"Have you heard anything from Carlos or Ms. Jenn? They're never late," Nadia heard Natalie ask Seb as she watched Ricky and Gina walk in the rehearsal room together from where she was sitting.

"It's weird. He's not responding to texts," Seb told her, and Natalie shook her head and walked away.

"So...EJ went after you yesterday," Marcus started with a teasing tone, making Nadia look over at him. "What was that all about?"

"If you're insinuating what I think you're insinuating, then I'm going to punch you in the face," she told him, shaking her head in annoyance.

Marcus held his hands up defense. "It's just weird to see him going after you. He's, like, the least suspected person who would do that."

"Yeah, well, he just needed to get something in the dressing room, that's all," Nadia told him, shrugging.

"For almost five minutes?" Marcus asked, not buying it.

"He was searching for it while I was trying to fix my hair," Nadia said, rolling her eyes. "And besides, you never told me about your date to the dance so now it's your turn to talk."

Marcus sighed, but it wasn't in annoyance, it was more like he was recounting something in his head. "Well, we haven't made anything official yet, but I think he really likes me so...maybe we'll get together soon." Nadia nodded, happy for her brother.

"Guys, let's just start," Natalie said, getting up from her seat. "Flip to 'When There Was Me and You' in your script," she said.

"Oh, should we maybe wait until Ms. Jenn gets here?" Ashlyn suggested.

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

"Okay, people, let's stage a number. I'm late," Carlos said as he walked into the room before he chuckled.

"Is Ms. Jenn coming?" Nini asked him.

"Ms. Jenn had a small personal matter to attend to and won't be here today," Carlos told them.

"Oh, is everything alright?" Nini asked in concern.

"Good question," Seb added.

"Everything's fine," Carlos assured them with a nervous chuckle. "Why would you guys even ask that?"

"I don't think everything's fine," Marcus whispered, leaning over to his sister.

"You think?" she asked, before she glanced to the camera.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Okay, Gabriella, I need you downstage on this mark," Carlos directed, pulling Nini to where she was supposed to stand. "Troy, stage right. Chad, stage left box. Um, other boys, find a box."

"Uh, are they onstage with me while I'm singing?" Nini asked as EJ stood behind her on the wooden box.

"Yes, they will be frozen in various poses to come. As the ballad builds, Nini, you will be wandering through a forest of boys," Carlos explained and Nadia furrowed her brows, not remembering that happening in the movie when she watched it years ago.

"Wait," she chuckled anxiously, "what does that mean?"

"Do you know what a forest of trees look like?" Carlos asked.

"I do."

"Okay, but with boys."

"And, uh..." she trailed off, laughing nervously again, "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. Let's go!" Carlos said, pointing to Seb on the piano.

"Uh, no, no, I'm sorry, but at this point in the show Troy just sold me out to his teammates," Nini brought up.

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

"Yeah, if I were Gabriella, and my boyfriend, or whatever the hell Troy even was at that point of the movie did that, I would probably want to punch him in the face and then run him over with a bus," Nadia added, causing some people to give her some weird looks. "But that's just me," she quickly added.

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

"Or, what if she's surrounded by a forest of loving and supportive sisters," Kourtney said, moving her fingers around as she gestured to all the girls. "Okay?" All the girls started to agree with her, nodding what Kourtney had to say.

"Is it better if she just sings a solo acoustic version?" Ricky added, raising his hand, but all the girls seemed to like the other one better.

Well, except for Gina because she decided to say, "I vote for that!"

"Okay, you guys, this is not a democracy!" Carlos yelled, causing everyone to get quiet.

"Oh, Carlos, are you okay?" Nini asked, stepping towards him. "'Cause it's-it's not that deep. We can all just come back when Ms. Jenn gets here."

"Well, she's not here, and I don't know if she's ever coming back," Carlos blurted out and Nadia's brows furrowed, looking at Carlos in utter and complete confusion.

"Wait, what?" Ricky said, also confused.

"Is this a joke?" Ashlyn asked slowly.

