— act two, scene four: emotional support coyote

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     He heard the voicemail, Ricky had told Megara.  EJ knows about the voicemail, he had said in a panic, trying to catch Megara up to speed about his bathroom conversation with EJ after he accidentally threw the basketball at his face during a fit of anger.

     "Are you going to say something to her?" was all that Megara could comprehend from her thoughts at the moment.  Part of her wanted Ricky to stand up for himself, but the other was still dreading the possibility of hurting Nini.

     "Just one last thing."

     "I feel like you don't need me for this, but I'll be over there," Megara pointed to the area near the bike stalls as they both walked in a hurry to reach Nini before she went home for the day.  "Good luck."

     "I have to say something to you," Ricky approached Nini just as the girl was heading out of the school on her own, Megara noticed she was also moving quickly.  "I know we're not a couple anymore.  I get that.  You've been very clear.  But I thought there was a little trust left between us.  I thought I still meant something to you."

     "I can't do this right now.  And I don't need Megara here while we're fighting," Nini insisted, glancing over at the dark-haired girl standing by the bikes.

     "Fine.  But the next time I spill my guts to you in a voicemail, do me a favor and keep it to yourself.  I don't need to hear from EJ that it's wrong and stupid.  And don't talk about Megara when she's the one helping me navigate our scenes for the play since you've been so busy."

     Megara might have been standing a ways away, but she was still close enough to hear what was going on between them.  She looked up and glanced over at the 

     "What voicemail?  What do you mean?  You heard this from EJ?" Nini asked, which left Ricky and Megara just as confused as she looked.

     It was safe to say things had been tense since Nini realized EJ was responsible for her phone going missing, and since Ricky had likely gotten everything off his chest before walking away from her with Megara.  She didn't like being in the middle of all this new drama, but she was feeling pretty alright with where she was standing with Ricky.  Plus, it was nice that he stood up for himself and her in front of Nini.  She never thought she would see the day so soon.

     Megara propped her elbow up against the wall as she stood in line with the other theatre kids, chewing on a stick of watermelon bubblegum as her lips shone with every movement, the shitty lights from the school still somehow made sure the cherry lip oil she wore did her justice.  She rested her head in the palm of her hand as she overheard the kids in front of her quietly chatting among themselves.  Ricky was running late, but they hadn't been let in the theatre room yet for rehearsal, so Megara wasn't really all that worried.

     She did hear a loud high pitched scream come from the room after a while though, which was sparking her interest more than Nini and EJ bickering.  It was crazy to think just the year before she was third wheeling with him and Savannah.

     "Is he dead?" Ashlyn asked Carlos after Natalie stormed away with her shoebox.

     "No.  Now she thinks he's in her gym locker."

     "Why the screaming?"

     "That was me.  She stepped on my toe," Carlos said casually.  "We're ready to begin, people.  Miss Jenn talked to Ricky, he's running late."  Megara sighed as she prepared to pull out her script.  So far she'd been doing good during rehearsals without it, but Nini and EJ had a high unpredictability factor.

     "Who cares?" EJ asked.

     "You might, considering you're his understudy," Carlos said, outstretching his arms with a grin.  "We're blocking the Troy, Gabriella duet.  You're on, lovers."

     Megara chuckled quietly, unfazed by the death glare that EJ sent her, as they all piled into the room.  She promptly took a seat at the piano in the corner of the stage and watched as Nini and EJ took their places in front of the piano, but they were the farthest image of Gabriella and Troy.

     "Can you move a little closer to each other?  Little more.  Come on, guys, we're blocking this as a love story, not a SARS epidemic," Carlos said, slapping his hands against his thighs.  Megara watched them as they moved awkwardly, swinging their arms and avoiding eye contact with each other.  She turned to the audience, searching for Savannah, but she couldn't find her yet.

     "I think that chair was over there."

     "I can move it over in the scene," Nini offered.

     "Feels awkward."

     "It's light.  I can lift it above my head and walk," Nini insisted, earning a brow raise from Megara.

     "Sweetie, no one is walking with furniture on their head," Miss Jenn exhaled sharply, and frankly, Megara thought if her eyebrows were raised any higher then they might go into her hairline.  "This isn't The Lion King.  Strike the chair, please."

