CHAPTER THREE!

"Thank you for coming over," Eliza told Ricky. Her parents had left for work early and had already dropped off Lily off at school. The Parks' house was empty. "As you probably noticed, a lot of new people auditioned for the show- but we're only focused on you and Luke. Which is part of this insane idea I had. So, please, just listen to me explain it and then you can tell me yes or no." She set a muffin in front of Ricky. "My abuela would kill me if she knew I didn't offer a guest something to eat. Please eat it or else she'll haunt me."

"Thanks," Ricky said as he pulled the muffin closer to him. "It's early and I'm barely awake right now. What am I even doing here?"

"Your ex and my ex are both in the show-"

"You and Luke broke up?" Ricky interrupted, mouth full of muffin.

"Yes we did. Anyways- you put this plan in motion by auditioning and getting the part of Troy. Your main job in this plan is to stay as Troy, that means don't quit, don't miss any rehearsals, don't give Luke any chance of being Troy. That's all you have to do. Can you do it?" Eliza questioned.

"How is this supposed to help me get Nini back?"

"It'll show her that you don't give up, and that you're willing to do something she loves for her, so stick with the Troy thing," Eliza said.

"What do you get out of this?"

"We both want our exes back, but I just want to make him work for it, something he's never done in his life. And you being Troy will help get him jealous and realize what he's missing," Eliza finished.

"And Nini won't get jealous?"

"Nini won't have a reason to be jealous, Ricky. We've been friends since before kindergarten and now we're both the leads of the school musical, so we have a valid reason to be friends again. Not to mention, you live right across the street from me. And besides, she's one of my best friends and I'll just tell her that I'm not over Luke and- maybe I'll just come up with something along those lines."

🏀

"Can you believe Ricky?" Nini questioned as she sat at the lunch table. "He's not going to take this serious, and then the whole show will become a big joke."

"I don't know, he might surprise you. I am just glad that EJ didn't get Troy, no offense. After seeing Luke at auditions, I was hoping he'd be Troy and maybe we could start up again," Eliza said. "You know, make the showmance become a romance," she used Nini's words from the other day. To make the girls believe her words, she glanced towards where the football players sat, and smiled when she looked at Luke.

"Girl, are you thinking of getting him back?" Kourtney questioned, pulling Eliza's focus back to their group.

"We've been broken up for a week, and I just- I do miss him. And he did audition because of me, isn't that sweet?" Eliza asked, glancing at Nini to see her reaction.

"Well, good thing about being Kelsi, I don't have many scenes with Troy that aren't without Gabriella," Nini responded.

"Unless something happens and I can't be Gabriella. You're the understudy," Eliza said. "But you know, you and he who is playing Troy, had chemistry before." Eliza's phone beeped, she read it before standing up. "Got an emergency meeting for a cheer fundraiser. I'll see you two at the read-through!"

🏀

"Oh my god, what is that smell?" Eliza grimaced as she walked past Ricky. She leaned in and sniffed him. "Please don't ever use that cologne again."

"Nini likes it," Ricky stated.

"Trust me, she probably lied," Eliza said. "You need to go outside and run around to get rid of the smell-"

"Could everyone take their assigned seats, please?" Miss Jenn announced.

"Or I'll be able to smell you the entire read-through, great," Eliza smiled before walking past everyone and sitting at the desk with the Gabriella Montez name tag on it.

"Don't forget to silence your phones!" Miss Jenn said as she sat beside Carlos, the choreographer. "I realize that you all walked in here as strangers-"

"I kind of wish we were all strangers," Eliza whispered to Ricky. She glanced at Luke, he was staring at the two leads. Eliza leaned back in her seat as Miss Jenn continued.

"But after today, you're a family. One tribe, committed to lifting this classic film to new heights," she was interrupted by Carlos taking a selfie with his Choreographer name tag. "Please take your neighbors' hands."

Ricky stared at Eliza's hand before taking it, somehow his was sweaty. When did he become nervous? Eliza grabbed Gina's hand, and looked forward. Nini was staring at her, and Luke was staring at her hand with Ricky's.

"Hands," Miss Jenn told Ricky and EJ who reluctantly grabbed each other's hands. "Feel each other's energy. Let the silence speak volumes. In a world full of no, this is a space full of yes."

🏀

"And that's Act One. Let's take a break," Miss Jenn announced.

"I don't know about you, but I thought Big Red did a great job with the stage direction," Eliza told Ricky as they stood up. "Nini, don't you agree?"

"It was his first time reading out loud since the fifth grade Science Fair," Nini responded. "I'll catch you later, Eliza." She gave Eliza a small smile before walking up to EJ.

"This seems pointless," Ricky said as he and Eliza walked to another side of the bomb shelter. "She's going to keep avoiding me."

"You just need to show her you won't give up. It's only the first day of rehearsals," Eliza told Ricky. "You can't give up that easily. You joined to show her that you aren't a quitter. So don't be a quitter."

"I won't quit," Ricky responded glancing at Nini and EJ. "I'm promising you by the end of this, we'll both get what we want." Luke was staring at Eliza.

idk,

I thought I had this entire story finished (through season one) but decided to change a big part of the story, so I have to go in and change things... and decided to do a different thing for my newer books and use borders and whatnot ♡︎