"Wildcats!" Ms. Jenn yelled backstage after the performance. "This is going fine. I am mostly proud. And I heard Big Red has not thrown up in over 20 minutes," she said.

"She heard wrong," Marcus muttered, who was wearing his Cogsworth costume, a little too loudly.

"Every great performance needs an X factor!" Ms. Jenn continued, ignoring Marcus. "Something special that puts it over the top! A little birdie has just told me where our Menkies judge is sitting...and I'm thinking that with just a few minor adjustments, we can make this gentleman feel every bit as welcome as the intruder that my mother clubbed over the head when I was a girl."

"I-I thought she just hog-tied him," Seb said in confusion, wearing his Chip costume. Nadia glanced at EJ, who was staring at Ms. Jenn in utter and complete puzzlement.

"She just hog-tied him," Ms. Jenn replied, making everyone give each other a confused glance. "When the next song begins, I have directed Benjamin Mazzara and his lighting-ists..."

"They're called grips," Natalie told her.

"...to spotlight our judge," Ms. Jenn continued, ignoring Natalie. "And then I need you all to make him feel especially and uniquely welcome." Everyone began to whisper to each other about whether this would be a smart idea or not. "Any questions?"

Gina lifted up her feather duster slowly. "Many questions..."

"Should we just do what we rehearsed?" Seb asked. "Doesn't that feel a little desperate?"

"Yeah, and shouldn't we just treat the judge like any other guest?" Nadia questioned.

"It feels that way for a reason, Sebastian," she replied with a stern look before she looked at Nadia. "And no. He isn't a food critic, Nadia. This is theater and we need to up the ante to impress him." Nadia and EJ glanced at each other, not sure if this was a good idea at all. "Besides, Carlos is a seasoned professional who can roll with anything...right?"

Carlos stared at her in shock before he looked up to Seb for help. Seb looked at him before he looked back at Ms. Jenn. "He says, 'Help!'"

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

Nadia stood in between Ms. Jenn and EJ as they watched their friends start to perform 'Be Our Guest' to the audience. It was probably the hardest song to perform in rehearsal, so Nadia hoped it went well.

"Ma chère Mademoiselle, it is with deepest pride and greatest pleasure that we welcome you tonight," Carlos, as Lumière, said to Ashlyn, as Belle, in a fake French accent as Gina, as Babette, pushed a chair towards them both. "And now we invite you to relax. Let us pull up a chair as the dining room proudly presents: Your dinner." The spotlight then flashed on the judge and he made a confused expression as some people began to laugh.

"Is that a good sign? I can't tell," Nadia whispered over at EJ, leaning in a little closer.

"I can't tell, either," he replied quietly, and Nadia bit the inside of her cheek as she looked back on stage.

Carlos:

Be our guest, be our guest
Put our service to the test
Tie your napkin 'round your neck, cherie
And we'll provide the rest
Soup du jour, hot hors d'oeuvres
Why, we only live to servе
Try the grey stuff, it's delicious
Don't bеlieve me? Ask the dishes

As Carlos sang, the people dressed up as kitchen utensils danced, and Gina quickly ran off stage and handed Nadia her feather dusters for her to hold before she ran around the stage.

They can sing, they can dance
After all, Miss, this is France
And the dinner here is never second best
Go on, unfold your menu
Take a glance and then you'll be our guest
Oui, our guest
Be our guest

Nadia looked over back at the judge to see him writing someone down on his clipboard.

We tell jokes, haha, I do tricks
With my fellow candlesticks

He sang as Ashlyn and Gina danced with each other.

All except Carlos:

And it's all in perfect taste
That you can bet

All:

Come on and lift your glass
You've won your own free pass
To be our guest

Carlos:

If you're stressed
It's fine dining we suggest

All:

Be our guest, be our guest, be our guest

Gina then started to spin towards left of the stage, exiting out past Nadia and EJ as the music began to slow down and Carlos began to sing next to Marcus, as Cogsworth.

Carlos:

Life is so unnerving
For a servant who's not serving
He's not whole without a soul to wait upon
Most days we just lay around the castle

The music then began to pick up and Carlos sang faster.

Flabby, fat and lazy
You walked in and oops-a-daisy

Kourtney, as Mrs. Potts, ran onto stage with her big, pink dress for her part.

Kourtney:

It's a guest! It's a guest!
Sake's alive, well, I'll be blessed
Wine's been poured and thank the Lord
I've had the napkins freshly pressed
With dessert, she'll want tea
And my dear, that's fine with me
While the cups do their soft-shoein'
I'll be bubblin', I'll be brewin'
I'll get warm, piping hot
Heaven's sakes, is that a spot?
Clean it up, we want the company impressed

As Kourtney sang and danced around the stage, some dancers threw big, fake sugar cubes at the audience.

