CHAPTER ELEVEN
·.¸¸.·♩♪♫ mr perfectly fine ♫♪♩·.¸¸.·

REECE AND WILLOW had been dating for about two weeks now, meaning they were in their honey moon phase which may have been blissful to them but to everyone else it annoyed the crap out of them.

"Do you have to be together all the time?" Josie asked as she stood with Reece and Willow in the dressing room.

The couple laughed as they separated and put an arm around Josie pulling her into a tight hug. "Is this better?"

Josie rolled her eyes, "Shut up."

The girls let go of her, as Reece went back to getting ready. Today was the day of the photoshoot for the High School Musical school playbill. Although Kelsi wasn't technically in the original poster Miss Jenn thought it would be a good idea to add her since Reece would have a more important role in the show.

"I gotta go set up the camera," Josie said, getting off the boxes she had been sitting on.

Willow leaned on the vanity where Reece sat doing her makeup. She watched as the girl put light pink lipstick on her lips. "You going to say something or just keep starring?"

Willow let out a small chuckle, "I'm not starring I'm admiring."

Reece smiled at her girlfriend, but before they heard Ricky say, "Okay, people, let's do this!"

"That's my cue." both girls left the dressing rooms onto the stage.

"Oh my God." Reece burst out laughing. "Ricky Bowen, you look..."

He flicked his 'hair' back. Like the other cast members, Ricky was now in costume, which meant he had to wear the blonde wig Reece had been wanting to see on him for weeks.

"Amazing? I know."

The redhead pats his shoulder, "That's one way to put it."

"Let's get some air, Wildcats," Gina announced as she stroked a pose for Josie to take a picture.

"Good morning, Gina," Ricky said with a hint of laughter in his voice as he and Reece approached the sophomore. "Pretty good, right?"

"Troy, you look the best," she said sarcastic giving him a high five.

"Thank you. I try." He flicked his hair once more.

"Gina, why would you lie to him?" Willow asked, approaching the  three. Reece was surprised to know that Gina and Willow had been friends for a while but was glad her girlfriend was able to have at least one friend, who wasn't Josie, Anne, and herself when hanging out with the drama department.

"Don't lie, Sloan, you love it."

"Mhmm, sure. Let's go with that."

"Kelsi you look as beautiful as ever." She turned to acknowledge the girls' presence.

"Me? Look at you, you scream Taylor."

"Alright places, everyone!" Josie announced. The group made their way in front of the big High School Musical sign.

"On the count of three, I want to guys to jump." Josie directed.

"One, two, three." She said.

As everyone jumped Kourtney ran into frame,  "Oh, my gosh. I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry, y'all."

"Kourtney," Ricky whined softly.

"It's fine, Kourt, that was a practice round anyways. Ok, once more. One, two, three." The group jumped, but it was definitely not in sync. Reece winced as the L of the sign fell.

"Wait, what happened?" Carlos asked.

"Where to begin," Ricky said slyly.

"I think you went early." Seb pointed out turning to the boy.

"Are we jumping on three or after three?" Gina asked.

"After three, have you guys never taken a picture before?" Josie asked surprised.

"Not jumping in the air!" Ricky said.

"I think I broke a heel." Seb inputted.

"My hat fell off and I can't find it," Reece said looking for the gray baseball cap.

"It's over here," EJ said handing it back to her.

"Oh, thanks." She smiled putting it back on.

Carlos sighed, "You guys, this isn't that hard. You smile, you leave the earth, you land."

"It's a little hard to smile when we don't even know the plan," Ricky said clearly frustrated.

"I can't look at Ricky. Is that a problem?" Nini imputed.

Ricky sighed as the others laughed at Nini's joke.

"Okay! Carlos, I don't know about you but I think we need a break." Josie said.

"Yeah, okay, let's take five, everyone."

"On five or after five?" Ricky asked grumpily, walking away from the group.

"I think he's mad at us," Seb said with a smile.

♪♫ ♫♪

Willow, Anne, and Josie stood by the piano as Reece practiced her song for the production. "Chosen Last is definitely one of the best songs you've come up with for a musical," Josie said as her best friend turned around in her seat.

"I don't know, I feel like somethings missing." Reece flicked through the pages of her notebook.

"It really is," Nini said walking over to the group with Seb. "I'm jealous I can't sing it."

Reece chuckled, "Thanks, Nini."

"Have you heard anything from Carlos or Miss Jenn? They're never late." Natalie Bagley, the stage manager, asked.

"It's weird. He's not responding to texts." Seb answered. Natalie hummed in response.

"Guys, let's just start. Flip to When There Was Me and You in your script." Natalie said.

"Oh, should we maybe wait until Miss Jenn gets here?" Ashlyn asked.

"Well, I don't know. Apparently, nobody's in charge."

As if on cue Carlos came in exclaiming, "Okay, people, let's stage a number. I'm late." He chuckled lightly.

"Is Ms. Jenn coming?" Nini asked.

"Miss Jenn had a small personal matter to attend to and won't be here today."

"Oh, is everything alright?"

"Good question," Seb interjected.

Carlos chuckled nervously, "Everything's fine. Why would you guys even ask that?"

