Val stands on the stage, gaining everyone's attention. "Okay, everyone. Let's take some grounding breaths." With a inhale and exhale, she walks down the steps, grinning at everyone. "And we're off!"

EJ walks around the barn with a smile, moving to stand by Val, who now stood in the center of the room. "For those of you who I technically know, today, you're not Wildcats." Everyone gathers around them, holding the lyric sheet of the song they were supposed to sing. "Today, you're a bunch of blank canvases, strangers to me. Today, we've never met."

Val cringes. "Maybe don't talk." 

As she walked away, nerves overtakes EJ's features. Tabitha locked eyes with him and she smiled encouragingly at him before she blew him a kiss. The nerves EJ had slowly began to fade away, his heart fluttering at the sweet gesture. He smiled at her, pretending to catch the kiss.

Soon everyone got in positions and the music to the song 'For The First Time in Forever' started playing on a speaker. Everyone took turns with singing the song and during auditions Maddox would take pictures of everyone with a polaroid camera, the pictures going on their information sheet which would be where EJ and Val write notes about them.

The singing part of the audition was over, but now it was time for the next part. "Oh," Kourtney gets EJ's attention. "Where are the scripts?"

Confusion washes over EJ's face. "Scripts?"

"For the scene work auditions?" Gina chimed in.

Everyone began to slowly gather around EJ, all confused about why there were no scripts. "We're doing a show with no script? What is this? 'Curb Your Enthusiasm?'" Carlos asked with disbelief. 

Noticing her boyfriend was nervous, Tabitha rolls her eyes at Carlos and cut in before EJ could speak. "Carlos, of course there's gonna be scripts for the play. But we don't have to use scripts for the scene work auditions."

"She's right." Maeve smiles slightly. "Maybe we can use something else."

"Yo, Mr. Director-man." Ricky waves at EJ. "Where do you want us all to stand?"

"Can-Can everyone just wait one second? Please?" EJ pleaded, clearly getting overwhelmed and is nervous which made Tabitha give him a concern glance. 

Maddox clears her throat, getting everyone's attention. "What if they all just acted out the lyrics from the song? You know, like a dramatic reading. It's something else they could do like Tabitha and Maeve suggested." When everyone was silent, she clears her throat nervously. "I don't know. I'm just a stage manager."

"No, that's a great idea." Gina reassured her.

EJ looks at Maddox with a relieved smile. "Thank you."

****

While Kourtney was speaking Elsa's part of the song 'For The First Time in Forever', the doors to the barn opened and Jet walked in. "Sorry," Maddox crosses her arms. "Auditions started over an hour ago."

Jet starts to back up towards the door to walk away, but stopped when EJ speaks. "It's okay. Everyone's welcome to try out."

Jet walks forward, looking nervous. "I'm not so sure about this."

EJ steps forward, standing in front of everyone with a reassuring smile on his face. "Nobody's judging you." 

Ricky steps off the stage, walking over to Jet and hands him a lyric sheet he had grabbed. "Come on." He encouraged, patting his shoulder twice before he went to go sit down on the stage.

The group turns to face Jet, all listening to him as he began to sing. Tabitha exchange a surprised look with Maeve. Tabitha didn't know what to expect, but she didn't expect for Jet to have such an amazing voice. She smiled slightly when she noticed Ashlyn walking over to the piano. She thought it was nice of Ashlyn to play the piano while Jet sang.

Everyone (besides Maddox) stares at him with awe when the song ended. Ricky is the first to applaud for Jet. He stands up, smiling from ear to ear as he claps. Everyone quickly followed his lead and applauded and cheered for Jet. 

"Dude, are you kidding me?" Ricky said with surprise, walking over to Jet. 

Gina joins Ricky, smiling at Jet. "That was so good."

Jet throws the lyric sheet on a nearby table and walks out of the barn without saying a word. Ricky and Gina look back at everyone with smiles. Ricky then rolls up his sleeve. "I have chills." 

****

"You killed it today." EJ complimented Tabitha as he and Tabitha took a walk with their hands intertwined.

A small giggle left Tabitha's lips and she smiles shyly. "Thanks." 

