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𝗡𝗢𝗪 𝗢𝗥 𝗡𝗘𝗩𝗘𝗥

chapter eight:
no need to fear it, you're not alone !

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"I KNOW WHAT'S going on with Ricky," Violetta told Athena, holding her arm as she went to walk out of the canteen to follow him.

She had been standing there for a moment in complete and utter confusion, not even noticing that Channing was pointing the camera directly on her. Athena broke away from standing by EJ and walked directly towards the door when Violetta stopped her.

"Do you?" Athena asked. "Because I don't really understand."

"He's uncomfortable with the fact that you had to act as a love interest to EJ and sing how love is an open door," Violetta revealed.

Athena froze for a second before her head whipped over to Violetta. "And that made you uncomfortable, too, didn't it?"

"I'm fine, Athena," Violetta insisted. Athena gave her a look. "Okay, maybe it made me feel a little weird. The only difference between him and I is that I see that you did it because Corbin said so and that it's for the documentary. Ricky, however, only sees you. He sees his girlfriend singing a love song with someone that isn't him and how he got rejected from singing said love song."

Athena placed a hand on her forehead. "Jesus Christ. Let me see where he—"

"Wait." Violetta hesitated for a second, looking a little anxious. "Let me talk to him."

Athena blinked. "Oh."

"I'm not saying that Ricky wouldn't want to see you," Violetta reassured her. "But . . . I know how he's feeling right now."

Her eyes turned sad. "Vi, I wouldn't—"

"I know you wouldn't. Just let me go, okay?"

Athena let out a deep breath. "Okay."

Violetta squeezed her arm and gave her a small smile before walking out of the canteen. Athena stood by the door, watching the direction that Violetta went for a moment.

"Where'd she go?" EJ questioned, and Athena looked up at him.

"To talk to Ricky," Athena answered.

"She's going to talk to Ricky? And you're okay with that?"

"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?"

EJ merely shook his head and walked out of the canteen. Athena's eyebrows knit in confusion and she followed him out. The two of them finally found Violetta and Ricky by some of the cabins. Violetta was currently reading a piece of paper and Ricky was trying to get it back. Athena felt a small smile appear on her face.

Athena crossed her arms, watching them fondly. "Look, my favorite pair of siblings."

EJ apparently didn't share the same sentiment.

"Does it ever . . . bother you?" EJ inquired. "How close they are?"

"No," Athena replied. She glanced up at EJ. "Does it bother you?"

EJ shrugged. "I'm not sure, 'Thena."

"They've been friends for years and have acted as nothing but brother and sister. Besides, I trust Ricky." She raised an eyebrow. "And you should trust Vi."

"I do."

"Then why are you acting all weird about it? You've seen them interact for months like this, and suddenly, you have a problem with it? EJ, that doesn't make any sense." Athena sighed. "Look, EJ, I know Ricky was all Mr. Steal Your Girl with Nini, but this isn't like that. I'm with Ricky, and you're with Violetta. Those paths will never cross."

EJ was silent. He said nothing else and turned away, walking back towards the barn. Athena shook her head and looked back, only to see Violetta coming up to her with a smirk on her face. Violetta casually placed the piece of paper that Ricky was trying to get back in her hands, and Athena looked down at it.

"Things to do before I'm eighteen," Athena read aloud. "Huh. Cute, Bowen."

"Have you seen EJ?" Violetta cut in.

"Oh, he just left. Probably went back to the canteen. He's acting weird, though."

"He's been acting weird. You two have fun with this list."

Athena moved her body away from Ricky as he tried to take the list from her. "Nuh-uh. Let me see this. Become a superhero. You're my superhero, if that counts."

"I don't know if it does," Ricky responded. "I mean, I can't fly."

"But you always make me feel like I can fly." Athena looked up at Ricky and smiled softly at the way his face flushed. "I think you can check that one off. Let's see, what else do we have on here . . . oh, hug a celebrity. Is that why you're acting so strange and trying to hug Corbin?"

Ricky tried snatching the paper back. "Come on, give it back, Attie."

"No way," she refused. "Fall in love. Hm. Did you check that off when you sang your rendition of I Think I Kinda, You Know at auditions for High School Musical?"

Ricky then successfully took his list from his girlfriend, making Athena stare up at him. "No, I actually checked it off after we kissed on Homecoming night."

Athena took his chin in her hand gently for a moment. "You're sweet." She paused for a moment and dropped her hand, watching as Ricky folded up his bucket list and put it back in his pocket. "Ricky, you know that I would've rather sang Love Is an Open Door with you, right?"

"Yeah, I know." Ricky rocked back and forth on his heels for a moment. "Vi knocked some sense into me."

