"Oh, my gosh, what happened?" Nini asked in disbelief when the students returned from Thanksgiving break, walking into the theater and finding it burnt to nothing but a few crispy costume designs and stage props.

"It's okay. Nobody was hurt." Miss Jenn announced as she walked over.

"Say that to our stage." Nova spoke while looking around the building.

"There was a small fire in the theater over the holiday and the sprinklers did their job." Miss Jenn explained, trying to be enthusiastic about it but it had been clear she was hurt.

"We're almost done in here, just have to finish up in the faculty room next." the firefighters announced as she nodded Miss Jenn way.

"I had my first kiss ever in this theater." Nova sighed as she looked around, "Beauty And The Beast, freshman year, unplanned but worked out fine."

"And our first performance together was right up there." Seb frowned as he put a arm around Nova.

"Unfortunately, the show can not go on." the firefighter spoke again, earning sad sighs and looks of disbelief. Nova held who ever was closest to her, which happened to be Seb and Ashlyn.

"What?" Miss Jenn asked in disbelief.

"Fire ripped through half of your costumes and the sprinklers ruined a bunch of your sets. I'm sorry but i'm gonna have to red tag the entire backstage area for a month at least." she said back to Miss Jenn with as much sympathy as she could afford, though she hadn't seemed like an emotional type.

"Did she just say costumes?" Kourtney asked, pain held within her voice.

"Okay. Okay, listen up." Miss Jenn panicked as she spun around to them once again, "Hug your neighbor, take a moment, and let's reconvene in the cafeteria after school to talk about our options. Ricky and Nini, spread the word."

"Got it, yeah, of course." Nini nodded.

"Ricky?" the blonde asked as she looked the Bowen boys way, his eyes focused down at his phone, "Ricky?"

"Huh? Sorry. After school in the cafeteria. Got it." he nodded quickly and shut his phone off.

As everyone began to walk off, Novas phone gave a ding, hinting she had a email. Seb sensed she'd stopped walking, turning around and finding her staring at her phone, "Nova? You coming?"

His question caught others attention as they looked back at the girl, watching as she looked up from her phone. Her eyes were swelled with salty tears and her lip quivered slightly.

"Nova." EJ said worried as he looked at her, "What happened?"

"I didn't get in." she stated, blinking and making a few of her tears fall, "DePaul... I didn't get in."

"Hey, rockstar." EJ said as he slid into the cafeteria bench after school with Nova. She went home for the rest of the day after denying anyone's hugs when she told them the news. When he saw she showed up after school, he headed over immediately, "How you holding up?"

"I'm not trying to be be a baby." was the first things she said, glancing his way with a frown, "But getting into this school was really important to me. I've been planning on this since I was a sophomore. My mom use to always say I couldn't do it because I wasn't good enough, I should have listened to her."

"Hey, you not getting in has nothing to do with you being good enough or not." EJ tried to make her feel better by grabbing her hand, "You're crazy good, Nova, you know that. Your moms a lunatic, you know that too. Any school would be insane to reject you."

Nova looked his way with a frown, "I really wanted to go there, EJ."

"I know, i'm sorry." he said, scooting closer to wrap his arm around her as Nova dropped her head into his shoulder.

"Okay, guys!" Miss Jenn announced as she clapped her hands together, "Wait, where's Gina?"

"I think she's going through a family thing right now." Ashlyn said as she sat down on one of the tables.

"Okay, prayers to our Gina. I'm really not sure what to say. You've all worked so hard. I've seen all of you grow so much." Miss Jenn spoke as she looked around the cafeteria at each of her students, "But if we don't have a theater, we don't have a show."

Chatter spread through the students as words of disbelief and shock flew from their mouths.

"Come on, Miss Jenn, we've gotta do something." Carlos protested with a sigh.

"I think we... I don't know. I guess we could consider another venue?" she offered. Nova wanted to help think but couldn't stop thinking about the fact that she'd never get to walk through the halls of DePaul University or stand on the stage of their theater.

"What about the old Kingston downtown?" Ashlyn offered.

"It's condemned." Miss Jenn informed her.

"The Lucky Ducky Puppet Pavilion?" EJ spoke up, Nova felt his body vibrate through his shoulder when he spoke.

"It's a massive Starbucks now." Miss Jenn huffed with wide eyes.

"Cmon, E, you know that." Nova mumbled with a small sigh.

"How about the El Ray?" Carlos said with a gasp and a bright grin. A few of the girls around him agreed on the idea and looked Miss Jenna way.

"Any other ideas?" Miss Jenn asked as she looked around for a better answer.

"Miss Jenn, I feel like you just had a really weird reaction to what I just said." Carlos said back honestly as everyone paid attention. Nova looked down at her phone and found a message from her dad, ignoring it for now and shutting her phone off.

"Sorry, what did you say?" Miss Jenn cleared her throat.

"Carlos is asking if we can try and use the El Rey Theater." Nini informed with a nod, looking back at their drama teacher.

"My Uncle Ruben is the listing agent and the last thing they had in there was a fashion show, like, four years ago." Carlos stood with with a nod of his head. Carlos began dialing a number on his phone while Seb searched up pictures of it on his phone and read some facts to the group.

Nova stood up and placed her hand on EJ's shoulder, giving a small pat before walking off. With everyone suddenly in a better mood, the last thing she wanted was to bring anyone down with the rain cloud she had over herself.

"Nova! You came back!" Seb announced when he saw the smaller girl walk into the theater, "I thought you were stolen."

"Not stolen." Nova snapped her fingers and accepted his hug, "Two pizzas and a ice cream sunday later and I think i'm okay."

"I'm really sorry about your school, they're rude." Seb frowned as he held her shoulders, "Whats your backup plan?"

"I didn't really have one." Nova said honestly with a tight lipped smile, "But i'll find one, once I'm done eating my feelings."

"Come on, EJ is about to preform and he'll love to see you there." Seb grinned, pulling her along through the sketchy theater.

"Okay, we just need to nail down our lighting and our sound and, ta-da, we've got a show." Miss Jenn announced as Seb and Nova got with the small group. Nova gave EJ a small smile and a wave of her fingers, earning a much more enthusiastic one back, "I need some bodies for the rooftop scene."

"I can do Troy!" EJ announced suddenly.

"Go do Gabriella, go." Ashlyn tried to push Nova but only got a large burp to the face, "Wow, you could have just said no."

"Jesus, sorry, Ash." Nova laughed at herself, "That was so gross."

"So gross." she agreed, "What was that? Root beer?"

"Grade soda, actually." Nova corrected her honesty and searched for a breath mint.

"Do we have a working lightboard?" Miss Jenn asked out loud, "Do we have a working light switch?"

"Found it!" Big Red yelled as he pulled a light, making the theater illuminate in a neon blue color.

EJ let out a scream at the sight of the dummy props in the corner.

"Sorry everyone. My uncle Ruben said there was gonna be some left over stuff from the fashion show." Carlos apologized out loud to everyone, "I guess the theme was 80s rave."

"It's kinda sexy." Nova said honestly.

"In a nuclear reactor?" Ashlyn asked with a odd look.

"Big Red, do we have anything more flattering?" Miss Jenn questioned the ginger boy yet again.

"Working on it!" he yelled back just as much dimmer yet better lighting came through.

•

kylie speaks

depaul, we are coming
for you!

also, love some cuddly
bitches this chapter!!
more physical affection
to come from these two
in the new chapter!!