As the orchestra played the beginning music, the curtain rose, revealing Oliver dressed as Prince Adam standing center stage with his back facing the crowd and he was standing in front of the castle set. The audience clapped when the curtain rose and Oliver turned around to face the audience just as the narrator started speaking. 

"Once upon a time, in a faraway land, a young prince lived in a shining castle." Somehow Miss Jenn convinced Mr. Mazzara to be the narrator for the play. Oliver was surprised when he found out Mr. Mazzara was going to be the narrator, he thought Mr. Mazzara would never do anything like that, but it seemed like Mr. Mazzara had a soft spot for Miss Jenn. "Although he had everything his heart desired, the prince was spoiled, selfish, and unkind. But then, one winter's night, an old beggar woman came to the castle, and offered him a single rose in exchange for shelter from the bitter cold."

One of the dancers named Steph had got her first major role this year as the enchantress. She steps out onto stage, holding a big prop rose and had on a witch's nose prop. She walked over to Oliver, offering the prop rose to him and waving her other hand in front of it dramatically. 

Oliver pretends to look shield himself, outstretching an arm in front of him as he looks away with a disgusted expression on his face. "Repulsed by her haggard appearance," Oliver pretends to laugh as he looks back at Steph. "The prince sneered at the gift," Then Oliver points off to backstage. "And turned the old woman away!"

"But she warned him not to be deceived by appearances," Steph walks around him, pretending to warn him. But Oliver gestures for her to leave again. "For beauty is found within. And when he dismissed her again, the old woman's ugliness melted away to reveal a beautiful enchantress."

Steph takes off the witch's prop nose and pulls down the hood of the gown she wore, twirling around as she did so. Oliver kneels down, acting as if he's begging her to forgive him. "If he could learn to love another and earn her love in return by the time the last petal fell," Steph hands Oliver the prop rose. "Then the spell would be broken. If not, he would be doomed to remain a beast for all time."

As Oliver stared at the rose, Steph backed away and twirls the end of her dress around when fog appears around her. Oliver stood and walked behind her to hide as he transformed into the beast and while Steph had twirled the long ends of her dress around. Eventually Oliver stood back up, but now he had the Beast makeup on instead of looking like Prince Adam. Oliver glanced at the rose he still held and his paw with shock as the audience cheered.

****

Oliver was now back in the bomb shelter with the rest of the cast who wasn't in the current scene which was the 'Gaston' song. It seemed like the audience was loving the play so far which made him feel less nervous and worried. "Wildcats!" Miss Jenn gathers everyone around. "This is going fine. I am mostly proud. And I heard Big Red has not thrown up in over twenty minutes."

Oliver raises his eyebrows and tilts his head to the side. He knew that wasn't true, but he decided to keep his mouth shut since he didn't want Miss Jenn to worry about something else. "Every great performance needs an X factor. Something special that puts it over the top. A little birdie has just told me where our Menkies judge is sitting, and I'm thinking that with just a few minor adjustments, we can make this gentleman feel every bit as welcome as the intruder that my mother clubbed over the head when I was a girl."

A confused look forms on Oliver's face. "Wait, what?"

"I thought she just hog-tied him." Seb spoke, looking at Miss Jenn with confusion. Oliver pointed at him in a sign of agreement. He thought the same thing. He didn't remember Miss Jenn saying anything about her mother clubbing the intruder over the head.

Miss Jenn smiles and nods. "She just hog-tied him. When the next song begins, I have directed Benjamin Mazzara and his lighting-ists..."

"They're called grips." Natalie corrected.

"To spotlight our judge." Miss Jenn continues. "And then I need you all to make him feel especially and uniquely welcome." Confused whispering fills the room. "Any questions?"

Gina raises a feather duster she held with a confused look on her face. "Many questions."

"Should we just do what we rehearsed?" Seb asks. "Doesn't that feel a little desperate?"

"It feels that way for a reason, Sebastian. Besides, Carlos is a seasoned professional who can roll with anything, right?" Miss Jenn smiled nervously at Carlos, who was silent like he has been for the whole night besides being on stage. Oliver knew he must be freaking out after seeing Antoine was literally on fire as Lumiere in North High's showing of 'Beauty and the Beast'. He had to admit he felt the same way after seeing Howie's showstopping performance as the Beast. 

After Carlos glanced at him, Seb looks at Miss Jenn with a sheepish expression. "He says, 'help!'"

****

Act One's finale was a hit. The room erupted into cheers and applause after 'Be Our Guest'. There was now a fifteen-minute intermission before the second act began and Oliver was getting anxious to get this play over with. He didn't know what made him more nervous, waiting for his time to go out on stage or actually being on stage and preforming. 

