𝚋𝚎𝚜𝚝 𝚏𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚗𝚍 𝚣𝚘𝚗𝚎 // 𝚛𝚒𝚌𝚔𝚢 𝚋𝚘𝚠𝚎𝚗 [𝟷]

1.15

"Oh, my gosh, what happened?" Nini asks.

The theater... It caught on fire over Thanksgiving.
Everything is ruined...

"It's okay, nobody was hurt," Miss Jenn assures. I pull Nini into a hug. "There was a small fire in the theater over the holiday and the sprinklers did their job."

"We're almost done in here, just have to finish up in the faculty room next. Some circuits blew in there over the break," One of the firefighters tells Miss Jenn while holding a basket ball that I immediately recognize as the paper-maché one that Big Red made. He was so proud of it too. "Unfortunately, the show cannot go on."

"No," I mumble.

"What?" Miss Jenn asks.

"Fire ripped through half of your costumes and the sprinklers ruined a bunch of your sets. I'm sorry, but I'm gonna have to red tag the entire backstage area for a month at least," The woman explains.

"Did she just say costumes?" Kourtney asks.

I release from Nini and hug Kourtney.

"I'm sorry, Kourt," I whisper.

She hugs me back, tightly.

"Woah, what happened?" I hear an all too familiar voice.

I look up and see Alaina.

"The theater, it caught on fire. The show... um," I mumble.

"Oh, no," Alaina's eyes soften. She comes and hugs me.

This is the most I've gotten from her in weeks.

"Okay, listen up. Hug your neighbor, take a moment, and let's reconvene in the cafeteria after school to talk about options," Miss Jenn tells us.

Nini and Kourtney join in my hug with Alaina. 

"Nini and Ricky, spread the word," Miss Jenn adds.

"Got it, yeah, of course," Nini nods and pulls away from the hug.

"Ricky?" Miss Jenn asks.

I look over and see he's texting Gina.

I place my hand on his shoulder. He looks down at me with teary eyes. Then he pulls me into a hug.

"Ricky?" Miss Jenn asks again.

"Mhm," He nods, but he doesn't pull away.

~~~

"Okay, guys!" Miss Jenn claps to get our attention. "Wait, where's Gina?"

"I think she's going through a family thing right now," Ashlynn states as we all get situated.

"And Nicholas?" Miss Jenn asks.

"Oh, he's coming back tomorrow. He was in London," I reply.

"Okay, well, prayers to our Gina," She sighs. "I'm really not sure what to say. You've all worked so hard. I've seen all of you grow so much. But, if we don't have a theater, we don't have a show"

Then the room breaks out into chatter.

Really? No show?

"Come on, Miss Jenn, we've gotta do something," Carlos pleads.

"I think we- I don't know, I guess we could consider other venues?" Miss Jenn asks.

"What about the Old Kingston downtown?" Ashlynn asks.

"It's condemned."