CHAPTER THREE
·.¸¸.·♩♪♫ come in with the rain ♫♪♩·.¸¸.·

IT HAD BEEN WEEKS SINCE EJ Caswell had come around the Hastings household to cheer up Reece, and it was finally time to celebrate the new year.

The Hastings had never hosted a New Year's party but she remembered the constant partying she'd do at other's houses. For instance, last year EJ had invited Reece, her family, and the Sinclairs for a small party, and this year would be no different.

Ashlyn Caswell had invited Reece and Anne to her house, as she and Gina Porter were co-hosting a New Year's Eve party. They were more than happy to accept but as the time rolled around the girls began to realize how much more difficult it would be.

A soft knock echoed through the room of the youngest Hastings sister. "Come in," she said. Reece made her way into the room, spotting her sister at her vanity, already dressed for the party.

"We're leaving in 10 minutes," she said softly.

Anne nodded, "Who's picking us up?"  She said as she brushed her fingers through her hair.

"Seb and Carlos said they'd be able to bring us." Reece moved closer to her sister. As she did so she noticed the redness of her eyes and cheeks. "You okay?"

Anne nodded, sniffling a bit. "Mhmm, can you do my makeup?" The redhead asked softly quickly changing the subject.

The older sister smiled, "Of course."

Reece crouched down beside her sister, dabbing a brush into the eyeshadow palate. They spent the rest of the time in comfortable silence, only making small comments like "Is this too much?" or "How does this look?"

♪♫ ♫♪

The four began to walk from the car towards Ashlyn's front door, "It's really nice to do something like this." Seb smiled.

"Yeah, it really is," Reece responded to the blonde. As they were about to go inside the redhead noticed her sister was no longer by her side. Instead, the young girl stood at the bottom of the steps, fidgeting with her hands. She had been silent the whole car ride, which no one took offense to, but it began to worry the older sister. "Hey, I'll meet you guys inside."

Carlos and Seb nodded and made their way into the Caswell residence, the sound of laughter could be heard inside before the door closed behind them.

Reece took a seat on the cold steps of the house, next to her sister. They both sat in silence for a moment, before the junior bumped her knee with her sisters jokingly. "Wanna tell me what's going on?" She asked softly.

Anne shrugged.

"Well obviously something bothering you, and I won't leave until I know."

The sisters sat in silence for another moment before Anne sighed, "It's just..." she paused trying to collect her thoughts, "It's New Year, and that means it's a completely new year, a year where Josie doesn't live in Salt Lake, another year where dad isn't in our lives," Anne's breath began to stagger. "It means a year where we don't know if it'll be our last with mom, or if we'll even have a year." Tears began forming in the young girl's eyes. She rested her head against her older sister's shoulder.

She Reece brushed her little sister's hair, and she could hear her soft sniffles. Taking a deep breath she answered her sister, "I know it's hard, but you're not alone in any of this. We have so many amazing people in our corner, who will always be here for us. So let's go inside, and have fun because we deserve that."

Anne nodded, "Can we not go in just yet? I'd rather my eyes not be bloodshot red." She joked.

Reece chuckled, "Take your time."

And so, they sat there. On the cold concrete steps of Ashlyn Caswell's home, Anne's head remained on Reece's shoulder with their breaths slowly flowing in unison. The only thought in their minds was how glad they had each other.

♪♫ ♫♪

The party had been going on for quite a while but they were still missing a few friends. Reece sat on the couch stuffing her mouth with the chips Gina had put out for the guest, as she chatted with Stephanie (one of the dancers) she could hear the backdoor open. Looking over she softly smiled as she excused herself from the conversation, she made her way over to the person who had just arrived.

"I'm sorry I'm so late." EJ said, "I was volunteering at the soup kitchen with the water polo guys."

"Pics or it didn't happen." Carlos joked as he passed Reece, causing Ashlyn to laugh.

"I'm actually taking a break from social media." He said. Reece made her way over to the tray of vegetables, picking a few carrots and cucumbers and placing them onto her plate next to the dip.

"Wow. New Year, new you." Ashlyn joked before walking out towards the party.

EJ turned to the redhead who currently had a look of distaste on her face as she picked up a blueberry. "I always pick the squishy ones." EJ chuckled at her comment which caused the junior to look up at the senior. "Hey."

"Hey," he walked over to her, leaning on the counter beside her, and snagged one of her carrots (which earned him a playful glare from Reece).

