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4- choreography

Week one of the musical could not have been more intense.

After the table read, the drama department had its first real rehearsal. It was a little rough but they were able to push through it.

The next day, however, was even worse. Nini and EJ had gotten into a fight over a stolen phone and were not speaking to each other which made Miss Jen very annoyed with the two.

"They're bringing down the energy of the whole room," she'd complained to Carlos. "This is getting out of hand."

Meanwhile, Ricky and Alexis were practicing a dance number they had. Just the two of them were in the center of the room while Miss Jen gave them pointers for the choreography. Everyone else sat scattered around the perimeter of the bomb shelter watching.

Clearly, Ricky was struggling. He was definitely not a dancer. Alexis on the other hand seemed to be getting the dance down just fine which made Ricky feel sort of betrayed. They were both the newbies. They were supposed to stick together, to help the other feel not as out of place.

Carlos stopped the counts again as Ricky tripped over his own foot and stumbled backward. It was clear everyone was starting to get impatient.

Miss Jen sighed. "Okay, let's try this again. One and two and..."

This time Ricky started with his feet moving in the wrong direction. Carlos stopped counting again but before the two leads could restart Nini sighed loudly from across the room.

Everyone suddenly went still.

"Is there something wrong, Nini?" Miss Jen asked, turning toward the girl.

"Yes!" She replied. "This is just... just painful to watch. Ricky can't learn this dance and he's never going to, because he can't commit to anything! It's just another one of his things."

Ricky furrowed his brows as Nini stood up and walked over to him. "One of my... I'm sorry, what? Another one of my things? What's that even supposed to mean?"

"Oh, you know exactly what I'm talking about! You do this all the time. Get involved in something you have no business with thinking you'll be great at it but in reality you just ruin it! You think you know everything but you don't," she snapped.

"Nini, maybe you should just—"

"Oh, you stay out of it new girl!" Nini snapped, cutting off Alexis mid sentence. "Because you are doing it to. Neither of you have any business being here. You're ruining the show."

"You don't even know me," Alexis fired back.

"Oh, I know enough. I know that you don't have any experience with theater. And I know that I do! And I know that when you sing, you can't even open your eyes and look at the audience. But I can. And I know you don't really feel the music when you dance... guess what? I do. I deserve this role way more than you. You can't just... come here and snatch it away from me when I've worked ten times as hard..."

"That's enough!" Miss Jen shouted over the yelling. "That's a five, everyone. So take five, and get out!"

"Maybe you're right, Nini. I don't belong here. I should just leave." Ricky said. He grabbed his skateboard and backpack and stormed off.

"Where is he... go stop him!" Miss Jen shouted at no one. Gina quickly ran off outside.

Everyone else filtered out of the room slowly, murmuring under their breaths.

Nini glanced at Alexis up and down in a menacing way.

"Why do you hate me so much? What have I done to you? Like I said, you don't even know me." Alexis asked.

Nini rolled her eyes at the girl and stared at her in disgust.

"What?" Alexis demanded.

"You're very plain. You don't stand out, at all. You'll blend right in on the stage, no one would even remember you."

Alexis' face burned bright red in anger as Nini sauntered out the door.

"I obviously stand out more than you, considering I got the lead and you didn't!" She shouted after her.

Alexis would never know, but truly Nini was being mean to try and hide her jealousy.

Alexis grabbed her skateboard and tossed her backpack on before running outside. There, she saw Gina and Ricky talking by the bench. The girl neared closer to them trying her hardest to fight back tears. Not because she was sad, because she was angry, so angry with Nini for being mean to both her and Ricky in front of everyone.

"Are you okay?" Gina asked.

Alexis' tears threatened to spill over. She shut her eyes tight, wishing she could just disappear in that moment.

But I will not cry. She told herself. Don't give Nini that satisfaction. And nobody can ever see you cry.

"Yes," she finally said, her voice threatening to crack. She took a deep breath. "I'm trying very hard right now to not let Nini's... harsh words get to me."

She refocused and looked at Ricky. "You can't quit the play. I won't let you."

"She's right," Gina interjected. "We're all outsiders to the theater. We need to stick together. Everyone else has their years of experience and growing up with each other doing musicals and shows and we have none of that."

"Well you two aren't exactly sticking up for me very much!" Ricky complained. "It's hard to try and fit in even with you two because it's very clear I am the least talented person in the room at all times."

"That's not true. You got the lead over EJ." Gina pointed out.

"Well I can't freaking dance! It's honestly sad."

"I'll teach you." Alexis cut in quickly. "I will help you, u have the choreo down. And then you can prove to Nini that you can commit to stuff and maybe she will want you back again."

"I'm not doing this for Nini anymore." Ricky decided. "I don't want her back. But I'm not quitting either. Because she thinks I will. I'll prove her wrong."

And so, the three teens drove back to Alexis' house in Gina's car.

When they arrived, Alexis unlocked the door and the other two followed her inside the empty house. Like, empty empty.

Her Dad wasn't home, which didn't come to a shock for the girl. He never was around. He was a doctor, always on call.

There wasn't much furniture either. A big flatscreen TV hung over the fireplace and a big gray couch was placed across from it. Besides that, the large living room was empty.

The little amount of stuff that was in her house was very nice, and obviously expensive. Thought it all had absolutely no sentimental value. Even though she and Ricky lived in the same neighborhood, it was clear Alexis' family was in a much higher place financially. All the houses were different, and hers was bigger and on a bigger plot of land and was much nicer in general. It was one of the newer houses in the neighborhood.

Ricky was afraid to touch anything. Gina, on the other hand, who had been there before plenty of times after the first day of school felt right at home. She flopped down on the pillow less couch.

Ricky and Gina assumed the emptiness was because they were moving their stuff in still. Boxes lined the wall that were still unopened. Alexis' father was always too busy working and Alexis refused to unpack them. It made things all feel too real.

Alexis knew the house would never feel like home. Even in her old house there were no framed family pictures or refrigerator magnets with vacation spots on them or worn down old baby blankets. None of the things that make it warm.

She turned the TV on and put in the HSM DVD Ricky had borrowed from the library into the DVD player.

The teens stayed up for hours practicing until Ricky had the dance down. They ended the night passed out in the living room, all tangled up together on the couch, a pile of arms and legs.