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𝗟𝗢𝗩𝗘 𝗕𝗔𝗖𝗞

chapter six:
maybe ej caswell isn't so bad
. . . wait, did she just admit that? !

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VIOLETTA WAS FROZEN.

Her hand reached up to her mouth, both in shock and to hide the small laughs escaping past her lips. She wasn't saying that EJ deserved it — okay, maybe she was, but this was so out of the blue. Violetta wondered what made Gina do it exactly, but she wasn't exactly in a position to ask either of them.

"Hey, Ricky, I think now would be a good time to apologize to Gina," Athena admitted, but for some reason, Violetta couldn't look away from EJ.

The crowd around him still continued to laugh as he flung some of the excess punch off his suit. Violetta's smile slowly fell off her face and she tilted her head just the slightest bit. She hated to admit it, but she kind of felt . . . bad for him? Like, don't get her wrong, her statement earlier about thinking he deserved it was still true, but the look of shock and confusion on her was making her have all of these mixed emotions. A frown settled upon her lips as she watched him wipe the punch off his suit by the refreshment table.

Well, now Violetta was just hopelessly confused.

Athena then let out a deep breath, making Violetta snap out of her trance. "I can't believe I'm about to do this."

"Do what?" Violetta asked, still a little bit dazed from the thought process she had just gone through.

"Don't worry about it. I'll be right back."

Athena walked up to EJ, who seemed to be looking for some napkins. Violetta crossed her arms across her chest as she watched Athena tap EJ's shoulder. He turned to her, and upon seeing who it was, his expression turned confused. A small smile then made its way back onto Violetta's face as she watched Athena hold out her hand to EJ. EJ glanced at her hand, making Athena hold out further so he could take it. He finally took her hand, and Athena began to lead him to the doors of the gym.

As they passed Violetta and Big Red, Athena sent them a quick smile. Violetta, however, managed to lock eyes with EJ. Everything around her seemed to go in slow motion and the music playing turned into a dull ringing. Finally, the moment ended as EJ looked away, and him and Athena left the gym. Violetta shook her head to regain her composure and looked over at Big Red.

"She's sweet," Violetta stated.

"Of course she is, she's Athena," Big Red replied. "Oh, hey, there's Ricky."

Ricky then walked up to the two of them, his suit jacket in one hand and his car keys in the other. "Where's Attie?"

"Helping EJ get the punch off of his suit," Violetta answered. "She just left, like, twenty seconds ago. Why?"

"I'm going to take Gina home, and I wanted to tell Athena, but Gina's waiting in the lobby."

"Go," Violetta urged. "I'll tell her. Don't worry about it."

He sighed. "This wasn't how the night was supposed to go."

"I know," Violetta responded softly. "But you can still make it up to her. She'll understand, Ricky."

Ricky offered her a small smile. "Thanks, Vi. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Bye, Ricky." Violetta leaned closer to Big Red as they watched Ricky leave. "How much you wanna bet that Ricky was going to kiss Athena tonight?"

"Twenty bucks," Big Red voiced.

"Deal."

The two of them went back to the table, where only Ashlyn remained. Violetta grinned at her as she sat back down in her original seat.

"Where's Carlos?" Violetta questioned. "Don't tell me he left too."

Ashlyn shook her head. "He just went to get some punch, but he's still really upset. I feel so bad."

Violetta then looked up. Coming back into the gym were Athena and EJ, EJ looking significantly cleaner than he was. Violetta forced her gaze away from him and looked at Athena as she sat down next to her at the table.

"Ricky's giving Gina a ride home," Violetta announced, just like she had promised Ricky she would.

Athena nodded in approval. "Good. I'll talk to him later. Also, I think EJ and I are . . . friends now? I don't know."

"Cleaning punch off of his suit made you two friends?" Violetta inquired, her eyebrow raised.

"Yeah, I'm just as lost as you, Vi." Athena let out a sigh and slumped her chin into the palm of her hand. "This is not how I expected this night to go."

