I.   Marlowe Aguilar's guide to junior year

      Marlowe always started the first year of school off with a list. Her guide to the new year, she liked to call it. It consisted of her goals she wanted to achieve and how to help her navigate through the challenges of life while getting older. It was her junior year of high school. One more year before senior year, before college, and honestly, Marlowe was a nervous wreck. She sat on her bed and read over her list over and over again.

Marlowe Aguilar's Guide to Junior Year:

1. make more friends
2. take more AP classes
3. meditate more
4. start applying to colleges early
5. earn as many college credits as possible
6. letters of recommendation
7. become the lead in the school musical

It was strange for her to not put #7 at #1 but you always save the best for last. "If I tell myself enough times, it'll all come true." Marlowe said to herself while taking deep breaths.

Her brother barged into her room. "Marls, we gotta go!" He announced himself.

She flinched and rolled her eyes. "Dammit, Luca, knock first!"

"What the hell are you doing, weirdo?" Luca laughed and walked further into her room. He saw the list in her hand and groaned. "Oh god, don't tell me you're manifesting again."

"Don't judge me. It's my yearly ritual. You know this." Marlowe stated and stood from her bed. She grabbed her backpack and folded the guide in half, placing it into one of the pockets. "Besides, without my manifesting, we wouldn't be the leading stars in all the musicals, right?"

"Thats because we're talented." Luca said the obvious.

"Carpe Diem, Luca." She recited and stood in front of her mirror. She smoothed the ends of her straight hair and sighed. She smiled in the mirror, revealing her fresh new teeth free of the braces she'd been wearing for three years. She turned around and faced her brother. "How do I look?"

"Like a reflection of me, so good." Her brother replied and walked out of her room, missing her eye roll. "Hurry up!"

Marlowe and Luca were twins, and they did everything together. They were known at East High as the star twins because from fourth grade and up, they were the stars in nearly every school production. Her first leading role was Ariel in the Little Mermaid. Luca's first leading role was Peter in Peter Pan. Marlowe had dreams of attending Carnegie Mellon University for musical theater. Luca wanted to be on broadway.

She was also known as being one of the greatest singers at East High. She sang everything and she sang all the time. When it came to singing, everybody knew they could never outshine Marlowe Aguilar.

Sabrina Aguilar squealed when her children came into the kitchen. "There's my juniors!"

Luca groaned when his mom slapped a kiss on his cheek. "Mom, it's not s big deal."

Sabrina pulled away and dropped her jaw. "Not a big deal? Not a big deal?" She tapped him hard on that same cheek. She pointed between the twins. "You two were just in kindergarten yesterday."

Mateo Aguilar patted her on the back. "Now come on, Sab. You don't want to worry them anymore than I'm sure they already are." He told his wife.

"Me? I'm perfectly fine." Luca shrugged off and pointed at his sister. "This one, not so much,"

Marlowe looked his way and gasped. "I'm perfectly fine, too!"

Her mother cupped her face. "Oh honey, were you manifesting again?"

"Mama!"

Her father chuckled. "Okay, you two need to go before you're late. Come on!"

"Te amo!" Marlowe called out and she and Luca ran to the door. I love you!

"Te Amo!" Mateo and Sabrina shouted back before the door was shut.

When the turned sixteen, the parents bought the twins a car for their birthday under the condition they share it. It was primarily Luca that drove because Marlowe liked to sit in the passenger seat. "Okay, goal for the new year in 3. . . 2. . . 1," he counted down.

"Get the lead in the school musical—"

"Get a boyfriend!"

Marlowe narrowed her eyes and he pulled a face. "You're boring."

She rolled her eyes. "A boyfriend? That's your only goal?" She questioned like she didn't believe him.

"Obviously I want to get a part in the school musical also but like. . . I really want a boyfriend."

"Let me guess, Knox?" Marlowe teased him.

Luca hit her arm. "Stop. . .but, maybe."

Marlowe laughed. "Luke, you've had a crush on him for years. Maybe this year you can finally tell him how you feel." She manifested.

