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𝗜 𝗦𝗧𝗜𝗟𝗟 𝗗𝗢
chapter ten:
who says the curtain is closing
on the time of our lives? !
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"AND THAT'S A wrap on High School Musical 4!" Quinn announced.
The big reunion scene had been their final scene that they shot for the movie. Besides Mack kissing Violetta out of the blue way before he was actually supposed to, which was kind of weird, it had gone smoothly.
Apparently, a lot had happened yesterday. Violetta and EJ were back together — which, she was absolutely over the moon about. Ricky and Athena had made up. And it was revealed that Seb had cheated on Carlos with Big Red . . . which, if Violetta saw Big Red any time soon, she was definitely going to smack him upside the head.
But, for now, the movie was over, and Violetta honestly could not be more glad. Don't get her wrong, it was an awesome experience, but she was just tired. Now, she could focus solely on the musical, which was coming up soon.
Violetta walked down the hallway in her white cheerleader outfit, smiling at everyone she passed. "Congrats, guys. Thank you." She then walked by one of the crew members who had helped her a lot and stopped, pulling him into a tight hug. "Thank you so much for everything, I would've never gotten anywhere without you."
"What's up, my Wildcats?" Bart began, sliding up besides her while holding his phone out. "We just wrapped High School Musical 4. And I'm here with our leading lady, Violetta Chase. Now, technically, Disney won't let me share spoilers, but Violetta was incredible in this film as a Mensa-level cheerleader who convinces Miss Darbus not to retire in the last five minutes of the film! What?"
Violetta let out a small laugh. "Thanks Coach, but I gotta go."
Alyson held out her hands, and Violetta took them. "Violetta, honey, you were so radiant during the song today. All though the whole movie. Dare I say it, a star is born."
"Oh, thank you. You're the best, but I've gotta get to rehearsal."
Athena suddenly appeared by her side, slinging an arm around her shoulder. "Hey, you. You did incredible. I'm so proud of you."
"Oh, featured background number six, I'll miss you more than anyone," Violetta admitted playfully, her eyes glinting. "Speaking of featured backgrounds, where is Ricky?"
Ricky then appeared out of thin air by Athena's side. "Present."
She blinked at him. "Yeah, okay. The bowtie on you is freaking me out. Anyways, Troy and Gabriella . . . ready to go rehearse?"
Athena grinned. "Ready as I'll ever be."
Violetta took off her cheer costume and put it away one final time. She got back into her regular clothes and took her hair out of the ponytail it had been in. Once she was done, she met up with Athena and Ricky, and together, the three of them started to make their way to rehearsal. After doing something so unfamiliar for months, Violetta was really looking forward to do something extremely familiar — the musical. She could play Martha and dance and sing with her friends without a care in the world.
Except when she walked into the rehearsal room, all she was met with was emptiness. Literally. All of the desks and props were gone, besides a singular desk Miss Jenn was writing something on. Miss Jenn noticed them and got up. Violetta stopped in her tracks, glancing around in complete confusion.
"Miss Jenn, where's all the stuff?" Violetta asked. "Why is the rehearsal room empty?"
She turned to them, sighing sadly. "Well, we had to have this conversation eventually. Much like my mother's problematic Twitter account, High School Musical 3 is canceled. The drama department is on pause."
Violetta felt like she just got punched in the stomach. Canceled? No way, the musical couldn't be canceled.
"On pause?" Ricky questioned. "What does that even mean?"
"No one showed up for the act one run-through yesterday," Miss Jenn explained. "Except for Emmy. But I'm starting to think she is the ghost of a small Victorian child."
"So you're canceling the show because we missed one rehearsal?"
"Half the cast has been missing half the rehearsals, Ricky. Principal Gutierrez made the decision. It is final. We are not allowed to have this club anymore."
Another punch to the gut. No more drama club? Yeah, sure, Violetta had only been in it for, like, a year, but it was the one place that felt like home. Where she could be herself.
"It's okay, you guys," Miss Jenn reassured them. "You have so much to celebrate. You just wrapped a movie. And this, all of this . . ." She looked back at the corner, where all their props were shoved into. "It was always just a high school musical. And today, you begin moving on to even bigger things."
Violetta crossed her arms across her chest, as if it would help hold the pieces of her together. Her senior year was supposed to be dancing and singing with her friends one last time, not letting go. Not like this. After the absolute high she had been on last night, it felt like she was crashing down.
Miss Jenn texted their group chat to meet them in the rehearsal room — quite dramatically, actually. All of the others came running into the room within minutes.