Violetta resisted the urge to smile at Ricky pretty much saying the same thing and instead put an arm around Athena's shoulders and rested her head on hers. "I know. At least we still have time to enjoy together."

Born to Be Brave then came onto the sound system. This time, Violetta actually smiled. There were countless times where her and Athena would scream the lyrics to the song while making up strange dance moves back in Athena's room when they were little. Couples separated from their slow dancing and began to dance more separately to the upbeat song. Violetta then glanced over to see Carlos standing on the edge of the dance floor all by himself.

Ashlyn looked over at Ashlyn. "What's Carlos doing?"

"Seb didn't come," Ashlyn told her

Athena frowned at that. "That's very unlike Seb, but poor Carlos."

Once the chorus hit, Carlos strutted to the middle of the dance floor and started to dance by himself. Violetta nodded in impressment as she watched him. It took a lot of courage for someone to dance by themselves, and Violetta admired that Carlos was taking the initiative.

"I actually kinda feel bad for the guy," EJ revealed.

Ashlyn then immediately got up from her chair. She joined Carlos on the dance floor and started to dance with him. Violetta's smile only widened.

Violetta lifted her head up from Athena's and looked at her best friend. "You know you want to."

Athena laughed and stood up. Violetta got up from her chair and tapped Big Red's shoulder, signaling him to come as well. Once they joined Ashlyn and Carlos,

Athena laughed and got up from her chair. Violetta tapped Big Red's shoulder to tell him to come as well. When Big Red and Violetta joined Ashlyn and Carlos, Violetta extended her hand out to Big Red. He took it and she twirled him around before he did the same back to her.

Finally, Athena — and surprisingly EJ — began to dance. Everyone on the dance floor began to dance with each other. Violetta jumped up and down next to Athena, Big Red, and EJ. Big Red and EJ laughed at their crazy dance moves yet joined in with them anyways. It was no surprise Violetta loved to dance, and this is why — she could forget all of her troubles for the time being and just let loose.

"Let my hair down and let it go," Violetta sang along, still jumping around Carlos who was still the center of attention on the dance floor. Athena then grabbed her hands and twirled them around, both of them falling into a fit of giggles. "No more running, I run this show. From way up here, yeah, the view is gold." Carlos was then suddenly lifted up onto his back and started crowdsurfing. "'Cause I was born to be brave, now I'm standing miles high, like castles in the sky."

The song then ended. As the crowd cheered, another slow song came back on. All of the dates then came back together for yet another slow dance, but Violetta started to go back to the table with Athena, Big Red, and EJ trailing behind her. Violetta peered over Athena's shoulder as she unlocked her phone to see the time, and she saw that it was eleven-thirty.

"Oh, my parents said I had to be home by midnight," Athena stated.

"I can call my mom," Violetta offered.

Immediately after she said that, she let out a breath and looked at the floor. She only said that out of instinct. It was what would've happened, but that wasn't a reality anymore. Violetta instantly scolded herself.

EJ looked over at her and frowned upon noticing her beating herself up internally, so he cleared his throat. "I'll drive you two home."

Violetta looked back up, the expression on her face just screaming thank you. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah," EJ reassured her. "I was done here, anyways."

Athena smiled. "Awesome, thanks EJ. See you tomorrow, Big Red."

Big Red waved goodbye to them. Violetta, Athena, and EJ went back out into the lobby, where Violetta and Athena collected their coats. EJ then brought them into the parking lot and led them over to a dark gray Jeep.

Violetta gasped. "Dude, shotgun."

Athena rolled her eyes. "Fine."

The two of them got in. Both of them informed EJ of their addresses, and EJ discovered that Violetta lived closer to him, so he decided to drop Athena off first. There wasn't much talking during the car ride, just some soft music playing in the background, but it didn't seem uncomfortable.

Finally, EJ pulled up in a very familiar house. He put his car in park and turned to face Athena in the back seat.

"Thank you for driving me home," Athena voiced.

"Of course," EJ replied. He then looked out the window, a smirk appearing on his face. "I think lover boy's waiting for you."

Violetta looked out the window as well. Sure enough, there was Ricky still in his suit, sitting on Athena's front porch steps.