"Yeah, because if it is, I'm gonna have to punch you," Nadia added and Marcus gave her a look. "Sorry," she muttered, still wanting to let out the anger she still had left over.

"She's in deep trouble, you guys," Carlos started and Nadia stood up with both Ashlyn and Kourtney. "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," Carlos told them all, each of them taking a few steps forward to him as he spoke. "I wasn't supposed to tell any of you, but I'm trying to do my best here."

"I can't believe it," Nini whispered, walking over to the piano and sitting down next to Seb.

"What are we even doing in rehearsal?" EJ questioned, putting his arms out.

"Wait, how can we have a show if we don't have teacher?" Ashlyn questioned. Nadia was just too surprised to even say anything, which was usually very rare for her.

"You know, you could have told me," Seb said to Carlos.

"Ms. Jenn asked me not to," Carlos told him.

"Wow, Carlos. What else are you not telling us?" EJ questioned.

Nadia turned to him, finally processing the information. "Lay off of him, EJ. He was just respecting Ms. Jenn's wishes," she snapped at him, crossing her arms and rolling her eyes.

"Seriously, Nadia?" EJ said, looking at her angrily.

"Hey, let's all breathe for a second," Ashlyn said to try and calm everyone down.

"Do you wanna be in charge?" Natalie asked Ashlyn.

"She didn't say that," Kourtney defended the redhead.

"You know what? I, um...I need a minute," Nini said, grabbing her bag and getting up from her seat to walk out of the room.

"Right there with you," Kourtney said, following her best friend.

"Honestly same," Ashlyn agreed.

"Guys, wait!" Natalie tried, but no one listened to her.

"Count me in," Nadia said, shaking her head and going over to her seat to grab her bag. She didn't wait for her brother before she started to walk out of the room.

"Seriously, Nadia? Why'd you go after me?" EJ asked as they walked out of the room.

"You didn't need to be a jerk to Carlos when he was just following what Ms. Jenn had told him," Nadia said, scoffing.

"Didn't you just say before that you wanted to punch him?" EJ questioned.

She shrugged. "I was joking. You were just being an actual jerk by saying that," she replied, shaking her head.

"I don't care! Why did we even go to rehearsal then?" he questioned loudly.

"EJ!" Ashlyn shouted, grabbing his arm to get him away from Nadia. "What did I tell you?"

"She started it!" EJ shouted.

"Oh, real mature, Caswell. Real mature," Nadia said slowly. It turned out that their conversation before didn't even mean anything, and they were both back to their arguing ways.

"Rehearsals are officially cancelled until further notice!" Carlos shouted after all of them which made Nadia look back inside the rehearsal for a second before rolling her eyes.

"I guess this is what I get for trying something new," she muttered to herself, following Kourtney and Nini out to get away from EJ.

"It'll be fine," Kourtney assured them both since they were both being pretty negative. "Just gotta give it a minute."

"Nini, can we talk?" EJ asked, somehow finding them with Ashlyn next to him, giving him a warning look. Great, I can't even escape him.

"Uh...right now?" Nini replied awkwardly as the three them continued to walk past him.

"Yeah, I-I'll get to why in a sec, but..." he trailed off before he sighed, "Ms. Jenn isn't the only person with secrets." All the girls looked to him, their eyes slightly widened. "I really need to get some stuff off my chest."

"Like what?" Nini asked.

"How much time do you have?" he asked and Nadia scoffed quietly.

"I think I'm gonna..." Ashlyn trailed off.

"Yeah," Kourtney agreed, already knowing what Ashlyn was gonna say.

"I don't know, this might be pretty entertaining," Nadia said with a shrug before Ashlyn grabbed her hand and pulled her away from the two. "Dang it."

"I thought EJ apologized to you. Unless he lied to me about that," Ashlyn said to Nadia as the three girls walked away.

"He did, but that doesn't change anything between us. We still hate each other," Nadia said, pushing a piece of hair out of her face.

"Why do you guys hate each other? Other than the face he broke Nini's heart, but I'm pretty sure you've hated him ever since freshman year," Kourtney said.

