The cast was finally able to rehearse on the actual stage with most backdrops and props. "All right, let's get started!" Carlos announces, but nobody hears him all still in their individual so conversations. "Hello? Let's get started!"

"Okay, Wildcats." Miss Jenn claps, grabbing everyone's attention. "Let's shake spring break out of our systems and try the Beast transformation one last time. And remember, this is the triumph of the show, the moment the audience has been waiting for. This has to work." She chuckles.

"Ricky, try not to rush this time. We'll speed it up when you're more confident."

During the scene, Ricky had trouble getting the Beast mask off, and just looked bad. Marie had even tried to hide his struggle with her blue cape. Once he finally got the mask off he threw it straight at Natalie's face, causing her to stumble and knock of a couple wooden prop trees.

"Sorry, Natalie." Ricky apologizes, "It's okay. It was just my face."

"I guess I should practice that throw, huh?" Ricky jokes, turning towards Marie. She just sends him an awkward smile back. "The throw is great, Ricky. The mask is great. This is working. I will be in my office." Miss Jenn exaggerates, you could tell she was very nervous.

"Guys, we're on a long five until Miss Jenn returns." Carlos announces, scurrying away to find the distressed theater teacher.

Ricky quickly stands up to grab his backpack. Marie follows, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'll get it eventually." Ricky shrugs. "You, went a little dark over spring break." Marie states. He shakes his head, "Yeah, my phone was off."

"That's not exactly what I meant." Marie says, unclipping her blue cape. Ricky sighs, "Breakups just suck, you know? Especially when it's with the same person over and over again."

"Not really. But I've had my low moments, you'll get through."

...

Carlos had the main cast all go to Slices after rehearsal, guess they needed to talk about the show, and Miss Jenn. The boy walks quickly into the restaurant, getting everyone's attention. "There you are. We all got your text." E.J says.

"You guys, Mother is freaking out. It's about the Menkies. Is everyone sitting down?" Carlos states, Seb and Big Red were the only ones sitting down. Carlos takes a deep breath, "We can't win."

"What? Why?" Marie questions, everyone was baffled by the boys statement. "Listen, there's math involved. If we don't sweep the technical achievement awards, we don't have a chance. And, offense, Ricky, but..." Ricky looks around at the cast, "Oh, is this about the transformation? I can throw that mask at someone other than Natalie."

"You haven't yet." Natalie states, taking a sip form her drink.

Carlos sighs, "I hate to say this you guys. I mean I know we all had a good time over spring break." Seb mutters, "Some of us a little more than others."

"Not today. Honestly we need to rally behind Miss Jenn. I mean, our sets are made of plywood and Elmer's glue. We're humble. Humble does not win awards." Carlos explains, Kourtney who hadn't been in the conversation, finally came into the room. "And after that order, you have one more, and then two more after that. Fresh soda, y'all okay?"

"Carlos was just explaining..." Gina starts, but is stopped. "I heard it all."

"While you were yelling at Howie?" She questions, "Multitasking. Look, I'm a designer. Big Red's a crew guy. between the two of us, you're looking at your answer."

"Quit school, and get a job at the pizza shop?" Seb remarks, slightly offending Kourtney. "Uh, no, we should invent something amazing. Something we can run a tech rehearsal tomorrow night. A next level transformation that out-broads Broadway and out-norths North High." She squeals as they all start to agree with her.

"Ashlyn, you have the biggest house. What if I invite myself and the girls over after school, continues the collab thing?" Nini says, turning to the redhead. Ashlyn nodding in agreement. "I mean, square footage-wise, my house is slightly larger..." E.J starts to say cockily before Marie elbows him in the side, a smirk on her face.

He coughs wincing at the slight pain from Marie's elbow but recovers, "Uh, I'm gonna shut up." Marie laughs, putting her hand over her mouth.

Ashlyn giggles, "A hundred percent, yes." Marie furrows her brows, "Wait, shouldn't we all stick together."

