So, it turns out our little visit to North High was considered trespassing to the Menkies, and because of our "offense," all of our rehearsals were shut down for a week... yup, you heard that right, an entire week of no rehearsal; North High had gotten benched for the week too, due to their teacher stealing our beast mask, but it felt kind of generous; I mean we only trespassed because they trespassed and stole from us, they should get at least two weeks in my opinion.

Miss Jenn acted cheerful about the whole thing, but I could tell she was freaking out on the inside; the Menkies, in general, was putting a lot of stress on her; maybe a week off could be nice, she could relax, or something.

"Aurora," Ricky called my name, causing me to pause in the middle of the hallway; I was headed to some career day lecture when he stopped me, "Hey, have you seen Nini?"

I held up my phone as I answered, "you mean besides the videos on Insta?" I ask, she made a singing account over the weekend, and it was blowing up; Ricky sighed, I guess he didn't find me very funny, "I saw her down the hall with Kourt a few minutes ago," I point down the hall, where I'd seen her and her best friend, walking arm in arm. "You okay?"

"Nini and I didn't really leave things on a great note last week," He explains, shaking his head, "And uh, we didn't talk over the weekend... I'm just not sure what to say when I see her."

"Just be honest," I squeeze his hand reassuringly, "listen, I gotta go, but we'll talk later, okay?" Ricky nodded; he seemed nervous still, "good luck."

I squeezed his hand one last time before walking ahead to the classroom where a surprise guest speaker was coming for career day; once I was inside the class, I found EJ, Gina, Seb, and Carlos, sitting at desks in the middle of the classroom.

"Aurora," Gina waved, smiling at me, "I saved you a seat," she informed me, gesturing to the desk in between her and Carlos, right behind EJ.

I smiled back at her as I took it, "thanks, G."

"I thought Juniors were taking the career aptitude test right now?" Carlos asked; the career test was the reason none of our friends were here.

"They are," I nod at him, "but I got scheduled for the earlier one." It sucked, me and a bunch of unlucky juniors had to wake up early to take the test, unlike all of my other friends who got to skip this boring lecture to take it.

"So, do you guys have any guesses on the guest speaker?" EJ asked, leaning back to look at all of us.

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

"Ooh, I would die if it was like, Greta Gerwig," Seb leans over, an excited smile on his face; I shared an amused glance with EJ, not bothering to inform him about how impossible that was.

"You know you're not picking the person, right?" Carlos reminded him; Seb just smiled, a bashful expression making its way onto his face.

"Well, whoever it is, I'm sure they'll remind us to-"

I finish what he's going to say, the two of us talking in unison, "Seize the day and let it go."

Gina quirks an eyebrow at me, "it's the same speech every year." I explain to her; I mean, I've only been to two of these, and so far, something along those lines has been said at both.

"What does it even mean?" Gina asks, shaking her head.

EJ glances over at me, "Oh, you know, to seize the day...." He doesn't answer her question at all; he just repeats the cheesy quote.

"Yeah," I nodded in agreement anyway, "and then, let it go?" I ask as if I were questioning it; EJ's serious expression breaks, laughter erupting out of him.

I can't help but laugh, too; everything has been so different with EJ lately; I guess maybe we were friends? But we haven't really discussed it; I think he was too nervous too.

My eye's widened mid-laugh as a snort somehow mixed in with my giggles, my hand flying up to my mouth, "nobody heard that," He placed his hand on my arm, which was lying on my desk reassuringly; then more laughter escaped his lips.

"Oh, class, class," Our teacher waved her hands to gain our attention; as soon as the guest speaker walked in, EJ and I shared a look; what was his dad doing here? And why hadn't he bothered to mention it? "I am thrilled to present one of East High's most generous benefactors, Mr. Cash Caswell, with tips on success in life."

All eyes glanced over to EJ, who sunk lower in his chair, "Surprise," his father smiled at him, "Students, it's an honor." I don't think I've seen Cash smile this much since EJ got rejected from Duke; what's wrong with him? "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 clears his throat, "come on up here, Eej."

EJ glanced back at me with wide eyes while everyone clapped for him; I shrugged, shooting him a supportive smile as he walks up to meet his father in the front of the room.

"My father gave me this when I got into Duke," His dad continued speaking, pulling a blue Duke hoodie out, "now it's yours."

"Wait, what?" EJ asked, taking the hoodie.

"Congratulations, EJ," Miss Day said; everyone else began clapping as EJ took his seat in front of me again, an unsure expression on his face as he stares down at the blue sweatshirt.

I leaned forward as his dad began speaking, keeping my voice quiet so only he could hear, "well, I was not expecting that; congrats, I'm really happy for you." I was also confused, but this has been EJ's dream for a long time; maybe it still was?

EJ cracked an obviously fake smile at me, nodding his head, "Thanks, Aurora."

cutting it off here because next chapter is the deep heart to heart...
How are y'all enjoying Wildest Dreams so far? what do you hope to see or happen within the next few chapters and episode?
Also if you haven't already, go check out Wonder, my Matt Cornett fic, I have so many exciting ideas for it!