𝐈𝐕𝐘 | ɢɪɴᴀ ᴘᴏʀᴛᴇʀ x ᴏᴄ

ᴀᴄᴛ ᴛᴡᴏ: ꜱᴄᴇɴᴇ ᴛᴡᴇɴᴛʏ-ᴇɪɢʜᴛ

ᴀᴄᴛ ᴛᴡᴏ: ꜱᴄᴇɴᴇ ᴛᴡᴇɴᴛʏ-ᴇɪɢʜᴛ

Chaos continued on between us all as we all searched like children looking for a golden ticket.

"YOU GUYS, the orchestra hasn't vamped this much since Bop To The Top." Carlos pointed out while I went through a pile of clothes. Nothing there.

"I KNOW IT'S HERE." Natalie said. "I preset it."

"What's wrong?" Miss Jenn asked, walking in.

"My harnesss is missing." Ricky told her while I joined Kourtney, going through a bag.

"The new one for the transformation." Ash added on.

"WHAT? NO. NO. THIS CAN'T BE HAPPENING." She said, her voice loud and scaring me.

"IT WAS HERE." Natalie pointed out.

"What else can I use?" Ricky asked.

"FOR HEAVEN'S SAKE, CAN'T YOU JUST JUMP OFF SOMETHING HIGH?" All of us stopped at her words, gasping, all eyes on her. "No. Forget I said that." Silence. "I will be... not here." She walked out of the room, and the rest of us continued.

"I knew something would go wrong..." Ricky muttered.

"HEY HEY, YOU GUYS!" Nini shouted above all of our chaos, trying to sort the chaos. Hard job to do, can't lie. "All of you, stop it." She glanced over at Ricky. "Richard, let's just spin you around without the harness, and you can toss the mask into the wings. Okay? Just like rehearsal."

"Right!" He said. "Which I never got right once." He pointed out. "And now I'm supposed to do it with one hand." I gave him a tired look, along with Nini. "Sorry. Second acts haven't traditionally been my strong suit."

Nini sighed. "First time for everything, right?"

"I can spin the table." EJ says.

"I can throw snow." Carlos said.

"And I'll catch your mask." Nini tells Ricky.

"Okay..." Natalie agreed. "Our judge is literally doing sudoku..." She muttered, grabbing Ricky. "I'm pushing you on stage. Aim for my face."

⊱⊰

"OH, MY GOD, Y'ALL." Kourtney began, walking back to them with me. "RICKY'S TRANSFORMATION."

"Wait. How'd it look?" One of the girls asked and Kourtney glanced over at my smiling face.

"Honestly... PASSABLE." She said, causing all to cheer with happiness as I gave a tired look, walking to the side to sit down.

"HEYYY, GIVE IT UP FOR OUR STARRRR." Nini said, rising from her seat to applaud Ashlyn. Cheering and applause came all around from us, excited and happy for her.

"Aww, you guys..." She giggled. "Uh, has anyone seen my boyfriend? It feels like I've been missing him all night." There was a mischievous look on a few of our faces.

"I think he pushed himself a little hard..." Carlos said.

"I think he left a letter at your locker..." I murmured, smiling.

"A couple letters, actually." Ricky corrected me and I nodded.

"Oh-" She seemed taken aback. "Okay... that's sweet. Uh, maybe I'll read them on the way to Slices... Good show everyone." She seemed to mess around for a moment, leaving her clothes on the side before walking out the room, with excited faces all round as she walked out.

Moments passed before we all looked outside the door, me and Seb first before being followed by Ricky, Kourt, Carlos, EJ and Natalie.

"You were the perfect Belle tonight." He told her, holding up the sign he'd made. "I was really proud."

With a small sound of crying from Ashlyn, I smiled at how sweet the two were. "Come here, you evil genius." She told him.

"CASEY." I glanced up from my phone and the last person in the world I'd expected to see was down the corridor. My breath caught in my throat to see her again. After all this time.
Willow.

"YOU WERE AMAZING OUT THERE." She told me, running towards me, arms open wide for a hug. Finding myself smiling as the brunette hugged me, I also felt my confusion beginning to set in my head.

"What are you doing here?" I asked her with a smile as she pulled away, seeming very hyper.

"Supporting my favourite gay clock." She said to me. "I booked the tickets the moment you mentioned being in the musical."

"Willow, those plane tickets-" I gave her a confused look, shaking my head slightly. She couldn't be here... She couldn't.

"I'm not on my own." I glanced away at her words, looking around before seeing a blonde girl at the end of the hallway on her phone, leaning against the wall. Giving Willow a teasing look she rolled her eyes. "We're not-"

"Sure..." I nodded with a raised eyebrow. "just really good friends?" She lowered her head down, smiling.

"You got one, too, huh?" She asked me, arms crossed as she looked back up.

A small pain in my stomach formed at the question and I shook my head. "Thought I did..." I told her honestly. "But, uh... I got the wrong impression."

Willow nodded. "Well, I'll leave you to do your theater nerd stuff, Case." She said, going to walk away. "Wait-" As I went to turn away with a smile, she gave me a look. "One more hug?"

Shaking my head with a smile, I turned back for her to rush into my arms. "God, you were always the clingy one..." I murmured with a teasing smile.

"And you were always the one who never slept." She said, pulling away. "Don't miss me too much, Case." She told me, walking away.

"Oh, I won't." I joked, making her look back with a smile before walking to the blonde.

Moments passed by myself in the hallway before another voice called for me. "YO! COGSWORTH!"

Turning towards Gina, she showed me her outfit, giggling as she did so. Part of me wanted to smile, but the gut feeling in my stomach was getting worse. Like a knot tying tighter and tighter.

"Just wanted you to know, I just looked up all the local ice cream parlours online, and I already know what I'm getting." She said with a smile. "I have about twenty questions about tonight, too, so I am ready to head out when you are-"

I stood there for a moment, thinking how to say it. "I was actually thinking we should just... go to Slices tonight? I'm exhausted after all of this tonight." I told her.

"Oh... yeah?" She said, her smile fading.

"Yeah- I mean, it's Ash's big night and, I think she'd prefer it if her roomie was with her." I said, trying to keep it as positive as possible. "It seems like we should stick with the gang, you know?"

"Oh, man." She said. "Does this mean we gotta reschedule one more time?" She asks me.

"I mean... maybe we should play it by ear? I dunno..." I shrugged, trying to dismiss the pain that was now growing in my stomach even more.

"Cool." She said to me. "Okay." She seemed too fine with it to be normal.

"Don't get me wrong, it would've been fun." I say, realising that it was getting awkward. "I just- I feel like-"

"No, yeah, this is perfect." She told me. "I'm just gonna grab my-" She gestured back at the room she'd just come from. "I'll see you there then." The smile on her face seemed like it was about to break but I nodded, going along with it before watching her walk away.

"God. I'm such an idiot..." I muttered under my breath, turning away and walking in the opposite direction.