┏━━━━━━༻❁༺━━━━━━┓
𝗜 𝗦𝗧𝗜𝗟𝗟 𝗗𝗢
chapter eight:
tell myself it's time now, gotta let
go — but moving on from him is
impossible !
┗━━━━━━༻❁༺━━━━━━┛
"PEOPLE, I WILL BE reading tarot cards in five minutes," Ashlyn stated to the entire group. "Please make an orderly pentagram."
"Orderly pentagram?" Violetta asked, her eyebrows raising. Not the demonic things coming out on Halloween. "Oh God."
Mack blinked at her in confusion. "Is this a normal occurrence?"
"It's Ashlyn," Athena replied. "If you want witch vibes, go to her. Happy Halloween."
They dispersed slightly, getting more snacks and more drinks before Ashlyn's tarot cards reading. Violetta pulled out her phone, noticing some messages from EJ, as per usual — the latest one was him telling her he loved her costume after she had sent him a picture of it, per his request. However, the comfort that brought her was minimal to the feeling of uneasiness increase as she watched the minutes tick closer and closer to minute. She didn't want to announce to the world that she was dating Mack, especially since she hadn't talked to everyone about it.
"Come on in," Ashlyn urged with an excited smile.
"What's up with you?" Athena question, her gaze burning into the side of Violetta's face.
"I really have to tell you something," Violetta revealed, because oh God, she needed to get it off of her chest. "It's something I don't want to do, but Mack—"
"Hey Wildcats!" a familiar voice exclaimed.
Violetta stopped talking, looking over at the stairs. None other than Dani was standing there, dressed of Gabriella Montez from High School Musical 3 to a t from the white dress to the red graduation outfit. Kourtney instantly shrieked at the sight of her. Violetta, however, knit her eyebrows in confusion. What was she doing here, and why was she dressed as Gabriella?
"Dani's here?" Gina questioned.
"It appears so," Ricky responded, although he sounded a lot like he already knew.
"Uh . . ." Athena began "Why is she wearing a High School Musical 3 Vanessa Hudgens costume?"
"That's actually a really interesting question."
Violetta immediately narrowed her eyes at him — by the tone of his voice, she knew he had something to do with this. "Ricky, what did you do?"
"Kourtney, my bestie of the week," Dani announced. She then looked at Kourtney's sweatshirt, which she had changed from her original Harvard one not too long ago. "Wait, did you go to Princeton?"
"Girl, I'm in high school," Kourtney replied.
"Yes, I know what order people go to schools." Dani then looked at Ricky with a wide smile. "Ricky, hey."
"Dani, you remember Violetta," Ricky said. "And this is my girlfriend, Athena."
Her eyes instantly went to Violetta. "My switcharoo. Love that for us."
Violetta tilted her head in confusion, because what did that mean? "I'm sorry, what does switcharoo mean?"
"It's, um—" Ricky started to say
"Okay, who are you right now?" Dani inquired, staring at Ricky's costume. "Because this is not what we talked about."
"Talked about?" Athena repeated, and Violetta glanced in between Ricky and Dani, hopelessly lost. "What do you mean talked about?"
"We didn't—" Ricky voiced.
"Wait," Dani continued. "Did you go as a different Zac Efron movie? Are you giving 17 Again?"
"I'm so lost," Athena admitted.
"You and me both," Violetta agreed. No, seriously. She had no idea what was going on. "What is happening?"
"Let's begin!" Ashlyn yelled happily.
Violetta sent one suspicious glance towards Dani before sitting down on one of the chairs in Gina's room. She focused on Ashlyn. Whatever Dani was saying, which was complete nonsense, could wait.
Carlos turned to the pumpkin head person next to him, who still hadn't left after the candy incident. "Hi. I'm sorry, do you go to North High or something?"
Ashlyn's gaze lingered on the person with the pumpkin head before moving on. "Okay. These tarot cards are very special. They were a gift from the Madam Stephanie, my psychic and life coach, who is currently accepting new clients. She asked me to tell you that."
"Ugh, if I hear that lady's name one more time . . ." Kourtney trailed off.
"I know," Carlos finished. "Daniel, my telepath, said she's a joke show."
"Are we all here?" Ashlyn asked, looking around the room. "Oh, uh, hang on. Where's Maddox?"
"I think she went to go check the fuse box," Jet answered. "Something about a light flickering."
"Uh, I hope not," Gina stated. "That fuse box is really old."
Suddenly, the lights flickered out, followed by a loud scream from Maddox. The entire room immediately turned dark, and everyone yelled. Violetta jumped a little, glancing up towards the ceiling.
"It's fine, it's fine, it's fine," Ashlyn let out as the lights came back on. "Just—"
"Maddox!" Carlos shouted in horror.
