Scarlett was caught out of her daze by rushed, continuous knocks at her door. She paused, slightly confused but she picked up her pace when the knocking didn't stop, and once she opened the door to reveal Valentina she let out a breath of relief. "What are you doing?"
The girl barged inside, kicking off her shoes in a quick flash and falling onto the couch with a huff. "I messed up. I messed up bad." She replied, turning around to face the ceiling.
"What do you mean?" The brunette questioned, leaning against the wall as she looked down at her best friend.
Valentina shook her phone around in the air. "I messed everything up." She groaned in annoyance. "I told her I wanted to take a break. I don't want a break!"
Scarlett, who had finally realised what she was complaining about, sat down on one of the armchairs opposite the couch. "Why in the world would you do something as stupid as that?" She asked, receiving a glare from the girl.
"We were arguing and then all of a sudden, the words are spilling out of my mouth before I can stop and think about what the hell I was saying!" Val responded and Scarlett strode forward, dragging her up off her couch and back towards the front door. "What are you doing?" Her tone had changed to a more confused one as the girl guided her to the door, passing her the shoes she had previously thrown on the floor.
"You are going to go and apologise for being an idiot, and you are going to tell her that you don't want a break." She instructed, shoving her out of the door. "And don't come back until you've made it right!" She called out to the girl who was walking down the path and away from her house. "Idiot." She mumbled as she closed the door, going back to what she was doing before.
______
Scarlett hadn't heard from Valentina since yesterday when she came over and she couldn't tell if that was a good thing or not, but she had no time to worry about that situation as she sat in rehearsal, watching Gina perform an extremely complicated dance routine she had come up with for her and Nina.
The small brunette who played Gabriella finally made it to rehearsal, an hour later than everyone else.
"Everybody hold!" Ms Jenn called out, walking toward Nini. "Nini, where were you? We've been here for an hour."
The girl walked through the door and she started to apologise profusely. "I'm so sorry. I lost my phone and spent the whole of last night living as a hunter-gatherer, which, by the way, did you know that there are things only on TV at a certain time?" She explained, becoming slightly off-topic. "Okay, anyway, I finally picked it up at the lost and found..."
Nini paused for a moment and Scarlett turned her line of sight toward EJ, she knew he was going to go through with his plan but she hoped that maybe, just maybe, he'd have let it go. He must have noticed someone looking at him because he turned around looking back at the girl, guilt evident on his face. She shook her head as the girl continued to speak. "Wait, did you say an hour?"
The older woman nodded, "Gina sent you and me a text asking if we could come in early so she could talk through a new idea, You didn't get it?" She asked and the girl shook her head.
"No, because my phone was missing."
Ms Jenn didn't seem bothered by her excuse, "You've gotta keep better track of your stuff. A real-triple threat means singing, acting and being organised." She explained and Nini nodded in defeat. "Well, if you had been here, you'd know that Gina pitched a whole new dance break for Gabriella and Taylor in the middle of 'Status Quo' and she had Carlos work it out with her, and it is just dazzling." The blonde gushed and Gina walked up to the pair.
Scarlett turned her body away from the awkward encounter that was happening in front of her and moved to sit over with Ashlyn, sending Val a quick message to see if everything went well last night. She replied after a few moments and everything seemed to be fine but the girl, who was terribly bored with this rehearsal which she didn't even need to be involved in, decided to go to the room that her best friend was working in so she could get the details.
She scooped up her bag and quietly made her way to the door, thankful that Ms Jenn was preoccupied with Nini and Gina to see her leave. Once she had managed to make it out into the hallway, she hurried to the room that Valentina was supposed to be working in.
"Val?" She shouted after looking around for a minute and having not found her anywhere.
Suddenly, a bag of sand dropped to the floor next to her, causing her to jump away with a scream. "Sorry! Up here, Scarlett!"
The girl looked up to see Val messing with the lights they would be using for the production and she smiled sarcastically. "Having fun up there?" She wondered aloud and the raven-haired girl smirked down sarcastically at her.
"Having a blast." She answered as she continued to tweak with one of the spotlights before a loud crash came from another one of the sandbags dropping, this time much further away from the girl. "Okay, I have no idea what I'm doing!"
Scarlett was about to send her a witty remark before EJ knocked against the open door of the room. Both girls looked over at him as he leaned against the door frame awkwardly. "Ms Jenn needs you for a run-through for one of the songs." He announced and she nodded with a small smile as he began to leave the room.
"Wait!" He turned around, poking his head back into the room. Scarlett looked back up at Valentina before over at EJ. "Do you know anything about lights?"
He gave her a confused look, tapping his finger against the frame of the door before glancing up at the other girl in the room. "I can't say I do."
"Then what are all the muscles for?" Scarlett asked and Valentina nodded in agreement. The boy shook his head, walking back out of the room and Scarlett rapidly grabbed her belongings and raced out of the room after him. "They've got to be useful for something!"
