Chapter 17: Poster Photoshoots and Workshopping
Welcome to June's segment of 'Starburst', we are now entering season 1 episode 6 'What Team'. Hope you'll like this chapter as we see what Cress and her friends are up to again.
Disclaimer: I do not own 'High School Musical: The Musical: The Series' or Ten from "Weightless". Ten, Vernon, Joshua and Jeonghan belong to my friend @zealous_light. I only own my original characters. Enjoy the chapter.
Monday Morning
It was time for the HSM poster picture day.
"Alright, get in places, costumes and characters!" Natalie marched around handing off stage directions. "Whoever still hasn't gotten their makeup done, go to Cress or Kourtney! Big Red, is the camera ready on standby?"
"Ready." Big Red grinned with a thumbs up.
"How do I look?" EJ strutted a dramatic pose in front of his two best friends.
"Like a shady college dropout who sells VHS tapes from the back of his car." Cress quipped. "Sit down, dork, I still need to do your makeup."
"Like a dorky jock but we still love you anyways." Ten nodded his head.
"I believe the better term is Jocky Dork, I mean our Eej memorizes Steve Jobs's book like it's the Bible." Cress snickered in a goodhearted manner, working her magic on putting on makeup on EJ's face.
"Don't go around telling people that, Cress. I have a reputation to maintain." EJ chuckled, trying (and somewhat failing) to stay still.
"C'mon, better get going. Nattie's drilling everyone upstage, and I am still on makeup duty." Cress chuckled, doing some finishing touches on EJ's face. "Voila, your dark circles aren't as obvious now."
"Sebby! Your turn!" Cress looked over her shoulder at Seb Matthew-Smith. He had a small pink streak by the side of his hair. "Oh my gosh, you look fabulous!!"
"Thanks, Phy got the temporary hair dye for me." Seb smiled back in a soft tone.
"How do you feel?" Ten asked in a gentle tone.
"Like I'm finally me." Seb sighed in content, a blissful smile on his face.
"Nice shoes." Cress nodded approvingly at Seb's glittery silver shoes.
"Thanks, Phy loaned me these." Seb responded with a tiny smile.
"Thought I recognized it somewhere." Cress chuckled fondly of her younger brother. Phyrros has always had the best fashion sense.
"Oh my gosh, you look perfect!" Kourtney squealed and gushed at Nini's Gabriela outfit. Nini spun around happily to show off her costume.
"Ok people! Let's do this!" Ricky announced loudly, already dressed up as Troy Bolton with a tacky wig that made his head look like a shabby broom that sprung to life.
"Oh my god Ricky!" Nini exclaimed.
"He looks like an early 2000s boy band reject." Cress muttered under her breath, her right eye visibly twitching in irritation.
Surprisingly, Ricky with the Troy wig actually looks better (and probably has better hair hygiene) than his usual rodent curly hair. Which isn't a lot, but it's still a step-up.
And considering Cress already cares very little about Richard Bowen, she just tuned him out and internally censors his face for the sake of her sanity.
"Question, do I tuck my shirt in or leave it out?" EJ looked over at his friends, attempting to tuck his shirt into his pants.
"Leave it out, and adjust it just a bit." Ten assessed his outfit and suggested.
"Wow, Rico is really flexible." Cress looked amazed and impressed by Rico (who's cast as Ryan Evans) doing the splits on the ground and adjusting his shoes. "I bet Ten could be just as flexible too."
That remark alone sent EJ's cogs wheeling at the idea of Ten being casted as one of the leading roles (Ryan) in another timeline.
"Flattered, but I'm content enough to be playing Zeke. Besides, Rico's done a great job as Ryan Evans; he's rightfully earned the role." Ten remarked.
From the corner of the Senior Trio's eyes, they noticed that Ricky Bowen and Gina Porter were having a rather friendly (and mayhaps borderline flirty) banter with each other. A stark difference from Homecoming Night.
Even Nini who was standing behind Ricky and Gina noticed a shift in their interaction with each other.
"When did those two get so friendly with each other?" Cress thought to herself.
Eh whatever, one person's trash is another person's treasure?? His hair looks like fleas take vacation in it!
Overall, the photoshoot was a bit of a mess since everyone has different coordination skills.
"Oh gods, I look like I have a double chin." Rico commented, motioning to the first picture they took.
