Friday night finally arrived, and it was going to be the night of all nights for Ricky and Nini. Not only were they going to see High School Musical 3, but they were also going to be sharing their first sleepover at Ricky's house later. Similarly to the previous weekend, they had just as many plans and ideas for how they were going to be spending their night together.
But first up was the movie. Ricky had gone to Nini's house after school like normal, and now they were riding with Dana and Carol to the movie theater, with plans for Ricky's parents to join them so the two youngsters could leave right for the Bowen home after the movie was over. Red and Kourtney were also supposed to meet up with their parents for the movie, even though they wouldn't be joining the sleepover tonight.
Like was pretty usual for Nini at least, she was singing along to her High School Musical CD in the car, while Ricky was doing his best to sing along, he had mostly memorized the words for most of the songs in both movies after Nini had been singing them all week in her excitement, when Dana pulled the car to a stop in the parking lot.
"And we're here!" Dana announced cheerily.
"Yay!" Nini and Ricky both cheered and rushed to unbuckle their seatbelts. But when they left the car and followed the lines of people walking towards the buildings in the distance, something didn't seem quite right.
"Hey, this isn't the movie theater," Nini asked. "Where are we?"
"Yeah, I've been to the movie theater plenty of times, and this isn't it." Ricky agreed.
"That's because we aren't going to the movie theater tonight," Carol said with a knowing smile. "Just follow the crowd and I think you'll figure out why we're here."
"But we're still watching High School Musical 3, right?" Nini asked worriedly.
"Don't worry Sweetheart. We're still going to watch the movie." Dana reassured her.
Dana and Carol led the way through the crowded parking lot, and thankfully it didn't take too long for the Bowens, Greenes, and Redonovich's to find each other so that all four kids and all their parents were accounted for as they finally reached the edge of the parking lot that overlooked a large building below.
"Hey, why are we at a school?" Ricky asked.
"Yeah, why would we watch a movie here?" Red asked too.
"Don't you recognize it?" Dana asked.
"No." Kourtney, Red, and Ricky all shook their heads.
"Wait a minute!" Nini shouted. "Moms, is that, is that…Is this East High? How did we get here?"
All the adults were chuckling by now. "Because Nini, the school where they filmed the movies at is that school." Dana kneeled to Nini's level. "Salt Lake City East High School. They filmed most of it last summer I believe, and it was in the news for a few weeks, but we kept the secret so it could be a surprise for you."
"Really? You mean last summer, Troy and Gabriella, and Sharpay and everyone else was here? Like ten minutes from my house?"
"Yep, they were, but the important thing is, since the school let them film here, they get to show the movie in their auditorium tonight," Carol answered.
"Surprise!" Dana and Carol both cheered.
"EEEEEEEE!" Nini screamed in excitement and started bouncing up and down even more. "Then can we see where they filmed everything? Like the gym, and the cafeteria, and Mrs. Darbus's classroom, and the decathlon stage, and-"
"We'll have to see, I heard they did rebuild some of the sets for tonight, but remember it isn't just us here tonight, there will be tons of other people coming to see this," Dana added.
"We had to reserve our tickets weeks ago to make sure we all got put together. So let's not keep you all waiting any longer." Carol finished.
"Yay! Come on Everyone!" By now Nini wanted nothing more than to sprint to the front doors of the school, it was only her moms' slightly stern voices holding her back.
Once they did make it inside, it felt like an eternity to Nini as they had to join the herd of people steadily moving to the auditorium with their tickets in tow. With all her excitement every minute she had to wait felt like an hour.
But they eventually did find their seats, all in a row in about the middle of the auditorium. Ricky and Nini were seated by each other in the center of the row, with Red and Kourtney on their other sides respectively, and then further surrounded by their parents on either end and just a few minutes after they had sat down, everyone had more popcorn than they could eat, so they were ready for the movie.
Up at the front of the auditorium, after another long wait, mostly consisting of Nini, Kourtney, and Ricky once again explaining the plot of the previous movies to Red, although most of Ricky's commentary was just about how cool the basketball players looked and how fun the songs were to sing, finally the lights began to dim, and the red velvet curtains on stage opened up to reveal a giant, blank white screen.
