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𝗙𝗜𝗡𝗔𝗟𝗟𝗬 𝗙𝗥𝗘𝗘

chapter twenty:
character lines tie into real life !

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DESPITE BEING NAMED after the Goddess of wisdom, Athena sure could make some stupid decisions sometimes.

The most recent one? Breaking up with Ricky.

Okay, yes, she had good reasoning behind it. Breaking that cycle of hurting, fighting, and forgiving was beneficial for her, and Athena could even feel some stress being lifted off of her shoulders. She didn't have to worry about intruding or saying the wrong thing.

But then there was the voicemail. The voicemail of Ricky singing Let You Go — which she still hadn't told him that he accidentally called her . . . but then again, he hadn't told her that she accidentally called him — had been on her mind the past couple of days. That song had been playing on a loop and she found herself analyzing all the lyrics.

It sort of made her realize that by letting him go that they were meant to be together. Yeah, sure, they were still young — extremely young — and dumb, but Athena knew. Of course she did. The way her heart raced whenever she was near him, the way her eyes sparkled in adoration just looking at him, the way their hands fit together perfectly, the way he made her feel like she was the only girl in the world . . .

And that brings Athena to the present day — the first rehearsal after spring break. She stood with Violetta on the stage with the rest of the cast in Belle's blue traveling cloak. Her arms were crossed across her chest as she watched Ricky and EJ play around with the Beast mask. A small smile made its way onto her face as she watched Ricky. God, even if they were broken up, she was still such a sucker for him.

"You're staring again," Violetta suddenly said.

Athena blinked and turned to face her. "Hm?"

"Ricky. You've been staring at him all day." Violetta then raised an eyebrow. "You're going to say you made a dumb decision, aren't you?"

Athena smiled sheepishly. "You know me too well."

Violetta shook her head. "Athena, listen. You've been focusing on yourself, and Ricky has been, too. Every couple needs space to reset a sort of balance. Trust me, EJ and I take days off from seeing each other, too. But I think you're both realizing in this break that you're having that staying together is what you both want."

Athena sighed. "Yeah, maybe, but I initiated this whole thing. I just don't want to dump it on him that I want to get back together so out of the blue. That's not fair to him."

"Just talk to him," Violetta told her. "Ease into it a little."

"All right, let's get started!" Carlos exclaimed while walking down the stage towards Miss Jenn, although none of the conversations stopped. "Hello? Let's get started!"

"Okay, Wildcats," Miss Jenn announced, clapping her hands to get their attention.

All of them moved to form a little clump in front of Miss Jenn. Athena placed herself in between Ricky and Violetta. She looked up at Ricky and offered him a small smile. He sent one back, and the two of them looked back forwards, their cheeks a light shade of red.

"Let's shake spring break out of our systems and try the Beast transformation one last time. And remember, this is the triumph of the show, the moment the audience has been waiting for." Miss Jenn's eyes got wide and her smile turned very forced. "This has to work."

Ricky gently nudged Athena. "No pressure, huh, Attie?"

"Yep, not like we have the weight of the show on our shoulders or anything," Athena replied, her tone nervous.

"Ricky, try not to rush this time," Miss Jenn instructed. "We'll speed it up when you're more confident."

"Got it," Ricky voiced.

"Let's take it from . . . you came back."

Athena kneeled on the ground. Ricky kneeled next to her and put on his Beast mask. Once his mask was on, he readjusted himself so his head was laying on Athena's lap. Despite an aura of tension between them, Athena sort of felt like old times — back in her bedroom, laying on her bed with Ricky's head resting in her lap . . . okay, now she was just getting ahead of herself. Maybe Violetta was right. They just had to talk.

Miss Jenn gestured for them to begin. "Okay, go ahead."

Ricky placed his hand on his chest to act like he was hurt while Athena held him to comfort him. "You came back."

"If only I'd come sooner," Athena recited, pulling Ricky in closer like Belle would do.

"Maybe it's better this way—"

"Don't talk like that. Everything will be fine."

"No."

"Shhh," Athena scolded. "We're together now. You'll see."