"Are we jumping on 3 or after 3?" Gina raised her hand and asked.
"Like on the count of 3." Big Red clarified.
"Nah man, we need some new words" Ricky shook his head.
"I think I broke a heel." Seb half-winced.
"You guys, this isn't that hard." Carlos withheld an exasperated sigh, putting on a cheery front. "You smile, leave the earth, you land."
"It's a little hard to smile when you don't even know the plan." Ricky chimed.
"I can't look at Ricky. Is that a problem?" Nini gestured to Ricky standing beside her.
'Ah, I knew I liked you somehow.' Cress bit back a cackle, amused by Nini's remark.
"Ok, let's take a five!" Carlos declared in resignation. "Someone re-adjust the L on the sign."
"I'm on it!" Cress nodded, swinging the heavy ladder over her head like it was a pool noodle (and almost taking down a few heads along the way).
"How is she that strong?" Ricky seems baffled by her strength.
Everyone else who's known Cress longer seemed unbothered by her sheer amount of strength.
After the Photoshoot
"Hey Ten," Ricky approached Ten slowly and cautiously, "Can we talk?"
The cautiousness is most likely because Ten's protective best friends are nearby to give him the stink eye.
"Eej, I need your help to reach the glue gun from the top shelves!" Cress dragged her tallest friend to the side of the room.
"Sure." EJ figured something was up but has learned to go along with Cress's misadventures. Plus it's usually harmless fun.
"What are you doing?" EJ glanced down at Cress scowling in Ricky's direction. The two of them hiding behind the bulky camel prop to observe.
"Lip reading." She responded curtly, squinting her eyes.
"When did you learn to lip read?"
"From the very minute I first heard Ricky Bowen talk. I decided to lip read to avoid listening to him talk."
EJ's facial expression is a mix of amusement and confusion of how Cress picked up lip-reading.
"Look, I am sorry about what I said on Homecoming Night" Ricky began his apology. He looked sincerely remorseful about his actions.
"It's ok. What you said was kind of true." Ten shrugged, not wanting to let the past dispute affect him that much.
"But–"
"It's fine, I'm used to it actually." Ten appeared nonchalant. This wasn't the first time he'd heard of people's misassumptions of his friendship with EJ and Cress.
"Hold up, what did he just say?" EJ backtracked at that remark once Cress translated.
'Ok that calls for another friendship counseling session we need'! Cress mentally took note.
Cress can't help but respect Ten's kindness and forgiving attitude. Because she has no guarantees she'd be that forgiving if Ricky came to apologize to her about his misassumptions.
"I'm serious. I'm really sorry about what I said. I shouldn't have said that you're only friends with EJ and Cress to take advantage of their social statuses at school. I know that you're all really close and have known each other since you were kids. I was lashing out at you for no reason and I'm sorry."
Ten remained silent for a moment to mull over his thoughts. Eventually he gave Ricky a pat on the shoulder to reassure him.
"It's fine, Ricky. We all have something going on. Don't beat yourself over it."
On one hand, Ten appreciates Ricky for taking the initiation to apologize and can tell he's sincerely sorry. On the other hand, he's still in his Troy Bolton costume so it's hard to take him seriously with his wig.
"How'd you get Ricky to apologize?" Ten looked at his two friends shortly after Ricky had left for his next class with his friend Big Red.
— — — — —
Earlier that Morning
— — — — —
Ricky Bowen was about to walk into school when EJ and Cress basically scared (and warned) him to apologize to Ten.
"Listen here, you lil' rodent-dropping! You're gonna apologize to Ten, and you're gonna apologize SOON!" Cress snarled at Ricky.
EJ was the only one holding her back from slamming Ricky against the locker like the pint-sized powerhouse she is.
EJ is convinced she's trying to recreate that one scene from Good Luck Charlie where Ivy pins Spencer against the wall and demands for his ex Skylar's number.
Ah yes, this is why EJ remembers Ten's the one holding Cress back from her wrath.
"Oh, a girl has her ways." Cress smiled as innocently as possible.
Ten knew there was something suspicious about Cress's coyness, that's the exact same smile Jeonghan has whenever he's scheming something.
Instead of pressing his friends on the subject, Ten simply replied "I hope you're ready for our Biology midterms tomorrow."
"We're still doing revisions together tonight, right?" EJ asked.