Again, Luca groaned. "Anddd here we go with the manifesting." He turned on a road. "We're friends, Lowe. That's it. He's a senior. He's going to college. He's probably not even thinking about dating and he definitely doesn't see me that way."

Luca came out only a year ago, but he came out to his family way before that. It was hard, extremely hard, but the Aguilar family was close. He was lucky in that department. Luca was still Luca, their son and brother. Being gay also made it harder for him to find someone to be in a relationship with, and Marlowe always tried to help him with that. She reached over and gently touched his shoulder. "Don't give up until you try."

He only grinned.

When they got to school, Luca separated from her to go and find Knox. Marlowe smiled and waved at the familiar faces she passed by. She then jumped when she felt a pair of hands grab her shoulders. "What the—"

"MARS!"

There was only a total of four people that called her Mars. Smiling widely, Marlowe spun around and there stood Ricky and Big Red. "Skater dudes!" She squealed and they went in for a group hug. "I've missed you both so much! Tell me everything. What's new this year?"

"Ricky has this crazy idea that him and Nini are going to get back together." Big Red told her, resulting in Ricky slapping his arm.

She grimaced. "Oh Ricky, what makes you think she wants to her back together with you?" She asked her best friend, remembering the very detailed conversation she had with him over his break up with Nini.

"We texted, Mars!" He exclaimed

"About what?"

"Uh. . . we said hey."

Marlowe blinked a couple times. "Hey? You said hey and that made you believe in a possibility of rekindling?"

Big Red hummed. "Told ya."

Ricky groaned. "I'm telling you guys. I have a feeling.  Things are going to be good this time." He assured them.

Marlowe and Big Red shared a doubtful look. "Always, what do you guys think the new musical will be this year?" She changed the subject and her expression brightened. "I'm praying for Hamilton but I would also love Into The Woods. Oh, maybe Rent—"

Ricky spotted Nini standing with Kourtney at her pocket. "Yo, Nini! What's good?"

She paused mid sentence and rolled her eyes. Big Red nudged her. "You'd make a great Cinderella." He said with a kind smile.

She smiled again. They went to stand with the group. Kourtney sent her a big smile. "Hey hey, Marley."

"Hey, Kourtney. Hey, Nini."

"Hi, Mars," Nini quickly said before looking back at Ricky, her smile dropping. 

"Hey." He greeted her again.

"Hey." There was an awkward pause. "Um. . . can we talk?"

Marlowe already had a feeling where it was going. "Uh oh." She muttered to herself.

"I met somebody else at camp," Nini admitted, ripping off the bandaid, and Marlowe and Big Red's eyes widened like saucers. "I didn't plan—"

"Wait, wait, is this a joke?" Ricky interrupted while laughing in disbelief.

"Still talking here."

"Oh, snap." Kourtney mumbled at her attitude.

"I met someone at camp. I-I didn't plan for it to happen, but it happened. He was the music man. I was Marian the Librarian. It's called a showmance." Nini continued.

Ricky was still on shock. "Wait, you went to librarian camp? That's a thing? Please tell me you're joking."

"I'm not," she argued, shrugging slightly. "Come on,  Ricky. You know what you did! Or what you didn't do," she reminded him with a bitter tone.

Marlowe sucked in air through her teeth and leaned closer to Big Red. "Ouch."

When Nini uploaded the song she wrote about Ricky, telling him that she loved him to her Instagram, her first reaction was that it was sweet. Since they were kids, she and Ricky were always in love with each other. He's the one who gave her the nickname Nini. When Marlowe found out that Ricky didn't say I love you back and proceeded to break up with her, she had a few (vulgar) words for him.

She couldn't blame Nini for moving on. She found someone else, someone who hopefully treated her better and could give her what she wanted that Ricky couldn't. That's all Marlowe asked for her friend

"Good morning, students. Please make your way to the gym for our annual back to school kickoff!" The principal announced over the intercom.

When there was still silence between them, Marlowe spoke up. "Okayyy. . . I'm going to go find Luca. I'll see you guys late." She fled the awkwardness. As she searched for her brother, she saw Seb and gasped. "Sebby!"

