Chapter Text
In the end, she goes back to her mom’s house. The plan isn’t to stay there and hide from her Ricky-related problems or skip out on Beauty and the Beast, rather spend some time regrouping with the mother she’s missed for far too long. The thought of leaving East High last semester was hard enough, but nothing quite compares to voluntarily living apart from her mom… which might have something to do with her lack of transportation back.
Still, she told Ashlyn where she was going and even kept her updated on her way to Louisiana. And she feels good about that. As much as she loves her mom, some part of her has started to associate Salt Lake with the word ‘home.’ It’s less terrifying and more thrilling, this break in her usual pattern. She’s not leaving without saying goodbye or making a sudden run for it in the middle of the night.
Apparently Ashlyn didn’t pass on that message to her cousin, though.
“Gina, sweetie!” her mom’s voice travels through the house, settling in the guest room that’s been set up for the weekend. “Your friend’s at the door!”
The statement is so wildly out of place that Gina doesn’t even compute the meaning for a long moment. It’s nine p.m. on a Sunday night, she’s in Louisiana, and all her friends are back in Salt Lake. Ashlyn knows where she is; there should be no search party or a slew of texts this time around.
Gina reaches across the bed and checks her phone for a hint. Radio silence. Her interest successfully piqued, she gets to her feet and makes her way through the little apartment her mom is currently residing in.
And then it makes sense, because of course EJ would be standing on her porch in fucking Louisiana.
She can’t help but shake her head in wide-eyed surprise as she steps around her mother and out onto the porch, the déjà vu of her horrendous Homecoming non-plan almost too much to bear. All she manages to get out is, “Really?”
EJ has the audacity to look confused. “What, ‘really’?”
“Oh, I was asking if you got a haircut,” she says slowly, laying on the sarcasm extra thick.
This he sidesteps. “More like, really? You’re not packed already?” He swings an arm out, gesturing grandly to his vehicle parked haphazardly in the street. Gina grimaces at the lack of parking space, a fact she hadn’t had any reason to notice before. “It’s not another plane, but it’s still taking you back to East High.”
He’s incredibly serious about this, and the way he’s clearly not intending to let her say no sits heavy in her chest. His car keys dangle from his fingertips and he’s in just a t-shirt and jeans despite the cold night air. Not a single piece of his appearance thinks he’ll have to convince her, and maybe in another scenario it’d come off as cocky. Instead it’s just endearing.
Gina blinks, amusement slowly filtering into her expression. “You couldn’t have texted? ‘Hey Gi, mind if I come pick you up in Louisiana? Which is a twenty-five-hour drive?”
To his credit, EJ does flush at this. “L-Like you would’ve responded in time!” he sputters, lifting his own phone up. “Just buying you that plane ticket last time took over a day to convince you!”
“Because it was a plane ticket! That’s a big deal,” she counters, thinking of that follow-up phone call after she repaid him. Of the hope he had back then, compared with the certainty he has now.
Except that was the wrong thing to say, because he levels her with a look and the knowing in his eyes startles her. “Is that why you haven’t bought one back yet?”
It strikes her then that, yeah, okay, Ashlyn must’ve informed him of her impromptu visit, but he was the only one who saw the opportunity to stay in lieu of finding a way back. He was the only one who decided it was worth it to go and pick her up himself—again, a twenty-five-hour drive. Like. What? —and he’s the only one standing on her doorstep at this very moment.
“I’m pretty sure I was coming back,” she admits quietly, dropping the intense eye contact. She still feels his gaze on her, though, taking in her words like they’re the single most important thing anyone’s ever said. Just like he did at Carlos’s quinceañero, also without an audience, just EJ genuinely wanting to know how she was feeling. Gina wonders if this is what truly being seen is like.
“Well I think you should come back with me now,” he says just as quietly, but firmly. Like he knows she needs a strong presence to push her into trusting the process. EJ’s smile dazzles at her when she lifts her head. “Otherwise I made the drive for nothing, and I’m already missing Monday as it is.”
