"Great sounds like a plan. Thank you." Carlos spoke, causing Esme to break away from the group.

A loud gasp escaped her mouth as her eyes locked onto her best friends, watching as Lilly and Zay happily walked onto the stage side by side.

"So... how do we look?" Zay asked, causing the duo to spin in a circle.

"I am a fashion genius." Esme gasped, looking at their costumes before looking back up at her friends who gave her a look. "What I meant to say is you guys look absolutely incredible! Ryan and Kelsi could never look this good."

"I know!" Lilly squealed, grabbing onto Zay's arm. "We look perfect!"

"Wait, Zay your hat. Let me..." Esme spoke, stepping forward to fix the boy by moving it over an inch to the left.

"Perfect."

"Okay, people, let's do this!"

The trio turned to the sound of the Bowen boy's voice causing Esme's eyes to widen while the other two stood behind her laughing.

"Oh, my god, this is amazing!" Lilly gasped, covering her mouth.

"What?" Ricky asked, flicking his hair.

"Oh my god, he did the Bieber flip!" Zay exclaimed, hitting the Ortiz girl's arm. "How is anyone supposed to focus when he does the Bieber flip?"

"I'm sorry, there's just..." Esme started to giggle. "so much to talk about."

"Soo much." Lilly dragged out, causing the trio to burst out into laughter.

"Wait, what's funny?" Ricky asked, looking over at Carlos flicking his hair again before he began laughing too.

After the trio finally calmed down, Lilly and Zay walked away with Carlos as they discussed things about the show.

"Pretty good, right?" Ricky asked, guestering towards himself as Esme made her way closer to the boy.

"Definitely." Esme chuckled lightly as she nodded her head. "You look great."

"Thank you. I try." Ricky said, flipping his hair.

"Wait, I can see some of your actual hair coming through the wig." Esme pointed out, causing the boy to stop. "May I?"

"Yeah, please." Ricky nodded.

Esme stepped closer to the boy, causing their faces to only be inches away as she reached up to begin tucking pieces of his exposed hair back into his wig.

A few feet away Nini watched the pair with a feeling in her stomach that she couldn't shake.

The feeling of someone watching her caused the Ortiz girl to glance over, locking eyes with the Bowen boy.

Standing there for a few seconds before the girl cleared her throat taking a step back. "There you go."

"Yeah, thanks." Ricky muttered out.

"Okay, guys. We're gonna get one ini for practice, okay?" Big Red announced, causing the pair to share one last glance before Esme quickly made her way behind the camera. "We're all gonna jump on the count of three... Ready? One, Two, Three."

The six teens jumped at different times, some before and some after. Not to mention Koutney went rushing in front of the camera as it flashed.

"I'm so sorry, y'all." Kourtney apologized, taking her spot beside Esme. "So sorry."

"One, two, three."

Once again the cast jumped at different times but this time the L on Musical tipped over, causing Esme to cover her face.

"Wait, what happened?" Big Red asked, confused.

"Where to begin." Troy muttered.

"I think you went early." Zay said, looking at Ricky.

"Wait, so are we jumping on three or after three?" Lilly asked, causing Zay to point at her as he nodded.

"I would also like to know the answer to that." Gina spoke.

"Yeah, the count of three, ready?" Big Red shrugged, causing the group to raise their eyebrows.

"Nah, man, you need some new words." Ricky said.

"I think I broke a heel." Seb admitted.

"You guys, this isn't that hard." Carlos sighed. "You smile, you leave the earth, you land."

"Yeah, well it's a little hard to smile when we don't even know the plan." Zay explained.

"I can't look at Ricky. Is that a problem?" Nini asked, pointing at the boy beside her, causing the Bown boy to sigh as the others began to laugh.
"Okay, let's take a five." Carlos announced.

"On five or after five?" Ricky muttered, causing the others to laugh as Esme watched the boy walk away.

"I think he's mad at us."

⊱ ──────ஓ๑♡๑ஓ ────── ⊰

Esme slung her backpack over her shoulder as she pushed her locker closed.

"Hey." The girl heard from behind her, causing her to quickly glance over her shoulder.

"Hey, Ricky." Esme smiled, stepping beside the boy as she walked beside her down the hallway.

"You heading to rehearsal?" Ricky asked.