Oliver had taken off the Beast mask so he could get a break from it. Having that mask on was not something he enjoyed. At the moment, he wanted to tell Gina what a great job she did during the performance and thankfully he managed to catch her out in the hallway. "G!"

Gina smiles brightly at him. "Hey, Ollie!"

"Okay, but you were absolutely amazing." Oliver compliments. He smiles from ear to ear. "I mean, you dusted the stage during 'Be Our Guest'." 

Gina's smile turns to a shy one and she feels her face heat up, butterflies fluttering around in her stomach. She waves a dismissive hand. "Stop it!" She grins at him. "Say that again."

Oliver laughs. "You were absolutely amazing." He smiles brightly at her. "And I hope all that singing helped you work up an appetite-" He stops himself in the middle of his sentence when he noticed the look on her face as she looked at her phone. "G, what's wrong?"

"Sorry. Um..." Gina turns off her phone, glancing at him with a sad expression. "It's official. My mom's not coming again." 

Oliver frowns. He knew how much she was hoping for her mom to come to the show. "Oh, G. I'm so sorry."

Gina shakes her head, sending him a reassuring smile that it was alright. "But she said she sent me a surprise instead." Gina said with a small smile on her face. 

Oliver tilts his head to the side, glancing at her curiously with a small smile on his face. "Let me guess, more chocolate?" Gina chuckled lightly at his comment.

"I think she meant me." 

Gina furrows her eyebrows upon hearing that voice and turns around, surprised to see her older brother, Jamie, standing by the entrance. "Jamie?"

Oliver furrowed his eyebrows, staring at the two with confusion. He could feel the nerves coming back and his anxiety rising as one thought ran through his mind. Who's Jamie? He only hoped that Jamie was related to Gina because otherwise he was in trouble.

****

Oliver was now in the dressing room, hanging out with his two best friends. Ricky had taken off the clock part of the costume off to get a break from it during intermission and he sat on the floor next to Oliver while Big Red laid on the floor upside down with his legs resting on a chair. 

"Don't you think it's weird that The Beast only has until he's twenty-one to true love?" Ricky questions. "First of all, in the movie he looks at least thirty."

Oliver nods in agreement. "Yeah, that's true. The animators should have done a better job with making Adam look like a young adult and not a guy in his thirties."

Big Red sighs. "Well, you know what they say, 'Beast don't crease'."

Oliver and Ricky exchange a look. "I don't think anyone says that." Oliver commented as he and Ricky looked back at Big Red.

Big Red shrugs. "Plus, I hear the fur adds like ten years."

"It does feel like I've aged ten years since the day I got this part." Oliver admitted, chuckling along with his friends.

"Yeah. But that day was the best." Big Red smiles. "I'll never forget the look on Ashlyn's face when she got the lead over that mean girl with the eyes."

"Yeah, well," Oliver shrugs, biting his lower lip. "I don't know if she's as mean as we thought." He sounded confused because he didn't know what exactly he thought about Lily.

Big Red and Ricky glance at him with surprise. "I don't know, man. Ash has some pretty strong feelings about her." Big Red speaks. He groans, moving to sit up. "I just hope she feels better by the end of the night."

Oliver and Ricky look at Big Red with concern. Ricky outstretches a hand towards Big Red. "Dude, maybe you're pushing yourself a little too hard with this side hustle project in the south hallway?"

"No, it's fine." Big Red smiles reassuringly. "I'm almost done. I just need constant electrolytes and a whole new stomach."

"Yeah, that's what almost done sounds like." Oliver sarcastically commented. 

"So," Ricky speaks after a moment of comfortable silence fell between the three boys. He looks at Oliver with a teasing smile and playfully nudges him. "Ollie, how are you and Gina?"

Oliver blushes slightly, rolling his eyes. He smiles. "We're doing really good." He shakes his head and shrugs. "But when I talked to her earlier, this guy named Jamie showed up and it seemed like he and Gina knew each other." 

Big Red and Ricky exchange a confused look. "Who's Jamie?" Big Red asked, looking back at Oliver with Ricky.

"No idea." Oliver replies, biting his lower lip while bringing his now nervous gaze to the floor. "And I'm worried he might not be related to Gina and that he and Gina might be something more."

"I'm sure he's just related to her and decided to come see her in the play." Rick reassures him. "Gina wouldn't cheat on you."

"Yeah." Oliver nods. He knew that Gina wouldn't cheat on him, Gina wasn't that type of person, well at least not anymore, but he had to admit he just felt better hearing someone say that out loud. "You're right."

"Members of the company, this is your ten-minute call to Act Two." Natalie announces. "Please, everyone remain in the same role you started in."

