~~~EJ~~~
"Welcome to the East High Morning Show. I'm Gina Porter."
"And I'm EJ Caswell, and we're co-hosting the first ever East High Morning Show, 'cause I'm president of the AV club."
"And I'm his only friend who agreed to do it."
I glanced at Gina, who was perched on the stool beside mine.
"That's right," I said awkwardly, "Back to you, Gina."
"Thanks, EJ. Now, for our first-ever guest. You know her from The Rose Song that's been blowing up the East High Instagram-"
"Oh, quick reminder," I interrupted, "Tickets for Beauty and the Beast go on sale next week."
"Hmm, that's right EJ. Now please welcome Nini Salazar-Roberts."
We both applauded, moving over to a different camera set-up where Nini was sitting with her ukelele in her lap.
"Hi guys!' She greeted. "Thanks for having me."
"This just in...Nini's song has over 2,500 views, making it the most viewed post in drama club Instagram history."
"Are you serious?" She asked.
"Songwriting skills, universal acclaim...how does it feel to be you right now?" Gina questioned.
"Uh, feels good," She replied.
"So what was the songwriting process like for you?"
"Well, really I do owe Megan Kline some credit. She gave me some really good advice that inspired the theme behind the song so...I couldn't have done it without her."
"You talked to Megan?" I asked, before I could stop myself. Gina and Nini both looked at me and I cleared my throat, forcing a smile at the camera.
I tried my best to focus on the rest of the interview, but the second we cut the cameras, I grabbed Nini's arm and pulled her aside.
"So you talked to Megan?" I repeated. "When? How is she? Did she say if she's coming back or-"
"Whoa, ok, slow down." She interrupted. "Yes, I talked to her. I was seriously struggling with the song during the workshop so I took a shot in the dark and...gave her a call. I didn't expect her to answer but...she did."
"And?" I asked. "What did she say?"
"Not much. I mean, we mostly talked about the song," She answered, "She did mention that she figured everyone hated her...and that if I talked to you and Ashlyn to tell you both that she's sorry."
"And what about her? Is she ok? Did she say?"
"She said she's working on it." She said with a shrug. "That's all she said really. She sounded ok, but obviously not...the same."
I nodded, swallowing hard and pulling my phone out of my pocket. I sighed as I saw I still had no messages.
"I'm sorry." She told me, squeezing my shoulder before walking past me out of the room.
"Hey. You ok?" Gina asked, stepping up beside me. I nodded.
"Yeah...working on it." I answered.
~~~
"Everyone, attention please!" Ms. Jenn called as we all gathered in the costume room. "I'm sure you're wondering why I called this special midday drama club meeting."
"Oh, are you announcing the fall musical?" Seb asked. "I vote Dear Evan Hansen."
"No, Seb. Its March." She said. "And the rights won't be available for five years. I tried. I am announcing that we are in such a good place after our improv workshop. We're getting one step closer to Menkies gold."
Everyone cheered in agreement.
"And today, our wonderful actor/designer, Kourtnee Greene, is going to show you your completed costumes."
We all applauded and Nini dramatically pulled the sheet off of the rack dramatically.
"Speech! Speech!" She shouted.
"Ok, so I guess I'm giving a speech," Kourtnee agreed, "I'm super excited for you all to see your costumes because..."
She was cut off by an elephant sound coming from her phone.
"Oh, sorry, that's Howie. Anyway, with your costumes this semester, I really tried to-"
Her phone sounded again.
"Can you not keep your phone on silent during rehearsal, like everyone else?" Carlos asked.
" 'Sorry everyone', is what Carlos would say...if he were more like me." Seb said.
"Ok Kourt, I am sorry, but listen to this caption from North High. It took 20 people over 50 hours to create our Belles' dresses. Beast costumes ever."
"Terrible pun." Ricky pointed out.
"Dresses?" Ashlyn asked. "Like they're making one for their understudy too?"
"And when we're unveiling our costumes?" Carlos asked. "How do they know that? Unless Megan just knows us that well."
"I don't think Megan's telling them anything about us," Nini argued, "She helped me with the Rose song, and North High surely would have mentioned that if they caught wind of it."
Kourtnee's phone went off again.
"Regardless, they've been trolling us like this for weeks guys and I'm trying to not let it get to me-"
Another text tone.
"Oh my gosh, is your phone hungry? I don't understand what I'm hearing."