"Okay, what happened?" Ashlyn inquired.
Kourtney ran into the room. "Who died?"
"And will there be an estate sale?" Carlos asked.
"Technically, a human didn't die," Miss Jenn answered.
"You texted us, There's been a death," Maddox voiced.
"There has been," Ricky agreed. "Our drama club."
The others instantly let out murmurs of shock, or maybe agreement.
"This is why I kept texting you guys that the drama club was canceled," Emmy told them.
Carlos got his phone out and looked at the text. "All I got was a bunch of symbols."
"That's because everything I write is encrypted."
Violetta let out a deep breath at that — oh God. "Emmy, my girl, you confuse me."
"You guys," Ricky cut in. "Our department is about to go extinct because none of you except for Emmy showed up for rehearsals yesterday."
Kourtney scoffed incredulously. "Excuse me. You weren't here either."
"I had an existential crisis about my future."
"Okay, well I was in Georgia weighing out my options."
Athena shrugged. "I was in New York for . . . something."
"My ex-boyfriend is now my boyfriend again," Violetta added.
Ashlyn rose her hand in the air. "I was placing a very confusing phone call."
"I was incredibly busy, being betrayed," Carlos stated
"Oh, wait, Big Red told me the kiss was just an accident."
"I thought you broke up with him because you were so traumatized."
"No, we actually had the most chill breakup of all time," Ashlyn revealed. "We went to Walgreens after. We both needed Lactaid pills."
Maddox looked at her — a little too hopefully, might Violetta add. "Wait, so you're single again? And Emmy, you're single too. And Jet. Miss Jenn. Just naming all the single people."
"I got your text about something being dead," Mr. Mazzara said loudly as he walked in. He then stopped in his tracks, staring at Miss Jenn. "You look alive."
"I am," Miss Jenn replied. "Kind of. So, is it true?"
Mr. Mazzara hesitated. "It is. Principal Gutierrez gave your funding to my department, and yes, I have already spent the money on laptops for the local orphanage."
Maddox laughed at that before she stopped upon realizing no one else did. "You weren't kidding."
"He's never kidding, dear," Miss Jenn said.
"Okay, so what's the big deal if we don't have that money?" Gina questioned.
"Gina, honey, it means we don't have the budget to make costumes or build sets. High School Musical 3 is a complicated 2008 period piece."
"Why don't we buy Obama yard signs and print out articles about the recession?" Ricky suggested.
Everyone started to agree — even Mr. Mazzara, who said he had Obama signs in his garage.
Miss Jenn clapped her hands together, gaining their attention. "Wildcats, Wildcats. If there's two things I've learned during my many years in the theater, it's knowing when to enter and when to exit. Today we do the latter."
Violetta shook her head. This was the one place that made her feel found when she felt so lost. She just couldn't exit it like that.
Emmy sniffled, wiping away a tear off of her cheek. "Um, would you guys, um, excuse me?"
Miss Jenn watched her leave. "I made a child cry today."
"Camp changed her life," Athena explained. "She literally transitioned from homeschool to here to be with us."
"Her biggest dream was to sing at East High," Ashlyn added.
"It was also her biggest fear," Jet admitted. "She, yeah, told me that."
Violetta tucked a curl behind her ear with a sigh. They had to do something.
"Okay, well, you aren't gonna get very far in life if you go around being afraid all the time," Kourtney interrupted.
"Then why do you look like you're about to cry?" Ricky inquired.
"I'm just saying, if you live your life in fear, there's gonna be a lot of stuff to be afraid of."
"Mmm," Ashlyn hummed in response. "It sounds like the exact opposite of where you were last year."
Kourtney stared at her for a moment. "Okay, we are not gonna go there."
Ricky raised his hand in the air. "Not gonna go where?"
"Ashlyn, it's just a stupid story."
"If all of this is truly over . . . I mean, let me be sentimental for, like, one minute, Kourt," Ashlyn said.
"Yeah," Maddox urged. "Yeah, tell us a story, Ash."
Ashlyn smiled. "Wow, I haven't thought about this in so long. It was the first day of school. Miss Jenn had just announced she was directing High School Musical."
She then told a story about how she stumbled upon Kourtney in a classroom she was going to sit in during lunch because she didn't have a solid friend group. Kourtney had been drawing the High School Musical costumes, but was too afraid to join the musical. Her and Ashlyn then made a deal — if Ashlyn auditioned, Kourtney would join crew.