Gina’s silent at first, the situation fully sinking in. She was so shocked by his presence that she didn’t quite realize it’s Sunday night, he must’ve left very early the day before, and even if she doesn’t go with him he’s still losing a third day. With BATB growing ever closer, this disappearing act is a bold move and an even bigger gesture to her. It takes a split second for her to decide to take him up on his offer, and within the next instant she’s rocketing forward to hug him.
His arms come up around her, stumbling backward for a step or two. His keys jingle against her back. She’s looking over his shoulder at how easily they could’ve tumbled down the stairs, but all she’s thinking of is how monumentally sweet this gesture is—a gesture he’s made twice now, no less.
She leaves her body tucked against his for a moment longer, almost disbelieving how much he’s changed over the course of one school year—but then again, so has she. And she wouldn’t trade that development for anything.
She pulls back before it’s been too long of a hug, skipping over however he’s looking at her to start speaking. “I need to grab my stuff, and then I’m driving for the next few hours.” Half of it she says over her shoulder, already turning to head back inside.
EJ asks, “You have your license?” and all she can do is snort and wave him in.
“Yeah, that was one of the few things my mom and I agreed on when we got to Salt Lake. I got it right before she left the first time.” And he’s still standing there, so she reaches back to physically pull him inside after her.
She needs to make sure this is okay with her mom, although she’s not worried: she trusts the Caswells, just like Gina does. She needs to pack quickly and grab snacks and use the restroom, and offer the same thing to EJ. It hits her that she’ll be alone in a car with him for over a day. The car part isn’t ideal, but EJ himself is perfectly fine. It warms her heart in a way that only her friends from East High can.
Oh, and she needs to change into something more comfortable, especially since she’s driving first. She’s not thrilled about driving at night with only a GPS to guide her, but EJ’s literally not getting into the driver’s seat even if it kills her. She needs to give back to him somehow. Unless he caves and lets her pay for gas (unlikely), then the least she can do is take the first shift so he doesn’t pass out at the wheel.
Driving with EJ is a lot like their friendship: unexpectedly easy and eye-opening.
For example, never would Gina have guessed how clean the inside of his car was. She doesn’t remember much about the ten-minute drive from her house to the dance, only that he hounded her about the plan and she steadfastly ignored him and stared out the window to avoid the conversation. Now she can properly enjoy the legroom, and the cleanliness, and the Black Forest air freshener scent—although she has no clue where it is because it’s not hanging from the rearview mirror.
The thing she probably enjoys the most is their rapport once they’ve both slept enough back and forth. Driving already isn’t her favorite pastime, but driving with just her thoughts to entertain herself could get pretty upsetting. But with EJ spinning summer camp tales and spitballing more improv exercises for Miss Jenn to do, it goes by a lot more pleasantly.
Some of their conversations veer into vulnerable territory, one Gina has no qualms about entering with him but just… maybe not on a feel-good, impromptu road trip. Any time they get close to her mom, his dad, Ricky, Nini, or Duke, it’s usually at a rest stop or one of the two diners they deem necessary to eat at. (They can’t only eat fast food on a road trip. And no matter how far EJ’s come from practically living through his phone, he still likes aesthetically pleasing food pictures.) The distance from the car helps Gina separate the moods from each other. But mostly they stick to trivial topics, like the one right now.
Gina sits up in her seat for the first time since they started comparing their Instagram feeds. “Don’t tell me that’s still your username,” she says sharply, disbelief coloring her face. At his sheepish look, she groans and slouches again. “Seriously, EJ, that’s so long for no reason! Just be @ejcaswell.”
He sucks on his teeth, shaking his head. He knocks his knuckles against the steering wheel once. “See, but it doesn’t hold the same sort of pizzazz as—”
“No, EJ, that isn’t nearly as cool as you think it is.”
“You’re just @ginaporter, aren’t you?”
