time, don't talk to Nini like that. You weren't communicating with her properly if you were that sure you were still together. And I promise you that you'll make things much better if you mind your own business and not insult her taste in guys." Ricky opened his mouth to say something, but nothing came out. I gave Ricky a smirk too and gestured for Nini and Kourtney to follow me.

"You saved me back there! You're a lifesaver, honestly. Ricky was speechless back there." Nini finally said with a genuine smile.

"What you did out there was brave of you. Ricky's been getting on our nerves lately." Kourtney rolled her eyes out of annoyance.

"You deserved to be saved out of that situation. It was getting painful to hear and watch. I didn't like the way he was treating you and spoke about E.J." I patted Nini's shoulder comfortingly.

Nini sighed and stared down at her shoes. "Ricky can get pretty emotional when he's upset. That's why I was dreading even telling him about E.J. Maybe I shouldn't have been so hard on him.

"Girl, you weren't being hard on him! He so deserved it!" Kourtney said.

"Exactly. You deserved better than broccoli hair over there." Kourtney snorts loudly, and I catch myself laughing too. I know, I know. I am quite the comedian!

"Okay, now that was funny. But again, thanks a lot for helping me out there. It means a lot." The three of us stopped in the middle of the hallways.

"Anytime, Nini. See you and Kourtney at lunch okay?" She nods and the three of us make our way to the assembly.

I almost can't believe what I just did out there. I've never confronted anyone like that before because I've never had to. But I saw Nini looking helpless and desperately wanting to leave. I just had to do something. The comment he made about E.J. still hasn't left me, and probably never will until the next day. What a jerk.

I sit next to E.J. and another one of his friends from the water polo team on one of the benches. Principal Gutierrez drones on about going over-rules and new ones added this year.

"...And I'm also pleased to announce that this year seniors will be allowed to wear baseball hats on Friday!" Gutierrez is trying his best to make everyone excited, but the crowd is dead and has been for a while.

Nobody says a word until someone in the back enthusiastically says, "Go, seniors!" It most likely came from a teacher.

"And now for a special introduction. This year East High has a new drama teacher with an announcement that she swore in writing, would not cost too much money." He points to Ms. Jenn. There isn't much of a reaction from the students surrounding us as Ms. Jenn walks up to the podium.

"Please, hold your applause." Ms. Jenn starts. Out of seemingly nowhere, she pulls out a cannon and a red shirt shoots out and lands on my lap. I nervously laugh, playing off the embarrassment I'm receiving as a few people start laughing at me or just stare at Ms. Jenn like she's crazy.

"Go Wildcats!" Ms. Jenn picks up the microphone from the podium and walks closer to the group of students. "Yeah, my name is Ms. Jenn, and when I heard the High School, where High School Musical was shot had never staged a production of High School Musical, the Musical, I was shocked as an actress, inspired as a director, and triggered as a millennial." Geez, she sure sounds dramatic. No wonder she's a drama teacher.

"Auditions are tomorrow after school. This show could change your lives, and I'm saying this as a background dancer from the original movie. Third, from the left-back row, red headband...and those are my real teeth-" Ms. Jenn said in amusement with a tiny chuckle. A boy with a yellow jacket tries to take the microphone away from her before she moves it back to her face.

"Oh! And meet your student choreographer, Carlos. You know him as captain of the color guard. I know him as an unpaid, rising star." Carlos smiles, however it starts to fade when Ms. Jenn finishes her sentence.

The bell rings before Ms. Jenn can say any more. I'm pretty relieved about that. E. J. snatched my shirt away from me and held it in front of him. The shirt displayed the High School Musical cover with Troy, Gabriella, and the rest of the characters jumping on a stage.

"This might be a size too short, so you can have it," I tell him. E. J. laughs and stuffs the shirt into his book bag for the time being.

"I already know you're going to audition. I'm assuming for Troy, right?" I question him, not with much interest in my voice. E.J. auditions every year anyway.

"Well, yeah. I think I'm going to nail the auditions. I've been waiting to play Troy in a musical for forever."

"Wait, won't you have to wear a wig?"

E.J. shudders. "Do not speak to me about that. Those being bad memories." He's just referring to how he used to have his hair when we were little. Now, it greatly resembles Justin Bieber's hair. I still make fun of him for it to this day.

"Alright, I'll spare you this time." E.J. doesn't say anything. I guess he's already had enough talking about his hair...

