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𝗟𝗢𝗩𝗘 𝗕𝗔𝗖𝗞

chapter thirteen:
the burnt down set !

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EVER SINCE VIOLETTA had finally admitted to herself — after a lot of contemplation — that she actually liked EJ, she found herself hanging out with him a lot more.

It was strange, wasn't it? She means, she had this whole love back plan in the beginning because she would have rather stuck a fork in her eye than date somebody as insufferable as EJ Caswell, but to be honest, Violetta had to admit that he had some character development. Violetta came to realize that he often did the wrong things — emphasis on wrong — for the right reasons. She's not saying that to excuse his actions, because don't get her wrong, she still thinks he's incredibly dumb for what he did, but he's gotten better.

People would rarely spot Violetta without Athena, Ricky, and/or Big Red, but now EJ was added into the mix. He would often tag along with them walking in the hallways or going to rehearsal. There was obviously still some tension between EJ and Ricky after what happened, but having Violetta and Athena there kind of diffused the tension. Besides, Athena was dating Ricky now, and the two of them were basically on cloud nine.

As for Violetta and EJ . . . well, Violetta hoped they would get somewhere, but she had no idea how EJ felt about her. She could tell that he liked hanging out with her — not to sound narcissistic or anything, but he was always smiling and laughing unless they were having a serious conversation. Who knew? Like she said that night in the car, everything was all up to the universe. If the universe was pulling them to be together . . . well, so be it.

(She certainly wouldn't complain.)

Currently, Violetta, EJ, Athena, and Ricky were approaching the theater. It was tech week, which meant that things were getting serious. Their show was only in a few days time, which was absolutely insane. Violetta felt like the audition was literally yesterday where she had put EJ in his place about him being so overconfident. So much had changed in such a short amount of time, and Violetta didn't really know what to think about it.

The four of them were laughing with each other, listening to one of Athena's stupid stories about something Ricky had done when he was younger, when all words failed and their smiles slipped off their faces. As they walked into the theater, they saw that everything — the whole set — was burned down. Violetta swore her heart stopped and she froze in her tracks, her eyes wide as she looked around. Multiple firefighters were walking around to inspect everything, water was dripping from the ceiling from the sprinklers, and particles of dust floated through the air. As a firefighter walked past their group, Violetta stared after her with an incredulous expression. What the heck had happened?

Nini was the first one to break the shocked silence, asking out loud the question Violetta had just thought of to herself. "Oh my gosh, what happened?"

Miss Jenn approached them. "It's okay. Nobody was hurt. There was a small fire in the theater over the holiday and the sprinklers did their job."

"We're almost done in here, just have to finish up in the faculty room next," a firefighter announced, holding up a burnt and smoking basketball. "Some circuits blew in there over the break. Unfortunately, the show cannot go on."

"What?" Miss Jenn asked.

Violetta felt like she had gotten all the wind knocked out of her. After everything — all the rehearsals, all the choreographing, all the drama that they had overcome, had just been for nothing? She was finally doing something where she felt like she had truly belonged. Violetta had managed to make the relationships with her old friends even stronger and make new friends, not to mention develop a sort of crush. This whole experience . . . it just couldn't be over.

She glanced over at Athena. Just from the expression on her face, Violetta could tell that the girl was close to crying. So was Violetta, truthfully. She wrapped an arm around her best friend's shoulder and leaned their heads together. She stood there, soaking up the comfort of Athena Blake, when she felt a hand slip into hers. Her eyebrows knit in confusion and she glanced down, only to see EJ holding her hand. Violetta smiled sadly, giving his hand a squeeze as she willed her face not to turn bright red.

"Fire ripped through half of your costumes and the sprinklers ruined a bunch of your sets," the firefighter continued to explain. "I'm sorry, but I'm gonna have to red tag the entire backstage area for a month at least."

She gave the smoking basketball to Miss Jenn. Violetta gave Athena a quick squeeze around the shoulders before letting go. She then stepped closer to EJ, and feeling brave, she interlocked their fingers together. EJ squeezed her hand back, though none of them looked at each other. They were way too shocked to take their eyes off the burnt set.

