*************************
I left Chicago early, as planned. Ricky and I haven't talked since, but I have to keep reminding myself how that isn't abnormal for us.
I spent the rest of spring break thinking about Ricky, but I continue to downplay any feelings that I might have.
Now, it is the first Monday after spring break; after school, in rehearsal, indistinct chatter filled the auditorium.
"All right, let's get started!" Carlos shouts, tapping his clipboard, but failing to earn the attention. "Hello? Let's get started!"
"Okay, Wildcats!" Miss Jenn beams, clapping her hands, "Let's shake spring break out of our systems."
I cast an uncomfortable glance over, "I'd love to." I thought to myself.
"And try the Beast transformation one last time. And remember, this is the triumph of the show, the moment the audience has been waiting for. This has to work!" Miss Jenn rants, distressed.
"Wait," I start, "I'm confused as to why we all have to be here then?" My tone was unintentionally snappy, earning confused looks from the rest of the drama club.
"If you are a part of the show, you are a part of rehearsal." Miss Jenn reminds, trailing to let her words sink in.
From my side view, I noticed Ricky's gaze linger on me for a moment.
I nod in acknowledgment, "Right." quietly.
"Ricky, try not to rush this time. We'll speed it up when you're more confident." Miss Jenn instructs, earning his attention.
"Got it." Ricky confirms, tearing his eyes off me.
"Let's take it from... "You came back." She directs.
As the rest of us step back, letting Ashlyn and Ricky rehearse, I take a seat at the piano.
"What's up with you?" EJ quietly questions, leaning against the piano. He genuinely sounded and looked concerned.
I wave it off, "I've just never really been a minor character before." That wasn't a lie, so he bought it.
EJ nods in understanding, "I totally get it. Remember my freak out last year?" He scoffs and rolls his eyes, "I was a mess."
I huff a laugh, nodding, "Yeah."
We turned our attention to Ricky and Ashlyn rehearsing the scene where the beast transforms back into a man. Ricky wasn't at his best, it seemed like something was bothering him.
I kind of hoped that maybe he couldn't stop thinking about me, about spring break. But it's probably just because of Nini.
"Cut!" Miss Jenn shouts.
"Sorry, Natalie." Ricky nervously grins, after accidentally hitting her with the beast mask upon trying to perfect the transformation.
Then, a very distressed Miss Jenn attempted to lie to us and herself by saying that everything was going fine. She went into her office, and Carlos nervously announced a long five, before following after her.
After sharing a shocked look with EJ, he walks away with a huffed laugh.
As I take a swig of my water bottle, Ricky approached me. I attempted to stay causal when I felt my heart practically pounding out of my chest.
"Hey..bro." His tone was awkward and unsure, with narrowed eyes.
I scoff a laugh, "Bro," I sarcastically greet, gulping down more water to avoid the uncomfortable void—but that surprisingly made it worse.
He huffs an uncomfortable laugh, "You, uh..drinking water?"
"No. I'm trying to drown myself." I deadpan, twisting the cap onto the bottle.
"Wrong princess/musical. We're doing Beauty and the Beast." Ricky jests, holding up finger guns in hopes of getting a laugh out of me.
My brows furrow, crossing my arms, "That's a little dark. I don't remember a princess trying to drown herself."
Shock crossed his face, completely dumbfounded and uncomfortable.
"Water.. Mermaid.." He reminds, before regretting his words, "That is a Princess movie, right?"
I nod in affirmation, "Hm. Must've ended up on the cutting room floor, though."
"It was in the book." He sarcastically shot back.
"Could've said musical." I remark, glancing over uncomfortably.
Our witty remarks weren't flying through the air as casually as they normally do. They were awkward and uncomfortable.
"Sweeney," Ricky snaps, and I raise my brows at the solemnity.
"I woke up in the middle of the night to you using me as a pillow." His tone was more comfortable, a gentle smile tugging his lips at the memory.
My heart melted at how endearing he thought that was. I downplayed my smile and held my head up. I wanted to keep my guard up. Especially with this weird tension between us. I can't explain it, but it felt like I was dreaming. There was an unfamiliar feeling in my chest.
