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𝗟𝗢𝗩𝗘 𝗕𝗔𝗖𝗞

chapter nine:
a shot of espresso !

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THE THEATER GROUP spent the entire night in Big Red's basement. Within the span of an hour, Athena, Nini, and Ashlyn had written the entirety of Truth, Justice, and Songs in Our Key. Meanwhile, Carlos choreographed their entire dance with the very little space they had in three hours. Violetta, Gina, and the other dancers had chimed in time to time with their ideas. With both the music and the dance ready, they managed to pull off putting together a last minute performance. Now all they had to do was show it to the board meeting and save Miss Jenn.

None of them had gotten much sleep at all. However, they weren't fazed by it — in fact, the next morning, all of them were quite energized from all of the adrenaline. That didn't mean that Violetta wouldn't get a coffee later, though. She knew her tiredness would hit her later.

It was finally time for the board meeting. All of the theater group was scattered around the cafeteria, ready in their positions for when they would interrupt everything. Violetta sat next to Athena and Ricky, her knee tucked into her chest as she watched the whole meeting take place. Her muscles were practically itching to dance already — but she had to wait.

Involuntarily, her eyes trailed over to EJ. He was sitting in one of the chairs in the center, his gaze straight ahead. But then something made him look over at her. Their eyes locked, and EJ raised an eyebrow. Violetta rolled her eyes playfully with a small smile on her face. EJ shook his head, also smiling, before looking back ahead. Her heart infuriatingly racing, Violetta turned her attention back to the meeting at hand.

"Miss Jenn, it may not surprise you to learn that we have heard earfuls about your unorthodox style ever since you got to East High," Principle Gutierrez announced to everyone. "Personally, I always chalked it up to the well known fact that people in the dramatic arts are insane."

"Thank you," Miss Jenn responded, the microphone echoing slightly as she leaned closer to it.

"But now, we have news that your resume is exaggerated. Your teaching credential is from obscure online university, and even your official name might be some version of a stage name. What do you say to this charge?"

"I have always done my best by these kids—" Miss Jenn insisted.

"Just answer the question," Principle Gutierrez interrupted.

"Excuse me," Mike, Ricky's father, then cut in. Violetta grinned at him — she didn't expect him to be here after everything that had happened, but she loved Ricky's dad. "Can I say something?"

"I'm sorry, we're not opening up the floor to parents on this."

"Let him speak," one of Nini's moms voiced strongly.

Principle Gutierrez let out a sigh. "Go ahead, Mr. Bowen."

"I'm a little late to this party, but I gotta say the real crime here would be botting a teacher who's making a positive impact," Mike stated. "I've never seen my kid this invested in anything, and I don't think that's something we should punish, Your . . . Honor."

Amanda, Athena's mom, then stood up, making Violetta's smile widen. "I agree. My daughter has always had a love of playing piano but never had any place to showcase it. Now she's joined this musical and is coming home every day telling me what song she learned that day. She's finally found her niche, and you're just taking that away."

"Mr. Bowen, Mrs. Blake, I appreciate your statements, but I think we can all agree that theater isn't unique in this regard," Principle Gutierrez replied. "It doesn't have some special fairy dust that can't be filled by another extracurricular."

Kourtney then started to hum from the balcony above. Violetta immediately dropped her leg and straightened up. It was showtime.

Principle Gutierrez looked around in confusion, tapping his microphone. "What's that? Who's humming?"

Instantly, all of the theater kids starting humming and stood up. Violetta felt her heart race once more — but this time, it was from excitement. Athena quickly squeezed her shoulder, and Violetta smiled brightly back at her. Everything they had rehearsed then started. Ashlyn then turned to look at Nini, who pointed to Ricky, who finally pointed up at Kourtney. Kourtney raised a radio above her head while the music began. Kaden and Ricardo then came forwards to move Miss Jenn's table out of the way.

"Don't say another word," Kourtney began.

Nini appeared in the aisle between the chairs. "Some of us need to be heard."

Ashlyn joined in with Nini, her arm leaning against her shoulder. "You want her big confession?"

"She never saw Dear Evan Hansen," Kourtney revealed, making all of them gasp.

"Whatever you think about her," Athena and Ricky sang with their hands interlocked, going to stand by Ashlyn and Nini. Violetta and Big Red, who had just come down from the balcony, trailed behind them. "The show can't go on without her."

Ricky lifted up his and Athena's hands above her head. She twirled around before they let go of each other. Violetta turned to Big Red and gave him a high-five before him and Ricky started to dance down the aisle. Meanwhile, Violetta and Athena went to the other side of the chairs and started to dance as well.

"Maybe her class could be a little more classy," Kourtney announced.

"Maybe her head's not in the game," the rest of them chorused, Violetta letting out a small laugh with Athena as they both spun around

"Maybe her past is just a little bit sketchy," Carlos added, and a small group of him, Kaden, Violetta, Ricky, and Gina formed.

"We need her all the same."

"She's the one who cheers us on," Seb sang, stepping forwards as the rest of them danced behind him. "So what if she's dropping the ball?"

The group danced across the front of the cafeteria, and Violetta couldn't help but smile widely at doing what she loved most — dance. "She stands for truth, justice, and songs in our key. She stands for us, and we believe."

"Before she got here, we were so off track," Ricky admitted.

"Then Miss Jenn gave us a chance," Gina added.

"We used to fall asleep in chemistry class," Ashlyn voiced.

They all joined in with her. "Now it makes us want to dance."