"You going in?" She asked.

"Yeah, I'm just taking it all in." Reece nodded slowly. "Not to be like your stereotypical senior, but I'm starting to realize that every day is  the last time I'm doing stuff with you guys."

Reece smiled, "Aw, that's actually really sweet."

"It's weird. Everyone literally looks so young to me now."

Reece laughed at his statement. "Well, it's like my mom always says, don't think about the future too hard, or else you'll miss the memories you'll be making in the present."

"That's very wise of her." The redhead continued to stare at the boy, something was different about him but she couldn't pinpoint what, that was until he rubbed his chin, "Nice beard."

"Oh, thanks. Might grow it out. Depends on what musical we're doing." Reece gave her a confused look, did he really not know? "Jean Valjean isn't Jean Valjean without his facial hair."

"EJ, I don't think we'll be doing Les Misérables."

The Caswell boy shrugged, "Guess we just have to wait for Ms. Jenn and Carlos to announce it."

"Yeah...I guess so," Reece slowly made her way out of the kitchen giving Gina an 'Is he serious' look as she passed her.

"Wait, have you seriously not heard what musical we're doing?" The Porter girl asked dumbfounded.

"No, was it announced?" He asked surprised.

"Nobody say anything!" Carlos exclaimed.

"Okay..."

Reece sat in between her sister and Steph, who was currently explaining how she accidentally joined the wrestling team. "It was actually pretty fun, but my parents had to pull me out cuz I was legally dead for 10 minutes..." Reece and Anne shared a look with each other, but Steph just brushed it off continuing to sip on her drink.

Suddenly, the voice of Ricky Bowen could be heard coming from the front door, "Bet on it, bet on it. You can bet on me." He sang earning applause from the group.

"Beautiful, Richard." Reece joked, "Amazing."

The Bowen boy took a playful bow before sitting next to Reece, who had made room for both him and Nini on the couch.

"Okay, okay, okay! Does anybody not know we're doing High School Musical Two?" Carlos groaned with a sigh.

"We are?" EJ exclaimed, causing Carlos to collapse onto the couch.

"I think you broke Carlos." Reece giggled.

As she turned back she noticed Gina staring longingly at Ricky. It wasn't a secret the Porter girl had feelings for him, well it wasn't to Reece, everyone else seemed to be oblivious to it. She felt sorry for Gina, she couldn't imagine the feeling of someone you like being in love with someone else.

Gina quickly got up not wanting to see the couple in front of her, "I'm getting a root beer. Does anyone want anything?"

"I'll come!" Willow said, jumping up from her seat, she cleared her throat noticing the looks she was getting.

Reece looked over at Nini and noticed the obvious discomfort the girl had on her face. "Hey, Nini, can you come to help me for a second?"

"Uh, sure." The redhead led them both toward the bathroom and closed the door behind them. "Okay, what is going on with you?"

Nini began to stutter, "I-I don't know what you're talking about."

Reece was not impressed, "Nini, I've known you since kindergarten, I know how you get when you're holding in a secret."

Nini sighed, "It's just..." she moved towards the closed toilet seat and sat down, combing her hand through her hair, "On opening night, Kourtney invited this lady from this really prestigious acting school,"

"Mhmm, I remember."

"I thought she got bored and left, but instead she offered me a scholarship to go for the second semester."

"Oh my god, Nini, that's amazing!" Reece exclaimed.

"I know! But it means I have to leave tomorrow, and despite already saying yes I kinda didn't tell Ricky..."

"Oh shit."

"It's not that I didn't want to, it's just every time I tried something got in the way. And you saw how happy he was when he sang Bet on It."

Reece crouched down to Nini's level. "You have to tell him, he's going to find out sooner or later. I promise he will understand."

Nini smiled at the girl, "Thanks." They embraced each other in a tight hug. "Now let's go before people get suspicious." Reece began to laugh at the brunette's joke.

New Year was getting a whole lot more interesting.

♪♫ ♫♪

"Okay, listen up," Kourtney exclaimed, causing everyone to stop what they were doing. Everyone had already made it to the party so it was time to start the fun activities. "Rules of the game, this is important, we need to set intentions and be accountable to one another this year.

"True that." Ashlyn snapped her fingers together as Natalie Bagley joked, "This is a terrible party."

