The drama club members were in the bomb shelter on a Saturday for practice. They were all surrounding Ricky who was playing a video on Instagram that North High recently made about the new play they were now doing. It got on Tabitha nerves that they just randomly changed their play to the play that East High is doing.

"Hey, that's what's-her-name," Seb speaks up, pointing at Lily who was dressed in Belle's gold dress in the video that was playing. "Lily, from our auditions."

Ashlyn stops her pacing, putting her hands on her hips as she looks at everyone with a nervous expression. "You mean perfect-pitch, looks-like-an-actual-Disney-princess, super-fangirl/mean girl Lily?"

Tabitha shares a look with EJ before they look back at Ashlyn. "I'll say yes." EJ replied.

Ashlyn nods. "I remember her vaguely."

"Ash, don't worry about her, okay? You are way more talented than she is." Maeve told her, looking at her with a reassuring smile. Ashlyn still looked worried as she looked at Maeve, but she nodded and even smiled at the brunette-haired girl.

"Thank you all for coming so quickly on a Saturday." Miss Jenn walks inside the bomb shelter, carrying hula hoops. Carlos follows her, carrying a bag of pool noodles. Tabitha looks to her right where Maeve sat, sharing a confused look with her when they both noticed what Carlos and Miss Jenn carried. They look back at Miss Jenn as she continues to speak. "Or most of you all."

The ones who were standing sat back down on the risers as Carlos and Miss Jenn sat the stuff they had on the long table in the bomb shelter. "We're missing a teapot and a village idiot." Miss Jenn observed, turning to face everyone with furrowed eyebrows.

"Uh, I think Kourtney and Big Red are at the pizza place." Ricky informed Miss Jenn.

"Yeah," Seb nods. "Kourtney texted in the group. They said that they couldn't get anyone to cover their shifts."

The drama club members look at him with wide eyes. EJ even hit Seb on the shoulder for almost spilling their secret. Seb cringes when he realized what he did. "Oh." The drama club members had two group chats. One with all the drama club members and Miss Jenn, and then the real group chat which was the one with just the drama club members. Miss Jenn didn't know about the second group chat and they wanted to keep it that way.

"Oh...I didn't see that text." Miss Jenn voiced, getting her phone out of her pocket to check the group chat. She puts her phone back in her pocket, moving over to stand in front of the group. "Well, back to the matter at hand."

"I can tell from your solemn faces you've all seen..." Miss Jenn dramatically pauses. "The video. 

Carlos nods with a sigh leaving his lips. "It's incredible. Even I have no notes. I can't believe they stole our show."

"I think they're Lumiere is an actual French exchange student." Ricky spoke.

"Yeah," Maeve nods, her lips forming into a small smile. "He's kinda cute though."

Everyone looked at her with a 'are you serious' expression. Maeve shrugs. "What? He is."

"Miss Jenn," Ashlyn speaks. "How are we supposed to beat North at the Menkies if they're churning out this a second after changing their musical? It's like..."

Her voice gets drowned out by everyone starting to chatter about how this is a bad things for them and how they're worried about this. "Wildcats!" Miss Jenn claps twice, getting everyone's attention. The room quiets down as she talks. "Take heart. North High is clearly focusing on belle and whistles. Impressive. But distracting. All we need is..."

Seb smiles. "Friendship?"

"No, Seb," Miss Jenn responds. "All we need is to get back to the basics. Emotional performances that connect with the audience can make all the difference with these judges. And I have a plan. Which is why I called you all in here today. And that plan is...A weekend acting intensive."

Tabitha furrows her eyebrows, sharing a confused look with EJ. They both look back at Miss Jenn as EJ says, "Acting intensive like..."

"Improv." Miss Jenn responds. "Character work." She moves over to sit on a stack of mats, dramatically kicking her legs up in the air. "Movement exercises."

Tabitha slowly nods, pursing her lips together. "Interesting."

"Hey, Gina." Miss Jenn calls out to Gina who was focused on her phone most of the time. She waves a hand in front of her face which got her attention. "Are you here?"

"Yeah." Gina nods, turning off her phone, and sets it down. "Yeah."