"Oh, no way." Nini starts, linking arms with Ashlyn, Kourtney, and Gina. "Boys versus girls. Ashlyn gasps at the statement. Marie's smile slowly fades seeing the four girls so close, she felt a pang of jealously within her. Marie had just wanted to be included with them.

Big Red speaks, snapping the girl out of her thoughts. "My basements free. We have a ton of tools. I'm sure the guys can make something cool." The four girls with linked arms smile, "Great. May the best transformation win." Nini says, making the girls all laugh.

Marie looks down frowning, E.J notices the girls sudden mood change and slightly nudges her with his shoulder. She picks her head up, looking over to him. "You okay?" He whispers for only her to hear. Marie quickly nods, putting on a fake smile. "Yeah. Great." E.J nods, a small smile forms as he looks at her. "Good. Good."

Ashlyn looks over across the room noticing the E.J and Marie, who seem to be in their own world. She smiles knowing what the two's very intent looks mean.

...

The girls plus Seb were at Ashlyn's house apparently Kourtney had a good idea to show them. "One hundred percent real faux fur. Thirty yards." She gushes, rolling it out onto the table. "Must've been a truly enormous faux animal." Ashlyn chuckles, "So, what are we doing?"

"Okay, you know those sequined tops, where your rub them one way, they're purple, but if you rub them the other way, they're red?" Kourtney explains, everybody nodding except for Marie who was very confused at the moment. "Duh, love it." Gina spoke quickly, Marie shakes her head, "I don't get it."

"Look it up." Kourtney remarks before continuing, "So, we're going to do that with the Beast cape. But instead of purple and red, it's going to be fur and satin. Y'all feel me?"

The girls nod, "Kourt, you are a visionary." Nini compliments, "Oh, thank you." She says, fake flipping her hair. "The boys can build something that spins the Beast around to disguise the transition."

"Wow. Won't that take a while?" Seb questions, "I'm in, if you are."

"I guess I could stay overnight." Gina remarks, her and Ashlyn chuckling. "You guys, I'm all about costumes but I don't know if my parents will be cool with a co-ed sleepover." Seb says, awkwardly. "Chip, this is your mother speaking. Go call your mother." Kourtney tells the boy, him walking into the kitchen.

Ashlyn grabs a small black bucket full of differently sized scissors inside. "Behold my scissors bucket." She says, before slamming in onto the coffee table.

Kourtney was going to use Seb as a person to measure the cape on, as the other girls started making the markings for the satin pieces. "Ooh, this is gonna be so good, Carlos would wear it." Kourtney gushes, draping the faux fur over his shoulder.

"Does he just walk around in Armani sweatpants?" Ashlyn questions, girls chuckling. "I guess."

"Uh, Sebbie?" Kourtney looks at him in question. "Is something going on with you guys?" Marie questions, almost stabbing herself with a pin. Seb sighs, "I guess you could say, he met a group of extremely photogenic guys when he was down in Mexico, and he seemed pretty happy. So, now I'm pretty sad."

"Seb, come on." Gina tries to explain. "You want to see him happy. That's with you, right?" Ashlyn states.

"Mmm, but I guess he has to be, out of default, right?" Seb states, glancing around the room. "What does that mean?" Kourtney asks, sitting down in the couch. "There's not a lot of other choices for a boy like Carlos here at East." The boy explains, walking over to sit down next to Kourtney.

"Have you told him how you feel?" Ashlyn asks, taking a seat next to him. "Not so good at saying the feeling part out loud."

"It's not a bad idea to make an effort." Marie says, earning a look from Gina. "From what I've heard."

"Okay. Also, did I see you and E.J giggling at the pizza place?" Nini smiles, looking towards the girl. "I have some questions in the same general area." Ashlyn says, as Kourtney and Seb give each other a look, both knowing about the two. Marie's laughs shaking her head. "What?"

"Girl, don't deny it. We all know he is head over heels for you." Kourtney says, everybody else nodding in agreement. Marie chuckles, "Really?" She questions, fiddling with her hands.

