by Disney Books
“I could have told you that days ago,” Kourtney said. She paused. “Wait, hang on, I did.”
“But now she’s stealing phones and inventing special new ways for me to hurt myself,” Nini said. She took out her iPad. “So here’s a list of possible solutions I came up with.” She showed the screen to Kourtney with a list of six items:
1) TALK TO MISS JENN
2) MAGICALLY LEARN THE DANCE
3) HAVE MY MOMS YELL AT HER MOM
4) QUIT THE SHOW
5) EAT SO MUCH ICE CREAM
6) STEAL SOMETHING BACK
Kourtney considered the list. “Okay,” she said. “We can scratch off number six, because that is an act of war.”
Nini shrugged and pulled out Gina’s dance shoes from her backpack. “Too late,” she said. “I thought you’d veto the ice cream.”
In Big Red’s basement, Ricky was regretting leaving the phone message for Nini. He hadn’t heard from her, so it seemed like it might have been the wrong move.
“You broke her heart,” Big Red said. “You crashed her play, bugged her for a while, and then you left an extra-sad voice mail.”
“You think maybe it’s time to move on?” Ricky asked.
“I mean, I wouldn’t, but you have that other thing,” Big Red told him. “Pride.” He smiled at Ricky. “Be yourself. Be the bigger man. It’s like that scene in the movie where Troy tells his teammates, ‘You’re my guys and this is our spam.’”
Ricky did a double take. “Spam? When does he say that?”
Big Red shrugged. “I just realized that my allergist keeps the sound off in the waiting room and maybe I can’t read lips.”
At school the next day, Nini pulled E.J. to the back corner of the school library and showed him what she’d done.
“You stole Gina’s shoes?” he asked. “What if she retaliates?”
“Then I’ll come back at her twice as hard,” Nini said. “I will rain down hellfire, you understand?”
“Nini,” E.J. said, “I gotta be honest. This doesn’t feel like you.”
“It didn’t feel like me,” Nini confessed. “But I stepped into the light. I play to win now.” She looked up at him. “I thought you’d be proud.”
“But stealing?” E.J. asked. “You’re better than that.”
Nini cracked. “Ugh, maybe you’re right. I do like that you see me that way. You’re a good person, E.J. I don’t know if it’s because you’re a senior or because someone raised you right…but I wish I had whatever you’ve got inside you. It’s like confidence mixed with morals.” She leaned toward him. “And about a dozen abs. Thanks for being you.”
She gave him a kiss and walked away, and E.J.’s guilt felt like a thousand pounds weighing on him. If only she knew what he had done and how insecure he really felt. He walked out of the library and found Ashlyn sitting in the stairwell. She was surprised to see E.J. feeling so guilty. “I’m not the person I want to be,” he said. “I am not the person Nini thinks I am.” He looked at his cousin. “What should I do?”
Ashlyn had one simple thought. “Apologize,” she told him.
E.J. had bigger ideas. He wanted to write an apology song. He knew Ashlyn wrote songs, so he asked if she would help him. She relented and said she would send him something she had been working on, but she didn’t think E.J. would be able to charm himself out of this situation.
Mr. Mazzara looked both ways down the empty school hallway. When he was sure no one was there, he ducked into a storage closet and switched on the light. He had doubts about Miss Jenn’s teaching credentials and her story about being in High School Musical. He’d lost four members of his robotics club to the cast, and he needed those students for funding if the club was going to go to China for a conference. He reached up for one of the many boxes of High School Musical memorabilia stored there and pulled down an old movie poster. Squinting, he took a photo with his phone to enlarge the picture.
“Aha!” he exclaimed. There was Miss Jenn! She wasn’t a featured dancer. She was merely an extra, one of many in the background.
“Did you return Gina’s shoes?” Kourtney asked Nini later that night when the girls were hanging out in Nini’s room.
Nini had planned on returning the shoes, but then she’d overheard a conversation between Gina and a costume designer that made her fume.
“You might want to put Gabriella in a color that pops a little more,” Gina had told the costume designer. “She’s already kinda bland. Not as a person—sweetest girl in the world—but as an actress. I just don’t want her to get lost in the crowd.”