"I never knew that," Miss Jenn stated.
"I guess I sort of forgot," Kourtney responded.
Ashlyn leaned into Kourtney's hug. "Shoutout to Mr. Mazzara, who let me miss the first day of Robotics Club to audition for the musical."
Miss Jenn smirked at Mr. Mazzara. "Benjamin, you're still here."
"I was," Mr. Mazzara agreed. "And now I am not."
"Wait, you're a Six Below Zero fan?" Jett asked.
"What?" He looked down at his bag. "Oh, no. It's nothing."
"You have a Six Below Zero sticker on your laptop, bro."
"You're grimacing," Miss Jenn told him. "You look like an emoji. Well, now I'm sentimental about our first terrible meeting."
Mr. Mazzara walked closer to her. "Look, I . . . I was not exactly in a good place on the first day of school last year."
He then told the story about how he had been listening to Six Below Zero and Miss Jenn had come into his room. The real reason he had been so cold to her, and to everyone, was because he had been kicked out of the band.
"You were in a boy band?" Carlos asked. "I'm shaking."
"I knew I recognized you," Jet insisted. "I went through this, like, this obscure boy band phase in middle school."
"He did," Maddox confirmed. "It was weird."
"You guys were really big in Warsaw."
"It was the entire country of Poland," Mr. Mazzara corrected. "But, yes, I was, uh, briefly part of a male singing institution. They referred to me simply as Benny. I was the funky one until they kicked me out for pulling focus. They had one number one single called New Zealand, which was a song about how great a time they had without me in New Zealand. Jennifer, I'm sorry for how I spoke to you that day. And ensuing days. You gave these universally-strange children a space to be themselves. I wish there were more people like you in the world."
Miss Jenn smiled at him. "I forgive you, Benny."
Gina got up from her seat. "Um, so this has been really illuminating on so many levels, but we kind of have a musical to save."
"Yeah, I'm with Gina," Maddox admitted.
Ricky nodded. "Same. Love a good boy band sob story, but come on, Mr. Funky One. Don't get us sidetracked."
"Sidetracked?" Carlos repeated. "This is the most shocking day of my life since . . ."
"Carlos, you have my blessing," Miss Jenn approved when he glanced at her.
"I thought sophomore year was going to be boring and predictable, like a straight person's TikTok feed."
Maddox rolled her shoulders back. "Oh. Ooh, I literally just shuddered."
Carlos then told the story about how some of his bullies gave him a bruise, and Miss Jenn had brought him into her office to talk about it. She had then offered him the role of her choreographer and assistant for the musical.
Miss Jenn rubbed his shoulder. "And that was the day you named me."
Carlos stood up from his chair. "And that was the day you saved me."
"Wow," Maddox let out.
Seb, out of nowhere, then stormed into the room, utterly determined. Violetta raised an eyebrow. Honestly, she was still lost on what was going on.
"Hi, Seb," Athena greeted.
"Oh, great," Carlos commented. "Are you here to kiss everyone?"
"Carlos," Miss Jenn scolded.
"I can't take this anymore!" Seb shouted. "Sit down, Carlos." Carlos looked like he didn't want to listen, but he sat down anyways. "For months, I've been channeling my guilt into latte art. I'm probably the only person who's drawn four thousand cows on a cappuccino. But every time I stare at a cow, I think about you."
Carlos blinked at him in confusion. "Because I embody a cow? You've interrupted an emotional climax here and we're done."
"No. When I showed up three hours late to Homecoming after my cow passed away, you were there for me. And I know I haven't been there for you. But, look, when I was making one of my final lattes at crafty, I overheard the most incredible duet between Lucas Grabeel as Ryan and Scott Huang as his partner, who really never got a name according to the script. I want to sing the song to you today, to my Ryan. Miss Jenn is the one who encouraged me."
Carlos' head whirled over to her. "You did what?"
"Give him a chance, Carlos," Miss Jenn told him.
"Maddox even tracked down the sheet music," Seb added.
"To be fair, Emmy helped me," Maddox voiced.
"That girl scares me," Carlos mumbled. "Seb, you have to move on."
"But I can't," Seb protested. "You're the greatest person I've ever dated."
"Seb, I'm the only person you've ever dated."
"That's actually not true," Seb revealed, and Violetta's eyes widened. "I was once in a serious relationship." They gasped. "With a woman."
Seb then told them how he used to date Natalie Bagley, their old stage manager. That really broke Violetta's mind.
