The audience cheered loudly in the background as the curtain dropped down and River smiled proudly. She turned to her friends and hugged them closely before she started to make her way backstage to get out of her costume and into a pair of leggings and Antoine's hoodie. Once she had hung up her costume she grabbed onto Ricky and the pair followed behind Kourtney.
"Oh my god, y'all! Rickys transformation!"
"Wait, how'd it look?"
Ricky and River come to stand beside the girl.
"Honestly?" She pauses making every lean towards the trio.
"Passable" she laughs as everyone starts to cheer.
Kourtney walks ahead of the girl who makes her way to Gina, throwing her arms around her in a hug before she hears Nini in the background.
"Hey!! Give it up for our star!!"
They turn and see Ashlyn stood there which makes River applaud loudly.
"Oh you guys" she giggles with a big smile on her face making everyone smile back.
"Um has anyone seen my boyfriend, it feels like I've been missing him all night?"
"I think he pushed himself a little hard" Carlos says as the rest of the cast look among each other sneakily with smirks on their face.
"But I'm pretty sure he left a letter at your locker" Ricky pipes up.
"Uh couple letters actually" EJ corrects.
"Oh, okay wow, that's sweet, maybe I'll read them on the way to Slices, good show everyone" she says as the tone in her voice shifts as everyone watched the ginger girl walk away.
"Tell me how it goes" River tells Ricky before she makes her way through to the audience where she knows her parents are waiting.
The girl spots the three people waiting on her and she runs into her dads arms who immediately hug her and tell her how wonderful she was before she turned to her boyfriend who lifted her off of her feet and spun her around telling her countless times that she was the best one on that stage. She smiled happily as he put her down and she pulled him into a proper hug.
"Are you going to come with me to the cast party tonight then?" She asks and he nods.
"I will but Lily asked me to meet up first so I will have to see her and then I'll come along" he tells the girl before they both spot the blonde walking over to them.
"Wow River, you were incredible up there" she smiles as she pulls her into a hug.
The brunette doesn't know what to do so just awkwardly pats her back before letting go.
"Thanks Lil, that means a lot coming from North Highs shining lead" she says as she gives her a tight lipped smile.
Antoine senses the tension from his girlfriend and suggests that the pair leave but not before he can give her one last kiss.
The girl bites her lip as she walks the friends walk off before turning to her parents and telling them that she'll see them after the cast party. She then turns on her heel and makes her way through the halls until she finds Nini.
"Hey you were incredible tonight Riv, I am so proud of you" she says pulling the girl into a hug.
"So were you Nini, from dancing fork to emotional support, you did it all" she chuckles before they start walking down the hall together.
They pass the door to the rehearsal room before River stops and turns to see her best friend crying in front of a vanity.
"Gig?" She asks as she walks in and pulls her into a hug.
"Gina, you coming to Slices?" Nini asks as she walks in after her.
"Uh I think I'm gonna head home early actually" she responds and River takes the girls hand into hers, squeezing it tightly.
Nini comes to sit beside the pair as her best friend wipes the girls tears away.
"What's going on?" River asks.
"Um" she stops making them both lean into her.
"I just had this big dumb plan to go out with EJ tonight and he just cancelled"
It didn't make sense to the girl. EJ had been so excited about tonight, she had unfortunately had to hear him talk her ear off for weeks about it. It seemed weird for him to cancel.
"You can go tomorrow?" Nini suggests.
"No, he cancelled Nini, for good." She sighs and River stands.
"I'll have words" she says making her way around the girls, only to feel Nini pull her back by the sleeve of her hoodie to stop her.
"Sit down Maxwell" She says before turning back to the girl in pink.
"Gina, I don't know what's going on between you and EJ, but you are a force of nature"
"Nini.."
"You have this energy about you that's just so-"
"Off putting?" Gina finishes for her.
"Powerful" River corrects.
"I'd say any guy would be lucky to have you, but that's not the point" Nini starts.
"Truth is G, we're all lucky to know you, and I'm so lucky to have you as my best friend" The girl next to her finishes as tears well up in the best friends eyes.
"You're still doing it" Gina says facing Nini.
"Doing what?" She asks making the girl in front of them smile.
"Lifting other people up, you did it all night"
"That's so true" River whispers next to them making the girls laugh lightly.