After Nini heard that comment, she took Gina’s water bottle.
“Look, you don’t have to say it—” Nini began.
Kourtney put her bag on the bed. “I know. I stole three scarves, some jewelry, and her laptop,” Kourtney confessed. “Yeah, we are going to jail!”
E.J.’s song wasn’t coming along so well. He went over to Ashlyn’s for help. As she sat in the kitchen listening and trying not to laugh, E.J. sang his attempt at an apology song. He knew it wasn’t the best…or enough.
“There’s a lot to admire,” Ashlyn said as he wrapped up his mini performance.
E.J. cringed. He knew what he had to do. “Tomorrow I will tell her what happened and straight up apologize,” he said.
Ashlyn nodded and hoped E.J. would follow through. “She might forgive you,” she said.
“Would you?” E.J. asked.
“I’m proud of you either way,” Ashlyn told her cousin.
Ricky and E.J. faced each other in the rehearsal room. They were both resigned to playing their parts and getting the scene done. Miss Jenn directed them to take it from the top. “Remember, these two boys are best bros,” she told them. “Which is a sacred thing, for reasons I’ll never understand.”
The lines between Troy and Chad were forced and empty, and not one person in the rehearsal believed a word either boy said.
Miss Jenn clapped her hands. “Okay!” she said. “Let’s loosen up, pass some energy back and forth. Let’s use the ball and improvise!”
E.J. wasn’t sure what she wanted. “Just say whatever?” he asked.
“Chad it up!” Miss Jenn said.
“Troy,” E.J. said to Ricky, “you’re the best player we’ve got. We’re so dang lucky.” He passed the ball with a heavy throw.
Ricky caught the ball and whizzed it right back to E.J. “I wouldn’t be anything without you,” he said.
The ball was getting faster with each throw.
“You deserve everything that’s coming your way,” E.J. said.
“Back atcha, dude,” Ricky replied as he heaved the ball.
The ball smacked between them a few more times. “Back at you infinity plus one!” Ricky said. And this time the ball slammed E.J. in the face. Now E.J.’s lip was bleeding.
“Okay,” Miss Jenn said, moving in. “Let’s take a soft ten. E.J., honey, let’s get you some ice.”
Ricky followed E.J. into the bathroom. E.J. wanted nothing to do with him. “Do me a favor and stay away from me and Nini, okay?”
“I’m just trying to say I’m sorry,” Ricky said.
E.J. narrowed his eyes. “You want to apologize? You can start with that thirsty voice mail you left for Nini last night. She doesn’t need to hear from you anymore.”
Ricky felt like E.J. had hurtled another basketball at him. He thought Nini would have respected a private voice mail. Had she played E.J. that message?
Back in the rehearsal room, Mr. Mazzara walked in and asked to speak to Miss Jenn in the hallway. He was ready to call her out on her exaggerated High School Musical claim.
“It was my understanding that a big reason you got this job was because of your experience as a featured dancer in the film.” He showed her the blurry photo on his phone. “That’s you in 2006,” he said. “With all the other extras who didn’t dance or sing or even have a real name.”
Carlos appeared with coffees and could sense the tension.
“Miss Jenn, is he bothering you?” he asked.
Mr. Mazzara was not amused. “You ought to spend a little less time worrying about your drama teacher and a little more time trying to make some friends under the age of thirty-five,” the science teacher snapped.
Miss Jenn told Carlos everything was fine and asked him to warm up the cast with “Stick to the Status Quo.”
“Don’t ever talk to one of my students like that again,” Miss Jenn scolded.
“Your students,” Mr. Mazzara spat. “Do you even have a teaching credential?”
Miss Jenn was firm. “I may have fudged a thing two on my résumé, but I’m here because I believe in these kids. Not because they are going to be Broadway stars, but because they aren’t. They’re weird and unusual and quirky. They come here at the end of the day, and everything they get made fun of for outside that room is what makes them shine inside it. You may think Carlos has no friends, but the moment I posted that cast list, he got seventeen new ones.”
