The drama club members were in the bomb shelter for practice despite the fact that a snow storm was supposed to happen in two hours. Even though Tabitha wasn't apart of the main cast, she still went to practice just in case she was needed. When Tabitha got to the bomb shelter she didn't fail to notice that her boyfriend wasn't there. In fact, she hasn't heard from him the night before or seen him all day which worried her and made her anxious. It made her think maybe she did something wrong or maybe she has been too clingy and he wanted some space. Tabitha was brought out of her thoughts when she saw Miss Jenn walking over to stand in front of everyone.

"Okay, everyone, gather around." Miss Jenn smiles while everyone sat down on the risers. "We got a two-hour window before the storm is expected to hit, and I intend to use every minute of it. Big, splashy group members always succeed at the Menkie Awards."

"So we need to workshop a punchy, breathtaking number that will put us in the number one spot." Miss Jenn continued.

Carlos moves to stand beside her. "As our head choreographer, I am so happy to announce that today, we will, at last, begin rehearsing one of the most showstopping, iconic, and bar-raising numbers of the entire show."

"'Be Our Guest'." Gina stands beside Carlos with a smile on her face. "Yeah, it's 'Be Our Guest', you guys." When Carlos looked at her, she tilts her head to the side. "What?" The tension was obvious between the two chorographers. It seemed they were both not happy about the fact they're sharing the spotlight as chorographers. 

"Before we begin, I'm going to tell you a little story about hospitality." Miss Jenn spoke.

Carlos leans over to her, whispering, "Maybe we should..." 

"Once when I was a little girl," 

"Okay." Carlos nodded as Miss Jenn started her story.

"My mom and I heard a clatter come from the kitchen. We thought it was a burglar. So my mom ran over, hog-tied the man, and promptly called the police." Miss Jenn said and Ashlyn was the only one who gasps. "As we waited for the cops to come, I watched my mother place a bowl of iced tea next to his face, 'Because', she said, 'Until the police come and get him, he's still our guest'."

"So," Kourtney speaks up. "Did he, like, get arrested, or..."

"No." Miss Jenn shakes her head. "Turns out he wasn't a burglar at all, just a repair man who entered the wrong unit. But the point remains the same. Just like our intruder, we need to make Belle and our entire audience feel welcome."

"And with that," She looks at Carlos and Gina with a smile. "Carlos and Gina, take it away."

Ashlyn clapped for Miss Jenn and Miss Jenn smiled at her as she walked off to the side. "Thank you, Miss Jenn." Gina smiles. The smile fell off of her face, shaking her head. "That wasn't terrifying at all."

Tabitha raises her eyebrows, glancing at Ricky when he was the only one who laughed at Gina's comment. After her gaze lingered on Ricky longer than it probably should she picks up two feather dusters laying on the bottom row of the risers. "Okay, so, my vision to make this dance really soar is to stage...Wait for it, a Cancan-style dance that features a feather-dusting spectacle."

"I don't know, it'll probably go something like..." Her voice trailed off as she showed everyone the dance move she had in mind. Tabitha was still amazed by how easy Gina made any dance move look like. 

"Interesting." Carlos slowly nods, facing Gina. "I had a different path that's a little more elevated and less basic." He turns to face everyone. "Think. A noir-inspired performance that Lumiere guides our audience through the entire time."

Gina fakes a laugh. "M'kay. But actually I spent a month in France once, so I kinda know this dance inside and out."

Carlos looks at her. "And I choreographed all three of my sister's quinceanera dances, despite not getting one for myself, so I think I know how to twirl with a salad fork, okay?"

"Okay!" Miss Jenn cuts in before the two teens started to fight. "Let's stick a pin in 'Be Our Guest' and brush up on Gaston." Gina sits down on the bottom row of the risers as Miss Jenn continues. "EJ and Big Red, to the front of the room, please." Miss Jenn looks around the room, realizing EJ wasn't there. "Wait, where's EJ?"

Everyone looks at Tabitha when Miss Jenn asks that. "Don't look at me." Tabitha raises her hands up in defense. "I wish I knew where he was too. I haven't seen him all day."

"Okay," Miss Jenn sent her a small smile. "When you do see him please tell him that rehearsals are mandatory, even for soon-to-be college students who are obviously suffering from senioritis." 

"Got it." Tabitha nodded.

Kourtney suddenly gasps. "Nini!"

Everyone looks over towards the door and Tabitha grins upon seeing the brunette-haired girl standing there. "I don't want to interrupt." Nini said, smiling at everyone. "I just needed one more group hug."

"You can always have a group hug!" Tabitha told her. She was the first to get up and head over to Nini with everyone following her. 

"Hugs available!" Miss Jenn exclaimed. 

