It was the day of practice where they would be practicing the transformation scene where the Beast turned back into Prince Adam with the help of Belle. Oliver wore the green jacket that was part of his Beast costume, and he was conversing with EJ and Ricky about this scene as EJ held the Beast mask. Oliver had to admit he was nervous for this scene. It was one of the most important scenes out of the whole play and he hoped he didn't mess it up.

"Alright, let's get started!" Carlos shouts, but no one seemed to listen to him. Everyone continued their conversation, acting as if they didn't even hear him. He furrows his eyebrows and glances at everyone. "Hello? Let's get started!" The second time he shouted that got everyone's attention and everyone quiet down as he moved to stand beside Miss Jenn.

"Okay, Wildcats." Miss Jenn claps once, smiling at the group of teens. "Let's shake spring break out of our systems and try the Beast transformation one last time. And remember, this is the triumph of the show, the moment the audience has been waiting for." She smiles nervously and chuckles. "This has to work."

Oliver raises his eyebrows and chuckles. He glances at Ashlyn, who stood beside him, and smiles a bit at her. "Talk about no pressure." 

Ashlyn chuckles nervously and nods in agreement. "Right?"

"Oliver, just a reminder." Oliver turns his attention back to Miss Jenn when she speaks to him. "Don't rush anything. We will speed things up when you're more confident."

Yeah, if that was supposed to calm him down or something it didn't. It only made his nerves and anxiety grow. Oliver awkwardly smiles and salutes. "Yes, ma'am." He mentally scolded himself for saluting and being so awkwardly as he and Ashlyn got in place to do the scene.

EJ helped put the Beast mask on Oliver after Oliver had got the beard he had to wear on while everyone went off to the side of the stage to get out of the way. Miss Jenn and Carlos sat at a music sheet stand they used as a table in front of everyone. EJ went off to the side of the stage when he was done helping Oliver and Ashlyn kneeled on the ground. Once Oliver had the Beast mask on he laid on his back in front of Ashlyn with the upper half of his body laying on Ashlyn's lap. He had one arm on his chest and his other arm on the ground while Ashlyn had one arm wrapped around his shoulders and one holding onto the arm on his chest.

He takes a deep breath and closed his eyes before he got into character. "Okay, go ahead." He heard Miss Jenn whisper to him and Ashlyn. 

Oliver opens his eyes and looks up at Ashlyn, pretending to act like he was dying and weakly says, "You came back."

"If only I'd come sooner." Ashlyn pretended to sound like she was crying, pulling him closer like the way Belle pulled the Beast closer. Oliver had to admit she was a really good actress. She made him believe she was actually crying.

Oliver puts a hand on her arm. "Maybe it's better this way..."

"Don't talk like that." Ashlyn shakes her head. "Everything will be fine."

"No." Oliver protested.

"Shhh," Ashlyn quietly scolds him. "We're together now. You'll see."

Oliver reaches a hand up to cup her face and he speaks slowly, acting as if it was hard for him to breath. "I'm just glad that I was able to see your face one last..." He lowered his arm and laid his head back. He closed his eyes as he pretended to choke.

Miss Jenn gestures for Seb to start playing 'Home' on the piano. Oliver laid still, with his eyes still closed while Ashlyn sings. "We are home. We are where we shall be forever." Ashlyn looks down at Oliver, holding the side of his face. "Trust in me...For you know I won't run away."

"Belle..." Oliver croaks out, opening his eyes as he slowly reached an arm to her. "I..."

Ashlyn looks at him with a hopeful expression, holding onto his outstretched hand. "Yes?"

Oliver then lowered his hand and closed his eyes, rolling over to lay on his stomach and he laid completely still to pretend as if he died. "No, no, please don't leave me. Please." Ashlyn pleads, shaking her head. She had teary eyes as she leans on his back with her hands on his shoulders. She then shakily says, "I love you."

Everyone watched the two preform the scene with a smile and some even had tears in their eyes while watching this emotional scene play out in front of them. Oliver then sneakily reached back to unhook the Velcro on the Beast mask to take it off and he attempted to take it off. Key word is attempted. The Beast mask wouldn't move and that was when he realized it was stuck. He could feel the anxiety begin to build up as he kept trying to get it off, not caring that everyone was watching.

Everyone watched, all either looking confused or had amused expressions on their faces. Ashlyn had even covered the upper half of his body with the blue cloak she wore so he was somewhat hidden.