Nadia shook her head. "For multiple reasons I will not disclose at this time," she said with a slight laugh. Her laugh then immediately stopped when she saw Leo, with a slightly swollen nose, heading right towards her. I must have hit him pretty hard, she thought, proud of herself. "You know, I'm still really curious about their conversation. Maybe we should—"

"Nadia, can we talk?" Leo said, unknowingly cutting the girl off. "Alone," he added after he glanced between Ashlyn and Kourtney.

"Sorry, but I have to go. Maybe later?" she suggested even though she obviously wasn't going to speak with him later. She still had to put up the act that they were still together since EJ was the only one who knew that they weren't.

"I really need to talk to you right now," he said.

"Well, I really need to go right now. Come on, ladies," she said before she fit her arms through the spaces between their own and walked past Leo swiftly, leaving him behind her.

"Uh, you sure you don't want to talk to him? It seemed pretty urgent," Ashlyn said, glancing back at Leo from over her shoulder.

"Positive."

"I never actually liked Leo, so I should be relieved that our relationship is over, but I just can't believe he had the audacity to cheat on me. Me! Nadia fricken Coleman!" she exclaimed, lifting her hand up to express her anger. "Did me joining theater and making friends make people see me as less of a threat now?" she questioned the camera which proceeded to bob up and down, as if it were nodding its head yes. "Wow. Thanks."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Every cast mate sat in Big Red's basement since everyone unknowingly invited everyone to come. Nadia sat below Ashlyn, who was sitting higher up on the couch, which meant she was close to EJ, much to both of their dismays.

"This is a terrible party. There aren't even pretzels, Natalie complained and Nadia shot her an annoyed look. "What are we all doing here?"

"We all ended up in the same basement after a really bad day, so someone should say something," Ashlyn said, and Nadia looked up at her, nodding.

"Fine. I'll say something," Carlos said, causing everyone to look at him. "I'm mad at Ms. Jenn."

"Why?" Gina asked before she scoffed. "Because she's got a couple of skeletons in her closet?"

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure everyone has a few skeletons in their own closets," Nadia said even though she didn't really want to agree with Gina.

"No, because she's giving up. She was the first teacher to not see me as a punchline and now she's not even a real teacher?" Carlos said, shaking his head.

"Define 'real teacher'," Ashlyn said, rolling her eyes.

"He's got a point," Kourtney said, looking over at Ashlyn.

"Does he, though?" Natalie said, her tone annoyed.

"Guys," Big Red spoke up, not wanting anymore arguing or fighting to ensue.

"So, why are we all here then?" Natalie questioned.

"Yeah, good question. This is a waste of time," EJ agreed, shaking his head and slamming his hands down on the couch softly.

"Yeah, if we're just sitting down here to say our own opinions on the matter, I'm gonna have to surprisingly agree with EJ," Nadia said, shaking her head and not even bothering to look at EJ's expression since he was probably confused that she would agree with him.

"Oh, so now you agree with EJ," Marcus spoke up, giving his sister a look across the room.

"I'm just saying. If we're just gonna waste our time down here then—"

"Honestly?" Carlos started, cutting her off so that the twins wouldn't get into a sibling fight. "Because she gave me a shot. And it's been a long time since someone gave me a shot," Carlos revealed sadly, and Nadia tilted her head slightly, biting the inside of her cheek.

"She gave me a voice," Nini spoke up for the first time that night.

"Yeah, and now nobody's gonna get to hear it because Ms. Jenn screwed up," Kourtney said, looking at Nini.

"Okay, does anyone here actually care if her past is a little bit sketchy? Anyone?" Ashlyn said, looking around at everyone in the room.

Nadia honestly didn't really care since she has done a few bad things over the course of three years. She just at least wanted this whole group thing to get somewhere other than arguing and bringing up useless points.

"I do," Ricky spoke up, causing everyone to look over at him in confusion.

"Seriously, dude?" Big Red questioned his friend.

"What, because you live some perfect life?" Kourtney asked, offended.

"Not at all," Ricky quickly said before he got up from his seat. "Because she put our show in jeopardy. And now we're all here, maybe for the last time, together. And for some of us, this has become...I don't know..." Ricky trailed off, shaking his head at himself.

