𝙢𝙮 𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙩 𝙞𝙨 𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙖𝙧𝙚 ~ 𝙝𝙨𝙢𝙩𝙢𝙩𝙨 (𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙞)

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟑.

As time wore on things at the Y.A.C. got to be mildly easier. Nini still talked to her EHS friends every day, at least through the group chat. Miss Jenn had been posting teasers for their Spring musical all week and it was driving them all crazy. It seemed like any time Nini picked up her phone Carlos had written up a new conspiracy theory for them about what show she was going to pick.

Despite her reservations, Nini continued to hangout with Faith, because, in Kourtney's words, "Beggars can't be choosers Neeners." Nini knew that Kourt was right, but something still felt off about that girl. Faith had introduced Nini to a couple of her other friends too, Gwen and Layla. Both of the girls had short brown hair and glasses and honestly, Nini had trouble telling them apart, but she knew she couldn't keep asking, so she just tried not to use their names in conversation.

By her third week, Nini felt like she had been there for months, but today was going to be a good day. Or at least that's what she told herself. At the end of the day, their drama teacher was announcing the Spring musical, and Nini was so excited to finally have something to focus her creative energy on. That was the reason she was here after all.

During her lunch break, Nini turned down the girls' offer to get lunch together. She wanted a minute alone to check in with everyone back home and Faith always tried to read texts over her shoulder whenever Nini checked her phone around her. Sitting alone in the library, Nini unlocked her phone and saw that the group chat had been going insane that morning. Apparently, Miss Jenn had finally announced the show and the whole drama family was going crazy.

Carlos's text read: "OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD! LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS??? HOW R WE FEELING ABOUT THIS??" His follow-up text said: "You'd all best bet I will be taking creative liberties with the amount of dancing that usually goes on in this show."

After that, the group's conversation was a quick descent into madness. Apparently, it was a mixed bag, EJ made some snarky comments because Seymour is a 'boring lead', to which Ash replied "good thing you'll make a perfect Orin Scrivello", most of Red's messages were just him begging someone to explain the plot of the show to him, Gina said she hoped that Miss Jenn wouldn't make them do accents in the show, Kourt wondered how they were going to make the Audrey 2 puppet.

Nini laughed scrolling through the chaos until it hit with the sudden realization that was the first East High musical that she wasn't going to be a part of since Freshman year. She wondered how Ricky was feeling about all of this. She could envision him playing Seymour. He would make an adorable nerd. She could practically see him now with a button-up shirt, tie, and glasses. She smiled to herself at the mental image of it all, but scrolling back through the messages she realized that Ricky had been completely quiet on the subject. She figured maybe he was just in class, but made a mental note to call Red tonight and check in with him. Nini sent a few texts in the group adding to her friend's excitement. Before she was ready for it, the bell rang and it was time to go back to her classes.

---

Alone in her dorm room, working on homework, Nini was suddenly startled out of her work by a collective scream coming from just about every girl on the floor. Her hand flinched in surprise leaving a huge, black, slash across her paper. Nini sighed, erasing the mistake. She heard Faith through her thin walls, on the phone with someone. "Yeah, I just got it! I'm so excited, we've got to make our own cast list for-" she paused for a moment, presumably listening to the speaker on the other end. "Alright, I'm on my way," Faith said, and Nini heard her door open and slam shut, followed by footsteps running down the hall.

Nini smiled to herself, the musical must have just been announced. She pulled out her phone and logged into her school email.

The message explained that at the Y.A.C. they cast two sets of performers for the show, one upperclassman, and one lowerclassmen. Nini sighed in relief, that alone cuts the competition for parts in half. She read on- skimmed mostly- to the end where she read "Grease". Nini jumped up from her desk, giddy with excitement. She had always identified with Sandy, being too nice for her own good sometimes, having her ladies by her side, being head over heels for an emotionally unavailable boy... god, she was glad to have that part over with. She laughed at the thought that she didn't even have to change everything about herself like Sandy did in order to win him over.