"Yes please, I need all the help I can get!" Cress exclaimed, practically clinging onto EJ's arms in hopes his intelligence could transfer to her. (It doesn't work)
"Let's go to my place for revision tonight." Ten suggested. "We still got the leftover kimbap 'Shua made."
Meanwhile with Ricky...
"You did the right thing, Ricky. I'm proud of you," Big Red smiled approvingly at his best friend.
"Thanks, man" Ricky nodded his head, glad that he also managed to clear things up with Ten.
"...have you apologized to Cress too?" Big Red asked out loud, not looking up from his camera.
"Ah shoot!" Ricky paled in horror.
— — — — —
Later at Rehearsals...
— — — — —
More students began to pile into the rehearsal room, awaiting someone to take charge or at least lead with some sense of order. A couple of people have noticed Ricky and Gina walking in together, laughing at something in a chummy manner.
"Have you heard anything from Carlos or Miss Jenn?" Nathalie approached Nini, Seb, and Ten. "They're never late."
"That's weird, he's not responding to texts." Seb looked up from checking his phone.
Meanwhile Big Red was showing the poster pictures to Gina and Kourtney.
"Hey jumping on cue is much more complicated than it sounds." Gina responded in a playfully defensive tone. She's a lot more cheerful now as compared to a few weeks ago, it's a rather pleasant change from her behavior.
"Perhaps we should just get going with rehearsal? We wouldn't wanna waste time." Ten suggested.
"Everyone, flip to 'When There Was Me and You' on your scripts." Natalie declared, walking to the center of the room.
"Shouldn't we wait until Miss Jenn gets here?" Ashlyn pointed out.
"Well, I don't know. Apparently, no one's in charge here." Natalie refuted with a frustrated huff.
Nattie's technically the stage manager so she's considered the unofficial Third closest thing to a leader if Miss Jenn and Carlos aren't around.
At that moment, Carlos walked in to start the rehearsals.
"Is Miss Jenn coming?" Ten asked.
"Miss Jenn has a small personal matter to attend to and won't be here today." Carlos answered in a curt and vague manner.
"Is everything alright?" Even Nini was starting to get worried.
"Everything's fine. Why would you ask that?" Carlos responded with a tight smile plastered on his face.
Something isn't right. Whatever happened to Miss Jenn, it didn't seem like good news.
"Ok Gabriella, I need you downstage on this mark." Carlos pulled Nini to the space before passing out stage directions.
All the cast members playing Troy's basketball members stood randomly on boxes in the middle of the room.
"Why are they onstage with me as I'm singing?" Nini wondered out loud.
"They will be frozen in various poses to come." Carlos explained hasility, "as the ballad builds, Nini, you will be walking through a forest of boys."
"Wait, are we talking actual guys of the cast or cast members playing as guys on the show?" Cress raised her hand.
"Just the actual guys." Carlos replied after a second of thinking.
"Wait what? What does that mean?" Nini backtracked.
"Do you know what a forest of trees looks like?"
Nini nodded her head, slowly getting the picture Carlos had in mind.
"Ok, but with boys."
"Uh no, I'm sorry, why?"
"Because your heart has just been shattered and you can't stop thinking about how amazing Troy is. Let's go." Carlos gestured for Seb to begin the piano ballad.
"No, I'm sorry but at this point of the show, Troy just sold me out to his teammates. Why should she be sad over him?" Nini interjected.
"She's got a point. What Troy did was kind of unforgivable." Ashlyn spoke up from her seat. "Respectfully, the last thing she needs at this moment is four more versions of him."
"If I were Gabbie, I'd just ditch him because no man is worth the aggravation." Marissa Martinez made a remark, looking at her painted nails.
"Did you just quote "I Won't Say I'm in Love" from Disney's Hercules?" Marina backtracked.
"Meg is my sapphic awakening." Marissa winked at her sisters.
"She's ALL of our sapphic awakening, Risa." Marisol deadpanned. "We're all attracted to women to some extent."
"Maybe she could chop down the trees." Natalie suggested.
"Excellent idea!" Cress cheerfully agreed, "Has anyone ever watched how to neuter an animal?"
All the boys winced and crossed their legs.
"Wait, why am I even crossing my legs?" Sean Seabury backtracked.
"She has a point. Nothing says 'I got over my ex' like punching them!" Marissa nodded in agreement.