“People know what they’re getting into,” she affirms, fingers skimming the phone in her lap. She has the overwhelming urge to take his phone and change his username herself. She still remembers going to tag him in their Homecoming post and seeing his ridiculously lengthy username pop up. Aneurysm-inducing, honestly.
EJ makes a noise that sounds distinctly like a scoff. “People know what they’re getting into with mine, too.”
“Bios exist for a reason, and you’re not using yours.” She pulls a face, but now she’s laughing. “How are you almost out into the real world and you don’t realize this?”
This time he just snorts. “It’s not like I’m in marketing.”
“I’m going to DM you meme after meme until you change it.”
“Go crazy. I turned my notifications off.”
࿏
“Do you ever miss any of your other schools?”
A pause, although she knows the answer. “No.”
“No? Not even a little bit?”
“Well, some of the musical budgets were better.”
“Miss Jenn has virtually nothing. I’m not surprised in the least.”
“I’m actually really impressed at how we’ve stepped up our game for Beauty and the Beast.”
Snort. “From the gym to an actual stage?”
“Try from Ricky’s Troy wig to the Beast’s prosthetics, you doofus.” But she’s laughing.
Another pause. “Really though. None of them?”
Weighted silence. And then… “None of them were East High. I didn’t really find a group anywhere but here.”
“I hear that. The drama club just takes in people like us, I guess.”
“I like to think of it as if we’ve found our people.”
“Yeah.” Softer. “Yeah, we have.”
࿏
“You’re not a ‘Bop to the Top’ fan?”
“Perfectly good song, but would I want to sing it for the rest of my life?”
“You’re more of a ‘Scream’ person aren’t you?”
“Ding, ding, ding. Another point to Ms. Porter.”
“I will bow out of the game graciously now.”
“What? We’re, like, twenty minutes into my shift, we have to keep going.”
“I agreed to road games, not High School Musical trivia.”
“That’s what you signed up for the second you got into this car, actually. Sorry to break it to you now that we’re ten hours in.”
“Yeahhhh, no. I’m officially done discussing HSM songs, Chad.”
“Harsh.”
Laugh. “You asked for it.”
“Uhhh, Halsey or Avril?”
Immediately. “Halsey, hands down.”
“Why such a quick answer?”
“‘I’m Not Mad’ hits a little on the nose sometimes, don’t you think?”
“I’m partial to ‘Bad at Love’ myself.”
A breath sucked in. “We’re fucked up.”
“Maybe. But I think we’re better for it, figuring out how to dig our way out.”
“Must be why we understand each other so well.”
“That, and we’re Wonderstudies.”
“Hell yeah.”
“Hell yeah.”
࿏
“You don’t think that’s too low?”
“For Gaston? Not even a little bit. And don’t act like you haven’t had this down since auditions.”
“All I had nailed back then was my wink. See?”
“Stop—EJ stop, I’m gonna crash.”
Surprised laugh. “What, am I that distracting?”
“You’re just so exaggerated. Perfect for onstage, but up close I feel preyed upon.”
An actual cackle, followed by, “Preyed upon?!”
“Not—”
“Gina, it’s a wink!”
“Stop laughing!”
“I’m telling everyone at our next rehearsal.”
“No you are not.”
“Yeah, yeah, I’ll take a survey on whether or not my winking is considered predatory behavior.”
“I’ll crash on purpose, shut up!”
࿏
By the time it’s their last switch off, Gina’s made good on her promise. EJ has a total of fifty-three DMs from her alone, all of which he promises to check out “with time.” The addendum is meant to nag at her, but she trusts him.
They’ve just left their last diner, which probably explains how lethargic she suddenly feels. EJ takes one look at her and says, “Do me a favor and take a nap.”
Gina snorts involuntarily. “What, you want some alone time?”