"Family," Nini finished for him, giving him a sad smile.

Ricky nodded, his eyes glossy. "What team?" he asked.

"Wildcats," some girls said together, including Nadia, who was feeling somewhat inspired by Ricky's monologue.

"Okay, Wildcats. So, what are we doing about it?" Ashlyn asked.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Ms. Jenn, it may not surprise you to learn that we have heard earfuls about your unorthodox style ever since you got to East High," Mr. Gutierrez said into the microphone at the hearing. Nadia was sitting with a bunch of her cast mates right behind where Ms. Jenn was sitting in front of the board. "Personally, I always chalked it up to the well-known fact that people in the dramatic arts are insane," he said, laughing.

Ms. Jenn leaned in closer to her microphone and said, "Thank you."

"But now, we have news that your resumé is exaggerated. Your teaching credential is from some obscure online university and even your official name might be some version of a stage name. What do you say to this charge?" Mr. Gutierrez asked.

"I have always done my best by these kids," Ms. Jenn started to say.

"Just answer the question," Mr. Gutierrez cut her off, getting annoyed.

Ms. Jenn didn't know what to say at all. Nadia bit her nails nervously, something she sometimes did out of habit.

"Excuse me," some guy that was probably a parent said, standing up. "Can I say something?"

"Who is he?" Nadia whispered to no one in particular.

"My...my dad," Ricky answered, also confused.

"I'm sorry. We're not opening up the floor to parents on this."

"Let him speak!" one of Nini's moms, Dana, shouted.

Mr. Gutierrez sighed. "Go ahead, Mr. Bowen."

"I'm-I'm a little late to this party, but I gotta say the real crime here would be booting a teacher who's making a positive impact. I've never seen my kid this invested in anything and I don't think that's something we should punish, Your...Honor," Mr. Bowen said and Nadia glanced over at Ricky and as she did, she noticed that EJ did the same thing.

"Mr. Bowen, I appreciate your statement, but I think we can all agree that theater isn't unique in this regard. It doesn't have some special fairy dust that can't be filled by another extracurricular," Mr. Gutierrez said and Nadia rolled her eyes, shaking her head in annoyance.

Someone that started humming and the noise filled around the room.

That was there cue.

"What's that?" Mr. Gutierrez asked, tapping his microphone. "Who's humming?"

All at once, the theater kids stood up from wherever they were sitting and smiled at one another, getting ready to do what they had planned in Big Red's basement.

Nini pointed to Ricky, and then Ricky pointed to Kourtney, and then Kourtney lifted up the boom box that was starting to play music.

Kourtney:

Don't say another word

Nini:

Some of us need to be heard

Nini and Ashlyn:

You want her big confession?

Nadia:

She never saw Dear Evan Hansen

The crowd gasped. I never saw Dear Evan Hansen either...

Ricky and Ashlyn:

Whatever you think about her
The show can't go on without her...

Everyone then started to dance just like they had practiced, even though Nadia wasn't as good as the others.

Marcus:

Maybe her class could be a little more classy

Kourtney and Gina:

Maybe her head's not in the game

Carlos:

Maybe her past is just a little bit sketchy

All except Nini and EJ:

We need her all the same

Seb:

She's the one who cheers us on
So what if she's dropping the ball?

All except Nini and EJ:

She stands for truth, justice and songs in our key
She stands for us and we believe

Ricky:

Before she got here, we were so off track

Gina:

Then Miss Jenn gave us a chance

Ashyln:

We used to fall asleep in chemistry class

Ashlyn and Ricky:

Now it makes us want to dance

Nadia then had to go over to where EJ was and take his hands to pull him over to Ms. Jenn. Carlos thought that it would be a good idea to show the two getting along to make it seem like Ms. Jenn had helped them even though the both of them were disgusted by the idea. Nonetheless, they were going to go through with it for Ms. Jenn.

Nadia and EJ:

She's the show that must go on

EJ quickly spun Nadia around since their hands were still together before they sang the next verse, their hands falling apart.