The projector began playing and both Ricky and Nini could feel the pounding of their hearts in anticipation, or maybe that was the music.
Bu-dum, bu-dum, bu-dum, bu-dum bu-dum, bu-dum. Sixteen, sixteen, sixteen minutes left better get it done, sixteen, sixteen, sixteen more minutes get ready game on!
And instantly the whole theater was transported back to East High as Troy and the Wildcats were playing in the championship game. Nini was entranced from the very first note, she was one hundred percent invested in the movie.
Ricky was enjoying the movie too, and he was super excited that his jersey, and yes even his hair looked so much like Troy. He was happy Nini had managed to convince him to wear the full costume even if she had still spent ten minutes laughing at him when he first put the wig on again. He was the spitting image of Troy Bolton, well minus the basketball shorts since his mom insisted he had to wear pants due to the cold October weather.
There were a few times Ricky tried to make whispered jokes or ask questions to Nini, but she never seemed to hear him, her eyes hardly left the screen, but instead of being annoyed, whenever Ricky glanced over at Nini, he could feel his own heart fill up from seeing the look of absolute wonder on her face at every scene, no matter what was going on, from the game, to Troy and Gabriella singing in his treehouse, to Ryan and Sharpay's duet, to preparing for Prom, Nini hardly looked away. Ricky didn't mind though, he already knew this movie was going to be all she wanted to talk about for the next week at the absolute minimum. As long as Nini was smiling like that, and sharing her happiness with him, Ricky would always be happy too.
As the movie continued, it seemed that Nini's moms were correct, the main conflict in the plot, beyond Sharpay's scheming for the musical's lead, seemed to be about Troy choosing which college to go to, and how to make things work out for him and Gabriella, and also him trying to decide between music and basketball.
Similar to when they watched Gabriella leave Palm Springs in High School Musical 2, Ricky couldn't help but notice Nini tearing up slightly when Gabriella said goodbye to Troy to go to Stanford.
"It'll be ok Nini," Ricky whispered, he wiped his hand free of grease and salt from the popcorn with a napkin, and then reached up to wipe away one of the tears trailing down Nini's cheek.
"Thank you, Ricky…I sure hope so," Nini whispered, "they can't let Troy and Gabriella end like this, can they?"
"We'll just have to wait and see, but it's a High School Musical movie, everything always works out for everyone at the end right? Isn't that one of the reasons you love them so much?"
"Yeah, it is, thank you, Ricky." Nini smiled at him in the darkness and then they returned their attention to the movie, just in time to watch Troy begin to Scream.
The movie continued on, and Nini wasn't the only one who shouted in happiness when Troy appeared at Stanford on prom night so they could dance together and then race back home to East High just in the knick of time for the musical.
But as the movie came to a close with the main cast all dressed in their graduation caps and gowns, the whole theater was filled with a mixture of smiles and a little bit of melancholy as it was clear to everyone in attendance, that nothing else would ever feel quite like High School Musical again.
After the credits rolled and the house lights blazed back on, most of the crowd began to disperse, but Ricky, Nini, and all their friends and parents stayed seated along with about a third of the audience.
After the other two-thirds had cleared out, a man walked up on stage, and in front of the projector screen with a microphone in his hands. "Thank you everyone for coming to this special night of all nights." He joked. "My name is Principal Gutierrez, East High School is proud to have been part of this series for the past 5 years, hence why we are celebrating tonight here, where this movie, along with the two prior films were filmed. Those of you remaining will be getting another treat tonight, you are all holding passes for a tour of the school, specifically how the school looked last summer while they were filming. You're already in the Theater, of course, but tonight you'll get to see Ms. Darbus' classroom, the Wildcat gym and cafeteria, Sharpay's Locker, and Troy and Gabriella's secret rooftop garden. Please follow the tour guides who will be leading groups around the school, and listen to any and all directions, spoken or written about what can and cannot be touched, especially if you are students here. I'm talking to you, Leopards." Mr. Gutierrez finished his speech with a warning. "Otherwise, enjoy your night."