“No, not at all.” And he says it immediately, instinctively, in a sincere way she isn’t expecting but should learn to anticipate from EJ. “But any more memes and I might cry.” She cracks up at that, making him smile. His eyes stray from the road for a second. “Also I’d rather Ashlyn not accuse me of forcing you to drive the whole time.”
Gina sinks comfortably in her seat, her blinking slowing. “She wouldn’t think that. You two get along so well.”
“Yeah, but she’ll still say it.”
“I’m not tired enough to nap right now.”
“Gina, your eyes are literally closed.”
He’s right, so she snaps back to attention and shifts in her seat again. “Tell me more about why you decided to grow a beard over winter break,” she demands suddenly, pouncing on the first thought that pops into her mind.
EJ doesn’t even bother acting like he’s not surprised. “Wh—Why, was it bad? Is this something you’ve been thinking about since New Year’s?”
Gina laughs and works her fingers in an effort to stay awake. “No, no I’m just wondering. You don’t do InstaLives anymore so I felt out of the loop on that particular detail in your life.”
There’s a long, long pause during which she can tell he’s really thinking over his answer. Until he casts another glance her way and says, “You’re fucking with me, right?”
She knows it’s part-delirium making her laugh this hard, but she thinks he’d make her laugh anyway. “Yes, I’m fucking with you.”
“I was really questioning my thought process.”
“I could tell.”
“Seriously, I was psychoanalyzing a beard.”
She forces herself to stay lucid for another twenty minutes afterward, telling herself it’s out of defiance but knowing it’s because she enjoys the company. Thus far they’ve had playful banter amidst serious topics, something she admires even if she can’t put into words just how much. It’s almost as if everything they discuss has seamless transitions, like they haven’t been stuck together in one vehicle for over a day now. She’s definitely not sick of him. And it’s not until she accidentally gets him talking about water polo that she realizes she really only sees his theatre side, this overconfident but extremely hardworking persona he draws around himself like armor. She wouldn’t mind getting to know the rest of him as well.
Eventually she falls asleep, and when she wakes it’s to EJ singing show tunes as he drives down his cousin’s street. Gina’s lips twitch into a smile of their own accord, right before she lets her eyes drift closed again just to remember this.
Opening night finds Gina somewhere else she shouldn’t be when they have a show within the hour, stuck standing outside with the rest of her bus mates while their ride sits useless by the curb. Last semester had been out of her control and Louisiana a few weeks ago had been a half-baked idea at best, but this wasn’t in her plans at all.
For the first five minutes the bus driver seems hopeful that he can fix whatever’s wrong with the bus himself. The next ten consists of loud cursing and only calling a tow truck at the behest of the passengers. The next ten brings news that the tow truck is stuck in traffic, and Gina doesn’t give it a second thought before grabbing her phone and calling EJ.
“How do you keep doing this? Seriously?” he complains through the phone, tone almost in awe of her supreme capability to be anywhere except where she’s needed.
“This isn’t my fault!” she insists, glancing around at the crowd of people also calling for rides. She figures they’re trying for Ubers. It hits her that she hadn’t even considered that. “I know it’s, like, super last minute, but can you please—”
“Gina, I’m already in the car, give me ten minutes.”
He’s there in seven, and much to the crowd’s dismay when Gina practically starts running for him, realizing he’s not their driver.
“Thank you so much!” she calls out once he sees her, hauling ass with her bag only partially hanging onto her arm. She’s always thankful for her dancer background, but right now it’s extra helpful that she doesn’t break a sweat. Kourtney will kill her if she comes in— late —looking like she ran a marathon. Hell, Gina would kill herself too for that big of a misdemeanor.
The car’s barely stopped before EJ’s leaning across the center console to shove the passenger side door open for her. “Get in, get in!” When she’s close enough her eyes automatically fall to what he’s wearing.
“Oh, you’re in costume,” tumbles past her lips. She’s not trying to tease or chastise him, but seeing EJ in full Gaston garb driving a very twenty-first-century vehicle and blasting the A/C catches her off guard. The laughter bubbling up in her throat dies the second they make eye contact, and she’s sliding into the passenger seat, realizing why he’s in costume. “I must be running really late.”
