Was it real? [Ricky Bowen]

- 13 -

"What happened here?" Rosella and the rest of the cast is shocked as they step into the theater after the holiday,  seeing it burned down as firefighter walk around, trying to save what there is left to save.

"It's okay. Nobody was hurt" Ms. Jenn tells  them. "There was a small fire in the theater over the holiday and the sprinklers did their job."

"We're almost done in here, just have to finish up in the faculty room next" one firefighter says, walking up to the group, holding a burned basketball in her hands. "Some circuits blew in there over the break. Unfortunately, the show cannot go on." "What?" "The fire ripped through half of your costumes and the sprinklers ruined a bunch of your sets. I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to red tag the entire backstage area for a month at least" the woman tells them, shocking everyone.

"Okay, listen up!" Ms. Jenn exclaims after a moment, turning to the students. "Gu your neighbor, take a moment, and let's reconvene in the cafeteria after school to talk about options" she says as Ricky gets his phone out to text Gina the news, so she's informed when she shows up later.

"Nini, Ricky, spread the word." "Got it. Yeah, of course" Nini replies. "Ricky?" Ms. Jenn turns to the boy who's still texting. "Ricky?" "Sorry. After school in the cafeteria. Got it" he speaks up, a bit startled.

Hugging her boyfriend, Rosella waits in the cafeteria with everyone else, hoping the show isn't canceled and they'll come up with a plan. They put too much hard work into the musical to not be able to perform now.

"Okay, guys!" the teacher calls as she walks in. "Wait, where's Gina?" "I think she's going through a family thing right now" Ashlyn informs her. "Okay, prayers go out to Gina."

"I'm really not sure what to say" she starts. "You've all worked so hard. I've seen all of you grow so much. But if we don't have a theater, we don't have a show." "Wait, what?" they all exclaim, some on the brim of tears, as Rosella hides her face in Rickys shoulder, not wanting the others see her cry.

"Come on, Miss Jenn, we've got to do something" Carlos calls out. "I think we..." she stutters, not knowing what to say right now. "I don't know, I guess we could consider other venues?" she suggests. "What about the old Kingston downtown?" Ashlyn asks. "It's condemned." "The Lucky Ducky Puppet Pavilion?" E.J. suggests just for Ms. Jenn to tell them that it turned into a Starbucks. "How about the El Rey?" Carlos speaks up, which the others think is a great idea.

"My uncle Ruben is the listing agent, and the last thing they had in there was a fashion show, like, four years ago" he tells their teacher as he walks away to call his uncle. "This place has 500 seats" Seb exclaims, looking the venue up, which is way more than their theater. "498, but who's counting" Ms. Jenn mumbles. "I can't imagine we'd be able to get in on such a short notice" she speaks up again, a bit louder so the cast can hear her over their chattering, just as Carlos speaks to his uncle, who's on speaker so everyone can hear his answer, in Spanish.