"Ok, ok, let's get back to our costumes." Ms. Jenn interrupted. "Go ahead, Kourt."
"Anyway, took me a while, but I built you soe abs that would make Captain America proud." She said, handing me my Gaston shirt.
"I have abs." I pointed out.
"EJ, everyone has abs. These are Kourtnee originals. I also padded the tush for you."
"Oh thanks, I actually need that." I chuckled. "This is amazing, Kourt."
"Oh, no problem. Next, and every Gaston needs a Beast." She said, handing Ricky his ballroom costume. "Oh, that's weird. Your mask should be here. Um, has anyone seen a Beast mask?"
"Haven't seen it." Big Red said.
"We're too busy being obsessed with our costumes," Ashlyn said, holding up her blue dress, "Who needs ridiculously expensive, period accurate ballgowns when we've got Kourtnee Greene's designs?"
"Guys, I know where our Beast mask is." Carlos said, turning his phone to face us.
I couldn't focus on much else though, as I instantly zeroed in on Megan standing beside her Belle dress mannequin. She was smiling, but just like every other North High post, it wasn't her smile. Not the one I knew, anyway.
"What?"
"I don't get it. Can you just..."
"What are we looking at?" I asked.
"Look at the trunk!" Carlos zoomed in on the trunk in the background of the photo. "Hello? That is obviously Beast fur. Look, it all makes sense. Our mask just happens to go missing on the same day they post this? They snuck in here and took it."
"I hate to say it, but that did kind of look like a Beast mask to me." Ashlyn pointed out.
"Classic Beast." Big Red agreed.
"Do you really think they'd steal from us?" Seb asked.
"I would." Gina answered. Nini bumped her shoulder, silently scolding her. "No, I mean, I used to be that kind of person, before the present day."
Carlos gestured at her.
"We have to get even, right?" Big red asked.
We all began talking over each other in agreement.
"Guys, guys, guys, enough!" Ms. Jenn interrupted. "Do you really think North High would stoop so low as to sneak in here, Break into the costume room, and steal Kourtnee's work?"
"They stole Megan," I pointed out, "Why would they stop there?"
Carlos' phone buzzed and he nodded, showing his phone to Seb, who nodded.
"And they just posted something new, captioned, 'North High's gonna steal your heart this spring'. "
"Are they a witch?" Carlos wondered. "How do you explain these coincidences?"
"Its just that. A coincidence." Ms. Jenn argued. "Now, I want you kids to keep looking for that mask and let the rest go. As I learned when I appeared in a regional production of Anything Goes opposite a woman who once sued me for libel, you should never dance with the enemy. Understood?"
"Yes, Miss Jenn." Everyone muttered quietly.
"Thank you."
~~~
Pretty much the second school ended, the entire drama club was standing in the hallway at North High, coming up with a plan to find the Beast mask.
"The plan is simple," Carlos told us, "Based on that Instagram post, the mask has to be in their costume shop. We know from their Instagram overshares we know that North High has dance rehearsal today, so they'll be in their dance studio.
"They have their own dance studio?" Gina asked.
"We're raiding their costumes and not leaving until we have our mask."
"Isn't this kind of trespassing?" Seb asked.
"It'll be fine. They'll be plenty of people still here after school for clubs. We'll blend in. Though Ashlyn, you may have taken the camouflage thing too far."
I looked at my cousin, who was decked out head-to-toe in North High Hornets Merch.
"No, today, I am Diane. I play volleyball, and I love North High." She corrected.
I glanced at Gina, and we both started chuckling quietly amongst ourselves.
"Diane is it?" Big Red asked. "How would you feel about dating a guy from East High?"
"Oh, a forbidden Romance."
I bit my lip, averting my eyes to the floor.
"Focus!" Carlos snapped. "Who's gonna be the lookout?"
"I'll do it." Gina volunteered. Carlos raised his eyebrows at her. "If you leave me unsupervised with their costumes, I cannot promise I won't go all Gina 1.0 in there."
"Just stay calm and act natural, ok? You got this. Everyone ready?"
"What team?" Ricky asked, putting his hand in the middle.
"Wait, maybe we shouldn't yell-"
"Wildcats!" We all exclaimed, throwing our hands up before Carlos could stop us.
"Let's go."
"Strong start."