"You guys, it's-it's stuck!" Oliver finally said in a slightly panicked voice.

"Rip the Velcro!" Kourtney shouted.

Oliver finally managed to get it unstuck and threw it off to the side along with the beard that went with it, letting out a sigh of relief as he did so. Ashlyn removed the cloak off him, sending him a concerned look since she had noticed he was anxious earlier. He sent her a reassuring smile to let her know he was okay, and he flinched, looking off to the side when a loud thud was heard.

Natalie had caught the Beast mask plus the beard that went with it that Oliver threw in her direction and stumbled into the tree props which caused them to fall like dominos. Everyone had a wide-eyed expression as they watched the props fell. Oliver even grabbed Ashlyn's arm, pulling her out of the way when the last one fell near her. They both breathed heavily, and she looked at him with a thankful smile.

"Cut!" Miss Jenn yelled.

Oliver lets go of Ashlyn's arm, now sitting on the ground since he was kneeling when he threw the Beast mask. He glances at Natalie with a sheepish expression. "Sorry, Natalie. I didn't mean to throw it at you."

"It's okay." Natalie calls out. "It was just my face."

Oliver glances at Ashlyn with an awkward smile. "I should probably practice that throw."

Ashlyn nods, an amused expression was on her face as she looks back at him. "Probably."

"The throw was great, Oliver." Miss Jenn tells him. She stands up and Oliver looks at her with raised eyebrows, noticing she had a nervous expression on her face. "The mask is great. This is working." She fakes a smile. "I will be in my office."  

After she walks off, a sheepish expression was on Oliver's face as he points in the direction Miss Jenn went. "I don't care what you guys say," He glances around at everyone. "Something is wrong with Miss Jenn." He smiled a bit when everyone chuckled at his comment, and he looked back in the direction Miss Jenn had gone. In all honesty, he was worried about her and he's sure the others are too.

****

Carlos stands up and announces, "Guys, we're on a long five until Miss Jenn returns." Everyone is quiet as he ran off stage.

Oliver sighs, standing up before he went over to where his backpack was at. "Hey, Ollie." He turns around, smiling upon seeing the red-haired girl walking over to him. "You okay?" 

Oliver nods, sending her a smile that didn't meet his eyes. "Yeah, I'm good." He takes off the  That transformation part is just kind of tricky."

Ashlyn nods in understanding. "Yeah, I get it. But really, are you sure you're okay?" She looks at him with concern, tilting her head to the side. "You just seemed like you were freaking out for a bit there."

Oliver bites his lower lip, staring at the floor as he grows quiet. The reason why he kind of freaked out when he couldn't get the Beast mask off because he hated feeling like he was trapped. Whether that was by a Beast mask he couldn't get off or he gets some place with no way out. No matter what way it is if he feels trapped in any way, that triggers his anxiety. 

"It's okay," Ashlyn quickly says, noticing his quiet demeaner all of a sudden. "You don't have to explain yourself if you don't want to." He glances at her with a thankful expression, relieved he didn't have to explain why. She puts a comforting hand on his arm. "I just wanna make sure you're okay."

A genuine smile forms on Oliver's lips as he nods. "Yes. Really, I'm okay, Ash."

Ashlyn smiles and nods. "Okay, good." She takes her hand off his arm, playfully elbowing him. "And don't worry, I'm sure you'll get that transformation scene down in no time. You did really good with the rest of it."

Oliver grins. "Thanks. You did a really good job as well." Ashlyn grinned back at him and walked off. Oliver went over to Ricky, noticing he was getting ready to leave. He wanted to check up on him since he hasn't heard a lot from him during Spring Break.

"Hey, Rick." Oliver greeted, sending his best friend a smile.

Ricky glances up from his backpack and smiles back at him. "Hey, Ollie. You did really good with that scene." He grimaces and then chuckles. "Besides the part where you couldn't get the mask off, and the props fell."

Oliver chuckles and nods. "Yeah, I'll have to get better at getting the mask off. But how have you been doing?" He tilts his head to the side, concern forming on his face. "It seemed like you went off the face of the Earth during Spring Break."

Ricky laughs a bit and shakes his head. "I just had my phone off."

Oliver narrows his eyes and slowly nods. "That's, like, only half of what I meant."

Ricky sighs, knowing what Oliver meant, it was just a tough subject for him to talk about. But he knew if there was one person he could talk about that with it was either Oliver or Big Red. "Breakups suck, you know?"