“Should’ve called me sooner,” he says, quickly shifting out of Park and pulling back onto the road. “Seatbelt.” EJ’s not looking at her anymore, so she lets her gaze linger. He’s not mad at her. He’s not frantic—well, maybe a little frantic, but in a usual opening night type of way. He’s not even frowning, his face completely calm as he strategically maneuvers through traffic.
Gina doesn’t think she’ll ever get over just how selfless he is with her. She’s known him for less than a year, and yet he’s gone out of his way repeatedly to remind her she’s part of East High. Ashlyn actually sang to her during an improv exercise to convince her to stay in Salt Lake, after offering up her own house as a place to stay. The Caswells never cease to amaze her.
“Gina, I’m not kidding. Seatbelt.” EJ’s eyes dart over to her for a second. “I’m not crashing with you in here.”
She snaps out of her reverie, fingers moving to strap herself in. “Sorry.”
Once she’s safe, EJ starts speaking again. “Now that we’re out of there, mind telling me why you were on a bus, tonight of all nights?”
She sighs and moves to rub at her brow bone. “My mom thought she might be able to fly out for the show tonight, so I was going to meet her at the airport. And then her flight got delayed and I had to find another bus to take me back, which just so happened to lose its shit on the way.”
He buzzes his lips, eyes wide. “Your luck on opening nights, huh?”
Her eyes pause on his face. “Yeah,” she says without a trace of irony. “My luck.”
The rest of the drive is frenzied and relatively silent. The radio stays off, a stark contrast to the last time she was alone in a car with EJ. Her head fills with dramatic show tunes and alternating shifts before she shakes her head, ridding her mind of the memories. She needs to focus on the musical right now.
Gina pulls down the visor and flips up the mirror, but it’s as useless as she thought. The small number of random applicators she has in her bag won’t replicate whatever makeup look Kourtney and Miss Jenn want her to wear. She’s stuck waiting until they reach the high school, a whole five minutes with the reckless way EJ’s driving at the moment.
No matter how late she is, Gina reminds herself, she’ll never frustrate people as much as Ricky running in late to auditions both times. It’s a funny memory in a way, but still one she’s pleased to acknowledge she’s not dwelling on too fondly. She’s not longing for Ricky anymore. Unloading her secret from High School Musical’s opening night to Ashlyn had lifted a weight off her shoulders she hadn’t been aware she was carrying, but now she can feel how much lighter everything is.
EJ swerves into East High’s parking lot then, unbuckling before he’s parked. Gina follows suit, grabbing her bag and hopping out of the car. There’s only a small line outside the front doors, meaning most people are already seated and shit she is so late. Noticing this too, EJ latches onto her wrist and starts pulling her past people, keeping them together. She’s thankful for his determination because now she’s holding back a laugh. She’s not pining after the Beast, but she does feel safe with Gaston of all people. She settles for a smile and tries to keep up.
Darting through the stragglers outside, smoking and mingling before heading in for the show, is probably the hardest part of this whole situation. Gina knew immediately that she had to call someone for a ride, and EJ was the first logical choice. His speeding driving got them here in record time. Now she trusts him one more time, slipping her wrist out of his grasp to replace it with her hand. She feels more secure now, matching his pace and weaving through the crowd with their hands joined. Less like she could drown in all these people when their friends need them most.
They pass only two people who recognize EJ’s costume, excited “Gaston!”s escaping their mouths. Gina laughs, thinking it must kill EJ not to schmooze and interact one-on-one with audience members. But he calls over his shoulder some witty line about searching for Belle.
“I wonder what they’d say if they saw Gaston with a feather duster,” Gina muses, just loud enough for him to hear.
EJ lets out a laugh, neatly rounding corners. “Might change the whole story.”
