The next day Ellie waits in the hallway with everyone else that was in the play when she notices Nini and EJ walking down the stairs and Ellie knew that Nini was upset. For one it was obvious, and two she got a call last night from Nini which she was surprised that Nini was even calling her in the first place.

Nini said that she just needed someone to vent to and she felt like she could trust Ellie since Ellie told her about the phone thing. During the phone call Nini told her that she found out that EJ deleted a voicemail from her phone without telling her and told her that Ricky threw a basketball at EJ during practice the other day. She wasn't for sure if she believed her on the last part since it didn't seem like a thing Ricky would do, but she still listened and tried her best to comfort Nini.

" Fine, you wanna know where I was at lunch?" Nini asks EJ. " I was in the library bribing some hacker to crack into my phone to recover a message you deleted when you stole it."

EJ stares at her with confusion. " Wait, why do you think that I-"

" Oh, please." Nini interrupts him. " Gina's not the wonderstudy I need to worry about, is she?"

" This is awkward." Trevor whispers to Ellie and Avalon and they both nod in agreement. Everyone that was in the play including them, had to stand out in the hallway waiting to go in while Nini and EJ had this fight.

It seemed like EJ finally realized other people were in the hallway as he asked, " Can we talk about this-"

" Don't." Nini pushes him away.

" Nini, I was spiraling, okay?" EJ sighs. " I told you I loved you and you couldn't say it back. You said it to Ricky and now I see the way he looks at you and I know you guys have more history..."

Ellie frowns as she hears this. She honestly thought that Ricky might like her. Why did she think that Ricky could like someone like her? She should've known that Ricky was still in love with his ex. It was quite obvious that he was and she felt stupid for not realizing it.

" Yeah, Ricky would never steal my phone." Nini tells him.

EJ shakes his head. " No, I know, he just leaves sad face messages on it."

" Don't make this about Ricky!" Nini raises her voice.

" That is what this is about." EJ said. " I'm just trying to hold onto what we had over the summer."

" Yeah," Nini nods. " I was too. But you know what? Summer's over."

Awkward silence fills the air as EJ stares at her with shock.

Avalon leans over to Ellie and Trevor. " Did she just break up with him or did I mix things up?" she whispered.

" I think they did. I'm not sure." Trevor mumbled.

" All of this is sort of crazy." Ellie whispered.

Nini turns to look at everyone. " Hey, um, is the door locked or something? Why can't we get in?"

" Oh." Ashlyn looks up from her phone. " Natalie Bagley's missing her emotional support hamster. He got loose. Carlos and Gina are helping her find her. Him. It."

Ellie jumps, startled by the high pitched screamed and some of the others gasps when they hear it.

Ashlyn points at the door. " I think they found it."

Nini's and EJ's fight continue until the door suddenly opens.

" I need a moment." Natalie says and walks down the hallway.

" Is he dead?" Ashlyn asks.

Carlos shakes his head. " No. Now she thinks he's in her gym locker."

" Then why was there screaming?" Ellie asks as she looks over at Carlos.

" That was me." he answers. " She stepped on my toe."

Carlos turns to face everyone. " We're ready to begin, people."

Everyone starts to head into the room and he pulls Ellie to the side. " Miss Jenn just talked to Ricky he's running late."

Ellie frowned. " Okay. Now what?"

" Now, his understudy will take over." Carlos turns to EJ who isn't looking that happy. EJ glanced over at Ellie who offered him a small smile.

" We're blocking the Troy, Gabriella duet." Carlos tells them.

' well, this shouldn't be awkward.... right? wrong. I know it will be awkward because it's been awkward ever since Nini and EJ walked down the steps. Don't get me wrong, EJ can be a nice guy sometimes, but maybe for the wrong intentions. I just hope we can get something done today and I hope ricky is okay. I'm worried about him, alright? can I not be worried about him? he's my friend. I'm pretty sure that's all will ever be..'

" Can we get you two to move a little closer to each other?" Miss Jenn asks.

Ellie glances over at EJ who sighs and scoots closer to her as she does the same until they're just a few inches away from each other. She hated how awkward everything was.

" Come on, guys, we're blocking this as a love story, not a SARS epidemic." Miss Jenn says.

" I think that chair was over there." Carlos' points.

" Um, I can move it over now if you want." Ellie offers.

" There's no need for you to do that." Miss Jenn tells her. She looks at Big Red. " Strike the chair, please."

" With what?" he asks her.

" Take it away. Remove it." Miss Jenn chuckles.

Big Red sighs as he gets up and walks over, taking the chair away as Miss Jenn continues to speak. " Troy, once the intro begins, cross downstage and plant yourself at the piano."

Big Red moves the chair to the other side of the room." Which would be further downstage, okay?" Miss Jenn tells him and he nods as he walks over to the piano.

Big Red goes to push the piano in a direction, but Miss Jenn stops him. " No, dear, that would be upstage." Big Red sighs and does it again the right way.

