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chapter sixteen
GASTON
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(most likely to pt i)

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The whole cast for Beauty and the Beast stood in the bomb shelter for an early rehearsal before the career fair. Well, except Nini — after the whole fiasco with Ricky and The Rose Song, she had decided to start a new Instagram page and go by the name of Nina.

Dylan stood next to EJ, who did in fact buy her pizza the other night. After Dylan had finished comforting Kourtney, she had gone home and tried to get some sleep, which she found physically impossible, especially since she was home alone. So she messaged EJ — and despite it being late at night — he replied and went to hers with pizza to keep her company until she fell asleep and her dad got home.

"Hi." Miss Jenn began. "Thank you all for coming to rehearsal in the morning. I know it's a crazy day with the career fair and all, but given all your behaviour last week, I believe we are lucky to be rehearsing at all. For future reference, singing and dancing good. Breaking an entering, bad."

"Miss Jenn, we didn't break anything." Seb protested.

"Would you like me to be the first?"

"I'm good."

Carlos raised his hand. "Okay, I'm just gonna say it. Zack Roy stole our Beast mask. Why are you not freaking out?"

"Because winders don't freak out, Carlos." Miss Jenn insisted. "They rise. When they go low, we sing high."

She then sang a very loud and high note, making Dylan, who was leaning on EJ half asleep jolt awake. Gina and EJ both laughed slightly at the girl, who glared at them.

"Okay, let's rehearse." Miss Jenn announced, opening her binder. "EJ, remember where you are emotionally. Belle has just rebuked your marriage proposal, and LeFou is rallying the guys to boost you back up. Let's hit it."

Gina then turned to EJ, "Just pretend Dyl has rejected you."

"I'd cry for days if she ever did that." EJ admitted, making sure he was out of the girl's earshot.

"Well then I better make sure she says yes." Gina laughed.

"Good luck EJ." Dylan spoke, walking over to the two.

"Yes, and don't forget to start on your left foot at the top of the chorus." Gina told him.

"Anything else?"

"Don't fall over." Gina added.

"Or do, it'll be funny." Dylan smiled.

EJ placed a hand over his heart dramatically. "You wound me."

Dylan scoffed, shaking her head. "Don't fall off the table."

"Wow. You dance people have all the best tips." EJ smiled at her sarcastically.

Gina linked her arm with Dylan, and guided her to the risers. The two sat down at the front, next to Carlos.

"Go get 'em Biggie!" Ashlyn exclaimed.

"Thanks." Big Red responded as they all moved to sit on the set of the bar for Gaston. "All good."

"I wasn't saying you weren't. Just know that I am loyally rooting for you, okay?"

"Oui, oui."

Dylan winced slightly. After Ashlyn's encounter with Antoine — who told her she should dump Big Red and date him instead — Ashlyn was doing her best to reassure the boy that she liked him and wasn't ditching him for Antoine.

"Big Red, whenever you're ready." Miss Jenn encouraged.

She turned and nodded to Seb. Seb pressed play on the computer on top of the piano so that the track could begin. Once the music rang out through the speakers, all of them cheered for EJ, Big Red, and the dancers. 

"Gosh, it disturbs me to see you Gaston, looking so down in the dumps," Big Red sang. Dylan grinned. He really was a perfect LeFou. 

Big Red got off of the chest he was sitting on — making a dancer pop out — and all of them cheered again. "Every guy here'd love to be you, Gaston, even when taking your lumps. There's no man in town as admired as you, you're everyone's favorite guy. Everyone's awed and inspired by you, and it's not very hard to see why." 

He placed a mirror in front of EJ's face, but EJ pushed it away dramatically just like Gaston would. Just like Big Red was the perfect LeFou, EJ was the perfect Gaston. Gina turned to see Dylan with a fond smile on her face as she watched the scene.

"No one's slick as Gaston." All of them cheered as Big Red and the dancers began to dance in a line. "No one's quick as Gaston, no one's neck is as incredibly thick as Gaston. For there's no man in town half as manly, perfect, a pure paragon. You can ask any Tom, Dick, or Stanley, and they'll tell you whose team they'd prefer to be on." 

"No one's been like Gaston," the whole ensemble chorused, everyone letting out loud cheers for their friends. "A kingpin like Gaston." 

"No one's got a swell cleft in his chin like Gaston," Big Red voiced.  EJ stood up from the table he was sitting on and flexed. "As a specimen, yes, I'm intimidating." 

The dancers clinked their mugs together. "My what a guy that Gaston." 

EJ began to juggle three eggs. "When I was a lad, I'd eat four dozen eggs every morning to help me get large. And now that I'm grown, I eat five dozen eggs, so I'm roughly the size of a barge." 

Big Red threw an egg, and EJ caught it in one of the mugs. Dylan gasped and clapped her hands in amazement as, once again, everyone let out loud yells of excitement. 

"No one shoots like Gaston, make those beauts like Gaston," the dancers stated. 

Big Red ducked underneath the table and got pulled up. "Then goes tromping around wearing boots like Gaston." 