"Then you were gone in the morning." He went on, now puzzled, and even a little hurt.
I press my lips together, nodding along, "I had to leave earlier than you, remember?" I remind, my tone harsher than needed.
His brows furrow, taken back, "Why do I feel like you're mad at me?" He almost sounded defeated.
"Why do you think that?" I casually quiz.
He glanced over uncomfortably, "Did I do something?"
"Did you?" I sarcastically shot back.
Before he could speak, his phone started ringing, so he picked it up casually, "Hello." He greeted, before growing confused.
"Hi, Ricky. Sorry to pop in like this." Hearing a girl on the other end of FaceTime sparked my curiosity, but not enough to stay.
Not until...
"Lily." Ricky blurted, confirming the girl's identity, causing me to grow confused. "How did you get..my number?" With confusion in his tone, he glanced at me, I shrug.
"Friend of a friend." Lily informs, "I just need some advice- is this too weird? Should I not have called you?"
"Uh, no. Uh, I don't know. What's up?" Ricky blurts.
"I'm struggling." in a theatrical tone that Ricky couldn't detect.
It took everything in me not to burst out laughing in amusement. Instead, I rolled my eyes with an intrigued smile tugging my lips.
"And I know we have something in common." She paused for the dramatic.
Ricky grew more confused, "I literally can't think of anything."
"We're the stars of our respective shows."
He nods, still confused, "Oh, okay."
"And you're just so good at being a leading man."
"You think so?" He blurts, trying to mask his confusion and discomfort.
"Everyone was so happy when you got the Beast. We all kinda felt bad for you when your girlfriend didn't support you." Fake pity laced her tone.
Ricky glances at me, I roll my eyes. Lily thought we were dating the day that she met us, so we both know she is talking about me.
"You're a natural leader, Ricky. I just wasn't raised like you. My mom always says, if I'm not adding followers, I'm not adding value."
At this point, I couldn't hold back my laugh. I put my hand over my face, shutting my eyes in amusement because Ricky is falling for her act.
"Oh, that sounds hard."
Lily went on to say how she isn't well liked at North High, then Ricky suggested the golden rule: treating people how you want to be treated.
Lily ended the call with, "You're a good soul. Hug emoji, okay?"
"I got it." a puzzled Ricky concludes.
The moment he hangs up, I burst out laughing.
"You're a good soul." I mock her.
"Was that weird?" Ricky questions, with narrowed eyes in confusion.
"Hug emoji?!" I repeat, dumbfounded while laughing.
Ricky huffs a laugh, smiling and nodding in amusement over how entertained I am over this.
"I can't.." I playfully mutter, stepping away to leave.
He took the hint, a bit taken aback while nodding in acknowledgment. As Ricky walked away, from the corner of my eye, I saw him turn his head to look back at me as I turned my back.
************************
After school, Carlos urges the drama club to meet at Slices.
"There you are!" EJ announces Carlos' long-awaited arrival.
"We all got your text." Gina pressed.
"You guys," a stressed Carlos starts, "Mother is freaking out. It's about the Menkies. Is everyone sitting down?" He dramatically questions.
We all look at each other, puzzled, because everyone is standing up.
"No." EJ blurts, in a 'duh' tone, while Big Red sits down.
"We can't win." Carlos blurts, causing confused chatter to fill the silence when he paused for the dramatic.
"Listen, there's math involved." He continues.
I huff a sarcastic laugh, "Count me out then." Only Seb heard, he lightly chuckled.
"If we don't sweep the technical achievement awards, we don't have a chance. And, no offense, Ricky, but..." Carlos let the silence speak for itself, causing the attention to fall on a confused Ricky.
Realization dawns on him, "Oh, is this about the transformation? 'Cause I can throw that mask at someone other than Natalie." He blurts, pointing at her.
"You haven't yet." Natalie chimes in, standing next to me.
"I hate to say this, you guys. I mean, I know we all had a good time over spring break." Carlos trails.
