𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐒𝐘 - 𝐡𝐬𝐦𝐭𝐦𝐭𝐬 | ✔

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀𝒊𝒗. 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐛

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐫
━━ 𝒕𝒉𝒓𝒐𝒃

     The day of the read-through, everything seemed to go upside down for everyone. Nini had not found her favourite hoodie that day, E.J. was constantly on edge because of Ricky and Ricky wanted to punch E.J. on the face everytime he saw him, Juliette had not had time to eat anything the whole day so her tummy was constantly making noises...

     So when classes finally ended and the bell rang, they all ran towards the bomb shelter, the designated room for rehearsals. They were eager to get their minds off of their problems and rehearsal was the best way to do so. However, before Juliette could get there, a strong smell invaded her nose, making her stop on her tracks and look for the source.

    "Oh my God, what is that?" Kourtney asked, walking by her as well. The smell was strong, Juliette thought, but nice at the same time and she wanted to continue smelling the essence forever. Their questions were answered when Ricky got out of the bathroom.

     "Ricky, how much cologne are you wearing?" the redhead asked, chuckling.

     "Do you like it?" he turned around smiling, "it's Throb."

      "Yeah, I do but it's too much. Try just a couple of puffs next time of the hallways will smell like this until Christmas," she answered. Both teens remained there for some seconds, smiling at each other, but that was cut short when Kourtney took Juliette and practically dragged her towards the auditorium. Neither of the girls would have defined each other as "friend", more as "close acquaintances", they had talked some times but did not have the level of trust to have a sleep over.

     "Okay girl, time to stop smiling stupidly at Ricky," she told her, "he's bad news, believe me. And I'm dismantling the partiarchy this year, beginning by looking after my fellow girls."

     "Oh but..."

     "No 'buts', since he entered the musical to unbalance Nini, I have promised myself that I won't let him come anywhere near my baby," she explained.

     "But he is the lead..."

     "Oh, believe me, he is not going to last as the lead. I don't know if you have noticed but Ricky is not exactly theatre material. Plus, Nini has already mourned over him too much. When they broke up, she spent forty-eight hours without leaving her room. I had to feed her slices of pizza through her door and let me tell you it was dark."

     By the time they finished their conversation, they had arrived to the bomb shelter already. Kourtney had offered to work with Juliette for the costumes, since she needed to be there to offer Nini emotional support for her first big role and to avoid her coming anywhere near her ex-boyfriend.

     "I won't make eye contact," Nini whispered to her best friend upon being asked how she would survive rehearsals having to see Ricky literally all the time during more than seventy days straight.

     "Could everyone take their assigned seats, please?" Miss Jenn asked and all the cast sat in their chair with their names, even if at first there were central controversies about who was sitting next to who. The teacher started a pep-talk that Juliette did not listen to, but she could not help it but look at the woman when she started singing We are all in this together in a very high-pitched tone. Everybody wanted to laugh and they did once the girl's stomach growled once again, reminding her to please something soon if she did not want to be a walking orchestra.

     "Sorry," she whispered, embarrassed.

     The curly-haired boy sitting exactly across her reached into his backpack and, taking a cereal bar out, tossed it to the girl and winked at her, focusing on the script again. Juliette could not help but blush at the small gesture so, after muttering a 'thank you' to Ricky and smiling, she turned around and ate it while she continued working. Everyone had seen that and more than two pairs of eyes were directed at the redhead with an inquisitive look.

     "What was that all about?", Alexandra whispered, coming closer to her with the excuse of helping her paint something.

     "I was hungry."

     "Yeah, I heard. I meant Ricky. Since when are you two...?"

   "We are not... whatever you were going to say," she explained, "he was just being nice. Don't think too much into it."

     Alexandra was not so sure anyway but she continued her work: "If you say so..."

     The read-through for the first act was horribly and painfully slow and, as soon as Big Red finished reading the stage directions, Miss Jenn decided to take a break and everyone spread through the room. However, it was not long before Kourtney came rushing towards Juliette and took her hand, putting her to a side and making her nearly fall in the process.

     "You need to find out if Ricky is texting Nini," she pleaded. Upon asking why, Kourtney explained what had just happened: Ricky had his phone in his hand and then, Nini received a message, upon which she smiled. However, she brushed it off saying it was "nothing", making not only E.J. but also Kourtney suspicious.

     "I don't know, Kourtney... I'm not really that close to Ricky so as to ask him who he was talking to..."

     "Come on, I have seen him toss that cereal bar to you, you know?. Please, I can't have Nini falling for him again, I don't know, come up with something. Or distract him so he stops using his phone and I can talk to Nini."

     She did not want Kourtney to get mad at her now that they were getting "friendlier" so she sighed and approached the boy, which made him put his phone in his back pocket. That was enough, that was what Kourtney wanted so it was all done, right?

     "Hey, Juliette, needed anything?" well, it was not done, apparently.

     "Not really, no, why?"

     "You were the one walking towards me, it seemed like you wanted to say something or..."

     "Oh, yeah. I... uh... can I have your phone number?"

WHAT. DID. I. JUST. DO?
Juliette Duchamp

     Without problem, although surprised at the sudden outburst of the girl, Ricky gave Juliette his phone number. He didn't mind at all; quite the contrary in fact, but he was not expecting the girl to ask for his number so blatantly. It may seem weird that, after two years of sharing classes, they did not have each other's phone numbers but they simply hadn't needed it. They always talked at school so there was no need for them to do so over message. 

     The boy smiled and, taking Juliette's phone, he put his number in her contacts and returned it to her.

     On the other hand, the girl was so embarrassed that she left read-through after that and practically ran all the way home, not even realizing how tired her legs were getting.