Violetta turned, her eyes instantly widening in fear at what she saw. Maddox was standing by the stairs, her wig sticking up in random places and smoke billowing from her head. She had a dazed look on her face and rocked back and forth until she promptly passed out, her body landing on the floor. Everyone screamed in reaction. Violetta stood up from her seat, staring down at Maddox.
"Oh my God," Ricky voiced. "What do we do?"
"Call an ambulance!" Ashlyn ordered, pushing everyone out of her way and dropping to her knees next to Maddox. "I'll do mouth-to-mouth, as a friend!"
She bent herself over Maddox.
Maddox opened her eyes. "Boo."
Ashlyn scrambled away from Maddox with a loud scream. Instantly, Maddox started to laugh. Violetta let out a breath of relief, her heart rate slowing down slightly. As far as Halloween pranks went, that would definitely be making it in Violetta's books.
"Wow, that — that was a good one," Ricky admitted.
"The Woman in the Woods could never," Carlos added.
Maddox got to her feet. "Well, I felt like I owed you all a good scare after the legend of Susan Fine kinda crashed and burned." She then noticed that Ashlyn was still completely freaked out. "Hey, Ash, you okay?"
"Mmm-hmm," Ashlyn hummed in response.
Violetta raised an eyebrow, because that response was totally too high-pitched for it to be believable. No way was she buying that.
"Are you crying?" Carlos questioned.
"Why would I be crying?" Ashlyn replied, but the way her voice was all choked up and shaky instantly gave it away. "It was humorous. These are laugh tears. Shall we begin?"
She pushed her way through the crowd again, her head ducked as she tried to control her emotions.
Kourtney stepped out of her way. "Ooh, yeah."
Ashlyn cleared her throat, making herself presentable. "Okay." Everyone sat down again, and Maddox and Jet shared a victory high-five. "Okay. Please remember I am new to this and it's just for fun." Ashlyn wiped a tear away from her eye and opened up the box, going through the stack of cards. "Ooh. This first card is . . ." She turned it around to show them. "Death."
Carlos raised his hand in the air. "Present."
"Actually, the Death card means something in one's life is ending."
"Okay, you don't have to hit me over the head with it. Seb and I are over."
"Could be for me, though," Maddox revealed sheepishly. "Mad and Mad are . . . bad."
"And although Violetta and I haven't officially declared what we are yet, there's definitely something special happening here," Mack announced.
Violetta shut her eyes in frustration. Oh God, here they go.
Athena looked over at them in shock. "What?"
"Oh, just check my TikTok at midnight and see what's up," Mack told her.
"Vi . . . is this a Halloween prank or are you being for real? Because I thought—"
Violetta immediately put her face in her hands, not really having the strength to do this right now. "'Thena, please."
Dani then got up from her chair. "Well, I'll tell you what's not a prank. I am thrilled to be stepping into the role of Martha in East High's production of HSM3." At once, Violetta picked her head back up, staring at Dani incredulously. Uh, what? "Yes, I know that I am dressed as Gabriella alongside my forever Zac Efron, Ricky with the good hair, but this costume was a lot easier to put together than Martha."
"Wait, what?" Carlos inquired.
Dani gave Ricky a frown. "You didn't tell everyone the plan?"
"Yeah, Ricky, you didn't tell everyone the plan?" Athena repeated, standing up with her arms crossed. "What is this?"
"Hey, um, it seems the cards have awoken some demons," Ashlyn interrupted.
Violetta stood up, a frown on her face and her heart sinking. "I'm out of the show?"
"No, no," Ricky stated. "This was supposed to be a favor. I wanted to talk to you in private, but it's a good thing."
Violetta stared at him, because honestly, this wasn't making any sense to her. "A good thing? What about this is good? I don't want to be fired from the show."
"She has a point," Dani voiced.
Ricky glanced at Dani. "Please, just stay out of this." He looked back to Violetta, who was just struggling to wrap her mind around everything that was going on right now. "Vi, you work until nine P.M. every night, you're up before school to film this movie. Honestly, I thought you'd be relieved. And I'm not the one who's supposed to be posting a selfie at midnight with Mack."
"Ricky," Athena scolded.
"So this is your version of looking out for me?" Violetta argued, anger rising up inside of her. She couldn't believe this. "Firing me from a show? No way, Bowen. And besides, the thing with Mack is just a stunt."
"A stunt is a dog making spaghetti," Ricky protested.
Athena put a hand to her forehead in frustration. "Oh my God."
"That wasn't a stunt," Mack cut in happily, clearly not reading the room. "He really did that."
"Okay, okay, look," Kourtney interjected. "I'm the queen of functional anxiety, and even I think you guys are taking this a little too far. Troy and Gabriella — or Martha — or, you know what? I'm confused — are characters, not a real couple."
