#gold rush

"Tonya doesn't have your vision, Gracie." Rosie adjusted the straps of her backpack, hoping they would stop digging uncomfortably into her shoulders. "And avoiding something you love because of a boy is silly."

"Silly? Rosie, I have liked him for years, and now he's dating one of the little sister's best friends?" Gracie felt a twist of bitterness deep in her gut, "I have a right to feel upset."

"I'm not saying you don't, but fashion is your thing, even more than cheerleading is." Rosie reasoned. "Just come to the read-through with me. I'm sure Seb wants you there too."

Gracie sighed, "I don't know, it's just...I think I need a little distance right now. From E.J. and Nini. I can't see them acting like a couple yet, all last night I was just replaying them standing in the cafeteria and it--"

"Hurt?" Rosie guessed.

"That's one way of putting it." Grace unzipped her bag and tugged out her brand new sketchbook. The front was decorated with High School Musical stickers and had the words 'HSM: TM COSTUME DESIGNS' in big block letters. She handed it over to Rosie. "Could you maybe give this to Miss Jenn. I started working on it last night when I couldn't sleep. I want to get her opinion."

"You could give it to her yourself if you came with me." Rosie smiled as sweetly as she could at her sister. When it didn't work, her smile dropped. "Fine. I'll make sure she gets it, and that she knows whose work it is. But, wait, are there any costumes in HSM? I mean, it's just 2006 fashion."

"HSM is a 2006 period piece." Gracie corrected. "And who says we have to stick exactly with the outfits from the movie? Really, the most iconic fashion-related thing is Gabriella's red dress at the end of the movie."

"If you say so." Rosie knew her sister was never wrong when it came to fashion. It was, like, her superpower. "Are you sticking around or should Seb and I call the Sammy Taxicab Service?"

"No, I'll stick around, maybe we could get some ice cream once you're done?" She offered.

"I can ask Ricky and Big Red if they want to join, and speaking of which, I need to go." Rosie pointed down the hall to where the two boys were not so sneakily spying on them.

Gracie laughed at how obvious they were, "Text me when you're ready to leave."

"Will do."

Rosie turned and walked down the hallway towards the boys, who tried to pretend they weren't just eavesdropping.

"Oh, hey, Rosie. Didn't see you there." Ricky said unconvincingly.

"Yes, you did, and..." Rosie wrinkled her nose up at the smell surrounding the boys, "What is that?"

"What's what?" Big Red asked.

"That smell." Rosie elaborated.

Big Red glanced at Ricky. "I don't smell anything."

Ricky shook his head, "No, me neither. No smells here."

Rosie got closer to Ricky. "Is it you?" She sniffed the air around him in disgust. "Why do you smell like you fell into a bucket of cologne?"

"Alright, yes, it's me." Ricky shooed her away and pulled out the bottle of THROB from his backpack.

"THROB?" She deadpanned.

Ricky brushed her off. "It works okay. That's all that matters."

"If you say so, Ricky." She handed him back the bottle and began the walk to the rehearsal room. "So, are you guys excited for your first foray into theatre?"

"Excited might not be the right word." Big Red looked nervous.

"You guys might not be into it now, but trust me, by the end of this production, you will have a newfound love and appreciation for the arts." Rosie was sure of it.

"If you say so, Rosie," Ricky repeated her words from a few seconds ago.

They turned into the bomb shelter, and Rosie split from them, making her way to Ashlyn.

"Your seat's here," Ashlyn told her, pointing to the seat between herself and Seb.

Rosie smiled at the girl, but her eyes quickly found E.J.'s figure. He was standing across from them with two place cards in his hand — Chad Danforth and Troy Bolton — trying to switch them. E.J. looked back at his cousin, his gaze darting to Rosie, only now realising she was there. The two girls gave him a look, one that said 'you should know better' and 'put them back how you found them'. It reminded him of a mother scolding their child.

E.J. relented and moved the placecards back. A small amount of embarrassment crossed his face at not only his cousin seeing his wrongdoings, but Rosie too.

"Could everyone take their assigned seats?" Miss Jenn asked.

Rosie pulled out her script and highlighters, passing one to Ricky as he and Big Red walked by.

"Yoo-hoo, ginger boy." Rosie looked up to find Miss Jenn talking to Big Red. "Can you read?"