"As she normally does. Just because EJ and I had to play love interests for that specific song doesn't mean anything. I was just following directions."

"It was hard to watch," Ricky admitted quietly.

"Hey Ricky, how much do I say I love you?" Athena asked. When Ricky's cheeks flushed a light shade of pink and he looked down at the ground, she smiled and wound her arms around his neck. "Come on, say it."

"To the moon and to Saturn," Ricky muttered, looking up into her eyes and placing his hands on her hips.

"I wouldn't say that if I didn't mean it." She pressed up onto her toes and kissed him softly for a moment before pulling away, watching as his eyes slowly fluttered open. "You and I get a duet in the show, too, remember? What Do You Know About Love?"

Ricky hummed, apparently not hearing her, before leaning down and kissing her again. Athena smiled into it but obliged nonetheless. Finally, after a couple of long moments, Ricky was the first one to pull away, but he rested his forehead against Athena's. His one hand reached up and gently started to play with the charms on her necklace, the one that he gave her and the one that she never took off.

"I know a lot about love, thanks to you," Ricky said. "You helped me believe in it."

She scrunched up her nose a little, but her heart raced against her chest. "You're such a dork."

"Only for you, my love."

"I know a song can mean everything, but this isn't an example of that, okay?" Athena took her forehead off of Ricky's and kissed his nose quickly. "Come on. We should get back to rehearsals."

They went back to the barn and continued their read-through. Finally, as the sun started to set, Corbin and Channing decided to stop for the day. Athena stood on the stage next to Kourtney, her hands smoothing down the fabric of her dress.

"Okay, we'll make this quick, team," Corbin announced.

"Yeah, EJ, just give them a generic goodbye so that we can help the audience with timeline, all right?" Channing instructed. "It doesn't matter what you say."

"Through c-camera, or . . ." EJ trailed off.

Channing nodded to the people on the stage. "To them. That's it, boss. All right, we're rolling."

EJ cleared his throat and looked at everyone on the stage. "Um . . . that was our day. And now it is over. Thank you."

Corbin looked at the stage. "Till next time, Shallow Lake." He then looked into the camera. "Till next time, Shallow Lake."

"And cut," Channing stated, turning off his camera.

"Well how did we do?" EJ questioned to Corbin.

"You guys were . . . perfect," Corbin responded.

Athena let out a tiny breath of relief. She shared a small smile with Kourtney.

Ricky then went down the steps of the stage to approach Corbin. "Thank you so much for everything, Mr. Bleu. I . . . I think we're both feeling this, so . . ."

He then leaned forwards and hugged Corbin. Athena let some small laughs spill past her lips and quickly covered her mouth to hide them. Corbin awkwardly hugged Ricky back.

"Eight P.M.!" Val exclaimed. "Don't be late, we're watching High School Musical 3 tonight!"

Carlos started to dramatically dance down the steps. "We're getting ready for the night of nights, the night of nights—"

"Fun fact, I weirdly never saw that one, so . . ." Corbin admitted.

Athena walked down the steps. She took Ricky's outstretched hand and laced their fingers together, gently leaning into his side. Carlos looked quite terrified as he stared after Corbin.

"Corbin Bleu is just a character in a documentary," Carlos stated. "He can't hurt me."

"You're going to be okay, Carlos," Athena voiced. "Everything's gonna be fine."

Ricky squeezed her hand. "Checked something else off of my bucket list."

"I guess you just have to walk on the moon now."

"Don't know how I'm going to do that."

--- ☆ • ♫ • ♪ • ♫ • ☆ ---

ATHENA SAT ON the floor of the canteen, clad in Ricky's orange hoodie that she had stolen months ago and some black leggings. She was curled up in his side, a blanket of Athena's spread across their legs. They were sharing some Twizzlers — typical — and were laughing at how Mitchie was throwing some flour on her face. She didn't know how or why the movie got changed from High School Musical 3 to Camp Rock, but she wasn't complaining.

"Shh!" Ricky suddenly scolded to Ashlyn and Maddox, who were having a conversation behind them.

Athena patted his leg gently. "I can't believe this is another movie you haven't seen. I'm being such a bad girlfriend."

Ricky kissed her forehead. "You're being a great girlfriend."

Violetta, who was sitting in front of them with EJ, then let out a laugh at what was going on in the movie. "Living a lie like this seems awfully complicated."

"Well, Mitchie's not exactly lying," EJ protested, making Athena's eyebrows knit in confusion. "She's just . . . you know, not telling everyone the entire truth about her situation."

"I'm pretty sure that's called lying, babe. And I hate liars."

EJ didn't respond and just looked back at the movie. Athena stared at him suspiciously. Was he lying to Violetta? He better not be.

"Hey," Ricky then whispered, snapping Athena out of her thoughts. "Do you want to get out of here?"

