The theatre department now sat in the canteen, thinking maybe a new, slightly less pressuring room would drown out some of the stress of the morning. Ricky and Ashlyn played ping pong whilst the rest were littered around the large room, waiting for Val to return, hoping that Jet would be with them but Scarlett doubted they would be that lucky.
The blonde then wandered in a few moments later and the room went silent as everyone turned to look at her. "So?"
"Guys, we lost Jet." She informed sadly and everyone shared a worried glance with each other. What did she mean we lost him?
Maddox abruptly stood up from her seat as a few people gasped. "What?"
"Oh. Uh, sorry. Let me clarify. I talked to Dewey and it looks like Jet checked out of camp and went home." Val added on and a camera was suddenly switched on.
"He disappeared onto the open road. A lone minor. Thumb in the wind. Hair in the wind, for either fate or foe, to take him. That's you." He whispered pointing the camera toward Val who used her hands to attempt to cover the lens panning at her.
Maddox scoffed as the blonde shook her head. "Uh, yeah, not quite. An off-duty cop found him at a bus stop and his parents came and picked him up in a Buick." She explained and Ashlyn stood.
"Wait, why would Jet just leave without telling anybody?"
Everyone was silent at her question as they tried to come up with an answer, but to no avail, Corbin stepped in with more dramatics for his documentary. "So, our most interesting story's happening off-camera." Scarlett scoffed, crossing her arms over her chest as she began to realise maybe people were right when they said to never meet your heroes. "Guys. We really need to make this sing. 'Kay? Something active?"
Carlos excitedly came to his feet. "In summer?" He offered but the room didn't seem too keen until EJ looked down toward his girlfriend that sat beside him.
"Love is an open door?"
Scarlett grinned at the idea of finally being able to do something musical, sure, she'd rather be at the piano right now, it was always how she managed to shake away all of her nerves, but singing would work just as well for now.
Corbin pointed toward EJ with a nod, "Love is an open door. That's the Anna and Hans song, right? And we're missing the Hans part of it."
Scarlett nodded her head, "It is, but..."
Corbin then pointed to EJ, "You? You look like a 1980's villain."
Valentina snorted out a laugh, quickly covering her mouth as she tried to hide her smile and string of laughter. "Sorry."
"Thank you?" EJ replied with furrowed brows and Corbin nodded satisfactorily.
"You're welcome. Villians equal viewers. Kenny Ortega told me that when I turned down the Descendants." He added on, looking around the room as if searching for a specific reaction. "You..." he pointed to EJ. "Sing the song with Sally."
Scarlett furrowed her brows as she scoffed in disbelief, looking up toward EJ before back at Corbin Bleu. "Scarlett." She corrected but he merely pointed at her and nodded his head, quickly moving to the other side of the room to get the best shot.
"Sing the song here? In the canteen?" EJ asked and the cameraman looked at the boy with a stern glare.
"Big Brother has been on the air for 23 seasons. They haven't even left the house yet."
Corbin clapped his hands together, guiding the attention of each person back to him, something he seemed to be strikingly good at it and it was really starting to grate on her that he not only thought he could control the room but that he actually could. "Guys? Let's shoot somethin'."
The couple stood and Scarlett leaned her head in closer to EJ as they walked. "He's really starting to get on my nerves." She grumbled, placing on a smile as everyone's eyes turned to them.
EJ rubbed her shoulder slightly as they came to a stop, a small chuckle escaping his lips. "Which one?"
"Both of them." She grumbled, catching the eye of the equally aggravating cameraman and flashing him a smile.
Ashlyn strode over to the piano, throwing her arm up into the air as she paused in front of it. "I can jump in on piano!" She exclaimed, sitting down before anyone could answer her.
"Oh, no worries. We've already got the backing track. So..." Val began but she was caught off by Ashlyn who fidgeted on the piano stool.
"Not worried. But here I am, at the piano, ready to play." She stated loudly, looking into the camera's lens as it turned toward her.
Corbin nodded his head and pointed the granola bar, that Kourtney had given him, at the redhead. "I like the piano. That's humble. Let the needy girl play."
Scarlett cringed at the nickname the girl had been given but straightened out her expression once Corbin Bleu turned back to the couple standing to one side of the room. EJ smiled nervously, glancing at his girlfriend for a moment. "I'm a little rusty as an actor."
"Come on, Caswell," Scarlett murmured back. "It's just you and me and some silly little made-up town." She encouraged, bumping his shoulder. "But, may I point out, I lo- like you, but I'm not letting you finish my sandwich, that's too far." EJ let out a short chuckle and Scarlett shook her hands a little, shaking away the nerves of the close call. Where did that even come from? Either way, EJ ignored it, whether he noticed or not was a mystery.
The music began to fill the canteen and Scarlett let out a long breath before putting on a wide grin. "Okay, can I just say something crazy?"
"I love crazy."
"All my life has been a series of doors in my face..."
They fell into an easy rhythm, bouncing off of each other as they always did, creating an entertaining and fun performance for the audience, the documentary and themselves as they span each other around whilst trying to not laugh so the words still came out in perfect harmony. Scarlett grinned as she dipped EJ down and claps echoed around the room as she let out an excited laugh, finally being able to let it out as the lyrics came to an end.
______
A little while later they moved back into the barn and Scarlett, Kourtney, Carlos and Ricky stood on the small stage as everyone else found somewhere to stand or sit with Corbin and his cameraman in the centre of the room. "Okay. We'll make this quick, team."
"Yeah, EJ, give them a generic goodbye so that we can help the audience with the timeline. It doesn't matter what you say." He instructed and the boy nodded before pointing toward the camera and the group on stage.