"We're going to really connect with our characters." Miss Jenn said. "And impressive performances, not fancy staging or actual killer wolves, will be our key to the gold." She smiles. "And don't forget, we have something North High doesn't have."

"Friendship?" Seb guessed again.

"A brand new-original song," Miss Jenn gestures to Ricky and Nini. "For the Beast and the rose."

Everyone applauses for the couple for a few seconds as the couple smiled at each other. When the applause died down Miss Jenn then asked them how the song is coming along and by the look on their faces Tabitha assumed that it wasn't going that well. Miss Jenn tells Ricky to stay at the school and do some deep-dive Beast character work and tells Nini to take the weekend to start working on the song.

"Okay!" Miss Jenn clapped twice and went to talk to Carlos as everyone got up.

"Well, this is gonna be interesting for sure." Maeve commented, looking at Tabitha and EJ.

"Oh, yeah." Tabitha agrees. "Part of me doesn't even want to know what Miss Jenn has planned for today." She got her phone out of her pocket when it buzzed, smiling upon seeing a text from Marc. He was telling her when he was free since she had asked him the other day when he could meet EJ. She texted him back and put her phone back in her pocket. 

Before anyone knew it, it was time for the first warm-up exercises which happened to be involving hula hoops. Everyone stood on some mats that were laid on the floor with hula hoops. 

"Today is all about warm-up exercises." Miss Jenn says. "The important thing is that we all..."

Tabitha tilts her head to the side when she hears the sound of a hula hoop rattling. Along with everyone else she looks over at Seb, smiling upon seeing he was hula hooping. He was so cute. He stopped when he saw everyone was looking at him and he sheepishly smiled. 

"Focus." Miss Jenn finishes her sentence. She nods to herself. "Strong start." She smiles at everyone. "Here we go, my young thespians."

The next warm-up exercise involved pool noodles. Not a great idea. Miss Jenn should've known better than to give a group of teens pool noodles. Everyone acted like a kid once they got their pool noodle. 

Tabitha covered her mouth to stifle a laugh upon seeing Maeve pretending she was fencing with her pool noodle. When the pool noodle accidentally hit her, Maeve sheepishly smiled, muttering 'sorry' while she stood up straighter and stopped messing with her pool noodle. Tabitha just shakes her head, grinning at her as she used her pool noodle as if she was fencing with it and hits Maeve. The two girls giggled while they did this for a few moments longer.

Watching them play around, EJ couldn't help the smile that formed on his lips, thinking that Tabitha was cute. "Okay." Miss Jenn claps, getting everyone's attention. Everyone stops messing with their pool noodle, dropping their pool noodle on the ground, and looks at her. "Everyone drop your noodle and pair up for a mirroring exercise."

Chatter filled the room as everyone paired up for the exercise. "Hey, Tabs," Tabitha looks over at EJ with a smile. EJ smiles at her, offering his hand to her. "You and me?"

Tabitha feels her face heat up, her smile widening as she takes his hand, stepping closer to him. "You and me."

Just after Ricky had asked Gina if she wanted to pair up Maeve came over and asked Gina to pair up, noticing that Gina didn't want to be around Ricky at the moment. "G, partners?"

"Yeah, M, of course." Gina smiled. Maeve linked her arm with hers as they walked off to the side. 

Everyone now sat down on the mats on the floor beside their partner for this exercise and Miss Jenn stood in front of them, holding a small ball. "So. What is acting, really? Acting..." Tabitha's eyes widen when she suddenly throws the ball at Carlos. "Is reacting."

Carlos held the side of his head that got hit as he winces. "Ow!"

Miss Jenn picks up the ball. "In character, Lumiere."

Carlos raises his arms up, pretending to be Lumiere. "Ow..."

"Ricky," Miss Jenn said, noticing the curly-haired boy was on his phone. "Could you please put your phone down and join the family?" She threw the ball at him and he was quick to set his phone to the side so he could catch the ball.

"Mmm-mmm." Ricky hummed in response, throwing the ball back to her.

The next warm-up exercise Miss Jenn wanted them to do was throw the ball around while they stood in a circle. At one point Ricky had accidentally hit Miss Jenn with the ball but Tabitha had a feeling it wasn't an accident. She remembered overhearing when he was Nini were talking before Nini left that tonight his dad and Miss Jenn are having their first date. It's must be hard dealing with your dad dating your teacher.

