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"Gracie! Big Red!"
Gracie and Big Red stopped their walking in the hallway to watch Ricky run to catch up with them, a big smile clear on his face.
"Hey," Gracie greeted as Ricky slowed down and tried to catch his breath. "How was the early rehearsal?"
"Good," he answered, eyes gleaming in delight. "She added a kiss."
"What?" Big Red and Gracie asked in unison.
"Miss Jenn," Ricky explained as the trio continued their walked to class. "When I got there there was only me and Nini, okay? Then she said we would be starting at the very last scene of the show. She handed us the script and the scene only had one line and the added kiss."
"Wait, so you and Nini have to kiss now," Gracie asked as they stopped at Ricky's locker to get his textbooks.
"Yeah," Ricky smiled, his cheeks starting to heat up slightly. "You know, I'm really starting to like this show."
"I bet," Gracie tried her best to give him a smile, ignoring the thoughts that clouded her mind.
"So, I see you guys at lunch?" Ricky asked, looking between his friends.
"Yup," Big Red nodded throwing an arm around Gracie. "See you there."
***
"I'm kinda lost," Ricky said at rehearsal later that day. It was their first dance rehearsal and Carlos said that they would be working on the curtain call, which confused Ricky to no end. "If the play's over, why would we still be dancing?"
"It's a curtain call," Carlos explained like it was obvious even to someone outside of the theatre community. "You're the last two to come out. We want to bring the audience to their feet."
"Teach them the dance," Ricky nodded, getting Gracie to rub her eyes in annoyance.
"Carlos? Can we just wait until Miss Jenn gets in?" Nini asked, obviously feeling more annoyed and irritated than everyone else in the room.
"Miss Jenn is busy tracking down a prop," Carlos shook his head. "She's asked me to create a crescendo, people, so let's stop swirling and start twirling."
Ricky raised his hand. "By why are we practicing the bows when we haven't even practiced the play?"
"Because you start with the hardest dance that takes the longest to learn," Carlos told him. "It's in The Big Book of Broadway."
"Page 374," he and Gina said in sync, causing them to smile at each other.
"Okay, people," Carlos looked around at the rest of the cast. "Let's take it from three counts of eight, right before Troy and Gabriella's entrance for the bows."
Ricky turned to Gracie, looking nervous.
"You got this," she encouraged him and squeezed his shoulder lightly before taking her place more on the side of the stage for the dance number.
