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𝗙𝗜𝗡𝗔𝗟𝗟𝗬 𝗙𝗥𝗘𝗘

chapter twenty-five:
and you're a part of me !

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NOW AT SALT Lake Slices, the whole theater group gathered around the tables for an opening night party. Athena — now practically glowing at this point — sat pressed up to Ricky as her and her friends joked around. Violetta looked happier, too. Just like the night they came here when they found out their roles in the musical, her, EJ, Athena, and Ricky shared a table.

Ashlyn raised her cup of soda. "Tonight was one for the record books."

They all cheered. Athena laughed as she tried to clink her cup of soda with Ashlyn's, who was seated at the table behind her.

"I literally don't even remember being on stage," Carlos admitted.

Seb placed his hand on top of Carlos'. "The rest of us will never forget it."

Athena nodded in agreement. "For real, Carlos. You absolutely slayed in Be Our Guest."

The bell then chimed, signaling somebody was entering the restaurant. Her eyebrows knit in confusion — it was closed for a private event and everyone was here, so who was it? However, when she turned around, she instantly felt the urge to roll her eyes. It was Lily and Antoine themselves. What did they want now? Seriously, hadn't they done enough? Apparently, everyone else agreed, because they all boo'ed once they walked in.

"Okay, easy, easy, easy, easy, Wildcats," Lily began. "We just came to congratulate you all."

Athena blinked in shock at that. "Congratulate us?"

"Especially you, Athena." Athena raised an eyebrow, but Lily seemed completely serious — there was no malice in her tone or fake expression on her face. "I mean it."

"Uh . . ." Athena trailed off, not quite sure how to take that. "Thanks, I guess."

"It is true," Antoine added. "Your show had a beginning, a middle, and an end. It was wonderful."

All of them stared at him and Lily incredulously.

"And Big Red, you were also in it."

"Okay, well, thank you guys for dropping by, but this is kind of a private party," Ricky stated. He then stood up from his chair and locked his pinky with Athena's, forcing her to get up as well. "So if you could, uh—"

"Bye," everyone chorused.

All of them continued on with their various forms of goodbye to try and get Lily and Antoine to leave. Athena let go of Ricky's pinky but followed him to the door so they could see Lily and Antoine out. Lily went to go leave, but she suddenly turned back around.

"In case we never speak again . . . I like you, Ricky," Lily revealed. Athena stared at her for a moment with a hard expression on her face. Oh, this blonde girl was really trying it, wasn't she? "I like your big, brown eyes and your big, round hair."

Ricky sighed. "Lily, look—"

"Okay, I — I'm just saying. Sometimes people deserve a second chance."

"Yeah, and I'm getting one," Ricky responded.

He looked over to Athena and held out his hand. Smiling softly, she took it and laced their fingers together. Ricky tugged her in closer to him. She looked back to Lily, who was still staring at them — there was a sort of fire in her eyes, but a flash of melancholy reflected onto her face.

And deep down, Athena kind of felt a little . . . bad for Lily (ew, did she just admit that?.) She understood how it felt to see a crush suddenly go off and date someone else. Athena had practically dealt with that for a year while Nini and Ricky were together. She remembered all of the hurt and all the feeling suppression she had to do during that time. But did Lily really think Ricky was going to like her back, even after taking one of Athena's personal items that meant so much to the both of them?

"I should've known," Lily stated. "You even have your necklace again. I liked it better on me, but . . ."

And right then and there, Athena didn't feel bad anymore.

She offered Lily a fake smile. "I hope you trip over the boundaries you stepped right over." Athena waved at her. "Bye, Lily. See you never."

Lily gave her one final look of loathing — Athena glaring right back at her — before leaving the restaurant with Antoine. Athena looked up to see Ricky staring down at her. The two of them shared a small laugh about the interaction before going to sit back down with their friends, just as Natalie was talking about the audacity Lily and Antoine had to come here.

