Not Your Average Ricky(Ella) Story

I don't fit in with these familiar faces

A/N: Thoughts? Feedback? Things you want to see in other chapters? Drop all your thoughts in the comments. I'd love to hear what you think about it so far.

- Song to listen to while reading: Out of the Old from HSMTMTS S1 by Olivia Rodrigo

-The song will be from Ricky's POV. It fits the storyline so please go with it.

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"Feels like I'm not where I'm supposed to be/ I don't fit in with these familiar faces/ And the games they play don't mean a thing to me/ I know there's so much more..." I sing to myself quietly after writing down lyrics in my chicken scratch handwriting to avoid my stepmom screaming at me for making noise.

I wish I had a keyboard to play. I have the guitar that I bought from Goodwill but it doesn't sound the same with the vibe of this song.

"Tickyyyyy! I need you to cook a 5-course meal for next weekend and clean the entire house again! We are having guests over next Sunday. Oh, and you aren't invited, " I hear my stepmother scream over the intercom.

Why can't I at least have a plate for dinner at a table and not in my bedroom? I'm the one who cooks the food.

"Okay," I say to myself after I go over and press the button on the intercom so that she can hear my response.

I hear my phone vibrate on my bed and see a text from Big Red and one from Nini.

Big Red: You need to submit one of your original songs to Mr. Caswell's competition. You are talented Ricky. You deserve that record deal and world tour.

Ricky: I said I would think about it.

Big Red: I know that you won't so If you don't do it, I'll do it.

Nini: Ricky, are you ok? I just want to check in on you.

Hahaha no, everything is NOT okay after what happened on Tuesday. It's Thursday now and I'm debating about NOT showing up at school tomorrow.

Ricky: Everything is okay. Thanks for checking in on me :)

After closing out my text messages, I place my phone in my backpack and grab my skateboard from its place by the door. I work at the SLC Diner after school 3x a week so that I can make some cash and get out of there. I asked my boss if I could work every day after school and she said NO since I'm a minor so 3x a week is better than NO work at all.

I try to schedule my shifts for Monday, Thursday, and Friday. It doesn't always go as planned though.

"Hey Mads, how's the crowd today?" I walk into the restaurant and ask her as I place my skateboard under my arm.'

"Not that busy yet. How's East High?" Maddox asks me since she goes to North High with her step-brother, Jet.

That's one thing that we have in common. We have step-siblings.

"Better than last year," I mumble because last year I had to deal with my mom's death, at least I had Big Red and Nini.

"Oh, by the way, table 7 and 8 needs a waiter," Maddox throws me my apron over the counter while I tie my rollerblades on.

Part of our uniform is to wear pastel aprons and rollerskates to meet the retro vibe of the Diner's aesthetics. Thankfully, I skateboard so I'm good on wheels.