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𝗙𝗜𝗡𝗔𝗟𝗟𝗬 𝗙𝗥𝗘𝗘

chapter eighteen:
spring break !

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IT WAS SPRING break, and Athena was more than grateful for the rest. Between homework, tests, play rehearsals, writing songs, and focusing on healing herself, she was getting pretty exhausted.

Athena didn't really know how, but she got dragged to spend the day at Ashlyn's house with her, Violetta, and EJ. She presumed Violetta just wanted to get her out of the house — after all, maybe being cooped up in her room all day with pictures of Ricky decorating her walls wasn't very beneficial. Besides, Miss Jenn had set up a small Zoom meeting for them, so now the four of them would be in one place at the same time.

The Zoom link then opened. Ashlyn, EJ, Athena, and Violetta all gathered around Ashlyn's computer to greet everyone while EJ's was set up on the other side of the room. Instead of the four of them cramming into one space, Violetta would go with EJ and Athena would stay with Ashlyn. Finally, they joined the link.

"What's up?" Ashlyn and EJ chorused in a funny sort of voice.

Athena looked around at the screen. Miss Jenn was in the bomb shelter at East High, Nini was in her bedroom, Carlos was on a beach (Los Cabos, he had posted about five hundred selfies of him there), and Seb was in his barn.

"Hi, y'all!" Nini greeted.

"Sorry, our parents all went to Park City together and left us to watch the house," Ashlyn explained as Violetta and EJ went over to his computer. "We've been streaming old movies."

"Yeah, watched Scary Movie last night," EJ added. "Ah! What a classic."

"Never heard of it," Seb admitted.

"You guys are watching like, old, old movies," Nini voiced. "Hey, Athena, what are you and Vi doing over there?"

Athena shrugged. "Violetta got invited over, and then I was dragged along, so we're just, you know . . . here."

"That's a new necklace, Athena," Miss Jenn noticed. "It's pretty."

Athena looked down. Her neck felt pretty bare without her other one, so she had started wearing a silver chain with a simple A charm that Violetta had gotten her one Christmas a couple of years ago.

"Oh, thanks," Athena replied, gingerly touching the small charm. "Vi got it for me."

"Well, I wanted to tell you guys—" Miss Jenn began.

"Sorry we're late," Kourtney announced, joining the Zoom in the dining area of Salt Lake Slices. "Emergency in the kitchen."

"What's up?" Big Red exclaimed once he joined — also in Salt Lake Slices — in the same exact voice Ashlyn and EJ did earlier.

"This is why we're soulmates," Ashlyn told him.

"Yeah, okay, folks, let's focus," Miss Jenn cut in. "Now that we're all here . . . wait, no, where—"

Gina then joined, backing away from her camera to reveal she was in an airport since she was going to visit her mom in Louisiana. "Hey, everyone. I'm here, I'm here. Sorry, um, I couldn't find an outlet and my flight's delayed. Apparently my plane has a mechanical issue, so . . . fun."

"Oh, dear," Miss Jenn stated. "Are you safe?"

"I spent my childhood in airports. I am no damsel in distress."

"Okay, looks like we are only missing Ricky. Athena, have you heard from him?"

She averted her gaze to the table in front of her, suddenly feeling very awkward as everyone — on the Zoom and in the house — was staring at her. No, she hadn't heard from Ricky. Despite still agreeing to be best friends, the two of them hadn't talked much. The last time they did was about a couple days ago when he texted saying he was going to Chicago.

It's not like Athena could blame the two of them for not texting each other. She had asked for space and Ricky had agreed. Space included focusing on themselves and not worrying about the other person. Yet Athena still couldn't help but feel a little guilty . . . they had promised to be best friends like they were before. It was just a hard situation to still be best friends yet try and give each other space as a couple.

Big Red fortunately spoke up for her. "Uh, I think Ricky is taking some alone time, or mom time, or both. He's in Chicago."