______
Scarlett knocked on the door of Ashlyn's house, she had called the girl asking her if she could come over and see what she was working on for Miss Darbus and she eagerly accepted. She and the redhead had grown closer over the last couple of weeks, they seemed to match each other's energy quite well, and it was easy for them to get on.
They sat at the kitchen table, going through the music and adding notes, after Ashlyn had played her the piece, before the front door opened.
"We're in the kitchen, EJ!" She called out to the boy who shouted back a confused reply.
"We?"
He walked into the kitchen and Scarlett sent him a sarcastic smile back. "Found a use for those muscles yet?" She quizzed, referencing their last conversation which was more Scarlett attempting to catch up with him as she shouted at him in through halls on their way back to the bomb shelter.
EJ sighed and chose to ignore her, turning to his cousin. "Uncle Dennis and Aunt Debs aren't home, right?" He asked, pulling himself up onto the table in front of the two. "I don't really want an audience for this."
"Uh, thank you?" Ashlyn replied as Scarlett gave the pair a befuddled look.
"Audience for what?" She queried but got no reply.
EJ gave them an awkward smile, "You know what I mean." He answered. "Okay, you ready?"
Ashlyn nodded and the brunette anticipated what was about to happen. "I'm just impressed you wrote a whole song."
"What?" Scarlett exclaimed.
EJ nodded a small smile on his face. "Yeah, it's got metaphors and everything." He let out a small laugh and Ashlyn patted his leg, a smile on her face.
"Well, I'm proud of you. Sing from the heart."
Music began to flow out of his phone and he cleared his throat as Scarlett leant her chin on her hand as she awaited for the song which she presumed was for Nini. The track was upbeat and something Scarlett wouldn't personally use as a song for a partner, or to apologise with, but what did she know, it wasn't like she could speak from experience. Unless you could count her and Brendon in second grade, they lasted a whole two weeks, which at that age, very impressive if you asked her.
"Before you go and make that face when you're mad at me. So mad at me. Let me say, it's not my place going through your voicemails and your history."
The brunette's eyes widened slightly at the new piece of information she had received, she knew he had taken her phone, but she hadn't known what he had done with it.
"And if this were a TV show you know I'd have to go and plead insanity." He jumped off the table as he sang. "'Cause, the lyin' and spyin' and pryin' isn't really my personality. I'm an idiot for taking your phone!" He exclaimed, more speaking than singing as Scarlett stood up, taking her and Ashlyn's empty glasses over to the sink. "This is my fault, my bad. If I said a million sorrys. How about a billion sorrys? Ooh. You shine just like the stars and I'm not even a nightlight, 'cause what I did wasn't so bright." He stepped forward, grabbing the brunette's wrist and dragging her forward into the living room, guiding her quickly to a chair with Ashlyn following suit and sitting on the arm.
"I'm really sorry. Girl." He cleared his throat and lowered his voice. "Girl, you know I was scared that this would end. That's why I checked your DMs. This has been so hard for me to keep this secret from you and our friends. But given the chance, I would definitely do it again." The two girls shared a confused look with the boy who quickly corrected his mistake. "No, wait, that's not right. I mean that I wouldn't do it again! No! This is my fault, my bad if I said a million sorrys. How about a billion sorrys? Ooh. Can't we just start again? Once upon a time, I'm sorry. Nothing else to rhyme with sorry."
Scarlett quietly began to list things that rhymed with sorry before Ashlyn nudged her shoulder with a small chuckle. The girls walked back into the kitchen, EJ following.
"Ooh. Not so great at saying sorry. Hope you know I'm really sorry. Ooh!"
Once he had finished, he jumped up on one of the kitchen sides and Scarlett did the same with the kitchen island. Ashlyn stood next to her and they shared the same look of uncertainty. "Okay." The redhead replied, unsure of what else to say.
"Did you like it?" He asked and she tried to smile at him.
"There's a lot to admire."
The boy sighed in defeat, his small smile dropping into a frown. "It's too much."
Ashlyn struggled to find the right words and she looked over at Scarlett for help. "What Ashlyn is trying to say..." She started, unsure if he would take her words seriously or not. "Is that she hoped it would feel a little less boy band and a little more heartfelt. Maybe if you tweaked a couple of the lyrics. Like, there are words that rhyme with sorry." She explained before going on to list the words she was saying earlier. "Starry -"
"You know what." The boy slid off the kitchen side with a defeated look. "I can't do this. You're right. This is her thing with Ricky. She'll just see right through it. I'm gonna find her after rehearsal, tell her what happened, and straight up apologise."
Scarlett gave him a warm smile. "She might forgive you." She encouraged.
"Would you?" He asked and the girl sat there, slightly stunned.
Ashlyn smiled, trying to comfort him in a way. "I'm proud of you either way."
EJ left and the two shared a worried glance but decided to leave the situation how it was, it wasn't their position to meddle, so they went back to the song and began to go over the areas they thought could use improvement whilst they chatted aimlessly.