"There's a tour?" Nini felt like she forgot how to breathe, she was so excited that Ricky had to pat her on the back to get her moving again.
"You ok Nini?" Kourtney asked.
"Am I ok? We get to tour the EAST HIGH! This is amazing. Moms! Please tell me if one of you brought a camera!"
"Don't worry Nini." Dana smiled and pulled her camera out of her purse. "We came well prepared."
And so their whole group joined the queue of the excited tour members out of the auditorium. Most of the other people remaining appeared to be high school and middle school students, not very many other adults nor kids their age, but they didn't mind, all four of them, even Red were already thinking about talking all about their experience in Show and Tell on Monday.
Even though they could peek in at a lot of the recreated sets, there was still plenty of room for Dana and the other moms to take plenty of pictures of all the kids at each stop. It was more than enough to feel Wildcat Pride, and there seemed to be something for everyone to see and pose next to. For Ricky, it was standing in front of a giant picture of Troy and the other Wildcats wearing their basketball Jerseys, for Nini it was posing with Ricky beside the giant Crescent Moon backstage, and Kourtney was in heaven when she saw a hallway filled with displays of the main casts' costumes. Even Red chose to get his picture taken at the table where the skaters had sat in the first movie. He and Ricky had already discussed asking for skateboards for Christmas and learning how to ride together.
And even though by now the rooftop gardens were mostly closed for the winter, Nini still felt tempted to try to recreate the Can I Have This Dance scene with Ricky, but she knew as soon as the DVD and CD came out, she would be learning all the new songs by heart, hopefully with Ricky to duet with her.
Just over an hour later, their group finally exited the high school doors and headed back to their cars. And despite their near continuous excitement, all four of the kindergarteners were doing their best to hold back yawns and rubbing their eyes.
"Good night Kourtney. Good night Red. Good night Ricky. Good night Nini." Everyone shared waves goodbyes, and promises from all their parents to exchange photos from the tour then after stopping at Nini's moms' car to grab her suitcase, and share a hug and a kiss goodnight, Nini was now heading home to the Bowens' house for her and Ricky's sleepover.
They were both equally as excited as they were tired by the time they arrived. Even though they had made plans to create another blanket fort in Ricky's living room, his parents suggested something else.
"You know you two, it's already way past your bedtime."
"What time is it?" Nini asked.
"Summertime!" Ricky cheered, and while his parents looked confused, both of them couldn't help but roll on the floor in laughter.
"Ok, either they're super wiped out, or we are." Mike joked.
"Or it could be both," Lynne added. "Ricky, Nini, how about instead of building a blanket fort tonight, the two of you just make your beds on the couch? I already know you two are going to have plenty of chances in the future to make a fort."
"Ok Mom…but it's not because I'm YAWWWN, tired." Ricky insisted.
"Yeah, we can keep dancing and singing all night," Nini added.
"Sure you two. Ricky, how about you go to your room, put on your PJs, and grab all the blankets, you want? Nini, you can head to the bathroom and do the same." Lynne suggested.
"OK, they both agreed and despite their mild protests, both parents could see their batteries draining rapidly, as Ricky especially seemed like he could end up spending the night on the stairs if he didn't start moving a little bit faster.
A few minutes later they were both in their pajamas and had their teeth freshly brushed, and then they started making their bed on the living room couch for the night. The couch was just long enough that they could both lay their heads on the opposite armrests and have just a few inches between their feet in the middle. Otherwise they just tucked themselves in with the blankets from Ricky's bedroom.
After Lynne and Mike turned out the lights, but with Ricky's usual nightlight still granting enough brightness for the two of them to see each other, they still stayed up just a bit longer chatting together now that they were once again alone together, always their favorite way to be.
Nini yawned again as she sat up enough against the couch to glance at Ricky on the other end. "Ricky, are you still awake?"
"Yes Nini," Ricky replied and sat up too. "But I don't know for how much longer. Mom and Dad are right, it has to be way past our bedtimes."
"I know, but what was your favorite part of the movie?"
"Do you mean like favorite talking scene or favorite song?"
"Mmm, both, I want to know both."