Violetta turned to Mack. "I'm not fake dating you. No way. I told you I had to talk to some people first, one of those including my ex-boyfriend, who I still talk to on a daily basis and the one that my heart belongs to."
Oh, okay. She just said that out loud.
The entire room immediately became silent, her words hanging in the air. Violetta let out a breath, averting her gaze to the ground as she placed her hands on her hips. This whole situation honestly was just messing with her mind, but at least she had just said no to Mack. It was also weird that Ricky decided he knew what was best for Violetta without talking to her directly, and that he sort-of matched costumes with Dani.
Carlos blinked at her in shock. "You talk to EJ that often?"
"Every day," Violetta answered. "And it sounds crazy, but there's definitely something still there. It's not fair to me to try and date someone else, no matter how fake it may be, when all I think about is him."
Kourtney squealed in excitement. "Oh, Vi, I always loved you two together. I'm glad you're moving back to where you were."
"This party . . . this party sucks," Dani said
"Knock, knock," Terri — Gina's mom — cut in, climbing up the stairs. "Did I hear screaming?"
"No, uh, just fun and games with all my buddies," Gina reassured her.
She nodded. "Okay. Well, just try to keep it down. Sister Connie has some very elderly neighbors."
"You got it mom. Bye."
Terri then went back down the stairs. Ricky also took Athena to get some air outside, but Violetta knew the real reason she wasn't feeling too good — the whole Dani thing. And probably something on Violetta's behalf.
Ashlyn slid up next to her, elbowing her side. "You and my cousin, huh?"
Violetta shrugged. "I guess it's just hard to let Caswell's go." She then sighed. "I just have to wait and see if it goes anywhere."
"It'll go somewhere." Ashlyn put a hand on her shoulder. "That boy adores you. He always has."
She gave Ashlyn a small smile. "Thanks." Violetta then looked down the stairs. "I should probably go check on Athena."
Violetta then descended down the stairs. She opened the door, shivering slightly from the night air of October. However, she was immediately met with the sight of Athena absolutely sobbing into Gina's arms, no Ricky in sight. She froze. Not again.
"What happened?" Violetta let out. "Athena."
Athena picked up her head, and Violetta's heart immediately sunk, her eyes softening. Unfortunately, it wasn't the first time Violetta had seen her look so shattered. Her face was blotchy, tears shining against her cheeks. Black makeup was smudged underneath her eyes, which were red and welled with water.
She let out another sob, and Violetta instantly rushed down the steps. Violetta opened her arms, and Athena dove into them, starting to cry harder. Violetta held her tight, glaring down the street, presumably where Ricky had ran away.
Well, she certainly hadn't expected her Halloween to go like this.
═════════ • ° • ✰ • ° • ═════════
"A DISASTER," VIOLETTA answered. "It was an absolute disaster."
She had gone back home, taking Athena with her, knowing the girl definitely didn't want to be alone after that. Athena had basically cried away all her makeup, but had removed everything smudged on her face before falling asleep from exhaustion in Violetta's bed. Violetta was currently in the midst of a phone call with EJ — her hair tied up and her pajamas on as she removed her makeup — who had asked her how Gina's Halloween party went.
EJ's eyebrows knit in confusion as he sprawled out on his bed. "How so?"
"Well, let's see," Violetta began. "Ricky showed up in the completely wrong costume, dressing as Zac Efron from Baywatch, only for it to be revealed he was kind-of matching with Dani, who showed up as Gabriella Montez. He then told me Dani was replacing me in the musical because I was too busy in the movie, which I did not agree to, and thought I would be happy from him making a decision about my life. And then the night ended with Athena crying hysterically because Ricky ran away from her again, and now she's sleeping in my bed."
"I'm going to be honest, V, I didn't understand a word you just said."
"Yeah, it was a confusing night." She paused for a moment, wiping her blush off of her cheeks. "And I refused to fake-date Mack."
EJ coughed loudly, clearly not expecting that, making Violetta grin slightly. "I — uh, you were going to date Mack?"
"Fake date," Violetta corrected. "He wanted to do it to get publicity for the moment. He seemed so adamant on it, but . . . it just didn't feel right."
"Any particular reason why?"
Violetta glanced over, smirking slightly at his wide eyes, although it also made her heart race infuriatingly fast. "Wouldn't you like to know?"
"I would," EJ agreed.
"Maybe come visit me and I'll tell you."
Neither of them had any clue what that last comment would mean to them in the upcoming days.
∘ ₊ ✧ ──── ✧ ₊ ∘
WHO'S READY FOR BIG THINGS NEXT CHAPTER. BIG THINGS BIG THINGS BIG THINGS