Our next period was lunch, which makes me feel relieved that I was going to leave school in a few hours. I quickly said hi to Ashlyn. She was telling me that she couldn't meet up with us earlier since she had woken up late that day.

"I'll make sure to meet with you guys tomorrow, okay?"

"Yeah, it's all cool. Are you auditioning tomorrow?"

Ashlyn nods. "Yup! It's pretty exciting. I think I'll audition to be Mrs. Darbus. Though, I'm okay with any role. I'm hoping I won't throw up on the floor-" Ashlyn stood herself as her face scrunches up in disgust. "You know what I mean. I'll tell you how it goes tomorrow." Ashlyn goes off to sit at her table.

E.J. faces me in my direction and tells me to sit down with him, Nini, and Kourtney.

Finally! It was seriously starting to feel like school was going on for eternity. Kourtney was talking about a conversation she and her mother had during her summer break.

"...So, I say to my mom...looking this fabulous while fighting for intersectional sexism IS my summer job. And that's how I spent my break."

I blink twice, out of surprise at how long Kourtney's story was. Not that it was a bad one, of course. I swallowed my lunch and smile. I'm so glad my mom brought me lunch again. I can be pretty forgetful. The meatball sandwich looks way too gross for me to eat.

"Okay, so crazy idea," E.J. says excitedly with his eyes seemingly looking brighter. "What if we went in costumes to the auditions tomorrow?" Nini sits up straighter, intrigued.

"Okay, I'm listening..."

"Okay, whatever you wear I'm doing your makeup." Kourtney chimes in at once. I silently laugh at that.

"So I was thinking like a baseball jersey for me, and then, for my leading lady," he points to Nini and pulls out a photo of Gabriella's red dress. "It is time to go full V Hudge." I loudly snort at that last sentence.

He crosses his arms, annoyed. "Do you have a better idea, Quinn?"

"I-okay yes. Dressing up as Troy and Gabriella is a little too much. I mean, you'll be the only people dressed like that. And there's Halloween if you want to glib a couple's costume. Just sayin'!" I immediately put my hands up in front of me, as if I'm trying to prove my innocence to a crime.

Nini faces E.J. "She's kind of right, E.J. I don't want to get ahead of myself. I mean, honestly your gonna get Troy, but I don't wanna jinx anything." She shrinks slightly in her chair, her face reading embarrassment. I assumed that Nini was this confident, perfect girl for E.J. But now this just reminds me that there's more to people than what you see at first.

"Uh, that doesn't sound very Nini 2.0 to me." Kourtney disagrees with the sass in her voice.

I want to say something to Nini. She's a sweet girl, and she's mentioned her love for theatre. "I say go for it. You never know what's gonna happen during auditions. I mean, I've seen you talk about how much participating in these musicals means to you. If you have that same determination during auditions there isn't any doubt that you'll nail it." Nini froze for a second, a bit surprised at my words. I had a feeling that Nini had the potential to get what she wanted if she went for it. Nini needed to realize that she could audition as Gabriella.

Nini's expression of shock changed into another expression where she was impressed. "Thanks, Quinn. Honestly, I did need to hear those words today."

"No problem Nini. I do know everything about anything so it's why I'm great at giving advice." I joke and E.J. holds Nini's hands. My heart stops for a second. What does he have to say now?

"Babe, we're a package deal here. And all the talented senior girls graduated last year. This one is ours to lose."

Nini stares at him in awe. "Literally how did we not speak until this summer?" They share a kiss. One that's on the lips. My nails slowly dig into my skin. The day was starting to become a tolerable one until now.

Another one of E.J's friends from the water polo team taps him on the shoulder. "E.J, my man!" E.J. leaves the table and greets him.

Nini hops over to Kourtney's side. "Okay, is he the best or what?" Nini softly judges Kourtney. She doesn't look as happy as Nini is.

"That's E.J. for you. Might as well give him boyfriend of the year award."

Nini laughs. And Kourtney shrugs. "He's nice but I just want to make sure he doesn't break Nini's heart as Ricky did. No offense, Quinn."

"No need to worry about E.J, seriously. We've been best friends since we were little and he's a really sweet guy. Once you look past how much of a dork he is."

Nini nods and holds onto Kourtney's hand. "See? Nothing to worry about Kourt."

"Okay, okay. Now that I've got to people saying how great of a person he is, I'll give him more of a chance Nini."

"Great!" Nini squeezes Kourtney tightly. She turns to me again.

