"It is a beautiful night in Albuquerque. Thanks to all of you beautiful Wildcat faces." Taylor McKessie spoke. "I'm Taylor McKessie and if you would've told me 15 years ago at our graduation, that I would someday be the principal of East High School..."

"I would have said, that sounds about right." Chad interrupted.

"Still the better couple of the entire franchise." Soul muttered, causing the group to look over at her. "Just saying."

"All right, all right, all right. If we can get a spotlight for a second. Tonight isn't just the 15th anniversary of the best class ever. It is also a very special night for a very special teacher. Happy retirement, Miss Darbus!" Chad announced.

"This is all about me? Oh, my goodness. Oh. Thank you. Oh, you shouldn't have." Miss Darbus cried out in happiness.

"I couldn't agree more." Coach Bolton teased.

"And here to say a big Wildcat thank you..." Chad quickly moved out the way.

"It's the current drama class at East High!"

"We love you, Miss Darbus!"

"And I love you."

Sam quickly spun Bailey into his arms, "And I love you, baby."

The boy spun her before placing a quick kiss on her lips.

"Cut!" Quinn exclaimed. "Mack, you are not supposed to kiss Gina until after the bridge. That was a change in blocking rehearsal."

"Got it, Quinn. I'll get it right on the next take." Mack exclaimed, sending the woman a thumbs up.

'Okay, let's take it from Mack and Gina's entrance." Quinn spoke. "Featured extras, look alive on the sidelines. Thank you."

"Copy, thank you Quinn!" Ricky exclaimed.

"That kiss looked very convincing." Kourtney spoke, eyeing the Bowen boy.

"Yeah, Ricky. You sure you're okay with this?" Ashlyn questioned, causing the boy to let out a scoff.

"Why wouldn't I be?" Ricky questioned. "Gina's living the dream. We're living the dream. It's all our dream. High School Musical 4, baby! Whoo!"

"Okay, you're screaming." Carlos said, causing the boy to slowly lower his arms as he snapped his mouth shut as Carlos turned his attention to the Walker girl. "Hey, everything okay? You've been quiet all day?"

"Yeah. I just got a lot on my mind." Soul answered, sending the group a small smile before turning her attention back to the stage, causing the group to share a look.

"And action!"

...

Soul entered the rehearsal room with a smile on her face as she typed away but it slowly disappeared as she noticed the bareness, the only thing the girl heard was the sound of laughter filling the room as Ricky and Gina entered.

"Wait. Miss Jenn, why is the rehearsal room empty?" Gina questioned.

"Well." Miss Jenn hesitated as she approached the trio with a small smile. "We had to have this conversation eventually. Much like my mother's problematic Twitter account, High School Musical 3 is canceled. The drama department is on pause."

"On pause? What does that even mean?" Ricky asked, sounding confused.

"No one showed up for the act one run-through yesterday. Except for Emmy. But I'm starting to think she is the ghost of a small Victorian child." Miss Jenn explained.

"So, you're canceling the show because we missed one rehearsal?" Ricky questioned in disbelief.

"Half the cast has been missing half the rehearsals, Ricky." Miss Jenn corrected. "Principal Gutierrez made the decision. It is final. We are not allowed to have this club anymore. It's okay, you guys. You have so much to celebrate. You just wrapped a movie... and you just put out an album. And this, all of this... it was always just a high school musical. "

Soul tried to hold back the tears but she could feel the swelling in her eyes as she glanced around the room as she let out a deep breath as Ricky grabbed onto the girl's hand for comfort.

"And today, you begin moving on to even bigger things."

"What if we're not ready to move on just yet." Soul spoke as a tear rolled down her face.

Miss Jenn lightly smiled at the girl as she carefully wiped the tear away.

"Okay, what happened?" Ashlyn asked as the rest of the cast came barging into the room, causing Soul to quickly wipe her face with her hands as the trio broke apart.

"Who died?" Kourtney raced into the room.

"And will there be an estate sale?" Carlos questioned.

"Technically, a human didn't die." Miss Jenn answered.

"You texted us, there's been a death." Maddox spoke, holding out her phone.

"There has been. Our drama club." Ricky explained.

"Guys we don't have a drama club anymore?"

"This is why I kept texting you guys that the drama club was canceled." Emmy spoke up, causing Carlos to check his phone.

"All I got was a bunch of symbols."

"That's because everything I write is encrypted." Emmy explained.