"OK…my favorite song was The Boys Are Back. Running through a junkyard like that and playing pretend and fighting monsters and saving princesses like Troy and Chad did would be so much fun."
"Ok, maybe we can play a game like that in one of our backyards or at recess sometime?"
"Yeah, that would be lots of fun, especially if Red and Kourtney can join us. Then me and Red can be the brave superheroes that save the girl!"
"Or Kourtney and I could save you boys." Nini pointed out.
"Of course, I think we know between your dance skills and Kourtney's fashion sense, you'd be the better superheroes."
"You know it. Hey if you were a superhero, what would you want your power to be? And you can't just say Spider-Man or Batman, come up with your own thing."
"I think…I would want to be able to turn invisible."
"Invisible, what's the point of that? No one would ever see you?"
"Exactly, it would be impossible for bad guys to fight me if they can't see me. And I'd be a super good spy because I could sneak in anywhere I wanted to. What would your superpower be?"
"Oh that's an easy one, I would want to be able to fly, so that way I can travel wherever I want, and no one would be able to stop me."
"Hmm, I still think invisible powers would be better." Ricky pointed.
"We'll have to agree to disagree on that, but let's get yawn, back on topic. Boys are Back is your favorite song, what was your favorite talking scene?"
"I think that would have to be in the basketball game when Troy takes the risk and wants…what's his name? The benchwarmer…Rocket Guy who made Sharpay sneeze?
"I think his name was…Rocket Man?" Nini said as she tried to remember too.
"Yeah, that sounds right. I liked that part because not only was Troy taking a chance, but it was giving Rocket Man his first chance too."
"I know, that was so sweet of Troy." Nini agreed.
"Yeah, it was nice. If I ever try something new, I hope someone will give me a chance like that."
"I'm sure they will. Do you want to play basketball when we get bigger?"
"I don't know, it looks like fun, but when I bring that basketball to school for my costume next week it will probably be the most I've ever used a basketball before. I don't think I'll ever be Troy Bolton."
"Well don't be. You're Ricky, you're my best friend, not Chad's."
"I know. So what were your favorite song and talking scenes?"
"My favorite song is…oh Can I Have This Dance, no contest."
"Why?"
"Because didn't it look like so much fun when Troy and Gabriella danced together in the rain? We should do that sometime."
"Dance in the rain? But it's almost November, we'd probably freeze into popsicles or get really sick."
"Ok, fine we can wait until Spring or Summer, but you'll dance with me in the rain someday, right?"
"You go it. I promise Nini."
"Thank you, Ricky."
"And for your favorite talking scene?"
"I think when Troy and Gabriella were talking in his treehouse. Don't you think it would be so much fun to have a treehouse?"
"Yeah, that would be fun…" Ricky thought for a few moments, "but I think all the trees in my yard are too small."
"I think you're right, but I have that huge oak tree in my backyard. I bet that can hold a treehouse."
"Maybe? Do you think we could build one someday?" Ricky asked.
"Sure we can. How hard can it be? We can be just like Bob the Builder."
"Can we fix it?" Ricky started singing, and Nini soon joined in.
"Bob the builder."
"Yes, we can!" Ricky sang back, but they both heard a creaking sound come down the steps.
"Hey kids, are you still awake?" Mike asked, he too was dressed in his pajamas and looked pretty bleary-eyed himself.
"Yep, we're still talking about the movie, Dad," Ricky reported.
"That sounds great, Bud, but it's time for both of you to go to sleep. It's been a long night and a long week for all of us. I'm glad you had so much fun, but you both need to be quiet and go to sleep alright? You can keep talking about the movie tomorrow morning."
"OK." Ricky and Nini both nodded and then laid their heads down on their respective armrests.
"Sleep tight kids, don't let the bed bugs bite."
"Don't worry, they're not real bed bugs Nini." Ricky whispered to her.
"I know that now, Ricky." Nini shot back.
"Alright, just close your eyes and go to sleep you two, you can expect a great breakfast in the morning."
"Goodnight Dad."
"Goodnight, Mike."
Mike walked back upstairs, and once they couldn't hear the creaking steps anymore, both Ricky and Nini sat up just enough to glance across the couch at each other.
