𝐈𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐭 𝐀𝐟𝐟𝐚𝐢𝐫𝐬| 𝗋𝗂𝖼𝗄𝗒 𝖻𝗈𝗐𝖾𝗇

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐰𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐲-𝐨𝐧𝐞

( 𝗍𝗁𝖺𝗇𝗄𝗌𝗀𝗂𝗏𝗂𝗇𝗀 )

IT WAS THE DAY before thanksgiving break, a good thing. A week of no school, no pressure, just Mary and her tv shows.

Ricky and Nini were rehearsing Start of Something New and Mary was on the piano. She would look up every now and then and notice how Ricky looked happy performing and singing on the wooden box.

What she didn't notice was how Lina was analyzing the performance. As resident best friend, it was Lina's job to protect Mary, the same way Mary protects her.

What Lina saw wasn't Ricky enjoying the performance, no, no, no. What she saw was Nini making lovey dovey eyes at Ricky and Ricky having a bit of lovey dovey eyes as well. Lina knew the two had history, she knew the two were each others firsts, but if what Lina thinks is true, Mary will be heartbroken.

As the school bell rang, E.J stood up and yelled loudly which caused Lina to jump. "Yes!" He yelled and cheered. Everyone gave him weird looks. "Sorry, I really love thanksgiving"

"So you love slaughtering turkeys?" Lina asked as she infact loved Turkeys a little too much and would never eat them. She didn't care if others ate them, she just liked annoying E.J.

"I love food" E.J said as he looked down at her.

"Respectable" Lina agreed.

E.J smiled. "Glad we agree on something Soo" He said as he walked off the bleachers.

"No Catalina this time?" She asked as she put on her backpack.

E.J offered her a smile. "I'm feeling nice today"

"Okay!" Miss Jenn called everyone. "I know everyone is excited for the holiday break, but I'm me and I have notes" She said and then looked over at Ricky and Nini. "Ricky and Nini, that was good, but it could be better, and Mary, work on the smoothness between phrases and key changes" Miss Jenn noted. "She said in the spirit of holiday cheer"

"Good save" Carlos said to her.

"I thought we sounded okay" Ricky said as he looked at Mary then at Nini.

Mary looked up from her binder of sheet music. "You guys sounded great"

"Heck yeah, we're kinda killing it" Nini said to Ricky specifically.

"Mary's killing it" Ricky boasted as he gave her a proud smile.

"But so are we" Nini said as she caught Ricky's attention once more.

"You mean both of us?" He asked as the two shared a small laugh.

Lina wasn't blind. She could tell there was something there, something that either Ricky was oblivious to, or something he liked. Nini was catching feelings for Ricky again.

Lina knew this was going to break Mary's heart. More than when Atlas broke up with her.

"Your homework over this break, all of you, is to please go on vocal rest, and go over your lines too, which is hard on vocal rest, but please do" Miss Jenn explained. "And remember! May nothing ever block your doorway to happiness