[Avni: Opening night! Just- yeah. Enough said.]
"EJ?" Avni asked. He was loitering around backstage.
"Oh hey! Good, you're early too." He glanced at the bag in her hands, "Are those the famous Mathur Kaju katlis?"
She smiled internally at his pronunciation- she could tell he'd tried hard. "Yeah," she said. "It's tradition, right? Also, did you buy Gina a plane ticket for tonight?"
Gina had texted Avni while she was coming to school.
"Maybe."
"Oh my god," Avni squealed and hugged him, well as well as she could seeing she had a huge bag in her hand. "Thank you, that's really sweet."
He beamed, "It's no problem. You want to get going?"
Avni nodded.
♡♡♡♡♡
"How many people are in here?" Ricky asked to the ceiling?
"Umm four?" Avni said.
"What are you guys doing here?" Nini asked, turning around.
"Oh, um-" EJ looked at Avni. "We sort of have this ritual we do before every opening night."
"We just sit in the middle of the stage and breathe," Avni said. And then- "Do you guys wanna come?"
"Avni!" EJ whisper-shouted.
"What? They're the leads- and this is a moment. We're passing the baton!"
"That's dramatic."
"When am I not dramatic?"
"Fair enough."
"Do you guys want to?" Avni asked. "It works, for what it's worth. You take in the stage, feel at one with its energy- whatever- it works."
Ricky glanced at Nini and they both nodded. "Why not?"
The four of them sat down on the gym floor.
After a moment of silence, Nini said, "Kourtney's playing Taylor tonight."
"Wait, really?"
"Yeah and she's going to ace it, but-"
"She hasn't learnt the choreography for Status Quo- Gina's choreo is so fucking complicated and-" Avni said, going from calm to panicked in seconds.
"Okay you guys are doing this wrong," EJ butt in. "No talking, no panicking. Avni, keep your shit together. You have no scenes with her."
"It's not even about that! I need-"
"Well make it about that. She'll pick it up, and we'll help her as much as we can, and if she goes on stage and does something completely different, then that's okay because no one in the audience actually knows the original choreography," he said firmly.
Avni let out a breath, "Yeah you're right."
"Hmm."
"We're going to kill this."
♡♡♡♡♡
"Sharpay's here!" Somebody yelled as Avni walked backstage.
"And she brought her sweets," Caden grinned at her. He was senior like her, and he'd been through a few opening nights.
She grinned back. "Everyone please make sure to take more than one piece- there will be no fainting today!" she told the room. "Also who sent that?" she pointed to huge basket of flowers.
"It's a mystery," Ashlyn said.
"My beautiful babies, let's gather round for some housekeeping!" Miss Jenn came in. "First of all, who brought Versailles?"
Avni chuckled, "No one knows."
"Well, I suppose we'll just have to share, then. Oh, and speaking of sharing, most of you know that our dazzling Taylor had to leave under family circumstances. Gina sends her love and support to all of you, but unfortunately, she's on the East Coast and won't be able to make it to tonight's performance."
"And so, I have asked Kourtney to fill in in her stead," she finished. She was met with applause and cheer for Kourtney.
"So now, what I would like to do is, please think of a word or phrase from the show that expresses where your head is, or your goals for tonight. If anyone wants to share?"
There was a brief pause. "You're my guys and this is our team," Big Red said. Avni smiled at him.
Ricky stood up next, "What if you wanna try something really new, and it's a total disaster and all your friends laugh at you?"
"Do you ever feel like there's this whole other person inside of you just looking for a way to come out?" said Nini.
Carlos went next, "Do the romp, and strut your stuff!"
Followed by Kourtney, "My shower head is very impressed with me."
"I'm proud to call you my sister," EJ said to Ashlyn which was cute as fuck.
"Close enough," she laughed. "My nail beds are history."
"Sharpay's kinda cute, too," Avni started.
"So is a mountain lion, but you don't pet it!" Everyone chimed in.
"And I'll just say, no matter what happens tonight, we're all in this together," Miss Jenn said. "Okay, Wildcats, take a moment to settle your nerves. If we had a curtain, it would be up in 20 minutes!"
♡♡♡♡♡
Avni took a breath in.
You're Sharpay. Use her confidence. You're Sharpay. There's no one more badass than Sharpay.
♡♡♡♡♡
"Yeah, yeah, that's completely impossible," Ricky said (as Troy).
"What's impossible, Troy? I wouldn't think impossible was even in your vocabulary," Avni came up from behind the pillar, too- sweet smile on her lips. The smile dropped dramatically when she caught a look of Nini (Gabriella).
"So nice of you to show our new classmate around," she said, giving Nini a once-over. She didn't wait for a reply, just wrote her name in large pink letters over the entire sign- up sheet, making the A's into stars.
Damn, I love Sharpay.
"Oh," she said casually. "Were you going to sign up too? My brother and I have starred in all of the school's productions and we welcome new- comers," she smiled the Sharpay smile again. "There are a lot of supporting roles in the show. I'm sure we could find something for you."
"No, no- I was just looking at all the bulletin boards. Lot's happening in the school, wow," Nini said. "Nice penmanship," she said, walking off-stage, as Avni frowned after her.
When she caught that Troy was walking away, the smile returned as she chased after him.
"So, Troy, I missed you during vacation. What'd you do?" Avni asked him, trying to ignore the fact that the lines were really apt for their current situation. Ricky and Avni hadn't really talked since Thanksgiving.
"You know, um, play basketball, snowboarding, more basketball."
She smiled again, "When's the big game?"
"Uh, two weeks," Ricky said half-heartedly.
"Oh, you are so dedicated. Just like me."
Ricky only laughed.
"I hope you come watch me in the musical. Promise?" Avni made Sharpay's version of puppy-dog eyes.
Ricky nodded begrudgingly, and started walking away.
"Toodles," Avni called after him.
He whipped back around, "Toodles," he whispered.
Avni's smile dropped into the bitch face again as she watched him go, and then she herself turned and walked off-stage, watching the stage transform for Getcha Head in The Game.
♡♡♡♡♡
"Maybe this time we'll hit the right notes..."
Ricky hit the right note as EJ spun a basketball on his finger next to him.
"They're crushing it," Gina said to Avni in the wings.
Avni grinned at the girl, "I'm really glad you're back."
Gina smiled back.
"Ooh, here it comes," Avni said, as EJ hooked the harness onto Ricky.
"So far so good," Gina said nervously.
"Should I go for it?" Ricky asked, hovering in the air- and then hesitated for a beat too long. He was looking out at the crowd.
"What is he doing?" Avni whispered. It was really quiet.
The ball fell from his hands.
"What is he doing?" she asked again.
"I-I gotta shake this, yikes," he said shakily. Natalie let him down, but he kept missing his lines and cues and messing up the steps.
"Oh my god, Ricky," Avni whispered to herself.
The basketball slipped from his hands and went down the aisle in the audience. He just stood there, paralysed, till the end of the song, and then exited.
"What just happened?"
____________________________________________
A/n
I don't understand how the show showed Stick To The Status Quo before Get'cha Head In The Game- it makes no sense. Like I get they had to for plot purposes but still. Also how did I never notice that before?
But the next chapter is really fun, this is just setting the scene.
If you like where we're going so far, please comment and vote!
PS. I update every day (mostly)