𝐈𝐕𝐘 | ɢɪɴᴀ ᴘᴏʀᴛᴇʀ x ᴏᴄ

ᴀᴄᴛ ᴏɴᴇ: ꜱᴄᴇɴᴇ ꜰᴏᴜʀ

ᴀᴄᴛ ᴏɴᴇ: ꜱᴄᴇɴᴇ ꜰᴏᴜʀ

"We're all set on Troys, we're low on Chads, you can read after the Gabriellas-" Miss began, making me smirk.

"I only studied the Troy scenes in the movie..." He said, making me roll my eyes. This guy is not helping.

"Troy would've arrived on time." Carlos says, as if reading my mind.

Miss let out a small chuckle. "Thanks, let me do the talking." She told him, which was a shame, because I wanted to do the talking. She turned back to my sister. "Okay, Nini, let's try this again."

"YOU GOT THIS BABE! WO!" Yeah, I don't know which boy I want to punch more anymore. With the shouting EJ gave to us all, came with the responsibility of clearing up Miss Jenn's coffee over the machine that controlled the lights. All the lights went out, leaving just a few of the lamps still going. "Nobody panic!" Miss shouted. "Nini, let's wait for the lights to come back on. I don't want this to throw you."

Nini shook her head in return. "I'm not... I'm not thrown." She began to sing, just like I knew. Nini was perfect for the role, and Miss Jenn would have to be blind to not see it. Ricky-the-annoying-Bowen took his phone out, shining his phone's flashlight at her, as if that was going to help all of us while she continued. Suddenly, EJ, too stood up, shining a similar, perhaps a little more blinding light on Nini with his phone's flash. She continued for most of the song, perhaps going on a little too long, but Miss Jenn was still impressed, to say the least.

"Okay..." Miss Jenn finally said. "Well, thank you, Nini. I only needed 32 bars, but I appreciate your commitment." She turned to face Ricky who was now stood on the side. "You- late boy. Let's do the Chad sides."

He walked up to the stage as Nini sat down next to EJ. "Hey, there, I'm Ricky Bowen, I'm a junior and-"

Why are some faces so punch-worthy?- Probably something in my google search history

"Total wildcard here." Carlos says to Miss beside me.

"I don't get it, Troy. What kind of spell has this elevated IQ temptress-girl cast that suddenly makes you want to be in a musical?" He read from the script but stopped suddenly, scrunching it up into a ball in his hand. "I don't know... Maybe it's the way Gabriella always had your back, and maybe you can't stop beating yourself up for totally blowing it with her."

"Was this in the movie?" Miss asks the two of us. I only gave the teacher a shake of the head as he continued.

"And look, Troy, even if you never said the L-word to Gabriella because that's, like, not even a word your parents say to each other anymore..." Looks like this wasn't about Troy and Gabriella anymore. "That doesn't mean you don't. Maybe it just means you waiting for the right time to say it... So that everyone could hear it." I took a small glance over at Nini but didn't say a word. "So that she could."

A moment of silence in the whole room made it more difficult for me to try think happy thoughts. Step two of being in the musical- always think happy thoughts. That was the difficult step... Won't lie.

"Okay, kiddo, time to sing." Miss said, breaking the silence.

"Oh, no, actually- if you don't mind. I kind of prepared my own song?" He said to us. Part of me was impressed, and the rest of me wanted to burn the guitar.

"Sure..." She seemed a little unsure, and if she was unsure, you could imagine how my heart was pounding in my chest right about then. He cleared his throat, guitar now in hand. He began to strum the guitar, make me resent him even more. As I went to take a sip of my water, I stopped, nearly choking on it as he began to sing.

⊱⊰

I didn't applaud him. The others may have, but I felt like I could do with some fresh air afterwards. So, I left early and left all the notes I had to Carlos and Miss Jenn to deal with. I was halfway down the corridor when Nini stopped me.

"Are you okay?" She asked me, both hands on my arms.

"I could ask you the same thing." I say to her. "He just stole your song- and he just messed up-"

Suddenly, walking around the corner, Big Red and Ricky both stood there. Slowly, the two boys began to turn back the other way, not wanting to deal with me or Nini.

"HEY!" Nini shouted back at them. And of course, I followed, a death glare for Ricky-to-go on my face. "What are you doing here?" She asked him.

He looked at Big Red before back at Nini. "I'm... auditioning-"

"You hate musicals." She says back.

"That's a little harsh..." He says.

"We got kicked out of The Greatest Showman, because you kept yelling That's not realistic! at the screen." She says, and that was not a lie, to say the least. I had to sit three whole minutes in the cold, waiting for Mama D to come pick us up. Not something I want to repeat.

"That was the old me." He says. "The new me, thinks musicals are awesome..."

"Hmmm." She thought for a moment, which, in the situation we were in, scared me. "Okay, well, let me tell you about the old me. Alright? The old me had her heart broken, okay? And then, she went away, and she found herself. And you don't get to show up now, just to try and... confuse things."

"You think that's why I'm here?" He asks.

"That's not why you're here?" I ask, eyebrows furrowed. "That was an actual audition?"

"No, no, Nini- I always believed in you. In us." He says to her. "Even if I sucked at showing it. That's why I'm here."

"CLEARRRRRRRR!" I hear the shout of Carlos from what felt as if he were next to me due to how loud it was. Turns out he was a corridor away. He passes us, holding a green sheet of paper in his hand.

"Carlos is posting the cast list!" Kourtney grabs the both of us by our arms, dragging us away from the boy. The fact that Miss had already put the cast list up, was also, worrying. I stared at the sheet of paper, with honest shock on my face.

Nini let out a shocked gasp next to me and I nearly had to catch her. The girl who had been numbered one- Gina (yes, I learnt her name)- stepped forward to read the list while I just stood there, completely out of it. She began to slowly walk away again.

"Congrats." There was a fake, put-on smile that she showed to my sister, making me a little more annoyed.

"CHAD?" EJ suddenly shouted. "She thinks I'm a Chad?!" But that wasn't the worst of it. Ricky finally walked around to the group, seeing what the fuss was about. But HE was what the fuss was about.

I hate men sometimes

TROY BOLTON........RICKY BOWEN

TROY UNDERSTUDY....... E.J. CASWELL

GABRIELLA MONTEZ.......NINI SALAZAR-ROBERTS

GABRIELLA UNDERSTUDY.....GINA PORTER
CHAD DANFORTH.......E.J. CASWELL

Buckle up, Wildcats

shit's about to get real...