"Some of us a little more than others." Seb sarcastically mutters, referring to Carlos' vacation that caused the fight they are in today.
"Not today." He blurts, holding his palm out dismissively.
I frown, "I hate it when you fight."
Carlos continues, "Honestly, we need to rally behind Miss Jenn. I mean, our sets are made of plywood and Elmer's Glue. We're humble. Humble does not win awards." He panics.
Ashlyn was about to speak, but was cut off by Kourtney yelling at Howie; then casually shifting her attention onto us, while serving drinks.
"Fresh soda. Y'all okay?" She grins, setting the drinks on the table.
"Carlos was just explaining-" Gina starts.
"I heard it all." She assures.
"While you were yelling at Howie?" a puzzled Gina questions.
Kourtney shrugs, "Multitasking. Look, I'm a designer, Big Red's a crew guy. Between the two of us, you're looking at your answer."
Seb raises his brows, "Quit school and get a job at the pizza shop?" He sarcastically assumes.
"Uh, no," Kourtney blinks, "We should invent something amazing. Something we can run at tech rehearsal tomorrow night. A next-level transformation that out-broads Broadway and out-norths North High." She encourages, then squeals.
Her excitement and words of encouragement intrigued us, filling the room with hope.
"Ashlyn," Nini earns the attention, "What if I invite myself and some of the girls over after school, continue the collab thing?" She suggests.
Ashlyn lets out a hum of admiration, "A hundred percent, yes."
"Wait, should we all stick together?" Gina questions.
"Oh, no way." Nini insists, locking arms with Kourtney and Ashlyn.
"My basement's free." Big Red suggests, "We have a ton of old tools. The guys can make something cool."
Nini shrugs, "Great. May the best transformation win." She grins.
*****************************
"One hundred percent real faux fur." Kourtney announces, setting the design on the table, while we get settled into Ashlyn's house. "Thirty yards." She informs.
"Must've been a truly enormous faux animal." Ashlyn jests, "So, what are we doing?" She chuckles.
Kourtney smiles, "Okay, so you know those sequined tops, where if you rub them one way, they're purple, but if you rub them the other way, they're red?"
Ash nods, "Duh, love it."
"So, we're going to do that with the Beast cape. But instead of purple and red, it's going to be fur and satin." She concludes with a low, fake British accent, displaying the cape on her back, "Y'all feel me?"
Nini nods, "Kourt, you are a visionary."
Kourtney humbly flicks her hair, "Oh, thank you. The boys can build something that spins the Beast around to disguise the transition."
"Wow." Seb blurts, earning the attention, "Won't that take a while?"
Kourtney shrugs, "I'm in, if you are."
"I guess I could sleep over tonight." Gina jests, since she is already living there, and we laugh.
"You guys," Seb starts, "I'm all about costumes, but don't know if my parents would be cool with a co-ed sleepover." He nervously grins.
"Hey!" I gripe, "Your parents have let me sleep over numerous times. Just call your mom."
"I don't know.." He trails.
Kourtney turns around to face him, "Chip, this is your mother speaking. Go call your mother." She instructs, in a playfully serious tone.
Seb sends a tight-lipped smile, pointing his forefingers out with "gotcha" in the gesture, walking away.
I share a laugh with Kourtney, approaching her.
"So," I start, helping her get the rest of the designs out, "Things have been kinda awkward-"
"I'm so sorry." She blurts.
I wave it off, "It's not your fault. I wasn't dating Howie, you did nothing wrong."
Kourtney smiles appreciatively, nodding along.
"Before all that, you and I were kinda getting close again, and I loved it. But now things are.." I trail off, hoping she understands.
She nods in agreement, "Kinda awkward again? I get it. I don't want it to be like that either."
"No hard feelings? I'm happy for you." I grin.
"No hard feelings." She confirms, smiling wide, "Thank you." I give her a tender shoulder squeeze.
The other girls were distracted by unloading the other props, that was until Ashlyn spoke up.
"Behold my scissors bucket." She brags, holding the bucket proudly.