"Through the camera or..."
"To them. That's it, boss. All right. We're Rollin'!"
Scarlett held her thumbs up to the boy before dropping them as the camera turned to face her. EJ cleared his throat and paused for a moment. "Uh..." He looked between each person on the stage, the four of them sharing multiple different expressions of excitement, confusion and boredom. "That was our day. And now it is over. Thank you." He smiled anxiously, turning a little to look at the camera before strolling away, the people around them clapping slowly.
The camera was then turned to Corbin, who opened his arms as if inviting the camera in as he grinned pridefully into the lens. "Till next time, Shallow Lake."
"And cut."
EJ then stepped forward again, placing himself next to Corbin as he looked around at the people hovering inside the barn. "Well, how did we do?"
"You guys were perfect." He replied and Scarlett couldn't help but grin at his words.
Ricky then hurried down the steps of the stage and made his way toward the man. "Thank you so much for everything, Mr Bleu... I think we're both feeling this, so..." He practically leapt forward, tightly embracing Corbin in a hug and he kind of reciprocated, patting the boy on the back.
"8 pm. Don't be late, we're watching High School Musical 3 tonight!" Val exclaimed and Carlos grinned, striding forward and swaying his hips a little.
"We're getting ready for the night of nights. The night of nights." He laughed as he was cut off by Corbin.
"Fun fact, I weirdly never saw that one, so..." He chuckled as people began to filter out of the barn to do their own thing, himself following as Carlos stood in total disbelief.
"Corbin Bleu is just a character in a documentary. He can't hurt me." He stated and Ricky rubbed his shoulder as he lead him out of the barn leaving Kourtney and Scarlett alone in the room.
Kourtney placed a hand on her heart as she watched him leave. "God bless his thirsty Broadway heart." She let out a small giggle and Scarlett nodded her head in agreement before turning to face the girl.
"Hey, EJ said we killed it today in the read-through." The brunettes threaded their arms together as they slowly walked toward the doors of the barn. "Best big-sis little-sis duo ever!" She grinned. "But I think mom has a little explaining to do."
Kourtney laughed, dropping her head onto Scarlett's shoulder as she pretended to stare off longingly. "If only they never got on that stupid boat. We would finally have the answers we crave."
______
Scarlett handed over her ticket to Val, sharing a small smile with her as she wrapped her blanket tighter across her shoulders and looked around for the familiar face of her boyfriend. Meer seconds later a pair of hands placed themselves over her eyes as a figure stood behind her, their breath hitting her neck as they spoke. "Guess who."
She chuckled a little, humming for a moment as she pretended to think about it. "Hmm." She let out a gasp. "Dan Stevens from the award-winning Beauty and the Beast movie!?" EJ rolled his eyes playfully, dropping his hands from her eyes to her waist as she spun around to see him. "Well, what a surprise!" She exclaimed, placing her hands against his chest in mock astonishment.
He let out a small laugh as he shook his head. "Really, Dan Stevens?"
Scarlett shrugged with a grin as she leaned her chin against her hands that were still firmly placed against his chest. "What can I say? Evermore was life-changing."
EJ let out a laugh as he kissed the top of her head. "I can't argue with that. Come on, I got us the best seats in the house." He stated dramatically, using one of his arms to show off the canteen that had been turned into a mini home theatre.
"What a gentleman," Scarlett replied and EJ replied with a quick, sweet kiss to her lips before dragging her over to the array of blankets that had been laid out across the floor. The film that began playing was not what Scarlett expected, but she couldn't lie and say she wasn't happier with Camp Rock. "Oh, my gosh. I could never live a lie like this." She stated with a laugh. "It seems wildly complicated."
EJ hesitated for a moment but Scarlett didn't notice as her eyes stayed glued to the screen. "Well, it's not like the character's exactly lying. She's just not telling everyone the whole truth about her situation." He defended loosely.
Scarlett popped another piece of popcorn into her mouth. "Yep, also known as lying and I hate liars." She responded, and it was very commonly known that Scarlett Evermore was not a fan of liars... at all.
______
Scarlett pushed open the doors of the barn, strolling into the room whilst wrapping her arms around her torso to try and gather some warmth as she quickly scanned the room for her missing script.
Thankfully, it was lying on top of one of the tables and she hurried over to it, lifting it up and also knocking off a small folded-up piece of paper. Scarlett bent down and picked it up off the floor. She had no intent in reading it until she noticed the name 'Caswell' delicately written at the bottom of the page.
Her brows furrowed as she unfolded the letter, her once relieved expression falling as she continued to read the words on the page. As Scarlett came to the bottom of the letter, her eyes scanning over the sign-off a few times, Val walked into the room and her eyes darted up to the blonde. "Hey, Val?"
She slowly turned around, "Yeah?"
Scarlett didn't mean to come off so harsh, but the memory of seeing EJ sitting with Val earlier flooded through her mind and all she could think about was how he lied to her. "Did you know about this letter?" She asked firmly and the blonde stayed silent, staring down at the floor as her hands found their way into her dressing gown pockets.
Scarlett scoffed, dropping the letter back down onto the table and snatching her script before storming out of the barn and back to the honeycomb where her upset, angered expression didn't go unnoticed. Val was the first to see though and as soon as she was through the door the raven-haired girl's eyes were on her frame.
"You found it!" She exclaimed before her smile faltered. "Hey, what's-"
Scarlett shook her head, dropping her script onto the small coffee table. "I don't wanna talk about it." She grumbled, ignoring the looks she was given as she walked into the bathroom, hastily shutting the door behind her to get at least a slither of privacy.