Rosie could see his face pale from where she was sitting. "Uh...Not really." He replied.

"Well, you're reading now. Just the stage directions." Miss Jenn forced a script into his hands. "Thank you. Excuse me."

Big Red took a hesitant seat between E.J. and Miss Jenn. Rosie gave him a toothy grin and an encouraging thumbs-up before catching Ricky's eye. This is going to be a long rehearsal.

"Don't forget to silence your phones!" Miss Jenn reminded them, "I realise that you all walked in here as strangers."

Seb and Rosie looked at each other with furrowed brows. She did know they were siblings, right?

"Actually, E.J.'s my cousin!" Ashlyn corrected her.

Miss Jenn looked at Ashlyn blankly, "But after today, you're a family." She continued. "One tribe, committed to lifting this classic film to new heights."

The sound of a phone camera taking a photo interrupted Miss Jenn's speech. Carlos looked at her sheepishly and set his phone back down on his desk.

"Please take your neighbour's hands." Rosie quickly took Ashlyn and Seb's hands. "Hand," Miss Jenn directed Big Red. "Hand," she told Nini, who slowly lowered her hand into Ricky's. "Hands." Rosie heard Ashlyn stifle a laugh as E.J. placed his hand in Ricky's with unamused looks on their faces. "Feel each other's energy. Let the silence speak volumes. In a world full of no, this is a space full of yes."

There was a brief moment of silence.

"We're all in this together

Once we know that we are"

Rosie watched as Nini took her hand out of Ricky's.

"We're all stars, and we see that

We're all in this together"

Ricky snatched his hand out of E.J.'s, whose eyes met Rosie's once again. She gave him a small smile. He returned it.

"And it shows when we stand hand-in-hand

Make our dreams come true."

Rosie wasn't sure how to react, but when Ashlyn clapped, she joined in.

"Thanks," Miss Jenn mouthed to them.

ROSIE LOOKED UP FROM HER SCRIPT AND GRIMACED AT RICKY. The read-through with Big Red as acting stage manager was going as well as she had expected.

"Sharpay, heads for class. She hears singing. Opens the door to the biology lab. She finds Gabriella and Taylor washing their hands. They turn to find there are no paper towels in the dispenser. They—"

"Stop." Miss Jenn interrupted. "Don't run it all together. Read the punctuation."

Wrong choice of words, Rosie thought to herself.

"Sharpay, comma heads for class period..." Another painstakingly slow thirty minutes passed before they were finally at the end of Act One. "...And they are hearing the songs in their heads, period."

Miss Jenn slammed her director's script shut. "And that's Act One. Let's take a break."

Rosie got out of her seat and waited for Ricky and Big Red to come over to her.

"That was, hands down, the worst experience of my life." Big Red complained. "I would take the SATs every week if I never had to do that again."

Rosie patted Big Red on the shoulder. "Come on, it wasn't that bad." The boys gave her a look. "Okay, maybe it was a little slow, but you'll get there during Act Two, I'm sure of it."

"Sometimes I wish I had your patience and optimism, Rosie," Ricky told her, pulling out his phone.

Rosie glanced down at her own screen to see a text from Gracie.

GRACIE: When are you getting out of rehearsal? Hello? U there???

ROSIE: Sorry! The read-through is taking longer than expected.

GRACIE: ?

ROSIE: Natalie Bagley is out. Big Red is reading the stage directions

GRACIE: Yikes.

ROSIE: You can head home. Seb and I will just call Sammy once we're finished with act 2.

GRACIE: You haven't even started act 2 yet???

Rosie laughed and set down her phone. She looked up to find E.J. staring angrily at Ricky—weird. Rosie sat back down beside Ashlyn and sent Sammy the usual 'please can you pick us up from rehearsal?' text he got almost every week during the fall and spring.

For the third time that day, E.J. found his eyes lingering on Rosie. He had no idea why, but he couldn't help himself. There was something about her that intrigued him, that drew him in, he just couldn't figure out what.

Act Two did go a little faster, but maybe that was because Miss Jenn cut Big Red off early and finished reading the stage directions herself. Rosie put her newly-marked script into her bag and pulled out Gracie's sketchbook, approaching Miss Jenn with a sheepish smile.

Rosie cleared her throat. "Miss Jenn?"

