"It's weird not being at rehearsal." Ricky confessed. He and Ophelia were at Ophelia's house, halfway through watching the first Cars movie on Ophelia's laptop. They were in her bedroom, laying on her bed with Ophelia's laptop on the bed in front of them.

"Yeah, it is." Ophelia agrees. "Almost don't know what to do after school anymore now that we don't have rehearsal."

A comfortable silence filled the room, the only noise being the movie playing. Ophelia sits up straighter, looking at Ricky with a grin when she got an idea. Ricky looks at her, chuckling at her sudden excitement, and raises his eyebrows. "What? You got that look on your face when you get an idea."

"That's cause I do have an idea." Ophelia tells him. "How about we just do the show without Miss Jenn? I mean, it can't be that hard."

Ricky shakes his head. "Lia, we can't even take a picture without her." He quickly adds, "No offense."

Ophelia leans back against the pillow behind her, a sigh leaving her lips. "It's fine. You do have a point."

Ricky gets his phone out of his pocket when it buzzed and sits up straighter. "Big Red wants us to come over to his house. Some of the drama club members are there with him."

Ophelia furrows her eyebrows but nods. "Okay." She paused the movie and they got ready to leave. Ricky drove them to Big Red's house and when they got to Big Red's room in the basement, they saw that Kaden, Steph, and Rico were there.

"Hi, you guys." Ophelia greeted, waving at the three as she and Ricky walked down the steps. 

They waved back at her while Ricky takes a seat on one of the chairs. Ophelia sits on the floor beside the right side of the chair Ricky sat on. They each started conversing with each other when a few moments later the door opening can be heard which made them all share a confused look.

"It's open?" Big Red said, his voice laced with confusion.

Ashlyn walks down the steps a few seconds later, followed by Fallon and Luca. "Hey, guys." Ashlyn greeted.

"Okay, how many people are coming?" Ricky chuckled lightly.

"Uh, that should be it." Big Red responded.

"Actually, give it a minute." Ashlyn voiced.

Ophelia raises her eyebrows when she hears multiple footsteps and indistinct chatter above them. Soon Big Red's basement is filled with all the drama club members. "This is a terrible party." Natalie breaks the awkward silence. "There aren't even pretzels. What are we all doing here?"

"We all ended up in this same basement after a really bad day," Ashlyn replies. "So someone should say something."

"Fine." Carlos caves in. "I'll say something. I'm mad at Miss Jenn."

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

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

Ashlyn shakes her head. "Define 'real teacher'."

"He's got a point." Kourtney chimed in.

Natalie glances at her, furrowing her eyebrows. "Does he, though?"

"Guys." Big Red cut in before an argument could happen.

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

"Yeah, good question." EJ nods. "This is a waste of time." From her place on the arm of the couch beside where he sat, Fallon hit his shoulder and sent him a look when he looked at her with furrowed eyebrows.

"Honestly? Because she gave me a shot." Carlos said. "And it's been a long time since anyone gave me a shot."

"She gave me a voice." Nini admitted.

"Yeah," Kourtney nods. "And now nobody's gonna get to hear it because Miss Jenn screwed up."

"Yeah, her past is a little sketchy, but does anyone even care about that?" Luca questioned.

"I do." Ricky replied.

Ophelia looks at him with furrowed eyebrows but didn't say anything. "Seriously, dude?" Big Red asked him, shaking his head. 

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

"Not at all." Ricky shakes his head. He stands up, walking around Ophelia and the chair to stand in front of the fireplace, facing everyone. "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..."

"Like, family." Ophelia finished his sentence, looking at him with a smile. Ricky looks at her and nods, his lips forming into a smile. "Yeah."

"What team?" Ricky asked everyone.

"Wildcats." Everyone chorused.

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

****

The next day of school Ophelia wore a Friends t-shirt, light blue jeans with holes on it, and black sneakers. She had her curly hair up in a bun, she wore some rings, and she wore simple makeup. Ophelia was currently at the school board meeting along with the rest of the drama club. Ophelia had told Mrs. Kelson about what the drama club members were doing to help save Miss Jenn. She thought adding a section of that in the drama club page would be a great idea and Mrs. Kelson agreed. 

Aurelia and one of the boy juniors named Spencer even offered to take pictures, figuring that having two yearbook people there would give them a even better chance at getting good pictures of the performance the drama club planned to do and that way they could also get different angles of pictures easily. Spencer's a nice boy. He's actually Aurelia's twin brother. Despite the fact they were twins they had complete different personalities. Spencer's more introverted, shy, and sarcastic than Aurelia is, but he does have a kind heart and is insanely smart.

The night before the drama club members stayed up all night coming up with a plan they think that could possibly be a way to get Miss Jenn back to being their teacher. And that plan was writing a song and coming up with chorography, hoping that it might save Miss Jenn.

As the principal speaks, Ophelia's eyes scan the audience of parents. Her lips form into a smile when she spots her mom and dad sitting beside each other. She was a bit surprised to see both of them there. She figured at least her dad would be there, but she wasn't for sure if her mom would show up. It made her happy to see both them there and sitting beside each other.