Nadia and EJ:

So we're putting in a good word 'cause we heard

All except Nini:

She stands for truth, justice and songs in our key
She stands for us and we believe

Nini:

What's my motivation?
She provides the inspiration

Kourtney:

Whatever about her reputation

Ashlyn and Marcus:

Seems about time for a modulation

All of them then did a quick dance number and even though Nadia was horrible, she still kept going. The Nadia a few weeks ago would have never done this, but she guess that the "theater world" had changed her. She could never tell Marcus that, though.

All:

She stands for truth...

Ms. Jenn:

Yeah!

All:

...justice and songs in our key
Jazz squares in the choreography

Seb and Marcus:

Sharpay and Ryan, you know they'd agree

All:

She stands for us and we believe
She stands for us and we believe

All of the students then ended with jazz hands around Ms. Jenn, staring at the school board to see what they had thought.

Dana then slowly stood up from her seat and started clapping, which proceeded the other people in the room start to clap, including the people on the board except for their principal.

"Settle, people! Settle down. Settle down," Mr. Gutierrez said, making everyone stop and look at him. "Do we have any further questions?"

"Just one," a teacher on the board said, standing up. "So, how do I snag two tickets for opening night?" she asked before doing a little dance which prompted everyone to start clapping and cheering again.

Marcus went over to Nadia and gave her a big hug, causing her to laugh. "I can't believe that you actually went through with this! I thought you would think it was all nerdy and geeky!" he exclaimed and she shook her head. An even larger smile then appeared on his face before he turned towards the guy he went to Homecoming with and gave him a hug.

Nadia laughed and turned around to give the guy next to her a hug subconsciously before she pulled away and realized it was EJ. She laughed awkwardly, not knowing what to say since she just had to dance with her arch enemy and now she just hugged him.

"Nice dance moves, Coleman," he said, breaking the awkward silence between them.

She rolled her eyes, but it was more playful then annoyed. "Hey, in my defense, I haven't been doing theater for the past three years," she replied.

EJ then looked over his shoulder and Nadia followed his gaze to see that Gina and Ricky were hugging rather affectionately. Nadia furrowed her brows in confusion before Mr. Gutierrez said, "This meeting is adjourned! I guess the show's back on."

Nadia then looked back to EJ, who had a somewhat annoyed look on his face. "So, I'm just gonna..." she trailed off, pointing to the doors with an awkward laugh. EJ nodded without saying anything and she gave him a curt nod back before she quickly walked out of the cafeteria.

As soon as she took a few steps out, Leo had stepped in front of her. "Leo, I-"

"You said we should talk later and it's later, so..." he trailed off.

Nadia shook her head. "What's there even to talk about it? You cheated on me. That's it. It's done. I'm over it," she said, going to walk past before be grabbed her her and stopped her. She pushed his arm away, her nose flaring in anger.

"I don't think you're over it, which is why I'm going to explain myself," he started.

"No, I'm going to explain it for you. You were bored because I wasn't talking to you for a while since I was busy with school, theater, soccer, and all of the other extracurriculars that I take, so you decided to get another girlfriend to hold you over until I wasn't as busy, and then you took me to the Homecoming dance only to hookup with her in a bathroom stall and I found out. And, also, on my birthday, too. So thanks for the birthday present even though you seemed to forget that it actually was my birthday!" she finished, sending him a fake smile with wide eyes.

Leo went to go say something before his eyes traveled behind Nadia, landing on something behind her. She stopped smiling and looked behind her to see EJ, Ashlyn, Marcus and his soon to be boyfriend, Ricky, Nini, Kourtney, Gina, Seb, Carlos, Natalie, and Big Red standing there with wide eyes.

Nadia blinked rapidly, looking in between the group and her ex boyfriend, not knowing what to say. "So, I'm just gonna..." she trailed off, saying the same thing from before as she pointed her thumbs behind her and quickly walked away from everyone and everything.

"Nadia, wait!" Ashlyn shouted after her, but that only made Nadia walk faster.

Sorry this is so long!