The next day of school Ophelia went with wearing a sweater that's kind of a mix between purple and pink, light blue jeans that has holes and above the knee there were little white dots on it. She wore black ankle boots, left her hair curly, and also did makeup to match her outfit. Ophelia was happy Mrs. Kelson got back to her about the opening for the yearbook club and said that she got in. Yearbook club actually was its own class in school, filled of juniors and seniors. Not only did they have an hour to work on yearbook stuff they also came to school not on school days sometimes to work on yearbook stuff since they're also counted as a clubs and clubs stay after school or go to school not on weekdays.

The other members of the yearbook club were three juniors and four seniors. The seniors and juniors were all editors, but the seniors were the ones who were most of the time in charge of stuff and taught the juniors on some things since they had more experience. Today in class Mrs. Kelson had wanted some of the eight students to take pictures of rehearsals for the play and pictures of the play so they had pictures for the drama club page in the yearbook. Most of the members had already signed up to take pictures of different clubs or sport practices that were happening after school so Ophelia volunteered to take pictures of rehearsals.

Ophelia didn't have to go to practice today since all they were doing was reading through the script, but Fallon, Luca, and Ricky wanted her to go for support and now she has to take some pictures. So why she's sitting on a chair somewhat behind where Fallon and Luca sat in the circle the desks formed with her camera on top of the desk. The yearbook club had their own cameras to use, but Mrs. Kelson allowed the students to use their own cameras if they owned any when the cameras that the club has were already being used. That's the reason why she's using her own camera and she didn't mind it since she was more familiar with her camera.

When Ophelia got to the bomb shelter she had checked with Miss Jenn to make sure she was alright if she took some pictures during rehearsals for the drama club page in the yearbook. She was happy that Miss Jenn was fine with it and if she wasn't she was still going to take pictures because the drama club page needs pictures. While Ophelia conversed with Luca, Fallon noticed that EJ was switching the name tags so that he could sit beside Nini instead of Ricky. EJ felt someone staring at him and looked over at Fallon. Fallon raised her eyebrows at him as if she was challenging him and she mouthed to him 'Do it. I dare you'. The two stared at each other for a few moments before EJ caved and put the name tags back in their original places and sat down.

Fallon had a victorious smile on her face when Ophelia noticed the interaction between her and EJ. "Okay, what just happened?"

"Wait," Luca furrows his eyebrows, looking at his best friends. "What'd I miss?"

Ophelia glances at him and chuckles. "It looked like EJ and Fallon were having staring contest and apparently Fallon won."

Fallon narrows her eyes at Ophelia, pointing at her. "That's not what happened. EJ was gonna change his name tag with Ricky just so he could sit beside Nini. I basically dared him to d o it," She shrugs with a smile on her face. "And he gave up after a few moments of intense staring."

Luca slowly nods, exchanging a look with Ophelia before they both look back at Fallon. "So you two just had a staring contest."

Fallon thought for a second before she nods. "Yeah, basically." A dreamy smile found its way to her lips. "Honestly best six seconds of my life."

Ophelia presses her lips together, shaking her head. "Lonnie, that's just sad."

"Could everyone take their assigned seats please?" Miss Jenn questions. Ophelia glances over at Big Red and Ricky when she hears Miss Jenn talking to him. "Ginger Boy, can you read?"

"Uh...Not really." Big Red stammered out a reply.

 "Well, you're reading now." Miss Jenn smiles. "The stage directions."

Ophelia groans. "Looks like we're gonna be here for a while." When Fallon and Luca look at her with confusion she tells them, "Big Red is reading the stage directions."

"Yeah, okay." Fallon sighs, resting her head on her crossed arms that are on her desk. "Wake me up when it's my time to say my line."

"I realize that you all walked in here as strangers." Miss Jenn started.

"Actually, EJ's my cousin!" Ashlyn cut in.

