Today Ophelia wore a floral print blouse, dark blue jeans, tan colored vans, and a flower necklace. She decided to leave her hair curly today and she went with makeup that matched her outfit. Today happened to be the day the main cast members would be taking a picture for the cover of their play's program. Ophelia was the photographer for it since she had the best photographer skills out of the group, and she was the one in yearbook club.
When Nini walks out on stage dressed as Gabriella, Ophelia smiles at her. "Nini, you look just like Gabriella!"
"Yes, you look perfect!" Kourtney chimed in.
Nini smiles at the two girls. "Thank you, guys!"
"Okay, people, let's do this!"
Gasps and some laughter fills the room. Ophelia's eyes widen upon seeing Ricky dressed as Troy. He even had a wig on to top off the outfit. She couldn't help the laugh that escaped her lips. He looks at her with raised eyebrows, flipping the hair of the wig. "What? Why are you laughing?"
"There's so much to talk about." Nini chuckled, gesturing to Ricky's outfit.
Ophelia nods in agreement as she chuckles. "Yeah, yes. I agree with her."
Nini and Kourtney went off to the side of the stage to talk as Ricky went over to Ophelia, standing beside her. "Seriously, though, how does it look?" Ricky asked her.
"Not bad." Ophelia replied.
Ricky smiles and puts his hands in the pockets of the jacket he wore. "So, uh, at Homecoming I noticed your date showed up. How did that go?"
"It was actually really great." Ophelia smiles. "I ended up giving him my number."
"Really?" Ricky looks at her with a bit of surprise. Ophelia nods, smiling and checks the camera to make sure it was good, not noticing the surprise expression on Ricky's face. "I just didn't think you wanted to date anyone."
"I wouldn't call my relationship with Eric dating..." Ophelia pauses for a few seconds, her lips forming into a smile. "At least not yet." She shrugs. "But I just never been in a relationship before because of me being nervous and shy with that kind of stuff."
"Right." Ricky nods, looking at her with a small smile when she looks at him. "Well, since you seem to be happy, I'm happy for you." Ricky raises his arms up in a punching position, pretending to punch someone. "But if he does hurt you let me know and I'll knock some sense into him."
Ophelia chuckles and smiles at him. "Thanks, Rick. I'll let you know."
"Let's get some air, Wildcats!" They look over when Gina walks on stage dressed as Taylor.
Ophelia smiles at her and gives her a thumbs up after taking her picture when Gina did a pose for the camera. "Looking great, G."
Gina smiles back at her. "Thanks, O."
Ricky raises his eyebrows at the two. "Since when are you two friendly?"
Ophelia shrugs. "Since recently." She responded and Ricky rolled his eyes playfully at her vague response.
"Yeah," Gina gestures to herself and Ophelia, sending her a smile. Ophelia returns the smile before working with the camera as Gina looks at Ricky. "We're friends now."
"Alright, guys. Time to line up." Ophelia gets everyone's attention and the main cast does what they're told. She glances at the camera, making sure it was ready, and looks back at everyone. "You guys are gonna jump on the count of three."
When everyone got into their right places for the cover photo, she asks, "Ready?" After they all nod she begins counting and takes the picture. None of them jumped at the same time and Kourtney was in the way.
"Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry!" Kourtney exclaimed, quickly rushing over to the other side of the stage so she was out of the way.
Ophelia assured her it was fine and counts down from three again. This time they still didn't jump at the same time and the one who was playing Ryan, Rico, accidentally knocked the 'L' sign sideways that was a part of the 'High School Musical' sign above the five of them.
Ophelia sighs. "Guys, what happened?"
"Where to begin?" Ricky asked.
Seb looks at him with furrowed eyebrows. "I think you went early."
Gina looks at Ophelia with confusion. "Are we jumping on three or after three?"
Ophelia nods. "Yeah, I said the on the count of three."
"Lia, you're making this sound at lot easier said then done." Ricky pointed at her.
Ophelia shrugs. "Sorry, but it really is not that hard."
"I think I broke a heel." Seb realized.
"Just like Ophelia said, this isn't that hard." Carlos sighs. "You smile, you leave the Earth, you land."
"It's a little hard to smile when we don't even know the plan." Ricky spoke.
Nini points at him. "I can't look at Ricky. Is that a problem?"
Laughter filled the room while Ricky throwed his arms up in frustration. "Okay, let's take a five." Carlos suggested.
"On five or after five?" Ricky asked as he walked off.
Seb chuckles. "I think he's mad at us."
Ophelia nods while chuckling. "Yeah, he's mad at us."
****
At practice that day Ophelia filled Fallon and Luca in on how taking the cover photo was. Everyone besides Carlos and Miss Jenn were in the bomb shelter.