"Excuse me," Mike, Ricky's dad, stands up. Ophelia glances at Ricky beside her, noticing he looked surprise when his dad stood up. 

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

"Let him speak." One of Nini's mom cut in.

"Go ahead, Mr. Bowen." 

"I'm a little late to this party, but I gotta say the real crime here is booting a teacher who is making a positive impact." Mike went on to say. "I've never seen my kid this invested in anything, and I don't think that's something we should punish, Your...Honor."

"I agree with that statement." Nate comments, standing up from his seat. Ophelia smiles upon seeing her dad speak up since she wasn't expecting him to do that. "I can tell that this drama club has become very important to my daughter and it has become an outlet for her to show her photography skills and discover other talents." He shakes his head, crossing his arms. "And now you're taking all of that away just 'cause Miss Jenn lied on her application? That's just not fair. It's not fair to Miss Jenn or the kids."

Ophelia's smile widen the more her dad spoke. His words were true. The drama club became like a family to Ophelia. She became more confident with singing with the help of Ashlyn, she can showcase her photography skills, and she's becoming better skilled with the technical equipment that is used for the play. She never would've been able to do any of that if it wasn't for the drama club.

"Mr. Bowen and Mr. Roberts, I appreciate your statement, but I think we can all agree that theater isn't unique in this regard." Principal Gutierrez states. "It doesn't have some special fairy dust that can't be filled by another extracurricular."

Humming can be heard all of a sudden. "What's that?" Principal Gutierrez messes with his mic since he thought something was wrong with it. "Who's humming?"

Nini was the first one to stand up, followed by the rest of the drama club members who all harmonized while humming. Ashlyn looks to Nini, who pointed at Ricky, and Ricky gave a thumbs up to Kourtney who held up a stereo that was playing music. Kaden and Rico came over and moved the table in front of Miss Jenn out of the way.

"Don't say another word." Kourtney started off the song.

Nini went next. "Some of us need to be heard."

Ashlyn went to stand beside her, leaning her elbow on her shoulder and harmonized her voice with Nini. "You want her big confession?"

Ophelia walks over to stand behind the two girls, putting her hands on their shoulders. She shared a smile with them before she sings. "She never saw 'Dear Evan Hansen'." All the drama club kids gasped. 

Ophelia walks around the two girls, meeting Ricky half way when he walked over to them. Her lips form into a grin as he slung an arm around her shoulders. "Whatever you think about her," The two harmonizes their voices together and rests their heads again each other. "The show can't go on without her."

Ricky takes his arm off her shoulders when they went separate ways and everyone started dancing the choreography Carlos made up. 

"Maybe her class could be a little more classy." Fallon sang.

"Maybe her head's not in the game." Everyone chorused. Ophelia shared a grin with Fallon as they spun around with everyone else.

Carlos sings next. "Maybe her past is just a little bit sketchy."

The drama club members continue to dance around Miss Jenn while singing. "We need her all the same."

"She's the one who cheers us on," Seb sings. "So what if she's dropping the ball?"

"She stands for truth, justice, and songs in our key." Everyone choruses, dancing in front of Miss Jenn who was watching with a wide smile on her lips. "She stands for us and we believe. Ooh, ooh."

"Before we got here we were so off track," Ricky sang.

"Then Miss Jenn gave us a chance." Gina continued.

"We use to fall asleep in Chemistry class." Luca added.

The group went on with the choreography and everyone besides the principal seemed to enjoy their performance. "Now it makes us want to dance."

Natalie stands by Miss Jenn. "She's the show that must go on. So we're putting in a good word 'cause we heard," 

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

Ricky pulls Ophelia over to a nearby table and jumps on it. He helps her up on the table as Nini sings. "What's my motivation?" Nini shimmies her shoulders, walking over to Miss Jenn with a grin. "She provides the inspiration."

Kourtney points at Miss Jenn. "Whatever about her reputation," 

Ashlyn walks in front of the school board table and as Ophelia continued to dance with everyone else she didn't fail to notice their principal didn't look impressed or amused. "Seems about time for a modulation."

It was time for the break dance part of the song. Ricky twirled Ophelia around which made her laugh and he smiled at her. The dancers did their choreography they came up with. Ophelia watched Fallon kill it at the dance with a proud smile. Fallon locked eyes with her and grinned at her. At the end of the dance break, Carlos pulled Miss Jenn up and brought her over to stand in front of the school board table. Miss Jenn faced the drama club with a grin.

Ophelia and Ricky got off the table, joining everyone else. They all harmonized and danced together. At the back of the cafeteria there were cards that spelled out Miss Jenn and the kids holding them moved them along with the beat of the music. "She stands for truth, justice, and songs in our key. Jazz squares in the choreography. Sharpay and Ryan, you know they'd agree."

Fallon and Luca bring Miss Jenn over to the others. The drama club members gathered around her in a half circle and gestured to her with jazz hands. "She stands for us and we believe."

It was quiet after the ending of their performance and it made Ophelia nervous and worried. Then one of Nini's mom stands up and claps and everyone was else was quick to follow cheering for the drama club. Ophelia turns around, smiling widely upon seeing everyone stood up and was clapping for them. She turns back to their principal when he got everyone to calm down. 