"Hold on," Ricky stated. "You dated Natalie Bagley?"
"We made out a lot and spent the rest of our time together fantasy-casting the Wicked movie," Seb said.
Violetta stared at him — now, she was completely lost. "Oh my God."
"But where is Natalie?" Kourtney questioned.
"North High," Seb answered. "She made it less evil."
Carlos looked up at him. "You left Natalie Bagley for me?"
"I would leave anyone for you. And now, I've said my piece."
"No, no," Ricky interjected, pointing at Seb. "You're playing the song. He's playing the fucking song, Carlos. Come on."
Seb turned to Athena. "Athena? Would you do me the honors?"
Athena smiled in response. "Of course."
She walked up to the piano and sat down on the bench. After looking at the sheet music, she started to play the song. Seb started to sing, and after the first verse, Maddox got up and handed Carlos the sheet music. He glanced down at it before jumping in. As time went on and they sang together, Violetta could see Carlos start to get more and more comfortable with Seb again. At the end of the song, their smiles were filled with so much love that it made Violetta's heart warm.
Carlos stepped towards Seb. "There is so much I didn't know about you."
Seb shrugged at him. "Sometimes people put me in a box."
Gina let out a laugh before noticing their stares. "I'm sorry, was that out loud?"
Violetta nodded in confirmation. "Very much so."
"I guess I also know what it's like to be put in a box."
"Oh, thank God," Carlos breathed out. "Take the spotlight off us for a second."
Seb turned to him hopefully. "Us?"
"I . . ."
He took Carlos' hands in his. "I love you too."
"Go on, Gina," Mr. Mazzara encouraged.
"Okay, uh, when I started at East High, I know I may have come off a little on edge," Gina began.
Kourtney laughed loudly for a moment. "Ooh. Um. I'm sorry, was that out loud?"
"Let's just say things were complicated."
Yet, this story involved Athena, Ricky, and Violetta. Violetta immediately got transported back to that stairwell in junior year, back before any of the things that had happened the past year occurred.
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ONE YEAR AGO: SECOND DAY OF JUNIOR YEAR
VIOLETTA WAS FRIENDS with idiots.
So, see, Athena and Ricky were two of her best friends — Athena more so than Ricky, but she digressed. Athena had been in love with Ricky ever since they were little but never told him. As for Ricky, he was convinced he loved this other girl, Nini, but he actually loved Athena — anyone could see it besides him, and, well, besides Athena.
Violetta had made it her personal mission to knock some sense into them, but it wasn't working out too well.
The three of them sat in the stairwell Athena and Ricky always used to hang out — no, Violetta was not intruding, she was a honorary guest. Ricky had his guitar out, strumming it and singing the song Nini had wrote for him and posted on her Instagram softly. See, Nini had confessed her love, but Ricky had ran away. Now, he had a plan to audition for High School Musical and then sing this song to her afterwards to prove his love. And all Athena was doing was staring at him like a lovesick puppy.
Infuriating, wasn't it? Yeah, well, now imagined how Violetta felt. It had been like this entire lives.
"Excuse me," Ricky called to a random girl in the hallway. The girl looked intimidating and was wearing a star-patterned jacket . . . Violetta admired it. "Do you have thirty seconds?"
"Left to live?" the girl replied. "I would not spend them here."
Ricky chuckled. "That was dark. I'm impressed. I — um, need a stranger's opinion on something, and you're giving me the vibe that you're brutally honest."
The girl nodded to Violetta and Athena. "You're not asking them?"
"Oh, I did ask them. Vi here said I was stupid." Ricky gave Athena a pointed glare. "And my best friend, while supportive, isn't being the most helpful."
Athena rolled her eyes. "I gave you advice about the whole situation, you're just choosing not to listen, which happens to be one of your many talents." She got up and put her backpack on. "Whatever, I'm leaving, because my presence is apparently not appreciated."
Ricky sent her a look. "I always appreciate your presence, Attie."
Violetta stared at him incredulously. Oh, give her a break. See? See why she always wanted to slam her head into the wall?
"I'll believe it when I see it," Athena told him. "Vi, you coming?"
"No, I want to see this girl absolutely destroy Ricky for my own entertainment," Violetta admitted.
"Right. I'll see you two later." Athena sent the girl a smile. "It was nice to meet you."
She walked down the hallway, and Ricky's eyes followed her figure until she was gone. Violetta scoffed and shook her head. Absolutely unbelievable.
The girl moved towards them. "Well, now I'm intrigued."
