NO MATTER what, Shiloh Molina wanted people to know that she was a trustworthy person. That you could come to her and have no worries about it, but if you kept something from her that has to do with her, her family, her friends, her partner, something wasn't going to go your way.

The group had ventured to Target to get supplies and headed towards Ashlyn's after. Kourtney stood before the others holding out the thirty-yard, brown faux fur.

"Must've been a truly enormous faux animal." Ashlyn chuckled, "So, what are we doing?"

"Okay, you know those sequined tops, where if you rubbed one way, they're purple, rubbed the other way, red?"

"Duh, love it." Gina answered.

"So, we're going to do that we the Beast cape. But instead of purple and red, it's going to be fur and satin. Y'all feel me?" Kourtney smiled.

"This is why your head of wardrobe." Evie said.

"Oh, thank you. The boys can build something that spins the Beast around to disguise the transition."

"Wow. Won't that take a while?" Seb asked.

"Oh, is it?" Ashley asked, "I have a curfew, and we're wasting time just standing here."

"I'm in, if you are."

"I guess I could sleep over tonight." Gina smiled.

"Oh my, God. This is gonna be the best sleepover ever!" Jenna exclaimed, "We normally have Love Club sleepovers at the end of the month. This is exciting."

"Look, guys I'm all about costumes, but I don't know if my parents will be cool with a co-ed sleepover." Seb said.

"Chip, this is your mother speaking. Go call your mother. You to Ashley." Kourtney instructed.

After the phone calls from the approving parents, the group quickly got to work. Seb stood next to Kourtney and Madison as they fawned over the faux fur.

"Ooh, this is going to be so good, Carlos would wear it." Kourtney smiled.

"Does he just walk around in Armani sweatpants?" Ashlyn asked.

"Wouldn't be surprised if he owns a Louis Vuitton suit." Evie added.

As the group laughed, Madison took notice of Seb's silence, "Seb? Is something going on between you guys?"

Seb sighed, turning to face the others, "I guess you could say, he met a group of extremely photogenic guys when he was down in Mexico, and he seemed pretty happy. So, now I'm pretty sad."

"Oh, Seb, come on." Gina sighed.

"You make Carlos the happiest he's ever been." Shiloh smiled, "Trust me, I know it's hard to see someone else making your person smile, but you two are Carlos and Seb. Can't be one without the other."

"Mmm, but I guess he has to be, out of default, right?"

"What does that mean?" Kourtney asked.

"There's not a lot of other choices for a boy like Carlos here at East."

Evie stepped forward and joined Seb on the couch.

"Not to make this about me, but I understand. My parents are never around because they're in the military, and when I was finally ready to come out, I was scared because... there aren't many people at East like me either. I knew I loved everyone. It doesn't matter their sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, everything. There are no limits. I'll date anyone." Evie explained, "I knew that I was happy with who I was and the first person I felt comfortable coming out to was Shiloh. I know it's hard, but have you tried talking to him about it?"

"Not so good at saying the feelings part out loud."

"Never hurts to put yourself out there. Or so I've heard." Gina chuckled.

"Okay. Also, did I see you and EJ giggling at the pizza place?" Nini asked, a smile painted on her face.

"I have some questions in the same general area." Ashlyn laughed.

"Are they... disapproving questions?"

"Gina, you're my sister. He's my cousin. And if that didn't sound so weird, you would know what I'm trying to say." She chuckled, "I love you both."

"I mean, he was really sweet during the break, and he kind of saved me. But it was just a nice thing. There's nothing romantic in the cards for us."

"Uh, you sure?" Kourtney asked.

"Trust me. I've been wrong before, so I feel pretty safe putting that idea to bed."

"Oh, my God." Ashlyn gasped, "The chocolates."

The Love Club stole glances at each other before shifting their eyes onto Shiloh.

"What are you looking at me for?" She asked, "Oh, Gina. If this was about Valentine's Day, you could've come to any one of us about it. I'm sure it was no big deal."

"What are the chocolates?" Nini asked.

"Oh, um... I... I thought Ricky sent me some chocolates on Valentine's Day, and I kind of melted a little, as a friend."

"You can melt as a friend?" Shiloh asked, chuckling softly, "Didn't know that."

"They weren't from him. My mom sent them."

"Yeah, but why did you think Ricky sent them specifically to you? I don't know about you, but I would think that was something... romantic, don't you think?"

Jenna held her head in her hands, "This isn't good. This isn't good." She muttered.

"I didn't see it as a big deal, Shiloh-"

"You may not, but I do. You thought that my at-the-time boyfriend sent you chocolates, and you melted. Sounds like you wanted them to be from Ricky?"

The Love Club knew that this was going to eventually. It was Shiloh Molina. She had her moments of every emotion, just like every human being did, but her jealousy trait was absolutely horrible. Madison knew how bad it could get; the blonde girl that had flirted with Dylan once never saw the lights of Shiloh Molina after she confronted her about it... Madison was pretty sure the girl transferred schools.

"It was funny." Ashlyn smiled, "We laughed and laughed."

"Did you? All of you? Everyone knew and laughed. That is funny. It's funny that I didn't know, but my friends did."

Evie stood quickly, "Hey, let's separate ourselves-"

"No, I wanna laugh. Everyone else got to." Shiloh smiled.

"I cleared it up with Ricky." Gina said, "It wasn't a big deal."

Ashley held her legs close to her body and observed Shiloh's steps.

"Let me tell you why this is a big deal to me, Gina. My boyfriend has another girl pawing after him like he's some type of toy, and I got very angry and sad and annoyed. So, to find out that one of my friends melted at the thought of my boyfriend getting them chocolates is a different type of hurt."

