Ophelia was now sitting in the dressing room with Ashlyn and Fallon, the three girls conversing about the play when Gina walked in. "Oh." Gina said, looking at Ophelia with surprise. She didn't expect the girl to be in there. "I should give you some space, shouldn't I?"

"No, not at all." Ophelia quickly said. She smiles reassuringly at Gina. "Gina, don't worry, okay? I'm not upset with you about what happened yesterday."

"Okay." Gina nods. "Sorry, I just felt bad and felt like I should give you space."

"Everything is fine between us and no space is needed." Ophelia smiles. She gestures to her to join her, Fallon, and Ashlyn. "So get over here and hang out with us."

Gina glances at the other two girls hesitantly as if she was asking them it was okay for her to join. Ashlyn and Fallon both nod and smile at her. Gina smiles and walks over to the three girls, taking a seat by them. "Okay," She sighs. "So I know now probably isn't the best time to say it, but my mom got a job in Luoisiana and I've never lived in Louisiana before, so I think I'm gonna join her."

Ophelia and Fallon share a surprised look while Ashlyn looks at Gina with an upset expression. "You're leaving?" Ashlyn questioned.

"It's not what you think, I just-"

"Please tell me you're not leaving because of me." Ophelia interrupted her, looking at Gina worriedly.

Gina chuckles lightly. "No, I would never leave because of you," Ophelia sighs with relief and Gina smiles at the three girls. "Or any of you girls." She takes a deep breath. "I did something last semester that nobody knows about."

"I actually know about the secret understudy plan with EJ." Ashlyn spoke.

"Um, we didn't." Fallon chimes in, pointing at herself and Ophelia. She glances at Gina curiously. "G, what happened?"

"We both just planned to try to get the leads of HSM last semester. That's in the past now." Gina shrugs. "But that's not what I'm talking about. You know how when the plane is going down, people confess things because they know they'll never see you again?"

Ashlyn, Ophelia, and Fallon share a look before they look back at Gina. "We've heard of it." Ashlyn responded for the three of them while the other two nodded in agreement.

"Guys, do you remember on opening night when you couldn't find me after the show?" Gina asked.

"They told me you were getting something you needed." Ashlyn responded.

"Yeah," Gina chuckles lightly. "I suppose I was."

"Gina," Ashlyn speaks softly, looking at her with furrowed eyebrows. "What happened?"

**flashback**

The opening night of HSM Luca had confessed to Gina his feelings for her with an original song. And he was on cloud nine when she said she felt the same way. But the thing is, Gina was leaving which meant that they wouldn't be able to be together.

"I'm so sorry, Luca." Gina apologizes. She had just told Luca the news of her leaving. They both had red puffy eyes from crying now. "I wish that I wasn't leaving because I know that we would be so happy together."

"Then don't leave." Luca pleaded, intertwining his hand with his and held on tight as an attempt to keep her with him.

"I'm sorry, but I have to." Gina smiles sadly. She breathes shakily, shaking her head. "I just want you to know that I wouldn't quit on us if I wasn't moving away." She confesses as a tear rolls down her cheek. Luca nods, smiling sadly at her while he brings his hand up to wipe away Gina's tears. A small chuckle escaped Gina's lips when he did that. "So now, I'm gonna give you a really tight hug and then I'm gonna walk away with my head held high."

"O-Okay." Luca shakily replied. He let go of her hand so they can hug each other. Gina wrapped her arms around his waist, resting her head in the crook of his neck while he wrapped his arms around her waist and leaned his head on her shoulder. They both held onto each other tightly, neither of them wanting to let go, but they both knew they had to.

****

"Wow." Fallon commented, looking at Gina with surprise.

"I can't believe you told Luca that." Ophelia spoke.

Gina smiles slightly and shrugs. "The plane was going down."

"Well, have you talked about it since then?" Ashlyn asked her.

Gina scoffs. "No, of course not. Pretty sure he doesn't even remember it." She frowns. "And recently we've been kind of distant with each other. That's probably my fault. I haven't told him I plan on leaving with my mom."

"I think you should tell him." Ophelia said. "He deserves to know."