"Can you guys imagine if they actually win at the Menkies?" Big Red questioned.

Violetta groaned. "Who even cares anymore? At this point, I'm just ready to take a nap."

Athena pointed to her. "Amen, sister."

Kourtney nodded in agreement. "Honestly, and don't sue me, but I kind of don't care anymore if we win or lose to this competition."

To be honest, Athena kind of agreed with Kourtney. All that nervousness she felt, after all that petty fighting with North High . . . she was honestly over it. High school theater was supposed to be having fun with friends while dancing and singing. This musical felt more rigid and structured than High School Musical, only because of the competition. And Athena liked how fluid and silly they were when putting on High School Musical. Not that she wasn't grateful for the experience of Beauty and the Beast — playing Belle was literally a dream come true — but it just didn't feel as right as the last musical.

"I actually feel the same," Gina voiced.

"Okay, I thought it was just me," Carlos said.

"I mean, we did it, right?" Big Red inquired. "We already got everything we wanted."

"But just let this whole competition go, after all this work?" Ashlyn asked.

EJ then stood up from the table. "If I can have a, uh, senior moment here."

"Oh boy, here we go," Violetta teased.

"Quiet, V. I've won a bunch of trophies over the years, you guys. But I'd trade it all for this group right here tonight."

Athena frowned slightly at the way he was getting choked up. She then cast a look to Violetta, who had tears shining in her eyes. Violetta held out her hand to EJ, who took it and sat back down beside her. He quickly pressed a kiss to her cheek.

"So, what are gonna tell Miss Jenn?" Natalie questioned.

All of them were silent. They all knew that this competition meant a lot to Miss Jenn . . . how were they going to break the news to her? However, as it turns out, they didn't have time to discuss that, because Miss Jenn came marching into the restaurant with Mr. Mazzara right behind her.

Miss Jenn held up a manila envelope with silver swirl stickers at the corners. "The envelope, please. Wildcats, I have in my hands the nominations for the Alan Menken Awards for Excellence in High School Musical Theater. I haven't opened it yet, but who's ready for the biggest moment of the year?" All of them just kind of stared at Miss Jenn awkwardly, and she leaned closer to Mr. Mazzara. "Am I muted?"

"Uh, Miss Jenn," Ricky began, clearing his throat a little. "We were kinda thinking, you know, maybe we won already."

"Yeah," Nini replied. "Maybe we don't need or want to see what's in the envelope?"

Miss Jenn seemed to freeze for a second before letting out a breath of relief. "Oh, thank God. I had to stop four times on the way here because I was physically ill."

Athena laughed, along with the rest of her friends. She felt all that weight she had on her shoulders ever since she was cast as Belle lift off. Seeing the nominations and having to perform at the Menkies . . . she was sure that she probably would've had another mental breakdown about ten times worse than the one before Something There.

"It was five," Mr. Mazzara corrected.

Big Red then held up his stomach medicine. "Hey, I get it."

"So, it's settled," Miss Jenn continued. "We're dropping out of the competition."

"I think it's for the best," Athena replied.

They were all silent, waiting for her verdict.

"But what am I gonna do with this?" Miss Jenn inquired, pointing to the envelope.

"Oh, give me that," Kourtney urged. "We got a pizza oven."

All of them cheered as Kourtney and Miss Jenn went off towards the kitchen. Athena tapped Ricky's shoulder and gestured him to stand up so she could get more soda from the counter.

"'Thena," Gina called, and Athena turned around to face her as she placed her cup down on the counter. "I — um . . . I just wanted to apologize."

Athena's eyebrows knit in confusion. "Oh, for what?"

"For the chocolates, and making all those Valentine's jokes the day we got stuck at school. It was really out of pocket, and I didn't—"

"Gina," Athena interrupted, laughing slightly. "It's okay. I'll admit, it made me feel weird at the time, but . . ." She cast a look over to Ricky, grinning at the way he was laughing. "I've grown up a little from February, and especially since the beginning of this year."

