RICKY WAITED for Shiloh for what felt like hours, but minutes went by and she was still a no go to meet after intermission like she said she would.

They had just finished the "Night to Remember" scene and he could've sworn he'd seen her running in this direction and yet, she wasn't near or inside of the dressing room.

Ricky sighed, he didn't have much time left to wait for her to pop up. Though, what he had to say was extremely important. Like, this could change the trajectory of their relationship important.

"Ricky?"

He furrowed his brows at the voice and turned.

There stood Victoria with a several bottles of water in her hands. She was thankful for a break, especially since she was the reason the musical had a band and she was performing in it.

"Looking for someone?" She smiled.

"Have you seen Shiloh?"

Victoria nodded. "She's with Quinn."

"Why?"

Tori sucked in her breath and held her eyes shut. She could've sworn Shiloh told her that she was going to tell Ricky about the call.

"Uh... Did you know Shiloh got into UCLA?" She laughed, "I mean, she got into almost every college she applied for, but UCLA has been her dream since—"

"I knew." Ricky cut off. "Why is she meeting with Quinn?"

Tori sighed. "She and Gina got the opportunity to be in another movie." She explained. "Romeo and Juliet with Mack, but if she goes, she would have to leave tonight for New Zealand."

Ricky was taken aback. New Zealand? That was exactly 7,264 miles away from Salt Lake and not 6.6 miles like he'd been planning since he found out he got into the community college near her.

"I thought she would've told you by now, Ricky." Tori said. "It's a lot for her to try and figure out in such a short about of time."

Ricky only nodded, "I've got to get ready for the next scene."

Ricky gently moved past Victoria, leaving the dressing room and her side.

"Ricky!" Victoria called. To her luck, he tuned to look at her. "I'll lose Gina also. Shiloh doesn't want to leave you any of this, but this is a once in a lifetime opportunity. You know Shiloh better than anyone. So, trust her. She really needs you. Especially now."

Ricky heavily sighed, giving Victoria a small nod and turned once more, getting ready for "The Boys Are Back" with the others... except for Shiloh.

But she would soon run into the bomb shelter with the others. She was in her previous costume and her glasses were clutched in her hands.

"I'm here! I'm sorry." She apologized. "Hi, I'm here."

"Hey." Ricky smiled.

Shiloh sat her glasses down on the vanity next to Ricky and took his hands, giving them a gently squeeze.

"Ricky, I am so sorry. I didn't mean to disappear, but, uh..."

"You don't need to explain anything." Ricky interjected. "I already heard everything. And... I am so happy for you."

Shiloh furrowed her eyebrows, her hands still interlocked with his as he continued to speak.

"Of course, you're going to do this new movie. Of course, High School Musical 4 wasn't a fluke for you. Of course, you need to go and be a star."

Soon, Jet walked past, gently tapping Ricky on his shoulder. "Let's go, bro."

"Um, thank you, Ricky... but I..."

Ricky let go of her hands, picking up the new costume with a small smile.

"Thank you." She sighed.

She rushed out of the bomb shelter and made her way to the dressing room.

She bit her lip and a hundred, million questions ran through her head.

Was Ricky going to let her go so easily? Was Ricky... not going to fight for this? For her?

Of course she was grateful that Ricky was letting her doing her thing. She was utterly thankful that he letting her do thing... whatever that thing was.

Shiloh sighed, sitting at the vanity in the dressing room.

Pure silence.

Silence as she took the beauty blender and tapped under her eyes to try and prevent the tears from falling from her face.

She thought about the pros and cons of doing this movie for hours. This was a life changing thing for both herself and Gina and trust, this wasn't an easy thing for Gina either.

Shiloh had been bounced around ever since she was five and she found her forever home with her dads.

She was utterly thankful to find a home with Ricky and she didn't want to lose that. She didn't want to lose him.

Six months didn't seem like forever, but when you know the love of your teenage life was 7,264 miles away from you and hasn't uttered a word about college... it felt like forever.

And long distance could work... but it could also just break Shiloh and Ricky.

It shocked Shiloh that she had taken this long to try and come up with some solution to this and it felt like she would never find one.

Quinn had offered her the lead as Juliet. She was already the lead in the Disney+ documentary and the lead in High School Musical 4 and she had enough popularity on social media to mark her as an influencer... what more could she ask for?

