༺ What Happened Over Spring Break? ༻

     Megara didn't think she deserved much, but repeating her parents' willingness to go forever without speaking to each other with Ricky was just cruel.

     "Megara?" Rita asked, waving a hand in front of her friend's face to get her attention.  The raven-haired girl batted her eyelashes as she zoomed back into reality, where Rita was looking at her expectantly.  "Did you hear what I just said?"

     "Um, yeah..." Megara swallowed the prickly ball in her throat.  The last thing she wanted to do was socialize, much less gather around talking useless gossip about North High.  "You said... you said something about..." she trailed off as KC raised her eyebrows, awaiting her answer.  "Um... they're attacking us online."

     "Not just us, my girlfriend," KC exaggerated, crossing her arms over her chest.  "Rats, all of them."

     "What do you mean they're attacking Nini?" Megara furrowed her eyebrows.  If they'd been explaining it to her, she'd clearly missed it, and something had told her that she did because EJ groaned dramatically.

     "They came for The Rose Song," EJ explained.  "They also called us lazy for posting about our spring breaks and saying we gave up on the competition.  And now it's just going to get worse since we're banned from practicing."

     Rita nodded as she twisted the cap on her baby pink hydro flask.  "How we could focus on anything besides the musical right now is beyond me.  I mean, even without social media, all the tagging and stuff happening online, there's just so much going on between the schools right now.  All our anxiety is just bubbling to the surface."

     KC nodded her head just once, but her eyes were trained somewhere else in front of her, zoned out.  Megara couldn't blame her for dissociating so quickly around the group, especially when talking about the musical was involved.  However, KC had been putting in a lot of effort this time around, probably as much as Carlos if not more, and it was mentally tiring.  "It's only a matter of time before we reach our breaking point.  We can only hope it's not close to opening night, it's only two weeks away."

     Despite all of this, Megara couldn't bring herself to care as much as she wanted to.  She was still replaying the last week over and over again in her head, and while it may not be much, it was definitely more important to her than the stupid Beauty and the Beast.  Besides, she had all her lines studied to perfection.  Practicing with Big Red and EJ was some of the most fun she'd had in a while.  She was sure she was going to miss them.

     Rita sat up straighter.  "You're awfully quiet about this, Meg.  What's on your mind?"

     Well, in the last couple of months, my grades fell drastically behind, and I got stuck with a role that I didn't ask for, I basically lead two guys who I both really like, and my nonexistent mother randomly showed up for a wedding that wasn't even mine, I haven't even been sleeping in my own bedroom as of lately (and it doesn't feel or look like my own anymore), dad and I fight all the time, and I watched Ricky leave my house with my love letter before crying myself to sleep.

     Megara couldn't even fake the smile.  "Nothing," she said.  

     "Doesn't look like nothing," Phillip startled the group, particularly Megara as he walked up behind them with only his backpack slung over his shoulder.  He wore a thick crewneck and pants, which was cute and sensible as it was still slightly breezy throughout the state and winter wasn't quite over yet.

     "Oh, hey Lip," Megara said, trying her best not to match everyone else's glares at the table.  "You scared me."

     "Oh, sorry," he said softly as he eased into the set next to her, while still giving her the space she needed.  EJ was sitting on the other side of him now, so he just shifted his things so Lip could have more space, but Megara could have sworn she saw EJ pass him a glare.

     "You look tired, what's up?" Megara asked, rubbing a hand along her arm.  She was bundled up in a lightweight sweater in the shade of maroon, but she found herself still cold.

     "Just stayed up extra late this past week working on some assignments," Phillip shook his head and rubbed his right eye with his knuckle.  "I'm just not understanding the chemistry homework."

     "Tell me about it," Rita chimed in.  "And Miss Fritz is being a complete jerk every time I try to ask questions."

     Phillip nodded excitedly, happy someone was understanding his pain.  "Right?  Like at this point we are just teaching ourselves."

     "So much for school spirit," Rita snickered.