"Okay, I'm sure you're wondering why I've gathered you all here," Miss Jenn continued. "Opening night is only three weeks away, folks. That means we need to stay focused. And I know I can't — won't make you work over the break, but I needed to remind you, face-to-face, stakes are high. Please, for the love of theater, do not take the word break literally. Be safe. Okay, well, have fun. Stay in touch. And now you have this link, so hop on anytime. I'm basically the queen of modern technology, so . . ."

They all waved to each other. All of them instantly scrambled to get off the Zoom as fast as they could so they wouldn't be the last person to leave.

Athena couldn't believe there was only three weeks until opening night. She basically knew the musical by the back of her hand by now, but this was her first lead. Nervous was an understatement. Especially since they were up against North High.

Violetta slumped dramatically against EJ, who caught her like this was normal. "Yo, what should we do? No offense, Eej, but I really don't wanna watch Scary Movie."

"Oh my gosh, let's paint our nails," Ashlyn suggested excitedly, standing up from the couch. "Let me go get everything."

She rushed upstairs to go get the supplies. Athena watched after her and let out a small laugh at the girl's enthusiasm. God, she loved Ashlyn. That girl and Seb were literally the two most precious people she had ever met.

Athena pointed to EJ from her place on the couch. "What color are you doing?"

EJ blinked at her. "What?"

"Your nails," she responded in a duh tone. "I was thinking you could do maybe a dark blue, or maybe a red to match your letterman jacket—"

"I never agreed to having my nails painted."

Violetta raised an eyebrow. "Well, you are now. And since I know Ashlyn will agree to it, it's three against one. So ha, you lose."

"What is EJ losing?" Ashlyn questioned, coming back into the living room with a box of nail polish.

Athena chuckled. "I love how you automatically assumed it was him losing something."

"With Vi saying it, it wasn't hard to guess."

"We're trying to convince him to paint his nails," Violetta voiced.

Ashlyn's eyes widened. "Oh my gosh, yes!"

EJ rolled his eyes playfully. "Oh boy, here we go."

"Come on, it'll be so fun! Think of it as, like, our spring break project."

He let out a sigh. "Okay, okay, fine."

"Yes!" Violetta exclaimed, instantly standing up and taking EJ's hand to pull him towards the table. "So 'Thena suggested we could do a dark blue or a red, but I was going to say you could do a gold or a yellow . . ."

Meanwhile, Athena was watching them with a soft smile on her face. For once in the past couple of days, it wasn't fake. Maybe this was exactly what she needed — spending time with her friends instead of writing songs by herself in her room.

"It's nice to see you smiling," Ashlyn told her over the discussion Violetta and EJ were having about nail polishes.

Athena looked over at her. "What?"

"You're smiling," Ashlyn continued. "I've missed it. As your friend, I always want to see you happy. It's been hard seeing you sad lately."

She shrugged. "We've all gotta be sad once in a while, right?" Her smile grew only when she noticed Violetta starting to paint EJ's nails blue and pink. "But I'm glad that I'm focusing more on myself now."

"All right, enough sadness. We're on spring break, nothing but happiness." She held up two bottles of nail polish. "Orange or purple?"

"Oh, purple, for sure."

--- ☆ • ♫ • ♪ • ♫ • ☆ ---

A LITTLE WHILE after their nail painting party — with EJ absolutely loving his nails — Miss Jenn called another emergency Zoom meeting. Apparently, Kourtney (who was talking to Howie again — okay?) had said that North High was going to be dropping a shady video about East High due to the sole fact that they were on spring break . . . which made absolutely no sense to Athena, but whatever.

Ashlyn joined the Zoom call, Athena sitting right next to her while EJ and Violetta were finishing up laughing about something in the corner of the room. "Hi, Miss Jenn!"

"Hi, cupcake," Big Red said to Ashlyn, also joining at the same time as them. "Hey, A."