Ricky reached up and placed a hand on Athena's cheek, making shivers go down her spine. "I'm just glad I was able to see your face one last—"

He then began to pretend to choke. Miss Jenn pointed to Seb, who started to play the piano.

"We are home," Athena sang, trying to ignore the way Ricky was pulling hair from the Beast mask out of his mouth. "We are where we shall be forever. Trust in me . . ." She took the hand that was so obviously getting hair out of his mouth in hers and held it down on his chest. "For you know I won't run away."

"Belle, I . . ." Ricky trailed off.

"Yes?" Athena asked, cupping his chin in her hand. Ricky flipped over, and Athena widened her eyes and she put her hands on his back, acting as panicked as Belle. "No, no, no, no, please don't leave me. Please." She let out a shaky breath. "I love you."

And yet, Athena knew that when she said that last line, she wasn't acting.

Nothing happened for a moment. Ricky then picked his hand up and attempted to take his mask off. It wouldn't budge. Athena quickly covered his head with her cloak and moved with Ricky as he kept trying to get his mask off. She sent an awkward smile to Miss Jenn, who was just watching them intently.

"It's stuck," Ricky revealed.

"Rip the Velcro!" Kourtney shouted.

The sound of Velcro ripping was heard. Athena removed the cloak from Ricky and he threw it to Natalie Bagley, who was waiting off to the side. However, he threw it directly right at her face. She flinched and stumbled to avoid being hit, which therefore led her to collide with the set of the trees. The three tree sets fell down, and Athena gasped as she scrambled backwards to try and avoid being hit.

"Cut!" Miss Jenn yelled.

"Sorry, Natalie," Ricky apologized.

"It's okay," Natalie responded. "It was just my face."

Ricky looked over at Athena. "Guess I should practice that throw, huh?"

Miss Jenn stood up. "The throw is great, Ricky. The mask is great. This is working. I will be in my office."

She walked off with a very anxious smile. Athena winced and glanced over to Violetta, who was laughing quietly into her hand. She shook her head. This was pretty much a disaster.

Carlos then also stood up to address them. "Guys, we're on a long five until Miss Jenn returns."

He rushed off to go follow after her. Athena watched as Ricky got up to go get his things. She frowned slightly and got up as well, trailing after him to his backpack.

"Hey, Ric," Athena began gently, and he turned around to face her. "You all right?"

"Yeah, I'll get the transformation down eventually," Ricky answered.

"I, um . . . I wasn't talking about the transformation," Athena admitted. "You kinda went dark over spring break."

He nodded. "I turned my phone off."

Not completely, Athena thought to herself, but she pushed that away for now. "Not just that. I just wanted to make sure you're . . . well, we're still friends, yeah?"

"Yeah," Ricky reassured her. "I'm doing okay. Just, you know . . . getting space."

"Can we, uh, talk later, maybe?" Athena questioned, clasping her hands together nervously. "I don't want to intrude on your space, but . . ."

"No, no, yeah," Ricky agreed. "I actually wanted to talk to you, too."

She smiled softly at him. "Okay, good. Uh, I'll text you about it later."

Athena turned around. She went to walk away while taking the cloak off of her, but Ricky made her stop.

"Hey, Attie?" Ricky inquired.

She glanced back. "Yeah?"

"I liked the song you wrote with Ashlyn and Nini."

Her grin widened. "Thanks."

She took the cloak off of her and approached Violetta, who was in the midst of a conversation with EJ.

Violetta looked over to her once she was close enough. "You talk to lover boy yet?"

"No, but we agreed to later," Athena responded. "And can you stop calling him lover boy? You and Artemis, I swear. We're not even dating."

"But you will be," EJ countered. "There's no way you two aren't getting back together. You look at each other the way Violetta looks at my arm when she's about to punch it."

Violetta then actually punched his arm. EJ let out a noise of pain and held the area where he was hit with his hand. Athena laughed slightly at it while Violetta casually shrugged.

"Thanks, EJ, I'm glad you have faith in us," Athena voiced. "Now, come on. I'm hungry."