"So, I, um, have this ex-girlfriend, Nini . . ." Ricky began.
The girl laughed for a moment before stopping. "Wait, I'm sorry. That's her name? Nini?"
"Long story. When we were still together, she posted this song on her Instagram where she told me that she loved me and I was a moron who couldn't say it back. For completely legitimate reasons, by the way."
"Maybe you just don't love her, full stop." The girl then raised an eyebrow. "But that girl who was just here? The one that just walked away? You look at her like you love her, full stop."
"Oh my God, thank you," Violetta said. She turned to Ricky, an I told you so look on her face. "I've been only telling you this for, what, our entire lives?"
"That's not . . . Athena and I are just friends, this is about Nini," Ricky protested. "I'm planning on kinda telling her I do tonight by singing the same song outside of her window. Full stop."
"Wow, you are like a cliché from a John Hughes movie," the girl stated.
"Uncle Buck?"
Violetta let her forehead fall on the railing.
"So, this girl, who doesn't even have a real name, told you how she felt about you in front of all of her Instagram followers," the girl continued. "That takes guts. If you love her, don't you think you owe it to her to make your song a little more public?"
"I'm actually trying out for that High School Musical thing in a few hours 'cause Nini is," Ricky explained. "Also, I made Athena promise to try out with me, so . . ."
"Oh, then sing it there. Her song."
"That feels kind of lame."
Violetta rolled her eyes at him. "You are lame."
"Well, love is lame, idiot," the girl voiced. "That's why I avoid it. Good luck, skater boy. And, by the way, the girl named after a Goddess? I think you have more of a chance with her."
"Hey, thanks for the free advice, intimidating girl," Ricky told her.
Violetta shook her head at him. "Yeah, you're so obvious to everyone except yourself."
And yet, none of them expected to see that girl at auditions later, who had signed up to see how everything went down.
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"SO, IF GINA didn't tell Ricy to publicly sing to Nini, he wouldn't have gotten Troy," Kourtney began.
"But if Ricky hadn't mentioned he was auditioning, Gina wouldn't have shown up, period," Ashlyn added.
"This is like Murder, She Wrote," Miss Jenn commented.
"I don't really know what's going on, but this is incredible," Maddox revealed
Ricky sat down on the piano bench next to Athena. "I need to sit down."
"So you're telling me Gina's the one who smacked some sense into Ricky to notice Athena?" Violetta asked. She slowly turned to Ricky. "I'm not the reason you realized you liked Athena? Oh my God, I should've punched you harder."
Ricky looked at Athena with a grin. "I guess it just took somebody new to make me realize what had always been there."
Violetta's mouth fell open in shock. He had to be kidding.
Athena took his hand. "To the moon and to Saturn, baby."
"You know, Miss Jenn, you're the one who brought us all together," Gina stated.
"That's not true," Miss Jenn argued. "You'd be here with some other drama teacher."
"Um, no, we literally wouldn't," Carlos protested. "Have you not been listening to us?"
"Actually, wait," Ashlyn interrupted. "You never told us how you ended up here or why."
Miss Jenn waved it off. "It's not important."
"We'll be the judge of that," Maddox replied.
"Be nice, Maddox. Gina is the intimidating girl around her. Vi's a close second." She sighed, and Violetta smirked, sharing a look with Gina. "It was one month before school started last year. I was still living in a neighborhood of New York City called Hoboken."
Miss Jenn then told them he story about how she had been auditioning for Glinda in Wicked. Alyson then came into the audition room and encouraged Miss Jenn to accept the teaching job at East High.
"Full body chills," Ricky admitted.
"And that's how the story ends," Miss Jenn finished. "Oh, wait. Goodness, I almost forgot. Gina, would you give me a hand with these?"
Gina walked over to her. "Oh, yeah. What's this?"
"Uh . . ." Miss Jenn then turned to the group, holding gift bags and starting to hand them out. "For you. And you. And you. Uh, these are wrap gifts. They're gratitude journals for all of you. For the movie. And I guess for our little show too."
Violetta took her gift bag and looked down at it. She could feel her heart sink down to her stomach and the familiar burning in her eyes return. This was . . . this was really it, wasn't it?
"So, that's it?" Ricky questioned, his voice choked up and his eyes glassy. "High School Musical's over?"
Principal Gutierrez came into the room. "Jennifer, I thought we discussed this."
"I was just dismissing them, Principal Gutierrez," Miss Jenn explained. "Yes, Ricky. It's over. But you've got lives to live. And loves to love. And all good things must come to an end."