"But after today, you're a family." Miss Jenn continues. When she said that, Ophelia shared a smile with Kourtney who sat near her. "One tribe, committed to lifting this classic film to new heights." Everyone looks at Carlos when they heard the click of his camera as he took a selfie. Carlos sheepishly smiled, turning off his phone, and set it back on the desk. "Please take your neighbors' hands."

Everyone sitting in the circle took each other's hand. Ophelia noticed Nini didn't look so happy with taking ahold of Ricky's hand but she reluctantly did so. She also saw that EJ and Ricky were hesitant to hold hands but they reluctantly did after Miss Jenn told them to again with a more stern voice.

"Feel each other's energy. Let the silence speak volumes. In a world full of no, this is a space full of yes." Miss Jenn said.

"Nice." Carlos whispers to her with a smile on his face. "Did you just come up with that?"

Miss Jenn grins. "I did."

So far the plan to get Ricky and Nini back didn't seem to go exactly as plan because in Ophelia's opinion it looked like Nini was uncomfortable around Ricky. Which made her wonder how the two would ever get back together. Ophelia shared a confused look with Kourtney when Miss Jenn suddenly started singing the song 'We're All In This Together'. Ophelia noticed movement out of the corner of her eye and looked over at Ricky and Nini, seeing that Nini had took her hands away from Ricky and Gina.

Ricky then yanked his hand away from EJ, bringing his gaze to the desk he's sitting at. He looked up with furrowed eyebrows when he felt someone staring at him, and then he locked eyes with Ophelia. Ophelia sent him a small smile and he returned the smile.

After Miss Jenn was done singing Ashlyn was the only one to clap and Miss Jenn mouthed 'thanks' to her. Ophelia got up with her camera and took some pictures of the group while they did some warm-up exercises before they started reading the script. When they all sat back down and started reading the script she did take some pictures here and there of the cast members, making sure she didn't take too many as well.

Listen, don't get Ophelia wrong, Big Red is one of her closest friends, but this boy just can't read. At all. Ophelia felt like the day was getting longer by the second as Big Red continued to slowly read the stage directions. As she looked around at everyone, it seemed like she wasn't the only one who was annoyed. Miss Jenn had tried helping him by telling him to just read the punctuations and not run it all together, but Big Red took that literally and started reading the punctuations. 

Miss Jenn then announced a five minute break. Ophelia found herself talking with Kourtney during the break. Kourtney even showed some of her designs for the costumes and Ophelia had to admit the girl is really talented. "Hi, Ashlyn, right?" Fallon said to the red-haired girl who sat on the right side of her. 

Ashlyn nods, looking at her with a smile. "Yeah, that's me."

"It's nice to meet you." Fallon smiles. "I'm Fallon. I love your jacket. All the pens on it makes it look even cooler."

Ashlyn smiles widely. "Thanks."

The two started conversing with each other, finding out that they actually having a lot more in common than they thought. Luca had even joined in on their conversation. He didn't have to introduce himself to Ashlyn since the two shared a couple of classes together. "Hi." The three of them look over to see Seb now sitting on the left side of Ashlyn. He looks at her with a smile. "I like your glasses."

Ashlyn smiles a bit. "Thanks. They're my grandmas."

"I have the same ones at home." Seb stated.

Fallon and Luca shared a confused look with each other. "Um," Luca looks at him with confusion. "Why?"

"So I can see when I'm milking." Seb responded which just made the three teens even more confused.

"Oh, so your family raises cattle." Luca realizes after a few moments of silence. Seb smiles and nods. "Yeah, we do."

"Okay, people, we're back!" Miss Jenn exclaimed.

****

(this is what ophelia is wearing for the rest of the chapter)

The next day of school Ophelia wore a denim overall dress with a white t-shirt underneath. She wore a gold colored necklace, some rings, and floral printed flats. Her hair style was curly and she went with some simple makeup. At practice they were rehearsing the last scene of 'High School Musical'. That didn't really make sense to Ophelia, but she didn't say anything about it. Miss Jenn wasn't even there yet but Carlos had told everyone she would be there soon and that she's tracking down a prop. Nini seemed to be annoyed with Ricky who was just confused about the whole thing. Carlos explained that you start with the hardest dance that takes the longest to learn. 

