It was about a week later and River was rejoicing as she went on her spring break. She had been waiting for the break as soon as rehearsals had started getting tougher and was glad to be getting the rest she deserved. The previous morning, she had accompanied Ricky and his dad to the airport so her friend could go and stay with his mom. She had stood in front of him at the departure gate and made sure he had everything before the pair brought each other into a tight hug, not wanting to let go. They didn't usually spend much time apart so when he left for anywhere she would always make sure she could come with him part of the way. He had eventually let her go and she had waited until he had disappeared from sight before she had retreated back to the car.
She was now sat on a plane with her dad, waiting to land in New York. Jonas had to go there on a business trip and had asked his daughter if she wanted to come with him which she had agreed to very quickly. Antoine had already told her he was going to be there for a trip with North High and the pair were excited to see each other in the big apple. They had agreed to meet at her hotel, her dad and boyfriend now coming around to the idea of her finally liking someone.
The plane eventually landed and the pair made their way through the airport before they got a cab and the girl pulled out her phone.
•••
River: I'm on my way, be there in 10 <3
Antoine: Cant wait <3
•••
They pulled up to hotel minutes later and the driver helped them with their luggage before they made their way into the hotel where Jonas immediately went to check in, leaving his daughter to look about until she saw Antoine looking for her. They made eye contact and both smiled brightly as she ran over to him and jumped into his arms. He caught her swiftly and spun her around making her laugh loudly which echoed around the building. He then set her down and they started to talk about how her flight had been.
"It's so weird that we are only able to spend time together because I'm in New York" she laughs and he agrees.
"I was worried I would have to spend my time missing you, but you're right here" he whispers as Jonas walks over to the pair and gives the girl her room key.
She takes it from him and tells her he'll text when he needs her but to enjoy her afternoon before he leaves the pair. They had decided they would just spend the afternoon relaxing in her room and they would all go out in the evening. Antoine took her luggage and they made their way to the elevator, the girl clinging to the boys hand. They eventually made it up to the floor and walked down to her room quickly where she slid the key card into the door and opened it, letting both of them in. She immediately ran over and jumped onto the bed, messing up the neatly pressed sheets. Antoine watched the girl and laughed softly as he came over to lie beside her. They joined hands again and she sighed in content. River didn't have to worry about anyone knowing about them. She didn't have to make sure no one was looking over her shoulder and didn't have to hide how she felt. She liked it.
"I ordered food to be delivered to the lobby, I can go collect it now" he tells her and she nods as he leaves the room.
After a minute, she hears her phone ringing and she opens it to see Gina FaceTiming her. She accepted the call and set the phone up on the beside table watching as her best friends face appeared on the screen. She smiled brightly as she waved and the girl smiled back at her.
"Hey G, how are you?"
"Well my flight is delayed so I'm bored out of my mind, but that doesn't matter, where are you? That definitely does not look like you or Rickys place" she giggles slightly.
"That sucks about your flight, but, brace yourself, your girl is living it up" she says walking over to the window and throwing open the curtains to reveal the skyline.
"In New York City" she sings out before jumping back onto the bed.
"That is actually incredible, you live an exciting life River Maxwell" she applauds a little.
The two continued to talk just about school and the show and how long Gina was going to have to wait. The pair were mid way through laughing at something the younger girl had said when River heard the door open.
"I got food!" A french accent shouts as the door closes behind him and the girl feels her heart drop through her stomach.
Gina gasps loudly and Antoine closes his eyes realising his mistake as the girls face visibly pales.
"Are you with someone right now? A boy?!" She asks getting excited as she comes to the end of her question.
"Yeah"
"Oh my god"
"Okay, G, if I tell you who it is, you have to promise me that you will not tell anyone about this, like not Ashlyn or EJ or anyone who could get it back to anyone else"
She nods slowly.
"Promise Gina, like say it"
"I promise" she whispers leaning towards the screen.
River turns to Antoine and moves her head to signal him to come over. He shakes his head and she can tell that he's nervous.
"She won't tell anyone"
He waits for a second before he comes over and sits with her, placing his head on her shoulder.