     "With what?" Big Red asked, sitting on the edge of the stage.

     "Take it away.  Remove it.  Troy, once the intro begins, cross downstage and plant yourself at the piano.  Which should be further downstage, okay?  No, dear, that would be upstage," Miss Jenn pointed in different directions for Big Red, but Megara wasn't really paying all that much attention as she used her pencil to doodle on her script.

     "Okay.  Gabriella, you slowly approach the piano and rest an arm on it, naturally.  Can we make sure her bookbag is off stage right?"

     "Sure.  Which way is that?" Big Red turned to Megara, catching her slightly off guard.

     "Uh, over there," she flicked around the pencil in her hand so it could point to the side of the stage.

BIG RED: Why do these people talk in code?  "Up" means "down," "strike" means "move." She says, "Break a leg" and I'm like, "What did my leg ever do to you?"  I never should've joined the crew.

MEGARA: I have to say, watching this is better than a bad sitcom.

     "Okey-dokey.  Take it from, 'Wow! Now, that's really nice,'" Miss Jenn instructed Nini and EJ, and Megara prepared her fingers against the piano keys accordingly. 

     "Wow.  Now, that's really nice."

     "It's hard to believe that I couldn't see you were always there beside me," they started singing, but as Megara started playing, it started sounding worse and worse.  "Thought I was alone with no one to hold, but you were always there beside me.  This feeling's like no other!  I want you to know I've never had someone that knows me like you do... the way you do!  I've never had someone as good for me as you... no one like you!  So lonely before I finally found what I've been looking for..."

     "Well, this is a choice," Carlos said, and anyone with any sense would have to agree.

MISS JENN: Okay, I have more chemistry with the woman who definitely doesn't color my hair.  What's up with these two? 

KC: I never thought I would say this, but I kinda miss the days when Nini and EJ's drama didn't follow us everywhere.

     "Doo doo doo... Doo doo doo doo doo doo," Nini kept singing, allowing herself to get off key.  "Woah oh oh oh... Doo doo doo Doo doo doo doo doo doo... Woah oh oh oh..."

     "Okay, freeze.  Nini, sweetie, this reprise comes at a decisive moment in the story, once your hearts have joined.  It's a love song."

     "Were you not getting that?" Nini asked, causing Megara to snort loudly.

     "Sorry," Megara mumbled with the wave of her hand as if excusing herself, but the smile on her face said she was anything but.

     "I'd like you to get to his heart without cracking his rib cage."

     "Sorry I'm late," Ricky announced as he came crashing into the room with the wind knocked out of him.  Megara sat up straighter as she peered over the piano.  "My mom, she caught an earlier flight.  Where are we?"

     "Scene seven."

     "Right," Ricky nodded.  "I don't have it.  Could I borrow—"

     "You need your script, Ricky," Miss Jenn cut him off abruptly.  "And a pencil.  It's a blocking rehearsal."

     "Could I borrow a pencil?" he asked quietly.

     "You can share mine," Ashlyn rose to her feet, handing out her yellow pencil to Ricky.

     "No, he can't," Miss Jenn objected.  "When you come to rehearsal, people, you come prepared."

     Megara rolled her eyes.  "Oh, come on, it's just a pencil."

     This seemed to be the cherry on top for Miss Jenn, the thing that would take Megara from an average drama class student to a thorn in her side.  "Kelsi, that is enough."

     Just when things couldn't get any more chaotic, Natalie came rushing in with her shoebox, and her facial expression showed no signs of finding her hamster alive and well.  "Was he in your gym locker?" Ashlyn asked as she approached the girl.

     "No, just my cherry lip balm.  But it had Elliot's teeth marks in it," Natalie pouted.

     "That wouldn't hurt him," Ashlyn reassured her.

     "It's sparkly."

     "Then it'll be easier to find him," Seb chimed in.  After everyone turned to him with confused looks, he continued.  "If he smiles."

     Miss Jenn took a moment and let out a quiet sigh.  "Natalie, we feel your pain, but I was just explaining what a constructive rehearsal requires.  Focus.  And honestly, another day like this and I am showing up with my emotional support coyote."