"I know." Gina immediately agrees with Ophelia. "I've been wanting to tell him that I just..." She grows nervous, shrugging her shoulders. "I just didn't know how. And plus there was this other thing I've been wanting to tell him for a long time now and I have no clue how to say that or even if I should say it now that I'm leaving."

An excited smile tugs on Fallon's lips when she realized what it was. "Wait, please tell me that you want to tell Luca you love him."

Gina smiles shyly, ignoring the way she felt her face heat up as she nods. "yeah."

Fallon squeals excitedly, exchanging an excited expression with Ashlyn and Ophelia. "G, you should do it right now!" Ophelia tells her. She points at the door. "Like, get up and go find him." She points at Gina when Gina went to speak. "And don't even say you don't know if he feels the same way because it's so painfully obvious that he loves you."

"Yeah, that boy would literally do anything for you." Ashlyn chimed in, smiling at Gina.

"Yeah, I know." Gina smiles softly, butterflies swarming in her stomach because Ashlyn was right about Luca and because she never has been with a boy like Luca. "I just..." She sighs, an undecided expression on her face as she shakes her head. "I still can't decide if I should tell him now since I'll be leaving." She frowns. "I don't want to pour my heart out to him and then leave him in the dust."

"Yeah," Ophelia agrees, pointing at her. "Good point."

The four girls then glance at the door when Carlos called for them. "Looks like it's time to continue another dreadful weekend intensive." Fallon remarked, standing up along with the others.

"Okay, isn't there some magical thing I or any of us could say to make you consider staying?" Ashlyn questioned, looking at Gina pleadingly.

"G, we really don't want you to leave." Ophelia admits to Gina. "And if we really don't want you to leave, then I bet you that Luca wouldn't want you to leave either and would even beg you to stay."

"Just like he did the first time." Fallon chimes in, sheepishly smiling when her friends gave her a look. "Sorry, just wanted to point out the irony."

"I wish there was something magical you girls could say to consider me to stay. In fact, just talking more about Luca is tempting me to stay, but I know I should leave." Gina confesses. She smiles sadly. "But this isn't, you know, a musical. Can't sing and dance our way out of this."

"I wish we could." Fallon muttered.

After Gina left, Fallon glances at Ophelia and she could almost see the gears turning in her head. She smirks. "I know that look. What's the plan, O?"

"I was thinking of singing 'Home' to get Gina to realize that here with us and Luca is her home." Ophelia smiles. "Home isn't always a place, sometimes it's a person."

Ashlyn and Fallon exchange a glance before they both look at Ophelia with smiles. "That's a great idea." Ashlyn commented.

The three girls joined everyone back in the bomb shelter and Ophelia grew worried when she didn't see Ricky. She started thinking maybe she should've went to check on him when he left.

"It seems like we have a missing Beast." Miss Jenn observes. "Anyone seem him?" When she didn't get a response, she looks at Ophelia, who was staring at the floor, looking nervous. Ophelia was now nervous because she was planning on singing her first ever solo in front of everyone for the first time ever. "Belle," Ophelia glances at Miss Jenn with a small smile. "You wanna come up here and o the five questions?"

"Oh, uh," Ophelia glances at Gina, who was standing and on her phone, and then at Luca, who was looking at Gina with furrowed eyebrows. She stands up, standing in front of Miss Jenn. "Would it be alright if I explored my character by singing the song 'Home' from our show instead?"

A surprised expression appears on Miss Jenn's face and she smiles widely. "Of course." She replied, walking over to ask Kaden, one of the dancers, if he could play acoustic guitar for the song Ophelia was going to sing.

"Is this home?" Ophelia began to sing, still with her back facing everyone and at first her voice was a bit shaky sounding. But the more she sang the more it sounded better. "Is this where I should learn to be happy?" Kaden gets up and grabs an acoustic guitar off the piano. He sits down on the piano bench and began to play. Ophelia walks over to a clothing rack that had some costumes on it. "Never dreamed that a home could be dark and cold." She picked up the blue cloak she would wear at some point in the play and put it on. While she did that, Miss Jenn grabbed a blanket from one of the bags she had brought in the other day and laid it on top of the stack of mats before going back to stand off to the side again.

