Half a Heart •Ricky Bowen•

5

Ella walked into the drama room to see Ricky and Nini talking to Carlos. She couldn’t stop thinking about what Red said to her yesterday. Was he really singing to her? Maybe Red was just tripping, or trying to mess with her feelings?

“You know either you really like him or you're sending that loving gaze to Carlos. Or Nini, I don’t judge.” A voice scared her out of her thoughts. “I’m sorry?” Ella asked, turning to the girl who was wearing a very cute sports bra with matching leggings. “Oh no, that’s just my normal face.” Ella countered.

“Are you sure? Cause that was the look 'Troy' was giving you while you two hugged yesterday.” The girl said, with an ‘as a matter of fact’ tone. Ella was confused, that's the second person to mention it. “Ricky? No, he's just my best friend, since Elementary school.” Ella stated.

“Are you trying to convince me that or yourself? Anyway I’m Gina Porter, sophomore transfer student.” Gina stuck her hand out to shake Ella’s, who accepted it. “Ella Varney, Junior. Can I borrow your flexibility someday? I would be so entertained if I could just drop into a split." Ella laughed. "Gina!" Miss Jenn called out to the girl.

"You should definitely give me your number so we can talk more. And I promise one day I'll teach you how to do what I do.” “Oh yeah, that sounds like a plan!” Gina walked away from the girl as she took a swig from her water bottle.

“Okay people. Let’s take it from three counts of eight. Right before Troy and Gabriella’s entrance for the bows.”

Ella stood against the wall, watching as the partners danced perfectly. Nini and Ricky walked through, Ricky struggling to remember the moves. 

Ella sighed as she rubbed her temples, listening to the ex couple fight. “Okay, that's a five! On a break, people! Everybody out, get out!” Carlos yelled out, frustrated with this whole situation. Ella walked out of the room and sat in the hallway. 

Resting her head against the brick wall, she picked at her nails. At this point she just wanted to go home and sleep. Her head still had so many thoughts of Ricky running through her head.

Ricky stomped out of the room, walking right past Big Red and Ella. “Let’s go.” Ella smiled sadly at the red head. Getting up from their spots, they grabbed their stuff and followed Ricky who was already out of the building. 

“Ricky!” El called out. He stopped in his tracks, turning to his friends with the skateboards in their hands. “What happened?” Red asked. “What happened was operation Troy was a huge mistake. It just made things worse.”

“Hey, hey listen. I get it, it was really rough today. It wasn’t a mistake, it was an attempt. And when people don’t get an attempt right then they can try again.” Ella tried to reason with him. 

“I don’t know El, maybe this is a sign telling me that I don’t belong with Nini.” Ricky said, breaking eye contact with Ella, Big Red watched their interaction; furrowing his eyebrows. 

“What do-” Ella was cut off by Carlos running through the front doors. “There you guys are! Ms. Jenn wants everyone back in the room.

“Tell Miss Jenn I'm done. Okay? Sorry I can’t dance like Fred Rogers.” Ricky huffed out, not in the mood to have to explain himself.

“It’s Fred Astaire. Fred Rogers is Mister Rogers. He never danced, he potty trained puppets.” Carlos said, squinting from the sunlight hitting him directly in the face.

“Seriously? I was impressed they made dolls that could cry.” Ella gave Big Red that stare that made him cover his mouth with his hand.

“Ricky please-”

“Nini is right, I’m taking up space. I don’t belong on stage.”

“So untrue-”

“Save it, Carlos. You don’t want me in this. If I go back, Nini will probably quit. And you need her a lot more than you need me.” Ricky finished his rant and walked away from the choreographer. Ella stayed back to talk to the boy who looked like he was on the verge of screaming,

“I promise both you and Ms. Jenn I’ll try to work on him. I’ll try my best to bring him back.” Carlos held onto her shoulders, “You’re a goddess.” 

_______________________________________

10 p.m. rolled around and Ella was in her kitchen snacking on some chips she found in her cabinet. Her phone rang, Ricky’s name and picture popping up. “Hey.” Ella couldn’t help but smile at the sound of his voice.

“Hey. Why is the lovely Ricky Bowen calling me at this time? What do you need?”

“Pshh whaaat? Why do you think I need something? Can’t I just-”

“Ricky.” Ella deadpanned.

“Okay fine, can you come over and help me learn the dance moves?” Ricky mumbed into the phone.

“Can I sleep over?” Ella nervously bit her bottom lip.

“Is that even a question? Of course you can.”

“I’ll be over in 10.” 

Ella hung up and went to go tell her dad she was going out, only to see him fast asleep on the couch. She wrote him a quick note saying Ricky was having an issue that he needed help with.

She gathered some of her belongings in her backpack, grabbed her car keys and left her house.

She got to the Bowens household and locked her car. She walked up to the front door and knocked. Not even four seconds later Ricky opened the door and pulled her into a hug. “You’re a blessing, thank you for helping me with this.”

“Okay okay lover boy, wait until you learned it before you praise me.” Ella joked, sending him a wink. While Ricky laughed, he couldn’t help but feel this odd feeling in his stomach. It was like the same feeling he got when he first started to like Nini.

The two walked into the living room, Ella’s ears immediately perking up at the sound of ‘We’re All in This Together’ on the TV.

“Alright.. Let’s do this.” Ricky took a deep breath as he restarted the video.