"You guys, our department is about to go extinct because none of you except for Emmy showed up for rehearsals yesterday." Ricky blamed.

"Excuse me. You weren't here either." Kourtney scoffed, pointing at the boy.

"I had an existential crisis about my future." Ricky pointed out.

"Okay, well, I was in Georgia weighing out my options." Kourtney snapped.

"I was placing a very confusing phone call." Ashlyn raised her hand.

"I was incredibly busy, being betrayed." Carlos spoke up.

"Wait. Big Red told me the kiss was just an accident." Ashlyn said.

"I thought you broke up with him because you were so traumatized." Carlos questioned.

"No, we actually had the most chill break-up of all time. We went to Walgreens after. We both needed Lactaid pills." Ashlyn answered.

"Wait. So you're single again?' Maddox blurted out, causing everyone to turn and look at the girl. "And, Emmy, you're single too. And Jet. Miss Jenn, just naming all the single people."

"I got your text about something being dead." Mr Mazzara rushed into the room, looking at Miss Jenn. "You look alive."

"I am. Kind of. So, is it true?" Miss Jenn questioned, causing the man to look around at all the sad faces.

"It is." Mr Mazzara answered, causing Soul to close her eyes, letting the news sink in. "Principal Gutierrez gave your funding to my department, and yes, I have already spent the money on laptops for the local orphanage."

Maddox let out a chuckle, causing the man to give her a serious look, "You weren't kidding."

"He's never kidding, dear." Miss Jenn informed the girl, shaking her head.

"Okay, what's the big deal if we don't have that money?" Gina asked.

"Gina, honey, that means we don't have the budget to make costumes or build sets." Miss Jenn explains. "High School Musical 3 is a complicated 2008 period piece."

"Why don't we buy Obama yard signs and print out articles about the recession?" Ricky suggested, causing the group to begin talking amongst themselves.

"I have Obama signs in my garage!"

"Listen up! Wildcats! Wildcats!" Miss Jenn clapped her hands. "If there's two things I've learned during my many things in the theater, it's knowing when to enter and when to exit. Today we do the latter."

"Um.. Would you guys, um, excuse me?" Emmy sniffled, turning and making her way out of the room, making Soul's heart hurt for the girl.

"I made a child cry today."

"This summer literally changed her life!" Soul finally spoke up, gaining everyone's attention. "She literally left everything she knew to come here to be with all of us."

"All of her new big brothers and sisters." Gina added, causing Soul to nod with a small smile.

"Her biggest dream was to sing at East High." Ashlyn smiled.

"It was also her biggest fear." Jet spoke from beside Soul, causing her to put her hand on his shoulder. "She, yeah, told me that."

"Guys, this can't just be the end. We have to do something to save this show and our home!" Soul spoke. "If not for us then we have to at least try for the younger kids like Emmy."

"Okay, well, you aren't gonna get very far in life if you go around being afraid all the time." Kourtney disclosed.

"Then why do you look like you're about to cry?" Ricky pointed out.

"I'm just saying. If you live your life in fear, there's gonna be a lot of stuff to be afraid of."

"Mmm. It sounds like the exact opposite of where you were last year." Ashlyn approached the girl.

"Okay, we are not gonna go there." Kourtney nervously chuckled, taking a seat.

"Not gonna go where?" Soul asked.

"Ashlyn, it's just a stupid story." Kourtney whispered to the girl.

"If all of this is truly over... I mean, just let me be sentimental for, like, one minute, Kourt." Ashlyn said, causing the Greene girl to nod her head.

"Yeah, tell us a story, Ash."

"Wow. I haven't thought about this in so long. It was the first day of school. Miss Jenn had just announced she was directing High School Musical." Ashlyn recalls the day she and Kourtney first met with a big grin.

"I never knew that." Miss Jenn said.

"I guess I sort of forgot." Kourtney pulled the girl into a hug.

"Shout out to Mr. Mazzara who let me miss the first day of Robotics Club to audition for the musical." Ashyln smiled at the man.

"Benjamin, you're still here."

"I was. And now I am not." Mr. Mazzara nodded at the group, turning to make his way out the door.

"Wait. you're a Six Below Zero fan?" Jet questioned, causing the man to quickly stop in his tracks.

"What? Oh, no. It's nothing." Mr. Mazzara quickly turned so his computer wasn't showing, causing Gina and Soul to share a look.

"You have a Six Below Zero sticker on your laptop, bro."

