Conversation and laughter filled the air at Slices that night. It was closed specifically for the Beauty and the Beast cast party. Oliver sat at a booth with Ricky, Natalie, and EJ.  Ashlyn raises her glass and grins. "Tonight was one for the record books."

"Yes!" Everyone cheered, raising their glasses up and clinked their glasses together.

"I literally don't even remember being on stage." Carlos admitted.

Seb puts a hand on his arm and smiles. "The rest of us will never forget it."

"Oh, thank you." Carlos smiled.

The bell above the door chimes, signaling the group that someone walked inside. Oliver looked over, surprised to see Lily and Antoine. Everyone started booing at the two teens.

"Okay, easy, Wildcats." Lily chuckles, raising her hands in defense and the booing died down. She smiles. "We just came to congratulate you all."

"It is true." Antoine agrees. "Your show had a beginning, a middle, and an end. It was wonderful." Everyone stays silent, no one knowing what to say. Antoine points at Big Red and nods. "And Big Red, you were also in it."

Oliver raises his eyebrows at him and slowly nods. "Yeah, okay, thanks for coming by or whatever." He stands up, gesturing for them to leave. "Now it's time for you two to leave. Clearly you didn't get the memo or didn't read the sign out front, this is a private party."

"Bye." Some of the others said and some even waved goodbye.

Oliver didn't miss the hurt expression on Lily's face as if she was hurt by him basically kicking her and Antoine out. He was surprised and confused to see hurt. Oliver walked behind them, making sure that they would leave.  Lily stops by the door, turning to face Oliver and Antoine stands by the door, waiting for Lily. "In case we never speak again," She smiles widely. "I like you, Oliver." Oliver blinks, taken aback by her confession. He should've expected her to say that because it made sense with how nice she had been acting with him lately. But he just thought she didn't like him, especially after he told her he kind of had a thing with Gina. "I like your big, brown eyes, and your cute hair and that cute smile of yours."

Oliver bites his lower lip, putting his weight on one foot to the other as he glances around uncomfortably. "Lily, listen..."

"Okay, I'm just saying." Lily interrupts him. "Sometimes people deserve a second chance."

Oliver is quiet after she said that and he couldn't help but glance over at Gina while Lily and Antoine left. What Lily said gave him a bit of hope. Maybe he was wrong about Gina? Maybe she actually does feel the same way about him and Jamie got the information all wrong. Or maybe what Jamie said was actually true. Oliver didn't know and he was just so confused about what to do.  Oliver joins the group again, putting on a smile for them and trying to act calm as if his mind wasn't swarming with questions and thoughts. "Can you guys imagine if they actually win at the Menkies?" Big Red inquired.

"Honestly, and don't sue me, but I kind of don't care anymore if we win or lose to the competition." Kourtney admitted.

"I actually feel the same." Gina chimed in.

"Okay," Carlos cut in. "I thought it was just me."

"I mean, we did it, right? We already got everything we wanted." Big Red smiled, glancing at his girlfriend beside him with a smile and intertwined their hands together.

Ashlyn smiles and then looks at everyone with confusion. "But just let the whole competition go, after all this work?"

"I mean," Oliver speaks up, gaining the attention of everyone. He had been quiet this whole time, thinking over this suggestion of dropping out of the competition. "Sure, we'd get a lot of money and that would help with getting new equipment and stuff, but I think we're fine without knowing if we won or not," He smiles at everyone. "Because it's obvious we already won." Everyone smiled at him after he said that. 

"If I can, have, uh," EJ chuckles as he stands up. "Senior moment here." He moves to stand in front of the group. "I've won a bunch of trophies over the years, you guys." He smiles at everyone. "But I'd trade it all for this group right here tonight." Everyone smiled at him.

"Aw!" Ashlyn commented and EJ smiled while he sat back down. 

"So, what are we gonna tell Miss Jenn?" Natalie asked and silence filled the room, everyone looking unsure of what to say.

Hoping to lighten up the mood, Oliver grimaces, looking at her as he points at her. "I was hoping you knew what we were gonna say." Some laughter filled the room at his comment while Natalie rolled her eyes and smiled slightly.

"The envelope, please." Miss Jenn grins, walking into the room with Mr. Mazzara. Standing in front of the group, she holds up the envelope. "Wildcats, I have in my hands the nominations for the Alan Menken Awards for Excellence in High School Musical Theater. I haven't opened it yet, but who's ready for the biggest moment of the year?"

