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𝗟𝗢𝗩𝗘 𝗕𝗔𝗖𝗞

chapter ten:
becoming a disco ball !

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NOW, IF VIOLETTA knew exactly what Carlos had meant by becoming a disco ball, she wouldn't have agreed to it.

It was the rehearsal before Thanksgiving break. Carlos had pulled Violetta aside, saying that he had a genius idea — for Start of Something New, she would be dancing as the disco ball that was in the party room in the original movie. Violetta didn't really understand what that meant, but she agreed nonetheless.

She shouldn't have agreed.

Violetta was now wearing a headlight and was carrying around a disco ball, and Big Red was following her around with a flashlight while she danced. Nini and Ricky were singing the song while Athena was playing the piano. She tried to keep her big dancer smile on her face, but it was a little hard to do when she was doing something absolutely ridiculous.

Nini and Ricky stepped towards each other. "I know."

"That something has changed," Nini sang.

Both of them looked up as Kaden and Ricardo then carried the ladder over them. "Never felt this way."

"But right here tonight."

"This could be the start of something new."

As the both of them stepped onto their respective boxes, Violetta stepped between them. She danced with the disco ball attached to her hand, making sure to exaggerate her arm movements so the disco ball could spin more. Violetta then turned and climbed up the ladder for her big moment

"It feels so right to be here with you, oh," the two voiced. "And now."

"Looking in your eyes," Nini stated, gesturing to Lauryn, who was on Kaden's shoulder, to flip her sign the other way because it was upside down. "I feel in my heart."

"Feel in my heart," Ricky said.

"The start of something new," Nini and Ricky chorused.

"Oh, yeah. Now who would've ever thought that, oh."

"We'd both be here tonight."

Big Red was now on the other side of the ladder. He was shining a flashlight on the disco ball Violetta was holding, making tiny squares of holographic light shine all over her and the rest of the room.

"Ooh," Ricky stated.

Nini continued the song. "Yeah, and the world looks so much brighter."

"Brighter, brighter."

"With you by my side."

"By my side," Ricky added as Nini held her note out.

Violetta was now using her hand to spin the disco ball really fast. However, in the middle of her doing that, the school bell rang. She stopped as Athena stopped playing the piano, resisting the urge to let out a breath of relief. Never again.

EJ stood up from the riser he was sitting on, the biggest grin on his face. "Yes! Yes! Whoo!" Violetta blinked and tilted her head at him. He smiled sheepishly as he caught her gaze. "Sorry, I really love Thanksgiving."

Violetta shook her head and stepped down from the ladder. She put down the disco ball and took off her headlight. After grabbing her backpack, she walked over to Athena, who was still by the piano, with wide eyes.

"Okay, hold on," Miss Jenn announced over the laughter in the bomb shelter. "I know everyone is excited for the holiday break, but I'm me, and I have notes. Ricky and Nini, that was good, but it could be better. She said in the spirit of holiday cheer."

"Good save," Carlos told her.

"A disco ball," Violetta deadpanned, walking around to the front of the piano with Athena to where Ricky and Nini were. "A disco ball. Last I checked, a human disco ball wasn't a part of the original movie."

"You were a very nice disco ball, Vi," Athena responded before addressing Nini and Ricky. "And you two were killing it."

Nini scoffed at that. "At least give yourself some credit, 'Thena. Those piano playing skills were amazing. And as someone who can play the piano too, I can tell you're a natural."

Athena smiled at the compliment. "Thank you."

"Your homework over this break, all of you, is to please go on vocal rest," Miss Jenn instructed. "And go over your lines, too, which is hard to do on vocal rest. But make it work. And remember, may nothing ever block your doorway to happiness."

Mr. Mazzara then came into the room with a binder in his hand. "Excuse me!"

"Okay, starting now."

"Oh, don't mind me, I just came to return a missing item. Ashlyn." The redhead turned to look at him. "Cannot have our robotics team co-captain going home without her binder over break."

She took her binder with a smile. Violetta stared at the girl in curiosity. She had no idea that Ashlyn was a part of any other club, but props to her. Violetta then went to mention something about it to Big Red, who was next to her, but all she was met with was the sight of Big Red's eyes trailing after Ashlyn with the smallest of grins on his face. She squinted at him. Violetta knew that look all too well — after all, Ricky and Athena had been doing that to each other for literal years.

Interesting.

When Miss Jenn and Mr. Mazzara started to try and one-up each other with their Thanksgiving traditions, Violetta deemed it was time to go. She headed off towards the door of the bomb shelter, waving goodbye to Athena and Ricky.

EJ then suddenly appeared at her side, and the two of them left the bomb shelter together. It was normal seeing them leave rehearsal together now — EJ would often give Violetta rides back to her house so she wouldn't have to walk in the cold. Nobody really questioned it, either. Despite a sort of rocky beginning, anyone could tell that Violetta and EJ sort of balanced each other out. They somehow seemed to work in a good yet strange way. Also, everyone could tell that she had a way of immediately shutting down his ego, which was probably a good thing for everybody, including EJ.

"Got any plans for Thanksgiving?" EJ asked.

Violetta shook her head. "Nah. Probably sitting on my couch and eating ice cream like I normally do. You?"

"We're having dinner, but then my parents are taking Ashlyn's parents to a spa in Park City. They told us to have a meaningful night at the movies — whatever that means."

"Are there even any good movies out right now?"

"I literally have no clue," EJ admitted. "No, but seriously. Do you really have no plans for Thanksgiving?"

