— act one, scene seven: operation troy

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     Megara couldn't stop thinking about the audition with Ricky.  More specifically, how badly he read off his script at the beginning.  And then she also had to help Ricky get through singing a rendition of Nini's anniversary song for her new boyfriend to see.  Yikes.  Times two.

     Other than that, everything else was falling into the plan.  They were trying to make it seem like they were slowly but surely getting closer, and then like in a week or two, some sort of grand gesture to really show that Megara had let her walls down for the curly-haired boy.

     Now, days after the auditions, the small group were settling into their new roles.  And getting used to seeing each other more often too.  "She's giving me all this responsibility," K.C. whined, leaning her small head on the brick walls of the hallway.

     Megara stood up straight, taking her hand off the water foundation.  She wiped her chin with the back of her hand.  "Well, Kelsi did have a lot of responsibility.  Gabriella and Troy wouldn't be themselves without her.  She really was the playmaker."

     "But you're the one actually playing Kelsi," K.C. whined.

     Megara chuckled.  "You're hilarious.  I'm just playing a role, you're the actual composer."

     "Guys," Ricky walked up to them, Big Red in tow.  "Guess what."

     "Ah, if it isn't dumb and dumber," K.C. said with a smile as sweet as honey.

     Megara caught sight of the cologne bottle in his hands and instantly became aware of his plan.  She remembered the story well; Ricky got ambushed by a salesman and Nini fell in love with the scent.  Megara couldn't blame her.  "I'm not spraying that on you," Megara shook her head.

     Ricky dropped his arm to his side and tilted his head.  "Your enthusiasm is off the charts right now," he said sarcastically, obviously disappointed with her reaction.  She simply crossed her arms and pursed her lips as he talked.  "Come on," he motioned to his other best friend, the boys walking into the boys' bathroom to leave the girls alone yet again.

     "Ew, Ej's going live again," K.C. rolled her eyes.  "Do you think Savannah will ever get over him?"

     "I dunno," Megara shrugged, arms still crossed.  "It happened so quickly.  It seemed like before we knew it..." she trailed.

     "He moved on," K.C. finished for her.  While she was much younger, and Rita's baby sister, the three welcomed her into their crew with welcome arms.  She was overly honest sometimes, but her heart was in all the right places.

     Megara nodded.  "Yeah."

     "Phew!" the boys walked outside the bathroom with matching grins.  Ricky waved his hands, telling Megara to come closer to him.  "Get a whiff of this!"

     Instead, she rolled her eyes and shoved his chest playfully, strutting past him as she headed down the hall for Miss Jenn's class, letting the others catch up with her as they laughed the whole time.

MEGARA: The first rehearsal ever went a lot smoother than I thought it would go.  While Big Red's monotone reading was priceless, Miss Jenn's spur-of-the-moment acapella version of We're All In This Together really took the cake.  But then the next day Ricky was suddenly stressed about a kiss Miss Jenn added, so then I was stressed for him.  Putting aside Bowen's girl problems, I have no idea how I'm going to learn all this piano music so quickly.  And Miss Jenn added a power ballad I'm supposed to work with K.C. and Ashlynn on?  Like, I'm excited to see what she wrote, but uh, not that excited to try and play it as Kelsi.

     "I can't be the only one worried about the way Gina eyes Nini as if she wants her for dinner," Megara said in a low voice as she leaned into Savannah.  The three girls were standing by the big storage unit, leaning on it as they watched Carlos give out personal notes to some of the dancers.  Megara had to hand it to him, he was pretty great at what he did.  

     Savannah shrugged.  "Maybe short and tiny chicks are what she's into," she said with a low giggle as K.C. bit her bottom lip.

     "Alright people!  Let's take it from three counts of eight right before Troy and Gabriella's entrance!" Carlos instructed.  Everyone walked over to their marks, with Savannah in the front with her counterpart Seb.  Megara sent them two thumbs up.  "A five, six, seven, eight!"

     The cast started up again, going through it smoothly until Ricky and Nini started dancing.  The music quickly died down as Ricky awkwardly waved hands around.  "I'm sorry," Ricky apologized.

     "What's he doing?" Nini turned to Carlos.