Oliver shakes his head. "Not really."

"I'm glad you don't know 'cause they suck." Ricky remarks and the two boys shared a small laugh. The curly-haired boy sighs, rubbing the back of his neck. "Especially when you break up with the same person over and over again." Oliver sympathetically smiles at him, feeling bad for what Ricky is going through. "But hey," Ricky smiles at him. "I'm glad you reached out to Ashlyn and Nini about writing that song. That was really nice."

"Oh," Oliver looks a bit surprised that Ricky thought he was the one in charge of making the song and video of 'You Ain't Seen Nothing'. He shakes his head and smiles a bit. "Nini was the one who reached out to me and Ash. She was in charge of the whole thing. It was actually super fun."

"Oh." Ricky nods slowly and Oliver couldn't describe the expression on his face. He kind of looked upset in Oliver's opinion. Was he upset because Nini didn't ask him for help with the song? "Well, that, uh, I mean, that is...Super." He stumbled over his words, having trouble with  figuring out something to say.

"Okay." Oliver nods. "Well, if you ever need to talk or anything like that you know you can always come to me." 

Ricky looks at him with a thankful smile. "Thanks, Ollie. That means a lot to me."

****

The main cast members plus the stage manager, Natalie, and Nini were now gathered at Slicers. Carlos had sent a text to them all for them to meet at the diner. Oliver was standing with Ashlyn, Nini, Natalie, and Seb, conversing with them as to what they could do while the other group consisted of Big Red, EJ, Gina, and Ricky who were also conversing about what they could do.

EJ is the first one to notice Carlos walk in. "There you are."

Everyone's conversation stops and they all look at Carlos. "We all got your text." Gina told him.

"You guys," Carlos sighs, standing in the area between the two groups. "Mother is freaking out. It's about the Menkies. Is everyone sitting down?"

Oliver shakes his head because only Seb was sitting down on the edge of a table. "No." Big Red responded, sitting backwards on a nearby chair.

"We can't win." Carlos said and everyone looked at him with wide eyes.

"What?" Ashlyn asked.

"Why?" Oliver questioned along with some others.

"Listen, there's math involved." Carlos explained.

Oliver groans in annoyance. "Stupid math." If it wasn't obvious, he hated math.

"If we don't sweep the technical achievement awards," Carlos continues. "We don't have a chance. And," He glances at Oliver. "No offense, Oliver, but..." His voice trailed off and a sheepish expression formed on his face.

Oliver glances at everyone, seeing they were all looking at him. He raises his eyebrows. "Wait, this is about the transformation, isn't it?" He throws his arms up out of frustration. "Guys, I didn't mean to throw the mask at Natalie!" He gestures at the black-haired girl with an apologetic expression. "Which I'm still sorry about."

Natalie shakes her head, sending him a small smile. "It's okay. It would be better if you don't throw it at my face though."

Carlos sighs. "I hate to say this, you guys. I mean, we all had a good time over spring break."

"Some of us a little more than others." Seb remarked.

Carlos rolls his eyes, pointing at the blonde-haired boy. "Not today."

Oliver exchanges a concerned look with Nini before they both looked at Seb with concern. "Are you guys okay?" Nini asked the blonde-haired boy.

Seb looks at them with an obvious fake smile and he hummed in response as he nodded.

"Honestly, we need to rally behind Miss Jenn." Carlos speaks. "I mean, our sets are made of plywood and Elmer's Glue. We're humble." He shakes his head. "Humble does not win awards."

Kourtney told Howie, who was behind the counter, that he had three more orders to make, and then walks over to the group, setting two pitchers of soda on the table between the two groups. "Fresh soda. Y'all okay?"

Gina gestures to Carlos. "Carlos was just explaining..."

Kourtney points at her. "I heard it all."

Gina raises her eyebrows. "While you were yelling at Howie?"

 Kourtney nods. "Multitasking. Look, I'm a designer, Big Red's crew guy," She gestures to Big Red, who smiled and gave her a thumbs up. "Between the two of us, you're looking at your answer."

Seb raises his eyebrows and tilts his head to the side. "Quit school and get a job at the pizza shop?"

"Uh, no." Kourtney responds sassily. "We should invent something amazing. Something that we can run at tech rehearsal tomorrow night. A next-level transformation that out-broads Broadway and out norths North High." She squealed with excitement, and everyone started to voice their agreements that this was a good idea.