"Gina, this is Antoine, he goes to Nort-"
"Oh I know who this is" she smirks.
"I'll give you two a minute" Antoine whispers as he kisses her cheek and walks out of the room.
"OH MY GOD RIV, he's so cute!! But a North High kid?"
"I know, I know, but he makes me feel things that I've never felt before and he's so sweet and we're so careful and he makes me happy and I just, I think we could actually work together" she smiles and Gina nods.
She liked the way that her best friend was falling for someone who made her feel the way he did. The girls then saw that they were getting a group call from Miss Jenn and the theatre kids and both said their goodbyes before they both clicked on the link and opened it up. River was the last one to join and so waved brightly when she saw all her friends faces.
"Hey guys, sorry I'm currently in New York so I'm not sure how ideal the connection will be" she smiles and they tell her that's okay before they start talking.
"Okay looks like we're only missing Ricky, Nini have you heard from him?" She asks and the girls eyes flicker up to the screen where her best friends ex was sat.
"Sorry Miss Jenn, I think Ricky is taking some alone time or mom time or both, he's in Chicago" River buts in quickly, earning a thankful glance from the girl.
"Okay, I'm sure you're all wondering why I've gathered you all here, opening night is only three weeks away folks, that means we need to stay focused! And I know I can't, won't make you work over the break, but I needed to remind you face to face that stakes are high" she starts and everyone nods knowing she's right.
"Please, for the love of theatre, do not take the word break literally, be safe! Okay well have fun, stay in touch and now you have this link so hop on anytime, I'm basically the queen of modern technology so.."
"Alright, bye everyone" River says as everyone starts to say it back all waving followed by a chorus of 'not it's' as they turn their screens off and leave the call.
Once the room goes silent, Antoine takes that as his cue to walk back in and comes over to where the girl is. He takes her hands and they stand up together, him twirling her swiftly making her laugh.
"Do you want to go sightseeing?" He asks her and she nods enthusiastically.
"Yes that would be amazing!" She exclaims as she walks over to her suitcase to put on a better outfit for going out in.
She wanders to the bathroom and changes into a pair of jeans and a fun T-shirt with a backpack. She finishes getting ready and texts her dad about where she'll be before she puts her stuff away and the boy comes over to grab her hand, leading her out of the room.
•••
A few hours later, the pair were still out together taking photos but had stopped at the Greenwich Village Walk. The pair held each other's hands tightly and smiled as people admired them, thinking they looked sweet together. They got towards the fountain when River heard her phone start ringing and she took it out to see the group call was starting.
"Hey, I've got to take this, can you give me a minute?"
"Of course, I'll just be over there" he points to a bunch of seats in the distance and she nods.
"You're the best" she says kissing his cheek.
He nods and walks off as she answers the call, putting in her headphones to hear better.
"Hey guys!" She says enthusiastically which is drowned out by everyone else.
"Wildcats, quiet!" Miss Jenn calls and the call drops silent.
"I've called you all here for a very serious reason, it seems Zack Roy has yet another trick up his sleeve" Their teacher starts and River furrows her eyebrows in confusion.
"Miss Jenn, they just dropped the video on their Instagram" Nini pipes up.
"Are you ready?"
"Ready Miss Jenn"
"Kids, Nini is going to share her screen so we can all watch together"
"All right, three, two, one"
Then Nini's screen started to play a video that seemed to be aimed against east high with a voice oh so recognisable in the background. She wondered if Antoine knew about this.
"East High, for decades the students of this institution have had greatness thrust upon them. They've had fame. They've had popularity. But do they deserve it? No! We say it's time to give another school a shot at the spotlight."
The images of East High and the former high school musical cast faded to show a photo of North High with the sun shining in the background to make it look almost heavenly.
"North High has spent its spring break on an immersion trip with nothing but theatre in their hearts and minds"
The images and videos were now ones of famous places in New York.
"Meanwhile, East High has been slacking off in style, almost as if they know they can't win-"
The images of her friends were paused and the kids all looked deflates as Miss Jenn called to turn the video off.