--- ☆ • ♫ • ♪ • ♫ • ☆ ---

ONCE REHEARSAL WAS officially over — also known as Miss Jenn having a mental breakdown in her office and the rest of them just leaving to give her space — the whole cast plus Nini were standing in the dining area of Salt Lake Slices since Carlos sent a text to all of them to meet there. Big Red, Ricky, Gina, Violetta, and EJ were standing in one group while Athena, Nini, Seb, and Ashlyn stood in the other. Kourtney was behind the counter, handing Natalie more soda. Basically, they were discussing what they could possibly do to save the show.

The bell — signaling that somebody just came in — rang throughout the restaurant. Everyone looked over to see Carlos walking in.

"There you are," EJ voiced.

"We all got your text," Gina added.

"You guys, mother is freaking out," Carlos announced — and by mother, he meant Miss Jenn. "It's about the Menkies. Is everyone sitting down?"

"No," EJ replied, but Big Red awkwardly sat down in the chair closest to him.

"We can't win."

Athena blinked. "I'm sorry?"

"Listen, there's math involved," Carlos explained. "If we don't sweep the technical achievement awards, we don't have a chance. And no offense, Ricky, but . . ."

A look of realization flashed across Ricky's face after noticing everyone staring at him. "Oh, is this about the transformation? 'Cause I can throw that mask at someone other than Natalie."

"You haven't yet," Natalia countered.

"I hate to say this, you guys," Carlos admitted. "I mean, I know we all had a good time over spring break."

"Some of us a little more than others," Seb muttered.

"Not today."

Nini looked over at Seb. "You guys okay?"

Seb merely placed a bright smile on his face and nodded while humming in response. Athena didn't buy it.

"Honestly, we need to rally behind Miss Jenn," Carlos continued. "I mean, our sets are made of plywood and Elmer's Glue. We're humble. Humble does not win awards."

"And after that order, you have one more, and then two more after that," Kourtney told Howie before placing two pitchers of soda on the table. "Fresh soda. Y'all okay?"

Gina gestured to Carlos. "Carlos was just explaining—"

"I heard it all."

"While you were yelling at Howie?"

"Multitasking," Kourtney answered. "Look, I'm a designer. Big Red's a crew guy. Between the two of us, you're looking at your answer."

"Quit school, and get a job at the pizza shop?" Seb guessed.

"Uh, no. We should invent something amazing. Something we can run at tech rehearsal tomorrow night. A next level transformation that out-broads Broadway and out-norths North High."

Kourtney squealed excitedly. Murmurs of excitement rang throughout the restaurant from all of them.

"Ashlyn, you have the biggest house," Nini stated over the murmurs. "What if I invite myself and some of the girls over after school, continue the collab thing?" She looked over at Athena. "'Thena, you in?"

Athena locked eyes with Ricky across the way — she really wanted to talk to him, but . . . Nevertheless, he gave her a small nod. If not tonight, it would happen eventually.

She placed a smile on her face. "Yeah, I'm in."

"I mean, square footage wise, my house is, like, slightly larger—" EJ began.

Violetta nudged him, making him stop.

"Uh, I'm going to shut up."

"A hundred percent, yes," Ashlyn agreed.

"Wait, should we all stick together?" Gina suggested.

"Oh, no way," Nini responded. She stepped in between Athena and Ashlyn and linked her arms through theirs. "Boys versus girls."

"My basement's free," Big Red offered. "We have a ton of old tools. I'm sure the guys can make something cool."

"Great. May the best transformation win."

Athena nodded in agreement. If they could actually get this to work . . . maybe it would actually succeed in wiping that stupid smile off of Lily's face. Yeah, she was so in.

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five more chapters shut the fuck up

anyways

"no one compares you stand alone to every record I own music to my heart that's what you are" is basically ricky and athena right now so

I also find it slightly concerning how joshua bassett can give me butterflies just by singing???? like listening to him sing something there with julia . . . the way he said "ignore" UGH my stomach went 🦋🦋🦋🦋🦋