     As the conversation died down, the small group found themselves realizing something was off.  Phillip was no different, and he found himself the first to ask, "Wait, where's Ricky at?"

     "Yeah, where is he?" Rita realized as she looked around the cafeteria equally confused.  "Don't tell me you guys are in a fight, and please don't tell me you broke up.  I can't keep up with the drama around you two."

     "Um..."

     "Oh my God, you guys broke up didn't you?" EJ asked in disbelief.  "I mean, Ricky looked super sad earlier, but I didn't piece two and two together until right now."

     Was this her way out?  It wasn't like Ricky was going to be on board with staging a fake breakup now, not after everything that had happened between the two and him knowing what he knew.  Besides, she couldn't ask that of him after he'd spent so long helping her.  The opportunity just presented itself.

     Megara shrugged and sighed.  "They say young love burns quick."

     Rita quietly gasped, bringing a hand to her mouth.  "Oh my God, I was just kidding, I didn't know..."

     "That's surprising.  Won't he like, die of boredom or something if he's not attached at your hip?" KC asked.

     "I don't see Nini sitting with us today, either," Megara snapped back.

     An uncomfortable silence fell on the table as they looked around at each other.  Without words, they agreed not to speak for the remainder of lunch, especially not about Megara's love life.  It wasn't going to be easy, tip-toeing around Megara like that, but it wasn't looking like they had much of a choice if they didn't want to fight.  Maybe Ricky Bowen would always be a sore spot.

     Savannah wasn't the only person Megara was avoiding.

     Work had been awkward ever since Howie unintentionally revealed himself as North High's Beast when they had snuck in to find the stolen mask.  Howie didn't seem harmful at first, but it was obvious by Kourtney's growing anxiety around him that it was becoming harder and harder to work with him, especially with the musical right around the corner.  Instead of focusing on the actual performance and having fun with it, it turned into a twisted competition between the egos of the schools.

     As Megara heard the doorbell ring, alerting the crew of a new customer, she groaned.  However, she'd already been walking toward the front of the building with a fresh basket of cookies wrapped and ready to be sold, so she was spotted.

     By yet another person she was avoiding.

     "Thought you were helping out with the crew," Megara said as she tossed the basket of cookies down.

     "Yeah.  Turns out I can't paint, or hammer," Ricky said as he approached the countertop.  "Which shouldn't surprise me since my career aptitude test revealed that I have no profitable skills."

     It was quiet for a moment before Megara said, "the correct term is using a hammer," and turned on her heel to walk away from him.  "I gotta get back to work."

     "Megara, wait," Ricky called out.  Megara stopped in her tracks.  "I'm here to, like, try and fix whatever's going on between us."

     Megara peered over her shoulder.  She was still wearing the maroon sweater from earlier, underneath the red apron she wore for work.  "There's nothing going on between us.  How could there be?"

     "How couldn't there be?" Ricky asked.  He sounded out of breath almost, like he had been running for an hour or was distraught.  He sounded... sad.  Almost like he had been pleading.  This was out of the ordinary for him.  "I know this might be a little hard for you to grasp, but most people would actually want to know when someone likes them.  Especially when you're pretending to be in a relationship with them.  These things matter."

     "Used to like them.  I wrote that letter when I was like, twelve, Bowen.  I know this might be a little hard for you to grasp, but people's feelings change.  Things are always changing, whether you like them or not.  Change is normal," Megara shook her head and tried to get back to her job, but he wouldn't let it go as easily.

     "Then why didn't you get rid of it?"

     Her dark eyes flickered over his figure for a second.  It was then that she saw how flustered his cheeks were, and she realized he must have run over here from the school.  It was after all, still light outside.  There was something about him that made her heart swell and sink at the same time as if she wanted to be joyful, but in reality, he just made her sad.  "I don't expect you to understand.  Even I don't really know.  But it's nice to be reminded that you have a heart."