"Ashlyn," Nini turns to face the red-haired girl standing beside her. "You have the biggest house." She smiles. "What if I invite myself and the girls over after school, continue the collab thing?"

Ashlyn smiles excitedly. "Ooh!"

"I mean," EJ chimes in. "Square footage-wise, my house is slightly larger." From her place beside him, Gina chuckles and elbows him to stop talking. EJ sheepishly smiles and nods. "Uh, I'm going to shut up." 

Oliver couldn't help the frown that tugged on his lips as he watched the two interact. He was possibly a bit jealous, but he didn't need to be because he and Gina aren't together, and he doesn't think EJ and Gina like each other that way. Or maybe they do? He noticed recently the two have been kind of close with each other and he couldn't help but wonder if something was going on between them. He stared at the floor, letting his anxiety and worries get the best of him.

Ashlyn chuckles and glances at the girls with a smile. "A hundred percent, yes."

From across the room, Gina glances at Oliver and her lips curve downwards upon noticing his quiet demeanor and how sad he looked. She shakes her head, hoping that he was okay, and glances at everyone. "Wait, should we all stick together?"

"Oh, no way." Nini walks over to stand between Ashlyn and Kourtney, linking their arms together. She smiles at everyone. "Boys versus girls."

"My basement's free." Big Red chimes in. "We have ton of old tools. I'm sure the guys can make something cool."

Nini nods and smiles a bit. "Great. May the best transformation win."

****

Oliver and Ricky decided on meeting up and heading to Big Red's together. They walked down to the basement where Big Red's room is at and were surprised to see a lot of tools laid out on the floor.

"You weren't kidding when you said you got ton of tools." Oliver commented.

Big Red nods. "I laid out every tool I own. You never know what you're going to need." 

Oliver glances at the different kinds of tools laid out as Ricky points at a charger nearby. "Is this a first-generation Ipod charger?" He picked up the white colored charger off the table it was on and Oliver glanced over at him, his eyes widening when he saw the first-generation Ipod charger.

Oliver laughs a bit and looks at his other best friend. "Dude, I don't think we're gonna need an Ipod charger."

"Okay, honestly, time is the essence right now, and I don't need either of your back talk." Big Red spoke, pointing at his two best friends as he looked at them with a small glare.

Oliver raised his eyebrows, an amused expression forming on his face. He and Ricky exchange a look and they both let out a small laugh, the two boys finding it a bit amusing and surprising at how bossy Rig Red was. Ricky set the Ipod charger down, dragging out the word he says, "Okay." 

"Sorry," Big Red apologizes. "I get bossy around the power tools."

Oliver chuckled and since he was standing by Big Red, he patted his shoulder. Oliver took his phone out of his pocket when it buzzed. "Hello?" Oliver said as he answered the facetime call. The smile on his face fell when he saw Lily is facetiming him.

"Hi, Oliver." Ricky glances at Big Red, the two of them sharing a surprised look when they saw Lily was facetiming Oliver. Why was Lily facetiming Oliver? "Sorry to pop in like this." Lily apologized.

"Um, Lily," Oliver furrows his eyebrows, looking at the blonde-haired girl with confusion. He glances over at his two best friends, exchanging a confused look with them before he looked back at Lily. "How did you even get my number?"

"Friend of a friend." Lily replies. She smiles a bit. "I just need some advice."

Oliver resisted the urge to hang up the call. He knew it would be rude of him to do so and he wasn't that kind of a person, but he really didn't like Lily. He was confused at why Lily was facetiming him and wondered what she had up her sleeve.

"Is it too weird? Should I have not called you?" Lily questioned.

"Yes." Oliver blurted out, covering his mouth when he saw the look of offense on her face which made him realize he said that out loud. 

Ricky looks at Oliver with shock and points at him, speaking in warning tone. "Dude." 

Oliver sheepishly smiles at him and looks back at Lily with an apologetic expression as he lowers his hand. "I'm sorry."

Lily chuckles and shakes her head. "It's okay. I know that you're not fond of me, but that's alright. I'm sure you will be eventually." Oliver narrowed his eyes at her, wondering what she meant by that.

 "I'm struggling." Lily admits. "And I know we have something in common."

Oliver tilts his head to the side, furrowing his eyebrows. "Really? 'Cause I can't think of anything."

"We're both the stars of our respective shows." Lily smiled.

Oliver nods in realization. "Right."