"By the way, I just want to clear things up between us..." I shift uncomfortably in my chair. What is she about to say? "I just want to make sure your comfortable with me dating your friend. Because I know this is something new and I want to make this work with E.J. and with you, as a friend." I can't say the truth about how I feel about their relationship but I have to keep my mouth shut on that.

"I mean, it's pretty new to me I'm not gonna lie. You're E.J.'s first girlfriend so like Kourtney I just want to make sure that he's happy with you and that his heart doesn't get broken. But you two seem pretty cool, so you've passed my test." I hold out my hand and she gladly shakes it.

"Oooohhh! Since that makes us all friends now, why don't we visit your house after school tomorrow?" Someone visit my house? The only other person outside of family who's done that is E.J. and Ashlyn, of course. I don't think I'm ready for Nini to come to visit.

I shake my head. "We should go to your house instead. We just moved to a new house and the moving boxes are everywhere so I don't want that to be in the way." I still felt bad about lying though.

"Oh, that's fine. We should go to my house! We can bake chocolate chip cookies unless you're allergic to it?"

"Nope! I'm obsessed with chocolate cookies."

"And Nini can show you one of her songs that she's working on!" Kourtney adds cheerfully. Nini tucks hair behind her ear and fiddles with her thumbs.

"I don't know, Kourt. I don't show many people my songs. Mainly because they're not that good."

Kourtney wags her fingers in front of Nini. "You're songs are fire, Nini. I don't think an extra audience member would hurt."

I put some thumbs up. "I'd be down to see your songs. If it helps we'll blindfold ourselves so you won't feel nervous." Kourtney lightly pats my arm.

"Trust me, hon I've done that many times. I think it's time to move on to seeing Nini." Nini sighs, and glances at Kourtney who's still for the idea of me visiting her home.

"Okay, fine! I give in," Nini shouts hopelessly. Kourtney claps her hands together in victory.

"Great! And Ashlyn can come too." I don't object to the idea. I like Ashlyn and we'd always enjoyed each other's company whenever she'd visit mine or E.J.'s house.

Out of boredom, I take a further look at everyone in the cafeteria. Eventually, I spot Ricky eyeing Nini. His eyes scream jealousy as E.J. brings Nini into a hug. It's funny how we can both feel the same kind of jealousy with the same people who're together.

He darts out of the cafeteria. Nini's eyes linger on Ricky for a second before giving E.J. a reassuring smile.

Without even realizing it at first, I now find myself feeling a little sorry for Ricky. Seeing their ex with another guy. He still deserved being told off earlier.

I can't wait to go home and sleep. It's been a hectic first day.

"Maybe you should audition this year, Quinn. You could be a part of the ensemble." E.J. suddenly mentioned. Me? Auditioning for a musical?

"I appreciate the suggestion, but I think I'll pass. I don't dance to cheesy musical numbers. You know me, E.J. I like doing my own thing."

E.J. shakes his head. He's not going to give up anytime soon. "Okay, they are so not cheesy!" I pass him a look. "Fine, maybe a little. But come on, it's our last year in East High! Don't you want to try something new? Plus, we'll get to see each other more when you get in." He waited for my response. Fair point.

I hadn't even thought about the fact that I'd get to see E.J. more often. And I know that E.J. is already set on me auditioning. He just wants me to have fun. It all sounds tempting...but there's still one problem.

"Still can't. I'm going to be auditioning for the dance team, and I need to put all of my focus on it because senior year's usually when people start looking for dancers to turn into professionals."

"I know that dance is important to you, and I support it, Quinn. But I promise you that you can still manage both things. It won't hurt to take some time off dancing to do something else. Everyone's like a family in theatre because we're always there for each other so you don't need to worry about messing up." E.J. stops speaking and silence falls upon us. Even though I'm making up excuses not to audition when I'm pretty scared to do it.

I'm not sure why just yet, but I don't want to make E.J. feel bad. I'll just spare him for now. "I'll think about it, okay?" I see his face light up, which instantly warms up my heart. "Don't get too excited just yet."

"Fair enough." E.J. simply responds. Its better for me to say I'll consider it than not even bothering. It's pretty complicated to say the least. I have no idea what I'll do.

Okay! My first chapter! What did everyone think of it? I know it's not perfect but I just hope this was good enough for my first chapter. This chapter took me several months to publish because of planning but also because of forgetfulness lol. I'm just glad I got to it and can share my creation with everybody! Feel free to leave a vote and comment. Stay tuned for more. ♥︎

And if you're wondering what song Quinn was listening to, it was 'Love Song' by Sara Bareilles!