     Ricky furrowed his eyebrows.  A crease formed in between them on his forehead, aging him.  "What are you talking about?  You are the most selfless and thoughtful person that I know."

     Megara blinked back tears as she nodded.  "Then do me a favor.  Burn the letter, rip it up, blast it with fireworks, something.  Pretend it never happened."

     "Megara, look.  I mean, like, obviously we both can't go on pretending like this didn't happen.  Think about it for a second.  This just makes things really weird.  Like, how are we supposed to stay friends?  How are we supposed to date other people?"

     She sighed and took a few steps closer to him so she could lower her voice when she spoke.  "Ricky, this was always going to happen.  You're the one who wanted to get Nini back, remember?"

     He shook his head, upset.  "Why do you keep reminding me of that?"

     She looked down at her apron and shrugged.  "Just so maybe you could understand I was just doing what you did when you used me to get to her."

     "But I didn't.  I realized Nini and I were better off as friends and we still continued the operation."

     "Because I wanted to use it to my advantage too.  It seemed kinda pointless for me if I didn't get anything out of it.  I appreciate all your help, Bowen, I really do.  But... I don't know.  I think we should just stop while we're ahead.  That's what I was trying to tell you at the wedding.  We were never meant to be friends.  And yes, I should have burned that letter when I had the chance.  And I shouldn't have snapped at you about Lip.   I didn't mean to hurt your feelings when I told you that."

     "So, being honest is a problem now," Ricky concluded.  "When did we start having trouble expressing our feelings?"

     "We've always had problems with that."

     Dead silence cast among them for a moment.  "Look, where are we?" Ricky finally asked.

     "I don't know," Megara shrugged.  "But hearing you seeing you all twisted up over my letter was, like, a lot of feelings at once."

     "Okay, I'm a little lost here, too.  I can't really imagine you having a crush on me when you spent your entire life trying to take me down."

     Megara rolled her eyes.  "I'm not a movie villain.  Friendly competition is different than taking you down."

     Ricky tilted his head.  "Megara, we never had a friendly competition."

     "Whatever.  Point is, you bug the hell out of me, but I never hated you.  And you know... I really don't think my little fluke crush was a big deal.  You're being kind of dramatic about it.  Honestly, it's kind of freaking me out."

     "You like me."

     "Liked."

     "I had to watch you bat your eyelashes at Phillip for months."

     "Better than being second choice to your ex-girlfriend."

     "You wrote a letter instead of just telling me how you feel."

     "You compared me to her and made me do things she liked just for the sake of your own comfort."

     "You're telling me I don't have the right to be interested in your letter when we spent the last year attached at the hip, holding hands, going to parties, watching rom-coms..."

     "I was trying to do the right thing."

     "What is that, exactly?"

     Finally, Megara was rendered speechless.  She'd been bickering with him for what seemed like practically her entire life, and yet each time he found a way to get under her skin, she was thoroughly surprised.

     Kourtney made her way to the front, rubbing her hands together as she observed the two staring at each other, only being separated by the work counter.  "Guys, you might wanna take it down a couple notches.  You're scaring the real customers."

     "Don't worry, Bowen was just leaving," Megara said without tearing her eyes away from him.

     Kourtney lingered for a moment, also expectant of Ricky leaving.  Finally, he grabbed his things and said, "I'm out of here," pretty quietly before turning on his heel.

     When he left the room, Megara took a deep breath.  Kourtney raised her eyebrows, her way of silently asking her if everything was alright.  "Not a word, Kourt.  Not.  A.  Word."

     The raven-haired beauty wasn't the only one distraught from whatever happened during her spring break.

     "Uh, Sebbie?  Is something going on with you guys?" Ashlyn asked.  Seb, Ashlyn, Gina, Megara, and Kourtney were sitting at the back of the pizza place near the end of the night, just trying to regain some sense of normalcy since the friend group really hadn't caught up in a long time.  Not on purpose, of course, but it seemed like ever since things escalated with the musical, things hadn't been the same.  Conversation quickly went downhill as they noticed Seb's sadness.