We've got a lot to do
Is it one lump or two?
For you, our guest!

All except Carlos:

She's our guest!

All of them then began to line up in a line to do a version of the Can Can dance.

All:

Course by course, one by one
'Til you shout, "Enough, I'm done"
Then we'll sing you off to sleep as you digest
Tonight you'll prop your feet up
But for now, let's eat up
Be our guest
Be our guest
Be our guest
Please, be our guest

As they sang, Ashlyn spun around a bunch of times before the music stopped and she brought her hands up together just below her face towards the audience. The audience then began to shout and cheer, and EJ and Nadia looked at each other with an excited smile as the curtains closed.

"Ladies and gentlemen, this is a 15-minute intermission. If you don't buy at least $20 worth of concessions, you don't support art," Natalie said into the microphone and Nadia laughed slightly. "Thank you."

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

Nadia was busy talking to Kourtney about how she was so excited to see Howie's reaction to her part in 'Be Our Guest'. And also how she was super nervous as well. Nadia assured her that she did amazing and Howie would be stupid not to think the same.

"Hey, mind if I borrow Nadia for a second, Kourt?" EJ asked as he walked over to the both of them.

Kourtney gave them both a cheeky smile. "I could never get in the way of a blossoming romance," she said, making Nadia's eyes widen. "And besides, I have to find Howie, so see ya!" she exclaimed before she rushed out of the room.

Nadia looked over at EJ, who started to laugh. "I am so sorry about that," Nadia apologized, feeling her cheeks heat up in embarrassment.

"No, no, it was funny, don't worry," EJ assured her and she nodded slightly. "But, I just gonna say that our performance to the 'Gaston' song was actually amazing. Even better than the times we practiced it in rehearsal," he told her.

"Well, we make a pretty good team," Nadia replied, punching his arm playfully.

He laughed and nodded. "Yeah, we do. Who would have thought that Nadia Coleman and EJ Caswell would make a good team after all?"

"Definitely not me, that's for sure," she said, smiling wide. It was so weird to think about how just a few months ago, she had joined the fall Musical to get revenge on EJ and now...she liked him. Like, liked him-liked him.

"Or that science table," EJ added, making the both of them burst out laughing.

"It's watching us from up above thinking, 'Oh, so now they get along'," Nadia continued through her laughter, making EJ chuckle in agreement.

"And I just gotta say...I was surprised about that kiss," he brought up, making Nadia blush. "It wasn't a bad thing at all," he quickly added, "but we never practiced it so..."

"I just felt like it would make our performance better," she told him, making his smile falter ever so slightly. "And I also just felt like doing it," she added sheepishly, now making his lips form into an even wider grin.

"Members of the company, this is your 10-minute call to Act Two. Please, everyone remain in the same you role you started in," Natalie said into the microphone to avoid any switching roles like last semester. "This does not apply to Nadia," she added and Nadia laughed.

"It's time for Act Two. Hopefully it goes smoother than last time," EJ said.

"Well, you're not playing the Beast, so it's already going great already," she replied, making the both of them laugh before they had to depart.

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

The curtains opened and the 'Something There' music began to play as Ashlyn and Ricky pretended to eat from their bowls on the center of the stage. Nadia stood at the right of the stage to watch while EJ stood at the left of the stage; they were both across from each other.

Ashlyn:

There's something sweet, and almost kind
But he was mean and he was coarse and unrefined
And now he's dear, and so unsure
I wonder why I didn't see him there before

Ricky then got up from his seat.

Ricky:

She glanced this way, I thought I saw
And when we touched, she didn't shudder at my paw
No, it can't be, I'll just ignore
But then, she's never looked at me that way before

Nadia looked over at EJ across the stage from her and saw that he was already staring at her. She smiled sheepishly at him, which was something she never did, and glanced away.

Ashlyn then came running up, twirling her dress.

Ashlyn:

New, and a bit alarming
Who'd have ever thought that this could be?
True, that he's no Prince Charming
But there's something in him that I simply didn't see

Carlos, Kourtney, Gina, Marcus, and Seb then came running up behind Ashlyn and Ricky on the ledge above as Natalie started to spray the fake snow onto the stage.

Carlos:

Well, who'd have thought?

Kourtney:

Well, bless my soul

Marcus:

Well, who'd have known?

Kourtney:

Well, who indeed?

Carlos:

And who'd have guessed they'd come together on their own?

Nadia glanced back over to EJ before looking back up at the stage. Right after she did so, EJ looked at her without her knowing.

Kourtney:

It's so peculiar

Kourtney, Carlos, Marcus:

Wait and see, a few days more
There may be something there that wasn't there before

Marcus:

Perhaps there's something there that wasn't there before

Kourtney:

There may be something there that wasn't there before

Kourtney finished and Nadia and EJ both looked at each other, knowing that there was something that wasn't there before.