"Yes, dear?" She looked up, a frazzled look in her eye that made Rosie wonder if now was the right time to disturb her.

"Uh, my sister, Grace, she works in the costume department. Um, she didn't feel well today but asked me to pass along her designs for the costumes." Rosie held out the sketchbook for Miss Jenn to take. "She couldn't sleep last night, so she got a head start on them. She just wants your opinion."

Miss Jenn took the sketchbook out of Rosie's hand and carefully flicked through it. "These look wonderful. Please tell your sister that I will have a look at them tonight and get back to her. Do you know if she'll be at the next rehearsal?"

"Um, I'll have to ask, but if not, she'll definitely be at the next," Rosie promised. "She's just feeling a little... under the weather right now."

"Hmm. Thank you, Rosie." Miss Jenn gave her a smile and walked out of the bomb shelter.

Rosie let out a breath—thank goodness she liked them.

"Ro." Seb caught her attention. "Sam just texted me, he's outside."

Rosie grabbed her backpack from the back of her chair and waved goodbye to Ricky and Big Red. "Alright, let's go home."

ROSIE STRETCHED OFF TO THE SIDE. Today was the first day of dance rehearsals for HSM:TM (that's what Gracie had taken to calling it in their group chat with Seb). Rosie wasn't expecting to dance today, but she wanted to be prepared. She, Seb, and Carlos had a separate rehearsal scheduled for Bop To The Top the next day at lunchtime, and Rosie was a little nervous. What if Carlos decides she was too bad a dancer to play Ryan?

"I'm kinda lost," Ricky admitted to Carlos. "If the play's over, why would we still be dancing?"

Carlos smiled at the clueless boy, "It's a curtain call. You're the last two to come out. We want to bring the audience to their feet."

"Teach them the dance," Ricky said sarcastically.

"Carlos? Can we just wait until Miss Jenn gets here?" Nini asked.

Rosie walked over to Big Red, watching the exchange between Ricky and Nini. She had a feeling this rehearsal was not going to end well.

"Miss Jenn is busy tracking down a prop," Carlos answered, a little frustrated with their questions. "She's asked me to create a crescendo, people, so let's stop swirling and start twirling."

As Rosie laughed at Carlos's word-play, E.J. looked over at her. He found his eyes being drawn to her more and more as rehearsals continued, a distraction he figured. To keep him from hitting Ricky for stealing his role in the play and for actively trying to steal his girl.

Ricky was still confused. "But why are we practising the bows when we haven't even practised the play?"

Big Red turned to Rosie, clearly just as confused as Ricky. She opened her mouth to explain, but Carlos beat her to it.

"Because you start with the hardest dance that takes the longest to learn. It's in The Big Book of Broadway. Page 374." The new girl, Gina, finished Carlos' sentence with him, prompting him to hold his hand up for her to high-five.

E.J. leaned over, "Hey, did you not tell either of them anything about musicals?" His tone was playful enough for Rosie to pick up on it.

"Whenever I've tried to talk about musicals in the past, the two of them usually tune me out." Rosie returned his banter.

E.J. laughed at her answer and turned back to the front. Big Red gave her a look, but Rosie just shrugged. Just because Ricky had declared E.J. his mortal enemy didn't mean Rosie also had to be rude to him.

"Okay, people. Let's take it from three counts of eight, right before Troy and Gabriella's entrance for the bows." Carlos directed.

Ricky, Nini and the rest of the dancers got into position. Seb gave Carlos a nod from the piano, and Carlos counted him in.

"A five, six, seven, eight."

Seb began the music whilst the others danced. It was all going well until the time came for Ricky and Nini's entrance, and to say Ricky was less than coordinated on the dance floor would be an understatement. Rosie cringed a little and looked away. The little time she had with Ricky to try to prep him had clearly not worked.

"I can't do this," Ricky stopped dancing. "I'm sorry."

"What is he doing?" Nini asked Carlos.

Ricky's eyebrows pinched together. "Why are you talking to him? I'm right here."

"'Cause you're not here. At least, not for the right reasons." Nini said.

Ricky scoffed. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"What I said, Ricky. You have musicals. You're only doing this so we'd be in each other's grills." Nini walked away from the rest of the dancers to grab her water bottle.

"Back to the dance, please!" Carlos tried to keep them (and rehearsal) on course.