     "Why are you asking him, I'm right here," Ricky brought his hand up to his denim-covered chest.

     "Because you're not.  Here.  At least, not for the right reasons," Nini snapped, avoiding eye contact with Ricky.  Megara quickly turned her head, meeting Big Red's gaze as they shared the same confused look.  Other than that, everyone was watching the two bicker.

     "What's that supposed to mean?"

     "You're only doing this so we'd be in each other's grills," Nini said.  Carlos tried pushing the two back into the dance, which was no use.  "And what's that smell of cologne on your neck?!" 

     Ricky was quick to point his finger at her.  "Hey, you love Throb!"  And then like he was trying to save himself and cover what he just said, he added, "Everyone loves Throb.  Even Meg likes Throb!"

     "Oop," Savannah covered her pursed lips with her hand.  Megara grabbed her forearm, making her pull her hand down with a disapproving shake of her head.

     "You're wasting our time by making fun of something we all take seriously and—"

     "Okay, that's a five!" Carlos exclaimed.  "Everybody out people!  Get out!"

     Megara saw Ricky blink multiple times before catching up with Nini.  She decided to turn and get her bag, already thinking of heading for the skatepark.  "Ah, come on, I take this seriously."

     "No!  No, you don't.  Y-you don't take anything seriously.  You just, you coast, and then the second someone asks you to make a commitment you make a joke or you sink into some imaginary hole in the floor."

     "I didn't sink!  Nini, I just... wasn't ready to say it.  But then I went into that audition to show you—"

     "Only because I met someone else!  You wanted to drag me back into tenth grade like my summer had never happened but if you really cared about me, Ricky—"

MEGARA [shaking her head]: And that's when I had to stop listening.  It was getting to be too much.  Everyone was standing in the hall, looking at each other all confused.

     It didn't take long for Ricky to speed out.  Big Red and Megara barely shared a look before running after him.

     "Dude, what did she say?  Why are we leaving?" Red asked.  All three had their boards with them, Megara eagerly holding hers tightly.

     "Because!  Operation Troy was a huge mistake.  It just made things worse," he spat.

     "Okay, but Rick—"

     "There you are!" Carlos ran out, clearing out of breath.  "Miss Jenn wants everyone back in the room."

     "Tell Miss Jenn I'm done," Ricky said quickly.  "Sorry I can't dance like Fred Rogers."

     "Fred Rogers is Mr Rogers.  He never danced, he just potty trained puppets," Carlos corrected him, squinting due to the sun.

     "Seriously?  I was impressed they made dolls that could cry."

     "Ricky, please, you have to—"

     "Nini's right!" Ricky cut him off.  Everyone stayed quiet.  "I'm taking up space, I don't belong on stage!"

     "That's so untrue..."

     "Save it, Carlos!  You don't want me in this.  If I go back Nini will probably quit.  Ok trust me, you need her a lot more than you need me," Ricky said before spinning on his heel and leaving.  Red quickly ran after him while Megara stood there, glued to the concrete for a minute.

     "Unsure?" Carlos asked her.  She nodded, her long hair swaying with the slight breeze.  "I'll tell Miss Jenn something came up for you," Carlos nodded.  "A family matter or something?"

     "Yeah, say it was family," she felt sad for Ricky, knowing he wasn't going through the best right now.  But on the other side, she felt happy that Carlos had her back.  "Thank you, Carlos," she said before joining the other two boys.

     Megara didn't hear from him for hours after he left school.  She refrained from shooting him multiple texts at a time, but she was getting increasingly worried.  It wasn't until that evening when her phone, that she didn't let out of her sight, rang, that she heard from him.  "Yo Meg!" Megara could practically hear the smile on his face.

     "Bowen!  What's up?" she smiled.

     "Dude, get over here right now!"

     "Why?" Megara furrowed her dark eyebrows.

     "I gotta learn this dance tonight!" he exclaimed.  Megara breathed, her shoulders becoming less tense.  "Operation Troy is back on!"

     Megara smiled, already throwing on her hoodie and heading for her board.  Her dad normally hated how she leaned it up against the wall in the doorway, but he wasn't home.  "I'll be right there then, Bolton."

#JJ
can i get a round of applause for the motivation to revise these chapters