"Yeah. And I think the only one who can't see it is you." Gina says, pointing to her sister. "What? No, I mean he was really nice over the break and he kinda saved me." Marie looks downs smiling at the memory. "But it was just a nice thing you do for a friend. There's nothing romantic happening."

"Uh, you sure?" Kourtney questions. "Yeah. I haven't had that much luck in the romance department before, so, I don't like to think about it." Maries mumble the last part.

"Marie, you are amazing, E.J would be a complete idiot to not like you. But you're like my sister. He's my cousin." Ashlyn starts, earning a very confused look from Marie. "And if that didn't sound so weird, you would know what I'm trying to say. I love you both."

"Ashlyn's right, I say to go for it." Kourtney encourages, Maries sighs, "I don't have the confidence to get rejected like that." Marie mutters under her breath, even though everybody heard it.

"Marie, come on." Ashlyn starts, "I'm gonna use the restroom." The girl says quickly storming out of the room. She walks into the bathroom, and slides down the wall, tucking her knees into her chest. Her eyes start to become bloodshot as her bottom lip starts to tremble. The redhead tries to hold back the tears that she knew was coming but just couldn't, and felt a single tear roll down her cheek. Why am I crying? Isn't this supposed to be fun? Talking about the guy you like. Why is this so hard? Marie thought as more tears flowed from her green eyes.

...

In Big Reds basement, the latter was on the floor, wrench in hand. "All right, everybody rotate clockwise."

They had built a makeshift stand that spins for Ricky to do the transformation on. Carlos and E.J turned the contraption the wrong way, as Ricky sat atop of it. "The other clockwise." The ginger states, still on the ground.

"I just don't understand what happened. Seb doesn't seem like the jealous type." Carlos says, as they spin the table on wheels the right way. "What does he seem like?" E.J asks.

"I don't know. The farmer type." Carlos remarks, "He's worried that your only dating him because he's the only other boy at school that watches Drag Race Canada." Big Red states, the three other boys give him a look of shock. "Wow. That's specific." Carlos says, frowning.

"Yeah, Ashlyn texted me. I have a spy on the inside." Carlos sighs, "Okay, wow. Why wouldn't he just say something to me?"

"People are complicated, man. I don't think anybody has it together as much as they seem." Ricky states, looking over at the boy. "And some of us even less than that." E.J says looking down.

Ricky scoffs, "Oh, okay, pretty boy, just because your single for the first time in your life." Carlos laughs, "Yeah, when he isn't making eyes at our leading lady."

"Wait, Marie?" Ricky questions. "It's not a thing, you guys. Okay? Yes, she is amazing, but we're friends, and it's cool." E.J says, crossing his arms. "And counterclockwise, like 15 minutes." Big Red says, from the ground, Carlos turning the table slightly. "Your friends? It's cool?" Carlos smirks at the boy.

"I'm just not looking to put myself out there right this second." E.J states. "Is it because your graduating?" Ricky questions, followed by Carlos, "Or because Marie lives with Ash?"

"I don't want to scare her away." The senior states. "Scare her away?" Carlos questions. "Yeah, from what I've gathered in casual conversation, she tends to stray away from certain subjects, and refuses to talk about her past, like at all." E.J explains, "Oh, do you want to elaborate on that?" Carlo adds.

"I think there's a lot of past trauma that seems to still be there. She's never talked about her birth parents, birthdays seem like a sensitive subject, and she said she hates cake. I don't know if that's related or not." E.J explains, Carlos nods his brows furrowed.

"I actually do remember Ash mentioning that Marie has a unopened birthday present from eight years ago." Big Red jumps into the conversation. Carlos sighs, "Wow. I never knew. But wouldn't you being with Marie help her?"

"I don't know." He spoke slowly. "I just don't want to lose her."

"Sweet boy." Carlos states, as Big Red gets a phone call. "Hello? Hey, Kourt. You did? You did? No, uh, we're doing great here. Semi-great. Verging on failure. Okay, deal see you there." He hangs up the phone. "Kourtney got the original Broadway plans from Howie. We're going to beat them at their own game."

