one time thing | ricky bowen ¹

twenty

───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────

every single one of the cast members of the musical sat in big red's basement, no one saying a word. every one looked and stared at each other until natalie spoke up, "this is a terrible party. there aren't even pretzels. what are we doing here?"

leighton sat up straight not sure when this turned to a party, ashlyn then spoke after "we all ended up in the same basement after a really bad day, so someone should say something." leighton had to agree with her. carlos was next to speak.

"fine. i'll say something. i'm mad at miss jenn." he said using his hands for emphasis. gina, who was next to leighton and ricky asked why. "cause she has a couple of skeletons in her closet?"

"no! because she's giving up. she was the first teacher to not see me as a punchline! now she's not even a real teacher?" carlos replied. leighton cleared her throat, "i mean she probably feels defeated because she has to go in front of the school board. that's like, really scary carlos."

"define 'real teacher'" ashlyn said. "he's got a point." "does he though?" words were fired back and forth between the group.

"guys." big red said and natalie once again asked why they were all there. "yeah good question. this is a waste of time." ej said, frustrated with the underclassmen. leighton only rolled her eyes at his comment. keeping her mouth closed.

carlos continued his story of miss jenn giving him a shot. "and it's been a long time since someone gave me a shot." carlos continued. nini speaking up, "she gave me a voice."

things were starting to slowly fall apart. "okay, does anyone here actually care if her past is a little bit sketchy?" ashlyn asked and ricky replied with an 'i do'. leighton looked at him as kourtney made a comment, "what, because you live some perfect life?"

"he most definitely did not say that." leighton spoke not caring to look at the girl. "not at all." ricky said placing a hand on leighton's, a way to get her to calm her temper.

ricky shook his head and abruptly stood up, leighton moved and followed him with her eyes as ricky walked to the center of the room. "because she put our show in jeopardy. now we're all here, maybe for the last time, together.. and for some of us, this has become... i don't know.." ricky said. leighton helped him out, "family."

gina looked over and smiled at the brunette and she smiled back. leighton stood up from her bean bag and spoke, "i agree, you are very right. we can't let this fall to pieces."

nini made a face, noticing how leighton constantly agreed with ricky. they were totally together. she shook her head, but listened anyway. wanting to help get her teacher back.

"what team?" ricky asked. everyone started to smile and said 'wildcats'. "okay wildcats. so what are we going to do about it?" the stares of everyone meant the were all pondering an idea.

everyone stood up and began to brainstorm how to get things together for the next morning's meeting. leighton grabbed ricky's hand, "you are so troy bolton in another life." they laughed and joined in the brainstorm activity.

—
leighton woke up the next morning feeling a little exhausted. the cast stayed up very late the night before, practicing something for miss jenn. she rolled out of her bed and changed into her outfit before running downstairs to hopefully get starbucks before the morning meeting. her mom said she was about to head to the meeting as well and waved at her daughter.