     "Miss Jenn, I know the scene," Ricky insisted.

     "Would you wait in my office?  Thank you.  Kelsi, you can join him," Miss Jenn pointed a stern index finger at the girl behind the piano and waved it towards the exit door.

     "Me?" Megara asked, pointing a finger to her chest.  Miss Jenn nodded.

     "Wait, are we done?" Ashlyn asked.

     "We are, Ms. Darbus.  Take a note.  This is what a frustrated drama teacher looks like.  Go.  Scoot.  Come back when you're ready to be punctual, park your distractions at the door, and take the work in here seriously," Miss Jenn said before turning on her heel and leaving with Ricky and Megara in tow.

     Megara slouched in the right chair with her arms crossed over her chest as she listened to Miss Jenn chew Ricky out first.  "The bottom line is you made a commitment to be here, Ricky.  A big role comes with big responsibility.  You and Nini set the tone for the rest of the cast."

     "Understood," Ricky nodded.

     "Really?  Well, unless it's a family emergency..." 

     "My parents are splitting up," Ricky cut her off.  Megara turned to catch a look at his face but wished she didn't after she saw the image of heartbreak plastered all over it.  "For real."

     "Shit, Bowen," Megara muttered either low enough that Miss Jenn didn't hear, or she just didn't care.

     "I'm so sorry to hear that," the blonde teacher said.  "I know exactly how you feel.  I went through the same thing.  When I was 14, my mother and father called it quits.  Well, not my father, my stepfather.  I never knew my real dad.  He was a telephone repairman who fell in love with long distances.  It's not my line.  Tennessee Williams, but you get my drift.  My real father sold pagers.  But Jack, my stepfather, he was a pivotal figure who inspired me.  He was so gentle and soft-spoken—" 

     "Miss Jenn," Ricky stared straight ahead at the hamster on her desk as he bounced his leg up and down.  Megara sat up a little bit straighter once she realized what was happening.

     "He loved poetry and music, hated violence of any kind..." 

     "Miss Jenn, I think there's a rat eating your protein bar," Ricky finally cut her off, instantly alerting the woman and sending her into a frenzy.  "Miss Jenn, stop," he rose to his feet.  "I could just catch it and take it outside."

     "Take it to Natalie Bagley.  It's her hamster.  He escaped from his box.  Can you blame him?  That girl is so needy," Miss Jenn said in a whispered tone.  "Wait, where did he go?" 

     "Might be under the sofa?  Can I lure him with that protein bar?"

     "Absolutely not.  That's my dinner."

     Megara rubbed her temples upon hearing these words come from her mouth, but in the time she'd been spending with Miss Jenn, she couldn't say she was surprised.

     "I can stay here and catch him," Ricky offered.

     "Ricky.  You can't stay here.  You should go home and be with your family," Miss Jenn nodded towards the doorway, and Ricky took that as his cue to leave.  He briefly shared a glance with Megara as he was walking out, but it was more embarrassing than anything for the girl since she knew she was in trouble.  Everything that had been going on lately made her feel like she was a child again.

     Miss Jenn sighed, clasping her hands together.  "Look, I know that you wanted to stick up for your little boyfriend and all, but there are better ways to do it."

     Megara gulped and nodded.  "Yes ma'am.  I'm sorry, it won't happen again."

     When Megara opened the door to the hallway, she was surprised to see Ricky was waiting there.  He stared straight down at the floor, only moving when he heard the door swing open.  His hands were buried in his front pockets.  "So?"

     "Good news times two," Megara kept walking, allowing Ricky to stroll at her side.  "I'm not in trouble."

     "And?"

     "And Miss Jenn thinks that you're my boyfriend," Megara's lips slowly curled into a deviant smile. 

     "It's catching on," Ricky realized.

     Megara nodded, but the mood was quickly killed when she noticed how defeated he looked.  "Hey, um, good luck at home.  You can beep me if you need anything," Megara shrugged.  "I could be your emotional support coyote."

     Ricky cracked a small smile at this.  "Duly noted, but you're more of an emotional support rottweiler," he said, earning a push to his shoulder from the shorter girl at his side.

#JJ
happy s3 release day