Violetta's head then turned. She saw Kaden extending a hand out to her. With a small laugh, Violetta took it and allowed him to twirl her into him and then out of him. However, when Violetta spun around once more as they left each other, she found herself right in front of EJ.

The world seemed to go in slow motion, and the seconds felt like minutes. Violetta and EJ did a half-circle around each other, their eyes never unlocking. She soon snapped out of whatever stupid weird trance she was in and skipped to the front, where the other dancers were waiting.

Natalie stood right behind Miss Jenn's chair. "She's the show that must go on, so we're putting in a good word, 'cause we heard."

Violetta and the rest of the main dancers rolled across the floor in front of Miss Jenn.

"She stands for truth, justice, and songs in our key," they all recited. "She stands for us and we believe."

They all then moved out of the way. Violetta stood off to the side for a moment, catching her breath as she watched Nini get ready for her part.

"What's my motivation?" Nini asked, doing a shoulder shimmy as she walked down the aisle to go to Miss Jenn. "She provides the inspiration."

"Whatever about her reputation," Kourtney stated.

Ashlyn then walked to the front table where the teachers were, and Violetta looked to see Principle Gutierrez looking extremely unimpressed. "Seems about time for a modulation."

Finally, it was time for Violetta and Kaden's duet — no, they hadn't been the ones to suggest it. It had actually been Lauryn and Stef's doing, and Carlos immediately agreed. Violetta didn't mind. Her and Kaden were good friends, and he was an amazing dancer.

The two stepped forward. They started to do their matching choreography that they had assisted in coming up with. Violetta felt pure joy spread across her face as she did so. It was definitely cheesy, but there was no doubt in her mind that this was what she was supposed to do.

Kaden held up his hand for a high-five once they finished, and Violetta happily obliged. Carlos then pulled Miss Jenn up from her chair while Rico took it away. Athena immediately joined Violetta's side as their choreography continued. Meanwhile, cards spelling out Miss Jenn appeared behind them in the cafeteria by some of the dancers.

"She stands for truth, justice, and songs in our key," they all sang cohesively. "Jazz squares in the choreography. Sharpay and Ryan, you know they'd agree, she stands for us and we believe." Nini then grabbed Miss Jenn's arm and pulled her into the middle of the circle they had created, and all of them did jazz hands around her. "She stands for us and we believe."

They held out the last note for a couple extra beats before they all stopped. Silence completely engulfed the cafeteria. Violetta felt a little silly for a moment, just standing there with her arms extended out towards her drama teacher. The seconds seemed to be minutes, and as Violetta looked at Principle Gutierrez's annoyed face, she thought for a second that their plan didn't work. However, one clap from someone in the audience brought a lot more clapping and cheering.

Violetta let her arms drop and she stood up straighter. She looked back at the audience, her heart swelling with pride as they cheered for the performance they had put so much time and effort into.

"Settle, people!" Principle Gutierrez ordered. "Settle down. Settle down." Everything went silent again, and Violetta anxiously waited for what he was going to say. He then looked at the other teachers at the table. "Do we have any further questions?"

"Just one," one of the teachers at the very end of the table admitted. She stood up with a microphone in her hand, and to Violetta, she looked oddly familiar. "So, how do I snag two tickets for opening night?"

She then did a pop, lock, jam, and break. Everyone erupted in cheers again. Violetta instantly hugged Athena in celebration, because who else would she hug first? Both of them shared the same excitement. Miss Jenn was staying and High School Musical would still be happening. There was so much to look forward to.

Violetta then made her rounds. She hugged Kaden second, because duh, they had absolutely killed it in their duet. Violetta moved on to give hugs to Ricky, Big Red, Ashlyn, Nini, Carlos, Seb, Gina, and her dancer friends until their was one last person.

She was on such a high that she didn't even register that she threw her arms around EJ. However, when she noticed the plaid shirt that he had been wearing and the way he froze, she froze as well. Sure, they had been hanging out quite a lot recently, but they had never hugged. Violetta had no idea if he was the hugging type, or—

But then all of her worries went away, because EJ wrapped his arms around her waist and hugged her back tightly. He then picked her up of the floor, spinning her around once. Violetta let out a loud laugh, clearly not expecting that, and held on a little tighter so she wouldn't fall. EJ finally set her back down and they pulled away, yet they continued to keep their gazes on each other.

"We actually did it," Violetta said, still laughing slightly as her heart beat against her chest, now both from excitement and from EJ. "Well, would you look at that. I told you we could figure something out."

"You were incredible today," EJ told her. He then shook his head for a second. "I mean, you're always incredible, but especially today. You're an amazing dancer, V."

She smiled up at him, butterflies fluttering stupidly around her stomach. "Thank you, EJ. You were incredible today as well." She then nodded her head over to the group of theater kids that was forming at the bottom of the stairs. "How about we be incredible with our friends after a success?"

EJ looked down at her as they started to walk. "You want a coffee wherever we go to to celebrate, don't you?"

"Oh, absolutely. Something with a double shot of espresso."

He thought for a second. "You know, you're like a shot of espresso. I don't know, you just have something about you that . . . energizes."

Violetta blinked up at him, her heart rate increasing. "That was the corniest thing you could've ever said to me. I mean, I appreciate it—"

"Can you just take the compliment?"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever."

∘ ₊ ✧ ──── ✧ ₊ ∘

this is such a short chapter BOOOOO

also I am on the violetta and kaden bff AGENDA