"No," Athena muttered quietly. "No, this cannot be happening."

"Did she just say costumes?" Kourtney questioned, her voice shaking.

Miss Jenn turned to them. "Okay. Okay, listen up. Hug your neighbor, take a moment, and let's reconvene in the cafeteria after school to talk about our options. Nini and Ricky, spread the word."

Nini nodded in response. "Got it. Yeah, of course."

"Ricky?"

He was evidently too preoccupied with his phone. Violetta watched as Athena rolled her eyes and elbowed him in the ribs. Ricky jumped in surprise and looked down at his girlfriend incredulously. Athena then nodded her head urgently to Miss Jenn.

"Huh?" Ricky voiced. "Sorry. After school in the cafeteria. Got it."

They all left the theater, their moods seriouslyt depleted. Violetta let Athena and Ricky go off, the two of them evidently needing comfort in each other. Still stunned, Violetta let EJ lead them out of the cafeteria. Her mind was in all sort of shambles. She didn't really know what to do with herself — her mind was scrambling for anything that could potentially help save this musical. Violetta wasn't ready to let it go.

"V?" EJ inquired softly.

She blinked, snapping out of whatever trance she had been there. Violetta found them standing in a secluded corner of the hallway, their hands still interlocked. She looked up at him to see her staring at her worryingly.

"I'm fine," Violetta replied, letting go of his hand and wiping her palms on her thighs. "Yeah, no worries."

"Violetta," EJ stated, a little more firm. "Do you need a hug?"

She hadn't heard those five words in so long. Before her mind could catch up, she instantly nodded. Because truth be told, she really did need a hug.

EJ held her arms out. Violetta immediately sunk into his embrace, her arms snaking around his waist. His arms wrapped back around her tightly, pulling her in closer. She rested her head against his chest while he placed his chin on top of her head. He ran his hand up and down her back gently.

Yet even in the immense amount of comfort, Violetta still felt extremely worried.

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IT WAS AFTER school, and all of them were gathered in the cafeteria just like Miss Jenn had instructed. Violetta was sitting on top of one of the tables while EJ stood next to her, talking to some other people. She had been quiet mostly all day — her worry had consumed her and the musical was all she could think about. Her eyes roamed around the room, watching as everyone talked amongst themselves. She could feel her anxiety growing as each second went by in the tense atmosphere.

Ricky and Athena were sitting right in front of her, holding onto each other. Violetta was glad to have them both near her — right now, they needed all the love they could get.

"Okay, guys!" Miss Jenn said, clapping her hands together to gain their attention. "Wait, where's Gina?"

"I think she's going through a family thing right now," Ashlyn responded.

Everyone began to sit down. EJ took his place next to Violetta on top of the table. She was vaguely aware of the way their shoulders were touching. After their hug earlier, things just felt . . . different. Even though that sounded incredibly stupid.

"Okay, prayers to our Gina," Miss Jenn replied. "I'm really not sure what to say. You've all worked so hard. I've seen all of you grow so much. But if we don't have a theater, we don't have a show."

Protests immediately sounded about how they didn't want that to happen. Violetta placed a hand on Athena's shoulder and squeezed it gently as Athena raised her head up from resting on Ricky's shoulder. Athena looked back at her, and Violetta gave her a small, watery smile. She shook her head sadly at Violetta. Violetta understood. That was the best thing about them — they could understand each other without even verbally communicating.

"Come on, Miss Jenn, we've gotta do something," Carlos argued.

"I think we . . ." Miss Jenn started to say. "I don't know, I guess we could consider other venues?"

"Oh, oh, what about the old Kingston downtown?" Ashlyn suggested.

"It's condemned."

"The Lucky Ducky Puppet Pavilion?" EJ asked.

Violetta blinked. The what?

"It's a massive Starbucks now," Miss Jenn answered.

"How about the El Rey?" Carlos finally voiced.

There was no contests to that. Violetta immediately sat up straighter and looked at Carlos, nodding in agreement. Everyone else was doing the same thing as well. That could definitely work.