After the group hug Ricky and Nini went out to talk in the hallway and everyone else went back inside the bomb shelter. "Listen up, everyone!" Miss Jenn gets everyone's attention as she walks back into the bomb shelter from being out in the hallway. "I am going to step out for a little while to make sure that Nini catches her bus."

"Please go back to workshopping 'Be Our Guest' concepts until I return, and find a path forward. I've asked Mr. Mazzara to pop in." When Mr. Mazzara peeks out from the hallway, looking at everyone with a smile, everyone yelped and jumped since they were startled by his sudden appearance. "And make sure that you don't get too rowdy while I'm gone."

"Thank you, Benjamin." Miss Jenn smiled at Mr. Mazzara as she walked out of the bomb shelter. Mr. Mazzara nodded at her with a small smile on his lips and walked into the bomb shelter.

Conversation started to flow throughout the room easily while Seb started playing around on the piano. "Has anyone seen EJ?" Ashlyn asked.

"I'll go look for him." Tabitha offered, getting up from the risers and headed out to the hallway.

"I'll go with you!" Maeve got up quickly and went after Tabitha.

Tabitha raises her eyebrows at Maeve as they stood in the hallway. "You know I can find him on my own, right?" 

Maeve nods. "I know. I just didn't want to be in there." She shakes her head. "It feels like you could cut the tension between Carlos and Gina with a knife." 

"That is true." Tabitha nods, beginning to walk down the hallway with Maeve. "And I don't blame you for not wanting to be in there right now."

"So how are you?" Maeve asks, looking at her with concern. "I know things have been kinda weird with you and EJ lately." 

Tabitha sighs. "I'm just worried about EJ. I'm also worried about me." She frowns. "Like, is he ignoring me because of something I did? He has been waiting to hear back from Duke so he's been nervous about that." 

The best friends walk around a corner in the hallway as Tabitha continues, her lips forming into a frown. "He hasn't even told me if he officially gotten in or not so I don't know what's going on with him. If he wants space, he just needs to tell me and I'll give it to him. I just want him to talk to me."

"He seems like the kind of person who isn't that good with communicating in a relationship. But I'm sure he'll talk to you soon." Maeve stops walking and so Tabitha does as well. Maeve faces Tabitha, putting a hand on her shoulder and gives her shoulder a comforting squeeze. "You just have to let him know that you're there for him." Tabitha sent her a smile, furrowing her eyebrows when suddenly the lights flickered off. 

"Okay," Maeve takes her hand off of Tabitha's shoulder, glancing around the hallway nervously. "Why did that happened?"

"Maybe 'cause of the snow storm." Tabitha responded, pointing at the window at the end of the hallway that showed the snow storm was happening now. She walked over to the window and Maeve followed her.

Maeve's eyes widen. "Wow, that is one crazy snow storm."

Tabitha hums in agreement, getting her phone out of her pocket when she felt it buzz. She saw she had text messages from her parents. The text message she got from her dad read, 'I'm assuming you're stuck at school 'cause of the snow. love you and be safe'. The one she got from her mom read 'roads are shut down because of the snow storm, honey. please be safe, love you'.

"Apparently all the roads are shut down 'cause of the snow storm." Tabitha said, glancing at her best friend.

Maeve glances around the hallway that was empty beside them. "And I think all of us drama kids are the only ones here. Everyone else was smart and left before the storm hit."

"Hey, there you guys are!" 

They turned around to see Ashlyn walking down the hallway with Big Red. "We're all gathering supplies to be prepared." Big Red informed them.

"I'm guessing you haven't found EJ yet?" Ashlyn questioned, frowning slightly. 

Tabitha shakes her head. "No. But I'm not done looking." 

"Okay, I'll go back with them." Maeve walks over to Ashlyn and Big Red. She points at Tabitha, looking at her with a smile. "Good luck, Tabi."

"Thanks." Tabitha smiled and went to walk down the hallway that was on her left side. She was beginning to think that she might never find EJ. She didn't remember the school being so big as she searched for her boyfriend. 

She stops in her tracks when she saw him sitting on a table that was across the hall from where the counselor's office is. "EJ?" 

EJ glances at her with teary eyes. He felt like he could break down right then and there as she walked up to him with a look of concern on her face. He hated that he basically ignored her, but he didn't feel like seeing or talking to anyone after getting rejected from Duke. 

A frown forms on Tabitha's lips as she noticed the tears in his eyes when she got closer to him. She didn't bother asking what was wrong since she knew obviously something was wrong. "Do you-Do you want to talk about it?"

EJ forces a smile. "Not really."

Tabitha slowly nods. "Okay, it's just...You've been kinda distant lately. I wanted to make sure that you're okay."