Violetta shrugged. "I mean, I could go to Athena's, but I have a feeling that she's gonna invite Ricky and his dad over because of everything that happened. It'll be, like, my fifth Thanksgiving without my parents, but this is his first Thanksgiving without his mom. Ricky needs her way more than I do right now."

EJ looked down at her for a moment. "You're really selfless, you know that?"

"When it comes to my best friends, I'll put them first."

He hesitated for a moment. "Are your parents really not going to be home for Thanksgiving?"

Violetta shook her head. "I don't think they even recognize it's a holiday. For them, it's just another day in November that they can spend away from home."

EJ frowned at that. "V—"

"Drop it, EJ." She let out a sigh as they walked through the front doors of East High towards the parking lot. "I've dealt with it for years. I'm okay." She glanced up to see a disbelieving expression on her face. "Seriously, EJ. I'll be fine. I'll just watch Charlie Brown Thanksgiving and pretend it's the real thing. Don't worry about it."

"You don't have any other family you can spend the day with?"

"My mom and dad don't really talk to their siblings and stuff. I've only met my cousins a handful of times. I'm sure they would be willing to have me there, but the live out in San Diego. Sort of a haul from Salt Lake, don't you think?"

"Come to my family dinner," EJ blurted out, making Violetta blink at him. "I'm serious. My parents would love you, and Ashlyn's parents—"

"EJ," Violetta interrupted. "That's extremely nice of you, but it's okay. I'm serious."

"I just don't want you to spend the holiday alone."

Violetta stopped in her tracks so she could properly face him. "I appreciate the offer, I do, but I'm not going to intrude on your family's Thanksgiving." She then felt her phone buzz, and she pulled it out to see it was a text from Athena. "Hey, there's gonna be a party after dinner tomorrow at Ashlyn's. Looks like you won't have to go to the movies anymore, and now I won't be completely alone the entire day. Both of our problems are solved."

EJ still looked like he didn't believe her. "Are you sure?"

"I'm positive, EJ." She gave him a reassuring smile before nodding her head over to his car. "Now, can you take me to Starbucks real fast? I want a coffee."

"With a double shot of espresso?"

"You already know it."

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NOW THE DAY of Thanksgiving, Violetta was sitting up at the vanity in her room, applying some mascara to her eyelashes to get ready for Ashlyn's party. She was already in her outfit — a pair of light ripped jeans, a white tank-top, a gray cardigan, and her white sneakers.

Her day had been uneventful. She woke up and her parents were gone — surprise, surprise — but she did receive texts from Athena, Ricky, Big Red, and EJ saying Happy Thanksgiving. All Violetta had done on the holiday was eat a bagel, watch a couple movies (including Charlie Brown), and have some McDonald's delivered to her house.

Speaking of EJ, he was coming to get her later for the party. Violetta was pretty excited. The whole cast had turned into something sort of like a family, which Violetta never really had with the exception of Athena, Ricky, and Big Red. She knew that whatever they would do tonight, all of them would have fun just being with each other.

Her phone screen then lit up. Violetta paused her mascara-applying and glanced over at it to see that ejwaterpolotheaterguy had started a live video on Instagram. She slightly rolled her eyes at the ridiculous username he had and clicked on the notification. It brought her to the live, which showed EJ walking outside in the sunshine on a sidewalk, a jacket over his cream-colored sweater.

"Happy Turkey Day, y'all!" EJ exclaimed. "Comin' at you with another Instagram hashtag confessional. Thanks so much for all your questions last time. Today, we're gonna be talking about all the times I've cheated at water polo in my life."

Violetta's eyebrows furrowed in confusion as she closed the live, not really wanting to hear how EJ cheated at his sport. She was just really lost on why EJ was telling hundreds of people on Instagram that he was basically a cheater. But to each their own, she guessed.

It was only a little while later when her doorbell rang. Violetta grabbed her jacket from her bed and pulled it on before slinging her small purse over her shoulder. She descended down the steps, and when she opened her front door, she found EJ standing on her porch.

"What's up, Caswell?" Violetta greeted, shutting the door behind her and locking it with her key. "How was your dinner?"

"It was good," EJ answered as they started to walk towards his car, which was in front of the house. "What'd you have?"

"McDonald's. There's nothing quite like some chicken nuggets and fries for a Thanksgiving dinner." She looked up at him momentarily. "You ready for this party?"

"Yep. I brought a bottle of forty-year-old balsamic and some lobster dip my parents made, but if I'm being honest, I've eaten most of it already." EJ opened up the passenger door for Violetta, making her stupid stomach flutter around, before rounding to the other side and getting in the drivers seat. "Hey, is it all right if I make a phone call on the way there? It's to the girl that I gave a bad deviled egg to so Nini could get the lead at camp."

Violetta paused in putting her seatbelt on and turned to face him. "Dude, what's going on with you? Why are you suddenly admitting all of these things out of nowhere?"

EJ sighed. "Ever since I came clean to Nini about everything, I've felt almost . . . free. And I want to keep feeling that feeling, so I've just been admitting everything that I'm doing wrong."

She nodded, still slightly confused. "Uh, okay, sure. I'm proud of you . . . I guess?"

He placed hand on his chest and smiled at her. "Aw, thanks, V."

"No problem, honey." Violetta completely missed the way EJ's cheeks turned pink at the pet name since she was glancing down at her phone for a moment to check the time, but he was looking away from her when she turned her attention back to him as he started to drive off. "You can go ahead and call the girl. I'll be here and maybe chime in time to time of how stupid you can be."

"Please don't do that."

"I can't promise you anything."

And Violetta did, in fact, tell the girl how stupid EJ was.

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we stan vi being a disco ball love that for her

also ej being worried ab her :((( I'm crying tbh