"Yeah."  Esme nodded, glancing down at the case in the boy's hand. "I didn't know you could play the guitar."

"Oh this?" Ricky said, holding up his case, making the girl chuckle. "A little bit."

"Well maybe you can play me a song someday." Esme smiled as they entered the bunker.

"Totally." Ricky agreed, smiling at the girl before the pair went their separate ways.

"What's got you all smiley?" Zay teased, bumping shoulders with the girl as she stopped beside him while the Reid girl sat on the stage in front of them. "Or should I say who?"

"I don't know what you're talking about." Esme muttered.

"No? So it wouldn't have anything to do with the boy you've been spending all your time with?" Lilly asked.

"I do not spend all my time with Ricky." Esme groaned.

"I never said a name." Lilly said, holding her hands up in surrender as she shared a smirk with Zay.

"I hate both of you."

"No you don't." The duo said in unison.

"No, I don't." Esme mumbled taking a seat beside Lilly, placing her head on the girl's shoulder.

"Guys, let's just start." Natalie announced, standing up from her seat, gaining everyone's attention. "Flip to When There Was Me and You in your script."

"Oh, should we maybe wait until Miss Jenn gets here?" Ashlyn questioned, confused.

"Well, I don't know. Apparently nobody's in charge."

"Okay, people, let's stage a number. I'm late." Carlos nervously chuckled.

"Is Miss Jenn coming?" Nini asked.

"Miss Jenn had a small personal matter to attend to and won't be here today." Carlos announced.

"Oh my, is everything all right?" Lilly spoke up.

"Good question." Zay added from beside her.

"Everything's fine." Carlos replied, letting out another nervous chuckle. "Why would you guys even ask that?"

Carlos trailed off quickly, turning away from the group causing the trio to share a confused look as Carlos began setting up the boxes on the floor.

"Okay, Gabriella, I need you downstage on this mark. Troy, stage right. Chad, stage left box. Um, other boys, find a box." Carlos instructed, leading Nini to the center box.

"Uh, are they onstage with me while I'm singing?" Nini questioned, glancing around confused.

"Yes, they will be frozen in various poses to come." Carlos explained. "As the ballad builds, Nini, you will be wandering through a forest of boys."

"Wait." Nini nervously chuckled. "What does that mean?"

"Do you know what a forest of trees look like?" Carlos asked, causing the Salazar-Roberts girl to nod. "Okay, but with boys." 

"And, uh... No. I-I'm sorry, why?"

Carlos let out a sigh. "Because your heart has just been shattered and you can't stop thinking about how amazing Troy is. Let's go!"

Carlos motioned for Seb to start playing but he only got the first couple cords out before cut him off.

"Uh, no. I-I'm sorry, but at this point in the show Troy just sold me out to his teammates."

"She does make a really good point." Lily spoke up.

"Yeah, what Troy did was kind of unforgivable." Ashlyn stated. "Respectfully, Carlos, I think the last thing anyone wants in this moment is four more versions of him."

"Maybe she could chop down the trees." Natalie suggested.

"Or what if she's surrounded by a forest of loving and supportive sisters. Okay?" Kourtney spoke, causing the girls to agree as they all started talking at once.

"Is it better if she just sings a solo acoustic version?" Ricky asked, raising his hand, causing the girls to quickly shoot his idea down.

"I actually think that's a good idea." Esme spoke. "I mean isn't that technically what she did in the movie?"

"Yeah, I vote for that." Gina agreed, causing the others to begin speaking over each other once again.

"Okay, you guys, this is not a democracy!" Carlos snapped, causing the room to go quiet.

"Carlos are you, okay?" Zay asked, concerned.

"I mean it's totally not that deep." Lilly added.

"Yeah, we can all come back when Miss Jenn gets here." Nini suggested, approaching the boy.

"Well, she's not here and I don't know if she's ever coming back."

"Wait what?" Ricky questioned.

Is this a joke?" Ashlyn asked.

"If it is, it's not a very funny one." Lilly said.

"She's in deep trouble, you guys." Carlos admitted. "They're saying that she lied on her job application, and there's a school board meeting in less than 24 hours, and she's probably going to lose her job. I wasn't supposed to tell any of you, but I'm trying to do my best here."

"I can't believe it." Nini scoffed.

"What are we even doing in rehearsal?" EJ asked.

"Wait, how can we have a show if we don't have a teacher?" Ashlyn questioned.

