┏━━━━━━༻❁༺━━━━━━┓

𝗟𝗢𝗩𝗘 𝗕𝗔𝗖𝗞

chapter seventeen:
plan's into motion !

┗━━━━━━༻❁༺━━━━━━┛

IF EJ HAD done what he did, why was he acting like everything was normal?

Whenever Violetta was around him, her heart would start to race, thinking about the way his lips had felt on hers in the cold air of Salt Lake City. Anyone could clearly tell something happened between them judging by the way Violetta's face involuntarily burned a bright red when she was next to him, her mind taking her back to the way his hands rested on either side of her face.

To be fair, Violetta hadn't brought it up either, but he was acting just . . . normal. Something about that told her that he was playing hard to get, or maybe waiting for some big theatrical moment to do something. But just like Violetta had said to herself, if she wanted something, she had to go for it.

It wasn't only wanting a relationship with EJ, though. Violetta could tell that the theater department wasn't the same without Gina. Therefore, she had proposed a plan to EJ on how to get her back for opening night so she could see the show and resume her role as Taylor. Pushing away her feelings for him and how utterly confused she was, the two of them got to work on messaging Gina and coordinating everything.

Finally, it was opening night. Violetta and Athena had promised each other that they would go to East High together, so the easiest thing was to have Violetta go over Athena's house so one of the members of the Blake family could drive them.

So that's exactly where she was. Violetta laid on Athena's bed, her head dangling off the side. Even though she was upside down, she could see Athena frantically rushing around her room. It wasn't hard to tell that Athena was extremely nervous about opening night and was stress packing her backpack. Violetta, on the other hand, knew whatever happened, that everything would be fine. Therefore, she was perfectly calm. A perfect balance.

"Athena, stop freaking out," Violetta said, her tone bored as she flipped over onto her stomach, her head now upright. "You're going to be fine I promise."

"I've never been in a musical before," Athena replied. "What if I show up and suddenly don't have something?" She then held up her hair straightener. "You think I need this?"

"Definitely not."

Violetta paused for a moment, her mind totally elsewhere — that elsewhere being her front porch. But then a thought popped into her head. She hadn't told Athena yet, mostly because after the kiss happened she had just kind of sat on her couch in shock.

"Hey, can I tell you something?" Violetta asked.

"Of course," Athena answered distractedly, putting more hair ties than she needed in her backpack. "You can tell me anything, Vi. You know that."

"Um . . . you know how EJ offered to drive me home from rehearsal last night since Ricky wanted to take you back to his house to watch a movie?" Violetta continued as Athena zipped her backpack shut. "Well, EJ drove me home, and we've been getting a lot closer lately, so conversation was flowing really easily. Then when he pulled up to my house, he walked me to my front door and kissed me."

Athena spun around to face her, her eyes wide. "Shut up. No way."

Violetta nodded, a bit excitedly, finally sitting up normally. "He did. And this sounds so sappy and I'm even grossing myself out, but it felt almost like I had—"

"Butterflies?" Athena finished, grinning at her.

Violetta groaned in response. "This is so mushy. I'm not romantic like you."

"Vi, this is so amazing." Athena sat next to her on the bed. "I'm happy for you. EJ's a really good guy."

"I really, really like him, 'Thena," Violetta admitted out loud for the first time. It kind of felt strange to say. "And I think I'm gonna ask him to be my boyfriend after the show."

This was her plan — have the play go smoothly, corner EJ in one of the rooms, and get straight to the point. Violetta Chase was going to go for it.

Athena gasped at her. "Breaking gender norms. I like it." She put her arm around her shoulders and pulled her in close, Violetta's head pressing into the side of Athena's stomach. "Who would've thought we both get boyfriends from a musical?"

Violetta laughed slightly in amusement. "Certainly not me." She stopped for a second, a strange thought popping into her mind. "Wait, we're both dating Nini's ex-boyfriends. Woah. That's even weirder."

"Did you have to bring that up?" Athena stood back up. "That makes me feel kind of gross."

"Have you talked to her?" Violetta inquired, leaning back on her palms comfortably.

Athena shook her head. "Every time we're at rehearsal, she just avoids me unless we're in the same scene. I really want to talk to her, you know? Just kind of ask what happened from her perspective instead of Ricky's."

"She'll come around," Violetta voiced. "I think she's scared."

Yeah, maybe because you yelled at her, Violetta told herself. Well, hey, she deserved it.

"Scared?" Athena repeated in confusion. "Of talking to me?"

"Think about it, 'Thena," Violetta continued. "You and Nini became friends recently. She saw how happy you made Ricky and how smitten you were with him. And now she thinks that she destroyed East High's cutest couple by a stupid mistake both her and Ricky never wanted to make in the first place and destroyed her friendship with you. So, yeah, I think she's pretty scared of talking to you."

Athena thought it over for a moment. "But I don't want to yell at her or anything."

"Nini doesn't know that." Violetta stood up and put her hands on Athena's shoulders, looking her best friend right in the eyes. "So what you have to do is just march up to Nini and ask her to talk. Don't take no for an answer."

There was then a knock on Athena's door. Violetta and Athena looked over to see Artemis standing on the other side, holding her car keys and an iced coffee. She couldn't help the way a grin spread across her face — she loved Artemis.

"I'm driving you to school for opening night," Artemis told them. "Come on, you don't want to be late."

Athena then turned back to Violetta with wide eyes. Violetta nodded reassuringly at her. They could do this.

After a very uneventful car ride, mostly consisting of Artemis solely playing the High School Musical soundtrack so they could get into character, the two reached East High. Violetta and Athena entered the bomb shelter together. Multiple people were milling around, getting ready for the show. Ricky immediately called Athena over, and the lovestruck girl wandered off to him with a smile.

