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𝗣𝗘𝗥𝗙𝗘𝗖𝗧 𝗛𝗔𝗥𝗠𝗢𝗡𝗬

chapter fourteen:
an old song and a new one !

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ATHENA, HER HEART heavy, watched as Ricky zipped up his backpack. The room was silent besides the zipper of his bag. That silence hung in the air, and Athena was anxious to make it go away. She laced her hands together in front of her and walked up to him cautiously.

"I know this musical means a lot to you," Athena announced, making him look up at her. "And it means a lot to me, too. I don't want to see it go away."

"It won't go away," Ricky replied.

Athena raised an eyebrow. "It seems like you know something I don't."

Ricky sighed. "Come on, Attie. She's Miss Jenn. She's unstoppable. In fact, the whole show is unstoppable."

"But, Ricky . . . what if it does?" Athena asked quietly. "Then what?"

"We're not going to go there. It can't stop. We still have so much work to do. You have songs to learn on the piano and I have scenes to memorize. We can't just leave it at this."

Athena nodded slowly. "Yeah, okay. You're right." Her eyes then trailed to his guitar case. "Hey, Ric, why don't you show me that acoustic version of When There Was Me and You you were talking about?"

Ricky's eyebrows raised. "Really? You want to hear it?"

"Of course I want to hear it. When I said I liked the idea, I meant it." She sat down on one of the boxes and smiled at him. "Come on, sing to me, pretty boy."

"Pretty boy?" Ricky repeated as he set his guitar case and opened it. "Where'd that come from?"

"Well, you're pretty and you're a boy, so it seemed natural."

Ricky got his guitar out and slung the strap across his shoulder. "All right, fine. I'll sing for you, pretty girl."

Athena's face flushed a light shade of pink and she rolled her eyes playfully. Ricky then began to strum his guitar to the tune of When There Was Me and You.

"I thought you were my fairy tale, my dream when I'm not sleeping," Ricky sang in his beautiful voice, Athena smiling slightly at it as she placed her chin in the palm of her hand. "A wish upon a star that's coming true. And everybody else could tell that I confused my feelings with the truth, when there was me and you, oh. I swore I knew the melody that I heard you singing, and when you smiled you made me feel like I could sing along. But then you went and changed the words, now my heart is empty. I'm only left with used-to-be's and once upon a song."

Ricky nodded his head, beckoning Athena to stand up. Athena obliged and let out a small laugh at the way Ricky walked in circles around her as he continued to sing the song.

"Now I know you're not a fairy tale, and dreams are meant for sleeping. And wishes on a star just don't come true. 'Cause now even I can tell that I confused my feelings with the truth, 'cause I liked the view, when there was me and you."

He held out the last note for a couple of seconds before finishing. Athena chuckled in amazement and clapped for him.

"You liked it?" Ricky questioned, maneuvering his guitar so it rested on his back.

"Of course I liked it," Athena responded. "It was incredible. Also, your guitar playing skills? I want them."

Ricky scoffed. "Please. You can play piano like there's no tomorrow. Plus, you literally wrote the music to Wake Up. That's unbelievable, Athena."

She shrugged. "It helps when you know what direction you want to take a song. Wake Up was supposed to be inspirational so it had an uplifting melody." Athena then had a thought. "Hey, you should try writing a song some time. I think you would be really good at it."

"I kind of already have," Ricky responded.

Athena blinked. "You have?"

Ricky walked over to his backpack. He unzipped it and dug around for a second before taking out a folded piece of paper. Ricky seemed to hesitate for a moment before finally turning and holding it out for her to take.

"I wrote it about you," Ricky admitted.

Athena felt her heart flutter as she glanced from the piece of paper to him. "You wrote a song about me?"

He nodded. "After Homecoming, I really couldn't sleep because there were too many thoughts of you in my head. And then I remembered when you gave me Wake Up that you wrote all your thoughts down in a song. So . . . I decided to write this."

Athena gingerly took the piece of paper from Ricky and unfolded it.

"Perfect Harmony," she read out loud. "I love the title." Her eyes then scanned over the rest of the lyrics. "Ricky, I . . . I don't even know what to say. This song is so good."

Ricky moved his guitar back to its normal position. "When I wrote it, I envisioned the two of us singing it together. It works better with two people than just one."

Athena held up the piece of paper. "You want to give it a try? Only if you're comfortable with it, though."