"And you Riv, you've always had my back, even when friends you've had since childhood upset me"
"I've got your back Gig, always" she smiles as the pair reach to hold each other's hands.
"Look I'm really sorry about the whole Valentine's Day chocolates thing" Gina says turning to Nini again.
"Oh no, that's, honestly it was more about me and you than it was about me and him."
"Wait, who and who?" The all laugh.
"I was just hoping we were finally in a place where you could like one hundred percent trust me"
"I did, I do. I mean that's something I learned early on when you stole all my stuff and then gave it back" she says making River smile at the odd memory of being sat in the dressing room next to her best friend and best friends ex as she emptied the contents of her bag next to the pair.
"You're a really solid person Nini" she tells her.
"Yeah she's alright" the girl next to them says making the girl next to her, bump her shoulder teasingly.
"Well, if you change your mind about going to Slices" she smiles as she gets up going to leave the pair.
"Our show would've been better by the way, if you could've sung the rose song tonight"
Nini laughs lightly before turning back to the pair.
"I don't know about that"
"Have you ever thought about taking your songwriting to the next level?"
"What are you asking me?"
"There's someone I think you should meet" the girl nods and River knows what she means, smiling lightly at the pair.
They had experienced their ups and downs but she had gotten to experience both of their sweet moments on opening night and it melted her heart a little.
•••
The music and conversation was alive and fun at Slices that night. River sat next to Ricky but switched back and forth between sitting with him and then with Gina throughout the night.
"Tonight was one for the record books" Ashlyn announces as she holds up her glass making the rest raise theirs in an almost toast.
"I literally don't even remember being on stage" River laughs.
"The rest of us will never forget it!" Kourtney says to her as they all cheer for the girl.
They all heard the bell of the door chime and start booing as her boyfriend and Lily walk into the pizza shop.
"Okay easy Wildcats!" Lily attempts to calm them down.
"We just came to congratulate you all!" She says softly making them all look at her weirdly.
"It is true, your show had a beginning and a middle and an end, it was wonderful" Antoine says making everyone give him a look.
"But of course, it was amazing and I loved seeing you all up there, especially you River" he says which makes the girl blush as Ricky groans in the corner.
She pick up a piece of ice from her drink and throws it at the boy making the others giggle at the pairs antics.
"Okay, well thank you guys for dropping by, but this is kind of a private party so if you could uh"
"Actually the french one is staying" River says making him walk over to her.
He plants a kiss on her cheek and they sit behind Nini and Gina.
The rest of the cast start waving goodbye to the blonde who is left there standing.
"Well I'd say tonight was success" The girl says to her boyfriend as they watch her and Ricky walk off.
"It was, Nini and Gina, I must say, you two were both amazing tonight, I heard that you both have done so much for my girl and I cannot thank you enough" he says making them both smile at him.
"It's you we should be thanking, I've never seen Riv so happy" Gina teases.
But all the girl can do is smile because she knows her best friend is right. She has never, in her entire life, felt as loved as she did sat in his arms.
"Can you guys imagine if they actually win at the Menkies?" Big Red asks completely ignoring that two of the North High students are sat in the room.
"Honestly, and don't sue me, but I kind of don't care anymore if we win or lose to the competition" Kourtney admits.
"I actually feel the same" Gina says.
"Okay, I thought it was just me" River sighs.
"I mean, we did it right? We already got everything we wanted" Red says again making River look up to her boyfriend with a small sparkle in her eye.
"But just let the whole competition go, after all this work?" Ashlyn asks.
"If I can have a uh senior moment here" EJ says making River look over to him.
"Caswell, can you stop reminding me that one of my best friends is leaving" she sighs making everyone laugh.
"I've won a bunch of trophies over the years you guys, but I'd trade it all for this group right here tonight" he finishes.
"To happy endings and beautiful families" River says raising her cup making everyone do the same as they realise how truly lucky they are to have everyone else.
"So what are we gonna tell Miss Jenn?" Natalie asks.
And speak of her, she shall appear. Their teacher ran over them all with a big brown envelope in her hands making them look between each other.
"The envelope please" she smiles.