The kids all then leaned towards their phones as they got a notification making River confused.
"Guys have you seen this?" Nini asks as she shares her screen.
On it was a message from an unknown number. As Nini started to read what it said, River felt her heart stop.
"Hey wildcats, looks like Belle isn't the only guest Lumiere is inviting into her life"
And there below the text was a picture of Antoine and her, one that had been taken a few days prior by her dad. He had an arm around her shoulders whilst her head leaned against him. Her face paled as everyone looked towards her.
"Riv?" She heard her cousin ask and she looked back to the screen with tears in her eyes.
"I promise it's nothing" she says quickly worrying that everything had been ruined.
"It's okay, we're not mad, we're just confused" Ashlyn says softly and they all nod.
"Basically since we went to North High, we've been texting and meeting up a couple of times and I think I like him but we're not dating, we're not together, we're just talking and not even about the show and he can't get any of my notes cause I leave them downstairs and we're always upstairs and I'm sorry I didn't tell you guys" she blurts out and sees the girls getting a little excited about her new crush knowing she had struggled to find one before.
"It's okay Riv, it must've been hard to keep that all in but we're here to support you" Kourtney says and she send the girl a thankful glance.
"Thank you guys" she smiles as she wipes a tear or two away.
She turns and sees Antoine walking over to her, probably noticing her getting upset and she turns back to the call.
"I've got to go talk to him now, I'll speak you yall later" she says as everyone waves and she ends the call.
He gets over to her and she stands to look up at him.
"Are you okay?" He asks and she shakes her head.
"Did you know?"
"Know what?"
"That one of your North High friends was going to send out a photo of the two of us to all my friends, exposing me to be somewhat of a liar or traitor" she says.
River didn't want to believe that Antoine could've had any part in this, that it was all a misunderstanding or she was somehow in a dream. She didn't want to face what might be true.
He bites his lip before he looks into her eyes again.
"Lily asked me about you a week ago and I told her about us and I sent her some photos because I wanted to show her I was happy but obviously it was used for a bad purpose" he tells her and she shakes her head.
"We were meant to be a secret and you broke that, and now she's told everyone, I could've been excluded from my friends because of this and what about the video? Did you know about that?"
He nods solemnly and she shakes her head in disbelief.
"Why?"
"It's a competition River, je suis désolé, I'm sorry"
She just looks down. She felt like she had been betrayed and taken advantage of. Their little relationship was so important to her and he wasn't even being careful like they had promised to be. She wondered if any of it had been real to him or if he had just wanted to get to her to lower the competition to a place he could beat.
"I think I need to go home now" she whispers.
"I'll walk you"
"No, I think we should stop this, I clearly can't trust you" she says calmly as she turns to walk away.
He grabs her hand and spins her around, guilt laced in his eyes.
"Riv, please"
"Goodbye Antoine, good luck in the competition" she whispers, letting some tears slip down her face as she slips her hand out of his and walks away.
•••
It was later that evening and River sat in the darkness of her hotel room. She was by the window and was looking out over the illuminated skyline. She sighed sadly as she recollected the memories from today. She wasn't heartbroken but she was nearing it. She had never felt the way Antoine made her feel before. It was all so new and a bit alarming. She had ignored the messages from her friends apart from Gina who spoke to her briefly, reminding her that she loved her and boys aren't everything and that it would all work out.
She wanted that to be true.
She pulled out her phone and scrolled until she found the contact she was looking for, pressing the device to her ear so she could hear the ringing.
"Hey" A soft voice answers.
"Hey Ricky" she says, letting her voice crack from how weak she was from crying earlier.
"Are you okay?"
"Yeah I just needed to hear your voice"
"That's okay, do you want to hear a song I just wrote?" He suggests and she nods to herself.
"I would like nothing more"
And so the pair spent the night listening to his song and crying over the people they loved, Ricky both shocked but happy to hear she had found someone. They laughed and sang and eventually both moved to their individual beds, not leaving the call until the other fell asleep ending with both teens passed out an hour later with their call still going through. They were lucky to have each other because they knew that no distance could stop them from being there for the other.