" Okay. Gabriella, you slowly approach the piano and rest an arm on it, naturally." Miss Jenn looks at Big Red. " Can we make sure her bookbag is off stage right?"

Big Red nods. " Sure. Um," he looks at Seb who was sat at the piano. " which way is that?" he asks and Seb points at where it was with a smile.

" Okey-dokey, take it from, ' Wow! Now, that's really nice.'" Miss Jenn tells Ellie and EJ.

" Wow," EJ says. " now, that's really nice."

Ellie hums in response as Miss Jenn gestures to Seb and he starts playing the piano. EJ walks over to one side of the piano and lays both hands on the piano as he sings. " It's hard to believe that I couldn't see you were always there besides me."

Ellie then walks over to the other side of the piano and leans one arm as naturally as she could on the piano. " Thought I was alone with no one to hold, but you were always there besides me."

Together they sing the next part. " This feelings like no other. I want you to know. I've never had someone that knows me like you do the way you do."

Ellie had to admit they both sounded good together and that EJ was a lot better at singing than she thought he was. She looks over at him and he offers her an awkward smile which makes her giggle. Even though they might have sounded good together, and they were maybe getting along, everything just felt awkward in the room

" I've never had someone as good for me as you no one like you. So lonely before I finally found what I've been looking for."

EJ now moved to the side of the piano Ellie was by, and while she was standing he was leaning on the piano as they continued to sing.

" Okay, freeze." Miss Jenn calls out and Seb stops playing the piano. " Guys, this is a love song. This was just awkward. It's not that hard to sing a love song."

" Sorry I'm late."

Everyone looks over to see Ricky running in and he drops his backpack on the floor. " My mom, she caught an earlier flight. Where are we?"

" Scene seven." Carlos replies.

" Right." Ricky said and then sighs, realizing he doesn't have his script. " I don't have it. Could I borrow.."

Avalon went to pick hers up. " You could borrow mine."

" You need your script, Ricky." Miss Jenn tells him. " And a pencil. It's a blocking reserhal."

" You can share mine." Ashlyn offered.

" No, actually he can't." Miss Jenn then faces everyone. " When you come to reserhal, people, you come prepared."

Natalie then runs in a few seconds later and talks about how she didn't find her hamster, only teeth marks in her cherry lip balm that was in her gym locker.

" Natalie, we feel your pain," Miss Jenn sent her a smile. " but I was just explaining what a constructive reserhal requires."

Ellie glances over at Ricky and she realizes how sad he looked which made her heartbreak. Whatever was going on with him it must be something bad and she wished she knew what it was so she could help him or at least comfort him.

" Focus." Miss Jenn continues to speak. " And honestly, another day like this and I am showing up with my emotional support coyote."

" Miss Jenn," Ricky speaks up. " I know the scene."

" Would you wait for me in my office, please?" Miss Jenn asks.

Ricky sighs and then picks up his backpack before heading out of the room and Ellie frowns.

" Wait, are we done?" Ashlyn asked.

" We are, Ms. Darbus." Miss Jenn said to her. She then turns to face everyone. " Take a note." she points at herself. " This is what a frustrated drama teacher looks like."

" Go. Scoot. Come back when you're ready to be punctual, park your distractions at the door, and take the work in here seriously." Miss Jenn tells everyone.

****

" Hey," Andrew says as Ellie closes the door. " You're home early."

Ellie nods. " Yeah, short practice."

Andrew raises an eyebrow. " Is everything okay? You seem off."

Ellie sighs and walks over to where he was sitting in the living room. " So today, Nini and EJ had this fight, Ricky was late to practice so EJ had to fill in as Troy."

Andrew cringes. " Oh, how did that go?"

Ellie groans. " It was so awkward. I don't even know why. But whenever we were singing I think we started to get along maybe? I just don't know."

Andrew chuckles. " Well, I'm sure you'll get along eventually. EJ's not that bad of a person."

Ellie nods. " Yeah, I know. A lot of things are just going on. I do get along with his cousin."

" That's a good thing." Andrew says. " So maybe that means you'll eventually be friends with him."

After the two ate dinner, their mom eventually came home after closing the diner and the three of them talked for awhile before she went up to her room. She walked over to her desk and picked up the Harry Potter book and as she laid on her bed she started reading.

Hours past and she heard her phone ring. She picked it up seeing it was Ricky. " Hey, Ricky, what's up?"

" Hey, um," Ricky says and she was immeidatley worried when she noticed how it sounded like he had been crying. " can I stay the night at your place?"

" Um, yeah, yes. I'm sure you can. What happened?" Ellie asks in a soft tone.

" Something I don't want to talk over the phone." Ricky said, his voice cracking at the end.

Ellie then told him where her house was and asked if he needed to be picked up, but he said, " No, I'll be fine. I'm on my way now. Thank you, Ellie."

" It's not a problem, Ricky. Anytime." Ellie tells him before hanging up and putting the book on her nightstand. She heads downstairs and walks into the living room.

" Hey, mom, can Ricky stay the night?" she asks.