Improv happened to be the next warm-up exercise Miss Jenn had planned for them to do. "Okay." Miss Jenn stands beside Ashlyn and Gina, the three of them standing in front of everyone who still sat on the mats beside their partners from the last exercise. "Ashlyn will start us off and, Gina, will agree with what Ashlyn says and then add on. It's 'Yes, and' people."

"Remember, improv works best when you are all in." Miss Jenn adds. "When you've got one foot out the door, it does not work and the audience will smell your fear. Fun! Let's get a suggestion from the group on a location." 

Tabitha gets her phone out of her pocket when she felt it buzz again, she gets it out, seeing another text from Mac. She and Mac have been texting back and forth throughout the day when Tabitha was able to. A quiet giggle escapes her lips upon seeing the funny meme Mac sent her.

EJ glances at her, his lips forming into a frown for a split second before he forces a smile and looks at Miss Jenn. "The Louvre?"

"Sure," Miss Jenn nods. "The Louvre, okay." She told the girls to start and stepped to the side.

"Now, Madame Rousseau," Ashlyn speaks in a French accent, turning to face Gina. "I understand that you're here to look into purchasing some art."

"From the Louvre?" Gina asked.

"Well, if one's as rich as you are, Madame, one can purchase nearly any piece of art," Ashlyn replies. She pretends to point at a piece of art. "Take this piece. Do you like it?"

"Yeah," Gina responds. "I'm not sure."

"Well, what is your heart telling you?"

"I really don't know." Gina answered Ashlyn's question.

"Yes, and?" Miss Jenn encouraged them to continue.

"Yes, and maybe we should take a break." Ashlyn spoke in her normal voice, going to sit back down. 

"I'm sorry." Gina apologized.

"It's okay." Miss Jenn assures her. "We're learning. We're learning." She chuckles while Gina sits back down. "There are no rules here. Except that I will need you to do it correctly."

"Okay, let's try a new pair as a example." Miss Jenn speaks. "Um...Carlos and Seb, you boys wanna try?"

****

Later that day Tabitha had actually planned on for EJ and Marc to meet. They had met at the local coffee shop called 'Publik'. It was somewhat awkward, but it seemed like the boys got along well which is all Tabitha cared about. What Tabitha didn't know is of the boy's little talk they had when she went to order their coffees and wait for them. 

"Okay," EJ looks at Marc who sat across from him at the table. "You can stop it with the act."

Marc furrows his eyebrows. "What act? What are you talking about?"

EJ rolls his eyes. "Oh, come on. You just show up out of nowhere, acting all friendly with Tabitha as if you haven't been away for years. I can see what you're trying to do."

Marc tilts his head to the side. "And what am I trying to do?"

"You're trying to steal Tabitha from me." EJ responded.

"Dude," Marc shakes his head. "I'm just trying to rekindle our friendship."

"From what I've seen you're not doing that with Maeve and you were best friends with both of them." EJ voiced.

"Okay, you caught me." Marc sighs. "I had a crush on Tabitha when we were younger, I just never admitted it to her. And when I moved back all of those feelings for her came rushing back which made me realize I want to dating her."

"Well, you lost your chance." EJ sits up straighter, crossing his arms as he tried to look intimidating to Mac, looking at him with a glare. "'Cause she's with me now."

Marc shrugs, his lips forming into a smirk. "Maybe not for long." 

He raises his eyebrows upon noticing EJ's sudden change of demeanor. "Yeah, sorry. I'm not intimidated by someone who has two letters for a name, and who's, like, a lot shorter than me."

"Okay," EJ scoffs. "You're just jealous my name is cooler than yours." He then furrowed his eyebrows and points at him. "And that doesn't even make any sense! We're the same height!"

"Yeah, whatever." Marc rolled his eyes and crossed his arms, leaning back in his chair.

"Alright, I'm back with the coffees." Tabitha carefully sets the three coffee cups on the table, raising her eyebrows upon noticing the tension between the two. "Is everything alright?"

Before EJ could reply, Marc nods and sends her a smile. "Yeah, perfectly fine."

****

It was another intensive the next day. 

