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— act one, scene one: absolutely no chance
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The first time Megara Montez ever saw Richard Bowen, her first thought — naturally so — was that he was cute. Shy, boyish, but overall cute. That was when they were six — er, no, Ricky was six and Megara was just one month shy of turning so. He was older, even just by weeks, but he'd never let her forget it. Sandbox buddies, Megara's aunt Carmen thought when she set her sister and her best friend up, knowing they both had kids. Ricky always had his head in the clouds and Megara was too headstrong for any of the other children on the playground to even want to try and become friends with her. But they realized, soon after what was supposed to be friendship at first sight, that Megara Montez could not stand Richard Bowen, and he felt exactly the same about her.
If you asked her about it now, she'd completely deny it; when Ricky was forced to go to her house Megara would hide away her Bratz dolls in places he'd never think to look like in old bookbags. This was because he'd always grab them, hold them out of her reach, and sometimes even try to rip their heads off.
Little Bowen was quite the handful, but little Megara was just as stubborn. One time, she refused to eat dinner when Ricky and his mom were over just because Ricky was served mac and cheese in her bowl. And if you asked her about it now, she'd completely deny being so childish.
It wasn't Megara's mom that Ricky's was BFFs with, it was Megara's aunt and Nina, Carmen, but it was Carmen's idea that the recently divorced Montez and Mrs Bowen should place their kids in the same sandbox (so really, we should all be thanking her.) Making the mistake of thinking their kids were compatible was because Megara's parents were divorced and Ricky's mom simply didn't want to send him to daycare.
Then, finally, when they were eleven (or, uh, eleven and ten plus eleven months?) it was decided between both parties that the kids were getting a little too old for those forced playdates. It was a monumental day in the Megara slash Ricky history book — Ricky celebrated by going to the skatepark with his friends while Megara had a sleepover with her best friend Nini.
Unfortunately, their paths crossed again when in mid-high they were partners for a whole semester. And again, in the spring that year when Megara was the flower girl and Ricky the ring bearer at Aunt Carmen's wedding. Although it was originally thought to be a disaster, it was actually the very first time they truly got along. They were both happy for Carmen ("Get your own cool aunt, Bowen") and they even shared a couple of dances that night, although Ricky was quite horrible at anything that wasn't a line dance (but he even managed to butcher the Macarena, which BLEW young Megara's mind).
They were eleven and kids, thus not worried about any of that. So, yes, they danced, various Montez and co. family members placing a couple of bets on whether or not they'd kiss (they didn't) or if one would ask the other to slow dance (it was Megara).
But the next day at school, things went back to normal. And they remained that way for a long while, until...
"Has he always looked like that?" Nini asked to whoever was listening, between Kourtney and Megara.
Megara turned around to see what Nini was talking about, her long hair pulled back messily with a purple silk scrunchie. The brunette squinted her eyes to block out the sun, her plump lips twitching when she realized who Nini was talking about. She turned to her left to see Kourtney was equally as confused. "Who?" Megara asked, just to make sure she wasn't seeing things. And by things, she meant her friend slash soccer mate slash deserving of all things good checking out her enemy slash... well... enemy.
"Ricky, Ricky Bowen," Nini smiled, unaware of the physical pain she was causing Megara. "He's kinda, I don't know. He looks good."
Gym had previously been a boring class that day until Nini decided to say that, just that one simple sentence that not only piqued her interest but threatened to tear her whole world apart. While Kourtney was more confused on a "why are we talking about this?" level, Megara felt more like... WHY HIM?
But she tried to play it off cool, resting her hands on her hips, feeling both her thin cotton shirt, her layered gym shorts, and her sweaty bare skin poking out from in between both. "Oh," was all Megara was able to say.
Nini chuckled. "Oh? What do you mean?" she looked between both her friends. "Don't you see what I'm seeing? Ricky's growing into his head."
"His head will always be too big for his body," Megara insisted, rocking on her feet.
"You don't think he's cute?" Kourtney asked, more surprised than anything. "He's kind of what you look for in guys."
Megara shook her head. "No, babe. Unless they're a Jedi with the last name Kenobi, I don't want them." She turned back to Nini. Kourtney, who'd burst into a fit of laughter, even looked at Nini with sympathy. Nini's jaw opened, almost like she was offended. While Megara just shrugged it off, Nini snuck another look at the boy who was across the field, kicking a soccer ball back and forth with his redhaired friend.
"You think I might have... a chance?" Nini asked, too hopeful for Megara's liking.
"Probably," Megara shrugged. Who wouldn't have a crush on Nini? She was an adorable ray of sunshine Meg had come to know. "Like the biggest chance in the history of chances."
Kourtney sucked her teeth. "She's being serious."
"So am I," Megara's smug expression left her face. "Come on, you know you're way too good for him. When Nini opened her mouth to argue, Megara kept talking, lifting her hand up as a way to say STOP. "Of course, you have a chance with him. He'd be lucky to even go on one date with you." Kourtney nodded, the two always boosting her confidence when she felt down.
"Okay..." Nini fiddled with her fingers. "But are you sure? I mean if you were to like him..."
Megara chuckled harshly at the mention, almost choking on her own laughter. "Absolutely no chance! No way!"
However, her life would change when Nini invited him into their group and became friends, because just when she seemingly got rid of him, he was back, getting close to Nini as he'd always wished for in his wildest dreams. From then on, she tried to only let her happiness for Nini show and not her annoyance with the constant flirting. Which was hard, because everything about it urged Megara to pull her own hair out.
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