Ten seconds later, Gina hears a whole horde of people say her name. The dressing room opens before them and EJ thrusts her forward, breaking contact. Nini, Ashlyn, and Seb dash around her, leaving just Carlos and Kourtney to fret about her appearance. The clock tells her she’s way, way later than anticipated, but her gut tells her something else.
She’s two steps through the door when she stops and gives in to the urge thrumming beneath her skin, turning around just to throw her arms around him for the second time ever. He doesn’t stumble this time, still doesn’t hesitate to hug her back. She pulls away a lot faster and matches his smile before whipping back around for hair and makeup. Kourtney’s rolling her eyes exaggeratedly at her and there are so many voices around them, but it felt necessary.
Less than a half-hour later the whole cast is gathered up for their usual pre-show pep talk. Miss Jenn makes a small comment about how they’ve once again been blessed by Gina’s timing, which garners a lot more genuine smiles than teasing laughter. Gina ducks her head, squeezing Carlos and Ashlyn’s hands that much tighter.
Some of her friends give short speeches—Nini says something heartfelt about finding herself through this show and how she thinks everyone else has bloomed because of their roles too; Ricky roars loudly to hype them up; Miss Jenn sings, because she must—but mostly it’s just a room full of energized teens and good vibes. She doesn’t even realize she’s thinking about how often EJ’s brought her back until she’s searching the room for him.
They make eye contact for just a split second across the circle, standing on opposite sides of the room. But EJ offers up a smile and Gina sends a watery one back his way, hoping it conveys how she’s feeling at this very moment. Ashlyn knocks shoulders with her, and out of the corner of her eye Gina can tell she’s smiling at her cousin too. She kind of wants to hug him again, or cry if Kourtney wouldn’t kick her ass for ruining all her hard work and possibly EJ’s charmingly dapper costume as well.
She’s already thanked him for the Louisiana thing, and for tonight, and for the plane ticket from their last show, but it’s the first time that she has the feeling she’ll be thanking him a lot more in the future, too. EJ is more than capable of doing good in the world and doing right by her specifically, and if she has to go through high school thanking him for saving her at the last second then she’s perfectly fine with that. Some Wonderstudies they are, indeed.
Seb says, through a stream of tears as the curtains close, “The cows will be so excited to see me more regularly!” and while it doesn’t apply to… anyone but him, Gina thinks it’s the perfect way to end their final show.
After all the mini-disasters of the winter musical, Beauty and the Beast ran so smoothly. Gina figures a large part of that was due to their drive to beat North High, but she can’t complain, not when they did beat North High. The Menkie Awards haven’t released any official statement yet, but Big Red got one of his family members to see NH’s show and Carlos insisted they FaceTime throughout it. So in between quick changes and mic swaps and intermission, the East High cast gathered around Carlos’s Macbook and delighted in the plethora of mishaps. Karma bit North High back hard.
And with their main rival out of the running and Miss Jenn’s tabs on the other even-lower-budget schools, along with EJ’s phenomenal performance as Gaston all three nights, they’re all pretty confident as to who’ll be winning the NYU scholarship. EJ isn’t getting his hopes up just yet after Duke, but Gina knows where her money is. Ashlyn’s already cried backstage—happy tears, of course.
“How was that for your last show?” Gina asks EJ as they jostle past their friends, heading to her corner of the dressing room after curtain call. She’s interested in his take anyway, but she also remembers Carlos’s quinceañero and how much it meant to her when he asked how she felt while the cameras were off. This moment is just for EJ and Gina.
She turns to find him staring at her, then he shakes his head and blinks. “Uhh, bittersweet? Yeah, probably bittersweet. But I’m proud of what I did, too.”
Like I did everything I needed to do here, she hears, and it strikes her just as hard as when it came from her mouth. She nods and hops up onto the counter, beginning to gather all the stray bobby pins and makeup brushes in her hands. “I think that’s to be expected.”
“It kinda snuck up on me though,” he explains, rubbing his hands together. Only the top half of his costume is gone, replaced with a muscle tank. “Felt like I had more time than this.”