"You're grimacing. You look like an emoji." Miss Jenn pointed out, letting out a chuckle with Jet. "Well, now I'm sentimental about our first terrible meeting."

"Look! I was not exactly in a good place on the first day of school last year." Mr. Mazzara explained how he once was in a group, a boyband to be exact.

"You were in a boyband?!" Soul said in disbelief. "That explains so much."

"I'm shaking." Carlos added.

"I knew I recognized you. I went through this obscure boy-band phase in middle school." Jet exposed himself.

"He did, It was weird." Maddox added, causing Soul to chuckle.

"You guys were really big in Warsaw."

"It was the entire country of Poland." Mr. Mazzara corrected the boy. "But yes, I was briefly part of a male singing institution. They referred to me simply as Benny. I was the funky one until they kicked me out for pulling focus. They had one number-one single called New Zealand, which was a song about how great of a time they had without me in New Zealand. Jennifer, I'm sorry for how I spoke to you that day. And ensuing days. You gave these university-strange children a space to be themselves. I wish there were more people like you in the world."

"I forgive you, Benny."

"Um, so this has been really illuminating on so many levels, but we kind of have a musical to save." Gina interrupted, making her way towards Ricky.

"Yeah, I'm with Gina." Maddox nodded.

"Same. Love a good boy band sob story, but come on, Mr. Funky One. Don't get us sidetracked." Ricky spoke.

"Sidetracked? This is the most shocking day of my life since..." Carlos trailed off, looking over at Miss Jenn.

"Carlos, you have my blessing."

"I thought sophomore year was going to be boring and predictable, like a straight person's TikTok feed."

"Oh. Ooh, I literally just shuddered." Maddox shook her shoulders.

Carlos told the story about the day Miss Jenn protected him from his bullies and made him the choreographer for the musical.

"And that was the day you named me."

"And that was the day you saved me." Carlos smiled, pulling the drama teacher into a much needed hug.

"Wow."

"Seb."

"Oh, great. Are you here to kiss everyone?" Carlos sassy questioned, looking directly at the blonde boy.

"Carlos. "

"I can't take this anymore!" Seb exclaimed, surprising everyone as their eyes went wide. "Sit down, Carlos. For months. I've been channeling my guilt into latte art. I'm probably the only person who's drawn 4,000 cows on a cappuccino. But everytime I stare at a cow, I think about you."

"Because I embody a cow? You've interrupted an emotional climax here and we're done."

"No. When I showed up three hours late to homecoming after my cow passed away, you were there for me. And I know I haven't been there for you. But, look, when I was making one of my final lattes at Crafty. I overheard the most incredible duet between Lucas Grabeek as Ryan and Scott Huang as his partner, who really never got a name according to the script. I want to sing the song to you today, to my Ryan. Miss Jenn is the one who encouraged me."

"You did what?" Carlos questioned, looking at the woman betrayed.

"Give him a chance, Carlos."

"Maddox even tracked down the sheet music." Seb added, looking back at the girl.

"To be fair, Emmy helped me."

"That girl scares me." Carlos admits, letting out a deep breath before looking back up at the boy. "Seb, you have to move on."

"But I can't. You're the greatest person I've ever dated."

"Seb, I'm the only person you've ever dated."

"That's actually not true." Seb admits, causing the cast to gasp as Soul looked around confused. "I was once in a serious relationship... with a woman."

"Hold on. You dated Natalie Bagley?" Ricky questioned in disbelief.

"You guys seriously didn't know that. I mean they were literally always together." Soul pointed out, causing Seb to nod. "But I also only knew because Sarah told me..."

"We made out a lot and spent the rest of our time together fantasy-casting the Wicked movie." Seb explained.

"But where is Natalie?" Kourtney asked.

"North High. She made it less evil." Seb answered.

"You left Natalie Bagley for me?"

"I would leave anyone for you. And now, I've said my peace." Seb lightly smiled at the boy as he turned to walk out of the room but Soul and Ricky quickly blocked his path.

"No. You're playing that song, Sebbie." Soul said, pointing at the boy, causing a smile to form on his face as she looked over at Carlos. "We want the song."

"He's playing the damn song, Carlos." Ricky exclaimed, looking at the Rodriguez boy before guiding Seb to the piano.

Soul couldn't help but smile at the interaction between the couple as they sang to each other at the piano.

She knew that in the end they'd be just fine.

The group cheered for the couple as they finished as Soul wiped away a straying tear.