EJ walked forwards with a pair of antlers and hopped up onto the table, resting on it on his knees. "I use antlers in all of my decorating." 

The dancers rotated the table he was on, Big Red getting back on the floor and settling himself under the table. "Say it again, Gaston." 

EJ clinked mugs with all of the dancers. With one final clink, all of the dancers and Big Red fell back away from the table while EJ still kneeled on it. The room instantly erupted into loud screams and cheers, Dylan possibly being the loudest. 

"Dancers, glorious," Miss Jenn commented. "Big Red, hilarious. And EJ . . . victorious." 

Carlos stood up. "Nice emotional connection to the material." 

Gina opened up her notebook to show them a blank page. "I've got no notes."

EJ then turned to Dylan, wondering what her opinion on it was. He was met with a smile, "I have no words."

"You made Dylan speechless, I think that means you deserve an Tony for that performance." Carlos commented.

"And as much as I hate to break that connection, I'm afraid I'm the bearer of some hard news," Mr. Mazzara revealed, who had apparently just come into the room. "We just got a call from the disciplinary board of an organization I'm not sure really exists." He pulled out a note. "Effective immediately, this production will shut down rehearsal for one week as punishment for trespassing by order of the . . . Monkeys." 

"It's pronounced Menkies," Miss Jenn admitted as everyone stood up. 

"For the record, your competition has been punished as well. North High is benched for the week." 

"Okay, feels generous," Ashlyn responded. 

"Miss Jenn, what are we gonna do?" Carlos questioned. "We can't lose a whole week when we haven't even started blocking the second act yet." 

"We're . . ." Miss Jenn trailed off. "We are going to keep our heads down and our chins up." 

"I don't — I don't think that's physically possible," Seb said. 

Dylan turned. Sure enough, Seb was trying to simultaneously keep his head down and his chin up. She shook her head. Oh, Seb.

"It's an expression, Sebastian." Miss Jenn snapped.

The bell then went signalling they all had to go to the career fair. Dylan walked down the hall with Kourtney, the girl having just left Nini and Ricky along. Once again Ashlyn and Kourtney did not let the girl watch, much to Dylan's disappointment.

"Neens!" Ashlyn exclaimed. "Phenomenal Woman Apparel is handing out swag."

Ashlyn, Kourtney and Dylan quickly grabbed Nini leading her to the swag that they all wanted. After getting a t-shirt, Dylan sat in the front row of a classroom. EJ was in the seat next to her, Gina behind him, while Carlos sat behind Dylan, Seb on his right, the group all waiting to hear a guest speaker for career day.

"So, do you guys have any guesses on the guest speaker?" EJ questioned.

"Unless it's Alan Menken himself coming to apologize for what just happened to us, I'm not here." Carlos answered.

"Ooh, I would die if it was, like, Greta Gerwig." Seb commented.

"You know you're not picking the person, right?"

"Well, whoever it is, I'm sure they'll remind us to seize the day and then let it go." EJ revealed. "Every year, same speech."

"I get that enough at home." Dylan shuddered. "And I still have no idea what it means."

"Oh, I was hoping you would know." EJ sighed.

"My dad tried to explain it once to me, and it was like he was teaching me maths at the dining table all over again. I had to text Nini under the table so she could come to my house and save me from his explanation." EJ laughed slightly. "It's not funny EJ!"

"Oh, class, class." Mrs Day, the teacher, announced, making them all turn to the front of the room. "I am thrilled to present one of East High's most generous benefactors, Mr Cash Caswell, with tips on success in life."

Dylan's eyes widened as she turned to look at EJ, who had sunk further into his seat, sending her a quick scared look.

"Surprise." Mr Caswell stated. "Thank you Mrs Day."

Mrs Day nodded. "Anytime."

"Students, it's an honour. Success is all about legacies — the ones that we inherit, and the ones that we build. I'm lucky to have a son that carries the Caswell name with pride. In fact, I wasn't going to do this today but..." He cleared his throat. "Come on up here, Eej."

EJ glanced over to Dylan, who gave him a reassuring nod. EJ hesitantly got up form his seat to join his father at the front of the room.

Mr Caswell then displayed a Duke sweatshirt to the class. "My father gave me this when I got into Duke." He held it out to EJ. "Now it's yours."

EJ took it. "Wait, what?"

"Congratulation EJ." Mrs Day told him.

Dylan's eyebrows furrowed, last time she checked EJ didn't get into Duke. When she watched Mr Caswell whisper something to his son, everything clicked, legacies. Mr Caswell got EJ into Duke by calling them.

"Congrats... Eej." Gina leant forward to whisper to him, as the boy sat down.

EJ turned to Dylan, the girl smiling at him. "Congrats."

∘₊✧──────✧₊∘

𝗜𝗦𝗢𝗕𝗘𝗟 𝗦𝗣𝗘𝗔𝗞𝗦
the beginning shows gina being supportive of ej and dylan
dylan being awestruck by ejs performance as she should
dylan and ej are just... everything
NEXT CHAPTER!!