𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐞𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭
━━ 𝒂𝒏 𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒃𝒊

     The following morning, Juliette woke up wanting to put a little more thought into her outfit, she even dared to use some makeup. She had never been the one to dress up too much, not because she did not want to but because she was not sure if certain clothes would look good on her or it would just make her seem stupid. That day, however, she decided to wear a cute casual dress that her mom had bought for her some months ago and that she had never actually worn. She was just feeling like it.

     "Why so dolled up?", asked her father once she came downstairs to eat breakfast.

     "I realised that I had never worn this dress mom bought me," she replied, wanting to get out of there as soon as possible. She was starting to feel ridiculous already.

     "And you even put makeup on," Lisa observed, looking back at Ava, "do you have a date or something we don't know about?"

     "If I had a date, you would know about it. You always find out everything. I just saw the dress in my closet and decided to put it on, don't think too much into it," the oldest redhead excused herself, grabbing an apple and exiting the house through the front door. She was done with the interrogatory.

     However, as she put a foot on the street, she felt the sudden urge to go home and get changed into something more comfortable and akin to her usual style but, before she could turn around, Big Red passed before her.

     "Hey, Juliette," he greeted, stopping to wait for her, "I like your dress."

     "Oh, thanks, Big Red," the girl replied with a smile on her face.

     "Walk with me to school?"

     "Sure, yeah," and with that, both teenagers marched together. They were not the closest, but Juliette knew Big Red was one of the funniest persons she had ever met and she was always delighted to be around him.

     "So, how are the decorations going?"

     "Oh, everything's going great, we have nearly finished already," she explained, looking upwards at Big Red's face, "how are you doing as 'stage manager'?"

     "I hate it and I cannot see the moment to get out of there," he nonchalantly declared, making Juliette laugh.

     "Yeap, that's on musical theatre. But hey, once everything has ended, you are going to miss it."

     "The only thing I'm going to miss is not spending most of my time alone anymore," he looked down at her. This made Juliette sad, how could someone so fun and kind as Big Red not have that many friends?

     "Hey, if once this is over you need some company, I'm just one call away," she smiled at the boy besides her, "tell Ricky to send you my number."

     "Speaking of which, what's up with both of you lately?"

     "What do you mean?"

     "He cannot stop talking about you," he confessed, "'Juliette this', 'Juliette that', 'Juliette sleeps cute', 'I have so much fun talking with Juliette'... I think he has almost forgot about Nini and his whole stupid plan."

     "What do you mean 'plan'? Oh wait, did he say I sleep cute? To you? Like not joking?"

     "He entered the musical so he could get back together with Nini but I don't remember the last time he talked about her anymore. And yeap, he said that yesterday. He specifically called... how does he know you sleep cute?" he stopped on his tracks, "you are not having sex, are you!?"

     "Oh my God Big Red, of course not. I fell asleep on facetime," she replied, grossed out, making the male redhead release a relieved sigh, "but I thought he was just messing with me when he told me that."

     "Well, he was not. And now, please don't tell him what I asked you about him and sex. He'll kill me."

     "Stop saying that, please."

—

     "Good morning, my pals," Ricky greeted them once he saw them at school, "you look cute, Juliette. I like the dress."

     Juliette blushed at the compliment, even more remembering Big Red's words, "oh, Big Red asked me if we are having sex."

     "Juliette!"

     "Dude, why?" Ricky looked at his best friend as if he was going to kill him as soon as they were alone.

     "Well I didn't know how you had seen her sleep cute," he excused himself.

     "And the first thing that comes to your mind is that we are having sex?"

     "I don't know how your hormones work."

     "I'm getting out of here, I cannot stand this conversation anymore," Juliette concluded laughing and, after saying her goodbyes to both boys, walked away to her class, only to encounter Nini on the way.

     Apparently, she had lost her phone and no one had seen it so there was not much Juliette could do for her except to keep an eye out. Soon, Alexandra and Lydia arrived to their lockers, which were besides Juliette's, and the three of them walked towards their first class.

—

     The decorations were nearly ready and the art club was so proud of them that they decided to get to the bomb shelter early to show Miss Jenn how they were turning out. However, when they arrived, they found Gina performing an astonishingly difficult choreography for the Stick to the Status Quo number. Nini, however, was nowhere to be seen. It surprised her to see everyone there, since rehearsal was not supposed to start for another hour.

      As they showed Miss Jenn the final scenarios, everyone gathered around them to get a look at them.

     "I absolutely love this, kids," she exclaimed upon seeing the work, "you have really outdone yourselves. We should be paying you, although we are not going to because we don't have any budget."

     "The only thing left to work on are the props and then the costumes," Kourtney explained. She had integrated into the club as if she had been there her entire life, even if she did not spend the whole time with them. She had been working as much as them and the art kids could not be happier to have her help and her cheerful spirit around.

     "That is fantastic. Take a break and admire Gina's new choreography," the teacher suggested, "you deserve it."

     At that moment, Nini entered the room. That is why she was not there, because she had not received Gina's text. Because her phone was missing. This whole thing made Juliette suspicious, but she could not jump to conclusions so she simply approached Nini, wished her good luck and sat on the floor to see Gina's choreography.

     She could not help but notice Nini's shocked face upon seeing the new steps. Honestly, to nail that choreography you needed 12 years of dancing experience at the least, and apparently Gina had them. However, nobody there could recall Gabriella doing anything in that particular scene, she just stands there and watches the dance as if it were a completely normal to encounter in a school cafeteria. 

     "Hey, Juliette," Ricky approached after what seemed a very uncomfortable conversation with Nini, "your decorations are amazing. I cannot wait to see them on stage."

     "Thank you so much, Ricky," she smiled to him as the boy took a seat by her side, "it really does mean a lot."

     "Oh and, by the way, I wanted to apologize."

     "For what?"

     "Big Red," he simply stated, making the girl laugh.

     "It's okay, don't apologize. I had a laugh. Plus, I got to know that you talk about me," she looked at him sideways, attentively observing his reaction. Ricky's face displayed a small sideways smile, which he tried to hide.

     "Simply stating the facts," he turned to look at her as well, "oh, you would never guess. Miss Jenn has asked me and E.J. to come tomorrow for a Troy-Chad rehearsal."

     "Oh my God, what does she want? A murder?"

     "We are not going to kill each other, Jul," he stated, stopping on his tracks upon realizing the nickname he had just given the girl, "I'm sorry I..."

     "It's okay, Ricky. I actually like it," replied her, smiling and with a soft tint of blush on her cheeks. Something had moved inside her and suddenly, she hoped for the boy to repeat it, "Juliette is far too long anyway."

     "Anyway, nothing is going to happen tomorrow, okay? Just a little rehearsal and then go home or to eat some ice-cream or I don't know."

      "I'll be in the art room in case you need an alibi."