"Wildcats!! I have in my hands the nominations for the Alan Menken Awards for Excellence in High School Musical Theatre, I haven't opened it yet, but who's ready for the biggest moment of the year?" She asks and all they can hear is the silence between them.
"Am I muted?" She asks when no one responds.
"Uh Miss Jenn, we were kinda thinking you know maybe we won already" Ricky starts.
"Yeah, maybe we don't need or want to see what's in the envelope" Nini finishes.
River holds her breath, she expects their teacher to be mad or upset or tell them that all their hard work was for nothing. But she never does. Instead she sighs happily.
"Oh thank god, I had to stop four times on the way here because I was physically ill"
The kids all start laughing in relief to know that they were all on the same page.
"It was five" Mr Mazzara corrects her.
"Hey I get it" Big Red says.
"So it's settled, we're dropping out of the competition" their teacher announces.
The students all nod as River leans over to hold Gina's hand.
"But what am I gonna do with this?" She asks jokingly pointing to the envelope.
"Oh give me that, we got a pizza oven" Kourtney says making everyone laugh as she takes the papers away.
River stands up and makes her way over to get a drink from the table when she hears her teachers get into a discussion behind her.
"So are you really going to leave these magical kids for a college somewhere?" She asks making the girl stop.
Was one of her favourite and most supportive teachers really about to leave them.
"To be honest, the only thing keeping me from running to California is-"
"Earthquakes" her drama teacher cuts him off.
"You, us, or the possibility of us" he finishes and the girl opens her mouth in shock.
"Unless you have a better offer" he says making the brunette look to Ricky knowing his dad was also after the blonde woman.
She hears Miss Jenn start breathing weirdly and turns to make sure she's alright ending with her making direct eye contact.
"Oh how long have you been there?" She asks the girl.
"A few minutes, proud of you for putting yourself out there Mr Mazzara" she teases as he turns to the girl.
"Thank you Maxwell, I'm proud of you for putting yourself out there too, in all the ways you did this year" he says shaking her hand before she retreats back to the table.
She takes her seat next to Gina and notices that her boyfriend is off talking to some of her other friends, including Ricky who looks like he's trying to be both stoic and protective.
"Hey roomie" Ashlyn says as she comes to sit beside the girls, sending a wave to the other person sat at the booth.
"Listen uh, I just had a chance to talk to EJ before he snuck out and I am so sorry" she starts.
"You and me both" River sighs.
"If I had known you thought of him as a big brother I would've given you some very different advice this semester" she sighs which makes River snap her head up in confusion.
There was no way that her best friend had been crying over someone she saw as a sibling.
"Wait what?" Gina says realising what the girl has just said to her.
"What?"
"Wait, why would EJ think that?" She asks.
"Ashlyn?"
•••
River sat at the booth watching as he friends mingled with her boyfriend. She smiled softly as Howie turned around and leaned over to talk to her.
"I haven't known Antoine long but I thought you should know that he never stops talking about you. He thinks you are the most amazing person in the world and has already written so much about you whether it be in the forms of songs or poetry or even just scribbling your name in hearts at the side of his books" he laughs making River smile brightly.
"My point is that, he really really likes you and you make him so happy, and I just thought you should know how much you mean to him" he says.
"Thank you Howie, that means everything to me to hear someone say that, and thank you for taking care of my girl Kourtney over here, she's been there for me in the dark and you are both so lucky to have each other" she tells him before he turns around.
She sees Gina get up and walk out of the restaurant and is filled with a sadness at her not saying goodbye. The girl gets up and walks after her, opening the door and letting it close behind her before she hears Gina shout, deciding that she should stay quiet for the moment.
"EJ! You got bad intel!"
"What?" A voice shouts back and River knows who it is immediately.
"Can I?"
"Can you what?" He asks sounding defeated.
"Can I kiss you? Will you be my first kiss?" She asks making her best friends mouth drop open in surprise.
She watches as the pair start walking towards each other and eventually meet in the middle making the girl gasp happily.
"Oh. My. God"
•••
"Buckle up Wildcats! This summers about to get hot!"
•••
A/N: I cant actually believe season 2 is finished omg!! I still have another chapter left so please don't leave before you read it!! Also a massive thank you to everyone who has supported this book, it means so much and I've already got two new ideas on the way that include a certain Senior and God of Mischief <3