"Wait. Howie-Howie? I thought that they weren't a thing now?" Ricky questions, "She didn't say. The girls want us to meet them at the stage door in an hour." Big Red states, "Pack up the lazy Ricky thing. We're going to save our show."

...

"These two are for the pizza shop. This one's for the front door of my house. This one's for my bike lock. Oh! I haven't seen this one in a while." Big Red mutters to himself, as he looks through his keys. Everybody was walking to the back stage door of the school. "You do have the key, right, babe?" Ashlyn says, "Yeah, I narrowed it down to this half of the chain." Some of them nod, as they watch him try all of the different keys until Natalie opens the door front when stage.

"You could've just knocked." She says before walking away. The teens laugh and run through the door.

The cast had sat down an looked the original Broadway plans. "Wait. So, in the Broadway show, all they did was suspend the Beast in the air, and then he takes the mask off." Gina says, slowly. "Well that's underwhelming." Marie mutters.

"But combine this with the wire from Get'cha Head in the Game, we're golden. Do we still have Ricky's harness?" Ashlyn explains, "Ooh, it's in the costume shop, somewhere." Kourtney answers, "Everyone, let's meet back in 15." Natalie states, as everyone dispersed.

Marie was looking one of the layouts for the plans, when E.J came up to her. "Hey, Mae. How's the slumber party going?"

Marie sighs, "Could be better. But it's fun, I guess." E.J nods, "Cool."

"Yeah, I'm going to go see if they need any help over there." Marie states, she really didn't want to leave him, but also didn't know what to say. She starts to walk away, but is stopped. "Wait. I... um don't really know how to say this but, would you want to get sushi with me sometime? For real this time." Marie starts to smile, she chuckles nervously, "I'm sorry, I don't what to say. Um... can I think about it, like just really quickly."

E.J nods sadly, watching her as she walked out of the stage door.

Marie had gone out into the hallway to take a breath. She was still in slight shock about what had just happened. Marie leans up against the wall and sighs. She definitely wanted to go to dinner with E.J, but was it the right time? Should she wait until she felt like her life was finally together? She then thought about what the girls had said earlier about just going for it.

The stage door suddenly opened, Marie looks over to see the one person she was hoping it would be. E.J looked around before his eyes landed on her. Marie immediately stood up and wrapped her arms around the boys waist. He was shocked at first but shortly after, hugged her back, loving her touch.

She pulled away from him, with a big smile on her face, a real smile. E.J could tell that this one was real, too. "Hey." He smiled, "Hi. Uh, about your question." Marie started, E.J looked at her in question, eyebrows raised. "Yes."

He smiled, "Really?" Marie just nodding, enthusiastically in response. They stay like that for a minute, just gazing into each others eyes, until E.J suddenly remembers why he went to find her into what first place. "Oh, are you ready to do the transformation?"

"Let's do it."

...

(NOTE: all of the lines where Ricky and Marie are acting, it's gonna say their characters names.)

Ricky and Marie were now running the transformation scene, Ricky in a harness and Beast mask, and Marie in the blue cape.

"I, I, I..." The Beast stutters. "Please, I love you." Belle, pleads. The Beast starts to choke, maybe a little too much, and flips over face down. Marie looks over to Big Red, nodding for him to start pulling the rope.

He starts to slowly suspend in the air, as everybody looks on in shock. "Y'all this is some Broadway stuff." Kourtney squeals, "We're gonna win. Your guys, we're actually going to win." Natalie exclaims, "We're going to make Miss Jenn so proud." Carlos claps.

Marie smiles looking up at the boy in amazement, Kourtney squeals again barely able to hold in her excitement. Marie's smile fades seeing the rope holding Ricky up slowly starts to unravel. She gasps, her eyes widen.

"Uh-oh."

The rope then snaps, Ricky screams as he falls before landing hard on the ground.

And also on Marie.

NOTES

i'm back baby,,, also i'm loving marie and e.j so hard at the moment just like ugh💖💖💖💖💖💖 take my love