"And you're just so good at being a leading man." Lily continued.

"Um," Oliver blinks, not really knowing what to say. He looks confused for a moment as he tries to figure out what to say. He shakes his head, awkwardly smiling at her. "Thank you?"

"You're welcome." Lily grins. "I mean, everyone was so happy when you got the Beast. And you were so supportive of that boy at the auditions. You know, the one who couldn't stand upright?"

Oliver's jaw tightens and he does his best not to glare at the blonde-haired girl. He didn't like how she was talking about one of his best friends. He glances at Big Red, who looked over with offense on his face, and he sheepishly smiled at the red-haired boy. "You mean the one who is insanely talented at tap dancing?" Oliver asks, raising his eyebrows as he looks at Lily. "Yeah, I remember him." He looked back at Big Red, who smiled at him, and Oliver smiled back.

"You're a natural leader, Oliver." Lily comments. "I just wasn't raised like you. My mom always says, if I'm not adding followers, I'm not adding value."

Oliver had to admit he felt kind of bad for her. His lips curve downwards into a frown and he nods. "Wow, that sucks."

Lily nods. "It does. And I'm just not well-liked here, and I don't know what to do."

"Maybe try thinking about the golden rule." Oliver suggests and Lily raises her eyebrows at him in confusion. "Treat others how you would want to be treated."

"Oh, of course." Lily chuckles. She smiles. "You're a good soul." She waves at him. "Hug emoji, okay?"

Oliver awkwardly smiles again. "Okay." When she hung up the call, he looks at his two best friends with furrowed eyebrows. "What the heck just happened?"

"That was..." Big Red started.

Ricky glances at him with raised eyebrows and nods. "Super weird? Yes."

Oliver points at him in a sign of agreement. "Very weird." He put his phone back in his pocket when he heard footsteps coming down the stairs. He looked over in that direction with a small smile, seeing Carlos and EJ walk in.

EJ smiles at the other three boys. "Wassup?"

"Oh, wow!" Carlos smiles, gesturing to the tools laid out. "Is this decorative?"

Big Red aims the power drill he held at Carlos. "Don't start with me, Carlos."

Carlos looks at him with confusion as the red-haired boy went to set the power drill down. "What?"

"He gets weird around tools." Ricky told him, sending him an apologetic smile.

"Wait," EJ furrows his eyebrows. "I just realized, I haven't been down here since we got together to save Miss Jenn."

Oliver's eyes widen in realization and nods. "Wow, I didn't realize how long ago that was."

"Wow," Ricky comments, glancing around with raised eyebrows. "Deja vu, maybe."

EJ nods and shrugs in response. "Hey, wait," Ricky furrows his eyebrows upon seeing someone was missing. "Where's Seb?"

Everyone looks at Carlos and he shakes his head. "Don't ask."

"You guys, what are we making?" Big Red asked with a grin, pressing the button on the power drill to turn it on. Oliver grimaced and leaned back, thinking it probably isn't the best idea for Big Red to have a power drill. He guessed Ricky thought the same thing because Ricky reached over to grab the power drill from the red-haired boy.

"Okay," Ricky takes the power drill from Big Red. "I'm going to take that from you."

****

The boys put away all the tools that Big Red had laid out because they were in the way and got to brainstorming ideas. As they brainstormed ideas for the contraption they could make, the boys ordered pizza since they were getting hungry. Big Red and Ricky sat on swivel chairs that were in Big Red's room, Carlos sat on the tool desk and EJ and Oliver sat on some stools by some stacked crates that had the pizza box on top.

"You know," Big Red speaks up. "We're thinking of adding an off-menu vegan sausage option." 

Ricky glances at him with raised eyebrows. "Is that a thing?"

From his place sitting on a stool beside EJ, Oliver chuckles and shakes his head. "I don't think so."

Big Red points at them as he chuckles. "It is basically crackers."

"You guys," Carlos gets off the desk he was sitting on and walks over to where the other boys sat. "What are we making?"

"Yeah," Oliver shakes his head. "We still don't have an idea on what to do."

"Oh!" Big Red gets his phone when it chimes. "A text from Ash. They want us to construct something to slowly spin Oliver around on, so that we can change the fabric on his cape while he spins."

Carlos nods. "That sounds promising."

Big Red furrows his eyebrows. "What do I have that spins?"

Oliver glances over at Big Red's retired skateboards when he thought of an idea. "Oh, hey! What about your skateboards?" He knew about Big Red's attachment to them, but he didn't know what else they could use that was there to make something that spined.