Gina drops her belongings into her bag and sighs, leaning back into the mirrors. “Yeah, I know that feeling.”
There’s some weird screaming from a different place in the room and Natalie comes barreling through the door, but no one approaches them. Gina appreciates the moment of silence with EJ, ending the last show the same way they started the first. Less frantic, but the same camaraderie. The same understanding passing between them.
It prompts her to turn toward him and say, “Any last wishes for the rest of the year? Some wild event you want us to report on for the announcements?”
Immediately he’s laughing, falling comfortably into her space. “Hopefully if there are any ‘wild events’ it has nothing to do with North High,” he retorts, face pleasantly rosy. She’s glad she can make him laugh so easily, that they’re both moving into happier days.
“Hey, I didn’t say we’d set some of Seb’s farm animals loose in their school, but it’s always an option,” she deadpans, lips pressed together to keep from grinning.
EJ makes no such effort, laughing even harder. He leans against the counter beside her, her swinging legs colliding with his. Once he calms down, he starts, “I do have one final request, though.”
She playfully squints her eyes up at him, her legs stilling. “Hit me.”
“No more moving or getting stranded right before show night, alright?” His eyes are lit up, watching her just as carefully as she’s observing him. “Or just no moving at all,” he amends, but she hears the distinction between the two.
Gina brushes past the sentiment, choosing to laugh and duck her head. “I promise I won’t.” She finishes zipping up her bag and pushes it off to the side, shaking her hair loose. “Mostly because you’ll be at NYU and won’t be able to come get me in the nick of time, but still.” She means it in a purely comedic fashion, although her heart tugs at the mention of how far away from Salt Lake he’ll be come autumn. She’s not sure how to handle it quite yet.
EJ doesn’t even address the scholarship of it all. All he does is smile and tell her matter-of-factly, “Even then, I would bring you home.” The words shake loose what he said during HSM— ”Just… didn’t seem fair for you to miss all this.” —and Team Wonderstudy strikes again, because now she knows they really are a team. Wildcats and Wonderstudies, EJ and Gina.
Gina’s unprepared for the swell of affection and gratitude in her chest, and especially not the sincere smile on his face. She nearly chokes on the emotion and tries to deflect it instead. “How did I get so lucky to have The EJ Caswell care about me this much?”
Either he notices she’s on the verge of tears or just chooses to partake in the teasing (at this point it very well could be both) because he tilts his head and shrugs. “Eh, now that I’m new and improved, all of this confidence needs to go somewhere. I’m just projecting onto you.”
“Of course.” She nods, blinking rapidly to dry her eyes. It isn’t working. “I should’ve known.” But she’s still smiling, and he’s still smiling, so she ducks her head and lets her forehead rest against his shoulder, just breathing.
All of the background noise rushes to the forefront of her mind—the excited chatter of families and friends out in the lobby, the crying coming from the other side of the dressing room, the cheerful singing echoing down the hallway. She lets it consume her for a minute, trying to get herself together as much as she’s trying to imprint this exact moment.
This year has put her through the wringer even more than any of her previous stints at other schools, and she recognizes that. But it’s only fair to acknowledge all the good that’s come into her life because of East High’s drama club as well. Right before Christmas break she danced and sang on the cafeteria stairs with EJ about putting down roots, and even when she tried to dig them right back up her friends helped her stay grounded. She thinks of Ashlyn and the Caswells as a whole and breathes out a shaky sigh.
She’s once again crying on a show night, but she reminds herself this time is far from the same reason why. Last semester she bared her heart for Ricky right after he got back together with Nini because she thought the plane was going down, and then the plane abruptly landed. This semester her heart feels full because of a friend’s genuine kindness and support for her, and that makes all the difference. Never would she have expected EJ Caswell to be someone who helps validate her self-worth, but it just might be the only surprise she’s thrilled to receive over and over again.