I let out a hum of fake admiration, "What would we do without you, Ash?" I joke.
"I think about that every day, B." She playfully brags, shrugging, and we share a laugh.
***********************************
Kourtney and I admire the faux fur cape, looking in the mirror with Seb modeling in between us.
"Ooh, this is going to be so good, Carlos would wear it." She beams.
I nod in agreement, huffing a laugh, "Absolutely."
"B, Seb, you guys know him best," Ashlyn starts, "Does he just walk around in Armani sweatpants?"
I nod, "Basically."
"I guess." Seb blurts, his tone wasn't as enthusiastic as mine, leading the girls into further believing that he and Carlos might be fighting.
"Uh, Sebby?" Kourtney wonders.
"Is something going on with you guys?" Nini pried.
Seb caves in, "I guess you could say, he met a group of extremely photogenic guys when he was down in Mexico, and he seems pretty happy. So, now I'm pretty sad."
"You want to see him happy. That's with you." Ashlyn backs him up.
I nod in agreement, "That's right. But, before you guys even got together, Carlos' eyes would light up when he'd talk about you."
"Mmm, out of default, right?" He blurts.
My brows furrow, "What do you mean?"
"There's not a lot of other choices for a boy like Carlos here at East." Seb explains, sitting on the couch.
"No, Seb." I dismiss, shaking my head, "Look, Carlos has my word, but trust me when I say that he feels just as bad as you do."
Seb huffs an uncomfortable laugh, shaking his head, "Yeah, he tells you stuff. But he and I, well, we're not so good at saying the feelings part out loud to each other."
"Never hurts to put yourself out there." Gina encourages.
"I just feel, like, crazy for being upset." He admits.
Nini waves it off, "That's nowhere near crazy. The craziest thing I've done, relationship-wise, was steal my ex-boyfriend's favorite jacket.."
My face lit up in surprise, and my mouth slightly dropped open as I glanced over. Thankfully, the girls did not notice my stunned reaction.
(Bianca: in Ashlyn's kitchen)
She holds her arms out triumphantly, smiling in victory, "I knew it!"
"I ended up putting it in the lost and found so he wouldn't know where it's at." She concludes, sharing a laugh with the group. I force a laugh to appear casual.
Gina nods in approval, "Gina 1.0 loves that."
"Also," Nini starts, looking in Gina's direction, "Did I see you and EJ being cute at the pizza place?" She teases.
Ashlyn nods, "I have some questions in the same general area."
"Are they disapproving questions?" Gina questions, slightly nervous.
"Gina, you're my sister. He's my cousin." Ashlyn's wrongly worded sentiment caused all of us to share disgusted looks.
"And if that didn't sound so weird, you would know what I'm trying to say." She blurts, making us laugh. "I love you both." Ashlyn concludes.
"He kinda saved me, but it was just a nice thing. There's nothing romantic in the cards for us, he was just really sweet over the break." Gina rants.
I nod in agreement, "I get it. The break was kinda intense for everyone." I huff an uncomfortable laugh.
"Where did you go during break, Bianca?" Kourtney questions.
"Um.." I trail off into an uncomfortable, huffed laugh, "Chicago."
"Oh, Ricky did, too!" Gina beamed as if it were a fun coincidence.
Seb and Ashlyn, being the only two in the room who know, shared an uncomfortable look.
I clear my throat, "Okay. What's next?" Shifting my attention to the design.
The girls shared confused looks, and Nini was suspicious. But thankfully, Ashlyn diverted the attention.
*********************************************Third-person POV*
"Hey, I got your text. The boys packed up and headed to school. What's up?" Carlos questions, masking his confusion with a sweet smile.
Ricky rubbed his hands together, pondering.
"Ricky?" Carlos urges.
"The look on your face when you were talking about Seb..." He trails off into a sigh, referring to their earlier conversation, "Nini's never looked at me like that." He mutters.
"But?" Carlos prompts, catching on, "Someone else has?"
"I don't exactly what it means for me, but-"
"I do." He blurts, "If this is about Bianca.." Carlos pauses.