"Now you're rubbing some weird cologne on your neck?" Nini continued.

"Hey, you love THROB!" Ricky interrupted her rant.

"And wasting everybody's time by making fun of something that the rest of us take seriously!" Nini finished, her voice rising above the quiet mumbling of the room.

"Okay, that's a five! On a break, people! Everybody out! Get out!" Carlos waved everybody out of the room.

"No, come on. Hey, I take this seriously." Ricky reasoned.

Nini shook her head stubbornly. "No, no, you don't! You don't take anything seriously..."

Rosie grabbed her backpack and followed everybody out of the room. As they all went their separate ways, Rosie lingered in the hallway outside, waiting for Ricky to come out. E.J. had also stuck around, standing by the door to try to hear the rest of Ricky and Nini's conversation.

"You know it's rude to eavesdrop, right?" Rosie's soft voice sounded loud in the mostly empty hallway.

E.J. gave her a tight smile, "I'm not eavesdropping."

Rosie stared at him, unconvinced. "Yes, you are."

E.J. dropped his head, "I just want to make sure Nini's okay. Doing a show with her ex wasn't how either of us thought this year was gonna go."

"You thought you would play Troy, I'm guessing."

E.J. didn't answer.

"E.J., you're really talented. And I know getting cast as Chad was a shock, but Ricky didn't expect to be cast in the musical, like, at all." Rosie thought back to the obvious shock on Ricky's face when he saw the cast list for the first time. "We were all just as shocked as you and Nini when he got Troy."

"Rosie, whatever you're gonna say about Ricky being a great guy or whatever, I really don't wanna hear it. Nini's right, he's only doing this to try and get her back." E.J. challenged her. "I know you know that."

E.J. was right, and Rosie felt horrible about it. She didn't exactly agree with Ricky's reasons for doing the musical. Nini moved on; she got a new boyfriend. He shouldn't be trying to come between them and break them up so that he could get back with Nini. She tried telling him that, of course, but he ignored her.

Rosie sighed. "I'm not defending him, I just...maybe you not getting Troy was a sign."

"A sign?" E.J. repeated.

"Yeah, from..." she pointed upwards. "Maybe you don't have to be the centre of attention all the time. Maybe being in the background for a minute is what you need to humble you a bit."

E.J. laughed at this, "You think I need humbling?"

"I think that you are very popular and co-captain of the water polo team. You're senior class treasurer, and you've been a part of the past, what, six productions at East High? Maybe letting someone else be in the spotlight isn't such a bad thing." Rosie shrugged. "Does it totally suck that it's your girlfriend's ex? Sure, but it's how you handle the situation that's telling. My dad always tells me that all of life's obstacles are tests from God to teach us a lesson and help us grow. Maybe this is your lesson." She offered.

E.J. didn't say anything. He just stared at the girl he had only started paying attention to two days ago. Her words reminded him of what Ash had told him the day before—maybe it'll be good for you to not get what you want for once—maybe it was because Ashlyn was his cousin that he ignored her words (even when she had his best interests at heart), but he couldn't ignore Rosie's.

Miss Jenn walked by them with a smile on her face, just as Ricky stormed out of the room.

Rosie's eyes could barely focus on the boy as he jogged past. "Ricky?"

He didn't wait for her, continuing down the hall with his head dipped low.

"Ricky?" She called after him, "Sorry, I have to go." Rosie barely got the words out before she chased her friend down the hall. Big Red met up with them quickly, both of them following Ricky out of the school's doors.

"Dude, what did she say? Why are we leaving?" Big Red asked Ricky.

"'Cause Operation Troy was a huge mistake. It just made things worse." Ricky glanced at Rosie. "You can say 'I told you so', now Rosie."

Rosie frowned at the boy, "You know I never would."

"There you are!" Carlos yelled as he ran towards them. "Miss Jenn wants everyone back in the room."

"Tell Miss Jenn I'm done. Okay? Sorry, I can't dance like Fred Rogers." Ricky apologised, but his tone lacked any real sympathy.

"It's Fred Astaire." Carlos corrected. "Fred Rogers is Mister Rogers. He never danced, he puppet-trained puppets."

Rosie scrunched her nose up.

"Seriously? Wow, I was impressed they made dolls that could cry." Big Red laughed.