~~~Megan~~~
I had an emergency therapy session scheduled today, so I managed to talk Zackey Roy into letting me out of dance rehearsal early. I stopped by my locket, grabbing my backpack before proceeding down the hallway towards the front doors.
"Hey, I haven't seen you before." I heard a voice behind me say.
"Mmm, I'm super new."
I froze, the responding voice sounding eerily familiar. I slowly turned around to see a girl standing with her back to me, talking to a boy in a North High jacket,. I couldn't see her face obviously, but the cool edgy style mixed with her curly dark hair confirmed my suspicions that Gina Porter was standing in the middle of the hallway.
"What's your name?" The boy asked.
"...Diane."
I furrowed my eyebrows, crossing my arms. What is she doing here? And why is she giving out fake names?
"Wow. That is actually my great Aunt's name."
"Mmm...Amazing story." She said uncomfortably. "Ok, well...it was nice meeting a...fellow North High student."
"Can I get your Snap, or-"
"Hey, babe."
I stood up straight, my eyes going wide as EJ walked up behind Gina, wrapping his arm around her.
"Babe!" She leaned her head on his shoulder, and I felt my stomach jolt. "I'm so glad you're here."
"So, we still on for risotto later?" He asked.
"You know I would never miss Risotto night."
"And that's my cue." The guy said, walking past them. I stepped aside, letting him walk past me.
Gina and EJ laughed together, and EJ moved to stand in front of her so that I could see his face. I tried not to let it bother me just how happy he looked goofing around with her. I mean, that's what I wanted, right? For him to be ok...without me?
"Ok, Risotto?" Gina asked.
"I guess Miss Jenn's improv class really paid off." He said.
"Yes, and also made you weirder," She giggled, "Wait, what are you even doing here?"
"I felt bad that you got stuck here alone on lookout."
"Seriously? That's um...sort of sweet."
"Well hey, what are fake boyfriends if not sort of sweet?" He asked, smiling brightly at her. I swallowed, and was about to turn around and pretend I never saw them, when suddenly EJ glanced past Gina's head, his eyes locking with mine. His smile fell.
"Megan!" He called, walking past her.
"You were never here. I never saw you." I said, sticking my hands up and turning toward the front door. He jogged over, grabbing my elbow and running in front of me.
"Why haven't you been answering my texts?" He asked. "I know you've been getting them."
I opened my mouth, but nothing came out so I closed it again.
"I...didn't think you wanted to hear from me." I decided. He furrowed his eyebrows.
"If you'd actually read my messages, you'd know that's not true." He said. I averted my eyes to the ground. "Meg-"
He slid his hands up to my face but I pushed them off, taking a large step back.
"Please don't do that," I whispered, meeting his eyes again, "Please don't...touch me, and tell me that everything is ok because it isn't. Its not ok, but I know that now, and I'm trying to figure out why."
"Can't we figure it out together?" He asked. "Megan...I miss you. We all do, I mean Ashlyn has called me in tears pretty much every night since you left and...I'm miserable without you."
I bit my lip.
"I'm sorry, EJ," I replied, "But until I figure my stuff out...you'll be just as miserable with me."
"Then I'll wait," he said, taking a small step forward, "Just come back to East High. We can take a break, let you work through some things. I will wait as long as it takes for you to feel like-"
"I can't ask you to do that." I said with a shrug, wrapping my arms around myself. "I don't know how long that will take and...its your last semester of High School, EJ. You're moving on soon, whatever you decide to do and you can't...you can't afford to get distracted waiting for me. Your life needs to be about you right now and...mine needs to be about me."
I felt a pang in my chest as I noticed the faint shine of tears in his eyes.
"What do you expect me to do?" He asked. I took a step forward, putting a hand on his face.
"Forget about me," I said, "Enjoy your last high school musical with your friends, figure out some fun plans for the summer, just...don't let me ruin your last days of High School."
He shook his head, pushing my hand off and walking back towards Gina. She opened her mouth to say something, but he simply stormed past her, heading back in the direction of the costume shop. I sighed, moving to stand in front of her.
"What are you guys even doing here?" I asked, tucking my hair behind my ear.
"Carlos thinks North High stole our Beast mask, so we came to look for it." She said. I nodded, glancing over her shoulder.
"Well, come on. I can help you look. Besides, I doubt any of them will be in this part of the building anytime soon." I stated, nodding towards the costume shop before walking towards it, Gina trailing awkwardly behind me.