"Any other ideas?" Miss Jenn questioned, not seeming as on board as the rest of them.

"Miss Jenn, I feel like you just had a really weird reaction to what I just said," Carlos responded.

"Sorry, what did you say?"

"Carlos is asking if we can try and use the El Rey Theater," Nini explained.

He stood up from the chair. "My Uncle Ruben is the listing agent, and the last thing they had in there was a fashion show, like, four years ago."

Carlos then walked off to the side, obviously going to call his uncle. Violetta could feel everything inside of her relax. If this actually worked, she had a great feeling that the show could go on.

"This place has five hundred seats!" Seb exclaimed.

Instantly, all of them gathered around as he displayed his phone screen. Violetta looked over and nodded. Seb was right — the venue was huge and had quite a large amount of seats. It was perfect for a musical like theirs.

"I can't imagine we'd be able to get in on such short notice," Miss Jenn said.

Carlos then spoke in Spanish on the phone. His uncle on the other line replied with many sí's in a row.

"Sounded like a yes to me," Ashlyn stated.

All of them cheered. Violetta finally let a smile stretch across her lips. As if it was on cue, her and EJ's eyes locked. Violetta smiled even wider if that was possible, her heart infuriatingly beating against her chest. She looked away to share an excited look with Seb, having absolutely no idea that EJ never took his eyes off of her.

"The El Rey Theater it is!" Miss Jenn shouted. She spoke to Carlos for a quick moment before turning back to the group as a whole. "Wildcats, let's grab all the props and costumes that didn't get damaged and let's load out."

Ricky then instantly pulled Athena up and started to drag her to go help move everything. Athena let out a laugh and grabbed Violetta's hand, forcing her to stand up from the table. She began to drag her as well. Violetta chuckled and took a hold of Big Red's hand and took him with her. She looked back, her eyes locking with EJ's again. He smiled gently back at her as the four best friends walked out of the cafeteria.

As a whole, the cast started to put everything that hadn't been ruined by the fire into boxes and carry it out to their cars. Violetta had just placed the lid on a box that was holding some sheet music when she felt a presence beside her. She looked up to see EJ standing there holding a small red box.

"Hey," Violetta greeted, picking up her box. "What's up?"

"Nothing, it's just that you seem happier," EJ answered as the two of them started to walk down the hallway. "Had me a little worried back there, V."

She rolled her eyes. "No need to worry about me, EJ. I'm a big girl, I can handle myself."

EJ shook his head. "So, you riding with me in my car to the El Rey?"

"Oh, one hundred percent. I'm gonna keep making you give me rides places until you yell at me to stop."

"I don't mind driving you places."

"Really?" Violetta responded. "All right, take me to Disneyland."

EJ scoffed. "Let's not get ahead of ourselves."

Carlos then stopped in front of the two of them, pointing to the red box that EJ was holding. "Oh, hey, maybe I should carry that."

"Why?" EJ inquired.

"N-No reason."

"No, I'm fine to carry it."

"It's just a little bit sensitive!" Carlos insisted as the two brushed past him.

Violetta raised an eyebrow. "Are you still talking about the box, or . . ."

Carlos sighed. "It's actually Miss Jenn's show file. Script breakdowns, set sketches, and all of her audition notes."

EJ held the box a little bit closer to him. "You mean this says why which people got which parts?"

Violetta rolled her eyes. "Oh boy, here we go."

Carlos took the box from him. "No further comment, thank you."

He then scurried off down the hallway. EJ watched after him, a knowing look on his face.

"No, EJ," Violetta told him.

EJ didn't look at her. "What, V?"

"You're going to get lost down a rabbit hole if you read why you didn't get Troy. Plus, Miss Jenn had her good reasons. You're definitely more of a Chad if you ask me." He finally looked down at her, obviously offended, and she placed the box she was holding into his hands. "Don't do it. I'm serious."

However, as she walked away to go get more things, she knew that he wouldn't listen to her. Typical.

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THE HUG <33333