Violetta slightly smiled at that too. After seeing Athena so heartbroken, it was nice to see her happy again. Violetta then wandered off to where the other dancers were.

"Hi, Vi," Lauryn greeted happily.

"Hey, Laur," Violetta responded.

She sat down on the ground and started to stretch with them. However, she felt eyes on her from across the room. Her eyebrows knitting in confusion, she glanced up. Looking at her was EJ. Violetta raised an eyebrow, and he averted his gaze. She shook her head and focused back on stretching.

In the next twenty minutes, Violetta had completely stretched, gone over the choreography with the other dancers, and got in her Martha costume since she wasn't dancing until Stick to the Status Quo.

Carlos suddenly walked into the room thirty-five minutes before showtime, carrying a large basket of flowers and setting them down on a drum. "We've got mystery flowers, people!"

"Wow, those are massive," EJ stated.

Violetta blinked at him. Wow, he was so observant.

"Why mystery?" Big Red asked.

"There was no card, so I'm guessing it's dealer's choice," Carlos responded. "But, if I had to bet, I'd say it's for our leading lady."

Nini placed her hand on her chest and placed a small smile on her face. Violetta went back to going over the choreography in her head. She definitely had it down, but dancer's nerves, she guesses. Her phone then buzzed, and Violetta picked it up to see it was a text from EJ.

She's coming.

Violetta grinned. Perfect.

"Half hour!" Natalie called.

"Okay, last touches, anyone?" Kourtney announced. "Speak now, or forever hold your face!"

Everyone started to squeal in either nervousness or excitement. Violetta shared an excited look with Kaden, who pulled her in for a quick side hug. She couldn't wait.

Miss Jenn then came into the room, clapping her hands together excitedly to announce her presence. "My beautiful babies, let's gather round for some housekeeping!"

All of them gathered in a circle in front of Miss Jenn. Violetta stood in between Athena and Kaden, focusing her attention on Miss Jenn and ignoring the way EJ kept glancing at her for now. That could be a later problem, but dance and Gina were the only two things she was focusing on.

"First of all, who brought Versailles?" Miss Jenn inquired, making them laugh.

"No one knows," Carlos answered.

"Well, I supposed we'll just have to share, then. Oh, and speaking of sharing, most of you know that our dazzling Taylor had to leave under family circumstances. Gina sends her love and support to all of you, but unfortunately, she's on the east coast and won't be able to make it to tonight's performance. And so, I have asked Kourtney to fill in in her stead."

Violetta slightly smirked to herself. Now, don't get her wrong, she knew Kourtney was going to be an amazing Taylor, but no one besides her or EJ knew that the real Taylor was actually en route.

"So now, what I would like to do is, please think of a word or phrase from the show that expresses where your head is, or your goals for tonight," Miss Jenn announced. "If anyone wants to share?"

They all went silent, thinking of their lines.

"You're my guys, and this is our team," Big Red voiced.

"What if you wanna try something really new, and it's a total disaster and all your friends laugh at you?" Ricky recited.

"Uh, mine's a song lyric," Athena admitted. "So lonely before, I finally found what I've been looking for."

"Oh, um, do you ever feel like there's this whole other person inside of you just looking for a way to come out?" Nini continued.

"Do the romp, and strut your stuff!" Carlos added.

Kourtney spoke up. "My shower head is very impressed with me."

EJ looked down at Ashlyn. "I'm proud to call you my sister."

"Aw, it's close enough," Ashlyn replied. She then held up her hands. "My nail beds are history."

"Sharpay's kinda cute, too," Seb began.

"So is a mountain lion, but you don't pet it!" all of them chorused together

"And I'll just say, no matter what happens tonight, we're all in this together," Miss Jenn told them, and Violetta grinned softly. "Okay, Wildcats, take a moment to settle your nerves. If we had a curtain, it would be up in twenty minutes!"

The time until the show started got shorter and shorter until there was only ten minutes left. All of the main characters and the ones who helped the most — Athena, Violetta, Ricky, Nini, Kourtney, EJ, Seb, Carlos, Ashlyn, and Big Red — were gathered outside the gym, doing a prayer circle before everything would start. Violetta was standing in between Athena and EJ.

She kept her eyes closed and her head down, but she felt EJ's hand give hers a squeeze. Violetta smiled to herself and squeezed back.

Miss Jenn then came to them, informing them that they had to get backstage for places. All of them let go of each other's hands — EJ holding onto Violetta just a little bit longer — before they moved towards backstage. Violetta was walking with Athena until Ricky and Big Red appeared on either side of them. And it was the four of them again, just like it always had been.

"Look at us," Big Red said. "This is giving me déjà vu to the first day of school."

"And yet look at how far we've come," Violetta continued. "I mean, then we were walking into what seemed like a normal junior year and now we're walking to go put on our first musical."

"I kind of like it better this way," Athena admitted as they finally arrived backstage. "I think this is sort of our thing, you know?"

"Places, everyone!" Miss Jenn shouted.

"I gotta get to the light system," Big Red revealed. "Good luck tonight, guys."

He then rushed off. Violetta, sensing that Athena and Ricky wanted to have a moment to themselves, moved to a more secluded part of backstage. Crossing her arms across her chest, she looked out into the audience. A small part of her wanted her parents to be there, but she highly doubted it. She didn't even tell them the date of the musical, so how would they know?

Whatever. She shook it off. It was time to get her head in the game, and she wasn't going to let anything distract her.

∘ ₊ ✧ ──── ✧ ₊ ∘

I'M GETTING SICK AND I HAVE FINAL EXAMS NEXT WEEK I WANT TO DIE