Everyone stares at each other awkwardly and no one said anything for a few moments. Miss Jenn glances at Mr. Mazzara with confusion. "Am I muted?"

"Uh, Miss Jenn," Ricky clears his throat. "We were kinda thinking, you know, maybe we won already."

"Yeah," Nini agrees. "Maybe we don't need or want to see what's in the envelope?"

After she's quiet for a few seconds, Miss Jenn lets out a sigh and drops her shoulders with relief. "Oh, thank God. I had to stop four times on the way here because I was physically ill."

 Everyone laughs. "It was five." Mr. Mazzara told her.

"Hey," Big Red picks up a bottle of his stomach medicine. "I get it." Everyone laughed again.

"So, it's settled." Miss Jenn said as the laughter stopped. "We're dropping out of the competition."

"Yeah." Nini responded.

"But what am I gonna do with this?" Miss Jenn questioned, pointing at the envelope.

"Oh," Kourtney speaks up from her place Howie. "Give me that," She gets up and walks over to Miss Jenn. "We got a pizza oven."

Laughter fills the air again and Miss Jenn grins, handing her the envelope. "Yes!"

Everyone started chatting with each other while Miss Jenn and Mr. Mazzara walked off to the side and Kourtney went to go burn the envelope. 

"I think I'm gonna head out." Oliver said to the ones at his table as he stood up.

Ricky exchanges a look with EJ and Natalie before they all look at him with confusion. "Why? Are you okay?" Ricky asked him.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Oliver reassures him. "Just tired."

"That's understandable." EJ nods. "A lot happened tonight."

"Okay, good job tonight, Ollie." Natalie compliments and smiles at him. "We'll see you later."

"Thanks, Nat." Oliver smiled back at her. He waved goodbye to them and while no one (besides Natalie, EJ, and Rick) was paying attention he left. But Ashlyn did managed to talk with him before he got to his car.

Ashlyn walks over to Gina with a smile just after Nini left to go make a call with Gina's brother. "Hey, roomie." She smiles. "Listen, uh, I just had a chance to talk with Oliver before he snuck out and-" At the mention of Oliver leaving early, Gina glances around the restaurant to confirm that and she had to admit she was sad to see that was true. "I am so sorry." She chuckles. "If I had known you thought of him as a big brother, I would've given you some very different advice this semester."

"Okay." Gina nods. She furrows her eyebrows, shaking her head when she realized what Ashlyn said. "Wait, what?"

"What?" Ashlyn asked, looking at her with confusion.

"Wait. Why would Oliver think that?" Gina questions. Ashlyn pretends not to know even though Oliver just told her the reason and she shrugs in response. Gina sits up straighter and leans forward with a determined look on her face. She needed to know why. "Ashlyn?"

****

Gina rushes outside, noticing Oliver was opening the door to his truck. "Oliver!" Oliver sighed heavily, turning around to face her to see she was waving at him. He really didn't want to talk with her right now. 

Gina runs down the side walk a few ways, but she was still a bit far from Oliver. "You got bad intel." She informed him, causing him to furrow his eyebrows and tilt his head to the side out of confusion. He had to admit he was a little hopeful after she said that. 

"Um, what?" Oliver asked, closing the door to his car as he began walking to the sidewalk.

"I love you!" Gina exclaimed.

Oliver blinks with surprise, staring at her with shock. His heartbeat starts to beat faster and he could feel his face beginning to heat up. "You-You love me?"

Gina laughs, her lips forming into a grin. "Of course I do. I don't think of you as a big brother. I love you, Oliver. Like, more than words can describe." 

A smile was making its way to Oliver's lips and he was sure his face was bright red now. "I love you too." He admits and by this point he was smiling from ear to ear. "Can I kiss you?"

"Not if I kiss you first." Gina replied, earning a chuckle from Oliver.

The two teens began to walk towards each other and not wanting to waste anymore time, they both decided to run to each other. Gina had dropped her backpack before she started running and Oliver didn't have his since he had already put it in his car. Oliver and Gina met in the middle, Oliver cupping the sides of Gina's face while Gina did the same with him, both of them pulling each other in for a sweet, passionate, and long overdue kiss.

Yes, there were some bumps along the road this semester, but it was defintely a year Oliver would never forget. However, he has a feeling things are gonna get much more interesting this summer. 

A/N ah olina confessed their love for each other! i literally love them so much. it's the last chapter before season 3, so sad :( but i had a blast writing this season & i can't wait for season 3!