"DON'T CRY, THEA," Gina said as they were sitting in the dressing on the couch together. Theo was lying across Gina's lap while tears streamed down her face. The older Porter girl had told her about how Jet called a break between them and Gina was trying to comfort her. "It's not over between you guys."
"I should have never let my guard down and started dating," Theo stated, staring into a blank space as Gina rubbed her arm gently. "I'm so stupid."
"No, you're not." Gina shook her head, continuing to rub Theo's arm. "You just fell in love."
"Love is for losers who have nothing better to do with their lives." Theo remarked.
"I'm sorry, T," Gina said softly. "But we got the show tonight and you've gotta share the stage with him."
Theo sat up from Gina's lap and wiped her tears. "I asked Emmy to take my spot tonight. It's her dream and I don't want to share the stage with him. Or pretend to be in love with him either."
"But it's your dream to play Taylor." Gina reminded her. "You and Jet wrote the song together, Miss Jenn gave you guys the scene, and now you've gotta do it."
"Emmy can sing True Love with Jet," Theo said, wiping the rest of her tears. "I'm not doing it."
Gina grabbed some tissues. "Here. You're smearing your makeup." She pulled a few tissues and dabbed her sister's face.
"I don't care." Theo shook her head and then lay back down. "What does it mean when you don't want to beat up someone?"
"Feelings," Gina replied. "Very strong feelings."
"I don't like them," Theo admitted. "Feelings suck."
"It's gonna be okay. You still don't know why he asked for the break." Gina reminded her.
"It's obvious he doesn't want me anymore and it's someone else," Theo responded. "And it's usually someone named Kim, Tiffany, or Chanté."
"Okay, that's only in movies." Gina laughed.
Theo sat up again. "You know what? Whatever, man." She said then stood up from the couch.
"It was a joke, Thea," Gina commented, standing up as well.
"As you can see I'm not in a joking mood right now." Theo let out a scoff. "What does it matter anyway? You don't care. Your relationship with Ricky is fine and you're going off to be some movie star."
"Theo, I know you're upset but don't be mad at me." Gina tried to tell her.
"Those are words people use when the other is right," Theo remarked in a sharp tone. "I gotta go."
"Theo, wait," Gina called as her sister was leaving the room.
***
The day went by quicker than expected but it was finally opening night. The Porter girl decided after all that she was going to be in the show since it was one of her last at East High, and it just made sense too. Plus Emmy said she'd throw up if she played Taylor and Theo didn't want that to happen to the girl. She sitting at the vanity and saw her mom walking into the room with a smile on her face.
"Mama?" Theo turned to her mother and stood up. "What are you doing here? I thought you were going to miss the show."
"I couldn't miss you and Gina's big night this time," Terri responded, hugging her. "Plus these came in the mail today." She pulled out two large envelopes. "Howard and City College, which I didn't know you applied to."
Theo's eyes widened as she grabbed the letters. "Oh my god. I almost forgot about these."
"Hopefully you got into both." Terri crossed her fingers. "But I know lately I've been focused on Gina and haven't asked you much about school or how the trip to Howard went, but I want you to know that I am proud of you, Theodora. You've been working hard for so many years to get to this point and I'm so proud of you. Very proud."
"Thanks, Mama." Theo smiled and then hugged her mother. "Okay, you can't stay back here too long or they'll kick you out. And I mean Maddox. She has no problem kicking out parents on opening night."
"Good luck tonight." Terri smiled and then walked out of the room. Theo smiled to herself and then sat her letters down on the vanity.
"Okay, everyone, since Nini isn't here, she asked me to hand out some cards," Ricky spoke up, gaining everyone's attention. "Warning, my handwriting sucks." He began handing out cards to everyone who walked up to him and waited as Theo approached him. "Don't look or I'll cry. Especially for yours."
"I appreciate it, Ric." Theo chuckled.
"Woah!" Ricky exclaimed a little bit. "I haven't heard that one in a while. These past couple of months it's been boy use the gotdamn front door."
Theo let out a laugh. "I guess you're right. Didn't even notice it." She mentioned. "Guess it's special because it's some of the last few months with each other, so."
"I don't dislike that," Ricky stated, rocking on his heels. "You seem to be in a better mood. Did you and Jet work things out?"
"Nope. And his name is prohibited for tonight, so please don't say it."
"Well, you're gonna be hearing it...you know what never mind."
"Plus I got some pretty good news," Theo responded, going to get her letters. "Howard and City College."