"Are you trying to convince us or yourself?" Reece quietly said, resting her head on Willow's shoulder. A few of the others who stood close to her hummed in agreement.

"Okay. Gabriella," he took Nini by the arms dragging her towards her mark. "I need you downstage on this mark. Troy, stage right. Chad, stage left box. Umm, other boys, find a box." He instructed.

"Uh, will they be on stage with me while I'm singing?" Nini asked as the boys found their spots.

"Yes, they will be frozen in various poses to come. As the ballad builds, Nini, you will be wandering through a forest of boys."

"Wait. What does that mean?" Nini chuckled unknowingly.

"Do you know what a forest of trees looks like?"

"I do."

"Okay, but with boys."

"And, uh...no, I'm sorry, why?"

Carlos sighed, "because your heart has just been shattered and you can't stop thinking about how amazing Troy is." He turned towards Reece who sat at the piano, everyone else had moved. "Let's go!"

She began playing but Nini quickly interrupted, "No, I'm sorry, but at this point in the show Troy just sold me out to his teammates."

"Well, she's got a point. What Troy did was kind of unforgivable." Ashlyn spoke. "Respectfully, Carlos, I think the last thing anyone wants at this moment is four more versions of him."

"Maybe she could chop down the trees?" Natalie suggested.

"Or what if she's surrounded by a forest of loving and supportive sisters. Okay?" Kourtney motioned between the girls in the group. Many of them chatted in agreement.

"Is it better if she sang a solo acoustic version?" Ricky suggested. No one agreed besides Gina.

"As long as she's not surrounded by people, I think it'd be okay." The group's chatter quieted down as Reece spoke. "I mean this is kind of a vulnerable moment for Gabriella and coming from someone who also got their heartbroken," the group's attention went to EJ for a split second. "the last thing she'd want is for tens of people surrounding her. Sometimes being alone is best."

Everyone nodded and chatter began to break loss once again. Although Carlos seemed to be on the verge of breaking down. "Okay, you guys, this is not a democracy!"

The group quickly shut up.

"Carlos, are you okay?" Nini walked up to him. "Cause it's not that deep. We can all come back when Miss Jenn gets here."

"Well, she's not here, and I don't know if she's ever coming back." Everyone's eyes widened.

"Wait, what?" Ricky asked. 

"Is this a joke?" Ashlyn asked.

"She's in deep trouble, you guys." Some of the cast members began to stand as Carlos spoke, "They're saying that she lied on her job application, and there's a school board meeting in less than 24 hours, and she's probably going to lose her job." Reece covered her mouth in shock, gasping. "I wasn't supposed to tell any of you, but I'm trying to do my best here."

"I can't believe it." Nini scoffed.

"What are we even doing in rehearsal?" EJ asked.

"Wait, how can we have a show if we don't have a teacher?" Ashlyn asked.

"You know you could have told me." Seb told Carlos.

"Miss Jenn asked me not to."

EJ rolled his eyes, "Wow, Carlos. What else are you not telling us?"

"Hey, let's all breathe for a second." Ashlyn told the group.

"Do you wanna be in charge?" Natalie turned to the girl.

"She didn't say that." Anne said placing a hand on her best friends shoulder.

"You know what?" Nini said as she grabbed her backpack. "I, I need a minute."

"Right there with you." Kourtney said following Nini out the door. The rest followed suit.

Reece stood at the piano placing her music sheets back in her bag. She sighed looking at the sheet with Chosen Last on it. This was supposed to be her musical and her time to shine, but maybe this is fate telling her she wasn't good enough.

She felt someone's hand on her shoulder. She looked up to see EJ with a sad smile on his face, "Sorry no ones going to be able to hear your song, Reece. I'm sure it would've been great."

She gave him a sad smile in return. He turned away following the rest of the members out of the bomb shelter. Reece composed herself, she was not about to cry because of a stupid song. She grabbed her guitar as she linked arms with Josie, who stood at the door waiting with Willow and Anne. "I know, babes, I know." She kissed the top of her best friends head lovingly.

♪♫ ♫♪

Reece and Willow sat in a cafe, they were on a date. "So, whatcha reading?" The red head asked as she took a sip of her latte.

Willow handed the book to her, "It's for school, not that interesting but a girls gotta do what a girls gotta do." Reece chuckled.

"So, you and EJ, are you on good terms now?" Willow asked suddenly.

Reece's eyes widened, "That was unexpected...umm no - kinda - maybe - I actually don't know." Willow nodded. "He's apologized so many times but he doesn't want me to forgive him because he knows what he did was terrible. He was also there for me when my dad first came back but other than that we haven't exactly talked."

"Oh, well, I just assumed that you are seeing as he was consoling you about the song. Which I'm sorry about, by the way, I know how much you wanted to sing it." She placed a hand on her girlfriend's.

Reece smiled sadly, "It's fine, who cares." She cleared her throat. "Let's just talk about something else, maybe something less depressing?"

Willow laughed, "Okay, well in school..."

INEZ SPEAKS

I'm going to be completely honest Willow was not supposed to exist but I needed something. I've got ship names everyone!

Reece and Willow: Rillow??
Josie and Anne: Janne??
Reece and EJ: Castings?? Haswell??
They're work in progress let me know what you think!