"Hey, watch yourself. Okay." Kourtney laughed. As the girl picked a paper out of the hat, Reece prayed hers wouldn't be chosen. "All right, resolution number one. I resolve to...this is so stupid, I can't."

"Come on, Kourt, you have to read it."

Kourtney shook her head but continued to read, "I resolve to remember everybody fondly when I go to Duke. Any guesses?" She asked, eyeing the Caswell boy beside her.

"EJ! You got into Duke?" Ashlyn exclaimed to her cousin.

"I mean, have I technically gotten "Into" Duke? Did my father and our grandpa before him also go to Duke? Guys, I think it's just a matter of time." EJ said, using many many air quotes.

"I think the air quotes just lost their meaning." Reece laughed.

"Yeah, I lost track of them," Ricky interjected, the group erupted into a fit of laughter.

Kourtney waved her arm in the air, signaling she was ready to move on. "Okay. Resolution number two. Oh, I don't get this one."

"Just read it!" Ricky exclaimed with a smile as he reached over for his girlfriend's hand.

"Yeah, come on, read it!" his girlfriend agreed with him.

"This one doesn't say anything except the words, my cows." She showed the group the words on the card.

"You guys, I thought we were writing down what we're thankful for." Seb shyly admitted.

Everyone gave the boy a smile, chuckling at his words.

"That's for Thanksgiving, Seb." Anne joked.

Steph handed Kourtney the bowl, "Read another clue, Kourt."

Sticking her hand in the bowl Kourtney picked a card to read aloud. The girl stuttered for a moment, unsure how to read it. "I resolve to follow my dreams, however far away they take me."

"That's gotta be Gina. Right?" Ricky asked the girl.

"Nope. Not me." The girl shook her head.

"Uh, it's me, actually." Nini said awkwardly, everyone began to stare between the couple and Gina, "Back to the game, Kourt."

"Okay, yes, I will. Um, let's see, next." Kourtney grabbed another note from the bowl. "All I want is for our generation to save the planet, and I would also like absolute clarity about my love life. Thank you."

Everyone began to discuss who they thought it belonged to but the Hastings sisters could tell it was Ashlyn she, not so subtly began mouthing the words as Kourtney read.

The two sisters smirked at the other redhead who began to avoid eye contact. But before they could continue, the doorbell rang, and in came Big Red carrying multiple pizzas for the group.

"Six pizzas. Two with lactose-free cheese. I'm here." He announced.

"Yes. Thank you." EJ said as he and Reece took the pizzas. Reece could feel the immense amount of cologne the boy was wearing stinging her eyes. "Good Lord, dude, did you fall into a bucket of cologne?"

♪♫ ♫♪

Once Big Red had joined the party everyone had thankfully forgotten about the resolution game. They dispersed, talking among themselves until Carlos announced they'd be doing a mashup of HSM 2 songs. "Remember, my feedback is both precious and invaluable. So, think of this medley as a pre-audition workshop. You may begin."

Everyone's attention turned towards Seb, who began to play the piano and sing. "It's out with the old and in with the new. Goodbye, clouds of gray. Hello, skies of blue. A dip in the pool, a trip to the spa. Endless days in my chaise. The whole world according to moi."

"Just sing it." Carlos laughed as he joined his boyfriend. "I want fabulous. That is my simple request. All things fabulous. Bigger and better and best I need something inspiring to help me get along I need a little fabulous Is that so wrong?"

Next up was Ashlyn, who replaced Seb on piano. "You are the music in me.

"That's my cousin." EJ praised, slightly nudging Reece who stood beside him grinning. "You know the words, Once upon a time. Make you listen, there's a reason."

Everyone eventually surrounded the piano as Gina joined in, "When you dream there's a chance you'll find a little laughter, or happy ever after."

Reece watched as Ricky tapped Ashlyn, signaling he would continue for her. As he played his guitar he and Nini began to harmonize, their voices sounding perfect together. "You're a harmony to the melody echoing inside my head. A single voice above the noise is like a common thread. Ooh, you're pulling me when I hear my favorite song I know that we belong. You are the music in me. Yeah, it's living in all of us. It's brought us here because you are the music in me, you are the music in me, you are the music in me."

As the song came to a close the group applauded one another. It was the happiest Reece had felt in a while, so happy in fact when someone yelled about taking a group photo she wasn't worried about how her face would look with the light bags underneath her eyes. Instead, she was quick to jump onto the couch, taking a seat in between EJ and Gina.