Ricky's eyes widened. "Did you get in?"
"I don't know. Haven't opened them yet." Theo answered. "Before the night ends I'll be going to one of these schools."
"Okay, I'm going to let you in on a secret," Ricky said. "I got into City College."
"Shut the..."Theo looked back to see Emmy standing at a vanity. "Shut the frickin front door. You got into City?"
"Yep. But all I have to do is keep my grades up and then I'll get to go." Ricky informed her. "My dad and Miss Jenn filled out the application for me."
"Congratulations, Ric. I'm so happy and proud of you." Theo smiled widely as she hugged him. "You're all grown up. It feels like it was yesterday when we were writing our first song together."
"And rise through the night, you and I, we will fight the shine together." Ricky sang the verse in their song.
"Bright forever." They harmonized, causing them both to laugh.
"And it still sounds good," Ricky commented, high-fiving her as their hands interlocked.
"It still sounds good. A decade and then some later." Theo joked. "I'm gonna miss Prince and Jazz."
"Me too. We fit the bill perfectly, so." Ricky nodded with a smile. "Have you seen Gina?"
"Not for a while, not since I blew her off this morning," Theo answered. "It was an accident and I do need to apologize to her though."
"Did I miss a half-hour call? And does it matter if I'm not in the show?" EJ entered the room.
"I'm so glad you came," Ricky said, bro-hugging EJ.
"Sitting out there, watching you guys is the second-best place in the world tonight," EJ admitted, causing everyone to hug him.
"What would be the first place?" Ricky asked.
"Getting to be on stage for one more show. But those days are behind me." EJ responded then turned to Theo. "Teddi bear."
Theo smiled. "E to the J. How you doing, baby?" She hugged him.
"I'm good," EJ replied, pulling away from her.
"Ricky told me you went off the deep end and joined an acapella group?" Theo raised her eyebrows in curiosity.
"Yeah. It's pretty fun." EJ admitted.
"But it's acapella, though," Theo commented. "The only acapella I trust is Take 6 and the Pentatonix."
"Still peachy as always, Theo." EJ chuckled.
"Hey, you know it, baby," Theo responded with a smile.
"Biggie!" Ashlyn gasped, causing everyone to turn and look at the other door.
"I'm not here! But if you notice someone in the audience screaming, crying, throwing up, those are all things that I do." Big Red informed them.
"That's our guy, y'all." Theo chuckled after Ricky hugged him. "What's up, Archie?"
"Not too much, Jughead." Big Red replied with a smile, giving her some dap.
"Wildcats, this is your five-minute call!" Maddox exclaimed, flickering with the lights, causing everyone to scream. "You guys don't do the lights thing?"
"We thought you'd be dead again." Ashlyn nervously chuckled.
"Theodora." A voice sounded, causing the girl to look up from the vanity to see Mack.
"Mack? What are you doing here?" Theo inquired, approaching the boy. "And did you give that plant to my sister?"
"One of them, but the wow guy took the other one," Mack informed her.
"His name's Ricky. Ricky Bowen."
"Got it."
"What's this?" Theo asked, pointing to the plant.
"This is a 100-year-old bird of paradise. A friend of mine grows them. It's John Stamos."
"I was gonna ask for Uncle Jesse's number but do you happen to have Beyoncé number."
"I have her number. She's great people." Mack informed her. "And Blue Ivy is the sweetest kid ever."
"Really? Can I have her number?" Theo asked him.
"Sorry, I can't really do that," Mack replied. "Anyways, the Porter girls are very good people and friends, so I thought I'd bring a peace offering."
"I guess I owe you an apology," Theo mentioned and Mack raised his eyebrows. "Trust me, it's very rare. But you're turning over a new leaf and it's admirable. So, in short, I apologize."
"You kinda put it into perspective for me. The day in the dressing room when you snapped at me." Mack told her.
"Really?" Theo raised her eyebrows.
"Yeah. It made me want to think about how I treat people. So, in short, thank you." Mack smiled lightly at her.
"You're still going to follow me on the gram though, right?"
"Of course. You and G-Force are great people."
Theo let out a giggle. "Still not so sure about T-Force but if we can work towards Thea, Theo, or Teddi then we're good."
"Theo," Mack said then nodded. "You know what? I like it. Break a leg." Theo saluted to him and then Mack walked out of the room.