"What, Mama? What's there?" Seb, as Chip, asked before the crowd began to cheer and clap. Nadia began to clap as she still continued to look at EJ before everyone began to rush off stage, Ashlyn taking her hand and pulling her with her so she could exclaim how nervous she was.

When EJ saw that she wasn't there anymore, he turned around and exited into the hallway to find Nadia. But, he ended up bumping into Nadia's parents. "Oh, I'm sorry, Mr. and Mrs. Coleman," he apologized, making them glance at each other in confusion.

"You know who we are?" Hugo asked.

"Yeah, you're Nadia's parents," he said. "Uh, I'm EJ. EJ Caswell," he said, reaching his hand out for them to shake since he didn't want to mess anything up with Nadia's parents since he liked her. A lot.

Hugo and Hadley glanced at each other again. "So you're the infamous EJ? We've been wanting to meet you," she said, and EJ slowly retracted his hand since they didn't shake it .

"Really?" EJ asked with a hopeful smile, looking between the two of them.

"Yes, of course. We want to meet the guy who my daughter hates so much since you give her a run for her money," Hadley told him and EJ's smile immediately faltered.

"She — she said hates me?" EJ asked slowly, blinking rapidly.

"Yeah, we'd thought you would be aware of that since she usually makes it obvious about who she hates," Hadley told him like it was no big deal.

"Yeah, I remember her talking to herself about how she had this whole big plan to ruin your life by taking away all your friends, and to get revenge on you for no reason. I mean, I'm pretty sure that's why she joined both musicals this year. She always told her brother how they were for losers, and then she goes and joins one to mess with you. You should be proud how much you make her so upset," Hugo explained.

"Yeah, and when I was cleaning her room one day, I found this whiteboard with 'plans on how to destroy EJ Caswell' on it," Hadley added.

"Wait, this was...recently planned?" EJ asked.

Hadley looked up, thinking. "Well, it was obviously planned in the fall but she's still trying to carry it out now. Why else would she be in this musical? She hates these things, trust me, she always complains when she gets home," Hadley told him even though that was a while ago. It seemed like the two parents rarely ever listened to their daughter to know that she wasn't doing that stupid plan anymore. "Wait, you didn't know?"

EJ looked down, fighting back tears as he shook his head. "No, no, I didn't. Uh, thanks for telling me," he replied.

"Oh, you're welcome. It's better to stay one step ahead of her, anyway," Hadley assured him. "But we don't want to keep you waiting. Go back to great show." The two parents then walked off.

When they walked away, EJ scoffed and shook his head, not believing that he fell for this whole act that Nadia was putting up. He just couldn't believe that she was still trying to mess with him after all this time.

Back at backstage, everyone was searching for the harness since it was, apparently, gone. "You guys, the orchestra hasn't vamped this much since 'Bop to the Top'," Carlos pointed out as they continued to search for it.

"I know it's here! I preset it!" Natalie said, sifting through everything. EJ came walking into the room and once he saw Nadia, he frowned, going as far away from her as he could to search for the harness.

Ms. Jenn then came running in. "What's wrong?" she asked immediately.

"My harness is missing!" Ricky told her.

"The new one, for the transformation," Ashlyn added.

"What?! No, no, this can't be happening," Ms. Jenn said, her eyes widening.

"It has to be here somewhere!" Nadia exclaimed as her and Marcus sifted through all the racks of clothing to see if it was there something.

"What else can I use?" Ricky questioned.

"Oh, for heaven's sakes, can't you just jump off something high?" Ms. Jenn yelled, making them all stop what they were doing and gasp, staring at her. "Nope. Forget I said that." Everyone just stared at her in concern. "I will be not here," she said before she ran out of the room.

"I knew something would go wrong!" Ricky complained as everyone went back to searching for the harness.

"Hey, hey, you guys! All of you! Stop it," Nini spoke up, making everyone look over at her. "Richard, let's just spin you around without the harness and you can toss the mask into the wings. Okay? Just like rehearsal."

"Right! Which I never got right once," Ricky replied. "And now I'm supposed to do it with one hand," he said, ironically laughing. "Sorry. Second acts haven't traditionally been my strong suit."

Nini sighed, "Well, first time for everything, right?"

"I can spin the table," EJ volunteered.

"I can throw snow!" Carlos said.

"And I'll catch your mask," Nini told Ricky.

"Okay. Our judge is literally doing sudoku," Natalie said before she grabbed Ricky's arm and pulled him towards stage. "I'm pushing you on stage. Aim for my face."

Idk why the gif is so big rip, but not Nadia's parents ruining something yet again ugh!!!!
Remember to vote and comment!