He took a deep breath. "Yeah, I want to."

She softly smiled at him before walking up to the piano. Athena sat down on the bench and rested the piece of paper on the music stand so her and Ricky could easily access the lyrics. Ricky walked up behind her, and Athena glanced up, giving him a small nod to say she was ready when he was. Ricky exhaled before playing the opening chords to Perfect Harmony on the guitar.

"Step into my world, bittersweet love story about a girl," Ricky sang. "Shook me to the core, voice like an angel, I've never heard before."

Athena went next. "Here in front of me, shining so much brighter than I have ever seen. Life can be so mean, but when he goes, I know he doesn't leave."

"The truth is finally breaking through, two worlds collide when I'm with you," both of them harmonized. "Our voices rise and soar so high, we come to life when we're in perfect harmony. Woah, woah, perfect harmony. Woah, woah, perfect harmony."

"You set me free," Ricky voiced.

"You and me together is more than chemistry," Athena stated.

"Love me as I am," the two continued. "I'll hold your music here inside my hands. We say we're friends, we play pretend, you're more to me, we're everything. Our voices rise and soar so high, we come to life when we're in perfect harmony. Woah, woah, perfect harmony. Woah, woah, perfect harmony."

As Athena sang the song, she soon began to realize that everything Ricky had written in this song was completely and utterly true. Her and Ricky were never just friends even though they said they were. They were so much more than that. Ricky Bowen was everything to Athena Blake. She didn't ever tell him that, but Athena knew that he knew it. He was her longest and closest friend, even more than Violetta.

But they weren't friends anymore. Not after Homecoming and not after the now three kisses they had shared. And Athena, although she was slightly scared of that, was more than okay with it. She was tired of pretending like her feelings for him weren't there like she had done for so long. Strangely enough, it was a musical that had forced them towards each other. And here they were, in the bomb shelter where they had rehearsals, raising their voices to the rain and soaring them high. They truly had a relationship that was more than chemistry and they did work together in perfect harmony.

"I feel your rhythm in my heart, yeah, yeah, yeah," Athena sang.

"You are my brightest, burning star, woah," Ricky added.

"I never knew a love so real."

"So real."

"We're heaven on Earth, melody and words, and when we're together we're in perfect harmony," they harmonized once more. "Woah, woah, perfect harmony. Woah, woah."

Athena looked up and locked eyes with Ricky. "We say we're friends."

His hard strumming turned softer as he stared into her eyes. "We play pretend."

"You're more to me."

"We create."

"Perfect harmony," the two finished.

The room went silent. There was nothing but Athena and Ricky staring into each other's eyes. It reminded her a lot of the night of Homecoming out in front of her house after they had kissed for the first time. The air was just as electric and the world had stopped.

"So . . ." Ricky trailed off quietly as he took his guitar off of him. "What — uh, what did you think?"

"It was amazing, Ricky," Athena answered, glancing back for a second at the page. "You really got that entire song just by thinking of me?"

"Well, it's like you said, right?" Ricky asked. "I had a direction in the song I wanted to go and I followed it."

Athena folded up the piece of paper and held it out to him. "Thank you, Ricky, for writing it and showing it to me. I really loved it."

Ricky pushed her hand back. "No. Just like you wanted me to keep Wake Up, I want you to keep Perfect Harmony. Maybe it'll help you think of me."

"But I always think of you," Athena said before she could stop herself.

Her eyes widened and her cheeks burned red. Ricky chuckled slightly at her before turning and walking back to his guitar case. Athena shook her head at her idiocy as she placed Perfect Harmony and the sheet music for When There Was Me and You she had left on the piano into her backpack. She put her backpack over her shoulder and stood up from the piano bench.

"Don't you think we should be doing something to help Miss Jenn?" Ricky questioned. "Like, I don't know, maybe a letter writing campaign?"

Athena sighed. "I don't think we can do that in one night, Ricky." She then held out her hand to him. "Come on. We can go back to my house and bake some cookies. How does that sound?"

Ricky took her hand. "I'm in."

And as the two of them walked out of the bomb shelter hand-in-hand, they both knew that this situation with Miss Jenn couldn't be left alone. They had to do something . . . but what?

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welcome to wednesday updates I'm so happy you're here !!!! starting these so I can finish this book up before season 2 and then write the sequel !!!!

anyways WHEN RICKY WRITES ATHENA A SONG <33333333