TO ALL THE BOYS.
act one―throw it back
what do you mean no tiktoks?
"MIND TELLING ME WHY YOU LITERALLY- reek of cologne?" Lara Jean asked as she waved her hand back and forth to waft away the smell of Ricky's cologne that she could smell even if she was a mile away.
School had finally ended, to which it meant Lara Jean and Ricky were to stay after school for the musical. A lot of things had happened during the school day and for Lara Jean to finally realize that she had to deal with Nini and EJ herself, not something that she was exactly planning on doing at the moment.
The two currently walked outside in the field near the track and football field. Outside in the bright rays of the sun, Lara Jean walked side by side by Ricky. They were waiting for the rehearsal to start. Normally, Lara Jean would be hanging out with Chris, but he had a football meeting to go to before the rehearsal started. As for Big Red, Ricky hadn't bothered to tell Lara Jean where his best friend was.
It was bad enough that she hadn't managed to confront EJ about the letter yet. And now that he had probably seen Lara Jean make out with Nini's ex, things were definitely going to be a lot icier during the first rehearsal today. Maybe she should have just taken Chris's advice and left the music while she had the chance. Now she had no choice.
"Well, I was planning on wearing this cologne to attract Nini again. You see I was at the mall with Nini―"
"―you know what, I forget asking," Lara Jean interrupted as she shook her head. Preventing Ricky from adding more to the story about him and Nini at the mall. "Yeah, well, in retrospect, it was a good idea. Until you kissed me again," Ricky replied as he scratched the back of his neck.
"If I recall, you kissed me first this time. So that's on you," Lara Jean proceeded to sassily replied as she pointed a finger at him, which had a large amber coloured sapphire ring on it. The teenage boy only shook his head and rolled his eyes in response to her remark.
"Whatever, what matters is we managed to make Nini and EJ jealous. That's all that matters right? Besides, I knew you would consider my idea," Ricky pointed out as he gave her a smug smirk, which, in return received Lara Jean sticking her tongue out at him in annoyance.
"Hey, you try watching EJ and Nini hold hands and whatever. It gets annoying after a while," Lara Jean answered as her eyes widened as she recalled the memory of the couple holding hands from only moments ago. She shuddered just thinking of the disgusting memory.
"But if we are going to be fake dating, we need to set some ground rules," Lara Jean added on as she whipped out a piece of paper and a pen out of her flannel jacket. She stopped walking by Ricky's side and proceeded to make way towards a picnic table that was being shaded by a large maple tree.
"Wow, you really thought this through, huh?" Ricky teased as he sat across from Lara Jean at the picnic table, eyeing the pen and paper in her hand. She only shot him a look before looking down at the piece of paper in her hand. "Everyone has their own dynamics in a couple, so we might as well figure out how ours work," she pointed out.
"Seems reasonable, I guess you have a point there. But we're going to have to do it after rehearsal, we only have a couple of minutes to get back to school before it starts," Ricky pointed back as he got up from sitting at the picnic table.
"Ah damn. Now I have to go and sit down for who knows how long and listen to that millennial speak," Lara Jean complained as she got up from her place at the table too. "Speaking of which, what role did you get in the musical anyways?" The teenage girl asked as she jogged up to walk beside Ricky as they made their way back to school.
"Troy Bolton,"
"Okay, we really need to come up with a plan!"
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THEY HAD MADE THEIR WAY BACK- into the school in only a matter of moments. To which Lara Jean was confounded to be told that Ricky was to be playing the role of Troy Bolton. If she knew what was going through the new music teacher's mind, she would have picked that sophomore Gina for the role of Gabriella.
Here's hoping she was right.
She followed Ricky to the bomb shelter, to which the two found a circle of desks in the center of the room. Beyond the circle of desks revolved multiple props that could be used for different plays and musicals, a piano and multiple boxes that probably had a layer of dust on them.
Lara Jean's eyes flickered around the room to see the rest of her friends sitting on the ground or chairs behind the circle of desks. Clearly, it meant that the extras in the musical weren't as important compared to the leads. Such a shame too, well no, not really. The last thing she wanted to do was to be in close proximity to the new music teacher.
"Can everyone take their assigned seats, please?" Miss Jenn demanded while discussing other matters with Carlos. The teenage girl looked over at Ricky, who only shrugged his shoulders and the two parted ways. That, of course, was before he kissed her on his cheek while making his way to his own seat.
She made her way over towards her friends, waving at Chris who waved right back at her. Her eyes caught sight of labels on each desk, only to see that Gina wasn't sitting in place of Gabriella. Rather, it was someone else instead. Nini.
Damn, things were going to get complicated now. She shook her head out of her thoughts. Only as Lara Jean made her way over towards to sit beside Chris and Anja, she was blocked by EJ Caswell himself. She grimaced as she looked up at him, while he shot an icy glare at her.
"Um, do you mind?" Lara Jean asked as she tried to move past the teenage boy. "What game are you trying to play, Covey?" EJ hissed as he grasped her by the arm. She looked down at his grasp on her arm, quickly pulling away as she did so. "I don't know, guess you're going to have to find out,"
"What was going on between you and EJ, huh?" Chris asked as Lara Jean sat down beside him. "Long story," the teenage girl grumbled. "And that kiss between you and Ricky?" He added on. "Another long story. But I might as well fill you in," she replied as she rested her chin on her fist.
But just as soon as Lara Jean was about to fill in Chris on all the details, it just had to be that Miss Jenn was going to interrupt her with another sappy motivational speech. "I realize that you all walked in here as strangers," she started. "Nevermind, I guess I'll have to wait until the millennial stops talking," she grumbled in annoyance.