Ricky tenses up, before huffing an uncomfortable laugh, "Spring break was..I don't know exactly. Has she said anything to you?"
"Look," Carlos sighs, "I wouldn't tell a soul, she has my word. But, if you feel something..talk to her. You don't even have to say anything to me, I could tell by the way you were acting at rehearsal."
"But what if I don't even know?" Ricky questions, stressed.
Carlos offers a small smile, "Then you wouldn't be the only one."
Ricky glanced over, huffing a laugh in disbelief over the thought of the girl on his mind feeling the same way, "Really?"
"Talk to her!" Carlos encourages, throwing his hands.
"Okay! But, the other reason I called you was..I think you and Seb have something worth fighting for, bro."
Carlos' eyes widen at the nickname, crossing his arms as he is taken aback, "Sorry. I'm adjusting to being called "Bro." He jests, then takes a deep breath, "Seb and I get so awkward when we talk about our feelings. We can passionately dissect Twitter feuds between pop stars. But, when it comes to talking about us, we both get a little tongue-tied."
Ricky glances over, gaining an idea, "What if you didn't have to say how you were feeling?" He put forth, insinuating writing a song.
*********************************************Bianca's POV*
Big Red struggles to identify which key unlocks the auditorium, while we bring in the designs and equipment.
"These two are for the pizza shop. This one's for the front door of my house. This one's for my bike lock. Oh! I haven't seen this one in a while." Big Red beams, holding the key up to show us.
"You do have the key, right, babe?" Ashlyn questions.
"Yeah, I narrowed it down to this half of the chain." He grins, before failing to unlock the door.
Natalie opens the door for him, from the inside, "You could've just knocked."
Once we are settled in the auditorium, we study the original Broadway blueprints for the transformation.
"Okay. Wait." Gina starts, "So, in the Broadway show, all they did was suspend the Beast in the air, and then he takes the mask off."
"But combine this with the wire from Get'cha Head in the Game, we're golden." Ashlyn grins.
"Do we still have it?" I question.
Kourtney nods, "Ooh, it's in the costume shop, somewhere."
"Everyone, let's meet back in 15." Natalie put forth.
"In 15," Seb confirms.
While everyone walks away, my phone chimes: Carlos💌: "meet me in the bomb shelter pleaseee!"
Once I am in the bomb shelter, I find Carlos with Ricky, who is holding a guitar.
Taken aback, my brows furrow, "What's up?"
"Ricky and I wrote a song that I can sing for Seb, instead of verbally saying my feelings." Carlos grins.
I smile, with a hand over my heart, "That's so sweet. He's gonna love that!"
Carlos huffs, nodding, "I hope so. I'm gonna go get him."
And with that, Ricky and I were alone.
"That's sweet." I broke the silence.
Ricky nods in agreement, "Yeah. They have something special."
I smile, "Absolutely."
The room fell silent: it was uncomfortable and full of unspoken words.
"Oh," Ricky blurts, handing me a paper, "This is the melody sheet. I was hoping you could play the piano for the song? I know my handwriting's bad-"
I huff a laugh, "It's fine. I understand it." I cursed how gentle I sounded, and my small smile of adoration upon finding his rant endearing.
As I practice a little, Ricky appeared hesitant, like he was preparing to speak. But he stayed silent, and our friends returned.
Seb's brows furrow, "Am I in trouble?"
"Just listen. I mean every word of this. Even the ones Ricky wrote." Carlos grins.
During the heartwarming song where Carlos confesses that he would choose his boyfriend in a heartbeat, it instantly eases Seb's mind.
They danced together and got lost in their own world, then Big Red walked in, "Hey. You guys good?"
Seb grins, nodding, "Yeah."
"Come on! We have a Beast to transform." Big Red encourages.
I stand up from the piano, proudly smiling at Carlos, before giving him a tender shoulder squeeze, "I'm proud of you." I mouth, and his eyes soften.
"Come on!" Seb grins, pulling my hand to leave with him. I turned my head to look back at Ricky, who was lost in conversation with Carlos.