𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐢𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐞𝐧
━━ 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒂 𝒅𝒆𝒎𝒐𝒄𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒚

Juliette, Alex and Kourtney were giving the finishing touches to the costumes needed for that day, since they were supposed to take the photo that would go on the cover of the program. After many days of sketching, planning and sewing if necessary, they had managed to replicate the original outfits from the first film and they could not be prouder of themselves.

"Nini, Gina, you look amazing!" she complimented upon seeing both girls with their costumes on.

"These are amazing, girls," they returned the compliment, "I wish I could wear them as an outift."

"Hey, maybe when the musical ends, Miss Jenn allows you to keep them," Alex laughed, finishing Seb's costume as Kourtney touched Seb's Sharpay makeup, "you're all done, Seb."

"Okay people, let's do this!" Ricky entered, making everyone turn to look at him.

"Oh my God Ricky," Nini laughed, upon seeing him with his Troy Bolton wig, "there's so much to talk about."

He could not stop moving his wig, making everyone laugh even more.

"Gina!", he called, approaching the girl and giving her a high-five.

"Troy, you look the best," she smiled to the boy. Apparently, they had reconciled after the awful event at homecoming, which pleased Juliette and Big Red. On the other hand, however, E.J. seemed in bad terms with everyone so the redhead approached him with a smile.

"Hey E.J., love your costume," she smiled, looking up at the senior.

"I wonder who did it," he replied smiling back, "how did everything go after hoco?"

"Oh um... he kissed me," Juliette rushed her words, a blush creeping to her cheeks, "then Big Red interrupted us and my sisters came afterwards. Can you believe they had bet on us?"

"And are you a couple now or...?"

"Oh, I- I don't know," she admitted, "I haven't had time to talk to him today. Do you think I should ask him?"

"Do you want him to be your boyfriend?"

"Well, of course I do, I like him. A lot, actually" she admitted. Little did she know that the boy was actually passing behind her and, thus, hearing the whole conversation. E.J.'s eyes moved to Ricky, who stopped on his tracks, which made Juliette turn around, "Oh my God Ricky, I..."

"We'll talk later, okay?" he replied, and then went to his position for the picture. However, after 10 minutes and 23 tries, they still hadn't managed to take a picture so Carlos gave everyone five miutes of rest.

Juliette did not want to face the boy. She was so embarrassed and afraid about what he was going to say that all she wanted was rush to the bathroom and hide there, but he caught her before she could run out.

"Ricky I am sorry about that... you weren't supposed to hear that."

"Hey, don't be sorry, I like you too," he looked down at her eyes, "I just... don't know if I am ready for us to be a thing. An official couple I mean."

"I totally get it, really. I shouldn't have said anything, I did not want to make you uncomfortable or anything."

"No, please don't apologize. That does not mean that we cannot kiss, though," he smiled and took the girl by the waist, pulling her closer to him. That only made Juliette giggle as she put herself on her tiptoes and gave him a quick peck.

That was not enough for Ricky, however, so he cupped her cheek and gave her a longer and deeper kiss. Just there and then, in the middle of the hallway. The girl remained with her eyes closed some seconds after the kiss, taking it all in and smiling.

"You look cute when you blush," Ricky whispered, "your face and hair match."

"And you are an idiot," she replied laughing as well.

"Okay love birds, time to take the photo," Carlos and Alex interrupted them, making both of them look at each other and then walk into the auditorium.

It took another ten minutes to finally get one photo right.

—

"Miss Jenn had a personal matter to attend and she won't be here today but everything's fine."

It was clear that not everything was fine but they let it go and it went even worse after Carlos proposed the idea of Gabriella wandering through a "forest of boys" while he sang When there was me and you. Nobody seemed to like the idea and many alternative options came forward but Carlos was not having it.

"Okay, you guys! This is not a democracy!" Carlos exclaimed, making everyone fall silent.

"Carlos, are you okay?" Nini came forward, " 'cause it's not that deep, we can just... come back when Miss Jenn is here."

"Well, she's not here and I don't know if she's ever coming back," he stated. I'm sorry, what?, "she's in deep trouble, you guys. They're saying that she lied in her job application and there is a school board meeting in 24 hours and she is probably going to lose her job. I wasn't supposed to tell any of you but I'm trying to do my best here."

"What are we even doing in rehearsal?"

"How can we have a show if we don't even have a teacher?"

Juliette turned to Ricky, who seemed completely broken at that point, so she approached him and took him by the hand as he sat down on a box.

"Wow, Carlos, what else are you not telling us?"

"Hey, this is not Carlos's fault," Ethan interrupted, defending the boy. Everybody started fighting until Nini took her backpack and exited the bomb shelter, claiming that she needed a minute. Soon, everybody else followed her.

And then, there were three.

"Well, that fell apart fast," Gina broke the silence of the room.

"Nothing fell apart, it's all gonna be okay. She's Miss Jenn, she's unstoppable. The whole show is unstoppable."

"Hey, could I hear that acoustic version you were talking about earlier?" she questioned, surprising both Juliette and Ricky, "it sounded cool."

"You serious?"

"I mean, we've got the time," she replied smiling, making Ricky smile as well. He took out his guitar and, after making sure everything was perfect, he started playing.

Both girls sat on different boxes as the boy sang softly around her, shifting his gaze from one to another. Juliette could not help it but smile stupidly. She loved hearing the boy sing but her smile faltered when she saw Gina. She looked at the boy the same way that she did. And she knew what that meant.

"That was insane, Ricky. I would kill to have those skills", Gina spoke as soon as the song ended. In the meantime, Juliette stayed silent, hearing at the friendly conversation they were both having.

"Throwing drinks on people's faces..." he counted, laughing.

"I was hoping you would have forgot that part."

"Yeah I... I can't forget about anything that happened at homecoming," he replied, his eyes not leaving Gina. The girl did not reply but still kept his eyes on the boy as well, until Ricky realized and snapped out of it, "shouldn't we be... doing something? To help Miss Jenn? A letter-writing campaign?"

"In one night?"