"Okay, people, let's take it from three counts of eight right before Troy and Gabriella do their bows." Carlos announced.

Everyone who was a part of this scene got in their places and Seb started playing the piano after Carlos counted them off. Ophelia was going to take some pictures of this part, but as she watched with a cringed expression she decided not to. Ricky tried doing the dance, but Nini did it a lot better than he was. Ricky might have talent for singing and playing the guitar as well as writing songs, but he couldn't dance. At all. 

"I'm sorry." Ricky apologized while the music stopped. 

Nini points at him, looking at Carlos with an annoyed expression. "What is he doing?"

"You're talking to him?" Ricky furrows his eyebrows, pointing at Carlos. He points at himself. "I'm right here."

Nini scoffs. "'Cause you're not here. Not for the right reasons."

Ricky looks at her with confusion. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"I said what I said, Ricky." Nini replies. "You hate musicals. You're only doing this so we're in each other's grills."

Carlos tried guiding them back to the dance, but Nini continued on arguing with Ricky. "Now you're rubbing some weird cologne on your neck." Nini said with a look of disgust on her face.

Ricky looks offended as he points at her. "Hey, you love Throb!"

Ophelia shakes her head as she mutters, "Pretty sure nobody likes Throb." From beside her, Fallon chuckled and nodded her head in agreement.

"And wasting everybody's time by making fun of something that the rest of us take seriously!" Nini continued.

"Okay, that's a five!" Carlos exclaims. "On a break, people! Everybody out! Get out!"

"Well, that could've gone better." Luca muttered. Ophelia nodded in agreement as she put the strap on the camera around her neck, walking out to the hallway beside Luca and Fallon. Everyone had left the bomb shelter, leaving the arguing ex's.

Everyone gathered out in the hallway and Ophelia conversed with Fallon and Luca as they waited to be called back in. Concern fills Ophelia's eyes when she sees Ricky run out of the bomb shelter with his stuff. "I'm gonna go check on him." She said to Fallon and Luca, not even giving them a chance to say anything as she ran after Ricky.

"Ricky, wait up!" Ophelia yelled, rushing out of the doors of the school over to Big Red and Ricky. The two stopped walking and they both faced Ophelia.

"Ricky, what happened? What's wrong?"

"I'm done." Ricky replies, shaking his head. "This whole 'Operation Troy' thing was a mistake." Ophelia furrows her eyebrows when he said that. Ricky sighs. "I'm quitting. Just tell Miss Jenn I'm done, okay?"

Ophelia shakes her head, looking at him with a reassuring smile. "You just need more practice and practice takes time, Ricky. I'm sure you'll get it righ-"

"No, I won't." Ricky interrupts her. He scoffs. "Nini's right. I'm taking up space."

Ophelia frowns. "Rick, you're not taking up any space."

"I don't belong on stage." Ricky continued, a frown tugging on his lips.

"That's a lie, Ricky." Ophelia tells him. She wished he didn't think that way about himself. "You are so talented. You do belong on-"

"Save it, Ophelia." Ricky interrupts her in a harsh tone which causes Ophelia to take a step back, looking at him with surprise. "You shouldn't want me in this and I'm sure everyone else doesn't want me in this either. If I go back, Nini will probably quit. You all need her a lot more than you need me. And just forget about 'Operation Troy', alright?"

Ricky walked away and Big Red followed after sending an apologetic look to Ophelia. Ophelia stood there with a shocked expression on her face. She never had a fight with Ricky before. Okay, sure they had arguments, but it never ended with either of them walking away with one mad and the other upset.