"There is so much I didn't know about you." Carlos softly spoke, making his way around the piano.

"Sometimes people put me in a box." Seb admitted, causing Gina and Soul to let out a light chuckle, causing them to quickly share a look.

"I'm sorry. Was that out loud?" Gina questioned, looking around at the group.

"It was." Ricky lightly chuckled.

"I guess I also know what it's like to be put in a box." Gina admitted.

"Same here." Soul nodded.

"Oh, thank god. Take the spotlight off us for a second." Carlos sighed loudly.

"Us?" Seb happily said.

"I..."

"I love you too." Seb said, interviewing their hands, causing Soul to smile before looking over at Gina who was looking over at Ricky.

"Go ahead, G." Soul encouraged with a small smile, causing everyone to turn to the girl.

"Okay. When I started at East High, I know I may have come off a little on edge." Gina admitted, causing Kourtney to laugh out loud.

"I'm sorry. Was that out loud?"

Gina let out a chuckle before continuing, "Let's just say things were complicated."

The rest of the cast stood there stunted after Gina finished her recalling of her first day of school.

"I never knew that." Soul admitted, letting out a light chuckle.

"So, if Gina didn't tell Ricky to publicly sing to Nini, he wouldn't have gotten Troy." Kourtney pointed at the boy beside her.

"But if Ricky hadn't mentioned he was auditioning, Gina wouldn't have shown up, period." Ashlyn pointed out.

"This is like Murder, She Wrote."

"I don't really know what's going on, but this is incredible." Maddox smiled.

Ricky made his way over to the Porter girl, "Are you saying you tried out for the show because of me?"

"You had a vibe. I had an instinct."

"I need to sit down." Ricky cleared his throat, taking a seat. "It's true then. I wouldn't be here if it weren't for you."

"Well. I could say the same." Gina grinned.

"Guys, please stop being all lovey dovey. You're making me miss my boyfriend, okay." Soul sniffled, wiping her tears away, causing everyone to chuckle.

"What about you Soul? How'd you end up here?" Jet questioned, causing everyone to look over at the girl.

"Everyone knows that story. Sarah asked me to audition with her and I did. End of story." Soul shrugged her shoulders. "I don't really have a heartfelt story about how I got here. I wish I did but I don't."

"No. But there was something that changed inside of you." Miss Jenn spoke, causing the girl to look over at her. "It may not have been at the first audition but definitely at the second one. You were much more confident and happy."

"Well right before auditions I had a very important meeting with the counselor." Soul chuckled, remembering the day like it was yesterday.

...

East High School, Soul's Junior Year

40 minutes until Beauty & The Beast Auditions

Soul lifted her hand, knocking on the door, causing the man sitting behind the desk to lift his head up, making the girl to softly smile.

"You wanted to see me?" Soul asked, holding up the pink slip she got from her teacher.

"Yes, Ms. Walker. Come in, close the door behind you." Mr. Mazzara waved the girl in, causing her to step into the office, softly closing the door behind her.

"I'm not in trouble am I?" Soul spoke, slowly lowering herself into the chair across from the desk.

"No, not at all." The man shook his head, causing the girl to let out a breath as she placed her bag on the floor by her feet. "As you can tell I am filling in for the counselor for the day while she is out with the flu, since I'm the only one qualified. Meaning I am stuck with asking the Juniors about their futures and their life after high school."

"Oh." Soul said, quickly sitting up straighter in her seat. "Okay."

"No, need to be nervous. I'm just gonna ask you a few questions." Mr Mazzara spoke, opening the girl's file, causing her to nod. "I see here that you are an exceptional student. Straight A's with the exception of a single B in PE freshman year but honestly who's looking at that and a 3.97 GPA"

Mr. Mazzara placed the paper on the desk as he looked over at the girl with a pen in his hand.

"I wouldn't see why any school would deny you." Mr. Mazzara admitted, clicking the pen down. "Are there any colleges or universities in mind that you were thinking about attending?"

"I'm not sure." Soul shrugged her shoulders. "I mean, I haven't really thought about that stuff. You know schools. The future."

"I see." Mr. Mazzara slightly nodded, closing the folder as he clasped his hands together on the desk. "Let me ask you this, Ms. Walker. What is something that you enjoy doing? What is something that makes you happy?"

"Music." Souls answered without hesitation with a small smile on her face. " I really enjoy writing songs and singing."

"Have you ever thought about pursuing a career with that?" Mr. Mazzara asked, leaning back in his chair, causing the girl to lift her eyebrow.