"Everyone, let's circle up. Circle up." Miss Jenn called, making her way into the dressing room dressed as Miss Darbus. "And hands. Hands. My babies. I know that some of you are disappointed that we don't have the auditorium tonight because Quinn and her band of Hollywood elites have secured it for some other kind of event. But tonight, after promising the principal that this is now an unofficial event, we have the homecoming gym, and an audience of loved ones, and each other. And we have our dreams. And to quite a wise coach you only have two hours left to be a team. So go out there and hold each other close tonight because you never know who might be taking flight tomorrow."
"Places!" Maddox happily exclaimed.
***
The first half of the show went extremely smoothly without any problems whatsoever like there normally would be on an opening night at East High. It was now time for Night To Remember. Theo, Gina, Kennedy, and Ashlyn were all sitting at a table in the lunchroom for the scene where Chad asks Taylor to prom. In her orange suit for the cafeteria scene, Theo crossed her legs while she made conversation with the girls around her.
Jet walked up behind Theo as she was laughing with the girls. "So, uh, hey." Jet recited as Chad. "I was kinda wondering if you would maybe go with me."
Theo plastered a fake smile on her face. "Oh, hey, Chad. They have a tuna surprise on the menu. It's good, really good." She took a bite of the food that was given to her.
"Dude." Jet continued, causing Ricky to shrug. "Taylor. Hey, um, I'm asking you to prom."
"Oh, I'm sorry. I can't hear you because it's so loud in here." Theo said, causing the audience to laugh. "Did y'all hear something?"
"Nope." Ashlyn shook her head as Kelsi.
"Neither did I." Kennedy agreed as Martha.
"Okay. Excuse me." Ricky recited as Troy. "Excuse me, everybody. Yo!" Everyone got quiet. "My friend has something to say."
Jet looked around the small cafeteria scene as Theo shrugged with a tight-lipped smile. Jet then stood up on the table behind the girls, holding his arms out.
"Taylor Mckessie, would you please be my date to the senior prom?"
Everyone cooed as Theo turned back to the girls for a second and then stood up. "I'd be honored," Theo responded, causing everyone to cheer as Jet stepped off the table to hug her.
Towards the end of the song, Seb made his way up to the stage and kissed Carlos in front of everyone.
"This means we're a thing!" Seb exclaimed, causing everyone to cheer for the couple.
"This is your 15-minute intermission," Maddox announced over the system.
Everyone went back to the dressing room for the intermission. Theo was following behind everyone else when she saw her mom walking away from Ricky. The Porter girl followed after her mother and called her name, causing her to turn around.
"You were great out there." Terri smiled widely.
"What did you say to Ricky?" Theo asked her mother.
"What do you mean?"
"Before I came over here, what did you say to him?"
"Not much. I just mentioned that Gina was leaving for New Zealand tonight, and that's about it." Terri responded with a shrug.
"Why would you say that to him?" Theo inquired. "You know good and well that he didn't know about that."
"I honestly didn't know," Terri admitted.
"Cut the crap, Mom," Theo commented.
"Excuse me?"
"You heard what I said."
"Okay, I know you're 18 but I'm still you're mother." Terri reminded her.
"Okay, but you had no right telling Ricky that Gina was leaving tonight," Theo remarked. "That's between her and him, not you."
"I didn't know," Terri stated.
"Be for real, Mom. You don't like him." Theo commented. "And you just couldn't wait until Gina was gone to tell him that, didn't you?"
"Watch yourself, Theodora," Terri warned her.
"No, you watch yourself, Mom," Theo told her. "That's Gina's business with Ricky and it ain't have nothing to do with you. You're wrong for that." The girl walked away from her mother and into the dressing room.
***
"You're doing great. Coach Bolton only has three more scenes." Ashlyn explained to the boy in the chair. "And I truly believe you can make up half the lines, on the spot."
"And remember to use emotions this time," Theo added. "Cause the crying scenario wasn't it."
Ashlyn laughed remembering that time when EJ cried during the tech rehearsals. "Exactly. Don't cry this time."
"Bro bear, Ricky, places for The Boys Are Back," Maddox called for Jet and Ricky.
"Can we really start Act 2 without Gabriella?" Ricky questioned, looking around for Gina.
"I still know all her lines," Dani spoke up, causing Ricky to give her a face.
And right on time, Gina ran into the room. "I'm here, everybody! Hi, I'm here."
"Okay, let me see my number one nemesis." Miss Jenn entered, making her way to the group. "Coach Bolton."
EJ turned around in his chair, wearing older makeup. "It's now or never. Take two."
~•~
Y'all I'm procrastinating. I don't want it to end. 😭😭