Violet's Outfit

On the first day of junior year, I made my mom drop me off. I could drive, but I was too anxious to deal with that right now.

As I walked up the driveway of the school, I ran into Ricky. Literally.

I was too busy looking at my phone for a text from him that I literally ran into him.

"Sorry!", I said.

"No big deal. So, how are you? Nervous?", he asked.

"Nope not at all. I'm excited for theatre auditions today", I said.

"Yeah right. Your hands are literally shaking", he said.

"Yeah, Sorry. The last time I was here was six months ago, I'm just kinda scared that things won't go back to normal", I said.

We'd reached the entrance of the school, where we'd split off in different directions to our home rooms which were assigned by first letter of last name.

He looked down at me, "Violet, you got this. I promise. We'll send each other our schedules as soon as we get them in homeroom, and I'm sure we'll at least have a class together. Besides, you can text me if you feel anxious or anything, and I'll see you at lunch".

"Okay, Yeah. I'll see you later", I said.

We then split off to our separate classes.

I sat down at an empty table and just scrolled through my phone.

Since both I and Ricky's ex Nini had last name's that started with "S" we had homeroom together.

We knew each other through theatre and through Ricky of course, so she sat down next to me.

"Hey Nini", I said.

"Hey. Are you auditioning for the musical today?", she asked.

"Of course! It's High School Musical, and that was my favorite movie in elementary school, so I kinda have to", I said.

"Yeah, same. Hopefully I'll get a better role than last year",

"Well, there's no cow butt in HSM so anything you could get will be better than that"

"Theatre camp this summer was awesome, and I learned a lot so hopefully that'll help be get a supporting or lead role",

"Yes! That would be awesome! Last year all the leads and supporting were seniors and it wasn't fun because I didn't really know any of them. Ooh, did you know that Ricky is auditioning? I talked him into it", I said.

"Really? He hates musicals. He got us kicked out of The Greatest Showman because he kept yelling 'This isn't realistic' at the screen", she said.

"You should've seen him when we watched Mamma Mia! on Netflix. He yelled at the TV and muted it every time Pierce Brosnan sang", I said.

"Yep that sounds like him". She said.

We continued to talk throughout homeroom and I found out that she began dating EJ Caswell because they had a "showmance" during the theatre camp's production of The Music Man and now they were together.

I already knew that Ricky asked to take a break because he didn't feel comfortable saying "I love you", but I didn't know all of the juicy details like the ones that Nini had just given me.

The rest of the day went by pretty smoothly. I have Trig, American Lit, Us History, and Anatomical Science with Ricky, and I also have lunch with him so that's pretty cool. The only differences in our schedule is that fifth period he has computer science and I have creative writing.

After school, i headed to the auditorium. I was surprised that Ricky hadn't shown up, but I guess he'd chickened out.

First up we're the dance auditions, which almost everyone bombed except two sophomores named Gina and Seb.

After that, it was time for singing auditions. We all had to sing "Start of Something New" from HSM, but we could sing something else if we wanted.

While I knew all the words of the song, I wanted to sing something else to stand out.

First up, the one sophomore girl went. She sounded really good, and she was a great dancer, so there was no doubt in my mind that she'd get a lead or supporting role.

Next up, EJ went. He sounded pretty good but his voice was kinda one-dimensional. He couldn't go really much lower or higher than what his speaking voice sounded like, but still he was good and there's no doubt in my mind that he'd get Troy.

Next up was Nini, and I was super excited for her. Unfortunately, the power went out right before she had to sing.

I thought she'd freeze up, but she began singing a cappella. And she sounded freaking amazing! If they gave Gabriella to someone else, I'd personally fight because she deserves it more than anyone else.

Next up, was supposed to be me, but then Ricky rushed into the theater last minute with his guitar.

He got up there and began singing "I think I kinda You know" which is the song Nini wrote for him.

I did not previously know that he could sing that good, but he was amazing! He has such a great voice, which is totally unexpected. The last time I heard him sing was a couple months ago when he jokingly sang along to "Maria" when we were watching "West Side Story", and I couldn't even hear him that well then. But he had a really great voice, and now I think that EJ has serious competition over the role of Troy.

Next up was me, and I decided to sing an a capella version of "Will You Love Me Tomorrow" from "Beautiful: The Carole King Musical".

I was really anxious being up there in front of everyone after not performing for so long, so my voice was really shaky and I don't think that I was doing too well. I'd be lucky if I got an ensemble role.

Instead of getting less anxious as I performed, I got more. But then I remembered something. When I began theatre when I was in middle school, Ricky always told me that if I got anxious to look out at him, because he wouldn't judge me.

So that's what I did, and I ended up becoming more confident, and I finished out the song as strongly as I should've started it.

After we watched a few more people sing, we were told to wait out in the hall to see who would be cast.

"You were so good, Violet!", Nini said as her and EJ walked past Ricky and I.

"Thanks, you too!", I replied.

"Seriously Violet, you were so good! I'm so proud of you", Ricky said.

"Aww thanks. I was so anxious, but I think I maybe did well enough for an ensemble role. But, you! You were so good! I did not know you could sing like that! You're definitely gonna get Troy", I said.

He opened his mouth to reply, but then Miss Jen and Carlos came out with the cast list.

Ricky had gotten Troy, Nini had gotten Gabriella, EJ had gotten Chad, Seb had gotten Sharpay, some freshman dude got Ryan, Gina got Taylor, I'd gotten Kelsi, and Ashlynn had gotten Ms Darbus.

I was super glad that I got a supporting role, and I was happy for Ricky, although it might be awkward for him to play love interests with his ex.

I feel shitty though, because I was kind of hoping that I'd get Gabriella, and that would make me a bad friend to Nini because she deserved it.

Some small part of me hoped that I'd get to be Ricky's love interest, because I've had a little crush on him since 8th grade, and while I know it's foolish to act on those feelings, especially since I love Nini and I loved their relationship, some small part of me wanted him to have feelings for me and for us to have our own little "showmance".

Author's Note: Hi! I hope you guys enjoyed this! I love HSMTMTS so much, and I'm so glad that other people love it as much as I do! The next chapter should be up in a day or two and it'll focus on episode two of the series. Happy reading!
💜Beth