"You mean, like becoming a singer?" Soul asked, causing the man to nod. "I would love nothing more but I don't know if I'm good enough for that."

"I think you would succeed very well in that career choice even if it's not STEM." Mr. Mazzara said, causing the girl to smile. "You never know unless you try, Soul."

"In all the years we've known each other, that's the first time you actually called me by my name." Soul grinned, causing a small smile to grow on the man's face.

"Don't get used to it." Mr. Mazzara spoke as he wrote on a piece of paper, causing the girl to chuckle before he held the paper out towards her. "This is a number for a studio. Give them a call and tell them you are looking to pursue a career in music and they'll get you in touch with one of their producers."

"Are you serious?" Soul asked, looking from the paper to the man, causing him to nod, making a smile form on the girls face. "Thank you so much, Mr. Mazzara. This-This means everything to me."

"Don't mention it, Ms. Walker." Mr. Mazzara said, causing the girl to chuckle as she stood up from her seat, slinging her bag over her shoulder as she made her way to the door.

"You're a great teacher." Soul spoke up, stopping in the doorway, looking back at the man. "But you would make an amazing counselor one day."

Soul sent the teacher a real smile before she disappeared out of the door, causing a smile to appear on the man's face.

...

"I never got to thank you for that day." Soul smiled, making her way over to the man. "Without you, I honestly wouldn't be where I am today. I don't know where I would be."

"I didn't do anything. All I did was give you a path and you went down the road." Mr Mazzara lightly nodded at the girl. "Besides your a bright young lady you would have found your way eventually."

The girl smiled lightly as she stepped towards the man, stopping in front of him before wrapping her arms around him, pulling him into a hug, surprising the man.

"Thank you, Mr. Mazarra." Soul whispered, causing the man to slowly wrap his arms around the girl as a small smile formed on his face.

"You're welcome, Soul." Mr. Mazarra said, causing the smile in the girl's face to grow.

The group smiled at the duo's interaction before they pulled apart.

"You know, Miss Jenn, you're the one who brought us all together." Gina pointed out.

"That's not true." Miss Jenn waved it off. "You'd be here with some other drama teacher."

"Um, no, we literally wouldn't. Have you not been listening to us?" Carlos crossed his arms.

"Actually, wait. You never told us how you ended up here or why?" Ashlyn spoke.

"It's not important."
"We'll be the judge of that." Maddox said.

"Be nice, Maddox. Gina is the intimidating girl around here." Miss Jenn spoke, causing Gina to shrug. "It was one month before school started last year. I was still living in a neighborhood of New York City called Hoboken."

"New Jersey?" Soul questioned, causing a smile to grow on the teacher's face as she nodded.

She told the story of how Alyson Reed was the one who told her to become a high school drama teacher at a Broadway wicked audition.

Even told her how Miss Darbus deserved a power ballad and that's how Miss Jenn ended up at good ole East High.

"Full body chills." Ricky said.

"And that's how the story ends." Miss Jenn nodded, causing the room to go silent, leaving everyone deep in thought. "Oh, wait. Goodness. I almost forgot. Gina, would you give me a hand with these?"

The group of teens grouped together as they watched their drama teacher hand out bags.

"For you. And you. And you. Uh, these are wrap gifts. They're gratitude journals for all of you. For the movie. And I guess for our little show too."

"So, that's it. High School Musical's over?" Ricky's voice cracked, looking at Miss Jenn with sadness in his eyes.

"Jennifer. I thought we discussed this." Principal Gutierrez walked in.

"I was just dismissing them, Principal Gutierrez." Miss Jenn told the man, turning her attention back to the teens. "Yes, Ricky. It's over. But you've got lives to live. And loves to love. And all the good things must come to an end."

"Well, guys, we had a good run, then." Gina spoke, trying to stay strong.

"We just got here, though." Jet wept, looking down at his sister.

"My dad's here. I should probably..." Ashlyn trailed off, quickly turning to leave with Kourtney right behind her.

"Yeah, I have to finalize layouts for yearbooks, so I should..."

"I'm supposed to clean up the coffee truck and bring Corbin a vanilla latte before his jet takes off."

"I can help." Carlos spoke, following Seb out of the room.

"Wow. I can't believe you guys actually tried to convince me there was a point to all of this." Jet looked between Ricky and Soul before storming out with Maddox on his heels.

"Jennifer..."