"Five questions to really know someone's character." Miss Jenn stands in front of everyone who sat on the risers. "Today, I want you to go fully method. Stay in character for this entire exercise. I want each of you to come to the front of the room, I'll prompt you with a question and you'll answer in character."

Miss Jenn points at EJ. "Gaston, let's start with you."

Tabitha squeezes his hand she was holding, sending him an encouraging smile. EJ smiled at her, squeezing her hand back before he let go as he got up and went to stand in front of everyone.

"Question one, 'if you had to pick one book to live inside, what would it be and why?'"

"Ooh. Uh...Like a book of etiquette?" EJ responds to Miss Jenn. "You know, 'cause Gaston could really use some manners, always spitting and shooting stuff. Like, 'Chill, Gaston'."

Laughter filled the room after his comment and Miss Jenn smiles. "Love that. Okay. 'What would you ask your future self?'"

"Oh, trick question," Ricky speaks up. "Gaston's dead."

The room was silent after he spoke. Tabitha furrowed her eyebrows, sharing a look with Maeve. She looks back at EJ who was still thinking of his answer. "I'd ask him if he could learn to love anyone after Belle." EJ answers. "I mean, anything's possible, right?" He glances at Tabitha, his eyes locking with hers. "And I think the answer would be yes."

Tabitha feels her face heat up, her lips forming into a smile. Miss Jenn smiles and nods. "Intriguing." She clapped and everyone else clapped as well while EJ went to sit back down.

Tabitha smiles at EJ when he sits down beside her. "Good job."

EJ smiles at her, intertwining his hand with hers again. "Thanks."

"Mr. Beast, wanna give it a go?" Miss Jenn asked Ricky.

Ricky whispered 'sure' as a reply as he went over to the front of the risers, taking a seat on the stack of mats. "'If you had to pick one book to live inside, which book would it be and why?'" Miss Jenn read the first question.

"Well, actually, as the Beast, it's cannon that I can't read." Ricky voiced.

Miss Jenn seemed to be the only one who didn't find his reply humorous. "Beast, I'd like you to take this seriously. Next question. 'What would you ask your future self?'"

"Uh, I guess...If I ever miss the old days when I was all alone in the castle." Ricky answered.

"And why would you miss that?" 

"Everything was the same every day." Ricky replies to Miss Jenn. "Nothing changed. Uh, I mean, the forks didn't talk, teapots didn't sing." Everyone chuckled. Tabitha could tell something was bothering Ricky. She wasn't close friends with him, but it didn't take a genius to notice something was wrong.

"Okay, let's go deeper with this feeling." Miss Jenn suggested. 

"I think that's all I got." Ricky said.

"But when you say that nothing changed..." 

"I'm really trying here." Ricky interrupts her. "Can you get off my back?"

"Can you watch your tone?" Miss Jenn scolded him.

"Yeah." Ricky whispers what he says next. "Okay, mom."

Miss Jenn turns to face everyone. "Let's take a ten, everyone. But stay in character, please."

****

The break was over and Ricky was nowhere to be found. "It seems like we have a missing Beast." Miss Jenn observes. "Anyone seen him?" She looks at Ashlyn. "Belle? You wanna come up here and do the five questions?"

"Um..." Ashlyn glances over at Gina who stood near the risers on her phone. She gets up and walks over to Miss Jenn. "Could I ask for permission to explore my character by singing a song from our show instead?"

Miss Jenn smiles. "Of course." She went over to one of the dancers named Kaden, quietly asking him if he could play guitar for this song. Kaden got up and grabbed the guitar from off the piano as Ashlyn started singing the song 'Home'. 

It was an understatement to say that Ashlyn had an amazing voice. Tabitha was always blown away whenever Ashlyn sang. 

Towards the end of the song she noticed movement out of the corner of her eye and when she looked over to her left she saw Ricky standing at the door. She her lips curled downward a bit upon seeing him upset. She hated seeing any of her friends upset no matter how close she is with them. Ricky wasn't there for long because a few seconds later he left.

Tabitha looks back at Ashlyn as the red-haired girl ended the song on a beautiful note. Something must've happened between Ashlyn and Gina because Gina was crying while she and Ashlyn hugged each other. She was just happy it seemed like things were better with them.