"But you won't know what's going to happen in the movie," Athena insisted.

"Yeah, but like you said, we can have a movie marathon at home. Right now I just kind of want to stargaze with you."

"Okay, come on."

The two of them stood up and quietly snuck out of the canteen. They entered the chilly air of a summer night, and Athena wrapped her blanket around her tighter. Athena followed Ricky as they went to the Yurt Locker

"I just have to stop at the cabin for a blanket," Ricky told her. He opened the door. "You can come in, I'll only be a second."

Athena entered the cabin. It was kind of messy, considering there were six boys living in it, but other than that, it was just as cozy as the Honeycomb. She watched as Ricky went to his top bunk to grab a blanket, but she was surprised to see Jet laying on his bunk, reading a book. Athena crossed her arms and leaned against the wall, staring at him. He had left, and now he was suddenly back?"

"I thought this would be empty," Ricky revealed to Jet. "Didn't see the camouflage. You're back?"

"Look, I already got a lecture from Val, and I really don't need one from you," Jet replied. "Hope the movie was fun."

"We were counting on you, dude. I mean, Athena was counting on you." Ricky gestured to her, and Athena glanced at him for a moment. "She got the lead. It means a lot. You can't not show up." Jet shut his book and glared at Ricky. "What?"

"Just curious. Are you actually this upset that I took off or is this really about Athena?"

Athena suddenly felt very awkward being the topic of conversation in a room that she was literally in.

"I just want what's best for her, dude," Ricky responded. "She's my girlfriend."

"Yeah, I know," Jet said. "I've sort of figured that out, because you won't shut up about her."

"Hey," Athena interrupted, her voice slightly raised, because she had enough. The two of them looked at her. "You don't need to have an argument about me while I'm literally in the same room. Actually, you don't need to have an argument about me, period." She let out a breath and looked at Ricky. "Ricky, why don't you go wait outside? I'll be there in a second."

Ricky gave Jet one more glance before snatching a blanket off of his bed and leaving the cabin. He didn't shut the door, but that didn't matter. Athena pushed herself up off of the wall and let her arms drop to her side. She didn't say anything at first and just continued looking up at Jet.

"What?" Jet snapped. "Are you going to tell me how disappointed you are in me too?"

"I don't care about that," Athena replied. She paused and thought about it for a second. "Well, I mean, I do. It was a really big deal, and you weren't there. But I'm actually more concerned with why you left in the first place."

"You don't have to be concerned for me."

"Its just in my nature. I can't help it." She let out a small sigh and put her hands in the front pocket of Ricky's hoodie. "I once wrote a song called Wake Up. It was for Ricky, actually. He was going through some tough things in his life." She gave Jet a knowing look. "And I can tell that you've gone through some tough things, too."

Jet was silent.

"It's a song about using your pain that you have to, well, wake up. That you shouldn't give up and instead use light to break the darkness."

He just continued to stare at her. Athena, however, didn't feel intimidated by it. She just kept on going.

"You've got someplace to go is the second lyric in the song," Athena recited. "Ricky's had some rough things going on at home. You apparently have, too."

"Did Ricky tell you that?" Jet demanded.

"Ricky didn't tell me anything. But I've seen how his home life has affected him. You seem to be the exact same way. Jet, this can be the one place you can go to get away. I saw how comfortable you were back at the campfire. You like being here."

"You don't know anything about me."

"Maybe I don't, but you don't have to be alone all the time. We all care about you, whether you believe it or not." Athena let out a sigh. "Relight that spark, time to come out of the dark. Try to remember that."

Athena gave him one last look before turning around and leaving the cabin. Ricky had his own blanket wrapped around his shoulders as he waited at the bottom of the steps for her, leaning against the rail. Once she was close enough, Athena linked her arm through his, and they started to walk.

"What'd you say to Jet?" Ricky inquired.

"Oh, I just gave him some advice," Athena answered.

"What kind of advice?"

Athena cleared her throat before singing softly. "Wake up, wake up, if it's all you do."

"Look out, look inside of you," Ricky sang quietly as well, a small smile on his face. "I love that song."

"You better, because I wrote it for you. I just think that Jet could relate to it, too, you know?" She then glanced over to see him just staring at her. Athena let out a small laugh, her heart pounding against her chest. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

Ricky pressed a kiss to the top of her head. "Because you are incredible, Athena Blake."

"I can say the same about you, Ricky Bowen," Athena countered. "Now, come on. I want to see how many constellations there are tonight."

═ • ° • ✧ • ° • ═

AND WAKE UP RETURNS WOOOOO

also

miss charli. holy fuck

YEAH ‼️‼️‼️ THAT'S MY FACECLAIM ‼️‼️‼️