She watched as Nini set up the camera on the fireplace ledge. Over all the excitement no one had heard the opening of the front door. No one paid attention to anyone else, making sure they looked perfect for the picture.

"One, two, three!" The camera flash fluttered as it began to take multiple pictures of the group. "Okay, okay, Reece can you check," Anne asked.

"Wow, the photographer doesn't want to check herself?" Reece joked as she got up to look at each picture. As she examined each person's face she came across a familiar one that caused her to almost drop the camera.

"I don't think I was smiling right, can we take another?" Someone asked.

Reece looked up at the voice and screamed in excitement, tossing the camera (which Anne had thankfully caught) she ran towards the person and embraced them in a hug. "Josie!" Tears of joy began running down the redhead and brunette's faces. "How are you here?"

Josie Sinclair smiled softly as she let go of her best friend, "A friend bought me a ticket. Said I could stay with him while my parents settle everything." The Sinclair girl slyly gazed over at EJ.

Reece looked over at the boy before embracing him in an unexpected but loving, hug. "Thank you, thank you." She repeated. The boy didn't say anything, he just smiled at the girl.

"I'd like to point out I was able to keep a secret and you all owe me 10 bucks," Anne said, placing a kiss on Josie's lips.

"You all knew?!"

"Of course we did," Carlos said.

"It was hard to keep it a secret, I almost threw up," Seb said causing everyone to laugh.

Although everyone's focus was on Josie, EJ couldn't help but watch as the smile on Reece's face never vanished. It was like she had her lifeline back, and she was ready for whatever happened next. She couldn't have been more grateful to have friends like them (or a friend like him more specifically).

After a few minutes of people welcoming people, it was finally time for midnight. Reece had been waiting for this moment all year long, she had thought the best friends tradition wouldn't happen this year, but thanks to EJ it would.

As everyone gathered around the living room, most with their spouses. Reece and Josie kept their pinkies locked. It was to symbolize that no matter what the new year would bring they would always have each other's backs, and be best friends.

And they kept their pinkies locked throughout the whole countdown. It didn't matter that Josie and Anne were sharing a kiss or Reece's attention was focused on EJ. They kept them locked.

All of a sudden Ms. Jenn busted through the door, "I have an announcement!"

"You cut your hair!" Exclaimed Carlos.

"Thank you. Wait, do you like it? Josie, you're back!" The teacher began to get sidetracked. Josie waved at the teacher with a smile. "That's not the announcement. Okay. Contrary to rumor, we are not doing High School Musical."

Everyone began to mutter. Was she insane? How could they not go HSM?

"We are doing an American classic." She paused, "Beauty and the Beast." Everyone began to burst out with joy. Reece loved when the school did Disney princesses, as it was an easy script for her to memorize considering she'd watch them all the time. "And I know East High just did it a couple of years ago. But you didn't do it my way. And you didn't win the most important award in all of theater."

"The Tony?"

"Okay, the second most important award."

"The Drama Desk?"

"Everyone, calm down! This semester, we are entering the Alan Menken Awards for High School Musical Theater. And we are going to win."

"That means beating North High, Miss Jenn," Carlos stated. "They have a thousand-gallon Little Mermaid aquarium."

"Then we will have an aquarium, too."

Everyone looked at the teacher weirdly, "In Beauty and the Beast?"

"Okay, I need to study the text. So, who is ready to show the world they deserve to get that scholarship to NYU?" Quickly retracting her statement Ms. Jenn spoke again, "I mean, who is ready to go from amateur thespians to statewide award winners?"

Everyone began to cheer, deciding who would be perfect for each role but as everyone decided Ricky and Nini should be the lead roles, Nini decided to drop the bomb on the whole club. "Ricky, I'm moving to Denver."

As if scripted a balloon popped, causing everyone to scream.

Buckle up, Wildcats. This party's just getting started.

INEZ SPEAKS
Heyyyy...this was supposed to be out like two months ago but so much happened. I got sick, had to catch up on homework, had to do and retake tests because of anxieties and such, I have a CPT due soon, friends and family came over, and I was genuinely procrastinating.

The last 2 scenes took me 3 weeks to write...

Anyways I'm so sorry for the long-awaited update and I promise I'll try to keep it more consistent in the future. This is also unedited as of right now.

Update: MIDNIGHTS CAME OUT, what's your favourite song? Mine is definitely either Anti-Hero, Mastermind, or Labyrinth