"Goodnight Nini."
"Goodnight to you too Ricky."
And this time when they laid their heads back down and this time staying quiet, their long days were finally able to overtake them as they both drifted off into dreams combining everything they had seen at East High that night, but also adding in memories and fantasies of living it all with their best friend by their side.
But by the time Ricky woke up the next morning, thanks to a beam of sunlight cutting through the living room curtains to hit him directly in the face. He drowsily opened his eyes but then screwed them shut again when the sun blazed in his eyes. He rolled himself over so the sun could hit the back of his head instead, and tried to pull his blankets over his head for added protection.
But when he reached down, for some reason, he could only take hold of a single blanket instead of the three in total he had gone to sleep with last night.
He opened his eyes again to glance down along the length of the couch. Indeed, he still had his favorite tie blanket with him, but even it had pulled down past his waist, leaving his pajama-covered torso mostly exposed.
Most of the blankets had been pulled down across the couch by Nini, who now looked like she was sleeping inside a giant cocoon at the other end of the couch.
Ricky shivered slightly, finally noticing how cold he was with only half a blanket covering him. Ricky thought over his predicament for a few moments, and he figured if Nini could take his blankets without waking him up, then surely he could just steal a few back to his side and then he could wait for her to wake up on her own.
Ricky sat himself up and then scooted down the couch until he could reach the edges of the blankets he was using. He nudged Nini's feet with his own and she lightly kicked him back in response. He paused for a moment, but that was her only movement, she didn't wake up or anything.
So then he started pulling his blankets out of the bundle Nini had made in her sleep and slowly and steadily backed up along the couch. Anytime Nini made a sound or slight movement, he paused until she settled down again.
But in the end, he made it back to his side without too much trouble. He glanced at the clock on the wall and it was only 7:30. He knew his parents probably wouldn't be up to making breakfast for at least another hour. On the weekends, his parents definitely weren't morning people.
And so Ricky settled himself down to doze for a little while longer, but after a few minutes, he could feel tugging on his blankets. He glanced down at Nini, and could see that she was once again pulling more blankets around herself, without any sound, only the sight of the blankets moving confirmed it was really her.
"Nini?" Ricky whispered, but he got no response. So he decided to grab the blankets before he lost them again and tugged them back, this time he made sure to curl himself up into his own cocoon to help prevent Nini from stealing them again.
That plan didn't seem to last long since he could still feel her tugging on the blankets, trying to steal them back, but at this point, Ricky realized that whether she was awake or not, he definitely was, he also knew a few other things. He wanted to be here when she woke up, so he wasn't going to go back to his room, he also didn't want to wake her up intentionally, but he wasn't going to just sit and be cold while he waited for her.
So, the way Ricky saw it, his only option was to keep pulling the blankets over to his side, and if Nini happened to be awake, then this would be as fun of a game as any other they could be playing. So, no matter how much Nini pulled at the blankets, he just kept holding onto them tighter and tighter.
It went back and forth like that for a few minutes, and while Nini still hadn't made a sound or any obvious movements to indicate she was awake, either she must be, or she must be having a really wild dream right now. But eventually, Ricky's five year old muscles were able to prevail, and he somehow managed to take back not only his half of the blankets but Nini as well.
Nini finally opened her eyes and glanced around to see Ricky pulling her along the couch towards his end. "Ricky? What are you doing?"
Ricky just grinned at her. "You tried to steal my blankets, and now they're all mine! Ha ha ha!" Ricky laughed in an over the top manner so that Nini could instantly tell he was playing a game of some sort.
"What? No, you can't have me, I'll escape you!" Nini shouted back and started squirming her way along the couch, not wanting to leave the warmth of her remaining blankets either.
"There is no escape. I have you trapped, now all I have to do is reel you in like a fish on a hook." Ricky laughed, and kept on pulling.
"No!" Nini howled, and kept squirming along, but it was too late. Ricky had pulled her blankets far enough that he was able to grab onto her ankles and trap her. "I've got you now, my Nini." Ricky declared.
"OK, you caught me. What are we going to do now?"