     "I guess you could say, he met a group of extremely photogenic guys when he was down in Mexico, and he seems pretty happy," Seb explained.  "So, now I'm pretty sad."

     Megara seemed to miss the part where Carlos vacationed in Mexico.  "Seb, come on," Gina said, running a gentle hand on the blonde boy's shoulder.  "You want to see him happy.  That's with you."

     "Mmm, but I guess he has to be, out of default, right?" Seb asked no one in particular.

     Megara furrowed her eyebrows, half listening to the conversation.  "What do you mean, Matty-Smith?"  When the other girls looked at her confused, she shrugged.  "Guys, not every last name is going to end up being a super cute nickname."

     "There's not a lot of other choices for a boy like Carlos here at East," Seb explained, ignoring Megara's statement.

     "No, Seb," Gina cooed.  "Have you told him how you feel?"

     "Not so good at saying the feelings part out loud," Seb shook his head.

     "Never hurts to put yourself out there," Gina said.  "Or so I've heard."

     Megara couldn't offer much but a tight-lipped smile and nodded in agreement with her friend.  Without the lingering drama of KC and Nini's relationship following her around, Gina was really fun to hang out with.  Although she did spot KC and Nini bickering earlier that day at school, she had bigger fish to fry.

     "Okay.  Teach me your ways," Seb suddenly sat up straight and shifted his body so he was facing Megara, who was sitting diagonally from him on a folding chair.

     "Seb, I don't know if you're asking the right person for this," Megara approached with caution.  "Freshly single, remember?"

     "Meg, you're the only one out of us who has overcome your fear of intimacy and had real, long-lasting relationships," Seb said, sending a dagger straight into her heart as he spoke with genuine admiration.  "You gotta tell me how you do it."

     She bit her lip as he smiled at her.  "There's not a lot to it, but I'll tell you one thing.  When you're on the same page with your person, and everything is out in the open, there's nothing better than trusting the other person to catch you when you fall."

     Megara was suddenly even more upset with Miss Jenn for casting her in the show.  Thankfully, she had a father who didn't care where she was at all hours of the day, so when the girls got the technical plans from Howie to suspend Beast in the air for the transformation, suddenly their friend group was racing from different directions to get to the school to try it out.  Off the record, of course.

     Thanks to Big Red being part of Mr. Mazz's tech club, he now had a key to the school (for some reason) and snuck them all in.  They made it all the way to the rehearsal area undetected and quietly.

     "So, in the Broadway show, all they did was suspend the Beast in the air, and then he takes the mask off," Kourtney explained.  She'd been on an adrenaline high ever since Howie spilled his can of worms open to her.  It may have partly had something to do with the threatening looks Megara gave him as she sharpened the pizza dough cutters, but she decided to let Kourtney revel in her glory.

     "Looks like today's theme is secrets," Ricky quipped.  Megara threw him a quick glare and a fake smile before turning back to Kourtney.

     "But combine this with the wire from Get'cha Head in the Game, and we're golden.  Do we still have Ricky's harness?" Carlos asked.

     "Ooh, it's in the costume shop, somewhere," Rita said.

     "Perfect.  Everyone, let's meet back in 15," he said before their small group of people dispersed.  Some, if not most, didn't know what to do with themselves as they waited around.

     "So, this came from Howie?" Nini asked as she walked over with KC, Rita, and Savannah.  Seb stood at Megara's side along with Gina as they formed a little circle.

     "Good luck getting a comment out of her," Gina said.  "I've been trying for an hour."

     "Okay.  The comment is, he's finally figured out my love language," Kourtney said.

     "Which is?" Nini asked.

     "Uh, gifts, music, flattery, and begging," Kourtney grinned.

     Megara would have snickered if she wasn't so anxious.  As soon as Savannah stepped over to their little pod, she could feel her heart rate go up.  "Hey, Megara..." Savannah began speaking as Megara's breath hitched.

