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"So, are you ever going to tell more about you and Blake at the dance?" Big Red asked as they walked to the auditorium for the photoshoot for the poster.
"What? We talked, we shared a dance, what more is there to talk about?" Gracie shrugged as they turned the last corner of the hallway.
"Okay, does Ricky know?" Big Red asked, making Gracie stand still as they reached the door to the auditorium. The wide-eyed look she gave him was enough of an answer. "You didn't tell? If you're playing it off like it wasn't a big deal then why didn't you tell him?"
Graice shifted feet and sighed. "Because I don't want to make a big deal out of this. All of it could mean nothing for all I know. Just please, let me be the one to tell Ricky, when I want to tell him."
"Yeah. No problem," he nodded.
"I'm serious," Gracie warned. "Not a word."
"Got it," he held his hands up defensively as they walked into the auditorium. "Jeez, you let a few things slip out before and no one ever let's it go."
***
"Great, sounds like a plan. Thank you," Carlos nodded at Natalie before turning to Big Red. "Check on the camera."
"Got it," Big Red gave a thumbs up.
Carlos turned to Gracie like he was going to say something, but stopped midbreath as he realized who she was. "Gracie, what are you doing here? The photo doesn't have Kesli in it."
"Oh, I know," Gracie waved him off. "I'm here for moral support and to make sure Big Red doesn't break anything."
"And we appreciate that," Carlos nodded before walking off to talk to someone else and Gracie noticed Nini, dressed as Gabriella, walk in the room.
"Oh, my gosh, you look perfect!" Kourtney squealed as Nini gave a twirl.
"Kourtney, the costume is amazing!" Gracie complimated.
"Thank you, thank you," Kourtney tossed her hair over her shoulder before giving Gracie a brief hug.
"Okay, people let's do this!" Ricky clapped his hands, gaining the attention of everyone in the room.
Gracie looked at him in shock as she took in the costume he was wearing.
"Oh, my god! Ricky!" Nini laughed as Gracie covered her mouth to keep from laughing.
"What?" Ricky asked, flipping his Troy out of his face causing Gracie to burst into a fit of giggles.
"I can't," Nini tried to catch her breath. "There's so much to talk about."
Ricky continued to flip his hair, getting the giggles to continue. "What's so funny?"
"Let's get some air, Wildcats," Gina walked in a struck a pose as Big Red took a photo.
"You look like a true Taylor," Gracie smiled, getting a laugh from Gina in return.
Gracie walked over to Big Red, helping him get the camera all set up.
"Good morning, Gracie," Ricky appeared behind her, getting her to jump slightly.
"Hi," Gracie laughed, looking at his hair, forgetting he had the wig on for a second. "I'm never going to be able to get over the hair."
"What are you talking about?" Ricky smirked, flipping his hair. He smiled as he heard Gracie laugh.
"You need to go get ready for the photo," Gracie stiffled her laugh, pushing the boy towards the others.
"Okay, guys," Big Red looked at the six main characters as they all lined up for the photo. "We're gonna get one in for practice, okay? We're all gonna jump on the count of three. Ready?"
Getting nods from everyone else, Big Red started to count and as he got to three people started to jump as Kourtney ran into the middle, muttering apologizes as she passed by.
Big Red counted again, but everyone went at different times and the guy playing Ryan knocked the L in "Muiscal" down partcially.
"Wait, what happened?" Big Red asked not knowing what went wrong.
"Where to begin," Ricky muttered.
"I think you went early," Seb jumped in looking at Ricky.
"Are we jumping on three or after three?" Gina asked.
"Yeah, the count of three," Big Red nodded. "Ready?"
"Nah, man, you need some new words," Ricky shook his head.
"I think I broke a heal," Seb looked at Kourtney concerned.
"You guys," Carlos sighed. "This isn't that hard. You smile, you leave the earth, you land."
"It's a little hard to smile when we don't even know the plan," Ricky pointed out, getting everyone to nod in agreement.
"I can't look at Ricky," Nini spoke up. "Is that a problem?"
"What if we do 'one, two , three, jump' and they jump on the word jump?" Gracie tried to offer a solution.
"Okay," Carlos stopped all the chattering around him. "Let's take a five."
"On five or after five?" Ricky muttered loudly getting everyone around him to start laughing.
Seb looked around nervously. "I think he's mad at us."
***
"Do you think we got a good photo somewhere in that process?" Ricky asked as he and Gracie walked to their next class.
"Well, Big Red took a lot, so there has to be something," Gracie thought out loud. "But if not photoshop is always an option."
Ricky smiled as they stopped at Gracie's locker to get her books. The two fell into a comfortable silence as she grabbed her things, but it was short lived as another voice passed them.
"Hey, Gracie," Gracie turned to the voice, seeing Blake walked by with a friend. He gave her a small waved that she returned.
"Hey, Blake," the two said nothing else as he turned the corner, leaving the eye sight of Gracie and Ricky.
"Who was that?" Ricky asked after he was sure that Blake was gone.
"Just a guy from my chemistry class," Gracie shrugged. "We talked a little at the dance after you were already gone."
"Oh, talk about anything fun?"
"We just mostly talked about the show," Gracie's eyes light up as she remembered a part of their conversation. "Believe it or not, he's actually a theater kid. Though instead of high school productions, he does more local theater group type of productions. But I think I can work enough magic to get him to join next semesters show."
Ricky raised his eyebrows. "Next semesters show?"
"Yeah, we always do two shows every year," Gracie explained, not getting why he was really questioning all of this. "It'd be great to have him join, since... are you wanting to do the next show, or are you calling it quits after this show?"
"Oh, um," Ricky cleared his throat. "I don't know yet. I guess I'll just see how this one goes, you know?"
"Yeah, I get it."
The bell rang as the comfortable silence they had before started to get awkward.
"Well, I...better get going," Ricky said awkwardly, starting to walk down the hallway.
"Yeah," she turned to watch him walk away. "See you later."
