𝘛𝘖𝘓𝘌𝘙𝘈𝘛𝘌 𝘐𝘛 ⇢ r.bowen

13

ELIZABETH'S POV- February 17th

Gosh. I hate this. I hate everything about this stupid musical. I should just quit, I should just—

My thoughts get cut off as I trip over something. Or... someone.

EJ holds out his hand and catches me. "Sorry, I didn't see you coming," he said. He stares down at his lap while talking and looks pretty upset. I move over and sink down on the floor next to him.

"What's wrong?" I ask. We haven't talked in a while.

He sighs. "I.... I didn't get into Duke."

I frown. "Oh, Eej', I'm so sorry. I know how bad you wanted it." He had been talking about Duke for as long as I'd known him.

"It's like, I don't even know what I'm gonna do. My parents met at Duke, and my grandparents... I mean, we're a Duke family! My apps were so strong too. I did everything right! And they still don't want me."

I nod. "Yeah, I get what it feels like to be unwanted."

He looks up at me, and it's quiet for a while until he says, "I'm sorry we don't really talk much anymore."

I shrug. "I mean, I get it. It's kind of weird. Percy's your best friend, and you were friends with him first anyway. Plus, I'm sure there's some sort of bro-code that you can't talk to each other's exes, right?"

He laughs. "Something like that."

"Well, did you get into any other schools?" I ask, veering back to the original topic.

"Yeah, a few in state schools, which I'm super grateful for but it's not really what I wanted, you know?"

I nod. "You'll figure something out. And uh, if you ever need to talk, you know where to find me." I begin to stand up, then pause and turn back. "Where's..." I trail off, and he gestures for me to continue. I feel my face go red and shake my head. "Never mind."

"No, what?"

I sink back down. "Do you know where Percy's going for college? Not that I care or anything just... curious."

"BYU."

"Oh."

BYU isn't too far.

When I walk away, I'm not sure where else to go, because I really don't wanna go back with everyone else after all that, but before I can even decide for myself, I her footsteps running behind me.

"Liz!"

I turn around, and there's Ricky. I stop in my tracks and we walk in silence next to each other. It's dark in the hallway without any power, and it's an eerie silence, but still neither of us speaks.

"I'm sorry." I say, finally.

He stops, leaning against a locker, and sighs. "What's... what's going on with you today, E? I mean, you've been out of it ever since the beginning of rehearsals."

I shrug.

More silence.

"Did you know that uh... P-Percy's going to BYU?" I say.

"Oh. No." Ricky replies.

"Yeah. EJ just told me. You know if I were going to college right now I'd choose somewhere really, really... far. Definitely out of Utah. Maybe on the East Coast or in Hawaii or maybe I'd go somewhere in a whole other country but..." Ricky stared at me, confused about my rambling.

"I just... I just wish he were leaving. I don't like running into him all the time. And I know that's like, h-how it goes when you break up with s-someone but..." I can barely speak, I keep tripping over my words. I can't believe I'm about to do this.