"That's a good idea." EJ nods, standing up and went over to where the skateboards were at on a shelf. He picks one up. "There's a bunch of them back here that maybe we could use to build something."

"Oh." Big Red's eyes widen, and he exchanges a look with Ricky. He looks at Oliver with a small glare and Oliver sheepishly smiles at him. "My retired skateboards." 

"I mean, if it's to help Miss Jenn finally win her award." Ricky chimed in, trying to get Big Red to agree.

Big Red slowly nods as Carlos and EJ started looking through the different skateboards. "I'm wrapping my head around it. Emotionally."

"That could take all night." EJ remarked.

"I could do that." Ricky nods and Oliver glances at him with confusion. "Stay all night." He glances at Oliver with raised eyebrows. "Oliver?"

Oliver nods and smiles a bit. "Yeah, same. If we stay all night, then maybe we'll actually build this thing in time."

"Exactly." Ricky nods in agreement and he looks at Carlos with curiosity. "Carlos?"

"Yeah," Carlos nods and shrugs. "I need to talk to Seb at some point, but it can wait."

The other four boys look at him with concern. "Are you sure?" Ricky asked.

Carlos smiles. "It's waited all week." He looks at them all with a smile. "Let's spin Oliver around for a few hours."

****

At Ashlyn's house the girls and Seb had started making a cape that Oliver would wear with one side fur and the other side silk. The girls cheered Seb up and assured him that things would be okay with him and Carlos when they found out something was going on between the two of them.

"Okay. Also, did I see you and EJ giggling at the pizza place?" Nini asked Gina, looking at her with a smile.

"I have some questions in the same general area."  Ashlyn chimed in.

"Okay, actually, we weren't giggling, we were laughing." Gina corrected Nini and smiled a bit.

Nini rolls her eyes playfully. "Yeah, whatever. But it does seem like you two are getting close. And what happened with you and Oliver?" She smiles at the dark-skinned girl. "I thought you guys liked each other."

"EJ and I are just friends." Gina replies. "Trust me, we don't like each other that way. But Oliver and I do." Gina quickly responds. She smiles shyly when Seb and the girls look at her with smiles. "I mean, at least I like him. A lot. I think he likes me too."

"Oh, girl," Kourtney cut in. She chuckles. "That boy is head over heels for you." 

Gina looks at her with surprise, her lips forming into a smile. "Wait, really?" She looked at everyone, growing more surprised when they all nodded to confirm what Kourtney said is true.

"I'm surprised you haven't seen the literal heart eyes he gives you all the time." Ashlyn chuckled.

"Wow, um," Gina looks down as she feels her face heat up. "I never realized he liked me so much." She shrugs. "I mean, I had an idea that he liked me the same way I like him, but I wasn't for sure."

"You should ask him out!" Nini suggests. She smiles at Gina when the dark-skinned girl looks at her with a nervous expression. "I bet you he would say yes."

"Well, I hope he would." Gina nods. She smiles widely as she thought about doing that. "I mean, it would be really great if we could go out on a date." Kourtney squeals excitedly as she and the others smiled widely at her. "And he was really sweet over the break when he kinda saved me."

"Then you should go for it and ask him out." Seb chimed in.

Butterflies swarms in Gina's stomach as she nods. "Yeah, I think I will."

****

Back at Big Red's place, the boys were successful of making a contraption that they could spin Oliver around. "Alright, everybody rotate clockwise." Big Red announced from his place laying on the ground. He had been tightening a screw on the contraption and he then gestured for everyone to rotate clockwise.

Carlos, EJ, and Ricky began to rotate the contraption they made that Oliver sat on top of. The contraption was made out of skateboards and a small wooden table and Oliver was surprised that it was actually working.

"You're other clockwise." Big Red said and the three boys began to rotate it the other way.

"I just don't understand what happened." Carlos sighs. "I mean, Seb doesn't seem like the jealous type." The three boys stopped spinning Oliver around while Big Reed stood up.

"What does he seem like?" EJ asked, putting his hands on his hips.

Carlos shrugs. "I don't know. The farmer type."

Oliver chuckles and shrugs in response. "He's worried that you're dating him because you're the only other boy at school that watches 'Drag Race Canada'." Big Red said to Carlos.

"Wow." Carlos' eyes widen. "That's specific."