She opened the door, revealing the cast singing and having a great time. There was nothing Mr. Mazzara could say. It was theater magic.
At the end of the song, Nini returned Gina’s things. “We have to find a way to respect each other, and I know that starts with me,” she told her. “So when I thought you took my phone, I may have gone a little crazy. The point is, I’ve come into possession of a few of your things, and I’d like to return them to you. I’m not going to be a doormat for you…and I’m also not going to be a klepto.”
Before Nini left, Gina called her back. “Just one thing, before you go. I didn’t have your phone last night.”
Nini felt dizzy. As she walked outside of East High, Ricky ran up to her. “I know we’re not a couple anymore, but I thought there was a little trust left between us,” he said.
“I can’t do this now,” Nini said, trying to move away.
“Fine,” Ricky said. “But the next time I bare my soul in a voice mail, keep it to yourself. I don’t need to hear from E.J. that it was wrong and stupid.”
Nini turned to Ricky. “Wait, what voice mail?”
She spied E.J. at the curb with a bunch of his water polo friends. “You heard this from E.J.?” she asked. She looked at Ricky’s hurt face and then over at E.J., who gave her a wave. E.J. had her phone last night! This was a plot twist she didn’t expect.
Nini rushed down the school stairs to get to rehearsal. She had been avoiding E.J. all day. From the top of the stairwell, E.J. called her name and hurried to catch up with her. She ignored him and continued to descend.
Finally, E.J. was at her side. They usually sat together at lunch, and Nini had been nowhere to be found. When he asked where she had been, Nini stopped walking and turned to confront him. “Fine. Want to know where I was at lunch? I was in the computer lab bribing some hacker to crack into my phone and recover a message you deleted when you stole it!”
The entire cast was standing outside the doors—and listening to their conversation.
“Nini, why do you think—” E.J. started.
Nini stopped him. “Please. Gina’s not the wonderstudy I need to worry about.” She was in no mood for E.J. to try to charm his way out of this.
“I was spiraling,” E.J. confessed. “I told you I loved you, and you couldn’t even say it back. You said it to Ricky, and I see the way Ricky looks at you. I know you guys have a lot more history….”
“He would never steal my phone,” she said, glaring at E.J. “Don’t make this about Ricky.”
“That is what this is about,” E.J. tried to explain. “I am trying to hold on to what we had over the summer.”
Nini stared into E.J.’s eyes. “I was, too,” she whispered. “But you know what? Summer is over.” She looked over and noticed the cast hanging on their every word.
“Is the door locked?” Nini asked. “Why can’t we get in?”
“Natalie Bagley’s emotional-support hamster is missing,” Ashlyn explained. “He got loose. Carlos and Gina are trying to help her find her. Him. It.”
A shrill scream came from behind the rehearsal room doors.
“Think they found it,” Ashlyn said.
Ricky’s living room was a mess of old Chinese-food boxes and dirty socks, making his search for scene seven from his script impossible. His dad was trying to straighten the house up. Ricky’s mom was coming in from Chicago today, and the plan was for the family to meet for dinner at a restaurant after rehearsal. He was feeling stressed by the impending reunion, so he grabbed his skateboard and backpack. He’d borrow someone else’s script at rehearsal.
The front door opened, and Ricky’s mom came in with her luggage. She’d caught an earlier flight and was thrilled to see her son.
“I’ve missed you,” she gushed, giving Ricky a big hug. She looked around the messy living room, a little shocked.
Ricky’s dad was clearly uncomfortable. “We agreed we would do this at the restaurant.”
“Agreed to do what?” Ricky asked, looking from one parent to the other. “Can we do whatever we’re doing at dinner now?” When his parents avoided his question, Ricky turned to his mom. “Talk to me, guys. Are we moving to Chicago?”
“No, I am,” his mom said. “Sweetheart, we’ve decided to legally separate.”
Ricky had thought his mom was back to work things out. He felt the sting of her words.
“This is not your fault, Ricky,” his mom said. “You’ve actually been the one thing that’s held your dad and I together these past few years.”
The room started to spin. Ricky couldn’t listen to this. “I’ve got rehearsal. I’m not sure when I get out. It’s a musical, lots of scenes. It could be tomorrow.”