She turns to face everyone, but she had her eyes closed. She was too nervous to stare at everyone yet. "I was told every day in my childhood even when we grow old." Ophelia opens her eyes, walking up the small steps of a prop with a stained glass on it. She turns to face everyone with a small smile. "Home will be where the heart is. Never were words so true. My heart's far, far away, home is too."

Ophelia's friends smile proudly at her. The ones who looked the proudest of her was of course Fallon and Luca. They were so proud of how far she has come. A year ago she would have never wanted to sing by herself in front of people. "What I'd give to return to the life that I knew lately." Gina looks up from her phone, tears brimming her eyes as she sets her phone down on a nearby table. "But I know that I can't solve my problems going back."

When Ricky heard the angelic voice of his best friend singing, he thought he was hearing things. So of course, he wanted to come back to check out what was happening. He walked into the bomb shelter through the back door, standing by the door. He watched Ophelia sing with a small smile on his face.

"Is this home? Am I here for a day or forever?" Ophelia sits down on the blanket that's on the stack of mats. While singing she made sure she poured her heart and soul into every lyric, and making it seem as if she was actually Belle singing this. "Shut away, from the world until who knows when?"

Ricky's smile turns into a proud smile as he listened to Ophelia sing her heart out. He was beyond proud of her for getting this far. He never though he would see her sing in front of people and let alone sing by herself. And here she was singing in front of the drama club by herself and is absolutely amazing at it. Ophelia came a long way from being the girl who only sang by herself and Ricky knew that she would 

Ophelia stands, taking off the cloak. "As my life has been altered once it can change again. Nothing lasts. Nothing holds all of me." As Ophelia put the cloak back on the clothing rack, two dancers bring a window prop over. Gina was now sitting on the right side of the risers and she spares a glance to Luca, who sat on the back row to the left. As if he could feel her looking at him, he glanced at her and she could see the own tears in his eyes which made her frown.

"My heart's far, far away." Ophelia was now standing behind the window prop and she happened to glance at the back door just as Ricky turned around and left. She didn't know when he came back or why he was leaving again, but for some reason she was a bit happy that he was there for part of her singing.

Ophelia brings her gaze back to everyone else, finishing the song. "Home and free."

Luca sniffles, standing up to walk over to the other side of the risers. "Luca-" Gina started, getting up so she was standing in front of him. She wiped the tears that were falling down her face. She knew now wasn't the best time to tell him she was leaving, but she knew if she didn't tell him now she wouldn't tell him at all.

Luca nods, smiling sadly at her. "I know." He interrupted, referring to her leaving. He knew that she was moving to Louisiana. He had overheard her on the phone talking with her mom on the night of Carlos' quinceñearo and he just didn't say anything about it because he figured she would talk to him about it first. He wrapped his arms around her in a tight hug and she didn't hesitate to hug him back just as tight.

"I love you." Gina feels like her heart stopped when she heard Luca whisper that to her. She couldn't believe he just said 'i love you' to her for the first time and she couldn't be more happier. But she just wished he was confessing to her in a better circumstance. A small sob escapes her lips and she nods, squeezing him tighter. "I love you too." She confessed in a whisper and she could feel him smile sadly against her shoulder where his head laid. Butterflies danced in her stomach when she felt him kiss her shoulder gently. That's when Gina decided something.

"You're my home, Luca. I'm not going anywhere." Gina whispered to him. Luca laughed with relief and he couldn't help the relieved sob from escaping his lips. The couple both cried with joy as they continued to hug each other.

Ophelia had now joined Fallon on the risers and they both were silently celebrating together after seeing Luca and Gina hugging. They were happy that their best friends made up. And later when they find out Gina's decision they would be even happier to know Gina was staying.

A/N luca & gina hold a special place in my heart, they're so cute !! lowkey writing this chapter kinda made me tear up. ophelia sang her first solo in front of people yay, she's getting so much better with performing in front of others <3 & that lil moment i added with ricky during ophelia singing home ? ah i love them !!