𝐒𝐏𝐎𝐓𝐋𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓 - 𝐡𝐬𝐦𝐭𝐦𝐭𝐬 (𝐢𝐯) | ✔

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀𝒊𝒊𝒊. 𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐛𝐢𝐧'𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐥𝐨𝐜𝐤

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐞
━━ 𝒄𝒐𝒓𝒃𝒊𝒏'𝒔 𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒍𝒐𝒄𝒌

 Classes were as boring as ever. As juniors, they had always heard how seniors were allowed a bit of freedom and teachers were much more relaxed around them because they had known them for so long but that was hardly the case with them. She felt herself drowning in numbers during Maths, she could barely note down all the books she needed to read for English Lit and History made her want to cry. To that, add the hundred times that the teachers had told them how important university applications were and how much effort they should be putting on them.

When lunch finally arrived, she was relieved to find all the drama kids sitting at the same table, Ricky's eyes immediately registering her. Before she could get there, however, she was called over by the art kids, who were sitting at a nearby table. She approached them, a bit nervous.

"We saw your documentary," Thomas told her, as soon as she was within earshot. "It was... wow."

"Well, it wasn't... supposed to go that way. It was supposed to focus on the play..."

"You did amazing, by the way," Alexandra muttered, shy. It was weird to see her so quiet, but their relationship had never recovered after the fight they had had last year. Even though they were civil with each other, it was difficult to determine how to behave. "You and Ricky both."

"Thanks, Alex. I'll... make sure to tell him." She smiled at her. "Are you all... helping with the musical this year?"

"Yeah, Miss Jenn asked us and we all agreed to, you know, one last musical together."

"Yeah, one last musical," Juliette whispered. Long forgotten were all the plans the two girls had made together and, although it made her quite sad, she knew that was life. High school friends were rarely forever, even though she wished they were. Life changes and people change with life. "I really look forward to being all together again. Just... call if you need anything?"

"Yes, sure." Alex smiled under everybody's attentive gazes. She looked hopeful, as did Juliette, that things could get better over time. After some seconds of silence, Juliette said her goodbyes and walked towards Ricky and the rest of the group.

"Everything okay?" he whispered as she sat down beside him.

"Yeah," she breathed out, eating a grape. "It's still weird how things ended up but everything's okay."

He smiled, reassuringly, and took her hand under the table, forcing the girl to eat with her non-dominant one. She tried to hide it as best as she could, but she forced Ricky to free her hand when she dropped her fork and nearly got her shirt dirty, calling the attention of Carlos and Kourtney. Still, with their knees touching, both teenagers turned their attention towards the rest of the group, whose conversations were limited to two topics: High School Musical 3 and High School Musical 4. As varied as the food the cafeteria offered.

"Do you think they'll let us audition?" Gina, sitting in front of Juliette, asked. "After the documentary, this could be our redemption."

"And, plus, you would get to act alongside your childhood crush," Ashlyn teased her, the pitch of her voice going higher towards the end of the sentence.

"And I could record some Tiktoks with Dani," Kourtney continued, making Carlos and herself screech in excitement.

"Guys, we have Miss Jenn's HSM," Juliette reminded them. "It's our last musical together. And after what happened with the documentary... I don't know if I ever want to be in the public eye again."