Oliver chuckles, playfully nudging Ricky. "I think she's talking about you, Rick."

Ricky rolls his eyes and smiles slightly, sarcastically speaking, "Ha ha. Very funny."

****

Oliver had the Beast mask back on now because now it was time for the 'Something There' song. The stage was set up for this scene, Oliver and Ashlyn dressed as Beast and Belle sat at the table, pretending to drink soup out of the bowl like how it happened in the movie. Natalie used a rope to pull back the napkin in front of Ashlyn onto the floor with a fishing line, making it seem like it was caught by the wind. Oliver picked it up and handed it to her as he sat back down. Ashlyn sent him a smile, taking the napkin from him and he pretended to look shock at the fact he was so casual with touching his paw.

"There's something sweet and almost kind." Ashlyn sings, laying the napkin on the table as she faces the crowd. "But he was mean and he was coarse and unrefined. And now he's dear, and so unsure." She looks at Oliver curiously. "I wonder why I didn't see him there before."

Oliver stands up, walking to the other side while Ashlyn walks to the other side of the stage. "She glanced this way, I thought I saw." So the audience can see, he holds up his paw and tilts his head. "And when we touched she didn't shudder at my paw. No, it can't be, I'll just ignore. But then she's never looked at me that way before." Oliver looked out at the crowd, noticing that Lily was smiling at him. He just shook his head and quickly looked away from her. That was odd, he thought. Why has Lily been so nice to me lately?

"New, and a bit alarming." As Ashlyn sings, Oliver goes grab a prop flower. "Who'd have ever thought that this could be?" Oliver and Ashlyn sit down at the table beside each other and Oliver hands her the prop flower. "True, that he's no Prince Charming." When fake snow begins to fall, Oliver stands up, taking the cloak he wore off and wraps the cloak he wore around Ashlyn. "But there's something in him that I simple didn't see."

Carlos, Gina, Kourtney, Ricky, and Seb walk onto the makeshift balcony, acting as if they had walked outside from being inside the castle to watch Ashlyn and Oliver. Ashlyn and Oliver were now standing in front of each other with smiles on their faces. 

"Well, who'd have thought?" Carlos sung as Lumiere.

"Well, bless my soul." Kourtney chimed in.

"Well, who'd have known?" Ricky asked.

Kourtney nods. "Well, who indeed?"

"And who'd have guessed they'd come together on their own?" Carlos sings as Ashlyn and Oliver pretend to chase each other around the fake fountain. Kourtney sings first, and then Carlos and Ricky joins her. "It's so peculiar, wait and see, a few days more there may be something there that wasn't there before..."

Oliver and Ashlyn were now walking towards backstage with linked arms and Oliver was carrying a basket. "Perhaps there's something there that wasn't there before." Ricky sang.

"There may be something there that wasn't there before." Kourtney stated.

"What, mama?" Seb asks as Chip. "What's there?"

Just like Act One finale, the auditorium erupted into cheers and applause. 

****

Oliver was heading to the dressing room, mumbling the next lines he had to himself to help him remember. The play was almost over and he was so ready for it to be done. Of course, he loved every minute of it, but thanks to having anxiety he also dreaded every minute of it. 

"Hey," Oliver stops in his tracks when he heard that voice from earlier when he was with Gina in the hallway. He turns around to see it was that Jamie guy. "You're, uh...You're Oliver, right?" 

"Yeah." Oliver hesitantly replied.

"We didn't properly meet before." Jamie said. 

Oliver's eyes widen in realization. "Wait a second." A shocked expression forms on his face and he chuckles in disbelief. "Wow, okay. Sorry, now I'm a little starstruck and I feel a little stupid for just now realizing who you are."

"Dude, no, it's..." Jamie chuckles, smiling as he waves a dismissive hand. "I'm just the man behind the music, you know, no big deal."

"No, it's not just that. I meant because you're Gina's brother." Oliver explained with a smile on his face. He had just then remembered Gina talking about having an older brother named Jamie who was a music producer and that she didn't get to see him much.

"Oh." Jamie smiles. "Thanks." He shakes his head. "Man, my mom was right about you." 

Oliver tilts his head to the side, raising his eyebrows at Jamie. "What do you mean?"

"That you're very charming." Jamie responds. He chuckles lightly. "She thinks you walk on air."

"Oh." Oliver is taken aback by that comment. Not many people called him charming. He blinks, looking at him with surprise, but then smiles. "Um, wow."

"Look," Jamie smiles at him. "We're all just really glad that Gigi has a big-brother figure in her life." And that's when Oliver felt like his heart was beginning to break into little pieces. He stares at him with shock. "Even if it's not me. Maybe especially if it's not me." 