"Ricky, please, you have to..." Carlos practically pleaded with the boy.

"Nini's right! I'm taking up space." Ricky interrupted him. "I don't belong on stage."

Rosie's frown deepened. "Did Nini say that to you?"

"So untrue, you..."

"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's words were final.

"Ricky..." Rosie tried.

"Go back to rehearsals with Carlos, Ro. I know how much this musical means to you."

Rosie wrapped her arms around Ricky's neck and pulled him in for a hug. "You don't take up space, Ricky." He wrapped his arms around her waist and squeezed her tight. He didn't know much, but if there was one thing that he did know, it was that Rosie was the best friend anyone could ask for.

KNOCK. KNOCK. KNOCK.

The door opened, and Rosie smiled softly at Ricky. "Hey."

"Hey, Ro. What are you doing here?" He opened the door wider and stepped aside so she could come inside.

"I wanted to see how you were." She shook off her coat and waved to Sammy as he drove away. "Rehearsal was a little..."

"Rough?" He laughed.

Rosie scrunched her nose. "Along those lines, yeah."

They sat down together on the coach. Rosie had always loved Ricky's house, she thought it was inviting and warm. It reminded her of Ricky in that way.

"I was actually gonna call you," Ricky told her. "Can you teach me the curtain call dance? And also, like, every dance I have in the show?"

Rosie looked at him, shocked. "Really? Why the change of heart?"

"After rehearsal, I went to the skate rink, and Gina was there, weirdly, and she kinda gave me some advice. If I quit on this, then Nini's only ever gonna see me as a quitter. I need to prove to her that I can see something through." Ricky explained. "And also for you. I know how much it means to you that me and Big Red are a part of this."

"Ricky, you don't have to do anything for anyone else. You need to do this musical for you. Not Nini, not me, you. So, are you a Wildcat, are you a skate rat, or are you both?" Rosie asked him.

"I think I wanna be both." Ricky decided.

She slapped her hands together with a sense of urgency. "Then up on your feet. You have a dance to learn."

"Thanks." He smiled at her. "Do you think you could stay over tonight? I don't think this is gonna be easy for me to get."

"I'll call my mom, you load up High School Musical on the TV. We'll start with We're All In This Together, so just fast-forward it to the end." She ordered.

Ricky clicked his fingers at her, "Gotcha."

Rosie stepped into the kitchen and pressed her mom's contact. She watched Ricky fumble around with the DVD player while she listened to the line ring. Once, twice, three times, until her mom finally answered.

"Hello?" Her mom's voice was broken up and sounded strangely distant, but she supposed that was just the reception at the farm.

"Hey, Mom."

"Oh, Rosie. Gosh, I didn't even realise it was you calling." Alice let out a frustrated sigh. "Summer and Esme have decided to play hide-and-seek, and Gracie and I have been looking for them for the past ten minutes."

"Oh, um, check the laundry baskets," Rosie suggested. "I showed the triplets that hiding place once, and I wouldn't be surprised if they had shown Summer and Esme."

"Okay." Alice's voice grew quieter again. "Grace, did you hear that?"

Rosie heard Gracie's voice in the background. "On it, Mom!"

"So, why are you calling?" Her mom asked.

"I was wondering if I could spend the night at Ricky's?" She crossed her fingers. "We had a difficult dance rehearsal today, and he wants to go over the steps, but I'm pretty sure it's gonna take us all night. He's never been the best dancer."

Alice paused. "Are his parents there?"

"His dad's upstairs." Rosie lowered her voice so Ricky wouldn't hear her. "I think his mom's still in Chicago for work."

"Still?" Her mom's tone shifted, overwhelming sympathy and quiet judgement seeping in. "Hasn't it been over a month now?"

Rosie took a deep breath, "Yeah."

"Well, honey, if his dad is there and all you're gonna be doing is learning a dance, then, yes, you can stay over there. Just make sure you get some rest for school."

Rosie laughed, "I will. Thanks, Mom."

"You're welcome, honey. I'll send Gracie to pick you up tomorrow with a change of clothes."

"Okay, bye." Rosie trilled.

"Bye, sweetie."

A few hours later, Rosie and Ricky were still learning the dance for We're All In This Together. They had taken a short break to work on the curtain call dance Carlos had choreographed, but once Ricky had gotten the hang of it, they switched back to the movie.