"Preach it, sister!" Kennidee applauded.
"Cress, you scare me sometimes." Seb commented, grimacing in pain.
"I aim to please." Cress smirked, crossing her arms.
"Or, Or! What if she's surrounded by a forest of loving and supportive sisters?" Kourtney chimed in her idea, which immediately gained support from the girls.
In the midst of the discussion, Ricky threw in the idea of Gabriella singing an acoustic version of 'When There Was Me and You' but only Gina seemed to support his idea.
"Guys this is not a democracy!" Carlos suddenly burst and everyone stopped what they were doing.
"Is everything alright with you Carlos?" Nini asked, "Cause we can all just come back when Miss Jenn gets back."
"Well she's not here, and I don't even know if she's ever coming back." Carlos admitted; the weight of his stress was getting to him.
"Wait what?" "Is this a joke?" "What do you mean 'never coming back'?!"
Everyone's voices started overlapping each other.
"She's in deep trouble guys, they're saying that she lied on her job application and there's gonna be a school board meeting in less than 24 hours. She's probably gonna lose her job." Carlos poured out.
Everyone slowly rose up to their feet, taking a hard hit with the news that Carlos just announced.
"I wasn't supposed to tell any of you, but I'm trying to do my best here." Carlos looked crestfallen on outing Miss Jenn's secret.
"Then what are we even doing here?" EJ frowned in dismay.
"Wait, how are we going to have a show when we don't have a teacher?" Ashlyn voiced her concern.
"You know you could have told me."
"Miss Jenn asked me not to..."
Nini grabbed her backpack and headed out the door, many students promptly followed suit.
"Rehearsals are officially canceled until further notice!" Carlos announced loudly to the departing students, sighing in a dejected manner.
Ten didn't want to leave Carlos all on his own, he walked forward and gave him a comforting hug.
"We'll find a way."
"You think so?"
"It's like what Miss Jenn always says: Trust the Process." Ten offered the young Mexican teen some reassurance.
"Cress?" Ten glanced at his short friend.
"I'm on it. We need an emergency meeting stat." Cress grinned, already on her phone.
And that's all for part 1 for 'What Team', this 'episode' is probably gonna be spliced into 2 or 3 separate chapters. I originally wanted to fit in the Wildcats' meeting in Big Red's basement as the closing scene but I figured this arrangement works better.
Chapter Talk: -
(1.) I was watching episode 6 and saw Rico (Ryan) doing the splits on the floor and ended up asking myself "What if Ten had gotten casted as Ryan in another timeline?". On one hand, he'd get bunk up to Main Roles with EJ and Ricky, and also play sibling roles with Seb (whom Ten sees as a baby brother); On the other hand I feel like while Ten is talented enough to get a role (Zeke), he'd probably think there are other students who deserve to play Ryan more than him.
(2.) A slight difference between 'Starburst' and 'Weightless' is that Ricky's apology took place in the early part of the episode (Here in 'Starburst' it took place during the school poster photoshoot scene) instead of later (in 'Weightless' it was during the rehearsals scene). Either way, Ten's two friends would give Ricky a stern talking to apologize to Ten. (Ricky was still gonna apologize anyways, he just learned a valuable lesson not to mess with the people Cress loves)
(3.) In some ways, I realized that Ten and Big Red are somewhat counterparts to each other. Both guys are the Moral Compass childhood best friends for the male leads (Ricky for Big Red, EJ for Ten), both guys are also excellent dancers. Ricky insulting Ten for being EJ's only friend is like if someone else insulted Big Red for being Ricky's only friend.
(4.) I like adding in random scenes for the side characters (the Senior Squad like the Martinez triplets, Amelia, Sean) and the other Wildcats. They're just doing their own things and have two cents of input once in a while. It's not outright stated but Sean Seabury is trans and everyone in his class accepts him for it.
(5.) For comedy's sake I like to think Ricky tried to apologize to Cress during the rehearsals scene but immediately backed off when he saw her giving him the stink eye. It'd probably be something like this
Ricky: Hey Cressida, so about last Friday...
Cress: (walks by while pointing crude gestures at him) If you know what's best for your mental health and mine: Screw off!
I hope you've enjoyed the update. Feel free to leave a comment and let me know your thoughts. Thank you so much for reading and have a fantastic day.