Sebastian whirled around and his face lit up. "Marley!" He met her in the middle and they embraced in a tight hug. "Oh my gosh, you're so beautiful!" He gasped again and pulled away. "Let me see those teeth!"

Marlowe smiled widely and showed him her teeth, newly white and newly straight.

He awed and cupped her face. "So pretty! Those three years really did you justice." He dropped his hands and grabbed hers. "What do you think the musical's gonna be this year?"

They started making their way inside the auditorium.  The seats started piling with students. "Fingers crossed for Into The Woods." She replied with excitement.

Finding her brother sitting alone, Marlowe and Seb climbed up the stairs and sat with him in the middle of bleachers. "Hey, where's Knox?" She leaned towards him.

"He's sitting with the water polo team," Luca whispered back. He gained a hopeful smile. "He said he hopes we can hang out more this year."

Marlowe smiled back and bumped his shoulder. "I'm sure he did."

". . . and I am also pleased to announce that this year, seniors will be allowed to wear baseball hats on Fridays," Principal Gutierrez announced.

Only one girl clapped and the rest of the students stared at him with boredom. Seb started messing with the brackets on Marlowe's wrist.

"And now for a special introduction," He continued.  "This year, East High has a new drama teacher with an announcement that she swore, in writing, would not cost too much money,"

Marlowe perked up at his words and squeezed Seb and Luca's hands. "Here we go! Here we go!" She squealed quietly.

A woman sitting on the bottom row of the bleachers with Carlos stood up and walked towards to the podium. The only sound that could be heard was the clicking of her heels. "Please hold your applause," she said sarcastically. She reached behind the podium and pulled out a T-shirt dispenser. "GO, WILDCATS!"

She shot a T-shirt to the crowd of students and it hit a boy in the head. "Ow."

She handed the device to Carlos and stood behind the podium again. "My name is Miss Jenn, and when I heard that the high school where High School Musical was shot had never staged a production of High School Musical: The Musical, I was shocked as an actress,"

Marlowe gasped at her words. "Oh my gosh, that's better than Into The Woods!"

". . . inspired as a director, and triggered as a millennial,"

Luca furrowed his brows and looked into the camera. A millennial?

"Auditions are tomorrow after school. This show could change your lives and I'm saying this as a background dancer from the original movie. Third from the left, back row, red headband, and those are my real teeth. so. . ."

"Well, that's oddly specific." Seb whispered to the twins.

Marlowe nodded. "Very specific, but I love her already!"

"Oh, and meet your student choreographer, Carlos! You know him as the captain of the color guard. I know him as an unpaid, rising star."

The school bell rang signaling for all the students to go to their class. Marlowe squealed and clapped her hands. "This is so exciting! How much sense does it make for us to do High School Musical?"

"So much sense!" Seb gasped as they walked down the steps of the bleachers. "What part are you auditioning for?"

"Sharpay."

"Ryan."

Seb gasped louder. "I'm auditioning for Sharpay!"

Marlowe stopped dead in her tracks. "You are?"

His smile fell slightly, worried about her reaction.

But her eyes lit up and she bounced on her feet. "Seb, that's amazing!"

"That's iconic, really." Luca agreed with her.

He smiled again, his mood lifting.

"Of course I don't want to go against one of my best friends for the role," Marlowe said into the camera, throwing her hands up dramatically. "But Luca and I have been dreaming of the day we get to play a role that fits us. I mean we're literally twins! It makes so much sense! But, nonetheless, I love Seb so. . ." the camera zoomed in on her face. "Let the best performer win."

Marlowe's first class of the day was combined with both the sophomores and juniors. Coincidentally, her desk was right behind Carlos'. Spotting him already in the class, Marlowe made a beeline to hers. "Hi, Carlos!" She greeted cheerfully.

Carlos lifted his head and shrieked. "Marley!"

She swiftly sat in her desk and he turned around in his. "You're the choreographer? That's amazing."

He smiled big. "Thank you! Can you believe it? Miss Jenn thinks I have real talent."

"You do have real talent. I mean our color guard team rocks because of you. I'm so excited to see what you're going to do."

Carlos grabbed her hands and squeezed them, the smile remaining on his face.