𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐒𝐘 - 𝐡𝐬𝐦𝐭𝐦𝐭𝐬 | ✔

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀𝒗𝒊. 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭'𝐬 𝐚𝐯𝐨𝐢𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐢𝐱
━━ 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕'𝒔 𝒂𝒗𝒐𝒊𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈

     Instead of dealing with what she had done like the big girl she was, Juliette avoided Ricky like he was the plague. She was just so embarrassed that she did not want to face the boy under any circumstances, she had not even replied to his texts. Nevertheless, the boy had different plans and asked for her every time he saw one of her friends, forcing them to invent a pathetic excuse for the sake of not telling him that the redhead was mostly hidden in the art room, claiming that "that particular wildcat logo was too difficult to draw and she needed concentration".

     "Come on, Juliette, the boy's been asking for you," Alex put her arm around Juliette's shoulders while walking through the hallways, mainly to keep her from escaping in case they ran into him, "he seems concerned."

     "I'm not talking to him, he must think I'm an idiot," she concluded, eager to change topics already.

     "Kourtney, put some reason on this girl's head, please."

     "What happens?" she asked, closing her locker and turning around to look at them. Juliette knew that hearing the boy's name was not Kourtney's favourite thing so she really hoped that she would side with her.

     "She's been avoiding Ricky since she asked for his number and the boy has been asking for her non-stop."

     "He has even asked me about you but you know I can't be objective here. If it were for me, I'd wipe him out off the face of the Earth, ask Nini," Kourtney pointed the brunette girl with her head. She had just come out from her private rehearsal with "Troy Bolton". After explaining the situation again, Nini concluded that, as much as she did not like Ricky at that precise moment, he didn't deserve to be ignored.

     The redhead did not like that conclusion so she tried to walk away from them, claiming that she could not go to Ricky Bowen and have him confront her about being a stupid ass. But her plan saw themselves quickly frustrated because, just as she was turning the corner, the ran into the boy and he took her to a side.

     "Are you okay?"

     "Of course I am," she cleared her voice, "why wouldn't I be?"

     "You ran out of the rehearsal room the other day and you've been avoiding me for three days straight," he looked at her waiting for an answer. Juliette, on her side, was looking down at her vans and fidgeting with her fingers.

     "First of all, I had some errands to run which came to my mind just as I finished talking to you and, second of all, I am not avoiding you. I just haven't talked to you, or answered your texts, or seen you."

     "That is avoiding, Juliette," he put his hand on her chin and lifted her head, to get her to look at him on the face, "Did I do something wrong? I know we are not exactly friends but I though... I don't know, we were getting there."

    "No, Ricky," she sighed, giving up, "you didn't do anything wrong." She could not avoid him, especially not when he was looking at her with that worried look and talking to her in such a tone. "I am just stupid."

     "Are you okay? Do you need to... talk or something?"

     "I am okay, I just thought... nevermind. Let's go to class before I get yelled at," she finished the conversation with a smile, Ricky releasing a breath he had not realized he was holding. Just as they were losing sight of each other, Juliette turned around and called for the boy, making him look at her, "we are friends, by the way. But please, do not say that to my sisters or they'll invite you to dinner again!"

     "I'll may take that offer," he raised his tone so Juliette could hear him, even if she was away from him.

     "I'll kill you, Bowen!

—

     Rehearsal was kind of a mess that day as well and Juliette could hear Kourtney muttering things about Ricky and his decision to be on the musical under her breath. Turns out that Ricky could sing but he could not dance to save his life and he was slowing everyone there, especially Nini, since they were practicing the courtain call.

     Nevertheless, Juliette hoped that Ricky would grasp the dance soon enough. Not just for the sake of the play but for the sake of everyone there. However, before they could even do it a second time, he and Nini started arguing again, just how they had done the day of the auditions and practically every day since they had been cast.

     "Because you're not, Ricky!" she exclaimed, making everyone turn around to look at them, "at least not for the right reasons."

     "What's that supposed to mean?"

     "Come on, you hate musicals," she explained, "you're just doing this so we'd be on each other's grills."

     Carlos tried to break the bickering and continue with rehearsal but they were absolutely not having it, so the choreographer had everyone rest five minutes just so they could get out of the room and leave the ex-couple alone. And so they did, but all of them stayed near the door so they could hear what was going on inside, especially Big Red, Kourtney and E.J. just in case they needed to meddle.

     Ms Jenn entered the room but just a split second later, Ricky stormed off of the room and of the building altogether. He had tears on his eyes and whereas Kourtney and E.J. rushed towards Nini to find out what had happened, Big Red went to find Ricky and Juliette followed him. He hated to see people upset, and especially not Ricky. The Bowen boy had cared about her the other day and it was her turn now so she excused herself from her art duties for a moment and exited the school.

     "Dude, what did you say? Why are you leaving?" Big Red ran after his friend, who gripped his skateboard tight in his hands.

     "'Cause, operation Troy was a huge mistake," he explained not even stopping to talk to the male redhead, "it just made things worse."

     Juliette could see Gina sitting alone in a bench outside the school but she was more worried about the boy so she only threw her a friendly smile and continued walking towards him until he stopped on his tracks.

     "Ricky, stop, I have shorter legs," Juliette pleaded, making the boy stop on his tracks and smiling softly at the comment.

     "What, Juliette?"

     "What happened, Ricky?"

     "Look, Nini's right, okay? I don't go here. You know it, I knew it when I auditioned, everybody knows it. Tell Miss Jenn I'm done, I cannot dance like Fred Rogers."

     "It's Astaire but anyways, Ricky," she corrected him and continued speaking, "please go back inside. Who cares if you cannot dance? You can learn! Carlos can help you! You have an amazing voice and you were cast for a reason. Don't let what Nini says upset you."

     By this moment, Carlos had reached them as well and was also pleading for the boy to get back inside so they could finish rehearsal for the curtain call. But Ricky snapped to all of them, trying to get them to shut up and leave him alone.

     "Nini is right! I'm taking up space, I don't belong on stage."

     "That is so not true," Carlos started but he could not finish due to Ricky stating that he'd rather leave than have Nini quit. Then, he left the school with his skateboard on hand. Juliette was completely shocked about what had just happened so Carlos took her back inside and they continued with their respective duties until they were dismissed for the day.