"Yeah," Oliver glances at Big Red with confusion. "How do you know that?"

"Ashlyn texted me." Big Red answers. He smiles. "I have a spy on the inside."

Carlos sighs heavily. "Okay. Wow." He sits down on the orange-colored swivel chair Big Red sat on earlier. "Why wouldn't he just say something to me?"

"People are complicated, man." Ricky shakes his head. "Nobody has it together as much as they seem."

"Maybe he's not the greatest with talking about his feelings?" Oliver suggests. He sighs. "I have experience in that area."

"Not when your making eyes at my co-choreographer." Carlos said, pointing at Oliver.

Ricky looks at Oliver with surprise. "Wait, Gina?"

"Yeah, I kinda sorta have feelings for her." Oliver admits. He shakes his head and raises his arms dramatically. "But it's not like we would ever get together so let's just drop it."

EJ looks at him with furrowed eyebrows. "Why wouldn't that happen?"

"And counterclockwise, like, fifteen minutes." Big Red announced, now laying on the ground as he continued fixing the contraption.

Carlos and Ricky began to rotate the contraption Oliver is sitting on again while EJ walks over to join them since he had been leaning against the wall. "Because I'm way out of her league and I think she likes someone else." Oliver answered EJ's question with a sigh.

Ricky furrows his eyebrows. "Who would that be?"

"Ask the guy who's single for the first time in his life." Oliver replied a bit harsher than he meant to as he pointed at EJ.

A surprised expression forms on EJ's face. "Wait, you think she likes me?" When Oliver nods in response, EJ chuckles. "No, dude, we're just friends." He shakes his head. "We don't like each other that way. I honestly think of her as a sister."

Oliver glances at him with a suspicious expression, not for sure if he believed EJ. "You sure? 'Cause if I try to get closer with Gina, I don't want to ruin your chances if you wanted to be with her." He sighs. "And if you want me to, I'll take a step back." He didn't want to, but if EJ liked Gina and wanted to try to get together with her, then he would step back so he's not in the way because he and EJ are good friends and he know EJ would do the same thing.

EJ's face softens, just then realizing how much Oliver actually likes Gina. He had a feeling that Oliver liked Gina, but he didn't realize how much the brunette-haired boy actually likes her until then. He also thought it was sweet that Oliver would step back for him. He shakes his head. smiling a bit. "Oliver, listen to me. I don't like her that way. You don't have to take a step back. In fact, I think you should go for it with her."

Oliver smiles, raising his eyebrows at the brunette-haired boy as he looks at EJ with surprise. "Really?"

"Yeah." EJ nods and the two boys share a smile. "I mean, it's obvious you're, like, literally in love with her, so it would be pretty rude for me to try anything with Gina." EJ continues, teasingly smiling at Oliver, who smiled shyly and glanced down when he felt blush appearing on his face. "But seriously, dude," EJ chuckles. "Just ask her out already."

"Okay," Oliver takes a deep breath and nods. He looks back at EJ with a smile. "I think I might do that."

A phone rings and Big Red pulls his phone out of his pocket, answering a call. "Hello?" The other four boys turn their attention to him as he speaks to someone on the phone. "Hey, Kourt. You did? You did?" Oliver furrows his eyebrows with confusion, wondering why Big Red sounded so excited. "No, uh, we're doing great here." Big Red said, glancing at the other four boys with a small smile. "Semi-great."

"Verging on failure." Big Red corrected himself and the four boys looked at him with offense.

"Well, that certainly boosts our confidence." Oliver sarcastically commented, chuckling along with Carlos, EJ, and Ricky.

"Okay, deal." Big Red said. "See you there." He hangs up the call and glances at the four boys with him who look at him with curiosity. "Kourtney got the original Broadway plans from Howie." An excited expression forms on Oliver's face when Big Red said that. Maybe now they could actually beat North High. "We're going to beat them at their own game." Big Red excitedly spoke.

"Wait." Ricky furrows his eyebrows, shaking his head. "Howie-Howie? I thought that they weren't a thing now?"

Oliver nods in realization, furrowing his eyebrows when he remembered that Kourtney and Howie haven't been talking for a while. "She didn't say." Big Red answers. "The girls want us to meet them at the stage door in an hour. Pack up the lazy Oliver thing." He grins. "We're going to save our show." 

A/N i got to focus more on oliver's relationships with others which is great ! he & ej had like a bro moment which was actually quite cute, i'm loving their friendship !!