"Oh, tell me about it," Gina responded. "I was also a mean girl trying to claw my way to Gabriella's role, and I made all those comments about you and Ricky at Homecoming . . . I'm really sorry for those, too."

Athena placed a hand on Gina's shoulder. "G, you have this sort of . . . powerful energy about you. Trust me, at the beginning, it sort of intimidated me, but truth be told, I'm so glad I know you." She squeezed her shoulder comfortingly. "We all are. Seriously, I don't think any of us could imagine our lives without you in it anymore."

"You have a way with words, you know that?" Gina told her.

Athena shrugged. "Maybe it's just my nature." She then pulled Gina into a tight hug. "I love you, Gina."

"I love you too, Athena."

"Hey, Attie," Ricky stated, making the two of them let each other ago. "I — um, I hate to interrupt, but I was wondering if we could talk outside."

"Yeah, sure," Athena replied.

She began to follow Ricky out of the restaurant. On the way, she locked eyes with Violetta, who gave her a wink before turning back to engage in her conversation with EJ. Her and Ricky exited Salt Lake Slices into the slightly chilly air of Salt Lake City. Athena crossed her arms over her chest as she shivered just a little bit, watching as Ricky stopped in front of her with his hands in his pockets.

"What's up?" Athena asked.

"You said we could talk after the show when my Beast makeup was off," Ricky answered. "Well, the show is over, and I am definitely not wearing my Beast makeup anymore."

Athena chuckled slightly. "Yeah. I just wanted to make sure you were okay with you and I getting back together after being broken up for—"

"No," Ricky quickly cut in. "No, I'm ready."

"Okay, cool. Also . . . I think being broken up for a little bit was beneficial." She looked into his eyes. "Do you agree?"

Ricky nodded slowly. "Yeah. But I don't think you and I can exactly be separated for long. It's like our hearts are on fire, or something. They have to be close to feed the flame."

Athena looked at him weirdly. "Are you a psychic? Because I was literally writing a song with similar words the other day." She reached into the pocket of her skirt — of course she brought it, what if she wanted to finish it later? — and pulled out a folded piece of paper. "It's not done, but here. This is Finally Free."

She held it out to him, and Ricky took it. Athena suddenly got another flashback of her giving him Wake Up all those months ago in her room. She had written that song for him, but the difference now with Finally Free is she focused more on her and Ricky together than just him as a whole.

Ricky's eyes scanned the page. "You never fail to amaze me, Attie. I got a spark in me, hands up if you can see, and you're a part of me, hands up if you're with me, now till eternity, hands up if you believe, been so long and now we're finally free."

"You know, maybe I should focus on finishing Edge of Great before I move onto other songs," Athena admitted, taking the paper back from him and folding it before putting it into her pocket. "So . . . is that all? We're good?"

"Wait. There's . . . there's something else."

"What is it?"

"I just wanted to formally ask you again," Ricky began softly. "Athena Blake, will you be my girlfriend?"

Athena smiled brightly and wound her arms around his neck, him placing his hands on either side of her waist. "Ricky Bowen, I would be honored to be your girlfriend."

He grinned back at her. "I love you."

"To the moon and to Saturn," Athena recited, because she did wholeheartedly.

The two of them pressed their lips onto one another's. Just like all of the other ones, it made their hearts race and butterflies flutter around their stomach. Ricky then pulled away after a couple long moments and wrapped his arms around her waist. He picked her up and spun her around, just like he had done when they had gotten their roles in the musicals. Athena giggled, the sound traveling down the street of Salt Lake City and into the night air.

Because their hearts were on fire, and somehow they knew deep down that they could make it and wouldn't fall under.

═ • ° • ✧ • ° • ═

𝑻𝑯𝑬 𝑬𝑵𝑫

. . . my heart hurts

I hated how this season ended but I just made athena agree with everything to make my life easier SUE ME

pls go check out my author's note btw <3