"We're all in this together. Once we know that we are. We're all stars, and we see that. We're all in this together." Ricky mumble-sung the words under his breath as he performed the dance.

Rosie sat on the coach behind him, resting her legs after nearly three hours of practising. "Then it's the star hands, yeah, like that." She directed him.

"Ricky, Rosie, it's midnight." Rosie looked up at the stairs to find Mr Bowen in his pyjamas. "I thought you had a test tomorrow."

Ricky nodded to the TV screen, "I do."

Mr Bowen raised an eyebrow, "This is for a test?"

"Most important one of my life," Ricky said.

Rosie stood up from the couch, narrowly avoiding Ricky's raised arms.

"Everybody now." Ricky sang again, "Hey, Dad, if you can't sleep, you can hang out here. With us." He offered.

"Yeah, you should join in, Mr Bowen, it's actually a very easy dance once you get the hang of it," Rosie added.

"Easy?" Ricky laughed.

"Well, maybe not for everyone." She shrugged.

"Hey!" He slapped her on the arm. "Come on, Dad. Yeah."

Mr Bowen slowly sat on the coach behind them, "Well, this is definitely a new one for you."

"Let's do this right. Hey, it's your turn."

"Ooh!" Rosie took Ricky's place and started singing along with Lucas Grabeel on the screen. "We're all here and speaking out with one voice—"

THE NEXT DAY, Rosie and Ricky stood in the library trying to get Carlos' attention. Ricky threw a small bead he found earlier in Carlos's direction, but it didn't work.

He turned to Rosie, "Give me one of your earrings."

"What?" Rosie brought her hand up to protect her dangly feather earring.

He made a grabbing motion. "Just do it."

Rosie sighed but pulled out one of her earrings. "I want this back."

Ricky waved her off and lined up the shot. He threw the earring onto the desk in front of Carlos. Carlos looked at them, confused, before slowly taking out his earphones and making his way to the back of the library.

"If you plan on assaulting me, I have to warn you, my mother plays Bunko with the librarian, and we will press charges." Carlos threatened.

Ricky put his hands up.

"Ha-has that happened to you before?" Rosie stuttered.

"No." Carlos lied. "Just a general warning."

Ricky chuckled, "I wanna show you something, okay? Check it out." Ricky started to do the curtain call dance from the day before.

"Wow. You've been practising." Carlos said. "I thought you quit?"

Ricky shook his head, "Not doin' that anymore. Still not sure on this last part."

Carlos was impressed. "You remembered all of those steps?"

"Not really, Rosie taught me it." He motioned to the girl standing off to the side.

"It took us all night, but we got there." She smiled. "Oh, I also taught him We're All In This Together. I overheard you telling Miss Jenn you might wanna switch up the choreo, so I made sure he at least knew the basics."

"Oh, and..." Ricky moonwalked in a circle and pointed at Carlos. "The Zac Efron-Breaking Free spin."

"Is it all right? I couldn't remember everything." Rosie asked Carlos.

"Almost," Carlos said and turned to Ricky. "At the end, you're doing spirit fingers. I want jazz hands."

"Jazz hands. Okay." Ricky said.

"Here. Try it again." Carlos encouraged him. "Rosie, can you stand in for Nini for the last part?" Carlos counted them in. "Five, six, seven, eight." Ricky performed the dance again, this time with Rosie. Carlos smiled at them both, "Ricky, that's it."

"Yay!" Rosie threw her arms around the boy.

Ricky picked her up and spun them in a circle. "I couldn't have done this without you, seriously."

"It's no big deal." Rosie blew her hair out of her face and pulled her buzzing phone from her jacket pocket. "I need to go, I said I'd meet Gracie before rehearsals,"

"Oh, Miss Jenn has a special announcement, and she also wants to talk with Grace about the costume designs," Carlos called after her.

Rosie bit her lip, a bit of dry skin peeling away, leaving behind a burning sensation. "Good news or the other kind?"

"Good. She loved them." Carlos smiled excitedly.

"Thank goodness." Rosie giggled. "I'll make sure Gracie shows up, I promise."

Rosie dashed through the bustling hallways, her footsteps echoing against the lockers as she narrowly avoided crashing into several students. She skidded to a stop, almost bumping into Seb, who stood waiting beside Gracie.