Gina sniffled. "Well, guys, we had a good run, then."
Maddox glanced at Jet. "We just got here, though."
"My dad's here, I should probably . . ." Ashlyn trailed off, tears rolling down her face as she went to the door.
Kourtney followed after her. "Yeah, I have to finalize layout for yearbooks, so I should . . ."
Seb started to leave as well. "I'm supposed to clean up the coffee truck and bring Corbin a vanilla latte before his jet takes off."
"I can help," Carlos offered.
Jet glared at them harshly. "I can't believe you guys actually tried to convince me there was a point to all of this."
"Jet," Maddox protested, going after them.
Gina cleared her throat. "I should, um, go see if my mom's around."
"Um, I'm gonna go call EJ," Violetta admitted, walking backwards. "Maybe he'll make me feel better."
It was true. As Violetta went out into the hallway, tears pricking at the back of her eyes, he was the only person she wanted to talk to. After all, they had met because of the drama department. Violetta felt a tear escape her eye and she sniffled, ducking into a random corner. She wiped it away quickly and pulled out her phone.
Violetta opened up her text messages. The last one was them saying I love you to each other before EJ left this morning. She started to text, hey, you got a minute? could really hear your—
But was ultimately cut off by music coming from somewhere. Her eyebrows knit in confusion and she pressed herself off of the wall, putting her phone away. Violetta followed the music until it brought her to the auditorium. She opened the door, going into the wings. Standing on the stage, surrounded by lights and singing her absolute heart out about how dreams don't die, was Emmy.
Miss Jenn, Ricky, and Athena were already there, and from the footsteps behind her, Violetta knew the others had come as well. She slid up besides Athena, who grinned at her. Athena offered out her arm, and Violetta instantly linked them together. Violetta focused her attention back on Emmy — and, as the song ended, she knew that this couldn't be the end.
Violetta clapped with everyone, untangling her arm from Athena's. Emmy whirled around and stared at them in bewilderment, clearly not expecting them to be there since she thought she was alone. All of them moved out onto the stage and surrounded Emmy.
"Emmy deserves to be the future of this department," Athena insisted.
"She should be the future, period," Ricky corrected.
"Miss Jenn, we have to save the show," Kourtney urged. "For the next generation. I said it, and now it cannot be unsaid."
"I just don't know how," Miss Jenn told her.
"Oh, come on, Jennifer," Alyson interrupted, and Violetta looked to see her walking onto the stage with Bart. "Trust the process. Well, we heard from Emmy that your drama department was in trouble. "
"And Coach and Darbus never could agree on anything, but, well, Bart and Alysonc an," Bart added. "Your program is worth saving. We're donating a quarter of our salaries from High School Musical 4."
Violetta instantly grinned. Their show was saved.
"How much is that, if I may ask?" Miss Jenn inquired. Alyson whispered something in her ear, making Miss Jenn's eyes widen. "I am underpaid. But at this point, we don't even have a stage manager, and the show is supposed to be next week."
"I could always call Natalie," Seb suggested.
Carlos placed a hand on his shoulder. "Seb, honey, hush."
"I've got stage management covered," Maddox admitted.
"But half of our ensemble quit," Miss Jenn continued. "Three of them actually have mono. Who's gonna play Sharpay's assistant? Who's going to play Coach Bolton? Am I actually playing Miss Darbus?"
Alyson nodded at that. "Yes."
"Ricky Bowen, please report to the counseling office," a voice announced over the intercom.
Violetta immediately laughed. "Oh my God, you're in trouble."
Ricky rolled his eyes at her. "Literally shut up."
He walked off, and Athena followed him for a moment. Violetta looked around at the others — her family — and felt her heart warm. She accepted Ashlyn's side hug as well.
"What are you all doing standing around?" Alyson scolded after a moment. "You have a show to rehearse."
Violetta's phone suddenly started to ring, and she glanced down at it, only to see it was a Hollywood area code. "Miss Jenn, I'm gonna go take this real quick."
She nodded. "Sure."
Violetta walked off to the side of the stage and answered the phone, lifting it up to her ear. "Hello? Yes, this is Violetta. Okay . . ." Her eyes suddenly widened at what the person said, and she swore her heart stopped. "Wait, you're serious?"
When she said her life could change because of this movie, she definitely wasn't expecting it to happen right away.
∘ ₊ ✧ ──── ✧ ₊ ∘
this chapter was hard to write ew