He bolted out the door and headed to school.
E.J. took Nini’s hand as their discussion continued. “Sometimes a relationship needs one person looking out for the other,” he said. “It wasn’t divine intervention that got you into Marian the librarian’s costume.”
Nini took a moment to understand what E.J. had said. “You were responsible for making Emily Pratt spend opening night with her head in the toilet?” She searched his eyes. “Did you poison her so I could go on?”
“Take it down a notch,” E.J. said, laughing uncomfortably. “I slipped her a bad deviled egg.” He saw Nini’s reaction. “What? You got the lead! Was that gonna happen if I hadn’t stepped in?”
Carlos came out of the rehearsal room. They had not found the hamster. Carlos had screamed when Natalie stepped on his foot, but he’d recovered and was calling rehearsal to order. “Miss Jenn just talked to Ricky. He’s running late,” he said.
“Who cares?” E.J. mumbled.
“You might, considering you’re his understudy,” Carlos said. “We’re blocking the Troy-Gabriella duet.” He looked over at E.J. and Nini. “You’re on, lovers.”
As rehearsals began, Nini and E.J. stood on opposite ends of the stage. The tension between the two was palpable.
“Can I get you to move a little closer to each other?” Miss Jenn asked. “Come on, guys. We are blocking this as a love story, not a SARS epidemic.”
Seb played the opening chords of “What I’ve Been Looking For,” and Nini and E.J. started to sing, but the song was more like a battle song than a duet.
Miss Jenn put her hands up. “Okay, freeze,” she said. “Nini, this reprise comes at a decisive moment in the story, once your hearts have joined. It’s a love song.”
Nini looked over at Miss Jenn. “Were you not getting that?” she asked innocently.
“I’d like you to get to his heart without cracking his rib cage,” Miss Jenn explained.
Ricky burst into the room. “Sorry I’m late,” he said, seeming slightly frazzled.
When Ricky didn’t have his scene seven or a pencil, Miss Jenn scolded him and the cast. “When you come to rehearsal, people, you must come prepared,” she said, sounding frustrated. “Come back when you are punctual, park your distractions at the door, and take the work inside here
seriously.” She ended rehearsal and asked Ricky to meet her in her office.
In Miss Jenn’s office, Ricky confessed his parents were splitting up. Miss Jenn’s parents had divorced when she was in high school, and Ricky’s story struck a chord with her. While she was talking, Ricky spotted Natalie’s hamster eating Miss Jenn’s power bar on her desk. The hamster got away, and Ricky tried to get Miss Jenn to agree to let him stay overnight in her office.
Miss Jenn looked at Ricky with concern. “You can’t stay here. You should go home and be with your family.”
Ricky left her office, feeling there was no place he would rather not be than home.
E.J. was at his locker when Gina appeared behind him.
“Now you have a chance to be a hero,” Gina said.
“Stay away from me,” E.J. said.
“Girls like Nini love a comeback,” Gina continued.
“You set me up, then sold me out. So if I were you, I’d cool it.”
Gina didn’t flinch. “Oh, please don’t waste energy hating on me. Start thinking of the long game.” She smiled sweetly. “Opening night is six weeks out, dude. Follow me, you’ll have the part of Troy and the girl.”
“Hate to tell you this,” E.J. said, switching out some books from his locker, “but around here, seniors don’t follow sophomores.” He grabbed his backpack and walked away.
Gina leaned back on the locker. She had moved so many times and was used to reinventing herself. She knew if she acted like a confident theater veteran, people wouldn’t catch on that it was fake…for a little while. Above the water fountain across the hall, she spotted a poster for the homecoming dance at East High. Suddenly, a plan formed in her mind. E.J. was going to take her.
Since rehearsal was cancelled, Nini and Kourtney headed to the coffeehouse in town. Nini spotted a cute couple at a nearby table and glared at them.
“Who steals a person’s phone?” she asked Kourtney. She felt like she didn’t know her own boyfriend and was crushed. She’d once looked like half of that cute couple, but now the charade was over.