"Well, my parents probably aren't going to be awake for a little longer to start making breakfast, but I guess we could watch the Saturday morning cartoons." Ricky glanced at the clock again. "Hey, I think the new Pokemon should be on. We have to watch it."
"Sure thing, I know how much you love Pokemon, and you missed last week's episode when you were with me, didn't you?"
"Yeah, but they always show the rerun before the new one, so that's what I meant, we can watch both new episodes. Please?"
"Sure thing Ricky. I know you've shown me your Pokemon cards before, but I don't think I've ever seen the show."
Then you're in for an awesome time, because Pokemon is so awesome, "I think Ash is about to have a gym battle."
"Ok, and that's important how?"
"Ash needs to collect 8 gym badges so he can compete at the Sinnoh League. I'm pretty sure this is his seventh one. So the battle is going to be super awesome I just know it. And I'll tell you all about it, just like when we watched High School Musical last weekend."
"Then I can't wait if this show makes you as happy as High School Musical makes me Ricky." Nini smiled enthusiastically. "Let's turn it on, and we can share all the blankets so we're both warm."
"That sounds great." Ricky left the warm blankets for a moment to find the remote and turn on the TV, and it was just in time too as the theme song started playing, and Ricky couldn't help himself from singing along.
Nini clapped for him when he finished and then they worked together to create another cocoon of blankets around each other, bundled up tight and sitting shoulder to shoulder in the middle of the couch, Ricky had indeed been right as this episode was a gym battle and he was going into lots of detail about the strengths, weaknesses, moves, and type match-ups of all the pokemon involved.
Nini did enjoy the action and humor of the show, but even more than that, she loved seeing Ricky so lit up and passionate about something.
Thankfully by the end of the episode, Ash had indeed claimed victory and his newest badge. Ricky was probably cheering just as much as if he'd won the battle himself.
It was only then that Mike and Lynne came downstairs to find the two kids cuddled up together beneath all their blankets.
"Good morning kiddos, sounds like you've had a very exciting morning already."
"Yeah Mom! Ash just won another gym badge, and he only has one more to go."
"That's great dear, but how about your dad and I get started on making you two breakfast. What are you hungry for?"
"Whatever you have will be fine." Nini shrugged her shoulders politely.
"Ohh, can you make French toast sticks?" Ricky asked. "That's my favorite Saturday breakfast."
"Sure thing Ricky." Mike smiled, "You can go get freshened up, dear." He told Lynne, "even I can't screw frozen French toast sticks up."
"Oh really?" Lynne asked teasingly. "Just let me set the oven and read off the time for you." She said with a hint of laughter as they both walked into the kitchen.
"What was that about?" Nini asked.
Ricky giggled too, "Yeah, my Dad can't cook unless it can be heated up in a microwave. French toast, we'll have to see."
"I can't wait, and I'm sure it will be delicious."
"But hey like I said, we have the new-new Pokemon episode next."
"I can't wait to watch it and feel free to keep telling me everything. Because without you I feel like I have no idea what's going on other than that Pikachu is a Lightning type."
"Electric type."
"Oh correct me, will you?" Nini asked in mock offense.
"Oh like you didn't correct me when I accidentally thought it was East High Panthers, instead of Wildcats?" Ricky reminded her teasingly.
"It's in the song, and the cheer, how could you forget wildcats?"
"The same way you can forget electric type and call Pikachu a lightning type." Ricky pointed out.
"Fine, let's agree to both pay closer attention. Hey a minute, why can that cat Pokemon talk if all the other Pokemon only say their names?"
Ricky just shook his head, "Because it's Meowth silly."
"You say that like it should mean something to me."
Ricky just laughed and kept the explanations to all of Nini's questions flowing until it was time for breakfast. Miraculously the French toast wasn't burnt in the slightest, and both Nini and Ricky were enthusiastic in showing their appreciation.
After breakfast, they had about an hour more to play together, which now them mostly Ricky showing off his Pokemon card collection to Nini, which she loved just as much as when she was showing Ricky all the reasons she loved HSM last weekend before they knew it, Carol and Dana had arrived to pick Nini back up and after a hug goodbye, both left with smiles on their faces, but both counting down until they could once again see each other on Monday.