"It was in a friend way."

"I think I would know if you could melt in a friend way, Gina. Don't you think?" Shiloh asked, "Haha. Now I think we've all laughed."

Shiloh sat her part of the faux fur down and headed into the kitchen as she began pacing back and forth.

"What was that?" Evie asked, following the girl into the kitchen.

"Maybe Ricky's rubbed off on me in a bad way." Shiloh sighed, "I'm sorry. But you all knew this; how'd you think I'd react?"

"I can see you doing that to anyone, and that's why we didn't tell you. We told Gina that she should tell you."

"But I had to hear it from Ashlyn?"

"I didn't know Ashlyn knew. I thought we, the club knew, and that was it. We tried to get Gina to tell you, but the Love Club policy that you came up with prohibited us from telling you because she didn't want it getting back to you."

Shiloh sighed and rested her arms against the island, "I'm going to regret this later, but I wasn't harsh or anything... right?"

"You weren't, but I think you could've handled it a lot better."

Shiloh rested her head in her hands.

"But you handled it in the best Shiloh Molina way you could." Evie smiled, rubbing their hand up and down Shiloh's back.

Shiloh was never great with confrontation, whether it was defending herself, friends, family, her relationship. She would never think before speaking when she was in these types of conversations, and it was clear that she had to work on that.

"Don't beat yourself down." Evie said, "You're right. You will regret this later, but it's going to cause you to apologize to her. So, if you really think about it, it's the best of both worlds."

THE GROUP gathered together again and met up at the school. After some convincing, they were able to get the blueprints on how they originally got rid of the mask in the Broadway show. After debating, they too would try and pull off the same stunt and separated to get the task done.

"Hey, Gina? Can we talk?" Shiloh asked.

Gina stood from her spot and followed Shiloh into a secluded area of the theater.

"I want to apologize for how things went down at Ashlyn's. I guess I let Lily hit too many nerves, and hearing from someone else about the chocolates sucked. I would've loved to hear it from you instead." She explained, "All of that to say, sorry. I understand if you don't forgive me. Trust me, I apparently made a girl transfer, and I would hate to be the reason you go because you are a great person, and I was... jealous."

"I'm sorry. I should've come to you about the chocolates and seen the situation from your point of view. You have nothing to apologize for. I'm sorry that I never said anything about it... you made a girl transfer?"

"No." She laughed, "Well, I hope not."

Gina smiled and took notice of Shiloh holding a tight smile. She glanced back and saw EJ standing close by.

"I don't think you're wrong about EJ. Give it a chance." Shiloh smiled.

Gina watched the girl back away and leave the theater entirely.

Soon, Seb, Carlos, and Ricky had returned. As they were hooking Ricky into his harness. Ashley took of Shiloh's disappearance.

"Shiloh's not here."

Everyone glanced around the room for the girl, and Ricky saw her rush past the theater. Ricky soon followed suit. Shiloh stopped in front of Mr. Mazzara's door and slid a piece of paper under his door.

"Love Club?"

She stood up quickly and brushed her skirt down, "Um, no. It's a gift per se for Mr. Mazzara. Anyways, are you ready?"

"Yeah, we're just waiting on you." Ricky smiled.

Shiloh sent him a small smile and brushed past him to head to the theater.

"I heard your voicemail." He called.

She paused, running her hands together, and turned to face him, "Oh... Well... who could possibly remember what I said, you know?"

"I know I've made some mistakes, and for a while, I thought sending you that song was one of them, but then I got your voicemail, and maybe it wasn't a mistake at all."

"It was a beautiful song, Ricky. I really enjoyed it."

"I'm glad." Ricky smiled softly, "I know we're still friends, Shiloh. The best of."

"Good... I'm glad."

The two of them stared for a moment. Shiloh tended to overthink certain situations. She didn't know if Ricky had moved on or what, but being friends with him was better than not having him at all.

"I love you, Shiloh... I love you very much."

Shiloh smiled, "Can I have a hug?"

Ricky nodded and pulled her into a hug, her arms instantly wrapped around his neck and burying her head in his shoulder.

Shiloh had never felt this way about anyone before. Of course, she loved her friends and family, but something about Ricky Bowen drove her crazy, and if she was going to lose him to anyone, she would be devastated. Shiloh also knew Ricky had every right to move on, and when he did... she wasn't going to stop them.

Evie soon ventured out into the halls and saw the two of them standing in an embrace. Evie softly and would hate to ruin the moment. Big Red, on the other hand, had no problem doing that.

"Oh, you found them." He smiled, "Guys, come on!"

Ricky heavily sighed and left his embrace with Shiloh go. The four headed inside the theater, and slowly, Big Red spun the wheel, bringing Ricky up towards the ropes. Jenna took a couple of steps back, Shiloh joining her side.

"Y'all, this is some Broadway stuff." Kourtney smiled.

"We're gonna win." Natalie said, "You guys, we're actually gonna win."

"We're gonna make Miss Jenn so
proud." Carlos added.

That's when things shifted. Ricky had been lifted high enough, but the rope pulling him up had begun to unravel, and just like that, Ricky Bowen came crashing towards the ground.

Not only taking himself out but his pretty friend too.

- lucy has something to say!!

i think it's weird that they went from talking about seb and carlos and their sexuality to gina, ej, ricky, nini, and the chocolates like hello !!!!

can we talk about this please cause

what the hell did he say 🤨

anyways

woah had a thought about joshua bassett say a low muttered fuck under his breath and now i 🤪

bye :))))