"I can't believe it was so complicated to take a picture." Fallon laughed, looking at the pictures along with Luca, Gina, and Kourtney on the camera Ophelia held.
"Did we even get a good picture for the program cover?" Kourtney asked as Ophelia went through the ones she took.
"Hopefully." Ophelia chuckled.
"Hey, jumping on cue is much more complicated than it sounds, okay?" Gina defended herself.
Ophelia playfully rolls her eyes. "Yeah, okay."
"Guys, let's just start." Natalie suggests, standing up. "Flip to 'When There Was Me And You' in your script."
"Oh, should we maybe wait until Miss Jenn gets here?" Ashlyn inquired.
"Well, I don't know." Natalie shakes her head. "Apparently nobody's in charge."
"Okay, people," Carlos claps once, walking into the bomb shelter as everyone sits down. "Let's stage a number. I'm late."
"Is Miss Jenn coming?" Nini inquired.
"Miss Jenn had a small personal matter to attend to and won't be here today." Carlos replied.
Ophelia furrows her eyebrows, looking at him with concern while she sits down besides Fallon and Luca. "Is everything okay?"
Seb nods. "Good question."
"Everything's fine." Carlos chuckles lightly. "Why would you guys even ask that?"
"Okay, Gabriella. I need you on stage on this mark." Carlos guides Nini over to the specific mark on the floor in front of where boxes were lined up. He looks at Ricky. "Troy, stage right."
"Chad, stage left box." Carlos points at EJ. He looks at everyone. "Um, other boys, find a box."
Luca got up along with the rest of the boys, standing on one of the boxes behind Nini. "Uh, are they on stage with me while I'm singing?"
"Yes, they will be frozen in various poses to come." Carlos answers. "As the ballad builds, Nini, you will be wandering through a forest of boys."
"Wait." Nini chuckles lightly. "What does that mean?"
"Do you know what a forest of trees look like?" Carlos asks and when she nods he continues. "Okay, but with boys."
"And, uh, I'm sorry, why?"
"Because your heart has just been shattered and you can't stop thinking of how amazing Troy is." Carlos replied to Nini. He told Seb to begin to play piano but Nini stopped him.
"Uh, no, I'm sorry," Nini apologizes. "But at this point in the show Troy just sold me out to his teammates."
"Well, she got a point." Ashlyn chimes in. "What Troy did was kind of unforgivable. Respectfully, Carlos, I think the last thing anyone wants in this moment is five more versions of him."
"Maybe she could chop down the trees." Natalie suggested.
"Or," Kourtney speaks up. "What if she's surrounded by a forest of loving and supportive sisters. Okay?" Words of agreement from most of the girls filled the room after she said that.
"Is it better if she just sings a solo acoustic version?" Ricky questioned.
When no one seemed to be on board with his idea Ophelia speaks up, sending him a smile. "I think that's a great idea."
"I agree!" Gina added.
"Okay, you guys, this is not a democracy!" Carlos exclaimed and the chatter in the room died down.
"Carlos, are you okay?" Nini walks over to him, looking at him with concern. "'Cause it's not that deep. We can all just come back here when Miss Jenn gets here."
"Well, she's not here, and I don't know if she's ever coming back." Carlos confessed.
Ophelia's eyes widen. If they don't have Miss Jenn then doesn't that mean they can't do the show? "Wait, what?" Ricky questioned.
"She's in deep trouble, you guys." Carlos responds. "They're saying that she lied on her job application and there's a school board meeting in less than twenty-four hours, and she's probably going to lose her job. I wasn't supposed to tell any of you, but I'm trying to do my best here."
Nini scoffs and goes to sit down at the piano bench beside Seb again. "I can't believe it."
EJ outstretches his arms out, asking, "What are we even doing here in rehearsal?"
"Wait," Ashlyn speaks. "How can we have a show if we don't have a teacher?"
"You know you could have told me." Seb spoke in a gentle tone to Carlos.
Carlos looks back at him. "Miss Jenn asked me not to."
"Wow, Carlos." EJ rolls his eyes. "What else are you not telling us?"
"EJ," Fallon point at him, looking at him with a stern expression. "Take it down a notch. This isn't Carlos' fault."
"Yeah, let's all breathe for a second." Ashlyn voiced.
Natalie looks at her. "Do you want to be in charge?"
"She didn't say that." Kourtney defended Ashlyn.
"You know what? I, um...I need a minute." Nini spoke, taking her backpack as she left the room.
Kourtney agreed with her and followed her out the room after grabbing her backpack. Everyone else started to leave too, including Fallon and Luca. Ophelia didn't even try getting them to stay since she knew there was no point in trying.
"Rehearsals are officially canceled until further noticed!" Carlos shouted.