"Yeah. I'm great. Totally great."

Even though Tabitha didn't believe him one bit she didn't pressure him into talking about it since he clearly  didn't want to talk about it. She also knew that he would eventually tell her when he was ready. She smiles slightly. "Okay."

EJ's mind spiraled as she began to walk down the way she just came from. He hated feeling like he was always losing things even if it wasn't his fault. Instead of communicating with Tabitha like he should've done in the first place, he distanced himself and put all the weight of the world on his shoulders. He already made many mistakes in his life, he didn't want to make the awful mistake of losing Tabitha.

"I'm not great, actually." EJ finally confessed, getting off the table he sat on. Tabitha stopped walking, turning to face him with concern.

His voice cracks while speaking. "I didn't get into Duke." Tabitha never seen him look so lost throughout the whole time that she has known him.

Without a word, Tabitha walks over to him and wraps her arms around him in a tight hug. Her arms were wrapped around his neck as she slightly lifted her feet, holding onto him the best she could despite their height difference. EJ wraps his arms around her waist, pulling her closer to him while burying his face in the crook of her neck. EJ didn't have to say he needed a hug. Tabitha just knew he needed a hug in that moment by the way he acted and spoke.

It felt like year's before the two finally pulled away from each other. They didn't pull away that much though, only so they could look at each other. "EJ, this might feel like the end of the world now, but it's not, okay? You're gonna be fine." EJ opens his mouth to speak, but Tabitha shakes her head, speaking before he could. "Don't worry about how you're gonna tell your family about this 'cause I know that's probably what you're doing."

EJ sighs. "Can we just-Can we just stay like this for a little bit longer?"

Tabitha smiles softly. "Of course we can."

EJ didn't waste anytime to pull her closer to him, burying his face in the crook of her neck. Tabitha laid her head on his shoulder, whispering sweet nothings to him. Even though EJ was silent the whole time, Tabitha knew he was starting to feel a little bit better since she felt him place a gentle kiss on the bare skin of her neck which made her smile.

EJ had no idea what he was going to do after just being rejected by his dream college, but he did know that he was going to be okay with Tabitha by his side.

****

After a few more minutes of holding onto each other they decided on going back to the bomb shelter. Tabitha was surprised to see Howie was there and then she noticed the pizzas. A smile tugged on her lips, thinking it was sweet of him bringing some pizzas for them.

She also noticed Kourtney held flashcards in her hands and her smile turned into a grin, having a feeling Howie had brought them for her. She thought that was really sweet of Howie to do that for Kourtney. She remembered overhearing Kourtney, Maeve, and Seb in the hallway when she was searching for EJ. She assumed the reason why Maeve was with them was because that she had went to look for them.

Kourtney was talking about how she wanted to text Howie for him to send her a picture of her flashcards that she left at the restaurant and how she didn't fail tests. When Tabitha walked by them Seb was on Kourtney's shoulders with Kourtney's phone while Maeve stood beside them with her phone light on for a flashlight since the three of them didn't have any. Seeing that made her figure out they were trying to get a wifi connection.

"Tabitha, you found EJ!" Ashlyn gasps, being the first one to notice the couple had walked into the bomb shelter. "And he's alive!"

EJ shrugs. "Technically."

Tabitha squeezes his hand that was intertwined with his to give him some comfort and he sent her a small smile, squeezing her hand back.

Suddenly the sound of a cow mooing filled the room.

"Okay," Maeve looks at Seb weirdly. "Why did your phone just moo?"

Seb stands up, looking at his phone with wide eyes. "Because that was an alert from my Farmers Alman-app. It says the roads are clear and sheep are in heat." When everyone looks at him he cringes. "I should've said that last part on my head."

Maeve pats him on the shoulder. "Yes, Sebbie, you really should have."

The lights turned back on a few seconds later and cheers filled the room. "Miss Jenn just dropped off Nini at the bus terminal." Ricky said as he looked at his phone. He stands up, pointing at Big Red. "Big Red, can I borrow your car?"

Big Red nods and hands Ricky over his keys. "Thanks. Later." Ricky smiled and left.

"Do you need a ride home?" EJ asked Tabitha as they got their backpacks.

"Yeah." Tabitha nods, putting her backpack over one shoulder. She tilts her head to the side, looking at him with a smile. "Movie night tonight?"

EJ smiles back at her, nodding. "Movie night." He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and she wrapped her arm around his waist. After saying goodbye to the others they left together.

A/N honestly I cried a little watching ej be so upset in this episode. I can't believe no one gave him a hug, it was obvious he needed one so badly! anyway, I love nelswell, they're adorable. also loving maeve's & seb's friendship