As much as I wasn't looking forward to it earlier, I was now grateful for the girl's sleepover tonight; I don't think I could handle seeing EJ right now, I didn't know how I was supposed to act, I wasn't even sure if I wanted to speak to him period.

I was fully prepared for an EJ-free night until Kourt somehow got the Broadway blueprints from Howie, and Ashlyn arranged to meet with the boys at the school... forcing me to face EJ sooner than I wanted to.

"Wait, so in the Broadway show, all they did was suspend the beast in the air?" Gina asks as we all lean over the blueprints, "and then he takes the mask off?" I had expected it to be much more complicated than that.

"Wow," Nini scoffs, "looks like today's theme is secrets." She chuckles, causing all of us girls and Seb to share an awkward glance.

"But combine this with the wire from Getcha Head in the Game, and we're golden." Ashlyn chimed in, attempting to break the awkward tension, "do we still have Ricky's harness?"

Kourt nodded, pointing at Ash, "ooh, it's in the costume shop... somewhere."

"Let's split up to look," I suggest, mainly because splitting up gave me a definite chance of avoiding EJ, "meet back in fifteen."

Everyone nodded, "thank you, fifteen." They said in unison before dispersing around the stage; Gina and I headed to one side together, searching through nearby costume racks for the harness.

"Hey, I've been meaning to ask, how's it going with the whole Ricky thing?" I ask her; I'd meant to ask for a while now, but we never had a moment alone, "you seem a lot happier."

Gina nods, smiling at me, "I am, and I'm over it; boys are a lot of work, I'm happy to wait for someone who treats me right."

I clapped my hands slightly, "Amen to that."

"Speaking of boys...." She sang teasingly, nudging my arm before slipping away and over to the rest of our friends; I looked over my shoulder to see what she was talking about; EJ was walking over, his hands shoved into his pockets.

I turn my eyes back to the wardrobe rack as he stands next to me, "Hey Ro, how's the slumber party going?" He sounded nervous, if I hadn't overheard him earlier, I would have assumed it'd be for the same reason I got jittery talking to him, but I knew that wasn't true.

"Fine," I answered frankly, my expression blank.

"Oh cool," He nods; I can tell he doesn't know how to respond to my dryness, "well, I was thinking maybe we could go on a drive tomorrow night?" He asked, his voice hopeful, "to our usual spot?"

If he had asked me earlier, I would have said yes; but honestly, EJ can't just drag me along like this; it's too hard, "I can't," I respond, moving over to the other costume rack to look.

"Oh," EJ follows me, "maybe another night then?"

I sigh, finally turning to look at him; his green eyes were opened wide, a nervous expression on his face; I hated that I thought he looked adorable right now, "I'm busy." I respond, hoping he will get what I'm trying to say; I return to searching for the harness, finding it on the rack a few seconds later, "I found the harness," I call out, holding it up for our friends to see.

I begin to walk over to them when EJ grabs my wrist; he doesn't pull me to look at him or turn me around, but I do anyway, "Aurora, is everything okay?"

I nod, shooting him an obviously fake smile, "Mhmm, never been better," I nod, "buddy." I yank my wrist out of his hand, walking over to the rest of the group; I can feel EJ's eyes watching me, trying to figure out what just happened.

Luckily, we have the harness set up and Ricky attached to it within minutes; we all stand on the sidelines, watching them perform the scene, "now," Ashlyn nods to Big Red, who is standing by the lever.

He begins pulling it; Ricky floats into the air, causing all of our eyes to drift up with him, "y'all, this is some Broadway stuff." Kourtney exclaimed.

"We're gonna win," I mumble to myself, a genuine smile making its way onto my face for the first time in hours, "you guys, we're actually gonna win."

Carlos grips my hand excitedly, "we're gonna make Miss Jenn so proud."

Just as Ricky gets to the top, the rope makes a snapping sound; it all happens so quickly; one minute Ricky is in the air, and the next, he's falling, landing right on top of Ashlyn...

Crap.

♡♥︎♡

We all went our separate ways after that; Miss Jenn came running in after hearing the commotion, and she sent us all away, except for Ashlyn and Ricky, who she drove to the ER.

And the girl's sleepover was canceled, leaving me alone with EJ, who had tried talking to me about what just happened numerous times in the car; I merely hummed in response to what he said, my attention focused on the road ahead.

I had planned to head straight to my room when we got in, but my little sister had other plans, running straight into me, "Rory, EJ, you made it just in time; Kirsten said we could stay up late and watch a movie."

I ruffled her hair, forcing a tired smile onto my face; the small glimpse of happiness I felt when we got the harness working was gone; I was in an even worse mood now, "That sounds so fun, but I'm pretty tired." I admit, and I was I'd been holding myself together for hours, it had gotten exhausting, "goodnight." I nod towards his mother, who watches me with a raised brow; if she could somehow sense if something were wrong, she didn't say anything about it.

I was only in my room for a few minutes when someone knocked on the door; I plan on leaving it, but after a minute of knocking, I give in, "What?" I ask when I see that it's EJ.

He seems shocked by the harshness in my voice, "I just wanted to make sure you were okay?" He admits, awkwardly scratching the back of his neck, "if you wanna talk, we could go for a drive? Considering our night is free now."

I squeeze the door handle so hard my knuckles begin to feel numb, "I can't do this, EJ." I mumble; I couldn't hang out with him like this knowing how he really felt about me; to him, I was just Aurora, the girl who he would never in a million years think of as anyone other than his buddy, and honestly, how am I supposed to know he's not going to change his mind about that once he goes to college?

"Can't do what?" He asks, his brows knitting together in confusion, "we can just stay in tonight if you want? We could talk in here, or-"

"No," I cut him off, shaking my head, "I just want things to go back to normal." I didn't in the slightest, but it was the easiest way to explain it without sounding like a complete loser.

"Oh," He nods, his smile dropping; he finally got it, "I don't...." He shook his head, "I don't understand; I thought we were friends?"

I shake my head at him, "I don't know what we are," I inform him, "it was better before, less complicated."

"Well, can we talk about this?" He asks, shaking his head.

"I think I'm gonna head out actually," I inform him, exiting my room, my backpack swung around my shoulder, "I should probably check on Ashlyn." That and I couldn't bear the thought of being in this house for one more minute.

"that's it then?" EJ asks, in a frustrated tone, "you're just giving up? Even though you constantly brought up the fact that I ditched you, now you're doing the same thing."

"this not that same thing, and you know it," I fought back in an argumentive tone. And it wasn't, EJ didn't ditch me for any valid reason but wanting to be popular, and he did so with no warning; I am doing this to protect my feelings, "I'll see you at school," I mutter, slamming his front door on my way out.

I walk to the other Caswells, making it there within minutes, "Aurora," Gina opens the door; it looks like she's home alone, Ashlyn and her parents must be at the ER still, "what are you doing here so late? Is everything okay?"

Tears brim my eyes, and Gina has her answer, "no," I mutter, as she pulls me into her arms, letting me cry on her shoulder, "I know it's not your house, but do you think I can spend the night?" I ask, pulling away from our hug; I couldn't bear the thought of going back to EJ's right now.

"Of course," She nods, ushering me into the house; I break and tell Gina everything once we're inside, swearing her to secrecy; I don't need word going around that EJ didn't think of me like I thought of him if that reached him I'd be mortified.

Ugh I'm sorry!! But think it can only go up from here🤷🏻‍♀️