8. Tech Rehearsal

[Avni: Last week at New York was a lot at once. New York is actually really exciting and the fact that I might be living there someday actually makes me smile- but I left Salt Lake for a week and nothing is the same. Gina's leaving, I haven't talked to Ricky at all, Big Red definitely likes Ashyln and EJ cheated at water polo?]

The theatre was literally burnt to a crisp.

"There was a small fire in the theatre over the holiday and the sprinklers did their job," Miss Jenn explained.

What about our show?

"The show cannot go on," the firefighter said. "Fire ripped through half of your costumes and the sprinklers ruined a bunch of your sets. I'm sorry, but I'm gonna have to red tag the entire backstage area for a month at least."

Oh my god.

Miss Jenn looked pretty shaken, but honestly who could blame her? The show was doomed.

She did take charge remarkably though, and told everyone to reconvene in the cafeteria later.

After school let out, all of the theatre kids met up, comforting each other while waiting for Miss Jenn to show up. Big Red and Kourtney were actually taking it pretty hard, which was fair since a bunch of their work had to be redone. The actors only needed the stage.

"I'm really not sure what to say," Miss Jenn said when she came in. "You've all worked so hard. I've seen all of you grow so much. But if we don't have a theatre, we don't have a show."

Everyone heavily protested to that and quickly arrived at the fact that a new venue had to be found.

Carlos suggested the Elray, which Miss Jenn didn't seem too pleased about, but off they went.

"Smell that smell, the theatre. Mould, it's a sign of life. Everyone, watch your step. And let me know if you haven't had a tetanus shot recently, okay?" Miss Jenn said as we all walked into the dingy theatre with flashlights.

"Hey, Ricky," Avni called.

"Hi."

"So, we haven't talked all week."

"Yeah, I guess we just kept missing each other," he said dryly.

His tone struck odd, "Are you mad at me or something?"

"No- it's just- the moment's passed, you know? Nothing to say."

Avni thought back to her conversation with EJ about her mother. Weirdly this felt like she was on the receiving end of her own treatment towards her mom.

Is that why he didn't tell me about his parent's divorce?

Avni swallowed her hurt, nodded and walked away.

"I need some bodies for the rooftop scene," Miss Jenn said.

"I can do Troy," EJ said way too quickly.

"Fine."

"Or at least some people think so," EJ said under his breath, but of course, everyone heard it.

"Avni, stand in for Gabriella."

"Do we have a working lightboard? Do we have a working light switch?" Miss Jenn asked.

"Found it!" Came the reply. The stage was flooded in blue light, which revealed some extremely creepy mannequins wearing neon, straight out of a nightmare.

"Sorry everyone," Carlos said. "My uncle Ruben said there was gonna be some leftover stuff from the fashion show. I guess, the theme was 80s rave?"

"In a nuclear reactor?" Ashlyn asked.

"Big Red, do we have something flattering?" Miss Jenn asked.

"Working on it!" He said. They all waited until- "Found it!" And the good kind of light flooded the stage.

"Okay, Troy, basketball stuff, Gabriella, math stuff, nobody doesn't cry, and we end up here centre stage. Gabriella, give us your cue."

"Remember in kindergarten, you'd meet a kid, know nothing about them, then ten seconds later,

you're best friends?" Avni read off the script.

"Yeah?" Came EJ's voice, slightly breathless.

Avni didn't ponder on it, "Singing with you felt like that."

"Look, I never thought about singing, that's for sure. Until you," EJ said, way more dramatic that it had to be. Avni slowly looked up from her script. "And now, I don't wanna stop. Ever."

What the hell is he doing?

Avni looked at Miss Jenn for help.

"That was excellent," she said. "And a little weird. Big Red, can we hit these guys with a spotlight?"

"I'm looking for it."

"What are you doing?" Avni asked EJ.

"I'm emoting, Aves. Feel free to join in."

"First off, don't call me that. Secondly, this is a tech rehearsal, and we're stand-ins."

"Okay, guys, let's not wait for the lights," Miss Jenn said when the spotlights didn't appear. "Just stand on your marks and give me your cue again?"

"I never thought about singing, that's for sure. Until you," EJ said, so emotionally. "And now, I don't wanna stop. Ever," he said, putting a hand on Avni's shoulder, making way too much eye contact, and practically crying.

"Can I slap him?" Avni asked. EJ looked taken aback. Good because what the fuck was that.

Miss Jenn called him forward, which was great because Avni just needed a breather- and a ladder fell literally three feet from her and made her jump out of her skin.

I'm so done with this day.

"Big Red, did you do that?" Miss Jenn asked.

"No," he said from behind her, which made her jump- because how did he get there?

So done.

"Hey," said Avni.

EJ only hummed; his mouth was full of popcorn. Avni plopped down beside him, holding her hand out. He filled it up with popcorn.

She popped one in her mouth, "These are terrible."

"Yeah."

"What happened?"

"I read Miss Jenn's file on me. It said I didn't get Troy because I lacked emotional connection to the material," he said immediately, like he was waiting for her to ask.

"So you felt the need to be extra emotional?"

"It hurt to hear honestly."

"Why? Because you agreed with it or because you didn't?"

"I don't know," he paused. "Because I thought that's how people really see me. Like an emotion-less sack of bones."

"That's dramatic," Avni said. "Lacking emotional connection to the material as an actor doesn't mean you don't have emotions as a person."

"You agree with her?" He asked, looking offended.

"I just- I think that maybe you were a bit too confident that day at auditions."

"So were you," EJ defended.

"Yeah, but I was playing Sharpay," Avni said. "Don't take this the wrong way- but it felt like you were auditioning for the lead, not for Troy. I mean- Troy's a bit all over the place- he does have a full- blown existential crisis because he wants to do a total of two things. You were too- together. Maybe that's why Ricky got the part. He wasn't exactly prepared."

"Okay, I hear that. It's just- I- it's just felt like another person criticising me for who I am. And I've been getting a lot of that lately. Turns out the internet isn't the best place to come to terms with yourself."

"They're being mean?"

"You see the comments. And I've been losing followers."

"Look, I get it. You're growing and shifting perspectives and you want people to acknowledge that you're a different person now and judge you afresh. And I know this sounds almost too idealistic- but maybe you let other people think what they want to? I mean the people who are here and are seeing you change in real life are supportive, right? Look at Ashlyn- she's always stuck around. I'm pretty sure Nini would've too if what you did didn't directly affect her."

"Is that why you stick around? Because I haven't directly hurt you?"

"You act like you're some ticking bomb that's eventually going to hurt everyone," Avni joked, but when EJ didn't say anything, she said, "EJ? Okay what did you do to me? The other day too you were about to-"

"Hey, guys? We're ordering pizza while Miss Jenn is having some kind of real-time midlife crisis. You both good with pepperoni and soy cheese?" Big Red interrupted.

"Yeah, but can we do olives?" Avni asked.

"Yeah, we can do olives," Big Red said.

"You like olives?" EJ asked.

"You don't like olives?" Avni asked him. When he shook his head, she got up. "Nuh uh. Deal breaker. You were right, I am leaving you," she said, walking away.

"Avni!" EJ called after her, laughing. "Fuck's sake, I'll eat the olives!"

A/n

Avni is saying basically everything that I was screaming at the screen while watching the series.