Principal Gutierrez looks at the rest of the board members. "Do we have any further questions?"

"Just one." A teacher at the end of the table stands up, holding a microphone. "How do I snag two tickets for opening night?" She then did a pop, lock, jam, and break dance move. The room erupted into cheers once again.

Ophelia grins and pulls Fallon in for a tight hug. She then pulled Luca in for a tight hug as well. Ophelia went over to Ricky, grinning at him. "We did it, Rick!" 

"Yeah, we did!" Ricky agreed, wrapping his arms around her in a hug.

Ophelia hugs him back, laughing a bit when he picked her up and spins her around. "Lia, you did amazing!" Ricky commented, setting her back on the floor.

"I can't believe I just sang and danced in front of people and I didn't pass out. I was literally so nervous." Ophelia admits while she pulled away from the hug. Her eyes widen when she looks at her hand and notices something. "Oh, look at that. My hand is shaking." She chuckles nervously. "I guess I'm still nervous."

Ricky chuckles lightly, shaking his head. "I couldn't tell you were nervous at all."

Ophelia looks at him, her lips forming into a smile. "Okay, good."

"Ophelia!"

Ophelia looks to her left, smiling widely upon seeing Eric walking over to her. "Eric, hi!" She excused herself from Ricky to go talk to Eric, missing the fact that Ricky's smile fell when she left him.

"I was watching the performance from the door since I heard music from the hall and I wanted to see what was going on." Eric said, looking at her with a smile. "I had no idea you were so talented! You killed it!"

Ophelia smiles shyly, shrugging her shoulders. "Thanks! That means a lot to me since that was my first time singing and dancing in front of people."

Eric looks at her with surprise. "Seriously? You looked like you were a natural at it." Ophelia feels her face heat up at his comment. "So, since everything worked out great, how would you feel about celebratory coffee?"

"Ooh, yes." Ophelia's eyes lit up at the mention of coffee. "I would love me some coffee."

Eric chuckles lightly and offers his hand to her. "Alright, you wanna go now?"

Ophelia nods, taking ahold of his hand. "Yeah." She then remembers that her parents were there and that she should probably at least go tell them thank you for coming. "I just have to go talk to my parents really quick."

"Okay." Eric nods. "I'll wait by the stairs."

Ophelia smiles, squeezing his hand before letting go and moves over to her parents who were luckily still there. "Mom, dad, can you believe it? I actually just did that without passing out!" 

Her parents pulled her in for a tight hug. "Who are you and what have you down with our daughter?" Nate asks, chuckling as they pulled away from the hug. "Last time I checked, you didn't sing or dance."

"Like you said, dad," Ophelia shrugs. "With the drama club I'm discovering talents." She fiddles with the sleeve of her shirt. "And I never told you guys I could sing 'cause I was so insecure about my voice."

"Sweetie, you shouldn't have been insecure about that." Phoebe tells her, putting a hand on her shoulder. "But I'm so proud of you-" Nate clears his throat loudly causing Phoebe to roll her eyes. "We are so proud of you for gaining the confidence to sing and dance in front of others."

Ophelia smiles at her parents. "Thank you, guys. I love you both."

"We love you too." Nate and Phoebe spoke in unison.

"Eric and I are gonna go get coffee so I gotta go now, but I'll be home later." Ophelia told them, pointing over her shoulder at Eric who was waiting by the stairs like he said he would.  

"Wait a second, is that the boy who was your date to Homecoming?" Nate questioned, raising his eyebrows. He begins to walk over to Eric. "Maybe I'll go over there and have a little talk with him to make sure he knows not to break your heart and take you home at a reasonable time."

A panicked expression forms on Ophelia's face and she quickly steps in front of her dad. "Please don't do that. You'll scare him away."

Phoebe chuckles, holding onto Nate's arm to make sure he won't go over to Eric. "Don't do that, alright?" She glances at their daughter with a smile. "From what we saw of him talking with you, he seems like a nice kid."

Ophelia smiles at her mom and nods. "He is pretty great."

"Okay, fine." Nate sighs and Phoebe lets go of his arm. Nate crosses his arms, looking at Ophelia. "But if anything bad happens with him let me know and I'll make sure he won't ever mess with you again."

"Got it, dad." Ophelia nods and began walking backwards over to the stairs. "I'm gonna go now."

"Alright, have fun!" Phoebe smiled, waving goodbye. Ophelia waved back to her and turned around to walk over to the stairs.

"But not too much fun!" Nate added earning a slap on the arm from Phoebe.

A/N new member of the yearbook club mentioned alert! i'm having fun making up these side characters :) they're not gonna be in the book a lot since they're just side characters, but i love them so much & thought it would be cool to actually name them & give them personality unlike the side characters in the show. (the dancers of hsmtmts deserved more screen time & we deserved to know more about their characters!) oof ricky is kind of getting jealous of eric, anyone noticed that? honestly loving eric & ophelia though. this chapter also did have some cute rickelia moments & i know we all love that but yay for ophelia being able to sing & dance in front of others :)