     "Can I steal you for a minute?" Carlos chimed in, unintentionally breaking up the conversation but Megara was thankful for it.  She didn't quite know what to say to her blonde friend yet, after admitting to her about the fake dating and everything, she was surprised that Savannah had not only taken a letter but also given it to the guy it was intended for.  She wanted to make sure that when they spoke, they were level-headed.  Lately, Megara wasn't feeling much of that.  "I'm really nervous.  Please say yes before I change my mind."

     Seb turned to Megara, taking her hand in his which surprised her further.  "Yes," then he turned to Megara.  "But you're coming with me for emotional support," he said in a lower tone.

     "Alright, you're the boss," Megara muttered as she followed Carlos with Seb to the next room over where the piano was.  Unfortunately, she was not the only one who had been wrapped into this weird little setup, because low and behold, Bowen was sitting at the piano.

     "Okay.  Am I in trouble?" Seb asked.

     "Just listen.  I mean every word of this, even the ones Ricky wrote," Carlos said, confirming Megara's suspicions.  She was envious of the way Ricky was always there for Carlos lately, she couldn't lie.

     Just then, Ricky started playing a soft melody on the piano and Carlos began singing the most heartfelt song she'd heard in a while.  "I scream at the top of my lungs, you keep it all bottled up.  We're different that way, but please don't ever change..." Megara stood back as Seb's grasp on her hand loosened and he found himself being swept up by Carlos's magic words.  Megara wasn't dumb, she knew Carlos wasn't a songwriter.  While the gist of it was from Carlos's perspective, she could clearly feel the sense of Ricky Bowen weaved into the words.  "When all's said and done, you'll always be the one that I keep coming back to.  In a heartbeat, I'd choose you.  Hope you know you'll never dance alone so don't you worry.  In a heartbeat, I'd choose you.  I'd choose you In a heartbeat..."

     When the song came to a close, Seb turned to Megara with misty eyes.  She wasn't very good at reading emotions, but she could sense Seb was asking her for something.  So she mouthed as best as she could; tell him.

     Seb turned back to Carlos with a wide smile, professing his love for him before they finally embraced for the first time in forever as Ricky and Megara stood back and let them have their moment.  They stayed like that, happy and in their own little bubble, for a long while.

     Megara could always read Ricky's face exactly.  As he approached her slowly, she could see the humbleness in his eyes.  It was a much different look than the one he wore when he was fighting with her earlier.  "I didn't know you'd come," he finally said.

     She took her time answering.  "Mhm.  Hey, at least if we suck, we can help other couples, right?" she asked, even though it was rhetorical.  When Ricky was rendered speechless, thankfully, she continued on.  "Well, come on.  We have a Beast to transform."

     The four left the room after Carlos thanked Ricky and Seb grabbed Megara's shoulders and squeezed them, which startled her because she didn't see it coming.

     Thankfully by then, everyone was ready to go and they had found what they were looking for.  "Y'all, this is some Broadway stuff," Kourtney said as they started testing out the harness.  "We're going to win.  You guys, we're actually going to win."

     "Ricky was going to donate his old retired skateboards before we realized Howie choked up the trade secrets," Big Red confirmed with a nod.

     "Really?  But he loves his skateboards," Megara crossed her arms over her chest.

     Big Red shrugged.  "He really wants this opening night to go well.  Last time wasn't really the smoothest, you know.  There's so much more relying on him this time.  There's no room for screw-ups."

     Megara stood by quietly as she watched Ricky be hoisted in the air, the rest of their friend group hollering out in excitement as they realized they had a real chance at pulling off a great Disney classic transformation.  She swore she heard somebody say, "We're going to make Miss Jenn so proud," but then a loud screech erupted from the wires, and before she knew it, a flash of teenage boy was falling down on top of a teenage girl standing below him.

     "Ricky!"

guys pretty soon this meme will be updated to say he could be the one 😲 one episode left!