Baby Love ── RICKY BOWEN¹

five. noodle arms

.・゜゜・　　・゜゜・．

"I'm so excited!"

I'm not.

Amy was bouncing beside me, like actual bouncing like a five-year-old, with excitement for the first read-through. I, however, was not looking forward to it. Being in a room with fifty theaters members as I infiltrated their organization that I knew nothing about? No, thank you. I never thought I'd say it, but I wish I had Rico right now because at least if he starts crying from when I "accidentally" shake him, it'd give me an excuse to leave for twenty minutes.

Plus, there's another reason I hate this.

"Will you tone it down?" Ben grumbled from my other side, shooting Amy a withering look. "I'm trying to finish this game, and your shrieking is throwing me off."

Amy glared right back. "I don't care if you're Mari's brother, I will beat you up if I have to."

Ben straightened up. "Go ahead and try."

Quickly, both my arms shot up to block the two who tried to take a step towards one another. "Okay, okay!" I talked loudly, shoving both back to either side of me. "We're on our way to the read-through, not war, so can you two calm it down?"

My little brother then shifted his glare to me. "I don't even wanna be here, Maritza, this is so unfair." I agree it is unfair that my brother has to stick back with me in school because our dad doesn't wanna make two trips to pick us up, but what can we do? "Why did you even join the musical? You're a book girl, not a drama one."

Wow, way to throw me in a box, Ben. "I was asked to help out, so I am," I mumbled, hoping it'd be enough to settle my brother down for the remainder of the time we were here. And it was, for the most part, Ben letting out just a huff of annoyance before falling silent. I glanced at Amy next, seeing she was not paying us any mind, her attention settled on the group of kids standing at the entrance to backstage.

Ben let out a groan. "Ugh, people are gonna see me with you now."

I rolled my eyes. "Oh, wow, it's not like we look alike or anything." Ben ignored me, as he usually does, and fell back while Amy and I joined the rest of the drama department. Why is he so ashamed to be seen with me? I'm not exactly popular or anything, but I'm certainly not a bad person to be seen with. I'm average, what's wrong with that?

"You're thinking about your brother," Amy commented, and I looked up from the ground to see her staring at me with a smirk. "Don't take it to heart, it's a younger sibling thing. I always told my sister that."

"Your sister is ten years older than you, not two; it's different," I mumbled, slightly wounded by my brother's desire to not be associated with me. Seriously, what's up with that?

I didn't have much time to dwell on that, as suddenly people were flooding into backstage. Amy quickly hooked arms with me, dragging me towards the door. I quickly glanced behind me to Ben, who was already beginning his trudge into the room. If I were part of the production, I'd actually be excited by the setup. The desks were set up a circle for the first read-through, props surrounding the circle in the crowded area.