┏━━━━━━༻❁༺━━━━━━┓

𝗣𝗘𝗥𝗙𝗘𝗖𝗧 𝗛𝗔𝗥𝗠𝗢𝗡𝗬

chapter nineteen:
moving theaters !

┗━━━━━━༻❁༺━━━━━━┛

WHEN ATHENA WALKED into the theater for rehearsal for tech week with Ricky, Violetta, and EJ, she definitely did not expect to see that the entire area had burned down. Her eyes widened in shock as she watched multiple firefighters walk around to inspect everything. Water dripped from the ceiling and dust floated around the air. A firefighter brushed past their group and Athena stared after her with a confused expression.

"Oh my gosh, what happened?" Nini asked, the first one brave enough to break the stunned silence.

"It's okay," Miss Jenn replied, walking up to them. "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 a smoking basketball. "Some circuits blew in there over the break. Unfortunately, the show cannot go on."

"What?" Miss Jenn questioned.

Athena felt all of her breath leave her. All that hard work, all of those afternoon rehearsals playing the piano and memorizing lines . . . for nothing? She looked around at the burnt down set with a saddened expression. Tears threatened to spill, and Violetta must have noticed, because she wrapped her arm around the girl's shoulder and leaned her head on hers. For once in her life, Athena felt like she had actually belonged. This musical brought her closer to people she never thought she would be close with in the best possible way. Not to mention it grew her relationship with Ricky. She didn't want to let this show go . . . let them go.

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

She handed the smoking basketball off to Miss Jenn. Athena felt Ricky interlace their fingers, and she squeezed his hand, trying to keep both of them calm. He then let her hand go and pulled out his phone, instantly navigating to Gina's contact to text her.

"No," Athena uttered, her voice quiet. "No, this cannot be happening."

"Did she just say costumes?" Kourtney inquired shakily.

"Okay," Miss Jenn stated, turning to them. "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. "Got it. Yeah, of course."

"Ricky?"

The boy was too preoccupied with his phone. Athena rolled her eyes slightly and elbowed him in the ribs. He jumped in surprise and looked down at her with an incredulous expression. She nodded her head urgently to Miss Jenn.

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

Athena sighed. Everyone had worked so hard for this musical, and now it was just . . . gone. She could only hope that they could somehow salvage it.

--- ☆ • ♫ • ♪ • ♫ • ☆ ---

AFTER SCHOOL, ATHENA sat in the cafeteria with everyone else. Her head was resting comfortably on Ricky's shoulder and her eyes flickered around the room, watching as all of her friends conversed nervously. As the seconds went by, Athena could feel herself begin to get more anxious.

Ricky wasn't any better, since his knee kept bouncing up and down. She placed her hand on it and gave him the smallest of smiles when he looked down at her. Ricky smiled back softly and kissed her forehead quickly, making butterflies erupt in her stomach.

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

"I think she's going through a family thing right now," Ashlyn answered, and everyone began to sit down.

"Okay, prayers to our Gina. 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."

Everyone began to chatter amongst themselves about how they didn't want that to happen. Athena sighed and raised her head up from Ricky's shoulder. She felt a hand squeeze her shoulder, and Athena looked back to see it was Violetta from her place on top of the table. Athena shook her head sadly at her best friend.

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

"I think we . . ." Miss Jenn trailed off. "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.

"It's a massive Starbucks now."

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

Athena pointed to him in agreement, along with everyone else. That could work.

Miss Jenn, however, was not really on board. "Any other ideas?"

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

"Sorry, what did you say?"

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

He stood up. "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, presumably to call his Uncle. Athena watched after him with a small smile growing on her face. She had a great feeling that this was the way the show would go on.

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

Immediately, all of them gathered around him as he showed his phone screen. He was right. The place was huge and had a lot of seats. Perfect for a musical like theirs.

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

Carlos then spoke on the phone in Spanish, and his uncle on the other line responded with multiple sí's.

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

Everyone cheered. Athena smiled brightly and pressed a kiss to Ricky's cheek in celebration.

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

Instantly, Ricky pulled Athena up and began to drag her to go help move things. Athena laughed and grabbed Violetta's hand, who then grabbed Big Red's hand. The four best friends walked out of the cafeteria, their spirits and hopes high for this new theater.

--- ☆ • ♫ • ♪ • ♫ • ☆ ---

THE EL REY wasn't anything like Athena expected it to be. It was dark, slightly cold, and extremely outdated. She held onto Ricky's hand tightly as the entire group navigated through the theater with flashlights. This place was definitely giving her the creeps.

"Right this way," Miss Jenn called out. "Follow me. Smell that smell, the theater. Mold, it's a sign of life. Everyone, watch your step. And, uh, let me know if you haven't had a tetanus shot recently, okay?"

"You know, this place doesn't feel right," Violetta said. "It just seems off."

"I think it's haunted," Kourtney added. "And I ain't about that. I mean, you can fight a person but you can't fight a ghost."

Violetta blinked at her. "What?"

"I'm just saying."

Finally, they made it onto the stage. It was still dark, but the light of the flashlights revealed multiple statues and other stage props. Finally, someone found a light and turned it on. None of them wasted any time in moving the old props out of the way and bringing the new ones in. The group's mood seemed to elevate as they began to realize that their show could actually work in this little theater.

"Okay!" Miss Jenn exclaimed after a couple minutes of reconfiguring the stage. Everyone gathered around, and Athena opted to lean comfortably against Ricky's chest with her arms crossed while his arm was around their shoulder. "Let's have some real talk. Welcome to tech rehearsal. I don't know if you've noticed, but most of the tech in this particular theater appears to be hand-cranked. Natalie Bagley, my dear, my stage manager, this is your chance to be the hero."

Athena shook her head once she realized Natalie wasn't here. It was always something with that girl.

"Natalie Bagley's getting her wisdom teeth out," Seb revealed.

Miss Jenn's expression stiffened at that. "Okay. Okay, so I'm down a stage manager, my Taylor's MIA."

"I think it'll be okay, Miss Jenn," Athena voiced to try and help her teacher calm down. "The show's gonna be fine and so is Gina."

However, the second she finished saying that, a sandbag decided to fall from the ceiling. Athena shrieked and felt Ricky shield her away from it by pulling her in closer to his chest. She raised her head and let out a deep breath.

"Totally normal," Miss Jenn stated. "Just, heads-up, from now on. All righty. Big Red, do you know how to hang a light?"

Big Red seemed confused. "I know how to hang out?"

"Cool. Carlos, let's set marks to light Status Quo. Troy and Gabriella, find somewhere quiet and run the rooftop scene. It's been a while and I need you opening night ready by dinnertime, okay?"

Athena raised an eyebrow up at her boyfriend. "Have fun, Troy."

"Don't miss me too much," Ricky replied.

She narrowed her eyes at him playfully and nodded her head to Nini, who was already walking away. "Go. I'll see you later."

Ricky smiled at her before leaning down and pressing a quick kiss to her lips. Athena watched them go, an uncomfortable knot forming in her stomach. There was something about Ricky and Nini going off alone that made her uneasy. She pushed that thought away. Everything was going to be completely fine. She never had a problem with Ricky and Nini hanging out before, so why start now?

Athena sighed. She walked over to her backpack and pulled out the folder that had her sheet music and script in it. This was going to be a long afternoon.

═ • ° • ✧ • ° • ═

"you can fight a person but you can't fight a ghost" -dara reneé 2019

y'all are not ready for the next chapter. I'm not even ready and I had to write it. let's just say ricky is mad dumb 🤠