WARNING! Ellie has a panic attack at the beginning of this chapter so please read at your own risk!

" The cast list is being posted!" Carlos yells as he walks into the hallway Ellie and Ricky were currently standing in, but now the hallway was crowded with the rest of the theater kids.

Carlos quickly moves out of the way as everyone moves to get to see the cast list. Ellie never felt so nervous before, okay she felt this exact same nervousness before she went on stage, but still.

" Ellie! You gotta look at this!" she heard Trevor yell and she couldn't tell if he was excited or surprised.

She pushed her way through the crowd of theater kids to where Trevor and Avalon were standing at the front. She looked over at the cast list and she felt like fainting.

ELLIE HUTCHESON . . . . . GABRIELLA MONTEZ

RICKY BOWEN . . . . TROY BOLTON

Panic immediately flooded through Ellie as she read her name next to Gabriella Montez and read Ricky's name next to Troy.

- ˏˋ " Okay, there must be some mistake! I can't be Gabriella Montez! I could barely go on that stage for only a few people! And to make matters worse, Ricky is Troy. Why did I have to start liking him? Now things are gonna be even more awkward than they already are between us! Why didn't Nini get this part? Nini is way more talented than I ever will be. This is awful. Everything is ruined. My life is over." ˎˊ-

Avalon put her hands on Ellie's shoulder with a wide smile on her face. " Ellie, this is fantastic! I'm so so proud of you!"

Ellie could hear Avalon speak to her but the words sounded so distant as if Avalon wasn't in front of her but a million miles away. Her heartbeat starting beating more rapidly as she looked around frantically.

Avalon frowns and takes her hands off of Ellie's shoulder. " Ellie, what's wrong?"

Trevor stood beside Avalon as Ellie looked at both of them. His face twisted into concern. " I think she's having a panic attack."

Ellie shakes her head, trying to get the room to stop spinning as she starts pushing past everyone, ignoring everyone calling after her. She manages to get inside the auditorium and leans against the wall.

She slides down the wall and sits on the floor right beside the door as she puts her hands on her head. She didn't even recognize the sound of the door opening. She didn't even realize that someone had knelt down beside her, their face full of worry.

" Hey, Ellie, you'll be okay. Don't worry, I'm here." she looks over to where the sound of the voice was coming from and she was surprised to see Ricky sitting beside her and it looked like he was really worried about her.

Ellie shakes her head, her hands falling to her lap, her breath was still frantic as she managed to speak for a moment. " I-I'm not gonna be okay. How am I gonna do this? I-I could barely stand on that stage for just a few people. H-how am I gonna do that for a full auditorium?"

Ricky smiled at her. " You're gonna stand on that stage just like you did for the audition but this time I'll be right next to you. " he said and noticed that she was still looking around frantically.

" Ellie, look at me. Focus on my voice, okay?" he said a little louder to get her attention. She tries focusing on his calming voice and even though it helped it wasn't enough. When she realized it wasn't helping that much that just made her panic more.

Ricky's eyes widened. " Okay, um, I never had a panic attack before so I don't exactly know how to help you..."

" I-I never had one before either!" Ellie told him as it felt like there wasn't oxygen as if her lungs didn't work.

" Just think of things that make you happy. Um, think of your family, Art, friends, singing, stealing my guitar," Ricky starts to list things off and Ellie stares at him at the last part.

Ricky frowns. " Okay, I thought the stealing my guitar part would get you to smile or something, but nothing." his lips form in a thin line. " Wow, tough crowd."

Ellie glares at him and Ricky raises his hands up in defense.

" Sorry, sorry." he bit his lower lip and reached forward, gently grabbing one of her hands that he realized was shaking and pulled it forward until it was touching his chest where his heart was at.

He looked at her in the eyes. " Do you feel my heartbeat?" he asked and she nodded. " Focus on my breathing. Try breathing slowly, in, out, in, out." he said, watching as she tried to follow his breathing pattern.

Ellie looked up at him with wide eyes and her breathing was starting to slowly turn back to normal. " H-how did you do that?"

He shrugged his shoulders. " I honestly don't know. I was just trying to do things that would stop your panic attack." he smiled at her. " And apparently it worked."

A relieved smile formed on Ellie's face. " Thank you."

Ricky nodded, his curls bouncing on his head as he nodded. " No problem. You would've done the same for me."

She looked down, realizing that she was still holding onto Ricky's hand that was now resting in his lap. She wondered if he realized they were holding hands.

The door to the auditorium suddenly opened and she quickly pulled her hand away from Ricky's even though she immediately missed his touch when she pulled away.

She looked over to see that it was her older brother, Andrew, with a worried look on his face. He let out a sigh of relief as he looked over to see that Ellie was okay.

" I'm so glad you're okay. Trevor texted me what happened and I immediately ran here." he said as Ellie and Ricky stand up from the floor.

Andrew walks over to stand in front of Ellie. " You're okay, right?"

Ellie glances over at Ricky who sent her a small smile. She looks back at Andrew and nods. " Yeah, I'm okay."

Andrew smiles. " Okay, good." he looks over, noticing Ricky standing beside her. " You must be Ricky."

" Okay, well, we better go back to the others." Ellie said and grabbed Ricky's wrist and pulled him along with her to the door before Andrew could embarrass her.

****

" So, I heard that you got the part of Gabriella Montez. " Lucas said to Ellie in Art class.

Ellie nodded and continued drawing. " That is true."

Lucas smiles. " That's great!" he said and then noticed that she wasn't so happy about it.

His smile falls and he tilts his head to the side with confusion. " Isn't it great?"

Ellie sighs and lays her pencil down as she looks over at Lucas. " I don't know. I always dreamt of being Gabriella or just having a talking part in a play but nowt that I got the part of Gabriella I don't know if I can do this. I had a panic attack for crying out loud and my co-star had to help me out with it."

Lucas shakes his head. " You'll be fine. You're one of the most talented people I know." he looked at her drawing and raised a brow.

He points to the drawing with his pencil he held. " I'm guessing this is your co-star?"

Ellie looks down at the paper and her eyes widened as she realized she had drawn Ricky. She lets out a frustrated groan as she lays her head on the table.

Lucas purses his lips together as an amused glint formed in his eyes. " I'm gonna take that as a yes."

A/N yay I finally published this chapter! I honestly love this chapter & I hope you guys do as well! I'm sorry the update took so long, I've just had so many snow days & I had to catch up on school work & partly freaking out about hoopqueen tomorrow night 2/7/2020(which is basically like homecoming but for basketball for those who don't know what hoopqueen is) but I hope you guys liked this chapter & I promise another update will be up soon!