"I know it's not up to me, but you're gonna be Anna." EJ told her.

Tabitha chuckles lightly, shaking her head. "Thanks, but I don't think so."

EJ raises his eyebrows. "Why not?"

"All the other girls here are so much more talented than me," Tabitha comments, earning an eye roll from EJ.  She scoffs. "And have you forgotten that the last play I was in was the first time in many years that I was a role?"

"You're the most talented person in the room." EJ tells her, looking at her with adoration and sincerity, causing Tabitha to blush and look away shyly. He places a kiss on the back of her hand, getting her to look back at him with a soft smile, her face a bright red and her heart hammering against her chest. "You would be the best Anna anyone has ever seen." 

"Thank you, EJ." Tabitha responds, squeezing his hand gently. "I think you'd be the best Kristoff anyone has ever seen." 

He smiles at her. "Thanks, Tabs."

"So, today was a pretty interesting audition, wasn't it?" Tabitha questioned, playfully swinging their arms as they walked, earning a chuckle from EJ.

"Sure was." EJ nodded in agreement. 

"I mean, how do the British say it?" Tabitha raises her eyebrows. With a smirk, she speaks in a British accent. "It was a bit of a blimey mess, mate."

EJ laughs, shaking his head. "Okay. Yeah. Val told me to act like I knew what I was doing, and clearly no accent can hide the fact that I'm totally and completely drowning up here."

Tabitha chuckles lightly. "Eej, you're not drowning, alright? You don't have to try so hard." She smiles warmly at him, causing his heart to flutter. "Just be yourself." 

"Duh." EJ scoffs. "I don't think anyone wants that."

"I do." Tabitha reassures him and he smiles softly at her, his heart fluttering at the loving look on her face. "Just remember, a great teacher like Miss Jenn aren't built in a day." She tells him. "You're gonna be a great director and if you need help, you have help," She pauses since she wasn't for sure if he did have help with directing. "...Right?" She forces a smile as she mentions Val. "I mean, isn't Val helping you?"

EJ is confused by her odd behavior when mentioning Val, but decides not to say anything about and smiles. "Yeah, Val's the best."

"So, you two are pretty close it seems?" Tabitha questioned, wanting to know more about his friendship with Val. She just wanted to know if she should be worried about the blonde getting in the way of her relationship with EJ.

"Yeah," EJ nods. "Been close friends ever since we met here at camp all those years ago." He raises his eyebrows as Tabitha nods slowly, turning her attention to the ground with a small frown on her lips. "Why?" An amused glint forms in his eyes when he realized something and he smirks. "Are you jealous?"

"What?" Tabitha looks up at him so fast she thought she might have gotten whiplash. She scoffs, shaking her head as she blushes from embarrassment. "No. Nope. No way. Not at all."

EJ hums in response, grinning while he let go of her hand to wrap his arm around her shoulders to pull her closer to his side. "You're not convincing anyone."

"Okay, fine." Tabitha sighs heavily, leaning into his side with a pout on her face. She wraps her arms around his waist and mumbles, "I'm jealous."

"Yeah, I thought so." EJ chuckles lightly. He stops walking, causing her to stop walking as well. He removes his arm from her shoulders, moving to stand in front of her. He furrows his eyebrows. "Why are you jealous?" He smiles reassuringly at her, putting his hands on her shoulders and squeezes her shoulders comfortingly. "You have nothing to be jealous of, babe. I only have eyes for you."

Tabitha blushes at his comment and her heart skips a beat at his last comment, feeling much better after knowing she had nothing to be jealous of. "Okay, good." She smiles shyly. "I only have eyes for you too." 

"Well, I was hoping you would." EJ grins cheekily at her. "I mean, we are in a relationship."

Tabitha rolls her eyes playfully and chuckles. "Yeah, we are."

EJ takes his hands off her shoulders, smiling at her. "So, what do you wanna do now?"

"Go to the pool?" Tabitha suggested.

"Why not." EJ replied, shrugging his shoulders. 

Tabitha smirks. "I'll beat you there."

A smirk tugs on EJ's lips. "No, you won't." They both take off running towards the pool, laughing with each other and smiling at each other along the way. 

A/N tabitha & ej >>>