CHAPTER THREE !

Eliza rushed from her class— to the coach's office then to a small meeting with the counselor (who said to come back after lunch)— then to the cafeteria. Except she slowed down her steps when she realized she was sitting with the theater kids and it was the day of auditions. Her name wasn't on the sign-up sheet. Neither was Ricky's. Nobody really paid attention to the sign-up sheet this time around, they knew who was apart of the show.

"What did I miss?" Eliza asked sitting beside Ricky. She brought her own lunch— she always brought her own lunch. She didn't like waiting in line for food that didn't taste good enough to be waiting.

"Carlos, Big Red and Kourtney are all auditioning for the show this semester," Ashlyn explained.

"Oh my god, Kourt!" Eliza exclaimed. "And Big Red and Carlos! That's great news, you guys are going to do amazing!"

"You're welcome," EJ stated when he walked up to the table, sitting on the other side of Ricky.

"Huh?" Ricky questioned.

"Uh, I've decided to take myself out of the running for the Beast," EJ explained. "I'm just— I've got a lot on my plate. Which reminds me, I should probably pick a meal plan for Duke."

"Wait, you officially got in?" Ashlyn asked.

"Back up. You're not doing the musical either?" Ricky questioned.

"No. I've only got the bandwidth for a supporting role. Wait, what do you mean 'either'?" EJ asked.

"I'm uh, I'm not sure if I'm auditioning this year," Ricky admitted. "You know, once a skate rat. . . Right?"

"Wait, seriously?" Gina asked.

"What about Eliza?"

Eliza felt all eyes on her as she took a bite of her sandwich, she chewed slowly before swallowing her food. "I'm not entirely sure if I'm auditioning either. It was fun being Gabriella but I'm just going to be a supporter this semester, and this semester is always the busiest; especially for cheer."

"Okay, um," a blonde girl came up to the table. "I'm sorry, I've been trying to work up the courage to say this. I can't believe I'm standing in front of both Troy Boltons right now. Your performances last semester in HSM were incredible." Eliza gave the blonde a look, EJ was only Troy for less than five scenes, he couldn't be that incredible.

"Thank you. That means a lot to us. It honestly takes a village to get a show up on its feet. I've been blessed," EJ responded.

"No, no. Thank you. You both inspired me to wanna try out this semester. It's intimidating being basically brand new to theater. Honestly, you guys are all so talented. Do you mind if we—?" She motioned to her phone. Everyone agreed. "Cheese."

"You can tag me in that! It's just EJWaterPoloTheaterGuy. Theater... e-r." EJ smiled.

"Already did," she said before walking off.

"Back to what we were talking about— you're not auditioning either? We just lost our two leads, what's Miss Jenn going to say?"

"Two leads? There is no way that Ricky and I would be the leads again," Eliza stated. "And anyone of you guys can be great as the leads—"

"Oh, please, you know Miss Jenn already precast this even if she said she didn't. You two were great as Troy and Gabriella, obviously your chemistry was great," Carlos said. "You two have to audition."

"If you're going to push me to audition, I won't even show up at all," Eliza stood up. "I have a meeting with the guidance counselor," she stated gathering her stuff before walking away. Everyone looked at Ricky, but he stayed in his seat. It wouldn't be a good idea to follow her. He had tried bringing up auditions since the new year, but she always shut him down.

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"I think being in a show again will look great on your college transcripts," the guidance counselor told Eliza. "Your grades never slipped, you still made it to all the games and cheered. Plus, the rest of your extracurriculars: the baking club, robotics, book club, debate. Keeping Drama club would be a great addition."

"That's exactly what I didn't want to hear, Mrs Peterson," Eliza complained. "I know it would look great on my transcripts along with all of my extracurriculars. I have some great time management and organizational skills. I just wanted some guidance to tell all my friends that I can't do the show."

"Why can't you do the show?" Mrs Peterson asked.

"It's Beauty and the Beast. It was the last show I did with Nicole before she left," Eliza admitted.

"But wouldn't doing the show make you feel closer to your sister? It could be something you two share," the counselor reasoned.

"I'll be completely honest— I'm a shoo in for Belle. I know the entire play and movie by heart, Nicole wouldn't have it any other way. I watched Nicole be Belle, and this was hers. I can't take something that was hers," Eliza finished. "She's very possessive."

"I believe your sister would tell you to audition for the lead," Mrs Peterson interrupted. "Your sister loves you, and I remember during her senior year, she was worried about you starting your freshman year after she left high school. You came in your freshman year like a bull— you signed up for all these clubs, and you were already on the varsity cheer team, which most freshman aren't. And you got captain this past summer. You sister would say whatever the opposite is of what you are trying to do."

Eliza remained quiet, playing with the ring on her finger. "If I got Belle, I wouldn't be as good as her," she said quietly.

"Sure, but she would have wanted you to try. She wanted you to be in drama club like she was, it was something the both of you shared and she would want you to be apart of it. But the decision is yours, whether or not you are going to audition," Mrs Peterson finished. "Have you spoken to your sister yet?"

"Thank you for meeting with me today," Eliza ignored her question. Nicole had officially been back since opening night of High School Musical, being completely moved into her old bedroom. Eliza hadn't spoken to her, family dinners were quiet whenever Nicole was there.

"My office is always open for you, and any other students," Mrs Peterson responded. "You can stop by anytime, but not to purposely skip class."

"Of course not," Eliza smiled, as Mrs Peterson handed her a late pass.

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"Our late students will have to partner up," The AP Chemistry teacher stated. Eliza had handed him the tardy note she had. And Eliza turned around to see who the other late student was— Luke Nelson. "You two can make your way to the empty lab station."

Eliza forgot it was the day lab partners were assigned; if she had remembered she wouldn't have met with guidance counselor. She might have convinced the teacher that Luke wouldn't be a good partner for her. But anyone in AP Chemistry was a good partner. She just didn't know how'd Ricky would react knowing her ex was her lab partner for the semester.

updating bc why not? I'm currently working on the next part so I'm not completely sure when it'll be published but within like 2 weeks, I promise... maybe.