Clara raises a brow. " What for?"

" I'm not for sure." Ellie admits. " He just called me and he sounded so heartbroken. I think something is going on with his family."

Clara frowns and then stands up. " Of course he can stay here. Does he need to be picked up or?"

Ellie shakes her head. " No, he's on his way here."

Clara nods and then heads up the stairs. " Okay, I'll go get the guest bedroom ready for him."

It wasn't until minutes later was there a knock at the door. She opens the door to reveal Ricky who she honestly thought looked like a sad puppy at the moment which just made her heart break.

" Hi." Ricky greets, but it sounded sad and she saw the redness of his eyes and knew he had been crying.

She sent him a small smile. " Hi, come on in." she said and stepped to the side, letting him in and she closed the door after him.

" Hi, you must be Ricky." Clara says as she walks down the steps.

Ricky nods and sent her an apologetic smile. " Yeah, and I'm sorry about coming here out of nowhere...I just..."

Clara shakes her head. " No worries, Ricky. You're always welcomed here."

Ricky smiled. " Thank you Ms. Hutcheson."

" Just call me Clara." Clara tells him and smiles. " The guest bedroom is up stairs. It's nice to meet you Ricky."

Ricky nods and did his best to do a smile. " You too."

" I also laid some of Andrew's old clothes on the bed that you can wear, Ricky." Clara said and Ricky looked at her with surprise. " You....you didn't have to do that."

Clara shook her head. " No, it's totally fine." she pats him on the shoulder with a smile n her face and then walks to the stairs. " Well, I'll just be in my room if either if you need me."

Clara leaves and now it was just the two of them. " So, uh," Ellie looks over at him. " I'll show you to the guest bedroom."

Ellie shows him the guest bedroom and smiles. " Just make yourself at home. If you need anything, like if you wanna talk or whatever, I'm right across the hall."

Ricky purses his lips together and nods. " Thanks."

Ellie leaves and Ricky changes into Andrew's old pajama's and debated if he should talk to Ellie about what was going on. After having an argument with himself he walked across the hall and knocked on the door. A few moments later Ellie opens the door.

" Hi," Ricky takes a shaky breath and forces a smile. " can we talk?"

Ellie nods and steps to the side, letting him in her room. They sit on her bed and she tilts her head to the side. " So, what's up?"

" My parents are splitting up." Ricky finally admits to her.

Ellie frowns. " I'm so sorry, Ricky. No one should have to go through that."

" I'm just...I'm just really scared." he tells her as he stares forward. Ellie's heart breaks each second, seeing the boy she loves so sad. " Well," she swallows nervously. " I'm sure things will get better eventually. I mean, things got better for my mom."

Ricky looks over at her with confusion. " What happened?"

" My dad died in a car wreck," she sighs, glancing at the painting set that was in the corner of the room her dad gave her. " it hasn't really been the same since his death, and me and Andy never thought our mom was going to date again, but then she met this guy and I think things are going to be okay again."

She looks over at him and smiled softly at him. " I know things will work out for you. It might not be now or any time soon, but I have a feeling it will happen sometime."

Ricky sighs. " I hope you're right." he shakes his head. " I don't know why, but it's not hard to talk to you about this stuff when it is with other people..."

" You can always talk to me about anything, Ricky." Ellie tells him

He nods. " Yeah, yeah, I know."

They lock eyes with each other and stare at each other for a few moments, part of her wanting to lean in, but she knew that it wasn't the best time and he probably didn't even feel the same way.

Ricky coughs awkwardly and stands up. " I'm going to head to bed."

" Yeah," Ellie runs a hand through her blonde colored hair as she stands up. " okay."

Her eyes grow wide when he suddenly hugs her. He hugged her as if when he pulls away she wouldn't be there. She blushes, but doesn't hesitate to wrap her arms around him and hug him back.

They stay like that for a few moments before he pulled away. " Good night." he says and sent her a small smile before he left the room.

" Hey, um, Ricky." she calls out to him. She walks to her door, seeing that he was standing at the guest bedroom door and he turned around. " Yeah?"

" So, Homecoming is coming up soon..." she nervously bites her lower lip, not believing that she was about to ask him. " and I didn't know if you were going with anyone yet-"

" You want to go to Homecoming with me?" Ricky interrupts her with wide eyes.

Ellie nods. " Yeah, yes." she says, and after a moment of silence from Ricky she starts to regret her decision on asking. " Only as friends! Or we don't have to and we can just forget this ever happened-"

" I would love to go with you." Ricky interrupts her, smiling this time.

Ellie stares at him with wide eyes. " You, you would?" she shakes her head and smiles. " Oh, great. Good."

He nods and smiles at her. " Yeah. Um, good night." he said and then closed the door to the guest bedroom.

Ellie went back in her room and closed the door and then leaned against it. " I can't believe I just did that."

A/N okay I love ricky & ellie so much. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! I honestly cried whenever I watched this episode omg. Also don't forget to check out some of my other books!