Oliver could feel a lump begin to form in his throat as he stares at the floor, his heartbeat beginning to increase. Was Gina just leading him on this whole time and not meaning anything? Did she really think of him as a brother figure? "She really thinks of me that way?" He asked, hating the way his voice cracked at the end and how his eyes started to get teary.

"I never really nailed the whole sibling thing." Jamie continues. "I suppose sometimes the family that you choose is better the one that you get. That makes sense?"

"Yeah." Oliver glances at him with a forced smile. "I understand...I think."

Jamie smiles and looks at his phone when it buzzed. "Oh, yeah, I gotta go." He looks back at Oliver with a smile. "It was great to meet you, bro."

"Yeah. You too." Oliver nodded.

Before Jamie turns to walk away, he points back at Oliver with a smile on his face. "Uh, great show, by the way."

When Jamie walked away, Oliver let the fake smile fall and his shoulders drop in defeat. He needed to talk to Gina and preferably soon otherwise he was going to worry himself even more with how he overthinks things. 

****

It seems like the universe is not on Oliver's side anymore tonight because now his harness is missing and the drama club members are hectic as they look for it. "I-It's like a normal harness." Oliver said worriedly, trying to describe it to the dancers by him that were helping him look. He would've describe it better, but he was too overwhelmed to remember what the harness looked like. His heartbeat was beating so fast and he felt like he was going to either pass out or throw up. "Like, it's like, I don't know," He gestures how big the harness was with his arms. "This big."

"You guys, the orchestra hasn't vamped this much since 'Bop To The Top'." Carlos spoke.

"I know it's here." Natalie speaks in an insisting tone. "I preset it."

Miss Jenn rushes into the backstage area. "What's wrong?"

"M-My harness, it's-it's missing." Oliver stuttered out a reply, frantically looking through the boxes for the harness as he felt like his heartbeat was beating out of his chest. His nerves and anxiety was skyrocketing. The harness just had to be missing. The performance was going so well and now the harness was gone.

"The new one for the transformation." Ashlyn added.

"What?" Miss Jenn's eyes widen and she panics. "No, no, this can't be happening."

"It was here." Natalie pointed at the box in front of her.

"Maybe there's, like, something else I can use." Oliver suggested.

"Oh, for heaven's sake, can't you just jump off something high?" Miss Jenn snapped.

Backstage went quiet as everyone stopped what they're doing, staring at Miss Jenn with complete shock and disbelief and some students even gasped. Oliver looked at Miss Jenn with disbelief and then a look of hurt formed on his face, his shoulders dropping in defeat. He had to admit he was hurt by what she said, but he knew she didn't mean it. Well...He hoped she didn't mean it.

"Nope. Forget I said that. I will be not here." Miss Jenn then ran out of the room and the chaotic search for the harness continued.

"I knew something would go wrong." Oliver bites his lower lip and he began to rant. "I feel like I should've done something to help with the harness. Like, I-I don't know, be sure to know where it is at all times or something."

"Ollie," Ricky said, noticing his best friend was ranting which was something he often did before he had a panic attack. He also had noticed his panic state a few moments ago which was a clear sign of a upcoming panic attack. He puts a hand on his shoulder, causing the brunette-haired boy to look at him with his worried eyes. Ricky smiles reassuringly at him. "Calm down and take a deep breath. I'm sure that everything will turn out to be fine."  Oliver nodded, knowing that Ricky was right. He took a deep breath and he did that a few more times before he sighed with relief, finally feeling himself somewhat calming down. He smiled thankfully at Ricky and Ricky nodded back at him before the two boys continued searching for the harness like everyone else was doing.

"Hey, hey, you guys!" Nini calls out, trying to get everyone's attention. "All of you! Stop it." Everyone stops moving and talking, looking at her. Nini looks at Oliver. "Oliver, let's just spin you around without the harness, and you can toss the mask into the wings." 

Oliver grimaces. "But Nini, I-I never once got that right." 

"Well, let's just hope we'll get lucky tonight and a miracle will happen." Nini smiled encouragingly at him.

"I can spin the table." EJ offered.

"I can throw snow." Carlos suggested.

"And I'll catch your mask." Nini told Oliver and Oliver nodded.

"Okay." Natalie exhales sharply. "Our judge is literally doing sudoku." She walks over to Oliver, grabbing his arm and pulls him towards the stage. "I'm pushing you on stage. Aim for my face."

A/N ah only one more chapter left!! cant believe im almost done with this book! i missed having oliver, ricky & big red moments so i added one here cause they're besties lol. anyway, literally so excited for season 3