Carlos then joined, but he was calling to somebody else. "I'll meet you at the pool, guys! Do not tag me in anything until I've approved the photo, thank you."

Athena chuckled. "Hey, Carlos. Uh . . . do you know where Seb is?"

"Don't ask me."

Seb then immediately joined after that, his usual bright smile on his lips. "Athena. Ashlyn. Big Red. Miss Jenn." His face then dropped completely. "Carlos."

"Wait, are you guys fighting?" Big Red inquired.

"That would imply that we're speaking," Carlos answered.

"Who has time to talk when you're busy posting selfies with random guys in a cabana?" Seb asked, his voice filled with jealousy as Nini joined the Zoom and Violetta and EJ joined Athena and Ashlyn on the couch.

"What's up?" EJ greeted while Kourtney joined the call.

"Wildcats, quiet!" Miss Jenn called in the exact same tone Sharpay did during Stick To The Status Quo. "I've called you all here for a very serious reason. It seems Zack Roy has yet another trick up his sleeve."

"Miss Jenn, they just dropped the video on their Instagram," Nini announced.

"Are you ready?"

"Ready, Miss Jenn."

"Kids, Nini is going to share her screen so we can all watch together."

Nini let out a deep breath. "All right. Three, two, one."

The video from North High then appeared on the screen and began to play.

"East High," Lily's voice stated as a video of somebody driving past the school was shown.

Athena rolled her eyes. Of course. Of course it was her narrating the video, because that's just how the universe worked.

"For decades, the students of this institution have had greatness thrust upon them." It showed multiple pictures of the gym on opening night and one of their cast pictures, among with pictures from the original High School Musical movies. "They've had fame. They've had popularity. But do they deserve it?" Multiple question marks with the word why flew around Zac Efron's face before a circle with a line through it appeared over him. "No." A picture of North High faded in. "We say it's time to give another school a shot at the spotlight. North High has spent its spring break on an immersion trip with nothing but theater in their hearts and minds." Clips of Times Square in New York City were shown. "Meanwhile, East High has been slacking off in style, almost as if they know they can't win." There was a selfie of Carlos on vacation, Ashlyn and EJ with some puppets, Gina in an airport, and a screenshot of Nini's music Instagram that now had over fifteen thousand followers.

"Okay, okay," Miss Jenn interrupted frantically, making Nini pause the video. "We've seen enough."

Athena looked around at the screen. Everyone had shocked and incredulous looks on their faces. Athena resisted the urge to scoff. North High was just getting really pathetic at this point, and she was sick of it.

"Did you just watch what I watched?" Carlos questioned in exasperation. "That was insane."

"Yeah, everyone, calm down," Miss Jenn voiced. "We just need a plan. If we want to beat them at their own game, we need to play by their rules . . . but, add a twist, of course. Let's do something subtle, but public, two show them that we're still in this to win it."

"I don't really do subtle."

"But you sure do public," Seb countered.

"We're on it, Miss Jenn," Nini reassured her.

Miss Jenn nodded. "Godspeed."

All of them left the Zoom. Athena leaned back into couch and crossed her arms.

"You look mad," Violetta noticed.

"I'm going to punch Lily across the face so hard that her little blonde ponytail comes out," Athena decided.

"You already almost did that when we went to North High," EJ recalled.

"Yeah, and I'd do it again."

"I don't think punching someone is Miss Jenn's idea of subtle," Ashlyn revealed. "So, let's brainstorm to try and come up with some ideas."

Athena sighed and nodded. This just made her even more anxious to beat North High — but also more anxious about the show if general. If she messed up, it would put the whole show in jeopardy. She really had to get her head in the game now.

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THE WAY I DIDN'T KNOW HOW TO WRITE THIS EPISODE BC LIKE NOTHING HAPPENS BYE

anyways

PORTWELL STANS HOW ARE WE FEELING BC MY HEART BEATS FOR THEM NOW