"But after today, you're a family. One tribe committed to lifting this classic film to new heights," Miss Jenn continued while being interrupted by Carlos who had been taking a picture of his label that said, choreographer. "Please take your neighbours hands,"
Chris and Lara Jean held hands together. She watched with wide eyes as she looked over at Ricky, who stared back at her as he uncomfortably held hands with Nini and EJ. "You know what, I'm just going to take a wild guess and assume that you and Ricky are fake dating to make that lovely couple jealous," Chris whispered in her ear.
"Was it that hard to find out?" Lara Jean asked as she whispered back at him. "I'm your best friend, it was kinda easy to figure out," Chris laughed as a grin spread across his face. She only rolled her eyes and looked back at Miss Jenn, who was practically in her own zen mode.
"Feel each other's energy. Let the silence speak volumes. In a world full of no, this is a space full of yes," after those words. She proceeded to sing 'We're All in this Together' from the original movies. Her singing was not the best―correction, it was pitchy and quite annoying. Chris and Lara Jean were cringing through the whole entire thing.
"But if I'm being honest, you might have a chance with this whole fake relationship thing. You just need to work on it," Chris said softly as they got up from the ground as Miss Jenn was preparing to lead them into some warmups.
Lara Jean looked over at Ricky, a grin etching on her face as she looked at the teenage boy who was smiling right at her as he was doing his warmups.
"Yeah, maybe we do," she answered as she continued to smile at Ricky Bowen. Maybe she had a chance after all.
Only as she continued to look at Ricky, the glares of EJ and Nini burned at each side of Lara Jean's eyes. Yeah, maybe she didn't have much of a chance as she thought.
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"I'M STARTING TO WISH I NEVER JOINED- this musical. One more motivational speak from Miss Jenn and I'm wishing that our new music teacher was a boomer and not a millennial," Lara Jean commentated as she waved her hand for emphasis while walking beside Ricky.
The rehearsal was finally over, which meant that Lara Jean was free to go from every situation that was to come with Nini and EJ. And seeing that she still needed to compile a list of relationship stuff with Ricky; Big Red and Chris accompanied them as witnesses to the important list that the two were going to write.
The teenage boy only kicked a rock in front of him, grimacing as he did so. Ricky hadn't been in the best mood ever since the rehearsal was over. "Do you think Nini hates me for joining the play?" He asked as he continued to look down at the ground.
Lara Jean looked back at Big Red and Chris who only took a step back and shook their heads, not wanting to help her answer the question. "You know, that is a very good question― that I don't have the answer too," she started off.
"She hates me,"
"Yeah probably,"
"Hey, but look on the bright side. Once she sees how amazing we are as a fake couple, she's going to break up with EJ and you'll have to take her back. And with that being said, I think it's time we work on that list," Lara Jean piped up as she pulled the same piece of paper and pen out of her jacket.
"Okay, I got one. You can't make out with me anymore," Ricky pointed out as they made their way over towards the picnic table. Chris sitting beside Lara Jean and Big Red sitting beside Ricky. The teenage girl only rolled her eyes and wrote down his rule.
"For the record, you made out with me earlier today too," she snapped as she finished writing the first rule. "That was to prove a point. From now on, we can only expect kisses anywhere on the face except the lips," Ricky suggested. "Sounds good to me, Bowen,"
"Heyo! Fake dating check!" Lara Jean exclaimed as she instantly whipped out her phone while opening TikTok. "That would be so much fun! We can make amazing videos and get some serious clout!"
"No! Nope! We're not doing a TikTok!" Ricky intervened as he snatched Lara Jean's phone away from her. "How about this, we make TikToks, but I'll just keep them in my drafts. C'mon Bowen, I'm not going to be in a fake relationship if you don't renegade and throw it back once during the time we're together,"
"Fine. Write that down, Covey," Ricky grumbled as he grudgingly handed her phone back.
"You know what would really make your fake relationship work is if you wrote notes to Lara Jean," Big Red suggested to Ricky as he looked a the group. "Nini was always talking about how writing notes was literally the best way of professing love in a relationship," he added on.
"Yeah, I guess that could work," Ricky replied which made Lara Jean write it down. "You got any ideas yourself, Chris?" The teenage girl asked while she wrote Big Red's suggestion down on the paper. "I mean, maybe," he replied with a shrug of his shoulders.
"Since you're not too big on the whole TikTok thing, why don't you two do some vlogs?" Chris added on as he looked at Ricky, who seemed a bit keen on the idea. "Wait, what? What do you mean no TikToks!" Lara Jean gasped.
"Look, Lara Jean, you can make just as much clout without Ricky. If you post vlogs of you two together, I am positive that EJ and Nini's friends are going to see it, they're going to send it to them and they'll be watching that video over and over again just to be mad," Chris explained.
"And we're only fake dating until this musical is over. Hopefully, by then, EJ and Nini will be broken up after the curtains close," Ricky added on. "And if they break up during the musical?" Lara Jean asked as she arched an eyebrow. "Well, we stay together. It will make them more jealous anyways," as Ricky winked.
"Sounds like we got ourselves a deal. And to seal it off, I'll need your signature Mr. Bowen," Lara Jean grinned as she proceeded to place her own signature at the bottom of the page. She handed him the pen and watched as he signed the piece of paper.
"And to make it more official, Big Red and Chris should sign it so they can be our witnesses," Ricky added on as he looked back and forth between the two boys.
"So is it a deal?"
"It's a deal,"
"Ricky Bowen, I think this may be the start to a wonderful fake relationship,"
ACT ONE:
━━━━━━
THROW IT BACK
so you're looking for attention
or did i forget to mention?
don't like frivolous affection
━━isabela merced