"Wow, Carlos. What else are you not telling us?"

"Hey, that's a little harsh." Esme spoke, holding her hand out toward the Caswell boy. "This isn't on him so maybe ease up on him."

"Do you wanna be in charge?"
Natalie snapped.

"She didn't say that!" Lilly and Zay snapped together.

"You know what? I..." Nini trailed off as she picked up her bag from the floor, standing up from the piano bench. "I need a minute."

"Right there with you." Kourtney said, following the girl out the door.

Everyone began heading toward the foot, speaking their feelings.

"Guys." Ricky called but no one stopped.

"I'm sorry, Carlos." Natalie said before grabbing her stuff and following after the crowd.

"Rehearsals are officially canceled until further notice!"  

"Great." Zay groaned, throwing his arms up. "What are we supposed to do now?"

"Slices?" Lilly suggested, causing the boy to nod.

"Yeah."

The duo went to make their way to the door when they noticed their third member wasn't following.

"Hey E, you coming?" Zay asked.

"Yeah just give me a sec. I'll meet you out front."

"Yeah, okay." Lilly nodded before the duo made their way out the door, leaving Esme and Ricky in the bunker alone.

"Well that was definitely something." Esme spoke, making her way over to the boy as he turned to face her.

"Definitely." Ricky nodded. "But it's all gonna be okay."

"Do you know something everyone else doesn't?" Esme questioned.

"She's Miss Jenn. She's unstoppable. The show is unstoppable."

"But what if something does happen? You know, what if the show does stop?"

"Let's not go there." Ricky quickly responded. "It can't stop. We still have too much work to do."

"Definitely." Esme nodded, sending the boy a small smile. "Uh... how about that acoustic song version you were talking about? It was a great idea and I would love to hear it."

"You serious?"

"Of course. Besides, you still owe me a show after I performed for you." Esme said, causing them both to chuckle. "Besides we got the time right?"

"Right."

The Ortiz girl smiled as she took a seat on one of the boxes as she watched the boy pull out his guitar from its case.

"Uh... it's not as good as the original so please no judgment." Ricky spoke as he approached the girl.

"Just play. I'll be the judge of that."

I thought you were my fairytale
My dream when I'm not sleepin'
A wish upon a star that's comin' true
But everybody else could tell
That I confused my feelings with the truth
When there was me and you, oh-oh

I swore I knew the melody
That I heard you singin'
And when you smiled, you made me feel
Like I could sing along
But then you went and changed the words
Now my heart is empty
I'm only left with used-to-be's
And once upon a song

Now I know you're not a fairytale
And dreams are meant for sleepin'
And wishes on a star just don't come true
'Cause now, even I can tell
That I confused my feelings with the truth
Because I liked the view
When there was me and you

"So, yeah. There's that." Ricky spoke once he finished, quickly standing up from the box across from the girl.

"Ricky, that was really good!" Esme smiled at the boy.  "I'm literally blown away by how talented you are. I would give anything to play the guitar."

"But you're literally good at everything else, so I don't want to hear it." Ricky said, causing the girl to chuckle as she approached the boy.

"I wouldn't say all that."

"Are you kidding me? I mean the dancing, singing, fashion, and we can't forget about your amazing teaching skills." Ricky said, causing the girl to chuckle lightly as their eyes locked. "Should we be doing something? You know to help Miss Jenn."

"I think that's a great idea. What did you have in mind?"

"I know... A letter-writing campaign." Ricky suggested.

"I definitely don't think that's possible in one night." Esme chuckled.

"Yeah, I don't know."

Esme felt her phone buzz in her pocket, causing her to reach for it.

Noticing a text from the trios group chat from Zay.

"You gotta be somewhere?" Ricky asked, watching the girl.

"I do actually. I'm supposed to be going to Slices with Zay and Lilly." Esme explained, quickly texting back before she looked up at the boy. "You could totally come if you want."

"I would love to but I think I'm gonna head to Red's and brainstorm some more."

You sure?"'Esme asked, slinging her bag over shoulder, causing the boy to nod. "Okay, well let me know what you come up with. I'd love to help anyway I can."

"You got it."

"See ya." Esme smiled, waving at the boy before she turned and disappeared out the door as she typed on her phone.

The Bowen boy turned around letting out a breath.

...