Vi's Costume

It was 35 minutes till showtime, and barely any of us were ready. We were all running around backstage in various states of disrepair. I was all dressed in my costume and was done with hair and makeup, so I was assigned the task of doing the hair and makeup of people that Kourtney hadn't gotten to yet.

Right now, for example, I was doing Seb's bright pink eyeliner. His costume was iconic and so was his makeup, and I was so freaking excited to see him as Sharpay.

"Are you sure this isn't too much, Vi?", Seb asked, pointing the winged pink eyeliner that I had did and was now sprinkling glitter over.

"Anything less wouldn't be enough", I replied.

"I know, but I'm worried that if I look like this in addition to playing Sharpay, people will say stuff", he said.

"You're fine. You're easily the most talented out of all of this, and you look like a king", I replied.

"Thanks Vi. I love your costume too. You look way better than Kelsi did in any of the movies", he said.

"I know right. Kourt really worked wonders. I look like me just with the addition of a newsboy cap", I said.

"I love a good Jack Kelly hat though", he replied.

"Facts. Although my hat is more Crutchie-esq.", I said.

"I can see that".

"Twenty minutes till showtime!", Natalie shouted, coming through the dressing room.

"Oh shit, I gotta go get dressed. Thanks for doing my makeup, Vi", Seb said.

"No problem", I replied.

I walked over to where Ricky was. I wanted to give him my gift now, to get it over with kind of. So we could do it before the chaos of the cast party.

"Hey, are you almost ready to go? I wanna give you my opening night gift", I said to him.

"Yeah, I just gotta put all three of Troy's layers on, and I'm waiting to do that last minute so I don't get all sweaty before I get on stage. I want to give you my gift now too, so let's go maybe out to the back hallway?", he said.

"Okay, Yeah. I don't think anyone will be there", I said.

With that, we both grabbed our respective gifts from our bags and trouped out to the back hallway near the Science wing.

"Can I give you yours first?", Ricky asked nervously.

"Yeah! Of course", I said.

Ricky's gift to Violet

He handed me a small sunflower-printed gift bag.

Inside were a card and two jewelry boxes.

"What should I open first?", I asked

"The card", he replied.

I opened it to find a floral print greeting card, inside in Ricky's messy handwriting it said,

Vi, you've been there for me through everything, 10years and counting. Without you, I wouldn't be who I am today. You're my best friend, and now my girlfriend too. You're one of the most kind, loyal people ever. I've leaned on you through so much, and I'm so grateful to you for being there for me. I love you Vi. I will always be here for you, and I will always love you.

Love, Ricky

"That's so sweet! Oh my gosh, I'm going to cry and ruin my makeup. I love you too, Ricky. Always", I said.

Then I opened up the first jewelry box to find a silver necklace with a glittery letter R pendant.

"Holy shit! Like in High School Musical 2! When Troy gives Gabriella the T necklace! I am seriously going to cry now, Ricky", I said.

"I'm glad you like it. I was at the mall looking for a V necklace for you, but then I saw the R and I thought you'd like the HSM2 reference", he said.

"Hell Yeah. HSM2 is the best in the franchise", I said.

Then I opened up the second jewelry box to find two bracelets, one with a blue stone for Ricky and one with a pink stone for me. Matching engraved couples bracelets.

"I hope you like these. I was struggling to find something else to get you, but then Big Red reminded me that you always loved looking at matching couple things in Pinterest, so I thought you'd like these", he said.

"I love them. This is the perfect gift. I'll put both of these on after the show. You know what Miss Jen says-

"Never wear personal items on the stage", we finished together, and then laughed.

"I also have something else for you, a song I wrote, but I'm gonna sing it for you later", he said.

"Ughh I'm so excited to hear it! Anyway, it's my turn to give you yours!", I said.

I handed him the thick lavender photo album that I had out my scrapbook in.

"This is kind of lame compared to what you gave me, but I hope you like it", I said.

He opened it up and began to read the letter I pasted onto the first page.

The letter had said:

"Dear Ricky,

You've been through everything with me. All the bullshit with my dad, Adam's passing, all of my anxiety, etc. I remember you promising me that you were there for me and always would be, and that's entirely true. You are my best friend. You mean everything to me. "You matter to me". I love you and always will.

Love, Vi"

"Thank you. This means a lot", he said,

Then he flipped to the next page.

" I remember this day. I lost my first tooth, and then you helped me write a letter to the Tooth Fairy in the middle of your party", he said, looking at the first photo.

He flipped through the next few pages silently.

"I remember this. We became very familiar with Mango Dragonfruit Lemonade that week, we couldn't eat anything else. Remember when you almost knocked someone over to get a picture with Judy Garland's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame?", Ricky said, looking at the pictures from our LA trip.

"Oh gosh. I forgot about that. That was a great trip", I said.

He flipped to the next page, "The first day of seventh grade pictures are brutal. We look like human versions of the characters on Big Mouth", he said, laughing

I laughed, "Why is that completely accurate?"

He flipped through the rest of the book, commenting on every couple of photos.

When he was done, he turned towards me, tears in his eyes.

"This is the best gift I've ever gotten. It must've taken so long to do it. I love you, Violet. Thank you", he said.

I stood on my tiptoes and kissed him.

"Five minutes till showtime!", Ashlyn called, walking out into the hallway.

We then walked back to the dressing rooms, Ashlyn and I tagging behind.

"So I guess your gift went over well?", she asked.

"Shut up!", I said, blushing.

Before I knew it, it was showtime and I was watching Ricky and Nini perform "Start of Something New".

They were amazing. And the. It was my turn to be on stage.

I sat behind the piano, and we did the "What I've Been Looking For" scene and the audition scene.

The crowd was really good- they were all reacting at the right times and laughing at all the jokes.

I was backstage with the cast when Gina showed up.

She would replace Kourt as Taylor from here on, and I was happy that she'd still get a chance to be in the show, but I was nervous about how things would be between us.

Luckily, I didn't have anything to worry about.

"Violet! I've missed you so much!", she said, hugging me.

"I've missed you too. I'm so sorry for what all went down at the party", I said.

"It's fine! I saw on your Insta that you and Ricky are together now. I'm so happy for you! I knew you'd end up together", she said.

"I'm so glad you're here, Gina. Thank you for being so understanding. I was a total bitch at the party", I said.

"No, it's fine. I overreacted anyway, and I shouldn't have acted that way. I'm so glad to see you again", she said.

Then it was time for "Status Quo", and of course everyone killed. Especially Gina and Seb. Gina's dance break was amazing, while Seb's solo was everything I needed in life. Those two were destined for Broadway.

Then it was time for "Head In The Game", which I of course watched from the wings.

Ricky sounded so good, but then, as he was suspended up for the big ending, he froze up. It's almost like he had a full anxiety attack right there on the middle of the stage.

As intermission begun, I was unable to find Ricky backstage, and I needed to. I needed to find him, help him through his anxiety attack.

Finally, I found him sitting in a quick change booth. He was missing his Troy jersey, and he was having a seriously, full-on anxiety attack. He was crying, and shaking and looked completely scared.

I sat next to him and held his hand.

"It's okay. You're having an anxiety attack. It'll pass. It'll all pass. You're okay, you're here with me and you're safe. Just take deep breaths and squeeze me hand. You have me and you'll always have me", I said.

And he would.

Author's Note: Hi! I'm sorry this took so long to be posted, it was a hard chapter to write and I wanted to make sure that I give you guys my best work! While this chapter was the most difficult, it was the most fun to write and I hope you guys enjoy it. The next chapter should be up at the end of the week.

Lots of love, Beth 💜