Before Ophelia knew it she and Ricky were the only ones in the bomb shelter. She hated how silent it was. Well, the only sound in the bomb shelter was Ricky zipping up his backpack. Ophelia's heart felt heavy though. She noticed how upset Ricky looked when Carlos told everyone about Miss Jenn and she hated it when he was upset.
"I'm surprised at how important this musical became to you but it made me happy too." Ophelia speaks softly, walking up to him. He looks at her as she continues to speak. "Even though it feels like it fell apart, you'll always have be by your side."
Ricky sends her a small smile. "Thank you, Lia, you'll always have me by your side as well. But nothing fell apart. It's all going to be okay."
Ophelia tilts her head to the side, raising her eyebrows. "Okay, do you know something that I don't?"
"Lia, it's Miss Jenn. She's unstoppable. The whole show's unstoppable." Ricky replied.
Ophelia frowns. "What happens if it does stop?"
"Let's not go there." Ricky shakes his head. It was at this moment Ophelia noticed his teary eyes which made her heart ache. "It can't stop. We still have too much work to do."
"Okay." Ophelia speaks softly, her gaze landing on his guitar case. "Hey, how about you show me that acoustic solo you were talking about?"
Ricky looks at her with a bit of surprise, his lips forming into a smile. "You serious?"
Ophelia nods, looking at him with a smile. "Of course. You know I always love to listen to you singing and playing guitar."
Ricky grins and gets his guitar out of its case. She sent him an encouraging smile when he looks at her. He smiles at her and puts his guitar strap over his shoulder before he started strumming.
"I thought you were my fairytale. My dream when I'm not sleepin'. A wish upon a star that's comin' true." Ricky walks around her, and Ophelia turns to face him, the smile on her face widening as she listens to his beautiful voice. "And everybody else could tell that I confused my feelings with the truth. When there was me and you. Oh."
"I swore I knew the melody that I heard you singing, and when you made me smile you made me feel like I could sing along. But then you changed the words, now my heart is empty." Ophelia takes a seat on one of the boxes, resting her chin on her palm as Ricky stayed standing, facing her with a smile on his lips. "I'm only left with used-to-be's and once upon a song."
"Now I know you're not a fairytale and dreams are meant for sleepin'." Neither of the two best friends knew Nini was listening in at the door with a smile. "And wishes on a star just don't come true."
Ricky walks closer to Ophelia, taking a seat on the box beside her, and she smiled at him. When Nini walked further into the room to notice Ophelia was there the smile fell and she left. "'Cause now even I can tell that I confused my feelings with the truth. 'Cause I liked the view. When there was me and you."
Ophelia claps for him when he was done, looking at him with a grin. "Bravo! Encore!" Ricky smiled shyly and went to put his guitar away. "Thank you," Ricky bows which made Ophelia chuckle. "Thank you."
"I'll always be amazed by your guitar skills." Ophelia comments, standing up from the box. "You blow me away by your talent."
"Okay, but, like, you blow me away by your photography talent." Ricky pointed at her.
Ophelia scoffs. "It's just taking pictures."
"Sure," Ricky shrugs, walking over to stand in front of her. "But you know all about the different ways to make a picture perfect and you're passionate about it." Ophelia smiles shyly, not used to getting compliments. "Plus you're singing? Incredible." Ricky added, looking at her with a smile.
Ophelia feels her face heat up when he said that. "Thank you, Rick. That means a lot to me."
"Um, you don't have to answer this if it makes you uncomfortable, but why have you kept your incredible singing voice a secret from me?" Ricky asked her, tilting his head to the side.
Ophelia sighs, fiddling with the bracelet she wore. "I was just insecure about my singing voice and I'm still kind of am, but I'm a lot more confident with it now than I have been."
Ricky smiles softly. "Good. And listen, you shouldn't be insecure about anything, alright? You're perfect just the way you are."
Ophelia blushes as she smiles shyly at him. "Thank you. And the same goes to you." Ricky smiled and looked away quickly to hide the blush that formed on his face, hoping she wouldn't see it and lucky for him she didn't notice since she was still flustered by his comment.
Ricky clears his throat after a moment of silence filled the room. "Shouldn't we be doing something to help Miss Jenn?"
Ophelia tilts her head to the side, glancing at him. "What would that be?"
"Like, um...A letter writing campaign?" Ricky suggested.
"How would we do that in one night?" Ophelia furrowed her eyebrows.
"Yeah. I don't know." Ricky shook his head.
"Wanna come over for a movie night?" Ophelia asks, going over to pick up her backpack. She grins when she thought of an idea. "Oh! Or I can beat you at Mario Cart again."
Ricky scoffs, picking up his backpack and guitar case. "You only won 'cause I let you."
Ophelia rolls her eyes even though there was a small smile on her lips. "Uh huh. Sure."
A/N ok this chapter was so cute to write ! there wasn't much rickelia moments in the last chapter so i made up for it for this chapter :)