****

Later that day, Ophelia was checking out some pictures she took of outside after school that day. She was on her stomach, laying on her bed as she looked through the pictures on the camera she had taken at practice and some other pictures she had taken of nature. She thought about making an Instagram account only for her photos she takes so others can see her work. Her dad even encouraged her to do so, saying that she was quite talented with photography. She sat the camera down, picking up her phone when she heard it ringing. A small smile tugged on her lips at seeing that Luca was facetiming her as she answered the call.

"Hey, Luke." She greets, resting her phone against her camera, making sure she was in view since she was still in a laying position. She noticed he was in his room and was sitting on his bed.  "What's up?"

"Hey," Luca greets, sending her a small smile. "So I was at the skate park an hour ago," When Ophelia looks at him with surprise, he points at her. "Not 'cause of me. You know I can't skateboard to save my life. My little brother, Evan, wanted to go and I was his ride 'cause our parents were still at work."

"Anyway, I saw Gina was there and she was talking with Ricky. They seemed somewhat friendly with each other so I have no clue what's up with them." Luca told her, shrugging his shoulders. 

"Okay," Ophelia drags out the word, furrowing her eyebrows. "Kinda confused as to why you thought you needed to tell me that." A look of realization forms on her face and she looks at him with wide smile. "You just wanted to talk to me about Gina, didn't you? I knew you have a crush on her!"

Luca's eyes widen, a light shade of blush tinted his cheeks. "W-What? No. I-I don't have a crush on her." He mentally scolded himself for stuttering.

"You've always been awful at lying." Ophelia chuckles. She grins at him. "Something happened between the two of you, I just know it. Tell me."

"We talked." Luca admits, a smile finding its way to his lips. "That's all. And after talking with each other the whole time we were there it feels like I've known her my whole life."

Ophelia noticed the way that his smile grew the more he talked about Gina. "Oh, you are so heads over heels for her, Luke."

Luca tried denying it, but he then gave up, his shoulders slumping in defeat. "Yeah, you're right."

They continued talking for a little while longer until Luca had to hang up since he had to help with getting dinner ready for his family. Ophelia had leftovers for dinner since her dad was working late and after taking a quick shower she got into her pjs. She had just got in bed with her laptop on her lap so now watching one of her favorite tv shows, 'Friends', when she got a facetime call from Ricky. She debated on answering it since she kind of thought they would fight again if they talked which is why she hasn't talked to him for the rest of the day. She sighed, pressed pause on the show she's watching, and picked up her phone while finally answering the facetime call. 

"I'm sorry." Was the first thing Ricky said to her. He looked at her with regret and he had a frown on his face. 

Ophelia's lips begin to curl upwards into a smile. "Keep talking."

"I'm sorry about fighting with you earlier today." Ricky apologizes. He shakes his head. "I was annoyed and angry and I just took my anger out on you."

"Apology accepted." Ophelia smiles. "And Ricky, I meant what I said. You really are talented. You belong on stage." 

Ricky smiles at her. "Thank you, Lia. Seriously, that means a lot coming from you." 

"So, are you really going to quit the show?" Ophelia asks him, tilting her head to the side. "Things just won't be the same without you in the show."

"I think I'm gonna stay in the show." Ricky replies. He chuckles, shrugging his shoulders. "I mean, I literally spent the past hour practicing the dance moves from the first 'High School Musical' movie."

Ophelia's eyes widen with surprise. "You? Ricky Bowen was watching 'High School Musical' while practicing dance moves? Wow, this is new."

Ricky nods in agreement. "Yeah, well, I just thought that if I practiced more and don't quit the show than that would be a way of showing Nini that I'm not quitting on us."

Ophelia smiles. "So 'Operation Troy' is back on?"

"Yes, Lia." Ricky laughs a bit. "'Operation Troy' is back on."

A/N  yes i added in that ophelia is in the yearbook club ! i was in the yearbook club at my high school so i just made the yearbook club at east high similar to how the yearbook club at my high school was. & yay luca admitted he has a crush on gina, plus ej & fallon kinda had a moment :) this chapter was fun to write