"Give her a minute." Mr. Mazarra raised his voice before quickly lowering it. "These are her children."

Principal Gutierrez nodded his head before leaving the room.

"Um, I'm gonna go find Emmy... make sure she's okay." Soul spoke, causing the remaining three to look over at her before Soul pulled Miss Jenn into a much needed hug.

Slowly pulling away the pair shared a smile, Soul looked back at Gina and Ricky sending them both a small smile before she followed the direction the young girl went.

The Walker girl wandered the halls looking for the girl but the sounds of music led her to the auditorium.

Soul slowly crept into the side door as she saw the small girl standing there center stage, causing a small smile to form on her lips as she slowly made her way to the girl.

[Emmy, Soul, Both]

Mm, mm
Mm

Can't let it end this way
Watchin' our dreams slowly fade to gray
And everyone seems so okay
But I can't let it all go so easily

Soul lightly grabbed the young girl's hand, causing Emmy to quickly turn and face her.

Who says the curtain is closin'
On the time of our lives?

How could I sleep at night
Pretendin' I'm fine
Leavin' it all behind
When dreams don't die?
Wherever I go, it will follow me home
And I'd always know that dreams don't die
So why take them for granted
When you could be off takin' chances?
So I will give all I got
No matter the odds
'Cause it's all that I want
And dreams don't die

Even if it's up to me
Even if I'm the only one who sees
I'm never gonna stop believin'
As long as I've got air to breathe in

Who says the curtain is closin'
On the time of our lives?

How could I sleep at night
Pretendin' I'm fine
Leavin' it all behind
When dreams don't die?
Wherever I go, it will follow me home
And I'd always know that dreams don't die
So why take them for granted
When you could be off takin' chances?
So I will give all I got
No matter the odds
'Cause it's all that I want
And dreams don't die

Got nothin' to lose, so I'll go fight
I'm facin' the music deep inside
And no one can take that away if they tried

Soul slowly let go of Emmy's hands as she gestured the girl towards the front of the stage as she took a step back, watching the girl with a proud smile.

How could I sleep at night
Pretendin' I'm fine
Leavin' it all behind
When dreams don't die?
Wherever I go, it will follow me home
And I'd always know that dreams don't die
So why take them for granted
When you could be off takin' chances?
So I will give all I got
No matter the odds
'Cause it's all that I want
And dreams don't die

Emmy looked back at Soul with a giant smile, rushing to the girl as Soul pulled her into a tight hug.

The sound of clapping caused Emmy to quickly let go of the girl as she looked to the side stage finding everyone standing there.

Emmy glanced back at Soul, causing her to grin as she clapped for the girl, causing Emmy smile to grow as everyone rushed towards the young girl.

"You are a star, my friend." Soul complimented, causing Emmy's smile to grow more as she pulled the girl into another hug, causing everyone to aw.

"That means everything, coming from you." Emmy grinned, causing the Walker girl to pout as she pulled the younger girl in closer.

"Miss Jenn, we have to save the show. For the next generation." Kourtney pleaded, causing the group to turn and look at the drama teacher with hopeful looks. "I said it and now it cannot be unsaid."

"I just don't know how." Miss Jenn admitted.

"Oh, come on, Jennifer. Trust the process." Alyson Reed spoke, approaching the group with Bart Johnson. "Well, we heard from Emmy that your drama department was in trouble."

"Coach and Darbus never could agree on anything, but, well, Bart and Alyson can. Your program is worth saving. We're donating a quarter of our salaries from High School Musical 4."

That left the cast stunned as they looked around at each other super excited.

"How much is that, may I ask?" Miss Jenn questioned, causing Alyson to whisper in her ear, making her eyes go wide. "I am underpaid. But at this point we don't even have a stage manager, and the show is supposed to be next week."

"I could always call Natalie."

"Seb, honey, hush."

"I've got stage management covered." Maddox spoke up from the back.

"But half of our ensemble quit. Three of them actually have mono." Miss Jenn explained. "Who's gonna play Sharpay's assistant? Who's going to play Coach Bolton? Am I actually playing Miss Darbus?"

"Yes." Alyson said.

"Ricky Bowen, please report to the counseling office."

...

I'm sad to say we're getting close to the end. But don't worry I got a few more tricks up my sleeve! ;)
Also big shoutout to @MCKINLEYPOLLARD for the idea of adding Soul onto the song with Emmy I thought it was sooo cute.
lmk what you guys think will happen in the final chapters to come! xoxo MJ