"Shiloh?" Maddox called. "You're on."

She gave Maddox a smile and stood to her feet, following the girl to the wings where she stood with Ricky.

Like nothing had happened prior.

The two of them made their way onstage and Ricky began to speak as Troy.

"So, here's the thing. Your freshman honors program at Stanford?"

Shiloh chuckled, turning to face him as Gabriella. "How did you hear about that?"

"A lot of people heard about it and I wasn't one of them." He shrugged his shoulders. "Why?"

"Because I knew what you would say."

"Of course you should do the honors program. Is that what you were trying to tell me in the backyard the other day?"

Shiloh nodded. "One of the things."

"Okay. What else?"

Sometimes things felt too real. Whether it was acting or play fighting or even putting yourself into someone else's shoes. It sometimes felt too real.

And this was one of those moments.

Concealing how they felt about this movie, New Zealand, being 7,264 miles away from her each other for six months... you couldn't really hide how you felt when you find that news out or when someone you love easily let you go and do that.

"I've been thinking about talking my mom into staying at Albuquerque another year." Shiloh spoke, "I'll just take some classes here and go to Stanford when I'm ready."

Ricky scoffed. "You can't put of something as amazing as Stanford. You have to go. It's the right thing to do."

"But I always do the right thing. Maybe I wanna be a little crazy this time. I mean, everything about my life has been full speed ahead." Shiloh sighed. "I told you, I wish it would all just slow down. To a stop."

"We're going to graduate. That's going to happen. We can't slow down time." Ricky softly spoke.

"I guess my heart just doesn't know it's in high school."

"Well..."

Shiloh turned facing Ricky. "Troy, you don't have to say anything else. I'm a lot better at goodbyes than you. I've had a ton of practice."

Shiloh stepped forward, pressing a gentle kiss to Ricky's cheek for a moment longer than she needed to before she backed way.

Ricky could see the tears welling her eyes as she turned back and opened the tree house doors and exited the stage.

Ricky didn't have time to stop her as she was rushed off for a costume change.

She would make her way back on the stage as she began to preform Walk Away and Ricky stood backstage with Mack.

Truly, he was still somewhat envious of Mack. He was talented and Ricky wasn't going to deny that. He got Juliet whether he liked it or not.

"Be good to her." Ricky said, "Just, um, please take care of her in New Zealand."

Mack looked over at Ricky before nodding, looking down at his feet and leaving Ricky alone once more.

After Walk Away, Shiloh shockingly had enough time to watch Ricky sing Scream.

After that, she left the wing to prepare for the next scene and returned just as fast, now standing next to Mr. Mazzara.

"Thirty second warning."

"Thank you." Shiloh nodded, "Killing it on the sound, by the way."

"Thank you." He smiled. "It's a blessing to be able to turn you people down."

Shiloh only nodded and began rocking back and forth on her feet.

"Shiloh," Mr. Mazzara called. "breathe."

Shiloh chuckled. "I just have so much going on right now and I have so little time to possibly to say goodbye to everyone."

"Your hearts in the right place."

"I would be leaving this school, my family, my friends, my club... Ricky, for six months. Missing the second half of my senior year. I won't ever get that again."

Mr. Mazzara turned to her. "You've had many bumps in the road. From people not taking your club seriously, me included, to being a star. To someone people adored. To being a person who can make a change. To me, that's a girl who knows what she wants for her future." He smiled. "Time for you to go on stage."

Shiloh gave him a nod and made her way on stage with her and Ricky crossing paths.

They would stand opposite of each other and sing Right Here, Right Now, before exiting, they only gave each other small smile and left to get change once more for the next and final scene of the musical.

They would all perform High School Musical with them all bowing at the end.

With group hugs being shared, Shiloh grabbed Ricky's hand and gave him a soft smile.

"I'm sorry, I have to go." She said over the crowd.

"Hey, it's okay." Ricky smiled, pressing a kiss to her cheek. "Go get 'em."

She gave his hand one final squeeze before pulling away to get changed with Gina.

And Ricky watched her leave.

She was star, many people said so.

And Ricky was going to let her be that fucking star.

— lucy has something to say !!

i think that there's like... one or two more chapters of this left 🧍i might drop dēad

bye :))))