"Wow, Ro. Where's the fire?" Gracie laughed at the girl's enthusiasm.

Rosie stopped to catch her breath. She was never doing that again. "You need to come to rehearsals. Miss Jenn has this big announcement, and she wants to talk to you about your designs."

"Big announcement?" Seb asked.

"I'm not sure, that's just what Carlos said." Rosie turned to Gracie. "He also said that Miss Jenn loved Gracie's designs."

Gracie's smile widened. "Wait, really?"

"Yeah. You see now why you need to come?" Rosie teased. "Look, I know the whole Nini and E.J. thing is still fresh, but if Seb can make it through rehearsals after his breakup with Natalie, then you can put on a brave face and enjoy something you love."

Grace sighed but nodded her head, "Fine. You've convinced me."

Rosie jumped before wrapping her arms around her sister, who chuckled and opened her arms a little wider for Seb to join in. Once the siblings disentangled themselves, they made their way to the bomb shelter, where Miss Jenn beckoned them in.

"Miss Jenn, this is my sister Gracie." Rosie introduced them.

"The fashion designer." Miss Jenn realised.

Grace had a shy smile on her face, "Uh, yeah."

Rosie left Miss Jenn to their conversation, spotting Gina in the corner of the room. Rosie approached the girl, "Uh, hi. Gina, right?"

"Yeah." The girl gave her a cautious smile.

"I'm Rosie, I'm playing Ryan. I just wanted to say thank you." Gina looked confused. "For encouraging Ricky." She clarified. "He was really close to quitting the show, and whatever you said to him last night really helped."

"Oh, that." Gina slowly nodded. "Yeah, it was no big deal. Him being here gives us street cred us theatre kids could only dream of, you know. It would be a shame for a little bit of drama to get in the way of that."

"I completely agree." Rosie nodded and wrung her fingers together as she shifted awkwardly. "Um, you know if you ever want someone to hang out with after rehearsals or during lunch or whatever, I'd be happy to be your friend. I know it can be hard transferring schools."

Shock flashed in Gina's eyes. "You've transferred?"

"I was homeschooled for a little while," Rosie explained. "There was a really mean group of girls in middle school who decided to make my life really difficult. My parents took me out for a while until high school." Rosie shrugged. "Obviously, I kept some friends from that time, but most of them joined clubs and moved on without me."

Gina grabbed a pen and a notebook from her backpack. She ripped off a corner of the front page and wrote something down, "This is my number. It would be nice to have someone to talk about the show and school with."

"I'll text you later so you have my number too." Out of the corner of her eye, Rosie caught Ashlyn rushing into the bomb shelter. "I could also pass it along to Ashlyn if you want. She's been wanting to approach you, but I think your audition left us all a little intimidated."

Gina laughed, "Ashlyn. She's playing Ms Darus, right?"

"Mmh-hmm." Rosie hummed.

Gina thought about it, "Okay, sure."

"Kids, can you gather round?" Miss Jenn's voice interrupted.

Rosie walked over to Gracie. "How did it go?"

"She wants Tonya and I to be the student co-heads of the costume department."

The girls squealed together.

"Here it is, people." Miss Jenn said, holding up a 2000s-style phone.

"Is that a garage-door opener?" Seb asked.

"No, Seb." Miss Jenn replied. "This is Gabriella's phone... from the film."

Rosie gasped. No way! Rosie looked down at Ricky to see the blank look on his face. "Hey, you okay?"

His eyes darted to Nini. "What? Yeah, no, yeah, I'm fine."

"I plan on creating a time-capsule display in our lobby." Miss Jenn revealed. "If they can have forty sports-ball trophies, we deserve a little movie museum. Okay, people, enough dazzle. Fetch your scripts, please."

Nini walked closer to Miss Jenn. "Is that really her phone?"

Miss Jenn carefully handed it over to her, "Hold it to your ear like a seashell. You'll hear echoes of V-Hudge crushing the B-flat on When There Was Me and You. Or you can let me disinfect it first."

"Yeah," Nini whispered and handed it back.

Rosie looked past Nini and saw E.J. mouth 'thank you' to Ashlyn, who just stared at him, confused.

"What was that about?" Rosie asked Ashlyn.

"I have no idea," Ashlyn admitted.

Weird...