"Oh, Big Red is so going to owe me twenty bucks," Violetta muttered to herself.

She then turned to face the back seat as well. A knowing look and a smirk appeared on her face as she watched Athena stare out the window longingly. Athena then turned back to glare at the two of them, who were both still obviously smirking at her.

"God, you and Violetta are so similar," Athena said. "Thanks again. I'll see you in school. And Vi, I'll text you later."

She got out of the car and waved goodbye to the both of them. Violetta stared at the window to see Athena approaching Ricky as EJ pulled away.

"You think they're going to kiss?" EJ inquired, driving down the street.

"Oh, one hundred percent," Violetta answered.

"About time."

"Couldn't have said it better myself, Caswell."

EJ laughed slightly. "So . . . let me just take you home?"

"That'd be great, yeah," Violetta responded.

It wouldn't be great. She didn't want to go back to an empty house again, a place reminding her of yet another empty promise her parents had made. Violetta should've known better by now, but somehow, she always kept a sense of blind optimism.

"You all right?" EJ then asked.

"Hmm?" Violetta hummed in response, tearing her gaze away from the window. "Oh. Uh, yeah, I'm fine." Lies. "Why do you ask?"

"I don't know, you just got a little quiet."

Violetta shrugged. "It's been a bit of a rough night, to be honest."

EJ scoffed. "You can say that again."

She looked down and began to absentmindedly play with the ring on her finger. "I just . . . never mind."

He took his gaze away from the road for a quick moment to look over at her. "I know we aren't . . . friends, or anything, but you can tell me if you want."

"You don't need to hear my sob story, EJ," Violetta replied as he turned onto her street.

EJ stopped in front of her house, put the car in park, and turned off the car. "You're right, I don't. And I may not know you that well, but something's telling me that you don't want to go in that house. Plus, back at the dance, you got quiet again before I offered to drive you two home."

Violetta looked back out the window at her house. Sure enough, just as she expected it to be, all the lights were off. However, it wasn't giving off the vibe that everyone was asleep. No — this house just screamed empty. Letting out a sigh, she turned back to EJ to see him still looking at her. For some reason, she felt inclined to tell him, like she could trust him — but there was a reminder in the back of her head reciting everything that he had done to Nini.

Screw it, Violetta's mind then screamed.

"My parents told me they would be here tonight to see me off for Homecoming, but just like always, they got held up at work again," Violetta told him quietly. "I get it, they're providing for our family, but we don't seem like much of a family anymore because they keep pushing me to the side." She shrugged. "I'd just . . . rather not go back into an empty house again."

Everything was silent for a moment. Nobody spoke, and for a moment, Violetta thought that she had said too much. She went to go unbuckle her seatbelt and grab her purse, ready to apologize, but EJ beat her to it.

EJ started up his car again. "Screw it. Come on, we're getting ice cream."

Violetta blinked. "What?"

"Ice cream. It's like a cold dessert—"

"I know what ice cream is, stupid." Violetta couldn't help but smile as EJ laughed. "But like . . . right now?" She glanced down at the red sparkly dress she still adorned. "In this?"

"Yeah, who cares? Carlos showed us tonight that we shouldn't be afraid of what other people think of us. Besides . . ." Even through the dark, Violetta could see his cheeks dust the lightest shade of pink. "You look amazing tonight, Violetta."

Her heart infuriatingly beat against her chest. "You do too, EJ."

EJ then offered the aux cord to her. "And here. Play your favorite song. I'm good with anything."

Violetta, with a smile not leaving her face, took the aux cord from him and plugged it into her phone. And with prom dress playing in the background, she somehow started to feel like something was forming between her and EJ.

∘ ₊ ✧ ──── ✧ ₊ ∘

okay . . . I promised y'all ricky and athena would be happy in season three of hsmtmts, so that only means that violetta and ej will have some suffering 🤷🏼‍♀️🤷🏼‍♀️🤷🏼‍♀️ sorry besties I don't make the rules that's just how it works

also this is such a filler ew I'm sorry